I just scored a seemingly yummy recipe from AJ – my awesome aunt.   I cannot wait to try it, but being as though I will be out of town this weekend, I thought I’d post it here for anyone who wants to try it…

ratatouille recipe

1. Heat 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil in large pan over medium high heat
2. Add Onion and garlic — cook, stirring 5 minutes or until onion is tender
3. Add all the chopped veggies (I added as I chopped) and cook, stirring for another 5 or so minutes. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.
4. Add Vegetable broth and Marinara and mix well.
5. Transfer to a baking dish, sprayed with Pam
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
7. sprinkle top with 4-6 oz low-fat mozzarella cheese
8. bake another 15 minutes

I just left school at lunch to get our cat some cat food (so she doesn’t starve over the weekend while we are in Chicago.)  On Fridays, a bunch of us order lunch out, and we rotate who treats, so we’re not always paying each week.   My friend ordered Chinese food today… it is delicious!  (Just thought I’d throw that in as I am eating it right now…) Anyway, I digress…

While I was out running errands, I decided to stop at Creative Kid Stuff in Maple Grove to get my nephew a cool 1st birthday gift.  (I’m always trying to be the cool auntie!)  Holy Crap!   Have you been to this store?  I. love. it.

I bought some of Punky’s birthday gifts there a few weeks ago, so I knew I’d score big today when I went!

Man.

I

heart

this

store!

This is what I originally bought for my little nephew…

But it bothered me that it says ages 2 and up…

I learned today that there is latex in the red fuzzy stuff, so if kids are drooling or putting things in their mouth still, this would not be a good idea.   So, I will save this for another occasion.

I searched around and found this super cute “Silly Soft Seating.”  I bought the green one.

How incredibly cute is that?!?

Then, Punky needs a gift to give his little cousin, so I found these absolutely nifty (who uses that word anymore?) vehicles (which are dishwasher safe!) and disposable car maps.  How awesome are those?

Awesome.

Can’t wait to give them to the little birthday boy tomorrow!

So, the holidays are coming.  I guess as much as I hope for them to stay away a little longer, they never listen to me.

Along with the holidays…lots of family time, food, parties…and presents.

Presents.

I have been thinking a bit more deeply this year about presents.    In fact, I am even thinking a bit more about what goes on my own Christmas list this year.   Raise your hand if your house isn’t already covered with toys, books, knick knacks, gadgets and gizmos.   First, where on God’s green earth can any more fit?!?!?

So, what to do?   Hmmmmmmmmm.

I have been trying to think practical, yet needed or wanted.   My goal this year…organization.  For example, I would love any of these Store In Style cubes or Making Memories Embellishment Center from Archiver’s, Michaels, etc.  IN fact, I wouldn’t even mind gift cards so I could use the 40% off coupons and make the money for further!  I have so many ideas, and projects I’d like to do, but my stuff is so unorganized and so scattered throughout the basement, I can’t do it!   Just think what I could produce if it were all right there!

The Store In Style cubes

Making Memories Embellishment Center

the Clip-It-Up!

Seriously.   I am all about getting stuff organized.

But, you know what is phenomenal?

Minneapolis now has

The Container Store!   F.i.n.a.l.l.y!

Imagine what I could do with things from there?!?!?

Organization Wish List 2009

• Punky’s closet
• My Closet
• Entryway Closet
• Laundry Room ideas
• Scrapping Area in Basement
• Toy Area in Basement

Really.  These are things I really wish for this Christmas season.   Organization.  Period.   I am drowning in the chaos.

Ok, you got me, that can’t be all I want, right? 

I also would love to have…

• a new computer (ours runs on 32 G!  Talk about archaic!).  A new computer would let me use my digital scrapping software and my photo editing software!  Right now, I can’t run either!)  (This would be if Santa had NO financial worries for Christmas gifts!)
• a mommy necklace (I’d even like it more if I would get pregnant soon and be able to add more names!!!)  (See Lisa Leonard Designs)
• pictures from my mom and dad’s families when they were growing up… (even just images on a CD so I can do things with them when I get a new computer!)
• photos of my childhood
• photo gifts  like scrapbooks, coasters
• pictures of  my family (nephews, siblings, etc)
• a comfy throw blanket or afghan (red) to match our living room… I am tiring of the Thomas and Cat and the Hat throws!)
• any Disney DVDs
• a gift certificate to my hair salon.     Rocco Altobelli
• a gift certificate for manis/pedis
• a digital picture frame
• Burberry Touch for Women Perfume
• socks, socks, and more socks!   Dress socks, fun socks, trouser socks, cute socks. Just. Socks.
• gift cards to Costco (for photo prints), Old Navy (for shopping sprees)…
• a necklace organizer… like this… (oh no, I’m back to the organization pattern!)

and maybe some ADD/ADHD meds for myself to help me get through the holiday season! 

That should do it.

Hmmmmmmm.   I have an obscene craving for salt this afternoon.   I rummaged through my desk, purse, pockets, etc to find any and all coins for a friendly stop at the local vending machine in the teacher’s lounge.   Yum.   What did I find?   A little tiny, but extremely salty bag of Cheez-its.     Perfection.  (Almost Totally worth the 75 cents!)

Now, where did I put  my can of Coke Zero?

Topic this week:   10 ways to waste time on the internet.

Man, only 10?  I can think of quite a few more than that!

Here we go…

1. Evil facebook games (Bejeweled Blitz, Farmville, Farkle, etc)
2. Facebook period.  end.of.story.  Going through photos, status updates, and links, etc.  You could I  seriously waste a lot of time there!
3. This is why you are fat...
4. The People of Walmart
5. Looking up movies, actors, TV shows on Internet Movie Database.
6. Googling yourself or anyone you know.
7. Google Earth.  enough said.
8. Fark.
9. YouTube.
10. Awkward Family Photos
11. Cake Wrecks
12. Draw a House
13. I Can Has Cheezeburger
14. Stumble Upon
15. Draw Ball
16. Wordle.

I could go on…..but really?!? 

Click here for more 10 on Tuesday participants!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Are you feeling guilty for avoiding making a dentist appointment for just one more month because you hate going there so much? Hope that no one saw you pick your nose while you sat at the traffic light? Overcome with shame because, in your house, cleaning for guests just means shoving stuff into drawers and closets? Well don’t be! Not Me! Monday was born out of MckMama’s desire to admit some of her imperfections and reveal a few moments she’d rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing!

So, every week I read MckMama’s crazy posts about things she never does, and every week I vow to do the same thing, but I have a little problem.   My pride.  Who wants to admit things like that?  Well, this week, I am taking the plunge… here we go…

This week, I did not put my mask on upside down at the clinic when Hubby brought me to Urgent Care.  I most definitely did not.  Hubby did not have to ever so sweetly tell me how to put it on.   That so never happened!

I most certainly did not brush my teeth with my little guy’s toddler toothpaste because my toothpaste was gone and Hubby’s was getting low, too.   Nope, who would do that?  Not me!

I also certainly did not eat a bunch of Punky’s Kit Kat bars that were lying around aftter Halloween.  Nope, that would be so wrong!

I also never had a piece of cold pizza for breakfast two days in a row!  That would be insane!

I also did not mutter anything under my breath at God this week as my infertility shots were ending and ovulation was approaching and I was home sick with a nasty flu bug.  I did not say a word about bad timing or anything!  I mean, who would do THAT?

I also never rolled my eyes this morning as I dropped Punky off at daycare and he started his Academy-Award winning performance for melting Mom’s heart and for the world’s biggest guilt trip when I left.  I never did that.  Nope, not me!  What kind of mom does that?

Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?  In fact, that felt kinda good!

As promised, I tried to get some good pictures of Punky in his costume today…

I could have just nibbled him up, he was so darn cute walking around trick-or-treating! 

So, this afternoon, Halloween, at 3:15PM, we decide we better carve our pumpkins!   Punky and Dada paired up for the big one and Mama got to carve the two little bitty ones.    Here are a few picture depicting our fun!

Getting things ready to start…

Digging in…

Scraping the pumpkin walls…

Punky starting to carve

(after they have sketched the face on the pumpkin…Mama thinks that’s cheating!)

Dada took over carving for a bit…

Meanwhile,

Mama freehand carved her 2 little punpkins while the boys were busy with their one.

The boys were still working…

Punky was very excited about their hard work!

So, if I am your friend on Facebook, you may have seen these.   Here are Punky’s last three years of Halloween costumes. Tomorrow, (Halloween) I will post a picture of his costume this year!

His First Halloween (6 days old)

Our Little Sweet Pea…

And, of course, he had a cute “Jack O’Lantern” set, too!

His 2nd Halloween – 1 year old

Our cute little monkey!

His 3rd Halloween – 2 years old

Our curious little lion…

His 4th Halloween – 3 years old

Who can forget last year’s costume?

Our yummy little gingerbread “guy” (that’s what he called himself)

This year, Punky wanted to be nothing but the “gingerbread guy” again.  That was the plan; however, I guess he didn’t realize that mommies sometimes forget things, so when we went to Illinois 2 weeks ago to celebrate Halloween and Punky’s birthday, Mommy FORGOT his “gingerbread guy” costume.  So, we hit the stores and found a costume for him to wear in Illinois.   I have yet to get a good picture of him in it, so that will be my job tomorrow, on Halloween.   I will post it then!

Until then…

Tootles!

10 things I learned this morning on the internet:

1. Mckmama hasn’t posted an update on Stellan for over 13 hours now….continue your prayers!
2. Laughing At Chaos is banging out the posts on her snazzy new blog!   Love her new look!  (except the pictures of the snow!) 
3. Twitter now lets you create lists to organize who you are following. Very cool. 
4. After reading some of my fave scrapping blogs, I miss scrapping!      Gals, we need to schedule some time…SOON!   (Today, I read Becky Higgin’s blog, Cosmo Cricket’s blog, 7 gypsies’ blog, Jenni Bowlin’s inspiration blog, Chrsitine Middlecamp’s Retrospection blog,  Scrapbook Obsession, Scrapping with IKEA Goddess,  and Create something today.   
5. Tommy is coming home to the Walker Family this Sunday on Brothers & Sisters.  (I was reading Bloggers & Sisters.) 
6. If you can’t tell, I caught up on my blog feeder.   I HEART Chrissie and her twin sister Lisa.  Chrissie is over at Flipflops & Applesauce.  Lisa is over at Lisa Leonard Designs and It’s the Little Things.   
7. I hope RC is having fun with her family in Duluth.   They were going to stay where we stayed this past summer!  Her tweets sounds like they are having fun! 
8. Mr. Geek , Beau, and Helen have fallen off the blogging wagon.   COME BACK!!!!!   
9. Everything can be found on ebay. 
10. Etsy has some really cute gift ideas!

10 Things I want to get done this weekend:

1. Carve our pumpkin.
2. Roast Pumpkin seeds.
3. Take pictures of Punky in his cute Halloween costumes.
4. Write thank you notes for all of Punky’s birthday gifts.
5. Clean up the kicthen table – it has become a mass piling of everythign from this week.
6. Come up with some sort of storage solution for Punky’s closet.
7. Go through Punky’s clothes and purge what doesn’t fit him. (I’ll bring those to IL for my nephew)
8. Watch a movie with Hubby.
9. Sit down and write out my Christmas “To-Do” and “To-Get” lists (I already have some presents!  Wow!)
10. Take Punky trick-or-treating.

10 Things I am loving about Punky right now…

1. He is absolutely loving to play board games.  Candyland, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, etc.
2. He cracks me up everytime he wears a sweatshirt with a hoodie, he feels it necessary to wear teh hood up on his head.  It makes me laugh.
3. The boy is so worried about me.  Between my visits to Urgent Crea this week and my already scheduled visits to my reproductive endocrinologist this week, he thinks I live at a doctor’s office.   He asks each mornign if after I get home from my appt, I coudl call him at daycare and tell him that I am ok.   Awwwwww…
4. On  Tuesday, he came home from daycare with Hubby.  I had such a high fever, I didn’t dare drive.  Anyway, he rushed right over to me on teh couch, gave me a kiss, then ran over to get his doctor kit and quickly took my vitals and listened to my heart.  He’s such a sweetheart.
5. He loves Blue, his blanket that Aunt Jeanne knitted for him after he was born.   Poor Blue has been through some rough times, but Aunt Jeanne always fixes it.   There ismore damage to Blue this week, and Punky keeps saying, “Aunt Jeanne will fix it for me….”
6. He tells everyone how many he is now all while holding up his four fingers….in only a way he can do it.  He smashes those 4 fingers together so tightly, I am amazed they can stand up to signal his age!
7. Punky  has been talking on the phone a lot to Gwandma Holly (Aka Grandma Knock-Knock) and his cousin.   I  love listening to them chatter away….
8. Punky got so excited this week to watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”  It was very cute.
9. He is so snuggly when it’s time for bed.
10. After I asked him to clarify something that I couldn’t believe he had just said, he simply stated, “Just let it go, Ma.”  WHAT?!?!?!??

I am off to rest now………..  but I am feeling better today!