This week...

...has consisted of:

Lots of snow...


a sick Brennan...


and a smiley skillet.

Isn't that cool!  When I poured oil in the skillet the other night it made a smiley face.

I have tons of pictures from Brennan's birthday over the weekend, but at the moment no time to go through them.  So...when everything gets back to normal, I will be back to blogging.

Hugs,

Creativity Knows No Boundaries

{AKA}
The Reason Crayola Invented Washable Markers

Happy Valentine's Day and a Recap of the Last Few Days

I told you February was a busy month for us, hence the lack of post for the last few days.  We've been having a really good time!  The weather has been really nice around here.  Sunny and warm, so we've been spending some time outside, yay!  It should keep up at least another day, and then I'm sure we'll be back to our regularly scheduled winter.

Let's see, my last post was on Wednesday, so we'll go from there. 

Thursday was Jason's birthday.  He had to go into work that day, so we didn't get to do any birthday celebrating until the evening.  I made him his favorites, lasagna and apple pie.

Here's the pie, notice I didn't fill it up with as many candles as it needed, ha!

After we ate too much, it was on to the cards and presents.

Of course, if there are presents around Brennan has to be right there in the middle of the action.  I think Daddy appreciated the help. : )

Friday Jason had the day off, and for the first time in about a year and a half we had a real by ourselves date!  Whoo Hoo!  Brennan's school has a Parent's Date Night a couple night's a month, and we finally took advantage of it.  We should have done it a long time ago, he loved it, and we got some much needed time alone!  We'll definitely be adding that to the calendar every month. 

On Saturday, we spent some time playing outside, and I finished up Brennan's birthday shirt.





Pretty cool, huh?  I'm sure Jason is jealous he didn't get a shirt proclaiming his age on it. : ) 

The whole thing is confusing to Brennan though.  He knows his birthday is soon but all these other holidays keep coming up, and I have to keep telling him that it's not his birthday yet.  The anticipation is just killing him!

Sunday we got Brennan's Valentine's ready.
Here are the ones I we picked. : ) 


Aren't they cute!  I found them in the etsy store My Duck Duck Goose.  I know what you're thinking.  Yes, I could have made valentine's myself, but our really expensive color ink cartridge is empty right now, and this was just easier for me to deal with at the moment.  And did I mention how cute they were!

Brennan decorated the envelopes with some stickers.


So that brings us up to today, and that means a Happy Valentine's Day is in order!  We've all had a good day so far.  It's been nice and simple, nothing over the top.  We exchanged gifts this morning, and tonight we will be having heart-shaped quesadillas and strawberries for supper.

Brennan got to wear his Love shirt today.

"The Ladies Love Me."  Have I mentioned before that he's the only boy in his class?  He got lots of goodies from all his little girlfriends. : )

This morning, Jason surprised me by picking up a Starbucks on the way home from the gym.

Just one of the little reasons I love that man!

And now, though that was the condensed version, I think we're all caught up!  Whew, that wasn't as painful as I thought it would be.

Happy Heart Day, Everybody!

The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I grew up with these cookies.  I am so happy Brennan loves them, too.  They are actually a variation from the recipe on the lid of the Quaker Oats canister.  Mom made them often, and they never lasted very long.  I've tried other recipes, and this one is still the best.  The cookies come out crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle.  Yum.

I meant to get a picture of these, since I made them this weekend, but they are all gone now.  Maybe next time. : )

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)


Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats, raisins, coconut and nuts; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack.

In my oven (and elevation), I usually have to bake them 11 or 12 minutes.  Lately, I have been making big cookies (two scoops with my cookie scoop), and I leave them in for 13 minutes.

The Weekend.

Last night I thought of a new requirement for the house Jason and I buy after he retires.  The den or family room or whatever room in the house the Super Bowl will be watched in, has to have that soundproofing insulation stuff on the walls.  And not just for the volume of the TV, no, more so for the decibel level my husband can reach when he watches sports.  Sheesh...I am sure they cold hear him all the way in Texas.  I wish I would have thought to record it...

I think my ears are still ringing. 

Craziness, I tell you, especially since neither the Packers or the Steelers are Jason's team.  I'll just put that on the list of things I don't understand. :-D 

And that is enough about that.  I'm sure everyone has already heard enough opinions on the entertainment and commercial portions of the game, so I won't go into that and bore you. (Worst. EVER!) 

