Night and Day

How dare you take my picture!!  Can you at least wait until after my summer haircut!!  Author: Ernie

Aside from this picture, Ernie usually looks like an angel on the outside, but is a little devil on the inside.  Big, little brother Chief keeps Ernie in line.

You can take my picture, is this close enough? Can you see that my nostrils are clean.  Author: Chief

Chief is an anomaly.  He looks like a beast on the outside, but has the sweetest heart on the inside.

Sly as Soph

On our way to preschool, Sophie told me she wants to drive so that she can "go places."  I told her she had to wait until she was much older.  And that you really have to pay attention to what you're doing otherwise you'll get in an accident.  She was like, "well, I DO pay attention."  I continued with, "oh, not really, because you're always running into things."  After a long pause with no one talking, Soph says, "Momma am I pretty?"  I turned around and looked at her and said, "of course you look pretty!"  Then she quickly countered back with, "see there, you're not paying attention, you're looking at me."  The only way I could react was by bursting out into laughter, however, Sophie didn't appreciate it.  When we arrived at school (like 30 seconds later) and I walked her to the school building's main door, which I usually don't, everything was back to normal with big kisses and hugs.

Wiggly Tongue and Wiggling Tooth

Here's something I've noticed for quite some time, and now others have witnessed Sophie's case of her wiggly tongue.  While I was volunteering last week, one of the teachers chuckled at how Sophie's tongue was well, wiggling.  Now coming back from the dentist office, the hygienist even commented on well, her wiggling tongue.  She said it looked as if it had a mind of it's own. 

Even if Sophie's isn't allowed to talk, that tongue is still going 90 mph.  I guess it's all that pent-up urge to babble about something.  This I might add is the reason I'm so exhausted at the end of the day.

Not to change the subject, but Sophie cut her first bottom tooth when she was 4 months old.  That's quite early, however from what I've read it's all hereditary.  I asked the dentist if her permanent teeth will break through early as well.  He showed me with clear visibility the beginnings of two permanent teeth pushing through.  Her teeth are even lose;  her dentist said I need to encourage wiggling her two bottom teeth until they come out.  Within the next 3 weeks her baby teeth will be gone.  I guess Sophie will start learning about the tooth fairy starting tonight.  

By the way, she brushed her teeth ALL BY HERSELF for the past six months.  And she continues to be cavity free.  She definitely gets all the credit this time.  I'm so proud of her for doing such a good job.  I think also having gaps in her teeth has helped,  as well as, a dental product I really like called Dentizyme.  It's a powerful oral hygiene with bio-active botanical complex of extracts, essential oils and resins that removes plaque, cleans periodontal tissue, removes surface stains, soothes teeth and gums, etc.   I just squirt about 3 drops in her mouth and she brushes it around with toothpaste.  The taste is mild enough she doesn't complain of it burning......that's a big plus.  Anyway, I treated her to a nice lunch, which she loved and she told me afterwards she was having such a wonderful day, partly because she didn't have to get shots.

Well, I better get a wiggle on out of here to gymnastics class.

Google This and Googol That

Lately, I've spent a lot of time on my computer and on Google.  With all the googling I've been doing Soph has become fascinated with the word "Google."  Without going in the details of how google is actually a play on the word "googol" and that it is a company that handles and organizes copious amounts of information on the web, I decided to stick with the original meaning, which from a mathematical standpoint is the number 1 with a 100 zeroes behind it.  Her eyes got wide like saucers and now she has increased everything she does, eats and wants from 100 to 1000 to now a googol.

Everything is a googol this and a googol that.  For example, this is how one of our conversations took place this afternoon:   

Sophie:  "Momma, I'm hungry, I want something to eat."

MA:  "How about a salad?"

Sophie:  "No, I want something healthier.  If I don't eat healthy, I'll get cavities and get sick and I'll have to have a googol of shots at the hospital."

This is how it's been going for over a week now.  Daddy even has to endure a nightly googol of  raspberries from Sophie.  Does anyone feel sorry for us?

19 Cars In 13 Years

Yes, Sophie's face says it all.  

Looking at cars is not what she considers her idea of fun for a Saturday afternoon ....unless, the car is a convertible.  She loves convertibles.   I didn't know a 5 year old girly girl could be fascinated with cars at such a young age.   Overall, she was a very good girl and kept asking me, "Momma, am I being a good girl; don't you think I'm being a good girl; look Momma I'm being a good girl."

