quote for the week.

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

:this moment:

Inspired by SouleMama:


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

right now I am

 Inspired by earth mama

"Every Wednesday I will post a post with one image combined with a short sentence that starts out as "right now, I AM...". This simple exercise helps me to take a moment out of my day to open my eyes, take a look around, and see something wonderful that is right in front of me that I can truly appreciate. Whenever I do this simple task, I can feel my heart swell with gratitude for the life I have.

 I really believe that together we can help each other to shine the abundance of good that we see all around us. That to me is a very wonderful, aware, and proactive momentum to set off on"

right now I am . . .

forcing myself to make a change. A half a lifetime ago, I was a runner. Change is hard, and my bathrobe and coffee are really much more appealing at 7:30 in the morning. Yet, here I am. Couch-to-5k.

Nothing.

That's all I've been doing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. And it's awesome.


Ok. I'm still working. And cooking (sort of). But I'm taking it very slow for a few days. We've had a crazy(ier than normal!) few weeks!

Evan is completely better. We did get his test results from the state lab on his spinal labs. Apparently, his meningitis was caused by a strain similar to the chicken pox. Same family, or something. Seriously. I got the phone call while at a rehearsal dinner, so I got as much information as I could while ducked out into the hallway. I'll be following up with his doctor cause, well, it sort of blows my mind.

This past weekend, the whole family was in the wedding of some very dear friends. The rehearsal dinner was at Dinosaur BBQ, ceremony at Clarks and the reception at the zoo (hence the lion above!)  The weather, which has been cold and rainy for 2 weeks, cleared up beautifully. The wedding was gorgeous and everything went off without a hitch. Except of course, when I spilled my drink on the photographers laptop. Yes, I really did. They were incredibly gracious, and I was incredibly mortified.

 soon after the laptop incident.

I should have seen it coming, since earlier that week I spilled a full cup of coffee all over the couch and myself and then days later kicked an entire cup of tea across my living room carpet. I do have a hard time holding on to drinks. I'm notorious for breaking glasses and throwing cups of coffee about. I don't know how! One second they are in my hand, the next second they are literally flying about the room. I broke a glass all over the dance floor at another friends wedding two years ago. But this was by far the worst drink incident I've ever had (and hopefully it stays that way!)

Ellie Blum Photography

Evan's birthday was Sunday. We had a very quiet day - cooked up a big breakfast with some friends who had spent the night (they were also at/in the wedding the day before) then kind of lounged about for the day. I made just spaghetti (per Evans request) salad and bread sticks for dinner. Everyone LOVED the sauce. It was the basic pasta sauce, mixed with crushed tomatoes, sauteed peppers and onions, some seasonings, meatballs and sausage. It was basic (I thought) but our parents really liked it. Because we're at the end of birthday season, Evan didn't want cake. So I made these brownies. Oh, nom. Make them. I made them using half sucanat and half sugar and half white/half whole wheat flour.


Also, I'm sick of tomatoes and really glad I don't have any more to can. Till next year anyway. Apples next!


All the pictures are from the rehearsal dinner and wedding. Cause, well, that's all I had the motivation to upload since Sunday!

Kind of loving doing nothing, for at least one more day!

quote for the week.

 It's not only children who grow.  Parents do too.  As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours.  I can't tell my children to reach for the sun.  All I can do is reach for it, myself.  ~Joyce Maynard

Happy 12th birthday Evan. 

when life hands you tomatoes . . .

you get busy canning!

Tuesday night at work, one of the guys I work with (who happens to be in his mid - 80's and still doing maintenance work!) asked if I liked tomatoes. I said yes, and he said he was about to go pick some up and if I wanted any, he would bring me some back. I'm expected a small bag full, a half dozen, maybe a dozen. He came back with 3 HUGE bags full!

Oh my! Now I work till 9pm, so when I got home at 9:30 I immediately began sorting through what had to be used that night (some were split, some were getting soft. Most were still in excellent condition) and then got to work making more pizza sauce.

