The Week of Birthday Begins

Around our house we like to celebrate the "Week of Birthday". Such fun! This year the celebrating has started a bit more than a week early, which is fine by me!

Part one: my getaway staycation (and first ever night away from Luke, now 16 months old). The fun involved:

• a successful kid-free shopping trip to give my lackluster wardrobe a boost.
• scones at Merritt's with Becky
• late night movie and beer at Beck's, and a gift received - a copy of the cookbook that started my cookbook obsession.
• a sleep-in!!
• Egg Factory breakfast
• more lovely shopping
• a girl's trip to the salon
• dinner with 9 lovely girlfriends
• New Moon

Part Two: post movie, I arrived home to find a rather large gift-wrapped boxed sitting in the front room. A birthday gift from Casey & Luke! I was more than happy to open it early! Meet my new best friend. Hello, friend. I have dreamed of you for years....

Welcoming Winter

Our weather is pleasant, I've only scraped car windows once or twice, and we've had one skiff of snow that lasted about one minute, yet winter has arrived. Know how I know? Because spontaneous game nights have begun!

There is something about the early nightfall that inspires Casey and me to revert to log-cabin style entertainment (well, if you ignore the iPod playing in the background). TV off, mug of hot drink at hand, crouched over the kitchen table embroiled in a cut-throat game of Carroms.

Carroms! Have you played that game? Love it! Hate that I can't win, but love to play it! Just one more reason to love my hubby, because it was a childhood game for him too. Funny how we grew up living these parallel lives in two different countries, developing the same attitudes toward family fun and traditions. It's just a game, but it's part of a lifestyle. Can't wait until Luke is old enough to get in on the fun!

When I grow tired of losing at that game, we switch to scrabble. Then I win. Grin.

No thanks, Mom.

My son is a vegetarian.

It's ok. I can admit it now. Well, maybe not quite a vegetarian. He will eat hotdogs and processed chicken nuggets and the meat-ish slime that fills canned ravioli, but I'm not quite convinced that any of that is really meat, so he might still qualify. Sadly, the family-raised extra scrumptious beef and home cooked chicken that I so lovingly prepare in all sorts of tempting ways holds no appeal for him. I really try not to take it personally!

Thankfully, he has developed a little beyond just throwing it on the floor. He now very politely seeks out the offending ingredients and hands them back. Today my husband left me a voicemail telling me that he had tried to sneak part of a meatball into a grilled cheese sandwich. Our kiddo took it apart, found the meat, and gave it back.

On a side note, he also refuses to eat potatoes, pasta (unless it is canned pasta mush), or any veggies other than broccoli slathered in cheese sauce or the occasional green pea.

This stings for me. I wanted to be the proud supermom who home-grows and home-cooks and home-bakes everything and thus ensures the glowing good health and happiness of my lovely little family! Oh well. I'll still garden and cook to my heart's content and hope he eventually grows up to have a more (or less?) discriminating palate. If not, I'll have grilled cheese sandwiches developed to an art form. At least he'll eat my home-baked bread!

A Little Light Reading

It all started when I was a preteen and discovered my Mom's copy of this wonderful book:


I poured over this book for hours, days, years! Through these photos I traveled Canada from the Pacific through the prairies, across the Canadian shield, all the way to the Atlantic. The photos introduced me to people, places, and ingredients far beyond the reaches of our cozy kitchen table.


Despite the fact that I rarely follow a recipe as written, I now have my own cookbook collection. It isn't extensive, but the collection has been lovingly acquired, with cookbooks selected based on their readability, beautiful pictures, and (silly but true) cover appeal. A favorite from my collection, and highly recommended, is this most beautiful book:

My Favorite Time of Year!

I loooooove holidays of any kind! I really don't need an excuse to invite people over and stuff them with food, but it's nice to have one. Mental preparations have begun for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the social opportunities that come with the season.

One of my favorite things: the dishes! I love my crisp, white tableware and serveware, am itching for a chance to bust out the teapots, dessert serving tiers, carafes, individual salt and pepper shaker sets for each place setting, the soup turreen, punch bowl, and on and on and on!

Next on my list of things-that-I-want-but-don't-really-need:

A flatware set that can be tidily stashed in its lovely little box until needed. The only thing limiting the number of guests I can entertain is flatware (well, space, too). I might have plates for 30+, but a good many of them would be eating with their hands! Oh well, it's about the people, the fun we're having, and the food we're eating, right?

I still want the flatware. But it would take me years to pick out a pattern!

Trunk or Treat

We had a great time at our church's Trunk-or-Treat evening last Sunday. Luke dressed up as a little cowboy and won a prize for cutest costume. We agree! He had a great time, but wasn't quite as happy when getting ready at home:

Amazing how much he perked up and enjoyed the costume when there was an audience:

Going for the good stuff...

And finally, a family photo to freeze the moment in time. We love this kid!

The Joys of Mom-Brain

Let me preface this little story with some background information:

1. We live about 20 minutes out of town.
2. I sometimes do my grocery shopping on my lunch break to avoid an extra trip to town on my day off.
3. If I buy refrigerated items, I stash them in the empty breakroom fridge until the end of the day.
4. I have a history of forgetting to retrieve these groceries, and have developed a most ingenious method of making sure this doesn't happen anymore.

