So, I had this really great sandwich on Friday from my favorite little lunch spot in the town where I work. And then the sandwich was gone and I still wanted more, so I decided to try my hand at making it for dinner tonight. It was so tasty, I thought I'd share:
Sweet Potato Sandwich:
Ciabatta Bread
Cooked, sliced sweet potato
Sliced tomato
Thinly-sliced red/purple onion
Spinach leaves
Feta Cheese
Red wine vinegar
I'm not going to include quantities here - you can figure that out. It's a sandwich. You just put however much of it you want on the bread.
But I would recommend you make sure the sweet potatoes are warm and the bread is toasted. That way, the feta melts a little bit. Oh - and the vinegar is to sprinkle on the bread before you close up the top of the sandwich.
I'd like to point out that we used sweet potatoes that we grew in our back yard! Note to my readers that live in the south: There is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be growing sweet potatoes. Seriously. They took little to no care and, bam!, sandwich fixin's right there in the dirt. I won't bother to link to articles here, you can just Google "how to grow sweet potatoes" and find plenty of good information. The only things I'd suggest (that we learned this year) are to start your slips with an organic sweet potato and to plant your slips in mounds of dirt rather than level with the ground. We really had to dig for ours. I know there are more taters in the ground in my back yard, but I really don't want to keep looking for them!
Showing posts with label weekends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekends. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Vroom
We spent our day downtown at one of the lakes - Lake Mirror. There's an annual car show that goes on there called the Lake Mirror Classic and Andrew's Technology Student Association does an fundraiser there every year, selling hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and stuff. We had so much fun last year, and we really enjoyed our time there this year. The weather today was unbelievable! After record-setting heat for weeks on end (I think something like 7 record highs were broken out in the first two weeks of October!), we have near-record lows tonight and tomorrow. It was cloudy and cold, followed by sunny, breezy and just-warm-enough.
I wandered around the car show with my camera and my dad (and my mom too, but she had far less trivia to share) and had loads of fun taking loads of pictures. I haven't gone through all of them and I'll wait to post them until I can identify all the cars in the shots. That means Dad will have to help me out.
Here's part of one of my favorite vehicles as a preview:
My photography assignment this week is night photography and I'm not doing so well so far. My camera doesn't have as much manual control as a DSLR, so I borrowed Mindy's Big Girl Camera.
There's just a short window of time each night when you can capture what my professor is looking for and I'm starting to get nervous. Last night, I took my camera out and only came up with this one:
And tonight, I took out Mindy's and, um, learned a lot. Here's hoping the third time's the charm!
I wandered around the car show with my camera and my dad (and my mom too, but she had far less trivia to share) and had loads of fun taking loads of pictures. I haven't gone through all of them and I'll wait to post them until I can identify all the cars in the shots. That means Dad will have to help me out.
Here's part of one of my favorite vehicles as a preview:
My photography assignment this week is night photography and I'm not doing so well so far. My camera doesn't have as much manual control as a DSLR, so I borrowed Mindy's Big Girl Camera.
There's just a short window of time each night when you can capture what my professor is looking for and I'm starting to get nervous. Last night, I took my camera out and only came up with this one:
And tonight, I took out Mindy's and, um, learned a lot. Here's hoping the third time's the charm!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Life As I Know It
We have been doing a lot of stuff, if you hadn't noticed. Things are busy in good ways and in not-good ways too. But that's how it goes, yeah?
We spent yesterday evening downtown at an event Lakeland calls First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, the stores in our historic downtown area stay open late, the streets are blocked off, and people flock to the area to shop and eat and just hang out.
Normally, I don't go to these things. I really don't like crowds.
I mean it.
But Andrew's school jazz band was playing and his TSA team was demonstrating their stuff AND his Lego Mindstorms team was represented too. So, he was pulling triple duty. But he had such fun. I was really pleased to see the concert - they did so well and he was so proud. He showed me the robot he's working on for the Mindstorms competition thingy (I don't really know what it's all about - I just volunteer and show up with the teachers need me).
And I ran into all kinds of people!
