Veggie Goodness

I always love a new vegetarian experiment (though technically the pasta salad is pescetarian) so here's what we have: Tuna pasta salad with whole wheat pasta, carrot, spinach, and tuna (mixed with olive oil mayo). The hot dog, which has been Jack's obsession for the last few days, was found by Jack in the veggie section at the grocery store- it's a Light Life Smart Sausage in a whole wheat bun. It was amazing! Matt says it would be great for bangers and mash, Jack and Henry both loved it. Jack got high-fives from daddy for his great find at the store!

Recently we also made vegetarian BBQ 'Chicken' pizza. The trick is mixing pizza sauce with equal parts BBQ sauce before adding the cheese, veggies and saytan flavored like chicken. This was also a huge hit. So good.... drool.

We're not one for recipes (in case you haven't guessed). The pizza crust comes from a recipe but everything else it just "however much looks good". Unless it's cookies- there is one law in this house. Don't mess with cookies. Follow the recipe; don't try to be a hero. Think of the children.

I'm like, totally Wonder Woman!

I'm amazed at my ability to look past housework. I have a super-human ability that allows me not to see a pile of dirty diapers, 3 loads of laundry, dirty dishes and dirty bathrooms. My super power even allows me to see the gallon of milk as half full (instead of nearly empty).

Today is clearly a housework kind of day.

Humbug!

When the day starts at 7

You can get a lot done! Tuesday we made an early run to Lowes for some mulch.
Wednesday we were at The Stone Store at 8:15.
Wednesday's naptime was spent digging a 'trench' and placing the stones (hello, sweat!)
This morning I mulched before the rain starts (because judging by the sky it's going to happen any second!)

Edging the garden with rocks was something I've wanted to do for a while but I figured it would cost an arm and a leg... nope. 66 dollars.

How does my garden grow?

Awesomely! Thanks for asking! Hanging off the railing of the deck we have a window box with cilantro, basil and rosemary. (Just planted yesterday.)

The veggies are looking good! From where they were before to how they look now! I've had to thin the radishes and both lettuce varieties. (And it looks like I'll have to thin the lettuce again soon!)

Maybe he should be sick more often...

It's not that I wish my husband ill health, but while he was home sick he managed to build a gate for the deck. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this! It's going to make lazy summer afternoons relaxing on the deck much more relaxing!

I've always loved having access to the yard from the deck but now that access is toddler friendly. I think it might be time for a deck party!

The rest of our Easter awesome-ness

Instead of having a bunch of posts all week about our Easter Vacation (because we really did so much) I'm going to give you one monster blog with a bunch of pics of everything we did. The egg hunt in historic Berlin, MD is serious business. Just ask Jack.

Henry wanted in on the fun too.

Henry was a snuggle-monster the whole vacation. Stealing a snuggle from anyone or anything who'd stay still long enough.

On Sunday morning we hunted for eggs inside

and out.

Then we wandered down a country lane.

We took a family pic. (We missed you, Daddy!)

We marveled at our Easter egg creations (crayon shavings sprinkled over just hard boiled, and thus hot eggs).

Jack's egg close up. So cool!

Then we went to the beach.

Beach on Easter Sunday? Awesome!

It was warm enough for a sundress!

Sleeping arrangelments

leave something to be desired. This is my bed.

This is the kitchen floor.

It's the little things

The hole punchers were quite the source of entertainment for Jack.

The window looking out at the fish pond and the river is a huge hit with Henry.

For the record- I would love to have balanced the colors a little better in these photos but I can't because my husband messed with my computer and now Photoshop is gone :-(. I didn't wait to edit them first because A. I have a strong need to be instantly gratified and B. I feel bad that my aforementioned husband is missing all the fun so I want him to feel included.

Hopefully I'll post again later today... we'll see.

We're Training for Everest

I think it's time to hike our local 'Mountain.' As much a mountain as Maryland has at any rate.

Also I'm really considering building a climbing wall in the basement. I wonder if my husband would go for it or if he would tell me to go fly a kite. Place your bets now.

Vote of No Confidence?

I think the boys don't trust my driving. When we got in the car to leave they insisted on wearing their helmets.

Oh, ye of little faith.

We are having a BLAST! (Which is good because now the husband will not be joining us because he's siiiiiick.) Yesterday we climbed up a cliff, today we went on a walrus adventure, tomorrow we're going to a Easter Festival, and Sunday we're celebrating Easter. Score!

