The Inspired Family Experience

Be Passionate About Your Occupation (What A Lovely Thought)

2014-05-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

In a day and age when most of the population are very much aware of the economy and how it affects them, it is rare that someone will accept a job that pays less because it is more enjoyable or something they want to do. More and more people are worried about the bottom line; they are worried about whether or not they have insurance coverage or will be able to pay a mortgage on a house in a "good" neighborhood. This is not to say that there are not jobs out there that are wonderful AND pay well, it is just evident among the people I talk to that so many people are afraid of finding a job they like, because they don't want to "rock the boat".

My husband LOVES his job. He is a mailman. A letter carrier, for those modern, PC types. He walks 13 miles a day, so he gets lots of exercise, and he meets lots of great people. He takes care of his customers, and they take care of him. Because of his job we have gotten free wood for our fire place, lots of pallets for building things around the house, discounts on many things we have needed to run our home, and tips about where to get furniture and fixtures for next to nothing. With his personality it seems he was born for a job like this.

Over the years he has talked about finding a job that pays more. He is aware that his lack of education is a hindrance to his ability to pull six-figures a year, but he is willing to learn just about anything. Every time this topic comes up I cringe. It's not that I wouldn't love to be able to take longer or fancier vacations, or be able to remodel our bathrooms and kitchen right now instead of saving up for it, but I just know what a job like that would do to him. A management job would suck the life out of him. He is not made for a life of bureaucracy and red tape. And a high-risk/high-pay job (i.e. fire fighting, oil drilling, machinist) would do me in with worry. I like having my husband come home every night from work; I might be selfish, but I do. I also know that he loves his job and would be miserable to have to leave it. To have a job that you are passionate about is amazing.

As for me, I have been out of the "workforce" for nearly eight years. Our family has been blessed by the fact that Todd earns enough to keep us on a budget and I do not NEED to work. I have considered returning on many occasions, but the idea of returning to Administrative work always makes my gut twist. Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Administrative work. It employed me gainfully for several years, but I couldn't ignore the fact that I was never really happy doing that alone. My favorite jobs (both cut by the crashing economy) were in Marketing. I loved the creative side of business. Getting in on the ground floor of presenting a project to be considered. This was where how you worded things really mattered. This was when I first recognized my total love affair with words.

I used to always joke about finding the perfect job where I was paid to read books. Back then I never believed in a million years that a job like that actually existed. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started to realize that there are people who really DO get paid to read: Book Reviewers.

I started researching how I could break in to that business and saw that it was a lot of free lancing and writing for nothing. At that point my youngest was a baby and I was not ready to devote that much time to it, but I put the idea on a shelf, not ready to let it completely go.

Then, this year, I got a message from an author I follow about getting a free copy of a book if I would be interested in posting an honest review. I immediately agreed, and pretty much fell into group of wonderful ladies who review books for different publishing companies. The group is very supportive of each other and I love being part of this community.

As I became more and more immersed in the world of book reviews I restarted a "sister-blog" of mine, Between You, Me, and the Librarian, that I had started on the off chance that I was going to be a Book Reviewer. I started challenging myself to post reviews on every book I read, not just books sent to me through the group. It was a fun challenge, and great way to flex my writing skills.

I have now been doing this for 10 weeks and I know for a fact that even if it takes me years before I get paid for a review I will just keep plugging away. Why? Because this is my passion. This is a drive that I have had ever since I was a child participating in the PERK program and reading Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, and Treasure Island in the 4th grade. I was one of those twisted kids that liked doing book reports. As I told my son, writing a book review is a lot like a book report, except now I get to pick the types of books I read.

Let's Add A Year...

2014-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

With all that has been going on with AJ, I don't want you to think Gordy is getting ignored. He is not. He is my little shadow and spends most waking hours within 5-10 feet of me. He is such a funny mass of contradictions that I find something new to be amazed about every single day.

His personality is the type that he is funny without trying to be. He has a natural dry wit and has an opinion on just about everything. Right now he has an obsession with video games that we are trying to rein in. Not that video games are bad, but he spends way too much time asking to play them.

He also has a very explosive temper. Always has. The day after he was born the nurse had to wake him up to change his diaper and check his vitals. He stiffened his entire body and let out the loudest scream I had ever heard a newborn emit. The nurse looked at me and said "He has a temper, this one. You are in for it now."

What his temper means in connection with his video game obsession is that when we tell him no he throws a tantrum. That is actually his typical response to all negative answers. Again, trying to break him of this habit, but it is a LONG row to hoe.

The real looming task right now is the issue of school. Gordy will be five years old in September. Typically, this means we should be getting ready for Kindergarten. Not so fast! Oregon has a registration cut off date of September 10th for Kindergarten and 1st Grade. That means all Kindergarteners must be 5, and all 1st Graders must be 6, on or before September 10th of the corresponding school year. Guess whose birthday is September 15th?

That's right, Gordy has to wait another year to start Kindergarten. At first I was furious. He is already taller than half of the current 1st Graders (in AJ's class). He was already going to be the tallest kid in class, now we are going to add another year? I researched every alternative and kept coming up against a wall. Oregon is pretty solid on their cut offs. The only exception would be if he started Kindergarten in California, then I could get a waiver half way through the school year. As much as I love my family in Eureka, I just couldn't see Gordy living down there for 6 months just to get a waiver to start Kindergarten a year early. It just wasn't worth it.

I was resigned to the idea of him being a 6 year old Kindergartener, when I started volunteering in AJ's class twice a week. There is a boy in AJ's class whose birthday is a week after Gordy's, and he is the youngest in class. His family moved from California half-way through Kindergarten. Observing him interact with the other students forced me to stop and reassess my opinion. He is super bright; one of the top students in class. He is also super immature and a distraction to all of the other students in class.

After seeing this I started talking (and listening) to several people whom I trust that might have solid, educated opinions on the matter. My best friend (a teacher), whose birthday is the day after Gordy's and was the youngest in many of her classes; The school secretary, whose son also has a September birthday; and my husband, whose parents started him in a private school at the age of 4. All of them were unanimous in their chorus of "hold him back".

"Boys mature later than girls."

"They can handle being the oldest one in class far better than being the youngest one."

"Mentally, they are simply not ready to contemplate sitting still for that long. Boys just seem to have more energy."

It was the last advice that caught me. I'm not sure if it is true for all boys, but it is certainly true for Gordy. So after a long discussion and a reworking of the budget we opted to put Gordy in two days of pre-school in the Fall. This makes the most sense for us, as I am already at the school two days a week, and Gordy really does want to go to school. He is just simply not ready for Kindergarten.

He is NOT Broken

2014-04-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I start this post I know it will take me several posts to convey my feelings. Not because I don't know what to say, but because I have so much to say at the same time that my thoughts are going to take a while to sort out. This has been an exhausting experience, and it has only just started.

