I must be one of those weird people - because I can handle jalapenos or most hot peppers (not habaneros though) without any burning sensation on my hands from the oils. Then again - we cook with them so often that my skin is probably just used to it.

That's some Jurassic Park kind of stuff you have going on there Jayne! Hopefully you're able to find homes for all the babies!

The problem we have with our cats is that they are SO used to being fed when our alarm goes off that over the weekends they insist we wake up at 6:30 to feed them. They forget that weekends are for sleeping in.

Oh, that looks incredibly tasty. So here's a question for you - fish sauce or fish oil or anything like that I can't include in anything I cook (it makes me sick) so what could I replace fish oil/sauce with?

I'll hunt around for it - if not I might be able to pick it up on discount somewhere. I don't have a headset either so I'd be smiling and waving too. :)

Damn! We sold our Little Big Planet a while back - otherwise I would totally join. I wasn't that great at the game either - Garry and I used to just decorate each other and push each other off of stuff.

The bites also might be some sort of biting fly. They tend to look like spider bites (at least on me - but then again I swell like a balloon no matter what bites me).

LOL! Oh Jayne! While I'm not particularly afraid of flying I am a pain in the butt when it comes to traveling in general - but especially flying. With all the being on time and making sure things are taken care of, I turn into a ball of neurosis that I'm fairly certain has given Garry second thoughts about whether or not he wants to ever travel with me again. I think the best flight I ever had was on my way to London-Heathrow. They gave us free drinks for the WHOLE flight (it was a red-eye) and since I was 21 and OMGSOEXCITED to finally go over seas I didn't sleep for the entire 8 hour journey. AND I ran into Billy Idol at JFK so all in all it was a good trip.

Ummm? Yeah, that's the best I can muster right now. I think you lost me at skimming the scum off of the top. Although, sounds like you had a good time with it and that's what counts right?

*giggle* that seems to be a trend for Julia! The wide, stretchy headbands will be good for a few weeks. It shouldn't take more than 2 months to grow back completely. Maybe less. At least Alex tried to help. :)

Wow, you're definitely more ambitious than me. First of all, getting up early enough in the morning to exercise is something that I've tried in vain to do, but to no avail, I'm an afternoon workout person. Running is a scary thing. For me, running without a brace for any distance more than 100 yards is a no-no because I have issues with my right knee. (running long distance with a brace ends up chafing so... yeah) But, I definitely hear where you are with that. I use the elliptical trainer at the gym and sometimes I get a good song going and my imagination runs away a little while. Sometimes I'm a lion running to catch my dinner, sometimes I'm chasing down a criminal... or sometimes I'm just enamored with David Bromstad on the tv above my machine.

YAY JAYNE! :D 17 lbs - that's awesome! Keep up the good work! Yoga is so good - I like really nice gentle yoga first thing in the morning. If you have cable and get the Fitness channel there's a belly dancing show on there called Shimmy that I really recommend. I bet Julia would have a blast doing that with you!

:) Thank you for the advice. It's been stressful not having my family around (they all live in Florida), especially my mom to help out. I've been relying a lot on Garry to help, and thankfully he's starting to really come through for me and coordinate a lot while I'm at work. Thanks again Jayne! :D

Jayne it sounds like you and Bill had a lovely wedding and continue to have a wonderful marriage! Congratulatons!! Reading that post made me feel a lot more relaxed about my wedding planning - I've been stressing a lot over it lately. Thank you!

Actually, a good quality dry food (like Purina) is good for their dental health - wet food doesn't do anything to help cats with that and they aren't as apt to use chew toys like a dog would. It's not as expensive as wet food and it still has what your cat needs. Vets are full of crap when they say that dry food (in general) is like feeling your cat McDonalds - although some brands of dry food are better than others and if you do a little initial research you'll find what's best for Miles. I get a little annoyed with the high and mighty crunchy granola people around where I live. I try my best to eat healthy, recycle and carpool when I can, but when you only make $30,000 a year it gets too expensive *real* quick. If they spent that enegery pressuring the "organic" companies to lower their prices so everyone can afford good, healthy, food, then maybe more people would do it. Hope Miles is feeling better!

My vote is for the chicken coop! (I mean you could raise some chickens to be dinner too)

I think they redid Wicker Man recently with Nicolas Cage playing the cop. That little rooster is quite adorable and a good omen. Roosters signify the herald of a new dawn and in the Chinese zodiac the rooster signifies fortune, luck, fidelity and protection. I would keep the little guy around.

The title of your post is a phrase that is continuously heard coming out of my mouth in our household. :) Good luck with your summer house projects! I'm hoping we can get some more headway on our kitchen this month...

My dad just got a big green egg not too long ago. Apparently it's supposed to be the most amazing bbq ever made, frankly I agree with you - it seems a little silly and disappointing.

Really, that is the most AWESOME birthday cake EVER! I have friends (in their late 20's and early 30's) that would LOVE a cake like that. You are so amazing Jayne! I can just imagine you in the kitchen reciting lines and giggling to yourself while you made this. heehee!

Jayne! Today is one of those days I suppose - I had to photograph an alternative education graduation today and I always just about cry at least 5 times during that event. Then I came back to the office thinking "Ooooh I wonder if there's a cheese post..." and then I almost start crying *again* from this post! :) It's so heartwarming to see how much you love your children and how you relay it for all of us to read.

It's kind of like making good cheese right? If you spend the time doing it yourself it tastes much better than if someone just hands it to you. I'm the kind of person where I need to be active (whether or not I need to lose weight) otherwise I get a little neurotic and obsessive or (in the winter) depressed. I think having the body that we all want would help in some ways (ie, I wouldn't dread clothes shopping as much as I do and maybe I'd make a little bit more of an effort every day to look nice) but it's not going to solve everything (wearing a size 6 won't pay off my student loans any faster than wearing a size 16). Realizing that is helpful. I agree with Judith - taking stock of what we're grateful for, or even what makes us feel beautiful (like the ONE dress I own that I don't feel like I look like two-ton-Tilly in) and indulge in them a little more than we do now. Maybe a challenge is to find 1 something that you feel makes you look beautiful (be it a new color of eye shadow, a peice of jewelry, shoes or an article of clothing) every month. It can be things you already own and maybe not wear all the time (like a pearl necklace) or you can buy them if you so wish. If you feel beautiful then you'll radiate it. Today, for example, I decided I'd make an effort. I wore a plum colored short-sleeve sweater dress, a chunky beaded bracelet, earrings, AND I put my contacts in, did my hair and makeup and wore heels. Maybe once I month I make that much of an effort. The heels made my back straighter and it looked like I walked with a little more confidence. People were a lot nicer to me in the hallways at work and asked how I was instead of just smiling the early morning "hello, I haven't had my cup of coffee yet" smile and walking away. It felt good. So maybe putting a little bit of effort into myself in the mornings is a good thing. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll rush right out and buy a ton of sweater dresses, but it does mean that maybe I'll wear this one a little more often than 3 times a year.

I think when women do that (at least from what I've experienced) it's mostly to gain sympathy. I don't think that the intention of discrediting their hard work (or the luck of having a naturally fit body) is there, but the person making the comment is reaching out for some sort of help, sympathy or that "magic thing that will fix everything." If you've ever watched the show "How to Look Good Naked" (both the BBC and American versions) it's really interesting to see the variety of women that come on the show. There are women who are big, small, short, tall... all shapes, sizes and colors - and for one reason or another they are uncomfortable with their body. When I see a woman that's a size 8 or so on the show and she says "I think my legs are chunky" usually my face screws up and I think "seriously? you think you're fat?! I'd love to look like that!" But they all have their stories as to why they feel that way. No one is more compelling or valid than the other. They're all valid. The whole issue with body image in our culture is really upsetting. It seems that there are very few women (I think I read like 4%) are actually genuinely happy with their bodies. The amount of time and money women spend on gym memberships, plastic surgery, magic little pills that are supposed to melt fat away - it's crazy! And it's all in an effort to be comfortable and happy with our bodies. Deep down, I wish there was some magic pill or simple routine I could do where I'd wake up tomorrow morning and have the body I am working towards. But, would having that body really solve all the problems? Would those anxieties still exist but manifest in a different form? I guess after that long ramble, what I'm meaning to say is that whether or not you love or hate your body it really boils down to what's in your head. Working on both your body and mind is important to finding peace with your body image. We're all slowly working on it - but I'm hoping we can all get there. :) Lastly, it was considered in ancient times that women who were larger (or fuller) were more desired than women who were smaller because they were more than likely to be able to produce multiple healthy offspring. Also, those women tended to be from more well off backgrounds - more food/resources available.

It's funny how sometime around the age of 12 or 13 all of a sudden we (as women) start to watch our bodies change and all of a sudden nothing is good enough for us anymore. It was an odd experience for me. Growing up I was too skinny (as deemed by my peers) I had barely a trace of a chest or hips until halfway through high school. I was picked on and teased by some of the more "developed" girls (the girls where I grew up started developing around 11). But then again, those were the same girls that teased me because I didn't own a Trapper Keeper or Guess jeans. By the time I hit college I was 135lbs, had a chest, hips and long curly hair. I think that was the happiest I ever was with my body (that it when I looked in the mirror), but I still went to the gym every day religiously to lift weights, run on the elliptical trainer, because I thought I could still stand to lose a few inches around my thighs and bum. Being a size 5/7 wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to look like Sigourney Weaver when she was in Alien Resurrection - she looked sleek and powerful. Then the freshman 15 came along. Slowly over the years I gained more and more weight between bouts of depression. My hips and grew wider and my chest was bigger. It was so hard to see myself go from this little girl that was "too skinny" or so undeveloped to someone that had curves and "fleshy parts". The more weight I gained the more depressed I got and the more I would eat (or drink). Although at this point, no one teased or made fun of me anymore. It was all in my head. The echos of those voices haunting me every time I looked in the mirror or stepped on a scale. When I met Garry three years ago I weighed about 200 lbs. - the most I've ever weighed in my entire life. I could hardly look at myself in a mirror and I wouldn't let anyone photograph me. When we met, something fell into place and I started to eat better and go to the gym every day. Over 4 months I lost 40 lbs. I started playing football and gained muscle tone and lost another 5lbs. I was starting to feel really good about my body again - even though it was a size 12 and not a size 7. Football ended and when you stop moving things start piling up. I hit another bout of depression last winter and the pounds crept back on (ok, not crept, but multiplied in full force) and now I'm finding myself back at around 185, at the foot of that mountain that I've already climbed once before, frustrated that I have to climb it again. I have wedding dress shopping looming over my head. A whirlwind of snarky bridal consultants hovering around my head like a swarm of hornets throwing white taffeta and silk over my head while silently snickering to themselves that maybe I should've just "put down the fork" and wondering how much money is in my bank account. I'd like to lose that 40lbs again, I'm going to try my hardest. But the biggest obstacle isn't the weight, it's how I feel when I look in the mirror. It's knowing that my bone structure is set in such a way that it is almost physically impossible for me to be smaller than a size 6. It's knowing that I have a good job, a man that loves me (no matter what I look like) and being able to look in the mirror and say "You know what, I am beautiful." I'm still not there yet, but I'm working on it. Julia has such a strong personality and it's wonderful that she loves being who she is. Encouraging that will make her stronger in the long run when all the bullies come out and the social pressure starts to sit in. I was always told just to "get over it" as a kid. It's good to see you praising her body confidence and possibly healing yourself from it too.

My first memory of cooking (or even being) in a kitchen was when I was around 3 years old. My family lived in a little farmhouse next door to my grandparents house in Olean, NY. My mom was pregnant with my younger brother and I used to go and visit my grandmother every afternoon for a little while. Usually I'd either play in the back yard or on the deck. One day we made these enormous sugar cookies and she let me decorate them with different colored sugars and sprinkles. We each ate one and then my grandmother sent me back home, full of sugar to my pregnant mom. Now I know why sometimes my mom couldn't stand her mother in law. We hardly ever had a garden when I was a kid. We lived in West Virginia (which you would think would be great for gardens, but sadly not where we lived) and our property was all hillside with a tiny patch of flat area next to the house to grow a few tomato and green bean plants. As a kid I wasn't terribly interested in cooking or gardening - but into drawing and playing sports. It took a long time for me to learn how to cook anything without ruining it completely. My first attempt at cooking was Jello and I burnt it. As far as gardening, I never really had a knack for it and I'm still learning. We didn't end up with a garden this year, but I have one lily plant that grew buds this spring and they're almost ready to bloom. I consider that pretty successful. Garry and I don't have children (yet) but we plan on having our children help out in the kitchen and in the garden (I'm hoping we'll have a garden by that time) because there is something very empowering and spiritual about being able to grow and cook your own food. I think having them help with tasks that they're interested in doing (within reason) and then expanding onto it instead of just telling them to do the dishes (like my family did to me and my brother) is a good idea.