Notes From Bedlam

Love

2012-01-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Love is enough.

Caring about someone almost as much as you care about yourself is not enough.

The problem with modern life is we tend to confuse the two.

Here's a few tips for helping figure it out:
1. If you think he should always forgive you for saying hurtful things when you are angry at him. Because, after all, it's pretty hard to control yourself when you're mad and people say stupid stuff when they are mad all the time.

That's not love.

2. If you can get angry without wanting to hurt because you would never hurt him.

That's love.

Yesterday I read a Facebook post from a young woman who's long term relationship just ended. She was understandably devastated. I have no idea what ended the relationship or how healthy the relationship had been. I was bothered by her post, however. She basically made a claim that everyone says stupid hurtful things in a fight with someone you love. That such behavior is common and therefore always forgivable. He couldn't have loved her enough because he couldn't forgive whatever it was that was said in the last fight.

I feel for the young lady. I'm not saying she was in the wrong in the relationship, because I don't know the circumstances. Honestly, I don't care. It's none of my business and I wish her well in the future.

I will say her post was wrong. Not everyone behaves like that when they argue. Not everyone finds such behavior acceptable. It is not the behavior of mature, loving adults.

So I worry about her. I worry about the teenage girls she's friends with who saw that post and believed it. I worry about all the women who commented on her post basically telling her she was right. That everything said in a fight is always forgivable.

We have these modern examples of romantic movies with absolutely horrible relationship patterns. They meet. They fall in love. They have some stupid big, horrible fight with absolutely horrible things said to one another. They make up and everything is hunky dory again. Happily Ever After. Same story in romance books. There's this idea that big horrible fights equal passion in a relationship. And hey, who doesn't want passion?

I'm not saying that loving couples never argue. Of course, they do. They just control their tongues. They don't say things to hurt each other. They can disagree without being horrible to each other. This is real. This is the way it should work.

I'm rambling. I guess I was bothered by that post because it's such a pervasive idea in American life. It worries me. I try to teach my children, but what will their spouses believe? Will my sons have to put up with that kind of crap (or think they should put up with it)? Will my daughters? I don't know. I don't think this issue will keep me up at nights, but it was bothering me enough that I felt the need to write these things down, to structure them, to send them out "into the void."

I don't know everything. Some days I don't feel I know very much at all. I do know Love is enough. But it has to be love. Caring is never enough to get us through. Life is hard. Life needs true love.

Family Pictures

2011-11-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

We try to do family pictures every year. Some years they come out fabulous. And some years I just want to wring a few necks. ;)

This year I got two photos I love:

We were trying to fit in pictures at the end of the day, so there wasn't a lot of light. My aperture was waaaaaay open and the shutter was a teensy bit too slow. But I love these. Worth the trip.

I also captured this series. Cracks me up.

I think I need to print that one.

What Comes With a Name Change

2011-03-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

So Libby has decided to be Beth. She informed me of this in a very off hand manner on Thursday afternoon. It's been interesting. She still very much responds to Libby, but she grins and blushes when we remember to call her Beth.

I asked her yesterday if she had told her friends at school and her teacher that she wanted to be called Beth now. She said no. She would just stay Libby at school and be Beth at home.

"Why do want to be Beth at home and Libby at school?" I asked.

"Because you're my family." She answered. "My family listens to me."

That made me smile. I'm glad she feels listened to and loved. : )

Someday we'll get that pj thing figured out

2010-10-28T11:21:00.003-06:00

Matt went to sleep in his clothes . . . again.

Including shoes and socks.

Sigh.

The Truth Comes Out

2010-10-14T22:29:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Sarah brought home book 7 of the Artemis Fowl series. She was very excited to finally get to read it. Joshua just shrugged his shoulders "yeah, I read it last month."

"what??" Sarah was shocked.

"I got to read it first from our library," said Joshua.

"Did you bring it home?"

"yup."

"And you didn't let me read it?" Sarah was horrified.

"Nope."

"I disown you!" she cried.

"Sarah," I said, "you've been trying to disown him for 12 years."

"Yeah, but this time he deserves it!"

Ostrich

2010-10-05T10:05:00.005-06:00

That should be my nick name. I'm very afraid that the slow water leak from my washer has turned into a not so slow leak. I've been ignoring that leak for months and it's not returning the favor by magically fixing itself. So rude.

There are several reasons why I would ignore a leak in my washer hoses: I don't want to be without a washer for even a day, I'm trying not to think about the cost, the hassle of figuring out what part is bad and ordering it off the internet. But mostly because that leak is a betrayal.

You would not believe what I went through for that washer.

Six months ago my washer went out. It was purchased used and not so hot in the first place, so yeah, pretty expected, although frustrating. I just love pulling a batch of towels out of an undrained washer tub, don't you?

We examined the finances and decided that yet once again we would have to buy another used washer. Joy. I was frustrated. The last one was supposed to die right around tax time so I could justify getting a fancy front loader. The betrayer failed one month later after all the tax money was spent and I had bought new appliances for the kitchen instead.

So we found a guy on Craigslist offering used washers with a warranty! Yeah! I sent Steve off to pick it up on a very busy day. He installed it so I could do my laundry and we discovered the thing didn't work. At all. Not even one freaking load. By this time I had been without a washer for nearly a week. With seven people in the house and me with only five days worth of underwear. It was fun!

I took laundry to my mom's and Steve called the guy back. He was so sorry! He'd have a new washer for us immediately! He'd bring it to us! Right away!

Never freaking showed up. Appointment after appointment missed. No working washer.

I reminded my husband that a friend had offered me a washer for free but we would have to repair it. It was a simple, inexpensive repair, but we would have to get parts online for it.

I was starting week two without a washer.

We got my friend's washer. Rush ordered parts, installed them and yea! I had a working washer! I was so happy I even helped my husband carry the monster down the stairs to the basement. It was a Front Loader. I was more than happy, I was joyous. I happily sang as I washed my laundry.

So when I discovered the wet spot on my laundry room floor right in front of the washer really wasn't drying out, I ignored it.

Wouldn't you?

A walk on the river

2009-10-25T19:35:00.004-06:00

We went to the greenbelt on the river this evening. The leaves were just right and the walk was exactly what we needed.

I took a few pictures. It was nice to have my camera back in my hand. I haven't been so good at taking pictures in the last few months. It's sad really.

Yes I threw a midnight sepia filter on this one. I couldn't help myself. I'm a tasteless girl who loves midnight sepia even though it's totally out of style now.We were getting ready to head back and I turned around and saw this:
"what are you doing, Libby?"
"Praying."
"how come?"
"Because I wanted to think about Jesus."
Isn't she the sweetest thing ever?
The picture above is Steve and Sarah waiting for a leaf to fall. They were trying to catch them. Sarah eventually managed it.

Honey Mustard Dressing

2009-08-18T09:23:00.002-06:00

I got to have a day out with two of my sisters and my mom on Friday. It was a great day and I had a lot of fun. While we were having lunch we talked salad dressings. They were all interested in the honey mustard dressing I use. So Mom, this is for you:

Alton Brown's Honey Mustard Dressing

5 T honey
3 T Dijon mustard
2 T mild vinegar (I like white wine vinegar, but plain white distilled works fine)

Wisk all the ingredients together. Makes about 2/3 of a cup of dressing.

That's it. I like to make it in the small bowl on my food processor. A blender would do a nice job with it as well. It's really quick to whip up and it works for just about everything. Alton recommends plain Dijon, but I found that grain mustard makes a delicious change. I bought a squeeze bottle to hold it for a buck that's perfect for drizzling a little dressing on my salad.

One goal down

2009-08-11T13:02:00.003-06:00

I've been trying to get healthier and loose weight for a long time. This spring, my friends and I stepped it up in our walking routine and we've been moving faster. I've done a few little things here and there. I haven't seen a lot of progress.

Steve says my stomach is smaller, which is a good thing. I don't really see it personally.

The really nice thing is that the scale told me today that I have officially lost ten pounds. It's taken me since early April to lose it, but it's gone. Maybe because I've done it so slowly it will actually stay off this time.

All I know is that it's very hard for me to lose weight. I know I can't do things drastically because it all falls apart after a few weeks. Then of course all the weight comes right back. My body seems to want to stick at a certain weight and stay there. As I've lost this weight, it's been done in very up and down, stop and start increments. It's like my body is slowly picking a new favorite weight each time. It's frustrating beyond belief to watch my weight fluctuate by five pounds over the course of a week. Slowly, however, I've made progress.

I don't actually expect my weight to stay at this ten pound loss for the rest of the week. I expect it to go up and down again. But a new low is a good thing. This means that eventually this will be my set weight and I can work from there.

I'm trying not to think about my ultimate goal weight. When I think how long it's taken me to lose 10 pounds, I just want to cry and give up to think of my weight loss journey lasting years and not months.

So I think a pound at a time. One new set weight. One pound more eased off. The next ten pounds by Christmas.

Wish me luck.

A Young Tim Burton

2009-08-05T20:22:00.003-06:00

Joshua's good friend introduced him to stop motion animation the other day. They used Lego people and a camera to make their films. Josh came home from his friend's house all fired up to make films of his own.

Thankfully Windows Movie Maker software is pretty easy to use. He spent an hour or so putting this together today:

Hopefully this new obsession will get him through the late summer boredom stage. I can't wait to see what the ogres do next.

My Creative Girl

2009-07-02T21:06:00.002-06:00

Rilla is my artist. She takes little pieces of paper and glues them into notebooks as collages. She loves to cut up construction paper. And best of all she loves to write poetry.

This is her latest:

Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head.
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

A little poem will sing to you
a little picture will bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance for you
at night when you're in bed.

She's nine. Yes, I'm very proud.

Fun with synonyms

2009-06-22T20:20:00.001-06:00

Last night Sarah and Joshua called us all to dessert. "who wants pie?!"

So we hustled ourselves to the table for the pie. Sarah stood there with a large cardboard sign that said: 3.14159265 . . . .

Luckily, she also really had a chocolate pie, so she didn't get beat up.

The Danger of Modern Children's Literature

2009-06-01T09:58:00.002-06:00

Matthew loves Duck For President. He's been reading it a lot this weekend.

This morning he sat down at the table with a pile of paper, crayons, and our copy of Duck for President. He told me it was a surprise and that I wasn't to look at what he was doing.

A couple of hours later, Matt announced the elections. He's running against Steve for boss of the house. He has election posters ready and even created a sign tent to hang over his torso. "Vote for Matt for no chores!" they proclaim.

His siblings are trying to convince him that running a household is too hard and someone has to clean so if there's no chores he'd have to do it all. I told them to lay off. Hey, if Matt wins, I can get him to pay the bills and cook dinner.

One more room down

2009-05-26T11:01:00.002-06:00

well, not quite. But the upstairs bathroom is now usable again. We tore it apart about a month ago and it's been a long slog to get it put all pack together. I'd show pictures but those will have to wait until we're done with it.

We laid the tile on Saturday, I laid it, Steve cut. Monday morning bright and early, we grouted. Monday evening we installed the vanity, including the granite counter top with wide spread faucet, and the toilet. The new tub has been in for a couple of weeks. It's full size porcelain on steel with a white tile surround. It's definitely an upgrade from the previous fiberglass tub and surround that we didn't know weren't full sized until the new tub was brought in. How do you miss that? I don't know, it's the only tub in the house and I tend to not shower with a measuring tape in hand.

I appreciate having two working toilets in the house again and it was wonderful to shower today. Our second bath is a 3/4 with a small 30" shower. It's impossible to shave one's legs properly in a 30" shower.

I can't wait to show pictures. We still have to get the mirror hung, the over head light and the towel bars up. When that's all done, I'll show it off. :)

He's always thinking

2009-05-24T11:16:00.002-06:00

We're in the middle of remodeling the upstairs bathroom. We've got the tub in and yesterday we painted and tiled the floor. There's no vanity or shower curtain up yet, so the room echos quite a bit.

