The announcement I almost forgot . . .

Congratulations, Kim H.! You're the winner of Holley Gerth's devotional, Rain on Me. (And thanks to Random.org for drawing a random winner.). E-mail me your address, and I'll send it to you!!

Stay tuned for a Top Ten Tuesday post soon . . . I finally watched a 10th movie, and now I have so much to tell you.

An easy and delicious dessert - on a Monday, of all things.

I've actually seen this recipe on two blogs recently. Unfortunately, I can't remember which two blogs. Anyway, it's one that I've made several times and had the opportunity to make this weekend.

And every time? It is deeelicious!

I'm talking about Chocolate Eclair Dessert. It's possible this dish has a fancier name, but that's what I call it. I can't remember where I got the recipe either.

Do you see a pattern here?

Now, I'm going to give you this recipe. It is both easy and tasty. But don't be blaming me if you must immediately run to the store, make it and eat it all at once. Unh-uh. Not my fault! Besides, you can re-start that diet tomorrow, right?

I may have sorta kinda forgotten to take a picture before we dug into it!

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

2 packages graham crackers
2 - 3 oz. packages instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 - 8 oz. tub of whipped topping
1 - 16 oz. can of chocolate frosting

Mix pudding, milk and whipped topping. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with graham crackers. Pour half of the pudding mixture on top. Layer grahams, then pudding twice. Cover with graham crackers, then pour softened frosting on top. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Now, there's nothing I can do about the chocolate frosting. (Except lick the spoon. I can do that.) But you can use skim milk, sugar free pudding, low-fat graham crackers and fat-free whipped topping. Making those changes doesn't really affect the taste and it might be enough to help you rationalize that second piece. I know it is for me.

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday and possibly even Family Recipe Friday. Because if I can't remember who gave me the recipe, then it's completely possible it was a family member. Right?

This dessert is so ridiculously easy. What's your favorite EASY recipe to make?

Five for Friday

1. A family of mosquitoes or some other biting type of bug has moved into my house. I blame last weekend’s unseasonably warm temperatures that caused us to turn off the A/C and open the windows. And the lotsa rain we’ve had this month. Although it doesn’t really matter. The fact is these bugs are apparently here for a long-term visit, and a bug’s gotta eat, ya know?

2. Annalyn went cuh-razy with the walking last night! My parents were here (for what they call “Baby Night”), and that kiddo just walked herself all over the house. I was relieved, because we’ve been practicing her walking – even with the ears – mainly in her bedroom. And I was starting to worry that she would only be able to walk in there (on carpet, as opposed to the hardwoods in the rest of the house). Turns out I didn’t need to worry about that. Nope, but I might need to start worrying about her reaching sharp objects, running away from me and locking herself in the bathroom. This is what we’ve been waiting for, right?

3. As part of a whole social media plan (very exciting!) at work, I am helping create a new blog for my company. And by “create,” I am talking choosing graphics, picking out colors and writing [shudder] code. My manager and I both have a rudimentary understanding of blog design. But since our IT guy does not know how to or want to (we’re not quite sure which one it is) design a company blog, we’re pretty much on our own. Sure, Google is there for me, always willing to listen and offer some advice. But my goodness, it takes me forever and a day, plus fourteen rounds of trial and error, to make one little change. And it is Giving. Me. A Headache.

4. You all said that you like my movie reviews, and I have to admit: I am way behind! I’ve seen so many movies in the past couple of months and haven’t told you about any of them! So I started making a list earlier this week; I didn’t want you to miss out on any of my opinions, you know. I realized I have nine movies to talk about. And being, um, persnickety like I am, I just can’t handle an odd number like that. Just feels unfinished or something. So, yes, I will be renting a movie tomorrow night, for the express purpose of blogging about it. I’m not sure if that’s amazing dedication . . . or just a little bit sad.

5. And because my last comment would otherwise be, “Does anyone else want to buy Proactiv every time they see the commercials? Or is that just me?” I thought I’d use a Plinky.com prompt. Here’s my deep question for the day: What is your favorite cereal? Mine’s Golden Grahams. Always name brand; never store brand. Yummmm . . .

