Really Want a Cupcake!

Its early on Saturday and Linda is already back at home under the covers.  She started to feel sickly when she woke up this morning, but was determined to try to get through as many classes as possible. Unfortunately, she was light-headed, dizzy and weak trying to teach her Aqua class on the deck.  She mostly sat in the chair and called the moves out. That is when she decided that teaching her 3 extra classes wasn't such a good idea.  Driving home was even a bigger challenge.  It was all good until she got to our driveway and came inches from smashing into our mailbox.  She also sneezed so hard that she banged her head into the steering wheel and it left a mark!

Tonight is her church care team party at 5:00 and she really wants to attend.  If she still feels this way, it would be to everyone benefit if she stays home.  The meeting is where folks go over all the highlights from the teachings and sermons from the last month and shares how the principles are working in their lives.  Plus, Connie makes really amazing cookies, cupcakes and cakes.  These are the treats she made Tierney for her birthday.

Tierney loves nautical and leopard print fashions

The cupcakes spelled out her name!

New Tastes

Linda has been wanting to make home-made veggie burgers for a long time.  There is a place near her work called The Burger Joint.  The manager told her all the ingredients they use to make their veggie burgers.  She didn't have the exact amounts, so she kind of improvised. The added sweet potato and BBQ sauce really made the difference  They don't look as brown as the restaurants (not enough black beans?), but they tasted amazing.  She also should have mashed everything better, but she was hungry and didn't feel like taking the time.  

Penny tried something new today too.  Sarah made pancakes for the family and she let Penny try one.

"Hmmm... what's this strange thing?"

"It looks kind of interesting"

"YUM! Mom, this is much better than mashed peas!"

Happy 10 Months!

Penny is 10 months old today.  Linda loved playing with her during her weekly play-date.  She's at the age where she loves to play the same game over and over.  Her favorite activity today was hiding toys in the pocket of Nana's hoodie.  When Linda tried to play a different game, Penny screeched and let her know she wasn't done yet.  Her other favorite game was throwing her balls across the room while Nana "fetched" them back. 

"Where's the bubbles Mommy?"

Be Strong

This is such a cute picture of Penny enjoying some cookies and milk with her Daddy.  I doubt Penny actually got to taste the cookie though.  She only eats healthy things like veggies, fruit and tiny cubes of cut up protein.  Tomorrow, Penny will be 10 months old already!  It feels like we've had her forever but at the same time it's feels like she was just born. 

Look at her go up the stairs! Penny is so strong!  It's a new trick she just started doing this weekend.  Sarah wondered how she learned it.  Maybe all the times she watched me run up the stairs on Sunday had something to do with it! 

Linda was really hoping there would be snow and school delay this morning so her first two classes would be canceled.  Last night she re-tweaked her back during Body Combat and it's still painful. She had to stay on the deck for her next class (Aqua) right after Combat and take it easy.  A morning/afternoon of rest would have been really nice.  Oh well, Linda will just have to be strong and not get discouraged that her back has flared up again.  She has taught before with much worse injuries.  Since both classes are circuit style, she'll just do more "coaching" and not actually do every single rep/step of the classes just this once.

Be Strong & Courageous

Super Sunday Fun

Linda had such a busy weekend.  She's so thankful for our loyal dog walkers or Chim and I would have been cooped up inside without a break for 8-10 hour stretches.  Linda trusts us not to make a mess inside, but there have been accidents when we have to hold it that long. 

Saturday was a long tiring work day but Sunday was one of her favorite days ever.  Taylor and Sarah went Snowboarding/skiing for weekend, so Nana and Grammy took care of Penny.  She was with Linda all day on Sunday.  After church, Linda took her back to Sarah's for lunch and her nap.  Taylor left these two bottles of diet Coke in the fridge for Linda.

The Second bottle says "In case Penny wears you out!"

Penny was wonderful, happy and a very good girl all day.  Linda didn't even need the second caffeine boost.  She did need Taylor to leave directions on how to turn on their TV though.  To watch TV growing up, Linda pulled out a little silver knob, turned it to the right to raise the volume and used the channel knob to twist to a different station.  Even with our simple remote at home, Linda sometimes gets confused.  This is what you need to know to watch Taylor's high tech TV. There were 4 different remotes, a giant flat screen, PS3 and a "woofer" that had to be used for Linda to watch Netflix.

Seriously?

 

After Penny woke up, Linda bought her back to our house and Penny and I played for awhile.  She loves me so much.  It was just like Noah, no matter where I scooted to, she crawled after me.  She wants to sit right by me, but she doesn't touch me like Noah did.  She just claps and screeches in glee.  Every time I went out of her line of vision, she would whip her head around and call for me "Ga-Ga-Ga!!! "  (Baby talk for Choopie)

Sarah and Taylor had a great time on the slopes, but they were sure glad to get their darling daughter back into their arms.

Sarah skiing a Black Diamond slope.  Linda would be on the Bunny Hill all day.

Super Bowl Spend Day

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Linda read online that the the average viewer will spend $69 dollars on the game day experience... and that's staying home to watch it.  All those $$ are spent on jerseys, beer (last year, 52 million cases), wings, pizza and buying bigger flat screen TV's to watch the game.  I can't even imagine what it costs to actually go to a game.  Plane fare,  hotels, food, game tickets.  The average ticket price is $1,600. (BTW, the first SB Tickets were $12.)   The report also mentioned that overall, $11 Billion dollars will be spent by consumers on ONE FOOTBALL GAME. Big companies spend almost $4 million dollars for a 30 second commercial to advertise their product.  SBS is also the second biggest eating day of the year (Thanksgiving is the first.)

 This all just seems crazy to Linda.  How could so many people be so jacked up for a football game when it might not even your favorite team playing?  

This is how Penny feels about the game.  She is going to watch Yo Gabba Gabba or Wonder Pets with Nana. 

Cute Things

"Nana, What are you doing way over there?  Come read me my Bible stories!"

Linda had such a great time with Penelope yesterday.  Penny's not taking much of a morning nap anymore, so they had lots of time to play together.  Her favorite thing to do is read books.  She'll read the same book 10 times in a row and not get tired of it.  Aunt Tierney had her books memorized by the time she was 3 and could "read" them back to Linda.  I bet Penelope will be doing the same thing.

Chimi's cold after going out in the snow this morning.

We woke up to a dusting of snow, but there isn't a school delay so Linda has her regular classes.  She's getting ready to leave in a few minutes, so Chimi is getting all his snuggle time in while he can. Sometimes she'll be gone for 4 hours and come back to find him under the covers curled up in the exact same spot she left him in.  Are all Chihuahua's "under the blanket" kind of dogs? 

These two pairs of sandals are for Tierney to enjoy while she suffers through winter not being able to wear her beloved flip-flops.  I think she would probably like to buy both pairs to add to her shoe collection.  (P.S.  Tier, Linda says thank you for taking her for the Bare Minerals make-over last night. She had fun and promises to do better wearing more makeup.)