We let the kids bathe in the tub today and Matt quickly discovered the joy of an echo-y room. "Echoooooooooooo! Eeeeeeeeeechooooooo!" he yelled, thoroughly enjoying himself with the sound of his own voice reflected back. Then he started off singing the theme to Crazy Frog. (If you don't know crazy frog, count yourself lucky.) He stopped for a minute.

Then came, "Daaaaad! Hey Dad!"

"Yes?" Steve called back.

"Dad, can you get me my kazoo?"

Ceremonies Before Their Time

2009-05-22T10:25:00.002-06:00

Sarah graduates today. She's not a child prodigy on her way to Harvard. Her school has 8th grade graduation. She left today with her make up in her bag (because heaven forbid she actually wear it to school for no reason) and her Christmas dress over one arm. The girls all get dressed after lunch and the ceremony is at one.

We've invited the grandparents and Steve is taking a half day from work. We might take the kids out for dinner if we're feeling flush.

That's about all the celebrating we'll do. We're not big 8th grade graduation people.

Oh, I was going to paint my toe nails in honor of the day, but I can't find my red polish.

But I am proud of her. Middle school has been really hard for her. She's having trouble balancing her work and her reading, what she needs to listen to and what she can tune out. She came very close to having to attend summer school this year but managed to pull herself back from the brink with a week of catch up work.

I also had to have her banned from the school library. I should have done it sooner. The librarian informed me that besides the two to three books she was bringing home every day, she was reading at least one or two during the day.

I don't think she realizes there's no Guinness record for most books read.

Totoally proud of myself

2009-05-08T12:19:00.002-06:00

I jogged today. Ok, it was only 410 meters (one lap on the outside lane) but I jogged dang it! I wasn't even huffing and puffing by the end, I sprinted my way to the end (at 10 m left.) and I feel good.

I've been exercising on a regular basis for several years now. I walk 3 miles a day 5 days a week. It's never left me feeling energized until lately. There's four of us now and we've all been really pushing each other to walk faster and really work hard. We were doing 15 minute miles, now we're down to 12 minute miles. Three of us are looking at running a 5k this fall. Just to say we did.

I came home this morning and I wasn't ready to sit yet. So I didn't. I mowed the lawn. We have a big lawn, so it took me an hour and a half. Then I came inside and started cleaning. I didn't let myself sit down until after 12 pm.

I'm tired now, but it was a good morning.

It's so funny to think that the reason I may not have been getting the adrenalin boost all these years is because I wasn't working hard enough. It's also nice to think to myself "ah, this is how other women keep their houses clean. They feel like this."

A Birthday Party

2009-04-21T10:30:00.002-06:00

This is Matt's Easter present. He and Joshua spent all week putting it together. When you activate the motion sensor, Mr. Dino roars and moves his head.

They finished the dinosaur on Saturday morning. Matt knocked on our door at 8am waking us up with two birthday invitations. It was Mr. Dino's birthday. So we made cupcakes.

And Matt and Josh helped Mr. Dino blow out the candles.

It's quiet.

2009-03-30T10:26:00.001-06:00

They've all gone back to school. Libby and I are still in PJs and there is no fighting or excessive whining going on. We did have a good break, but I am glad to get some quiet again.

Spring Break

2009-03-27T11:16:00.002-06:00

is almost over. The kids go back to school on Monday. We've had a good week, but I'm ready for my regular routine to be back. We've gone to the library several times this week because they have had activities nearly every day. Crafts and games and today is karaoke. We've had a bonfire supper at the grandparent's house.

And the big one is we've made lots and lots of stuff from the Toymaker. It's a website put up by a childrens book illustrator. She has paper dolls and little boxes to fold and pin wheels and cootie catchers and racing turtles and a little car and bunny bowling. It's kept the three youngest quite entertained.

My printer has been broken for six months and I finally went out and bought one last week because I wanted to be sure we could make Toymaker toys this week. Staples even had a rebate offer in place to make printer buying easier. Wasn't that nice of them? I'm very glad I did. Just watching them quietly cutting and pasting their little paper toys in near perfect harmony has been totally worth the price of the printer.

I don't play the games

2009-03-17T11:03:00.002-06:00

We don't have green eggs or green pancakes on St. Patrick's Day. I don't wear green, although I encourage my children to do so only to avoid the pinching thing. I'm not Irish or Catholic and I don't drink beer. What's to celebrate?

I do make corned beef every year. that's a tradition I can stand behind.

As long as there's no cabbage, because that's just going too far.

My mother better not gloat

2009-03-07T09:51:00.002-07:00

My oldest two children are not allowed to talk to one another today. I'm working on keeping them in separate rooms as well.

Oh and why is it that you can raise children from infancy properly pronouncing a word and they still say freaky things like seee-rup ten years later? They're all doing it now. It makes me want to ban Saturday morning pancakes just to avoid the word. sir-up. sir-up, sir-up. Thank you.

And which side of the bed do you think is the right one? huh? I personally would have preferred getting up on the side of the bed that didn't have arguing children. I might go back to bed and see if I can wake up right this time.

Some Days You Just Shouldn't Leave the House

2009-02-25T14:30:00.002-07:00

Today is Wednesday. That means it's library day at our house. The local library does a preschool reading hour on Wednesday mornings and Libby loves to go. I decided to brave it even though I'm watching my 1 year old nephew. (He tried running off last week and got halfway to the circulation desk before I caught him.)

Libby did not seem to be enjoying herself. Lately, she won't sit on the rug with the other kids during story time. She wants to just hang out by my knee the whole time. She won't participate in singing time either. I started feeling like it wasn't worth it to be there. Then she decided she didn't want to sit on the chair and do the craft.

I said it was time to go. All that was left was the craft and if she wasn't going to participate we didn't need to be there. The room was crowded and the children's reading area is pretty much reserved for story time during this hour. I told her she could choose three books and then we were leaving.

She said she didn't want to pick any books. I said fine let's go. I got her out of the children's reading area by carrying her. She started screaming that she did want three books, but there was no way in heck I was going back to a room full of sympathy smiles from the other mommies and a grimace from the children's librarian who already doesn't like me (no clue why really, she just doesn't like me or my kids.)

I had to carry Libby all the way out to the van. She fought me getting her back into her seat and buckled. This was all tons of fun to do while I also carried my one year old nephew who's completely confunded by her behavior.

As I finally got the buckle around my lovely little girl she let it drop: "I want a new mommy!" she sobbed.

As we drove down the street over and over I could hear from the back seat: "I want Jesus to make me a new Mommy!"

Lovely. She's going to be so fun at 16.

Faking It

2009-02-23T11:19:00.002-07:00

Our stake holds a sweetheart ball every year close to Valentine's Day. Steve and I always go. We have a great time and really enjoy getting out and dancing. We love going with friends because it gives us some camouflage for our goofiness.

Because we are goofy. Neither one of us has ever had any real dancing lessons (Beehive/Scout Cotillions don't count.) We really don't know what we are doing, but I learned a long time ago that if I just followed Steve I'd have a good time. He knows he can't look good trying to be serious, so he just acts goofy with as much confidence as possible.

We hit the dance floor and move all over pretending we know what we are doing when we don't. Sometimes we watch the other couples to see what they are doing. that's how we figured out this Waltz spin that's really fun to do. Of course, he can't just lead me into it, we have to discuss it first, "want to do the spin thing?" "which direction are we going?" "ok, we go . . . now!" Which cracks me up because the couples we're trying to copy just start spinning, no need to talk about it. Of course, neither of us is actually waltzing before we do the spin thing.

Fred and Ginger we are not.

So needless to say I was surprised to learn yesterday that there is a woman in our ward who thinks we are good dancers. It made me smile to hear her compliment. It also made me realize the power of confidence. If you have to fake it, fake it with feeling. You might actually fool someone.

The problem with lever handled door knobs

2009-02-17T11:23:00.002-07:00

is that your cat will figure out how to use them. Unfortunately, he won't open the bathroom door to get to his litter box if that's been closed accidentally. He only opens the laundry room door. His food is in the laundry room and he'll try and get in there even if he's been fed recently. Apparently, unlimited access to food behind a closed and latched door trumps the carefully measured food easily accessible in the food dish.

How times change

2009-02-13T09:40:00.003-07:00

I've been watching my children do valentines this week. We went to the store and chose the design they found most innocuous but still with the best cool factor. Then we brought them home so they could write their class names on them. This part is still the same as I remember. The class lists so no one gets forgotten or has their name misspelled. The careful selection of which design sends the least worst message to the person indicated. The neatly writing of the names at the beginning quickly degenerating into an illegible scrawl by the time you get to "to: Wally From: Amy." Poor Wally probably could never read any of the names on his Vallentines.

The difference is that my children never have to deal with stupid cards that say horrible things like "Be my Valentine!" or "Be mine!" I never wanted anyone to "Be mine!" yet every year I had to carefully separate out the "be mine"s from the "be my Valentine"s because the "be mine"s sent a slightly more ambiguous message and were the least worst choice for the boys in the class. There would be one or two designs that were message neutral (the beloved "Happy Valentine's Day!") and those went to the scuzzy boys that you didn't want to even get a whiff of the wrong idea much less look at it. Those neutral cards were highly prized and I never even had enough to cover the scuzzy boys much less the whole class.

Apparently though, other 70's-80's children remember the years of careful Valentine sorting in classes where everyone had to give to everyone. Those kids are now working for cheap Valentine corporations and designing those little cards that my kids give away every year. Not one of of these boxes of Valentines has a "Be mine!" anywhere near it. Matthew was sorting his animal designs by which animal he thought the kid might like. Rilla sorted them by which gender was pictured on the front of the card. Neither one of them had the horror of desperately trying not to make anyone think they were in love with them.

I love this so much that I might send a Valentine to the Valentine companies myself just as a thank you.

It won't say "Be mine!"

He Lived

2009-02-04T10:48:00.003-07:00

Last night Steve helped me make home made chicken nuggets. It's quite a process and since he requested them, I let him bread them while I baked oven fries and fried the chicken. The oven fries were a bit slower getting done than the chicken nuggets and Steve was feeling antsy for dinner. He kept opening the oven to peek in.

I said, "they'll be done a lot faster if you stop opening the oven door."

"oh yeah. Right." He says in his lovely regressed back 20 years voice. "I never took you for an old wife."

I had to inform him that it wasn't a superstition; it was scientific fact that the inside of an oven can drop by as much as 25 degrees every time you open the oven door, so every time he peeked he made dinner take just a little bit longer. He didn't believe me.

At this point he realized that I was starting to get a bit annoyed with him over this, so he, of course, had to wind me up. We had a lovely discussion where I was getting more annoyed and he was having more fun for the next couple of minutes before I declared dinner done just so I could get him to shut up.

My parting remark right before I took out the oven fries was something along the lines of "believe whatever you want, but an oven looses 25 degrees when you open the door."

"Oh sure" he said, "maybe in AAAAAAmy-land," drawn out and fully accented in the way only someone who made good use of his time as a 5th grade boy can do.

I was speechless. And annoyed. And holding a very hot pan of oven fries.

"That's a hot pan, isn't it?" he asked cringing.

"Yes, dear. It's 450 degrees hot."

"Well technically, it's 425 degrees hot."

And then the kids spent the rest of the night saying "Amy-land" to me and then giggling.

Just try and beat this cuteness

2009-01-30T14:52:00.005-07:00

This is Libby doing yoga.

You might recognize the white rectangle under her feet as a Wii balance board.
You might even recognize her yoga move.
It's a sun salutation. It's also her favorite. She's been caught trying to do it without the Wii Fit just because she felt like doing it again.
She works really hard at doing it right. This of course is not the sun salutation. It's a sit up maneuver that I don't even try to do. She doesn't care if it's hard. She just wants to play with the Wii like everyone else.

