Improv in the kitchen

If there is one thing I have learned from B, it's to work with what you have. Since he is gone I knew it was time to have some meals that he doesn't care for. Unfortunately, I was out of cream of mushroom soup to make tuna casserole. We had every other cream of soup out there but no mushroom. We headed off for groceries this weekend with it on our list, check!

I also must admit that I am now coveting an electrolux stove now that boils water in one minute. Oh how that would cut my cooking time. So I am getting everything all ready tonight and realize I bought two cans of cream of chicken & mushroom. I said heck with it and tossed it into my dish and oh how it was yummy. Willa and I ate like we hadn't had a meal in days. But then again, we have never been gals to turn away a good noodle dish. I made it with shells and she just loves those. I have a blast watching her use her spoon every day to eat her yogurt and applesauce. She is still pretty messy but really does a good job getting it into her mouth. Most of the mess comes from when she starts running out and resorts to using her hands.

A gal at work loves to bake and the office is now reaping the rewards of her hard work. She brought in candy today and one of the kinds was something I attempted to make for Willa's party. Hers turned out correctly and I now know the secret. We stopped off to get rolos tonight and commenced making rolo/pecan/pretzel melts. Now I just have peanut clusters and butterscotch krunchies to make and my daycare gifts will be complete.

The little chicky made herself a little palette tonight when she got her milk. It was so cute to see her pull blankets down and arrange them how she wanted. I let her do that for a while and then off to bed she went. Have I mentioned how nice it is now that she lets us know when she is ready for bed? Oh my gosh it is so nice, no more screaming fits and throwing things. Lately she has been getting tired around eight and then sleeps until 6:30 and 7. That's not so bad when B is home, but when its just me I have to do a little finagling to get us both out the door.

This morning I was ready at 7 but we still didn't get out the door until 7:40. I shoveled the walk, made my lunch, and got her ready but we were just so slow. Sadly, it was the morning we had a big A&A webinar that started at 8 that I thought was at 8:30. 10th hadn't been plowed this morning and it was a rough go getting to daycare and then the office. I was so worried we were going to keep sliding through stop lights even though it seemed like I was barely moving.

I only have one present left to wrap. I am kind of excited about my semi-homemade Christmas gifts and I hope everyone likes them.

Analytical

So I started this blog so I could jot down the things I don't want to forget and I have a few stories that have just cracked me up about the little chicka.

So the aforementioned tree has received a lot of attention from her and I have the glittered ball ornaments that struck her fancy right off the bat. She maneuvered one off and then a second. You know, one for each hand, but then she spotted another one that she wanted. Of course she couldn't put down the two she was holding for fear that mom would take them. (I could see her little wheels turning and it was just way to sweet to tell her no). So with just her two little pointer fingers she finagled that 3rd ball off the tree.

This morning she woke up around 3 and couldn't put herself back to sleep. I went to pick her up and she wailed for her elephant pillow. We grabbed it and headed to the couch thinking she would lay on me and fall back asleep. Oh no, she squirmed until she was next to me and then squirmed some more as she worked her pillow out from under. She plopped it on my pillow, gave it a fluff, and rested her little head right down. It was just precious.

She has taken up coloring and despite a few no, no, no's about putting them in her mouth she does pretty good. She grabs a notebook and writes a little, turns the page, and so on and so on. She even holds the crayons "right," just like Mrs. Briggs taught us in 3rd grade. Sometimes she even plops down on her belly to color her coloring book. It just amazes me how quick she is becoming a little person.

The tree came down again and has now been moved to the dining room. We spent most of Friday night cleaning up and moving things around getting ready for the new windows to go in, which brings me to the next story.....

I bought this large martini glass, shamrock decorated, St. Patty's day thing a few years ago at Michael's and it has clear glass rocks and some yellow and green dragon tear rocks in it. As I was in the office hiding Christmas presents out of the way she sat on the floor and showed her first anal accountant tendency. She went through all those rocks removing all the clear ones and put them in a pile on the floor. It was fascinating to just watch go through and pick them out one by one. I am not lying when I say you can tell when she is focusing on something she really wants.

But alas, the last window just went in and the kiddo is waking up.

Lessons Learned

This has been a week of learning for me. About myself, my family, and my child.

My work spouse put eloquently this morning that sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel to get what you want. More importantly, I stood up for my ethics and didn't get pushed around. Our windows saga/drama continued this week when we were told we might not get them installed until after the new year. Being an accountant I am up-to-date (usually) on the tax laws especially on credits which I will be using. For those not so in the know, the federal energy credit expires on December 31st. That means everything must be installed. Mr. Window Salesman seems to think people can just fudge things, which they could, but accountants are held to a higher standard and I am not risking my one day license to fudge on a tax credit. People don't realize how much the IRS is looking at credits and deductions these days. With all the electronic filing now, W-2's and 1099's are easing to match up, its all the other stuff they look into now. There were so many people audited over the home buyers credit because of people filing fraudulent returns. But I digress, despite Mr. Windows Salesman contracting with installers that won't call him back, he found me a new one and the windows are going in on Saturday.

