Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to Marisa!

It's the second anniversary of her 29th birthday and in what seems to be my tradition, I found a picture that I though she would most appreciate.

(That drink would be sans alcohol, given Marisa's state of affairs!)

Sisters

I came across a picture of Ella at 4 months last night and I was struck by how much Ashley looks like her then! In the spirit of Andria's quiz and Pen's deja vu moment, here is my version. I think they practically look like twins! (Except that Ashley now has a *few* pounds on Ella then.)

Am I crazy? TWINS, I tell you!

Throwing Her Weight Around

Last night we had a photo shoot, of sorts, with Ashley Kate taking center stage. I didn't necessarily set out to take about zillion pictures of Ashley, but she insisted on trying to roll over (!). She never could get it done, but I thought a little documentation of the effort was in order. (I was so tempted to give her a little nudge, because that was all she needed, but thought better of it. I bet that once she actually makes it over to her stomach she is going to be upset about the change of events and I don't want to be responsible for that!)

Miss Mags

Maggie is so chill.

More Ashley

When the readers demand more Ashley videos, who am I to deny them?

PenelOccupation

We here at the McBlog aren't afraid to do some shameless promotion of ideas, products, children, recipes, whatever. It's our specialty, let's say.

So you won't be one bit surprised when I tell you that you really need to go check out The PenelOccupation. Penelope writes about her job as the Manager of a Company (read: mother of two small children) in a way that is creative, witty and sharp. You don't have to be a Manager yourself to appreciate her occupation and the job it totally is. And she posts regularly, unlike... others...! ;)

I have added a link to Penelope's blog under the 'My Peeps' section to the right (more shameless promotion of blogger friends). Perhaps on those days when I haven't posted-what?me?-you can just click right on over and see what's happening at the Lo.Co.

Here's a fine example of the Manager's take on recent office goings on (ripped straight from The PenelOccupation):

Employee Demands a Thatsit

One of the things I like so much about writing, as opposed to talking, is the ability to think about and edit what I'm going to say before I say it. Being human, I'm not always perfect on the first try with speaking. I do get disappointed in myself as a Manager maybe too much with this shortcoming, but once you speak the words, they are what they are, and you can't take them back. So you can't worry about it too much, just try and do better the next time.

For instance, I don't particularly like to tell my employees they are "being bad," but well, sometimes they are being bad, or at least the one who's been with the company long enough to be bad is being bad. I know, according to all the Managerial Training Books, managers shouldn't really phrase admonitions this way to their employees; it doesn't help productivity or overall work satisfaction for anyone in the company. A manager instead should patiently point out that the behavior is "not acceptable," advise of the "appropriate behavior," and/or distract the employee, blah blah blah. Maybe in an ideal office environment, where The Manager has an unlimited supply of patience and perfection, this procedure would always be possible. Frankly, it's less that I don't want to tell K.Lo she is "being bad"--because if she is, she needs to know. It's just that there are better ways to say it. That way is not always on the tip of my tongue.

On the other hand, not communicating the right words can be entertaining, even when you don't mean them to be. After clocking in from Break this afternoon, K.Lo filled her chocolate quota for the day, and then continued to ask for more. I offered the alternate options of "pretzels, grapes, or... that's it." It didn't exactly make sense. But K.Lo, not going for the first two options, settled on the "that's it," requesting whatever a "thatsit" is several times. Maybe she thought it was made of chocolate.

Out of Context

Various quotes from Ella Grace:


"Don't worry about it. I've got it under control."

"Mama, that was a waste of money!"

"Why? It's just the same old Ashley."

(in the dressing room with me) "Mama, you're showing yourself your rear end. Why?"

Ella's School Photo

Proof

This picture from my new renewed license proves three things:

1) I did get those bangs I was talking about.

2) It is possible to take a decent photo for your drivers license (I'm keeping this bad boy forever. Good thing the state of Kansas makes their licenses good for 7 years!)

3) It is impossible to sign your name normally on those stupid electronic thingies. Here's an idea, stupid electronic signature thingie makers, how's about you make the window big enough for those of us whose letters go BELOW the line? Preesh.

AmGlad

Much like a car wreck where you just can't look away, we watched the new American Gladiators tonight. Hmm.

I got quite a kick out of all their names. Siren? Venom? Militia? Come on! How gay. (Speaking of gay, when I was searching the web for A.G. pics I found an interesting little story about how Militia has a history in gay porn. Just a FYI.) David and I got to laughing about what our names would be if we were on Gladiators. Interesting concept, no? We settled on Tapeworm for him, Discomboobulator for me, B.S.H. for Ashley (brick s-house) and Hella for Ella.