His Head is Banging

2009-01-29T10:25:00.002-07:00

Joshua recently discovered his dad's old Queensryche album. He steals my boom box and carries around the house with Queensryche turned up as loud as he dares listen to it. (seriously outdated term here. Is there another one or am I just a loser because I can't say he steals my iPod dock? and are we even bigger losers because he's listening to the original tape and not a CD even? Is the oringal tape vintage cool now? Should I not even mention that I still have the boom box Steve bought me for Christmas when we were engaged that doesn't even have a CD player, just a double tape deck? It does have a mic jack though so if you have the right cord it can be used as an MP3 player speaker thingy. We have the right cord. See? We're not totally stuck in 1985.)

The other day Joshua had a friend over. He told his friend to listen to the album because it was cool. (And you're missing out because you can't hear Joshua say cool. He says it in this intense, breathy way like being cool is the very best thing anything could be.) The friend listens for a minute and says, "hey, that sounds like the songs on Guitar Hero."

These boys make me feel old.

Sometimes it takes me awhile

2009-01-15T11:26:00.002-07:00

just as a reminder, we don't get very good TV reception. PBS only. Which means there's not a lot for me to watch during the day. Unless I want to spend the time between 1 and 3 watching a bad art show, a mediocre cooking show, and last night's Charlie Rose, there's nothing for grown ups until 7pm.

We also have an elliptical machine. It sort of faced the side of the entertainment center so you could kind of see a small bit of the tv if you craned your neck just right, which meant falling off the elliptical.

This meant that I had two things available to me to distract me from the fact that I was trying to kill myself through pain and torture: the clock and a book. The clock is a bad idea. the second hand moves too slowly and I feel every tick of the minute hand as a slow, rising burn in my thighs. The book is slightly better, but only slightly because I bounce on an elliptical. lots. The words get a bit shaky and hard to follow. I tried reading scriptures and exercising at the same time. Those tiny little lines are tough to read when they are bouncing up and down. I burned through my reading quickly but it's hard to get anything from it when I spent the last half of my reading time breathing fake curses under my breath and re-reading the last verse because the meaning of it escaped me the first three times through it.

Until yesterday. When I remembered that the eleptical is actually right next to my computer. The computer that has Hulu.com and instant viewing from Netflix. I've managed to up my exercise time by ten minutes just by forcing myself to keep going through two episodes of a sitcom. Of course, that means that Libby has to come and click the "next" and "full screen" buttons for me on the Netflix viewer, but hey, having a four year old who can read has to be good for something, right?

2009-01-08T19:18:00.002-07:00

I did some sewing this afternoon. I had this jumper cut out for Libby and i whipped it together in under an hour, standard stupid mistake included. (because I can't sew anything without making at least one stupid mistake and it's always different.)

Isn't she cute? She loves the jumper. Unfortunately, I forgot to measure for length and it's a bit shorter than than I like her dresses to be. Luckily the whole leggings with dresses thing is still popular. ;) The photo above is my favorite from this afternoon, however, Libby herself is more partial to the one below:Of course, she's four and sometimes her taste is a bit suspect.

She writes too.

2009-01-05T11:24:00.001-07:00

There's something about learning to read that makes children want to write as well. At least my children. Libby's reached that stage, now. Right now, she's sitting next to me with a drawing she did writing "once a upon a time" across the top.

Learning to read stories makes them all want to write stories, too.

At least my kids.

BTW, I forgot to take pictures of most of my Christmas gifts. I will try to get pics of the ones I gave the kids soon. I'm going to have to beg for pictures of the bunnies from my sister. They were really adorable.

Only Steve

2008-12-29T23:17:00.002-07:00

could make de-boning turkey soup into an anatomy lesson.

Steve cooks on Sunday. We had a turkey carcass in the fridge that absolutely had to be used by Sunday. I helped him make soup. This meant that he got to do the yucky job of separating out the meat from the bones after the broth had boiled for several hours. H started pulling out bones and naming the parts to the kids. He pointed out all the different parts of a back bone and talked about how it related to a human back bone. He even told the kids what part of the body the wishbone is, something I didn't even know. (It's the bird's collar bone.)

Sarah and Joshua were fascinated.

I just had to laugh. Only Steve would find a way to make bird bones interesting.

Everything is Cuter When It's Small

2008-12-12T14:11:00.003-07:00

Especially houses.

It opens up to show a little front yard and a wild wallpaper. This is a doll house I made for one family of nieces and nephews. There are four kids all under eight in the family. I think they will enjoy this. I followed the pattern on the blog UK Lass in the US.
I made mine a little bit bigger, 5x5x7 rather than 4x4x6. If I were to make one that size again it would be a 5x5x8 because of the construction method the bigger side would be easier to work with. I will be making another one for Libby because I think she would fall apart if she doesn't get one complete with a bunny family to go inside. (She's sitting on my lap reading as I type and just giggled and danced at the very mention of it.) I will also be doing either button tabs or velcro tabs in the future because the elastic was so hard to work with and I'm having a hard time with one loop in particular. I am also making a little barn (shown in the same link) for my nephew for Christmas.

If you do want to make one of these, keep in mind they take a long time to make. I invested over six hours in that house yesterday. I think a second one won't take quite so much time, but I don't think I'll save much more than an hour if I'm lucky.

They are worth it though. :) This house is the epitome of cuteness.

All Done

2008-12-08T18:37:00.003-07:00

With the Christmas dresses anyway. I still have several more projects to do.

Sarah looks cute doesn't she?

She says thank you.

She likes to curtsy too. I think she's the one that taught it to Libby actually. Notice the cummerbund just like her sisters? I'm feeling particularly clever these days. You should see the doll dress that looks exactly like one of Libby's summer dresses right down to the orange ribbon. (You probably will after Christmas. It's a present.)

oh and spin. Every girl loves to spin. She has a bow in back too.

We started a little later than I wanted to when we headed out, but the positive side was I got sunset pictures.

Another mouth to feed

2008-12-01T17:09:00.002-07:00

This is Leo.

Leo is just your average orange tabby. He's also a bit camera shy so this is the best I've got. It's not even Caterday worthy. We'll have to work on that.

He's technically Joshua's cat. We had a friend who had managed to acquire too many pets and asked us to take one of their cats for them. They offered the cat that Josh had bonded with this summer. He's cuddly and playful, not mean in anyway. He also doesn't really like Peaches, but he'll just have to deal with that.

If it weren't for the fact that his litter box stinks to high heaven all the time, I'd be 100% for the little guy. I can't handle litter box stench. Joshua is required to clean it out every morning and we're using expensive "multiple cat" litter. Not helping. What's also not helping is the fact that the cat keeps missing. How can he not know his butt's in the wrong place?

As soon as he's fixed (Thursday) he'll be more of an indoor/outdoor cat and hopefully that will translate to less litter box stench. I need less stench.

Marilla's Christmas Dress

2008-11-15T17:01:00.003-07:00

I finished Marilla's dress! I'm losing a bit of steam lately on these projects I need to get moving faster if I'm going to be done with all my Christmas projects in time.

anyway, same pattern as Libby's, and to be frank the same size around, but a size 6 in length. Rilla's a skinny one. ;)
Gotta have the big bow. Rilla's sash is cut from the border design, so I left them rectangular to show off the print better.

With Rilla's I also cut the bodice from the border and left her cummerbund removable. I doubt we'll ever wear it without the cummerbund, but it does give us another option if we want it.

Detail shot of the edge of the skirt. I do love this fabric. I love the green and black and gold on this. So pretty.

And of course, the doll, Gracie, got a matching dress!

Whew! Now onto Sarah's. Hers is turquoise and her border design has elephants in it. She wants a cummerbund and full skirt as well. We chose the pattern for the bodice style we like and I'll cut a skirt in a basic rectangle to fit like we want it to fit. The rectangle shape isn't the most flattering skirt shape but it has to be that way so we don't cut off the poor elephants.

Nothing To Say

2008-11-14T11:32:00.002-07:00

Really. I feel like I need to update my blog but nothing much has happened this week worth reporting.

I have a few more wrestling pictures from Sarah's last match. She lost both matches but she fought hard. Both wrestlers were more experienced than she is and were able to control the match.

Joshua is obsessed with paper airplanes. He makes several a day, throws them around the house, and then leaves them there on the floor. He keeps trying to find the perfect paper airplane, whatever that means.

Rilla is excited to get to try on her Christmas dress today. I'll be sewing in the zipper today and finishing the cumberbund. It looks like Libby's except hers is green.

Matt is still a spelling freak. Libby brought home magnetic letters from a library reading class this week and it's Matt who plays with them. He loves to spell words. Word World on PBS is his favorite TV show.

Libby decided to make a shopping list this week. We needed TOES (toys) and a princess car. She is writing more words now that she's more comfortable with reading. She's progressing well and is now about a mid 1st grade reading level.

Tomorrow we're going to do family pictures and we're going to the zoo. We tried to go last week but the Africa exhibit was closed and that's the reason we were going. I'm excited to get to use one of the parks in Boise for the pictures. I'll have lots to say next week, I'm sure.

She's a Winner

2008-11-10T12:04:00.003-07:00

It was a pin in the second round. (Sarah's the one in red.)

She fought hard and was really tough. The other girl never had a chance really. Steve was so proud he could have burst. Of course, he spent the whole match yelling instructions to her from the stands. I doubt she could hear him, but he yelled them anyway.

She has at least a meet a week until the end of the season. I think she's even more excited now that she has a win notched in her belt.

Target practice

2008-11-08T12:24:00.003-07:00

No really. I did go target shooting. I know, not exactly in my normal character. I'm a peer pressure pushover though, so when my friends decided the wives needed to join their husbands on the shooting range, I followed along.

I shot a 22 rifle, some pistol that I can't remember what it was, a Glock with a silencer (that was easier than the one without the silencer to aim,) a small .22 pistol, and the one that will make my brother jealous: an AR-15 assault rifle. Yeah, one of those army type guns.

I discovered that rifles are easier to aim than a pistol. that I need to shoot rifles left handed or I can't aim a thing. Being left eyed and right handed doesn't exactly line up the barrel right. But I did best with the big army gun because it had a scope. Once they adjusted the stock so it fit me, I did pretty well.

My friends were impressed anyway.

Steve was not impressed when the girls went the car and visited instead of watching the menfolk shoot clay pigeons. Apparently we were supposed to be sitting in the car ooohing and ahhhing over their rifle shooting prowess. He should have warned me.

I wish I had pictures but I forgot my camera. dang it. I totally planned to bring it and then didn't grab it before we left. It would have been cool to have a picture of my shooting the AR-15 right about here:

You'll have to use your imagination.

Libby's Dress

2008-11-06T16:03:00.002-07:00

They match.

And you can cursty in it.
With the requisite big bow.

I think she's happy. Don't you?

Experimenting in the Kitchen

2008-11-03T20:41:00.003-07:00

I have quite a bit of fresh herbs I rescued from my herb garden before it got too cold. Lots of lemon thyme (love it so much more than standard), mint, Oregano, and a bit of basil. I have no clue what to do with most of it now that it's sitting in my refrigerator. Today I decided to experiment a bit with the mint just for fun. This is what I came up with:

Creamy Mint Risotto

2 c Arborio rice

2 T butter

1/2 sweet onion, like Walla Walla or Vidalia, chopped fine
5 c chicken broth (aprox. 3 cans if that's what you use)
4 t finely chopped mint leaves
1/4 c Romano cheese
1/2 c sour cream

Melt the butter over medium heat. Add onion and sprinkle with a dash of salt. Cook until onion is soft. Add rice and cook stirring until edges of rice turn translucent. Begin adding chicken broth. Start with 1 c. and stir until the broth is absorbed into the rice. Add rest of chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time, cooking until broth is absorbed between each addition. Cook until all broth is absorbed and the rice is soft and creamy. Reduce heat to low. Stir in mint and cheese then add sour cream.

I garnished mine with a mint sprig because I've got plenty, and served it with pork chops. I think it would also be good with chicken flavored with a mild marinade. Risotto can be heavy and rich, but the mint lightens the dish as a background note. It was very good. Let me know if you try it and like it.

