Merry With Children: March 2010

What's Cooking Wednesday - Tuna Casserole

>> Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of tuna casserole. I'm not sure why...maybe because I didn't really grow up eating it. Dewey on the other hand LOVES it so I make it every once in a while. I figured if I was going to make it I might as well make it good.

Tuna Casserole

adapted from allrecipes.com

1 package No Yolk egg noodles

2 cups frozen green peas

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 can Reduced Fat condensed mushroom soup

1 can Golden condensed mushroom soup

1/2 cup light sour cream

2 (6oz) cans tuna, drained

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

~14 crackers crushed

1 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Boil water for noodles. When you add the noodles, add the frozen peas too. Cook until both are done (per package directions). Drain well & return peas and noodles to pot.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil. Add mushrooms and onions. Cook until the onions are soft. Turn off the heat. Add the soup and sour cream. Mix well. Add the cheese and tuna. Stir until cheese is melted.

Add soup mixture to the noodles and peas. Mix well. Pour into a 11X14 pan. Mix crushed crackers and melted butter. Evenly spread over noodles.

Bake for 20 minutes or until crackers are browned.

Recipe Notes: You could use all reduced fat or low sodium soup. I used what we had. I would love to figure out how to make this without condensed soup but I didn't have time to experiment.

Don't forget to head over to Shan's to see what else is cooking this Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

>> Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Two photos for this Wordless Wednesday.

First one - You would think he doesn't have any toys. He would rather play with used wine corks instead of his building blocks.

Second One - Excuse the craptastic picture of a picture. It looks like Evan doesn't like the Easter Bunny any more than he liked Santa.

Check out other Wordless Wednesday posts over at
A Lot of Loves
and
5 Minutes for Mom!

Pull Ups Potty Dance Blog Tour!

I was asked to participate in the Pull Ups Potty Dance Blog Tour. Since we are in the middle of our potty training journey (ha!), I figured it was an appropriate topic. I must admit that potty training is a topic that exasperates me to no end! Evan is NOT INTERESTED in learning to go to the bathroom in the potty. We have had various levels of success. A few days he went pee in the potty 5 or 6 times and then other days nothing. Today when we asked him about it he said "Today I peed in mine diaper but it's okay. One day I will pee in the potty!"

So far our approach has been pretty laid back. We put him in pull ups or underwear (if we're feeling brave) and then we ask him if he needs to go to the potty every so often. He then gets a Smartie (M&M) when he goes pee in the potty (we are currently focussing pee because any mention of pooping in the potty leads him to scream "Nooooooo!!!!!" and hide in the pantry). We are not having overwhelming success.

My next steps include trying out the Pull Ups Potty Dance & incorporating a sticker chart. I played the following videos for Evan and he seemed kind of interested. He loves music and the beat is nice in the potty dance videos. Want to know what this crazy Potty Dance looks like? Here are a couple of videos. You can also find out more information at www.pull-ups.com.

We'll see how it goes. I will check back in with you to let you know how things are going! I would love to hear your ideas on how to get Evan on the potty wagon!

I am a participant in the Pull Ups Potty Dance Blog Tour & I was compensated for writing a post about potty training.

Evan the Rock Star

Dewey and I often comment about how musical Evan has turned out to be. He loves to sing, hum & occasionally dance. He has to be in the right mood though b/c he sometimes tells Dewey "Daddy....STOP SINGING!" Here's a little video to show you what we mean.

Remember if you are viewing this in Facebook, you have to go to my real blog to see the video.

Monday Mingle Vlog for March 29th

>> Sunday, March 28, 2010

It's time for another vlogging adventure for Monday Mingle brought to us by Eighty MPH Mom! This weeks questions are:

1. What invention would you like to see in your lifetime to make life easier?

2. Who is your BFF (best friend LOL, other than your spouse). How long have you been friends

and what makes that person such a good friend?

3. What is the one area in your home that needs the most organizational help?

Hope you enjoy my vlog & let me know if you decide to do a vlog too. Don't forget to link up at Eighty MPH Mom if you decide to do Monday Mingle!

