I Don't Obsess Over Myself...For Once

To counterbalance yesterday's oh so vain post, today I will post about other people. And no, I'm not going to sit here and complain about the bastards that are letting their dog crap in our yard...

Pretty Little Things is my best friend Mindi's etsy shop. She sells unique vintage jewelry and has very reasonable prices, she's also my friend so... ... ... ... ... I like this and this and this. What about you?

If you've read more than one of my posts, you'll probably notice that I ADORE my boyfriend, Jeremiah. Here is Jeremiah doing incredible things with his hands! ;) Tell me all about how amazing he is! Go ahead!

Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday and hopefully on Saturday night I'll get to have Jeremiah all to myself (and dinner without Elijah running around the nice restaurant). So here's to Thursday and how it's only two days away from Saturday!

I Even Give Up On The Easy Crap!

Okay, my not so blonde friend over HERE tagged me. I think everyone knows how much of a sucker I am for these taggy things, so they tag the hell out of me! Go Ahead Ladies! TAG AWAY, I can totally handle you and your taggity taggy tags.

#1:What is your current obsession?
This is funny cause Blondie's first obsession is cilantro, which is also my current obsession! Yay for cilantro! Bikes is also at the top of the my obsession list. I watched Jeremiah look at bikes for probably three or four hours this week, he finally bought one on Monday, and I still have yet to find one!

#2:Who was the last person you hugged?
Elijah just crawled down from my lap to go in the gameroom and watch Max and Ruby with Maxine and he hugged me before he fled my presence.

#3:What's your favorite dinner?
This is a hard one, probably Japanese. I like spicy scallop roll, miso soup, edamame. I also make an awesome spicy fish soup...Jeremiah's chili is pretty darn good.

#4:What are you listening to right now?
Pandora radio, if you don't already use it go there now! I have the most awesome quickmix, cake is playing right now. Okay, now it's The Police! Yay!

#5:What was the last movie you saw in the theater?
I actually have no idea. I guess if I sat here and gave it some thought, I could come up with it.

#6:What was the last thing you bought?
Pizza for Max's birthday party last night? Jeremiah bought a bike on Monday...I am planning on buying Rose some new clothes this weekend...

#7:What is your favorite weather?
I love those chilly days when the only warmth provided is from the shining sun. Jeans, a t-shirt, a jacket, a super cute hat. My favorite weather is walk around forever and never be too hot/cold weather.

#8:Say something to the person who tagged you
I am totally jealous of your photographic skills and equipment. I still don't believe you ACTUALLY live in MO. Nobody really lives there, it's a non-exsistent place, like Crakotoa.

#9:Coffee or Tea? I love coffee. Nothing can ever come close to the adoration I have for my favorite beverage, but Jeremiah drinks tea and I don't mind it all that much. Green tea takes some getting used to...

#10:What did you want to become as a child?
An actress, a writer and a FBI agent...essentially I just wanted to be Scully or Gillian Anderson.

#11:If you could go anywhere in the next hour, where would it be?
Anywhere Jeremiah wants to go. I just miss him so much today. Most days I miss him, but it's not a big deal. Today I just feel achy, maybe it's the change in weather.

#12:Who do you want to meet in person?
Is this one of those question that requires introspection? Cause I'm totally not into that today. I used to always say Marlon Brando, but he's dead now. Ben Folds? Oh my gosh that sounds awful and silly. Of all the people in the world ERIN would want to meet Ben Folds? That's like getting a giant powerful genie in front of you and wasting a wish on securing WORLD PEACE or something dumb like that. ;)

#13:What is your most challenging goal right now?
Not So Blonde totally beats me with this one. She has a great self-reflecting answer about raising her children and being a better person. I can't even think like that when my most challenging goal is not going into the kitchen and preparing myself a giant honking peice of birthday cake from last night and stuffing my fat face with it. It's a rough day folks!

#14:What is your weirdest obsession?
Well, I don't have any weird obsessions at all. None that I should talk about on the internet, at least. I might end up with the police in my yard and my ex here to take away my girls. ;)
#15:

OKAY I give up. This is just exhausting. Especially now that I wrote about the cake thing...
So I'll tag a few people and be on my merry little way. I obviously didn't live up to my first paragraph's expectations.
Bless This LADY, she's so introspective and brave.
This Toasty Chick was recently scarred by sharing a room with some randy and rude friends, so I'll make her day a little harder and tag her!
This DUDE has squirrels messing around in his hair and a shiny forehead.
This BLOG has two chicks, but I'm not sure who left me this hilarious comment the other day:
"your idea isn't a bad one. and i imagine like any little girl her age, going out afterwards and picking out the new skivvies of her choice might be a fun reward for her (perhaps you've already tried that). i've potty trained more children than i like to count and that's something that i've often recommended to parents.

and then i'd go home to my childless apartment and collapse with a cocktail filled with glee."

