Barnaclebutt

"Fish smells like fish." That's Jonathan's reason for why he doesn't want to eat my fabulous baked salmon.

But last night I made This baked fish with shrimp and it went over really well. At first he said he was going to just have the noodles and green beans, but after smelling the (delicious) sauce for awhile he asked for a bite and then said, "Oh! I've gotta have some of that."

Hey! I am blogging from work. On my lunch break of course. There is really nothing to write about though, lunch by myself in the empty office is blah, blah, blah boring.

We had a good weekend though watching lots of Katie playing soccer at her tournament in San Ramon.

And eating frozen yogurt. Eating fro-yo may be the current Fosse family favorite activity. We play 20 questions while we eat. I know, we're a fascinating family.

Here is what's on my mind. You know how in John it talks about sheep and the shepherd and whatnot?

I've thought about that before and mostly concentrated on what it means to be a good sheep...hearing the Shepherds voice, following him, etc.

But yesterday when I was reading it again I had a lovely safe feeling come over me when I realized that the sheep do not fight the wolf. The Shepherd fights the wolf.

Exhale. It will all be okay. I certainly do not have to do everything.

Marc ended up working on Saturday so we didn't paint the family room. Sigh. So I decided to entertain myself by fancy-ing up the entryway.
I saw this picture on this website (a new love) and thought family pictures going up the stair well would be a pretty idea. I found frames on sale at Target and got to work scanning pictures.

Due to my technical difficulty (missing brain parts) it took me a really long time to scan and print. Marc finally had to save me. But the pictures look GREAT!

As soon as I hang them I'll share pictures. I will hang them as soon as I decide if I want to keep them with pictures I have already so laboriously scanned and printed or if I want to scan and print a whole NEW set of old Halloween photos to display next month.

Isn't that a cute idea! A cute, stupid, will drive me crazy if I do it and will drive me crazy if I don't, idea? This is one of my favorites.
Then, all I will need is an area rug and some fall like table stuff to finish up the teeny space. I'm not sure if the fall stuff should be attractive fall foliage, or plastic eyeballs floating in an apothacary. What do you think?

I've started working for my dad fifteen hours a week. Fifteen teensy little hours. I'm 100% positive that I normally waste fifteen hours each week walking in and out of the laundry room and wondering what I'm doing.

So I can't figure out why becoming a "working mom" is kicking me so hard.

Actually, I can. It's because school and after school sports started up at pretty much the same time as my job. So even though I normally love this time of year, I'm kind of doing the headless chicken thing right now.

And I certainly am not making any dinners.

But tomorrow that changes! I am armed with a grocery list and menu plan for three low fat crock pot meals to make this week. Yes I know there are seven dinners in a week. I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew (chew! ha!). If they work out, and by "work out" I mean at least four out of the six people who live here like them, then I will share.

If you know of any easy low fat/low calorie family type meals will you share? Please?

I have another brief yet valuable piece of advice for all those darling little children out there.

Whatever "eating plan" your mother is on, you must refrain from asking her that most heinous of all questions, "Are you allowed to eat that?"

Because dear children, your mother is an all grown up adult (with the stretch marks to prove it) and so she alone is in charge of what goes into her mouth. Thus it follows that whatever she is eating, she is indeed allowed to eat.

Now go forth and NEVER ask that question again. It is not helpful.

I will now gift you with an educational quiz on how to ask your parents for things.

1. You want new flip flops. You...

A. flop in the car after school and announce, "you have to get me new flip flops today."

B. explain to your mother that your flip flops broke at school today and say, "do you think I can get some new ones soon?"

Just sayin'

On Friday Marc and I went for a run and had a new high of going 1 and 3/4 miles without a break. This week we should hit two miles. We are slow, and I think look really silly, but I am proud of us. My personal running trick is to look up at the mountains and sing "How Firm a Foundation" in my head, it keeps me going.

We also monitor the tall fast couple who run on the track at the same time we do each morning with a solid goal of increasing the time it takes them to lap us each day. Don't judge.

Speaking of judging, I have always thought that you couldn't claim to be a runner unless you actually run. Like when people all bright and breezily claim things like, "I ran five hundred miles this morning,"...I thought that meant they ran five hundred miles. Without stopping.

But apparently in run language you can say you ran, even if you spent some of that time walking. It's okay apparently. I've always been very careful to qualify my running statements by saying things like, "I ran this morning but I was being passed by snails," just because I don't want anyone to think I'm claiming to be an actual runner. They might see me sometime and laugh. But what you can count on is that if I say I ran, I did not walk. So. That's how I feel about it.

Friday with Marc out of town + four diet cokes + upcoming birthday party = uncontrollable need to make a birthday banner at nine o'clock at night!

And the bonus is I have something for DIY Thursday!

So instead of doing any chore type items which I hate anyway, I decided I could make a Mary Engelbreit-ish birthday banner out of leftover fabric scraps and, I'll be honest, fabric I'd purchased for projects that I never got to.It was a great idea! Totally fun, fast, and rewarding. I imagined that I invented this from my own pretty little head, but when I googled "fabric birthday banner" It turns out I had not. There are LOTS of ideas out there.

My idea was to sew a little, use wonder under a lot, and hot glue everything else. Worked like a charm. Check it out.

I stole some wonder under from Dayna (thanks!) and just free hand drew the letters on the paper part. Remember to reverse them.I layered the batting between the front and back pieces, pinned them together, cut an edge with pinking shears, and sewed around the edge. Nothing is particularly straight or perfect but I was more interested in fast than perfect for this project.