Taryn's Present

Dan had a lot of fun with me this year for Christmas Eve. All year I have wanted an Irobot Scooba, it's like the Roomba vacuum except this robot sweeps, mops, and dries your floor so you don't have too! What a perfect addition to my cleaning supplies and my strong will to forever keep a clean house (this gets tested a lot having a toddler running around!).
The night started out like this, my first present I opened was a bottle of Listerine Mouthwash - how lovely, what the hell are you trying to say? Second gift I open is a electronic toothbrush, what the hell? The third present is a box of push pins, how exciting? Next gift I open is a book and then a DVD that Dan himself wanted, not me. At this point I am watching everyone else opening nice gifts that have thought put into them and everyone liking what they are getting - and I finally say "there had better be a Scooba under that tree somewhere". I had seen a large box under the tree with my name on it, but our DVD player just took a trip to the dump and the box looked suspiciously like a DVD player. So my last gift is the last gift of the night to be opened and low and behold "THE SCOOBA" !! What a good husband! I was never so excited in my life (okay that may be an exaggeration, but still bear with me). I have let my scooba rip around my kitchen and it's fabulous - for anyone who hates to mop the floor I highly recommend this robot. If you want to see this little puppy go or learn more about it here is a link to the web page and then on the right side click on "watch scooba in action".
http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=128

Christmas Eve and Presents

Here is the first post of our Christmas at the Davids' home in Colorado!!

Katelynn was a wonderful little Santa and helped hand out gifts to everyone and even opened her own. She was an appreciative little girl as well, after each gift that was hers she would make a comment on how much she liked it, one gift was stacking cups (one of her favorite things) and after we took them out for her she said "Oh Boy"! and after another gift it was "Oh Wow!" and another was "for the Baby!" She even guessed correctly on the books that we bought her as gifts before she unwrapped them, smart little turkey!

Here are some pictures of her new favorite thing to play with and the great part is mommy can fold it up and put it away when not in use!!

More pictures to come later this week! We are buckling down for another supposed blizzard starting tomorrow - good lord, I thought I left Minnesota!

Take Care,

Taryn, Dan, Katelynn and this weeks special guest - Grandma.

Larry the Cable Guy vs. Native American Women

December 19, 2006

To Whom It May Concern;

On December 4, 2006, Larry the Cable Guy told a "joke" on the Tonight Show using the term "squaw skank." The word "squaw" is a pejorative term that usually translates to something akin to a dirty, sexually expendable, native female object - making the word "skank" fairly redundant. There was no public outcry, no demands for apologies, therapy or consultations with any native national leaders a la Michael Richards. Basically, there was no reaction except for the laughter of the audience.

Sadly, most of us who are Native just shook our heads. Just more of the same. Afterall, we are used to the likes of Disney's sexualization of Pocahantas, Outkast's trivialization and sexual objectification of Native women for entertainment purposes on an awards show, American history's romantizing of the sexual slavery of Sacajawea, the absence or demeaning of Native people in general and Native women in particular. We are used to the lies. Thanksgiving? Is it really an American tradition to invite people to come over and eat and decorate the place with the heads of their leaders on posts? Even Paula Zahn's CNN series on racism - any Indians?

Native women are the most raped, most battered, most stalked, most murdered group of women in America. Check with the Department of Justice report on violence and American Indians. They also report that the perpetrators are not Native 70 % of the time. The "Indian Wars" are not over. Not when at best, one of three Native women continue to be the targets of these crimes.

There are hundreds of missing and murdered Native women in this country. Who knows? Who cares? Amber Alert? News Break? There has to be a couple jokes in here about domestic terrorism and Homeland Security, Larry.

The so-called joke and lack of outrage is a symptom, a sign that Indian woman are still the spoils of a never ending war. The joke can go on the shelf at the Smithsonian that holds a tobacco pouch made from a Native woman's genitals.

And Larry the Cable Guy tells Bob Simon on 60 Minutes, that he gets "more professional" and "better every year." Oh, he also makes upwards of $250,000 per show. There are fewer than 40 shelters for native women who are battered within the USA borders. So how about an apology and funding a couple shelters, Larry?

As a Native woman, like most of the native women I know, I don't have time, the will or energy to deal with the likes of Larry the Cable Guy and all the people that chuckle at his and others' racist commentary. We have work to do getting basic resources, first responders, housing, medical care, safety…We have to talk to our sons, daughters, grandchildren about racism, sexism, genocide and explain why its okay for non-Indians to tell those jokes on national TV. We have to go be with our sisters, aunts, grandmothers, mothers who are raped, battered because they are native women. We need to be with our relatives who are burying and mourning the women in their families, our families who are being murdered at a rate not so different than US military personnel in Iraq.

Larry the Cable Guy did not act alone. Racism and misogyny require passive collusion, if not overt acts by individuals and large groups of society. Jay Leno and NBC each issuing a public apology and funding a native women's shelter would be a powerful precedent in defense of native women and the accountability of men with privilege.

Brenda Hill (Siksika), Education Coordinator / author Karen Artichoker(Oglala/ Ho-Chunk), Director

Snowed In

The Holiday blizzard of 2006. This is what they are calling our storm.

Just to give a quick update on the weather in Colorado, they actually predicted the weather correctly today, snow, snow and a ton more snow. I went to work this morning and it wasn't too bad, just some blowing and the snow hadn't really started yet, but by 10am they were talking about closing roads that I needed to get home, I don't want to live at my job (although some days it would be a nice alternative) so I left at 10:30 and at 1pm they closed our office and we are closed tomorrow now as well (I wouldn't have gotten out of our subdivision anyways). On the way home the snow drifts were already making there way across the interstate, but I made it home and Dan was already busy with his 4-wheeler and attached snowplow and we went and picked up Katelynn at daycare. No plows had come through our subdivision yet and people were already stuck in on the roads, it was crazy. Dan kept on plowing throughout the day and still tonight and you can't tell he did a thing, his van has snow packed around it up the side of the doors, that van isn't moving for a few days for sure. We already have probably a couple feet of snow from today and it is supposed to keep up until noon tomorrow.

After doing some laundry and hanging out Dan & I both realized that the milk man probably isn't coming to our door tomorrow - shit! Dan tried to go out tonight to the gas station and pick up some milk and of course they were closing when he got there - shit! Then he got stuck on his way home after helping pull someone else out - shit! Another realization is that we are getting low on diapers and the daycare lady told me today that she needs diapers too - shit, shit! While I'm at it I'm sure our garbage will be on overload as well if the garbage pick-up doesn't happen tomorrow too!

So pray for us out here in the Holiday blizzard of 2006 (can you imagine if Minnesota and North Dakota named all of their blizzards?)!!

Preparing for a Weekend Away

When a husband leaves for a weekend away for himself and leaves the wife and child behind the following things are done before they leave.

1. Pack bags.
2. Hugs and Kisses

When a wife decides to take a weekend for herself and leave the husband and child behind all of the following things are done before they leave.

1. Clean the entire house because you know it won't get done while you are gone and you hope that it may still resemble your house upon return.
2. Do all the dishes in the house and make sure the dishwasher is open for dirty dishes or your sink may be one big pile of mess when you return.
3. Do 5 loads of laundry the day before you leave so every stitch of clothing is clean and available (this of course does include your laundry as well so you have clothes to pack).
4. Grocery Shop - you must make sure there is food for every meal that is easy to prepare while you are gone to keep the stress level at a minimum.
5. Go over the rules - Rule 1, limited TV and movie time (I know it's easy to put the kid in front of the TV and turn on a movie and they will watch it over and over and over again, but this will not be good for when nap time comes around and they don't want one). Rule 2, only 4 ounces of juice a day (not an hour) and it's okay to dilute it with water. Rule 3, no babysitters while I'm gone - this is your time to bond with your child, not your buddies. Rule 4, attempt to keep the house in some kind of order and don't forget to feed the cats.
6. Let husband off of all duties the day before leaving, he gets as much alone time as necessary, he has a big, responsible weekend ahead!
7. Pack your bags.
8. Hugs and Kisses and continous phone calls throughout the weekend to be sure everything is still okay.

The Ball Pit Incident

Katelynn received a ball pit for her first birthday in September. I do not know what we would do without the "ball pit", we keep it in the basement and she plays in it almost every night, she just loves it. The ball pit had to be moved upstairs to Katelynn's bedroom when it was time for the Christmas tree to come out of hiding for the holiday season. We thought the best place for it would be in her room for awhile so she could play with it before bedtime. A couple of Friday nights ago Dan, Katelynn, and I were doing the family thing and hanging out in her room. We noticed that she had a little diaper rash going on and decided that it would be good to let her run around without a diaper on for a little while (Dan does not let this happen often because he hates it when she pees on the carpet anywhere in the house). Everything was going good and Katelynn was a happy little camper running around without a diaper and playing in her room, she decided it was time to climb into the ball pit and rumble with the balls. All of the sudden I hear a couple of things, something coming from her area and something possibly outside, so I ask Dan if he heard that and he said "just the neighbor bringing up their trash can", but I knew better. I went and took a closer look at Katelynn in her ball pit because she was still sitting so still and yes, she pee'd in the ball pit, not a trickle, a full drainage of the bladder. Dan freaked out of course and couldn't believe it. Into the tub Katelynn went and into the garage the ball pit went. Dan grumbled the entire night about having to wash out the ball pit on his Friday night. Above is the picture of each ball that I washed by hand in the sink. The ball pit is now back in Katelynn's room and she is no longer aloud per Daddy to play in it without a diaper on!

Chapter 3 - The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

"You're A Nag"

Obviously from the title of this chapter you can see where this is going. I have a hunch that quite a fee of us women fall into the pit.

According to Dr. Laura the #1 complaint of men was that their wives criticize, complain, nag, rarely compliment or express appreciation, are difficult to satisfy, and basically are not as nice to them as they'd be to a stranger ringing their doorbell at 3am.

(I know that I fallen into this category from time to time and have actually thought about this before reading this book, why am I nicer to a friend than my husband at times? Why is he nicer to his friends than me? My opinion is that men / husbands fall into this particular piece as well as us woman, but I'm sure Dr. Laura's comment would be it's because I treat him this way).

Dr. Laura goes on to discuss that we are making an unhappy home for our husbands and are dwindling their egos and those husbands who don't have happy homes may turn to other ventures whether it's alcohol, drugs, or someone who will make them feel worthwhile. One husband writes about how at work he gets evaluated and always comes out with excellent performance, but feels at home he can't do anything right?!

This chapter goes on to different pieces of different marriages and scenarios at home, some examples of us woman behaving badly:

Man comes home and we start complaining about the kids, the house, this and that and do not offer a hug/kiss, how was your day dear, just straight to complaining about the day "can you believe this happened and so and so did this;

When a man tries to help do something around the house (this I assume applies to us wives who usually "do it all") If you do the dishes, can't you do all the dishes, what did you put that there for, I can't believe you did it that way now I have more work to do fixing it than getting help from you, these last comments will eventually lead the husband to do nothing in which return we yell "You never do anything around here!"

