Salmonella and other musings

Salmonella certainly doesn't count as a musing. Jenna contracted salmonella last week and has been sick until yesterday. She had a fever of 104 and was completely listless. I was worried about her but I knew she would be okay. God has her in his hands. She is such a gift! The most likely cause of the salmonella is mommy. I gave her some raw cookie dough (for the first time!) last Monday. Jenna and I make cookies together all the time (probably once a week) and she loves it. I had not ever given her cookie dough because I was worried about giving her raw eggs. Apparently I wasn't worried in vain.

She had her 18 month birthday on the 20th. Here is a picture of her with her white bear. I thought I'd get an action thought this time since she is moving a lot!

Today Mom, Missy, Panda, Bug and I all went to Molly's tea house. I've included a picture of a table there. Wow I loved it! It was so girly that I told Erik it was the equivalent of drinking Guiness while watching the buckeyes and eating a sub and cheezits. He understood. I think I'm going to bump this place up to #3 in the restaurant list. Current top 5 now is:

1. Cheesecake factory
2. J. Alexanders
3. Miss Mollys Tea house
4. Panera
5. Applebees

I've also bumped Applebees up as well. Sometime I'll update my web page with my new favorites. When I told Erik about my decision to put the movie Pride and Prejudice so high in my movie list, he wasn't sure I was a worthy wife anymore.

I got 95 points today on Quiddler even though it wouldn't let me use uzi. I thought that was a word!!

Contentment

Our Calm My Anxious Heart Bible study has kicked off and wow is it awesome! It truly is a journey to contentment. I think I'm content with my life until I examine my thoughts. I want this or that - I should really listen to Paul and learn the secret of contentment in all circumstances. Jesus Christ!!

Jenna has found contentment playing with bubbles in the sink. This is her new favorite activity introduced by Nana. Today we played in the sink for an hour. I had to pry her pruny hands from the sink to get her to stop playing in the water. Even so, we all had a good time.

I'm working on modifying my list of favorite movies. Certainly the Chronicles of Narnia is going in there as well as Pride and prejudice. I just need to organize my favorites. We watched King Kong last night which was pretty good, but it was 3 hours long. Of course, I'll sit through LOTR for 3 hours at a time.

We got a new projector as our old one had broken. We bought a Panasonic PT-AE900U projector. To test it we watched the balrog scene from the Fellowship of the Ring. When Jenna saw the balrog she started barking. She thought it was a dog!!! That was hilarious. She wasn't even scared of it. Well...maybe we'll go with Star Wars next. What will she think of Darth Vader? A horse? A cow??

I didn't do very well in Quiddler today. Only 65 because there was a Q but I had already used my A. Erik got 84 since he used his Q. Maybe next time I'll beat him!

Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was the first day we let Jenna eat chocolate chip cookie dough. We've made cookies many times but I haven't let her eat the dough because of the raw eggs. We think she's probably old enough now. (we hope!).

I've attached a picture of us baking. Jenna helps quite a bit by playing with all the measuring spoons and eating brown sugar. It's quite helpful.

The weather here has been so beautiful. Erik and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood. Jenna loves it too!

Joel has inspired me to compose some prose! He wrote a short story on his blog so I've created a poem. It is called Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Butter and sugar and chocolate so sweet
Flour and eggs, put in the mixer then beat
Keep eating the dough
Until your belly says no
Chocolate chip cookies what a wonderful treat!

Today I got 92 on Quiddler even though the max was 90. The past couple of days Erik and I have been tying on Quiddler. This is going to have to stop so I can win sometime!

31

Now I'm definitely past 30. I'm "in my 30s". The next big age is 40 for me. Wow - that just sounds really old. Of course, I still feel like a kid. This week has been really fun. For my birthday we went to Applebees and Jenna got mac and cheese and broccoli. It was good (better than normal mac and cheese) and she ate almost all of it. Then we went to Graeters. Graeters has wonderful ice cream. Even so, I'd still rate Handels above Graeters. Nevertheless, we went to Graeters for my birthday and I got a buckeye blitz sundae. I'm thinking it might have had a little less than 20000000 calories in it, but only slightly. It was yummy. Then I played Sim City all night. Erik bought me Sim City for my birthday and I'm an addict.
Speaking of addict, I went to the doctor about my constant nose stuffiness. He said I am addicted to zicam. Just because I use it every night and shake when I can't. That doesn't sound like an addict does it???
Jen, Nicole, Heather and I got all our kids together on Thursday for a playdate. Here is a picture of Jenna, Kael, Emma, and Avery in Jen's sandbox. Jenna loved it even though she isn't paying attention to the sand in the picture :). She liked it better when the other kids weren't "sharing" her sand.

In other news:

1. Jenna got a free book from the library by "reading" 6 hours. When she reads another 6 hours she gets an activity set
2. I've read a whole lot more than 6 hours and never got a free book for it
   
3. Or an activity set
4. School starts Wed for me and my online classes start tomorrow
5. I got 92 on Quiddler today - 7 above the max!
6. Jen got me the Quiddler card game for my birthday - Yea!
7. Raspberry mocha frappucino from Starbucks is ambrosia from heaven

Red, White, and BummBumms

BummBumms is Jenna's word for Blueberries. She had watermelon, cantaloupe (not really white but we'll go with it) and blueberries for lunch today. Her red, white and blue!
I LOVE the 4th of July!! The 4th of July is such a great holiday. Independence, freedom, cookouts, fireworks, summer, red, white, blue, and especially my birthday is the 5th!!
Jenna has a really cute outfit with stars and stripes and lately she's been pushing around this roller push toy so it was hard to pry it away from her for the picture. Here are two cute ones!

Today we went to the zoo and had a wonderful time looking at fishies. Since it was cooler and rainy today all the animals were out. We were able to see the new Asia Quest and even heard the lion roar!! I don't want to be near him when he gets mad!

So here is a list of my favorite holidays:

1. 4th of July
2. Christmas
3. Easter
4. Thanksgiving
   
5. Halloween
6. Valentine's Day
   
7. Labor Day
8. Veterans Day
9. Memorial Day
10. Martin Luther King Day

I only got 56 today on Quiddler because there was a Q and no U!!!

Hooray July!!

July is here! My favorite month! Yea!! You can't go wrong with fireworks and my birthday :). Tomorrow we are having a cookout. I love 4th of July cookouts (well this one will be on the 2nd of July). I made a really cool dessert with three layers of jello: red, white and blue. It should taste okay (I'm not much into jello) but it is pretty. Jenna helped me make cupcakes today. "helped". I give her a measuring cup and usually put some sugar or flour or something for her to make a mess with. She seems to love it.

I wanted to upload a picture of our chocolate tasting. It was so fun! Hopefully you can see the detail. It is complete with empty wrappers on the side :). Erik and I really enjoyed tasting the different chocolates.

I'm currently working through the Bible study "Calm My Anxious Heart". I just finished week 7 on life's purpose. What a powerful study!! I'm amazed that sometimes I just move from activity to activity not thinking about who I want to be when I'm 80 and how I can get there. This study helped me write out a purpose for my life. I based my life on a few different verses:
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. ~Micah 6:8

Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. ~1Peter 3:4

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ~Phil 1:9-10

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. ~1Thess 5:16-18

What a great study! I've learned so much already and we haven't started the study officially!!
In other news, I got 69 on Quiddler with a max score of 62 - yea!

COSI

Jenna and I went to COSI yesterday. She had such a good time! There is a big room filled with a water table and toys. She loves to play in the water, and she loves fish...come to think of it, maybe she'll grow up to be a marine biologist. Who knows?
COSI also has a Star Wars exhibit. Apparently it has actual movie gear, like the clothes Han Solo wore during the movies. I'm sure it has other cool things as well but we didn't go see it (not this time!). Next time we will go. I'm excited to see it - I love Star Wars!

I bought Erik a chocolate tasting kit from World Wide Chocolate. It is a chocolate tasting kit for two: http://yhst-84404158564241.stores.yahoo.net/gf-500-s1.html
It was so completely awesome!! We ate each chocolate and rated them then had graham crackers in between to cleanse our palates. It was amazing that all these 15 bars of chocolate were so different even though they were chocolate. We rated them on aroma, taste, texture, and aftertaste. The kit was really neat and I recommend it to anyone. YUM!!!

The first time I tried Quiddler today I got 49 points. Erik had to do it three times and finally got 83. It was a tough one today.

Everdork

Erik and I went to see Tom Petty on Wed. night. It was an awesome concert especially when Stevie Nicks came to join him! They sang "Stop Dragging my Heart Around" together. Of course, Mary Jane was still dancing for a lot of the people there :).

I have made a list of my favorite Everquest 2 zones in the spirit of my brother in law :) http://chromidenschronicles.blogspot.com/

1. Qeynos
2. Permafrost
3. Everfrost
4. Antonica
5. Enchanted lands
6. Soluseks Eye
7. Majdul
8. Temple of Cazic Thule
9. Nektulos forest
10. Sinking Sands

73 points on Quiddler today!

Worry Wart

I never think much about worry. Who thinks about worrying?? Until God smacks you in the face with it. I'm starting a new Bible study called "Calm My Anxious Heart." I've just started it today and WOW! It starts off with these verses:

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." ~Philippians 4:11-13

Being content in all things. That is my goal. No matter the circumstances, I can always be content -what joy that would bring me!

Since I love lists, I have made a list of my favorite letters of the alphabet:
1. G
2. A
3. C
4. K
5. M
6. J
7. Y

I also got 66 on Quiddler today. Terrible - the # of possible points was 68!

Kissing!

Today I went to visit my friend Chistine who just had a baby named Annabelle Grace. She is 2 weeks old today and I brought Jenna to visit her. Jenna loves babies, especially because she can make the baby sign :). I brought sausage and egg casserole and chocolate chip cookie buttons for dinner. I call them chocolate chip cookie buttons because I used the small scoop from Pampered chef to make them and they were so small they looked like buttons. Of course, Jenna loves cookies so they are a perfect size for her.

I have fluid in my ear from my ear infection. It has been there for a few weeks and it feels like I am under water. I'm not sure how to get the water out of my ear. I should just start signing more.

Tonight is the last day of our Living Free study. It will be sad because I've loved this study and the women who have come to it. I hope we can do another study after this one. Tonight we are having chicken kabobs, red potatos, and poke cake. Mmmmm! The chicken kabobs are wonderful. I marinate them for several hours and I have sesame dipping sauce recipe. It is amazing!

Well Jenna is awake from her nap - time to go get her. I got 82 on Quiddler today and made the word: worlds.
Here's a picture of her kissing me!!

Carousel!

Today was Jenna's first time riding on a carousel. We have been to the zoo many times and walked by the carousel, but this was her first time venturing on it. She really liked it!! At first she was scared, but then she started laughing. I've attached a picture. She had a good time on the carousel and of course with the fishies in the aquarium!! Then she took a 3 hour nap - the zoo wore her out today :).

I got 84 on Quiddler today - that was 2 points above the max. Of course, I didn't do as well as Erik did yesterday!!

Fountains

Last Thursday we took Jenna to the fountains at Easton to play in the water. She had such a good time!! She loved the water and even ventured into the middle of the fountains. What a brave little girl! Here is a picture of her enjoying the water :).
Of course I got wet as well. These fountains were wonderful, except for the fact that they are directly across from the Cheesecake factory - my favorite restaurant! I couldn't go there with a wet baby though. That doesn't seem appropriate. So we had a picnic lunch of macaroni and cheese and grapes. All while staring at the cheesecake factory...chocolate peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake...yum!!

Erik is done with his antibiotics and is much better. Jenna and I are still on them and while my ear infection doesn't hurt, I still have fluid in my ear. I feel like I am constantly under water. Maybe I should start using sign language more. At least Jenna would understand when I signed water and cookie :) :).

Today was the first day ever that either Erik or I got the top score on Quiddler. Erik got a 96 by making the word clotty. I only got a 74 but I did make the word quoted. However, I could not beat Erik's huge score.

Tim and Jen got a new game called Railroad Tycoon. It is an awesome game even though I lost miserably. I blame my loss on Erik's ruthlessness but that is a different story. I hope to play it again soon since it is great fun.

Time to go for now!

The Mark of the Beast?

So today was 6/6/06. On the news and everywhere we have been inundated with references to the mark of the beast. People can be so superstitious! Also, why are people focusing on satan?? I never understood that??? Jesus is the one who is much more interesting.
Anyway, Erik's baby brother Joel is now married! I can't believe it! Megan is now Megan Cooper and there is a third Mrs. Cooper in the family. How exciting :). The wedding was very nice including the part that Jenna was pointing to Daddy (a groomsmen) and yelling "Da Da". God Bless Joel and Megan!!

In other news:
1. Jenna, Erik, and I are all on antibiotics. Erik has a bacterial infection and both Jenna and I have ear infections. All thanks to Dad Cooper - Thanks a lot!!
2. I mowed the lawn for the third time a few days ago. Mowing the lawn is not a fun activity
3. Jenna likes fish and makes the fishy sign all the time.
4. Text twist on yahoo is my new favorite game.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful second Mother's Day. Jenna and I went to Canton to visit my family and spent several days there. Jenna got along well with my parent's two cats. I'm not sure they really got along with her though.
Erik got home yesterday from his business trip to Florida. He was out until 11pm every night socializing and mingling with people. Erik doesn't like people so this was a lot for him to handle.
He is leaving again tomorrow to go white water rafting with the guys. I will miss him so much!! Hopefully he won't fall out of the boat :).
We had our second meeting of the Living Free Bible study. It was wonderful again! All of us connect really well and I'm hoping to continue doing Bible studies with them.
Next week in Dayton we are doing a team building exercise and playing wallyball. This sounds scary to me. I am completely out of shape and embarrassed!! I don't know that I can get back in shape in one week :) :).
In Jenna news :) she can do so many signs!!

1. water
2. baby
3. food
4. bunny
5. elephant
6. more
7. please
8. head
9. hair
10. eye
11. ear
12. foot
13. fish
14. milk
15. cheese
16. bread

She is so amazing! We are working on cookie :)
I only got 52 today on Quiddler - not good!!

Stardust

I went to the IEEE spring banquet today and had the privilege of seeing Tom Burns from the Perkins Observatory. He was an excellent speaker and got me excited about astronomy! I can't wait to take Jenna to the observatory sometime. He told us that stars are formed from other stars so we were probably made from stardust. How cool is that?

In other news:
1. I got gas for $2.75 at Kroger because of my Kroger Plus card (regularly $2.95).
2. I love watermelon - I bought some for Jenna and I almost ate all of it. I haven't eaten it in awhile.
3. Rhubarb pie is not that good. It was the dessert at the banquet. Apple pie is better.
4. A polar bear and grizzly bear mated and their offspring is fertile. Isn't that neat?
5. My pampered chef order came in today - Yea! Now I have lots of fun kitchen gadgets :).
6. I got 98 on Quiddler today and the total was 81. I got words like hurts, cuisine, and quartz - all good words!

Cookie Monster

I put a plate of chocolate chip cookies on our coffee table and walked away to clean up some things around the house. Wouldn't you know it - that little stinker found the cookies and had chocolate all over her face. When I said Jenna! She said MMMM! I wish I had a video camera!!!

She also thinks she is mommy. This is due to the fact that I point to Daddy and say "there's daddy!". Then I point to myself and say "I'm mommy!". Well now when I say, "where's mommy?" she points to herself! She won't be getting a mothers day gift though.

