well, eat your heart out, prairie woman!  I tried to make this and it ended up looking like this:

See, I'd like to think of myself as a pretty decent cook.  I pride myself on knowing how to make some things from scratch and always wanting to add to that repertoire.  But darn it if I have this terrible cooking flaw.  It's always one thing.  One little thing always goes wrong, which ruins everything.  It could be one ingredient (usually forgetting it).  Yeah, that's a pretty big screw-up as recipes go, I know.  But usually it's something right at the end. 

I'll make pasta, and a yummy 'homemade' sauce.  I'll ruin it by adding all the pasta to the sauce, then there's not enough sauce.  Or I'll season with just a bit too much whatever, right there at the end. 

 Or very often, I'll just not stand there and stir that sauce constantly and try to wing it, thus making the casserole all lumpy.  

Well, with this oh-so-easy tart, I was sure I could get it right.  Till I decided to make grilled fish and grilled asparagus, and a lovely salad, simultaneously with the tart....while Sam threw the biggest fit of his life.  I finally  thought 'screw it- Sam is more important than our dinner right now' and sat down to nurse him.  I think that's what cost my tart.  The brown sugar melted in the lemon juice, and instead of clumps of brown sugar dispersed over the apples, it was all syrup in the bottom of the apple bowl.  I poured it over the apples before I baked it, but that puffed pastry wasn't puffed yet, so the syrup all leaked out, and burned, burned, burned on my cookie sheets.  It didn't taste too bad, but I know it was supposed to taste better. Oh well, I just keep trying but it's such a cruddy handicap to have!

my latest obsession

This has been the culprit of many lost hours of sleep last week, and the excuse for my messier-than-usual home.

I don't know what it is about reading her stories that strikes me.  I think her way of writing is very entertaining.  And not to mention that there's always plenty of pictures.  It's like reading a book or magazine with lots of pictures. That's cool!  I love that she homeschools.  My hubby's no rancher, but I can seem to relate to some of the things she's talking about.

Now, it would be worth it if I was, say, using this site to meal plan, or something.  But I'm not.  I'm just reading about all the silly details of her country life, and loving it!

So I went running again last wed. and loved it.  My legs felt okay. Not too much knee pain at all.  The runs went really well.  It wasn't too hard, which is nice.  You don't dread something that's not too hard!

I get to thinking a bit while running. Hey you gotta do something to not think about running, and when you get to stop!  I like running with this group.  It makes me think so much about my track days.  The only real similarity is that I'm running on a track, with a group.  Other than that, things are a bit different.  

I do like this "coach". Don't really know what else to call him.  He's the one that calls the shots. I love that the group I'm in is all about you.  Your goals, your perseverance, your training.  There are about three or four groups of 3-4 people that do the same trainings together, and I'm all by my lonesome.  I'm pretty low on the totem pole.  I haven't run a marathon, or even a 10k.  I'm not a card carrying member of the Ohio river road runners club.  I just like to run.  And I'm not really good at it.  But most of time I'm there, I don't care!  It doesn't bother me. I can be ridiculously competitive, unreasonably so.  Being at the bottom would typically bug me.  But here, it doesn't. I really do believe them when they say they take runners of all levels.  

I like running on my own schedule, pushing myself to meet my goals.  Maybe I haven't had anything like that in a while (other than finish all the laundry and dishes in one day!).  It's nice.  It differs from high school.  I am such a pleaser.  I wanted to run well to please the coaches, and the teammates, to help win the city title (which we did!).  I was too enamored with being part of this team and discovering I could be a runner to worry about my own personal running goals.   I just adored the coaches in high school, and I was just thrilled to be on 'the team'.  See, I used to think that the only people that ran track were born fast runners.  Partly true.  But like anything else, you may not be blessed with tremendous talent, but it can be something that is nurtured and developed.  So that's what I did when I ran track for one season, my senior year.  It did so many positive things for me, and I to this day attribute my track days for helping me grow as an adult.  Sounds crazy, I know. I'm sure I'll reference it from time to time to give you the whole idea. Sorry it all seems so philisophical.

I think that's one of the reasons I still enjoy running.  It makes me feel good, and it has many postive effects on me!

Sorry if this post has been a bore.  I could drone on about something like running.

