The A to Z Twins

The Mystery of the Missing Measuring Cups

2012-01-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

Acquisition

I was given the cups by my mother when I moved into my first apartment. She had been searching garage sales and thrift stores for months gathering a little bit of this and a little bit of that. She made quite the score when she found these cute vintage 1940's style tin measuring cups for $2 at Goodwill. They were one of my most treasured items that she gave me, and I used them nearly every day. No one ever complimented me on my cute measuring cups, but it didn't matter, because I loved them. Their simple design was pleasing to the eye and I couldn't help but think, "Who owned these cups before me? Did she make bread? Did she make pie? Was she a muffin kind of gal? Or was it cookies?" I imagined her, in her cute little apron and her perfectly manicured nails and done up hair-do.

Loss

The girls were about 2 years old when disaster struck. I don't remember what I was doing, or what they were doing. Only noticed that one day I went to use my 1/2 cup measuring cup and it was gone. I went through everything in my kitchen. The dish drain, the drawer it belonged in, the toy box, the bath tub, every little hiddy hole that I thought the girls might stash something away in. But nothing. It was gone. I was so upset! What did I do with it? Did Hubs put it someplace strange trying to "help"? No? Well, it must have been the kids then... those darn kids!

Where oh where could it be???

And then I had a thought... the trash. The girls were going through a phase where they thought putting things in the trash was fun. We'd caught them several times trying to throw away "good stuff" like the remote control. Well, that must be it then. It went in the trash. It was gone forever.

Renewal (... sort of...)

Six months later, and still no sign of the missing measuring cup. This whole time I've been using the 1/4 cup twice each time I had to measure something and each and every time I was reminded of my incomplete set. I was still irritated about it.

Hubs thought he came up with the perfect solution, he searched the internet and found another cup set and bought it for my birthday. Alas, this "new" set was more than just antique, it was antique. It was darkened in color, had several dents, and one of the cups had a hole in the bottom. They were perfect for a display of old kitchenware, but not something I could use on a daily basis. I went on with my 1/4 cup twice.

After that I looked into buying new measuring cups. I gave up on the idea of finding another 1940's style cups and found myself browsing Bed Bath & Beyond and Anthropologie (which do have some cute cups by the way!). But nothing was quite the same. Sure, the new cups were nice, but they just weren't me. The new cups didn't have some other lady making cakes with them years ago.

I'd tell the story of the missing cup to anyone who'd seem remotely interested. Usually other mom's with young kids understood the significance of my loss. It was more than just treasured measuring cups. It was about personal space, and how we as mom's give that up when we bring kids into the world. Nothing is "mine" anymore. All of "my" stuff gets messed with, broken, lost, tangled up, marked up, and dented. Nothing stays the way I left it. Nothing is in the same place. I put something down so I can take a pee only to come back and have it gone! Just gone! And after a while I start to feel like a crazy person! "But... it was just THERE a second ago!"

The cup at this point had been missing for over a year. I was getting tired with the 1/4 cup twice. One day, I was browsing Etsy and I was very excited when I happened to find a set of measuring cups EXACTLY like mine. They were tin, and old, but functional. They were $40, but I didn't care. I bought them.

Reunification

I now had three (mostly complete) sets of antique measuring cups. I thought that was pretty much the end of the story.

Several weeks before Christmas I was working on baking some goodies for gifts when I was clearing out the dish drain and realized... I was missing another cup. It was the 1/4 cup this time. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Where is my cup?!?!? Is nothing sacred around here???" I questioned both of the girls, at 4 and a half they are completely capable of remembering where they put things. They said they didn't know. I questioned Hubs, he didn't know. I questioned my mother-in-law who had just flown in from out of state, she didn't know. I backtracked my own actions, opened cupboards I knew I was into, looked through everything. Nothing. Then I called my mom and lamented on the phone, "Again?" she said. Yup, again.

Thankfully, I now had a stash of measuring cups! I got out the 1/4 cup from the set I bought and went on with my baking.

I told the story Christmas Day to a rapt audience. We laughed about how funny it was that it happened AGAIN! YEARS later. And that I still don't know what happened to them. They were just gone, into the abyss. Along with the missing socks that never come out of the dryer. It was just going to be one of those things... Amy and her missing measuring cups. Wonder what ever happened to those?

And then two days after Christmas the most amazing thing happened. I was putting away my big crock pot, you know, the one that goes into the back of the cupboard that I pretty much never use, and I looked down, and there inside my 1940's tin egg poacher were not just one, but BOTH of the missing measuring cups!!! They were neatly stacked one inside the other. "I can't BELIEVE MY EYES!!! I CAN NOT believe my eyes!!!" I laughed and laughed! I ran upstairs cups in hand to where my mother-in-law and daughters were playing. "Do you SEE this?? Do you SEE what's in my hand right now??! It's my CUPS!!!!" I told them where I found them to which my mother-in-law said, "I guess you don't poach eggs that often." Nope, I use the microwave instead.

Which of course begs the question, "Which one of you girls put them there???" To which, I got blank stairs and "Uhhh...I don't know, Mommy." I have a hunch which child hid my measuring cups, but it's just one of those mysteries that will live on.

This Week in Preschool

2011-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

This week was pretty mellow. We've been taking turns being sick for nearly a month now. First it was colds, then stomach flu, then colds again. Yesterday Little Z was diagnosed with the croup. Hurray. So between, "Mommy, I don't talk so good." and me and Hubs taking turns on the porcelain throne (sorry, TMI) we haven't done a whole lot.

We did have a window of wellness this last weekend though, thank goodness, because I was going insane.

So we went to the Festival of Lights at the Grotto. For those who haven't been, I highly recommend it. Back in the day, my high school choir did an appearance there each year. Most nights here in Portland you can expect wind, cold, sideways down-pouring rain, and generally horribly cold, wet, weather. We happened to pick a night that was DRY and without wind! It was a Christmas miracle!

There are lots of things I like about the Festival, but this year was the first year I took the girls so each thing that we saw made me think, "Wow, this is an excellent learning opportunity." When you walk in, there are stations of lights depicting scenes from the Nativity story with audio narration. You walk a bit more, there's another spot with lights and story. The lights are impressive, but the story is amazing and chokes me up.

And then there are the choirs. The Festival hosts the largest gathering of choral groups during the Christmas season. I'm not sure how many choirs will perform during the course of the Festival, but it's a lot. Looking at the program there are 5-8 choirs that perform nightly and the festival will go on until Christmas Day. It was a great opportunity for little ones to see and experience live music! I know personally, that we probably wouldn't pay for the kids to see a concert that we most likely would have to leave after 20 minutes, but we can certainly sit for 20 minutes and leave a performance if we need to in a venue like this. To round things out, there was also a petting zoo, a display of Nativities from around the world, and a puppet show. We really enjoyed it and I think the girls learned a lot. It was a great intro to the Christmas season!

Our other preschool activities this week were pretty basic. We learned about the letters C and D. We did some letter tracing and name writing practice. We talked about things that start with each letter, and what kind of sounds they make. I checked out a phonics DVD from the library and we watched that. We also watched a Nature episode "My Life as a Turkey". Ziva liked it so much that she's requested to watch it twice - so we watched it again. We spread out some uncooked rice on a cookie sheet and used it to practice writing their names as well as the letters C and D. The girls LOVE "rice time".

We've also got our Advent wreath set up and we're going through a book called Getting Ready for Christmas: A Daily Advent Prayer & Activity Book for the Family. Each page is very colorful, and it has a brief scripture verse along with a prayer and an activity. The activity is usually something open ended like, "Make an angel ornament for the Christmas tree." I'm usually able to take the suggestions and then look online for something simple to do. So far we have printed out a small angel coloring page, colored it, glued it to construction paper with a loop of ribbon between. It took us about 15 minutes. Today the activity was "Make a sheep ornament or draw/color a sheep." I printed out a cute shepherd/sheep coloring page and we colored it. Easy peasy. But it gave us the opportunity to talk about how a shepherd takes care of his sheep and that God is like our Good Shepherd who provides for all of our needs.

My plan for next week:

I printed out the local school district's Preschool Packet. The packet is supposed to supply enough things to do for a month, but we usually find that it will only last that long if we add in a bunch of other stuff! The packet this week goes over the letters E and F, so we'll focus on those letters. We'll continue to do the activities suggested in the Getting Ready for Christmas book. I have about 20 Christmas books checked out from the library, so we'll do a bunch of reading. I also bought everything we need to make birdseed ornaments to use as gifts from the girls to the family members for Christmas. I'm sure we'll also do some baking. Lots of cookies need to be made this month for gifts!

I linked this post to Homeschool Creations Moments to Remember!

Too Much Stimuli

2011-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

As Americans, it's part of our culture to be busy. It's our national virtue. We work more hours than any other culture in the world. We are taught at a very early age that it's our job to be productive. We fill up most of our life with tasks that need to be accomplished. We give our kids chore charts, we make lists, we carry planners, and when we have conversations with people and they ask what we've been up to lately we lament, "Oh, I've been SO busy!"

But who made us busy? Did we somehow allow everyone around us to decide for us how to spend our time? Maybe sometimes that's the case, but most of us make that decision for ourselves. For most of us, the first question we ask ourselves when we finish a task is "What's next?"

The problem with this culture of busyness is that it doesn't allow for down time. It values a person for how much they can get done in one day instead of how much time we spend with our loved ones or how much time we spend on reflection.

Here at our house, we have been sick for nearly a week. Each family member has taken turns with the stomach flu. It was terrible, except for one thing. We had lots of time. We could easily say no to outside interference, and say yes to doing nothing. It gave me a lot of time to think and read.

I made it through two books about home schooling: Christian Unschooling by Teri J. Brown and School Starts at Home by Cheri Fuller. Both emphasize a need to "unplug" from electronic stimuli AND a strict busy schedule in order for natural learning opportunities to occur. Children have less motivation to turn to reading, pretend play, or educational activities if they are constantly being entertained by television, computers, electronic toys, OR extracurricular activities.

Having grown up in a house with a mother who HATED television, this concept is nothing new to me. But what struck me as "new" while reading these books is that it's not just the kids who can be effected by too much stimulation, I am just as vulnerable. I am just as likely to turn to Facebook or browsing the internet during a down moment rather than doing something that would be more nourishing to my mind and spirit. Instead of writing on my blog, which is an excellent outlet for me because it requires thought and contemplation, I play Sims. Instead of spending time in prayer, or doing personal devotions, I watch TV. Instead of reading a book, I... well, you get the point. I expend so much head space on things that have no value, and avoid the things that do with the thought, "I'll do that when I have more time." When exactly will that happen?

In one part of "Christian Unschooling" a mom struggling with scheduling commented on praying over her day planner. Specifically, she prayed that God would lead them throughout the day and that He would guide her children to whatever He wanted them to learn that day. I thought that was such a beautiful thought, because ultimately we as parent's control only a tiny amount of what our children need to learn. Praying, and recognizing, that God is the one who controls these things helps put our anxieties at ease. It allows us as parents to share the burden of raising our children with God, rather than try to carry that yoke on our own (and it's a very heavy yoke at that!). It's something that I need to do more of. As always: a little more You, and a little less me.

New to home preschool? Me too.

2011-11-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

I'm half way through my third week of home preschool'ing my kids.

And check it out, I'm still alive!

Some amazing stuff has happened during these short few weeks. I've learned a lot about my kids. I've learned a lot about different home school philosophies. I've developed a routine that seems to work for us, although I'm sure it will improve.

Four year olds are amazing. All you have to do is open your mouth, and they respond with questions. They're so eager to know everything, and so ready to jump in when they think they already know. This age seems to be all about learning and absorbing, so teaching them isn't hard. The hard part seems to be getting them to slow down for three seconds! As soon as we finish an activity or project the first question is usually, "What's next, Mommy?"

Ummmmmm..... uhhh.... I guess we better think about that for a minute.

There are a few things that have helped on this brief foray into the unknown, and since I spent so much time grasping at straws I figure I'd outline those things in case anyone else out there could use a hand. Keep in mind, I am NOT an expert, I'm a blundering first-time mom/first-time homeschooler.

- Don't freak out, it's just preschool. This was the wisest bit of info that a friend told me and she was absolutely right. There is no failure here, it's not even required for kids to go to preschool, you really can't mess this up. So relax!

- Check out the Library. They have amazing resources both for you and for your kids. Kids learn a lot just from reading. So even if they just pick out a bunch of books and take them home they'll learn a lot from that. I've made it our goal to read at least 2 new books a day. So we go once a week and check out about 10-14 books. When we get home, I put all but 2 of them away so that we can have something new to read each day. This seems to help keep their interest level high when each day we can read something "new". The Library also has plenty of books on home schooling. I check out one a week and try to read it.

- Check your local school district's website. My school district has printable preschool packets that have a full curiculum that's seasonally appropriate for each month. It includes activities, worksheets, and book lists. If your district doesn't offer one then feel free to click here.

- There are homeschool co-ops out there where homeschooling families get together one or two days a week to do more in depth classes. My local co-op doesn't offer anything for preschoolers, but yours might.

- Parks and Rec usually has some kind of classes that you can sign up your kids for. Mine offers a movement/dance class. I plan to sign them up in January. Check other places like your community center. This is something I need to do more of, but in the little I've heard there's a lot of options.

- Coloring pages! There are a ton of them out there, just google whatever subject matter might be appropriate. I recently found some awesome pages with turkey's and pilgrims by searching "Thanksgiving coloring pages".

Websites that I've found exceedingly helpful:

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations: She's amazing! I have been using her wonderful thematic preschool printables since day 1. My kids love the activities, and her ideas are terrific. I check her page every day, and I love all of her organizational aids! She really is the one who gave me the courage to even try this.

I Can Teach My Child: An excellent blog with wonderful craft ideas! The thing that strikes me the most about this site is that each activity is meant to point our children to Christ. It's beautifully done!

Kaboose: I love the craft ideas here! I'm so uncrafty, and these ideas are simple and actually look like something you'd want to display in your home rather than immediately chuck in the bin.

If you know of any other great home schooling sites I'm all ears!

Recipe: Bierocks

2011-11-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

I recently read an article about the beauty of recipes that have been passed down for generations, and how those who know how to make such things NEED to pass on that knowledge whether anyone asks for it or not. It's the duty of the knowledge holders to find someone who wants to learn. Otherwise the knowledge is lost.

Thankfully, my grandmother (who turned 95 this past August) has generously passed down her recipes. A few years ago my sweetheart of an aunt, Aunt Charlotte, started the monumental project of tracing over all of my grandmother's faded pencil written recipes and making photo copies of them, printing them, binding them, and distributing them to all the relatives. Sadly, my aunt passed away before her project was finished. But her husband and some other relatives pressed on and completed it. Thanks to them, we all have a copy of my grandmother's cook book.

The title? Kissin' Don't Last, Cookin' Do.

I've been trying to make a point of making something out of this book for my family each month, and of course I'm starting with the things I remember. And since my Dad specifically requested Bierock's for his birthday it made sense to start with that.

Bierock's are essentially an eastern European version of a savory hand pie. Seems like nearly every culture has their version: empanada's and calzone's come to mind. It's a convenience food. It can be wrapped in a lunch box, eaten on the go, made in a huge batch it freezes well for a quick weeknight meal. Add a salad, and you're in business.

This time around, I took my grandma's recipe and combined it with some other recipes that I found online. And I had one lonely carrot in my crisper, so I threw that in too.

It all starts with 2 lbs of hamburger in a skillet browned with an onion and minced garlic clove. Once that's done, add 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon pepper. Then shred a small head of cabbage and put that in, along with 2 Tablespoons of worcestershire sauce and 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds. Cook until cabbage is wilted. The end result is this:

Then you get out your dough. You can use whatever you like. I know my grandma makes her own, and I've heard that you can also use those refrigerated biscuits from a can. I used two loaves of frozen dough, and then I set it on my counter to thaw/rise according the the package directions. It takes about 4-6 hours depending upon the temperature of your room.

Then I rolled out one loaf at a time and cut it into 6 wedge shapes.

Put 1/4 cup of the filling on each wedge and then fold the corners to the center and press the seams together. It doesn't have to be perfect, remember, this is a peasant dish.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. The result is a heavenly smell in your kitchen and hot yumminess inside of bread.

Beirocks

2 loaves of frozen bread dough, thawed
2 lbs of ground beef
1 yellow onion
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 small head of cabbage
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1. Place bread dough in a greased bowl on the counter and cover with towel for about 4-6 hours before you're planning to cook. If you need to leave it longer than that you can thaw in the fridge overnight.
2. Brown ground beef with onion and garlic. Add salt and lemon pepper. Shred the cabbage and add it once the beef is cooked along with worchestershire sauce and caraway seeds. Drain liquid.
3. Roll out dough 1 loaf at a time on a floured surface. Cut into 6 wedge shapes. Place 1/4 cup meat mixture onto each wedge. Fold each corner to the center and press seams together so that no meat is exposed. Perfection is not part of this recipe. Rustic is a good word for it. :) Place each pastry on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Preschool Delema

2011-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Because we've had a tough couple of years, and because I was working full-time until the end of August, we hadn't even looked at preschool until just a few weeks ago. Did you know that most people start researching preschool when their kids are babies? And that they sign their kids up for it the spring before they want to send their kids there? Who knew!

Due to life, we didn't even know whether we'd be able to afford such a thing until Hubs went back to work. And by then nearly every place I called was "full for the year, but I can put you on our waiting list." The ones that weren't full? Well, let's just say that we don't have an extra $1200/mo sitting around. I kid you not. Will I spend more than our mortgage payment to send our kids to preschool? Hmm... let me think about that for a minute... NO!

I did find one school that offered this amazing "needs based" scholarship opportunity. It was an amazing school. Montessori and everything. But we didn't get the scholarship, apparently we aren't needy enough. *sigh* Now, maybe if I left my husband and went back to school I'd qualify, but since I'm not doing either of those things, no preschool for us.

I was sad, but life goes on.

Next option? Ugh... I don't even want to say it... home school. Don't get me wrong, I have friends who have done it and survived, but most of them are a lot more "with the program" than I am. I am what some might call a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. Planning? Not my forte. Organization? What's that? I think I'm ok as far as intelligence goes, but I barely scraped myself through school, am I really the right person to be leading two little minds down that path? Well, let's not get overly dramatic here, this is preschool after all. If I screw up this year, there's always kindergarten next year and hopefully I won't be teaching that too.

Thankfully there are some pretty great resources out there. Our local library offered me a ton of books on the subject (as if I'll have time to read, but I now have them on my shelf) and a flyer with classes I could sign them up for through our parks & rec department. And our local school district gives us these excellent monthly "preschool packets" which include a list of seasonally appropriate activities, books, songs, and worksheets. But the one thing that really inspired me to give this a shot is Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations. She has these amazing themed preschool units that you can print out for free along with ideas on how to use them. They're colorful, and cheery, and just plain fun! Plus she has tons of ideas for parents on how to get organized, and I will most certainly be making use of her "to do lists" and "preschool planning sheets".

So after learning all of what's available to home schooling parents, I'm starting to think that maybe I really can do this. And hopefully when this spring comes around, I'll actually sign my kids up for things and I won't have to do it again!

Lead Foot

2011-09-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

They say I inherited my father's left foot.

My dad was infamous for his many speeding tickets and horrible driving record. I remember riding in the car with him as a kid. His ADD takes over and his eyes go this way and that noticing everything from the color of the leaves to the antique car going by. The car gradually goes from the right to the left side of the lane, and back again. Amazingly, I don't recall any accidents either with or without us kids in the car.

I don't swerve within my lane like Dad. Instead I'm hyper vigilant. I get nervous as a passenger because I'm never quite certain that the person driving is paying as much attention as I would. I was in two car accidents as a teenager, neither of them my fault, and so other drivers on the road make me nervous. I'm absolutely certain that they're all going to run into me. That I'm somehow a magnet for stupid people.

So to compensate for the stupid drivers of this world I try my hardest to pass them. I'm convinced that if I get out in front of them rather than driving along with them that I'll be safe.

Well, obviously this idea has backfired, because although I have not been in an accident since college (totally not my fault!) I have recently gotten my very first speeding ticket.

But at least the cop was nice. As he handed me my ticket he said, "I hope your day improves." Yeah, me too...

No longer can I brag about my perfect driving record. Eleven MPH too fast and $144 later I am now just as unlucky as the rest of those stupid drivers.

Gettin' in the Groove

2011-09-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

Since I've officially been off work for 2 weeks I've had a lot to catch up on. Apparently there is a lot that doesn't get done with Mom working and Dad home with the kids... such as clearing the kitchen counters with the accumulated clutter and *shock!* wiping them down. Plus all the projects that I've meant to attend to but up until recently haven't had the time/energy to even think about it.

The first week I was off I focused on canning. My sister-in-law was visiting, so my mom came over and we canned batch after batch after BATCH of peaches. Thankfully with so many hands to help it went pretty quickly and in no time we had a ton of peaches in jars. Next up was pickles. My cucumbers decided to produce a mighty crop this year, so my sister-in-law encouraged me to can them up into bread and butter pickles. I think we now have enough pickles to last us until the end of time. Then after everyone left I decided to take the last few peaches and make peach salsa and a couple batches of peach jam.

My kitchen is sticky. I've cleaned it a few times, but it's still sticky.

I went to my chiropractor a crippled mess. She said, "What did you do??" I said, "You know, just did a bit of canning." "Well, you need to stop!" "I can't! It's berry season next!"

Then I went and bought a half flat of raspberries and 2 flats of blackberries. But I tried to be reasonable, I washed and froze them for my sister-in-law's next visit in October. What can I say, I couldn't leave her out of the fun!

And then just as I was going through catalogs and sign up forms for fall activities we all came down with a cold.

Bleh.

I'm still trying to get used to this whole stay-at-home mom gig. It's been a year, and I feel rusty and unsure of what to do with my time. I went to church, and picked up their fall calendar. We considered sending the girls to preschool, but the only one that had availability was out of our budget and 30 minutes away. We're on a waiting list for a coop preschool in town, so hopefully we'll get called for that. In the meantime I figure we'll do stuff with our church and the library and call it good. I'm still trying to work it all out in my brain.

The Great Switcheroo

2011-09-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

So the great day has finally arrived.

As of August 31st, I have officially been laid off from my job. For those of you who know me, you'll know that THIS IS GREAT NEWS! It means that I can get back to my real passion: staying home with my kids.

This news is made even more exciting by the fact that my husband was called back to work just 3 days after I got the news of my lay off. I don't believe in coincidence, I believe in God's plan, and this is obviously His hand at work in our lives.

I thank all of you who have been praying for us during this extremely tough year. I know I haven't posted much at all, but hopefully I will be able to remedy that soon now that I have more time on my hands.

U2 and Me too!

2011-06-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hubs and I have a very exciting weekend planned...

WE'RE GOING TO SEE U2!!!

We're packing the car, we're leaving the kids and dogs behind, and we're escaping to Seattle so that I can meet my new boyfriend, Bono. Oops! I mean, so we can scream and go crazy and have a great time together. :)

I love U2. I know they're not the greatest musicians in the whole world. I know they're not the greatest song writers or greatest lyricists on the planet. To all you haters out there, I know. I do. Really.

But here's the thing about U2, they have a lead singer who can sell it.

Plus, Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree were pretty much the sound track of my college years. Which, is kind of funny considering I'm really not THAT old. But obviously, I'm old enough for U2.

In addition to Bono, we'll be enjoying a swank hotel room within walking distance of the concert venu AND I'm hoping to convince Hubs to take me to the glass museum. U2, and glass. Love it!

All brought to yours truly thanks to Dear Husband who bought me the tickets as a surprise birthday present not last December, but the one before that. I tell ya, the man's a keeper!

And just in case you're wondering, here's my favorite U2 song:

What's up?

2011-05-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

Obviously, blogging hasn't been my forte lately.

Mostly I'm just trying to make it through each day, and when I'm done I fall into a heap in front of the tv. No time for writing, or communicating with the outside world in any way. Well, except maybe Facebook but that's a different story.

Our life is still complicated, but I'm beginning to think that it just always is. For the past two years I've lived with an injured husband and twins to care for. It's been a marathon of sorts. But we have seen major progress. Hubs got his shoulder surgery... FINALLY! He's still the stay-at-home parent, there's probably going to be some issues with his employer letting him come back and under what conditions. Again, it's complicated. We're not sure when that will all come about, but we're not stressing about it either. At this point, whatever is going to happen will happen.

I'm still enjoying my job, but I'm getting tired. I'm trying to slow down and take time for myself when I can. Relax when I can. But it's hard to do that.

My girls will be 4 years old in just a couple weeks. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday I held them for the first time. And now they're not babies any more, they're big girls. Or so they keep reminding me. How did that happen?

Anyway, I'm still here. I'm still doing ok. Life is hard, but it's getting better, there's more reason to be hopeful.

Very efficient!

2010-10-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

I toured 3 groups of people at once today, a record high for me! I also took 4 applications, and I straightened out 50 files. Overall, a productive day, and now I'm going to veg for the next 2 days since my weekend is finally here.

The Ups and Downs of Property Management

2010-10-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to say, "I'm sorry, we can't rent to you." to a couple with a 1 month old living in a hotel on their church's dime. Today, I sat down and signed a lease with another couple, who have been living in a shelter and scrambling like crazy to get everything in order so that they could have a place to live. Emotions run high here, in this place of can we, or can't we make it work.

Busy Week!

2010-10-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

I love my new job, but it's very busy with phone ringing off the hook and people coming in and out all day. By the end of the day I'm exhausted! And then I come home to a cooked dinner, tired children, tired husband, and tired dogs.

First Day

2010-09-27T20:44:00.001-07:00

Today was my first day of work at my new job. Hubs and I are both struggling with our new roles, but we've made it through one day, and tomorrow I'm sure we'll make it too. I'm very much enjoying being in the "real world" again spending the day talking with other grown-ups, and the office I'm working in is crazy and frantic but in a good way.

Ultrasound, but not the fun kind.

2010-09-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound today and to my eye everything looks just about the same as it did 2 months ago when I had my first one. The gallstone is still there, still round, still rolling around inside of me making me say ouch. The report will go to my doctor on Monday, so it will be interesting to see what she will suggest.

In Sickness

2010-09-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Having a gallstone is no fun at all, in fact, it downright sucks. Spent this morning having fun with Anya at speech therapy, and the afternoon in the doctor's office talking about my options. Ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow to check on my little round friend and see if it's moved or grown or what.

Finally, Good News!

2010-09-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for it?

I GOT A JOB!

I feel very relived, and at the same time, nervous. I haven't worked full time as an employee for 7 years. So it's going to be a big adjustment, both for me and for the fam. But it's worth it. I'll be getting a pay check which we very much need, and I think it will be good for us to switch roles for a while, even though it's not what either of us had in mind.

To start out it will be part-time (about 25-30 hours a week) but it will become a full-time position within a few months. So maybe that will give us a chance to ease into it. I start Monday! EEEEEE!

Funny thing, I worked for this company 10 years ago for 7 months. I almost didn't send them my resume because I was never told why I was laid off. So I guess it's a good thing I got up my courage and sent it anyway! I still don't know what happened 10 years ago, and neither do they since nothing was written in my file, so I guess that's good!

When I got home from the interview/job offer this morning, we had letters in our mail box from Workman's Comp. And...

...

He's been denied again.

*SIGH*

I really have an idea of why some people have gone on rampages. Like, with guns and stuff.

It's SO frustrating!!!

But on a good note, he was approved for long-term disability through his work! Which means 12 months of health insurance and an actual regular pay check for 70% of his normal wage. HURRAY! This has lifted a gigantic weight off our shoulders!!!

So we're going to be fine.

Really.

Not that we thought we wouldn't be.

Well, maybe a little.

Anyway, for you lovely people who are still following this blog even though I haven't written much at all this year, I really appreciate you. Thank you for sticking with me even though I haven't been around much. In an effort to actually post here on a regular basis I think I'm going to do something a bit different. My new goal is to write 3 sentences a day. Just 3, should be easy, right? It will be good for me, to return to sense of routine with my daily postings, and at the same time not overwhelm myself or push myself to do more than I can handle. So, that's what you can expect from me from here on out, hopefully it'll result in more concise regularity.

Such Is Life

2010-07-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated my blog in forever, so I thought I should, and then I thought, "But my life pretty much sucks, who would want to read that??" So I didn't. And then life started to suck even more, and more, and more. And now it's gotten to the point where I can't even put it all into words. I just don't have words. It's too vast.

How can one quickly sum up the incidents of a life that lead to this place? The place where sorrow and happiness meet. Where emotions run so high and so complicated that thinking about it makes you want to cry and smile at the same time. I have no idea. But maybe trying will help somehow, although I'm skeptical that's even possible.

To catch you up to speed, Workman's Comp denied Hubs' surgery back in April. Since then we've been waiting for doctors and lawyers and insurance reps to get their paperwork ducks in a row. We're still waiting, and praying, and hoping for the best. In the meantime Hubs hasn't been working. We're living on savings (thank God we have it!) and praying we won't have to much longer.

In the midst of this waiting, our 24 year old niece passed away on June 19th. We're devastated. I could write a whole post simply about this incident, but I'm not sure I could bear it. Let's just say, no one expects their 24 year old daughter to go asleep one night and simply not wake up the next morning. Alisha was a sweet bright light in our family, we loved her dearly, and miss her terribly.

We drove to California for a party in her honor, stayed for a week or so, went to Disneyland with Hubs' family (Who does these things? We do apparently. Although I'm sure Alisha would have approved.) and came home. A grueling 16 hour drive home, but hey, who's counting?

Our dogs were sick the whole time we were gone, and although we had excellent neighbors caring for them, our house was a poopy barfy mess when we arrived and we spent the following 6 hours cleaning and sanitizing. And then we fell down and slept like rocks.

We also came home to some scary letters from Hubs' work and workman's comp, and had to wait for 2 weeks for our lawyer to get home from his vacation before we knew what it all meant. Basically, they can't fire Hubs, but they can stop paying for his health insurance and force us to pay for Cobra. We learned this on our anniversary this week. Happy Anniversary to us! Eight years, and we're still chugging along. At our Anniversary dinner last night, in the same spot where we had our wedding reception, we decided that I need to start looking for a job. It's not what either of us had planned, but we gotta stay solvent somehow.

To top it all off, I found out yesterday that I have a gallstone. I had the ultrasound yesterday morning, and I am waiting to hear from my doctor about whether or not she'll recommend surgery.

Truthfully, we're pretty scared and sad. We're not sure where this road is leading but it sure seems like it's not going to a good place.

The bright spot of course, is our girls. Without them we'd be wallowing in self-pity right about now. Instead, we're having so much fun with them! They're at such an excellent age right now, learning new things all the time, excited about such simple pleasures, and constantly saying things to crack is up. Laughter really is good medicine. Amen!

Interesting Truth

2010-05-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

*A conversation between me and my mom*

Me: I've learned an interesting truth. That as my kids grow so do my arm muscles!

Mom: *grins* Wanna know another interesting truth?

Me: Sure!

Mom: So does your heart.

The Birds of the Air

2010-05-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today my yard is flush with fledgling birds. I feel a kinship with their parents, each with a squawking baby to feed. Often there is only one parent (I can only assume it's the mother) with two or three little ones following behind, each with their mouths open demanding their next meal. "Feed me! Feed me!," they say with gusto.

And then I inspected my freshly planted garden, and sure enough, they had already snacked on my bean sprouts. I growled as I tried to salvage the few with roots, carefully poking them back into the dirt.

Obviously, I'm just an instrument of God for their survival. Doing my part to feed the starling population. Begrudgingly.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:26-27

Soul Comfort

2010-05-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

"As the deer pants for water so my soul longs for you O, God." Psalms 42:1

Thanks to Amy Grant and Summer Bible School, it was one of the first verses I learned as a child. Repeat it, sing it, enough times and it tends to loose some of it's meaning. That as we have a need for water, the beverage that sustains life in all living creatures, we have an equally strong need for God. Without Him, we would die. And spiritually speaking, as we stray we experience spiritual and emotional death.

During hard times it's easy to forget. It's so easy to get caught up in routine. To rely on our own efforts to succeed (whatever that means). To accomplish items on our 'to do' lists, and then sit back and think, "Look what I did! I'm not doing half bad. In fact, look at all the stuff I got done today. I'm pretty awesome! Yay me!" Or just the opposite, to give up because we think we're not good enough. That it's better to avoid failure and just not try at all. Either way what we're really saying is, "Thanks God, but no thanks. I'll just take it from here. I've made it this far without your help, and I'm sure I'll make it through tomorrow just fine too."

Except, that God doesn't want us to be "just fine". He wants us to be MAGNIFICENT! And being magnificent requires us to rely on Him rather than our own efforts. Such magnificence requires just one thing, regular drinks of Living Water.

As most of you know, we've been going through a hard time. A very discouraging time. Every day passes, while we wait for miracles. So far, we haven't received any definitive answers, so we wait. And wait some more. Most of the time we spend trying to distract ourselves from all this waiting. We watch TV, we play computer games, we scour the internet for useless tidbits of info, and lately since the weather has been nice I've been outside gardening. But it's really just to forget. To pretend that what's happening isn't really happening.

And today something interesting happened...

I was thinking about back when I was in high school choir, so I did some searches on YouTube looking for songs we used to sing. Seems pretty harmless, right? Well, obviously God can work even within our time wasting because I came across one of my favorites, Sicut cervus by Palestrina. Within the first few bars I had a huge lump in my throat, and by the end I had tears. It's so hauntingly beautiful, the notes so beautifully express such longing. It aches with love. And so I wondered, because 14 years post high school I certainly don't remember, what does it mean? So I did another search and found this. "As the deer longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for you O, God."

Thank you, God. For speaking love into my life when I least expect it. For reminding me that you didn't design us to make it on our own, but to rely instead on Your strength and Your ability. I praise you Father, for caring for me. For lifting my burden. For filling me up to the brim with your Water. Amen!

Living in Limbo Land

2010-04-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

We found out yesterday that Hubs' surgery isn't going to happen this coming week. As you can guess, we're very disappointed. And pretty pissed off at workman's comp and their failure to approve (or deny) the surgery even though they've had 6 weeks to do so. We're back to waiting. A situation we've become familiar with over the past 14 months.

I've been trying to look at the bright side. Since this surgery isn't going to happen when we thought, perhaps I might be able to see the opera that's performing the first and second week of May. More time before surgery means more time on our diet, which could mean a healthier outcome. More time to clean my house. To plant my garden. To visit with friends. To... oh who am I kidding I'd much rather have a healthy husband.

So as a means of distracting myself from the disappointment my mom and I took the girls to see the tulips in Woodburn, OR. This is the last weekend of the festival, so if you're in the area you should go check it out! It's so purty. Made me wanna pull up a lawn chair and just soak in the beauty. Too bad mom and I were chasing 2.75 year olds instead. We both kept saying, "It's an adventure!" After walking through the fields for about 15 minutes Ziva decided to throw a hunger and nap-time inspired hissy fit while Anya dragged her feet to admire each and every lady bug she came across. We ended up carrying them back to the tram. Yes, my arms hurt today.

Once we got home I showed the pictures of our trip to Hubs. His comment, "Why didn't you get any pictures of their faces?" Ummm... I TRIED!!! It's pretty tough to capture cute smiling faces when they're in a new place. Looking at the camera is the LAST thing they wanna do. lol

See for yourself.

"Hmmm... what's this?"

"What, you wanna take a picture of me in front of the flowers, sure thing Mom."

Going...

Going...

Gone.

"Wanna see me smile? CHEEEESE!"

Well, at least we have proof that we were there.

For some better pictures and the story of our adventure with the tulips last year, check this out.

So, where have you been?

2010-03-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Me? I've been playing Sims 3 in between watching my kids grow and trying to remain sane. So let me get you caught up on the past few months since obviously blogging hasn't been my forte lately.

Hubs is scheduled for shoulder surgery the end of April. FINALLY!!! I know this is a good thing because obviously something needs to happen to get him healthy again. But I'm terribly nervous about what an actual SURGERY will mean in the here and now. It will mean that he will be even more incapacitated for the next several months. Which will mean I will take on even more of his duties, including taking care of him in his post-surgical state which I have been warned isn't going to be pretty. So we've been brain storming about things that should be done before then, and we've got a list going. My parents have taken the next week off of work for Spring break, so hopefully they'll be able to help out with the preparations.

My own health has been pretty terrible lately. I've been in a lot of pain in pretty much every joint in my body. Looking back, probably too much inactivity playing Sims for sure, but it's enough to be concerning to me. So I'm going in to get my blood tested this afternoon to make sure that it isn't something more serious. I'm not sure I've mentioned before, but I've been in 2 pretty serious car accidents in my youth, so I've always been a bit messed up. But this is probably the most pain I've been in since recovering from those accidents. Not good. Especially with Hubs' surgery coming up. I really need to be at my best by then.

All this, plus the whole chest pain incident, has lead me to the conclusion that one of the things we HAVE to do before the end of April is get on a diet and loose some poundage before then. My personal goal is to loose 10 lbs. I'm hoping Hubs will loose even more than that, being a man and all it should be easier for him. (Don't you ladies just HATE that?) I'm sure we will both feel better if we are successful with this and be more prepared for the physical demands that this surgery will require. So we're getting back on the Mayo Clinic Diet, since that has worked for us in the past and we didn't feel terribly deprived while on it. The only reason why we stopped doing it last time was because it's very produce heavy, which is wonderful but also expensive. But now that Spring is here and I'll be planting a garden soon it should help with the cost.

We're postponing potty training. The girls are VERY ready, but we're not. And knowing this surgery is coming, I just can't take on another project. I'm currently planning to start with the potty training once the weather warms up. I've been told it's much easier to do outdoors.

The girls are doing really well in Early Intervention. They age out of the birth-3 program in June, so soon they will start testing to determine if they will qualify for the 3-5 year old program. We've pretty much already decided that they won't be going to pre-school in the fall, even if they qualify for the free public pre-school. We're not ready to make any school decisions, we didn't think we'd have to until kindergarten. Hubs very much wants me to home school, I pretty much think I'd be terrible at that. But if they qualify for speech therapy then we'll probably do that.

Outside of that they're at an absolutely delightful age right now. Chubby chubby cheeks and smiles and giggles. Playing much more social games both with us and with each other. This whole twins thing is certainly easier in that regard. They are much more able to entertain themselves rather than needing me to entertain them. Ziva is much better at asking for things that she wants with her words, although there are certainly times when I don't understand her and she gets very frustrated. Anya now asks for some things, such as crackers or milk and sometimes requests which movie she wants, but her vocabulary is more limited and tantrums are pretty frequent for her as a result. Sometimes they're both crying and demanding things from me and unable to tell me what they want and I end up wanting to throw my own tantrum! Yikes! Thank God for Book Club and Bunco night so that Momma can get a break!

Anyway, so that's where we've been. Obviously my blogging life has taken the back burner. I'm hoping to update more often. I think I really NEED it, if you know what I mean. Writing is my outlet, and when I don't do it I end up becoming even more stressed. It's become part of what I need to do to take care of myself. This, and yoga. And if I stop doing either one I end up a mess, both mentally and physically due to stress. So I'm hoping to keep up better, both writing and visiting my fellow bloggers whom I love. As part of that I'm pairing down my blogroll so that it's more manageable for me. I've been following WAY too many amazing blogs, and then feel overwhelmed when I check my reader and there are 1000+ things to read. So please don't take offense if one of the blogs I drop is yours. It was either stop the following or just stop reading anyone at all. Truly, nothing personal.

Frankly...

2010-01-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

I'm very tired today. Too tired to be creative or come up with pretty words. So I'm going to cut right to the chase.

I'm scared.

Thursday afternoon was pretty much like any other day at my house. Until my husband woke up at 4pm and confessed to me that he had some chest pain, and that it had been going on for about a week. But that the previous night at work he had a pretty terrible "episode" which lasted a few minutes and scared both him and the co-worker who was there at the time. The only reason he told me anything at all was that it had gotten to the point where he felt he needed to see a doctor about it and he asked me to call and make an appointment.

Can someone explain to me why men do these things??? Why they think it's perfectly ok to keep their health problems to themselves until it reaches a severe magnitude???

Sorry, the whole "I didn't want to worry you, Honey." just doesn't work for me.

Instead of making him an appointment I questioned him, and then sent him to the ER. I had dinner in the oven and no hope of child care until 7:30pm so it was the best I could do. Honestly, I thought it would probably turn out to be nothing. Maybe it was just a panic attack or heartburn or something really simple. He's only 42. It can't be his heart. Not yet.

Around 7pm he called me to say that he was still in the ER. That they were getting ready to transfer him to his own room because they were going to keep him overnight for observation. He sounded calm, like it was no big deal. And then he casually stated that they thought it might have been a blood clot or a minor heart attack.

!!!

So although my neighbor knew what was going on from the start and had generously offered to babysit when she got home from work, I felt like I needed to call in the troops for reinforcement (the troops being my parents). They threw some overnight stuff together and hurried over. All while I ran around throwing a bag together for myself. Once they got here I piled in the car and headed to be with my man.

When I got there he was still in the ER, all hooked up to wires and tubes. He looked ok though, lethargic from the drugs they gave him, but otherwise his normal self. Just being there calmed me.

There really isn't much else exciting to share. We spent a very restless night at the hospital, and the next day they couldn't figure out what was wrong so they sent him home with a no-salt diet and a number for a cardiologist. They did notice an "electrical blockage" for one of his arteries on an EKG, but other than that there was nothing outstanding.

