Thousand Dollar Garden of Mistakes Update

Well, I thought it was time for a garden update.  We have some things growing half way decently, and some not so much.  (FYI I took the pics before my husband got to watering them, which is why the ground is so dry - it was hot and sunny during the day.)

Probably the best plant we have is the zucchini.  That looks pretty good.

The peas and beans aren't so bad either.

Not pictured are some gourds and pumpkin plants, which seem to be doing ok.

The tomatoes are holding their own, but not impressing us.

Then we have some very unfortunate catnip.  Half of it died, but fortunately the other half I believe will pull through.  A dear friend gave me the plant, so I am relieved at least that it seems like it will survive.  It got very, very angry about being transplanted into the garden.

Next we have our frozen in time lettuce.  I swear this stuff has not grown in weeks.

We also have many unhappy peppers and eggplant seedlings, as well as some generally unenthusiastic spinach, cilantro and scallions.  Our second set of cucumber seedlings at least seem to have made it past the point of the first batch, which were promptly eaten by some type of bug, so these new ones may be ok.

My husband is thinking perhaps we should fertilize (as I hear the hum in my mind of the epson receipt printer tallying even more expenses for this garden that is going to save us so much money, LOL).  We really have no idea what kind of fertilizer we should use though.  We don't really even know much about our soil.  We do know that in the not TOO distant past, it was farmland.  What they grew, I have no idea.

Anyone have any suggestions for fertilizer??  Something on the inexpensive side and organic would be preferred, but we're open to any and all ideas!

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Pickin' Wild Blackberries

Despite the trials and tribulations of the "garden project" which I will update you on shortly, we have blackberry plants around the edges of our property which are thriving with no help from anyone but God and mother nature.  Our daughter loves to pick and eat them.  And as a bonus, they're naturally organic and are available for the rock bottom price of...FREE!  :-)

The macro button on my camera does a dandy job, no?

Check out those thorns!

Braving the thorns is about as fun as acne treatments, but well worth it for the plump, deep purple berries.  Our daughter likes to pick nearly every evening, so we usually only get a small amount each day, which she usually eats the following morning at breakfast.   

 Ah, the simple things.

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My Low Brow Rocco DiSpirto Macaroni and Cheese Dinner

Yes, I actually served his macaroni as a side dish for the hot dogs.

I met my cousin the other day at the Apple Pie Bakery at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, NY (yes, we went AGAIN - I wanted to treat her to lunch and hear about her recent experience on a Tres Dias weekend).  She called to say she'd be a few minutes late, so I browsed the school bookstore while I waited.  I had just heard Rocco on the radio the week before subbing for Joan Hamburg, and he was talking about his cookbook Now Eat This! which is a cookbook of comfort foods which are 350 calories or less per portion.  So I figured I'd look for that book in the bookstore.  Well, little did I realize Rocco went to the Culinary himself!  I found the cookbook on a bookcase of cookbooks from Culinary grads.  Cool!

Tonight I tried one of the recipes for the first time, and I chose the macaroni and cheese.  The directions were easy to follow and spot on.  Even down to the breadcrumbs which reached a perfect brown in exactly the 10 minutes Rocco said they would.  I believe the dish turned out exactly as it was supposed to.  I'm just still not sure what I thought of it.  The first few bites were kind of, "Hmm...this is kind of different...this is a little weird...not in a bad way...."

I would actually like to try making this again, but I would change a couple of things.  First of all, I'd try to find the lowfat cheese it calls for in an "orange" cheese - I think it would be more appetizing.  Secondly, I think I'd eliminate the pinch of cayenne pepper.  I love spicy food, but I'm just not sure I want even a hint of spicy in macaroni and cheese.  Thirdly, I think instead of topping it with the parmesean, I'd mix it in with the macaroni.

On the positive side, it got me to use (and taste) Greek yogurt.  I can't believe how creamy it is!  Also I had never used panko breadcrumbs before, and I am liking those!  I will definitely be finding ways to use those in my cooking - so light and crispy, and browned so nicely without any butter or anything.  Another great discovery was Rocco's tip to overcook the whole wheat pasta so it has less of a chewy texture.  To me, his suggestion of overcooking the elbows so they were softer (if you like) was a huge improvement (in the past we have tried whole wheat pasta and did not like it), and I would not have guessed the pasta in the dish was whole wheat.  So overall, I was glad to have made this recipe, I learned a lot and both my husband and I felt the macaroni and cheese "grew" on us after we had a few bites.

