Bloggie!!

My husband gave me the COOLEST thing for Christmas. I didn't ask for it and I had no idea I would be the recipient of such a thoughtful present. Meet Bloggie!It is a pocket HD camcorder :) He told me that I should turn my BLOG into a VLOG and just post video entries. I can now capture memories in little video snippets.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but truly a video is worth a million. Here are a couple from Christmas.

You can see from this video that there is no flash or lighting, so if you are in a dark room...well things are a bit dark. It can take photos while you are in the middle of recording a video too... pretty sweet. But like I said, without a flash it is best used in lots-O-light.

I also learned that taking the videos horizontal (instead of vertical like I did above) makes for a much better video.

I am trying to figure out if there is a better way to save and store videos than on youtube. Chuck bought me an external hard drive with lots of memory but I feel like I should back them up somewhere.

I am also wondering if anyone has video software they really enjoy? Right now I just use Picasa because it lets me up load to Youtube easily.

Many more videos to come.

Ps... I LOVE being on break from school!

28

I bought Fiona twin baby dolls for Christmas and then didn't even wrap them and just gave them too her. She kept talking to them in the box and I couldn't resist.

I was reminded that dolls have the delightful smell of baby powder infused into their plastic little heads and bodies. Ahhhhhh that new doll smell :)

If you didn't already know, December 23rd is my 28th birthday. I will wake up in the morning and eat my traditional sausage egg and cheese muffin sandwich and then I am going out to lunch with my mommies to Cossetta's to enjoy an artichoke salad. Mmmmm Mmmmm good.

Then I get to spend lots of quality time with my hubby.

OH Tannenbaum!

Last night our Christmas tree was officially set up in our living room.Which was a great accomplishment because it had been UN-officially set up for a few weeks.

My parents let us borrow their fake tree (which I really enjoy, I am not a fan of the mess or disposal of real ones). I asked for them to bring it over after Thanksgiving.

My Dad did, but we quickly realized that there was no tree stand. So the next day I went to Walmart to pick one up.

I got home with it excited to set the tree up, BUT it quickly became apparent that something else was missing.

I put the angel on and she was starring me right in the face.

I thought... I remember her being a little higher up than this, then Chuck pointed out there there was a whole section of the tree missing. Which after taking a step back was quite apparent.

We kept the tree like this in the living room for about a week until my parent found the missing section and the tree stand.

Much better!!! I love decorating for Christmas... can you see that I wrapped my air conditioner in the background like a present. :)

IN OTHER NEWS...

Fiona is sick, and not sleeping well. It's been a rough last couple of days... doesn't she know it's finals?!?! Kidding. We have been to urgent care and the regular doctor. She has red ears and a red throat but they said just to ride it out. Which is probably best, cuz we don't want to be pumping antibiotics into her unless it is necessary.

I went to get her from crying at 3:00am last night and when I picked her up she felt like a little hot potato. Her fever was 102.3 and she heartily puked all over me twice.

Yet, like the typical mom I did not clean myself up, but sat with her, got her medicine, and monitored her fever till it broke. I tried to sleep on her crib mattress with her (I pulled it out of the crib of course) and now I know that I am TOO BIG to sleep on a crib mattress next to a baby. BUT when you are sleep deprived you can fall asleep almost anywhere in any position.

And so I slept on a crib mattress, next to Fiona with my legs up on one of her toys.

And for some reason I found it necessary to BLOG this morning covered in dry baby puke.

Time to wash up:)

Are you UP for the challenge?

Every once in awhile I find an odd satisfaction in my cupboards being bare. Not because I don't enjoy eating... we all know I do! I like the challenge of having to dig into my food storage and seeing what kind of meals I can come up with.

This morning I awoke to the sound of metal scraping cement as the gas station next door plowed their lot at about 5:30 a.m. which also woke Fiona up, so I fed her and put her back to bed.

I thought I would be a sweet wifey and make my hubby something to eat before he had to shovel the entire apartment complex sidewalks and leave for work. I decided to make Banana muffins as I have a freezer stocked with old Nasty Nanas. My favorite recipe is an prize winner from Better Home and Gardens. It has flaxseed in it, and boy do I love flaxseed :)

The recipe also calls for Wheat flour... which in my food storage wheat is not ground into flour and so I found myself grinding wheat at 6:00 a.m. Then I realized the recipe called for applesauce which I also did not have, but I had some old withering apples that were being neglected, so I put them in the steamer basket, got out my food processor, and made applesauce.

I put them in the oven to bake and heard Chuck hit the shower... and since I was feeling so productive already I packed his lunch and then slapped on some boots and went and started shoveling the sidewalks.

