At home in the country

Where's the last place you would like to spend your birthday?

2008-11-29T21:01:00.002-05:00

Well, I can probably think of worse, but my youngest kiddo gets to spend the entire afternoon of her birthday in the doctor's office this week as our entire family gets in depth eye exams from two different specialists for our participation in a genetic study with the National Institute of Health.

Lucky for her she just needs a few pictures since she recently had a full exam, but that will still require "eye drops" which she is so good about getting, but is already dreading. I don't know what's worse - not telling her that she will be getting the drops and dealing with her anger when she finds out or trying to prepare her ahead of time and dealing with a week of her telling me that she doesn't want to go and get the drops.

While I'm very excited about the possibilities of some answers from our participation in the study, I hate putting her through another day at the doctor's office even if it is just for eye drops and a few pictures. The blood draw "event" we went through a few weeks ago was very traumatizing. She's old enough now that I try to explain that the doctor's don't know why her eyes aren't like ours, that they don't yet know how to fix them and that the scientists need our blood and pictures to try and figure out how to make them better - not only for her, but also to help other kids who can't see as well as she does. And the preschooler reply that I get? "I like my eyes just fine mom. They don't need fixed!" And in a way she's right.

Add to mix the fact that I think our oldest now needs glasses (for simple nearsightedness), this week's day at the doctor should be barrels of fun!

Gmail Themes, Yay!

2008-11-26T16:17:00.003-05:00

Google is rolling out themes for Gmail. Finally, I'll be able to tell my mailboxes apart! The kids are gonna love theming their e-mail, especially the ones that change based on the time of day. Hopefully that will get them using e-mail more often! We're patiently waiting for the themes capability in our Google Apps accounts...

How to get rid of gnats (aka fruit flies)

2008-11-10T15:01:00.003-05:00

So in my daughter's hurry to finish up her chore of cleaning out her lunch box and putting it away after school, she neglected to remove the banana peel before shoving her lunch bag all the way to the back of the cupboard. As if that wasn't bad enough, she decided to go on a record run of buying lunch at school so it was left there for at least a couple of weeks. Amazingly, we didn't notice a smell, but couldn't figure out where all of the pesky gnats were coming from.

In the midst of our gnat-battle, I just-so-happened to open the door for the cupboard in which her lunch bag was stowed and found a noticeably large concentration of gnats. So, of course, I opened the lunch bag right then and there and ran screaming to the garage where I promptly deposited the entire thing in the garbage can. (I'm still shuddering at the thought of the discovery.)

But now...we have more gnats. I unleashed the Great Gnat Army when I (brilliantly) opened the lunch bag in. the. house.

I set a couple empty margarine tubs around the kitchen with a 1/4 - 1/2 inch of vinegar in them. Then (this is the key), lined the rim of the tub with vegetable oil. You might want to set the tubs on a plate or a coaster to prevent the oil from making a mess on your counter tops. The easiest way to line the rim of the tub with oil? We always keep some oil in a squeeze bottle for mess free cooking (and now gnat fighting). The gnats are attracted to the vinegar and get stuck in the oil. I clean the tubs out once or twice a day and refill until the gnats are gone. Our gnat army has been reduced to just a few gallant soldiers in about 36 hours. Much better than bombing the house with pesky chemicals.

Second grade politics

2008-11-04T15:03:00.003-05:00

I love the fact that my 2nd grader knows exactly who is running for president their vice presidential running mates. Especially since we don't talk politics at home, or watch network TV that often for her to be exposed to the political ads. Which is why her political advice cracks me up.

Since the beginning of the race, she would inform me at least once a week to be sure to vote for Hillary. "We need a woman as the president, mom." (Very matter-of-factly.) She wasn't quite sure who to advise me to vote for once Hillary was no longer a candidate. It was a trying few weeks. "I don't know, mom. We really needed Hillary."

Then, she decided that Obama was the best choice. "An African American man, mom. He needs to be president because it will make history."

Then for a few days after McCain announced Palin as his running mate. "Mom! You have to vote for Palin...I..I..mean, McCain! You have to! A woman!". Almost every day she would ask me, "Mom, you're voting for McCain, right? Puh-lease? Puh-lease?"