Visitors from the North!

Evan and I have been missing our friends that moved to Fort McMurray last summer. The mommies, Andrea & Diana, were great friends of mine. We were all pregnant at the same time & we spent tons of time together during our maternity leaves. It was very hard for me when they moved (and still is). Evan misses his friends Kate and Daniel, too & often talks about them.

This weekend we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with Andrea, Kate & Lauren. It was great to catch up & for the kids to get to play. I got my camera out but ended up talking too much so I never got any pictures of the kids together. I guess that happens a lot with 2-3 year olds who are running amok at full speed. Getting them both in the frame at one time is nearly impossible! Thankfully the weather in Calgary has been nice so we got to play outside a bit.

Playing in the Playhouse

Keeping house!

Evan's favorite plant....too bad it's dead as a doornail!

Lauren is a cutie!

Evan and Kate picked right up where they left off. We have a photo screen saver that scrolls through all the pictures on our computer so Evan sees pictures of Kate all the time. I think that helps him remember his friend in the North. In case you think I'm just being whiney & they moved around the corner, I looked it up on Google Maps & it's 758 km to Fort Mac! Yeesh!

Give Back With Hershey's!

>> Friday, March 26, 2010

It's Easter time again! Easter has totally snuck up on me this year! I didn't realize it was so early so I before today I hadn't thought too much about Easter or buying Easter goodies. Easter is one of my favorite holidays because of the CANDY! What is one of the first names you think of when you think of candy???? Hershey's of course!

This year Hershey is partnering up with bloggers to give $5000 to Children's Miracle Network. The Children's Miracle Network helps children's hospitals in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Hershey's is sponsoring a blog hop this Easter Season. They will donate $10 to Children's Miracle Network for every blogpost written about their blog hop.

You can help spread the word by giving virtual Easter Baskets to your blogging buddies and encouraging them to participate (rules below).

Hershey's Bloghop Rules

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

BetterBasket.info/BlogHop

6.

7.

I'm sending Virtual Easter Baskets to:

Hope you decide to participate! I got the idea to participate from 5 Minutes for Mom!

Recipe Index

>> Thursday, March 25, 2010

I've started an index for all of the recipes on this site. You can find it above under the blog title. I haven't had a chance to add all the recipes but I'm working on it. Hope you find it helpful!

What's Cooking Wednesday - Granola Bars

>> Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I am always looking for foods that Evan likes that I can make myself instead of buying them. I LIKE knowing exactly what goes into them. I'm a bit of a control freak that way. I also like to have easy breakfast foods for me on hand. I usually eat breakfast on the way to work or first thing when I get there. Items that are ready to go and easy to eat on the run are high on my list.

Today's recipe comes from the lovely Deb Perelman over at Smitten Kitchen. If you haven't visited her website before, you don't know what you are missing. She has awesome recipes and even better pictures (plus her little guy is ADORABLE!). The recipe below is exactly how I made it. Deb's recipe write up goes into much more detail around additions/subtractions/options, etc. Definitely go check her recipe out to see how you can tweak these to make them your own!

Granola Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oats processed in a blender until finely ground (or oat flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup Craisins
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup agave nectar (could also use honey or corn syrup)
2 Tbsp corn syrup (b/c I ran out of agave nectar)
1 Tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8X8X2 pan with parchment paper. Let the ends of the paper hang off two sides (make it too big). I trimmed my paper so that it didn't go past the top on the other two sides. Spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray.

Chop your Craisins and pecans into smaller pieces (unless you are okay with big chunks). Stir together the dry ingredients (oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, Craisins, pecans & coconut). In a separate bowl stir together the remaining ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until well mixed. Press into the prepared pan. You want to press firmly so that the granola bars will have some stability.

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown around the edges and a little brown on the tops. The middle will seem to soft but it's okay.

Cool the bars completely in their pan or after 20 minutes use the parchment paper as a sling to pull the bars out to finish cooling. Warning - this may lead the edge of your granola bars to crack which can lead to a few messy bars. I ended up putting my bars into the fridge to firm up more for cutting.

