My Little Patch of Happiness

Lovely day of love

2012-02-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll admit that Valentine's Day isn't usually a big deal in our house. Some years we might make special treats. Occasionally there are gifts. Before we were parents, we probably went out to dinner. But with little girls in the house, Valentine's Day becomes a big deal!

Evie had to bring in valentines for her classmates. She signed each of them herself. Plus she made an extra-special valentine for her teacher, whom she adores. Then there was a gift for her "secret valentine," a bead necklace Evie made herself.

The girls each found a handmade valentine from Mommy at their breakfast plate, along with a gift from Mommy and Daddy, and Daddy made each of his girls (me included!) heart pancakes with strawberries in them. They were delicious!

And finally, after school today, Evie went to a Valentine's tea at a schoolmates house and came home with a box of chocolates, strawberry lotion, and a diary! Not to mention a sack of valentines from her schoolmates. A very exciting day for a 5 year old girl!

I love that my little girl can go to a tea in a pretty skirt and be girly but then set down on the floor with dad and assemble the Star Wars lego set she received this morning. Tonight it's dinner at Five Guys (giving me a night off of cooking). All in all, I'd say it's been a lovely day of love.

Revisiting Harry

2012-02-10T23:06:00.000-05:00

I can still remember the day I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone from my library. I had never even heard of Harry Potter. The cover art attracted me as did the magical story. Of course, from the moment I began reading, I was hooked. It was amazing and then I began to follow the series and of course noticed all the hype and media attention it garnered. I can still remember when the final book in the series was released. How I had preordered it. How our library had a Harry Potter party that began at midnight of the book release day (I didn't attend, being a responsible parent by then). How my husband bought me all the previous six books in hard cover so that I had the complete set (which at a cover price of $29.95 is ludicrous).
I remember how I cried (maybe not literally, but I certainly wanted to) over the losses that were sustained, particularly in the last two books. I remember the thrills and the excitement. It was truly monumental.

All that occurred several years ago. I've watched the movies as they've come out, but only once each, and none of them made much of an impression on me. This December, the final movie installment was released on DVD and Rand and I watched it and I thought, finally, Harry Potter is over.

But was it?

In the lull before Christmas, I found I didn't have anything to read or do. I decided to rewatch the first movie on a night when Rand was studying for finals. It was humorous to see the actors when they were so young. I hardly remembered the movie. So I thought, for a lark, I'd re-read the series. I'd only read all the books once. Some of them twice. It had been years.

Now, over six weeks later, I have finished reading the series once again. I enjoy getting to read series in order, in close proximation (last late fall/early winter I did this with the Mitford series by Jan Karon). There is something so utterly satisfying about finishing one book and picking up the next. Not to mention that with a series like Harry Potter, the momentum you gain in reading one book after the other gives a thrill to the books like an avalanche. By the end, you are simply inundated. I knew I was getting there when a week ago my dreams became very Potter-influenced. And I'll have to admit, I was ready for it to be done and move on.

A couple of thoughts: I was surprised at how impressed I was with J. K. Rowling's writing. As an aspiring author who has done a good deal of research into children's literature as well as some writing classes since reading the books the first time, I was able to appreciate her writing more than before. I always enjoyed the books, figured she was good to be able to come up with such a story but reading them now, the characterizations, the back story, the detail that she lends is amazing.

Snape. Was there ever a character you just wanted to hate but couldn't quite bring yourself to do it? And in the end....the revelations in the last book are simply crushing. I told Rand after reading it the other night that even though I knew what was in the chapter, after having read it before and just seen it replayed in the movie, I was still unprepared for the full import of who Snape was and what he was doing. Anyone who's read it will understand. And I certainly don't want to ruin it for anyone who possibly hasn't.

Rita Skeeter and Umbridge. Two of the most vile and annoying characters. I remember when I originally read the books that Harry's dealings with them were just so painful to go through and seemed to last forever; I couldn't wait for them to be over. I'll admit I was dreading those books, those moments. And yet, having read it before, it didn't pain me as much this time, but I was still able to appreciate their awfulness.

House-elves. Okay, I probably cried in the last book at Dobby's heroics. But what really touched me was Kreacher. I absolutely love, love, love the change wrought in him through Harry's one act of kindness. I find the scenes in which he appears thereafter touching. I wish there were more of them. I wish I knew what happened to him. I'd like to hope he went on living with Harry and his future family.

I'm certainly glad that I read the series again. It solidified the Harry Potter books in my mind as excellent children's literature. It was fun seeing my girls get excited as each new book appeared. Evie always wanted to know the titles. Lil identified them by their colors: "Mommy, you have a green Harry Potter?" "Mommy, your new Harry Potter. It's orange!" I'm certain that in the not too distant future, they'll be reading the Harry Potter books with as much enthusiasm as I did.

Old favorites made better

2012-02-02T14:15:00.001-05:00

I read about this brand new cookbook in an article in Better Homes and Gardens. It featured some yummy recipes and I knew I wanted to check out the entire book. After a short wait for it come in from the library, I've been enjoying it immensely. Who wouldn't love a cookbook that has recipes for breakfast, snacks and appetizers, sandwiches, dinners, and desserts....and they're all toned down fat and calorie wise?

Thus far we have tried Devilish Crab Dip, Loaded Nachos, Shrimp Spring Rolls with Apricot-Ginger Dipping Sauce, Butternut Squash Risotto, and Garlic Breadsticks. They've all been delicious and I can't wait to try Chinese Corn and Crab Chowder, Swedish Meatballs, Chicken Marsala, and Honey-Crisp Oven-Fried Chicken, to name a few.

This is definitely a cookbook that has so many recipes to try and will enjoy again and again, I think I'll actually have to buy it.

Our favorite recipe that we've tried thus far is Loaded Nachos. In fact, we just enjoyed them for lunch today! The most eye-opening and delicious part of these is the refried beans. Homemade. They are amazing. I mean, how could I ever open up another can of that disturbing substance known as refried beans when these are just so easy to make and delicious, without the long list of obscure ingredients that are unnecessary (a wise friend has made me open my eyes to this). I thought I'd share the recipe so that you can get a feel for just how delicious and nutritious our favorite comfort foods can be!

Loaded Nachos

Eight 6-inch corn tortillas, each cut into 6 wedges
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
One 15-ounce can pinto beans, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed (I've been using pink beans, or light red kidney beans)
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced (1/4 cup)
2 medium ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
3/4 cup packed finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese (3 ounces)
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the tortilla wedges into a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Toss to coat. Spread in a single layer on two baking sheets and bake until crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add teh garlic, coriander, and cumin and cook 30 seconds more. Stir in the beans and chicken broth and cook until the beans are warmed through, about 4 minutes. Mash the beans coarsely with the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher. Season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper.

Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Spread half the chips out in a large shallow baking dish. Spoon half of the beans onto the chips, then sprinkle on half the jalapenos and half the tomatoes. Repeat with the remaining chips, beans, jalapenos, and tomatoes. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until warmed through and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and lime juice to combine. When the nachos are ready, drizzle with the lime sour cream and spirnkle the cilantro over the top.

From Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy by Ellie Krieger

Catch up

2012-02-01T21:29:00.001-05:00

Terrible, terrible. It is now February 1st (which is almost over too) and I have not posted since BEFORE Christmas!!! My, my, how time flies!

Quick recap then: Drove to CT and saw all the families for Christmas, had a wonderful time visiting and celebrating, came home Christmas night. Rand was seriously ill for a solid three weeks (antibiotics, inhaler, chest x-ray, blood work - thankfully all was normal and his flu/cold didn't become pneumonia). Evie enjoyed her first week long vacation from school and the girls actually enjoyed playing with their new toys and with one another. I enjoyed some extra time off here and there around the holidays.

After the excitement of Christmas had passed (and Rand was feeling slightly better) we brought home a Betta for a pet. Technically we're not allowed to have any pets in our apartment and we've missed our furry friends we had to leave behind when we moved here, so its been fun to have a little creature to watch and talk about and care for. We named our little fighting fish Pedro (mostly after the angry bird Pedro). His glass lives on our table and we enjoy watching him swim and eat his food with gusto.

Now that the new semester started on Monday and I feel like we're all back on track and in a schedule and I can get back to the things I've been neglecting: blog posts and exercising. Both seem to require an inordinate amount of effort from me, so we'll see how things keep up.

It's been a crazy winter with shockingly little snow and mild, balmy temperatures. It's been so warm, I don't know if I'll truly appreciate spring when it comes officially.

You can see from the pictures that our outdoor ramblings are quite bare, brown, and well, boring! A little snow from time to time would be a nice thing.

I suppose that's enough of my ramblings. I look forward to sharing some truly exciting posts sooner rather than later!

Tis the season to be jolly

2011-12-14T11:15:00.002-05:00

Only ten more days till Christmas!!! By the time we hit Thanksgiving, we can hardly wait for Christmas and so the first few days after Thanksgiving are always a blur of Christmas activity and then it settles down. In fact, there hasn't been much exciting happening here. I guess things are happening but final exams and Christmas shopping and family dramas don't really turn into fun pictorial blog posts.

Although we've settled from our first days of frenzy, we are still entirely wrapped up in Christmas. I'm a rather traditional kind of girl and Christmas is the perfect time to pull out all the traditions one can muster. One of our favorite is an Advent wreath. Beginnning on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (not always) we light a candle at dinnertime and then each week add another candle for the four weeks preceding Christmas. I went a little non-traditional on my choice of candle colors this year but the important part is the marking of the days and remembrance of Christmas.

During dinnertime we also read a page from the booklet The ABC's of Advent by Lorna Anema & Natalie Thomas. This is geared towards children and marks the 25 days before Christmas with a letter from the alphabet and something significant to Christmas. Today's reading is N - is for Name and will discuss the significance of the name of Jesus. The girls enjoy these readings. We've also added singing carols and have chosen them based on the theme of the Advent candles - hope, love, joy, and peace.

We try to keep our Christmas activities focused on the birth of Jesus and God's gift of grace to mankind as much as possible while still enjoying the fun of Santa and reindeer and elves and while we remind the girls gently that Santa is just a story, we still enjoy those stories as well as others.

Which means that our bedtime book-reading routine is all Christmas stories! We start with a Bible story each night but then read three or four other stories. Some of our favorites include:

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Polar Express

Room for a Little One

Mortimer's Christmas Manger

and any Jan Brett winter season stories, such as The Hat and The Twelve Days of Christmas.

And I don't believe we've listened to a single piece of music that wasn't Christmasy since Thanksgiving! Currently I have 47 Christmas albums in my iTunes! Some of our favorites include:

Charlie Brown Christmas

A Christmas Carol by James Galway

Merry Christmas by Andy Williams

Harry for the Holidays by Harry Connick Jr.

and The Polar Express soundtrack.

Of course, with so many albums, we're listening to lots more than this! And with Christmas music comes Christmas movies! So we've been enjoying The Polar Express, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, White Christmas, Elf, and many others.

So now you can see that although its been quiet in blogland and we're swamped with exams and papers and school projects, we're still enjoying and celebrating Christmas everyday in many ways!

A Balmy Christmas Tree Hunt

2011-12-01T23:05:00.001-05:00

Per our family tradition, the day after Thanksgiving we went on our Christmas Tree Hunt. But two things were different this year. First, we decided to get our tree from our favorite tree farm in Connecticut and drive it home two hours since we have not found many tree farms locally that weren't astronomically expensive. Second, the weather wasn't quite Christmasy. In fact it was downright balmy. We didn't really need the sweatshirts we were wearing but what kind of Christmas tree hunt would it be if we weren't suitably attired?

Weather and travel notwithstanding, we found a tree to our liking, trussed it up, and brought it home so we could decorate it. A little bit chaotic since we were coming home to a house of Thanksgiving decorations but I got rid of those with little fanfare and we began the fun of decorating the tree. It's a beauty this year. Probably the tallest we've ever had (8 foot 4 inches to be exact) but narrow so that it isn't taking up our entire living room. We're quite fond of it actually.

Growing up we always had colored lights on our tree and when I moved out I decided I wanted to give white lights a try. Since then I, and then Rand and I, have almost always had white lights on our tree. This year I gave Evie a choice - rainbow lights (as she calls them) or white lights. As is probably natural to every child, she chose rainbow. The first few days I tried to be happy with the decision but it just irked me to see the colored lights instead of white (rather ridiculous when I write it all out). So after three days of stewing over the light choice, I decided to give something a try. I threaded two strands of white lights amongst the colored lights, and ornaments, and garland, and plugged them in. It worked! I could have colored for the girls, and plug in only the white when it was my turn to monopolize the tree, or go with both at the same time! The white mixed in adds a sparkle the colored lights on their own were lacking and now everyone can enjoy the lights of their choice. It's gone so well that Rand and I plan on doing it again every year (and will be even more successful if we're stringing all the lights at the same time). Sometimes I just can't help myself when it comes to the look I want in my home but I'll say that all's well that ends well. Here's to enjoying several weeks of basking in the glow of our very multi-colored tree!

