Cheesecake. Enough Said.

Believe it or not, I had my first piece of cheesecake less than a year ago. Now I wish I hadn't. You don't know what your missing until you've had it. My mom loves cheesecake, and I always poo pooed that until that evening at the Cheesecake Cafe, oh my lanta.
Grocery shopping yesterday at the Superstore I picked up a Kraft brochure with THIS in it:

Amaris must have thought it looked good too because I left the brochure too close to her in the cart and she tried to eat it right off the page. Anyways, here's the recipe. Guilt loves company.

Prep time: 20

Total time: 5 hours 30 mins

Makes: 12 servings

What You Need:

1-1/4 OREO baking crumbs

1/4 butter, melted

3 pkg. (250g) PHILADELPHIA Brick cream cheese, softened (I would use low fat)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping

1 bar (100g) TOBLERONE Swiss milk chocolate coarsely chopped (slap chop anyone?).

Make It!

Heat oven to 350F

Mix crumbs and butter, press onto bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (the one that opens up with the hatch on the side I believe).

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at at ime, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 40-45 min. until centre is almost set. RUn knife around rim of pan to loosen cake, cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Spread carmel topping over hceesecake just before serving. Garnish with chopping chocolate (Bloateronies as my dad calls them).

You can always make recipes lower fat by using low fat ingrediants, like the cream cheese which you can get in 99% less fat versions! Also, applesauce is a great substitute for butter, but maybe not in this case??? hmmm I should try it!

You Know You're a Houswife When...

The highlight of your day is finding a new bathroom cleaner that works wonders.My husband is an ironworker. Because of this, he is banished to having his 'own bathroom'. Thank God we have enough bathrooms. His shower and I have been in constant battle since we got married. I have tried soaking it in bleach for hours, using 'green cleaners', lysol, comet, you name it, I've tried it. You have to realize, I am not bashing these cleaners. His shower, after even ONE shower, looks like you havn't cleaned it in about one month. He comes home so black with grease that they oil the iron with that you can barely recognize him. Think oldschool mine worker.
Anyways, I got sucked into the Scrubbing Bubbles commercial, and impulse bought a bottle at Superstore!!! I washed the bathrooms today and it was the HIGHLIGHT of my day! Just spray it on and wipe it away! HAH bathtub, I WIN!

A Day in the Life of...

Wake up. Play in crib. Talk to self.

Go in exersaucer. Eat Oatmeal. Smear oatmeal all over face. Smear oatmeal all over mommy's arm.

Practice crawling. Get frustrated. Rip apart foam play mat. Eat the letter "Y".

Go for walk with mom. Have bottle. Play with bottle. Spray milk all over mommy and daddy's bed. Go for nap.

Have fruit for lunch. Spend an hour ripping apart three of mom's magazines. Try to eat one of mommy's magazines. Get magazines taken away. Cry.
Have another nap. Play with Daddy. Have dinner. Cover floor with food. Cry when Daddy tries to wipe face. Have bath. Play with mommy and daddy. Bedtime bottle. Time for bed!

Letters from the Past

I was going through my message box in my email and came across old emails to my parents when they were on their much deserved vacation to the Cook Islands. I was looking after my little brother at home. I thought I'd post some pieces of the letter for my mom who probably hasn't read it since I sent it to her.

Cook Islands
March 16th - From Me to Mom and Dad
Hey parentals!!! Everything is going well here, and I'm glad to hear that everything is peachy in the cook islands, i hope it is all you wanted it to be and more. Just to warn you, I am going to be using 'msn lingo' so read carefully and don't mind the missed punctuation, I'll try to tone it down for you.
So Ethan and I have had a pretty calm past couple days, nothing too exciting. Took him to piano, we didn't get lost obviously. We have seen Erin once since you guys left, so nothing unusual on that end.
I've gone grocery shopping twice since you guys left for important things like more ritz crackers. We've had meatballs, grilled cheese, subway today for lunch, and tacos tonite for dinner among other things. Really not much news on this end, nothing as exciting as almost getting eaten by giant fish, but on the upside we both have our underwear.
I told David that mom was the only one i know that could do that, until i realized this wasn't true, it could happen to anyone planning three months ahead, going through numerous checklists, organzing the crum out of everything, and packing three days in advance, and then repacking twice on the day of....anyone could forget there underwear in all that hubub.
You won't live this down I don't think mom, but it's okay we all appreciate it.
I took ethan for a run yesterday, he made it exactly half a mile without stopping...the problem is once he stopped I couldn't get him started again, so he walked the other half.
Jess and I made a mock wedding cake today...problem is the fondant (special icing) melted and pulled the cake open as it slid off...so it looks like a big melted slimy dismembered cake. Needless to say we'll be buying fondant in the future not making it again.
Ethan says don't worry, everything is fine, and he's been enjoying doing things with his sister, and watching Lucy. (this was word for word and no I didn't have him at gun point).
Anyways, go, have fun, don't worry about us. Everything is seriously all good, ethan and I get along a lot better with you guys out of the picture. Different dynamic or something i guess, i tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen.The house is lonely with out you guys though, we'll appreciate it when you get back and ethan's not asking ME what's for dinner.
Love you lots, XOXO Be safe and all that jazz, but don't be boring :)
Your ADORING children,
Meredith and Ethan

