on a break.

i'm taking one. starting yesterday. ;)
be back after the holidays.
happy thanksgiving everyone!
xo

a few from tonight.

i was home with ben while daddy went to play volleyball.
the kid was cracking me up.
thought it had been a while since we did just a wee man post. i suck, i know.
so thought some bullets from today might be nice.

- refused to let me put his pants back on after changing his diaper. some battles i chose not to fight. ;)
- insisted that the ducks in the bathtub were bue. yes bue. not blue.
- has a new happy feet dance that makes me smile.
- was calling his zebra a ezbra.
- wanting nothing more than to help mommy vacuum. then got mad when i picked up all of the toys so i/we could vacuum!
- loves to feed kitty. so sweet.
- would not stop drinking the bath water. again, i'm not fighting him. i guess the pee and snot will give him immunity or something, right? ;-P
- was beyond sad that the moo {aka moon} was hiding. he's serious about his moo.
- wanted to play with puzzles. which i have no clue how to spell in ben's language!
- has a mommy who thinks he's just the sweetest little boy and loves him very, very much. <3

18 on the 18th.

because i'm a complete moron and have completely forgot about these the past few months....

- ben is an eating machine. seriously, the boy eats non stop when we're home lately. it's insane.
- i'm in a purging mode and it feels awesome.
- find this completely insane. and apparently, purdue has a team. really want to see a game or practice!
- completely organized all of my 'to try' recipes. love the system. hoping i can keep it up.
- got into a rut with christmas shopping. i'm back now!
- we got a new printer/scanner and i can't figure out how to use the blasted thing and i have deadlines!
- i'm kinda getting sick of couponing. it's a lot of work and i think the coupons are multiplying!
- ordered almost 3,000 pictures from walgreens. yes, 3,000. got a killer deal and i'm still not up to date on my pictures. sigh. {see previous post!}
- am really wanting to watch superbad again.
- beaner is almost growing out of his 18 mos tops. still swimming in the bottoms, but we'll get there. {he's almost 20 mos!} and it's saving us money, right?
- really wishes people knew how to spell. soar does not equal sore. nor does hugh equal huge. literacy is quite cool people. you should check it out.
- nick found these while we were grocery shopping. totally reminds me of easter.
- thankful that nick's mri was negative. so that's good and bad, since it means no surgery but we don't know why he's having pain...
- loves that the only tv ben will watch is sportscenter or sports of some sort. preferably football or basketball.
- woohoo almost normal voice! only took four days!
- had a blast at the rafting 'reunion' dinner. always so great to hang with peeps that make me happy. even if i'm exhausted and ben is exhausted! totally worth the memories.
- was thrilled that when nick got off work early tuesday, he came home and steam cleaned the carpet in our living room. love that he helps around the house. and clean house = happy shan!
- pw is/was on throwdown! can't wait to watch the episode. love her and love bobby flay!

another wordless wednesday.

that ridiculously large box is full of pictures! and yes, i'm a dork and added nick's shoes for a size comparison.
check tomorrow post for more details... since this is supposed to be wordless and i seem to be babbling incessantly....

wip 11.13.10

friday:
sick day for ben and me. ben's actually feeling much better, just snotty. which isn't really anything new. me not so much.

saturday:
i suck it up and go to the game. we have a blast. albiet a wet and windy good time. ;) we're gonna be sad when my cousin graduates and my aunt and uncle no longer have season tickets!

oh and all pictures are taken on my trusty new waterproof camera. so happy i was smart enough to bring it instead of my regular point and shoot.

of course, the obligatory wind farm picture. what can i say, i'm obsessed! not the greatest picture, but i still love those em!

entering the stadium.

is it me or is the band's formation a little sexual?

had a fly over in honors of veteran's day.

the 'dry' self portrait.

dumbass forgot a hood....

loved all the different purdue rain gear.

the 'wet' self photo. and yes, drew brees is sitting behind us. 

nice and toasty in all my layers. 

the guy holding the american flag is neil armstrong. purdue's most famous alum. and here i thought it was drew or bob griese or matt light or mike alstott. 

nick yelling at me for walking on my pants almost the entire way home and my smarty pants response.

oh and this is where i lose my voice. it's not gone, gone yet. but working on it... i blame purdue for playing such a terrible game. seriously, i thought i was watching the bears for a while.

ended up back at my cousin's place and grilled for a bit. then we headed home to see benjamin.

sunday:
um, my voice is gone. like gone. i squeak. it's pathetic. ben has no clue what to think and nick's in heaven!

i took no pictures. nick wouldn't let me when ben ate the cat treat. it was hysterical. was trying to feed orbit some snackies and had one left over. so i guess beaner thought he should give it a go. lemme just say he was not a fan.

had a fun time at volleyball trying to communicate with my team mates. they thought it was hysterical. i think they are jerks. ;-)

dinner time.

a few of the things we made this past week.

brisket and bean burritos:  tasty. something different. i really liked the bean mixture. used it to make nachos a few times. and i might use it in the future to spice up my bean burritos.