Which means occupying a toddler all day while dealing with that and no hubby around to help. Yay for a TDY. But we are going to hydrate and press on.

My second lesson of the week means I may have to admit the hubby was right. I am putting it in print and will wait for the gloating to commence upon him reading this. T0ddler + tree + force = tree on the ground = breaking plastic. I turned my back to hang up my coat and crash Charlie Brown came tumbling down. Child was good, but one of the ornaments met a tragic end.

My third lesson also occurred tonight while making dinner. Our dear dare-devil child thought it would be a good idea to stand up in her high chair. It continues to amaze me how fast she can move when she wants too. I should have strapped her in to begin with, but usually she just hangs out munching on her snack chatting with the eagerly awaiting dogs.

Her Christmas program at daycare was tonight as well. It was really cute, the kids acted out Twas' the Night Before Christmas and then sang some carols. Willa joined in at the end for some singing and bell ringing. She nailed her part. Sadly, the program started at 7 and bedtime has crept to 8 so we booked it out of there before Miss Cranky pants lost it. It has been so funny, when she is ready for bed she puts her hand over her head and waves bye bye. That usually means she happens about 5 minutes before she crashes. It has been great for us though, no more fighting bedtime.

New words this week are Stop, Tay Tay, and I swear this morning she said Where's dada? No way, Bosco and good girl continue to be favorites. Visitors arrive next week and hopefully the house is all put back together and I can get it ready in time for Saturday morning.

Relive

http://labrisaphotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Jackie/15039046_Sodu5#1123407262_i9GTA

JCF's wedding pics were posted last night and I may have relived all the hilarious moments we had all day. I looked like a goof in several pictures but I sure had a good time. Thanks again Dr. JCF and Ranger Fry for including me in your day and remembering JP & me on your honeymoon. Porta-potty= FAIL; Tree-hugging=EPIC.

The Amazing Race

Two posts in one day! ::Gasp! But this was such an amazing day and I couldn't wait to share. In May our shareholders did an amazing race on their retreat and when they came back to share we wanted to do it too. We decided instead of donating our blue jean Friday money every month we would pool it so we could do something at the end of the year and we also decided to forgo our Christmas party and use the money to give back. Luckily for us, our CFO who organized the first Amazing Race is in our office so she helped coordinate this one.

So today 9 teams visited over 19 organizations giving funds, shopping wish lists, participating in activities and all while having a wonderful time. My team went to the Senior Center and did an exercise/bone strengthening class that was truly phenomenal. I think I am going to have lady come do a class in our office. Our second task was to buy gift cards for kids in group homes who are also one of my favorite audit clients. They use cards to give the kids when they go "home" for the holidays to make sure they get a meal. Fast food may not be the best but it is better than nothing. We were also able to bless them with the copy machine we replaced today. We received our final clue and it was $50 to spend how we wished. We gave $20 to the young man we met in the group home and he was so touched, but not as much as we were to meet him. We took our remaining $30 to buy cat litter and cat and dog food for the animal shelter. (Don't worry dad, we bought Fresh Step!!!! for $7.96!)

Several of our groups were able to negotiate deals with the stores they bought from. One restaurant we went to wished he had known we were coming in and he would have had gift certificates that were special to his store instead of franchise cards that he would have donated so we could spend more in other places. He told us if we do it again to let him know so he could help out too. We all gathered back at the office for dessert and to share all of our stories. It was totally a success and it sounds like we want to do something in the summer time again. As an extra surprise 4 of us won the prize of getting an additional $75 to donate to the group of our choice. I was very excited to be one of those people. You can bet that I am going to direct my funds to some more gift cards for those kids.

The non-profit organizations in the area do such wonderful work for so little and there were a few tears shed by co-workers today. It may be the season of giving, but today really opened our eyes to the needs of these groups throughout the year when people aren't thinking about these groups and the people they serve.

Miss Independent

Willa has finally stopped screaming when I drop her off at daycare and I think we are thankful for that. Now she thinks she is big stuff because after I take her coat off she walks to where she is supposed to go. Today she went over to the "Big Kid" side and they lifted her over to hang out before breakfast. Even at home she wants to do so many things by herself and she has been helping me get her dressed. It just cracks me up.

Today at work, we are doing a giving Extravaganza and I am so excited. I will post more afterwards.