Posted on

My Neglected Hobbies

I made mention yesterday of my neglected hobbies. My list of Martha Stewart Sins is long and sordid. See once upon a time, I had time. Then I had kids. And I stubbornly refused to give up things – well actually that's not true, I did pretty much give up TV – and in fact, I added some new things in addition to all the kids and the time I spend playing with them, namely their upkeep in the form of laundry and organization and dinner provision (apparently, it's no longer acceptable to just set out a bowl of salsa and some chips and call it dinner).

Though I haven't exactly given up on my hobbies and sometimes make quite valiant efforts to do this or that, even completing a few projects, the lists of unfinished ones is much much longer.

A sampling for your amusement/horror:
• cute sign I made for our front door – it has never been hung
• two t'shirts for some cute kiddos that I have yet to decorate
• printable magnet paper that is still blank
• several mini scrapbooks, still un-decorated
• glass squares I was going to do something with – coasters?
• quite a lot of fabric, really … what is it all for?
• a whole carton of t'shirts – they were supposed to become a quilt – HA!
• photo mat I was planning to doodle on as a 3rd b'day gift for Tabby (she'll be 4 in like 5 months)

And now I'm taking sewing lessons. Lord help us.

Posted on

Completely Random Stuff

 

• 4 days ’til my (our) third Half Marathon. Post about that coming soon.
• This weekend, I put bourbon in the oatmeal. It was quite good.
• I am a turtle. See sidebar.
• Last night, Matt and I dropped the kids off at the gym daycare and went to the pool on our own. We got to sit in the hot tub and ride the water slide (which the kids are afraid of) as many times as we wanted. It was nice, but we felt guilty, even though Tabby insisted she wanted to go to the treehouse instead of the pool.
• Auntie Theresa is arriving on Sunday. She is hanging with our kiddos while their sitter is on vacation and doing us a huge favor. We are all very much looking forward to seeing her.
• I (and my sister and Theresa) are taking a sewing class at Fancy Tiger next week. It might be a little elementary for us, but it should be fun. Plus I can’t wait to check out their fabrics.
• Which is great, because I sooooo need to collect a few more hobbies to ignore.
• We are having 17 people (including ourselves) over for dinner on Friday. It will be chaotic fun (I hope!).
• I went to bed at 8:30 last night. I still wasn’t ready to get up at 4:20 to run … so I didn’t.
• Ben calls her “Sissy!” She calls him “Benjamin” or “Ben!” or “Silly baby!” They are terribly cute together.
• Sandwich thins are AWESOME. Which reminds me … I need to go to Costco.

Posted on

Falling for Fall

 


We packed up the car this weekend and headed off to our favorite weekend getaway, Vail. It is “mud season” there right now, between the mountain-biking, hiking summer season and the snow-crazy winter season and it is LOVELY! It is less-crowded and really pretty.

 

It was a huge treat for everyone since not only did my parents and sister join us, but also my grandma (my kids call her Gigi). It was overcast and rainy and we laid pretty low. We went out and walked the town and looked around at Betty Ford Gardens on Friday. Matt and I had a brief, fairly chilly bike ride on Saturday. And today we drove over Independence and Tennessee passes with a stop in Leadville to take in some purple mountain majesties.

In between we cooked, napped, played computer games, went to Starbucks, bought some nailers and an air compressor (don’t ask), watched movies, read books and generally vegged out. It was very nice.

Now I must hit the ground RUNNING. We have back-to-back action until the end of the month. Then I’ll have to head back to Vail to recharge again, right??

Loads more photos here.

Posted on

What's Cooking: Volume 17

Did I mention I ♥ Fall. I soooo do. Especially the food. While I cannot say I have a favorite season, I do have a favorite FOOD season. Fall, no question.

Last night I made up this fall's first batch of shepherd's pie. This is usually an easy recipe, however this go-around one of my kitchen helpers (Ben) stuck an outlet cover that was sitting on the counter into my food processor and I spent the next 30 minutes sifting through the chopped carrots picking out plastic pieces. Luckily, carrots sink and plastic outlet cover pieces float when placed in water – a handy hint should this occur in your household. Foibles aside, our house smelled AWESOME.

I also baked chocolate chip cookies using a new recipe. The ingredient list does not deter much from the venerable tollhouse classic, but the methodology is different and produces an excellent cookie. The methodology, incidentally, is the subject of on one of my all-time-favorite Good Eats episodes, sadly not available on Hulu. At any rate, I must give props to this recipe/methodology. It turned out perfect chocolate chip cookies as advertised. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.

In the next couple of weeks I will be hosting two dinner events at my house (not including what I would do as a matter of routine for our family and extended family and friends). We are hosting a pre-half-marathon pasta dinner for my friends who are running the race and their families. I have not entirely decided what to serve, but I think baked ziti will be on the menu and possibly also my aunt's veggie lasagna with bechamel sauce (yum.). Then I get to host Bunco where anything goes, food wise. You might remember (but probably don't) that last year I did breakfast for dinner. I have decided on stuffed baked potatoes, soup (lentil? broccoli cheese?) and salad, followed up by the awesome apple spice cake. The downside of all this hosting is that I really need to deep-clean my house and it is going to be something of a slog to get that done, especially with the construction zone upstairs.

Before fall is over, Matt will undoubtedly be requesting cheesy baked chicken and butternut squash risotto. I think that would be an excellent half-marathon-day dinner, except that it is quite a bit of work, but I may do it anyhow. After my nap.

Posted on

NoFoto

I was planning to come back and post today, triumphant, with great photos of our fun trip to the farm. Unfortunately, I did not TAKE any great photos. There's a few good ones. Some passable ones. Some that would've been good if the light was right. But no great ones. Actually that's not true, there were some great ones of my friends' kids and I am happy with those and will send them their way, but none of MY kids.

So that was a big ol' bummer. Booo. On the bright side, the tile is IN. It even went in pretty well/easily. It helps that Matt is super OCD about lines and leveling (he's awesome like that) and did a great job on the layout. And I am the queen of frosting … or thinset in this case. I've said it before. We make a really great team.

Now tonight I get to finally play with the kids and then (after they go to bed) play catch-up for shamelessly neglecting our house these past few days. It never ends, I tell ya!

Posted on

Checking In

Wow. I have no idea where the last 5 days went. Well yes I do, but the relating of it would be quite boring. Mostly, I've been on my hands and knees in the bathroom. That sounds either really tawdry or possibly really icky. It's actually neither. We ripped up the carpet in the kids' bathroom on Friday evening (boy do we know how to do a Date Night!!) and have been working pretty much every night since to lay down tile in its place. Of course it's not just tile … it's thinset, hardee board, thinset, tile. We still have to grout, caulk, and replace trim. It's a pretty big project. And after this we get to do our master bathroom. Which is like double, maybe triple the size of the kids'. Whee!!

We also had a nice date night, went to a benefit concert and went to the farm with some friends. It really was a nice weekend, but after the tile project, I'm exhausted. Will check back in soon with cute farm pictures (I hope!!). TTFN.