My Saturday with Lily

It's been awhile since my last post, but I promise it's with good reason.  My life has completely done a 180, but for the better.  I have the best, most loyal friends in the world and a family who would do anything for me.  I truly have never been happier and that's all I'm going to say about that.

I asked a dear friend who is always asking me when I'm going to post again to pick my next topic.  So for your reading pleasure, I give you my Saturday with Lily.

Lily is my 11 month old niece.  See, isn't she cute?  Most people say we look just alike and I agree.

 Two Saturdays ago, I got a phone call at 8am from my mom.  Usually I'm up and around no later that 7am, but this particular morning was a little different.  The night before was a late night of pub crawling with friends.  I ignored the first few calls, but after three in a row, I knew I'd better answer.

My mom informed me that herself, my dad, and brother Connor all had a stomach bug and asked if I could pick up Lily so she wouldn't catch it.  Being the good person I am, I agreed and off to my parents house to pick up the little tyke I went.  I ran in, grabbed Lily and took off in under five minutes because there was no way I was going to catch whatever they had.  I decided to make a play date with my friend Tosha and her son, Gus.  It was a great couple hours of the babies playing and Tosha and I catching up on girl gab.  There was one slight hiccup where Lily pooped all over me, but I'm just going to glaze on over that.

 Lily and Gus on their play date

After Tosha's, we made a stop by my brother Nick's house.  Lily loves looking at all the fish in the tanks at Nick's and he loves playing with her, so it was a chance for me to relax for an hour.  Taking care of a baby is exhausting!  Kudos to all the parents out there.

It was now 3pm and Lily and I had not yet had our naps.  We headed to my house where we both immediately passed out on the couch while sharing a pillow and cuddling up to each other.  After an hour and a half of napping, it was time for Lily to go home.

Fast forward to 24 hours later when I got a text from Tosha informing me that her, Gus, and her husband were all sick.  I thought surely we didn't bring the bug into their house.  Fast forward to Monday morning at 2am when I woke up sick.  When I say sick, I don't mean a little cough or stomach ache.  I mean this is the sickest I have ever been.  24 hours of non stop vomiting followed by 24 hours of intense pain.  Long story short, turned out Lily was the carrier of the bug. So, as the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Stay tuned, now that things have settled down I will have more time to post.

A Few Favorites

Apparently starting a blog right before you transitioned into a new position at work wasn't such a great idea.  But, now things have started to level out and I'm ready to blog again.

I thought I'd update everyone on my "I'm going to cook everyday" phase. Surprise, surprise, it didn't last very long.  I was almost positive the crockpot would forever change my life, but the reality is, my work day is longer than most suggested cooking times and I don't feel like driving from Downtown OKC to Edmond during my lunch break.  I should also add, the person I'm cooking for has the taste buds of a six year old.  Seriously, yesterday we were eating lunch at Whole Foods and I looked over and a little girl, no older than eight, had the SAME EXACT items on her plate as Craig! However, I have managed to get a few home cooked meals in that pleased both us.  Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

 Braided Spaghetti Bread

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Spaghetti Casserole

Taco Casserole

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

Crockpot Cooking

I'm going through one of those, "I need to cook more at home" phases.  I know this is one of those things that's easier said than done. When I get home from work, I'm ready for dinner to be ready and on the table.  I don't have the patience to come home, spend 30 minutes preparing the food, then another 45 minutes cooking it.  By the time it's ready to eat, it's my bedtime. 

Enter the crockpot. 

This little sucker is going to help me in my quest to have a homemade meal on the table every night this week.   That's the goal anyway.  I've been perusing the Internet for recipes and thanks to Pintrest, I've found enough to last me until this cooking phase wears off.

I'm anxious to see how long my enthusiasm for home cooked meals lasts.  If you have any must try recipes, please send them my way!

I've Finally Started a Blog!

After seeing a friend of a friend's blog and seeing a years worth of "Wedding Wednesday" postings, I thought to myself, "I can do better than that." My thought is to have this be a little of everything. So here goes nothing!

Last night Craig had to work a little late. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I have the bed time of an eighty year old, or a two year old for that matter. When Craig works late I typically use that as my time to catch up on all my guilty pleasures. Last night it was "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." Normally Wrigley (the six year old yellow lab) just cuddles on me while we discover what shenanigans the ladies are up to. I must've dozed off after I let him outside to potty because I woke up to Craig yelling, "JP, what happened in here?!"

Let me describe what I woke up to. After what I can only imagine being a few minutes of Wrigley barking to be let in, he gave up and pushed the back door open. The back door was WIDE OPEN. Remember the cold front that came through last night? Yeah, the house was freezing when I woke up. I guess Wrigley wanted to teach me a lesson, because he decided to bring pieces of mulch in from the backyard flower beds. He knows we have a strict no mulch, no rocks in the house policy. He must've worked on his revenge for at least an hour because there were three huge piles of mulch in our living room. Keep in mind, he's doing this three feet away from my sleeping body. That rascal! He was probably staring me down and laughing as he did it.

So, if anyone's in the market for a six year old yellow lab with no boundaries, I think I know where you can find one.

The Culprit