Carrot

While this recipe sounds good, I was wondering what the heck is up with the carrots on this cupcake? Are they glazed with something hard and shiny? Are they crystallized or something? Are they sprayed with some type of hairspray photo trick material? But I see they are cooked with butter and maple syrup!! okay, yum. Although I figure mine will look like weird orange blobs on my cupcakes...

Current Addiction

I am pretty sure this tells people ALL about me...

Podcasts on my Zune:

Adobe Photoshop Quick Tips - Multiple
BBC Global News - 3/4-3/10/09
BBC History Magazine - Part 1
Being Healthy for Busy People - multiple episodes
Brain Stuff - Can water go bad?
Business English Pod - the different ING forms and gerunds
CNN Complete Update - 3/9/09 & 3/10/09
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History - 3 eps
Discovery Health - Get fit in 2009
Gardenerd - 6 episodes
Get-It-Done Guy Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More - Multiple
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips - over 50 episodes
Just Vocabulary - multiple eps
Martha Stewart - multiple eps. *This is supposed to be a mixture but for some reason every episode is about deserts!
Mayo Clinic - Acupuncture for nausea
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Daily
MSNBC Countdown - Daily
MSNBC Rachel Maddow - 3/9/09
MUSC Children's Health - Congenital Heart Defect: Reparation of Heart Abnormalities in Children and Heart Surgery: Open Heart Surgery in Pediatric Patients
MUSC Heart and Vascular Health - Quality of Care/Echocardiogram/Heart Transplantation
MUSC Organ Transplant - Cardiac Transplantation: Selection of Patients for Surgery/ Heart Transplants: An Overview
NBC Nightly News - 3/9/09 *I heart Brian Williams!! :)
NPR Books - 1/12/09
PediaCast - Peanut Butter, VapoRub, Wimpy Kids/Flouride, Flu Shots/okay, a bunch!!
Photoshop For Digital Photographers - Multiple. *HEY! A girl can dream!
Podmedics - Various, aimed at medical students
Raise your kids, NOT YOUR VOICE - Siblings/ Good Mornings/ The I-Don't-Argue-With-You Rule/ Teaching Responsibility/ Good Nights: Resolving Bedtime and Sleep Issues/ Parenting Your Teenager
Stuff You Missed in History Class - Multiple episodes
Stuff You Should Know - How Redheads Work
The Bugle (Audio Newspaper for a Visual World) - Last 3 eps.
The Family Anatomy - Multiple
The History of Rome - All
The Nutrition Diva's Quick and Dirty Tips - Multiple
The Parents Journal - Multiple
The Teaching Company - Will China and India Dominate the 21st Century/The Search for What Killed the Dinosaurs/Modern Economic Issues/Building Great Sentences

...and many more

So, Alexia totally has my put foot in mouth/bizarre sense of humor where these inappropriate one-liners will often just slip out of their own accord. Basically our brains have no yield signs. So, the other night we were celebrating my dads birthday, and at the end of every birthday song my mom has always sang the phrase "and many more". But after this birthday song to my dad Alexia belts out "and NOT many more". What??!!! The entire table fell silent and just stared at her and then we all started laughing because she turned so red. Her brain had finally caught up with what she had said. Maybe not the best thing to say to someone nearing 70. Poor kid, I have burdened her with my (and my moms side of the family) humor disorder. Although where she gets that sarcasm from is a mystery...

Full Circle *sigh*

It is happening to me..... I am turning into my mother!! And a bit of my father. Every other day I find myself saying something to Alexia and in my mind thinking to myself, "I sound just like my mom!!". The latest example of this involves razors. Razors are so important to a teenage girl but so scary and dangerous to have around toddlers! So I find myself saying constantly, put up the razor, don't leave it lying around, put it up, and she almost never does it unless I follow her around! I would threaten to throw them away but then I know she would "borrow" mine. Just like she does my makeup, and sweatshirts, and jewelry and....
I also ask her if she is going to be paying the electric bill due to all the lights on/fridge open/TV & stereo on. Or start buying the groceries for all she wastes!
I'm sorry mom and dad!!

O Ceramic Christmas Tree

This is so true! My mom has one and every year we would be so excited to put in all the tiny multicolored lights! I mean until like age 12. And then our kids loved it too. She still puts it out and I still love it because it makes me feel happy and takes me back to excited childhood Christmas memories. I think part of it is because when we put the lights on this tree it was when everything was done and decorated. On a side note, my mom is a Christmas decorating FIEND!! I believe that is part of why I now decorate more minimalistic for the holidays, because she was such a freak taskmaster about it! I love the decorations, even the gaudy ones, but never seem to find the spirit or energy for it. Plus I am lazy. She still decorates this way and the grand kids help her, because they loved it and as they turned into teens because she pays them to help her :)

Retarded, Disabled, Special Needs, Medically Needy

How do I refer to my sweetpea? To those who don't know her...
To me, retarded brings to mind certain characterizations and movements I don't want associated with her, as they aren't true.
Disabled is okay, and what I usually say, but as with medically needy or medically fragile, not quite appropriate. She has medical issues, yes, but not that hinder her day to day, it also doesn't infer that she is delayed in motor/language skills.
What do you think?