mystery solved...

I know, two posts in one day is a little crazy for me, but I just had to share with you that I solved the mystery of the missing cell phone (as I know you are all beside yourselves wondering what ever happened to my phone?!).

Well, the news isn't great.  It was stolen.  What, stolen?  How did that happen?!  My thoughts exactly.  I guess I did take it on my stroller ride, but did not put it in its nice secure pocket that I normally do, and it slid off an into the grass (I'm assuming that if it would've hit the sidewalk, I would have noticed the loud noise).  Then some unfriendly, no nice deed doer in our neighborhood came along and decided it was their lucky day, pocketing my phone.

Yea, I know... your second thought is how it took me so long to figure that out.  I'm not sure either.  It all just didn't make sense to me and I didn't think there was any way I lost it on the walk, so I wasn't really investigating the 'stolen' option.  Plus, we activated the 'lost your iphone' feature, so I figured that if someone was using it we would find out (we later learned that if someone logs out of your itunes or whatever connects you to that app, the app doesn't work, which we are assuming is what happened.... and why my phone registered as "offline" on the find my iphone app even though it was being used).  But when I suddenly decided to call it and it rang, I realized that it had to be charged and that someone had it.  Then we had the brilliant idea to check the activity report online and obviously saw someone else's activity.  Just typing this is bring back the negative emotions I have been trying to get over the past couple hours.

Then I panicked and realized that they had access to our personal information through my email, and that our identities are going to be stolen and our lives are over (my mind never goes to the extreme ;)).  Chad calmly talked me out of that, but it hasn't left me 100% yet....

I was telling Chad the hardest part about all this for me is the break down in my thought process.  I hate  it when I realize that I haven't been making smart, logical decisions and tell myself "why in the world didn't I think to do that."  It's just weird to me when my brain doesn't work like I think it should and I really don't like it... like I don't know how to fix it and it might not work right again.

Sooo... now that I need a new phone, if anyone has an old iphone laying around that isn't being used, I'll buy it from you.  Seriously.  I learned that a used iphone 4 is $400 to replace... although amazon has them cheaper.  Not fun.  Now I'm just hoping I don't have to get a new number...

And there you have it.  Case closed.

coffee ice-cream

I have a secret to share.  A secret about making the best homemade coffee ice-cream.  Now you're curious, right?!

.... it's using real coffee grounds.  Maybe some of you have already figured this out, but if you haven't and you like coffee, you need to try this.

There's no real recipe to the coffee ice-cream I made.  You can use any kind of milk/cream/yogurt/sweetener combo you like, making the amount of base your ice-cream machine can hold.  My ingredient list looked something like this:

+ 1 cup whipping cream
+ 1 8oz. container vanilla bean nonfat yogurt
+ some melted vanilla ice-cream (is it cheating to put store-bought ice-cream into homemade ice-cream?!)
+ a little bit of vanilla almond milk
+ some 2% milk
(total was enough milk/yogurt to get me to 4 cups of milk base)
+ 1/4 c. sugar
+ 1 T. vanilla
+ ~1 T. Starbucks coffee grounds
+ chopped chocolate chips

Stir together and pour in an ice-cream machine and let church until frozen (I add the chocolate chips when the ice-cream is almost done).  Enjoy before it melts!

Oh, and I have learned something about making homemade ice-cream.  The base tastes sweeter than the finished product (which makes sense, due to the air in the ice-cream)... so keep that in mind as you make your base.

And if you don't have an ice-cream machine but want something that tastes like this?  The fast version is to put some vanilla ice-cream in a glass, sprinkle in some coffee grounds and chocolate chips, pour in a little milk and stir.  It makes a thick milkshake consistency and it's delicious.

it's a mystery....

So let's talk about the mystery of the missing cell phone.

It all started the day I lost misplaced my cell phone... oh wait, that was yesterday.  It is quite a mystery because I was home all day and only left the house to take the boys for a walk.  I'm very puzzled and am still hoping it will be recovered.  Here's the facts:

1.  I used my cell phone to txt a friend in the morning, I checked the weather before our walk, and took a picture of C right before our walk.
2.  I had the thought that I was going to take my phone on our walk b/c I always do, but can't really remember putting it in the stroller.
3.  I got a water bottle out of my car for our walk.
4.  I did not use my phone on our walk.
5.  I do not remember taking my phone out of the stroller after our walk.
6.  I folded up the stroller and put it away shortly after our walk.
7.  An hour or two after our walk I remembered my cell phone and realized I didn't know where it was.
8.  I checked the stroller first.  Not there.  Humm... weird, but I'm sure it will show up.
9.  It rained all afternoon (oops if my phone is outside).
10.  Chad drove the route of my walk when he got home and didn't see it.
11.  I ran the route of my walk around 9p after church and didn't find it.
12.  We have looked all obvious places and lots of not obvious ones.  No luck.

So.  There you have it.  The missing cell phone.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Any missing cell phone experts out there?  Has anyone thought they lost their cell phone only to find it in a very random location?  I'm starting to get a little discouraged.  How long to I hold out before I dub it lost??  This is kind of driving me crazy...

And if you need me in the meantime, an email might be your best form of communication.  :)

things I dislike

So after I wrote that warm fuzzy post about all those things I like, I started thinking about things I dislike (very productive of me, I know!).  I'm sure there are more than this, but these are the things that came to mind first.  Am I alone on these things?

• wire hangers.  frustrating little things.  they go in the trash as quickly as possible after they sneak into our house from the dry cleaners.
• changing the crib sheet.  although this has gotten better with practice.  but talk about an aggravating task.  I think babies know this, because it seems that Creighton spits up in his crib shortly after I change the sheet.  thank you sweet baby, thank you... you might just have to sleep in that spit up a couple times.  :)
• people that drive under the speed limit.  I always suddenly wish I was in a bumper car and I could ram them from behind, letting them know they need to speed up!  I cannot for the life of me figure out why people drive too slow.  
• paying $ for mediocre food.  nothing like ordering food at a restaurant and thinking that you can make much better food at home.  I haven't had this happen too much lately, but I can safely say that I do not enjoy my meal when it does.
• sunburns.  I mean, who does, right?  they are uncomfortable and bad for your skin.  but there is something about getting a sunburn and knowing that you could have prevented it by just applying more sunscreen that eats away at my brain until it goes away.  just apply more sunscreen next time Heather, how hard is it?
• nubbies.  those bally things that you get in the armpits of a sweater, or babies get on the fronts of their pants from rubbing the crib sheets... the pillows in my living room have them (they were cute but a bad purchase).  hate them.  they are gross and I have to refrain from throwing things away the instant they get nubbies.  ok, they can be removed with razors or other little gadgets, but who wants to do that?  and they will just come back, right?  oh the nubbies... 

3 months

The 3 month mark has come and gone already.  And why is 3 months significant?  Half way to being done breastfeeding! (well, my version of it, which is pumping and bottles)... if I make it to 6 months, which is the goal.  That was my goal with Beck, so it's my goal again.  And I think babies come to life around 3 months too.  Creighton's smiles and babbles are so adorable, we have conversations about life all the time.  ;)

Other than the smiles and coos, he's not doing much.  Some kicking, clasping his hands, all those normal things.  No rolling... I think we are still a ways from that.  Much more interested in his toys on the play mat, which keep him entertained for a little while.  Overall, every month that goes by I enjoy him and being at home with the boys more and more.  I'm thankful.