The rest of the weekend was pretty non-eventful.  I did get a couple hours all by myself on Saturday.  Yay!  Jason had some shopping to do, and he took Brennan with him.  You'd think I would have done something really fun, but I just colored my hair, and took a shower.  Not too much fun, but it was nice to do both in a quiet house.

It was warm-ish on both days, so we all did get to spend some time outside soaking up some much needed Vitamin D.  Brennan and Jason ran around in the yard and threw the football.  Brennan's so cute, he told he every few minutes that when he gets big he is going to be a football player and wear a helmet.  It's all about the accessories you know.


And with that, I will leave you with this:

Brennan's "helmet" from this post, back in December 2009.

Some things just never change. 

The Clubhouse

A few quilts and sheets thrown over the dining room table...


with some comfy pillows and blankets inside...


...made the perfect pirate hideout.


or was it a giant doghouse?


or a great spot for a snack?


or an arena for some "cool car" racing?


Whatever it was throughout the day, he couldn't wait for Daddy to get home and share the fun.

He Had to Wear His Thinkin' Cap

Creeepy...


but I think it worked! : )

February Cometh

February is a busy, busy month around here.  Jason, Shanny, and Brennan all have birthdays, and there's Valentine's Day, which besides decorating the house isn't too big a deal.  Jason and I usually just exchange cards, and sometimes we go out to eat on a day around Valentine's Day to avoid all the craziness on the day. 

To add more to the list, today at school I got bombarded by paperwork; calendars and lists...

...and so it begins.

 As it turns out, the preschool kids do exchange valentines.  Uh oh, I don't know why I didn't think about that before.  I guess because they sent out a letter about not exchanging Christmas gifts.  Now I have to come up with an idea for Brennan's valentine cards, pronto.  Also, the list.  It was a list of things to do to celebrate Brennan's birthday at school.  Looks like mommy has some homework to do.  One of the things on the list is making a poster board of pictures showing important people in Brennan's life, baby pictures, etc.  One of the things is to bring a non-food treat for everyone.  Thankfully, I had already anticipated that one, so I have an idea.  I'll keep you posted on that. 

The list did make me think about how different kids birthdays are celebrated now from when I was a kid.  Back then, mom would make some brownies or if we were really lucky she would get some of the big sugar cookies from the bakery and she would send them to school, and it was all good.  The majority of your birthday was celebrated at home.  Now there's treat bags and power point presentations. haha.  There were several other suggestions on the list, but I'm not going to drive myself crazy.

So I'm off to start looking for some ideas. 

I promise, tomorrow I will post some pictures.  I know some of you are having Brennan withdrawals, and we can't be having that. : )

Blog Beautification and Some Randomness

I know I usually don't post anything on Saturday, but since I missed yesterday I didn't want you to think I was slacking. : )

Actually, I was working on the blog in all my spare time yesterday. I think I have everything up and running now.  Whoo Hoo!  If you are one of the email crew, come and check it out.  The banner is new, there are new link buttons, I added a new section for the books I am reading...and the colors; if not for anything else, you have to come by and check out all the new colors!  I decided to bust the January dreariness and put the whole rainbow on the blog. 

If you do stop by, please let me know if you find anything that's not working right.  I think I got everything, but just in case.  And feel free to leave a comment or two, I wouldn't mind that at all. : )

So for the rest of the weekend, I'll just leave you with these bits of what I've been wondering about this week.
~~~~~~~

The Gym.When I was at the gym the other morning, there was a guy blocking the whole aisle waiting for a parking spot close to the door.  The person getting into the parked car was of course taking their sweet ole' time.  I was aggravated.  And how crazy is that anyway?  You're at the gym...why do you need to park close to the building?  You're going to be exercising and sweating anyway, why not get part of it done in the parking lot?

~~~~~~~

G.I. Joe and the Train of Thought Thereafter.
Brennan asked to watch G.I. Joe the other day.  Actually, he asks every day since Jason first let him watch it, but I usually say no.  I know, big meanie.  Well, we watched it, and I guess I actually paid attention to it for the first time ever.  The first thing I noticed was Destro using the word "popinjay."  I thought I learned that word from Bill O' Reilly.  Turns out if I would have been paying attention to G.I. Joe back in the day, I would be a total genius by now.