I loved seeing the expression on Chucks face when he emerged from the shower to find that I had woken up early, ground wheat, made applesauce, baked muffins, packed his lunch and shoveled all before 7:00 a.m. Then we sat down and enjoyed a warm muffin before work. There is something very satisfying about impressing my husband... I like seeing him smile.

Who needs energy drinks!?!?!

Here is the recipe from Rita Morrow of Leonard Michigan. ENJOY!

Here is one on it's way into my mouth

Flax, Banana and Raisin Chocolate Chip Muffins

3/4 cup flax seed meal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup mashed banana (I just use two)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk (I always use milk + lemon juice)

1/3 cup canola oil (or vegetable... whatevs)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup raisins chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or line muffin tin. Mix all the dry stuff (flax meal - salt) in a bowl and make a well in the center of mixture.

2. Combine wet stuff (egg - applesauce). And add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in raisins or chocolate chips.... I also add walnuts because they are good and good for you... Ya for Omega 3's!

3. Spoon batter into muffin tin and bake 20 -25 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.

4. Cool five minutes, and eat... because they are so good warm!

Hacked, Bushwacked and 12 Hours there and Back.

Maybe the title sums it up, but in case you want elaboration you can read on....

Fiona tried to help me fix it, but she just ended up making the font on my computer super small

HACKED!!! So somehow someway someone from Lagos Nigeria busted into my Facebook and Hotmail accounts. They proceeded to send an e-mail to everyone in my address book pleading for money because I had been mugged in Europe. Most people knew it was a hoax right away, yet I did get a few phone calls and e-mails of genuine concern.... Surprisingly enough even from my Dad who I was hanging out with the night before. The conversation went something like this.

"TACY?!" (In a concerned questioning voice)

"Hey Dad, what's up?"

"Where are you?"

"Not in Euorpe... Dad I was at your house last night."

"I know, I thought it sounded fishy."

Cousin Bowen "working' with Grandpa on his Barbie Laptop

SO just like that my Facebook Days are over for now because this hacker somehow set it up that everytime I change my password he takes if over again... Don't ask me how. AND Hotmail whom I have been going back and forth with, do not beleive that I actually own my e-mail account and will not let me recover the password or shut it down. So basically they are protecting a hacker.

Chuck working hard on his homework.

Do things like this every make you feel like bombing things. I really feel like I could bomb something right now. However that maybe more tied to the fact that I am completely and uterly...

BUSHWACKED...

My baby does not sleep through the night. I wake up with her like ever hour and a half to two hours. I am trying to sleep train.... wish me luck. I just wanna sleep!

This is a Sandwich I made and thought was photo-worthy... every time I see this picture I want a sandwich.

Diaper, Boots and Hat... I think I took like 15 pictures in this number. This is the only time I have actually been able to keep the boots on her feet.

12 HOURS THERE AND BACK

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Michigan with Chucks brother Anson. It was a great time, minus the 12 hour drive there and back in the middle of the night to try and keep Fiona from completely loosing it.

We were in Port Huron and we went to some river that leads into Lake Erie and watched huge boats go by. Oh and I went out for my first Black Friday every. I saved over $130!!! Whoot Whoot, I will most definitely do it again next year, what a riot.

I will have to say that I really enjoy adventures and spending time with family. That was probably the most time I've spent with my brother and sister and law and I really enjoy getting to know them better. Even if they keep their house at a frigid 66 degrees!! You guys are NUTS!

Karlene and Miss Clara Bell

Call Men

Cute Cute Cousins

Grandma provides a Holiday Bib

Anson's Happy Face

My first successful Action shot

Uncle Chuck and Clara Bell

Me and My Love

Fiona Stands!

Chuck realized today that he could prop Fiona up in the corner of a room to "stand" unassisted. It was an absolutely delightful sight, and made her really happy too.

She loves her independence.

You can tell how much a kick I got out of it by my initial squeal in this video.

The Lady Bug in her Natural Habitat

Fiona was a little lady bug for Halloween this year. These pictures are on Facebook, but I just can't get enough of them so I'm blogging them too. I went as Alice in Wonderland because I already had the costume and Chuck attempted to be Mr. Rogers but we couldn't get the last items of his costume together before the party. But on the bright side, he has a red zip up sweater that he can sport at Christmas time. We had a family photo taken by someone at church that I wanted to post but can't seem to save it onto my computer?!

My mom asked me to do a little photo shoot of Fiona with her camera. I think I took like 60 pictures, but here are just a couple of my favorites.

We went to the doctor yesterday... my little baby is now 29 inches long and 17 lbs 14 ounces. She is in the 99th percentile for height, that's one tall little bug :)