So on facebook there are all these things flying around about 25 things about me, 16 things about me, 50 things about me, and so on. Well I finally caved at wrote 2 of them so I thought that I would put them on here so that all my readers know a little bit more about me.
1. I had 2 natural childbirths when I really wanted the drugs.
2. I am reading a book about the start up of Sesame Street.
3. The whole inside wall of my dinning/living room is becoming a kids art gallery.
4. I have a blog where I write about my family
5. I cherish nap times, but my kids seem to think they don't need them anymore.
6. I love my cat but hates the sound of him cleaning himself!
7. I miss marching band in high school.
8. I am addicted to sweets, and just have no self control when it comes to them.
9. L was almost named John Henry.
10. D's name cam to me in a dream 6 years before she was born.
11. We have 2 fish named Dorothy.
12. I just became an assistant organizer of my local mom's group and I am loving it!
13. For the past 2 years on Valentine's Day we went to White Castle.
14. I lived in an awesome house hand built by an artist, built into the side of a hill, along a nature preserve.
15. That house was also where we had our wedding reception.
16. We got married barefoot in a flower garden, probably no surprise to some!
17. We drove cross country to San Fran on our honeymoon and camped along the way.
18. I have always wanted to go to Boston and London.
19. I am still obsessed with everything British.
20. I have a new friend that has an English accent and it is so hard for me not to fall into using one too.
21. My kids were due the same day a year apart, and yes that means I got pregnant on the same day 2 years in a row.
22. I hope that I am a cool mom and that my kids have great fun stories to tell when they are older.
23. I love driving all over the place, and am so ready for another car trip.
24. I'm thinking of driving to Boston this summer by myself with the kids.
25. Adam is the best guy in the world!
26. I love to cook and bake, but I am such a klutz in the kitchen. I can't count how many times I have burned myself!
27. I can't stop reading enough books, I'm obsessed.
28. I have a BA in history and I double minored in English Lit, and Woman's studies
29. I couldn't wait to have kids, but then again I also had a dreamy idea of having them.
30. I have been with my husband for almost 8 years now, and we have been married for 4 1/2 years.
31. One of my biggest fears is any of my family members being killed. I have nightmares about this almost daily.
32. I am so happy that I joined a book club and a mom's group here in South Bend, if I hadn't I would have been a very depressed mommy!
33. Money is something that worries me. We never have enough of it, and there are always more bills that need to be paid.
34. I have met some of the greatest people in the last year and I am so thankful to all of you. You have no idea how much you have saved me.
35. I hated living here in South Bend for almost 1 1/2 of the 2 years we have lived here.
36. I married an artist and am so proud of all the work he does.
37. I have great ideas on sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking, and cooking, I just don't have the money or talent to do most of them.
38. This is really hard to do.
39. I am obsessed with the internet!
40. The library with a coffee shop is my dream get away.
41. I am going to go back to school to get my masters in library sciences so I can become a librarian at Notre Dame.
Friday, January 30, 2009
A little about me.
Monday, January 26, 2009
It's How cold?????
I have a question for all of you.... Have you ever had laundry freeze in the dryer?? Well I have! Yesterday I did a load of cold in the washing machine and Adam stuck it in the dryer for me for the 10 min I put it in. Well we got sidetracked by the kids waking up from naps, getting everything together, going out to eat, and coming home to go to bed that I forgot about the cold load in the dryer. When I stick it in for only 10 min it is still wet, but any hair or lint stuck to it comes off and it comes out feeling soft instead of stiff. So this morning I went to grab it to hang up and it was frozen in the dryer. Ad the scary part was that there was actually ice on some pieces!! How crazy is that! The utility room is an addition that was added on to the older home that we live in. I don't know how long ago, but it has little insulation and heating elements built in. Not to mention that 3 of the 4 walls are outside walls. We know it gets cold back there, the sink in the bathroom back there froze last weekend, and we put a thick blanket up in the doorway between the kitchen and the utility room. But never would I have guessed that the slightly wet clothes in the dryer would have froze overnight. Just goes to show that you really should get all the laundry out as soon as it is done!
