Childhood Larks

Take a walk with me, down memory lane.  I have spent the last two days opening boxes from my childhood and reliving events that have been locked in an attic for ten years.  My parents brought the beginnings of my life to me, and I now get to share those with my children. 

There were the necklaces that I had for forever, with the brightly colored heart beads.  I never knew where I got them, and I almost never wore them, but they had been in my life for as long as I could remember.

There were the Japanese memorabilia that had been given to me by our exchange students when I was still in elementary school. 

There were the yearbooks that meant so little to me, except that my friends had signed them.

There were the trophies I had won for coloring, for 4-H, for tennis, and the multitude of ribbons that rewarded every try I made in my younger years.

There were Easter decorations, some that I had made, and some that had been made for me.  It will be wonderful to share those with my children.

There were my Chevron cars, which now decorate my kitchen and bring a bit of whimsical personality to an otherwise very serious room.

There were books.  Ah, the books.  I have spent hours upon hours in those books.  I have the Little House series, and the Ann of Green Gables series, and huge books of children's stories.  I got to introduce the Schprid to a pop-up version of The Little Engine That Could, tonight.  It was her very first pop-up book. 

It's funny how my past is now becoming my future, and my children's futures, and possibly their childrens' futures.  It's funny how, with my childhood treasures, this life I live has become more my own.  It's funny how practicality told me to throw away the things I was never going to use again, but that sentimentality made me keep the broken ceramic Easter chick that my Mom painted for me when I was six and the banner my parents made for the soccer team I was never really a part of.  It's funny that with a few dusty old boxes, I suddenly feel like I have more to offer and a wealth of experiences from which to draw.  It's funny how much silly little things mean to me and help to create the woman that I am.

Big Loser

That's right, folks!  As of today, I am a big loser of 10 pounds!  It's been slow and consistent... I've lost about a pound a week for the last couple months, so I know it's real weight and not just water weight.  I'll try to do another post about something more interesting later on today, but 10 pounds is a landmark and I'm excited and I just wanted to share. 

10 down, 39 to go...

Breath of Fresh Air

Tonight, I stole the Schprid's nose.   You know the old trick where you steal a child's nose by pinching it and then putting your thumb between your fingers.  She's almost two, now.  I figured she would understand, to some degree at least, what was going on.  I was prepared to deal with a shy smile, or a bit of fright, or possibly complete incomprehension.

She took a deep breath and tried to blow it away.

Go figure.

Father's Day Dinner

I had a request for a blog about the dinner I made for Father's Day.  So, first off, I would like to say that I honor and respect all those wonderful men who are good fathers.  In particular, of course I honor my own wonderful Dad, my Husband, and my Husband's Dad.  Y'all are awesome!

So, for dinner I made Hubby's second favorite meal.  (In the way of unashamed bragging, I would like to mention that his current first and second favorite meals have trumped his all-time favorite meal, even from restaurants, from before we were married.  Boo-yah!)  (I would also like to point out that I made this particular meal at his request.  Granted, I did not have the ingredients for his first favorite meal, but I can't always be perfect little wifey.  What can I say... I try.)

What was I talking about?

Oh, yes.  Second favorite meal.  Interestingly, it's a curry concoction.  Also interestingly, I'd never made curry anything before we got married.  I'm still experimenting.  I am getting better, though, so if you'd like to read on, I'll give you the breakdown.

First, start the rice.  I don't know about you, but I have always had a hard time making rice.  I finally decided to add three parts water to one part rice, and voila! I've had perfect rice almost every time.  In this case, the instructions did me no good whatsoever.  They try to pretend that two parts water to one part rice is sufficient.  Trust me; it isn't.

Second, start the curry concoction.  This time around, I sauteed an onion, several cloves of garlic, and a bell pepper in some olive oil.  Start the onions and garlic first so they have time to get nice and soft.  Then, add a ton of seasonings.  I used curry, a little bit of spicy curry, chili powder, turmeric, ginger, coriander, salt, and even a little basil and oregano.  I don't know how much those last two added to the concoction, but by that point I was spice happy.  Be generous with the spices, because that's one of the defining features of curry.  Plus, it smells amazing.  Stir that all up, then add a couple cans of stewed tomatoes.  Or tomato sauce.  Or tomato paste.  I wouldn't use raw tomatoes, but that's personal taste.  Let it all just cook down together for awhile until it gets a little thicker than you eventually want it.  I like it relatively thick.  Then, stick it all in the blender.  That's right, the blender.  You want that stuff about the consistency of soup.  Thick soup.  Ish. 

I'm great at giving instructions.  :)

Then, choose your meat.  Or beans, if that's what makes you happy.  Or chopped vegetables.  Basically, the curry concoction above is the sauce that covers and surrounds the meat of the meal.  If it's meat, chop it up into slightly-bigger-than-bite-size chunks and brown it in what is leftover from the curry concoction.  If it's vegetables, do the same.  If it's beans... well, just pour them in the pan and call it good.  When that part is browned, or warmed up, or sauteed, or whatever you plan to do with it, add the curry concotion back into the pan.

