Vintage Blog Yahoo 360

I am new to blogging but my first foray into blogging began at Yahoo360. For a look at my older "vintage" musings and tags and pics please click on the link below

http://360.yahoo.com/michelleccmt

But please come back and visit soon. More curlie girlie/ cvfabmama adventures to come

ps pic is a snap of E and I we went wine tasting in Livermore for our anniversary in October.

BBD get a reality check

I snapped this pic of bbD yesterday. My sis videoed him having a toddler meltdown and while she was playing it for me he was amazed at watching himself on the screen. I wonder if he was thinking... " Who is that wild child? Is that me?" Well David here is a reality check yes bbD that is you and it amazes me still that such a sweet boy can go from angel to complete Rosemary's baby in like 2 seconds flat.Oh babyhood, I know I should cherish these moments but sometimes after witnessing a melt down of caliber I am reaching for a glass of something alcohol based.Just playing (kinda) Luv ya Davey Pooh!

Thursday Dinner

Whipped up some yummy pasta tonight for dinner. Cooked up ground turkey meat, sauted spinach , red bell peppers, and crimini mushrooms ( chopped up the mushrooms and bell peppers) added a few dashes of dried up pepper flakes, a teaspoon of minced garlic let them all cook down and mingle in the pan. After the rigatoni ( my noodle of choice) boiled I drained and then added to the pan added in my favorite pasta sauce and then let them all cook together a little longer. Once E got home I I sprinkled a little but of cheese on top and served it up. lmG loved it, bbD he took a pass on this meal (brat). As we were finishing up E informed me that this pasta dish was outstanding he felt like he just went to an authentic Italian eatery and can not believe he did not have to shell out cash for the meal...I was quite taken back with the compliment. I think I actually blushed. I am quite the cook, a baker that's a different story. Although I was taken with the lovely remark on my meal I advised E that just because he did not have to pay cash does not mean he will not be paying for his meal. I am feeling a empty is the closet and told him I am feeling a trip to the mall coming on. He laughed it off, but I am serious.

Snack Attack

Thursday after work I felt a little snackish. I made a few essential stops I have been needing to make. Spoke to a local jeweler about a project I am working on. Project Dazzle me as I like to call it. Then headed over to the local salon to catch up and schedule with the Chemical Queen Tara ( my stylist). Before picking up the little I decided to drive over the hill to Bayfair mall and make a caffeine stop at Starbucks. Picked up a yummy soy vanilla latte, tall I figure it's my night before my three day weekend I can stand to stay up a little later than usual.I had a small craving for something sweet and choose the toffee pecan cookie. This cookie is my absolute FAVORITE cookie at Starbucks. To make it more thrilling its not at each Starbucks. I only come across it from time to time so when I inquire about it and they have them in the stock I always snatch one up.

Thursday Finally...

Thursday boxed lunch

A hodgepodge of eats on the menu:

Breakfast : Starbucks short vanilla soy latte(2) 1 petite vanilla scone (2)
Breakfast total= 4

Lunch : 2 mini pitas with hummus and sliced ham and sliced red peppers (5) , side salad no dressing (0) 1/4 cup black bean soup(1)
Lunch total = 6

Not too shabby. Went to weight watchers yesterday and dropped 2.2 lbs. I was SO happy hopefully I have made it over the weight loss plateau and I can start losing more on a weekly basis.

Last night I decided that I would turn Wednesday night into left over night this week. One I was lazy to cook and two, I still had a lot of trip tip left we turned it into sandwiches and called it a day. The sandwich was perfect. I served it on Grace baking potato rosemary bread. delish!

Works For Me Wednesday

One of my favorite things to do is purge the house. I feel like there is clutter here clutter there , clutter clutter everywhere. We have a few non profit companies that will pick up your older things and then sell them to fund their projects. The one I like to donate the most to is PARCA. Every 6 weeks or so I do a complete and total purge of the house. Top to bottom. each room gets a once over. Clothes the LMG can not longer fit into get passed down to BBD closet. Clothes that BBD can not longer wear I either give to the local free cycle or place in a bag for Parca to pick up. Then on to the hallway closet and bathroom . Older beat up towels get cut up and chopped down for dish cloths or get donated. My room is my favorite to purge. If I have not worn it in 6 months it leaves the house pronto. This of course leaves lots of room for more shopping my favorite thing to do.