I managed to use almost a bags worth and I gave a friend who was over (and also a professional chef!) another half a bag to take home. So now I have a (huge) bag and a half to still take care of today.

Because it was so late, I had to make the sauce, then can it last night. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of the tomatoes yet, but I definitely need to use them up today because the rest of our weekend is (delightfully!) busy. We're in the wedding of some dear friends, and my oldest turns 12 on Sunday. 12! One more year until I am officially the mom of a teenager. How did that happen so fast?!







I ended up with 9 half pints of almost free pizza sauce! We do eat a lot of homemade pizzas!

right now I am

 Inspired by Earth Mama:

"Every Wednesday I will post a post with one image combined with a short sentence that starts out as "right now, I AM...". This simple exercise helps me to take a moment out of my day to open my eyes, take a look around, and see something wonderful that is right in front of me that I can truly appreciate. Whenever I do this simple task, I can feel my heart swell with gratitude for the life I have.

 I really believe that together we can help each other to shine the abundance of good that we see all around us. That to me is a very wonderful, aware, and proactive momentum to set off on"

Right now, I am. . . really enjoying this glass of wine. In my laundry room. Wearing the apron that I put on as soon as I walked through the door from work, and the shoes that I never took off. And really kind of enjoying every moment of what is my Friday, and the last day before a very busy weekend.

pumpkin pie spice coffee

Dunkin Donuts pumpkin pie spice coffee is one of my guilty pleasures. It's been cool and windy and very fall here lately, so I indulged in one the other day.

The carb and sugar counts are pretty high though, and I wanted to be able to make a version at home. After I was unable to find a copycat recipe online, I gave it a shot making one up this morning.

I mixed 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup local whole milk and whisked over med-high heat till hot and frothy. Frothy is a fun word, isn't it? Then I added 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice and 2 teaspoons xylitol. added coffee and two cinnamon sticks.

 there are cinnamon sticks, they just sunk down to the bottom and weren't cooperating for the picture!

I fully expected pumpkin pie deliciousness.

What I got was coffee and cream with a bit of a spicy bite. No pumpkin. No autumn delicious goodness.

Wah!


So I added another tsp of xylitol and another teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Nothing.

Shoot. Soooooo, as I sit here sipping my pretty unsatisfying drink I'm wondering what went wrong? Maybe because my pie spice is a year old?


Doing some quick searches on good ol' google, I found this recipe:

pumpkin spice latte

it calls for adding actually pumpkin, genius!

I'm going to make it tomorrow, I think. I'll make a few changes -and yes, I'll use canned pumpkin, even though I could use actual pumpkin because this week is too busy as is. But if it's a success, I'll definitely try real pumpkin next time. I already can't wait!

 is 3 pictures of one mediocre cup of coffee excessive? Nah, not when there's a kitty about!

Do you have a favorite fall drink?

home preserving

I've been spending a lot of time the last couple months picking from our small garden, visiting the farmers market - canning and freezing. A friend of ours jokes that at least we'll all be ready for the expected jam shortage of 2010.

Sometimes preserving can be frustrating. Sometimes it's hot, the kitchens hot, canning makes it hotter. Sometimes I have 30 lbs of tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter when my son is suddenly rushed off to the hospital. Many times I'd rather be doing something else.

But most of the time I find a sort of peace in the entire process. Most of the time I feel very connected to the earth, to all the women before me that spent hours and days putting up food. I feel grateful for our garden, for our farmers. I feel confidence and strength in knowing that we have a full pantry and that I stocked  it with fresh, real foods. That even though I love my full size freezer, there is a certain satisfaction in having so many shelf stable foods.

I do a lot of small batch preserving and that's enough for me. For now. I feel so, very thankful that I am able to treat preserving as a hobby and not a live or die necessity. That I am simply supplementing my families food supply and not stocking up for the entire winter. 

I haven't tracked my freezer inventory yet, though I know I have many quart and half quart containers of green beans, peaches, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and corn. I also have several jars of refrigerator pickles and one quart experiment in drying (corn).

