Streetcar ride

If you are a fan you already know that I have been really tired. Call me a pansy but taking care of two boys makes my 5'2" frame physically exhausted at times. I try to do something fun every morning with them but these past few days with my extreme exhaustion makes it seem daunting. So this morning I forced myself to get going after several pleas from W that we get dressed as I lie in bed. We hopped the streetcar to the coffee house. Three minutes into the ride I knew it was worth it.

That face says it all.

Ear PIckin'

This is probably a post of which J wouldn't approve but it's very near and dear to my heart so I have to do it.

I love to pick at ears. My own and my boys especially. W's ears secrete an amazing amount of wax. I don't know why. I treasure the ear picks the doctors have and would do anything to have one. I don't stick anything in their ears except for my pinky fingernail. I know it's dangerous so I don't even use cuetips. Just the occasional wash with the wash rag and my fingernail. W used to not tolerate it too well so I made a game out of it. I pick his ears and say, "EEEEWWWW!" and show him what I got and he then says "EEEEWWWW!" back. The greatest moment though was the other day when I picked a mound of wax out of his ear and he said, "That's a good one!". He's a man after my own heart.

I just hope that he doesn't pass it on to other kids. If your kid knows mine you may want to encourage him to cover his ears when W is around because he seems to enjoy it as much as I do. You never know when he might stick a finger in your child's ear. But all in all, it's good for the community. It takes a village...... to keep ears clean.

I know you're sick of hearing it. I know J is sick of hearing it and I am sick of saying it. That I am starting a healthy way of eating. But today, I really am. There was a small kink in the plan this morning. We went to the mall. It was our outing. Sad, isn't it? But I figured W would enjoy playing in the fountain and I could get a wedding gift for someone who got married almost 6 months ago. He loved it. I had him run "really, really fast" around the fountain a few times to make sure he got good and tuckered out. S and her baby girl met us and we fed the babies then walked over to Cafe du Monde to get coffee. There are no other coffee shops in the mall-ANYONE WANT TO MAKE FORTUNE OPEN A PJ'S IN THE MALL-so I had to settle for a $4.00 iced cafe latte with whole milk. It was delicious-anything with whole milk would be-but I think $4.00 was a bit steep. This ain't the French Quarter. This is Veterans blvd. but I guess they figure they have a captive audience. So that was my slip. Otherwise I have been really good all day.

Yesterday, I made Dr. Ann's homemade granola minus a lot of the nuts she calls for because I didn't feel like buying pine nuts and the like for $17/lb. It was really easy. I took slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and oatmeal. Then I mixed it up with about a quarter of a cup of honey and a tsp. of vanilla extract. Then I baked it in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring about every five. Deeeelicious. I had it this morning with a fresh peach and skim milk. J didn't enjoy it as much as I did. But I am sure it will grow on him.

I've also decided not to take a free day for two weeks which is going to be hard. Free days are a carryover from my long ago Body for Life but they make such much sense. They kind of get you through, keep you going, make you feel like you are not totally depriving yourself of anything good. But lately they have been getting me off track (I've been taking free weekends) so I am going to forgo it for awhile.

I know my fans are really excited about my diet dilemmas but I am sick and tired of it and think about nothing else so I wouldn't be true to you if I didn't post about. I will be a hot mama once again some day. I'll spare you the details for 4 weeks. By then I will be able to give you a good update. Doesn't mean I won't share my healthy dishes and recipes with you. I might even take a photo of my shrimp fricasee tonight. Stay tuned.

We went to Commander's yesterday for Uncle RaRa's bday. He sent us home with a chef's hat for W. W thought Master P would enjoy wearing it.


Today we just played outside in the backyard. We were going to Daneel park but P took a long morning nap so W and I went outside to play with the new water guns.


I pulled out the trusty Mexican blankets from J's bachelor days and let Master P hang out with us when he woke up. It was actually a blast.

Here's Master P relaxing.

and W taking a rest in between water gun fights.

Oh hello. It's W. Yeah. Whas up? Not much is going on around here. Just riding my tricycle.






Hold on. Mom wants to tell me something.







Okay. Sorry about that. I'm back.

Attack of the Ducks

I knew the ducks at Audubon Park were not scared of people. It's apparent as you walk by. They kind of leer at you, but I don't think I've fed them since I was a kid. The LB and I needed something to do to pass the time yesterday so we brought a bag of old buns and headed over there. We parked on Prytania and walked into the park. Before we could get to the main track I noticed a few of the ducks walking toward us, which was odd, because like I said, they don't really give people the time of day. And all OF A SUDDEN THEY WERE INCHES FROM US. I picked up the LB while realizing they saw the bag of buns and they started to go ballistic. Quacking like you've never heard them quack before. I started tossing out pieces of the bread. The smaller ducks took off running but the Mama ducks kept at us, closer and closer. I was absolutely panicked. W was hysterically laughing while clutching onto me. and I ran. Moral of the story: Don't feed the ducks.

The Aquarium-Done it.

I've Done it. I've taken the LB to the Aquarium. My parents swore up and down how much he loved it. He doesn't have me so convinced. Maybe it was too close to his naptime but he was not all that interested. He was more into eating his goldfish than he was to watching the ones there. and I have to admit, I was none to impressed. I've never really liked it-it always made me dizzy, it still does and well, it's just fish (the sharks were cool and the itty bitty jellyfish were interesting). I also cannot stand the field trips. The zoo is the same way. It's stuffed full of so many school field trips that you feel like you are getting lost in the shuffle and you have to rudely shove your way past to get anywhere. I think they need to have a day set aside when they don't allow field trips. The whole thing is just not my thing. That can be Mimo and Papa's special outing with the LB. I'll still go to the zoo because it's close, you don't have to pay 8 bucks to park and you don't feel guilty leaving after 45 minutes if you're over it.

The Little Buddy and I go to this great program. It's really his first time in a classroom setting. We sing and play and he generally likes it. But I am soooooo boooooooooooooooored. Oh my gosh. The first few times were super fun. I loved seeing his reaction to what the teacher did and his reaction to the other kids, especially since he's one of the youngest. The novelty has worn off. I so did not want to go this week. and to tell you the truth I don't think he did either. He didn't seem that into it the last time. But J scolded me and told me it was good for him. So I reluctantly and every so slowly got us dressed. We ended up being late. Oops. Totally unintentional. When we arrived we rang the buzzer but no one answered. You can imagine my dissapointment when we had to pile back into the car and go home.

The Little Buddy is really loving the park lately. We went to have coffee this morning. We used to do this every Sunday before the LB was born. It was such a relaxing time for us and we got to socialize a bit too. We've been told by a few people that we are missed, one of whom has a FABULOUS Christmas party every year. This year we weren't invited and we attribute it to the fact that we weren't on the top of his mind since he hadn't seen us at the coffee shop in awhile. We need to get back into that routine before Christmas. Anyway, we went to the park and W started laughing and running full throttle for the play equiment-he's getting fast-and whizzed down the slide a hundred times all by himself. It gives me such satisfaction to see the LB becoming so independent.