Wednesday Eats

Happy Wednesday to you !

Lunch Box for Wednesday

Breakfast: WW yogurt (1) chocolate banana bread crumbled two pieces to top yogurt (6)
breakfast total =7 YIKES . Oh well at least my points start over today.

Lunch : Tuna wrap (3) side salad with a dash of dressing (1) Chopped up veggies, carrots and cucumbers (0)
Lunch total = 4

In the end it looks like I will even out. Going to weight watchers today hopefully I had a better week than last week, but we will see. I am trying not to get discouraged. On the dinner menu tonight. Pasta. My favorite carb loaded meal. thinking about making a baked pasta dish but may decided once I actually get home may just decide to do it my old fashioned way on the stove top.

Wednesday Eats

Happy Wednesday to you !

Lunch Box for Wednesday

Breakfast: WW yogurt (1) chocolate banana bread crumbled two pieces to top yogurt (6)
breakfast total =7 YIKES . Oh well at least my points start over today.

Lunch : Tuna wrap (3) side salad with a dash of dressing (1) Chopped up veggies, carrots and cucumbers (0)
Lunch total = 4

In the end it looks like I will even out. Going to weight watchers today hopefully I had a better week than last week, but we will see. I am trying not to get discouraged. On the dinner menu tonight. Pasta. My favorite carb loaded meal. thinking about making a baked pasta dish but may decided once I actually get home may just decide to do it my old fashioned way on the stove top.

Fab mama review : The IT Girls guide to Blogging with Moxie

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a cute little book called The IT Girls guide to Blogging with Moxie by Joelle Reeder & Katherine Scoleri. I really really heart this book. It is a cute how to guide on how to create maintain and get your feet with with blogging. I am a newbie to this blogging thing and I thought it would be a great way to learn more about the techie aspects that I am not that polished on. I feel like I learned a lot I feel much brighter in the way of blogging and look forward to using what I learned on this format. I loved the cute girl speak and easy to absorb format. Brava to the Moxie girls inn putting this book out there for others like me to find.

Fab-u-baking 101: Chocolate banana bread

One of my favorite things to do when I have a free moment( that is a rarity... as we know) is read one of my favorite magazines. Sunset magazine. I love the articles, the website, the recipes and the ideas on where and when to travel, garden and how to live a little greener. I was thumbing through the other night and found an interesting recipe Chocolate Banana Bread. The recipe seemed simple enough I had most of the ingredients in the pantry so I thought I would give it a whirl as my first Fab-u-baking 101 project. Simple instructions and a little patience that I lack from time to time churned out a bread that is tasty. I would say it's along the lines of a scone ... yes defiantly this bread is scone-y . I would highly recommend it as a breakfast bread . The jury is still out on it as E and the littles have not tried it out. You can find this recipe here (my pic looks pretty close to theirs so big snaps to me!) Fab-u-baking 101 week one down 51 left to go.

Fat Tuesday dinner

Today is Fat Tuesday. The last day to over indulge before Lent. I decided to make a little more then usual meal for dinner to celebrate. We had roasted tri-tip smoothered in minced garlic and panko crumbs. On the side mashed potatoes and gravy with broccoli and a glass of cab. E loved it, E loves a hearty meal. And I was quite taken with my dinner efforts. It was fantastic. The littles refused to eat it instead we had to make them a pot of seimein noodles, one of their personal favorites.

I dream of the day when these littles look at me and say "mommy that was GOOD , I want some more .. your the best cook ever" I mentioned this to E and he laughed reassuring me that that day is coming soon.

sweet craving

Was feeling a little sweet last night and decided that I needed ice cream. Sent E to Baskin Robbins to pick up a couple of scoops of my new favorites , the BRight choices menu. i got a scoop of milk chocolate and vanilla. When he got home I was inspired to frost me ice cream and make it even worst for myself. I sprinkled on white chocolate morsels and chocolate graham cracker gold fish. I obviously did not count the points of this unnecessary snack. I can only imagine how bad it was. ANYHOO, here is goes.

