The Chocolate and The Cheese

When you peruse target.com before you make a Target run, make sure the the product you picked out and have decided on is actually available in store. Not just online. Finding a bathing suit with a two year old in the dressing room should either be the government's newest torture technique, or the newest event in the X Games. When your little lady turns two your entire house will be turned pink. Everything from her clothing, to her toys to her new beach towel. If you have the audacity to offer her another color, you will get the stink eye. When you finally pick out a pool for you little lady to play in and ask the pubescent guy working in the aisle if you need a pump to blow it up. Don't listen to him. Even if he says it only takes "fifteen minutes" to blow up, with a bike pump; it will take you over two hours to get it half inflated. Next time, double the kid's Target wage and make him blow up the d*mn pool. An inch of water to a two year old is just as fun ...

I just wanted to take a quick minute to tell you about my new favorite lip gloss. Now, don't you all go thinking that I'm some sort of beauty know it all. Heck, I still consider wearing mascara and eyeliner to be making myself up. However, my dear friend Emily always has a new lipgloss and always looks fabulous. Likewise, my friend Connie also looks great at all times and has a firm handle on the whole make-up thing. So when she told me I had to use this lipgloss, I listened. What is this lip gloss you ask? It's the Minty Lip Shine by Victoria's Secret , in their Beauty Rush line. Victoria's Secret? Yeah, I know. I was dubious at first too. But this lip gloss is as if Burt's Bees Original lip balm and your favorite clear gloss got together for one night of hot, naughty fun and produced a love child. It's clear, shiny, minty and doesn't make my lips all sticky. I don't have to reapply every ten seconds and for me, that just about makes i...

Happy Friday everyone! I know I'm glad that the week is almost over. I have lots to do this weekend and a fun potluck to attend tonight with the Little Lady. Hope you all have fun plans for the weekend too! Enjoy! Wii Controller : Used for starting Dora the Explorer from Netflix Watch Instantly . Seriously the best use of the Wii yet. Two Cameras : Apparently I have photos I need to download and edit. Perhaps tonight that will get done. Probably not. They are this one and this one . Electric Blue Nail Polish : The Little Lady and I now have matching toes. She's in love and oh so proud of having "big girl" toes. Three Crossword Puzzle Books : Random fact you may not know about me; I love me some crossword puzzles. In fact, it was on my list of things for my Mother in Law to bring when we were in China. I only love the easy ones though. My other laptop : Because I want to listen to this book , but the library only has it in WMA format, which is not compati...

Life is just busy, busy, busy all the time around these parts lately. Yet, here I sit. Mindlessly surfing Facebook, randomly putting together dream outfits on Polyvore and writing this blog post. What should I be doing, you ask? Well, I could tell you, but after my highly rated post yesterday , it would put you right to sleep. Unless that's what you need right now. Then, by all means, email me and I will send you a copy of my to-do list. It's guaranteed to produce yawns all around. Yawns? Really not what I'm looking for today. So how about instead I give you a list of three yawn busters; a new recipe, a new site and a obscure fact? Yes? Excellent! Shakshuka : I made this delightful meal last week and it was perfect. Easy, made with ingredients that are not only cheap, but on hand and oh so comforting. Next time I'll add some spinach either in the sauce or sauteed on the side. Really, not to be missed. Academichic : This is a new find for me. I don't ...

Hello Dear World, today I have an issue to take up with you. Some of you will be on my side, many of you will feel like I'm talking to you. And only you. Honestly though? I'm not. I'm only talking to that person standing right behind you. I feel so strongly about this that I'm actually thinking of starting a Facebook group to bring this issue to the attention of everyone in the country. The issue of which I speak? Black yoga pants are just glorified sweat pants. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. You see them everywhere. At the grocery store, Target, the park, in line at the DMV, at the Post Office, renting a movie from Red Box. People? This trend needs to be stopped. There are only three reasons why you should be wearing black yoga pants in public: You just had a baby. Have a newborn? I'll pretty much let you do anything. Including parking in that Handicap spot at the grocery store. You are going to have a baby. Extra points if you are going...

