my shore

the future is now

2011-11-02T19:53:00.002-04:00

Remember when George Jetson's boss used to call him up on the videophone to yell at him? I always cringed at the idea of answering the phone in person (8 am, greasy hair and face, Almond Joy in hand, embarrassing 80s music playing in the background). Speaking by phone hides a multitude of sins, not to mention eye rolls and blah-blah-blah motions made with one's hand.

And although we are still largely a traditional family when it comes to phone calls, one of us (Flash, age 11) is tiptoeing into the Facetime Era. It's a really great way for him to keep in touch with old friends in our last two states of residence.

I have no problem with Facetime on principle--when I know it's happening. Lately I have found myself mid-lecture only to notice the face of Justin or Tyler or Jaden or whomever on the side of the desk, patiently waiting for the crazy woman to wrap it up. While I'm generally annoyed in that moment (and possibly embarrassed: see greasy face/Almond Joy above), I have to admit Facetime is making me a better parent. It's as if a sort of non-creepy Big Brother camera could be recording me at any moment. I find myself thinking--breathing--for a minute before I talk to my kids. It's a good habit, I think. Now where's my dinner-making machine?

decoupage is dangerous

2011-10-20T16:15:00.000-04:00

I've had this sort of awful wooden vase-thing for years. At one point it occupied a place among other botanical items and blended in pretty well. Three houses later, it doesn't really "go" with anything in the living room (or any other rooms for that matter). It is sturdy and was only three bucks on clearance at Marshall's and what's more I've moved it three times in as many years. I'm not getting rid of it. Therefore it must be decoupaged.

I found some handmade paper at Cost Plus that very closely matches the new scheme in my living room (namely, using color instead of black, tan, and white). Picked up a jar of Mod Podge and...

Magical, isn't it? I had to trace each side of the vase separately as they don't really square up and there was a good bit of smoothing with a credit card but I'm happy with the result.

The only problem is that decoupage is so very easy and cheap. I now see any blank surface as deficient in some way. That lamp! Wouldn't it be so much more adorable with a paisley base? That dresser! I'm thinking polka-dots. That picture frame! Super Q's forearm! The dashboard of the car! Most of Nebraska! The possibilities are endless.

you wanna ride bikes?

2011-10-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

One great thing about living in Arizona is the near constant possibility of a bike ride. Sometimes it may be a very short ride requiring a gallon of water and several forms of sun protection but you can truly get out there and pedal almost any old time. Today the kids and I had oh, about 8 hours to ourselves while dh worked (on a Saturday...ugh) and went to a church meeting. The boys quickly exhausted their screen time at which point we were faced with 6 hours to fill. Washed the car. Made pizzas. Regaled Mom with hilarious songs about Boots the Monkey getting attacked by aliens (sigh). My mood was deteriorating; half-heartedly I floated the idea of a bike ride. The boys agreed and we were off to the bike path. We rode farther than we ever had before and at the end we found a sweet little park with GRASS (a rarity here) and a sort of retaining pond with WATER in it (again, a rarity) surrounded by rocks just begging to be thrown in that water.

A few weeks ago Super Q and I took our bikes to the drugstore (night-time candy run). He was very earnest and serious about bicycle safety. Riding ahead of me, helmet slightly crooked, he indicated right turns, stops, and some crazy made-up signal for "straight ahead." As we left the busy street and entered our neighborhood, he yelled back to me, "In the neighborhood you don't have to walk your bike across the streets! Also there's no traffic lights!" You can learn a lot about bicycle safety from a 9 year old.

the neighbors

2011-07-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

Can I just take a moment and be petty? Thanks.

Our neighbors. They didn't make a great first impression. The first day we were here I noticed that everyone in their house from the 13 year old on up is a chain smoker. (The 6 and 4 year olds may as well be with all those smokers around.)

The man of the house introduced himself as "John Doe, nice to meet you. Just moving the wife out myself today, to an apartment. So are you on your own here as well?" Er, no... husband's around here somewhere, thank goodness.

The smoking doesn't affect me much (except when it wafts over to my clothesline, leaving everything with a fresh spring Marlboro scent): it's the TAWLKING! At all hours! Out on the back patio, which is approximately 3 feet away from our house (gotta love the suburbs). 6:00 am? Yes, they're back there enjoying the morning air (the husband and the wife both--maybe the apartment thing didn't work out after all). 11:30 pm? Well, perfect time to toss back some beers and laugh LOUDLY and not put the children to bed.
We are blessed to hear every detail of their conversations--I now know exactly which middle manager at John's workplace is a ****head, information which is delivered in the worst nasal intonation possible.
The beautiful part of it is that their dogs have no bedtime and no time inside the house. They are free to bark 24/7.

Now I've been petty on the internet. I'll have to post a lovely craft next time to make up for it.

Arizona primer

2011-07-09T00:58:00.000-04:00

We're heeeeere! In Arizona!

... we've actually been here for 7 weeks, so maybe it's too late for exclamation points and everything.

So an incomplete primer for you on living in the desert. Bulleted for your enjoyment.

It is actually sunny 99% of the time. FOR REAL. (Here I add the disclaimer and acknowledgement that, yes, I grew up here. But haven't lived here for any real length of time since 1990. So it's all so fresh and new!) No gray skies yet! I wake up every morning to a clear, crazy-blue sky. It's so bright! I greet the morning with optimism and verve! And by 1:00 pm I'm a little sick of the sun. It's 106* outside, the kids are on hour 2 of xbox, surrounded by the detritus of several trips to the kitchen --Otter Pop wrappers, spoons with traces of Nutella on them, abandoned bowls of Cool Whip (!)--and I'm googling "free indoor playgrounds NOT chuck e. cheese's."
Everyone's thirsty all the time. I have never, NEVER, seen so many Circle K stores in my life. Every .5 miles, no joke. Not to mention the occasional QT store, which has Sonic-style ice AND fantastic chocolate flavoring to add to your Coke Zero. They also sell hot mac n' cheese for the kiddies. It's like a crack house. dh once went back for FOUR refills in one day. (We are aware that the man needs help.) At first I wondered, "Why all the convenience stores?" Why not just keep water in your car?" The answer to that is that the water in your car is also 106*.
We are thirsty and occasionally bored but trying so very hard to get along so we can do things like go see "Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" with contraband Walgreen's candy from Mom's purse. Sometimes we need a reminder:

When "Kitty Galore" is over and chores are done and xbox time exhausted and I'm saving the pool for very last I might attempt something crazy like try to teach the boys some Chinese. We don't have a whiteboard...

We also don't have any grass at all. We miss our giant deck and grass in Michigan, not to mention a high of 85*. Not to mention tons of friends and cousins.
We do have lots of family not too far away (hallelujah!). We got to see them all a few weeks ago and it was glorious!

I think I've sort of abandoned the primer idea so no need for bullets. There's just one more thing. A lovely, wonderful book to recommend. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I've read (and adored) her other books and this one is beautifully written like the others, full of detail and real emotion.

the vandal

2011-05-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

In the past few weeks of endless, laborious, detailed cleaning (house is now on the market!) I have discovered that the 8 year old is way into graffiti. He has always commented on it and admired it as we drive along the freeway in Detroit; apparently he has been practicing it at home. I found it on the underside of the top bunk (written for his brother to see): "I smell like poo." "I wear titey witeys." Some sort of unidentifiable words are written in silver Sharpie on the outside of the house. More silver Sharpie all over his skateboard: "Goofy" (his preferred method of riding the skateboard), "Caroline" (the much older girl he has a crush on), and "Wow" (his sarcastic response to just about everything.) Found some drawings on the ceiling of the car (not sure if those will ever come out), under the kitchen table, and on cereal boxes. I actually caught him with a can of spray paint in the garage the other day... he was going to paint a piece of cardboard leaning right next to the car. Hoping he ends up like Banksy and not in juvi.

my heart is full

2011-05-08T19:24:00.000-04:00

"My heart is full today." People are always saying that when my church congregation meets. And today it's true for me. My heart is absolutely bursting with a tangly nest of emotions. So proud of my children, yet annoyed that they aren't a little more sensitive to all of this ridiculous cleaning I'm doing now that the house is on the market. So sad to be leaving Primary (our children's ministry) but also a little relieved at lessened church responsibility. Sad to leave our extended family here but glad to see more of the other extended family members in Arizona. Already missing the glory that is Michigan in the summertime, but a little annoyed at still needing to use the heater in May.

And on this day, Mother's Day, my heart is full of conflicting feelings about this work I do. Sometimes I think if things were just cuter around here--like Nie Nie's house, with super chic lamps and pillows--there would be a happier vibe. Sometimes I think I need to loosen up a LOT and let things get dirty and chaotic more often. There are days when I love mothering and I feel like we're really a happy family. More often I really worry that I'm messing up my kids and modeling undesirable habits and behavior (Diet Coke on the breakfast table, anyone?) I take comfort in the fact that each day I can tweak my mothering and hopefully improve.

breaking down

2011-04-14T10:50:00.000-04:00

So we had an incredibly fabulous spring break in AZ. Checked out our new town, swam in some pretty cold water, ate out more than we have for months, soaked up the sun and extended family love.

Returned to a very long to-do list, including some tasks that require some skills I do not yet possess (reinstall an earlier version of Windows, drill a 3/4" hole through metal, stand on a ladder on STAIRS to paint a super-tall wall, determine the cause of an unnerving clanking sound in garage door). The to-do list keeps growing because everything keeps breaking around here (sliding glass door, computer, hot water heater, car, aforementioned garage door). Actually some of these things have been broken for awhile but we've ignored them because our house was not about to (deep breath) be put on the market in MICHIGAN.

Meanwhile the 8 year old is seriously missing his dad. Spontaneously sobbing. Doesn't want to go to school. Doesn't want to eat sometimes.

Meanwhile the 11 year old is turning into a 13 year old (!). Extremely fond of talking back VERY LOUDLY.

Meanwhile I'm trying to hold it together. Mostly succeeding (with one now-famous slip in which I uttered the s-word (shut up)). Looking forward to normal life again.

pinch me

2011-02-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

I. Am. Moving. To. Arizona.
And I can't believe it. 2 months ago I had visions--nightmares--of months of unemployment, desperation for any sort of job and ending up in North Dakota. Instead dh ended up with 4 offers (the result of lots of late nights spent tweaking resumes and cover letters). One of them was here in Michigan. I assumed we would take that one and forget about moving across the country again. After lots of prayer we came to the decision to leave our home here and accept a job in Tucson. Although I really struggle with winter weather and some other aspects of life in Michigan, this decision was extremely difficult for me. I worry about the impact of another change of schools and friends on my boys. I hate leaving the supportive net of uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents (dh's family). At the same time I so look forward to seeing my parents and siblings more often. I feel that this is the right path for us to take. And if that path is lit by 276 days of sun per year and has the occasional taqueria alongside, so much the better.

cool things to distract me from Major Life Changes on the Horizon

2011-02-23T12:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not as oddly peaceful today as I have been of late. The reality of moving again is seeping in at the seams a bit. The thought of the many, many details and days of hard work and time apart from my dh can be downright paralyzing. Add to that a tremendously huge decision we have to make about where to move (we are extremely fortunate to have two offers). Sometimes a girl just needs to give her brain a break and fill it with items more interesting and/or relaxing than moving quotes and carpet remnant stores:

I love love love this new album by my all-time favorite band, The Innocence Mission. You can listen a little at that link. It's exquisite, uplifting, and comforting.

If I were as talented as Amy Karol I would make my own plaid coat like she did. I can't imagine making a coat! At this point I can't imagine making anything as the tension on my machine has gone haywire, but still.

I have spent a fair amount of time dealing with snow this week. Snow on the order of 10" or so. How long does it take to shovel a driveway full of snow, you ask? (2 hours, not counting the time spent digging two different teenager's cars out of the huge pile of slush left by the snowplow on our corner. My hands were freezing and the task seemed insurmountable but the shoveling itself--the repetition, the unbroken sea of white--was sort of relaxing, much like tending a Zen garden probably is. The absence of demanding children may have helped there.

Seth Stevenson's take on Disneyworld is very very funny.

... and that's about it.

overrated

2011-02-20T18:46:00.001-05:00

Below is a by-no-means comprehensive list of overrated things. Feel free to add your own.