Hi,
My name is Michelle and I am a chocoholic. This is a problem I have had for a long time but is seems to be getting worse. My sweet tooth is on hyper active overdrive. I figure if I blog about my sweet tooth maybe I can be more mindful of what I am doing. I know dessert is not that bad but the way I crave something sweet is out of control. Maybe if I can kick the chocolate habit the weight loss effort would be better rewarded. =(


Ok, well that is off my chest but I am really not feeling any better about it.

Tuesday back at work

Back at work after a day off. Lunch box not so exciting.

Breakfast WW yogurt (1), kashi bar (2)
breakfast total =3

Lunch : left over enchiladas and rice (6), side salad with dash of dressing (1)
lunch total =7

I am not feeling so jazzed about this lunch I am starving today. Good grief. For Fat Tuesday this lunch box could have been more sensational but then there's always dinner. BTW on the menu for dinner is trip tip mashed potatoes and veggies and a salad.

Friday Bento Lunch

Finally Friday! I am so pumped to be headed towards the weekend. On my Friday menu:

Breakfast: 1 banana (2) weight watchers chocolate smoothie (1)
Breakfast total = 3 points


Lunch: Tuna fish on whole wheat english muffin with red butter lettuce (the beautiful lettuce I blogged about yesterday) (3) oranges sliced up (2). 10 Chocolate rice cakes (1) one weight watchers carrot cake bite (1)
Lunch total =7

* my lunch options are a little different today. I figure if I am not really losing the weight that I would like why not mix it up a little and add something sweet but not awfully bad into the mix ... oh and my choices were limited as I have yet to make it to the grocery store this week.

Daily Eats

Thursday Eats, On the menu:

Breakfast: Short vanilla soy latte, starbucks (2) mini crossiant(2)
Breakfast total=4

Lunch : Beans and Rice, I know boring and I swear my last day (4), salad with dash of dressing (1), cheese stick (2), hard boiled egg (2)
Lunch total = 9

I went to weight watchers yesterday and gained 1.2 pounds WTH. I feel like I am starving. Need to kick this weightloss plan up a notch. I have decided to take my point intake down 2 points to see if I can jump start some action. WE WILL SEE (fingers crossed)

Spud Delivery

Peep the Spud box this week:





Bananas - approx 2 lbs - 6 (Organics Unlimited, MEX)

Broccoli - 1 (Joe Heger Farm, CA)
Carrots, Baby peeled - 1 lb (Bunny Organic, CA)
Cucumbers - 1 (Natura Organic, MEX)
Lettuce, Red Butter - 1 (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Mangos, Kent - 1 (ECU)
Mushrooms, Crimini - 6 oz - 1 (Frontier Mushrooms, BC)
Oranges, Navel - 4 (Sundance Natural Foods Company, CA)
Peppers, Red - 2 (Natura Organic, MEX)
Potatoes, Red - 2 lb (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Spinach, Baby - 5 oz - 1 (Earthbound Farm/Natural Selection Foods, AZ)
Sprouts, Alfalfa - 4 oz - 1 (Banner Mountain Sprouts, CA)
Tomatoes, Grape Cherry - 1 pint - 1 (Santa Sweet, MEX)
Potato Rosemary - 16oz (Grace Baking)


I was missing the tomatoes so I gave Spud a ring and they issued a credit on my account. The red butter lettuce was the most beautiful head of lettuce I have ever layed eyes on. I was meaning to snap a pic because I was so taken with it but forgot ... will do once I get home and then I will post... I am sure many people will agree the colors of the lettuce are gorgeous, it's almost a shame to eat.

Fab Mama review : Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Soothing Lip

{ beauty Rush lip gloss, Victoria's Secret}

Picked up this lip gloss during a trip to Victoria's Secret to pick up some necessities. While I was in line I had a momentary lapse and submitted to my urge of the ever present pixie that lives in me : Miss Impulse Buy. I have enough pink lip gloss so I choose the pretty buff color. At first I was not sure if I would like it seemed to have too much glitter . But once I smoothed it on I fell in love. very shiny , natural sheer color highlights the natural color of my lips, which I like. Not sure if this is lip gloss is suppose to have a plumping effect but it seems to tingle my lips and they appear fuller. The little pot it comes in is very chic and it fits perfect at the bottom of my bag. I really like it. I rate it a 3-5. Still searching for the "perfect" lip gloss I know its out there somewhere.

