I-T-C-H-Y Rhymes With

The way I'm feeling right now. Yesterday afternoon Spencer and I went to a birthday barbecue for some friends of her PGPs. We had a very nice time celebrating being 85 years young and there was some delicious homemade mac-n-cheese! Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes. A lot of them.

Mosquitoes love me. LOVE me. When we lived in Minnesota, where the mosquito is jokingly referred to as the state bird, I got over 100 mosquito bites on one knee (plus countless more elsewhere) when I was at Girl Scout Camp. A girl had gotten hot during the night and opened our tent, accidentally opening the protective netting as well. It was not a pretty picture. I had to go the infirmary doctor who quickly called my mom and took me to the real doctor. I can't describe the itching, it was the worst, most unquenchable itch that I've ever experienced. I was swollen and red all over, even thinking about it makes me itch.

This isn't quite as bad, but I currently have about 30 bites on my arms and legs. AND I sprayed with bug spray twice! I am SO itchy and witchy right now. The only good thing is that mosquitoes don't seem to like Spencer, she didn't get one bite. Which is great, because I would much rather be the itchy one. It's taking all of my self control to stop myself from clawing off my skin. I'm going to have to sleep in long sleeves and pants tonight- who knows what I'm capable of during my sleep!

I just took a healthy dose of benadryl, so hopefully that will render me comatose pretty soon. Does anyone have any good remedies for mosquito bites? I'm willing to try anything. Anything, seriously!

Bye My Friend

My computer has gone to Electronic Heaven. It's with the Geek Squad now, as they recover all of my pictures and documents. Luckily, they said I won't have lost anything stored on my hard drive. My dad has graciously donated me his laptop (he has a desktop too) until I can buy a new computer. My math class is online, so I have to have a computer. But I have no pictures on this thing and it's too big for my hands. I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I feel like I've lost my friend! I'm such a drama queen.


Yesterday I had class from 8 am to 4:30pm, so I'm pretty wiped out. Hopefully I'll get used to this thing and be in a better mood tomorrow :)

First Day is OVER

Okay, I promised a report, but I just got home a few minutes ago (9:30pm) and I'm exhausted. I'll leave you with these tidbits until I can tell you more about how it was.

• I was the 5th oldest person in the class
• The overwhelming majority of the class was born in 1990
• There were 31 females and 4 males
• Of those 31 females, 6 had things written on their butts
• One of our assignments is to interview our grandparents. I don't have any grandparents that are still alive.
• One of the girls in the class is friends with my 17 year old brother.
• The professor mentioned Watergate, confused glances all around me

But it was good to get my brain working again and I really liked the guy teaching the class. I think I'm going to learn a lot, if I can just get over this being really old complex I've seemed to develop. haha! It was so nice to see Spencer when I got home. She was still awake and now she's asleep in my arms. Happy.

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Showers

I have probably been to 20+ wedding showers, and somehow this is the only picture I can find of me at one. This was at my friend's wedding shower last year, we were playing Gift Bingo- which I won!

I've hosted three wedding showers, but those were both before I had a digital camera and the prints are no where to be found. My favorite one was probably the Lingerie Shower I had for my bestie, Sara. She's the pastor's daughter, so it was all the more enjoyable seeing her squirm as she held up these little skimpy outfits in front of family and friends!


I know that when you have your own shower you're supposed to defer to the host, but after having been to so many showers, I already know what I DO and DON'T want. (If I ever get married, that is!)

DO WANT

• A Photographer! So many times one person gets stuck taking all the pictures and doesn't get to enjoy herself or there are no good pictures. A photographer who has no other obligation than to take good photographs would be such a great thing.

DON'T WANT

• A Stripper! No, no, no strippers for me.
• It to be at my house. After having birthday parties at my residence, it's just too stressful. I want to go to an alternate location.
  
• Any embarrassing stories about me.
• Lingerie. That would be too embarrassing in front of Spencer, I don't care how old she would be!
  

I'm not too picky, I'll leave the micro details to the host :)

Back to School

Tomorrow is my first day of school! It's been three years since I've had a "first day of school" and the old butterflies returned just like they did before. Today I went and bought my books and some supplies, walking around amongst the 18 year olds, I felt like a senior citizen.

My mom is going to come to my house to watch Spencer so that she doesn't feel too disrupted. For the past few days Spencer has been having some attachment issues, I don't know if she can sense the upcoming changes that are about to happen or if it's just a coincidence. My psych class is three hours long, so lets hope my attention span can hold up like it used to, haha!

Tomorrow I want to spend as much quality time with Spencer as possible. I know that three hours isn't a long time to be away from her, but every time I think about it, it makes me sad. What can I say, I'm a big baby where Spencer is concerned!