I'm going home to Canton for Mothers day since Erik will be in Florida and I hope to have a good time with my mom. It sounds like my mom has scheduled a pedicure for me and my sisters. Shouldn't it be the other way around?? She's going to watch Jenna.

I got 73 on Quiddler. Not a very good showing considering I got the word lackey which is a 5point bonus!

Living Free Study

Tonight was the first night of our Bible Study Living Free by Beth Moore. I'm hosting and coleading with Jen. We had four people attend which is a good number - we can be close and really dig into the Word. I'm excited about this study also. I did it before, but I always work better with accountability.

Our camping trip over the weekend was wonderful. It was just the girls and no dirty diapers. We ate smores, relaxed, read books, did devotionals and DID NOT CHANGE DIAPERS!! Did I mention that before? :).

It was also a blessing to me that Erik watched Jenna over the weekend. He is such a good husband and smokin hot. Not every woman is blessed with a husband who is smokin hot but I certainly am!

Today I was proud of myself for getting the word equip in Quiddler, however I lost an A and U at the end and therefore only got 63 as my total score. The good news is that yesterday I finished the set game in 36 seconds - a new record of mine!!
Toodles!!

My Best Friend

Is it strange that a 15 month old could be my best friend? I love to be with Jenna and now that she is talking more I love hanging out with her. She is my best friend (well her and Erik!). Speaking of best friends, Jen Mast had her 30th birthday today! We went to the zoo today, all our girlfriends and their kids. Jenna had a great time looking at the sheep and goats and all the dirt they were standing in :).
Jen thinks Bug walks like a drunken sailor. She is walking well, it does kind of look like she's drunk though :).
Tomorrow we leave to go camping this weekend - just the girls! Yea!! I can't wait!! Smores....
I made a chocolate peanut butter cake for Jen and bought her 30 presents. I put a riddle on each present that she'll have to solve before she opens it.
I'm glad I'm past 30 and all that childishness - HA!

Da Vinci

I've just finished reading the Da Vinci Code - what an intriguing book! Even more intriguing is that Rich Nathan, the pastor of our Vineyard church will be doing a sermon series on it. I can't wait to hear his opinion of this widely controversial book. From my research online, Dan Brown claims all his conjectures are true whereas others claim they are false. How can we know the truth? What I did find interesting is that in the portrait of the Last Supper (which I have hanging in our doorway) it does appear that there is a woman next to Jesus. Could that woman be Mary Magdalene? The woman that the Da Vinci Code claims is Jesus's wife? Who knows. Erik and I were discussing this and I don't really see a problem with Jesus being married. Of course Erik really doesn't think it is a problem being a preacher's kid :).

In other news:
1. Erik and I watched the March of the Penguins. What a great film!! Those little guys walk 70 miles to mate and raise their chicks. The male penguins live without any food for 4 months to take care of their babies!! What an amazing story.
2. Erik ripped up the bushes in front of our house and we planted flowers.
3. Jenna ate a lot of dirt this weekend (see #2).
4. Jenna's new favorite word (and food) is dirt.
5. This is finals week for me and I'm up to my ears in grading!!

EQ

Erik and I love to play EverQuest together. We created new characters with the names Foxxmulder and Danasculley and played with them for awhile, but apparently those names are in violation so we had to change them. Our main characters are Kire and Trillian. Here is a screen shot:

I am the shadowknight and he is the lizard mage. I'm not sure why he wanted to be a lizard (iksar). Lizards are slimy and yucky. To each his own I guess.

I'm currently reading the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I really like it (knowing it is fiction but well written) and am excited about the movie. Even more so than the movie, I am excited that our pastor at church will be doing a sermon series on the Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction. I can't wait for that!!

Jenna has started signing please for everything. If she wants us to read a book or give her something to eat or pick her up, etc. EVERYTHING! It is so cute and wonderful that she is communicating with us. Today she signed please to tell me she was hungry. How cool is that?

Today my Quiddler was atrocious as I only got 64 and the max score was 68 without bonuses. Oh well - you can't have everything. I can't be smart and have a polite daughter *smile*.