So we're home now. And he's back to not telling me if he's not feeling well.

He's frustrated because they couldn't find what was wrong. He's afraid that it will just be like his shoulder. That it will go on and on with no diagnosis and no answers to the point that he feels people don't believe his pain.

Me? I'm just afraid of loosing him. I knew when I married a man 10 years my senior that it was likely to happen someday, but I'm certainly not ready yet. Although, when is anyone ready for such an event? But I'm REALLY not ready now. I need him. And our girls will need him for at least 20 more years. So although his dad died from a heart attack at 62, that's still 20 years from now. This whole "it's just a little chest pain" scares the living crap outta me. And the fact that he doesn't share how he's feeling scares me even more. I hate it. It pisses me off. It makes me wanna scream at him, except I'm sure that won't make things better in any way.

Hubs: I don't see why you're so worried. If I die you'll instantly become a wealthy woman!

Me: I never wanted to be a wealthy woman. I only wanted you.

Bring All Your Troubles

2010-01-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

I woke up with this song stuck in my head this morning, so I thought I'd share it.

Enjoy!

New Year's Recap

2010-01-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

My New Year's Resolution last year was to post something on this blog every single day. And I kept up with that goal for a goodish bit, and then I got lazy and busy and it somewhat fell to the wayside. But I'm ok with that. I did my best (sorta). And in the end I think I started to share more from my heart. More quality, less quantity. I also think I've found a better balance between my computer time and the rest of my life, which has made a positive difference.

I won't be so foolish to make such a demanding resolution this year. At this point I think "blog when possible" is about as good as I can do.

But without further adieu I'd like to share some of my top posts from this past year. My blogging friend Helene gave me the idea on her New Year's post. (And if you like to laugh, you should really check it out!!!)

January

I started off with a bang and decided to share our birth story. I shared the recipe for my signature dish: Paprika Chicken. You know, back when I had time to take pictures of my cooking exploits. I was able to hypothesize about twin language development. And I ranted about the Octomom. Obviously I had too much time on my hands!

February

In February I was running out of things to write about. So I decided to take on a new resolution to clean out my spice cabinet that involved sharing recipes once a week. And Mystery Spice Monday was born! Again, obviously too much time on my hands! I also wrote about The Boys, and Our Love Story, along with a major case of Spring Fever and My New Babies.

March

I lamented about the things Hubs buys at Costco. I shared a genius of a website that helps you find recipes based on what you have on hand. And I briefly mentioned the occasion that lead to Hub's shoulder injury, not realizing how serious it would be and how it would dramatically affect the rest of our year. I also shared a story about an eventful evening at our house. Plus a highly recommended roast recipe!

April

We all got a major case of the stomach flu, but I learned a lot. We also found a new church, which has been a major blessing, and I expressed how I learned to remember that I was beautiful. I shared a moving Easter video, and also my cute but flawed cake pops, along with our escape to the Tulip Farm.

May

This was the month when things started to look grim, but in the comments on this post Annie's Granny gave me some much needed advice. I shared an Artichoke Chicken recipe that would knock anyone's socks off (assuming they like artichokes). I was also the featured blogger on Multiples...And More!, which also happened to coincide with The National Day of Prayer. I also started to get pretty excited about my garden, and I posted about it here, and here. I also wrote about the twins in their Native Habitat.

June

This is the month when I cut back dramatically on my blogging. We went on vacation, and it was fun but crazy and I failed to write about it. I did manage to write about a Spinach Pesto Pasta Salad that I made for Father's Day, a gardening post, and something about what it means to be a Good Neighbor.

July

I participated in a Hometown Swap and received an AWESOME gift from Jenna! I updated everyone on the girls and their antics. I wrote a note to Ziva. I also shared about how my life had become a Pressure Cooker, and then reassured everyone the next day that I was doing better. In the midst of the craziness I broke my toe, almost forgot about that one!

August

I braved the grocery store alone, with twins in tow. Then I gave a full update of all the world of hurt we were in and why I hadn't been blogging much (and by much I mean, at all). But at least I had one minor victory.

September

Sometimes a change of plans can be for the best, an excellent lesson to learn! We also learned that our live was good despite our circumstances. I finally got around to posting our new family photo, taken in June. And I realized my limitations: that I couldn't post recipes w/ pictures once a week. But I somehow still managed to squeeze out a post about pickle making.

October

I talked about what a film crew would capture if they happened to be following us around one day. I got sappy and shared an old poem that I love. My dad turned 70! I also wrote about our Christmas Gift Giving Plans, and finally got around to posting pictures of our getaway back in August.

November

I posted a Way Back Whendsday about my girls and their Tandem Play. A review of E-Mealz, my new saving grace. A hilarious look back at my dating life. And what November would be complete without of list of Things I'm Thankful For?

December

Hm, apparently I only posted 3 things last month. GO FIGURE!! But I think they're all good and shareworthy so here they are: Holiday Treats Worth Giving, My Theory of What's Happening in Our World, and Christmas Deconstructed.

So that's it! My Year. Honestly, I'm really glad it's over and behind us.

Christmas Deconstructed

2009-12-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a crazy crazy day, and the days leading up to it just as crazy. I am so tired now that I feel that if I blink for just a little too long that I'll fall completely asleep. I'm sure that this is compounded by the fact that the wind here is extremely gusty and woke me up several times last night.

Christmas morning started with us rousing the girls from their slumber an hour before they usually wake up, getting them ready, and then loading them and all our gifts into the car for the drive to Grandma & Grandpa's house. And when I say WE what I really mean is ME because I'm the only member of my little family who is allowed to lift anything. We took two cars since we couldn't fit all the gifts plus 3 adults into one vehicle (yes, my MIL is staying with us for two weeks).

We got to Grandma & Grandpa's house all in one piece, and ON TIME to boot! That pretty much never happens!

Next was breakfast. I brought homemade cinnamon rolls and my mom provided coffee, juice, yogurt, and quiche. I shared my breakfast with Ziva, and she ate most of it, which left me a bit hungry, but there was no time to think twice about it before diving into presents. I did get 2 cups of coffee though, so I was good to go. The girls did great with the presents, although we forgot our camera lots of other people had theirs so hopefully within the next year I'll get pictures. They were VERY excited about them. Ziva kept saying, "Presents? Birthday? YAYYYY!!!!" She also delivered a few presents before she couldn't stand it any longer and started opening! They got some excellent gifts from the fam: new clothes, art supplies, wooden cars, grocery carts complete with "food". The tutu's I made for them were a bit of a bust, they were AFRAID of them! Seriously?! I can't catch a break with these girls being afraid of inanimate objects. Did I tell you that we didn't get professional pictures of them this year because although I took them TWICE to the studio they were AFRAID of the backdrops and would scream bloody murder every time they were asked to get within 10 feet of them?? Just thinking about it almost makes ME cry, that's how traumatic it was.

*SIGH*

As I've mentioned before, we decided to do homemade gifts this year instead of store bought in an attempt to make it more meaningful. Overall I think it went pretty well. The gifts that were given were given with thought and purpose and meaning. My mom made some amazing gifts for people including aprons for me and my sister and photo albums for Hubs. But the sheer volume of gifts was still a bit overwhelming for me. We still spent the majority of the day opening presents, which is what has also happened in the past. Somehow I feel that the presents should be a side note rather than the main event, but I really don't know how to get this to happen. One comment my mom has made (and I think it's probably a common thought), if we don't spend the time opening gifts then what do we do? My first thought was play games, but as my mom pointed out, some people don't like games and we don't want to leave them out. And how do you come up with NEW traditions after 50+ years of doing the current ones? Especially without upsetting people who have helped create those traditions? So much of Christmas is about nostalgia, and if we revamp how we do things it will inevitably involve stepping on toes. If anyone out there has ideas please share!!!

The major bright spot in the day for me was when the girls actually NAPPED at Grandma & Grandpa's house! It was a Christmas miracle!!! During nap time we were able to sit and chat and believe it or not... RELAX! My Grandma & Uncle Butch were able to be with us yesterday, and it's the first Christmas that they've been able to attend so that was very fun. My grandma is 93 years old, and she and my Uncle Butch told stories and cracked jokes and generally made the day very entertaining. At one point they were talking about my Grandma going to visit her sister down in Fresno, CA this summer and my Uncle said he'd be willing to drive her as far as Woodburn, OR but then she was on her own. But he'd be kind enough to drop her on the side of the freeway with a sign saying: Fresno or BUST! How kind of him, don't ya think?! But don't you worry Readers, my Uncle Butch loves his momma and would never do such a thing, he just likes to talk trash and get everyone laughing. Growing up I never knew what to make of Uncle Butch. When I was in college on the East Coast he'd always tease me about not bringing home any lobsters home with me for him. "Where's my lobsters? You didn't bring me any??? Well you better get on back there and bring me some next time! Put 'em in your carry on luggage so they stay nice and fresh." So his presence yesterday kept us laughing, and we desperately needed it what with all the other family drama goin' down that I can't discuss here. Thankfully the drama was kept to a minimum yesterday.

So today I'm tired. Very tired. Hopefully a nap for me is on the agenda.

Against Principalities and Powers

2009-12-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is a very difficult time for a lot of people. A time of year when memory seems to be amplified, when lost traditions are remembered, when loved ones are missed, when we're constantly reminded of what really matters in life and often feel like our own lives fall short.

I've written before about some of the difficulties my own family has had this year. But I know we're not the only ones. And I know many people with much worse problems. People who thought they had it all together are now loosing their homes to foreclosure. People are worried about our nation. They're worrying about health care and hand gun reform, and whether or not Obama deserves the Peace Prize. People are going through divorces at an alarming rate. People are dealing with sick loved ones, or the death of someone close. It's a terrible world. And if you look at the Bible it says things are only going to get worse before Christ's return.

When I was thinking about all of this today, I was struck suddenly by a verse. I could only remember that it had something to do with Principalities and Powers. That our battle is against the spiritual realm. A little google search later and I found it:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Ephesians 6:12-13

We are in a huge spiritual battle. And Satan is having his hay day. And we need to be prepared. How do we do that? We put on our armor.

"Stand firm then,
with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with a breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to this,
take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:14-17

In order to have access to this powerful set of armor, it requires discipline and study. This is not the easiest thing to do, especially when you're already in the middle of a great battle, as many of us currently are. But it only takes a minute or two to open the Word, put your finger on a passage, and arm yourself. I know one lady who reads 3 chapters of the Bible a day, it usually takes her 5-10 minutes. And seriously, this is something I need to do! I'm preaching to myself as I write this!!!

And sorry to jump around, but here's my thought. It's almost Christmas. The holiday that is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus. And yet our society (and let's face it, the forces of evil) have twisted it into something it's not. Into a holiday about Santa and retail marketing, and stress. Let's not forget the stress. Because spending great deals of time thinking about what you should get for various family members can be stressful. Worrying about your credit card bill because you spent too much on gifts is stressful. And for many, thinking about what won't be under the tree for you children is... heartbreakingly stressful.

We've taken the gift of Christ, which was meant to SAVE us, and turned it into a total fiasco. Just try to tell me Satan didn't have something to do with that!

Yes folks, we are fighting against the spiritual world here. And this time of year, the battle is ON! Big time! So we need to focus on our armor and prepare ourselves for attack, because by now it should be obvious that it's coming, if not already here.

But remember, there is light at the end of this tunnel. Jesus came to save the lost. He came for you, for me, for your neighbor, your uncle Frank, your cousin Shelly, your neighbor across the street, your co-worker who drives you nuts. He came for ALL of us!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. - Hebrews 3:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7

Amen!

Fun Holiday Treats - Perfect for Gift Giving!

2009-12-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Before we get to the point of this post I thought I'd start with a somewhat entertaining side note. I know side notes usually come AFTER you've written your main point, but hang in with me and you'll see why.

I'm a bit afraid of re-entering my kitchen. I think it's finally decided to turn on me. Yesterday I broke not one, not TWO, but THREE separate dishes! And the day before that I broke yet a FOURTH dish!!! What is WRONG with me?!?

For the record, I broke:
- A hand painted mixing bowl that was a wedding gift from my parent's neighbors. It was one of my favorites.
- A Japanese rice bowl that was a part of a set that Hubs and I bought in one of our last pre-baby trips. It had blue fireflies painted on the inside... it was very pretty. Thankfully I have 3 others just like it.
- The cap to the PAM spray. Ok, I know that's not a dish, but it shattered in a million pieces when it hit the floor and really rattled my nerves. Plus it required a careful clean up.
- And last but not least, a candle holder that my mom gave me. She found it at Goodwill so obviously it wasn't that valuable, but it was really cute and it matched my wedding set so I was pretty sad to see it break. This particular item was my last and final straw before I said adieu to the kitchen for the day. I had taken it out of a cupboard in order to reach something else and it was precariously placed on top of the refrigerator (obviously I thought it would get put right back into the cupboard but I must have had an ADD moment and forgot to put it back in). In any case, I pretty much set my very own booby trap! Because when I went to get ice out of the freezer the candle holder came right down onto my head! My own kitchen was ATTACKING ME!!!

Basically, nothing super valuable was broken, but CRIPES!!! I didn't cook dinner last night because I was afraid of what else might get smashed to pieces! And I was SUPER careful when I unloaded the dishwasher this morning! lol... I feel like such a clumsy knucklehead!

And now for the point of the post, but first, a warning...

WARNING!!! If you are a family member or a friend who normally receives gifts from me, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN OR YOU WILL RUIN THE SURPRISE!!!

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Is it safe yet???

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Ok, I'm assuming it's safe from any prying familial eyes...

I'm planning to do a bunch of holiday baking and candy making this coming week in order to have homemade goodies on hand for gift giving. In case you hadn't heard, my family is trying to Give More & Spend Less this holiday season, and I plan to shower my friends & family with homemade goodness from my kitchen. In the spirit of giving, I'm passing on the links to wonderful sites with the recipes.

The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls
The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Truffles w/ Sea Salt

Can you tell I'm a fan of hers? Just slightly...

I'm also making Salted Browned Butter Rice Krispy Treats by Smitten Kitchen.

And my Ye Old family recipe for Cream Cheese Mints. Which I shall share with you on a later date.

Should be a fun week! As long as I don't break anything else, in which case I might just throw in the towel and not cook again until New Years.

Post Thanksgiving Family Update

2009-11-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I don't even know where to begin. We're all a bit stressed this year, and it's starting to show. I've tried to leave all that crap off of here because I'm not sure anyone really wants to read about it, but then again, this is MY outlet, and as a result I feel like I'm not coping that well because I'm refraining from using it.

My husband's shoulder is still not well. Yes, it's been about 9 months since he got injured. At this point workman's comp is protesting his case. Makes me glad we hired a lawyer several months back. Hubs' primary doctor is now siding with the insurance company doctors. We don't really know what that will fully mean, but what we do know is that Hubs is running out of pain medication and he hasn't attempted to go back for refills thinking that the doctor won't prescribe him more anyway. So Hubs is in crazy pain, and he's now going through withdrawals. On Tuesday he has an appointment with our chiropractor which usually helps with some of the pain, and he plans to ask her for advice. We'll see how that goes. We're running out of next steps & next options and so far Hubs hasn't even received a diagnosis. It's pretty grim.

On top of that there is some really serious family drama going on in my extended family. Certain family members did not attend Thanksgiving dinner due to what's going on. I don't feel like it would be right to share the details here, it's not my story to tell. But I will say this, there have been MANY phone conversations flying around every day since last Sunday, and many prayers being said, and many discussions about what should be done. It's really really ugly stuff. So ugly that it's really surpassed what's going on with Hubs on my personal stress meter. And there's really not much any of us can do about it besides listening and praying. Which is hard to do when people you love are hurting.

All of the above stuff has somewhat overshadowed the joy that this season brings. I'm trying REALLY hard to stay positive. To be Thankful. To find peace in the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the reason for celebration. To trust that everything WILL work itself out in time. That God is in control of all of this and more. But it's not easy. And I often find myself wrapped up in the here and now and all the stress and worry that goes along with it.

So if you think about it, pray for me. Most days my life is stressful enough all on it's own without all these other things going on.

Advent Conspiracy & Black Friday

2009-11-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

You may remember when I talked back in October about my family's plans for Christmas this year. In a nutshell, we plan to Give More and Spend Less by making homemade gifts for each other. Gifts with meaning, not monetary value. And take the money we would normally have spent and give it to charity. This decision was made after a few of us were introduced to The Advent Conspiracy, a non-profit Christian group that promotes the idea of less consumerism and more Jesus during the Christmas season.

Today on their blog they posted an EXCELLENT article on Black Friday. What they had to say surprised me in a good way, and made me feel even better about decision. So of course I just had to share it here! Please click over HERE to check it out! The basic jest is that Christmas should be about Jesus and family & friends. Everything else is secondary. And that it's ok to shop Black Friday and get great deals as long as your priorities are straight and you aren't making it the whole point of the holiday. Truly worth reading, so get over there and read it!

Things I Am Thankful For

2009-11-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

1) God's provision for our family this year.

2) My husband and his love for his family. He's becoming proficient at demonstrating that love, and it makes me all warm and fuzzy.

3) Our children! The one's we thought we'd never have are HERE and 2.5 and WILD! It's crazy, but crazy in a very good way (most of the time!).

4) Our family. Our brothers and sisters and parents and grandparents and cousins and aunts & uncles who have given us their love and encouragement! We love you too, and we thank God every day for you!

5) Modern conveniences. Refrigeration. Indoor plumbing with clean drinking water. Laundry facilities. Hot water (and for us, instant hot water tap). Electricity. Food in the pantry and a full fridge. Things we take for granted, but make our lifestyle possible.

6) Cars that are paid for in full. And a mortgage with a 30-year fixed interest rate.

7) Hubs' job. We complain about it a lot. It's not fun what he does, it's not fancy, he doesn't get to use many of his skills. It's boring, quite frankly, until it's not. But his job also fully supports our family and makes our lifestyle possible. Because of his job, I can stay home with our children. And that is a major blessing that we do not take for granted.

8) On a lighter note... our dogs. I guess I'm thankful for them. lol Ok FINE, I AM thankful for them. They keep my feet warm when I sit still for 5 minutes. They make me feel safe when Hubs is at work at night. They're getting to be pretty good babysitters, alerting me when the girls are doing something unusual. Dingo is very affectionate and sweet. And Rocky... well... he's just ROCKY!

9) Awesome neighbors! If you've ever lived somewhere with awful neighbors it really makes you appreciate the good ones! At our old house the people across the street would get drunk and yell at each other IN THEIR FRONT YARD at 3AM, so having neighbors that are actually NICE and actually talk to each other and look out for each other! Love it!

10) My Friends. It's been hard lately to meet new people and get out to spend time with old buddies, so I've become more appreciative of the time I DO get to get out and be with friends. I've made a few new friends through book club and getting to know one of my neighbors and it's just been such a blessing!

So that's it! What are you thankful for this year?

Tales of a Good Christian Girl

2009-11-19T20:34:00.001-08:00

I talk a lot about food, and babies, and life as a housewife trying to stay mentally stimulated in between Wiggles episodes. And that's all fun and good, but today I thought I'd do something a little different and share a story about my past.

Before I met Hubs I spent quite a bit of time trying to find Mr. Right. Between my college boyfriend and Hubs I developed a strategy. I had a list of all the things I wanted in my Husband-To-Be, and then I determined to meet as many eligible bachelors as possible until I found the right one. I was very scientific about it. In order to reel in as many suckers as possible (ha ha) I placed an ad on a popular dating website (which no longer exists, that's how old I am!). In my ad I mentioned that I was a GOOD Christian girl, with MORALS, and RULES, and MODESTY, and that I was interested in MISSIONS. And then I purposefully did not post a picture of myself. "THERE!" I thought, "that oughta rule out about 99.9% of the males on this planet!"

Very next day I had 35 emails and counting. Holy crap!!! Now what do I do? So since I was such a nice sweet young thang I started replying to each and every one of them. Some of them with a polite, "No thanks, not what I'm looking for. But thanks for responding to my ad and I hope you find true love!" Others with questions, gotta ask lots of questions, like a JOB INTERVIEW! For the position of a LIFE TIME! Some never responded back (wonder WHY?), which was fine by me, weed those losers out. And over the course of the next several months I would meet a lot of them in person in public locations.

Most of the guys I met were nice, nothing scary or horrible about them, just not for me. One guy was very nice, we had a lot of common interests, but he was so unattractive that I could barely make eye contact with him. I kept praying about him, telling myself that looks weren't that important, that even ugly guys deserved a nice woman to love... but I just couldn't! Made me feel crazy guilty about asking him to be just friends, but it had to be done.

Another guy was young and sweet. He had his own fledgling business and was sharing a rented house with a roommate. We showed each other our photo albums, because that's the best way to get to know someone, right? We ate in at my place because we couldn't afford to go anywhere. And then we kissed, and ummm... I think I lost my chin! Dude was the WORST KISSER EVER!!! I could probably live a very long time on hamburger helper, but I simply couldn't imagine a lifetime of needing a towel after every kiss. So I broke it off.

And then there was the Model. Yup, I'm dead serious ladies. He was 6'4", worked out 3 hours a day 5 days a week, and did some substitute high school teaching on the side. YIKES! When I agreed to meet him I was terrified. Because let's face it, I was a pretty girl back then, but certainly NOT a super model! I rushed out and bought a new dress that I could barely afford along with some slinky new sandals and hoped that would be good enough. It was probably one of the most nerve wracking dates ever for me. We met at a restaurant, and I can't even remember what we talked about because the entire time I was thinking, "This guy is NOT going to like me. I am SO not his type..."

The only thing we had in common was that we were Christians, and even that was a bit sketchy! True to form I asked him a lot of questions, past relationships, family dynamics, doctrinal issues, the whole nine yards. It turned out that this fellow had recently broken off an engagement with a girl from his church. Why? Well because the pastor of his church had told him that he had a vision for Model Guy's life. And in this prophetic vision Model Guy married Cutie Blonde Girl From Church and the two of them started this amazing ministry together and brought all these people to Jesus. So naturally, even though he had no feelings for Cutie Blonde Girl, he went ahead and proposed to her, and because she ALSO believed in their pastor's vision, she said yes. I remember trying to focus really hard to not stare at him with my jaw hanging open as he told me this story!! Or say something like, "You did WHAT?!" Although, maybe I did say that... it sounds like something I'd say. And then he informed me that even though all this drama went down, and even though he doesn't believe his pastor's prophetic vision was correct, he was STILL attending this so-called "church"!

It took me a few more dates with him to let all that info sink in. I felt like I had some sort of mystery to solve with this guy, and it intrigued me! So... WHY was he still going to this church again? And does this chick still go there too? And most importantly, why in the WORLD does this guy want to go out with ME? I mean, really?! I'm nearly a foot shorter than him, I'm a pleasant conversationalist sure, but I'm not really that exceptional in any way. Just your average Amy, that's me! There was one date specifically that I recall when we went for a walk to get ice cream at a local shop and on our way back he said, "I think something very special is going to happen for us this summer." I'm really not sure how I responded, but I remember being downright baffled! Something special?! Are you kidding me?! You're the dude who proposed to a girl based on some quack pastor! You went to Bible College, shouldn't you KNOW better?! And how exactly am I supposed to follow THAT parade?!

So I was pretty much determined to break it off with him. I had convinced myself that he was basically a Man Bimbo, which would explain quite a bit. But since I didn't really trust my own judgment I decided to have a little get together with some of my friends at my apartment and invite Model Guy and see how things went. It was a fun evening, with food and drinks and lots of joking around. Funny thing was, Male Model didn't understand half of our jokes, and they weren't inside jokes! Finally my dear friend Christina pulled me into the kitchen and said, "WHAT are you doing with this guy?!" And then I had to face the facts, I had no clue what I was doing with him. Probably the only reason I kept going out with him was to try and wrap my mind around the whole thing... until I realized, there was NOTHING THERE TO WRAP!!!

So after the party was over and all my friends had gone home I had a little heart to heart with Model Dude. I explained that the whole pastor/church/Blonde Cutie thing freaked me out a bit and that I thought he really needed to get his spiritual life in order if he wanted to have a relationship with me. I said, "Figure it out, and get back to me." Assuming of course that he never would and that'd be the last I'd hear of him. Doh! Stupid Good Christian Girl!!! Of course he called me back 2 weeks later notifying me that he was now "on the right path".

Luckily for me I had already met Mr. Right. Hubs makes a GREAT scape goat!

What's for Dinner? - My E-Mealz Review

2009-11-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a big surprise for some of you, I have ADD. Now some of you right now are smacking your hand to your head and saying, "Nawww.. REALLY?!" Yeah, really. Bright shinny objects distract me, my house would be total chaos were it not for my husband, and I'm habitually late to every appointment I make. Yup, I'm one of THOSE people. When I met my husband one of the reasons I knew he was the right man for me was because our first date was planned down to every last detail. Somehow I just KNEW that I needed someone like him in my life! WONDER WHY?!

One of the things that I really hate doing each week is planning out our meals for the week and make the grocery shopping list. It's one of my most dreaded tasks. Why? Because in my brain it goes something like this: *while looking in a cookbook* "Ooooh, that looks like a yummy recipe! I just HAVE to make it this week! Let's see... it says I need fresh ginger... check. Garlic... check. Carrots... check... chicken... got it... OH LOOK! My neighbor across the street is getting her newspaper! Aw, she doesn't look like she feels very well. I wonder if I should make her some soup. Hm, does this cook book have chicken soup? *checks the index* Yup, it does! *flips to the soup recipe* Ok, it says I need chicken... check... noodles... check... carrots... check... onions... check... Ok I think that's everything. Oh wait, did I finish putting everything from that first recipe on my list? *flips around* Where was that recipe?! Freakin' A!!!

That above scenario took me about 20 minutes... and I haven't even gotten past meal #1!!!

So as much as I love to cook, and have control over my own culinary destiny, I've decided to move on to a meal planning service. Because let's face it, I need less stress in my life and paying $1.25 per week seems like a small price to pay for less stress. I decided to go with E-Mealz because it's endorsed by Dave Ramsey. I've never listened to Dave Ramsey in my life but certainly can't stop hearing about him from practically everyone I know and he seems like an upstanding citizen who wouldn't lead me astray.

The point of E-Mealz is saving money on your grocery bill via planning meals according to store sales. Now, obviously that's WAY beyond my organizational skills which is why I hadn't even considered doing such a thing. But it sounds like a good idea, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I've been using E-Mealz for about 3 weeks now, and I've got to say it works out pretty well for us. I was a bit skeptical because Hubs is the pickiest eater alive, but knowing that I could always just cross out a meal he wouldn't eat, and knowing it wouldn't reappear on my meal plan for at least 6 months, makes it worth it. All of the meals are super easy to make, which has been a nice break for me. Especially during this time of year when I am busier than usual.

There are lots of meal plan options to choose from. You select which grocery store you usually shop at, or a generic "Any Store" list. Obviously you save more money if you can choose a store, but the meals themselves are very economical so I imagine you'd still save money no matter where you shop. You can also choose between low-carb, low-fat, or "normal" dietary options. I went with the low-fat option, and so far the meals have seemed healthy and balanced. Plus we're no longer running out for fast food because I've forgotten an ingredient, which naturally has helped my waistline.

The shopping lists are also very user friendly. They're organized by produce, dairy, meat, pantry items, so it's really easy to find what you need at the store. There is also room on the list to write in additional items you might need to pick up that wouldn't be included on the meal plan. The meals are numbered on the meal plan, and then the ingredients used for each meal have the same number. So if you decide not to make a particular meal it's very easy to go to the list and cross off ingredients you don't need to buy.

Obviously I'm very pleased with how the past 3 weeks have gone in my kitchen. E-Mealz has given me back a small bit of my sanity, especially around 3:30 pm when I start to think "what's for dinner?" Instead of scrambling around to defrost meat or search my pantry for ideas or picking up the phone to dial the local Thai take out joint, I calmly look at my meal plan and in 20-30 minutes I can have dinner on the table. What a relief!!

For More Things to Love visit The Diaper Diaries!

If you're interested in E-Mealz I've placed a button on my header & sidebar. I do receive a small commission for anyone who signs up, but as I've stated elsewhere on this site all money I make goes towards charities in my area.

Poetry Saturday

2009-11-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm not declaring a new Meme. Honest! My friend John has recently started a new poetry blog. I had never read any of his poetry before, and WOW! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he's such an excellent poet because I already knew he was a genius.

So I started thinking, who else is a poet (and I didn't even know it)?

Are you?

Care to share your genius?

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.... :P

Ok, I'll just show you mine... it's not particularly pretty but here goes nothin'.

January

01/12/2001

Night comes quickly this time of year.
Held in a wintery embrace of time
We creep along, ever so slowly.
Our blood is thicker now, our chill more bearable.
We've walked on water - every day we do
And it doesn't surprise us at all.
Merry merry, all the way. No time to be depressed.
Then January comes, and the bare tree limbs point to the sky.
They show us things we denied back when we made our Santa lists.
Our resolutions were broken five days ago
And after all the excitement, what do we do?
Huddle down and wait out the cold, that's what.
We reassure ourselves. Everything Will be alright.
Spring will come eventually; it's only a matter of time.
And the sun sets again, promptly at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Let the night be still, and may our hearts do likewise.
For winter is not really a time of sorrow, but rather a time of peace.
And peace is something all of us need more of.
Especially today.

These Poems Contained on this page remain the property of the owner of this site.
Any Copying, Editing or Reproduction in whole or in part for personal gain is strictly prohibited. Copyright ©1999.

Turkey Tips - Aloha Friday!

2009-11-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

From An Island Life

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

So I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the very first time this year, and as a result I'm roasting my very first turkey. Anyone have any great turkey tips for me?

Three Kansas Restaurant Reviews - Things I Love Thursday

2009-11-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

Three Rave Reviews from my parents trip to the mid-west back in September! These are all from the great state of Kansas!

This review is really on the road but worth doing a review about. In the Wichita, Kansas Airport while waiting for a delay in Atlanta to clear up (low cloud ceiling so spacing planes every 7 miles for landing instead of their usual 3 miles ....now that is a piece of information...), I order a grilled chicken pesto sandwich on a baguette. This was around $10 with taxes. Even fast food at an airport is high I've found. The sandwich is big enough to split with my hubby. Let me tell you, the pesto sauce is great as was the nice size piece of chicken breast. The bread is baked on site (yes I like and notice bread). This sandwich even has sun dried tomatoes! It comes with an exceptionally good spicy dill pickle which I didn't have to share as hubby doesn't like them :) . Anyone guess which fast food place? The Great American Bagel Bakery. I would certainly order again if given the opportunity.

Montana Mike's adjoins the Best Western off I 35 in McPherson, Kansas (home of the great pumpkin catapulting contest --- honest, I saw on national news!). The decor is "outdoorsy" complete with a buffalo head mounted in the foyer. We take a picture! Such tourists! Other hunting and fishing decor are tastefully arranged throughout. I tend to cheer for the animals, but this is tastefully done. And we order the special of a 12 oz. rib eye steak, steamed veggies, cinnamon cooked apple slices, and a huge roll ( the size of 1/2 a sub sandwich! ). The steak flavor is great without any sauces added. I suggest ordering medium, which is like medium rare elsewhere. The mountainberry ice tea is great and a nice contrast to the meal. The servers give us their name on a stand up card to put on our table for reference. The service is great with friendly smiling staff. We stay all evening chatting with cousins and we are not pushed by the staff to order more or to leave. All this for $12.99!

I highly recommend Cindy's Copper Kettle on East River Street in Eureka, Kansas (cindyskettle@yahoo.com). Cindy's looks like a family style restaurant in a small town. There are locals eating here and that is always a good sign. It is very clean and smells really good when you walk in the door. I get excited when I see bierocks on the menu! I was introduced to bierocks by my mother in law as part of her German Mennonite background (my father in law's family being Dutch Mennonite and they make this too). Anyway, bierocks is part of this wonderful cooking tradition. The baker (who also makes heavenly huge cinnamon rolls for $1.50!) includes hamburger, cabbage, onion, and swiss cheese (a new twist for me), baked in homemade bread. (First you lightly brown & cook the first three ingredients). Cindy's serves this with ranch dressing or ketchup! I have never tried with any dip but I try the ranch. The size is huge- a good 6 inches round! I am accustomed to a rectangular shape of about 3 inches x 5 inches. It was divine!!! The swiss cheese is light and does not overpower the other flavors so I am really pleased. I eat half and save the other half for another day. Most I eat without any dip. It really is good. At Cindy's this comes with salad bar which is surprisingly good. The coleslaw, 3 bean salad, cucumber and tomato salad are all above average. The fresh toss salad add-ons include many choices and really good croutons. The crinkle cut carrot sticks are exceptional. The crisp garlic toast is a nice addition to the salad bar. And the service is good. Worth every penny at $6.95! Thank you Cindy and staff!!!

And thanks again Mom for helping me out and writing such excellent reviews!

For more great Things to Love check out The Diaper Diaries!

Duel Play - Way Back When-endsday

2009-11-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

When: July 2009
Where: Our living room
Title: What one must do, the other must do also.

You don't have to have twins to play along with Cheryl's Way Back Whenendsday at Twinfatuation! :)

Mmmm... Corn... - Two for Tuesday

2009-11-03T11:25:00.001-08:00

Corn, it does a body good!

Easy Apple Cider - Mystery Spice Monday

2009-11-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

I've got a secret.

I know the easiest "recipe" in the world for spiced apple cider.

Don't believe me? Check this out!

Yup, spices don't always come in jars with labels. They also can be purchased inside of tea bags.

In just two minutes, you could be holding a hot steaming cup of hot apple cider.

Or if you're "cooking" for a crowd you could pour a gallon of cider into a crock pot and throw in 6 tea bags.

PS: If you can see through a jug of what's labeled as apple cider, then it isn't really cider. It's juice. Go for the good stuff that is more opaque, it will make your life that much better. Trust me. :)

Would you like to share your own Mystery Spice Monday recipe? Link up below!

Aloha Friday! - FB Apps

2009-10-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

My question for today is If you're on Facebook, what is your favorite App? Or do you hate all apps of any kind?

I would have to say that over time my favorites change. I really like the Visual Bookshelf app, and these days I'm a little hooked on Bejeweled Blitz and Cafe World.

So how about you?

Way Back When-endsay - A Day at the Beach

2009-10-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's good to get away.

Even if it's only for 2 days.

Just so you can remember how you got there in the first place.

Just the two of us, before there were 4 of us.

It's important.

And sometimes it's good to look back to those short 2 days.

And remember what it feels like to be semi-free!

Way Back in August 2009 in Newport, OR. Seems like WAY too long ago!

Isn't that ridiculous?

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Give More, Spend Less

2009-10-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

For years and years, as far back as I can remember, my family has celebrated Christmas the same way. We wake up super early in the morning, travel to whoever's house is hosting that year (we rotate who hosts between 3 different families) or drag ourselves downstairs (if we're lucky enough to be the hosts), drink coffee, open stocking gifts from Santa, eat breakfast, open "the big gifts" which are not from Santa but rather from each of us to each of everyone else, eat dinner (yes, it usually takes HOURS to open all the big gifts) and then some linger and play games while others go home. That's what we do. Year in, year out.

But as I've gotten older the appeal has gotten stale. You mean, I really have to buy presents for Aunt Hildigard and Cousin So and So? Really? But I only see them once a year. What do they like? I have no idea! Maybe I'll just get them a sweater. Everyone likes sweaters, right? Ok fine, scrap the sweater, I'll just go with a gift card.

Why are we doing this? And by "we" I mean all Americans who follow the same routine.

Last year I found this video on You Tube, someone sent it to me via email. I don't remember who sent it, but obviously I NEEDED to see it! At that point, it was too late to call everyone and change everyone's gift buying plans. Especially since so many of my family members start buying Christmas gifts in June.

But it struck a chord in my heart that's been resonating ever since.

So this year I wrote a letter and emailed it to my family members, because things HAD to be different this year. Of all years. When the economy is in the toilet and there are so many people out there who could use some help. I proposed that instead of giving "big gifts" at Christmas that we make handmade items, and then take the money we would have spent and give it to charity.

And instead of taking HOURS to open presents, maybe we could break out some board games. Or decorate cookies, or cut out snowflakes from paper or... you fill in the blank.

Have a Christmas that's meaningful, not consumer-filled. Give more to the charity of your choice, instead of wasting it on things the other person might not even want. Make it clear to your family and friends that you would MUCH rather receive a donation to your favorite charity than a bobble or trinket. Fill the piggy bank of the poor, rather than the coffers of Target or WalMart.

And then take a nice relaxing breath and think about all the shopping that you DON'T have to do this holiday season!

Happy Big 70 Dad!

2009-10-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, my dad turned 70 this past week. So on Saturday we had a big shindig for him. Plenty of friends, food, and let's not forget, desert. Just the way he likes it!

For those who are interested I used THIS recipe for the cake. Enjoy!

The Botany of Desire - Things Everyone Loves

2009-10-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is a preview of the 2 hour special on PBS that will be on October 28th (check your local listings for times). I haven't read the book, but my mom keeps recommending it to me. It's about four plants: the apple, the potato, marijuana, and tulips. They highlight 4 basic desires of human nature: sweetness, control, alteration of consciousness, and beauty. The book and show are from the plants perspective. The idea is that plants use us (rather than the other way around) to spread themselves all over the world. Since I haven't found time to read the book, I'm really looking forward to this special!

For more Things to Love visit The Diaper Diaries.

Family Update

2009-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had another appointment with a orthopedic surgeon about Hubs shoulder. We liked this new doctor, he really seemed to listen. He even took notes. His recommendation is to try a steroid injection. It could solve the problem, it could fix it temporarily, or it could not work at all. But either way it would provide more info about what might be wrong. Hubs isn't thrilled with the idea of a big needle injecting something right into the spot where he hurts, but hopefully it will help. The injection will probably happen sometime next week after insurance approves it.

We're all sick with colds. It sucks. I'm actually starting to feel better today... I think. Anya is teething on top of it all and is super clingy. I mostly wish I could go into hibernation until it's all over, but then who would cook?

We're about to have a new neighbor. Our next door neighbor who has been trying to sell his house for about 9 months has accepted a cash offer. I didn't know cash offers were going down these days, but there you have it. As a result, he'll probably be moved out and gone very quickly, which makes the rest of us pretty sad. He's been a great neighbor. We only hope that our new neighbors will be as wonderful.

My dad's 70th birthday party is this Saturday. My gift is making his cake. I'm planning to make this Bakerella beauty. I've been itching to make it since she posted it back in February, and now I finally have a good excuse! I'm excited to make it, but wish I had more energy to do my best. I just hope it turns out ok and I don't embarrass myself.

Speaking of neighbors, I've spent a lot of time with one of my other neighbors. We've started a Bible study together, which has lead to other great conversations and spending more time together. How amazing is it that God has placed her in my life during this time!? Here I am, so stressed out most days, just trying to scrape through, and then God brings a new friend who lives kitty corner across the street. Wow!

Anyway, that's about it. Again, wish I had more time, energy, oomph to give more attention to this blog. I have so many great ideas stirring in the back of my mind, but just haven't been able to carry things out the way I'd like to.

Next Day

2009-10-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling moody and reflective today. You could call it hormones, or lack of chocolate, or too much cleaning up of poopy messes thanks to my chillin's. So for whatever reason today I was reminded of this poem that I used to ooze over when I was in college. It was sort of my fear of what my life would be, because I knew that I would be a stay at home mom. Just knew it. But what if years from now I became unloved and forgotten? What if being a mom sucked all the life out of me, and I was left used up? That was my fear. Perhaps irrational at the age of 20, but there you have it.

And then I met this poem via Contemporary American Literature class. Yes, I say met. Why? Because when you come across a poem that over time becomes a friend, yes, there is a meeting.

Let me introduce you. Dear reader, meet Next Day.

Next Day
By Randall Jarrell

Moving from Cheer to Joy, from Joy to All,
I take a box
And add it to my wild rice, my Cornish game hens.
The slacked or shorted, basketed, identical
Food-gathering flocks
Are selves I overlook. Wisdom, said William James,

Is learning what to overlook. And I am wise
If that is wisdom.
Yet somehow, as I buy All from these shelves
And the boy takes it to my station wagon,
What I've become
Troubles me even if I shut my eyes.

When I was young and miserable and pretty
And poor, I'd wish
What all girls wish: to have a husband,
A house and children. Now that I'm old, my wish
Is womanish:
That the boy putting groceries in my car

See me. It bewilders me he doesn't see me.
For so many years
I was good enough to eat: the world looked at me,
And it's mouth watered. How often they have undressed me,
The eyes of strangers!
And, holding their flesh within my flesh, their vile

Imaginings within my imagining,
I too have taken
The chance of life. Now the boy pats my dog
And we start home. Now I am good.
The last mistaken,
Ecstatic, accidental bliss, the blind

Happiness that, bursting, leaves upon the palm
Some soap and water -
It was so long ago, back in some Gay
Twenties, Nineties, I don't know... Today I miss
My lovely daughter
Away at school, my sons away at school,

My husband away at work - I wish for them.
The dog, the maid,
And I go through the sure unvarying days
At home in them. As I look at my life,
I am afraid
Only that it will change, as I am changing;

I am afraid, this morning, of my face.
It looks at me
From the rear-view mirrior, with the eyes I hate,
The smile I hate. It's plain, lined look
Of gray discovery
Repeats to me: "You're old." That's all, I'm old.

