See ya in the 'burbs!

I'm a suburb girl, always have been and I'm pretty sure I always will be. There is something about being close to the city lights, yet far enough away that the club goers don't wake you up at closing time that is a perfect fit for me. This week I took a road trip and amid all the miles logged traveling through large and small towns it made me realize that I LOVE where I live. I love the Pacific Northwest!The clean air, the mass quantities of evergreen trees, the friendliest people and yes, I even love the rain! There is just something about 72 degrees and sunny on Thanksgiving that just doesn't fit well in my book. The funny thing is that I lived my whole childhood there, I'm a California native, but give me 8 years in the the PNW and I've become an official transplant.

I also traveled through many small towns with populations ranging from 500-2100 and it boggles my mind how people live in small, rural towns. Do they pick up and move to the small town or are they born into it and either can't afford to leave or love their little town just as much as I love my city and don't care to leave? So I pose a question to my bloggy friends, where do you live? City livin' or are you a small town, country girl? What in your life brought you to where you live today? Please feel free to share in the comments or your own post with a link back.

Many Shades of Gray

Is it because I'm nearing then end of my 20's and my youth is forever fading away? Or is it because I'm a single parent more than 90% of the time and the stress can, at times, be overwhelming? Whatever the reason may be these little buggers keep creeping in on me! One will pop on up over here, then he invites a few more of his friends and they throw a little party. Now we all know what happens at parties, there are always party crashers and they can be crazy and wild, sometimes even kinda kinky! Then the offspring of those crazy party crashers start sprouting little buds and then BAM more of them appear. It's a vicious, never ending cycle.

So yes, I am now willing to admit that I am a 29 year old woman with WAY too many gray hairs! There, I said it! The last few years I have noticed many different shades of gray setting up house on the fertile ground of my little head and it's only cemented the fact that I'm getting older (and hopefully wiser.) On the plus side, thank god for hair dye or I would look like a woman way beyond my years! Really, what did women do before you could color your hair? I would just die of embarrassment if I had to show off my grays for the world to see at my age. I can only hope that in the future (way, way in the future) that I will be one of those cute, little, old ladies in her rocking chair with her grandchildren at her side and a head full of beautiful white hair. Needless to say the innate planner in me has gotten a really good head start!

So, here is your forum to openly or anonymously admit your gray hair. I'll go first. Hello, my name is Laura and I have gray hair.

Excuse Me While I Step on My Soap Box

I try to stay non confrontational on this blog because I really just want it to be a fun place for me to post my tidbits of life so that my friends, family, and bloggy buddies can enjoy coming back time and time again. Now I don't intend for this topic to become a nasty debate but I would like to welcome all comments, whether or not you agree with me.

TLC, What are you doing?

Unless you've been hiding under a rock I'm pretty sure that you've all heard the Jon and Kate plus 8 drama, don't even get me started on that...I could go on forever! But in watching a few of their shows I can see a trend developing.....family conflict. I like to watch Little People, Big World but it seems they are taking a page of the J&k+8 book. In the season opener and the following episode divorce was openly discussed and both parents didn't know which path they would follow now that the kids were getting older. Not to mention during the commercial breaks there were advertisements for another one of their series, American Choppers, showcasing some type of family problem that was going to tear them apart. Now I've never watched the show, so I'm not sure if it was an exaggeration or not but enough is enough! I'm not opposed to divorce, if that is what is best for your family, fly at it. Nor am I immune to the idea that a family conflict can split the seams on an already rocky relationship resulting in an unfortunate outcome. But allowing a television company to profit off a private part of your life especially when you have kids is shameless.

And shame on TLC! The Learning Channel, or so they say, has neglected to teach me anything except how not to screw up interpersonal relationships. Remember the fun, family friendly Trading Spaces, I seriously LOVED that show.... those were the good ol' days.

And now I've stepped off of my soap box and I'm opening it up to others. What to do you think of TLC's programming and the way they are handling everything?

Can we read it again?! Repeated Book Readers Anonymous

How many of us have read the same book over and over again to our kids? Maybe I'm psychic but I'm sure that everyone of us raised our hand. I love a good kids book! One that is kid friendly and not obnoxiously annoying such as one of my son's faves, Mongoose, Mongoose, Stop! Don't Run by Antoinette Costello. Yes, it's cute the first couple times but I could recite that book in my sleep after downing a couple of shots and with a splash of Nyquil as a chaser. I'll just say that the title along with "I just want to have some fun" is repeated on EVERY.OTHER. PAGE! So to that I say, "Mongoose, mongoose, please don't stop and run away, far, far, away so that I don't have to read you ten times a day."


On to one of MY favorite books, Big Words For Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis. I absolutely adore this book! I picked it up at my place of worship, aka Target, and figured it might be a little over my kid's age group (4-8yrs old) but he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It takes some hard to understand vocabulary words and whittles them down so that the youngsters can understand them but in a fun rhyming kind of way. Some examples of the vocab words are consequence, irate, patience, and considerate. The illustrations are cute and there are lots of different things to look at on the pages. Now, I do not have a deal with amazon whatsoever but in writing this post I discovered that the book is on sale for $11.55, almost $6 off the cover price so if you're interested, check it out. So yes, I LOVE this children's book and don't mind reading it over and over and over again. What's your favorite book to read to your kids? Which book do you absolutely despise?

Calling All Crafters!!!!

I'll admit it I am a not-so-crafty mom. I have great ideas in my head but never seem to know how to make it work so that my end product turns out like my vision. I've tried scrapbooking, cuter in my head. I've tried knitting, um, let's just say I'm not patient enough. I would love to learn how to quilt but I figure that too is better left looking beautiful in my head as well. Needless to say I need help so let's talk Halloween! My son has decided to be a construction worker/handyman for Halloween so I've been on the lookout for bits and pieces to complete the look. I was able to find a white hard hat (for an awesome price of $1.50) at Goodwill and I want to paint it yellow but I don't want to screw it up. I want it to look really good, not like another one of my crappy crafts.That is where you all come in. So here is my hardhat and I'm looking for any and all advice as to the best way to turn it yellow. Now is the time to speak up, ask your friends and let me know if certain paint is better than another, how many coats, or if you have any tricks of the trade. Secondly, if you've done a construction/handyman costume before what/how did you do it?

Link Love, Giveaways and Food

So I thought that I would spend today giving out a little bit of link love. First off, I have to tell you that I actually won a giveaway. My first ever! Let's just say I was a tad excited to put it mildly. What's the giveaway you ask, well it's what every mom or family needs/wants......a $50 gift card to Safeway! Awesome, right? And get this, it actually appeared in my mail box as I was loading the little one in the car to go to Safeway. Can we say perfect timing anyone?! So I would like to send a HUGE thank you to Megan over at Megans A Mom. Do you want to know the best part? She's doing another $50 gift card giveaway right now. So click on over HERE and enter her giveaway because who here doesn't buy groceries? That's what I thought, now go directly (although it's ok if you want to finish my post) to Megan's A Mom, do not pass go, do not collect $200 (although that 50 would be nice, right) and enter. Ok, for those of you still here she has a great blog, very well written, witty and I'll even say her blog has a potential to rival Dooce as time goes on and her numbers grow. Need I say more, go and check it out!

Ok, on to the next one. I came across another blog, very different from the one above, called Our Unexpected Journey, about a family going through life with three children including one who has down syndrome. This blog truly touches my heart because I have worked with children with disabilities in the past and these kids are amazing. I can honestly say that these kids will always have a special place in my heart. Adrienne posts very real thoughts but intermixes it with a positive attitude and pictures of her "cute as a can be" kiddos. One of her recent posts asked readers for an easy, no fuss dinner (as she is "cooking challenged") for her family and it got me thinking about one of my faves that is super easy and yummy. So in her honor I'm going to post it here for all of you and don't hesitate to share your recipes with me or head over to her blog and give her a hand. I'm sure she would love more ideas.

Artichoke Chicken

1. I can of Artichoke hearts , drained and chopped ( I use the ones in water to be a little healthier but I'm sure the fancy oil marinated ones would be scrumptious)


2. 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


3. 3/4 cup mayo ( I sub 1/2 - 2/3rds of the mayo with fat free mayo to cut down on fat but go with what floats your boat)


4. some pepper and garlic to suit your preferences


5. 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts


6. Mix everything (minus the chicken) together in a bowl.


7. Place chicken in a greased casserole dish and cover with your artichoke mixture.


8. About 30 minutes at 375 degrees and you're done!

This is a super easy recipe and a nice step up from your basic baked chicken It is VERY flavorful so I would pair it up with side dishes that aren't too strong. Bon Apetit!

Score 1 for Mom

I'm all for tricking the troops into eating vegetables over a food battle anyday and honestly, what mom isn't. So in honor of winning a broccoli battle last night, here was my plan of attack.

When the opposition sees exhibit A
guns are drawn and the battle over broccoli begins!

Mom cleverly devises a Trojan horse scheme to disguise exhibit B

amongst the ever popular dinosaur and quite tasty dinosaur shaped nuggets




Operation Complete!

While the broccoli nuggets looked noticeably different that the dinosaurs they peaked enough interest for a taste test and successively passed this mini-soldiers test.

What tricks do you use to fool the troops?

Show me those pearly whites!

Just in case you needed a good laugh!!!

I'm smiling with you big ol' horsey!

Honestly, we've had a great week around these neck of the woods. Our house that has been empty for almost 3 years and on the market for almost a year finally sold. If all goes well it will close soon and our "new chapter" of life will start. See, selling this house means that we're one step closer to moving up to Canada and having a more "traditional" life. You know the one where you actually get to LIVE with your husband and he can have a job that allows him to be home more and hopefully add more little monsters to our little family. Secondly, my hubby finally got some extra government credentials, after a silly paperwork mix up that took forever to fix, that will allow him to haul goods from US Ports which equals more money for us. Hooray! And lastly, we're celebrating two birthdays this week. My lovely husband is turning one year wiser (we'll see about that) tomorrow and our cute as a button son turns the big 3 on Wednesday. So we'll have some busy days surrounded by fun, family and friends and I'm pretty sure there will be pics and stories to follow. So, let me know what good news came your way this week. From big news to little tidbits, go ahead a let it out! Let's all brag a bit and smile (although maybe not as big as that horse) about other's news.

When are you really an adult?

So as I gain another year on the books I question if I'm technically an adult yet. Legally, yes I am but do I feel like an adult? No, not really. I remember when I was a kid and you would look at your parents and wonder what it would feel like to be soooo old. Honestly, I feel exactly the same as I did back then. I'm the same person that I was ten years ago, a few more responsibilities (insert hubby and 2yr old here) but I don't feel any different. I see pictures of the kids that I used to babysit as a teenager and they're all grown up and then it hits me, if they are 15 years older....wait a minute... so am I! It makes me wonder if twenty years from now when I'm going to be approaching my 50's (OMG) if I'm going to feel the same as I do now. Will I still look at myself in the mirror and see me or some ol' lady with lots of wrinkles staring back at me? Ok, I know I'm not that old and some will laugh that I call myself that but honestly, did you have one of those moments where you suddenly "felt" like an adult?