Thankful for silliness

2011-11-29T17:50:00.001-05:00

This Thanksgiving was probably one of the silliest in recent memories. Everyone was in good moods and it showed. We enjoyed the morning at my parents with my sisters and all the kids. We ate yummy snacks, pretended to be pilgrims and pirates (the girls are giving us their Argh!) and took a walk through the woods and then played at the playground. An excellent time!

Then it was off to Rand's mom's house where the jolly mood continued. We enjoyed a great feast, read Thanksgiving stories, and enjoyed each other's company. The girls especially loved playing with their older cousin John and as you can see the playing got a little exuberant at times. Poor John definitely got roughed up but I think he loved every minute. We even had a mini dance party! A most excellent way to celebrate the holiday!

The last of fall

2011-11-23T16:31:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is. The last decorating of the fall season. For Thanksgiving, my "mantel" kept its creamy hues with a touch of red from berries and my favorite - bittersweet. Best darn weed, ever!

I found this idea in a magazine and loved it as a way to encourage the girls to think about being thankful. We wrote things we were thankful on a branch that we suspended from the ceiling. This was taken shortly after we put the branch up. There are a lot more leaves on it now. I think we all enjoyed this enough to do again next year.

And one last Thanksgiving tradition is our pumpkin turkey. Several years ago I bought this fun turkey kit that came with wooden feathers, a turkey head, and a pilgrim hat for said turkey. You get a pumpkin, stick the feathers and head in and, voila! You have a turkey. This year we used a white pumpkin and I think it looked great. Unfortunately our pumpkin began to get gross last week so we had to ditch it but it's a tradition that we do every year.

That's it for fall decorating. In just a few days all the leaves and pumpkins and acorns will be gone, replaced by Christmas decorations! Can't wait, but until then, here's wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Wacky and wonderful

2011-11-17T14:00:00.001-05:00

Two fabulously outrageous recent pictures of my girls:

We couldn't believe how perfectly Lily's eyes matched her lollipop covered tongue!

Rand captured this excellent shot recently: hair crazy from static from the slide and the sun shining perfectly behind her!

Teeth and mushrooms, be gone!

2011-11-10T07:39:00.000-05:00

The beginning of November has been momentous in our household (momentous, that is, for us). Both girls have passed through two childhood milestones, and both involve mouths.

Last Friday I was surprised to learn that Evie had her first loose tooth! One of her bottom front teeth was wiggling and it was very loose already! At first she was upset, saying that her tooth was broken, and wouldn't let us look at it. But then I realized what was going on and said, "No, you have a loose tooth." Well, she knew the concept of a loose tooth and after that was excited and proud to wiggle her loose tooth for us. Then yesterday morning, before going to school, she popped that little tooth right out! We put it into her treasure box and told her to wait until this morning for her surprise from the tooth fairy (who she knows is mom and dad and therefore kept asking if she could have her surprise now).

This morning, way too early since it is neither a school day or work day for any of us, she came in and asked to open her treasure box. We all got up, got out the camera, and saw what the tooth fairy had left. I'm still not used to the little hole in her mouth and have to admit to feeling emotional over this right of passage.

As for Lily, as many of you know, she has had a pacifier since she was a baby. Evie called it a mushroom and the name stuck. So it was Lily and her mushroom. For a long time. Too long. The child can talk like a scholar but then would be running around with a pacifier. It had to go but I was dreading the taking of it. Then Lil bit a hole right through the plastic and this being the last one, we knew it had to go. She actually let it go pretty easily. She's only asked for it a couple of times and has reluctantly agreed to our explanation that it was broken and had to be thrown away. The couple of times she sucked on it after it was broken, it just wasn't the same.

The only downfall is that she isn't taking naps as easily and she's prone to asking for lollipops at any time of day. Small prices to pay in my mind for being done with the mushroom. It's been over a week now and I'm still quite surprised at how well she's adjusted.

Needless to say, we're quite proud of our girls who are getting bigger and bigger every day!

Too soon

2011-11-01T15:17:00.003-04:00

I feel a bit let down. I mean, the first snowstorm of the year in October? Before Halloween? Before we've had much color change or leaves fall? It's disappointing. I feel robbed of the excitement that the first snow generates when it arrives in December, when I'm rabidly surrounded by all things Christmasy and wintry. Even snow in November around Thanksgiving is weird but acceptable and can heighten the pre-Christmas anxiety of wanting to be surrounded by all things Christmasy and wintry. But in October? Before Halloween? Isn't that a bit like stores putting out their Christmas decorations one aisle away from their Halloween costumes? Usually snowfalls that come around Christmas are welcomed by me and I'm ready to accept their messiness and beauty for the Christmas tone they bring. This snow just made me feel so not ready for winter.

But as you can see, the rest of my family had no such compunctions and enjoyed a romp in the snow, sledding and all, on Sunday morning and are probably anxiously waiting for the next snowfall and the next and the next....

Halloween - Done and done!

2011-10-30T20:34:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Neverland! It's Peter Pan and TinkerBell out for a night of tricks and treats!

The buildings on campus scheduled their trick or treating times for this evening, rather than tomorrow, so we enjoyed a jumpstart on trick or treating (although truthfully, we've got more than enough candy and won't be going out tomorrow). We traversed the halls looking for the sign of the pumpkin on the doors of those willing to pass out candy to the kids.

Waiting for a door to open and reminding everyone to say "trick or treat" and the ever important, "thank you"!

And in a truly bizarre turn of events, we went trick or treating from our building to the next, walking through the snow that had fallen last night! It didn't dampen our spirits although it has convinced me that I am so not ready for winter!

Whatever tomorrow has in store for you - whether its passing out candy or taking your own little ones trick or treating - may you have a safe and fun night.

Happy Halloween!!!

Paint yer pumpkin!

2011-10-27T14:56:00.000-04:00

As part of every Halloween tradition, there is the carving of the jack-o-lantern and painting of pumpkins night. Since I'm anxious to be done with all Halloween decorations, I decided we should do these pumpkin preparations now so that we can enjoy them for a few days and then be rid of them on November 1st.

So the girls painted their little sugar pumpkins while Daddy drew a face on the big pumpkin and carved it up - with the girls ewwing over the gooey hands and icky insides. Evie insisted on roasting pumpkin seeds, so we did, and when our jack was finished we lit him up and enjoyed the warm glow. Evie wanted a spooky pumpkin so we compromised and went with a slightly Tim Burton look while still being happy and friendly. A pretty good job on Dad's part and now we have our pumpkin's smiling face to enjoy during book time for the next week.

Mantels of fall

2011-10-18T14:57:00.003-04:00

I love mantels! When I had one it was constantly being changed, updated, redecorated. Once I had children, it was the perfect place to display delicate items where little hands couldn't reach.

I no longer have a mantel but, since moving, have used the top of our antique barrister bookcase as my "mantel." It's worked out rather well, I'll admit. So I am able to indulge my seasonal decorating whims.

In autumn I generally run through three themes: September is the beginning of fall, October is for Halloween, and November is for Thanksgiving. And come the day after Thanksgiving, the bookcase is stripped bare for the Christmas decorations I've been dying to put up for weeks!

I really loved my September mantel this year. It was the perfect blend of reds and browns and golds and whites. It was comforting and peaceful and warm and refreshing to look at. I didn't want to let it go!

But then came October and my own self-imposed schedule made me take it down and put up something different. But I found I wasn't really interested in the Halloween decor. I actually kept most of it packed away and only took out my silver owl candlesticks I was lucky to score last November for $3.50! But it didn't inspire and thrill the way the previous mantel had. It felt tedious and cluttered and so I rearranged.

I suppose this has been a little more enjoyable for me. And simple, which I felt lacked before. And a little more crafty since I had to collect the sticks, spraypaint them black and one silver, fill the jar with dried black beans and cut out the black cat silhouette. The addition of the white cut-out pumpkin which came from my sister as a birthday present helps to warm it up. It's better but I'm still having to restrain myself from simply recreating the original fall display. I won't but I'm already dreaming up displays for November which will reincorporate the warmth of the first. That is if I can restrain myself from just jumping right into Christmas!

Old fashioned fun

2011-10-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we enjoyed one of my favorite family traditions - visiting Old Sturbridge Village! If you've never been, you should seriously consider going. It is so peaceful and beautiful and interesting! Autumn is one of the loveliest times to be there too.

We stayed for most of the day, probably one of our longest visits yet! But, along with my mother-in-law (who makes our visits possible - thank you!), we walked through the town and on paths through the farms and hills, we saw the cider mill being powered by oxen, fed roosters, had a picnic, watched a woman spinning thread, saw horses, pigs, sheep, and chickens, pulled carrots from the garden, pumped water, walked on stilts, played school, climbed in wagons, milked a cow (not a real one!), saw a wedding (yes, a real one!), ate old fashioned candy sticks, crossed a covered bridge, and pulled a slug out of a wooden board (okay, that was only Rand). What a day! It puts me into the perfect mood for my yearly reading of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. An old fashioned spooky story to top of my day of old fashioned fun!

Apples by the bushel

2011-10-11T21:22:00.001-04:00

Saturday we made a trip to Connecticut for apples! We've been disappointed by the orchards near where we're living (mostly they're insanely crowded) so since we were already heading to CT, we stopped off at our favorite orchard - Buell's! It was a fun time (busy since it was a holiday weekend) but we picked a bushel of yummy, delicious apples. Our particular favorite - Matsu - are difficult to find at other orchards so we were certain to load up on those. We also picked Ida Reds, Golden Delicious, and Cameos. And per tradition, we bought some maple sugar candy and cider donuts. If only such treats lasted longer but with all these apples kicking around, we'll be enjoying our bounty for some time.

Apples, how do I love thee? Let me count the recipes - apple fritters, apple-pecan cake, apple pie, apple turnovers, apple scones, apple muffins, apples in my salad, apple and walnut ravioli, applesauce....

I believe in miracles

2011-09-21T15:23:00.001-04:00

Do you believe in miracles? I do. Let me tell you a little story...

Once upon a time a man was traveling with his family down the interstate. They stopped at a service plaza to get some gas. The man decided to set his wallet on top of the car while he pumped gas. They finished and got back onto the interstate. That night the man didn't have his wallet but assumed it was in the car.

The next morning, the wallet was nowhere to be found. Was it possible that he had left it on the roof of the car when he drove away from the service plaza? After looking and looking through clothes and the car, it was decided the wallet must have been left on the car and fallen off along the way.

Desperate (because he had his social security card in his wallet, not to mention other irreplaceable items) he made the forty minute trip back to the service plaza to look for the wallet. He checked with the gas station attendants. Nothing. He returned home.

That night his wife cancelled his debit and credit card. They printed out forms for getting a replacement license and social security card. He tried to call and report the wallet as stolen in case someone tried to use his identity but the number was no good. He tried contacting an agency for a replacement permit and was unable to get through. The following day his wife went to mail the form and a check for getting a replacement license but the mail had already come so she decided to wait until the next day.

That night (three days after the initial loss), the wife was taking a container of cupcakes down from the top of the fridge. There was a plastic grocery bag on top of it that she moved back to the fridge. The man, being rather tall, looked at the top of the fridge and said, "What is that?" He picked something small and black from the top of the fridge, held it out to his wife, and again said, "What is that?" His wife burst into hysterical laughter at the lunacy of the situation. It was the wallet! The man had thrown it into the bag when unloading the car and had forgotten all about it!

Thankfully, there was really no harm done. The man would have to wait a few days for a new debit and credit card but other than that, the situation was the same. They weren't "out" the $30 replacement fee for the license, they didn't have to explain to the police that the wallet had never been stolen, they didn't have to worry about anything anymore. The wallet had been found!

The moral of the story? Don't let absent-minded professors out of their homes during the first week of a new semester! (And believe in miracles; they do happen!)

Mazes and Pumpkins

2011-09-19T15:55:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite fall traditions is to go out and pick pumpkins so this weekend, partly as a birthday treat for me, we went to one of our favorite places. They had just opened for the season and we were the first customers! We did the corn maze and found all the mailboxes, the girls played in the bounce house, we picked out cool pumpkins, and got to enjoy a beautiful autumn day in New England!

Lily apparently was too tired to even walk through the corn maze so we took turns holding her. My neck was sore for hours afterward!

All done with the corn maze and showing off their completed cards.

Lily's wild about pumpkins!

I remember when we were pulling Evie around because she was the little one and now she's big enough to pull her sister!