And yet I'm afraid, as I was at the funeral
I went to yesterday.
My friend's cold made-up face, granite among its flowers,
Her undressed, operated-on, dressed body
Were my face and body.
As I think of her I hear her telling me

How young I seem; I am exceptional;
I think of all I have.
But really no one is exceptional,
No one has anything, I'm anybody,
I stand beside my grave
Confused with my life, that is commonplace and solitary.

Yeah, totally uplifting! I was such a moody little snot nosed brat.

Aloha Friday!

2009-10-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today's question is: Wear a tie much??

Or you could just answer one or more of these questions: Did you watch The Office wedding last night? What did you think??? Your favorite part?

I'd have to say my favorite part was Michael talking to Pam's mom at the church. It's like we got a glimps past the "I'm trying too hard" Michael and got a piece of the real deal, which always makes me feel sorry for him. lol

Dory Cove & Stacy's Covered Bridge Restaurant Reviews - Things I Love Thursday

2009-10-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Two more restaurant reviews by my mom. Hope you enjoy!

Dory Cove in Lincoln City, OR is a classic good choice, even relocated on Highway 101 instead of at Roads End. A fire a number of years back forced the change. A dependable Rave Review for food. Same owners, same cook, same menu. My husband has clam chowder and parmesan cheese bread. This toasted bread is WONDERFUL! Hubby has three clam chowders in three different locations in two days and voted this the best. (Including a well known place that will remain nameless.) I have fish and chips and salad. The salad is crisp and very good. The fish and chips were the same as before and very good. I've been coming to Dory Cove since I was a little girl and that was a LONG time ago - hey I even have a t-shirt! The decor is a bit off putting but when they bring the food it is ALL good. A lot of locals come here and that tells you something. We wish them the very best!

A definite Rave Review for Stacy's Covered Bridge Restaurant in Cottage Grove, OR, on the main street across from City Hall just off of I-5. What initially catches my eye is two winged backed chairs facing a linen covered table, beautifully set, on the sidewalk... We are fortunate to be seated before 6 pm and hence eligible for the special selection of six choices for a three course meal each for $10.95! These choices sound gourmet. I opt for Chicken Tuscany with artichoke hearts and kalamata olives, in a light cream wine sauce. The first course is salad with a wonderful variety of fresh greens -NOT the usual dinner salad- and a wonderful cucumber dressing. Yum! Then the outstanding large serving of chicken. The vegetable is julienne zucchini with herbs. Really outstanding flavor and lightly steamed to perfection. Served hot and not overcooked. The third course is a choice of strawberry or chocolate large ice cream sundaes. Amazing! The decor is small and upscale. The servers are busy but work well as a cheerful team with the owner. The tone is relaxed even though the staff is really busy. This place is a hidden gem. The food is superb! And hey, if you happen to be there in July you can take in the yodeling and whistling contest in city hall. We did!

Come back next week for restaurant reviews from my parent's trip to Nashville & Kansas!

For more Things To Love visit thediaperdiaries.net!

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash - Fresh From My Garden

2009-10-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

This was a total improvise, so I was really excited when it turned out to be so good! But with these ingredients how could you go wrong? Bacon, onions, mushrooms and cheese doesn't make this a light recipe, but a delicious way to use any patty pan squash you have hanging around.

What? Never had patty pan squash? It's a bit sweeter than zucchini, cooks up nice and firm so excellent for stir fry or sautee. My mom likes them best sauteed with garlic and olive oil, and I can't say I blame her. But if you wanna do something a bit more fancy you could give this a try. :)

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

6 patty pan squash
1/2 pound of bacon
1/2 an onion, diced
1 tomato
1/2 pound of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup of cheddar
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Carve the tops off the squash and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon or melon baller. Set aside.

Brown the bacon, allow to drain on paper towels. Drain all but 2 teaspoons of bacon grease. Add the onion to the hot skillet, cook until soft and it has taken on some color from the bacon grease. Add the tomato and mushrooms, saute until veggies are soft. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl combine bread crumbs, cheeses and seasonings. Add crumbled bacon and vegetables. Stir well to combine. Stuff mixture inside hollowed squash. Return tops of squash to the top of each one. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and place squash inside. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. You want the cheese to be bubbly, the squash should be firm but hot.

Family Update

2009-10-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

No new news on Hubs' shoulder. We're getting the feeling that the doctor that supposed to provide the second opinion is giving us the brush off. So we're researching other doctors. If anyone knows an orthopedic surgeon in the Portland, OR area who specializes in shoulder injuries please let me know.

My parents are back in town after being gone for the past 2 weeks. They attended my dad's family reunion in Kansas and also went to the Christian Counselor's Association Conference (say that three times fast!) in Nashville, TN. So you can look forward to more of my mom's restaurant reviews covering different places they ate while on their great adventure.

I for one am very glad that they are home. I tend to take their help for granted, and whenever they leave I quickly realize how much they do for us. They watch the girls so Hubs and I can go out, they provide a huge and very important part of my social circle, and my mom is flat out awesome when it comes to helping with projects such as canning peaches or making jam. I know I tell them thank you all the time... but seriously, there aren't big enough THANK YOUS for what they do for us.

To celebrate their return, they came and babysat for us last night so that Hubs and I could go out for a date! HURRAY!! And since Hubs birthday is next week, and my parents are going to watch the girls so we can go out again... I decided that it was MY turn to pick where we were going to eat. So I picked On The Boarder. Why? Because we had never been there before and I've wanted to go there for a long time due to rave reviews from friends, and Hubs HATES trying new places... so HERE WAS MY CHANCE!! And oh man, it was GOOD! The first bite Hubs took of his carne asada steak was enough to practically melt him into a puddle, that's how good it was. And my combo plate with beef empanadas, chicken enchilada, and beef taco were all fantastic. The only thing we weren't wild about were their chips and salsa. We both prefer white corn chips, and theirs were yellow corn, so no matter how awesome they were for yellow corn chips they just were not as good as white corn. We also indulged in margaritas, because what Mexican meal is complete without them, right? We started off with their most expensive top shelf margarita, and then decided to try their "shaken margarita. My opinion? The top shelf was excellent, but pricey. Next time I'll just go for the shaken because it too was very delicious and was enough for the two of us to share.

And then we went and bought a Wii! And came home, and hooked it up, and played! So far I'm lovin' it! In fact I'm gonna go play some more after I finish this post. I'm ashamed to say that my Wii age is 74... and I'm really hoping that I can blame that on the margaritas but in all seriousness I just can't hit a baseball if my life depended on it regardless of my alcohol intake. Hopefully I can do better today... but I'm not betting on it. lol

So a lot about me... but what about those cute little kidlets??

Well, the kidlets are doing just awesome! Mommy feels like she needs a vacation though. They are getting SO busy!!! By the time nap time comes around I feel like I'm going to fall down. And when they get up I sigh and think, HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! I'm trying really hard to enjoy it, and they do provide an endless source of fun and entertainment and love (let's not forget the LOVE!), but they totally wear me out. I feel like I'm in a constant state of exhaustion from which I will never recover.

But enough doom and gloom! Weren't we supposed to be talking about the kids??

They are constantly doing funny stuff, and I am constantly running for my camera, and then when I get it on and point it at them they come squealing and running at me and I totally miss the thing I was trying to capture!!! So as a result I have very few pictures of them over the past few months. I think I need to hire a film crew to come follow us around for a day just so I can get some memories on tape!

So what would a film crew capture in our typical day?

-Dancing, lots of dancing. Cute adorable toddler dancing. Dancing that involves jumping, kicking of feet in the air, and spinning around in circles until they are dizzy and fall down.

-Ziva blowing spit bubbles, and then saying, "Buh boowwww" which is the signal for me to pop the bubbles with my finger.

-Books books BOOKS!!! Pointing to pictures, saying words they know, indicating that I should tell them what something is, and for Ziva... identifying a few letters. Her smartness somewhat terrifies me.

-Moving furniture. BECAUSE THEY CAN! Carrying chairs to things they want to reach, and then standing on them, and helping each other out to reach whatever it is they need to get their grubby little hands on.

-Much more proficiency with spoons and forks. Lately I give them each their own serving of yogurt or applesauce (yes, mommy is getting braver!). Yesterday once their faces were all messy Ziva said "Beeeer". What honey? You want some beer? "No, Beeeeeer!" Oh! BEARD! Yes honey, you have a beard. Tee hee!!

-We've discovered the trick of putting their pajamas on backwards in order to keep them ON at night! Yes, for weeks and months I've woken them up only to find them totally naked and soaked. Super awesome laundry practice for mommy! Hoping this whole backwards jammy trick will continue to work for a while.

-Anya is becoming more assertive about keeping toys, and is becoming more territorial of Mommy. Part of me kind of hopes that she's swaying away from the Daddy kick she's been on for a while. But the other part of me really doesn't like to be guarded like a dog guards their food. When Ziva comes close Anya will put her hands on my face and then push her face right up against my faces so that our faces are smooshed together as if she's saying, "I NEED YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION NOW!!!" I get it Anya. I do... now can I please have my face back?

Cha Cha Cha Chia

2009-09-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Seriously... what is this world coming to?

And why isn't there a Regan Chia?

How To Make Traditional Bread & Butter Pickles - Mystery Spice Monday

2009-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Canning.

It's what I've been doing all summer while not attending to my blog.

I've learned a lot! I've learned that when you overfill canning jars they erupt in your canner and then you have a mess plus not enough liquid in your jars. I've learned that I should definitely plant less cucumbers next year. And as a result, I could make bread & butter pickles in my sleep.

And they are soooo good! WAY better than dill or sweet in my opinion.

And I now have enough to give them away plus have plenty for myself.

YUM!

Oh, and since I thought you'd be interested, here's a bunch of stuff I picked which necessitated the making of pickles:

Yup, that's bunch of tomatoes, a zucchini, and 6 cucumbers. And believe it or not, my cucumbers are slowing down. In previous weeks I'd pick 8-13 cucumbers in a day and 4-6 zucchini.

Now you know why I haven't been around!

So lets get down to business with the cucs shall we?

Slice approximately 7 cups of cucumbers and 4 onions and place them in the largest bowl you own.

Cover them with 1/2 a cup of canning and pickling salt. This is important, regular salt won't dissolve properly.

Cover completely with water and let it soak for at least 2 hours. While they are soaking you can prepare your canning jars, rings and lids. This will make 5-7 pint size jars so I usually prepare 8 just in case.

Once the soaking is done rinse completely. I rinse mine in small sized batches to make sure I get all the salt water off.

Then I set up my stove. The small pot in the back has a little bit of water and lids set to low heat until simmering. The front left pot has 3 cups of white vinegar, 2 cups of sugar, 2 Tbs. of mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon of celery seed and 1 teaspoon of tumeric. Cook this until it comes to a boil and the sugar is disolved. On the right front burner is my steamer canner (it's the same as a water bath only it steams, you can use a regular water bath).

Once your pickling solution comes to a boil you can add your veggies. I do small batches at a time using veggies I've just rinsed.

Return them to a boil. Once it starts boiling they're done! Easy peasy!

Remove your pot of goodies from the heat and start filling jars with a slotted spoon.

As I do this I often stop and sort of gently bang the jars on the counter to shake them around a bit and get the veggies to compact.

When I'm done with a small batch my solution looks like this. And I put it back on the stove on med-high heat until it returns to a boil. Then I add more veggies, boil, fill jars, etc.

Once the veggies are all cooked and the jars are all filled I top them off with spoonfuls of pickling solution. You want to leave a generous 1/4 inch headspace.

Run a knife around the jars to release any air bubbles. Add more solution if needed.

Then a VERY important step! Take a wet rag and wipe the rims of the jars. If you don't, the lids won't seal and you will have done all that work for nothing.

You guessed it! Then you add the lids. I have a handly little magnetic lid lifter that came in a box of canning supplies. They're not necessary, you could just use tongs, but since I have it I'm using it.

Place the lids.

And then put the rings on. You want them to be "finger tight". My definition of that is only twist with the tips of your fingers, don't use your whole hand to get it as tight as possible. I do put them on tighter than my mom, she barely screws them on. The good news is that we both have successfully preserved food so I don't think it's that big of a deal.

Put the jars in your canner. Use manufacturers directions on whichever canner you have. Remember, canning is not just cooking, it's science. So it's important to follow the directions precisely.

For mine I need to wait until steam comes out of those little holes on the side before I start my processing time. And I never really knew how HARD it was to take a picture of steam! This was the best I could do. :P

Process them for 10 minutes, after that my canner needs to sit off the heat for 3 minutes. And then Voila! Preserved pickles!

Lift them out of the canner using that cool lifter tool from your canning supplies box.

Let them set for 24 hours, and delight in the music of popping lids! That's the sound that means "I'm sealed!".

After 24 hours, any lids that aren't sealed (you can test them by pushing in the middle of the lid, if it gives it isn't sealed) just toss them in the fridge and use them within the next week or two.

I know some of you said that you might participate this week in Mystery Spice Monday, and that's AWESOME! But I still haven't figured out how to do the new Mr. Linky (it's on the to do list!). So if you have a recipe to share please post your link in a comment and I will add a permanent link to the bottom of this post. Thanks for your understanding! :)

Things I Can Do, Things I Can't

2009-09-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Things I Can Do:

Make Pickles

Care for a Garden

Read an occasional book

Play Sims 3

Raise adorable twin 2 year old girls

Bake a semi-healthy treat once a week

Make dinner 5 times a week

Clean the house once a week

Give the dogs some attention, once a day

Plan a Book discussion group, first meeting this Saturday (HURRAY!!)

Take above mentioned toddlers to the grocery store when in dire need for ingredients or diapers or canning jars

Check Facebook twice a day

Maintain a healthy marriage (so sorry you're hitting the low end of the priority list lately honey!)

Things I Apparently Can't Do:

Do all of the above plus make recipes, take pictures of them, edit pictures, post pictures, and give step by step directions of how to make the recipe.

Sorry about that!

But never fear! I'm currently making a batch of bread & butter pickles, taking pictures, and hopefully I'll post up the recipe on Monday! That's right folks, my first Mystery Spice Monday since oh... June? But who's counting, right?

Once the garden dies and I get out of rehab for my Sims 3 addiction I'm sure I'll get back to my regular blogging schedule.

Aloha Friday!

2009-09-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today my Aloha Friday Question is: What do you miss the most when it's in the wash?

I have this big water bottle that is practically glued to me, and when it goes in the dishwasher I always feel like I'm missing something!

So what is it for you? A favorite sweater? Your favorite jeans? Your compost bucket (another thing that I miss! LOL)?

Tidal Raves Restaurant Review - Things I Love Thursday!

2009-09-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here is another great restaurant review written by my mom. Hope you enjoy! :)

A favorite of mine, Tidal Raves Seafood Grill (279 NW Hwy 101, Depoe Bay, OR 97341 541-765-2995) continues to draw large crowds to fill its 20 tables. You know you are in for a treat when people leaving encourage you with "It's worth the wait!". People are inside and outside waiting. It is 2:30 p.m. We wait for about 30 minutes. A definite Rave Review. They do take reservations in case you'd rather not wait. The view over the north end of Depoe Bay is one of the best on the Oregon Coast. The decor and music are pleasing and not detracting from the main attractions - the food and the view. I order Halibut Tacos with corn tortillas filled with grilled or battered fish, cilantro dressed cabbage, tomatoes and fresh lime; roasted pepper rice; and black beans with pico de gallo. The contrast of flavors are a delight. I have ordered this before and this is one of the few dishes that come to my mind unbidden. This time the taco is not as saucey ( more cilantro sauce would have been nice) so I am disappointed. But the black beans with pico de gallo are even better then I remembered! My husband orders traditional fish and chips served with coleslaw. The servers are efficient and very busy. Our order comes quickly, our bill slowly. We are not in a rush. There is this incredible hypnotic view to entertain us.... We will return. My meal is $11.50. Hubby's is $10.50. Eight wonderful sounding desserts are listed on the board but they will have to wait for another time.

For more things to love visit thediaperdiaries.net!

Way Back When-endsday! Family Pic

2009-09-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

This was taken back in June, actually on the girls' second birthday. I just wish they would have smiled! A friend of mine put it well when she said it looks like their plotting. But plotting what???

For more Way-Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Surfrider Resort Restaurant Review - Things I Love Thursday

2009-09-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

My Mom has kindly volunteered to help me out with my blog while my life is so crazy (and hopefully beyond). I didn't really know what to expect when I asked her to send me some of her restaurant reviews. I honestly don't think I've read anything written by my mom, unless it's a letter or email to me. But I know she's a smart lady who reads a lot so I knew it would be good! And I was right. :)

Several things make the Surfrider Resort Restaurant (on Highway 101 South of Lincoln Beach and North of Depoe Bay at the Oregon Coast) a "Rave Review". The Surfrider perches on the cliffs above Fogerty Beach and the view is truly one of the best on the Oregon coast. I step out of my norm and order steamer clams and linguine tossed with mushrooms and green onions in a white wine sauce. The flavors are subtle and not over powering of the delicate flavor of the clams. The clams are tender! I am used to razor clams which are not always. The salad with raspberry vinaigrette is fresh. The warm rolls are adequate. I would choose this again! My hubby agrees this place is consistently above average. The servers are smiling, attentive, and allow the diners to relax and enjoy the entire sunset without feeling pressure to leave before the "show" is complete. The music is not to my liking. The decor does not detract from the wonderful view. My dinner, at the lower price end was $18.00.

We always said that one of these days we'd work on a joint writing project, and I'm really glad that day has come! Hopefully my readers enjoyed this as much as I have, because I'll be featuring one of my mom's reviews once a week until she gets sick of of being my "on the scene" reporter, since obviously I'm very "off the scene". lol

For more Things to Love visit thediaperdiaries.net

New Developments and other odds and ends

2009-09-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

My mom keeps reminding me that I need to write this stuff down, so here I go! You're welcome, Mom. :)

The girls are getting very good at taking their clothes off. During our morning walk today Anya somehow was able to get her shirt off while strapped inside a 5-point harness! Still have no idea how she did that.

I often leave the living room, only to come back 5 minutes later to a naked Ziva. She's started taking ALL her clothes off any time she gets her diaper wet or dirty. This morning I walked in after she had pooped, and she was in the process of taking off her diaper. She looked at me and hurriedly finished taking it off, and then ran to the changing station saying, "Poop! Yuck, yuck!" The other day after a #2 I was changing her and she said, "Poop. Yuck. Bye-bye poop!"

On a somewhat related note, Ziva also hates sleeping with ANY clothing on, including her diaper. So every morning for the past week when I go to wake her up she's totally naked and sleeping in a puddle. She always seems kind of surprised to be all wet, like whoa! How did that happen?

These things lead me to think that Ziva is pretty darn close to being ready for potty training. I think that maybe on Monday I'll try to help her out with that and see what happens.

Elmo Mania has hit our house with a vengence. Ziva says, "Melmo" all the time, and Anya will readily go and get the Elmo doll if we prod her with "Where's Elmo?". But in Ziva's mind pretty much anything that's red is "Melmo" including a pile of tomatoes on the kitchen counter. She saw those tomatoes and signed and said, "More?" "More Pees (please)?" "More Melmo?". I kept trying to explain to her that those were tomatoes, not Melmo, but she wouldn't hear of it. I finally had to shove them into the fridge to get them out of her sight.

Coloring has become a favorite past-time. Yesterday their EI teacher pointed out that Anya is more interested in the process of coloring, and Ziva is more interested in the result. In otherwords, Anya jumps right in with the colors, making lines and circles and dots and seems to really enjoy doing it herself. Ziva on the other hand would much rather watch me draw or color things and only does her own coloring if I push her to. Ziva often brings me their magnidoodles and asks me to draw on them. I almost never see her do her own drawing with them, but Anya draws on them all the time.

Dancing is also big on the Fun list. Anya likes to spin in circles and has a lot of really great dance moves! She starts dancing pretty much as soon as any music comes on and I seriously think she's a better dancer than I am (that really isn't saying much!). Ziva really likes to dance too, but her moves are really different. She really likes to do a bouncing motion bending her knees, it's become her signature move. And when she really gets going she'll jump up and down.

We are really having a lot of fun with them these days which is such a blessing! If it weren't for them we pretty much would lay around and complain about our aches and pains. Instead we're dancing, and tickling, and laughing at their antics! It makes us realize at how good our life really is despite our circumstances.

Change of Plans

2009-09-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

We've had an unexpectedly interesting weekend. Our original plan was to sit around and do nothing and hope and pray that by Tuesday we'd feel well enough to make it through another week. You see, now that Hubs has an injured shoulder I've been doing a lot more than I probably should and now I'm in pretty serious pain too. Seriously, not what we need right now... but there you have it. The Tylenol & Advil and Ultram is being passed around like candy these days... so not cool.

