Crunchy Peas

Beach Bound

 Last year, this trip was the highlight of our entire year.

  

We are headed out again for what is bound to be another great memory making trip.  Six wonderful days at the beach!  Like a child I am giddy with anticipation. There is just no other place like the seashore for me.  The salty air, the wind blowing off the tides, treasure to be found in the sand, it all entices me so. 

My grandparents have a house at Long Beach and so we will all descend there for some castle making and beach combing.  I'll be back next week!

** a couple of you asked some really great questions in reference to the birth I wrote about in my last post.  I tried to answer them as best as I could in the comments section.

The best things come...

 

...to those who wait.  Castor oil is nasty stuff, but it most often does the trick (if you are nice and ready to have a baby).  I was called in at 2am and by 4:35am baby was born. I rolled in this morning around 8am.  Her father is Iranian and they named her after his Grandmother.  I wish I could remember her full name, but they call her Nou ("New") for short.  Isn't that cute?

Isn't she cute?  The mama did an amazing job, the father was so attentive.  No real "story" to report.  I guess each baby has their own special way of entering this world, but little Nou came when she was ready.  But just by looking at her...I can tell she will be worth the wait.

Waiting

It has been a very quiet summer for births so far.  In fact, the last birth I attended was the first week of June. Finally, today the call came at 11:30am, "she's brewing" said the Midwife.  "Brewing" is midwife-ease for "perhaps she might be heading into labor and so you might want to plan accordingly."   Not knowing when I would be needed on shorter notice I packed my bag and then waited for the next call.

All the essentials here (snacks, BP cuff, phone, notes/directions, camera bag, etc.). The only things missing are mints.  No one likes a birth assistant with dragon breath.  My watch is on the fritz so I snatched my husband's. I have to wear one to count heart rates- I am thinking that his will not fit well under my gloves.  I'll be sure to wipe of any amniotic fluid before I return it :)  Also on the fritz is my stomach...a little Imodiam AD to the rescue.  Yikes.

While waiting, I did other very responsible things like: fixing dinner early and putting it in the fridge to reheat later, attempting a short nap, a couple loads of laundry, programming the address (homebirth) into my GPS, shaving my armpits, and fishing out my scrubs and crocs. Mostly I just waited and waited some more. Sometimes I think I prefer the "middle-of-the-night-get-here-in-10-minutes!" kind of call.  I remind myself that one of the primary ingredients for natural birth is patience.

It is now 7pm and still no active labor. The poor mama has been ordered to choke down some castor oil. It probably won't be long now. I am crocheting these little flowers,

and waiting....

Hope to be back tomorrow with a birth story.

Summer Fresh

When we arrived back home from our trip, the first thing I did was march straight out to my garden.  I held my breath as I neared the little patch of green hoping that it was all still alive.  Would my plants hate me after 4 days of not watering?  Imagine my relief when I not only found them alive but blossoming with produce.

Radishes.  These babies are my kind of veggie.  I think I like the look of them better than their taste, but you can't help but be attracted to theinstant gratification factor!  Drop the seeds in the ground and wa lah- 20 or so days later you have a bouquet of luscious reds pinks and purples. 

I am picking about 8-10 cucumbers a day now.  Not sure what I was thinking when I planted 18 cucumber plants.  We love them though.  I made this salad the other night which was pretty tasty.  I am also working on procuring a "secret family recipe" from a close friend for the "world's greatest pickles ever".  If I am successful I plan to make up jars upon jars of them and give them away at Christmas.  Isn't that what everyone really wants for Christmas- pickles?

Dinners these days have been very light.  I love summer eating.  With the heat no one is really in the mood for things that are too heavy. Mostly, we find ourselves grazing all day long on little platters of fruit, brushetta, nuts, and cheese. 

Somehow, and I am not sure how, I wound up with a subscription to Good Housekeeping.  Thank you mother-in-law?  Anyways, it comes month after month and I usually just flip through the pages once and then it goes to the recycle box.  But this month's issue turned had some really tasty-looking recipes.  The best part- every single one that I have gone to the trouble of trying has been so good!

This is a lovely shrimp salad with mango and peaches.  I don't like chiptole peppers, so I just used a sprinkle or two of carne asada seasoning instead. 

I have also tried and loved:

Southwest Chicken Wraps

Curried Chicken Salad

Jerk Seasoned Pork Chops

Seared Scallops

There you go! Five dinners...make a list and off you go.  Happy shopping and eating!

