Night Terrors

I'm assuming that anyone who reads this blog knows me pretty well, and if you know me pretty well then one thing that you definitely know is that I'm pretty much the most paranoid, anxiety-ridden person on the face of this planet, especially as far as my daughters are concerned. So the other night Matilda had been in bed for an hour or two when I went in to check on her. After my eyes adjusted to the dimly night-lighted room I noticed that she wasn't laying on her pillow anymore. Okay, maybe she's at the foot of the bed, this girl is a tosser and a turner to the max. Nope not at the foot of the bed. Maybe she's completely buried under this major blanket (a small tingle of panic is forming, what if she suffocated?!). Nope, not under the blanket. Now, logically I realize that someone probably did NOT come in through her window and kidnap her, and as I checked said window I realize that someone probably would NOT be able to come in through her window, kidnap her, and then re-lock it from the inside. So where the heck is my baby? Oh, there she is... of course! Soundly asleep I might add. Who doesn't feel like curling up for a nap under their bed once in a while?

My Brush With Greatness!

This is the picture of the actual brush, or as close as I came to having an actual brush with greatness. The man in the picture behind me is one Alexander McCall Smith. He is one of my favorite authors these days. He writes four series, I read three and mean to get on to the fourth but just haven't yet. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, 44 Scotland Street, & The Isabel Dalhousie books. The newest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was just released and so he's been going around the states doing a book tour and last night he was at the Powells in Beaverton so my friend Dani and I carpe-ed the diem and went and beheld. He was everything that I had imagined and hoped him to be and so much more! He was so funny, he seemed so down to earth and unassuming. He didn't seem to take his work too seriously, he told really amusing anecdotes and seemed so tickled by them himself as he said them, which just made him all the more endearing. I love him now more than ever - don't worry, Jordan knows.
He spoke for about half an hour, had a little Q & A time and then signed books and met with people. To my everlasting regret I didn't get to stay to meet him. My friend Dani is very much a student right now, intensely working on her thesis and she had to get back to it, we probably would have had to wait about an hour to get a turn, so we had to make due with special pictures of us somewhat near him. Special pictures which I will totally cherish by the way!
It was really such a thrill to go and see him, and I'd recommend his books to everyone. They're so sweet and have such a gentle pace and he has such a way of writing things that I'm constantly thinking "Yes! That's how it is! I've always felt that way, or thought this thing, but I'd never in a million years be able to put it to paper in such an eloquent, charming, witty way." Which incidentally reminds me that I sometimes have aspirations to write, but when I read good books that I enjoy (which is kind of my preference) I get SO discouraged and realize that I could never write anything half as enjoyable and just decide to give up. Last night our conversation kind of turned to this on the way home and Dani had such a good idea to get me over that. She suggested that I just read total piece of crap books, her author of suggestion was Anita Stansfield (resident Mormon romance writer; whom I've never actually read for myself now that I think of it, so I'm really in no place to judge) which led me to my next idea that if I ever did manage to write something I wasn't completely embarrassed by, I should try peddling it to the LDS publishing companies. For example anyone who ever okayed anything written by one Jack Weyland, something along those lines. We'll have to see how things develop.

Look What I Did!

Or rather, where I went! Yesterday Laurie and I went to the Portland Art Museum to see their exhibit called The Dancer. It featured the art of Degas, Forain (who, ignorant boor that I am had never heard of before) and Toulouse-Lautrec. It was amazing! There's just something so neat about seeing the actual paintings that you've been seeing in books all your life. And I learned so much! Who knew that the movie Moulin Rouge was so historically accurate! And by historically accurate I mean that I hadn't known that there was a real life Moulin Rouge (ignorance is bliss people) and that Toulouse really hung out there all the time and was really short. Apparently his parents were actually first cousins which more than likely led to his having weak bones so at around ages 13 and 14 respectively, he broke both of his thigh bones and his legs ceased to grow. I told you I learned so much!
Also I wouldn't have (but maybe should have) guessed that behind the scenes of the Parisian ballet world things were hmm... 'ow would zee french say, razair seedee? A recurring theme in all three of the artists work featured "Adonnes" (I'm ninety percent sure I've got that word right) looming backstage with the ballerinas. These top hatted, finely dressed gentlemen - cough cough - would sponsor - more coughing - the dancers and their families, and the italics and the coughing is as much as I'm going to spell it out for you, but just in case you're thinking I just have a dirty mind, Laurie thought the same thing as I did, and then the little electronic tour phone confirmed it so, tut tut tut. That tutting is for the Adonnes and the dancers moms, not for you dear reader.
Anyway seediness aside the paintings were lovely. It was so nice to go and soak up a little culture and learn a little bit. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and also, I just have one of the worlds best Moms-in-law. She's so much fun, she's so sweet and generous is always so good to LaRue and Matilda. All of my in-laws are the tops, seriously I got so lucky in that department, but I wanted to give her a little shout out because it was so nice to go with her yesterday and it was on my mind.