 

Our sweet  Samuel's birthday was Friday, May 22. He is now 2! Hard to believe, he's so little!  But a cute cutie. 

 His birthday was pretty low key. We didn't do anything too extraordinary.  He got a little John Deere push car that he loves.  He also got a couple light sabers- a must for survival in this house. They did play in the sprinkler for the first time this year, and loved it!

 

His cake was a simple carrot cake w/cream cheese icing.  For fun, I put it in a bundt pan.  The kids and I have been talking about making him a curious george cake.  Perfectly suited for him, my curious little brown-eyed, monkey baby.  I half-heartedly looked online for ideas  (after DD's cake, I was a bit burnt out on icing).  I thought back to some little toy we probably got out of a free box at a garage sale: a little curious george figurine.  It kept coming to mind as I was searching through cake after cake of artist-quality george cakes, and I knew this figurine was going to be the extent of my george cake.

His annual doc appt. had him weighed in at a whopping 23lbs!  I just love my shrimps!  It makes me chuckle to hear the docs say,

"Well, he's on the growth chart now.  5th percentile for weight and 3rd for height."  

I kinda like our pediatrician, so I have no desire to tell him where I'd like to shove his percentiles and growth charts. He's respectful of me and my shrimps, so that's enough for me.  I know they're growing just fine. Sam had no interest in his hi-five games and 'follow the light'.  He belted out cry after gurgling cry the whole time being examined, starting with that innocent stethoscope. Oh well, we're good to go for a year.  I'm happy with that.

So, my sweet Sam.  You're such a fun addition to our family.  You make us smile, and it is so fun to do things just to see your smile!  Your sister and brother adore you, and fight each night at dinner to sit next to you. 

 Rose has been known to cry your name when her mean old mommy disciplines her.  Dominic just loves ya.  Loves wrestling, and playing cars, and army men, and trains and 'swords'.  Loves swinging on the swing set with you.

 It's so cute how you're getting the hang of playing 'house' with the kids, and you get to be the baby.  I love how you talk, and say so many cute words. Especially when you say " 'mere", and beckon me with your little finger.  How can I help but follow!  You always put a smile on Daddy's face when you greet him at the door after a long day's work by repeating 'daa'y, daa'y,'.  You won't stop until he picks you up and hugs you. You bring us all such joy and laughter, and definitely keep us on our toes.   We love ya, our little Sam Sam. :)

Had a nice run today.  I woke up and went running in the morning, which I just love.  I just went over to Delco.  I think I like the path that goes the perimeter of the whole park better than the one around the pond.  It was such a nice run.  I had pains in my side, my knees were doing really good, I got out of breath, even walked a couple times.  But I didn't care.  I was enjoying it, and the beautiful weather with the cool breeze. I think I ran a bit easier than I did last week, probably because I was by myself.  I had my mp3 player, which was so nice.  It makes me more confident about going running on wed.  I think I'll do some leg strengthening exercises tomorrow.

Oh, tomorrow I'm supposed to be getting my new used vita mixer.  pretty excited.  I think I'll be drinking all my meals from here on out.  That would be so much easier, right? I'll probably just stick to breakfast meals to start.

Too many typos going on. I must be tired.

I'll squeeze in one more post before I turn in. Tomorrow will definitely be a coffee day!

So I went running on Wed. night.  I found out there are several 'training groups' all over the Dayton and surrounding areas.  This one is in Oakwood, at the high school track.  

I was a bit nervous to go, but I wanted to.  I want to start running again for several reasons.  I got some good, supportive running shoes, and I was off.

The guy in charge, the 'coach' was really nice.  Actually, so was everyone in the group.  There were about a dozen or so people, mostly men.  Probably 5 women including myself, so I didn't feel too out of place.  Age-wise, there was a nine year old, and then from there I think one or two others younger than me.  The rest older.  Again, no big deal.  I kinda expected that.

So how was it, you ask?  I was a bit surprised when the coach said he'd start me off with a mile, walk a lap, another mile, another lap and then see from there.  Wow!  That would be a 'hard' workout for me in my 5k training days!  I am just so lazy, always looking for the easy way out, even while I'm exercising!

