Game Night

We have this about once a month or so. That's just how it works out. It typically starts with me, Ronnie, Wendy, Marc & Ryan. We then make a few phone calls and add a few more to the mix. Lately Woody & JB have been coming over as well. Game night starts after Paige goes to bed at 7:45. We tuck her in, then bring out the board games. Mostly we have trivia games. OK, pretty much all we have is trivia games & Star Wars Monopoly.

Most games now we play in teams since there are so many of us. When we deal with topics from the 80's we let Woody, Ryan & JB all be on 1 team. After all, only JB was born before the 80's. Seems only fair. Depending on how long each one takes we may play more than 1. When we play Trivial Pursuit we almost always start everyone with the orange wedge. None of us are sports people.

Currently our game nights include:
Star Wars Trivial Pursuit
80's Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture
Scene It Marvel Comics
For The Record 80's & 90's Edition
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

We didn't like the rules for 5th grader, so we changed them to make the game more fun & competitive. Trust me, after a few drinks this one is a lot of fun.

Our evening does start in the kitchen where everyone makes the drink of their choice. We all grab a snack or 2, then head to the living room. We huddle around the coffee table on our choice of chair. I drag my rocker over. Wendy likes to sit on a big workout ball. Ronnie likes the black slingback chair, if he can get the cat out of it.

We usually play for several hours then call it a night. A fun evening overall. Not your typical go out and have a good time, but definitely fun. People are welcome to bring their games over for us to inspect and say yes or no to.

Just a tip: If we invite you over for game night, we'll kick you butt so be ready. Ronnie is always on my team. He can quote Star Wars line for line, knows more music trivia than this old DJ, and Marvel Comics? He knows the answer before you finish asking the question. He rocks!

Our Kitchen Do Over

Our kitchen is on the small side. It's very functional except for 1 thing: the fridge. It's next to the windows, so you can't open the door all the way. Basically to get the gallon of milk from the back you have to be a contortionist. Here's the before picture.


Yes, it's from Paige's birthday party this year.

As you can see, the fridge is against the wall. The space under the microwave is part of our pantry area. In front of the fridge is a steel table and next to that a white, very small pantry.

Being tired of trying to get into your fridge makes you do weird things. We moved it. It's now where the white pantry used to be. (This has been moved into the bedroom for my craft storage area). Where the fridge used to be is now a pantry. We got 4 of these steel shelves from Lowe's and put them together into 1 shelving system.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=71485-80752-LO346&lpage=none Our finished product:

Add to that an extension for the water line, and we have a fully function fridge next to our door! A lot of people have their fridge next to their back door, right? It's so much easier to use now that I don't care that it looks a little funky.The white pantry that used to be there makes a great storage for my craft stuff. I had been looking for something for months. I wanted to be able to gather my supplies into 1 main area, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money to do it. I was being rather picky because it also needed to close. With all of the scissors and things I didn't want Paige to be able to get into it. This worked perfect!
This isn't all of my supplies. But, it is everything I didn't already have stored in a Rubbermaid container. For me that was close enough. Bonus? It fit perfectly between my dresser and the wall!

So, we rearranged our kitchen and I got a craft storage area all for about $200. Not bad.

Do I really look like this?

Sunday evening, after bath, Paige comes out of our bedroom wearing my black heels. She's holding her pink phone with her baby in one hand and her purse in the other. She sits down at her table and takes the baby's bottle out of her purse. She then puts the phone to her ear and talks while feeding the baby. Daddy asks her what she's doing. Her reply? "I Mommy!"

Mommy's disclaimer: Yes, I have a pink phone. No, I DO NOT have a black & white animal print purse!

Do you salt?

We all have those recipes that call for salt and pepper to taste. Some people have salt and pepper shakers and stand there over the pot trying to add just the right amount. Too much salt, add more pepper, nope, still not right. Let's try adding more of this.

We have a traditional salt and pepper shaker. One is a Corona Bottle the other is a Rolling Rock, I think. They sit by the stove and mostly collect dust. For everyday use, we have this.

It's a tub of salt and pepper. Just take off the top and throw in a pinch. After about a week you get used to just how much "to taste" is.