On a roll

2011-09-14T20:20:00.002-04:00

Well school is on a roll and we're all being carried away! Perhaps not literally but that first week of classes for Rand is always hard on us all (probably him most, maybe). This year with the addition of Evie's school schedule things feel a little more chaotic. I had to draw out a weekly schedule on the girls calendar with crayons just so I could get a visual for what we're doing each day. That's the real problem of it, each day is different.

But I'm not feeling anywhere near as stressed this fall as I was last fall and I know that we'll make it through. Been here, done this.

Evie's loving school, having a great time, and hopefully learning lots (one of the downsides of taking the bus is that I don't get the daily feedback from her teachers like we did at nursery school). She's come home with some good work - a couple of books she's created featuring the letter T - and achievements - being the calendar helper, the keeper of the basketballs, putting her family photo on the smart board.

We spent a lot of time debating whether she would take the bus to school or not and we finally decided that she could. And it's been great. She loves it, she bounds off the bus happily, it's a huge adventure every day. But this morning something I had been dreading happened. She got sick. Evie has always had a propensity for car sickness. Primarily just in the morning hours. Well, she threw up on the bus ride and I got the call that she needed fresh clothes. After hauling Lily up the hill to collect our car (where Rand had taken it to go to class this morning) I brought Evie her change of clothes. She was none the worse for the wear and didn't seem phased by it (to her puking in the car/bus is a natural occurrence - one we deal with efficiently when riding in our own vehicle). Now the decision is upon us again and I think we may take a few days to drive her in to school. She can still ride home on the bus but I just don't want her to be known as the pukey kid so I'd like to avoid any more incidents. I guess we'll just take each day as it comes!

First day of kindergarten

2011-09-06T10:30:00.002-04:00

Well, I didn't cry! There was too much going on all at once to have an opportunity to get emotional. But I was a wreck last night!

Hard to believe that my baby is off to kindergarten! This morning was her first day of school. We felt a little rushed to get to the bus stop but we had just enough time to be there, chat with a couple of friends, and then the bus arrived!

Being a rather wet and chilly day, it was probably good that we didn't stand around long waiting. Evie was so excited while Lily was quite grumpy that she wasn't getting onto the school bus too. Evie didn't have any problems getting on, it took a little rearranging to get the kindergartners sitting in the front rows of the bus, but then she was seated next to a friend and on her way.

We drove to her school afterwards, partly to drop off the supplies that were too bulky to go in her backpack and partly to make sure she made it to school safely. Rand saw her in the hallway and she seemed ecstatic over her bus ride. I can't wait to see her when she gets home!

Now it's time to hash out our schedules for the next semester, find some special things for Lily to do and we'll be on our way to a great new year!

IKEA Day

2011-08-31T15:48:00.000-04:00

Last Friday marked our eleventh wedding anniversary and Saturday marked one year that we have been living here. To celebrate, the girls spent the weekend at their grandparents house (slightly shortened due to Hurricane Irene) and we enjoyed some time alone together.

One of our major plans for the weekend was a trip to IKEA. If you've ever been to IKEA, you know that it can be an hours long trip and the girls don't always share our enjoyment of the time there, so it seemed a perfect opportunity while they were away to enjoy an IKEA Day!

After wandering through the showrooms and sitting on couches and rattling bed frames, we finally got to the marketplace which was my real destination of the day. Since we weren't purchasing any furniture this time, the showrooms didn't hold as much appeal to me as wandering through the many lamps and vases and curtains and pillows and dishes and candles.

So what did we get?

I've admired these pink flower lamps forever and we finally bought them. One for each girl and made it a special surprise when they returned home to their rooms and found them by their beds. The glow can be a bit daunting in a dark room but they call them their "party lights" and are enjoying them, particularly Lily who can actually turn hers on and off.

We finally found the perfect frames for our robot artwork from a dear friend. I don't usually go in for such modern styles but they seemed a perfect fit for the robot trio.

And finally, my pillow! I have admired this pillow forever it seems but have always refrained from buying it because it doesn't go with my couch but Rand insisted we get it and I decided to follow one designer's advice I read recently, "Buy what you love."

So there you have it. Our IKEA Day purchases (not including the new kids dishes, two vases, yummy candles, a tumbler for Rand, and a reading lamp for the couch - Whew!) It's always a fun experience and keeps me planning my next one.

Thistledown

2011-08-24T14:47:00.004-04:00

We have always enjoyed seeing thistle plants, for obvious reasons. And we've been cutting wild thistles and saving them in a shadow box for years. Our very first thistle was found in York, ME on our honeymoon, almost eleven years ago! Most of our thistles have been found at meaningful times: visiting my father-in-law in New Mexico, at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville with our best friends. Our most recent thistle was acquired a few days ago in York on the same cliff walk as our first.

There has been a large thistle plant growing at my boss's house and when it fell over the other day due to rain and the weight of the blossoms on it, I hacked off several flowers, thorns notwithstanding and brought the bundle home. The flowers were drooping when I had them standing in a vase, so Rand hung them up, heads-down that they might dry straight. Then this morning I noticed that one of the plants looked like it had exploded! Thistledown everywhere!!!

Rand cleverly collected all the down and put it into a glass cylinder where we can enjoy the delicate seeds and their downy parachutes. It feels like a fun end of summer decoration to have. I'm not quite ready to bring out the leaves and pumpkins of fall but I've put away the shells and sand of summertime. A little interlude until we're really ready for autumn.

A day in Maine

2011-08-22T20:11:00.004-04:00

As a child and young adult, most of my family's vacations were spent in York, Maine. On our honeymoon, Rand and I spent three days in the York area. It's one of my favoritest places and last Saturday, to celebrate the end of summer school and a few weeks of respite, we finally took the girls to York, something I'd been wanting to do for a long time. I've been especially excited about going since we moved here when I found out that York was only an hour away.

Our day included Brown's Ice Cream, a York tradition.
A visit to the Nubble Lighthouse

Playtime and a picnic on Long Sands beach

A lovely way to spend the late days of summer!

Fuzzy and orange

2011-08-17T14:13:00.005-04:00

Introducing Seymour! My darling little felt owl made by a great friend. She recently announced on her blog (thepiggyback.blogspot.com) the addition of some little owls that she had created and when we had the pleasure of seeing our old neighbors today, she brought me a little surprise. Seymour!

In holding him and looking at him this way and that, I still don't know how he was made. This tiny little owlet has been so well constructed, I can't even find signs of stitching! Alas, not being of the sewing persuasion, I could never make this little guy but am so thankful for friends who can, and then indulge my passion for owls!

Now to find just the right perch for this tiny little guy (who my daughters are desperate to run away with and make their own but I have claimed Seymour mine!) It makes me anxious to get out some fall decor. Think how perfectly he'll fit in with my pumpkins and gourds and owl candlesticks! I haven't been ready to bid adieu to summer yet but moments like these make me ready to welcome in autumn!

Joy for Beginners

2011-08-11T11:52:00.000-04:00

Joy For Beginners by Erica Bauermeister

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Bauermeister's writing! I don't know how she manages to do it. Every word is perfect, every description tangible, every moment striking. There are many books I have given 5 stars too - usually because the story is fun or enjoyable, not necessarily because the writing itself is so incredible. I loved Bauermeister's first book and am equally enthralled with her second.

Now that's not to say that this book is easy. Far from it, for me anyway. The author explores all manner of loss and betrayal and sadness. I don't like sad books but these I can handle because the sadness is always tempered with love, friendship, joy, and hope. You aren't left feeling desolate, and it's not that every story has a happy ending either, but the reality of life continuing on and that one can get through is always present. Just like in School of Essential Ingredients, the book is broken into sections by character, with each section its own miniature novel. Bauermeister's writing always leaves me with the desire to hold my husband and children, wanting to cherish them against the inevitability of life.

Bauermeister's writing is fluid and effortless, her descriptions magical. It might not be the kind of book everyone would enjoy but I would recommend it for its sheer excellence. It's a book that leaves me breathless and wishing I could write like Bauermeister, knowing I never could, and yet not saddened by that thought at all.

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Drinks, anyone?

2011-08-11T11:26:00.004-04:00

I had never really thought about making drinks before a few years ago. It isn't like we didn't have fun things to drink but making a drink pretty much consisted of stirring up a powder or dunking a tea bag. Then when we were in Chicago for Rand's undergraduate work, we had neighbors who were from Missouri and made this wonderful yummy concoction called sweet tea (mind you, this was before McDonald's was offering their sweet tea around the world). This southern sweet tea opened my eyes to the fact that there was more to making a yummy drink than just stirring a spoon.

Then a few years after that, while working at my favorite library, I came across a delightful book filled with recipes for yummy drinks, many of them typically with alcohol, but all of them made with alcohol-free ingredients. I copied out a few of them including southern sweet tea and a ginger mint julep that is absolutely delicious!

One of the blog's that I read is A Visual Feast which features a new recipe each week that two sisters have made and their individual experiences. I have made several of the recipes now and always find them winners but one of their recent ones was for Raspberry Iced Tea. It looked so easy and I love raspberry iced tea so I just had to make it. Delicious! A winner! Definitely one I will redo. You just can't get that delightful berry flavor from a powder. It reminds me of the raspberry iced tea I would order from Uno's when Rand and I were childless and could go out to dinner whenever we wanted!

Another drink experience I've never had until this summer was sangria. I've seen lots of recipes and wanted to give it a try but never had until a recent weekend spent with Rand's cousins who are all foodies. So I brought ingredients for a classic sangria (using red wine) and a melon-mint sangria (using white wine). Oh, taste buds tingling, they were yummy! I think the real winner was the melon-mint sangria, probably because it just felt more summery but both were delicious.

So as I continue to read recipes and look for new things to eat, I find that I'm also discovering recipes for new things to drink and looking beyond that scoopful of powder. If you have any favorite drinks recipes, let me know!

Kindergarten blues

2011-08-09T15:44:00.003-04:00

I can't believe my daughter begins kindergarten in just a few short weeks! I really have found myself more anxious about it than I thought I would. It isn't how she will enjoy it. I know she will! She'll walk into class without a backward glance for her mama and daddy and little sister. I fear more for the influences that she will find herself around. For the meanness that children can show to one another. For the things she will learn about that she's never heard about before. I mourn the loss of her innocence. It's a tough thing having your little one grow up and leave the nest. I realize that it will probably be all good but I am a cynic and can't help myself.

We'll go school supply shopping soon, for which I am very excited about. We need to go shoe shopping very soon so she can begin practicing how to put on her own shoes. I need to come up with a list of good snacks for her to take to school and make sure she can open her own containers. Daily we work on her writing and letters and social skills.

There are three elementary schools in our town and we hadn't known which she would be placed in until this past weekend and when we got the placement, it was in the one school we'd never seen before. So we went on a reconnaissance trip and found it. We played at the playground and walked around the very large building. Evie kept remarking that it was "beautiful" and it is. It's quintessential New England - red brick, white trim, a little steeple, a large lawn in front of it. I hope she'll be happy in her new school!

The Little Women Letters

2011-08-09T15:15:00.001-04:00

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a difficult time getting into this book, mostly due to the constant bickering and teasing of the sisters. I thought, I have two sisters and we don't argue this much and we're not the best of friends either. But perseverance pays off because as the book progresses, so do the characters and your able to deal with any bickering in order to enjoy the rest of the story. And when the big thing you've been waiting for happens (I won't give it away) the pleasure and shock is just so sweet.

The reality of the book, that Little Women wasn't a novel but real women with descendants, is very easy to accept, especially if you're a fan of Alcott's books and the subsequent movies. If you've ever wished Jo and her sisters were real, then this book definitely pleases. The author does an excellent job of emulating Alcott's writing in Jo's letters.

A great book reusing great literature and set in London, which always entices me. Highly enjoyable read.

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Adirondack Vacation: Faves and Raves

2011-07-26T11:18:00.002-04:00

Just a few favorites from the trip:

Evie the moose: at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY

Sleepy peanut

Singing and dancing in the car

Blue tongue from a popsicle eaten while we took the ferry from VT to NY

Hopscotch at the house - I love this picture. Neither of her feet are touching the ground!

Adirondack Vacation: Beaver Meadow Falls

2011-07-26T11:08:00.003-04:00

Our third and final hike of our vacation was a seven mile round trip hike that followed the Lower Ausable River. There were lots of "destinations" in this area but we chose to make ours Beaver Meadow Falls. Although we weren't hiking up a mountain, there were still a bit of inclines, and traversing on the edge of a gorge, which made it not an easy hike but not too difficult either. Evie walked the whole thing all by herself!

The area known as Beaver Meadow. Beautiful!

The girls pretending to fish.

We made it!

Lunch at the falls

Adirondack Vacation: Views from on high

2011-07-25T14:46:00.003-04:00

One of our favorite activities as a family is hiking. We used to do a lot more of it when we weren't in school and had a dog. Now we find that we do very little actual hiking and in our coastal location it takes a little bit of driving to get some good peaks.

