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Not a lot went down today. Pretty quiet. Particularly the bit when I ignored my husband’s phone calls because I was working and figured if it was important he’d leave a message. Not so much. He just called 3 times, and still didn’t leave a message. Apparently it wasn’t too important though he did have good news, which was that I had money in his post office box. Always nice when that happens.

Tonight’s meal was yummy. I’ve been wanting something Italian for awhile and I’ve challenged myself to mostly only use ingredients I all ready have on hand, with the exception of produce and dairy. I had spinach and feta cheese chicken sausage frozen in my freezer so I took that out at lunch so it was thawed by dinner time. I had spinach fettucini noodles in my pantry. I headed to the store for capers, mushrooms, parmesan cheese and cream cheese to make a weight watchers friendly alfredo sauce. Put it all together and it’s a lovely pasta dish. As a side I made a fairly typical Olive Garden inspired salad. “Italian” mix bagged salad, red onion slices (which we didn’t end up eating because the onion was just TOO fresh), olives, croutons, that guy that was the actor… his “family recipe italian” dressing, and topped off with more grated parmesan cheese.

Great meal.

Oh, I have to share. I love Propel. I don’t love the cost nor the space the bottles take up in my recycle bin. I found these Propel flavor packets today. So awesome. I’m one of those people who finds water boring, but I drink at least of those Propel bottles a day when I’ve got thema round so this is perfect. I’m stoked.

I don’t really have a lot to say but I didn’t blog yesterday and while I think the only people reading this blog are Danielle and Robin (hi guys!) I want to try and keep this up.

So, today I booked my trip to Vegas. I met these awesome ladies on iVillage nearly 5 years ago when Ella was just a newborn. We bonded over sleep deprivation and the fact we weren’t attachment parents. We split on to our own board and we’ve kept it going. I got to meet Amy (Boston) a year and a half ago when I visited a friend. We’ve got Danielle in Denver, Robin in Dallas, Kristi in Yukon (OK), Shawn in Ada (MI), and Zoe in the UK. Some of the group is a for sure. I’m so excited.

Switching gears. This is “doggie blanket”. My friend Dana gave this to me as a gift at my baby shower. Nearly 5 years later this is still Ella’s favorite blanket. She wipes her tears with it and cuddles and hugs it like it’s her best friend. Best gift ever. And it’s SOOOO soft. It’s from Gymboree and I know that place can be a bit pricey but this blanket has been worth whatever the cost.

I made cookie dough tonight. I’ve got a party on Saturday that I’m making food for and I’ve mentioned these cookies before. Well I’ve completed step 1 which is to prepare the dough. Friday I’ll bake them, and a bunch of other stuff. Friday night will be a long night.

Woops!

Oh yea, trying to blog. The Oscars are on, and they’re terribly distracting. I was working and what should have taken me 10 minutes took 30.

Today was exhausting. We endured Chuck E. Cheese’s today. Ella’s friend Isabel from daycare turned 5 today. Ella had been after me for awhile to go to Chuck E. Cheese so of course we had to go. I’m not feeling very verbally verbose, so here are just some pictures to cap off this blog.

Ella and birthday girl Isabel eating cotton candy.

The kids meet Chuck E. Cheese (ain’t no princess meet n’ great at Disney!)

Birthday girl.

Whack-a-mole

Was so worn out from Chuck E. Cheese (and the trip to Target afterwards) that when we got home Ella and I sacked on the couch and watched “Madagascar 2″. I didn’t feel like doing anything creative with food whatsoever.

Here’s dinner:

After having been in a blogging slump I guess I’m back to being more regular (isn’t that always a good thing???). Today was an Ella and mommy day. Isaac’s been busy working all day, and when he was home we were gone. This happens more often than I care for, but I can’t live my life around his schedule. That would be insane.

Ella and I headed to a friend’s house to work on a project. Friend’s baby seems to be scared of me. Figures. I think I know why Ella was fussy the first 4 months of her life… she didn’t want to be around me either! All right, so I know I don’t put off all babies. I worked in a church nursery for several months not that long ago and never had a baby that didn’t seem to like me.

I was working with loose tea today. I hadn’t ever tried this kind and when I found myself with some leftovers I had a cup this evening. It’s awesome. It’s a black raspberry. I had 2 cups! This is saying something. I so rarely consume tea, let alone 2 cups.

After visiting friend’s house, Ella and I went to Coldstone. Kid wanted “pink” icecream. I wasn’t having “pink” icecream, so she complained about our non “pink” icecream but finally caved and ate some of the cookie dough concoction.

Next we headed to Fred Meyer for some grocery shopping and some birthday shopping. Ella’s little friend Isabel is turning 5 and we’re heading to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow (kill me now, please!). Ella is beyond excited of course. We forgot a birthday card so on our way home we stopped at Hallmark. They blew up a balloon just for Ella and asked her to return in a few years to work for them (Dana, you’ll have to tell Ella all about your Hallmark days!).

Isaac is gone for the evening. I tried to download “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” from Amazon Unbox but there’s trouble and now I don’t know what I’ll do with my night after Ella goes to bed. Tried to watch “Tropic Thunder” last night but it put me to sleep. Not a good sign.

Don’t like to cook for just Ella and I, largely because dinner is not Ella’s best meal. I had a hankering for sesame chicken so we ordered Chinese. Turns out Ella LOVES sesame chicken. Learn something new about that kid every day.

At present she is making a mess out of Wikki Stix (some of you may be more familiar with Bendaroos). She made her name out of them and stuck them on her door. Last I saw she was making other words like “mom” and “dad” — ok, “ella”, “mom”, and “dad” are about all she can write. Oh, and “poop” (thanks Isaac for that one). Wikki Stix are an amazingly simple toy that just entertain and entertain. Thanks to my uncle Greg’s wife Molli for that one. Brilliant!

