Scolding the Crazy Cat

Nora now scolds the cats! Guess she hears us say these things a little too often.

The favorite thing to say is, "No, no, stop kee-tee"

Phebs is almost always her kitty of choice to scold and admonish with a finger. MOST of the time Phebs is sublimely rubbing a piece of furniture or my drafting stool. By the volume at which Nora talks to the cat this is a GREAT offense.

Those of you that know Phebs are aware of her crazy nature that does warrant much scorn from Rich and I. I shall list her numerous offenses that happen on a monthly basis

1. Licking vellum paper - at $1 a square foot a decadent treat

2. Licking plastic Grocery bags - for the kitty on a shoe string budget.

3. Running through the bonus room, ACROSS my laptop, and then plastering herself to the window like a suction cup car ornament.

4. Biting guests! I think the count is at 5 bites so far in the 5 yrs we've had her. There is something called 'overstimulation' in cats....give them lots of love and WHAM! Little S & M kitty that likes rough loving.

5. Biting my childs head, or at least trying to. The curvature of Nora's head is such that Phebs has never actually broken skin.

6. Nocturnal pestering of the most annoying kind! She 'pokes' you with her claws at all hours of the night. She could want food, water, or love(read previous entry)

7. Walking on the printers! Rich has gone so far as to put rolls of tape on them for MONTHS at a time. Too bad the cat is smart and realized it was gone.

Daddy's Littlest Helper

LONG ago, in October I set out to build Nora a playhouse for our backyard. This lasted approximately, 48 hrs and then the frame sat in the garage, much to the husbands frustration.

In comes holiday weekend! Rich and I decide THIS will be our project to finish, between the rain, rain, and more rain. It's actually fascinating to look at the radar this weekend for the entire nation. I don't think there's one state that's NOT getting rain.

I digress......

Rich and I started building as Nora played in the yard, thanks to the new fence. She eventually started showing interest in what mommy and daddy were doing on the hill.

Daddy explains:


Nora trying to 'help' but she doesn't have a drill


"I have the screws, thus all the power in this project process" ....she wouldn't give us the box, just one screw at a time




Relaxing on her new playhouse floor.

The Weight Thing

So here's the weight report!

What the heck the loyal readers should know from whence I came, for one I think it makes me realize the magnitude of the weight loss.

Top weight: 187.6( yeah, that was 5.4 lbs from top pregnancy weight, not proud of that)
Current weight: 171.6
Loss: 16 lbs!
height: 5' 5"(not that it's gonna change but never the less there it is)
Neck: 14"(-1")
Waist: 33.75"(-3.25")
Hips: 41.5"(-3")
Bust: 41"(-2)

I have some serious curves, almost text book hourglass shape, need about 2.5" to come off my waist.

Before:

After:


Hooray! Here's the crazy part. I'm SMALLER measurement wise than I was last year this time when I was the same weight! Sliding into some size 10 stuff these days, my jaw hit the floor in Kohl's today when that happened.

Still REALLY hesitant to buy a bunch of new clothes in new sizes with the baby time table right around the corner. Little person in the back of my brain keeps saying, 'Damn it, lose all this weight only to get pregnant again right away' the other part of my brain says, 'Woman it could be MONTHS before your pregnant stop obsessing' ERRRRRR, the war of consciences will continue I'm sure but the clock is ticking as I turn 32 in July.

Ok, that was scary saying 32....how did I get that OLD!

What we learned today....

Today, today we learned a LOT about 'No' and how serious momma can be about 'No'. And then momma learned that sometimes she can't keep a straight face while saying 'No'.


This morning while I was trying to start work at my desk.

Nora: Mommy?
Me: Yes, baby.
Nora: Caw-wah, me?
Me: Ok, here's a purple marker(they are Pip squeaks, washable by Crayola)
Nora: Dat Do

Nora proceeds to color on her 36"x36" piece of paper. I go to brush my teeth and have a quick conversation with Rich. Nora walks into the bathroom.

Me: Nora, not in the mouth!(pull marker out of Nora's mouth, which is purple at this point)
Nora: No mouf?
Me: No mouth, wait a minute the marker is almost white! Rich I think she sucked the color out!!!
Rich: Is that ok?
Me: I don't know, I can only assume Crayola plans for these things.

Mommy proceeds to do computer to research whether the purple mouthed child will die....not likely according to the internet.

***************************************************************************************

Nora and Mommy in the car to go shopping.

