Happy 2nd Birthday Little Buddy

Where did the time go? My Little Buddy is turning 2 on Saturday. I have been planning a little party here at the house with pizza and cake, 2 of Little Buddy's favorites. Phew, I am glad I am typing this and not reading this aloud, I'm sure I'd be all weepy just thinking about how my little boy is growing up so fast. I feel at times we are just doing and doing and doing what needs to be done and that time is just slipping through my fingers. Why can't they stay little forever? Funny, I stay home with him every day all day and night, most the time just the two of us. As a few months pass by I think, not that much has changed in this little person over the last few months. Then I see a series of pictures on my iPhoto from a month or two back and cannot seem to believe my eyes. I feel like I wish I could go back for a day or two and just enjoy that little bundle that would fall asleep on my shoulder as I am racing around the house and trying to clean and do laundry with one arm. It's so hard to relax and enjoy when they are really small babies, well, cause they are so much work. And you have to constantly keep moving, moving, moving to keep peace. I recall last summer wanting to look at something at the store with him in the stroller or cart and literally doing laps around the aisle to keep him happy and keep taking short looks at whatever. They are so small for such a short time, though at times it can seem to last forever. I asked some older moms I know if you ever lose that desire to want to hold them curled up on your lap and rock them to sleep? They all said no, no matter how old they are you still feel that way. In the back of my mind I keep thinking that we will go back there again some day. But we won't, not with Little Buddy anyway. Before long he will be heading to preschool, kindergarten, then grade school. I could literally burst into tears just typing it. I am right now. Maybe we will be blessed enough to have another little one some day. It's not the same though as the first one. I imagine that you have more confidence but lack the quiet and stillness the house held when the only one you had slept.

Little Buddy just started walking last January. Since then he has grown from a baby into such a little boy. He now can eat almost anything. He stopped sucking his thumb. He has definite likes and dislikes. He can say "No!", which he does very often along with many, many other words. He still wants momma much of the time but is increasingly curious about the other people around him. He runs and climbs and jumps and dances. He's had 3 trips to the ER in the last 6 months, and this, I've been told, is what life is like with a little boy. Just tonight we headed to the library. He has a little black eye. He hit the side of his face on the edge of his toddler table which created a little bubble of a welt which he refused to let us ice. Then the welt went away and he had the shiner. Kind of funny for us but, not so funny for some people that stare and give him double takes as we pass. They must know, they have to know. Some older women just look and smile, probably cause they know what it's like to have a boy. I hope, because it's an amazing bruised, scraped, joyous, funny, sticky, curious, loving, cuddly trip.

Happy 2nd birthday Little Buddy!

Sign Petiton To Keep Second Hand Clothes Legal

"Our letters are making a difference! On Jan. 8th the CPSC revised its position to exclude thrift and consignment stores. Keep the heat on Congress as the CPSC rule making is still underway".

Visit the Make Second Hand Kids' Clothes Legal site for more info. This is so important! Not only do so many American families depend on second hand baby/kids items to clothe their children and provide them with toys, but think of the impact on the planet if this law is left untranslated or unmodified. All outgrown clothes and toys will be thrown away, as in the trash that's headed for a landfill.......?? That's totally unacceptable!!

Thanks!! :)

Award Winning Granola Bars

I have a neighbor friend down the street named Linda. She is about the age of my mother. I noticed her and her husband picking up trash as they walk in all sorts of weather since we moved in almost 5 years ago. Turns out that they are both retired and have lived here since the early 80's when the subdivision was first built. They raised their kids here and now their kids are grown and have kids of their own. Linda and her husband Ed, you couldn't ask for nicer neighbors. I seem to gravitate to people who are a little older than my own age bracket. I have friends that ARE my age but often I find that the older generation have some very admirable qualities and wisdom that are primarily acquired through age and maturity. Linda and I have some things in common such as love of nature, frugality, litter picking, and a few other things that don't come to mind at the moment. She often has some pretty cool ideas/concepts that are very interesting to listen to and contemplate. Though we don't see eye to eye on some things, I find her to be a very wise, caring, and considerate person. Just a month ago when our dog rolled in ? and attacked a possum I called her out of desperation when I needed someone to play with Little Buddy for a bit while I bathed the filthy dog. We also are continually giving each other food and extra odds and ends back and forth. I wish I'd saved the nice note/song she wrote to me about how she so appreciated all the left overs that I gave them from when we had Thanksgiving. It was creative and hilarious and explained how she and her husband used every single morsel of food and even froze a bit of it for the future. I love that about her, not wasting anything and very appreciative and happy to also help in not wasting food. Which to me is a royal sin no matter how much money you have.

Back about a month or two, she brought me a little tin on one of her many walks. I opened it one day after hubby had gone to work and Little Buddy had gone down for his nap. There were three little bars individually wrapped in wax paper and a copy of a newspaper article from 1990. So I opened up one of the bars and began to eat it while I started reading the article. The article was about when her kids were still in school and she had submitted a recipe to the Market Day recipe contest. Her recipe for "Great Granola Bars" won the dessert category. I was near the end of the article and realized I had eaten all the bars. They were delicious! I never did anything with the recipe through the holidays. I sure wish I had. I could have given these granola bars out for Christmas gifts rather than making all the damn cookies, many of which didn't even get eaten. Next year I'm making these for Christmas treats for snacking and sending.
I made 2 pans the other day. I was hooked, then my husband got hooked, then Little Buddy. Then I gave a small container of them to my sister who also enjoyed them. Now we are one our second batch of them. So good, can't get enough. Gave my MIL and small container full last night when she came to watch Little Buddy for our date night. She took one bite and her eyes got really big and she said, "These are incredible!" I then showed her what there was for her to eat for dinner and she said, "I think I just may eat the granola bars for dinner." Without further ado, here's the recipe:

Great Granola Bars
3 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup melted margarine or butter
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup Market Day Honey
1/2 cup sweetened or plain coconut flakes
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup Market Day pecan pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Market Day Chocolate Chips

Divide oats onto two ungreased jelly roll pans. Spread into a thin layer and bake in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Mix remainder of ingredients together and add cooled roasted oats. Press the mixture into a well greased 9x13" pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake. Check frequently and remove pan from oven before the edges turn brown. Cool and cut into bars. This recipe can be varied easily. Raisins can be added in place of chocolate chips, molasses for honey or nuts for the chocolate chips.

A few things I should share about making this recipe. I do not have any Market Day products. I used sweetened generic coconut flakes, generic honey, butter instead of margarine, Nestle Chips, generic old-fashioned oats (but you can use the quick oats), one time I threw in some chopped up walnuts I had leftover in the freezer from making brownies awhile back. You can change out some of the ingredients depending on what you have and/or like. I tried to toast the oats on metal pans and my house smelled like burnt popcorn, they got a little over done. I then tried to toast the oats on aluminum pans like Linda suggests in another part of the article. Much better, they toasted more evenly. I also used 2 small aluminum baking pans for the baking of the bars because I do not have a 9x13 size. I toasted the oats for 10 minutes the second time around instead of 15 which turned out better also. Then I baked the granola bars for about 16/17 minutes instead of 20. I also doubled the vanilla just because.

These are phenomenal. I hope to try to make an ultra healthy version in the future. Maybe I'll even try using flax seeds, unsweetened coconut, dried fruit, almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc.

What Are Cops' Wives Made Of?

What are cops' wives made of?
Sugar and spice and everything nice??

Most definitely! But there is so much more!
The best of the best is what they are!

They are made of patience... in order to survive the profession and all that it entails.

Flexibility... for the times that personal plans get changed unexpectedly because duty calls.

Comfort... he needs that after critical incidents.

Resourcefulness... in order to manage the household when he's working long hours.

Wisdom... for handling his "take charge", "control the incident" personality.

Thick-skinned... for dealing with uninformed citizens and media.

Understanding... to provide a listening ear when things are rough for him at work.

Courage... to be frank with him when he needs it.

Faith... to overcome the fear of something happening to him.

Admiration... to build him up and override the criticism he gets from the public.

A Praying Heart... to cover him with protection and keep him on the right path.

A Playful Spirit... to get his mind off of work for awhile.

Humor... because you both need to laugh.

And Love... which covers all sins, is unconditional, and will protect your marriage.

THAT IS WHAT COPS' WIVES ARE MADE OF!

Attention: Zit Getters

Just a quick post to let you know a winning combination that worked with my skin, and it's inexpensive too. I have really bizarre skin. It's very oily, BUT if I do not use moisturizer in the winter time, I get tight, oily, and zitty. I know, odd. Anyway, I have used Lubriderm Extra Sensitive (about $8 or $9) on my face (too thin for the rest of my body, need heavier moisture for my body) in the winter for years with pretty good luck. Then the soap was always the issue. I've tried everything. I was ordering some bottles of Eucerin Extra Gentle Cleanser for the longest time. Then I have to pay shipping because they do not sell it in stores anymore. Plus, if we were running low and didn't have money on the budget to order more at that moment, I was out of luck. I should say we though cause my husband has bizarre facial skin too. Then one day we had nothing to use on our faces at all. I really hate to use a body bar on my face and it makes me break out anyway. Or there's often body wash in the shower too, even worse on our faces. Then out of desperation one day I grabbed my son's Earth's Best Baby Wash by Jason (about $8 or $9) and gave that a try. It worked so well I told my husband about it. It worked for him too. It was a Godsend. Until we ran out. I then tried some Huggies Natural Care Baby Wash that we had (about $3 or $4). Also worked like a charm. It is such bliss to have my skin in order. I can break out pretty bad at times, or I use to anyway. Hope this helps you or somebody you know. Good luck and keep me posted :)

My Resolutions For 2009

I am pretty private about my resolutions and things like that because if I change my mind or don't stick to them (for one reason or another). I always feel like people will feel disappointed in me or they will pester me about it and that is something I don't want. Then I read Stacy's (Squirrel Chatter) and was inspired to give it a shot. Here goes.

1) Find a church (that isn't outside of our comfort zone). Long story but we used to belong to a really neat little church that ended up dissolving. Then tried church shopping at several churches that were so, uh, not us. Then we just got a little freaked out on church period.

2) Be more positive. Whether that means in general or being nicer too, I am going to strive for this. BUT, this doesn't just mean on the outside, I can do that very easily. Trouble is that I often have little one liner jokes in my head all the time that I either hold in or say out loud. I have always loved to give people crap. Not necessarily in a mean way, I just love to make people laugh. Problem is that people don't always know that I'm joking. The police department is full of sarcasm and wit, I think that this is how the cops cope with the stress of their jobs. I am married to a cop who brings a lot of this home. In turn, I have been noticing myself talking a lot more like this. Probably because it is my way of coping with the stress of being married to a stressed out cop. If that makes any sense?

3) Possibly take a family trip somewhere and/or an overnight with my husband. Either of these sound fun but are a lot more work with a child. Even when they aren't coming with. I still nurse Little Buddy before bed and when he wakes up so that is a concern. Plus, we still do not have a will made up and leaving Little Buddy without some sort of plan I feel is selfish and foolish.

4) Get a will. This I feel is so vital. Not only that we organize everything and have some kind of plan in the even we die together without Little Buddy, there needs to be a plan for him so there is less of an issue for his life, happiness, and welfare. Even if Little Buddy and I survive, we need some kind of a plan to carry on. After all, being married to a cop is very high risk and we need to get everything organized just in case.

5) Get pregnant. This one is pretty self explanatory. We took December off but need to get "back in the saddle again," once the new year begins. Maybe it is in the stars for us, maybe not. Either way, Little Buddy is a blessing, a miracle, and a gift of God and we appreciate every minute we have with him. These days will not last forever and one day we will look back and miss them because they went sooooooo fast. I digress, we would love to add on. This little family of ours is a pretty cool thing.

6) Lose weight. Obviously this will not be happening if we do in fact achieve number 5. If we don't or until we do I am still overweight from having Little Buddy. I lost 30 pounds last year and then went up about 10 (darn holidays), but still need to be lighter. Life must be so excellent for thin people, it was for me back when I was thin. I really despise being fat, ugh!

7) Organize photos. Have prints made and put prints into frames and into Little Buddy's photo album. Send out doubles and extras I have loaded up in boxes, etc. Have some old black and whites of old relatives blown up and framed and even gift them accordingly.

8) Take Little Buddy even more places, do more things with him. The possibilities are endless. I want to show him the world. It is a complete joy and wonder to see the world and everything in it with and through the eyes of a child.

9) Take a yoga class. Just something I've wanted to try for a long time. It's very hard to commit to a class because of my husband's crazy schedule. They have a day care at the gym BUT Little Buddy did not do well there the last time I left him there.

10) Renew my FOID card and re-certify. I am not a fan of guns or violence. Years ago I got my FOID card and certified at a range as a fun thing to do to take part in my (now) husband's interests. To tell you the truth, I was a pretty good shot. I now see that it is vital to know how to use the guns in our home. Being married to a police officer is very high risk. For one, they are gone all kinds of odd hours. The dog would most likely be the best burglar alarm but if someone makes it past him I'd at least have a way to defend myself. For two, people who are arrested and/or thrown in jail or prison because of my husband can get a little nuts. It would be highly unlikely but people have been known to go after the arresting cop and/or his family. I don't want to take any chances. If it came down to someone coming in my home and grabbing Little Buddy or attempting to hurt my family, I would have no reservations, NONE! The one big thing that has held me back for the last 3 years was the lead exposure from the ammo (year one I was pregnant and the last two years I have been nursing, which I still am). I just learned (from my secret service agent friend) that there are lead free bullets that you can request, COOL!

Dog Pile Soap?

Just ran across this soap from Lily Bay Soap & Sundry while snooping around on Etsy. Thought it was funny and original. Check it out. Oh, and it's chocolate scented, how appropriate :)