Charisa Darling

Friday, September 30, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Survivor: Week 3

Deb's team took a hit last night and lost Mark. 

It's hard to refer to him as Papa Bear, a self-given nickname, because it's weird that he wants others to call him that and even stranger that people actually did so. 

The team captain feels okay losing Mark. She never felt like he had a chance to go all the way so losing him now wasn't a big deal.

**************

Congrats, we made it to Thursday. 

Goals for the day:

* To not be offended by cranky postal office workers.

* Sell this house.

* To be strong when I pass the Nutella at the grocery store.

* Possibly squeeze in a workout.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Like a bad day at the races...

All the lights in the house get turned on for every showing.

Sometimes we're gone then for a few hours and I imagine our electric meter spinning out of control like Clark Griswold's with all of his exterior illumination.

I know we don't have to turn all the lights on but we feel the house does look better, brighter, homier, cozier, etc. with them on. And first impressions are everything so we go in with our best foot forward.  

That being said...

we're going through light bulbs like crazy.

Imagine how sad I was yesterday when three boxes of light bulbs fell jumped out of the back of my car as I was lifting the door open. 

(Just for the record, there were many bags back there. It's mysteriously odd that nothing else dropped out. I'm thinking these light bulbs had ulterior motives and big dreams of life on the road.)

Only two broke but I'm still mad because it's wasted money. Next time they're riding up front with me.

...............

That's not all how I lost money yesterday. It gets better! 

I ordered three Christmas presents online last week. They're somewhat big, heavy, and fragile but came with free shipping, so score! I get them over the weekend, open them up yesterday to make sure everything looks good and they're not what I thought they would be. At all. There's no way to make them work, so they have to go back. All of them. All three big, heavy, and fragile things, need to be shipped back on my dime now. Grrr....

Kind of like when I ordered a rocking chair from Ikea, only to find out that it doesn't rock, so it had to be dismantled, packed back up like a jigsaw puzzle, and sent back.

Ooops. 

Here's hoping today is less expensive than yesterday! 

Monday, September 26, 2011

Apple Picking: Failed

Before our scheduled house showing, craft session, and an impromptu trip to a winery, but after Vance's soccer game and team pictures we went to the orchard to pick apples. 

And we failed. Miserably.  

There was only one type to pick and the apples were brown and covered with bad spots. It was sad looking out there, even the trees looked embarrassed. Is it a bad year for apples or was it just the orchard that we went to? 

(However, I was surprised that I couldn't find an organic orchard near us. So, I guess it didn't really matter if we came home empty handed. Not meaning to sound pretentious, but I prefer to buy my apples without chemicals, thankyouverymuch.)   

We pulled up our boot straps (not really) and made an impromptu stop at a winery. Good views, bad wine, but fun nonetheless. Orange soda, root beer, and snacks kept the kids happy too.

* * * * * * *

Backtracking just a bit, Vance played great this weekend and scored 3 goals. Watching the games are less painful this year because the kids are finally starting to get it.

In other non-exciting news we went to the baseball game yesterday. Parking pass + good seats = the only way I'll go. We made a family record and managed to stay until the 7th inning stretch. I brought a coloring book for Vaughn which got her through one inning and giving her a wet wipe so that she could "clean" kept her busy through another. We had a good time.

We had a busy, but good weekend. Hope you all had good ones too! 

Friday, September 23, 2011

"Ice Cream" Failure

A long time ago (June) I tried to dupe the kids. They called me out. Big time. 

Basically you cut up a bunch of bananas, freeze them, then use a food processor to chop them up, add whatever flavoring you'd like and it creates a pseudo-ice cream. I added peanut butter and cocoa powder and I thought it wasn't bad at all. I was actually surprised how good it tasted.

I told the kids to "come try this". I never said it was ice cream. These pictures were not staged. I pushed the bowls in front of them, waited, and snapped away at their first impressions.

(Look how excited Vaughn is here.)

I like how she gives it another try.

Poor Vaughnie. She loves, loves, loves ice cream. I think she had her hopes up because it looked so much like ice cream. Clearly, she was crushed. 

(I wonder if it would have been better if I added frozen berries to it - like a pseudo sorbet? Hmmm...)

*...*...*...*...*...* 

Happy Friday! 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Survivor: Week Two

Vaughn's Team...

is a One Man Band now.

**The team captain wasn't available for an interview after**

the loss, as it was past her bedtime. 

I'm sure she'll take the defeat with great stride. 

................................

Speaking of Vaughn, she fell while running down the driveway yesterday. (She was chasing a leaf.) I knew upon impact it was a bad one. I was behind her and couldn't tell what body part hit first and was hoping it wasn't her face. Today is picture day and that would have made quite the keepsake. Thankfully, her knee and forearm beared the brunt of the fall and all teeth are present and accounted for. 

Happy Thursday!   

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

(Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around...)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Balloon Glow: Finally Made it!

We finally made it to the Balloon Glow this year!

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I've lived here for the majority of my life and have never been. 

It was amazing! There's really nothing to compare it to. It's truly a unique experience.  

Source: Great Forest Park Balloon Race

The last picture is from the Great Balloon Race website and gives a different perspective. (Click on the source to view more  pictures from 2010)

Yes it's crowded, but if you plan correctly it's doable.


The kids really enjoyed it. I don't think they had any idea what to expect, so when the balloons start to inflate they got really excited. 

Fact or Fiction:

When I was a little girl a hot air balloon crashed in the middle of the street just a few houses down from my childhood home. 

Fact!
Poor guy broke his leg. There's never a dull moment!


We definitely want to go next year. Who else is in?


***************
In other news, I'm without a car today. We took it to the shop last night because the MIL light came on. (Not to be confused with the MILF light. I'm sure even if that exists it would mean something else entirely.) 


Happy Taco Tuesday!  

Monday, September 19, 2011

5 years of Nonsense!

I missed my blog birthday. Ooops!

Happy Blog Birthday to Me!

It was a few days ago and we're celebrating the big 5 this year. 5 years of writing complete nonsense about my little family and life.  

This was the the first picture I ever posted. Baby Vance in Albuquerque, NM! Look at those chubby cheeks and curls in his hair! Can't believe how big he is now and how much has changed in 5 short years!

Thanks to all my readers for taking time to stop by to each day and follow along with our little story! 

*************** 

Now back to normal stuff. 

It's Monday.

The weather is supposed to be beautiful all week and I'm excited for that.

Bring it, Fall.

I'm ready for pretty leaves, pumpkins, and apple picking.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Survivor!

We're playing our own form of Survivor around here. 

Teams were formed by picking players randomly from a hat. 

Guess who complained about having Dawn "The Cryer" on his team?

Game on!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

When do bring out the scary? Plus Kid & Soup updates!

Serious question for today: When do you decorate for Halloween? First of all, the above scene is not from my house. This was a small part of a neighbor's display. Halloween is celebrated big here, just like the 4th of July. It's a phenomenon. Is it too early now? Do you wait until October 1st? What do you do? ^^^0^^^ ^^^0^^^ ^^^0^^^ Here's some updates from last week. Vaughn: She did great in her gymnastics class. She was excited to jump on the spring board and walk on the beam. However, afterwards she asked when she was going to her ballet class, which came as a surprise because she's not signed up for a ballet class. Hmmm.... Vance: He did great in his first two soccer games of the season. In his first game he scored a goal and couldn't have been more excited about it. Go Vance! The Soup: Turned out really good. It was a Cheese tortellini and spinach soup that I found from the Life in Grace site. Click for the link. I did mine pretty much like hers but I added more carrots and celery and also added crushed red pepper flakes which gave a little bit of heat. I would definitely make this a day in advance as it thickened up nicely from the starch in the pasta. I'll definitely make this one again.  Happy Survivor Night!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

My current campaign

I have roughly 48 days to convince Vaughn to want to be Super Girl for Halloween.

She doesn't know it but I bought this costume on clearance last year. She tends to be a little rough on costumes so that's why I never gave it to her. 

I normally don't do this type of thing but I had Wonder Woman underoo's when I was little and I found myself a little nostalgic in the Target aisle that day. 

From here on out I'll be talking up Super Girl. We'll see if she takes the bait or if I'll be buying yet another princessy ensemble. 

***************

Reminder!

Parenthood is on tonight! Survivor tomorrow! Any new shows that you're excited about this season?

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Fall Birch Tree Paintings

Fall! It's my favorite season! 

I do this project every year with the kids and they always enjoy it. It's a great way to introduce the season and start the conversation of what happens in the fall. 

Let's go!

This is one of those easy projects that can be done many different ways to suit different levels of kids as well as highlight different art techniques and ideals. 

This time around I wanted the kids to mix their own colors, so I limited them to primary paint colors. We used sponges instead of brushes, just for something different. Feel free to mix it up and put your own spin on it!

You'll always need black paper, one piece for each, something to squirt the paint into, a rectangular piece of cardboard (heavy cardboard works best), white paint, and something bigger than your piece of cardboard to squirt the white paint to make the trees. I used a piece of foil because it was handy. 

Use visuals!

Most kids don't know what birch trees look like, so take a hike, grab a book, or use a computer to show them. They'll have a better understanding of what they're going to be making. Google Images is great for this! 

Dip and drag.

Squirt white paint onto your foil that's just as long as your piece of cardboard. Then dip and drag onto your piece of paper to make the trunk of the tree.

Vance demonstrating the dipping...

and then the dragging.

Once the trunks have been made it's time for leaves.

Viola! 

Beautiful trees!

I'm linking this fun project up to the following parties this week: