I am seriously considering buying one of these.

After having a child and reaching my mid thirties, regular swimsuits are so unflattering on me. I mean really, are swimsuits flattering on anyone over a size 8? If they are, I have yet to find one that hides my *ahem* lower half. I just don't think the world needs to see all my flab.

I currently have a 2 piece tankini that has a little skirt on the bottom, but it really doesn't cover much. And the top is a halter style and last year I had to keep adjusting it cause Lucy would pull on my top and I was constantly worried I was going to have a wardrobe malfunction.

I like the look of these suits more than others I've seen but they are a little pricey. But then again, you'd pay that for a suit with a fraction of the material.

I want to take Lucy to the pool and water park this summer and I think I'd feel more comfortable in something like this that gives me a little more coverage.

So what do you think? Should I go for it?

What we've been doing.

Today's weather was unbelievable. February was brutally cold. I heard on the radio the other day that this past February was the 19th coldest on record. The average temp for the month was in the twenties. I have never been so ready for winter to be over!

Today was the first real taste of Spring that we've had. It was beautiful outside and almost warm! I love this time of year when the weather starts to warm up but the trees and grasses are not yet blooming. I have horrible spring time allergies and as soon as things start to really bloom, I'm in trouble and the windows immediatly have to stay closed and the AC comes on if needed.

Here are a few pictures of what's been going on in our house over the last couple days.

On Saturday we went to the park to play for a while and take advantage of the semi-warm temperatures. It was in the 50's that day but still a little brisk.

Lucy loves going down the "big" slide with Daddy.

This morning, Lucy and I went Krogering...can't you tell from all the stickers on her shirt!

Tonight, Lucy and Daddy had a great time playing under the "tent" that Dan made. Lucy had the best time "hiding" from us. She giggled and giggled under that quilt. She's so funny!

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'm attending the Hearts at Home conference. I'm meeting up with my 3 college roommates for a girls weekend. It's going to be a blast! I can't wait! I have to remember to take my camera so I can take lots of pictures!

another good one

A few weeks ago, I shared a great recipe for homemade pizza. It's been my go-to recipe for years and even though I love it, it is a bit labor intensive. So, I'm always on the look out for a simpler recipe to use on the weeks when I don't feel like spending so much time in the kitchen. And, I found it!

I was browsing through some of my favorite food blogs last week and a fellow blogger posted this recipe. The picture looked so good that I couldn't wait to try it.

I have to say I was thrilled with the results. It was so easy and it tasted good too! I will definetly be making this one again. The only down side is if you have a larger size family, you'd need to make at least 2 batches of dough (and invest in a few more pans). This made two, 8 inch round pizzas, but between Dan, Lucy and I, we ate one and a half pizzas.

In the original recipe, it only calls for 3T of sauce. That seemed way to skimpy for me so I used alot more. I made my own sauce for this as well and then I put the rest in the freezer. I think I'll have enough sauce left that I won't have to make it next time. I think too, that the next time I make it, I'll try adding a little whole wheat white flour to it.

This turned out to be a great Friday night pizza recipe. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

All I want is a package of 4x6 notecards. Is that too much to ask for?? Have you bought notecards recently? Well, I have and they do NOT make them the way they used to. Notecards used to be made of a heavier paper that was actually sturdy. I picked up a new package at Walmart last week. They were the Oxford brand but when I opened them up and felt them I was so disgusted. They were soooooo flimsy, not much thicker than construction paper.

The last package I bought came from the dollar store and they were much nicer than the Oxford brand. So I went back to the dollar store tonight, bought a new package, got home and it's the same thing. Flimsy! This time I bought the Mead brand. I don't remember what I got the last time, but apparently they don't sell them anymore as this was all I could find at the dollar store

You might be wondering why I do desparately want 4x6 notecards. I use them for my recipes. I would much rather write down new recipes on regular notecards rather than the fancy ones made for recipes. I like that I have lots of room to write and they're cheap enough so if I mess up and want to start over I don't feel guilty for wasting them. I'm just extremely frustrated that I can't find what I am looking for. So, if you know a place I can stock up on some heavy duty notecards, let me know!

What a week!

This has been a crazy week. It started out very well but Monday night after a busy day of me running errands and making freezer meals and baking...it hit. The flu. It was around 5pm and I was trying to get a quick supper on the table and I was baking cookies in hopes to put them in the freezer to then take to my friend who had just recently had a baby. I wasn't feeling very hungry but ate a few bites of supper, finished up the cookies, cleaned up all the mess and was watching Lucy while Dan went back to work for a little while. By 7pm I called Dan downstairs and told him I would need him put Lucy to bed because I wasn't feeling very good. And by 7:30, I knew that I was in for it. I didn't know yet if it was the flu, but I knew I was getting sick. Later that evening it was official. It all came on so fast. Thankfully, it didn't last long and by the middle of the night the worst was over and I was just left with chills and feeling achey.

