Jeanine Baechtold's Essence kit at Computer-Scrapbook.com
Virutal Photographer Glamour
Photoshop 7.0
Fonts: SA - KMS Fasthand
Image Copyrighted by Meredith Cardall, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
life...
there's nothing really new in my life right now. just dealing with hannah, still trying to get settled in the new place, potty-training, and primary. we are in the middle of planning a big carnival for the entire ward. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. We are having a carnival outside in August... probably not the smartest thing we've done, but it'll be fun. I get to make 3 huge pans of Jell-O. I hate Jell-O, but I do like the smell of it...
I talked to my sister-in-law, Aimee, the other night. Thanks to Chrissy, I found out that she is several months pregnant. And it's a GIRL! I am so excited for her to have another little girl. Although I am really sad that this is another child I will probably not meet. My little niece, Gracie, is almost 5, but we haven't seen her in over 2 years. She doesn't remember us. That is so sad to me! Gracie was the first baby in the family who only knew me as Aunt Meredith or Aunt Chuckles as she used to call me. So, we are going to make a little video or send a little scrapbook out to the kids so that they know who we are before we get out to Utah for a visit... whenever that may be. We were hoping to get out there this summer, but that's not gonna happen and then we were going to go for Payton & Jordyn's baptisms, but they are a month apart. so now we are hoping to get out there around Thanksgiving so that we can see Aimee's baby. I really want to come out and help her, but I don't know if I can get a flight out there at the last minute. anyway...
life is good... just exhausting! I am on a mission to find a 50" by 20" picture frame. We have a huge print that we need to frame and I can't find a frame that size. I am going to have to have one custom made. I am in the decorating phase of moving in. There is so much I want to do, but my budget just doesn't allow it. Oh well, I'll save all my expensive plans for when we get a house. :) I should get back to business. I haven't even taken a shower yet today... we had a plumber here this morning fixing a leak under Hannah's bathroom sink.. so glad we are renting this place! :)
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
cake for breakfast...
i'm tired. i'm cranky. and hannah is eating a piece of cake for breakfast. i'm such a great mom. and she is watching blue's clues. the 100th episode to be exact. so she is sitting on her dora couch still in her jammies eating cake right next to my living room carpet. at least the cake and frosting are both white. man, i can't stand joe. so, hannah went to bed around midnight and woke me up at 6:30 this morning. what a monster. i wish she would have regular sleep hours at least. saturday morning i had to get up and go to a church activity at 7:00. hannah slept until 9:30. she always sleeps for thomas. anyway, i am about to crash, so i am going to go work on my primary stuff so i can get it done before i totally lose my mind. i'll talk at y'all later.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
my weekend so far
so what have i been doing this weekend? baking bread. i made 4 mini loaves this afternoon. then i went to my mom's house for a couple of hours. then i went to wal-mart and got some groceries. then i came home and baked 4 more loaves and i have 4 more loaves getting ready to go into the oven. thankfully the dough is made in the bread machine and i have two of those, so the time factor is cut in half. i am baking bread for the people who helped us move. i owe them big time! :)
so in between baking loaves of bread today, i had to sanitize hannah's bathroom from top to bottom (literally) twice! this morning i was ironing thomas's shirt and hannah said she had to poop. so i put her on the potty and went to iron thomas's shirt (i can see her the entire time). last time we did that, she pooped in the potty and all was successful! not so this time! she turned herself around sideways on the seat and got the decorative toilet brush, somehow stuck it in the toilet while she was sitting on it, then pulled it out and flung toilet water all over the place. then she dropped the toilet brush and told me that it fell. now how did she do this when i was watching her? she did it when i went to hang thomas's shirt up. that'll teach me to be a good wife. so i cleaned her little bum, and put her in the bathtub while i bleached the toilet, sink, floors, cabinets and walls. we talked about why she was in trouble and i asked her if she was going to do it again and she said "prob'ly". monstrous child! but, meredith, why did you have to clean it twice? i can almost hear you asking that question. because hannah is a monstrous child! at least lying isn't one of her issues! because guess what hannah did about 5 hours later! the same darn thing! that's right, folks! i turned around to put her poopy diaper in the garbage and hannah got ahold of the toilet brush again. not quite as much toilet water made it out of the toilet, but there was enough! so i cleaned hannah's little bum and put a pull-up on her. we talked while i cleaned and she told me "i'm in trouble because the ducky falled. it falled out of the toilet and maked messes on the floor. really, mom. " she completed her explanation with the biggest sigh. i told her that if she did it again she was going to get her bottom spanked. i asked her if she was going to do it again and she said "yeah, mom. i like to clean the toilet with the ducky." if only she was cleaning and not spraying toilet water everywhere.
