i do. a lot.
i just posted a wonderful lentil soup recipe under my 'favorite recipes' section. i suggest you try it.
i added half of a can of diced tomatoes and 1 Tsp. of Tomato Paste.
if it snows in 3 days, we will have had snow for 6 mos. what a lovely mini vacation it was. never long enough. we set out to whidbey island, and naturally made it there in record time because we drive 90. ok, 80, but i wish that we dove 90. nathan and i had our much needed date a nice 'day to ourselves'. we get this about 2 times a year, so there was no way we would skip out on this. PLUS, it was kind of celebrated as my birthday and o got to spend the whole day buying whatever i wanted and i did just that. after a long hard grueling day of hardcore shopping we headed back to the boat which of course we missed. the universe would actually fall off it's tiny little axle should we make it. can't have that happen, so we volunteered to miss the boat by one entire minute. it was awesome. lot's of words were had. we jetted to hans and cam's new place, which is just darling. we were made a really great dinner. we loved it so much that i had to go buy all the ingredients tonight so i can make it too. we laughed the night away as usual and then left with full bellies and a slightly drunk husband. we made a wrong turn and ended up in the Gabeliens driveway. there was a deer standing right in front of us and my husband drunkenly remarked "did you see the look on his face? it was like a deer in the headlights"...and i lost it. i had to pull over to laugh really hard and then blow my nose.
easter. you can read more about that in cam's blog as well. it's pretty damn funny.
lanna hunted for eggs with a magnifying glass-what else? the easter bunny brought her a woody. relax, it's a doll.
hans, cam and my dad came over and we ate and chatted all day, and it was really great. the weather was really confused so we stayed inside to beat some kids up and put potatoes on their heads. it was great.
hans (nord) and cam. 
lanna and pop pop
tuesday we headed to the ferry that we missed by another cursed minute where we headed to have lunch with the usual suspects. i was forced to eat subway, but somehow i lived. i am still amazed. i loved doot's comment on that. in a very angry tone, "i guess i'll eat fresh..."
lanna and daphne. she really took to her.
it was so hard to say goodbye. i just wanted to stay the rest of the day.
lanna and lijah
here are a few of the wonderful birthday gifts that i got.
prints from the black apple. thank you cam and nord! (yes, they are already hung)
the week was wonderful. the end.
i HATE packing. hate. hate. hate.
this happens every single time i have to pack. every time.
i start to pack, then i look around and think "oh my god...i'm going to come home to this?"
then i start to clean up, tidy this, tidy that...and BAM it's 10:00 and i am not packed. then i get mad.
i start throwing my clothes around like how dare them not have packed themselves. seriously. how could they? can't they see i am BUSY? do you know how much crap a 3 year old wants to bring along??? lanna has a giant suitcase full of animals, all of which have a baby and a baby's daddy. she likes everything she owns in pairs. and god forbid we leave one behind. everything will be ruined. it was a hunt for baby giraffe tonight and in the middle of it she says "i have to go hide" (that means crap her pants) OH NO YOU DON'T...and i ran her to the bathroom as fast as we could go. she made it!!! and she did it. she pooped. finally. today was day three of holding it. when she finished she ran out to nathan and says "daddy! i did it! i pooped, i am SO happy about it!"
we are finally 90% packed. the other 10% will happen when i remove my butt from this chair. it's hard to do.
ok, here i go. this is me leaving, this is me leaving. we are off to the rock tomorrow and plan on uploading plenty of pics when we return.
i did not wake up this beautiful morning and SEE SNOW.
i did not, i did not i did not.
we did NOT get a light dusting of snow of the FIRST DAY OF SPRING.
no way would that happen.
no way would it snow 3 days before my birthday.
not a chance.
no way, no how.
insert favorite bad word here.
repeat 3 times.
vacation time, that is. AND my birthday. it's almost my birthday.
we are headed to whidbey this weekend for a much needed vacation. i have not taken more then 3 days off since we moved here, and this is only a week, but its a WEEK and i will enjoy every day of it. i get to see my new little niece daphne, and i can hardly stand it. i have gotten a few pictures of her, and she is the cutest little snuggle bug if i ever saw one. i have another niece on the way, her name is madeliene. i will get to meet her in june when she is here for nathan's comic who ha. this week has been especially long and challenging. i don't like to blog about work, because that sucks, but on top of it being long, i have been hopped up on benadryl for the last 3 days and i have been making my coworkers nervous. it's like working while you are completely drunk. and i work with a lot of numbers and money. oooooooh dear, wish me the best.
lanna is of course excited for the easter bunny. she is trying especially hard not to crap her pants. and i mean that quite literally. she still will not poop in the toilet. she is getting so close, but i just cannot make that last shove. she will graduate to the "more mature kids with backpacks room" in july, and i cannot imagine her entering that room and being the only on not able to go poop in the potty. i called her on the phone last night pretending to be the easter bunny. now, obviously he was too busy to make the call himself, so i had to do it.
me: is this lanna obrien?
lanna: yes, it's me.
me: lanna, HI this is the easter bunny. can you hear me ok?
lanna: yes grandpa, i can hear you.
me: this is not grandpa, this is the easter bunny....OK?
lanna: um, ok. hi grandpa....!!!
me. LANNA THIS IS THE EASTER BUNNY. i have a very important message for you. i need you to listen to your mommy and daddy, and i need you to be very good about using the big potty. can you do that for me?
lanna: ok. will.
________________ end of call.
me: lanna, who was on the phone?
lanna: it was the easter bunny, but he sounded like grandpa.
me: oh really? what did he tell you?
lanna: he said he was going to leave me some eggs.
oh. crap.
this was her "smile nicely" face before school this morning.
this is cam's face in the morning as well.
this one is currently in the store, but more are to come in the next 2 weeks.
wooo hoooo. lip tint here is ya'll!
thanks to cory, my little sweetpetula, she made this possible.
cory sent me some really great alkanet root that makes a beautiful lip balm-tint.
this is available in my store.
i am in the living room and i hear lanna saying to tuck, our cat
"wow, tuck these are DELICIOUS"
she has quite the imagination so i just listen for a while. i then hear
"they are crunchie, and you are not supposed to eat these"...
ok, now obviously that was my que to see what exactly she was eating.
cat food.
his cat food.
he is starring at her like "holy crap. is she EVER going to give me a bite?!"
me: lanna, that is tucks food, we don't eat his food.
lanna: why not? (the most popular question by her to date)
me: becasue you will have cat breath. do you want to have cat breath?
lanna: yes.
me: really? do you really want to smell like tuck?
lanna: yes. tuck smells sooooo good.
when i was little i used to eat cat food. i lived with my grandma and the neighbor had a big black cat named mouser. she also had a really cool doll house. one day i took the little refrigerator that was in the doll house and used that as my "lemony crunchies" holder. you could jam pack the fridge and the freezer part full, and i did. lanna does not have a dollhouse, but we might have to start doing pocket-checks on the hour.
easter warranted a new dress.
this is not just any dress, in a small way, this is our 'first' dress.
she has had a few little dresses here and there, more of the casual sort. but this is really the first dress that we have bought specifically for a holiday. lanna tried it on yesterday and said "ooooh, i look just like a beautiful princess in yellow!"
daffodils. they are my most favorite flower of all.
i love that march is my birthday month, and i love daffodils.
i have a baby daffodil blooming in my yard, and with that...spring is on the way!
welcome daffodils.welcome.
please participate in daffodil days if you can.
these are some great little vintage owls that i just recently called mine. they turned out just adorable!
i will be adding these to my site.
oh.
my
god.
i ordered some 'sweet p' soap from sweetpetula on friday and to my delight, it was waiting for me when i arrived home tonight. i know that i had some listing to do, never mind dinner and paying attention to lanna. after dinner and a few family time minutes i found myself being drawn to this extremely wonderfully fragrant soap that was on the table. i am now sitting on the couch, with the laptop, and i managed to list one single pair until...i can't take it anymore! i have to have that soap! i grabed the soap and off the table and to the bath i ran. ooooooooooooooooooooh.
it's better than it sounds. i sat there for a few minutes "do i unwrap this? it feels partially illegal to unwrap such beauty. this this is the soap that you buy and never touch because it is so pretty." oooh, but i am glad i did. this experience, and that is exactly what this was...'an experience' was like eating your favorite desert in the bathtub. mothers day is coming up, and mom will be really mad if she does not have this soap. it's important. get it.
belua makes really cool sock monsters.
elista makes great prints, and unique toys. she has a fun blog too.
the black apple makes fantastic prints and paper goods
finny's funny fleese makes HILARIOUSLY awesome hats for kids.
and of course, sweetpetula.
these are great sites for gift idea's. or for me. :)
well, my kind of crack.
THE BEAD SHOW.
holy cow! i had no idea there was such a heaven. i now know what nathan goes through at a comic convention. shortness of breath, numb limbs, slight pain in the chest cavity and if you are lucky...a little bit of pee.
i want more. they are a local wholesale shop in downtown spokane. i have yet to go there, but they put on a show as well as tour every spring/summer. today was the kick off of the 'rings and things' bead tour. breathtaking. march 2nd was the first show of the year and they will hit seattle on june 6th. they will end their tour in june and will be hosting another show in spokane october 12. i am soooo there. i just might not sleep until then. imagine how much stuff i can get done! it was truly fantastic. i am yet to find the ear hooks that i need but will keep searching. and in the mean time i will continue to pay close to 1 million dollars for them.
goooooo team bead show!!
a giant orange truck pulled up along side of the road this morning. what is this? is this an electricity truck? did comcast turn orange? is it a flashy ice cream truck? no. the ladder was raised up, and branches of the neighbors tree started to fall. lanna was startled by the initial sound. she high tailed it to the window and there she sat glued for 30mn. "what are they doing to that tree? "HEY put that tree back there! let me out on the deck so i can tell them to leave that tree alone!", she says. she was visibly sad. it seemed to be that this was her first understanding of a sort-of "death". she was even more irritated when it was shoved into the chipper. with butt crack hanging out, she stuck it out till the end. you were not our tree, and we probably wont miss you, but alas...you had a nice life mr. tree. may you make wonderful stationary. 
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