"We would like to have AJ evaluated for the Autism Spectrum." With those words my world changed. It's not to say that I didn't see it coming. I saw the signs. I'm his mother. I know him better than any other person on the face of this planet. I saw that some things were harder for him to understand than others. I battled through the frustrated melt downs; clenched my teeth through the spasmodic (and ear-splitting) outbursts of joy; endured the constant, yet halting off-topic chatter; held his sobbing body every time one more thing in his life changed.

The signs may have been there, but there were other things that didn't fit. He is very "touchy-feely". He loves cuddling. He is very social and makes friends very easily. Plus, he is VERY smart. While he isn't the smartest kid in class, he is one of the handful of kids who can work independently on his class work without the teacher's assistance. He reads at grade-level when encouraged to do so, and has "savant-like" attention to detail. These facts alone allowed me to push the suggestion of Autism, or more specifically Asperger's Syndrome, out of my mind.

Yet there I was, sitting in front of his 1st grade teacher and school principal during the Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences being told that AJ needs help. He is disruptive in class, exhibits several nervous tics, appears socially awkward, has selective hearing, is unable to cope with disappointment, can't sit still, wanders away from groups, has trouble writing clearly, and walks with a clumsy, hesitant gait. Having all of these things spelled out to me was a lot to handle.

Overall, I think I handled the conference fairly well. I didn't go hysterical, or start spouting off all of the reasons I believed there was nothing wrong with my son, or get mad and ask for another opinion. I simply asked them to spell out for me exactly what they had in mind. I am forever grateful I did that because I believe that my reaction was a compass point on our journey.

I was told, very clearly, that AJ's school work is great, so the last thing anyone wanted was to take him out of a class that challenged him academically to place him in another situation that might not. The first step was the evaluation process. This could take up to three months. As of this writing we have still not finished with all of the evaluations. So far we have completed speech, hearing, vision, and medical evaluations.

In all of this I am mindful of one huge thing: my son is a human being. He is not a toy to be fixed. He is NOT BROKEN. There is nothing WRONG with him. I cringe every time I hear that word now, especially when applied to a child. Even a casual "What's wrong with you?" sets my blood to boil. I realized that I never really used that phrase with my boys. Even before all of this it seems I didn't care for that phrase. My phrase of choice was a joking "What is your malfunction?" For some reason, to me, that seems to be a more gentle way to inquire about a problem. The word "wrong" just seems...wrong. Like you aren't the way God intended.

AJ is a delight. There are not many people who have met AJ who would not agree that AJ is a joy to be around. I am pretty sure every teacher on staff at his school knows his name and loves him. He is smart as a whip and, when he puts forth the effort, can accomplish above grade level work. His downfall is his immaturity. Socially he has a lot of work to do, but so what?! There are a lot of people who are "normal" but emotionally deficient in many ways.

As we learn more about what makes him unique, I will keep you updated. Right now his doctor is more concerned about his asthma/allergies/excema than his behavioral quirks. In fact, he believes they might even be connected. Until then, I will leave you with this thought. God made us the way He wanted us to be made. He knew the challenges we would face, and put people in our lives to help us through these challenges. I think God put AJ in my life because He knew there was going to be something in my life that AJ could help me through. AJ is perfect for me, and through his eyes I can now see myself as perfect him.

Yay! Summer Movie Express is...YESTERDAY?!?! Uh-oh!

2013-06-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yup. I blew it. Mom sucks. This one totally blew up in my face. BIG TIME! I have been pumping the boys up for this all week. I woke up this morning and even made a big deal about it when AJ came in to say good morning.

I didn't realize anything was amiss until I decided to check to see what movies were playing next week when I noticed the line that said "Tuesdays and Wednesdays". My heart fell. It's Thursday. Oh no!

Immediately I dreaded the conversation I was about to have. I started scrambling for solutions. How was I going to make up for this?

I grabbed my phone and looked up Redbox. I searched for Ice Age: Continental Drift (the movie that we were supposed to see). It was at WALMART! Suddenly my mind began to clear. I can do this! You see, Walmart sells Movie Theater candy for 98¢.

I now had something to bring to the table when I approached my boys. Granted, I knew it still wouldn't be pretty (and it wasn't), but at least I was trying.

As I figured would happen, AJ cried and G got mad. It took me ten minutes to calm them down so that they could hear me out. Unfortunately, that calming down included me walking away and telling them that if they didn't want to hear me out then they could settle for nothing. Not my proudest moment, but it did the trick.

I took them to Walmart after breakfast and we got all we needed. We even stopped by Dutch Brothers because Daddy wanted a blended coffee to cool him down.

Overall I think I more than made up for the lack of theater. They got to see the movie, they got candy (which they probably wouldn't have at the theater) and they got popcorn. In two weeks we will go and see Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and all will be well with the world once again. So maybe Mom doesn't suck that much.

Summer Is Here...Time To Read!

2013-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend Todd and I got our Library Cards. Let me tell you, there was a LOT of excitement surrounding this event.

I am prodigiously ashamed to say that while living in Humboldt County, I took the library for granted. The Humboldt County library is beautiful and has a lot to offer to the community. Unfortunately, it also had a particularly odd schedule. Due to lack of funds, for the first 10 years after it's move to the new building, the county could not afford to actually run the library. This lead to many people abandoning the library out of sheer frustration and confusion. I will admit that in recent years they have improved their hours, but they still need more support to get to where they want to be.

This brings me to the delight that surrounded our new Library Cards to the Salem Public Library. The library itself is huge (to me) and has half a floor dedicated 100% to the Children's Section. Obviously this is where we will be spending most of our time.

While we were there we decided to not only sign both boys up for the Summer Reading Program, but we also decided that Kindergarten Graduation was a good reason to get AJ his own Library Card. He was so proud and loved the frog on the front.

We spent nearly an hour there and pulled the kids out with the promise that we will come back at least TWICE this coming week. The effect of visiting and getting the cards had the desired effect on both of the boys, because since that visit we have read about three hours. It also presented a challenge that I was more than happy to meet. Do I really want the boys tearing books off the bookshelf? Or can I make a box or basket of some sort to organize their books?

Thus came about the idea for the "READING BOX". I took a medium sized, slightly shallow box and cut the flaps off. I labeled the four flaps as dividers for the box ("Read To Me", "Read With Me", "Read Myself" and "Library"). Then I wrapped the box, labeled the box, and reinforced all of the loose edges with packing tape.

The idea for the dividers came to me while I was sorting through books to read with AJ. We have a TON of Children's Books. Some of them AJ can read all by himself, some of them he is working on and still needs help with, and some of them are harder books that I read to the boys at bedtime. I also decided to add a section for Library Books so that there is always a place to put them while they are not being read.

It makes me so happy to see AJ applying himself to his reading. He wasn't so thrilled with reading during the school year, so I think this Summer Reading Program might be the best thing that happened to us. I made a deal with him that I would only match his hours of reading. I read to the boys all of the time, but I told him that half of his logged hours would have to be his own. It seemed to help because this morning he read 45 minutes all by himself!

