Hammer Time

We took advantage of our slower winter work schedules and headed to the river cottage to do a bit more of work.  We also thought it would be great to see it in the winter and we were right.  The river was almost completely frozen but the neighbors warned against going out on the ice.  We did see several animal tracks out on the ice and it was fun trying to guess what kind it was. 
We did have some work to do on the cottage and it was cold out.  We had to keep our eyes on Little Man the entire time since all the tools were more interesting than his toys.  He is always watching and wanting to do exactly what we are doing.  I've climbed ladders only to feel him climbing up right behind me.

Little Man found some fun in walking around grabbing nails that had fallen, we tried to get him to put them in a coffee can and he did for a bit but then he found a box of screws and he had 21 of them down his onesie before we caught him.  After cleaning out all the screws from his clothing he went back to his nail collecting duties although this time he took one of the nails grabbed a hammer, he walked over to one of the scrap piece of wood.  He found a drill hole in the wood placed the nail inside the whole, picked up the hammer and began to hit it.  We did have a good laugh when he tried to remove the nail after hammering it and was frustrated it did not come out again.  He is moving around so much now and becoming the Little Man that I call him.

Stinky and Stanky

I was thinking how have I gotten this far into my blog and not mentioned the adventures of stinky and stanky.  Jynx's mom who we refer to as Mimi bought a lime green little pillow for Little Man and we placed it in his crib.  One day when I went to get him out of his crib in the morning he leaped back to grab the little green pillow and that was the first time I noticed his attachment to it.  Little Man began carrying around the pillow everywhere and soon the pillow found it's way to his teething mouth and all that saliva.  You probably guesses it by now the pillow began to stink and stink good but he loved the thing and wanted it with him especially when he was asleep.  We did our best at times to wash the pillow but the drool would have stinky back in condition before long.  Stinky became essential for sleeping and it would be a long night if stinky was not in the crib that night.

Little Man sleeping with Stinky and Stanky

We went one night to a restaurant and stinky came along for the ride we had dinner and then ran some errands but that night we found stinky had been left behind.  I called the restaurant in the morning and they did have him but they were not open until later that day.  I walked into the restaurant that night and asked about the little green pillow and the staffs eyes opened wide, they started to whisper to one another, one started to empty the garbage can and another told me a manager was looking for it and soon would be out to talk with me.  I had no doubt that stinky a beat up little green pillow was now in the trash and my only hope was that they would remember what bag he was tossed in.  I was just starting to think what we were going to do with out stinky when suddenly one of them produced stinky.  I honestly did not care what happened to him I was just glad we had him back.  Yes, we went home and washed him before he was reunited with Little Man.  This was the last time Stinky went out to dinner with us in fact we don't let him out of the house much.
Stanky is the same type of pillow only purple and is cherished the same as stinky.  We took both pillows to Florida with us for Little Mans first birthday.  We told the family down there about the pillows and how valuable they were and our rules that they do not leave the house.  It was Jame's cousin Sara that inquired more about the pillows and we told her how we named the one Stinky and if you told him to go get Stinky he knows who that is and would grab him.  Sara asked what we called the other pillow but we did not have a name for that one.  Sara sat there for a few seconds and she started calling them Stinky and Stanky.  We all had a good laugh and the adventures of Stinky and Stanky were born. 
Now both pillows are cherished and they are both heavily guarded, we do not let them out of the house for fear they will be lost.  Stinky does not live up to his name much more thankfully but occasionally he does need to be washed and we get worried every time we place him in the wash that he holds together.  I'm not sure how long this will continue with the two but I feel if they last we may have to place them in a trophy case when they are finally retired.

Merry New Year!

We traditionally have people over to our house on New Years and play a game called "Screw your neighbor" it's a simple card game.  Everyone is dealt one card, the ace is the low card and a king is the high card if you are dealt a king you flip your card over immediately and you are

safe for that round.  The Pearson to the left of the dealer starts they can decided if they want to keep their card or trade with the player to their left.  The entire object is not to have the lowest card.  The game goes around the table and everyone gets a chance to trade with the person on their left the only exception is if the player has a king the that person is stuck with that card.  The play ends with the dealer and usually a low card has made it's way all the way around to the dealer.  The dealer is then allowed to either keep the card or take another off the top of the deck.  We usually play for three dimes if you have they low card you place a dime in the pot, you are out of the game when you loose all three dimes.  It's a simple game and is a lot of fun on New Years.

This year with the nice weather I decided to fire up out turkey deep fryer and deep fry just about everything.  I had read on Thanksgiving that after you take out the turkey and your waiting for it to rest that you could do some onion rings.  I tried to do onion rings and some sweet potato fries, needless to say they did not turn out to well and as usual when something fails for me I become obsessed in figuring out what went wrong.  Yes on New Years I redeemed myself with some beer battered onion rings that were fantastic.  We also did some fish, poppers, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks.  After welcoming the New Year we deep fried some Twinkies and Oreo's that also turned out great.  2011 showed up deep fried pretty funny for a year that I'm gonna try and loose some weight in.