Bloggy Stuff

Feb 26, 2009

Um…WOW

I opened my email this afternoon to discover a shocking and exciting announcement:

Callapidder Days is a finalist in Scholastic Parent & Child‘s 2009 Mommy Blogger Awards! Woo-hoo!

I am thrilled and flattered and excited and, quite honestly, a little intimidated. My fellow finalists are incredible bloggers and I am honored to be included with them.

I didn’t even know my blog was nominated — and that, in and of itself, is an honor. But knowing that the editors of Parent & Child chose Callapidder Days as one of the ten finalists is simply mind-blowing. I’ve been smiling all afternoon. (And my husband is probably already tired of me babbling about it!)

Anyway, you can learn more about the contest at Scholastic’s site. You can also read about the other finalists, and vote for your favorite. (Naturally, you should vote for the one you like best, but I won’t mind at all if that’s me!) The top five will be announced in April and will be featured in Scholastic Parent & Child magazine this summer. And honestly — wouldn’t it be great to see that cute callapidder on the pages of a magazine? [Okay, shameless hinting and begging are now over.]

Thank you so much to the person who nominated Callapidder Days for this award, and to the editors at Scholastic who made Callapidder Days a finalist!

Now, go vote!

Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 22 Comments

Feb 20, 2009

Friday’s Fave Five

written by katrina · 14 Comments

I’m joining Susanne’s weekly carnival this week, called Friday’s Fave Five, where she invites us to share about five favorite things from the past week. This week was a little rough, emotionally (as is evidenced by the fact that the boys and I made a grocery store run this week solely to stock the freezer with ice cream), and my heart is heavy for a few friends who are going through some very difficult trials right now. So I thought I’d take advantage of Susanne’s bloggy invitation to pick a couple things from the week that made me smile or warmed my heart.

1.Spontaneous kisses from my kids. Just last night, I was paging through some pictures on the computer with my boys looking on. C. (10) sat on one side of me, L. (2) on the other. Then, out of nowhere, C. stretched up, gave me a kiss, and said, “I love you.” Before I could even respond, L. was in action. Not to be outdone, he leaned on me, zooming in for a kiss. However, you need to understand that for some reason, this kid has not figured out the mechanics of kissing yet, so he was coming at me with a slobbery fish-face approach. I gladly accepted the kiss anyway, and he followed up with a sweet, “I love you.” You just can’t orchestrate moments like that; and you can’t beat them, either.

2. “Pear feet.” In the last week or so, L. has decided that he prefers to go shoeless and sockless much of the time, even when it’s not exactly toasty in the house. Quite often, he’ll start clamoring for “Pear feet! Pear feet!” which is my cue to help him with the shoe and sock removal. I started off trying to explain that it’s actually bare feet, but I’ve stopped. The “pear feet” is just too cute.

3. Having my husband around. Chad was out of town for part of this week, and is taking today off. We’ve had a nice, relaxing morning. Nothing special, but nice nonetheless. He stayed with L. while I ran to the pharmacy to pick up pinkeye drops (L.’s latest affliction). He installed a light fixture that we picked up last weekend. And now he’s out for a bike ride while I’m thinking about sneaking in a nap. But even when we’re just doing “normal” stuff, it’s nice to have him around.

4. A concert outing tonight. Chad, C., and I are looking forward to going to a concert at our church tonight. It’s a band we’re not too familiar with, but what I’ve heard sounds good, and I’m sure we’ll have a great time. Besides, any time spent with two of my favorite guys is sure to be a good time. And I doubt L. will miss us too much — he’ll be home getting spoiled by his Grammy.

5. Dark chocolate. Chad knows me well. For Valentine’s Day, he got me a pack of three dark chocolate bars. Yum. I was amused that the local chocolatier was touting them as “Good for You” because of all the anti-oxidants found in dark chocolate. The truth is, good for me or not, those candy bars were a welcome treat during the ups and downs of this week.

Stop by Susanne’s to find out what other people have enjoyed this week.

Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 14 Comments

Feb 1, 2009

Picture Tag

written by katrina · 9 Comments

I was tagged by Veggiemom from Insanity, Table for 4 for a little photo meme. Here are the rules:

Find your 5th photo file folder,
then the 5th photo in that file folder.
Post that picture on your blog.
Tag 5 others to do the same.

Here’s my picture:

That would be L., about a year ago, after he emptied his basket of books and then proceeded to get himself stuck in the basket. As you can see, I took a picture before I rescued him. Priorities, you know.

I won’t tag anyone in particular, but if you’re looking for a quick, easy meme, consider yourself tagged and let me know that you did it!

Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff 9 Comments

Jan 30, 2009

For C.

written by katrina · 10 Comments

When I finally got on the computer this morning, I saw that my oldest son, C., had left a comment on my last post. That comment says: “Could you please write a new post soon?”

C. faithfully checks my blog almost daily, and though he isn’t crazy about my posts involving book giveaways or reviews, he usually has something complimentary to say about what I’ve written. I appreciate his support and faithfulness, so I figured I owed him a post. It’s true I’ve been scarce around here lately, so I thought I’d write on the topic of:

4 Reasons I Haven’t Been Blogging Much

1. A new routine. One of my goals for the new year was to start exercising consistently. I’ve actually done well with that goal and have been working out every weekday during L.’s naptime. That’s a good thing. The downside, however, is that exercising has eaten up the time that I used to spend writing blog posts. Yes, I’ve managed to still blog a few times per week, but I haven’t figured out a consistent time to blog when: a) it’s quiet enough around here for me to string more than two sentences together and b) I’m awake and coherent. I’m still working on it, though, and I hope blogging soon has a new, regular time slot.

2. A winter funk. Right around mid-January every year, I start feeling much like a slug. My motivation dribbles away to almost nothing; I can envision spending hours every day snuggled under a blanket watching “Sell My House” shows or reruns of Top Chef; and productivity in many areas — including, apparently, blogging — becomes elusive at best. That’s where I am now.

3. An overactive sense of perfectionism. I’ve begun many a post, only to delete it 10 minutes later, convinced that it is nothing but rubbish. I think that if I’m going to blog consistently, I’m just going to have to come to terms with what the perfectionist in me calls rubbish, and publish it anyway. In essence, I need to get over myself.

4. A puking cat. Okay, this really has nothing to do with blogging. But for the last three days, I’ve come upstairs to find that she has puked on our bedroom carpet yet again, and it’s really annoying me. Anybody want a nice, cute, 13.5-year-old cat with no health problems other than a propensity to puke on light-colored carpets?

So there you have it.

However, I do have a number of posts planned and partially written, coming to this blog soon. And by soon, I mean…well…at some point. Want a teaser? Here are some of the topics:

Our new bed — thanks to your input, we actually ordered a new bed and it arrived yesterday. Details to follow.
The Bacon Bar, revisited — last summer, Mark challenged me to try a questionable-sounding candy bar I mentioned on my blog. I may not be an adventurous eater, but I do often feel compelled to take a dare. Watch what happens.
My sleep-talking kid.

So stay tuned, C., more posts are on the way.

Filed Under: Bloggy Stuff, Family 10 Comments

Dec 15, 2008

Christmas Tour of Homes 2008

written by katrina · 24 Comments

Today is the big day: BooMama‘s 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes! In which many, many bloggers share pictures of their holiday decor and then ignore all the baking and wrapping and shopping they should be doing in order to virtually visit everyone’s homes. Sounds like a perfect day to me! So come on in, have a cup of coffee (with Peppermint Mocha creamer, of course) and let me show you around.

First, you’ll be happy to know that I had some snow ordered especially for you. The outside lights are pretty on their own, but they look so much more festive when the lawn is coated with that wintry white delight. The view from our street (you can catch a glimpse of our tree through the window):

Outside

Now, it’s cold out there, so let’s move quickly into the house.

There’s something you should know about my indoor Christmas decorating: I have a 2-year-old. In other words, I’ve kept things simple and at least 2.5 feet off the ground this year. It’s much easier than battling with L. during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Constant toddler battles can suck the excitement right out of the house. But let’s move on to the few things I did do.

First, the tree. My son, C. (10), and I decorated the tree about a week ago. Here he is helping:

helping

And here’s the finished product:

finished

Well, I suppose I should clarify and say that it was supposed to be the finished product. Since the day that particular picture was taken, many of the ornaments hung toward the bottom of the tree have been moved up, as L. (2) proved unable to resist their sparkly, jingly, throwable-ness whenever I was not in the room to enforce the rules. Thus, there are still some (very sturdy) ornaments toward the bottom, but there’s a section about 15 inches high that is far more bare than it was in this picture.

Every year, I buy each of the boys one ornament that becomes part of their personal collection. I try to make them relevant to the boys’ interests or activities that year. This year’s ornaments are:

truck

For C., this Ford pickup truck, since he is completely and utterly into all things vehicular right now.

farm

For L., a Fisher Price Little People Barn. He thoroughly enjoys his Little People toys and his imaginative play has really bloomed in recent months.

Next stop: the mantel. I keep things pretty simple here. A garland with lights and ornaments, our stockings, and a house-shaped tealight-burning thing to hide the outlet right above the mantel shelf.

mantel

Finally, the nativity, which resides on the dining room table. I just set it up last night, but I guarantee you that by Christmas, it will not be arranged like this. Little fingers (and maybe big ones, too) like to rearrange and re-enact.

nativity

There are a few Christmasy knick-knacks scattered around (all a good 3 feet from the floor), but that covers the primary decorations. Thanks so much for stopping by. Before you go, please have a Cranberry Pecan Tassie. It’s the one cookie I make each and every year, because I like them so much.

Cranberry Pecan Tassies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash salt
1/3 cup finely chopped cranberries
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

Directions:

For pastry, in a mixing bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until combined. Stir in the flour. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, if desired.
Shape the dough into 24 balls; place in ungreased 1-1/2-inch muffin pans. Press dough evenly against bottom and up sides of each muffin cup.
For the filling, in a mixing bowl beat together the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt just until smooth. Stir in cranberries and pecans. Spoon filling into the pastry-lined muffin cups.
Bake tassies in a 325 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool in pans on wire racks. Remove from pans by running a knife around the edges. Store in airtight container. Makes 24 tassies.

Click on over to BooMama’s place to visit all the other homes on the Christmas Tour. And from the Callapidder House to yours: Have a very Merry Christmas!