MAXINE THE PAIN TURNS 4!!!!!

Here's a little post for Max's FOURTH Birthday today!

Max was born after a long and complicated labor. She was a pain in the ass from the start! She was a messy peanut at birth, covered in a thick gook which she proceeded to smear everyone in the room with. It was not pleasant, but we got over it quickly. She looked like a little frog and had a giant strawberry between her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. She was 8 pounds 9 ounces at birth, but hardly grew the next few months. It was obvious that she was going to be very petite.
I would hold her so gently and was constantly reminding myself to treat her with extra care for Reason #1: Not to make her cry, she did enough of that DAY AND NIGHT. Reason #2: She was so fragile I felt like she definitely had the potential to break easily.

She was a sensitive baby, didn't like loud noises, strong smells and most foods, so I carried her gently and tried my hardest! The fact that I had to take care to give her so much attention made the moments when she was joyful so much more special to me.



In the last photo Max is doing the famous "Maxine Stare". Jeremiah and I can both imitate it perfectly. She also does a funny walk I call the Maxiraptor where she runs with her two thin wrists limp like a Velociraptor. Yeah, this hilarity is why I get paid the BIG BUCKS.

In a hour or two when Elijah is napping Max and I are going to decorate the house for her little party tonight. We got her a black theme birthday this year, because duh...Black is her favorite color. She insists that she gets snacks in the black snack bowls (heaven forbid she use the green ones!) and always wants to wear her black Christmas clothes (which she fights with me about every morning).

So everyone have a pleasant Max's Fourth Birthday!

Video From the Piano Recital...Finally!

Everyone did an awesome job at the recital and here is the proof! Just think Rose and Olivia have only been taking lessons for a couple months! I'm so proud of the girls and of Jeremiah for being such a great 'at-home' teacher and for busting his ass to get the girls to lessons!

Here's My Darling Redhead playing Mary Had a Little Lamb in the keys of C and G (and loving the applause!):


Here is Rosey playing 'Little Playmates':


This is my youngest sister Hannah playing Bach. She started taking lessons with this teacher at 3 years old! Great Job Hannah!

Okay Let's Do This Like Brutus!
**a little side note...I love saying the phrase above, but Jeremiah absolutely totally hates it. Hates it. I'm a mostly annoying person, and he puts up with quite a bit, so why does this one little thing bother him?**

Song Suggestions for you:

Spring makes me think of chilling on the porch watching the rain, taking long walks with my kids, opening all the windows in the morning and watching the sun creep across the backyard. It also makes me think of certain songs. Although there is no reason behind why these songs remind me of spring, I'll share them with you regardless. We can think I'm crazy together.

Jackson (Live) Who wouldn't enjoy a little Johnny Cash on a warm, sunny day?!

More Cash? Sure. Imagine a cool spring night, holding hands with your super cute boyfriend, thinking about how glad you are that you get to be together forever and ever and ever. Wait! Go get your own super cute boyfriend. You guys are creeping me out. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Fire And Rain I love alot of the remakes of this song, but today I love the original.

I just listened to this on pandora, and it made me smile. So it might not have been on my original list, but it sure as heck is now! Free Fallin'

Okay, here is where you're going to start to think I'm completely insane. It's okay, let's deal.
Kenny Rogers, yes, I said it outloud. KENNY ROGERS!!!!!!!!!! The Gambler
and don't forget:
Coward Of The County

I listen to Ben Folds everyday, so I guess I have to include his songs in every song suggestion blog: You To Thank (Album Version) I love the opening of this song:
"By the time the buzz was wearing off
we were standing out on the sidewalk
with our tattoos that looked like rings"

For my final suggestion (DRUMROLL PLEASE....come on!...I'm not coordinated enough to do my own drumroll)...
Just go and download this whole album, it makes every sunny day complete:Fashion Nugget
If you're as cheap as I am then you won't download the album, you'll just pick a few songs, so here are my faves...if I was forced to pick:Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
She'll Come Back To Me
Italian Leather Sofa
Frank Sinatra

Pooping

With the impending arrival of Maxine's 4th Birthday I am both excited and horribly embarrassed. I'm coming out to the world to reach out and get some help, and here is my sad truth: Maxine is not yet potty-trained. I've been through hell and back with this child here's a horrifying example, but it seems like I've made no progress with her at all. I've used every 'bribing' method, I've made her sit on the potty for hours, I've used M&M's, starburst, cookies, pixie sticks (which are gross). I've put her in time out, I've pleaded, I've cleaned up ungodly messes, taken her to therapy, threatened her (not my best day). My family has been involved, her sisters try and help, and for a while I had her peeing in the potty almost always. When I had taken her to therapy they had suggested I cool it on all the methods for the time being and let it evolve from there.

