I hear the sound of little footsteps running down the hall.

LG: Mama! Mama! Mama!

Me: What sweetie?

LG: I run!

Me: Yes you did! Did you run fast?

LG: Run fast!

She turns and runs back down the hall to where her papa is.

A few seconds later, I hear the sounds of little footsteps running down the hall again.

LG: Mama! Mama! Mama!

Me: What sweetie?

LG: *cough cough* I sneeze!

Me: That’s a cough! *cough cough*

LG: I cough! *cough cough*

She turns and runs back down the hall “coughing” as she goes.

I hear her from the other room saying to papa:

LG: I need da water!

Just about every morning Little Girl eats cereal with her Papa. She sits on his lap. They share a bowl, but each have their own spoon. That is her morning routine, and if for some reason we have to stray from that routine, you can pretty much assume that it’s not going to be a totally pleasant day. Other than that, she’s usually pretty okay with her routine not being exact, but miss that morning cereal with Daddy and it’s a recipe for a tantrum at some point.

Every morning, pretty much without fail, she gets milk on her shirt. She is only 2, after all, and still mastering the art of scooping liquid into her mouth with a spoon without losing any of it, so it’s to be expected. And never, NOT ONCE, in the time they have been doing this has she EVER cared about the fact that she had milk on her shirt.

Until today. Today she got milk on her shirt. And all hell broke loose. WET! DIRTY! CHANGE SHIRT! Screaming! Tantrumming! (Yes, I made that word up - now hush!) Rending of clothing! (Or at least trying her best to pull it off of her head.) Until she got a clean shirt on. And then all was well.

Mike gave her the dirty shirt and told her to go put it in the laundry. Which she did. “Dirty shirt!”

I used to wonder if she had my genes. But now I know she must, because that is exactly what 2 year old Karin would have done. I just wish she would have given me a little warning before she turned into Felix Unger. :P

A very interesting article about the power of praise.

Another reason not to eat trans-fats.

Wanna learn about f-stops, apertures and shutter speeds? This post will get you started!

101 ways to make money online. via lifehack.org

How to make your photos pop. Literally!

When to replace common household items. via Lifehacker

Black and white photography tips.

How to move your iTunes library - something I’m going to do as soon as I get an external network hard drive.

10 uses for all those extra coffee filters you have laying around. What? I’m the only one who buys coffee filters and doesn’t use them for coffee? via Lifehacker

A bookmark for your favorite techno-geek (and anyone else who wants one - hint: ME!!).

52 ways to reduce stress. via Lifehacker

Little Girl has learned to flush the toilet. She flushes it, then says “all beddah” and closes the lid. Now if we could just get her to try going potty in it. ;)

I had a baby shower to go to this evening. Since Mike works on the side of town that the baby shower was held on, I decided to take his truck to the shower so that I could stay longer and he would meet me at our friends’ house with my car and LG.

If I ever have another “great” idea like that? Remind me that I never want to drive that piece of junk again. Ugh. I can’t wait until my car is paid off so we can get a new one (July!). I was a nervous wreck by the time I got there. Example? When I went to put it in gear so I could pull out of the garage, I couldn’t see what gear I was shifting into. Mike told me I just had to “feel it”. Yeah. That’s a great idea :P

I got to see a few of my old teacher friends and one of my favorite moms from my last class at the shower, and it was great to see them. I do miss them. But I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing for anything. :) And it was fun to show off my little girl, too!

Appetizer
Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?
Well, there are four that I can think of. I have two on my left arm - one from a heart catheterization when I was 2, and one from falling off the teeter totter when I was 6 or so. I have one on my chest from when I was 4 and had open heart surgery. And I have my c-section scar.

Soup
What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
This is an easy question. I consider my daughter’s conception, gestation and birth a miracle. It’s too long a story to recount here, but trust me, it was all pretty miraculous.

Salad
Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.
Um, er, I dunno. The co-host on Dancing with the Stars?