Here are 2 scenarios that Dr. Laura wrote and we are to decide which will get the desired result, also I believe we are supposed to figure out which one we fall into as a wife.

The garbage needs to be taken out.

Scenario 1: Yell at him every five minutes to remind him that the garbage has to be taken out. Then berate him for not having done it yet in spite of your reminders and in spite of whatever else he may be doing. Then start escalating things by bringing up everything else he's done to annoy you in the past decade. Then, once he's finally taken the garbage out, tell him, "it's about time"! Then storm off to your room, pout and turn your back in bed.

Scenario 2: Let him know you've wrapped up the trash and that it's sitting by the back door, and ask him if, when he has time, he would please dump it in the trash bin. Don't bring it up again (why bother, because the trash man isn't coming till morning anyway?) Catch him just as he's coming back from tossing the bag in the can. Give him a big kiss and tell him that it was a big help because it's hard for you to hold the can lid with one arm and pitch a very heavy bag with the other hand.

Okay ladies, I have tried this second scenario after reading this chapter, minus the I'm not strong enough crap, and my husband looked at me like I was crazy for thanking him for taking out the garbage after he did it, guys care to comment on this one? It did however save grace from a fight about things that need to get done, so my suggestion would be to mend this to your own however you need to to keep the piece.

The rest of this chapter talks about how men like to be "Our Hero's" and be rewarded for their good deeds. Our job as wives is to let no good dead go unappreciated. It also discusses that we do not build our men's ego's enough, again we criticize and complain and do not tell them the goods and the reasons that we love them. Dr. Laura also discusses how we try to micromanage and if we do this our husbands will eventually give up trying to please us. We need to learn how to speak and be more positive and our marriage will be more joyous all around.

Katelynn's Pretty Red Christmas Dress

Here are a couple of pictures of all of us and Katelynn in her Christmas dress we bought her. We are very excited to have my mom and grandma joining us in Colorado for Christmas this year, it was a last minute thing, but the more the merrier!!

Decorating for Christmas

Here are some pictures of us decorating for Christmas. Most of this was done the day after Thanksgiving (minus all the light mishaps)everything went pretty well and both Katelynn and the cats have left both trees alone! Katelynn has now added "TREE" to her vocabulary. She tried to get into the gifts only once and is now more interested in getting daddy's train and accessories. Also, if you look at the TV in one of the pictures we are watching It's A Charlie Brown Christmas, (this was to keep my brother happy since I got my butt chewed for missing the Halloween Charlie Brown episode).

Personalized Letters from Santa

This is very cute and a great idea for all parents, your child will be tickled to get a real letter from Santa! and the best part - this one is FREE!!

F71348url=http://www.aaasouth.com/newsletter/1205/santa/santaletter.asp

Lights, Lights, and more freakin X-mas Lights

I now know the meaning of the phrase in the song "and those damn Christmas Lights".
Never in the past have I had a problem with my Christmas lights. I have always done all of my decorating and plug in the lights at the end and presto! the Lord said let their be light.
This happy memory for me has now ended and I am joining the group that says "those freakin Christmas lights".

Problem 1: Dan takes out our pre-lit X-mas tree and plugs it in and there are 3 places the tree is lit, the top, the middle, and the bottom, but not the middle section of the top? When one bulb goes out in a section the lights are supposed to flash to let you know one needs to be changed, but this is not the problem, it's something electrical, Dan proceeded to take lights out, replace lights, plug different sections in - nothing. After 2 days of messing with this top section of our tree we finally gave up and added colored lights to the entire tree to try and hide its imperfections.

Problem 2: 2 years ago I bought the pre-lit evergreens to wrap around and down our banister, I have always loved the look of these when you walk into someone's house. I have 3 total to wrap around mine and it takes time and makes a mess pulling these needles (even though they are fake) through the bars. I finish this task and plug the last one into the outlet and NOTHING, I am thinking "you have got to be kidding me, there was not one thing wrong with them last year when I unplugged them and stored them away". So, I double-check that I have them all connected correctly, I get an extension cord and plug each one in separately and still NOTHING. I unravel one of the section and take it to Dan, "Help me". He does his thing again of trying to change out lights, plugging into different outlets, etc, etc and still Nothing, he tells me the bulbs are all dead, you need to get replacements. So the next morning I go to the store and buy replacement bulbs and they are the wrong size - it's the only ones they had? The next day I go to a different store and buy different ones, nope still wrong size, after 2 more days of messing with these damn lights I have given up and wrapped the one I took down back up and bought a separate strand of lights to wrap around the whole damn thing.

Our lesson learned - we will not be buying anything else that is pre-lit. If the lights don't work you can buy another strand and throw the old one's away!

Thanksgiving and More

Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends, we hope that you had a wonderful holiday!

Our Thanksgiving started out by Dan & I trying to figure out what time we should eat, we wanted Katelynn to be able to join us at the table and her naps on days that she's home with us seem to vary, sometimes it's a 2 hour nap starting at 10:00 and sometimes it's a 3 to 4 hour nap starting at 11:00, we discussed and contemplated and decided it would be best to eat at noon. So Wednesday night Dan prepared his Turkey and double-checked all of his fixings for the next day and I made a pumpkin pie (my husband doesn't have much faith in me so he bought a back-up just in case, my pie turned out just fine and the counterfeit didn't get eaten over the weekend). We set the alarm for 6am so Dan could get up and preheat the oven, throw the turkey in and get back to bed (one nice thing is Katelynn sleeps until about 7:30am when she's doesn't have to go to daycare, this is heaven in our new world.)
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, biscuits, and pumpkin pie - this is a lot of food for 3 people to eat. Katelynn did end up napping through the meal, but it actually gave me a chance to eat while my food was still hot! We watched some football and just hung out the rest of the day.