During therapy they started discussing different behavior she's was exhibiting that might be helped with medication. I didn't even want to start to think about that crap and stopped taking her. Now we're at some kind of standstill. Right now at this moment I have her sitting on the couch next to me because she hasn't pooped in four days (I'm guessing she can control it because I keep her with me nearly all the time) and she's screaming bloody murder cause I stopped her from sneaking into the gameroom to presumably hide and poop.
She's never given us a real answer to why she won't even attempt to poop on the potty. One time she said it hurt, but I think the answer was offered to her by my grandma earlier that day because Max later recanted and said that it does not hurt. Then she told us just this week that the poop won't come out on the potty, but wouldn't discuss it further. So right now we're rolling with this idea: I'll cut a hole in her diaper and let her wear the diaper while she poops on the potty. This whole idea hinges on whether or not she'll tell me if she has to poop.

Ugh! I just wrote 'poop' more times than I ever thought I would. I'm done with this little blog! Before I get totally stressed wacky nuts...

The Dorkdom Realm I Rule

There are a whole bunch of random things that I want that I would never buy, mostly because they're kind of random and stupid items. For some reason I'm drawn to these totally dumb and mostly pointless things, and I'm hoping you will be too. Then we can all talk about how much we want them, even though it doesn't make much sense and is, in most cases, incredibly tacky.

First up:
Something so white trash most of you will be shocked and dismayed by my display...





Are you shocked and dismayed yet? I knew it!

I also love mugs, which is also disappointing, but not quite so embarassing. At my mom's house there are what I call 'Mugs of Irony'. I always give Jeremiah the 'World's Best Pharmacist' Mug or 'World's Best Mom' Mug and I always use the "Silver Ring Thing' Mug....for those of you that don't know the Silver Ring Thing is about teenagers and abstinence. See? Irony at it's best.






And this just speaks for itself. I'm a total complete dork...but I love Weasley.

Piano Recital Bliss/Video Editing Hell

Here is a little sideshow from Rose and Olivia's piano recital Sunday afternoon. The girls were divine, they behaved themselves, played well and the day went smoothly (except for Olivia slamming Rose's fingers in a car door two hours before the recital, she was fine to play though)

As your watching this slideshow you might notice that I posted several unflattering photos of Jeremiah. All day he was making faces at me when I went to take his photo, so in a feeble attempt at retaliation I decided to post a couple photos of him torturing me

I was considering posting video, but I can't edit the clips. FOR PETE'S SAKE. I've never had a problem doing anything with a computer and I can't figure this crap out. I'm super mad. Someone come over and do it for me before I take it out on a neighborhood cat.

Olivia Blows a Bubble/Naps are Boring

I'm sitting here on this oh so gorgeous day waiting for Elijah to get up from his nap so I can take him on another walk. Me and this kid have so much downtime on the weekends it's nuts. I should get one of those 'teach your baby to read' systems and see if it works. Or I can just wrestle and kiss and cuddle him all day instead....
We played outside most of the day Thursday and Friday. Olivia loves bubbles, which isn't different from any other kid on the planet. But she could blow bubbles for days and days.


Which is good for me cause it gives me more time to wrestle and kiss and cuddle with the baby!

Max, on the other hand just wants to pop the bubbles. See how ticked she is when I told her to try blowing them instead of popping them:

Elijah spent a pretty long time trying to blow a bubble...but his bubble bottle was empty. Olivia blew bubbles at him and he thought he was doing it. Funny how such tiny gestures can just make someone's day a better day.

Birthday/Blondie/Bad Photo Bad

I had a very nice birthday yesterday, if anyone cares to know! ;)
My daughter's are sweet, my son is an angel, my boyfriend looks hot on a skateboard, my new friend Desha brought me a pink cake, my pappy, grandma, littlest sister and momma came over and made the day complete. Thank You.

