Up In Arms

Today, official news spread that Albert Pujols, long time St. Louis Cardinal's hero has signed a deal with another team.  I'm enjoying the controversies, everyone seems to be up in arms over the  $250,000,000 deal.  Some people are commenting how a single person should not earn that kind of money, and if so, it should be teachers and nurses.  Others say, good for him, it's not as if I have never made a choice based on economics.  I can't really say much, other than the fact I am happy we still have Yadi.  I have my opinions and I care not to share them here.  This is one of those topics like politics, religion, the "true" Arbogast  potato salad recipe, and child rearing.  Mum's the word!

But, I thought, since everyone is so up in arms during a time when we should really be more positive and thankful for what we have rather than negative about what others have, I would default to something I started doing years ago, listing some of my favorite things that get me by.

• The decorated "blue line" Metrolink with it's blue ornaments.
• Sewing, in fact, making Dani her first holiday dress.  I'd call it a Christmas dress, but it's gray, blue, and white, and has snowflakes on it.
• Having two functional hands!
• Having two functional legs!
• Working a simple 8 hour day and going home to a relatively calm and mediocre life.
• Doritos when my throat is sore.
• My pink double layer plastic cup with lid and straw that has a tiny crack in it.
• Cake pops (nom  nom)
• Baking, in fact, what I plan to do a lot of this season
• Getting tweets
• The "Walking in a Orgy (ahem, 4G) Wonderland" commercial

A Good Vacuum

This past weekend when hanging out in the nursery putting together the dresser from Chris' parents, we noted the filthy appearance of the carpeting. We had cleaned the floor several times, so why so nasty?

Well, for starters, I blame my furry children Riley and Bella. We have a dusty, furry, and pet dander filled house. Our second culprit was not having a good vacuum for these things. We had a vacuum. It was given to us by Rachel M. and it served us all right for some time (since she returned to C-ville to sell her condo). It, like most vacuums was one of those semi-durable guys that lasts for several years and dies off slowly (as in, not a lifer like a Kirby). The problem is that our house gets DIRTY, so this vacuum that would have served some families for years wasn't up to the Spann challenge.

So, we went to Lowe's to look as some vacuums and ultimately we spent more than we should have on a quality (or what appears to be quality so far) Electrolux vacuum. It is the first vacuum I think I have ever bought. I've either borrowed a vacuum or had a hand me down. I feel like a real adult now!




Thus far I can say that it is AMAZING. Even though the nursery floor had been vacuumed and cleaned several times, this thing was full of dust and fur within one pass over the floor. The real test was to vacuum the living room rug, which turned out to fill the vacuum up TWICE!

So, I spent parts of my weekend vacuuming in between shopping with my mom, going to Eckert's, making apple pies, working from home, and finishing Eva's baby shower invitations. It was a productive weekend and I'm thinking now about all the other things I can vacuum!

Tied Bake Off

Today at work we had a little bake-off to raise money for United Way. I love to bake but to not need to eat the goodies, so when I get a chance to bake, I'm usually on it!

I chose to make my pumpkin roll and am glad I did! Rachel P. and I tied for second place! Wahooooeeeeyyy!!!

Jessica May won first place with her gooey butter cake, and really it's hard to beat gooey butter cake!

Here are a couple of photos:


The cupcakes on the right are vegan beet cupcakes! Yummy too!


The apple tart to the left is the prettiest dish on the table! The key lime pie on the right was my tie!


My dessert is the roll on the green plate!