Category Archives: Kids

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I’m Souper, Thanks For Asking

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I don’t know if it’s the airing out of the house or the whole “spring – ness” that is in the air, but the I’ve been pretty happy with how the last few days have turned out.  I am still suffering a bit with the stomach upset that plagued us all a few weeks back, but more or less I am well physically, and I am feeling a bit lighter and less weighed down than I have in awhile.  Oona is totally weaned and I am actually now below my pre- pregnancy weight. ( Really I don’t care so much about that, but I do want to firm up that middle mushiness that carrying three babies will do to you, especially since I got a new bikini for Mexico.)  That means a lot more options when I walk into my closet in the morning.  There’s not much that makes a girl feel better starting her day than that!

Oona now sleeps through the night, Emily’s impetigo is all cleared up and she’s back to school and we’re all back on schedule. The cloud of negativity seems to have lifted and we’ve been more productive.  Yesterday I managed to bake 2 loaves of homemade sandwich bread and whipped up a tub of dough for the fridge.  (We’re addicted to panini right now so we’re using a lot of bread).    I also made Auntie Anne’s pretzels for the girls.  ( I subscribe to Food Network Magazine and they had a copy cat recipe of those sinful pretzels from the mall and I just had to try it. )  I think my kids may have snorted them they ate them up so fast.  And yes, they do taste just like the ones you buy.  Score!

I also sent Neve to school in a peasant blouse I made for her and she looked adorable.  Emily got a new headband from a Heather Bailey pattern I downloaded  so her hair won’t look so funky anymore.    It was a good day to be the mommy of the house.  Today I continued cutting fabric for more spring and summer dresses for the girls and a halter top for me to take to the resort.  I’m hoping to pick up a set of bunkbeds this week for the girls so I can get everybody organized before summer hits and they are here all the time to get in my way complain about what I am doing slow up the process.

Today was chillier than the last 4 or 5 days have been so I decided to use the butternut squash and apples I had to make some soup.  Normally I only make this particular soup in the fall, when the apples are in season, but Neve loves it, and I have had a craving for it, so it seemed like the day to do it.   I don’t actually have a recipe I use, I kind of just “wing it”, which I find more acceptable with soups than most other types of cooking.  I knew what I wanted and grabbed the appropriate ingredients, and voila!  Yumminess!

First I chopped up a nice big squash.

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While I was chopping this up, Neve commented that the knife was pretty big.  I agreed.  Then she went on to say “But you know papa has a bigger wrench than that.  I mean a REALLY big wrench!” Which of course meant that I couldn’t stop chortling to myself with laughter, picturing the euphemisms that Paul is sure to take from that.

When I stopped giggling, I chopped up two large granny smith apples.  Then I added all the chopped stuff to a pot along with a stick of butter.  Yes, a whole stick.  No, I don’t think my recipe is on the low fat side, but I didn’t use any bacon fat or lard, and I figure it’s chock full of vegetable and fruity goodness, and plus it tastes really freakin’ good.

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I love this part, because I turn the heat on medium high and let the squash soften with the apples and it smells SO good.   Once they are all nice and starting to get a little mushy (but not too much) I add some chicken stock.  Now, when I first made this soup I was using store bought stock, and it was still good.  However, last fall I started buying whole frying chickens from Sam’s Club for $7 and making my own stock, and let me tell you.  The difference, if you’ve never done it, is phenomenal.

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A big ol’ chunk of frozen stock.  I hadn’t had time to thaw it out, but I’ve found it doesn’t really matter.  I just let the whole mess simmer until the squash is totally softened and it just smells too darn good to resist anymore.  That’s when I whip out the immersion blender and puree it all.  I used to transfer it all to my blender, but that can be kind of messy and then there’s another thing to clean.   When it’s all smooth, try not to put your face in it like a hog.  (I myself have a hard time controlling myself).

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When I haven’t had homemade stock on hand I’ve also added onions to the first step and sometimes even a bit of apple cider to bring up the apple taste.  But really, this is one of those dishes that is better for its simplicity.  Just ask the 5 year old who slurped down 2 ginormous bowls of it tonight.

SO that’s my gift to you tonight.  A yummy and easy treat and a hope that all of you are having a positive and productive week.  Enjoy!

