SHOTS!

My friends with babies older than mine warned me that watching shots is so hard. Well, I'm tough, I reasoned. I can do this. It can't be that bad.

Ruby turned two months and we were off to get the shots. I went alone with her as I knew it couldn't be that big of a deal. 

In the waiting room I began to get nervous. You know that knot in your stomach? I said a few prayers under my breath and quietly prepared myself.

The nurse came out, "Ruby." I gathered my things and began the long journey back making sure to have the pacifier handy. "We'll put the pacifier down. They always spit it out anyway and it just gets in the way," the nurse explained as she removed Ruby's prized possession. 

The next few moments are too painful to recapture on paper, but here's a picture that was taken just moments after the shots.

Now I send Camm when Ruby needs to get shots.

New Year's Trip to Colorado--by Ruby

I had a super fun trip to Colorado for Uncle Josh's wedding. 

Bride and groom busy 

Let me back up and tell about the WHOLE trip:

Adults always complain about no leg room on the planes.
What about me? I had no head room...

I got to hang out with cousin Madeline. She's a cool big girl.

Cousin Grant stayed by and watched.
He was too shy to get too close. Silly boy.

Madeline thought I was trying to kiss her.
Really I was trying to pull her hair.

Madeline let me play with ALL her big girl toys.
It was so fun. She kept bringing me more and more.

We had fun at the wedding too. I have a new Aunt Rachel. That makes two Aunt Rachels and one Great-Aunt Rachel that I now have. Cool!

Mommy wore these shoes to the wedding. She calls them "Ruby red slippers".
She says she got them because I'm her Ruby.
That's nice, but those don't look like slippers to me, but considering how many times she looked like she was slipping and nearly falling off of them, maybe they are "slippers."

Miraculously, she never fell all the way to the ground (though it was pretty close lots of times)

This is my baby cousin Gauge.
He's a full two weeks younger than me. So I'm the big girl!

Cousin Lydia is such a pretty flower girl!

Come on, enough with the paparazzi.
I have a lot of important food I need to steal off of Mommy's plate. 

Cousin Grant is my role model.

I can't wait until I can play with them!

OK, Mom. I know you're busy talking.
But must I get lost under all this hair?

When my Mom told me I had to take a nap,
 I was very relieved to get rescued from the boredom by Madeline!

asparagus

I mentioned that I hate canned asparagus in the top ten grossest foods blog, but I think it deserves its own blog.

When Camm and I were getting married, his sweet little grandmother gave us a bunch of canned foods. The asparagus was one of the cans that never looked too appetizing.

A couple of days ago Camm decided he wanted to cook dinner. I decided I’d make a side to go with the wonderful chicken I could smell. I looked around the house—in the fridge, the pantry, other random cupboards—but I couldn’t really find ANYTHING (that’s when you know it is time to go grocery shopping). Then I came across the asparagus. Hmmm…Can’t be too bad. I love fresh asparagus.

Since I’ve never eaten it or cooked it, I went to the internet to find out what to do with canned asparagus. I found a couple of things as follows:

“I totally disagree with asparagus in a can. I think it tastes awful.”[i]

“Oh, canned is not a good way to experience Asparagus for the first time....It is very good but be ware that it is much better fresh and steamed….PLEASE DO NOT EAT Asparagus out of the can. It would be an awful way to eat it for the first time. It's so nasty out of a can! Go to the grocery store and buy fresh!”[ii]

Of course, these comments didn’t stop me from wanting to try it. After all, we had it. I couldn’t just throw it away, right?

So I chose to sauté it. What should I season it with? I thought. I rummaged through the cupboards and just started putting things in it.

Oregano . . . cilantro . . . oh there’s some Ramen seasoning—may as well try it . . . salt . . . garlic . . .

I reasoned that with all that seasoning, it couldn’t possibly be gross.

Camm made beautifully delicious chicken. The asparagus, on the other hand, was not beautiful, not delicious, and not something I ever want to experience again.

So, I grabbed the dish and headed for the trash. Camm stopped me and urged me to throw it outside, “We need it as far away as possible.”

I opened the back door and TOSSED it. Somehow I tossed it right onto the side of my house.     

I think next year I’ll use this instead of a Christmas wreath.

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[i] http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/361080

[ii] http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070817131129AAJRFvB

MY TRIP TO THE MUSEUM by Ruby

Mommy and Daddy took me to the Museum of Natural Life.
They told me I would get to see LOTS of stuffed animals.
I have some stuffed animals of my own that I love playing with.

I've loved my stuffed animals ever since I was a tiny baby.
 Look at the excitement on my face here.

I was sure excited to go play with so many at the museum.
Here I am in the car! Let's go!!!

What are these things?
They don't look like my stuffed animals at home

Mommy, what happened to these animals? No, seriously what happened?

My parents just make me take lots of pictures. I wonder
where I could get a pair of antlers like that for me.

Posing again. This time with Mommy

Afterwards we went out for lunch.
Look at me sitting up so tall like a big girl!

Come on parents! Get me some FOOD!

Maybe the waiter will help me...
"Excuse me?"

Oh, its no use...

Happy New Year!

The end of the year…

As I approach the end of the year, I can’t help but feel excited.

“Why?” you ask.

Well, for a number of reasons: I should be graduating, hopefully we’ll be getting jobs and living far above the poverty line, Ruby will start crawling/walking/talking soon, I will be turning the landmark 25, etc.

But the thing that I am the most excited for is (drumroll please)………….

Skipbo? Let me explain:

Back in 2010 I won every game of Skipbo that Camm and I ever played. Morning, afternoon, or evening, I could slaughter him at that game. I loved it. We would play and play and I won EVERY time. We celebrated the New Year and shortly thereafter played again.

I lost. That’s curious. I always win this game. We played again. I lost. Again. I lost. Lost…lost…lost…lost. Game after GAME. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had not won a single game in the entire year of 2011. I tried again and again. And I lost and lost and lost. Over and over.

What do you think? Will 2012 be my year?

top ten

As the end of the year approaches, we are inundated with top 10 lists.

2011 TOP TEN_______________(fill in the blank with any number of things: actors, actresses, athletes, movies, youtubes, baby names, vacation spots, places to live, people, companies to work for, restaurants, healthy foods, or anything else you could possibly think of)

So, obviously I have to write my own top ten list to just to fit in (granted, I’m sure this top ten list has been written by someone else at some point).

TOP TEN WORST FOODS PEOPLE EAT (in abc order):

10. Anchovies—with all of the delicious seafood in the world, who decided anchovies were something worth eating?

9. Canned asparagus. I’d never had it before but I found a can in the back of our pantry the other day. I sautéed them up and . . . (drum roll) . . . I came up with something so disgusting I couldn’t even get one piece of it to slither down the throat.

8. Cheesecake—I know, I know. Everyone likes this. But me. Its just that every time I bite into the beautifully decorated masterpiece that looks absolutely stunning, I am rudely interrupted by a terrible taste of . . . cheese? Why would I want to eat cheese  if I am eating cake?

7. Green Beans—I didn’t actually know these were so bad until I saw my baby utterly refuse to eat them. I put them in her mouth and she stuck her tongue full of green beans out as far as she could until every last particle slid off. She then grabbed her bib and used it to wipe off the taste in her mouth. When I switched to something that she did like, she kept staring at it to make sure it wasn’t the wretched green beans.

6. Hot N Spicy Ramen Noodles. Admittedly, I haven’t tried it. But just the look on the package made me sick to my stomach.

5. Mushrooms. I don’t eat fungus.

4. Off-brand Graham Crackers. Can anyone say “cardboard”?

3. Over-priced low-quality pizza. I like pizza. But have you ever been to a supposedly “nice” pizza place (you know it is supposed to be nice because the lights are so dark you can barely see your fork and a personal pizza costs $20)? You spend your $20, get your super thin-sliced thing they call pizza, and are left still starving.

2. Subway’s tomatoes—ever noticed that they are always white? Tomatoes are supposed to be red.

1. Sushi. We all know that all it is is cold rice, seaweed and raw fish. Appetizing? Everyone says they love it only because it is the new, cool, and trendy food to eat. It is a modern day Emperor’s New Clothes situation.

What things would you add to the list?

Bathrobed in public

Have you ever played the “one-up” game? You know the one I mean where one person tells a story, then the next person tells a similar story, just a little more interesting. Sometimes the game is played intentionally, but more commonly, the game is unintentional. The other day Camm unintentionally (I think) one-upped me.

I had to go to the doctor for some kind of allergic rash I had all over my body (we’ll talk about that later). While I was in the waiting room trying to keep Ruby entertained, I saw a girl pass by wearing a bathrobe. Now, I’m the sort of person who thinks nothing of running to the store in pajama bottoms, but a bathrobe? That seemed even too extreme for my fashion sense. I chalked it up to the fact that she was probably sick and that was that.

 

When I got home I told Camm and asked him if he has ever gone anywhere in public with a bathrobe on.

That’s where the one-upping game came into play.

Camm: When I was on my mission I was in the parking lot of a Pit BBQ take-out place (this is in TN). All of the sudden I see a man get out of his car and order his pit BBQ in only a bathrobe.

Me: Oh yeah (I am mildly amused)

Camm: Yeah, you wanna see a picture? (my interest suddenly grows)

I’m not sure which is funnier—that Camm saw this guy, or that he took a picture of this guy. Either way, Camm sure one-upped me.

Can anyone one-up Camm?