Last night I was looking through my computer for a file I have saved under "Kendall."

It had to do with a card that I was making for him to introduce him to the tooth fairy. He lost a tooth yesterday and said he was going to put the tooth under his pillow "just to find out" if possibly the tooth fairy was real.

We, the Millers, tell our kids the truth about the Tooth Fairy and Santa. We tell them that they are not real and that the parents are actually the Tooth Fairy and Santa.  (I don't lie to my kids about anything else, why would I lie to them about those things?  I realize I take a VERY strong and quite unpopular position on this and lots of my friends do let their kids live in the magic world of Santa and Tooth Fairies and Easter Bunnies until they get older and they do not consider this to be "lying" per se. Be that as it may, I am sticking to my guns on this one! I try to have grace and understanding for people who feel differently about this and I do tell my kids not to tell other people's kids and burst their bubbles for them.)

But, I decided to at least put something under Kendall's pillow since he was wanting to really know (once again) if just maybe the Tooth Fairy is real.  I made this card for him that said something like "Kendall, I know you have been wondering whether the Tooth Fairy is real or not?  Well, you are about to find out.  Please turn this card over to see what the Tooth Fairy looks like."  And then there was this picture on the back. 

I put 50 cents in the envelope. After he opened it, he informed me that the going rate of money for the Tooth Fairy to leave is $1.00, or even $5.00 (apparently, according to his friends at school). 

I wish that the Tooth Fairy was real, because I know he so badly wants it to be real.  I would love that see that sparkle in his eye and know that in his heart he is still young and un-jaded enough to believe in that kind of magic. And maybe that's why parents keep the charade as long as they can. For those reasons. 

Anyway, that was a whole OTHER subject that I should probably put in another post.  It was not supposed to be the point of this post.

As my computer searched through "My Documents" for files named "Kendall", it brought up this old "Word" document from April of 2005.  Kendall was 2 months old.

Apparently, we left him (and Derrick) with someone for the weekend while Jeremy and I went away. (Now I know a lot of you probably wouldn't even leave your 2 month old baby, but I did. And he survived. And I was probably happier because of the brief reprieve.)

And I wrote instructions for child care. LOTS of them. 

Here I am with my two little guys. Probably around April of 2005.

I can't even remember who was keeping our boys, but as Jeremy said "Apparently they didn't have any children of their own" judging from the extremely excessive information overload that I dumped upon them.

I got a kick out of it.  My over-explanations, my micro-management, my long-winded details, my "you could try this or that" and I also laughed over how many details of having little babies I have long since forgotten.

I thought you might get a good laugh out of it.

So...here is my instruction sheet for my 2 month old son, passed on to some unsuspecting babysitter. You can't say I wasn't helpful, can you?

Here he is at about 2 months old.  What a little pudgy cutie pie!

Instructions for Kendall

He just got his shots yesterday around noon, so be careful of his legs. If he seems to be running a fever at all, you could give him some infant Tylonol. (As opposed to hitting him over the head with a blunt object to put him out for a few hours. Or, giving him adult Tylonol!)

He’s been having some trouble with a stuffy nose, so there is Vix stuff and some nose drops that you could use if he is having trouble breathing.

He usually has a bottle every 3 - 5 hours during the day, just whenever he seems hungry. (Duh) You can mix the bottles up with 4 oz. and if he doesn’t drink it all, just throw the rest away. He burps best sitting on your lap. I usually just feed him however long he drinks and don’t try to burp him in between while he is eating because he does not do good at re-latching on to the bottle. He usually has trouble with choking on the nipple if you try to feed him more after he has drank the first time.

If he seems to have trouble going to the bathroom (#2), you could mix 2 tsp. of Karo (corn syrup) into one of his bottles. He sometimes has trouble with constipation.  (This is a really good trick, in case any of the rest of you who formula-feed their babies have trouble with this!)

