Out of the Ozarks and At My Table

I just have to follow-up with this picture of 4 Stevenson Gentlemen and the "Rose Among the Thorns" eating dinner around my table during the weekend we celebrated my mother-in-law's 80th Birthday. Notice they have knives, forks and napkins. But you can't entirely cure all--notice that the Stevenson men are all positioned around the table so they can watch the golf game on the TV in the top right corner. . .

I love you all and love teasing you, too!

The Family I Married Into

First, Scott, you should know better than to send pictures to Greg, me or anyone with the suggestion of "blackmail" in the message.

This is the Sharm and Mardy Stevenson children during their last vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks, standing above the Bagnell Dam circa the 70's. From front to back is Scott, Chris, Jorli, Brad and my guy, Greg (in the overalls).

Question is: did they crawl out of the Ozarks or were they really just visiting?

Love you all!

Addressing A New Addiction

As if there aren't enough addictions already!

I think the following article is worth a looksy by anyone taking a looksy here. I certainly identified with a few points:

http://www.parenting.com/article/Mom/Work--Family/3-Reasons-Moms-Are-Addicted-to-the-Internet

I laughed out loud at the comment about the mom who checked her blog, Flickr, Twitter regularly for comments others made about her posts and pictures. You know who you are!!!

Ebay Queen

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been obsessed with selling on ebay. I have an intense psychological need to get rid of the clutter in my life and with every package I mail, I feel a little lighter, less encumbered.

If you're interested, I sell under "fritzytoo."

Here's the story behind the name: we got the sweetest Schnauzer when I was in the hospital during my first round of chemo in 2002. He was my best buddy who kept me company when Greg was on the road, slept curled up in the crook of my legs, and even sat on my lap while I drove to Utah and back. His name was Fritz.

If you know the movie "The Wizard of Oz" (and if you don't I can't understand how we're friends), then you'll remember at the end when Dorothy is hoping to exit Oz via a hot air balloon she asks Glinda, "And Toto, too?" It's one of my favorite movie lines of all time, so it was fitting that when Greg and I would go anywhere, I would ask, "And Fritzy, too?"

And fritzytoo was created.

This is Fritz with his winter haircut. We would have his coat shorn very short because of the "snowballing" that would happen when he'd run through the snow, bounding like a jack rabbit. It was so funny to watch our neighbors through our kitchen window standing at their kitchen window watching our dog and laughing.

Sloppy Joes 3 Ways

Yes, I know it's not fine cuisine, but sometimes a Sloppy Joe just sounds good. I hadn't made them in a while and so it was a new meal for Katherine. She was excited until she pulled something out of the meat and asked/demanded: IS THIS AN ONION?!? And in my mind I said, "DARN YOU JASON!" At dinner at our house during the holidays, he enlightened Katherine on the subject of onions. With the new knowlege, the Sloppy Joe was smashed.

Katherine then made herself a different kind of Joe, a Katie Joe, if you will, that was filled with 5 cup (or Ambrosia) salad. For a moment I believed we had a winning sandwich until she discovered the shredded coconut in the salad. Not quite as evil as the onion, but close.

Out of buns, we turned to sliced bread for her third sandwich, the banana peanut butter wonder. The only problem is that she didn't want to smash the bananas.

It is the last time I let her have options. What a mess.

Little Girls

Yesterday Katherine sang the song from Annie, "Little Girls, Little Girls" and I remembered that song all day as we had Jessica at our house to play. It was so fun to hear them as they made up imaginary scenarios and took turns being the puppy dog or the princess. There was a little fighting (mostly Katherine being bossy) and Jessica graciously giving in. What a good girl she was and cleaned up all of the play-doh mess by herself, Katherine being no help at all.

After 4 hours together, it was time to relax a bit so the girls chose to watch Sleeping Beauty. I was asked to bring them chips and strawberry Crystal Light as a treat and then they plopped down on the couch to watch. I thought it was so funny that of all the places one can sit in the family room, they're cuddled close together, sharing chips and chatting throughout the show.

Hoar Frost

Because of the bitter cold weather, the trees are covered with hoar frost. It is a serene drive through the tree lined road up the mountain to our house as the pine trees are blanketed in white. The scenery looks unreal, appearing dream-like. Looking out at the pines and aspens in my backyard, their branches seem to be covered with fluffy, white mittens. It is a beautiful sight and one of the reasons I can tolerate this cold and foggy weather.

These are some trees at a house in our neighborhood. I wanted to get a better picture, but I 1) forgot the long lense and 2) was too cold to actually venture out of the car and into the deep snow to get a picture.