Bringing back the lookalike game

I think you’ll all agree with me that it’s been way too long since we played this game. So long that I’ve gotten pretty rusty.

I guess you’ll just have to help me out.

The only celebrity lookalikes I can think of are:

Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Meaghan Jette Martin
(I can't even take credit for this one. I saw it when reading a review of the 10 Things I Hate About You TV show . . . which yes, of course I've been watching. What do you think?)

David Moscow and Matthew Morrison
(I watched a movie with Moscow last night, and I was just sure it was Morrison, the guy from GLEE. Turns out it was just his blue-eyed twin.)

Bruce McGill and Tyne Daly
(Seriously, how could two unrelated people look so much alike? Every time I see this guy in something, I say, "Oh my gosh, he looks just like Tyne Daly!" So this week I finally got around to looking him up. And nope, he's not related. Just looks like it.)

Have you spotted any lookalikes lately?

And hey, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for Rain on Me by Holley Gerth!

I do ride the bus, you know.

Yesterday at work, I decided to listen to some tunes on Pandora. I was a little tired of my Kathy Mattea and Bobby Brown stations, so I picked my Pink station.

So sue me. I enjoy angry rocker chick music.

But I started noticing that Pink has quite the mouth. Apparently listening to a Pink song on the radio is like watching a Judd Apatow movie on TBS.

You know, all nice and censored cleaned up.

Once I started noticing the profanity, I couldn’t help but notice it in the other songs. That Avril Lavigne? She needs to watch her mouth, too!

Anyway, my reaction to these songs – that I’ve listened to many a time – made me laugh, as I remembered a conversation I had many years ago.

I don’t remember exactly what the context was, but my cousins were discussing something in front of me and assumed either I didn’t understand or was not old enough to hear such things.

So I said to them, my cousins and childhood heroes who happened to be 5, 6 and 8 years older than me, “I do ride the bus, you know.”

Because seriously, who didn’t learn something their parents wished they hadn't on the school bus?

What? That was just my bus?

Well, anyway, my cousins thought that was sooo funny. They laughed and laughed. Or maybe they just laughed and my burning ears heard an echo that wasn’t there. Either way, they thought my bravado was hilarious. And though I don’t remember anything more, I’m pretty sure they waited to finish their conversation until I wasn’t around.

I guess I need to either listen to more uplifting music or remember that I shouldn’t be shocked so easily.

After all, I did ride the bus, you know.

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On another note, Monday night was one more for the books with Annalyn. And by “for the books,” I mean awful, horrible, no good, when is bedtime, I wanna run away from home. As a matter of fact, I gave myself a timeout at one point! But last night was the polar opposite of Monday’s tantrum-filled evening. We spent our precious time together reading, playing, giggling and walking.

Annalyn hadn’t walked in quite a few days, preferring to hold our hands while she walks around or regressing back to her old standby, crawling.

Last night, though, she dug her cat ears from last year’s Halloween costume out of the closet, put them on and got busy walking.

It turns out she was just missing her walking ears.

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Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for Rain on Me by Holley Gerth!

Top 10 Things I Learned From My Survey

Some of you also mentioned enjoying my photos. And since I aim to please...

A couple weeks ago, I had some time to kill in the Detroit airport, and I decided to write a survey. It was so much fun that I can guarantee I’ll do it again.

Maybe I’ll take a survey of what TV shows to watch this fall . . . or what Christmas presents to buy . . . or how to cut my hair . . . oh, the possibilities are endless.

Until all of our survey dreams come true, though, I thought I’d share the results from this first one.