I was just thinking of all the cars we've had the past 13 years.  Between Vince and me our next car will make car number 19.  Do you think we're into cars?  

Well, we looked at three different sedans and have narrowed it down to three.  Luckily, we do not have to make a decision until July.  

I have to admit, I always feel sorry for these car salesmen; they do not have a clue what they're getting themselves into with Vince as a customer.  It's during these times, he makes a lot of money for us in a matter of a couple of hours.  He seems to have a knack on how much to push without coming across as being absurd or parsimonious.  We've even been lucky where we actually made money off one of our cars; however,  I definitely do not see this happening any time soon with the current state of our economy.

Daddy's Little Dividend

For the last two years, whenever I ask Sophie what she wants to be when she grows-up, without hesitation she says she wants to be an Artist and paint pretty pink flowers. Again, I just asked her right now and surprise, surprise, she still wants to be a painter ;o/

Of course, every parent wants their child(ren) to not only have values and be responsible, happy, healthy individuals but to have the skills to become successful in whatever their little hearts desire. As Vince pointed out, the problem with being an artist (i.e. painter), you usually don't make any money until after your dead and gone.

Having a child really is the ultimate personal growth experience. Vince and I never know what challenges await us around the next bend. I sure hope next year Sophie will decide on a new profession.....for Daddy's sake.

Life's Little Tiny Surprises

I always wondered what Vince and I did while in South Carolina, aside from residing there and griping about how buggy and muggy it was there.  You see, every now and then we received mail from this power company in S.C., which we had used for our electricity needs.   At least someone loves us, right?  Well, these letters referred to capital credits during the years we received electricity and how these capital credits are used for expansion and improvements.  Over the past 10 years, this went on and on, mystifying me more each year, especially because they seemed to always know where we are at all times.  However, yesterday's letter answered all my questions after all these years, AND I might add in a good way. 

Just an Update

As forecasted, we did have another winter storm that started last night and through this morning, thus far .  You're probably thinking, "is that why I changed the Blog template to white?"  No, just a coincidence.  The other template, even though I love the color green was a little more of a fuss with all the rounded corners.  Anyway, I believe this template should suffice for now.  

Vince tried to go into work this morning at Micron.  With all the snow blanketing the parking lot, it was a hassle to park anywhere that was not restricted.  After the security guard told Vince for the second time he needed to move again, Vince instead thought it was just best to work from home.  He really has a very good job where he has a lot of latitude.  But then again, Vince is an exceptional employee and has very high standards, even being a perfectionist isn't good enough for him.

Lately, Sophie has been obsessed with knowing if I'm angry all the time, constantly asking me, "are you angry, are you angry, are you angry" over and over and over to the point of actually making me angry.  Then she'll say, "well, stop being angry."  Jeez Louise!!  I guess she's really trying to understand all the different nuances in moods, attitudes, emotions and feelings.  I see she's trying to understand and explore what empathy is all about, which I find quite endearing.  She might even have an innate charm that will enable her to "sell ice to an Eskimo."

Ernie and Chief are both aging gracefully.  Ernie just recently had a birthday and is now 13 years old.  Believe it or not, when Ernie gets his summer haircut, neighbors always think we got a new puppy.  Aside from a little cloudiness in his eyes and white hairs around his muzzle and butt, he looks doggone good.

Chief will be 11 this year and the only time I see the puppy inside him is when Vince asks if he wants to go for a walk-walk.  He isn't as spry due to his arthritis, but when it's time for his walk, he springs into action.   

Lastly, here's a tidbit of information I found to be quite helpful in dealing with a cold virus.  I've been pretty safe all winter long from catching anything.  However, the other day, I felt something in my nose and throat.  The lady from the Health and Herb store suggested I swab the inside of my nose with a Q-tip dipped in Silver Shield.  Well, ta-da the next morning my symptoms were completely gone and I'm back to business without any down time.  Silver Shield will remain a household staple in my medicine cabinet as it has a wide variety of uses, from cuts, to itchy spots, to bruises to destroying viruses......all in one small bottle, albeit not cheap but worth it.

Plucky Sophie

Yesterday, Sophie was so eager to give her appreciation letters she made over the weekend to her teachers......So much in fact that her island of comfort is expanding more and more (amongst grown-ups) as she spoke up with authority letting everyone know SHE wants to hand out the letters to her teachers by herself, NOT Momma especially.  Later, Soph told me Mrs. Diane gave her a big hug and that made her day.  She told me, "Mrs. Chris and Mrs. Jennifer are not huggers, but that's okay."

Who Says Stay-At-Home Moms Can't Make Money

As a wife who doesn't work in the conventional modus operandi because of my little one at home, I have spent the last several years making money indirectly in between all my motherly duties and wifely chores.  It's not in the approach where I  receive a steady salary, but saving money here and there -- such as obtaining a lower interest rate for our mortgage, going with another insurance company for our house and cars, switching phone service saving us half what it used to cost us, accessing the state treasury unclaimed money department via http://unclaimed.org/.... to determine if I had any money to claim (which I did, including my mother), appealing property taxes, etc.  Anyway, you get the picture. 

Some of these  projects take awhile and so you have to have a lot of patience and perseverance.  For example, last May, 2008, I filed a claim to receive money from the De Beers Class Action Diamond Settlement.   Of course, it only applies if you purchased jewelry between January, 1994 - March, 2006.   I should receive from the settlement about 40% of what I paid initially.  A receipt was not required unless your jewelry was sold to you for more than $10K.  But, being the way I am, I had retained all my receipts; so if anything comes up, I can back up my purchases.  

And now my new endeavor, launching a blog site where I can share what I know to whoever is willing to read.  I've always claimed that, "I know a little about everything, but not much of anything."  Just enough to make me dangerous, I suppose.  If you're interested in earning some money as a Blogger, I suggest you first read this article http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/05/how-to-make-money-from-your-blog/.... although quite lengthy, it is so educational and palpable.  However, if you don't have time to read this article, then you probably don't have to time to even start a blog site.

I know I haven't even scratched the surface with becoming a Blogger, but I hope I learn my way as I continue to write what's on my mind.

Spring Snow

Sheesh!  It snowed pretty much all day today and we're expected to get more of the white powdery stuff this Thursday.   As Vince would mockingly say "gotta love it."  So, as I'm shoveling the snow for the umpteenth time, I'm thinking to myself, "how is it that Vince always travels on the days it snows here?"  So not fair.  Well, the bright side, I get quite a workout and it's free.   

P.S.  If it snows when Vince is traveling in June, then I'll know something is up.

A Telling Test

Yesterday, I tested Sophie to see how well she listens.  This comes about after many months noticing that when her gymnastics teacher is talking and giving instructions on what they're supposed to do, Sophie always appears to be doing everything else, but listening.   To my surprise, not only did she listen very well she answered the questions correctly.  Answers we all know the answers to but will inevitably answer incorrectly.   

I'm sure some of you will recognize these listening games:

The first test was as follows:

She had to repeat the word "silk" 10 times fairly swift.

Then I asked her, "what do cow's eat?"

She answered "grass"....bingo, she stunned the heck out of me as most people answer "milk."

So, I thought, just a lucky shot.  Let's try it again.

The next test:

I had her repeat words that rhymed with "Stop."  I went through the whole alphabet and so I had her repeat approximately 26 words in all that rhymed with "stop."

Then I asked her, "what do you do when you see a green light?"

She answered "go"....here again she dumbfounded me with the fact she answered the question correctly when so many other people will answer "stop."

Well, Sophie was getting a kick out of answering the questions correctly; she kept saying, "more, more, Momma, I like it, I like it."

You know what?  Already, I can see Sophie gets anguished by injustice, cruelty, or irresponsibility.  She's the only one I know that will pick up items laying on the floor at a store and put them back on the shelf so they do not get damaged.  And will loudly speak out with much drama exclaiming, "who did this!"  She's amazingly caring and kind, always thinking about what is happening with other people.  And a real Sherlock Holmes about noticing the subtleties most people miss.

Falling for Spring

Today reminded me more of fall than spring.  It started last night with lots of wind, stirring up all the garbage that had accumulated embedded in the snow.  I don't know why, but whenever Vince heads off to somewhere warm, it snows here, leaving me with the job of shoveling.   Thanks Honey!

Lucky me,  I don't think it's going to snow for long, nor stick.  Already, as I'm looking out the window, the snow is turning into raindrops.  Don't get me wrong, I love snow and all the fun activities having snow brings, like skiing, tubing, snow sledding and eating fondue and raclette.  Well the latter two things I mentioned I can enjoy no matter the season.   However, I'm really looking forward to spring and warmer temperatures, and mother nature is forever being fickle.

