Cauliflower

Alright, so this is a LITTLE embarrassing, but I have to tell it.....

I just got in a wrestling match with a head of cauliflower.

I guess I have never bought a head of cauliflower. I usually buy the cut up stuff. So here I am, after unwrapping the thing...trying to figure out how to tear it apart....I couldnt DO it! I was getting so frustrated. I finally got a knife and started chopping it apart! Did I get a crazy one, or are they ALL like that???

Friends....

I'm sitting here postponing the sketching I must get done tonight....and find myself more interested in RE-reading blogs from today....I want to send a shout out to the girls and a big ole thanks for being such great friends. You mean so much to me- always give me a laugh, inspiration, wisdom, make me think....Im so lucky.

Love you girls.

Welcome, 2009!

I honestly welcome 2009. Though I am not quite sure where all of 2008 went, I welcome the chance to clear the proverbial slate. Resolutions? Not so much. I did sign up for a gym closer to the house, though, that has lots of included classes that I would love.

Christmas decorations are still up at our house. They will stay up until I feel guilty about not taking them down. I love the cozy feeling that our house has at Christmas time. We hosted the Ondo family on Christmas Eve. Grant's parents, brother's family and sister were at our house for the entire second half the day. Ben's four kids (Noah 7, Jacob 5, Sarah 3 and Caleb 1) love to make the 'really long' car ride out here. Jacob inquisitively asked at lunch where OUR kids went when they come over..... hmmm....how to answer THAT one. Grant made the mistake of saying, "we lock them in the basement." Jake immediately wanted to know how to get to the basement we don't have. The conversation that followed was fairly amusing. Here are some of the yummy desserts I made (if you believe that you don't know me very well)......

Christmas with my family is getting less insane and more special every year. We snapped a pic of all of us below. See if you can guess who is who. We have a new cousin this year, Kira. We will have a new addition next year. My cousin and his wife are due in the Spring.

The club volleyball season has begun and our weekends will now be littered with our choice of tournaments with three sisters now playing. I got my first 8 o'clock Saturday phone from my dad this weekend with info on the days' events. Grant and I really enjoy watching them mature in their skill sets.

One more thing....I'm sad to say that the car I have had for six years has.....snapped. Lon got rear ended a week before Christmas and was never the same. The control arm broke a week and a half ago and FORCED us to upgrade. :) I found out today that they are totalling the car and I have to go say my good byes tomorrow. I love the new car. Its the car I have been drooling over for a few years, now. I almost feel like I have had it for longer because I have day dreamed about driving it.

Anyone have any genius ideas of how to make blogging more of a habit? I can not blame the Christmas season for my lack of blogs since June :)

Lastly is a part of my latest artistic endeavor....on a bathroom door for a friend who REALLY misses Paris.

the little bug......

Spent some time playing with Ry and Lacey last night at April's...we played the drawing game where each of us took turns drawing/adding on a small part....they are so funny. I wish I would have taken one of the drawings home. Here's a pic of the little bug.

Something is wrong with this picture.....

This is what Grant and I saw while walking our dinner off last night......I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

We had a great weekend. Busy as usual, but great. I made the flourless chocolate cake recipe from Trish today. It probably could have baked a few minutes longer, but I have a fear of burning things. When I tried to pry it loose from the round pake pan, I obviously didn't reach the center, because what came out was a giant chocolate donut. Tasted yummy though!

Folding Fabric

I have already established that I am not the best blogger. It seems (as I read other blogs) that my life is just too boring. Does anyone want to know that the highlight of my yesterday was folding fabric pieces after washing and drying them? I love to fold. I love matching up corners. Most of all, I love the way a clean stack of multicolored fabrics look. I would take it apart and wrinkle them all up, just to fold them again. Miranda, this picture is for you.


We spend Father's Day Sunday with Grant's family (minus Robyn and the kids, who were visiting Robyn's parents for the week). Grant and his two Sibs went to see an "Ondo sibling" movie. You know, the ones that I wouldnt be caught in the theatre watching. Last one I went to I fell asleep. I don't even remember the title!!!

This weekend I am working and then we are celebrating Father's Day with my family in Downers. Holly and Dan got the apartment they wanted in downtown Downers Grove!!! We are very happy that they will be moving back from Madison in a few weeks. Dan started his job in Chicago on June 9th, while Holly is packing up their stuff and making moving arrangements in WI. She has had one of our siblings up there every week so she doesnt have to be alone. Thank goodness for summer break! G and I will go up there in a few weeks to help them load the truck to make their treck back to the land of safe drivers.

A few weekends ago, we had our girls weekend (day) down in Bloomington. We got up at the crack of raining dawn to watch Leann in the TriShark Triathalon. My first triathalon watching experience was spent trudging through goopy mud. Trish got the worst of it though.....

Leann did great. I thought watching might encourage me to work out more often. What it did do is justify why I dont ride a bike (many bikers got road rash as they literally skidded into the transition point).

We had a great lunch with the girls and Chad. Got to meet Logan, Angie's first little one. Everyone say it with me.....Awwwwww.Also, Meghan and Rob were married June 14th in Geneva. Sister Emily graduated High School and Sister Anna graduated Junior High. Congratulations!

I had my first endoscopy last week.....results were okay, some inflamation in parts of my stomach, but nothing critical. I will continue to take a medication that reduced the acid in my stomach. I was loopy for a few hours afterward, obsessed with the yogurt (that I dont remember eating....), asked about my medication three times and dont remember getting dressed or leaving the hospital in a wheelchair.

Long time, no blog

A month and a half wrap up.....here we go....

Got sick on my birthday to start March. Literally in bed for a few days...developed a sinus infection (what's being sick without a sinus infection??)....went on an antibiotic...and a month and a half later, I am finally getting most of the gunk out.

During the sicky phase, I got to celebrate my birthday a few times; the first with the rest of the March Marek birthdays, next with the Ondo's, then with Michelle and a few weeks later with Miranda!

Miranda and Holly came up to scrapbook for a day, which was fun and productive. I love to get friends together!! Miranda was up for that whole weekend and we got to spend time shopping, talking and sharing things that don't always come up over the phone.

What else? Grant and I got together with Holly and Dan, Eric and Diana, Meg and Rob.... I went to traffic school (got a ticket a few blocks from our house), and going through a slight modification in my job description.

Missed a trip out to see grandparents in California, but I will be out there soon, I promise! I love how they call to brag about the 83 degree weather when they KNOW it's 30 here!!
I did another mural....I have always wanted to do a beach!

That's all for now. Looking forward to the April birthday party~