Meet Our Puppy

Cason had a dog named, Red. He talks about Red a lot. You'd think he had Red for 15 years. No-just a few. Cason has such fond memories of his dog, Red, and has been wanting to get a dog for Creighton.

Yesterday when I came home from work, Cason said that him and Creighton had gone to the pet store and saw a cute dog they wanted to show me. So we went to the pet store... At first I didn't really like what I saw. But when they brought her out for us to hold, Creighton snuggled her and she kissed him. I just melted and said, "We'll take her!" I am surprised I was so willing to bring her home. She meets very little of the criteria I was hoping for.

Her name is Callie. Why? Just because I liked it-and that's a GREAT reason! She is a lab/huskey mix. So yes-she will get to be a nice size. She is 2 months old- yesterday was her birthday!

Creighton likes when she is in her kennel because he sits in front of it and barks at her. (Or yips... remember?) He also likes to stick his finger through the holes and tease her. Uh-oh...

When she is out they have a good time too. She likes to go in Creighton's room and snuggle in his blankets and his oversized dog, Grits. Creighton likes to show Callie ALL of his toys AND how they work. Last night every single toy in Creighton's room was going.

Creighton doesn't mind when she jumps on him and licks him, but NOT when he is sitting. He shed quite a few tears this morning in the back yard. Callie really likes being outside. I am glad. She will probably be there a lot.

(Creighton trying to put her collar on.)

Yes, I realize that having a 2 month old dog is just like having another baby. (Almost.) This morning I woke up at 4:00 am to a whiney dog and a crying baby. Ugh... I have said "potty" SO SO SO many times today. It is for sure the most frequent word in my vocabulary. I will ensure she is potty-trained soon. Then I will add dog trainer to my mommy resume. I cleaned up 4 accidents in a 12 hour period. Maybe it will help Creighton learn more about going "potty"?

Well, this morning was a little frustrating, but I have now almost forgotten about it. We love having Callie around. I especially love watching Creighton and her together. She loves to follow Creighton around and lay in his room and watch him play. And today when he woke up from his nap he yelled "dog, dog, dog" and ran to her kennel.

I am sure you will be seeing and hearing about Creighton's new BFF frequently. We are glad to have this new addition to our family!

Blast From The Past

Last night Creighton was sick. Throw-up sick. Yuck. I have many memories of being throw-up sick as a child. (This post is not for those with a weak stomach) I could never quite make it to the toilet on time, mom changed my sheets, got me comfortable, then the next day only Saltines and Sprite, and the smell seemed to linger forever... Having a sick tummy is one of the worst things.

Poor Creighton. After his bath and a fresh set of pajamas he seemed to feel great and we laid him back down to sleep. But he woke up every hour from 12:00 am - 4:00 am just screaming. It was difficult to console him. His face looked so pained. I'm sure he didn't even know what he wanted, or what would make him comfortable. I was reminded of 16 months ago...

Creighton started sleeping through the night at 2 months, so I really didn't spend too many sleepless nights up with him. But those were some frustrating times. Most of the time though he wasn't upset-he just wanted to play, not sleep. My mother-in-law once told me that being awake in the middle of the night with her children is some of her most treasured memories. Not sure if I feel the same way... (I'm a girl that LOVES sleep) but it sure is nice when they fall asleep and you hold them peacefully for a few minutes. And then lay them in the crib and then tip-toe out like any noise will cause the end of the world...

(Creighton at 2 months old. Sleeping.)

Consequently, Creighton and I missed church this morning. I am grateful that today is the Sabbath, a day of rest. Today that sounds especially meaningful and welcome. We are lucky that Cason can spend this afternoon home with us instead of at work. (He is going to grill us up some chicken and mango skewers!)Hopefully today will rejuvenate us and tomorrow we can start the week off right. Creighton and I just hate for our schedule to be messed up!

More About Creighton

Yesterday and this morning Creighton has been doing the funniest things! I am reminded of a few more things about Creighton I want to share...

First of all- He BITES HIS NAILS! I will take the blame-100%. That has been my bad habit for the last 20+ years. And he doesn't just chew on them... he bites them off.

Creighton loves FUZZ. He has a baby blanket with a seam that has broken and he likes to dig the batting out and bring it to me. After he has chewed it. He also likes to pick the hair off of his stuffed animals. I often find hair tufts between his fingers. That sounds gross.

Creighton loves sauces and spreads: peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, frosting, etc. He will pick/suck it off the top of all his food and THEN eat what's underneath. (I am blaming Cason for introducing him to sauce.)

I've got a dancer on my hands. He likes to shake it to just about anything. The music his toys make, when mommy sings, the tv... Sometimes he will even bust a move on command.

