Recently, GA has been doing more and more things on her own. Getting a cup down from the high shelf, grabbing the gallon milk jug from the top shelf in the fridge and making herself some chocolate milk. Pouring herself a glass of juice. Making herself a bowl of cereal. Doing the whole process on her own. I jokingly said one afternoon that she doesn't need me anymore. She lovingly reminded me that "mom, I'll always need you."

Today she asked if she could make her own PB & honey sandwich for lunch. And make one for her sister, too. Wow. Definitely growing up. So she got the Jif and the honey from the pantry. Grabbed the loaf of bread:

Asked me to get the right knife for her to use. Spread on the peanut butter:

Squeezed on the honey and then asked me to help her cut the sandwich into triangles. She cut Imac's in half by herself. Sure, the edges were a little torn, but she did a great job. Here she is enjoying, according to her, THE BEST SANDWICH EVER. And I'm sure it was.

Again, I said she doesn't need me and she said "mom, I need you because I still don't know how to use the oven or take things out of the toaster." Good to know.

This is the first thing Imac says when she sees GA today. And it was the truth,too.

Here's how it went down:

I had to stop by the preschool to check on RSVPs for the Thanksgiving program next week. One thing led to another and a short stop turned into about 40 minutes. We had to get going to pick up GA from school. I was also very thirsty so we stopped at the Steak N Shake drive thru and I got a cherry coke. I decide to just drive straight to the Elementary school to pick up GA since it's about 1:50 at this point and she gets out at 2pm.

We pull into the parking lot at school and I finish up a phone conversation before heading over to the "waiting to pick up" spot. Irelyn informs me that she has to pee. REALLY BAD. So, I start thinking, what can she pee into? I wasn't finished with my drink yet so I couldn't let her pee into my cup. I have no portable potty and there are really no discreet areas outside to let her do her business. Then I remember I have some plastic shopping bags in the back of the car. We had been shopping at Michael's earlier that day and the bags were still in my car. I empty out a bag, check for holes and proceed to pull down Imac's pants and panties. I have her stand up and squat over the bag and tell her to pee in the bag. Wow! I am amazed that 1) she was actually able to pee on command and 2) that the pee didn't go flying all over the car. I managed to catch all the pee in the plastic bag, wipe her with some napkins from the glove box and get her dressed again. I dumped the pee out of the bag onto the pavement and threw the bag away. Luckily, I also had some hand sanitizer in the car, so we were able to get all cleaned up.

What an adventure! I told Irelyn not to talk about it while we were waiting for Georgia to come out of the school (there are usually several other moms waiting for their kids with us and I didn't want to have to explain what happened). I said "it's a big secret, so don't tell". Thankfully, she did not mention it. Until we got in the car and she says to Georgia "Georgia, I peed in a bag" and we all had a good laugh about it.

I love being a mom!

 Lain Ehmann is a funny, kind and very talented scrapbooker. I've been following her blog for over a year now and she is always inspiring. Lain is being published and her new book is sure to please anyone who enjoys paper, adhesive and scissors. Here's a sneak peek and a an excerpt of what to expect when you read this cute little book:

There will also be a Snippets virtual launch party at the Simple Scrapbooks website on Thursday 11/20/2008. Make sure to stop by! Lain will be hosting a chat in the message boards at 1 PT, there will be contests, prizes and more!

Join me in helping Lain spread the word about her upcoming book Snippets (click that link to pre-order your copy today!).

Got this from Lain's email newsletter The Dot.

If Oprah says it's good...

...then you know it's the next big thing! And the next big thing, according to her Winfreyness, is photo books.

Yeah, Ms. O, we already knew that! But far be it for us frugal scrappers to look a gift horse -- or in this case, fish -- in the mouth! Snapfish, that is...

Snapfish has teamed up with Lady O to offer a free 8x11 photo book to all would-be scrappers out there. Yes, that's right -- a $29.99 value for free! Here's the catch: You have to redeem the offer by Friday, Nov. 14 and finish creating your book by Sunday, Nov. 16. But for that good a deal, I'm willing to miss a few hours of beauty sleep to get my photos uploaded and organized. That's what undereye concealer is for, right?

I just made one from our beach vacation this summer. It was so quick and easy: just choose your backgrounds, drag and drop your photos on the page, add some text/journaling and - Bam! - you're done!

Have fun and go make a photobook!

This is what we had for dinner on Sunday. I happened to watch Food TV one day last week and saw an episode of Everyday Italian. Giada was making Balsamic Chicken Drumettes and they looked sooooo good. I decided we should make them on Sunday. R had done the food shopping and picked up a bag of drumettes to use, but it also included the wing pieces so we used both wings and drumettes. Next time I would just use regular drumsticks, for ease of eating.

One of the best parts of the recipe was being able to use our fresh rosemary that we are growing in the planter next to our mailbox. We are always looking for recipes that require rosemary because our rosemary bush is huge! Here is a photo of the chicken in the marinade:

R kept saying that if it tastes 1/10 as good as it smells then it will be awesome...and it was!

Here is the finished product:

Serve with some grilled asparagus and you have an awesome dinner! Give this one a try, we'll be having it again and again.

Here is what is on the menu tonight (taken from the crockpot blog):

Pasta Fagioli Soup in the crockpot

--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice) --- I only used one can since my slow cooker was looking really full. And I used petite diced.
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!)
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time --- I'm using some whole grain rotini pasta 

The Directions.
Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.
Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.
Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.
Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.
Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it.

I'll post my review later!