Once cool, use a serrated knife to cut into squares or bars. Store wrapped individually in plastic or in a airtight container. I kept mine in the refrigerator. These also freeze well.

Recipe Notes: OMG these are GOOD! You will never buy a store bought granola bar again! Dewey and I both love them. I haven't really tried to get Evan to eat them (guess I don't really want to share). This will seem like a really small batch of bars but they are pretty filling so a small one is plenty. Also, I found these to be a bit on the sweet side so I will cut down on the sugar in the next batch. All in all, this recipe is a keeper.

Don't forget to head on over to Shan's to see what else is cooking this Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday - Where's the Potty????

>> Tuesday, March 23, 2010

So we're TRYING to potty train Evan but he is fighting it tooth and nail. We have had a few good days with him peeing on the potty but poop....no way! He does, however, find something potty-esque to sit on when he poops. In the pictures below it happens to be an easter basket. Is this progress????

This Wordless Wednesday Post has been linked at 5 Minutes for Mom and A Lot of Loves!

Cooking With Evan

I love trying new recipes and making more things from scratch. The only issue is that sometimes I don't have much time to cook without feeling like I'm ignoring Evan. The answer???......Let him help! We decided to make chocolate cookies the other day and Evan loved helping. Was it messier? Yep! Was it worth it? Yep!

Licking the beater is the best part!

He looks like a baby bird...

Yummy!

Monday Mingle Vlog for March 22nd

>> Monday, March 22, 2010

Another Monday Mingle Vlog! Head on over to Eighty MPH Mom to see other Monday Mingle Vlogs.

Who's Afraid of a Turtle?

>> Sunday, March 21, 2010

Evan....that's who! We brought him this turtle backpack from Mexico and he won't even LOOK at it! Whenever I try to show it to him, he says "I'm busy mama!" I then put it on the bed & went into our ensuite bathroom. Evan went over to the bed & flung the turtle in the floor. He said "Mama I throwed it!"

Who know this could be so frightening!

99 Things Meme

While trying to clean out the ever growing list of unread blog posts in my Google Reader, I came across this Meme at A Lot of Loves. I thought it looked pretty cool so I thought I would post with my answers. If you decide to put it on your blog, please leave a link in the comments because I would love to see it!