Last week my parents invited us to join them at the beach this weekend. I didn't give her an answer for a long time. I was kind of hoping we'd suddenly feel a lot better and be up to the task of packing children into carseats and driving for 2.5 hours. But when it came right down to it we just weren't. We were like whipped puppies ready to sulk off and lick our wounds and not at all prepared for an adventure. So I begrudgingly said no to my Mom. Not something I like to do, especially not when a fun beach weekend is involved.

Then I happened to get into a phone convo with my SIL who out of the blue suggested she and her husband come up from California for the weekend. Her husband had a 4 day weekend, which meant it would be the very first time he's been able to join her on a trip up North to our house. The last time he was able to come up here was for our wedding seven years ago. And really, what's a 15 hour drive when the end result is spending 2 days with your family? I thought it was a little crazy... but maybe just crazy enough to work! So straight away I started laundering guest room sheets and getting excited about a weekend of card playing and sight seeing... and maybe just maybe a dinner out with Hubs alone! But then Thursday came and we got the dreaded call to tell us SIL's husband unexpectedly had his work schedule changed and ended up having to work Friday. Damn it! So there went our second set of potential weekend plans...

So as we were sulking I surfed Facebook. And low and behold one of my best high school buddies was groaning about how her garage sale was canceled due to weather. Ah HA! We made plans quickly, and she and her husband came over last night for dinner! Hurray! We picked veggies, we talked and laughed, and played cards. It was just what we all needed on the first rainy weekend of the season.

Small Victories!

2009-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Brushing the girls' teeth has been a major struggle. So much so that I'm often guilty of just giving up and not even trying. Gross!!

But last night I decided to try a new approach. In the past I've just taken their brushes into the living room and brushed their teeth sans toothpaste. Well I finally got some training toothpaste (the kind that's safe to swallow) and decided to give it a go. I took a chair into the bathroom, got the brushes and toothpaste all ready, and then I went and got Ziva. Took a few minutes to convince her that she should stand on the chair rather than sit. But finally I got her on her two feet and gave her a taste of the toothpaste. Hmmm... this might not be so bad! I told her to look in the mirror, and she did, while she allowed me to brush her teeth with NO struggle!! And then I tried to teach her how to spit, which she thought was hilarious! Then I put some water in my mouth to demonstrate how to swish, she was laughing so hard she could barely stand up! And then we were all done. She started to get upset about being done, but when I assured her that we'd do it again tomorrow she calmed down. Then it was Anya's turn. Anya had a more subdued response, but she was also willing to give it a go and her teeth got cleaned. She was very interested in playing with the water, and was fascinating by my gargling demonstration.

Anyway, it was really fun! It's so exciting to see them learning new things and getting excited about the most basic things that we grown-ups take for granted. :) Certainly a bright spot in what has been an otherwise crummy week.

Back to Square One

2009-08-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Short version: Dr. appt. was a bust. Hubs test results came back negative, which means he still has no diagnosis. Dr. recommends physical therapy, which sounds scary to me if they don't actually know what's wrong with him. How do they know that won't make things worse?

Sad. Concerned. Prayerful.

Something had to give

2009-08-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I apologize for disappearing off the face of the blogosphere for a while there. Things have been crazy and stressful around here, and I've worked my way into survival mode. Which basically means anything that I don't absolutely HAVE to do pretty much isn't getting done. Including my blogging.

Now Hubs would say that I'm doing plenty of things that don't HAVE to be done and that I'm piling too much on my plate for no reason. But in his mind preserving our garden produce isn't necessary, and in my mind it is. So there you go! And of course my garden is going crazy! I picked 9 cucumbers yesterday, and a couple days before that I picked 11! So needless to say, I'm making a lot of pickles. At least one batch a week and often 2 or 3 batches. And I also made a huge batch of Ina Garten's Fresh Tomato Basil Soup, which I highly recommend if you have a surplus of tomatoes like I do. My tomato plants are now officially 7 feet tall, with many green ones coming along, and I'm coming up with plans for them. Salsa and spaghetti sauce are certainly on the list.

That may not sound stressful to you, and under normal circumstances it wouldn't stress me out either. But we're not living under normal circumstances.

Hubs is still in massive pain with his shoulder. Two weeks ago we went to see a surgeon, and he basically said that Hubs needed physical therapy because his nerve endings had become so sensitive that the surgeon couldn't locate where the pain was coming from. We were both very disappointed with this news. We were hoping that the surgeon would order more imaging so that we would get a definitive answer about what's going on, because up to this point Hubs hasn't received a diagnosis. Yup, it's been 5 months and 4 doctors, and still no diagnosis. So we were pretty bummed out. Thankfully immediately after that appointment we took off for the beach together sans kids, so we were able to console ourselves with alcoholic beverages and no responsibilities for 2 days. It was MUCH needed! While we were gone the girls had a fabulous time with Grandma & Grandpa. So they had a great vacation too!

Then just this last Monday I started having my own shoulder pain. It had been coming on slowly over the past couple months. An old car accident rotator cuff injury. I usually have to see my chiropractor about twice a year to help me out with it. In between I do exercises daily to keep the pain at bay. It's just something I've learned to live with over the years. But doing all the heavy lifting (both literally and figuratively) for the past 5 months has really taken it's toll on my body. I've learned that I really have to stop carrying both my babies at once. They're getting too big, and I'm just not that strong. I've seen my chiropractor twice this past week, and I'll see her once again next week, and hopefully that'll do the trick. Although last time I saw her she said, "Man, you really messed it up this time." So I might have to keep seeing her for a while. I'm thinking we should get a group rate or something for as much as we're seeing her these days! lol

And then Wednesday Hubs had an appointment that he's been dreading for about a month. Workman's comp has required him to be evaluated by 3 of their own doctors: a chiropractor, a neurologist, and a surgeon. All at the same time. It was a marathon appointment that lasted about 4 hours. But God works in mysterious ways let me tell ya!!! Hubs cracked a joke right off the bat and made them all laugh, and then it was smooth sailing from there! He mentioned at one point that we had twins, and it turned out one of the doctors IS a twin. So they were pretty sold on the idea that Hubs is an upstanding fellow and not just some looser faking an injury to get workman's comp benefits. At the end of the appointment one of the doctors told him, "Thank you for being so open and honest with us." Awesome!! And would you believe it? They went ahead and ordered additional imaging for Hubs' shoulder!! They told Hubs that technically they're not supposed to order tests, but that it was in everyone's best interest that he get a proper diagnosis and get the proper treatment. Hallelujah!! Isn't it totally like God to take the thing you're dreading and turn it into the best thing ever??

So yesterday Hubs went in for a very lengthy set of imaging tests. They injected dye into his shoulder for the MRI, and took a whole series of x-rays, some while holding a 10 lbs. weight. And thankfully I had the forethought to call his surgeon back and make an appointment to go over the results, we are getting in to see him on Wednesday.

We are praying like crazy that the source of his injury can be clearly seen on the imaging that was taken, and that the next course of action will be clear and decisive. Our chiropractor is fairly certain that Hubs needs surgery, and as long as I've known her (20+ years) she's never been wrong. We are anxious to have things progress in the right direction because for the past 5 months we feel like that hasn't happened.

In the meantime, Hubs is in a great deal of pain from all the tests they did on Friday. So we're keeping close to home this weekend. I'll probably spend a lot of time coloring with the girls because taking them for a walk has become too painful for me and I feel like a horrible mom when I can't get them out of the house. Thankfully my parents have helped out a lot. And I have great neighbors who are always willing to jump in when there's an emergency. Without them I'd feel very isolated and helpless.

So that's pretty much why I haven't been blogging lately. :) That and the idea of taking pictures of things, resizing them, and posting them, just sounds like a lot of work. So the plan is that I'm going to focus on just writing, nothing more, because frankly I just can't handle more at this point. My posts are probably going to be speratic at best. But be assured that I'm not gone, I'm just trudging along doing the best I can in a tough situation. A couple of you have emailed me to check and see if I'm ok. Thank you SO much!! You are such sweethearts, and I feel so lucky to have people out there who care even if we have never met in person.

Such an Accomplishment!

2009-08-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

I have LIVED to tell the tale!!!

Yes, that's right, I took the girls grocery shopping.

Now that may not sound like such a big deal, but it's hard. And something that I don't usually do. Normally I try to time my grocery trips so that Hubs can watch the girls and I can go by myself. But today, well... today I just got a little bit crazy and decided to give it a whirl.

In case you don't have kids or only have one, here's my little breakdown of what such an adventure involves.

First, I folded up my deluxe double stroller and loaded it into the car. I don't have one of those really cool lightweight ones that fold up like an umbrella. No, mine weighs about 35 lbs. and is about as convenient as brushing your teeth without your hands. But I've been living with it for 2 years now and at this point I'm not willing to spend money on a better one.

Next I go get my kids. One has no pants on and the other has a poopy diaper. So it takes a few minutes to get everyone clean and presentable. I grab one kid to load into the car while the other watches TV. I take the first kid and strap her into her car seat, close and lock the door, while I rush to go get the other one. Turn off the TV, thankfully this one still has her pants on, and I take and load her into the car.

I do a mental check to make sure I have everything, including my brain, that's always a good thing. Thankfully I have everything I need including my earth friendly shopping bags. So I put myself in the car, slam the door, and WHEW! Am I sweating already? Just a little bit, hopefully no one will notice.

So off to the store we go! At this point I'm feeling very proud of myself for even considering this. I've taken the girls to the store before, but always to just grab a thing or two. Today I'm doing the big weekly trip, which means I'll have to get a cart while pushing the stroller... man... why am I doing this? Should I turn around and go back home and forget this ever happened? Stay calm, Amy. You can DO this!!!

In addition to the little pep talk I give myself, I also say a little prayer, "Please God, let this go easier than I expect! Let there be nice people who make room for me and my cart + stroller. AMEN!"

What I'm really hoping for is a store employee to come along with me to do my shopping. Why don't they offer that kind of service??? I'm sure there are other people who would use it.

I pull into the parking lot. Get out the stroller. One child has apparently learned how to work her arms out of the straps. Oh great! I tell her no-no while pointing to her straps and then get her out and load her into the stroller. Then I wheel around to the other side of the vehicle and get out the other kid and put her in too. Shut the doors. Oh wait, the bags! Open the doors, get the bags, shut the doors, set the alarm. Am I sweating again? Dang it! Well hopefully it's just a rosey glow.

Into the store we go! At least it's cooler in here. I pick a cart and pray it's fully functional. With one arm I push the stroller, and with the other I pull the cart behind me. Right off the bat an employee says, "Hey, that looks like WORK!" I say, "Psh, it ain't nothin'!" But what I'm really thinking is, "Yeah, it is, wanna give me a hand?!?"

It takes me a while to figure out how to navigate the stroller, which really needs two hands to stay on course. Finally I figure out that if I use my right arm, and push it with my entire forearm I can push with my hand to turn right, and my elbow to turn left. I get lots of strange looks. Oh well.

On my way out another stranger comments, "Wow! You're a pro!" I say, "It takes practice."

At the check out the lady asks if I'd like help out to my car, "YES!!!"

It took me 3 hours, usually it takes me 2 so that's really not too bad. I'm not sure that I'll repeat this event again anytime soon. Not unless I'm bored and have a lot of energy that I need to expend. But it IS possible, and I CAN do it, and that makes me feel like I climbed Mt. Everest today.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread - Fresh From My Garden

2009-08-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

I know I promised some zucchini recipes a while back, and while I did post this recipe I kinda fell off the band waggon about posting others. So here's a great one I've been using for years now.

It came from this cook book:

I went to the Franciscan Montissori Earth School in Portland, OR when I was in grade school. So when my mom found this at a used book store, and then gave it to me for Christmas, I was VERY excited! Those years at the Earth school were such a magical time in my life. In fact, I seriously considered becoming Catholic just so I could become a Franciscan nun.

But I guess I just liked boys too much.

They live in Bridal Veil, OR which is about a 40-45 minute drive from Portland. And it's such a gorgeous setting it's really no wonder they're willing to commute such a distance. They actually have a water fall in their back yard!! How cool is that?!

Here is the little blurb about them from the book:

Each chapter features a different convent from around the world. It's really pretty amazing to read about each of their missions and how they minister to different segments of society, yet have a common theme that binds them together, their love of Christ.

So onto the bread! I don't ever remember eating Franciscan zucchini bread, but I do remember eating other things that came from their kitchen and seriously, those ladies can COOK! So I knew any recipe that came out of this book would be a hit. This time I tweeked the recipe a bit to make it my own by adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips. I figured that pretty much anything is better with chocolate, and I was right!

First I took my shredded zucchini from the freezer. What? You don't freeze your zucchini?? You're missing out! It's super easy if you use a food processor or salad shooter, and then you can use it in all kinds of recipes year round.

Then you beat 3 eggs.

And add 2 cups of sugar.

And 1 cup of oil.

And 1 T of vanilla. Yup, it's more vanilla than the recipe calls for, but I like most recipes with some extra.

Then you add 1 cup of zucchini. I don't have a picture of that. Oops!

Then you mix up your dry ingredients. Here I have 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. of salt, 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1 T of cinnamon, 1/4 t of baking powder.

And then I added 1/4 cup of cocoa powder.

Then I added a little at a time to the wet mixture and combined until smooth.

Then I added a cup of chocolate chips.

You can make 2 loaves with this batter, but I only made one.

And it was good!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Adapted from Franciscan Heritage Cookbook

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup grated zucchini
1 T vanilla
3 cups flour (I used a combo of all purpose and whole wheat)
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup of chocolate chips

Beat eggs. Add sugar and oil, beat for 2 minutes. Add zucchini. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then mix with wet until it has a smooth consistency. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour into well greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour.

We have a WINNER!

2009-07-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

The winner of the hand painted step stool is Angela! CONGRATS!

Here's what she had to say about selecting her new step stool:

"That was actually easier than I thought it would be. My son would definitely love the train!"

Chugga chugga CHOO CHOO! I hope he loves it! :)

Just send me your mailing address and I'll get it out to you ASAP.

3 Quick Things to do with Blueberries!

2009-07-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

First, a reminder! I'm drawing names for the winner of a fabulous hand painted step stool tomorrow morning! So if you haven't entered yet, you might wanna. There aren't that many entries so you're chances of winning are excellent! :)

Now on to bluer topics. BLUE BERRIES! Around here they're in season and it seems like this year in particular they're huge and juicy! And cheap! I just picked up a bunch of them at Safeway for $1.99, plus they're local! You really have to work hard to find a good reason not to buy them!

But then you get them home and you have to figure out what to DO with them. So here are my 3 quick easy things to do with blueberries.

#1 - Freeze them! Just wash them up, pick off any stems or bad berries, throw them in a ziplock and straight to the freezer they go! I love doing this because then I have yummy blueberries all winter to use in muffins or pancakes or whatever.

#2 - Make Blueberry Crisp! It's like apple crisp but with blueberries. Mix 5 cups of berries with 4 T of sugar in a casserole dish, then make up a crumble topping consisting of 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of whatever spice you like (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice are all good choices), then cut in 1/4 cup of butter until it reaches a crumbly consistency. Sprinkle the crumbles over the top of the berries, then pop it in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Easy peasy! And EXCELLENT with vanilla ice cream!

#3 - Blueberry Muffins! There are tons of great recipes for them out there, just pick one and go with it. Here's one to get you started.

Need another excuse to go buy blueberries? Here's my recipe for blueberry pie!

Harvest = Busy Times For Me

2009-07-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've been picking, and pickling, and canning for the past week. WHEW! My feet hurt, my back hurts, my arms hurt, my fingers hurt, Oh, and my house is a total train wreck. But I have beautiful jars of preserved goodness, and my sanity is still intact.

I also have a broken toe. Yes, that's right, a broken toe. I was playing with Anya, and as we were playing she was getting closer and closer to the arm of the couch. I didn't think she'd fall over it, she's pretty aware of her surroundings. But wouldn't ya know? She fell HEAD FIRST over the edge, and I rushed up to catch her and heard a painful crack from my pinky toe. I failed to catch Anya, so she fell. She landed on her back and immediately cracked up laughing! So really I broke my toe for nothing! Thankfully it doesn't hurt unless I bump it into something. I probably would be just fine with it... if I didn't have 2 crazy herding dogs with big feet and twin toddlers and lots of canning to do. But I'm coping. So it's all good. Sorta.

BUT! There is a bright spot on the horizon! Not this coming weekend, but the weekend after that, Hubs and I are GOING AWAY! BY OURSELVES!!! Seriously, can't wait! It will be the first time we've left the girls overnight, so of course I'm a bit nervous about that, but they're gonna be with my folks so I'm sure they'll have a blast. We had originally thought about going to Seattle, but then I thought I'd rather go to the beach. So I looked into Seaside, but there's a huge volleyball tournament going on there that weekend and all the hotels are charging double their normal rate. Plus we're not huge volleyball fans, and I'm sure there will be huge crowds of fans there that weekend... so we're going to Newport instead! I'm SO excited! When I was a young sprout we spent many a weekend in Newport, but I haven't been there in a long LONG time. So it'll be fun to see what's stayed the same and what's changed over the years. I'm trying to convince Hubs that we should go deep sea fishing. I've never been, and I actually think it sounds like fun. But I'm sure whatever we do we'll have a good time, cause that's just how things tend to go when we're together.

I'm actually trying not to dwell on looking forward to it too much, because who knows what will happen between now and then. Just trying to live each day full up to it's brim with activity and lean on Him for support when I need it (seems like I need it a lot lately).

Just a little reminder, I'm giving away a super cute hand painted children's step stool on my blog on Friday. There's not a huge number of entries so everyone who comes by and enters has a really good chance at winning! Just click the link up at the top of my blog (for those of you reading this on FB notes http://theatoztwins.blogspot.com).

Life is Just a Hill of Beans

2009-07-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

After 2 days of canning beans I think I'm finally done. At least with the current crop. There's still more out there that I haven't picked yet. I've made a dozen pint jars of pressure canned green and wax beans and 10 pint jars of dilled beans. And I'm already starting to formulate plans to make some blueberry butter & syrup. I found a recipe where you use the same batch of berries to make both things. And Hubs LOVES blueberry syrup!

But I might just make a blueberry pie instead. Or crisp, or...

Anyway, I'm beat. So my plan for today is to do absolutely nothing. I haven't even taken pictures of my canned bean accomplishment, but I'm sure you can picture those lovely jars of preserved garden goodness just fine.

Update On My Mental Status

2009-07-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, just thought I should let everyone know that I'm feeling a bit better since I posted this morning. Hubs got to his Dr. appointment early and was able to be seen and get back home. Then he sent me out to get the emissions on his truck checked and go grocery shopping. While I was gone he cleaned up the house, all I have left to do is the bathrooms. Hopefully that doesn't land him on the couch for the next few days (which may happen anyway since he's catching that cold).

I wasn't able to get the pressure gauge tested today. I thought it would be an easy drive to the county extension office, a 2 minute test, and then drive home (it's about 30 min. away). But no. I have to make an appointment with a specific person who doesn't work on Mondays or visit their next clinic at a local farm on Wednesday. They suggested I call back tomorrow and find out if someone will be in who can help me. I'm seriously wishing Home Depot or Lowes would offer this kind of service so that I could get it done on my time frame, but apparently that's just not how it's done. So my beans will just have to wait another day... and I hate waiting. Obviously.

The Pressure is ON!

2009-07-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

I had a horrible no good rotten day yesterday. I got my pressure canner in the mail on Saturday, and yesterday I realized that my whole life right now feels like a pressure cooker. The steam is building, and pretty soon something will have to give otherwise I'll simply explode.

Let me give you a little back story. I haven't been writing about my current life circumstances much lately here on my blog. Why? Because I honestly don't want to think about it. And I certainly don't want to put it into words and make it even more real. But the reality is that although certain parts of my life are awesome right now, spectacular even, while other parts are downright horrible and frightening with no end in sight. The wonderful parts mostly include my domestic life with the girls. I truly love my life with them, and enjoy 99.9% of being a Mom. The horrible scary parts mostly have to do with my husband's shoulder injury...

Now, I fully realize that other people out there in the world have much worse problems. A shoulder injury after all isn't life threatening. But it has an absolutely HUGE impact on our daily life. Because of his injury he pretty much isn't able to do much of anything around the house, and the few times he HAS tried to do things (like tackle the dirty house and clean it from top to bottom) it always ends with him totally doped up on pain meds and completely out of commission for a week. Over the past 4+ months I've fully realized that his contribution to the household is vital, because I've pretty much had to go without his participation. It may sound like an excuse to sit around and do nothing, but honestly it isn't. The man barely has use of his right arm, and of course he is right handed. I've had to help him fill out workman's comp forms because it was too painful for him to hold a pen and write. It's that bad. He can't change a diaper, he can only lift the girls with one arm, and lets not even start talking about the numerous projects around the house that remain undone (like baby proofing our kitchen). It's crazy. And I've had to do a lot more heavy lifting (both literal and figurative) than I ever thought I'd need to.

