From Chaos Comes Happiness

Katie is me. . . in so many ways. She is an old soul - and we relate to each other on a number of different levels (that being said, we also know exactly how to press each others buttons. That's my girl!) So, tonight I am sitting at my computer devouring a new blog that I just discovered - Bakerella . Truly - the most ingenious and awesome baking site I've seen - fantastic photography and really great sweet ideas. (I'm licking my lips just reading the posts. You MUST check it out!) Anyway, I'm surfing the site going through some of its old blog archives, and I find this one , from April 2009. Let me tell you . . . I am happy. Because, as I've mentioned a few times before, I love Chocolate (I love Chocolate so much, that I believe it deserves to be capitalized. Chocolate. Yeah, that's right. Oh, and Cheese Cake. That's another one that deserves to be capitalized. Check out what Bakerella did with Cheese Cake. It's brilliant! Oh, and this one for Father...

So, today I took a look at the "storage cabinet" above our refrigerator, and realized that perhaps I went a little bit . . . overboard. I don't know if you ever went through this . . . but preparing for Katie's lunches for FIRST GRADE was a huge adjustment for me. And I wanted to make sure that we had EVERY SINGLE SNACK available that she might want. (What? Did I really just say that?) Now, believe me . . . I am NOT one of those Mom's who gives her kids everything that they want. I definitely understand the word, "NO", and actually think that I say it quite often to my children. However, there was something about shopping for Katie's lunches that left me vulnerable this school year. I mean, these are her VERY FIRST LUNCHES of her VERY FIRST YEAR in school (. . . right?) Ok . . . How silly is that? What makes this even more upsetting is that . . . contrary to what it might look like . . . we are NOT the Rockefellers. The money spent on those snac...

I absolutely love my neighbor Christina. ( Yes, I'm writing about YOU !! How embarassing! ) Christina is probably the kindest person I have ever met - just a real genuine sweetheart! She is amazing with children (she happens to have my child over at her home many times throughout the week) and I can honestly say that I have never heard her say a negative word about anyone . Seriously. Those are surely traits that I need to work on. Especially now. Because right now, I'm about to say something negative . . . about Christina. You see . . . she is RUINING me. Christina . . . introduced me . . . to SUDOKU !!!! THE NERVE!!! Yes, Yes, I know that it has been around FOREVER . I've seen the people at the airport clutching their little Sudoku books with pencils in hand. I've looked over shoulders trying to catch a quick glimpse of what they were doing - trying to get a handle on this sudoku game. But never did I pick up a puzzle and try my luck at it. Never. Until this week,...

I just wanted to say thanks to ALL OF YOU for the absolutely fantastic replies to my "Perimenopause" post yesterday! You are the best group of blog readers I've ever met (and haven't met)! And I am taking all suggestions and support you've given and am hugging each and every one of them!!! Today I'm feeling a little better physically . . . I only had 1 cup of coffee this morning and have stayed away from sugars and high fat stuff, so that is a little progress. I did make it to the eye doctor and got the eyes checked (remember that I broke my glasses this week?) Well, turns out I haven't had the eyes tested since 2006 (shame on me!). Anyway - just ordered a FABU pair of new shades and will be seeing clearly again in 7-10 days. (Yea!) However, I'm still finding myself slightly irritated at some people I've come in contact with today (like the bozo who completely cut me off in the parking lot at Costco. Yeah, that wasn't nice.) But, all in all - ...

I tend to do most of my blog thinking in my car, either going to or coming from work. It seems to be the best time for my brain to be cleared of the day to day chaos that happens in a busy house. On my way to work today, I stopped at the ATM and waited in line to use a machine, when another blog subject popped in my head. The reason I came up with this right then and there, is because while in line at the ATM I found myself watching a woman get out of her car and put a SCARF around her neck. A SCARF . I immediately checked the outside temperature gage in the car (it read 65°) and I thought to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding me! You are COLD ? You are putting a SCARF around your neck, and you are cold? I’m sitting here having hot flashes, I’m hotter than a pig in a blanket, and you need a SCARF !?!” No sooner did those thoughts come out of my head that something else flashed in my mind . . . What in the world is WRONG with me? Seriously. I was clearly irritated at this person. This ...

I’m in a terribly cranky mood. It started this morning, and I’ve been having a really hard time getting out of it. It seems like everything I came in contact with this morning totally aggravated me. Did you ever have one of those days? I’m not proud of it. . . and frankly, I have absolutely NOTHING to be cranky about. Somewhere deep inside my head, I know that. Getting the rest of me in line with that is something else. I make a conscious effort to keep my eyebrows up. I have an expressive and pretty animated face that clearly wears it’s feelings on it. It’s hard to hide when I’m sad, aggravated or even down right angry. And today is turning out to be no exception. Today, the eyebrows are down. . . bummer. Today is a cloudy, rainy day. That doesn’t help the mood. I forgot to put on my engagement ring this morning (I only have my wedding band on right now, which is alright, but makes me feel “off”.) I forgot to put earrings on this morning. My eye glasses broke this morning - while sitt...

A couple of weeks ago I had the priviledge of spending the day in the kitchen with a small group of dear relatives/friends. The purpose of this gathering was completely selfish . . . I wanted, for this one day, to be Greek and learn how to bake some traditional Greek goodies. Silly, huh? Our gracious hostess was Francesca, cousin to my sister-in-law. Our wonderful teacher was Aunt Penny. Here is a photo of Aunt Penny, taken by 2 1/2 year old Ella: Getting together with Aunt Penny was something that I have wanted to do for years. Aunt Penny is the aunt to my dear father-in-law, John. John passed away a few years ago, and connecting with his family and learning a bit of their culture, and recipes, was very important to me. We laughed alot this day, and I realized how important it is to take time like this, before these opportunities are gone. Here is a great photo of Francesca with Aunt Penny (who happens to be her Yia Yia), preparing the phyllo for our baklaVA: I'm not Greek and I ...