Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

I had the lunch of champions today. Yup, a PB&J sandwich. (Or, as my youngest brother used to call it, PB&JJ. Why? I don't know. In fact, he may well still call it that. I haven't seen him in almost two years. So I'll have to get back to you on that.) Anyway, we bought grape jelly yesterday, along with some more fabulously smushy white bread. (Remember how I said I'm all about cheap, but not necessarily healthy? Yep. White is smushy, and that's what DH and I wanted.)
Now, my favorite kind of jelly is that Smucker's Strawberry Preservatives stuff. The stuff with big ol' globs of real, live, yummy strawberries in it. My Opa introduced me to this gooey goodness. At least, that's my earliest memory of it. (If he didn't, and someone else who may or may not read this blog did, I apologize.) However, they didn't have that at Choi's. In fact, their jelly selection was rather disappointing yesterday. But we settled on grape.

You know what else is good? Fluff.
Yep. Good stuff. I did not take that picture, I found it and copied it, but I do love the paper plate on the basket. Y'all remember those?? Do people still do that?!!? Anyway, yes, fluff..... how I love thee. I had some late last year. It was a happy time. Until the container was empty.

Right this moment, however, my daughter and I are enjoying candy necklaces that Ryan brought home from the mall. I gave Max her own, to see what she would do. And it's a good thing I did, because her's is all gross and slobbery now. And mine isn't. She's just lying on the couch next to me, sucking away. Occasionally she'll stop and wave it around in the air. Then it's back to sucking and gnawing. Boy, is she going to be mad when we take it away in a little while.

A few random thoughts

I got this idea from another blog. This one, in fact. Although I will say that earlier today I was thinking about just writing up a random list of stuff for the day. Because I can. So here are a few random things from me, right this second.

1) I promised myself I'd take a shower at 10 and go to bed. It's 10:19, and I'm typing this.
2) I am addicted to giveaways in blog land.
3) I haven't won anything from aforementioned giveaways, but I did just start last week.
4) Surprisingly, my house is relatively neat and clean. Ryan did help pick up toys and books, though, so I can't take all the credit.
5) Well, I COULD take all the credit, but considering he went out and got me what I REALLY REALLY wanted for dinner, I won't.
6) Max had a great day. She destroyed the house by "playing," but she was happy. So who cares.
7) She loves to clap now. It's so stinkin cute. And if we say "clap, clap, clap" she'll keep going.
8) She likes to "dance" to music. This dancing is, at this point, just waving her arms and sometimes shaking her head. But the kid can't walk yet, so give her a break.
9) Until recently, said dancing would only happen to theme songs on TV. I haven't told my mom that yet. She dislikes TV. But now Max will dance to music she hears other places.
10) My eyes hurt. It's been a busy day.
11) I'm hungry. I wish I had some leftovers from dinner. I would eat them right now.

More cool giveaways!

Sorry I haven't done a "real" post in a while. Been busy with getting ready for baby shower for a friend, taking care of Max, taking care of the house, entering more cool giveaways, and, of course, taking care of Max. I already said that? Darn right.

Crockpot Giveaway

Another new blog I came across is having a Mod Mum Baby Sling contest! So many cute patterns, so little time!! I'm excited about this giveaway! Check it out here:
thearmywife

Another cool giveaway!!

Mommies with Cents is hosting another amazing giveaway!! It's for a TON of cool looking Crayola items. Can you imagine the fun Max would have with some of this stuff?? Check it out!
Crayola Giveaway

And yet another cool shoe giveaway! For Max, not me... but do you know how expensive baby and children's shoes are!?!? It's outrageous! It would so great to win a pair of SeeKaiRun shoes, let me tell you that!
Shoes Giveaway!

I've gotten addicted...

... to GiveAways!! I keep stumbling upon great website and blogs that are hosting some amazing giveaways! It's been so much fun to enter!

Here are some that I'm dying to win:

[In]Place System by Peter Walsh

Nuby Natural Touch Pack

Belli Essentials Kit

Totally Toddler

Vincent Shoes

Happy 2nd Easter!

Yep, 2nd Easter is a holiday down here. Not bad, huh? We have 2nd Christmas, too. It rocks. Not the point. The point is that today was a holiday, along with last Friday and yesterday. Saturday we went swimming, which was lots of fun. We have this blow up thing with a seat in it, and Max loved sitting in it and kicking around. She had a great time. It even worked to put her in the baby pool and she could sort of walk around on her own. Well, she could move, but not really control where she was going. But she liked it.

Easter Sunday was nice- we were all able to go to church, and we had a bunch of friends over for a delicious lunch afterwards.
Lots of fun, lots of fun. And ham. Lots and lots of ham. I love ham. And would you believe that I did not take a picture of it?!?! I just realized that. My first time baking a ham, and it was delicious. And I didn't take any pictures. Sigh.

This morning we went to an Easter brunch, complete with games and an egg hunt. Hung out with more friends, ate more yummy food.

More Zoo

We went to the zoo with some friends yesterday, and had an absolute blast! It was a lot cooler than the first time, and we got to enjoy the animals more. Max had a great time, and she loved petting a goat. (Sheep? I'm not sure...)
I actually remembered to take more pictures this time. =) We watched the otter for a long time, too, but he was too busy battling a rock to notice. Oh, and we got to see the really cool monkey exhibit where they have their own island with trees, a hut, and rope swings to play on. They were all over the place, and a couple of them even came down to the waters' edge to look at the kids I was with.

Let's see.... I've been working on a baby shower for a friend of mine down here, and that's been a lot of fun. Planning games, food, making invitations, etc. I found so many fun games, it was tempting to extend the time of the shower just to fit more in. =) But I won't.

Meals have been haphazard still. Last night I made a dish that involved cream of chicken soup, vegetables, a box of Stovetop Stuffing, chicken, and cheese. I used too many vegetables. But it was still really, really, really good. And next time I think I will add some bread and seasonings to the stuffing mix to stretch that, since I love stuffing so very, very much.

Whatchagot Chili

So I was doing great on that whole weekly menu planning thing. Going great guns, finding new blogs, new recipes, new inspiration. Then I got pregnant. And thinking about food unless it was absolutely necessary went out the window. We're going on week 3, I believe, with no set plan. We're still eating, it's just lots of hits or misses.

Tonight I made Whatchagot Chili. Never heard of it? Good, cuz I invented it. With a little bit of inspiration from the CrockPot lady, Stephanie, and lots of thawing of ingredients, I created an amazing Chili. It was yum-o. Why did I call it "Whatchagot Chili?" Because I couldn't call it "Whatchagot Stew", that name is taken, and I had added chili powder. Which makes it Chili.

(Never read Patrick McManus? Never even HEARD of him? I'm not sure we can be friends any more. He is a HYSTERICAL author. Okay, his older books are great, anyway. I don't like his newer ones. I tried, I really did. But I'd rather read about the Troll, and all of the other loveable people in his books, whose names escape me right now. But they're funny. Really, really funny.)

Back to the Chili of which I am so proud. I thawed:
- 2 bags of beans (equal to 2 can of beans)
- 2 cups of chicken broth
- less than one big can of spagetti sauce. I don't know how much. Just that we freeze whatever we don't use out of a big can. =)

Threw it all in a big pot, and added:
- a bunch of chopped up tomatoes
- some oregano
- some basil
- some chili powder
- some garlic powder
- some sugar
- a bay leaf, for good measure.

After it simmered and all for a while, I broke up some spagetti noodles and tossed those in.

It was really yummy. We added some cheese and sour cream. =) I think that, to date, it is the cheapest meal I've ever made. Nice.
BTW- it really only made enough for one meal for 2 adults.

Playing Catch Up

Hello my loyal blog readers/followers! (If there are any of you out there, that is...) Sorry I've been MIA for so long... I lost all motivation here for a while. But I'm back! Let's see, since I last posted, I announced that DH and I are expecting a younger sibling for Max, Max and I went to the Zoo, we had an international food fair at school, I had a birthday, and I was able to purchase Caffeine Free Coke. Happiness in a can.

So, in the order in which they occurred:
Max and I went to the Paramaribo Zoo with the 3/4 class and Kindergarten from school. It was warm. Really warm. Max complained about the stroller a bit, but she enjoyed looking at the active animals. Her favorites were the otter and the donkeys. However, I apparently didn't get any pictures of the donkeys. So here is a toucan, and otter, and 5 Caimen. =)

Every year the school hosts an International Food Fair, and all the nationalities represented at school provide some ethnic dishes. It's always soooooooo good. This year was no exception. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating to take pictures of the food or the displays. I apologize.

And, every year I have a birthday. Like clockwork. Except I decided I'm stopping at 29. So once I hit that, I'm not getting any older. I made myself an Angelfood Cake. Which I was okay with because I knew there was no way Ryan would want to. It was my first time making one, but I did pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. It wasn't as fluffy as it should have been, but I had absolute fits folding in the flour/sugar mixture. Guess I'll have to keep practicing.

And the caffeine free Coke.... ahhh.... I had been asking the guys at the most up-to-date grocery store here to get some in for me and some friends of mine. So they FINALLY did. I bought 10 cans. My friends were able to snag 6. They went back the same evening that the Coke was stocked, and it was all gone. Take that, managers! I told 'em that if they brought it in, it would get bought!!! =)