Overwhelmed

-Jer's uncle died last week. We got the job of trying to locate his first family (two daughters and an ex-wife) that he hasn't spoken to in more than 20 years and notify them of his death. We have almost no information to work with. The funeral is Friday and we have sent a few emails but none of them have been returned. No idea if we're barking up the wrong tree or not.
-I had two funky spots removed last week, luckily they both came back with no issues. If they could heal a little faster though, that would be nice.
-Ava has an appointment with a surgeon June 9th to have a mole on her head removed. She is very nervous and of course she starts swim lessons two days later...not sure how that is going to work
-Lily had an appointment today with an ENT and it turns out she needs to have her tonsils and adenoids out. July 11 is the big day and we'll be staying for 24 hours. We're both very nervous. Even though I know it's been done millions of times I still don't like it.

Absent

My computer has an issue and is possibly dead.

In other news I am kinda unstoppable when I don't have a computer. I have accomplished so much crap in the last few computer-less days.

Hmm...

A new favorite sandwich

My husband told me to put this sandwich on my blog so I figured what the heck. I have no pictures, we always eat them too fast. This is nothing fancy, it's just regular stuff you might already have, but put together in a way you may not have tried.

What you need...
-some good, hearty bread, I like 7 grain from our local bakery
-a ripe pear, sliced thin
-good cheese, anything with Kraft on the label is no good. Fontina, sharp cheddar, Gouda, Havarti- whatever floats your boat
-Dijon mustard
-salted butter
-deli honey ham, sliced thin or shaved

Now make yourself a grilled cheese out of that stuff, make sure you put some cheese between each layer to help it stick while flipping. Ta-da! Done!

Party Favors

The ladies had an Easter party at school last week and I was feeling crafty. Coincidentally I came across all of my old scrap booking stuff I used before switching to digital.
Start with 6" squares of paper. Roll them into tubes using a tape runner.

Select some coordinating thread. I used two different colors; one for each side. Sew one end of the tube closed, no need to back stitch, it'll hold. Fill the tubes. Flip them so you are sewing the opposite side closed, sew them and you're done.

Super fast, super easy, and cheap. Just rip the paper to get the goodies out.

Too many ideas and a trip to Joann's

• I should not be allowed in Joann Fabrics, I really shouldn't.


• While there today I got the supplies I needed to complete the following projects:


• -Two pieces of artwork for guest bedroom


• -Two pillows for guest bedroom


• -One wreath for the library


• -Four lumbar cushions for our patio chairs


• I also spray painted an outdoor table and a headboard and cleared out one measly raised bed.


• I finished the wreath and one of the pieces of artwork, though I may go back and do more with it tomorrow.


• I have a date with my sewing machine tomorrow, it's going to be a long one.

New favorite breakfast

My family is slightly obsessed with soft boiled eggs and toast. It's a fast and easy breakfast, three minutes once the water boils, and fun to eat.

Why will my kid not let me buy her a pair of shoes?

I am beyond frustrated with my second child. I have tried three times to buy her some new athletic shoes. Each pair is either ill fitting, ugly (my opinion), or not comfortable (her opinion). She said a pair of chucks was not comfortable because they were "too squishy." I even let her try on a pair of over priced, over bedazzled ones and even they were "not good." This weekend it's going down. Daddy will be attending the next shoe shopping excursion and so help me that child will have shoes of some sort on her feet when that day is finished. In stark contrast my eldest child saw a pair she liked, found her size, tried them on, declared them "perfect" and said she was ready to go. Update: At bathtime I realized the child was covered in hives. Apparently she is allergic to shoes.

Where is my tool belt?

I used a pneumatic nail gun today and I liked it. Now I want one.

In other news Lily's room is now purple. The office has a new photo/book ledge. The family room is 30% painted and the downstairs hallway is 80% painted.

I have spray painted the following items and have a new appreciation for just how wonderful spray paint is.
-Lily's nightstand (purple)
-Four photo frames (black)
-One plant stand (dark grey)

Oh dear God the paint fumes

It's late winter and spring is on the horizon, in my house that means painting.

Last year we painted the foyer in February and the half bath and dining room in March and here we are again back at it. I started the office/library last week while Jer was in TX and it's almost finished. The last coat on the trim will be done tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow night the tape will be down, furniture will be moved back, and wall art back up. Perhaps then my head, eyes, and throat will stop hurting.

Family room next or laundry room that is the question. I want to finish the back half of the house in the next 2 weeks. That means I have a bedroom, family room, full bath, and laundry room to paint and I will be in a paint infused haze until the end of March.

Send a respirator.

How do I love thee

Today the girls brought home a project they made at preschool. It is a silver cupcake liner with a small "chocolate" in the middle. On the chocolate is written the question, "Why do you love your Mom and Dad?" The answer they gave is written on the bottom of the "chocolate."

Ava's answer was "Dad plays 'Epic Mickey' and Mom plays 'Angry Birds' with me.