Now, the story. We had a small leak in the fire sprinkler system at work. I called the service company, and a nice young man came out to take a look. He needed to access the fire-riser room, for which I have the key, and came up to my offic to ask me to let him in. I trotted off, with the nice service man following me, to do just that. On my way downstairs I realized that - to avoid appearing strange - I would have to explain why we needed to stop by the refrigerator to pick up my keys. Oh, did I mention? The only way to make sure I don't leave without my groceries is to make it so I can't leave without my groceries - I stash my keys in the fridge! After my rushed explanation, he made me feel oh-so-much better by saying (with a straight face and no hint of humor) "oh, don't worry, I keep my keys in the fridge all the time." Thanks buddy.

I'm a dork. It has been proven.

Luke Grows Up

We actually followed through with a photo project we started when Luke was a newborn. Starting at just a few days old, we took a picture of him every month on (or a few days after) his "month-i-versary". We took each picture in the same spot with the same teddy bear. How fun to see the transformation from infant to little boy in just a year!

Note to self

I am going to file this mom-answer away to use in later parenting years:

Rory: When are you going to tell them?
Lorelai: Soon.
Rory: When's soon?
Lorelai: When the big hand gets to the "s" and the little hand gets to the "oon".

Thanks, Gilmore Girls.

I'm Back...I Think.

I have not blogged in, uh, a really long time. My follow-through sucks. It is just more enjoyable to live my life than to take pictures of it and write about it. But I miss writing, and this is the only "fun" writing that appeals to me right now.

Last week, my husband's grandmother passed away. She was ninety-seven and had lived a full and vigorous life. She was blessed to be at home, surrounded by family, in the last days of her life with a gaggle of great-grandchildren screeching through the house, neighbors dropping by with food, and the grown-ups of the family caring for her, sitting near her, and filling the house with activity. During the week following her death, this flurry of family activity continued. It was mostly centered around the kitchen table where piles of photos and mementos were sorted through. Such treasures! A book of ration stamps from WWII, 100 years of photos, notes, letters, newspaper clippings, programs from funeral services, pressed flowers, school diplomas, all part of the treasure of the family's history. Entire lives were summarized in those few peices of paper tucked between the pages of the family bible.

Reading through the notes and letters, it struck me that future generations will have much less to sort through when my generation is the dying generation. We are so proud of being paperless - online bank statements and utility bills, emails (not likely to find any of those tucked in the family bible), instant messaging, facebook messages, texts, etc. - the whole of our social interactions will be a historical black hole some day...at least, in hard copy.

It's odd that this experience makes me return to blogging, because an online journal is hardly an enduring example of the written word, but it's better than nothing! It will be fun for me regardless of whether or not anyone is still reading this!

Baby Shower in a Box

With Little Sis only weeks away from her due date, we here (sisters, aunts, grandparents) are very aware of the distance separating us. To shower her and baby with love, we put together a "Baby Shower in a Box" and shipped it off. Although it wasn't nearly as fun as the real thing, we had a great time shopping, creating, and putting together video messages on a dvd.

The first picture is the loot before it was boxed up, and the second picture is of canvases that I painted to match the bedding set in Baby's nursery.

We can't wait to hear that baby has arrived safely! Any day now...!

The Non Gourmand

Ever have a sweet craving with no sweets in the house? Strange things are created....

Peanut Butter Soup:

• Scoop some peanut butter into a bowl (Jif for the discerning palate)
• Dump in some chocolate chips
• Microwave
• Stir until smooth
• Eat it with a spoon

Ya. We're sophisticated around here.

A Few Good Things

• Popchips
• Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel
• Homemade polenta
• Figs
• Alpicella Bakery's Sourdough
  
• Chocolate Stout
• A Schwinn recumbent bicycle (for obvious reasons)
  

A Common Theme

If I had to sum up this year in one word, it just might be "Craigslist"! Nuts! Working on the house and acreage, preparing for baby Luke, caring for livestock, and upgrading vehicles all had the potential to hugely impact our bank accounts...but it isn't so bad with good ol' craigslist! The other day we were compiling a mental list of the things we've bought and sold within the last year and were amazed! Saddles, cars, furniture, animals, etc., etc.

One upside of the current state of our economy is that everybody seems to be downloading little extras to make some ready cash. Bonus, if you're shopping! We're in the process of trying to simplify our house a bit - getting rid of bulky furniture to make room for a piano in the front room and clearing out our guest room to make it double as an office.

There was a very exciting moment today when I ran across this fabulous item on craigslist with mattresses included for $150!

I emailed AND called immediately...but someone had beat me to it! Sadness. I have been mourning the loss all day. It would have been perfect for our flexible office/guest room...and then would work great as a kid's bed during the post-crib years. All that and storage drawers too! Have I mentioned how sad I am about this missed opportunity? I just hope the lucky purchaser will enjoy it as much as I imagine I would!