Movin' on up!

After a couple of weeks of vaporizers, vicks (LOVE the new baby version-smells so good!), fabrics, pumpkins, birthday cupcakes, and college football, I am here to announce that I have a new home!

Domestic-Chicky.com

The lovely Some Girl has designed a very cool site for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone over there! I'm still geting situated, so excuse the sawdust!

Stuff I still have to catch up on...

Connor turned 4 on the 17th. Where oh where does the time go? He recieved a kid-friendly cd player, which he insists on playing ALL the time, and asking me to make cd's for him. When he's not listening to the musical stylings of the Dirty Sock Funtime Band, mama has introduced him to Christmas music! He is just starting to grasp this Santa thing, and he was a little scared of the big guy in the red suit last night on the Christmas parade, but this morning he asked me if Santa came down the chimney last night...Hehe, this is gonna be fun!

Croup is still around...#$*%^&%&#!!!! The little one has it now, and it has taken a fierce hold. Our vaproizer has been on pretty much 24/7, so our air freshener du jour is baby vicks and robitussin. It's been kinda nice though, when he wakes up in the night barking, and I take him outside in the cool damp air, and we're all snuggled up in blankets, rocking and humming. I have to find some good in all of this!

I've done a lot of fabric shopping, and lots of cool ideas and Christmas presents are being made, and I will show all of it (I promise!) soon. I've made some cute bags, a couple of cool scarves, aprons, and have a few other ideas in the works!

I bought this book this weekend...and discovered this one...Is it wrong that I am coveting this 752 page book of Martha Stewart-y goodness? Another book on my wishlist is this one about aprons...Sigh!

Ok duckies, I have a house to demolition...er, I mean clean. I'll still be posting here until I transfer some stuff over to the new Domestic Chicky Dream House! C-ya there!

Happy Holidays to all...

May you enjoy the company of your loved ones, and the comfort of a full belly!

Manic Monday

So, I was thinking I could get a lot done this weekend-but we had an unwelcome, unwanted, uninvited guest this weekend...CROUP.

So much for that idea.

But before the seige, I made a couple of bags for my best friends' daughter's 5th Birthday (Happy Day K&K!!!)-pics tomorrow or wednesday-camera batteries went out. Purple and pink and oh-so-girly!

I have a bunch of stuff on my to-do list, and it seems like the holidays have come wayy too fast once again. I am going to post before and afters of my crafting/sewing area, work on many aprons, make lots of bags (ooh! imagine this-the red bag below, but big enough for a laptop!Or a treo!), and make myself some "girly" pads. Seriously! They're so much more comfy than disposable, absorb well, and I can't seem to tolerate "internal" protection anymore...So why not make pretty things for your girly bits too? Here is a site with a lot more info.

I also got a little bag of goodies from my friend Dawn friday-one of them was a lip plumper by Too Faced- I had read about it on A Girl Must Shop. It's called Lip Injection Extreme, and it really does work! My lips looked so much fuller, and it claims to have a long term effect with frequent use. If you can get by the odd sunburned feeling, which does go away after a few minutes, it does exactly what it says! As a lover of Lip Venom, I have to admit that the Lip Injection works a lot better.
Also in my goodie bag were samples of lots of perfumes. Included was Chocolovers (from the same company that makes Pink Sugar, my current favorite), Betsy Johnson, Nanette Lepore, and Flowerbomb by Viktor Rolf. I loved all of them , but I have to say the Betsy Johnson had a slight edge. It reminded me of my all-time favorite Angel (which people either seem to love or hate intensely), but not nearly as overwhelming. The Flowerbomb is really nice too-I would actually buy all of these, which is saying a lot! I am a full fledged perfume junkie, but a REALLY picky one... :)
My poor little guy (the ALMOST 4-year old-this Friday!) went thru the wringer this weekend, but he seems to be recovering-we had to buy a new vaproizer yesterday, since our old one got worn out-but one thing that seemed to really help was this new vapo-rub for kids and babies. They made it less menthol-y, and added rosemary and lavender-smells almost yummy!

I made my boys' (all 3 of them) favorite meal last night, tater tot casserole-it's probably not the healthiest meal, but it sure was comforting...

Tater Tot Casserole

(makes 6 servings)

1 pound Ground Beef

1 can cream of Chicken soup

1/2 can Milk

1 small can Green Chiles

1 can Green Beans

1 1/2 C Shredded Cheese

1/2 C Sour Cream

Tater Tots

Press the ground beef, uncooked into the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish. Season well ( I use garlic salt and seasoned pepper). In a seperate bowl, mix the soup, Milk, chiles, beans, 1C of the Cheese, and the sour cream. Pour over the ground beef. Cover well with Tater tots, then remaining cheese. Bake covered 45minutes at 350*.

Like I said, not exactly "light" eating, but a small portion with a salad is enough for me, and this makes enough for some lunch leftovers.

Cleanus Envy...

Have you ever seen anything so LOVELY in all of your life?????

Gah! This is a new washer made by Samsung, designed by Andre Kim-I found this on one of my new-found sites ShinyShiny. Isn't it beautiful? Also, LG is coming out with a line of Swarovski-encrusted appliances...It's enough to make a girl swoon!!!

Monday Monday

A few pictures from my weekend..

Sunset during the esperanza fire

Connor being silly (and patient with Mommy) at Knott's Berry Farm

(yeah, I had fun with the b&w feature on my camera)

A new bag I made-I love toile...and rickrack...and ball fringe, but I restrained myself!

The inside...

I'm still here!

I have been a busy little chicky the last few days, sewing(squee! I got cute stuff to show you!), tending to little boys with colds, training...

Training? What's that you say?

Yep, training-I am officially a Cha-Cha guide!

But Chicky(not to be confused with Mrs Chicky or the lovely Chicky Baby), what on earth is a Cha-Cha guide?

I am so glad you asked!

Cha-Cha is a human-guided search engine. Cool, huh? Now I know all of you web-savvy ladies (and Kevin) have no use for such things, but what about Great-Aunt Martha? Can she Google? Can she Dogpile? Cha-Cha works like any other internet search engine, but it has a twist (right-different dance)


When you go to Cha-Cha, you can choose from a conventional web search, or you can choose to have a guide help you find exactly what you want. Looking for a particular recipe? A source for purple widgets? The number of languages Friends has been translated into? You will find someone to help you. Granted, most people know how to find these things, but more and more newbies to the interwebs are born everyday! So that's where I came in-another bloggy mama referred me to the site, and now I get paid little bits here and there for keeping my the search program open in the background, and answering searches when they come up. It's not a ton of money, but it WILL maintain those Disneyland passes! Or buy a pair of shoes, or...OOH! Spend some cha-ching at Fadiddle!!!

Search

WWWednesday

Just a few bits of webby goodness...

One of my favorite mamas i obsess has open an amazing new clothing website called Fadiddle. Original, cheeky, and adorably embroidered, these unique shirts and onsies for your wee ones are soon to be joined by adult sizes too!

Are you planning a bakesale for your school, scout troop, church, or favorite charity? Than click over to the Reynolds Aluminum Fun Shapes site to win a cool kit to get you going! You can make heart, star or ghost-shaped brownies, tarts, pies and jello in the fun aluminm pans! The prize

(60 awarded each week) also includes a large vinyl banner, disposable camera, calculator, and a disk with recipes, tips, and more!

For all of my fellow book-loving friends-have you ever LISTENED to a book? When I recieved my Treo, I received 2 free books from audible . They have a memberhip option, but you can buy books individually. I picked out a couple I hadn't heard before, but I got an email today with a free sample of Amy Sedaris' new book...read by her. Digging a little further, I found David Sedaris' books too, read by him! So after I listen to the ones I have, I am definitely getting these. They're great for when I go walking- the time just flies by!

If you haven't seen it, check out The Life and Death of a Pumpkin. Perfect for this time of year, although I don't know if I can ever carve a pumpkin again!

These Dreams...

Well it's one of those days when I just can't seem to pin something down for a post, so I found an interesting meme to try... (thanks Pickled Tink)

Things I have done (in pink): Things I want to do (in blue)

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink 2. Swam with dolphins 3.Climbed a mountain 4.Taken a Ferrari for a test drive 5.Been inside the Great Pyramid 6. Held a tarantula 7. Taken a candle lit bath with someone 8. Said “I love you” and meant it 9. Hugged a tree 10.Bungee jumped 11. Visit Paris 12.Watched a lightning storm at sea. 13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise. 14. Seen the Northern Lights 15. Gone to a huge sports game 16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa 17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables 18. Touched an iceberg 19. Slept under the stars 20. Changed a baby’s diaper (duh!) 21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon 22. Watched a meteor shower 23. Gotten drunk on champagne 24. Given more than you can afford to charity 25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope 26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment 27. Had a food fight 28. Bet on a winning horse 29. Asked out a stranger 30. Had a snowball fight 31.Screamed as loudly as you possibly can 32. Held a lamb 33. Seen a total eclipse 34. Ridden a roller coaster 35. Hit a home run 36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking 37. Adopted an accent for an entire day. 38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment 39. Had two hard drives for your computer 40. Visited all 50 states 41. Taken care of someone who was really drunk 42. Had amazing friends (HAVE) 43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country 44. Watched wild whales 45. Stolen a sign 46. Backpacked in Europe. 47. Taken a road-trip(SO jonesing for one!). 48. Gone rock climbing 49. Midnight walk on the beach 50. Gone sky diving 51. Visited Ireland 52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love 53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them 54. Visited Japan 55. Milked a cow 56. Alphabetized your CDs 57. Pretended to be a superhero 58. Sung karaoke 59. Lounged around in bed all day 60. Posed nude in front of strangers 61. Gone scuba diving 62. Kissed in the rain 63. Played in the mud 64. Played in the rain 65. Gone to a drive-in theater 66. Visited the Great Wall of China 67. Started a business 68.Fallen in love and not had your heart broken 69. Toured ancient sites 70. Taken a martial arts class 71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight(in HIGH SCHOOL!!) 72. Gotten married 73. Been in a movie.(Rollercoaster) 74. Crashed a party 75. Gotten divorced 76. Gone without food for 5 days 77. Made cookies from scratch 78. Won first prize in a costume contest 79. Ridden a gondola in Venice 80. Gotten a tattoo. 81. Rafted the Snake River 82. Been on television news programs as an expert 83. Got flowers for no reason 84. Performed on stage(jr High 50's review...lol). 85. Been to Las Vegas 86. Recorded music. 87. Eaten shark 88. Eaten fugu 89. Had a one night stand(uh...) 90. Gone to Thailand 91. Bought a house 92. Been in a combat zone 93. Buried one/both of your parents 94. Been on a cruise ship 95. Spoken more than one language fluently 96. Performed in the Rocky Horror Picture show 97. Raised children 98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour 99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country 100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over 101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge 102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking 103. Had plastic surgery 104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived 105. Wrote articles for a large publication 106. Lost over 100 pounds 107. Held someone while they were having a flashback 108. Piloted an airplane 109. Petted a stingray 110. Broken someone’s heart 111.Ridden a bike 112. Won money on a T.V. game show 113. Broken a bone 114. Gone on an African photo safari 115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced 116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol 117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild 118. Ridden a horse 119. Had surgery 120. Had a snake as a pet 121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon 122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours 123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states 124. Visited all 7 continents 125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days 126. Eaten kangaroo meat 127. Eaten sushi. 128. Had your picture in the newspaper 129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about 130. Gone back to school 131. Parasailed 132. Petted a cockroach 133. Eaten fried green tomatoes 134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey. 135. Selected one author you missed in school ,and read them. 136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 137. Skipped all your school reunions 138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language 139. Been elected to public office 140. Written your own computer language 141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream 142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care 143. Built your own PC from parts 144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you 145. Had a booth at a street fair 146. Dyed your hair 147. Been a DJ 148. Shaved your head 149. Caused a car accident. 150. Saved someone’s life

Boys, boys, boys...

Someone had a twisted sense of humor when He gave me 2 boys. Seriously.

I wasn't the epitome of girly-girl, but I am a card carrying makeup, perfume, and hair product junkie. I subscribed to allure, In Style, Lucky, and Glamour. I haunted the beauty counters of many a department store and several Sephoras in the area.

Now I'm lucky if I put on a swipe of mascara once a week.

Not that I'm complaining TOO much about that...it IS cheaper not to buy every new goodie that comes out. Cute sweatpants, jeans, and t-shirts beat the heck out of the push-up bras, corsets(yep, had a vintage one), heels and short skirts I wore to the salon. What I'm concerned about is the distinct shift in my house to "the testosterone zone". As the only estrogen-rich person in this house, I am seriously outnumbered.

When I was pregnant, I had dreams of little dresses, overalls with pink t-shirts, and mary-janes. Well, I have the overalls anyway. Don't get me wrong-I love my boys with every fiber of my being-but I need some foofyness around here!

It doesn't help that I am having a huge case of baby fever. Cameron is not a baby anymore, despite being only 16 months old. That kid has more guts, and more independence than his brother had. I can't turn my head without him climbing up and dancing on the kitchen table. He's all boy and has a stubborn streak a mile wide(from his dad of course). Connor is such a big boy now I can hardly believe he is the same baby I cried over each day after he was born 3 months early. He will be 4 next month, and while I'm excited for him to go to school next year, part of me wants to keep him home, where he's safe.

Which brings me to my current brand of nutty-I know that all kids get booboos, and climb, and scream, and wrestle, but since I was raised without boys, I am having a hard time with the sheer exuberance of being a boy. THEY.JUST.DON'T.STOP. These little doods go-go-go from sunup to sundown, and leave a trail of destruction in their wake. Each time I get used to one aspect of being a boy, BAM! I get hit with a new one. Just this morning, for example, I sat on a wet toilet seat. Courtesy of a newly-standing-to-pee 3 year old. Then came the realization that the hit to the mouth Connor took yesterday thanks to running around the house and meeting the fireplace hearth face to face has given us Connor's first loose tooth. Sweet!

Let's just say that if we ever get a dog, IT WILL BE A GIRL!!

Tuesday Twitterings

Well, I finally got my prize package-but the treo didn't work. It works, but there is a big band across the bottom, making it impossible to see any buttons below that spot. So it's off to Texas for little Zoey, and hopefully she'll be back soon!

Why is it that the more I try to organize, sort, re-arrange, re-purpose, and clean, the more mess I make in the end? Sheesh! I have stacks of magazines to go thru, tons of fabric to use, recipes to try, stuff to give away, donate, sell on ebay...

Not only is Anna at Cookie Madness the baking-est lady I know, but she also was the winner of this years Pilsbury Bake-off! How cool is that? She has inspired me to try my hand at a few baking/cooking contests myself. I will be sure to update here.

Is anyone watching the Bachelor this season? Prince Borghese is pretty cute, but his taste in women is sorely lacking. I mean, c'mon, I know the producers have some say in who he picks so they can have a little conflict between the girls, but a couple of those girls just have to go. It's been a pretty poor replacement for Big Brother.

I was all set to leave for Camp Getaway on Friday, when we had a little accident here at the house. Everyone is ok , but I decided to stay home to keep an eye on a little boy with a very big bump. The next camp weekend is in June, and hopefully I will be doing the pampering services this time.

Does anyone subscribe to Taste of Home? It's become my favorite source of recipes lately, mostly because the recipes are so basic that I almost always have all the ingredients on hand. I have about 40-50 of them, and as I use the recipes, I am writing them down , and will be getting rid of them a couple at a time, so if anyone wants any, let me know. They have a great website too, with many of the recipes posted there...

Speaking of cooking, I made Rachael Ray's Spaghetti and Meatball Stoup (recipe here)- Big hit! The meatballs were so tasty, I used the recipe to make meatballs in bulk, so all I have to do is thaw a bag of them, and put them in sauce to cook...In the words of Rachael herself, YUM-O! I'm thinking it might make a good meatloaf recipe too!

Meme Monday

1. One book that changed your life ~ The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles by Julie Andrews ~ When I read this as a little girl, it was the first book that taught me that I could be truly transported into another place by reading.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once ~ The DaVinci Code

3. One book that you’d want on a desert island ~ Encylopedia Brittanica (I'm such a geek)

4. One book that made you laugh ~ The Diaper Diaries

5. One book that made you cry ~ The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks ~ Yes, sappy, but so am I.

6. One book that you wish you had written ~ The Bad Girl's Guides

7. One book you wish had never been written ~ I can't think of a single one...

8. One book that you are reading at the moment ~ You Can Do It!-The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls ~ So inspiring, so worthy of attention.

9. One book that you’ve been meaning to read ~ Pandering by Heidi Fleiss ~ Ok, so I'm a geek with a twisted side.

My first official tag goes to anyone who wants to do this. Leave a comment if you do so I can read your list!

Who doesn't love a boy in overalls?

New Beginnings

Well, I'm not holding out much hope for being able to restore my old site. I'm working on putting the template back up, but can't seem to do the right tweaking. Maybe I'll just do something new! I also started a site at VOX, which I am completely smitten with, but it's a members-only-comment site. The blogger beta has quite a few new gadgets that let you do more stuff now, so I will probably stick with this for now. I just need to purty up my digs!

