The whining poodle

Zoe is almost 9.  She has some really bizarre idiosyncrasies.  There are random times of the day when she will pick up her platypus (a purple with gold feet and gold bill beanie baby pet toy that squeaks) and just start crying.  We have no idea what she is after.  She also stares at flashlights or anything that looks like it might have a laser/light and just wait for it to move.  Or she figures if she stares back and forth from it to you long enough that you will undoubtedly rescue her from the torture that it causes while it sits still with no shining light.  She sleeps - a lot.  Days where someone is sick and stays home, weekends, or days I get the chance to work form home are particularly rough for her.  By the end of the day, she's completely worn out.  But our oldest baby is getting a lot more worn out these days.  She takes the longest stretches when she tries to get up.  But she will still try to spring around when the girls are running laps or trying to dance.  She can make a bed nice and warm though. And then luckily for us, she will get off the bed when there are other people in it.  Zoe's a good dog.

I just want some peace and quiet and a clean house...

I still really haven't gotten back to my blogging abilities.  It just isn't fun right now.  More like an additional work task.  I have enough work tasks right now.  One of which is to delegate.  And at work, I can do that.  Zoe hasn't picked up on how to actually do half the stuff I need done at home though.  Our lives are insanely crazy right now.  Beca is loving cheerleading and tolerating ballet.  Meredith likes her schedule (as in when she gets home from daycare, it's time to eat and then it's time for a bath and then it's time for bed).



But I have had several "what do the girls want" requests.  So I this is a post for that.  And hopefully remember to send an email that I posted...


Rebecca - she wants everything.

**travel case/bag for her pink Nintendo DS Lite.  She also wants games for said console as she currently only owns 2 Tinkerbell games and a Disney Princess game.

**travel bag for her pink Leapster - would prefer somewhere to put her 6 game cartridges.  She currently has PetPals, Wall-E,

**Disney Princess or Disney Fairies magazine - just saw they were available and she likes to get regular mail.
**Crafts & Coloring stuff - she likes to make just about everything. The hardest part is trying to put it where Meredith can't get to it. And that gets harder each day.
**American Girl doll clothes & accessories, especially Rebecca's things.  Or anything that fits an American Girl doll.
**Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony are quite popular right now too, except the tiny fingers finding it and putting it in her mouth.

**clothes - size 7/8 from the D-signed collection or Harajuku Mini at Target.  I have resisted anything from either collection.  The toughest part is that she's fitting into clothes that are much older than she is yet. My favorites are still Hannah Andersson on her - size 130.
**We are going to Disney in April and she knows about it.  She is also trying to save money up to go to a Princess Makeover at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique (which is scheduled for the castle on the Friday morning we are there).  She's getting dress, hair, nails, etc.  And she's doing pretty good so far.  We're trying to learn about saving up money.
**Toy Story Hawaiian figures - especially Jessie.  She hasn't even seen the short though because she refuses to watch cars 2.



Meredith - she's a mess but I'm not sure she'll be aware of what's going on this year.  Wrapping might be the most fun for her.
**I rarely say clothes but I can't find enough light pink, cream or white leggings/footless tights for Meredith.  She's in 2Ts for the most part but her winter wardrobe actually fills her closet (3 bars that are 4 foot each) plus an overflowing wash basket that I don't have enough hangers to hang it all up with.  She has 2 PJ drawers that are completely full and I had to put 8 other sets to the side.  Maybe I shouldn't try so hard to catch up on laundry...  She will probably be in 3Ts before I know it so bigger is not necessarily a bad thing for her. (And I'm serious about her wardrobe - I counted 14 holiday outfits, not including the T-shirts).  The Harajuku Mini collection from Target would also be welcomed.  And Hannah Andersson - I cannot have too much of this.  Size 100 with size 90 and 100 bottoms lets me get another year out of it!  And if you think the prices are high, consider that I just got a dress back that Beca wore for almost 2 years and then 3 other little girls wore it for at least a spring-fall each and it still looks brand new on Meredith.  She does not look good in yellow/orange/limey greens like her sister does.

**Toddler coloring sets - there's too much watching big sis do all her school work and not being able to draw and color too.  But she eats regular crayons.  I thought I remember some special ones that were Doodlers or something like that.
**learning dolls, animals, books,etc.  as long as it doesn't have small pieces.  She puts way more stuff in her mouth than Beca ever did and she loves things that talk, sing, etc.  If it could please just have an off switch.  Or a speaker that can be taped over.