I did the two miles no problem. My knees felt tight, but not too bad.  Then he had me do ten 100s.  That wasn't bad at all.  I kept waiting for it to get worse, but it didn't.  He said he'd start me off slow, of course.  I tend to bite off more than I can chew, then pay for it later.  So that was cool.

The others seemed to be working up a good sweat, so I guess that's what I have to look forward to!

I felt like I was standing around a lot, waiting to be told what to do, and for me, that's wasting precious time.  But, alas, I need to just grow in patience.  I needed to wait for my heart rate to slow.  I resisted the temptation to ask, 'what next?', and just waited until I was directed to go on. I can see, though, as weeks go on, that I will hopefully get stronger and have a better feel for how the practices run, and then really feel like I'm getting the most out of them.

Getting late. More on that later.

Rose has been a hoot lately.

The other day, we were driving in the car.  Her and Dominic had been bickering as usual.  Oh yeah, we were leaving the bagel store, and headed to the park.  The 'quick' trip in the store started great, but ended with the two kids pushing each other and crying because I told them to sit on their designated chairs while I finished my order.  Upon getting in the car, I dished out the discipline for their less than desired behavior.  After driving a bit, Rose was talking to Dominic, and not in her usual scolding "little mommy" way.  She was quite matter of fact when telling him:

"Dominic, you just can't push.  Pushing is not good.  Do you think Mary and Joseph pushed? No."

Then today we were walking in Jo-Ann's looking at fabric.  I had just started down the isle and was kinda talking out loud to the kids saying I was looking for a simple, plain fabric.  I found a nice print and pulled it out to look at it and Rose said,

"No, mom. That looks like it's from the nineteen eighties."

Sure, loud enough so the lady and her daughter in the isle walked past snickering.

(And by the way, the print was not nineteen eighties at all).

I guess that reminds me of being in the grocery store with the kids a couple weeks ago.  We were in Meijer and I can't remember what I said, or if I had to go back to some part of the store because I forgot something.  Rose, exasperated, remarks, 'we've been in the store a thousand hours'.  Yeah, more snickering from those mamas who don't have young kids with them.

I'm now on our summer schedule.  It means a load of laundry and on the clothes line every day, as opposed to doing it all in one day.  Dinners on the grill most every night, as opposed to warm, yummy stews and cassaroles.  Staying outside every opportunity possible, which means late day lunches of...ham and cheese, fruit and veggies cut up, chips and salsa, yogurt. Any or all of those items.  Sometimes just chips and salsa! Too busy for lunch.  The house is a wreck for days on end till I can't stand it anymore, or it rains. Then I spend one or two days cooking, cleaning, and organizing.  Then it starts all over again.

Garage sale season is in high gear.  We were so fortunate to have Dan along last Sat.  He's been doing a pretty extensive side job every Sat. and he had last Saturday off. Yeah!  It was fun.  Found some good things for camping and gardening.

I found out I could get free compost as a benefit of being a Kettering resident (who knew?), so I took dan's truck and got a bunch.  Not enough.  I got about half way through the garden, and I know I'll need more.  It' makes the garden look so nice!  I'm using it almost like mulch, because we can't till it in at this point.

Then I got some mulch from freecycle that I'm going to put on the 'paths' in the garden.  I can't wait! It'll look like one of those pictures in my book.  I think I'm going to write a book called Freecycle Gardening! It's amazing what you can get from others.

Ahh, but I can't have the joy of doing all that just yet.

I have to finish a sling for a new mama tonight, then switch to birthday mode again. Our little Sammy will be two tomorrow. I have to put my brain to figuring out a Curious George cake.  A simple one.  No more camo or tank cakes for at least a year!  

Well, I'm about done planting, almost.  Dan put together some wooden planter boxes for me out of some scrap wood we have.  I thought it would be so simple to do.  He cut all the wood up, and I was going to just nail it all together the next day. Sure, like some super easy build-your-own-planter box kit or something. Ha! What a joke.  It's pretty hard to nail stupid nails in stupid wood.   With a stupid hammer by the way.  I'm sure it's no surprise I did not get the boxes made.  I was so disappointed.  I felt like such a failure.  I wanted to plant my new veggies in them... right now!  And I couldn't cus I couldn't make those dumb boxes.  I called Dan in a tizzy, and he just said wait till he got home.  I knew what that meant.  It would be raining by then. He'd say wait till tomorrow.  Boy, I have a hard time waiting.  I poked around, finally settling on doing the dishes.  Not before lamenting to Rose about my boxes, and asking if I should go and try again, or just leave it alone.  My wise six year old so confidently said, 'Just leave them alone.'  Once again, really hard for me to do.  But I did.  Dan came home and went out to the back porch with me, in the rain.  He whipped those boxes up in no time flat.  I think he could've done them in his sleep.  He made it look so effortless! I think my jaw was on the cement floor.  I just love my husband for all he does for me!