So what better way to spend vacation (and a free activity to boot) then go hiking. There are mountains everywhere here. To give you an example, there are 46 peaks over 4,000 feet in elevation here that don't have any marked trails! Think of how many more peaks there are with trails! We did three hikes during our stay. Two were to peaks and one was a longer hike, seven miles round trip, that went to a waterfall. I'll save that for a separate post.

Our first hike was to Owl's Head and we realized that the one thing we had forgotten to pack was the backpack carrier for Lil. So on this first hike, she did a bit of it on her own and thought she was pretty special too!

Our vacation host happened to have a backpack carrier that we were able to borrow, so for our second hike, up Baxter Mountain, Lil was in a carrier. She ended up sleeping through much of it.

Baxter Mountain hike

A view of the mountains from our vacation house

Owl's Head

Happy trails!

Adirondack Vacation: Meadow wonderland

2011-07-25T14:26:00.003-04:00

We recently returned from a week in the Adirondacks, near Lake Placid, NY. It was a wonderful time, relaxing and refreshing. I personally didn't want to return home.

I've been reading a friend's blog of her travels around PA and WV which has helped me focus my thoughts about my own travels. She said that she has found upstate NY and probably Maine to have an "illusion of summer" green and lush. And its true but when you fall for the trap, you then realize that it starts snowing as early as October, all the way to April or May and you'll be buried for months in freezing cold stuff. Their summers may be glorious but do you want to pay the winter price?

I loved the relaxing atmosphere; the lazy summer days. I loved that in the evening we had to close the windows lest we get too cold. I loved the lack of humidity. I loved that we didn't use an air conditioner but had the windows open to let the mountain breezes blow through. I loved the lack of mosquitoes (don't get me wrong, there were other bugs, they just weren't very prevalent). I loved the view from our vacation home of meadow and forest and mountain. I loved the swimming hole in the river that we found. I loved living in a house again with a yard and we could just come and go as we pleased. I loved that the girls watched little television and were so much the better for it. All in all, I just plain loved it. I told Rand I could stay forever but then I thought about all those mountains and steep winding roads and winter and realized, no way, but I would gladly spend my summers there.

We're standing in the yard with the meadow and mountains behind us. It's hard to see the detail of the mountains because of the haze that day but believe me, they are there.

We adored this meadow. We were on a daily look out for wildlife and we were treated most days with a glimpse of some wild visitor. We had a mama deer and her fawn visit a couple of times as well as a solitary doe. We saw mama turkeys and lots of babies. There were birds of prey as well as spunky chipmunks. Nearly every day we picked wild blueberries from the meadow and Rand made us blueberry pancakes for breakfast several times that week.

Evie had great fun pretending she was Little Sal from Blueberries for Sal. She'd take her bucket and drop blueberries in, ker-plink, ker-plank, ker-plunk, and then eat them all up again.

Lil just enjoyed the novelty of picking her own food.

Offerings from the meadow: wildflowers and wild blueberries!

Mudslide

2011-06-24T14:47:00.003-04:00

The following incident happened a couple of weeks ago but was too good to pass up for the blog...

Evie was riding her bike and following another little girl who headed down a hill. Evie followed her and rode straight down the hill - no brakes. She crossed a street, somehow didn't hit a stop sign and rode over a culvert and dropped four feet into a swamp. Head-first, face-first right into the mud.

Amazingly she wasn't hurt. She stood up from the swamp covered in mud. It came out of her mouth, her nose and her ears. She had to ride home and then Rand got her into the tub and then I got home. It was a crazy sight to see, even though she was mostly clean by then. The lesson we have tried to instill her since is turn and brake, turn and brake! Enjoy these pics!

The Bird Sisters

2011-06-05T18:54:00.002-04:00

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a difficult book to rate. For writing style and being well-written, I would give it five stars but the actual story saddened me so that it's hard to give it a high recommendation. I like happy endings; I like satisfactory stories; I like to see fairness in the world and true love win out and last. And while I don't want to give anything away, there was too much sadness, loss of love and hope. There were sacrifices made that were heartbreakingly beautiful. The author did a wonderful job presenting the story in an interesting present and past fashion and painted such a clear picture of the life of the characters that one couldn't help but be drawn into the story and the people's lives and you just don't want them to experience any pain and hurt. Of course, life is full of pain and hurt, but that's why I like to read - to escape that and fall into an adventure that takes me away.

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Welcome summer

2011-05-30T21:33:00.005-04:00

Taking advantage of our new beach pass, we headed to the beach today for a short but fun trip. I know there will be many more of these to come. Welcome summer!

Last day of school

2011-05-27T08:15:00.002-04:00

It's Evie's last day of preschool! Actually next week she has a half day for rehearsal and then the closing ceremony but today is the last real day of her time in preschool!

I actually tear up every time I think about it! We've loved her school (I hope Lily is able to go) and we've seen how much she's learned and matured and changed in her time here. It's her first school experience and it's over and that is bittersweet. We've loved the programs, the fun times, her teachers and the other staff. It's been a wonderful year for us and for Evie.

So congratualtions Evie! You're ready to move on....but not too soon yet since you're still our little girl (only getting so big!)

Present time!

2011-05-20T09:34:00.003-04:00

We gave Evie her presents first thing in the morning yesterday.

Another Fancy Nancy book for her collection

Evie and her super-big present!!

A new bike for our big girl!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Evie!

Party time!

2011-05-20T09:22:00.004-04:00

Welcome to Evie's birthday party!

Is it time for cake yet?

The scene of chaos in the girls room - 9 little girls, 3 brothers, our two girls

Getting ready for cake

Make a wish! (We were so proud of Evie - it was the first time in her life that she didn't cry, scream, or run away when "Happy Birthday" was sung. A momentous occasion indeed.)

Five, five, five

2011-05-19T16:22:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe but Evie turns 5 today!!!

It simply doesn't seem possible that my first-born, my baby could be a five-year old. How the time does fly!

Evie recently told us that 2 year olds and 4 year olds were wild but that 3 and 5 year olds were calm. Let's just see how calm my mature little 5 year old can be...

Tonight we'll have a birthday party with 9 little girls, three little brothers, and moms and dads in our little apartment! This should be interesting. I'll post pictures soon. Until then...

Happy Birthday Evie!!!

Beach babies

2011-05-15T22:19:00.003-04:00

We are beach people. Not sunbathing kind of beach people but walk the sand, dabble in the water, climb the rocks, and pick up shells beach people. In fact, we prefer going to the beach when its not beach season. So our current home provides lots of beach opportunities with several beaches within 15 minutes of home. We've been taking advantage of the pre-season no parking fees and making lots of trips on chilly and warm days. And even once parking fees are on, we now have a parking pass to one of the loveliest beaches in the area. Can't wait!

Evie showing off her new Top Dog t-shirt she won in a contest at Top Dog's 10th anniversary last week (TD is our favoritest hot dog spot).

Lily is exceptionally fond of the ocean. I'm not sure how we'll get her to live anywhere else!

Mother's Day trip to my current favorite beach

Another semester down

2011-05-11T20:30:00.001-04:00

Drumroll please.....

TA DA!!!

Rand has now completed his first year and is half-done with his first MA!

Congratulations!!!

The Maze Runner

2011-05-07T14:34:00.000-04:00

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting read. I couldn't help comparing it to The Hunger Games as I read through it though (which probably puts it at a disadvantage). It certainly was suspenseful. It helps that the character we're following is completely at a loss as to what is going on in this new world he finds himself in, so we learn about the world as he does. It had a grittier, distasteful feel than Hunger Games did, to me. Although the boys in the Glade were orderly and responsible, I always had a feeling that Lord of the Flies could break out at any moment. It didn't help that the world outside seemed to be in chaos and catastrophe, sort of like Terminator. The plot moved along and the mystery of what is going on is intriguing but it doesn't have the emotional intensity for me that Hunger Games did. I'm ready to read the others in this series to find out what is going on but I don't have the connection that I did with HG. I think most of that has to do with the characters. The characters in Maze Runner just didn't engage me the way Katniss and Peta and the others in HG did. I am looking forward to finding out what is going on and if WICKED really is good.

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Tidings of Easter

2011-04-24T22:44:00.004-04:00

A few colorful pictures of our Easter celebration...

Tasty peeps out of our Easter basket, first thing in the morning. A delightful breakfast!

Brand new bibles to inspire, encourage, educate, and uplift.

Beautiful dresses for beautiful girls

Viewing the vast and beautiful ocean

Egg-cellent!

2011-04-24T22:35:00.004-04:00

Our yearly egg decorating egg-stravaganza!

We had nine colors to work with!

And glitter for our eggs too! (which was quite messy)

Flyaway

2011-04-23T15:32:00.001-04:00

Flyaway: How A Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings by Suzie Gilbert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent! I loved this book. I am always drawn to books about birds, particularly people's experiences with wild birds. This was such a wonderful read - part entertainment, part education. Gilbert's five years experience as a rehabber out of her home provides and amazing amount of stories and experiences, some of which seem so outrageous as to wonder how it could possibly be true. The stories made me anxious for the day when we will live in a less populated area and can enjoy seeing birds in our yard again, to watch them up close and their habits and activities. The story was humorous, insightful, as well as sad, the wrench Gilbert felt with each loss was tangible, as was the joy and thrill. The tension built at the end and I wondered anxiously at whether Gilbert was going to hold onto her sanity or lose it all. A wonderful account of her five years as a rehabber, even with the difficulties they held, I hope Gilbert finds worth in them, as I certainly did.

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Some dirt to call my own

2011-04-18T20:25:00.004-04:00

When I got home from work tonight, I was able to sign up for a garden plot. Each building has its own fenced garden broken into little plots and in the spring you get to sign up for available ones. I'm so excited. I picked a plot that is pretty weedy but also appears to have some mint and chives growing in it. Great! Free herbs! That's what I like to see.

Now the question is what to plant? It's not a very large plot so my choices will need to be made carefully. I'd like some tomatoes and of course some herbs like basil and dill and parsley. I've got to put in some cosmos. They're my most favorite cut flower (well, as far as annuals go). I'd really like to try some lettuce too. I think I might be able to squeeze all of that in!

I'm anxious to get out there and get my hands into the dirt. It's been a major source of distress for me as spring has rolled in that I don't have a garden or yard to play in. After all, how can I have a patch of happiness without a patch? Perhaps this little bit of ground will help alleviate that anxiety. But it looks like I'll have to wait a few days for the rain to pass. Oh well, I'll use the time wisely to gather up my tools and seeds and plants.

On the Blue Comet

2011-04-15T13:58:00.002-04:00

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. A very interesting story that provides fun historical insight perfect for young readers. It starts just before the Great Depression and you see how it affects the life of an average boy. Then we jump to 1941 and Hollywood. And throughout it all we have trains - model and real - or are they? A fun fantasy with interesting twists and tensions and a unique plotline. I also want to commend the author for her excellent use of dialogue and the vernacular. It really made the story come alive for me. An excellent light sci fi read.

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Mother's Tea

2011-04-14T10:08:00.005-04:00

Yesterday Evie's school held a Mother's Tea to which I was honored to attend. The kids were so serious about seating their mom's and proud to show the special placemat they had each made for their mom. The tables had tableclothes and flowers and there were lots of tasty treats including fruit salad the kids had made that morning. It was a lovely time spent with my big girl, her friends, and other moms.

The placemat Evie made for me - a picture of us, we may be extra long but she got the yellow hair right!

Evie and Ella - best friends and neighbors too

Evie and some of her friends

Follow-up

2011-04-12T13:46:00.003-04:00

For those of you concerned, I wanted to let you know that Evie's knee is doing great. We went for a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. The lyme came back negative, thank goodness, and although there was still a little fluid under her knee, it wasn't enough to need to drain it and there's no infection. Hooray! She isn't limping, has been running races and climbing on playgrounds and riding her bike again without any ill effect. I guess we'll never know what happened and we'll just keep hoping it doesn't happen again!

Poetry

2011-04-09T21:33:00.003-04:00

I have never been a big fan of poetry. It's just never been my thing. It's not because I don't want to. I'm just more of a literal, straightforward kind of girl rather than poetic.

But I'd like to be more poetic. I'd really like to memorize more poetry. I read through the Mitford series and am just amazed at how someone's life can be so full of poetry as to have memorized and can recall poetry to fit the circumstances one might be in. I love this thought but have I done anything about it? No.

Currently I'm reading On the Blue Comet, a middle-grade novel and although I'm not very far into it, poetry and the memorization of poetry has already figured heavily.

How does one go about immersing oneself in poetry? Memorizing poetry so that it fills the air and describes your life? It probably all comes down to actually reading poetry, consistently, frequently, and then rereading it until its memorized. Do I really want to go through the work this would be? Probably not but I still like the thought of it.