Of course I needed another cookbook like I need a hole in the head (my husband keeps joking he's going to have to go buy a DuraMax DuraMate 8x8 Vinyl Storage Shed Kit 00314 just to store all my cookbooks), but hey - I LOVE IT that Rocco offers comfort food recipes and shows that eating healthy doesn't have to be all grilled meat and steamed veggies!  I look forward to trying more recipes.

Do you have this cookbook?  What do you think?

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Have You Ever Had Gorilla Cereal?

My husband likes gorillas, so as a joke last Christmas I got him this gorilla cereal.  Did you know gorillas eat cereal?  Silly me, I thought they ate bananas and fruits from the jungle.  Now I know gorillas are pretty intelligent, but I didn't know how health conscious they are - not only is the cereal they like organic, but it's gluten free as well!  They probably have to watch the carbs a little though (and that one in the back looks like she could use a few pulls on the dip bar next time she hits the "Jungle Gym", ha ha).

The funny thing is that my husband ate the cereal and he liked it!  So today when my daughter came grocery shopping with me at Hannaford, she saw the gorilla cereal and said, "Let's get some for Dad!"  Definitely seems like a manly cereal, doesn't it?  No "Fruit Loops" or "Honey Bunches of Os" for my guy, no - he eats GORILLA MUNCH!  I'll have to pay attention and see if he beats his chest or anything after he eats a bowl...LOL...

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Napping Buddies

My daughter's last day of school was a half day, and between all the end of school activities and emotions of leaving elementary school, she was exhausted I guess, and fell asleep on the couch that afternoon.  Angel Kitty is always on the lookout for a free lap or a napping buddy (she and my DH snooze together quite often), so Angel was more than happy to cuddle up.  We've never had a cat that is so snuggly-lovey-dovey-huggy-buggy like her before, and we just love that about her!  I guess it's a prevalent trait of the Siamese - they are "people cats".  I suppose some might find such an affectionate cat annoying, but I think she's worth her weight in gold bullion.  She is such a sweet kitty, I feel so sad thinking about how in her former home she wasn't very wanted.  It must have been a weird adjustment to go from hardly being loved to being loved to death.  :-P

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Belated Father's Day Dinner

As I'd mentioned in an earlier post, we celebrated Father's Day with my Dad on a different day (my husband's father passed away, so that is why we only celebrated with my Dad).  My husband loves to grill, and he's really good at it.  So although I rarely plan something new and untried when we are having company over, I had confidence my husband could pull off my idea, and indeed, he did not disappoint.

Yep, those are lobster tails!

There are also jumbo shrimp on the right, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob on the upper left.  Have you ever done your corn on the cob on the grill?  You grill it right with the husk on and it steams it inside - SO EASY!  I got the lobster tails on sale at our local A&P for $5.99 each (as you see them on the grill, they had been cut in half).  I actually ended up going to two A&Ps because the first one was out.  (On the bright side, they gave me a rain check for four lobster tails at the first one.)

It was kinda funny at the second A&P, I stood behind a gentleman at the seafood counter who was dressed in what I believe was equestrian clothing and I swear he sounded like Thurston Howell the Third (rich guy from Gilligan's Island).

For dessert, I got a recipe from the latest Rachel Ray Magazine.  I don't normally buy her magazine, but this issue was all grilling, and I feel like I've needed some inspiration.  The recipe was for little faux lemon meringue pies using a shortcake "cup", lemon curd for the filling, and mini marshmallows and it's made on the grill.  My King of the Grill turned these out no problem as well.

Sometimes I like to try new recipes, but then sometimes I get disgusted when I make new recipes that don't turn out to be worth the time and cost of the ingredients.  Sometimes I feel like it's just a better idea to stick with what I know.  But luckily in this case, everything turned out well.  Yay me. :-P

Speaking of new recipes, I bought a new cookbook by Rocco DiSpirito called "Now eat this!" and it's "150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods all Under 350 Calories".  It actually looks great.  Stuff like mac n' cheese, chicken alfredo, eggplant manicotti, creme brulee - wow, I hope this stuff tastes as good as it looks in the pictures!  Anybody else have this cookbook?  What did you think?