Ella's name was modeled after one of the shemale gladiators, Hellga, who just so happens to look and sound like she's been on the juice for ages*. Ain't she a beaut?

Hellga wears a skirt to hide her man-berries.

Unfortunately, Hella decided that AG looks like fun and she started running around the house in a 'race' with the gladiator. (She had us say 'Ella, ready?" Yes! "Gladiator, ready?" Yes! "Go!" just like on the show.) She won every time, I want you to know! That's my Hella. She also started running and jumping on the couch and then jumping back down during this race until she was reminded that we don't care who you are, 'roids or not, there's no jumping on the couch. Man, parents are such downers!

Have y'all seen this spandex madness?

*(Let it be known that should Hellga ever want to rumble, Discomboobulator and Tapeworm would both run far, far away. And probably cry like little girls. She's a man beast!)

AJ's BD

Today is Angie Jo's birthday - yay! Happy Birthday to her!

As I am apt to do, I offered to make Angie a cake for her birthday. Sure! she says. Also as I am apt to do, I waited until the last minute (last night) to do the ingredient shopping and preparation of her super duper strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese icing. Yum!

I found it necessary to buy frozen pizza for supper instead of taking the time to cook a whole meal and then being up until midnight making AJ's cake. Did I complain that I was jilted from a nutritious, balanced meal? Noooo. I didn't complain when I went to take the pizza out of the oven and burned my wrist on the 425 degree door. Burned it so well that I had to cut off a piece of my aloe plant and slather it over the burn. But not a peep out of me, noooo.

I didn't even complain when, after getting some of the tasty icing on my wrist, I licked it (because I'm like that) and inadvertantly licked the aforementioned aloe and it tasted awful. I almost puked, awful. But I soldiered through without an ugly word. Cool the cake, ice it, go to bed. Done! Nothing but sweet wishes for Angie's birthday danced through my head. Until 4 am when I wake up thinking 'damn it's cold!' and then at 5 am when I get up to feed Ashley and am hit with some serious cold air.

David agrees that, in fact, it is very cold in our house.

Oh. Shit.

I seem to remember talking to David about how we needed to order more propane because we were getting very very low and so was the temperature outside so let's get that done ok? Yeah. Never did. And now, now, we are out. We weren't out before I used to oven for the frozen pizza and AJ's cake were we? Nooo. But did I complain that it's all Angie's fault for making me bake her a cake and cook frozen pizza and use up the last little bit of propane we had that could have been heating our bodies through the night? Nooo.

When I went to the bathroom and sat down on a frigid toilet seat, that's when I might have complained. Just a little, teeny bit. :)

So Happy Birthday to Angie! I am giving her one hell of a costly cake!

(Actually, it's best that we went out last night instead of during the day today. We wouldn't have known it until tonight and by then it would be too late to get a delivery and we would have been out until Monday. And sleeping at Angie's house.)

Ashley says...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kelly Wants to Borrow That Top

Please meet Kelly.

(The guy who plays Kelly also plays several other characters.)

Kelly is quite the phenom on YouTube with millions of hits and several different videos. I think the songs are so-so, but the first part of the videos is generally pretty funny. Feel free to stop it once the song gets going and there is a fair bit of cussing in it, FYI. This is one of my favorites and I often find myself wanting to quote from it. But I can't quote it if you don't know what I'm talking about!

Now that that's said and you have been introduced to Kelly (and her mom), I would like to comment on Andria's post regarding Dellaina's new pair of smarty pants.

"I just don't know where she gets that... Smarty McSmarty!"

Thai-licious

Yesterday I decided that Niki's Thai Peanut Sauce was too tempting to resist any longer. It was as easy as Niki said it would be, and just as delicious too!

(It seems like lately I'm all about posting recipes... I hope you're not getting tired of me and my cookery? You should know that I'm not dispensing these things willy nilly. Nooo, no. Anything I pass on has been tested and voted 'Damn That's Good!' at my house.)

This is essentially the recipe as Niki posted it with ever so slight adjustments.

Niki's Tasty Thai

2 packets of Ramen noodles (doesn't matter what flavor, you're just using the noodles)
1 package of frozen mixed veggies (whichever you prefer)
chicken or beef, if you so desire

Thai Peanut Sauce:
1/3 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp Garlic powder (or garlic)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Cayenne pepper - however much/little you like

Cook vegetables and noodles as directed. Mix together ingredients for sauce and microwave for 30 to 60 seconds. Combine vegetables, noodles and sauce. Mmmmm!

Just as Niki said, this is better cold than hot! :)

All Smiles

Ashley is just beginning to find her voice in terms of squeals of excitement and general vocalizations. I think it's great because it gives us more interaction with her and, let's face it, it's fun to make babies smile and squeal with happiness!

