Pretty Funny for a Girl

Snow Day, Sick Day

2012-02-13T14:47:00.001-06:00

I have been fighting a persistent cold with a low grade fever for a little over a week. The problem was just that my schedule was so dang packed (incidentally, that is also the problem with blogging these days- other than the fact that our home computer is actually George's work computer too so it goes to work with him all day every day).

It's been a while, so I'll fill you in. I have been working two jobs since November. Job one is the aforementioned retail job. I don't like to say on the world wide web where it is that I work because I'm actually not a big fan of the company and, should I continue to sporadically blog, I may have negative things to say about it in the future. That being said, I do like the people I work with and the fact that I make a bit of extra money. I think a good rule for me for a job though is to never work anywhere that I really like as working at a place sort of ruins it for you. I don't know, maybe that's not completely true. But anyway, I have vowed never to work at Gap or Target because I love them so. One thing that hasn't been ruined for me working at this other retail place (hint: you can purchase excessively matchy matchy ensembles for all the little ones in your life there- you got it now, don't you?) is the quality. It really is pretty good quality. I just don't think they really treat their employees very well. My manager does, but the company policies are total crap.

Job two is a babysitting job for a set of four-year-old twin girls. I love these little girls. They are a delight. And it gives Elspeth a couple of little sisters! More than anything, I just drive them to the places they need to go, but there is the occasional day where they come play or when we have the whole family over for dinner. We are really grateful to have them in our lives.

But you have to factor in my three kiddos and their various activities as well (ballet alone threatens to be all consuming)... It's a lot! On top of that, I woke up one morning in early January and said, "that's it! I'm calling a realtor!" Our new upstairs neighbors have been a very bad match for us. I think the biggest problem is just that they exist. I mean, we're a family of five, shouldn't we live in our own space by now? But if you know anything about our story, you know that that's been one of the many expectations of "normal" that our family has long since let go of. But, where our house was marketed as a "family" house when we moved in- there was a family upstairs and we replaced a family- it's been given over to the singles' lifestyle lately- parties that have you waking up at 3,4, and 5am thinking "what the #%*!!!," Andy Griffith live jugband music at all hours of the day (classic singles, right? remember when you used to sit around with your buddies playing the banjo before you got married and had kids? those were the days!), really loud exercise equipment atop hardwood floors that threatens to fall through and on top of you at the dinner table, dance parties at any time, day or night, that last anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours right above the living room (so good luck trying to read a book, watch a movie, or just think straight), and of course, girls giggling in the bedroom above us in the form of ritualistic flirtations- gross! So, house hunting became a month long obsession until this last week, we bought us a house! Woohoo! It's our first house ever (only took 12 years), and I think it is going to be perfect. I'm slightly overwhelmed by the things I need to buy for it, but that's the fun stuff, right?!

Anyway, with all this going on, I think our family was heading for a breakdown. It came in the form of Mommy's week long funk and weekend of stomach flu for the kids. So today we're all hunkered down at home, watching the snow fall and nursing Sprites and Saltines. I figured it would be a good time to update y'all, so there it is.

2011-12-29T00:01:00.002-06:00

I hope y'all had a merry Christmas. I thought a lot this year about how rotten my attitude was toward church on Christmas morning. It was shameful, really. We don't want to go sit in church with other believers on the greatest day of the year, we want to sit home in our pajamas and drink coffee? Well, to tell you the truth, I'd almost always rather sit home in my pajamas and drink coffee than go to church on Sunday morning- but the 10:45 start time makes it less brutal than it could be :) Anyway, I think the solution is ultimately to have church every Christmas, not just when it's on Sunday. Because if it was part of our Christmas tradition, we wouldn't think anything of it. But it just sort of throws a wrench in things when, every few years, we have to forego the brunch or the lazy family time around the fire or whatever it is because we have to get ready and go to church. Let's just have it be part of the way it goes every year! Because really, what better place is there to be on Christmas morning than among the people of God in the place he has set up for us to gather to him?

I don't know if the idea will ever catch on, but I came across this article today and it seems like I am not the only one who thought a lot about this this year.

2011-12-22T22:43:00.002-06:00

If you have been waiting for a Christmas card from our family, keep on keepin' on. We are a bit behind this year. My plan is to have someone at church take a picture of all of us- yes, a rare siting of chubby ole me in a photo!- on Christmas morning at church with all three children present, George in his robe, and all five of us smiling, thus killing three birds with one stone -- Christmas cards, the much requested family picture, and the lately requested picture of George in his robe. And then I'll just email it out. It sounds like the sort of thing I don't like, I know, but in order to have things I do like, like extra cash, a nice party for my husband's ordination, and a pleasant visit with family from out of town, I had to forego something. That something turned out to be Christmas cards this year.

What about y'all? Have you gotten it all done? What did you have to let go of? And did it really matter? I'm sure it didn't. Like the Grinch tells us, Christmas comes just the same. And it's wondrous and magical no matter what. It is. I know that sounds like I have been watching too many Hallmark movies, which I have, but really, isn't it lovely? Even though NONE of us get a white Christmas this year (and I'd be mad if some of us were and not me, but I think even NYC will be green this year), it's truly the most wonderful time of the year. I love it. And I love each of you. I think. Unless people are reading that I don't know about. Merry Christmas, y'all! Glory to the newborn King!

Something Extra On My Plate

2011-12-03T23:57:00.001-06:00

Did I mention that I am working at the mall for Christmas this year? I need to pay off my new Pottery Barn couch and make a little Christmas present money. I enjoy the mall at Christmas. I actually do not enjoy being a shopper because there are so many people and it is pretty overwhelming to fight the crowds and guard your purse and try to remember all the places you need to go. I am very much more a click and ship type of girl. However, there is something to be said for old fashioned face to face interaction, lines to see Santa, Christmas carols coming through overhead speakers, and wishing people a Merry Christmas. I absolutely love working at the mall during Christmas.

Getting to work is a major headache and I often feel stressed and even ready to quit by the time I get there! But once I am there, I get into that "Jingle Bell Go-Go" ("You gotta go-go Christmas, don't stop the jinglin', yuletide dancing with Dancer and Prancer! Dancing all through the night- Christmas go-go go!") and somehow enjoy exercising dominion over the Kid Girl second line. I am grateful that for me the job is just "extra." Being a manager or someone whose livelihood depended on a retail job would be stressful, I think. I don't take myself or the store very seriously. On the other hand, I do want to be respectful and go by the rules. But, as you probably know, there can be a lot of drama in a retail situation- lots or power struggles and debates about the rules. The thirty-four-year-old (almost!) mother of three in me is very grateful that this job is the last thing on my list in terms of what is most important to me. If I had a strong opinion about which direction the sweaters should face or how the dresses should be hung, I might be in trouble! As it is, being a part time worker/ full time mom of three is a delightful setup. And hey, if you need a discount (only on new stuff though- wah--wah...), let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T22:55:00.001-06:00

Like each of you, I find myself with much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I have no idea what I am doing with this newfangled Blogger setup though so I hope I can figure out how to post all of it!

The biggest deal for us this year is George's ordination. Finally! He has passed all of the tests both written and oral and met with all the appropriate examiners and has been approved for ordination. I am beyond proud of him. What a journey it's been! His installation service is scheduled for December 11th at 6:30pm. Y'all come on up for it if you like!

I am also finding myself amazed by and enamored with my Amabel. She and I had a rough patch for a while when she was younger because she is a born leader and I am a born follower. This wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't had a God given responsibility to take care of her! I took my responsibility seriously, but I was slow to make decisions and never quite sure if what I was deciding was right. In the meantime, she made quick decisions that she was absolutely sure were right! You can imagine the frustration on both sides! And during those years of regular conflict, I really never imagined what a delightful young lady she would be at such an early age. I remember thinking that if she was so difficult at three, what would I do at thirteen?! But at only ten, she has found her stride, I think. She is really such a remarkable girl. She has always been very helpful and responsible. But she has learned when to keep quiet, how to be patient, and has also learned to make decisions that really are right quite often. She is insightful and kind and, oddly enough, seems to have learned how to be understanding and compassionate through the trial that has been submitting to a very timid and uncertain (not to mention, crazy!) mother. Oh, and she's beautiful to boot! I can't wait to see who she becomes, but right now I am so grateful for who she is.

Elspeth is also a never ending source of joy and thankfulness for me. She is hilarious. And, I never would have thought I needed to learn it, but she has taught me how to laugh. I have always been a lover of humor, from The Muppets and You Can't Do That On Television to SNL and Nora Ephron and a long list of favorite comedians. But somewhere in there, I started taking my own life too seriously. There was something in the seriousness of adulthood, of parenting and marriage and budgets, that sobered me up and made me scared and super stressed. And then God gave me my little spitfire who refused to be parented with white knuckles and one size fits all methods. And, while it made me feel pretty out of control for a while, it was so nice to not have to be in control, to not be able to be in control. When I was able to let go of just trying so hard, I was able to be me again and to laugh again. This is all fairly recent, so if you're wondering, "when did that happen?!", it was just over time and may even still be evolving. But I am so grateful for this little girl, the joy of my heart, who constantly reminds me of God's goodness and love for giving me such a perfect gift.

And guess who colored me a heart and cut it out and brought it to me when my alarm went off yesterday morning? It was August. And guess what he wrote on it? "August loves Mommy." Y'all! He is the sweetest little boy! He is my middle child. And, as you may know, I am a middle child. I think we have a kindredness, August and me. He is certainly my most sensitive child and my most eager to please child- he's pretty much my nicest child. He just has a sweet heart. The sad thing for people like that is that they are constantly disappointed with others because others are rarely as sweet to them as they are to others. They have to keep readjusting their expectations from what they would do to what is "normal." But it is hard to do and they get their feelings hurt often for nothing. He's a boy too (duh), so he doesn't always verbalize why he's upset or what it is that he's feeling. So, when he does verbalize a positive feeling, like "August loves Mommy," it is pure gold. But even without the words, his kindness to his sisters and to me speaks volumes. I was a little late getting the kids to school the other morning (I know, big surprise!) and the kids were running to the door to try to get to class. August got to the door first and then, without even thinking about it, opened the door and held it until Amabel caught up and went through. And don't even get me started on how sweet he is to his little sister. Some little girl out there is going to grow up to be the luckiest girl in the world to marry my son! Until then, I'm the luckiest girl in the world because I'm his momma.

So, that's my sappy but true list of the things I am most thankful for this year. I'm also quite delighted with my new Pottery Barn Couch in metal grey. It's super comfy! There's more, but I have a ten hour drive ahead of me in the morning and I still have packing to do! Classic! Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Gobble, Gobble!

A Good Word

2011-10-03T22:06:00.004-05:00

So, reading the sweet comments and emails today reminded me of another reason I haven't been blogging. I am an idiot. Y'all are all so kind! I can't believe I wrote that much about my apartment driving me crazy. But I do feel better. I really just do so much better when I process. And I process best in writing for some reason. That y'all would stay with me and read all of my ramblings and respond with support and encouragement is really such a blessing to me. And I suppose the excessively long blog post is better than what happened last time I had an "Agh!" moment.

It was about two weeks ago and I decided that the bed was just not working in the spot it was in because the window is off center on the wall it was against and it just felt wonky. So I started moving the bed in my usual way, tug here, run around to the other side and push there, run back and tug again, and suddenly "crrrrrack!" It totally sounded like that noise when a tree falls on TV. Because that's essentially what happened. I broke my bed. And I didn't break it in a normal place, like on a slat or pull a piece of hardware off; I split a big old piece of wood that's like two inches thick!

So now our bed is just on the ground! I just feel like my life is a perpetual camping trip! It's funny when I think about it. Well, the breaking the bed story is hilarious. I laughed for about thirty minutes straight when it happened. It was just classic Abby. I called my sister right away. When we were about seven and four, my sister Sarah and I loaded up all of her stuff from her dresser onto her blanket. It was just one of those waffle knit security blankets that we all had as kids and the "stuff" was actually things like china tea cups and piggy banks. So, we loaded it up on the blanket and she took two corners and I took two corners (so the goods were all jumbled in there hammock style) and we decided to go on a journey. And as we carried our load through her bedroom door, "crrrack!" we smashed the side of our hammock bundle into the doorframe and broke her new ceramic music box. We laugh about that all the time because sweet little Sarah would go along with anything I thought was a good idea, and boy did I have some bad ideas. Other classic bad ideas of mine include the time we played hamburger, the time we all pretended to have forgotten Mother's Day because wouldn't Momma have a good laugh when she was surprised later on that we remembered the whole time (no, she wouldn't...), the time we assembled a dollhouse with no tools or adult supervision, and the time we "weeded" the yard for Momma because wouldn't she be so happy when we pulled up all of those ugly "weeds" in our yard (no, she wouldn't...).

Laughter really is good medicine! And y'all were great about my frustrations. I appreciate that y'all can identify with this. I think just knowing that it isn't totally crazy that this kind of stuff is hard for me makes me feel a whole lot better.

And when the couch arrives, and if I ever figure out what to do about a chair, I'll post some pictures. Renee, I don't have your address, but I have meant to thank you a thousand times for the owl. I LOVE it! I have gotten lots of compliments. And I can't wait for the rest of the room to match it in style ;)

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad." Proverbs 12:25

Dear Diary...

2011-10-02T23:21:00.003-05:00

It's weird, I thought I was done blogging. Blogging really is dead and I thought I would just fade quietly into the background. I still may. But tonight I have some things I feel like writing about.

First of all, let me explain. I mean, I entitled this whole thing- six years ago was it?- Pretty Funny for a Girl. It was meant to be my humorous musings of life, and really, my coping mechanism for what was a really, really difficult time for me- you know, laughter is the best medicine and all of that. And it was meant to be for friends and the occasional, friendly stranger. I didn't really think about all of those people who kinda sorta knew who I was but never spoke to me and weren't too sure about me as an audience. And then, all of the sudden, that was my main audience. One of the women at my church declared, after almost never speaking to me in the first place, that she "wasn't speaking to me anymore" because I didn't like St. Louis. Of course, this was after my infamous (and may I say, hilarious) post about St. Louis being a horrible place to live. Let it be noted that, five and a half years later, I maintain that St. Louis was a wretched place for me to live. You see, I was trying to laugh about it because it's better than crying, and I think she was trying to laugh about it but also sort of trying to make me feel bad (or something?). I had no idea any St. Louis people were reading at the time. And then they were, but they weren't laughing. So that was the beginning of, "oh no, people who don't love me but do know me are reading." And I should have shut it down then. Instead, I maintained a horribly self conscious blogging presence for far too long. Over the course of the last few years, my audience has been whittled down to about a dozen people. And if they are anything like me, they only check blogs because they feel bad that they should read them because their friends wrote them, but they really are a pain in the butt to deal with and wouldn't it be better if we could all keep on touch on one site? (Yes, I know, that site would be Facebook, but there are too many people in life that I am trying to avoid!) So yes, I am making it difficult for you to find me, and yet, I don't expect you to. And really, isn't that what I was aiming for in the first place, way back in 2005? This was just supposed to be a way to keep up with far away friends. And now it can be again. It's just the few of us now. And I don't expect comments, but I do welcome them. And you can check every few weeks (or months) and just catch up and it won't bother me in the slightest.

So, for Rebekah, and for anyone else out there who likes to be able to catch up but doesn't have time for one of my way too long chats (or can't catch me between all of the lessons and Bible studies and errands), I'm here, at least for tonight :)

But I can't remember what I was going to say....

I think it was something about discontentment because that is the monster I seem to be wrestling these days. I don't know what to say about it though. When I was younger and dreamed of growing up and getting married and having children, there were some things I took for granted. Furniture, for example, was always part of my vision. And it was a cozy vision. I never dreamed of mansions or resorts, but I am more of the cottage and garden romanticist. These things are "simple" and honestly, comparatively inexpensive compared with what I grew up with. But, as it turns out, these things have always been well without of my reach. Can you say that? "Well without of my reach?" You can say "well within my reach." But it should probably say "outside of my reach." Hmmm... Anyway, my dreams have been unattainable. It's true for all of us to some degree. I feel like, if I am honest, that I should get some sort of prize for lowered standards and resigned dreams. I always said "at least four kids" and, as it turns out, I don't get a fourth child. I feel really robbed of my last baby. And it will be tempting for you to remind me that I am thirty three and can still have plenty more children, but don't, because it's one of those things I just don't get to have and it's taken years for me to stop agonizing over it so you just have to take my word for it, we don't get to have another baby. (I know it seems like I am still agonizing over it, but the fact that I am talking about it means that it is much better. It used to be the thing I never mentioned because it was too painful- sort of like all of those years I was suicidal as a teenager. True story. You can ask me about it sometime if you need insight into the mind of a suicidal person. Things that are really that intense and that desperate, even for a Chatty Kathy like me, are hidden away. I'm not hiding it anymore, so I'm definitely healing. Make sense?)

And that's not all. We've moved ten times in eleven years. And out of those ten different places, I have liked only two of the homes. Everywhere else has been brown and rundown and awkward and ugly. And if I sound like a spoiled brat, it's because I am. But I try really really hard to bloom where I'm planted. I paint and I sew and I buy flowers, but some ugly just can't be covered up. There have been lots of places that were simply the cheapest place, the free place, and/or the only place. Actually, almost everywhere we've lived has been that. Sadly, the place we are now is a whopping $1200 a month, practically bleeding us dry at well over a third of our monthly income, and we can't find anywhere less expensive, unless, of course, we buy, which we can't do because we don't know how long we have a job. And truthfully, we need a bigger place!

So this is not a fun read. Sorry about that. It's not really supposed to be, I don't guess. I am really really struggling with this whole "when does my life begin?" thing. I have put off planting a garden for so long that now I don't really care about planting a garden. And I have gotten over stainless steel appliances and Pottery Barn Kids and even "two cats in the yard" (I had to give my one kitty away to move to this place!). Really, all of this is mostly about brown. I am SO delighted that grey is "in." I figured that out all on my own, aren't y'all impressed?! Because brown is killing me! Incidentally, another color that was killing me for years was red. Do you know that I have a red kitchen table, red mixing bowls, and a red Dutch oven, red table linens to cover my red table with, a red armoire, a red toile chair, red (and other colors) in my duvet, red candles, a red area rug, and who knows what else. And one day this summer I realized, I HATE red. Red totally stresses me out. I never would have chosen red on my own, but George liked this red rug back in 2000 when we bought our first big piece and one of my really fashion forward friends likes red a lot so I just started steering more and more toward red. And all of the sudden this July, I recognized that red gives me anxiety. It sounds silly doesn't it? But I rolled up that rug and I sold that chair and made my husband paint that armoire, and I started feeling a whole lot better. And do you know that about a month later I decided that there surely was something to it so I looked it up on the internet and the actual example in the article I found said, "So if you were in a severe car accident in a red car as a child, you would find that red would cause you a lot of anxiety." So that was kind of bizarre to read since I actually nearly died in a red car just two weeks after my fifteenth birthday. But back to brown, I do like to wear a nice chocolate brown. But I'm more talking about wood stains and paneling and general ugly ass architectural brown. I can't take it! And that is what you get in apartments, my friends. Either that, or you get that horrible big white box "open floor plan" which is code for "impossible to cozy up and make feel like a home." Would I paint this bugly woodwork and fireplace and molding and built in shelving and doors and window seats and brown brown brown everywhere I look is brown if I could? Of course I would, but I can't. And, try as I might, there is just too much of it to overlook. You see, I didn't actually see this apartment until all of our things were being moved in. And let me say, there was a lot of guilt to swallow as I also choked back my tears when I first saw this place. Because we were delivered from some kind of horrible back in the unemployed wilderness of St. Louis. And I am grateful as can be to be in Des Moines where I am actually quite happy. But I am struggling with the living arrangements. And every time I have people over, they say how great my home is. I think it is a complement to my good taste and what I have done with the place! But I feel a little rebuked every time, like they are almost envious of our home and can't see why I don't seem as excited to show it as they are to see it.

So what then? Well, we can't move. We can't buy, we don't necessarily have a year left to sign a lease for somewhere else, and we really do have a nice setup in a lot of respects- location, lawn care, snow removal, free cable, etc. So, here we are. But all the things you would do to a house if it were yours are really out of the question in a rental. Curtains? Cushions for the many (various sized- no two are alike!) built in window seats? New cabinet handles or doorknobs (as opposed to bronzy-brown ones, circa 1972)? New window panes? (Okay, in the pictures, these looked like leaded storybook windows like the Bravermans have, but when we got here, I discovered that they are actually really awful giant X shaped inserts!) Paint the ugly fireplace? Paint the woodwork? Paint the cabinets, the doors, the built ins? Replace the light fixtures? Replace the gross, dirty carpet? Scrape the popcorn off the ceiling? Replace the giant, ugly, mirrored doors and wall mirrors all over the house? All of it is out of the question. And George thinks I work myself up into a tizzy when I start getting upset about these things, but I told him that what is really happening is that I am always kind of worked up about it, but that I exercise a LOT of self control not to make a big deal out of it, and to distract myself from it. But every now and then, Aaaaagggggghhhhh!!!!!

So maybe my prayer should be to see our home through different eyes. I definitely don't need to be reminded of how low we have been in the past. I guess I just keep thinking we're getting closer to the dream- the modified dream which is pretty much a cozy cute-ish little home that we can actually furnish while still all fitting in where we live can actually string a few Christmas' worth of memories together. And maybe it's like a lot of things, as you make a little progress, you realize how far away you were. You really are getting closer, but it doesn't seem like it because you are realizing the distance is greater than you originally thought. I know that these things are earthly things. George says millions of people live like us all the time. I tend to think millions of people also live without running water but we don't want to deal with an Abby without a shower! And the Good Lord knew that when he put me down in 1977 in the USA. But doesn't he also know what Abby can deal with in 2011? Evidently, I really don't need a living room chair. Because mostly, besides brown, that's what this is about. We did order a new couch. The old one was a floor model we bought at a department store six years ago and it is not only filthy and no amount of steam cleaning can save it, but it is also pretty uncomfortable. So we have this new couch coming. I pooled several store credits and a coupon with a store sale to buy my dream couch (for $700 including tax, shipping, and delivery! Woohoo!). And what has come out of it is that I now realize how shabby everything else I have is. And all I want is one nice chair to go with my nice new couch which will be arriving any day now. And I can't afford it. Not only can I not afford it, I'm terrified of saving up the big bucks to buy what I think I want only to have it not work in another couple of years. I'm digging this grey trend, but how long will it stick around? If it has taken eleven years to get a nice couch, shouldn't it at least last eleven years? But it won't, even if grey does, the fabric itself will wear out. And how will I replace it when it wears out? And will it take another eleven years to be able to get a chair to go with the couch? Because, by then, the couch will need replacing.

That's really it. The chair is what is stressing me out. We went through all of this to discover that I am scared of not being able to get a chair too and feel bad that the couch itself isn't enough. Because, let's face it, I feel pretty guilty about the couch in the first place. Yet earthly things do matter while we are on this earth- not as much as eternal things, but when they effect our quality of life and the way we work and move within our homes where we love and serve our families and friends, they matter. We can't have people over when we don't have anywhere for them to sit, right? And yet, can't they sit on plastic lawn chairs as easily as Mitchell Gold? (It's debatable...)

Sometime soon I will write about freedom and about learning to not feel guilty and to just do the best you can and we will all laugh knowing how not free I am acting tonight and how very guilty I am feeling and how I really am trying to do the best I can but it is very clearly not much but just anxious and greedy and frustrated. But here's something cool until then, and I meant to write Wayne a note to tell him this (always write your pastor a note when something they say blesses you are really meets you where you are- they need encouragement just as much as the rest of us!), today our pastor (Wayne) reminded us that we don't serve a God who brings us to himself and takes us in only to abandon us when we don't do things right. His love is unconditional and his patience and understanding are unfathomable. He'll never leave us or forsake us even when we are totally wrong, but, like a loving Father, he disciplines us and turns our hearts back toward him. (For context's sake, because I don't want anyone to infer this, we need to be careful that we don't assume that anything that goes poorly in our lives is discipline for turning away though- the story from Judges today was pretty clearly a turning away/discipline situation). So when you have a night like I'm having where your best intentions are no match for hormones and that whole I have had it feeling, you can take comfort in knowing that even in this, the Lord is with you. And I know from experience that he does indeed care for us even in regard to hairs on our heads and, I reckon, chairs that aren't red.

Puppy or Baby?

2011-08-09T23:59:00.004-05:00

So, I was at the Farmer's Market with some girls from church on Sunday and one of them was walking along with me and we both exclaimed delightedly at the same time "Awww!" It only took me a few seconds to realize that we were awing at different things. She was awing at a dog. She told me she is really wanting a dog these days. I was awing at a baby. I know I'm supposed to be over wanting a baby, and I am for the most part, but I just visited my one-year-old niece so I have been bitten by the baby bug anew. Anyway, even if I was totally reconciled to never having a baby again, I would never "awww" at a dog. I am not what we would call a dog person. Or a cat person. I'm just not an animal person. (Jimmy Blue Bean being the one shining exception).

Later on, we ran into some other friends from church at the Farmer's Market and one of them had a friend with them with a puppy. As we stopped and chatted, I was astounded by how many strangers stopped to ooh and ah over the dog. They asked all kinds of questions. They petted. They kissed. They swarmed. Meanwhile, I was totally bored with the dog (sorry, I was!) and I began to look around and noticed so many babies. And no one was kissing the babies. No one was waving and smiling and asking the babies' names. Sure, people do sometimes, but not, it seems, when puppies are also present.

SO.... my question for you is puppy? or baby? In a situation where both puppies and babies are in supply, which one would you notice? Which one would intrigue or delight you?

HGTV's Only Gem

2011-07-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

When I first graduated from college and started "making a home," I used to watch HGTV a lot and look at different home magazines and catalogs. In recent years though, I haven't generally looked at home decor stuff anymore because I find that it fosters discontent in my heart. But some of my nervous energy lately went into thinking hopefully about a permanent job that might finally allow us to buy a home and I went back into daydreaming about design. Well, home buying is still a ways off for the Edema family, but in my premature planning, I discovered Genevieve.

Basically, 99% of what is on HGTV today is boring and irrelevant. House Hunters?! Are you serious?! Watching someone else buy a house is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Who is this show for? And Curb Appeal is basically one very style specific designer uglying up the yards of Atlanta with horizontal wood configurations. Design on a Dime could be accurately subtitled "how to shop the clearance collection at Target and World Market to give your home a cheap, tasteless look." But amid all of those duds is a delight, Dear Genevieve.

I know that a lot of people have their favorite design blogs or magazines that seem to "get them" perfectly. For a while, I would browse and pull an idea from here or an idea from there, but I still didn't quite know for sure what I was after. I wish Genevieve did makeovers all over the country, and that our home was our own so I could actually invite her, because I have never found anything that appeals to me stylistically quite like what Gen does. Check her out on HGTV at 3:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, through the link above, or on Hulu.