greek lemon pasta: different. not sure if my taste buds were up to par on this week. i blame the sickies. ben and nick enjoyed it. well, ben ate the olives!

corn dog casserole: too corn bready for us. was way good, don't get me wrong. just wasn't the right ratio of hot dogs to corn bread. and i used 10 hot dogs not 8 when i made it. not sure we'll make this one again. but it was good.

american chop suey: yum. no crazy ingredients or prep + crock pot = happy shan!

wip 11.6.10

i do not want to get behind again!
so i'm uploading these now {wednesday} and just scheduling my posts. thinking not sure what the future is holding sickness wise....

friday:
went downtown to pick up our race packets for the hot chocolate. was nice that nick was able to take the day off and it was nice that aunt michelle was able to join us. we needed an extra set of hands!! {8 packets with only the two of us and ben would have been impossible.}

nick waiting...

ben with daddy as he tries on new running shoes.

family portrait at lou malnati's. i think i like gino's better. ;-)

saturday:
up bright and early!! and it's cold. and in some places snowy!

there were some crazy ass lake effect snow clouds {i think} over lake michigan.

the start of the race. 

notice anyone? kinda like where's waldo...
randomly passed nick along the way.

some of the garbage. it was insane!

the oh so pretty city.

happy that i'm done! {i have no pictures of nick finishing because i had the camera. he did awesome though. i'm so totally proud of him.}

and a yummy mexican lunch to reward ourselves. 

sunday:
a day to recouperate. sorta. had volleyball in the evening. holy bananas was i sore. like whoa. but i'm glad we played or it probably would have been worse!

rip hp.

 we'll miss you.

and please pardon any kinks while i try to figure out how to use the mac for all of my computer needs!

right now.

this is how many vitamins i'm taking. notice i said vitamins. not vicodins like my coworker thought she heard me say....

i'm not a big vitamin taker. usually i put them in my pocket with every intention of taking them when i get to work and i forget. then i forget to take them out of my pocket and they get washed and leave lovely yellow stains all over my nice scrubs.

however, i have taken them religiously for the past two days. even some twice today. i'm fighting off a cold. it sucks. but i'm thinking i would be way worse right now without them.

just have to figure out how to keep beaner healthy. i think we have our first experience with some flu bug with the wee man. put him to bed around six o'clock {he just couldn't keep his eyes open. thought it was just dst catching up to him since he's had no troubles adjusting his sleep habits...} and he's had two bouts of emesis since then. it's been going around daycare for the past few weeks. was really hoping that we were going to get lucky and dodge a bullet. but unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. ;(

fingers crossed the wee man is back to his normal self in the morning!

mr. kindle.

i love you. really i do. but why did your developers have to come out with games for you? maybe i should rephrase that. why did they have to create games that i simply cannot resist?
every word. seriously. i love it. play it religiously at lunch. and sometimes before bed. i don't care that you have nonsense words in the answers. or that you don't accept real words. i can't quit you!

i also downloaded minesweeper and a few other games. but i'm afraid to open them! i don't want to be addicted to one more game. 

since i've downloaded every word, i've only read while on the eliptical. which hasn't been a whole lot but a decent amount. but this means that i started reading little women over a month and a half ago and i'm not even a quarter of the way through it! i really would like to read alice in wonderland, gulliver's travels, treasure island, and many more classics but playing a mindless game is so much more fun at the moment.

so much for making myself more cultured. however, i can unscramble words like a champ.

she's awesome.

my coworker mentioned this today.
unbelievable.
and good for her!

project time.

have tons of ideas bouncing around in my head for this little home of ours.
some major. some not so major.
just trying to figure out a plan of attack. thinking i need to restart listing my monthly projects here. it worked so well when i did it in the past. totally held me accountable... well, at least in my mind it did! and my type a self loves to cross stuff off of lists!!

this week's menu.

gonna have to think of a witty title. thinking i'm going to update these weekly. so much easier to keep track of that way! and my thoughts on each meal are a bit more fresh.

and colleen, i am also plum tuckered out when i get home. but i have to cook to justify my crazy recipe collection! and it's not every day. just like 2-3 times a week. otherwise, it's quick and simple dinners or leftovers.

swiss steak supper: tasty. thinking it would have been tastier if it was made with steak. see, we bought the meat this weekend and i didn't throw it in the freezer for whatever reason. i believe it said good til like thursday. well, wednesday it was no bueno. so nick took it to the store to get a refund/exchange. however, he didn't pay attention and grabbed roast instead. so it was delicious as a roast. thinking it'll be better with steak! and definite thumbs up from beaner too!

zucchini pizza casserole: was quite yummy. ben had three helpings in one sitting! this will be great in the summer with fresh zuc from the garden.

corned beef: so i have a st. patrick's day recipe for corned beef that nick loves. thought this might be nice to just make some sandwiches. i changed the recipe... my brisket didn't have spice packets and i didn't use peppercorns. i also halved it. {which gave us about four sandwiches.} served it on rye with thousand island and swiss cheese. i had mine with just mustard. so good. but so much better fresh than reheated.l oh and i cooked it in the crock pot!

bacon chicken and dumplings:  the dumplings were delicious. kind of lengthy to cook. prep was easy but i was hungry and it took forever!! i thought there was a bit much liquid. might cut down the broth a bit next time we have it. be loved it too. he even ate the chicken which is rare. granted he did prefer the dumplings but it's a success if i can get him to have some protein {non-beef}!

more quotes.

think this might be a monthly installment kinda thing!

- the only thing you can control is your own effort.  ~ theodora van den beld

- the interest in good meals is universal. ~ louise m neuschtz  {totally seems to be ringing true with all my new recipes as of late.}

- a child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit. ~ francios rabelais

- friends are the family we chose for ourselves. ~ edna buchanan

- everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~ elizabeth lawrence

- fear not those who argue but those who dodge. ~ marie von ebner-eschenbach

- the older i get the more of my mother i see in myself. ~ nancy friday

- chaos is a friend of mine. ~ bob dylan

- to be happy, it first takes being comfortable in your own shoes. the rest can work up from there. ~ sophia bush

- curiousity is one of those insatiable passions that grow by gratification. ~ sarah scott

- well done is better than well said. ~ benjamin franklin

-be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment. ~ iara gassen

- laughter is inner jogging. ~ norman cousins

- perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a clearer view again. ~ alex tan

- always do what you are afraid to do. - ralph waldo emerson

october 2010 photo hunt.

photo hunt master linky.
and the participants and their entries.

this month was a little hectic and i have to say i wasn't very diligent in taking photos for the challenge.
i really wanted to try to get to the editing challenges this month, but that was not an option. fingers crossed that i will be a better player in the future!

again some are a stretch but they are done. and as always, no editing. just au naturale!

in disguise:
beaner trying out his costume.

crisp:
 somerville damn in west virginia.

fall colors:
 driving home from west virginia.

jack o lantern:
might not technically be a jack o lantern. but it's my only pumpkin picture!

ground shot:
at the pumpkin patch.

landscape:
white water rafting.

fall tradition:
the orchard and pumpkin patch.

books:
a total stretch. happened to see the kindle in this picture.

dining:
camping style....

children:
my benjamin and one of his favorites... chalk.

faces in nature:
taken on the upper gauley. west virginia.

i skipped tilt, black and white, and bokeh.
i suck.

october 23:
nothing special. but i only took 5 that day!

kitchen:
leftover halloween candy.

vintage:
trees are vintage, right?

creepy:
seeing this at our campground kinda creeped me out!

golden:
i <3 trees.

self portrait:
shadows rule!

am excited that the next challenges are smaller and monthly!

catch up.

hoping this is the last darn post to catch up on the wips.
sigh.
i'm such a bad blogger. i should have a routine...

so the weekend of the 23rd.
i took very few pictures. and now that i'm looking at the photo challenge blog, i see that i had to share a picture from the 23rd, so i'm saving the pictures to ensure that i don't duplicate them in posts.
had a nice weekend tho!
friday: was girls night at coopershawk. yum. can't wait to go back for couples night!
saturday: were originally going to go hiking but weather kinda changed our plans. so we lounged around and then headed to my cousin's birthday party.
sunday: i'm sure was laziness followed by volleyball. a double header i believe.

then there's the past weekend. halloween weekend!
i love halloween. there's just something about the wee ones all dressed up. and the haunted houses. and candy. and i could go on and on!

friday:
ben's daycare halloween party.
i didn't take any pictures of us trick or treating from room to room. too chaotic for that!
did take some when we got back to the room. they gave the kids rolls of toilet paper to play with. i guess the older kids use it to play mummy. however, these little guys just had fun. took ben a while to get the hang of it and i'm happy to say that he hasn't tried to 'play mummy' with our toilet paper!

then he enjoyed his munchkin. 

i stayed a bit after that and let him play with everyone. then we went to see daddy at work and then stopped by mommy's work too.

saturday:
ran some errands. then mommy and daddy had couple's night. dinner at bistro 157 followed by a haunted house. late night with lots of laughs and liquor! ;-)

sunday:
lazy day. finally had a chance for ben to decorate his pumpkin.

isn't it beautiful?

then we took naps. ben's was four hours. nick's was 2 and mine was about an hour!
when ben finally woke up, he didn't want to wear his pants. so i put my socks on him and i'm pretty sure 15 years from now he's gonna wish he wore his pants, so i wouldn't have this awesome picture.

then it was costume time.
i LOVE his costume. seriously. i might make him randomly wear it just because he's so darn cute in it!!!

family photo.
{i should teach my mom how to zoom, maybe i should crop it. oh well...}

this one cracks me up.

we didn't make ben trick or treat.  he just wanted to hang out and say hi and bye bye to everyone. at one point, he decided to go with a group of trick or treaters who came to the house. he took off down the sidewalk and driveway with them. was hilarious. he then proceeded to walk back and forth between our house and the neighbor's house.

i swear, nick is near him in the bottom picture. it's hard to see with the mob of people.

we gave up and came in about 615. it was just too darn cold!