more questions

Do you send Christmas cards? Am I a terrible person for just not caring enough to do it?

I come from a family that not only sends them, but designs really cool ones, gets them printed up and sends them to just about every country on the planet (Dad is crazy friendly). But I… I can’t do it. I have a strange phobia of the post office and stamps and such. Not getting stuff, love it, but I can’t send it. I could go into why, but mostly I’m insane. I have loving, wonderful friends who send cards, gifts, lots of thoughtful things, and who love me for my inability to get my crap together and send anything ever. I don’t like this about myself at all, but have to accept that I can’t work on this yet since I’ve got all those other things I need to work on like housewifery (blah) and parenting. And to my loved ones who love me anyway - I LOVE YOU!!!!!  I’ll figure out how to be as awesome as you someday…

What is the one article of clothing you can’t live without?

My magic dress. It’s MAGIC. Put it on and I look like my waist goes IN again. MAGIC. (I promise someday I’ll get around to taking a pic of it)

Who handles the finances in your house? Any tips?

Oh, that’s hilarious. Before we moved to Brasil (first year and a half o’ marriage) we had separate accounts and I shared his account as well and it worked out great. I was working and took care of some bills with my account and the big stuff, but having the little bit I earned as a small pool was awesome. Also, I got paid in cash a lot (violin teaching) and since I am SOOO responsible, you could actually walk over our house and find small piles of money everywhere. I’m nuts, I may not have much money in the bank but if I can see it, I feel rich. $40 in the bathroom, a hundred or two in the silverware drawer… at one point Husband decided to collect ‘em all up and found over a thousand dollars. Yeah. Then we moved and I haven’t had a steady income since, so one bank account. But those days were kind of awesome. Now, since he’s the responsible one (comparatively) he does the thinking. I pay the bills because he’s trying to teach me how to be responsible. heh. We haven’t had the power turned off… yet…

Fun stuff! Ask away!

Ask me anything

GPOYW - escapee edition. I couldn’t take Wisconsin anymore so I packed the kids in the car this morning and headed to Iowa to visit Husband’s sister and company for a few days. Just a 3 hour jaunt, but I did it with 2 kids. All by myself. WonderGirl is in cousin heaven and I feel all empowered and spontaneous. It may not be New York, but they have a Target. Yessssss.

formspring.me

What’s your ideal house?

My opinion is evolving - as is the needs of my growing brood. Having a ranch style was fantastic with WonderGirl learning to crawl and walk. I just kept the door to the basement door closed and the house was her oyster, and I in turn didn’t need to be a paranoid freak all the time.

I like the ranch we’re in now well enough, but it’s kind of small. Not really, but we were spoiled with all the room in our last place, and I’d like a little more space to breathe. If I could design a perfect place for my family now (which these kids keep growing, so who know what will be helpful in the future… padded cell for me, perhaps?) - maybe I’d like these features added:

* Self-cleaning. Hey, they make self-cleaning ovens, why not just extend this to the rest of the house?

* Nice big garage. At least 2 car, 3, preferably. We gots a lot of wheeled things. 2 snowblowers, even.

* Open floor plan - so it’s not compartmentalized a lot between the living room, kitchen dining room and such. I love being able to be fiddling about in the kitchen and make sure my kid isn’t painting all over the family room with chocolate pudding.

* Walkability to parks, grocery, etc. It’s a pipe dream since I’m a suburban goddess living in the middle of farm country, but it’d be nice. Someday.

* Nice big entry from the garage - none of thse tiny rooms or hallways. I’m usually schlepping a carseat and a kid, dragging a screaming kid, a diaper bag, trying to get shoes and jackets and anything else about me somewheres - it would be nice to have a decent mudroom. We have a small hallway now that is also the pantry AND the laundry - I feel like I’m squeezing myself through a toothpaste tube trying to get into the house.