This girl takes her politics seriously! She was even doing a voting day count down at home. "Four more days, mom. Only FOUR. MORE. DAYS. You are voting for McCain, right? Puh-lease?"

(Seriously, we hardly ever talk politics at home. She loves this election stuff!)

Then, two days ago, she says, "Mom, I changed my mind. You have to vote for Obama." What!?! I said. Why the change? "Well, my friend and I were talking on the playground. And he said that McCain is a rich man. And if he gets president, he is going to take all of our money. I don't want him to take all of our money, mom. You HAVE to vote for Obama!"

My response: "What! Now you're talking politics on the playground!?! This is SECOND grade!"

I pretty much left it at that. Because, you know, we don't talk politics in our house!

Why, mommy?

2008-09-08T11:54:00.002-04:00

"Why do I have to take my backpack to school mommy? I don't USE it!"

Most preschoolers just want to sport their backpack because it has their favorite character on it. Or because its fun to carry. Or to sneak a favorite dragon or unicorn in to play with on the long bus ride home. Not mine. Everything is black and white and all about practicality.

See why I stress out!?!

2008-08-21T16:12:00.003-04:00

I mentioned last week that I was getting anxious for my youngest's eye doctor appointment today. She was an angel, very patient with the doctor, sat still and followed directions for the exams. She didn't even cry when her eyes were dilated! She knows the drill. Overall we had a good report, but as I suspected, she needs new lenses again. We've already had two sets in the last year - this will be her third increase in 12 months. But, like I said, overall the report was good. Phew! So we grabbed some ice cream, took off to home and I felt a big weight lifted from my shoulders when we walked through the door.

Until (seriously) 10 minutes later when she comes to me crying that...can you guess?...her glasses broke!!! So now I have a peanut wailing on the floor that she can't see. "What am I going to do Mama!?!" Um, maybe (please!?!) take your glasses off before you wrestle with your sister next time? Like you were suppose to do last winter when you took a face dive into the kitchen tile floor (was able to fix them that time.). Or when you decided it would be fun to slide down the stairs head first? (which led to the purchase of the current frames). So I fished out her spare pair of glasses from the TBall bag (which are now 4 prescriptions behind) and will be making the trip to order her lenses tomorrow instead of Monday like I had hoped. Oh, and add on a new set of frames too. Because we definitely need a spare pair on hand...just in case. Maybe it was meant to be...I didn't like her current frames anyway...it seemed like they loosened up and wouldn't stay on her face every time she sneezed.

Looming

2008-08-12T16:55:00.004-04:00

Its still over a week away, but being that this is the longest we have gone between visits, my anxiety is already starting to build.

No, these aren't visits from my in-laws. Or from the furnace repair man. I wish! These are visits to my youngest's ophthalmologist. You see, she was born with a rare eye disorder called bilateral asymmetric uveal coloboma. She has an iris coloboma in one eye and chorio-retinal colobomas in both eyes.

She's a very lucky kid (no joke - she once won a $6,500 playhouse!). So I just said she has this rare eye disorder and then I said she is lucky!?! Many kids that are born with uveal colobomas have wide array of birth defects which has been named CHARGE syndrome. Thankfully, she does not have CHARGE. Many kids with uveal colobomas have very little or no vision. Thankfully, she has adequate vision. She is truly blessed. The little peanut with the thick glasses even kicked some butt in TBall this year. Never judge a book by its cover!

So why the anxiety? There are still some unknowns. She has two cataracts that we have been monitoring. Fortunately they have not grown. What will school be like for her? Will she be able to drive? Could her children inherit this disorder? Will her children be blessed with adequate vision? I'm usually a "take 'em as they come" kind of person, but leading up to her doctor appointments I get myself a bit worked up. I just want to know.

Hopefully next week will come and go and I will wonder again why I stressed over the appointment. I really don't want answers to some of these questions right now - what if they're not the answers I hope to hear? And I definitely don't want more questions!

But, yes, we really do want answers. Even just some insight. We have decided to work with the wonderful people at the National Eye Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and participate in their research study for families with uveal colobomas. While this means we'll all have to go through a thorough eye exam and a blood draw, hopefully we can help answer some of our questions and be a part of finding those answers for other families that struggle with this disorder much more than we do.