Second thing I noticed was a lady wearing fishnet stockings in a scene of Cobra making the Eiffel Tower disappear.  My first thought was why was it necessary for the lady to be wearing fishnets in a kids cartoon, and second, it occurred to me that I have a pair of fishnets in my drawer upstairs, and I was completely blank as to why I own them.  Maybe they were for a Halloween way-back-when, when I could dress up as something other than a Mom with a Halloween shirt on?

Or maybe they were from when I was trying to put a costume together for the "Wing Swing," the big party after we took Swing dance lessons?  Yes, we took swing dance lessons.  And no, we probably couldn't still do it today.

Happy Weekend!

Not Much To Say Today

But I thought I would give it a try anyway.  It might be short, since I woke up with a pounding headache. Technically, I guess it's just a continuation of the headache I had yesterday.  Hopefully, we get a a storm soon to blow away the inversion.

Didn't know you were going to get a dose of science while you were here today, did you? : )

In other news, I think the only reason I have a bread box is to hold all the bread butts.  They must multiply in there.  I bought a new loaf of bread yesterday, went to put it in the box, and this is what I found.


While I was at the store buying bread, I also bought Brennan some new markers.  He has been in coloring heaven.  I love that something as little as a box of markers can make him so happy.


Today, we don't have to go anywhere (yay!) so we have some oatmeal cookie baking on the agenda.  I also need to work on our taxes and do lots of laundry (not yay).

But first I need a latte and some advil.

...and maybe a little art therapy with the new markers.  Hey, it works for Brennan. : )

Valentine's Decorations Are Up!

And we really needed some cheery decorations around here!  It's been dark and dreary and I was feelin' the January blues.  Blah!!! 

I used a couple of things we already had, but most of it I put together with stuff I found at the Dollar Tree the other day when I got the mirrors for my Super-Duper Awesome Mirror.

First is the mantle.  I found the LOVE word at the Target Dollar Spot a couple years ago.  The hurricanes I made last fall, (I'm sure you've noticed them before :o) ) and I just filled them with red and white rose petals.


The frames are from the Dollar Tree or Target again, and I just cut out some felt hearts and glued them on scrapbook paper.


The love inspired books I already had, as well as the silver candlesticks.  The balls are just some styrofoams balls I already had with some rose petals hot glued on.


I got this glittery heart at Michael's last year, and it found a home on my iron fence piece.


Some paper hearts on our entertainment center.


The X and O frames I made last year.  A couple of the marbles fell off, and I haven't glued them back on. Shhh!


Brennan's contributions. : )  Heart clings on the front door.


And on the back door, along with the sunny hearts we made the other day.  Nope, there is no sun right now, and yes, it is snowing.


I think this is my favorite.  More felt and paper art in the tray on our kitchen island.


Some love and hugs on the hutch.  Both of them are from Target; the blocks from this year, and the love banner is from a few years ago.


Plus, of course, my little Brennan love, in his dinosaur jammies.  He really enjoys decorating with me.  I'll take it while I can get it!  We have a couple more heart projects to work on, mostly just some paper and yarn banners, but for the most part we're done. 

I think it's enough to help me make it through January.  Whew!

Linked Up Here:

A Little Short

Have you ever read the articles about all the companies that are changing their packaging so we are getting less product, but paying the same price (or sometimes more!)?

Some time ago this "shrinkage" happened with our favorite frozen pizza.  We always got the same brand of pizza, and I always baked them on the same pizza stone.  Since after awhile a pizza stone darkens up around the edge of whatever you cook (and since this was the only thing we ever used the stone for) we could definitely see the re-sized pizzas were almost two inches narrower than they used to be.  We don't buy that pizza anymore (unless I have a really good coupon!) : )

This weekend we found another instance of things getting a little smaller.



That's extremely small, even for Brennan's little heiney!

Really, this was at the bottom of our industrial sized package of toilet paper.  All the other rolls were accounted for, and seemed to be normal size.  So in this case, this was a little bonus.  ha ha.  I just had to share our find.  That really did happen with the pizza though.  Now we either buy deli pizza, or just make our own.

I hope everyone has a great week.