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When Things Go Awry (In which I wax all philisophical and stuff)

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We’ve all had those days where we have to make tough decisions and hope things turn out for the best.  I guess it’s part of the fun of life, right?  Too many things can’t go well or the universe might become too unbalanced and smack you in the face.  At least that’s where we are right now, feeling the effects of a tough decision, feeling regret, but confident that it’s all for the best and we’ve made the best decision we could.    I’ve quietly watched some pretty awful stuff going on for quite awhile now and I’ve said very little in the interest of just being a good listener and keeping the peace (and let’s face it, you can’t help someone until they are ready to hear you, as difficult as it can be to hold back).  But it all exploded in my face (well, actually, my ear) yesterday and I could keep my mouth shut no longer.  I won’t say more than that, but I think everyone knows friendships and relationships are a sticky situation sometimes, especially when you see bad things happening to someone you care about.

So what DO you do when things go awry in your corner of the world?  If you’re like me, you open your windows to air out all of the germs from the last few weeks and get your “sew” on.  It’s about 80 degrees here today (hence the window opening) so I whipped up a peasant blouse for my Oona.

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I love these little shirts because you don’t need a pattern if you’re familiar with the basics of garment construction (if you’ve sewn enough patterns, you have an idea how a shirt goes together).  I have a pile of leftover fabrics that I will be putting to use making more of these for all of the girls.   This print is from In the Beginning Fabrics. I got it from Fabric.com, my fabric equivalent of a candy store.   I’ll be working on the others  later in the day, after I’ve done some sweeping and scrubbing and airing out.  Out with all the bad and the negative (and the infectious!) and in with the new and the fresh and the positive.  Paul even drive all the way home from Charlotte despite his plans to stay through the week just so he could be here as a supportive force.  He loves his girls, and it’s a good weekend for them to play outside together and have fun and decompress.  The crocuses are blooming!

Happy weekend!

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Spring Cleaning, Or When Norovirus Comes to Town

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The Universe has a great sense of humor.  You may remember I’d just about given up on winter, right?  Still holding out for one big snowstorm but knowing deep down (based on several year’s experience, too) that we weren’t going to get one?  And remember how I was starting to come around to the idea of it being very early spring since the little crocus and daffodil greens were coming up and that maybe I should begin thinking about a spring cleaning?

Well.

Two things happened at once.  We all came down with a nasty case of norovirus (you know, that gut wrenching, puking, diarrhea, body aches so bad you’d gladly die RIGHT NOW illness that seems to be everywhere lately) and it snowed.  Major snow.  The kind that I should have been out playing and taking pictures in and making snowmen with the kids in.  Except for the aforementioned norovirus.  Ah, universe, touche.    So now that we are on the mend we need to do a VERY major spring cleaning (3 days of 4 sick and vomiting people makes for a nasty messy house), and I’ve been trying to enjoy the snow from inside as much as humanly possible.

But let’s back up a moment here, if we may, to set the stage for just one of the many reasons that a major cleaning is now in order, despite the fact that old man winter is not quite thorugh with us after all.

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The Laguna del Laundry-o

This is immediately before I fell victim to the virus.  Neve had come home sick from school and I guessed it was a matter of time before I became incapable of any real housework so I put myself into overtime getting everything in order to avoid being sick and having no clean towels or dishes and dirty bathrooms.  My lovely washer and dryer were put on full time duty and doing a bang – up job.  Too bang – up.  My washer became somewhat unbalanced and the full 1.5 gallons of Tide HE that was sitting on top of it fell over and became wedged upside down between the dryer and the laundry room door.  Where it then popped off its cap and poured out all over the floor under the machines and onto the white hallway carpet, which is now a lovely laguna blue and must be ripped out and replaced.    And you know what?  I gave up on it.  I let it go.  Because really there’s no coming back from that.  You can’t clean that out.  The sudsing power (kudos to the laundry detergent companies for this, btw) is too much for any carpet cleaning device to handle.   I soaked up what I could with towels and threw those towels in the washer along with the bathroom rugs and they washed up rather nicely (no need to add soap!).  And since then we have been pretending like there is no huge unsightly squishy blue pool in the hall.

