Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Mar 9

This little piece of heaven was my breakfast! I’m a cheesecake machine! I have a friend who loves cheesecake as much as me (and he LOVES my cheesecake…what can I say?). So it doesn’t take much for him to convince me to make it for him. He and his family came for supper last night and so I made these. I also made oreo ones, but I didn’t think eating TWO for breakfast was a great idea. Well, it’s a great idea, but not a smart one : ) I figured since it’s about time I go on my candida (yeast) cleanse again, I had to have one more hurrah in the cheesecake kingdom.

So, here’s to you, cheesecake…goodbye (sniff). It was amazing while it lasted.

posted by erin on Mar 9

I, Erin, am going to the opera! Oh, yes, I’s gettin’ me some cultural education and class : ) I’ve always wanted to go see one and my dear friend Rachelle, who is coming to visit me in 1 month, 1 week and 2 days (not that I’m counting or anything), emailed me yesterday to ask if I would be interested in going. Well it’s #30 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (of which I’ve accomplished 21, BTW), so YES I would like to do that. I can’t wait.

I need something to wear! What should I wear? What do you wear to the opera? Anyone out there been and know what’s appropriate? It’s on a Saturday evening. I think I need a new dress. Oooh, I get to go shopping! How fun!! Guess I should eat a few less pieces of cheesecake in order to get rid of the muffin-top I seem to have developed in the last couple of weeks, lol. Dresses don’t look particularly flattering when your waist is larger than your hips, sigh. Oh well. Can’t have everything now, can we? But I digress from the point. Do I wear a long dress or a shorter one? Should it be more casual or something a little fancier? Oh the DECISIONS!!

The opera we are going to see is La Traviata…doesn’t that just sound delectable and romantic? It’s a tragic love story, sung in Italian…more heavy sighing. The only thing better would be to see it in Italy.

Okay, now that that’s out of my system I can go sleep for a few hours. I have to admit I’m staying up way too late because I’m completely addicted to checking my email right now to see all the wonderful, fabulous comments from the UBP. You guys are rocking my world right now and I thank you for all your love! I’m having so much fun meeting you all and visiting your lovely blogs. We had company for dinner both last night and tonight and it took everything in me not to say “Please excuse me for a minute while I check my email, I just really REALLY need to see who’s out there right now!” But I refrained, okay maybe I checked once yesterday, but I know Tara understood.

Oh CRAP!! (I actually said a different potty word in my head just now, but it’s a G rated blog) I just realized that we have to “spring forward” with the time change right now. I thought “Oh, wow, I’m only going to bed at 1:00 a.m., not bad!” but in actuality it’s now 2:00 a.m.!!! Oh, man. I’m going to be tired tomorrow. Stupid Daylight Savings!  We had company over until 10:30 and then I was just going to check a few blogs and get to bed at a decent hour…oops. Nighty night!

posted by erin on Mar 7

• _{Note this is a sticky post until the Ultimate Blog Party 2008 is over on March 14…for new posts, see below this one.}

Hi, I’m Erin! Please come in, so glad you could drop by. I love having guests more than anything. I’m always up for a party and hosting one is the thing I love most. My poor husband is probably going to be quite tired of all the guests by the end of the week (he doesn’t like partying nearly as much as me; bit of an introvert…but he’ll just be in the background watching tv or down in the basement working. Just wave if you happen to see him and then he’ll be fine if you ignore him. After all we DO have 2 daughters, so he’s used to lots of giggling and female voices…he has a knack for tuning it out).

Take your shoes off and stay a while! Here have a seat. This is the best chair in the room…my personal favorite.

Can I get you a drink? Coffee? Tea? Something to eat, maybe some cheesecake? Oh, you don’t eat cheesecake for breakfast? (Giggle) I do…sshh, don’t tell anyone. But here’s the recipe if you decide to make it at a later date.

Raspberry Cheesecake

crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham crumbs
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla
• (1) 32 oz. cool whip
• 3 cups raspberries
• (2) 250 g pks cream cheese

Mix graham crumbs and melted butter and press into 9×13 pan. Mix cream cheese and sugar. Add salt, lemon juice, vanilla and raspberries (fresh or if frozen, thawed and drained). Mix until smooth. Fold cool whip in gently until well mixed. Pour onto crust and sprinkle with more graham crumbs. Refrigerate.

