things that I thought I'd never do as a mommy

This post is inspired by a post a while back by my dear friend over at La Dulce Vida. Here are 10 things that I thought I'd never do as a Mom...when I was still a doe-eyed, naive new Mommy:

1. Yell at my children.
2. Cry (in private) after yelling at my children and asking for forgiveness.
3. Buy breakfast cereal that contains marshmallows.
4. Buy clothing that displays a movie, TV show or cartoon character.
5. Buy a kid's book that is about a movie, TV show or cartoon character.
6. Buy a toy inspired by a movie, TV show or cartoon character.
7. Let my girls watch a "children's" movie that had a mildly off-color joke...and then have to explain that they are NOT to say those words.
8. Turn the TV on PBS Kids so that I could take a long, hot bath to get a moment to myself.
9. Cry myself to sleep because of a mothering mistake.
10. Reprimand the neighbor kids. Several times.

It's been that kind of week. I'm tired and very, very ready for my Girls' Night Out tonight with my book club to view Jane Eyre (which was our most-recent read).

fridge

I think someone is onto something -- the secret mythology of Fringe has been exposed - Fridge.

some cool websites

I just stumbled onto Sarah London's wonderful crochet blog. Great color inspiration...

Neat photography website, acres of diamonds...

**PLEASE PRAY FOR MY DEAR FRIENDS' BABY BOY**

Please...my very dear friends' boy is in need of healing. Please pray for for him. Click this link for details.

junk email

Since Wednesday morning, we have received 328 individual e-mails flagged as junk by AppleMail. Another reason I love my new Mac.

And good grief.

Friday Fringe Questions...

I think I'm the only one who reads my blog who watches Fringe :(

But if you do, help me figure this out:

1) Who was on the bridge? I guess Walternate

2) Who was being treated in the lab? I say it was either This-Side Mother or AlterMother (she needs a better name) because the hands were so feminine.

Poor, poor Walter. He was devastated. Peter was so mad. Was he mad at Olivia, too? For some reason, he doesn't suspect she knows...

four chords is all you need...

...for every pop song every made. Check it out.

And along the lines of funny stuff, here's how you pronounce the Icelandic volcano that no one knows how to pronounce, Eyjafjallajökull.

next-gen iPhone?

This is a cool peak into the future...

softie

Softie is gone. Toll the bells. Play a dirge. Hopefully Ingrid's thumb-sucking habit has disappeared along with it. My hope, now, is that I find the lost remnant of her beloved blankie before SHE does. Sweet Ilsa was so concerned about her big sissy's well-being that she offered Ingrid her baby mini-blanket to which she never became attached (she uses it as a dolly blanket).

love songs

Mars Hill Church has posted music from their Good Friday Service. I chose a few of my favorites. Click here for more.

What Wondrous Love is This
"

Jesus Paid it All
"

lollipop the turtle

Lollipop the Turtle aka, "Turtlie", celebrated her 5th birthday today. She received a gift from her Mommy wrapped up just for her.

Lollipop loved her book. Well, it's appropriate as Ilsa wants Chicka Chicka Boom Boom read to her every. single. night. She also takes CCBB with her to bed.

quote

I am not what I ought to be
I am not what I want to be
I am not what I hope to be in another world
but still I am not what I used to be
by the grace of God I am what I am.

- John Newton

Thanks to Pastor Andy over at the Trinity Church Minot blog.

5 reasons to be patient and wait...

I was up at the Apple store at the Fancy Mall yesterday trying to find a gaming console for Mr. Bikeman that will actually do what it says and work with our awesome new iMac (no joy). I took the opportunity to play with one of the million iPad display models luring me to buy Buy BUY with their siren song...

But I don't have $499 to drop on a base model, and I'm not that itchy to buy...yet. I think it would be a stinkin' fun toy to have. A 3G version is coming out soon (current model is wi-fi only), and it won't be cellular-serviced based, either. The monthly 3G subscription might be as low as $15 -- I could give up one trip to Starbucks a month for that (4 drinks, treats for the girls is easily $15).

First, it everything you would expect from Apple Design: sleek, shiny, substantial in the hand but not heavy. Navigation is, as expected, intuitive.

Second, and of great interest to me, the book-reader application is enjoyable use. Because of the generous screen-size, you can actually sort of imagine you are reading a real page from a book. You don't feel like it is a glorified Blackberry screen. (Apple has a bookstore App, and Amazon Kindle books are available to the iPad as well.)