99 Things Meme

Bold: Indicates the things that I've already done

Italics: Indicates the things that I'd like to do

Plain Font: Indicates the things that I haven't done and don't want to do

Started your own blog. (You kinda know this already since you are reading this on my blog.)
Slept under the stars. (I'm taking a little creative license with this one. I have camped TONS but I'm not sure I've ever slept without at least a tent but I'm counting it anyway!)
Played in a band. (I was in the marching band in high school. I played the...wait for it....bass drum. Yep I was THAT cool....NOT!)
Visited Hawaii.
Watched a meteor shower. (I've seen lots of meteor showers. The coolest one by far, though, was when I was in college. We all went out to some Indian burial mounds & laid on top of them to watch the meteor shower. Totally sounds like something that would happen during a horror movie so thankfully we lived!)
Given more than you can afford to charity.
Been to Disneyland/world. (I've been to Disney World a ton of times. Last year we took Will & Nicole. I can't wait to take Evan!)
Climbed a mountain.
Held a praying mantis.
Sang a solo. (My grandfather was a Methodist minister. I have sung more solos in church than I care to remember. I also sing the occasional song solo when my hubby twists my arm or feeds me enough glasses of wine.)
Bungee jumped. (No way in HELL!)
Visited Paris.
Watched a lightning storm at sea.
Taught yourself an art from scratch. (crochet with the help of a book and occasionally Nana.)
Adopted a child.
Had food poisoning.
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (I can never justify the time away from New York City to go to the Statue of Liberty)
Grown your own vegetables. (Usually tomatoes.)
Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
Slept on an overnight train.
Had a pillow fight.
Hitch hiked. (Another no way in hell one!
Taken a sick day when you're not ill. (In high school)
Built a snow fort. (It didn't snow in Alabama where I grew up.)
Held a lamb. (In Ireland....it was sooooo cute!)
Gone skinny dipping.
Run a marathon. (Austin Marathon in 2003. I ran it in just under 6 hours with my friend Nicole. Not sure I will ever do it again.)
Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Seen a total eclipse. (In elementary school at my Grandparent's house.)
Watched a sunrise or sunset.
Hit a home run. (Will never happen! I SUCK at ball sports!)
Been on a cruise. (We went on the Disney cruise last January. We had a great time though I did get seasick. Blech!)
Seen Niagara Falls in person.
Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
Seen an Amish community. (When in Pennsylvania for work years ago.)
Taught yourself a new language.
Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
Gone rock climbing.
Seen Michelangelo's David in person.
Sung Karaoke.
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
Visited Africa.
Walked on a beach by moonlight.
Been transported in an ambulance.
Had your portrait painted.
Gone deep sea fishing.
Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
Kissed in the rain.
Played in the mud.
Gone to a drive-in theater.
Been in a movie.
Visited the Great Wall of China.
Started a business.
Taken a martial arts class
Visited Russia.
Served at a soup kitchen.
Sold Girl Scout cookies. (I sold hundreds of boxes every year.)
Gone whale watching.
Gotten flowers for no reason. (Not nearly often enough!)
Donated blood.
Gone sky diving. (Not bloody likely!)
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
Bounced a check. (Oops)
Flown in a helicopter.
Saved a favorite childhood toy.
Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
Eaten Caviar.
Pieced a quilt.
Stood in Times Square.
Toured the Everglades.
Been fired from a job.
Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
Broken a bone.
Been on a speeding motorcycle.
Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
Published a book.
Visited the Vatican.
Bought a brand new car.
Walked in Jerusalem.
Had your picture in the newspaper.
Read the entire Bible.
Visited the White House.
Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
Had chickenpox.
Saved someones life.
Sat on a jury.
Met someone famous.
Joined a book club. (I started one a couple of years ago and we just started back.)
Lost a loved one.
Had a baby. (Evan Shelton Kuchle was born on June 28, 2007)
Seen the Alamo in person.
Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
Been involved in a law suit.
Owned a cell phone.
Been stung by a bee.

So What Do You Think????

>> Saturday, March 20, 2010

Here's the new blog lay out. I'm leaning more toward clean and simple as opposed to more busy. I am open to any and all suggestions!

I'm also taking "Merry With Children" for a test drive as the blog's new name. Any likes/dislikes on that would be great.

Excuse My Mess

>> Friday, March 19, 2010

I'm trying to change my blog look & it didn't quite get done. Hopefully it will be much prettier tomorrow!

Follow Friday Blog Hop

I'm participating in a Blog Hop this Friday. Basically you follow the bloggers in slots 1, 2 & 3 on the McLinky list below and as many others as you want. It introduces you to lots of new blogs and hopefully gets you & others new followers. Want to play along? Just sign up on the McLinky below and get started!

Tired Thursday

>> Thursday, March 18, 2010

Dewey was up part of the night with a weird electrical pain in his leg. He did manage to fall back asleep in between jolts so it went something like this....snore...."aaagh"......snore/snort...."aaagh". Rinse & repeat right until I got out of bed. Awesome!

On a happy note....Evan peed in the potty 4 times today! That is 3 more times than he has EVER peed in the potty before. Woo hoo! I hope that we are on our way to potty training success!

So still trying to decide between trying to spiff up this blog or move over to a more fancy schmancy WordPress blog. If I move, I will have to change to my own domain which could be pretty cool. It could mean a shorter url (which would be awesome) but it would also mean that you my lovely followers would have to remember the new url and/or resubscribe when you feed craps out. There are pros & cons on both sides.

I kind of want to have my own domain name either way. I would LOVE to hear your ideas about what it should be. You can check out whether your idea is "taken" here.

