School Year Ending

Like the family picture on the right? Yeah, it's a year old. Every year I have our picture taken on our Anniversary and that was the last time our family picture was taken. So sad, I know. The weird part about the photo is that it was taken right after we found out that the bridge had collapsed, yep, happened on our Anniversary. Demand had to head to bed though and so the picture had to be taken. (Don't judge me)

Tonight is our last night of Religious Ed for the year. Demand helped me make cupcakes for both of our classes. She wasn't happy about having to wait to eat a cupcake though. Man can that girl scream.

This morning Demand and I headed to Mass since Mr. Sloth let us have the car (which is unusual on Wednesdays). I thought we'd arrive right before Mass started, but we had time...and then more time....and then some more time. I'm not exactly sure what happened since Demand was trying to convince me that she wanted too poop on the ice cold toilet in the Church basement when they explained the situation. All I know is that we didn't have a priest so we had a communion service. I'm guessing our associate pastor was overbooked. See our Pastor is in the military and deployed overseas for a month leaving our associate pastor with two parishes to run.

I don't have too much book work to do this week since it's the last day of Religious Ed. the kids are just taking their test and then having a party. And last night I did all of my Bible Study for Thursday at Adoration. I was covering my friends Holy Hour and it's at 10pm. Last time I couldn't stay awake for the life of me so this time I tried Bible Study. Worked like a charm because I had to flip through the Bible and Catechism frequently for answers. Kept my mind focused. Thursday is my last day of Bible Study until the fall, which is kind of sad, but I need a bit of a break. Next year we're doing Revelations though. I'm just tickled.

With my "extra time" I've been plowing through "A Mothers Rule" and I'm nearly done. Best part is that the house hasn't fallen apart yet this week. In fact it's been quite organized and I'm ahead of my laundry schedule, I even washed, dried, and stuffed Demands diapers last night. I'm awesome.

Poor Demand

Demands bedtime routine last night was same old-same old, but she did fuss a bit longer than usual. We just thought she was overtired from refusing to nap that day. Mr. Sloth and I agreed that I should go in and tell her to lay down and that it was time for bed (yes this often works). So I did, and Demand laid down whilst sobbing. I grabbed her blanket to cover her up and found it to be soaking wet, (Demand was still sobbing) I then grabbed her sippy cup to find it completely empty. Poor thing! Her sippy cup lid wasn't on properly and her blanket, her sheet, her book, and of course Demand herself were completely soaked with water. I yelled for Mr. Sloth to come up and grab her so I could change her sheets. If her feet had hit the floor, a cat and mouse chase would have ensued along with Demand, well, demanding another nursing session (no way hose'). So Mr. Sloth changed Demands "jimmies" (jammies) and then found need to change her water soaked diaper as well.

I'm soooo glad that I went in to check on her instead of having her cry it out. Then again, would she have cried that out???

In other news I started reading "A Mother's Rule" and have found myself motivated once again to step up my home organizational skills. Today being the first day of implementing the book, was of course a good day leaving me with a clean house, plenty of playtime with Demand and a yummy meal on the table (with a clean kitchen).

The dinner by the way was fantastic. I got the recipe from a magazine. I don't usually buy magazines but I do snatch them from my brother's waiting room whenever I'm on my way out of town (He saves his old issues for me and my mom). Anywhoo, one recipe in the book was what I call an "Aldi Recipe" meaning that I can buy all the ingredients from Aldi which is just delightful. I made Taco Pizza Burgers (the recipe was actually Pizza Burgers, but I improved it). I browned ground beef, drained, and added taco seasoning and pureed cauliflower (for nutritional value, no taste whatsoever and completely optional) I spooned the meat mixture onto english muffins and topped with shredded mozarella. Then I baked at 350 degrees until the cheese was melted and then broiled them until the cheese was that nice pizza brown.

YUMMY! Mr. Sloth loved them so much he ate four. Demand at one, and I had two. I also served a salad to balance out the dinner. I highly recommend the tasty meal!

Ok. I have bored you enough.

I confess....

Last night seemed innocent enough until Obscure and I decided to open a tub of garlic hummus. 45 minutes later the entire tub was empty (as was 1/3 of a box of crackers. I can't speak for Obscure, but I only felt partially guilty since of course I completely enjoyed what I had done.

I don't blame you for putting on your judgement caps, I completely deserve it.

Last night I did my first video conference with my parents on my new computer with built in webcam. MUCH better than the system I had before. First of all my computer has a working battery so I can move my computer. Secondly, before I had to call my parents on the cell phone and then set up the exterior webcam (which usually involved me balancing it or moving it around so they could see busy little Demand. I had to call them before because the microphone didn't work on my computer so if they wanted to hear me I'd have to be on the phone.

Last night was much more pleasant. Nothing to plug in, balance or anything. I officially love my new computer.

In other Sloth news. Two nights ago I watched "Maria Goretti" and as always happens after I watch saint movies, I got motivated. Nothing like watching the martyrdom of a 13 year old girl to convince you to get your life together. So.....yesterday I was so fed up with my home being a disaster since we came home on Sunday that I decided it was time to step up my vocational skills. I was a crazy cleaner yesterday. Mr. Sloth came home to a clean living room a wonderfully clean kitchen and an actual meal on the table. (Something that rarely happens when the home is messy and I'm unorganized) Not only did I make dinner, but it wasn't aweful! I've had a rash of bad meals. I'm not a horrible cook, we just haven't been liking the recipes. Although we did like the beef stroganoff I made from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and I'm rarely impressed with those recipes. So last night I made Chicken with Basil Cream sauce in the crockpot, and served brown rice and peas with it. Demand even loved it!! Two steps into the house Mr. Sloth told me the it looked great! He hadn't even seen the spotless kitchen or the lack of 13 laundry baskets filled with questionable clothes in our bedroom.

