You know you're living with a toddler when...

the toilet paper in every bathroom has clearly been unrolled and rolled back on again.


or worse.


(at least he offered to roll it back on...)

I can't believe I almost forgot...

Happy Pi Day!

PS. I actually posted this at the exact right time, but then realized a day late that I posted it to the wrong blog somehow...  So I deleted it from there and am cheating and back dating this one.  But I really DID remember on time!

Flourless Chocolate Decadence

Last Saturday we celebrated Lindsay's birthday and for dessert, Melissa and I shared their flourless chocolate torte. It was amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Not just because it was amazing, but how could it be flourless? I NEEDED to know. So, on a whim, when I saw that The Joy of Cooking had a flourless chocolate cake recipe, I had to try it.

Soooo glad I did. Definitely one of my top 5 desserts ever.  Turns out, its basically just semi-sweet chocolate, butter and eggs (you whip the whites and fold them into the other 3 melted together).  The batter looked like mousse.  (Which reminds me... another chocolatey dessert I've been meaning to try...)  The cake doesn't look that amazing, but it kind of has the consistency of those one dark chocolate truffles you can get at Costco- do you know the ones? (I can't remember the brand, but they come in a gold bag)  No need to chew because it just melts in your mouth.  Sooooo gooooood!  I think next time I will bake it in a 9-inch cake pan instead of the 8-inch because it kind of overflowed over the edges of the pan, which means I HAD to eat that part so I could get the cake out :)  (and it made a messy looking edge...)  Long story short, I think I've found my new birthday cake of choice!

PS if I didn't fear copyright infringement, I would post the recipe here. Let me know if you want a copy of it :)

Appreciation for thing of the past

I went through a box in our garage today...  This is a box of things, mostly from my Senior year of High School, that I packed away before going off to college.   And then once I had my own permanent place, my mother (basically) threatened to throw everything from my bedroom away unless I removed it immediately.  So I packed up this box, without examining its contents, and placed it in a forgotten place in our garage.
Full of who knows what.
Well now I know what.
Really really important things I just knew I'd want to save.
Like all my AP class notes/assignments/tests.
And all my awesomely folded, secretly-passed-during-class notes.  (written in unreadably, brightly-colored ink)
Random ballet poses (some of which I still think are cool, but what do I do with them?)
a super creepy picture of my old physics teacher?!
Some birthday cards (why did everyone seem to know about my 17th birthday?  Emily Laverne?  Was it you?)
And all my NSYNC related items.

Even though I am throwing away MOST of it, it's funny that some of it I still can't part with.  (okay, you got me.  I'm keeping my calc stuff...)

However, I found something SO amazing.  SO fortuitous!  SO unappreciated!  Something I had totally forgotten about.  Something that I actually complained to Jay about, wishing I had had enough foresight to create.  Something so important that I will never ever throw away.
EVER!
A photocopy
(yes, you heard me)
of my

belly button!!
(along with photocopies of my hands (I forgot about that ring I used to wear all the time), socked-foot, and hair/cheek.  I seem to recall now that my parents recently got a copy machine.  So I, of course, had to try it out.  And then, evidently, save the evidence of this momentous occasion for my posterity.)
Seriously!  I can't believe how lucky I am!  I was so sad after my pregnancy with The Frog that I never appreciated my belly button before it became this sad, deformed, droopy, wrinkled looking mess.  (and I didn't think it possible, but it's worse now after Peach...)  And I could hardly remember what it used to look like.  How sad to forget a part of yourself like that.
Lo!
Now whenever I need to feel good about myself- relive the glory days of my perfect little high school body, I have my time-machine.
Now whenever I need to really prove a point to my children about what I sacrificed for them, I will have hard, cold, evidence!

Only one question remains.  Where could one appropriately frame and display such a picture?

Kid Conversation

I walk into the library and The Frog has taken the cushions of our Ikea Poang chairs (love those, by the way) and is jumping on them.
Me: Hi, [The Frog].  What are you doing?
The Frog: (pointing at the cushions) I'm doing games with those.
Me: Oh.
The Frog: Yeah.  It's called Gong Pong Goo Goo Fong (Paraphrased- It's hard to recall exactly.)
Me: Wow!  That sounds Chinese.
The Frog: *nodding head very seriously* Yes.  It IS Chinese.