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow, wish me luck, I need it :)

Blog Hop- What Makes Me Laugh

The topic of this week's Blog Hop is things that make you (me) laugh. Since I spend 99.9% of my time with Spencer, she is my main source of humor! This past week she started saying "No Way!" and it still cracks me up. I have no idea where she got it from, because that's not something I say or have ever said to her, but somehow it seeped into her ever absorbing brain. What else makes me laugh?"

This face makes me laugh every day.

And so does this face.

This video of a baby genius doing the Smarty Pants Dance makes me laugh every time I see it!

Virginia is For Lovers

We're back! It was a LONG car ride, L-O-N-G. We left this morning at about 9am and we pulled in the driveway at 6pm. Right after we left we stopped at McDonalds to get some breakfast. We walked in the door, Spencer was in my arms, and she threw up ALL over me. Curdled strawberry yogurt- everywhere. We cleaned up as best we could, but I smelled like sour yogurt for almost 9 hours in the car.
I have a gazillion more pictures from our trip, but these are some my favorite ones. We're both pretty exhausted and a little sad to not be with the GPGPs. It's so nice to be surrounded with family, so tonight is a little lonely. But this upcoming is the first week of my classes! (My first one is Thursday) I'm super excited and ready to get back into school mode. And of course I can't wait to go school supply shopping- there's not much that beats buying new pens, notebooks, highlighters, and other "must haves!"

That's Leah, Gran's 8 week old puppy. She was trying to pull over Spencer's shorts.

Spence in her mini-chair. It makes her look like a giant!

A Sky in Love

We had a big storm here yesterday in the Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina. I was outside taking pictures of the billowing storm clouds when I saw this. It just took my breath away- this is the kind of thing you usually find on flickr, something that just doesn't happen in real life! A perfect heart had formed in a matter of seconds. I took as many pictures as possible, but just as soon as it had formed, it quickly disappeared. No one else saw it but me, and I like to think of it as a good omen of love and lovely things to come.

Show Us Your Life - My Baby Shower

This week on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life, the topic is baby showers. My baby shower was given to me by my best friend Sara. She did such an amazing job, especially when it came all the weird things I wanted and didn't want (Like the Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets I had to have!) Unfortunately, I was on my death bed with a 102 degree fever and I felt a little better than I expect to feel right before I die!

Even though I was so sick, it was still wonderful, the best day of pregnancy. It was the only time my mom was nice to me for more than 50% of the day and the only day I didn't cry- not even once! It was what I had been waiting for - a day to celebrate the upcoming arrival of my precious little girl rather than hiding away in my parent's house.

This was over two years ago, so making onesies at a baby shower was still a novel idea! Everyone made Spencer a onesie and they were all so cute.





Didn't my friends do a great job? I still have all the little outfits, they meant so much to me!

Sara made the cupcakes! I was so impressed, especially since she had so much to do to get ready. They were delicious, funfetti cupcakes- my absolute favorite.

Spencer still has that Care Bear!





I think I smiled more that day than I had in the previous 8 months combined.

That's me opening up my presents. (That's my mom on the right)
I never would have guessed that day that I'd be having Spencer in less than two weeks! During my pregnancy, Sara was my ROCK, without her, I'd have been lost. I am so lucky to have had such an amazing friend. Even now, two years later, I'm still filled with gratitude for all she did for me.

**More Show You How I Live Posts**

Favorite Vacation Spot
I Have a Child. The Jig is Up.
Here Comes the Maid Of Honor

Children of the Corn

Today, I picked corn off the stalk and then I husked it! I must have done about 40, I would have done more, but two huge worms fell on me, which rendered me unproductive. I screamed VERY loudly, which scared Spencer and she ran over to give me "love" and make sure everything was okay. Once she realized I was fine, she went about trying to mimic my shrieking cry of terror, which was only funny the first couple of times she did it, ha!
When I was taking the corn off the stalk, I made some errors, yep, definitely errors! I accidentally broke the stalk in half when I was trying to yank off an ear of corn. I got so flustered with this huge stalk falling on top of me (since it could no longer stand up) while I was still trying to free my piece of corn, that I pulled really hard and out came the entire stalk! Like out from the ground, roots exposed. It was not a good moment.


Spencer is taking her nap right now, well she's about to to, and then I'm going to pick some peaches and raspberries for the crisp I'm making for dessert tonight. When I say pick, I literally mean pick! I get the raspberries off the vine and shake the peach tree so the ripe ones fall to the ground. (It's best to cover your head when doing this!) I made it last night and it came out pretty good, but I was missing a few ingredients so I had to improvise a little. We're having "company" tonight, so the grown ups are going to the store to get what I need, haha! Did you know that if you don't have brown sugar all you have to do is mix 2 tablespoons of molasses with one cup of regular sugar and you get brown sugar? Well, you can!

Peaches from the peach tree. Whenever I'm down there trying to find the ripest ones, I always sing to myself "millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for free."