A Quick Summer Read

2011-07-20T20:44:00.003-05:00

Amabel has read Ella Enchanted this summer and fallen in love with the book. I read it too, and I must say that it is delightful. I have always thought the movie with Anne Hathaway is cute. It is no surprise that the movie is quite different and steals some from the Disney cartoon Robin Hood of all things (you know, the one with the fox?! it's awesome too!), but I allowed it anyway. My children love it. It somehow escaped the return bag to the library so the fine we will end up paying will likely be almost the cost of buying it on DVD ourselves, but it has been watched many a time and never gets old for them. Today I declared a no Wii and no TV afternoon and later heard them in the girls' room play pretending Ella Enchanted. You know they are really enamored when they stop playing Mario (another hilarious sight, to see all the Beanie Babies running for their lives from King Boo). Both the movie and the book are darling, but of course, the book is better. It is a Newberry Honor winner, a Cinderella story (if you didn't guess that from the title), and just a good old fashioned fairy tale full of elves, ogres, and fairies. You'll find it in the Junior Fiction section of your library or here.

Pretzel Goldfish

2011-07-19T18:51:00.002-05:00

are my current favorite snack. They even make M&Ms better. How is that even possible? And how is it that they are so much better than any other pretzel? The world may never know.

Rest for the Weary

2011-07-17T23:16:00.004-05:00

I've been quite negligent in my writing lately. I am out of practice and I am thinking this post will show it! I have been writing recipes this summer for a website. Unfortunately, I haven't published any of them because I am having terrible writer's block over the copy. (Copy is journalism speak for the story/information/whatever on the page- in this case, the stuff that goes with the recipe). Also, I am still recovering from a pretty bad burn. During the two years that George was searching for a job, all but one of the family I grew up in ceased to be part of our lives. We were not just forsaken, we were insulted and attacked in our "darkest hour." It has come to rights since- as right as it will ever be- and it has taught me a lot about mercy and grace. But that's not even the burn I'm talking about. I had a friend who I relied on quite heavily during that time. Many of my oldest and dearest friends were quite a long distance away, people I don't get to see but once or twice a year, s0 I leaned more and more on a friend who was closer to me geographically. I pretty much signed her up to be my best friend and didn't realize she was just being polite. It ended badly, just with a big unexpected explosion on the friend's part and a lot of embarrassment and sadness on my part. Anyway, because of how badly things went last time I have mostly opted to internalize recent stress. I have also been on a low dosage of anxiety medication and that has helped hugely.

But today we had good news. Great news! And I am hoping the blessings God has given our family will wash over me and renew me and my spirit.

We're staying in Des Moines. And I have to say, I love Des Moines. I love that I have yet to find an ounce of pretension in this city. I love that people are friendly but that they're sincere. I can't imagine ever mistaking politeness for friendship in the people I have met here. I love that walking down the street isn't hard to distinguish from a fashion show. I love that no one has a preconceived idea of who I am as a "Southerner-" they're neither ready to roll their eyes nor expecting to be wowed. I love that there are seasons and that my closet now necessitates both snow boots and flip flops and that I get equal wear from both. I love that I can get where I need to go without being exhausted and anxiety ridden from traffic. I love that we have both a beach and an outdoor ice skating rink, and that I have been both to the ballet and to an eighteenth century barn still stocked with hay, horses, pigs, and cows, and that all of these destinations are within ten minutes of my home! I really can't imagine liking a place more. I do miss my friends from far away, but you are all welcome here any time.

I have hopes that the bulk of the anxiety I have felt from homeschooling and from fear of whether or not we will be able to buy groceries in a month will be gone now and that I will be able to write more. But at least for today, there is peace and joy in my heart. Yes, we can and do have this every day because of Christ, but we all know that there are realistic, legitimate, and practical concerns that need answers. We are so grateful for the answer the Lord has given us today. I just wanted to check in and say that we're staying in Des Moines and that we're so happy. God is good no matter what, but today it is easy to believe.

Race Day Results

2011-06-28T21:52:00.003-05:00

I meant to post my race results on Saturday, but the day gave me the rare gift of a mother/daughter day with Amabel and I had to jump at it. After I arrived home and got cleaned up, Miss Amabel and I headed out for our girls' morning. We stopped for coffee and then headed to GapKids, where there happen to be cute and age appropriate clothes for little girls for a change and where I also had $20 credit and a coupon for 40% off sale. We snagged two really darling dresses and a cute appliqued ballet tee for under $30. Afterward, we went to the Half Price Bookstore (oh how I love thee, Half Price Books!) and found us some goodies. We rounded off the morning with a lunch at Gateway Market, our local organics market with an oh-so-posh cafe adjacent, where kids eat free on weekends (they lose big bucks to our family nearly every Sunday!). It was a great time with my girl.

Here I am now though, and try not to laugh. I never said I was fast. I finished though. The entire second mile was uphill- a long, gradual hill that slowly wound its way around the capital building- and I was forced to give myself a one minute walking break about four minutes into it. But out of 3.3 miles, I only walked for a minute, so I guess that's better than it could've been. It is. It's better than a lot of people who beat me. See, that's how it was in cross country in high school too. I'd be way back with all the slow pokes and they would give up and walk while I jogged steadily on. And right as I would catch up to them, off they would dart, rested and ready to go. So it was on Saturday, only I was running with a crew that was generally less competitive than high school cross country runners. My worst time ever in high school cross country was a mortifying 32 minutes at the very beginning of the season. Well, 32 minutes would have been delightful on Saturday, but I will just tell y'all, because I have no pride left, I finished in 40 minutes exactly (which was my goal time to beat! Huray!). I know you don't believe that I ran the whole way and still somehow managed to need 40 minutes to finish, but it's true. And yes, you probably could've walked faster than that. But no one did. I was definitely the last of the runners, there was a truck about twenty yards behind me with a speaker that would drive along and tell the policemen directing traffic, "This is the last of the runners! There are no more runners! There are walkers coming though. Please continue to stop traffic for another fifteen minutes. This is the last of the runners, but walkers are coming!" I never looked back to be sure, but I think "the last of the runners" referred to more than just me, #498, but, like I said, I never looked back to see. Still, I was a "runner" and not a "walker" and that makes me proud.

So I gave myself a two day break and today I am back to training, this time for a 10K at the end of August. The goal again is just to finish, and I will come up with a goal time as the day approaches. I've got eight weeks, and I think I have a shot! I'll let you know how it's going. For anyone interested, I followed this training program for the 5K (which is perfect for a non-runner beginner, but will really only have you trained to finish. it is challenging without being sadistic) and I have begun this program for the 10K.

I share because you really can't be any worse off than me. If I can do it, you can do it. And you can be proud of your time because you will almost certainly take less time than me even if only because you surely weigh less than me and have longer legs. If you are looking for motivation, let this be it :) Beat Abby!

Temporary insanity

2011-06-25T07:49:00.002-05:00

It's raining and I can hear thunder rumbling not too far away. And here I am in downtown Des Moines fixing to attempt a 5K. What am I thinking? How did I get here? What on earth made me think I could do this? See you at the finish

O Captain, My Captain

2011-05-24T18:44:00.008-05:00

May 6, 2000 Me, Steve, and George. Steve was the one to pronounce us man and wife. And he was the first person we told when we found out we were going to be parents five months later. Incidentally, he thought it was hilarious and laughed and laughed. He had been the one I went to when things started "getting weird" with George and me, who, up until then, had been "just friends" (which, Steve had warned me, never really happens). And I ultimately decided George was worthy of being "the one" because of how he reminded me of Steve.

I remember being at Steve's house for Bible study and one of his girls calling from upstairs, not panicked, just persistently, "Daddy! Da--ddy!" And he dropped everything and ran up the stairs, two at a time, to see what was up. I remember thinking, "George is the kind of guy who would take stairs two at a time to take care of his girls." That was the kind of dad I had wanted, and that was the kind of dad I wanted for my children. Actually, when my parents divorced during my Freshman year at Auburn, Steve walked me through it. I remember calling him over the summer from Nashville just to hear someone I trusted who could help me work through it all. As I put it in my letter to him last month, "when my parents stepped out, you [he] stepped in." He was the one to give my boyfriends the once over. I remember him advising one to take good care of me, or something of the sort, and feeling, for the first time ever, that flush of embarrassment and simultaneous sense of being loved and cared for that is so often alluded to in parental relationships in films or on television.

The only time I have ever been to New York City, I went with Steve and a handful of other college students who all had to double step to keep up with his long, confident stride as he guided us through that wonderful and strange place. And that is why this beautiful piece, posted just the night before his death, was no surprise to me, except that it was just so lovely. I actually wrote him a letter to tell him how I loved it and put it in the mail on Sunday night. When I heard the news on Monday at noon, the mail had already gone out. And so there is a letter on its way to him that he will never read. I am not sure what to think of it, but the exact same thing happened when my Nannie died.

I know that the title of this post has been rendered trite by a particular film and its subsequent parodies. I also know that the poem is about Abe Lincoln, of whom, many of you know, I am not a fan. Still, when I think about that trip to New York, especially in light of Steve's river analogy, and really the navigation of those years at Auburn when so much changed for me, "captain" seems a fitting title for Steve. I know the poem really isn't that good of a fit, but it just keeps coming to mind. And since nothing else does, so often in these times we cannot find the words, I will leave it.

RUF Winter Retreat February 1998 left to right, Sela, Bitty, Steve, Mary Martin, Blair, me.

Tuneage

2011-05-18T21:32:00.003-05:00

Everyone seems to be linking to fun music on their blogs. Jessie sent me here. Annie sent me here. And Rebekah sent me here, not for music actually, but to see her family in a televised news story about adoptive families. So maybe I should get on the bus? The problem is that my musical exposure these days is actually mostly dependent on friends. So I probably can't link you to stuff that you didn't already tell me about.

But I have caught some cool performances on Austin City Limits lately. They're reruns so you may have caught them too. When I hear this song, I think maybe we should be missionaries. Love is the answer.

On a lighter note, I've also caught some pretty fun stuff on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon too. I know none of y'all stay up late enough to watch that. But sadly, NBC likes to make those videos unavailable to us after about twenty minutes (or so it seems). If you never got to see Paul Simon and Jimmy and Stomp all doing "Cecilia," I am sorry for you. It was fantastic! Lucky for you, this is still up. It never gets old!

In Defense of My Stories

2011-05-17T20:56:00.005-05:00

I guess it's a little weird to some people that I make such a big deal out of TV shows. Remember Lost? Let's try not to. And I've been know to get really sucked in to some seasons of The Apprentice and American Idol. But then there are some shows that as a whole body of work are just way above the rest- they're as well written as good literature and well played out as a good film (week after week after week!). Shows like that don't come along very often. And out of those shows, only few of them resonate with a person.

Y'all know what I mean. Books are the same way. After I finished the last Harry Potter book, I really had a hard time for more than a week. I felt like I had lost my three best friends. Their lives were continuing somewhere else, but I no longer got to hang out with them. I felt the same way about Betsy, Tacy, Tib, and Betsy's whole family when I finished the last Betsy-Tacy book. I actually cried about it, y'all! How could Betsy just leave me out of the rest of her life after all we had been through? It does sound very silly, but when you spend that much time reading and loving (because why would you read the next book if you didn't love them) the characters and their stories, it is hard to let go. Incidentally, if you have not read the Betsy-Tacy books, you really should.

Well, the way I feel about Harry and Ron and Hermione is the way I feel about Marshall and Lilly and Ted and Barney and Robin. They're my friends. And yeah, that makes me feel a little losery. It also makes me sad to see Jason Segel or Josh Radnor on a talk show and remember that Marshall and Ted aren't real. Even worse, Marshal and Ted, and Hermione and Harry and Ron too, have no idea who I am! (And worse still, they're not real...) Oh well, a minor detail, right?

Anyway, I guess I thought I would explain why I am carrying on about some random show. It's not random to me! And now I have to wait until the fall for more. And then it's just two more seasons (the one season rumor was false- hurray for a bonus!). But all good things must come to an end. The Wonder Years did (and they still don't have it out on DVD!), Arrested Development did (now that's just good comedy! and the movie is supposed to come out next year!), and even Parenthood will (but it's renewed for the fall at least). I know it's not cool to watch TV in well educated, Christian circles, but I totally don't care. I'd love to have friends that I saw every night at a bar or an extended family that gathered once a week in the back yard for dinner, but that just isn't how my life has played out. (It's actually closer to the Bluth family, just harder to laugh at since it's so close to home!) I'm cool with that. But I'm glad to have the option to hang out at MacClaren's Pub once a week or tag along with the Bravermans to wherever they're all going this week.

How I Met Your Mother Season Finale Live Blog- Spoilers

2011-05-16T19:14:00.006-05:00

Okay, so I decided to live blog it when Ranjit showed up!

And now, Robyn and Barney are talking about their relationship...

Just realized I have been spelling Robin wrong.

I also guessed that that's why Lilly was sick. But we probably all did :)

Ah... the wedding!

I knew it would be him!

So who will the bride be?

2011-05-16T18:50:00.004-05:00

So we're about ten seconds away from what I hear is the season finale of How I Met Your Mother. I am not sure if any of y'all watch the new episodes. It is hard for me to catch because it is on at 7:00. But I'm making this prediction, because I've been saying it since we first saw the wedding shot of the day where Ted finally meets the mother, that the wedding is going to be Barney's and Robyn's. Maybe everyone thinks so, but I don't ever talk about it to anyone so I wouldn't know. I'm just saying, if Marshall and Ted are both in tuxedos, it has to be either Barney or Robyn's wedding. And my guess is, it's both of theirs together. I've been watching the old ones with that in mind, and I haven't seen anything that would make that impossible. So there you have it, because I feel like they could get back together at any moment and then my prediction will not be nearly so impressive- Ted will meet the mother at Barney and Robyn's wedding. Man, I love that show. Only one more season new, but a lifetime of awesome reruns. And they never get old!

Just Like You Only Messier

2011-05-15T12:28:00.003-05:00

I have a little bit of guilt about my role as "pastor's wife." I mean, first of all, since my husband isn't yet ordained, that title isn't even quite accurate. But anyway, you know what I mean. Last year, when George was interviewed for his position as a pastoral intern at our church, I was also asked a few questions. I was asked what I saw my role in George's ministry to be. I remarked that I always raise an eyebrow when couples make a huge deal out of the fact that the wife is not being hired. I think that no matter what one's husband does, a wife comes alongside him and aids him as best she can. I also think that all women have a role in the church and need to use their gifts and time to serve their church body in some way. On the other hand, I don't think the "pastor's wife" is more obligated than anyone else and there is no reason she should be involved in everything or be expected to be super woman. I told them I would not be singing in the choir and I would not be leading up children's ministry because that's just not what I'm good at. But I told them I would love to have my home open often, that I love to entertain and to cook for people. And y'all know that's true about me.

But here's what's happened. I've still been the me that doesn't much like to get up in the mornings and get dressed up and go to church. I'm confessing that right now, y'all, I don't like going to church. I love Jesus. I just don't love slips and tights and skirts- especially not in the morning. And why is it that conversation is so much harder in those clothes in a building that puts no one at ease with coffee that no one would ever pay for or choose to drink again? Well, isn't it obvious why? Right. I still can't sing, and I'm still pretty tired of being with kids all week by the time I get to church so that I'm really quite ready for everyone to just go to Sunday school, and not at all ready for them to back to me so that I have to sit with them in the pew telling them to be still and stop talking and stop kicking the pew in front of them and turn around and come on say this creed/prayer because they know it. Anyway, I've still been that me, the one that's basically the worst version of myself on the morning that I would love to be my best, seeing as how my husband in front and center. But I've also been a me that, during the rest of the week, has been crammed into an apartment that isn't quite big enough for my family and trying to homeschool, against all gifting or inclination, so that I am even more of a mess and not really ever ready for people to come over. Just the fact that there is a big pile of picture frames on my living room floor that has been there for more than three weeks is enough to illustrate the point. So, as you can imagine, I haven't done a lot of entertaining. For a while, we did have the college Bible study here once a week. And we've had a couple of families over for dinner. But really, as far as what I had intended, I have been a pretty big failure.

So here's what I'm offering the Church. As you probably know, George is again looking for a job (please pray for his search, by the way). And when the interview turns to me for a brief moment this time, I don't expect to say anything that much different. I am still not going to sing in the choir or be the leader of Kid's Club, and I still do love to prepare food for friends and have people over. But sometimes just doing what needs to be done is all I can do. Sometimes we have a year of just trying to figure out a new city and a new job and pretty much new everything and we go back to buying frozen pizza and hot dogs because we just don't have the time and energy to do what we want to do. I don't know how to really say that to a bunch of elders, or if they really even need to hear it. I just know that I need to know it ahead of time and be okay with it. Because I'm not depressed, y'all. I'm just maybe a little disappointed? And I think I'm also worried that my enthusiasm and expectation for myself was expressed publicly so that others might also be disappointed. And I feel like a liability to George. I feel like he's wise and kind and energetic about ministry and about the Church, and I am just the glob of gluck that goes with him. But, the good thing about the glob of gluck on the arm of the pastor is that no one else in the church will ever feel that she has to measure up or be some sort of super woman because the pastor's wife is a super woman. In fact, she's the barely-getting-by-woman. And the good thing about the pastor with a wife like that is that he visibly models the Gospel in that he is okay with that. George isn't disappointed with me, and he reminds me (often, because I need it) that God isn't either.

So, if you are a church looking for a pastor and you're checking me out because you're looking at my husband (I hope this doesn't actually happen), know that my husband is awesome and he's excited about the Church and he's excited about our family. And I am not awesome, but I am excited about him. And I'm doing the best I can. And I make fantastic cookies. And our kids are sweet and funny and delightful, even though they wear me out. I'm the worst of the lot, so if you can stand me, you'll probably be alright. God is faithful so I'm sure I'll be better some day, but still not what I want to be. But, praise be (and today I feel especially glucky so it's hard to believe), God and my husband are okay with me just as I am.

A Bad Case of the "I Want"s

2011-05-13T21:03:00.003-05:00

How is it that I am just now learning that these exist?!

And I think I actually need these.

It's basically been a full night of online shopping for me.

I pretty much love everything here.

And I can always find plenty of things to heart on Etsy.

Soon we will move, of course. So it makes little sense to make purchases only to pack and move. Especially because we don't know what the new house we will live in will be like. This matters little for small things, but we are in need of some bigger things as well. Right now, I'm liking the rugs here. I imagine they would work on blah apartment carpet like we have now, or on hardwoods, which I always try to get in a place if I can. But really, the unknown serves me well as it leaves no room to lament the fact that I can't afford these things anyway!

Just in Time for Easter

2011-04-22T22:25:00.002-05:00

Cooks' Illustrated 's guide to buying a leg of lamb in any part of the country (now, if only they would clear up the confusion on cuts of beef!):

"To avoid confusion and to eliminate the risk of running into regional differences in labeling, we recommend forgoing the shorthand terminology and just spelling it out for your butcher. After extensive research, we found that you can't go wrong asking for "a whole boneless leg of lamb, but without the sirloin attached." This approach is wordy, but worth it."

Double Stuffed Vacation

2011-04-12T17:16:00.004-05:00

Well, I was hoping it was hormonal, but I'm already "feelin' different again." Lucky for me and for my family, I am embarking on an adventure tomorrow. George keeps calling it my adventure. He gets more excited for me about these things than I do sometimes. I think he just wants me to be me. And of course, when I find myself, I'm beyond excited. But it's the getting there that overwhelms me. Today I had some "Mickey Mouse" errands to do (that's what you call all those little things that you have to do all over the place) and I felt like I may or may not, but probably would, have an anxiety attack at any moment. And I don't know why. I feel like the weirdest person in the room most of the time (and since it is often just George and the kids in the room with me, there is good reason for it). And yes, I realize that is horribly self absorbed of me, but what can I do? Everyone else is cuter and cooler and way less awkward. Am I right? I mean, once again, my post is proving just how awkward I can be!!! I really should find that delete blog button...

Anyway, I think my adventure will do me good. I'm going to Chicago! And not only that, but I am going with one of my top ten favorite people of all time :) I mean, who really has a top ten? I have been thinking about it though because one of my other top ten favorite people is dying right now. I decided that I have a top ten list of family -because with three kids and a husband and two sisters and a Nannie and a mom, you're pretty much full before you even leave the family tree- and then another top ten of just super awesome people not related to me that I wish came in pocket sized versions so I could carry them around with me. Rebekah is one such person. And since she isn't pocket sized (though, compared to me, almost), I will just have to settle for meeting her for a few days on the town in the Windy City. I'm very excited! Just thinking about it makes me feel way less losery. Good friends are like that, just being around them makes you feel good. Because hey, if they are as cool as they are and they still choose to be friends with you, then you must not be the walrus with the painfully awkward social habits that you imagine you are. Or perhaps they are just that charitable? I don't know.

But anyway, I am sure I will have lots of good posting to do when I get back. However, I will only be back for two days before heading out on another adventure, the first ever vacation of the Hawkins sisters and their husbands and children. This should be interesting, to say the least. We got a great deal on a huge, cozy cabin on some river in Arkansas (how hard would it be to look up? not very. but let's just go with "some river"). We'll be doing some fishing, some game playing, some hiking, lots of good eating, and plenty of catching up. I haven't seen my older sister in over four years!

After all of that, perhaps I will feel better. That is, if I can get over the fact that I'll be hanging out with tall blonde(ish) beauty queens for almost two weeks! I can always offer my wit though. Eh? Eh? Yes, I definitely fear that this is going to be one of those times where people look at me and mine and wonder "who invited all these tacky people?" But I like to think of it like I let people feel free to be who they are. Because, after all, if Abby is over there being all awkward, odd, and gaudy (ya like that? it's called assonance- heh), then hey, maybe they'll feel awesome by comparison. You're welcome, world.

Happy Little Trees

2011-04-11T14:24:00.004-05:00

I got the coolest necklace today from Etsy with some of my eBay money. Hurray for Paypal payments! I ended up selling about $380 of stuff. How is that possible?! Well, my silverware brought in over $150 and my maternity clothes brought in about $80. In deciding there would be no more Georbies (affectionate term for children of George and Abby), I went through some of the old baby clothes and sold/ gave away a lot of that. The totals from all of the baby stuff I decided to sell came in at around $80. Then I sold some shoes and a few other odds and ends which made up the rest of it. Anyway, no, I didn't blow all of my money on a necklace. I only spent $29. But isn't it nice to get something for yourself sometimes? A girl in Auburn makes these. They are Toomer's trees! She has all different colored glass and metals. I thought this one would be pretty with all the brown I tend to wear. And if I had makeup on, I may actually put up a picture of myself wearing it, I love it so! But enough shopping for baubles, I gotta replace that silverware! Plastic is literally not cutting it!

What Are We Going To Do With Uncle Arthur?

2011-04-09T23:10:00.004-05:00

This news would be a lot more interesting to y'all if I had previously shared that last year, George and I spent hours watching the old 1970s BBC series Upstairs Downstairs on DVDs we checked out from the St. Louis County Library. I think we both shed tears during the finale as well as during several of the more poignant episodes. Lord Bellamy, the show's strong central upstairs character, and Hudson, Mrs. Bridges, and Rose, the most loyal and honorable of the downstairs staff, became like friends and family to us.

I do this. I get so involved with the characters in a series, be it on DVD or in books, because I spend so much time with them, that I really end up grieving their loss when the series is completed. When I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I think I was depressed for a week. I read/ listened to all of the books in a row, one to seven straight, and then, no more? It was like losing my friends! This also happened when I bought George all of the DVDs of Northern Exposure as they were released. When we reached the end, it was hard to move on. As a coping mechanism, I usually do a lot of research about the author and characters or the writers and actors hoping to find out if there is any chance for more.

So, in my search for more Upstairs Downstairs, I read a rumor that there was talk of a movie, but I couldn't find much on it. I looked again and again over weeks and months and never saw more than a paragraph about a rumor. And then tonight, I was looking to see what might be on TV tomorrow night (I do this sometimes when I am totally bored with what's on right then), and I saw Masterpiece Classics (NEW). "Hmmm," thinks I, "that could be something good." But, little did I know, it would be something great.

So here's the scoop. Masterpiece Classics will be showing Upstairs Downstairs in three one hour episodes on April 10, 17, and 24th. For us in Des Moines, this will be at 8:00PM. The miniseries will star Jean Marsh who will reprise her role as Rose, Keeley Hawes, of Wives and Daughters fame, as our upstairs mistress, and Claire Foy, of Little Dorrit fame, who appears to be playing someone named Lady Persephone. (I hope they keep her away from the pomegranates...) So if you can't catch them on a Sunday night on TV, you can always watch online. The only thing you can't watch online is a video that might explain my post title. Perhaps you should track down the DVDs to find out! Eaton Place, here I come!

Finding Abby

2011-04-05T23:07:00.008-05:00

This weekend I felt like myself for the first time in a long long time. I will tell you why. Because there was a bake sale at church on Saturday morning. And I love to bake, but it is "extra." Cooking is mandatory, which is probably why I don't enjoy it as much. I mean, I enjoy eating. And I glory in finding a good recipe and executing it well, but I don't really look forward to cooking. On the other hand, I love to bake. I spent two happy years in my little Gulf Drive kitchen baking cookies and cupcakes and muffins for teachers and new residents moving in and families having babies and anyone who did a me any type of favor- if there was a reason to bake, I found it. And then, they kicked us out of the 'hood. And that meant I lost my school community as well. I did do some baking for people who blessed us during George's unemployment, but working last year left me little time to keep it up. And then this year, well, homeschooling and pretty much knowing no one has meant no baking. So when I found out about the bake sale, I ordered boxes to package breads in. I shopped at Target and Hobby Lobby and Michael's for cupcake wrappers and cellophane bags and ribbon and icing tips and cookie cutters. It was quite exciting! But then life happened last week, and I never got to the baking. At one o'clock on Friday afternoon, I had touched nary a sifter nor a whisk nor an oven mit.

But then....

My list was longer, but I just ran out of time. Classic! Still, I think I made a nice contribution. And oddly, two of the things I didn't get to, Rice Krispy Treats and chocolate cupcakes, were brought by others. Well, that's not weird. But the weird thing is, there were no duplicates. So, if I had made either of those things, there would have actually been duplicates. Biscotti was also on my list, but it is a huge pain, so it was the first to get the old heave ho.

The banana bread recipe was new, and I didn't taste it so I cannot vouch for it. It came from Cooks Illustrated and called for freezing the bananas first to get rid of some of their moisture. This was perfect for me because I had about 20 bananas in my freezer! I found the recipe typed out online here. I'll make a loaf for my family one of these days and give you my review- or, better yet, you make it and give me yours! I can tell you that it baked up nicely. It was very pretty. The rest of the recipes are as follows: Lemon Squares. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins. Sanna Mix (so fun with Easter M&M's tied with ricrac and set out in an Easter basket! This way the kids got to help with the project too!) The bundt cake is one of those cake mix cakes- nothing special, but I am happy to share the recipe if you happen not to have it. I just had a cake mix that George's mom gave me that I wanted to use up. Banana Crunch Muffins. And I was still packaging up the Chocolate Chunk Mocha Cookies when George snapped the pictures (link takes you to the original version of the recipe. I have since tweaked it- definitely use Dutch processed cocoa and substitute 1 1/4 cup of flour for the same amount of cake flour. Trust me. It's exponentially better somehow. Who even knew those cookies could be better?!)

I made such a commotion doing all of this that this little girl woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I'll bet you didn't know that Charlie and Lola is on at 3am on Disney or that Little Einsteins follows at 3:30. May you never have to use that knowledge! I decided a little helper wasn't such a bad idea for a 4:30 delivery run, so me and Miss Ballerina (she has slippers that match her robe! Cutest thing ever!) headed to the church to display our wares. We hit the hay at about 5am and I felt better than I had in quite a while. I'm still riding that high, but I sure do wish there was another bake sale coming up again soon!

