Alaska Zoo

While we were in Alaska, we made a trip to the zoo. My little loves the zoo. Honestly, I was very disappointed by the zoo. Heck, the little zoo we went to in Louisiana was much better than this zoo. I wonder if Covid-19 wasn’t part of the problem… but it felt like the zoo wasn’t maintained/kept up with. Most of the animals if they were out (to be seen) were laying down hidden behind tall grass… It was just weird. I hope in a normal year this is better, but I just don’t know. I’ve never been to Alaska prior to this. Guess that means I need to plan a trip in my future 🙂 haha. (more…)

Kansas City: Where We Stayed, Where We Ate, What We Did

Wow, it’s been quite a while since we actually went to Kansas City, but still, it’s worth mentioning.

Last month we made a weekend trip, actually just an overnight trip to Kansas City. The goal was to go to the Farmer’s Market and get Jalapeños. I know that sounds funny, but hubby makes these things called candied jalapeños and the best place to get bulk jalapeños at a decent price is the City Market in Kansas City. Gosh, I love that place. The first time we went, I wound up buying 20 pounds of jalapeños. This time we only bought 15 pounds. haha. You still get just as many weird looks buying 5 pounds fewer jalapeños.

But, because we went, we decided to make it a weekend trip. This summer’s goal has been to Have Fun!

Where We Stayed

4600 Summit St. Kansas City, MO

We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Kansas City Country Club Plaza. (more…)

10 Fall Cleaning Ideas

Today is the first day of Fall. Does anyone think this year went by in a whirlwind? Wow! I can’t believe it but before we know, it’ll be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then Winter which means Christmas. Let’s throw in a couple birthdays in that mix and a couple anniversaries and Bam, the year will come to New Years Eve and an end. We’ll be at 2017. Wow!

And this has been quite the interesting year for my family and me. But let’s not focus on that today. Instead, I’d like to offer up 10 Fall Cleaning Ideas to help make your transition into the Fall Season a little easier!

1. I hear winter is going to be tough this year, so you might want to Tighten/Secure the hatches! Make sure to look for gaps or seals in and around your doors and windows as well as just make sure you don’t have any gaps in your foundation, etc. If you do, use some caulk or weatherstripping to fix or else call a professional to come make sure your house is in tip top shape!

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Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day.
I hope you’re having a lot more fun than I am.
This is a day honoring those hard working individuals who make the world go round.
It also “marks” the end of summer even though Fall doesn’t start until the 22nd.
This is what my life looks like after this weekend.
Maybe I’ll get unburied…
I guess I get to cross off sell house on my 33 goals in my 33rd year…

Happy Labor Day friends!

 

 

*Pulled from my old blog Paved Dirt Roads

Cookbooks: Eating in the Middle by Andie Mitchell

I’ve been an avid reader of blogs for years. In fact, I’ve been an avid writer of blogs for years (don’t be fooled by this one just starting!). One blog that I started following years ago was called Can You Stay for Dinner?

Earlier this spring while I was still finishing my Master’s Degree, I took a class called Writing the Memoir, where we did just that, we learned to write memoirs. What does that have to do with anything? Well, one morning I was reading through my blog list when I noticed that there was one talking about a memoir by Andie Mitchell, It Was Me All Along. I wasn’t sure who Andie Mitchell was and forgot that she was the writer of Can You Stay for Dinner.

Noting that I was in this memoir class I clicked on the link that now takes you to AndieMitchell.com as opposed to her original blog title. I read through the blog post where she was discussing her book, etc etc. She got to the point in her life she weighed 268lbs and said enough was enough. In a little over a year she lost 138lbs and changed her food life challenges.

Then it was either that blog post or another blog post where she discussed her cookbook that was to be released in March of this year. It was supposed to feature recipes that she ate to help her achieve her goal weight and keep the weight off for 10 years. My interest peaked.

I mentioned my birthday was Saturday and for my birthday I got both her Memoir and her Cookbook. I have to say, I’m excited to read a book that isn’t required and is “fun” reading! I did get my Master’s in English after all and had to read a lot of books I’d never even heard of by authors I was unfamiliar with….

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The Three B's

Seems like I’ve had baby girl sleeping through the night since early months old. I try to keep her to a routine… the Three B’s. It used to be the Four B’s but we deleted “burp” from the bedtime routine.

What are the Three B’s you ask? Bath, Bottle, Bed. Now I know they say you shouldn’t do bottles before bed once they start getting teeth, but the fact of the matter is, she’ll sleep through the night because she has a full belly.  I’m not sure who they is… professionals maybe? Either way it works for this baby for now!! :).

On top of the three B’s she has her two animals that she prefers to sleep with. One is a floppy horse. Her favorite part is the butt part because of the tags. We laugh and laugh but she LOVES tags.

Since she loves tags so much we actually found a brand of baby things called Taggies. So we ordered her a monkey taggie and she absolutely LOVES her taggie.

I don’t complain about my baby squirrel sleeping though. She’ll fight sleep for a few minutes before she goes to sleep but from there she’s a great sleeper. We do make sure if we’re traveling to take the horse and now monkey with us so that we can create a similar atmosphere to sleeping at home.

I always read that if you can create similarities that they’ll sleep anywhere. Must be nice. I want to be a baby again so I can sleep anywhere and everywhere. As a kid I used to so hopefully she’ll get her sleeping habits from me.

Now fun story on her daddy: He was at church one time for church service. When they got home that day he was supposed to mow the lawn. He accidentally fell asleep at church. At that time their church was being built so they were on metal fold up chairs. In his dream he went to crank the mower over and did the action and flipped himself right out of his chair, crashed chairs all into each other and fell on the floor. And that my friends is my husband!

So are you still one of the lucky ones who can sleep anywhere at anytime? Please give me some tips. I used to be able to until I grew up…

The Peanut Post – Month 9

Stats: We’re waiting to go to the dr for our 9 month check up. It’s in a couple weeks… maybe even next week… I can’t remember I need to look at a calendar :).

Wearing: You have some onesies that still fit that are size 3-6 but your little body is getting so long that you’re outgrowing most of them. For the most part you’re in 6-9 and 9 month clothing. Still size 3 diapers although we’ve debated moving you up. We were having a lot of blowouts a couple weeks ago. Yuck! For the most part your shoe size is a 2. Deb and Shaye recently bought you Mini Mouse shoes and then your boots grandma bought you, those tend to be the only shoes you’ll wear.

Sleep: For some reason when you stay the night with grandma and grandpa and then come home you’re up at 2am wanting a bottle but grandma says you don’t do that at her house. I can’t explain it. If there is a lot going on you refuse to nap but when you nap sometimes they’re good 1-2 hours and sometimes they’re rough, 30 minutes. Bedtime is usually between 9 & 10 and you get up around 6-7 for a bottle and then sleep until 8-9am. You tend to take your naps around 10-11am and around 2-3pm.

Behavior: I still can’t say that you’ve said your first word but you’re sooooooooo darn close that it makes me wonder sometimes. Especially tonight when you looked at me and said mom mom mom mom and looked at daddy and said da da da da da. When we put your hair in a single ponytail or pigtails we see a different side to your personality. It’s hilarious. Tbug and I thought you needed a onesie that said spoiled rotten ornery little fart. You seem to think that you can walk without help and are definitely willing to try. Words to the wise… you aren’t there yet.

Eating: You still like your bottles for the most of the time, especially the first one of the morning and the last one of the night. Otherwise sometimes you like them sometimes you don’t. You definitely like real food and anytime any one is eating you’re right there with them trying to see if they have something you can eat. We usually try to make sure we have something on our plate you can eat.

Appearance: Just yesterday we noticed your first tooth has broken through. Mommy almost cried. I know she’s crazy… anyway your hair can’t decide if it wants to be blonde or strawberry blonde. Beautiful blue eyes. 

Likes: You like tags, as in the tags that come on animals etc. You like black beans (are you mommy’s child?). You like to be held, especially by mommy. You really like mommy right now. You like real food. You like to swing. You like to stand and walk. You like to babble.

Dislikes: You don’t like naps if there is a lot going on. You don’t like to be placed on the floor by mommy. Really this time around there isn’t much you don’t like, except you absolutely hate when mommy puts you on the floor to crawl. But you like to crawl.. If mommy gets on the floor with you, then you’re okay with the floor. You don’t like mommy fixing your hair.

Milestones: We finally broke through our first tooth. We’re very close to saying Mommy and Daddy. We’re getting extremely close to walking without assistance.

Mommy: Mommy isn’t real sure she likes her baby growing up and wanted to cry when your tooth popped through. It means you’re growing up. I love you more and more every day and wonder sometimes how I was so lucky for God to give you to me. I absolutely Love you with all my heart and definitely keep growing, mommy will deal.

Daddy: Daddy loves his baby squirrel. He’s excited for her to start walking and loves it when she just makes the fart noise at me. One day this month you said what sounded like hi and then did the raspberry… Daddy thought he needed to go around and do that to people from now on.

Other: It’s starting to get nice out now that we’ve come into a new season. You absolutely love to be outdoors and love the swing daddy and I got for you.

Letter:
Dear baby girl,

You are the light of our life. We absolutely love you and experiencing new things through your eyes. It’s fun to stare at you when you’re sleeping, you’re beautiful. I absolutely love that you get to spend time with your great grandmother on Monday’s. That is one thing mommy was able to do growing up and it was absolutely awesome! Definitely learn all you can.. :).

Love you so much,
Mommy & Daddy!