Of course, on a Friday night, after a long week, I was not looking so great. On our way downtown from the music studio, we stopped at home so I could throw on a clean dress and I put my hair in a kerchief. It worked out. I didn't feel cute at first, but lots of people told me I was, so that helped.
I saw an old boyfriend, friends of my brother's, people I went to church with as a kid, people my parents knew when I was a kid, people I hung out with when my kids and their kids were little, and, well, just people from every era and facet of my life in this town. I even saw Jessica and her hubby. That was pretty cool. Lakeland's not a small-small town, but it's small enough that when people come outside and gather in one spot, you are sure to see old friends.
I like that a lot.
I only finished about half of my errands today. I had big plans - Emma's birthday is next week and I've not done a thing yet. I need to pick up paperwork for things and I need to get hair color and I need to do so many other things. But I managed to grocery shop for the first time in weeks (hooray for not stopping at the store on the way home to pick up whatever's for dinner-that-will-surely-cost-us-more-than-it-would-had-I-planned-ahead!).
Yup. There were lots of things I needed to do that I didn't do. But you know what I did that was really cool?
I held my tiny baby nephew for a long time. A really long time. He slept on my chest and I laid on the sofa and just watched him breathe. I watched him roll his eyes in dreamy sleep and I watched his eyebrows hitch up and down at whatever he dreamt. I smelled his sweet baby head and I rubbed his back. Oh - and I kissed him. I kissed him over and over.
There isn't better therapy to be found anywhere on the planet than a sleeeping, happy baby.
Wake-Up Playlist: America, Ventura Highway
Daily Bliss: I'm about to make some caramel sauce to put with some apple slices. I mean, lots of good things have happened today, but I think that's going to be near the top of the list.
We spent yesterday evening downtown at an event Lakeland calls First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, the stores in our historic downtown area stay open late, the streets are blocked off, and people flock to the area to shop and eat and just hang out.
Normally, I don't go to these things. I really don't like crowds.
I mean it.
But Andrew's school jazz band was playing and his TSA team was demonstrating their stuff AND his Lego Mindstorms team was represented too. So, he was pulling triple duty. But he had such fun. I was really pleased to see the concert - they did so well and he was so proud. He showed me the robot he's working on for the Mindstorms competition thingy (I don't really know what it's all about - I just volunteer and show up with the teachers need me).
And I ran into all kinds of people!
Of course, on a Friday night, after a long week, I was not looking so great. On our way downtown from the music studio, we stopped at home so I could throw on a clean dress and I put my hair in a kerchief. It worked out. I didn't feel cute at first, but lots of people told me I was, so that helped.
I saw an old boyfriend, friends of my brother's, people I went to church with as a kid, people my parents knew when I was a kid, people I hung out with when my kids and their kids were little, and, well, just people from every era and facet of my life in this town. I even saw Jessica and her hubby. That was pretty cool. Lakeland's not a small-small town, but it's small enough that when people come outside and gather in one spot, you are sure to see old friends.
I like that a lot.
I only finished about half of my errands today. I had big plans - Emma's birthday is next week and I've not done a thing yet. I need to pick up paperwork for things and I need to get hair color and I need to do so many other things. But I managed to grocery shop for the first time in weeks (hooray for not stopping at the store on the way home to pick up whatever's for dinner-that-will-surely-cost-us-more-than-it-would-had-I-planned-ahead!).
Yup. There were lots of things I needed to do that I didn't do. But you know what I did that was really cool?
I held my tiny baby nephew for a long time. A really long time. He slept on my chest and I laid on the sofa and just watched him breathe. I watched him roll his eyes in dreamy sleep and I watched his eyebrows hitch up and down at whatever he dreamt. I smelled his sweet baby head and I rubbed his back. Oh - and I kissed him. I kissed him over and over.
There isn't better therapy to be found anywhere on the planet than a sleeeping, happy baby.
Wake-Up Playlist: America, Ventura Highway
Daily Bliss: I'm about to make some caramel sauce to put with some apple slices. I mean, lots of good things have happened today, but I think that's going to be near the top of the list.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Big, Giant Post
Hi there. I think I'm a little tired.
Just the thought of a post detailing our weekend makes me more tired. At the same time, so many wonderful things happened - I can't just let them all slip by without telling you a little bit at least.