He doesn’t have a set feeding schedule, but I try to make it hold out so that he eats after 8:30 PM for the last time, just so you don’t have to get up so often. (I guess if I am gone and sleeping peacefully in some hotel room, I really don't have to micro-manage how often the babysitter gets up with the baby, do I?  Well, apparently I do.) He usually sleeps for 5 - 6 hours the first stretch and then gets his diaper changed and has a bottle, and then he usually sleeps another 3 hours and has another bottle and goes back to sleep again. Depending on when you give him his last bottle of the night, you might have to get up with him twice. He usually settles down for the night by 9:30 or 10 PM. You could just make a floor nest for him (or put him in the bassinet) because he doesn’t roll yet.

He is usually very content, but sometimes in the evening (especially after he’s had his last bottle) he can be fussy and not want to settle down for bed. That doesn’t usually last for more than a 1/2 hour or so. Sometimes we give him that gas relief stuff and that seems to help. He seems to need to burp a lot, so almost any time he is fussy, I try burping him for a minute or two.  (Novel idea here!!If a baby is fussy, they might have gas or need to be burped.  I bet she was so grateful I mentioned this!)

He squeaks around a lot for a 1/2 hour or hour before he actually starts fussing for his bottle, so if you have him too close to you, that might disturb you. I usually wait until he starts to cry a little or fuss until I give him his bottle.  (Yup, wouldn't want him getting that bottle a half hour earlier than normal, would you?)

He doesn’t really like the pacifer too much, but it sometimes helps him settle down to go to sleep. Since you don’t have a swing, for naps you could just lay him on your bed and he might go to sleep by himself, or you could rock him. He doesn’t really have a nap schedule yet either.

If you go away (like to church) you could just take along water in a bottle and then take formula along and mix it up when you need it. He doesn’t like the bottle too cold. I would say to do it for 25 seconds or so in your microwave and then just test it on your wrist to make sure it is not too hot. (Seriously??  We're dictating how many seconds to microwave the bottle?)

Stuff I have in his bag: 4 or 5 outfits (the Tommy one is what I was thinking for church, but it doesn’t matter), a burp cloth, socks, jacket, hat, pampers, wipes, etc. In the diaper bag there is some of that gas relief stuff, pain reliever, an extra pacifer (in the front pocket) and pampers, wipes, etc. (if my babysitter wasn't capable of looking through the bag I had packed, I'm not certain I should have been leaving my kids with them! Hello, Audrey??)

Do you ever find yourself in a situation and you look around and feel like "What am I doing here and how did this happen?"

Now I realize some of these situations could be more serious than the one I found myself in this morning, but it still struck me that sometimes I get myself into less than ideal circumstances.

It is 8:10 AM. I am late for work.

I am standing in the bed of our pickup unloading 200 lbs. of junk by hand.  Wearing my strappy high-heeled black sandals, a nice pair of jeans, and a long black sweater with a perky little turquoise flower pinned to it.

The guy who usually helps unload while I stand off to the side and look pretty is apparently inside helping another customer.  I have no time to wait for him, so I heave big pieces of junk out of the back of the truck and into the deep pit where all things junky get thrown.  I try not to slip on the bedliner of the pickup while throwing with all my might.

And I almost laughed to myself.  Because, seriously? Who does this kind of thing?

You must understand, though, that there are factors beyond my control that come into play here:  The trash was loaded into the pickup by my husband about a week and a half ago.  I did not know this until we were about to pick up a freezer we had brought and he mentioned that there is trash that needs to be emptied out out of the pickup before we can get the freezer.

The dump was closed yesterday, so I couldn't do it on my day off.  We had promised the "freezer lady" that we would pick the freezer up by tonight at the latest.

Hence, if you would have had a video camera and been at the dump this morning...you would have seen me...all decked out for my office job, hurling junk out of the bed of the pick-up and maybe even kind of smiling to myself. Let's just say I'm glad you weren't there.  Footage like that would just be totally wrong and unnecessary.

