Thank Goodness It's Friday

Here's how it works:  

**  The hostesses of Friday Follow are One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades.  

**  Go to one of their sites and add your blog to the McLinky list.

**  Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. 

**  Follow as many blogs as you'd like.

**  Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow.

**  Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

**  The Blog Hop is the same at each of our three hosts blogs so you do not have to add your blog at each site. 

 

I found some really cool blogs last week, during my quasi-attempt, and I hope to find even more this week!  To get to know me a little bit better, here a a few links about "getting to know me" better. 

In the Beginning

My Daughter

Forget Me Not

Single Mom Status

To Spend or Not to Spend?

This week's topic on Kelly's Korner Show Us How You Live is money saving tips.  Since I've done a few posts on how and why I save money, I've combined the best advice I have from some of them.  My favorite one is how to indulge in retail therapy while "saving" money at the same time.

Whenever I need a boost in spirits, I indulge in retail therapy. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but this is why I have had to make some rules for myself regarding spending.

Katie's 7 Rules of Retail Therapy Spending

1. If I buy something, I must sell something. They don't have to be the same value, but if I buy something I don't need, then I sell something on eBay that I no longer want. That way there is still money coming in and not just money going out.
   
2. I give myself a price limit before indulging. The price can vary, depending on my financial situation and the reason why I'm feeling I need retail therapy. Ex. A big fight with friends or family may have a $50 limit, whereas a difficult day with Spencer would probably have a $15 limit.
   
3. There is also a monthly limit that I give myself. If I spent $15 every difficult day with Spencer, that would roughly be about $300 a month! By setting a monthly limit, I have to decide what warrants retail therapy and warrants a nap and some Hershey's kisses. This month had a $75 limit, some months have more, others have less.
4. Retail therapy spending, (RTS) always comes from my PayPal account. I take the allotted amount out at the beginning of each month and put it into my regular account. I must always have at least $300 dollars in PP, I never let myself go under that amount, at least in terms of RTS. If I only have $350 in there at the beginning of the month, then I can only take $50 to spend.
   
5. If I don't spend the full designated amount in that month, I put it back into PayPal. Some months are more difficult than others, and I like to have a little cushion for freedom, just in case.
6. Know when to say NO. If my first thought is "I don't know if that's worth the money" then it isn't. I usually prefer to spend smaller amounts on many things than a large amount on one item.
7. RTS is only on me! Almost all of my money is spent on Spencer, so RTS only really works if it's something for me.

Another great way to help improve your financial situation is Swabucks!  It's a search engine that's powered by Google and Ask.com and it's the easiest thing to do- you get paid just to do your regular every day searches.  There are no strings attached and you can earn great prizes like Amazon gift cards, Paypal dollars, and a bunch of other nice things. I've been using it since the end of February and I've already received $65 in Amazon e-cards!  If you haven't registered yet, click on this button and get started!  It's the easiest money you'll ever earn.

Moving right along: another one of my best money tips comes from a past Show Us How You Live Post on our favorite charities.  You can read the full post here or just these highlights. I was trying to think of ways I could make the extra money so that I could sponsor a child from Compassion International and I hadn't come  up with anything promising that would consistently give me an extra $38 a month.

"While I was going through my email, my BlogHer weekly newsletter popped up into my inbox.  And that's when I had my "Ah, Ha" moment.

Up until yesterday there was only one BlogHer ad on here.  Awhile ago I had thought about adding a second one, but I realized I'd have to have to have three ads and I didn't want three adds, so I stuck with my one.  But more ads means more revenue and that's what I was looking for.  I did some quick calculations about how much more revenue my traffic would generate if I ran a few more ads and I found out that if I added those two, I would be able to afford sponsoring a child.  So that's what I did! set it up so that all revenue from my new ads will go directly into my Compassion account.  I am now the proud sponsor of a little girl named Ega!" 