All of this was really such a blessing as I am truly going through some sort of identity crisis lately (or possibly for the past 33 years, I'm not sure). It felt like me. It felt like home. It was good to be reminded of what I love. And the rave reviews didn't hurt either- (Oh what a little ricrac and ribbon can do!)

A "Holiday" for Humor

2011-04-01T01:15:00.002-05:00

Was that post that boring?! I mean, I know people don't check every day. And really, what are you going to say about Valentine crafts at the end of March? I just put it off for so long because I knew it would be such beast to publish. And it was. So I was hoping someone would say something pleasant. But if I want that, why don't I just go on Facebook? I know, I know, it's my own fault!

So I'm changing the subject. It's April Fool's Day. And it's not a day I generally observe because I'm not much of a prankster. For a while in college, George and I had a back and forth where we hid a potato in each other's residence or vehicle. It went on until the potato was completely shriveled up. At one point, George decided to coat the exterior with glue to keep it from rotting. I am still not sure why he thought it needed a gluey "protectant." And he may have somehow written the words "special treasure" on the potato too. We certainly referred to it as "the special treasure." And then I think he threw it away one day and that was the end of it. That was as pranky as it ever got for me.

I don't really have any other prank stories. I did have a friend once who broke up with her boyfriend on April Fool's Day without realizing that it was April Fool's until he said, "April Fool's, right?" and it became this slow, painful situation where she had to convince him that she wasn't kidding. I don't think he really believed her until the next day. Bummer.

But maybe April Fool's Day is mostly about having a laugh, and not necessarily at someone else's expense. I can totally get behind that. And with that in mind, I've seen the SNL promos this week with Elton John and Jason Sedakis running around to the Benny Hill Yakety Sax music, and it's made me want to find some of those old chase scenes. Oddly, I haven't been able to find any of the classics, but people on YouTube have been rather clever in cueing up their favorite chase scenes from movies to the music. The first one I saw was Gandolf and all the hobbits being chased. Something about Gandolf's flowing white hair was pretty funny set to the music. Too many of the scenes on YouTube are of battles rather than chases (and way too many still have the movie sound in them with Yakety Sax just playing over top). Get it right, people! Supposedly, "anything" is funny if you put it to that music, but I disagree. Chases though, they stay true to the original comedy. Anyway, if you too get a kick out of wasting your time in the manner, I recommend this one of an actual high speed police chase. And if you really must have more, this one from Star Wars is a little funny at first- it goes on a little too long and has a lot of battle in it (though a lot of chase as well- Stormtroopers in fast motion are actually kind of amusing).

Wrapping Up Winter Holidays

2011-03-30T22:58:00.023-05:00

Okay, so have I been too serious lately? Sorry! I'm fine, y'all! I am. I just feel discombobulated. You know, just uncertain of the future and a little frustrated with some of the details of the present. That's all. No worries.

But I am loving this spring. I am definitely feeling the world coming alive again! We actually had a couple of inches of snow yesterday morning and I almost ran outside with my camera to take pictures. I posted so many pictures last summer, but I never got any up of the seasonal changes. If you got our Christmas card though, you got the idea: snow, snow, and more snow! Anyway, it's been lovely, but it's time for longer days and warmer weather. And that reminds me, we still have one more recipe to finish out the 12 Days of Christmas! It's classic Abby, I know. And to complete the belated holiday observance, I'm posting Valentine's pictures as well. We should just go ahead and change the title of my blog to "Better Late Than Never." Words to live by, those are.

These are the candy heart Valentine's frames that my kiddos worked super hard on for their grandmothers. I think we spent four days crafting before we sent everything out! They also made cards for everyone.

Grandpa and Uncle Rick got a card that looked more or less like the one above. It's a little candy heart dude. Cute huh?

These were the "lovebirds" they made for Aunt Katie and Uncle Caleb. We almost put a caption like "Owl always love you" or "Happy Owlentines Day" or "whoo loves you?" You get the idea. In the end, the kids just hand wrote a message without a cheesy pun. So, while they looked like owls to me, I think K&C just saw birds. What do y'all think?

The little bags on the front of this were labeled "hugs," "kisses," and "Valentine wishes."

This one was really creative on Amabel's part. How she thought to make hearts with all the tiny pipe cleaner scraps she found in the craft box, I don't know. But it turned out cute, no?

Each grandmother also got a set of magnetic frames for her fridge.

I was so proud of how hard they worked! Didn't they do such a cute job?! Of course there are aunts and uncles on my side of the family, and cousins too! Cousins got goodie bags with candy and some smaller crafts. We dig the Snoopy theme around here for most holidays.

And I took care of the aunts, seeing as how they are my sisters, with a heart shaped souffle dish filled with some of these:

I was quite proud of how my Valentine's cupcakes turned out, and quite delighted with how delicious they were. And that, my friends, brings us to recipe number 12. You too can make these little cuties at home. I used my mini muffin pan for fun, but you could certainly make these as regular cupcakes. If you do make them in miniature, check them a little early. This originally comes to us from that culinary publication which must not be named. There is supposed to be a ganache filling, but that seemed rather ambitious for the first try so I left it out. I'm sure the filling is delightful, but these are good, and easy, without it.

Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

1/3 c. Dutch processed cocoa powder

3/4 c. hot coffee

3/4 c. bread flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

6T vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 recipe Creamy Chocolate Frosting (follows)

- adjust oven rack to middle position and heat the oven to 350. line a muffin pan with liners. place the chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until smooth. refrigerate until completely cool, about 20 minutes. whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.

- whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into the cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

- divide the batter evenly among the muffin pan cups. bake until the cupcakes are set and just firm to the touch, 17-19 minutes. cool the cupcakes in the muffin pan on a wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. lift cupcakes out of pan and cool directly on wire racks for about 1 hour, until room temperature, before icing.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

1/3 c. sugar

2 large egg whites

pinch of salt

12T unsalted butter, softened and cut into 12 pieces

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp. vanilla

- combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer, then place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. heat the mixture, whisking gently but constantly, until slightly thickened and foamy and it registers 150 on an instant read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes **if you don't have an instant read thermometer (I don't either),go by time and texture. don't leave it on too long like I did, or you'll end up starting an egg white omelette! yuck! i got it right the second time, so just give it a try and you can always try again if you mess it up the first time- you'll only have lost 3 minutes and 2 eggs.

- using the whisk attachment, beat the mixture on medium speed in a standing mixer until it reaches the consistency of shaving cream and is slightly cooled, 1 to 2 minutes. add the butter, 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy. (the frosting may look curdled after half of the butter has been added; it will smooth with additional butter.) once all the butter is added, add the cooled melted chocolate and the vanilla and mix until combined. increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping the beater and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Alright, so we're done with winter! Hurray! We can cross Christmas and Valentine's off our list- for at least 8 months, right?! Next on the list, wash the coats, hats, and mittens, and put snow boots and all the clean winter wear in a box for our next destination. With weather still in the 30s though, I reckon that chore will have to wait. You never know if we'll have another day like these:

Nauseating Reality TV

2011-03-28T20:48:00.005-05:00

Since I mentioned the hoarding shows last week, shows that many people can't stand to watch because of the filth and squaller (am I using this word correctly? am I spelling it wrong? I can't find this definition anywhere), I thought I would return to that vein and say that I cannot handle the Sister Wives show. That husband gives me the creeps. Yuck! Who does he think he is?! He actually reminds me of this cheesy TV pastor that does touchy feely "evangelical" commercials in St. Louis- only the pastor guy is arguably well meaning.

Anyway, something about polygamy is very unsettling to me. I guess it is probably a little disconcerting to most of us. It wasn't ever explicitly forbidden (except for kings) in the Old Testament from what I can tell, but anyone can see that any time there was more than one wife, there was more than a little trouble. You sort of wonder if it is sort of a duh thing that shouldn't have to be forbidden, like "don't inject foreign substances that alter you state of consciousness into your veins." Would that exclude medicine though? But, of course, the spirit of the law could build a good case against the difference between heroin and epidurals. And the spirit of "a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife" implies, you know, not wives. I suddenly feel very unintelligent. I haven't hashed out something like this in a good long time.

I'm not really interested in a logical argument, I just think it's gross that Jacob and David had all these wives- and it clearly broke their wives' hearts. Poor Rachel, poor Leah, and Bilhah and Zilpah and Abigail and Hannah and countless other women! I will be honest, it has made me wonder if God cares about women very much if he just let them be traded like cattle for centuries. But couldn't we say that same for whole races of people? I have had tears over it recently (I'm telling you, the Sister Wives show totally freaks me out!) and the Holy Spirit graciously brought the story of Hagar to my mind. Twice God tenderly cared for her when her "sister wife," Sarah dealt harshly with her- all of this because some man (not some man, the father of God's Nation, but you know...) decided to take a second wife. The stories of Jacob's wives and Elkanah's wives then also came to mind. In each of these stories, the Lord showed compassion and mercy to brokenhearted "sister wives." There is a lot more I could say about that, but the point of my post is more the TV show.

The idea of sharing my husband is unthinkable to me. I am not buying this "sister" wives thing. There's no way that's a happy family. And at the center of it is some nasty man who has deceived himself into thinking he's doing something that isn't entirely self serving and disgusting. Okay, disclaimer: I've actually only seen the commercials (which are like 5 minutes long!) because that's about all I can stomach, but I'm just sayin'... Gross!

End of Uncomfortable Silence

2011-03-27T19:12:00.004-05:00

Sorry about all of that. Thanks to a few notes from a few dear friends, I feel much better. And I think there is something good and right about encouragement from others in Christ. And yet, I wish I had a more direct link. I mean, I do. But why am I out of touch with it? I don't know. So so often, I wish for a visible, touchable King. I mean, he is, he just happens to be seated on his throne at the right hand of the Father and not where I can see or touch him. That's why I love that book Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller. I know I have mentioned it often over the years, but it does such an amazing job of taking these old, familiar stories that we know by heart and re-showing them to us in a way that we learn something more about who Jesus is, how tender and personal and loving he is, and what his actions and his words meant. It helps. George tries to do this when he preaches. And he tries to remind his audience what that means for them-- tries to encourage them about who Jesus is and what he has done for us personally. Sometimes the Gospel can be preached so impersonally, like a bank transaction, or so cerebrally, like a logic class (kill me now- I totally dropped Logic 101!), but when someone can approach the Gospel humanely and heartfully (yes, I made that word up, but "heartily" wasn't doing enough), it does my soul good. I am inexpressibly excited about the idea that someone who does that well may be my pastor for the rest of my life; and if not that, at least my husband for as long as we both shall live.

Lingering

2011-03-24T23:16:00.003-05:00

Hey, thanks y'all. The zero comments really helped me feel like less of a weirdo!

Yeah, sorry, I'm still in my loser-y funk. It's more than just the whole "misunderstanding" thing. My house is a mess- this stuff is being sold on Craig's List, that stuff goes to the rummage sale at church, the pictures are all down off the walls because George just painted and I am trying to think how everything should be hung again. But it all feels like too much of a project. I am so easily overwhelmed. And therefore, I am, quite possibly, the worst homeschool teacher ever! And I just can't seem to pull myself together. But then, what else is new?

Really, I'm fine. I'm just "feelin' different again" (that's from The Jerk). I think it's just a little easier to fall out of sync with the rest of the world when you're at home away from the world all day. I keep strange hours. And then there's the whole being out of sync with my world because my world seems to change every 10-24 months. By the time I get a feel for the world I'm in, it's time to make a change! I guess it's a "man without a country" thing. Once again, we know we're moving soon, but we don't know to where and it's not time to go yet, but it is something we need to be preparing for and ready for.

But I probably sound like a broken record to y'all. It's just on my mind and my heart again. Sorry about that. I just thought it might help me to carry the thought through. You know, on the world wide web, as opposed to some other, more appropriate way. But, as we have established, I don't seem to understand what is and isn't appropriate.

*Sigh* I think I'm hopeless! The good news is, only like four people will read this, so I haven't embarrassed myself too badly.

One thing I learned in my sorority days was always to end on a pro. So here's a short anecdote for you four: Tonight I was at the grocery store and I was exchanging pleasantries with the man bagging my groceries when he stopped and looked at me, "Georgia?" No, he didn't think maybe that was my name; he was guessing that was where my accent was from. He seemed pretty confident. I told him I grew up in both Tennessee and Georgia. The funny thing is, I have been so long claiming Tennessee that I have forgotten that all through high school, my friends in Tennessee mercilessly made fun of my Georgia accent. It's always been more or less that I have "words." And I know these come out more with my "phone voice." You know the voice you assume when you answer the phone or chat with people you don't know? For me, that voice has a much thicker accent. (My kids think it's hilarious.) So naturally, the man at the grocery heard me in full-on Macon mode. I forget about it, but it's funny to think about some Henry Higgins bagger man picking up on a piece of my past just from me telling him I don't need pick up service tonight. Anyway, I guess it's not exactly a "pro," but for me, it's nice to remember where I came from. I wasn't always a nomad!

I'm a Loser Baby, So Why Dontcha Kill Me

2011-03-23T17:30:00.004-05:00

Wow, I never really thought about those lyrics until I typed them out!

Do you ever feel like a total reject of society? ("What is she talking about?") Really though. I don't know what's wrong with me. I think it's all this interaction with people on ebay. How is it that some people are so nice and laid back and as friendly as can be, and some people are impossible to please? See, this is generally true and has nothing to do with ebay. Yet, when you deal with all these buyers and sellers, you notice it a lot. And I notice it in the real world a lot too, but to give details is, as I have learned, dangerous.

I think I read too much Dan Allender. He's always giving personal examples! I mean, I don't know how he walks down the hallway at work or church. He has internationally published all manner of anecdotes relating to his sin against other people and others' sin against him- and not all of the situations have been resolved either. So, like a fool, years ago, I thought it would be okay to share stories from my life about things I have done or others have done either without names or in a very general sort of way. It was, after all, a regular part of my reading experience. But that'll get you in trouble, my friends.

So, suffice it to say, there are individuals in my life who are just plain rude. Some of them are just crossing my path via an ebay transaction and some of them are more generally part of the road of my life. I don't know what to do with these people, because the crazy thing is, they are coming from such a different paradigm that they think I am the rude one. I am many things, but how anyone could think I am rude is mind boggling to me. That may sound totally arrogant (and rude), but if you knew how hard I try... Anyway, I get this way sometimes- just feel misunderstood and socially retarded.

Sometimes I think that this is when I should just show some strength of character and say, "Hey, this is who I am and I can't apologize for it. And anyway, you're the rude one..." I mean, I don't think I should say that out loud, but just kind of adopt that mentality toward the people giving me trouble. But you know me (I think), instead of showing strength, I show concern. What if it is me? What if I am wrong here? I'm not. I know I'm not. But if I'm not, then the problem is the other person, and that's a hefty accusation. Some people want to say that everything is a "misunderstanding." And while that may often be true, sometimes someone is just being a bummer. Maybe they don't realize it, but shouldn't they? What do you do about that?

Remind me not to sell things on ebay anymore, okay? And well, that should take care of some of the problem, but for the rather permanent troubles, hmmm... any suggestions are welcome.

Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz! ("Seriously, what is she talking about?!")

It's Probably Weird But

2011-03-16T23:17:00.003-05:00

I love the hoarders shows. I'm not sure why. But I think it may be the redemptive quality of cleaning all of the mess up and helping a person through their pain in a very visible way. So many emotional issues manifest themselves in intangible ways that we never fully know, but when a person's pain compels them to hold on to everything so tightly, and then they are finally able to let go, it's like healing you can see. For many people, their internal landscape probably looks a lot like the inside of the hoarder's home, but we never see their mess in any measurable way. And if they work through their issues, we never see it "cleaned up." And we certainly don't see it go from one extreme to the other in an hour. The hoarding shows provide us with remarkable strides in personal growth in a one hour time slot! As with any kind of pain, some of the stories end sadly- some of the people aren't able to heal. But there's always the hope, while you are watching, that you will see the person freed and transformed. It's like Common Grace on steroids. How does the song go? "I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time... It's getting better all the ti-i-ime (better better better)." I like it when I can see that. Hoarders be healed! But do it on camera so I can be encouraged too!

They're Eating Chinese Food on How I Met Your Mother and it Looks Darn Good

2011-03-14T23:05:00.003-05:00

Do any of y'all ever make Chinese food at home? Do you have any good ideas for a starter dish for me? I actually don't even eat out Chinese very often- as in, almost never. But it's so yummy. I'd love to be able to make it at home some time. My younger sister sent me a beef and broccoli recipe a while back and I think I'm ready to try it. My kids' favorite veggie is broccoli. But beef is so expensive. And I'm afraid of it. I would love to have access to affordable, organic, grass fed beef. But when we moved here, there were all the waiting lists for co-ops or annual fees. When you know you're only going to be somewhere for a year, the ship sales pretty quickly on those things. Maybe the next stop... Anyway, I'd love some pointers for making Chinese food at home with "normal" cookware (I don't have a wok). I think I'll make a trip to Gateway Market in the next couple of days (it's the closest thing we have to Whole Foods and the only place I can find turkey lunch meat that doesn't gross me out) for some meat. I'll let y'all know how the beef and broccoli turns out later in the week.

To Serve Soon

2011-03-12T13:14:00.002-06:00

So this is a recipe, but just sort of a freebie. My friend Becky made this for the church potluck last week and it was fantastic. I asked her about it and she said she was "quite proud" of it. She is one of those who likes to mess around and see what she comes up with. This is so obvious when you look at it, but it definitely requires creativity if you don't have it written out for you. She pretty much has the reputation for making all things delicious, but this was extra good to me- maybe because it was eaten after church when I was starving and was scooped out of a beautiful bowl? I don't know, but I want to remember what she did, so I am noting it here for all of us.

bowtie pasta

spinach

kalamata olives

crumbled bacon

sundried tomatoes

chickpeas

capers

lemon zest

lemon juice

olive oil

salt&pepper

I may have to edit this later if I remember something else, but that right there is already making my mouth water. Mmmm... pasta! It's so springy isn't it?! This looks like the beginnings of a good grocery list for next week!

Recipe Eleven in the Eleventh Hour on the Eleventh

2011-03-11T19:50:00.003-06:00

Make a wish! Did you used to do that on the clock? 11:11 or 2:22 or whatever? Somehow, I think I sort of trusted that it would eventually work or else why did I do it every single hour? And you know, it was super exciting on November eleventh or February 22nd. So so silly. I really was a very silly girl really up until I got married. I'm not even sure that grew me up, but at some point, I did stop wishing on clocks....

George is out of town for his licensure exam this weekend and left me the computer. I may actually have time to put the last two days of Christmas up! Can you believe this? Of course you can, because it's me. But it is so pathetic that it is halfway through March and I am not finished with Christmas yet! I made the recipe from day number 12 for Valentine's Day, so we may be able to finish up with Valentine's Day too! It's me though- let's not count our chickens before they hatch.

Lately, I have spent all of the time I have had with a computer available to me listing stuff on ebay. I am really quite excited about all of the stuff I am selling- all of my maternity clothes, my discontinued and incomplete set of silverware, some spring and summer kids' clothes, and other odds and ends. I will let y'all know how much I make after it's all over. It's really more about lightening my load than making money. I am determined that our next move (to who knows where) is going to be easier than the move here. We're finally chucking our ten year old desktop computer. I have other stuff in mind for Craigslist, and I am giving a lot of our baby gear to our upstairs neighbor who is due with her first baby any day. Then there's the rummage sale at church next month, and don't forget that as soon as I'm finished with the school year, I can sell all of my homeschool stuff! Hurray! My children think it's very amusing to witness my strange delight in getting rid of stuff. You probably do too.

And now to get rid of the task of typing these recipes! I hope this eleventh recipe isn't disappointing. It's one that I have wished I had on my blog for years. When all of my recipes were packed up in storage, I figured pretty much all of my essentials were online somewhere. But I couldn't find my pie recipe because it is from an out-of-print cookbook from the early nineties. It is likely the recipe I have been making for the longest (with the possible exception of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe), every Thanksgiving since ninth grade.

Pecan-Chocolate Chip Pie

5T unsalted butter

1c. light corn syrup

1/3c. packed light or dark brown sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

3 large eggs

1 1/4c. pecan halves

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

- position a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 375

- bring butter just to a simmer in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. continue simmering 1 to 2 minutes longer, stirring, until butter solids turn light brown. immediately move from burner. pour about half of butter into a heat-proof cup and reserve. stir corn syrup, sugar, slat, and vanilla into butter left in the pan until well blended and smooth. beat eggs into mixture using a fork.

- spread pecans, then half of chocolate chips into pastry shell. slowly pour egg mixture over top. sprinkle remaining chocolate chips over top. (at this juncture, I usually straighten up the pecans and make it look all pretty, but that is not necessary). drizzle reserved browned butter over surface.

- bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes until golden browned and puffy on top. transfer to wire rack and let cool. store refrigerated for up to five days (best breakfast ever? this pecan pie, cold, the day after Thanksgiving. mmmm...). serve at room temperature or cool with freshly whipped cream.

Pate Brisee - I think it's bizarre that I have never put this pie crust recipe up before. It is the only recipe I ever use for both savory and sweet pies. It's so easy and tasty, why try anything else? This comes to us from The Martha Stewart Cookbook. It makes one double crust or two single crust 9-10 inch pies.

2 1/2c. all purpose flour (use bleached, not unbleached for this one)

1 tsp. salt

1 c. butter, cut into pieces

1/4c. - 1/2c. iced water

- in the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt. add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8-10 seconds.

- with machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube. pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; but be careful not to process for more than 30 seconds. to test, squeeze dough together- if it is crumbly, add more ice water.

- divide dough into two pieces. fatten each piece into a disc and wrap with plastic wrap. transfer to refrigerator and chill at least one hour. dough may be stored in freezer for up to one month (I recommend putting wrapped disc in a freezer bag to keep it protected).

Appreciation for Invention

2011-03-11T19:31:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, Jimmy Fallon had a funny joke on his weekly thank you notes. "Thank you, ketchup packets, for having exactly one tenth the amount of ketchup I'm gonna need." It was one of those moments where I was just like, "Yeah! What's the deal with that?" I had never thought about it before. My whole life I've just been grabbing five ketchup packets, tearing and squeezing, tearing and squeezing, tearing and squeezing. And then Jimmy went and pointed it out and I wondered why in the world Heinz couldn't just make a bigger packet. And guess what? They did! I saw the article online last week somehow (maybe someone's blog linked to it?), but I didn't know when or where I might see them. And then, two nights ago, we made a family trip to Chick-fil-A and there they were.

They're three times the size of regular ketchup packets. You can tear the bottle top off at the perforations to squeeze or peel the foil off the top to dip. It's a beautiful thing.

Jimmy's Latest

2011-03-02T23:53:00.003-06:00

I can't wait to try this!!!! Chocolate covered potato chips in vanilla ice cream?! Crazy yummy!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-02-27T23:30:00.006-06:00

So, the 12 days of recipes aren't quite over, and there is snow on the ground again, but I still felt the need to move on. Don't worry, the recipes are still coming, but I am just explaining my new look. George says it looks like wrapping paper. I say it looks happy. And wrapping paper is happy anyway. I love wrapping paper. I love wrapping things in wrapping paper. I'm a big gifts person- you know, if you put any stock in the whole "love language" thing.

I also took the time to put labels on all of my recipe posts. I hope that doesn't mean that if you "subscribe," you got all 47 posts. But hey, browse away, maybe you'll find something you like! I'll be getting some other labels up sometime soon. I'm just trying to be more organized all around- you should see all the projects going on around here! Incidentally, I'm fixing to sell all of my baby stuff on Craigslist, so if you need anything, let me know and I'll give it to you instead- ditto for homeschool stuff (though I likely won't list anything to sell until summer when people would be looking). Really, I am already dreading this upcoming tenth move to who knows where, so I am willing to part with pretty much anything...

Alright, until later- Happy Monday!

Winter Warming Up

2011-02-22T00:56:00.002-06:00

Upon looking up a printable first grade world geography map via Google, evidently, I clicked on a site that infected our PC with something like 39 viruses. Beautiful! I mean, I hate the old bear anyway, but it is as old as our marriage, and the only thing that we have hooked up to a printer. It is also the way I get a lot of blogging done, in tiny pieces during snippets of time I find during the day while all three children happen to be simultaneously busy on a worksheet. Please let me reiterate how certain I am that homeschooling is not for me- not because I want to complain but because I lack presence of mind in regard to anything that is not present. That is to say, I forget that I hate or love or am badly effected or well effected by pretty much everything unless I am in the current state of being affected or effected (as the case may be). When I love George and am happy with George, which I am lucky to say is most of the time, I can't imagine why I am ever unhappy with George. But when I am mad at George, I just have no idea how we have ever gotten along and am profoundly afraid that our relationship will never be the same and that we have deep issues- all of this over him growing a beard (seriously, that was our last knock down drag out). When I am eating peanut M&M's by the handful and delighting in their delicious flawlessness, I think to myself that they are pretty much a staple food for all people everywhere and ponder how we can get them to the remote parts of the earth. But when I am doubled over in pain only a few hours later with a condition that George and I affectionately refer to as "the peanut hurt," I curse peanuts with all of their butters and confections and salty roasted savagery. So this digression is for me, and for you that you might remind me next time you hear me contemplate the continuation of our homeschool experiment (or see me eating a peanut product- or dairy product for that matter), our family is not a homeschool family. But to those who are, I applaud you. Seriously. Because whoa! So anyway, that was a random opening tangent that was originally meant to explain that, yet again, the post didn't post when I scheduled it and took me a few days to figure it out. I will go ahead and confess that I don't actually have the last two up, just picked out. And I'm only able to use the computer when George is home, which is never lately, but I'll get it up. I swear I'm not grumpy. I'm afraid this sounds like I am. I'm just rowdy tonight. So, here's the rest of the post that I wrote a long long time ago and scheduled to post, but then edited last week and thought I posted but apparently did not. I feel like a grandma. I have no idea where my computer literacy went!

Now that all the snow has melted, I feel sane again! It had really just been the last two weeks that have felt very much like Narnia under rule of the White Witch. It's not so bad as all that, but I am excited about the thaw. I don't think I realized quite how low I had been until it came and the kids went out to play and the sun shone and I felt so happy! I'm so looking forward to tulips and berries and sandals and even tomatoes. Okay, so I'm getting way ahead of myself, but it's coming! It probably doesn't make sense then to share a soup recipe. But it will get cold again, I'm sure. And anyway, who says forty degrees isn't cold? I do. I felt like 45 was warm yesterday! I went out in short sleeves without a jacket! Well, when it gets cold again, you'll have been to the grocery and be all set to make this with your favorite yummy grilled cheese.

This comes to us from that[favorite cooking magazine]-which-must-not-be-named. You know the one ;) I first had it when my friend Ami made it for me, who had (tragically) only ever had Campbell's tomato up to that point; and, after I raved about it and insisted she give me the recipe (and was it hard?), remarked, "it's one of those recipes where I feel like every surface in my kitchen is a mess after I make it." And it really is an all in experience the first few times you make it- as with all recipes from these fellows. But, after a half dozen times or so, you'll find a rhythm. I also learned from Ami that this doubles and freezes quite well. Clever girl, that one.

