offing my husband

Not to brag, but I gave Chris salmonella poisoning yesterday. 

And that about sums up how my whole week is going. 

cut it out

Heading back to school has cut down on my couponing-time immensely.  Tear.

And recently, I'd gotten behind in cutting out coupons so I enlisted the help of one Chris Graham to aid in my catching up.  He was more than thrilled to be asked.

And for documentation purposes, I felt the need to take pictures of him in action.  Because I've been couponing for almost a year now and this is a first for him.  He eats the food, why shouldn't he help?

Although, I do have to note, he didn't complain once while he was cutting out coupons.  Even after I repeatedly told him he was doing it wrong and hurting more than helping.  I might have been acting a little dramatic, but I take my coupons very serious.  And he was goofing off.  And making me listen to horrible music that makes me want to slit my wrists (sorry if you're a Violet Burning fan; I am not.  But don't tell Chris, because I think he would be devastated.).

Hold up. 

As I'm looking for a picture to post of Chris cutting my beloved coupons sans complaining, I notice the first picture I took, and I'm pretty sure he's flipping me off.  So whatever saint I made him look like in the previous paragraph I will now be taking back.

Idiot.

I think this means he will be helping me again.  Like every week.  Take that middle finger.



crispy graham and the library

Last week, Chris and the girls made their first trek to our local library.  I don't think my husband has ever set foot in that building--maybe once with me, but never on his own accord. 

I had been pressuring him to take Elliott because that's someplace she likes, they have things she can play with, they can rent some movies, and....what else?  Oh, yes, check out some books.  Something, I think, Chris is allergic to.

So when they finally made it there last week, I was happy.  And then, even happier when, not only did Elliott get some books, but Chris got a book also.  Gasp.

They weren't allowed to check out many books (or any videos) because Chris had to sign up for a card that day and with a temporary card you can only get a few.

But here's one of the books they came home with for Elliott:

All the Little Bunnies

by Elizabeth Bridgman

Published in 1977.  At least the Beech Grove library is keeping things current in the children's section.  Although, it's been a big hit with Ellie.  It counts from one to ten and then back down to one and follows a bunny family through their day.  It rhymes and is kinda funny.  She loves it.  And had it memorized by the second night.  Such a little smartie pants.

I often buy vintage books at garage sales to use for decoration or to rip apart for the artwork or certain pages of writing.  I know that just gave some bibliophiles a mini-heart attack, but it's the truth.  I love books, but not just for reading.  So here's a look inside All the Little Bunnies because I find the pictures so interesting (and I can't rip this one apart...or find one like it on the internet to buy.  Because I already tried.  Probably because is was published in 1977.  Whatever.):

Daddy Bunny in a smoking jacket?  Always a good choice.

I think I'm really going to enjoy reading the books Chris and Elliott come home with.  I would have immediately vetoed this book choice because of the look of it.  Yes, judging a book by its cover.  Don't hate, we all do it.

A couple days after their library visit, Chris' permanent card came in the mail.  And it made me laugh out loud (not LOL, because I despise that).  And I still giggle every time I see it.

Apparently, Chris didn't put his full name down in the first name box.  And forevermore, he will be known by the Beech Grove Public Library as Crispy Graham.

fillin' up the minivan

A house down the street from my mom and dad's (that will always be known as the Harpring's house even though they haven't lived there for years), had a garage sale this weekend.  An amazing garage sale.  It was all I ever wanted in a garage sale and so much more.  And it made me so glad to be driving our minivan (didn't think you'd ever hear me utter that sentence, huh?).

I'm slowly and surely redoing our kitchen and have been on the hunt for old chairs for a couple of months.  I want them to be mismatched and vintage-y, with plans to paint them all the same color (some shade of green) for some cohesion.  And I found the mother load at this sale. 

Even Monkey was impressed with my purchase!

Besides the awesome chairs (that just need some love to be back to their original glory), I got a vintage bird cage (that I have some ideas about, but no specifics yet), a large glass jar, an old delivery box for a brewing company, a white crate, an old desk drawer (it's propped up between the green and pink chairs--again, something I have an idea for, but not specifics), an old sugar tin, and two kitchen utensils (that I'm going to hang on the wall in the kitchen).

Some people, like my dad who was with me, would look at this and think "junk."  I look at it and think "what a haul!".  The best part?  All of it for $31.  Thirty-one dollars.  Unbelievable.

That was, of course, after a little bartering.   

I've already put the sugar tin in the kitchen, but the rest of the finds are sitting in the basement awaiting my love and inspiration.

The grater and strainer are going to be hung on the wall.  Those were twenty five cents each.  Magical.

And that white crate is going to be used in our front yard's landscaping.  I also scored two early-1900's tin buckets from our neighbor's garage sale this weekend (free because, as Charlie informed me, our money wasn't good there) that will be used in the yard.  It's going to look lovely when I find time to put it all together.