Today, I went to fill the boxes.  There was one left Dan didn't put together, and I felt a little more confident today to try to do that.  I lined things up and tried to do it just as I had seen Dan do.  For the most part, it went together nicely.  Don't look at the bottom of it though.  I took a little steam out on that one nail that just kept getting more and more crooked, so I said the heck with it and beat it into the wood!  Yeah, Dan never did that, in case you were wondering. :)

I got a bunch of veggies from freecycle.  There's a guy in east Dayton with the nicest city garden I've ever seen.  I was so impressed with it!  It looked just like the pictures in the gardening book I have! He had tons of lettuce, kale and collard starts.  I gladly took them home, and put them in my planter boxes.  I don't know how the kale will do.  I did plant some kale and collards and the rest of my onions in my herb garden.  There's still some room for some more herbs and flowers, though. I didn't take a picture, but I put the boxes all around the herb garden.  Not sure I really like that, but it will do for now.  I'm glad to have discovered kale.  I've only heard good things about it, and I'm interested in how it will grow.  

So that's that for my veggie garden.  It's just what I set out to do, and the planter boxes finished it!  I'm so excited to have such a nice variety of things growing!

So I said earlier Rose had to give up her beloved job of crowning Mary.  Well, not quite.  See, we were blessed with a beautiful outdoor Mary statue this year by some dear friends.  It's been sitting on the front porch for about two months or so.  I couldn't decide if I wanted it in the front garden or the back.  Well, we decided to put it in the front yard, and I thought it would be nice to do a May crowning with my Tuesday morning 'pray and play' group (group of Catholic moms that get together to pray a rosary with the kids, and then the kids play!)  There is one other girl in the group near Rose's age, and another boy Dominic's age.  It worked out for the boys to carry the crown together, and the girls to crown the statue, together.  It was so sweet!  

Mother's day was very nice this year.  The weather was beautiful.  We got to go to Mass as a family. Dan had to count after Mass.  I saw him talking to Rose immediately after Mass, and giving her instructions of sorts.  They were selling flowers after Mass for mothers as a fund-raiser for Dayton Right to Life.  I figured he was telling her to buy one for me.  Very sweet.  I took the kids to the statue of the Blessed Mother where we prayed a simple Hail Mary in honor of Mother's day.

When we finished, we went to the back of church, and Rose squeaked away from me.  We caught up with some other family members.  Rose came back with one sweet yellow carnation, and proudly said "Happy Mother's day, mommy!"  Now me, being the big sap that I am, was so delighted to see her smile, and hold that flower out to me, I just couldn't blink back the tears as I gave her a big hug.  How cheesy is that!  And I even knew she was going to get me a flower, but I was still so touched by it all.

We went out to breakfast after Mass with Dan's family.  The lot of us make up a party of 19 now.  Cool.  Pretty soon we'll just have to rent out a private room or something! 

The breakfast was nice and I was quite impressed with the service.  Our meals were served very quickly, and they were yummy.  The kids even behaved. Wow!

When we got home, we did a May crowning of our own at home.  It was simple, and sweet.  Dominic decided he wanted to crown Mary this year, so Rose had to give up that coveted job... for the time being.  I just love this dress on Rose, and DD in his suit.

We took our first bike ride of the season over to Lorraine's to visit with my family.  We took the sidewalk most of the way, which I didn't like, and it was kind of a tiring ride there.  It was nice to see the family and visit for a while.  We didn't stay too long, since we had to bike back.  The ride home was surprisingly much easier.  There was one big hill, but other than that, it was great!

So we had a busy day, but I still got to relax in the evening, and see the final episode of the amazing race!