Tomato Soup - serves 4, but doubles and freezes well

2 28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes, drained (juice reserved) and seeded

1 1/2 T dark brown sugar

4T unsalted butter

4 large shallots, minced

1T tomato paste

pinch of ground allspice

2T all purpose flour

1 3/4c. chicken broth

1/2c. heavy cream

2T brandy or sherry (optional)

table salt

cayenne pepper

- adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and hear oven to 450.

- line jelly-roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet with foil. spread tomatoes in a single layer on foil and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. bake until liquid is evaporated and tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. let tomatoes cool slightly, then peel them off foil, transfer to small bow and set aside.

- heat butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming; add shallots, tomato paste, and allspice. reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, 7-10 minutes. add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined (about 30 seconds- I know, it took longer to read that!). gradually add chicken stock, whisking constantly. stir in tomatoes and juice and cover. increase heat to medium and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors (about 10 minutes).

-strain mixture into medium bowl. rinse out saucepan. transfer tomatoes and solids in strainer to blender or food processor. add 1 cup strained liquid and puree until smooth. place pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid in saucepan. add cream and heat over low until hot (about 3 minutes). off heat, stir in brandy or sherry and season to taste with salt and cayenne. serve immediately.

Stovetop Popcorn Tutorial

2011-02-19T05:58:00.001-06:00

Here is an excerpt from an old post I wrote back in the fall of '09 about popping popcorn. I never got around to publishing it, but, as part of the (never ending) twelve days of recipes, I wanted to finally get it up.

I feel sad for people who eat only microwave popcorn. I used to be such a person. Then, last year when we were borrowing everything for our house, we were given a microwave that won't pop microwave popcorn. Seriously, it won't. We tried everything. As you can imagine, it doesn't do anything very well. The person who gave it to us gave it to us on the condition that we wouldn't give it back to him when we were finished with it! Anyway, I may not have told y'all before, but I am a huge fan of popcorn. I could eat it daily. Our favorite fall lunch is apples, cheese, and popcorn. We had just been to Eckert's to pick apples last fall when we moved in. We had to figure something out! So over the past year, I have become a pro at buying the cheap-o bag of popcorn from the bottom shelf at the grocery store and popping it over the stove. I thought I'd share a couple of helpful hints in case you'd like to try making it yourself. Not only do you save money, it really does taste better.

First of all, the popcorn bag should tell you what to do. But there are a few pitfalls to avoid that the popcorn bag doesn't warn you about. When I make popcorn, I used my four quart stock pot. This is a good quantity of popcorn for the family to share (but you may need to make a second batch if people are hungry!). It also has two handles which makes for easy shaking. The depth and width are a nice proportion too. Whatever you choose, you will want to be sure it has a lid. Okay, so on to actually making the popcorn. I hope these instructions will be helpful regardless of your pan size. First of all, do not skimp on the oil. Homemade popcorn has a tendency to be very chewy, and the reason is oil skimping. Don't drown your kernels in oil, but be sure to cover the bottom of the pan with an actual depth of oil. We are not coating it to bake a cake (gross, who would use oil for that?!), we are actually cooking the popcorn in the oil. But we are also not deep frying tater tots today. So, more than a coating, but not so much oil that the kernels will be completely immersed. Heat the oil somewhere between medium and medium high. If you get the oil too hot, the kernels will pop too fast and you will get tiny, hard pieces. If you do not get it hot enough, they won't pop. Start with just a few kernels in the pan with the lid on to keep the heat in, and when those pop, add enough popcorn to just cover the bottom of the pan with maybe just a little bit of overlap. If you add too many, you will have an oil skimping situation. If you add too few, you'll be sorry because you'll want more popcorn. Trust me. Once the kernels are in the pan, you want to do the shaking the pan over the heat thing. This coats the kernels in oil and keeps the bottom popcorn from scorching once the popping begins. I usually leave the lid a little off so there is a small hole for steam to escape through. I am not sure how necessary this is, but it works for me. Once the pan is pretty full and the popping slows, I remove it from the heat completely to let if finish popping off heat. Then I add salt and melted butter if I wish. I usually pour the popcorn in the bowl and put the butter in the hot pan to melt- you know, just to avoid having something else to wash. The residual heat in the pan is enough to melt the butter pretty rapidly, so there is no need to use the stove anymore. It will even brown the butter if you don't pay attention.

So, there it is- a lot of details, and perhaps not a proper recipe, but definitely something you should try. If you become a fan, let me know and I'll pick you up a bag of yummy, locally grown, multicolored popping kernels at the Farmer's Market when it starts back this spring. It's really cool to see how the different colors have varying textures and flavors. George thinks it's funny that a person can get so excited about popcorn, but I have always thought it was funny how excited he gets over ice cream. To each his own, right? Fried corn- hot tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant, cornmeal pancakes fresh off the griddle, or homemade popcorn with a sprinkling of salt and a drizzle of butter- Mmmmm, that's about as good as it gets. Although, I did have corn flavored ice cream at Entree once, and that was pretty delicious- maybe where George's and Abby's tastes collide into a perfect food? Nope, I'd still go with stovetop popped corn and an ice cold Coca Cola. Yum!

Ina Knows Chocolate

2011-02-09T23:52:00.004-06:00

Once again, it didn't post. Sorry. I haven't been online much this week. We've been up to our ears in Valentine crafts! Pictures of those coming soon!

And we're back to Ina. (Can y'all tell I've been cooking from my Barefoot collection lately?) Ina says she doesn't much care for chocolate, but she sure does know what to do to make it taste especially good! Lately, I have been making her brownies instead of boxes. Oddly, I always swore boxes were better than any recipe I had ever tried, but these are the first that seem to beat boxes in my book. I know I am losing credibility here. My sister was shocked when I said that I always prefer boxes. But seriously, there are some good box mixes that have a moist, dark flavor that you can't get with most recipes which have cloyingly sweet flavor and are either too goopy (like Hershey's syrup! Bleh!) or way too cakey. Yuck! I will say, my frugal friends, that boxes are definitely the way to go if you are pinching pennies for your family, but if you need something to make special for Valentine's Day or want to bake a special gift batch for friends or teachers, this is a five star recipe, worth the hefty expense. I have already been asked to share it several times. So, (not that you couldn't just click on over to foodnetwork.com) here it is:

Outrageous Brownies

1 lb. unsalted butter

1 lb. plus 12oz. semisweet chocolate chips

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate

6 eggs

3T instant coffee granules

2T vanilla

2 1/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. flour, divided

1T baking powder

1 tsp. salt

3 c. chopped walnuts (pecans for me OR chocolate chunks! eh?)

- melt butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. allow to cool slightly. in a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

- in another bowl, combine 1c. flour, baking powder, and salt and add to chocolate mixture. toss the nuts in the last 1/4c. flour and then stir them into the batter. pour into a buttered and floured 12 x 18 x 1 baking sheet.

- bake for 20 minutes at 350 then rap the sheet against the oven rack to force any air bubbles out and bake 15 more minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. do not overbake. allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into squares.

Now, I can't say that I like cake box mixes, but I used to be somewhat partial to grocery store cakes. It was a weird phase I went through to compensate for not having them as a kid- guess my mom figured no one would want one like I do now. Anyway, I got over that whole thing and have tried a LOT of chocolate cake recipes since then. For a while, I settled on a divine dark chocolate cupcake recipe until I realized that no one else liked it. Bummer. This is my problem. I like dark chocolate. I don't like a lot of super sweet in a hot chocolate or a mocha or a brownie or a chocolate cake. But some people do. So when I settle on a recipe, it's usually because it's dark enough for me and still sweet enough for kids and mothers-in-law. This cake fits that description. I made it for August's birthday and everyone liked it so much, I made it again for Elspeth's birthday the next week. She actually requested it- changed her order from "pink cake" to "August's cake."

Don't be too hasty with your judgement. When I first made it, I wasn't that impressed with either the cake or the frosting, but something about the marriage of the two is perfection. So, if you are a taster, like me, stay the course, assemble the cake, ice the cake, cut the cake, taste the cake. You won't be disappointed.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour, plus more for pans

2 c. sugar

3/4 c. good cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 c. buttermilk, shaken

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 eggs at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. freshly brewed coffee

- preheat oven to 350. butter 2 8" cake pans and line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the lined cake pans.

- sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low to combine.

- in another bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. with the mixer on low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. with the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

- pour the batter into the prepared pans and baked 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

- place one layer, flat side up, on a cake pedestal and spread a layer of frosting over the top. then place the second layer, rounded side up, on top of the frosted bottom layer and spread frosting over the top and sides.

Beatty's Chocolate Frosting

6oz. good, semisweet chocolate

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg yolk at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4c. powdered sugar

1T instant coffee powder

- chop chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. stir just until melted, then set aside to cool to room temperature.

- in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about three minutes. add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for three minutes. turn the mixer to low, gradually add the powdered sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. dissolve the coffee powder in 2tsp. of the hottest tap water. add chocolate and coffee to mixing bowl and mix until blended. don't whip. spread immediately on cooled cake.

Food From Friends

2011-02-07T22:28:00.004-06:00

Oops! I just realized these aren't posting. I think I forgot to hit "publish post." Sorry!

I know that a lot of the recipes I post are available in other places online. I really like having everything all in one place. My sister and I both love to be able to search my blog from the grocery store so that we have a list of ingredients even when we didn't plan ahead. Well, she's slightly more organized than I am, so maybe she just searches my blog while she makes her list at home. But anyway, if you are annoyed with my lack of originality, sorry. I am taking some time for this post to put down some recipes that have been handed to me by people I know. Perhaps they could be found somewhere online easily, but these are recipes that came to me by way of friends and not from Foodnetwork.com or what have you.

At Christmas, which is when I really crave this next recipe, we call this Santa's Mix, but it can (and should) be made year round. I had a good friend at Auburn who was named Susanna but, because of the inordinate amount of Susannas in her high school class, had been nicknamed "Sanna." Everyone always thought we were calling her "Santa" at first, and just going with that now, espcially at Christmas, is easier than explaining the whole thing (yet, I felt it was worth explaining today). She originally had another name for the mix that was one of those tacky, outdated, meant to be funny/cute names, so I prefer to just call it her mix. Every year she would come home from Thanksgiving break with at least two gallon Ziploc bags full of this. And we always ate it all up in the three weeks before Christmas. It has to be the best studying snack ever! I baked a lot this Christmas, but the "Santa Mix" was the most raved about item of all, and it was the easiest (not to mention, completely no bake). My aunt says it should come with a warning, and, if you could have seen how much I consumed over the course of the day this past Saturday, you would certainly agree! It's so simple, yet so delightfully delicious.

Sanna's Mix

4c. Crispix (or Rice Chex)

2c. Cheerios

2c. Golden Grahams

2c. broken up pretzel sticks

1c. peanuts

24 oz. white chocolate almond bark

1c. M&Ms

- melt white chocolate bark in microwave according to package directions

- toss cereal, peanuts, pretzels, and M&Ms in a large bowl, then pour melted chocolate over and mix well

- spread on wax paper and let dry (Sanna's notes originally said for one hour. I found it takes more like 10 minutes, but maybe I just don't get the bark hot enough. She also says to wait and sprinkle the M&M's after you have spread everything out to dry, but I find that they didn't stick this way. She lived in Florida- not a dry wintery Iowa- so maybe you should take the humidity of your location into consideration)

- break into pieces and enjoy!

This next one is another one that is better at the holidays. I'm not even sure you can get fresh cranberries still, but she says you can use frozen. I've actually been sitting on this recipe for over a year now. The teacher I worked with last year brought me a piece of this cake one day and I fell in love with it. When I asked her for the recipe, she ran a copy of the card she had it written down on, and it turned out it had been given to her by Elspeth's teacher. I like both of those ladies a lot, and I hope you'll enjoy their cake recipe! I like it with coffee in the morning, but it's great any time!

Cranberry Cake

3c. sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2c. melted butter

2T almond extract

3c. flour

1 bag fresh (or frozen!) cranberries

-cream sugar and eggs. blend in melted butter. blend in almond extract. blend in flour. stir in cranberries.

- pour batter into a greased 10x13 glass baking dish. bake at 350 for one hour (but check 5-10 minutes early, can burn quickly)

This is another recipe for a delicious treat to have with coffee. My mother-in-law makes this every Christmas. I should clarify. Usually when I say "my mother-in-law," I mean George's mom. In this case, I mean George's step-mom. Still, to me, they are both a mother-in-law. And the "step" thing seems kind of vulgar. The kids don't call her their "step" grandmother. I mean, it makes sense for George because she's not his mom. I don't know. It's a weird situation. I want to be sensitive to everyone. George's mom has done a lot, and she deserves a special honor for that. On the other hand, we absolutely love his step-mom and are so grateful for her! Does anyone else have thoughts on this? Maybe you can mull it over while you bake.

Cinnamon Bread

1/2 c. oil

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 c. buttermilk

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

4 c. flour

cinnamon mixture (2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 3/4 c. sugar)

- mix first seven ingredients and pour half of batter into 2 lightly greased 5x9 bread pans. sprinkle cinnamon mixture over batter in pans and pour the rest of the batter over top. swirl with a knife. bake at 350 for one hour.

Go-go Bananas!

2011-02-06T19:52:00.006-06:00

So I said that I was finished worrying about cutesy titles, but then what did I do? I sat around thinking of more cutesy titles. Kill me now! I am such a freak! "Quick Treats For Playing" was going to be my "six geese a-laying" one, recipes for whipping out quickly with kids who are itching for something to do, but I kept wanting to post more than what I had. I'll come back to it, I imagine, but the self-induced pressure was really stressing me out. Anyway, I snapped out of it this weekend. August had a fever and that had me home bound. I am always home bound, but usually I am trying to be a first grade and fourth grade teacher. The weekends are lovely! And since we had college Bible study on Friday night, I went into the weekend with a clean house. So the weekend was given over to those projects that I put off because they are small and tedious and more or less a pain in the butt. Really, in the chaos that is my mind, most things fall into that category- only they are somehow HUGE too. But, as you probably know, once you start doing those things, you feel so silly that you put them off for so long. This weekend, I finally got around to making two recipes I had been meaning to make for a while (a new chili one because my old chili recipe is getting on my nerves and a banana pancake one), polished the silver vase for my mother-in-law's Valentine gift, got all my Valentine's gifts together and ready to mail (after a few odds and ends get taken care of), appliqued a cupcake on a shirt I made for Elspeth, cut off and hemmed up some of August's old pants to make shorts for my nephew, cleaned out the girls' drawers and closet, and finished the twelve days of recipes! Hurray! I have them scheduled to post one a day for the next six days. I went bananas!

In honor of me going bananas and getting all of those monkeys off my back (ba-dum-pum!), I give you... banana recipes!

Banana Crunch Muffins- it is, of course, one of Ina's. It's from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. And it's pretty much my favorite muffin recipe ever.

3 c. all purpose flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
3/4 c. whole milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 c. medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
1 c. small-diced walnuts (I always replace walnuts with pecans)
1 c. granola
1 c. sweetened shredded coconut

- preheat oven to 350 and line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
- sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. add the melted butter and blend. combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas and add them to the flour and butter mixture. scrape the bowl and blend well. don't overmix.
- fold the diced bananas, pecans, granola, and coconut into the batter. spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top. bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes- another from Ina. These are the ones I made this weekend. I tried these with Nutella, but they really are so much better with syrup. For banana and chocolate love, try the next recipe. This barely yielded enough for my family- only about 8 good sized pancakes- so you may want to make a second batch or try doubling it.

1 1/2 c. flour
3T sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 c. plus 1T milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ripe bananas diced, plus extra for serving

- sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
- in another bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- pour wet over dry and stir, just until combined.
- pour batter (I used 1/3c. scoops) onto a heated (medium) and buttered nonstick skillet and place 1-2T of the diced bananas in the center. cook 2-3 minutes, flip and cook one minute more.
- serve with butter and maple syrup.

Chocolate-Banana Filled Crepes- this one is a Paula Deen recipe. You must admit that she knows what she's doing when it comes to decadence. These are certainly decadent. St. Louis definitely had some pleasant things about it. And we surely do miss our friends and family there. The other things we miss are our favorite St. Louis area restaurants: Liluma, Miso (well, we really only ate there once so we can't very well miss it. still, it deserves to be mentioned), Canyon Cafe, Senor Pique (best fish tacos ever!!!!), and City Coffeehouse and Creperie. We can always be on the hunt for good Mexican food or sushi, but if there's no creperie, then there's just no creperie. So I decided to figure out how to make crepes. They are exactly the same, but they are close enough when you just gotta have some. You'll also be surprised how easy they are. If you are intimidated of confused though, here is a link to the video of Paula making them herself.

1 c. flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 to 2 c. milk
1T butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

toppings- (must have all)
1 jar of Nutella
sliced bananas
whipped cream
powdered sugar (okay, this is optional, I guess, but you'll have it out to make your whipped cream anyway, so just go ahead)

-sift flour and salt together into a bowl. make a well and add egg and egg yolk. slowly pour in the milk and after about half is poured in, stir in the melted butter and vanilla. add the remaining milk (the batter should be the consistency of light cream), then cover and let stand for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- heat a well greased 6 inch skillet. add 1/4 c. batter. tip skillet from side to side until batter covers bottom of pan. cook until bottom is golden brown. turn and cook a few seconds longer (total cooking time is like 60 seconds) and remove to plate.

- smear crepe with Nutella and layer sliced bananas. fold and top with whipped cream and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

"Not Yo' Mama's" Banana Pudding- please believe me when I tell you that I had a hard time typing that. Even I have a limit to how silly I'll get with a title. But we already knew that Paula had no shame. And why should she? When she comes up with a recipe like this, she can call it whatever she wants as long as she shares the it with the rest of us!

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies

6 to 8 bananas, sliced

2c. milk

1 5oz. box instant French vanilla pudding

8oz. cream cheese, softened

14oz. sweetened condensed milk

12oz. whipped cream

- line the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish with Chessmen cookies and layer bananas on top.

- in a bowl, combine pudding and milk and blend well with an electric mixer.

- in another bowl, combine cream cheese and condensed milk and mix until smooth.

- add cream cheese mixture to pudding mixture and blend well. pour this mixture over the Chessmen and bananas. top with a layer of the remaining Chessmen. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ina's Chicken Wings!

2011-01-31T15:05:00.004-06:00

Alright, let's get this going. Enough fooling around with cutesy post titles. This is not high school yearbook staff. Sadly. Because high school yearbook staff was awesome. But so is my blog. Not really. I clammed up there for a while. I couldn't take the heat. And let me just say, yes, when you blog, you are inviting anyone from anywhere to read your words at any time. I guess I just never anticipated how critical people would be. Not you. You know I'm not talking about you. The ones of you left that are still reading actually like me :) I know this. And I never really was writing to people who didn't like me. I mean, seriously, what's not to like?! I never imagined people would have such a problem with me! St. Louis, Misery. It was a joke, people! And it was funny. Because I was pretty darned miserable. It was good for me in the end. And I think I always knew that. But it was hard. And if I have to explain why, then never mind.

And I had some feelings there for a while. It was raw and rough. I know. It was honest though. But I think it was too honest. I guess it's one thing to be honest about what we can all relate to and laugh about, but the depths of woe is quite another thing. I think that's why God gave us the Psalms, the very private lamentations of "the man after God's own heart." If that beloved saint felt the same way as we do in our own struggles, then surely we are not alone, regardless of how lonely these times certainly feel. One of the biggest lessons I learned throughout my time in the Lou (as in the toilet?) was that most people out there really can't understand what your life is like. And they can't help it because they're not you. The hard thing is when they think they do. It makes it even lonelier doesn't it? I have friends who know this way better than me. I have looked at them in their struggles and thought, "I have no idea what your life is like." And I am amazed by the grace and sense of humor with which they have handled their circumstances. But I feel sad too because I know it was lonely for them on some level. And I couldn't be the friend they needed, and I couldn't make it better. But at least I get that now. I know "the valley of the shadow of death" in a new way. And I will tell you that the people who loved me best while I was there had been there too. So, if you ever find yourself there, if you haven't already been there and set up a semi-permanent residence there, I hope I can love you as well as I was loved.

For now though, be you in the depths or on the mountain, it is bound to change. Eventually, there is a way out of Misery. And even when you escape, your mother-in-law lives there so you have to go back and visit. (Ha ha!) And either way, you gotta eat. (The Rally's commercials taught me that.) You will probably want to eat this Sunday during the Super Bowl. I didn't even know it was this Sunday until yesterday when they announced that the food for the potluck next Sunday would be game day food. I had already decided to share this, but now it seems even more appropriate. I don't think anyone from our church here in Iowa even knows I have a blog, but just in case anyone's been a-lurkin', I'm bringing these on Sunday, so make these another time, please. Everyone else, feel free to prepare these for you various game day gatherings.

Buffalo Chicken Wings - we buy frozen chicken wings a lot because we love wings, but these are so little work and still so yummy (without being scarily beefy like some of those in the frozen section- did these wings come off a chicken on steroids?!) that they're really such an easy swap out. You're really not losing much (time, energy, effort, money) to make these over the old frozen standby.

16 wings (about 3 pounds)

1/2c. unsalted butter

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. Tabasco

1 tsp. kosher salt

preheat broiler. cut wings into thirds at joints and discard wing tips. melt the butter and add cayenne, hot sauce, and salt. put wings on a sheet pan and brush them with the butter. broil them about 3 inches below the heat for about 8 minutes. turn the wings, brush them again with butter and broil for 4 more minutes, or until cooked.

we serve these with our favorite ranch dressing and carrots and celery sticks. yum!

For Calming Nerves

2011-01-27T18:20:00.006-06:00

We went on an impromptu trip to visit friends and family last week. I had a nine year old who was in desperate need of a getaway, and, to tell you the truth, we were all pretty excited to head out of town for a bit. Now, I really do like Des Moines a lot. It wasn't that. It's just that all of our best friends and family are not in Des Moines. The problem is, they aren't collected in any one place, so there is no one place to go for a reunion. In the end, we narrowed it down to four places. There are still many other people we ache to see, but we went with the places we couldn't do without. Four cities, nine days, and 1,984 miles.

And so, last Tuesday, with my tank full of gas and my van full of kids, I headed South to Arkansas to meet my baby niece, Peyton, who is already five months old! She is adorable! I was worried that holding and snuggling a baby would make me really sad about not having another one yet, but I found myself feeling like Aunt Abby for the first time ever. I had Amabel and August before any of my family and most of my friends had any children of their own. And once everyone started having their own children, I was in the thick of seminary, sleep deprivation from pregnancy and baby-hood of number three, and all of the chaos that is having three young children. Being around my sister with her three young children made me realize how far out of that stage I am. I have kids that can buckle themselves in their car seats, put their own coats and shoes on, are out of diapers and through with naps, and are basically kids and not babies. While this is a little sad still, I have really done most of the "grieving" over the last two years. And instead of feeling sad about not having a baby of my own, I was delighted to be able to enjoy someone else's baby instead of feeling distracted by my own.

We had a great time in Fayetteville, just visiting, playing in the snow, eating yummy food (did y'all know my sister is a phenomenal home cook and her husband is a chef?), and enjoying time with cousins. The only way it could have been better is if our other cousins were there. We haven't seen my other sister in four years! She has a daughter I have never met who is three! We hope to remedy that situation soon though.

The next stop was the River House. Oh, how we love the River House. George met us in Fayetteville on Thursday, and we all drove over toward Birmingham together on Friday. The river isn't actually in Birmingham, but all our friends live in Birmingham so it fees like Birmingham, but it's really about an hour or so outside of Birmingham. Anyhoo, we were there for the weekend and it was delightful.

On Monday morning, we headed up to St. Louis with a quick stop in Nashville to have lunch with my mom at our favorite restaurant. Some of you may know that I hadn't seen or spoken to my mom in two years, so this was a nice reunion for us. In St. Louis, we had another nice reunion with George's mom, sister, and brother-in-law. We hadn't seen George's sister and her husband since we moved this summer, and it had been several months since George's mom visited us up here. We had a great two night stay. We only managed to see one family from our group of friends in the Lou, but it was a really nice visit. We need to go back with time and plans to see everyone else.

Now we're back and I am way behind on my twelve days of recipes. I have had "for calming nerves" stuck in my head as a near rhyme for "four calling birds" since I started the 12 days. In the end, I don't think anyone has noticed my off rhymes, and I really don't know where I'm going to go after "Ina's Chicken Wings" to rhyme with "five golden rings." It's the sort of thing that is just slightly cute-ish and yet, I find myself thinking about it while I'm rinsing my hair or as I try to fall asleep- totally not worth it. And what's even funnier is that I never could think of a good cocktail recipe for "for calming nerves." I have a lot recipes piled up to share, but I really wanted to have one that fit the description- what better fits than a cocktail? I know, it's silly. It comes from working on the yearbook in high school I think. And anyway, I'm a bourbon and coke girl. The best mixed drinks are like most things- made by someone else, and particularly by my friends Annie or Rebekah. Both Annie and Rebekah were part of the 2000 mile trip of 2011. And both Annie and Rebekah have delicious drink recipes. More than anything though, it is friendship like theirs that calms my nerves :)

Annie's recipe for fantastic sangria can be found here. Bek doesn't have a blog, but if you give me a day or two, I'll post her recipe for fabulous Bloody Marys and, dare I promise, Bittersweet Chocolate Torte below. Then, it'll be Ina's Chicken Wings and seven more. Stay tuned...

Bittersweet Torte

3 Cups Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips)
1 1/4 cups butter
12 large eggs
2 cups sugar
Espresso Cream
Mixed berries
Fresh mint

Note on the pan size: I have a very deep 9" pie pan, and I still had enough leftover batter to fill at least one (and I think it was actually 2) custard cups. Also, the cake does rise a bit, so allow for that when filling.

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until until smooth. Remove from heat; cool. Combine eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Gradually add cooled chocolate, beating at low speed until blended.

Pour batter into a buttered, wax paper-lined, 9-inch deep round cake pan. Place cake pan in a large shallow pan. Add hot water to shallow pan to depth of 1 inch.

Bake at 350° for 55 minutes. Turn oven off; let stand in oven 50 more minutes or until set. Remove cake pan from water bath, and cool cake completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill 2 hours. Loosen edges of cake with a spatula, and invert cake onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges, and pipe or spoon Espresso Cream on top. Top with mixed berries and mint sprigs.

Espresso Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon ground dark-roast coffee (I used decaf that wasn't dark roast)
1/2 cup sugar

Beat cream and coffee in a large bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

And the recipe for the Rebekah's Bloody Mary can be found here. Yum!

Easy French Roast

2011-01-17T23:00:00.001-06:00

You might remember an old post I wrote about a French Beef Stew (Beef Bourguignon) that took me four hours to make and, while fabulous, was a little more work than I wanted to do again. I think about it a lot though, because yum! So, a while back, I decided to give a "French-style Pot Roast" from a cooking magazine (my favorite for those who know) that my dear friend Rebekah sent me to peruse during my days in bed when I had pneumonia a couple of years ago. I have made several other recipes from that issue, and all have been fantastic, but this particular recipe is now spattered and stained and crinkled from having gotten wet and has every other battle scar you can imagine. You see, I am a sloppy cook and this roast is phenomenal! It smells so divine that you almost don't even need to eat it. But then you think that if it smells that good, it must taste even better. I can't vouch for it being truly French, and my sister, who actually lived in France for four years and took real French cooking classes, may take issue with the moniker, but I can tell you that, compared to that other French recipe, it is definitely easy.