How much wood...

2008-08-11T14:45:00.006-04:00

...can we cut, split and stack?

Our Cozeburn outdoor wood burner is being installed today. Yeah! This will remove our dependency on propane to heat our house (although we will still keep the propane tank for backup and as the fuel source for our kitchen cooktop).

Hubby has been busy cutting firewood since spring with the plan to have an outdoor burner installed. Fortunately we haven't had to cut "healthy" trees yet - there is so much fallen timber or overgrown trees that need cleaned up on our land. Between our land and neighbors that have given us permission to "clean up" their property, we shouldn't have to tap the healthy trees for the next few years.

Based on the money we spent on propane last year and the increase in fuel costs, the unit will start paying for itself in 3 years. Plus we have the added benefit of:

Unlimited hot water (well, as unlimited as our well has water!)

"Free" heat to our hot tub (um, when we get one)

Radiant heating to our driveway so no more snow shoveling! (when we get around to pouring a cement driveway)

Radiant heating for our rec room in our basement (uh, well, we don't have that yet either)

But you can see we have big plans and some additional options now that we have a burner.

Now just to psych ourselves up for getting up early on the upcoming freezing cold winter mornings to stoke the fire! Oh yeah...and all that wood cutting, splitting and stacking.

My request for the day: Please make sure the shed that will contain the unit and our wood supply doesn't block my wireless Internet receiver!

Maple granola

2008-06-18T23:35:00.006-04:00

Last night I made my second batch of Maple Granola. I love this stuff so much - I can't believe it took me this long to make my second batch. I was inspired to make some at home after having a giant bowl at Kenny and Zukes when I was in Portland this spring.

My favorite ways to eat granola:

For breakfast

Smothered in strawberry yogurt

As a late night snack

On top of Breyer's Coffee ice cream (YUM!)

For my afternoon pick me up (3:00pm is snack time in my book!)

Mixed in with Cocoa Pebbles (yeah, pretty sad, eh?)

Granola don'ts:

No dried fruit!!! Blech!

Eat more than two bowls in a day (try it...you'll find out why ;) )

How do you eat your granola?

I highly recommend this recipe. I left out the raisins and coconut, of course. You don't get big granola clusters with this recipe, but the more I eat it, the more I like this recipe's consistency. Our convection oven does a great job of toasting. I got brave and added semi-sweet chocolate shavings this time around (figured the shavings were a little more up to par with the recipe than the Cocoa Pebbles).

I'm looking for some more granola recipes. Particularly:

Traditional - not maple; usually made with rice syrup or honey

Granola bars - for the kids

I haven't found any recipes that I'm really crazy about. Let me know if you have a favorite.

I know a deal when I see it

2008-06-17T11:25:00.004-04:00

I've been reading a lot of blogs on finance lately - not the how-to-invest-your-money type, but the debt-free, frugal-living, less-is-more type of finance blogs. We've worked hard to get where we are today and I was hoping for some fresh, new ideas to help us pay off our mortgage before the 29 years we have left. Much to my surprise, I haven't found too many fresh, new ideas. I guess "working hard to get where we are today" has been us already implementing most of the tips that I have run across.

One way that we have earned a little extra has been through referral, bonus or shopping sites where you can accumulate points or earn money. I have a favorite that we diligently use for every purchase - I'll let you in on that secret another time. But in my recent blog travels I did run across one that I will use in lieu of my favorite once in a while - especially when the store highlighted in the Daily Double has something we need.

Check out Ebates - where it truly "pays to shop online". Here's how it works: Ebates partners with hundreds of stores to provide an inclusive storefront for most of your shopping needs. Stores pay to be part of the Ebates storefront. Most storefront's pocket the money, but Ebates shares that money with you. After you accumulate $5.01 from purchases, they send you a check.

It doesn't take long to accumulate some money. I bought a swim suit and a blouse on clearance at The Gap through Ebates and earned $1.05 with that single purchase which was just under $35.00. Sure, its not a ton of money, but I am doing more online shopping these days with gas prices so high and I can easily pay for a week of my daughter's piano lessons just by shopping where I normally shop.

