Slowing Down and Reading Aloud

Normally, I read fast. If a story grips me, barring interruption, two to four hours later, the book is done. I find a good story very addictive, and a good plot can induce me to forgo sleep, food, showering, and other basics of civilized existence.

However, I'm discovering that there are other ways to enjoy a good story than by snarfing it down as quickly as possible. Micah read 100 Cupboards and Dandelion Fire aloud, and I really enjoyed it. It is forcing me to slow down and enjoy each part of the story, instead of rushing to the end to find out what happens. Which is definitely the fate these books would have had, since I can't wait to find out what comes next!  And I can't wait until we start The Chestnut King!

 

Christmas Adam

The day before Christmas Eve... ;-)

8 cards are in the mailbox... I was actually not planning on sending any out until after Christmas, but had some extra time this morning and sent outa few.  I accidentally put larger sized pictures in some of those, that I was planning on framing, but didn't realize it until I had the envelope sealed, addressed and stamped.  Oh well.  Guess they just get a bigger version of our smiling faces!  At least, of Micah and my smiling faces... although we have very happy, smiley children, getting them to smile at 9pm or later on Thanksgiving after a huge day was a fail.  See?

 

Merry Christmas from

Micah  Natalie

Nathan

& Miriam

p.s.  I baked and frosted seven plates of sugar cookies over the past twos, and this recipe has my full and complete approval!  Amazing!  I have never had sugar cookies turn out well enough to deserve frosting before, and I am SO happy to have a good reliable recipe for them now!

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

2 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
7/8 cup honey (I used 1/3 c. sugar and 1/3 c. maple syrup Sunday morning... yum!)
1 stick butter
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups oats
3 cups flour
Raisins, craisins, blueberries, nuts, etc, if desired

Mix.  Pour into pan (I used a 7x11 glass pyrex Sunday morning).  Sprinkle top with oats, brown sugar, and nuts if you have time and desire.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, until fork inserted comes out clean. 

I put in about a cup of frozen blueberries.  Very yummy!  It is a really dense, filling breakfast.  Fine on its own with a big glass of milk. :)

Better Marriages through Twitter!

I think I'll write a book and become rich and famous.

This morning I tweeted the following as I sat and sipped my Lady Grey tea that my sweet husband had made me:

Slightly feverish and cranky baby makes for a sleep deprived, headachy mama. Working on this one sip at a time.

I don't know why headaches make it so I can't remember the existence of pain medication.  Unfortunately, this means I generally suffer until Micah figures out what is wrong with me and hands me the ibuprofen.

My tweet, however, sent a text message to his phone, and to my surprise less than five minutes later, he arrived with a glass of water and two ibuprofen.  At first I thought he had just looked at me and known I had a headache, which was slightly more impressive, however I think this worked much better than our usual system.

So I'll try to remember to tweet next time my head hurts.  Maybe I'll be able to remember that...even though I can't remember to just take some ibuprofen...

Although, considering my level of crazy, I'd say the chances of that are pretty slim.

Anyway.  My husband is the best. :)

Cookies

So I started to make cookies, and found that all the butter was frozen, so I substituted apple sauce, and I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I substituted some cinnamon to give some nice flavor, and I didn't have much brown sugar so I substituted white sugar and molasses for that, and then I thought oats sounded yummier with the apple flavor so I used that instead of most of the flour...

They're good! Kind of reminiscent of oatmeal, which is perfect on a chilly day. :)

Swagbucks

Some of you may have noticed my Swagbucks banner on the sidebar, but I thought I'd take the time to write a post on Swagbucks because I'm getting ready to spend my third $5 Amazon gift card thanks to Swagbucks.  If you're already signed up with Swagbucks, this won't be too interesting, but if you're not, keep reading. :)

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you for searching.  It does this by randomly awarding points, or "Swagbucks" for searches.  Once you have enough Swagbucks, you can redeem them for prizes.  I've redeemed all of mine as gift cards, but you could also get a Paypal gift card and spend it like cash anywhere online.  I installed the Swagbucks toolbar, and I can search easily and quickly from there.

Why should I sign up using your referral link instead typing Swagbucks into my address bar?
Because if you go using my referral link (every Swagbucks link in this post, or the banner below) then I get points. :)  And if you use Swagbucks after signing up with my link, I get more points.  Which means more Amazon gift cards for me, which means more books, music, and general fun splurgy goodness.  :)  Plus of course you're earning points just for searching the web like you already do!

So what are you waiting for?
Go sign up!  Start earning while you search the web! :)

I'm laughing so hard I hurt.

see more Epic Fails

Sleeping Baby on My Back :)

I was playing around with adding watermarks and trying them out on this picture, so I thought I'd share it.  Miriam fell asleep in the mei tai a few weeks ago while I was working in the kitchen.  Amazingly, I was able to get her off my back and in her playpen asleep... she is a very sound sleeper!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, and whatever other festive trimmings are tradition around your neck of the woods... and do it all to the glory of God!

Peaceful Moments

It is always a good idea to have a toy or two stashed so that your toddler finds it a new and novel distraction when you really need him to play happily in the other room and let his sister nurse. She tends to get distracted when he is in here kissing her feet... although it is so sweet it's more than worth the delay!

uh oh...

I am a novice in such matters, but surely it is bad if smoke is pouring out of my beloved cherry red KitchenAid?

*sigh*

To use Nathan's new favorite word, uh oh...

Carry of the Moment...