What A Larger Kitchen Means (Help with Pancakes!)

2013-06-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my family always had a rather small kitchen. I often heard my mom mention wanting a larger kitchen, but I didn't really know what that meant. Every kitchen I had been in was about the same size as our kitchen. No one I knew had a "larger" kitchen. Besides, what would you do with one? (Keep in mind, this was my childish mind speaking.)

I started to understand the upside to a larger kitchen around the age of 12, when I started to really cook. By this time my brother was already cooking as well. Two adults and two teenagers could NOT fit in our kitchen at the same time. In fact two adults could barely fit in the kitchen without getting in each other's way. Yet still, what did a "larger" kitchen look like? I had still never seen one.

Then two things happened around the same time: My grandmother bought a larger house and our next door neighbor remodeled her kitchen. Suddenly I knew exactly what I wanted in a kitchen. I wanted something more that two people could work in at once. I wanted something open enough that I could teach my children to cook and do dishes.

It was nearly two decades before I got my large kitchen, but the small kitchens I worked in in the interim taught me a lot about appreciation. Last year, when we were in Washington visiting my FIL, my SIL referred to his kitchen as a "two-butt" kitchen. That meant that one person could be working at the stove, counter, or sink and there was just enough room to allow someone to pass or stand behind them. I love this phrase and now use it quite often.

Our first apartment had a "three-butt kitchen". Until now, it was the largest kitchen I had ever had. It was tucked into a corner and had very little counter or cupboard space, but it was open, so it wasn't all bad.

Our second and third apartments were both "one-and-a-half-butt kitchens". They were not family friendly at all. I love to cook, but these kitchens made it very difficult to achieve anything beyond small batches. I found myself doing a lot of prep work in the living room.

Our current kitchen is an estimated "five- or six-butt" kitchen. That means we had four people working in the kitchen at the same time and there was plenty of room for more. My husband actually stopped what he was doing and pointed it out. We both laughed and had to explain it to my sister and mother.

I love the fact that I have a kitchen large enough for many people to congregate. I also love that it is centrally located, so anyone who is working in the kitchen doesn't feel like they are banished to the back of the house. To me cooking is a social activity, not a chore.

That being said, I mentioned above that I started cooking around the age of 12. This is kind of a tradition my parents started that I want to continue with my kids. My parents started teaching us how to cook at a young age. By the time we were 12 we were tasked with being able to cook an entire meal unaided (my meal was meatloaf, baked potatoes, and corn). I think this instilled in all three of us a love for cooking, and an understanding of the importance of independence.

At this point my little guys are only 6 and 3, but it won't be long before it is their turn to cook for themselves. I want their repertoire to go beyond Mac & Cheese and Top Ramen. That is why I am so excited about them being able to help me in the kitchen whenever they get the chance.

A few weeks ago I decided to make a large batch of pancakes (in order to freeze left overs). As I was going about my routine of prep work I saw G peeking around the corner. It suddenly dawned on me that now was the perfect time for them to help. It was Memorial Day and we had no plans to make us hurry. So Cooking Lesson #1 commenced. They both took turns putting in the ingredients and stirring. Afterwards, both took turns helping me portion the batter onto the griddle (we have one of those cool pancake squirters).

I'd like to think they enjoyed them all the more for having helped make them, but who am I kidding...they love them no matter who made them.

PANCAKES

(Modified from recipe in Betty Crocker Cookbook)

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp sugar (I usually add more, but I like mine sweet)

3 tsp baking powder (I know it's a Tablespoon, but that is how the recipe is written)

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

2 Tbsp oil or butter (melted)

Directions

1. Heat a griddle or frying pan over Medium heat.

2. Mix together all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Stir in milk using a wooden spoon.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and oil until frothy.

5. Stir egg mixture into batter until smooth.

6. Oil griddle, then ladle batter into small circles.

7. When batter starts to bubble (about 2 minutes), using a wide silicone turner, flip pancakes, cook for additional 1 minute. Remove from griddle.

To Lamb-Baste A Lender

2013-05-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am usually not a very vindictive person. Accidents happen, mistakes are made, and people just have to move on. However, if someone can help others by sharing their bad experiences, I think it should be done. This is true for our experience with our lender. I don't wish to sound whiny or bitter, so here are some points laid out as impersonally as I can manage.

Our lender (American Financial Resources) was found for us by our broker. They were the only ones who would finance a manufactured home under FHA guidelines. Our broker had not had a bad experience with them before so he had no reason to believe this time would be different.

Despite having a broker, AFR tried to contact us three times on their own in order for us to sign "their" paperwork. They essentially tried to cut our broker out of the process.

As our original closing date was approaching AFR began having problems receiving documents. Our broker was forced to resend bank documents and the appraisal reports on more than one occasion. The appraisal report actually took three weeks to finally get transmitted properly.

As our second closing date approached AFR called our broker and informed him that we did not have enough money to close escrow. This was a mystery to us, seeing as we had enough money in the bank to close escrow twice. It took two days of arguing (and a second extension) before our broker was able to decipher that all they wanted was proof that the "outstanding" earnest money check was cancelled and replaced with a cashier's check, per their request, at the beginning of the process.

Once everything was finally in and ready to go AFR sat on the documents for two days, forcing us to request a third extension.

Finally the documents were signed, the down payment was wired, and all that was needed was for AFR to wire the money to the Title Company. Once again, they sat on it until literally two hours before our deadline.

While their national reputation is mixed, I did read some complaints online that almost mirror our experience with them. My recommendation is that if you can get a loan somewhere else, do NOT use American Financial Resources. If you cannot get a loan anywhere else, find a broker.

In fact, find a broker at the beginning. It is their job to navigate the paperwork, find you the best loan, and fight for you if things start to turn nasty. If you live in Salem or the surrounding areas, I highly recommend calling Nelson Lomax at Landmark Professional Mortgage. He was totally our champion and got the job done by sheer will power.

Home Sweet Home!

2013-05-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's done!!! We can finally talk about it! IT IS OURS!!!

Last week Todd and I signed the papers and picked up the keys to our very first house. I tell you what, though, it was a huge struggle to keep this one quiet. Everyday for the last two months I have wanted to shout it out to the heavens and everywhere below it that this was happening, but after the last time we tried to buy a house ended badly, we decided to keep this to a need-to-know situation.

In the end everything happened very quickly (even if the last three weeks seemed to drag on with one drama after another). At the end of February my MIL e-mailed me a listing for a house in South Salem that she thought we might like. The listing looked promising so I called Knipe Realty, a complete cold call based on an ad at the bottom of the listing. For some reason they put me in touch with Nicole Greenspan in their Portland office (a HUGE God-send), and she made arrangements to meet with us and take us around to three or four other houses that Sunday.