I hope all you mama's out there had a nice mother's day!

Dominic is now four!!! 

We celebrated his birthday on Friday.  We went to a homeschool 'show-and-tell' of sorts in the morning, which was okay.  Then we were graced with a visit from CizzaMikey aka Jodie and her kids, which brought much joy, as always.

I personally spent the day tackling his birthday cake.  I wanted to make him a camo cake, and somehow it turned into not just camo, but in the shape of a tank.  It was pretty fun.  I know he enjoyed it, and that was worth it.

Our first boy.  We were so happy when you were born that we had a boy.  And you continue to teach me everyday how different boys are from girls!  But you're such a great boy, our little Deed.  I love that you help take out the trash and hold the door open for your sister and I.  I love watching you wrestle with Samuel.  I don't love watching you torment Rose, but I know it's because you're a boy.  I love your laugh, and the tender side of you when you say 'I love you', or talk to babies! You're so good with babies, and so protective of your siblings.  We thank God for you, Dominic, and are so happy he as entrusted your care to us! You bring us so much joy!  Happy fourth birthday, big boy!

I finished planting our garden at leisure on Saturday.  Dan had to work at his side job again, so I was left to my own resources.  I've never planted the whole garden before.  It was fun.  The kids were great, and lasted all afternoon outside with minimal outbursts of crying and fighting.

I planted so much in that little plot of land.  Here's hoping I won't be just thinning it all out this time next month!  I canned some things last year, and it encouraged me so much to try to do more of the same.  Our main crop will be beets, beans, and snap peas.  We all love beets and beans, and I canned a little last year.  I'm hoping to be able to can just a little more this year.  The peas are tricky.  I've never had enough to freeze. We just eat them all up!  So we'll see.  They didn't grow so well last year.  I hope they do well this year.  And I love that a mound of cucumbers and zucchini give you so many veggies.  They're so space efficient!  Just my kind of thing.

I also had fun interspersing herbs and flowers in the garden for various reasons.  it also makes it look pretty.

All the while I was planting, I kept thinking of Dan, and wishing he were with me.  At the same time, trying to be confident in myself at gauging how deep and wide to plant things (I'm really bad at visualizing measurements-Dan's great at it...down to 1/16th of an inch!).  I kept thinking how he's taught me so much about gardening I never knew.  I learn best by watching others, and I was so happy that Dan has been there a part of our gardening all these years, and shown me so much on how to do things easier and better.  I know Dan doesn't quite have the same passion for gardening that I have, but I think he's really proud of our garden and happy about the yummy foods we get from it.

I drew a sketch of the garden plan when I was done.  I was quite satisfied with the finished product.

Today I watered the garden for the first time, using our revolutionary irrigation system (The barrel that collects rain water and has a hose running from it down the fence line to a spigot Dan attached to the bottom of the fence, down by the garden).  I was surprised when it rained last week, the barrel filled up completely from one good storm.  When I watered today, I thought it would use up most of the water, but I only used about a third of it.  And I was being pretty generous watering, so I thought.  The only drawback is the water pressure is slim to nil.  I can get the water to sprinkle out, instead of stream, with the help of a nozzle.  It's all really nice, it just takes a while to really soak the plants.  Dan, of course, knew all this, and suggested we just get a soaker hose to leave in the garden, and just let the water soak through to the plants, how ever long it takes.  We'll see.  I might enjoy taking my time watering.  Or it just might take too much time that I don't have.  Hmmm...right now I'm favoring taking the time to water, preferably after the kids go to bed!

If you're against capital punishment, you must be more against capital punishment against babies, which is carried out without trial or jury or appeal or court-appointed lawyer.

If you're against war, you must be more against war conducted against babies by their parents and doctors, since unborn babies are the ultimate defenseless pacifists, only wanting to go about their own business of growing and living.

If you're against poverty, you must be more against babies being deprived of their only property, their own lives and bodies.

If you're for social justice, you must be more in favor of justice for babies as an integral part of religion and society.

There is no social ill, no injustice, no horror that is not intensified when it involves the unborn, for they have the least power and the most need. If we don't protect our young, we don't protect anyone.

From Maureen at Aliens in this World

That Dominic...there's just something about him.

I didn't mean for the last post to get so deep.