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1855 House Renovation by Rebecca

In case you haven't been over to my friend Rebecca's blog lately (Newyorkrenovator.com), she's in the middle of renovating the kitchen of her 1855 home.  Not only is working with a house built in 1855 a challenge in itself, but it's been owned by a string of people, who made strange and shoddy alterations.  Check out this example of wiring:

Even the construction method of the actual house is interesting and surprising - it's a "balloon frame" house with bricks between the studs (called "noggin").  The method of construction uses extremely long studs that go from the foundation sill to the roof rafters.  You can't even build a house like that today unless you had a way of milling your own lumber because you can't buy studs of that length in any ordinary store.  The bricks between the studs have certainly added some challenge to her projects, not to mention the plaster walls.  Have you ever lived anywhere with plaster walls?  Our first apartment had plaster walls, and it was like each time we ever so gently would tap a nail in the wall to hang a picture, you never knew if you'd get a small nail hole, or a spiderweb of 8 inch long radiating cracks and flakes.  In my book, plaster=BAD!

Here's a picture from when she ripped the plaster walls down in her livingroom:

Anyway, her current project is her kitchen, and below is a "before" picture of it.  She's even got the 1970's orange countertops.  Can ya blame the woman for being anxious to redo it?  Rebecca recently discovered that when the last owners installed the cabinets, they didn't even insulate or anything behind them - just nailed them to the studs.  No wonder the kitchen was chilly in the SUB ZERO UPSTATE NY WINTERS.  Sheesh.

She had to go in the attic the other day to jigger with some wiring - check out her scary attic and the "insulation".  It's not even like insulation - it's like piles of dust.  Since when is piles of dust insulation?  I hope you wore a mask while you were up there, Mrs. Mecomber!  (Don't want to see you on a Mesothelioma commercial one day!)

If you're interested, you can read about the history of her house and some of the other work she's done over the years (and the surprising things she's found) in this post at Newyorkrenovator.com.  But if you want to follow along with her latest project, the kitchen, just click back to the home page.  She's only about halfway through THIS renovation, so you're not too late to the party - you can watch her put it all back together, and help her choose her paint too!  :-)

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Father's Day Geocaching Event Tri-State Treasures Four

Everyone signed into the event on the cake with food safe pens

My husband wanted to spend Father's Day at a geocaching event called Tri State Treasures FOUR in Matamoras PA.  (Here's the link to it if you're curious, however I'm not sure if you'll be able to view it if you don't have an account.  Tri State Treasures FOUR! An account is totally free if you want to sign up, and after you look at the page for fun you can do a search in your zip code and be surprised how many geocaches you are driving by every day in your area.)  We went to the event last year and had a really good time, so my husband was really looking forward to it.

Every geocaching event is different, but typically the events are free and rely on everyone pitching in to make it a success.  This event was no different and everyone brought some food to share, people donated raffle items, and people hid new geocaches for everyone to find before, during and after the event.  There were also some fun games.  I rarely post pictures of myself on here, but for your enjoyment, here is a picture of me trying to throw an ammo box (a very commonly used container for geocaches) full of sand the farthest. 

 Don't I have nice form?  LOL...

My husband actually came in fourth in the men's competition.  There was another fun game in honor of Father's Day. Dads paired off with one of their kids and decided between them which one of them would wear a blindfold.  The other had to shout directions as the blindfolded partner ran a distance to a fence, found their designated colored container, then ran back and dropped it in a hula hoop first.  Some teams were playing for fun, but clearly others were out to win!  It was hilarious.  Here is a picture of my husband (blindfolded) and our daughter running behind telling him where to go:

 My husband is the one in the tan shorts.

All in all it was a very fun day.  After the event ended, there was time to find some geocaches.  One of the ones we found led us down to the Delaware River.  It was a pretty hot day, so we took some time to dip our feet in the cool water.  Luckily I was wearing my "hiking sandals" as was our daughter, so we could just walk right in.

My gaily painted toenails seem a silly contrast to my rather "rugged" and dirty sandals. 

 But who says you can't have pretty toes, even while you're hiking around?  :-)

Here's a shot of the pavillion.  In this shot, you can't see a lot of people, but there were over 100 people there.  There was a ton of food, a grill, picnic tables, and a long table with raffle items (evverything from geocoins, to hats, t-shirts, geocaching containers, atlas/map books, headlamps, etc.).

All in all, a fun day, and my husband said he had a very good Father's Day.  Now we had invited my Dad to come along (he even has his own geocaching "name" and account and has many a time tagged along and found geocaches with us), but he was invited to dinner at my brother's and we would not likely be back in time for that.  So we suggested that we'd have him over another night to celebrate a belated Father's Day, and he was fine with having two Father's Day celebrations.  :-)  (Plus my Dad is just a great guy and is not one of those parents that gives you "grief", you know what I mean?)  I have a fun treat planned for the grill...if it turns out well, I'll share some pics from our second Father's Day celebration.

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Angel on a Leash

Angel Kitty, that is.

For a while now I've been wanting to see how Angel would do on a leash so we could take her outside.  I originally bought the leash for Q-ee, but he's so fat and stubby he's actually able to worm his way out of it.  I was curious what Angel would think of it.  Well, it was the most surprising thing - first of all, she didn't seem to mind it or be bothered by it one bit.  Secondly, I figured she'd want to explore all over the deck - but no!  She stayed right on the chair where I put her, then when I transferred her to my lap, she was more than happy just to stay there.  I couldn't believe she didn't want to explore, but I was more than happy to have her stay on my lap, so she will definitely be able to join us often outside - so cool!  I just love my Angel Kitty!!!

Sorry I've been a little lax about posting - we've been really busy (lame excuse, I know, but true).   I'll be posting about Father's Day, which we spent at a geocaching event.   Speaking of geocaching, I've been neglecting my geocaching blog, but I will be updating that as well very soon (finally!).  I also can show you how our "thousand dollar garden of mistakes" is going.  (At the rate it's going I won't need any weight loss products, ha ha!)  We are also celebrating a belated Father's Day with my Dad later this week, and I'm planning something fun for the grill, so I may share pics from that too.

And don't forget, tonight is the summer premiere of "Wipeout".  I think it's one of our daughter's favorite shows.  It's so stupid, but how can you not laugh?  BIG BALLS!

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The Dreaded Trip to the Vet

Who would think that a sweet innocent dog like this could ever cause a moment of trouble?

Very soon is our dreaded annual trip to the vet.  This ordinarily sweet, easy going dog will become a ball of mass hysteria, crying, whining and jumping up (and scratching me with his toenails that he won't let us cut), and pulling with a force that could challenge a top of the line John Deere in a tractor pull.  I'm not kidding!  Tranquilizing him helps.  Tranquilizing me helps too.  Still not kidding!

Despite the fact that he acts like he is being sentenced to a Nazi prison camp, it's really not that bad!  I'm there with him the whole time - I know for a fact they're not subjecting him to Chinese water torture or bamboo shoots under his toenails!  A visit to the vet just does not seem to warrant such a fuss!  I mean, hey, I don't like to go to the doctor either, but good GOLLY!

By the time I get home with him I need a glass of wine and a jar of the the best wrinkle cream, because I feel like I've aged 10 years after the trauma we both go through just to survive his yearly checkup.  You would think it would be the cats that would be a horror story to bring to the vet, but no.  Q-ee sits on the table like he's paralyzed while they shoot him up with who knows what and stick a thermometer in his butt.  Quiet as can be!  Angel meowed her protests, but was totally cooperative - in fact, everyone at the vet was in love with her!  No, it's "Mr.-Happy-Go-Lucky-Doggy" that's all the trouble.  Wish me luck!

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Eating Healthy is a Pain in the Butt

 Yick!

Between my husband having to eat "heart healthy" and the two of us striving to stick to the principles and habits we learned doing Weight Watchers, most of the time I try very hard to prepare meals that taste good but won't kill us.   When I started, I pretty much had to learn a whole new way of cooking.  Which was about as exciting as credit card processing, but fine, whatever.  By now I'm at the point where I know a lot of good tips and tricks, and I am pretty good at knowing what foods to embrace and which ones to stay away from, or eat in moderation.  I do read a lot of labels.  And I have plenty of sources to find "healthy" recipes to make.

But often I think, "Ya know, it would be so much easier to just make a big gooey pan of ziti...or whip up a homemade pizza, or make a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese... etc."  (And occasionally I do make happy fattening food.  We're not saints, people.)