(Plus my momma gave me a ton of shit! Thanks Momma! Who says you can't buy me love? ;) )

Over on the blogging front, I think I made a new buddy! Blondie, who I don't think is really Blonde? A buddy I'll probably never meet but...I think she thinks I'm cute! She's obviously never seen me like this:
Boy do I look pissed! That's one for the archives. I should go delete it now, but eh...humility is a good thing.

Tagged By That PeeWee Herman Lady!!

One of my new favorite people, Yvonne tagged me for one of those say ten things about yourself thingies I used to do in high school, then later on myspace and then more recently on facebook. Which obviously means that I love to talk about myself.
SO I am going to blog twice today (and cut and paste 10 Thing About Myself from Facebook!):

1. I hated all fish until I was pregnant with Elijah. Now I eat it all the time.

2. I dated my boyfriend for quite a while when I was 16, and then we didn't see each other for 8 years. I always thought there was something special about him! ;)

3. I have four kids! Rosey is 8, Olivia just turned 6, Maxine Jane is 3 and Elijah is 16 months.

4. I drink alot of coffee...alot.

5. I love to study people and figure them out. Strangers, friends, family. It's like a hobby.

6. I love facebook cause I can talk to Mindi all the time. (Random fact about Mindi...she used to wear tie-dyes all the time and did that fold over and up thing with the bottom of her jeans!)

7. I listen to music all day long. My kids are constantly turning the computer down and yelling that it's too loud.

8. I share custody of my three daughters with my ex-husband. That means three days a week my son is an only child. We'll see how that pans out.

9. I have fat fingers and toes. Even when I'm not overweight. They're like little kid hands.

10. I can't drink liquor or wine. I'll get drunk in two minutes and then barf for two days. It's not pleasant.

11. I'm very close with my Daddy.

12. I have four younger siblings. My youngest sister is 17 years younger than me. My parents had an early start with me and a late one with her.

13. I can crochet quite proficiently.

14. I used to never do any housework for four or five years. Now I'm obsessed with it!

15. I've been pregnant or nursing for 9 years. Wow.

16. My favorite topics for discussion: WW2, movies, the loch ness monster, where I want to travel to and why, food, how much I love Jeremiah, my kids, the George R. R. Martin series, any book I've ever read
17. I read all the time. I bet I've read more books in my 27 years then some people read in a lifetime. And I pity those people. Go pick up a book, you heeb!

18. I read anything from bios to historical fiction to thrillers to classic literature to sci-fi or fantasy.

19. I take photos all the time. I hope to get a better camera soon.

20. I've been to a lot of cities on a lot of continents and Pittsburgh is still my favorite!

21. My son Elijah loves sushi! His favorites so far are halibut, eel and octopus. He eats a lot of avocado roll too.

22. My daughter Maxine is wonderfully strange. She eats weird combinations like mustard on watermelon, ketchup on her tortilla chips, Parmesan cheese on corn...

23. I think all of my daughters look like mythical creatures. yeah, that's weird and random. Rose looks like a fairy, Olivia like a delightful imp (like those old old drawings of peter pan) and max is a sprite. Duh.

24. I was obsessed with post-mortem photography for awhile. I got over that.

25. I write alot, but never finish anything. I wish I would just finish something.

Okay, that's 25...but I'm lazy and I didn't feel like picking through them and posting 10. So...take that. Now I have to tag people, but I'm not sure how many...so I'll do five (but here is a disclaimer, don't feel the need to respond to this tag... two of my kids are at school, one is coloring and one is sleeping or else I wouldn't have done this either) This Lady who gives good advice, Teacher Lady, who made me feel super uncomfortable today talking about spiders, This Blond Chick who likes my dorky crocheted stars, This Maggie who annouced that she is expecting on her blog today, CONGRATS, and last but not least...hmmm...This Lady who works, breastfeeds, goes to school AND plans trips to DisneyLand, I'm tired just introducing her.

BIRTHDAY BLUES/I AM A WHINY TURD

Tomorrow is my 28th birthday.
I'm a huge whiny turd, I know, but it just feels so weird.
I don't have my mom hugging me conspiratorially all month long calling me her Birthday Princess. She used to tell me how many days till my birthday and we used to plan a big birthday party. We were like little buddies, all smiles, giggles and excitement. It wasn't until my first week at college that I realized I didn't even know which day in September HER birthday was on. How bad does that suck?!
I guess right then it should have dawned on me that being a mom sucks the big one, sometimes (chill out! I know being a mom is a gift and I should be glad all my children are so healthy and amazing).