"Camping"

I put that in quotation marks because I am not sure that our vacation would qualify as camping.  Carl's parents own 30 foot fifth wheel outfitted with things like lazy boy chairs, a TV and dvd library, ceiling fans, a queen size bed and best of all kick a** air conditioning!  This ain't your mama's tent.

Yes, it was crazy hot outside and yes my children were slightly (sarcasm) dirty...but as my husband says, "its all part of the experience".  Wait- maybe that was Clark W. Griswald (Lampoon's X-mas Vacation) who said that. Anyways fun was had by all.

Indeed as promised there was some waterslide sliding:

  

 Some Gulfing (that's how we say it):

Some sidewalk drawing:

A few mallows were roasted:

And sunsets were saluted with relief:

A few sunburns and bug bites are ours as proof that we "camped".  Also lots of laundry that smells like campfire.  So we are back and fully recovering (went for pedicures yesterday)- there is no place like home!

Thank you all for allowing me that brief moment of introspection in my last post.  It was a bit of a pity party--but I was just keeping it real and I appreciate you listening in.  Your words were so kind and I really appreciate you taking the time to say them.  This little blog community just really super you know?  It has allowed me to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones half-way around the world!  Feeling pretty happy about that!

We had the rare opportunity to eat out with our best friends on my birthday.  Alone.  Without our kids (they have 3 girls too).  Usually we rely on each other for babysitting and therefore cannot ever go anywhere together!  This time we planned in advance to have the night out together.

A lovely evening outside, good friends, chicken curry soup, Bangkok Thai crepes, three bottles of wine, and creme brulee can make any girl feel better!  (I stuck to one glass of wine...I am a bit of a lightweight.  My counterparts on the other hand...:)

They had some fun at my expense.  You see we have had this little brush fire up behind our house.  When I say little I mean "13,000 acres little". 

We watched out our front windows as that helicopter worked heroically with two others to try and save that house.  They were amazingly successful because everything around it burned. The other night it seemed it was headed right for my front door.

Carl had the tripod at his office so my pictures didn't turn out very well.  My friend Melissa did a better job.  When the only thing standing between you and some gigantic flames is a wheat field...One can get a extremely nervous.  There were sheriffs and news crews posted at the entrance to our housing developments.  I kept wondering when they were going to come knocking on my door telling me I had exactly 3 seconds to get all my children, valuables, automobiles, (okay maybe the cat too- if I like her on that day) and get the hell out of there.  I couldn't sleep without setting a *few* things by the garage door.  Everyone thought that was pretty funny.  I, of course, was determined to have the last laugh.  Thankfully it never reached that point.  Somehow those crazy firefighters held the flames off and now it is burning further away and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Cough cough.  Smoke.

Whew!  All this excitement and emotion!  I am ready for a vacation.  We are headed out to do some camping/golfing/marshmallow roasting/waterslide sliding.  I'll be back later this week! 

::30::

 

(Me in Mrs. Korte's 1st grade class, I was Rainbow Brite for Halloween.  My mom made my costume! I thought it was so rockin'. In 1984 there was no such thing as red-eye reduction :)

Bittersweet.  That is how I would describe my feelings about turning 30.  Being the introspective person that I am, birthdays are "thinking days" for me.  I tend to take inventory of my life, remembering where I have been and wonder about where I am going.  I am not sure why but this birthday seems especially difficult- fighting tears right now in fact.  Its not as if I don't have a wonderful life.  I am healthy and happy and extremely blessed.  The last decade has been full.  So full.  College, marriage, babies, THREE BABIES, new homes, great jobs....all so wonderful. But somehow it feels as if I am turning a corner, leaving something behind. 

I wish I was one of those people who really embraced aging.  I wish I was someone who looked more distinguished with gray hair, and more voluptuous with a few extra added pounds. Instead, I just notice all the lumps, bumps, marks and wrinkles.  I think that the physical aspect of getting older really sucks.  What happened to eating anything I wanted and hardly gaining a pound?  Where did all the the athleticism go?  Anyone see my abdominal muscles lately...I think I have lost them.  I feel as though I am turning into a pile of mush on the outside- kinda like puberty in reverse.  Although I have heard that exercise can work wonders?!  Maybe I should try it sometime!