I tried my best to capture a little of her newfound noises but proved unsuccessful. What I did get, however, was a few seconds of all smiles and a teeny tiny bit of 'talk' from her.

I'm thinking that maybe this is something only the fam will love to see? but who cares. I think it's cute so I'm posting it!

Swing State the Great

I told you that all the cool kids were doing their political thang over at Swing State! Here's just one example of why you should be reading:

1) This hilarious pic of Hillary was posted

2) Someone commented "why would Bill need to turn to another woman when Hil has a mouth like that?"

HAHAHA! This is why they're hot.

The Weather Needs a Doctor

In honor of Marisa and in response to the out of control Kansas weather (we ended up with 7 inches of snow, btw), I submit this from K-State's Campus Fourum:

"My friend and I took the bipolar Kansas weather to Lafene [Student Health Center] to get its meds regulated. But they told us it wasn't bipolar. It was pregnant."

Baby Feet

These little bitty baby feet are firmly planted (in my heart).

Even with her mama's long ass toes, Ashley Kate rocks the house.

Juggle This

You would think that I would have enough to do. That I wouldn't really feel the need to add something else to my list of 'things to do EVERY DAY'. That I find plenty of things to fill all 24 hours in my day to the very tippy top and the thought of adding one more thing would just be perposterous.

You would think.

But I did.

I have added the 'go to the gym' ball to the juggle that is my daily routine. I know why I did it... I want/need to feel the accomplishment that comes after a good work out. I might even need to hit the bags just for hitting the bags sake. But holy smokes how in the hell am I going to manage? I have two small children! And a job! A five-thirty class sneaks up pretty darn quick when you get off of work at five and have a baby to pick up from daycare. I guess I will manage like you always do when something is important enough, but I sure don't promise that it will be pretty. Or that I will get to class on time. Or even get to class more than twice a week.

I just hope that I am able to keep the myriad of balls in the air and moving at a steady pace. Proper planning is my mantra. And the guilt of being away from my precious girls that threatens to overtake my pleasure of breaking a good sweat? I'm gonna score a TKO on that. Or hit the mat trying.

Lesson

Lesson for Today:

Kansas weather is out of control. If there is anything that I have learned about this great state, it's that the weather is neither predictable nor constant. Yesterday it was 55 degrees and I didn't need/want a jacket. Today, however, I had on my heavy down coat because it was snowing and freezing cold. Tonight we are expected to get 3-6 inches of snow but by the weekend it should be back up in the forties. It's no wonder everybody and their dog is sick!

Addendum to Today's Lesson: The wind blows ALL THE TIME. (Is that because Nebraska blows and Oklahoma sucks? Sorry, just a little Kansas joke for you.)

Mardi

Today is Super Fat Tuesday. A big ol' fat 'eat all you want from the buffett' day for lots of folks around the country, whether it be politics or baccanalian feasts that you are partaking of.

If politics is your bag, I'd like to recommend a little blog that my friend Ashley co-created called Swing State. It's not your typical political shouting match because they don't take sides, they just make observations. Like Mitt Romney looks like Chuck Woolery. Yeah, it's that kind of greatness. AND they have mentioned me and my observations TWICE, by name, so you know they are smart chicas. I will shamelessly plug them (me) because I'm like that. Check 'em out for info about the candidates and other uncanny resemblance calls.

If crazy festivities are more your speed, I'd like to say this to you about that:

Laissez les bons temps roulez! (Let the good times roll!)

Crescents

One of the many things my Grandmama was known for cooking well were Crescents (some people call them Mexican Wedding Cookies). We all just loved these rich, delectible cookies and could never stop with just one. I went years without having them before I finally realized that I had her recipe and was perfectly capable of making my own!

Now that I have added Crescents into my cookie repetoire, there's no stopping me. They are strangely addictive for having such simple ingredients. Ella and I whipped up a batch this afternoon and unfortunately, there are quite a few less tonight than there were when we were done!

(This recipe is great if you have little helpers because it requires mixing and squishing with your hands. Also, there are no raw eggs in the dough so little hands can be licked without fear.)

Crescents

2 cups self rising flour
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. ice cold water
1-2 cups finely chopped pecans (depending on preference)
powdered sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix butter, flour and sugar together with your hands until dough is a uniform texture. Add water and vanilla and combine with hands until a dough forms a ball. Add pecans and combine. Pinch dough into half-dollar sized pieces, roll and form into the shape of a crescent. Cook on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and roll in powdered sugar.


Give these a try a see if you stop at one. Let me know how that works out for you! ;)