Randomness

The Larsen Fam has been going crazy! Life has been a little hectic and stressful. Last night and tonight we are painting my parents house. When we move in we are displacing my Dad's office up to my old bedroom. So as a part of moving we have to get their house ready for us. Painting, organizing, things in storage. Which we are happy to do, my goodness we are so grateful for their willingness to have us invade their home.
But oh my goodness I hate painting. HATE IT. I was under the impression that painting was fun, like in the movies. Painting with your spouse is supposed to be romantic, complete with playful and flirtatious paint fights. Not the case. In fact I was hideously wrong. I hate painting.
I have this weird eye infection thing, no idea what it is. But no, if you see me, I did not get socked in the eye. For some reason my bottom lid is pretty swollen. Could this be a result of my wearing two week contacts for eight weeks? Oh well, It looks like I am going all granola with no makeup and glasses for awhile.
However, in good news, I have made a few discoveries. Harmons has Quaker Oat Cereal on sale, 5 for 5. All you cereal lovers should know this is a steal. Run now to stock up on Quaker Oats, and say hello to Bob and Randy. Maceys also has General Mills Cereal for $1.88 a box. I hate going there though, but maybe the polygamous clan will be shopping there today.
I also made a pretty yummy dinner the other night, so here it is. Try it if you like pasta, but if you are like me, go VERY light on the alfredo sauce. My lower GI just doesn't tolerate rich food.

3 diced boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can of artichoke hearts cut up into small pieces
2 bunches of green onions sliced thinly
8 slices of bacon browned and chopped (I have been putting in the already cooked ones and it has been pretty good)
Bow tie or Penne pasta
3-4 large tomatoes cut up and diced (You HAVE to scald them to get the skins off)
about 1/2 of jar of Classico Alfredo sauce (this is where i go very minimal)
pepper

So brown your chicken, add artichokes, green onions, bacon (if using the already cooked variety, if not cook your bacon separately and add it now) and scalded tomatoes. (if you don't know how to scald tomatoes, boil a pot of water, when it comes to a steady boil, drop the whole tomato in for thirty seconds. Spoon it out and peel the skins off. They should come off VERY easily.) Let all ingredients cook and combine for about five minutes and then add alfredo sauce and pepper. Yummy, yummy!
The picture of the neighbor is coming as soon as he displays himself on his balcony again.

Sweet Rebellion

So now that the condo is sold (well mostly), pretty sure Mr. L and I have rebelled. After keeping a pristine house for the last five months we have turned into slothful oinkers. Spoons dried to the cereal bowl- no biggie, toilet flushing- nope conserving water, moldy gross rancid fruit on the counter- yummy! Really today I looked around my dwelling and was a little pleased and then a little disgusted at the place. We did such a great job keeping it clean, when we didn't have to anymore- we broke loose.
So I kinda have a trashy neighbor in the next building over. He is a little to a lot pudgy and gets in his John Stockton shorts and camps out on the balcony. It is truly a sight. He is in his super short shorts, topless, with the TV and fan out on the balcony. He texts and sips his Miller Light. What a sight! Would it be wrong to capture this moment with a camera? My description doesn't begin to touch the white trashness. I think this would be something that the three and a half readers of Larsen Living might appreciate.
Every time that I did laundry, my cramped laundry room would smell so bad. Well today T-Dizzle was going nuts pawing at the side of the dryer. Hmm... I stole a peek and three fresh tomatoes that are probably four weeks old fell down the side. That explains the smell. Sadly, it does not explain the washer dying.
In great news, Glee is on this week! Set your TIVOs, DVRs whatever else you people have to Fox tomorrow night. The original pilot is also airing on Friday night. The Larsen fam can't wait.
Randomness, but my new favorite snack is the Kirtland brand dried fruit Mango and Berry mix. DIVINE! My favorite thing to touch my lips, well almost. It's 8 bucks a bag but well worth it. Dig in, once you start you won't stop!

Sad Days

Well someday finally came and we sold the condo! Really it was one of those things that we both kinda thought would never happen. I am pretty sad, we have great memories here, and great friends. This is where Big E proposed, where we brought Mack home and other great memories! BUT no more Gospel Doctrine Teacher (can you hear the angels singing?)! The lady that is moving in seems delightful and I know that she will be good to all of Mack's "Building Grandmas". As sad as I am... no more three flights of stairs with car seat, dog on leash and groceries! No more Toby on a leash, no more picking up Toby poop. Oh the delightfulness! As for the immediate future, Mama and Papa J have been generous enough to let us chill with them until we find a HOUSE!