Mmm…I think I’ll have seconds on that : )

So, are you enjoying the Ultimate Blog Party? Isn’t it fabulous? Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom sure know how to throw a good party! Tell me about yourself…

What? You want to know a little about me? Well, what can I say? I’m a Canadian and I’m 27 (and almost a half, lol…I LOVE my birthday!! If I could make it a national holiday I would. It almost was, you know. I was born on Thanksgiving – Canadian Thanksgiving that is). I’m married to Jeremy (I think he has secret aspirations to be a Sears model…oh, he did get his hair cut today, but that’s a whole ‘nother story)

and we have 2 daughters Ella (she can be a little shy, hence the uncertain look on her face) who is 4

and Aidan (excuse the attire, she is currently potty training) who is 2.

Oh, what do I look like? A lot of the time like this.

That would be laughing at something or other, not leaning on a white metal gate.

Although truth be told, a lot of days I look more like this…

…staring at my computer, rather tired looking, but my blog isn’t called Not Fully Awake…Ready to Crash, so we’ll just pretend that I always look like I’m in a photo shoot, okay? Okay! What else can I tell you? Hmmm…I’m an interior decorator, a stay at home mom, a social butterfly, a book lover, Ketchup chip fanatic who loves to talk, laugh and well hang out with friends. Oh, did I mention I love to talk? Probably why I blog. The kids just don’t seem to find me all that interesting.

Go ahead, take a look around, snoop (excuse the laundry in the corner…too busy blogging to get to that), ask questions. I’d love to get to know you better and for you to get to know me. I may not be all that interesting most of the time, but I’m always looking to meet new people.

I think we’re going to be good friends. I can just feel it.

Oh, you have to go? I know, there are lots of stops along the way, huh? Yeah, I should probably go, too. I’ll definitely be stopping in to say hi at your place soon. Glad you could come. I’ve had a fabulous time! Talk to you later!

…oh, and I’m still trying to come up with something to give away. If I have time.

posted by erin on Mar 6

Okay, it actually isn’t that bad. I think I’m just wound up tightly because I’m preparing for it to be as bad as it was with Ella. It took months and months until I finally realized she had a physical problem with incontinence and a couple trips to the chiropractor took care of it. It’s only day 2 with Aidan and we only had 2 accidents today, but I’ve prepared myself for the worst, so I’m a little emotionally drained by the whole thing. If I would just let it go with the flow (literally, hee, hee) I think it would be just fine. It’s not like I should expect perfection in 24 hours. She’s doing really well for having spent the last 31 months peeing in a diaper to having the expectation on her to HAVE to remember to go on the potty. Not to mention some of the fault lies with me if I’m going to get so busy that I forget to remind her, right? Right. Okay, thanks, I feel better now : )

posted by erin on Mar 5

Okay, I’m so excited…EXCITED!!! It’s once again time for the Ultimate Blogging Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Moms. I joined the party last year and met some amazing women who have become wonderful friends…

• Val (who I got to visit in real life…love you and miss you!)
• Jen
• Cherrye
• Michelle
• Cheeky
• Deedee
• Robin

So if that’s not enough motivation for you to go and join, here’s another…you can win prizes!!  Now if those are both not enough, you must be very high maintenance : )  It starts on Friday, March 7 (2 more sleeps…woohoo) and goes until the 14th. Seven days of fun, fun, fun (think I need to get a babysitter so I can focus, lol). Hope to see you all there!  And you never know, I might even put a prize in.

posted by erin on Mar 5

So I’ve decided that I love my kitchen (and my house…here’s the album with updated pics) so much that I don’t mind _{(can’t believe I’m going to say this out loud)} cleaning…_(gasp) or being at home…_{(double gasp)}! This is coming from the queen of social and I must say, lazy. Yes, my name is Erin and I’m lazy. Maybe the last couple months of working so hard here has rubbed off and it feels like I should work hard to keep it nice

See, I made my bed (and Aidan’s)…

…and apparently all this cleanliness and bed-making is wearing off on Ella because this morning, of her own volition, she made her own bed (and quite well, I must say)! Before school! Without me telling her too! It’s a miracle.

All these wonders will probably wear off in about, oh 4 days, but that’s okay. For those 4 days it’s going to look frickin’ awesome in here (so if you want to see it come before Sunday when the clock strikes midnight and the pumpkin is back).

And thus, being in love with my kitchen has made me spend more time in it doing what I actually love to do, cook and bake. On Monday my mom came over and she taught me how to make homemade perogies (cottage cheese ones). Oh joy oh bliss! This is by far one of my favorite meals and always has been. I’ve never learned how to make them myself because it was easier to find someone I could charm into making them for me. Well, the time has come to be a good mennonite girl. Since I learned how to make buns a couple years ago, perogies was next on the list.

In fact, the perogy making went so well that I almost went back to get more cottage cheese to make another batch.

Here’ some funny incidents with the girls in recent days…

• The other day Ella was sitting on the floor in the house and someone was in the basement hammering and it made the floor vibrate. Ella looks up at me and says, “Mommy, that’s loud on my bum!” Hee, hee.