I've been teaching Creighton when food is HOT. I show him how to blow on it and say, "HOT". If I give Creighton his food and tell him it is hot, he will lean over it and sniff it until I say he can eat it. This cracks me up. Blowing = sniffing? OK.

Now I need to go investigate what he has terrorized... 

Creighton Eli

Creighton went for a check-up yesterday, so it seems like a good time to blog about our sweet little guy. He is growing well and learning fast. I suppose he does all the things that most 17 month olds are supposed to do, but since he's my first-it is all so new and exciting! (Except for the recent chocolate milk disaster... but never mind that, this is an UPLIFTING post.)

Creighton loves to play. He loves Legos. At home he has big Legos and small Legos, and at his Grandma and Grandpa's house he has Mega Blocks. He loves to stack and unstack them. He is also starting to REALLY understand his toys that have buttons. He knows which buttons to push to make certain sounds/noises and he knows how to turn them on/off and how to adjust the volume.

He sure is a giggler. He likes to laugh at himself. He's right-he is pretty funny. He likes to be tickled-most of the time he starts laughing anticipating the "tickle".

He is learning so much that it is hard for me to put my finger on it all, or exactly what he knows. But he knows that shoes mean going outside and that makes him really excited. He loves to play outside. Dirt, grass, weeds, rocks-totally his thing. Speaking of shoes- we just went and bought him two new pairs, one for now and the other for in a few months... His feet seem to grow so fast!

He likes to imitate what Cason and I are doing. He tries to be really helpful. He is learning to put things away.

He likes to read, turns the pages, points, and babbles. He knows what the dog says and when he barks he sounds like a yorkie. He is kind of yippy. I thinks it's because that is what the dogs in the neighborhood all sound like.

He recognizes bed-time and fights it hard, but as soon as we lay him down he is out for at least 10 hours. It's hard work being Creighton and he is exhausted!

In a few weeks he will be going to Nursery at church, that seems like quite a milestone for this mommy. He has learned to blow raspberries on mommy's legs and arms, and I'm concerned he will try to do it to the other kids and they will think he's trying to bite them!

He is great at giving big hugs and kisses. Creighton is so loving and friendly. He gets along with everybody. (He gets that from his daddy.)

I love Creighton so much. Being his mom is wonderful. 

Distressing

I "jump on the bandwagon" a lot. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I need other people to tell me what's cool. So I have discovered distressed, vintage furniture and I love it. Let me clarify: I like a LITTLE distressing. I know lots of people who buy old junky furniture for super cheap and then fix it up all cute. I want to do that too! I painted my entertainment center and a side table once, they turned out fine, but I didn't do much distressing.

 Friday afternoon I drove by a used furniture store, decided to stop in, and found this little gem. I fell in love with it (mostly with the possibilities-in the words of my brother-in-law, Luke, I had on my "potential eyes.") It was priced at $30.00 and I was only able to talk the sales woman down to $25.00-I am bad at negotiating such things. Well, I brought it home and said to Cason, "You'll never believe what I bought!" (I'm sure he was thinking, "Isn't that the truth..") 

 Well, I was so excited to get started and bring my idea to life-I had to start that very minute! So I sanded it, taped it, primed it, and spray painted it Ivory. Well, I read in a magazine article that ammonia soaked on a dish rag, rubbed into the paint, will give a distressed look to furniture. But after a few minutes of that, with no visible results I got out the hand sander. I got some "cute" distressed edges, but I got some paint boogers, so I started to remove them with Goo-Be-Gone. (Heard of that stuff? When I was little I was sure it fixed everything.) Well... so my trouble began.

 If you thought this was a post teaching you how to distress furniture, you were wrong. The Goo-Be-Gone ate through my paint and then I had a shiny blue glow. And it was STICKY! STICKY EVERYWHERE! Long story short, the night involved all of the following, not necessarily in this order: a soak in Goo-Be-Gone, a soak in Ammonia, a scrub with Dawn dishwashing detergent, a bath in my bathtub (yes, the whole piece of furniture), blow drying, and scraping with a putty spatula. That picture above? That is the sticky blue mess I was scraping, scrubbing, and trying to remove from the ENTIRE piece. Cason came home and I was sitting on the living room floor working on it, and I was a wreck.  (Note: I had only recently moved my work to the living room, I was outside)

 Well, all of the blue sticky mess was able to be removed and I got some "cute" distressed marks.

 This white is what was under that blue mess.

Okay-so the point. I can't do everything I want to. I should leave some things to professionals. Like Hollie at http://www.vintagefarmfurniture.com/ I am lucky that this piece is not completely ruined after what it went through. It's going to go in my bedroom, but for now it is sitting on my dresser until Cason hangs it up for me.

Despite the fact that the process did not go how I planned, the piece did turn out almost exactly like I'd hoped! Funny. Kind of.