Giggles

Okay how impressed are you with my new blog look? Me, myself and I are all very proud. Those of you that know me really well, also know that my computer literacy is that of an eighty year old. So special thanks to Bri for helping me post the update link thingy. I feel like a friggin' Web Designer.
Anyway, Larsen Living is looking for a new blog name. Larsen Living sounds way too relief society/enrichmenty. We have thrown around a couple of ideas, pretty much all inappropriate. I thought about using our nicknames: Big E, E-licious, E-dawg, Mr Mack, The Mister and so on and so on. But alas, I am the giver of nicknames so I am at a loss (Eric calls me Babe and that just doesn't flow in a blog title. Any ideas would be greatly and vastly appreciated!
This video is one of our favorites. The man is darling in every way. How in the world did I get so lucky?

What the CRAP?

May I just for a moment mention how truly sick I am of having the condo for sale? I hate getting those calls from our real estate agent saying that someone wants to walk through in the next half an hour. You can only stuff so much junk into the washer, dryer and dishwasher. It is really tiring trying to keep your living area (including closets) clean ALL of the time.
Tonight we had a true "what the crapper moment". So I get a call from the agent saying that someone wants to walk through in the next half and hour. I attempt to clean up all of our junk, and get both Toby and Mack out before they get there. SUCCESSFUL. Eric comes home, we take the dog up to my mom's and head out to the Farmer's Market (always a good time). We came back to turn off all of our lights and turn down the air (we leave both on in hopes that it shows better). Well, I turned the corner into our bedroom and the bed was a crumbled mess! EWWW, GROSS, DISGUSTING! These people totally laid on my bed! That's it, the house is off the market!

Summer Happenings

So for the three of you out in the blogging world that actually read the good ol' Larsen Living blog, I thought I would give you an update of our busy summer.

First things first, how adorably tough does Mr. M look in his do-rag, bink, and sunglasses? He surprisingly will leave the sunglasses and the do-rag on for hours, but try to put a hat on the kid- and you know what breaks loose. I have a friend who made me promise not to blog too much about the Mr. M, because it is apparently a very annoying "mom thing" to do. So if you agree, skip the next paragraph.

He is fantastic and still as sweet as they come. He is a rolling maniac and is mastering the whole sitting up by himself thing. He still doesn't have any teeth and I am crossing my fingers that they will come all at once! These are what I call the "grandparent stats", the message being that only grandparents really care to hear about the percentile thing, but here it goes:
Height: 90%
Weight: 20 %
Head: 50%

The summer has been full of family, weddings and breakouts. We hung with my fam for the 4th and had a smashing time at a canyon breakfast, BBQ, park and fireworks. Eric has this thing about watching "big" fireworks with a lot of people, so he talked my fam into going to our secret watching place for the Murray Park fireworks. It was great and worth it, but for all of you Idaho spuds, it wasn't close to the MELALUCA FREEDOM FESTIVAL (picture Eric saying that with spirit fingers.)

Last week we headed up to Alturas Lake for the Larsen Family reunion. Holy smokes there are TONS of Larsens! We had a great time, and special thanks to Mom and Dad Larsen for organizing the whole shabang!I was happy to be the covert caffeine provider. (And no lectures from the peanut gallery, I just taught an awful Word of Wisdom lesson and don't need anymore shenanigans!) The drive was SO long but Mack did a great job, and we actually didn't even have a meltdown. Well we kinda did but it was more from me. I hate driving at night. BORING! Nothing to look at, and having to stay awake to make sure Mr. L stays awake. Then one night I felt something crawling on me. Yuck! Cannot handle that one and I may have had a mini- to extra large meltdown. Whatever. It was a great time though and SO pretty. I must admit I have darling nieces and nephews on both sides.

Earlier in the summer, I did what I never swore I would do. I stopped using proactive. I know what, was I thinking? This is the same girl that would volunteer to do infomercials (speaking of that, so sad Billy Mayes died and our late night love affairs are no longer.) Eric works at a company that has pretty high end facial regimes and gets them for practically free. So trying to save money, (I know I am great.) I switched over and canceled my Proactive Membership. Bad news. I am totally convinced that Proactive has an ingredient in it, that when you stop it, you break out like wildfire! No kidding I had a pimple for six weeks that I named because it was so big, like its own zip code big.

I am pretty sure that the Larsen Household has the Brine Flu. I figure we live by the Great Salt Lake, and are in more contact with that great lake air than pigs. So instead of swine we have brine. And no we don't actually have the swine flu (By the way, what is with these crackhead parents that are holding swine flu parties, for the love people!) Eric is a sinus/mucus factory, I have it in my lungs, fully expecting to hack up said lung any day now. And the Man, bless his heart, his nose is like a faucet. (Bad combo with a mom who gags VERY easily.) So wish us luck with the brine flu!

I love Mack's Bumbo, but am I the only parent whose child barfs right after getting out?

Pictures of the Chick Magnet... No not Eric

In a few of these pictures The Mr. looks completely like Brad and Lisa's son Ty, and in a few of them he looks like Rob and Merisa's Big Boy Carson. The Mr. is as darling as ever and still so happy!