i need a cookie

what in the world has happened to ameican idol? where have all the good singers gone? i am hoping that it was "first night" nerves because there wasn't really anyone either night that knocked my socks off. most of them were TERRIBLE, not like just ok, but genuinely awful. i do have some high hopes for a select few, like andrew garcia, crytal bowersox (thank goodness they made her brush her teeth!), didi benami, casey james, lee dewyze and lilly scott, but even they weren't as good as i thought they could be. i've been cheering for tyler grady because i think he's adorable and i love his style. i think they will get past their nerves and pull out some great performances. let's hope so anyway. another week like this one, and i just might have to do something productive with my time instead of watch tv.

but maybe the problem is me. 
maybe my standard has been set too high.
maybe what i really need...

is a cookie.

six for sunday

nothing super big going on around here, so for now, all i can post are my random bits of life...

one. i'm so happy that chuck and american idol are back!

happy that captain awesome has played a bigger role this season so i have more time to look at him.

i almost forgot how yummy he is.

we already have a few favorites on idol, but i'm glad it's hollywood week coming up, i'm so done with the auditions.

two AND three. we should've bought ethan an ipod for christmas too. he's constantly pestering the teenagers to borrow theirs so he can play the games.

AND, i found these woody costume pjs online for so cheap i couldn't pass them up, i knew they would be a hit. he's been wearing them around the house with his cowboy boots non stop.

what's funnier than a toddler dressed as woody playing his sister's pink ipod on the couch?

four.  i bought a dyson! after years and years of needing a new vacuum every eight months or so (seriously), i finally talked rich into picking one of these sweet babies up.

i was so excited about the new purchase, that yesterday i vacuumed every inch of the house including dusty mouldings, blinds, window seals, cobwebs, and ceiling fans. i had to empty the canister SIX times. gross, but also glorious.

five. three words: good. mail. goodness. the first delivery, were these red farberware pots and pans that i've been coveting over forever. they're so gorgeous!

thank you april who found the killer deal and my mom who agreed to go in on them with her! second, my cute friend nicki spoiled me rotten with a fun box full of music, treats, home decor and delightful personal touches. i loved that she stuck this fortune to the outside of the box.

i'm so lucky to have such cute ladies in my life!

six. one of the best ideas i've ever had. last week at sunday dinner, i told the teenagers that they were going to be in charge of choosing a dinner that week, and that they would responsible for helping to prepare it. i'm realizing that although the kids have some cooking experience, taylor's leaving for college in 2.5 years (what the heck?!) and i probably ought to step it up in the kitchen department. taylor can't afford to lose any calories from his diet.

so this week, we had shepherd's pie, chicken & veggie stir fry and homemade pizza all prepared by teenagers. the best part is thoroughly enjoying my time with them in the kitchen.

the end.

gLeek

hi, my name is wende, and i am a gLeek.

(no, not a fountain of spit.)

i am in
L-O-V-E
with this new show!

cheesie?
absolutely.
(but in a fantastic sort of way)

if you haven't seen it - check it out!

yesssssssss!

WHOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!i WISH i would've video taped all the screaming that took place at our house tonight after ryan seacrest announced our idol season 8 fave's name - KRIS ALLEN! i really had HOPED that kris would win, i really think he's fantastic, but sort of expected seacrest to say adam's name instead. there has just be so much hype surrounding him, i knew kris was sort of the underdog. so, i was definitely among the screamers at my house tonight, and after kris sang his song, we followed tradition and promptly headed to dairy queen for some celebrating! we met lauri's family there too since lauri is an even bigger kris fan than me, (she loves him like i love cookie), we decided they should be in on the tradition.

and while i have really missed seeing my cookie on the show this year, (i'm not sure i'll ever love another idol like i love my cookie),

it was still a fun season with lots of really good contestants to cheer for. the whole night, ethan kept saying, "i'm just so surprised!"

ya, me too buddy, surprised, but THRILLED!

thumbs up kris allen!

congratulations on your awesome win.

you totally deserve it!

