2008 -- A Review

Later I have a great story about everything that happened today, but first I wanted to take a look at the past year. It has been a crazy year in our house. Next year is not going to get any better, either. It seems to me that each year I expect things to 'settle down' and each year they get progressively crazier. Maybe I'm just getting older and unable to roll with the punches. Maybe I am turning into the mole my husband is and am beginning to enjoy holing up in my house with the blinds closed, watching movies and hanging out with my family. But then again, maybe not.

January. Ahh, January this year we moved into our new home. It was also the year the hurricane hit California and toppled every tree on base and in the RV park we were living in at the time. We were lucky that the trees stayed far away from our rig, but others weren't so lucky. There is the good, the bad and the ugly attitudes I had about moving in. But then, most of those things have changed.

February was less eventful, we were getting settled. But it was the month of the giant baby poop incident.

In March, Not the Momma tried to kill us. Apparently we don't worship Disney enough, because shortly there after we ended up in Mickey's Hell House. March was also the month that Not the Momma nearly drove us off of the road after having one of his startling revelations.

April was the month I was a fool and tried to clean my keyboard with bad results. It all ended happily enough, but it could have been avoided. We also visited the Sequoias near Fresno.

May (I always want to type Mary when I am typing May) was totally insane. What between the remake of Caddyshack going on in our backyard and the purchase of one of those things I said I'd never buy. The gophers have run away for now, and I am really enjoying Schmitty now that we've had him for a while. I know I'll love him even more come next June when Baby #2 makes its appearance.

In June, the dogs didn't get the memo that it's never hot here. They decided to do some backyard renovations to include installing a new swimming pool. Little Monster began really living up to his name. I also reached the landmark 300 posts. How I'm not famous like Dooce or The Pioneer Woman or anyone else I don't really know. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the spelling errors, grammatical faux-pas, or inconsistent posting.

Are you bored with the month by month recap of the year yet? Really? Because I see that you're still watching that stupid thing on VH1 that recaps the year. I think I'm a little bit more interesting than Britney's balded head and the election. Okay, Maybe not. Who cares. I'm finishing this up if for no other reason than I'm having fun reading my posts from the last year.

July. The hottest month of the year. The temperatures here on the lovely Central Coast of California actually got warm enough to defrost my toes, set up the pool and play outside for hours and hours on end. Of course, we were in Nebraska soaking up the heat there, relaxing at the lake, running between our parents houses and eating lots of good food. And then there was the time where I almost went to jail. Okay, so there was no jail, but there was a ticket. It was shortly thereafter that Not the Momma decided that Someone upstairs has it out for him.

August was pretty lame around here. Except for this. Seriously, if you only click on ONE link to previous posts, you should totally click on that one. Little Monster singing Itsy bitsy spider? He wasn't even 2 yet people! HOW cute is THAT?? Look at his little sun! We watched this the other night and we both almost died because the amount of cute that was coming out of my computer totally filled the room, pushing the oxygen out. It's a good thing it's a short clip.

September was the month that Not the Momma decided to try to prove that at any given moment the molecules in a solid object could align themselves so that another solid object could possibly pass through it (it's called tunnelling). He had a one in some number of trillions chance. But there's still a chance. He still has a scar from the incident, and Little Monster is now obsessed with 'boo-boos' and thinks everyone needs one on their knee. We also visited San Diego despite mice taking up residence in the fifth wheel and my bad attitude about the whole ordeal. It turned out to be a good trip, especially considering the good news we got the day we left. (Keep reading).

October was when I announced that there's going to be a Little Monster: The sequel. It's also when I began really feeling the symptoms. Little Monster also turned two. How sad is that? He's such a big boy now.

November was the month the sequel tried to kill me with morning sickness. I am NOT complaining. I am very grateful that I am pregnant, and that is has stuck around. Not the Momma and I only had a short time to conceive so that he would be home for the birth. That time was about up. Thanksgiving was awesome. We had some friends over and did tons of touristy stuff and just spent time at the house. December has been a great month as well. The morning sickness has subsided, everything is seemingly going well and the year is over tomorrow.

It is amazing how fast this year has gone. I can only imagine that the years will go by faster as the sequel is born, and everyone gets older. I pray that we'll continue to be happy and healthy. And by we, I mean our family and yours. Happy New Year!

Continuation of an Old Tradition...

Remember when I promised that recipe? No? Okay. Good. That means I don't have to give it to you and worry if we'll show up to the same blog party with a crock pot full of the same stuff...

Where was I? Oh yeah, I promised that I'd give you a recipe. I wish I was all cool like The Pioneer Woman and had taken pictures while I was cooking this, but then, my pictures wouldn't have looked as good and I would have felt bad for stealing her 'thing.'

So, As I was talking about earlier, we celebrated this year with a few old traditions. One being opening up new pajamas on Christmas Eve. The other is that in the midst of preparing for the candlelight service at church, preparing for the coming of Santa Claus and wrangling too many children, my mom had a few things on her plate without worrying about some big dinner. So, she always prepared soup. The first few years, it wasn't something we enjoyed so much. (Sorry mom!) But then, we were little, and the soup was clam chowder. After a few years of whining, she switched to potato soup, which was good. But one year, she came up with a recipe that knocked our socks off. It is so good that the last time I made it (before Christmas Eve this year), Not the Momma proceeded to eat the entire crock full. And then he cried when he found out it contained sour cream. Not the Momma + Sour Cream = Not so good. Where was I again? Oh, you want the recipe? Okay. here goes. My comments will be italicized, mm-kay?

