you have got to try this stuff

I made an impulse purchase last weekend at the grocery store.

http://www.haagendazs.com/products/five.aspx

I bought the brown sugar flavor and it.is.so.fucking.good you have to try it. I dare you. I double dog dare you. Did you notice preggo friends that it also comes in ginger, maybe y'all should try that one and see if it puts a stop to all that puking you're doing. Then you can try the brown sugar...seriously.

I had to go back to the store a couple nights ago to buy more. Did you see that's it's also lower fat! I don't know how, but hey, works for me.

Go forth and report back.

my agenda for the night

"I am so glad it's the weekend."

I think I probably say that every Friday, though as a SAHM of kids that are too young for school, my days are really all the same. Regardless of the letters that come before the word ____day. I still wake up with the girls, feed, and clothe the girls, and then put them to bed. The only thing different is having a husband in the mix.

Which leads me to my plans for the night. My husband will be home late, I don't know why, I didn't pay attention. I called him and informed him that we were having a date tonight. There will be no reservations or babysitters involved. No tickets to buy or people to tip. No bartenders, strangers, friends, neighbors, just us.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in other responsibilities and obligations. We have a tendency to be so exhausted by the time the ladies are in bed that we just veg in front of our computers or video games. We get lost in books or homework instead of hanging out together.

While the days of all nighters, clubs, and house parties are long gone we still have a great time together. He is my best friend and the person who is my exact opposite. I mean, the guy actually likes math, what the hell is with that?

So tonight after we put the ladies to bed we will watch LOST, eat some unhealthy yummy food and I will kick his ass at Boggle. He will then try to convince me to play Stratego and I will claim that he has an unfair advantage in that particular game, since he has military experience and can read my mind. Maybe we'll even sit outside on the porch swing and have a drink.

It's going to be a great night.

new favorite recipe

I love to cook. I also love to try new recipes. I regularly scour the internet and different sites looking for new things to try. Somehow I came upon this site http://smittenkitchen.com/ and I love it. My favorite site status is saved for http://thepioneerwoman.com/ because I love how all of the ingredients she uses are actually easy to find and chances are good that I already have them in the pantry anyway, I also think she's hilarious.

Anyway. My new favorite recipe came from smittenkitchen and here's a link. http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/eggs-in-tomato-sauce-contest-winners/

I saw this recipe and my belly screamed at me to make it for DAYS. It was worth the wait ladies I am telling you. I make it every Saturday morning and sometimes for dinner. Seriously good, my kids even eat it. I must say though that most of the time we cover ours with feta cheese. My husband prefers the egg fried over easy on the toast and then covered in the sauce but I like it as the recipe suggests. We've also make it with sauteed spinach and we all cleaned our plates. Yum!

This particular night I made cheesy grits (Lily calls them grease which is so cute) and fried cheddarwurst. For the record I feel the need to tell you that this is a picture of my husbands plate and he had seconds and finished my food. How, is he so thin?

is that a to-do list in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

I am a busy bee. I have so much crap going on week to week that I am not accomplishing all of it by week end and that bugs me. We start construction on the bathroom on Wednesday at 9AM. So far my strapping husband has done 99% of the demolition. Our contractor came and tore out the sink, toilet, and bathtub. That bathtub is cast iron by the way and I have the distinct pleasure of sanding off who.knows.how.old paint and repainting the whole darn thing, complete with lion toenails on the feet. I am seriously considering nail polish on the toes by the way, maybe a sparkly red. Jury's still out on that one. For now it is sitting on the floor of my husbands office.

Side note: Lily was totally freaked out when the contractor took the potty away and totally confused to see the bathtub in Daddy's office. Very cute.

The list of to-do's from hell...
-schedule tree trimmer
-schedule bathtub refinisher (for the enamel inside the tub)
-order bathtub fixture (I am being so indecisive about this for some reason)
-choose extra lighting for hallway section of bathroom
-choose paint for walls, trim, ceiling in the bathroom
-refinish the outside of the tub
-get quote for a fence
-get quote for doors and storm doors
-decide what to do for Mother's Day (buy, wrap, ship)
-Vet appointment for the hound
-Dentist appointments for the girls and I
-Find wall letters for the new bathroom (can anybody help me? I can't find what I want)
-Buy new towels, bath rug etc.
-Buy towel bars and all that crapola
-get quote for a load of dirt
-get quote for a load of pea gravel
-call time warner and figure out why it doesn't work right
-work on my stack of sewing obligations and not accept any more obligations
-make a desert for hubby's office for tomorrow
-scan all the pictures in four very old scrapbooks, make copies for family members
-hang a cuckoo clock and a coffee grinder
-get ready for a garage sale, finally settle on a date
-plan neighborhood get together at our house
-Call Theresa P in NE, call Sarah Ann, call SIL
-Buy a toilet
-plan veggie garden
-mulch flower beds around the house
-make a board like Anne's

The sad thing is that I know there is more that I'm forgetting. I think maybe instead I'll color and make cookies with the ladies. Maybe I'll even do some laundry, and then if I get crazy I might even put it away after I fold it. Woot!

great weekend

I love it when we have a really great weekend and actually feel refreshed. It's even better when we accomplish a lot around the house and have something to show for having 2 days off. We never get everything done but this weekend we got to most of it.