May I Recommend...

I saw a preview for the movie Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day a few months ago and I thought it looked like a fun movie and made a note to go and see it. Well a couple of weeks ago on one of the blogs that I read, the movie and the book were listed as things that were making her happy at the moment. Well when I found out that it was a book I of course had to read it.
I adored it! I found it to be so cute, funny, sweet, fast-paced, somewhat scandalous yet innocent and highly enjoyable. It was also an incredibly easy read. Now I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a total book-cover-judger and a hardcover snob, and I just love the look of this book, it's a really sturdy paperback, and it's so pretty and I just love it. Now I look forward with even more anticipation to seeing the movie version though heaven knows when I'll be able to get around to doing that. Anyway, if you're looking for something cute and fun and quick to read I would totally recommend it.

Cute Words

On the way home from church today I was asking LaRue what she learned about in class. She said "guessing."
"Oh," I said in my why didn't I think of that voice. Then, admiring the picture that she drew (with more than a little help, I'm pretty sure the red at least was all her) "I see you drew some bugs on this picture, I like the bugs!"
To which she replied "And you like the Holy Ghost!"

Why yes I do. Yay for primary, and who knew LaRue would pay enough attention to leave knowing that there even is something called the Holy Ghost, I am all astonishment!

And just a side note, at this particular moment LaRue is trying on one of my bras. They grow up so fast.

Tip Toe-ing Through the Tulips

Yesterday we decided that we were gonna just go for it, we were going to go out to the Tulip Farm. Last year the girls and I went with Laurie, Rand, Monica, Jerilee and all the kids and it was so much fun! So I thought we should go with Jordan this time so that he could enjoy it too! Well it was kind of a disaster from the get go. We just couldn't get ourselves out the door, and when we did we had to make a few stops before actually getting on our way. LaRue was bossing us around for most of the car ride convinced that we didn't know where we were going but that she totally did.
Well we finally got there (we didn't even get lost despite whatever misgivings LaRue may have had) and it wasn't even raining! We were thrilled! Never knowing what to expect from Oregons weather we had decided to just take our chances since Jordan had a free day and who knows when that will happen again, but it was rather chilly. So we took the girls over to the activities and it just seems like there was so much more for the kids to do last year. They swung on a tire swing and LaRue climbed some hay and went down a slide and that was about it. Then we went to look at the flowers. I was dressed for summer of course which means slippers, and boy was that a mistake, oh well. We took a few pictures which was difficult because of some crazy wind that was building up, see below...We had maybe been there for twenty minutes and I was like "okay, it's very pretty but it's very cold, let's go home". I'm fun like that. Luckily for me it started to rain and hail so we raced to the car and our Tulip adventure for this year came to and end. I guess it wasn't really a disaster, it was nice to get out there and everything, it's just kind of disappointing when you spend an hour and a half getting there and back and only twenty minutes 'enjoying' it. Oh well, we'll try again next year!

Food I Make

So one of the things that I most love about blog-land is all of the new-to-me recipes to be found out there, which is why I'm posting some of our standbys. Don't worry though, after about one more week I'll have made everything in my arsenal so I'll stop posting about it.
We had this for dinner a couple of nights ago and while we don't love it as much as the potato soup it's incredibly easy to make and both of the girls will even eat it so it gets put into the rotation pretty regularly. I'm pretty sure half of my readers (Michelle) already have (has) this recipe but I cooked it, and I took it's picture so I'm postin' it!