* snow. I mean, it's beautiful when it falls on cedars and everything but when you have had 3 days of upper 40s and your driveway totally melted, 3" of snow in 2 hours is just... discouraging.

* change. Have I mentioned that I'm ready for some kind of stability here? Things have been unsettled for so long that the kids don't even want to whine about it anymore. They routinely stonewall our attempts to talk about moving. Smart kids.

* facebook. I'm not sure what I think I'm going to see but these days it's mostly an update on everyone's sicknesses/their kids' sicknesses. I include myself in this trend. It would help if facebook had a separate posting area for sick updates, kind of like the separate waiting area at the pediatrician's office. Boring posts about coughing/vomiting go here. Funny stuff goes here. Uninformed political rants, here. Anything about American Idol can go here where it can be blocked with one simple click.

*diet coke with lime. Does not compare to Diet Coke with an actual lime wedge. I'm snowbound, though, so I'm officially a beggar and not a chooser.

*sunday dinner. My husband's grandmother introduced me to their tradition of popcorn, cheese chunks, fruit and juice for Sunday dinner. Although I do enjoy large chunks of meat/bowls of pasta from time to time, it's nice to be verrrrrrry laaaaaazy sometimes. When I feel ambitious I might make some spinach dip or something.

* kale chips. I know the blog has been freakishly kale-centric of late (my sil keeps me well-stocked). Kale chips are the kind of thing that health articles tell you to eat instead of Doritos. ("Craving something crunchy? Try this easy recipe! ") Health writers of the world, kale chips are not Doritos, no matter how much ranch dressing mix you dump on top.

oddly peaceful

2011-02-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a horrible sinus infection can really put things in perspective. We're headed for another major change in employment and likely another move. Just as I was getting very agitated at the prospect, I was hit hard by 5 days of mucosal nastiness and the requisite attendant vomiting (was that too graphic? sorry!). I emerged with an improved attitude. I mean, worrying about unemployment and moving is nothing compared to worrying about unemployment and moving while hanging one's head over the toilet at 3:00 am. Right?

The last time we did this (a mere 2 years ago) I was not taking it well. Couldn't sleep or eat much, crying at unexpected times, migraines, eye twitches; the works. This time I have promised myself to Keep It Together. I came across a quote that runs through my mind all day:

The boat in the harbor is safe; but that is not the purpose of the boat.

kale love affair

2011-02-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

So my sister introduced me to an actual winter vegetable--kale--that I have enjoyed in salad, a breakfast skillet with potatoes and bacon, and, now... a smoothie! The 8 year old found the recipe in Real Simple (because he reads stuff like that). We tweaked it a bit and it turned out really well. Probably more vitamins than the gummy-vites I just bought (taste just like gummy bears... poison control, here we come).

kale-apple smoothie

3/4 cup chopped kale, ribs and thick stems removed
1/2 banana
1/2 granny smith apple, washed and cubed
1/2 cup ice
1/2 cup lemonade

Blend.

the worst librarian in the world

2011-01-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

So it has been months--months!--since I've been to the library to troll for new reading material. I owe them $35.00 and, partly out of laziness and partly out of a desire to spend that money on nice groceries (hummus, havarti, avocados) I have not stopped by to pay the fine. They sent out a sort of half-hearted "hey, you owe us money, chump" email a few months ago and then gave up. (I should mention here that our library is slated to close in July. Yes, I am a horrible person for witholding my $35.00. And, yes, I used to be a public librarian myself. Prepare a noose.)

Anyway, moving beyond my irresponsibility and on to the delirium tremors. My frequent-flier mile funded magazine subscriptions are up for renewal. I'm not sure if I can renew them with miles (haven't bothered to find out--see above-referenced laziness). Although not always applicable to my current situation (Architectural Digest and Conde Nast Traveler, anyone?), I did enjoy the occasional pointless peek into the lives of the tanned and well-traveled.

At any rate, I am fresh out of things to read. Just finished both John Grisham novels poached from my mom. (John Grisham! Anyone who knows me will see this as a clear cry for help). Have read and re-read all of the books on my shelf except for some boring stuff from a Western Civilization class and The Year of Magical Thinking, which I consider a beach book because reading it in any other context makes one want to curl up and sob.

Now that I am employed, sort of, I think I'm ready to swallow my pride and pay up. So what should I read? I have a tiny list going:

* At Home, by Bill Bryson
* The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sacks
* Faithful Place, by Tana French

Any other suggestions? Preferably something great but not terribly new so I don't have to wait for my turn in the dreaded hold-shelf line.

things I am sick of, in no particular order

2011-01-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

* cold extremities
* generic Diet Coke
* getting punched by two year olds, even if they are cute two year olds
*worrying about money
*corollary to the above: worrying about dh finding a new job
* people who tailgate on icy roads
*hearing about people with the name "Kardashian" (who are these people? why are they famous?)
*the same authors being interviewed on npr, just on different shows
*clouds
*Kroger

the perils of naming your baby

2010-12-09T13:41:00.000-05:00

So everyone around me seems to be having babies, adopting babies, etc. (Not sure what that "etc." would represent there, but anyway.) It brings to mind kids I knew when I was young with odd names--and since I spent a good deal of time last night ruminating on this important topic I thought I'd share.

First is Dusty Day, an aptly named boy with saggy jeans and, well, a dusty sort of look and always in need of a haircut (not unlike my youngest, come to think of it).

Moving on to a girl called Fashion, last name long forgotten. I remember she was fabulously popular and looked sort of like Bo Derek with a frizzy perm. I wonder about glamorous names like Fashion--a bit risky, isn't it? What if adorable baby Fashion turns out to be a bit dumpy and fond of overalls? Or what if your sweet little *Becky turns out to be a teenage malcontent with a closet full of Nine Inch Nails t-shirts?

Reminds me of two sisters I knew in 4-H called Happy and Jolly. I don't remember them as particularly cheery girls (the result of all that resentment toward their parents and hours of enforced cross stitch, no doubt.)

dh had childhood friends named Sergio (as in Valente) and Boozer (as in his father's favorite hobby).

But my favorite odd name of all time is a girl I knew in college called Valency. Her name may well have been a combination of grandparents' names or heaven knows what else but I always liked to think her mom was intensely devoted to chemistry and she had sisters named Argon and Molybdenum.

*might be autobiographical

it's the most wonderful time of the year... and my kids went to bed weeping

2010-12-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

It was not an auspicious day for trimming the ol' Christmas tree. Had I consulted the I Ching or the Farmer's Almanac or even taken the time for a gut check I would have known to stop before we all say things we will regret in the morning. Super Q was on day 3 (possibly 4) of strep throat--not quite 24 hours on the antibiotics but feeling well enough to require my undivided attention all day. I obliged--we ran a few errands and worked on some Christmas projects (including a tree skirt that turned out way more Cat-in-the-Hat than planned). Everything was humming along until Flash came home and the bickering and tattling commenced. It waned long enough to put ornaments on the tree and then, yep, picked right back up in time for milk and cookies in the kitchen. Somebody left right in the middle of the treats and stomped upstairs like a 4 year old. That same somebody also said "freaking" upward of 3 times before the night was over. Boys were in bed at 8:30 amid a torrent of tears. Half of me feels completely justified (the bickering! it's killing me!). Half of me wants to go patch things up. Guess I'm headed upstairs for hugs and kisses.

the healing power of hooky

2010-11-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

The view from our front window (a picture window--all the 70s colonials seem to have them here) is a line of pine trees planted to obscure some kind of retaining pond. This morning the sun seemed to burst as it crested our little treeline. Lovely morning. Lovely day--the boys were cooperative and we made it to school just in time. Today also brought two pieces of unhappy news my way--one was (yet another) rejection letter from yet another employer. The other is a little too personal to post here, but it hit me like a medicine ball to the stomach. Cue the tears.

I had big plans for moping, wallowing and watching Dying Young or some such thing. Luckily I sent out a signal flare before things got too bad. Luckily I got a response and then found myself at a movie theater with Junior Mints and everything in the middle of the day watching the simultaneous rise and fall of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

Here is where I offer a wholehearted endorsement of hooky as a general palliative--even though it doesn't cure the disease, it addresses the symptoms in such a satisfactory way. My mom knew this when we were growing up, I think. There were days where I didn't have it in me to face one more day of school and its attendant horrors (the kid who threw rocks at me all the way home, the kid who told me I was voted "Ugliest Girl," Pre-Algebra, etc). Sometimes she just let me stay home. Mornings were PBS and toast, then soup and I Love Lucy to follow. We folded laundry, I helped with the baby. I read chapter books and practiced drawing unicorns. And the next day was better--I could pull on those Garanimals and Keds and walk with purpose toward Fuller Elementary, ready to take on whatever it was dishing out.

my new recipe blog

2010-11-04T09:55:00.001-04:00

I am slowly moving relevant recipes from this blog to my new recipe blog, the tiny cutlet. I'll also be adding new recipes I've modified to reduce the amount of meat--for instance a recipe that calls for 4 chicken breasts would be reduced to 1 chicken breast using a different cooking method and presentation but preserving the flavors. I plan to add lots of vegetarian recipes as well, all tested on my unwitting family. I will actually be labeling/tagging the recipes over there to make them easier to find.

If you have vegetarian recipes or some with only small amounts of meat, send them my way! I'd love to put them over on the tiny cutlet.

hanging out with kids

2010-10-21T13:54:00.000-04:00

I love that we're getting to the point that we can have intelligent conversations with our kids. Not that I didn't enjoy the extremely entertaining younger stages (in which Super Q would not be persuaded that we all have "fingers" and not "thingers" and Flash's inexplicable nickname for me was "Sugary").

Last night we enjoyed an unexpected evening at home with dh. I seized the opportunity and made some peppermint milkshakes and we all sat around in the living room. dh and I mostly asked the boys about school: fads (Silly Bandz), popular music (Usher, Katy Perry), books (Twilight [shudder]). They loved the attention and didn't want to stop ("Please can we keep on talking?"). Dare I hope for non-combative teenagers in a few years?

Seabiscuit and Belinda Carlisle

2010-10-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

I would love love to embrace Nabokov's view of sleep as “the most moronic fraternity in the world, with the heaviest dues and the crudest rituals.” How I wish I could truly function on the 4 hours of sleep my body is willing to dole out at a time and rush about saying things like, "Life is for living! I'll sleep when I'm dead!" Etcetera. Instead I chase it like that shiny, transparent butterfly on the Lunesta commercials. It might eventually light on my shoulder for a moment, but then off it flits to set up camp elsewhere (mostly likely on the immobile man next to me, blissfully unaware of his poor wife's midnight plight.)

Since we moved I've had to find new doctors for everyone, which means I had to try to explain my Little Problem to my new doctor and endure the inevitable assumptions, which are, in no particular order: 1) I'm depressed, 2) I never exercise, 3) I drink too much caffeine at night.
(Some of those assumptions might actually apply far more often than I will admit.) "So," the doctor said, "You must have some anxiety. What do you worry about at night?"

What do I worry about at night? Seabiscuit and Belinda Carlisle, that's what I worry about. And it's not exactly worrying. In an all-hands-on-deck effort to stay awake, my brain finds a little task that MUST be accomplished immediately, such as remembering the name of the lead singer of the Go-Gos. Or the name of that one famous racehorse, no, not Secretariat, the other one, also in a movie... what was his name? Let's ponder this from 4:00 am to 5:30 am, shall we?

There's only one solution here. It's been obvious for about 6 months now. I just need an iPad so I can easily look up the answer I need and join the moronic fraternity a little sooner.

potato pearl rolls

2010-10-13T11:27:00.000-04:00

All that butter! All that sugar! You may actually perish while consuming one of these rolls, especially if you foolishly choose to make them into cinnamon rolls, as I did a few days ago.