Lily's answer was "Because Daddy fights with me and Mom cooks Brussels sprouts anytime."

What's black and white and stinky?

I woke up this morning ans walked downstairs and was hit with skunk smell. I turned the light on outside and slowly and noisily opened the door to let Marty out. A minute later I saw a skunk run under the car while Marty chased it out in the yard. Luckily the dog listened to me when I told him to stop and he didn't get sprayed. Still we were left with his eau de le stink wafting in through the back door.

Lily woke up shortly after and came downstairs with a crinkled up nose. This is the conversation that followed.

M: Good morning baby, kinda stinky down here huh?
L: I thought there was a skunk in my room.
M: Well, there was a skunk outside and Marty almost got sprayed. We'll have to tell Grandpa.
L: Well, I thought it was a skunk under my bed, but then I thought that was silly, so I thought it was my stinky socks on my floor.
........
M: Make sure those socks get in the laundry please.

Twins Days here we come!

I am so excited.

I just booked a cabin and we are officially going to Twins Days in Twinsburg, OH. My cousin told me about it and after checking it out I told the ladies about it. They were interested and wanted to see pictures. Watching them see all of those photos of twins...their little faces lit up and they had this moment of....we are not the only ones.

I am so excited for them to feel like the norm for a change. It'll be a great end of the summer vacation before they start kindergarten.

Fancy Party

This is what fancy looks like. You can't tell in the photo but believe you me those fingers are painted a sparkly lilac.

After photos in the foyer there was dancing in the library ( Taylor Swift ) followed by the coloring of castles in the family room.

It's such a fancy life.

Food For Thought

Lily was sick all week last week and missed a full week of school. Ava started losing her voice on Friday and missed school as well. Needless to say we were all getting a little stir crazy and bored. The girls asked me for a "learn" no idea where this term came from but it's their way of asking to do a lesson or learning activity.

With both girls sick I thought I'd teach them about eating healthy and the food groups. I took out some back issues of Women's Day and cut out all of the food I could find; healthy and unhealthy. Then I set the dining room table for two and laid all of the cut out food in the middle of the table.

I grabbed our Internet linked Children's Encyclopedia ......
http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/details.asp?sid=Z2931&gid=113542970&title=Children%27s+Encyclopedia+IL+Reduced+Size&sqlwhere=submit%3Dsearch%26search%3Dchildrens%2Bencyclopedia hooked the computer up to the TV so we could use the big screen and gathered the kids. After reading the pages in the book about the food pyramid and food groups we went online and played all of the games linked to the pages we just read.

When we finished on the computer we headed to the dining room and played "Make Me a Healthy Meal." (the girls came up with that title btw) They had a blast with it. They had to put a healthy meal together using the pictures I had cut out and then tell me what each food was and where it belonged on the pyramid.

We have played this game about 20 times now and they are not sick of it yet. Of course when Daddy and I get to make the dinner it usually consists of cookies, cake, and spicy peppers much to the ladies dismay. Then the wise children help the confused parents make a healthy meal and all is right with the world.

I cannot stress enough how cool the Internet linked books from Usborne are. the girls got a few for Christmas and they are a lot of fun. One "learn" we did was about the ocean and fish. The Internet link was a site where you could create your own fish and release it into the sea to see if it would survive. Very cool stuff.

Quinoa- anybody, anybody?

I had heard of Quinoa but never paid any attention to it until recently. I came across something about how complete of a food it is and I became interested. So I grabbed some at the grocery the other day and it's on the menu for tonight. I hope everyone likes it. Supposedly you can can make it in a rice cooker, so it's easy and fast.

There are millions of recipes on Allrecipes. Anybody ever made it and have a favorite way of preparing it?

The verdict...Yum! The kids loved it, the hubbs loved it, I loved it. It is indeed very similar to brown rice. The kids called it money rice because, "it looks like little pennies". It's going into the weekly line-up.

Happy Girl

Do you ever have a moment where you just feel total happiness? Some part of you knows that you will always remember this exact moment, like a snapshot that your brain takes and files away forever.

Last Friday the ladies and I went to the mall for the day to play, shop, and meet Daddy for lunch. While we were shopping Lily fell in love with this cute little khaki hat and I fell in love with some wire rimmed aviator glasses that looked absolutely adorable on her. We found a few other things too and officially started our vacation shopping.

Later that night Lily was showing Daddy the things I bought her as I was finding new music on itunes. Somehow it turned into Friday night dance party at our house, the volume was up and we were all dancing. At some point Martina McBride "Happy Girl" was playing and Lily and I were dancing, Ava and Daddy had taken a break. Lil was wearing her new hat and sunglasses, an undershirt, and her jeans, along with a big smile.

I have a feeling that song will always make me think of that moment and I'll never forget my little girl at five years old dancing her little booty off.

Coincidence

I baked a bean cake the other day and took it over to my elderly neighbor to check on her during the ice storm and visit for a few minutes.