This last week
So let us see, where did I leave off almost a whole week ago. I actually can't believe that it has been a week since my last post, sorry about that guys!! Tuesday night I hosted a mom's night in for my mom's group. There were only 4 of us, but it was nice. I basically have a coffee shop in my house from all the years of working in coffee so I decided to host a coffee night in. We also had hot spinach dip, cranberry scones, muffins, and biscotti, everything that you find in a expensive coffee shop!
Wednesday we headed out to visit my mom. And they had a surprise for us, they went to Aldis and bought us $100 worth of groceries. So now I have a extremely packed kitchen. My freezer is so packed that stuff falls out every time you open it. Sweet!!
Thursday I took the kids to Barnes and Noble story time. I hate going to these things. The kids run wild, never listen to the story, rarely do the craft, and the person reading the story doesn't really know anything about reading to small kids. I take them every few months because apparently I forget how stressful it is to go.
Friday we hosted a play date here. Eight kids and it went relatively well! The only problem was that throughout the day the kids and I have come down with a vicious cold. Yuck!
Saturday I headed to a eating green program at the local library. I got tons of good info, snacked on some organic snacks, and listened to ABBA. A good day all around! The night sucked because the kids can't sleep with this cold. We also went to visit my in-laws. I love visiting them! They are great and I'm not just saying that.
Sunday we stayed home for most of the day. Adam headed out to the university to go to a art gallery opening and then went and ran. I forgot to mention that he is training for the Chicago marathon again. The last time he was training I got pregnant with D, and the time before when he was training I got pregnant with L. That is not gonna happen this time!
In the evening we heard about a Chinese New Year dinner and event that was going on on campus. We have tried to make it to Chicago's Chinatown now for years, and with sick kids we thought this would be great. I was going to make homemade egg drop soup and egg rolls, but this was better! Then off to Target to pick up oj, juice, and Kleenex!
Today we are staying home other than going to pay the water bill. L seems to be feeling better, D is a little worse (like a day behind L), and I am not congested anymore. Hopefully we are on the upswing!
Using daddy's gloves on the horse. I actually use to do that with my dad's gloves on the same horse!
L wearing daddy's shoes around the house. He really does look a lot like his daddy!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
10 things I love
In honor of hitting the 1,000 hit mark on my blog I thought that I would do 10 things that I love.
1. The fact that people actually want to read what I have to say. That is amazing to me!
2. Both my kids. They drive me nuts a lot of times, but I don't know who I would be if it weren't for them.
3. Adam! If it weren't for him I would not be the person I am today. I owe a ton to him, and boy do I love him!!
4. The fact that I have a good roof over my head. If you would have told me that a few years ago, I don't know if I would have believed you.
5. My group of friends that I have made these last few months here in sunny South Bend. You have saved me from myself and seasonal depression.
6. Coffee! After working in coffee for many many years, I can totally appreciate a cup of java. Yum.
7. My family! They have been there for us through it all. And I totally include my wonderful inlaws in this group. They made me feel like part of their family and have helped us with so much. Thank you!
8. crayons. I can't get enough of them. I think I have 13 boxes of all sizes stashed in my utility room closet. Every back to school time, I just need to buy a new box. There is just something soothing about the smell and look of a new box of cayons.
9. Music is the soundtrack of my life. There are songs that I hear, and they take me back to a place, time, or even a person and a feeling. I would truly be lost without music in my life.
10. I would have to also say books. They transport me to new places, new people, new ideas. I learn so much from reading and I hope to instill that in my kids for the future.
So, thanks for reading my blog. I love all of you too!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Some new pictures.
We have been getting pummeled with snow lately. Since Friday January 9 we have gotten snow every single day! It has also been down as low as 20 below zero during the day with the windchill factor. How crazy is that!! So I have only gotten a few pictures taken these few days, not much inspiration to do much with all that cold and snow. So here are just a few from these last few days.
