Thanks, Pookie!

I have the best sister ever. On Monday, a surprise package from Allison arrived with nice sisterly messages scrawled all over the box, and with my most favorite Trader Joe's treats inside. And just in time! We had been rationing the Joe Joes remaining from our stockings and were nearly out! I gave Ian the package of delicious CA almonds while I slathered myself in the BEST product, Kiss My Face peaches n' cream lotion. Oooohhhh. I love it. And look at all the other stuff she sent! Hurray! This will tide me over until TJ's finally honors my written request to built a store in my neighborhood. Or at least until my next trip to CA. Thanks, Pook!

The Goods

Ian scoping out The Goods.
The green soap she sent is Lemon Verbena. The very kind of soap we enjoyed while staying a night Chez Browns!

A second package also arrived on Monday. My sweet Mom sent me a cell phone to replace my current phone, which is commonly considered possessed. It is SO nice to have a phone that doesn't go all snowy and unpredictable whenever I adjust the volume. Thanks, Mom!

Ewww

I expected that motherhood would instantly come with a higher tolerance for nasty things--like spit-up, exploding diapers, oozy green boogers... but my new theory is that moms can handle nasty stuff better than non-moms because they have been subjected to it all that many more times... I guess it takes a while to build up that kind of tolerance.

So when Ian tossed his cookies (green bean and oatmeal, actually) yesterday at church, ALL over my adorable Sunday clothes (Merry Christmas to me from Scott), I nearly tossed mine too. This was no infant reflux / immature esophagus problem. It was all-out adult-like barf. And all over every article of my clothing as well as his. It was so loud that heads turned in our direction from across the room, and so pervasive people near us leaned out of the way. And in the middle of a reverent meeting. It really is too bad that motherhood doesn't come with that instant tolerance for nasty things, because in the aftermath of the barf, instead of springing to action to clean it up, I was trying not to gag.

But you know what does come instantly with motherhood? The Mom Sorority. You get instant admittance just by giving birth. And from that moment on, women around the world will jump to your aid in moments like the one I just described. So while the novice mom that I am attempted not to gag, another women took Ian from me, another rounded up baby wipes, another gathered Ian's toys into my diaper bag so we could make a quick escape, and yet another met me in the hall with a fist-full of wet paper towels. And this gal, ever coming to my aid in moments of peril, wiped Ian down and held him while I assessed the damage in the ladies' restroom mirror. Thank goodness for the Mom Sorority.

We sat in the car (with the windows rolled down mind you) until church ended 10 minutes later.

These pictures were taken after a less exciting day at church last summer.

Toffee Overload

Before Christmas, Scott and I decided to make toffee for all of his co-workers and for an excuse to go around and meet the families in our neighborhood. 24 batches of toffee later... I looked less enthusiastic than I did while making this first batch.

Fortunately subsequent batches set up better than this one did. Using a candy thermometer made a world of difference. We finally bought THE LAST THERMOMETER ON EARTH after searching 7 different stores one Saturday. It was worth it.

That silly raffia stained my hands.

And when we stacked all the boxes, we realized it also left two large red stains on the carpet where I was assembling the boxes. That was much worse than silly. Even that old standby, Spot Shot, won't get it out.

Weight Limits?

Scott will always be the "fun" one because of stunts like this.
And this.