So far my 2010 preserves are:

Sweet Pickle Relish - 11 half pints
Peach Salsa - 2 pints, 1 half pint
Corn Salsa - 7 pints
Green Beans - 4 pints
Fresh Salsa - 3 pints, 2 half pints
Peach BBQ Sauce - 1 pint, 2 half pints
Chicken Wing Sauce - 1 pint, 2 half pints
Pizza Sauce - 1 pint, 6 half pints
BBQ Sauce - 3 pints, 1 half pint
Taco Sauce - 2 pints, 1 half pint
Peach Almond Jam - 3 half pints
Chicken Stock - 2 pints
Hamburger Dills - 3 pints
Zucchini Pickles - 3 pints
Dilled Beans - 3 pints
Blueberry Jam - 4 half pints
Strawberry/Raspberry Jam - 5 half pints
Cherry/Raspberry Jam - 4 half pints
Strawberry Jam - 3 half pints
Blueberry Vinegar - 1 pint
Strawberry Vinegar - 1 pint
Strawberry Vodka -  1 quart
Blueberry Vodka - 1 quart
Cherry Vodka - 1 quart
Green Tomato Relish - 2 half pints
Tomato Basil Sauce - 2 quarts, 7 half pints
Dill Spears - 2 pints
Basic Pasta Sauce - 3 quarts, 4 pints
Ketchup - 6 half pints
Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup - 3 quarts
Brushetta in a Jar - 5 pints



I'm hoping to squeeze one more round of pizza sauce out of my garden. Next comes apples, pears, peppers. Oh boy. And having the pressure cooker now, once the season ends I hope to can more chicken stock, beef stock, chili, soups and things.

Most of the recipes I pulled from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. The jam recipes I made using Pomonas Universal Pectin.

Are you preserving? Large batches or small? What do you love about it, or hate about it? Why do you do it? What is your must preserve food/recipe?

quote for the week.

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.  ~John Leonard

Saturday night I spent some time at a surprise 30th birthday party for an old High School friend. I've known every person in this photo for 15+ years. It's very comforting coming back to old friends and feeling like you still know each other, like there was a momentary pause in your history instead of half decade or more gap. Or to take moments like this as a gift in a time of changing lives and friendships. 

These children have all known each other since birth.  I have so many pictures of them through the years, and it's probably a good thing that I have none of those pictures on this computer, otherwise this would turn into a novel length post during which I recount every cute and touching story and cry over all the pictures of them growing up.

Instead I'll share just this one. My son is 7 months younger than the oldest of the group. I was very good friends with his mother so by default the kids were all friends. When my friends son was 6 he was diagnosed with Aspergers. He has some social ineptness, but is really one of the kindest, most gentle, most interesting little boys I have ever met. When the kids were young, it wasn't a big deal. Evan barely even noticed. It was just who his friend was, he wasn't different - he was just himself. A few years ago Evan began to pick up on it. He said to me one day "Mom, J**** isn't really like everyone else is he? But that's ok, cause he's just J****".

Over the years we've seen less and less of my friend and her children. We used to see them almost every day. But as we've grown and our kids have grown and we've moved and life fills up it's turned into once every several months.  

Last year, we moved and Evan invited a bunch of new friends from the new school to his sleepover birthday party, along with his old friend J*. Now as they've gotten older, it's become much more apparent that J* is not at the same social level as other kids his age. Sadly, 11 year old boys aren't always kind and they teased J* quite a bit. 

So this year, when asking Evan what he would like to do for his birthday party - either have a bunch of friends over, or take 2 friends and go to dinner and have a sleepover - he chose 2 friends for a sleepover.  I was expecting him to choose the 2 boys he became the closest to over the last year at school.  He decided, without hesitation that he wanted to invite J*, but wasn't sure who the 2nd person would be yet, since as he said "my friends weren't very nice to him last year".

