Oh, the things a two year old says

Asha: "I WANT STRAW!"

Me: "What do you say?"

Asha pouts.

Me: "Say 'please'."

Asha: "I can't say please!"

Me: "You can have it when you say please."

(Meltdown ensues)

Five minutes later a soft voice asks, "Mommy, can I have straw please?"

* * * * *

Asha wakes up from her nap and sees that I have put a ponytail in Mila's hair. "Oh, no! My ponytail", she exclaims. She's not happy until I have taken Mila's ponytail out and put her hair in one.

* * * * *

During dinner:

"Yummy supper, mommy"

"Thank-you mommy, thank-you"

"Yummy"

"Thank you for supper, mommy"

Yummy Three-Minute Cupcakes

So this morning I was having a chocolate craving (what else is new, and no, I am not pregnant again)... so I decided to try a recipe for chocolate cupcakes that are baked in the microwave. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to bake, but I've never tried to do so in my microwave. I've been wanting to try this ever since I saw the recipe since they are done in three minutes, and the recipe is for only six cupcakes so it's just enough for our small family or a few friends. They turned out pretty flat, and square shaped since I don't have a microwave safe muffin tin, but overall they taste great so who cares!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup milk

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Pour into six paper liners and cook in microwave oven at 80% power for 3 minutes.

I whipped up some buttercream frosting and threw on a few sprinkles, and ta-da! We're done! (I actually made these while on the phone with my mom, they were done and the kitchen cleaned up before we were finished our 40 minute conversation.)

Now, if anyone knows of any other great microwave recipes, I'd love to hear them. Especially if you know of any vanilla cupcake recipes, I'd love to try it!

NOTE: I have a Panasonic Inverter microwave, so I'm not sure if it would work in all microwaves.

The End of Summer

Today when I saw the neighbourhood kids waiting for the bus, a part of me wondered what it would be like if my kids were going off to school leaving me with an empty house and hours of free time (yeah, right). Within seconds I knew that I am SO not ready for that, I am glad my kids are still little and I can still enjoy (almost) every second of every day with them.

Thinking back to this summer, we didn't do a whole lot of crazy or exciting things, but we did have a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite summer memories:

Playing with the neighbourhood kids

Trips to the park

Learning to garden

Having little friends over

Asha turns two!

Blowing bubbles

Lots of birthday parties

Going to the beach

Mila turns one!

Family walks

There are so many more memories. The girls are growing so fast and I can see so many changes in them from the start of summer until now. I'm glad I used my camera so much - since May I have taken almost 1500 photos. How's that for memories? Now if only I could get caught up on scrapbooking...

First cuke of the season!

So here it is... my first cucumber of the season! And it was yummy! Asha loved it as well, it's hard to get her to eat veggies at times but when she helps mommy pick it out of the garden then she enjoys eating it. Hopefully I will have many more cucumbers growing, right now I only have two healthy cucumber plants that are producing fruit because the birds ate the rest!

I have learned a lot about gardening this year and am calling this a training experience... next year I hope to have much more success. I was planning on planting corn and sunflowers this year but I didn't get it out in time since my garden wasn't prepped and ready. I will get it all ready in the fall this year so that it will be easier for me next year.

As an aside, I know I haven't been writing much lately. I have been feeling the pressure

that each blog entry has to be witty and funny... I've started many posts without finishing them because they don't seem worthy. I'm hoping I can just let it go and enjoy this experience of sharing my thoughts with you.

Color Inspiration #55

I decided to try a color inspiration challenge this week. The colors aren't exactly right, but I did the best I could!

Garden update!

So, I finally got to the store to purchase some potting soil for my vegetable plants. Unfortunately because this has taken so long, I lost a bunch of my plants along the way. They just couldn't sustain themselves in the little Jiffy peat pots anymore. So into the compost bin they went.
I've decided that I am only going to plant a few of the vegetable plants into the actual garden this year as the area that I have chosen doesn't seem like a good home for my little babies. The soil is very hard and weeds keep popping up ferociously. Not to mention that it's actually acting as a trench since last year we had a waterfall comparable with Niagara Falls (okay, more like a "mini" Niagara Falls). So I am going to try to grow most of my vegetables in pots and see how that goes!
Now my house is littered with pots full of seedlings until I am ready to move them outdoors. I think I am going to wait one more week and if the weather continues to stay nice then I will make the move.

Here are some of my plants, I can't believe how much they have grown:Cucumber on the windowsill

In front of the sliding doorBasil on the windowsill

Snow Peas

Corn in the bay windowLettuce

The most dangerous job in the world

**SPOILER ALERT - GREY'S ANATOMY SEASON FINALE**

I used to think it would be police officer, firefighter, maybe even postman. But it's been confirmed, the most dangerous job in the world is at Seattle Grace Hospital. Yes, I am talking about Grey's Anatomy. Sure, it makes for great TV, but come on!! I will try to list what has happened to the characters on this show... Meredith almost drowned, Burke got shot, Cristina got stabbed with an icicle, and now Izzie and George are dead? Or, presumed dead? Not to mention those around them... Bailey's husband and son end up seriously injured and in the hospital at the same time, George's dad died, Mer's mom died, then her stepmother died of the hiccups, there may be more but it's late, I'm tired, and I'm sure you get the point.
I will stick with this show because ultimately I love the dark and twisty Meredith, the ever abrasive Cristina and because it just fulfills that little part of me that wants to cry and laugh all at the same time. But I am hoping for a better season next year. Nuff said.