Hittin' the road

I'm leaving! I'm driving with the kids to GiGi & PaPa's house. We're leaving tomorrow; Daddy's staying home to work for a few days. Wish me drama-free travels!

My husband's Nerd card

has been revoked.

Don't worry, dear friends, he hasn't suddenly become too cool for school. He effed with my computer. Complete system uninstall and reinstall. What has been lost? He remembered the photos, the videos the angsty poetry I wrote in college, even the lit review I wrote in graduate school. He forgot my favorites all of them. Every blog, every online store, every social media network, even the news. My soul is dying a little bit.

It's fitting that my assignment in yoga this month is to seek balance in my life in an area that it out of balance. I'm so addicted to the interwebz it's not even funny. Perhaps the universe is trying to facilitate my balance seeking. I still intend to post, but I'm going to scale back how many blogs I read and how much time and when I read them.

If you're thinking to yourself "Don't stop reading my blog." I'm not talking about you- these blogs are ones I'm not subscribed to, they don't provide my life or family with any enrichment, and I never comment on them. They won't even miss me and I hope I don't miss them either.

My husband is NOT off the hook for breaking my touch pad mouse. Daddy fail.

Yoga boga banana fanna fo foga

I don't know about you but I had an AH-mazing weekend! This was another yoga weekend for me. All the teachers in training co-taught a yoga class at the studio. The class was free to family and friends and open to the community. The turnout was great!

While I was 'being all yoga' on Saturday the Husband took the boys to a Sesame Street party! It made such an impression on Jack that he's still talking about the Elmo cake. Then on Sunday I was able to stop into my friend's baby shower on the way to yoga (and to teach my first official class).

By the end of the day on Sunday I was tingly and giddy from all the excitement of the weekend. Then to top it off Henry slept through the night totally uninterrupted (which he hasn't done since he got his cold 2 weeks ago). Score!

This will be awesome with Tiki Lights

I don't live in the country. There aren't acres of trees or amber waves of grain surrounding my charming 1900's farmhouse (covetous). But that won't stop me! Power tools- Check! Able-bodied, feminist, power tool wielding wife- Check! 3 flag holders (brass color) & 3 eyes (silver color)- Check! Napping baby- Check!Assembly under way.

With dowel rod in place. The top of each dowel has another smaller eye drilled into the top so I can string up the clothes line... or party lights!Ready to rock and roll! Freshly washed diapers reporting for drying!They look so happy in a row. Our little slice of suburbia- simplified.

In related news- I was walking by the veggie garden to take this picture and the onions are starting to come up! Squee!

ZOMGarden!

Nearly everyone I know in real life and everyone I know through the interwebs is excited that it's springtime. Plants store up so much energy over the winter. They're patient, unless they are my daffodils which came up in November, but I digress. They let energy build in their roots and seeds and bulbs until one day they decide it's time to start releasing the energy- it's time to grow.

We do it too. We stay in and keep warm and bide our time until the weather beckons us to spring forth from our houses. "Come out and play!" It calls to us. So we get out our spade... or a hoe... and we show love to the Earth for warming up and inviting us out. We put plants in the Earth and we watch them and water them and love them while they grow.

Or maybe it's just me. I am a crazy hippie after all.

Spring is fun because the kids get out and we get to play and we feel the warm sun on our faces, but there's something more than that for me. It seems to go deeper. Every day or two when I go to check on the veggies and they're growing bigger every day I do a little happy dance and get a little gitty (literally).

The spring onions (far left) haven't popped up yet but they have a longer germination and they're more bulb-like I'm not too worried.

So tell me, what are you growing? In a pot or in a field, it's time! Happy growing!

Lasagna recipe

I'm not shy about my love of Trader Joes. So I wanted to share this yummy delight with all of you. This entire meal is made by things from TJs... if only they sold 2 Buck Chuck in Maryland... I start with a thin layer of sauce. Then add a layer of noodles, then I add a little of everything else. Then more noodles and more of everything else. And again, and again until the pan reaches max capacity. There's no measuring no mixing, I just throw it together and throw it in the oven.I will add this: I recommend using 1/2 the bag of spinnach and 1/2 the soy chorizo because otherwise it's a lot of spinach and the chorizo is spicy and can be kinda overwhelming if you use the whole thing. I'm also toying with using the fire roasted veggies instead of the menage a trio because the fire roasted has an amazing flavor. Minimal effort, credit for making a home cooked meal, points for healthy options, and maximum flavor.