Look at how high the snow is next to that car. Crazy!
Homemade crackers
About a week ago, Adam and I made homemade crackers thanks to a blog written by my friend Mary Jane. We used her recipe and changed the herb to thyme. They were super yummy!! So here is the recipe that we used, with our modifications.
Poppy Seed & Sea Salt Crackers
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 6 tbsp light cream (I used heavy whipping cream, because that's all I had. I suppose milk would work fine too)
Place the dough squares on an ungreased baking sheet and brush sparingly with milk. Sprinkle a few sea salt flakes over each cracker.
Bake for 30 minutes until crisp but still pale. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Modifications that I made: We used whole milk because that was what we had in the house, we also used thyme instead of the poppy seeds.
To "rub" in the butter, I cut each tablespoon of butter (since we doubled the recipe, I had two) into several pieces and the kids took their butter and mushed it around in between their fingers, in the flour mixture.
They didn't last long, everyone including my brother-in-law Ben gobbled them up right away.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I was super embarrassed!
Last night the kids, Adam and I went grocery shopping after picking Adam up from work at 6. Realized that we didn't have the checkbook so had to go all the way back home to get it, and head all the way back. He gets paid today, but we figured we could right a check last night to cover the groceries since it was getting really low. So low that I had to go to 2 food banks and my mom picked up a few things to get us through until then. So we head to Meijer and get the shopping cart that plays videos for the kids. We figured it's only $1 and that may be the only way to get through shopping this time. So after much yelling and arguing with the kids, we finally get done shopping. We head on up to the check out, I bag the groceries in our own bags, while Adam writes the check. It gets declined! Shit, now what do we do! The cashier tells us that our only options are to pay with a different method which we don't have, or put all the food away where it goes. So Adam takes the kids, and I put everything back. Do you know how embarrassing that is? Everyone was watching me and wondering what the heck I was doing. And I swear I was getting strange looks. I got done, and met Adam and the kids by the door. I was fine until we got outside and then I just lost it. I couldn't help myself. L was very concerned about mommy crying. He actually started to whimper right along. Luckily the other day while I was cleaning I came across an old Dairy Queen gift certificate for $5, so A took us and got fries for the kids and a dipped cone for me. It had taken us over 2 hours at the grocery store and we didn't even get to take anything home. The really sad part is that we have to do it all over again tomorrow night. I think I'll go by myself after dinner and let Adam put the kids in bed.
But in case you were wondering here is my menu for the next few weeks:
-stone soup with popovers
-a frozen birdseye dinner (on sale)
-plain pasta in sauce (twice)
-chicken and noodle casserole
-greek pizza
-pollock with baked potato and broccoli
-tuna melts
-homemade egg drop soup and egg rolls
-chili with corn bread
-a frozen pizza
-rice balls
At least we know that all the food, including some basics that we needed to restock, and some cleaning supplies that we needed to restock, it all comes to $121 with coupons! So at least I know how much money I need. I may just go take out the cash so that way there is no problem next time!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Kids Tidbits!
The kids have done some cute things over the last few days and I just wanted to share. We had just gotten done eating lunch, when I noticed that L had leaked through his jeans. So I changed his diaper and left off his pants while I changed D too. Next thing I know, he is sitting on a pillow telling me he was sitting on what sounded like his ayass (think ass with a Chicago accent). I was shocked and asked him to repeat it again and again until I realized that what he was actually saying was that he was sitting on his eggs. He had gotten 2 of the plastic play eggs from D's kitchen and was sitting on them. He then told me he was going to hatch them and we would have baby chickens. I had to laugh out loud with that one.