I penguin walked over there, rang the bell. She thanked me profusely for baking for her because she was out of sweets and she invited me in. I stood in her dining room as she took the cake and bowl of chili I had made her into her kitchen. She had old pictures and newspapers all over her dining table, including her wedding photo from 1944 and a photo of her husband circa 1950.

She joined me in the dining room and said it was so nice that I stopped by and she was just reminiscing, as it was the anniversary of her husbands death. She teared up and then reminded me that last year on this day I brought her baked goods as well. Of course I had completely forgotten that but when she brought it up I remembered. She showed me some pictures and got emotional when she told me about how they had been married just three months before he went off to WWII. We talked about the war and she told me that her husband was in the battle of the bulge, my grandpa was too I said. She told me what her husband did, that he went ahead as a scout... that's what my grandpa did I said.

It was the weirdest feeling. Kind of heeby jeeby but more like ...wow. what if they knew each other? I realize that's a long shot but you just never know. I never knew my grandpa, he passed before I was born and I need to find out more information on his unit. And how weird that I've unknowingly come over to her house every year since meeting her on the anniversary of her husbands death.

Snow Days

The girls were off school Monday for MLK day, Wednesday for ice, and today for cold (I guess).

That is just too much time off for us. Yesterday we did workbooks in the morning, built satellites, erupted volcanoes, and learned about the layers of the earth. We had a picnic in the foyer for lunch and did the dishes. We used Google Earth to visit all of our friends and families houses and practiced writing our first and last names. We shoveled and had a snow fight after dinner and then the girls each read a book with Daddy.

I need to think about how we will fill our time today and my God these children better be back to school on Monday or else.

Ava's new favorite food

When we were at Grandma and Grandpa's after Christmas I happened upon a package of plain gnocchi in their cupboard and made them for dinner one night to go with a pork roast my mom was making. The ready made ones found in the pasta aisle are lightning fast to make. Boil water, add, cook until they float (about three minutes). I served the gnocchi with sauteed mushrooms, melted butter and Parmesan cheese. Everyone liked them but Ava went nuts for them.

I shouldn't have been surprised, she loves these http://steamykitchen.com/6515-pan-fried-pumpkin-gnocchi-browned-butter-sage.html but I only make them in the fall when I have fresh pumpkins from the patch and sage from the garden to work with.

The bummer about buying prepackaged convenience food is that a pack of gnocchi from the pasta aisle is about $3.50. If you know my husband and how much he consumes during the course of a meal you'd now that we need two packs per meal. Ouch. Needless to say, gnocchi has become a treat around here. Last night I decided to make some myself using this recipe. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Gnocchi/Detail.aspx The recipe is imperfect but it's a good jumping off point. I almost tripled the recipe and flash froze a small serving for later use when Daddy isn't around.

I served them with a knock off recipe of OG's Alfredo Sauce and they were delicious. The sweet potato flavor was barely noticeable, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I will be making them again soon.

Here's the recipe for the knock off Alfredo sauce. I use this recipe in my creamed spinach also.

8oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c butter
Heavy cream and milk
1 Tsp garlic powder
3/4 c parm cheese

Cut cream cheese and butter into cubes and melt over medium heat in a saucepan, whisking often. When melted, add cheese and garlic along with combo of milk/cream to achieve desired thickness. Serve when warmed through.

Toothless

Ava came home from school on Friday with a loose tooth. She was so excited I thought she would want to call Daddy at work right away, instead she wanted to surprise him when he got home.

All weekend we checked the progress of the tooth. On Monday I made her a tooth fairy pillow (along with ten Barbie pillows for the girls doll houses). Right before bed I told her to twist the tooth a little. She gave it a good twist and it got stuck in a weird position. There were some tears and Daddy was entrusted to put the tooth back in it's spot. Well, what do you know, the tooth fell out in his hand.

She was beaming with pride and insisted on calling all of her grandparents immediately. Grandpa asked her if the tooth fairy was a boy or a girl, I was consulted and we agreed it's a she. Ava told me that the tooth fairy is about the same size as Tinker Bell.

At tuck-in, after songs she panicked and asked if I would leave the window open so the tooth fairy could get in. I assured her that the tooth fairy can get in through the lock on her door. Luckily that was acceptable.

In the morning Lily had to remind her to check her pillow. Turns out the tooth fairy leaves a dollar bill for every tooth. Score.

Oxtails and Chestnuts

Odd, I know, but read the post a few down and you'll understand.

The verdict is...drum roll please...don't waste your time with chestnuts, and oxtails are nasty. Seriously, for the $12 I spent on a package of oxtails, the $30 I spent on the roast, and the $10 or so I spent on other ingredients in the recipe it was not that good. We preferred the salt encrusted prime rib I had made another time. Oxtails are a slimy, smelly, and gross. Dealing with them at all turned my stomach.

There you have it people, you win some you lose some.