i was going to post last

night but I was having issues with the pictures.

First thing's first.  I have wrapping paper and supplies out because 'tis the season.  When the baby got here this morning, I put the tape dispenser next to the tv where she can't reach it.  I saw this a little later.

She didn't do this because she can't reach it.  I didn't do it because I just didn't.  Cosme and Eric didn't do it either.  The tape rolled itself out and stuck to the tv?  I don't think so.  Just saying...

Okay, now on to what I wanted to share last night.

I tried a new recipe for Ranger Cookies that I found HERE and I like them.  I cut down on the coconut because I wanted to like the cookies and not spit them out.

I'd make them again.

I think our snowman's fallen off the wagon.

His scarf is around his head and his nose is stuck up in his hat.  He's smiling so it must have been worth it.

I know I said I was done with all my Christmas shopping the other day BUT... I saw a good deal and had to get it for Little E.

Not even $15.  How could I pass it up?  I couldn't.  I didn't.  It's already wrapped and under the tree.

NOW I'm done Christmas shopping... until I see another good deal.  Little E won't be here for a couple of days so that means one of two things: I don't buy anything because I'm too busy to stop and look online OR I have more time to sit and focus on what's on sale.  My to-do list says I'll be too busy.  We'll see.

I made all that food yesterday

to be ready for the week and here we are, on the first day of the week, stopping to pick up dinner.  We took the baby home and I needed to go to the post office so we decided since we were out, we might as well pick something up.  I didn't argue because I needed to get busy with chores when we got home... and here I am, not doing chores.

I took advantage of the perfect weather we had this morning and went for a walk.  It was a little bright and even though I had the stroller's top pulled down to block the sun, I guess this was better.

Well, it was almost nap time so that could've had something to do with it.  It was nice though.  Like I said, the weather was perfect.  We stopped for Little E to say hi to a dog.  She enjoyed looking around and hiding behind the blanket while I enjoyed listening to music in one ear.  We'll probably do that again tomorrow.  Might as well take advantage of the weather while it's nice.

As for the Christmas tree and presents, she did okay.  I heard she tried to get an ornament when she first got here but I didn't see her do anything after that.  Oh, she also put one of Mom's gifts in the dishwasher.  For the most part though, she left it all alone.  Things are looking up.

Oh, my DNA results were updated and I'm basically just even more of a mutt.

England is down from 60% while Norway is down from 29%.  Ireland and Scotland doubled while Germanic Europe tripled.  Sweden and Nigeria weren't even in the equation last time.  Whatever, it's still fun and interesting.

Oh well, if I don't get up, I really won't get to anything that needs to be done.

And I still didn't post the blondie pic and recipe.  Tomorrow.

While it's easier to use the

packages of pre-cut stew meat for carne guisada, sometimes I'll buy a chuck roast and cut it up myself.  The other day I bought a shoulder roast.  I cut it up this morning and even though it was ready by 9:30, we waited and had it for dinner.  That shoulder roast was SO tender.  I think I need to use that from now on.  I mixed up some dough for tortillas around 3:00 and got it ready to roll out.  When Cosme took Ellie out for his afternoon break, I started rolling and cooking.

I love a thin, moist tortilla.  I could eat them for days.  I guess it's a good thing I only made 12.  I'm full.

It's too bad I didn't wait to make all this for the cold front that's coming.  That would've been perfect together.  While I didn't think ahead as far as the meal planning goes, I did plan ahead for the baby's wardrobe.  That last cool front had me realizing that she didn't have enough warm clothes.  No worries, I did some shopping and I think she might have enough to get her through winter.  Yeah, she probably has stuff at home but it's not here and here is where I need it.  I bought her a coat, a cape-like poncho, and a cardigan with a unicorn horn.  I bought her lots of pants and long sleeved shirts, with quite a few having unicorns, cats, and caticorns on them.

It's funny because I hated cats and unicorns as a kid.  In fifth grade, a bunch of us thought it would be cool if we had a gang.  We didn't do anything, we just liked the idea of being in a gang of girls.  There was another group of girls who we didn't want in our group so they started their own gang.  I don't remember which group decided we needed names first but they named themselves The Unicorns and our group was The Warriors.  (You know, because none of us had ever been in a fight???)  Our plan was to wear a bandana around one of our legs so we'd stand out from The Unicorns.  It wasn't the best situation because one of my closest friends was a Unicorn.  Anyway, I think all of that might have lasted a week.  The whole Unicorns vs. Warriors thing fizzled out and we were back to spending recess playing four square after that.  Oh well, here I am now buying all things unicorns and cats.

Looking beyond unicorns, cats, and caticorns, these are all cold weather clothes.  I've gone through and am washing them all now, but I'm also thinking a lot of them might be too warm.  Now I'm back online looking for short sleeved shirts she can wear under everything so that shedding in layers is an option.  Oh well, I'll eventually have it figured out.  Until then, there are tortillas.

i took Cosme up on

his offer to tagalong and help yesterday and we went grocery shopping.  I'd never been to Walmart or HEB with the baby.  Something about Kroger having that up-front parking spot for people with small children just makes things seem easier.  Anyway, we went to Walmart first and I think that might have been her first time in any Walmart ever.  A couple of ladies were laughing because the baby was looking all around, trying to take it all in.  We stopped by the toy department.  I'd been wanting to see how she fit on something to scoot on.  I checked out one I'd been eyeing and that might be a birthday present but then there was also this one.

Yes, she needs it but she's way too small for it right now... and will be for a while.  When I do get around to getting her a white unicorn in a stable, I'll probably order it online so that it doesn't have what I'm hoping is chocolate smeared on its face.

We finished there and went on to Kroger and HEB.  We came home and I fixed lunch after that.

I've been a little bold lately and have been changing diapers on my bed without a pad for protection.

Lesson learned.  I'm washing the quilt and am drying it on the air cycle.  That cycle only goes for 30 minutes so this is going to be a long process.

I was so tired after yesterday, I plopped.  I had a grocery order at Kroger at 7:00 (yes, that was two trips in one day) but after that I crashed.  I slept really well but I need more rest.  I'm doing pictures today and should probably be resting while the baby does but I have too much other stuff I need to do.  I'll probably crash hard again tonight.

The dryer stopped.  Time to start the next air cycle.

the baby stayed the night

last night.  I had the monitor going at one point and when I went in the room and set my end down in front of the camera, I got this.

A monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor within a monitor.  It looked cool.

I can't remember how long I let the dogs chew on my hands as puppies, but I think it's time I quit letting Little E.

My hand was pretty tender later.  She needs a chew toy... and maybe a leash.

I wanted dessert after lunch.  We stopped and picked up a pizza earlier and Little Caesar's used to have a cinnamon thing but it's long gone.  Cinnamon Crazy Bites?  It was little bites of dough, covered with cinnamon, sugar, butter and icing.  We would always get that with our pizza.  A lot of times we'd have some left for the next morning.  Anyway, they decided to bring back the pretzel crust and did away with the cinnamon dessert.  That's a shame because it was SO good.  When we got home I thought I'd make a strawberry cake but I couldn't because my strawberries were starting to get moldy.  Back to the Pinterest board.  I bought canned biscuits not too long ago so I could make monkey bread or fry them.  I found a recipe for what was just like monkey bread but it was in an 8x8 pan and was called Cinnamon Roll Bites.  This actually sounded a lot like what Little Caesar's had.  We already had our pizza so Cinnamon Roll Bites were needed.

Wow.  I'll rephrase that, they were just what we needed.  It was the same concept as monkey bread, canned biscuits cut up and dipped in a cinnamon/sugar mix.  The main difference from how I've made monkey bread, other than this being about half the size, was that this recipe calls for brown sugar.  I added a little extra cinnamon and a little regular sugar as well.  The recipe calls for a 12oz can of biscuits but I had two 7.5oz cans.  That's what I used.  The glaze calls for milk but I went ahead and used cream.  Those things are definitely a good substitute for the Little Caesar's Cinnamon Whatevers, if not better.

Yum.

I feel like I ate so much.  I should probably lie down and rest before I have more.  I might start the new season of Stranger Things.  It came out today on Netflix.  It's already after 6:00 though.  I might just binge it this weekend.  My eyes are burning a little and my lids feel a heavy.  Yeah, I think I'll wait until Saturday.  I think I'll go tell my pillow how good the Cinnamon Roll Bites were.

The baby has a few toys over

here but there's one that's probably her favorite.

We had an old remote in the cabinet that was forgotten about long before we got rid of the dvd player that went with it.  I pulled it out for her to play with.

I think she knows it's different.

When I went to Walmart yesterday, I found an actual toy remote.  I put it in the remote box to see if she notices it today.

Oh, yeah.  That's also a toy cell phone I picked up too.  I'm going to see how that goes over.

Speaking of shopping, I don't know why I thought we needed two bags of grapes when we rarely finish one.  And four things of strawberries?  I was feeling a little ambitious.

I guess it's time to start baking.  I've gone ahead and put it all in these bags that help keep produce fresh longer.  Maybe I should put the ten ears of corn in one of those too.

i started off yesterday morning

having to go to the bank for cash, no biggie.  On the way home, I was thinking about all the people who would be assigned a doll if I was a Voodoo practitioner.  Is it like that?  One doll per person?  Or can you use one doll and you just think about someone as you stick it?  I'm not sure.  Then I remembered that for Lent, I'm not letting other people have a negative affect on me.  I'm letting it all go, well, I'm trying.  For the most part, I've been doing an okay job but I have had a couple of moments.  I start to get amped up and then I have to talk myself down.  What started it all was exiting the back of the neighborhood.  Some numbskull thought it would be a good idea to build a school at the back of the neighborhood, placing the school's exiting traffic coming out into our neighborhood's main road.  I mean, they could've used the county road on which the school is facing but no, let's design this to create an inconvenience for all the people who live in this neighborhood.  Somebody needs Designer of the Year.

A little later there was another incident.  It took a lot but I kept my mouth shut and just tried to forget the neighbor's fb post.  This morning, well, this morning it's just me.  Nobody's done anything but I'm getting myself frustrated.  I'm hoping this Coke will help.  If not, there's more where it came from.  You know what else might help?  Breakfast.  I think I might need something fast.

Sitting at the computer and waiting on Little E to show up reminded me that I took this picture yesterday.

She loves to sit at the computer and play with the keyboard.  Instead of teaching her to leave it alone and not touch it (like I should), I pulled an old one out for her to play with.  She likes it and we can type at the same time now.  The only issue is I caught myself trying to type on that keyboard a couple of times instead of my little one stuffed in the back.

Two hours later, I just got her down for a nap.  She was fighting it hard.  I also saw that second tooth came through.  Man, she needs that nap.  She was crying and fighting it with her eyes closed.  It was making me need a nap just watching her.

I never got around to making breakfast so I'm having a tortilla now.  I also just remembered I bought blueberries for muffins... and Kerrygold butter.  I think I'll make a double batch of muffins.  I'll do that as soon as the baby wakes up.  It might take me twice as long but I won't have to worry about being quiet.  I don't know, maybe I'll start now.  The more I think about them, the hungrier I get and the less appetizing that second tortilla sounds.

Blueberry muffins, it is.  I'm doing this.

the other day I mentioned

chicken I had prepped in the crockpot.  First of all, let me say why I prepped chicken in the crockpot.  I discovered that if you cook it in there, you can stick your hand mixer in afterwards to shred it super simple.  Second, I needed shredded chicken for a Chicken Noodle Soup recipe I found HERE.  We liked it but I wouldn't really call it soup.  It was thick, which I really like, so it was more like Chicken Noodle.

It was chicken spaghetti that tasted like chicken noodle soup and I'd definitely make it again.

I do have another recipe to share/save but unlike most of my posts, I have a helper with this one.

 While she does have a lot to say, I think she needs a dry diaper more.

day one of the new

gig is in the books.  Little E went easy on me yesterday and took three naps, with one being almost three hours long.  During her first nap, I decided to wash dishes and then plopped.  I got a picture but my phone didn't save it.  I don't know why it does that sometimes.  (1 point taken from Samsung and given to iPhone) I figure that won't happen today.  I'm going to prepare myself and do everything I can think about doing before she gets here.  So yeah, she went easy on me but don't think I'm not tired.  I am.  I was tired to begin with.

I did get the dresser finished yesterday.  I was so excited to have a place to store her things and I still need more room.  Typical.  I'll figure something out.  Speaking of her things, the dryer just stopped.  I need to go put that stuff away and start more clothes.  It's already 6:30.  Time is flying this morning.

and there went

Christmas and New Year.  Time to start again.  New year, same me.

Last night was a little rough.  I woke up around 1:30 with a really bad stomach ache.  This was higher than normal, like an actual stomach ache and not an abdomen ache.  My stomach felt sore, like I'd imagine what someone felt like after doing a lot of exercises.  I hope it passes because I have an 8 week follow-up tomorrow and I'd hate to reschedule.  I think I'll take it easy as far as my stomach goes today.  I might even try to work a bottle of water in somewhere.  My plan for the upcoming weekend is to move Mom's baby dresser in from the garage to Eric's room.  I need to get it cleaned up and situated because I have nowhere to put baby stuff and my babysitting gig starts next week.  In order for all that to get done, I need to be released.

I asked for some items from Costco for Christmas and people didn't really understand why.  I don't like going to the closest Costco and plus, I don't even have a membership.  Anyway, Lauren stocked me up on paper towels, butt wipes, and gloves.  I've been going through gloves like crazy since Sunday.  So, who's laughing now?  Definitely not me.

I was cutting apples to put in chicken salad and somehow the knife managed to miss the apple and get my finger.  It cut through my fingernail about halfway down and I was seriously so overwhelmed with not only the blood and pain, but the thought of what just happened that I really felt lightheaded.  I ended up taking a long nap later.  So, as I do things around the house feeling like Michael Jackson with my gloved left hand, I'm so happy I asked for gloves.

Enough of that.  I can't handle it.

I ordered Little E some Converse and they are WAY TOO CUTE.

I think her actual size came out to 1.5 but I got a 2 so they'll last a little longer.  I also saw these.

They were on clearance, making me assume they'll never come back, so I had to get a pair of those too.  The smallest size they had was 4 but I got them anyway.  The price was good and she can grow into them.

I was about to go into another story but I think I'll save it for tomorrow.

Until then,
the gloved one

it's been a slow

morning.  Eric and Paige went to the movies last night and we babysat.  Time out.  I don't know if I'm going to mention the baby's name on here, being all public space and everything.  I think we'll refer to the baby as Little E.  Okay, so Eric and Paige went to see Halloween last night and we watched Little E, or as it might one day be shortened to, Lil E.  They left when Eric got back from class.  Not long after they left, Little E got hungry so we warmed up a bottle and she ate.  One thing we've noticed about Little E is she has a few hours at night where she likes to fight sleep.  She finished her bottle around 10:00 and wanted to look around at things and then she was done.  She was ready to fight sleep.  Cosme had already gone to bed so it was just the two of us at this point.  She got tired of my bouncing, talking, and patting so I did what I have done a couple of other times and pulled up some classical music on YouTube.  A little swaying and a few notes of Mozart later, she was relaxing and the "I might just doze off" zone.

Just a few minutes later, Eric and Paige let me know they were on their way to pick her up.  By the time they got here, she was ready for more food and a new diaper.  Anyway, I got to bed a little later than normal so I've been dragging a bit today but nothing too bad.  That's one of the benefits of not having anywhere to be the next day, I can stay up late if I want.  As if I needed any encouragement to chill a little longer, it started raining not long after I told Cosme I was going to get back in bed.

I might go try to get a few things done now... or I might sit and listen to the rain.