Stupid

2008-10-30T12:22:00.002-06:00

computer that is. I have no clue where the supposed "virus" is on my blog. I have no clue how it could have gotten on the page or why it's so "dangerous" when you don't actually download files from here, but whatever.

So if anyone can give me an idea of how to fix the virus warning I'm getting from my virus protection program, I'd love to know. It tells my it's in my temporary Internet files, but I can't get to the right folder to delete the problem. How do I get there, because the "my computer" file route isn't giving me what I need.

sigh.

and my bum still hurts. new guess is that I did break my tail bone rather than just bruise it. Lovely.

But in good news, I have Libby's Christmas dress half done and the matching doll dress completely done. I'm excited because they are matching what I pictured in my head when I planned them and I love it when that happens. Pictures coming soon.

Why you should ignore dirty towels after 11pm

2008-10-20T14:53:00.003-06:00

I fell down the stairs Saturday night. thank you all for your sympathetic wincing. I do appreciate it. There were dirty dish rags in the sink, leftovers from the all day apple cider making marathon (50 quarts, btw.) I thought to myself, "I'll just take these downstairs and get them in the laundry now so the sink doesn't stink in the morning." Myself was interested in the idea and agreed to go along with it.

The dog agreed to go along with me too, although I didn't invite her. She decided to lead the way and then about halfway down the stairs she thought better of that without telling me. That's when I slipped. The first step wasn't that bad. It was the other two that did me in.

Luckily nothing is broken, but sitting is somewhat painful. So is walking. Standing's not so bad until my feet get tired.

I'm just so looking forward to sitting on the bleachers for Joshua's last football game tonight. I did manage to get out of church (yea! I got to lay down instead of sit on hard chairs for three hours.) but I don't think I'm getting out of this football game. He sort of needs me there.

Following in Daddy's (sport) Shoes

2008-10-15T20:36:00.002-06:00

Sarah signed up for a sport today. She didn't tell us she was going to do this and she didn't really plan it. Some of her friends were going to sign up, so she joined in on a lark. One of the boys razzed them, not believing they would follow through and really join the team. This, of course, made Sarah even more determined to join.

So my daughter is now a wrestler. A wrestler. I'm still very uncertain about all of this. Part of me wants to put my foot down and tell her no, say it's not appropriate, good girls don't wrestle. Part of me is ready to go cheer her on. It's tearing me up.

Daddy, of course, is all for it. "Right on!" he said when he heard the news. He's very excited for her and happy she wanted to join the team.

The coach, strangely enough is happy to have girls on the team as well. He's already planning on the purchase of girls' singlets for the team. It surprises me that they make such a thing as girls' singlets, but I guess times have changed.

We're a long way from the instigation of Title 9. I guess we'll see how my girl does in the 105 weight class. She's strong and she's stubborn. Sort of like the perfect mix of her mom and her dad.

Following Through

2008-10-11T22:30:00.002-06:00

I love to look at magazines. I especially love the ones like Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart with their lovely picture perfect homes. I love the dinner party ideas with decorations and themes and great food. I always wanted to have a real dinner party with friends. I wanted them to show up dressed up and eat under candle light. I've wanted this for years.

Tonight I finally did it.

I served dinner to ten of my very best friends. We sat twelve at two tables pushed together. I always said my house was too small for parties but it fit us all just fine with the couch taken out of the living room. I made table clothes and napkins. I decorated with gourds and silk leaves and cute little acorns. I cooked all day and served, to be completely immodest, a very good four course dinner.

I had a moment when we sat down to eat, everyone paused just before the prayer, where I felt overwhelmingly grateful for the chance to be together as friends. I admit I teared up just a little. It felt so good to finally follow through.

There's something I've learned from my friends this year. It's something I thought I had learned back in college, to be honest. Just do it. You want to do something? You want to go somewhere? Just do it. We've had a great year with lots of socializing with lots of people. When my friends say "we need a girls' night." We all say "how's Saturday for you?" and it happens.

I love that.

I can be a very passive person. It has been a great lesson for me to break out of my shell and really actively pursue friendships and a social life. I've been a lot happier.

Two of our friends who sat at that table with us are moving shortly. We'll never again all sit around a table together. I can almost kick myself for not having a party sooner so this wouldn't have been the first party; it would have been the third or the fourth or whatever. I won't let time pass me by again.

I'm tired. My feet hurt. I never want to look at chicken cordon bleu again. I don't care because it was all worth it. I followed through and it was everything I hoped it would be.

I have a book, do you have a book?

2008-10-06T09:43:00.002-06:00

My friend Helena sent us a present a while ago. She sent us The Happy Hocky Family. You need to have this book too. It's about a first grade reading level (slightly higher in places). Libby can read it and she loves it now.

Non-buyers remorse

2008-10-03T12:16:00.002-06:00

We got a new bed last weekend. It's new to us anyway. We are in that socio-economic bracket where getting used furniture from relatives is still considered a good thing. It's not one I would have chosen, being dark cherry stained and very fussy, a tall, carved fourposter with acorn finials. We have to climb into it every night because it's so much higher than our last bed (Hollywood frame, no headboard.) It's nice and the mattress is better than what we had previously.

Even though I'm happy to have a bed and not just a frame (which was totally a step up from the years we just left the bed on the floor. I can't believe I just admitted that.) It still doesn't fit my picture of what I want my bedroom to be.

The other day I was just browsing at Overstock in the bedding department and ran across this bed set: Branches It would have been perfect for my room. The french blue, the modern pattern that would tie the simple lines I love in with the dark cherry fussiness of the bed. Perfect.

Only I didn't buy it. they sold out of the queen size of course. I hate it when I do that.

I do try to keep our budget in check. I want to be better with our finances and so I will deny myself things I want. For the most part, this is a good thing, but this time I'm sad and I'm annoyed with myself and now I hate my bedding set because it's not french blue with cream colored branches.

small notes

2008-09-30T13:00:00.003-06:00

--I love the beautiful gloss grape jelly takes on the minute you add the sugar to the juice. So pretty. I'm about 1/3 of the way through my jam project.

--It's scary how high Libby can get a swing going all by herself. She doesn't need me to push her because she can pump her way right up until the swing's so high she squeals with little thrills of fake fear.

--Joshua it seems doesn't want me to wash his football pants because then the lovely, bright white makes him "look like one of the wimps that don't play!" Two weeks down, four to go in the season. He doesn't carry the ball but he's a wide receiver. He's one of the boys that goes out and tells the quarterback what the play should be, you know the boys who rotate on and off the field every play.

--Life is easier with my new kitchen. Six months later I'm still in love. I've been canning nearly all month and I've yet to get frustrated enough to throw something. Last time I tried canning in my old kitchen I believe at least one hot pad and a wooden spoon went flying toward a wall. (not at any heads, Mom. I'm a big girl now.) There's a huge difference between 10 square feet of counter top and 50 square feet of counter top.

--I'm editing too many pictures. It was a lovely wedding, shot all in digital of course. I enjoyed being able to just get pictures developed and hand them off back in the day (and I miss my eye control focus on my film camera.) 200 pictures down, 500 pictures to go. I need to find my wrist brace. ouch.

We found one!

2008-09-02T13:15:00.003-06:00

See?

We actually found two and a half yesterday. Sarah's holding the one she found. It was a toughie. We almost gave up and were about to give up when I found the annoying little note that said "keep looking," which of course annoyed us all enough to keep us hunting. We didn't bring anything to trade but we remembered to sign the log that time.

The first one of the day was harder than it should have been. It's supposed to be a three part hunt but we only found the first marker and couldn't even get to the second set without going on private property. We figure we're doing something wrong there.

The second one we gave up on after looking for 15 minutes and only finding an animal carcass and poison ivy (which we all avoided thank goodness.) The one Sarah is holding in the picture is our third cache we looked for. The fourth was also successful. I found that.

I have to report that the kids had a ball. They were sad when we had to quit; they asked when we could go out geocaching again. I can see why it's become so popular. It's so easy to just grab a few and it's perfect for families.

If you don't have a handheld GPS unit, you can also try Letterboxing. It's what geocaching started as and is still going on. There are websites for it too.

For the geocaching coordinates, we started at http://www.geocaching.com/ It's a huge website and it has the capability of downloading the coordinates directly to our Garmin GPS. (which is good because Sarah's lost the instruction book and we can't figure out how to enter coordinates when you aren't standing at the place you want to find.)

Late to the Party

2008-08-31T21:27:00.002-06:00

again.

We went Geocaching for the first time today. Sarah's had a GPS unit for over a year and we've always planned on using it to go. (She won it during a review quiz on a field trip. It pays to pay attention!)

I went online today and not only discovered a fun site that listed several hundred thousand caches, I found there were two within walking distance of our house. www.geocaching.com will even download the coordinates directly to Sarah's Garmin GPS.

I've already downloaded 11 more cache sites in the area and that will be our Labor Day activity with the kids. I'm excited about it.

I think this time I'll remember to take the camera.

It's Not Exactly Reverent

2008-08-24T21:02:00.003-06:00

My husband has a game he plays with the kids at church. They get bored and start begging dad to "make my hand white." This means he has them put their hand in a fist and then Steve proceeds to rub the blood out of the hand, pushing back through to the wrist.

This has the disturbing effect of making their hands look just like a corpse. Right there in church. It's startling and something about the whole game just seems so irreverent. They of course love it.

I just try very hard not to look. It's unsettling to know what my child's hand would look like if there were no blood running through it anymore. It's like he's taken my deepest fears and sat them down next to me in a place where I should be safe from fears.

To the kids it's just a game. They have no associations with death and corpses. they just think it looks cool. Dad just thinks it looks cool.

Mom just thinks she should probably not read so many murder mysteries.

It always has to be big

2008-08-22T11:13:00.002-06:00

My kids' play. When they do stuff it's much more often some big imaginative play. They don't just sit and build with blocks or Polly Pockets. They have to build with Lego and then create a Lego museum and everyone is going to come to the Lego museum and they can charge admission and then . . . . see? Big. Poor Barbies. Left out in the cold.

Rilla decided yesterday that she was going to be a magician. She practiced her disappearing acts and her switching tricks. She wore a costume. She then declared that she was going to put on a show. This means she'll need tickets. She spent 15 minutes this morning hand writing those out.

She's crazy. Although maybe not quite as crazy as Libby who chooses to wear the same play dress every single day.

First Day of School

2008-08-21T11:03:00.002-06:00

yup, school time is back. Thank goodness. I'm glad to get my routine back. My house hasn't been this clean all summer long. Mostly because I'm the one cleaning it this time. there was no way I was cleaning up their messes this summer. They had to do that and they tend to miss corners and skip the vacuuming. ;)

Here's our back to school pic. Aren't they cute? I do it in front of the same tree every year so I get a visual record of how they've grown. Sigh. I still remember the first back to school picture with Sarah in her braid getting off her first ride on the school bus, barely five years old.

As Promised

2008-08-20T12:55:00.002-06:00

Sarah's hair:

Cute huh? I'm used to it now.

My Husband is very different from me

2008-08-13T23:45:00.004-06:00

Today Steve locked his keys in the car, luckily we have roadside assistance for him (and luckily he was in town and not at work.) He called from home because his cell was in the car and then went out to the car about 15 minutes before the tow truck was going to be there.

The tow truck that took two hours and a couple of phone calls from my end to get it to actually show up. After this time I was spitting nails for Steve's sake. That kind of wait was completely unacceptable. 30-45 minutes for the on call guy to wrap things up and drive five minutes to the car? you bet. no problem. 2 hours? no. not even close.

The boss finally shows up completely apologetic. Steve's fine. Don't worry about it he says. No big deal. Hey, he finished two songs! It was productive time!

Good thing he was the one waiting for the tow truck.

He may also have been fine with the wait because he got out of helping clean the bedroom.

I love my neighbors!

2008-08-09T13:02:00.002-06:00

I have found someone who can help me modify patterns! whoohoo! She's going to help me do two blouses Monday. She also is in the process of opening a fabric store here in town. I told her if she had a class to teach pattern modification, I would totally sign up. Oh and one on pattern making. wouldn't that be cool?