so, about an hour later i am trying to sort paperwork and decide what old bills and papers we can shred and i look at hannah who has been suspiciously quiet for about 2 minutes. she was sitting on the floor butt-naked! she had taken off her Cinderella pull-up and was just sitting there watching dora. i asked her why she took it off and she said "can't see chickarella and jazin mommy" I wish these dang diaper companies would quit putting pictures on the pull-ups that the kids can't see when they are wearing them. Hannah can't stand that Cinderella and Jasmine are "upside-down" on her pullups. they are only upside-down to her. she wanted to know where mommy's Chickarella underwear were... hmmm... how do i explain that one to a toddler?
so that is my fun adventure for the weekend. she also decided that she can swim alone now. we were sitting on the pool steps at my parents' house and i don't usually get in the pool because i get too motion sick when there are a lot of people moving around making waves. So i sit on the edge of the pool to watch hannah on the steps. so today, hannah was sitting there playing with me and she turned around and just pushed off the steps. she got halfway across the pool before my dad caught her and hauled her back to the steps. i asked her what the heck she thought she was doing. she looked at me and said "i'm just swimming, mom! i'm swimming by myself!" she's growing up and getting more and more adventurous. i'm not ready for this...
You gotta try this!
If you have a bread machine and use it to make bread dough or if you are feeling adventurous this weekend, try this:
Meredith's Challah Bread
Adapted from "Best Bread Machine Recipes" by Gold Medal
Makes 1 loaf
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 egg
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
2 cups Gold Medal white flour
1 ¼ cups Gold Medal wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons bread machine yeast
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon poppy or sesame seeds if desired
Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except egg yolk, cold water and poppy seed in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
Select Dough/ Manual cycle. Do not use Delay cycle.
Remove dough from pan, using lightly floured hands. Cover dough and let rest 10 minutes on lightly floured surface.
Grease large cookie sheet. *Divide dough into thirds. Roll each third into 13-inch rope. Place ropes side by side; braid ropes gently and loosely, starting at the middle of the braid. Pinch ends to seal; tuck ends under braid. Place on cookie sheet. Cover and let rise in warm place about 45 minutes or until double. Dough is ready if finger indentation remains when touched.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix egg yolk and cold water; brush over loaf. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds if desired. Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown.
*If you don't want braided bread, this recipe works just fine to place dough on cookie sheet in a ball. I have even divided dough into 2 balls and baked on a cookie sheet. It does not work as 2 small braided loaves. It also tastes great baked on a stone baking sheet. Makes a great thick pizza crust.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
I was chosen as the Digi Gallery of the Week
Check out the Gallery of the Week pick on 7/18
I hate to toot my own horn, but if I don't, who will? Thanks for looking!
Monday, July 17, 2006
my poor mother-in-law...
check out what happened to her last week...
Sharon's Blog
lol, chrissy! i just saw this on your blog, too!
I have HOT water!
Yea! We have HOT water, not just warm water, but third-degree-burn HOT water. Okay, maybe not THAT hot, but it is really hot! Hot enough to take a shower, hot enough to condition my hair (I haven't done that in about 2 weeks! you can only imagine!), hot enough to shave my legs! Because really, what was the point when he had lukewarm water at best? The hair was grown back before you got out of the shower! Not anymore!
Thomas took all the boxes of trash out last night. So, I organized everything that is going down to the garage, now I just have to get them down there. I may go wake Thomas up and make him watch Hannah while I do it now, just to get it done! And then on Thomas's day off this week (I don't know which day yet!) I am going to try really hard to get the garage somewhat organized enough that we can park one of our cars in there. I am ambitious! The dining room area was clean enough yesterday that we could actually eat dinner at the table as a family! It was nice! Hannah was so excited that Daddy was eating with us. That doesn't happen often with his work schedule. The kitchen is pretty much organized. There is not much counter space so it always looks cluttered, but it is getting better. I made bread yesterday! I love my breadmaker! I also folded about 6 loads of laundry while watching my Sunday evening tv. I need to do more today, but I can't until after Thomas showers.