Mindy's baby shower was this weekend, and you know how I like to have parties! My sister-in-law, Sarah and I co-hosted, with the help of Mindy's sister, Kim. We all divided up the tasks beforehand and I was up until,
ahem,
four o'clock Saturday morning doing my stuff.
I have it on good authority that Sarah was too.
We had a vintage baby cowboy theme goin' on and it was so cute. Honestly. I sewed miles of bunting to hang from the ceiling and made rope words to hang on the walls and Sarah made so many adorable cookies and games and food and more games and...
wanna see some pictures?
Between the two of us party pros, I don't think a single detail was overlooked.
The other reason I was awake so late was that I had to finish, of course, the hand-made baby gifts. I made two sets of receiving blankets and burp cloths from a pattern I found at youcanmakethis.com and I wrapped up that organic cotton Baby Sophisticate sweater I've been working on, along with a cute little button-topped, matching hat. There will be more pictures later (due to a photography class assignment), but here's a little preview:
My brother Jon also hand-made a present for Nolan. It's the cutest little robot toy. Oh. My. Gosh. You can sort of see it in Joe's lap above. That will also be included in more detailed photos later this week. Kate? You will love it so much.
I regret that I didn't take more photos of the food. Sarah made homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and gingerbread cookies on sticks in little cowboy-themed shapes. I made a ton of cupcakes:
By the time the shower was over, the past two weeks just sort of washed over me and I collapsed. My body hurts from my accident and the resulting physical therapy, my head hurt from all the multi-tasking and was tired all the way through. Chris really took care of me and made sure that I rested as much as possible on Sunday. For a fun, family-style activity, we jammed our fists into the dirt and harvested the first of our sweet potatoes.
There weren't many yet, especially considering how the vines have taken over everything,
but at the same time, it's nice to have found a crop that we seem to have some success with. I guess sweet potatoes really love the heat and humidity of the south!
We finished our Sunday off by using up the remaining sparklers from July 4th. They've been just sitting in my room and waiting for Emma to get a bit braver. She's always been pretty scared of them, but finally worked up the courage to play with the sparkly fire.
The shower was truly a beautiful celebration of our newest little family member. But the biggest reason to celebrate was that Nolan was given the green light to come home this past Sunday, the day after his party. There are still some scary things - he will be on a heart monitor for a long time and he really can't be exposed to many people (germs, y'know), but he's home now and that's all that matters. Gratuitous baby photos, anyone? These are from a week ago or so, but still. Tiny baby. Eating. Being burped. Need I say more?
Just the thought of a post detailing our weekend makes me more tired. At the same time, so many wonderful things happened - I can't just let them all slip by without telling you a little bit at least.
Mindy's baby shower was this weekend, and you know how I like to have parties! My sister-in-law, Sarah and I co-hosted, with the help of Mindy's sister, Kim. We all divided up the tasks beforehand and I was up until,
ahem,
four o'clock Saturday morning doing my stuff.
I have it on good authority that Sarah was too.
We had a vintage baby cowboy theme goin' on and it was so cute. Honestly. I sewed miles of bunting to hang from the ceiling and made rope words to hang on the walls and Sarah made so many adorable cookies and games and food and more games and...
wanna see some pictures?
Between the two of us party pros, I don't think a single detail was overlooked.
The other reason I was awake so late was that I had to finish, of course, the hand-made baby gifts. I made two sets of receiving blankets and burp cloths from a pattern I found at youcanmakethis.com and I wrapped up that organic cotton Baby Sophisticate sweater I've been working on, along with a cute little button-topped, matching hat. There will be more pictures later (due to a photography class assignment), but here's a little preview:
My brother Jon also hand-made a present for Nolan. It's the cutest little robot toy. Oh. My. Gosh. You can sort of see it in Joe's lap above. That will also be included in more detailed photos later this week. Kate? You will love it so much.
