Too cute

Today was Caitlyn's first soccer game. She missed last week's game because she was invited to go to Disneyland with her grandma - just the two of them... driving to California and enjoying two days of Disney-bliss together. What great memories for her. We felt that it was too great of an opportunity for her to turn down, and in effect she missed her first official soccer game. Anyway, I digress. Back to the soccer game....

She did such a great job. She ran up and down that field giving it her all. She was so good that she scored a goal!.... for the other team unfortunately, but that doesnt really matter right? She was goallie for bit and she loved it! Being goallie is sort of being the hero of the team - and she enjoyed getting the ball when it came her way.

Something I've always wanted

To my husband - Thank you! Chad surprised me yesterday with my graduation gift early. (I asked him to give it to me - but he has the hardest time holding in a secret when he's excited) He got me a KitchenAid Food Processor. Some may be wondering why I would be excited about this, but I love it! I make salsa all the time - usually on a weekly basis and I have been using my little $10 special - two cup maximum- chopper since we got married. Chad and I made salsa last night and it took about a fifth of the time. Throw everything in and its done! He also got me the "Food Processor Bible" to go along with it -interesting title... I havent thumbed through it yet, but I am sure it will be helpful in understanding how I can use it all of the time. Just looking at all of the gadgets and accessories it comes with has given me plenty of ideas. It is the perfect gift for me!

Everyone stand behind Me

Out of 100 people standing behind me, I will only let 30 of them get picked off. 7 out of 10 of my friends are in luck.

69%

sweet tooth?

Anyone interested in some cookie dough? Caitlyn's school is having a fundraiser that is ending this Friday. I have not tried the cookie dough yet - but I have heard that is phenominal.

The dough comes in 3 lb. tubs for $13. You'll have enough cookie dough to last a while - or in our case a week :)

Let me know if you are interested! Here are the choices:

chocolate chunk

oatmeal raisin

sugar

jumbles (oatmeal, chocolate chunks, coconut, white chocolate, butterscotch and peacans)

white chocolate macadamia nut

peanut butter

M & M

walnut chocolate chunk

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

snickerdoodle

triple chocolate

Heath candy bar

For $15 you can get a set (1.5 lbs each)

Oatmeal raisin / oatmeal butterscotch

white chocolate macadamia nut / double chocoalte macadamia nut

chocolate chunk / german chocoalte

maple pecan swirl/ sugar

Slave to the Consumption

Since purchasing our hybrid car I have become a slave to the Consumption meter. In the Toyota Prius, there is a screen that shows your miles per gallon (MPG) every second on the right and then bars that show you 5 minute averages that pile up for 30 minutes to show your fuel consumption.

Now, I am ecstatic that I can ignore how heavy my foot is and still get 44.5 MPG. But, there is just something inside of me that has to watch that meter on the right to make sure that I can squeeze every possible inch per gallon out of it. I am sure that I am infuriating those behind me with slower than average starts and longer than average coasting stops, but I don't care. I am an addict to getting high MPG. I fully expect to walk into my house and see Mr. VanVonderen with a room full of people that"love the heck out of me."

Smart as an average 14 year old.

Is it bad that I am actually proud of this score? I was always such a dummy when it came to science in school. It is good to know that I retained something.

Chad

Found love....

Okay, ladies... If you dont have one you need one. I recently returned from working a beauty trade show for Sarah's mom's company. It is a great beauty product that has made washing my face/keeping my hair dry/keeping curls from falling out prematurely/or just to help keep Caitlyn's hair out of her face when she is puking in the middle of the night. (No joke- real story. It was very handy) The possibilities are endless. Oh - and they are packaged really, really, cute, so they make great gifts. They also come in a great array of colors. I have hot pink and lime green. :)

check out the website for a cute video of it! http://www.tassicompany.net/

New member of the fam

Here is the newsest member of the family. This is our more eco-friendly member. Our new car is a Toyota Prius. We have sold the truck and purchased this baby due to the fact that I was spending more on the gas for my truck that it was worth. Plus, with gas looking like it is going through the roof in the next few months I had to do it. I will be cutting my gas to 1/3 of what I spend on the truck. Insurance will be $150 less every 6 months, and registration will be $18 dollars a year total. I had to do it. So....here it is.

After the first day of driving some major miles, I am averaging 48.9 mpg. HOORAY!

(the truck averaged 15.4)

Almost there

So - I hope I havent jinxed myself by putting this on the car already.... Chad purchased a new license plate for me and the Envoy. It is very clever and I was suprised to hear that it wasnt taken already. It arrived in the mail yesterday and eventhough the semester isnt over yet, I put it on the car.

I swear if this wasnt my last semester I would quit. I am definitely sputtering to the finish line. This semester has been extremely difficult so far. I count my blessings that two of my classes are relatively easy and do not require a lot of attention, but the other two are killers. In the two classes alone I have five papers (over six pages each) and one huge research paper (at least 15 pages) due by the end of the semester. All of these papers require books to be read - which I just haven't been in the mood to do. That doesnt even count the three papers that I have already completed for these classes. Unbelieveable!

Needless to say - there will be tears of joy shed come May 9th. Okay, enough of the pity party. I have to get to work - literally. I have a paper due next week that I need to get done right now. Wish me luck. Oh, and if any of you are interested in History and want to help on a couple of papers just let me know. (I dont expect the phone to ring off the hook for this one!)

You should use this

If you are not already usig the google reader you should be. It tells you when there are new posts instead of searching each blog everyday. This isn't so bad if you check one or two, but when you keep up with a few of your peeps this is the way to go. Check it out.