* Big ginormous master bedroom and bath (the place yesterday had one of those shower ROOMS with 2 showerheads - man, it would be like showering under a waterfall!!) next to the kid’s rooms. And plenty of rooms for all the guests who are DYING to experience cow country.

I may just continue to think out this list and keep sharing… but that’ll do for now. Oh, and NO GNOMES. Crazy lady across the street had gnomes that were checking me out all the time -shudder-

What’s your favorite flavor? And why?

Cilantro. What can’t it do? Every time it hits my mouth, my mouth gets all surprised that such an amazing taste could exist, yet it doesn’t overpower anything. For out anniversary we went out for sushi and had this aMAAAAzing roll that had raw tuna, avocado, lime juice and cilantro… aahhhhhh … the lime broke down everything so it was so soft and gahhhhh… can’t finish this, drooling all over keyboard…

(oh, and dark chocolate with raspberry win for the fav sweet flavor)

What one thing do you most regret in life?

Hrm… I’d have to say it would be dating the… characters that I did previous to the Husband. To this day I only respect one of them and we’re still good friends, but if I never lay eyes on the others I’m good to go. Some lied, some were controlling, and some were just plain pansies. Sigh, I wish I hadn’t spent so much of my time and energy on them - and I know my poor mother does too. And having a daughter so like me, how can I teach her from my hall o’ losers? She’s 3 and her teacher at school just informed us she has a boyfriend. Excuse me while I go vomit.

Great questions y’all! Keep ‘em coming!

Ask me anything

questions, questions, questions

You bored?  Me too.  So, I’m being lazy and let you do my blogging for me.  Part of it anyway.  Go crazy, go anonymous, go ask me anything.

hello monday

How many other ladies out there have husbands who are obsessed with owning homes because they hate paying rent?  Oh, I’m sure there’s some logic behind it.  Logic not being my strong suit.  But since I hate rejection, I do not want to own another house, then (oh please oh please!!) have to move, and have to try and sell the house, all the while feeling like I’m dating again, wondering why nobody wants my action.  I mean my house.

We saw a pretty one today.  Super pretty.  But it has the “master on main” thing - I don’t want my bedroom so far from my wee ones - I mean, a 3 year old and a 6 month-er?  I want to hear them when they need me in the middle of the night.  That’s kind of my job.

Especially if they have to puke.  You wanna catch that sooner than later, I think.

US States As Countries of Equal Population.

Can you guess them all?  Click the pic and scroll down to comment #36 to see the whole list.  (via)

think on this.: How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

think on this.: How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

The largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks. After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people. How much stress or relaxation a traveler experienced on the trip appeared to influence post-vacation happiness.

There was no post-trip happiness benefit for travelers who said the vacation was “neutral” or stressful.” Surprisingly, even those travelers who described the trip as “relaxing” showed no additional jump in happiness after the trip. “They were no happier than people who had not been on holiday,” said the lead author, Jeroen Nawijn, tourism research lecturer at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

The only vacationers who experienced an increase in happiness after the trip were those who reported feeling “very relaxed” on their vacation. Among those people, the vacation happiness effect lasted for just two weeks after the trip before returning to baseline levels.

I need something to look forward to.  Like GETTING OUT OF HERE.

You know you live in the boonies when there is an actual functioning milking station in the dairy section of the grocery store.

I give myself 6 more days before I go completely insane and start throwing blocks of cheese at random people. I. Need. Spring.

Unrelated, sweet new look, huh? Dang, the interwebs are cool.

Hem : Half Acre From the piano to the mando, the celeste, heck, even the clarinet, this song makes me happy and inspired to be a musician.

Hem : Half Acre

From the piano to the mando, the celeste, heck, even the clarinet, this song makes me happy and inspired to be a musician.

I wanted to make a get-better-soon vid for my friend, but the fact that I live in a non-stop crazy house muddled things. Also, this contains undeniable proof that I gave birth to myself.

my continuing adventures of being on the defensive

In an effort to stop the mad amounts of the Dude’s ear infections, I took him to a chiropractor this morning.  Lovely lady, she made him giggle.