The magazine-who-must-not-be-named ;) claimed that they wanted to streamline the classic French roast, which often took two whole days to prepare, for the modern, busy American. I think those French people are astounded by our modernity and busy-ness- my sister told me they were completely astonished by our travel mug habits, that we actually took our coffee with us and drank it in the car or even while grocery shopping! But, it's how we are, so we might as well find yummy recipes that work for our lifestyles.

Without further ado, a recipe that I truly hope will work with your lifestyle, because it is GOOD!

French Pot Roast

1 (4-5 lb.) boneless chuck-eye roast, pulled apart into two pieces and fat trimmed

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 bottle medium-bodied red wine

10 sprigs fresh parsley

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

pepper

4 slices thick cut bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1T flour

2c. beef broth

4 carrots, peeled and cut on bias into 1 1/2 inch pieces

2c. frozen pearl onions

3T unsalted butter

2tsp. sugar

1/2c. water

10 oz. mushrooms

- sprinkle meat with salt and place on wire rack on rimmed baking sheet for one hour at room temperature.

- meanwhile, bring wine to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. cook until reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes. and using kitchen twine, tie the parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves into a bundle.

- pat beef dry and sprinkle with pepper. tie three pieces of kitchen twine around the meat to keep it from falling apart.

- adjust an oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 300.

-place bacon in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. transfer bacon to drain on paper towels. pour off all but 2T of bacon fat and heat fat until smoking over medium high heat. add beef and brown on all sides. transfer beef to a plate and set aside.

- reduce heat to medium and add onion and cook until beginning to soften, about 2 to 4 minutes. add garlic, flour, and reserved bacon. cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. add wine, broth, and herb bundle, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. return meat and any juices on plate to the Dutch oven. increase the heat to high and bring the liquid to a simmer, then place a large sheet of foil over the pot and cover with the lid. set the pot in the oven and cook, using tongs to turn the beef every hour, until a fork slips easily in and out of the meat, 2 1/2 to 3 hours, adding the carrots after two hours.

- while the meat cooks, bring the pearl onions, butter, sugar, and 1/2c. water to boil in a large skillet over medium high heat. reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until the onions are tender, 5 to 8 minutes. uncover, return the heat to medium high, and cook until all the liquid evaporates, 3 to 4 minutes. add the mushrooms and 1/4 tsp. salt. cook, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are browned and glazed, 8 to 12 minutes. remove from heat and set aside.

- when meat is ready, remove Dutch oven from oven and remove meat from Dutch oven. remove herb bundle from Dutch oven and stir onion mushroom mixture in. by this time, you are probably ready to slice the meat (against the grain in 1/2 inch slices) and yum it up, which is what I always do. but, if you wish, you can reduce the braising liquid with all the veggies in it even further on the stove over medium high for about 20 to 30 minutes, you can also add softened gelatin (1T dissolved in 1/4c. cold water) to thicken it up, but we're veering out of "easy" here, and I think it's fantastic without all of this last minute fuss.

Thing That Grates on My Nerves #36

2011-01-16T21:36:00.003-06:00

I just picked that number out of nowhere. But I know that I have "things." So, let's talk about thing #36. The word yet. How is it used? In all of my internet searching, I have never seen anyone discussing whether or not this particular usage is acceptable, and I can only assume that it is because only crazy people use it this way. Crazy people being George and the Michigan branch of his family. I have heard, of course, "are you ready yet?" or "have you heard from your sister yet?" or "we haven't gotten there yet" or "he doesn't know the test results yet." I have also heard "we have yet to discover what the problem really is" or "she has yet to acknowledge that she did anything wrong." So far, so good, ordinary usage of the word yet. (And yes, I realize that for a post on grammar, there is a shocking lack of punctuation and at least one glaring fragment, but that's how most of us speak and I don't have a problem with it.) Also, yet can be a conjunction as in "He asked him to be on time, yet he still arrived thirty minutes late" or "I know that I should study more often, yet I can't ever seem to buckle down." So, the first person I had ever heard say yet in this other totally weird way was George's stepmom. I am not sure if she said it and then George's dad picked it up and now George picked it up, or if it is just a Michigan thing and George's stepmom is just the one who talks to me the most so that is why I heard it from her first. Anyway, it's unusual. And, dare I say, incorrect. Or is it? You decide:

Amabel: "Daddy, are we going on the trip?"
George: "Well, we still have to hear from Uncle Patrick and Aunt Sarah yet."

What?

Me to George's dad when he calls on the way to visit: "Hey, how's the drive? Where are y'all?"
George's Dad: "We have a few hours to go yet."

Why is this so annoying to me? Is it grammatically wrong? In the first example, it is redundant if nothing else. In the second example it is unnecessary at the very least. It also seems like it is in the wrong place in the sentence if it is going to be there at all. "We have yet to hear from Uncle Patrick and Aunt Sarah" is an acceptable sentence (though awkward, in my opinion). And I don't know how to put yet in the second sentence. Am I crazy? I mean, besides in all those other ways. Am I crazy about this?

Quick Post- No Recipes Today

2011-01-12T23:45:00.003-06:00

Sorry, y'all. I still promise the 12 days of recipes, they are just clearly not going to be consecutive days :) We'll get there before February though, I promise! That leaves nineteen days to get the next 10 days posted. I can do that!

I hope everyone is enjoying the snow. I went for a walk the day we got the first big accumulation and it was silent and sparkly and sublime. I wanted to walk on and soak it up forever, but twilight and suppertime determined that I had to turn homeward. I tried to take pictures for y'all, but the camera just could not do it justice. And I know that y'all are seeing it in your own neighborhoods wherever you are. I adore it. This Southern girl was starved for the white stuff all her young life, and therefore I think it will always cause my heart to sing when I hear that magic word announced.

Snow. Some Southerners dread it. I remember that I had two friends in Alabama whose husbands were also considering seminary at the same time as George. And their primary objection had nothing to do with finances or the leaving behind of friends and family and all they held dear- it was the snow they dreaded, the cold of winter, the ice and the frost. But for me, that was a perk, a significant upside (albeit only four months out of the year) to life outside the South. Now, don't get me wrong, it's no even trade, but I will tell you that, walking through my lovely neighborhood in the 17 degree cold, I found myself feeling more than a little sad that I won't be here to enjoy it next winter. And well, unless I find myself in Alabamy, or at least close enough to get myself to Jordan Hare once or twice next fall, I will certainly consider days like the last few we have had quite a loss. Put me back within easy distance of the Loveliest Village on the Plains though, and it's a different story. Who needs snow when the trees are white with Tiger Pride :) Something about all these white trees all around the country makes me think God is an Auburn Tigers fan!

Two Noodle Bakes

2011-01-09T21:36:00.003-06:00

These are both recipes for Mac and Cheese. My children much prefer the Annie's Organic "blue box," but George and I have found both of these to be amazing, and therefore aren't so sorry that the kids don't want to eat any- we don't have to share! I am currently not eating cheese at all (I think it upsets my stomach for some reason. I got the idea from Kathie Lee, of all people, who I heard talking one day about how cheese upsets her stomach. I knew there was some sort of "mystery food" causing me to feel icky, and sure enough, when I eliminated cheese, the problem was solved), but I risked future misery twice when I made this first recipe earlier this week because it was that yummy- and even better on the second day.

Paula Deen has a lot of recipes for Mac and Cheese on foodnetwork.com and people give it mixed reviews. One reviewer expressed a theory that there are two kinds of mac and cheese people, the creamy and the eggy, and that is why there are extreme opinions on the matter. Well, I don't know about all of that. I will say that I don't want to make anything that calls for a can of soup or any amount of Velveeta cheese (it's shelf stable, y'all! that's a problem!). And based on that criteria, I rejected Paula's crock pot mac and cheese. And because of that criteria, it's not going to turn out to be as creamy as it could be, I suppose. Still, I thought this was delicious. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter, so I am changing it, by way of sketchy details in parentheses, to let you know what I did.

The Lady's Cheesy Mac

- 4c. cooked macaroni, drained (about half a box, I think- 8oz.?)

- 2c. grated Cheddar (I wanted to clean out the cheese drawer whilst also adding layers of flavor, so I put in about 1/4c. Gruyere, 1/3c. Asiago, 1/3c. white cheddar, 1/2c. Monterey Jack, 1/2c. Mozzarella, and 2/3c. regular Cheddar for color, so that, in the end, I was closer to 3c. cheese than 2- just use whatever you have, I am totally guessing at amounts, but I definitely used all of these cheeses)

- 3 eggs, beaten

- 1/2c. sour cream

- 4 T butter

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1c. milk

-- preheat oven to 350

-- once the macaroni is cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and add cheeses while noodles are hot.

-- in a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni and cheese mixture.

-- pour mixture into casserole dish (or just be like me and mix it in there in the first place- what's the big deal?!) and bake for 30-45 minutes.

This next recipe is from Ina's Barefoot Contessa Family Style. I didn't put the tomatoes in because, sadly, I have some haters in my family. I just know it would be divine with them though! I also used store bought bread crumbs and they were fine (I am not a big bread crumb topping person either way).

Mac and Cheese

Kosher salt

Vegetable oil

1lb. elbow macaroni

1 qt. milk

8T unsalted butter, divided

1/2c. flour

12 oz. Gruyere, grated (4c.)

8 oz. extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2c.)

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

3/4 lb. fresh tomatoes (4 small)

1 1/2c. fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crust removed)

- preheat oven to 375

- drizzle oil in a large pot of boiling salted water. add macaroni and cook according to directions on package, 6-8 minutes. drain well.

- meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. melt 6T butter in a large (4 qt.) pot and add the flour. cook over low heat for two minutes, stirring with a whisk. while whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 T salt, pepper, and nutmeg. add the cooked macaroni and stir well. pour into a 3 qt. baking dish.

- slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. melt the remaining 2T of butter, combine them with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle on top. bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on top.

Herbs and Garlic on a Turkey

2011-01-07T20:13:00.006-06:00

I was gifted Ina Garten's newest cookbook, Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That?, for Christmas this year. I asked for it without ever having seen it just because I love Ina and know that whatever she puts out will be fabulous. The new book is no exception. It is packed with recipes I can't wait to try. I feel like she has gotten more and more down to earth over the years. I love all of her cookbooks and even have clippings of her old column in Martha Stewart Living from ten years ago, but so often she calls for expensive or hard to find ingredients. But with each new publication, I seem to find more and more that I could see myself making in my normal weeknight rotation. I mean, she has no children, she's like a kazillionaire, and she lives in The Hamptons, so it isn't any wonder that she eats mussels and lobster and roasted lamb all the time. But for the rest of us, it's delightful when she condescends to our level and serves up mac and cheese, chicken wings, or shrimp linguine.

She has always had a knack for beautiful and delicious no fuss recipes in regard to time, which makes for great brunch menus for your mother-in-law's birthday and fun dinners to share with foodie friends, but I guess she isn't always the most practical choice when cooking after a long day for three children under the age of ten. Even her mac and cheese, while delicious in my opinion, left my children in tears- not sure if it was the Gruyere or the nutmeg, but there you have it; and Gruyere is much too expensive to be something you end up force feeding to three children who would all list mac and cheese among their favorite foods.

Alright, so I am not sure what my point is because I haven't made but one recipe from the new cookbook, and while it was a huge hit, I will be putting up at least three other Ina Garten recipes from her other cookbooks for the twelve days, so I guess that doesn't prove anything. Still, just from flipping through, this new cookbook looks as if it offers a little more of the practical, affordable dishes that would suit young families like ourselves, but I will just have to let you know as I continue to cook my way through it. I know the one for today will suit everyone- unless you're a dark meat person, and then, maybe not so much...

Without further ado, a recipe I am super excited about and hope you will be too!

Herb-roasted Turkey Breast

serves 6 to 8

"Why do we only serve turkey on Thanksgiving! A whole turkey breast roasted with fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme is a great weeknight dinner and the leftovers make delicious sandwiches the next day. Roasting the turkey at 325 degrees and allowing it to rest for fifteen minutes ensures that it will be very moist." (Hear hear to all of that! )

1 whole bone-in turkey breast (6 1/2 to 7 pounds)

2 T good olive oil (I love how she always puts "good." People who even know the difference probably only buy good olive oil anyway!)

1 T minced garlic

2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp. dry mustard (I never buy this so I used dijon)

1 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 T chopped fresh sage leaves

1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

3/4 c. dry white wine (I neglected to notice the "white" part, and I never have white wine, so I had to sub in chicken stock and it worked fine. next time I will likely by the wine though.)

- preheat oven to 325 degrees. place turkey breast on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

- in a small bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, herbs, salt, and pepper. rub the mixture evenly all over the skin of the turkey breast. (you can also loosen the skin and smear half of the past underneath, directly on the meat.) pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

- roast the turkey for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, until the skin is golden brown and a thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest part of the breast. check the breast after an hour or so; if the skin is overbrowning, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

- when the turkey is done, remove from the oven, cover the pan with foil, and allow the turkey to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. slice and serve warm with the pan juices.

AAGH! I just finished typing this out and went to link the book to Amazon, and wouldn't you know? They have this very recipe published on the Amazon page! Sorry, y'all! It's not very fun to get something you could have gotten just as easily somewhere else. Incidentally, the reviews cracked me up as the first two say the new book is just as pretentious as ever! Oh well, we'll see. To make up for the lack of originality, I'll post two recipes tomorrow. Not that they will be original to me either, but at least not actually on a page which I am referring to in my post! Seriously though, this is the easiest thing I think I have ever made. It's really no harder than frozen chicken fingers or boiling pasta and heating up a jarred sauce, but it's so much yummier and leaves time during that hour for sitting down with a glass of wine and emailing your friend in Iowa before you throw some green beans in a pot and tear up a salad (also, if you stick some sweet potatoes in the oven with the turkey, you're really fancy!) I realize the reason we usually fall back on chicken fingers or jarred spaghetti sauce is because we're short on time, but if it's energy and not time you're short on, definitely give this a try.

Back for a Bit

2011-01-05T12:39:00.002-06:00

Well, Happy New Year to everyone! Here we are on the last day of Christmas, and I have missed the entire season on my blog. I have to say that it wasn't quite the same this year. I mean, a lot was fantastic. We got a gorgeous snow on the 23rd and had had snow on the ground for a while before then, so the result was a true "winter wonderland." It was lovely. And we did get to have one Christmas party, though I would have much preferred to have a full house all season long as I have grown fond of doing. I sent Christmas cards out this year, which I neglected to do last year, but I wasn't able to track down any of my favorite Winter Rose Poinsettias for the mantle, nor was I able to find time to make my wreaths or a ginger bread house. So some of our decorations were missing. I even neglected to find a fitting place for my rusty stars (though not for lack of trying)!

I think I just felt displaced. It makes sense after six years in St. Louis- though the house was different nearly every year, the city and some of the folks were the same. It may have just taken its toll on me, all of this moving and changing. Even in St. Louis, there were three churches and three schools over the years. I wonder often what it would be like to still be in Birmingham, to have been there for ten years now with our dear old friends from college, to have that established community and comfortable and familiar traditions.

Comfortable and familiar- two words I would never use to describe my adult life! But still, there is something to be said for growing and changing and the excitement of the new and unknown. I will be honest, the new and unknown has become more tiresome and unnerving than exciting and adventurous, but wouldn't I be complaining of boredom if I had it the other way? I know I would!

So hurray for 2011! I will be packing up my Christmas decorations in the next day or so, and I already know that it will be with tape and the strong smell of Sharpie because the Christmas boxes will go through yet another move before Christmas comes around again. Where will it be to? There's no telling at this point. Some of the old boxes, ones that moved us from Birmingham to St. Louis six moves ago, finally gave out this Christmas, but the generosity of family from across the country brought much Christmas cheer packed in new boxes just in time! George is mourning the loss of some of the last of the Hewlett Packard boxes with handles that stacked so perfectly in the U- Haul in "the 2004 move (our easiest move ever)."

Besides the move, I know the year holds many adventures, and that is why I didn't even begin to think about resolutions. Who has time?! I'm just doing the best I can to get by, why on earth would I throw something new in there to add to my list?! Like all of you, my "list" is cooking, cleaning, exercising, getting kids where they need to be, encouraging and disciplining said children, dressing, feeding, and grooming same children, trying to find time to serve and love on church family, extended family, and friends, loving my husband, and, unfortunately, also homeschooling.

Yep, I said unfortunately about homeschooling. I have decided it is not for us. I still think everything I've always thought about how wonderful it is. But I have pretty much decided that my ideals are not very practical for our family and that there is nothing wrong with being an average person. I aspire to be average! I mean, sure, my kids could get a kick ass education at home and learn all manner of things they never teach in regular schools IF I was disciplined enough to actually teach all of those things to them. But, hello, we're talking about me. They're lucky if I get them started by 10am and do anything beyond the 3 Rs. But I'm going to go ahead and press through the year. I didn't want them to be new in school 3 years in a row, so we'll stick to that. I'll get them where they need to be for school in the fall and that will be that. I can't wait to sell all of my homeschool stuff! What a load off!

Alright, I do feel bad about the lack of posting over the last month, and especially about the fact that I totally skipped Christmas. How very unfestive of me :) We did have a nice Christmas though. We stayed here in town and George was given the opportunity to preach for worship services on both Christmas Eve and the 26th. I think that will be an adjustment too in years to come. Where I felt like there was so much to do at home and I could have really used a hand, George was super busy at work and we really didn't see much of him until Christmas. But it was also very nice to have those obligations. It would have been easy to be lonely in a new city so far away from old friends and family, but we were delighted to have new friends with whom to spend the days surrounding Christmas Day and didn't have a chance to feel lonely.

I do have a belated Christmas gift for y'all though. The recipes have been piling up and I have not posted any in such a long time. Sooo, starting tomorrow (because I don't want to write anymore tonight), the twelve days of Christmas starts Abby style (so late that everything else is already over) with twelve days of recipes. I've got some goodies to share! And, who knows, maybe the twelve days will get me back in the habit of blogging.

2010-12-10T11:35:00.002-06:00

I just took Miss Elspeth on a special mother-daughter outing to see The Nutcracker. It was really a sweet time. George took me out on my birthday date last night, and we left the children with friends. The discussion at the dinner table among the children was over ballet. Elspeth had just come from a very special lesson and there was much to talk about. The biggest news is that our ballet instructor's studio burnt down last week. We received a call last Thursday that lessons were cancelled because there had just been a fire. Our instructor has already been able to procure a new location, so yesterday's lesson went on as scheduled, including "open house." This means that we went to a totally different building that was packed out with parents and grandparents with cameras and camcorders. It was pretty overwhelming for Miss E at first, but she warmed up eventually, and I even managed to get a short video with my phone (which I will try to load as I am, once again, posting on my phone from McDonald's). Anyway, ballet was the big news for the day, and when we came to pick the kids up, my friend let me know that she had two tickets to Ballet Des Moines' production of The Nutcracker today. So we went! And it was delightful. Her favorite part was "The Waltz of the Flowers." She loved the blue flower :)

Birthday Greetings

2010-12-05T16:12:00.003-06:00

to me and my blog. We are thirty-three and five, respectively.

It's been a good day so far. I got an alarm clock that my iPhone plugs into, which is a very happy thing; Nora Ephron's newest book, I Remember Nothing, Amy Sedaris' new book, Simple Times, Crafts for Poor People; Mariah Carey's new Christmas CD, Merry Christmas II You; a new scarf, handmade by my dear Amabel Grace; credit at Land's End for a new coat; and a beautiful plant all from various family members. And evidently, there's still more on the way! And sweet friends have been calling, emailing, and sending happy things in the mail all weekend. I have to say that I really didn't think anyone would remember. I was a little down earlier this week thinking about how I feel out of touch and forgotten. I know I'm not, of course, but sometimes hormones convince us otherwise :) So I have been very much surprised and delighted by the kindness and thoughtfulness of friends.

We had our monthly potluck at church and enjoyed good food and fellowship well into the afternoon. And if that weren't enough, we're heading out to eat for dinner later on- probably somewhere with a never ending basket of chips and salsa. Also, all of my listings are selling on ebay, so I am excited about that. I know that's random, but it's just a nice little bonus- I'm making some extra cash, and I'm getting rid of stuff I don't need (my favorite thing!).

Reviews on books and CDs to come soon, more recipes (I promise!), and pictures of the many sewing projects I have in the works once they are finally completed (I'm close!).... Happy birthday, Pretty Funny For a Girl, you may have some life left in you yet!

Giveaway Gone Wrong

2010-12-03T00:23:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty sure no one reads anymore- not that there is much to read- but, just in case, did anyone see Ellen today? I haven't watched her show in a couple of years, but I was sewing today and Rachel Ray was on Food Network (no thanks) so I flipped around until I found Ellen. I was watching very casually, so I don't know for sure what happened, but I saw enough that I really want to know. From what I saw, Ellen was trying to help someone in her audience out for the holidays with a surprise giveaway. She read the letter that the person wrote out loud and then they showed the person in the audience in a split screen shot, totally surprised to hear her letter. So Ellen calls her up and starts asking her about the details of her letter.

Detail 1, the girl's mom was sick and in the hospital for a long time with extensive hospital bills. So Ellen asks the girl how her mom is. She says her mom is doing really well and goes to the gym every day. So Ellen is kind of wowed by that- what a remarkable recovery! She is glad for her, of course, and moves on to another topic.

Detail 2, the girl had also been laid off and was unemployed. So Ellen says that she is so glad her mom is doing better, but that she knows things are still rough since she doesn't have a job. The girl says that actually they hired her back at well over the rate they were paying her before. Wow! Okay... So Ellen is glad for her about this too and moves on to another topic.

Detail 3, the girl had sold her car to pay for her mom's medical bills. Ellen says that she thought she was going to help her but that it sounds like things are already looking up. But maybe she can help anyway, she knows that it must be rough not having a car. "You don't have a car right?""No, I have TWO cars! I wrote that letter like a year ago..." So Ellen says, "Wow, well, we should really do some more research when we do these things, I guess...."

Detail 4, the girl watches the show every day- ".... but you watch the show every day, huh?" "Yeah, well, I don't watch it quite as often as I used to since it's Oprah's last season." What?! Seriously?! And then, all of the sudden, there were chimes and it was time for the 12 days of giveaways.

It was the strangest thing. I don't think they ever finished with the girl. And I have Googled it and can't find anything about it. Was it a joke? Did anyone else see this? It was so bizarre and tacky and just all around unbelievable. It's even weirder to me that I can't find anything about it anywhere. I know it's just a random talk show, but it was hilariously awkward.

Seasonally Disoriented

2010-11-27T20:58:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only four weeks away. I packed up all my fall bakeware, dishes, and decorations today. I was a little sad that I didn't even use a lot of it. Where did the fall go?! It was so warm this fall. I think that was it, just that it never felt colorful and crisp. Or maybe I was just too busy being new and homeschooling and doing the everyday to do fun and festive fall stuff. We didn't even get to go apple picking! We called the orchard the week before Halloween and they said all the apples were gone! For the last two years we have gone on Halloween day, and we lived 200 miles farther south, so I really do think this has just been a warm year. Y'all know how I feel about warmth. Boo...

But Christmas time's a-comin'! I'm trying to be excited about that now. We just need some snow! But I don't think we'll have any for a while. I'm hoping Christmas music and getting our tree soon will help me shift gears and "get into the holiday spirit." I'll try to post pictures of all of our Christmastime activities once we get them going. And hey, y'all stay in touch!

Take a Look, It's in a Book

2010-11-15T18:13:00.004-06:00

I am guessing that all of us can remember being read some of our all time favorite children's stories on Reading Rainbow. I don't really remember having many books of my very own at my house, and I don't remember frequenting the library apart from summer reading, but there are dozens of stories that I know I heard as a child. I credit elementary school teachers and librarians and LeVar Burton. Supposedly Reading Rainbow aired as late as 2006, but I know my children have never seen it. PBS in St. Louis had a knack for putting some of the best shows on only on Wednesdays- America's Test Kitchen, Mr Rogers, Thomas the Tank, etc.- I'm guessing this is where Reading Rainbow got thrown in? Anyway, I came across this little notice today, dated from way back in March, where it was reported that LeVar Burton tweeted that Reading Rainbow is planning to return to television in a new format. Wouldn't that be awesome?!

Well, in the meantime, I have recently found these awesome story times online from Barnes and Noble dot com. Want to hear Where the Wild Things Are read by Maurice Sendak? Or how about The Mitten read by Jan Brett? Or Olivia read by Ana Gasteyer (not the author, but still, a delightful reading voice)? Click here for those and others. Click the newest story (The Mitten) and enjoy all of the stories available on continuous play (I'm thinking this will buy me 30 minutes to do something while the kiddos watch!).

If you get through everything Barnes and Noble has to offer, here's a link to storylineonline.net, another story time site put together by The Screen Actors Guild Foundation. As you might guess, that means you have stories read by all kinds of celebrities. Most of the books are not ones I know much about, and I like the idea of the book being read by its author better; but I think you'll agree that Betty White reading Harry the Dirty Dog is worth a click, and I always like the idea of being introduced a story I haven't heard before.

The Poodle, The Baker and the "Deluxe" Darth Vader

2010-11-03T15:37:00.006-05:00

My post is a little late for these pictures. I meant to put them up on Halloween because in Des Moines, everyone goes trick-or-treating on the evening of October 30th each year. The event is referred to as "Beggar's Night." I am not sure why they do it early, but they do. With such a departure from the norm, we didn't know what else to expect, so we were not prepared when, at the very first house, the children were asked what their jokes were. Fortunately, we are familiar with the custom of telling a joke to get candy and we had our handy dandy iPhones with us, so I was able to find a joke for each of the children during our stops at the next couple of houses. I usually go the route of a costume appropriate joke instead of a Halloween joke. I don't know if anyone else does this, but people usually comment on how the joke goes with the costume, so I guess it's an acceptable idea. I don't get real into ghosts and witches and stuff anyway.

First, I came here to check my unused Star Wars jokes from last year as August was dressed as Darth Vader. He used the, "which Star Wars character works at a restaurant?" joke- the answer is "Darth Waiter." Next, I looked around for kids cooking jokes for Amabel, who was dressed as a baker. I have to say, it was a little annoying that my search turned up so many cooking pranks. Jokes and pranks are different, people. When one is doing a Google search on a phone in the midst of trick-or-treating, one does not want to keep turning up elaborate tricks to play on people in the kitchen! And when one does actually find jokes, one also has to rule out ones that aren't easy-to-remember one liners. So we settled on, "What did one plate say to the other?" "Dinner's on me!"

I found a joke for Elspeth, who went as a poodle, after about the third house or so. I told her I had one for her and she said, "Oh, well, I already have one." I asked her what it was and she said, "Why did the poodle cross the playground?" And then she did a really deep voice to imitate the person with the candy, "I don't know, why did the poodle cross the playground?" The answer is, of course, "to get to the other slide." I just couldn't believe how she thought of a joke with an animal in it and swapped in the animal she was dressed as without getting any help or even running it by us. She knew it worked, and that was the joke she told. She cracks me up! Later on, Amabel asked me what joke I had found for Elspeth. "What kind of dog likes to take a bath?" "A shampoodle." Elspeth heard me and said, "I like that one!" and then told it for the rest of the night. What a funny kid!

Here are my little punkins carving their pumpkins earlier that day. And here are the results:

Left to right (in both pictures) Amabel, Elspeth, and August (child and pumpkin both with a missing tooth).