Yes, this really is how I cook.  A little of this, a little of that, not a lot of technique, but a lot of fun.

Make sure the stuff all cooks together well, then serve it.  I like to put the rice and curry in two separate bowls, then on my plate layer the curry on top of the rice.  Hubby starts with the same basic platform, but then mixes it all together on his plate.  Weirdo.  For leftovers, I put the curry in with the rice, because day-old microwaved rice is gross, but somehow the curry surrounding it makes it palatable.  Go figure.  It makes no sense to me, but I swear it works.

I also made naan, but I'm not telling you how to make that, mostly because I'm still figuring that out myself.  For this meal, I took a vegan recipe and modified to our non-vegan sensibilities.  I had my reasons.  Don't judge me.  If you want to make naan, there are several recipes online.  Some of them are fantastic.  The one I chose, not so much.  Apparently, some are tragic.  I haven't tried those.  I will say, though, that if you want to make naan, start several hours early, if not the night before.  It really depends on the recipe.  All I'm sayin' is, do your research.  And it's worth it.

It was a very good meal, if I do say so myself.

Happy Father's Day... only a couple days late.

Dimitri Martin

Have you seen anything by Dimitri Martin?  He's an odd personality.  He's a comedian, of his own style and brand.  He does a little stand-up, a few skits, some graphs, a couple songs, and ambidextrous sketching in almost every show.  He's very interesting.  In fact, I'm going to post a youtube link to him. 


Dimitri Martin

There you have it, for your viewing interest.  I can't entirely endorse him, because he is, for short moments at a time, a little crude.  Neither can I completely condemn him because I don't have that kind of power.  I can say that he is quite funny.  Usually.

Spoiled

Have I ever mentioned that I'm completely spoiled?  I am.  I'm a rotten little princess. 

Actually, I'm not sure if I'm rotten, and I know I'm not very little.  Totally a princess, though.

Here's the proof:

Wooble sleeps through the night.  He has for a good three weeks already.  And when I say he sleeps through the night, I mean that we put him in bed around 9:30 or 10 pm, and he doesn't wake up until 9 the next morning. 

Schprid was the same way.  She gave us 12 hours/night from the time she was three months old.

Tiara, anyone?

Ow.

Once upon a time, I was pregnant.  I don't know about the rest of you, but when I'm pregnant, I move like a turtle trying to swim through molasses.  Or maybe like a cow trying to roll over.  Or possibly a duck trying to carry an anvil.  You get the point- it was awkward.

Then, we got a Wooble and I was no longer pregnant.  Yay!  Time passed, and I began to heal.  I got an exercise bike and started to do cardio.  I got ambitious and tried to do push-ups.  That failed, but I have high hopes. 

The point is, I can move now, and it's glorious.  I'm really excited about being a non-anvil-carrying duck.  So much so, that for the past two weeks I have worked myself silly.  Today's exercise: workout on the bike followed by hauling the branches of a tree to a burn pile.  That doesn't sound like much until I tell you that the fire was burning for four hours, and Hubby and I took turns hauling those branches for about 3 of those hours. 

And, yes, I am still raising two children.  One of them stares cutely at us from her bedroom window, and we wave at her from the pasture.  The other sleeps in his little swing.  I love modern technology. 

Hubby and I are hot and smoky tonight.  I wish the actuality of that was as sexy as it looks in print.

Can I go to bed now?

Did I Mention We Also Went to the Aquarium?

This is the Schprid standing in front of a cool mural.

This is the Wooble, wearing his typically surprised expression.

Schprid and Hubby found an awesome frog to sit on.

Schprid loved looking at the fish.

So did Hubby.

We got to touch the Manta Rays!  How cool is that?

If you haven't noticed, I'm putting a few more words with each of my blog entries.  Perhaps that's my way of easing myself back into the blogging world.  I do like blogging, I swear!  And, since I'm pretty much out of pictures for the next little while, as of tomorrow I'll be starting to write again.  Woohoo!  Now I just need to figure out what to write about...  woohoo?

Picture Dump Continued

Oatmeal Head

Happy Oatmeal Head

Hello, Mom.

Hello, World.

I'm here.

Please give me anything I want, because I'm adorable!

Cheese!

It's a big world out there...

Yes, I'm Posting More Pictures

Schprid finding her Easter Basket

Schprid finding Easter eggs.  She had a blast!  And, she's adorable.  Just thought I'd point that out.

Wooble was unimpressed with the proceedings, to say the least.

I think it was a successful Easter.  Too bad I don't have any smiley pictures to prove it...

Pre-Easter Pics: Good Times!

Brand New Wooble And Big Sister- Bon Apetit!

Update

Hey all!

I'm coming back tomorrow.  Just thought you might like to know.

At least, I'm going to try really hard.

Please forgive me if I just post a series of pictures.

Love ya!