1. Only about half of you (47%) subscribe to this blog. Ahem. If you would like to subscribe – which means every new post from Giving Up on Perfect automatically shows up in your Feed Reader or in your e-mail – just click that orange button over on the right. Easy peasy.
2. Out of the 44 people who took my survey, 14% were first-time readers. Umm . . . you all must really like surveys! Which is cool with me. I’m a big fan of the survey, too. Oh, did I already mention that?
3. Almost half of you know me in real life, with a whopping 7% claiming that I make you read my blog. Honestly, I’m not sure who’s saying such things, because Mark and Smitty don’t even read every day . . .
4. Speaking of reading frequency, 42% of survey respondents (now doesn’t that sound official?) read this blog every day. Thank you.
5. As I suspected, most of my readers are women. Three men did take the quiz, though. I hope you’ll comment on this post and tell me who you are. But since I don’t see that happening, I’m going to guess that at least one of those guys is my brother. And maybe my friend Jeremy of the Cheez-It fame.
6. The ages were all across the board, although a solid 50% are somewhere in their thirties. I’m not sure if that counts anyone who is perpetually 39. The free survey software may not be that sophisticated.
7. Interestingly, the posts that you all most enjoy are rambling accounts of my daily life. I’m not so sure why, but I’m making an effort here to ramble more. For you, my readers. The sacrifices I make . . .
8. Also in the running for top topics: memories and stories (good thing, as I do love to reminisce), my always valuable opinions on pop culture (another good thing, as I will not be turning off the TV anytime soon) and parenting.
9. The less-loved topics – and yes, I know the survey forced you to answer, even though you didn’t want to because you love me – were book reviews, food and domestic life. Hmmm. Well, I can cut back on book reviews and spare you the details of my housecleaning routine (ha!). But people, you need to know this: food and I have a close relationship, and we will probably not be parting anytime soon.
10. Finally, half of you prefer me to respond to comments in the comment section. And boy, have I been letting you down! I will try to get better at this, but even if I don’t respond to your comment, I promise I still appreciate it.

Now, about those essay questions. You all just made my day. Seriously, you do know this was an anonymous survey, right? I can’t give anyone credit for saying nice things or making sweet comments or telling me how wonderful I am. You know this?

And yet you did it anyway.

As a thank you, I’m going to give one lucky reader a signed copy of Holley Gerth’s devotional, Rain on Me. I met Holley at Blissdom and we clicked immediately. Now I’m getting the chance to know her better as we work on (in)courage together, and I just love this girl. You will, too!

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me something you’d like me to write about on this blog. It can be a story, a list or the answer to any question you’d like to ask. Comments will be closed on Saturday, and then I’ll randomly select a winner.

If you’re lucky, I might even answer your questions or write about the stories you request. At least that would keep me from doing those annoying carnivals so often, right, Survey Taker #15?

Oh, calm down. You know I kid.

But this post will be linked to Top Ten Tuesday and What I Learned This Week. (See? Ask me some questions!)

It was a napping kind of weekend.

You know what I wonder? Why do I have a calendar? I mean, I occasionally write things in it, but then I close it up, stick it in my stack of stuff that I tote back and forth every day, and never look at it again.

Case in point: last Friday. Though just two days before, I’d sent my friend Christelle a note on Facebook saying how much I was looking forward to our scrapbooking date on Friday, I sat at my desk that afternoon and thought, “Hmmm, what am I going to do tonight?”

And then, because my life is so very exciting, I logged onto TVGuide.com to see what was playing on the old boob tube.

Thankfully I had an occasion later on to open my calendar, where I saw “Scrapbook with Christelle” written on my Friday box. I say thankfully, because a) it would have been quite embarrassing to have Christelle find me in my usual Friday routine (you know, lounging on the couch in my stretchy pants watching Wife Swap), and b) it was pretty slim pickings on TV and I had decided I’d just watch Kate & Leopold again.

I didn’t even like it that much the first time. Mainly because Meg Ryan has her weird fish lips in that one, and it’s just too distracting for me.

Let’s pause for an important disclaimer: Yes, Pysch is on Friday nights, but I tape it, so Mark and I can watch it together over the weekend. Now, carry on.

So, I remembered my scrapbooking date in time to order pizza and pick up the toys decorating our floors. And more important than organizing my photos and picking out the perfect rub-on or brad, I had a great time catching up with my friend.

Which is a good thing, because I wasn’t so successful in the scrapbooking part of our evening. I am either on or off with that stuff, and I was off.

I don’t really remember what we did on Saturday, although I distinctly recall it involved an extremely pleasant afternoon nap.

Oh yes, we also went to the park – for 15 minutes. Because by the time we got there, somebody was getting cranky and needed a nap.

No, I don’t mean me.

But kind of.

