It's Never Boring

I must have some type of cognitive impairment. That is the only excuse for deciding to attempt to shop with 4 kids in tow...yet again. B&J still needed a couple of pairs of shorts and school shoes, and I knew if I didn't go now...all of the shorts would be gone. I was right. I managed to snag 4 pairs off of the clearance rack, and everything else was long sleeves and pants...in July...in Tx...where it's still hot on Halloween...sigh. X still has his extreme manly aversion to stores. He knows the moment you push the stroller into a store, and immediately starts crying non-stop, until you push the stroller back outside. It was ugly.B spends hours each day setting up elaborate scenes like these. If I had to guess, I would say that Barbie has been tied to Dora's garden shack using wiki-sticks, by the evil giant rainbow birthday My Little Pony. Barbie's "knight"...in this case dad, from the Loving Family Dollhouse does not appear to be doing a very good job of rescuing her. It appears that Barbie will have to save herself...no biggie. What role the spotted frog is playing...remains a mystery.This expression says, "What do you mean he's on a phone conference?! I need to see him immediately!!!"We gave X a few bites of rice cereal the other night. Cue the zealots to yell comments about how it's too early to feed him cereal. In our defense...starting with B (when the recommendation was cereal at 4 months) we've started them all right around 4 months depending on how ravenously hungry they've been...no problems so far. I don't think we'll give him any more until after our vacation though. I don't need any possible digestive issues for that. He's laughing in the picture because he liked it so much. No tongue thrusting like one would expect, just gobbling it up.I like Daniel's hands, they're so...I don't know...attractive. I love manly looking hands. Did I just say that out loud? Shhhh. Let's pretend I didn't.

Miracle Invention

This simple little strap lock for the freezer has saved my sanity. L goes into the freezer dozens of times each day to get out ice cream "I-schweam" and freeze pops "pops". It's been driving me absolutely crazy, and I've been cursing the day I decided to purchase a bottom freezer model of refrigerator. Then my beloved husband spent $2 and installed this little beauty. Ah-ahhhh (that's the sound of angels singing). Between the freezer lock, and fixing the AC unit with a $20 capacitor he's basically been the hero of the family for the past few days.

Broken AC

It is July. We live in TX. Our upstairs AC went out sometime Saturday afternoon.

Why is it that everything has to go wrong in groups? Like the flying trampoline, plus the AC, plus the non stop unexplainable plague of summer illnesses, and my recent writer's block.

The temperature upstairs reached 91 degrees last night. Needless to say, everyone slept downstairs. Hopefully, I'll have something more interesting to say next time. :)

The Big 3-Oh!

I didn't have a zero for his cake (I haven't been planning well lately). So, I made the 30 out of sprinkles and just stuck in a 3 for him to blow out. Keeping it real over here.
Daniel turned 30 this weekend. I am officially married to an old man for 8 more weeks...until I join him in this whole "30 years old" business. We went out early yesterday morning to get a new highchair, and a new stander for X. We got rid of the old ones after L because they were worn out after 3 peas. I wanted a small high chair that would fit on a kitchen chair.

Then, we went to Denny's for breakfast. We almost never eat breakfast out, unless we are traveling. The kids enjoyed it and were pretty well behaved. It was nice. I asked Daniel if he had any goals for his 30's. Other than being totally out of debt (other than the mortgage) he had no tangible goals.

We picked up a few new books on CD for the kids at the library. They go through them at a ridiculous rate of speed. Daniel put together the new baby equipment. "The cousins" stopped by to go swimming and joined us for cake and ice cream. We had brisket on buns with fries and baked beans for dinner. That pretty much sums up our day. It wasn't the most eventful or exciting 30th birthday. We're too busy for that. I didn't get Daniel any gifts other than the fact that I paid for our upcoming family vacation all by myself (I sound like I'm 3 years old in that sentence). It was a gift of sorts.

Life is What Happens...#1

This is the first in what is intended to be a random sampling of snapshots into the lives of the peas, for future reflection. It also serves to fill time when I've got writer's block. In this installment...L's day, July 25, 2008...age 24 months & 13 days.