Black Friday:
I was not too entirely impressed with the after Thanksgiving day ads and sales that I saw, but Friday morning I was out of the house by 7:30am, nobody else was even awake yet. First stop, Target - I picked up a couple of gifts for Katelynn and for a couple other people on our list, it was not too crowded, I was pleasantly surprised. Second stop, Old Navy, now they did have some good sales going so I bought a couple more gifts and of course something for myself and off I went. Third stop, outlet mall, I went to Osh Kosh B'Gosh and found Katelynn an outfit for her pictures next weekend and then went to the toy store and found another gift I was looking for for her - off and running again. Last stop, the Promenade mall in Loveland, I went to Best Buy first and this is where I ran into the crowd of people, mobs of them, in every inch and section of the store, I was looking at a small flat screen for Dan for our living room upstairs and found one on sale, but Best Buy is a sneaky store - the sale price was great, but the money that you save is on a rebate, not at the register, they are definitely banking on people being to busy through the holiday season to remember to mail it in, so too many people and not really a sale, off to Macy's I went and found Katelynn's x-mas dress! It was $44.00 and on sale and then I had my coupon of course and got it for $17.00 - you can't beat that! A couple more stores and a couple more presents and I was homeward bound.
Pretty satisfied with my morning and shopping.

Saturday:
I did a double-check on the ads after I went through my list of what and who I still needed to buy for. Why are dads and men so hard to shop for? You are a lucky one if your father or husband have a hobby that you can purchase things for them, mine have neither, my dad - I struggle with every year and Dan's hobbies are too expensive to buy for and if he decides that he wants something he goes out and buys no matter what time of the year. I did think of a couple more things that I wanted to pick-up and we needed diapers to make it through the long weekend so Katelynn and I took off in the afternoon back to the stores.
Check, Check, and Check, the shopping is done!

Sunday:
Football day! Okay, so no matter what I still get up giddy on Sunday's for football and get my Viking wardrobe on and dress my kid the same, I like to keep the hope alive. We did win this Sunday so I am now looking forward again to going home in a couple of weeks to get the rush of being at the game and with the crowd.

We did do some Christmas decorating, but that is another blog to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Ads

If you go to www.google.com and type in Black Friday you can find some of the ads for the stores, I've already checked out Target & Best Buy to see what I need !

Shopping Help

Last night on Fox news at 9pm they showed how people are saving money on X-mas shopping on-line and finding out about the ads coming out for Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving Sales. I know that I am going out at some point that morning, I just need to get some lists together for gifts and who I have to still buy for! But anyway check out this website it might be useful if you do any shopping on-line and you need a code to enter to save some money.

the website is "dealtaker.com"

Taryn.

Baked Spaghetti Recipe

Here's a new recipe that we tried out last night - it's easy and good and makes a lot to last a couple of days so you don't have to cook again !

Ingredients:
1 pkge of spaghetti noodles (16 ounces)
chop some onion
1 jar (26 ounces) meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup of Parmeasan cheese, grated
5 tablespoons of better
2 cups (16 ounces) of cottage cheese
4 cups (16 ounces) of shredded mozzarella cheese

Oven temp: 350 degrees

Cook the noodles and drain.

In another pan brown hamburger with your chopped onions, drain, and stir in the spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt - set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, parmesean cheese and butter. Add spaghetti noodles and toss to coat the noodles.

Grease a 9x13 pan and pour half the noodles into it followed by half the cottage cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese and then repeat starting with the noodles again.

Cover and bake for 40 min. Uncover and bake another 20 - 25 min.

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good !

My Little Cheerleader

Here is my little cheerleader! I know, it's a Bronco's cheerleading outfit - her dad bought it for her last year for X-mas and needless to say the Vikes haven't been bringing it lately. More and more people seem to be jumping on the "Brad Johnson has to GO" bandwagon (which I have been on since before the season started). In December I am going to a game with my brother, we are playing the Jets, hopefully the experience will be worthwhile, but with Jeff it always is. I am flying in on a Friday night and staying in the Cities until Monday morning - a little vacation for me (I am not bringing Katelynn with, it's daddy's turn to go it alone once I figure and I get some me time!I also plan on doing some heavy duty shopping at the Megamall). When you go to a game with Jeff the morning starts out where nobody wants to get up and get going and fights will start over the bathroom in the hotel, next is finding the stadium and Jeff's special parking garage - it has to be the same garage each time, and then the 40 below degree mile hike to the stadium, you can't miss that for anything. I have to say that I have become quite the wimp towards the Minnesota winters and can't hack the cold anymore, but I am ready and rearing to go, 1 month and counting down the weeks !

Halloween (adult version)

Here are some pictures of our neighbors who dressed up and went out the weekend before Halloween for the costume contests. Unfortunately they didn't win any contests, but they are now known around town as "The Boobs". I thought these were great costumes, how much more creative can you get? They stopped by for a beer before their night on the town and we took a couple of pictures!

Have you ever been squished between 2 giant boobs (some men need not answer).

