The Black Eye Fiasco

Nathan became a school celebrity a couple of weeks ago by getting his first black eye. He and another boy were running in the playground at recess, and somehow ran headlong into eachother without seeing eachother coming. The other boy's forehead hit Nathan's eye, and Nathan ended up with a full-on swollen shut black eye. As if every child and teacher didn't know him before, for about a week, all people said at school was, "Hey Nathan! Let's see your eye. Eeeeeeew!"

B-Log BackLog

Oh dear. It's been a while. Let's get it started.

Say What?

Sometimes Nathan will say and do the funniest things just to get people's attention... Example time. We were at an engagement party for a friend, and a bunch of the kids there were playing in a bouncy castle. Nathan was very into pretending to fall and hurt himself on this particular occasion, and when his actions caught the attention of another parent, he got up and with a grin proclaimed, "Thumbs up for hurting yourself!"

I Almost Peed My Pants.

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) is a single 30-something woman, and she has started a blog about her recent terrible blind dates. It's called "A Waste Of Makeup." Click HERE to take a look (plus I added the link to the blog list at the bottom).

This. Is Great.

This is an ode to my Keurig. It's a fancy new-fangled coffee maker.

I got this thing a while ago, and I have nothing but great things to say about it. The Keurig is a one-cup-at-a-time coffee maker, which is perfect for the only coffee drinker in the house - me! But it's also great for all of our friends that come over who like coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. This way we always have all the hot drinks ready and available. It uses "K-cups" - the little round things in the holder beside the coffee maker - they look like really big creamers. They are cups of coffee grounds, loose tea, or hot chocolate mix (it's not instant - they're really coffee grounds. I checked.) that you put inside the machine. Then you put your mug underneath and press the cup size you want and the coffee comes out! It has a hopper for water, and it takes no time to heat up, so it's always ready to go. I highly recommend it for entertaining - this way everyone can have exactly what they want.

As far as my favorite appliances go I would put this at #2, right behind my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I think I'm going to go have a cup of coffee now...

Spare Time

I'm starting to run out of things to clean... And there have only been 7 days of school so far. I realized that I really have forgotten what it was like to have both kids in school; last year while Nathan went to school with Zack, I was in the office, so this is very different to have no one at home with me for the balance of every day. So I try to give myself a project to do every day; I've washed and detailed the car, cleaned out the shed, made a flower bed for the raspberries we're transplanting, cleaned out the kitchen cupboards, repainted the fridge, and redecorated the kitchen. Next week I'm going to clean out the closets and dressers. It's been nice to get this kind of stuff done. I guess. I did a cool craft project to redecorate part of the kitchen. I started with the wine rack. I never use it. I wanted to make a space that I would actually use that would be my style and wouldn't be so bare.
So I took some hard styrofoam, cut it to size, and glued it.Then, I wrapped it in one of the boys' black pillowcases, folding the fabric over a few times. Then I pushed it into place (it fit perfectly into the hole!).Then I put some stuff in the "pockets" that resulted from the folds in the fabric, and put some push pins in. Now it's a bulletin board!Then, to add to the redecoration of the kitchen, I took the Coke stuff down. *GASP!!* I know. It was just time to take it all down - the Coke was corroding through the cans! Plus, I wanted to make my kitchen uniform in the black/white/silver color palette that I have. I also took the artwork off the fridge (don't worry, I put the photographs back up on the freezer part after I took the final picture - it looks TOO bare without them!) and put bulletin boards in the boys' rooms to display their favorite pieces of art. The final look:

Sandwiches...

I thought they were supposed to be yummy...

For sandwiches at school, Nathan wants:
Miracle Whip on one side, mayo on the other, and lettuce. Yes, just lettuce.

Zack wants:
Honey on one side, butter on the other.

I posted this on facebook, and this seemed to trigger a response from friends of mine with equally "interesting" sandwich recipes from their childhood or their children. I knew a girl in elementary school who had a ketchup and butter sandwich every day.

Back To School!

The boys went back to school this week. They were so excited! Here's some first day photos! So what grade are you going into??It was Nathan's first year in a desk - he looked so little to be in one!
Nathan is in a 1/2 split this year (just like Zack was last year) with the same teacher Zack had in grade one - Mrs. Shurnaik (Shur-Nick). Zack is in a grade 2 class with Mrs. Ryan. They are both excited for this year!