My mom is decorating the stake center for a Stake Primary Activity this weekend and she is painting the scenes at the church today. I am supposed to go help her, but Thomas isn't working until later, so I may go over there this afternoon. Don't know how I am going to keep Hannah out of the paint, though! Should be fun! Ashley said she would watch her, and i may have to take her up on that one! Speaking of painting, I bought wooden letters to hang in Hannah's room. I started painting them. I was going to paint designs on the letters, but it just doesn't look right. I need to sand them and re-paint them. I only put designs on 2 letters, so it shouldn't be too much work! I found some really cute ribbon to decorate them with. I can't wait to find my sandpaper and finish them! :)
Well, I need to go make Thomas's lunch for work and get organized for the day. Hope all is well with everyone!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
making progress...
we still have no water, but we are making a little bit of progress around the apartment. i have a huge pile of garbage to take out, mostly boxes, but I can't fit them through the stairwell with all the work going on here. So, they are sitting in my hallway, which means that Thomas flips out everytime he walks down the hallway. He can't stand clutter (which you would never know by looking at the computer desk area or his side of the bedroom!) and the piles are making him crazy. I can't exactly take the trash out during the day with Hannah, so I told him last night that if he didn't like it, he could do it himself. The boxes are still here today so they must not bother him too much. i would LOVE to get all the excess junk down to the garage, but with the workmen in the breezeways I can't do that either. So, it will have to wait. I don't typically like to do that kind of stuff on Sunday, but I may have to this week. Thomas isn't working and I need someone to watch Hannah while I go up and down the stairs. It would be different if we were in a house with a basement or a garage that was directly connected to our home and I could hear her moving around above me or if she started crying. Plus, here she can open the deadbolt and get out of the apartment and start running around the golf course. There is a pond just across the fairway from us. In Florida, kids and ponds don't mix. Not only is there a danger of drowning, but also alligators and lots of snakes. So, until I have someone to watch Hannah, I can't really do much more. I can start organizing things and hanging up the clothes in our bedroom. We haven't even started organizing our room. We have been here almost two weeks now and I still don't feel unpacked. I have GOT to get working better! I'll post photos as the apartment starts looking better.
i went to wal-mart last night and bought a studfinder and a hammer. so i got a few pictures hung. i am less than thrilled with the stud locations in this place, though. And there are metal plates EVERYWHERE. Why? Above every door, there are metal plates, so I can't hang anything above my doors. And all the people in this building are old, so I have to stop hammering around 9pm.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
no water...
The condo association decided to replace the water heaters in every building in the complex. That isn't a bad thing because we haven't had HOT water since we moved in. It eventually gets warmish, but not hot. I don't even want to think about how clean my white laundry and dishes are NOT getting! Anyway... we were supposed to be without water or gas for 4 days. Then the maintenance guy came around and told us that we were actually only going to be out of HOT water and gas for 2-3 days. But we would have cold water the entire time. Yeah, he lied! We have NO water or gas right now. The gas isn't such a big deal. I just planned stuff that I can cook in the microwave or toaster oven. But no water! How am I supposed to deal with that? Supposedly the COLD water will be turned back on each evening by 6, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? I think I know why it is going to take 3 days. The water heater closet is across the hall from my apartment. Everytime I look out my peephole the guys are just sitting on the stairs smoking or talking. They aren't working! So, I haven't showered yet today. I managed to get Hannah bathed before they turned off the hot water this morning. Thomas went to my mom's house on his way to work and showered there. I am not feeling really well today. I think I ate something with milk in it yesterday. Definitely not a good day to not have water... can't flush toilets. we may go to my mom's house for a few hours this afternoon after hannah wakes up. i don't feel well enough to move anything today. i need to hang pictures today, but I can't find my hammer and i need to borrow my dad's studfinder. That's about all that is going on here... I just posted a bunch of layouts that I did before we moved. I haven't scrapped in two weeks. maybe I will now since Hannah is napping! :) See ya!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
i'm still alive
yes, it's been a few days and I am still alive. I am still surrounded by piles of junk, but not many boxes are left. I have a ton of crap to take down to the garage, but once that is out, I will have two liveable rooms in my house! Isn't it interesting how some things disappear when you move and no matter what, you can't find them... and other useless things seem to multiply! I can't find any of my baskets! And I somehow ended up with only 4 forks. I used to have 8... I have all the rest of my silverware. And I must have 2 boxes of stinky candles. Where the heck did they come from? I don't remember having that many candles. And I think I have 4 bottles of Tilex. That will get used eventually, but where am I going to store 4 bottles of Tilex. It's too hot to put it in the garage. I guess I could just donate a bottle to my mom and my sister. They probably wouldn't mind. Okay, I need to get back to work. My baby sister, Shelby, is coming over today to sit with Hannah while I clean my room. Hannah wants to be wherever I am and there just isn't room for two people in our room right now! :) All of our clothes were in storage for 8 months, so they all have to be washed. Our room is completely covered by mountains of laundry... not even kidding, we're talking about 15-20 more loads. I did 8 loads of whites the other day! And I haven't even started on linens yet. They are all still in the garage except what we are sleeping on now and we did wash those at my mom's house. Okay, really going to work now... See ya later!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
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