Anyway, I get a magazine called "Healthy Cooking" and it's by the Taste of Home people.  I'm kind of picky about cookbooks, but I have to say, this magazine really has a lot of good ideas, and what I love that makes my life so much easier, is that they include the nutrition info for each recipe.  (This isn't a paid review or anything - I just really like this magazine.)

I was making a recipe the other night that was called something like "Santa Fe Pita Pizzas", which I show in the picture above.  I got some really "healthy" pitas, which didn't taste very good at all - which I expected (they were like whole wheat, flaxseed, extra fiber, who knows what).  However, I planned on making these extra spicy, to hopefully hide the yucky pita taste (which pretty much worked).  I had to laugh after the first step though - it was to spread refried beans on the pitas.  I looked down at them and thought, "Ew, this looks REALLY gross!" and so I took a picture to share with you, LOL.  They're like "poo pitas".  I totally should have taken a picture of the completed pizzas - they actually looked very appetizing, and they tasted pretty good.  They were pretty filling too - DH and I could each only eat one, so I unexpectedly had leftovers for the next night - score!  And since we didn't consume as many calories as we had though, we splurged a little on dessert - score!

It's not even the "slow churned" stuff which is what we have 90% of the time.  But my husband really loves this flavor (Martha's Vineyard Black Raspberry) and it doesn't come in the "light" version.  The one on the left is actually my daughter's bowl - I just realized you can't even see the ice cream under all the whipped cream, LOL!

If you happen to have any websites/magazine/cookbooks that you like that have "light" recipes, please share!

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More Thoughts Too Short for a Whole Blog Post

One of our better looking garden plants.  I think this is zucchini.

We have now finished transferring all our seedlings into the garden.  However, nearly all the seedlings have looked wilted and like death warmed over the day after transplanting.  Some went on to completely die, some pulled through.  Our sister-in-law "L" told us we should have been bringing the seedlings outside during the day for couple of weeks before planting them in the garden to get them used to being outdoors....whoops!  My husband and I already resigned ourselves that this first year is pretty much going to be "the garden of mistakes".  Oh well - think of all we'll learn for NEXT year!  :-P

There's an organization that I volunteer for and they gave me a job I absolutely hate.  It sucks.

If you "invite" me to something, in my world that means I have the choice whether to decline or accept.  If your "invitation" is actually a "decree" and declining is unacceptable, then I wish you'd just tell me that upfront and we could save a lot of hurt feelings.

Sometimes I fantasize about competing in, and winning the Food Network's show, "The Next Food Network Star".  I'd call my show, "Carole's Kitchen - Tasty Food that Won't Kill Your Family".  (Meaning I'd be cooking with lower fat and cholesterol foods, and trying to incorporate healthy things.)

I'm embarrassed to admit I am fascinated with the TLC show "Toddlers and Tiaras".  I pretty much find everything about the show very disturbing, but like a train wreck, it's hard to tear my eyes away.

One of my most favorite catalogs to browse is the Avon brochure.  They have everything in there - from platform sandals, to lipstick, to fake hair pieces to treatment for blackheads.  I generally like their stuff, but some of their jewelery is so big and showy, I wonder who buys and wears it?  Somebody must be wearing it, because they've been selling large jewelery for years now.  Is there like a section of the country where giant jewelery is popular??  It's not even that I don't like it, it's just not my style, nor the style where I live.

I am thinking of changing the "Pooh's thoughtful spot..." blurb to something like, "My life is not photoshopped".  Some of these bloggers who portray themselves as the Martha Stewarts of mommyhood with their perfect children, perfect homes, perfect husbands, and perfectly photoshopped pictures of every wonderful moment of every wonderful day make me want to barf.

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Play Time

Polly Pocket World!

Every now and then my daughter decides she wants to pull out her 10,000 Polly Pocket doll things. (It's actually ME who has to lug the bins up from the basement, good thing I take vitamin supplements!)  Now I know it looks like a ridiculous amount, which it is, but it's an accumulation of years of birthdays, Christmases, etc.  Plus probably about 60% of all that isn't even "Polly Pocket" stuff - that's the Fisher Price dollhouse there, an animal hospital playset from "Animal Planet", a Barbie pet shop, and some things from misc. Littlest Pet Shop/puppy playsets as well.   There are also a TON of small dog and cat figures too.  Apparently anything sized to Polly Pocket scale is fair game to become part of "Polly Pocket World".

