Naptime

Sometimes the little things can just make your day. Like walking upstairs to ask your husband a question and finding this:

A man, a baby, and a hand puppet, all snuggling and napping together.

I hope it makes you smile, too.

What do you do when you work out too hard and end up with heels that hurt so much you can hardly walk?

A) Cry.
B) Ignore the pain. It'll go away, right?
C) Relinquish all dog walking duties and pout on the couch.
D) Eat candy.


Correct answer: All of the above. Especially the eating candy!


A few weeks ago I was sitting on the couch, pre-injury, and in one of my random outbursts, turned to Ben and said, "You know what I loved when I was a kid? Butter Rum Lifesavers!"

And with that I was on a search of the internets to see if Butter Rum Lifesavers still even exist and if I could get some. And in my search, I found the most wonderful website ever! They sell all sorts of candy you ate as a kid, AND you can get a lot of it by the piece. One piece of Dubble Bubble here, one Atomic Fireball there. They even have candy cigarettes! Big League Chew! Razzles!

So Ben and I sat down one night and went candy shopping online. The result, you can see above. Don't worry, we're not eating all that at once. It's a very slow process. But it is awfully fun to have a big bowl of candy in the corner of the kitchen so I can have a Bit-O-Honey with my cereal in the morning (and yes, I know I'm the only person on earth who actually likes those) or so that Ben can grab a Cry Baby on his way out to walk the dogs.

And now if you'll excuse me, I think there's a box of Milk Duds calling my name.

Uncle Duck!

This past week was very exciting in Netherworld... Uncle Duck came to visit! Ben's best friend, Kevin, traveled from Chicago for a week to visit Wesley, Bella, and Spud.




He had to put up with me and Ben, too, but we tried to make up for that by doing all sorts of fun things.

We spent a day in Brussels

And Ben and Duck took Wes to a cafe where they all had beers.


And what's Belgium without Belgian waffles? Yum.


We also shared our love of Starbucks

And how cute is Wesley's little espresso mug?

First beer, now coffee... we're the worst parents ever! Before you know it we'll be letting him watch America's Next Top Model. Wait, what? Oh... yeah... we already do that. Oops.

We also spent a lot of time just hanging out. Ben and Duck had a bit of bonding time hanging out in Mandom (the garage), playing video games, smoking cigars, playing with computers, going to see the new James Bond movie, and go-karting.

There were all sorts of fun manly activities.

I didn't feel too left out with all this testosterone running through the house. I stayed in the kitchen, right where I belong! Kidding! Not really though. I loved having another person around to feed, and I cooked and baked and baked a little more. It was great! If you check out my food blog, you can see how busy I was. And that wasn't even everything I made; I might go into withdrawal this week.

Unfortunately Uncle Duck had to go back home. We tried to convince him to stay for Thanksgiving, but he had this idea that he needed to actually go back to his job, apartment, life, etc. Whatever. We miss him already and hopefully this:

will convince him to come back sometime.

Yes we can!

I always swore that I wouldn't let my kids watch too much tv. And I admit, Wes has seen an episode or two of America's Next Top Model. And I do feel slightly guilty and try to turn him away from the tv and distract with with toys and funny faces.

This morning, however, I couldn't say no. He was riveted.



That's my boy! Watching CNN! Listening to Obama's speech! Maybe he aspires to more than being the first male top model.

7 quirky things

I was tagged by Corinne to blog 7 quirky things about me? Only 7? I have so many quirks I had to go to Ben and ask him what they are because everything seems perfectly reasonable to me. These are just a few that he came up with:

1. Ben really like Cheez-Its and we will often have a box of them around the house. I don't mind them; I think they're okay, but I never go searching them out. However, when he brings the box out to snack, I want some. Not quirky yet, I know. The quirky part is that I need him to give my exactly 3 Cheez-Its. Not a small handful, not 2 plus a broken one, 3. And then if I want more, I need 3 more. I don't remember the last time I didn't eat them like that.

2. I have a gum habit. And it's serious. I can go through packs of gum like you wouldn't believe, because once I start chewing I go for a few minutes and then need a new piece beccause I don't like when they lose flavor. I like fresh, new pieces of gum. Oh, and I always eat them 2 pieces at a time. Because 1 at a time just isn't right.

3. Every night, Ben and I brush our teeth together. It evolved out of just getting ready for bed at the same time, but now it's a special thing between us that we do even on the very rare occasion when we don't go to bed at the same time. We get our brushes ready, click them together (I think of is like clinking wine glasses, Ben has referred to it as crossing swords. Take your pick.), and sit on the edge of the bathtub and brush our teeth. It's very comforting.

4. I have a thing for bowls. They're just pleasing to me. I have restrain myself when shopping because I always want to buy more. Ben's parents gave me a set of 10 mixing bowls for my birthday, and I cannot tell you how much joy I get from bringing out my bowls while cooking or baking and having all my ingredients out on the counter in their happy little glass bowls. I also like cereal bowls, ice cream bowls, and tiny little bowls that serve very little purpose.

5. If you know me at all, you know I love food, especially sweets. Mmm, like ice cream. I love ice cream. But if I ate it as much as I wanted to I would make myself very very very sick (and I'd be about 800 lbs), so instead I really enjoy just looking at it. When Ben and I go out and walk around in Aachen, we always see people eating ice cream and I've made a habit of walking by all the different ice cream place to just look at people's sundaes and say "Ooooooh, look at that one! Ben, look at the guy in the blue striped shirt! He has a banana split!". It's like going to an art museum, but with ice cream!

6. For Easter I gave Ben a little stuffed bunny, just for fun. Since then, the bunny has been hiding around our house. Ben started by hiding him in the fruit bowl one day, and since then the bunny has been found in my bathrobe, Ben's socks, my vitamins, Ben's cereal box, the detergent compartment of our washing machine, and Wes' diaper pail (poor bunny), just to name a few.

7. I love goats. They make me giggle. A lot. Can't explain. Just love them. That's all.

Those are just a few of mine. And now I tag Miranda and Duck. Share your quirkyness!

Happy Halloween!

Wes is a little young for trick-or-treating this year, but he helped out with pumpkin carving (he slept like a champ while we carved them).



And he was a good sport about dressing up just for fun.




Happy Halloween! We're off to celebrate by eating pizza and watching a scary movie, tiara and cowboy hat firmly in place.

People ask a lot how the dogs are doing with the baby. Here's the answer:




He's almost as good as a new puppy.