Since I woke up to a clean house this morning I was motivated to make pancakes for breakfast. Tonight we're having homemade bell pepper and olive pizza (meatless Fridays). Demand and I have a playdate here in a little bit which will help Demand cope with not going for a walk or going to the park. (She asked *one billion* times yesterday)

I'm so tickled that my house is clean that I'm going to go shower now. I may even style my hair today (but don't count it).

A Short Trip Home

We headed back to my hometown last weekend for my nephews 2nd birthday. Demand was fantastic in the car. Not a cry or a whine the entire trip down we didn't even turn on the DVD player until there was 2 hours left in the trip (it's a 6 hour trip). Due to a miscommunication we found ourselves heading back rather late on Sunday which turned out well for us since Demand slept most of the way. She was awake for the first hour and a half until we grabbed a bite to eat on the go. After eating rather well she asked for her milk, and then with blanket and bear in hand, fell asleep. We got home between 12:30am and 1am. Demand then got in her "Jimmies" (jammies) and back to sleep she went. I, of course, was in and out of consciousness the entire trip but no real sleep was had until we returned home. Mr. Sloth did a fantastic job driving. He didn't even need to stop for coffee or anything. What a trooper!

Anyway, here are the pictures.




His "Elmo" birthday cake.




The family attempting to take a photo. Demand could care less and Birthday boy was anxious to play.




The little ones playing with Birthday Boys new water table. Demand was wise enough to stay away, lest she get wet.

My New Computer

I'm blogging from my brand new computer!!! Demand and I came home from Mass this morning, I dashed straight for the coffee that I had noticed Mr. Sloth had made. Everything else seemed as normal until I walked into the dining room and Mr. Sloth was sitting there with a grin on his face.

"I can't believe you haven't noticed!", he said.

There on the counter sat my new laptop all set up! In my defense I thought it was going to be another week or so before it was delivered and secondly my old computer was sitting on the counter earlier this week so I didn't think much of it.

Anyway, it's here and I'm excited!!!!

Speaking of new things, while on a spontaneous shopping trip this weekend. I tried on a pair of Sketchers. I have been wanting a pair forever. I just happened to find a color combination that I loved and tried a pair on. When I showed Mr. Sloth, he said, they look great, you want them???

Um.....YEAH!!!!! When I told him that it was my first pair of non-Walmart shoes his jaw hit the floor. Needless to say I looooooove my new shoes!!!


Between the shoes and the computer I'm sure I won't see a new item in the house until Mother's Day/My birthday....wait that's next month! ;)

The pictures I promised

I thought she was cute sitting on the couch watching "Curious George" so I took a couple of pictures.

No More SNOW!!!!

I am so bloomin sick of snow I could scream. (Perhaps I have) Last Monday we had blizzard like conditions. Seriously!! Luckily the snow only lasted two days and then the week got progressively warmer.

Friday and Saturday were lovely. Beyond lovely. Mr. Sloth was at a delegate meeting all day on Saturday which would have otherwise been a stressful situation but with the nice weather it wasn't bad at all.

Demand and I started Saturday by running as many errands as we could before lunch. We first stopped at K-mart for their toddler clothing sale. The sale was perfect timing as we had just realized that Demand was down to two pairs of pants that were long enough.

Next we headed to Babies R Us. Demand was also in need of some "grown up" bibs. Her old ones barley covered anything. I even managed to find one bib that had sleeves, which was appropriate because hours later I found Demand with her elbow in yogurt while drinking from her sippy cup. (strange girl) I also bought an umbrella stroller at BRU. Since we'll (hopefully) be approaching festival season within the next couple months we wanted a more compact stroller. Luckily it was a beautiful day out so Demand got to take the stroller out for 4 test drives. Once Mr. Sloth *finally* got home we grilled out.

Sunday was rainy. We caved in and headed to "the mall" to walk around. The indoor park has a new "Nickelodeon" theme so Demand was delighted to be greeted by a two story "Dora" and flying "Blue's Clues". Lucky for us she doesn't know she can go on any of the rides yet. Afterwards Demand and Mr. Sloth crashed for a nap while I planned on eating junk food and watching TV. I watched "Nigella Express" on FoodNetwork. Man, that woman defines food porn. I was completely motivated to cook after that.

After Demands 20 minute nap (grrrrr) Mr. Sloth played with her while I cooked for two hours. Nothing special I just did a lot of prep work for the week. Chopped veggies for meat loaf,made marinara for ravioli, made Mr. Sloths lunch for today, made a batch of (Nigella's) pancakes and bacon so that I could just reheat it first thing this morning, and then I browned up some bacon bits for our steak and potato dinner tonight.

Any brother-in-law who insists on bringing us steaks and wine every few months is a favorite brother-in-law of mine.

Anyway, I had a blast cooking and since I cleaned as I went (which is rare) it didn't feel like work. In fact I was so motivated that I reorganized my deep freezer took inventory. I was still motivated today which is why I finally cleaned out and wiped down my refrigerator.

In other big news, Mr. Sloth's wallet that had been lost for days was found last night so now he can buy my new computer!!! Yay!!!! I celebrated the finding of the wallet to buying the pop-up triple laundry sorter that I had been telling *everyone* about for the last week. It's going to change the way I do laundry completely.

So to round out my story. This morning we woke up to cold temperatures and snow. Grrrr!!! Demand is very confused and wants to "goowsi" (translated" go outside).

Me too, Demand, me too.

To end, here are some pictures of the lovely Demand from this past week. Note the block-o-cheese she put on her sandwich. In the other ones she's helping me wash dishes. Later I'll post pics of her watching Curious George.