Some ideas people have suggested are:
merrydwithchildren.com
fulltimemommy.com

What are your ideas? I would love to hear them!

What's Cooking Wednesday - German Apple Pancake (Dutch Baby)

>> Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I'm always looking for new breakfast ideas. Truth be told, I am not a huge fan of eggs, especially not scrambled eggs. Now, I eat them. I can't be caught being picky when I am always beating the "anti-picky eater" drum! I received a newsletter that mentioned a oven apple pancake. Somehow I lost the newsletter but I remembered the main idea. Google to the rescue!

German Apple Pancake
Adapted from allrecipes.com

4 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & sliced

Mix eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Gradually mix in milk stirring constantly. Add vanilla, butter and milk. Let mixture stand for 30 minutes or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg in a small bowl.

Melt butter in the bottom of a 10 inch cast iron/ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Spread melted butter up the sides of the pan to prevent sticking. Sprinkle half of the sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture over the melted butter. Spread the apple slices over the bottom of the pan. Cover the apples with the remaining sugar mixture. Heat until the mixture bubbles. Gently pour the batter over the apples.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 10 - 15 minutes. Serve.

Recipe Notes: I vastly increased the apples (increased amount is the one shown above...original recipe called for 1 apple). This made the pancake a bit structurally unstable. It also made it pretty tart. I really liked the taste of this recipe, though. It tasted a bit like egg custard with apples. Dewey and I both really liked it but Evan wouldn't even taste it. Such is the life with a picky 2 year old!!!

Head over to Shan's to see what else is cooking this Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday - Pancake Boy!

Monday Mingle - Week of March 15th

>> Monday, March 15, 2010

Sorry for the crappy video quality. My webcam has issues with the audio & video being in synch. I WILL get this fixed one day!

Check out all the other Vlogs for Monday Mingle over at Eighty MPH Mom!

If you are viewing this on Facebook, don't forget that you have to click through to my blog to see the video!

Stream of Conciousness Sunday

>> Sunday, March 14, 2010

My honey the rock star!

The time change has totally thrown me for a loop today. We went to a party last night where Dewey's band played. It was a great party but it went late & then we lost an hour so this morning I was....well....tired. All day I have felt disjointed & I even had a nap! Oh well, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

We spent a great weekend hanging out with Evan. We didn't get a ton accomplished but that's okay too. We did lots of playing and went to the park. We had very nice weather this week so there was plenty of sunshine & warmer than normal weather. I also made a new recipe for breakfast called a Dutch Baby or Dutch Apple pancake. It was super yummy! I promise to post the recipe!

Trying to look serious....

...couldn't do it!

I remembered to sit down and write a meal plan this week. Dewey and Evan went and bought the groceries because I was stuck to the couch. Here's what's in store for us this week:

Tuna Casserole - I made this tonight. It turned out great. I will definitely post the recipe.
Korean Marinated Beef (from Scattered Mom's great & free meal plans at Everything Mom)
Ginger Apricot Chicken (again from Everything Mom)
The other two nights we will do leftovers & one night I have a Jewelry Party at my house so I will be making some appies....maybe Spinach Cheese Squares.

In other notes....I am seriously considering moving my blog to my own domain name & changing it a bit. I promise that I will let you know when/if that happens but I just wanted to warn you that changes they are 'a comin!

Thanks for stopping by!

Passion?

>> Friday, March 12, 2010

Passion. It's a small word that has caused me to ponder my life these past few weeks. What is my passion? It seems like a simple question with an answer that should leap off my tongue without thought or pause.....but it doesn't.

For years my driving desire in life was to grow up, get and education and move away from my small Alabama town to start my life. I succeeded and moved away to a medium sized Alabama town to go to University where my drive to grow up, get an education and move away continued in full force. I graduated & took a job two states away. I still didn't feel like I had grown up or "made it". Since then, I have moved two more times, gotten married and given birth to a wonderful little boy but still the "is this where I'm meant to be?" question lingers.