Anyway, Saturday night was a big deal: Mark’s dad watched Annalyn for the first time, while we went with Smitty to a birthday party. I could bore you with details about how the restaurant we went to used to be called Johnny O’Quigley’s but now it’s Paddy O’Quigley’s but I didn’t know that and assumed the invitation had the wrong name but then I saw it was right but still Smitty wanted to mock me and assume that I was crazy.

But really, all you need to know is that they served green tortilla chips – because dying the Mexican food green makes it Irish. And Annalyn had a great time with her Grandpa Jim.

We wrapped up Sunday with choir practice and church, the longest 90 minutes ever (also known as our monthly service in the toddler nursery), another nap for the whole family, lots of giggles and Mark’s awesome grilled chicken.

How was your weekend?

Random Readings 8.22.09

I haven’t done a Random Readings in a while, but since I read some really great posts in the past week, I decided to share them with you. Have you read anything inspiring, hilarious or interesting lately?

• Discipline: MckMama shares tips on disciplining kids. So timely for our house – anyone else relate?
• Ask me what I did last night: Amy wrote about freedom in Christ. And she blew me away.
• Checkout lines are no place for non-church attending Catholics. Jennifer had a terrible experience a couple Sundays ago. Made me feel sad…and mad…and a little guilty…
• Hope and Hope, part 2: Colleen bared her soul about her childhood, some changes she’s considering and how it’s all connected.
• Before I Was a Mom: Jill wrote about how motherhood has changed her. (And to think she claimed to have writer’s block before this? I’m not buying it!)
• Prayer: Why We Struggle (and how not to): Ann writes beautiful poetic words, and her post about prayer and why we don’t do it brought me to my knees.
• For class of '13, times are a-changin': Beloit College takes time to make me feel old. Thank you.
  

Have a great weekend. I’m hoping to clean my house, balance my checkbook (yawn), take the kiddo to the park and eat up this amazing weather, go with Mark and Smitty to a birthday party, and make it to church on time for choir practice before worship service. And then? A nap. With the windows open and the breeze blowing . . . and the Zyrtec on call.

As if we needed further proof.

We've recently switched Annalyn's naptime from the morning to the afternoon. This makes her a tired girl. I don't eat enough vegetables, and I haven't worked out since Day 4 of The Shred. This makes me a tired girl.

And that, my friends, is not a good combination when it comes to after-work trips to the Walmart.

Fortunately, between contact solution and tortillas, we stumbled into the cracker aisle. And since I know how anything labeled "cracker" makes my daughter oh-so-happy, I decided to pick up a box.

Plus, it was after work. And she wasn't the only one who was ready for dinner.

As we strolled down the cracker aisle, my eyes were drawn to the red and yellow boxes of little cheese-flavored squares. Right. You know the ones.

The Cheez-Its. The one kind of cracker that I can't buy and keep in my house, no matter how much my daughter loves them. Possibly because I, too, love their salty, cheesy crunch. And possibly because a box of Cheez-Its in our house disappears faster than, well, a box of Pop Tarts in our house.

But the Cheez-Its we saw tonight? Oh, they were something special. They were . . . Scrabble Cheez-Its!


My friend Jeremy bought a box of these several months ago. When I saw them at his house during our Bible study, he acted all casual. All, "Oh, I bought them at Target." Right. I've been to Target, mister. And I saw no such Scrabble Cheez-Its!

Okay . . . honestly? After I saw the special crackers at his house, I looked at every store around for a week or so. When I couldn't find them, I figured it was a limited time, short-term, blah-blah, should've bought it sooner thing.

And then I cried.

Just kidding.

But when Annalyn and I found them tonight at Walmart? Well, you can be sure I bought a box.

And opened it up before she starved to death right there in front of my eyes. I know that was a possibility, because of the way she kept shouting, "Cracker! Cracker! Pease! Pease!" No, we're not dramatic in this family. Not at all.

The good news is that somehow, putting letters on the cheesy squares of goodness makes them somehow, less good. I think Annalyn will actually get to eat all of her own crackers this time.

The bad news is that it's just as hard to find the letters you want with Scrabble Cheez-Its as it is with the real game.

Wordless Wednesday: Bath Time

Guess whose new favorite words include "bubbles" and "duck"?

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.