(I know...I know...a blog last night and one again this morning.  Believe it or not, I have totally been in the mood to write, it is just that thing of finding the time that has been holding me back lately.  So, I guess its a two-fer-one special from me!  Don't get your expectations up, though. Cuz I can't deal with too high of expectations! )

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yeah. "Mommy Brain"...

So, you’ve heard the term “Mommy Brain”, right?  Well, I am of the assumption that this term covers a multitude of sins related to forgetfulness that occurs during the course of every single day of my life.

Put a call on hold at work, take another call, and then go to tell your boss who is on line #1 and have no clue anymore?  Mommy brain.

You are taking a shower and going through the process of shave, shower and shampoo and at some point you realize that you now have no idea whether you have washed yourself or not, so you have to look at the loofah and check if it was recently wet to determine whether or not you just washed yourself?  That might just be called day-dreaming, but I’ll chalk it up to Mommy Brain.

You ask your kid if they want milk or orange juice and then 20 seconds later you grab the wrong one and pour them a glass...You got it! Mommy Brain.

Have to throw an item that doesn’t belong there up onto your dresser so you can a chance of remembering that thing your husband asked you to do in the morning?  Mommy brain.

Need three items at the grocery store and don’t have paper for a list?  If you need to make up a little rhyme or sentence (Alice likes swimming.) to remember to get Apples and Lunchmeat and sugar, don’t worry.  Hey, its Mommy brain.

Forgot that your son was at 4-H and when you went to pick him up at your sister-in-laws you were all like “Where is Kendall?” while he patiently sat on the curb for 45 minutes waiting for you?  I don’t know...that’s just irresponsible!!

If you have to stop somewhere unscheduled and abnormal, you find yourself cruising right on by the driveway because its out of your routine and you were so lost in thought you didn’t realize you were past till a mile down the road?  Mommy brain.

Forgot that today was “Snack Day” at school for your kid?  Umm...how exactly ARE you expected to remember all this stuff??

As I was about to write this post, I thought I would look up “Mommy Brain”...hoping for some validation and support for my issues. A medical reason, perhaps, would be nice.

But...I was sorely disappointed.

The article I looked up actually said that “No...being pregnant or having small children does NOT actually make you lose any brain cells, in fact, recent research has shown that it might actually make you smarter!!”  And I quote: “Even better, further data – as well as anecdotal evidence – seems to indicate that pregnancy boosts in intelligence are permanent. According to a great article in the BabyCenter archives about this phenomenon, brainy benefits include sharper senses, greater motivation, fearlessness, and stress-coping capability. But, wait! There’s more! You may also wind up with better learning and memory skills, as well as higher emotional intelligence. Take that, Einstein!”


Whaaaaatt??  Are you freakin’ kidding me?  Now what excuse am I going to use?  I’m kinda feeling a little bit betrayed here, miss-fellow-Mom slash writer slash selling-out-all-Mom’s-everywhere, Jamie Lee (who wrote the article).

It kind of reminds me of how ANY mother you ask will tell you that there are certain symptoms related to babies teething.  Things like diarrhea, runny nose, fever, etc.  But ask any medical professional and they will tell you that none of these things are related to teething.  OK...I might have “Mommy Brain” but I am smart enough to put two and two together.  Every time my baby is teething, they get a fever.  But only then.  Could it be related??? Hmmm...let me see.  Um, YEAH!

I have a feeling that “Mommy Brain” is the same way. I LOVED what one Mom wrote in the comments below this article I read. The question was posed “What do you think – did pregnancy & motherhood leave you a few marbles shy of your former self, or propel you into a new sphere of braininess?”

And one Mom, bless her forgetful little heart, wrote “Wow… if three pregnancies have actually made me smarter, then I must have been a real idiot before kids, because I can’t seem to remember a darned thing nowadays!”

Now that’s my kind of girl.

Maybe I am just as smart as I was before kids.  Maybe I would still get the same IQ score if I had the time to take an IQ test. And maybe I didn’t permanently LOSE any brain cells during my pregnancies, but I am willing to bet that a few of them have taken a 25 year vacation to somewhere tropical and are sitting on some beach drinking something yummy out of tall glasses and laughing at the way I can’t remember a dang thing.  But they’ll be back...probably about the time my last kid turns 18.  And believe me, they are getting a tongue lashing from me.  That is, if I can remember why I was so mad at them!

The title of this blog post is also the title the book that I just started reading.

It is written by Greg Boyd...pastor of Woodland Hills Church and my favorite preacher to listen to on-line.

This church, I might add, was also where we attended this past Sunday and loved it!!  Greg preached and the time flew by so fast (it also helped that our kids were in "children's church" and we didn't have to deal with them) that I could hardly believe over an hour an 15 minutes had passed while we sat in the service.

I picked up a copy of his book after church. My Dad had recommended this book after reading it recently. And I think he heard of it from my cousin who highly recommended it to my brother Joe.

I started reading it on Monday morning for my quiet time and absolutely am LOVING it.

But...two small problems: 

#1)  When I get excited about something, I kind of want everyone else to be excited and know about it too. Yup. That's me.

#2) He suggested in the first chapter of the book that we find some people who would be interested in walking along side us in this journey of learning to find God present in every moment. And I didn't know who to ask. So I am asking all of you.

The basic premise of the book is that the most important discipline of the Christian life and the discipline that will have the most profound effect on your life is to learn to be constantly aware of God's presence and love in your life.  Every moment of every day.

He talks about how God was with us in the past and will be with us in the future, but really what matters is that God is with us in the NOW and this precise moment we are in is when we have the opportunity to surrender to God and bring Him glory and remember that He loves us more than we can imagine.

He likened this idea that some Christians have of saying a "sinner's prayer" and then going on with life as usual, giving little heed to God's influence in their life and not taking advantage of His transforming power, to the idea of getting married and saying vows to your spouse and then pretty much forgetting about them and not really making much effort to get to know them better or to please them. We would say that is crazy, yet so many Christians live their lives this way. "Yes, I'm saved"...but when you look at their lives you don't see a lot of action to back up their supposed faith, much less a lot of transformation going on.

I was amazed to discover, yesterday, how much different my day was when I thought OFTEN of God and His power and His presence in my life.  In each moment!  I was more patient with the kids. I made some decisions differently than I would have otherwise.  I felt a peace and joy that I don't always feel. And then today...when I was SUPER busy at work and had a hard time remembering to think of God, and when I got really crabby with the kids and STILL thought about God and His presence but was sort of wishing He would butt out of my thoughts right about then, I was still thankful for the reminders and God working in my heart.

Here is the website link for you to go and read a little more about the book to see if you are interested in what I am about to propose.

TA-DA -- Here goes...

I am looking for some of my friends and online acquaintances to join me in this (to me) exciting journey of learning how to focus on God and His presence more throughout every day.

If you are interested, I would be willing to purchase the book, "Present Perfect", for the first 5 people who want to do this online book study with me.

The only obligation is to read one chapter each week (there are 7 chapters...so it would take us through about the end of the year)

and then practice the exercises that he suggests at the end of each chapter during the week. 

The other way you would participate is to write at least once a week on a Facebook message board about your experiences and what you are learning.  I would set up Facebook messaging between whoever wants to do this challenge. 

I would like to be accountable, I would like to share my experiences, and I would like to hear about yours!!  Plus, I'm just excited to share this book and this concept with you and to challenge you in your faith. I know that I want more of God in my everyday life and if this book helps with that, then I want to do that.

I want to learn about surrender and about being selfless.

If you are interested, let me know in the comments below and if you are one of the first 5, I will get the book sent to you.  If there are more than 5 who are interested, please feel free to purchase the book and join in!! The more the merrier, right?

It was spring, but it was summer I wanted,
the warm days, and the great outdoors.

It was summer, but it was fall I wanted,
the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.

This weekend I made my annual pilgrimage to the Women of Faith Conference. I did not go alone, as I have the last couple of years. This time, I went with a good friend, her Mom, and a friend of her Mom's who I had never met before.

It was a great weekend!

I could tell you about the wonderful time I had chatting with my friend on the ride to the conference and back.

I could tell you how I was emotionally affected by listening to Angie Smith's story about the baby she lost. (She is the author behind audreycaroline.blogspot) How I laughed and cried while listening to her talk and how she inspired me with a new perspective on the story of Peter walking on the water.

I could tell you about Luci Swindoll and her encouraging talk. She, who at 79 years of age, is still so excited about life and told us that we should follow our dreams. Just go out and do things because "no one is telling us we can't."

I could tell you about the way the worship music affected me on Saturday afternoon and how God used a couple of songs to bring about healing in my heart and to remind me that God is bigger. Bigger than whatever we are facing or whatever temptations we are dealing with. How I sat there with tears just running down my face...worshiping and praising God and feeling SUCH a sense of his presence.

I could tell you about the talk that Nicole Johnson (the dramatist) shared and how she talked about anger. How it got me to thinking about some anger that I feel in my own life and how her encouragement to "interview our anger" and figure out what is fueling it gave me some new perspective.

I could blog about the things that I scribbled down in my notebook. Great quotes and reminders that especially stood out to me. Moments of clarity that came to me in the midst of everything that I was hearing and seeing.

But, the day after getting back, none of those things that I wrote about are really what is on my mind the most. They are not the things that made the biggest impression on me, although my worship moment with God will stay with me for a long time, I am sure.

What I am mostly thinking about is the one lady that went with us to the conference. My friends' Mom's friend. (if you follow that) I had never met her before, even though we have lived in the same town for over 20 years. I'll call her Cathy.

She is about 55 years old, I would guess, although I didn't specifically ask her what her age is. She has short grey hair and an air of grace and calm about her.

She has been married to her husband for 36 years and has raised two children of her own. And now, through circumstances and happenings that I am sure were totally beyond her control and that I don't really know a lot of details about, she is raising her 3 young grandchildren.

One of the blogger's I subscribe to wrote a post the other day about Heroes and asked us who our heroes are. I have been thinking about that some since then.

I have never been one to really idolize the people who a lot of other people consider to be heroes. Those people who have done really great and really big things. Maybe it just seems too far out of my reach, I don't know. Maybe it is because I don't know them personally and even when I read about them, they are too far off for me to really relate to.

But the people who I consider my heroes are people like Cathy. She is pouring her heart and soul into raising these 3 grandchildren. She is back in the throes of mothering. I am sure she never expected this turn of events would happen in her life. That at 55 years of age she would be back into the world of Dora and kindergarten and potty training and bedtime routines and going to child discipline classes to improve her methods of training up her grandchildren.

And she is doing it with SUCH a spirit of grace and acceptance and love and peace. The whole weekend, I never once heard her make a negative comment. Not once did she mention anything about how this change has disrupted their lives. How this certainly isn't what she had signed up for. I never once heard even a twinge of resentment in her voice when she talked about the daily in's and out's of raising her grandchildren and told us stories of recent adventures and issues that she is dealing with.

When my friend asked her what is different this time around than when she was raising her own 2 children, she said "Well, my house is a lot more dirty this time." She already knows what most of us young Mom's are still trying to really get through our heads. That thing people are always telling us about how "they are only young once" and "they'll be grown before you know it". She has already lived through all of that and her perspective is clearer and sharper because of it.

Her simple response, when I commented on how good it was/is of her and her husband to take in their grandchildren was something that shouldn't have really surprised me, but it still did. She simply said, without fanfare or ado "With the circumstances and situation there were in, there was just no way we couldn't take them into our home." That's it. Just like that. Their empty nest filled back up and their lives turned upside down. And then she added "We just LOVE them. We are So thankful for them!"

She inspired me and encouraged me and made me want to be more like her. She, my friends, is a hero in my mind. Will she ever get "credit"? Probably not. Will anyone ever write about her in a magazine or will her story be told to many people? I doubt it. But that doesn't make her any less of a hero in my mind.

(In case you haven't been a reader long enough to know what "RWOTD" means...it stands for "Random Word of the Day."  I get these words from a website that generates random words for you and then sometimes I blog about them.)

So...WETTING.

Is there anyone who doesn't think of the word "bed" in conjunction with "wetting"?  How can you not?  Bed wetting. What other way do you even use the word "wetting"? (not to be confused with someone with a Dutch-y accent trying to say "wedding".)

And I will say...the word itself just sounds kind of gross. (Possibly because of the association!)

Kind of like "moist"...one of my least favorite, icky words.

Or the word "firmer", which just creeps out my friend Karlee.

How about "smear"?   Or "panties"?

Anyway, I am going to proceed to ruin any thoughts you had of me as a cool person.

And I will tell you why.

We do not have any bed wetting in our house.

No, no.  We are way too sophisticated for that.

Yes, when my children were first learning to sleep through the night without wetting the bed, they sometimes had accidents. 

And yes, I have totally done this.  If you haven't, you should have!

Like I said, we don't have any bed wetters in the house.

No, no.  Not the Millers.

We have something MUCH worse.

We have a 6 year old boy who is a "house-wetter". Not familiar with the term?

I wasn't either. Until the last year or two.

Well, let me explain.

This is the phenomenon where a child realizes, during the night, that they have to go to the bathroom.

The problem is, said child is not able to wake himself up enough to know where the bathroom is.

Child sleepwalks around the house and then, I guess when the urge becomes too strong, he stops and relieves himself wherever he may be standing at the time.

Sometimes child starts to cry loudly and wakes up Mom, who comes to find him standing over a puddle on the carpet.

Other times, he simply relieves himself and goes back to bed.  Mom gets to discover the wet spot in the morning. Preferably not when she is wearing socks and unsuspectingly walks through said spot.

Either way, child has absolutely NO recollection of the events of the previous night when I ask him about it in the morning.  And he is very embarrassed, so I try not to make a big deal out of it. 

But it is kind of a big deal. 

Especially when this sort of scenario happens:  Child gets up during the night and decides to pee in a very inconspicuous spot.  Like the trash can in his room.

That one, I didn't discover until a week or so later when I kept smelling a urine-like smell in his bedroom and couldn't figure out for the life of me where it was coming from.

The moral of the story:

If your child is a bed-wetter, just count your blessings.  At least then you can put down a sheet, stick a garage bag in between, and put on another sheet. Or you can get one of those alarm things that wakes your child up when he or she starts to go.

If you have a sleep walking house-wetter with amnesia...my best advice for you is this.  Buy some really absorbent paper towels (Go ahead, splurge! You know you want to!) and plan on getting new carpet every few years.  Or buy a dog and blame it on him.   That might be less embarrassing for everyone.

I have nothing to add to this.

I know I have proclaimed on several occasions how in love with Pinterest I am.

I have introduced many of my friends to Pinterest and freely sent out invites.  Some of you have become as hooked as I have.  Last week I even spent a good 1/2 hour doing a on-site tutorial for a friend of my sisters who wanted to get started with Pinterest but didn't know how.  And believe me...I was happy and excited to do it.

The initial crack-like addiction has worn off and now it is just more like a weed-like addiction. I don't HAVE to have it, but it sure makes the day alot better when I do.

(Ok, that was probably a horrible analogy...especially for someone who has never tried drugs.  And it also probably violates at least 3.2 of my life principles, but hey, its what came to mind.  And who am I to ever try to stop my mouth from saying something my mind is thinking?  -- I am working on that. OK?!)

My friends husbands (and my own, for that matter) give us SUCH a hard time about all of our time spent on Pinterest. I assume that they make fun because they just don't understand!  We sometimes even have to whisper "I saw it on ---shhh...Pinterest" --- to avoid being laughed at.  But you know what they say:  Haters gonna hate. We tell them they wouldn't be eating near as well as they are if we (the wives) weren't on Pinterest.

There is this saying on Pinterest that goes something like this:  "Stop Pinning. Start doing."

Well...I will have you know...ever since I have started on Pinterest, I HAVE been doing things and following through on ideas and inspirations that I have found on there.  So there!!

I think I probably started on Pinterest about 10 weeks ago.  I have collected a total of 265 pins...to date.

And I am going to share with you all of the Pins that I have followed through on and actually done. Along with my little reviews of the idea/product/recipe and a link to the website just in case you want to try any of these for yourself.

Here goes...

#1 - Nutella coffee.   I made this one morning.  I have to say, I haven't made it since, because although it tasted WONDERFUL, it was way too involved for me to make very often.  But the homemade Nutella whipped cream that the recipe suggests to make to go with it...I literally ate the leftovers of that straight out of the bowl with my pointer finger.  http://breweddaily.com/2011/03/nutella-coffee-with-nutella-whipped-cream/

#2 - Pretzel bites.  I tried some of the regular and some of the cinnamon/sugar ones.  I preferred the cinnamon ones.  They turned out really well.  It was a bit time consuming to make them, but if I remember right, they got eaten up rather quickly. I took some of them along to book club and they were a hit there as well.   http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=932

#3 - This book ^^  -- A friend thoughtfully bought this for me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I have not started reading it yet, but it looks really good.

#4 - Avocado/Tomato/Corn salad -- I made a batch of this. Of course, in my household, I had this ALL to myself!! I thought it was super yummy.  The tomatoes were from my garden.  The only bad thing was, I ate some and then forgot about it and a day later the avocados were turning brown and the whole thing was a little mushy. Tip:  Plan to eat it right after you make it.  http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/07/grilled-corn-avocado-and-tomato-salad.html

#5 - Bought this book.  Am over 1/2 way through it.  I like it, but I feel like it is going to have a somewhat predictable end, which is probably what is keeping me from finishing it at this point.  I feel like I know what is going to happen and I hate that. But, hey, I could easily be wrong about that!

#6 - Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars - I just made these last week.  They turned out to be very yummy. I took them to a Fun Night at church.  I did have a little trouble with them getting hard around the edges (I baked them in a 9 X 13 pan) but that seems to happen to me a lot with brownies. It is thicker at the edges and bakes too hard??? What am I doing wrong with that?  http://heatovento350.blogspot.com/2011/04/cheesecake-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars.html

#7 - Butterfinger Blondies -- Also made this for the first time this past weekend.  They were wonderful and the brownie part turned out SO heavy and moist and chewy and yummy.  Jeremy thought they were great!  They were a tad sweet for my taste, but with coffee...yum, yum, yum.  http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/08/butterfinger-blondies.html

#8 - Totally tried this out. And felt super cool and "Crocodile Dundee-ish" saying this. I also probably told at least 3 other people about it...so they could feel cool too.  Who knew it took so little to entertain me??

#9 - Ok, so I didn't say this in so many words, but my attitude is pretty much exactly this!

#10 - Crock Pot girls website.  This is an awesome resource and I have made at least 3 recipes from this site already, including the meatballs I took to church on Sunday for potluck and the Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti I made for guests at dinner last night.  http://crockpotgirls.com/about-us/

#11 - Prayer board.  I did this.  In my little sitting room right beside the chair where I sit to have my quiet time and pray.  And after reading parts of my blog ^^...you just may want to make one and add me to yours.    http://6dukes.blogspot.com/2011/02/for-prayers.html

#12 - Chocolate chip zucchini bread.   I made this two different times...with a HUGE zucchini that a guy from work gave me...upon my request.  It turned out really well and the addition of the chocolate chips made it so yummy!  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-home-cooking/chocolate-chip-zucchini-bread-recipe/index.html

#13 - Chokecherry Jam - My Mom used this recipe to make some jam from chokecherries she picked from our trees.  We have lived at our place for almost 11 years and this is the first year I noticed that we had chokecherry trees.  I wasn't into making jam, but my Mom was and she gave me a little container of it. I think even with lots of sugar it still makes your mouth pucker a little but my Mom thought it was delicious.  http://highaltitudegardening.blogspot.com/2006/08/chokecherry-jam-recipe.html

#14 - This saying has been a help to me at various times.  I think it is so true!