I would not have thought much about it if he had made a different choice. I wouldn't have been disappointed. Times changed, friendships change and pre-teens can be pretty self-centered. I'm pretty proud of him for making the choice he did. For valuing his lifelong friendships. More importantly, for noticing that what happened last year was wrong. I know that it's not always easy for a 12 year old boy to make that sort of choice. 

I've had some worrisome moments as Evan becomes a pre-teen. He can be rude and snooty and very teenage-ry.  I know we're going to have some difficult moments over the next few years. And I hope I remember the time, that without hesitation, he made the choice to not only hold onto an old friend, but to help protect him. 


And a second quote, just because it's running through my head. We sang this all the time in Girl Scouts!

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

A circle is round,
it has no end.
That's how long,
I will be your friend.

this moment

It's been a very busy few weeks, and I'm ready for any excuse I have to slow down and pay attention to what's around me.After following along for quite sometime with soulemama and others, I've decided to play along. Inspired by SouleMama:


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

 photo by Colin

right now, I am . . .

 Inspired by Earth Mama:

"Every Wednesday I will post a post with one image combined with a short sentence that starts out as "right now, I AM...". This simple exercise helps me to take a moment out of my day to open my eyes, take a look around, and see something wonderful that is right in front of me that I can truly appreciate. Whenever I do this simple task, I can feel my heart swell with gratitude for the life I have.

 I really believe that together we can help each other to shine the abundance of good that we see all around us. That to me is a very wonderful, aware, and proactive momentum to set off on"

right now I AM sneaking in some preserving time before work, grateful for the abundance of our garden and local farmers and feeling very thankful that I don't have to preserve an entire winters food for the whole family!

back to school!

 Today was the first day of classes for the boys. 7th grade (middle school!) and 2nd. My goodness, how fast they've grown.

Last year they at least would pose (however silly!) for first day of school pictures. This year I had to beg and plead for some pictures - this year I didn't get not-a-one good picture!

We're back on our 'normal' schedule meaning I'm back to working crazy hours and all the boys are back in school. I hate it (the hours I work) but it's the closest to normal we get - the whole summer was spent not quite getting it together, despite my 'normal' 7-3:30 Mon-Fri work week.

The hardest part is only seeing them for a short while in the mornings on the days I work, then not at all the rest of the day.

The best part is having some time each week with The Husband and the kids in school so I can run errands, or bake and cook, and sometimes even relax!

Now that summer is winding down, Evan is feeling better, and our version of normal has returned I hope to be back in this space more often!

See you soon!

Quote for the week

Or month, or life.

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 It was a scary, long, exhausting week.  Evan is home and well. They are also running tests for lyme disease and sending his spinal samples to the state lab, just to be sure but he has made what seems to be a full recovery.

 Tuesday, feeling well enough to play the PS3 that was in his room!

We were so, so blessed this past week and are so very grateful for everyone's love, support and well wishes. Really, our family and friends are beyond amazing.

 Tuesday night, I think. Excited to be well enough to leave the room for a bit

You know, I'm not strong enough (in many ways) to be a nurse, or a social worker though I've always felt that pull. And now, after our experiences I have that same sort of feeling again. This is the first one of my children has ever stayed overnight in the hospital. The first they've ever needed extensive testing and drugs and doctors like this. My children rarely even see the doctor aside from yearly physicals, in fact I don't think Evan has had a sick child visit in 5 years. 

But for some families, that's not the case. They have very sick children. They spend days and weeks and months in hospitals, without knowing for certain they'll be bringing home a healthy child. They might not have the support that we had. I was near cracking up after 4 nights sleeping in a hospital with a child in pain. Some parents do this for much, much longer. 

 I felt kind of creepy taking pictures in the hospital, but it was really an amazing place. This was the solarium on Evans floor.

 

I have many, many more thoughts on all of this but they're still sort of swirling around my head right now and I'm still adjusting to getting back to normal here. 

Right now I'm just feeling very loved and very, very grateful for everything and everyone in our lives.