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Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

4-6 large potatoes

2/3 cup margarine (I use butter)

2/3 cup flour

6 cups milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 green onions, chopped

12 slices bacon, diced

1 1/4 c cheddar, shredded

8 0z sour cream

Preparation:

Wash potatoes and prick with a fork. Bake at 400F or until done. Let cool.

Cut potatoes in half, scoop out pulp and set aside.

Melt margarine or butter, because I use butter in pot over low heat. Add flour, stirring constantly with whisk. It's almost a roux, aren't we excited!? Cook 1 minute. Gradually add milk, stirring until thick and bubbly. mmmm thick and bubbly.

Add salt, pepper, chopped green onions (leave a few for garnish), and diced bacon (again, leave some for pretties on top). Right about now you should begin to smell heaven cooking. No? Wait a few minutes. Cook until boiling, then lower heat to a simmer. Add sour cream and cheese. Serve when the sour cream and cheese are well mixed and heated. Garnish with the leftover bacon onions and a little bit of shredded cheese... MMMM yummy.

Shortcuts and Modifications:

I totally use the pre-cooked bacon that comes in a box at the store. It doesn't even have to be refrigerated until it's open. Because I hate cooking bacon. Hate. It. The boxes come with 15 slices, so I just chop it all up and dump it in. And the extra three slices make it taste that much better. Also, in order to be kind to my husband, who (as I previously mentioned) does not get along with sour cream, I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. But the sour cream. It does a taste-bud good.

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I really wish that I had taken pictures now. Oh well, you'll still love me. And if you don't after you try this soup, there's something wrong with you. Even Little Monster tried it -- and he normally only eats olives and bread with butter.

It won't be Christmas...

Not the Momma and I have discussed at length what ages we had our first real memories. Little Monster is quickly approaching that age, so at Christmas this year, I wondered as we came downstairs and he noticed that Santa had visited, as we opened gifts, visited Church, had family time and then friends over if he would remember any of it.

I've now come to the conclusion that Christmas will not be his first memory. That would be too nice. His first memories will probably be one of the following:

• Me opening a Hershey's kiss in front of him and denying him the chocolate, even after opening his mouth and saying "aaaah" like a baby bird.
• One of the multiple times we've groped him to check his new 'big boy' pants for wetness while harassing him about whether or not he needs to go potty.

If it has to be one of those mean memories, I hope for the first. The second one I hope he can repress until after years of therapy. The whole potty training thing. I'm not sure if it's a good sign that for the past 3 hours, even through dinner and 2 cups of apple juice, wrestling and Daddy torture, tickling and giggling uncontrollably that the child is still dry. We have put him on the toilet at least 6 times in attempts to get him to go. He sits there looking at magazines, kicking his feet, talking and singing the whole time with nary a trickle. Will he remain dry until he explodes? Is he biding his time until we put a diaper back on him? What are parents to do?

***Update*** Apparently, 3 1/2 hours is the amount of time that a 2 year old can control the contents of his bladder before he has to empty it on the carpet.

Old Traditions

Sorry about the interruption, there. We're still dealing with the aftermath. But this is about Old Christmas Traditions.

If you can remember being little, and thinking about Santa Claus coming on Christmas Eve, munching down on some cookies and bringing presents, you remember how terribly exciting it was. It wasn't bad enough there were usually gifts under the tree anyway. You'd been watching them for weeks (and if you were smart like me, you'd probably tried to sneak peaks at them), waiting for Christmas Day to come so that you could open them. At one point there were four children five and under in my house growing up. I can't imagine being the parent to four kids, so excited they couldn't sleep on Christmas eve. In order to alleviate some of the craziness (at least I assume this is why), my mom allowed us to open ONE gift on Christmas Eve. She picked them, of course. We always got a pair of pajamas. To this day, I fondly remember going to bed on Christmas Eve in a brand new snuggly pair of PJs each year. I am continuing that tradition in our home. This year, things got a little crazy. My mom sent Little Monster a pair of Pajamas:

Thank you Grami!

Excited about the new Jammies

New Superman Jammies

Little Monster loves his new pajamas. So much, in fact, that we have to trick him into wearing actual clothing.

As for other traditions, we had a light (ha!) meal of bread and soup for dinner Christmas Eve. The soup is delicious, and I'll post the recipe soon, but alas, it has been more than 10 minutes so I must annoy my child until he relents and sits on the potty again.

Interrupting Christmas...

I have an "Old Traditions" Post that I am going to put up soon, including a yummy recipe, but first I have an interruption.

The past few days have been rather interesting around here. Little Monster is on the cusp of needing to be potty trained. But I'm lazy and don't want to deal with the mess of wet pants and loads and loads of never-ending laundry. We already have never-ending laundry. I can't imagine what a potty-training toddler and a new baby are going to do to this household's laundry piles.

I have not been very gung-ho about the whole potty training thing at all and Little Monster has NO desire to actually use the toilet. However, he certainly has the desire to remove his pants and diaper if it gets too wet. We've been lucky so far **rapping on all the wood I can find nearby** that he hasn't felt the desire to remove poopy diapers, but I'm sure that day is dreadfully near. I guess it's a good thing we have two full weeks of not many places to go. While we're home, he'll be wearing the new underwear and ruber pants he got for Christmas and diapers while we're out. Otherwise that duct tape I've been thinking about strapping him to the wall with is going to end up wrapped around his waist to keep his diapers shut.