Four years ago today, we moved into this lovely house of ours. And if it were not rainy and cold outside, I’d take a picture to commemorate. Maybe later.

Anyway, I took this particular day off from work and we moved the important things (you know the computers, clothes, tvs, bed, doggies and various other things) and slept here for the very first time. Then we spent the weekend (with help from friends) packing up and moving the rest of the house.

The thing I remember most, though, is waking up and turning on the news and hearing that the space shuttle Columbia had come to an untimely end, which I wrote about here.

Today was grocery day and as usual, I asked Mike what he wanted to eat during the next week, and for a change, he actually gave me an answer besides “I don’t know - whatever”. I made this recipe for our anniversary and he absolutely loves it. The two best things about it are that it actually gets him to eat veggies (like spinach and tomatoes - which are technically a fruit but we use them like a vegetable don’t we so hush) and it’s not as messy as red sauce so LG doesn’t have to eat sans her shirt. ;)

Prep: 5 min.
Total: 20 min.

2 cups penne pasta (7 oz) uncooked
1/2 lb hot or mild Italian sausage, casing removed
1 pkg (6 oz) baby spinach leaves (7 cups)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
1 cup shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp 100% grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, crumble meat into large deep skillet. Cook on medium high heat until cooked through, stirring occasionally; drain.

Add spinach and tomatoes; cook 2 minutes or until spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.

Drain pasta; place in large serving bowl. Add meat mixture and cheeses; mix lightly.

Makes 6 servings, 1 cup each.

Recipe from Kraft food & family Winter 2007

It’s overcast today and supposed to rain. I think I will make Theresa’s chili tonight.

I’ve been feeling very bleh the last few days. Some people suggest blaming the blahness on January, but I’m not sure that’s a legitimate excuse when you live in the desert where it’s mostly sunny during the winter. Maybe the post-holiday letdown is to be blamed, though, along with the weather. I guess I can buy that.

I also think it’s because I haven’t had much down time. Being a SAHM means that you are on 24/7 and the only “down time” you get is when your spouse is home to take over, but even then, you’re not really off-duty, because if you’re in the vicinity, you’re still “mom”. Anyway, my spouse hasn’t been home to take over so much the last week - as in last week he was gone every day and every night at either work or a meeting, except Wednesday night. He was even gone most of the day on Saturday. And yes, I did get a haircut on Friday, but two hours of downtime doesn’t quite make up for an entire week of no downtime. You know?

It caught up to me Sunday and Monday and I totally shirked all my responsibilities because I was just ready to…I don’t know what I was ready to do…but I needed a break. So I didn’t go sing at church Sunday night, but I kept LG with me anyway. And yesterday, we had a mass at the high school, but I woke up feeling puky (no, I’m not pregnant), and since I’m expendable because all I do is stand in front of the choir and wave my arms around, and Mike can manage to direct both the choir and band himself if necessary, Mike went ahead and took LG to Grandma’s, and I stayed home in bed all morning and a good part of the afternoon. (Whew, that was a really long sentence.) When he brought her home, he had to go to work, but it was her naptime, so I got an extra long break - as in about 8 hours altogether. I am feeling less bleh today, but Mike is going to be really busy this week, too, so I hope it doesn’t decide to come back.

Little Girl is apparently, from what evidence I can gather, cutting her last couple of teeth. Of course, I hope it’s her last couple of teeth. I thought she’d already cut the last teeth, but since she constantly has her fingers in her mouth, is much more “drooly” than usual, and also a bit more cranky and obstinate than usual (even for a two year old), I’m chalking it up to teeth. Works for me.

I’m loving my camera lately. Taking pictures makes me happy. Will it lead to bigger and better things? Who knows? Who cares right now, really anyway? I’m just enjoying it. The only thing that makes me sad is thinking of all the awesome places I’ve been - London, Oxford, Paris, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh - to name a few, where I just snapped pictures for the sake of snapping and didn’t really think about what I was doing. I hope some day I get to go back and really take pictures the way I like to take pictures now. P.S. If you haven’t already, please look at the post below this one. It contains some photos I’m very very proud of.

