We are evil parents. A few months ago, we sat our daughter down and told her that we were going to start expecting MORE from her. That’s right, MORE. Like she was going to have to clean her room every now and then. And CHANGE her earrings. AND, AND start riding her bike(s) instead of just looking at them laying in the garage.

I can only hope DFCS doesn’t hear about this.

Back in November I posted about a furniture project. Remember this?

I thought you’d like to see how far it’s come in four months.

Behold – the Armoire Project -

Whatever. I’ve been BUSY.

Rimfire is having a birthday today and in lieu of a party, she invited the MoonPie on an American Girl adventure.

First, we ordered dinner. The folks at American Girl thought of everything – pink tables, chairs for the dolls, petite menus.

Okay, maybe they were a little TOO petite.

You want an appetizer? Seriously?

No you may NOT have a vodka tonic! Man, where did you even hear about those? Oh. Well the answer is still NO.

Great, I see a bathroom visit in our future.

Awww. That makes it totally worth the $80.00 dollars it cost. Well, to me anyway, since Miss Fire actually paid the bill.

Each girl got to pick out an outfit for her doll…

and then the dolls got their ears pierced and their hair done.

Behold the ponytail flip.

Before…

After. MUCH better.

I have to say it was one of the MoonPie’s best days EVER. I told her we will definitely go back.

As soon as one of the grandmothers come to visit.

Happy Birthday, RIMFIRE!

This is what I’m reading.

Chan, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, Calif., offers a radical call for evangelicals to consider and emulate in this debut guide to living crazy for God. Chan’s own life compels him to live with urgency, and with good reason. His mother died giving birth to him, his stepmother died when he was nine, and his dad when he was 12. As a pastor, Chan says that conducting weekly funerals for people younger than himself has likewise sobered him to life’s unexpectedness and frailty. Chan writes with infectious exuberance, challenging Christians to take the Bible seriously. He describes at length the sorry state of lukewarm Christians who strive for a life characterized by control, safety and an absence of suffering.

I don’t want to be lukewarm! Can you image what would happen if we all got radical?  Get the book.

It’s 12:46 a.m. It’s all I’ve got. But it’s the most awesome video EVAH.

Today was the big Spelling Bee at MoonPie’s school. Her BFF, Jemi, was a 1st/2nd grade participant. We went to cheer her to victory.

Relaxing before the first word. Everyone LOOKS calm.

Pssst, turn around. Why are you distracted??

Oh. Well, stop looking at the MoonPie. You need to pay attention so you can WIN!

See? Everyone should listen to me; they’d be a lot happier.

The proud grin of a winner!  Speaking of which -

I think mom was a bit proud.

The MoonPie was proud.

Even the people at Wendy’s were proud.

Whew, I love it when all my hard work pays off.

Photobooks are awesome Christmas gifts. I started doing one of the MoonPie several years ago, and before I knew, even my MOTHER was creating books and handing them out. We all use MyPublisher but I saw on one of the coupon blogs that you can get one from Picaboo.

Via Deal Seeking Mom -

You can receive a FREE Classic Photo Book from Picaboo when you use code AFFLGB through March 31, 2010. The code is good for a 20-page Photo Book up to $39.99. You can additional pages for an extra charge, if desired. You pay only the $8.99 shipping and tax if applicable.

To get your FREE photo book:

• Go to Picaboo and enter your email address.

• Download the free software and design a 20-page book.

• Use code AFFLGB at checkout and pay only $8.99 for shipping!

The download is for a PC, but they have a Mac test version. I’m feeling lucky, so that’s what I tried.

If you’ve never created a photobook you should. Like I said, even my MOTHER…..

Because my husband does 90% of the cooking, I suffer horribly when he’s out of town. To be prepared for the next time he travels, I asked him to cook a couple of steaks so I could photograph the process. He fell for it was happy to oblige.

Start with a couple of cuts of meat. I have no idea what these are, steaks of some sort.

Drizzle them with olive oil.

Spice them and put in a hot, grill pan.

We use fancy spices – The Flavors of France. True story – we bought this tin from a 12 year old boy in the parking lot of WalMart. I wonder how he finds the time to go to France for the spices. Hmmm. Must be homeschooled.

Sear each side.

This step is not usual, but because these were so thick, he thought they’d cook better covered. I should tell you how long this was. I don’t remember.

Wow, don’t those look good? This is the point where you might want to stop reading. My husband has strong opinions about steaks and they way they should be served.

Raw.

Sorry.

I thought I’d take a moment to tell you why Twitter is cool. If you’re over the age of thirty, chances are that you don’t know what it is, or why anyone cares about it. I admit, for the longest the only thing I knew about it was that Ashton Kutcher and Kim Kardashian used it a lot. That’s not exactly a reason to care.

First, what is Twitter? If you’re familiar with Facebook, it’s basically a status update. You get 140 characters to relay information. Okay, big deal. Well, let’s say your college age daughter uses Twitter faithfully. You could go to her “page” and read her updates. Hopefully they’d say something like, “Just aced my calculus exam, Starbucks 2 celebrate!” You could read her page OR you could “follow” her which basically means every time she posted something it would email it to you to save you the frantic checking. Don’t lie, you so WOULD.

Still, other than fulfilling the teen stalking urge, what’s the big deal? WELL, you can use Twitter via your phone. So instead of logging into the computer, you can just text a message that will automatically update on your page. This is COOL. Did you happen to see the riots going on in Iran after the election? The government shut down the internet and kicked journalists out of the country, but they couldn’t stop the people from texting their messages to Twitter. People were able to get the info by following them and passing it on to the WORLD!

Now for the really awesome part – I might not be able to call from India (hello, 1.99 a minute) or email/blog but I can send a text, which will go to my Twitter page, which will update automatically on this BLOG and you can keep up with every exciting detail of my trip! I KNOW!

Ashton Kutcher drinking a latte in LA= uncool. Me sweating in India= riveting.

Just thought you’d be happy to know you won’t be Zolliless while I’m away.

You’re welcome.

Junior Cadette (about 15, earning her badge by teaching the young ones): Today we’re going to learn about respect. Being a good listener shows respect, so let’s play the Telephone Game!

Brownies: Yea!

JC: Okay, listen carefully.  (whispering into the first Brownie’s ear) Shmushu wisthssu shimttislg

Brownie 1: Huh?

Brownie 2: What?

Brownie 3 -8: Huh? smuch wichcie idkdle What?

JC: Okay, you’re the last one, tell us what you heard.

Brownie shaking her head: No

JC: Oh, come on. Tell everyone the word.

Brownie: Well, okay.  HORNY!

JC: Uh. Wow. That was so NOT what I said.