New Range, Week 1

Double batch shortbread cookies
Double batch sugar cookies
Chocolate chip cookies (two sheets at the same time)
Roast beef cooked WHILE roasting potatoes in the drawer below
Chicken soup
Lasagna
Frying pan dinner, AKA American chop suey
Hamburger and hot dog buns
Roasted chicken parts
Hot dogs. heheh.

So, I have used the probe a couple times. Doesn't have my confidence. The roast turned out super, Sophia DID have four slices, after all, however, the probe was about 10 off from my instant read one. The probe was reading higher than the thermometer. I think the thermometer was more accurate as the roast looked pretty dead on for 135 that the instant read one told me. Still working out the kinks, however, Sophia gave me all the encouragement I need when whe told me "Thank you for the nice dinner" today. Awwwwe...

Picasa Web Album photos available

I have posted new photos on picasa. Many have been posted on facebook already, so if you look at those, you will see a lot of repeats. Noticed that I didn't have many pictures here anymore.

Fully potty trained at 2.7

Dylan has passed the final stage of potty training. He has now been going ALL by himself. I sat here on the couch just now, for instance, and Dylan went downstairs on his own, went potty - pants down and up all on his own and came upstairs to tell me he wiped his bum. The other day he did the same, only for number 2 - sat himself down and was getting ready to wipe when I came in. wahoo!

You get what you get and you don't get upset

Words to live by, eh? Sophia came home from school with this little gem and has been saying it around the house the past couple weeks. I like it.

Speaking of Sophia, she is so great to listen to playing. She has really been into make believe and reenacts the movies (princess ones, of course). She is very dramatic - intonations of her voice, definitely acting out a part. She pretends she is one of the princesses and I can pick up actual parts of the movies. One in particular that stands out to her is in The Little Mermaid, I think. I remember the part about the seagull trying to listen to prince Erik's heart. He, of course, thinks you can here it in the foot, but that is beside the point. Sophia keeps talking about a "beating heart" in her play. Maybe there is another heart part in another movie, where ever it is from, it is pretty cute.

Dylan is in the throws of Candy Pop Lane (candy land). He asks to play it a hundred times a day. He doesn't care about moving on the board, winning or losing. he just like picking the cards and gets so excited about the colors he gets. Pretty funny (if you can get past the fact that you have just played 8 games that morning).

I am getting pretty irritated with my bugs. I have been sick for over two weeks now and I think there has not been one pain reliever free day for over two weeks. The head aches are terrible and this latest phase of junk in my lungs/ cough is not helping that. PLEASE, bugs, TAKE A HIKE. Party is OVER.

Cindy Clark! Come on Down! You have won a NEW RANGE!

Yup, the price was right. I was playing the players. Sears started with their 15% off sale. Then they through in the 10% off if you sign up for their credit card. This brought the Stainless steel model into the picture. Still about $100 over my limit once tax was included. So, I thought I would see what I could do with this number. I called a few local places to see if they would beat it. Apparently that number was pretty low and only one would "play" with me. They knocked $10 off the sears prices (saying that was below cost for them and they would lose money, but they had a price guarantee and had to do it). So, I thought I saw a free ship thing on Sears's website so I decided I would go with sears. Thought the extra $10 was worth it to have it shipped here and not be responsible for damage en route. I then realized the free shipping was INSTEAD of the 10% off. I decided then to go with the OTHER place offering it for $10 less. Then my little recall button went off and I remembered seeing a price match guarantee thing on the Sears website. I had nothing to lose, so I called their 1-800 number and brought them the New England appliance stainless price. They told me then that their policy was to take off the difference of their price PLUS an additional 10%. WAHOO! The range was on sale for $1657. The NEA price came in $10 lower than the sears CARD price of $1492. SO, the difference was taken between 1657 (listed sale price) and 1482. Plus another 10%. In the end, all said and told, I got my convection GE range with lower baking drawer, tri-ring cook top element and 5th warming element for $1399. ($1317 before tax). That is even lower than the $1331 quoted to me by sears initially for the black model. Wahoo!

Living in the Moment

Thought I would record some of the things that just happen throughout the day. Things that are of great amusement to me, however, forgotten if not recorded instantly. So, today, I really tried hard to keep remembering a couple of the funny things the kids said and write them down here.

First off is Sophia. She sauntered into the bathroom this morning, topless and hand on hip telling me "I'm sweating hot, mama. I was building this huge tower and got sweating hot so I took my shirt off". Her hip jutted out and hand on the other was priceless.

Dylan has this little gem that is ongoing. He keeps asking to play "Candy Pop Lane". AKA Candy Land. It sounds SO cute that it usually gets me in a couple games with him. When extreme boredom with the game sets in I tell him "That's it! :)" he puts the game away and comes back with an even MORE dreaded game - the literally never ending "Chutes and Ladders". UGH! Just when you think you are almost at the end, WHAM, another chute. SHOOT! game goes on forever. I have thought it was cute that Dylan has shown such an interest in games (even if it mostly to pick the cards from the pile and spin the little dial).