Well, I figured out that McKenna's allergy was due to peanut butter, because the red patches totally faded after about 5 days. So, I'm thinking that that was the issue.

I mentioned that McKenna can blow her nose, but for the first time today she asked for a napkin and then blew her nose herself! Not very neatly, as I had to wipe snot off her eyebrow, but still she did it herself without me helping! We're both feeling better now, and it appears that Noel has missed the sick boat completely.

Nothing new, except I'm still reading up on scam baits on www.419eater.com and loving the stories! Noel can't wait for my fascination to end and the home-cooked meals to begin again! LOL

Gotta go!

McKenna appears to be getting sick. Runny nose and all. Some red patches under her mouth have faded over the last couple days, and I think it may have been an allergy to peanut butter, as she hasn't had any in 4 days. (I was giving Pb&J sandwiches every other day or so) So hopefully, that's the problem, and I hope McKenna's runny nose doesn't last long. Good news is that as of approximately 4 months or so ago, she learned how to blow her nose. Yay!!

Other than that, not much going on. After watching datelines, "To Catch a Con Man" I looked up reverse scams and scam-baiting and discovered a world of people who pretend to be victims and try to keep the scammer engaged as long as they can. It wastes their time and prevents them from working on someone that might be a REAL victim! It's very cool! I've been reading completed scam-baits on www.419eater.com and most of them are HILARIOUS!! I've never laughed so hard in my life!! (Ashley, you know what I mean!) My stomach was literally sore from laughing so hard. It's amazing what these scammers will believe and/or do just for the hopes of scoring some cash!

K, that's all for now. Gotta make some dinner. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. We're going high-style tonight!! LOL

McKenna's favorite show is "It's a big, big world" on PBS. Check it out at:

http://pbskids.org/bigbigworld/home.html

Very cool - my neighbor Carolyn dropped off a ton of seeds, both vegetable and flower, that she got at "Heritage Day" at her church. I guess I can't complain of lack of variety anymore! I started some cherry and regular tomato, as well as some pepper. I think I want to plant those as well as some corn, pickling cucumbers, and one squash plant. LOL - They get huge! I'll probably try to do beans, peas, and strawberries... oh, and onions!

Okay, gotta get lunch!

Well, today is the third day I've refused McKenna her num num... weaning I'd say is currently on, or I guess I could say she's fully weaned now (since I plan not to nurse her anymore). She hardly seems traumatized! LOL Although she asks for it every morning when I'm putting her clothes on and I say no very nicely. Actually we detour straight to breakfast and that seems acceptable to her. Now, let's see how fast I get pregnant!

Noel has me addicted to Need for Speed "Most Wanted". It's a PC racing game, if you hadn't figured it out. It's so much fun, but I know I'll burn out on it sooner or later! Well, McKenna is up and I need to get up there. Later.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that Noel and I are starting to become concerned about the level of care and health given to farm animals that we get our meat and eggs/dairy from. I've decided to start using soy powder as a substitute for egg in baking (can't taste any difference) and organic certified eggs in other uses. Evidently "cage-free" and "free-range" labels aren't followed up on or regulated, unlike "organic". A good site on the state of chickens in factory farms is:

http://www.eggindustry.com/

And another that goes over lots of different animals is:

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html

This second site is quite graphic, so don't go clicking on the cute little kittens unless you're prepared. I'm appalled at how the U.S. has hardly any regulations on the quality of care these animals get. I know eventually we'll eat them, but wouldn't it be nice to know that these animals had decent, even 'normal' lives before we ate them? Noel and I are going to be purchasing "grass-fed" beef in the near future, as well. We'll keep you posted on how it goes!

So, I helped Patty get some irises and tulips planted in her flower beds at her house. They're selling and are trying to perk up the front a bit. We divided a bunch of her irises and tulips and created another bed around her tree in front. It looked pretty good overall after we were finished. McKenna played the whole time with Christi and was exhausted that night. Slept til ten the next morning!

Today, Noel aereated and de-thatched our front and back yard. We split the cost with two other neighbors who also aereated. Just finished maybe an hour ago and all we have to do now is rake up what thatch the mower didn't get. I'm hopeful that the yard will turn out looking better this summer than before. We really need the irrigation turned on, though. It's been dry and hot (75 today) and the grass is greening up everywhere, we just need to get water on it. I guess it's supposed to rain on Tuesday so maybe that will help.

Well, we had our friends Ben and Terah and their little boy Hayden (age 2) over for dinner and games tonight. We had a lot of fun! Hayden is a bit louder and more active than McKenna so after a period a acclimatizing, we had a fantastic evening! I have to remember that McKenna is pretty quiet for her age group and count myself lucky! The next one might not be so easy going! LOL

So we had stew, rolls, a salad that Terah brought, and Cheesecake for dessert. We played Battle of the Sexes since we'd had so much fun playing with Patty and Joe and had just as much fun with Terah and Ben. It went really well, and I hope we can get together more often with them, in fact, I'll try to make it a priority. Terah and I will probably get our kids together for play dates as soon as summer rolls around.

Anyway, we had a great time tonight. I'm surprised at how quickly I got the kitchen cleaned up, so now I'm going to relax and play some online pool at Yahoo games. If anyone ever wants to look me up there I play under "Sundewlilly", "Sakmet", and "Ocintu"

Chao

Almost 70 degrees today! At least it felt like it! McKenna and I were out so much we got a touch of sun. I cleaned up her bike and lowered the seat, and put her on it and showed her how to use the pedals. I ended up pushing her most of the time, but occasionally she would try to pedal with her feet. I had her little helmet on and with her training wheels, we just went up and down the street. Went out again around 6pm and chatted with the neighbors. Sam had a unicycle that he let me try out and lets just say my attempt was quite laughable!! McKenna had fun with Chloe and we finally went back into the house right before Noel got home. Little miss kicked a huge fuss when we got inside as she was having fun and did NOT want to come in. LOL Poor kid.

Oh yeah, we had our first attempt at a nap today with the toddler bed. She laid in it for 20 minutes, part of the time reading, and then I was hearing thumps and bumps so I went up to check and she was looking out the door over the baby gate at me. I asked her to get back in bed and you would've thought I'd announced that I was leaving and abandoning her! Talk about some waterworks! I decided that I won't make it mandatory that she stay in her bed, but just that she stays in her room and has some quiet time. I think that will work out best, because I don't want to put her in her crib for naps and the bed for bedtime - that would be confusing for her.

McKenna and I baked some molasses cookies today and she helped put the sugar on top. They got a little too much, but hey it was a gals afternoon.

Nothing else new, except some juicy stuff that if I shared with you I'd surely hear about it! LOL

Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us in the baby-making department. We're still working diligently in that area!! :)

McKenna passed her first night in her toddler bed. Noel took her up last night, put her to bed and she got right in, and didn't try to get out once! She slept right through, and she woke up about 15 minutes ago and has been lying in her bed. It's fabulous! I'm going to get her right after this post.
I'm crossing my fingers that it will be smooth sailing the rest of the way, as well! I'm so proud of her.

I was pleasantly surprised today to find that my zebra prayer plant has flowered. I had seen what I assumed was a new tightly rolled up leaf emerging... turns out it was a flower stalk! I looked up the requirements of this plant (as I had just thrown it in my terrarium with everything else) and found that it liked high humidity, temps between 60 and 70, and bright indirect light. And what do you know? I've got all that! I'll post a pic as soon as I can figure out why bloggers not taking some of them.

McKenna and I went to the library today. Picked out some books on horses and Raggedy Ann - we also moved her toddler bed into position and since I can't get the crib through the door, it's sitting next to her bed.

We were outside on the swing set today (it's like 65 out - beautiful!) and I was showing her how to back into the swing and then pull herself up onto the seat. She almost did it herself, but needs a bit more practice.

On another note, the car wouldn't start for me. I had to take the truck to the library, which ran just fine for me, thank you! Okay, time to see what the kiddo's up to. She's upstairs in her newly arranged bedroom. She likes lying on her new bed!

Noel set up McKenna's toddler bed last night and we have it up in her room up on end. I'll have to lay it down maybe where the dresser is so she can see it and get used to it. Only thing is, I only have one mattress, so I guess I'll switch it back and forth so she can see what the bed is supposed to look like!

He came home with a bunch of watercolor paint supplies for her too... new tubes of finger paints, those little paint rounds in a plastic case, and some other paints in small plastic cups. Also some nice watercolor paper - which was TOO nice, he said. We'll have to keep an eye out for cheaper stuff. Well, it's time for coffee!

Ugh, woke up at 2:30am - thought I heard McKenna, but went in to check and she was sleeping sweetly. Laid awake for 1-1/2 hours, and now I'm downstairs at 4:30 playing pool on yahoo games. Last night we went out to eat at Red Robin, and I stuffed myself with the mushroom burger. McKenna was the best behaved little 2-year-old you would have seen there! Drew with her crayons, ate all but a couple pieces of her macaroni and was quiet and engaged with all the activity around her. We were blown away by how good she was... hopefully, we didn't jinx anything by commenting on it!

We stopped at Kmart on the way home to pick up a toddler bed. I think she's ready and we'll get it set up and get her used to it before asking her to sleep in it. Noel will set it up this morning. We watched Saw 3 last night, and if any of you have seen these movies (horror) you know what I'm talking about when I say that the last one was the best and worst. It kept me up for an hour at least before I fell asleep, and when I woke up started thinking about it again. Fascinating movies, but I don't watch much horror these days, so I probably should have worked up to it! Anywho, guess I should try to go back to sleep. There's not much activity in the pool hall this early! :)

Today was interesting - Noel sat in front of the home theater PC all day today trying to install Linux - guess it was giving him some problems, because he's still there! LOL I did, however, ask him to take a break and we went to Red Robin for dinner and then hit Kmart and picked up a toddler bed for McKenna. It's cute, and I hope it will be an easy transition for her. I think we'll set it up early tomorrow and let her see it and get on it and in general become used to it before asking her to sleep on it. Naptimes might become a thing of the past, but we'll see how it works out.

My book, The Savage Garden finally arrived yesterday and I finished it a couple hours ago. It's pretty durn good! :) All on carnivorous plants. Speaking of which, McKenna and I trapped a couple of gnat/flies hanging around between the screen and glass window in her bedroom and fed them to the traps. She thought that was pretty cool.

It snowed non-stop today! Enough covered the ground that I got McKenna bundled up in her snow suit and we went out and made snow angels and threw snowballs. After that it was in to sip some hot coco and watch "It's a big, big world" on PBS. Her favorite show right now! Later it was art time and she did a bunch of finger paints (and I used expensive photo paper that worked awesome - but Noel was miffed) and we told daddy to pick one out to put up in his cubby at work. So he picked my favorite and I told him not to mess it up, because once we're tired of looking at it, it's going to the grandparents in AZ. Gotta spread the joy!

I've developed an interest in Japanese. I went online and am currently learning the katakana script. Don't know how far I'll go on my own, but I needed another hobby! LOL Okay, nuff for now.