And shortly after that, Oona got hit with the vomiting.  All over Paul at Sam’s Club (buying more laundry detergent!) no less.  Twice while in line.  A few times more in the car on the way home.  All over the dining room chairs and the floors downstairs.  The problem was that in between throwing up you’d never know she was sick.  She could not be made to sit still, she wanted to play!  And since we didn’t want her to end up dehydrated we kept filling her with juice and pedialyte whenever she would take it.  And she’d be on the run and need to vomit, but keep running.  We’d try to grab her and she’d try to get away, spreading it everywhere.   Then, I got it.  No, I didn’t spread it all over the house.  But I did feel a lot worse than Oona.  I couldn’t get out of bed all day Sunday and could only stare woefully out the window as the snow started falling late in the day.  I didn’t expect much to come of it, but I was in a total fog anyway.  So imagine my surprise Monday morning when this is the scene from the back door:

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I was blown away.  I was elated.  I was MAD!  I was still barely able to stand up and here was all this perfect snow (and I do mean perfect – this stuff was just right for making snow balls).

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What a glorious sight.  And now Paul was sick.  Emily and Neve at least got to enjoy playing out in it.  Oh, and Emily, by the way, has impetigo.  You now that lovely bacterial infection that looks like itchy red pimples on your face?  Yup.  Sigh.  At least she wasn’t too sick to make snow angels and chase the dog around.  Pippa LOVES playing in the snow.  It really does make me wish we had this kind of snow more often like we did back up north when we were kids.

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I am still amazed at how much we got, and that here it is Tuesday and it has barely showed any signs of melting.  Watching Paul clear off the van really made it kind of weird for both of us – flashback city!  He never thought he’d been doing this again!

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I haven’t been able to get Oona out to play in it yet, but as of this morning it still looked like this out back:

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It’s really beautiful with the sun shining (though a bit bright!!!) through the trees.  The birds are visiting the feeders in scores and the dog is eating her weight in snow.  I’m really sad to still be feeling so crummy, but with any luck it’ll pass soon and there will be enough snow left for my littlest one to get a taste of it (not literally!).  For now she is content to eat everything in sight (she’s weaned now, which apparently means HUNGRY ALL THE TIME!) and tormenting her big sisters.   As long as I don’t have to do any of that major cleaning in the next couple of days, I think I’ll be ok.  I’ll hang out on the couch and enjoy the view of the snow covered trees from my windows, and laugh as Oona makes everyone crazy.

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Still Chilly

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Well, it’s almost March.  That seems sort of unbelievable to me.  Almost time for spring cleaning – didn’t I just do fall cleaning?  It is a bittersweet time of year for me, the early spring.  I am sad that winter is winding down, though happy that the early bulbs have started sorouting up from the ground.  To many people right now I am sure that spring seems far off, as they while away the days under blowing drifts of snow.  How I envy them!  I am sure they, in turn, envy me and the lack of white on the ground here in Virginia.  I actually find the dearth of snow more depressing – all around me there is brown.  Brown grass, brown trees, brown shrubbery, brown brown brown.  I’d rather see a pristine blanket of white than dead vegetation the entire season.

I take a lot of flack for this.  Most adults have outgrown snow.  I think it is sad, personally, that by the time we reach adulthood the majority of us have lost that sense of wonderment that makes childhood so special.  Remember when snow was magical?  You could run outside in it and it would seem like all the world was holding its breath;  it made it seem, if only for a short while, that the world was being cleansed and renewed – sort of a metaphorical clearing of the slate, if you will.  (Not to mention the fun!  Snowmen, igloos, snowballs, snow angels……ah!)

And it isn’t just snow.  We’ve collectively lost interest in the fact that the natural world around us and all of the small, simple things that are going on every day, are amazing. I feel ridiculously lucky that I am where I am right now, able to watch the subtle changes in the trees and the sky from my window and share it with my kids.  The lack of snow is unfortunate.  I’ve always thought that the lingering snow with the green sprouts shooting through to find the sun was a miraculous sight.

Yesterday we had an errand to run at the lake and since it was just before twilight and the lake looked so serene (and I had my camera with me) we decided to stop at one of the beaches and enjoy it for a few moments.  The sun was just dipping below the horizon, a few straggling ducks were still out and about, and the smell of smoke from someone’s wood fire hung in the chilly air.  It was a darn near perfect time to be out.

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They loved watching the ducks and walking around in the sand.  (For the record – their coats were in the car, and I tried to make them put them on, but no luck. )  They even found two little shells by the water’s edge.

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Not that they need anymore shells.  My parents have a shellfish addiction (clams, oysters, mussels) and there is an impressive mound of shells out near the garden where they toss them after meals.  My kids think it’s the most incredible thing in the world, and they came home the other night with a bag full of them each.  My house runneth over with shells.

But back to the spring prep.  I’ve dug out some Heather Bailey fabric I’ve had for awhile that I think is perfect for this time of year.

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I am obsessed with this fabric!  So far it has become a carrying case for my knitting needles, but I think it is going to turn into many other things as well.  A new apron, some placemats, pillows, maybe a quilt………..

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On the Wean

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Forgive the spotty posts – I am weaning Oona and she is NOT happy about it.  I have also developed an infection, so we’re a real happy bunch here.

But, it’s all for a good cause.  You see, Paul’s company is rewarding its top performers with a trip to Mexico.  We’re staying at a resort in the Riviera Maya for 5 days in the beginning of May, sans children! So Oona can’t still be nursing.  And, she’s 18 months now anyway, so it was time.

More to come!

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And the Clouds Parted….

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…and an angelic glow descended, and the heavenly choir rang out with The Hallelujah Chrous because dudes – I finished the socks.

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Emily is the foot model here and of course the socks are a wee bit big for her, as they are for her grandma (mamaw, as Oona would say).

Funny thing is that these started off as a very enjoyable knit.  Then with all the cabling and charting they became a very time consuming I-need-to-finish-these-GD-socks sort of knit.  Then by about the heel of the second sock they became enjoyable again.  Mostly because by then I had more or less memorized the chart and knew what I could anticipate and it made for much less stop and go to refer to the pattern.

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The cables make them a bit thick, so I imagine these are best as “house socks” to wear like slippers, or with boots or clogs.  The yarn is (of course) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts , my all time favorite supplier (or dealer, if you’re looking at it as the addiction that it is).    It’s Socks That Rock lightweight, in colorway Grimm’s Willow Wren. I think I’ve mentioned that before, but, you know, just in case.   The pattern is called Slippery from Knitty.

And, with those done, I am going to go stash diving and retrieve some nice self-striping sock yarn I picked up from Knitpicks and work on something quick and easy (though likely not tonight – Lost is on!!!).

Hooray!

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MwaaaHaaaHaa

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I put a heaping amount of spinach, broccoli and wheat germ in tonight’s spaghetti and meatballs, and NOBODY NOTICED!  They gobbled up all that healthiness as if it were no more than the usual favorite.  I have to admit, I quite enjoyed it myself.  (Almost makes up for the fast food we had for lunch while out shopping with grandma).  And since I cannot make the evening too healthy, I’m off to gobble up some of the leftover Vienetta from Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day around here traditionally entails a large amount of Chinese take – out and some yummy dessert.  We’ve done it every year we’ve been married.

Now I’ll leave you with the Neve-ism of the night, as just overheard by me while she played with her barbies:

“I am beautiful, so you should RESPECT ME!”

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And Now Back to……Me Against the World

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What a week.  And it’s not even quite over yet.

There’s the new cat.  He’s a little lovebug, let me tell you.  If nothing else, I have gotten a ridiculous amount of cat cuddling this week.  And though I am nearly finished with the second sock I’ve been toiling away on, it’s kind of difficult to manage it all when your  little kitty keeps attacking your yarn and launching his little fishy smelling face straight into yours with a “purr”!  The same day we brought home Jasper, Paul brought home a new car.  In fact he was gone all day driving out to pick it up.  Sunday was fully devoted to grocery procurement and cleaning.

By Monday I was allowing for full cat interaction, hoping Jasper’s introduction into the general population wouldn’t cause too much fur to fly.  So far, it hasn’t.  Sushi has yet to venture back into my bedroom but for the briefest moments to scarf down some kibble.  I had to move a litter pan into the hallway to avoid problems there. She’s pretty much been herself otherwise, though her eyes widen as big as saucers when she catches a glimpse of Jasper, and she runs for the relative safety of under Neve’s bed.   Milo seems to be in denial.  He has been slowly ambling about his normal routine, very very studiously avoiding “seeing” Jasper.  It’s hilarious to witness.  You can almost see his thought bubble: if I don’t see it, it isn’t there. Jasper doesn’t seem to care whether they interact with him or not, as long as he can run around and eat and poop whenever he wants.  Considering he’s been at a shelter in a cage for several months, I can’t say I blame him.

