Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Happy Spring!
Saturday night gave us this, and an inch and a half more by the time it was all said and done, to celebrate the first day of spring!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Kitchen Makeover!
Two weekends ago, we started phase 3 of the kitchen makeover. Phase 1 was changing out the cupboard knobs and handles. I hate to be picky, but the green "Victorian Glass" chunky handles were just an eyesore, and they were an easy fix. Phase 2, which doesn't have any pics, was changing out the light fixtures, as they were dying one by one (not to mention that they were, on the 1-10 ugly scale, about a 13. Big brown box flourescent lights w/ orange flowers around the sides. I was grateful they started dying, so that they *had* to be changed out sooner than later. Sorry I don't have a picture).
Phase 3 was the painting! The walls were a dingy old white, nothing horrible, but definitely old and tired. Rebecca was "the paint girl" at Home Depot, and she loves to paint...and knows how to do it well! So she, along with our friend Tommy (who has an uncanny knack for and experience with choosing colors, due to having interior decorators in his family) came and painted the kitchen! I absolutely love the finished effect! In fact, I haven't even yet put back up the framed art I had in the kitchen, I like the glazed wall so much!
Phase 4 is the flooring. The previous owners graciously gave us a cash allowance to have it redone...yes, it's that bad. Thirty-year old linoleum gets random cracks that are big enough to trip you if you're not watching where you're going. And at one point there was an "eating counter" that jutted out from the wall, but was taken out...leaving a 2' X 4' section of linoleum that was cut and stapled down. Like a surgery stitch-up gone wrong. The plan now is to do the flooring this coming weekend. However, the same new flooring would also go into the entryway,but this summer we may move the staircase to the entryway, which would mean chopping a hole in the floor. We just need to decide if it's worth doing just the kitchen now and then do the entryway later after the stairway is done, or if we should wait till later this summer and do the whole thing at one time.
(In case you're wondering about why we're moving the staircase, it's currently a spiral, can't-believe-Jacob-has-only-fallen-down-them-once staircase with wrought-iron railings that are spaced so far apart that I have baby gates zip-tied all the way around them. Which is all well and good till Anna decides to start climbing the gates).
Phase 3 was the painting! The walls were a dingy old white, nothing horrible, but definitely old and tired. Rebecca was "the paint girl" at Home Depot, and she loves to paint...and knows how to do it well! So she, along with our friend Tommy (who has an uncanny knack for and experience with choosing colors, due to having interior decorators in his family) came and painted the kitchen! I absolutely love the finished effect! In fact, I haven't even yet put back up the framed art I had in the kitchen, I like the glazed wall so much!
Phase 4 is the flooring. The previous owners graciously gave us a cash allowance to have it redone...yes, it's that bad. Thirty-year old linoleum gets random cracks that are big enough to trip you if you're not watching where you're going. And at one point there was an "eating counter" that jutted out from the wall, but was taken out...leaving a 2' X 4' section of linoleum that was cut and stapled down. Like a surgery stitch-up gone wrong. The plan now is to do the flooring this coming weekend. However, the same new flooring would also go into the entryway,but this summer we may move the staircase to the entryway, which would mean chopping a hole in the floor. We just need to decide if it's worth doing just the kitchen now and then do the entryway later after the stairway is done, or if we should wait till later this summer and do the whole thing at one time.
(In case you're wondering about why we're moving the staircase, it's currently a spiral, can't-believe-Jacob-has-only-fallen-down-them-once staircase with wrought-iron railings that are spaced so far apart that I have baby gates zip-tied all the way around them. Which is all well and good till Anna decides to start climbing the gates).
Friday Funnies
The Funny Side of Parenting
When Mr Johnson stopped the school bus to pick up little April for preschool, he noticed an older woman hugging her as she left the house. "Is that your grandmother?" Mr Johnson asked.
"Yes, she's come to visit us for a week."
"How nice," Mr Johnson replied. "Where does she live?"
"At the airport," the little girl replied. "Whenever we want her, we just go out there and get her."
When Mr Johnson stopped the school bus to pick up little April for preschool, he noticed an older woman hugging her as she left the house. "Is that your grandmother?" Mr Johnson asked.
"Yes, she's come to visit us for a week."
"How nice," Mr Johnson replied. "Where does she live?"
"At the airport," the little girl replied. "Whenever we want her, we just go out there and get her."
Sunday, March 15, 2009
...sigh...
...another Saturday, another battle lost against gluten/dairy/egg-free pancakes.
I will persevere, and we will, someday, enjoy pancakes. Pancakes that won't be remarkably paper-thin and crispy on both sides, yet still gooey in the middle, despite sitting on the griddle for three hours. You think I'm joking, or even exaggerating, and I'm not. One of these past Saturdays Mark and I failed to communicate who was finishing up the batch of pancakes, and those puppies sat there for 3 hours. Griddle on. Still uncooked in the center. And when you're already paper-thin, how do you have a center in the first place? Tried a *new* recipe today, with a variation on the egg substitute, and same story. I'm baffled.
The bright spot on the horizon is that my friend Wendy has been maneuvering food allergies with her son for the past 2 years or so. And the boy has real, full-blown, carry-around-an-epipen allergies. Over the course of the past few years, Wendy has compiled quite a collection of allergy-free cookbooks which she let me browse this week, to get an idea of which ones would work for us. I'm grateful for that, since there was more than one that, from the title and description, I would have ordered...and then been woefully frustrated with it.
But out of the batch, there was one cookbook that I thought would be perfect, and it is one that Wendy has used a lot, which means she's made lots of notes of variations and results. And one of the first recipes in the book? Pancakes. Wendy's note on the page? "Finally-real pancakes!"
Now if only I had made a copy of that page before returning her book to her...excuse me, I'm off to amazon to make an order.
I will persevere, and we will, someday, enjoy pancakes. Pancakes that won't be remarkably paper-thin and crispy on both sides, yet still gooey in the middle, despite sitting on the griddle for three hours. You think I'm joking, or even exaggerating, and I'm not. One of these past Saturdays Mark and I failed to communicate who was finishing up the batch of pancakes, and those puppies sat there for 3 hours. Griddle on. Still uncooked in the center. And when you're already paper-thin, how do you have a center in the first place? Tried a *new* recipe today, with a variation on the egg substitute, and same story. I'm baffled.
The bright spot on the horizon is that my friend Wendy has been maneuvering food allergies with her son for the past 2 years or so. And the boy has real, full-blown, carry-around-an-epipen allergies. Over the course of the past few years, Wendy has compiled quite a collection of allergy-free cookbooks which she let me browse this week, to get an idea of which ones would work for us. I'm grateful for that, since there was more than one that, from the title and description, I would have ordered...and then been woefully frustrated with it.
But out of the batch, there was one cookbook that I thought would be perfect, and it is one that Wendy has used a lot, which means she's made lots of notes of variations and results. And one of the first recipes in the book? Pancakes. Wendy's note on the page? "Finally-real pancakes!"
Now if only I had made a copy of that page before returning her book to her...excuse me, I'm off to amazon to make an order.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday Funnies
A little light-hearted, meant-to-be-good-natured political fun...a memo.
To Employees:
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8%.
Since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.
These folks wanted change; I'm giving it to them.
Sincerely, The Boss
To Employees:
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8%.
Since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.
These folks wanted change; I'm giving it to them.
Sincerely, The Boss
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
FYI
If ever one of your children steps on an impossibly large glob of sticky tack, and somehow spreads it over most of the sole of the shoe and into the deep crevices of the tread, I want to assure you that there is a way to handle it beyond pitching the shoe into the schoolrom trash (which contains only paper and no damaging gunk of any sort), but which will cause the owner of said shoe to cry in hysterics, despite your reassurances that you will take it back out of the trash when you're not in the middle of trying to finish school and start dinner, and that you won't leave him one-shoed for long, you just don't want the sticky tack spread any further before you can get back to it.
When chaos has abated, apply a liberal amount of Goo-Gone. Wipe down severely with a rag, and dig out crevices with a toothpick. Repeat 4 times. Scrub with dish soap. Return the offending shoe to its rightful owner, accompanied with a smile and a stern warning never to touch the sticky tack again, nor to ever even look at it again. Hug (the child, not the shoe), then check that an ample supply of Goo-Gone still remains in the closet. And add "sticky tack" to your shopping list, because that wad that you've been using for the past ten years just didn't make it. (And then consider if you shouldn't just ban the stuff from your house forever).
When chaos has abated, apply a liberal amount of Goo-Gone. Wipe down severely with a rag, and dig out crevices with a toothpick. Repeat 4 times. Scrub with dish soap. Return the offending shoe to its rightful owner, accompanied with a smile and a stern warning never to touch the sticky tack again, nor to ever even look at it again. Hug (the child, not the shoe), then check that an ample supply of Goo-Gone still remains in the closet. And add "sticky tack" to your shopping list, because that wad that you've been using for the past ten years just didn't make it. (And then consider if you shouldn't just ban the stuff from your house forever).
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Christmas Preparations
I have always wished I could afford to give gifts to people that are very dear to us, like our church family, as well as to people who serve us day in and day out, like our mail lady. Since that tends to be a lot of people, our budget has never been able to handle doing as much as I wanted. This year, I just needed to add a little creativity, which I found thanks to a blogger I find funny, April.
So, with a bunch of pretzel rods, melted white and dark chocolate for dipping, a variety of sprinkles, and two little boys eager to help, we were in business!
Then there was the community potluck and visit from Santa. Unbeknownst to us, our regular Santa had already left for Hawaii, and our very own Papa was filling in! Andrew knew right off who it was, but I don't think Jacob figured it out till he heard us talking about it later. Anna was not prone to be happy with a strange-looking white-bearded man, Papa or not.
Anna's gift was a stuffed Minnie Mouse, and Jack's was a Mickey Mouse. The two kiddos were quite cute together...at first Anna wasn't sure about a kiss, but then decided it was okay and tried to give one back! Oh dear! :)
So, with a bunch of pretzel rods, melted white and dark chocolate for dipping, a variety of sprinkles, and two little boys eager to help, we were in business!
Then there was the community potluck and visit from Santa. Unbeknownst to us, our regular Santa had already left for Hawaii, and our very own Papa was filling in! Andrew knew right off who it was, but I don't think Jacob figured it out till he heard us talking about it later. Anna was not prone to be happy with a strange-looking white-bearded man, Papa or not.
Anna's gift was a stuffed Minnie Mouse, and Jack's was a Mickey Mouse. The two kiddos were quite cute together...at first Anna wasn't sure about a kiss, but then decided it was okay and tried to give one back! Oh dear! :)
O Tannenbaum
This year, we fetched our Christmas tree from the oh-so-hard-to-get-to other side of the goat pen. This was seriously the easiest, fastest tree-cutting ever for us. I think it took longer to get everyone bundled up than it did to walk to the other side of the pen, let Andrew help saw it down, and drag it back in. Loved it!
He was so proud to be able to help with the sawing, and he did drag it back all by himself!
Jacob and Anna thought the whole process was pretty amusing...Anna loves being on her own two feet out in the snow!
Now for this bit of amusement. The tree pic on the left is from the night we decorated it. Guess which branch was easiest for the kids to reach? And then the tree on the right was how it appeared when we got home from church on Christmas Eve. We hadn't noticed it on the way out, but Andrew confessed it had been his idea, and we had a pretty good laugh over it!
He was so proud to be able to help with the sawing, and he did drag it back all by himself!
Jacob and Anna thought the whole process was pretty amusing...Anna loves being on her own two feet out in the snow!
Now for this bit of amusement. The tree pic on the left is from the night we decorated it. Guess which branch was easiest for the kids to reach? And then the tree on the right was how it appeared when we got home from church on Christmas Eve. We hadn't noticed it on the way out, but Andrew confessed it had been his idea, and we had a pretty good laugh over it!
New take on the nativity...
Throughout the Christmas season, the kids were frequently found playing "Baby Jesus." The boys alternated on who was Joseph and Mary, and Anna was always baby Jesus. I do hope you don't think this sacrilege...I acknowledge up front the numerous disparities!
In case you're not sure what you're seeing:
1. Six-year old boy plays Mary.
2. 1 yr. old walking toddler girl plays baby Jesus.
3. Four-yr. old boy plays Joseph, ever the strong protector: "I'll meet you there."
4. Mary is leading Jesus from the toy store (bedroom) back to the stable (the couch).
5. The wise man isn't worshipping, he's on the phone.
Any questions?
:)
In case you're not sure what you're seeing:
1. Six-year old boy plays Mary.
2. 1 yr. old walking toddler girl plays baby Jesus.
3. Four-yr. old boy plays Joseph, ever the strong protector: "I'll meet you there."
4. Mary is leading Jesus from the toy store (bedroom) back to the stable (the couch).
5. The wise man isn't worshipping, he's on the phone.
Any questions?
:)
Monday, March 09, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
For starters, I do realize that it's March. And yes, Christmas is right around the corner. See, this little blog of ours is our yearly scrapbook...so while it may not matter to you that I never posted about Thanksgiving or Christmas, it will matter to me eventually! So for now, I include it here, then I'll redate it to post chronologically where it belongs. If nothing else, it will remind us to be thankful today for all the things that we thought of being thankful for back in November!
How do we celebrate Thanksgiving? This year, it was:
1. Send the men-folk out to work on finishing up Gramps' shed while the women-folk finish dinner preparations.
2. Feed everyone a delicious meal that makes you smile.
3. Send the children out to play.
4. Give the long-awaited tractor rides to the grandkids!
And I just had to post this look of pure delight from my baby girl at going out to play!
How do we celebrate Thanksgiving? This year, it was:
1. Send the men-folk out to work on finishing up Gramps' shed while the women-folk finish dinner preparations.
2. Feed everyone a delicious meal that makes you smile.
3. Send the children out to play.
4. Give the long-awaited tractor rides to the grandkids!
And I just had to post this look of pure delight from my baby girl at going out to play!
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Too big, too fast
These pics range from early December to late February. Is this baby girl growing up way too fast for anyone else besides me?
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Rocket Ship Man it is
Jacob is still on his Rocket Ship man kick.
Today he informed me that for his birthday he wants a rocket ship cake with a rocket ship boy on it. Just to see what he would say, I asked him, "Well, I thought you wanted to be a firefighter."
"Mom, I've been saying for a hundred of years that I want to be a rocket ship man so that everyone knows."
Okay, then.
Today he informed me that for his birthday he wants a rocket ship cake with a rocket ship boy on it. Just to see what he would say, I asked him, "Well, I thought you wanted to be a firefighter."
"Mom, I've been saying for a hundred of years that I want to be a rocket ship man so that everyone knows."
Okay, then.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
The farmer takes a wife
This is a conversation I had at lunch today with Andrew.
A: Is Anna going to marry a boy?
Me: Someday, if God has one in mind who would be a good husband for her when she's a grown-up.
A: Well, I want to marry Anna so that we can be firefighters together.
Me: You can't marry Anna because you're her brother. You can't marry someone you're already related to.
A: Who will I marry?
Me: We don't know yet. But somewhere in the world, maybe God has a little girl that he's preparing to be a good wife for you.
A: Well, I hope her name is Anna.
A: Is Anna going to marry a boy?
Me: Someday, if God has one in mind who would be a good husband for her when she's a grown-up.
A: Well, I want to marry Anna so that we can be firefighters together.
Me: You can't marry Anna because you're her brother. You can't marry someone you're already related to.
A: Who will I marry?
Me: We don't know yet. But somewhere in the world, maybe God has a little girl that he's preparing to be a good wife for you.
A: Well, I hope her name is Anna.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)