a huge sigh of relief, and a ‘right now’ post

PHEW!! I have to apologize for my absense this past week, I’ve been locked out of my blog account! WordPress did this emergency password change to protect everyone’s privacy, and it just so happened that I haven’t used my connecting email for about… five years. SO, that meant I was locked out! probably for good! or so said the responses from the WordPress tech team. thanks for your help guys! no they were helpful, I was just a little pissed off at the thought of losing the eight or so blogs I have attached to this account, not to mention the domains and all the content. YEARS worth of posts. years. Anyways, martin had the idea to go after the email account itself, once WordPress said it was hopeless, and after countless hours of trying different things, I was able to gain access again!! PHEW! what a genius I married… anyways so!
We had a pretty fun week so far. Spent a lot of time outdoors. Went to the Farmers market again and enjoyed the best black cherries I think I’ve ever had. Cheap Chicken. Bike rides. Family dinners. Dealing with a new sassy attitude and lists of fun activities for you and your toddler. Cuddling late and workouts early. Lots of trips to the post office. Long talks on the phone and family staying over. Holding hands. Tea sets, milk droplets, and Pringles.
August flew by as usual… Today I plan on soaking in this last day of this month, in anticipation of my favorite month, which is right around the cornor…September!

Right now, I am…

marveling at my new little Sophia, who (at four months) isn’t so new anymore!

working on finishing my last custom order from the shop.

smelling the crisp autumn smell of cold coming through the open window.

noticing the smell of fresh banana bread still lingering in the air.

feeling proud of an early morning exercise routine that has lasted longer than just about any other.

listening to Coldplay‘s new single.

feeding Ellie chucks of bell pepper, her favorite.

making sure that I’ve got all the baby announcements sent out.

finishing my cup of peppermint tea.

reading Martin’s first draft.

hoping to have a couple of days of girl time this weekend.

smiling at the thought of all the things I want to get done.

knowing that I always bite off more than I can chew.

wishing I could please everybody,

accepting that I can’t possibly.

rejoicing over the coming of fall!

watching my Mr. mew the lawn, and loving what I see.

kissing the top of Sophie’s little fuzzy head.

wondering when our next road trip will be.

wanting to go for another family walk this evening.

looking forward to family sealings this afternoon.

loving the new haircut I got yesterday!

thinking about going for a walk to the park.

wishing you much simple pleasure in your coming day!

(inspired by Soulemama)

{this moment}

A sunday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the past week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Classic Key Lime Pie

this was such a treat the other night, and seeing as how it was my first attempt at Key lime Pie, and I think it was a success:) here’s the recipe, and a few pictures (Sorry in advance for the horrible lighting) of the end result:

KEY LIME PIE (ingredients: ‘love food’ cookbook, method: my own):
Ingredients:
Crumb Crust:

• 6 0z graham crackers (about 1 1/3 packages)
• 2 tbsp cane sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 oz butter, melted

Filling:

• Butter, for greasing
• 1 3/4 Cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup Freshly Squeezed lime juice
• finely grated rind of 3 limes
• 4 egg yolks
• whipped cream, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees farenheit. lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate or spring-form pan, about 1 1/2 inches deep
2. to make crumb crust, place crackers, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor or using a hand mixer, blend or process untill fine crumbs form, but DO NOT reduce mixture to powder. add melted butter and mix again gently with hand blender or with hands till moistened.
3. Tip crumb mixture into springform pan and press evenly over base and up the sides. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
4. meanwhile, beat the condensed milk, lime juice, lime rind, and egg yolks together in a bowl until well blended.
5. remove the crumb crust from the oven, pour the filling into the crumb crust, and gently spread to the edges. return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes or so, or until the filling is set around the edge but still wobbly in the center.
6. let cool completely on a wire rack, than cover and let chill in the fridge (preferably for at least two hours or over night ).
7. serve with a large dollop of whipped cream. enjoy!

havin' a saucy time

Ellie’s been determined lately to eat with a spoon, and frankly I’m glad!! it’s very exciting to have her be able to semi feed herself and watch how excited she gets when she actually gets a big bite in, and the look on her face when she tries something new.
In these pictures she’s feeding herself applesauce for the first time and laughing to herself after every bite and saying “mmm-MMMM!!” in the last picture I think she was just posing for the camera though.haha she’s been getting more used to the camera in her face I think, and keeps striking these poses!! that’s my girl:)

I’ll have to do a highlight on Ellie when i get the chance next. she’s just coming so far and we’re so proud of her!! she knows exactly what we’re saying most of the time and is so obedient. she eats about anything we give her and her current favorites are cucumber and bell pepper. no kidding! she started nursery this past sunday and I think I teared up walking away from the classroom. she’s growing up so fast!!
well anyways, I said I’d talk about her another day. sorry I couldn’t help it:)
happy thursday!

