Tuesday
9.20.16
I was hurting a bit this morning from being out past my bedtime last night. But I forced myself to get out of bed and onto the elliptical. This paid off as it helped energize me for a busy day! The babies and I took our morning walk and played some music from Pandora. My favorite song had to be the baby version of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. I used morning nap time this morning to finish reading my book (this brings me to 5 books out of my 100 book goal for this year).
People: Today my mom joined us for story time, lunch, and a game after I put the babies down for nap. It was very enjoyable to spend time together and I'm treasuring these happy moments.
Places/Activities: This morning was story time at the library. Puff and Avy are VERY excited about story time. As part of the 30 minute story time, there is usually a choral reading activity in which every baby gets a copy of the same board book to read and explore together. I was pretty floored today when I asked Puff to point to the butterfly, and she did. I then asked her to point to several other objects on the page, and she pointed to each one. This tells me she already has a decent vocabulary. So once she starts talking, it's going to go extremely fast!! It's been such a joy to watch them learn and grow these past few weeks. You might be thinking, "but you were off during the summer." This is true, but they are much older now and it is much easier to have one on one time with the twins while Squeak is at school. While at the library I checked out a bunch of new reading material for Squeak and myself, and also picked up a couple of Halloween craft and cooking books. Squeak already has her heart set on making a special punch she found with a decomposing hand made from Jello. Can you tell Halloween is her favorite holiday??
Good Deeds: On our walk this morning, I picked up trash off the sidewalk. I'll need to remember to bring along a plastic grocery bag with me next time so that I can toss the trash in there. It was kind of messy…
Chores: Today I tackled a task I have been putting off for about a week… cleaning out the generator and installing the new filter. I was pretty digested and felt a bit conflicted. Mice have gotten in the generator and ruined our old filter to use as nesting material (see exhibit A). They also left behind a mess. I cleaned up the mess, scrubbed the generator clean, and installed the new filter (see exhibit B). I also left some poison on the inside of the generator for the mouses to find. I really can't stand doing that, but I don't know what other options we have. The repairs to the generator due to mouse damage have already cost us a significant amount.
Today was also another laundry day and I made a 7 dozen batch of oatmeal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I was at a friend's house last week and begged for the recipe after tasting the batch she made. They are really yummy!!
Reading: I finished Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates. I found it extremely frustrating to read. My take aways were that we obviously have a VERY long way to go when it comes to dealing with sexism as it relates to all people, but especially women. I'll be honest - it brought back memories I had forgotten about and that I can hopefully forget about again. But it did make me realize that I need to stand up when I hear a comment or see a gesture. Ignorance isn't going to make it "go away."
Random Thoughts: Squeak is always discussing her long term plans. "When I'm 5 I'm going to kindergarten." Or "after middle school I'm going to high school and then college in Washington DC." "When I grow up I'm going to be a construction worker." Well, that last one was pretty random (this IS called "random thoughts") but did end up coming out of her mouth in the last week. It makes me so happy that she is already thinking about long range plans and goals. She's very motivated and already such an excellent reader. But, I just want to hold onto her at this age right now just a little bit longer. I have been telling her to just enjoy being four. She just turned four last month and she is already counting down the days until she is five, six, seven, etc. I hope that as each of my babies grows up that they learn to live in the moment, to enjoy the day, and to be present. It's always a wonderful thing to look forward to the future, but not if it is at the cost of missing the present. If someone looked in on my life today, they might not think it was anything special. But I was here and I was present all day with each of my kids. It was another one of those "best days ever" in my book.
Pumpkin Cookie Recipe (from my friend Holly's kitchen :)
9.20.16
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| Puff tests out the toys… "is this real plastic?" |
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| Cookies for days… The recipe is at the bottom of this post! |
People: Today my mom joined us for story time, lunch, and a game after I put the babies down for nap. It was very enjoyable to spend time together and I'm treasuring these happy moments.
Places/Activities: This morning was story time at the library. Puff and Avy are VERY excited about story time. As part of the 30 minute story time, there is usually a choral reading activity in which every baby gets a copy of the same board book to read and explore together. I was pretty floored today when I asked Puff to point to the butterfly, and she did. I then asked her to point to several other objects on the page, and she pointed to each one. This tells me she already has a decent vocabulary. So once she starts talking, it's going to go extremely fast!! It's been such a joy to watch them learn and grow these past few weeks. You might be thinking, "but you were off during the summer." This is true, but they are much older now and it is much easier to have one on one time with the twins while Squeak is at school. While at the library I checked out a bunch of new reading material for Squeak and myself, and also picked up a couple of Halloween craft and cooking books. Squeak already has her heart set on making a special punch she found with a decomposing hand made from Jello. Can you tell Halloween is her favorite holiday??
Good Deeds: On our walk this morning, I picked up trash off the sidewalk. I'll need to remember to bring along a plastic grocery bag with me next time so that I can toss the trash in there. It was kind of messy…
Chores: Today I tackled a task I have been putting off for about a week… cleaning out the generator and installing the new filter. I was pretty digested and felt a bit conflicted. Mice have gotten in the generator and ruined our old filter to use as nesting material (see exhibit A). They also left behind a mess. I cleaned up the mess, scrubbed the generator clean, and installed the new filter (see exhibit B). I also left some poison on the inside of the generator for the mouses to find. I really can't stand doing that, but I don't know what other options we have. The repairs to the generator due to mouse damage have already cost us a significant amount.
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Today was also another laundry day and I made a 7 dozen batch of oatmeal pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I was at a friend's house last week and begged for the recipe after tasting the batch she made. They are really yummy!!
Reading: I finished Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates. I found it extremely frustrating to read. My take aways were that we obviously have a VERY long way to go when it comes to dealing with sexism as it relates to all people, but especially women. I'll be honest - it brought back memories I had forgotten about and that I can hopefully forget about again. But it did make me realize that I need to stand up when I hear a comment or see a gesture. Ignorance isn't going to make it "go away."
Random Thoughts: Squeak is always discussing her long term plans. "When I'm 5 I'm going to kindergarten." Or "after middle school I'm going to high school and then college in Washington DC." "When I grow up I'm going to be a construction worker." Well, that last one was pretty random (this IS called "random thoughts") but did end up coming out of her mouth in the last week. It makes me so happy that she is already thinking about long range plans and goals. She's very motivated and already such an excellent reader. But, I just want to hold onto her at this age right now just a little bit longer. I have been telling her to just enjoy being four. She just turned four last month and she is already counting down the days until she is five, six, seven, etc. I hope that as each of my babies grows up that they learn to live in the moment, to enjoy the day, and to be present. It's always a wonderful thing to look forward to the future, but not if it is at the cost of missing the present. If someone looked in on my life today, they might not think it was anything special. But I was here and I was present all day with each of my kids. It was another one of those "best days ever" in my book.
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| Today Squeak, mom, and I played Dory Trouble. It felt like we were playing Monopoly… this game lasted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. But Squeak stuck with it! She is very persistent! |
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Pumpkin Cookie Recipe (from my friend Holly's kitchen :)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. butter (softened)
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. flour
2 c. oats
2tsp. ground cinnamon
1tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
If you use the ingredients above as indicated, you will get a 6 dozen + batch. I also had to use a huge bowl that my mixer didn't quite fit into because the bowl was too deep and I ended up hand mixing during the final step. Either get a bigger bowl, or half the recipe ;)
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- cream butter and sugars
- beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla
- combine flour, oats, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon
- add to creamed mixture
- add chocolate chips
heat for 12 minutes
Poison for the mice might equate to poison for Mr. Kitty or the other animals in the woods near you... I worry about this in my neck of the woods, as my two cats keep the mouse population down over here.
ReplyDeleteNo worries, Jen! I too was concerned. I wouldn't use it if I thought any harm would come to any of our critters (or children for that matter). I did my research and also called animal poison control just to be certain.
DeleteHere's the information I can tell you…. we are using a 1 oz block bait. A typical cat weighs around 10lbs or more. For a 10lb cat to be affected it would need to consume 9 of those baits (which are locked in the generator and unaccessible to animals larger than mice or to children). It is highly unlikely a cat would eat the baits to begin with. As far as contracting illness after eating a mouse which has consumed the poison, it would take an even far greater amount of mice consumption for the cat to become ill. Mice typically don't stray more than 30 feet from their nests (which is in my generator) so they won't get very far. The poison is also safe to put out in my home around indoor pets and children, so I'm also not terribly concerned. If you could send your two cats over to my neck of the woods, I'd be happy to have them capture the mousies around here as opposed to using poison. But hopefully this information helps you feel better about it. I certainly want to make sure I am informed consumer.
Mr. Kitty is not a mouser, but sadly is a birder. I found a lovely "present" he left for me out in the yard this week.
Personally, I hate using poison and if we had the mice at our old house I would do my best to capture them humanely and then release them far away from the house. However, due to the extreme amount of damage they have caused us and the cost associated with that damage, we had to make the decision to use the bait. If you know of a more humane way for us to get rid of them, I'd certainly be open to it.