Trick or Treat

Here are some Halloween picturs of Katelynn, she was a 101 Dalmation. I took her out to a couple of the houses on our block, she didn't know what to think at the first house and after that when we would knock on each door she started shaking, poor thing was scared out of her whits! She did enjoy when the kids were coming to our house.

Baby Rap

This was funny so I thought I would share.

http://www.ladyskylar.com/swffiles/madeapoop.swf

What Happened to Thanksgiving?

Katelynn and I did some shopping on Saturday afternoon. We weren't looking for anything important just some household items and if I saw a possible X-mas present for anyone on my list I thought we would grab it.
I think I had all but one of my Halloween decorations down and put away the night of Halloween after we turned our lights off and put Katelynn to bed, I was already done with that holiday - on to the next.
After arriving at Target, our first destination of the day, I decided that I would look for some Thanksgiving decorations because I don't believe I have any, other than the traditional nut bowl. Katelynn and I are strolling through the X-mas extravaganza that is already all displayed and I overhear an old couple stating they can't find any Thanksgiving decorations. I thought to myself yeah, okay the old pissy lady just hasn't walked to the right area of the store, but I'm going to find me a stuffed animal Turkey for Katelynn. First off anyone who is a Target shopper knows that strolling through the entire store is a no-no, you will never get out of there for less than $100, but I was on a mission.
*Severely discounted Halloween crap - check
*Extravaganza of X-mas crap - check
*The time of the year Thanksgiving decorations - none.
No Thanksgiving anywhere - what the hell ? At this point my cart is full so we decide to give up in defeat and we go through the checkout and of course it's over a $100 - hmm, Daddy hunting and I'm home alone, I think he should pay for this one - done and out of the store we go.
I have not total given up on getting my Turkey for the house so we head over to Kohl's. Kohl's will not let me down on this one, I am assuming they have the X-mas crap out, but they must have something for Thanksgiving too. We take our own stroller in this round (can't take the chance of loading up another cart of crap I don't need and don't want Dan to see). Into the store we breeze through the clothes section, I still have yet to figure out in Kohl's if I am in the Junior section or the woman's section, I am somewhere in between which I can never find. We steer clear of the shoes and whiz past the pots and pans (it's not pampered chef), through the bedding section and maternity (whew, don't miss that one) and we start to see the light!
*Discounted Halloween crap - check
*X-mas extravaganza - check
*Thanksgiving - nothing -
What the hell, where do I find a damn Turkey for my kid. Beaten out again. Now mad that I've walked 5 miles through 2 stores to no avail out the door and I am not buying a damn thing.
Again I ask, What Happened to Thanksgiving?

The House to Myself (kinda)

Dan left to go on his annual hunting trip this morning after weeks of preparation. These preparations actually are a year long event (those woman that have men that hunt know exactly what I'm talking about). After last years hunt the men continue to gather together to discuss the big hunt they had, after a few months of this and the stories being told over and over and over yet again, they start to talk about the hunt to come.
What would men think of us woman if we talked about our shopping endeavors this way?)
Then when the new hunt is a couple of months away they must go scout out their territory (which is the same spot normally year after year), but this has to be done by camping for the entire weekend with just the men, and again they discuss last years hunt. Then it becomes phone call after phone call about what gun they are going to bring, the shells that they will shoot, the food they are going to cook (though they always seem to come home with receipts from restaurants?) and the gear that each man needs to bring. Two weeks before the hunt the house is in chaos with hunting paraphenilia everywhere. Where is my orange jacket, where are my camping dishes, can I take this with me from the pantry for cooking? The list goes on and on and then they finally leave! Thank you lord for a few days with the house to myself.

Each year I have a mental agenda of what I want to do. First on the list is always clean, clean, clean because the house stays clean the entire time he his gone, how do men make such a mess? After the house is clean then it is relaxation time, a few beers, a few phone calls, a shopping day and a movie or two that I know Dan will never watch.

Before kids my list went more like this: clean, clean, clean and relax at home with a movie and beers, sleep in all morning, shopping - which I always made Dan leave me some extra shopping money because he should feel guilty that he was leaving me home alone, and I usually had a friend staying with me from out of town and it would be how much beer can we consume in one weekend. (This is obviously not an option any longer, when the kid wakes up at 6am you better be ready!)

So post children list extends to this: come home and cook supper for the two of you, run to the grocery store, play with kiddo before night night time (yes, I said night night time), clean, clean, clean after kiddo goes to bed, make a green chile in the crockpot to freeze as a few meals for the cold months ahead, watch a little TV and off to bed because 6am comes fast and you better be ready.

More pumpkins

here are the other 2 pics that didn't load last time.
My little pumpkin eater!

Chapter 2 - The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

Chapter 2 in this book is discussing about the reason to have our husbands be our #1 priority in life. This chapter also discusses the syndrome of the "do-it-all" moms out there and where it leads us too (I think there may be a lot of us out there that fall into this category).

Dr. Laura states that this lifestyle of the "do-it-all" moms has led to weight gain, low sex drive, moodiness, and fatigue-all due to stress caused by trying to do too much, not being able to keep up with it, not feeling very accomplished at any of it, resenting anyone who has any expectations and ending up feeling hostile and depressed.
(I believe a lot of people probably feel at least one, if not two of these things, sorry, but we just can't do it all and feel happy all the time).
Dr. Laura also states that many of us wives that do work and have children have what she calls the Hurried Woman Syndrome, the HWS do not treat everyone well, especially their children and husbands because they are tired all the time and stressed out by the requirements of a job and we tend to make everyone else pay the price because we just have nothing else to give. (Thinking to different scenarios after a stressful day at work I may have fallen into this pit a time or two, for those of you who know me, maybe more).