1 1/4 c. milk

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. potato pearls, dry (potato flakes will probably work as well)

1 pkg. active dry yeast or 2Tbsp. dry yeast

2/3 c. margarine or butter

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 c. sugar

3/4 c. water

Bring 3/4 c. water and 1/4 c. milk to boil. Pour into large mixing bowl. Add potato pearls and beat with whisk or fork until blended. Heat remaining milk in same saucepan and pour over potato, margarine or butter, sugar and salt. Cool until lukewarm. Soften yeast in first mixture with eggs and 3 cups of flour. Beat with either wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and smooth. Stir in enough flour by hand to make a dough firm enough to knead. Turn out on floured board and knead 10 minutes or until elastic. Put in greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover with plastic wrap and refirgerate until needed. When ready to bake, shape as many rolls as desired in preferred form. Brush with melted butter and let raise in warm place 1 hour or until light. Bake in hot oven (400) 15 -20 minutes. Make 3 1/2 dozen medium rolls. Rolls may be shaped without refrigerating, if preferred. Raising time may be slightly less.

missing boy

2010-10-10T20:30:00.002-04:00

In what seems like another life entirely, I took my 3 year old (now he's 8) to the park on a regular basis. We stopped first at the edge of a small plot of wilderness adjacent to the park to check for coyotes (actually saw one once) and then headed to the little window under the slide to play McDonald's. After our fill of pretend Happy Meals, we headed to the other side of the playground to play Missing Boy, a game invented by the 3 year old in which he is carried away by bad guys in a helicopter or plane. My job then was to miss him. I did so extravagantly, calling his name mournfully, asking Who, who will be my Super Q now? I wept, I begged for him to come back. And miraculously, the bad guys always brought him safely home for a happy reunion on a bed of mulch near the park bench.

Today that boy is worried about missing his dad. There were tears, which he blamed on a variety of other things. We finally faced our fears, though. We're afraid we're all going to miss the Daddy around here quite a bit in the next few years.

The past few months have been long ones in some ways, as dh has been working 60-65 hours a week. Today he was called to serve our ward (congregation) as the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric (a sort of assistant pastor), a position that usually requires a lot of time and lasts for several years. I didn't see it coming at all and I'll admit that I cried about it. It's a difficult position to be in: wanting more time together as a family while knowing that in our church we all take our turn at heavy responsibility to serve each other. I have benefited from the service of others and now it's my turn to give back a bit. That said, when bedtime rolls around and it's just been the 3 of us since 7 am, we'll really be missing the Daddy around here.

my baby! he's 8!

2010-09-28T11:00:00.008-04:00

The youngest ninja turned 8 (my baby! he's 8!) last week. It's his year for a "friend party." In previous years we've done a few outsourced parties--no, they weren't hosted by an Indian man supposedly named "Greg" but rather a sullen college student in a matted mouse suit performing for a writhing mass of red-cheeked 4 year olds. Our financial situation since the Great American Financial Implosion has, ahem, changed tremendously, so this year it was a "friend party" on a budget. Luckily this particular ninja had no grand dreams of a Batman jump house or some such so we went with a secret agent theme, easily accomplished with office supplies I had on hand.

Here's the invitation, which I put inside a small envelope made from a large manila envelope. The font is Old Typewriter, found here.

When the kids arrived, they filled out an ID badge:

The square was for their thumbprint, or you could put a photo there if you are fancy.

Games included a treasure hunt and hot potato with a "grenade" (easter egg covered in duct tape). Here's the cake, a total non-sequitor (gumball machine) but that's what the ninja wanted:

I finally figured out this mysterious Viva paper towel method of making the cake look like it's frosted with fondant without having to actually eat fondant. After cake and presents and another impromptu treasure hunt, we sent the kids to the basement, threw Cody Banks 2: Destination London up on the projector, and sat down for a tiny rest. After 15 minutes, I heard this: "They said we were going to have popcorn and it's been like 2 hours and WHERE IS THE POPCORN?" That was my cue to get up and pop the promised corn.

On the way out each agent got some Pixi sticks, a secret agent badge (dollar store) and magnifying glass (ditto) wrapped up in some old engineering plans from dh's office. I think we all had fun. And I was grateful for the shop-vac when I saw the basement.

the big fake

2010-09-14T14:54:00.004-04:00

It's 1:00 pm and by now I've usually had one or more medium-sized twinges of regret about how the morning went. As in, Why did I yell at the kids so much this morning?

I've tried many strategies to combat the morning stress. Charts, preparing more the night before, NOT yelling (not reminding or hounding anyone until it's time to get in the car--letting Natural Consequences occur), etc. And yet most days I have to nag and remind and then, eventually, yell a bit. I mostly know that this is how it is probably going to be until the boys are much older. I'm going to have to prod them in some way or another to get out the door on time. If I wasn't such an unreasonable stickler for things like clean clothes or brushed teeth we wouldn't have this problem.

My new strategy, very recently formulated, is entitled "Fake It Till You Make It (and you might not ever actually make it.)" (Of course it has a parenthetical caveat there because I am the world champion user of parentheses.) My plan is to deliver every nagging reminder in a sweety-sweet or jokey sort of voice. (I have tried this before with limited success: one time my voice got so high and so sweet it turned into some sort of hysterical tweeting sound, causing the boys to freeze, mid-quarrel, and stare at me. Which was a victory of sorts.) The plan is loosely based on a friend who is able to keep a calm tone of voice in nearly any situation with her kids. I admire this very much.

So tomorrow Fake It Till Make It will commence. Here's hoping we make it out the door on time, shoes on feet, smiles on faces, and familial relationships intact. We shall see.

hire me!

2010-09-10T14:03:00.002-04:00

No, that's not me in the picture there. (Although once in college someone asked if the girl in the Henri Cartier-Besson photo on my wall was me. Which I thought was funny.) Anyway, no I don't wear an owl in my hair but I do drink tea and read quite a lot. And I DO send out dozens of resumes lately. Here is a partial list of jobs I have at least considered applying for in the last week:

* librarian (of course)
* researcher (independent contractor for possibly shady character)
* Borders person at the info desk who resembles a librarian
* "kids' activities director" at a gym (aka daycare--they want you to be "working toward" a high school diploma or GRE)
*Target cashier

Do you notice a downward trend there in the list? I also considered the following position (culled from craigslist):

Our organization is looking for young individuals who are self suffisent, able to multi task and have great time management skills.
We are looking for two assistants who will assist our CEO and VP with daily tasks and schedule management.

Colledge degree is a plus.

I think I could probably pass the preliminary spelling assessment.

Job hunting is always excruciating for me. Cover letters by necessity must be full of boasts and cliches "organized, motivated, and meticulous in my work"... "deadline-driven"..."self-starter"....

How does a person successfully explain large gaps and weird less-than-part-time jobs without alluding to the dreaded "mommy track"?

Is it ok to delete a whole degree and past experience to meet the requirements of a job clearly aimed at teenagers? (Is it worth it to do so?)

And lastly, am I freaking out already? I haven't actually applied for very many jobs. As my good friend Denise would say, "You need to chillax."

wait, where did the summer go?

2010-08-30T18:53:00.002-04:00

School starts in 8 days. The boys claim to dread this milestone, but secretly I think they're a little excited. I mean, the first day of school is always great in its way, even for adults. Reminds me of an Innocence Mission song (Beginning the World):

Aren't you bursting with butterflies
On the fourth of September
Like you'll have to get on the bus
In your tartan dress, with your lunch box
Though your body is twenty-nine
Though your mind is an old thing

Isn't it true? I'm 38 and I'm nervous about the first day of school for my kids. (I should mention here that I'm nervous about nearly everything, so maybe this isn't a significant fact).

It's not everyday your mom takes you to the shoe store and lets you pick out skater shoes with skulls on them. And that pile of brand-new, stain-free T-shirts on the dresser will never look the same again. It's so sweet, that first day. I look at the kids lined up with fresh haircuts and unblemished backpacks and I just want to kiss them all.

a good plan

2010-08-10T10:18:00.002-04:00

The boys have been visiting cousins for 2 days now. I was mostly looking forward to this time: I wanted to deep clean and paint and look for a job in EARNEST, people. And paint I did. The bathroom is now Alaskan Blue and it will have brown and white accents. A nice bracing slightly-brighter-than cadet blue to wake us up in the morning and distract us from the bulky oaky cabinets.

So today I deep clean and buy TP in bulk. That's my whole to-do list. The house is silent. The dog is bored.

The inevitable side effect of a quiet house and time to think while I tape and paint and scrub is, unfortunately, worrying. I'm worrying about the fall--when the boys go back to school and every day is this quiet. The thought of 9 months spent mostly alone is not a cheery one. I've been looking for a job and am having difficulty even finding something to apply for. Libraries are laying off staff here and even closing their doors. I've applied to some retail stores but haven't heard anything. I'm anxious to have something in place--to have a plan. Plans are nice. I enjoy a good plan.

a whiter shade of pale

2010-08-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting here waiting for a phone interview that looks like it might not happen. I jumped through all the hoops, faxed everything in, did the assessment test, and now... nothing. Weird.

So while I wait, I'm (of course) looking at blogs and falling in love with other people's houses. Lately I've been thinking about the Very Tan Family Room we have and wondering how to cheaply change its tanness. I've been trying to muster the courage to paint over perfectly good wood. After looking at this basement re-do, I think I'm going to do it. White reflects light, right? And light is what I need here in the Great White North, especially in the wintertime.

the pup

2010-06-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

time-sucker, inhabitant of the 2" under my foot, devoted companion, taker of cute naps...
aka "Buddy"

this is going to be a pain.

2010-06-16T18:50:00.007-04:00

Below is a long overdue post, written by hand for reasons mentioned in the text. You'll have to click on each image to read it. It's a total pain, I know.

super easy baby shower invitations

2010-04-09T14:32:00.003-04:00

I've loved paper and ink for a long time, but not really in the scrapbooky way. I like calligraphy (not great at it) and stationery stores and, more recently, origami paper. My good friend gave me some beautiful origami paper for Christmas. I was waiting for the perfect project to put it to use. Baby shower! One to which our whole congregation is invited. Perfect! I knocked out 60 of these in about 2 hours.

I'm passing the idea along because it uses pretty paper but it also uses a computer and printer and does not involve lots of tiny little items to be glued on. (I don't have the patience for tiny little items). I like the quick and dirty, easy to replicate project (like these cookies, which made another appearance for Easter).

the fishbowl

2010-03-22T14:54:00.003-04:00

Soon after we married, dh and I moved into the super-cheap, cinder block, all-utilities paid on-campus "married housing". (My guess is BYU is the only university with what amounts to married dorms. That's a topic for another day.) The apartment was quite small and the walls dripped condensation in the winter. But it was close to campus and so CHEAP. We were happy to be there.

There were four buildings on our "quad" (hence the name) and they all faced in, with a greenbelt and tiny playground (again, only at BYU) in the middle. I felt this layout would lend itself well to impromptu BBQ dinners and someone pulling out their guitar to play "Edelweiss." Needless to say, we avoided the greenbelt.

I often thought of that quad as a sort of fishbowl for young marrieds. At night the glow of fluorescent light told everyone you were home. A bluish light indicated MOVIE NIGHT! We heard a few loud marital disputes and even some summer lovin'. (I know, gross. We didn't have A/C and everyone left their windows open).

Our first baby lived there with us for 6 weeks before dh graduated. It was then that I really appreciated the fishbowl. At 1:00 am (and 3:00, and 5:00), when Flash was crying his eyes out and I couldn't figure out why I opened the blinds and looked out at the fishbowl. Without fail, there were other lights on. By then I knew the other residents--I knew who had a baby of their own, who was in law school, who was pre-med. I felt a certain kinship and even encouragement as I looked out. This was part of being an adult. Part of being a mom. I could do it.

Recently a friend was (sort of) railing on bloggers. She feels bloggers are probably internet addicts. They have nothing better to do. They are neglectful parents. I tried to explain it, but I probably failed. If I could have that conversation again I would describe it in terms of the fishbowl. No matter what your life is right now, you can look out and find someone who gets it.

the source of the fabric

2010-03-17T12:10:00.002-04:00

I had a few requests for the name of the (failed) curtain fabric. It's called Mocca Red and it's made by Keepsake Calico. I bought it at Joann Fabric. Here's the link: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=zprd_08334716a

I'm so tempted to make a skirt out of it. Would that be too much Mocca Red in my life?

curtain fail.

2010-03-12T18:23:00.002-05:00

A person who has had only 2 hours of sleep should not make curtains. A person who is too lazy to find the measuring tape should not measure for curtains. (I'm not even sure the measuring tape made it on the moving truck.). It's unbelievable to me that I managed to mess up 2 separate sets of curtains on the same day. I really thought I had measured correctly.