The next day I was having a bad day, the car was broke, and L was being really bad. After struggling to get him down for a nap for 2 hours he woke up his sister. I was really mad at him, and brought them both downstairs. I made L sit in time out for a while and put D on the couch with me. She climbs over into my lap, waves to me and says hi mommy. Then she leaned over and gave me a bunch of kisses on the cheek. Then she pointed to my cheek and kissed the air. How can you be mad at anything after that!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Camping in the living room
On Saturday before vacation was over, Adam set up the tent in the living room for him and the kids to go camping in. The kids went bonkers over it. L has been obsessed with camping for a while now, not sure why, and both kids got backpacks for Christmas. L even got a Diego camping set from Aunt J so he was even more insistent to go camping. Silly kids don't understand that we live in freezing cold Indiana where you can't go camping comfortably until June. So they each got their backpacks, a blanket, and a pillow. They even put some of the play food from the kitchen set in the bags. It was too cute. They went looking for animals so I got on Google image search and looked up pictures of animals for them to find. Overall a great way to waste a cold and dreary Saturday afternoon!
And on to a car update.... we are still having trouble with the damn thing! After replacing the radiator, starter, battery, and distributor cap, not to mention adding 2 bottles of fuel injector cleaner it now doesn't want to go any faster than 20mph and then it revs way high, kicks into the next gear and we start all over again. Adam will check a few things tonight when he gets home from work, and hopefully it's just the fuel filter like someone suggested.
Cute as a button D
L with his backpack, blanket, and pillow
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Ham and Lentil soup
I kinda made this up as I went along, but here are the approximate measurements that I used.
1 1/2 cups cooked ham, chopped
1/4 lb. dried brown lentils
1/2 onion diced
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. olive oil
6 cups of water
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. beef bouillon granules
1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, over med. heat. Put the carrot, celery, and onion in and cook until softened and translucent. Add ham, and cook until warm and ham has browned a little.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste, 6 cups of water, thyme, lentils, and the beef bouillon. Stir to combine, and simmer over med. heat for 2 hours. It should cook down quite a bit, just make sure to stir occasionally.
It feed the 4 of us, but then again Adam and I both had multiple bowls of soup. I served it with a whole grain toast. Both kids even ate some, which is major when you have 2 toddlers! Let me know if you make it, and what you think!! Thanks.
Well Happy New Year!
Well, I tried to post this last night, but was having trouble with the Internet over this way. Happy New Year everyone! We had a very quiet night at home. My brother-in-law Travis had given us this great basket filled with yummy things to eat for Christmas, so we had the cheese, sausage, and mustard from the basket, the homemade pretzels, chocolate cake, beer, crackers, nuts, I had Crystal Light. I told you it was quiet! I was actually in my pj's before 10pm. New Years day I made a ham and lentil soup with leftover ham from Christmas at my dad's. I stuck it in the freezer so that it would still be good, I had intended to make a ham and black eye pea soup but realized that I had used up all the peas in a chili I made a few weeks ago. I am not a fan of lentils at all!! In fact I hate them! But the soup was awesome. Adam kept going on and on about it. I'll post the recipe that I made up later on another post.
Good by 2008! I am happy to see it go, it was a rough year for us, not as bad as 2007, but still not good. I have high hopes for 2009! My family has had a rough time for the last few years, but it seems to be getting better slowly. And that is a good thing. We don't ask for much out of life, and we aren't greedy people that is for sure. We just need enough to get by and pay all the bills, and to eat. Our kids don't get everything they want, and neither do we. So the outlook of Adam having this new job at Notre Dame this last year is really great for us in the future. It's going on 6 months already, and our life is getting better.
My resolutions for the new year are simple ones. To become a healthier me, and to help my family get out of the slump we were in. I think these are both doable, and realistic! I want to loose weight, and just get healthy over all. And for the family, I just want to be able to pay all our bills and on time. So far we are on a good route with both. Thanks so much for reading my blog. When I started this I thought I would be the only one that read it, and maybe Adam too. And now I have followers, and have met friends through this blog. I have also been told that the last month I inspired people to create more things. That is awesome! I never thought that would happen.
So once again, thank you!