And finally, for now, I read a wonderful post yesterday in which the writer said: “I’ve long clung to the theory that creative people are rarely tidy.” That sentence, to me, was like an epiphany, and explains a lot about why I cannot seem to stay on top of keeping the house neat and tidy. I think that most creative people either have the energy to be creative, or the energy to be tidy, and not both at the same time. And I mostly choose to use my energy to be creative. Or that’s what I’m going to tell myself. That and the whole being the mother of a two-year-old thing. I think those excuses will work for now. ;)

This morning as we all wandered around the backyard, I looked through my camera lens and saw this:

And I thought - this is a good day to shoot in black and white…lol! Besides the obvious clashing clothing issue, the back yard is so brown and barren that it looks a lot better in black and white than it does in color. I did add a little warmth to these shots in iPhoto and adjusted the contrast and sharpness a bit, but other than that, it was just a beautiful day to shoot outside. The sun was shining, but there was just enough cloudiness to diffuse and soften the light a little.

I wonder sometimes what Little Girl will think about being the subject of so many photos when she gets older, but I hope she will appreciate the fact that she has inspired me to do something I never really liked to do before - actually learn how to use a camera and think about what I’m doing. Enough words, though, this is supposed to be a photo essay!

Another thing I love about black and white is that objects that would just look like junk in a color picture, look really cool and interesting in black and white - like the rusty old ladders in this photo.

She insisted on wearing her cowgirl skirt on top of her pants this morning.

Melody so rarely stands still.

I wrote a lot more about this photo of Little Girl here.

My weekly roundup of interesting links…

A web search engine for kids. via Blogging Baby

Introducing kids to poetry.

I totally want this toaster. via Slashfood

If you’re like me and you freak out if you miss your favorite shows and don’t want to either 1) wait until they repeat or 2) pay actual money to download them on iTunes, then this list is for you.

If you need images in the public domain.

Are kids really overscheduled? via Blogging Baby

An interesting spice rack alternative.

Some great tips for candlelight photography.

Why do you blog? Answer this survey and you might win an iPod shuffle!

What can you do with unwanted gift cards?

Share travel tips with other parents. via Parent Hacks

Yes you can fix bleach stains.

A new online community art market. via Craftzine

20 household tips you may not have heard before. via lifehack.org

For those of you (like me) who thrive on making lists. via Lifehacker

Appetizer
If you could take lessons to learn any musical instrument, which would you want to learn?
I have taken piano lessons, so I can play a bit (a very little bit), but I’d love to be much much better at it.

Soup
Have you ever mistaken a person for someone else?
Not that I can recall specifically, but I know I’ve done it.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
I suppose it depends on the secret, but generally, I’d say 9 or 10.

Main Course
What’s the closest you’ve ever been to a dangerous animal?
Does the zoo count?

Dessert
When was the last time you lost your patience?
Probably the last time I was driving my car. There is usually someone out there that makes me irritated.

Wanna play too?

It seems ridiculous to say “adjusted” now, although that whole preemie issue may make a reappearance when she’s older. Or it might not. That remains to be seen.

In the meantime, she is healthy, bright, well-adjusted, and a joy to be around. Today should have been her 2nd birthday, but instead she is almost 26 months old.

Little Girl can now open the refrigerator by herself. Uh oh.

If you remember, we went to the home show last weekend (in the freezing cold). So today, one of the water softener companies called to set up an appointment to check our pipes or some such nonsense. Since Mike has to be home to deal with this, I told them to call him. He happens to be working at Rochelle’s house today and I happened to also be talking to her on instant messenger.

So after I hung up with the appt setter, I asked Rochelle to tell me when his phone rang. It rang as I was typing the question. Then a few minutes later, my phone rang again and according to the caller ID, it was the appt setter again. I, being a brat and not really wanting to talk to them again and also because LG is taking a nap and me talking sometimes wakes her up, don’t answer the phone and let it go to the machine.

I relate this to Rochelle, who tells me that Mike told the appt setter to call me back. Apparently, he wanted to schedule the appointment for Friday, but we have a hair appointment and he didn’t know what time the appt is. So Rochelle asks me and I tell her mine is at 10 am, but I have no idea what time Mike scheduled his.

So then he tells Rochelle to ask me how long my hair appt takes. She types that to me and I tell her two hours-ish. But then she tells me that when he asked her to ask me that, she yelled it at her computer instead of typing it. Because of course, I can hear her through the instant messenger.