I recently had a friend tell me, "But it's only temporary." Well, I guess that depends on your definition of temporary. So far all the doctors that have seen him have said that there isn't much in the way of treatment available for the kind of injury that he has (bruised bone, nerve damage, AC separation, and who knows what else). The only thing to do is wait. We've heard time frames like one year, 2 years, maybe 5 years, maybe never. Maybe this is as good as it's going to get.

And me? I'm furious. Because this never should have happened in the first place! I feel like when that idiot trainer injured my husband he practically stole him away from me. And I NEED him!

So we've done something I thought we'd never do, we've hired a lawyer. And although I DO think he's going to be able to help us, I also have to continue to live day by day without help. Going it alone, and burning out.

Back to yesterday and why it was so terrible. Ziva smeared poop in various locations not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! Our stupid dog would not shut up due to the children playing with toys he didn't agree with. So ALL DAY LONG it was bark bark BARK at every single little thing. I was/am stressing out about canning green beans. I've never done it before, never even seen it done, but I purposefully planted extra beans back in April because I wanted to give it a try. Well, the beans are ready RIGHT NOW, and I have to figure out where to get the pressure gauge tested (I know the where at this point, but I still have yet to figure out the when, and those beans aren't going to wait forever) and buy canning jars, and check recipes, etc. etc. And I'm terrified about doing it all by myself, but I really have no other option since me and the girls are getting over colds, and Hubs is just starting to come down with one, and I don't want visitors in my house who would inevitably catch what we've got. In addition to that, my house is a total pig stye after me being sick for the past 2 weeks. I have dog hair balls the size of Kansas floating across my floor and my bathrooms are downright toxic.

And then I looked at my schedule for this next week. Monday, Hubs has a Dr. appointment and then works that night. Tuesday, same. Wednesday Hubs works a 12 hour shift. Thursday, same. Friday, Hubs has another Dr. appointment but thankfully doesn't work that night. So pretty much from now until Friday I'll have a "Hi, Bye." relationship with my husband and pretty much act as the single parent. That, my friends, took me right to my breaking point. I ended up sobbing last night because I just don't even know how I'm going to do it... AND can green beans.

So obviously, I could use some prayer. I really feel like I could crack at any moment, get my car keys and purse, hop in the car and just keep driving.

I feel slightly better today, mostly because Hubs decided to see his Dr. this morning rather than sleep and call in sick tonight.

Not sure how to end this post other than to say that if you have your health, you should thank your lucky stars.

Aloha Friday!

2009-07-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Be sure to enter my giveaway up top for a beautiful hand painted children's step stool!

From An Island Life

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today my Aloha Friday Question is: If you had a weekend in Seattle what would you do?

I think Hubs and I are gonna head that direction in a few weeks. It'll be our very first kid-free weekend since the girls were born! We're nervous, yet excited!

So far I'm thinking about hitting the Sci-Fi Museum and the Museum of Glass, maybe the underground tour, and then in the evenings dinner and maybe a concert or something. The last time I went to Seattle was during my high school concert choir tour, so it's been a while!

Things I Love Thursday: Rhode's Frozen Bread Dough

2009-07-16T13:21:00.001-07:00

If you're visiting from TILT be sure to enter my contest for a hand painted step stool! Click the link above! :)

I never even knew that frozen bread dough existed until just a couple weeks ago. I know, I must live under a rock or something... Anyway, I've recently developed a HUGE love for it because I LOVE homemade bread! And although making bread really isn't all that difficult, it's just not something I'm usually able to squeeze into my routine. I'd love to be one of those mom's who makes homemade bread every week, but I'm not.

Yet it drives me CRAZY to buy bread when I know I could make it myself. $3.85+ for one loaf of bread?? It just seems like a lot when I know the ingredients would cost half that much (or less).

Enter Rhode's Frozen Bread Dough! For the same cost as ONE loaf of bread you can buy THREE loaves of Rhode's. Plus all you have to do is let it defrost, toss it in the oven, and Voila! Homemade bread!

It's a little hard to find at the store, almost every grocery store has it but it's usually tucked away amongst the boxes of Texas Toast and dinner rolls and you really have to look for it. The packaging doesn't exactly scream at you. Whenever I buy it I usually spend a few minutes standing in front of the case with it right under my nose. But the hunt is worth it! The store I usually go to only carries the white or wheat versions, but according to their website it also comes in sweet bread and pizza dough. I often use their regular bread dough as pizza crust and it works splendidly. Love making my own homemade pizza and calzones! Cheaper, fresher, can be creative about toppings, plus it's a whole heck of a lot tastier!

For more products to love visit The Diaper Diaries! She's also having a giveaway today! Sweet!

Fun Contest for a Leap Frog Tag Junior

2009-07-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

Just found this contest, thought some of you might like it! It's for a Leap Frog Tag Junior! Plus this lady has a great writing style that I really enjoy, and you might too. :)

Way Back When-endsday! Daddy's Girl

2009-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Date: 6/6/09
Who: Anya & Daddy

We had gone into the garage to work on something and when we came back Anya was fast asleep on the couch. She was so tired she didn't even wake up to be taken upstairs. She's such a Daddy's Girl these days, so this picture really captures their relationship right now. :)

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Pick Your Own Step Stool Giveaway!

2009-07-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was recently approached by CSN Stores LLC to host a giveaway! They've got some awesome Futons with many classic and modern designs perfect for any home. Based out of Boston (the other city I LOVE) they've been in business since 2002 and are one of the top 3 online US retailers of home and office goods with 400+ employees. So if you're looking for a good American business to support, you should really check them out. :)

And since I know most of you are parents, I thought you'd love it if I gave one of these away!

Ribbit ribbit!

And what a cute prayer bench for a little girl you might know!

GIVEAWAY!

So what do you have to do to win?

- Visit THIS PAGE, decide which one you'd like to win (tough, I know!), and come back here to leave a comment telling me which one you'd like.
- Leave another comment if you're a follower or subscriber to my blog.
- Leave TWO more comments (including a link) if you mention my giveaway on your own blog.

That's it! FOUR possible entries!

Random.org will decide the lucky winner on Friday July 31st at 10am!

Aloha Friday! Blogging Peeves

2009-07-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life:

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Today's question is, What are some of your blogging pet peeves??

I've only been blogging for about 7 months, but already I have some blogging pet peeves. So I thought I'd share my Top Three Things That Annoy Me About Blogging.

#3: Awards. I'm really not a fan of "Hey, I just gave you an award! Stop by my website to pick it up!" And then they ask you to share your 10 most intimate secrets, or 7 things you hate about the show Baywatch (only 7??), or what were the last 5 things you ate for breakfast this week.... come on? Really? I appreciate that you like my blog well enough to nominate me for such a prestigious award, but since I don't like reading about them on other people's blogs I'm sure most of you won't enjoy reading such things here. Now if you nominate me for a Bloggie Award THEN feel free to tell me about it. Otherwise, your awards (although often well intentioned) are pretty much wasted on me. Sorry! (Double sorry to those who have given me awards in the past, no worries, I love you anyway, promise!)

#2: Word Verification. Could you seriously do me a favor and delve into your settings and turn that off? There are a few blogs I go to where the secret word thingy doesn't load properly, and then I can't leave you a comment. Sometimes I really want to leave one, but after trying to get it to work for me for 5 minutes I usually decide it's not worth the hassle. And really, unless your blog is getting 5,000 hits a day I really don't think you have to worry about spammers on your site (plus you could always leave comment moderation on just in case).

#1: The thing I absolutely HATE the most about some people's blogs... MUSIC!!! If you have music that automatically plays when people visit your blog do us all a favor and change it so it only plays if someone clicks on it, or remove it altogether. Believe me, I LOVE music, but when it's on your blog and auto-plays as my computer loads? Well, it sounds like a horrible cacophony of noise that makes me plug my hears and curse. And least you think that I have some old antiquated computer that just can't handle it, my computer is BRAND NEW and is the best gaming computer that $1200 can buy. So if my computer can't handle it? Then people who bought their computers 3 years ago are certainly having the same problem.

WHEW! I feel so much better now after getting that out there! So what are your blogging peeves???

Things I Love Thursday: Off Lantern and Off Clip On Review & Giveaway!

2009-07-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a BzzAgent, and recently I had the chance to sample and review two new Off products, the Off PowerPad Lamp and the Off Clip On.

When I first got these in the mail I was worried that I wouldn't have the opportunity to get good use out of them, I don't live in an area that tends to have a high mosquito population. But I've done a lot of gardening this year, usually between 8pm and sunset, and I've noticed that once the sun starts to go down the bugs start to come out! So I actually did break out the Off Clip On, and I liked it WAY more than I thought I would! I was very worried about scent because I tend to be very sensitive in that regard, but I didn't notice any smell at all coming from the Clip On! This is now by far my favorite form of mosquito repellent! You don't have to spray anything onto your body and end up feeling sticky and gross, AND it doesn't have any smell, AND it does the job! Perfect!

Since I was so encouraged with the Clip On I had no doubts about the PowerPad Lamp. A couple weeks ago my neighbor asked me to come over and play a dice game with her. After sitting out on her back porch for an hour getting bit by bugs I ran back to my place for the Lamp. Once we got it going we were both very excited with the results! No bites, and no smell. Way better than a citronella candle for sure!

Would you like to try out one of these great products???

GIVEAWAY!

I am giving away 6 $3 off coupons for the Off PowerPad Lamp AND 6 $3 off coupons for the Off Clip On! That's 12 coupons total in case you weren't a math wiz in school.

To win just leave a comment letting me know which you would like! Random.org will choose the winner on Monday July 13th at 10am!

Way Back When-endsday! Is This the Terrible Twos?

2009-07-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

When: 6/19/09

The girls turned 2 last month and we're already experiencing some of the "terrible twos". It's super fun! In this picture, Anya & Ziva BOTH want to be in Mommy's lap, but unfortunately they also want Mommy all to themselves. It's a common occurrence around here, if anyone has any awesome solutions to this problem I'm all ears!

For more Way Back fun, visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Fresh From My Garden - Zucchini Cookies

2009-07-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

From what I gather, other people in other parts of the country have zucchini ready RIGHT NOW and are looking for something to do with their bountiful crop. Well, around here in the Pacific Northwest (aka Zucchini Country) we come up with lots of ideas on how to use them! We grill 'em, we chill 'em, we eat 'em raw with dip, and of course we shred 'em and bake 'em. That's how we roll.

Up until this year I have never grown a Zucchini. I know, I know, what kind of a Washingtonian am I?? An inundated Washingtonian that's who! Because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE seems to think I could use a few extra zucchini around. For the past 3 years I've had 2 excellent zucchini sources: the lady across the street, and my mom. Good bless them! The year the girls were born I had so many that you would have thought I had my own plant. That year a good friend of mine came over to see my new babies, picked up a gigantic 5 lbs. zucch and proclaimed, "It's a BOY!" Yup, it was even shaped like a baby! And to think I shredded that baby up and tossed him into my freezer.

Ah, here he is now! My how you've... not grown at all. (Nice segway, eh?)

This recipe came from Sunset Magazine, August 2006. It was in the section where readers send in their favorite summertime recipes. And I must bow my hat to Jacob Gross of Lompoc, CA. (Can you believe such a great zucchini recipe could come from anywhere other than the NW?! I can, my SIL makes a killer zucchini bread. KILLER!) Jacob, you have saved me from throwing Zucchini to the compost pile many a time. These cookies are delicious AND easy to make. So Thank You!

First you take 1 cup of room temp butter. I usually leave my sticks on the counter overnight to make sure they're REALLY room temp. Then add 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

Mixy mixy until creamed.

Then add 2 eggs. I'd really love to have chickens and farm fresh eggs someday, but Hubs is very opposed to that idea... so I guess not. I think I'd make a very good crazy chicken lady.

Bock bock bock! Er... I mean... 1 Tablespoon of vanilla. More than the original recipe but I really like vanilla.

Then you mix in 2 cups of shredded zucchini, I don't have a picture of that part. Oops! Cracks me up that I forgot to take a picture of THE KEY INGREDIENT!

This here is 2 3/4 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt.

Combine the dry into the wet and mix until it's all fluffy and pretty.

Then add 1 cup of nuts, I used pecans.

One cup shredded sweetened coconut.

One cup raisins.

And one cup chocolate chips.

Mix it all together, and refrigerate for at least an hour or until the batter firms. This step isn't in the original recipe, but I've found it's the secret to keeping these cookies from spreading out and hardening in the oven. Gotta get those fats solidified! Then I use a small ice cream scoop to make the cookies uniform for even baking.

And they come out like this!

Zucchini Cookies

1 cup butter, at room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
2/3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in zucchini. In a medium bowl mix all flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add to the zucchini mixture. Stir in nuts, chips, raisins and coconut. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lined cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 15-20 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Note to Ziva

2009-07-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Ziva,

I know you're only two. I know you have boundless energy and a relentless curiosity about the world around you. I know that you have this drive inside of you to explore the world in a hostile takeover fashion. I know. Believe me, I know.

But could you please oh please stop exploring your diaper contents during nap time? It may seem like a great place to find art supplies, but it's yucky Honey. Really REALLY yucky!

Thanks so much,

Your Momma

Aloha Friday! Hot Enough For Ya?!

2009-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life:

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

Yesterday we had a record high here of 96 degrees. NINETY SIX!!! WHEW! I'm roasting just thinking about it! Thankfully we get a reprieve today... only 94. Practically an Arctic breeze!

I know that probably sounds really lame if any of you Arizona or California people are reading this, but for here in the Pacific Northwest that's HOT!

I'm personally more comfortable around 75-80, anything more than that and you'll find me inside with the AC on.

Ok, I lied. Yesterday I went to my mom's house and went outside in the blazing heat to dig up plants. I'm sure the plants appreciated it, and so did I. lol

So how hot is it where you live today? And is it too hot, too cold, or just right?

Speach Development and a Crib Party

2009-07-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

My mom keeps telling me that I need to write this stuff down, otherwise I'll forget. I know she's right, but so often I get caught up with making this blog all nice and semi-professional (HA!) and wonder if people will care what my kids are up to. I figure the only people who REALLY care about this stuff is me, Hubs, and the extended fam (and some of them might not care either!).

But since this is really the place where I share my thoughts, I don't keep a journal hidden under the mattress or anything like that, this is it baby! I better start writing some of this stuff down, and write down here because it really isn't going to happen otherwise.

So if this bores you, come back tomorrow. lol

Ziva has added a few words to her vocabulary! On Monday she said, "Mama" for the first time! She pulled an old photo of me and Hubs out of my Bible and pointed to him and said, "Dada" and then pointed to me and said, "Mama". She's said Dada before, but this was the very first time I've heard her say Mama, and she said it very matter-of-factly, as if "Duh, I know this people!" were going through her head. lol, it was very cute!

She still says Bye all the time, but now she also says Hi and Go. Obviously leaving and arriving are very critical to her and she wishes we would Go all the time! Thankfully as far as she is concerned Go to the backyard is just as good if not better than Go in the car to actually Go somewhere.

So I think that all of Ziva's words at this point are Go, Bye, Hi, Mama, Dada, Yay!, Mo (for more), and Ga (for dog).

Anya does a LOT more babbling, but much fewer actual words. She says Dada and Bye and that's about it. You can tell who her favorite parent is! lol She does do a lot of imitating, and there have been a few times when we've turned our heads and asked each other, "Did she just say, 'Lets go to the store?'" I think that's because her babbling is becoming very pronounced and often sounds like she's talking full sentences. She's still a very sensitive little girl, and gets her feelings hurt quite a bit. I find that I spend a great deal of time comforting her, and often feel the need to shield her from certain situations. Hopefully I'm not making matters worse.

There have been lots of cute stories, and my mom is right, because right now I'm not thinking of any. DANG IT! I hate it when she's right...

Ok, I just thought of one!

The other day I heard them laughing upstairs during nap time. I had just put them down for their nap 30 minutes prior so it was NOT time to wake up yet. Fearing another poop party (yes, Ziva does get her diaper off by herself, we now duct tape it on and use onesies over the top to keep them on) I went up there only to discover that they've learned how to play peek-a-boo with each other using the crib rails as a little hiding spot! After I walked in they squeeled as if to say, "Yay! Mom is here to join the fun!" And then they gave me a little demonstration to show me what was so funny. LOL Since I was up there I went ahead and checked their diapers, and they were both indeed poopy which was why they were still awake and able to invent their little game. But after I changed them and put them back in their cribs they went right on back to playing and never did take a nap. The rest of our evening didn't go so well as a result, but it was still pretty funny. Stuff like this are what makes twin parenting so much fun though! It's so fun to hear them squeeling and laughing in the other room and know that they're just having a good time with each other! Warms our hearts!

Hometown Swap Package!

2009-07-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

I participated in the Hometown Swap with Shannon over at Welcome to the Nuthouse! And I'm so glad I did! It was so much fun to brighten someone's day with a surprise gift, plus get one in return!

I feel super lucky to be matched up with Jenna from Newlyweds! I've been following her blog for a couple months and have really enjoyed reading about her life with twin boys. Plus (as her blog title suggests) she does interviews of newlywed couples, and who doesn't love a good love story?! So when I realized that my swap package was from her I got pretty excited!

And look at all this cool stuff she sent me!

She lives in a small town in Texas, and lucky me! I got tons of great food stuff! Apparently it's a rice growing town, so of course she included a bag of rice that was grown, milled, and packaged right in her town. Way cool! Wondering what's wrapped up in the butcher paper? I was tipped off by my dogs as I was opening the box, their noses were ALL OVER that box! LOL It's beef jerky!! Really yummy jerky according to Hubs, I haven't had the chance to try any yet. In the jars are Texas Antipasto (who knew!?) and jalapeno jelly.

Plus all kinds of brochures from her area and the local paper. I always love looking at local papers! I was trained well by my mom in that way. Every time we went anywhere on vacation the first thing she'd do is pick up the local paper. Why? Because it was fun to read and it would clue us in to anything fun that was happening around town while we were there. A tradition that carries on to this day.

Not only did Jenna send me all this great food, she also sent me RECIPES!! I'm seriously excited about making this stuff! I plan to try each and every one! In fact, I have the fish and meatloaf recipe on our menu for this week. Can't wait to try them!

Interested in seeing what I sent out? Check out Glenna's sewing blog HERE!

To see what other's swapped across the country head on over to Welcome to the Nuthouse!

Who Is My Neighbor?

2009-06-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is hijacked by bandits in the middle of nowhere and badly beaten. On several occasions others walk by on the road, each pretending not to see. But finally a Samaritan (a detested class among Jews) came by, and chose to help the man. To take him to safety, to make sure his injuries were attended to and to make sure his basic needs were paid for. After Jesus tells this story he asks:

So who are our neighbors? Sometimes it's hard to see. Sometimes it's easier not to. I know I'm certainly guilty of turning the blind eye to someone in need, or simply becoming so wrapped up in my own life that I just don't have time or energy to pay attention to those around me. We're all unfinished projects in the eyes of God, all of us have room for improvement. But as Christians, our goal should be to become more Christ-like. To see with His eyes, look at the world around us, and have compassion.

Sometimes it's easier to look afar to find those in need (our distant "neighbors"). It's easy to look to the third world and see poverty, hunger, sickness, and war. But one of the greatest lessons I learned during my visit to Honduras when I was in college was that we are all most effective in our own home towns. During that week of rebuilding a damaged Church it became obvious that sure, we brought money and college student man-power, but it was really the Nationals who contributed the most. Why? Obviously because they had a vested interest in the result. The same is true for us. We have a vested interest in what goes on in our own neighborhoods/towns/cities/states/country. I'm not saying that missionaries shouldn't go to the third world, in fact I think more should go. But that's not everyone's calling. However, everyone CAN look around and find those in need wherever they are.

Need some ideas of who you can help? First, PRAY! And then pray some more! I fully believe that if you ask God to show you who needs your help that opportunities will practically fall into your lap.