I just wanted to share some of the cute things dd does.

Like today.  We went to a rummage sale.  I was carrying a bunch of stuff, had Sam in the sling, and was nearing the end of our trip.  I was a little reluctant to leave, just kinda wondering, seaching for that last hidden treasure.  We walked past the shoes, took a quick glance and I finally decided we just had to get going.  As we're walking away, Dominic grabs my hand an kinda off-handidly says "But there were some speedracer shoes there."

It took me a minute, but I think he was telling me he wanted to get them.  I almost ignored the comment.  As if hit by a bolt of lightning, I suddenly tuned into DD:
"You did see speedracer shoes?"

"Yeah."

"Show me where.  Did you want to get them?"

"Yeah."

So he took me back and we checked the size.  Sure enough, they were his size, and in very good condition.  In the bag they went.

It so funny how different DD and Rose are.  If it were Rose (or myself) wanting a new pair of shoes, it would be very clear, especially if we didn't get them.  But DD, in his sweet, quiet way, just told me there was a nice pair of shoes over there.  What a humbling example.

Not that DD never throws a fit over things he doesn't get.

And I guess it was only a pair of shoes, not like a new sword or something. 

This past lent, I rewarded the children with jelly beans each time they did some good act.  Each color jelly bean corresponded with a certain behavior.  It was to follow a certain poem which outlined the order of things.  Well, we were fairly loose in the interpretation, and I believe green jelly beans were for kindness, in word or deed.  

Green also happens to be Dominic's favorite color.  

He learned pretty quickly to say "Mom, I love you.  And you're pretty."  For this he would be awarded a green jelly bean.  

Now I know what you're thinking, didn't they abuse the system and just rack up jelly beans.  And the answer is, no.

Even when I knew he was saying it because he knew he'd get to put a jelly bean in his jar, it was so sincere, and with his cute smile.  It melt my heart.  And yes, sometimes he would say it two times in a row, and I would tell him that was so sweet.  But he never pushed the issue about getting a second jelly bean.

So why did I tell you all this.

Because every once in while now, Dominic will out of the blue say: "Mommy, I love you.  And you're pretty."  And the new addition is "Really pretty in your wedding dress." (We recently went to a wedding.  Guess he thinks brides are pretty!)

And ya know what, it warms my heart so much to hear it.  I just can't put it into words.  

The thought that came to me was about praying the rosary.  An argument some use against this Marian devotion is that it's so repetitive, it doesn't really have any meaning if all you're doing is saying the same thing over and over. In defense, it is compared to saying 'I love you' to your mother, again and again, as the Hail Mary is a prayer of love, honor and devotion.

So I thought of that, and pondered if the Blessed Mother gets that same warm, loving feeling when her children pray sincerely to her.

So I feel so blessed to have a sweet child that can bring such joy and happiness to my life.  I have so much love in my life: my spouse, parents, siblings, friends...God!  And yet this love between mother and child is ever developing, growing ever deeper, and astounding me in ways I never knew!!  How wonderful!

Today was a sharp contrast to yesterday!  I'm thanking God for the peace and joy of yesterday...wait, aren't I supposed to thank him, regardless?!

I've had a pounding headache all day. I have to admit, I'm such a wimp.  I rarely get headaches, and when I do, they just really bother me.  I've been in this blah mood all day, where I just don't want to do any of my 'chores'.  I impulsively went to a garage sale advertising a cuisinart blender, only to find it sold.  of course.  I came home and half-heartedly decided to plant a bit more while the sun was out.  By the time I got around to it, it was dark and sprinkling.  I put off making dinner, knowing I had to use the eggplant to make eggplant parm.  Just didn't feel like doing that.  So I did it anyway, only to have Dan inform me he had to leave soon to go see a movie with his cousin!  Oh well.  I finished it up, he ate and left, and I was left with the kids.  I was (and still am) just tired!  And I had to deal with 'I hate eggplant. It tastes like puke.' (guess who).  I wasn't going to let that battle go on till the next morning.  I told Rose she had to eat her last two bites.  Period.

And she did.

And why is Sam coming in crying?  He was so asleep!!!  And he didn't have a nap today!  Shouldn't he sleep all night tonight.  Maybe that's what I'm going to shoot for myself tonight.