Posting

I almost snuggled into my busted, springy, messy bed when I remembered that I didn't write a blog post for today. Oh, where is an easy meme when you need one? Hmmmm, I know! I'll browse through my photos and see if there is anything blog worthy. Hold on just a sec... Ok, here we go...

.

Someone has been using my 5lb dumbells to improve his "arm bumps"

Can you say, "Stud Boy in training?"

Here is why I'm so sleep deprived these days:

Sometimes my house looks like this:

And this: (and when it does it is guaranteed that 1 million people will decide to drop in on me and come in to visit.)

.

Did you know that Sweet Terror used to look like this?

And before that she looked like this:

Which is why we haven't killed her or left her at a McDonalds yet.

Ok, can I go to bed now? Thanks.

Goodnight.

Help!

I need somebody.

HELP!

Not just anybody.

HELP!

You know I need someone.

HE-E-E-E-ELP!

I am one of those people that tries so hard not to fall for convenience. I know, why fight convenience? Because I'm tough, see. I don't need convenience, see. I'm an idiot, see.

I give birth naturally. For years and years I insisted on kneading dough by hand based on principle (I now love love love my Kitchen-Aid). I didn't own a cell phone until just last year. And I have tried like crazy to convince myself that I can keep blogging without using a blog reader.

I'm drowning in blogs and have started to cringe at the thought of blogging just because it takes so long. I give up. I will be convenient. I will use a blog reader.

This is where you all come in. I need your blog addresses. My blogroll is so out of date I don't have even half of you on there. Please, please, please leave me a comment with your blog address so that I can put you in my blog reader.

To make it worth your while I will even make this a giveaway. Leave your blog url in my comments section by January 31st and you will get a chance to win one of 3 surprise gifts.

THANKS!

Substitute Bloggers

HI!
I want to blog but don't really have time today (thanks to my one week goal of only 3 computer hours a day) so I'm leaving you with two substitute bloggers instead. I will warn you, though, these are brilliant young mothers who are so amazing that they make me feel like the lazy tired old woman that I am. But if you wear sunglasses and squint really hard you might not be blinded by their amazing mom/homemaking skilz.

I promise you will never have a dull or uneducational moment with your toddlers if you read this blog: Little Hands, Big Work (SP, don't you ever just let your kids watch SpongeBob all day while you eat ice cream and watch reruns of Dr. Who? Please lie and tell me you do so that I can feel better about myself. Thanks!)

Want to pinch your pennies harder? No one pinches them harder than my petite and perfect sister in law. If she weren't so awesome I would probably hate her. I tried to hate her, really I did, but she won me over anyway. Well, after being harassed by friends and family for her penny pinching, earth saving ideas she has finally decided to devote a blog to them at Clipping Corners. Go on over, try to hate her, I dare you.

Oh, and if any of you are like me and trying to stay away from fast food with all the New Years resolution stuff then you simply HAVE to read this poem by my sister, The Fast Food Demon. I'm trying to memorize it so I can repeat it every time I drive by the Burger King siren. Curse their onion rings!

Purple Carrots

Blogging sometimes feels like a magic Genie in a lamp. Forget the Secret, I could send messages out into the universe all day and never see any results, but send a message out into the blogosphere and who knows what will show up at your door. I've been given so many wonderful things from the amazing women I blog with and yesterday was no exception. Yesterday I found a bag by my front door containing these rare jems: Purple, white, yellow, and orange carrots. A friend of mine mentioned that she grew them in her garden this year and I mentioned on her blog that Cookie and I had once read about and were dying to try multi colored carrots. Ding ding, nose twitch, wand swish, fold your arms and blink, bibbity bobbity boo and there they were, at my front door.

Now a person has to ask themselves, what kind of a person grows purple carrots? You will just have to find that out yourself by visiting 32 Flavors.

Thanks again, J, for the lovely carrots! The purple ones were not only the coolest but the yummiest. I ate 5 last night instead of dinner. =)

Under Construction

I'm in desperate need of a blog makeover, dontcha think? I'm going to be silly and try to change the look of this here blog all by myself. Being dyslexic in HTML, I know I'll probably regret it and have to have someone fix it for me in the end. I'm ok with that.

So grab a hard hat and watch your step, there are going to be widgets, backgrounds, fonts, and buttons flying all over the place.