My poor child has inherited the epic sneeze gene from her daddy.

Nora sneezes

Me: oh dear Lord, Nora here's a "nose" wipe your face(Nora calls wipes "noses" b/c they are used so frequently on that body part)
Nora: Nose?
Me: Yes baby wipe your nose.
Nora: 'Iccky'
Me: Yes, icky. Please clean your nose

Nora proceeds to blow into the wipe and smear snot from ear to ear. THEN, THEN for the first time in 3 mths of blowing her own nose, she discovers she can close one nostril and get more force!

Me: NO! No shooting snot out of your nose!
Nora: giggle, no comment, blow again

Instant snot walrus out the right nostril!!! I'm driving thinking, "Oh gross! How am I going to sanitize the carseat!" While Nora giggles about it all behind me.

The EVIL recipes

Of course, I'm going to put the one with Chocolate first! Note: I did make these with EggBeaters and light margarine so the fat count isn't completely awful, but the sugar will get ya!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over 1 3/4 c. Oatmeal and 1 stick
butter(let sit until butter is dissolved)

In Bowl:

1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all these together, then add oatmeal mixture.

Add: 1 3/4 c. flour and mix all together.

Add: 1 1/4 c. chocolate chips( make sure the batter is down to room
temperature, otherwise the chocolate chips melt!)

Bake at 325 for 20-25 mins. Makes 24 med. muffins.

Next:

Blueberry or Strawberry Pound Cake Muffins

1 c. margerine
2 c. sugar
1 T vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. blueberries or chopped strawberries
1/4 tsp cinnamon(ONLY IF STRAWBERRY)
3 c. flour.

In Bowl:

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs and vanilla. Add dry infredients and
mix until smooth. Add blueberries or strawberries by folding into
batter. (Note: You can use frozen blueberries but be sure to melt the
butter, otherwise the frozen blueberries make the batter too stiff)

Bake at 325 for 25 mins or until golden brown on top. Makes 24 med. muffins.

This can be made into a bundt cake with a sugar crust. Grease bundt
pan with 1/4 stick butter, then swirl 1/2 c. sugar around pan to stick
to butter. Pour batter directly into pan and bake at 325 for 1 hr.
10 mins. or until golden brown across top.

BESTEST Muffins EVER!!!!

This all started last week when my friend, Kathy was bemoaning the 'Muffins for Moms' breakfast in her kindergarten class tomorrow. All the moms come to school and have mid morning muffins with their kids. SOOOO cute, can't wait to do this with Nora.

Problem being, Kathy is a self-proclaimed hideous cook! Last year it took her 6 hrs to bake 48 muffins because she kept burning them.

Here's where I step in,

Me: " Kathy, just let me baked the muffins."
Her: " Are you serious? That's insane, you don't want to do that, you don't have time"
Me: " Hello woman! I'm a stay at home mom that works part time and LOVES to cook! Let me do it!"
Her: " You need Prozac but ok"

Baking started yesterday, first batch was Blueberry Pound Cake made into muffins. This is quite possible my favorite cake from mom's recipe box. (Short back story, Rich hates blueberries and when he first met me he ate 2 pieces to not hurt my feelings so he'd have a shot at me. It's since become a great "war story" for him)

Second batch, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal muffins! I once again deferred to my moms' Oatmeal Cake recipe, added more flour, more oatmeal, and chocolate chips. These things are sinful! Thank goodness they are to be consumed by hi-octane, calorie burning 6 yr olds!. Although Kathy, might KILL me after the sugar rush these are going to cause, but hey there's oatmeal right? Gotta be ok if there's 2 c. of oatmeal in them?

Third batch, Strawberry Pound Cake made into muffins! I have HIT the jackpot! Can you just imagine strawberries all cooked into the shortcake, cut in half slathered with whip cream....OHHH so yummy. I didn't try it for fear that submissive fat cells would try to revolt against my diet.

All this culinary bliss yielded 62 delicious muffins for which Kathy is SO grateful. Hopefully, they live up to her bragging about getting her 'personal chef' to cook gourmet muffins. She cracks me up!

I will gladly give the recipes to anyone who wants them, but they are downstairs right now and I'm too lazy to go get them.

Waiting and praying

One of my friends is having a FULL colostomy done tomorrow. Kaycie is only 26, has Crohn's and had to make this drastic decision recently. She goes into surgery tomorrow at 2pm, for those of you that pray send one her way.

You can follow her journey here.
http://theburgefamily.blogspot.com