I'M FINISHED!!!

hallelujah! i'm FINALLY finished with eva's bumper. i only started it before she was born! but i'm so excited and relieved to finally have it done. I'm just hoping she's nice to it and doesn't destroy it like she tends to do with everything else.

Lessons of motherhood

I've learned a few lessons recently on motherhood and thought i'd share:

Lesson #1: Encouraging your child to eat a wide variety of foods can backfire!(happily eating peaches)

(happily eating sticks and twigs)

Lesson #2: feeding your child a nutritious avocado: good. feeding your exhausted child a nutritious avocado: BAD.

Lesson #3: encouraging your child to pull up on things can ALSO backfire:

(whopping lump above her eye. the result of pulling the dining room chair on top of herself)

Lesson #4: quickly handing ANYTHING to you child so you can finish dinner can most DEFINITELY backfire.

Lesson #5: (something i'm sure all mothers have learned long ago) they just get cuter and cuter all the time!!!

Tag

i sure am hoping that amy doesn't know several tara's or i'm going to feel like a big 'ol dork for thinking this tag was directed toward me!! but thanks amy if you did mean me. :)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? i was still in primary!! which means i probably followed my siblings around incessantly bugging them all to death and refused to cut my bangs and had a crush on kermit the frog.

2. What was I doing 5 years ago? i was a sophomore in high school. i had moved to colorado and was about to move to missouri. umm....??? i don't remember a whole lot from high school, i tried to block it out i think!!

3. What was I doing 5 months ago?

5 months ago tomorrow it was my birthday!! so i would have been partying (of course) trying to get jared recovered from his surgery and trying to figure out how to be a good mom.

4. 5 Things on my To-Do List:
1- read all the newberry and newberry honor books (currently on 21 of 366)
2- FINALLY finish eva's bumper!!
3- organize every bin/box/drawer in the house
4- wash the windows
5- paint my toes a new color

5. 5 Snacks I Enjoy..
1- pudding with cool whip. i eat the pudding so i have a reason to eat cool-whip.
2- cucumbers. with salt. occasionally dipped in ranch
3- chilled grapes
4- chocolate milk
5- peanut butter and jelly sandwich, heavy on the jelly!

6. 5 things I would do if I became a Billionaire...
1- tithing is a given
2- i'd buy a nice big plot of land and build my dream house with a huge kitchen, bathroom and garden
3- go sky diving
4- go to culinary school
5- travel

7. 5 Bad Habits...
1- i take 1 hour to get ready. every single day. even saturday.
2- i like to cook but i hate to clean up after myself. and i'm a very messy cook so that complicates the matter.
3- i forget what i'm doing and start doing something else so the bed is typically 1/2 made, dishes 1/2 washed, eva 1/2 dressed etc.
4- i sit on the bathroom counter to do my makeup which leaves no room for anyone else to get ready
5- i bite my nails/cuticles for no reason at all. nervous, bored, tired...

8. 5 Places I have lived...
1- madison, alabama
2- arvada, colorado
3- hazelwood, missouri
4- provo, utah
5- gilbert, arizona

9. 5 Jobs I've Had...
1- mcdonalds
2- varsity cleaning crew
3- always simply stitched (embroidery and screen printing)
4- byu telefund
5- nuskin

10. 5 People I Tag..
1- anyone
2- who
3-reads
4- this
5- blog

tofu shirataki noodles

a few weeks ago megan introduced me to the hungry girl (www.hungry-girl.com). i quickly became obsessed and bought the book at costco. jared and i tried a few recipe's and LOVED them. i was feeling pretty good about this book so i decided to venture out on a limb and try a recipe from her section using tofu shirataki noodles (made with tofu and yam flour). mainly because there was a recipe for fettucine alfredo for one, yes ONE point! so i make jared drive me to the health foods store to buy these noodles.

we get these home and i am purely ecstatic about trying them. the entire bag is like 80 calories! i'm imagining eating noodles 24/7 and not gaining an ounce! anyway, they come floating in water but i was warned, so i'm not too put off by this. i cut open the bag and it smells like fish. jared wanders over and says he's going to go grill up the leftover steak as an "accompaniment" to my fettucine (aka: he thinks its going to be a FLOP). i prepare the noodles as directed, rinsing and drying thoroughly. while jared isn't looking i taste one to make sure he'll still speak to me after dinner. there isn't any taste at all! but they're kinda chewy. hmm...maybe it'll go away after i microwave it. so i finish making the sauce throw it all together and we sit down to eat. after a few wary pokes we taste it together....Hmm...it's pretty good, but still REALLY chewy. all in all we decided they really weren't bad....but jared kindly suggested i find out how many points it would be with regular noodles. :) :)

(The finished alfredo)

(Jared's steak)