We're in that transition period right before spring, which is not pretty.  With all the snow melting away, it reveals a very ugly landscape, unsurfacing things that have been buried all winter long.  So, Soph and I stayed in the house and worked on her appreciation letter not only for Mrs. Chris, but one for Mrs. Diane and Mrs. Jennifer, the teacher's two aides.  How sweet is that?  That's one of the nice qualities about Sophie that makes her so special.  Her innate ability to understand and empathize with others.  She doesn't want to leave anyone out of anything.  To this date, she still talks about Scottie, our Collie, who died about 3 years ago.

Aren't they cute?  She did almost everything, to include writing her name, drawing everything you see, applying the stickers and telling me what to write for each teacher.  

As I'm wrapping up this post, it's back to snowing again.  

Good grief !!!

What Was I Thinking

Well, Poopsie  and I ran some errands this afternoon, dropped off some movies at Blockbuster, went shopping for some Easter eggs for Soph's Easter egg hunt at preschool, and for some school supplies to give to Mrs. Chris during Teacher Appreciation week.  All that running around made us hungry and so I had the bright idea of stopping at McDonalds for one of their salads.  Yes, I had good intentions, but for some reason the picture of the Big Mac was staring right at me.  I could not let go of it.   So, I easily talked myself in ordering it, justified by the fact I've lost a little bit of weight.  I must admit, it sure was satisfying while I was eating it, savoring every bite to the last morsel and washing it down with the iced hazlenut coffee ....yummolicious!  Now, as I'm sitting here writing this post, my stomach is feeling like lead, my energy has plummeted and I have a headache.  I know better than to do this to myself.  This evening, it's back to my Maca root powder and Greens Today, two things I swear by that gives me lasting energy and feeling healthy.

I was talking to someone the other week about food additives and health in general.  Phil talked about all the foods we eat that contain aluminum, including common table salt.  This is something I never considered until my visit to McDonalds today.  Sure enough, aluminum is added to salt which acts as a drying agent to keep the salt from clumping.  I guess overtime, the build-up of aluminum will eventually "dry" your brain or any other joints that rely on staying moist and lubricated.  So be sure you're getting enough omegas/fish oils in your diet to offset this toxic metal.  Anyway, I digressed....as I was eating my Big Mac and fries I noticed on the little salt package that voila it contains the aluminum compounds Phil was referring to.  I guess I should just stick with the iodized sea salt or real salt.

RSS What??

I've included an RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary or Read Soph Stuff....you choose) feed to the "Just Us" blog site. I'm thinking to myself who has something constructive and meaningful to write about everyday ?!?  Aside from that I don't plan on posting anything while on vacation or if I'm super busy or if I just plain don't feel like it.  

RSS feeds will allow you to subscribe (if you want) to my blog site so that you don't have to check on it everyday.  Who has that kind of time, right?  Anyway, once you sign up and how you sign up you will receive a notification (via email or on your personal homepage) that an update has been made to the blog site.  How cool is that?  AND, I don't have to regularly send an email reminder to everyone that an update has been made.  Don't you just love all this new technology?  Well, I've been racking my brain the past couple of days trying to grasp everything.  And my personal tech support (i.e. Vincie) will be unavailable the next couple of days helping other people who are at least contributing to his salary.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bouchee a la Reine

A recipe I want to share happens to be one of Vincent's favorite.   Sophie likes it because of the meatballs.  It kind of reminds me of a chicken pot pie but totally different at the same time, if that makes any sense.  This is my personal recipe that I developed and modified to our family tastes.

Ingredients

Meatballs:
.5 lb ground pork
1/4 cup Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon parsley
pinch of nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Mix all ingredients together and make very small meatballs. Put meatballs in a pot of water. Bring to a soft boil until meatballs are done. Set aside.

Sauce:
4 tablespoons Butter
4 tablespoons Flour
32 oz (2 lb) (907 g) chicken or vegetable stock
8 oz (227 g) Sliced Crimini mushrooms
Roasted chicken from your local supermarket
Cream
Lemon juice

Bouchees are pastry shells you can buy pre made ready to fill or frozen. My favorite is Gourmet Pidy. There are 4 bouchees in a box. Refer to package for heating instructions.

Note: Veloute sauce "is a rich white sauce made with chicken, veal, pork or fish stock, thickened with cream or egg yolks."

The beginning stages of making the sauce starts out as a roux, then later becomes the veloute sauce.

Instructions:
In a medium sized pot or stockpot, make the veloute and/or roux sauce by melting butter completely. Turn off burner. Add flour slowly until smooth. Turn fire back on stove and cook until slightly beige/brown. Add chicken stock, stir and let it come to a soft boil, stirring occasionally until smooth.

In the meantime, melt butter in a sauté pan. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, until mushrooms are slightly brown. Drain mushrooms on paper towel.

Roasted chicken:  Shred chicken in small pieces

Add meatballs, mushrooms and shredded chicken. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Allow sauce to thicken to your preference (I prefer it thin, while Vince likes it thicker, so ours is somewhere in between). At the end, add a little cream. Cook for another minute or two. Lastly, add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. At this point, it is ready.

Spoon veloute sauce over bouchees and enjoy.

Preparation Time:  1 hr

Cooking Time:  30 mins

Eating Time: 5 mins for Vince, 15 mins for MA, 30 mins for Sophie

Bug Off

Apparently there's a bug that's making it rounds at preschool.  A lot of Sophie's classmates have been out sick several days.  Even Sophie caught the bug and was out for one day.  She told me "my kids made me sick."  Thank goodness, knock on wood, Vince and I have not caught anything from her.

I took Soph for her annual physical a couple of weeks ago.  The doctor said she's a little knock-kneed.  But that's okay, she will eventually outgrow it by the time she's 7 or 8 years old.  If anything, the doctor said it will make her a fast runner.  That probably explains why I was always lagging behind since I was bow legged.....and still am slightly.  I always thought it was because I had short legs.  

She also has 20/20 vision, which from what I understand is very good for her age.  Apparently, most kids her age do not have 20/20 until they're a little older.  All in all, she has good muscular strength, tonicity, reflexes, blood work and all came back normal.  So, I'm pleased and happy.

Who Believes In Ghosts

Past Monday, my husband encountered two unexplainable aberrations, both occurring within a couple of hours of one another in his office.  When he was telling me about it, I must admit it kind of freaked me out, especially if you know my husband who is extremely logical, analytical, intuitive and of course highly intelligent.......AND very technically advanced.  For some reason his iPhone did not ring, but there was a voicemail.  One might conclude, yes, he just didn't hear the phone ring.  True, but when he checked to see who called, there were no missed calls, only a voicemail.  Has this ever happened to anyone???  

The other was with his laptop.  When he stepped away from his laptop, he always locks it while away per his company's security protocol.  An hour and half later, when he went to unlock the computer, it had been totally shut down as if someone had pressed the power switch.  When he turned his laptop back on again, it started back up as if nothing happened.  Usually if something is shut down without properly closing all applications, I believe you get a message that indicates that the computer was not shut down properly.  This was not the case.  Like I said, it started as if nothing happened.  To me this is pretty eerie.  I wonder if this "ghost" was playing with Vincent's feet (a Belgian expression).  Who knows, we'll never know I suppose.  It's easier to blame it on the ghost for now.

Our Visit with Uncle Eric

Once again Uncle Eric from Belgium paid us a little visit in combination with his yearly ski holiday.  As always it was a delight to see him.  Most of you have already been updated via emails from Vincent, so I will not reverberate everything again.  

But, aside from the skiing, we also went Tubing at Gorgoza Park (Sophie's favorite winter activity), ate at a couple of new restaurants.  Carvers and the Italian restaurant, Tucci's Cucina at Trolley Corners were both surprisingly delectable and satisfying.  

Uncle Eric bought me a new Trivia Pursuit game as we always play this game when we're together.  I must admit it was quite difficult and we never finished the game after staying up all hours of the night,  two nights to be exact.  However, I can't resist in mentioning that I had the most pies....sorry, honey.  Actually, if truth be known, "honey" usually and always wins.

As most of you already know, I've always had an interest in health and fitness when I was younger.  Now I'm more into health and nutrition and overall well being.  I was surprised that Uncle Eric was interested in having a Bio-Scan performed.  This is such an easy test and yields a fairly accurate assessment of your total well being.  So we all, including Sophie, went to the Herbs for Health store and were enlightened in ways that made us go....hmmm.  All I'm going to say is Sophie had the least red dots and her green dots were closer to the core.  In other words, as one would expect, she's pretty healthy.

Before we knew it, it was time to take Uncle Eric to the airport.  To Uncle Eric, we enjoyed our time with you and hope to see you next winter or summer possibly.

Let's See How It Goes

Well, let's see if I can pick up where I left off.  I have a couple of friends that use this blog site and so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  I still have a lot to learn and so my posts will be minimal to start.