McCall of the Wild

I eat therefore I am

2011-01-28T00:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we've survived week number two of preschool. Monkey's doing better. Getting use to the class schedule and having less time outs. Only one yesterday! Yep, celebrating the baby steps. Apparently he's finding coming back to the classroom from recess particularly challenging. There are 11 kids in the class for the three adults to wrangle and Monkey is not the only new one so corralling them is particularly challenging on the playground. The first couple days Teach ended up picking up a fighting Monkey and carrying him back to class. Since then, she's come up with a new, more effective method. Now when Monkey rears back his fists and runs toward her to punch out his anger, she simply speeds up her pace and leads the chase toward Room 16. Like I said, baby steps.

I have continued to enjoy my 'me time' while he's in school. I got a pedicure on Monday since finding soft skin on my heels was nearing the archeological dig phase. Tuesday, I went grocery shopping and yesterday and today I went to the gym. It's been a while since I've worked out since the last two times I went before the holidays Monkey got 86'd from the kids club for being too aggressive with the other kids. (I am taking him back tomorrow morning so cross your fingers for us.)

I had planned to clean the garage this weekend but my dad called and said he's coming for a visit so I'm putting it off again. Next weekend Britums and I are taking our mom on a girls' get away weekend. It was her Christmas present and she doesn't know where we're going yet so I won't say anything until we're back. Except that I'm super excited. So, here I am again saying that ONE DAY SOON I'm going to gut the garage and get this creation ball rolling. In the mean time, I have been sticking to my other resolution and making one new recipe a week. In fact, I've even exceeded my goal. More than one a week! I've also made a couple repeats, but I'm counting them because it's still cooking. Like, real cooking. Go me.

So far this month I've made:

~The Red Spoon's potato hash with goat cheese which I mentioned in an earlier post,

~Mrs. Bettie Rocker's orange balsamic chicken,

~Smitten Kitchen's sweet potatoes with a fall salad, (I made this at Thanksgiving and it was even better this time because I cooked the potatoes more to her direction. She's smart.)

~Real Mom Kitchen's Slow Cooker Beef Dip Sandwich, (the hubs favorite so far)

~nachos (they deserve a shout out because, simple or not, they're yummy)

~ chocolate and vanilla pudding in a pre-made pie crust (It counts as a pie right? I made it for book club.)

~ My friend Erinne's recipe of toasted baguettes with goat cheese, fig jelly, and prosciutto. (So addictive!)

And from Martha Stewart's Living, February 2011 edition:

~Pita with Ricotta, almonds, dried apricots and honey (a really nice 'snack' I've been having for breakfast)

~Sliced Mushrooms with Melted Fontina

~Crab Ravioli with Lemon Butter (Britums came over and made this with me and it was fun to cook with her even though it was kinda more work than it was worth.)

Not too bad right? Go me!!

This weekend I'm gonna make a wreath. For Christmas I gave The Hubs grandma ("GGma") a certificate for a wreath a month to hang on the door of her room at the retirement village. So I'm going to make a Valentine's Day one for her. As soon as I can figure out how to make tabs at the top of my blog I'll start a craft section and post a picture of each wreath. My friend and fellow blogger Kristel is going to help me with some of the layout stuff she's figured out so maybe that'll be sooner rather than later. If you get a chance, you should follow the link to the blog. She's crafty. And funny.

Despite the fact that the garage is being put off, I plan to keep myself busy for the next couple weeks. More crafting. Less pampering. Back to reality. First, I have the wreath, then a little project for our girls' trip, then valentines for Monkey's class, then The Olympic Gamers are having a 1920's murder mystery party which will require costumes and decorations (I'm stoked!), and I'm starting to plan a bridal shower I'll be hosting in May (never too soon right?). Plus, of course, more food! I've decided that this goal of mine to make and eat more food is completely brilliant!!!! The point is there will be more to post about.

If nothing else, I'm sure Monkey will give me a good reason to tell a story.

Too Cool for Preschool

2011-01-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's happened. My itty bitty baby boy has started going to school! It's crazy to drop him off with fifth graders running around and think that he actually belongs there! At a real school! HE'S ONLY THREE!! It's just so ahead of schedule that I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around it. It's like he's super advanced. Actually it's because he's super delayed, but somehow that evens out, right? Anyway, I made a lot of jokes about how I'd be uber-sensitive about leaving him the first day but I didn't really believe I would. And? I totally teared up while walking away from his classroom. I just wanted to go back, sit in the corner and play fly on the wall.

His first day was Tuesday so he was there three days last week (they have Friday's off.) I like his teacher so far. Though really it's too soon to say. My like of her comes from two sources. First, a co-worker of The Hubs' served a student that had her as a teacher and she gave her a really good review. Second, when the rest of the kids came into class on Monkey's first day she told one of the kids he was "the bomb" for bringing everyone a snack and followed it with a fist bump. I found this to be in the same vein of kid speak as mine so that worked for me. We'll see how it goes once the transition phase is over. Hopefully Monkey will come around too. He willingly goes to the teacher each time I drop him off and it doesn't seem like he's upset to be there, but he's already been in trouble several times. I did mention it's only been three days right?

The first day he got time out for throwing something at a kid's head. The second day he was pulled out several times for hitting other kids. When he was taken back to the group he immediately did it again. And again. Ugh. Then the third day, there was a sub (did we already wear the teach out?) and she said that the TA had given Monkey time out for fighting to play at the sand table when he was suppose to be doing something else. When I picked him up one of the days he had dried snot on his face. I asked if he'd seemed sick and was told it was from crying. Oh the heart strings. Ouch. I know this is part of the process, it is certainly par for the course at home, but it's hard to not be there giving him a hug when its over. I mean just look at him! He's so little and cute. Even when he is being a punk.

First Day of School

So what have I been doing to avoid running into the classroom and insisting completely untruthfully that I can remain a quiet observer? Well, Monday I went shopping. Like, for real. Clothing shopping where I didn't have to stand in front of the dressing room door with my legs together so Monkey couldn't climb out under it while repeatedly saying, "look, look... who's that in the mirror.... Just wait one minute, baby....Just sit down... Momma's almost done... Please don't cry....Please sit down... Here's a lollipop. No? Um, how about a juicebox?.... Please don't scream.... Look, who is that in the mirror? ..... Shhhh..... Look, I just wanna buy a bra that's underwire is still attached and then we can go.... No baby..... Sit..... SIT!....Etc." Tuesday I came home and took a nap- alone! I know I'm lucky to nap more than the average person because Monkey still does every couple days, but doing it without having to corral him, or be kicked, or peed on by him was a thing of splendor. Then Thursday I got my hair done. On a weekday! What is this amazing world of stress free adult activities? It all seems vaguely familiar. And wonderful. Maybe preschool's not so tough on Momma after all.

As I mentioned before, I do plan to gut the garage and start my creating soon. Upon further examination however, I've determined that this is not do-able in the two and half hour Monkey-free time frame I have each day. Less when you count travel time since I can't bring myself to put him on a bus! So, stretching it out over the week would mean moving things out and then back in each day and taking twice as long to do it all. Therefore, I have decided to make it a weekend project. Just not this weekend. Maybe next?

And until then? Shopping and naps!

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was the sound of angel voices hitting a holy chord.

Like you couldn't tell.

Just Checking In

2011-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Monkey had his placement meeting with Child Find this week and will be starting preschool for 2 1/2 hours a day, 4 days a week before the month is out. I know it's what I wanted, for both him and me, but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around just handing him off to someone everyday. (Breathe McCall.) It will be good for him as he will get more speech therapy than he is now and it'll be good for us because it's free which his current therapy is not.

The last three months of speech pretty much ate up my budget for the party I'd mentally been planning for Monkey's 3rd birthday and we had to decide not to do it. I know his development is more important than a party he won't remember but I'm bummed that we were too broke to throw it. The Hubs student loans can't come soon enough!

Anyway, my point is that with Monkey doing his thing I will be able to put some time into my own goal of crafting more. I am planning to spend the first week or two clearing out the garage (yes it's THAT bad!) so I can have some space to use my saws and other awesome tools and then I'll start re-purposing some goodwill buys or something. I started this blog for just that reason so I'm excited to finally get the ball rolling!

My goals is to start blogging AT LEAST twice a week once Monkey starts school. I'll write about my building and crafting projects of course but also about life as wife and mom. One of my new year's resolutions is to cook a new meal at least once a week. I imagine I'll post about those too, though most likely it'll just be links to other people's recipes because that's how I roll. For instance this week I made this (with some adaptations around what was already in my fridge) and it was super yummy!

So that's all. I just wanted to check in with the blogosphere and make it known that though I haven't posted in a while, I will be again soon.

Stay tuned...

Venus and Mars on Housework

2010-12-17T01:43:00.000-08:00

When The Hubs loads the dishwasher:

And when I load the same dishes:

Notice all the extra room?

I'M JUST SAYIN'.

I appreciate that he uses his very limited time to do chores around the house. I really, really do. But I have noticed some major differences in how men clean (or at least my man) and how women clean (the right way.) I'm not necessarily complaining about him; it's more a commentary.

Here are some other examples: We've lived in this house over two years and though we've never rearranged the kitchen, he has an amazing ability to find new places for things to go each time he unloads the dishwasher. By new I mean wrong. Also, he does more laundry than me (well, washes more, not puts more away) but never seperates the loads by color. His argument? He doesn't believe in segregation of colors.

We've been together 15 years and he's done more than his fair share of housework so I know this isn't one of those 'act like you can't do it right and eventually she won't let you do it' things. But I don't get it. Is it really a gender thing? Do any of you face these, shall we say, differences in technique, when it comes to your chores?

You should check out Empowering Mommy's blog

2010-12-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you out there who haven't yet discovered Empowering Mommy, you should check it out. She's having some great giveaways for the kiddos this week. I know my Monkey would love to have a Thomas set or any of the zipbins.

Chronicle Books Discount

2010-12-13T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well folks, we didn't win the Chronicle Books giveaway but I'm so happy to see new readers posting on my blog and really want to say thanks to all those that tried with me! The winner was Jessica from Cake Spy and though I'm bummed we didn't win, I was happy to be introduced to her blog where she writes "about bakeries, conducting baking experiments, and picking the brains of bakers and food artists, and finding awesome products for lovers of baked goods." You should definitely check it out!

Also, we weren't totally snubbed as Chronicle Books is offering all those who entered (and their readers) a discount of 35% PLUS free shipping through December 16, 2011 (HOORAY!!) All you have to do is use the promo code HAULIDAYS at checkout.

I hope you can all make good use of it! Thanks again for entering!!

For those of you who are not yet followers of McCall of the Wild: I tried to send an email to you directly, but not everyone left their addresses so I really hope you checked back in to get in on this discount since it only lasts for a few days. I also hope you will come back to my blog to see all I have to offer in the new year!

Happy Holidays!!

Momma McCall

Chronicle Books $500 Giveaway

2010-12-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

This AMAZING book store has BLOWN MY MIND

and I'm going to help it blow yours too!!!

Chronicle Books is doing an incredible giveaway that you can enter with me just by commenting on this post! Here's how it works: Anyone with a blog can post a list of Chronicle Books they'd like to 'haul in' (valued at up to $500) and doing so enters the blogger to WIN the list of books he/she posts! Here's how that affects you: If I am picked, one of my readers who comments on the post will win the whole list too! Awesome right?!? If I win, the chances will be pretty stacked in your favor since my blog is so new and I haven't built my readership up yet...You're welcome.

I spent a long time on the Chronicle Books website last night browsing and drooling. I finally had to cut myself off after my wish list had gotten to be worth over $1,000. (But I wanted to keep going because the have a great collection that includes arts and crafts, architecture and design, fiction, non-fiction, bios, kids books and much more!) I finally narrowed it down for this post but it was so hard! The site is now one of my new loves. Here are the books I whittled it down to. Hope some of them peak your interest too. If so, make sure to leave a comment. Also, if you have a blog and are going to make your own list, let me know. I'd love to see what you'd pick and increase my own chances by commenting! Hey, at least I'm honest.

To Do With My Monkey:

52 Activities for You and Your Toddler
By Lynn Gordon. $6.95

The Toddler Café

Fast Recipes and Fun Ways to Feed Even the Pickiest Eater
By Jennifer Carden $14.95

Weekends with the Kids

Activities, Crafts, Recipes, Hundreds of Ideas for Family Fun
By Sara Perry $18.95

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids

By Jill O'Connor $19.95

Crafting and The Business of Selling What You Make:

Craft, Inc.

Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business
By Meg Mateo Ilasco $16.95

Craft Inc. Business Planner

The Ultimate Organizer for Turning Your Crafts into Cash
By Meg Mateo Ilasco $16.95

Creative, Inc.
The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business
By Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Deangdeelert Cho $16.95

DIY- Design It Yourself
By Ellen Lupton $21.95

Field Guide to Tools

How to Identify and Use Virtually Every Tool at the Hardware Store
By John Kelsey $15.95

Handmade Nation

The Rise of D.I.Y., Art, Craft, and Design
By Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl $24.95

Manufractured

The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects
By Steven Skov Holt and Mara Holt Skov $35.00

The Guerilla Art Kit

By Keri Smith $19.95

Ideas for The Home:

Designs for Small Space

By Jennifer Hudson $30.00

Same Place, More Space

50 DIY Projects to Maximize Every Room in the House
By Karl Champley $24.95

Apartment Therapy Presents:

Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Real Design Solutions

By Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, with Jill Slater, and Janel Laban $27.50

(Love their blog community!!)

Cooking and Entertaining:

At Home With Friends

Spontaneous Celebrations for Any Occasion
By Michele Adams and Gia Russo $22.95

Cooking for Two

Perfect Meals for Pairs
By Jessica Strand $19.95

Everyday Celebrations

Savoring Food, Family, and Life at Home
By Donata Maggipinto $24.95

The Big Book of Appetizers

More than 250 Recipes for Any Occasion
By Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder $19.95

Delicious Dips

By Diane Morgan $16.95

Cocktail Food

50 Finger Foods with Attitude
By Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford
and Sara Corpening Whiteford with Lori Lyn Narlock $16.95

Blue Ribbon USA

Prizewinning Recipes from State and County Fairs
By Georgia Orcutt and John Margolies $16.95

Just Because I Wanna Read Them:

Life's Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets

Your Ultimate Guide to Domestic Liberation
By Lisa Quinn $18.95

This Is NPR

By Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Noah Adams, John Ydstie,
Renee Montagne, Ari Shapiro, and David Folkenflik $29.95

Well there's my list. I hope there are things on it you would like to own too and that you'll subscribe, leave a comment, and share in the fun! The Grand prize will be these 24 books valued at $499.45!! If you want these books for yourself or to give as gifts, leave your comment before December 10, 2010 and watch for the winners who will be announced the 13th! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I hope you are too! Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could win together!?!!?!??!

Easy Neighbor Gift: Candy wreath

2010-12-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is one of a few go-to staples in my neighbor gift arsenal. I like it because it's cute and inexpensive which is key for me since it seems we are always at our poorest in December.

It's super easy to make too. Here's how:

STEP ONE: $0-$1

Start with a wire hanger (I happen to have some in my closet but I hate them so I'm glad to see them go. If you don't have any, you can get a stack of them at the dollar tree.) Bend the hanger into a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect because the candy covers it.

STEP 2: approx. $3

You will use two large bags of of peppermint candies and some simple curling ribbon in your preferred color. I bought mine at Walgreens where each item was only a buck.

I usually use the generic white with red stripe peppermints, but this time around I switched it up and added in the cinnamon flavored red with white stripes. I know, crazy! It's not called McCall of the WILD for nothin' folks!

First, cut the ribbon (between 5 and 9 inches.) I like to pre-cut it all and then tie a piece around the middle so I can simply pull out each piece as I need it.

Start by taking a piece and tying it to the hanger.

Next, double knot it around one end of the candy wrapper.

Use scissors to curl the ends.

Repeat this, sliding the pieces together each time. Continue the process until the hanger is completely covered.

I used to use more than two bags of candy to make the wreath seem fuller but it gets heavy and starts to change the shape of hanger so I've found that the curled ribbon makes good filler. Once the hanger is covered, add some extra ribbon to the top to cover the bottom of the hook AND YOU ARE DONE!

Easy, right? I like that since there's no glue on this wreath and the candy stays in it's wrapper, it doesn't have to go to waste. Just untwist the top of the hanger and slide the candy into a bowl and Voila! Enough candy to last 'til next Christmas!

TESTING NEW TECHNIQUES:

This is a simple craft to do when sitting around watching TV. In the past I'd stay in one spot and simply cut, tie, curl, slide, repeat. However this time I was multi-tasking (keeping Monkey entertained) during the process (hence the variety of backgrounds in the pictures,) so I came up with a couple techniques to fit my situation. Monkey wanted to 'help' so I turned it into a sorting game.

Instead of tying right onto the loop, I tied the ribbon onto the candies, then gave them to Monkey to sort into two bowls. This kept him entertained for a while (he really liked the sounds they made hitting the bowl) and left less steps for me when he wasn't around.

After he went to bed I finished up assembly-line stylie. Instead of tying on one piece at a time, I tied multiple ribbons directly to the hanger in sections, then added all the candies, and then curled the ribbon.

Any way you chose to do it will be easy and though it takes a little time it's

worth it for a cute inexpensive gift!!!

I'm adding this to the C.R.A.F.T. "Making Monday Marvelous" and the Someday Craft's "Whatever Goes Wednesday" link up parties. Go check out all the great stuff other bloggers are posting! So many cute ideas!!

Giving Thanks and Eating Our Faces Off

2010-12-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

My little family and I went to St George, Utah, for the Thanksgiving weekend. My mom, stepdad, and lil' bro live there and my dad and stepmom have a second home there which they rent on V.R.B.O. most the time but was free for the weekend. So, Monkey and I went up to Mom's on Tuesday and The Hubs, Brittums and her man, Pumpkin Patch, joined us Wednesday. We had dinner on Thursday and then moved over to Dad's on Friday morning for Second Thanksgiving and the rest of the weekend. Pretty much all I did for 144 hours was eat. And sleep. And eat

and eat....

...and eat.

THANKSGIVING #1

As with every holiday, Mom's decorations were dah-ling.

And of course the food was great!

Mom's homemade Salsa is the bomb.com

To get things started Thanksgiving morning Britums and Patch made AMAZING pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon butter using a recipe they found at Raspberri Cupcakes. After a unanimous vote, we decided that this is to become an annual tradition because they are YUMMY!!

For years and years my parents took on the entire Thanksgiving meal pretty much by themselves. In fact, when the family came to visit us when we lived in Oregon, Mom still made the whole meal in my very limited kitchen. (I'm not a total slacker, I did open a mean can of black olives- and what's Thanksgiving without those?) But for the last few years, since Patch found himself sucked into our family, he's been deep frying our turkey for us (Mom still does a breast in the oven so we have extra leftovers) and the duties are slowly being split more and more.

Mom did her amazing mashed potatoes and stuffing again this year (and will every year in the future if I have a say.) Everyone thinks their mother makes the best stuffing but everyone is wrong. Except me. And lil bro. And Britums. My mom's dressing ROCKS MY SOCKS! So of course she HAD to make it. Britums made Pioneer Woman's (our fave) rosemary rolls, and Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce (ugh, no pictures, but trust me it was beautiful.)

She also helped Mom make fantastic pumpkin pies with a recipe they got from Savory Sweet Life and we had this great peanut butter chocolate pie.

My contribution this year was the veggie sides. Sweet potatoes and green beans. Simple right? You'd think so, but I decided to step up my game this time and I think I ended up taking as long in the kitchen as everyone else. I'm not much of a cook, but I'm trying. I pinterested some yummy looking dishes and gave it a whirl. I made Baked Bree's Green Beans Almondine. I added too much cheese (who knew that was possible?) but I still thought it was really good. You should check her post out to see its true potential.

I also made Smitten Kitchen's sweet potatoes topped with an amazing fall salad that included pecans and goat cheese. (Sweet potatoes and goat cheese are, like, some of my favorite things in the world so I was stoked to find a recipe that included both.)

The topping was so good that everyone was scooping spoonfuls of it into their mouths long before the potatoes were cooked. In fact between that and the pancakes I was pretty much full before the meal started. I couldn't even finish my plate. (Thank god for leftovers!) I am racking my brain for what else I can put this deliciousness on, but may just end up making it to eat all by itself. I loved it! Incidentally I had chopped up the pecans for this in advance and accidentally added the green beans' bacon to them during a momentous brain fart and it ended up being a happy accident. I will definitely continue to add bacon in the future- loves me some bacon! The recipe also suggested that the use of dried cranberries or cherries was optional so I ended up using cherry juice infused craisins and it they worked great.

In addition to my culinary experiments, I added a couple crafts to the mix. A couple years ago we had Thanksgiving in the mountains- a story for another day that includes a storm, a scary car accident, a lack of electricity and bar-b-q'ing turkey in the snow. It was actually, pretty much the best Thanksgiving ever. Made even better by the decorations and awesome feather headdresses Britums made us.

So, once again, I sucked off Britum's cool and went with the hat idea. I found a bunch of cute kids crafts and made them for all the adults. What's better than a second grader wearing an over sized paper hat? A grown man wearing one!

I found the idea for the pioneer hats from Martha Stewart, Monkey's turkey came from Disney's Family Fun and the drumsticks on lil' bro's head are the genius of Salsa In China. Aren't my family members good sports!?!

THANKSGIVING #2

My camera died so I have almost no pictures, but Dad and Monkey snapped a few.

We went to Dad's house and Britums and I were asked to bring some appetizers. I brought some of the left over sweet potatoes and stuffed mushrooms, which I love because they taste delicious and they are super easy to make. See:

BLUE CHEESE STUFFED MUSHROOMS
6 oz - ish of blue cheese
8 oz- ish of cream cheese
about 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
Mix together and put into mushroom caps.
Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes until it looks melted and greasy.
Eat and enjoy.

I did mention that recipes are not my forte, right?

Britums brought one of my favorites of her's- French Bread loaves brushed with olive oil and pesto then baked, with a goat cheese and pesto spread. (As Monkey puts it: mmm. mm. mmm.)

As always it was pretty unnecessary for us to bring any food when my step mom, Nancy, is in charge. The woman is like a size two and yet you can not be around her without having food in front of you. They were there four days and brought enough food for a week, for an entire army unit. Our main dish on Friday was a honey baked ham but we also had many, many great side dishes and desserts. The highlights, in my opinion, included some amazing baked beans (a recipe I'm sure to share in the future as I plan to make it many times,) a pineapple and walnut jello casserole, and a perfectly delicious pumpkin cake (also to follow when I can make it and take pictures.)

The folks invited a friend and her daughter to stay the weekend with us. She was very nice and her daughter was an exhausting ball of energy who kept Monkey entertained pretty much the whole time. She has been through years of speech and occupational therapy with her daughter and gave me some good advice about having advocates, etc. They are Jewish and I was given a little insight into Shabbat when I got to see them do their candle lighting and prayers, songs etc. Though I have several Jewish friends and have attended temple a couple times (for kids' Hanukkah pageants) the only reference I really had for this was a few scenes in Keeping the Faith. (Amen to your Oy.) It was very interesting and nice to learn that it is the woman's job to do this ceremony of bringing the light of god into the home since in my limited exposure to religions it seems like men usually have most the 'power.'

I'm telling you this because A- I found it funny that we were having a Thanksgiving ham when our company followed a kosher diet. They were good sports though and Nancy made sure they had everything they could possibly eat in the fridge. And B- A funny, thing happened when my dad, who is Mormon, altered his prayer to try and make them more comfortable. The poor guy. He's been ending his prayer the same way for fifty seven years, "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen," but his blessing over the meal came before the Shabbat ceremony. I'm sure if it hadn't he would've recognized that this was a "to each his own" kind of weekend. So there he is praying "In the name of Je-" when he stumbled, mentally estimated, and tried again. It went like this, "In the name of Jeez, uh, (pause) In the name of our Lord and Savor, amen." I don't know why this struck me as funny, but it did. Probably isn't blog worthy, but really for some reason it tickeled me. I thought it was sweet that he was trying not to make them feel uncomfortable. But also funny that he felt that was necessary. As I said, to each his own.

Anywho, the rest of the weekend consisted of my favorite fried scones with honey, triple berry pie, many, many fantastic leftovers, the creation of some, shall we say, 'special' gingerbread houses,

and hours and hours and hours of me being beaten at The Settlers of Catan.

Evil Catan and my sad clown face. (the hubs is indeed a lucky man.)

The hubs had to leave Saturday morning since finals started Tuesday and he had major study sessions in the works, but I stayed until Monday and the family really helped with Monkey who was pretty well behaved for the most part, which was a Thanksgiving Miracle! Overall it was a lot of fun and I really impressed myself with the amount of food I was able to consume. At one point the words "Man, I'm full" came out of my mouth while I was putting a plate of leftovers into the microwave to reheat. It takes commitment.

I left very thankful to have such a fun and loving family.

OUTTAKE:

The Hubs and Patch solidify their bromance by, as they called it: "laying down on the floor to watch the football game together and ending up falling asleep" Or as I call it: man spooning.

Shout out!!

2010-11-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

Oh my crap ton!! I have to brag a little. I never win anything but today I broke the unlucky streak!! Woo hoo! I just won a giveaway from this awesome blog called The Idea Room! They're giving me a gift certificate to I'm Blessed Jewelry and I couldn't be more tickled! You should definitely check out both links 'cause they were awesome even before they gave me things!

Maybe one day I'll get this blog big enough to give away things. Wouldn't that be great?!?!

Underwater Party for Cancer's Crab: Part 2

2010-11-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

If you didn't read my last blog I forgive you. Since I'm new to blogging, (so far I have only 6 regular readers and three of them are family) I will pretty much forgive anything in the effort to get more followers. (Resist testing that statement if you are able.) Maybe it was the length of the post that scared you off. I do tend to ramble. Maybe it was the lack of pictures (I'll make up for that today) or maybe it was just that you were not yet a reader when I posted it. (Fingers crossed that I'll someday get to ten readers. Baby steps.) If any of these apply to you, I'll give a quick update.

For my 30th birthday this year, I was given a surprise party with an underwater theme. Many people contributed to the party, but it was my sister Britums who really played hostess. She (with the help of her handy silhouette machine) obviously put in many hours of preparation for my shindig. There was so much detail through the whole party that it seemed everywhere I turned I found a new thing to look at fitting the theme and color scheme. I've mentioned before that Britums is amazing when it comes to this. But I really can't say enough.

As I said in my last post, (which you may or may not know,) I was completely blind-sided when I walked into the party. I did, however, think that I was going there to participate in our monthly Olympic Games party so I wasn't surprised to see that, in her infinite creativity, Britums had decorated the front of her house like this:

However, when I walked into the house and saw this...

A total of 300 balloons were hung from the ceiling around the house.

.... I thought she was taking it overboard. Still, I wouldn't put it past her. So it wasn't until I saw that the walls were covered with darling handmade picture strips (with me as the star) that I realized something was up.

When I turned the corner to the kitchen there was a room full of people wearing goggles and shouting "SURPRISE!!"

My kid brother representing the crowd.

And boy WAS I surprised!

Britums laughing as I apologize to the crowd for talking about my breasts. (Now you wish you'd read the last post, right?)

AND SO THE PARTY BEGAN!!

Here is the invitation Britums made and sent out:

The back had a cute little wave cut-out at the bottom and in addition to time and place details read: "Come swim in our sea as we Celebrate 30 wonderfully wild years of McCall's life."

Like I said, I was totally overwhelmed by the details put into decorating the house and outside. I mean just look at this:

Sand buckets full of gold fish, whale crackers, star fish ring pops and Swedish fish. A big card for all the guests to sign. Darling tablecloths. A personalized message on the chalkboard fridge. Homemade birthday sign and garlands. Toy frogs for the kiddos AND the young at heart.

Little nautical art pieces and theme colored paper lanterns on the patio. She hung nets around the kitchen and yard with homemade fish garlands 'caught up' in them. SO MANY EXTRA DETAILS!

The back door leading to the pool.

And the food of course was also themed. My favorite dish was the amazing mini crab cakes. I ate half of them myself and let all the other people fight it out for my crumbs. MMMM!

For drinks she made sangria and blue koolaid. Each had starfish ice cubes floating inside which she must have been making for days. Disposable cups were numbered (I appropriately had number 30) so in order to make sure you'd picked up the right cup, you just had to remember your number.

See how she even made little flags and used vintage paper straws? She's crazy good.

She also had our amazing book club pal, Shanon, make me this lovely sandcastle cake.


Beautiful right? It tasted good too!

After we were all good and full, (and had, of course, waited the requisite anti-cramp thirty minutes) the regularly scheduled Olympic games commenced, with a twist. This month they were themed around the birthday party. Among other games, there was a fishy bean bag toss and a kiddie pool relay where we swam across the big pool and dug through a floating, fully loaded kiddie pool for individually lettered balls that spelled out my name, which we then had to swim back one at a time to our partner at the other end.

I love silly games.

All said and done, the party was surprising and amazing and I felt so very loved by all the time and effort put into it. Isn't Britum's the best!?! Don't ya just wanna be her friend!?! Big ups to The Hub's too for his financial support and his attempts to get me there on time, and many thanks to my mom and Brit's poor out-of-town guest and my pal, Jessika, who was roped into working through her vacation.

Party Carnage

I tell you- this is her unrealized calling!!! THANKS BRITUMS!!

OUTTAKE:

Did you notice that Shanon spelled 'in' with two i's? Me neither; until she pointed it out! It was amazing anyway! Not bad for a lawyer!

Underwater Party for Cancer's Crab: The Back Story

2010-11-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

My birthday is in July which makes my astrological sign Cancer, also known as The Crab. This is fitting because I am both a lover of water and I can get very crabby. I can admit it. I'm good at it actually. I'm not always crabby of course, but when I am I believe it's worth doing right. The surprise party Britums threw for my 30th birthday this year was therefore very fitting because it had an underwater theme and I was quite crabby that day.

BIRTHDAY BACK STORY

Why I would NEVER expect a surprise party.

For the last ten years I have spent my birthday in Portland, Oregon, where I run a summer camp. (On my 21st birthday I got off at midnight and The Hubs took me out for a drink where I wasn't even ID'd.- woo party!) Each birthday there has been nice though. Usually I can take the day off and my peeps will take me out. The Hubs always does something nice for me, and this year was no exception. I even bought myself a new tattoo. Anyway, those stories are for another time and the point is that I don't have birthday parties. I haven't in over 15 years. So I was in NO WAY expecting that my Vegas friends would throw a surprise party for me after my return home, exactly one month after my birthday.

DAY OF THE PARTY AS I REMEMBER IT:

(I have to say 'as I remember it' because apparently I have a tendency to
blur details to make my stories more entertaining.)

(It usually works.)

I was under the impression that we were going to Britum's house for the August Olympic Games, not anything to do with my birthday. We have a Facebook page for our group but the time wasn't written on it that month so I called Britums and asked her. She said I should come at 4:00. I mentioned that it was way earlier than usual and I knew one of the couples had to work til 6:00. She said, "Yeah but you always come over early so come at 4:00." I learned later that my party invitation said I'd arrive at 4:00 but, not knowing this, I asked another Olympian what time she was going and she said 6:00. (I'd blindsided her.) So, I really wasn't feeling the pressure to be there promptly at 4:00 and was taking my time getting everything together.

Knowing that I would think something was up if I wasn't asked to bring a dish, Britums asked me to bring my beloved fruit guacamole (it's beloved by me if no one else.) Also, the week before we'd had a girls' night and the appetizer I brought was gone before one of the ladies was able to get there. She was disappointed because she knew I was making this go-to Awesome Artichoke & Spinach Dip so I promised her that on our next Olympic gathering I'd make it. So there I am, day of party, juggling Monkey and who knows what else, and trying to make two dishes when The Hubs starts putting the pressure on me to get things done. He starts telling me that he's sick of Britums always giving us crap for being late, which she does, but less now than she used to because we are late less often than we used to be, so I'm wondering why he's bringing this up or even worried about it! (Yeah I use run-on sentences- whatofit?)

The closer to 4:00 it's getting, the higher the stress level is in the house. I simply can't understand. I'm telling him, "Yes, she said 4:00 but we'll be there way before anyone else so chill out." But he was rambling about how we agreed to 4:00 and the we're-always-late-joke really bugging him and that we need to change our reputation or some crap. He started packing Monkey's bag and my swim stuff which was weird and annoying because I was trying to cook and he was making me list everything I needed while I'm totally doubting that he'll get it all. And then, all the sudden, he's in the kitchen trying to help cook, like the Tasmanian devil whirling about and throwing cheese around and shit.

So the dip was finally done being put together and The Hubs has loaded EVERYTHING in the car already. What the..? I haven't even got a bra on yet and he already has Monkey loaded in his car seat. Are you kidding me right now? (I was dressed but I have a hard time finding well fitting bras so I hate them and always leave that for last. See this is good. We're bonding.) I ask, "Can you please chill out? Why are you getting so pushy? You are stressing me out! We're not late- WE'RE STILL EARLIER THAN ANYONE ELSE!! Can I at least put a bra on!?!" The hubs response to this was to look at the clock, read that it was after 4:00 and sigh heavily and loudly. So, glaring at him and grinding my teeth, I shoved my bra into my purse and picked up the tinfoil covered guacamole dish. The second I walk outside, a gust of wind wisps up and the tinfoil lifts. Trying to catch it with my hands full meant my immediate reaction was to lean forward. So there I am dipping my breasts into the freakin' guacamole! ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!?@!!#?!?

The crab is rearing it's head now.

On the way over there I realized that we still needed to stop and pick something up. Annoyed, I tell The Hubs he needs to pull into a convenience store and he says he'll just drop us off first then run back out. "THIS IS SO STUPID! It's on the way. Just stop." I say. "You do not need to worry about Britums being upset. WE'RE EARLY!" At this point it's so absurd that I can't help but laugh. Though still annoyed, I was definitely finding the humor in how worried he was that Britums would be upset about a couple measly minutes. He started laughing too as I told him, "You are not married to Britums. You are married to me. You should be worried about upsetting ME, not her. I'm your wife!! And I AM UPSET. STOP THE DAMN CAR!!"

I still was not understanding why he was even worried about the whole thing but we were both laughing as he said, and I quote: "You're right. She doesn't need to be pushy. I shouldn't worry about upsetting her. Screw her for always saying we're late when we're not. I'm gonna call her and tell her we know we're late and we're stopping anyway. I'm gonna give her a taste of her own medicine" What exactly does that mean? I still don't really know, but here's what it sounded like. Imagine me hollering in the background about how I'm his wife and he should be worried about my wrath not hers while The Hubs is on the phone saying this:
"Hey. We're on our way but I gotta stop. . . Um. Ok. We could come first and I could run back out. Yeah. OK....OK... We'll be right there."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!

So though I still thought the absurdity of the whole thing was funny and odd, I was once again annoyed that we couldn't make a FIVE MINUTE STOP!! Is Britums really that big of a bully or does The Hubs have a screw loose? When we got to Britum's I got out very quickly and grabbed a bag and one of the dishes and headed toward the house to bitch at Britums about the whole thing. The Hubs started saying I should wait for him to grab Monkey and that made me even more annoyed since it's easier to unload the car first then get him out. I said as much over my shoulder, and that there was no need for me to wait for them when we were just gonna walk in, it's not like we had to knock or anything.

Fifteen steps ahead of him, I opened the front door and walked into a living room full, and I mean full, of balloons hanging from the ceiling. Britums does like to decorate but I am thinking WHOA this is OVERKILL even for her! As far as I knew there were only four couples coming to the games that month and FILLING the house with balloons seemed totally unnecessary. It wasn't until I was into the hallway that I noticed a bunch of pictures of me as a kid hanging on the walls. I turned my head toward the kitchen and there were a bunch of unexpected people screaming "SURPRISE!"

I was so shocked that it still didn't fully register until after I found myself saying, to the entire crowd, "God, he could've at least let me put a bra on!" Which in turn, of course, led to a room full of eyes dropping to my drooping, guacamole covered breasts. Classy!

I told you Britum's is awesome. This party's pictures and details to follow in my next post.....

Toddler In The Kitchen: no bake cookies

2010-11-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

After a particularly frustrating day at speech therapy, (where Monkey showed Teacher Man what the word tantrum really means,) I decided that after nap some afternoon entertainment was needed. So we decided to cook. One of the issues we're working on with Monkey is his aversion to varied textures in his food. He only wants carbs, carbs, carbs! The boy will eat crackers like they're going out of style and sandwiches and pizza like a mo-fo. (How exactly does a mo-fo eat? I'm not sure, but for some reason the sentence, "Monkey eats like a mo-fo" works for me.) Give him a piece of fruit, however, and you'll be mopping it off the floor in no time. The teachers have suggested a "learning plate." This means I'm to make food he wants nothing to do with and have it near him as he eats what he does like. The idea is for him to get use to seeing, smelling, and (hopefully) touching these other things until they become familiar and less likely to be thrown- literally- away. So far, though he's willing to touch some new things, he's refused to put, or at least keep, anything new in his mouth.

I have some experience with high maintenance (said endearingly- ?) children like my own as I worked with special needs kids for ten years. So, I've decided that I'm qualified enough to decided to adapt this "learning plate" into a "learning pot" if you will. In the last few weeks, Monkey has shown a major, constant, demanding, and constant (yes it deserves to be said twice) urge to help in the kitchen. He wants in!! So, though he won't allow these new foods and textures on his plate, he is willing to "cook" with them. Therefore, I have found myself in the kitchen more than I'm use to. Like, for three meals a day. What?

Today, I didn't want to go to the store, but I did want to do something that took up a good toddler friendly amount of time. (Not so long as to lose his attention, but long enough to help burn some time and get us through this day without going stir crazy.) Therefore, Monkey and I made some no-bake oatmeal, chocolate and coconut cookies. It's a super easy one pot stove top recipe, which I adapted into a super easy one pot and one bowl semi-stove top recipe.

Here it is the original recipe:

Here's how it went for us:

Monkey helped get all the ingredients out:

Then instead of stirring everything together over the flame, I let him help add it to the pot and stir it together before I put it on the stove.

While it was cooking and I was adding the last ingredients, I let him sit on the counter and play games with me.

Oven mitt peek-a-boo and an artistic picture of the microwave Monkey took.

Once it was finished I scooped it all into a bowl so that he could help make the cookies without getting burned. Him helping me scoop up cookies really meant I scooped them and he patted them with his spoon.

While they cooled, Monkey helped do dishes!!

Then they were done. Ahhh, God's gift. Really. See look how ethereal they appear here:

Ok, so really I just got a smudge on my lens. Actually they don't look like much, but still they're yummy and quite addictive.

I thought I might have to throw one on bread and call it pizza to get him to try it- mofo- but he ate one simply at the word cookie. He is his mother's son.

OUT TAKE:

I asked monkey to show me what eating a cookie looked like.

WINTER WONDERLAND PARTY

2010-11-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

Monkey will be three on January 4th, and I am planning to do a PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES themed party. But until then, I'll continue with my past parties posts (say that three times fast.) For his first birthday I had a brunch with just the family, which in itself is more people than can be comfortable in my house. It was cozy and simple. We served breakfast pizza, sausage strata, and a fruit tart cake. (And Mimosas, which I used to toast myself for not losing or breaking him for a whole year.)

Last year Britums was already in party-blog reading mode and put the bee in my bonnet so I put more effort into his 2nd birthday. This was before The Hub's Superhero Party and the beginning of my party throwing addiction.

MONKEY'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

Being in Las Vegas we don't get snow (OK, maybe a fluke fluttering here and there, but anything snowman worthy comes few and far between.) However the surrounding mountains do get some snow so I decided for Monkey's birthday to send The Hubs to fill up the back of our truck with snow and bring it down for a fun and casual WINTER WONDERLAND party.

The Invitation- with alterations to protect the not so innocent.

This time we invited back the family plus some friends with small kids, it was a bit snug again, but we spent a lot of time outside in the snow. This time we held it in the afternoon and served a white food lunch. My girlfriend, T, who was visiting from Portland, and Britums helped me make the food. Britums made a huge and awesome white cheese ball which we served with crackers. We also made a white chicken chili and caprice napoleon sandwiches. We found the last two recipes at Our Family Treat and they were delicious. I also did PB & J's for the kiddos. All of the sandwiches were cut into the snowflake shapes. We offered hot chocolate and a blue-Koolaid-and-sprite-punch served in a punch bowl with a "crushed ice-berg." Somehow, unfortunately, these are the only picture of any of the food that I have. (Thanks to my mom or I'd have zip.)

Snow flake sandwiches and "Arctic Freeze" punch

For DECORATIONS, we did the standard balloons and streamers outside. Inside we hung bunch of (expertly hand cut) paper snowflakes from our ceiling with ribbon. I covered all our tables with snowflake wrapping paper. I set up a craft station for the kids to make snowmen and snowflakes out of marshmallows, pretzels, and gel frosting. I also did party favors for all the guests. For the kids I made "snowball" goodies filled with mittens and small toys from the party store. For the adults I did knit gloves (dollar store finds.)

The "creation station" and party in the works

Decorations and Party favors

Snow fun and a happy Birthday Boy.

Monkey and the kids had good fun in the snow (which the neighborhood kids finished off later in a snowball fight.) and overall I think it was a big hit.

Placemat Pillows

2010-11-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not really ready for the linky party craft showcases. For one I'm taking pictures (in my poorly lit house) with a cell phone. Secondly, I am so VERY new to blogging that the layout of my blog is pretty pathetic and not really ready for public consumption. BUT I CAN"T HELP MYSELF!! I WANT IN!! The CSI Project is having a pillow contest- and it's a craft I'VE ACTUALLY DONE! So, even though I only have pictures of the final product I figure I'll go for it. In the future my craft projects will show the process as well.

Ready or not, I'm in!!

When we bought our house two years ago I was so excited to finally have free reign over the wall color in my home! So, after years of living with neutral walls as a renter I went big and loud. My living room is two different tones of yellow and my adjoining kitchen is a light green. These two rooms (and a powder room) are the whole of my down stairs so I needed to find accents to link them together. I found some brightly striped cloth napkins at Pier One and some cool beads at Micheal's and made window treatments for both rooms. If you can forgive the badly taken cell phone pictures and the fact that they've been hung for two years and need desperately to be ironed, I'll show you. If not, close your eyes as you scroll down to the next paragraph.

Valences for little windows in kitchen and one living room wall. Top and bottom curtains for large living room windows, which I painted and used fabric glue to make (and see now, need some glue touch up.)

Telling you all of this really does lead back to the pillow challenge, I swear. And here's how:

After we got settled into the house, we were able to FINALLY buy a non-Craig's list couch. This beautiful sectional, which I love.

Notice the cute curtain is missing? Yeah, Monkey's got muscles and to prove it, he pulled them down.

I love this couch but the pillows that came with it REALLY didn't go with the decor of the room. SEE:

They're cute, but the just don't work.

Therefore, I made myself some new ones!! I went back to Pier One and bought the fabric place mats that match the napkins I'd used for the curtains. I took the patterned side off of two of the new pillows and replaced them with the place mats. For the third pillow I realize that a step by step picture tutorial would be better than a written description, but I'll do my best to make sense of it. If anyone out there in blog world is interested, maybe I'll do a follow-up post about how to do it. In the mean time, I hope this make sense:

I took the patterned side off the new pillow and layered over it one of the panels I'd taken off the other pillows and three of the striped place mats (facing in alternating directions.) I sewed lines through layers about an inch apart, going all the way across the panels. Then, I sewed around the edge of the square leaving about a quarter inch outside the hem. I cut all the panels except the bottom one between the sewn lines and once that was done, I used snippers and cut slits down each unattached stripe (like when you are fraying a denim blanket.) I pulled out all straggling threads and threw it into the dryer for a couple cycles. The layers of snipped fabric frayed around the sewn lines. Then I sewed the whole thing back into a pillow.

THE END RESULT:

The final three.

Close up of the third one.

I think they turned out cute and I hope you do too. Again, I wish I had a picture tutorial to offer, but I just really wanted to enter the CSI contest so I'm jumping the gun. I love that blog and I'm anxious to get my own rolling. Hope you'll forgive my amateurish post and subscribe. Give me a chance to show that future ones will be better.

Thanks for reading, Momma McCall

Super Hero Party for The Hubs

2010-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

The hub's is a very busy guy. He works a full time job as a teacher for the blind and goes to law school four nights a week. On top of this he, of course, has a ton of homework and is now a member of the law review journal (way to go babe!) He does all of this while allowing me to stay home with Monkey and hardly ever complaining about my horrible housekeeping habits. What a guy! He is truly my hero. So, it seemed appropriate this year to throw him a Super hero themed costume party for his birthday. Once again with the help of Britums, I think I pulled together a pretty good shindig.

Our house is not large and though the setup is great for our needs, it really isn't good for having any more than maybe eight people socializing in it at a time. I was concerned about finding a place that could hold such an event on my limited budget until I found this awesome Indoor Trampoline place. It ended up being a great alternative!! I got a group deal and talked to all the invitees about contributing $9 each. With their help, my small-ish budget was able to cover getting the whole place to ourselves plus the DIY decorations and food.

Britums was the only one following a lot of craft and party blogs then (she has since convinced me of their awesomeness) so she gave me a ton of ideas and helped me make everything, including extra capes for the party comers who didn't come in costume. Isn't she the best?!

So here's what we came up with:

THE E-VITE (I used a picture of him from a Saturday Night Live party we went to as the ambiguously gay duo.)

This was held later in the evening so I just supplied snacks as most people have already had dinner by 8pm. So for FOOD, I put out a couple veggie trays, some cookie pops (which were not as cute as we'd envisioned, but tasted really good) and some sandwich platters which I got from Capriotti's, (which I consider to be the bees knees.) I also had labeled coolers of water and "POWeraide."

Since this was at the trampoline place it wasn't like I could totally vamp it out. So I kept DECORATIONS limited to table clothes, paper dishes, quick and simple food signs, and a DIY paper backdrop with a box of extra capes and props for pictures. The guests came up with some great costumes and when The Hubs arrived I had him put his on before entering.


Superheros in all shapes and sizes!

Some of the jumping in action (before the dodge ball started) and me already out of breath.

Overall the night was a huge success. The Hubs was surprised. I knew this because when he got out of the car and saw me with his cape, he said "what is all this and has it already been paid for?" After all the jumping around we were exhausted so we sent the kiddos home and went out for after party drinks. Good times!

We are the Champions

2010-11-08T01:23:00.000-08:00

I figure in an effort to help potential readers get to know me, I would post about the ridiculousness that is how my friends and I party.

My sister "Britums" is an entertainment, crafting, and trip planning genius. In truth, she is the one who should have a blog. For the last two years I have been sucking off her cool when it comes to these areas.One of the best ideas she's shared with me is a regular get together with a group of friends. These events started out as "the summer games" but we were having so much fun we've made it year long almost monthly event.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Each month we get together to play, enjoy good food, libations, and the company of our friends- COMPETITION STYLIE. Each team has created their own flags and been given team shirts.

A sampling of the flags and the shirts Britum's made

We also have amazing trophies which one of the fellas made out of Harley parts. They are passed around from month to month to the winning and losing teams, who often add their own embellishments.

Evolution of the Trophies and a sample score board.

SUMMER GAMES

During the summer months we play pool games including, but not limited to: rubber ducky relay races, a find and build Lego game (your partner must find each piece from a bunch in pool while you build to match a model.), gladiator fights, a men-only water ballet competition and women-only belly flops.


Summer Games Goodness.

SPRING AND FALL GAMES

Once it gets too cold to use the pool, we start coming up with new ideas. For several months, we held our own Minute to Win It games. Here's a few of the events held. Please note that the pictures are mostly the fellas because, apparently, the women are the only ones who care to take pictures. Lame.


No hands noodle picking up noodles. Vaseline cotton ball run. Cup stacking. Race to get a ping pong ball down a measuring tape and into shot glass race. No hands cookie from forehead to mouth. Orange in pantyhose water bottle knock down. One handed tissue box emptying race. (These are my descriptions for the games not Minute to Win It's names, which are much more cleaver.)

SPECIAL EVENTS AND HOLIDAYS

For Valentine's day, the women went shopping and handed over the menu to the men who then made an amazingly delicious dinner thanks to the recipes of The Pioneer Woman. Then, we played our own version of The Newly Wed Game.

Our men watching water boil. The cute decorative pom poms and Newlywed Game cards Britums made. Pure Yumminess!! We ate exactly what Pioneer Woman made for her husband's birthday- man, he's a lucky guy.

In March, we had a St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt. We split into two groups and drove around town marking off our lists which included: green beer, rainbows, a pot of gold, and a picture with a leprechaun.


Representatives from the two teams with their leprechauns.

In April, it was Brittum's birthday and at her request we held our own Festival of Colors. We got holi from an Indian spice store and ended a night of games with a all out color fight. She was right; it was fun!!


Holi Fun

Halloween means fun times in our world of Olympic Gamers. We draw names and make costumes for each others' teams. Then, we meet at a bowling alley, give each other the costumes and bowl in idiotic ways. It's ridiculous and glorious all at the same time.

2009

Marilyn Monroe & Charlie Chaplin, Team Jew as Mormons, Dominatrices, A flower (the bee couldn't make it,) Rainbow Bright & Unicorn, Toothfairy & Tooth with filling, the crazy rules, game in action, cute mummy cupcakes K. made.

2010

Curious George & The Man in the Yellow Hat, Twig & Berries, The Sesame Street Yips, The Weatherman & Cloudy with a Chance of Rain.

Thanksgiving time rolled around and we had a pizza cook off. I don't have a lot of pictures from that day. I guess we were all too full to snap picks. I do have this one of one team's mini pizzas in the making. This year we're having a soup/stew cook off.

On New Year's Eve, we've begun a tradition of doing a board game decathlon. We got the idea from My Boys. Ten games straight, usually old childhood games like memory, chutes and ladders, etc. turned into drinking games. Keeps us off the streets.

NYE = Adult Sleepovers

So that's about it for the Olympic Games Roundup. For now. Hope it's given you a glimpse into what crazy-good-time party ideas I'll be posting. Big ups to Britums and the crew.

The Blog-st of Intentions

2010-11-06T00:52:00.000-07:00

I have a son who is two years and ten months. It seems most moms who blog about parenthood use pseudonymous when addressing their family members and I suppose that this is a good idea for privacy reasons though I am not expecting to be in a position where I'll need to worry about it. Still, for blog purposes I will call him Monkey. It's very fitting; trust me. My son doesn't talk yet and has some behavior issues that I believe stem, for the most part, from his frustrations with the communication problems. We have him enrolled through the health department in an early intervention program which includes a teacher/development specialist coming to the house once a week and a social playgroup. In addition we've enrolled him in speech therapy and additional playgroups.

I'm sure I will blog about Monkey a lot over time, but my point of telling this story is to tell you why I'm blogging. This January he will be three and therefore qualify for the school district's "Child Find" free preschool program for kids who are developmentally behind in certain areas including speech. I set a goal with this in mind to use my time alone to get back into the carpentry I apprenticed to do before I got pregnant. I figure on my tight budget I can teach myself to do some up-cycling and re-purposing with goodwill finds and such and perhaps sell them to pay for my next project. It seems to me that a lot of blogs are written by crafters in order to promote themselves and their goods, so I'm following their lead and hoping that this blog will help me toward my goals. I would like to try other DIY's and crafts as well. Plus, I loves me a good party and plan to post about those along the way as well.

I learned this week that Child Find may decide after assessing Monkey to only enroll him in limited programs (meaning it could end up being only an hour a week instead of the 4 hours a day I was told to expect.) Soooo... we'll have to see how much free time I'm allowed for my crafting since The Hubs is only home to give me a break on the weekends. I've decided to not let not knowing hold me back and to move forward as planned and therefore I'm starting this blog as step one.... again, time will tell.

Not Michael...my first post

2010-11-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog world. This is my first ever blog. I intended to simply teach myself how to make a page and set it up for the next week or so and then write a blog once I felt ready. However, in playing around with my page I discovered something. I excitedly titled my page McCall of the Wild, (as my first name is McCall,) and blogger allowed this so of course so I assumed I was little miss original. Then I subscribed to my blog on Google reader and came to find out that there were already several posts by McCall of the Wild. Apparently a man named Micheal had a blog by the same title in 2008. Boo! So, if you are subscribed to my blog and find that in the archives there are posts that do not fit, this is why. I don't really want to change my name but maybe it will come to that. Hmmm. Still trying to figure it all out....