Baking Boo Hoo

I had a crazy craving for corn bread yesterday, it was cold and wet outside and with a pot of red beans and rice on the handy dandy crock pot it seemed like a perfect pairing. I had a boxed corn bread mix in the pantry. I mixed the Trader Joe's mix together with all of the called for ingredients. I was very delighted to smell the warm yummy-ness oozing from my kitchen and I was so pumped to have a piece because it has been a long while since I have had me some corn bread.... AND then disaster struck. My cornbread turned into semi charred mounds of not so fabulous. UGH I am the worst baker in recorded history. It seemed a waste to dump the not so bad cornbread so I kept and served those but I was ashamed to serve it...well not really cornbread is cornbread and when it's warm and buttered you can almost pretend that it is not charred. My little crumb bum bbD did not seem to mind either.


This cornbread fiasco has really snapped me back into reality, I am not the domestic goddess I thought I was if balancing, a career, a family, a happy marriage, a social life, and an overloaded TIVO if I can not cook a simple box recipe. I am now vowing to become a better baker.

How will I do it? Not quite sure maybe I will call it a project: fab-u-baking101.

I will bake once a week, bread, cake, pies, cookies, bars etc. until I master my baking skills and become a confident if not accomplished baker. I am not just talking boxed mixes I mean real baking. Up to my elbows in flour, from scratch baking. I have plenty of cookbooks and now its time to get crackin'. Stay tuned for more of my misadventures in baking to see if I get lazy or stick ( and I don't mean the pan, at least i hope it won't ) to it .

Happy Wednesday =)

Another day another bento box. On the menu:

Breakfast Horizon reduced fat organic milk (3) & corn bread heart with raisins and cranberries baked in . (3) Breakfast = 6 points


Snack : Kashi very vanilla instant oatmeal (3)
Lunch: Red beans and rice (6) side salad w/ tomatoes and carrots splash of dressing (1 ) Lunch total = 7

Dinner will be another round of beans and rice( sorry I hate to un impress but I hate waisting food even more) and a large hearty salad the Spud box will be waiting when I get home HAPPY Wednesday to me!

Daily Eats

On the menu today a bento box filled geared towards a healthful lunch. In the bento I have a side salad with squirt of dressing (1) red beans w/ turkey breast(6) cucumber and carrot slices (0)
Lunch count 7 points




Breakfast: WW rasberry yogurt (1) and lara bar crumpled up and mixed into yogurt(5) breakfast count 5 points


Snack: Kashi oatmeal very vanilla flavor (2) & WW chcoclate smoothie (1)
Snack count 3 points

A Sweet Treat

I love making meals and snacks for the littles. I try all of their meals and snacks as healthy as possible but from time to time I have slip up and give them a not so healthy snack. Last night I served the littles a graham cracker frosted with white cake icing and topped it off with chocolate graham crackers and blue candy sprinkles. They loved it of course and it made quite a mess.I strive to be a health conscious momma but a rainy day deserves a treat.


David (bbD) did not know how to react when such a cute sweet treat came his way.


On the other hand, Gabriel(lmG) knows exactly how to handle a snack of that caliber

Dinner A La Little

The other day on my trip to Safeway I picked up these lunchables for the littles. I got the pizza version because I thought it would be something that at least one of them would enjoy. I was right. lmG totally dug his pizza kit. He spread out the sauce and sprinkled the cheese on top like a real pizzaeria kinda kid. He has not been too into these lunchables until now, lmG is not a cold cuts kid although he does love crackers and usually gobbles those down with out delay. lmG is really into cooking right now. Watching me cook, watching to food network with me on Saturday mornings and trying to be as helpful as possible in the kitchen. His little dinner was perfect size for a picky eater and he topped it off with half a carrot, and a graham cracker treat.

Sunday Adventures

A rainy weekend came to a close. We were stranded in the house most of the weekend. On Sunday we braved the rain for a short blast of activity. First up Breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Mimi's is one of my favorite chain restaurants to eat at. The food is always delish and down home and very reasonably priced. I had the crab and avocado omelet. The littles had scrambled eggs and toast and E had French toast he ended up sharing with the littles. Littles heart french toast... in fact littles heart anything covered in syrup.

After our Mimi's Cafe fuel stop we ran over to the CVMC winter party at the San Lorenzo community center. The kids had some fun, chasing balloons and running around the space. There were a lot of different activities that the littles could have participated in but neither one was in the mood to craft. lmG was busy chasing ballons and popping them while bbD was occupied following his brother around and when he tired of that trying to make a break for it out to the duck pond. We stood for awhile and then headed home for the littles to take their daily nap.





The cold wet day turned to night and soon it was time to put the kids to sleep for reals. The littles had a black bean and cheese "cigar" ... ( rolled up quesadilla) for dinner while I whip ed up veggie chicken wraps and soup for E and I. It was of course delicious. very filling and satisfying. A perfect snuggle under the blankets meal to end Valentines day weekend.

I Heart Valentines Day

Like the title of this post I HEART valentines day! My sister was a champ and a half for volunteering herself as the splendid babysitter we have been needing. We decided to have a low key day nothing spectacular but something fun we have not been able to do in a while...we went to the movies. We saw " He's just not that into you" I loved it. It was kinda on the long side but a total chick flick. I did get a little misty a few times and E even thought it was good. After the movies we headed over to Pasta Pomodoro for an early supper. I had the penne potobello and I had some over pasta dish. I really like Pasta Pomodoro. the atmosphere is super cute for a chain restaurant and the food and service are good. We did not get he usual soup /salad that we usually get with our meal not sure if they changed the menu or if the server had an off day but it was still good. We had two more stops on v day . First up we headed to Zuckerfuss in downtown Hayward for a frozen yogurt treat. I have been wanting to try it for a while now and was so glad that we finally had an opportunity. The FRO-Yo spot is very delightful, a perfect spot to sit and people watch too.. Its a self serve type spot that has a lot of different toppings to choose from. I really love the pink walls , white furniture and swanky music they were playing. This place feels like a total hang out. We will defiantly be back. I love that their spoons and bowls are made from compostable materials. This place is trendy and Green. LOVE IT.

So here is a snap of my frozen yogurt creation. I had the regular frozen yogurt, a splash of fudge sause. cookie dough bits, cap'n crunch cereal chocolate chips , mangos and coconut flkes. ...OMG I am reading this back as aI type and I feel like a total FRO-Yo pig. But it was good and of course I had a small serving.

Last stop of the day was PW market for some cupcakes for dessert. I ahve been wanting a cupcake for a day or so and i love the PW choices, although this particular red velvet cupcake I picked I could have passed on.




When we got home my sis had the littles stringing macaroni to make me a special surprise...a neckalce. How thoughtful, and cute!

A Frazzled Friday

My three day weekend started off with a big flub and not the exciting bang I was hoping for. I decided after careful consideration to stay home on Friday to take care of some much needed house keeping. The regular hum drum of laundry , cleaning the littles rooms and basic disaster zone recovery. lmG refused to nap all day on Friday so at the end of the day he was pretty worn out . A day at home with the littles consisted of the usual antics that keep me on my toes. lmG and bbD are getting to an age where they can almost play together. lmG has become a rough house kid. Something that he has picked up somewhere ... where I am not quite sure. It has become annoying to say the least that he is constantly trying to wrestle with bbD. I am trying to curtail this behavior but no such luck. So you can imagine a day full of a 2.5 year old being a meanie and not napping really wore me out. I was longing for a glass of wine by the end of the day but did not have a bottle in site. It feels as if I have been staying up later and later,and I am having a hard time getting up in the morning. E has been behaving a little selfishly this weekend by taking in all the AM snooze time to himself. I need to plan a day (SOON) that E can either take the kids out of the house early in the AM or think of another way I can catch up on zzzs.

ps... The snap is of lmG howling in protest to a washup( he loves markers) and a nap. You cna see why I may have been frazzled.