At this point, I’m laughing so hard I can hardly contain the laughter noise even though I’m trying really hard not to wake LG up. And at her house, she and her mother are doubled over in laughter and poor Mike, on the phone with the appt setter, is trying to maintain his composure until he gets off the phone.

The appt setter lady probably thinks we are all psycho. Because really. First, I tell her to call my husband. Then he tells her to call me back. I don’t answer. She calls him back and he then conducts a conversation with me through another person via her instant messenger. I’m sure all sane people do that every day.

Do you think they’ll actually show up for the appointment Friday afternoon? I’m not holding my breath. ;)

So much to talk about…where do I begin?

Well, I guess the biggest news here in the Sonoran desert is the weather. It is first of all very very very VERY cold. As in it snowed in some parts of the Valley today. Yes. You read that right. SNOW. Of course not at my house, but a mere 7 miles away (4 miles west and 3 miles north).

Very very cold. And wet. And rainy. And even snowy. I keep hoping it will get snowy here, but not quite yet. El Nino has finally arrived with a vengeance. Two weekends in a row of cold wet rainy weather. This just in: My friend informs me it is snowing in Tucson and that his brother reports 3 inches of snow on his car. Crazy weather.

In the midst of all the craziness, I had to go to Mike’s cousin’s bridal shower today. They are getting married in Hawaii, so it had a Hawaiian theme. Which really made sense since it was cold and rainy, but whatever…it was fun! We got to decorate flipflops, which may have literally been the most girly girly craft I’ve ever done and I might be addicted or something. We got to have hula lessons. I suck at it, by the way. And we played this really crazy fun game during the gift opening. While the bride to be was opening gifts, two sets of dice were making their way around the circle. There were four party gifts in the middle of the circle and if you rolled a double, you got to take one of the gifts. After all the gifts were taken, you got to steal someone’s gift, and this went on until all the real gifts were opened and whoever had a gift at that point got to keep it. It makes the whole gift opening process a lot less tedious and boring and really keeps the energy up. Great game for a shower if you ever need one.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We sure did! :)

In an effort to share some of the interesting links I run across during the course of a week, I’m going to attempt a weekly roundup. We’ll see how long I stick with it. We’ll see how it evolves. And we’ll see if I actually remember to save the links I find. A shoutout to Susie who does this with her Saturday Shortcakes (which is what gave me the idea in the first place!).

The list of lists. Thanks to Susie.

“The best way to manage your tasks”.

A beautiful description of a concert.

I think these are really gorgeous and I’m trying to figure out how and when to use them so I can make them!

Some really cool photoshop techniques.

And that’s it for my first Surfer Sunday!

Well, obviously it was a good day to begin with since it was our anniversary. But, the day started off good and just kept getting better. (Read on …)

Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
The dvr makes it so easy to not miss shows and I record a lot of them, but the ones that I prefer to see when they actually air are How I Met Your Mother, Ugly Betty and the reality show of the moment (American Idol right now). The ones that I cry if my dvr fails to record them are Lost, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Numb3rs, Heroes and Medium.

Soup
Who did you last speak to on the telephone?
Mike

Salad
How many pillows do you keep on your bed?
I must have two pillows and Mike has one.

Main Course
Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you’d love to have.
A 500gb external hard drive to store my photos and my mp3s.

Dessert
What is your favorite foreign food?
It depends on my mood - either Italian or Mexican.

Join the fun!

Sixteen years ago today, I married a guy named Mike. And sixteen years later, I love him more than ever.

Dearest Mike, you are an awesome father, a tireless provider, and my very best friend. Happy 16th anniversary! I love you, and I’m looking forward to the next 16 years and the next 16, and however many more after that we can squeeze in. I’m sure they will be awesome as long as we’re together!

My daughter makes me laugh more than probably any other person on earth, partly from her bubbly enthusiasm for life and partly from her incredible imagination.

Today in the grocery store, she asked for her “phone” (a toy cell phone that makes noise when you press the buttons). I gave it to her and she got very busy “making calls” to some special people. First it was Papa. They had a great chat apparently. Next was “Monene”, whom she “chatted” with for quite awhile, stopping to tell me all about it now and then. And finally, she called first “G” and then “S”, the two young men who work with Mike.

Calling boys on the phone at age 2. We are in big trouble.