you can thank me for my 350 votes last night with a personal serenade.

call me.

channelling michael

channelling michael on the freeway this morning. "that's what SHE said."

please forgive me, i could not resist.

tuesday night goodness

tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week.

can you guess why?

american idol night baby!

this is a BIG deal at my house. the kids and i all love to follow this show, we really get into it. probably a little too much. we can never wait until the tivo has recorded it, we always have to watch it live, because we are addicts and can't wait for our fix.

maybe because there's always some really great ones that we love to cheer for, and there's always someone good to really hate that loves to stick around.

and simon almost always says what i'm thinking.

last year was my favorite season so far, because i LOVE cookie baby. he's my favorite idol winner so far, pure awesomeness.

this year, we are cheering for matt, danny, chris, allison and anoop.

and we definitely don't like adam, he can sing, but he is definitely not the whole AI package. that whole "ring of fire" week made me squirm, gross man. and when he hits those high note/scream things with his tongue hanging out, yuck-o. he should stick to the stage. and since we are seasoned idol watchers now, i think i'm definitely qualified to offer that as my professional opinion. and how did matt end up in the bottom two last week? it's definitely time to start voting.

we LOVE american idol!

are you an AI addict too?

who is your favorite idol?

who are you loving this year?

who do you love to hate?

reasons to love wednesday...

wednesday of this week was great for all kinds of reasons and i'll get to posting about them all eventually, but for now here's just a few. first of all i felt cute all day long in the darling skirt my fantastic SIL made me, i finally had allie take a photo for me...i seriously love it and think i'm going to be ordering like ten more from her!it is so comfy and dressy enough but casual enough and so cute, and let's face it, that's a magic combination - thanks jenny! wednesday was also great because around dinner time our kitchen smelled like calzones - mmmm. it hasn't smelled like calzones for a long time and oh man are they good. there's not really a recipe for them, but to see how we put them together you can check out our cooking blog. and to prepare our calzone dinner i finally wore my new flirty apron that i bought on our trip to orem for the blogger party!this one is called sunshine but we all know why i bought it, it's the daisies of course! check out their cute line here, i'm dying over the cupcake one too! i might need to start a collection of these things! one for every day of the week perhaps? so fun, my new favorite thing for sure. and wednesday was especially great because our cutie DAVID COOK won idol! woooo hoooo!i was so certain that david archuletta would win that i told my kids, seconds before the reveal, that if it was david cook i would take them all out for dairy queen even though everyone was already ready for bed! when ryan said "cook", our whole family jumped up and started screaming! we couldn't believe it. we watched his song and then headed to DQ in our pj's. it was so fun telling the lady at the drive thru window that we were there for celebratory blizzards in honor of cook's winning. she thought we were nuts but we were too excited to care.we are faithful idol watchers and do you know that this is the first season since carrie underwood that who we cheered for all season actually WON! what made season seven a fun season to watch was all the incredible talent from everyone...well everyone except kristy lee cook, yikes. we wish david archuletta well, i'm sure he doesn't even need our well-wishes, because we really do like him....we just LOVE david cook! great day!

cookin' hot

this season of american idol has been one of my favorites so far, incredible talent and i LOVE that they have been allowed to play their instraments this year if they choose. i know i could get in trouble for saying this but, we are HUGE david cook fans! i know that we sort of have a family link to david archuletta and you know, he's great, he totally deserves to be in the final because he's very talented for sure. but, there's just something extra about david cook that i just go crazy over every time he is on stage. he completely blew me away with his rocker rendition of "hello" and "billie jean", seriously, he's one of the most original contestants i've seen in a long time. every week i find myself excited to see what he's going to do. and for the record, i don't think tonight was a "knock out" to use simon's words. i thought DC was awesome and didn't think he was blown away by DA. so, know that archuletta is the favorite to win, and that's fine, but we have been dialing david cook's numbers all night to try and even the odds a bit. and one thing is for sure, no matter who wins tomorrow, i will be buying david cook's cd the second it hits shelves! good luck dc!