I'm happy with the eventual result on the brown floral curtains, but not loving the tab-top curtains. Ah, well... lesson learned, route to fabric store thoroughly memorized, tension on sewing machine shot. Time to take a break from sewing.

meat + sugar + caffeine ... in a healthy salad!

2010-03-10T21:12:00.002-05:00

My saintly mother gave each of her children a binder full of favorite recipes for Christmas. I've added a few of my own to the binder and find that I'm using it almost every day. What a great gift, right?

One of the recipes in the binder is a copycat of the Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad from a wonderful Tex-Mex restaurant called Cafe Rio. I've tried other copycat recipes and, sister, this is the best one. I'm sure it has everything to do with the 2 cups of Coke, not to mention the brown sugar AND molasses. I'm using my own rice recipe--a favorite for years. This is a great meal for serving a crowd, especially a crowd who wants a meat, sugar, and caffeine rush all at once.

Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad

Sweet Pork

4 lb pork roast
1-2 cans tomato sauce
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2-2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cumin
2 cups Dr Pepper or Coke
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste

Spray crock pot with Pam and place pork roast inside. Mix remaining ingredients until sugar has dissolved. Pour over roast and cook on low until pork can be shredded with a fork (8-10 hours). The finished meat/liquid mixture can be frozen for later use.

Cilantro Rice

1 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
1 fresh jalapeno chilie, stemmed, or ½ can green chiles
2 ½ cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 tsp olive oil
1 ½ cups long-grain white rice
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp ground cumin
1/3 cup grated carrot
salt

In a blender, whirl cilantro, garlic, chilie, and 1 cup broth until smooth. In a 3-4 quart pan over medium heat, stir oil, rice, onion powder and cumin until rice is a pale golden color, 5-8 minutes. Stir in cilantro mixture, remaining broth, and carrot. Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes. If desired, season to taste with salt.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

2 cups Ranch dressing
1 cup salsa verde (La Victoria or other store brand is fine)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped or snipped with kitchen scissors
salt to taste

My favorite way to put this meal together is as follows: make a bed of delicious cilantro rice on a plate. Top with a scoop of black beans and a scoop of sweet pork. Cover with romaine lettuce and drizzle with Cilantro Dressing.

hooray for...

2010-03-08T10:01:00.002-05:00

The sun. Which has been out, in full force for 7 WHOLE DAYS! Perfect weather for going outside and ignoring the blog!
Loreal Magic Perfecting Base. This stuff is wonderful. Even miraculous. A tiny dab fills in your pores and even (some) wrinkles. I top it off with Clinique Almost Powder Makeup. I'm not sure if I actually look better, but I feel like I do.

The Office. I was sort of bored by it for a bit, but NBC lured me back in with that sweet (and creepy in one spot--nursing a stranger's baby) episode about Jim and Pam's baby. I'm such a sucker for happy family stories, even when they're fake.

This talk by David S. Baxter. I listen to it every day. My favorite part:

Selfless service is a wonderful antidote to the ills that flow from the worldwide epidemic of self-indulgence. Some grow bitter or anxious when it seems that not enough attention is being paid to them, when their lives would be so enriched if only they paid more attention to the needs of others.

The answer lies in helping to solve the problems of those around us rather than worrying about our own, living to lift burdens even when we ourselves feel weighed down, putting our shoulder to the wheel instead of complaining that the wagons of life seem to be passing us by.

plenty of clouds

2010-02-24T09:21:00.006-05:00

We had several sunny days last week in a row. All the way home from church we basked in the sun (through the windows of course, it was still 32 degrees outside, people) and talked about how mild this winter has been and I'll admit a tiny part of me believed it was over. I half-expected 3 more sunny days this week and even a brief appearance of cute shoes worn without socks.

This week snapped me back to reality in the form of 8" of snow and a very gray forecast. The newscaster on our local NPR station is fond of using the phrase "plenty of clouds" to describe days like these. One day I will give that man a good punch in the nose. Plenty should be used to describe something wonderful like smoked salmon or songs by Iron & Wine. Incidentally it also describes the number of Hostess "Donettes" I have foolishly consumed today. It is the antonym to the quantity of sleep I got last night.

*photo is from www.5cense.com

this alfredo is a lightweight

2010-02-20T15:37:00.003-05:00

I know it's not authentic or anything, but this recipe makes a delicious sauce and does not call for a whole stick of butter or heavy cream. Even my kids like it.

Any Cheese Alfredo-ish Sauce

4 oz light cream cheese, cubed
1 cup milk
1/3 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese OR havarti/gruyere/other cheese, cubed
3 T butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Cook all ingredients in a saucepan on medium-low until cheeses have completely melted. Stir occasionally with a whisk.

I usually toss this sauce with 3/4 lb whole wheat rotini/penne and broccoli or zucchini. Top with more shredded cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

depression cake

2010-02-16T12:37:00.002-05:00

Am I so depressed that I need a cake to fix me? If so, why? Is it because of the weather?(Crappy). Is it because of the state of my kitchen table? (Pictured above, in desperate need of refinishing). Is it the fact that dh doesn't believe in valentine's day? (I'm still making my peace with that). No, no, and no. I'm actually not depressed or anything but I've been making this cake on a weekly basis because it is fantastically delicious and moist and, incidentally, vegan (almost makes up for the 2 cups of sugar). I love that I always have the ingredients on hand and it doesn't have any weird chemical in it like a box cake. It's also sturdy enough to actually be frosted, unlike box cakes.

It's called Depression Cake because my great-grandmother Katie Pearl made it for my Nana when she was growing up during the great depression. My Nana's comment on it was, "This cake is good. Just like memories of my mother." Which is the cutest thing ever.

Depression Cake

2 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups cold water
3/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Mix for 30 seconds on low to combine, then 2 minutes on medium. Pour into prepared pans (I use parchment paper and cooking spray to line my pans). Bake at 350 for 25 minutes for two 8 or 9" rounds.

I frost it with sweetened whipping cream (whip 2 cups of heavy cream +3-5 tablespoons powdered sugar + 1 teaspoon vanilla until sturdy peaks form).

wedding photo time waster

2010-02-10T19:36:00.002-05:00

Ah, snow days. Such a nice respite from the frenzied rush out the door, the running around town, the pressure to Get Things Done. A day for snow castles, snow angels, maple syrup snow cones, hot chocolate, clam chowder, and some fairly lame Disney channel shows.

I didn't do any of that stuff. My boys did, and I documented it with the camera and sometimes joined in. What did I do today? (Besides make clam chowder and tuck snow pants into snow boots). I trolled around on wedding photography sites. There are some really cool ones out there. I like carl zoch photography in particular.

I think I'm well past the point of adding photos to my wedding album. Not sure if I could fit in the dress. Pretty sure the wrinkles would show. Maybe some 13th anniversary photos? In super-soft focus?

today I ...

2010-02-03T14:13:00.007-05:00

... cleaned out the Bad Carb Graveyard. Wait, no, I didn't eat them all. Those unappetizing lumps are Chocolate Emergency Cookies. Remember those? Maybe not; I just learned that most people call them No-bake Cookies. No matter--they still look gross.

... scrubbed Super Q's skateboarding shoes. He left a note in my purse reminding me to do it.

... wore the Ugly Apron while I cooked up some teriyaki marinade.

... enjoyed this very cool card catalog my sister-in-law gave me. The drawers are just big enough to put CDs in (yes, I'm in my 30s, I still own some CDs).

... contemplated the meaning of these nautical posts (pilings, are they called? moorings? is mooring a word?) in my backyard. If a boat pulls up one day, it'll have a place to dock.

... took a lot of random pictures of little tasks. Feeling kind of done with winter.

it doesn't look like an implement of torture

2010-01-29T16:22:00.002-05:00

I made some curtains for the boys' room today. I really love the big circle graphic thing on the right side. I have two curtain-related confessions, though. The first is: these curtains are made out of sheets, sheets that I bought at a grocery store in Texas. Yes, sheets from a grocery store. For $1.99, no less. I saw those groovy circles and knew one day they would grace a pair of curtains. The other confession is that it required 65 minutes, a couple of zip ties and medical tape to get these ridiculous curtains hung. Why? Because I used one of these little numbers:

Yes, the kind of curtain rod I swore after college never to use again. But the hardware was already in place, courtesy of the last owner and I thought, "Why not? People use these things all the time. It'll work fine." This same logic has led to all manner of horrible TV shows, incidentally. "Survivor is so popular! Why not apply that formula to courtship, weight loss, applying for a job, dating, cooking..."

I digress. Suffice it to say that in the time it took to hang that ridiculous curtain rod, I could have gone to Target to buy a real curtain rod and picked up a Sonic Chocolate Diet Coke, thus avoiding a a great deal of frustration and swearing under my breath.

Ah, well. Sleep soundly, my children. There are some lovely modernish curtains to keep out the cold and harsh light of morning. And plenty of medical tape nearby should you require it in the middle of the night.

the all-purpose room gets a makeover

2010-01-27T13:53:00.004-05:00

This room was not a selling point when we bought this house. I like to let laundry pile up until it's 3 feet above the hamper and then do it all in one long day while I watch Hitchcock movies and eat black bean nachos. Unfortunately, this room can't hide that all-day process like a nice basement laundry room might. I didn't see a basement laundry room in my immediate future, though, so I updated this room. The Country Blue painted border was making me depressed.

Here's the room now, minus a cabinet above the toilet, depressing border, and towel rack. Pedestal sink to come (soon, hopefully). The current counter/sink situation is blocking the heat vent. Nothing should ever block a heat vent in a Michigan house.

fake plastic trees

2010-01-16T11:51:00.005-05:00

Maybe there's some corner of the internet devoted to FREE, scalable, simply drawn graphics that a person could use to make freezer paper stencils. I haven't found it yet. (If you google "stencil patterns" you get LOTS of ivy and even a few country ducks.) I wanted to find a silhouette of a tree, couldn't find it online, etc. As I was cleaning up the family room, inspiration struck in the form of a little plastic tree:

It was perfect! A little small, but I used the famous grid method for copying it onto a larger piece of paper.

Here's the final result--curtains for the kitchen window. Total cost: $2.00. (Clearance linen-blend fabric, fabric paint, freezer paper for stencil.)

(Sorry so dark--I took that picture at 10 am...it's not very sunny today.) Little by little I'm introducing some color into our very tan/honey oak house. Next up: the laundry room.

meaner

2010-01-14T16:49:00.002-05:00

So the latest put-down in Elementary School World is "meaner" (apparently). Maybe it's been popular for a long time. We don't have cable so we're slow on the uptake for linguistic trends. Anyway, this week I've been one (a "meaner" that is--I sort of prefer "meanie," it sounds kind of cute and cheeky, whereas "meaner" is purposeful and deliberate). dh has been working late every single night. Super Q has been a trapped in a maelstrom of 7 year old emotions and fake injury. I've had the weirdest and worst sleep (trying to not use the Ambien but falling back on it more often than not). The cutie (the nephew I babysit) has been almost totally nap-resistant, to the point of careening around the house, drunk with fatigue and still waking up the moment his head reaches the pack n' play.

It's so crazy, this mothering thing. Such a struggle between order and discipline and demanding respect and getting the homework and chores done and then letting natural consequences happen and cherishing childhood and making warm memories.

I hope I'm not screwing it up.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist another beehive hairdo photo).

arizona with no baedecker, er, camera cord

2010-01-05T19:26:00.004-05:00

I'm not usually fixated on wealth (see last post). The attitudinal accessories of money make me a little queasy. I wouldn't mind a few extra thousand dollars to put toward plane tickets, though. After 2 glorious (and I mean glorious) weeks in Arizona I have decided that I need to visit way more often. 65 degrees. Sun. Siblings. Delicious Mexican food on every corner. I took it for granted for so many years. In high school I actually wished for gray skies and rain and real sweater weather. (My dark itchy thrift-store wardrobe didn't jibe well with that heat). But now... what I wouldn't give for flip-flops in January.

Highlights included many nights cooking with my mom and siblings with Aretha in the background, a lovely Christmas morning with thank-you hugs after every gift (I got 2 booklights--yes, I asked for a booklight--and one bright pink Snuggie), a little shopping, Avatar in 3-D, a few family parties, Rock Band, a reunion with a high school friend, and, as the grand finale, a night out on New Year's Eve. The theme of the night was BIG HAIR and delicious Mediterranean food. And no camera cord with which to charge the camera. I will rely on my facebooking sisters to provide the pics of my big beehive hair and post those later. (Thanks, Tony, for the pic).

At each (somewhat infrequent) family gathering someone mentions how fortunate we are to have such close relationships. It's true. No one is "not speaking" to anyone else. We keep in close contact online and on the phone. We're all best friends, the whole jolly lot of us.

I try to convince my boys how important their relationship is. Years pass and the people we tried to impress, the cliques we clamored to join, the masks we wore all fade away. Our families remain. I'm so grateful for mine.

fancy bloggers

2009-12-11T17:01:00.003-05:00

Ok, I'm just going to say this briefly. Wealthy bloggers sort of make me crazy. Yes, I would love to try your salmon recipe. Salmon has been off the grocery list for almost a year ($6.99 a pound!?!). I sure love the precious wooden toys made from renewable forest wood. But I won't pay $40 for them. Those are the cutest shoes ever, and quite a steal at $300. A tremendous amount of disposable income (and being able to justify $300 shoes) have never been part of my lifestyle. Some blogs are really like lifetyle magazines or Restoration Hardware catalogs: shiny representations of a sort of luxurious meta-world to which few Americans can likely relate.

Nicholson Baker describes the sort of scene one is likely to see in catalogs (and now catablogs, yes I just coined that term but it isn't that clever):

In one of the latest J. Crew catalogs, there is a literary interlude on page 33: a man in shorts and plaster-dusted work boots, sitting in a half-remodeled room — on break, apparently, from his labor of hammering and gentrifying — is looking something up in what close inspection reveals to be a Guide Bleu to Switzerland, probably from the forties, in French.

That's from his essay, "Books as Furniture" in The New Yorker, June 12, 1995.

is it bedtime yet?

2009-12-10T08:55:00.003-05:00

Oh, how I loathe the morning routine. Not because my sleep has been incredibly erratic lately (2 days ago I went to sleep at 5 am, today I woke up at 5 am), not because my day now starts 1 hour earlier than it used to (the nephew I babysit arrives earlier than before), not because the bathroom floor feels like an ice rink when I head in there to brush my teeth.

Today I encountered the normal irritants ("Super Q, sit down and eat." "Super Q sit down and eat." "SUPER Q SIT DOWN AND EAT!") ("Flash, did I just ask you to come up and get dressed?" "Yes." "So why are you in bed reading Harry Potter?")

The problem with today is it is our first REAL snowy day. Like snow on the roads, 25* outside. Visions of the VW wagon spinning on black ice dance through my head. I'm terrified of driving on snow and ice. Grew up in Arizona, recently moved from Texas, no real winter driving experience. Which leads me to the last straw this morning.

After 5 solid minutes of sheer bedlam in which no one could find their mittens or backup shoes and socks or any number of other accessories required to go to school on a snowy day (including the daily healthy snack mandated by the school which cannot be goldfish or popcorn but must be cut-up fruit or vegetables) we finally pull out of the driveway... v e r y s l o w l y. And drive to school in the same manner.

The whole way Flash is critiquing my driving. His chief complaint is that I am driving too slow. I explain that I have very little winter driving experience but I have been told to just TAKE IT SLOW and you'll be fine. The child will not let up. "But you're going SO SLOW! Look, that guy is going fast!" Etc. Ad nauseam. I continue to respond in a somewhat sane fashion and then suddenly lose it. Every cliche Mom phrase rushes out very loudly. I definitely said, "I wish I were 10 and had all your wisdom." I might have said, "After all I do for you..." The children exited the car in silence. The 7 year old came back for a kiss. The 10 year old did not.

Would it add to his mortification if I affixed a large, brightly lit sign to the back of the wagon?

again

2009-11-16T18:08:00.007-05:00

It has been the year of moves for us. I very often wish it had been the Year of Cakes, but no such luck for me. We move again on Thursday--this time it is only 1 mile away and under basically better circumstances (husband in town, no house for sale, leaving the rental with the cadaver smell in the basement).

Sometimes I wish we were moving to a warmer place (sorry, but it's true...I hate being cold). Sometimes I wish our new house did not have the washer/dryer hookups in the bathroom.

At the same time, though, I realize (over and over, as I am not one to learn my lesson the first time) that we are blessed beyond belief. To have employment. To be able to buy a house. To have friends (in Texas AND Michigan) who take hours out of their day to pack up the kitchen.

Blessed, blessed, blessed.

And I-- an unprofitable servant if there ever was one--am probably not very deserving.

I am grateful still.

sort of make-ahead cajun rice (made in the rice cooker)

2009-11-02T11:44:00.003-05:00

I like this recipe because you can do the chopping and sauteing before church (or any 2-3 hour commitment) and it cooks while you're out. Plus it's full of vegetables. Yum.

1. Saute in a pan or cook in the microwave:

1/2 lb polska kielbasa or sausage of your choice, sliced

After the sausage is cooked, cover and refrigerate.

2. Saute in a pan until crisp-tender:

2-3 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

2 carrots, scraped and chopped

2 T olive oil

3. Combine the vegetables with the following ingredients in the rice cooker and set it to cook at the time you desire.

1 1/2 cups vegetable juice (V-8)

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups uncooked rice

1 tsp dried onion

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp Tabasco (optional)

1 bay leaf

4. When you return home, reheat the sausage and combine the cooked rice/vegetable mixture.

Serves 4-5.

you've got to be fa-reekin kidding me, kraft

2009-10-30T21:57:00.002-04:00

4 or 5 years ago I signed up for this free magazine (wait, did I sign up or was it just sent to me unsolicited? I can't remember). Anyway, I usually read it and sometimes I clip a recipe. I should say here that this magazine's definition of a "recipe" is very liberal indeed. A recipe in Food and Family can be a complex as the 5 ingredient "Chicken Pot Pie" or as simple (and frankly silly) as "Macaroni and Cheese Dinner" (the recipe is the directions right off the box). All of the recipes are full of Kraft brand ingredients (of course, no surprise there) and there are lots of ads for Kraft. Basically, it's the Vogue of cooking magazines: mostly ads and then a little content. The current issue even has one recipe (a caramel-topped cheesecake) appearing twice. (A fetching picture of Katie Brown posed with mixing bowl in hand also appears three times, if I'm not mistaken.)

So it is a primarily ad-driven publication and I'm fine with that. It's RIDICULOUS, though, to ask me to pay $7 a year to subscribe to this magazine. I wonder if people who visit the website and pay for the subscription will be disappointed in the content.

It kind of reminds me of "Video News Releases" that so often appear in local news broadcasts. Although it is somewhat entertaining to try and spot them ("Up next... a new diet pill that has everyone talking!"), the blurring of true content and advertising is irritating and troubling to me.

I realize that a food magazine littered with promotions and advertisements is hardly the most pressing issue of our time. I'll think hard about global warming as I whip up a quick batch of "BLT Ranch Hot Dogs."

SO. MANY. APPLES.

2009-10-26T18:44:00.002-04:00

And they're not from a picturesque tree in the back yard or anything. Just an abundant supply of food storage dehydrated apples that are (theoretically) past their date. I found the following recipe to make pie/cobbler/crisp filling (the quantity is probably a little too small for pie). I made apple crisp with it today and it's quite delicious.

* 1 1/2 cups dried apple slices
* 3 cups water
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3 tbs. cornstarch
* 2 tsp. cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and add to apples
* 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

wraps! wraps! wrappity wraps!

2009-10-23T20:01:00.002-04:00

I've made these for luncheons and baby showers and stuff. One time someone asked me for the recipe. One time someone said, "What is that TASTE?" "Dill." "Oh, dill." Maybe they're not as good as I think they are but my boys like them anyway. And you can make them the day ahead. I didn't take pictures because my pretty dishes are still packed and our internet connection is so.... slow... these... days...

WRAPS THREE WAYS

For turkey:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 T bacon pieces (small)

For roast beef:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 T horseradish (more or less to your taste)

For ham:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried dill
2 tsp prepared mustard
freshly ground black pepper

To make the filling, just mix the ingredients together with a hand mixer.
For each wrap, thinly spread 1-2 T of the filling on a burrito-sized tortilla. Leave the top 1/4 of the tortilla bare so no filling will seep out as you roll everything up. Lay about 6 leaves of fresh spinach (and/or other veggies) atop the filling. Place 2 large pieces of turkey or roast beef or ham atop the spinach. Roll up from the bottom (the end that is not bare). Secure each end with a toothpick; cut in half. Makes 7 full wraps (14 halves).

mr. heaven

2009-10-12T14:47:00.005-04:00

In a warmer life in Texas I had a wise friend, Micah, age 4. Her parents followed the Southern custom of teaching their kids to address all adults as "Mr." or "Miss." Micah tried to remember dh's name but always settled for a named that rhymed with his. She called him "Mr. Heaven."

The picture above doesn't do Mr. Heaven justice. Well, in a way it does, as it depicts him chugging a sweet, dark liquid (although it's normally Pepsi One and not chocolate syrup). Not to mention that the context of the photo (a very silly moment at the dinner table with the boys) occurs very frequently.

I don't blog much about Mr. Heaven because I'm afraid that such a post would deteriorate into a jumbled mix of Celine Dion lyrics and Hallmark Valentine's Day card sentiments. Suffice it to say that being married to Mr. Heaven--an even-keeled man with a ready laugh and a loyal heart--has made me very happy indeed.

just what el doctor ordered

2009-10-06T13:20:00.002-04:00

I am in urgent, urgent need of a decent, cheap, non-chain Mexican food joint here in Detroit. Until that need is filled, I plan to make these nachos every day for lunch.

Chipotle Nachos

This serves one but is infinitely scalable.

1 cup cooked pinto beans
1/2 of a chipotle chile (from a can, the kind "canned in adobo sauce")
3 T grated cheese (any kind will do--maybe not romano or whatever)

1/2 of one tomato, diced
splash of balsamic vinegar

Microwave the first 3 ingredients. Stir in the last 2 ingredients. Eat with chips. Think about sunny places where food like this is widely available.

axioms for today

2009-10-02T19:22:00.000-04:00

*Badminton is the greatest game ever, capable of keeping children busy and physically active for at least 30 minutes. It can be played in wet leaves and it doesn't matter if the shuttlecock goes over the fence, as shuttlecocks are only 35 cents. It is the reason I can write a blog post at 5 pm.

*A person should not listen to sad Death Cab for Cutie songs (redundant, I know) on a rainy, cold day. It will only make a person sad about weather and unplanned moves and other inevitables.

*Do not plan to make complicated Chinese stir-fry dishes after a long day of doctor appointments, school events, and wandering around (on foot) in an unfamiliar part of town. Have a supply of Hot Pockets (or some kind of pockets) on hand for a day like this.

*52 degrees is too cold for the beginning of October.

*Glitter will someday fill the earth. The exotic names Martha Stewart (or some underpaid English major on her staff) assigns to these colors will supplant the names for colors we currently use. Ian Frazier has identified it as a societal problem (an abstract of his article can be found here); the holidays are a truly trying time for glitter-phobes like me.

* Sometimes bing is superior to google. After 4 attempts to find the above-referenced glitter article on google, I found it with one try on bing. I'm still not sure what "bing" is supposed to mean, though.

back to you-know-what

2009-09-09T13:28:00.001-04:00

Is there a worse feeling in the world than watching your pale, unsmiling 9 year old drag his little wheeled backpack into a classroom full of strangers? Or sending your 7 year old off with the hope that the "nice kid" will continue to be nice? The first day of school was a frankly unwelcome interruption of what had become a routine of perfect weather and visits to and from cousins, grandparents, and friends.

The boys miss their (in the words of Flash) "lively", crowded school in Texas, and I do too. The process of carving out one's niche can be unpleasant and not without a few sharp jabs. All I can do is pray for lots of "nice kids" and put extra-trashy treats in their lunches until they settle in.

upon this rock

2009-07-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

Happy to report that our library has MANY more books on the 814.508 (essay) section of the shelf than our old library. I've been going through these books like mini-packets of peanut M&Ms and trying not to neglect the kids. With limited success. Anyway, I just read this fantastic GQ essay about a Christian rock concert by John Jeremiah Sullivan. It includes some hilarious passages about a rented RV. I was in a public park in an effort to give the aforementioned children some Wholesome Outdoor Play when I came across the RV part and laughed out loud like a crazy person. I think I might have guffawed at one point, too. Most essays about the evangelical movement and its surrounding culture are snarky, but this one makes up for the barbs with evenhanded sincerity. (I should mention there are one or two F words in there. Also the GQ site (where the article lives) is currently plastered with an unappetizing picture of Sasha Baron Cohen.)

this summer, in gerunds

2009-07-20T11:07:00.000-04:00

rediscovering "treasure boxes"--looking through old school pictures, swimming ribbons, souvenirs. Then trying to sell these things to each other. Sidenote: Chinese renminbi is now acceptable currency in our house.

digging in a superfun, enormous sandbox at the local water park. (You dig for awhile, then rinse off the sand in a little shower area, then swim. Then buy a "junior slushee" for 75 cents. Genius!)

bicycling 5 miles at a very beautiful local park, followed by no small amount of bragging (5 MILES!) and moaning about sore legs I've got to find a cheap bike on Craigslist and take advantage of the many bike trails here.

napping outside on a blanket on a Sunday afternoon. (An anomaly. No one naps in our house except dh.)

buying $2.00 sunglasses at a sidewalk sale in Royal Oak. We were the only ones with kids at the sale and noticeably lacking tattoos and piercings. To say nothing of leather bustiers.

Oprah, again

2009-06-28T15:07:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that I loathe Oprah. When I read this article in Newsweek I was thinking, "Yes! Finally!" This article specifically focuses on the outlandish health claims Oprah's experts have made and the tremendous influence Oprah wields in general. My favorite paragraph:

In real life, she (Oprah) has almost nothing in common with most of her viewers. She is an unapproachable billionaire with a private jet and homes around the country who hangs out with movie stars. She is not married and has no children. But television Oprah is a different person. She somehow manages to make herself believable as a down-to-earth everywoman. She is your girlfriend who struggles to control her weight and balance her work and personal life, just like you.

This is true despite the fact that Oprah often appears distracted in her interviews with real people on her show (the non-celebrities), looking over their shoulders and sort of zoning out during their responses to her questions (and then magically summoning tears at the climax of their story). If she is everyone's girlfriend, she is the girlfriend that talks about AWESOME SHOES while you pour out your heart in the mall food court.

I know she has spearheaded some incredible charity projects. She is certainly a talented entertainer. I just don't relate to the conflicting values her show promotes: obsessing about body image /Girl Power, SHOPPING!/schools for impoverished children, living your best life/worshiping celebrities. I don't get it. But I am glad that she encourages reading, or used to. Does she still do the book club segments?

dear professor

2009-06-26T06:51:00.000-04:00

I am sort of reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I pick it up now and then and read one of the short chapters. It has lots of nice ideas, useful for giving one the motivation to find joy in the journey and don't sweat the small stuff and other things like that. Mostly it makes me think about professors I have known. Some approached the status of demigods, causing me to recite embarrassing poems in protest of their dismissal. One film professor actually tested us on his tangential ramblings about celebrities he knew ("What did Elizabeth Taylor say when I made a joke about her shoes in 1978?") In the relatively small pond of a university, professors seem like Triton himself, able to banish us to the depths of humility with a critical comment on a paper.

Back to The Last Lecture. It's worth reading. Some best-sellers make that list for a reason. Some, like a certain unnamed book about a teenage girl and her vampire, do not.

what I miss about Texas

2009-06-19T21:54:00.000-04:00

road signs that simply say "CHURCH". I always liked the idea that, should a spiritual emergency arise, I could easily find a church. It might have a slightly spooky preacher with really big teeth and a lot of advice on "How to Increase Your Money God's Way," but it will still be a church.
you can buy a flat of mangoes on the side of the road. Also rhinestone Obama T-shirts and an assortment of tacky rugs.
75 different varieties of picante sauce in the grocery store, not to mention fresh tortillas made right in front of your wondering eyes.
left turns allowed ! (not so in much of Detroit)
hot summer days suitable for swimming almost every day.
SONIC drinks.
so many sweet friends. We really miss you guys!

holy lycopene, Batman!

2009-06-19T21:42:00.000-04:00

Like many of my most favorite foods, my mom's salsa is bursting with vegetable goodness (side note: foods bursting with fruity goodness don't tempt me like vegetables. Don't know why.) I seriously like thinking about all of the vitamins and fiber in this salsa, which we eat by the naked spoonful around here, no chip needed. I have occasionally added chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce (about 2 tablespoons) to this recipe, but it's fantastic exactly as written here. And, yes, those quantities are right. We do prepare it one gallon at a time and give away about half.

Carolyn's Salsa

1 Gallon Recipe
4 28 oz. Cans of whole peeled tomatoes
3/8 pound yellow chilies, seeds and stems removed
3 large jalapenos, seeds and stems removed
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/8 cup cilantro
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon ground cumin

Put one can of tomatoes at a time in food processor or blender, blend 2-3 seconds. Pout into a big bowl. Repeat until all tomatoes are crushed.
Process chilies, jalapenos, onions, and garlic in food processor until chopped. Pour into tomatoes.
Process cilantro for 5 seconds. Add to mixture.
Add salt, oregano, and cumin. Stir together. Chill and serve.

2 gallon quantities

8 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes (or 1 10 pound can)
¾ lb. Yellow chilies, seeds and stems removed
6 large Jalapenos, seeds and stems removed
2 medium yellow onions, diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
¼ cup cilantro
2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons oregano
2 Tablespoons ground cumin

curtains!

2009-06-15T17:08:00.000-04:00

We have bare windows, I have time on my hands, I found Jo-Ann, and now I'm in curtain making mode. I was lamenting the fact that I hadn't found the right fabric for the master bedroom when what did I spy but a yard sale with 5 garbage cans full of rolls of decorator fabric! TURN THE CAR AROUND!
dh obliged and I spent about 20 minutes marveling at this incredible fabric with an even more incredible $4/yd price tag. No, it was not cute vintage fabric, sorry, but it is real "drapery" fabric and beautiful! Yay!

birthday concert. in which I ROCK.

2009-06-04T18:47:00.000-04:00

dh took me to Coldplay! We had such a fantastic time; took me right back to college, minus the black tights and Doc Martens. I did have secret tights on, though, under my jeans, because this is Michigan and it gets cold at night even in June (frost warning last night--ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)

In the background of the above picture is a high-energy tambourine player for one of the opening bands, The Howling Bells. In between his tambourine explosions he squatted down back by the drummer. When it was his turn, he bounded out of his little hiding place and went WILD with that tamborine. Highly entertaining.

The best part was when the band came up to a tiny stage about 10 feet away from us and played "Green Eyes," a favorite of mine. You probably can't tell from the photo that they were so close, but believe me, they were so close to us! I think it was pretty hard on Chris Martin being on such a tiny stage; not much room for skipping and cavorting about.

the long road North

2009-06-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

(the departure)

Oh, happy day! DSL is up and running, I am connected to the outside world. Even hung a few pictures on the walls today.
This cross-country moving business isn't for the faint of heart. Leaving Texas was much more emotional than I expected, considering how we made fun of Houston over the years. We miss our friends there terribly, and I often think of them and what they're up to (and what we're missing out on... sob!)
But we're here now, and soldiering on. By soldiering I mean that the kids are fighting almost constantly and my ability to parent in a consistent and calm manner is waning. Also I ate three Little Debbie cakes in one sitting the other night.
I'm trying to adjust to the Michigan definition of summer, a word that used to mean shorts and flip-flops, playing in the sprinkler, eating dinner on the back patio. Here it means gorgeous, long days with beautiful sunsets and a high of 65 degrees. I've got the heater going at night in JUNE!(With lows in the upper 40s, who wouldn't?) This is like a Texas winter, y'all!
So if the downside is the chilly weather, the upside is the terrain and all of these beautiful trees. Just beautiful. You can actually grow lilacs here, too.
The kids love the house. It has a huge basement and pretty big backyard with a swingset and a spooky storage shed. I like the wood floors and the picture window in the living room. Nobody likes the weird smell at the top of the basement stairs. We've been trying to identify it for days. My vote is stale cigar smoke. Super Q is voting for "dead rats." Antimicrobial Febreze has been a dear friend to me of late. Not a friend to me is the many boxes that we didn't label (?) or that just say "kitchen." What was I thinking? When looking for a can opener to open the only can of black beans in the house, "kitchen" is not a helpful guidepost. Note to self: label more specifically next time. Also, don't MOVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AGAIN. Also, bring your own fresh ginger, as there appears to be no ginger in the Detroit metro area.

things are as they should be

2009-05-20T15:21:00.001-04:00

So I'm at the point where thinking ahead is causing sufficient anxiety to make me want to throw up. That's not hyperbole, either. (Packing up your whole house by yourself while single parenting will do that to a person.)

But I visited a dear friend today, a friend who always provides very helpful advice (and chocolate). What she said brought a measure of peace to my mind: "Things are as they should be." I think it's going to be my new mantra. So I'll be getting rid of "By the power of Greyskull... I have the POWER!"

yet another reason to avoid pot pies

2009-05-15T22:29:00.000-04:00

From nyt.com:

"Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients. In this case, ConAgra could not pinpoint which of the more than 25 ingredients in its pies was carrying salmonella. Other companies do not even know who is supplying their ingredients, let alone if those suppliers are screening the items for microbes and other potential dangers, interviews and documents show."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/15ingredients.html?_r=1&hp

YIKES.

8 more days

2009-05-15T14:10:00.000-04:00

8 more days in Texas, then we're off to the Great White North. Since I'm not letting myself think about the sad aspect of this change (or any aspect, truth be told, I'm just packing and occasionally getting online, watching Frasier and going to bed), I'd like to thank the following sponsors who have helped us get this far:

*every fantastic person from our neighborhood and church who came to pack, paint, and keep me company

*my family, for their supportive texts, phone calls, packages,

* the good people who produce these items which make up the bulk of my diet:

*patient friends who read this blog even though it is really self-absorbed as of late

swine flu + wedding = one quiet woman

2009-05-09T21:45:00.000-04:00

I'm in Arizona now for my sister L's wedding (accomplished as of last night, congratulations, you old married lady! Check out her husband's awesome wedding day cartoon here). A few days after our arrival, a dry and sore throat turned into a full-on infection with a fever, cough, vomiting, etc. I'm going to claim it as swine flu because that's so much more exciting than the old-timey influenza. Bound and determined not to miss the big day, I booked it to urgent care in search of Tamiflu. Once they heard about my symptoms, everyone in the clinic immediately donned a mask and created a 10-foot perimeter around me. Their reaction was comical and probably overblown. They actually sent me to the ER (STAT!) for a "swine flu swabbing." Which did not occur, although an hour wait in a freezing cubicle did, followed by a chat with a doctor. He wanted to know if I came to the ER after reading about the swine flu (a bit of a porcine reaction, I thought--sorry). Anyway, long story extended, I got my Tamiflu and got better VERY soon and made it to the wedding, health intact but voice entirely GONE. Needless to say, I was fairly silent at the reception and completely inffective as a mom. (The sharp reprimand doesn't have much power when delivered as a whisper). I'm told my Loretta Lynn-style hair was killer, though, and that's all that matters.
Unrelated but quite amazing: our house is getting attention like it's a fire sale (which it is, essentially). We had one SUPER-low, even insulting offer. We're going to hold out for the big money, at least enough to cover our closing costs. dh rented a house in D-town (I can call it that now); we're making progress! Just need to get that voice back so I can talk to the realtor.

send to...

