little things

It feels like time to reevaluate.
I've canceled 2 play dates in the last week because of sick kids. I sent Jeremy off Sunday night and stayed home with the kids because of suspected sickness...groan.
Last week I was feeling pretty mean, what with cleaning up too much puke, too much laundry and scrubbing and unhappy children and not enough sleep.
So I was feeling the need to pause and find something to not whine about.

Thank you Method and Target and Orla Kiely for finding a way to make a boring and everyday activity (mostly dish washing and a little hand washing) more thrilling. Pretty bottles and prettier smells - pear ginger and vanilla chai.
Sometimes it really is the little things.

What are little girls made of?

In a casual conversation with someone without little girls the other day, she mentioned that the thing she missed about having no girls was the cute clothes. I agreed slowly.
I've been guilty of saying the same thing about clothes, reducing my children to nothing more than mannequins to dress up and show off and perhaps make a statement about myself.
Now that I have a little girl, I confess, the clothes are fun.
But Madeira is obviously so much more than what she wears.
She is sweet. She is clever.
She can be a princess. She can be tough. She can be funny or whiny or longsuffering.
She is a little mongoose, eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity.
She will have what you're having at the table, thankyouverymuch.
She is not a great napper, an OK sleeper. She is a decent napper, a great sleeper.
She has a trademark expression. (Yes, I would like a dollar for every time someone has commented that "she looks so concerned...")

She is a one toothed wonder.
She is a miracle, a blessing, a gift.

But one thing is certain: she has her mama right where she wants her. I would do anything for this little lady.

Let's Give Thanks & a Giveaway

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It can turn a meal into a feast,

A house into a home,

A stranger into a friend.

Melody Beattie

Last year, my family made a thankful tree where we all wrote down our thanks on paper leaves and tied them to the tree. (Sorry for the terrible picture - Lisa's house, while quite charming, doesn't have ideal lighting and I'm not a skilled photographer.)

Today, I'm thankful for so many things: God's love and my redemption, my family, my friends, my health, my home, coffee with cream, naptime, the opportunity to create, and on and on. 

Reflecting on what I give thanks for makes me humbled. What did I do to deserve any of these things? Nothing. And so my thanks begins all over again.

What are you thanking God for today?

Leave a comment by November 21st for a chance to win an Heirloom Recipe Cookbook!

*And the winner is Erin! Randomly selected by random.org. I'll mail that out to you next week.
As always, if any of you are still interested in a cookbook, I have a few. :) Thanks for participating; it was fun to read the comments!*

In Memory

December 2010

I miss Grandma. She died a year ago and I was thinking about her, remembering her this week.
Probably the thing that sticks out most in my mind about her from youth is that I thought she had the most beautiful eye color I'd ever seen - sea foam green. As I got older, she just seemed more lovely. She was just like her name, Kathryn - classy and elegant.
She had Wendy and I go over to the neighbor's house once when we came out to visit, and I'm still charmed by the memories I have of being with Martha Huber and her cool collection of salt and pepper shakers. Thank you, Grandma, for teaching us to visit the elderly.
One year, she and Grandpa took me, Lisa, and Wendy Christmas shopping for our parents and bought the toaster that we "gave" them. Thank you for teaching us how joyful it is to give.
Scores of handmade dresses for Easter, a wedding, Christmas gifts, just because... Thank you for helping Mom with her young family.
I learned my first knitting project from her - washcloths. Thank you for being willing to share your knowledge with the young and curious.
She always seemed to show up at our house when there was work to be done - after babies were born, when windows needed washed, the house spring cleaned, corn to be frozen, and on and on. Thank you for always being available to help whenever you were needed.
She was just that way.
I knew Grandma was a special woman but I didn't realize just how special until two things happened.
The first was that she wrote the sweetest memories of my mom in a book that we made for what would have been my parents 25th anniversary. She said (paraphrasing here) that it was no wonder that she caught my dad's eye because she was so lovely. It was a life changing event, reading that. Not only did it make me love my grandma because she was so kind to her children, but it made me look at my own mother differently. Yes, my mother was a lovely woman. It was easy to forget that as a teenager.
Secondly, mom and I took some china painting lessons for a while and one year, mom painted some salt and pepper shakers to put on the Fairview Haven Benefit Auction. Grandma bought them. I thought that was so awesome. I'm not sure if that was because Grandma thought it would be great to have some of her daughter's artwork or if it was because I realized that you never stop needing to show your children that you care about and are interested in the things they do.
She never seemed to be in a hurry. Her house was always clean and calm. She was the best maker of mint tea. She was gracious, thoughtful, full of good works, selfless.
She was the woman I want to be.
I wish I could have told her all this myself before she died but I'm no good at that. All I could do is cry when I went to see her when she was sick. But I hope she knew how much I truly loved her.
Thank you, God, for putting such a wonderful person in my life.

Alex & Carmen

Rehearsal supper set up @ Brenda's

The glittered gourds/pumpkins were inspired by Martha Stewart Living

Menu, place cards, and napkins married, courtesy of Jen's imagination

More views of the table - the arrangements were made with mostly "found" flowery things

Trio of Mexican dips - YUM!

Finally found a great opportunity to use this extra large bell jar!

The infinity love quote on a chalkboard platter - Wendy's cool idea!

 Now that Al and Carmen have been married for 2 whole weeks :), I thought I could put some pictures up from the wedding weekend. Mostly of the rehearsal supper since that was our responsibility this time around. We had fun
putting the evening together - seemed to go off without a hitch! Let me tell you, it was kinda nice being the waited on at the rehearsal instead of the serving for once!

I'll say it - adorable.

Happy Halloween!

My little owl...

and my little peacock!

He just LOVED his glasses! Note the 3 sets of hands in the picture. :)

Yes, I think she is quite the cutest peacock there ever was!

I love getting Halloween costumes for the kids - don't really know why, I just do. Thanks to pinterest and other people's imaginations, I found some sweet costumes that worked just right for the kiddies.
For the owl, I found a template online for the glasses and the feather. I used brown, gray, and black felt for the feathers and sewed them in lines onto a t-shirt.
For the peacock, I made the fan out of feathers that I hotglued onto paper and then tucked them into a gold tulle tutu that I made. The headdress was more feathers glued to elastic.
Just a note: that R got FAR too much candy for one little boy! He'll be sharing it. :)

Food Review

You know how every now and then you see/eat/hear/whatever something that simply amazes you? This cheese is my new delight!
I discovered it at a wine tasting and food sampling event in Fairbury (really!) last Saturday, and seriously, my life is improved.
Up until then, I wouldn't have considered myself a bleu cheese person. Not really. I tended to find the flavor overwhelming. But I have slowly been getting a little more into it - I had a dip that I raved about for a while made with bleu cheese. Which is probably why I sampled this stuff at the tasting. And it was creamy, nutty, melt in the mouth, oh so delicious...
And it's made right in Illinois! By Ludwig Farmstead Creamery. For you locals, they sell some of their cheese at Kilgus Dairy, although I can't say if this particular cheese is there.
You must try some.
Note: The monogrammed cheese board and knife is from The Antique Shoppe about 4 or 5 years ago. I've just been dying for the perfect chance to use it! Thanks, Wendy. :)

Simple DIY Projects

The "before" picture. I actually didn't mind the lamp this way but it really needed some more color to fit into my living room.

Spray painted a glossy red with flowers hot glued to the shade. I was originally thinking gold for the base but couldn't find a gold spray paint that I could live with.

I saw an idea of using an old window as art ages ago online and had Jeremy save one for me when he tore down one of our old sheds. Pictures by A Glimpse in Time Photography

A close up of one of the panes - chipboard L that I covered with some of my favorite paper and some embellishments from Hobby Lobby. I was looking for something a little more awesome for the details but didn't find what I was looking for.

It's happy hour at this house - two sweetly sleeping children, leaving me to get some things done for Sharemy Sales. Not my absolute favorite way to spend the quiet time but business before pleasure!
I'm feeling wishful of a few things lately. Wishing that I took better pictures. Wishing that I thought to take more pictures of the little moments. Wishing that I was a pro already on my Adobe CS6 program. Wishing I had a exercise program. Wishing I could sew better. Wishing my niece and nephew were here already. Wishing my bookwork would do itself and spare me the trouble.
And I will leave you on that note...

6 months

I hear all kinds of things about looks so I thought I'd post a picture of all of my family at 6 months so you can see how much we all do/don't look alike.
Enjoy!

Toddlers

Anyone else have a problem keeping toddlers happy? At least while you are also happy...
I read a while back somewhere about a mother's idea to keep her toddlers busy playing in a tub of rice on a mat on the floor. It seemed like River was ready for such a project.
I first put all the fun on the kitchen table. Riv still managed to get rice everywhere. Then I moved him to the floor on a mat. Still more rice everywhere. I finally got smart and moved everything outside.

Not only do I have a hard time finding good things to keep him busy, he also has serious opinions. He has to have 3 bowls of cereal each morning in certain bowls with certain spoons. He wants certain bibs. He has to have certain cups. They must contain chocolate milk. He doesn't want his diaper changed or to get out of his pajamas. I could go on.
To keep my sanity, I've been reading a compilation of Erma Bombeck's columns.
Let me share her insights.
"I've never met three children who could understand me less. When I laid out pajamas, put the sides up on the crib and turned on the night-light, they came alive like the "big midnight show," standing on their heads, bringing out all the toys and playing patty-cake with the dog.
When I picked up the phone, like mechanical robots on schedule they gargled bleach, rolled potatoes across the floor, climbed on the top of the TV set and took off all their clothes.
When I said "No," they giggled; "Not now," they bit me; "Come to Mama," they ran into the traffic; "Let me see what you have in your hand," they ate it; "The strained lamb is good for you," they blew it back in my face.
Communicate with a toddler? I'd sooner take my chances with an untrained, excited puppy on a new white carpet."
I still laugh helplessly every time I read those lines. She hits the nail on the head. Why don't we just admit to the fear and frustration of parenting and have a good time with it?

She looks about how I felt about the whole "fun" project. Suspicious.

Peanut Butter Granola

I believe I may have mentioned having some unwanted flab in a previous post or possibly posts. So I've been exerting some effort to eat healthier, if for no other reason than it may make it so that I don't have to really exercise. I am so uninspired to jog around or run or what-have-you.
Breakfast seemed like the easiest place to start a change in my diet so I have pretty much stopped eating cereal and now alternate between green smoothies and peanut butter granola with greek yogurt.
In testament to how good this granola is, Jeremy's late night snack last night was granola in a glass of milk. (You can see why the diet thing might be a little slow in coming around here, what with all the snacking that goes on.) And I think he even ate it with some yogurt this morning. This from a guy who, up until now, said he hated yogurt.
Recipe is from my oft referred to Sterling Cookbook

Coming back...

 I totally thought I would do better at posting than I have. I can't believe it's been well over a month since I last got on this blog!
 So what have I been doing? Jeremy, the kids, and I traveled to the east coast to visit some friends, then Jeremy, Madeira, and I turned around and went to Texas to get a truck for Sealtite.
After all the vacationing, it was time to get down to business. My dear mother came over one day and we made a double batch of salsa, spaghetti sauce, and tomato cocktail.
Also last week one of my sister's longtime friends came to visit so we had a progressive supper, with the finale at our house for dessert. I made a 6 layer chocolate salted caramel cake (thank you, Martha Stewart Living!!) with some help from jr.
Other than that, it's business as usual around here. I won't even go into the boring routine of every day life since I'm sure most of you are well acquainted with it.
I will be at the Fairbury Fair judging the culinary entries this afternoon for an exciting break! I will take the opportunity to tell you that the entries from last year weren't all the impressive (sorry if I'm insulting you here) but I'm sure most of you could do better so go ahead and enter stuff! Just don't tell me if you do so I'm an impartial judge. :)

Rustin and River on a ride at a carnival in Vernon, CT

River and Jeremy at Harkness Beach, CT

Chocolate caramel cake on pink and gold dishes! :)

My sous chef

Some much needed help while canning tomato stuff

Ah! The sweetness that is a little girl!

Uncle Ev, Madeira, and River

A Chicago 4th of July

River, enjoying his view of the river

I am not a 4th of July celebration fan (although this is not to be confused with not being a fan of the 4th in general). This is primarily because I hate loud noises, to the point where the idea of sitting and listening to eardrum shattering fireworks brings on a panic attack. But Jeremy assured me that it's not as loud in Chicago by the lake. I guess I must really trust him - I agreed this sounded fun!?!?!
We had a stay at swissotel purchased from the MFB auction this spring, plus a gift certificate to Keefer's, one of Chicago's best steak houses. So we've heard anyway.