Cranberry Chicken

1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce (the whole berry is VERY important, we made it a few weeks ago using jellied because I'd already started it before realizing that's all we had, and it's just SO much better with the whole berry)
1 (8 ounce) bottle French dressing
1 envelope onion soup mix
8 boneless chicken breasts (as you can see we use chicken tenders, I'm so paranoid about chicken not cooking all the way through that when I cook with chicken breasts I cut it in the middle so much to check it that we usually end up with diced chicken.)

Heat oven to 350
Combine cranberry sauce, dressing, and soup mix. Put chicken breasts in a sprayed or greased 3-quart casserole dish or 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour mixture over chicken. Bake, uncovered 45 to 60 minutes.

The extra sauce is really yummy over rice. What are some of your favorite recipes?

Oh Judy...

Well I finished reading it and I was not disappointed. I had forgotten the preoccupation with not having boobs and hoping for your period (which I have to say feels like an accurate portrayal of the age) but it was really funny to reminisce. Also, reading this got me through one of the longest and most uncomfortable dentist appointments of my life, for which I am very grateful. As I read it though I think I did read it when I was younger, I didn't really remember anything about the story except for a certain postcard that is sent and received which reads only I GOT IT!!! And if you're wondering to what the IT could refer go back and read the second sentence of this post. But I'm pretty sure that reading this book must have been a major factor in my co-founding a club in the sixth grade with my friend Julie called C.A.G.O. (Cool Aikahi Girls Only). We made the other members pay dues... I'm not kidding, though I'm pretty sure it only happened once. The club like so many of my great ideas fizzled out pretty quickly.
So let me share with you my favorite excerpt from the entire book, these four girls are trying to think of a name for their club:
"We'll be the Four PTS's"
"What's it stand for?" Janie asked.
Nancy tossed her hair around and smiled."The Pre-Teen Sensations!"
"Hey, that's good," Gretchen said.
"I love it," Janie squealed.
We had a secret vote to pass the club name and naturally it passed. Then Nancy decided we should all have secret sensational names such as Alexandra, Veronica, Kimberly and Mavis. Nancy got to be Alexandra. I was Mavis.

Hee hee! It just tickles me, even now. Maybe we should start a club, any cool name ideas ladies? It could be a club name or just your "secret sensational" name, I think mine'll be Mildred. Well if anyone else wants to read it (and I know that now you're all dying to) I've got a copy you can borrow, aw heck you could even have it.

Awesome Finds

You've got to love Goodwill, sometimes. Sometimes of course you go and find absolutely nothing. Lately I'll go there every so often because (sometimes) they'll have some really cute socks, brand new ones in case that made anyone nervous, but I can't go without looking in their book section. Today while I was there I found a couple of pairs of socks and totally scored in the book department. Around here we love Arthur books, Berenstain Bears books, and Little Critter, I found loads of those today and at forty-nine cents a pop I can't stop myself. But I also stumbled across...Forty-nine cents y'all! Now you're probably wondering why on earth I'd be excited about this and the answer is I don't really know other than that I'm a big dork, and if I didn't get excited about the little things when on earth would I get to be excited? In those formative Judy Blume years I definitely read my share, Freckle Juice, Fudge, Double Fudge, Blubber, Forever, but somehow I never got around to reading this classic, so I'm really excited to further my Judy Blume education. Plus it probably won't take me all that long to read it which will really help me get a little ahead on my goal to read 50 books by the end of the year.
But what I'm even more excited about finding was this
I adore middle readers, they're more my maturity level than most adult fiction, and so I read this a year or two ago and I thought it was so charming! It's actually the second book about these kids, the first one is called Chasing Vermeer. I would love these books anyway, but now that I'm a mom I'm all about collecting books that I will want to read to and with my kids or just for them to read on their own sometime (which reminds me I ALSO found Ramona the Pest...score!). These books are fun and exciting and are all about thinking outside the box and not being afraid to ask questions and find things out for yourself, and they even manage to be somewhat educational on top of it all. Anyway, the copy that I found is a paperback in such nice condition and it was only ninety-nine cents!
Well I guess I'd better go read something if I'm gonna make my goal.

Food I Make

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to cooking - well, that's not quite right, I don't actually mind cooking, I don't love clean up, but I just can't stand the inevitable interruptions that come when you have two little girls who are often in need of every attention imaginable. So when I come across a recipe that I consider easy it gets put into pretty heavy rotation around here. I found this Potato Soup recipe courtesy of the blogging world, though it was some time ago so I can't remember exactly where, but we really love it. The hardest part of the whole thing is peeling and chopping the potatoes. After that it's easy peasy. Potatoes don't really get a whole lot of play around here, so I'll actually put this around the beginning and the end of our two week menu plan because a ten pound bag is perfect for making two batches, same with the bacon bits.
Also, praise be to the crock pot, am I right ladies? I first made this soup a couple of months ago and I'm pretty sure it was my first successful crock pot dish, aside from a couple of those bagged crock pot meals from the store, and this soup is waaaaaaaaaaay better than any of those we've tried.
There was an ill fated crock pot cake disaster back in my single days, that's right crock pot cake. What can I say? I didn't have an oven, but I did have a recipe, which for me did not work at all. But with the success of this soup I am on the prowl for more go-to recipes. I'm usually at my most ambitious in the morning, so getting it going isn't a problem and who doesn't love having their dinner prep dishes done by noon?
Anyway, here's the recipe with all my helpful (laziest way possible) tips...

8-10 med. potatoes peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 lb. bacon (I just use the bacon bits from costco, usually about half a bag, what can I say, we like our bacon around here)
1 can cream of chicken soup (we use the family size)
3 cans chicken broth
1 8oz. package cream cheese
1 med. onion, chopped
pepper to taste (that drives me crazy, I like pepper, but I have no sensibility about these things, is it too much? There's just no knowing until it's too late! Give me measurements people, don't make me think for myself!)
The recipe I have doesn't call for it, but I put a can of corn in there as well, we didn't have any today -drat!- and we do like it better with the corn.
Put potatoes, bacon and onion in crock pot. Whisk together soups, softened cream cheese and pepper (it will be a little lumpy). Pour mixture in with potatoes. Cook 8-10 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high. Now the recipe I have says to take about 1/3 out and run it through the blender to thicken it up but as I mentioned before I'm lazy and as far as things I HATE doing, cleaning out a blender is pretty high on the list. So like I say I don't do that I more like give it a vigorous stir and call it good. And it is good! The recipe I have also recommends a bread bowl, and you go for it! At this point we can't afford the luxury of bread bowls so a nice squishy roll will have to suffice.
Try the soup! You won't be sorry, well maybe you will, what do I know?

Why Two Lovelies You May Ask...

Or maybe you didn't, either way I named my blog Two Lovelies on account of my two girls and their loveliness. Since I have no life besides them, that is largely what I will be blogging about, LaRue, Matilda, and all our non-adventures. And I'm pretty sure I just lost any prospective readers.
LaRue is almost four and my favorite thing about her would have to be that she's really funny. A good part of that comes from being such a mimic I suppose, and that's not always a good or funny thing, not by a long shot. But every now and then she'll just say something totally out of the blue and just crack us up. This isn't the best thing, but she's a pretty inventive name caller, right now her go to insults would have to be "power scarf" (don't ask, because I don't know) and "cheese eater". This paints a pretty bratty picture of her, and believe me she definitely is some times (just trying to keep it real). But she's also very sweet, very helpful, and very loving and I love her to pieces.

Matilda is such a little powerhouse. She's almost two and a half and SO determined. She will not be left behind, if there's a group of kids around it doesn't matter if they're older, or what they're doing because she's going to join in. I'm pretty sure that's why she was walking at nine months, she just wouldn't tolerate being left out. Early-ish walking has left her with a lot of time to perfect her climbing skills. She's always climbing (and often falling off of) something, but has yet to sustain any serious injury, emphasis on the yet. She's been sick this last week and has mostly been a little sweetheart about it, so I look forward to her feeling better. She's got a few words in her repertoire including Daddy (her favorite), MOM!, uh-oh, eeee (meaning eat), yah, and lately she has started saying uh uh but she doesn't always mean no, so we're figuring that one out.

With Tillie being sick lately my main project has been laundry laundry and more laundry. Outside of that I've been trying to get caught up on my scrapbooking and reading a little bit, and lest I forget, trying to perfect my Guitar Hero 3 skills. I'm holding my own on medium, Jeliss?
Not exciting, but that's my life right now.