Winner! Winner! Winner!

According to my random number generator...
Our lucky winner of a $35 dollar gift certificate to CSN is Digger. :) Thanks to everyone that entered our drawing for our CSN giveaway! Also a big THANKS to CSN for offering up the gift certificate!

Who wants free stuff

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $35 dollar gift certificate to CSN. Go HERE to enter by leaving a comment. It ends Monday Jan. 31st at noon PST. So hurry! And tell your friends. Because who doesn't want to win free stuff!

Adoption

As I blog stalked this weekend, I found a whole bunch of blogs that were talking about adoption. I am not one to take on a 'cause' or to let my opinion really show, but this is one I can totally get behind for many reasons. The first reason is that I know how important adoption is because my older sister is adopted. I can't imagine our family without her. She just fills a void in the family and it wouldn't be complete without her. I am thankful for her being my sister.The main reason I will vocally support adoption right now is that our very dear friends, Matt and Traci have also been looking to adopt. I have never met another couple that is more deserving. Soder met Matt while they were working at Parking Services at Weber State. They hit it off perfectly and have become very good friends. Traci is the sweetest person I have ever met and is always full of laughter and smiles. She is a nurse and seriously, it is the perfect job for her because she is so understanding and caring (which is also why she will be a great mother, too). Matt is a hard worker and is focused on becoming a prosecutor. I know that he will be a great dad because he is patient and funny. He always has a great point of view and is so positive when times are tough.
The perfect baby is out there waiting to find them and I can't wait until they find each other.
If you have a second, please check out their profiles here AND here.

$35 DOLLAR GIVEAWAY!!!!

I have been having some bad karma/luck lately. It seems to be pouring down some bad ju-ju along with the buckets and buckets of rain up here. I haven't really been in the blogging mood. I have had a teething/whining baby. Also a dog that won't stop getting into trouble. We are poor, especially since the holiday is over (but who isn't this time of year?) and to top it all off, I pulled my back out AGAIN while trying to move boxes for my job. So imagine how happy I was this morning when I got an email from CSN to do another giveaway or review. Even though I really wanted a pizza stone for me, I decided that I should pass my good fortune on to one of my loyal readers to make their day bright. (I believe in karma so something good for me with be right around the corner.) I hope you all remember CSN from my previous giveaway in November. They were the website that had everything from a corner TV stand, to flip flop shoes, to lemon zesters. This time they are offering a $35 gift certificate for me to giveaway.

So in the spirit of making someone else's day brighter, please leave me a comment telling me a time when you made someone else smile. And hopefully, just hopefully on Monday January 31st at 12:00 Noon PST I will draw your name and make you smile with a $35 dollar gift certificate from CSN! Of course, you can get more entries by blogging about it on your blog, or posting on Facebook about my giveaway, or tweeting about it. (make sure to leave an extra comment for each one that you do.) Good Luck!

Please leave an email where you can be reached with your comment and a link if you blog about it or fb or tweet about it. If the winner can't be contacted, I will draw a new winner. Seriously, Good luck!

No place to go

On Sunday, Soder has been taking an art class. It happens to be in Seattle and this week, since I was a good girl and finished all my work before Sunday we went along with him. After a long discussion between baby and I, we decided that we would go and hang out at Gas Works Park, one of our favorites. It was so great to get out of the house and actually be in the city. This has been a long, long winter (so far) with many days filled with rainy goodness that has kept us trapped in our house (that and the fact that there isn't very much extra in the bank account to go and wander around aimlessly. I find when I wander I spend, and when there isn't any to spend it is better to stay home.) It was cloudy and thankfully didn't rain on us. We were able to take a few pictures and wander around, through the tons of goose poop and mud. It was a great time. We still had time to kill before we had to pick Soder up, so we took a little drive up Queen Anne Hill. It is seriously such a great area. I loved all the stores and neighborhoods. I was scouting for a park up there (for when we have some visitors this spring), but didn't find it and ended up driving around longer than I had expected because I got a little lost. My partner fell asleep on the way back to where we were picking up Soder so I didn't do any more fun exploring, like get a cup of coffee. So our exciting adventure ended up with Baby asleep in the back, and me reading my magazines in the car while we for class to get out. Regardless, it was a great time to be out from these four walls. I really needed that, and I think the cabin fever has left for at least a few more weeks.

Saturday Night = Movie Night

We have always loved watching movies. It was the closest thing to our hobby. Now things have changed, but are kinda the same (most of the movies we want to watch aren't very 'family friendly'). We still try to do movie nights, usually on Friday or Saturday, but now they are usually more kid friendly. Like this weekend, we watched the movie Ponyo. It was pretty good with a lot of great voice talent (Tina Fey, Matt Damon, and Liam Neeson), however, it was originally a Japanese animated movie. The story was pretty fairy tale-ish, but the characters they had in it were a bit odd. (those Japanese are a crazy and imaginative bunch!) There were a couple of head scratching moments, but overall it was a cute movie.The best part of the night was definitely the popcorn. I have been giving Baby a lot more new foods and so I decided to give him a few small bits of fluff off the popcorn. He loved it. And took it really seriously. If I didn't move fast enough he would get mad and bounce off my lap and try to grab his own handful of popcorn. I love introducing him to new foods, and this was definitely one of his favorite. I have the feeling he is going to love movie nights too!

I love how he looks like, "Dad, can't you see I am busy eating popcorn, can you get that camera out of my face???"

Just because he is so stinkin' cute

I seriously don't know what my deal is with taking pictures of him in laundry baskets. I am a weirdo, I know. The picture below was two months ago in the same basket. I guess he just always looks so cute in there.

The faces they pull

I was playing a 'fishy' game with Baby the other day and Soder was able to video some of it. It is about 45 seconds long, which for me will be followed quickly with my mother and father calling me saying they saw the video on my blog. (which to me is so cute because they are getting more tech savvy everyday.) I love the faces he pulls and just to clarify I was clapping by his face and not snipping his nose every time.

Faces of Motherhood

All those faces from feeding him one cracker... no wonder I am so tired at the end of the day, I am all expressions!

Golden Globes

Sunday was an annual event on the Plateau, The Golden Globes Girls Night. My sister hosted a wonderful time with yummy appy's (which makes my husband laugh every time I say that) delicious Lobster Mac and Cheese for dinner, and champagne (with raspberries, yum!) It was so great to get out of the house without Baby and just have a good ol' fashioned girls night, complete with gossip and catty remarks about the movie stars dresses and hairstyle. Great time and Ricky Gervais was cracking us up. I can't wait for next year, maybe we should all dress up and walk our own red carpet, on second thought with all the champagne that was poured that might not be a smart idea.

Randomnesss of the days

Thing Two is now accustomed to the rainy weather up here. He offered me 3 of his 4 feet (not at the same time) when I was wiping them off and didn't even struggle. Thing One has a ways to go yet, she will only do her business under trees when it is raining and will seriously look at you like 'I am not going out there' when you tell her to if it is stormy. She is a little diva.

Most entertaining thing of the weekend is watching Baby eat his first finger foods. I never knew Cheerios were that entertaining.
Thing Two has also become quiet the nosy neighbor. He is so concerned with the comings and goings of our neighbors that very often during the day you find him with his nose pressed to the bottom of our front door. We might have to rename him Gladys Kravitz.

I have also determined through a very scientific process, that we are not in a recession. The problem our society is in is that there are entirely too many addictive games out there like Angry Birds and we are all playing instead of working. I am sure you have heard of it, and if you haven't played it yet, DON'T! Your productivity will be reduced to zero and stay that way until you have passed a significant number of levels. I speak from experience.

And lastly, I have to tell someone my dirty little secret. I have watched the entire season of Toddlers and Tiaras on Netflix. It is such a train wreck of a show with little girls (and boys) participating in beauty pageants. Shocking to see all the fake nails, hair, eyelashes, tans and TEETH! (yeah, unbelievable, but they give the girls fake teeth to cover their kid teeth), but somehow watching the parents be so crazy helps me find my sanity. Yes, it is a bad show to support, but the fix it gives me feels so good. I wish I was addicted to something far less embarrassing than this but we can't choose our dirty little secrets can we?