Frugal friends will appreciate this last little remark. Our costumes were all gifted to us -E's was a hand me down, Aug's was a Christmas gift last year (great idea that my sister does often: go get costumes at 1/2 price or more right now and give them to nieces and nephews for dress up at Christmas! August's costume had a $40 price tag on it, and I know she didn't spend more than $15!), and Amabel's was her actual apron that she wears in the kitchen and a baker hat from the dress up box. And the pumpkins were a steal for $1 a piece five minutes before the Farmer's Market closed down (who says the early bird gets the worm?!) I feel much better for splurging on those books from Half Price Books knowing that I didn't have to spend much at all on pumpkins and costumes. Hurray!

One More Week!

2010-11-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

Halloween Poll

2010-10-26T17:01:00.002-05:00

Interesting fact, I am posting from my iPhone while sitting at McDonald's. Let's see if this works!

Okay, so here's my question. Do you pronounce "Halloween" like hallow rhymes with shallow, or like hall rhymes with wall? Whatever your answer, where are you from (to determine if pronunciation is regional)? And, were you aware that other people pronounced it the other way? (I never noticed.) I'll be interested to see what everyone says. I'll also be interested to see if this works from an iPhone. And now for the windy walk home.... Happy winds-day (Amabel told me that on the way here- yes, we know it's Tuesday :) ).

Pretty Plates

2010-10-21T23:32:00.003-05:00

So I guess no one cares about story books... I can dig it. But perhaps someone among you is looking for a really special wedding or anniversary gift? My dear and talented sister-in-law has an Etsy shop that I have been meaning to plug for quite some time. She makes really lovely hand painted, personalized plates with her clients' wedding invitations (or wedding announcement, baby announcement, etc.). It's the idea of the old cross-stitched or decoupage invitation plaque (you know, the one with the burnt edges...) with a little less cheese and a lot more class. It's updated, to say the least. It's also functional rather than merely decorative, and it is likely to suit any bride's taste (after all, she picked her invitation). It's a modern, elegant, and unique way to display a keepsake from a treasured day.

Half Price Bookstore Trip, the Second

2010-10-15T20:49:00.000-05:00

The second trip to the Half Price Bookstore gave me a lot of time to look through the holiday shelves. I am a sucker for holiday paraphernalia. But I got other books too.

I went right before Elspeth's birthday and was able to nab these paperback Angelina Ballerina storybooks for $1 a piece. So Amabel gave her sister a stack of seven books for her birthday and it has been a very loved collection from the time the wrapping paper was torn off. The hardcover copy of the original Angelina Ballerina was sent to my brand new baby niece. My younger sister and I share a love for children's books and when she has a new baby, I always send four or five special books to start the little one's personal library off. Little Peyton Olivia was Sarah's first little girl and I felt that she had to have a copy of Angelina Ballerina as soon as possible. What luck to find a brand new hardcover copy for $7!

On to the holiday books, I found a great Jack Prelutsky Thanksgiving poetry book for about $1 and another great little Halloween hunt book for around the same price. The Halloween book was one I chose for August- a hidden picture, Where's Waldo? type book that I know he'll really love. Between those two books in the picture is a Margaret Wise Brown book that I had never seen before. Imagine how many of her books are lost to our generation! Anyway, the book is called The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin and it is charming. I was hesitant when I saw the $3 price sticker, but it was in like new condition, and I am glad that I went ahead and snatched it up. In the end, I also figured August would really like this one the best too. To even things out, I ordered Elspeth a copy of Tasha Tudor's Pumpkin Moonshine on Amazon and found her a copy of Angelina's Halloween on ebay (9 like new Hardcover Angelina Ballerina books for $9.95! Can you believe it?! My Christmas shopping for her is practically done!) for her halloween book treat and Amabel gets Halloween Madlibs and a trip to the theater to see Guardians of Ga'hoole. So everyone gets two things, but I spent the least on August first! Oh well, isn't that always how it goes?

The right side of the picture has all of my Christmas finds. The Cookie Store Cat is a Cynthia Rylant title I had never come across before. It is out of print now, but if you should ever come across one, grab it up because it is adorable. It could use some updated illustrations, but the story itself is delightful. It is, as the title suggests, about a cat who lives in a bakery which sells all kinds of delicious cookies to all different kinds of people, all of whom love the cat. And at the end of the book, there are recipes for all the cookies described throughout the story. This one is for Amabel. I feel I have cheated her out of storybooks too early. Just because she can read chapter books doesn't mean she can't also appreciate a good storybook- look at me!

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! got cut off in the picture, but you are likely familiar with The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood. Well, who knew there was a Christmas book too? This is sort of the same idea as the Harold book from the last trip- if there's a Christmas book involving a favorite character, we should probably have it. August has the original Big Hungry Bear book so I bought the Christmastime sequel with him in mind.

Above those two books in the picture was a really exciting find, Snowball Fight by none other than Jimmy Fallon! I had no idea Jimmy had written a children's book. I have spared y'all many a post praising my new favorite late night host (though I am eager for Conan to be back- November 8th!), but the book definitely needs to be mentioned. It's really well done, a book about exactly what it the title suggests, a snowball fight. It really captures the excitement of a snow day off from school and the exciting events of such a day. I wish Jimmy would write more children's books, but I'm pretty happy with Late Night.

Letters from Father Christmas was a really cool find, and I splurged and spent $10 on it for George! If you have never been to our house during the Christmas season, you may not know about the letters from Father Christmas that George paints and writes to our children each year. They are really lovely and, honestly, awesome. George got his inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien who penned and illustrated letters to his own children each year from Father Christmas. I was so thrilled to find a nicely bound collection of these for him. I think they will be handy for reference but also fun for the kids to look through once they figure out that Father Christmas is actually Daddy. (It's currently hidden from them so as not to ruin the "magic." And please don't ever let on, should you find yourself conversing with my children about the matter, that Father Christmas isn't anything but 100% real- also, he's NOT Santa.) More on all of this around Christmastime, I think.

Last but not least, a brand new copy of Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms. We discovered Fletcher and the Falling Leaves in preschool last year. It was a delightful fall treat, and I went ahead and purchased it for Elspeth because I loved it so much. I was thrilled to find a spring sequel, but I am saving it for the appropriate time of year. With that in mind, it may interest you to know that Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas has just come out in the last couple of weeks.

Okay, so all of these books were pretty inexpensive, but, as you can imagine, it added up! Can you tell that books are what I spend any amount of undesignated money on? I made this trip back at the beginning of September and haven't let myself buy anything since (well, nothing except a hardcover fairytale collection that I needed for school for $5). But I think November might be good time to go back and see if there's anything new in the holiday section and peruse titles for some potential Christmas presents. I'll let you know if I find anything. The accountability will be good for me :)

Impromptu Pumpkin Pajama Party

2010-10-09T19:14:00.005-05:00

Well, the weekend is turning out to be pretty nice. I am somewhat annoyed with the 85 degree heat (okay, really annoyed) but posting about pumpkins last night put me in the holiday spirit anyway. I went on a walk by myself today that ended up running about two hours so that helped too! I was this dorky lady walking around the neighborhood with an ever increasing handful of leaves. But no one threw a coke bottle at me today- which is more than we can say for other days (have I told this story? I totally felt like Nicholas Cage in The Weather Man)!

George is out for a youth group meeting tonight and I am trying to stretch the groceries in the fridge for another few days so I was sort of at a loss for what to make for dinner. And then I just got festive and silly all at once and made everyone a banana split, complete with orange Halloween Oreos, warm caramel, and a garnish of Halloween M&M's, for a special Daddy's out/Saturday night/it's almost Halloween supper. Hey, there were at least three food groups represented (too bad I didn't have peanut M&M's)! Gymboree had a special on PJs a few weeks ago, $10 a pair! I couldn't resist these matching happy pumpkin pajamas for my girls. Tonight became their debut, warm from the dryer after Saturday night baths. And to round off the evening, we all watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

A Pair of Pumpkiny Possibilities

2010-10-08T21:39:00.006-05:00

Sorry, y'all! My reasons for not posting are three-fold. Fold number one, I have lost the free wireless internet connection that used to waft freely through my walls from an unknown source. An intern's compensation is not as adequate as one might guess for a family of five (wink, wink) so the call in to the internet people for a legitimate subscription has been delayed. We can currently poach, ahem, borrow a faint signal which I am using for this post and use briefly to check my empty inbox every day from one place in the house- our bed. Fold number two, everyone liked the pictures so much that now I feel I must post pictures or not post at all. Do you know how much organization posting pictures requires? Not that much really, but too much for me. I'm hopeless! So it would seem I have raised the bar too high for myself. Yes, I do I realize I am doing this to myself. It's quite silly and I am determined to stop. But there is still fold one and fold three. Speaking of fold number three, we have had more family in town and only just enough time after the first round of family and the two September birthdays to feel like we have a sort of homeschool groove. All semblance of the groove was thrown out in readying for and regrouping after the second visit (during which Elspeth was up all night with 104 degree fever three nights in a row), so I am sort of half crazy and half exhausted... well, pretty much completely crazy and half exhausted and hoping that this weekend will offer some rest and peace for us as we head into what I hope will be a very normal, uneventful next week (but who are we kidding? there are already three weird and unusual things on the calendar for next week, on top of the usual lesson/meeting/homeschool schedule. Yours too I'll bet!)

Anyhoo, I promised pumpkin recipes. Now let me say that I spent a good six weeks last fall trying pumpkin recipe after pumpkin recipe hoping to have some good ones to post. And well, I didn't find many. You see, last year I was on a search for savory pumpkin pleasures, which was counterintuitive since I generally subscribe to the belief that cinnamon and pumpkin are a perfect pairing. However, there were a couple of sans cinnamon gems that are worth sharing. First, a list of those not worth sharing, annotated from last year's sticky notes. (See, sometimes I am organized!) Pumpkin biscuits with homemade pumpkin butter (which I apparently made last year on November 9th) were okay, but not very pumpkiny. The biscuits had some cayenne in them which gave them a spicy kick. As I recall, I gave some of the extras to both my mother and sister-in-law, and the consensus was that they were just alright. Exactly one month before, I made a Pumpkin and Chicken Chowder which I noted was a good soup "with hardly any pumpkin flavor (if any at all)." The Pumpkin and Cauliflower Casserole I made was deemed "gross and a total pain in the butt to make (though George liked it)." Baked Stuffed Pumpkin was "like a stuffing and a little dry." Pumpkin Seed Pesto was bitter and too lemon-y. Sorry, I am just listing these because I cut up so many pumpkins last year- a lot of work- with very mediocre results. I just want credit for it somewhere. So hey everybody, look, I made pumpkin recipes in 2009!

This first one that I'm sharing is also not very pumpkiny- I'm starting to wonder what that even means. Is pumpkin even a very distinct flavor? Or is that just cinnamon that we're thinking of? The reason I am posting it is because it is nearly identical to my alfredo sauce recipe, only it substitutes a half cup of pumpkin for a stick of butter and still tastes great. Also, it's just as quick and easy as alfredo sauce, but a little more seasonal. That's something. Both of these recipes came from Country Living magazine.

Pumpkin- Sage Cream Sauce

1c. heavy cream

1/2c. pumpkin puree

1/4c. fresh grated Parmesan

16 leaves of fresh sage, sliced thinly

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grounded pepper

1T unsalted butter

- combine everything but butter in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve over pasta.

Okay, but this one is truly delicious and autumny and hearty and cozy and all around worthy of a much better review than I am giving it. It earned much praise at my birthday party last year, even months after the bash! This is a recipe I have been looking forward to making again all year. I didn't go to the trouble of the almonds, rice, and apples last year, but I think it would be worth trying- but it's fabulous without it too.

Pumpkin Soup with Wild Rice and Apples

2T slivered almonds

3T unsalted butter

1 onion, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 leek, white part only, thinly sliced

1 (1 1/2 lb.) pumpkin

1 large turnip, peeled, cut into 4 or 6 pieces and thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large parsnip, peeled and thinly sliced

2 3/4 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

3 1/2 to 4 c. homemade or canned low-sodium chicken stock

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1/3 c. wild rice

1 apple, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

pinch of cayenne pepper

- roast almonds on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes, shaking halfway through, at 350 degrees. transfer to a board and chop. set aside.

-heat 2T butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 10 minutes. Add leek and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 5 minutes more. Add pumpkin , turnip, carrots, parsnip, 3 tsp. salt, and pepper; cook, stirring until vegetables are well mixed and coated with butter.

-add 3 1/2c. stock and thyme; bring to a boil over medium heat. Return heat to medium-low and gently simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes.

- fill a saucepan with cold water. Add 1/2 tsp. salt and rice. Bring water to boil over high heat. Reduce heat. Summer until rice is tender, about 45 minutes, or according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

- remove soup from heat and let cool slightly. Use an immersion blender in the pot or puree in a food processor or blender working in batches. Add stock to thin if necessary. Reheat soup over medium-low heat.

-heat remaining tablespoon of butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add apple and cook until brown and soft, about 3 minutes. Add scallions, remaining salt, and cayenne. Cook until scallions soften, about 1 minute. Add rice and reserved nuts and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.

- ladle soup into bowls and garnish with apple-rice-nut mixture.

The First Leaf of Fall

2010-09-05T20:55:00.004-05:00

Well, I thought it was a little early, but there it was on the ground, the first leaf of Fall. The maples are always the first to turn (and sycamores and oaks are always last- though oak leaves often just turn brown and don't even fall), so it really is early, but fall is always such a happy time, that the first leaf of fall is a very hopeful thing. As you may remember, I suffer from Summer SAD. It's totally undiagnosed by anyone who knows what they're talking about, but still, I know that I have it. How do I know? Because, as I have explained in detail before (so I won't bore you again), I hate summer. This summer was the first summer that I can remember that I was actually looking forward to. And of course, compared to the way things had been going for a while, this was a really great summer (what a surprise, the night before the last day of school- you've got a job! time to move!). Still, on the odd days where I have felt low in the past few weeks, I have reminded myself that it's not so odd to feel disoriented and displaced after one moves to a totally new place where she knows no one, that it's not surprising that one would feel overwhelmed and intimidated when she takes on the task of teaching both first and fourth grade for the first time and answering to the government with pages of paperwork for said task, and that after all, it is summer. So, finding that leaf on the sidewalk on a rainy Sunday evening last week was a happy thing, a reminder of good things to come.

I wrote all of this a week ago and haven't had time to post! This was my crazy, two birthdays in nine days week. Add a visit from George's parents and grandparents and the fact that we were still totally unpacked and disorganized- and that George had to paint every room in the entire apartment!- and you have a good excuse for my absence. But I shall be back soon with pictures and posts and of course, pumpkin recipes.

Fun at the Fair

2010-09-01T21:22:00.014-05:00

Two weeks ago, we went on out to the Iowa State Fair. I can't believe it's already been two weeks, but, without further ado, here's what that was all about:

Here's the gang in front of the gondolas. It's cool to me that these are a permanent part of the fairgrounds. When we visited in May, they were there along with dozens of permanent buildings and booths. I wanted to take a ride, but there just wasn't time for everything.

First stop, the learning center. This is where all the baby animals are. A baby cow was born just moments before we entered! These are the baby pigs. And this is why people think pigs are pink. When they're born, they are pink! They look like that soft, shiny fabric that lovies are made from! I want one! These guys were so snuggly with each other and their Momma. Momma's feet are right there in the corner.

We couldn't pet the brand new babies that were still with their Mommas, but there were older baby animals there for petting.

This black sheep was a hoot to watch for this black sheep. It really was the only black one in two pens full of lambs. It kept squeezing through the bars and running away. I tried to get a picture of one of its escapes, but they brought the food and then it was content to stay in the pen. Hilarious and adorable!

Look at my lil punkins in front of this pumpkin! You're reading that right, 1,323 pounds! Wow! I wonder how long it takes a pumpkin like that to grow.

And here's my little knucklehead in front of this cabbage head. I have never seen a cabbage anywhere close to this big! George says no one ever uses knucklehead as a term of endearment, but I think surely they do. Just to be safe, maybe I'll think of a different pet name now that I have posted this picture.

Award winning corn. There were so many different varieties of corn! I don't pretend to know a thing about it, but behold, corn.

There were also beautiful gardens to explore with live offerings (as opposed to the cut corn, pumpkins, cabbages, etc.), and this tunnel-trellis that ran through it so kids could run through it. August said it was his favorite part of the whole day.

There is no question as to what the least favorite part of everyone's day was- when Daddy made them ride on the roller coaster! This picture is taken before the fateful trip, or rather, as the caterpillar rolled out onto the pink track of treacherousness! Okay, so it will interest the reader that we lived minutes away from Six Flags for two years and that, during this time, there was much begging and pleading to ride a roller coaster. When we found out we were moving to Des Moines, we promised the children an exciting trip to the State Fair where they might finally take the longed for ride on a roller coaster. However, when they saw the roller coaster, a jolly looking caterpillar that crawled along a pink track studded with neon-lit metal flowers, they were suddenly apprehensive. What about the airplane ride? Nope, this one didn't want to ride the airplane ride. What about the motorcycle ride? Nope, this one didn't want to ride that. What about the giant slide? Nope, that one didn't want to go on the giant slide. Well, what if these two did this one and then those two did that other one and then... This could get expensive! George made a quick executive decision, everyone on the roller coaster, and only the roller coaster. Elspeth is on the other side of Amabel in this picture. It is fitting that you can't see her, because, after the first time around, she spent the remainder of the ride with her face buried in Amabel's shirt, so she didn't see anything either! The only thing I can figure out is that the one part where it speeds up is a little loud. Or perhaps all this time they were talking about a roller coaster, they were really thinking a swing at the playground? I guess I'm not a very compassionate mother about this. I really was at the time. I ran to get them off as soon as I realized Elspeth was upset. Unfortunately, what I hadn't realized when we put them on was that it went all the way around three times. So when they hated it the first time, it was pretty much torture the rest of the way!

After that, we tried to console everyone with a funnel cake. George and I really talked this up, and here again, we struck out. It was the worst funnel cake I have ever had. I am convinced we just found the one crappy vendor. But sadly, it had a sourdough taste that is just not desirable in a funnel cake. Was it supposed to be sour? We didn't know. But it was pitched in disappointment.

After that, and because this little one (and her brother and sister) had pretty much had enough, we headed back to the car. No worries though, by the time we were rolling out of our parking spot, everyone was already remembering the roller coaster fondly. I'm not sure how that happened, but I think it was something like being proud of doing it. Elspeth is all about being a "big girl," and a roller coaster with her big sister is a very big girl thing to do. Not long after that, talk began about what we'll do next year. I guess I should not be surprised. A Google search just now revealed to me that the fair's website is already gearing up for next year too. Just in case you wondered, it's 343 days, 22 minutes, and 34 seconds away (for now).

Half Price Bookstore Trip, the First

2010-08-31T22:07:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my favorite places here already is the Half Price Bookstore. I actually saw it and got fired up about it when we drove past while we were here for the interview in May. And I don't think we had been here a week before I sought it out to see if it was as good as the one in Nashville. Let me say that it is better! I really love the half price bookstore in Nashville. But the cool thing about the one here is that there is also a used book aspect to it too. So, it's not just the closeouts from wherever they get those from, it's also used books in great condition from all around. And that means that you can stumble upon amazing things. Out of print things! Hard to find things! Blogworthy things!

I haven't quite decided how to do this. I don't know if I should post trip by trip, or if I should hold things until a seasonally appropriate time. I think I'm just going to go trip by trip, and you will all have to forgive Christmas in August (and the blurry image too- I really stink at photography)!

This is the haul from trip #1. I had three kids with me that day, and it shows.

Amabel's absolute favorite book as a littler girl was always Blueberries for Sal. While we had checked out the story about a slightly more gown up Sal from the library many times, we had never purchased it. I believe my intent was always to give it to her when she lost her first tooth (the topic of the book), but she was such a strong believer in the tooth fairy at that time and so very hopeful that the tooth fairy would bring her a wand, I couldn't very well give her a book. Plus, how expensive would that get if I had to give a book for every tooth my children lost?! The book is, of course One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey and upon spotting it on the shelves, Amabel was eager to fill in this hole in her library. When August found something to fill the hole in his, I decided everyone could probably use a treat after a series of crazy weeks of moving.

August's choice was Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems. We received Knuffle Bunny as a precious and thoughtful going away gift from our good friends, the Steadmans, and particularly, the oldest Steadman child, Georgia, when they moved to Brooklyn, New York after graduating from seminary two years ago. The pictures in the book are actually photographs of the Park Slope neighborhood where they moved. Georgia's mother told me that Georgia particularly wanted us to have her copy, which I thought was amazingly mature of her in several ways (selfless, thoughtful, tender, etc.). It was hard to decide whose shelf the book would ultimately go on, but while I think Amabel and Georgia feel pretty certain that they are the special friends in the group, I actually think Georgia meant something extra special to August because she befriended him when he was scared and away from home for pre-K. And, maybe it's just me, but I tend to think that August loves bigger and takes things more to heart than your average kid. I think part of my case might be made over the fact that he wanted Knuffle Bunny Too even though it is about two little girls with bunnies. That's about as much as I should say about August, but he is a sweetheart, like no other.

Elspeth didn't get a book. I actually had bought her a special potty training book (another post altogether) at Barnes and Noble the day before, so this was a nice opportunity to even things out.

I did get my nephew a book though. Evidently, he is really into astronauts right now. I have the perfect book for kids who are into astronauts, by the way. It is charming and really just flawless, Harry and Horsie.

It is a book about David Letterman's little son Harry, and it is a gem. I stumbled upon it at Pottery Barn Kids a few weeks ago. I never go to Pottery Barn Kids, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why this book isn't featured at children's bookstores. But there it was on the bookshelves at PBK (when I stepped in to make sure the Star Wars sheets are still there- they are, and I still can't afford them!) and I fell in love with it on the spot. But they didn't have it at the Half Priced Bookstore, so I went with this other title, Edward Built a Rocketship, which I have also never seen at a bookstore. It's also not available on Amazon. It has a British pound sign on the back cover, so I suppose that explains it. It's just a cute little story about a little boy who builds a rocket ship and takes a trip to outer space- sort of an obvious idea, but you'd be surprised how few books there are on the subject. One of the only ones I know of is actually a Harold book (see below).

The remaining two books from the first trip are Christmas books. The first one is Harold and the North Pole. George has called all of our babies "Harold" when they are bald and wearing footed PJs. So Harold holds a special place in my heart. Sadly, we made the choice to buy a Harold treasury, so we forget to read about him a lot. (Why is that? I never go for treasuries when I'm pulling from our shelves. It's like I don't even see them.) Anyway, we read Harold, just not as often as some of our other favorites. But when I see a favorite character with a Christmas book, I am always interested. I have an ever increasing collection of children's Christmas books. I am always checking them out when I hear about them or stumble upon them. Actually, we brought about a dozen Christmas books from the St. Louis County Library with us to Des Moines when we moved! George took them back before the due date when he went back to the Lou to get his car. But the librarians thought it was pretty strange when all those requests came in from all over town in July. But for all this, I am also discriminating. I don't just buy any old Christmas book I see. Harold's Christmas book is worthy of being a Harold book, and therefore worth having. It's a cute story about Harold meeting Santa on Christmas Eve.

The second Christmas book is one I had never seen before called Cock-a-doodle Christmas by Will Hillenbrand, an author whose train book, Down by the Station, has long been a favorite at our house. Imagine how excited I was to open the book and see it was signed by the author!

I was so excited that I read it, bought it, and subsequently wrote a review for it on Amazon. It's really good y'all. A shy rooster in Bethlehem is curious when a baby is born in his stable. Once he realizes who the new baby is and what it means for the world, he has a newfound hope and boldness and is finally able to crow loudly enough to wake up all the barnyard animals. It's better than that, but you'll just have to read it for yourself!

That's all the goodies from my first trip, but, as you know, I have since been back! Still, I highly recommend each of these titles. I hope you can track them down wherever you are.

The End of the Tour

2010-08-25T09:38:00.006-05:00

I apologize for the two week gap in posting. I am sure you have all been waiting with bated breath for the Northward Edition of my neighborhood adventure in photography. Well, just two blocks to the north of us is University Avenue which is as major as it sounds. So, we don't walk over that way too often, just because of the whole four lanes of traffic thing. However, there is one little stop at the corner of University on our side that looked worth trying out. Sure, there are Walgreens and grocery stores and gas stations all very much within walking distance in that direction, but I bored you with those types of places on our southern tour. So Frederichs World Coffees was really the only thing I had on my list that might be worthy of a northern honorable mention. And it is!

First of all, let me set the scene. This is the picture you almost got yesterday:

This is actually a reenactment, the brownie pan was full, the glass was full, and it was, as the clock says, just 3:00. I was going to let you in on how very wretched my day had been, and then I thought better. And I couldn't have anyway because the power cord to the computer broke (even as I type, George is out to get a new one- I am starting my post on the ole PC). It was just that kind of day -- the kind of day where someone pees on top of the toilet seat and through their clothes -- the kind of day where you think the neighbors you share a floor and ceiling with, who don't really know you yet, might be thinking of calling child services if you bark one more order or give one more exasperated lecture on the importance of learning to work hard -- the kind of day where that one kid gets under your skin and makes you feel as if you can just get the point across in a more poignant way or command more forcefully, he/she will do what he/she is supposed to do and get a better attitude, but keep dreaming because it never happens that way. To put it simply, it was the kind of day where we were completely out of paper towels- and really, if I had just said that from the beginning, you would understand why Southern Comfort made such an early appearance!

A word about Southern Comfort, it is not a proper bourbon, but actually a liqueur. This bothers me, and yet, having tried all the proper bourbons available in a typical store's selection, I find that Southern Comfort is the tastiest option, and truly worthy of its name. Southern Comfort indeed.

Well, George got wind of my worries and came home to relieve me around 4:00. I was then free to get a few errands done in peace. I went to my favorite place here so far, the Half Price Bookstore (for that is its proper name), sat on the floor in the childrens' department and read to my heart's content. I have decided that my purchases from the Half Price Bookstore will be a regular feature on here. So stay tuned for that. I already have two visits to catch you up on.

But we're supposed to be talking about the coffee shop near my house, right? I realize you probably forgot. I did too for a while there, but now we're back on track. The errands ended with a trip to Target where I picked up chicken fingers and hot wings in the freezer case. Chicken fingers and hot wings are my go to I'm-going-to-strangle-my-children meal. I pop the chicken fingers in the oven and serve them up with french fries and ketchup and veggie sticks and then send the children to bed. They're happy because they had chicken fingers for dinner, and I'm happy because I didn't have to cook or sit with them at dinner. Okay, I sound terrible here. I LOVE my children, but you know, everyone has these days. So after the kids go to bed, George and I get to eat our hot wings and veggie sticks and have our own little date at home.

So, was it the hot wings? Was it Coke too late in the day? I don't know, but I could not get to sleep last night. That's not such a big deal, I have pretty generally had my days and nights mixed up since about a week after we moved here. But the weird thing is, after getting to sleep somewhere between 2:30 and 3 am, I woke up several times and finally woke up for good at about 6:30. That was it. I couldn't sleep. So, after yesterday's issues and because I was working on four hours' sleep, I did not want to grind coffee and wake up the three then sleeping, quiet, and angelic children. I decided it would be a good morning to try out a new coffee place. And then, for reasons unknown, I decided it would be a good idea to walk the 1+ mile round trip to said coffee place. By the time I set out, it was after 8:00 (we non-morning people move slowly), and the weather outside was glorious. I checked the weather on my phone, feeling very much like a disgusting American who can't even walk half a mile in peace without technology, and it was 65 degrees! I had quite the pleasant walk. I met lots of people and canines alike and wished them all a good morning. Don't worry, I wasn't whistling or skipping- but almost!