Bento box fever

Yesterday I was wasting time on flickr and came across these delightful Bento Boxes that a mom makes up for her preschooler.I got totally inspired.I fell in love with her whimsical boxes and they have given me new take on feeding the littles and myself. I have a similar type of lunch box myself at home. This morning I packed myself a bento box full of healthy goodness. On the menu:

Salad w/ tomatoes and a squirt of dressing
left over steemd veggies
a tuna wrap w/ whole wheat tortilla, mixed greens and a dash of shredded cheese.


I will say. This was the most satisfied I have with lunch in a while. It was fresh and different, not the regular frozen meals I have been bringing in. Maybe it was the bento inspiration, maybe it was the rain in the air, or just plain lunch time boredom. But I am all about the bento box.

A Little Dinner

Dinner menu last night was yummy but the littles did not think so. I am really trying to just feed them the same meal we are eating but with the constant pickiness of LMG, and the growing obsession of snacks for BBD, I am finding this hard to do. Anyhoo, back to dinner. We had pork shoulder marinated in a delish carribean jerk sauce, garlic noodles and steamed veggies. On the side we sliced up our favorite rosemary potato bread from grace baking ( it came in the spud box)

This Spuds For You

Here are the contents of our Spud box this week:


Avocado, Hass - 2 (Earthbound Farm/Natural Selection Foods, CHI)
Broccoli - 1 (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Carrots, Bunched - 1 (Earthbound Farm/Natural Selection Foods, AZ)
Lettuce, Green Leaf - 1 (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Mangos, Kent - 1 (ECU)
Mushrooms, Crimini - 6 oz - 1 (Frontier Mushrooms, BC)
Oranges, Navel - Surface scars - 6 (Sundance Natural Foods Company, CA) Peppers, Red - Medium size - 2 (MEX)
Salad Greens, Baby Romaine - 5 oz bag - 1 (Earthbound Farm/Natural Selection Foods, AZ)
Tomatoes, On the Vine - 1 lb (Cedar Mills Eco Farm, CA) BR4048 Potato Rosemary - 16oz (Grace Baking)



I always look forward to Wednesdays because I know I am half way through the week and that when I get home a bounty of beautiful fruits and veggies will be waiting for me. I love shopping with Spud. They have a great variety and I try and shop as local as possible for product to try and decrease my families carbon footprint. Gabriel enjoys seeing the box too. He likes to help mommy upload the veggies and read the content sheet.I did mess up by not ordering bananas this week and he was a little disappointed to not see any in the box, But I will make up for it next. Maybe thrown in a treat from him or something.

To Co-Op or Not To Co-Op

That has become the major question in my brain. LMG (Gabriel) is coming up on preschool people. A happy yet,challenging decision needs to be made soon. In a community like CV there are many preschool options. Last night E and I attended the CVMC Preschool Fair to try and narrow down our search.

There were traditional schools, there were co-op school but I did not notice any Montessori schools in attendance. E and I like the idea of a Co-Op. My sister has volunteered her time to work our in class days for us and of course we will be attending the parenting classes in the evening. There are two major Co-Ops that are in my sites . HPNS amd the CVPNS. I have finished all of my required work for HPNS and I think we are on a waiting list... still waiting to hear back from them.

I am hoping E and I are up for the challenge and dedication a Co-Op will take. Sometimes at the end of the day we find ourselves exhausted and to add one more major thing on to the ever growing to do list seems a bit daunting. Keep posted for the final Preschool decision.

A little chocolate ice cream

This post should actually be titled "What you get when you give a little chocolate ice cream ... a mess"

I could not resist a messy faced pic of BBD. The ice cream was a treat after we got home yesterday. E had the day off so we headed over to our favorite brewery Buffalo Bills for an early supper.

On the menu:

We had the wrangler pizza and the buffalo nachos to split of course... that's a lot of food. BBD had a love affair with beans. the whole mean long all he wanted to do was pick the beans off of the nachos and gobble them up. He has always had this fascination. We are not sure if he actually loves the taste of beans or if he just likes them because they are small and kinda cute just like him.