#15 - Rocky Road Chocolate Cake in a crock pot -- I took this to a gathering with friends and I have to say...it was not so great.  I got this compliment?? from one enthusiastic eater "It takes just like malt-o-meal."  I guess it had that texture.  My friends were honest enough to tell me that it wasn't that great and so I will probably never make it again. But in case you want to go ahead and try it for yourself...http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/rocky-road-chocolate-cake-10000001842447/

#16 - Cinnamon Roll Cake -- I made this and took it to church potluck. I thought it turned out very yummy. Maybe a tad dry, but the icing tended to soak down in and helped that out.  I would definitely make this again. http://cookinupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/07/cinnamon-roll-cake.html

#17 - Another gift from above friend ^^ for my birthday.  Added to my list of books to read when I get time.

#18 - I little calendar/diary idea where you write one line for each day on an index card.  I am currently doing this and look forward to a few years down the road when I can look back on this.  (If I keep it up that long.) It doesn't take much time, it is just a matter of remembering to do it.

#19 - I tried this website. I didn't think it worked very well because the books it brought up I thought were supposed to be similar in content or type to the one I entered in, and they weren't really? Maybe I wasn't using it correctly?  http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

#20 - Rainbow fruit skewers.  I did these for Derrick's birthday party and then for another gathering. Kids LOVE them and really, I think the adults did too. At Derrick's party I had one kid who ate 7!!!! of them!!  I would have stopped him if I had seen him. I think I had figured 2 per kid.   I used strawberries instead of the raspberries, just because they are cheaper. The kids helped me put them together, so that was fun too! 

#21 - Veggie cups with dip in the bottom.  I did this for Nicole's birthday party.  One problem I had is that the veggies that are long enough to do this with are not really veggies that kids like, except for carrot sticks. Most of the kids didn't eat their peppers or their celery, so a lot of this ended up going to waste. Plus, it was kind of messy to have the dip in the bottom like this because when the veggie sticks got shorter, you had to reach your hand too far down in to get to the dip.  Smaller/shorter cups might help with that.  Anyway...kind of a flunk on this one.

#22 - Slow cooker shredded beef tacos - I made these and they turned out to be VERY yummy. The meat was so tender and juicy and the flavor was great.  http://gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-shredded-beef-tacos/

#23 - Cookie Dough Cupcakes -- (As I am scrolling through my pins and boards, I keep seeing more and more recipes that I have tried and have not yet put on this blog post, but I am running out of time and need to wrap this up, so I cannot include them all.)  But...I HAD to put these on because they are SOO extremely yummy. Jeremy  said they were the best cupcakes he has ever had.  I almost think I could win "Cupcake Wars" with these. Yup. They were THAT good.  http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/new-recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes.html

#24 - Keeping lettuce in a jar in the fridge to keep it fresh.  I did this and it COMPLETELY worked. I think it was at least a week later when I finished it and it was still in great condition and not slimy.

#25 - The "busy" book -- I made this for Nikki.  But then, if you read my blog, you already saw the pictures and heard about all of my woes related to this.  http://atsecondstreet.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-go-book-tutorial.html   Beware: May not turn out exactly as you had hoped in your mind's eye!

#26 - "I spy" bottle - I did this with rice and little things I found around the house.  It worked ok, but I think the jar/bottle I used wasn't quite big enough and it was a little too easy to find the items. But it is a very cool idea.  If you want to try it, go to:  http://meetthedubiens.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-spy-bottles.html  These things cost about $20 and if you have a jar around that works, you can basically make one for free. I took a picture of all of the little items before I put them in the jar and then made a laminated sheet with the pictures on so the kids knew what to look for.

OK -- I am out of time.  Gotta run. Hope you enjoyed. Maybe I'll do a sequel in another month or two.