And if anyone wants to help me (do it all for me)... well, I'm certainly not opposed to taking blog charity. =)

MUST. HAVE. IT.

My blogging has been pretty pell mell as of late. Cheeks has been pretty cheeky and keeps me from doing much of anything these days (though he actually slept in this morning and allowed to me to talk to my kids this morning over a lovely meal of pancakes, eggs, and strawberries. Usually my kids are left eating last night's remnants off the floor for breakfast... Uh, you know I'm kidding right? Because, really, they only did that once. I swear!!!!).

Lucky for... well, pretty much everyone including me, there are a gazillion other blogs out there to read. I've been reading all your blogs while rocking, nursing, and cleaning up puke, I just don't usually get a chance to leave comments.

Here is something I read this morning (I type this one handed as I balance a bottle under my chin into Cheeks' face), and now I must have it. Must!

CHOREGANIZER

I've seen/made/bought so many chore charts that I was absolutely convinced that there was an anti chore chart genome in my family's DNA. But this looks as if someone has studied my family and custom made a chore system just for me. MUST HAVE IT!!!

I prepared myself for the sticker shock. Anytime I find something that is perfect for me it is always too expensive for my penny pinching brain to accept. But at the Book Peddler I can get it for just $16.95. And it comes with everything, EVERYTHING, premade and ready to use. Man, that costs less than those pretty (pretty useless in my family) little wooden chore charts with a cute beehive that has little bees with your family's names on them rotating around the chores.

Maybe if I buy this my kitchen will finally be too clean to eat off the floor any more. Or do you use that phrase to mean your floor is clean? Because when I say you can eat off my floor it's because there is a three course meal, on my floor.

Ice Cream Winners

The names are in and the free ice cream winners are (I had my kids yell out random numbers that I assigned to each name):

Richelle
Cellista

Caffienated Cowgirl

Sarah

Leslie (sounds like you could use this)

Ordinary Mom

Lisa

Erin

Cynthia

Lucy Van Pelt

Thanks for playing, and don't forget to send me your mailing address! (lizzyvance at gmail dot com) And, not to pressure you or anything, may I highly suggest you find and try some of these fun flavors of Klondike bars with your coupon. When you click on the individual flavors there is a window where you can type in your zip code and it will tell you the nearest store that carries that flavor. I've actually never had a Klondike Bar before. I'm not sure why... Well I just tried the Heath and Reese's flavors last night and I gotta say, "I think I'm hooked!" But I will post more about this new experience later... I still need to try and find Caramel Pretzel. Heck, I just might try them all... After all, good experimentation require complete thoroughness. =)

*

I need your opinion now. I'm new to this whole giveaway business and I need to know, should I have had a longer cut off time for this? I know I sometimes don't get around to blogs as often as I would like and maybe some of you are sad that you didn't get here in time for this? Or do you prefer to know the end result quickly? I've entered several giveaways and then forget which ones I've entered and where because I had to wait weeks to find out who won. Let me know what you think.

*

In other news: Sheesh, it is amazing to me how difficult blogging (and everything else) has become now that I have Cheeks. His Parent-Pleasure-Sensor is always set to high and he sounds the alarm anytime I start doing anything that feels even remotely good. I eat, he cries. I read, he cries. I pee, he cries. I sit, he cries. And when he cries I have four little messengers that feel the need to tap me incessantly in order to make sure I know that the baby, laying right next to me, is crying. It makes me want to cry.

Meet My New Best Friend/Drug Dealer

(GIVEAWAY AT THE END)

I just received some of the coolest mail ever! No, really, literally the coolest mail ever. I got ice cream... in the mail. So cool!

When it comes to ice cream it's not what you know, it's WHO you know, and I know J--. See his pic? I've never actually seen the guy so I had to guess a lot when drawing him. Anyway, J-- contacted me recently about some new ice cream products that I might want to review on my blog. J-- works for Unilever Ice Cream who owns Breyers, Good Humor, Popsicle, and Klondike... J-- has my dream job. They have several new products and were kind enough to send me a few to try. Years ago I dreamed of blogging for money, but I'll willingly blog for ice cream too. =)

Before I tell you about the ice creams I should preface by saying that these products are part of Unilever's goal to provide healthier options in ice cream. I am NOT a fan of diet, sugar free, low fat, or try-to-be-skinnier foods. I am also brutally honest when it comes to ice cream.