I regret that I didn't take more photos of the food. Sarah made homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and gingerbread cookies on sticks in little cowboy-themed shapes. I made a ton of cupcakes:
By the time the shower was over, the past two weeks just sort of washed over me and I collapsed. My body hurts from my accident and the resulting physical therapy, my head hurt from all the multi-tasking and was tired all the way through. Chris really took care of me and made sure that I rested as much as possible on Sunday. For a fun, family-style activity, we jammed our fists into the dirt and harvested the first of our sweet potatoes.
There weren't many yet, especially considering how the vines have taken over everything,
but at the same time, it's nice to have found a crop that we seem to have some success with. I guess sweet potatoes really love the heat and humidity of the south!
We finished our Sunday off by using up the remaining sparklers from July 4th. They've been just sitting in my room and waiting for Emma to get a bit braver. She's always been pretty scared of them, but finally worked up the courage to play with the sparkly fire.
The shower was truly a beautiful celebration of our newest little family member. But the biggest reason to celebrate was that Nolan was given the green light to come home this past Sunday, the day after his party. There are still some scary things - he will be on a heart monitor for a long time and he really can't be exposed to many people (germs, y'know), but he's home now and that's all that matters. Gratuitous baby photos, anyone? These are from a week ago or so, but still. Tiny baby. Eating. Being burped. Need I say more?
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sabbath
I must thank Mary today. She suggested a recipe for sweet potato biscuits earlier this week. I knew I'd be making sweet potatoes (in the crock pot! so easy!) this weekend, so I planned ahead to have leftovers just to try out these biscuits and, wow. We all loved them, but Chris sang the praises of Mary all morning long. He lifted his eyes and declared his thanks for Mary to the heavens.
I briefly considered reminding him who, exactly, had cut the butter into the flour and mashed up them taters, but I thought better of it. I was rather thankful to Mary for the recipe too. Plus? We ate them with honey from our neighbor's bees. Oh my. Sunday morning breakfast indeed.
Emma came into the kitchen, still sleepy, and happily joined in the breakfast preparation. I love that she is big enough now to actually be a help to me when we're cooking. I asked her to get out my biscuit cutter and started explaining to her what it looked like. She stopped me and told me she knew already. My biscuit cutter is pretty special. I mean, it isn't beautiful or anything like that. It's yellow and plastic, but it's the same one my mom used when I was a little girl. She had two, I guess, and she gave one to me.
I was so excited about my plans to show you a picture of me using that same biscuit cutter with my mom. I had the picture in my mind...I knew just where to find it. Only, it turns out we weren't actually using the biscuit cutter in this picture. I didn't have a Plan B, though, so this picture is all you get. It's still me and my little brother cooking with my Mama.
Chris and I took the kids on a walk this morning, too. We headed through our neighborhood toward the lake where all the ducks and swans congregate. Emma decided to carry a parasol. Chris was, maybe, a little hesitant about allowing this, but I assured him it would be fine. She sure got smiles from all the ladies driving by in their minivans. I tend to think they were all wishing they could carry parasols too.
We walked through my favorite neighborhood - it's the nice historic district. Our neighborhood is historic, too, but it's not...ahem...as posh. I just love the big, old houses, though, and I love to dream about having coffee on their porches, waving at my neighbors (who all adore their historic homes as much as I do, obviously). Lots of them are for sale right now.
Sigh.
I'd walk out on that second-story balcony in my red polka-dotted satin robe to greet the mornings, if I ever finished sewing my red polka-dotted satin robe, that is. Well, I'm sure I would finish sewing it if I lived in that house. Don't you think so too? A house like that just begs for satin-robed mornings.
Ah, well. I do love my own little cottage to bits.
So we strolled down the cracked sidewalks and just noticed things.
And we talked to the ducks and the swans once we got to the lake. This swan was such a rock star. She looks like a professional model in almost all of the pictures. I think she's seen a camera before.
We have worked very hard to schedule a Sabbath into our weeks. It will require tons of discipline to keep Sunday a day of rest, to be sure. But if the reward is the kind of renewal we found today, I'm sure that will help us keep our word.
I briefly considered reminding him who, exactly, had cut the butter into the flour and mashed up them taters, but I thought better of it. I was rather thankful to Mary for the recipe too. Plus? We ate them with honey from our neighbor's bees. Oh my. Sunday morning breakfast indeed.