Third, this could be a laptop replacement for many -- how many people do serious word processing on their laptops, anyway? It does have a touchpad keyboard if necessary.

Finally, it could be a great homeschool tool. Many homeschoolers are using iPod Touch to augment teaching very successfully. This would be that much easier.

Now for the reasons to wait...I'll give you some hints:

1. Price - historically stuff like this drops like a rock 6 - 8 months after initial release
2. More apps to come.
3. Impulse purchases are rarely wise - do I really need this?
4. There might be viable competition coming - but I'm a recent Mac convert, and very rabid about my new-found brand loyalty. I doubt this will be an issue in my case.
5. Faster wireless version is coming... (the 3G as mentioned above).

Check out this informative article from the Seattle Times:

Business & Technology | No iPad? It may be worthwhile to hold off | Seattle Times Newspaper

there's a crack in my mouth...

This morning, Ingy came to me very concerned and nervous stating, "there's a crack in the back of my mouth, Mom!" I looked and saw a little cut, like she'd eaten something that had cut her gum -- we had really crusty bread on Easter Sunday, so I figured that's what it was.

Tonight, during dinner, she exclaimed, "Mom, I can feel a BONE in my mouth!"

What????? So I took a harder look. Lo and behold, she's getting a molar.

So the question now is, does this warrant a visit from the tooth fairy? No tooth was lost...

the day after

insanity...

happy easter!

This is one of those boring food and weather posts...but I like to create a historical record for the sake of memory keeping...see my memory post below, and you'll understand why.

As this will probably be our last predictably-hot Easter, we took full advantage of the beautiful desert springtime weather. The girls were able to wear summer dresses to church which they do every Sunday, but it still strikes me as strange for some reason -- an Easter dress without a white cardigan just seems off somehow.

I roasted a Top Sirloin roast on the grill prepped with a rosemary-garlic salt rub (rosemary is from our herb garden out back), grilled asparagus, and made crusty bread and creme brulee' for dessert.

While dinner was cooking, we had an outdoor Easter egg hunt in the backyard, complete with chocolate candy melting inside of plastic eggs, and then we ate our dinner on the back patio. After dinner, the girls rode their scooters and bikes up and down the street while I knitted on the front porch... pleasant all around, but still - mid 80's on April 4? Strange.

exercising self control

So last night, I was making our traditional Friday night pizza ala Peter Reinhart, using his Neo-Neopalitan crust. Mmmmmm..... This isn't your throw-the-dough-together-an-hour-before-it-goes-into-the-oven pizza. Usually, I make the dough the night before, or even prepare it as far ahead as four days prior. Yesterday's version had a meager eight-hour fermentation.

I was pulling my pie out of the blazing 550* on convection oven. Flip. Cheese-side-down hanging on the rack. Dripping onto the door. Toppings becoming one with the floor, glass, gap between the door and oven. Grrrrrrrrr. SELF CONTROL, STEPH -- there are children present. "What's wrong, Mommy?" "What happened, Steph?" "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!"

So I scraped up the salvageable bits, plopped them onto the side-right-up crust, cut it into four and devoured it. "Mommy, you're right! It doesn't matter how (horrible and grotesque) it looks! It's GOOD!"

fringe is back...woo hoo!

Anyone watch Fringe last night? It was totally awesome. The slyly retro 80's intro totally rocked, and sort of reminded me of Quantum Leap. Loved the balloon-fontish floating words :)

10 questions after viewing this episode:

1. Why is Peter so important?
2. Does Peter remember that This Side Walter is not his father? Hence, "Walter," not "Dad"?
3. Where is Peter's mom?
4. Are Alter Walter and Peter's Mom still alive? Searching? Wondering?
5. So, Nina knew all this time...not sure how to ask this question...it's too big.
6. Are the Observers keepers of a particular timeline, hence their involvement to save Peter?
7. Peter is extremely smart -- is this because of his Alter-Sidedness?
8. What was the sickness which Alter Peter suffered? Something natural or Pattern-related?
9. Did William Bell and Walter have a falling-out?
10. And most importantly, when is Olivia going to tell Peter!!!!????

disclaimer

I didn't pick this sugar-shock Easter blog background. You can guess who did. That is all.