Well, it turned out we didn't like the first house, or the second. The third was nice, but a bit out of our price range. After two more "definitely not" houses, she told us to keep the third house in mind, give her a few more details about what we wanted, and go and talk to a broker about financing. She gave us the name of Nelson Lomax at Landmark Professional Mortgage, who just happened to be a customer of Todd's. He called us that night and scheduled an appointment for that week.

After meeting with Nelson, and getting pre-approved, we decided to not lose momentum and scheduled a couple showings for Todd while I was out of town. The first house he saw was a manufactured home in West Salem that had come through my e-mail a couple of times. He told me flat out that he wanted me to look at the house when I got back and see what I thought. A few days after I got back I walked into the house and from that point on all other houses paled.

A week later we made an offer and discovered that we were not the only ones coveting this beautiful home. The seller put it to a bid and we came out the victors. After that it was a matter of getting inspections, appraisals and paperwork all done. We did discover that the house needed one thing done before we could close, but that was done fairly quickly.

As I said above, it was the last three weeks that were the real nail-biters. We were supposed to close on April 30, but after major delays with the appraisers, Title, insurance, HUD, and our lender (whom I will lamb-baste in my mind for years to come) we were required to take out not one... not two... but THREE extensions in order to keep from losing the house. Even with the extensions we still had a harrowing 11th-hour signing that nearly required Todd to take an extended lunch just so we could get everything buttoned up in time to get the keys on the last day of our final extension. But you know what they say - all's well that ends well. I never appreciated that phrase until now. Nothing else matters now except the fact that we have the house!

Oh, you want to know about the house? Okay, here it is. The house is 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,782 square feet. It has vaulted ceilings and an open floor plan. The kitchen is large with a wrap around counter and opens into the living room, dinning room and family room. There is a fire place in the family room, ceiling fans in the family room, dining room, and master bedroom, and a WALK-IN CLOSET! There is a separate utility room off of the kitchen that leads to the garage, which is split level to the house. The back yard is uneven and needs to be re-fenced, but it has a perfect east-facing spot for a small garden.

I'm sure I will post pictures of my future remodeling of the house at later times. But until then, thank you Lord, and everyone else who has had a hand in making this happen!

Deep-Dish French Bread Pizza

2013-05-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Just like your average American family, my family loves pizza. But I am going to let you in on a secret...that is not really a secret: take-out pizza can get 1) boring, 2) expensive, and 3) detrimental to your wardrobe.

The great thing about pizza is that it is easy (at least the take-out kind), and a great option for long days where cooking dinner just doesn't sound so great. This argument seemingly nixes my suggested alternative: Homemade Pizza. But wait, not so fast. Homemade pizza can be easy! It is called French Bread Pizza. You know those sandwich rolls you have in your cupboard? Cut them in half, spread some pizza sauce on them, sprinkle cheese and toppings, and bake them. Easy as making a sandwich!

Now, this option is great for the kids who only like one or two toppings on their pizza, but if you are anything like me, you love the combination of flavors multiple toppings provide. With French Bread Pizza, multiple toppings can be tough. They usually fall off, and that can get frustrating. Well, I found a solution to all of your problems (at least as they pertain to French Bread Pizza). It is called Deep Dish French Bread Pizza. The process is just a couple more steps, but it takes virtually no time at all.

Instead of cutting the Roll in half, just cut the top 1/2" off. Using a small serrated knife (i.e. steak knife) cut around the inside of the roll to loosen it up.

Hollow out the roll, leaving about 1/4" - 1/2" rim and crust all around.

Add the pizza sauce all the way around the edges, not just on the bottom. This will add to the flavor greatly!

And then we layer! Cheese, toppings, more cheese. I even sprinkle garlic spread on top of mine to give it a bit of a kick!

Bake on 400°F for 8 minutes, or until it reaches your desired crunchiness.

So now your only argument is that your local pizza joint needs your business. It is a fact, the take-out pizza industry is thriving. It does NOT need your business. Don't think you are supporting it with your weekly (or bi-weekly) purchase. There! I have now released you from your dependency on take-out pizza. That is not to say you can't enjoy take-out from time to time, I do like Papa Murphy's, but that is a treat, not a regular meal!

Napkin Roses for Mother's Day

2013-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

I had the huge honor of teaching Sunday School for several years at Grace Baptist Church in Eureka, CA. I still miss the kids there very much. They challenged me to find different ways to challenge them every week. It wasn't just about learning the Bible. It was about applying those lessons to everyday and helping them to become witnesses to the World.

Of all of the lessons I taught, I only repeated one. This lesson I repeated every year on Mother's Day. The lesson changed from year to year in content, but the basis was the same: Finding Ways to Celebrate Mom. The Bible tells us to "Honor your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:15). This is the fifth of the Ten Commandments of God.

God gave us a lot of rules in the Bible, but for Him to have made "Honor your father and your mother" one of the Ten Commandments, and for it to be the first of the Commandments that have a promise attached to it - well, it stands out. Our parents came before us. They learned lessons ahead of us so they could teach us and we (hopefully) won't need to learn the same lessons the same ways they did. This is a fact that demands respect.

In America we set aside one day a year to celebrate our Mother (Fathers get their own day in June, but this isn't about them). I want to make it very clear that "celebrating" them should not be confused with "honoring" them. We should "honor" them (as a person) everyday. We don't need a special day to do that. No, Mother's Day is about celebrating her "mom-ness". What makes her a great mom? Why did God give you the mom He did? It is a day to thank her for being your mom, and apologize for forgetting to thank her every other day of the year.

To go along with the lesson I always included the same object lesson/craft: the Napkin Rose. This is a very simple craft, but it means so much when the meaning behind it is explained.

Pretty much everyone knows that flowers have meanings. Colors matter in conveying the message you want to deliver. Yellow rose = friendship, pink rose = puppy love or infatuation, red rose = passionate love. However, on Mother's Day, two of these colors take on a different meaning.

I learned this lesson as a young adult, attending a Mother's Day brunch at the Elks Lodge. My father presented my mother and my grandmother with two different colored roses. My mother wore a red rose on her blouse, my grandmother wore a white rose. I leaned over and asked my mom why my father got her a red rose when her favorite color was yellow. My grandmother was the one who answered. "Your mother wears a red rose today because the mother she honors is still here on Earth. I wear a white rose because my mother is no longer here."

Those words struck me then, and then struck me even harder several years later when I gave my mother her first white rose on the day I wore my first red rose. It was my first Mother's Day, and her first Mother's Day without her mother. That was also the first year I presented this Object Lesson.

I found the idea on You Tube (ironically it was a video of a guy trying to impress girls by making roses out of cocktail napkins, but hey, whatever works).

Literally all you need is a red or white napkin (cocktail napkins work best) and tape (floral tape works best).

Lay the napkin out flat and tightly roll one entire edge between your fingers. Only roll about 1/8 of an inch worth. Just enough to give it a "curled" look.

Flipping the napkin over, roll the napkin into a loose pinwheel tube. Make sure the rolled edge is rolling out and not in.

Pinch the tube about two inches from the top and start a tight twist all the way down to create the stem.

Wrap the stem in floral tape. Pull the petals slightly to open up the rose, and - Viola! - you have yourself a Napkin Rose ready to give to your mother (or grandmother, aunt or mother-figure in your life).

Apple Chips

2013-05-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Our family goes through phases with food. We like a food, buy a lot of it, eat a lot of it, buy more of it, eat more of it, buy even more of it, get tired of it, and then we are left with a bunch of food we are not quite willing to eat any more.

This happened this week with apples. My kids were tired of apples, yet we still had three apples that were going to go bad if someone didn't eat them. Then I saw a Pintrest post that solved my issue: Apple Chips!

So I sliced up the apples very thin, pre-heated the oven to 200°F, sprinkled them with a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and baked them for two hours. They'll keep for a week in an air-tight container, but they won't be hanging around that long in my house.

This is definitely a healthy alternative to candy and chips, and I can make them while the boys are at school and have them ready when they get home. WIN!

APPLE CHIPS

Ingredients:

- Apples

- Cinnamon

- Sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°F.

2. Core apples if you wish. Slice them very thin.

3. Mix equal parts cinnamon and sugar in a small dish.

4. Sprinkle apple slices with mixture. Flip and repeat on the other side.

5. Bake for two hours or until the slices take on your preferred level of dehydration. (I like mine slightly crispy)
*I also decided to flip the chips 90 minutes in to help them dry a bit more.

Greetings from Salem!

2013-05-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

Wow! Who knew that moving would take so much out of me that I would need to take an 8-month hiatus from blogging? Well, to celebrate making it back to blogging, I have changed the look of the blog.

Our lives have been very eventful in the last eight months. Here are a few high lights, month-by-month:

September - We arrived to fairly hot weather and were able to get some awesome family time in before Todd started his job and AJ started his new school. Gordon and Scott (the FIL and BIL) helped us move and stayed one extra day. The day they left my parents arrived to visit. Two days after they left Chad and Jamie (BIL and SIL) arrived to visit. What a wonderful time!

October - Todd started work, AJ started school, Gordy and I decided to "get lost" a lot in order to find our way around town without depending on GPS. It only took us two weeks to stop using it. Halloween was fun (the boys were Mario and Luigi) and we were able to sneak a trip down to Eureka to celebrate Ti Aula's birthday.

November - More adventures around town. The leaves turned, so we were able to have some fun in the leaves. Rain toward the end of the month provided Todd with his first challenge as a carrier: delivering mail in a flood. Was able to host Thanksgiving with most of Todd's family (missed MIL).

December - Busiest month of the year! I decided to bake goodies for Todd's co-workers 2-3 times a week, and apparently they liked them. My parents surprised me by visiting the weekend before my birthday. I cried like a baby (we are talking huge sobs) when I opened the door and saw them standing there. The in-laws were here for Christmas and then a week later we traveled to Eureka to celebrate with my family.

January - The New Year was rung in while visiting family in Eureka. After returning home the rest of the month was spent settling in to a routine and enjoying life. Mommy and Gordy spent a lot of time at the YMCA and the biggest excitement of the month was the "new" bunk bed Daddy found while at work for $25.

February - Being a short month, it flew by very fast. Uncle Scott and Mike and Justin all sneaked in visits at the beginning of the month, and the boys got to spend a bit of time at the Discovery Village.

March - This month was packed VERY full. Between a quick trip to California for my niece's birthday, Easter, another visit from Mike and Justin, and AJ being invited to TWO birthday parties we were busy every weekend.

April - Finally, last month opened with a BANG! AJ turned 6 and my parents surprised him with a special visit. We celebrated all weekend by doing some of his favorite things and ended it with a party at his favorite pizza restaurant. The rest of the month zoomed by. As the temperatures started to rise we spent more time out of doors. It culminated with a visit from our cousins, a trip to the Ag Fair, and a case of pneumonia for AJ. Not the ending we would have chosen, but he is doing much better now.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Week 2

2012-09-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

Ha ha ha! I can't believe I thought I could keep up so much activity through the first week of school. Wow!

Well, AJ started School (and I'll post those pictures later) and he loves it. He had a great first day, a rocky 2nd day (luckily I was asked to stay and help out that day, cause he fell apart pretty fast), a fantastic 3rd day, and a not so great (but still okay) 4th day. Over all, I think his first week of school was a success.

We started our packing process this week. I am in the process of packing up our entire bedroom. Not easy as it is the messiest in the house, so it was the obvious first choice. Office is next.

Gordy is reeling from all of the changes and is emoting in some very extreme ways. Tantrums are nothing compared to the acting out that this kid has been doing. All our warfare is more like it. His good days are the days we watch Little Miss. At least on these days he has a playmate.

This weekend has started out rough with AJ catching his first cold of the season. Luckily I was expecting it, so I am totally prepared. With luck we will still have fun this weekend and he will be recovered for school on Tuesday.

Well, gotta go pack some more!

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 5

2012-08-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

DAY 5 (August 24th): Highland Park

This is the park from my childhood. My grandmother lived near this neighborhood, so more often than not we found ourselves playing at this park as little kids. The wooden structure in the above picture was brand new two decades ago and used to be the high light of the park. Unfortunately, nostalgia is about all that recommends this park...for parents at least.

I find one thing very humorous, though. Kids and parents have a whole different rating system for parks. Kids are happy with any park that has slides, swings, or climbing sets. It does not matter how clean or new they are. This park had all of these things and was definitely NOT clean or new. The boys had a blast.

The boys are getting a lot better at crossing the monkey bars. Pretty soon they won't need Daddy's help.

The climbing spiral is always a favorite spot for the boys, no matter what park we go to. If the park has a spiral the boys will spend at least five minutes climbing up and down it.

Gordy went down the Fireman's Pole for the first time all by himself. I missed the first one because it happened so unexpectedly, but he was more than happy to do it many more times for the camera.

AJ had lots of fun. Playing tag and hanging off of equipment that was finally tall enough for him to do so.

These three toys are actually about as old as, if not older than, I am. I have seen pictures of myself playing on these exact toys when I was about Gordy's age.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 4

2012-08-24T15:40:00.002-07:00

DAY 4 (August 23rd): Babysitting Cousin & Garage Sale!

Well, I'm pretty sure Thursday was destined to be a not so adventurous day. First of all, my niece came over to spend the day with us today. We love our Little Miss, so it's not like it was a chore, but jealousy usually runs rampant on those days so I was expecting Gordy's attitude to be less than ideal. And, of course, he did not disappoint.

My usual course of action is to get them outside, or if the weather is not great have them re-organize the toy drawers (a.k.a. taking everything out, mixing them up and then watch Mommy/Auntie put it all away). Well, the weather was okay, so after breakfast we headed outside. We played on the swings, climbed on the playset and played with the balls. While the kids we playing hide and seek I managed to get a swing to myself. I was pumping away, and before I knew it I was swinging REALLY high! Once the boys noticed they wanted me to push them really high. No sooner had I sent AJ to fence top level than I felt my shoulder pop. NOT COOL! I managed to satisfy Gordy's swinging demand and them we all ambled back into the house.

Thank GOD Todd got home early! He was able to do the heavy lifting and watch the kids while I managed to sort the rest of the baby clothes for the next adventure of the day: THE GARAGE SALE!

(BTW: Little Miss will probably never allow Uncle Todd to "cuddle" with her again. She learned "cuddle" is code word for nap. Kudos to Uncle Todd for that success, though.)

The garage sale was more successful than we expected. Seeing as it was Thursday, we didn't expect much, but we figured "Why not?". We managed to sell a few items, so that was cool. The boys entertained themselves by playing tag with Daddy, or showing browsers how the Total Gym Worked.

We are continuing the garage sale Friday and Saturday, so hopefully more stuff will be unloaded on these days. Definitely going to at least a park during these days.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 3

2012-08-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

DAY 3 (August 22nd)- Ross Park (M & 11th Streets)

On the suggestion of a friend, for Day 3 we went to Ross Park. I learned later that my mother had babysat in this area as a teen and had taken her charges to Ross Park regularly, so this added a bit of nostalgia to our trip. Of course there is little else that is nostalgic about Ross Park now. Nearly everything at the park is new and improved!

Our first stop was the Monkey Bars. AJ started it off, but got gun shy, so Gordy pushed his way to the front and barreled right on through with Daddy's help. After that AJ was willing to make one more attempt, this time with Daddy helping a little bit (or giving him a wedgie!).

This was seriously the tallest slide I have seen in a while. The day ended when Gordy fell over backwards from the bottom trying to get off.

Rock climbing! This was a cool feature.

This is a balance board. The key is to try to balance with no hands. AJ attempted it, but decided he preferred the stability of using his hands.

I have said in the past that Gordy has a very odd "fear factor". He is afraid of monsters, ghosts, spiders, bugs, carousels and loud noises. Yet he has no problem climbing tall structures and hanging precariously by his hands until he can drop safely. My odd little Dare Devil.

This is one of the only features in the park that is not new. It is an old spring centered teeter totter. It would be pretty difficult to launch anyone from this considering Todd needed to help the boys just to get it to go up and down.

Bottom line, we had a great time at this little park!

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 2

2012-08-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

DAY 2: Freshwater Park (August 21st)

This being a pretty busy week, I decided that the best options for getting us out of the house this week would be to simply go to a different park every day. I really wanted to go to as many parks that we hadn't been to as possible. I recalled a friend of mine mentioning going to Freshwater Park last week, so I picked this park for our first stop.

Gordy, of course, went right for the playset and slide. This kid would live in a tree house with slides and swings if that were an option. He had blast running around a new playset.

Next, both of the boys ran for the sandbox. I don't think either of them had ever seen an actual sandbox before, so this was a WAY new experience for them. AJ immediately wanted to make a sand castle, so that was pretty much it for him, until we went for the water.

We all noticed that one of the swings had been broken from the top. Instead of a typical reaction of a "normal person" (which would be something like "ah, that sucks"), Todd thought "Hey, I can climb up there and fix that". Well, it didn't work. But his ability to shimmy up the pole inspired him to start doing pull-ups.

Gordy wanted to do pull-up too!

Finally we made it to the water. The last time I had been to Freshwater Park was 8 years ago, and the swimming hole had still been under construction. Never had I imagined that the swimming hole would be this nice. It was awesome. I felt bad for not bringing the boys' swim trunks (for like 30 seconds, until I remembered it was cold and over cast). They still had fun and we did let them wade in the water for a little bit. I promised them that the first Sunny day next week I will bring them back for a swim.

28 Days of Nor Cal Adventures: Day 1

2012-08-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my oldest son finally asked me the question that I will probably get asked a million more times (but this was the first time). "Mommy, how many days until we move?"

The answer both shocked and inspired me. I counted it out and told him that we had about 30 days left in Eureka. Of course he had to ask how many 30 days was, and I tried to explain it by showing him on the calendar. In doing this I started to think that it would be cool to create a calendar to count down the days until we leave, except that might simply depress me, or worse, freak me out. Instead another idea popped into my head.

I have been researching things to do with kids in Salem for over a month now, in an effort to build up excitement for the move. Well, yesterday it finally occurred to me that there are actually a lot of things to do in Nor Cal that the boys have never, or rarely, done. Why not do some of these things in the month leading up to our move. My mom even gave me the idea for a scrap book just a few days ago. So here we go with Day 1.

DAY 1 (August 5th) - Mad River Hatchery

I know, I know...I cheated. But I hurt my neck on Sunday and didn't really want to leave the house yesterday, so I figured since we had already gone to the hatchery two weeks ago I had one "freebie".

After church on August 5th, my parents, my sister and her family, and our family all piled in our cars and drove to Blue Lake for a picnic at the Mad River Hatchery. I hadn't been to the hatchery since I was in 3rd grade and no one else in our group had ever been until this year (my sister had taken her family for the first time the week before). We have a family friend who works there, so the idea had crossed my mind to take the boys, but I just kept putting it off. Then my sister went and I realized how much the boys would really love seeing all of those fish and getting to feed them. So that was it. No more putting it off. We were going to do it.

It was a beautiful day for a picnic. Sunny, light breeze, hot but not sweltering. We were in heaven, until... We got to the hatchery and the first thing I notice is the missing diaper bag. I had run out the door after my youngest and had forgotten to go back in the house for the diaper bag after putting him in the van. Silly Mommy! Lucky for me my sister was willing to share my niece's diapers. (Poor G!)

After lunch the real fun started! We got to check out the fish (and the resident cat). The baby fish were too little to feed, but they were still pretty active and interesting to watch.

The big fish were where it was at though. There was a food dispenser that cost a quarter to feed the fish. Not sure exactly what the money goes toward (probably keeping the facility open to the public). Either way it is a worthy cause in my opinion. And we definitely did our part to contribute. I'm pretty sure we nearly drained that food dispenser. Everyone, even the adults, was getting a kick out of watching the fish get excited over the food. At one point the fish got so excited they actually broke a dividing board in the tank. Todd fished it out so the maintenance guy could see it on his rounds. I think everyone had a wonderful and memorable day.

On To the Next Adventure!

2012-08-17T11:27:00.001-07:00

I am writing this post as I sit among boxes, piled clothes, and utter chaos. There can only be one explanation for my house being in this condition...we are moving! In five weeks we will be pulling out of Eureka and will no longer call this picturesque city home.

I have lived in Eureka nearly my entire life. I actually counted the exact number of months I haven't lived in Eureka the other day and discovered that it was only 18 months. That means in nearly 32 years of life, only 1 1/2 of those years were spent away from the city I thought I would always call home. Of course, God had a different plan for my life. So in 5 weeks, with the help of our families, my husband, sons and I will make the 7-hour trek to Salem, OR, where Todd will begin his job as a Carrier for the United States Postal Service after patiently waiting 5 years as a Clerk in Arcata for the same opportunity to open up here. It never did, so here we are.

My feelings about this move are definitely bittersweet. I have a full list of Pros and Cons, so I decided to share them here.

CONS

I have never in my life went longer than 6 weeks without seeing my mother. I have also never lived longer than 6 hours away from her. I am going to miss her like crazy.
I have never missed Christmas with my family, but due to the nature of Todd's chosen career (which is the same as my father's), we will not likely ever be able to spend Christmas Day with my family again.
I will miss my Daddy, too.
My sister and I, while always close, have gotten even closer in the last two years since her pregnancy and the birth of my niece.
I was looking forward to my sons and niece growing up as close cousins. My boys adore my niece and she loves them. It will be hard to give up that dream.
No more sleep overs at Grandma and Grandpa's. This is one of the boys' favorite things in the whole world. Mommy's and Daddy's too.
No more "free" baby sitting. I always knew that if I had an appointment or needed to get something done, all I had to do was ask my parents, sister, or grandmother to watch the boys. If they could not do it, I had some lovely friends to back me up.
Our church family and friends have been super supportive to us over the last 8 years. We will miss them dearly.
I will miss living so near to my grandmother.
We have our oldest son enrolled at NCLA here. At the observation appointment the class and teacher seemed perfect for him. I hope his new school will fit him just as well.
I will miss the ocean.

PROS

Cheaper housing - by A LOT!
Ag country means lots of fresh fruits and veggie varieties!
Ag country also means USDA Housing Loans.
More variety of stores, which means lower prices.
Oregon = NO SALES TAX
Four seasons!!!!
There is a YMCA is Salem, so we WILL be signing the boys up for swimming! It also has free childcare and Kids Club, so I can take my youngest with my while my oldest is in school and not have to worry about who is going to watch him while I work out.
The Discovery Village at Riverfront Park looks really cool, and a family membership there will also get us free admission to Seattle Science Center, which Todd has fond memories of from his childhood.
Instead of driving 1-2 hours to find the best camping/swimming holes, we only have to travel 15 minutes.
We will be only 3-4 hours from Todd's family instead of 10-12 hours, which means a lot more visiting.
My best friend (whom I have missed terribly these past 6 years) will now only be less than 90 minutes from me!
New Community = New Opportunities
The Willamette Valley Chapter of Romance Writers of America is based in Salem.
The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants!
Cheaper gas prices (Thank you I-5)!
We do have some friends already living in Salem.
Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Chang's Mongolian Grill, and Red Robin. I think that is self explanatory.
If it isn't found in Salem, Portland is only a 45 minute drive away.

I'm sure there are a lot of other reasons I am sad/excited about this move, but regardless of them the bottom line is that this move is an adventure for our family. I hope to blog a lot more as I start a new outlook on life of treating everyday like an adventure.

I won't just be blogging about recipes, but about places, activities, and personal musings.

Here we go!!!

Simple Granola

2012-05-20T15:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a dilemma that I never thought about... store bought granola has way too many ingredients. I found a recipe for granola bars that I wanted to try out, but all of the granola I found had tons of stuff in it that I didn't want in my granola bars (like raisins, almonds, seeds, etc.). So I did the one thing any self-respecting cook would do. I looked up a recipe I could modify.

Here is ANOTHER dilemma... granola recipes have even more ingredients. I wanted one that I could make with ingredients that I had on hand. It was a tough battle, Google almost beat me, but I conquered the challenge and found a site that had a granola base recipe! I figured I could handle seven ingredients, and low and behold I actually had all of them. Even better yet, many of the ingredients are exchangeable based on preference.

I'll post my granola bars soon! In the mean time, here is my success to share with all:

Simple Granola Base
(adapted from Espresso and Cream)

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (I use Siagon Cinnamon)
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup honey (I also like using agave, when available)
1/3 cup light cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
1 tsp coconut extract (vanilla or almond)

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together honey, oil, and extract. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well, using your hands if needed.
4. Spread mixture in a thin even layer in a baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once or twice.
5. Remove from oven and cool, stirring occasionally. When cool, store in an air tight container or Zip-Loc Bag.

Homemade Oatmeal...oh yeah!

2012-05-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

I should mention right off the bat...I am the oddity in my family. My family loves coffee and/or tea...I don't. My (very Irish) family loves corned beef and cabbage...I don't (at least I have my sister on my side about this one). My family LOVES hot cereal...I DON'T! I have never been able to choke down oatmeal, porridge or Cream of Wheat. To me, the slimy consistency rendered it inedible.

Well, when my oldest son was very little my parents would watch him at least twice a week while my husband and I volunteered at our Church. It was inevitable, seeing as food options for a one year old are still pretty limited, that they would feed him oatmeal. And, of course, he loved it. Two and a half years later, his brother followed suit. The oatmeal bug was running rampant in my house, and I was powerless to stop it!

I quickly learned to be okay at least making oatmeal for my family, if not eating it myself. It was pretty easy with all of the instant oatmeal options they have at the stores. My boys particularly love the Dino Egg Oatmeal that Quaker has out. But those instant oatmeal packs can be expensive. I needed to come up with a way to feed the boys oatmeal without breaking the bank (or my gag reflex).

After some searching, I found a recipe that looked promising (and I had all of the ingredients on hand) so I adapted it for taste and made it for the boys. It turned out super pretty if I do say so myself.

Nutty Cinnamon-Raisin Oatmeal

(adapted from Summer Tomato)

1 cup Water

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup raisins (I used Sun Maid)

1/4 cup pecans, crumbeld

1 tsp cinnamon (I prefer Saigon Cinnamon)

1 Tbsp brown sugar
Splash of Milk (soy or almond, too!)

1. Add water and raisins to a small pot. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4-5 minutes, until raisins are nice and plump.
2. Stir in oatmeal. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until the oatmeal is your desired tenderness and consistency. You can add water a tablespoon at a time to achieve this, as well.
3. Spoon the oatmeal into a cereal bowl. Add a splash of milk. Top with pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Stir together. Add more milk to reach your desired consistency. Enjoy!

Pre-Summer Good Weather Fun!

2012-05-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

It has been unusually warm in our little corner of the world, so we have been trying to coax the boys to spend as much time outside as possible. Of course, when water guns are involved, I didn't need to twist any arms. Actually, it was my arm that needed to be twisted. Being the perennial worrier that I am, I was concerned that being wet outside could only be bad for AJ's asthma and Gordy's recovery from his cough. Yeah... I know... you can all roll your eyes now. My husband trumped me. He DID roll his eyes and told me that as hot as it was getting, the boys would dry between refills on their guns (he was right), so I dutifully pulled out the guns and filled them up.

Of course, this reminded me of the Super Soaker wars that my brother, sister and I used to have in our back yard in the Summers we were growing up. Does anyone remember the Super Soaker 5000? It was the MUST HAVE water gun for us. When we got it it was like being handed the Holy Grail. We treated it reverently...for like 2 minutes, then we fought over it for the next 2 months.

This also made me nostalgic for other water toys from my childhood. Wading pools, garden sprinklers, the Skip-It like water bomb that would randomly explode after so many skips, and, of course, the Slip N Slide! When and if we do move and buy a house, I can foresee a definite return of nostalgic water toys that first summer!

First-time Finger Painting

2012-05-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

Recently for Mother's Day, my sister (Dude, she's always trying to make me look bad, lol) gave our mother a canvas and magnet of my niece's finger paint art. My niece is 14 months old and it was adorable.

It also made one glaring point obvious. My boys, who are 5 and 2 1/2 years old, have never, ever, finger painted. I don't know why. My brother even bought AJ finger paints for Christmas when he was 3. Of course if you want AJ to use anything that might require him to be outside, Christmas is not the time of year to get it for him, as his asthma usually prevents outdoor activities in winter.

You might ask why I won't let them finger paint inside. Two words sum it up: "rental deposit". The last thing I wanted was to get finger paint in the carpet. Of course now that we have been here for nearly five years I realize that the carpet is going to have to be replaced anyway. This still didn't prevent me from using the fairly temperate weather outside as an excuse for their first experience.

While they were napping I wrapped the easel in parcel paper (and priority packing tape). I metered out the paint in plastic cups and set the easel outside. Once they were up I had them don just pants and head outside to start the fun.

At first I had to encourage them to dig in, but they got the idea pretty soon. Both enjoyed it immensely.

Idea for next time: the Crayola Washable Finger Paint is more gel than paint. It made it hard to do hand prints and to mix colors. So next time I'll stick with standard tempera paint.

Planter Watering Trough

2012-05-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our family recently got back from a two week vacation to Washington. It was quite an adventure, and as much fun as we all had with Todd's family, I was definitely glad to be home.

The first week was spent with Todd's dad and brothers (and sister-in-love) in Soap Lake. For those of you who are not familiar with this lovely spot in Central Washington, it is right smack dab in the center of ag country in Grant County, east of Ephrata and northwest of Moses Lake. The humidity while we were there was around 40% almost the entire time (except when it rained and spiked at 50%!). For someone who is used to 75% humidity on the coast...well let's just say my sinuses were not thanking me.

In the midst of all of this dryness, I spotted the coolest idea ever! The idea was unintentionally inspired, as my father-in-law had simply put the jug of water in his rhubarb patch as a way to remind him to water them, but still the idea took flight.

After last year's disaster with my herb garden, I was looking for a way create a "trickle irrigation" system without running water all the time. Seeing that jug sitting in the garden sent my brain whirling. Why not poke holes in the bottom of a jug of water to keep the garden constantly moist with only having to "water" once a day.

So, as soon as I finished my first gallon of milk I rinsed it and pounced in to action. All you need is a gallon jug, scissors, a sewing needle (at first I used an upholstery needle, but a smaller embroidery needle is better), and matches (use a candle to keep a constant flame going).

Take the scissors and cut the top of the jug off, leaving the handle.

Light a candle and hold the needle in the flame until it is hot enough to melt plastic (I counted to five). Immediately poke a hole in the bottom of the jug. Repeat five more times. For my first jug I poked twelve holes, but the water drained too fast. Six holes are truly the best. Keep them spaced evenly.

Afterwards, place the jug in the planter and fill with water. It truly works!

Baked Lemon Shrimp and Beef

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

New is good. Cooking the same old recipes week after week starts getting dull and can lead to snacking throughout the day. I don't know about you, but when I snack I cannot get satisfied, so I tend to over indulge. I also start falling back to REALLY basic and easy meals - we are talking boxed Mac & Cheese, Hot Dogs, and Top Ramen - and then my kids start to say "Not that again" a whole lot. That, of course, is never a good sign.

Well, the cycle ends here! This week I am going to post four "new to me" recipes as an incentive for me to get more creative in the kitchen.

So here comes the first one: Baked Lemon Shrimp and Beef.

I saw this one on Pinterest as just a picture and decided that I HAD to blog it, if only just to get a full recipe and article on the internet for it.

Last month my husband and I went to his Union's Christmas Dinner at The Sea Grill (a wonderful, fancy seafood restaurant in our town) and Todd ordered Steak & Shrimp. The shrimp was prepared scampi-style and was amazing. This got my appetite whetted for more shrimp dishes.

Then, as we were preparing our shopping list for Costco and trying to decide what to make for dinner I saw the picture, said "Good enough!", wrote down the ingredients, and headed out.

The original recipe called for only shrimp, lemon, butter, and Italian seasoning. I, however, added stew meat (you can substitute thinly sliced beef of your choice) and garlic (not pictured, because I didn't add it to this batch but should have!).

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Slice up a couple of lemons. I used only two lemons because I bought mine at Costco and they are HUGE there.

Place the lemons slices on the foil lined baking sheet.

Melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter in the microwave. It takes about 25 seconds in mine.

Drizzle the melted butter on the lemon slices. Mince up two cloves of garlic and sprinkle that on the slices as well.

Place raw shrimp into a large bowl and toss with Italian seasoning. While I used cooked tail-off shrimp (50-70/lb), that is not what I recommend. Use raw tail-on shrimp (25-30/lb), they cook up more tender and juicy.

Arrange shrimp in a single layer in the middle of the pan on top of the lemon slices.

In a large bowl, toss beef cuts with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of lemon juice, 2 tsp Italian seasoning.

Place the beef cuts on the inside perimeter of the pan. Doesn't that just look pretty?!

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until shrimp is opaque. Serve over rice.

This was the very first time either of my sons ate shrimp and they loved it.

BAKED LEMON SHRIMP AND BEEF

1 lb raw, peeled, tail on shrimp (25-30/lb)
1/2 lb choice beef, sliced into thin strips
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2-3 lemons, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Place lemon slices on the baking sheet, drizzle with butter, and sprinkle with garlic.
3. In a large bowl, toss shrimp with 1 Tbsp of Italian seasoning, to coat. Arrange shrimp in a single layer on top of the lemon slices in the middle of the baking sheet.
4. In another bowl, toss beef cuts with olive oil, lemon juice, and 2 tsp of Italian seasoning. Place beef cuts on the inside perimeter of the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until shrimp is opaque.