When I got home and Chris was helping me unload everything, he liked all of it (I'm lucky to have a husband who appreciates old things like I do), except the bird cage.  He doesn't share my vision for that baby.  But, mark my words, when I figure out exactly what to do with it, it will be awesome.

everybody has boogers.

And you know the best way to handle boogers?

Boogie Wipes.

For those of you that have never heard of these, welcome to the world of drama-free booger (and snot) wiping.  I'm serious.  They're the best.  Especially if you have a sick kid like I do right now and you're constantly wiping her nose because she's only four and half months and doesn't know how to sniff or blow snot yet.  That skill comes later, much later.

And until that time, you'll want to have these.  Because raw baby nose is pitiful.

As an adult, I've never used anything besides a tissue to wipe my nose (okay, sometimes an occasional sleeve, but that's only in emergency sitations), but the luxurious Boogie Wipe might be my go-to next time things get a little rough.  I'm just saying, they're that good.  

flora and fauna (minus the fauna)

Remember how I planted window sill herbs a while ago? 

I've got sprouts!

This is huge.  I had very low expectations for this experiment actually working.  I'm not exactly what you'd call a green thumb.  I tend to over-water everything.  I think "hmm, water is good, so more water must be great!" and then everything dies.  So sad.

So this year, I vowed to not kill plants.  More on how that went for another post.

 My ginormous dill plants in action.

At the top, oregano and, in the middle, chives.  No word from the parsley yet.

Cilantro!

They're growing quicker than I thought they would (Thanks Miracle Grow soil!  You're the best!) and now, everytime I walk through the kitchen, I stop and look at them.  It's kind of taking up a lot of my time, staring at the herbs.

And it was pretty self-satisfying sitting at the kitchen table Sunday morning reading the paper, specifically the Indy Living section whose front page story was about herbal remedies and the power of the herb.  I read it with a smug look on my face and felt very in-the-know. 

Except when I saw the picture of what an aloe vera plant looks like.  Because those things are ugly and I didn't react very maturely.  I think my exact words to Chris were "that's icky."  And then, I'm sure, my herbs died a little. 

the teacher learns some lessons

Things I have learned since starting to blog:

1.  I am in desperate need of a better camera.  The majority of my pictures make me shudder, but I don't really have any other option.  Also, I need some editing software.  And then some editing skillzzz.

2.  I sometimes communicate better with my computer than I do my husband. 

3.  I will always have blog envy...for the majority of blogs I read.  I just like everyone else's better than mine.

4.  Blogging is cheaper than therapy and nobody will tell me I'm wrong (well, because, I'm not...but, you know, if I ever were).

5.  My life is more interesting than I give it credit for.

6.  The more I write, the more I want to write.  Hmmm.

7.  I spend way too much time on the internet.  And don't sleep enough.

8.  It is impossible to write (or think clearly) when your husband is watching Third Rock From the Sun on NetFlix. 

9.  I still love a list.  If I could do every post as a list, I think I would.

10.  Blogging is better than a baby book.  Because I've never been very good at writing in those.  And this is much more embarrassing so I'm definitely keeping this up.  You know, for the kids.

11.  And last, but not least, I now think in "blog."  Meaning when something funny, bad, interesting, or even somewhat boring happens, my first thought is "I should write about that!" and then I add it to my memo pad on my phone.  Dork.

busy bag toy

This summer, Elliott received a busy bag from her Great Great Aunt Sue.

It's definitely gotten used.  Besides carrying it around the house, we took it on our mini-vacation to Cincinnati and it was the perfect size for her books, coloring stuff, and some toys.

I recently came across this little "toy" and while it seems kind of silly, I have a feeling Elliott will really dig it.  Because kids always like the most random, unexplainable things.  So now I have to go buy a noodle.  <---------that is an awesome sentence.

that settles it...

Then it's official, I'm a great mom.

The Meal Plan

In an effort to be more efficient with my time, I started planning our meals for the week on Sundays.  Now, I know some people have done this for ages and it's not a new concept, but for me, this is big-time.  And a new concept.

Until a couple weeks ago, planning dinner consisted of me standing in front of the refrigerator or pantry staring at our food until inspiration hit.  This process sometimes took a long time.  And sometimes resulted in me ordering pizza.

But since I've started getting our dinner plans ready on Sunday (and writing them down in my planner), things have gone surprisingly well.  And I'm sure no one is shocked by this except me.

And to keep things organized, I have a theme for each day.  Mondays are Crock Pot days since I can get it ready on Sunday night and then just turn it on before I leave for work.  It's been the best way to start the week, with dinner waiting for me when I get home.

