This weekend I’m going to the Casual Blogger Conference.  I guess if any type of blogging defines me ‘casual’ is it right?  Lately I blog once a week on a good week and twice a month usually.  I won tickets (I’m too cheap to pay for tickets even) to attend.  I’m actually VERY excited. There are all sorts of classes on fun things that I want to learn about and socials with other bloggers (many of whom I already know) and I got a hotel with some friends for Friday night.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to have some ‘me’ time and spend time with friends and use my brain for something besides figuring out how many loads of laundry I do a week just to ’stay on top of it’.  (Answer?  Minimum of 19 depending on how many times a day how many people decide to pee their pants.)  I get to dress up and wear make up and jewelery and only worry about myself.  I’m calling it a ‘business trip’.  Then I giggle to myself.  Really it’s not- it’s a vacation where I get to pretend to be a grown up..  Shh.. don’t tell anyone.

I felt very productive- even though my house looks completely neglected.

I made this cake:

Then I delivered it with the assistance of Megan (and even though I wasn’t really wanting to bring her with me it turned out she was a great assistant!)

I coached my last soccer game of the season (yay!)  I don’t have a picture of that though.

I started painting my bathroom. I hung wallpaper and did the first coat where the wallpaper wasn’t.  (Is it wallpaper or wall paper?)


What? It doesn’t look painted? These are the before pictures. I’ll paint the after pictures shortly.

I also cut Ashley’s hair.

Before:

After:

Are you noticing that Ashley can’t get her picture taken by herself? Yeah- me too. Good thing she was an only child for almost 4 years huh- those might be the only pictures she’s ever in by herself.

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

How my kids misbehave.

Megan.

Writes her full name (complete with a heart over the “i” in our last name and a signature flower at the bottom) about 4 inches high across the front of the refrigerator in SHARPIE. Denies it until I inform her that I’m not asking if she did it (that’s pretty obvious) I’m asking what demon possessed her into thinking it was a good idea!

Annika.

Gets in trouble for hitting her sister.  Has to do penance by emptying the dishwasher.  (It helps Cori feel better to see Annika doing chores- or at least we pretend that it does).  Empties the dishwasher without too much complaint.   Goes out to play. I go into the kitchen to refill the dishwasher about 2 hours later.  About half way through filling the dishwasher I realize that the dishes are suspiciously clean.  Did she really put the clean dishes from the dishwasher back into the sink?

One is evil.

The other is an evil genius.

Good thing I’m on to them.

I made this for a Sunday afternoon snack- it was a huge hit.

Ingredients

• 3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
• 3 tomatillos, husked and chopped
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 a bunch of chopped cilantro
• garlic to taste
• taco seasoning to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

mix all ingredients together and serve with chips.

So I’ve not said much because there hasn’t been a ton to say. Megan’s teacher did mention right before we went off track for the month that she was ‘paying attention in class better and was following directions after hearing them once rather then needing to be constantly redirected.’ That’s good right?  I didn’t really feel like I was seeing much of a difference at home though so while I was greatly encouraged by her teacher’s remarks I was still skeptical.

We had a solid month of dye free eating and then last weekend I came home (after being gone all day) to Pissy Megan.   I asked Steve what her problem was and he said he didn’t know.  She’d just woken up from a nap (after stomping off to her room and pouting about some offense) so she shouldn’t be tired.  But she was still fuming.  We went to a neighbor’s for dinner and she was either crying or yelling or fighting the entire time we were there. It finally occurred to me to ask what she’d had for soccer snack.  They’d had Twinkies (not a great choice if you ask me but whatever).  I figured Twinkies at least had yellow dye in it- but yellow isn’t supposed to have that huge of an effect on mood.  I got home and checked online- sure enough Red 40.

By the next afternoon Mellow Megan was back.  This solidified to us that it was making a difference to keep doing what we’re doing.  I made it official by sending a letter to her teacher asking her not to feed Megan anything at school without my permission first except for fresh fruits or vegetables.

I have to wonder though if the minute amount of dye that is in a food (it’s usually the last ingredient) can effect her that badly- what are all those other chemicals that we eat daily doing to us?  It’s enough to make me want to go go completely organic, non preservative, non artificial flavoring free.  Then I realize that’s crazy talk and that I need to focus on one thing at a time.  But it does push me farther that direction.