Second, try asking yourself the question, "Who would Jesus hang out with if He lived where I live?" Jesus hung out with some pretty unsavory individuals. Tax collectors, lepers, invalids, poor, hungry, disadvantaged, you name it. So who are the lepers of your home town? Who are the people who no one else wants to deal with? Who are the ones that get the cold shoulder? What group would most of us prefer to ignore? Or wish would go away? I believe that in every place there are people who live in the edge who are not accepted by the whole. And I think that if Jesus lived where you live, those are the people He'd want to help. In Matthew 9:12 it says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

It's very easy to say that Jesus lived long ago, before there were guns, drugs, etc. True. And I don't think that Jesus wants you to get yourself into a dangerous situation and get yourself killed. Remember, He said mercy, not sacrifice. So be safe about it. He gave us reason for a reason. Use it. It's likely that for every group that needs help there's a non-profit of some sort already established. Work with them, ask what's needed, donate items, time, money, etc. Look at your own family situation and figure out what you are able to do. For us, I don't have a lot of time on my hands, and the time I do have I'm usually stuck at the house with sleeping toddlers. So volunteering somewhere is generally not possible for me, unless there's a way I can bring my kids along. But I certainly can clean out my closet/pantry and give what I can. Other mom's in my position who are crafty might spend nap time knitting hats for preemies in the hospital, or using whatever abilities they have to give to others in need. I've already decided that if I have a surplus of produce from my garden that I intend to give it to the local homeless shelter, which I'm sure they'll appreciate since fresh produce is getting expensive.

I also give to Kiva.org. It's a non-profit that lends money to business owners all over the world. You make a micro-loan (for as little as $25) via their website and choose where your money goes. And then over time as they repay your loan you receive Kiva Credit which you can either cash out or re-lend. I've used Kiva to make loans for 2 years now, and during that time I've helped finance 7 loans. Two of them were unable to pay back due to a war in their home country, but everyone else has. The ones that didn't repay? Frankly, I just hope they're still alive, who cares about the cash! For me this is an easy way for me to give and benefit lots of people over time for a very small contribution on my part. I help the business owner expand and earn a better living, which in turn gives a better life to his/her family, which in turn helps the local economy. I really don't see the downside to that!

When your heart is open to serving it's amazing what opportunities will present themselves. So pray, and listen to that "still small voice". Pay attention to those around you. Is someone you know on bedrest? Do you know someone who's unemployed? These are tough times and there are possibly more people hurting around us than there ever will be during our lifetime. Keep an open heart and open mind, be receptive to what God's leading you to do.

How Does My Garden Grow?

2009-06-23T09:21:00.001-07:00

I showed you one picture of my garden yesterday as a bit of a teaser, so here's the rest! Feel free to click to enlarge the pictures, some of the plants are hard to see otherwise.

Here's the one I showed yesterday, my strawberry patch is in the foreground with lettuce planted between the plants. Behind them are my huge spinach plants, a few pepper plants, some marigolds, and if you look closely you'll see my little lavender plant wedged between a lettuce and a spinach. I'm planning to move the lavender plants to another part of my yard very soon.

Here's what my strawberry/lettuce patch looks like up close:

And this is the other half of that bed. In the back row from left to right we have bok choy, spinach, lavender. The row in front of it is 1 pepper plant and some green onions. And in front of that there's marigolds and 3 more pepper plants.

Ok, this picture is kind of confusing... We put up vertical elements before we left on vacation. And thank goodness we did because obviously the peas and tomatoes REALLY needed it! But this is not the best picture of the vertical elements (which we built out of steal water pipe and wire netting in case anyone is interested). They seem to get all jumbled up visually with the chain link fence behind it.

Here's a better picture of the peas, man they really took off!

Up close you can see that I've got a HUGE nasturtium plant. Behind them there are actually some lettuces that you can't actually see. Next to the lettuce, chives and parsley. Next to the nasturtiums are lavender and on the other side carrots. Then in the front row are marigolds, nothing, zinnias, and carrots.

Next to the peas are my tomato plants. From left to right they are Early Girl, Heirloom, Yellow Pear, and Sweet 100 (a cherry tomato).

In front of the tomatoes I have chives, cilantro, green onions, thyme, 1 lonely overgrown spinach headed for the compost, beet greens, basil (which is hiding behind the huge nasturtium), carrots, walla walla onions, and the nasturtium.

Half of this bed is green and wax beans, the other half is thyme, dill, walla walla onions, lavender, a pepper plant, basil, parsley, nasturtiums and green onions which I grew from the root end of ones that came from the grocery store! They're WAY healthier and more advanced than the ones I planted from seed! I don't think I'll ever try growing green onions from seed again.

Half of this bed is corn, I planted 2 different varieties and I need to get out there and replant in the spots that didn't grow.

Here's a close up of the other half. Back row is cucumbers, I'm hoping to train them to grow up the vertical element. In front of them is a row of sweet peppers. In front of that (L to R) are carrots, LETTUCE!, and parsley. Front row is marigolds, carrots, and radishes.

And that's my garden! I'm planning to split up the nasturtiums and plant some of them somewhere else so they aren't taking over the whole world. And of course we'll be eating a lot of salad this week! I got some cucumbers, tomatoes and blue cheese from the store so go along with all the lettuce we have. I also have quite a bit of weeding to do around the beds, but thankfully no weeds IN the beds! :)

Fresh From My Garden - Pasta Salad with Fresh Spinach Pesto

2009-06-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's Monday. Today is usually Mystery Spice Monday around here, but I think we're gonna take a little break from the Mystery Spices and instead turn our (and by our I mean my) attention to the garden. Hopefully some of you also have gardens that are producing fresh veggies that you must find a use for and you'll be able to use some of my ideas in your own kitchen over the coming months.

I'll share my recent garden pictures tomorrow, but to give you just a little hint of what it looked like after a week of rain and sunshine...

Yup, looks like it's time for some eatin'! In the foreground is my strawberry patch, and this year I decided to plant some lettuce in between the berry plants to make use of the space. Behind that on the right you can see my overabundance of spinach and bok choy. So I had to come up with some meals including them FAST!

Father's Day presented an excellent opportunity! My family was hosting a BBQ at a local park. So I offered to bring the pasta salad. We had this excellent store bought pasta salad while in California last week and I've been itching to replicate it at my house ever since! Mine is quite a bit different since I used my own sauce rather than Italian dressing (which was totally delish too!). And if you don't have huge quantities of fresh spinach at your disposal you could always just buy some pre-made pesto sauce or Italian dressing. That's probably what I'll do next time. :)

While my water was boiling and my pasta was cooking I went to work picking and washing my spinach. I'm guessing that I had about 4 cups of spinach. And yes, I washed every single little leaf. I don't know about you but I'm not a fan of bugs in my salad.

I stuffed as much spinach as I could into my food processor. Then I added a 1/2 cup of pine nuts, 3 garlic cloves, and 1 T of dried basil.

Blend it a bit, and add in more leaves. You might have to stop every now and then and use a spatula to push down the leaves and/or add more oil.

Once it's pretty well combined add 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese. Blend, then add salt to taste.

By now your pasta should be ready. Secret to good pasta? Add salt to the water while it's cooking. Otherwise it'll come out bland and tasteless.

I used corkscrew pasta, just in case you were wondering.

Next, the fun stuff! The original pasta I ate on our trip had artichokes, olives, red onions and I think that's about it. When I was at the store I kept seeing other stuff that I thought would be good so I just grabbed whatever tickled my fancy. There are no rules to this, just add whatever you like.

I used artichoke hearts... As you already know, I LOVE artichokes!

Olives. Another thing I love! You could use Kalamata's instead if you like.

Red onions... yum!

Roasted red peppers. I used about 1/2 a jar and diced them up.

Capers. Because I LOVE 'em! Oh man... just posting these pictures is makin' me hungry! Good thing I have leftovers! lol

And feta cheese! VOILA! One of the most scrumptious pasta salads ever if I do say so myself!

It was a big hit at the Father's Day pic-nic. One of my relatives thought I was pulling everyone's leg when I said the sauce came from my garden. lol

Pasta Salad with Fresh Spinach Pesto

Sauce:
4 cups of spinach
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
Enough olive oil to blend
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor. Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

1 lbs. of pasta, cooked, salted & drained
1 jar of artichoke hearts
1 can of whole black olives (or kalamata olives)
1 red onion, diced
1 block of feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 jar of roasted red peppers
2 T capers

Toss pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce, then add all other ingredients. You may add grilled chicken or shrimp if you like.

So what fun things have you made from your garden lately? If you've shared about it on your blog feel free to leave the link in a comment! :)

I'm BACK!!!

2009-06-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on vacation visiting Hubs' family, but DANG it's good to be home!! As you can imagine, I have boxes of stuff laying all over the place waiting for my attention, dog hair drifting across the floor like tumbleweeds, and speaking of weeds I have plenty of those to pull too! So I might not be back to my regular blogging life right away, but I have a ton of great things to share with you so I thought I'd make a little outline as a little note to myself of what's to come on my blog.

- Vacation pictures
- Hometown Swap Goodie Box Reveal
- Bic Soleil & Off Lantern reviews for BzzAgent
- How Does My Garden Grow
- My thoughts on Loving others less fortunate
- Things to make with Zuccini (apparently there are some places that actually have zuccini in season already!)
- Funny things the girls are doing these days

I think that should keep me busy for a while! Obviously lots to catch up on, and I'll attempt to catch up with some of YOUR blogs too!

PS: You guys are awesome! I totally didn't expect that I'd actually GAIN followers during my time away, and yet I have!

Goin' On Vacation!!!

2009-06-03T10:21:00.001-07:00

That's right! We're actually heading out of our house and hitting the road next week. As I look at my ever increasing to-do list of things that HAVE to get done before we go I realize that something has to give. And you guessed it, it's blogging. So I'm gonna be gone until June 17th. I hope you all decide to stick around until then! I promise, I WILL be back, and hopefully will be inspired to post about all kinds of great things. :)

Dove Visibly Smooth Coupons - GIVEAWAY!

2009-06-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

We're goin' on vacation next week, so I'm cleaning up, getting ready, making lists, cleaning out my refrigerator... oh who am I kidding?! I'm wasting lots and lots of time playing SimSocial too! And I'm sure I'll pack up the girls tomorrow in hunt of a copy of the game. So really, I have alteriar motives for trying to get all my chores done NOW!

So while I'm looking at my messy desk, I noticed these lovely Dove Visibly Smooth coupons that I still have leftover from my contest the other week. Wanna learn more about Dove Visibly Smooth? Click on over to that post and read more. To recap: it's great!

So I'm gonna make this super simple. If you would like to have one of these coupons (which also include a coupon for you to give to a friend) then drop me a comment! The first 10 people who do will get a coupon. That's it! If you are within the top 10 it would be a huge help if you also just went ahead and emailed me your mailing info. THANKS!

Hope you have a great day!

Amy

Mystery Spice Monday: Blueberry Pie

2009-06-01T12:58:00.001-07:00

Ok I know, it's a little early for blueberries. But I happened to have some pie crusts and frozen blueberries laying around so I decided to make a pie anyway! Hubs LOVES blueberries, I think he's actually addicted to them. Which is really awesome because blueberries are considered "super foods" because they have such a high concentration of antioxidants.

I planted some blueberry bushes in my yard this year, which do have green berries on them. So we can hope to have a batch of blueberry pancakes or muffins in a couple months. Until then, frozen berries will have to do.

No step by step pictures this week, I think I was trying to do too many things at once when I made this pie.

Blueberry Pie
Adapted from Simply Recipes

Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust
3 pints of blueberries (cleaned and stemmed if yours are fresh, thawed and drained if they're frozen like mine)
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs butter

Prepare crust as instructed on the box. Place bottom crust in pie plate. Combine all other ingredients except butter, pour into pie plate. Dot the top with butter. Add top crust. Pinch the edges together to create a seal, flute if desired. Cut an X on the top of the pie for venting. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove from refrigerator. Bake for 20 minutes (you may want to place a baking sheet under the pie to prevent spillage), then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the juices are bubbling. Allow to cool before serving.

Would you like to share your very own Mystery Spice Recipe? Please visit the link about MSM on my sidebar to read the guidelines and then leave your link in a comment! I'll add your link to this post since Mr. Linky isn't that awesome these days. :)

Aloha Friday! Me & Amelia

2009-05-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

From An Island Life:

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!

I've seen lots of blogs/forums/what-have-you who ask the question, "If someone were to play you in a movie, who would it be?" I never really know how to answer that question. The closest I can usually come up with is Sandra Bullock because she's a brunette and she does klutzy very well.

Who I really think I tend to emulate most of time is Amelia. Not Amelia Earhart. She's way to brave and heroic. Oh no. I think of THIS Amelia!

That's right folks, Amelia Bedelia. For those of you who didn't grow up on her books, she's the not-so-clever maid who takes everything too literally and ends up getting herself into a lot of trouble. Her boss asks her to make a sponge cake? She uses actual sponges. Her boss asks her to dust the living room? She finds the makeup "dusting powder" and spreads it all over the place. Apparently my mom read me too many of her books as a child because obviously I've taken it to heart.

Case in point? Last night I was cleaning my broiler pan. I took it outside because I decided to use Easy-Off to get off the charred bits. And since I was out there I thought, "Oh yeah, Hubs said the grill needed to be cleaned! Wouldn't it be nice of me if I just went ahead and did it for him?" That sentence alone is probably enough to make my 2 male readers groan. Because apparently touching a man's grill is TABOO! I had just crossed over into Male Territory without even thinking about it. So I started taking the various grill pieces out of the grill and arranging them on our concrete patio thinking that I would spray on the Easy-Off, let it sit for a while, and then come back to scrub them up and rinse them off with the hose.

While the pieces were sitting out soaking in chemicals, Hubs wakes up. I'm all proud and excited, waiting for him to discover the nice thing that I'm doing for him.

He notices, does a double take, and says, "You did, what?!"

"I'm cleaning the grill for you, honey!"

"You're going to stain the patio! Not to mention the fact that you know nothing about my grill!"

"Oops... I'm sorry, I thought I was being helpful."

"Well, it's not helpful. The grill and the garage are mine. I'd appreciate it if you left them alone."

"Alright... ... I'm sorry."

"Hey, when does Sims 3 come out again? I'm thinking you need a new game or something (so that you will stop trying to be helpful and leave my stuff alone!)."

So yes, our patio is stained. And one of our dogs ate all the charred bits and threw up black stuff upstairs this morning.

No, Amy is not short for Amelia, but sometimes I'm thinking it should be. lol

My Aloha Friday question today (HA! You thought I forgot didn't you?!) is, Have you ever had an Amelia Bedelia moment? And if so, what was it??

Things I Love Thursday: Ecco Yucatan Sandals

2009-05-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't participated in Things I Love Thursday in a while, but today I have something that I just HAD to share! And for the record, this company doesn't even know I exist, and certainly hasn't given me any free samples or anything to giveaway. But they are seriously SO awesome that I would sing their praises till the end of time for no reimbursement whatsoever.

Today I'm gonna share with you my new kicks that I bought a couple months ago.

They are the Ecco Yucatan Sandal!

They are by far the most comfortable sandal I've ever owned. I wear them shopping, I wear them out in my yard, I wear them to walk the girls down the street, and although I haven't had the opportunity I'd certainly wear them all day long to a theme park or to take a 5 mile hike. Yes, they are THAT comfortable!!

They come in a wide variety of colors, but I'm boring, so mine are brown. But I LOVE brown because it goes with everything.

Here's what mine look like (after all-day, daily use for 2 months). WARNING: Mine are dirty and need a bath of some sort. I'm just not sure how to clean them without ruining them (because I CANNOT ruin these wonderful sandals! I'm not sure how I'd function without them anymore).

Only downside of these sandals? Because I do wear them every day, and I'm spending as much time outside in this beautiful weather as possible, I've developed quite an interesting tan line!

Yup, I now look like a total dork when I take them off. Which is why I must keep them on at all times! lol I've gotten lots of great compliments on my lovely bare feet. Hee hee!

But honestly, I'm beyond the age of caring about such things. I also have a lovely farmer's tan, but I'm ok with it. Because I'm a farmer. lol

Now I will say that these are also the most expensive sandals I've ever purchased. They chime in around $120. Ouch! But I only buy sandals about once every 5 years (I purchased my last pair 7 years ago for my honeymoon!), so to me they're an investment. And given their high quality I'm certain that they'll last me for at least 5 years if not more. Plus I'll have the added bonus of no blisters or raw spots on my feet due to less comfortable sandals that don't fit me nearly as well.

And if any PR person from Ecco happens to stop by, please say hello! Me and my feet would LOVE to thank you for saving us from another summer in less comfortable footwear!

Way Back When-endsday! Grandpa & Great-Grandma

2009-05-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

When: July 2007
Who: The girls with my dad & his mom

My dad LOVES babies! He seriously can't get enough of them. He's always the first one to notice the cute baby at the grocery store, and that weird guy who comes up to people to oogle at their newborn. So needless to say he was OVER THE MOON when he found out I was pregnant with twins. And he very much loves being a grandpa!

My grandma also had fraternal twin girls! (And oh yeah, at the time she had 3 young boys as well, all under the age of 5... I seriously don't know how she did it! She's an amazing role model for me!) So when she was scheduled for a trip down to California to visit her sister 6 weeks before my due date she made me promise, "Don't have those babies while I'm gone!!" Sorry Grandma! They were of course born the day after she left. She was gone for 3 weeks, so she wasn't able to meet the girls until she came back. And that's when these pictures were taken. Now every time I take the girls to see her at her assisted living home (she's gonna be 93 in August and is still up and around and sharp as a tack) she is VERY proud to introduce us to everyone, "This is my granddaughter Amy. She has twin girls, just like me!"

I'm the only one out of ALL my cousins (and in a large family, there are a ton of us) who has had twins. They all think it's super hilarious. I think they're just jealous. :P

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Twins: In their native habitat

2009-05-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Shhhhh....

We must be vewy vewy quiet...

The twins in their native habitat are easily disturbed. The docile... oh who am I kidding?... sometimes aggressive beasts... will pounce at the slightest provocation. Great care must be taken to avoid such a catastrophe.

And there they sit! You would never know by looking, but these are truly savage beasts.

Alas!!! We have been spotted! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

Oh the fangs!!! Guard your vital organs!!! (No seriously, you might wanna do that!)

Absolutely vicious I tell you!!!

We may never live to tell the tale!

Look, the pink one is using some sort of sideways maneuver! If we live we should report this new behavior to the authorities.

And look at the purple one! I've never seen such shaggy mane! She must truly be a rarity.

Whew! Well it looks like we might live to see another day... They spared us this time, but will they be so kind tomorrow??

Mystery Spice Monday: Vanilla Bean Pancakes

2009-05-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I realize at this point that it's practically Tuesday, but I couldn't give up and leave ya hangin'! Hubs woke up, informed me that I needed to do something ridiculously easy to make my computer recognize my media card... so here I am! Stylishly late! (or not...)

It really is worth it being late to the party sometimes. Because late comers get to have Vanilla Bean Pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!

If you remember long ago in my tour around my spice cabinet, that I have these marvelous vanilla beans that Hubs bought for me at Costco. He got them back in, oh I'm thinkin' October? And of course I failed to use them in any of my holiday baking. So in my cabinet they sat...until last night!

For some reason they just screamed pancakes to me. What can I say, I have a sinus infection and a craving for comfort foods.

I took the easy route and went with some Bisquick, you can use whatever kind of pancake mix you like or you can get all fancy with flours and shortenings and stuff. But in my opinion, why bother?

Two cups of Bisquick, 2 Tbsp of sugar, 2 tsp baking powder.

1 cup of milk, 2 eggs. Stir. It really can't get much easier than this.

Now if you don't have vanilla beans screaming at you to be used you could always just add some vanilla extract. It wouldn't be super special, but it'd still be good.

If you do have beans screaming to be used, then here's how. Take your bean...

Cut it lengthwise to split it in half. And the scrape the seeds out with the edge of your knife blade. Add the seeds to your pancake batter.

And oh heavenly stars... just looking at this makes my mouth water... just the batter!

Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter onto a hot griddle.

When you start to see bubbles it's time to flip!

The second side will only take a couple minutes, and then you're done! Pile them on a plate and cover with foil until they're all done.

And if you're like Hubs you'll smother them with butter and blueberry syrup.

If you're like me you'll use significantly less butter and maple syrup.

Hubs didn't notice the vanilla bean flavor, but I think it was due to his syrup choice. I thought it tasted magnificent!

Breakfast for dinner! Or for breakfast. :)

Vanilla Bean Pancakes
Adapted from the back of the Bisquick box

2 cups of Bisquick
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean

Combine Bisquick, sugar, baking powder. Add milk and eggs. Cut vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds with the edge of your knife. Add seeds to the batter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto hot griddle. Cook until edges are dry and bubbles begin to form. Flip. Cook until golden.

If you have a Mystery Spice recipe, I apologize for the delay! Here's Mr. Linky. He's always stylish when late. :)

Mystery Spice Monday: Sorry for the Delay!

2009-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Apparently my computer has decided to not recognize the media card which has all of my recipe pictures on it. :((( Which SUCKS because I made something super fun to share with you!

So it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Hubs wakes up to help me with that...

...sigh...

In the meantime, if you have your own Mystery Spice Recipe to share please leave a link in the comments! I'd love to read it! And I'll be sure to post up my recipe and a Mr. Linky later this afternoon.