Project 363

Wednesday, February 15 -- mmmm.....White Merlot, my favorite wine

Thursday, February 17 -- Clover, our kitty
Friday, February 18 -- Don, Donna, Laurie & boys, and Heather & Laurelai visited
Saturday, February 19 -- Di wanted curlie hair for church the next day

Saturday, February 20 -- Di with her curls

Tuesday, February 22 -- I spent the day cleaning

Wednesday, February 23 -- Nora thought Daddy needed to take a nap with her blankie

Thursday, February 24 -- I found this new fireplace screen on clearance at Target

Friday, February 25 -- Grace baked chocolate chip cookies

Saturday, February 26 -- Dianna tested for her next karate rank

Sunday, February 27 -- homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls -- Gordon tells me that they're the best I've made yet!

Monday, February 28 -- Nora's boo boo

I'm no Nurse Betty!

This morning I was yet again reminded how I'm NOT equipped to handle bloody traumas.

I've never debated the fact, honestly. One drop of blood and I'm tucking my head between my knees. Trauma of any sort has that effect, actually. But blood and guts do the trick the quickest.

What happened, you ask?

Miss Nora was playing in the livingroom this morning while I was in the kitchen. I heard her take a tumble and start fussing. I put my pen down, got up, and walked in to soothe her. It didn't take but a millisecond for me to see that Momma's kisses might not be all that was required to make those boo boos go away.

Nora's mouth was bleeding profusely.

I brought her into the kitchen, gave her a popsicle and grabbed a wad of paper towels. I dabbed at her lip gingerly. I could easily tell this wasn't a little scratch.

So I set my girl down (who, by the way, had already stopped crying). I picked up the phone and called Gordon, my Knight in Shining Armor. I also tore off my sweatshirt and threw my head between my knees. I practically begged him to come home. I was certain Nora would need stitches and KNEW I would not be able to drive.

::Fast forward::

All is well. The bleeding stopped by the time Gordon and I hung up on the phone. I was calming down slowly but surely. I called the pediatrician and was relieved to hear that stitches were not necessary. In less than the time it took to eat three popsicles, Eleanor happily announced that her 'boo boo is all gone!'

She's not a miracle healer, but she's already back to behaving like a normal toddler.

Pictures to come!

I was all set to upload my most recent Project 363 pictures yesterday, only to find that our HP printer wasn't working. I use the card reader slot on the printer to upload the images to my desktop. Gordon's diagnosis of the situation is that the power cable for the printer is kaput. SO, I'll have to go about uploading the images through my USB cable, onto my laptop, and then move them into the correct folder on my desktop.

I will try to get all of that accomplished later today. Be sure to check back later!

Works for Me Wednesday

I'm so excited to share this tip with y'all!

My excitement is most likely because I *just* tried this tip for the first time this morning and IT WORKED!!

Lately, whenever the kids request that I make cinnamon rolls for breakfast, I hesitate. Our house gets too cold overnight for the rolls to rise properly. I have become more than frustrated by this. I've tried a few different tricks to try to correct this problem. Nothing has worked to my satisfaction. Until this morning.

Have I got your curiousity peaked?

Here's the tip:

If your dough isn't rising like it should, place a pan in the bottom of your oven, fill it with boiling water, place your dough in the oven on the rack above the water-filled pan, and close the oven door. Walk away so you can let the steamy heat work its magic. Check back an hour or so later. Be THRILLED to see that your non-rising dough has suddenly followed the rules and has risen to attention.

I'm so giddy right now that I almost want to make cinnamon rolls every day for the next week, just so I can continue to test my tip! Almost.

Project 363

I just realized I missed taking yesterday's photograph. No real excuse, other than it was the first day of Winter Break for the kids. Guess we're looking at Project 363 now.

Winter Break

The kids are off from school this week. I was hopeful that the warm, sunny weather we'd experienced lately would continue. We haven't been so lucky.

Yesterday we didn't do much of anything. I did my usual. I simply puttered around the house taking care of this or that.

I still have no idea what we can or should do today. It's 8:27am, so I probably should figure out a game plan soon. I'm thinking a trip to the movies might be a fun diversion. That or a trip to visit Daddy for lunch.

In other news, I think we're suddenly making MAJOR steps in the potty training department! Just this morning, Nora has run to the potty to sit down and do her business three times, ALL BY HERSELF! I'm thrilled that she's made this milestone now and hope she continues this trend towards 'Potty Power'!!

Grace plays portrait photographer

The other night, Nora was laying on the kitchen floor, playing with some of her Little Pet Shop toys. Grace asked if she could use my camera to take pictures of her because it looked so cute. I obliged and am so thrilled to see how adorable the pictures turned out.

At this point, I asked Grace to hand over the camera.....I wanted to get a couple of closeup shots of Nora while she was looking so stinkin' cute.....here you can see Grace tried to get in on the shot too!

I handed the camera back and then Grace took a couple shots of Nora and I together....

Wordless Wednesday -- Project 364

Wednesday, February 9 -- I painted my neighbor's baby nursery Thursday, February 10 -- Our day running errands with Flat Stanley

Friday, February 11
Saturday, February 12 -- a visit with Baby Laurelai
Monday, February 14 -- Will works on his Valentine's Day cards

Tuesday, February 15 -- check out my firetruck!

Baby Laurelai

Heather and her darling baby girl, Laurelai, are back in the States. They returned from Germany last week. They are staying at Laurie P's house until Heather heads off to Officer Training in Providence. I believe the plan is that Don & Donna will drive to CT to pick up Laurelai so they can care for her while Heather is in training.

This was the first time we've see Heather since before she got stationed in Germany. It was also the first time we've gotten to meet Miss Laurelai! The girls were all instantly in love with their beautiful little cousin.

Nora and Dianna were competing for Laurelai's attentions...

Grace was thrilled to get to hold her littlest baby cousin...

Even Gordon took a turn holding the baby.....

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

I know, I know. I'm late. Hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love, romance, and, best of all -- CHOCOLATE!

Project 365

The inevitable has happened. I missed a day in my photo Project 365. I never took a picture yesterday.

So now it'll be Project 364. Here's to hoping that this doesn't become a regular mishap!

Adventures with Flat Stanley

I have a friend who is a teacher. Technically, I have a few friends who are teachers. But one of my teacher friends is a first grade teacher in North Carolina. Her class has recently learned about Flat Stanley. They created little Flat Stanleys to mail out across the country. I volunteered to be host to one of those Stanleys.

Flat Stanley arrived just a few days after I told my friend I'd love to have him visit. Stanley got to see first hand just how snowy the weather has been here in New England. Coming from North Carolina, I'm sure he was super surprised that this much snow would ever accumulate in one place at one time!

Yesterday, Stanley joined us for a day full of activities and errands. I think he had a great time! Here is a picture of Stanley, buckled into William's booster seat. Nora thought it was pretty cool to have a friend riding around with us!

While out running errands, we thought it might be fun to swing by the Historical Society & Museum in town. We figured Stanley might want to learn about the rich history our town has. He was FASCINATED.

Later on in the afternoon/evening, Stanley hopped in the van again. It was time to take Dianna to karate. He was again buckled into William's booster seat. Safety first, you know!

Stanley really enjoyed watching Dianna's karate class. I think he learned a thing or two about Respect for Others, Self Control, & Self Discipline -- the three rules of karate.

We were almost out of milk at home, so Dianna, Stanley, and I stopped at the grocery store on our way home from karate. Stanley enjoyed getting to sit in the shopping cart seat. He saw first hand that I often remember to pick up other grocery items while at the store -- I can't seem to just run in and pick up the one item I'm stopping for.

I don't want you to worry about Stanley. He wasn't stuck in the car all day long. We spent a bit of time at home too! Here, you can see Stanley kindly helped with a load of laundry...

....Stanley played a game of Lucky Ducks with Eleanor....

....he also joined Nora in playing with some of her Littlest Pet Shop toys....

...and, finally, Stanley learned all about lizards while reading one of Grace's National Geographic magazines.

Wordless Wednesday -- Project 365

Wednesday, February 2

Thursday, February 3

Friday, February 4 -- Lexi had been 'playing' outside with this little fella...I hope I broke it up before it was too late!
Saturday, February 5 -- I can't believe I'm posting this! Gordon took a 'before' picture of me....I really want to work on my strength and tone and was hoping that having an eye-opening picture of me would help in the motivation department.
Sunday, February 6 -- I made biscuits and gravy for Gordon to eat for breakfast. It smelled divine! Gordon reports they were DELISH. I wouldn't know -- I didn't eat any!

Monday, February 7 -- the real-life view of what spurred my post about needing/wanting to do something drastic. Can you blame me for being overwhelmed?

Tuesday, February 8 -- Flat Stanley! I have a teacher friend from NC. Her class mailed a Flat Stanley to me. This is the first picture I've taken of him -- I wanted to show the children just how much snow we've been getting!