But wait...it gets even better. If you sign up through any of the links in this blog, you will receive $5.00 just for signing up. You will have to earn $5.01 of Ebates before you will receive a check, but $5.00 for signing up is one of the best deals I've seen. And guess what? I will also receive $5.00 when you sign up. My goal is 10 referrals - enough for a free month of piano lessons!

Happy Shopping! (Saving and Earning too!)

Mama, are you old?

2008-06-16T17:35:00.004-04:00

4 yr old: Mama, are you old?

Mama: Ha ha...yeah, I'm old. Older than you.

4 yr old: Why are you still not dead yet?

Mama: (pause) Well, I'm old, but not that old. Hopefully I won't be dead for a long time.

4 yr old: When will I be old?

Mama: We all get a little bit older every day.

4 yr old: Am I old now?

Sad Day

2008-05-29T18:24:00.002-04:00

Normally the last day of school is an exciting one. It means sunny days are here, fun family activities and a break from early morning rising for the kids. This year is bittersweet however because our wonderful rural community school is closing its doors. I completely understand the decision; district enrollment is down, maintenance costs of the aging building is rising, etc, etc. I don't want to get into the politics of it here, I just want to say thank you to the people that made our school so great. Its not about the building, its the spirit of the school. We were blessed with single classrooms for each grade with 20 or less kids, teachers that knew every child in the school by name, a fabulous, dedicated PTO who brought fun, educational and memorable activities for the kids: 100 day celebration, banana split day, science day, planting a tree, track and field day just to name a few. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that made our school such a special place. May the spirit live in all the kids forever, make them strong in a new, bigger school, and shine through to all the new friends they will meet.

Now Reading: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

2008-05-06T21:33:00.005-04:00

I first found out about this book when I was listening to NPR on my previously long commute. The book intrigued me and I purchased it as a birthday present for my pre-teen niece. I received a prompt thank you note from her stating that "I pick out the coolest books!" The Easter bunny must have know that it was on my wish list because, lo and behold, it arrived Easter morning in my 6 year old's Easter basket. The book is over 500 pages long, but over half of which are beautiful illustrations. The black or black trimmed pages combined with the curious illustrations captured all of my kids (hubby included) attention immediately. Somehow the book was placed on a book shelf during "redding up" and we're just now starting to read it. Stay tuned for reviews from the kids!

Information Overload

2008-05-05T19:25:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I wonder, "What is e-mail, Skype, Instant Message, TV, telephone, cell phone, iTunes, the World Wide Web, Google Reader and Twitter (I'm sure I'm leaving something out!) really doing to us long term?" I have now sat in my LaZBoy for over 8 hours straight working a usual Monday work day. And most of the time I have been doing not one, not two, or even three, but ALL of the above at the same time. Carrying on multiple conversations while doing multiple tasks; I've been sitting on my bum all day and I am thoroughly exhausted with a raging headache. I think this affects me more on Mondays since I am usually completely unconnected, outside and up and around all day doing farm chores on Sundays.

I wonder, not only what impact does this have on me long term, but my kids that are growing up in this "Information Overload" era? We took a rare trip to the mall on Saturday and now they have Dora the Explorer shirts that light up and "flash, flash, flash". My 4 year old went crazy over it. Does everything have to beep, flash, or buzz? Its nearly impossible for my 6 year old to sit still quietly for more than two minutes. Granted she's a typical energetic 6 year old, but how is this "always on" world affecting her? And so many other children?

I'm a techie and I believe all of this stuff serves a purpose, but the next time I'm driving down the road with the radio on, a dvd playing in the back seat AND talking on my cell phone, I'm going to turn it all off and sing "Old MacDonald" with my kids.

Indian Butter Chicken

2008-04-24T11:00:00.000-04:00

Being a steak and potatoes girl, it took a bit of convincing from my dear friend to try Indian cuisine when we'd take a break from the office and head out to lunch. Of course I became hooked right before I stopped working in the city. Now I'm constantly craving Indian Butter Chicken without a decent Indian restaurant within 60 miles!

My husband is the chef in the house so I don't cook all that often. Believe me, I'm all thumbs in the kitchen. But I found this recipe and decided to give it a shot.