I knew I couldn't get out of bed and take care of Lucy so Dan had a "take your daughter to work day" and he was in charge of mom and dad duty. He did a great job and Lucy had a good time. Luckily, he was still able to get some work done so it wasn't a total lost day for him. By Tuesday evening I was feeling much better although I still did not have much of an appetite.

I ended up throwing out about 60-70 freshly baked chocolate chips cookies though. Since I was baking them right before I felt sick, I was too afraid to keep them. It's not like I was licking my fingers and sticking them in the bowl but... I figure when in doubt...throw them out.
I was for sure not going to give them to my friend and even though we could have probably eaten them and been ok. I threw them out as a precautionary measure.

On Thursday Lucy had an appt. with Dr. Gibson. She's an allergy doctor here in town. We found out that Lucy probably does have asthma. Since it's hard to diagnos in small children -it's not officially tested for till they're a bit older. But, seeing as I had allergies and asthma growing up, she's likely to as well. They sent us home with an inhaler to use every day and hopefully that will help her to breathe little better.

Since our appt. was so early in the morning, I thought afterwards we'd go to the mall and Lucy could run and play for a while. Well...we didn't stay long. Lucy was being such a big bully to this little baby who wasn't even walking yet. After warning her once, she did it again and so I firmly puller her aside and told her play time was over.
Yesterday was quite a day. She was a stinker all day long. I was looking forward to bedtime.

So, today I'm baking new cookies to replace all the ones I had to throw out. Monday night's cookies were a different recipe and they were ok, but I always go back to the basic Nestle Tollhouse recipe on the back of the bag. I just like it better. So today that's what I'm making. But, I'm being a little sneaky. I swapped out 1/2 of the all purpose flour with whole wheat white flour. You'd never know. They are still as good as they always are. Now, they're not exaclty a healthy cookie, but they have a little more nutritional value than they did before.

Have you tried baking with whole wheat white flour? I love it. It has all the same nutritional value as regular wheat flour, but it's finer in texture and lighter in color. I use it in just about everything anymore. In baked goods I usually use up to 50% whole wheat white flour. There are a few things that I do 100%, but usually most baked goods need some AP flour in order to come out right. But I've found that swapping 50% usually turns out with great results.

Next time you bake cookies try using some of this and just see if your family even notices. I bet they won't!

Will you be my friend? Confirm or Ignore

Let's see, how old am I again?? I'm... *ahem* 34.

Gosh, seeing that number...I really don't feel 34. And somedays I still feel like a teenager thanks to Facebook.

Ahhh, remember the teenage years? Such drama.

Now, I LOVE Facebook. I pink puffy heart Facebook. But last week I was....*hanging head* .... unfriended.

I know. You're shocked right? Why would anyone unfriend me? I'm a fun girl! I try to be polite and considerate on Facebook. I'm not sure why this happened. The bad thing is, I can't very well come out and ask this person why she didn't think I was friend worthy anymore. Well, I guess I could but I'm really not a confrontational kinda girl. Actually, confrontation makes me sick to my stomach. I don't handle it well. I get all sweaty and shakey. It's not pretty.

Now this person who unfriended me isn't someone I'm close to. She's someone I used to know along time ago and I recently found her on FB and added her as a friend. We chatted for awhile and swapped stories of where we've been the last 20 years. She and I are very different in almost every aspect of life. So, it's really not a huge deal that this happened, but I did get my feelings hurt. My feelings were hurt especially because I seem to be the only one who was unfriended. (we had a handful of mutual friends)

I suppose life will go on. I chuckled a bit about it as well because it just reminded me of being in High School. I really thought once I graduated I wouldn't have to worry about things like this anymore. And for sure it's not something I ever thought I'd worry about in my 30's. So I guess I can thank FB for making me feel young again! :)

What about you? Have you been unfriended on FB?

Valentine's Week

Here are some of the fun things we did last week to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Lucy is making a tissure paper valentine heart.

She really liked sticking the paper on the glue!

Lucy and I made heart shaped sugar cookies. She really did a pretty good job of rolling the dough.

notice we're both still in our pajamas!

We baked the cookies earlier in the week and then on Friday Lucy's friend came over to play and I let them decorate some cookies.

Speading on the icing...

Let me taste this...

Mmmm, that's pretty good, let me stick my fingers in it!

The girls were so cute decorating their cookies. Lucy was dipping her fingers in the icing and her friend L. was licking the plastic utensil instead of spreading in on the cookie. They both loved putting the "pinkles" on the cookies.

We had a fun week...now what to do for St. Patrick's Day???