Upon entering the coffee shop, I was even more elated. They had one of those really cool counters that has the compartments that are all full of coffee beans. And I actually had my camera, so I don't know why I didn't take a picture- there weren't even any grunge-y artists there ;) Well, I'll try to snap a picture some other time, because I will definitely be going back. I have decided that this will be my coffee place. First of all, besides the cozy and inviting atmosphere, and besides the fact that it's not a big chain (yippee!), they have flavored beans. Flavored beans are one of those things that we will never all agree on, and that is okay with me. But as a person who only drinks my coffee black, I very much enjoy the flavored bean. Joe Muggs always had flavored beans. Starbucks does not have flavored beans. But Kaldi's in St. Louis does. And now, to my great delight, Friedrichs of Des Moines also does. Today's flavor was amaretto something or another. I wish I could remember its proper title, but all I know is I taste almond. Maybe it was "almond amaretto," but isn't that redundant?

Okay, and if all of this wasn't enough. If all of this- the easy walking distance, the small local chain-ness, the flavored bean-ness, the cuteness/coziness- does not totally sell you, then perhaps this will:

Folks, do you know what that is? Do you? Perhaps this post will give you a hint. Or this post. Or this post. It's almost smiling at me isn't it? It's saying, "Hello, Abby! It's me, your favorite sweet treat ever. I'm right down the street now, any time you need me." I am just amazed at how this happened! As you will have guessed, this is a Joe Muggs chocolate chip cookie that Joe Muggs actually no longer sells. So how on earth did it end up at my little corner coffee shop? I don't know. But it doesn't matter. All that matters is that these cookies still exist and are part of my life again. What a great end to the tour, right? If you come visit, I'll treat you to one!

Really Bad Photography of Our Really Beautiful Neighborhood- Southward Edition

2010-08-11T23:47:00.000-05:00

I'm getting the ugly picture out of the way first. It isn't essential, but here it is anyway. We are on a street that has one of the only neighborhood routes under the interstate. For me, afraid of heights with three kids in tow, this is the only way to get to the other side of the interstate on foot. The kids call the passage underneath the interstate "the tunnel." I turned back and snapped a shot of it today after we went through because Elspeth thinks it's so great going through it. So there it is. Be amazed.

St. George Square Quality Shops. I like that. The next picture turned out really well. It's one I took from across the street. This one was taken as I approached the shops from the side.

See what I mean? Cute! Beehive Salon? Who wouldn't want to go there for a trim?!

This sign may as well say "more cuteness ahead."

I want this house. No, really, it's for sale. Lots of things would have to happen for me to have this house, the biggest of which being George having a job here next year, but Oh my goodness, it's adorable. I picked up a flyer. It's adorable inside too! Lots of the houses in this historic district look similarly cute, but this one is the cutest. I'm in love with a house...

I'm kind of just in love with everything right now actually. Yes, this is a picture of the grocery store. But y'all, I walked there. I'm in love with a mile to the grocery store.

First, I'll take you around the corner to the east. There's a yummy smell just beyond the grocery. It's this cigar shop! They look serious in there. It'll definitely be a stop when it's time to look for stocking stuffers.

Across the street from the cigar store is this big coffee house. I have never been to a Caribou Coffee, but I have seen them in Buckhead in Atlanta. Evidently, it's more of a northwesternly chain? I don't know. I haven't been there yet, but I have a friend who works there. Caribou Coffee, it can't be as bad as Starbucks! Just kidding, I love Starbucks, but I have to get the swanky stuff because their regular brew tastes burnt. We've had this conversation before.

Here's another place I was itching to try. We ate there last night after I met some guy on my (before dinner) run and George and I ended up talking to him in our driveway about the Church until 8:30! Mexican food is my favorite. I was hoping this place within such an easy distance of our house wouldn't let me down. Margaritas on the patio? It was too hot. But we received HUGE portions. I couldn't even eat half. However, it was pricier than we expected. Maybe next time we'll just split.

Ah, another place I've actually been. I picked up a yummy, freshly baked baguette from this little "market" last week. It's not much of a market, but almost completely a deli/restaurant. Still, yummy bread!

Speaking of yummy bread, my friend Beth Ann used to love some sort of rolls from Great Harvest in Kirkwood. Then, one day a month or so ago, I had stopped in my hair guy's salon and some man came in searching for the Great Harvest Bread that used to be next door (the one Beth Ann got the rolls at). I had forgotten all about it. The man seemed sad about the loss of cookies that he was able to find there- until I pointed him to McArthur's around the corner and told him about their kamikaze brownies. Anyway, now I have a Great Harvest Bread store I can walk to if I want. (But sadly, no more kamikaze brownies...)

However, there are two homemade candy shops on the street right near Great Harvest. Perhaps I can find something as good as a kamikaze brownie at one of those places? Is there such a thing? If there is, it seems like this is the place to search: Fine European Chocolates- Amsterdam- Des Moines. This sign makes me laugh. I'm so used to seeing Dallas-Chicago-New York or something like that, Paris-London-Milan. But nope, Amsterdam and Des Moines. I wonder how that happened. I'll let you know if the chocolates are as special as they sound. Don't you love the trim around the roof?

I didn't get a shot of the other place, which also has an ice cream parlor in it because the sun was making a glare, and I couldn't get a picture without avoiding it and my reflection in the window. It had the kind of window display that all my children were delighted with- colorful and whimsical as all candy store windows should be. Perhaps we'll venture there soon, during business hours, and get better light for a picture (and some sweets too, of course).

This is pretty much the end of the line in terms of walkable fun. After this, the road gets to be more like a highway until it reaches downtown. There is a tattoo parlor and a couple of convenience stores, but that's nothing to blog about. However, just past here, there is a little coffee shop that I tried out this morning. I didn't get a picture of the outside because it's totally nondescript. However, when I went inside, it was WAY too cool. There was no way I could take a picture of all the huge burlap bags, each full of coffee beans from somewhere around the world, loafing around the edges of the store. It had that hole in the wall that everyone loves to know about feel with its hand written menus and signs, posters and displays of photography/paintings/music supporting local artists, old wood floors and counters, and a mishmash of everything from mugs to chairs.

People who come here pride themselves on knowing about coffee and the world. They're very progressive. They're totally above Starbucks. Seriously, "a regular coffee" was a confusing order. I was asked if the Kenya was okay because the Peru was really dark today. Whatever. I felt like I was in college again, and the know-it-all (all, except what I mean by coffee- "like a drip coffee?"- ya think?) barista combined with that table of ridiculous but condescending looking group of grunge-y artists (you know, the one with the one blonde chick who is in solely because she wears no bra and no makeup and some sort of hippy garb) was intimidating all over again. The grunge-y artists, they always thought they were so cool. I didn't want to disturb their discussions about the finer points or Woody Allen films or obscure band name-dropping by being the chubby soccer mom taking pictures of bean bags that they just had to comment on- how my life is so prosaic and "unoriginal." Little do they know how unoriginal they are. But really, aren't we all? All in all, a hilarious experience! If I were gutsy enough, I'd just be my weird, picture taking self and have these clever paragraphs running in my head while I'm there. But, as we all know very well, I am just sorry to be in the way of most folks, even if they are twenty year old guys in serious need of haircuts (and the token blond girl in spaghetti straps and no bra).

This was my attempt to get some pictures of all the quaint little planters along the sides of the road. When there's no median, put the flowers on the side! The pictures didn't come out so great- something about cars and telephone wires, I guess (to say nothing of my total lack of skill as a photographer). But imagine how much uglier the pictures would be without the plants- that's the point I'm trying to make.

Back around the corner with the grocery store and to the west, past Walgreens, and across the street is a Breugger's Bagels. Nice! I can already imagine some autumn mornings where we'll load up some books in the wagon and head over for breakfast, morning lessons, and a nice change of scenery. All those homeschool days on the hill could've been easier with a few places like these to escape to every now and then! There was no way to put pictures up of all the little restaurants and bars that intrigue me when I'm over this way. These are just a few places that I've been to or I'm betting I'll make my way to sooner or later. The French Bistro and the posh looking restaurant with the sleek table settings (which I was pretty embarrassed to be strolling by, huffing and puffing, sweating, and looking all around disgusting right at the dinner hour that evening!) are the sort of places I may not make it to, but if I do, I'll be sure to put up pictures.

This place looks like it could turn out to be interesting too. An article I found on The Des Moines Register dot com says, "Copa Cavana will specialize in Cuban foods and will have a lounge with Latin American dancing such as salsa, tango and merengue with live and DJ music. Live shows, theater groups and free dance lessons will also be on the venue." Yeah, I probably won't ever go there either, but I thought it was kind of a cool looking place. It's not open yet, but a lot of folks were outside taking a break from what looked like a lot of work when the kids and I walked by that night. They talked like they had a plan and were excited. I sort of felt like I was intruding on a business meeting taking place right there on the sidewalk. In order to discreetly snap the picture, I had to take it from across the street at this last cool stop before we turned back into the residential section of the neighborhood.

This place is really pretty cool looking, but I am not too happy with how the pictures turned out- except that Elspeth stuck her silly head in! It's a flower shop and a cafe combined, and it has some interesting old design elements in the architecture and the lettering. I sort of tried to get too much in one picture and got nothing, so I decided to stop inside sometime soon and get some better pictures. I went this morning. That's right, I went here first, got home, spilled George's coffee all over the sidewalk and my shirt, changed clothes, and went back out to Zanzibar's, the place with the big bags of beans and hilarious people. Anyway, this place is called "Java B Good" which I didn't realize when I first thought it looked cool. Ha! It was run by a guy, who I presume is the owner, who didn't seem at all interested in making my acquaintance even though his shop was all but empty at eight o'clock in the morning. He had buckets all over collecting drips from the ceiling. Hmmm... not what I expected. His setup was sort of small and thrown together in the back of the flower shop, almost like church coffee tables. I didn't take any pictures here because it was surprisingly uninspired. My expectations were too high, I think. It's right next door to the Junior League of Des Moines, you see. However, I'm working on my coffee right now, and it's not bad. All in all, atmosphere wise, I'll probably keep looking for a favorite spot. I also realized that I need to carry more cash as I had to ask both coffee shops for the favor of letting me use my check card (and the second place made me buy $5 worth to do so- so I brought the kids some cookies). But anyway, all of this, plus Blockbuster, Bank of America, and all manner of local small businesses are about a mile south of us. And that is exciting to me. Once it cools off and we aren't just dripping sweat when we get there, we'll try to combine our walks and our patronage into one!

Really Bad Photography of Our Really Beautiful Neighborhood- Eastward Edition

2010-08-09T21:48:00.017-05:00

George and I have been sharing the computer lately, so I haven't had as much of a chance to blog. He takes the computer to the office and the kids and I continue our exploration of our new hometown. I have gotten lost a lot! But Iowa makes sense. When there's a storm and we see the storm warning map in the corner of the television, the counties are all lined up in perfect rows like a quilt. Once you get west of the Mississippi, I suppose that is somewhat common- the states are lined up in rows too- but for some reason, Missouri's counties were all jigsawed liked they are in the South. Anyway, all that to say, like the state's, the city's layout is very sensible for the most part. So when I get lost, I just look for a street with a number (like 52nd) and count blocks until I get to the number I need to find. The number streets run north and south all through town so I can always eventually find my way home. I sound totally helpless I know. I really can't imagine ever knowing where in the world anything is here! But I'm sure I felt that way about St. Louis at one point too.

We have continued our neighborhood walks without getting lost though. I took these pictures last Thursday and am just now getting the chance to put them up. That day, we walked out and went to the right, in an easterly direction, and here's what we saw:

Up one block and then eastward about nine is this fun little place, Woody's Smoke Shack. There's live music right there on that patio on the right. It's bluesy and lively- I can't wait to get the chance to go hang out there some night! I wonder if the BBQ up here is anything worth having. I mean, we can't expect it to taste like Memphis or anything, but it could be quite tasty. From the smell of this place, that's definitely a possibility!

Here's another little local eatery, the Drake Diner. It reminds me of Tiger Time, and, as you may know, any time is Tiger Time! Can their milkshakes possibly compare? We shall have to see! The university is almost right across the street from here, and that's why there's a little more commercial property this way. It's all very fun and college-y and local though. I can imagine this diner has something that's high calorie and delicious for me to discover one night at two in the morning- anyone want to come?

Across the street from the diner is a church where a farmer's market sets up every Thursday evening. We took our bags and hoped to find some goodies, but it wasn't much to speak of that night. Still, it's nice to know it's there if we need it. The farmer's market downtown on Saturdays is phenomenal, a post of its own, so I think I'm just already spoiled.

Another two blocks further east, and we find a great spot for a rest, and then some more play.

I am amazed at the energy these kiddos have! They're red faced from the ride over, but aren't they the cutest?! Elspeth got up there all by herself!

And here's my favorite little boy in all the world. He's just lost his top front tooth, but you can't tell in the picture. I just thought I'd post the picture because it's my boy.

This is the church right across from the park. It's an old Presbyterian church of sorts, but I don't know anything about it. I took this picture, the picture of the entrance to the park, and the next picture all from the same spot. It's a little five points of sorts, I guess. Beyond it is the interstate and then downtown. I suppose we could just keep on walking, but we headed home after some playground time.

Downtown Des Moines is not very impressive in terms of skylines, but it really is cool. I'll do that post of the Farmer's Market sometime soon so you can get an idea of what it's like.

This is why I didn't post any house pictures for this post. While there are a few cute ones, the houses tend to look more like this on the way eastward because we're getting closer to the university. I think most of the houses over this way are occupied by college students or lower income families. This is the typical house on the streets to the east. There are also a few apartment buildings and laundromats, but none of it is particularly pretty or blog worthy- even the swankier college apartments, who cares?

I did have to post this one though. I just can't believe how often I see a house with all of this going on! I think that Hoarders show could film four episodes within half a mile of my house alone!

And look at this! These people have a boat beside their house! I think we have successfully ventured from the charming to the strange and unattractive, but I didn't want y'all to think I'm all high society and hoity toity now. I live down the street from hoarders and people with a rusty old boat in their yard! That's why I'm glad these signs are all over the place:

Okay, so I'm not really concerned about strange goings ons, I just like that there are owl signs all over the place! It sure beats the usual creepy looking neighborhood watch signs with the burglars in black on them!

I'm sure there are so many other fun places over there by the diner. I know I saw a cute little flower shop. Once I really go to some of these places and know what's what, I'll be able to post more about them and get some pictures that are more than just the outsides of buildings. But for now, all I know is the outside of buildings, and I thought y'all might like to know what we've been looking at as we explore our little area.

Really Bad Photography of Our Really Beautiful Neighborhood- Westward Edition

2010-08-03T19:54:00.022-05:00

The kids and I have been exploring our neighborhood every day for about an hour or so. The older two ride their bikes or their scooters and I pull Elspeth in the wagon or push her in the stroller. There are sidewalks all over, and not too much traffic, so we can really get around. Not that we need to go far, I joked with someone earlier about how there are businesses closer to my house than my mailbox used to be. While that is true, the neighborhood is mostly residential. But rather than tell y'all about Des Moines, I thought I'd show you. So today, I took my camera as we walked westward. We just went out and went left, and here's what we saw:

First of all, the median in front of our house. We live on a "boulevard" and therefore, the street is divided with all manner of lovely little trees and flower beds running down the middle.

We went up a block to the north to get a proper loop in (can't find ourselves coming back on the same street we went out on!) and continued west until we got to this cool old Methodist church (forgive the stroller handles in the bottom of the shot- this photography experiment could be a mistake!). There is a nice playground out back that is open to the neighborhood that we discovered last week.

This is the cornerstone: Grace Methodist Episcopal Church Est. 1926.

This little lady in the courtyard has an inscription that reads, "Angel of Grace given in loving memory of James W. Altwegg." I wonder what Mr. Altwegg was like.

Behind Mr. Altwegg's angel, down the street, and in at least one yard on every block are hydrangeas, my very favorite of flowers which I am delighted to see no matter how often. They are perfect right now for picking and drying as they are "papery" and nearly dry already. Pick 'em like this and they'll hold their color for years. I nearly knocked on the door of the house where I took this picture to ask for some- this picture only shows about a third of what this person has in her yard. A close second favorite flower is the peony, and I have also spotted many bushes (including one in our yard!) that will be all dressed up in fragrant petals come May, but are rather droopy and not so pitcturesque at this point in the summer.

You may be wondering what the houses are like. Honestly, it's a mixed bag. The cost of the houses on the same block could easily vary more than $250K in value. I am not real educated on the real estate market here, but I actually looked it up and found one house for 400 and another for 145 on the same short street, so there you have it. No matter how much they cost, most of the houses are darling.

This isn't a great example of a "darling" house, but I felt weird taking pictures of houses that weren't for sale at first. This one is sort of an example of how a lot of the houses have been given the old HGTV makeover. I haven't watched HGTV in ten years so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but notice the door and the fresh paint and the porch railing and steps. It's easier to see in person, but this house is very updated. I can totally imagine the inside having new hardwoods and sleek lighting fixtures.

And this house, right across the street, represents the more storybook look that a lot of the houses have.

This one is my favorite from today, I think. You can't see in the picture, but there are white lights like Christmas lights in through the front door. It looks cheery and festive. The trees and the fact that I was across the street which has kind of a lot of traffic made it hard to get a better shot. But it's cute and small and homey looking, I think.

Coneflowers. They're everywhere.

Also everywhere, these signs. Snow Route? What's a snow route? I think it's probably the way you go when there's a lot of snow on the road. Perhaps this guarantees that my neighborhood will always be plowed? I don't know. For all I know, a snow route could be the route that the snow usually takes. Just kidding, anyone who's ever read Snow by Uri Shulevitz knows that the snow doesn't play by civilized rules. Can't wait to see it up here in all its abundance. Remind me of that when it's actually here!

Not to leave out other religions, or bad photos for that matter, this is the local synagogue. It's a very pretty old building, but it is hard to get a picture of for all the trees. But I kept thinking, while I was taking all these camouflaged pictures, about all the lovely colors that these trees will be wearing in the fall. I can't wait! For now, they provide fantastic shade without which our walks would not be possible. Next door on one side is the tennis complex (boring picture of a bunch of tennis courts in a row) and to the other side was some sort of early childhood center. At this point, we were about a mile out, and we looped around and went back down our own street.

More hydrangeas because, as I think I already explained, you can't have too many.

This is the closest business to the west, and it's about half a mile away. It's one of the cable company's buildings. Wouldn't it be nice if all cable buildings were so lovely? I wonder what the building used to be.

Another shot of one of the flower beds on the boulevard. So quaint, don't you think? I kept telling people that Des Moines seemed so "manicured" when we visited. This is why. There's no "prairie rehab" (what George calls "an excuse not to mow the grass by the side of the road") but a lot of really nice landscaping all around.

This may actually be considered a business and it is the last landmark on our walk. Directly to the east of this house is our house. When we look out our window, this is the yard we see. And I'll have you know that a lot of bunnies live in this yard. It's also a great yard for people watching. The house is called the Thoreau Center and is one of those places that people rent out for various events. Last week there was a rehearsal dinner one night and a small carnival/ family night sort of event another night. We like to watch folks as they arrive while we eat dinner. It makes for all kinds of interesting conversation.

I was a little bummed when my favorite magazine, Cottage Living, was cancelled a while back, but I feel like I have entered into one of their spreads now that we've moved to this neighborhood! In the next few posts, I'll try to take y'all around the rest of the neighborhood.

Moving Status Update- The Final Chapter (sort of)

2010-07-23T11:58:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are in Des Moines (don't know a nickname, but I did find the translation: "of the monks"). We've been here a few days and are slowly getting settled. I think we're really going to like it here. Everyone has been amazingly welcoming with moving help, meals, and thoughtful extras (someone brought us muffins, someone else brought a church directory, two people thought of things like TP and paper towels and trash bags before we moved in, several people have left their phone numbers in case we "need anything"). And the town is really nice. There are lots of charming old homes (kind of like the one we're in) and sidewalks everywhere. I've already hunted out a Target, a library, and a grocery store. The grocery store is a mile away. A mile, y'all! People are outside on bikes, running, strolling, or driving by at all hours. It's a beautiful thing.

When I visited Arkansas, I jumped every time a car drove by. I would ask my sister, "who's here?" She would just laugh and tell me that it was just people driving through the neighborhood- a totally normal thing for almost everyone but completely foreign to me after living at the house on the hill. For two years, if I heard a car, it meant someone was coming to see me. I wondered if I wouldn't have to really get used to the sound of cars driving by again. It's been a welcome sound, and one I hear often enough that it hasn't taken getting used to at all. However, when I am walking by a window and see a car, I still sort of wonder who it is. Then I remember that I don't know anyone in Iowa and that we live on the corner of a four way stop.

Well, I need to get back to the unpacking, but I'd love to catch up with anyone who wants to chat. Here's the thing though, no one knows my new phone number. That's because I don't know it. And I can't call anyone because I have yet to unpack my phone directory. Soooo, if you'd like to catch up, just email me your phone number and then I'll call you, and then you'll have my new number in your caller ID so you can call me sometime too. Otherwise, just keep checking back here. I'll try to be posting more regularly again soon.

Moving Status Update- Volume 3

2010-07-11T21:34:00.004-05:00

I'm back in "The Gateway City" for one last week of VBS, packing, and birthday celebrating before the big move next Monday. Amabel's birthday is Friday and I have no idea what to do about it. I am thinking I will just have to get over the mess and the craziness and have a bunch of nine year olds over for pizza and cake. Anyway, the trip to my sister's was a good time. And now it's time to kick it into high gear.

I can't believe it's finally time to leave St. Louis. I think I could have liked it here if I wasn't always supposed to be here temporarily. And then, the city held me hostage for two years past the expiration date! But, as ready as I am to get going, it is nice to know that we'll always be able to visit. We have family here, so when we come see them, we'll still get to swing by the zoo or catch a Cardinals game or meet some friends at a favorite restaurant.

Honestly, I think the thing I am most sad to leave is the St. Louis County library system! I am not too sure how the Des Moines libraries will be. It seems like, from what I can tell online, the libraries throughout the entire state of Iowa may be linked, so that will be awesome! But I'm not sure if that's really how it will work. And of course, besides access to an amazing selection of books, we will miss friends. I am used to "long distance relationships" by now though. And I'm excited about the new friends we'll make in Des Moines.

I'll try to check in sometime during the week, but if it gets to crazy (it will be crazy, but sometimes writing helps me regain sanity), I'll be in touch once we get settled up yonder. Have a happy week!

A Short Vacation

2010-07-07T09:17:00.002-05:00

We're off to Arkansas this morning to take our dear Jimmy Blue Bean (almost always just "Blue," but George spent a lot of time choosing the full name eleven years ago) to live with his Aunt Sarah. Y'all have a good week- if there are any of you left!

Ellie P.

2010-07-05T14:11:00.003-05:00

Elspeth Peace (aka Ellie P.) did several really hilarious things a while back that I neglected to blog about and now I have forgotten what they all were. This is my post to remember my growing up way too fast, so cute I can't stand it, gets into more trouble than my other two ever did combined, just walked in the room with a boisterous "Ho! Ho! Ho!" three-year-old darlin' later on.

One little episode was when I had sliced some cheese one day and put them in the refrigerator and shown her. I told her that we were out of string cheese, but that she could have the cheese slices for a snack later. Assuming she remembered this the next day when she asked for cheese, I told her yes, to just get it out of the refrigerator. Some time later, I spotted her walking around with an entire "pear" of mozzarella with tiny little bite marks at various intervals. To let you truly understand the visual (and to remind myself later), the mozzarella I buy comes in a pear shaped pound lump. I had grated about a quarter cup's worth off when making pizza or lasagna, but besides that, it was pretty nearly an entire pound of cheese that this child was walking around with, biting into it as if it truly were a pear. Have I mentioned that she loves cheese?

Another day, George found a handful of long, straight, fine, blond hair on the floor in our room. This could only belong to one child in our home. When he asked Elspeth what happened she said, "I didn't cut it. It just fell off."

Another day, I walked into Elspeth's room and it smelled very perfume-y. I couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. Amabel has some strawberry bubble bath and lotion and things that she got for Christmas. I asked Elspeth if she had gotten into Amabel's stuff. No. Did she have lipstick on? No. What was that smell? She didn't know. Then I got up to her and realized she had smeared about half a bottle of shampoo into her hair. It took ages to wash out, but it was one of those things you just have to laugh at. But see, this is the thing with parenting. I want to be a laid back parent, the kind who laughs at things rather than freaking out. I'm horribly high strung and I hate it. So when I feel the urge to laugh, I usually go with it. A very long and bubbly bath later, all was right, right? Wrong. Because my little performer thought that if Mommy thinks soap in the hair is funny (even if she did also offer a stern-ish warning against doing the same again) then we should do it again! The second time- about two hours later if you were wondering- it was not funny to me. And I think part of my frustration was with myself because I recognized that I did sort of encourage her to do it again- even though I verbally discouraged her from doing it again. But again, it was just soap. And fortunately, it was Suave for kids instead of my shampoo or my Clinique liquid foundation like it was a few months ago.

I'm glad about Elspeth though, for all her stubbornness and naughtiness, she has taught me one invaluable lesson- don't judge other people's parenting by the behavior of their children. I have three children. I have two extremely polite, well behaved, almost perfect children. And then there's Elspeth. Same parent, different children. While I am quick to say that it is not for lack of much effort on my part that Elspeth still won't use the bathroom or that she does crazy things when my back is turned for a minute, I will also be quick to tell you that it isn't my doing that Amabel and August are so kind and good natured. I think you could take this idea to an extreme and say that kids will be kids and do nothing, but of course, I am not saying that. I am just saying that there isn't a formula. And that sweet little darlings don't always mean good parenting, nor do mischievous imps always indicate something the parent is doing wrong or not doing at all. I also think that for those of us parents who are trying, but still have stubborn kids (and I mostly am thinking of Elspeth's disobedience and not funny little episodes like the ones from this post), the Lord is faithful. Remind me of that when she's fifteen and smoking under the bleachers... Just a thought, and a little humor for your Monday.

Parenthood

2010-07-03T21:07:00.002-05:00

So when I was looking up Robert is Bothered just now for the post below, I found out that the entire first season of Parenthood is available on NBC.com for this month only. We missed a lot of episodes due to crummy reception, so I am pretty excited about this. If you haven't seen the show, you should definitely check it out. It is really really well done. The characters are all very endearing (as opposed to the whackadoodles from the original movie the series is loosely based on). Any one of them would be cool to know in real life (though sadly, they aren't real, so that isn't possible). Ron Howard and all the folks both behind and in front of the scenes have done an amazing job- stories, dialogue, casting, acting, etc. It's smart and artful and delightful. I realize this is a really generic review, but I probably couldn't do it justice if I tried. I just love those Bravermans!

Bothered

2010-07-03T20:44:00.004-05:00

Only if you followed my links to the Jimmy Fallon skits from a while back (or if you just watch Jimmy Fallon yourself) will you know how to pronounce the title of this post (with a British accent that is, ever so slightly, bothered). And really, don't watch those skits if you are easily scandalized by SNL type humor. I tend to overlook stuff that some people (Christians, in particular) might find offensive.