Friday was beautiful and the ladies and I spent most of the day outside blowing bubbles, picking "flowers" aka dandelions, and playing hopscotch. We had a Skyline night with the Theresa, Keith, and Kyle after having the grill foil our plans of having a huge grilled feast. I love Skyline. I am so spoiled that it's just down the street. (Jenell, if it can go through customs and you need a fix say the word and it'll be on it's way)

Saturday we worked all day and then headed over to our neighbors house for a tuna grill. I'm not sure how we got so lucky in the neighbor department but this is easily the best neighborhood we have ever seen in our lives. As soon as the moving truck left our house we were welcomed in a huge way and I feel like these people have been my friends for years, not months. So much better than the last 'hood. What with the roaming livestock and redneck skeet shooting. Though the last 'hood gave me much better stories....so far. This is a lively group here and I'm sure things have the potential to get rowdy.

Sunday we went for a long walk down by the river and took Marty swimming and let the girls play at the park until we were all hot and thirsty. I got my first sunburn of the season. I guess it's time to break out the sunscreen. I'm sure mosquitoes will be here soon too. Hopefully Lily will have outgrown that allergy.

Sunday night we had my friend Liz over for dinner. She lives in WI and was in Cinci/Kentucky for a work conference. We had a great time catching up. Hopefully when the girls and I go back in June we'll be able to get together and let the kids play. There is just never enough time to see everyone we want to see and everyone we need to see. It's very frustrating. It's usually made worse by the fact that no one sleeps well for the first few days.

I got to bed last night after midnight and woke up in a great mood, the sun is still shining and there's a great breeze coming in. I think the ladies and I will go for a walk and enjoy the weather.

eek times 5

1. I just spent $1,000 on tile for the new bathroom. I also have the paint for the bathtub. The contractor is coming tomorrow to remove the tub so we can start work on it and Jer has to finish demo this weekend. I now need to order the tub fixture (and drain and all that junk) and bath accessories. Towel bars are much trickier than I thought they'd be fwiw.

2. They start construction on the 29th! If all goes according to plan (cross your fingers) they'll be done in 2 weeks or less. I really want to soak in my new bathroom on Mother's Day, we'll see.

3. Jer's niece is coming to stay with us for three weeks this summer. I am very excited, I hope we have fun, she is 13....we'll see what it's like to have a teenager.

4. I made a camping (in a park model RV) reservation for Father's Day weekend at Cedarlane campground by Put In Bay, OH. Brenna will be with us and I think we'll have a blast. This makes two years in a row of camping for Father's Day. Last year was in Colorado Springs, I think Ohio should be slightly different.

5. My friend Liz is coming to Cinci/Kentucky this weekend for work and will be coming to see our house on Sunday and have dinner. She just informed me that she is 13 weeks pg with her second child. I am thrilled for her.

favorite Wisconsin foods

In no particular order here are some of my favorite foods from my hometown. Please note, this is not a complete list. One of my absolute favorite places is absent. Next time John's Root Beer, next time!!

1. Jimmy's Grotto, a place with paneling on the walls and duct tape on the seats. A place that only takes cash. Home of the Ponza Rotta. Yum. A Ponza Rotta is pretty much a pizza folded in half and deep fried. They also have really great deep fried green pepper rings. The ladies had their first Ponza Rotta this trip. Lily is a fan, Ava... not so much.

2. Cheddarwurst. You can buy these in lots of stores outside of Wisconsin but there are only a few brands that are actually sausages, instead of ... well, hot dogs. Every time I go home I bring a cooler to bring these back. We like to slice them down the center lengthwise and fry them on the cut side till the cheese is crispy. Yum, and so low in fat, lol. A word of warning: if you should ever try these on your own and cook them without cutting them first beware, the cheese becomes molten lava that will burn your face off when you bite into it and it goes shooting across the room.

3. Cheese! When I was 18 and moved in with my military boyfriend in Ohio I had no idea how the rest of the world lived. I remember going to the grocery store and looking for cheese and thinking what the hell is this place, where is the friggin cheese?! I found Kraft block cheese and that was it. There was no cheese by weight, no selection, none of my favorites, and NO CHEESE CURDS! If you've never had cheese curds let me know, I will find a way to get them to you!

While we were home my Dad and his friend went on a cheese run for me. We're stocked up now for at least 2 weeks. See that speckled stuff on the right? That stuff is salami cheese, my favorite. I plan on eating most of that myself. Because I'm a pig, that's why.

4. Apple Pie Baked in a Brown Paper Bag from The Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago, WI. If you ever watch Throw Down with Bobby Flay on Food Network you might have seen this. This pie took on Bobby Flay and won BIG TIME!

When I was growing up this place was in the country. You could go there and pick a pumpkin out in a field or pick apples in the orchard. It's different now but still great. They have tons and tons of specialty food: honey, maple syrup, pie, bread, cookies, meat, ice cream, fruits, veggies, preserves etc.

In the fall they have more variety of apples than you ever knew existed and you can choose any apple, either have it sliced or have it put on a stick, slather it with caramel and add as many toppings as you think you could possible eat. You pay by the pound for your caramel apple creation and sit on bales of hay to eat it.

Anyways, back to the pie! This thing is so good. The top is more like a sugar cookie than a crust and the apples are not smushy but aren't too firm either. My husband could eat a whole pie by himself if I let him. My Dad eats his with sliced sharp cheddar cheese. Any way you go, it's good pie.