Awhile ago someone asked me how I financially support Spencer, being that I'm a single parent.  Here was my answer:

One of the main reasons I'm able to support Spencer and myself is because we live in my Mema's old house. My parents were generous enough to let us live here which means that I don't have a mortgage or rent payment.  And I was fortunate that I got a lot of help from my parents when Spencer was first born. Other ways I earn money are on Ebay and Etsy. I also do some odd jobs, like photo sessions for people, pet sit, house sit, and do research work for a small newspaper. I'm lucky in that in my youth I used to have the Life of Riley and was able to accumulate a lot stuff (combined with the fact that I'm a pack rat, borderline hoarder) that was worth a fair amount of money.

After years and years of never getting rid of anything, I had a pretty large reserve of things to sell.  When I'm in a pinch I just sell of my belongings. I used to have multiple designer bags, plus some great Guccis that I picked up in at an outlet in Italy. Now I just have one nice bag- I sold them all, even my Guccis. Plus I had many ball gowns from Kappa formals, size 4 Lilly dresses, sunglasses, and an impressive collection of watches. Most of that is all gone now, I only have one pair of shades, two formal gowns (that I will never wear again, but still can't part with), and my red D&G watch that I bought at the same outlet in Italy. But don't worry, I'll never run out of things to sell, I haven't even touched my shoe or other jewelry collections. So all of that was able to give me quite a nice chunk of change, which has definitely come in handy.

I'd say that a lot of how I manage to stay fiscally afloat is due to spending sacrifices. Gone are the days of hair cuts and colors every 6 weeks, pedicures twice a month, sprees at Target and Sephora, hard back books, and going to the movie theater. I would never say that I do without, because there are certainly so many people out there that actually Do Without, but I do with a whole less than I once did. I now borrow books or buy them used, go to the thrift store, use a ton of coupons, paint my own toe nails and use hair color from a box, watch movies at someone else's house, eat Spencer's leftovers, and wear the same outfits over and over again.  Basically, I used to be a Someone Else Do It For Me and I'll Pay You type of person. Now, I'm mostly a Do It Myself or Maybe Not at All type of person.

But in all honesty, it's because of my parents that I can give Spencer this life. I would never have been able to do without them. In the beginning they paid for everything regarding Spencer, from diapers, to organic food, to BPA free bottles. We lived with them for a year and I had a roof over my head, free meals, and access to all the OnDemand movies I could watch. Now, I buy everything Spencer needs and pay most of our bills, but they still pay for her very expensive health insurance. Let's just say I've racked up a pretty impressive IOU with them!

So how do I support Spencer? Frugal living, selling my worldly possessions, Etsy and Ebay, odd jobs, wise spending choices, and a lot of help from my parents. 
 

The Joy of Eating

One day I hope to become a woman who actually feels The Joy of Cooking.  What I do have is The Joy of Eating, which gets me through the cooking part that's much less enjoyable than the eating part.  It's been my experience that when I cook, no matter what it is or how delicious it tastes, I just don't feel like eating it after it's made.  It's like my brain knows how much effort went into the process and it won't allow me to enjoy it. This all changed for me on Sunday afternoon- or what will always be remembered as The Day I Fell in Love With the Heavenly Inspired Carrot Cake.  I won't kid you, this cake takes a lot of work and it's probably not something that I would have ever undertaken alone. But now that I know it's power to transform and delight, I'm telling you to MAKE IT! And make it now, like pronto. 

Cake Ingredients:

*  2 cups all-purpose flour

*  2 teaspoons baking soda (buy new baking soda or used an unopened one, seriously)

*  2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

*  1/2 teaspoon salt

*  3 Large Eggs at room temperature

*  2 cups of granulated sugar

*  3/4 cup vegetable oil

*  3/4 cup of buttermilk

*  2 teaspoons vanilla extract (pure, not imitation)

*  2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)

*  1 cup crushed, drained pineapple 

*  3 and 1/2 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

*  1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

If you don't like some of the extra ingredients, ie., walnuts or coconut, you don't have to include them, but I can tell you that you won't notice that they're in the cake when you're eating it.