So why am I bothered? I have just been through a major fiasco trying to retrieve my password for this blog. For some reason, Blogger doesn't allow one to use her Gmail account for her Blogger account. This is more annoying than I can say. I used to have Blogger linked to my MSN account, but right around the time we went to Iowa at the end of May, I started getting really vulgar emails sent to that account every day. I am afraid it is from when I tried to access free Wifi from an unknown place. It was when we were on the road and had stopped for gas. I don't even know if it's possible that someone could have obtained my email address in that way. They didn't get my Gmail address... But anyway, I had to close the MSN account, but for some reason, I also changed my Blogger password, couldn't remember it, and the only way to retrieve it was to log back into the closed MSN account. No one is even following this. I realize that. I am just really annoyed about the whole thing.

I think I finally got it straightened out. I guess the point of this post is to vent and to explain why I didn't post yesterday. And this is all I have for today because I'm tired of being online after the aforementioned fiasco. But happy Fourth of July! I will try to post normal things again on Monday.

Moving Status Update- Volume 2

2010-06-30T21:22:00.002-05:00

We found a house!!! Hurray! It looks as if we will officially be Iowans sometime around the 20th of July. That's a smidge later than they originally wanted us, but it's the best we could do. I have not actually seen the house, but I've seen the pictures George took when he was there. It looks like it's a cute little place with a lot of space, in a great neighborhood, and owned by a really reliable family. The only snag in all of it is that we can't keep our cat. I am not sure that has sunk in yet. Fortunately, my very dear younger sister has offered to take him in, and I am hoping he will be very happy in Arkansas. The good news is that I will be able to see him when I visit her and get updates on his adventures in between, and possibly, get him back someday.

We aren't just downsizing to no pets; we're going to be selling a lot on Craigslist. If you have any random little (or big) thing you need, let me know- I just may be willing to part with it!

Mac and Cheese, Please

2010-06-28T23:11:00.000-05:00

In the last little while, I have switched from Kraft mac and cheese to Annie's. I think the main reason is because of how often my kiddos started wanting "the blue box." I wanted to try a "healthier" option. Unfortunately, healthier can be more expensive, but I try to stock up when they're on special. So, right after a purchase of six boxes, my family chose to tell me that they didn't actually like Annie's because it doesn't taste like Kraft. Perfect timing, right?! Well, the next five boxes gave me plenty of chances to experiment with butter and cream, but the fam held firm- they wanted their Kraft back. I held off on the last box because I was not up for the whining. But last week, I was so low on groceries that I broke it out with promises to pick up some of "the right kind" when I went to the store. So, for the last box, I decided not to even try- just make it like the box says and have it done with. And then I went to the fridge and discovered there was no milk, there was no cream, there was no butter. I grabbed the only dairy substance to be had, sour cream, and whadaya know? That was the trick! It passed the kid test, it passed the George test (no small feat!), and it definitely passes my test because it means I can keep buying Annie's.

I found an article that compares the two brands based on cost, nutrition and taste. Kraft won because it beat Annie's in both cost and taste, but they didn't know about my sour cream trick. Don't worry, I told them about it in the comments. (I'm such a dork.) But I am pretty excited about my serendipitous save.

Sunday Night Solution

2010-06-26T23:54:00.001-05:00

I am sure I have mentioned before that I am terrible at implementing structure or routine in my life. My poor children must feel like waves tossed by the wind. Without an outside force, I sleep till whenever, serve meals whenever I can get them ready after people start talking about being hungry, and go to bed at all hours of the night. Exercise might happen at 7am or 1 am or any hour between (or not at all!). I'm a mess. I don't really mind it so much, it just makes it hard to work with other people. I have often supposed that if my life had a report card with a comment section, I would have "does not work well with others" written there. Sad! I so want to work well with others... Enter my constant state of stress, trying to keep up with everyone else's time frame and "rhythm of life." I give people a hard time if they are super strict with their routine, but I truly do see structure as a good thing. I just think the angels passed me by when they were handing out internal clocks and concepts of time, and always trying to make up for that is a case for major stress. Well, as usual, I have belabored my point. I really was just going to write about how I have established one little consistent thing in my overwhelmingly inconsistent world.

While I am generally hopeless when it comes to meal plans and schedules, one night had become a particularly hard night to ever pull anything together for, Sunday night. Sundays are just hard all around. Unless church happens to start at the exact same time as your school or work day starts (and is the same distance away), and unless you always get up at the same time on Saturdays too, Sunday starts off frantic. It's a total removal from the norm. Every week, it comes crashing in telling you to do everything differently. For one thing, you need to look nice. While I try to iron dresses and make sure everything is clean and ready on Saturday, it is easy to forget at least one thing because of all the things that are usually going on on Saturday. It seems like someone is always running around on Sunday morning, half dressed, searching for a hair bow or a pair of shoes or some other something that no one has seen since last Sunday. Once you finally make it to church, you will probably realize that, even if you fed your kids, you and your husband have had nothing but half a cup of coffee. By the time the worship service, Sunday school hour, and fellowship between and after is over, you are all about ready to eat your hands. Maybe you head to Qdoba (like the Edemas do from time to time), maybe you go through the drive through at a burger joint, maybe you had the foresight to actually prepare something ahead of time that will be waiting for you at home. It doesn't really matter what you eat for lunch, you eat much of it, and it is late when you finish- likely after 2:00- and you will not be hungry at normal dinner time. In all probability, you won't be hungry again until almost 7:00 or later- which is fine if you have night church, because you aren't home yet anyway. But school starts at 8:00 tomorrow morning and Sunday was exhausting because we missed nap times and had to spend all day in the car and sitting in services and everyone needs to go to bed soon! What are you going to do?!

I'll tell you what you're going to do because it is what I have been doing for weeks now, and it is fantastic both during the school year and during the summer! You are going to send your children upstairs to put on their pajamas while you make breakfast- brinner, to be exact.

If you are a plan-y person, you can always make a breakfast casserole that will be ready to pop into the oven. You will have thought of this ahead of time, so the hour and a half bake time is nothing to you because you will also have thought of that. If you are that sort of person, I apologize. I am sure I must drive you totally crazy. Why are you even reading?! If you are not that type of person, I have help for you. The fabulous thing about most breakfast foods is that they are fast. Scrambled eggs? Bacon? French toast? Grits? Biscuits? All of those can be ready in less than 20 minutes. Ah! It's finally starting to feel like a day of rest isn't it?

You may remember two of my favorite pancake recipes from past posts. Polenta Pancakes with Warm Berry Sauce are a always huge hit (though, the 1 hour sit time for the batter makes these not so great for Sundays unless you remember to do it the night before or any time up to an hour before you want to cook). My father-in-law took the rest of the berry sauce on a 10 hour drive in an un-air-conditioned car all the way back up to Michigan last time he was here because he was delighted with it and determined it would be fantastic on vanilla ice cream. And, as my children say "it smells like Christmas" every time you make them. Spiced Apple Pancakes are almost my very own creation. I am never much for the pancakes with stuff in them. For some reason, I prefer toppings. So, I found a recipe with apples in them and changed it a up a little to have an apple topping. Incidentally, my love of toppings is how I discovered the Polenta Pancake recipe as well. So many recipes just want you to throw perfectly good berries into perfectly good batter and create mediocre pancakes! What will you top them with? Syrup? How will you be able to really taste the berries? It makes no sense. No, the fruit must be the topping. And for Spiced Apple Pancakes, I also recommend a little freshly whipped cream! In the original post, I recommend the pancakes from Joy of Cooking. I totally stand by that for that particular recipe. They are almost crepe like, and that is perfect for the apple topping. However, Joy of Cooking pancakes are a little too rubbery for just plain old pancakes. I wanted Cracker Barrel pancakes- big, fat, fluffy, buttery pancakes that sop up the syrup and taste like sunshiney mornings on the farm (or so I should think). And that's how buttermilk finally became a staple in my home. I'm not sure if you can accomplish those kinds of pancakes without buttermilk. And so, I give you, from the kitchens at Southern Livng, Pamcakes. Dinner is served:

Pamcakes

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. buttermilk

2 large eggs

1/4 c. butter, melted

- combine first five ingredients in large bowl.

- in a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk and eggs.

- gradually stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture.

- stir in melted butter.

- pour 1/4 c. scoops for each pamcake onto hot buttered griddle or nonstick skillet (set an electric skillet to 350). cook 3-4 minutes on each side (I actually set a timer because this is so accurate).

- if your family is not eating them as swiftly as you can get them off the griddle, store them in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven until they're all ready and you can all sit down and eat together. Famtastic! (see what I did there?)

Market Pantry Making My Day

2010-06-25T10:11:00.000-05:00

I have tried and tried, but I never can get on the Aldi train. I also jumped off the Walmart train over six years ago. But I do like to save money while shopping. I also value stressless shopping though, and feel that the experience is worth a little bit of cash. (You have to remember that pretty much everything is an emotional experience for me.) Therefore, my favorite place to shop, as you probably all know, is Target. The lighting is cheerful, the stores are clean, the selection is varied, the (clothing and home) products are cute, the prices are low.

Have I mentioned the enjoyable facelift the Target cafe menu has had lately? (Opening new window... searching blog.....) No, I haven't. First of all, the kids' meals have improved. They cost a very reasonable $3 and come with a choice of a beef hotdog, chicken fingers, or mac and cheese as the main entree, apples or carrots for the side, and milk, coke, or an Icee for the drink. The prize is a curly straw. I used to get my kids the hotdogs in a pinch, but I would have to buy some sort of chips or popcorn to fill them up. I love that they get veggies instead of something greasy and gross. I suppose I could be even healthier and give them milk. In the summer, I usually let them get the Icee though because it is a reward for good behavior in the store and a fun way to cool them off.

Anyway, the thing that still bothers me is that there isn't anything for me to eat there. The salads are what you'd expect- small, expensive, and not that great. I don't really like hotdogs, and ever since I learned that there are 23 grams of fat in a small popcorn, I steer clear! Yesterday, I noticed something new on the menu though. It may have been there for a while, but this was the first time I spotted it, pita chips with hummus. Yum! There are two choices, plain pita chips with roasted red pepper hummus or seasoned pita chips with plain hummus. I went for the first option and it was delicious. While I sat munching my snack (lunch), I took a gander at the nutritional information, 200 calories, 6 grams of protein! I'm no dietician, but I thought that was pretty good. The protein really held me over for the rest of my errands too.

Speaking of Target and protein, I also picked up a couple of boxes of the Market Pantry nutrition bars that I have been enjoying lately. It started with Zone bars, the high protein bars that I found to be the best tasting in my taste test a couple of years ago. For a while, I have had my friend Ami pick them up for me in bulk at Sam's- $20 for 24 bars (83 cents a bar). Once we started the church plant, I have seen Ami a lot less, and I had to figure out a more accessible option. I decided to give the Target brand Zone bars a try. They come in boxes of 5 for $4 (so 80 cents a bar) and sometimes even go on sale! Let me tell you, they taste even better than Zone bars. One thing I haven't done is compare all of the nutritional information side by side. I know both kinds of bars have 14 grams of protein in them. Both bars are loaded with vitamins, though I haven't compared to see which is more loaded. The Target brand bars have 210 calories, and I think Zone bars have fewer calories. Nonetheless, 210 calories is not much. I started eating these for breakfast with a piece of fruit or a glass of milk after morning runs a couple of years ago. Since I don't always get a run in in the morning, I sometimes save them for an afternoon snack after an afternoon run (which also doesn't always happen). Run or no though, they are yummy and more nutritious than a lot of options.

Posts that should follow (but likely won't) the fantastic Target return policy, the new store design pros and cons, Des Moines area Targets and how I feel about them, and how Target at Christmas feels like home.

Pasta Post

2010-06-23T12:22:00.002-05:00

Alright, Jessie asks us for no-bake entrees, and I have to say that the thing that comes to mind for me, besides grilling, is pasta. I also thought of paninis and various other sandwiches, so I will do a post on that soon as well. Ooh, and salads. I need to collect some good salad recipes and post them. This is (clearly) the pasta post though. I have a friend whose husband will not eat pasta in the summer. I think that is tragic. Pasta screams summer to me when it's mixed up with herbs and fresh garden vegetables. I am hoping Jessie is not opposed to pasta, but if so, take heart, I will post on sandwiches soon (and salads and anything else I think of).

Before I post recipes, let me just remind you that pasta dishes are like salad- you can throw any combination of veggies, herbs, nuts and cheeses together in pasta and it will probably be pretty good. Generally speaking, I'm an olive oil and parmesan girl. Get you some steamed broccoli, grilled zucchini (ooh, or eggplant!), spinach, asparagus, peas, fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives, chopped herbs, toasted pine nuts, any kind of grilled meat, etc. mix it all up with cooked pasta, parmesan, and olive oil, and feast! I really don't need to post recipes after that thought, but just in case:

Easiest Cold Pasta Ever

That's what we're calling this because it doesn't have a name. I think my sister made it up, or else she inspired me to. It is loved by all. You can make this a side, or make it the main course by either adding a little grilled chicken or serving a green salad and a baguette alongside.

2 lbs. packaged cheese tortellini from the refrigerator case at your grocery

1 recipe sun dried tomato pesto (follows)

- boil pasta according to package instructions. drain. run under cold water until cooled.

-dress pasta with sun dried tomato pesto to taste

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

How is it that I have never posted a recipe for pesto before? If you want it without the sun dried tomatoes, just omit them. I make it that way even more often. This recipe actually came to me from Rebekah without the sun dried tomatoes. It is right for about 2 pounds of pasta.

1 1/2 c. fresh basil leaves

1/4 c. ? (I'm totally guessing at this amount) sun dried tomatoes (I have used both the kind in oil, drained and patted dry, and the other kind- whichever you have. If you're buying them just for this or have both, go not in oil)

1/4 c. toasted pine nuts (toaster over or pan- no oven!)

3 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

> 1/2 c. olive oil (hoping that reads less than, not greater than- yes, I just finished teaching this to first graders!)

1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan

- process first five ingredients in food processor, then add olive oil down the feed tube slowly

- add parmesan and stir in by hand.

Flank Steak and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Linguine

16 oz. linguine, cooked

1 1/2 lb. flank steak

1 c. sun dried tomato pesto (from above)

4 c. loosely packed fresh spinach leaves

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

- brush both sides of steak with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. grill 8-10 minutes and let stand. slice.

- heat 1/2c. pesto in skillet, add beef slices and cook, stirring occasionally, 2-3 minutes

- add spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes or until just wilted

- add linguine and last 1/2 c. pesto and cook 2 minutes or until heated.

Mmmm, I can just taste that pesto. How have I let summer go this far without making it? It is so good. But since you can't eat it every day, here's a few more recipes. The next two are repeats. The first one is definitely worth repeating as it is one of my favorite meals. I made it for Steve and Jen one time and instantly found myself with the reputation of amazing cook. It'll fool people!

Salmon with Herbs and Lemon Butter
Adapted from a Dierbergs (It's a grocery store.) sale flyer from a few years back. You might be thinking that salmon is expensive. But this recipe is so delicious and quick, and the other ingredients are so inexpensive, that it is a bargain!

1 1/2 lb. salmon fillet (You may have to adjust the recipe to fit your crowd. You do not need the whole 1/2 pound per person like they tell you because you have spinach and pasta in the dish too.)
2T butter
2T lemon juice
2T chopped parsley
1/4 tsp. dried dill weed (or more of fresh)
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed (it is really better to use fresh if you have it on hand, but again, you need to use more of fresh)
1/4 tsp. salt
ground black pepper

-Rinse fillet and pat dry.
-Melt butter in saute pan over medium high heat, blend in herbs and lemon juice, saute fillet on both sides until done.
-Cover a serving dish with baby spinach. Place cooked angel hair pasta (I like that multi-grain Barilla kind in the yellow box) on top of spinach. Place cooked salmon on top of pasta. Drizzle herbs and butter from pan over salmon, and squeeze extra lemon juice if desired. The spinach will wilt from the heat of the pasta and fish so put in lots!

Okay, that is bad recipe writing, but I actually changed this to an indoor recipe from an outdoor recipe, and the directions are in my head. Originally it was a grilling recipe which read like this:
-Place salmon skin side down (and see, I always have them take the skin off at the fish counter) 4 and 1/2 inches over hot coals.
-Melt butter and mix in seasonings. Brush over salmon.
-Cook salmon, basting frequently, 10 minutes per 1 inch thickness.

Mediterranean Chicken and Pasta

This is a recipe I got from Southern Living years ago. It isn't what I'd call "gourmet" and I rarely make it anymore, but it is quick and easy and pretty good, as I recall. Plus, you likely have all of this on hand at any given time.
8oz. penne pasta, cooked and drained
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1" pieces
2T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2c. sundried tomatoes in oil, drained
1/2c. chicken broth
1/2c. dry white wine
1tsp dried basil
1/2c. chopped fresh parsley
1T butter
1/2c. fresh grated parmesan
- cook chicken in oil for 8 minutes and remove from pan
-saute garlic in pan for 1 minute; add tomatoes, broth, wine, and basil and bring to a boil
-return chiken to pan, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 4 minutes
-add cooked pasta, parsley, and butter, tossing to combine and cook 2 minutes to heat
-transfer pasta to serving dish and sprinkle with parmesan

As promised, but never yet published:

Alfredo Sauce

This is not summery, but could become so if mixed with some of the seasonal veggies we mentioned earlier. Still, it is hot and heavy, but also quick and no fuss. This comes to us from The Joy of Cooking.

8T butter

1 lb. drained, cooked fettuccine

1 c. heavy cream

1 c. freshly grated Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

- melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.

- add remaining ingredients and toss.

- I often also add leftover roasted or grilled chicken.

This last one is just in case you really need something quick and new. You may take one look and say "no thanks!" It's slightly embarrassing to post, but people like it and it's easy, so I'm just putting it out there.

Mexican Pasta Salad

I started making this in college (perhaps the first thing I learned to cook besides Nestle tollhouse cookies) and my boyfriend loved it. When my new boyfriend, George, tried it a couple of years later, he also loved it, and still requests it, 11 years later, when I ask what he wants me to get at the grocery for dinner. I am pretty sure it is adapted from a recipe on the back of a box (note the first ingredient!)

1 box Classic Suddenly Salad* (coupon here)

3/4 c. of jarred salsa

1/3 c. sour cream

1c. cooked, cut chicken (grilled? rotisserie?)

1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 c. corn (fresh, frozen and thawed, canned if you must)

1/2 c. black beans (optional, drained and rinsed, of course)

-cook pasta according to package directions. drain and rinse under cold water until cooled.

-mix seasoning packet from Suddenly Salad with salsa and sour cream

-stir in chicken pieces, cheese, corn, beans, and cold pasta. serve with tortilla chips

* Okay, so here's what I'm thinking: I resist this recipe now because it uses a box which everyone knows is loaded with extra sodium and MSG. But really, you just need the tricolor veggie pasta, which can be purchased separately, and the seasoning packet. The seasoning packet is key. I am wondering if an Italian dressing seasoning mix wouldn't also work- yet, wouldn't we also run into sodium and MSG there? The only other suggestion I have found is to try it with 1T Italian Seasoning in lieu of the seasoning packet. I will try to do that soon and see if it works. Won't George be excited?!

More Recipes

2010-06-21T23:14:00.003-05:00

Well, we did a couple of appetizer-ish recipes last time with the salsa and guacamole, but here's a few more.

Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip

2 (6oz) packages baby spinach

1T butter

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (14oz) can artichokes hearts, drained and chopped

1/2c. sour cream

1/2c. shredded mozzarella, divided

- microwave spinach in large bowl for 3 minutes or until wilted. drain and chop.

- melt butter in skillet. add cream cheese and garlic. cook, stirring constantly, until cheese melts. fold in spinach, artichokes, sour cream, and 1/4 c. mozzarella; stir until cheese melts.

- transfer mixture to a 1 qt. baking dish. sprinkle with remaining cheese.

-bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. serve immediately with chips or baguette slices.

Aunt Laurinda's Cheese Ring

This is a recipe my friend Rebekah made last time we went to the River House. It looks sort of random on paper, but it tastes so so yummy.

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4c. mayonnaise

1c. pecans, chopped

1-2T minced onion

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. Tobasco

-mix all ingredients together and put in a mold. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days before serving.

-serve with crackers and raspberry preserves (isn't that what we had Bek?)

Cheese Straw

This is from the Oaklands cookbook. Oaklands is my ancestral family home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. My sister was married on its front porch about eight years ago. For the hospitality bags for the out of town guests at the wedding, I made about a kazillion of these cheese straws, another kazillion pralines, and another kazillion loaves of banana bread, all from recipes in the same cookbook. I sent some of my wares to my sister-in-law who was brand new in the Deep South just then, going through Rush at Auburn the very same week. She fell in love with these Southern delights and has frequently requested that I make them again. I misplaced the recipe for a while and just as I have found it again, I will be taking my recipe box and moving far away from Dear Katie Sue. I'll try to mail them from time to time as I did in days gone by, but here's the recipe for her and all of you, for those times when you just can't wait.

2c. flour

2T salt

1 lb. sharp grated cheddar

2 tsp. red pepper

1/4 lb. butter, softened

-cream butter and cheese, add salt, pepper, and 1 and 1/2c. flour.

-add last 1/2c. flour by hand.

-you can roll these out and cut them, use a cookie press, or shape them into balls and press them down with a fork like peanut butter cookies- pretty much whatever shape you like (I prefer long, thin rectangles with either ridges from a fork or little holes from a fork- you really should use a fork somewhere in there, though I have also used a cookie press from time to time).

-bake on parchment lined cookie sheets for 10 minutes at 425

Pralines

This is also from the Oaklands cookbook. Work quickly.

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2c. brown sugar

3/4c. cream or evaporated milk

1/4 c. water

2T butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

4c. pecans

-combine first four ingredients and cook in a heavy bottomed saucepan until "softball stage" (238-240 degrees).

-add butter and vanilla and beat until creamy.

-add 2 cups of pecans and mix in. add the last 2 cups and mix in.

-turn pralines out on waxed paper and let cool slightly to set- so so yummy when still warm!

Banana Bread

Another from the Oaklands cookbook.

3/4 lb. butter, softened

3c. sugar

3 eggs

6 large, ripe bananas

4 1/2c. flour

3 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1c. sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

-cream butter and sugar.

-add other ingredients in order

-bake for one hour at 350

Late

2010-06-18T10:49:00.003-05:00

The insomnia is out of hand, y'all. It has now morphed into the variety where you are able to sleep for a few hours, but then something wakes you up and you can't get back to sleep to save your life.

I was up from about 4:30 to 7:30 this morning watching all of Jimmy Fallon's "thank you notes" on this site. Don't ask me why that was the way I chose to use my time. Mostly, I was too tired to read or be productive. I should also probably admit to watching a lot of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon online lately. Somehow, George and I got really into his parody of The Hills, 7th Floor West, last summer. I guess it was back in the days where we stayed up all night- have we become grown ups?! With summer here again, I recently looked to see if 7th Floor West was back this year, and while it's not as of yet, I did find a whole lot of other parodies and other funnies that I have missed during the school year.

While you likely won't have three hours in the middle of the night to waste watching his thank you notes any time soon, you may have fifteen or twenty minutes to watch both episodes of 6bee, Jimmy's parody of Glee that is spot on. "Robert is bothered" is another recurring sketch that George and I watched through the other day. Most of them are really strange and therefore more confusing than funny (though still funny or we wouldn't have kept watching), so I'd recommend one of the other series if you are at all interested in any of this. Perhaps the most fun little gem to me is one that I wish I had found earlier, Late, a Lost spoof complete with dramatic music, numbers, whispers, cryptic non-answers, and characters satirizing Jack, Kate, Sawyer (and Sayid combined?), John Locke, Benjamin Linus, Michael, Walt, Christian Shepherd, Desmond (played by Mick Jagger), and even Vincent/Jacob (as a gold fish instead of a dog). There are 7 10 minute episodes, so this too is more of a time commitment. However, I need to laugh at Lost (as opposed to shake my fist at it), so watching it was time well spent for me. Probably would've been better if I hadn't wasted about an hour and a half this morning watching it when I should have been packing... but still, time well spent.

Little Horror on the Prairie

2010-06-16T17:14:00.001-05:00

George has been out of town yesterday and today to look for houses for us in Iowa. The problem is, he hasn't found one! Yikes! We have a big family and a not-so-big budget. Plus, the university and church are in a sort of nice area. If there is something that happens to be in our budget, it usually turns out to be student housing. So it looks like we're going to go small. And I don't mind small so much- there's less to clean! And there's less to decorate in small houses too. I think it is much easier to have a cute, small home. We have been blessed to live in a very large home for the last two years, which is nice and roomy for entertaining and for accomodating energetic children. But in the day to day, it has always felt rather empty to me. It is a really lovely home, but it is too big for me to manage in a lot of ways. Y'all can remind me I wrote this when I am feeling packed like sardines this winter! We're still looking, but we sort of need to hurry up.

Anyway, the point of my post is that since George went out of town and took our laptop with him, I ended up reading and watching a little television last night instead of catching up on emails, online shopping, or watching something on Hulu or something or another dot com. We only have the antenna, so we don't pick up many channels out here, and especially not when it's raining like it was yesterday. There is a random "Christian" channel that we pick up that shows Little House on the Prairie from time to time. I have seen the title on the blue bar when I flip channels in the past, but I have never stopped to watch it. But last night, there was nothing on, so I stopped and watched a little LHOP. (I felt like Sawyer.)

Oh my goodness, y'all. It is really bad! The acting is really bad. The hair, as we always knew, is really bad. The story lines are horrendous! We also always knew that there were only about two episodes that even remotely resembled Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, but I suppose I always thought they were nice little family episodes about pioneer living even if they did veer from Mrs. Wilder's original series. She would be spinning in her grave if she knew what I watched last night had the same title and main characters as her beloved books (and her own family!)! I saw an episode last night about Albert's girlfriend (right, girlfriends in the 1870's- also, at least Albert was not a real person from the books or Wilder's life) being raped and getting pregnant. What in the world?! It's like it was the era of after school specials and they made what was ostensibly a period drama into a weekly public service announcement for kids in the early 80's. What is even the point of having them live in log cabins and ride in wagons if their behavior and situations paralleled an entirely different era? Not that teenaged girls couldn't have been attacked back then, just that the whole town knew about it and thought it was Albert's baby because she was his girlfriend and of course, the Ingalls were very progressive in how they handled the situation. Goodness gracious!

Well, I saw last week (before last night's unfortunate viewing) that both Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Olsen) have both recently come out with books about their experience on Little House on the Prairie. Melissa Sue Anderson's is entittled The Way I See It, and has received sort of mediocre reviews on Amazon because it isn't very juicy. It sounds like it is more or less a pleasant stroll down memory lane. Arngrim is evidently a standup comic now, and her book, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, was released yesterday. Given the choice, I'd undoubtedly pick Arngrim's book (could you have guessed that?), but I doubt I'll do more than flip through either one of them. I'd link you to them so you can take a look at them on Amazon, but this crazy PC is not doing what I want it to do. Can't wait to get the MacBook back tonight! George will be home a little late though- dare I check in to see what's going on in Walnut Grove tonight? I'll let you know if I do.