We really need to check out Kroger's. I keep forgetting there is one about 30 minutes away. They might have some of the harder to find ingredients that Wal-Mart didn't carry. We headed to Pittsburgh for a trip to IKEA over the weekend so I grabbed what I needed there.

The only ingredient I wasn't able to find was fenugreek leaves. I was about to substitute fenugreek seeds since we have some on hand for use by my hubby in his dishes. But I read a great post suggesting just to skip the leaves instead of substituting seeds since the seeds are so bitter.

This recipe takes a bit of time to prepare, but it was a hit! Even our 6 year old loved it. We served it with rice and flat bread (not as good as nan, but an OK substitute). Next time I'll prepare some vegetables and maybe chick peas as well. I highly recommend this dish as an introduction to Indian cuisine. Its loaded with wonderful spices, but not too spicy. And the chicken is SO tender. Delish!

Our Wii Won't Turn On

2008-04-21T13:00:00.002-04:00

Our life was changed when our Wii came into our life last June and we miss it terribly. One day we went to play Mario Party 8 and the Wii just wouldn't turn on. Has anyone else experienced this problem? The orange light was on indicating that it is receiving power, but no matter what we did it wouldn't power on. We unplugged, waited, plugged back in. Still nothing. We called Nintendo support today and they were very nice. We need to ship it to Nintendo (they are providing the shipping paperwork) with the power adapter and the Mario Party game that is stuck inside (we keep the SD card). They will try to repair it. If they can't, they will provide a new one. If the game is damaged they will provide a new one as well. They can't guarantee that all of our data stored on the hard drive will be recovered, but since they track the games we've downloaded we will be able to download those again. We'll all be bummed if we lose our Miis and game history. The kids were working so hard to collect all of the items in Mario Party - we were all most there! Thank goodness spring is here and we're now busy as a family with TBall. We really miss the fun we had as a family playing the Wii. I'll keep this post updated as we find out what went wrong with our Wii.

Little House in the Big Woods

2008-04-21T11:59:00.004-04:00

My mom read to me every night as a child. I thank her for taking the time to do this as I believe it is the reason I love reading today and instilled my thirst for knowledge. We read many books, but my favorites were the Little House on the Prairie Boxed Set (9 Books). My 6 year old just loves the re-runs of the Little House TV shows. Now that our 4 year old has the patience for longer stories, we're starting to read chapter books at bedtime aqain. The Little House books are great for her because there are just enough pictures sprinkled through to keep her attention.

We started reading Little House in the Big Woods last night. I was so excited about reading these stories to my kids that I hadn't thought about how relevant they are. The stories take place in the late 1860's - about the same time our farm was founded. Last night we learned about how the smoke house (which we rebuilt last year) was used. We're now all looking forward to stories about the other items we have discovered here!

My mom wrote in every book we read the date we completed it. I'm now reading Little House in the Big Woods to my kids 27 years after it was read to me. We'll do the same and date the book when we're done. Maybe they will do the same some day with their children!

6 yr old: "My favorite part was when Laura went with Ma to milk the cow and she slapped a bear."

4 yr old: Lost interest many evenings, but would always look at the pictures. "I loved the doggies and the cat, Black Susan, but I wish her name was Jerry."

Mommy: I would catch myself reading ahead after the kids fell asleep and I still looked forward to re-reading the next night.

Social Networking Transforming the way we do Business

2008-03-29T00:34:00.003-04:00

There's only one or two of my friends and family that really understand what I do for a living. The rest can't fathom how I can be a productive employee working from home. Sometimes its frustrating to hear comments like "cushy job sitting around in your pjs all day", "I have to get up and go to work in the morning". Don't get me wrong, I love the perks. But truth is I work harder and put in longer days when I work from home. In fact, at times it feels like I never stop working.

With rising gas prices; long, congested commutes; businesses trying to save money in a "rougher by the day" economy; increasing focus on being green and our carbon footprint; and technology finally permitting; the number of professionals telecommuting will definitely rise. And it won't just be techies either.

Read what IBM has to say on the matter: IBM Predicts Five Future Trends That Will Drive Unified Communication

Our Life, Volume 2

2008-03-19T00:26:00.006-04:00

Deciding to leave the city and embark on the adventure of building our dream house in the country would have been the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of most people. But we talked about this dream so much and for so long; we're moved in and we've wrapped up most of the major outstanding projects. The culmination of Volume 1? I've left my job in Pittsburgh and my nearly 4 hour daily commute. Volume 2 begins with us finally able to fully enjoy life on the farm. I've accepted a sweet gig as a web community developer working from home! Now armed with 4 extra hours a day, I've decided to resurrect my blog. Stay tuned...

COLD

2007-02-05T22:58:00.001-05:00

The thermometer at the bank read -5 when I drove past on my way to work this morning. No school for the kiddies today or tomorrow. And, nothing happening on the house until it warms up a bit. But, things should take off again next week. The front door and garage doors are scheduled to be delivered towards the end of the week which means we can finally close up the house. Plus, they are to start installing the ductwork for the furnace.

One project I need to get moving on is restoring a sink top that was used in my Great Grandfather's doctor's office. I'm not exactly sure of the age of the counter top, but if I have the numbers right, my Great Grandfather would be around 130+ today. My mom had been using the piece as a decorative dry sink. We're planning on installing it as a functional sink in our powder room. The existing hole for the faucet is smaller than today's standard size so we have to have (gulp) a new hole drilled for the faucet. The base plate of the new faucet is shown in the picture. There are also marble pieces that form the backsplash for the counter top that aren't shown in the picture. The cabinet of the sink is sentimental as well - it is handmade out of cherry from a tree that was cleared when my parents built the house I grew up in.

Do we really need water?!?

2007-02-02T22:50:00.002-05:00

Drilling, drilling, drilling....drilling, drilling, drilling...we know there's water down there somewhere. We're at 325 feet and the drillers can hear water flowing now. But...its going to be brutally cold in the next few days so they won't be back to confirm the water depth and the recovery rate until the end of next week. Nothing like suspense to find out if we're going to blow our budget on a little thing called water.

The back of the house

2007-01-20T22:27:00.001-05:00

Finally! The exterior is coming together. I am SO happy we didn't chicken out on going with the green siding. The pictures don't do the detail on the trim around the windows justice. Our general contractor surprised us by crimping the trim around the doors and windows. The three dimensional detail really makes the trim "pop". We're so happy he took the time for the extra touch. The guys did a fantastic job. I'll snap a picture of the trim next time I'm out with the camera.

Lots of action!

2007-01-09T21:38:00.001-05:00

Since the first of the year a lot has been going on! We have the permanent electricity installed; outlet, switch boxes and smoke alarm boxes are in place; all of the rough plumbing is done; and the siding is hung on one side of the house. I was sooooo nervous about the color we picked out for the siding; so was everyone else - our gc hung a few rows the first day and said "you can still change your mind if you want" - he wasn't so sure about the color either! But now we all love it. I can't wait to see it completely done. The weather is brutal on the top of our hill, but its amazing at how "not so cold" it is inside with just framing and windows. We spent last weekend picking out all of the lights for the house and bought new stackable washer and dryer. Building a house definitely takes care of my urge to shop! I know the layout of all the home improvement stores within a 50 mile radius of the house - ha! More pictures soon...

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T23:48:00.000-05:00

Santa had his "head elf" Curtis check out our new house and he left us a note on our partially complete fireplace explaining our gifts this year. He is sending us all to the waterpark for Christmas! We are all very excited. We weren't really in the Christmas mood this year and the only decoration at our apartment was a very special decorated Christmas tree that we can plant in our new yard in the spring.

We opened gifts tonight since we won't be home for Christmas. The kids received all the necessary goodies for their bathrooms. The shared tub and toilet area will be all decked out in SpongeBob. Our 3 year old's sink area will also be SpongeBob. We have SpongeBob shower hooks, rug, toothbrushes, nightlights, shower squeege, bath poofs, clock, light - you name it! Our 5 year old's sink area is in her bedroom which she wants decorated in frogs, so she received frog accessories. We found the coolest frog trash can, rug and tissue holder.

Windows are in!

2006-12-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad we left the transoms in above the windows in the living room. I love them!