Crash...

My external hard drive crashed. I am so upset. I just recently put all of my pictures onto that drive thinking that it is to be used for extra storage. It freed up a lot of room on our computer and it ran with fewer issues. I feel so dumb. I guess it is for backing up your computer, and not to be used for extra memory. I am so sick to think about all of the pictures that are possibly gone. I took the hard drive to Best buy and they said that there are data retrieval services, but you definitely pay the price. It is very expensive to do this. Pictures of my mom are on that drive, pictures of the boys...including every picture of Elliott since birth. If anybody knows of a reliable person that does this kind of stuff out of their home, please let me know. I am so sad.

Crazy Hair Day...

For about 2 weeks, I have heard about this upcoming week from my boys. They are both very excited about "Right to Read" week at school. During this week, the staff comes up with some creative ways to get kids interested into reading. I will be a guest reader Tuesday of this week for Owens class. I am planning to take Elliott and his bumbo and read a book about babies and how weird they can be. I think it will be fun.
Today was crazy hair day. I am not sure how they are going to incorporate this with reading, but it is fun for the kids and they love it. Owen and I had a trial run for his hair on Saturday. We needed to make sure everything would be good to go for the big day. Andrew was a bit more hesitant on the whole "crazy hair day". Anyway, Andrew opted for not having crazy hair. When he came home, he was disappointed that he didnt participate. My kids are so different. Owen thrives on things like this, and Andrew...not so much.
Here is Owen's do.

To cheer your day.

Nothing is better than a baby's giggle. I happened to get Elliott's very first (and only so far) giggle on video the other day. For some reason, he was in a pretty silly mood.
Enjoy the video.

A week in review...

We went to Michigan last Saturday to see my family. It was a great time. Some of my other siblings live about an hour from my dad and to go up and back and back and up is just tough for the little guys so we stuck around his house for the weekend.
We introduced my dad to the WII. I managed to get a video of him playing and I am so tempted to post it. IT IS FUNNY!!! Maybe if I get enough responses, I will end up cracking under pressure, it will build and I wont be able to keep it secret any longer. (Dad, are you sweating bullets right now?).
Here are some pics from the weekend.
Me and my sister Monica

My sister Nancy and Elliott

Dad enjoying lil Els

Me and the Guys and a not so happy baby

Elliott's first long trip with the entire family

Andrew being a trooper on a long trip

Owen is T.I.R.E.D. of traveling

My niece Alicia also came to visit. She is always joking to people how babies don't like her. I guess by the looks of this video, there maybe some truth to her statement. I am not sure why Elliott responded this way, but just look at his little face as she talks to him in this video...

Cookies and.....critters.

I love to bake and love to decorate when I am not feeling under pressure.I especially love to bake at Valentines day. For me, baking at Christmas is not enjoyable. Going here, going there. Valentines is pretty low key around here. Aaron and I usually do not go out and spend a ton of money on one another. It is simple.
Tonight, I made some really cute cookies. I was planning on making these cupcake pops, but remembered how much of a mess they made. I ended up creating my own recipe which was AWESOME! I love cherry chip cake mix at Valentines day. The dough was sticky to the touch, but with enough flour on the surface, it was perfect. The cutouts came out better than any other cut out cookie I have ever made. They were also a tad cakey. Here is what I did...
1 box of cherry chip cake
3 eggs
3 cups flour (an estimate)
1 cup sugar
1 cup of butter flavored Crisco..Yikes.
1 1/2 cups of water
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
Cream Crisco, sugar and eggs. Add dry ingredients and mix well. The dough will be very sticky, but firm. If it is too gooey, add a bit more flour until firm. Wrap in Saran Wrap and set it in the fridge until you are ready to use it (mine sat for about 4 hours). When you get the dough out, use it in small sections. Make sure your surface is floured well! The dough will still be sticky to the touch. Flour the top and roll out. I like my cookies a bit thicker, so I usually roll out to a little over a quarter inch thick. I placed the cutouts on parchment paper and baked for 7 minutes at 350. The cookies were still pale in color, and continued to bake a bit longer after they were out of the oven.
I used gel outline for the cookies. This type of gel is supposed to harden in cooler temps. So brilliant me put the cookies outside, covered, on our bbq grill. I kept a good eye on them in case any critters would come and visit. They turned out really cute. Here they are finished....


Now for the funny part...
After I had brought them in, I decorated them. I put the kids down and came down stairs to find someone peeking in our house at the cookies on the table. Apparently, this raccoon knew that I brought them inside and was wondering why I pulled a fast one on him.

Mr. Shoe

After my dad read the list below, he feels like I have some deeper issues that need professional attention. He sent this picture from Mr. Shoe. Apparently, Mr. Shoe got his PHD in counseling and I didn't know it.


If you don't know the story of Mr. Shoe, please click here.

Random things you may not know about me...

1. I am a chocolate freak and have been known to drink small doses of melted chocolate
2. I am a scrapbooker
3. I have very little tolerance for liars
4. I am not very green, but try.
5. I hate laundry, hate. hate. hate
6. I like ketchup on my mac and cheese.
7. I like to dip wonder bread in warm ketchup and butter.
8. I learned weird eating practices from my mother.
9. I am Polish.
10. I dye my hair frequently, maybe too frequently
11. I dont like my current color
12. I dont have a sense of fashion when it comes to my clothing
13. 80% of my wardrobe is black
14. I sew
15. I like making chocolate suckers for every holiday. I am a "sucker" for cute molds
16. I can blow air out of my tear ducts. Wow. Impressive eh.
17. I like to refinish furniture that comes from trash picking.
18. I love music
19. I love being married
20. I like to do corny photos of my kids. They are sick of it.
21. I love espresso
22. I am trying to kick the espresso habit.
23. My enamel on my teeth is thin due to my espresso habit.
24. I love watching surgery and homicide shows on television
25. I am a rule keeper and enforcer. Watch out.

4 1/2 months

Elliott laughed today. I was changing his diaper and onsie. His head is rather large (but fine, don't worry). I was removing his onsie and it got stuck on his head. He laughed. I am not sure why that was funny. He is so very ticklish and I think that may have triggered some ticklish feelings. It was the cutest thing I have heard since Owen Gut belly laughed this morning. Yes, my days are full of reminders of why my life is good. On the other hand...
Andrew has been home from school for 2 days with a fever and just those nasty flu like symptoms. I was supposed to go and visit my dad (AGAIN) for the 4th week in a row, but had to cancel once again. I miss my dad and the boys are very bummed that we aren't going up.
Owen went to the school nurse today not feeling well. ugh. Does it ever end? I predict that he will get the full blown flu by...tomorrow. He had a fever last night, but it was very low grade.
I am just rambling, so I better go to bed before I say something really meaningless.

Oh, one more thing...I am ALMOST finished with my table I started last year. I a trying to finish it so my dad will stop asking if I got it done yet.

If Owen were President...

I went to Owen's school today for an awards ceremony and this is the project I found on his wall outside his classroom... "If I were President".
In case you cannot read the picture, Owen said the following...
"If I were President, I would go to another country and help the people that are in wheelchairs, because they need more help with therapy".
~By Owen Crawford

One little boy said that if he were President, he would make the ice cream trucks stop more often, because he has to run to get an ice cream and sometimes misses the stop.

~I guess I would have to agree with him.

a lovely young lady=a lovely old lady.

This is a bit long, so forgive me if you fall asleep and hit your head on the keyboard.



As I walked through the grocery store the other day I was reminded of a saying my hair dresser once said. She has told her the best words of wisdom that her mom ever gave to her before her passing was "If you want to be a lovely old lady, you must be a lovely young lady". I hear people say that when you turn older, you either become sweet or sour. I have met the sweet and ugh...the sour.