Aside: I love Kimberly Elise who plays a new character, Dr. Swender... her best known role was in one of my favourite movies "Diary of a Mad Black Woman". I hope this character is here to stay and doesn't die along with Izzie...

Mother's Day

Well, here it is. My second Mother's Day. I have heard many touching and inspirational things in the last week, so I thought I would share some of my favorites:

*****

I never knew how much love my heart could hold until someone called me "mommy"

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. - Sophia Loren

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own. ~Aristotle

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. ~Chinese Proverb

*****

It's true what everyone says that you just don't know what your own mother did for you until you become a mother yourself. And you hope that over time you can learn to become as good a mother as your own was, and still is today.

Ol' Lonely

So I know why the Maytag repairman is so lonely. It's because he doesn't have a job. And not because Maytag appliances don't break down or because of the economy...
Our Maytag Quiet Series dishwasher has not been so quiet lately. About a week ago it started making a very loud rattling noise during the rinse cycle. I thought maybe there was something stuck somewhere so I called my friend whose husband happens to be a plumber (how convenient) and he was able to make some suggestions, but this is not really a plumbing issue. So today I called Maytag (which is actually owned by Whirlpool now) and after going through the usual was finally able to talk to someone. After describing the issue and additionally holding the phone right up to the dishwasher so that the CSR could hear for himself, I was told that "this is normal". The representative told me that if I referred to my manual I would see that a "humming" sound is normal. I explained that it is not a "humming" sound, but rather a "rattling" sound, and he said "yes, a humming or a grinding sound is normal." WHAAAT?? I was flabbergasted. And I still am. I'm actually afraid to run the dishwasher because the noise is so alarming. I can't run it in the evening because it would keep me awake at night, that's how loud it is. And I'm being told that this is normal? Unfortunately our warranty expired a month ago (why does that always happen?) and I don't want a repairman to come out just to get paid to tell me that "this is normal". Although I think it is rather unlikely that I can... I might just have to try to fix it myself.

How does YOUR garden grow?

So this year I have decided to grow my own garden. I planted my seeds in a Jiffy Greenhouse on April 18 and within a few days (yes, days!) I was already seeing sprouts. I decided to do only easy plants this year just to see how it goes and then if I have success I might get more adventurous next year. My plans this year are for lettuce, corn, cucumber, peppers, peas, chrysanthemums and sunflowers.
Luckily, my wonderful husband has had a worm compost on the go for a couple of years now, and although I was originally horrified at the idea, it is now going to be a huge asset for my new garden. (I was mostly horrified because he wanted to keep it in the house - thankfully we agreed that the garage would be the best home for them.)
Today I had the pleasure of sorting through the worm bin to find some good soil so that I could transplant some of my seedlings into bigger pots. The roots on the corn are getting very long and I don't want them to overtake the rest of the greenhouse. I'm sure some of the little wriggly worms ended up in my pots, but they are going into the garden soon so I don't think it will be an issue.
Check out my peas, cucumber and peppers:











Now if I can only keep my two-year old's curious little hands away it might just be a success...

C is for Crazy hair, Crawling... and Constipation

Oh the wonderful life of a mom to two girls... especially two girls who have a mix of my poker straight hair and my wonderful husband's very curly hair. I always had an interest in hair growing up, even had aspirations to become a hairstylist but nothing prepared me for the craziness facing me each morning.
I've tried de-frizzing shampoo, de-frizzing serum, gel, hairspray (using this on a two year old comes with a certain amount of guilt, I feel a bit like a pageant mom at times). I've tried wide combs, narrow combs, brushes, I've even tried to blow dry it while brushing it (on the cool setting of course). Nothing really works. Most of the time I end up putting it in pigtails, but trying to section hair down the middle in a straight line is nearly impossible. Usually I have to bribe her with getting to play at the kitchen sink or watch a video on the computer so that she will sit still long enough for me to make it look half decent. Today I tried a single ponytail even though it's not quite long enough... and at the end of the day, when the ponytail came out out, my sweet beautiful girl looks like she just stuck her finger in a socket:

But at least she's happy. :)

To crawl or not to crawl... I've really been encouraging my eight month old daughter to crawl but I'm wondering if I'll regret it when she does. With the older one, crawling was a wonderful thing; she could go where she wanted and since she's an independent girl anyway, she would crawl and play with toys, read books and keep herself busy for hours. Now that I have two of them I'm not sure if I will be able to turn my back for a second without worrying that the older one is going to push her, or try to pick her up by the head, or do a many number of things that she already does when I am only a few feet away. I'm less afraid of the walking stage because then at least she will be on a more even playing field with her older sister.
She's doing really well though, she goes up on all fours and rocks back and forth, and she will wiggle her way backwards, but no forward motion yet... I think it is only a matter of weeks.
As for constipation, I'll leave you with this: "A kiwi a day keeps the constipation away". My mom's miracle cure for when my daughter has to go, but her bum says no.