I always told myself that one day I would feel like I finally "made it" and I could slow down and figure out what I like to do....get a hobby, find something I love to do, something I feel passionate about. I'm almost 35 and I'm still not there.

Don't get me wrong. I love my husband and my son dearly but they are not a "passion". My husband has two passions: music & flying. I know that without pause or thought. When I asked him what my passions are he just looked at me.

I am taking this as a wakeup call to spend some time figuring out who I am and what I want in my life because really.....

If not now....when?

===================================================================
This post is being submitted to the Mabel's Labels BlogHer '10 contest. It answers this hypothetical situation: Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?

What's Cooking Wednesday - Cheese Puffs

>> Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I've found a new food blog that I'm enjoying lately.....Weelicious! It features kid friendly food recipes. This is the first recipe I have tried but it was a big hit so I will definitely be making more!

Cheese Puffs
Adapted from Weelicious.com

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter (I used salted)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
6 large eggs (5 for recipe + 1 for eggwash)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix milk, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter is melted and milk is warm.

Add flour to the pot and continuously stir with a spatula until combined & a light golden color (about 3 minutes).

Dump dough into a mixer (with paddle attachment) or a food processor with the cheese. Mix until cheese is incorporated and melted.

Add the 5 eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition.

Spoon onto a silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash for a shiny crust. I did part of my puffs in my Pampered Chef mini muffin pan.

Cheese Puffs from cookie sheet on left from mini muffin pan on right.

Recipe Notes: The puffs I made on a cookie sheet were a little flat. I think next time I will up the flour content but this may be a high altitude problem so maybe try them with the ingredients above one time.

Don't forget to see what else is cooking over at Shan's!

Knowing Me, Knowing You - March Edition

>> Tuesday, March 09, 2010

It's that time again. Time for another round of the Knowing Me, Knowing You interview series brought to us by the lovely Fairy Blogmother!

1. Do you play a musical instrument?

Nope. I took piano lessons when I was young but I refused to practice so not much came of that. I would like to learn to play the guitar but I have a hard time commiting to yet another thing in my already hectic life. Dewey is more than willing to teach me since he is a kick ass guitar player. I do love to sing and I have been known to sing in public occasionally though mainly around the campfire.

2. Do you have a set of every day dishes and a set of "good" dishes?

Nope. I decided not to register for two sets of dishes when Dewey and I got married. Instead I registered for a beautiful set of blue Denby. I have been very happy with my decision so far. We entertain quite a bit but it's usually more of a casual, barbeque type affair where "good" china would end up getting broken in a million pieces.

3. Chocolate Milk or White?

I don't drink a lot of milk either way. I do love chocolate milk but usually I would rather eat something than drink it. My favorite way to ingest milk is as part of a latte or a caramel macchiato. Yum!

4. What time do you usually head up to bed?

I usually try to go upstairs to my bedroom at around 9pm. I don't go to sleep though....there's too much to do! I normally have my laptop on & I'm blogging/tweeting/Facebooking all while catching up on my favorite TV shows on the PVR. I normally try to be asleep by 11:15 at the latest. I am lucky that I get to sleep a little later in the morning (usually aroun 6:45). I can definitely tell a difference when I get more sleep (well....when my husband's snoring or Evan's screaming isn't interrupting my sleep, that is)!

5. Do you hang your toilet paper over or under?

Over. Always over. Since I am the only person in my house who seems to know how to change the toilet paper roll, I always get my way on this one.

Want to play along? Just copy these questions over to your blog & fill them out. Then head over to Shan's blog to sign up on Mr. Linky. Please leave a comment here, too, so that I can check out your answers!

If you like this blog, please follow me using Google (see my left sidebar). If you use Google Reader to follow blogs, the feed for this blog will be automatically added. Neat, huh? Plus it makes me feel loved.....just sayin!

A Hint of Spring

>> Monday, March 08, 2010

This past weekend in Calgary was one of those wonderful/awful things about Calgary. The weather was gorgeous (wonderful) but you know it won't last (awful). It was 14°C and sunny. We decided to head over to the park to take advantage of the great weather while it lasted.

Nicole & Evan playing on the seesaw.

Even big girls like playing on the playground!

Sidewalk chalk rocks!

Rocks make the best toys!

Evan LOVES the seesaw.

And for the awful part.....guess what is going on outside right now?????? That's right! Snow.

AAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

Product Review - Self Lathering Razors

>> Saturday, March 06, 2010

I remember the first time I heard about razors that you could use without shaving cream. My sister used Schick's Intuition razor. I remember thinking "Pffft...as if that thing will work. It's huge & I don't see how it would shave worth a crap!" I told her it was a waste of money though she swore she liked it.

Fast forward a couple of years (during which time I continued to use my standard razor plus shaving cream routine). One day I passed a Schick Intuition razor at the grocery store while shopping for camping supplies. Hmmm.....showering while camping takes one of two forms: showering in a teeny tiny shower in our camper with 2.3 tablespoons of water or showering in a public shower building. In either situation, the fewer products you have to schlep into the shower the better. So I picked it up thinking it would be a great thing to try for camping. I used it on the camping trip & liked it. Unfortunately, I was kind of right about a few things: 1. It IS huge. 2. It does run out of lather-y stuff pretty quick. On the other hand, it worked great & really I probably keep other razors longer than I should. It also was MUCH easier to keep up with, etc, while camping. I didn't change over to the Intuition full time but I always buy it for camping.

Fast forward 6 months and I'm getting ready to head to Mexico on vacation. I again wanted to minimize the amount of "stuff" I took on the trip. Instead of the Intuition, I thought I would try the Gillette Venus Spa razor. It also is "self lathering" but it is much smaller. It also worked very well. One negative is that it doesn't come with a razor cover for travel. It also only comes with a razor holder that attaches to your shower with adhesive vs the Intuition holder which uses a suction cup.

All in all, I like both the Schick Intuition & the Gillette Venus Spa. I'm not sure I will transfer over to these razors completely but I could definitely see myself moving that way in the future. It's definitely nice when you can get one more item OUT of your shower!

So...have you ever tried these? What do you think????

You can find coupons for the Gillette Spa Razor and other Proctor & Gamble products here.

I wrote this post completely of my own accord. I bought both razors for myself with my own hard earned cash. :)

Coba

>> Friday, March 05, 2010

On our second day in Mexico we rented a car so that we could pick up our friends and go visit the Mayan ruins in Coba. Coba has smaller ruins than the more widely know Chichen Itza but the crowds are generally smaller & you can still climb the largest pyramid called Nohoch Mul. You can read more about Coba here.

The first part of our adventure was getting a rental car & going to pick up our friends in Playa del Carmen. We had hoped to all stay in the same resort but they ended up at the Iberostar Quetzal in Playa. When we got our rental van, the air conditioning worked but the check engine light, the traction control light & one other light I can't remember were all on. Hmmmm....and we're planning to drive for at least an hour to Coba and an hour back? Hmmmmm. We set out on our grand adventure. Driving in Mexico is fun. Right up until you get to the first speed bump (Tope). They aren't kidding. It's more like hitting a wall. They are GINORMOUS! We quickly figured out that you have to slow WAY down, pretty much stop or else the wheels will probably fall off. Otherwise, though, the drive was pretty uneventful.

Unfortunately we picked the one rainy day of our vacation to visit Coba. Thus the super stylish ponchos. Ugh!

Here we are learning all about Coba from our tour guide. I know you are jealous of the ponchos!

Our friends Daniel, Nancy, Andre & Katherine. They live in Austin. Dewey and I used to work with Andre. Andre also played in a band with Dewey in Austin.

Me & Dewey in front of one of the smaller pyramids.

There is no evidence of human sacrifice at Coba (unlike Chichen Itza). Dewey thought we could remedy that!

Me & Dewey getting ready to climb Nohoch Mul. It's REALLY big (and I'm a really big chicken!).

I made it to the top! Now what?

How did I get myself into this??????

