NO, I'm not pregnant!

Here's a good one. Recently I was talking to Sister #3 and she mentioned that she and her hubbie are ready to have more kiddos. Currently, they have one precious daughter that is The Wee One's age - 5 weeks older to be exact. Sister #3 goes back and forth between wanting 3 kids and 5. Anyway, she and I have this conversation, and then later that night I sent her a text that could have created a stir of excitement in the family.

That evening, The Husband and I were playing cards with our nephew. The boys were taking so long to play their hands, that I got a little bored and started playing The Game of Life on his iTouch. You all remember this game, don't you? You know, you have the little plastic car with your pink or blue peg in it to represent your gender. As you spin, you go through life events like college, careers, babies, etc. So as I progressed, I discovered I was a Fertile Mertyl. With almost every turn I ended up with a kid. Within 6 or 7 spins, I had had 4 girls and a boy.

Side note: This game is not designed for that many kiddos in one family. After my 4th kid, I assumed I would get a second car since there was no more room in my current car. Nope...I got a boy, but have no idea what happened to him. I guess maybe the game's CPS division decided I was unfit to have so many kids and took him away.

Back to the story....So, given the conversation about Sister #3 having more children, and lots of them, I thought it was funny that I was having all these kids in the game. I sent her a text. After reviewing it the next morning, I realized just how it sounded and why she thought there was something exciting going on. Here was the text: "Apparently I'm playing u in the game of LIFE. Fertile Mertly baby! I better take out some serious life insurance! Any more kids and I have to get a second car." For some reason, I thought that capitalizing LIFE in the text would indicate that it was a board game and not real life. Keep in mind this was around 1 in the morning so my mind was not fully functional.

Therefore, I get a call early the next morning wishing me congrats and wanting to know the story and why I didn't tell her the day before when we were talking about kids. Oops! We had a good laugh about it and I assured her that I am not planning on having more babies right now. I am taking the precautions so if I get pregnant, it is definitely God's plan, not mine. : ) Here' to hoping she has the next newborn!

We have a winner!

I recently decided to start making breakfast smoothies again. I started using this recipe when I was pregnant - actually the original recipe is from What to Expect When You Are Expecting. I have adapted it slightly for my tastes and apparently it is a hit with The Wee One as well.

This morning I gave her a small amount in a "big girl" glass and she devoured it. She then begged her daddy to give her some of his. That was gone in a flash. She ended up getting some more out of me and that was the best yet. She got to the bottom of her glass and started making hilarious noises. First she sounded like she was sucking the last bit of a soda from a straw. Then she started making a hyena-like noise - something you might hear from a crack addict looking for a hit. Goodness, I've found smoothie gold!

Here's the recipe if you are interested. This makes about 14-16 ounces (2 glasses).

• 7-8 frozen strawberries (thaw them in the microwave for about 15 seconds)
• 1 banana
• 1/2 an orange
• 2 heaping tablespoons of vanilla yogurt
• 1 tablespoon of wheat germ
• honey for taste (I use about 1-2 teaspoons)
• orange juice (more or less for desired thickness - I use about 1/2 a cup)

Put it all in the blender and run on high till mixed well. I actually typically keep my fruit in the fridge and this actually helps make the smoothie wonderfully cold.

Give it a try and enjoy!

Domesticated

Due to the encouragement of one of my good friends and fellow blogger (The Bonjour Family), I am trying to add pictures to my posts. Check out my delicious banana pudding and The Wee One modeling my awesome apron!

Some of you are my Facebook friends, and therefore might have seen my comment a few weeks back about finally being domesticated. It's really becoming true! As The Husband and I have discussed many times, he knew what he was getting into when he married me. I pretty much don't cook, bake very little, absolutely hate (therefore seldom do) cleaning - in general, my "domestic" skills are lacking.

However, from time-to-time, I jump out of my comfort zone and surprise myself (and usually everyone else). During this year, we have had a mini-baby boom among our friend base. Literally, between January to May, we had 11 friends have babies. That means 11 baby gifts. I don't know if you have been in the market for baby gifts lately, but to get a decent gift you are gonna spend a minimum of $15 and more like $20-25. Fine and dandy in a typical baby year, but when you have this many going on, it just gets crazy! Originally, I had a friend's mother make some changing pads, patterned after one we got for The Wee One. As much as I loved what she did, as more baby announcements and shower invites turned up, I realized I wouldn't be able to afford someone else making them (by the way, she was totally affordable if anyone needs a really cute baby gift).

Therefore, after a wonderful offer by another friend to take her old sewing machine, I decided I could put these gifts together myself and save a little money. After a night of cursing the machine - knowing deep down that it was most likely user-error, I got a little help and actually put together 5 really cute changing pads! I was so stinkin proud of myself!

Looking at the extra material I had on my table, I decided I would try an experiment. I got our apron out of the closet and after examining it, I figured I could put one together for The Wee One. Yes, the person who hasn't really sewn since she was forced to by her mother in jr. high, tried to put an apron together without a pattern.

Guess what?!?! I did it - and it turned out super cute. Cute enough that I put one together for my little niece as well. Now, I openly admit that they are not perfect and I need some time to develop my craft, but nevertheless I DID IT! That same night, I was so inspired that I actually whipped up a batch of banana pudding...from scratch! Yeah, I rock! Wonder how long this will last? Hum....

Pictures of my mom's art

Golden Landscape

David Facing Goliath


Bamboo Cathedral (yes, that is a sold marking on the tag!!!)

Moon Portal

Oh Momma Mia!

Running River

Parish Hill

Five Birds on a Wire

Okay, as promised, here are some pictures of the work at my mom's show. I would love to know what you think about these pieces and if you are interested in purchasing any of the work, I would love to chat with you about that as well. : ) I will post more later.

Art

For those of you who don't know, my mother is an artist. She has been painting for years - literally since she was about 14. She has even studied art and has a master's degree in the field. That said, she doesn't consider herself a professional at this point because she can't do it full-time and make a living off it - yet!

She had a show this last Friday. One of her friends owns a photography studio and asked her to be the first in a series of monthly art shows. My mother pulled out a few older paintings that she really liked and then frantically painted about 6 new ones to get the show ready. I have to say, as a complete show, this one is probably my favorite. I actually love my mom's work, and no, that's not just because she's my mom. I have always liked her art. Even the paintings that I am not personally crazy about, I always find interesting.

For this show, I honestly liked almost all the paintings. There were about 8 (out of 14) that I would actually hang in my house. The main thing that I think I am most drawn to about my mother's art is her use of and vision for color. Even her muted paintings have amazing color to them. I told her that is probably her signature as an artist - she uses color like few others. Of course, I am not an art critic, but I have been to several shows from several different artists and rarely see paintings that show the vibrant colors of our world.

As the artist, she of course, loves something different...the meanings behind each one. She does love her colorings, but she is much more drawn to the significance of the work. She does a lot of religious-based art and is deeply drawn to that. At the same time, she loves to paint more abstractly and uses that method as an outlet for her inward passions, fears, thoughts, dreams, etc. It all depends on what is "speaking to her" at the time - I guess that's how artists work. I will say that much of her work is truly inspired and holds deep meanings.

Maybe this has sparked interest for someone about my mom's art...I hope so. She is in the process of developing a web page for her work, but until then, I will post a few of her more recent works - as soon as I get home and download them from my camera. : )