Directions for Cake:

1.  Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

2.  In a large separate bowl, add the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract- beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until it's smooth.

3.  Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and blend at a low speed.  (It's best to add 1/2 of the flour mixture and blend and then add the other half and blend.)

 

4.  Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, and pecans/walnuts.  (To "fold in" means you add the ingredients and gently "fold over" the batter onto the carrots, etc., and gently mix together.  You want the ingredients to be evenly mixed throughout the batter but you want the added ingredients to remain intact.)

5.  Pour the batter into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan.

6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  After that 30 minutes, loosely cover the pan with tin foil and continue baking for another 13 minutes.  Toothpick test to determine if it's done.

While the cake is baking it's time to start the next step that makes this carrot cake the best thing in the world- the buttermilk glaze.

Buttermilk Glaze Ingredients:

*  1 cup granulated sugar

*  1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

*  1/2 cup of butter or margarine 

*  1/2 cup buttermilk

*  1 tablespoon light colored corn syrup

*  1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  Mix the sugar, baking soda, butter, and corn syrup and bring it to a boil in a double boiler/Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir frequently

(Our makeshift double boiler)

2.  Boil for 4 minutes or until the mixture is a golden brown, stirring very often to constantly.

3.  Remove from heat.

4.  Stir in vanilla extract

5.  You should finish the glaze about the same time your cake comes out of the oven.  As soon as the cake comes out, evenly pour the glaze over the cake (use all of it).  Don't worry if it pools up, the cake will absorb the glaze.

6.  Set aside to cool completely in pan.  You should not even attempt to ice this cake until at least an hour after you've taken it out of the oven.

Icing Ingredients:

*  1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

*  1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened

*  1 (3 ox) package of cream cheese, softened (yes, this is correct- you want want a total of 11 ozs. of cream cheese.

*  1 lb (16 ozs.) of powdered sugar

* 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Icing Directions:

1.  Beat the butter and cream cheese at medium speed until very creamy

2.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar.

3.  Beat on high for about 20 seconds or until very smooth.  

4.  Ice your cake!

If you can wait, which is next to impossible to do, put in the refrigerator after you've iced it and let it get nice and cold.  And then the only thing left to do is sit back and savor each delicious bite!

The Post Where a Title Eludes Me

I feel like we've been so busy, but now that I'm trying to write about it, it doesn't seem so, well, busy. I'm just going to dive right in! On Saturday we met Spencer's MiMi at the airport to pick her up from a two week long business trip.  She missed Spencie so much that we've been staying with them these past few days.  Since we missed her birthday, as she was an out-of-towner, on Sunday we baked the most delicious, mouthwatering, make-you-want-to-weep, carrot cake.  It took almost all day to make and bake and ice that baby, but it was so worth every scrumptious, highly caloric bite!  I took many a picture of the baking and making process, but I don't have my camera doo-hickey that hooks up to my computer, so I can't download the pictures yet.

I finally joined the rest of mainstream America on Sunday night, as I watched New Moon for the first time. Yes, I'm about 5-6 months behind, but at least I can now say I'm like every other teeny bopper in the universe!  (No offense to those of you who aren't teeny boppers and love Twilight, etc.)

On Monday I got to sleep in and when I woke up breakfast was made for me as I watched Regis and Kelly... heavenly.  And then us gals went and got pedicures!  It was Spencer's first "pedi," but she loved every second of it.  (I also loved every second of it because it was my first one in over a year!) Spence just stood in the water for a minute and then got her toes painted, nothing else, so it wasn't a real pedi for her, but she was thrilled just the same. I took a bunch of pictures of that too, but for the aforementioned reason, I can't post them.  I did try and snap a few of Spencer's tootsies in the car, but it was difficult- here's the best with the least blur:

Spence is absolutely in love with her toes and she takes great joy in showing everybody.  After we had our girly afternoon I had to go to my sociology class.  We had a test and after it was over he let us leave early. (And no, this wasn't our final, out final is on the 10th, which I think is kinda stinky- a test and a final all in two weeks.)   So on my way back the PGP's house, it's about a 45 minute drive, there were some crazy storms that I had to drive through.  But because it was such a long drive, and I was traveling behind the storm, I got to see two separate rainbows!  They were miles apart and I tried to my best take pictures of them while I was driving.  They aren't the best, but you get the idea.

I like to think it was a double good omen!  And I'm so glad that I took these pictures, because you couldn't see them from the PGP's house.  So where am I now?  Tuesday.  Which was yesterday and I should be able to easily recall the events.  I didn't do much yesterday except go the store to buy some sticker books for Spencer, hang out and do a little studying, watch It's Complicated (the movie with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin), read a little, and watch GLEE, etc. I love, love, love, that show. It makes me miss high school, as I was a cheerleader and in the show choir, but it also brings back so many wonderful memories. And then I went to sleep at 11pm. Eleven P. M.  That is unheard of in my world.  

And now we are all caught up to today, whew!  Today the PGP's took Spencie to story time at the library while I snoozed and then woke up and watched the tube and did some studying.  When they got back we we went to the Farmer's Market only to find out that on Wednesdays it's from 3-7pm instead of from 8am-12pm like it is on Saturdays. So we will be heading back there later on this afternoon. Spencer is taking a nap right now, Praise The Lord!  She hasn't been napping since we've been here and she's not been all that pleasant to be around after 3pm.  I couldn't take another afternoon of it and I spent the last hour trying to coax her into dreamland.  

Tomorrow we are going home.  Which means this is my last night of having someone else cook dinner for me(us).  Sometimes it's nice to not always have to do everything by myself, ya know?  I need to make sure our homestead is still there and other various chores.  I have my Anatomy final on Saturday and that's going to be...special.  (not in the good way.)  How weird is this- even though our final is this Saturday, we still have two more labs and one more quiz left to do?  That's just C-RAZY!  

Okay, well I think that's all.  I'm going to try and get those pictures up here soon, along with the recipe for the-best-carrot-cake-recipe-that-has-and-will-ever-exist-here-on-earth.  And just as soon as school is over for the semester I will resume a regular posting schedule.  Promise!

The Draft, huh?

I just spent the last two and half hours of my life watching the NFL Draft for one reason, and one reason only - this guy:

I know Tim Tebow is not everyone's cup of tea, but I just think he's the cat's pajamas. (two idioms in one sentence!)  So I was very happy when the Denver Broncos selected him in the first round.  This is my first time watching the draft, but if the first round is still going on at 10:30pm, how long does this thing take?

Earth

I'm going to cheat and re-post my Earth Day post from last year.  Since I didn't have that many readers this time last year, it should be new material for a lot of you. I hope everyone has a great day spending time outside and appreciating this beautiful world in which we live!

Virginia, the state, is a lot of wonderful things, but for a long time we were not what you'd call "Green." I was rarely concerned with keeping the planet beautiful and safe because it just wasn't an issue that came up a lot. For me this changed when I met my freshman roommate, a Oregonian who was often appalled by my tendency to throw things away rather than recycle them.

She set an excellent example for me, showing just how easy it was to do small things that would help in the long run. I'm still not what you'd call an avid environmentalist, but I do try to do my part. At one of my jobs I created a recycling program that they still use, and the first day it started we had over 1000 lbs of paper, that would have been thrown away, going to be recycled.

Last year I bought a book called Gorgeously Green and I really recommend to anyone who wants to try and live a "greener" lifestyle without sacrificing too much of life's comforts. Realistically speaking/writing, there are some things that I will never be able to do, like equip my house with solar panels (unless I win the lottery), but I can change all of my light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, which I have done. They use 2/3 as much energy and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Here are some other easy ways that can help start you on living your life in an Earth conscious manner.

• Bringing reusable grocery bags with you to the store so you don't need the paper or plastic bags they give you. I have some really cute ones that I got as a present, and they were only $6 and they're adorable! But most stores have them for sale for $.99
  
• Stop receiving junk mail by registering with Green Dimes.
• Cut down on water use by: replacing shower heads with water saving models. I have one and the water pressure feels the same, I wouldn't know it was saving water if I hadn't bought it myself. Water your lawn in the morning or evening to cut down on water lost to evaporation. When it's time to replace your washing machine, consider buying one that's Energy Efficient. They're a little more expensive, but you get a tax deduction AND you'll save money in the long run.
• Keep your thermostat set to 68 degrees in the winter. In the summer, keep your curtains and blinds shut to keep out some of the hot sunlight.
• Carpool to work if you can and roll down the windows instead of using the AC.
  
• Have your home heating and cooling system serviced every year. They often find leaks that would end up costing a fortune if gone unnoticed.
• Calculate your carbon footprint and see which areas you could improve in.
• Buy local produce and try to eat organic meat
• Eco-Friendly cleaning products: Mix lemon juice and baking soda for an all-purpose cleaner and use Borax to clean your shower. The Borax works amazingly well!
  

Some more extreme ones that I don't do, but wouldn't be all that difficult are:

• Reuse bath water on your plants
• Follow the old adage "If it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow." (Can't do this with small children who find toilet water fascinating!)
• Buy a hybrid car or one that's fuel efficient (I do plan on doing this with my next car)
  
• Cloth Diapers
• Lower your water heater to 120 degree

Obviously you don't have to do all of these things, but if you just pick a few, you'll be making a significant difference. I hope everyone is having a great Earth Day and is enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer!

A Cute Spencer Story

 We were at my parents house this afternoon and one of their dogs, Gus, starting sneezing.  Spencer grabbed a tissue and walked over to him, holds the tissue up to his nose, and goes "Blow!"  When he didn't "blow" after a few of her urgings, she said "Watch, Gus," and then proceeded to demonstrate how one should blow their nose into a tissue. Poor Gus still couldn't figure it out, even after that tutorial.  It was super cute!

This is Gus.  He is also really cute. It was a cuteness overload.

It's Mary

Spencer is now calling every female that she doesn't specifically know, "Mary."  Everyone is Mary and I'm supposed to know which Mary she's talking about at any given time.  It's a difficult job! I have absolutely no idea why she's chosen that name, but it makes me laugh. In a totally unrelated segue, she is now no longer using her noonie, aka, the pacifier.  It's been over a month since she's had one, and even though it hasn't been easy, I'm glad she's finally done with it.  Although I now have to rub her back every night until she falls asleep, so I guess that's the next habit I need to break!

School is almost over for the semester and I am so happy about that!  I'm not taking classes this summer since we have a lot of plans for these upcoming months; Spencer turns three, multiple baby showers, a few weeks in North Carolina, to name just a few.   

Wednesday we are having a play date with Sara and Lila and I'm really looking forward to having some adult girl time!  The girls have finally gotten to the age where they can actually play together so all of our time isn't spent trying to entertain and occupy them.  I'm hoping to get some cute pictures of the girls because I haven't gotten out my camera since Easter! Ugh, I don't like it when I go that long without taking any pictures of Spencer- I feel like I'm failing to do a good job documenting her life. 

And in another completely unrelated segue, I'm in love with my Roku!

500

And I now have 500 posts!  I really can't believe that I've managed to write that much since I started this blog on September 7, 2008.  I'm usually very good at beginning new projects, it's just the continuing, keeping up with, and the follow through that gives me the problem.  I didn't know what to except when I decided to start writing about our life, but I certainly never imagined I would write 500 posts, or that I'd "meet" so many amazing women.

About a year I was asked to write about my blogging philosophy.  This was my answer:

It should be an expression of who you are, who you want to be, and how you're getting there. Blogging provides a platform where you should stay true to who you are, listening and considerate of others and their opinions, but a place where you're not afraid or ashamed to be truthful and upfront about philosophies, beliefs, issues, ethics, humor, personality, and art.

I write about our world (mine and my daughter's) and I write about our world (the one everyone shares and lives in together). I like to write about things that make me happy, things that outrage me, ways to make a difference- how to do something meaningful, pop culture, figuring out how to be the best mom possible without losing myself in the process, and proving everyone wrong who said my story would be over if I had my daughter.

So on this day, the occasion of my 500th post, I'd like to know your philosophy and tell me something that you like about this blog of mine!  And for your viewing pleasure, here are some links to some past important posts.  Thank you for reading and for sharing your life with me.

My First Post

My 100th Post

My 200th Post

My 300th Post

My 400th Post

Some of my more popular posts: (You may notice that some of them may only have a few comments, but back in the day a few comments was like hitting the mother lode!)

The List

A Mini Rant 

21 Months

Memory Lane Penny Lane

You Are Who You Love

Forget Me Not

Spencer's Birthday Party

Big Girl Shoes

Single Mom

Dragons in the Sky

I'm going to regale you with a bullet point post this Sunday evening.  There are just too many topics of discussion to fit in otherwise.  And I love bullet points.


**  I saw The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo this weekend with Spencer's MiMi and her best friend.  It was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time and I totally recommend it to everyone!  The movie is based on a book that is part of a three-part trilogy and I'd read two of the books- the third isn't out yet.  If you have time, the books are amazing and such good reads.  It was also the first time I'd been to the movie theater since July!

** Spencer and I spent Saturday night with the PGP's and I had such a nice talk with her the above mentioned best friend who was also spending the night.  And then I got to sleep in the morning!  I love sleeping in.

**  I had more than a few tears slide down my cheeks when Phil Mickelson won the Master's.  When he embraced his wife, who is fighting breast cancer, and gave her a long tearful hug, I just couldn't contain the water works. It was such a beautiful moment and it reminded me of how much I love love.

** Spencer is currently obsessed with Dragons!  I don't know how or why she fell in love with them, but she has.  She keeps asking me for one and wanting to watch movies that have them in it. She's even changed the words of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Instead of "like a diamond in the sky" she now sings "like a dragon in the sky."  It really is the cutest thing I've ever heard!

**  This is my 499th post!  Which means that my next one will be my 500th.  I don't know how to commemorate the occasion- any ideas?  

And It Was All Yellow

Some people think Spring looks like this:

And that's what Spring looked like last week.  Meet Spring now:

What is that you ask?  That would be POLLEN that has accumulated in the water runoff.  There is pollen everywhere and covering everything.  You can actually see it falling from the sky and swirling around in the air. I have to hold my breath each time I go outside because I feel myself inhaling the yellow dust if I breathe.  When I walked inside from getting the mail, my clothes were covered with pollen.

And do you know what  happens when you have excessive, record breaking amounts of pollen?  This:

You get a boat load of swarming bees. 

"They" say this is what happens when you have 90 degree weather in April.  I'm already getting a bad feeling about the weather this summer.

Are You a Human?

Is it wrong that this makes me laugh?  Please use the above word in a sentence!

Sundry

Yesterday was not the best day.  I had to take my anatomy test at nine in the morning and it was insane!  We just had a huge test three weeks ago, four chapters/175 questions, and I incorrectly assumed this one would be shorter and not as brain numbing since it was only on two chapters.  So it was not to my delight when I saw that there were 222 questions with a two hour time limit!  About five minutes before my time was up, I still had over 30 questions unanswered and I about had a meltdown.

Thankfully, my teacher took some pity on me and told me not to worry and that I could have as much time as I needed.  I guess I looked at her strangely, because she then informed me that of the 10 people who had already taken the test, the average grades were between a 40 and 50! (We take the tests by ourselves at a scheduled time within a couple of days window)  I was definitely glad to have the extra time, but it freaked me out that everyone had done so poorly.  When I was finally finished with it, my brain actually hurt.