Yoga business

This is where I meditate. I meditate at night, before reading in bed. Ideally I'd love to meditate in the morning but my mornings aren't predictable enough for that, not right now. But here's where the magic happens.

I ordered some yoga supplies (before there was any major worry about a furlough). Now I'm ready to teach- I'm already teaching some neighbors... but now I'm ready for more! Bring it on!

My project for my yoga class is called Mommaste- yoga for moms. Mostly women do yoga anyway and yoga is so much about parenting in so many ways so I'm developing my project and my teaching style geared specifically for moms. Children will always try to bend us to do their will, yoga can make us more flexible.

I'm still doing teacher training. That will last until November, but I can teach now I just need to be clear with my students that I'm still in training, I'm not yet certified.

We didn't plan to buy a rug

We went to Home Depot this weekend to pick up the last things we needed to make a clothes line. While we were there we were wandering the isles and we happened upon a stack of area rugs "Starting at $197." Now the idea that you could get any 8'x10' rug for less that $200 is insane. Ikea doesn't sell them this cheap! I just figured it would be a stack of tragic rugs they haven't been able to sell since they made them in 1978. But the idea of a deal made me curious so I took a peek. About 20 rugs down one caught my eye. I could only see one tiny corner but what I could see made my spidey senses tingle. I didn't have a particular rug in mind, but I knew I wanted it to continue our warm and neutral decor. I liked that the pattern was large and graphic, and I liked that the chocolate brown background would match the chocolate brown curtains. I also liked that the other color was similar to the color of the floors, I love those floors and I didn't want a rug to out shine them.

You might notice the pattern on the rug speaks to the pattern on the comforter. Genius!! I tell you!

So when I saw this rug I liked it; I liked it a lot. I held my breath when I looked at the price, hoping that it would be 'good enough' not to pass up. Finally I found the corner with the tag, and I turned it over: 197. Really?! Like, as in dollars? Dig this baby out of the pile, put in on the cart and lets get the hell out of here before they change their mind! Score!

It's not the 1950's

But maybe it should be. Well, not exactly the 1950's... I have no desire to birth children doped up and tied to a bed, nor do I want to spend 8 hours doing 3 loads of laundry(sometimes it feels like I do that anyway), and I definitely don't want my husband to expect to come home to his easy chair while I fuss about getting his slippers and brandy. I don't want to go totally retro. But it would be nice to re-gain a few things.

I learned how to use my sewing machine thanks to YouTube. When we're about to tackle a reno project turn to Google first. We've also often turned to our handy parents for help and advice. When I first got pregnant with Jack I read, and Googled and reality showed as much information as I could but I still felt totally unprepared.

If I had been born into a different time I would have been expected to help raise my younger siblings. Dedicate my time in school to learning how to darn socks, hem trousers, change diapers, care for babies, cook dinner and balance a checkbook. I'm sure I would have also learned English and History and Geometry but there would have been little expectation that I would have gone on to use that information in any real way.

I hadn't held but one baby one time before I was handed my own little Jack for the first time. Reading books did not prepare me for parenting. The first few weeks, maybe even months were chaos. I tried to trust my instincts but I felt like I was all over the place. I also felt that I should have been better, been embracing motherhood, felt more connected to the earth. (This is perhaps the greatest piece of information that isn't able to be passed on by words. Sleep when the baby sleeps. They grow so fast. To see that at first, it's a scary and beautiful chaos and then we evolve and the baby evolves and we grow together and become what we thought naively that we would instantly be.)

It can't be taught through books and videos and diagrams. Imagine learning how to drive a car by reading a book and now imagine you've never even been a passenger in one before. Hello! Crash course?

There has been a beautiful evolution of society; and I'm not complaining about what we've gained. But along with the progress of virtual communities, information exchange and online shopping things have been lost too. Knowledge gained by helping raise our siblings and learn about child care in school has been lost.

Quite a bit of experiential knowledge has been lost but I don't see any to be as significant as passing on how to care for children.

Like any good feminist I hope my husband and I can pass on as much knowledge about car and computer maintenance as we pass on about child care and cooking.

He's got rhythm

Siiiiiiick

It's unfortunate that parents don't really get sick days.

I'm sick. It's not a bad cold, just congestion and a sore throat, but it would be great if I could nurse myself back to health without also needing to meet the needs of others. I hope the husband makes some yummy soup for dinner tonight and that I'm all better soon!

How does my garden grow?

When we planted veggies in our garden we broke the rules and planted outside before Mother's Day. I mean, really, what do farmers do?! So I was thrilled to see signs of life out there!!