My original plan was to head over to the new frozen yogurt spot across from Buffalo Bills after for dessert, but on examination of our littles attitudes and the gleaming white upholstery of the new hot spot's chairs we decided to visit again when we have a better shot at success.... toddler melt downs frozen yogurt, and white do not mix... see the pic above if you doubt me, BBD was not even in a foul mood in that snap and this was the mess we had YIKES!

After dinner we took a jaunt to the San Leandro community center for E to take care of some park ranger business.

When we got home I felt bad about promising the litles something sweet and yummy while we were out so I decided to whip out a scoop of ice cream for them. THEY LOVED IT!But who can blame them ice cream is great. LMG gobbled his right down but my petite epicurean (davey pooh) savored his choclate ice cream like the true chocoholic is sure to become (just like his mama) and enjoyed each and every spoon full.

A wet weekend full of sniffles

This weekend had its low points and its high points. E ended up passing his ever present cold around to yours truly. I thought I was going to be a success of warding it off again like I have been dodging it for a while but no such luck. I started felling the scratchy throat Friday afternoon and by the time Sunday morning rolled around it had hit, full force. I am trying to keep it together here at work. I only came in today because this is my short week.

Back to the weekend. E finished his first series of the required classes he needs for his teaching credential. He, now gets a short break and then will be headed back to the South Bay in a few weeks to finish up. I was looking forward to him being home with em and the littles on Saturdays but I just went over his schedule for the next few weeks and with other school related events he has planned we will not be seeing much of him anytime soon =( . My sis is watching the kids on Saturday (all day) so that we can have some much needed love bird time... it is going to be Valentines Day.

The Littles and I stood home on Saturday afternoon from our scheduled play-date. LMG starting coughing and had a very visible runny nose. I decided to do the right thing and not contaminate other little children in the community... although I feel like I desperately needed to get out of the house. LMG and I buckled down and made serious attempts at potty training. My mom has been doing a bang up job of it at her place but our attempts have fallen off. I am happy to report that LMG wore his big boy underwear all weekend ... and only 2 accidents on Saturday WOO HOO. We are on the right path. Fingers Crossed he will take to it and we can be done with the pull ups. BBD had a big boy break through as well. I threw out every single bottle in our possession and he is a sippy cup little now no more bottles for him! He did quite well going down for his nap and down for the night. I was surprised I thought he would make a bigger deal about it like his brother did. BBd ... he's a tough kid!

Sunday, I got to sleep in for awhile 7:45 am... what a stretch but when your Monday -Friday alarm chimes in at @3:30 am 7:45 is really a good deal of sleep. E and I decided it was to cold and I was too miserable to take the kids out into the world so we had a total couch potato day. We watched some Tivo. We had been backed up on The Biggest Loser so we treated ourselves to a mini- marathon day. I totally over indulged myself with snacking but I figure hey! why not starve a fever, feed a cold and I am feeling a little better today.

E's aunt Evelynn called us midway through the day to tell us that she whipped up a batch of beans that she has been promising E for a while now. I was happy to be off the dinner hook two days in a row and the beans were very tasty. I served them with brown rice and french bread. It was a wholesome stick to your ribs kinda meal perfect for when your feeling under the weather!

Weekend Adventures

I had Friday off so I took the opportunity to drive out to Santana Row and pick up some rattan ottomans I have been lusting over for like ever. We had an empty spot in the living room that desperately needed filling. I rarely drive that far for anything but that was the last store in this area that carried them... they are discontinued. The Littles and I met daddy E for lunch and we had a quick nibble at the Olive Garden. It was eeh, Ok to say the least. But it was a quick sit down that the littles did not make a mess out of. Friday night was date night... Off to Chevy's to meet E's co workers for cocktail hour. After that we headed over to BestBuy to contemplate our next big electronic purchase.. a MAC book or a Wii... the jury is still out... Neither of us can honestly decide. We ended the night at a local CV favorite , The Ice Creamery. I stuck to the smallest sundae I could find the flavor black forest cherry... I took a risk selecting that new flavor and it did not payoff.. I am not really a cherry fan. The sundae remained for the most part un eaten. E had his usual Black and Tan, I think an oversized heart-attack on ice with a cherry on top but who am I to judge.