It takes up a lot of space and is a bit of a pain to take out and put away, but there's some good old fashioned creative play going on there, and that, I like.  I would have LOVED all those little dolls and doll things when I was a kid.  I did have Barbies, which I played with often in my own little world with my own little stories for them.  What did you like to play with as a kid?

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The Poo Poo Igloo

Hard to believe this sweet, innocent face could ever cause a moment's trouble, isn't it?

Since our new kitty Angel came to live with us, she has been fine about sharing the litter box with Q-ee.  However, she has this quirk in that she likes to "go up against the side" of the box and sometimes inadvertently would, let's say, overshoot.  I tried all sorts of things to deter her from this, that I'm not going to get into.  I finally gave up and decided to spend the money for an enclosed litterbox.  And thus, let me present, THE BOODA DOME!  (Or as I call it, "The Poo Poo Igloo")

Oh. Mah. Gah.  I should have totally gotten one of these SIXTEEN YEARS AGO when we got our first cat!!!!  Wow, this thing is awesome (as is I'm sure any other type of enclosed litterbox)!  It keeps everything so tidy - no litter kicked out, and it definitely helps contain any odor.  Cleaning it is a breeze - there is a handle on top and you just take the top off, scoop it out, put the cover back on, and done-o!  Between the little "stairs" that help catch some of the litter and this cheap-o rubber litter mat I already had, there's like no tracking of the litter at all anymore either.  TOTALLY WORTH THE TWENTY BUCKS.  And it solved our little "over the side" problem we were having.  What a difference from a traditional litter box.  This is like better than sliced bread, or the best acne treatment!  Now I can even take away the whole tablecloth and newspaper I always had around the regular litterbox to catch the litter that was always kicked out and the whole area is going to look so much nicer.

Booda Dome for the win!

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This Time We DIDN'T Go to the Hospital

Kidney Stone illustration from here

My daughter woke up this fine Tuesday morning in excruciating pain from...a kidney stone! Interestingly, it's almost 2 years ago to the day that she had her first kidney stone drama (if you want to read that three part saga  with Dr. Pizzaman, it's here in the May 2008 archive, you have to scroll down to Part 1 - May 2008).  This time I was 99% sure I knew what it was, and instead of going to the hospital, I opted to go to the pediatrician's first.  If they told me to go on to the hospital, fine.  However, I was hoping maybe they would prescribe some pain meds and let us try going home and waiting it out there for a few hours, rather than go and sit in the hospital.  Fortunately, the doctor did agree to just that, because I think it must have been while we were waiting at the pharmacy waiting to get the pain meds, the stone passed.  However, not before my daughter puked.  At the pharmacy.  Luckily, I had a suitable bag for barfing handy and not a drop was spilled.  (She had thrown up a couple of times at the doctor's too, so I was on "puke alert".)  So by about noon, she was tired, but feeling much better.  Thank God!!!!

Now it just so happened that she had a routine dentist appointment scheduled for later that afternoon.  Since she was feeling better, I figured, what the heck - might as well get that over with if she's up to it.  Now around this house I am practically the tooth brushing Nazi - I am ALWAYS on my daughter's case to brush.  Like other kids, she's not the most conscientious brusher.  AT ALL.  So I always feel somewhat of a triumph each time she goes to the dentist and is proclaimed CAVITY FREE - WOOT!

On the way home we stopped at Walgreens to buy my daughter a little something for being such a good and COOPERATIVE patient (normally she is a horrible patient, which makes every medical crisis 100x more stressful).  As I was leaving I almost got hit by a stupid teenage boy who looked like he was more interested at looking at his electronic device than paying attention to other MOVING VEHICLES, like for example, my BIG RED TRUCK!  (Hope dude was looking at carinsurancelist.com on his phone, he's gonna need it!!)  Luckily *I* was paying attention, crisis averted.  (My daughter got some new elastic hair bands in cool and funky patterns, by the way.)

So it was a good Mommy day - made the right call on going to the doctor first instead of the hospital, had the puke bag ready at the pharmacy, my militant tooth brushing regime paid off AND I averted a crash at the hands of a teenage boy.  Not too many days where I feel like I get it "right", but today, I did ok.  Yay me!

So, it was a very stressful day, but all's well that ends well.  WHEW.

(I was originally planning on blogging about our "Poo Poo Igloo" today, but I guess that's going to have to wait for the next post.)


The end.