Okay ladies (and men) here is where Dr. Laura states that it is our duty as woman to give it up to the man.
Husband Caller: I am saying for a good, healthy relationship, there is nothing wrong with us making love at least 3 times a week. She thinks once or twice every two or three weeks is a healthy relationship. I said we should call Dr. Laura because she knows what is healthy and what isn't.
Dr. Laura: Is that a reasonable rendition of the issue?
Wife: Yes, that is pretty close.
Dr. Laura: Did you ever have sex more than you do now?
Wife: Well, it isn't that I don't like it. When husband and I were first married, it was a lot.
Dr. Laura: So, what has it gotten boring?
Wife: Maybe a little boring. But, more important, I am tired a lot.
Dr. Laura: That is not a fair excuse. It is your obligation to keep yourself healthy and fit so that you can be involved with your husband. You can't do the "I am tired" bit every day and have your husband just accept that this important, intimate part of his life is simply going to be controlled by your whim. It is your obligation to not be tired all the time. What if he said "I'm too tired and I'm not going to work anymore?"
Dr. Laura goes on to discuss what wife has done to spice up the love life and of course us being woman ask "why is it up to us", of course Dr. Laura doesn't accept that answer and says it is up to us ladies to do what we need to do to keep the love life alive and not be so damn tired. (my thoughts on this have always been, well if I wasn't picking up everything in the house and doing all the cleaning, cooking and laundry then maybe I wouldn't be so damn tired! That is an unacceptable answer according to Dr. Laura, sooo then I say if you came to bed when I did, maybe something would happen!)

Per Dr. Laura if you decide that the most important thing about your life is your worker-ant role, you'll likely feel drained a lot of the time and resent your obligation you have to your husband and children. You are not loved, adored, and intimately needed at work. You are a goddess to your children and a queen to your husband. So, aside from the paycheck what is more nourishing and rewarding? (Now these statements make sense to me, sometimes you must get right down to the nitty gritty to get through).

The other piece of this chapter goes on about woman who have children and that is their #1 priority and since having children they have devoted all of their time and energy to them and only them. I won't go into detail on this subject because I believe in having my own life as a person, mother, and a wife and each needs equal time, a good friend of mine taught me this after she had a child and when I was pregnant. One thing a caller did call in to state was "You had a husband before you had children-don't forget it! Good advice if you wanted my opinion.

That basically sums up chapter 2 in nutshell. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

Here are a couple more pictures from this month and our trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Katelynn dressed up this year as a 101 Dalmation, she was too cute (pictures will follow later). We took her out to a couple of houses, but she liked it more being at home and watching the kids come to our door. We did let her have a sucker tonight and part of a tootsie roll. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Here is a pictures from a couple of weekends ago. We took Katlelynn to the Pumpkin Patch by our house. She loved it. The ground was really bumpy and she kept falling in all the holes, but she didn't care, she just ran and ran and was trying to follow any empty wagon that went by.

Learning New Words

Katelynn is certainly trying hard to communicate with Dan & I, but half the time we just don't know what she is saying. Pointing has not been her strong point yet either, she just kinda points into the air and we have no idea what she is pointing at. Last night we took out a new toy that she got for her birthday, it's a toy bus with The Little People, she loves it. So I was saying bus and telling her what it was and Dan is sitting back watching and she starts to say what she thinks I am saying, which was "BUTT". It was so funny and it was driving Dan crazy. All night I would say BUS and she would look at the bus and say"BUTT", "BUTT". I laughed all night!

Today we have our playgroup in Ft. Collins and tomorrow we are just taking it easy (no football for the Vikes tomorrow, we play Monday night!)

The Importance of Baby Gates

Last Friday I picked up Katelynn from daycare and we met Dan at home. We were all hanging out in the Kitchen/Living Room area and just chatting away. Katelynn usually wanders around and gets some toys upon arriving home. Friday she was in a really good mood (she must have known it was the start of the weekend too!) and she was chasing the cats and playing. Dan and I were just chatting away about our day in the kitchen and all was good. All of the sudden I remember when I walked in the door that day that the gate to the downstairs had been open, not unusual one of us usually closes it when we get home, but fear struck my eyes when I went "Where is Katelynn" and saw the gate was still open. We both whipped around and there is our little darling on her belly ready to make a slide down the steps. Needless to say we did not make it to her rescue as she was reaching for a toy that she had thrown down a couple of steps and there she went head over heels down the stairs, bad mommy & daddy. Surprisingly she was fine, of course it scared the crap out of her and there were tears shed, but for once no bruises! We spent the rest of the night catering to her every whim feeling a tad guilty.

Now we know the importance of the baby gates. Lesson Learned.

Banana Salsa Bread

I have had a couple of requests for this recipe so I figured I would just post it here for any and all that want to try it. My husband does not care for this bread, he likes regular banana bread, which I haven't made in quite awhile, I figure if I'm going to bake something I want to try something new (I know - for those of you who know me that's a scary thought, but it is just banana bread). With Katelynn here now we always make sure that there are bananas in the house (the quick and easy snack). For whoever wants to try this here it is:

Banana Salsa Bread:

vegetable cooking spray
1/2 cup butter
1 cup of sugar
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup Pace Chuncky salsa (it gets spicy if you use a whole cup of salsa)
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking sode

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Spray 9x5x3 loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using electric mixer at medium speed. Add bananas, salsa, and eggs and mix well. Add flour and baking soda and mix well. Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan.
Bake 1 hr. or until done. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 min. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Enjoy!

