An Award

 LOL......I got an award from my sister Heidi at her blog: Everyday Cookies at Sweet Woodruff Acres......and another at my sister-in-law Elizabeth's blog  e.beck.artist.  I'm not sure why they tagged my blog because:

a. I know they are the only two people who really ever read my blog.  (I love you, too!!)

b. They are both artsy and crafty and give photos and links everyday, and I blog quite infrequently with few photos and fewer links......which you're supposed to do I hear.......and I think I've never posted an artsy blog....I do post recipes sometimes though!

c. The things I blog about may have interest to them because I'm related to them and they know my children, but probably not to the the big BLOG-WORLD out there.

and

d. I've never had a "give-away" on my blog. I could start, but I'd probably just send each of them something!

Nevertheless, I thank them very much for the honor, and hereby re-tag them back with the !!!!

Pretty much, they are the only blogs I read, except for occasionally peeking at blogs they recommend, so they are the only ones that I'm tagging.  And I do check their blogs faithfully everyday.

Company coming this weekend, so gotta go vacuum. Have a fun weekend!

 

Picky eaters

'How to Please Your Picky Eater' Video - Rachel Campos-Duffy - AOL Living

LOL....I know Rachel Campos-Duffy knows a lot and she does have some great ideas, but, I'm sorry, she doesn't seem to really know what a true picky eater is......on the other hand, I must have a child who is just a plain off the charts PICKY EATER.  My youngest daughter eats NO FRUITS.  Only ONE VEGETABLE---Broccoli.  NO MEAT, except maybe half a hot dog once every two months or so.  What's left, you might be asking.......WHITE pasta, egg WHITES, WHITE bread, white milk, French toast, pancakes, cheese, yogurt (kid's only and no strawberry or banana, chicken noodle soup (skipping the carrots and the meat), WHITE rice, WHITE cous cous, cereal, oh......she will eat raisins occasionally and once in a blue moon she'll try dried cherries.  Oh, oh, oh....and she drinks a little bit of Apple juice, and a little bit of apple cranberry juice, and grape juice.  Now THAT'S a picky eater.

Amazingly, she's quite a healthy girl....I give her kid's vitamins everyday.

Thank goodness, I'm still somewhat of a picky eater.....I CANNOT eat mayo, salad dressing, mustard, or really fancy dishes from really fancy restaurants.  I've finally learned to choke down the weeds that they serve at really fancy restaurants.

In addition, my sweet daughter has an uncle who was perhaps worse than she was when he was little......I'm not sure he's improved much, either, except I know he eats meat.

I think beyond the taste of foods, it's the texture and the smell.  There must be some research on ultra picky eaters.

She and I sure enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies we made today...ha!

Yes, another batch of chocolate chip cookies.....it's okay....I ran thirteen miles today, so it's okay if I had a chocolate chip cookie!

Blueberry muffin

I got to start the day today with my husband over a Blueberry Muffin....that was nice.

Tomorrow is a 13 miler.....will be chilly........but I've got gloves!

My boys put their money together (along with my  twelve dollar contribution) and went and bought a cool XBox 360 game called ROCK BAND. Check it out on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m26JJVEW5OSZEM:mZG7LBIOY34MH

They're really excited about it.  Maybe I'll buy some real drums one day.  One of my older brothers used to play an electric guitar....one song he used to play is clearly stuck in my head:

I got the football blues, I got the rocks in my shoes!

I think he wrote that song for my little brother.

Got a call last night about 9 p.m. -- a request for cookies needed at school.....so I baked another batch of my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies!  I think that's about the 5th batch in a week.  My daughter told my husband this evening that the cookies were awesome.....just what I want to hear!

Helped my youngest daughter a lot today----she's writing a book of poetry that she'll read to her class next week.  She's written some really cute poems. Here's one of them:

Hugs

Hugs

Hearts

Red

Pink

White

Chocolate

Fun

Candy

Friends

Family

Kisses

Love

Parties

Smiles

Cards

Gifts

Cookies

Candy hearts

Cupid

Flowers

Roses

Valentine's Day

Wouldn't it be nice to have Valentine's Day everyday?  Especially the flowers and chocolate and hugs part! 

Gotta go----my husband just announced he's going to join the boys in their next Rock Band performance as a guest singer!!

This week

Got in some several good 6 milers this week, and we even did a track workout----8 half miles (that's two laps around the track).  My, I was a little tired after that!  Got in 6 miles this morning with a friend I hadn't talked with in a while.....running is a great way to spend time catching up with a friend!

My daughter was sick all last weekend, but she did get her valentine's done.  There was paper, stickers, stamps and markers all over the counter for days! She made a cute valentine using a printout of a Mary Engelbreit heart....then there was a Valentine pencil going through it like Cupid's arrow! She also had a diorama project due this week (that's a scene in a box). Plus I helped in her class for the Valentine's Day party---I brought three crafts and I made a cute Valentine matching game.  One of the pictures to match was a class picture.  The kids loved it! So, it was a busy week.

Oh, and there's more.....I spent the 13th making baked goods for a bake sale for my oldest daughter. The preface is that on the night of the 12th,  David and I were watching the Food Network channel and we saw a show about making massive chocolate chip cookies....I decided to make that my goal when I started cooking on the baking day.  I altered my tried and true recipe slightly, chilled the dough and viola!....I think I did pretty well:

                   

And here are the cupcakes I made; I went all out with pink frosting, sprinkles and candy hearts!!  My daughter said they sold really quickly! 

                

My son played his last basketball game of the season this week.....I'm a little sad for that to be over, but now it's on to track& field!  Added bonus this year is that both of my sons will be on the SAME track team----only one meet a week!

We went out for Mexican food last night--YUM!  Then my eldest went to a play, and my other son had a friend over to watch Monk and Psych.  I made cookies for my youngest daughter's basketball game today.  They needed a little sweetness after they got ROMPED this morning---poor things!

My bread maker is purring away.  I'm making pizza dough for homemade pizza that we'll have for dinner tonight.  I made bread another night this week. It's wonderful  to walk into the house with the aroma of fresh bread lingering.

One more basketball game today.....church, a birthday party, and a basketball banquet, and then we're into another week.  Next week's running plan includes a thirteen miler, so I'll need to gear up for that!

Hey, did I mention that I've signed up to do the Disney Half Marathon next January?  There's already eleven in my running group who are all booked and ready to run it! 

TTFN!

 

Puzzles

I've worked on a lot of puzzles in my life.....but I don't think I've ever completed a thousand piece puzzle all by myself.  Well, now I have:

                             

Over the Christmas holidays when we have lots of guests, I always try to keep some puzzles going for people to work on.  We did several, and when I originally put this one out, we did still have company.....but my brother-in-law (a puzzle whiz) said he was "all puzzled out"; so, I knew I was on my own. (Wow- what a run-on).  Now, I admit, it took me almost a month....but I only worked on it in the evenings....right when I was supposed to be going to bed! Ha!  

I've always loved Mary Engelbreit, and I really enjoyed working on a puzzle of one of her drawings.  I thought it would be a little difficult...but there was so much detail that I was able to work through the various sections of it pretty methodically.

Now that that puzzle is cleaned up, and I've got another one ready to go:

                 

Let's think SPRING......pansies....here's a pansy puzzle for you to try:

http://thinks.com/jigsaw/flowers/pansies.htm

Good luck!

 

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