Emma came into the kitchen, still sleepy, and happily joined in the breakfast preparation. I love that she is big enough now to actually be a help to me when we're cooking. I asked her to get out my biscuit cutter and started explaining to her what it looked like. She stopped me and told me she knew already. My biscuit cutter is pretty special. I mean, it isn't beautiful or anything like that. It's yellow and plastic, but it's the same one my mom used when I was a little girl. She had two, I guess, and she gave one to me.
I was so excited about my plans to show you a picture of me using that same biscuit cutter with my mom. I had the picture in my mind...I knew just where to find it. Only, it turns out we weren't actually using the biscuit cutter in this picture. I didn't have a Plan B, though, so this picture is all you get. It's still me and my little brother cooking with my Mama.
Chris and I took the kids on a walk this morning, too. We headed through our neighborhood toward the lake where all the ducks and swans congregate. Emma decided to carry a parasol. Chris was, maybe, a little hesitant about allowing this, but I assured him it would be fine. She sure got smiles from all the ladies driving by in their minivans. I tend to think they were all wishing they could carry parasols too.
We walked through my favorite neighborhood - it's the nice historic district. Our neighborhood is historic, too, but it's not...ahem...as posh. I just love the big, old houses, though, and I love to dream about having coffee on their porches, waving at my neighbors (who all adore their historic homes as much as I do, obviously). Lots of them are for sale right now.
Sigh.
I'd walk out on that second-story balcony in my red polka-dotted satin robe to greet the mornings, if I ever finished sewing my red polka-dotted satin robe, that is. Well, I'm sure I would finish sewing it if I lived in that house. Don't you think so too? A house like that just begs for satin-robed mornings.
Ah, well. I do love my own little cottage to bits.
So we strolled down the cracked sidewalks and just noticed things.
And we talked to the ducks and the swans once we got to the lake. This swan was such a rock star. She looks like a professional model in almost all of the pictures. I think she's seen a camera before.
We have worked very hard to schedule a Sabbath into our weeks. It will require tons of discipline to keep Sunday a day of rest, to be sure. But if the reward is the kind of renewal we found today, I'm sure that will help us keep our word.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Weekend
Ah, summer. It's nearly over in our household.
The kids both had one final sleepover last night. Emma went to a friend's house that she hasn't seen in a long time - she's been so excited that she's hardly slept for two nights! And we ended up with one of Drew's friends over here.
I like ending up with the boys. I always know how to keep them happy - food and video games. Maybe it's because I had brothers, but maybe it's just because boys are that simple. I gave them stuff to make miniature s'mores, which was a big hit! You use a candle to roast mini marshmallows and stack them on graham cracker flavored Goldfish with bits of a snack-sized Hershey's bar. Drew's friend brought over his Wii guitar and they played Guitar Hero forever, taking frequent breaks to make another s'more. I'm sure it was guy heaven.
I had a busy week prepping for the busy season that starts on Monday. Emma's school starts this Monday and Drew's starts a week from Monday. Whew. I've been having no small amount of anxiety, wondering how I'm going to balance everything on my plate now. The thing is, though, I think a lot of it will be stuff I really love to do. So I'm counting on that to keep me sane.
I crashed last night. Somewhere around 11, I sat down to do something, laid my head down for a minute, and that was it. I was gone.
So today, I'm a little refreshed after all that sleep. I'm going to eat my cinnamon toast, drink my coffee and head out shopping with some of my favorite girlfriends to my favorite store on earth (Anthropologie!), where I'm going to spend my birthday money and a very thoughtful birthday gift card. I'm going to get something super-nice to wear because I have a date tonight with my honey. We're going to a concert (Counting Crows), which was another birthday gift.
Hey! It's like another birthday or something around here, except without getting any older. Sweet!
I heart weekends.
The kids both had one final sleepover last night. Emma went to a friend's house that she hasn't seen in a long time - she's been so excited that she's hardly slept for two nights! And we ended up with one of Drew's friends over here.
