Monopoly

It's completely and utterly pathetic, I know. But when I pull these Monopoly pieces off, it's like unwrapping Christmas presents.

The thing is that while I usually despise coffee (and I always have), for some reason I love coffee from McDonald's. Also, I have a weird love for contests. (I enter a contest at every opportunity--yeah, I'm that person.) It's weird because I have literally never won anything in my life. Ever. Growing up, I was that poor kid who would go to a nice gift exchange party and walk away with a book about owls or antique dressers.

But maybe, just maybe, before October 24th, I will win one thousand dollars? A new car? Something? Maybe?

It's embarrassing to admit, but Monopoly at McDonald's, well, I'm lovin' it.

My Fair Toddler

It was almost as if they knew we were taking them to the fair this morning. Why? Because these two, who have walked five mornings a week together for the past five-and-a-half-months in perfectly happy spirits, ended up fussing the entire walk.

The weather was perfect. We went in the morning, so it was still cool. (I think I brought back the Texas weather with me. It wouldn't be the first time.) There weren't too many people there yet, so we got great parking spots and had to deal with very little crowds. And the best part? It was if-you-have-a-kid-with-you-you-get-in-for-free day at the fair. Best ever! I'm all about free stuff! :)

Funny thing, by the time we were walking around the fair, these two decided to be on their best behavior. ;)

They were completely mesmerized by the loud noises, big rides, people everywhere, balloons, animals, vendors. You name it, they were staring bug-eyed at it.

The toddler's favorite part of the fair was definitely seeing the animals and getting to pet them. I actually had to remove his leg from inside three separate cages. He didn't just want to pet those goats and sheep; he wanted to saddle them up and ride them around the fair. No lie.

"Mom, can we keep one?"

The cutest thing of all was that he thought all of the animals were dogs. So every animal we saw, "DOG! DOG! DOGGIE!!!!"

The only ride that we ended up riding was the ferris wheel. I love going to the fair, and I especially love riding on the ferris wheel. The toddler...not so much. But he hung in there.

Little miss enjoyed herself much more than my little one. :)

We also ate some seriously-unhealthy-but-seriously-delicious fair food. We had fried Oreos. Yuuuuum.

Cotton candy...

Corn on the cob...

And, graham crackers and lemonade...

Of course we had to purchase a Spider Man, since the little man is obsessed with "Spider!" as he calls his favorite super hero.

And how did we leave the fair, other than full and happy?

Completely pooped. :)





Houston

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Yes, I did pack up the car and drive to and from Houston in a matter of three days

with.my.fifteen.month.old.

Um-hm.

And do you know what I said when I pulled back into the driveway on Saturday at 4:16 PM?

To my husband: "Can I please get a standing ovation?"

I'm such a drama queen, because in all reality, the little dude was awesome/perfect/amazing/precious/an excellent traveler. Really. But it was super scary being in the car that long with just my little guy without my big guy there to help. I was so tense the entire 14 hours, that I really got a unique opportunity to hone my math skills: 3 hours and 26 more minutes until we're in Houston......Okay, we've been driving for 2 hours and 14 minutes, so we have 4 hours and 46 more minutes left in this automobile. You get the picture. :)

But, we had a great quick visit.

I got to see my best friend and her hubby, I got to spend some precious time with a good friend who is going through a rough time, and I got to enjoy watching my in-laws play with the toddler. All things that warm my heart.

Sorry I didn't take any pics. Lame, I know. I even packed my camera! Erg. It was a whirlwind, though. I contemplated taking a picture of the inside of the car, but I was afraid you would judge me messy and crazy forever. :)

Cookie Date

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Today was an exceptionally busy day. Between the dental appointment and planning a last-minute trip to Houston, I simply didn't have the time to sit down with the toddler and have a proper lunch. I shoveled a yogurt into his mouth, gave him some goldfish and a sippy cup, and we were out the door and heading all around town like a couple of crazy folks.

So, on our way home, I had the awesome idea of a cookie date at the best place in Little Rock to get cookies: Kris and Sam's. Isn't that what you should do when you haven't had anything to eat since breakfast--stop in for a two o'clock sugar rush??

I parked the car, dug around in my purse to make sure I had cash, and then I made the announcement: "Do you want to go get a cookie!?"

His eyes got big, his little tongue darted out, and thus began the shouts of "COOKIE!" which carried us all way into the store. He ran up to the glass and slapped his hands against it, shouting, "Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!"

"Can I get one flower cookie and one Razorback cookie?" I asked.

The toddler dined on his Razorback cookie and I wondered why the heck I got two cookies for us, when one was way too rich for just myself to enjoy. But being the closet frugal freak that I am, I ate my entire cookie and shoved down half of the toddler's.

It was perfect--enjoying a cookie with my son. He sat in my lap, bounced up and down with joy, and ate his little Razorback cookie. Heaven. We were the only two in the store, so after he finished his cookie, I let him run around the tables, shouting "Chair! Chair! Chair!" And then the owner came out and asked if we wanted to see the flying witch.

Well, duh. Of course we do.

I wondered what the little man's reaction would be. Um, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He chased the witch across the store, and I laughed that he wasn't frightened.

I'm so grateful for the cookie date days--those days when God gives us a small moment, maybe just fifteen minutes, to take a break and enjoy each other. And, of course, a few hundred calories. :)

Monkeys in the Tub

We have a tendency to toss whatever is not biodegradable and will not fill with water straight into the tub. Last night, it was a barrel of monkeys. And what's more fun than that!?

Big Announcement!!

Well, it's officially official.

I am very pleased and so, so excited to announce that I have signed my very first....

...PUBLISHING AGREEMENT!

About seven weeks ago, I was approached by a publishing company out of Denver, CO with a book deal. I am beyond excited to be a part of this, to partner with this awesome company, and to finally have my first book. I have dreamed about my first book since I was about eleven. Being able to see that dream come true in my twenties is something that I am extremely grateful for. I feel like the last ten years of writing constantly, questioning my dreams of being a writer, trusting and not trusting my gut, and pursuing my MA in professional writing have finally led me to this.

I would so appreciate your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, (and of course for you to purchase the book!) over the next year as I scribble away and enjoy every minute of it!

Autumn Afternoons

These days, we play outside for about two hours every afternoon waiting for Daddy to come home and enjoying the fabulous weather.

We get extremely messy chalking up the driveway. And whenever I bend over to blow away excess chalk dust, the toddler looks at me and says, "Hot!" Because, as everyone of course knows, the only reason you would ever blow on something is if it is hot. :)

The toddler mows the grass. What a good, responsible son I have. ;)

Sometimes, like every man, he gets frustrated with the lawn mower.

And so, he decides to mow the concrete. It's been needing cutting, anyway.

But hands down our favorite thing to do in the whole, wide world is blow bubbles. We go through a container of Miracle Bubbles about every two days. [Side 'Mom' Note: I think the best way to buy bubbles is in a bunch of small containers, because kiddos spill bubbles all the time. It's easier to run in and grab a new one than to have all of your bubbles spilled out in one accident. And--believe it or not--it's cheaper. You can get a huge container of them at Walmart or Target for less than $4.00] The toddler is so cute with it. He will hold the bottle very carefully, and he will dip the wand in twice, and he will hold it up to about eye level (hilarious, I know), and will bite his bottom lip and blow air through his teeth. It is precious in the extreme. But, obviously, it doesn't produce any bubbles. He still loves it and runs around yelling, "Bubbles!"

Even though we are careful to not spill the bubbles, we nearly always do.

But not to worry. There's no crying over spilled bubbles. He just walks around and stuffs dead leaves and dirt into the container, continuing to shout, "Bubbles!" and waving the bubble wand around.

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How are you enjoying your autumn afternoons?

KABOOM!

On my way to drop off the toddler at Bible School this morning, I passed a car that was being hosed down by firefighters. It clearly had caught fire. And it got me thinking of something that happened about three years ago when the hubbs and I were living in Texas...

We would usually go grocery shopping at night. I know, it's weird. But there weren't any crowds, and the 110 degree Texas heat had generally cooled down to the refreshing mid-nineties.

So one night, we were leaving Walmart. The back of my car was full of the typical things that college students subsist on: Ramen Noodles, Diet Cokes, Oreos, boxed pasta dinners. You get the picture.

We were leaving the Walmart parking lot to turn onto the service road. I was driving. There was only one car in front of us. Now, if you've ever been to Waco, Texas, you understand what poverty, hunger, and homelessness look like. You get really used to seeing homeless people, beat-up cars, and the terribly sad signs of poverty everywhere. There was an old, beat-up white car in front of us getting ready to turn right. The man had his blinker going, and we were just waiting for him to turn.

The traffic was pretty bad, but I thought, Okay, go now. I could tell he saw the opening, too. But, his car wasn't moving. Instead, it started shaking side to side, like there was a chimpanzee in the backseat going ballistic.

"What the heck?" I asked. And just as those words left my mouth, his car door opened, he stumbled out, and

his car exploded.

KABOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though we were both in my car, a wave of intense heat hit us, my car filled with the smell of smoke and blinding light, and I'm pretty sure that our jaws hit the floor and our hearts hit the ceiling. I slammed my car into reverse. Nope. There was a line of three cars behind me.

I was stuck. stuck. stuck. I immediately turned off the engine. I had nowhere to go, and if the flames hit my car and my gas tank, we'd both be dead meat--crispy dead meat.

"Get out!" my husband (then, my fiance) shouted. "GET OUT! GIVE ME THE KEYS! RUN RUN!" I flew open my door, chucked the keys in his face, and without caring about my cute fiance, my nearly brand new SUV, or my appearance to all the gasping people in the Walmart parking lot, I ran like Satan was at my heels. I flew through that Walmart parking lot so fast I could have been in the (I want so badly to insert an adjective here) Olympics.

My fiance was able to move the car quickly out of the way, and we were both okay. Thankfully, the man escaped out of his vehicle in time.

I--who struggle to be emotional about anything ever--sobbed. Sobbed. I was so upset by the fact that we could have been killed and we weren't even "putting ourselves in harm's way." For the rest of the evening, I was so shaken up. I got home and told my roommates, who immediately came out asking, "What's wrong!?", that a car had exploded right in front of us.

They looked at me with shocked faces. That's right. A car literally exploded five feet in front of my car. And I smell like smoke. And I don't know it right now, but my car will smell like that for a week, too.

So, yep. Driving down Chenal Parkway this morning brought this memory to my mind, and I just had to share.

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Have you ever seen something scary like that up, close, and personal?

So-Gal's Recipe: So-Easy Lasagna

I get really turned off from traditional lasagna for a couple of reasons. One, there is always way too much cottage cheese. Ew. I'm not a fan of feeling like I'm chowing down on cottage cheese with a little bit of noodles and sauce thrown in. And secondly, there's just, um, too much--too much stuff going on in my lasagna and too much lasagna.

So, I came up with my own recipe that has officially passed my taste test, my hubby's taste test, and my I-could-serve-this-at-a-dinner-party taste test. In short, it is seriously delicious. And it really does take no time at all to prepare. Double bonus!

You will need:

• Lasagna noodles
• 16 oz. of cottage cheese
• 1 lb. of lean ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups of any tomato sauce
• 2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese
• 9X9 dish
• Rosemary
• Salt and pepper
• Italian seasoning
• Dried parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9X9 dish.
2. Brown meat in skillet. Add tomato sauce and let simmer for 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, mix together cottage cheese, eggs, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, and sprinkle in all of your seasonings (as much or as little as you want).
4. Add approximately half of the meat to the bottom of the 9X9 dish. You will not be able to fully cover the bottom with meat. Don't worry. Then, arrange lasagna noodles over that. Next, spoon approximately half of the cheese mixture over the noodles. (Again, stop worrying. It doesn't have to be perfect--it will taste perfect.) Then, arrange noodles over the cheese mixture. On top of the noodles, spoon the rest of the cheese mixture. On top of the cheese mixture, add the rest of the meat sauce and sprinkle with 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese.

Diagram from top to bottom:

1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/2 of the meat sauce
1/2 of the cheese mixture
Noodles
1/2 of the cheese mixture
Noodles
1/2 of the meat sauce

5. Cover dish with foil and bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Uncover, and bake for 15 minutes.

A Perfect Saturday

Today, was a picturesque fall day that I got to spend with my family. The best. :)

This morning, my dad and I went downtown to the farmer's market for breakfast. Of course the toddler tagged along.

After we finished our yummy breakfasts, we headed outside into the very chilly weather to browse through the market. It was so much fun!

Then, we headed over to Dickey-Stephens ballpark!

Of course, it's a Saturday in the fall, so we had to be back at my parents' house by 11:00 to watch the Arkansas game, the LSU game, and (*tear*) the Baylor game. The toddler was so good! Unfortunately, my hubby had to work up at the hospital all day, so I kept texting him scores throughout the day. During halftime, "Pops" and little man went outside to play.

Gosh, I love those two. They are really super cute when they play together.

Finally, the sexy hubbs made it over for dinner! Yay! What a perfect day! :)

We all ate supper together on the back deck, and then we came home after a long day.

And now, it's 11:29, and I'm up working (because I played all day...so worth it), and listening to all the sweet night sounds outside my window. I love my little corner of the world and the precious people in it. :)