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Monday he went to see the vet.  I brought my mother to help with Oona.  Thank GOD.  We were there for forever and a day (seriously, when I die I am convinced that should I end up in limbo it will smell of bleach and dog and have bad fluorescent lighting).  The cat Did. Not. Like. It.  But, he got his de-worming that I asked for as a precaution, they checked out his sneezing but could find no evidence of any problems, and treated him for fleas.  (I also got two extra doses for Milo and Sushi, just to be safe.  Yes, I am paranpoid, but thoroughly so).

The real drama on Monday was being pulled over by a state trooper whilst at the Dunkin Donuts drive – thru.  I kid you not.  He had passed me on the highway and by the time he turned around to find me I was ordering my coffee, so he decided to POUND ON MY WINDOW.  Lovely.  There’s nothing less embarrassing than being in a busy drive – thru with lots of witnesses and having a large cop pound on your window and tell you to finish your order and pull to the side, all because your inspection sticker expired 9 days ago.  Ah well, that is simply how my life is.

Tuesday Emily had after school chorus immediately followed by Girl Scouts so I was once again driving aforementioned uninspected van and praying not to be pulled over yet again, because even though at last count there were no less than SEVEN other cars in my driveway, the only one driveable and legal (sort of) is the van.  If that is not a sad statement, I don’t know what is.  Anyway I took my life into my hands and brought Neve and Oona to the grocery store while Emily was at the meeting, and remembered that it’s never a good idea to take a child who does not excel in listening to me to the store.  She also pointed out to me that it was “inappropriate” for me to allow her to watch Chowder (a funny cartoon we all enjoy) because one scene shows a woman made out of ice cream, and there is a suggested shape of bosoms.

Wednesday I conquered the laundry mountains of doom.  Truly.  It’s all done.  How?  I was exhausted, and I am pretty sure that my washer, dryer, and garbage cans were as well.  Still, I had to drive out to two different locations to pick up the Girl Scout cookies that had arrived for both girls’ troops.  I also spent a lot of time chasing Oona.  She inexplicably and suddenly developed a taste for the little rocks in the large potted plants in the sun room.  I guess they must taste good with the cat food she seems to have such a fondness for these days.

And then came this morning.  As I watched my kids run for the bus (Emily loping rather awkwardly and ungracefully in her thick white athletic socks and slippery black patent leather clogs that she can’t quite keep on her feet, her hair an abject failure despite brushing) I felt a could finally find some relief.  I had some minor projecs to tackle today (cat litter, sink full of dishes, fix shower organizer that somehow fell and exploded all products everywhere for no good reason) and then there was nothing else major to worry about.  I could enjoy a mostly decent house, a half day for the girls tomorrow, and a long holiday weekend.

Then I discovered Milo lougning in plain sight in Neve’s room.  Odd, thought I to myself as I wandered over to him and nuzzled his cute kitty face.  He lifted his head slightly and nuzzled me back softly, breaking into his trademark “insta-purr”.  And then, he sneezed fully into my face.  And then he did it again.  And then he snorted, and began making the unmistakable “I have a bad cold” noises.  And by the way, Jasper is still sneezing, too.  So it’s bck to the vet tomorrow morning.  Just another instance of “things can’t ever just be boring and normal here”.  Because if there had been no real ramifications of inserting a new cat into the house it would certainly be a sign of the coming apocalypse.  Nothing can be easy.  Not here, no way.  I need a nap.

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Unknown's avatar

Sneaky, Sneaky

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Yes, I am still working on that sock.  No, I don’t have a picture yet. Soon, I promise!

We woke up to  nice fresh layer of actual snow this morning – shocking!!!  The girls got a 2 hour delay from school, but I went one better and just let them stay home.  Mostly because after the school called at 6:30 this morning (instant alert system – it ROCKS!) I went back to sleep and woke at 8:00 with Emily standing over me fully snow – suited up and ready to play.  Figuring this may be the only snow we get all winter I let them stay home to enjoy it.  I rarely allow them to stay home unless they are sick (doesn’t help my sanity to keep them home when they’re not too sick to misbehave!) so I don’t feel too bad about it.   Neve  (predictably) made me miserable most of the day by responding to everything I said with a petulant “that’s not fair!”. But Emily spent much of the day working on mastering knitting.  I’m so proud!  SO even though the snow had all melted by lunch time the day wasn’t a total loss, and I finished off the batch of sneaky brownies I made.  (They’re sneaky because they’re healthy!)

I bought a book about how to sneak healthy foods into your kids’ normal less – than – nutritious foods.  I’ve tried a few of the purees added to a few of my normal dinners, and so far, so good.  No one suspected the cauliflower hanging out in their mac & cheese or their meatballs.  Or the spinach chilling in their blueberry milkshakes.  But the best, my friends, is those brownies.  The recipe is directly from the book and makes use of the berry and spinach puree (as well as wheat germ and oats), and it somehow manages to still be one of the fudgiest, best brownies I have ever made.  I think the kids aren’t the only ones that are going to be getting a better dose of nutrients from now on.

Speaking of doses, I think Neve is going to over dose on tea.  She got a tea set for Christmas that she painted herself and we neglected to put it in the oven ever since (to set the paint and render it safe to eat off of), but I got around to it finally last week and she has been requesting tea for it several times a day.  I’m thinking of investing in some chamomile, given her normal energy level.

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Think it’ll work?

Yeah, me neither.

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Introducing……..Food-Mo-Tron and Mr. Harold

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We picked up two new residents somewhere along the way.  I don’t know how long they were percolating on the fringes of my awareness but they burst forth, much to our collective chagrin, right about the same time.  I think it was in mid October or thereabouts.  FoodMoTron was the first.  It started out innocently enough, as these things usually do.  You know how it goes.  You’re playing with your 5 year old to get her to stop jumping all over the place and the “I Am A Robot” voice picks up.  You think that since robots are calm that maybe playing along will help take things down a few notches on the hyper chart.  It did that, but it also took things way UP on the annoyance chart.  I asked her what kind of robot she was.  A fix – it bot?  A calculator bot?  A crazy bot?  No.  She was a food making robot.  A “FoodMoTron”.  I think this may have come from Futurama (yes I know it’s innapropriate for a 5 year old to be watching.  But I am alone and overwhelmed, so, whatever). Either way, it was amusing until dinner time.  I can’t remember what I had prepared but I do recall that it had taken some time and work.  And when we all sat down to eat, Neve pushed her plate away and stuck her tongue out.  Then she claimed that as a FoodMoTron she couldn’t “eat this”.  She could only “create food”.  Further, she wanted full access to the kitchen to accomplish this.  And when I refused, FoodMoTron became Evil FoodMoTron.

We all began to really dislike FoodMoTron from then on.  Anytime Neve did anything bad she’d say “I am not Neve.  I am FoodMoTron”.  And the moment Neve magically reappeared, she “knew nothing” of the bad behavior, because “it wasn’t me, it was FoodMoTron!”  As her robotic alter – ego she would tease Oona, push Emily around, get sassy with me and Maddie, draw on walls and furniture, etc. We carefully avoid robot references now to avoid any new appearances by FoodMoTron.   Clearly this was Neve’s outlet for naughtiness.  What’s funny about that is that Mr. Harold is the opposite.

Mr. Smitty Harold showed up right before Thanksgiving.  There were some Groucho Marx style play glasses leftover from Halloween and Neve appeared one evening wearing a pair and doing an imitation of an old man.  She introduced herself in this funny voice as “Mr. Smitty Harold”.  I learned that Mr. Harold is wildly rich and generous (he gave me hundreds and millions of dollars and cents), likes to clean (he cleaned the entire playroom in an hour, and did a pretty good job, too), likes to tell on Neve (“she didn’t flush the potty, and that makes her pretty gross!”), and, somehow, is my new husband , “but don’t tell Paul when he calls.  I don’t want him to know that I will be sleeping in your bed tonight.”

Um……I didn’t let Neve/Mr. Smitty Harold sleep in bed with me that night.  It was too weird, even if it IS my little Neve.  I have received several love notes from Mr. Harold.  They all call me “Boofull”.   In general, as Mr. Harold is rather helpful around the house and not given to much sassiness we all don’t mind him so much.  It does get to be tiring though when he begins insisting that as an adult he can drive the car and do whatever else he feels like, which is, I am guessing, the whole manipulative point to this character.

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