Tuesdays are Mexican or Italian night, Wednesdays are known as "Daddy Dinner" where Chris has to make something (also a favorite night of mine), Thursdays are breakfast night (Chris' favorite night), and Fridays are leftovers or, if the budget allows, heading out to eat.

Doing this ahead of time has made my life, during the week, so much easier.  All in one day, I plan out the week (as well as get all my clothes ready for work) and make sure it's all in the fridge or pantry ready to be made the day of.   

I love this whole thing.  Love it.  And it's going so well that I really hope I don't crap out on it like I do everything else.  I'm famous for not keeping up with awesome ideas.  It might be because I'm lazy.  Maybe.

For inspiration, I used this slow cooker blog for this past Monday.  Well, it started as a recipe from this blog (Enchilada Casserole) but I didn't have many of the ingredients so it became something different, but just as good.  I plan on using this lady for my Monday meal inspirations--hope you can find something to make your life a little bit easier also!

please grow.

I've always loved the idea of fresh herbs from the garden.  Just snip a couple sprigs of cilantro for some homemade salsa or some dill for a yummy cucumber salad.  Just thinking about it makes me feel very Food Network-y.

So while at IKEA a couple weeks ago, I bought some containers in hopes of planting (and growing) some magnificent herbs.  Here's what I planted Sunday:

After I bought these, Chris pointed out that the "Dill, MAMMOTH" that I bought might be too much for the little container I'm going to grow it in.  He's probably right, but I'm planting them anyway.

The stuff I used ("stuff" being a technical term only horticulturists use):

Here's how they look done...(can you feel the excitement building??)

I'm sure they're already growing, I can just feel it.

So they're going to sit on the kitchen table, getting lots of sunlight. 

And if they can survive sitting next to Elliott for three meals a day, I should have some sprouts in 14-21 days.

The suspense is killing me...



year of the {soy}bean

Aahhh, the State Fair.  So much to do and so little time.

The fair gets more and more fun the older Ellie gets.  This was the first year she was able to ride rides (and those stupid things are expensive!).  We ate yummy food (a corndog, bloomin' onion, and corn on the cob...and Chris had a giant turkey leg.  That boy loves meat too much.)

Last year, it was blazin' hot and by the time we made it to the fair, a lot of the animals were gone.  This year, the weather was perfect and we got to see every animal.  Literally, we couldn't leave until we saw (and touched) every animal.

Chris eating his turkey leg while visiting the poultry barn.  Wrong on so many levels.

See you next year, fair!

another day

This is how my girls spend lunch time.

Nobody can make Harper laugh the way Elliott can. 

 And that makes my heart happy.

cereal and homemade baby food

Harper had her four month check-up last week and is continuing the trend of being an over-achiever.  Well, in the height department at least.  She's in the 90th percentile for height (thank you, Mommy) and 50th percentile in weight (thank you, Daddy).  She's basically a little baby supermodel.  She just can't help it.

At the appointment, our doctor gave us the okay to start giving her cereal.  I wasn't expecting this; I thought it was around six months with Elliott, but because I'd already starting stockpiling cereal and the amazing dissolving baby puffs, I was prepared for this assignment.  Go me.

Nice and clean baby:

And then after the tornado, also known as cereal, came through:

It doesn't look that bad, but that's because you can't see her hands or arms.  It was like we didn't even use a spoon and just let her shovel it in all by herself.  Which, in hindsight, might have been less messy than the spoon.

She loved it in the beginning (we took video also, and when I figure out how to upload it, I'll share--it's pretty entertaining if I do say so myself...), but by the end, she decided the bottle was much easier and started shooting dirty looks at the spoon.

Dirty-look-shooting:

So now that she's practicing the whole eating thing, I'm starting to gear up for baby-food-making.  With Elliott, I made about 90% of the food she ate as a baby.  I liked knowing exactly what I was putting into my precious little baby, where it was coming from, and that she was eating a variety of things.  

It was pretty simple once I figured out the process and got into a routine.  And I attribute Elliott's love of all foods with the variety she ate as a baby.  She's a two-and-a-half year old that will eat almost anything we give her (although she does have a fondness for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I wish we could have avoided).

And so I've been looking over the one-and-only baby food book I bought.  This book taught me everything I needed to know about the process and had a ton of good recipes in it.  And once you learn the basics, you can make baby food out of just about anything.  By the end of making food for Ellie, I was just food-processing whatever we were having for dinner and she would eat it with us.

 

Annabel Karmel is British and so some of the recipes are not what we would typically eat, but there were so many food combinations and good suggestions that I didn't mind the random gross-sounding one (tender casserole of lamb? no thanks.).

And she encourages the use of seasoning and spices in your baby food which I liked.  Don't dumb down the food just because you're feeding a baby.  I think that's what sets parents up for picky eaters.   

As a send-off, one more cute pic of Harper "The Don" Graham eating cereal for the first time...

the simple things

(A perfect day at the zoo with Elliott Quinn.)

