Yet another baking story

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
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I know I've written about baking with Pumpkin before. In fact, I've written about it a few times. But I think it's such a great experience for her, plus we end up with yummy bread, plus the photos can be so funny (to me anyway), that I'm going to do it again.



Now, I could share a photo like the one on the right to let you see just how "into" the process she gets - and how into the flour - but I think the next two really make it clear...






Yup, flour from head to toe.


We had a great time baking as always, but then poor Pumpkin suddenly got very tired.
Which led to this...


And, as you might have expected, this...


And I thought I was the one getting gray hair around here!

Developmental Milestones... to fear

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
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All parents know there are developmental milestones to which you look forward... while simultaneously dreading. You know, like when they start crawling and you have to actually do the babyproofing that you had intended to do since you brought the tyke home. Or when they JUST start trying to walk, and you realize that your house has way more sharp edges than you ever realized, and that the little one is now going to be able to get into a LOT more trouble. Or even when they finally get enough fine motor skill to be able to put stuff (and by stuff I do mean anything that happens to be inedible and/or on the floor) into their drooly little mouths.

Well, we've reached one of those milestones in development of which I wasn't even aware. Today, for the first time, Pumpkin, little problem-solver that she is, started pulling a chair from one room to another to try to get stuff I'd put up on a window sill out of her reach. Yup, she figured out her solution and was putting it in action. Granted, the chair's rather bigger than she is, and it would have taken her a while, but she's a determined little thing and would have managed to get it there, of that I have no doubt.

*sigh* Sometimes these "advances" in physical ability or mental prowess leave something to be desired, in terms of the parents having to figure out how to keep up!

Few are the children...

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Warning:
This trick may not work on any other child.

So here I was standing in the kitchen, starting supper prep. I had been starving, so had just put away the bag of "Steak Fajita and Onion" chips from the previous post, after sharing a couple with Pumpkin.

She comes running back into the kitchen.

P: 'Nother one!
M: Sorry, honey, they're all gone.
P: 'Nother one!
M: They're all gone, but you can have one of these mushrooms if you'd like.
P: Mushroom!

Which she happily took in her little hand and ran out of the room. Few are the children who will accept a plain raw mushroom in place of a tortilla chip!!


P.S. And as I typed this, she came running back in (not that I usually let her wander with food, mind you), saying, "'Nother one mushroom!" That's my girl! :)

Two more chip flavors

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Ok, sorry I haven't posted for a bit. Been trying to catch up on laundry, etc. The Xmas cards arrived today, so now I'll be busy writing those for a while.

BUT, just to tide you over, here are a couple of other potato chip flavors. I haven't found anything as strange as Roast Ox Flavor, but here's a couple I don't know if you can find back in North America...

Sizzling Steak and Onion Fajita

and

Tiger Prawn and Crushed Garlic Flavour

Sorry this isn't more entertaining or informative, but somebody needs a diaper change, so see ya later!

South Park People

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

So with the help of Mr. Kluges I've managed to get save my South Park people. Please ignore the funny lines - I ended up taking screen shots and cropping and I guess I missed those and don't really feel like going back and fixing them yet tonight.


<- Here's me. (It's cold and rainy in Ireland currently.)

And here's
Pumpkin. ->






(Ain't she cute?!)

GP - Mr. Kluges's Thoughts on Thanksgiving

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

It's Thanksgiving, so be thankful. Be thankful that you have Thanksgiving. Why? Well, if it weren't for Thanksgiving, Christmas would start November 1st, the day after Halloween.


There's no Thanksgiving in Ireland. We've already had Christmas decorations, Christmas sales and Christmas cheer for 3 weeks. Ho, ho,ho. And only 4 more weeks to go.


Two months of Christmas every year. That's 16% of your life. Spent celebrating Christmas.


So be thankful for Thanksgiving. You get a whole extra month of your life to focus on something else.

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Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope you have a wonderful, tasty day filled with friends, family, and blessings! - Ms. Huis Herself

ARGH! Nap, child, nap! aka "Smiles on the soles of her feet"

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Our girl is currently going through an "I don't want to fall asleep or nap" phase. I HATE IT TO HIGH HOLY HELL!

I know sleep begets sleep. I know that when she's overtired she's not going to want to fall asleep because she's overtired. I know to watch for her drowsy signs. I know a little crying is not the end of the world, even though it can be DANG hard for me to listen to. I know part of the problem is that she needs to relearn how to fall asleep on her own 'cuz once she's asleep it's fine, but she's exhausted and won't give up and close her eyes.

ARGH!

I also know that when she's overtired and grumpy and not wanting to nap, it makes me all grumpy and stressed and overtired, too.

Oh yeah, she's currently upstairs, banging on her door, saying "Momma! Come up here! Momma!" Not the most conducive atmosphere for any sort of writing, but THE GIRL NEEDS TO NAP!