Main Course
What was a funny word you said as a child (such as “pasketti” for “spaghetti”)?
I honestly don’t know of any, but my daughter says “noneck” for yogurt :)

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.
I have always thought Hallmark commercials were sappy, but in a good way.

Join in the feast!

I went to Target this morning and left Mike with the camera, the dog and a Little Girl. This is what he saw through the lens…

There’s something I should tell you about Mike. Back before we ever met, he was into photography as well as music. But it being the pre-digital camera age, photography was a costly hobby, as is music if you are an instrumentalist. He chose to put his time and money into music and not do very much with the photography.

As for me, I was never really into photography if it meant I had to do anything but point and shoot. Until after LG was born, that is. At that point, I asked Mike to teach me how to use the camera and of course he did. And he doesn’t get to use it all that much anymore, even though it’s something he enjoys. But you know what he tells me? He tells me that looking at the photos I take makes him happier than taking them himself. He both encourages and critiques my work and even more important, he is proud of me. There is no greater gift he could give me than that.

A long day today…Ash Wednesday mass this morning at the high school; signing some papers; picking up my sewing machine (yay!) and grocery shopping.

Little Girl recounted the story of her fall last night: “I fall off da couch. I puke. Wallady ate da puke.” Which translates to: Melody did what dogs do. On the bright side, it was less to clean up right? *sigh*

I always give up fast food for Lent because it’s a healthier, frugal choice. Of course, inevitably there are times when I have no choice but to eat fast food, and when that happens, I must make a healthy choice rather than a hamburger and fries.

I’ve also chosen to try and be more positive about certain things in my life for the next 40 days. It’s a good chance to get into the habit of doing so and hopefully it sticks.

1. Take one 2 year old, fill her with homemade hamburger helper and on-the-edge-of-sour (unbeknownst to me) milk.

2. “Let” her jump on the couch for a few minutes after dinner. (We don’t really “let” her, we have been trying to discourage it strongly.)

3. Add in a tumble off the couch onto the floor with a fall broken by a tv tray so she didn’t hit too hard.

4. Then toss in a little girl with an owie on her head sitting quietly in Mommy’s lap and then with her head on Mommy’s lap for 15 or 20 minutes.

5. And finally, stir in a little girl who jumps up and runs to the door when Daddy gets home, causing her stomach to evacuate its contents on the floor in front of the pantry. (Do you have any idea how glad I am that she puked over there and not on me? Do you?)

What do you get from all of that? You get a little girl who answers the question “Are you going to jump on the couch anymore?” by shaking her head no and saying “NO NO!”

It’s a hard way to learn a lesson for sure, but she’s back to her normal bouncy, happy, bubbly, full of energy self and off to bed now. And Mommy is breathing a sigh of relief that she’s back to her normal self, too.

How can this only be Tuesday? I was sure it was already Thursday, but no. A lot going on this week - rehearsal and mass(es) and signing papers (for our top-secret project which I will tell you about as soon as I can) and baby showers. Lots. of. stuff.

Yesterday we went to the park with Marlene and crew and had a great time. LG loves to “fwing!” But didn’t want to go on the slide at all. So we’ll have to work on that. After the park we went to Joann’s and on the way there, it started to pour. Which is cool, but not so much when you’re driving in it. When we pulled up in front of the store, LG said, “I see Joann’s!” teehee!

This morning she buttoned her sweater all by herself. I do have photographic proof of that which will probably be my picture of the day later on after I transfer the pictures from my camera. She didn’t do a perfect job, but she got it buttoned! And those are mad fine motor skills when you’re two!

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some pictures from the park yesterday…

I’m looking out our back door watching the neighbor to the south exercising one of her horses, and as she rode by our fence, I noticed her talking on her cell phone. For some reason, that just struck me as odd…lol!

Not that anyone cares but us, but I wanted to note this day for posterity. I just happened to look down at LG’s birthday counter and noticed that today she is: 2 years, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old. (And I went ahead and post-dated it to the moment when she was also 2 hours and 2 minutes old just for kicks.)

We now return you to your regular blog programming.

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

Know the warning signs of a stroke.

The best chocolate sheet cake ever? I’m totally going to try it and find out.

Have you ever wanted to host your own radio show? Now, here’s your chance!

I wonder if Rembrandt started this way?

22 ways to boost your self-esteem. via Lifehacker

Can’t figure out which restaurant to go to? Try the Wheel of Food! via Lifehacker

Some really great ideas for recycling magazines.

A new website dedicated to reviewing products. via lifehack.org

Five ways to improve your relationship with your significant other.

Open your own e-store.

How to clean a stainless steel sink.

Why didn’t they have this bibliography generator when I was in school?

Web tools for those of you who parent a college student, know a college student, are a college student, or will be a college student. via Lifehacker

Blink free group photos. Guaranteed?

Are you a birdwatcher? Then the Great Backyard Bird Count is for you. It’s almost over for this year, but put it on your calendar for next year!

Need to design a room? via Kerflop

One of my biggest pet peeves is not being able to get to a human when I call customer service. So these tips are something I’ll definitely be using in the future! via Lifehacker

I. want. this.

Mike and I provided music for a wedding today - not at our church, but at a church a few miles away. It’s a very pretty church - there are a few odd things about it - like the distance the priests are from the congregation, but lots of lovely things otherwise.

The loveliest thing though? The microphones and the monitors…lol! I was drooling over them (figuratively of course) because they were just so sweet and smooth and sounded so good. The mics and monitors that we have at our church are not quite that quality, and it’s always nice to work with good equipment.

For those of you who might be of the technical persuasion, they have good old SM58s which are used by live performers everywhere. They’re so awesome - it almost feels like the songs sing themselves, and the monitors? Just so clear and sharp and smooth. Top-notch equipment definitely makes for a pleasant experience.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled non-music-techno programming. ;)

Appetizer
What sound, other than the normal ringing, would you like your telephone to make?
I love having real songs on my phone (and by “real”, I mean actual recordings by real recording artists). I think I’d also like to have my little girl’s voice on it as well, like maybe when Mike calls, it could be her saying “Dat Papa!” or when Marlene calls “Dat Monene!” or when Rochelle calls “Dat Shochelle!” and stuff like that…lol!

Soup
Describe your usual disposition in meteorological terms (partly cloudy, sunny, stormy, etc.).
This is an awesome question! I would say “mostly sunny, but sudden thunderstorms possible.” ;)

Salad
What specific subject do you feel you know better than any other subjects?
Wow, that’s a toughie. I’m going to have to say I know a lot about music and a lot about teaching and quite a bit about several other things, but I don’t think I know any one subject extremely better than any other.

Main Course
Imagine you were given the ability to remember everything you read for one entire day. Which books/magazines/newspapers would you choose to read?
Can you read the entire Wikipedia in one day? (I know it’s not a book/magazine or newspaper, but I’d love to be able to remember all that information…lol!)

Dessert
If a popular candy maker contacted you to create their next confection, what would it be like and what would you name it?
Well, since they don’t make the seven-up bar anymore, I’d bring that back, but my flavors would be:
1) the cherry that is in the cherry cordial Hershey’s kisses
2) vanilla cream
3) caramel
4) marshmallow cream
5) orange cream
6) mint
7) fudge
and I would call it “Seventh Heaven”.

Join the feast!

I personally love Valentine’s Day - not so much for the romantic/mushy/gift-giving aspect of it, but because it’s the only holiday kids can really celebrate at school anymore and I think that up until a certain age, they love the thrill of the Valentines and candy and so forth. I really do miss those Valentine’s Day parties, so I volunteered to have Marlene’s 5 yo daughter (The Princess - my goddaughter) and 2 yo daycare charge (daughter of LG’s godfather) here for a Valentine’s Day luncheon/party so she could go to her older kids’ parties. (Read on …)