Good Luck

2008-08-08T12:12:00.002-06:00

So I'm babysitting full time now. Just one two year old, which gives me my two year old fix (I love kids that age, so adorable) and some money at the same time. Between gas prices and my husband's appendix, we had to do something. Oh and my amazing lack of practical skill with money. We should have more than we do because I know all the theories about how to handle money. It's like the stuff melts.

We're attending a couple's dinner for church this evening. I'm supposed to bring a dessert, so I made a cheesecake. Rasberry chcolate swirl cheesecake. Yeah, I'm a show off. I can't help myself. I love baking and making lovely desserts and I have this itty bitty little vanity problem. Just a little one. really. I like to picture people telling me how delicious my dessert is and asking for the recipe and telling me how awesome I am. Just a little vanity, perfectly normal I'm sure.

I've also got the day off today and all I've done is bake a cheesecake. I need to get my hair cut (no idea how) go to JoAnn, sew buttons on a shirt, and start on other sewing projects. But hey, I learned how to make custom Flair on Facebook. That's good right?

It would be an early morning

2008-07-31T20:12:00.002-06:00

I'm half considering waking my sweetie up at 2am tonight (or this morning or whatever.) It would be the 15th anniversary of our engagement. A pretty good milestone if you ask me, and of course, it looks even better knowing we just celebrated the 15th anniversary of the day we met two weeks ago.

Love you, babe. I'd go ahead and post lots of lovey dovey private like things here but those things are always better in person anyway. ;)

Not Dead Yet

2008-07-30T21:29:00.002-06:00

So yeah, I disappeared. Life caught up with me. I'm getting maybe two turns on the computer per week this summer and somehow finding out who the Fug Girls have dissed lately is more important than updating which book I read that day on my blog.

I've learned that it really is better for me to not go to the library, that I'm not the type of gardener who should venture past petunias, that tomatoes can grow in a garden full of three foot weeds, that husbands probably shouldn't put together swing sets the week after surgery (but they will anyway just to keep the wife from doing it all herself), that children get tired of each other about six weeks into summer vacation, and parents get tired of summer vacation about three weeks before that.

I'll post pics of Sarah's new hair cut soon. Well as soon as I can kick a kid off the computer long enough to download the pics, edit the pics, and post the pics. It's cute but very dramatic. I'm still getting used to it.

I might post pics of the swing set. That might be pushing it, though. I still have at least three quarters of the library left to read.

Bragging

2008-06-12T22:17:00.001-06:00

Libby read Dick and Jane to me this evening. That's right. She read.

She's three.

Yes, I'm proud.

Regrets

2008-06-11T11:33:00.002-06:00

I have a major regret from my college years. (Not the student loan thing, although those suck) I wish very much that I had taken a pattern making class. With all the sewing I'm doing lately, I'm finding it very difficult to find patterns to fit the clothes I have pictured in my head. It's very frustrating.

Especially since pattern companies didn't get in on the vanity sizing act and a size 16 in patterns is exactly the same size it was 30 years ago and most definitely to small to fit my normally size 16 chest. About 3-4 sizes to small. Which means I must buy plus size patterns.

Plus size patterns stink. That's all I'm saying. For the most part, the blouses are all either basic button up or a tunic. I look terrible in a tunic. Since I have an hour glass figure and gain weight proportionally all over my body, wearing an item of clothing that hangs straight down is exactly the wrong look for me. I basically look about 20-30lbs heavier. It's awful.

I want a plus size blouse pattern that is shaped at the waist. I want a feminine blouse pattern, with gathers and shaping and cute sleeves. Apparently, I want too much. Hence my desire for a pattern making class. If I had, I could at least have the skills to alter existing patterns to fit me and maybe even design some cute patterns of my own.

Of course, since I can't even manage to get the clothes I have patterns for sewn, It doesn't seem to make that much difference anyway.

Goal today: at least cut out the brown skirt.

The Ultimate in Geek Achievements

2008-06-07T16:15:00.002-06:00

The other morning I walked into the living room to see Matt sitting at the table with a paper and dice. He was rolling the die and writing down the result on his paper, a D&D character sheet.

My children all decided the other day to put together a D&D group. Four character sheets were printed off the D&D website and they spent the afternoon filling out all the proper places on the sheets. Joshua also e-mailed his older cousin to be sure he brought his DM books for the summer so the cousin could be DM when he came to play at our house.

So I have achieved that ultimate: I have raised geek children.

All Is Forgiven

2008-06-04T19:25:00.003-06:00

Of course, you knew I forgave my husband shortly after his gift faux pas Saturday, didn't you? Because you know the secret to a happy marriage, right?

Forgiveness.

Get over the slights. Get over the weird stuff that comes out of their mouths. Chances are they didn't mean to hurt or say something off.

Anyway, I was feeling down yesterday and Steve noticed. I didn't tell him what was wrong until today, but he worried about me and wanted to make me feel better. This afternoon he called me from his cell and told me to come look out the living room window. I arrived in time to watch him pull onto our block in the world's most perfect car: The BMW Roadster. Sigh. Sweet little black convertible with only two seats and a five speed on the floor. He borrowed it from a local car dealership to take me out for a drive, only I got to drive.

Yeah, I'm not a car girl, but that was fun. I'm a bit out of practice driving a stick. I could sure get used to that car though. It's a 97 and quite reasonably priced and it gets good gas mileage (allegedly.)

It would mean starting back up with car payments though and I'm not ready for that no matter how cute the car. I sure enjoyed my joy ride, though.

PS. Steve wants to know about how he forgave me. He has his own blog though. Tell your own side of the story, buddy.

News Flash: Men are weird

2008-06-02T21:31:00.002-06:00

This year for Mother's Day I got a grocery store card clumsily handed to me in the middle of church. that was it. No gift, not even a chocolate bar. I was moderately ok with this. I hadn't made a big deal about the big day or anything, so whatever. He usually gets me something nice, so one year of nothing shortly after getting a new kitchen is a forgivable offense.

Until Saturday.

I said: "what do you want for Father's Day."

Instead of giving the only appropriate response I would give in simmilar circumstances, namely, "oh nothing dear. You didn't get anything for your day, so we'll skip my day too." He actually gave me some suggestions for gifts he might like.

The only thing that kept me from decking him is that his suggestions were all under $20.

Unusual ingredient

2008-06-01T19:57:00.003-06:00

Ever had Jello cookies? When I was a kid, one of my aunts brought a cookie recipe with her when she came to visit. The official name was "Pastel Cookies" and they were pastel colored spritz cookies. I remember them, though, by their secret ingredient, you guessed it, Jello.

The Jello gives them a fruity tartness and a fun color. I imagine they were invented in the 50's or 60's back when Jello had it's heyday and everyone was trying to invent a new Jello recipe. My favorite flavor is strawberry, but lime and orange are both good. Just about any Jello flavor will work, although you'll get a better lemon cookie with a standard spritz recipe and lemon extract.

I had forgotten about these for years until last week when Libby requested I make "pink cookies." She had never had pastel cookies before; she just loves pink. Her favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry only because it's pink. Anyway, I dug through my recipe box and couldn't find the official recipe. I called my mom, but she was no help, having throw the recipe out after giving me her cookie press. In desperation, I turned to my new old copy of James Beard's American Cookery (purchased at a second hand store for all of 50 cents.) I took his recipe for spritz cookies and adapted it. It's a fun cookie that kids love. The bright colors make them perfect for a baby shower or a wedding shower, just change the flavor to match the theme. These are slightly more tough than I like a spritz cookie to be (I blame the gelatin), but the novelty of the Jello makes up for it.

Pastel Cookies:
1 c butter
1/3 c white sugar
1 package Jello (not sugar free!)
1 egg or 3 egg yolks
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c flour
1/8 t salt (unless using salted butter. Keep in mind Jello has salt in it)

Cream the butter until very light and fluffy. Cream in the sugar and Jello gradually, and continue beating until very light. Beat in the egg and flavoring. Sift the flour with the salt and add to the mixture. Do not over beat. Press through a cookie press onto cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees until the bottom of the cookies turn light tan. The edges will be dry and starting to color as well. Be careful not to over bake. Remove from pan immediately and cool before eating. These cookies are actually best if given a day to rest and mellow before eating. Makes 6-7 dozen depending on cookie shape.

Long time no see

2008-05-30T17:44:00.003-06:00

I hope most of you have me on a feed, otherwise you may have given up on me ever updating again. I didn't get sucked into my kitchen (although I'm still enjoying it. You have no idea how nice it is to actually cook these days.) I've actually be taken prisoner by my sewing machine.

I made these:

Isn't she cute? I also used the same pattern to make a sun dress. That is a green background with a butterfly print. Also cute and adorable but I can't get Libby to try it on. She seems to think that dresses are only for Sunday. I hope she gets over that soon. That sundress counts as part of her summer wardrobe.

Matt's pirate shorts. Every time I've gotten the sewing machine out these past few months, he's asked me if I was making something for him. Poor kid. He just doesn't look good in a dress and I hate sewing pants with zippers. I did set aside an hour to make him pirate shorts. They made him happy which made the shorts worth it.

Speaking of pants with zippers, the zipper in these was a pain. I loved the way the looked so much that I bought more plaid to make her another pair.

Right now I'm working mostly on Libby's summer wardrobe. I don't have a lot put away for her this year and I'm enjoying sewing so much that I've decided to make quite a bit for her. So far I've made three pair of shorts, two dresses (one is for Sundays), and a t-shirt for her.

When I'm done sewing for Libby, I get to start sewing for me. That makes me really happy.

Falling in Line

2008-04-25T21:21:00.002-06:00

I read a blog at www.thepioneerwoman.com every day. She's funny and wise and takes great pictures. She's also a pretty good cook and keeps a recipe section at her website with step by step instructions. Most of what she posts is pretty down home stuff, lasagna, dump cake, doughnuts, etc. Things for which I already have recipes I love. However, there are lots of women out in cyber space singing the praises of PW mashed potatoes (She puts in cream cheese and lots of butter. I already knew that secret.) I did keep an eye on the site though just in case she posted something I might want to try.

She did this week: risotto. I've always been curious about the stuff, heard foodies rave about it and all that. It's just tediously cooked rice, right? A few months ago though, Steve took me to a nice restaurant where I was served risotto as a side dish. It was heavenly. Risotto is pilaf on steroids. Creamy, savory, cheesy.

However, the standard risotto recipe starts by dumping a cup of white wine into the rice. I don't cook with wine because I don't buy wine or keep it in my home. Pioneer Woman saved me though. Her risotto is a complete teetotaler. No alcohol allowed. Anyway, go to this web page right here and cook some. It's not cheap. I spent over $10 on enough risotto to feed 4-6 adults a side portion. I served it with a romaine salad and grilled chicken but next time I'm going to serve it with Chicken Kiev.

Update? what update?

2008-04-16T11:49:00.003-06:00

ooooh, this update.

The kitchen is almost done. It only waits on money to finish it. We still need to buy the lighting and the tile for the back splash. I'm ok with that because I used to have an ugly old kitchen that looked like this:

yes, it was that bad. Those cabinets you see there? That was all I had. (I used to laugh at my mother when she would tell me how badly I needed a rice cooker. Where was I going to put a rice cooker??) The entry into the living room is there to the left beyond the fridge. The entry into the kids' rooms and the basement is down photo to the right. The kids would be running through the kitchen all day long and trying to play in there while I cooked. The cabinets were original but I believe that nasty floor was updated in the late 60's. I could be wrong, of course.

However, the lack of new lights and back splash is easy to get over because now I have this:

yeah, I think I could find somewhere for a rice cooker now.