*sigh*


Ok, I was going to write about this in a less vent-y way, but I guess that's not happening today. I WAS going to talk about Sunday, when this streak seemed to start. She struggled with falling asleep for her afternoon nap for forever, and managed to convince Mr. Kluges and I to come in several times to change her diaper, give her a snack, put her back in her crib, whatever. Finally it quieted down and we thought we were in the clear.

20-30 minutes later she called down, "Daddy! Stickers on my tummy!"


Turns out she'd found the reward stickers for sitting on the potty (smiley faces) and actually going on the potty (Winnie the Pooh and friends).


And apparently, smiley face stickers are better than socks. The foot underneath has even more.

Someday we'll find it...

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
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One of my favorite things about where we're living is the great view from the kitchen and back yard.

This is what I got to see this morning.

Yeah! I'm tops!

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Some of you who know Big Daddy might remember when he blogged about how he was the top link for a certain search term... well, he's found a couple more.

I bring this up because, looking at how people got to my site, I found out that if you search Google.co.uk I come up as the top result for the term...

roast ox flavor

Tee hee! Yay, me?

P.S. Ok, and to make it weirder? I'm the only one that comes up on a Google.com search for how many seeds in a pumpkin/helping people. Not sure what exactly they were looking for, but they found me anyway.

South Park Friday Fun

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Ok, because it's Friday and I know you're all itching for the weekend and not wanting to actually do work at work, here's a fun link. You can make yourself a South Park character!

http://www.sp-studio.de/

You pick your clothes, hair, eyes, accessories, etc., etc., etc. It's good fun! I'd put mine up here, but I can't seem to figure out how to save/copy it, but that's fine.

Have fun! I did! My South Park Pumpkin was way cuter than her South Park Mommy though. :)

The good news... no need for Photo Shoot #2

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
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Well, I'm happy to say that Mr. Kluges and I found a photo out of the 100-some photo shoot with which we're both pleased. I looked through them all yesterday and just pulled up the 9 or 10 best for him to see, but it was a pretty easy choice. Not going to post it here, since many of you will be getting it in the mail... someday...

'Cuz even though I've got it all ready on the photo card website*, I'm waiting on Mr. Kluges to do a final check on a different gift so I can order them at the same time.

Then it's still the 21 days to get the order... and then the week or 10 days (or more) to write them all up...then the time for the US ones to get across the ocean...then however long for the poor, overburdened postal workers to get them to your doors.

(There, do you think that's enough of an excuse if my cards come late? *grin*)

Anyway, just wanted to let you know the good news that I DO NOT have to try for another photo shoot with the two year old, even though I know you all enjoyed hearing about my first one!

*photogifts.ie I used them last year to make Mr. Kluges' annual calendar when I found out that there is NO PLACE in Cork (the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland, people) that does photo calendars. Not the kind with a different photo for each month. Sure, they'll do mousemats (aka mousepads), coffee cups, and even whole-year-calendars-on-one-page-with-one-picture, but not a turn-the-page-for-the-next-month photo calendar.

Photo shoot with a two-year-old

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Doesn't this look like just a beautiful set-up for a holiday card photo? I mean, I got the fireplace, I got the (mini) tree, I got the stocking, I got the holiday stuffed toys... heck, I even got the fake icicles/snow.

What don't I got?

A girl who will hold still long enough to be IN THE DANG PICTURE!



I know she's only two.

I know two is wiggly.


I know it's fun to turn around in circles when you're two.


And we all have photos like that one.

But please, child...

Just HOLD STILL!

Do enough random thoughts count as an entry?

****************
copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Survey says.... yes!

Mr. Kluges's sourdough bread turned out very well, except that he could have slashed the top deeper (it ended up splitting) and it needed to bake a while longer because it tastes a little underdone. Otherwise, very yummy! He's started a sponge again tonight from the starter (and tied up BOTH of my mixing bowls) so that he can mix up another loaf tomorrow and one of us can bake it the next day. This is a multi-day process, you know, and one that involves planning ahead.

I bought a Xmas tree today. We wanted a small one 'cuz I don't know where we'd put a big one, plus have I mentioned the absolutely no storage in Irish houses? I got a 80cm, 10 euro one (bargain shopper me!) that has fiber optic lights. Woo-hoo! It's a far cry from the fairly realistic (and lightless) 6 footer in storage in our basement in MN, but Pumpkin thinks it's awesome. Mr. Kluges says we should put it away until after Thanksgiving, but I put it up tonight so I can try to get Xmas card photos taken of Pumpkin today or tomorrow.

Our Pumpkin has developed quite the imagination. This week she pretended she was milk. And we didn't mishear her when she said, "I'm milk!" because then she told us to take her lid off. *shrug* I didn't know dairy products were so fun to impersonate.

And I'll leave you with this...

Before I had a child...
I never thought I would say, at the dinner table, "Nothing eats dog poop."

Cheddar Mango Chutney Chips and Mosaic Status

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

So, photo fun for all of you today. Here's another slightly unusual sort of potato chip that I used this blog as an excuse to eat, uh, I mean, that I wanted to show you all to highlight some of the cultural and culinary differences between the US and Ireland. Yeah, that's it. Now I know cheese-flavored chips are far from strange, but I liked the combo of cheddar and mango chutney. Yup, basically some sort of tropical fruit salsa along with your wedge o' cheddar. Actually, I think these are quite nice - it's cheesy but with a nice little sweet and fruity taste to it as well. Yum. Too bad they're all gone already...

(Have I mentioned that I'm not being hugely successful with the one treat per day goal? Doing better than I would have without the goal, but dang, temptation with chocolate is difficult to resist!)

And speaking of goals, here's the back of my mosaic as of the beginning of November. (The coaster is there for scale.)
(And aren't you impressed I actually thought ahead enough to take a "before" picture?!?)


And here's where it is now. You can see I've gotten a few more rows done, but man, is it time-consuming! One of those little rows takes about 45 minutes. Yup, 3/4 of an hour! And once I've gotten one row done, my back is sore from sitting hunched over and I'm ready for a break. So, I might not get done by the end of November, but I'm glad to say that progress is definitely being made. Also, I'm about out of cut tiles, so cutting a bunch more is going to have to happen soon - probably before I finish the next row or two.
So there you go - a few photos and a bit of an update on a goal. Have a good weekend!

Already?!?

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

I just realized that it's going to take 3 weeks to order and receive photo cards, if that's what I want to do this year. If I did them this weekend ('cuz it's online), then I would presumably get them at the very end of November or very beginning of December. ..

And then I'd have to write them all, which could take a week or more even doing several every day...

Which would put me at about the 10th or so...

And normally it takes about a week to mail to the US...

But it'll be during the busy Xmas season, which means longer....

Which would put them arriving around the 20th or after...

Which would be just in time for Xmas...

Which means I'd better decorate for the holidays this weekend and take some photos of Pumpkin.

How can the holiday rush be here already?!?!?

Random Brain-Clogging Thoughts

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Sorry for the paucity of posts lately. I have been either busy chasing Pumpkin, sitting here with no idea what to write about, or continually vetoing my own ideas or deciding I just don't have enough to say about them. So, in order to clear my head of these semi-ideas, and to actually get a blog entry (hee - I wrote "clog" first... maybe 'cuz my brain's clogged?) I'm going to just share some random thoughts.


My MIL called yesterday. I was worried at first because nobody Stateside ever calls us during the week, but here's what she had to say, "The Democrats won; you can come home now!"

My do-it-yourself husband, who has brewed his own beer, made mulberry mead from mulberries we picked in our local cemetary back home, and even made his own maple syrup from our box elder trees, has decided to try to make sourdough bread. Which is a great idea. Unfortunately, his first attempt at starter turned pink (a bad sign - throw it out according to the book) and smelled like milk vomit. Not nice little baby spit up either, but upchuck o' cow juice. Even with the plastic wrap over the bowl. It was nasty. (And then when he dumped it down the laundry room sink 'cuz I wouldn't let him dump that noxious, funky stuff in the kitchen for fear of stinking us all out, he accidentally knocked one of my drying bras into it. EWWWWW!!!)

Is it possible to become addicted to a TV show? 'Cuz I've been watching CSI:Wherever whenever any version has been on. Mr. Kluges has started calling himself a CSI widower.

Speaking of TV shows, I love that my husband is in IT 'cuz it means he knows a guy who knows a guy who... well, anyway, let' s just say we usually end up with the latest "Lost" the day after it's been shown in the US... and they just played the first episode of this season on regular TV this past Tuesday.

It was a beautiful sunny day today. While walking to the grocery store (which Pumpkin and I do 3-4 times each week), we nodded hello to a guy we have a nodding acquaintance with. (That means we have no idea of his name or anything, but we see him often enough on our walk that it would be rude to ignore each other. We have gotten quite a number of people on this list over the past year.) As in MN, we both commented on the lovely day. I said it was great to see the sun shining again. He said, "Oh yes, it's a massive day!"


So, here's hoping it's a "massive day" wherever you are! Cheers!

And you thought "Cool Ranch" was an exotic flavor...

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************


Have I mentioned yet that they have some weird potato chip flavors here?


I found these on my wonderful, successful (I got boots! and shirts! and a sweater!), and relaxing afternoon shopping adventure. It was fabulous!

(The shopping and afternoon, that is... the chips were only fine.)

I get to go to Cork! All by myself!

****************
copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

I'm posting just quickly to balance out the rather negative post from yesterday. You see...

today I get to go shopping in Cork ALL BY MYSELF!

Hooray! I've got a bunch of little errands to run that will just be easier to do without Pumpkin along. Things like bringing in the digital camera and printing out a ton of photos to send to relatives & recent visitors. And Pumpkin? Not so patient with waiting while Mommy pokes at a little computer screen to select the right photos and quantities and all. Also I want to do a little browsing through the charity shops (second hand stores) to look for jeans for her, maybe hit a store or two to look for clothes for me, go to the library and actually get to spend time in the nonchildren's section... Oooh! I'm just so excited thinking about the freedom!

Not that Pumpkin is difficult to take shopping. She's really quite good, but I can try on maybe three things each in two stores before her patience is worn out. And it's 30 minutes in the children's room at the library and a quick 3 or 4 in the main section.

But today? Today I'm leaving the girl with Daddy and enjoying an afternoon on my own.

In fact, why am I wasting time writing about it to you people? *grin* I'm off!

A List of Things To Try...

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copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

...when your small, tired child is driving tired you insane.

• Try to get child to take nap.
• Turn on the tv to kids' shows for a break. Oh wait, this is another week when every school in the nation is on midterm break, so they change the programming on the only station (1 of 4 since no cable) that has preschool shows during the day so there's crap on.
• Try to get child to take nap.
• Feed child "noodles! noodles!" and then try to get her to take nap again.
• Ignore yelling, crying from her room and visualize wonderful vacation...
  
• let child out of crib to sit on potty
  
• fail at today's goal of one treat per day - I need chocolate, damn it!
• get on internet and do two-windows-open surfing - one with Elmo, other with news, bloglines, Tomato Nation, etc.
• Read books (again), give snack, give water, change diaper, and put down for nap (again).

And finally... peace and quiet. Dang I hate the days when she's acting "terribly two!" They are LONG before we even hit noon. *sigh*

November GoalS - That's right... it's plural!

****************
copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Yup, it's November (already!) and time to regoalify. Now I thought (exceedingly briefly) about NaNoWriMo, but decided this was not the year. I also considered NaBloPoMo, but after more thought (and a shameful amount of chocolate consumption today), I realized I needed to choose a different goal.

Remember last month when my rather simplistic goal was to avoid buying our Halloween candy until this weekend or yesterday? Well, I bought it Monday night, opened a bag on Tuesday, and only ate a few. So, Yay for me! Also, good thing I chose that for a goal, 'cuz a bag o' candy would not have a) remained unopened for more than 24 hours in our house, and b) contained any candy after having been open for about 4 days.

Evidence of the preceeding surmises? The rather-too-large amount of chocolate that I have consumed throughout the day. Now, I'm not going to name numbers, but I will say it was more than I should have, less than I wanted, and not enough to fill a cereal bowl. But it was enough to bump NaBloPoMo out of the running for a goal this month, if for no other reason than I could see my willpower running out the back door and across the hilly pastures, sprinkling candy wrappers as she went. Instead we have... duh duh DAAAH...

To eat not more than ONE treat* per day.
*Treat may be a Halloween-size candy bar, cookie, single serve bag of chips, etc.

Obviously today is blown, but hey, tomorrow will be better... and my hips and tummy will thank me later. (Even if my tastebuds are cussing me out.)


Now, I'm really upping the ante here 'cuz I'm going to have a... wait for it... SECOND goal this month! I know - get out of town! Yeah, well, it's because much of the last month I felt like I was just treading water. I was doing and redoing the same endless tasks of laundry, cleaning, diapering, cooking, grocery shopping, etc. etc. etc. and started feeling just bogged down in it. No real feeling of accomplishment... I just kept turning around and seeing that I needed to do AGAIN what I had just finished doing.

That previous paragraph was all to lead into my second goal... You see, I started a mosaic way back in '02 when we visited Ireland the first time. It's a large oval sign with our surname, a border, and hops and barley at the edges. That's all done... but I need to finish the back and then grout it. Then it'll be done! Hooray! (Well, except for actually living in a house we own again so we can put it up... and figuring out how exactly we're going to put it up... but that's not a now problem.) Therefore, my second goal is to finish mosaicking (sp?? real word??) the back of my sign by the end of the month. It's not too hard since the tiles are already cut (mostly by Mr. Kluges, in fact), and I'm not doing anything complicated or fancy on the back, but it is putzy and time-consuming. However, on the plus side, I can do it on the coffee table while watching TV for short stretches before the leaning over kills my back. And when it's finally done - THAT'll be a great feeling of accomplishment.


So there you go... another month, another goal (or two, for ambitious me today). Wish me luck!