Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Sk8r Guurl

Ryan Sheckler has nothing on my kid. 19 months, and she's already learning to ride the board. Not only does she have the age thing on her side, she's a girl! Watch out boys, here comes a whole new breed of sk8rs!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Dessert of the Week: Lemon Bars

My dear Mister feels duped. He thought that when we decided that I would be a professional Mom, that I would turn into Susie Homemaker. But in reality, I knew that would never happen. My dinners are rarely edible, though I do vacuum every other day. I hate laundry, ironing and scrubing toilets. I don't get paid enough to do those things regularly anyway.

Last week the Mister came to me and said, "So and so's stay at home wife cooks him a gourmet breakfast every morning, and prepares him special lunches, and he has 5 star dinners on the table when he comes home. She even bakes for the office. All this and they have a 6 week old kid." My thought is either the guy is on crack or his wife is trying to compensate for something. I told the Mister that it ain't gonna happen in this house, so stop dreaming.

I felt bad about the whole thing, so every week I'm going to bake a dessert, as my effort to be Susie Homemaker. Last week I made Vanilla Cupcakes. Everyone loved them. The Mister did not. Today, I have Lemon Bars in the oven. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
Pinch salt
2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 1/2 small lemons)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan.

Make the crust by combining the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. You may need to dip your fingers into a little flour or confectioners' sugar to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake for 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, when the bars are done.

The Mister



My Mister is such a stud. Sometimes I don't show it, but I love him so, so much.

Monday, June 15, 2009

It's not fair!

My friend Nicole's daughter, Allison, was diagnosed with Leukemia on Friday, June 12, 2009. I am absolutely devastated! My heart aches for the family. Check out the blog I started for them http://teamallisonz.blogspot.com.





Thursday, June 11, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Madison the Supermodel!

We had an amazing photographer come over to our house on Sunday to take pictures of Madison. Madison was having a not so good day, but Jaime did a terrific job catching Madi's good side! Thanks JLV Photography!!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sonna and Mom



Madison eating a lemon.


Mom, Madison and Me


We celebrated my Mom's birthday at the Blue Water Grill in Redondo Beach. It was a fun time!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My Favorite Photo of My Favorite People



What more can I say. I love my husband. I love my daughter.

Monterey Bay Aquarium







We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium March 13, 2009. We had a great time!

Los Angeles Zoo Favorites






We go to the LA Zoo almost weekly. My favorite animal at the zoo is the giraffe. Here a couple of pictures from a recent trip in January.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Friday, November 14, 2008

Reaffirmation

When things get tough or tight I question myself whether I should have stayed home with Madison. I question being a stay at home mom. But then someone says something to you that reaffirms what an amazing job I'm doing. No nanny, au pair, daycare or babysitter could do this job with the same love and commitment that I do.

We were at California Pizza Kitchen on Wednesday, and Madison was in her high chair. Two ladies sat in the next both over, and Madison waited until they looked at her, she waved and said "Hi." The one lady asked me how old Madi is, and I told her just 2 weeks shy of her 1st birthday, which Madison proceeded to show them her index finger to "say" one. Both the ladies were amazed. Again the one lady asked me if I am a stay at home mom. I said I am. Her response was "You can tell, she's far more developed than kids that are not with a parent." That made my heart smile.

After dinner, Madison proceeded to stop at each table on the way out and wave to each patron. No one was annoyed, everyone was super friendly. She even helped the hostess seat a family. My little social butterfly is a lot of work, but it's the best career I've ever had. I'm so glad that I did stay home with her.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

1 for 3, that's good in baseball

For those of you that have seen my status on Facebook, I've been dealing with "kidney stones" since Thursday. Apparently I was very much misdiagnosed by urgent care.

I went into the emergency room last night. After urine tests, blood tests, and ultrasounds, we come to find out that I'm pregnant. But it's a tubal pregnancy. I went in for emergency surgery around 1:15 a.m., and they removed my left fallopian tube. I'm at my IL's now, just chilling, trying to figure things out. First thing I want to know how I got pregnant if I'm taking (not anymore) birth control and using a condom! On top of that, I can't take care of Madison for a few weeks. So I have been pregnant 3 times in my life, with only 1 successful outcome.

I am thankful that I decided to go to the ER last night, because the tube was on the verge of rupturing. On top of this, we're "homeless." We're about a week and a half behind on the remodel, so half our stuff is at my mom's, and the rest at IL's. Now we need to decide where to stay for the next 2 weeks. Oy vey. Say a prayer for us, please.

On a happy note, Madison got another tooth in (that's 7) and she's now almost 23 pounds. She's amazing as always, and is very excited to share with everyone that she's going to be 1 next month.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

So not motivated

So here I sit on Thursday just after noon. Madison is in her crib screaming her head off. We're trying to get her to sleep in her crib by using a modified cry it out method. Oh Lord, give me strength. It worked last night, so I'm hoping it works for her nap too.

I'm so not motivated about work. Sure I have the luxury of working at home, but I have no motivation to even open up my e-mail to check it. I just don't have the heart in it anymore. What should I do. I'm definitely at a crossroad.

Madison is 10 months old today. She's got 6 teeth, and is walking. On top of that she's about 22 pounds. Have mercy.

Friday, September 19, 2008