2009-04-21T19:58:00.000-04:00

ooh, I'm a neglectful blogger/mom/friend/you name it right now. I'm blaming it on the daily grind of packing and painting (3 rooms down, 4 or 5 to go). I think it's a good enough excuse, actually.
2 days ago I was "released" from my position as the leader of the children's ministry at our church (that's Primary President for the LDS folk). I cried (of course) because I'm, like, totally emotional lately. I'm just going to miss all of those little faces, not to mention the text messages received 15 minutes before classes start ("sorry, I'm not going to be there to teach my class"). But seriously I'm going to miss hanging out with kids on Sunday. It's so easy to make kids love you. A fun game and some Little Debbies and you're as cool as Captain Kangaroo. Who isn't really that cool, now that I think of it.
So on to the matter at hand. I was just putting some podcasts on my microscopic mp3 player. I was doing the right-click "send to" method. It got me thinking. If I could be right-clicked and sent somewhere, where would it be? It would be Hong Kong, but two different days. The first was in the summer when I was there as a missionary, serving in a stressful area. We had a day off and went to the beach at Shek O to play in the sand and walk on the hills near the water. We missed the bus going back and ended up having to stay later than we planned. There was a diving platform there in the bay and a man came to dive. I watched him as the sun went down, diving over and over, his silhouette dipping into the water almost like he was pouring himself in--so smooth and dark against the purple sky. Just diving and diving. It was so peaceful, the rhythm of the repetition, the colors, the breeze.
There was another day, 12 years later, also in Hong Kong, this time with my dh. We sat in a park at night and I spilled it: I wanted to stay. I would give up the mainland leg of the trip for more time in HK. He was very kind and we promised each other another trip later, with more time in my favorite city. Better yet, he said HK was his favorite place too.
As I lay me down to sleep in my mattress on the closet floor (long story, that), I'll think of the diver and the conversation in the park and forget about the half-painted room and the carpet cleaners and the closets that need to be packed.

our recession scene

2009-04-07T15:54:00.000-04:00

I'm listening to Scenes from a Recession, last week's installment of This American Life. It's a little depressing, I have to say, and the backdrop of the utter chaos that is my house doesn't help. I have 9 rooms and a garage to pack up and paint in 34 days . It sounds doable, right? I'm trying to get up the nerve to call in the troops from church to help with some of it. But I freely admit I am overwhelmed with this task. I excel at the quick and dirty cleanup (oxymoron)--the spray-the-shower-and-let-it-sit-for-an-hour-then-scrub kind of thing. This is not that kind of thing.

in praise of the humble Whoopie Pie

2009-04-06T10:02:00.001-04:00

This morning it was indeed chocolate sponge cake first (my kids were having danishes, so I thought, why not?) The sponge cake in question was a Whoopie Pie, recipe found here. They are so tasty and spongy and chocolatety. No, I haven't figured out why they are called Whoopie Pies, though. Please don't let it be that you want to shout "Whoopeee!" after tasting one. I hate explanations like that.

staging: the great deception

2009-03-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

In an effort to drum up some interest in our house, we're staging some rooms... at least long enough to take a picture. It's very duplicitous, this staging thing. As you can see from the photos. These rooms are right next to each other. You would never know that the tastefully neutral living room would lead right into a hellish electronics dumping ground/playroom.

Incidentally, did you know there is an International Association of Home Staging Professionals? I love that it is international. Need someone to help you stage your yurt? Just contact the Ulaanbaatar chapter of the IAHSP.

Seriously, though, if you know anyone who is moving to Houston and would like to see my house, let me know! I promise the electronics will be cleaned up. Free swingset, too.

dodged a bullet

2009-03-24T07:53:00.000-04:00

In a truly incredible turn of events, dh got laid off yesterday from his job here in TX. On the very day he planned to give 2 weeks' notice. There will only be 2 weeks where he doesn't have a job.
Grateful doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. I had some (read: a tremendous amount of) hesitation, mainly because I do not enjoy change. I still felt "right" and peaceful about this move so I agreed to it. Everything had fallen into place with the new job and now we know why. I know we are very lucky to have a new job waiting for us. Very lucky, and blessed.

My to-do list

2009-03-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

I just realized that that last post was somewhat lacking in details. (I had to go back and add in where we were moving exactly, for example.) dh is moving in mid-April, and the rest of us will follow in early June.

My mind is seriously spinning as I think of all that must be done in the next 2 months. A fair amount of the items on the to-do list are physical work: paint 5 rooms, touch-up paint 3 rooms, paint 4 million baseboards and door frames, pack some items, get doctor records, invite every last person we love here for a party, etc.

Other items have to do with enduring to the end. Namely, the end of the time that I will be a single parent trying to get the house ready to sell.

There are several items that deal with my attitude about snow. It is not a positive one. I'm cold when it's 70 degrees here because the inside of the house is 65. (Stress is affecting my appetite so I'm losing weight--so much the better to fit in the dress for Linz's wedding, but not so helpful with the padding of the cold bones). So the list includes some strategies for dealing with Winter. (So formidable is Winter in my mind that it must be capitalized). I'm looking at the overstock clearance section for cold weather stuff. I have no idea what to buy. Parkas? Down jackets? "Puffy jackets"? Wool? My approach to cold weather dressing in Utah was many layers of thrift store finds. I don't think the kids will go for that.

One last item is more introspective. I am leaving my responsibilities over the Primary in our ward (that's the youth ministry in our congregation) and, of course, I have mixed feelings. There are areas I did not emphasize and I have regrets about that. I hope the children felt my love and the love of God and the presence of his Spirit. That was my goal.

I'm trying to approach as like the wise lyrics in the "One Day at a Time" exhort:

This is it. (This is it.)
This is life, the one you get so go and have a ball.
This is it. (This is it.)
Straight ahead and rest assured you can't be sure at all.

So while you're here enjoy the view.
Keep on doing what you do
So hold on tight we’ll muddle through
One day at a time, (One day at a time.)

So up on your feet. (Up on your feet)
Somewhere there's music playing.
Don't you worry none we'll just take it like it comes.
One day at a time, (One day at a time.)

I'm planning on "resting assured that you can't be sure at all" and "holding on tight and muddling through." And wearing a vest like Schneider to help me get in the right frame of mind for fixin' up.

return to the Great White North

2009-03-18T15:50:00.000-04:00

Well, we're moving. To a colder place, although not as cold as the ledge on that glacier.
dh got an offer at a more stable company with more responsibility and better benefits. This will be a huge change for us but I feel like it's going to be OK.

**Oops, forgot to mention that we are moving to Detroit.

the fun cooker

2009-03-14T22:08:00.000-04:00

I just watched this week's episode of 30 Rock. One of the storylines is, naturally, a mini-microwave naming contest . (spoiler alert) The chosen name is "The Fun Cooker," a term that just happens to capture the feeling of my afternoon. An afternoon spent at the multiplex watching "Race to Witch Mountain," starring that guy that used to be called "The Rock" and now has some boring anglo name like Kevin Smith or something. Also two scary blonde kids that are aliens who look like humans (I actually think the girl looks pretty much like an alien). Anyway. As I suffered through this totally predictable movie with the obligatory snarky and well-timed one-liners and an enormous amount of shooting and hand-to-hand combat I thought to myself, "Is this supposed to be fun? Are the kids actually having fun?" Sure, the bucket o' popcorn and something called Squeeze Pops were sending them into a gradual and prolonged carbo-shock, but sugar aside, were they having fun? I wonder about these activities we spend our leisure time on. Movies, McDonald's playland, Chuck E. Cheese's. Are they actually fun or do we feel like kids want to do these things so we plan them? After the 2.5 hours spent in the fun cooker, I'm wishing we would have stayed home and built a pillow fort or just spent time hanging out and joking around instead of cookin' up some prefab "fun."

what the... winter again?

2009-03-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

I know 48 degrees and rainy hardly qualifies as winter for some of you, but yesterday it was 78 degrees here and today is was 48 and that's a THIRTY degree difference overnight. My only options for dinner were something involving rice again or pumpkin waffles. Which would you choose?

I always use the Bisquick-based recipes because as much as my family loves waffles (not me so much, but my family), I refuse to whip egg whites for 5 minutes just for waffles.

PUMPKIN WAFFLES

2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Powdered sugar, if desired

Combine everything with a whisk. Heat up your waffle iron. Make waffles like you always do. Why am I typing instructions? You know how to cook waffles.

If you don't happen to have pumpkin pie spice in your pantry in the middle of March, here's how to make it:

PUMPKIN PIE SPICE
1. Measure 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into a small bowl or cup.
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.
3. Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice or ground cloves.
4. Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
5. Stir to blend.
6. Makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

ok... panic!

2009-03-10T19:32:00.000-04:00

You know the end is near now. COUPONS at restaurants? nyt.com, I am shocked and dismayed by the bleak, bleak picture you paint.

I'm a 5 year old

2009-03-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

I'm on the wrong side of 35, two kids in school, some gray hairs sprouting and yet...

*I had peppermint patties for breakfast.
*A whole big bunch of friends of ours made plans and didn't invite us and I'm a little bit hurt by that.
*I watched "Arthur" on PBS yesterday. (Arthur the animated aardvark, not Arthur the charming 1980s drunk, although those Arthur movies were a staple for our family when I was young. Also "What's Up Doc?")
*I've been eating Cinnamon Life cereal out of my hand as a snack in a probably vain attempt to fit into the dress I bought on clearance for my sister's wedding. I had to buy a size that just might be a little tight to get the color I wanted. So it's cereal, kale, and coke zero from now until May. Oh, and peppermint patties.
* My son had to remind me to "pull the plug, Mom, NOT the cord" when I was unplugging the toaster the other day.
*I'm sick of certain responsibilities and thinking of doing something drastic to my hair to show my wild rebellion.

nyt, you kill me

2009-03-01T21:46:00.001-05:00

So whatever happened at the crossword tournament can't possibly be as shocking as a Jonas Brothers movie falling short. (this from nyt.com)

litany of distractions

2009-02-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

Hi, thanks so much for all of your very kind emails, comments, and phone calls. I'm feeling a bit less panicked now. Sleeping a little better, which helps. My current occupation is Distraction from Worrying Thoughts.

The boys, of course, are a very good distraction. ("Oh, Mom, we hate juice boxes now.""Mom, is a tree a renewable resource?" "Mom, what does that guy think he's doing?" "Mom, an iPod cost like a million kajillion dollars, right?") Endless entertainment. In the photo above they are relaxing in the backyard on a Sunday afternoon. Super Q was every inch the hausfrau, puttering around, making sure the blanket was perfect. He wanted to get pillows and blankets and stuffed animals. Flash, meanwhile, was quite annoyed and wanted to get on with the relaxation. It was a pretty funny scene.

Rock Band has been a bit of a distraction. dh has to talk me into it each time, as I am the non-video-gamer in the house. I'm on drums, naturally. (The better to bang out stress, my dear. Also I suck at the guitar part.)

Taco Bell sells their mild sauce in a bottle at the grocery store. This has very much increased my lunchtime ritual of black bean nachos and Charlie Rose. My sister was, I think, appalled at the fact that I like Taco Bell during her last visit. We fancy ourselves the gourmets (or at least gourmands) of the family but she's learning that I have a trashy side. Taco Bell and King of Queens. I think she's drawing up legal documents as we speak to cut me out of the family. Amicably, of course. And my kids can stay in.

The Mt. Everest obsession has returned. I watched all of a Discovery Channel documentary about it in one sitting the other day. I am flummoxed as to why people do this to themselves. I can't stop thinking about it. A climber from Lebanon said it best (after he summited and witnessed a man dying by the side of the trail on the way down). "It's crazy how people come up here... to die." I promise this is the most depressing thing I've watched or read lately. It's been all old Barbra Streisand movies and Annie Dillard books around here. Our book club is reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and I'm having none of it.

it's 2:25 am, do you know where your Mommy is?

2009-02-23T03:19:00.000-05:00

Just checked on the boys, looking all wee and comfy in their beds. They don't know I'm awake, trawling the internet for drug interactions between OTC sleep meds and Ambien. (Took the former and it did nothing for me, wondering if I can add the latter). Anyway, the sleep issues have not been completely solved, needless to say. I had a bit of an unexpected cry today. In the hallway. At church. Embarrassing, to have everyone around me trying to figure out what was going on and me somewhat helpless to explain without REALLY spilling it all right there in the hallway. It did feel good to know of their concern, though. Anxiety is just really burning me out right now. How does one explain that in a crowded hallway without looking utterly ridiculous?

why worry later, when you can worry now?