First up is Breyers Double Churn Fat Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

I gotta say this was the first chocolate ice cream that I've ever REALLY liked. Instead of tasting like frozen dirt it tasted soft, creamy, and good. Kind of like the difference between a Hershey's chocolate bar and Swiss chocolate. The only problem were the brownie chunks. They tasted dry. There is a Double Churn Fat Free French Chocolate, though, that doesn't have the brownie chunks and I bet that is just as heavenly. In fact I plan on buying some to try. If so, then Breyers will be the first people to make a chocolate ice cream that I like or even (dare I say it?) love.


Popsicle has come out with their own version of the original Dippin' Dots. Little tiny frozen balls of ice cream that roll around on your tongue. These were good. I can't say they were great, but they were good. I will say this for them, the kids loved them and anything that makes me look cool to my kids is great in my book. Something about tiny little balls of ice cream had my kids giggling last night as I kept pouring more into their bowls. And that is a benefit right there: no scoop needed. Just shake the box up, open, and pour into your bowl. And a little went a long way so don't let the small box turn you off.


Slim-a-Bear 100 calorie ice cream bars. If you want to enjoy some ice cream without over doing it then I have to give the English Toffee bars 2 thumbs up. The French Vanilla didn't do anything for me but the Toffee flavor was yummy, I felt satisfied, had a pleasant flavor in my mouth long after eating it and I had no desire to keep going back for more. I've tested this phenomenon 3 times now and it holds steady. I'm satiated and happy and don't need to binge. This did not happen with the Klondike Sundae Cones where I ate the entire contents of a 9 cone box in 3 hours (YUM!).

Now, like any good dealer, J-- has given me some freebies to give to my friends. So if you want some free ice cream just tell me what your favorite Breyers, Klondike, Good Humor, or Popsicle ice cream is. I will pick 10 random commentors at midnight tomorrow and announce the winners on Saturday.

And lest you think I'm not following through on my giveaways... I've picked my Pay it Forward people... finally.

Michal
Becki
and Fallfleur

Please email me your mailing address (lizzyvance at gmail dot com) so I can ship you your surprise (and you will get some free ice cream too).

Home, "Sweet," Home.

Goodbye, Idaho!

Hello, Seattle!

Makes you want to cry doesn't it? Nothing like Pacific Northwest rain to tell you that the vacation is over. =)

I know I promised a real post for today but my fridge is empty, I must unpack, my kids are hungry and bored (a dangerous combo), there is a tower of junk mail threatening to fall on me, and the only ice cream I can find has freezer burn. Waaaaaaa. I'm not ready for reality!!!

Almost Home

You know you've gotten your money's worth of Idaho when you have a rockin' farmer's tan, are excited to get home to your own bed and washing machine, and you have enough post ideas to see you blogging through the rest of the year.

We are having a grand time here but the vacation is coming to a close. I will be home Monday morning and will finally have access to the internet and my blog again. (YIPEEE! I had no idea how much I rely on blogging to keep my thoughts in order).

The only problem is that I just don't know where to begin. So, I'm asking for your help. Which blog post would you rather read first?

1. Kaleidoscope Memories
2. Gourmet Dump and Eat
3. Sitting in My Personal Hades
4. The Ultimate, Greatest Baby Invention Ever That Makes Me Smile Every Day and Why Americans Are the Last to Use It.
5. Meet My New Best Friend/Drug Dealer
6. Succumbing to Peer Pressure: My Review on Twilight

What You'd Never Expect When Expecting

A whole week with no new blog post. I can't remember ever going that long without posting. I've been writing blog posts in my head, I just can't seem to find the time to write them without giving up something more necessary (like bathing, eating, or talking to my kids). Back in May I was interviewed by Michelle from Scribbit and I answered several questions on blogging (HA! As if I'm some high-falooten blogger. I'm still such a greenie). In the interview I said that one of the most common mistakes made by new bloggers is infrequent posting. I forgot to leave out the other mistake that new bloggers sometimes make: having babies. Seriously, while Cheeks is giving me plenty of blogging material he is also sucking up any free blogging time I once had. Lucky for him he is totally worth it ("Yes you are, Mr. Cutie Face. Aren't you the cutest little Mr. Man ever? Yes, yes you are! Goochy gooooo,"). Someone needs to invent a machine that lets us mentally write blog posts, because the ones I mentally write at 3am while dancing with a fussy baby are surely some of my best works ever (or at least my most entertaining).

Here is an example of what a 3am mentally written blog post would look like:

"What to Expect When You're Expecting... HA! I should write a book called, What to Expect When You're Going Crazy. I mean, people really need to be warned about these things. You know, things like:

1. Low blood sugar causes insanity. When you are yelling at your children over a small salad spill in the car and you start bawling because the mere thought of giving your McDonald's cheeseburger to your daughter, to replace her spilled salad, throws you into a massive mental pit of despair... Yeah, just forget what you were going to do, turn the car around, go home, put whatever food you can find into your mouth, and just breath. In about 20 minutes everything will be just fine. Just remember, never leave the house unless you are sure you've actually eaten something in the last 5 hours and always bring a snack with you.

2. Pantyliners make great nursing pads. Sometimes mothers of multiple children get lured into a false sense of security when it comes to leaking. For instance, I leaked all the time with my first baby, but not so much with my second and not at all with my third and fourth. I wrongly assumed that breast leakage was something that only happened to newbies, and not all-knowing veterans like myself. When you find yourself in a leaky situation without any pads to be had, never fear. Just cut some circles out of a pantyliner and, voila! The sticky back of the pantyliner is also great for holding the make-shift nursing pad in place.

3. You may hate your husband simply because he is a man. If you are driving with your husband and you point laughingly at a Urology Clinic's sign that reads, "Laugh, cough, sneeze... leak? Call 1-800-" and your husband says, "I don't get it," you may feel an intense hatred for him and his manhood (men have it waaaaaay too easy). Don't hit him. Just point laughingly at the Urology clinic's other sign, "Vasectomy!"

4. Your other children WILL live. They will live through a few months, or even a year, of too much TV. They will survive even without any sense of a routine or quality interaction with their mother. They will still love you even after witnessing your moments of sheer insanity. They will even be able to go to college despite the absolute lack of any educational experiences during the first year of the new baby. So, don't stress out about it.

Can't you see this being a New York Times bestseller? Huh, huh? Can't ya? Yeah, maybe I better just stick to nursing and diapers. =)

These Shoes Were Made For Walking

And that's just what they'll do. One of these days these shoes will make me walk away from you.

I'm walking away from blogland for a week, or until Monday, which ever comes first. =) I will feel bad for not coming around and commenting on your blogs, and I'll miss the ego boost I get from your lovely comments everyday. But I'll be back. You know I will. Until then, I recommend that you read these lovely posts from Scribbit's Writeaway contest. These were the ones that I had such a hard time picking from (Besides the winner and the runner ups. If you haven't read the runner ups, please do, they are great).

The Shoes That Brought Me Here (The circle of life in shoes)

Sole Defining (A moment that is just too perfect)

The Line (Insightful, educational, and my favorite line is: "living above the shoe line")

Allergic To Weddings (Funny)

Daddy's Girl (I can't help but love this one because of my own memories of my father)

Until Monday...

Adding To My Blog Addiction

(I rudely swiped this all too perfect image from HERE)

Every now and then, when I am feeling particularly lazy and need something to do that doesn't require physical movement or too many brain cells, I like to go blog hopping. I jump from random blog to random blog, sometimes finding something good enough to read and, though rare, sometimes even finding something that is worth putting down my ice cream so I can leave a comment. Usually, though, even if I find something good I don't usually go back because it really is hard to keep up with the blogs I already read daily. But then there are the rare, wonderful moments when I find a great blog, a blog so awesome that not only do I read and comment, but I get hooked and spend obscene hours ignoring my family as I read through all of their archives and past posts, leaving an embarrassing amount of comments in their email inbox. Usually these are blogs that have been recommended to me by other bloggers. Well, I have just finished reading ALL, as in every single post, from a blog that my friend, Becky, mentioned in her blog. If you are interested in Crohn's Disease, are raising boys, have twins, have a hard time surviving the wonderful world of momness, or just need to feel like you aren't the meanest mom ever, you will love this blog:

The Meanest Mom

Now, I really need to get the dishes done, make dinner, and wash my kids' faces so that my husband won't think I've been doing nothing but read blogs all day. =)