Birthday Girl!

My Birthday girl and a very proud mommy & daddy. Sept. 15th, 2006.

The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands

So Katelynn is a little over a year old and I figured it was probably time to put my marriage up top on the priority list again. After having a baby their needs come first and foremost and they trump everybody (including yourself - this has been another hard lesson to learn, but that's for another post). I was browsing through some books at Walmart and came across this book "The Proper Care and Fedding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger - in brief it talked about how all woman want to be in love, get married, and lived happily ever after - I thought, wow, I really agree with that, maybe this will give me what I've been looking for and can make my life wonderful, so I spent the $11.84 (the walmart discount price!) and bought the book and took it home with me. For those who don't know Dr. Laura is a writer and also has a radio show that people can call into and she gives advice.
So interesting as this book has been (I haven't finished it all yet) I thought I would post a chapter a week on a brief summary of what Dr. Laura feels us women should be doing in our relationships/marriages and would love if people left comments on their thoughts. I have to say that while a lot of this makes sense there is still something that pulls me in a different thought pattern than she wants or says that we need to be as women. I hope that anyone reading these will have fun with it as well and view it at least as something interesting to think about.
Chapter 1 - The Improper Care and Feeding of Husbands

Edgar wrote to Dr. Laura:
"I laughed when I heard the title of your new book. I thought, It won't happen. What woman would buy it? Who cares about us men? There are a few good things that men want so badly they would do anything for it. I think a good number of men want respect more than love. They like to feel they have some power. I nearly cry when you tell a woman caller to respect her husband. There is so much selfishness in the world. Prosperity has allowed women to be so independent, and thus so selfish. I always feel as though I come last - my feelings come last, my needs come last."

Basically in the beginning of this chapter Dr. Laura is talking about woman and the double-standards that they give to men -

Example: When women expect their men to "understand" when they're not interested in sex, but when the men don't or can't perform - watch out!.

She states that this double-standard mentality is caused by self-centeredness. She believes this is a result of the "women's movement". She states that men are simple creatures and if you change certain aspects of your interactions, like magic you will see them change too. (Assume with the women's movement that there is a lot more man bashing and women clompaining about men together). She asks that woman behave "as if" things were lovely in the relationship: a call of affection during the day, a kiss at the door, a nice outfit when at home, a request for his opinion about something to do with the family, a comment of appreciation for something well done, a good meal, some alone time after work, and a cuddle (or more) at bedtime.
(Okay upon reading this list I know I was thinking "what the hell happened to my day, my alone time and my hug and why the heck do I have to make the meal and dang that's a hell of a list along with taking care of the children).

So one guy wrote in and said "whatever happened to my sweetness? If you act like a Bitch you will be treated like a bitch. He asked his wife once if she wanted something, as she was being unusually nice. She angrily said to him "I would never be nice to anyone to get them to do something for me" So, what was the alternative? Treat them like Shit? A man takes care of his woman and a woman should take care of her man, what a concept.

(Okay, so I have to say that I see where this guy in particular is coming from, and it makes sense).
She feels that the woman's movement has tought us woman: that society and men will oppress; they are the enemy; do not submit; terminate or dominate. She states again that men are simple creatures who come from a woman, are nurtured and brought up by a woman, and yearn for the continued love, admiration, and approval from a woman, it makes them vulnerable to their woman's moods, desires, tantrums, criticisms, dissappointments, dissatisfactions, angers, and rejections.
So that is the jist of chapter one: Men are simple creatures and if woman take care of their man they will be happier and have a better marriage.
Please feel free to leave comments on your thoughts or trials of this.

So, I thought after reading this chapter, okay, I think I could probably take on a couple of things on the list to start off with and see what happens.

So there is chapter one of "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands". Chapter 2 next week!

Congratulations Katie & Eric

Congratulations Katie & Eric. Married on Saturday, October 14th, 2006. We are all so happy for you both !

Too Sleepy to eat

Here's a picture from a couple months ago when Katlelynn fell asleep in her high chair, poor thing, too tired to even eat her supper. From what I have heard almost every parent has a picture of their kiddos like this and I thought I would share mine with you.