This is the view from the living room:

The cabinet that faces the living room is my game cupboard. I love that I can keep a better eye on the games and it encourages the kids to play them on the table. I need more bar stools, too. The bar will fit five stools, just right for breakfast time.

and the view from the kitchen into the living room:

Isn't it pretty? The counter tops are Formica with a solid surface edging in a color that's very close to the floor tile. I love the way it ties it all together. I went with half cup drawer pulls and simple knobs. The microwave on the counter top will be replaced with an over the stove model. You can't see the best part of my kitchen in these pictures: the dishwasher. sigh. I love my dishwasher. My dishes actually get done and when they aren't done they are hiding away so no one knows there are dirty dishes in the house. Isn't that lovely?

Tired

2008-03-30T00:18:00.002-06:00

We painted this morning. I was still feeling chipper and full of energy after that, so we decided we had time to tile the kitchen, too.

I have a chemical burn on my arm from tile mortar, a blister behind my right knee from the knee pads, and mortar stuck in my cuticles. We aren't done yet. I still have two full tiles and quite a bit of partials to go.

I'm not feeling a bit chipper. And my Italian Soda was flat.

What's a Little Remodeling Without a Few Tears

2008-03-27T14:17:00.002-06:00

The original part of our house is on a slab, this includes the kitchen. I was not surprised at all when the plumber declared that there was nothing we could do to reconnect the hot water except open up the concrete. The slab had been broken into before and a lovely patch job about a foot wide lay all down the length of the kitchen. This made it easy to see where we needed to open the floor to find the pipes.

That was of course nearly three weeks ago now. In the meantime we have had to stare at a badly done patch all down the length of the kitchen, a concrete patch that was raised above the rest of the floor by at least 1/4", which might as well be a foot when you are laying tile over it. More than one person suggested we just break open the patch all the way down the floor and redo it. Concrete is cheap and patching the piping mess really wasn't that big of a job. We even still had his dad's sledge hammer.

Saturday, we finally decided that's what we would do. I got out the sledge and started the job. Joshua and I got about three feet in when it was time for me to quit and get ready to go photograph a wedding. I handed the concrete breaking reigns over to Steve.

Steve begin breaking up the concrete and all went well for another foot. Then all of the sudden the concrete began to slide downward as he broke it up. It cracked and fell down. Down is not good when there is supposed to be dirt there.

There was no dirt. There was instead a big, big hole under the north end of my kitchen. The main slab was still solid and holding just fine, but we now had a 1' by 3' gap in the kitchen floor with a 7' deep by 4' wide hole under it. Don't ask me how the previous owners managed to lay a concrete patch over thin air. It baffles us to this day. There are no signs of support materials in the hole. No frayed burlap, no wire mesh, no cardboard, no wood, nothing. The last thing we expected when we broke open that concrete patch was there would be nothing supporting it from underneath. It's just simple logic.

Steve called me in to see the hole 30 minutes before I had to leave. He sat there on his knees, completely stunned. He had no clue how to fix this.

I did not cry when I had to downgrade my kitchen vision to cheaper cabinets. I did not cry when I saw how quickly we were running out of money. I did not cry when the cabinet guys mis-measured my cabinets. (although I may yell at them if I don't hear something from them soon.) That big hole in my floor brought me to tears.

Luckily, I ran over to a neighbor's after the wedding to borrow a sewing machine (another long, but more boring story.) Her husband happens to do construction work for a living. When I told her about our lovely hole in the floor, she suggested to her husband that he might want to go help Steve fix the floor. The neighbor had the perfect solution. He pounded in concrete stakes and put a support piece right beneath the slab. The guys screwed concrete mesh into the hole to help support it. It only took two cubic feet of concrete to fill the mess.

I have to say that was the worst moment in our remodeling venture. I'm sure it could have always been worse, but I'm glad I didn't have to see that.

Important Is a Relative Term

2008-03-24T11:50:00.002-06:00

Coming home from Grandma's last night with a car full of Easter candy:

Rilla: Turn on the back light, Dad. I need to show Sarah something.

Dad: please.

Rilla: Please turn on the light.

Dad: ok.

and the light goes on in the back of the van.

Rilla: Sarah, what color is my tongue?

"It can wait" is not a phrase my children understand.

Cabinets!

2008-03-18T19:33:00.003-06:00

This is Shawn. Isn't he nice? I know you don't know him but all you do have to know about him is he is installing my cabinets. That alone makes him nice, don't you think?

I have lots and lots of cabinets. I'm having a difficult time deciding what goes where. It's a good problem to have.

If you look at the first picture again, you will see some gaps in the lower cabinets and some big empty wall space. When Shawn showed up on Monday to install, he discovered that his boss mis-measured my kitchen resulting in four cabinets being the wrong size, two wall and two drawer bases. Boss guy immediately set to work figuring out how to fix it. Instead of two 12" drawer bases symmetrically flanking the sink, I will have a 15" drawer base on one side and a pull out spice drawer on the other. It won't look quite as nice as the symmetrical arrangement, but I know I'll like having the spice drawer. I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with all those drawers anyway. ;) The new cabinets will show up next week and Shawn will install them then. This means my dishwasher can't be installed until next week either, that I'm not so OK with.

The mistake cabinets we get to keep, of course, and we won't be paying for the correct cabinets. We still get to figure out where to put the extras. It will be a topic of great debate over the next few weeks I'm sure. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

More info than you ever wanted

2008-03-16T20:44:00.005-06:00

This was my house Friday afternoon. Do you notice there is no water heater? No closet? Yeah. That was fun to bust up. I busted up my pointer finger doing it, but I still like sledgehammers.

I like them so much that when the plumber needed to break into the floor to get us hot water to the bathroom and kitchen, (you should have seen Steve's face when He found that out. oooh boy.) I volunteered to swing it. I did a dang good job, too. See that nice big hole in my floor? I didn't care. I wanted a shower, dang it.

Steve says I look cuter swinging a sledge hammer than I do running a power saw. (Only he said sexier, but my mom reads this blog, so I edited that line for you. I'm nice like that.)

This is my dad helping out on Friday. He and mom stopped by to see the progress we were making and dad got roped into helping. Considering the fact that he got a goose egg on his head from a board falling on it last time he helped, we were feeling pretty lucky. Dad helped me tear down the closet walls and clean up the mess. Thanks dad. Love ya.

This is my house as of this evening. Not a lot more visible progress. We did get the mess cleaned up and the drywall is up on the beam wall with it's first coat of mud. Steve was knocking my mudding job this evening. He might get to do the rest. Dude. Don't knock my work if you don't want to work alone.

This is the view from the wall in the living room. That is the far end of my house. My house finally looks it's size. It feels big and open and even though it's a mess right now, I already love it.

Easter Dress

2008-03-12T10:11:00.003-06:00

Last week, on Monday actually, I looked at the calendar and realized that because of the remodel I was out time to make dresses for my girls for Easter. They need the dresses and I was looking forward to it this year. I expressed my disappointment to my spouse who promptly responded "oh you have to make them Easter dresses. You have time. You won't spend the whole week working on the house."

1st of all. ha. Yes I am spending the whole week on the house. Either working or trying not to fall over from exhaustion. Remodeling is hard work.

2nd of all. I listened to him anyway. Isn't she cute? I sewed that dress in a few hours. Rilla's looks just like it only her lining is yellow. If you can't see it from the picture, it's cotton eyelet with a broadcloth lining in pink.

My favorite part of the dress is that adorable bodice. I love the tucks. So cute. I'm going to have to use that pattern again.

Sarah's dress is also empire waist and eyelet. Her lining is a light teal blue. I'll be sewing that next week while I watch the workmen install my new kitchen (!!)

Never Sneeze Into a Dust Mask

2008-03-11T21:41:00.003-06:00

Wise words from my husband, who is currently hard at work tearing down plaster board. What is plaster board? It's what construction people used in houses between lathe and plaster and drywall. Plaster board is actually a cross between the two. The boards are 12"x8' rather than the drywall standard of 4'x8' (or 4'x12' which I avoid using when possible because it's a bear to hang with two people, which is how many people we usually have around to hang drywall.) The boards on plaster board have 1" holes drilled all along the length so the scratch coat of the plaster would push through and create the key. Then they did a surface coat. Anyway. It's thick, strong (I think it's stronger than lathe and plaster) and a bear to remove. How much have we torn off?

Look and see for yourself:

That's my living room as of 2pm today. The water heater and the rest of the closet it's sitting in will be completely torn out. We have a new on demand water heater being installed in another part of the house where it won't interfere with traffic patterns. (Yes this cost quite a bit of money to put in the beam and move the utility closet. You try living for six years in a house where five children have to go through the middle of the kitchen to get between their bedrooms and the only bathroom and see how much you are willing to spend to make them STOP RUNNING THROUGH KITCHEN WHEN I'M COOKING ALREADY.)

This is my kitchen as of 2:03 this afternoon.

You will notice there is no sink, but I still have a stove and fridge. I can still cook even in the mess. This is what we call brilliant planning. (Brilliant planning is not what we call the multiple trips to the hardware store and Home Depot I'm making on a daily basis this week. )

I stood at my living room window (the one the termites ate) to take this photo. Picture lovely new cabinets along that wall soon. Six days from today actually. As of yet, I'm not hyperventilating about the time frame. I may if more doesn't get done tomorrow though.

Deep Sleepers

2008-02-22T09:59:00.002-07:00

My children are anyway. They've been trained that way.

Thursday is Steve's music night and has been for the last six years or so. He likes to get together with his music friends and jam. This was his band rehearsal night for back when he was in a band. Sometimes the guys went somewhere else (because you always go to the drummer. Drum kits aren't near as portable as a guitar.) Sometimes they came to our house.

This is why my kids are deep sleepers. The bassist always brings his amp, although he's been nice lately to bring his smaller one and not the one that's the size of a Shetland pony (the small one is about the same size as our dog.) Last night there was an electric guitarist in the mix. He's new to the group and according to Steve a very good guitar player. We also had a pianist and her husband (on the Seagull guitar) here for the first time. It was quite a crowd. It was also loud.

The kids fell asleep and stayed asleep.

This is what you call training. After six years of jam sessions in the living room, those kids can sleep through anything.

More Baby Pictures

2008-02-19T14:07:00.003-07:00

Isn't he cute? I got to go take Keith's picture yesterday.

His daddy stuck around for pictures too. I think Keith was happy about that, don't you?

This is Keith's whole family, dog and cat included. The cat is starting to get a bit jealous of baby, but is still curious and mostly indifferent. The dog thinks the baby needs a herd dog to take care of him and will come get Mommy or Daddy if baby cries.

I also have cute feet pictures. I'll only subject you to my favorite:

You're welcome.

Brand New Nephew

2008-02-14T14:12:00.003-07:00

Born just last night. Isn't he sweet? He looks a lot like his daddy. Weighing in at 9lbs 2oz, he was definitely ready to come home.
Here he is with his mommy. I'm going over next week to do family pictures of the three of them. I'm looking forward to it.
This is the whole thing from Libby's point of view. She wanted to take pictures, so I let her point the camera and press the shutter while I held it up to her eye. She did a surprisingly good job. This one cracks me up. It's all baby.

We had a good visit and we were very happy to go welcome little Keith to our family.

Just a few pictures

2008-02-13T13:06:00.005-07:00

So I got out my camera this morning for the first time in ages.

I know! So shocking.
But somehow they still know how to pose.
and keep posing.
and even more adorable posing.
Silly posing followed immediately by a stereo of "let me see! let me see!" Kids love digital cameras.

Matt of course could be nothing but silly. I usually have him tell me jokes to get a natural smile out of him. It's a trick that works for all ages actually. As soon as they know what a joke is, you can get them to tell you one. They forget about the smirk and suddenly you have all sorts of opportunities for real smiles. Love that trick.

BTW, aren't they darling?

1 more room down

2008-01-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, not completely done, I still need curtains and baseboard (and yes, I do plan on washing the window. Please excuse the filth.) It is close enough for the kids to be using it, and boy howdy, do they. They love having the toys all together in one room. It's even been fun to finally have a place for mister cow chair. Isn't he cute? Sarah picked that up in 3rd grade with her AR points and we've just never had space for him on the floor before.