So as per my New Year's List (you know, that list languishing -----> on my side bar) I called our realtor and had him talk to us about putting our house on the market. Overall it was as positive as it could be, when you're trying to sell your house in the middle of a housing "slump." I don't really want to go into details, but we might even make out with our shirts, our pants and a couple of extra diaper for the little lady. There are no promises though. So for the past week I have been in extreme clean and organize mode. Like, I've never cleaned this much in my entire life. The process starts innocently enough. First, there's Stage One. You find stuff you want to get rid of. You take nice photos and post them for decent prices on Craigslist. Dealing with strangers who ask idiotic questions about your old crap gets old. Real old, fast. So you move on to Step Two. Donating that old crap to Goodwill or Savers. You know, someplace where you ca...

After an absolutely beautiful start to Spring we had the wettest, chilliest ten days possible. What makes it even more difficult is that the weather was so nice before! Sixty degrees in mid-March? Yes please! Transitioning to a rainy, cold week hasn't been easy. Especially for a mom and kiddo that love to spend time at the P.A.R.K. Ever try explaining to a two year old why they can't go to the park they just passed? You'll hear a chorus of, "The slide wet mama." over and over for the next few hours. Just as they quit...you'll pass another park. We've been surviving the weather, but I can tell you we're looking forward to the sun and seventy degree weather coming tomorrow and this weekend! So I have a record for the next rainy week we have, I thought I'd make a short list of the things that keep us sane while we spend the time indoors. Extra Bath Time : Warm, steamy, wet fun. Rain boots in the tub are optional. A New Book or Two : Whethe...

Dear Jillian Michaels: I loved you on the Biggest Loser. That no nonsense, bitchy style served you well. But now that you're invading my home and are taking over my TV? Yeah, I'm not feeling the love anymore. You like to talk about how you were once in our shoes. How you'd like to have abs similar to your super fit demonstrators, and you'd do anything (not just about anything) to get them. Well yeah, I would too...unless it involves me doing hundreds of crunches and listening to you for twenty minutes or more everyday. But, you've promised me that if I keep with it, I too will have rock hard abs and be in the best shape of my life. I believe that you even said I was on my way to being "shredded". Whatever that means. (And let's be honest, that doesn't sound like much fun, does it?) So I will continue to stick you in my DVD player a couple times a week. The cover says the workout is only twenty minutes, but I'm pretty sure someone is ...

I shower with Gym. We are not lovers, but foe. The water trumps pain. Get up and work out. The water is worth the sweat. Stress leaving is gold.

I still think of Mother's Day as my mom's holiday. Perhaps as I get older and the little lady can participate more I'll feel as though the holiday is my own. Until then, it's brunch with the MIL and the Mr.'s grandmas and sending my mom a card and a snail. So, in honor of Mother's Day I thought I would write about the things that I found the most surprising about being a mom. This is a subject that I could fill notebooks and pages and pages of internet with. However, I don't want your eyeballs to burn into fiery little orbs, so I'll limit myself to a list of five. Sleep Exhaustion is no Joke . Really. I knew I was going to be tired. Every.blessed.person.I.met told me that. But that doesn't prepare you for the bone numbing exhaustion of those first couple of weeks. And after that point you're so tired and have ingested so much caffeine you don't know the difference. Then one night you get eight hours of sleep and suddenly it's ...

I've been quite busy around these parts! We house/dog sat for my in-laws last Thursday until this Tuesday and coming back has me feeling like coming home from vacation...except we didn't get to go anywhere fun. My house is a huge pit and I've got lists coming out of my ears of things I need to accomplish. Luckily, it's kind of fun stuff. Organizing, cleaning, painting, creating, buying, giving. All in anticipation of putting the house up for sale. My little sister is coming this weekend to entertain the little lady so that the Mr. and I can finish some things around the house. It's been a busy week, sorry the posting has been light. Hopefully once some things are sorted out hopefully the posts that are ratting around my head will see the light of day! Until then, say "Yes" to something today. Commit to something that makes you smile.

Yep, that's right. I am a student again! A few weeks ago I started receiving emails from the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) department at Hamline. They looked like mass emails about job openings and announcements. It was either a cruel joke or I had been admitted but not received my acceptance letter. After two days of emails and two days of trying not to get excited I finally called at 4:55 one afternoon (the office closes at 5). I told the woman on the phone that either Hamline was very good at playing cruel jokes on prospective students, or was I really admitted? She laughed and said, "Congratulations, you are a grad student." A grad student!? I'm a grad student! So I hurriedly filled out my FAFSA and got to worrying about how I was going to pay for it. Then Friday I got my Financial Aid info and sure enough, the government is more than happy for me to add onto my student loan debt. Now just to figure out how to reorganize my time to study, find a prog...