Well, it's one more week til Camp, and I couldn't be more excited. Seriously? I'm taking a lot of books. There is this perfect spot in the woods (that's it in the picture) that has benches in a circle, and if you lay down and look up, all you see is a canopy of trees, and the bluest sky. Squirrels run around, trees whisper, bears...crap, I forgot about the bears. Well, hopefully they are still finding lots of food and leaving us alone. So if anyone is looking for me, I'll be sitting with my nose in a book, wearing my favorite snuggly Notre Dame sweatshirt.

I'm having a "Hair-Do" this weekend. One of my clients has a bunch of her friends over, and she makes tons of food and margaritas, and I do everyones hair-just cuts and blow-drys. It's a lot of fun, and something I'm talking to my other clients about. Kinda like the spa party idea, but including hair. I'm also bringing some of my PMS cookies-chocolate (white AND semisweet), toffee, oatmeal and coffee in a cookie. Just a little yummy!

I'm still waiting for my treo!! I'm so excited to use it for blogging-I guess KTLA is still waiting on it from the manufacturer. It takes pictures and videos and plays music too...*sigh*~I have a book meme and a photo meme I'm working on, so I'm hoping by monday I can work on my template, or find something new...if not, I'm stuck with this one for awhile-Minimalist is just SO not me!

*Edited to add: Yay! I fixed it! Don't know how, but I did!!

Can you say Koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs? That's me!

I hate you-I love you-go away-come back...

This has been the refrain going around in my head lately. I love the friends I've made blogging, I love the outlet, but it takes up too much of my brain sometimes. I know, I know, I don't really blog enough to worry about it, but I seem to drive myself crazy coming up with just a ordinary post, much less the genius that comes from the keyboards of my favorite bloggers.

So my husband tells me today that I think funny...OK...He says that I think in a stream of creative consciousness, and that sometimes I tend to talk that way, kind of wandering from topic to topic, idea to idea. Maybe that's why I have a hard time pinning down a blog in my head. I almost have to write the idea down before I'm on to the next thing. That must be why I keep notebooks. Tons of composition books with scads of lists, ideas, sketches, meaningless mish-mash. I label them "Deanna's Brain" LOL -

So I'm not gone, just...re-organizing...re-grouping...re-charging...

PS- I lost my template (but found it cached on google, just need help re-installing), and lost my old posts...sigh

PSS-does this means he thinks I'm nuts? Well, aside from the obvious...

PSSS-The worst part about losing my old posts is I lost my comments too, and there are some people who have commented recently that I want to link to-So please, if you have commented lately, comment here or email me (domesticchicky@aol dot com) so I can add you to my blogroll.

Camp Whattaheckofaweekend Pt 2

Three weekends from now, I will be back in the mountains for Camp Getaway . Unfortunately I won't be doing pamperings this weekend, due to some wires crossing, but I will be assisting the staff and playing a role in the camp skits. This is really a great group of people, and I am SO looking forward to it. I never got to go to camp as a kid, so to find a place where women can get away from everything and just have fun, and not worry about work, or the kids, or what's for dinner, is a treat. Here, you just have to decide whether to try archery, or tye-dying, or yoga, or scrapbooking. You can also get a massage, a facial, pedicure/manicure, or do absolutely nothing at all. What you won't have to make up your mind about is having fun, making friends, and communing with nature (seriously-there's bears up there!!!). One of my favorite times this past June was waking up early (habits are hard to break)and sitting on the step of my cabin and reading, drinking coffee, and just listening to the birds, squirrels, and trees..Who knew trees could talk? My only goal this weekend is to get some sewing done. I went a little crazy with the patterns and fabric the last couple of weeks, so I figure I had better make something before I go again! Hopefully I will have pictures on Monday. That is, if my little feeling-better-so-they-are-making-up-for-lost-time hooligans let me. Little dood had a serious fever and red eyes, cough and runny nose, but he is also cutting both eyeteeth. Ouch! I would be a whiny mess too! Big Dood had a cough for a day or two, and had a high fever, but he seems to have shaken it off pretty quickly.



This was the view from our house the other night...Connor calls it "the pinks". The weather has been perfect here-to me anyway-sunny, temps in the 70's, cool nights. I am ready for fall and winter-such as it is in Southern California. But even here Fall has a definite feeling, a smell, a different look to the sky or something. Fall and spring is when I most wish to be living back East, or further north. I even miss snow!