Transitions are occurring in my life, or at least the transitions are in transition. The saga over the computer is not yet over. This is my PSA to any one who reads this: when given a choice to use FedEx or to use any other carrier, use any other carrier. Here is my experience.

To recap from my last post, FedEx was to deliver my new computer on Saturday (Valentine’s Day) and it never showed up. I called on Sunday and they told me that while they didn’t know for sure they assumed the computer was still on the truck and would be delivered the following Tuesday (FedEx only delivers Tues-Sat). Tuesday morning I checked the status online expecting to see it still said “on truck, out for delivery” but the status had been changed to “at local facility”. I called again and they told me they needed to investigate because they acknowledged that it should in fact be out for delivery. Around noon I checked online again and noticed a note had been added for the 14th (remember, this is 3 days later) that said they attempted to deliver on the 14th at 10am but no one was home. This is bull. A couple hours later I checked again and much to my surprise the status said “delivered” and signed by Tompkins. Who’s “Tompkins” you ask? We have no idea. We call FedEx again and they had the gaul to say “how do you know it wasn’t delivered?”. Um, because it’s not here, and my last name is not “Tompkins”? So we let Dell know, they filed a claim against FedEx and they started building me a new computer and will expedite the shipping. Unfortunately for me they will use FedEx again. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up again!

Some person named Tompkins has themselves a new free computer. GRRR.

On the flip side, the range arrived when we expected. There’s a bit of a snag with the installation but once we borrow my parent’s router to cut out a hole we’ll be set. It works just fine, which means I’ve returned to proper cooking.

We had a roasted pork tenderloin tonight. We do that a lot. Got a bunch at Costco and it’s easy. I used the convection roast feature of the range and it came out perfectly and quickly. It was ready in 20 minutes, which means dinner was early.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. To see the difference between the old range and the new one. Look at the coil burners on the old one, and how they don’t sit flat. I always cooking at an angle or having to manually tip pots and pans. No more! And I’ve been meticulous with keeping the cooktop clean and shiny.

I’m in appliance heaven!

I haven’t felt like I have much to share but I guess there’s been a bit going on. As alluded to in the previous post my great-grandmother passed away 9 days ago. Her funeral and memorial were last Thursday (4 days ago). It was good to spend the day with my family, but it was a very long day. Ella got to spend lots of time with her first-cousin once removed, Ashley.

This past Friday (the 13th) Isaac and I went out for Valentine’s Day a day early. Ella went and had dinner with her grandparents then went to her great-grandparent’s to spend the night with Ashley (she and her family were here from Texas). I hear they had a great time. I still don’t know how well the girls slept. Ella seemed fairly tired when I picked her up but she survived the day.

Isaac and I went to the Triple Door in Seattle to see Joan Rivers. She was a hoot! First, she is teeny tiny. Such a small lady. And at 75 she is still a very active act. She talks a mile-a-minute (darn New Yorkers) so I didn’t catch every line of every joke, but she was still funny. We had dinner prior to her coming on and the food was really good. After the show we went to the Melting Pot for the happy hour chocolate fondue. My tummy did not thank me for all the foods I subjected it to, but it was a good night.

I’ve bought a new computer. I upgraded some software that doesn’t perform all that well on this computer, which is frankly 4.5 years old. The new computer was supposed to arrive by FedEx on Saturday and since I have to sign for it I stayed home nearly ALL day. At 5:30pm I called FedEx to find out why it hadn’t shown up yet. They told me that because it was Valentine’s Day (duh!) that the drivers would be going until 9 or 10 at night. They never showed. Now I’m expecting it to show tomorrow. Not really looking forward to the transition over to the new computer, but I guess it needs to be done. I’ve got work to do!

Today we bought a new range. I can’t wait for it to be delivered on Thursday. The one that came with this condo is old, beige (well the cooktop is beige, the body is black) and the coils are all cock-eyed. I can’t cook anything evenly. And the oven runs hot. You always have to set it 25 degrees less than what the recipe calls for. The new oven is convection. It’s gonna be awesome.

I’ve lacked cooking lately but once the new oven is in and going I’ll get back on that and start back up with photographing my endeavors!

I am the oldest great-grandchild.

Many of my fondest memories are from my childhood. She was the best grandparent a kid could ask for. She spoiled my sister and I and would have done anything within her power we asked of her.

I remember candy. Lots of candy. Always a candy bar hidden in a kitchen cabinet (mostly twix and kit kat, my favorites to this day), a bowl full of hard candies all stuck together, another bowl of orange slices, and yet another of Andes mint chocolates.

In the last few months when my daughter and I would visit Grandma I brushed aside the usual caution over too much sugar and allowed Ella to indulge in Grandma’s bowl full of chocolate. A candy indulgence passed from one grand daughter to another.

I remember that at grandma’s house top ramen noodles were a treat. I remember walks around the neighborhood visiting friends and neighbors and walks to Lake Meridian to feed the ducks. I remember how she never made microwave popcorn, but made popcorn in a frying pan with oil. I remember sitting on her lap as she rocked in the recliner, watching tv in the dark. Game shows.

Grandma was always a worrier. I will always remember that my very first cell phone was bought and paid for by my great-grandmother when I was 19 because she was worried about me as I commuted in to Seattle to go to school in an old car.

My husband and I got married on her 88th birthday. I will forever remember her birthday on our wedding anniversary. We sang “Happy Birthday” to her at our wedding reception and I could tell she was tickled with the attention.

It is a very special blessing to have known my great-grandmother for nearly 32 years.