Random Stuff... & the best shoe my foot has ever slid into!

Howdy.
I emptied the pictures off my phone and I've got some random stuff to share.

 I've had a cold all week and have not felt like walking to school, so we've driven the half a mile every morning.
Our weather has been a little wacky this week.  We've had a couple days of 90 degrees!  And now today it is much cooler and the dark clouds looming above threaten rain any minute.

Usually when the girls are in school I try to run around like crazy getting as much stuff/cleaning/errands/laundry/dinner prep done as I can before Claire gets out of TK at 11:30am.  But like I said, I had a cold all week, and Tuesday morning I was up early because I couldn't sleep, so I got myself all ready, instead of throwing on the usual yoga pants and Nikes, and I decided that I would take myself out for breakfast and then to Barnes N Noble to browse a bit.

 I had a fantastic time with me, myself, and I!  I picked up some hot tea and steel cut oats for breakfast at Panera.  And then I walked over to B & N.  I browsed all the books in my usual sections and took pics of things I wanted to maybe dowload on my kindle.  Then I grabbed a copy of PW's new cookbook to look through, and a few gossip mags, and I plopped myself at a table in the cafe to eat my breakfast and flip through my reads.  I spent $6 and felt like I was so refreshed after having that downtime instead of running around.  I told myself I would try to do that once a month.  We'll see if I do.

 This book above is the one that I downloaded to my kindle.  Sounds like a really touching read.

Speaking of reads...
I just finished The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley and absolutely loved it.  I can't wait to read more books by her.
I just started The Husband's Secret, and so far I'm only 5% in and I am hooked.

 Isn't this setup so cute?  This is in the front of the salon I work in right now.  One of our hairdressers is a set designer for plays and she had this whole idea.  That's an actual real tree in the corner too. I love it and it makes the salon more fun and festive!

 Poor Hannah missed two days of school this week.  She was out Thursday and Friday.  She seems to have what I have had, but she ran a low fever so no school it was.  I kinda enjoyed having some time with just her.  Friday she felt better so we ran errands together and enjoyed some time spending the last of her birthday money at Target.  She bought a crossbody bag and it makes her look so grown up when she wears it.  

 Today I had lunch with just my girls in the Nordstrom Cafe.  I still remember trying to eat there with them both when they were so little and being so embarrassed by their loud behavior and by the mess they left on the floor and thinking I would never again be able to sit down in the cafe for a meal.  And now here we are, the girls are 5 and 7 and they had SO much fun eating lunch after we shopped.  They actually sat still and behaved themselves, and we carried on conversation, and I wasn't embarrassed by any loud and obnoxious outbursts.  It was great.  ;)

 And I also got these beauties today.  I've been hearing good stuff about the new TOMS desert wedge bootie so I thought I'd just try them on and see if the rumors were true.  Could these wedge booties really be as comfortable as all the reviews were saying???
I wasn't sure, and I was a bit concerned about the height because you know I'm already tall, and I hate to feel like a giant in a shoe that's too tall.  But oh.. my.. word..!!!  These are so comfortable I couldn't believe it!  And black is fabulous because I was thinking I could even wear them at work and if I drop hair color on them it's no big deal because they are black!  And then the sales guy helping me told me that his wife has them and loves them and she's a hairdresser and can stand in them all day.  SOLD!!! I had to have them.

 Oh my gosh I'm in love with my shoes.  ;)
After we got home I put them on and wore them around the house for an hour.
I can't remember the last time I didn't want to take my shoes off once I got home.
It was love at first sight.  :)

 These girls were showing off their new chucks.  And they were antsy.  So when Mr. H pulled up in the driveway from work, we took off for a walk with Abbey.

 And it was cold enough for me to wear my puffer vest!
I had to check the weather and my iphone told me it was 63.
I could have sworn it felt colder than that!
I told Mr. H that I better toughen up because we fly to Boise in a week and according to my weather app it looks like it's been in the 30's and 40's there!  
I better bring my new booties to keep me warm! ;)

 We walked over to the park by our house and the girls even needed to grab their mittens and beanies.  

 Dinner tonight was crockpot lentil soup.
Found the recipe on Pinterest.
Good ole Pinterest, I love you!
This recipe was SO easy!
I threw it in the pot before we left for the farmers market and mall this morning.  
It took me a few minutes.
And Mr. H and I loved it!
The girls turned their noses at it, but that didn't surprise me.
So I made them eggs and a frozen waffle. 

