Justice

On Wednesday me and two of my friends got together for a night of prayer to stop human trafficking. The sex slave industry has been growing exponentially and many women even children are enslaved. Even in Columbus there are children being trafficked. Here are a few websites for more information: http://www.ijm.org/ and http://www.humantrafficking.org/
Many people feel removed from it since it seems so far away in places like Thailand, Haiti, Russia, etc. However it can happen anywhere. I just read The Sacred Bath about a woman in a middle class family who was a victim of sex slavery. Many of these women are forced to have abortions too - and that also angers me!

Yesterday at the abortion clinic though was awesome! One of the nurses (who are generally very hostile to us) came and picked up some tracts. What she will do with them, who knows? But she picked them up and took them inside -yea!

My family is coming to visit for the weekend so I made a lasagna and a caramel cake for Erik's birthday. While making the lasagna, Sarah got ahold of the spoon (and proceeded to make a mess!). See picture. The frosting on the caramel cake is awesome!! 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar melted in a saucepan then add 1/4 cup milk until it boils. Remove from heat and add 2 cups powdered sugar and 1tsp vanilla extract. This was fabulous!! For Erik's birthday I got him 2 books and 2 games. I got him The Death Ship of Dartmouth by Michael Jecks, the BBook of Geek from a website we like bbspot.com, the Seinfeld Scene it Game that I'd like to play when Joel comes to visit this summer, and the Railroad tycoon video game. I think he will like all these games but I don't see him read much. Maybe I'll read the books for him.

Just one note about lasik. It is a miracle! I wake up and can see. I am free of contacts and glasses. I really LOVE it! The recovery time was so quick and I feel awesome. I love seeing :). We even played squash last night since the doctor said it was okay to play!

52 points on Quiddler today. There was a Q and I just couldn't use it!

Update on my Goals!

100 days ago I came up with a list of goals I wanted to accomplish in 100 days. To keep track of my progress, I set up a spreadsheet (obviously) and unfortunately I did not do too well. Here are my goals and the percentage complete:
1. Go to bed by 11pm (50 out of 100 days) = 39/50 days, 78%
2. Read 2 fiction books = 13/2, 650%
3. Read 1 nonfiction book = 2/1, 200%
4. Read 1 journal paper = 1/1, 100%
5. Lose 5 lbs = gained 4 lbs, -80%
6. Exercise (30 out of 100 days - 30min) = 22/30, 73%
7. Pray at abortion clinic on Fridays (12 times) = 7/12, 58%
8. Go on 3 dates with husband = 3/3, 100%
9. Go on 2 mommy dates with Jenna = 1/2, 50%
10. Write in journal (80 out of 100 days) = 47/80, 59%
11. Do Iron Chef = 2/1, 200%
12. Try 3 new vegetables = 3/3, 100%
13. Memorize 1 verse per week (15 verses) = 12/15, 80%
14. Read to kids besides bedtime (45 out of 100 days) = 44/45, 98%
15. Clean desk 3 times = 3/3, 100%
16. Take Stats or Graphics design course =1/1, 100%
17. Have girls movie night = 1/1, 100%
18. Learn something new about GIMP = 0/1, 0%
19. Serve dinner at Faith Mission=1/1, 100%
20. Take a Pilates class = 0/1, 0%
21. Try 10 new recipes=9/10, 90%
22. Level my EQ2 character 2 levels =2/2, 100%
23. Do 3 things for my secret sister (mommy group) = 3/3, 100%
24. Paint master bathroom =1/1, 100%
25. Write conference/journal paper =1/1, 100%

Well this list is pretty dismal. 14 out of 25 goals were greater than 80% which is only 56% and thus I scored a "D" on my goals. Of course I could have probably finish some of my other goals if I would not have read so many fiction books. The fiction books count my audiobooks too so this really is a little skewed.

This list shows me that I need to rework my goals and come up with a new list or maybe scrap the whole goal thing as I don't seem to be very good at it.

I'll keep you posted!

68 points on Quiddler today and made the word "ute". Whatever that means!

Was blind but now I see

I had my Lasik done yesterday by TLC, the company who fixed Tiger Wood's eyes. The procedure itself was short, weird, and unpleasant. It did not hurt, however I did feel a lot of pressure. On the way home, my eyes were burning and I wanted to claw them out. That was not entirely pleasant either. We got home and I laid in bed for a few hours while tears streamed down my face. I couldn't sleep but could listen to my MP3 player - yea for audiobooks!

In a few hours though I felt better and today I feel great. And the best news of all is that I can see!! I can see my alarm clock in the morning. I can stand in the kitchen and see the leaves on the plant in the living room, and the panels on the door and the clock across the room. I can see!
My eyes are all puffy, red, and bloody (I look pretty yucky) but I can see!!! This is totally awesome. And I feel 100% even though the surgery was 24 hours ago.
One thing I'm sad about is that I can not play sports for 2 weeks after getting lasik. This is a bummer as Erik and I discovered a new sport that we love. We love SQUASH!! We have had difficulty reserving racquetball courts as they seem to always be reserved. The squash courts right next to the racquetball courts are not reserved that often so we decided to play it. Wow!! It is amazing!! I feel like I am more competitive at squash and that Erik and I have more fun. In racquetball, sometimes the returns would go over my head, and even though I have a huge 1/8 inch vertical leap, sometimes I can't hit the return. Thus I miss the volley unless I turn around and hit it off the back wall with limited success. In squash the ball doesn't bounce as much, so I'm able to volley more often. The court is shorter, which also helps me (not because I'm short), and there is a minimum line that you must hit balls above on the wall. This prevents kill shots. Erik and I seem to be more evenly matched at this game since it is more about endurance than height and reach. I can't wait to play it again!
82 on quiddler today.

Iron Chef Shallots

To spice things up in our iron chef competitions, Erik used his culinary skills as iron chef this weekend with a secret ingredient of shallots. We absolutely LOVE shallots in cooking. They are a cross between garlic and onions and add delicious flavor to any dish (well almost any dish). Erik was the iron chef, and as this was his first time in a solo competition, he was 20 minutes over. However, his dishes were excellent! He made:

• Fresh shallot salad. This salad was almost a salsa. It was a mixture of tomatoes, tomatillos, shallots, green and red peppers, and italian dressing - absolutely yum!
• Rice with shallots and tomatoes. In this dish, Erik finely grated shallots and a ham steak and mixed it with rice and cream cheese. In the middle of this ring of rice (you can see in the picture), he put the shallot salad from dish 1. It was good but the rice needed something more to give it more flavor. Good though.
• Shallot dip. This dip with crackers was fantastic! He roasted shallots on the grill (it wasn't that cold - too cold for me to think about going outside and roasting on the grill though), then he mixed those roasted shallots with fresh shallots and made a cream cheese and spice mixture. He made two versions, one with an infinite amount of cayenne pepper and the other was milder. Both were delicious!!
• Pasta with shallots. In this dish, Erik put shallots and roasted chicken in a red sauce over pasta with shredded mozarella on top. This was also a great dish too.

A very successful iron chef. He rated himself as a 13.05 and I rated him as a 13.75.

In other news:

1. I just got my hair done and now I really look like a skunk. I wanted to touch up my highlights before my lasik on Friday (don't ask about the connection) and the highlights look blonde. So I have blonde hair now??? Well I took a picture and decided that my teeth were too yellow. So I used my mad photoshop skills to whiten them. Ummm.... I think I need to practice more.
2. I scored a miserable 54 on Quiddler today www.setgame.com because there were hardly any vowels!
3. I'm doing some Excel spreadsheet work for a local non-profit organization to help them out. I've made some nifty macros, etc. to speed up their processing. I hope it helps them.
4. Columbus Right To Life is having a 40 days for life initiative and I would like to help out. It will be over lent so I'm trying to decide what to give up for lent. I'm thinking about giving up red meat and using the 40 days to read through the 4 gospels. 40/4 = 10 which means I'll have 10 days to read each gospel (I'm so good at math!).
5. I'm getting Lasik on Friday!!! Yea!!

Quilting Bees and Bugs

Erik's Aunt Shelby is a master quilter. She makes lots of quilts and even teaches quilting classes. I asked her to make matching purple quilts for Jenna and Sarah and got so much more than I had imagined. These quilts are absolutely beautiful and so intricate. Everytime you look at it you see something new. On Jenna's quilt, her name is sewn on it as well as several lady bugs. Sarah's quilt has her name along with bumble bees. Aunt Shelby made wall hangings for both girls, pillow shams, the beautiful quilts, a play quilt for Jenna's dolls, a princess crown wall hanging, a J and an S pillow, and a "Minkie bear" toy for Sarah. I wish I could show the intricacy of these quilts but it is hard to show with these pictures. They are incredible!

So Jenna got to sleep tonight with her new quilt. She was very excited and pointed out all the images on the quilt. We do plan on getting bunk beds for the girls - and now they will have matching quilts!

Four year olds really do see the world differently from adults. We tend to take things for granted but Jenna doesn't. For example, yesterday while eating cereal, Jenna asked what made the K special? (we were eating Special K). I don't really know the answer to that question. I guess it is a more special letter than J?

I'm getting closer to my goal. On Wednesday I played racquetball with Erik and scored 7 points! So I lost 7-15 but I'm getting closer! If I can win at racquetball or railroad tycoon then he will take me out to the cheesecake factory. I'm not sure if I'll win at either but I'll keep trying.

I got 70 on Quiddler today! Quiddler is located at http://www.setgame.com/quiddler/puzzle_frame.htm see if you can beat my lame score!

Extreme Den Makeover

Just after we fixed the pipes in the basement (our basement is still actually all torn up) part of our ceiling caved in. It's not a huge amount of ceiling, but for awhile our ceiling was dripping. Jenna was holding her little bowls under the ceiling to catch the water before it caved in :). I've included a picture of the part of the ceiling (you can't see all the damage in this picture).

While our house is falling apart, Erik decided to do an extreme den makeover. We took this room that used to be a horrific mess, painted it, put Pergo floors in and got new desks. It really looks like a new room. Check out the collage. I have two before pictures (on top -obviously) and two after pictures. We also got a flat panel HDTV on the wall - and it is nice! Looking at these pictures I wonder how we let the computer room get this way.

83 on Quiddler today

Iron Chef Smoked Gouda

Today I competed (against myself!) in iron chef Smoked Gouda. As usual I was given an hour to make several dishes all featuring smoked gouda. I made the following:

• Gouda and pear salad. This salad had a good mix of flavors but I think it needed to be mixed better as the pieces of gouda and pear were too large.
• Stacked gouda sandwiches. These sandwiches were the best of all the dishes I created. On a slice of a roma tomato I put a slice of bacon then a piece of chicken cooked in butter and spices with a thick slice of gouda on top. Finally I garnished it with fresh rosemary. While these sandwiches sound a little odd, the flavors blended very well and they were delicious!
• Chicken goudathon. This is a twist on chicken parmesan. I made some breaded chicken and tortellini then made a white wine garlic sauce with gouda and freshly grated parmesan cheese. This was yummy but a little heavy. I think it would have worked better with bowtie pasta or something lighter.
• Honey caramel gouda thins. This was my gouda dessert. I took a thin piece of pie crust and shaved thin slices of gouda on top. Then I sprinkled some unsweetened cocoa powder on them and baked them in the oven for awhile. Next I drizzled honey and caramel sauce over them and sprinkled them with more shaved gouda. Erik really liked these but I thought they were just okay.

Interestingly enough Erik and I both rated the dishes evenly with an average of 14.875. Overall it was an excellent Iron Chef competition!

I'd like to do an Iron Chef with Erik sometime. I have a secret ingredient for him in mind just waiting for when he wants to do it!

Erik's birthday is coming up and anyone who knows him knows he loves Railroad Tycoon. So I'm getting him the video game version of Railroad Tycoon and I hope he likes it.

70 points on Quiddler today!

Happy Birthday Jenna!

Jenna's fourth birthday was yesterday and we had a great celebration! She got her hair done at a "beauty salon" which she talked about constantly. She loved getting her hair done and thought she looked so beautiful - and she did! Here's a picture of her at the beauty salon :). We even went out to eat at a fancy restaurant - Le Bob de Evans. This birthday we learned something too. We bought her some education toys and crafts thinking they would be better than barbies or my little ponies. Um. No. That's not what she wants - she liked them and had fun with them. But we ended up getting her a my little pony :).

I bought a wilton castle cake set and tried to make a cake with it. You can see what it's supposed to look like and what I actually did. Jenna did not fail to mention numerous times that the cake I made did not look like the box. She did help me make it though and it was a lot of fun to do together.

I only got 68 on Quiddler today because apparently "farmy" isn't a word. Don't you think as you're driving through Ohio that sometimes it looks "farmy".

Which reminds me of an AWESOME joke. This is one you have to say out loud.

"What's in between Dayton, OH and Marion, OH?"

"Engagement, OH".

HAHAHAHA. We were telling jokes while playing EQ2 and this one came up - definitely a keeper!

In other exciting news, the pipes in our basement froze and burst over the weekend. The plumber was here along with people called the flood squad to clean up the basement. There is still a lot of work to do since there's a big hole in the ceiling of the basement, but Erik can do this himself so he's not worried about it. He can fix anything!!

We are starting a new Bible study called the Truth Project. It is run through Focus on the Family and I hope it will be a good study.

One little monkey, sitting on the dishwasher....

Sarah has turned into a monkey. We are wondering if she is part monkey, part cute toddler. We've found her climbing the shelves of the pantry, climbing the shelves of our bathroom closet, climbing on the table in the playroom, etc. She is everywhere. And she likes bananas. It's looking more and more like she's a monkey. Bananas + climbing = monkey. This is really all the evidence I need.

David and Becca are now board certified pediatricians. Congratulations!! Of course, I need to throw in this picture of him holding Sarah upside down very unsafe like :).
We have continued to sit by the fire at night and drink hot chocolate. Usually I make the hot chocolate with my very special mixture of 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 cup sugar. Tonight Erik made it using 1 1/2 cups milk 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 cup sugar. It was pretty dark - still yummy though. We often try to be "peaceful" while sitting by the fire. I've included a picture of Erik laying "peacefully" by the fire while the girls climb all over him. This is a regular occurrence. (by the way, I love the word "occurrence")

So I'm sure you're thinking - stop it with the salty caramel already!! I decided to make salty caramel chocolate bread. Prior times that I've used the packaged caramels in baked goods they hardened too much. So this time, I cut the caramels into small pieces, coated them in flour, and made a basic chocolate bread and added sea salt. The bread had a good taste but I used milk as the liquid which made it too crumbly (I thought milk would go well with the chocolate). Next time I'll use oil. We'll see how it goes :).

I got 61 on Quiddler today. Doo was not a word. Sounds like a word to me!

Wildflowers, Kitty Cats, and Drums

Happy New Year! 2009 is only 3 years away from the world ending according to the Mayan Calendar (this is something we watched on the history channel so it must be true) in 2012. We spent New Years at Erik's parents house in Morgantown. Erik's dad has a huge train set (see picture) with three trains and a whole village accompanying it. It's quite a setup that both girls loved!

For Christmas, Jenna got a "Create your Own Storybook" present from Dave and Becca. Jenna had a blast! We spent an entire day working on this story "The Princess and the Wildflowers" and Jenna made up the whole story herself. She thoroughly enjoyed it! My favorite page had the following text (she told me and I wrote it down) "The castle was covered with wild things like wildflowers, kitty cats, and drums". Ummm....yea.


In other news:

1. I got 77 on Quiddler today but it wouldn't let me use the word "grok". That is so obviously a word! Apparently I don't grok the English language.
2. I had to change my Lasik date to Friday Feb. 13. Sounds ominous to have surgery scheduled for Friday the 13th.
3. Erik has become quite the chef lately and made coconut potatoes for dinner one night. Not a combination I would have thought of but it was quite good!
4. Tuesday night was one of the worst first day of classes I've had yet. Of course I found out I was teaching Tuesday on Monday and thus was not prepared, but so much went wrong last night (my syllabus was wrong, the students could not log in to our class on the online system, software was not working, etc, etc, etc!) - I hope the rest of this semester goes well.
5. I read the second Twilight book (New Moon) in 1 day. It has 563 pages. So I've decided to stop reading fiction for awhile lest I neglect my family. Let's see how long that while lasts....

Salty Caramels

Starbucks has influenced my new obsession with a salty caramel flavor from their salty caramel signature hot chocolate. I wanted to take the salty sweet flavor combination and make something different. I tried two types of baked goods and some caramels.

First I made a chocolate cookie crust and melted some caramels on top then sprinkled it with sea salt. The flavor was good but the chocolate layer was not chocolatey enough and did not work well with the chewy caramel layer (this is the last picture). To improve, I made a homemade brownie like layer then made homemade caramel sauce (using heavy cream obviously) and poured that on top. Finally I topped it with sea salt. These bars were much better however the caramel sauce was a little too liquidy. I'm still working on the bars. Finally, I put some of the homemade caramel into ice cube trays then dipped them in melted chocolate and sprinkled sea salt on them. These caramels were delicious.
Last night was also a success in that I got to the remote before Erik and thus was able to watch the Sound of Music rather than football. Yea! Erik ended up painting the bathroom rather than watching the Sound of Music.

I got 62 on Quiddler today even though I made the word "routing". That was a pretty awesome word!

There once was a blog...

A Limerick I wrote about Sarah:
There once was a young bumblebee
Who constantly slobbers on my knee
She trashed her cake
All toys she must break
But to my heart she holds the key

A Limerick I wrote about Jenna:
There once was a gentle lady bug
Who dances and sings on the rug
A princess who twirls
In dresses and pearls
And I love when she gives me a hug

Christmas was fantastic and put me in the Limerick mood. Check out all these pictures. The cake next to the "1" is a bumblebee since that's the nickname we've given Sarah. Merry Christmas!
52 on Quiddler and Erik got 62!

Sarah is 1!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah! I can't believe one year ago today Sarah Noelle was born. While Jenna and Sarah do have some similar features, you can see that they do look quite different (Jenna left, Sarah right). I dressed Sarah in the same dress Jenna wore for her first year picture.

To celebrate Sarah's birthday we went to Bob Evans for lunch. Sarah's nickname "Destroyer of Worlds" given to her by Daddy was absolutely true at Bob Evans. We have started to leave 30-40% tips due to the huge mess left at our table after dining out.

Erik has now started singing to Sarah songs like "you are my Sarah angel, you do not tap when attacking, 4/4 and flying, you are my Sarah Angel". As a previous Magic the Gathering player, this was cause to roll my eyes.

In other news:

1. I decided to take back the silk long underwear. I hope that was the right decision.
2. Erik and I played racquetball last night and I scored 3 points against him!!! Prior to last night I had only been able to score 1 point against him. I'm ready for the pros!
3. I got 92 on Quiddler today and got to make the word "nth". Fun stuff.
4. Can't wait for Christmas! For unto us a Child is born Isaiah 9:6
   
   
   

Gift Dilemma

Christmas is a time of giving and I've learned after 11 years of marriage that my husband likes giving, especially expensive gifts. So I'm wondering, do you tell your significant other if he/she bought you something that cost a lot of money that you don't really want? Do you take it back knowing that your significant other loves to give expensive gifts?

Many birthdays and Christmases Erik will buy the best item, when I ask for something. For example, I asked for a jewelry box last year and he bought a $170 Amish made jewelry box. It was awesome but I would have been perfectly happy with a $30 jewelry box from Meijer. My bread machine cost $200 but the $40 bread machine was fine with me. So this year I asked for long underwear assuming he would go to Meijer and buy the $13 pair of long underwear I saw. Not at all. Erik bought silk long underwear for $100.
Now I'm stuck. Do I tell him that I don't want $100 long underwear and risk hurting his feelings or do I graciously accept the gift from him. It is really nice. Erik likes to give nice gifts to me. I can ask this question because he doesn't read the blog *smile*.

In other news, for our church's Christmas party I made a trifle (Jenna is holding it). I colored whip cream red and green and thought it looked pretty. The layers are brownie, pudding, and whip cream. Yum.

Another picture I've uploaded is Sarah in the bathroom. This is the reason I need lasik. I went upstairs to put my contacts in and was probably gone for 90 seconds. When I got back down the bathroom looked like this. Sarah discovered that toilet paper is fun to play with and the books should be strewn all about. If I would have had lasik this never would have happened :).

I got 44 on Quiddler today and lost the Q and J. That was terrible!

Do you hear what I hear?

I posted my favorite list of Christmas songs then I heard this song "Do you hear what I hear?" and really like this song now. I've heard it before but forgot it when I made the original list. Of course, I don't know where it would fall in my original list but I think it is top 10 worthy.

Now I have a good segue (I think that's spelled right). Onto a topic in which no one hears the victims. My heart has been breaking lately. Over the past two months there have been many times where I'll just weep uncontrollably thinking about unborn babies who are being murdered. In fact tonight I have been crying for the past two hours. This song by Kenny Chesney and this video made me cry (although I cry at some commercials so that's not really saying much).

Sanctity of Life Sunday is Jan. 18 and Erik and I are buying this book "Why Pro-Life" for the entire congregation. It is very short and took me less than 2 hours to read yet it lays a good foundation for the pro-life viewpoint. I recommend this book to anyone although I'll probably have several extra copies so if you want one :) you can have one. Maybe it will be everyone's birthday, Christmas, anniversary, etc gift!

61 points on Quiddler today!

10 Songs of Christmas

In the spirit of Christmas, I've decided to make a list of my top 10 favorite Christmas songs. I probably should have made a top 12 list but the 12 days of Christmas didn't even make the cut so I didn't bother. My favorite Christmas Songs:

10. O Little Town of Bethlehem
9. Jingle Bells Don't be disturbed that the snowman loses his head in the beginning
8. Mary Did You Know?
7. Silent Night
6. The First Noel This video is pretty neat!
5. O Come All Ye Faithful I'm pumped we are seeing Transiberian Orchestra on Saturday!!
4. Joy to the World
3. O Holy Night Sorry about the Celine Dion thing
2. Hark the Harold Angels Sing

and my number one favorite Christmas song (that for some reason has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus - the real reason for Christmas!):
1. Let it Snow

In other news:

• Starting December 22 I will not be wearing my contacts until January 22 when I'm scheduled to get Lasik! Yea! I can't wait. It will be $3800 for a doctor to shine a laser bean into my eye and cut it all up but then I'll be able to see. All the time.
• Jenna and I made a gingerbread house again. We had a great time and I've included the picture. She always wants to eat the house while we're making it.
• Today I went to the Banana Leaf vegetarian Indian Restaurant with my friend Susan. It was pretty good but they didn't have naan. They also didn't have chicken curry, the only thing Erik actually likes at Indian restaurants. Even so, they provided bottomless cups of mango lassi - yum!
• 53 points on Quiddler today. I made the word "drove" but was stuck with "dqut". The only thing I could do was make the word "ut". Bummer.
  

Children and cats roasting by an open fire

On Friday, Jenna participated in her preschool Christmas play. I labeled her in the picture. It was several 3-4 year olds standing on the stage "singing" a Christmas song to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus. It was very cute. Jenna did well and we think she's ready for Broadway now.

Since we put the Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we've been sitting in front of the fireplace drinking hot chocolate (or chocolate milk - Jenna, or juice - Sarah). It is somewhat peaceful sitting in front of the fire wrestling Sarah and Scruffles to keep them far enough away from the fire while Jenna jumps on top of us. Serenity.



Yesterday I made white chocolate cranberry cookies. These were the best recipe of white chocolate cranberry cookies I've made. I actually couldn't eat the dough because it smelled so strongly of alcohol. In the double batch I made there was a eighth of a cup of brandy. I didn't get drunk off the cookies but the flavor was great.

Jenna and Sarah are somewhat starting to play with each other. Possibly. It remains to be seen whether they will play as friends any time soon.

I've been playing Scramble on Facebook in the past week. It's digital boggle. What I don't understand is how Joel can get 218 points in 3 minutes. I've been playing for the past couple of days and my highest score is 112. He has doubled that. I have played Boggle against Joel and he has proven his great abilities but he won't divulge his secrets. Even thought I've asked (pestered) him repeatedly.

I only got 50 points on Quiddler today. For some reason it didn't think grep was a word. Hello - unix???

Baking for Christmas

Baking for Christmas is so much fun. Today I made mocha nut balls and cocoa mint crinkles (see picture). Usually I make 7 different treats for Christmas. This year I'm thinking of:

1. Mocha Nut Balls
2. Cocoa mint crinkles
3. M&M cookies
4. White chocolate cranberry cookies
5. Cut outs

After that I'm not sure what to make. I could always fall back on the usual chocolates - and those are easy and fun to make with Jenna.

Both girls are sick now. I've taken them to the doctor 3 times. This last time I finally got antibiotics for Jenna only. Erik and I both went to the doctor and got antibiotics right away. There must be some stigma about giving antibiotics to kids. Antibiotics = kills bad germs. I'm not understanding what the problem is. Erik found a site from the American Academy of Pediatrics mentioning when antibiotics should be given and it's basically never. Bummer. I understand all the risks, superbugs, blah, blah, blah. I want drugs for my girls to make them better!

I just finished the third Mistborn book: The Hero of Ages. It had a great ending that finished up the story nicely. Since Brandon Sanderson will be finishing the Wheel of Time series, it was nice to read this book which tied up all the loose ends of the Mistborn trilogy really well.

I'm also reading "the Lost Colony" which is the 5th Artemis Fowl book. I've enjoyed all the Artemis Fowl books as they are on par with Harry Potter - fun, easy reads. This book I'm listening to on audiobook and the reader is excellent! I listen on my mp3 player when I work out but if Erik is there he makes me talk to him so I can't listen to my book. Maybe I should get him his own mp3 player for Christmas....

86 on Quiddler today and got to make the word "woo" but "wooy" and "woa" are not words. I thought those were things you said to horses?