We mix ours with Kosher salt and a table ground pepper. Not the super fine ground pepper, but a courser pepper. Makes it easier to pinch and toss in a pot. The key is to mix your salt & pepper to a consistency that you like. Ours is heavier on pepper than you would find in most houses probably.

It's super easy to do. Just grab a Ziploc container to start. (Ours is actually from leftover egg drop soup.) Start pouring in a bit of salt and pepper. Cover the container and blend it. Take off the container and add more until you have a mix you can live with.

Paige and Grumpy

Let me start by saying I left my camera at home today. Bad Mommy. Paige and I went to an end of the season crawfish boil today. It was at my cousin Nancy's house, which is across the street from my parents house. Of course we started by going over to see Grammy and Grumpy. (Nancy is also one of Paige's Godmothers, for the record.) When it was time to head over we just all walked across the street. Grumpy was coming down the wheelchair ramp and Paige was all ready to jump in his lap for a ride. When we finally let her crawl up in his lap she got a HUGE grin on her face.

Grumpy and Paige made it across the street just fine. (A small miracle in itself. For the uninitiated, my family live out in the country, not in a subdivision. Their road is like the Indy 500 for most drivers and is very curvy.) Once we got into Nanny Ann's backyard, Paige had to be close to her Grumpy. Grumpy got his afternoon coffee, Paige had to have some too. It went on like that for most of the afternoon. She even tucked her napkin into her shirt like he does.

We got ready to leave at the same time as my parents. They wheeled on out to the front yard while we said our bye-byes to Paw Paw and Aunt Glenny. Paige almost had a melt-down. She thought her Grumpy was leaving without her. OH THE HORRORS! I had to convince her that wasn't happening. We met on the other side of the obstacle course known as the cars. (Her section is a 10 acre yard, yet all the cars are clustered in one spot by the house.) Once on the other side I sat Paige in Grumpy's lap. She was perfectly content to ride back across the street on her Grumpy. Getting her out of his lap and into the car was much easier than I expected it to be. Maybe next time I'll remember the camera since they are just so cute together.

Kitty Update

I think our cats will need therapy. Lots and lots of therapy. Paige is so rough with them. The rule is she can only hold them on the couch. No problem for Paige. She just grabs a kitty and heads to the couch. No matter how many times we explain that she has to sit on the couch first she still does the same thing. She also likes to hit and kick the cats. Not that she actually connects with the cat, but it's the principle of the thing. She has spent more time sitting in her room than ever.

All of that being said, R2 is a freak. The rougher she is with him the more he purrs! He loves all of the attention from her. She knows that purring means the cat is happy, which makes it harder to get her to stop. His eyes are weird too. When I was a kid I had a cat named Smart Oyster (I don't know, I was 3.) Smart Oyster had 1 blue eye and 1 green eye. After about 2 or 3 days of having the cats Ronnie told me that R2's eyes were blue and green. I thought he meant like Smart Oyster. Nope. R2's left eye is half blue, half green, right down the middle. Like, looking at his left eye the left side is blue, the right side is green. I've tried to get a picture but it hasn't worked. I'll keep trying.

If the kittens survive Paige, they may not survive me. They like to sleep with me. That wouldn't be a problem if they actually slept. They like to run around the bed. The more I throw them off the bed the more they think it's a game. They do finally settle down to sleep about 4 am. Usually on top of my head. Both of them, on top of my head. I haven't slept well in over a week, and I'm cranky! Last night was the worst. They woke me up about every hour playing in the bed.

After all is said and done therapy for the cats should be pretty cheap. I can get a bag of organic catnip for about $5. Apply some liberally to their favorite areas, and we should be good to go.

Mommy is a big girl now

We're slowly potty training Paige. As she shows an interest, we use the potty. As she loses interest, we stop. Yesterday morning she was in rare Paige from.

From the other end of the house I hear: "Where Mommy?"

Damn, busted. "Mommy's in the bathroom."

She comes running into the bathroom at full speed and almost wipes out on the vanity.

"Mommy potty?"

"Yes, Mommy potty."

"Good Mommy! Mommy a big girl now, wear big girl panties." She says the last as she does the pee-pee in the potty dance.

It's official. At age 35 Mommy is now a big girl. And, I can wear big girl panties. Won't Grammy be so proud!