The other day, I kept running into this older lady (not really elderly old, but older) at the grocery store. She seemed to be shopping with her 40 something daughter (they looked very much alike). I have to admit...I am not really fond of others listening in on my conversations while I am talking to someone...especially if they are strangers. I try not to do the same to others. Well, unfortunately, this lady and the words that came out her mouth were unavoidable. I tried not to listen, but I just couldn't avoid it. It started in the produce department. I smiled at her, she didn't. I proceeded to the salads and there she was. The comments she made about the lettuce and mushrooms were all negative...they weren't big enough, the expiration was too soon, the color wasn't green enough. She even picked on the poor won ton wrappers (that can't even defend themselves). I guess they were not the right brand for her liking. At that point, I didn't think anything of it. Until....

I met her in the next isle. She complained about the person who didn't move their cart over enough. She complained that the shelf was a bit dusty, she complained about a child crying over a piece of candy...then she complained about the mom (not to her face, but after she walked away). At this point, I knew I was in for a treat for the rest of my shopping experience. I knew I would bump into her in EVERY isle (and I did) and decided that this was going to be a GREAT blog post.

So, after many isles of seeing her and hearing her complaining, we met up in the dairy section. There were actually isles that I intentionally avoided her, but we eventually caught up again. I had not really payed attention to the daughter's reaction to all of this negativity this until then. The look on this daughter's face at this point was that of embarrassment and humiliation. No longer was this lady picking on the food (I guess that wasn't fun enough for her), she was now attacking her poor daughter with her negative comments and stabs. As her daughter reached for yogurt, the crotchety lady said to her "You need to get some new clothes Joyce, those just aren't flattering on you at all". The lady kindly responded to her mother by saying (with an total face of embarrassment) "since I lost my weight, my clothes haven't fit me quite right. I told you, when I am at my goal, then I am going to buy some." Her mother said, "I don't know why you try, you are just going to gain it all back".

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I don't know about you, but my mother would have NEVER said such a hurtful and embarrassing thing to me....ever. In my opinion, A parent is to be an encourager and a friend as their children are older and mature. I think that my relationship with my mom would have taken a completely different direction and I would have had a difficult time showing my mom respect if she treated me this way. I can only imagine what that ADULT mother says to her ADULT daughter behind closed doors. I am glad my mom treated me with respect ~even when we didn't always agree on everything. I am thankful she encouraged me when I needed it. I am happy to call her my friend.

Unfortunately, some do not have this. :(

So, what does all of this rambling mean? I think we all know that crotchety lady in the store that is never happy with anything, whether it is a won ton, or whether it is yogurt. I have found that it isn't fun to be around people who are always negative, and most of the time, those people are lonely people as a result. I feel bad for that lady in a way. Maybe there is a circumstance that caused her to be so negative, maybe she has trust issues, maybe she was always like that. What a plague on her life...the crotchety plague.

As I approach my mid 30's, I ask myself "Am I that lovely young lady that will eventually turn into that Lovely old lady" or "Am I living my young life as a bitter, negative person that will someday be a crotchety old lady that picks on poor little won tons". Tonight, I reflected on the amount of times I complained about something that really didn't matter. I was disappointed. I am on my way to being that lady in the store and I don't like it.

Hmmm. I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me. That lady in the store doesn't know it, but she showed me the person I do not want to be as I age. Thank you lady!

your opinion please....

Andrew handed me his report card on Friday and also an invitation to the awards ceremony. I opened the invitation and he is being recognized for "effort honor roll". To get on the "regular" honor roll, one must get all 3's and 4's (like A's and B's in our time). Anyway, he got one 2 in "Reads and Understands Information" under the reading section of his report card. Because of this "2" he will not be eligible for a trophy at the end of the year (if you follow my blog regularly, you know my kids are all about trophies). Hmmm. what do you think? I am just curious of what my readers think about grading a child on something like "understanding information".