I would love to have some more sophisticated shelving, but I'm happy that everything looks neat and tidy with what I do have. One of these days I'm going to surf on over to HGTV's website and see if I can nominate myself for a room make over. I'd love to have one of their shows redo that room. Keeping in mind of course, that the house must sell and the room will be seen from the front room. (Who am I kidding. I would expect lime green and orange with funky built ins from a tv show make over.)

PS. See the cute little pink house? That was Libby's big Christmas present. She adores it. She invites me to come in and play with her often. It's two pieces that nestle inside each other so we can make it smaller when she's not playing with it.

He's got me pegged

2008-01-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

Last night at Dinner, Joshua decided to bring up the subject of his birthday party, the one that won't happen for four months. Joshua likes to start asking for things early in the hopes that the long period of whining will wear down our resistance. I should just send him to the UN because he could bring peace to the world. The countries of the world would all stop pointing their guns at each other because they would all be pointed at our house as punishment for making him an ambassador and not just letting him be the most successful car salesman ever.

Joshua decided he needs a sleepover party this year and he felt the need to negotiate the number of guests he could have. We let the kids have fewer guests for sleepovers than we do for evening parties. I figure it evens out the work load a bit. So there Joshua was pushing for more guests (yes four months early) and I responded, "Let me put it this way, Joshua, do you want a sane mom after your party or a crazy mom?"

"Well, it really doesn't matter either way, does it? You'll just be crazy no matter what." says Joshua.

Not the way to get yourself a party, buddy.

The Cheesecakes

2008-01-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

The recipes for the cheesecakes were requested by some of the guests at the party, and since I spent the morning typing them up, I'd thought I'd post them here. The recipes are long because the instructions are very detailed, so don't freak. These are worth it. The Lemon curd cheesecake is quite possibly the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. I Did the New York cheesecake with the chocolate marble version. Also fantastic. These are so creamy and perfectly balanced. Neither is too heavy or thick. If you are trying to lose weight you may want to forget this post.

The Lemon Curd cheesecake is from a special issue magazine called "Desserts from America's Top Chefs." It's a Meredith publication so it should be availible anywhere. There are several really, really good recipes in it if you want to just buy it for yourself. The New York cheesecake is from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. If you buy this one for yourself you have to try the black bean soup and the chicken parmesean.

Lemon Curd Cheesecake
crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9 crackers)
3 T sugar
1/ 8 t kosher salt
5 T unsalted butter, melted
filling:
2 1/2 8 oz packages regular cream cheese
1/2 c + 2 T sugar
3 T flour
pinch of salt
1 t vanilla extract
1 t lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolks
1/2 c sour cream

unsalted butter, melted for the pan
Lemon Curd

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center of the oven. Prepare a 9" springform pan by cutting a parchment circle to fit the pan bottom.

2. For the crust: Combine the graham crackers crumbs, sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Stir in the 5 T melted butter with a fork until well combined. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool the crust in the pan on a wire rack.

3. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese at medium-low speed in an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment about 2 minutes, until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add all the remaining sugar, then the flour, and finally the pinch of salt. With a spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle twice.

4. Switch to the whisk attachment and continue mixing, adding the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whip in the eggs one at a time, then add the yolk, scrapping the bowl and whisking at least twice. Continue to whip on low speed, adding the sour cream. Whip until well blended. Do not overbeat. The batter should be light and airy.

5. Brush the sides of the springform pan with melted butter. Wrap the outside of the pan tightly in heavy-duty aluminum foil, making sure there are no holes in the foil. Pour the filling into the pan. Place the spring form pain in a large roasting pan and pour enough hot tap water into the roasting pan so that it comes about halfway up the edge of the springform pan. Place pans carefully in the oven and bake until the filling is just set, about 45 to 60 minutes. (A 1" area at the center of the cheesecake should jiggle slightly when the cheesecake is done. Do not test with a knife; it will crack the cake.) Immediately remove the pan from the water and remove the foil. Place pan on a wire rack and cool 15 minutes. Using a sharp, small knife, loosen cake from edges of pan; cool 30 minutes more. Remove side from pan. Cool cheesecake to room temperature. Loosely cover cheesecake and chill overnight.

6. About 2 to 3 hours before serving, remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. Replace side of springform pan. Warm the Lemon Curd until it is pourable and spread it evenly over the surface of the cheesecake, tilting it from side to side to form an even layer. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. To serve, remove wrap and pan side. Slide the cake still on the parchment paper, onto a serving plate.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Lemon Curd:
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 large egg yolks
1 c sugar
4 t lemon zest
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

Combine the lemon juice, egg yolks, and sugar in a nonreactive bowl. Whisk until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a heavy nonreactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until hot, 5 to 10 minutes. The mixture should begin to thicken as the temperature increases. Once thick (it should coat the back of the spoon), reduce the heat and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, stirring continuously. Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the curd into a bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and butter with a wire whisk until the butter has completely melted. Cool slightly before using. The curd can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 1 week. Warm over a double boiler or in microwave briefly to return to liquid form. It will set up again when chilled.

New York Cheesecake

crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T sugar

Filling:
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, cut into rough 1 inch chunks and softened
1 1/2 c sugar
1/8 t salt
1/3 c sour cream
2 t lemon juice
2 t vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 T unsalted butter, melted
For the crust: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the graham crumbs, melted butter, and sugar together, then pour into a 10" springform pan (9" works. ) Press the crumbs firmly into an even layer using the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. For the filling: Meanwhile, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until softened, 1 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beaters thoroughly.

3. Beat in half of the sugar and the salt and until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs 2 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed, 1 to 3 minutes.

4. Being careful not to disturb the baked crust, brush the sides of the springform pan with the melted butter. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 10 minutes.

5. Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the cheesecake, reads about 150 degrees, about 1 hour 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

6. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and run a paring knife around the edge of the cake. Let cool until barely warm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours, running a paring knife around the edge of the cake every hour or so. Wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours.

7. To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a wet, hot kitchen towel around the springform pan and let sit for 1 minute. Remove the sides of the pan. Let the cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before serving.

Marble Cheesecake Variation:
Before baking cheesecake: Whisk 1/4 cup boiling heavy cream and 5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped, together until melted and smooth. Let cool completely. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate randomly over the top of the batter. Using a knife, swirl the chocolate into the cheesecake batter, creating an attractive marbled pattern.

I'm Not Only President, I'm Also a Member

2008-01-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ah, Bedlam. Wanna know why i haven't updated lately? Huh? wanna guess? Because I think I've finally dropped over the edge of crazy, that's why. I actually cried on the phone to Steve on Friday over a baby shower. Why? No one cares if the cheesecake is pretty or if I have the proper candy bars to melt into baby diapers. (It's a party game.) It's cheesecake for heaven's sake. They'll eat it if you have to scoop it out onto their plates with a spoon. Sigh.

This was last week:
Sunday: Sub in Sunbeams
Monday: wash walls and patch drywall in playroom. Remove everything from the room including carpeting.
Tuesday: paint playroom. Two coats. Also clean.
Wednesday: Carpet layers came. It looks lovely. Also, I prepared a presentation for church youth group on photography, because Teenagers always love to be lectured to. (and why does the 2nd Counselor's wife always glare at me? Dude. What did I do?) Also do laundry and clean. Also clean out the girls' bedroom.
Thursday: Clean house for that evening's party. Host party. Make diaper cake. (it's diapers put together in a three layer cake shape. I'll post pictures when I have them.) This was my easy day.
Friday: Clean boys' bedroom. Do laundry. Make two cheesecakes. Prepare games for baby shower. Also attend meeting and go shopping. (and apparently lose it at 4pm on the phone, which does get dinner made by someone else.) Assign candy bar diaper game to sister in law who could do it without going crazy. Nice sister in law.
Saturday: Finish one of the cheesecakes. Move everything you can out of the kids' bedrooms so the carpet can be laid on Monday. Get everything ready for baby shower. All before 11 am. Go to Mom's. Help them get ready for baby shower. Go early to shower to set up. Host shower. Stress the whole time because I can't relax when I hostess. Clean up shower (it was a success! Everyone liked the cheesecake. It wasn't ugly after all! yea!) Relax until 8pm, (except for the time I spent helping make dinner and helping clean up, but there was lots of help so that wasn't bad.) go home and bathe children.
Sunday: Go to church. Come home and proceed to break the sabbath by finishing up emptying the bedrooms. Go visit family. Come home and put children to bed in family room. Help husband rip carpet up in the bedrooms.

This week:
Monday: Carpet is laid. It looks lovely. vacuum the fuzzies. put bedrooms back together. clean house. Kids are off school. Find a plumber who can get the dang water heater out of the kitchen. I want to start remodeling that!
Tuesday: Kids are off school again. Probably put the playroom together.
Wednesday: I might cry again. This time in relief. I do intend to find a book. And a nap. A nap would be good.
Also: feel guilty all week because it's "Fill the Temple Week" again for our stake and I won't make it.

Do I get my padded room yet? And when I come out could someone make dinner first?

Nova Makes Me Look Smart

2008-01-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

We got snow yesterday. Lots and lots of snow. It snowed for 10 hours. Rilla came trudging up the hill from the bus stop after school with her coat hanging open and complaining of cold feet. She had left her 6 year old brother behind, so I had to send her back for him. (I don't know how many times I've asked her to wait for him. sigh.) Before she headed back, I got after her for leaving her coat unzipped. In times past, I had no reply for the "but I'm not cold there!" argument my kids gave me when I asked them to zip their coats. I watched mountain climbers on Nova recently, though, so I have a rational reason for making them keep their coats zipped.

"Rilla," I said, "You have to keep your core warm or your body steals heat from your extremities to maintain the core temperature."

She just nodded her head because she's used to her mom spouting off completely foreign words at her.

I tried again. "Your body has to keep your heart warm so if you leave your coat unzipped it will steal heat from your fingers and toes to warm it up."

"oh." and a lightbulb went off above her head.

See it all makes sense. Now go zip up your coat.

Libby

2008-01-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

ok, I did get a cute picture of Libby in her pj's last night. Isn't that smile much better?

Learning

2008-01-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

"I do it myself!" She said.

She did do it. Slowly and carefully.
Such a big girl.

(Cute pj's, huh? Those are the Christmas monkey jammas. )

How to Drive Yourself Crazy in Three Simple Steps

2008-01-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

1. do way too much in Dec. Really overwhelm yourself with projects so that you completely neglect all housework.

2. Go visiting family for the entire week of Christmas. You should only be home long enough to toss laundry in corners and dump presents and junk places.

At this point when your house looks worse than it has in months you kick in the final step:

3. Decide to host a New Year's Eve party for your preteen and her friends.

We spent all day NYE cleaning house. It was not pretty. I was stressed. Sarah was tired from all the cleaning, but I got to be the cool mom. Sarah had nine friends over. We had a borrowed Wii in the basement and a borrowed XBox 360 (with Guitar Hero) upstairs in the play room. We also set up board games in the living room. When they first arrived, we had a Nerf dart gun fight range all over the house. Everyone had a blast, but I forgot to take pictures.

We did do such a good job cleaning, though, that that house is still clean.

The cherries dress

2007-12-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

my favorite.

It's hard to see in the tiny picture how much detail is on it. It's constructed just like Osh Kosh skirt-alls would be. Lots of fake double needle stitching, a cute pocket on the bib, etc.

Rilla was cute. She saw that the skirt landed above the doll's knees and said "Mom, the skirt's too short!" I had to tell her the rules were different for dolls.

Way too proud of this to wait

2007-12-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

I made doll clothes for Rilla (and a niece) for Christmas. She's getting an 18" doll and now the doll has five outfits to wear. Here's four of them: Those are a pair of boot cut jeans. The pattern made straight legs so I altered it for the jeans. I did some fake double needle stitching and fake pockets on the front.
This is a dress that is made from the fabric we used for her flower girl dress she wore to her aunt's wedding. My niece was also a flower girl, so she has a dress to match this one.