Ethan, Me, Mom, Dad (2009)

March 22nd - from Me to Mom and Dad
"Today woody the woodpecker was pecking on the house for about 4 hours so David had a little fun hiding in the bush with the bebe gun for awhile. He's a smart bird though, he flew away and ddin't come back till david was inside again. Don't worry, the sight on the gun is so off i don't think David will be able to hit it. ANd no, we arn't letting ethan shoot the bebe gun in the yard as per dad's rule although he thought this was horrible and tried to argue against it to david and i...... we're still (ethan and i) getting along fine, and it's a good lesson in patience. We took him to turkey easter dinner at the marks' house last night.
Today david's been playing golf all afternoon with his ushers then they're going out for dinner, who knows when they'll be home. It kinda sucks since it's one of my only days with him this weekend, but he needs his guy time i guess. plus i get him for the rest of his life so i guess it's a fair trade. although it's been a very boring afternoon/evening.
We're going through the money pretty fast, as in after grocerys, gas and ethan's haircut, and we ate out at subway once, it's all gone. so im saving receipts.
Anyways, the house is freezing cold and the weather has been horrible as per norm. So sick of it. At least Calgary is sunny. I'm kinda getting the flowers figured out, but im really ready for all this detail thing to be over with.
OKay well love you guys, and stop being such martyrs about your children forgetting you (try to forget us for a couple days! sheesh!).
xoxo Meredith"

Sick Sick Sick

My poor baby, sick again.

The past month and a half have been a real trial. Amaris got sick at the start of August, with a fever and a rash (who knows what else since she can't tell us what hurts). It was horrible, we took her to the Doctor who was also horrible, and got her blood tests done for measles. It came back negative so the most likely culprit - viral infection. She finally got better and then got her first tooth, so miserable! Then she took a dive off the bathroom counter onto the floor and had her first trip to emergancy. Then the second tooth.

And now, sick again.

We flew home from Victoria a week ago thursday night, and at 3 o'clock in the am she woke up with a fever of almost 103, I have never felt her little body so hot, it was horrible. Tylenol did nothing. I took her to the doctor that morning, and he said give her motrin. After two days of the high fever, she broke out in another rash!

Her fever finally broke after 4 days of crying and 3 nights of no sleeping for me. Her rash is just going away now, thank God. My mom and dad (who we were visiting) also got sick, as did my husband David. The virus is horrible and attacks all your muscles, David hasn't gone to work for two days and could barely get dressed this morning because he was so achey. I've been feeling okay, a little sick. I am so thankful I havn't been sick since I've had Amaris! I think God must give mom's a supernatural immunity! haha.

Well, here's to hoping and praying for a healthy next couple months!

A Few of My Favorite Things!

A few of my favorite movies, I don't know why but I thought I'd share the love!

"17 Again"
A movie about a worn out, grumpy middle ager who is going through a divorce when he 'travels back in time' to the age of 17 and realizes he what a bum he's been and that he really does love his wife. This movie is hilarious, cute, and a happy ending ties it up perfectly! I loved it!

"Pride and Prejudice"
My favorite movie of all time, I cry everytime I watch it! It's too long to explain other than the best, most romantic love story you'll ever watch on film!! Even this picture brings tears to my eyes! I'm such a ham! If you feel like falling in love all over again with your husband, watch this movie! (although perhaps not WITH your husband, he might not be as into it! haha).

Summer Magic - With Haley Mills, this might be hard to find, but it's super sweet.

"Leatherheads"

AWESOME! This is with George Clooney, is a feel good old fashion comedy about the start of football, it's a great relaxer!

"Pink Panther"
A new take on an old movie, Steve Martin is hilarious! I through this movie on all the time when I just want a laugh and not to get all into a deep movie (sometimes your brain isn't in the right place for depth). It's about a bumbling inspector trying to find the pink panther diamond.

Other Favorites:
Emperor's New Groove
Get Smart
Fool's Gold - Gotta have the funny chic flic!

New Furniture!

Little girls are precious gifts, wrapped in love serene. Their dresses tied with sashes and futures tied with dreams.

Finally, we have been blessed with finding the perfect new bedroom set for our baby girl!!! She is 7 1/2 months old and much outgrown her cradle (the cradle that used to be her daddy's when he was a baby!) and has been sleeping in her playpen for two months!

We have been waiting and searching and have found our pot of gold! I almost lost patience! We got an amazing deal off of http://www.kijiji.ca/ the site I haunted night and day until we found what we were looking for!

We got an armoir, crib, shelf and dresser for 300! All solid wood! The family we bought it from was such a blessing to us, they gave us a mattress and a whole bedding set, an extra bonus! The husband from the family even came to our house to help unload the furniture! The set is from holland, were the family is from.

The armoire, imagine it clean, stripped, perhaps painted white? Little dresses inside awaiting to be worn?

The crib, lots of sleeping to be done in here! And chewing, and rolling, and crying, and laughing.

There is also a shelf and dresser. I'm debating whether I want to sand and spray it a pearl white or not. What do you think?