Don't make me stop this car!

How did I end up with two children? I could have sworn that I only gave birth to one. But I must have two since I hear them arguing every day. Every. Day.

"Mommy! He's poking me!"

"She won't stop looking at me!"

"Do I have to separate you two?!"

My favorite part is when I try to get them to stop, and then the "he/she started it" starts. Do I care who started it? No! I can't say that I do! They're arguing about nothing!

I guess I should expect this from the 6 year old, but it's a bit much coming from the 37 year old.

I need to find the happy place.

Evil Target!

I broke my own rule today. I went shopping. Yes, I'm fully aware that today is Black Friday and no one in their right mind would go out shopping today. I just couldn't help myself...

I blame Target.

Target made me do it! Oh, they lure you in with their evil ads and the promise of bargains! They know I can't pass up a bargain... And to think that I thought I was just about done with my shopping...

The agony of defeat

Oh, what a sad state of affairs! I'm afraid that I have to report the death of a pie. Thankfully (see "How to cook a turkey" post), it was not the Caramel Pecan Pie.

The mishap occurred with my apple pie... So many apples gave their lives for that pie...

The buzzards started swooping in as soon as I announced the loss. Okay, maybe not so much buzzards as my husband. He pounced on that pie without mercy. Perhaps he should have waited a bit longer since I had just taken it out of the oven...

On the up side, the Caramel Pecan Pie was wonderful, and I have a big container of turkey to show for it! Mmmm...

I'll procrastinate later

I had grand plans for today. Since I'm on pie duty for Thanksgiving and pies take quite a bit of time, I thought I'd get them all done today so that I wouldn't have to be rushing around tomorrow. Just for good measure, I told my sister that I'd make the sweet potatoes, too. Hey, I could get that prepped today, too, then just put it in the oven tomorrow before I leave for her house.

Good plans, huh?

And what did I get done today?

(drum roll please)

Nothing! I didn't even clean the kitchen to make room so I could create the pie extravaganza. I know, I know... I'm a procrastinator. Pie is a lot of work! My sister accused me of cheating because I bought a monster-sized pumpkin pie from Costco. Hey, that's one pie down! Now, just two or three more to go... *sigh*

I wonder if it would be quicker to make the turkey...

How to cook a turkey

Around this time every year, I start to get a craving. This is not just your regular have it once and you're satisfied cravings, but the kind where you aren't happy until you've consumed every bit of the item within a 5 mile radius. Yes, I start to crave turkey.

I've never understood the people who get tired of having turkey leftovers. And leftovers are a problem because...? Feel free to ship 'em my way!

I think my biggest problem is that I must rely on others for turkey. In all my years, I've never cooked a turkey. Thanksgiving is never at my house, so there's never been a need for me to give it a try. Ham, I've got down. Come over for Christmas or Easter and you're in for some pretty good ham. But don't expect an invite for Thanksgiving.

So for now, I'm stuck begging for leftovers. Thanksgiving this year will be at my sister's house, and I already have a plan in place. Of course, I want to leave her house with as much turkey as possible, so I have to bring something to the table (literally) that she will take in trade. Good thing she gets "the craving" for my Caramel Pecan Pie... That's one recipe I'll be keeping under wraps! I don't consider it a bribe, I just think it's a really good trade.

For anyone else who might be cooking turkey for the first time, I found the following helpful video. Enjoy!

Where do they get it?

I've noticed my 6 year old daughter using a certain phrase quite a bit lately. Whenever she's trying to do something and gets frustrated, I hear, "Oh, come on!" I thought it was a bit odd and I've been wondering where she picked that one up. Maybe at school? From her daddy? Um, no.

Today I was at the gas station and getting very frustrated because the pin pad wasn't working properly. What came out of my mouth? "Oh, come on!" As soon as I said it, the lightbulb went on. Surely I must have picked it up from my daughter, right? Okay, okay...she got it from me. This isn't the first time, either. When she was 2 years old, I'd hear from the back seat of the car, "Move it, buddy!" Yes, my adorable little girl was yelling at other drivers. And she always did it at the appropriate time, too. Kids are too smart for their own good.

So, will I spout nothing but sunshine and rainbows from now on? Don't count on it. I've got to give her something to talk about in counseling later.

Out of the mouths, or crayons, of babes...

It's that time of year again... The time when parents are embarrassed by the things that come out at parent/teacher conferences. Isn't it mortifying cute how children perceive things?

So my husband and I went to our conference today and got to hear about how lovely our daughter is. Things were going well until the reading journal came out. In this journal, they are to take a story that they've just heard and relate the situation in it to something in their own lives. Good for comprehension, huh? Anyway, one of the stories was about a character who was very sad because he was always left out of the fun things that everyone else was doing. How, one might ask, did my daughter relate this to her own life? Was it by telling about the time that her friends wouldn't let her play with them? No. She wrote about how it made her so sad that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let her play the dice game with them. And to make things more interesting, she drew a picture to go with it:

Notice the big smiles on Mommy and Daddy's faces, and the big boo-boo face my daughter is wearing. All she needs to do now is to draw horns on us and add a soundtrack of evil, maniacal laughter. Yes, we are just mean parents who won't let our daughter do anything that resembles fun.

I guess it could be worse. When my parents went to back to school night, they were greeted by a picture of my creation 0n the wall describing what I help my mommy and daddy to do at home. There, in all its glory, was a picture of my dad and me with big smiles on our faces while my dad pointed a gun at a cat's head. It said, "I help my daddy shoot cats." Ah, good times...

How not to relax

We're in the middle of a bathroom remodel right now. Yes, it's more fun than I can handle. We really needed to have work done in there because we had mystery leaks and because the bathroom floor appears to be sinking. Anyway, this is what our bathroom looks like now:

Lovely, isn't it? It's taken a lot of work to get it looking like that.

Is anyone wondering what my new bathroom will look like? I'm still trying to decide between my two favorites:

Or possibly this:

A piece of advice: Don't do demo in your house when you've got pneumonia. Although it might sound like a lot of fun, the dust is not your friend.

Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

In case anyone was wondering, yes, I'm still sick. Pneumonia is evil!!! On the bright side, I didn't have to go to the hospital...although I do love those hospital gowns...

I have an appointment with my doctor this Thursday for her to check my lungs again. Is it possible for lungs to turn to stone? It's funny how much you miss breathing when you're not able to do it!

I'm in the exhaustion phase right now. I actually slept most of yesterday! I wonder if my family thought I was hibernating. Hmmm...hibernation... Now there's an idea! Good way to get in your rest AND lose those unwanted pounds. If only I were a bear.

And now, for something more serious...

As I watched the news this morning, there was a report that deeply saddened me. My alma mater, Westmont College, had been burning along with the surrounding area of Montecito, California. Thankfully, none of the students or faculty at Westmont were injured. Unfortunately, the school lost eight structures including dormitory housing in Clark Hall, the first dorm I lived in my freshman year. Most heartbreaking to me was that fourteen faculty homes have burned. The faculty at Westmont aren't paid what they're worth, but one of the "perks" of working there was the faculty housing. With that gone, I'm not sure how those professors will be able to afford housing in the very expensive Santa Barbara area. I am very hopeful that everything will be set to right soon. God is good and He does amazing things.

Here is a news story on the fire:


Here is another video about the Westmont that I know and love:


I ask that you pray for those at Westmont and to all those living in the Montecito area who have lost their homes in this terrible fire.

How my blog got its name

My husband was saying the other day that the name of my blog must be confusing to people, so I thought I'd try to explain. There's a restaurant that we go to for breakfast almost every weekend that uses postcards instead of numbers to know where to bring the food. They have a lot of interesting and odd cards, but about a month or two ago we got this one:

My daughter loves this one because it's a kitten. My husband and I got a good laugh because, well, we have weird senses of humor. Since we first got it, we've been saying, "Dude... Wait, what?" quite a bit.

When I decided to make my blog about life, liberty and the pursuit of weight loss, I tried to figure out a title that would be appropriate. I quickly ruled out "Wendy's Wonderful World of Weightloss" - too obnoxious, but good illiteration. Then I thought of my favorite table card... I did a little play on words and a blog was born.

I know that this probably isn't nearly as amusing to anyone else as it is to me, but if you do your best Jeff Spicoli impression and say it yourself, you might see the humor that I do.

Gotta love that Liberty!

Who knew that there would be so much liberty in my blog? Today is Veteran's Day. Do you love the freedom you have? Do you know who to thank for it?

My daughter's school did an assembly for Veteran's Day yesterday to say thanks to the family members who had served our country. I'm so happy that my husband was able to be a part of that - he's a former Marine. I hope that it made him feel appreciated!

Know a vet? Give 'em a call today. We wouldn't be where we are today without them.

Uncle!

It's time to play... Let's Make A Deal!

Monty Hall: Okay, Wendy, do you want what's behind door number one, door number two or door number three?

Me: Oh! It's so hard to choose! I think I'll go with door number two, Monty!