Dear L,

Today you...
*Rode in the jogging stroller for our morning walk. Played at the park. Insisted on using the big girl swing. Yelled at your sister B until she relinquished said swing. Exclaimed "Weeeeee...weeeeee" breathlessly with double dimpled smile while the wind blew your spun gold hair.
*Took a shower with me and then ate your breakfast and some of mine. Mine always looks tastier to you...even if it is exactly the same.
*Got Daddy to put new batteries in your Fisher Price flashlight and obsessed over it all day. You led me by the hand into the hall bathroom at least a dozen times to show off your flashlight skills.
*Got me to rig up a fix to the broken Connect 4 game and spent your non-flashlight time putting in and removing all of the pieces.
*Poured a bottle of Elmer's glue on the upstairs carpet while I was feeding your baby brother.
*Sneakily ate cookies from the cookie jar.
*Hurt your toe while playing with a laundry basket, and made me examine it 5 or 6 times. Decided to ask me to "bandage...hurt toe". You've always hated bandages. Today...you changed your mind.*Conned your sisters into cutting open a freeze pop for you, which you also dripped all over the carpet. It was a bad day to be carpet around here.
*Brought me an infant hat and a handful of bibs and asked me to help you fasten them all on your neck in a pile.

A Negative Review

I've heard positive reviews of this 5 minute microwave chocolate cake recipe. It makes one large mug (in my case 2 small mugs because I didn't have a large one) of chocolate cake. I also heard that you can just use regular flour instead of cake flour. So, I tried it. I did not enjoy it, and ended up tossing it in the trash. If you decide to try it, please post a comment and let me know if you enjoyed it. I feel like I'm the only one who didn't like it.

What is it about my shoes?

They're like moths to a flame...

I'm Without Value...

in the eyes of the department of education. Being at home raising children for 7 years has caused me to be unable to get my teaching certification re-activated. I've spent years now chasing my tail, tied up in red tape. I did not bother to get my 5 year professional certificate after my 2 year temporary certificate expired because I was at home, and moving out of the state of Florida. That fateful decision rendered me un-certifiable in GA and now in TX. I know of no other profession where your education becomes useless because you didn't fill out renewal papers.

I was moping around all afternoon, feeling like a person who is devoid of all value. Then, my boy looked at me like this...and suddenly, how the department of education looked at me...didn't really matter anymore.

It Haunts Me

Our flying trampoline still haunts me. I had a nightmare about a windstorm last night. Then today, I noticed the tar paper patch that Daniel put on our neighbor's roof was flapping in the breeze. There are rain bands moving in from the tropical storm, and she's got a hole in her roof. The insurance guy came out Friday, but told her that it will be awhile until they do anything about it. I don't know why they wouldn't handle it immediately. Maybe we should shop around for better homeowner's insurance. So, I had to make Daniel come home from work to patch her roof again. We just can't let a single elderly woman go through a storm with a hole in her roof that is basically our fault. When will this nightmare end? I want her house fixed RIGHT NOW! Is that so much to ask?

Dolly

Not too much going on here. Exercised with the peas, cleaned and did chores, hanging out and keeping an eye on Dolly.We are expecting some storms later. We're starting to gear up for our upcoming trip. I need to start organizing myself. Traveling with 4 kids is always a major project.

Happy Anniversary to Us

*Our wedding was on the cusp of the digital revolution. Hence, our pictures are not digital. I was too lazy to wrestle my heavy album on the scanner, so I took pictures of a few of the pictures. That's my explanation on why these images are of such poor quality.

*Song we are dancing to REO Speedwagon-Can't Fight This Feeling 1985
Today/tomorrow is our 8 year wedding anniversary (we had a 2 day wedding). We were talking last night about how much has happened in 8 short years. To be honest, it feels like we've been married for a lot longer. 15 years feels more accurate. In 8 years we have: lived in 7 homes in 4 states, bought 2 houses, had 4 children (4 surgeries for me), gotten 2 degrees, worked 7 jobs (combined), loved hard, fought hard, and kept on moving forward. It's been wild. I find it hard to believe that we will ever have another 8 years as busy as the past 8. I would not have wanted to do it with anyone else (even though I've said otherwise once or twice).

What I've learned: marriage can be difficult at times, but it is in the working through of the difficulties that we are able to grow the most as individuals and develop into a stronger, better couple. We're in this for the long haul, and need to have perspective about the little things. The stress of having 4 helpless little people to care for is like the blink of an eye in the eternal scheme of our existence. We should cherish all of the seasons of our life...especially the seemingly difficult ones.Just before leaving the reception. Ahh...family...good stuff.I was totally shocked when he caked me in the face. He knew me well enough to know that it was his only opportunity for the next 50 years to throw food on me and not get punched in the nose.Clearly he lost his mind at our reception. I was surprised by this display from my "introverted and quiet" husband. Who the heck did I just marry?Happy Anniversary Daniel. I love you. Here's to the next 8 years of love, laughter, and bickering...you know...just for good measure.

Bye Bye Bink

I had to have "the talk" with L a couple of days ago. The talk I've given on 2 other occasions so far (around 2003 and 2005). You know the one...regarding binkies being for babies. How you are such a big 2 year old girl now. Aren't you big and awesome? Don't you want everyone to understand the words you are saying? Etc, etc, etc. I try to make her feel "bink-free" rather than "bink-less". She's gone through 3 naps, and 2 nights with no binky so far. She's stolen her baby brother's bink a couple of times and taken a hit off it. Other than that and one bink related emotional breakdown this morning...it's going well. I always dread this milestone. It can be so dramatic.

A Tip

I'm sure not everyone reads the bargain blog. The semi-annual 50% off clearance of the already 50% off clearance sale is on at Old Navy right now. I just thought someone might be interested. We cleaned up there this morning on basics.

Pause for a moment with me...

and appreciate the beauty that is baby feet. This was his first time wearing shoes. I'm not big on putting decorative shoes on newborns. He got checked out by the doctor on Tuesday and weighed 13 lbs, 4oz. So he has almost doubled his birth weight in 3 months.I love how his expression always looks so thoughtful. Today, he was staring intently at my face and feeling all the parts of it with his fingers.This is what B&J spent their time doing to my planner while we were in the doctor's office. B is big on giving me positive emotional support, when she's not busy being a punk. She compliments me so much, you would think that she is running for office. Wait a minute...she also likes holding babies and having her picture taken...I might be onto something.

Natural Disaster

We had a minor disaster in our yard that just makes me want to throw up. Let me preface this by saying my neighbor is an elderly lady of the crochety persuasion. We had a freak thunderstorm and a hurricane force gust of wind, and...
That's our trampoline in her yard. It broke a fence board, smashed her gutter and damaged a few of her roof shingles. She's not answering the door. I told Daniel to come home IMMEDIATELY and make this right with her. He will have to take apart the broken trampoline and pay for the damages to her house. I'm sure it took a few plants out too.

**Edited to add: It also punctured a small hole in her roof.

I really want to throw up right now. How much do you think this is going to cost me? What are the chances she will find a reason to sue?

Birthday Completion

Here are a few photos from L's birthday dinner, and above of her playing in the sandbox with her sisters. She got some sand toys as one of her presents, and we got out the old sandbox and filled it for her. At first when I put her in she freaked out about the sand on her feet. She's getting accustomed to it now (which is a good thing since we will be at the beach on vacation next month).

Happy 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to my sick little girl! I can't believe you are turning 2 years old already. You are such a special little spirit. The terms most often used to describe you are...delightful and mischievous. You helped me decorate this evening for your birthday dinner tomorrow. You kept singing the whole time we were decorating..."ha ha bir day do do". Then, you fell off the chair and cut your lip. I'm so sorry. You're normally good with furniture, but you are a little off your game with the fever.

Two cute things that you said spontaneously today...
"Mama...what doing? Wiping?" (I was painting)
"Bless you, baby. Bless you." (your brother sneezed)

Your favorite things to do are...eat everything you can get your hands on, run around naked, break child safety locks off of things, run circles around the outer edge of the trampoline, hold your brother, climb on top of things, and take things apart. You are almost potty trained and you repeat everything we say like a parrot.

We are so happy that you came to be a part of our family. We would not be whole without you.

Love,
Mama

Monkey Bread & Continued Convalescing

My poor babies continue to be fever ridden and irritable. L has no appetite for anything solid. Well, almost nothing. She has been enjoying some Monkey Bread. First she called it "ninner" (dinner) which is her generic word for food. Then, after she tasted it she called it "cake". Too cute.

Look Who's Growing Up

J lost her first tooth yesterday. The big girls need haircuts before school goes back. We are waiting on J to decide if she wants it back to short, or just a trim. I've never known a 5 year old who is so indecisive about her hair. It's looking rough right now.

I Am a Schizophrenic Psycho

So, I made my momentary foray into paid blogging. It lasted...about a week. Then, I changed my mind. That's what I do...change my mind, move furniture, organize and reorganize. Maybe you've read my quote up top. It's totally true. Google apparently frowns on PPP, and so slaps all blogs with PPP advertising on them down to a 0 page rank. I can't place my finger on exactly why it bothers me that my page rank was smacked down. But, after further discussion with Daniel...I've decided to abstain from tainting my content with ad spots. Nagging unease. Any ads will relegate themselves to sidebars from now on, lest you think I am a sell out. I wouldn't want my inner teenager to hate me...then I would need a therapist. Let's pretend this never happened and continue with our regularly scheduled programming...mmmkay? Thanks. Banners and the whopping 3 ad posts are in the process of coming down.

Up next...my baking jag continues, and J loses her first tooth.

Our Secret Blog

I thought that maybe I should pick up a tech blog riffing off our Peapod blogs before someone else took our name. Just in case Daniel ever decides to use his "mad skills" to do some tech blogging. That is the same reason that I took the domain for peapodpink.com. I was miffed to see that Peapod Tech was already taken. You know I like to think I own the internet. How dare somebody steal my name! As if I invented the pea pod. Riiiiight.

So, I went to the address to see what nefarious jerk was treading on my idea. Then I noticed he was named Daniel. Funny coincidence. I never said I was sharp witted on 4 hours sleep. Wait a minute...I married that nefarious jerk. I see he hasn't done anything with the address yet, much like my half deconstructed living room wall.

New Address

Just letting you know we have a new domain. You can still use this address and will be redirected. Or you can now use www.peapodpink.com

Convalescing

I'm going to scream. Cover your ears. AAARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

I'm never going to make it to church again at this rate. What is going on with the middle of the summer illnesses? Normally we are healthy all summer, and sick all winter (with the passing around of colds in circles for months on end). This summer, L goes to the nursery for 2 hours on any given Sunday...2-3 days later she develops a fever & runny nose (or insert any other symptom plus fever), she stays sick for about a week while giving it to her newborn brother. He then stays sick for a week. So they are home from church the next Sunday (and I have to be home dealing with the non-stop illness induced fussiness while Daniel and the big kids go alone). If we are lucky the fevers are gone and we all go to church the next Sunday. 2-3 days later she develops another fever & cold...and the cycle starts all over.

This has been going on since she started nursery 6 months ago. I am about to lose my mind over it. No amount of sanitizing her head to toe when she walks out of the nursery helps. And now that she makes her brother sick every time, I'm ready to just stop sending her in there. Then what am I going to do with her for the 2 hours that she should be in there? I need advice. Feel free to give it.

Bagged Salad is Evil

One more quick food related entry for today. Up until about a year ago (when pregnancy induced LAZY set in) I always made my own salad up in a big container for the week (it's a container about the size of a 9x13 pan). It tastes so much better than bagged salad. I also find it lasts longer without getting nasty. So, after a year of eating bagged dried out lettuce spines, and dried out nasty carrots/red cabbage...I rediscovered my former love of salad. The evil bagged variety had ruined my appetite for it...I should sue.
I just wash, dry and chop up a head of any variety of nice bright green lettuce (sometimes some spinach too) and then toss in a half bag of matchstick carrots, and a half head of chopped red cabbage. It stays fresh for over a week easily without browning. I store the other half bag of carrots and half head of cabbage in the veggie bin (as long as they are fresh when I buy them they easily last 2 weeks and still look better than the kind in the bagged salads). Then, the next week I just need a new head of lettuce, and I repeat the process with the other half of the carrots and cabbage that were left over. Unless you are using coupons for bagged salad...this is cheaper and about 100 times tastier than bagged. At least that's my opinion...take it or leave it.

My New Favorite Thing

I'm totally digging this new Ziploc Handi-vac. I got mine free at HEB (along with about 7 other free items) that came with my brisket. I have a regular old vacuum sealer, but I never use it anymore. Too much trouble, and the bags are too expensive to warrant their regular usage. Also, it stopped working well years ago. Let me just say that home vacuum sealing took a giant leap forward when they invented this little gem. It came preloaded with batteries and with a few bags.

I bought a new 1 lb bag of yeast last week. I use too much to bother with the tiny packets (not cost effective) and not enough to go through a 1 lb bag before it loses its mojo. So, my old bag had gone kaput and caused the breadstick/pizza crust dough that I made to not work out. This also explains why my Portuguese Sweet Bread has been coming out badly for months (I thought my bread machine was wearing out). I used this opportunity to try out my new sealer. I poured in the yeast pressed the tip to the hole in the bag and pushed the button...voila! It was so fun that I opened the bag again, closed it, pressed the tip to the hole...voila! Too fun. And unlike my old vacuum sealer, you don't need to either cut the bag, or get a new bag each time. I can keep the yeast in this same bag until it's gone (or the vacuum hole gets worn out I assume). I expect this to extend the life of my yeast considerably. We shall see.
These breadsticks were delicious (especially the ones I did in cinnamon sugar). I should have let them brown a smidge more so they would be prettier. I also need to buy some "garlic bread seasoning" to up the awesomeness.

Yes, I am still using 20 year old mauve and blue dishes. I have a newer set of plain white...but they are too heavy. I need to invest in some new Corelle, lest you think it is 1986 when you see my food photos.

Baby Steps #3

Baby Step #3...exercise and morning routine

I really need exercise. I have so much more energy when I am exercising. Even if my weight doesn't require it...my heart and lungs do require it. I'm weak from being pregnant/nursing endlessly. We've started a new routine. We hit the pavement at 7am with the double jogging stroller and the big girls on their bikes. We go for a 30 minute run (half running half fast walking for now), ending at the park. We spend about 15-20 minutes playing at the park then come home and start the rest of our day. Showers, breakfast, workbooks, reading time, and chores. We usually finish around 10-10:15am. Then, I either free them to do as they wish, or we go out if we have places to go. It's been working well so far...other than my knee killing me. I'm trying to teach them that we do what needs to be done first, then what we "feel like doing" afterward.
X turned 3 months old yesterday. Here he is with his impish sister who likes to growl at him like a monster, because she thinks he likes it. Not so much.

My Thyroid is Still Broken

I was hoping that the hypothyroidism that was discovered during my last pregnancy would resolve itself after I was done being pregnant. My OB told me to stay on my Synthroid and we would recheck the thyroid later. Well, I don't like to do what people tell me even if they are right (it's an obvious character flaw). So, a couple of weeks after X was born...I quit taking it. Fast forward 2.5 months. I'm blindingly exhausted, having mood swings, my face is breaking out, and I've gone from 103 lbs to 110 lbs in 7 days without any dietary changes. Ummmm...Houston, we have a problem. So, I called in my thyroid prescription and they couldn't find it. Finally today I found the prescription bottle which had about 7 pills left and it says I have 2 refills. So, I'm back on the Synthroid and need to make an appointment with a regular doctor in the next month or two so that he can check my thyroid levels again. Hopefully the low dose that I am on will continue to be sufficient.

I'm on a cooking and baking streak

I get into these episodes from time to time when I want to try new recipies and bake like a fanatic. It all started when I made cream puffs for the first time for X's blessing day. I don't normally like cream puffs. These were freak-a-licious though. I ate at least 30 (good thing they were bite sized). Then I ate the leftover chocolate mousse filling with some fresh strawberries after I ran out of puffs.I already covered the rolo cookies in a previous post. Then, I made some chocolate peanut butter chip cookies last Monday for Family Home Evening. I made some homemade pizza a couple of weeks ago, but my yeast had petered out...so I bought more. The kids always tell me that the best pizza is the kind Mama makes. Time to go back to breads and doughs again.

Last week, I made the most delicious baby back ribs EVER!!! My husband is not a beef person...i.e. communist. They should ban him from Texas. He's all about chicken. He did not appreciate the ribs because they were falling off the bones, so the texture freaked him out. I like to play it free and loose with the cooking rules, so I threw in a package of chicken breasts with the rib recipe for him and the kids. The chicken turned out quite delicious also.

We had missionaries over for dinner on Thursday and I made my chicken enchiladas. They are one of Daniel's favorites, but they are somewhat time consuming to make. They are delicious though. B laughed when I told her that the piece of paper with the recipe on it was older than her. Apparantly having a recipe from the year 2000 makes me a dinosaur. Of course she also broke into hysterics last night when I told her about how she used to bite me when she was nursing and make holes with her teeth like a vampire. But I digress...

I've gotten many of these recipies from a blog called Our Best Bites (formerly known as The Daily Bite). You should check it out. I'm a smidge hooked on it.

Look Who Made a New Friend

He spent 3 months only liking me...and it seems to have come to an end. Now, he laughs and smiles at his Daddy when they talk, and babbles back to him like he's participating in the conversation. He likes Daddy to hold him almost equally to Mama holding time. Last but not least, they went to the Home Depot together on Saturday night. Male bonding.

Improvement

I've never taken a decent night photograph. I've never taken a remotely recognizable firework photograph. Last night, despite our seat position behind some power lines which are annoyingly in my photos...I made some improvement. I loosely followed PW's instructions, which helped immensely. I couldn't have done it without my tripod. It made all the difference.We went to the main fireworks for our area this year, as opposed to our neighborhood fireworks. Next year we plan to attend our neighborhood fireworks again. I wouldn't have had the power line issue at home. But, the change was fun. The kids all enjoyed it, even X. He just stared calmly at them as long as I covered his ears.

My Kids Eat Flashlights

I swear flashlights disappear around this house into some type of black hole. I think the kids are eating them. Whenever there is an actual emergency need for a flashlight...we can't find them. We know that we own them, but without psychic powers...we're out of luck. Do your flashlights disappear or is it just me? All of ours are Maglites. Daniel has a bit of a Maglite fetish. If you are into fancy flashlights, there are some awesome looking, albeit pricey models available at 5.11 gear. If I shopped at this place, I could totally emulate my boyfriend Dog the Bounty hunter. Have you ever seen the size of the flashlights they use on bounty hunts...they're awesome. They do have a closeout section that I've been browsing. I wonder if Daniel would have any use for some really cheap tactical nylon pants :)

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We are having an extended weekend. Daniel took off work yesterday, so we are having fun and working on projects. We went to a party today and just got back for nap time. Have a great weekend.

Nightmares

I have a problem. Its been going on for 10 years now. I have chronic nightmares. Every night (with a handful of exceptions) for 10 years. Most would just be considered bad dreams, but quite a few are all out nightmares. For example, it's 4:30 am and I am sitting here on my laptop because my usual string of never ending bad dreams culminated around 4am with a dream about a giant scorpion (about the size of a loaf of bread) running around my house at superhuman speed and trying to attack me and my children while Daniel and I tried unsuccessfully to kill it. After that little doozy I just gave up and got out of bed in the hopes that if I spend an hour or so on the computer, I can catch another hour or two of nightmare free sleep. Not likely.

Busy Day

It's been a busy day so far. If you are a bargain hunter and haven't heard about the Walgreens diaper deal this week click here. It was crazy.

Speaking of crazy, I bought the girls some water guns while I was out "robbing the Walgreens", and getting groceries. They seem to be thoroughly enjoying them. It's hard to believe we've gone 7 years having children and never bought water guns.

We are so classy...

that L's new words in the last 24 hours have been...cooking...bwoken...and drumroll please..............farty. The language explosion continues...

Google Searches...and general housekeeping

So, I like to occasionally look at the key words (from my statcounter) that people searched to end up here at Peapod Pink. They can be really amusing...you should try it. The strange thing is that recently my statcounter shows the landing page for MANY hits as being entries on the Hostetler Family's blogs. What the heck? I don't get it. Can someone who knows about these things explain to me why all of the key word searches and many of the "recent came from" entries show the "landing page" as other people's blogs? Thanks.

Also, while we're at it...now I don't trust my statcounter. It tells me that sometimes over 200 people read this per day. (Yes this does affirm what I keep telling my husband...I am freaking hilarious!...I jest.) Due to its other quirks, I'm curious how many people are actually reading this. I know many people who don't know me in real life don't like to comment. So, if you are reading this...please vote on the anonymous poll to the right. I can't promise I won't need a therapist if I find out you hate me...but don't let that sway you. I just want to check the accuracy of my counter. To quote Pioneer Woman..."tap, tap, tap...Is this thing on?"

If I find out that 200+ people really are reading this regularly, I'm going to feel pressure to be a great deal more interesting. Oh the pressure! The pressure!...(faint).

No Offense Intended to Al Roker

I think Al Roker is just great. For some reason though, every time I see a Mr Potato Head (like this morning wading through the cesspool that is my kids' closet) I think of Al Roker, and giggle. Sorry Al, no offense intended.