So here is a little section of today's blog about my mom, in honor of my birthday.
*disclaimer: I kiss my mom's ass all the time writing things for her and making her cry for being mean to me all the time. The truth is, I'm not kissing her ass AND 80% of the time I probably deserve the thrashings I get from her*

My mom made every birthday special for me. She bought me ultra-thoughtful gifts, she baked my birthday cakes, made my favorite foods, invited my favorite people to my parties, she did everything to make my birthdays memorable and special. I had a birthday party every year of my childhood, even when she was pregnant with my super annoying siblings, and they usually ruin everything ;).
Our house was always spotless, she was always in her PJ's and we always had time to talk, play and spend time together. In the beginning of my life she was never frazzled (that came later, with Ben and Kate, told you they ruin everything) and I was the most loved little girl on the face of the planet.
Thanks Momma!

This morning my daughters complained that I wasn't throwing a birthday party FOR MYSELF. They are totally bummed that there will be no cake, no party and no singing. I told them even I couldn't stoop as low as throwing my own birthday party, at least not this year. Maybe I'll throw my own 30th birthday party...30...still two years away, plenty of time to plan!
Then Olivia informed me that I can just BAKE my own cake, and then it wouldn't be like I went out and spent money on it. Thanks for that Olive!
Rose told me, "It's okay Mom, people just don't care that much about birthday after they're like 20."
And Max cried cause she thought we were talking about how we weren't having a birthday party for her birthday on the 28th. Poor baby.

Easter Egging

My baby sister came to help us color eggs last week, and even with her help it was a little bit tense here.
Max wanted to splash dye onto paper towels like paint instead of coloring eggs then she ended up painting one egg with a egg-painting kit we had found and left the area altogether in favor of watching Calliou (that annoying little piss-ant) in the gameroom.

Hannah, Rose and I had come up with 'natural' egg dyes and they really came in handy. We boiled blueberries for purple, made really strong orange tea for orange and attempted to make a green color with green tea and spinach (which failed miserably!). Thank Gosh we did make these dyes or poor 'egg-dye addicted' Elijah wouldn't have been able to color eggs with the other kids. He was intent on drinking whatever cup was in front of him, so originally he gulped a large amount of the dye-vinegar mixture we all know and love. So I gave him the orange tea instead and he spent alot of time drinking it and breaking eggs into it.
Here's a little group of pictures from his adventure with ege-dye tasting:

The three older kids fared better with their eggs. Out of four dozen eggs, two dozen remained intact and not cracked. Jeremiah ate his fair share of hard boiled eggs that night! Here are the heroes who not only saved those two dozen eggs from destruction, but also made them quite lovely:

SONG'S FOR YOU TO POOP ON!

I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to music (but not anything else really, ask Jeremiah). There's nothing better than listening to someone you've never met, nor will ever meet, pour their heart out to you...at any volume you deem proper.

Today's Song Suggestions are all love songs, or I interpret them to be.
And really, most of the songs I will ever suggest for you to listen to and love will be love songs. Get over it now and we'll move on together!

Gay Gay Gay! Better Together
by Jack Johnson Come on though! I hate admitting listening to this song all the time, but it's just so sweet. And Mr. Johnson obviously puts a lot of thought into his songs.

Trust Me
by Janis Joplin...now don't get me wrong here folks, I'm not a hippy. (Like that's just the most awful thing to be, heehee) But there's this total truth in her voice, she's feeling real honest emotions. She's not clever, she's not cool, she's just a mess and we all feel like that sometimes.

I know I've talked about this before but George Harrison and Eric Clapton wrote some of the most amazingly beautiful love songs of all time about ONE WOMAN. Her name is Patty. She was first Harrison's wife and then Clapton's and before she jumped from one genius to the other, Harrison and Clapton had been best friends. Intriguing!
Something by George Harrison. I added a link to the video instead of the digital download so you could see the infamous Patty. Now, I love this song very much, but when I learned that even Frank Sinatra said it was the greatest love song ever written, I was on board 110%.