Saturday, E headed off to school and the littles and I ended up at SuperFranks in Pleasanton for a playdate with out play group the East Bay Small Fries. SuperFranks did a fabulous job renovating their Taught Town and I can see us there alot more often. My mom surprised me with a call asking to meet us at the mall so she could get the boys some new shoes. We met up at Stoneridge, shopped for new shoes for the littles at Stride Rite. Shoe shopping can be difficult for littles. Mines kept running out of the store with their new shoes on WITHOUT paying for them... Little theives, lol. After selecting fabulous toddler foot fashions, my mom and I decided to motor to Walmart for more littles shopping. She picked up some much needed supplies for her place and then got them some toys they were eyeing.

Sunday was another busy day. I had 4 massage sessions. I was out of the house at 7:30 am and back home by 12:45. We celebrated the SuperBowl at my mom and dad's place. It was a fun but I will a tad boring day. The Steelers won the game... but all the SuperBowl mania has left me with an even more backed up TIVO. YIKES! We need to make up some Tivo time like ASAP... Survivor starts next week.

Check out some photos for this weekend!

Photo faux pas

I recently purchased a new camera a Nikon CoolPix. I basically needed a new digital camera to snap pics of the littles and for my blog. The one we had just kinda fell off. I wanted something smaller and chic. My gal pal Christine told me about some free photography classes on-line. I signed up last week and started working on what not to do when taking photos.

Flattening the world

Another consideration when you are taking photos is that you are turning a three-dimensional world into two dimensions. You are flattening everything the camera sees into one visual plane. In reality, a light pole may be 50 feet away behind your subject and therefore not seem to be a problem. On film, the two objects will look fused together. Figure 1-2 shows an example of what can happen if you don't pay attention to the faraway objects as well as the nearby clutter.


To prevent this from happening in your photos, make it a habit to look behind your subject and detect any objects that may be a problem. Move yourself or your subject to put the distracting background somewhere other than directly behind.


Posted above is the very first lesson. I was going through some pics recently and saw a huge photo composition mistake screaming out at me when I saw this picture of BBD. E took the snap and when you look at my baby in those funky little glasses it looks as if he has antennas growing out of his head. The whole look he is sporting the glasses, the orange shirt and the "antennas" is very alien babyish. I will be posting other photo mistakes as I learn more in my class.

Yelp Elite Event

I recently made Elite status on Yelp. I was quite pleased that my reviews were taken into account and I was granted this almighty badge of honor. If you Yelp , then you know what I am talking about. One of the great benefits of being Elite are the Elite Events. Last night we attended my very first Elite event at Easy925 in Danville. It was an 80's themed party. We did not come in dress up but still had an awesome time. Yelp and Easy925, along with SKYY provided us with drinks. You basically got to sample the drinks and you would vote for your favorite. The winner(drink) with the most votes got a permanent place on the menu as the Yelp approved drink. I likes the Cruel Summer, E liked the Purple Rain. Before we left I got a cute Elite hoodie that I am looking ofrward to rocking about town sometime soon. E let me know that I am kinda of a nerd with my Yelp obsession and my blog on the way home but it's ok... I may have become a bit of a geek but I am still chic ;)

I will admit all the drinks last night were smidge much for me I had a little trouble getting out of bed and for a moment felt a little woozy. I can not party like I use to. Boo hoo. Oh well, maybe more Yelp Elite events will keep me in a more regular go out mode.

BBD & Toothers

BBD will be 18 months young this month. According to the news on the pediatric front BBD should be kicking the baba habit like ASAP. I will admit he only gets a bed time bottle. At my moms house I am thinking he gets more than one nap time bottle a day. I really should be focusing on getting this little guy on a sippy full time, but I am not sure if my mom will get on board just yet.

Looking into ways to ween a baby off a bottle. I figure once he is biting the heck out of the nipple and slitting the opening up so all of the milk spills out he is proably getting bired with it anyways. But old habits die hard for a little too.

BBD is posing hardcore with his buddy toothers. His favorite bedtime pal.