P.S. we got invited on a double family date to Sushi Ya tonight with my best friend and her family, and we had a terrific time!! its hard not to close your eyes and just savor every bite, it was SOO yummy. can’t wait to go back!

hankies

This idea is so sweet! florals for girls or plaids for boys room. love it...

Via Poppytalk

sharing time (wordy)

Since I’ve been bad about frequent posts, and since this is a new blog with new readers, and since I’m entertaining myself on a night when I should be editing photos, but would rather screw around on my blog. and if i talk about myself for a while noe, i won’t have to do it for a while in the future right?:) so here’s a few(or more that a few) real (but mostly not significant) details/facts about me when no one else is involved – just me, just for fun:

I can never decide on my favorite color.
I usually walk fast, and have unknowingly left people behind until they pointed it out to me.
I love love working out and consequently that so-sore-i-can’t-move feeling.
I’ve never lived by myself.
There is always music playing in the car when I’m driving, and in the house when i’m cleaning.
I’ve had both my children without any pain medication what-so-ever (yes by choice), and my second baby was born at home on my bed with a midwife’s assistance. I’s super excited to have the rest of my children that way.
I like the feeling of being up early in the morning.
I like to make people laugh.
I like the smell of gasoline.
I find excessive use of exclamation marks annoying.
When I’m tasked with something repetitive or monotonous I find the most efficient way to complete it, often testing different strategies to speed up the process.
I don’t really like soda.
I sang tenor in the Delaware Choral Society, and I sang soprano in my all-state chorus, both in the same year.
I scored 100% on my written test to get my driver’s license. I got a 98% on the driving test because I pulled to far into the cross-walk at an intersection.
I can get along with almost anyone if I put my mind to it.
I have dabbled with the banjo, guitar, and clogging.
I love Love vacuuming.
I Love amusement parks, but some reason I’ve never been to Disney Land, or Disney World, and when Disney Universe comes around I’m sure that I’ll not have a chance to go there Either.
I ‘ve skateboarded and was pretty good before I got married, and swiftly pregnant, than my career as tony hawk went down the tubes:)
I don’t have a single allergy that I’m aware of.
I burnt my hand on a curling iron whilst prepping for my first date with my husband. I still have a scar, and it gets darker when I tan. I am a horrible healer.
I like making dumb jokes that I think a lot of people don’t get, but I also don’t always get other people’s jokes right away. Sometimes I think my sarcasm isn’t clear, and things I mean as a joke just come out wrong. Sorry. It’s chronic.
one of my eyes is a lighter brown than the other. it stands out mostly in sunlight, which is why my skin is so light:)
When I hear a song I like, I can listen to it over and over without tiring of it. I will usually sing along if no one else is around.
I sleep silently.
I’ve eaten alligator.
I use pens to keep my hair up.
There are times when I’m so engrossed in an activity that eating or sleeping are chores.
I’ve always been able to interact easily with people older than myself. For example, when I was little I went swimming at a friend’s house and visited with her mother for most of the afternoon.
I love talking about relationships and human interaction.
I had a fascination with briefcases when I was a little girl, and when my dad finally gave me one of his, I figured out that they weren’t all that interesting after all. but I still used it for a good while to carry my toys around.
I prefer the toilet paper to roll off the top
I have 52 pairs of shoes in my closet that I currently wear. [More are waiting to be sold/donated.]
I wear an elastic on my wrist all the time, (though not pictured) just in case… I guess I feel super unprepared if I don’t have an elastic. I also feel very uncool when there’s a pic of me looking put together…except for that stupid elastic!
I love painting my toes, but despise painted fingers. think it makes me look like I’m 12 years old. maybe cuz i have rough (preteen) man hands with short nails…
I grew up without cable at my house, and now that I’m married, living in my own house, I still don’t have cable.
I don’t always finish my sentences, which is why when I blog – I do this a lot … My mind is the land of unfinished thoughts waiting to be revisited at some point in the future.

So – will you make me feel less goofy about these random confessions and share something about yourself with me? I’ll visit you too if you leave a link for me.
Peace,

P.S. Feel free to play along on your blog or in the comments! And if you do blog, be sure to leave me a link in the comments!

sorry for my absence...

This is what I’m up to right now [Well, not right now. Right now, I’m eating left over chips and salsa, and typing on here, while Sophie’s and Ellie’s nap times overlap for a few little while). This is our future pantry!
well ever since we’ve moved in last december, its been a dark dank spider pit for the most part. I couldn’t help but sweep and dust it out a few times however, and we used it for spraying most everything we wanted sprayed. so yes it has had its uses in the past, but now I’m prepping it for one big use! storing all our food! …and sparkling cider:)
These are the ‘before’ shots. Before all the painting, all the caulking, spraying, scrubbing, hammering, shelf building, carpeting, and overall finishing that has been and will continue to take place these past few days, and for the next few. My goal is to finish all the dirty work tonight, and start on the shelves tomorrow! Huzzah! (as you can see from picture #2 below, I couldn’t quite wait to start slappin paint all over the walls before I took the before pictures:)
Hopefully i will be organizing all the food onto those shelves by the end of this week, and then hopefully, an ‘after’ picture! … followed by more house tour:)
so stick around!!



for the past…

{this moment}

A sunday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the past week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Back in the day

This one I pulled out of the really old archives just for you mom…

(and anyone else that needs a good laugh…really it’s on me)

Thanks for making sure I was so color coordinated as a child,

even at the expense of my pride as an adult:)

I think I might have actually been getting HBO from that thing…

something both old and new

Martin and I were driving down the road in town today when he yelled “pull over!!” right as I was going through an intersection. I than screeched to the right and zoomed around oncoming traffic to pull into a driveway and say “what?!” well turns out he wanted me to stop because he’d seen some street venders while driving by and he’s seen the curved top of this lovely tufted sofa. Once we got a glimpse of the sofa I knew it was coming home with us! from what I can see, its in flawless condition. a few cracks in the wood on the back, but it adds to the vintage appeal! I could tell by the woodwork and color that it was a genuine antique, and by its materials good condition that it had been refurbished. Sure enough it was made in 1881, but the upholstery was brand new!! hence the “old and new” title. an antique that’s new to our house:)
what a find *le sigh*… these tufts in the middle are my favorite:

The price was actually very good to begin with, but still a little high for the poor yet happy couple. The Mr. talked her down 200 dollars!! And although I won’t tell you the ending price, I’ll tell you that it was a HUGE chunk off it… and she threw in this chair for next to nothing, like I’m talking low two digits. crazy.

So martin walked back to the house to get his pickup (we were just down the street, but still), and i sat in this lovely velvet chair and looked at old versions of Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post’ till he came back and it was loadin time, and taking home to admire and sit on them time. On that note they are SO comfortable! Anyways, love them to death. Everything I’ve dreamed of.haha Perfect in the parlor, although they make my other sofa look like crap… oh well, I’ll just have to find another one! anyone know where I could locate one?
now to keep the crackers and slobber off this gorgeous material…
good luck to me, I know!!
here’s to foraging for antiques, and scoring!! and here’s to a happy weekend to you all:)

keeping the date

This calendar is such a creative idea. It counts the days of the month using ink as it spreads across a line of embossed connected numbers. For more about it visit the artist, Oscar Diaz, visit his website.

haha very funny

Are you the perfect mom?

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Bare with me here

My favorite things (ala 'the sound of music') ~ by Emily Meyers:)
chapstick and hairspray and earrings that dangle
pictures I’ve taken at just the right angle,
bunches of daisy’s that my sweetheart brings
these are a few of my favorite things
meatballs and t-bones and salads all piled
melon and berries, they make me go wild
cups of hot chocolate that give me a zing
These are a few of my favorite things.
aprons and headbands and skirts that are vintage
bright painted toesies, and polka-dot baggage
boxes from Ebay the fed-ex guy brings
These are a few of my favorite things.
cubbards with dishes and sinks all a glowing,
loads of clean laundry, a yard that’s worth mowing
iPods with music that i love to sing
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the babe cries,
When the hubby sighs,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.

a typical salad

This is pretty typical for of how salads look in our house, and it was so pretty today I just had to share it with you:
We have salads in our house all year-long as sides, but in the summer, I can’t think of anything better than a chicken or steak salad. usually I’ll pick up bulk ingredients from Costco and cut up a huge bowl of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and spinach, and then every time we have salads I can just plop a few handfuls on the plates and add a few more touches and voila!
the simple ingredients for this one in particular?

• Romaine Lettuce
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Red and Green Bell Pepper
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Chopped Chicken Breast
• Homemade ‘Kickin Kreamy’ garlic dressing
• Cracked Black Peppercorn

also some other great toppers are toasted or raw nuts or sunflower seeds, dried fruit or figs (cranberries, cherries, raisins etc), shredded cheese, homemade croutons, fresh herbs(basil, chives, dill, parsley, etc), fresh fruit(apples, pears, mandarin oranges, etc), hardboiled egg, olives (black or green), red onions, sliced radishes, etc etc. the list in relatively endless. just whatever you have in your fridge that you love on a salad!
I Love trying new things on my salads. Give it a try, and let me know what creative thing YOU like on YOUR salads at home!