Not that it’s hard to do,  but still cute to observe.

She asked a few questions about his health in his brief 6 months, including one of my favorites to be asked: “Have you been nursing him?”

“No.”

“Oh… no… why??  That’s really bad.”

I love that answer.  I do.  I could have left it, but you what?  Thanks to Morgan, (THANK YOU!!!) I know it’s not me making something up.  I’m not crazy.  “It’s called Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex.  My let-down triggers psychotic episodes.”

She wasn’t as dismissive or judgemental when I explained it, but she did suggest letting someone look at my neck because that might solve it all up lickety split.  Wacky chiropractors.

I know it’s the nectar of the gods, people.  I don’t need convincing.  I just need to be locked up in a padded room if I do it for the protection of myself and my family.  Good golly.

But thanks to Morgain, it did feel good to have a label.  I was treated a tiny bit less like an insane hypochondriac for once, and that was cool.

And the Dude adored getting felt up and cracked around.  He’s such a Dude.

GPOYW: mom edition. The hours stink, but the pay is good.

Gotta take this to banquet hall. Sorry, that last post stuck the literal version of the tune in my head and all I can remember is that line, over and over and overrr. At least every time I think it, I start giggling.

Zing!

I wonder what rick astley’s giving up for lent.

via anonanimal:inothernews:shannananananana 

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 Ignore if you aren’t a tumblrite - but if you are, you should totally turn this on.  Too cool!

Fashion advice please.  I snagged this odd pencil skirt for a cool $3 at the last Tulle sale (MissCheapskate knows how to work it, yo) and have been racking my brain ever since trying to figure out what to wear with it.  For now, I’m in love with pairing it with these indigo tights, and the black shoes and black cardigan balance each other out…

But the shirt..  I wore just a white one here, but I can’t come up with a permanent love-it solution.  An entire black shirt would be too much, methinks - can y’all suggest a color/style shirt for me to wear with it?

Merci. interwebs!

Soothing Lullaby

Dude won’t sleep.  This lulluby might do the trick…

(via ooliquidnightoo) 

Candy sushi.  My newest obsession.

(viahunsonisgroovy:sweetpea0531)

The Dimple Puck - Concrete Lightbulb Stand from etsy.  If my house didn’t have to be childproofed, I’d totally snap this up.

Alternate Ending Montage : Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack (just a pretty instrumental I dug) We celebrated Valentine’s Day in our small, married way. Husband packed us all up and took me to the mall in Madison so I could wander H&M by myself for a few minutes. HEAVENLY. Also, so we could stop by Target and an Asian market to stock up on yummy snacks. Then, a sitter so we could get a nice dinner and grocery shop without begging WonderGirl to stay in the cart the entire time. Husband found a RockBand for Wii for super cheap, so as usual, my gift to him was letting him buy something totally pointless. If that isn’t super romantic, I don’t know what is. We don’t go all crazy over the top, but Husband always makes Valentine’s Day special. I feel bad for the it’s-a-corporate-invention-we-should-love-each-other-everyday-not-when-they-tell-us-to folks who won’t celebrate it. February sucks. It’s cold, and exhausting and miserable, and I love that corporate America threw a day in this crummy month where we get to put some red on, kiss our sweethearts and gorge on some chocolate. It makes the weeks less bleak. Of course we should love our sweet ones all the time, but what’s wrong with celebrating a little with them in the greyest month of the year? Heck, some years all we’ve done was have a quiet night in after the kid was asleep, but it was still a special date. Silly curmudgeons. Oh, and I looked SO FLIPPIN’ HOTT today at church. A day of red? Made for me.

Alternate Ending Montage : Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack (just a pretty instrumental I dug)

We celebrated Valentine’s Day in our small, married way.  Husband packed us all up and took me to the mall in Madison so I could wander H&M by myself for a few minutes.  HEAVENLY.  Also, so we could stop by Target and an Asian market to stock up on yummy snacks.  Then, a sitter so we could get a nice dinner and grocery shop without begging WonderGirl to stay in the cart the entire time.  Husband found a RockBand for Wii for super cheap, so as usual, my gift to him was letting him buy something totally pointless.