I totally feel like a fish out of water here, but we're having a great time. It's fun to do these things that I would never ordinarily do- but being Katie-Homemaker is much more enjoyable when you know that it's only temporary! Although I do think it's good practice for the day when I actually have to prepare real meals. (Oh Scary Day!) Tomorrow I'll post the corn husking (shucking?) pictures, these are from yesterday.

She loves to swing, everyday I hear "Fwing!"

The best fried chicken EVER! KFC is nothing compared to this.

It's so delicious and a perfect shade of golden brown.

It's also a heart attack on a stick! Quickly followed by quadruple bypass and lifetime low sodium diet, haha!

P.S. You have listen to the Peaches song, or least read the lyrics! It will make you laugh when you think of me (or when I'm remembering this experience) shaking a peach tree and gathering the bounty in my basket.

Raspberry Freezer Jam

Even for someone as kitchen-challenged as me, this recipe is pretty easy and makes the most scrumptious jam!

Ingredients

• 2 Cups of mashed raspberries (mashed VERY well)
• 4 cups of sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 packet of pectin (1 3/4 oz) Sur-Gel and Easy-Gel are the same thing

Directions

1. Mash up the raspberries
2. Mix the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice together. Make sure it's well blended and then let stand for 10 minutes. (Best to mix using a wooden spoon)
3. While the raspberries are standing, put the pectin and water in a large kettle. Bring to a hard boil for one minute, stirring constantly. (A hard boil can't be stirred down)
4. Add the raspberry/sugar/lemon juice mixture to the pectin and water. Stir constantly.
5. Once it reaches a rolling boil, start timing- it's need to be at this hard boil for 3 minutes.
6. When it's done, take it off the heat and immediately pour it into your jars. The jars need to be completely dry AND HOT. It's best to put them in the oven on 300 degrees for about 10 minutes.
   
7. After all your jam is poured and canned, put the jars into the freezer.
   
8. After 12 hours you can enjoy your delicious raspberry jam!
   

Scenes from a North Carolina Mountain

Behind this face of an angel...


Is a girl who publicly, and proudly, revels in the ladylike joy of booger excavation.

Gran and Spencer.

Since we've been here, Spencer's decided that she is the Queen Bee- it's her way or the highway! Which of course has led to a few meltdowns (by me) and many temper tantrums (by her) and some cute pictures of sassiness.

If you look real close, there's a bee pollinating the flowers.




Some of the beautiful and delicious raspberries the GPGPs have growing in one of their four (4) gardens. Stay tuned for the mouth watering jam recipe!

Just one of the many trees that will yield the freshest fruit. This afternoon, when Spencer takes her nap, I will be working on my peach jam- which means I have to go and pick the peaches first- gasp. But there's something about it that I like, I feel like a pioneer gal!

The Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina

We are in the Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina. Yesterday was a long day, and last night was even longer. Spencer woke up in the middle of the night and was very scared because she didn't recognize where she was. I spent the next two hours trying to calm her down and get her back to sleep, but she was not having it.

She slept on my chest ALL night long (over 3o lbs of toddler) with her hand clutching mine. Whenever I tried to gently scoot her to my side, she woke up screaming again. My body hurts, my eyes are puffy, and my head feels like it weighs a ton. I'm hoping tonight is better, I don't think either of us can take a repeat performance.

I promise to get some pictures up here soon!

The Inspiring Nie

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Stephanie and Christian Nielson's plane crash. Every day this week I've anxiously awaited all of Nie's blog posts, each one quietly reminding me of how grateful I am for everything in my life.

In the past six months, since she's resumed blogging, her honesty and candor have been both refreshing and heart breaking. She hasn't shied away from telling the world how hard this past year has been, how difficult it was when her kids wouldn't look at her or how she felt unneeded as the world went on around her while she sat on the couch and cried.

For someone who loved being a wife and mother so much, that must have seemed like the cruelest form of irony, a horrible twist of fate. But it was her love for her family that made her keep going, made her keep pushing to heal faster- just so she could be their mother again. It's the essence of a love story, the strength and passion with which a mother loves her children- it can move mountains. And to celebrate their survival, she's literally going to climb a mountain.

Today, I feel inspired.

Calling All Virginia Bloggers

For a long time I've been attempting to find some Virginia bloggers, as in those of you who are from and/or reside in the Commonwealth. I know there must be some out there, but up until today, I only knew of one other one. (Now I know two!) So if you're reading this and you're from Virginia, let me know!

Almost every blog I read seems to acknowledge their local bloggy friends and I'm jealous. I think it would be great to find some local bloggers, so this here is my attempt. Leave a comment or write me an email so I can create a list of all the bloggers in this area. Don't be shy, even if you don't have one, but you're from around here and you enjoy reading them, I want to hear from you, too. The more the merrier!