**Whatever toddler thing looks fun. We have A LOT of Stuffed things though.  And she likes to eat fabric stuff.
**If anyone can find a used outdoor toddler playset with slide, tunnels, etc., I'd love to have one for her but I know she'll outgrow it sooner than later since she already loves to climb the clubhouse and go down the big slide.  So I think paying a lot for one is a little crazy since she probably won't use it for too long. But she could use something that we can just let her go on.



Steve - he just got a fantastic work toy - an iPad.  Specifically, though, he is asking for these:

• a bag - http://www.ebags.com/product/timbuk2/freestyle-messenger/221881?productid=10148042 
• a case (isn't that loads of fun?!?) - http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/e6e2/?srp=2
• protectors - http://www.amazon.com/Speck-Products-iPad-ShieldView-SPK-A0326/dp/B004SGSHKC/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1321900792&sr=8-10

I'm sure there are more games and apps that he wants so iTunes would be good.  As well as the normal Starbucks since that's always good (especially when Beca is tracked out and he gets to leave earlier).  Other favorites are GameStop, Best Buy, REI and Dick's.


Me - I'm pretty clueless this year.  I really just want Rebecca to love what she is opening and be able to feel grateful for it instead of just wanting more and more. Oh wait.  Now I remember who I'm talking about.  I probably could use some more up to date work clothes and other items of clothing (AT Loft, Ann Taylor, Belk, Macy's, etc. - I don't shop in teeny bopper stores and I'm not posting my size because I find a lot of things in my size don't actually fit me enough for me to feel comfortable).  I eat at McDonald's every morning (actually usually just pick up my tea). I really need someone who can help me organize the house but that might require more vacation time than I have right now.  And I need someone to clean the house.  I'm fortunate/unfortunate that they put a Target in just a few miles away.  And there are more shops going in over there.  Dangerous...  And I like iTunes as well - there's a bunch of music I am after.

Un-pause

Yeah, tell me over and over again how much you missed the blog for the past year.  I'm still reeling from it.  The insanity that is our house, that is my work, that has become my life.  I'm farther and farther behind every which way I turn. And the funny thing is that sometimes I just don't care.  I do what I can all day long, which has mostly meant spending at least 2 days out of the week on the floor inspecting.  I do like a good inspection every once in a while.  Teaches me more about what I am working on.  Sometimes I know exactly how to build something but until you understand how it is used and what you can find by looking at it, you don't actually understand how building it means it will work.  It's a "forest for the trees" sort of thing.  And I have to give Cynthia and I major props for the fact that we can see the forest, the trees, the leaves, the bushes, the wildlife (furry and multi-legged varieties), the forest fires and all the houses that are about to burn down if we don't stop the fire from marching.  We also know where the lake is and how to fly the helicopter with the water, how to hook up hoses and pumps and all kinds of other chemicals for the fire.  And so, fire becomes contained in the world of quality inspection.  At least until the next morning.  But what we really should be doing is trying to figure out before the fire starts that we only want it to be as big as the nice neat fire circle that we could be building around it.  If we had the time to plan and go find rocks and dig out the layers of leaves and brush and maybe find some sand for the pit.  Instead of just lighting a match to the closest pile of leaves.  I really need a controlled burn that offers the luxury of marshmallows that are either crispy black on the outside and ooey-gooey on the inside or perfectly tan with a slight crunch with squishy goodness and of course on chocolate with graham crackers merely for the fact that it is damn near impossible to hold ooey gooey and melting chocolate in your hand without major disaster.  Oh wait. Times up.  Didn't get anywhere near any of that done again today except the fire line stopped from moving forward.  And the wonderful manager who just stands around pouring gasoline everywhere is not helping.  luckily, it is time to go find Rebecca and get home.  the fire will just be there tomorrow waiting for me again.  and the best part is that if I carefully ignore it, another fire will pop up so that this one will put itself out, at least for a few weeks.  maybe, just maybe I get a checkmark or two on the list of things I need to get done at work.  or I'll just start a fire on my own.
Regardless, maybe I can un-pause the blog break.  After another pile of laundry...