Then I had to pick up Spencer from my mom's house and my mom was not happy that I'd been gone so long- since I had told her it would be about two hours.  I was like, are you kidding me?  It's not like I was out shopping or hanging out with friends and lost track of time- I was taking a test.  A TEST!  She didn't seem to understand the difference; I told her two hours and by the time I got back to her house it had been almost three and half hours.  So this did not put me in a good mood. Not. At. All.  And then, after my brain was telling me it needed a nap, I couldn't, as I had another test last night in my sociology class!  That one went swimmingly, but still.  Today has been much better, although I'm still kind of wiped out. 

So now that I've had my little rant/pitty party, I will move on to other things- like Easter!  This Easter was much better than last year, by about a gazillion.  Spencer didn't have any meltdowns and she was pretty happy almost the entire day.  Well, she was a little upset and confused about why the Easter Bunny didn't leave any baby bunnies for her, but she got over it, ha!  She kept telling everyone on Saturday that "A wabbit is coming!"  On Sunday morning she was very happy with her all of the treats in her basket, but she kept asking me "where's the wabbit?"  When I showed her the stuffed animal rabbit, she shook her had and looked at me like I was not the most intelligent being.  She then very adamantly told me "No, mommy, where's the weal wabbit?"  I didn't want her to have a temper tantrum before church, so I did what any good parent does and I waved the chocolate bunny in front of her and all was right again.

Then we went to church and they had an egg hunt for all the little kids.  She started off doing really well, running around and grabbing eggs left and right.  Then she saw another kid was eating a piece of candy and she it was like she had an epiphany: there were treats in the eggs!  So she plopped her bottom on the ground and began chowing down.  I let her open a few, but then I stealthily took it away and turned her in the direction of the slide, where a few of the kids were playing. You know Spencer and her love for slides, and she zoomed over to it.  I was pretty proud myself- two potential crises averted! 

After the service was over we went home so Spencer could take a nap before Easter dinner.  Oddly enough, she kept sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and didn't want to get up.  After two and half hours I gently woke her and she said, "I don't want to get up, I seepy."  That's the first, and I'm sure the last, time those words will ever come out of her mouth!  I finally managed to coax her up with assurances that "The Wabbit" had left some more surprises for her at my aunt's house.  This was a-okay with her and we made it over to my aunt's and Spence got to do another(!) egg hunt.  When dinner was over she kept trying to find more eggs, so I re-hid a few more so she could re-find them.  I was worried she was going to go into sugar shock, but as soon as we got in the car she fell right asleep.  Which was good for me, since I had a lot of studying to do.

And that was Easter!  Holidays are getting to be much more fun now that Spencer can understand what's going on and that if she's a good girl she'll get some treats/presents.  It's also probably my most effective means of behavior control, haha. Is that really wrong?

Easter Sunday

I will tell you all about it tomorrow!  I have a nine AM anatomy test in the morning and I've got to spend tonight memorizing the cardiovascular system and all of it's many arteries and veins and other related tidbits.  (Not fun at all!)

But real quick I have to share this super cute Spencer story!  The children all sang a song during the morning church service called "Praise Ye the Lord."  In goes in a round and you sit down and stand up according to what part of the song you're singing.  Well, she just loved this song and wanted to sing it all day.  When we got in the car after church was over, she said she was going to sing "Crazy the Lord" for me; she thought Praise Ye The Lord was Crazy the Lord!  My girl cracks me up!

Unmentionables

Remember the cute, but apparently not so cute, little old lady that lives behind me?  Well, this is what's outside of her house today.

I guess this proves my she's not that innocent post, huh? But seriously, look at that! Mumus and slippers next to leopard print and magenta unmentionables.  When I saw this outside my kitchen window, I grabbed my camera and went outside.  I tried not to be too obvious that I was taking pictures of her backyard, so I took some random pictures of things and tried to sneak in a few of this scene. I think this picture is SO worth a thousand words!