**a total side note: It's super sad to watch this video. I think everyone hates Yoko, but you can tell how much they love each other when you see them together. It must have been so painful to live through his tragic death.**
***another total side note: after George got over the Patty ordeal, he married Olivia Harrison and had many many years with her and their son before he died in 2001.***


Tori Amos doesn't write music about her husband (she's said so many times) BUT she admits that 'Thank You' by Led Zeppelin is 'their song'. So here's Tori doing Thank You (LP Version)

There are some songs that transcend the romantic relationship and can be applied to the 'Love Affair' parents have with their children. I have songs for each of my babies, I mean kids and at my daughter's births I played the songs I sang to them during my pregnancy. I broke from that tradition with Elijah's birth, cause it wasn't necessary cause I had Jeremiah there with me.
So Rose's song was You'll Be In My Heart (Phil Version)
Olivia's Your Song
(which makes me cry almost every time, in the car, in the shower, while I'm dusting)
Max's was Accidentally In Love
but it was kind of loud in the delivery room. I played it for her everyday while I was pregnant with her. During her very long labor I mostly listened to Jay-Z's The Black Album [Explicit] which the nurses just loved.

I'm The World's Biggest Crocheting Dork AND I'm Poor

This is the very very basic 'prototype' for new items for Ultra-Cute Crochet, my not very successful, not much worked on etsy shop. Keep in mind the blanket isn't finished etc..etc...

I'm planning on selling them as sets using a higher end yarn, maybe a super soft washable Merino wool.
I can't imagine selling a baby blanket that's not washable though.
Can you imagine getting a baby blanket for your baby shower or when the baby is first born and the gift giver says, 'I really wanted to get you this super nice handmade blanket, but the baby can't use it or she/he will totally annihilate it and all the money I spent on this thoughtful gift will go down the frugging toilet."

I was thinking of calling them the super gay name "Star Swaddlers" cause they would be ideal for swaddling babies. Duh, like I had to explain that to you oh so intelligent people who just spent too much time sitting here and reading me blather on about star swaddling nonsense.
I could also make a little baby beanie and booties set to match, or have I totally gone too far now? Would it also be totally out of line to suggest making these swaddling sets in Rainbow Brite Colors? How about a little matching star pillow with a crocheted cover??? AN ALL YELLOW SET?

But who knows if they'll sell, because as my mom often tells me (Mostly when I ask her to watch Elijah so we can go on a date), "People shouldn't be spending money on stupid things right now Erin, you and Jeremiah are POOR and so is most of the country." My mom obviously doesn't mince her words.

An neither do you, fellow bloggers! I've read recently that some of you are sailing down the proverbial shit crick without a paddle. Welcome to our world!
Ryan, who everybody loves cause he's sensitive and his wife is super hot writes about being poor HERE.
Shellbug99 has a whole blog dedicated to her absolute hate of being poor HERE.
There is actually a whole South Dakota Food Stamp Challenge going on, in ...South Dakota. Read their blog HERE. Super interesting what people can make due with, I freak out when I don't have goldfish to give the kids...ugh.

Jeremiah Posts On Our Movie Blog!

Jeremiah would say that I nag alot, and I would totally disagree... but today was a big day in our household. I actually got Jeremiah to write for my much neglected movie blog: Blogging is For Dorks Movies (clever name eh?)

Maybe if you all tell him how clever he is and how awesome his review was (albeit very short) he'll continue to write more and more!

A Failed Morning and A Trip to Ze Zoo

This morning started out promising enough. Started out being the optimal word in that first brief sentence...

Jeremiah is off and Elijah was delighted to see him home and not at work when he woke up. I made uber delicious smoothies for breakfast, in case you want to make one I'll fill you in on this delicious combination:
Approx one cup of frozen blueberries
one banana
one green green apple (sour ones are so good in smoothies for some reason)
one half seeded lemon (rind and all, just wash it super good)
fresh pineapple (canned is never the same, but we all make do)
skim milk (i just splashed some in, eyeball it)
orange juice (same eyeballing)
Blend that shit up yo!

Then as the day progressed the usual cleaning I do before my daughters come back from their dad's house slowed way down. I played with Elijah in Max's room instead of dusting and hanging up her clothes (she's at that stage where she tries fifty things on and doesn't want to wear anything. Wait, I'm in that stage too). I gathered up dirty laundry and left it in the upstairs hallway. I sat down to make an extensive grocery list, and then ended up talking to my mom on the phone and drinking too much coffee.
The list goes like this so far.
Bananas
Apples
Milk
Coffee
things for dinner and lunch for the week...

Now it's 2pm and I have only just cleaned the kitchen floor. Elijah will be waking up from his nap and neither Jeremiah or I have gotten showers or dressed to go to the store. I have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner this week AND I haven't started the laundry. :D

But, I uploaded photos from Elijah's first zoo trip yesterday! YAY! So enjoy his little milestone: