Charlie Kitty

So here's a great story that I am still thinking about. When we decided to start a bedtime routine, we decided that reading stories would definitely be part of it. We shortly realized that we don't have very many books for babies. Some of them have too many words and not bright enough pictures and CB gets fidgety. So I started looking on ebay to find lots of books to make our nightly ritual a little more entertaining (mostly for me and Travis). I found a book called Busy Feet. My family will recognize it because it is one of the Little Golden Books that my grandparents own. And just for the sentimental value, I had to also own it. So I bid on it and won it for a great price. Then I noticed that the seller would combine shipping on other items he was selling so I decided to check out his other books. There was one called Charlie. It's about a little alley cat that wants to have a home. I wanted it for 3 reasons: it looked cute, I sometimes call Charlie Kitty because he likes to scratch me and the couch, and what kid wouldn't love a book with their name as the title. So I started bidding on it. I told the seller I was bidding on this book so I would pay for both when both auctions ended. He said that worked fine.

The bidding started at $0.99 and obviously other peeps had the same idea because the bidding war began. The seller contacted me and said he didn't anticipate the price getting so high and if I won it, he wouldn't charge any shipping. I emailed back and said I was bidding on it because we just had a new baby named Charlie and I thought it looked like a cute book. But when it got up to like $13, I decided it just wasn't worth it. A used Little Golden Book for $13 seemed a little steep, even with combined shipping. So I found one on amazon for much less and bought that one instead.

Anyways, I didn't think about it again and yesterday I got the Busy Feet book in the mail. The seller, who goes by DAD, enclosed an extra little book and this sweet note. Can you believe it? What a nice man. I guess I assume he's a man since he goes by DAD. Now I want to buy everything he sells just to show him my gratitude. And from that I decided it's the little things that make someone's day.

Tasty Treats

Yes, it's that time again where we get to enjoy our delicious local produce in our Basket-A-Month. We picked it up this evening and are so excited for its contents: spring mix greens, lettuce, onions (they even have the stems on; it's so cool), garlic, lemon basil (smells divine), oregano, free-range grain-fed eggs, strawberries, milk, sweet potatoes, mung bean sprouts (we ate them tonight in our salad and they're so tasty), cheddar cheese, jalapeno jack cheese, colby cheese, sugar snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, sesame shiitake mushroom dressing, and beefalo (which is now in the freezer until Travis figures out how he's going to cook it). It's so exciting each month to see what's in season and to eat all the fresh produce. Jealous, anyone?

you can even try it daily if you want :)

104 words

Speed test

in case you were bored...

try this:
97 words

Speed test

Don't Mess

We're heading down to Texas this weekend. I'm excited to see what all the pride is about. It's the only state I know of whose residents are uber proud. They fly Texas flags instead of American flags, and are obsessed with making sure everyone knows they're from Texas. Is it that great of a state? I'll soon find out...
A few great things about Texas:
1) IKEA!
2) Nordstrom (And how convenient that it's Women's and Children's Half Yearly Sale!)
3) Nordstrom Rack
4) staying at a hotel with a pool
5) Northpark (at least it looks fab from the website... TBD if it actually is)
6) Club Monaco (Does anyone else sense a shopping theme? Hopefully Charlie Boy is as big of a fan of shopping as his parents.)

And this list doesn't only pertain to Texas, but it's the closest state to Arkansas that has Ikea and Nordy Rack so it deserves a trip. What would make it phenomenal is if it had an H&M. But sadly, no love.
P.S. If anyone's been to the Dallas area and has any tips of fun things to do, let me know.

Yum

Don't these pictures make your mouth water? Delish. And how awesome is this? Now that I'm home more, I love to cook even more. I got a fab wheat bread recipe from a friend and now we don't buy bread anymore. We're homemade-only snobs. Now, whenever we go to restaurants (which is VERY rare), I always compare the food to different recipes I've tried and picture it could be better. The key to good cooking is good recipes. That's it. Some of my personal faves are Ina Garten, Cooking Light, Ellie Krieger, and sometimes Dave Lieberman. I like to combine ideas and for example: use Dave Lieberman's cheap recipes with Ellie Krieger's healthy tips. Yum.

Storage Probs

So any of you that have seen our house know that for 2 peeps and a baby, it's plenty big and has ample storage. But the problem is the storage space is not conducive to our stroller and jogger, both of which I use daily. I guess some store them in the garage but I don't want to have to thoroughly inspect it for bugs and spiders every time I want to go for a run. So they both always end up living either in the kitchen or in my trunk, neither of which is very convenient. I've thought about getting some sort of cover so they can be in the garage without the risk of accumulating spider webs, etc. but I found this awesome thing that will solve all my probs and is a much better solution. I can just use it on the back of our laundry room door. I'm stoked. And I picture any similar sturdy hook would work, so maybe I'll try to find a cheaper one.
Here's CB's first ride in the sweet stroller when he was 1-week old. I'm pretty sure he's been on at least 75+ rides since then.