Restocking the Freezer

Time to restock my freezer, but not with ice cream. Shocked? Well, I will be replacing the ice cream that was consumed this last week, but my goal today is to restock my freezer with cookie dough. It is rule #2 of successful mothering, isn't it? And I have not been very successful in that area this last month. Thanks to several drool causing posts I am off to make love to my amazing Kitchen Aid mixer and whip up these lovely looking photos:

Magirk's Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies (That picture just screams for a glass of milk and a good book)

Mrs. Annie's Grandma Ida's Oatmeal Cookies (I'm putting your bragging to the test.) =)

Michal's Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies (I have been saving my precious Guittard Milk Chocolate chips for just such a recipe. And I saved some pecans from my recent pecan pie bars for this too. Never make a 9x13 pan of pecan pie bars unless you are going to give them away. I hope I don't get the mean nurse at my next appointment because I'm sure those pecans did some damage.)


And then I will be whipping up a big batch of my Grandpa's Favorite Gingersnaps too. I don't have any pics because I'm usually too busy fighting my family for a few to get my hands on a camera.


Grandpa’s Favorite Gingersnaps

*DSSH always likes these fresh from the oven with a cold glass of milk. If you take a bite of a warm cookie and a drink of cold milk the milk will make it crunch up but it will still be warm and gooey on the inside. You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months in a freezer ziplock bag.

Ingredients
¾ C. Butter or Margarine
¾ C. Shortening
2 C. Sugar
2 eggs
½ C. Molasses
Mix the above till smooth
Add:
4 C. Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Ground Cloves
2 tsp. Ground Ginger

Mix well then shape into balls (I use a cookie scoop that measures exactly at a tablespoon. So if your cookie balls are larger you may have to increase baking time) and roll in sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I use a small cookie scoop and only leave them in for 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Spiritual Alarm Clock

One of my new favorite blogs is ABBA Stories written by Becks (please stop by and check it out). When I first read her blog's title I thought she must be an ABBA the music group fan. I got a little smarter after finding out that she is really an ABBA fan (Am I the only person who did not know this?):

Where he found people calling upon God with abstract, distant titles, Jesus introduced a homely, personal word, Abba. This word, important to the earliest Christians, translates simply as father; but it is actually slightly less formal than that and contains a flavor of familiarity and trust. (Read whole article here)

Bible Dictionary: A personal, familial term for father as used in Hebrew. It is Aramaic for father, and in Talmudic times was used as a title of honor. It was used in the language of Jesus and the apostles, and later by Greek-speaking Christians, as an intimate name for the Father in Heaven. See Mark 14: 36; Rom. 8: 15; Gal. 4: 6.

Anyway, her blog posts are absolutely lovely. I never come away from there without feeling enlightened, inspired, or wanting to be closer to my Heavenly Father. I also love her humor and her candid honesty. Recently I have been in love with this post that talks about making a very personalized cleaning plan for your home. I will post about what it has helped me do later. Today I want to highlight something that Becks said, not in a post, but in one of her comment streams in response to the question of how to become a morning person. Here is Becks' solution:

Becks' How To Become A Morning Person:

"This first method I used for about three years: Step One: Give birth to a kid who's a morning person. Step Two: Feel guilty for letting the kid wander around the house unattended for hours. Step Three: Let guilt drive you to the action of getting up.

"I used this second method for about a year: Step One: Start getting up early via the old-fashioned alarm clock method. Step Two: Fall asleep on the couch at night from the sheer exhaustion of having been up since 5 am.

"This is my current method of waking up in time to do everything: Step One: Ask God to wake you up however many minutes before your kids do in order for you to have however much time He thinks you need to spend with Him undisturbed. Step Two: Obey. (God frequently embodies our cat to accomplish His answer to my "Will You please wake me up" prayer).

"This is the method I'm going to assume as soon as the outlet situation in our bedroom is resolved: Step One: Set the alarm for 5 am. Step Two: Go to bed at a decent hour.

"And this is the method I'm looking forward to adopting in just a few short years: Step One: Wait for your kids to grow. Step Two: Go back to being a night person."

Now, I've used the prayer method many times when I had a very important reason to wake up at the right time and it really truly works. I can also testify to the fact that Heavenly Father often uses interesting ways to answer this prayer (thanks to the person who decided to call me at 7am on this lovely Sunday morning so that I could indeed get all my church stuff done before the kids woke up instead of sleeping in next to my warm husband... who is still sleeping, the lucky dog). But I had never thought of using it as a means of running my daily life (oh me of little faith).