If that isn’t super romantic, I don’t know what is.

We don’t go all crazy over the top, but Husband always makes Valentine’s Day special.  I feel bad for the it’s-a-corporate-invention-we-should-love-each-other-everyday-not-when-they-tell-us-to folks who won’t celebrate it.  February sucks.  It’s cold, and exhausting and miserable, and I love that corporate America threw a day in this crummy month where we get to put some red on, kiss our sweethearts and gorge on some chocolate.  It makes the weeks less bleak.  Of course we should love our sweet ones all the time, but what’s wrong with celebrating a little with them in the greyest month of the year?  Heck, some years all we’ve done was have a quiet night in after the kid was asleep, but it was still a special date.

Silly curmudgeons.  Oh, and I looked SO FLIPPIN’ HOTT today at church.  A day of red?  Made for me.

Anyone notice how the parade of nations in the winter Olympics takes waayyyy shorter than the summer ones?  Much less of the world competes… anyone notice that Brasil, one of the most populous countires in the world only has 5 athletes competing??  We did.  WonderGirl is a Brasilian citizen, so you can bet we’re gonna push her into some weird, easy to perfect sport like Curling or Snowman Making so she can be an Olympian for Brasil.  Coolness, huh???

Also, I LOVED this qoute by the colorful prez of Brasil, Lula, who is insiting his country step up their game and get a ton of gold at the 2016 Olympics, saying Rio didn’t win the “Olympics so gringos can come here to win our medals.”.

Heh.

Want.  <3 thinkgeek.com

(this is the world’s only USB powered fondue pot, thanks to ThinkGeek.com.  If I don’t own it soon, I may actually die.)

Valentine’s Day is coming up and when I think AWESOME dinner, perfect for a holiday, I think fondue.  I’m kind of the cheese fondue master.  Ask anyone.  I’m awesome mostly because I really stink at cooking skills, but fondue only requires the skill to MELT, and I’m really good at melting stuff.  I melt plastic bowls on the stove every week.  Seriously.  The house is starting to smell weird.

 And this week, I’ve gotten a trillion requestst for my awesome fondue recipes.  So instead of e.mailing everyone I know, I’m going to post it everywhere.  For you, because I’m just that awesome.  You’re welcome.

This first one is my all-time favorite, friends from college will remember this at my many Fondue/Sushi parties.  Husband doesn’t like it so much because he says I smell like onions for days afterwards, but it’s so tasty, I take the hit and forgo smooching for a few days.  Since it has french onion dip in it, it tastes awesome with any bread, and any veggie.

Sharp Cheddar and French Onion Fondue
(I usually double this, but this is the singular version)
 
1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 cup sharp cheddar (I usually use more, just throw a bunch in a see how the consistency is)
 
8 oz french onion dip (since I usually double this, I use 16 oz sour cream and a packet of onion soup mix since it tastes way better than premade french onion dip, but if you do the singular, I’d use 8 oz sour cream and half a packet of onion soup mix, though I will add more for uber flavor)
 
a squirt of mustard 

I suggest green peppers (and the red and yellow and orange ones), cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and sourdough bread, but anything goes, seriously.

Tomato Cheddar Fondue

1 can Italian Tomato soup ( or any Campbells tomato soup that is all flavored and yummy)
 
cheddar cheese - I don’t know how much, I just add until the consistency is nice and not too thick)

Super easy, super delicious, great with veggies and breads, I like fancy focaccia breads with cheese all over the top.

Easy Swiss

1 can chicken broth
 
Swiss shredded, tossed with flour

(optional, add some pressed garlic to the chicken broth before the swiss)

This is really easy get the chicken broth boiling first then add the cheese, but I have to do it slowly and make sure I don’t add too much or too little swiss because it gets too thick or too runny.  But it’s so simple and delicious.
 