Maybe when the girls are older and I have more time but will that be too late? And as a writer, am I missing out on a major creative inspiration by not reading more poetry? Probably. But for now, I will simply post about my aspirations for poetry rather than my actuality and hope that someday I will change those circumstances.

I'm a monkey!

2011-04-01T14:50:00.003-04:00

I don't think I've ever seen Lily eat an entire banana before! She was so proud of herself!

A bum knee

2011-03-31T21:12:00.003-04:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks, health-wise. First Rand got sick, then I got sick, and then Evie got sick (Lily got a little cold but nothing compared to the rest of us) and then Rand got sick again! Then to make matters worse, Evie developed a sore knee sometime over the weekend. We thought it would go away so we waited but it didn't. It got worse in fact, not visually, but in her response. She wouldn't even get out of bed in the morning without crying and needing to be carried. She's been limping for days and won't abide anyone touching her knee. After several days of this, we finally took her to the doctor's on Wednesday. Our new doctor was great (it was our first time seeing him) and he sent us on to an orthopedic surgeon who determined she does have some fluid under her knee but why, not sure. They took an x-ray which she didn't like, but the staff was great and even took an x-ray of Kangaroo! Then we went on to the hospital to have blood drawn to test for Lyme disease. Hopefully the test will come back negative. This will probably be one of those cases where we'll never know why she had the fluid and it will just go away on its own. Even today she seemed a lot better, especially in her spirits. It's been difficult to see our normally super active girl lying around with no will to do anything except watch tv. She's been incredibly emotional too, no doubt due to the constant pain she's been enduring. But this morning she had a playdate and another this evening and was much more herself. She's still limping but it isn't as pronounced. I'm hopeful she's on the road to recovery. We go back to the orthopedic surgeon next week for a follow up.

We'll keep you posted and can't wait for our little girl to go from this...

back to this!

Food sensations

2011-03-30T20:37:00.004-04:00

As much as I like to eat different foods, there are always those dishes that I have never actually eaten and may not even know what it is. Exotic sounding foods like tiramisu, osso bucco, or risotto.

Remember that classic scene in Sleepless in Seattle when Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner discuss tiramisu in masked language. Reiner ends the discussion with: "You'll love it." I remember the dawning of realization when I actually discovered what tiramisu was, AFTER I had seen the movie. And of course, once I had eaten tiramisu, I was in complete agreement with Reiner. Perhaps the mystery of tiramisu was gone, but it didn't mean the exotic-quality had disappeared. After all, I've never made tiramisu and probably never will (not when Olive Garden's version is just so tasty and accessible!)

So now we come to risotto. Never had it, never made it, wasn't even entirely certain what it was. April's issue of Everyday Food had a feature on basic risotto and some variations. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a try (recipe will be available from Everyday Food in May.)

I bought the ingredients I didn't have on hand and on an evening when I had a little extra time, got to work. It really wasn't difficult to make but it was tedious. Tedious in the sense that for twenty minutes I did nothing but stir, stir, stir. Rand made comments like, "Are there any newts in that bubbling pot?" and such. It did have a bubbling cauldron kind of feel to it, but no, there weren't any newts.

Basically, the trick to good risotto is adding small amounts of warm broth at a time to the rice and constantly stirring while the broth boils and absorbs into the rice. As I was nearing the end of my stirring, I voiced that I hoped it tasted good after all this work and that it would have to be really DARN good for me to go through all this work again. And let me say...

I LOVE RISOTTO!!! I could not believe how incredibly good this dish was. It way exceeded my expectations. Creamy, flavorful, comfort food at its best. I don't think I will make it everyday (it makes it difficult to prepare the rest of dinner when your hands occupied solely with risotto) but my goodness, what a special dish it will be to have from time to time. Even the girls ate it without complaint and risotto paired with soy-ginger-honey glazed salmon and fresh green beans was the perfect dinner to say Welcome Spring!

Now if I make (or at least eat) some osso bucco my exotic dish list will be complete!

Lily turns two!

2011-03-22T19:11:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe but yesterday was Lily's second birthday! Our baby is officially 2 now! We went home for the weekend to celebrate with our families and had a wonderful time even though I am still getting over being sick last week and Evie ended up being sick with a flu that wiped her out. She's still not herself yet.

But even baring illness, we had fun and Lily had some great birthday celebrations. Brunch at Nana's with Randall's family, the weekend at Randall's mom's house, lunch at my parent's so that we could celebrate with Poppy who Lily shares her birthday with. Then last night we had cake and presents at home, with my first ever from-scratch layer cake. It came pretty good, even though it ended up with extra butter. The first of our birthdays for the year and many more to come. Happy birthday Lily! We love you!!!

Lil's new umbrella so that she doesn't have to share with her sister anymore

Lily and her cousin Malaya

Lily with Poppy and her new sleeping bag and cousin Mariah

Making cupcakes with her new Playdoh cake maker

Big smiles with her homemade birthday cake

Lamp love, three

2011-03-14T10:01:00.004-04:00

One more time. The white wasn't quite cutting it. I didn't like the way the base was bright white and the shade was yellowy when the light was on. So I went for a color. Hazel from Sherwin Williams. I saw it in the February issue of Better Homes & Gardens. I thought the color would go perfectly with the "blue" in my sofa. So I bought a $5 sample quart and brought it home.

It's color but it isn't exactly what I was looking for. The color sample seems to have a bit more gray-blue in it and this seems a bit brighter. But I think I need to leave it for now. And it does match the couch quite well.

Rand says I could have bought a new lamp for the money I've put into this one. And I could have but it wouldn't have been as big as this one is, which would still cost me a lot more. But I told him, I wouldn't be filling my creative impulses if I had just bought a brand new lamp. And he had to agree.

Cousin time

2011-03-14T09:43:00.003-04:00

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having my niece spend a few nights with us. Evie was super-excited to have 3 sleepovers (each night counting as a sleepover). The girls had a great time but by the last day they were having some trouble sharing and finding things to play together. And Rand and I were exhausted! But it was a wonderful opportunity for Evie and Brenya to play together and we even had a mild enough day to go to the beach! Hopefully Brenya will be able to come again when the weather is warmer and get to make the sandcastles she wanted to.

In a heap of sleeping bags

Best friends

Is there anything better than chocolate ice cream cones with sprinkles on top?

Q

2011-02-28T11:22:00.003-05:00

Today is sponsored by the letter Q. Remember that from Sesame Street?

Evie went off to school with the "alphabet bag." Each week her class focuses on a different letter or letters and the children are in a rotation for taking the alphabet bag home. They fill it with things from home that start with their letter and bring it back for the rest of the class's elucidation. Earlier in the year we had the letter E. Perfect. Now we have Q. Q?

After a bit of thought, Rand and I finally got some ideas going on things we could put in her bag. Now the teachers do help us by allowing pictures of things as well as items. Thank goodness! What did we come up with?

toy Queen

Quilt

Quarter

Question mark (picture)

Quail (picture in a book)

Q-tip

I posed the question to friends on FaceBook and also got these ideas:

Quick oats

Quart of milk or ice cream

Quinoa

Queen from a deck of cards

Quick sand

And then there were these suggestions:

Quotation marks

Quotient

Qualification lists

Quadrilateral

Quadriceps

Queue

All very good but perhaps a little abstract for preschoolers. Still, it was fun to be a little more challenged in finding things for the bag. And now I have great ideas for when she's older! Are there any other Q words that you would add?

Still mulling

2011-02-28T11:17:00.003-05:00

I'm still mulling over my new lamp. It's fine as it is but it's not quite where I want it yet. Blogland is fabulous because there is always someone out there who has done the very thing you want to do. They just can be craftier and cleverer than I. But today I found this fabric lampshade redo and then there was this lampshade redo. The first redo makes me nervous because I just don't think I could get the fabric to come out smoothly and the second remake is a little too funky for my household. I don't think Rand would be so excited about it. I've seen some other lamp redos as well but nothing has quite sucked me in. Yet. But I'm sure I'll figure out exactly how to make my lamp perfect. These things take time. Right?

Lamp love again

2011-02-26T11:51:00.003-05:00

Well, I worked on my lamp. Not entirely certain I'm finished with it yet but for now it can be in the living room. A close up of the cool ridges and the hideous brown...

Now in white. I bought a small amount of white glossy paint. But we kind of liked the look of just one coat so that's where I've left it for now.

Back in its place on the end table...

I found a shade that I liked and is pretty darn close to what I wanted at Target for only $15. Maybe not the cheapest I could have gotten but I'm happy with it and it's still amazingly cheaper than others I saw online.

I love the glossy look of the white with the shade but...

When the lamp is on, the shade has a creamy look to it that seems to clash with the bright white of the base. Not sure if I should try to add a creamy white to the base while not losing too much of the brown that's poking through. But then I'm worried if I add the creamy white will it then clash with the white of the shade when the lamp is off? Dilemnas!

Lamp love

2011-02-22T13:47:00.004-05:00

One of the quickest ways to change the look of a room is with a lamp. How it sheds light, changes the ambiance of a room, the lamp itself can give you an added element of color or design. In recent years I have been crazy for lamps. I like to change the lamps in a room and redesign their shades. In my early twenties I had too many shoes, now I have too many lamps.

Just a few years ago (probably three) I bought a new set of lamps for our living room. Loved them. Had to have them. In the last year I've been itching to replace them but haven't had the funds to do so. Yesterday I was taking out the trash on my way to work and saw a fabulous lamp sitting near the dumpsters. (Not in them, just on the parking lot near them. Rand asked if I was actually going to admit I got the lamp from the dumpster. No, I said, it came from the parking lot. A very big difference!)

I snatched it, stuffed it into the back of my car, and headed off to work dreaming of how to remake this lamp.

You see, I've been hankering for a large ceramic lamp. And there it was!

Well, it's definitely going to need some work though. The brown is awful, the shade is a wreck. But I love the shape of the lamp. Now I just need to decide what to do. Do I paint it a creamy white with a white shade, or if I paint it white should it have a colored shade? I'm really toying with the idea of painting it a color like a lovely yellow or robin's egg blue (perhaps my longing for spring). Give my living room a pop of color in the corner. But I can't decide.

The shade is hideous and needs to be redone desperately. I'd really like to get a drum shade but have you seen the prices of lamp shades these days??? It's a bohemoth of a lamp so its going to need a big shade. If I had an outdoor space and it wasn't so cold I'd spraypaint it but I can't see how to accomplish that here. Recovering with fabric or wallpaper is too scary. I think I might swap it with my old living room lampshade (as seen in the above picture) for now until I decide on something better. Any suggestions or ideas of how to make my new lamp fabulous?

Make mine a mag!

2011-02-21T13:14:00.004-05:00

I love magazines! The bright pictures, the glossy paper, the fresh content, the ever-changing information with each new month. There was a time a few years ago when five or six magazines were arriving at our house each month! Then as our budget tightened, we canceled subscriptions (it didn't hurt that my library had all the magazines I subscribed to and much more! Why did I need to get my own when I could borrow theirs?)

I am down to only two magazines a month now. One is Everyday Foods which is my favoritest cooking magazine and a gift from my mom the last two Christmases. Whew! That leaves Better Homes & Gardens as my only other mag. It has lots of recipes, fun and easy crafts, good articles on houses and decorating, and gardening features too! It's a perfect blend and Rand enjoys the house articles too.

The March issue of BH&G featured a color palette I absolutely adore, a lovely garden plan featuring tulips, peonies, and roses, and a fabulous makeover of a chair from IKEA (yeah, I could do that!) Or what about the tip of using fabric shower curtains as window treatment? Strange, but I can see the appeal.

In fact, the only problem with the magazine is that it leaves me longing for a house I can redecorate and a garden I can putter in (I realized the other day that this will be the first time in six years that I won't have a garden. Yikes!) But I've got some smaller-scale redo projects muddling in my head so I should be able to keep decorating and gardening impulses satisfied.

Sweet stuff

2011-02-15T16:39:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

This isn't a holiday we do a lot for but I did make a valentine for each girl to greet them at breakfast and they made valentines for Daddy. I was also given a bouquet of yellow tulips by my sweet man - my favorite!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I had a hankering to make some chocolate covered delights: chocolate covered pretzel sticks (with Valentine sprinkles), chocolate covered strawberries, marshmallows, and chocolate glazed cream puffs with raspberry cream inside. Yummy!

Read about...home?

2011-02-03T20:26:00.004-05:00

It's like a frozen wasteland outside my window right now. Cold, icy, snow everywhere! Oddly enough, its making me want to read a Hannah Swensen mystery set in super-snowy Minnesota or maybe a wonderful mystery like Murder on the Iditarod set in Alaska. Sometimes I want a book to take me away to a world completely unlike my own but other times, like now, I feel as if I might as well revel in what I'm living with. Maybe it would make me feel better about my snowy New England to compare it with what living in Minnesota and Alaska would be like. Hey, at least we don't need heaters for our cars to bolt into!

So how about you? Do you want your books to take you away, transport you, help you escape? Or are you looking for the comfort of the known? Believe me, my choice is constantly changing but for now I could relish reading about a snowy, snowy world (even while wishing I were basking on a sandy beach!)

Fairy dance

2011-01-28T13:39:00.005-05:00

Today the song Dancing Queen sung by Sixpence None the Richer came on and Evie immediately began to ask for a dress and her fairy wand. She then made me repeat Dancing Queen five times so she could dance to it. I don't know that she's ever heard the song before but something about it made her want to dance. Go figure!

Lily of course had to join in the party.

Evie in her ballerina dress and with fairy wand

Dancing to and fro

Take a bow

Reading frenzy

2011-01-27T17:25:00.005-05:00

I have a great big pile of books to read. I ordered a bunch recently, recommendations from good friends, and they've all come in at the same time!!! So hard to choose what to start with and it means stopping the Mitford series I've been reading through with only two books to go but I've to read this other stuff too.

The Bells

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling

Mini Shopaholic

Shoe Addicts Anonymous

The Mischief of the Mistletoe

Patches of Godlight

In This Mountain

Light From Heaven

Good thing Rand starts classes next week. We'll stop the tv-watching marathon we've been on and get some reading done!

Snow fun

2011-01-21T10:30:00.003-05:00

Today is another snow day and I am not happy about it. In fact, I'm positively sick of snow already and we've barely gotten into winter. Until about two weeks ago, winter had been positively mild and now in two weeks, we've had more snow and snowfalls than I can remember having in a long time.

This is now Evie's second snow day and she's had some other no school days which do not make her happy. I have to work so sometimes I have to drive out in the stuff and that doesn't make me happy. I don't want to move to a sunshine state but I'm not really crazy about all the white stuff flying outside. The worst is that it keeps interrupting travel plans, something that never makes me happy.

But still, snow means sledding and we've done lots of that. Unfortunately, I don't have any really good sledding pictures but here are few other snowy scenes for you to enjoy!

Walking on the ice of Lake Winnipesaukee

Sledding through the recent blizzard

More Lake ice - this is slippery stuff!

Sitting on the giant mountain of snow in our parking lot

Dutch lovin'

2011-01-21T10:19:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite presents from Christmas was a Dutch oven from my parents. My mom has been using a Dutch oven forever and I never really appreciated the necessity of it. But recently there have been several recipes that called for a Dutch oven and I decided it was time to get one. Perfect request for Christmas!

I am loving the Dutch oven! It is so useful. I love the way it cooks. There is something very satisfying about its weight and substance. I've made a couple of pot roasts and soup but what I'm really looking forward to baking bread in my Dutch oven. My mom also gave me a book on baking breads in your Dutch oven. I can't wait to try them but unfortunately I forgot the book at my parent's house at Christmas. As soon as we get together for a visit (when the snow doesn't ruin our plans) I'll bring it home and enjoy some more delicious breads.

Making one of my favorite soups - Light Italian Wedding Soup!

Bread from heaven

2011-01-21T10:03:00.003-05:00

I have made a few recipes from the Mitford Cookbook and thought I'd share some pictures. The gem in the book for me was the "Lord's Chapel Communion Bread." That might sound weird to some but for me, it was perfect. I love the thought of homemade, fresh bread. But making bread, especially yeasted bread terrifies me. My mom always made bread and has helped me a couple of times but I never want to attempt on my own.

This bread has no yeast, only uses six ingredients, needs only a knead or two, and is super easy and super tasty. It's basically a honey, whole-wheat bread, very artisan. Having no yeast is what can make it a "communion bread."

You cut a cross into the top of the dough before it goes in the oven so that it can then be broken into quarters and then, if it were being used in a church, pieces would then be broken off a quarter at a time. It would make it much easier to handle.

So grab a slice and dig in! (It's also very yummy a couple of days later toasted and slathered with butter.)

First one done

2011-01-07T14:24:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I forget what I've posted where and who reads what. I know some of you read this blog and are on Facebook but others aren't. And I realized I never posted here on the end of the semester...

As of this past Tuesday, Rand's first semester was officially over. Classes ended before Christmas, of course, but he had one more distance course to complete. (He had started it this summer but when we got on campus it couldn't be done along with his other classes. He was able to get an extension but the deadline for completion was Jan. 4th.) Now that the class is done, he is officially and finally done with his first semester!

That being said, he is also a third of the way through his degree. Due to a couple of other distance courses he's taken, he now has a third of the credits he'll need to get his master's. After three classes this spring and two summer classes, he'll be half done, with only one year to go! Now we may stay for an extra year to add on a second master's but each little completion is a huge step and progress! Now we can enjoy our weekends and evenings, watch movies, and there's no reason to tiptoe around the apartment trying to be quiet so he can study...at least for a few more weeks.

A feast for the mind

2011-01-07T09:01:00.003-05:00

I love the Mitford series. After reading Jan Karon's most recent book (review to the right), I decided to reread the entire series. I've only read most of the books once and it was as they came out. I enjoy reading a series, one after the other, straight through. One summer I read through the entire Amelia Peabody series which is over twenty books!

So getting my fill of Mitford these last few weeks, I decided to check out some of the supplemental Mitford books that I've never read and one of them is the Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader.

One great thing about the Mitford books is all the food that is in them and certain recipes feature over and over. For instance, there is the famous Orange Marmalade cake but also Father Tim's ham, Edith's crab casserole, Puny's potato salad, and Ray's barbecue ribs. Just as in real life, in Mitford life, the making of food and sharing of food is a big part of life. It was fun to browse through the book, reading the recipes, and the other information. There were snippets of Jan Karon's own life and passages from the stories and different food info. It was a fun read and while I don't know how many recipes I'll actually make, I do want to try out a few like the crab casserole and Marge's chicken pie and chocolate raspberry cake. What fun it would be to have a Mitford dinner party!

Merry and bright

2011-01-03T19:05:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's the new year already and I haven't even posted on Christmas! Well, I've got lots of new things I want to say but I figured I couldn't leave Christmas without any mention.

We had a great Christmas - just a brief visit home, we were back by Christmas night. Always busy but lots of fun. The girls had a great time visiting and playing. We did our Christmas morning on Christmas Eve so that they still got to wake up and have Christmas at home. A couple of pics...

Lily's favorite gift - a kitty from her stocking. She practically ignored everything else!

Playing a kazoo from their stocking...just a really cute picture of Evie!

Our sweet little girls on Christmas day

Sick, sick, sick

2010-12-14T14:01:00.005-05:00

Sick, sick, sick. I really hate being sick. It seems like we've all been under the weather since moving. Part of it is the great exposure to so many more germs now between Evie going to school, Rand going to school, playing with many more children, and living in an apartment building. But none of our sicknesses have been too bad until these last few weeks.

Right after Thanksgiving Rand came down with a bug that really threw him. He even went to a clinic but it was viral so we were stuck treating symptoms and waiting for it to go away. Last Friday, I started to feel it too, just as Rand was really starting to get better. Over the weekend, I could not believe how bad I felt. My throat was so swollen and painful and my ears hurt like murder. I was certain it was strep (and rather hopeful too because then I'd get super-powerful meds to make it all go away).

But after going to the doctor yesterday, they tested me and said it wasn't strep. Boo! Stuck waiting for this yuckiness to go away on its own. They did give me a prescription for viscous lidocaine which is this nasty stuff I gargle and spit out and it leaves my mouth and throat numb for an hour or so. It actually does help relieve the pain and the pressure on my ears. And of course, I'm downing Motrin like there was no tomorrow. I took yesterday off and hope to be able to show up to work for at least a few hours tomorrow. Ugh! Sick, sick, sick. And just in time for the holidays too! May I recuperate quickly and everyone else stay reasonably healthy through these next few weeks or the holidays just won't be much fun.

Christmas cards run amuck

2010-12-07T21:00:00.003-05:00

I'm not really sure what the deal is this holiday. Everything has been so chaotic and a lot of work. We have some traditions pretty established, yet this holiday, they're just not going smoothly.

First there was the tree. You know all about that fiasco. Now it's the Christmas cards. We like to do a photo card for sending to our loved ones. We've been doing it for five years now. Most years we're able to get a picture we're happy with pretty quickly. Last year we took four shots in one sitting and they came out amazing. And the card designs haven't been hard to choose either.

Not so this year. We've done three "photo shoots" and still weren't entirely happy with the options. Then the cards. Maybe it's that there are just too many designs to choose from. Either way, we have been going back and forth on what Christmas card to do all weekend long. I finally made the final decision a few minutes ago and placed the order. Who knows if these will even get out to you before Christmas! And I'm still not entirely happy about the card either. I went with the picture Rand seemed most inclined to but chose the design that I liked best. Compromises all around. Here is a picture from each photo shoot. I figured I'd show you the silly ones that were too goony to use as our Christmas card (although, for the record, I thought Evie's face was cute enough to use in this first card but others thought too silly).

Photo shoot #1: Scrunched up face on Evie and the clothes we're wearing weren't especially chosen so there's no theme.

Photo shoot #2: Again with the silly faces, although Lil's is doable. Evie's is not. (this shot isn't very cleaned up - socks in the foreground - sheesh!)

Photo shoot #3: Fun, coordinated colors, wearing hats. I liked these pics the best but the girls were extremely silly and could not get good faces. They were either being goobers like this one or too serious.

So which photo shoot did we go with? I'll tell you that none of these pictures made the cut but if you want to see the real picture, you'll just have to wait for your card!

Christmas tree take two

2010-12-05T21:47:00.003-05:00

After succumbing to the "rules" regarding Christmas trees, we come home from church today to find this month's newsletter for our building. Right on front is Live Trees are allowed in the building! What??? You've got to be kidding me!

Well, I'm not about to let this opportunity go by...so after lunch, we bundle up the girls and they and Rand head down to the basement to get our saw and tree stand while I rapidly undecorate the fake tree and haul it into our bedroom and shut the door. Sorry tree, tomorrow it's back to Walmart for you!

We head out to a tree farm we had seen nearby. There weren't tons of trees to choose from and some were very expensive and not very attractive. After wandering for a while, we start to leave and then I see another tree (probably saw it already). It's not too pricey, has a gaping hole in the back but the rest of it is nice. A little on the shorter side but our options aren't all that great. So we cut it down, pay the money, and tie it to the car. Christmas tree hunt accomplished!

Here's our first Christmas tree. Not bad but just not my thing. I couldn't look at it with pleasure or a sense of accomplishment. I'll say that our second tree decorating night was a lot more fun, even if ornaments were harder to get on and our hands were poked and red from needles. The fresh, clean smell of a real tree was hard to miss. The first tree was like decorating a tree for a store. It was symmetrical, and neat, and triangular. It made me think of a Dr. Seuss tree.

Here's our second tree. Soft and glowing, rustic and un-uniform. I love it. I look at it with such satisfaction and enjoyment. I'm sure it's all mental but I just can't help myself. We left the branches on at the bottom of the tree so it practically brushes the floor. There won't be any presents actually UNDER this tree! But with our white tree skirt, it reminds me of a snow-laden tree in the forest.

The warm glow of the tree, lighting up our Little People nativity set complete with inn and wise men. The girls are probably not really more impressed with the real tree than the fake (they just want one) but it will be a funny story to tell down the road of the year we set up three Christmas trees. And they did have fun hunting for a tree. And I am married to the best, most understanding husband in the world who has been ready to throttle me over this tree business. But it's done now and I will enjoy every moment of my beautiful Christmas tree!

Holidays are here

2010-12-01T17:03:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving was a fabulous affair. Three days of visiting and eating with friends and family. We watched funny movies, made Christmas cookies, and enjoyed the "space" of home. After arriving home again, we put up our tree (yes, we went with the fake tree and I think I'm starting to get used to it) and decorated the apartment. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping, just a few more things to get, mostly for the kids in the family, and we've been rockin' the Christmas tunes. I've got pictures to post and more to share but I thought I'd at least send out this quick greeting to let all know that we are doing well. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are having fun getting ready for Christmas too!

Christmas tree woes

2010-11-17T08:42:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it! Well, I can, but then again, I can't!

I foudn out last night that we're not supposed to have real Christmas trees in our apartments. Fire hazard. Okay, I get that but I've always had a real tree. Our girls have always had a real tree. We make a really big deal about going out and getting a real tree. Picking it out. It's our Christmas Tree Hunt.