This week, along with a lot of other changes I am making, I am going to put this to the test. I will let you know what happens =).

Oh, and another great blog that Becks runs is Something Good where, instead of ranting about how your husband didn't take out the garbage AGAIN, you can brag about all the wonderul reasons why you love him. Today's topic is what makes your husband a funny daddy. So, if you have something good to say about the man you love, get over there and share it.

Resistance is Futile

My first introduction with blogging was when I read an article about the thousands of dollars that could be made just by sitting at home and writing about what you love. Sounded awesome. I tried to set up a blog, already dreaming of the millions I'd be making, but couldn't figure out how to get it up and running. Then a good friend kept telling me I needed to be an advice columnist so I thought I would set up a blog for that. After 5 failed attempts at getting those blogs up and running I finally called my buddy, Lucy, to come over and help me figure out the mysteries of the blog generators. Lucy, unsatisfied with the very impersonal advice blog, kept pestering, uh... I mean encouraging me, to set up a personal blog. I would smile and and politely say that it just wasn't my thing. After awhile, though, I finally decided to give personal blogging a try. Just like I'm always telling my kids at the dinner table, I tried it and I liked it. Once converted I set out to get recruits of my own, like a pyramid scheme. I've been bugging my amazing Super Sister for months now to set up a blog and FINALLY she has been suckered into this thing. If you get some time today stop by her new blog and say hi. I'm so excited to see what she does with it.

Here is her web site for Classical Education

The Summer Of Not A Lot Of Blogging

Ok, so I have a ton of great stories to tell from my Idaho trip and I even took lots of photos to go with those stories but I can't download them and it is really ticking me off. So, I wasted most of last week waiting for the pictures to work and now I'm heading out of town again. I'm sorry I'm not much of a blogger this summer. I really do enjoy blogging. Ah well. Maybe when I return from this next trip things will get back into a routine where I can have my writing time again. Until then, I hope you you won't give up on me, and I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as I am =).

(No, this isn't a picture of me and the kids. Although I have blown up enough water inflateables to deserve a bikiniable body like this lady has.)

BYE

If anyone needs me, this is where I will be for the next 13 hours. I may not be blogging very much for the rest of the month but if you are wondering what I'm up to just read my Scribbit Writeaway Entry. Yup, that is me for the next 4 weeks. I can't wait. Hope you are all having a fantastic summer, don't forget your sunscreen, and keep up all your wonderful blogs!

BYE!

P.S. Scribbit has posted the new writing topic for this month. Will YOU accept the challenge?

And Now, Let Me Introduce To You...

For today's blog post I really feel inspired to introduce you to one of my favorite blogs: NY Girl Eats World created by Nicole Cotroneo. I don't know her personally but I am addicted to her writing. Nicole writes about the food, places, and people that she experiences as she travels around her parts of the world. I can't explain why, but when I read about these experiences I get the feeling that I have to have that same experience too or I'll just die. Suddenly I don't want to touch another french fry, unless mine too can be drizzled with truffle oil. And I find myself morning the idea of dead kitchens as I lick my lips with the thought of jam on bread. I've never even given a thought to a city named Toronto until I read her latest post, and now I feel that Toronto must be one of the loveliest places on earth (I will be pondering the layered meanings in that photo of an old, red, gabled building reflected in the modern sleekness of glass walls for the rest of the day). So, if you get some free, relaxed, daydreaming time today I suggest you spend it traveling and eating with the brilliant Nicole Controneo.

BOOK CLUB BLOGGING

FINALLY, a book club that is possible for me. Lucy, from The Doctor Is In is starting a book club on her blog. I've always had time to blog, but I've never had time to get a babysitter and sit in someone elses living room, eating yummy treats, discussing the current reading selection. Here is the best of both those worlds. And I can do it in my jammies, while I eat big bowls of ice cream without sharing!!! Lucy is also holding a fun little contest. She needs a name for her book club. If you can give her a winning book club title you could win one of the first two books we will be reading. Go check it out.

SHS update: Still jumping, I have a nicely made bed, which somehow leads to a clean room everyday too. I exercised and even used my new 5 pound weights.