If I ever get the notion to try refinishing, restoring furniture, I will look back at this post and remind myself what a disaster this turned out to be.

Cooking Talk

I think it is common to be in an upsetting cooking-rut. Cooking the same things every week and getting bored... wanting to try new things... but what to try? Well- I ordered a Bountiful Basket (http://www.bountifulbasket.org/) two weeks ago so I could get 20 lb. of peaches for canning. It was full of all sorts of things I usually don't buy. It allowed me to expand my horizons!

Sweet potatoes: Normally only eaten on Thanksgiving. 1) roasted with apples, brown sugar and cinnamon  2) shredded in breakfast casserole  3) boiled and mashed

Mangoes: Honestly I have never bought them at the grocery store-intimidating. 1) used in place of pineapple in chicken salad  2) new recipe: steak and mango salad (http://www.ourbestbites.com/)  A flip-flop would taste amazing covered in the marinade!!  3) soon to try mango pico de gallo. We LOVE cilantro at this house!

 

Cabbage: when I as a little girl we would have cabbage casserole, it seemed like, every week. I loved it! My sister, Whitney, hated it. (In fact one night my dad made her sit at the table till she finished it all. She missed TGIF she sat there so long...) Cason isn't much for cabbage casserole-but I can't just let the cabbage go to waste! So no new cabbage recipes, I am selfish and make what I love.

Cabbage Casserole
1 small cabbage               2 c. milk
3 TB butter                      salt/pepper to taste
1 chicken boullion cube    rice
3 TB flour

Chop cabbage, steam, and drain. Place in greased 9x13 baking dish. Combine butter, flour, and boullion on medium heat. When paste is formed, add 2 c. milk gradually, forming a thick sauce. Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper. Pour over cabbage and bake at 350 for 30 minutes till bubbly. Serve over rice.

Doesn't sound like your thing? That's ok. The only reason I like it is because it's a childhood memory.

Romaine lettuce: So much fancier than iceburg, it makes a beautiful salad. Cason's favorite food? SALAD. NO LIE. He loves to order a salad or salad bar when we go out to eat. Strange-I thought it was in a man's genes to love meat and potatoes.

Bananas: Creighton LOVES bananas. So much so he has recently been eating one for breakfast and for dinner. Even with all of this banana eating I still had six that went black. BANANA BREAD! Recently I have been loving banana bread and trying new recipes. I think it stems from never having it as a little girl. My mom despises banana bread. I found a keeper recipe from Emeril Lagasse. (http://www.foodnetwork.com/)   He knows his banana bread! (It is the most basic recipe I have ever tried) I was able to make 3 loaves and froze two of them. Note: Banana bread is extra delicious after being frozen and then thawed. WEIRD. I KNOW.

 Not only am I in a cooking-rut, but a baking one as well. I have always baked cookies. That's what we did at my house when I was little! But Cason doesn't have a sweet tooth. And if I make anything it sits untouched. (OK-he'll usually humor me and have one.) Creighton and I wanted some cookies so we made some a few weeks ago. PITIFUL. Cookie making really is a skill I guess and one I've lost. They were flat, burnt and raw (same cookie!) and just plain unappetizing. It was so sad. Since Cason works nights, I often surf baking blogs (see my blog side-bar). I've seen some delicious looking treats... but maybe it's not a good idea to try any of the recipes!

When in a cooking-rut the best thing to do is... GO OUT TO EAT! Cason has an addiction to eating out. Actually, I think he is just addicted to Costa Vida. It is his restaurant of choice! I don't mind-what a relief to not have to think of what to make, prepare it, cook it, and THEN clean it up. Cason usually does clean up though-he's so sweet!

Couponing has been helping me decide what to make! But the last little while the only thing I've gotten steals on is junk food. A few days ago I got pop-tarts and cereal for a bargain. Breakfast is served! I am stocked on frozen pizzas and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese- my boys LOVE pizza, even cheap pizza. Snacking foods are great for Creighton. (CEREAL: I have that for dinner a lot since Cason works nights.) But I am lacking in the "real" food departmet. "Real" food CAN be bought with coupons (anti-couponers say it can't)-I just need to be focused on those items... (BTW: Couponers, do you do what I do and take pictures of your food? I do-I like to show Cason when he gets home from work and I ask him, "HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THIS COST ME?) http://www.fabulesslyfrugal.com/: LOVE IT.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Jenny, was telling me she HATES to do laundry, so she reminds herself, "I am grateful to have SO MANY towels, clothes, etc. to wash. I am SO BLESSED!" I guess it is that way with most things, like cooking. Instead of grumbling about what to make, or that something has to be made I can be glad that I have food in the house, that I can buy my own food, and that I am a decent cook.

How's that for counting your blessings?