Two weeks down.

I've been back to work and Chris has been a full-time, stay-at-home-dad for two weeks now.

And none of the things I was worrying about have happened.  My house isn't falling apart.  No one has gone to the hospital {yet}.  Ellie isn't more bratty than normal. 

They spend their days at the Children's Museum, the zoo, or the park.  They haven't yet made it to the library, but I'm still optimistic.  

It's been such a blessing to be able to do this.  The girls get to wake up on their own each morning, stay in their PJs all day if it's a lazy day, go on "adventures" with Daddy, make big messes that would freak Mommy out, play puzzles for an hour, or get out every toy in the basement. 

And that is a huge weight lifted off me during the school day when I don't have to think about what my girls are doing or when I can finish up grading papers or meetings to go get them.

So it's probably not the most simple of things, because it was actually quite an effort to get the whole Chris-quitting-work thing orchestrated.  But it's been worth all the sacrifices.  And when it comes down to it, those other things (cable, a brand new car...) weren't (and still aren't) that important.

My babies are what's important.  And the rest isn't.  

It's that simple.

  

blog love

Sooo, I recently started sharing my blog with peeps after two plus years of keeping it to myself (with a few random people that happened to be sneaky and find it [Kate]) and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of people that have said they are reading it/like it/relate to it.

That's always nice to hear.

But when not one of those peeps decided to "follow" me I was a little, um, shocked?  Surprised?  Insulted?  Okay, that's too strong of a word, but you get the point.

And today when I was getting ready to post a new blog, I figured out what was wrong.

No one likes me.

Just kidding.  Apparently, my followers haven't gone up one single person, because I don't even have the option to follow me on my blog.  Anywhere.  Oops.

I was not allowing people to follow me.  Ha.  Suckers.

So I'm not sure how those seven people I have listed as followers did it.

But I do have listed "follow by email" and when I clicked on those stats (which I didn't even know was an option until about fifteen minutes ago), I have 23 people following me by email. 

Well, that makes me happy.  Because, apparently, I get my self-worth from a blog.  Cool.

So now you can follow me...you're welcome.

Cold Tangerines

This is the kind of book I love.  Short, quick stories compiled in one place about life.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  I feel like I know Shauna Niequist, the author of Cold Tangerines, because I found a lot of similarities in the things she wrote about and the thoughts she shared with the things that are in my life.  And I want to be her neighbor.

(Random side note: while looking for a cover picture, I came across her blog.  I didn't spend much time on it, but I did bookmark it to come back to it later.  Because of the little I did read, I loved.  And she's since written another book, Bittersweet, which is now on my list to buy.  Check her out here.)

This is a book I picked up in New Orleans when we were visiting our friends Aaron, Shauna, and Abbey in March of 2008.  And since then, I've probably read it five times.  Just long enough between readings to not remember quite what the story is about.  And each time I fall in love all over again.

This last time I read it, I was pregnant with Harper.  This passage summed up perfectly how I have felt while pregnant (both times).  It's such a consuming thing, pregnancy, that I don't think I could ever put into words what it's like.  But Niequist came pretty close.

Here she is talking about being pregnant with her first child, a son, named Henry.

"I felt powerful and powerless in the same instant, full of rabid, crushing love, and also small and out of control and scared for all the life that my son will have to live without my protection.  Parenting for me feels like a love so big I can't manage it, a force so visceral I can't contain it.

I know that when Henry is born, I will change his diapers and feed him and keep him clean and warm.  Those are physical things I can do for him.  But what I want to do for him takes my breath away.  I want to twist and remake the world around his little self, to shine it up and rearrange it and make it great and special for him.  I want to walk ahead of him, making sure things are safe, and walk behind him, keeping an eye on him.  I want every day of his life to be happy, and I feel like I could move the sun with the intensity I feel.  I knew that a baby would be vulnerable and would need my protection, physically and otherwise.  But what I know now as I watch my mother is that it doesn't matter how big a son gets, a mother always feels, however illogically, that she should have been there to save him from whatever it was that hurt him."

Her words are powerful and her logic, while sometimes crazy, is completely understandable.  This is a book worth reading, and then reading again, because it seems to get more beautiful each time.

Cincinna-duh

An old man I used to work with when I was in college always said "Cincinnati" with a "duh" at the end of it (as opposed to the "tee" sound everyone else uses).  I thought it was annoying and cute at the same time.  So that was for you, Papa Smith.

For one last hoorah before I went back to work, my parents, brother, sister, nieces, Chris, the girls, and I all headed to Cincinnati for a three-day weekend.  We shopped at IKEA, played at Kings Island, learned at the Newport Aquarim, and ate like there was no tomorrow.  A quick, but fun little adventure.

Here's some highlights: