Tuesday, February 24, 2009

no babies were hurt....

Are you looking for a new Day Care Provider?
Look no further!

No Babies Were Hurt is Juneau's Premier Day Care Center.
We specialize in babies under 18 months.

We provide excellent care.
We're a grandma/grandpa team with 98 years of child care experience between us.

We study the ABCs, 1-2-3s, and Coloring101.

We teach the basics of cooking. With meal time, comes lessons on selecting heart healthy foods that you might find in the pantry, and eating etiquette.

All babies get a well-rounded meal. Unfortunately, they only get one meal each day due to the unfortunate state of the economy.

Play time is a huge part of the day when babies get to climb over the dogs, climb furniture, and master the stairs.
We also provide toys that encourage mental and hand/eye coordination.

We give music lessons to those musically inclined (for an additional fee) and reading lessons to those advanced one year olds.

We believe that fresh air is important to the well being of all children. Regardless of the temperatures outdoors.

Although we encourage the freedom of speech and movement, and encourage laughter and silliness, we pride ourselves in having "eyes in the back of our head" which allows us to stop inappropriate behavior before it begins.

If you would like your baby to part of this incredible environment, give us a call today.
We're experienced and affordable!
1-800-NoChildWasHurt

Friday, February 13, 2009

a simple kiss

I want to kees you....
and kees you....
and kees you....
You are my favorite Valentine.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Disclaimer:

This is my granddaughter, Ellis. Isn't she a cutie? She's 9 months already!

This is our bedroom window. And that bright light? Sunshine!


Disclaimer: No babies were harmed in this activity..... I don't think....

Okay, let me back up. Anyone who knows Juneau, knows we don't get a lot of sunny days. Juneau is, by nature, a dark and dreary place most of the time. But when the sun shines, it shines bright and it's gorgeous outside. As is evidenced by the bright light coming through the bedroom window.


Yesterday and today have been absolutely beautiful, sunny days. A bright blue sky. A few white clouds. The snow sparkling. It's beyond words. Okay, here's the setup: One baby, one window, blinds that are shut. Grandma has little Ellis in her arms as she goes to open the blinds. As the blind goes up, and the sunshine finds its way underneath the blind and peaks its sunny face into our bedroom, it's getting brighter. And brighter. AND BRIGHTER. The brighter it got, the more Ellis snuggled her little head into my shoulder. TA DA! Finally the blind has been lifted and little Ellis screams! "NO!!! WHAT IS THAT BRIGHT LIGHT???!!! MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!! IT HURTS!!!!" as she quickly snuggled her face into my neck. Afraid to look. Afraid of what else was to come. Poor little girl. She's been scarred for life. I'm sorry but I laughed so hard. Mostly because we've all felt that same horrific feeling, wondering what the hell is that??? as we shield our eyes from the hurt, the pain, the brightness. Anyway, maybe you just had to be there....

We headed out early to do errands today. The "usual" stops--Costco, Walmart, Fred Meyers. I took this picture of the ravens outside Costco. I thought it was pretty funny. This isn't a large tree, actually quite small to have so many ravens sitting in it.

In my younger days, I used to throw out old bread products (bread, buns, crackers) but then it dawned on me a few weeks ago..... what if I saved it all and fed the birds with it. So that's what we do now on our day off. We take all our discarded bread products and go to a parking lot and distribute it to the Ravens, Seagulls, and Eagles. It's like the horror movie, the Birds! All of a sudden, dozens and dozens of these gigantic birds all descend on our car! Flying over us, landing on us, circling around us! It's a frenzy! We're fearful for our lives. For our own safety. So we quickly roll up the window and skedaddle out of there. Okay, when I say "we" "we" "we", I mean "me." My husband is an accomplish but only as the getaway driver! God, I'm so pathetic. I need a hobby. Or a new life. Oh, wait, I do. Facebook! Gotta go and see what's new there! Have a great evening!

Monday, February 9, 2009

just another day


Yes, just another snowy day in Juneau.... Let's see, my last post on Friday said "more snow." Then it rained over the weekend and our driveway was flooded. We've had so much snow and it's made an effective wall of compact snow and ice. The snow melt and rain just didn't have any place to go but been linger in our driveway where it was probably 6" deep in the lowest spots...

Then, more snow. We woke up to another 7" this morning and another 9" is expected by tonight. Will it never end????

During our rainy spell, it gave me time to read this book: Worthy's Town, a novel by Sharon Rolens. Beneath the quiet surface of life in Old Kane, Illinois, love, cruelty, murder and friendship drive the destinies of Worthy and Willa Giberson and their boy Cappy in this best-seller spanning 1925 to 1950. The novel is the story of a small town and its vanishing way of life as well as the story of the Gibersons. As they and their neighbors deal with an approaching world war that they naively believe will not touch them, they deal with more subtle wars already in their midst.

Anyway, it was pretty good. I'm cleaning out my bookcase and trying to read all the books that have been sitting there, just waiting for their turn. I love books. All kinds of books. But the time has come to downsize some, so I'm getting rid of probably half of them.... cookbooks, gardening books, novels, history books, series. I'll keep my favorites; those I seem to read over and over again. It wasn't an easy decision to make as I truly do find great comfort in my books. I suppose it takes me back to my grandma's place as she, too, had an extensive library. Her stairwell to the second floor was lined with shelves just filled with books. I'd spend hours sitting on the ledge, thumbing through them, and felt even more joy when we were allowed to "check" them out. So my goal this year is to read those books that are still waiting in the wings and to not buy any more until I have! Wish me luck!

Friday, February 6, 2009






Today it continues. More snow. About 8".

Monday, February 2, 2009

the day after

I'm glad Super Bowl only comes once a year! Course, for me, it's all about the Eats. It's a regular Food Fest! My kids come over and we all sit around and visit and laugh and have a good time while my sweet husband tries to watch the game! He doesn't complain. Although I think he should! We have yakking, three dogs running around, two babies making noises, AND we're all in the same room together! None of us understand the game (except my husband), we're just in it for the food and commercials :O

This year I decided to clean the pantry out of all food tempting. I'm "prediabetic" and am supposed to be watching my sugar and fat content. Well, I do.... I watch it go right in my mouth! So I decided to just bake up all those pre-packaged desserts and empty out the freezer and start the year anew.

(This picture is just the dessert table. Lemon bars, Triple Chocolate Brownies, Rice Krispie Treats, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Harry & David's White Chocolate Moose Munch, leftover candies from Halloween and Christmas, with a little vegies tossed in! )

I tried two new recipes this year--one for ribs and one for chicken wingettes. They were okay.... but not ones I'd make again. The most sought after, and desired, food item at any family event is Mike's Famous Garlic Dip. If you like garlic, you need to try this at your next event. It's a recipe that his step mom always made. Mike adds so much garlic that it makes the top of your head sweat! And it's so addicting.... truly.... once you start, you simply can't stop stuffing it in your mouth. I'm not a delusional person. I know my children come over for the garlic dip, not to see me....

This year we started a new generation of Garlic Dip lovers. Little Hunter LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Mike made him a special dish that wasn't as hot, but he still thought it was pretty yummy.

Garlic Dip

1 cream cheese, softened (8 oz)
1 cup mayo
1 LARGE spoon of crushed garlic (or enough to burn....)
Shake of Worcestershire

Mix it good and serve with potato chips.
YummmmME!