On the sweet side, I like how my heart has aged. The inside of me keeps getting better.  I am more sure of myself, more comfortable with myself and better friends with me.  I work less to impress people and work more to enjoy the moment.  Excitement has become a relative term.  Simple is better.  More pleasure is derived from watching my children sleep than some other big production. I have more patience and more acceptance.

How am I different at age 30?  I sleep less, remember less, and fear less. I weigh more, listen more and learn more.  I am older, and that is bittersweet.

Fruit and Friends

The benefits of living in orchard country: fresh fruit right off the tree! Our friends invited us to come and pick cherries with them yesterday morning. 

It was already scorching outside and it felt wonderfully cool under the shade of the well endowed branches.  Hannah's headband (her creation) reminds me of my Uncle Denny who is an expert in VW van repair and only ever wears flip-flops. Every time I looked at her I had to smile.

Ultimate concentration was required by Laurel who was learning how to spit out the pits.  I hovered nearby until she got the hang of it.

Fruit picking with kids means two things- the adults do most of the picking...

and the kids do most of the playing (and eating)!

But we did end up with lots of lovely cherries to enjoy now. Share your favorite recipes please!!

Veggies in the Making

Good morning garden, how's it growing?

The process of starting this garden has been a long one!  The spring weather was less than accommodating and we got off to a very slow start.  But a little sunshine goes a long way!  Now we are seeing...

tiny tomatoes,

giant bean poles,

rows of radishes,

and climbing cucumbers.

My grandfather-in-law taught me to train them up this way:

Makes for longer cukes and prevents them from getting curvy.  Space saving too!

Here is the secret fertilizer recipe I promised- also courtesy of my g'pa-in- law.

4 oz baby shampoo

12 oz of beer (you should probably take a little swig before you dump it in :)

1/2 cup of molasses

3 T Miracle Grow

Mix all these ingredients in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket, then fill the bucket with water to the top.  Stir it up and pour it over your plants (example: about 1 gal per tomato plant).  Let it soak into the ground and then water as usual.  I use this mixture about every 2 weeks. 

Here's to the fruits of our labors!

Prelude

Ahhhh!  A completely, totally, wonderfully relaxing weekend.  It was lovely.  Three whole days of just hanging out.  We did catch the fireworks from our neighborhood perch. Half-way through the show the girls started turning into pumpkins before our very eyes!  No one was feeling very patriotic at that point. The nights just keep getting later and later around here. Yesterday morning Emma and Hannah made Carl and I breakfast in bed.  They served us toast that was buttered then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and topped with peanut-butter.  A very interesting combination I must say.  Also on our plates were some "circle meats" as we like to call them, microwaved to perfection! It was all very comical as Carl and I used our worst manners and complained about everything in effort to show them how hurtful it can be when the people you lovingly serve are ungrateful.  We had them running back and forth from the bedroom to the kitchen fetching more of this, and fixing that. Lesson learned- maybe.

So I know that I have been a pretty lame/slackerish/lazy blogger for the last few weeks.  I have been pre-occupied with making a fairly big decision- to homeschool the girls this fall.  I would love to tell you all about this new venture and how I got to this point...but I am not feeling super articulate right now.  I am still very much sorting it all out, doing LOTS of reading.  The little free time I have had has been spent doing research. Once I get my ducks all in a row I promise to fill you in.  I also plan to show you around my garden (it is finally growing) and share with you my secret fertilizer recipe.  Exciting I know.  Little snippets of crafting are starting to emerge.  I am re-organizing the family room downstairs making way for a classroom of sorts, also getting a new sewing table.  Pictures of all that to come.  Then, because it just will not go away, I will share my thoughts on being 30 (almost- 5 more days to go).  See, there is lots to talk about and show you.  I promise to get back in the saddle this week!

 Yikes!  It is hot here, 106 degrees to be exact. We have been doing our errands very early in the mornings, spending the afternoons in the pool, slathering sunscreen, guzzling water, consuming mass quantities of frozen treats, gardening in the evenings- and then you know, lather rinse repeat. Throw in a garage sale, VBS, a birthday party, 2 family dinners, 7 straight days being on call, 1 false labor, and 3 kids who continue to repeat the phrase, "I'm bored"- and you can see why there has been absolutely nothing creative coming out of this place.  Crafting has come to a standstill! 

Thank you for all your lovely comments as of late.  I don't always reply to them, but just know that they turn the corners of my mouth up! I always look forward to reading them!  Please check back...I would miss you if you didn't.  Stay chilly!