• Aidan is wearing panties today. That’s not to say they are going to stay dry, but one can hope. I informed her of what was going to happen today “Aidan, today you need to tell mommy when you feel like you have to pee and then we’ll run to the potty and pee in there, okay?” and her reply was, “Okay, Mommy, but I’m going to need privacy okay?” PRIVACY? For a 2 year old? I don’t think so!!! I ask her every few minutes if she needs to pee and she responds, “No, not quite yet.” Likely all I’ll hear is, “Mommy, I peed!” Sigh. (10:00 a.m. UPDATE: she just ran to the bathroom and peed on the potty…yay, Aidan. 1:00 p.m. UPDATE: Peed again! Still dry…this is a good thing. Hopefully it lasts. 3:00 p.m. UPDATE: Peed again, only one accident and she told me right away, gone on the potty 3 times. 5:00 UPDATE: The stubborness has come out in full force, Aidan has told me that she is “Not a big girl, I’m a small girl” and has thus given up on peeing in the potty.  How do I argue with that?  Tomorrow is another day.  I’ll resume tomorrow.  I haven’t given up for good…just for the day.)
  

Here she is looking very proud and a little sheepish in her plastic panties

• I’ve noticed a distinct difference between my girls’ personalities. Ella is usually in her own little world. Sometimes you have to say things 3 or 4 or 14 times to her before she’ll respond. But this also means that she will chatter aimlessly (don’t know where she gets that from) and you just have to nod and smile. Aidan, on the other hand, needs a definite response when she is talking to you. Being in the of habit of not alway completely listening when they talk (that’s all I’d do, otherwise) I sometimes appear to be listening, but I’m not really. Well, apparently this doesn’t fool Aidan. She has started saying to me, “Mommy!! Are you listening.to.ME??” or “MOMMY! Do you hear me?”

So now I think I’m going to go bake. I just want to be in my kitchen. I love the smell of the new cabinets…mmm, stain…

posted by erin on Mar 5

For more Wordless Wednesday go here.

posted by erin on Mar 4

I haven’t done a meme in ages. Kind of hasn’t been a priority. Today I found 2 that had to do with names. I was tagged by Tara to do the Middle Name Meme and I found the Scattergories Meme at Louise’s, so we’ll see if I can do this…

(1) You must post the rules on your post before you answer the questions.

(2) You need to list one fact about yourself using each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name use your maiden name instead.

(3) When you are finished with your answers, you tag one person for each letter of your name.

• J – Had never been able to Jog, but I taught myself how to last year and could run 2 1/2 miles after 10 weeks
• O – Obsessive…I think about something I want until I a) get it or b) find something new to obsess about…very, very bad.
• A – Absolutely Abhor Anchovies (actually never tried them, but it worked for the A)
• N – Need ketchup chips right NOW!!! For real…I’ve got the munchies and it’s all I can think of…well maybe not all I can think of, but definitely ranking in the top 5 right now.
• N – Never broken any bones, although I thought I broke my toe the other day
• A – Attracted to people with a good sense of humor : )

“SCATTERGORIES” …It’s harder than it looks! Copy and paste into your blog and try it!

**Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following –they have to be real places, names, things …nothing made up! You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name………………..Erin
2. 4 Letter word………………………..Epic
3. Vehicle……………………………….Envoy
4. City…………………………………..Edinburgh
5. Boy Name……………………………Edward
6. Girl Name…………………………….Esther
7. Alcoholic Drink………………………El Toro (I googled it)
8. Occupation…………………………..Engineer
9. Something you wear……………….Evening gown
10. Celebrity……………………………..Eva Mendes
11. Food………………………………….Empanada
12. Something found in a bathroom….Ella’s clothing
13. Reason for being late……………..Emergency bathroom break
14. Cartoon Character………………….Elmer Fudd
15. Something you shout………………Excuse Me!!
16. Animal………………………………..Elephant
17. Body part…………………………….Ears
18. Word to describe you………………Excitable

I’m not tagging anyone because I just don’t feel like it. If you want to do either meme, be my guest!

posted by erin on Mar 1

What’s Your True Color?

My Result: Yellow

You’re yellow, the color of joy and energy — two things you definitely bring to everyone around you. It’s hard for anyone to be sad or lonely in your presence; your sunny disposition and cheery outlook just won’t allow it. The warmth of your personality shines through in the kindness you show friends and family (and strangers, too). Always ready with a lighthearted joke or heartfelt compliment, you know how to make people feel good about themselves, so they can’t get enough of you. Yellow is a warm and inviting color for a warm and inviting person — you!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652