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 5!
I can't believe it.

 This is on her 4th birthday last year.
I couldn't believe how long her hair has gotten!

And I had forgotten about their party last year.
We had a party at our local bowling alley with a few friends and as soon as we got there Hannah started saying she didn't feel good.  We could tell she was really sick and it must have just hit her.  That night she had a 105 fever and the next day we found out she had tonsilitis.  Poor thing.  
I hope that their magical day at Disneyland this year made up for last year's birthday!

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Claire by taking her to see the play Snoopy at our local theater.
Then we're having some family back to our house for pizza and cake.
For now I've got to go.
The Boise State game is on and my Dad is here to watch it with us.
Mr. H bought me the new In Style magazine, so I've got lots to do during the game. ;)

Hellooooooo out there!

Well,
after a couple of weeks and no new posts from me I guess it's time to update this old blog so that ya'll know all is well here in the Hass House.
I think it is so nice and thoughtful that I have received so many emails and messages from friends wondering if everything is ok because I have not blogged recently.
Thank you to those of you who asked.  And yes, all is well.
Life is just busy.  As yours is too I am sure.

 We are all happy and healthy.  Enjoying the fresh start to this New Year.  Trying to get used to writing 2013 still.  Feels weird doesn't it?

Get ready for a whole lot of random bits of catch up...

 Mr. Hass and I went out a few weeks ago and saw Les Mis.  I knew nothing of the story and we both enjoyed it.  I didn't realize how dark and sad it is.  But I think the story cheers up as it goes on and we enjoyed it.  We've also made it out to see Lincoln, which we loved, and to see This is 40, which we thought was funny but I guess I had higher hopes for more laughs in that one.

 We've also been doing a little research and trying to decide on new countertops and new carpet for the house.

 We've got carpet ordered for our downstairs living room and are hoping to get the upstairs done soon too.
We also have one more trip out to Rancho to look at a couple grantie slabs before making a final decision and are hoping to get the ball rolling on that next Tuesday.  We've talked about doing this forever and so it's really fun to get it going.  

I took the girls to their dentist cleaning appts on Monday and sat with fingers crossed for good news.  Unfortunately, as always, it seems that Hannah has another two cavities that she needs filled.  

 The dentist thinks that she can do it without the nitrus this time and I am already freaking out about it.  I've never had a cavity in my life and I really don't like watching that big fat huge needle being shoved into my childs gums.  Sigh.  Looks like we will have to get used to it with poor Hannah though. At least Claire had a good report.

 I've been listening to the Phillip Phillips station on Pandora nonstop lately.  And the girls choice is Carly Rae Jepsen's station.  ;)

Yesterday I worked a crazy long day.  I am still so tired from standing and working that long.  But what I wore to work was a pinterest inspired outfit that I thought I'd share.  I saw the picture on the left on pinterest, and I knew I had all the pieces already in my closet to create the look.

I've been on a reading kick lately.  For a long time I've been reading a series of books and I took a break from it to read a few shorter books.

I loved The Glass Castle!! I was fascinated by the fact that it's a true story and I just could not put it down.  I also flew right through Gone Girl.  I was so curious about this one because I've heard it was so dark.  I enjoyed it and it definitely had quite a few twists that I didn't see coming.  I've seen the movie previews for Safe Haven and told Mr. H I want to see it but I'm sure it's probably a renter.  Then I decided it's probably a quick read so I'd check it out and see if I liked it.  Well, I loved it.  In true Nick Spark's fashion, he has done it again and I think written an incredibly beautiful and romantic story.  Can't wait for the movie now! 

I am currently reading The Paris Wife.  I've heard good things from several sources and so far I am enjoying it.  It is about Ernest Hemingway and his wife.  Although after a quick google search, I learned Ernest had three wives, so I am not sure yet which wife this is about.  

Anybody else read anything good lately???? I always love to hear good book referrals.

And speaking of books...

A couple weeks ago I took the girls with me to Barnes N Noble.  It's been a while since we had gone, and I wanted to look for a good cookbook with some kid friendly meal ideas.

 And I was in luck! I spotted this book, and sat down to flip through and see if it looked any good...

 It looked VERY good! So good that I didn't want to wait and order it on amazon, so I paid twice the price for it at B&N just so I could take it home that day!

Since buying it I have already cooked so many of the delicious family friendly recipes, and I've also read some GREAT tips on getting my girls to try new things.
Hannah has always been pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but Claire is just so darn stubborn and half the time I think she just says "I'm not eating" just to get a rise out of me.

