Friday, February 20





i had forgotten about posting her first "big girl owie"... when we were playing outside, she kept running on the concrete path, instead of the grass. and of course i kept telling her to get on the grass, knowing what was about to happen. and it did. followed by some tears, some kisses, and of course, more running.

and then, we have pictures from zoë coming out of a time out. i know people call this age "the terrible twos" but this is certainly not that. zoë is such a sweet natured child, who loves to kiss and hug everyone, but she has a willful streak which leads to her throwing food at the dinner table, or climbing on tables, even after repeated "no ma'ams." and so, we've begun the timeout. and boy is it working. within 2 minutes of the fiercest tantrum starting, she's completely calmed down, ready to go back and eat her dinner, and say "bye bye naughties" (her favorite thing to say as we leave the bedroom - the timeout room) i guess she just needs a few minutes on her own, whether or not her brain is processing why she's in there, it seems to work. thank the Lord for that. she will cry the whole time, but when there's a break in crying and yelling, that's when i go in, and she's all smiles. covered in tears, but all smiles. hence the pictures. they were pretty dark so i manipulated them in photoshop, some more successfully than others.

i know it's only a small smattering of pictures, i'm slowly getting my act back together. and to be honest, i don't forsee extremely frequent updates, like in the past. at least not until we get moved into our own place, and settled into a routine again. i will continue to post as often as i can, but when the posting has be done after midnight while zoë sleeps, it kinda precludes me from lengthy picture laden posts. which take a while to upload. and usually have zoë waking up in the middle.

Wednesday, February 18

i'm a foodie now. muwhahaha. well, kinda. but i did start another blog. don't worry, this one will still be around. i'm just blogging about the things i don't post here. like what we ate for dinner, and how much i paid for toilet paper.

over the last year, with all the upheaval in our life, i've really started missing my kitchen stuff. my mixer, my food processor. but in the middle of it all, i've really fallen in love with cooking. more than i already loved it. the thrill of trying new recipes, making homemade bread, sharing my love for my friends and family in the form of cookies. or amazing chicken. and what started simply, 2 1/2 years ago, with planning meals around what was on sale at the store, has turned into an all out game for me. it feels like i'm doing all these naughty subversive things by not paying full price for makeup. like somehow i'm beating the system. and i find it pretty exhilarating when i can get something for free. probably because this year has shown me the value of one dollar in ways i never understood before.

so that's why i've started a new blog. so that i can glory in the thrill of the hunt for the best deals, and maybe help some more folks along the way. if it wasn't for the resources i've found on the internet on how to really make our money stretch, i certainly wouldn't have been able to purchase the things i've purchased. especially not at the prices i bought them at. i'm still growing in all of this, but i'm getting thriftier by the day.

check me out at: http://otherpeopleskitchens.blogspot.com.

the name comes from the fact that this year, all my cooking has been done in other peoples kitchens.

and pictures of zoë will be forthcoming. although at this point, i think video captures it a lot better. she's getting so good at talking to us... like when she does something silly, and i sigh and say "oh zoë." she'll reply "i know, i silly" (although it's a little garbled, you know how us parents are. we're convinced she's quoting shakespeare when she babbles. but she really does reply "i silly")

so there ya go.

Sunday, February 8





















the long delayed pictures from the birthday. we got kinda sidetracked the last couple of days.

Wednesday, February 4

the big two-oh. zoë turned 2 on monday, with all the pomp and circumstance we could muster for a very busy bee of a toddler. i made 2 types of cupcakes, chocolate, and strawberry. in honor of her birthday falling on groundhog day, i also made a dozen candy groundhogs to sit on top of her cupcakes. she got to eat a whole cupcake, frosting and all. it was her first dessert that she didn't sneak. and the cranberries at thanksgiving don't really count as a dessert.

her stomach was not to pleased with all the sweetness, and the morning after was not pretty. needless to say, i'll spare you the details.

we ate a thai style peanut butter pork roast, garam masala brown butter green beans, broccoli with oyster sauce, and basmati rice. if i had been really planning, i would have done a lemongrass limeade, but the party was kinda hastily thrown together, because of scheduling issues. it was much more low key than i would have liked to do, but it's okay. next year, maybe we'll have more toddler friends, and can do something more "birthday party" like. i think in some ways i'm being too idealistic. i know all zoë really cared about was that most of her family was present, and she got to open presents.

i'm about to upload a ton of video to our youtube page, so make sure you click the video link to the left. it's the picture of zoë, right underneath the "about the writer"

zoë got an ikea gift card from grammie and mimi, money from great grandma and great grandpa squier, money from aunt debbie (which purchased the really cute hello kitty play tent and plate set), a big ball and a mrs. potato head from brent and michelle, a really sweet little lunchbox set from aunt lori, a barney dvd and a tea set from aunt allie and uncle buzz, a very practical bag of underwear (for the glorious day we're finally done with potty training) and a drum set (not so practical, but the big hit of the night) from grandma and grandpa mills. we're still waiting on our gift to arrive via amazon, but it's a set of nature dvds, the BBC version of the planet earth series, with the blue planet series included. i could have gone with the sigourney weaver narration, but i think a british accent (ala Sir David Attenborough) sounds awesomer.

so without cluttering these posts with unnecessary talking, here's the big girl. who is such a little chatterbox. if you ever want to talk to her on the phone, she would LOVE to talk to you. so give the girl a call. :)