The biggest problem for me in having an artificial tree is that I'm really picky. If it's going to be fake, I want it to look good and the really good-looking trees are very pricey. I don't want to spend a lot of money for something I'll hopefully only use a few times but I also don't want to just buy a cheap one.

I'm probably being way more silly and dramatic about the whole thing than necessary but you know me and my love for all things Christmas and this is one of those very important traditions for Rand and I. What to do? We shall see...

A whole lotta Christmas songs

2010-11-14T20:57:00.003-05:00

The official Christmas season is less than two weeks away and I can't wait! I was making my Christmas playlists earlier this week, organizing my scandalous amount of Christmas music into some kind of sensible order...you know, Christmas instrumental, Christmas jazz, Christmas vocal, Christmas pop, Christmas Christian.... In going through my music I discovered that I have 15 renditions of Silent Night! The runner-up is White Christmas at 11 and tied at 9 are O Holy Night and The Christmas Song. Thankfully, there are lots of other songs too so I'm not just listening to these four over and over and over again.

And of course, since I can't really listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving (okay, I'll admit I cheat) we've all been grooving to some Glee tunes. The family's favorite is Safety Dance an 80's tune I never heard until they featured it in a Glee episode but it was so cool I had to download it and we've all been dancing to it. Evie's even got the words memorized! I love watching the girls dance to music but they never really cooperate to get it on video. One of these days maybe! So for now, I'll be singing showtunes until I can crank up the Christmas music.

Decorating woes

2010-11-02T14:57:00.003-04:00

Well wouldn't you know it? I have a day off to get my Thanksgiving decorating done and I'm feeling completely uninspired. Maybe it was the broken piece on my Pilgrim woman that got me down....or the nonstop fending off the hoards as they try to touch everything that's coming out of the decoration tote or going into it. And no, you cannot have the Easter eggs. It's not that season!

I don't know. I've been looking forward to taking down the Halloween and putting up something new but it's just not thrilling me right now. Maybe I'll do a little reading and try again later!

Harvest party

2010-10-31T22:25:00.003-04:00

The next few posts are all surrounding our Halloween celebrations. At Evie's school, they had a Harvest Parade and Party. The theme was the Farm which influenced our choice of costume for Evie.

Our little scarecrow

I could not find a pair of overalls for her anywhere so settled on making some suspenders for her out of ribbon and buttons. Not quite the same, but it worked.

Super shy in the parade

Enjoying the party snacks with her friends.

Hats off to Halloween

2010-10-31T22:02:00.003-04:00

We had two trick or treating stops on Halloween night. First, was our building where we knocked on those doors sporting a little pumpkin picture and garnered a pretty good haul. Then we drove to a more residential neighborhood nearby and walked around a block or two. Both experiences were super fun!

Lily, our little Halloween fairy

Scarecrow Evie and Lily and ready to go

Evie trick or treating with Kangaroo

Walking through the neighborhood

The haul of candy they brought home is amazing!

Jack o lantern

2010-10-31T20:56:00.003-04:00

Saturday evening we carved (well, Rand did) our jack o lantern and the girls ate Halloween cake.

Practicing her scary faces

Sorry Evie, this face is much scarier! I don't think orange frosting in the eyes is such a good idea...

Lily checking out her new jack

And here he is!

All ready for Halloween night!

This and that

2010-10-29T16:42:00.003-04:00

Wow! It's been quite a few days since I last posted. I've got some pictures I want to put up at some point and I'll have more after this weekend, but for now I'll just give some updates on life at the moment.

My job is going well, all told, although I think I'm going to try and adjust my hours to three slightly longer days. Right now with only Friday for running errands and resting, it just isn't enough. It's been a tough transition to working more. Even though it's part time, I haven't had to work, except for a few hours a week, in almost five years. Not to mention that my primary job is taking care of my home, my girls, and my husband and there are days when I really want to just stay home. I think it's partly that hibernation feeling that comes on in late fall.

And speaking of late fall, I am so ready for Christmas! Not the actual day, really, but the Christmas season. I've been hankering for some Christmas music and I really want to decorate. But for now I'll content myself with taking down the Halloween decorations (after Sunday, of course) and putting up some Thanksgiving decorations. November's issue of Better Homes & Gardens has some really great ideas...

Things are progressing with Rand's semester and he's starting to feel the crunch as only a few more weeks are left and papers and finals and reading reports are looming. We're all looking forward to things being done, although it isn't nearly as stressful for the girls and I as it is for him.

My mom, sister, and nephew came up for the day today and that was so much fun. I'm so thankful that our new home isn't too far away for even just a day visit. But when I see the cousins playing together so well, I do sometimes yearn for being a little closer.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween and get ready for some super cute Halloween pictures to come!!!

Fun and free

2010-10-19T21:11:00.003-04:00

I just can't resist putting up cute pictures of my girls!

This weekend we had the pleasure of Rand's mom coming to visit us. This was her first time to our new home, so we had a good time showing her our apartment, Evie's school, Rand's school and the area. On our way to lunch we passed this cupboard/bookcase on the side of the road and stopped to check it out. I matches our stuff and was in good condition and was free!

We also scored this little wicker chair at the same house for free. I've been wanting a small wicker chair and this one is perfect. It's very comfy to sit in too (a nice bonus!) and will help provide seating when we have company. Yeah!

Apple picking

2010-10-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

We've been wanting to go apple picking all fall, but haven't had the opportunity to do so. The one attempt we made on my birthday weekend was too busy to bother with, so we left without getting any apples. Finally this morning, we were able to go to an apple orchard and pick our apples and pumpkins. We actually went to an orchard about 35 minutes from home when there's a large one just 5 minutes away but they had finished their apples this weekend. None left on the trees. And I have to say, it wasn't easy to pick our apples either. I've never seen an orchard picked so clean but we prevailed!

Nothing better than hanging out with pumpkins!

Lily and Daddy admiring her apple. Once picked, she would not let go of the apples.

Reaching way up with Daddy's help

Fall hiking

2010-10-12T09:53:00.003-04:00

This weekend we went hiking at Crane Beach. Originally we thought we'd head to NH for some hiking and leaf peeping but when it came down to it, we just didn't have the energy to face the traffic getting out and coming back so we went for something close to home. Rand has been wanting to hike here for some years now and we finally took the opportunity. It was really cool hiking through the dunes, walking on fine beach sand (which is not easy for hiking on), past changing trees and pitch pine forests, catching glimpses of the ocean. It was breathtaking. Here are a few pics of the day.

Lily has finally decided that she can walk on her own and now she wants to do nothing but walk. No help for her, please!

Playtime

2010-10-09T20:36:00.004-04:00

I know its been a while since I've posted pictures so I thought I'd get a few up here. We've had computer issues so although we've taken pictures, they haven't been able to be on the computer until now. These are some photos playing in the Great Field and playground that are across from our building.

Our new location really has been a lot of fun and holds huge benefits for the girls!

Gainfully employed

2010-09-30T09:06:00.004-04:00

Well, I have a job. This has been a source of great stress and consternation for us since we've been here. At first things seemed to be looking pretty good. The very day we moved here I had two interviews, both at libraries. I was excited. The interviews went well; things seemed good. But then there was a rejection from one position and then nothing was heard from the other position (an official rejection letter came last week) then a rejection email from a job I really wanted but didn't even get to interview for (that hurt). Then I sent out a couple more resumes but wasn't feeling very optimistic.

I didn't really work that much at my old library. It was more of a hobby, a pleasant past-time than anything but it actually really did matter to me. It shaped my days. It defined me in ways I didn't realize until I didn't have it anymore. It gave me a purpose beyond taking care of house and kids and husband. Then it was gone and I couldn't believe how much I missed it and how much it was affecting me. When I think about years past and different decisions I might have made in hindsight, I always think, but then I never would have worked at the library and this would have been catastrophic.

So the new job. I'm excited about it but I am hesitant too. It's part-time which I don't think is going to provide enough for our financial obligations (particularly after seeing Rand's final financial aid package yesterday which was slim). I wonder if I should hold off for something full-time which would be easier for scheduling and money but then I think I need to take it because I don't have anything else. There are really good things about it too. I think it will keep me motivated in my writing. It's flexible. It pays well and actually has benefits too.

I am now the personal assistant to a writer/consultant in the next town over. It only takes about six minutes to drive to work. That's nice! Part of my duties will be clerical - filing, phone calls, reservations, bookkeeping; and part of my duties will be household - errands, grocery shopping, taking care of repairs, gardening. It will be a mix of duties which should keep me from getting bored. And it beats sitting in an office all day.

I start tomorrow and will keep you posted on how things go. I need to figure out soon though if I'm going to need to do something in addition because now is a good time to pick up something seasonal. But will I have any hours leftover for seasonal work? Good question!

Comfortable reads

2010-09-26T20:36:00.005-04:00

It was a long and difficult week and I'm glad it's over. Today was a very good day and I'm hopeful that it's the start to a much better week.... But not one to complain (especially when it's being recorded for posterity), I felt that I needed to post something lest you think I've dropped off the planet.

One good/bad scenario of life at school is that Rand is busy. He has a ton of work to do for classes and its got him overwhelmed. I am chalking this up to first semester, only second week of classes, and not quite acclimated yet but I don't have any real hope that he'll ever be not busy for the next few years while classes are in session. That being said, when the girls go to bed, I am on my own. Three nights of the week, he's in class until 8:30/9 and so when I put them to bed, I have time on my hands and even when he is home, he's still pretty busy. So I've been reading. Yes, yes, I know I should be writing but I'm not really up to it yet emotionally and one of the bad things of this last week was that my hard drive crashed and has been out of commission. I'm currently borrowing Rand's laptop but I don't have any of my documents on here, so...I'm not writing. Soon but not now.

But I'm reading. I feel like I've read more in the last month than I have in the last year (and that probably isn't a far stretch). Every two to three days I finish one book and start on another. I'm flying through them. And so far, there haven't been any duds. Sure, I've liked some more than others but I've read them all through just the same. Such a difference from this summer where I began and discarded books without finishing one after another after another after another. I've read the first two books in the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series (first was okay, second was much better and very funny). I've read two middle-grade fairy tale remakes. I've got the latest Terry Pratchett to start on (although this isn't the truly latest which will hit the stores in October) and another middle-grade novel (market research - see I'm doing something constructive to my writing career) and a book I read a library review on and became intrigued with. My pile is a lot shorter though and I'm feeling nervous. I need to get on the library website and order up a bunch more.

Another thought that tags into my writing is that in my struggle with homesickness (of a sort) I'm looking for comforting things. I've pulled out a bunch of cds to listen to that I haven't listened to in years but they comfort me. I just browsed through three cooking magazines and came up with a great list of yummy dishes to make - lots of comfort food. And I'm hankering to read some Mitford books. I haven't read a Mitford book in a few years and there hasn't been a new book on Father Tim in almost three years now (although the next book is due out also in October). There is something extremely comforting in reading the Mitford books. They're fun, they're full of quirky, familial characters, and the books are filled with a quiet faith and trust that I hope for and struggle to maintain. I love to read them and fall is a perfect time to curl up with these types of books.

I guess the final word here would be that although I miss time with my husband and we're working on finding a balance there, I'm enjoying the reading that I've been able to do and look forward to reading more and more and more.

Days of the week

2010-09-21T09:34:00.004-04:00

As we're finally getting the school year underway, it's interesting to see how each day is different. I was so used to every day being the same with occasional differences being thrown in, but now... Let's just say it's a lot to remember. But it's good and it keeps life interesting. Right?

Mondays are fun because after the weekend, I get rid of everyone except Lily. Rand is working all day, Evie heads off to school, and Lil and I can get all kinds of errands and chores done. Evie's school days are especially nice because it's so much easier taking one kid shopping than two!

Tuesday and Thursday have their own appeal because Rand has a class first thing but no school for Evie so those are down days where the girls and I play and watch cartoons and take the morning slowly. It's especially delicious with the cool fall mornings to snuggle up with a cup of tea and not have to rush off into the cold.

Wednesdays and Fridays Evie has school but Rand has no classes so those days are a little more flexible. And now on Friday mornings, starting in October, Lil is signed up for storytime at the library, so that will be a fun outing for her.

Evenings are definitely different now with Rand having class Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night so that I'm getting the girls to bed on my own. That's an adjustment for us all but then once they're in bed, I have some quiet time to myself and have been enjoying putting on quiet music, making a cup of cocoa, lighting my new pumpkin spice candle, and curling up with a good book. And I've been reading a lot again. I've been finishing books up about every 3 days so I'm back in my groove. A little more of this and I'll have to take myself in hand and get writing again but I'm enjoying the pleasure of reading once more so that will help enjoy the pleasure of writing again I hope.

Two cuties

2010-09-16T20:52:00.003-04:00

It's been a long week and not a particularly easy one either. It being only the first week of classes, we're still trying to figure out a good schedule for everything. On top of it, everyone's feeling some kind of sick, with Lily being the worst. But even when I'm most ready to throttle them all, they're still so darn cute!

Calling goodbyes to Daddy as he left for class this evening

Bathtime girls! Evie always fusses about having to take a bath but then once they're in there, they have a blast!

Campus visitors

2010-09-16T20:43:00.003-04:00

The Myopia Hunt Club is adjacent to school and occasionally they ride through campus. We had the pleasure of seeing them on Tuesday as they rode past Evie's school. The horse and riders were fun but the real excitement was the pack of hounds. All that was missing was a fox!

Apparently, she's not quite sure what all this is about!

Is it fall yet?

2010-09-13T15:16:00.003-04:00

"Is it summertime?" is a frequent question from Evie. Whenever its gloomy or rainy and the sun breaks out, she will comment on how it's summer now. I get frustrated with her over this. Yes, it's summer. It's been summer for months. It's still summer even if it's raining. I don't understand where the breakdown in understanding is. I wondered if she was getting summer and sunny confused but that's not the case because she uses sunny appropriately.

Now that we're starting to see a few leaves here and there on the ground she's begun asking if it's fall and I'm wondering the same thing.

Fall is my favorite season. Fall is fabulous. I absolutely love fall. Particularly in New England. I have oodles of fall decorations (and I even pared down before moving). But this year, I haven't been excited about fall. I haven't had the urge to decorate. I 'm not really craving the summer to be done with yet. I think the packing and moving and swirl of life had me confused.

Yesterday and today have been wonderfully cool. Today is even cloudy and gloomy. It's got me feeling all chilly and as if I could be ready for fall. I might actually start to decorate. I really want to go out and get a yummy fall-smelling candle. I've made chicken stew for dinner and can't wait to wrap up in a sweatshirt and go for a walk. Maybe I really am ready for fall--finally!

Evie's first day of school

2010-09-10T22:37:00.003-04:00

As we all knew, Evie's first day of school went very well. She had a great time, of course. We had to wake the girls up for her to get off in time (why did they both have to be having a really good sleep on school morning?) We all pulled on sweatshirts to keep warm in the brisk early fall air and made the long 3 minute trek to school. Evie was immediately off and exploring her room and had no problems kissing us goodbye. She had the fun surprise of being assigned the task of "gardener" for today and had to assist her teacher in watering the plants. It was a proud moment for her.

When we picked her up, her teacher told us that she had a good day and was learning the rules. Everyone else there had been in school last year so they helped Evie learn how things are done. The only problem was outside, Evie kept going past the "boundary" the teacher had established. After running off five times, she was given a quiet time of 3 minutes, which didn't seem to phase her when we discussed it later but proved to have gotten the point across of obeying her teacher.

The real problem was picking her up. When we said it was time to go, she let out a bloodcurdling scream (as only Evie can) and had a complete meltdown. She obviously didn't want to go and I don't think understands that she'll be back again and again and again. Clearly, Evie is ready to be in school! The walk home was rough and when we arrived in our apartment she was crying and went to bed. After crying and resting and crying, she finally settled down and was able to join us for lunch and be civilized. The rest of the day was pretty good but we were up late visiting with neighbors and she was a wreck by bedtime. But after a breaking in period, I think these episodes will smooth out and she'll be comfortable with her new schedule. All in all, a very good first day!

Super excited and ready to go! Daddy wrote "Evie's first day of school" on the chalkboard

Giving her sister a hug goodbye

Heading in to school without a backwards glance

Lily - headed for home with just mom and dad. What to do?

Ready to read

2010-09-09T20:56:00.003-04:00

Since I am still unemployed and Rand is frantic already about his schoolwork (classes not even having started yet but he's trying to finish up a correspondence course he began this summer) I have found that I now have plenty of time to read. That is a wonderful thing since I've probably only read three books all summer long! But now that I am no longer employed by my fabulous library, I find myself at a loss to know what to read. I don't really like the new library (this has nothing to do with the fact that they didn't hire me!) I don't like the layout, I don't like how their books are arranged, and I really don't like the fact that they don't seem to have any of the new books that Saxton had. I went onto their catalog a couple of nights ago to request some books and found the waitlists woefully long--this is an extreme example BUT the current hottest of hot books, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, I am #461 on the waitlist. Can you believe that? That's insane! If I was in a major hurry to read it, I'd simply buy it, but I'm not so I can just be outraged on principle.

So needing to read something, I probed the very cobwebbed recesses of my brain for things I've said, one day I'll read that but never have....Okay, got something. Yesterday I read One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. This has been around since 1994 and the series is probably twenty books long now but I've never read it. Not really my typical thing but so many people when I was working would be getting the books and talking about how laugh-out-loud they were and I kept saying, one day. So here it was and in ONE day I read the book. I didn't really do much laughing but I saw the humor. Such an easy read but not amazing. I will read the next few. But I've heard, and its something that drives me mental when reading series fiction, that not much changes book to book. So how long can you go with the same love triangle and the same issues. This is something that drives me crazy about Joanne Fluke's murder series. I read the books, love the recipes, but the plotlines don't really hold much and if she doesn't end the love triangle in those books, I might have to do something drastic!

Several books that I requested came in today which is a good thing because I have to wait for the second Evanovich book. Of the four that I have to choose from, I decided to begin The Lightning Thief next. This is another series that I've been saying I'll start someday. I assumed I would like it, since I like other similar YA fantasy series but just never got around to reading it. And since Rand and I watched the movie, it won't be a complete surprise, but I think I'll still enjoy the full story and not just the movie version.

Hopefully I'll begin to get better about looking at reading lists and what people are reading and enjoying and will get a good list of books for myself to enjoy. And of course, there's always writing, which is what I really should be doing....and not just blogging....I guess.

Odds and ends

2010-09-09T20:45:00.003-04:00

This is going to be a rather random post but I've got all kinds of thoughts swirling about and just felt the need to write them down...

Tomorrow is Evie's first day of school. We will walk her over at 8am, say goodbye, and leave her for four hours. I've been looking forward to this with giddy anticipation (mostly in a selfish desire for four hours with only one child instead of two). But now that the moment is here, I'm actually feeling rather anxious about it. I hope she does well. I hope she doesn't throw anything or scream at anyone or misbehave. I hope she has fun and loves it. I don't anticipate a problem with us leaving her but I suppose it could happen. Mostly I worry about behavior. Please, please, please let her be good. I'm sure everything will be fine but I have a really good imagination!

I am really enjoying living on campus and feel that the sacrifices we made to be here were worth it. We have met so many great families aleady and Evie has ample opportunity for playmates. Most evenings after dinner we walk around campus, with Evie riding her bike, and usually see several different families. There is a large contingent of South Koreans here and it's still striking to me when I see them. And I have to say, their kids are incredibly cute, especially the babies. And then as I find it funny to see asians, I realize I've only seen like two hispanics and African-Americans. Curious.

One problem with all of these cool people around is that it can take a long time to get to your car or really get going on walk with all the stopping and chatting that can go on. I keep joking that if I really need to leave the house on time for something, I'm going to need to build an extra ten minutes into my schedule.

Finally, being on the third floor and in an apartment building, I'm always catching the smell of food that I didn't cook. Sometimes its yummy, sometimes curious, sometimes a little too burnt.

Did I mention that Egan, our greyhound, was adopted four days after we brought him back to the rescue from whence we got him? He was adopted by a man who's adopted five other greyhounds from this rescue. He's a horse trainer who lives half the year in MA and the other half in NC. He also has a five year old female greyhound. Sounds like Egan's going to be living the life. A new girlfriend, horses, travel....what more could a pooch want?

Community musings

2010-09-06T22:04:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking these thoughts over the last few days but never seem to sit down and type them out. I'll probably forget some of the things I wanted to say...

Moving to a completely new area is a very interesting undertaking. There is the very sense of mystery and adventure to learning a whole new place. Not that it isn't scary or without its concerns but once you get past those things, to look upon new surroundings with fresh eyes can be fun.

I grew up in New England, more specifically, Connecticut. I've lived there all my life, except for three years in Chicago. And while in Connecticut, it's been in the relatively same area. The towns might have changed but they were all neighboring so my region stayed the same. Now I'm in Massachusetts, and that's New England too, but this area of MA is striking me altogether different from my home.

This is quintessential New England. I should get the camera out and take random pictures. It's a far more densely populated area than I'm used to but it's surprisingly rural. The town we live in is just a few minutes from sprawls of plazas and shopping and cars and highways and yet our roads are meandering cow paths with horse farms everywhere. This town is a small and wealthy one so that is one reason for its quaint charm and yet, even the larger towns have retained a measure of quaintness as well. You can picture the Revolution, the Salem witch trials, the very Puritan antecedents of it all. I'm not sure why this isn't so in CT but I was never struck with this sensation as I am here. For a New Englander, even this is so much more New England, it's odd.

But I'm enjoying it here and we're going to like living here, and we're already talking about how can we manage it so that we never have to leave. Not our exact location, of course, but the area. The perfect blend of urban - Boston is 45 minutes away by train, less if you want to drive; rural - state parks and horse farms and farmstands and pig pens in the woods by the side of the road (not kidding); and suburban sprawl - Target and TJ Maxx and Kohl's and malls and every grocery store conceivable (although not Aldi which we are still lamenting); the seacoast - the ocean is less than half an hour away, and some beaches even closer, although we haven't explored them yet.

There is a funny sense of familiarity since we have vacationed here every year with Rand's family since we've been married (and he even longer). So we know some things. The area is familiar. We aren't completely thrown to the winds like we were in Chicago and yet it's all new too. We went to the beach today where we have the family reunion but instead of entering the beach from one end and coming out of our motel, we parked at the other end and toted in our things for just the afternoon instead of a long weekend. As we walked along the beach, we commented on the oddness and had to stop ourselves from looking around and wondering, where are the cousins? where is Nana? It was a humorous moment to be followed up by the satisfaction that this is home and not just a vacation stay anymore.

There is certainly more that I have mused upon these last few days and if I remember them, I will post them too. It won't take long for these curious sensations to be a thing of the past barely remembered so it does me a world of good to put them here.

The kitchen

2010-09-02T20:11:00.003-04:00

The next three posts are pictures of our new apartment. We are pretty much unpacked, organized, and decorated. With kids around, you just need to get it done for their sakes, plus Rand and I are the kind of people who can't stand having a huge mess, so we devoted ourselves for several days to getting the apartment arranged and we're quite happy with it.

The kitchen has lots of cupboard space which is great but I've still filled it up! I guess I just have too much kitchen-y stuff!

It's an eat-in kitchen so its a little crowded but really not too bad. We left the middle leaf out of the table. It works for four but having company over could be tricky. The weirdest thing is that I'm always smelling someone else's yummy cooking (or burning, as the case may be). When the weather cools, I look forward to doing some baking to thank our new neighbors for all of their kindness.

Living room

2010-09-02T19:55:00.003-04:00

At the far end of the living room, looking into the kitchen. I'm so thankful for the cutout in the kitchen wall that allows plenty of light and airiness into the kitchen.

Sorry this picture is so dark but it gives you the idea of our large window and the dormer around it.

I'm loving the modern look to the apartment. Everything is clean and freshly painted. It makes our furniture look nice!

Our IKEA bookcases that Rand assembled after moving in. They're working out perfectly and we even have some shelf space left over!

You can just see the front door from here. A hallway heads from the living room to the other bedrooms and bath.

The bedrooms

2010-09-02T14:20:00.003-04:00

The girl's bedroom...we gave them the master bedroom thinking the larger space would be good for all their furniture and toys and give them plenty of space for playing. And I think we were right!

We have the smaller room which is fine. There is a very large walk-in closet off the girls room that is major storage for us. We have these weird dormers in the bedrooms that have been tricky for curtains but do provide some cool character to the apartment.

Our room is still a bit disheveled and we need to buy our bedframe but it's serviceable for now.

Visit Day

2010-09-01T13:02:00.003-04:00

Today was Evie's Visit Day at her new school! She'll be attending preschool at the nursery school located on campus. It was begun by the school but is it's own entity and has quite a reputation for excellence in the community. There is a mix of students, some seminary kids and some local kids. The best part is that we only have to walk there and not worry about driving.

Her new backpack, courtesy of Auntie Leah

After a little bit of trouble (she didn't want to wash her hands), she settled down. We filled in a red sailboat (she's in the red room) with her hopes and dreams for the year - to make new friends and learn to read.

Then we went and met her teachers and enjoyed exploring her room. She also got to see her new cubby. She read some books, played with a popcorn kernel bin (instead of sand), painted a picture, and played at the math center. She had a great time and we're hopeful that this will be a great year of growing and learning for her.

Lily loved the room, wanted to do everything and thinks its just not fair to be the littlest!