 I posted the above pic on facebook the day after I bought the book and I wrote this:
The book Weelicious: One Family One Meal talks about how kids have so little say in what they control in their lives, so much of it is dictated by the parents.  But they can simply say NO at mealtimes and it gives them a power to express themselves.  By making kids proactive in meal choices and helping cook, etc. it makes them feel like they have more choice in the matter.  This morning I let the kids pick their cutouts for egg in the hole, gave H a knife for the first time to cut her own bread, and asked C if she wanted kiwi or banana?  And then let her peel the banana herself and sprinkle her own cinnamon on it.  Those little things made them both so proud.  They felt so helpful, and both wiped their plates clean.  Get the book.  I'm so excited to cook my way through it with my kids!

 And since then I have been letting the girls be much more hands on in the kitchen with me when I am preparing our meals.  

 It's been a fun learning experience and we have already repeated a few of the recipes from the book that we enjoyed.

 This past week Hannah was randomly selected to be "Star Student".
Which basically means that she brings home "Star Bear" and his backpack full of stuff for the whole week.

Each day she has had a different activity to complete and turn in to school that all have to do with sharing information about her (I'm not gonna lie, this part felt like extra homework for mom!!!).  Pics of her family, things she enjoys doing, etc.  Today she had to share something that is special to her and she chose her digital camera.  She wrote a few sentences on it and I was so proud of how great her penmanship is looking these days.

It says "This is my camera.  I got it from my Mom and Dad.  I like it because it can take pictures in the dark."  
So cute.  :)

 Well that's it from me for now.
Hope you're having a great January so far.
And in case you are having one of those days, just remember...

heeheehee

Yo.

Yo yo yo.  What up friends?

Does this picture crack you up? 

Hannah and Claire wanted in on my wiww photo sesh.

I told them to pose crazy and this is what they did.

It looks like Hannah is flashing the "westside" sign with her leg warmers scrunched low cause that's how she rolls, and Claire just looks all kinds of gangsta thug.

Funny.

 So how was your weekend?
Ours was good.
Busy.
January has been very busy.
There are things on our calendar every single weekend through Februaury.
I like that, but sometimes I just like to know I have some time to breathe in between.
After work Saturday, I went to the movies with my sister and Mom & Dad.

We saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

It was really good.

Really really emotional, but really really good.

Speaking of emotional, I read this book this weekend.

I saw someone pin it on pinterest, and I remembered hearing about Randy Pausch and I had wanted to read his book.  I downloaded a free sample of it to my kindle, read the first two chapters, and I was hooked. I highly recommend this read. If you are not familar with Randy Pausch, he was a well known and loved computer science professor who passed away at the young age of 47 to pancreatic cancer.  He left behind a wife and three young children.  His book is not just a sad cancer story.  He was asked to give a lecture at the University where he worked and as it turns out, it would be his "Last Lecture".  It was about achieving your childhood dreams, and it was also a way for him to document all of the important life lessons and notable stories that he wanted  his three young children to know about him and to learn from him.  I smiled when he wrote a message specifically for his 18 month old daughter Chloe so that when she was old enough to understand he wanted her to know, "When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple.  Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do."
It was a good book and I smiled at the end thinking of the amazing legacy that Randy Pausch has left behind.


In other news...

 We made pizzas last night.
I love that picture above for many reasons:
-Mr. Hass took it.
-You can see the friendship bracelet on Hannah's wrist that I have been meaning to take a picture of.  A neighbor girl gave it to Hannah one afternoon while we were out riding bikes and she has not taken it off since.
-You can see both girls hands in the cheese, prepping the pizzas all by themself.
-I like the composition of the shot.
-It reminds me of the smiles that Mr. Hass and I exchanged while the girls were making their pizzas.

One pizza was on whole wheat dough from TJ's,

and one was garlic herb.

Both pizzas had olive oil, salt, pepper, quattro formaggio cheese, sliced roman tomatoes, and prosciutto.

Bad glare in this pic.  Sorry.

We also had a salad with arugula, raisins and pine nuts.

Don't think I will be linking up for wiww this week.

I only have one "real" outfit picture.

It's been cold and rainy so I've been rolling in stuff like this...

Gotta run.

I've got an obgyn appt.

Not because I am pregnant.

Because of the other reason.

I'm off to go decide which pair of my shoes weighs the least.

;)