1st birthday's a-coming

I love the questions throughout various stages of life.  When are you getting married?  So, when are you having kids?  Are you going to have another one?  Do you think you want one more?  When all those are answered, there's "What do the girls want for their birthdays/Christmas?"  Yup, it's the summer season so that means the birthday questions!

Rebecca got mostly clothes or craft stuff for her birthday - perfect for her.  There were days before her birthday where I almost told her she would have to give every present back.  She's very possessive and just likes to open things.  And she's not at all grateful for all the things she has and it drives me bananas when she thinks its ok just to beg people for gifts.  It's not.  So if I send out a note before Christmas begging everyone to give Rebecca's gifts to charity, please know I only want what's best for my spoiled little brat.  That said, her daddy got her a Nintendo DS and mommy did stock a bit of her wardrobe - but it was all basics and swimsuits!

Then there's Meredith.  Chunky monkey has tons of clothes (no joke, I have 2 full wash baskets, 2 rows in the closet and another pile of summer stuff for her in 12-18Mo and I had to clear out most of the 6-12 month stuff).  She's well stocked but for reference some of her 12-18Mo stuff is already just at fitting perfectly.  Her winter wardrobe actually frightens me and I am contemplating a few days off from work to handle it.  She does enjoy solving problems more than Beca did at this age and we have some things Beca enjoyed but not as many blocks, shape sorters, etc.  And she LOVES books, especially board books with pictures. But what I really want for Meredith is to be able to get the bedding for her room so when the monkey figures out how to climb out of her crib this winter I have it ready.  I picked out some adorable Pottery Barn Kids stuff (twin sizes in purples and greens - Brianna quilting and sheeting, or Katie quilting and sheeting which is the exact purple where I got the paint color for her room).  She is already figuring out how to use her arms to lift herself up on the edge of the pack and play.  Yes, monkey describes her well and I know I'll need her bedding a bit sooner than we did for Beca.  Her biggest joy in life seems to be food and we like Harris Teeter, Target, and Fresh Market the best.  I already know in life that I should just ask for what I want instead of letting folks guess.

I promise I have more and better things to post, many already started.  I have lost one of the cables AND a card I need to download from one of the cameras.  I also work and try to keep up with 500 different things.  My grandmother told me getting used to the second one was the hardest and after that each additional one just fit in.  I'm not willing to find out so the answer to "are you having another?" is "that is not in my plans at all".  Loving the 2 little girls and their very amusing poodle right now so writing just hasn't been tops on the list, especially if we would like to wear clean clothes.

quickly now, quickly

Instead of actually writing my own blog postings, I have taken to starting one and then getting side-tracked reading other blogs.  Whatever.  The days blow by so fast that I can't seem to catch my reflective breath and recall what I had to say that might have struck me as interesting.  Today, I managed to get my hair cut (drastic difference), get the battery in my watch replaced finally so I do not feel like my wrist is naked, return some things I bought for Beca before Christmas that I found something I liked better but then never got back to the store to return it, and realize that I never sent a stack of thank you cards for the girls from Christmas that I forced Beca to write hers and never finished Meredith's portion plus the addressing and the stamping.  Luckily, I have some 6 month pictures of Meredith as a reward for patience.  And then looking at it, I am feeling completely overwhelmed at this being the 4th blog posting I've started and the other three are not finished, one of which cleans up from 2010, one for Meredith's 6 month stuff and one from our amazing ski vacation.  Post this one, I will (I say this with the most wonderful Yoda voice in my head).  Continue to feel inadequate to the standards I have set for myself, I will as well.  But I won't actually work on any other blog postings tonight because, well, there's ice cream and bananas and other lovely toppings.  And I can eat whatever I want.  So I will take comfort that I did what I could do today and the rest is just crap that will get done when it has to.  I think I might use the word "crap" on a regular basis as I used to use the word "Seriously".  The thing that made me so beyond happy in the past week (besides spending time with my girls on vacation) was that I got a new faceplate for my pump so it actually works without me having to hold the plug in for it to work.  Sad, really.  And since you hung in on this random choo-choo thought train, I figured I'd reward with some pictures of the darling Meredith from Tonya Mae Photography.

Taco Tuesday

Tuesdays usually means tacos in our house.  Some weeks Beca will change her mind and say "no".  But then it only gets moved to Wednesdays.  I've tried Thursdays but I usually get yelled at.