2009-02-16T15:39:00.000-05:00

Change has never been a friend to me, even positive change. I know something will change significantly for our family in the near future and rather than wait for the actual event, my body has decided to react to it preemptively, embracing it with a multi-pronged approach: migraines, eye twitch, diarrhea, insomnia, heart palpitations, panic attacks. Yes, we really roll out the red carpet for anticipated crisis around here. When everyone's home I am usually distracted enough to keep these symptoms at bay. But during the day a regimen is required. Happy music is a must. Sondre Lerche is today's favorite (he did the soundtrack to Dan in Real Life, a movie I love.) Also The Shins. Rosie Thomas is off-limits and Red House Painters. Chocolate features prominently (thanks, post-valentine's day clearance!). And, weirdly, I find mopping therapeutic. Seth Stevenson is writing for Ad Report Card again at Slate.com, which always makes me happy. And I've got a head of kale in fridge. So I should just calm down already.

the quotable Ben Franklin

2009-02-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

Just came across this quote from Benjamin Franklin. It seems so modern: I wonder if the diction was updated by the editor. Regardless, I like the message. It seems self-evident but worth thinking about. Especially in parenting, it really is the small decisions, moments, actions, even facial expressions that make up the aggregate message that we send to our kids. And if that doesn't scare the crap out of you, well, you're a better mom than me.

"We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we've selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are, in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make. "

S.O.S.

2009-02-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

Remember this post where I said the sad, sad state of the economy had primarily affected how frequently I bought drinks at Sonic? I guess it's poetic justice or poetic blindness or poetic foolishness but the rotten economy is about to hit our family full on in the face. Round two of layoffs at dhs company are certain (we're not very optimistic about how that will turn out), very few jobs are out there, and I'm on day 10 of 4 hours of sleep or less.

What he said.

2009-02-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

http://www.newsweek.com/id/182531

my favorite meal

2009-02-04T17:46:00.001-05:00

All I feel like eating lately is beans and rice. No, not pregnancy cravings, just very much into beans and rice. It started with the Red Beans and Rice dinner a few weeks ago. This week I moved onto my all-time favorite rice, Cilantro Rice, recipe compliments of Pianogal. The printout of the recipe is all water-stained and forever lost in a folder of other such printouts. I should really just paint it on my kitchen wall for easy reference.

So tonight it's Cilantro Rice, Lime Cilantro Chicken (that recipe comes from the master chef and maker of the awesome Christmas quilt, Meredith), guacamole, and black beans. It's going to be heaven.

Although I like the idea of chunky guacamole with tomatoes and lime peel and jalapenos and onions, my kids are purists: avocado, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Mash. Lick your fingers, eat it straight with a spoon, spread it on anything and everything.

Cilantro Rice (sorry, Pianogal, I tweaked the instructions a bit to make it faster)

1 cup fresh cilantro (go ahead, leave the stems on, no one will ever know)
2 garlic cloves
1 fresh jalapeno chile, stemmed, or ½ can green chilies
2 ½ cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 carrot, cut into chunks

2 tsp olive oil
1 ½ cups long-grain white rice
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp ground cumin
salt

In a blender, whirl cilantro, garlic, chile, carrot, and broth until smooth. In a 3-4 quart pan over medium heat, stir oil, rice, onion powder and cumin until rice is a pale golden color, 5-8 minutes. Stir in cilantro/broth mixture. Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes. If desired, season to taste with salt.
Serves 5-6.

Lime-Cilantro Chicken

2 large cloves of garlic
½ Tablespoon grated lime zest
1/8 cup fresh lime juice
1/8 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 ½ pounds)
Lime wedges for garnish

In food processor pulse first six ingredients (garlic, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper). Add olive oil; process until blended.
Pour into Ziploc bag; add chicken and marinate in refrigerator for 3 hours.
Preheat broiler. Place chicken on foil-lined baking sheet. Broil, turn once, for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through.
To serve, garnish with lime wedges.
Serves 4

sometimes Sundays are boring

2009-02-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

Our Sundays can be s-l-o-w. Church is from 8 to 11 am, come home, eat lunch, then 8.5 hours until bedtime. And we don't shop, go to work, or play sports either (we observe it as the Sabbath). We limit TV and movie time. So sometimes we get bored. dh is content to literally sleep all day if given the opportunity, so lots of times it's me and the boys trying to find activities that fall within our family parameters and aren't a total snooze.

Today we made Bad Guy Soup. Super Q tells me we are meant to leave it outside. When bad guys see it, they think, "Oh! Free soup!" They drink it, then die. And don't ever make it into the house to steal the XBox.

Our soup had water, soul seasoning, old lemon pepper, some nasty salad dressing that none of use like, dirt, bark, grass, weeds, etc. It reeks. Not a bad way to clean out the pantry.

testing, testing

2009-01-29T16:46:00.000-05:00

So I haven't really mentioned it, but Super Q is a closet psychopath. Maybe not a psychopath, but dude. Such a temper, so fickle, so adept at pushing my buttons. And so well-behaved at school!

I was listening to our local access radio station today and heard this woman, Patty Wipfler, (her website is http://www.handinhandparenting.org/) talking about the kinds of reactions Super has all day long to anything that doesn't go his way. I thought she had some very interesting ideas. Maybe a little NewAgey, I don't know.

Her take is that when kids are in the middle of a power struggle, whining, or a big meltdown, their brains are not engaged. They are really, truly "out of their minds." They need a mental and physical connection with a parent, a little reassurance, some hugs, a hand hold, something like that. They may push you away. They may not immediately snap out of it; in fact, they may cry more for awhile to "dump" their emotions. But then they will snap out of it and be much more agreeable afterward. Super Q has shown some symptoms of feeling disconnected and alone when he's melting down, so I'm going to try this system. Any other ideas?

chop it... and chop it good

2009-01-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

So one time we had a gift card to a place called Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (Why is it called that? I always think of two siblings fighting over who gets to use her name for the restaurant. Or Chris belongs to Ruth. Is Chris an indentured servant? Is she bussing tables to work off her passage to Texas? But I digress.) I'm not a huge fan of steak but I am also a firm believer in ordering the speciality of the house/region (and for that reason I 'm not inclined to eat sushi in the middle of Michigan) so I ordered a small steak. It was OK. But the salad... I dug that salad. I've been wanting to duplicate it ever since I tried it. A few nights ago I sort of did. It's been a long time since I gorged myself on salad. Maybe too long.

I don't really have quantities. I mean, it's salad. Adjust the amounts of extra stuff based on how much green stuff you are using.

Ruth's Chris Chop Salad

The chopped salad is a mix of julienned iceberg lettuce (I used romaine), spinach (I substituted kale), radicchio, tossed with red onion (I skipped the onion), mushrooms, green olives, bacon, hard-cooked eggs, hearts of palm, croutons, blue cheese and lemon basil dressing ... topped off with cherry tomatoes and crispy fried onions (these are key). Oh, and everything is chopped to a somewhat uniform size.

Below is the lemon basil dressing. It was really tart; probably should have added some sugar. I substituted Marie's Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (a favorite at our house).

Lemon Basil Dressing

2 tablespoons Pommery or Dijon mustard
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 basil leaves, very thinly sliced
coarse salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Gaza

2009-01-26T16:34:00.001-05:00

Do you have an hour to sit down and think hard about what's going on in Israel? I have complicated feelings about this issue (for all of the standard reasons: Israel was a sovereign nation under attack, what would any country do in a similar situation, it's all about the larger issue of terror, etc.), but have no doubt about Israel's disproportionate reaction to Hamas's attacks. The interview that appears at the links below further cemented this view. It is a heartwrenching account of a civilian family which was attacked by Israeli soldiers and then held at gunpoint and prevented from seeking medical help. It's heartbreaking.

I'm not endorsing every view that you will find on democracynow.org. I watch/listen to programs on both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/21/palestinian_us_college_grad_loses_2

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/22/part_ii_palestinian_us_college_grad

Shout!

2009-01-23T19:57:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel incredibly silly trolling for images of food/products/evil dolls on the internet. I just spent about 8 minutes finding this picture of Shout! and cropping it, etc. In that amount of time I could have done any number of more productive things; soothed a child's worried brow, made toast, read 8 Emily Dickinson poems. Anyway, it was worth it because I am a such a fan of Shout Advanced. I'm sure it's chock full of petroleum horribleness. Nonetheless, it has its uses like removing blue crayon from an entire load of clothes and THEN removing gum from yet another load of clothes (this one went through the dryer). Why check pockets when you can just spray something that smells like paint thinner on everything and wash it again?

Geez, this post is getting depressing. I'm now on facebook, sort of feeling like the ancient maiden aunt at a wedding. I'm almost 37--facebook? Really? So now I check the status of friends and family and they're always doing something cool like hanging out at coffeehouses. My statuses have thus far been about cooking, cleaning, PTO stuff. I think I'm going to start fibbing on the ol' status bar. "Status: strolling through the Louvre." Do you think anyone will catch on?

kale-idoscope of flavor!

2009-01-21T22:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, that title is atrocious. Please forget it ever happened. Focus instead on this: kale. Not an immediately appealing vegetable, right? Won't ever compete with eggplant or even cucumber. It looks like it might get stuck in your cheek like a fish hook. I'm here to ask you to give kale a chance. My fancy beautiful attorney sister made a kale salad that changed my life. In the spirit of hope and change I share it with you.

1/2 a head/large bunch of kale
1/2 - 3/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
olive oil
fresh lemon (about half of a lemon's worth)
freshly ground pepper
salt

Toss. Eat. Enjoy the antioxidants.

a vacation, with scooting

2009-01-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

We headed west this past weekend for my niece's baptism. It was fantastic. The kids had an absolute blast playing outside in the perfect weather, we ate many delicious meals c/o my sister, a cheesecake surfaced, and we watched old movies of my Dad's childhood. Perfect.

The hotel, however, was a bizarre throwback to our Asian Vacation of 2007. It was a Travelodge, you know, with the sleepwalking bear? The bear was always a HUGE selling point for us as kids. "Oh, please, let's stay in the one with the bear!" The Travelodge was a little pricey for our family then. But now, well, let's just say we have arrived and we stayed at the one with the bear. And the super-hard beds, one-ply TP, scanty breakfast, and non-working TV remote.

The undisputed highlight of the trip for me and dh was seeing my sister's baby, Carmelita, who is a sweet little ball of cuteness. She has decided against crawling on principle and scoots instead. She does this sitting up, using a sort of one-cheek-at-a-time approach. It is very adorable, and my sister's floors get a good swiffering in the process.

Another sister, the beautiful and fancy attorney from Phoenix, also came and stayed some extra time with us. My boys LOVE her... maybe because she spoils them rotten. We drove away from the airport quite solemn, already missing her and the rest of our family.

not perfect, but at least it's done

2009-01-20T13:14:00.000-05:00

This was a take-along project for our Trek to the North. I "tied" the quilt in the car with french knots rather than little square knots with those annoying little tails that tickle you in the night. Kinda glad the photos are blurry because the quilt is far from perfect. It is for my nephew, Riley, who will not notice that some seams are not straight. His mom, it turns out, is a closet quilter. A real quilter, who like pieces her quilts and then sends them out to be professionally oversewn. Kind of like baking a cake for Martha Stewart. Oh, well. I like the binding.

who am I kidding?

2009-01-12T14:48:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd better take down the wintry banner I had up. It's like 67 degrees outside, and this is my footwear choice for the day. There are no lonely, snowy country lanes anywhere near me... and I'm very OK with that.

we heart fiber

2009-01-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

We had our weekly cookin' and chattin' fest yesterday with some good friends in the neighborhood. I made red beans and rice, and I wasn't sure if the kids would eat it... but they did! Lots of it! And tons of crusty bread and then like 3 pieces of pound cake EACH. They were all starving, apparently. Here's the recipe I used. It's from Scouting Magazine, not a place I normally find recipes. I think it's a keeper. Low fat, high fiber, tasty herbs.

Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice

1 lb dried red or kidney beans (don't use canned)
2 T oil (I omitted this and used a nonstick pan)
1 lb spicy smoked sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalked celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
6 cups water or low-salt chicken broth
4 cups cooked rice

To soak beans, rinse well. Place in a bowl, and add enough water to cover by at least 2 inches. Let sit 8 hours or overnight. Drain before using.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute sausage until slightly browned, about 3 min. Remove and set aside.
Add onion, bell pepper, and celery to the skillet and cook until softened and fragrant, about 3 min. Add garlic and cook for 1 min.
Season with salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and cayenne; stir and cook 1 min. Add reserved sausage and beans and stir to combine.
Pour sausage/bean mixture into a 5-6 quart slow cooker (water should cover beans by at least 1/2 inch; more if you like a soupier meal).
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours; then on low for 6 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving over cooked rice.
Serves 8.