Tomorrow I go visit my friend in Charlotte. I’m very excited. I haven’t seen her in a year or so and I’ve never been to her new place. Plus she’s 23 weeks pregnant! I’m also taking her loads and loads of baby paraphernalia that has been living in our garage. Plus it’s good that I have something to do this weekend, since everyone else will be at some conference in California or something. This way I don’t have to be too jealous. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

I was supposed to make this trip back on Mother’s Day weekend but Boog was sick, I was sick, my husband was sick and then my stepfather died that Friday. It was not in the cards then. Yesterday would have been my stepfather’s 66th birthday. I thought about him several times throughout the day. I also thought about my mom a lot yesterday. It just so happens she spent more than 13 hours at Disney World yesterday. If that’s not a distraction I don’t know what is. I’m thinking she probably planned it that way.

It was also my youngest dog’s 4th birthday yesterday. We have terrible luck with dogs and 4 years is a good milestone for us. This pup is as sweet as can be and I still think of him as a little puppy cause that’s how he acts. All goofy and young. He’s a sweet boy even if he’s still not so sure about that small person living in our house.

Yesterday my oldest friend came over with her 17-month old son. I picked Boog up early from daycare so we could have ourselves a little playdate. It was a surreal experience and one I wish we’d made a regular habit in the past 18 months. As I sat on our patio watching these two little boys wonder around the yard I remarked to her how odd our 20-year-old selves would have found this scene. They never would have believed it seeing as neither one of those girls were even going to be married at 30.

I did discover that my little munchkin is quite the bossy little tattle tail. He barked out babbling orders at his friend in a way that anyone could see was meant to be instruction. He would come running to me babbling and pointing anytime her little boy did anything. It was really the first time he’s had another little person in his space, playing with his toys so I’m going to chock it up to that. They still did quite a bit of parallel play so I think we’ve got time yet to really emphasize the sharing.

Sitting on my brother’s bike. More pics courtesy of my SIL. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

I pride myself on being a pretty good cook. Granted lately I do more warming than actual cooking, or so my husband likes to point out. :| I can cook up a mean chicken pot pie and a great baked ziti when I put my mind to it. I recently got my husband to admit that MY pot roast is better than his mother’s. (It so is, btw)

I firmly believe that anyone can cook. All you have to do is be able to read and follow directions. Many of the things that I make, however, do not come with a recipe. They are my mother’s recipes that I’ve made so long I just know how to make them.

I generally set our menu for the next week on Sundays and then go do all the shopping for that week. This helps me to be sure we have food to be cooked all week long and I am not making a million little trips to the grocery store on weeknights. It’s hard enough to get everything done between the time I get off work and Boog’s bedtime that I don’t need to add errands in to that.

Occasionally I want to try something new. Last night I had put this on the menu to try. Boog has this thing that he won’t eat conventional pasta at home any more. He just looks at it and says no. I got him to eat a little bit last week by assuring him that the red sauce was in fact Italian ketchup. I thought I’d try this new sauce because it isn’t red and it is a variation of a cheese sauce. I though for sure it would be a hit.

I got cocky and too sure of myself. I also was in a hurry. I did not fully read the recipe before starting. Do you know what happens to yogurt and cheese when you put it in a pan that is still on heat despite the fact that the recipe clearly states that the pan should be REMOVED FROM THE HEAT? Yeah, it curdles and turns in to a nasty lumpy mess that I’m not even willing to try, much less my toddler.

So at 6:15 last night with an entire pot full of pasta boiling and 1 lb of shredded zucchini I found myself with a half ruined dinner. Luckily we still had some leftover red sauce and turkey meatballs from last week. Boog still wouldn’t eat the pasta and he wasn’t buying that Italian ketchup nonsense this week. He did eat some of the meatballs though. Note to self, if you’re going to try a new recipe on a weeknight, be sure the read the ENTIRE recipe before starting to make dinner.

I’ve gone back and forth the past few weeks about getting Boog another haircut. There are some days that the long, shaggy curls are just so dang cute. Then there are other days when I look at him and think “woo boy, that kid needs a haircut.”

His daddy wears his hair sort of longish and shaggy so I’m partial to that look but when it starts sticking up all funny I just can’t handle it anymore. When he woke up from his (too short) nap on Saturday he had one curl sticking straight up in the front and I decided it was time for another haircut.

I went by myself despite telling my husband it was a two person job. He did okay with his first haircut but there was definitely some crying. This time he did great! He was a little shy at the beginning but there was no crying at all. The worst part was that the girl put a smock over me that apparently had not been shaken off since the last person so Boog and I both had little black hairs that belonged to some stranger stuck all over us. YUCK!!

By the end he was telling everyone in the salon “Bye!” And the best part, the whole thing was free thanks to a coupon they sent us after getting his first cut there. Although I love the long and shaggy look, I gotta admit this boy is super cute with short hair too. I’m certainly not biased at all. ;)

lazy, lazy day
want to call in sick today
so very sleepy

so responsible
maybe I will leave early
barely worked this week

I woke up so tired and groggy this morning. What’s the deal? I’m blaming it on the cloudy weather. I thought about calling in sick but I had to get up with Boog and drive him past my office to daycare so I came on in. I think I’ll leave early though. Maybe I can catch a nap. Happy Friday everyone.