One more picture before we head down.

I'm already at the bottom of the pyramid at this point. I climbed down one stair at a time on my butt just like Katherine & Nancy in this picture. The stairs are very uneven and very steep. At some points you couldn't even see the stairs that met the ground. Going down was DEFINITELY scarier than climbing up!

Boo!

After exploring we stopped for a quick beer & then hopped back in our lovely rental. We headed back to Playa del Carmen via Tulum. We had hoped to stop at the ruins in Tulum but they closed at 5 and we didn't get there until 4 so there wasn't much point in going. We went to 5th Avenue in Playa to do some shopping and grab a bite instead. The guys were happy because they got to see part of the Canada vs Slovakia Olympic hockey game. All in all it was a great day and we recommend the visit to Coba. Renting a car & driving yourself saves alot of money especially if you have more than 2 people (most tours charge ~$99 per person while the rental car was ~$130 total).

Have any of you been to any Mayan/Aztec/etc ruins? What did you think?

El Dorado Maroma - Playa del Carmen

>> Thursday, March 04, 2010

I thought I would break the vacation posts up a little so that each post won't be sooooo picture heavy. Dewey must get all the credit for deciding where we went on vacation. We decided on Playa del Carmen together & then he took it from there. We talked to Nana and Papa Don (proprietors at Chez Nana - toddler all inclusive) to determine if this was going to be a "with kid" or "without kid" vacation. Chez Nana had room so we moved into the "without kid" column! I love Evan and I love kids BUT if I am not taking my child on vacation.....well....I don't really want to deal with yours. So....adults only resort for us!

Dewey has an aversion to what he calls "Vegas style" resorts. They are huge, party palaces with hundreds (or sometimes thousands) of rooms. I've never stayed in one that big so I really can't comment but Dewey HATES them. The resort we ended up staying at is called El Dorado Maroma. It is just north of Playa del Carmen on Maroma Beach (voted one of the 10 best beaches in the world). It has 75 rooms and is adults only. We LOVED it! We never had to wait for a beach chair. The staff was so attentive (I think the ratio of guests to staff was about 2:1). There isn't a ton of night life but we were completely okay with that. This vacation was mostly about rest & relaxation! For the guests who DID want more activities, there is a marina beside the resort with diving, waverunners, sailing excursions, snorkeling excursions, etc.

One other plus is that this resort has no buffets! You can order a la carte meals at every meal. At breakfast they do have a small buffet with a "eggs your way" station but the menu is always an option. They have 3 restaurants for dinner (Italian, Caribean/Mexican & Japanese). They also have two "special" dinners per week...one Italian and one Mexican.

So for today's post, I'm focusing on pictures of the resort & surroundings. I will have one more post for our visit to Coba to see the Mayan ruins & our outings with friends.

Our room. We stayed in the Mi Hotelito section (cheapest part). The upside to these rooms is that they are closest to the beach. We really liked having a ground level room b/c we were steps from the beach & the swim up bar! One thing to note is that this resort has no elevators. If you can't do stairs, definitely insist on a ground floor room!

Our outdoor bed on our patio. Nice for relaxing when escaping the sun for a few minutes.

The Marina next door. Lots of diving/snorkeling adventures to be had if only I could pry my lazy butt out of the beach chair!

Dinner at El Dorado Maroma with our friends (starting on left) Sven, Angelle, Andre & Nancy.

Our cute elephant towel animal. We didn't get towel animals every day so they were a nice surprise when we did. I thought the elephant was super cute!

Okay...this towel creation wins the "What the hell is it?" award. Your guess is as good as mine!

Beautiful!

Enjoying breakfast poolside.

Awesome, awesome singer in the mariachi band. These guys were a highlight of our stay. They played on Saturday night at the "Special Mexican Dinner".

Dewey finding his inner mariachi. He said the sombreros were really, really heavy.

And last but not least....the view from one of the swim up bars.

We loved El Dorado Maroma and will be going back as soon as possible! It's a little piece of paradise in the Mayan Riviera!

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