Mommy the elephant

Jorma to Connor while they look at Jungle Animals Placemat: "Can you show Daddy the elephant?"

Connor: Turns and points to Mommy

Me: "NO,NO, Baby. We do NOT point at Mommy when Daddy says, where is the elephant!"

Connor: Laughs, (mostly because we are) and then high fives Daddy.

And we are having another. God help me.

The mom cut

HA! You thought I was just threatening to do it didn't you? You thought I would never have the courage. You thought I would never go through with it. Well I did. Yesterday, I cut off all of my hair. That's right. I now have a "Mom cut".

I always, always swore that I would never get a mom cut. I always swore that I wouldn't cut my long luscious locks even if I had ten children. I always swore this... before I actually had kids. What I didn't know is, it's fine to keep your long beautimus hair, as long as you don't mind it being stuck together in sections by dried banana and baby snot.

I did mind so I started putting is back in a knot at the nape of my neck. That's right, you've seen it... the bun. And that's the way I wore it. Each. And Every. Single. Day. So I figure... cutting it short couldn't look WORSE than wearing it back in a bun everyday, could it? And if it did... well the one thing that is certain is that hair will grow. I'd just grow it back out. It's about 2 inches above my shoulders and I LOVE it.

This morning I took a shower put some goop in it, towel dried and in an hour it was completely dry. And because it's down and not back in a ponytail it actually looks like it's semi fixed, even when it isn't.

I definately think that I look better with long hair. When the long hair is freshly washed, blow dried and curled. But as my husband can attest that hasn't happened since Connor's birth so what the hell, right? Everyone always says that short hair is easier to take care of. Do you know why they said that? Because it is.

How to prepare a Brussel Sprout

I've always hated brussel sprouts, but Jeff who is a chef swears it's because I've never had them prepared properly. Jorma hates them too. So when I brought home a bag of fresh brussel sprouts from the grocery store and showed him, our conversation went like this.

Jorma: I hate Brussel Sprouts
Me: Me too, I think they are discusting.
Jorma: Ok just as long as we are on the same page. Walks off.

I explain to him that I've always wanted to cook them correctly. The way that Jeff says I should. The way that Jeff swears they aren't nasty. So I did. This is what you have to do to prepare Brussel Sprouts properly.

1. Remove the outer leaves
2. Chop off the woody part of the lower stem
3. Cut an x on the bottom of the steam
4. Boil in heavily salted water for about 6 - 8 minutes.
5. Remove and shock in ice water
6. Cut in half lengthwise
7. Saute in white wine, garlic and butter
8. Serve

And do you know what? They still taste like shit. They are too bitter. They don't absorb the white wine flavor well. I guess any vegatable that you have to do that much crap to in order to prepare it properly, you know is going to be nasty.

I guess if I removed more of the outer leaves and we just ate the hearts. If I maybe boiled them until ALL the flavor was gone, carmelized them in sugar, dipped them in chocolate and then rolled them in crushed almonds... they might be alright.
But for now... they still suck.

You GO girl

ESPNOutdoors - Bear crashes hockey game, mom saves kids

I've always been amazed by these types of stories. She didn't lift a 2 ton car off of her kid, but she definately was willing to take a stand when the odds weren't in her favor.

How to pack a box

This is what it's like to pack boxes for moving with Connor in the room.

- Open box and attempt to tape, removing toddler every few minutes
- Once box is taped turn on side and allow toddler to crawl inside, thus avoiding temper tantrum.
- Remove toddler from box
- Begin to fill box with stuff to be packed
- Walk around the room picking up items that have been removed from box by toddler
- Place items back into box, while telling toddler, "no!" and having toddler reply, "NANANA!" (which is no in toddler language) as he tries to push your hands away from the box
- Fold box
- Tape up box
- Put knee on box while taping to keep toddler from opening box while taping
- Ignore temper tantrum
- Get new box and start process again

Mi Casa, We Casa

When you are pregnant, people have a different way to greeting you. Instead of the usual, "Hi, How are you?" you get, "Hi, how are you? When are you due?" My belly is protruding much quicker than it did with Connor, so when I tell the person asking, "September" their response is, "WOW! You're so BIG!" This is not what the pregnant lady wants to hear. Another common question that follows the due date query is, "Is this your first?". Now that I have Connor in tow most of the time, I don't get this question, but I got it alot when we were in California. It's mostly people that have children that ask this type of question and when you answer, yes, it's our first, they just smile and nod and get that knowing look behind their eyes. I never knew what that look meant, until I found myself asking another preggo, if the baby was to be her first. When she said yes, I just smiled and nodded... That knowing look, actually means, HA! Aren't you in for a suprise. You have no idea how this is going to change your life. Enjoy that Starbucks now sweetie, because after the next year, you'll never be able to even go to the bathroom alone again.

I haven't been blogging much because we've been busy with the new house we are purchasing. There's a ton of red tape that has to be written up, signed and filled out. There are five million people to call and scheduling those five million to call the other five million so that when you are ready to write up, fill out and sign all of the official stuff, everyone is in communicado. It's alot. I didn't bring up the house, because I didn't want to jinx it, but it appears that everything is going smoothly and we are set to close the first week of May. Moving is going to suck as usual, but hopefully, we can find enough strapping, young lads to donate their time that it won't just be my husband and his pregnant wife that is only able to lift 25 lbs or less. If you feel like doing some community service, just let us know... we've got some good karma just waiting for you. Good karma... and maybe some beer.

Procrastination

These are the things that I have been doing instead of blogging.

- Trying to buy a house, (that's actually a we thing, but I've been doing the legwork)
- Stressing over trying to buy a house
- Working
- Sleeping
- Trying to teach Connor that we do not ride the kitty
- Trying to teach the kitty that if you do not want to be ridden, you should not come into the living room