It sounds like I have had a very 'efficient week' from this post (Angry Birds and Toddlers and Tiaras), but I really was productive. I worked and I guess I just must have needed more of a mental break so I definitely found the ways to be completely brainless.

Long overdue Starbucks 'date'

On Saturday morning, we took a short little break and enjoyed a quick cup at our favorite 'date' spot, Starbucks. It was a far cry from the last time we really hung out there when Baby was a mere 3 weeks old and it was hot and sunny. It was fun because Baby has started eating dry cereal so he kept snacking on those while we were people watching. (our favorite past time) Great break from our normal Saturday routine. I wish we could do it every weekend.

Rainy Days

This last week has been so rainy. So that means no walks for us, which means by the end of the week we were going crazy. On Friday all the toys were pulled out. All the book on his little shelf were read and we were sitting there with cabin fever. I usually don't care, but this week was a tough one. Next week can be as cold as it wants, but please, for my sanity, please be dry!

They are called Gomoku no Moto

Last week, like a good little Japanese girl I had to eat my mochi. It brings good luck for the new year and it is a family tradition. The only thing problem was that I didn't have any homemade mochi (which I have always had when I was in Utah or if my parents come and visit) so off to the Asian market I went. I quickly found the mochi, (I could tell it was the display because of all the other unprepared Asians swarming around it.) As I was walking around the store, I decided I wanted some other Asian comfort food. During the holidays, my dad usually will make 'gunny sacks'. They are seasoned fried bean curd that looks like a little sack that you can stuff with rice and prepared veggies (from a can) I walked down the aisle that it should have been on and looked all over. I could find the gunny sacks, but not the veggies. This is where I do not represent the Japanese people very well. I had no idea what the veggies were called, or what they actually were. So I decided to phone my dad and ask him. (he knows everything right?) Wrong. We both sat there trying to remember what it was called while I wandered aimlessly through out the rest of the store. By the end of the conversation, I was no closer to finding the missing veggies and my dad had displayed that he is no better of a Japanese person either! (but it was nice because we could laugh about it and give each other a hard time) My dad had decided that he would bring me a couple of cans (he knew where they were located in his local Asian Market in Utah) up in March when they visit next and I was happy with that.
But what came in the mail today? A sweet little care package filled with all sorts of delicious Japanese goodies, including Gunny sacks (which for future reference are called Inarizushi no Moto, seasoned fried bean curd) and veggies (called Gomoku no Moto, prepared vegatables)! Also in the pack are some ginger cookies, wafers, Mochi, some Botan rice candy and, of course, fortune cookies (my favorite. Where else can you get a great bit of advice from a dessert!) Thanks, Dad and Mom for the wonderful care pack. It just makes smile to see all the great treats! It also makes me hungry, off to cook....

Happy New Year

Wow, this last month has flown by. I have had blogs that I meant to post, but something, namely Baby has usually come up. So while I have 2 minutes to myself while my husband wrestles with a wet baby in the bath tub and two dogs in the bathroom as well, let me just wish you all a Happy New Year.
Our New Year, started off very quietly at home with a homemade pizza and a movie. Very quiet. It is hard to be party-ers when you have a 7 month old that goes to bed at nine. Maybe next year. I hope everyone else's night was fun and eventful.
I was thinking about the good ol' resolution. In the past they have just been to be happier and stuff like that. This year I am hoping for more efficiency. Ever since I started to work part time again with a baby, my blogging has been on the back burner. I want to find a nice balance where I can have it all with this. Of course baby comes first, then work has to come second, but maybe I could be a little more dedicated and work out some blogging schedule that works too. That isn't asking too much right? Blogging to me is like my 'out'. It is my zen moment on my crazy days. Maybe for the family's sake they will work with me to make this work. Trust me when I say it is to their benefit too. A sane mama is better than a crazy one any day.