I've had a couple people ask for the seasoning we use because I'm always saying how good it is.  Steve found a recipe and after several weeks of experimenting, came up with the following recipe.
Combine the following in a bowl, mixing well:
1 Tablespoon chilli powdere
3/4 teaspon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (which I go a little less on but Beca usually tells us that it isn't good)
Brown ground meat - we use the lean ground beef.  Drain the meat and rinse with warm water - this step makes the meat so good!  Return meat to the pan and sprinkle on the seasoning mix.  Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and stir well.  Cook on Medium-Low until water is absorbed.  Enjoy with whatever taco necessities - ours are hard-shell, soft tortillas, cheese, lettuce, and salsa.  I'm guessing it would be good on shredded chicken but we have yet to try it because arguing with the little princess over one more meal in a week.  I'd rather just eat in peace.

200th post: a picture-palooza

I just realized this is post #200.  A TV show gets weeks of commercials and some special guest cameos.  I've got photos that are pretty darn amazing from December but that's all I can offer up.  though some are extremely special.  Like all my father's mother's grandchildren.  Or my 5 generations with my mother, my mother's mother and my mother's mother's mother plus two sweet girls.  Or this adorable happy face in this cute outfit just as she was outgrowing it:

Rebecca loves to hold Meredith - it actually gets to be the source of arguments because her request is often denied in lieu of the fact that she almost always asks when there is something else going on.

Happy on Christmas Eve - Meredith loves to "fly" and Pop-pop is great for helping that.  One of the best ways to get her laughing is to fly her and "drop" then fly again fast.  Early on, she did not like it but now it fascinates her.

Another grin from Happy - I think its because she had learned to complete the back to front roll over.  She was soooo proud of herself all day.

posing for pictures in front of Grandma's beautiful Christmas tree! (Grandma is my mother's mother).

It's like Home Alone but joyful...

with Santa's delivery all unwrapped - the princesses and princes had started arriving.

Sisters, sisters - there were never such devoted sisters (at least until Meredith figures out this crawling thing)!

LOVE IT WHEN THEY GIGGLE!

Beca's present from Meredith was a Rapunzel Barbie with 17 inches of hair (that quickly got braided by Oma) and her "prince" Flynn Rider

Wagner family at Lynn's for lunch on Christmas day

5 generations on Christmas Day - Mammy Anna Weller is 98, Grandma Sara Wagner is 76, Oma Dawn Leister is 52, Mommy Angela Cottle is 33, Rebecca Cottle is 5.5 years and Meredith Cottle is 5 months

After lunch, we packed up and drove the less than a mile from Lynn's house to Troy and Denise's house (my dad's youngest brother).

My cousins on my dad's mom's side.  I'm the oldest, then Kristi (behind me), Kyle (Animal shirt), Ryan (next to Kyle), Brett (other side of Kristi), Sara (next to me), Jordan (back row red shirt), Blake (back row burgundy shirt), Dayna (opposite end of couch from me), Andrew (sitting on my lap), and Rachel (in the red shirt - she's 25 years younger than I am) - the last time we were able to have a picture like this, Andrew and Rachel weren't even born because it was at their parents' wedding.

I think my Dad's mother (Mammy/Marie Hartman) would have loved this.  It's all her kids, grand kids and great grand daughters (just my girls have that distinction), plus all the spouses, Denise's parents, and Marie's brother Carl (Maus) and his wife Arlene.

Meredith and Utley were fascinated with each other - she couldn't grab fast enough because little dogs can MOVE!

There are plenty more pictures for me to sort through.  But there's also baskets of laundry, thank you cards, curtains, and other events for me to get ready for.  I'll be back though.

she's a reader

Back in December, I wrote this and never posted it:

The other night, Beca was working on homework and was getting a little silly.  Instead of reading "put", she says "butt" and then giggled and says "I said butt - huhuhuh".  It was a complete 5 year old Beavis and Butthead moment and Steve kept going "Uh-huh, uh-huh" off and on so I kept giggling about it, which made Beca laugh more.  At least she was laughing reading Biscuit's Day at the Farm.  Off and on, she'll point out more and more words in places other than her books and she keeps excitedly saying "I can read now!"  That means I have to stop leaving my lists laying around.