I like ending up with the boys. I always know how to keep them happy - food and video games. Maybe it's because I had brothers, but maybe it's just because boys are that simple. I gave them stuff to make miniature s'mores, which was a big hit! You use a candle to roast mini marshmallows and stack them on graham cracker flavored Goldfish with bits of a snack-sized Hershey's bar. Drew's friend brought over his Wii guitar and they played Guitar Hero forever, taking frequent breaks to make another s'more. I'm sure it was guy heaven.
I had a busy week prepping for the busy season that starts on Monday. Emma's school starts this Monday and Drew's starts a week from Monday. Whew. I've been having no small amount of anxiety, wondering how I'm going to balance everything on my plate now. The thing is, though, I think a lot of it will be stuff I really love to do. So I'm counting on that to keep me sane.
I crashed last night. Somewhere around 11, I sat down to do something, laid my head down for a minute, and that was it. I was gone.
So today, I'm a little refreshed after all that sleep. I'm going to eat my cinnamon toast, drink my coffee and head out shopping with some of my favorite girlfriends to my favorite store on earth (Anthropologie!), where I'm going to spend my birthday money and a very thoughtful birthday gift card. I'm going to get something super-nice to wear because I have a date tonight with my honey. We're going to a concert (Counting Crows), which was another birthday gift.
Hey! It's like another birthday or something around here, except without getting any older. Sweet!
I heart weekends.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday
The weekend has passed and I have nothing to show for it but a couple of naps and a clean(ish) house. Further proof that cleanliness and order are the natural predators of creativity and fun.
Daily Bliss: berry-red, kitten-heeled mary jane shoes
Wake-up Playlist: Iron and Wine, Resurrection Fern
Daily Bliss: berry-red, kitten-heeled mary jane shoes
Wake-up Playlist: Iron and Wine, Resurrection Fern
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wide Open Weekend
Holiday weekend. Oh how I love those words.
Yesterday, I slept in. Well, I slept in a little bit. But I had stayed up awfully late the night before, so I don't think it counts. We had a really hard time getting things moving and I kind of took that as a sign that we weren't going to get moving. Yesterday was the first Saturday in weeks and weeks that was wide open - no parties, no recitals, no tournaments, no sewing projects planned, no house chore plans. It was a good thing, too, because my head was so foggy. I just could not get going. Somewhere late in the morning I decided to start working up a summer schedule. I did one last year to manage all the camps and activities. This year, we have fewer camps, but a more scattered child care arrangement. My friend Denise is taking the kids Tuesday through Thursday every week. My dad will have them on Fridays because he works for the school board and they have switched to a four-day work week to save money. I will have to drag them to work with me on Mondays. For the past couple of summers, I have cut my work week down to four days as my work load really decreases and child care needs increase. My boss decided, in his passive-aggressive way, that this year I should just bring the kids in with me on Mondays instead, since it's "working out nicely having you here all five days." I think that means he doesn't like to answer the phones when I'm not there.
Anyway. Where was I?
Oh yes. I was trying to make the schedule and I just couldn't make any sense of it. I mean, staring at the screen and eyes glassing over and brain just not budging. After maybe two hours of this, my head hurt so badly that I decided to lay down. That's big business around here. I don't just lay down in the middle of the day-ever. And after about 30 minutes of laying down, my husband came in to check on me. Suddenly a question burned within me and I had to ask him - had he made decaf coffee in the morning?
Oh yes. Now that I mentioned it, he had. I guess we were out of regular.
And suddenly, the world made sense again. Then we went straightaway to Starbucks.
We have been renting movies and I've been baking (vegan cupcakes today for a moving-away party that were a really big hit! did I mention the oreo cookie frosting? ok. so the frosting wasn't vegan...but I used organic oreo-type cookies instead of real ones.) and we had a big-time Wii bowling tournament last night with nachos and soda and everything. Tomorrow? It's also unplanned.
But I do hope to start the day with caffeine.
Daily Bliss: watching Andrew feed a baby blue jay (our friends rescued it and have been preparing it for release) - he really loves critters in such a special, tender way
Wake-up Playlist: Switchfoot - This is Home
Yesterday, I slept in. Well, I slept in a little bit. But I had stayed up awfully late the night before, so I don't think it counts. We had a really hard time getting things moving and I kind of took that as a sign that we weren't going to get moving. Yesterday was the first Saturday in weeks and weeks that was wide open - no parties, no recitals, no tournaments, no sewing projects planned, no house chore plans. It was a good thing, too, because my head was so foggy. I just could not get going. Somewhere late in the morning I decided to start working up a summer schedule. I did one last year to manage all the camps and activities. This year, we have fewer camps, but a more scattered child care arrangement. My friend Denise is taking the kids Tuesday through Thursday every week. My dad will have them on Fridays because he works for the school board and they have switched to a four-day work week to save money. I will have to drag them to work with me on Mondays. For the past couple of summers, I have cut my work week down to four days as my work load really decreases and child care needs increase. My boss decided, in his passive-aggressive way, that this year I should just bring the kids in with me on Mondays instead, since it's "working out nicely having you here all five days." I think that means he doesn't like to answer the phones when I'm not there.
Anyway. Where was I?
Oh yes. I was trying to make the schedule and I just couldn't make any sense of it. I mean, staring at the screen and eyes glassing over and brain just not budging. After maybe two hours of this, my head hurt so badly that I decided to lay down. That's big business around here. I don't just lay down in the middle of the day-ever. And after about 30 minutes of laying down, my husband came in to check on me. Suddenly a question burned within me and I had to ask him - had he made decaf coffee in the morning?
Oh yes. Now that I mentioned it, he had. I guess we were out of regular.
And suddenly, the world made sense again. Then we went straightaway to Starbucks.
We have been renting movies and I've been baking (vegan cupcakes today for a moving-away party that were a really big hit! did I mention the oreo cookie frosting? ok. so the frosting wasn't vegan...but I used organic oreo-type cookies instead of real ones.) and we had a big-time Wii bowling tournament last night with nachos and soda and everything. Tomorrow? It's also unplanned.
But I do hope to start the day with caffeine.
Daily Bliss: watching Andrew feed a baby blue jay (our friends rescued it and have been preparing it for release) - he really loves critters in such a special, tender way
Wake-up Playlist: Switchfoot - This is Home
Monday, May 11, 2009
Did Somebody Say Blueberries?
Do I even need to type words here? I think the pictures tell enough of the story. Five and a half pounds of blueberries in less than an hour. Can I brag a little bit? The girl at that weighs the berries was impressed with us. The main aisles are pretty picked-over by now. Obviously, we went deep into the bushes to get so much so quickly. What are you to do when you are two lonely girls living on a desserted island, whose only source of nutrition is the wild blueberry? You must forage thoroughly. That's what you must do.
Regrettably, the pies once again escaped the eye of my camera. I apologize. Perhaps I will have to be more stealthy next time. Yes. There will indeed be a next time.
Mothers' Day Weekend
I had a very nice Mothers' Day weekend. I hope you all did as well.
Saturday found our family as busy as ever, maybe even more so. Andrew was due to arrive at his first-ever Lego Mindstorms competition at 7:30 AM. I don't think this is an official club yet, but they are planning to create one locally, so this was something of a practice round.
They all built and programmed their bots and brought them to a local school to compete.
My son does not always wear a redneck hat. Their team's acronym is B.R.R., so they are Team Brrrr. They were all supposed to dress like lumberjacks (get it? Team Brrr? Timberrrr?). Obviously, the flannel shirts got ditched within an hour or two of the Florida sun rising. So, he's left with just a redneck fishing hat, borrowed from my brother.
They won a teamwork award, so they didn't go home empty-handed, which is good. Most of the teams had older kids on them and had more experience (Drew's club is only three months old or so), so I think they did really well, all things considered. Their bot didn't complete all the challenges that were available because they just hadn't had the length of time to prepare that some clubs had, but the things it did, it did well. And from what I understand, that's commendable.
I snuck this photo on Sunday morning of my champ, seriously reading the funnies, holding our birds. Sorry it's dark, but when you're sneaking around with a camera, there isn't much you can do. He's growing up so much.
It's been very hot and very dry lately. We are all waiting impatiently for the rainy season to begin. Especially the bees. They need to drink somethin', y'know? My neighbors bees have begun to get very excited about watering-time in our garden. We go out twice a day, morning and evening, to make sure nobody's too thirsty and the bees all buzz about excitedly. They burrow into the black soil and, abdomens throbbing, suck down as much water as they can. They are so focused that we are usually able to observe them up close.
Here's one on Andrew's milk weed:
They tend to congregate at the holes in the bottom of our upside-down vegetable pots. There were at least eight bees under this very same pot this morning!
And some of them take the lazy way, just landing on top of whatever is open and wet.
Know why I love these bees so much?
Fresh honey. How can you not adore a little somebody that makes you fresh honey?
That's what I gave my mom and grandma and sister-in-law for Mothers' Day - honey from my neighbor's bees with a little tag that says "Happy Mothers' Day, Honey!" Simple, but very sweet.
I spent my Sunday doing absolutely nothing. It was very difficult. I mean, I know I needed it and everything, but it's hard for me to just...do nothing. My needs were taken care of, though, by my wonderful hubby and two amazing kids. My card at breakfast promised me the following niceties:
From Emma, a back rub and shoulder massage
From Andrew, "unlimited free drinks all day"
and those things made me cry a little bit.
Oh, and? Emma and I picked blueberries on Saturday because I made blueberry ginger pie for our Mothers' Day lunch. Oh yes. I did.
I sat around all day on Sunday, getting my shoulders rubbed, having my ice water re-filled and eating blueberry ginger pie. This motherhood thing is really working out for me!
Saturday found our family as busy as ever, maybe even more so. Andrew was due to arrive at his first-ever Lego Mindstorms competition at 7:30 AM. I don't think this is an official club yet, but they are planning to create one locally, so this was something of a practice round.
They all built and programmed their bots and brought them to a local school to compete.
My son does not always wear a redneck hat. Their team's acronym is B.R.R., so they are Team Brrrr. They were all supposed to dress like lumberjacks (get it? Team Brrr? Timberrrr?). Obviously, the flannel shirts got ditched within an hour or two of the Florida sun rising. So, he's left with just a redneck fishing hat, borrowed from my brother.
They won a teamwork award, so they didn't go home empty-handed, which is good. Most of the teams had older kids on them and had more experience (Drew's club is only three months old or so), so I think they did really well, all things considered. Their bot didn't complete all the challenges that were available because they just hadn't had the length of time to prepare that some clubs had, but the things it did, it did well. And from what I understand, that's commendable.
I snuck this photo on Sunday morning of my champ, seriously reading the funnies, holding our birds. Sorry it's dark, but when you're sneaking around with a camera, there isn't much you can do. He's growing up so much.
It's been very hot and very dry lately. We are all waiting impatiently for the rainy season to begin. Especially the bees. They need to drink somethin', y'know? My neighbors bees have begun to get very excited about watering-time in our garden. We go out twice a day, morning and evening, to make sure nobody's too thirsty and the bees all buzz about excitedly. They burrow into the black soil and, abdomens throbbing, suck down as much water as they can. They are so focused that we are usually able to observe them up close.
Here's one on Andrew's milk weed:
They tend to congregate at the holes in the bottom of our upside-down vegetable pots. There were at least eight bees under this very same pot this morning!
And some of them take the lazy way, just landing on top of whatever is open and wet.
Know why I love these bees so much?
Fresh honey. How can you not adore a little somebody that makes you fresh honey?
That's what I gave my mom and grandma and sister-in-law for Mothers' Day - honey from my neighbor's bees with a little tag that says "Happy Mothers' Day, Honey!" Simple, but very sweet.
I spent my Sunday doing absolutely nothing. It was very difficult. I mean, I know I needed it and everything, but it's hard for me to just...do nothing. My needs were taken care of, though, by my wonderful hubby and two amazing kids. My card at breakfast promised me the following niceties:
From Emma, a back rub and shoulder massage
From Andrew, "unlimited free drinks all day"
and those things made me cry a little bit.
Oh, and? Emma and I picked blueberries on Saturday because I made blueberry ginger pie for our Mothers' Day lunch. Oh yes. I did.
I sat around all day on Sunday, getting my shoulders rubbed, having my ice water re-filled and eating blueberry ginger pie. This motherhood thing is really working out for me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)