OH, Baby! Favorite Foto Friday

Happy Favorite Foto Friday! Today's theme is, "Oh, Baby!" Oh, baby, how I love my baby!

First, here's some baby picture of me. I don't have any pictures of me when I was really young; I should have hit Mom up for some. Oh well. In the first faded picture from 1981, I'm around the same age Colter is now. I'm not sure where my mom's eyes are...

This is my two-year-old picture. I think I look a little mischievous. :)This is one of Colter's first pictures! He had just been plopped on my chest. In fact, my face is still red from all that pushing I just did, and yes, my legs are still spread. The doctor still had quite a bit of stichin' up to do. Ow. Colter's six-days-old in this one. What a sweetie! I need to get me another one of those... Man, I love this little guy.

Look What I Won!

I may have been a loser blogger lately, but I'm still a winner! I won a contest on Jenn's blog, and I received this fabulous cookbook full of yummy recipes to try. Hooray for me! Thanks a bunch, Jenn

A Really Late Wordless Wednesday

Helpful Household Hint from Me #1

Good Morning! I have decided to release my inner Martha Stewart and bombard my readers with throngs of amazingly useful household hints. Yeah, I'm totally kidding. I have very few helpful household hints. I know the household basics. For anything more complicated, like getting Colter's Pediped sandals to de-stink, I have to call my mommy or my mother-in-law. In fact, it was Mom who actually informed me of the little known fact I'm going to share with you. Okay, it's probably not a little known fact. Probably everyone in the world already knows this, but I didn't. It makes me feel not as dumb to call it a little known fact.

Are you ready? The household hint number one is--clean your dryer's lint trap! I don't mean just remove the lint, which is what I have always done in the past. The screen needs to be actually scrubbed twice a year. I recently mentioned that our dryer wasn't drying like it should be, and my mom told me that fabric softeners build up on the screen, and even though the screen looks clean, it's actually not. If it's clean, water should run through it. I went home and put my lint screen under running water, and lo and behold, water just pooled on the surface of a seemingly clean lint screen! Ahhh! I immediately scrubbed off the screen and water ran through just like it should. I just hope it's not too late! I hopefully haven't killed my dryer by burning up the motor--or whatever would happen. I don't want to have to go dryer shopping like she did.

So there you have it. The first and probably last entry the "Helpful Household Hints from Me" series. Go clean your lint trap!

FFF-Black and White

It's Favorite Foto Friday! Amazingly, I actually have time to post this morning. I might even have time to read a few blogs--I've been feeling so disconnected! This week has been crazy busy. There's suddenly been lots of changes at our house, as I try to get used to working part time. I don't know how you working moms out there do it! Things are starting to settle down now, but if I had more than one kid or were trying to work full-time...sheesh. I think this week would have put me in the loony bin. :)

Today's theme is black and white! I love black and white photos. I hope you enjoy some of my favorites.

Cute Baby Feet!

Doesn't he look like he thinks I'm a nut? I wonder if it was the flowerpot...
The END! In more ways than one...:)

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations Ronda! Colter's sticky syrup covered fingers chose your name during pancakes (the food--not our cat) this morning. The Shack and some snacks are headed your way! Well, actually they're not. I need you to email your contact information first! Contact me at Ljenelle at gmail dot com.

Wouldn't you know it? One of the few days in my life I really need the Internet, it's not working at my house! I need to print out rosters for the classes I'm teaching this afternoon, do training for the virtual classes I'm going to teach, and post cute pictures of Colter picking Ronda's name out of a Tupperware bowl! As I'm using my neighbor's Internet connection (I'm glad they don't have a firewall), I'll have to skip the pictures today. You'll just have to take my word for it. Ronda's the winner! Thanks to everyone for playing.

A Pig Memory

Don't forget to check out my previous post and leave a comment! You could win CHOCOLATE (and a book).

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The only good pig is part of a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Really.

I feel some clarification is needed for items 14-16 from my list of 100 things about me:
14. I once was bitten by a hungry pig.
15. I HATE pigs.
16. I like B.L.T.s
All you P.E.T.A. fans out there, I’m sorry. I really am, but it’s true. Pigs are only good for eating. I can see getting upset if someone fashions a fur coat out of an adorable little otter, but trust me, pigs are not worth picketing N.R.A. meetings for.

For one thing, pigs are stinkin’ MEAN! Not to mention stinky! My parents owned pigs during my younger years, so I have lots of pig related memories. I remember how we had to keep all the momma pigs locked up in separate pens when they had babies—and this is horribly disgusting—because some sows would eat other sow’s piglets. Really! I remember when I was about eleven taking a stick and beating a big, ugly sow, my eyes filled with tears because I had just found the remains of three half-eaten piglets that had somehow gotten into the wrong pen. I’m sorry to share such a terrible memory, but I feel the world must know the truth about these evil creatures. I remember a big, ugly sow destroying a little watermelon patch I had so carefully planted in a little garden by my front porch. I remember a fat, jerk of a pig named earless (she was missing part of one ear for some reason—probably another pig bit it off) traumatizing me and chasing me into the barn. But most of all, I remember The Day of the Pig Bite.

The Day of the Pig Bite started off good enough. I had camped out the night before with my friends in Girl Scouts and got to spend the day hiking, making crafts, singing songs, or whatever it is that Girl Scouts do. My mom picked me up after my fun-filled morning, and we sang along to Debbie Gibson’s “Electric Youth” all the way home. When we got to the farm, we took care of most of the chores without incident. I climbed over the fence of the last pigs waiting for dinner with a bucket full of ground corn to present to the hungry herd of swine. If I would have been very observant, I would have noticed that the pigs were acting more frantic than usual. They always rushed towards the corn with crazed, starved looks in their squinty eyes, but today their stampede was accompanied by high-pitched squealing. Maybe the oncoming storm made them crazy. The fifteen or so huge, ravenous sows were practically crushing each other as they mobbed around me and their supper. I ignored them—pigs always seemed to be over-reacting—and casually strolled to the long, flat rock we dumped their corn on. As I leisurely prepared to begin dumping their grain, one of the smelly beasts got tired of waiting. I slowly tipped the bucket; a sow quickly reached over and closed her jaws on my thigh. I shrieked in agony and fright and began sprinting across the pigpen leaving a trail of ground corn behind me. The pigs got what they wanted, and I got a permanent set of teeth marks on my leg. I never really liked the pigs much before that, but when Mom poured rubbing alcohol on my leg, I decided I couldn’t stand them!

I’m not sure when my parents got into the pig business, but I do know when the bottom dropped out of the pork market during my later elementary years and they sold the stinkin’ things, I rejoiced! Thankfully, the only pigs I’ve had any contact with since are the ones that come prepackaged. I get to bite them.