Waiting at the Pier

Let me just cut to the chase here on the fireworks.
Point 1: We took the kids because it seemed cruel to leave River out of the fun. But hauling 2 kids with strollers down and up several flights of steps to get to the pier = totally unfun.
Point 2: The fireworks were scheduled to start at 9 pm. We probably left for the pier around 7 along with a HERD of other people. I don't mean this as an exaggeration either.
Point 3: We somehow missed the ramp leading up the upper part of the pier (by the ferris wheel) so we took the elevator up. This required like a 10 minute jaunt through the boardwalk. Once on the elevator, there was no sign to get off by the "ferris wheel"so we ended up getting on a random floor. Parking garage. Just so you know, if you ever find yourself at Navy Pier on the elevator, trying to get to the ferris wheel, get off at the Shakespeare Theater level. :)
Point 4: It's not like we missed this, but it was like a million degrees outside. We staked out some chairs and then waited and waited and waited. All this waiting started working on my mind. It was 100 degrees out. River was antsy (surprise!). And I just knew that Jeremy's definition of "not loud" was not going to match up with mine. I wanted to go back to the hotel. Immediately. Unfortunately we'd waited forever so I was just planning to plug my ears and tough it out.
At 9 promptly there was a countdown and the fireworks started. Jeremy was right - it wasn't that loud. I'm not an expert on fireworks and I couldn't see much of them on the lake but Jeremy thought Sibley's were just as good as Chicago's so that was a little disappointing. I say, whatever. Fireworks, fireschmorks.
The real joy was getting out of there. Half the population of Chicago was trying to leave Navy Pier at the same time and there we were, with 2 strollers. The one I happened to have was like trying to navigate a mower through a herd of pigs. River had a love/hate relationship with his stroller. On the way out, he hated it. Good thing it had straps. I drove the stroller on some lady's foot because, well, there were feet everywhere and I was just trying to get back together with Jeremy. I almost felt bad about it.
After lugging the strollers back up 2 more flights of steps, we arrived, dripping and weary, back to the hotel. I've often wanted to take a cold shower and then when I get in, I decide that maybe a cold shower isn't exactly the thing I want. Not last night. I took the coldest shower I've ever planned to take in my life.
This morning, while in the hot tub on the 42nd floor of the hotel, I realized that I had the perfect view of the pier from there. I could have avoided stroller lugging, crowds, heat, and any noise last night, right there in the lap of luxury. Maybe next year. Maybe.
I am NEVER going to Navy Pier on the 4th again. You are all my witnesses to this declaration. It just ain't worth it.

My lady M, being her sweet little self at the Pier.

 I haven't said much about the hotel. I don't want to sound jaded - it was a perfectly nice hotel, located in a lovely, quiet part of Chicago. It basically sits on the end of Wacker Drive so there is no through traffic. The view was great - River loved it especially. Blah, blah.
But then we had breakfast this morning and I fell in love with swissotel.

 Assorted fresh fruits, perfectly cut and perfectly ripe.

 Greek yogurt, assorted cheeses and Swiss meats.

 Smoked salmon, capers, hard boiled egg yolks, and egg whites.

 Toppings for oatmeal.

 Herb butter, vanilla butter, and plain butter.
I didn't capture the poached eggs florentine or the display of croissants, or scrambled eggs that actually looked good.
It was so awesome! I had smoked salmon and cream cheese on a whole grain bread. These are the times that I wish that I had 4 stomachs so I could have had room to try at least a little bit of everything. Alas.
Of course, all this beauty comes with a cost. The breakfast buffet is 26 clams per person, should you ever find yourself at the swissotel.

This guy was washing windows today. It was pretty cool to behold the efficient way he worked.
For the record, I made it to Pizano's and PaperSource, but not Keefers. We'll be enjoying that dinner sans children. :)

4 Years Together

On our honeymoon - June 2008

Jeremy and I just had our 4th anniversary. I'd say we just celebrated it, except that we did not celebrate it, unless eating pizza in Fairbury counts as a celebration. I, for one, do not think so. That would at least require a trip to Reality Bites.
I'm not a very romantic person, sadly. The longer I'm married, the more I realize this. In fact, my expectations have sunk to the depths of being glad Jeremy makes it home for supper, let alone back rubs, toothpaste applied to my toothbrush :), flowers, breakfast in bed, etc.
And yet, as we recently studied in a Bible study, women need to be loved. I am no exception.
The following story illustrates just how I know that Jeremy loves me in a very real way.
We weren't married for very long when I was shopping at Daves and saw this young kid putting up a paper on the bulletin board in the store, saying he needed work. I'm not really sure why it triggered such emotion in me. Maybe it was because he looked so pathetic. More likely because I'm such a tender hearted person. :) Whatever the reason, I could just hardly stand it that this poor boy didn't have work! Why didn't someone help him out? I was sobbing as I related this story to Jeremy. I'm sure he was sitting there wondering what on earth he'd gotten himself into with this sniveling woman by his side for life. But being the male problem solver that he is, he carved some time out of his day to personally seek this kid out and talk to him.
Oh what a love! He listens to me! That act of kindness is worth more than 20 years of roses to me.
And that is how I like to hear "I love you".

After introducing Jeremy to Bacaro in Champaign. A different dining experience for him - he was a good sport!

Happy Birthday, River!

He's 2!

Let me start off by stating the oft heard comment that I can't believe my first born is 2 already. Unreal how fast that went, although I know 2 years is really a very short time, all things considered.
Anyway, the problem with birthdays is that from now until doomsday (probably a little exaggerated but you get my drift), I will be in charge of making birthday cakes. I like to make cakes. I like to make frosting. I like parties. But I don't really know that I love to make birthday cakes. They just look so tacky most of the time.
But to be perfectly honest, I feel some pressure, being a pastry chef and all, to make this fabulous birthday cake for my offspring, even though River didn't ask for it and probably wouldn't care if he got a cake at all. I caved to the pressure. And oh, it was painful!
River is really into tractors so I felt the need to make him a tractor cake. Not that I was looking forward to it.
The extent of my cake decorating knowledge is 1) frozen cakes frost better and 2) do crumb coats on the cake. And I padded that info with a quick web search of tractor cakes and floundered ahead.
My first problem was that cake thaws very quickly, especially when the cake is cut in small pieces. Also decorators frosting doesn't stick to cut portion of cake, frozen or not. So the crumb coat was pretty much a coat of crumbs in frosting that stuck on in blobs.
I was working myself into a lather with the cake, shoving it back into the frig to somehow pull itself together while I tried to work up enthusiasm to keep working on it. I'd tell you how I put the cake together but it clearly wasn't the best way so you might as well get tips from someone else. I would just tell you to use buttercream frosting. Or even canned frosting if you like. Just as long as it sticks to the cake.
I also made the mistake of bringing home one of my nephews as a treat for River (again, seriously, it's not like he asked me to do that so I'm not sure why I thought he'd really care. In fact, it was more for my benefit since I thought they'd play together and I could slave over in the cake in peace. Ha! As if that were possible!) Since Simon was at our house, River didn't want to nap.
The second mistake I made was scheduling River's 2 year check up for that afternoon. I fought with him to take his nap for a while til I realized I'd be leaving before too long to take him to the dr. so I just let him go. He was a ball of energy at the dr's office.
He finally went to sleep when we got home, so I resumed fussing with the cake. I was kinda wishing I could heave it into the trash except I wasn't going to pull off another cake with more icing by the time his party rolled around that night so I kept working at it.
About this time, my perky nephew bounded into the kitchen and started watching me. And bless his sweet little heart, he told me, "That is an awesome twactor!"
Well, this lowered my blood pressure. At least it looked like a tractor which was something. Simon thought it was cute. It tasted good. And hopefully it wouldn't fall over until River blew out the candles and I could quickly carve it up in which case, the fact that it was ugly wouldn't matter anyway.
I'm not sure exactly what I learned from this experience as far as whether birthday cake making is worth it or not. Someone was aghast at hearing that I was maybe just going to buy River's cake next year. I figured having a mother who wasn't a shrill witch on one's birthday was worth more than a lopsided tractor cake.
On the other hand, seeing Simon's obvious delight at the cake pleased me immensely. He didn't care if it was ugly. It was cake! And it was for a birthday party!
I will probably be making River another cake next year. Hopefully he'll be into owls or something fun like that though! :) I live in hope.
And one more thing - don't ask me for advice on cake making! Unless you want to know what not to do!

Nice right? The back wheel fell off a few times, I didn't have enough white frosting for the window, not like it was sticking to the cake anyway...

Like how the cab is leaning backwards? :0

This is more like it! Meringue buttercream on chocolate cupcakes. The wrappers and animals were from a kit I found at the Container Store.