Dear Laundry,

to the rather large Pile-O-Laundry that sits in a unsettlingly huge wrinkly pile on my tile floor:

(source unknown)



YOU- ME- tonight. the bedroom. Bow chicka bow-wow… ♥ Emily
challenge to all: never take laundry out of the dryer till you’re sure that you can sit for a little while and fold it!! just do what i usually do and leave it in the bin till dirty, or leave it in the dryer clean for a day or so, than quickly fluff it for a few minutes on a short cycle when you’re sure you have the time to fold it right after. it’ll never be wrinkly!
have a wonderful day:)

P.S. When you are getting ready to throw a load of laundry in, and you see a pair of gym shorts, semi-folded at the base of the bed -just throw them into the basket and wash them. If you try to check if they are clean by putting your nose in them, the result could be a rather unpleasant experience. not that thats happened to me, i’m just sayin. don’t risk it:)
P.S.S. in all aspects of laundry, and life in general, I have the most patient husband. in the entire world. end of story.

{this moment}

A sunday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the past week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Out fo the mouths of babes

"As we all know, proverbs give wisdom, the ability to motivate, and they help us to empathize with others and give us hope. They are short sayings that explain a fact or a truth. Some proverbs are difficult to understand, especially for children. So, in preparation for an open house, teachers had their second graders write their own proverbs. First they talked about proverbs that are more common to get them thinking. Than the assignment was to take the first half of a proverb and fill in a new ending. With no help, the children came up with some very honest, and funny proverbs (some actually make more sense than the original!)"
I found this story and list whilst perusing around on a mommy/baby site…made me laugh. reminded me of a quote i heard somewhere; “Out of the mouths of babes…come the words that adults should not have said in the first place.” Kids say the darndest things sometimes:) i can’t wait to hear what Ellie will come up with once she learns to talk. i know you will enjoy!

• Where there’s smoke there’s BBQ.
• When the blind lead the blind they’ll bump into each other.
• No news is no newspaper.
• A penny saved is a penny in the bank.
• You can lead a horse to water but not a cow.
• If you lie down with the dogs you’ll get fleas.
• If you lie down with the dogs you’ll stink in the morning.
• If at first you don’t succeed, get a new job.
• As you make your bed so shall you mess it up.
• Don’t bite the hand that has claws.
• Don’t bite the hand that looks dirty.
• A miss is as good as a kiss.
• A miss is as good as a Mr.
• Happy the bride who is pregnant.
• Happy the bride who gets lots of presents.
• The pen is mightier than the pencil.
• Never underestimate the power of my mom.
• Never underestimate the power of Mrs. Cooley.
• An idle mind is relaxing.
• Better to be safe than dead.

Big changes

I just wrote this post out, and then the it was gone! *snap* like that! oh well, starting over:)
I’m feeling fantastic this monday afternoon! i finally broke down and typed out a chore chart for myself. phew! i don’t know why it was so long in coming, but with the move to a bigger place and what with the upgrade to two little chicklets (my beautiful girls), its deffinatly been more needed now that ever! well here it is:

I think its pretty self explanatory, and it was oh so easy to write out!! all I did was write out a list of the chores that absolutely needed doing every week, and then divided them up to make the loads fairly even monday through friday. I keep thinking of more things I want to add, but still even with the added things, it makes the load feel so much lighter when I can look at the chores for the day and feel good about what I’m getting done. I don’t know how I ever managed! in the past I would simply write up about a mile long list on sunday night for the following week, and then as the week progressed the undone things would get moved from monday to Tuesday and so on till I would get to the end of the week and have to start over, with chores still waiting to get done from the week before! everytime i would even cook a nice meal i felt like i was being selfish to cook (because i Love to cook) when i should be doing housework.haha I felt so overwhelmed, like I could never catch up! well, with this little list, I can usually get the few chores done for the day before lunch, than the rest of the day is for me!! well, when I say that I mean for the kids and martin:) phew do I ever feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders!
I hope this inspires some of you out there to make a chore chart of your own and start getting ahead! because it feels amazing:)

my new eyeryday look

no, none of these pictures were taken by me, and they certainly aren’t OF me. Today i just googled variations on messy buns so i could try something new while keeping the messy up do thing. see it’s been super rainy over here in twin falls lately and I must say, my hair has definitely seen its better days. Hot mess would be a better description. The classic messy bun has certainly done my hair some justice these past few weeks. The best part is the messier it gets, the better it looks! It can’t get better than that now can it? also i’m one of those lucky people who just need to see a picture, and with enough hairspray and bobby-pins i can just about do any hair style on myself… except go shorter, obviously:) (its easy to say that i can do any hairstyle, cuz lets face it, this is a bun we’re talking about here) well anyways, here’s a few different types i found:




now don’t tell me you don’t don’t wanna go put up your hair inone of these little do-hicky’s. I think my next line of attack is to do this braid + messy bun combo. Huzzah!!
later:)

days