A mini jumper made from the fabric I made Sarah's mini jumper out of. The capris are also a pattern alteration. I would never wear white capris, but they sure look cute on a doll, don't they? My niece has an outfit to match exactly. Their dolls can be twins at the Christmas party.

And the clincher: PJ's to match Rilla's new Christmas PJ's. The doll is dressed in them and wrapped up. I can't wait to see her face when she opens the doll and sees her in matching PJ's.

I don't have a picture of the black with cherry print baby wale corduroy overall skirt (with matching red t-shirt.) It's cute too.

BTW, yes, that is the doll we got her. Yes, I used it as a model and dress form for my sewing and pattern alterations. Yes, I had fun dressing the doll. I am a girl, after all.

Dinner Table Masterpiece

2007-12-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

"Look she made a sculpture."

"Why yes, she did. How lovely."

"It's a comment on petty dictatorships present in the modern world."

"it is?"

"Yes. It's titled, 'Eat your dang food!'"What an artist.

PS. Yes, she's in her pj's at dinner. December is not a month in which I have the energy to wrestle unwilling toddlers into clothing. Especially toddlers who can undress themselves and put the dang pj's back on whenever they want. I try begging and bribery. If they don't work, the pj's stay.

Modern Life

2007-12-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Matt wanted to know what time it was. He went running into the kitchen and then ran back out yelling for Rilla.

"It's 8:32!" he said. "I checked the thing that makes the popcorn."

What else is it good for? ;)

It's a completely different generation

2007-12-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Last week, Sarah competed in a talent show. She sang "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz and did a fantastic job. She won second place, beaten out by a couple of girls who did "Loathing" from Wicked. They didn't sing nearly as well, but they had personality and costumes. Sarah is still a bit stiff at the microphone.

Anyway, the first act was a garage band made up of 8th graders. It sounded like you would expect a garage band of 8th graders to sound (although they all blamed the equipment, of course.) There were four boys on stage and off to stage left were two very proud dads working the sound system. The dads helped set up and you know those dads bought the instruments.

It's just so different from generations past. My husband has a friend who's father refused to buy him a guitar when he was a teen because rock music led to the devil. Then Steve's friend learned how to play electronica on a keyboard. Now that example is a bit extreme and most parents were pretty resigned to heavy rock by the time we were teens, but it still got a lot of guff. Lots of "what is that crap you're listening too?" Now of course, parents are trying to keep up on who's hot in the music industry. They love rock and not a few of them aren't bothered by rap either. (not me. Rap is crap.)

Isn't it funny? What are our children going to do to rebel? Instead of getting a "cut your dang hair!" Their moms' will say "You know you'd look great with the tips dyed blue!" Poor things. Your heart just breaks for them, doesn't it?

Some Christmas Projects

2007-12-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of my crayon rolls. Aren't they cute? They roll right up and secure with a ribbon. My first one fastened with a snap and I love that because even Libby can fasten it. The ribbons are easier to sew on, though, and since I was doing several I went that route. The ribbons look cuter anyway.
Here's a photo of it unrolled. Cut 2 pieces of heavy fabric 25"x5", like denim, canvas, or corduroy, for the base and one piece of fabric (preferably a contrasting fabric) 25"x6" for the pocket. Fold the pocket in half length wise and press flat. This will give you a piece of fabric 3x25. Lay it over the right side of one piece of base fabric with raw edges matching and the fold to the center of the fabric and pin. Starting at the center, mark the pocket every inch. Sew down along those marks. You should have 1/2" on each end beyond the 24 pockets.

On the other piece of base fabric, sew down an 18" ribbon about 4 1/2" down from one end of the base fabric. If you use polyester ribbon, you can melt the ends with a match to prevent fraying. Lay your two base pieces with wrong sides together. Pin. Sew double fold, double wide bias tape all the way around the edge.

Easy peasy. They make great stocking stuffers or friend gifts for young children. 3/4 of a yard of 60" fabric will give you the base fabric for four rolls. 3/4 of a yard of a 45" will be plenty for the four pockets.

This is one of the shelves I made for my kids:
It's not painted yet. I bought pre-primed wood ('cause I'm lazy like that.) So far I've spent about 1/2 an hour per shelf. They are my version of this Pottery Barn Kids shelf My kids are pack rats and their beds are their nests. My hope is that we can get the stuff off the beds and on the shelves. I have two 3' shelves for each child that will be secured above their beds.
I still have several projects left to complete and I'm not even thinking about the candy boxes for the in laws. I might manage to get pics of the stockings here in a few days. Maybe. I might be crazy by then. Which is perfectly fine, after all, I do live in Bedlam.

Peanut Brittle

2007-12-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so "next day" is really "five days from now when I have 5 minutes to sit down and think because yet once again I've decided to drive myself crazy in December." Forgive me? oh good. thanks.

Peanut Brittle. It seems to be the man favorite around here. I put off learning how to make it because I prefer fudge and toffee so much more. Brittle, however, is Steve's favorite, so I'm finally showing my love enough to make it for him.

The key to good brittle is the final cooking temperature. If you under cook it, you get chewy brittle; if you over cook it, it tastes burnt. My mom cooks candy without a thermometer (and if you make candy for 50 years (sorry, Mom) you too can stop using a thermometer) so I'm going to teach you how to use a cold water test with this one.

Peanut Brittle

2 c sugar
1 c corn syrup
1/2 c water
dash of salt
1/2 c butter
2 t vanilla
2 t baking soda
3 c raw peanuts (also called Spanish peanuts)

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, salt, and butter in a 4 1/2 or 5 quart sauce pan. Cook over medium heat with a lid on until the candy syrup comes to a full boil. (this is sweating the pan for you. ) Remove lid, add thermometer and cook stirring constantly until the syrup reaches soft ball stage (234 degrees F.) Add the peanuts. Keep stirring until the peanuts begin to look toasted. they will take on a golden color and your candy syrup will be a golden brown as well. When the candy reaches about 295 degrees F (hard crack) it should be done. You can test it with a cold water test to be sure. Grab a short glass of ice water (a 1 c measuring cup works well for this) and drizzle a small amount of candy into the cup. The candy will immediately solidify. Take it out and taste it. It should be hard and crunchy with no bend at all to it. if it's not, cook it a bit longer and test it again. If that is your candy, remove it from the heat. mix in the vanilla and baking soda. The baking soda will fizz up, so stir quickly and completely. Then pour it out onto a buttered, rimmed baking sheet. Using a heat resistant spatula, spread the candy out to be as even and flat as you can. Let the candy cool to room temperature and break into pieces to serve.

If you've missed my previous candy posts, the links are in the side bar. Start with the first one, the candy making tutorial. It will give you some pointers and techniques that will make all your candy come out better.

Choosing a Candy Themometer

2007-12-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

In honor of it being December already, I'm adding my annual candy post. Tomorrow (I hope) I'll post a great peanut brittle recipe, but in the meantime, we're going to discuss candy thermometers. Your thermometer can be one of the most important pieces of equipment you own, especially if you make candy infrequently. A quality, accurate thermometer can make the difference between a mess of syrup and the candy you meant to make.

That said, there are some really lousy candy thermometers out there. I'd steer clear of those glass tubes with the colored plastic caps. Water gets in them and then you can't read the temp. They also aren't terribly accurate. Just don't buy a thermometer at a grocery store. All they ever seem to have are those cheap Good Cooks brand ones.

I have one very similar to this one: CDN Thermometer I have had mine for 12 years. It's almost indestructible because of the stainless steel back. It protects the glass and it keeps the thermometer off the bottom of the pan. I also love how long the thermometer is. It makes it so easy to read 1-2 degree changes in the syrup.

My mother used one of these for years: Sunbeam thermometer You'll notice that the glass tube is sealed so it's accurate and moisture can't get inside. They are very, very fragile however, especially when hot. You'll want to keep it well protected or buy a spare.

Instant Read Style You could choose one of these, it would probably read accurately and doesn't have mercury, but you'll notice the small amount of swing on the needle. This would make it very difficult to see small adjustments in temp. There's a big difference in 234 and 238 with candy syrups. If you can't see that difference on the thermometer, you don't want it.

Digital candy thermometers also exist out there, but I have no experience with them. If you do, please leave a comment. I'm very interested and I'd love to know if they live up to the hype.

Try going to a cooking supply store to find thermometers. You'll be able to ask questions and look at several different styles. They'll also have a better quality product. If you have a restaurant supply store in your area, try there first.

You will still need to test your thermometer before you use it no matter which one you choose. Have fun making candy! It's one of my favorite things about the holidays.

Matt Story

2007-11-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Last night Matt read The Little Engine That Could to Steve. This morning he came wandering out of his room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, with the book under his arm.

"You've got your book." I pointed out, because I'm so good at stating the obvious.

"yeah." says Matt. "I can read it now." And he proved it to me after breakfast. He read with inflection and gave different voices to the different engines. Then this afternoon he read it to a friend who came over to play.

He can read and he's good at it.

It's nice when kids get older

2007-11-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for about a week now. Not horribly sick, but sick. Saturday was the hardest. I have had to stay busy because of the holiday and because of the things I wanted to get done for Christmas. I've also had stuff to do on the house. I haven't had a lot of time to rest and get better. Saturday evening it hit me and I had no energy left to cook dinner.

At 6:45, Steve stopped as he was walking through the family room with plumbing product in hand on his way too the bathroom. "are you going to make dinner?" I could see that there was no way he could do it. He had his dad over helping him install the toilet and sink, so no time for a break.

My brain is good at getting me out of stuff when I don't want to do it, so it came up with a good idea.

"Sarah," I declared, "we're going to play Delicatessen. You're the cook."

I made a "menu" for Rilla with all the sandwich fixings in the house, the two kinds of chips, and the fruit and veggies we had around as well. Rilla happily took the menu and a pencil and began taking orders like a good little waitress. Sarah and Rilla put together the orders and I only had to get up when my roast beef and cheese on wheat (dill pickle chips and carrot sticks) was ready for me.

Yup, it's good when they are old enough to help.

PS: the old bathroom color was a very, very bright sky blue. So not a pale sky blue, but sky blue in the summer, blue with a touch of green to it. It was way too bright for a small room. The longer it was on the walls the more I hated it. The new color is so much calmer and more elegant.

Progress!

2007-11-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

On the bathroom of course. I laid the tile last Saturday, we hung the door Friday, and we got it repainted yesterday morning. That afternoon, Steve and his dad installed the vanity, sink, and toilet. I love it! Everything looks so perfect.
The original paint I chose was just awful. I babysat for a friend on Wednesday and when her husband came over to pick up the kids, he offered to repaint the room for us with a better color. Seeing as how he's a professional house painter, we took him up on the offer. The new color is gorgeous. A medium slate blue and it fits the room perfectly. The blue gives it a calm elegant feel without being overwhelming (you know, like the original color. I hate paint chips.)
Here's a couple of photos:

yeah, small room and I don't have a lens wider than 28mm. anyway, you get the picture. The vanity is an ultra slim model with a sink that hangs over the edge. it gave us the passing room we needed to get back to the toilet. The mirror and vanity light are waiting to be hung on Monday along with the glass door for the shower, the towel and tp bars, and the moulding. Ok, so some of that will be done on Tuesday, if only to save my husband's sanity. But we should be completely done with the room by the middle of next week.

Here's a lovely close up of my pretty tile:

didn't I do a good job?

Caving To External Pressure

2007-11-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

I bought a velour jog suit. Yeah, one of those knock off Juicy things, only mine doesn't have inappropriate comments across the behind. It's grey and I bought the jacket as well.

I used to roll my eyes at those silly velour sweats. I thought all those women were just following the latest trend in suburbia. Velour just went with soccer balls and minivans.

Ha! Those women just knew something I didn't know. Velour is comfy. Really, really comfy. It's like wearing pj's all day long only you don't get dirty looks from grandma's at the grocery store in velour.

You do however get rolled eyes from self righteous holdouts.

I can live with that.