Graduation from Baptismal Class

So last Thursday we again hurried home from work, fed Katelynn supper, stuffed a diaper full of stuff and made the hour drive to Louisville for our final Baptismal class. Katelynn was not having a terrific time at Paula and Joe's this go round, I attempted to go to the bathroom before we left for the church and the meltdown began, she thought, I recognize this place and these people and you are going to leave me. We said a quick good-bye and out the door we went (she cried for about a minute according to Paula and Joe, not to bad). We arrived at the church and sat at our table and waited, they had said the week before that we were welcome to bring our kids with us if we would like, but Dan & I figured Katelynn would never make it through this and we wouldn't be able to pay attention and Dan did not want to miss another opportunity to be correct on questions. A majority of the couples did bring their kids with and with babies crying and toddlers attempting to talk and play it was a tad hard to concentrate on what they were talking about, but oh well, life goes on. After going over symbols we proceeded to the church where we met the Deacon and he went over the happenings during the baptism and the water and oil they use to baptize, pretty interesting. One thing that we need to do it find a white baptismal gown for Katelynn, the rule is "they must be in white", great - now where do I find a 24 mo - 2T baptismal gown? That will be my job for the week, scouring the internet looking for one, maybe this procrastination isn't the way to go for me. As you can see I am not paying close attention to what is happening in the church because I am wrapped in my own thoughts (and watching this 2 year old trying to play in the water and his mom chasing him all over the place).
So the Deacon says there are 3 questions that we must answer as parents during the baptism:
1. Are you here to have your child baptized?
2. Do you believe in the Catholic church?
3. Do you agree to raise your child catholic and keep their faith alive?
So the Deacon proceeds to go over each question and the 2nd question "Do you believe in the Catholic Church" he says the "C" on Catholic is a big "C" and we are all proud to be catholic and should rejoice with this answer - I just put my head down and knew what was coming, Dan whips his head and eyes towards me (he does not follow the Catholic church, nor does he want to be a Catholic) and gives me the look, "I am not going to do that". He whispers to me, I am not going to lie in the church and say "yes" to that question, what am I supposed to do? Me, I don't know, we'll have to ask what you are supposed to say. Dan wants to ask in front of the entire crowd of Catholics and I said, obsolutely not, you wait until the class is over and we will ask him in private. So we did and the Deacon said that Dan will need to put it in his own context and that his "c" can be a little "c", but his answer will still be "yes". Whew, drama over, thank you lord.
Class is dismissed and we all get the A-okay to have our children baptized in the church, now we just have to set a date.
Back to Paula and Joe's to pick up Katelynn and how does any Minnesotan celebrate, with a beer of course! So we had a beer with Paula and Joe and visited for awhile, Katelynn was still awake, way past her scheduled bedtime, but I guess for one day it won't do any harm. All in all it was a good, fun (and entertaining) experience.

Catholic vs. Lutheran

So I have been a procrastinator in this area a little bit, but I figure as long as I get it done before my kid turns four then I still have one up on my brother, sorry Jeff.
I am talking about getting Katelynn baptized. As most know in the Catholic church you have to attend classes before the church will let you baptize your little babe, so a year after she is born and a little prodding from family members, here we are going to our second and final class tomorrow night. Last week was interesting enough, only about half of the couple that signed up for the class actually showed and there seemed to be 2 couples that were woman couples , so after seeing this Dan and I thought we were doing pretty darn good
* Married (man and woman)
*Child after marriage
*Showed up for the class -
Later we thought not so much - we looked at our sheet to be sure everything was correct and the first line -
*Member of the parish - No.
*Parents Catholic - one yes, one No.
*Married in the Catholic church - No
(and then in scribble, needed annullment next to Dan's name) - man - 3 strikes your out, I'm shocked they let us in, but we have a trump card we threw in - Paula and Joe are going to be her godparents and they do go to the church and everyone at the church knows them- we're in. So the husband and wife teaching the class procede and start asking questions and telling us about baptism and what it means - this and that (and we later discover - you have to take these classes again - for each kid - jeez)
First question - we are talking about born again Christians and if someone knocked on your door and asked us if we were a born-again Christian what we the answer be? Me - I have no idea. Dan starts thinking and reasoning and brings up the New Testament and Joviah's witness and decides the answer is 'Yes' and our table goes with him - he is correct. Blow me out of the water my husband knew the answer and of course goes on and on about how he knew (the Lutheran) and I did not (the Catholic).
Second question - The Original Sin. Who ate the fruit first - was it Adam or was it Eve? The guy teaching the class stated that it was Adam, but Dan disagreed and the next night proceeded to call everyone and ask them - Joe (my uncle not his brother) called us back and said that it was in fact Eve that took the first bite of the forbidden fruit - the apple. Amazing - now of course the big thing in the house is Dan (the Lutheran) knows more than Taryn (the Catholic) and of course categorizes all of us Catholics together, sorry guys!
So tomorrow night should be intersting and I have not had a chance to study up on anything over the past week, but maybe it will be my night to shine.

Work Venting

Okay - it's only 9:45am this morning and I am already mad. I am up to my eyeballs in projects and I have just recently taken over half of the job duties of someone else (which for the record they are very pissed about) so I get 5 minutes of training from her from each thing that I am supposed to do, obviously you can't cover much in 5 min. So this morning I am calling the state helpdesk and they are rude as hell to me because I don't have all the information and haven't completed a form that I need for them to fix our problem - didn't know there was a form, didn't know there was a website to find these forms - nice huh ! This has been an ongoing problem since I took over these duties - either she didn't train me at all or left out a big chunck of information -sorry, but what a bitch! So now that I've bitched and moaned - it's off to make my popcorn for a morning snack and keep plugging away at the Excel Spreadsheet and the new database that I learned this morning - who invented Excel - love em and hate em - my eyes burn after looking at little numbers and letters all day on the screen, but oh well it keeps the paychecks rolling in - back to the grindstone.

Day One

Welcome to the world of DSL. Thank you lord, my husband has finally let me purchase a new computer for our business and upgrade to DSL. I can now stop using work time to look-up crap on the internet! I am supposed to be doing bookwork right now, but instead I am having fun playing on the new toy in the house. I just put Katelynn to bed and did the dishes and now I am going to have a beer, do some bookwork and watch the end of the Broncos game. It's raining here today and later tonight we are going to get the first snow of the season - we can't wait (I'm sure next week it will be a different story, but then again this is Colorado, it could be 80's next week - that's why we will probably never move back to Minnesota, you can't beat this weather. Dan is busy working everyday and picking up more and more work, which is good for us!
Well, back to the bookwork - I am trying to do an hour a night to keep a happy home.