Then there’s this new aMAzing Fancy Gouda/Fontina Fondue Jane posted a few weeks ago here: http://isnowagoodtime.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-spirit.html - she’s been trying for years to perfect a fondue that does the Melting Pot justice, and it TOTALLY does!!  I skipped the green onions and used a squirt of mustard instead of powdered and it was still awesome.  I won’t repost it so you have to go and check her out, but rest assured, with Gouda and Fontina, it tastes so decadent and fancy, and I’ve made it twice now without screwing up up.  That means it’s TOTALLY foolproof!!

Easiest Chocolate Fondue EVER

1 jar Nutella
 
3/4 cup milk

dash cinnamon

Yeah, that’s it.  So easy, has that Nutella hazelnut goodness, and goes with anything you’d put with chocolate fondue.  I love rice krispie treats, brownies, any fruit, and angel food or white cake.

So if you don’t have fancy plans or anything else, nothing make sa normal meal a party like fondue.  Take my word for it, I may not be a cooking expert, but I know how to throw a par-tay :)

Not as funny as the last one, but I’m working on it. I’ll get on Tosh.0 yet. I’m not sure why quick capture messed up the audio sync, but whatever. It’s like hearing voices from the future…

GPOYW - playing with my iPhone edition. If only there was an app out there to zap away my headache…

Sidenoye: is 5 grand cheap? Should I be holding out for more?

I’m not the only person who cracked up at this moment in the movie, right?  Really, director?  I’m not film maker, but DUDE.  The owl actually over the top and that’s saying something, what with Miss Blinky Blinkerson and Mr. Grunting-Is-The-New-Acting there.

*blink blink blink*

So that video I made for you, bemoaning the state that is currently holding me captive? I was not aware my YouTube account was linked to my FB account and after posting it for you (loving bloggerist that I am), I went to be and then woke up to a bazillion comments on my FB wall… whooops. I may have offended one or 2 even MORE Wisconsonites. Good golly. But, the response was pretty cool. It made my day actually, which was handy since I made it about having a crappy day. Over 200 views, not bad for this wee mom. What do y’all think, maybe this could be my new career move? I could be a minor cewebrity, posting vids on YouTube until I make an episode of Tosh.0? Could be cool? Maybe. I was perusing my wee YouTube account to see if anyone had been watching my other videos made for my family and friends, and found that the video here taken 2ish years ago of WonderGirl (then WonderBaby) laughing her face off has OVER FOUR THOUSAND VIEWS. Holy crap, that’s… cool? I don’t have any ratings or comments on it since I got spammed a few years ago and had all those people threatening to kill me and my family (looong story if you don’t remember) and I had to turn them off. Too bad too, I wonder why people watch it? Although, along with some answers I’d also get messages that say “U R DUM N SO IS UR BABBY.” Heh. Anywho, maybe I should consider this new career path. Any suggestions on what other topics I can turn into a musical rant?

I didn’t participate in the doppelgänger-lemming-ness over on FB until a friend suggested Zooey here and I saw this picture. As long as you think I look like someone hot, I’ll jump. Heh.

Heehee.

Having a bad day, and knowing that writing out some of my frustrations would just tick me off even more, I have taken to music to share my angst. If that isn’t enough to make you want to watch my 5 minute improvised diatribe, I put my cute baby in it. That’s enough at least for my mom to get through the entire thing before calling me to tell me to sit up straight. Which yes, you’re right mom. This totally counts for my GPOYW too. Wouldn’t want to subject you to too much of my angry mug today.

PPD and the girls

I’ve been thinking about blogging this for some time.  You don’t need to agree or read it, but maybe someone dealing with post partum depression will be googling someday and try to find some answers, and stumble on my experience and it will give an answer or two.  So, feel free to move on, or click to hear my story.

Hahaha!  True dat!

(viamusichistory:songsikeepsinging:thedailywhat:fark)