Monty: Jay, tell her what she's won!

Jay Stewart: She's won a new case of pneumonia! It comes with weeks worth of incredible chest pain, a hacking cough, and burning lungs! But wait, she's also won complete and total exhaustion!

Monty: Wow... What a great prize... But doesn't Carol Merrill look lovely modeling it?

Jay: Wow, that's a Zonk if I ever saw one...

Me: And to think... I never win anything.

Yes, I went to the doctor today and I've got pneumonia. Uncle already!

I guess I won't be exercising for a while...

Cough, gasp, wheeze...

Okay, this is it! I'm sick of being sick! I really want to get in to the Y tomorrow and take a Zumba class. They're a lot of fun even though I can't even begin to keep up. Are your feet supposed to move that quickly? Anyway, being able to breathe would be nice if I'm going to go Zumba. Does anyone have a magic wand I can borrow? Or at least a box of tissues?

Another day, another box of tissues.

Enough already! Go away, evil cold! Maybe it will be gone when I wake up in the morning... It could happen, right? If not, I'll have to start wearing this:

Yup, it would be a fashion statement! I wonder what Clinton and Stacy would say...

I've been mostly dead all day.

Yes, I know that I didn't post yesterday, but I have a good excuse! I've been mostly dead.


That, and I spent a good number of hours in the emergency room with my daughter. Not exactly a fun-filled day for either of us! She had a horrible migraine, which for her, presents with stroke symptoms. Nothing like thinking your 6 year old is having a stroke... So after many hours and a lot of i.v. meds, we finally got to go home...where she started bouncing off the walls. Mind you, I was still feeling pretty puny myself and not really in any mood to do anything other than sleep. Isn't it amazing how kids can bounce back?

This morning she was still concerned because she didn't get breakfast yesterday (she wouldn't have been able to chew anything) and was asking if she could have a second breakfast today because she missed yesterday's. Yes, she's part Hobbit.

As for me, I think I need a miracle pill from Miracle Max...with the chocolate coating to make it go down better.

Wendy vs. The Uncommon Cold

"EEEWW! Mucous - the scourge of mankind. Empires have fallen at the foot of this pox!" -the Tick

Yes, I'm sick today. Probably dying. Has anyone in history ever suffered as much as I now suffer?! And no, I'm not being overly dramatic. Really. Okay, maybe a bit, but I really don't feel good! It's a bad day when you've filled every waste basket in the house with used tissues. Ick. And there's nothing like a bright, red nose to make sure that everyone around you knows that you're sick. And disgusting.
Oh, where does all this evil mucous come from?




Must...have...soup...

Okay, maybe a little liberty...

Tomorrow is the day! The day we've all been waiting for - the last day we have to deal with all those political ads! Yes, it's been a long time coming. Soon we'll be able to go back to seeing advertising that only tries to get us to buy things we don't need. Unless said product comes with a set of Ginsu knives, then we definitely need it!

You know all the signs that get put up along the road to try to get you to vote for whatever it is? The ones that never seem to get taken down after the election? Well, I'm thinking about going around and taking them down on the 5th, but only if I can come up with a good project to use all the sticks with. That'll be a lot of wood! It'll be nice to not have to look at the signs forever, and it could be a fun craft! Anyone have any suggestions?

So get out there and vote tomorrow! Unless, of course, you have views that oppose mine. Then feel free to stay home. ;o)

I'm Wendy and I approve this message.

YMCA

Guess where I went today...?



Yup, I worked out at the Y! And yes, I'm in pain! Why is it that everything that's "good" for you is so yucky? I think I'm going to have to buy the industrial size bottle of Advil... Oh yes, this pain will stay with me...

And is it just me, or does the song "YMCA" remind anyone else of roller rinks? Revealing my age on that one, huh?

Nothin' spooky about candy!

I got in some extra exercise last night! Okay, it was trick-or-treating with my daughter. We went over to my friend, Stinkerbell's, house (yes, she said I could call her that) and we walked her neighborhood collecting goodies. It was a lot of fun for the grownups as well as the kids. And can I tell you that I was more than a little sore before starting the festivities? And why did there have to be hills in her neighborhood? Anyway, Stinkerbell read my post about trying to get back into exercising and do you know what she did? She offered to be my workout buddy! Can you believe that? And I thought she was my friend... Expecting me to actually work out? What was she thinking?

Okay, okay... I'll do it.

Right after I rifle through my daughter's Halloween candy to pull out all the Snickers, Twix and Butterfingers for myself check to make sure it's all safely wrapped. :o)