Finding the good

I really don't like spiders.

They give me the creeps.

So, last September, when these two dudes, whom I called "The Bad and The Ugly" took up residence on my front porch, it was kind of hard for me to let them live there.



But I did.

Because who am I to kill them, just because they freak me out? (Plus, they were outside. If they had been in my house, all bets would be off!)

Spiders make spiderwebs, and I am completely DAZZLED by dewy spiderwebs. When I go hiking or camping, I'm always up at dawn, photographing the sunset and dewy spider webs. (Sure would be nice if I had the digital Canon Rebel I want instead of this little pocket camera that doesn't take the best photos! Shoot, it's only a $700 wish!)

Aren't they just gorgeous? Like strings of pearls.








So, my point is, there is some good in everything. It might be hard to find sometimes, but it's there.

I'm really tired this morning. Jordan was up a LOT last night, so I basically missed out on any sleep between midnight and 3:30 a.m. I slept from 10-12 and then from about 3:30 to 5.

I still got up to go for a jog this morning. My foot hurt and my body wanted to stay in bed, but once I got going it was OK. Then I turned onto my last stretch through downtown and the eastern sky was striped red and blue. It was a really pretty--and brief--sunrise. It began sprinkling during that final five minutes of my run, and by the time I got home, the clouds had chased most of the color out of the sky.

Still, I was one of the lucky ones who got to get up (Yes, GOT TO) and breathe the fresh pre-dawn air and see that glimpse of sunrise before the rain clouds moved in for the day. Most of Lapeer County missed that and I feel sorry for them!

So, today, when life hands you a lemon, do what you can to throw some eggs at it, whip it into submission and hand back a perfectly sweet lemon cheesecake!

Have a great day!

Strawberry-rhubarb crisp

The boys and I were driving down the road from our house yesterday when I saw that the person down the road had rhubarb for sale on his/her roadside wagon.



I find something extremely charming about buying produce from roadside stands.

Anyway, I knew I had a bunch of strawberries at home in the fridge, so I decided to get some rhubarb and make a crisp.

I searched through my cookbooks for a recipe, and found one for rhubarb crisp in "Around Our Table," which is the cookbook put out by the Grand Marais (Michigan) Historical Society.

Of course, being me, I had to tweak the recipe. It turned out fantastic!

I combined 2 1/2 cups of sliced fresh rhubarb with 2 1/2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries, the zest of one orange, 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour and a generous shaking of ground cinnamon. That's the filling. You put that into a greased baking dish (it called for 8 X 8, but I used two smaller ones so I could share with the neighbors).

The topping was 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats and 1/2 cup melted REAL butter. After you mix all that stuff together, you put it on top of the filling. I then added a bunch of chopped walnuts to the top.

Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees and serve warm. Vanilla ice cream is really good with it.

It definitely isn't "diet" food, but that's why I sent half of it to the neighbors. Moderation! :)



So, there ya go, a local, seasonal treat. Mmmm.....

Invasive or beautiful?

When I was little, my dad was out in the back yard, about to pull up a couple wild violets that had sprung up near the house.

I begged him not to. They were just so pretty. He really wanted to get them out of here before they spread, but because his little girl wanted to keep them, he did.

Well, they spread. Big time.

At the time, I of course had no comprehension of how difficult it would be to get rid of these violets once they spread. My dad must have really worked hard to keep them out of his gardens.

Then we bought the house from my parents and the gardens became mine. I'm not the gardener my dad is, and over time those violets have completely taken over. They have a tough, complex root system that is nearly impossible to dig out, especially when there are so many, so I've just given up.

Yeah, they're invasive.

But at this time of year, when they're blooming, they're also really, really pretty. I wish the flowering lasted longer because then I'm left with just leaves for the rest of the summer and they get big and straggly and not really all that pretty.

This year appears to be a good year for violets around here. (Though not so good for lilacs, which bums me out. I love to fill the house with the scent of lilacs. We didn't get many this year and the ones we got died within a day or two)

The violets, though, are pretty while they last. Sometimes I'm kinda glad I made Dad keep them.

A tiny garden project

I've got this spot at the back of my house where for some reason there is pea gravel instead of lawn. Not sure why my dad did that (we bought the house I grew up in from my parents when they retired and moved up north) but it's basically just been wasted space where weeds grow.

Last year, I put in a salad table and it went well, so I'm doing it again this year. I have visions of one day making that wasted space a pretty and useful garden area.

Well, yesterday, as Jordan took a nap, Logan and I were outside sitting on the deck stairs and we were kind of messing around with a pile of old rocks that were sitting there. We were picking them up one by one and checking out all the bugs we found (Logan LOVED the roly-poly pill bugs!). I started kind of stacking the rocks and ended up putting them in a ring between my salad table and the deck stairs.



"Hey!" I thought. "I could use this spot to put the extra little plants I need to thin out of the lettuce in my salad table. Maybe I could end up with even more lettuce for us to enjoy!"

So, I put some newspaper on the bottom of the ring in an attempt to keep the crabgrass and violets (more about those violets in an upcoming post!) from popping up.



Then I filled in the ring with about 60 pounds of potting soil (a bag and a half).



Finally, I used a tiny trowel to thin out some of the Grand Rapids lettuce plants I have in my salad table, and I also added some extra mixed lettuces I had started in Logan's window in peat pellets, just for fun.

by the way, this photo was taken after my well-intentioned son practically drowned the baby plants by helping water them with the watering can! They're kind of soggy, but I think they'll pop back up.



Before bed, I also put a little green wire fence around the garden. I don't know if it's high enough to keep the bunnies out, though. We'll see. I hope it doesn't become their personal salad bar. I want it to be MY salad bar! That reminds me, I want to get some radish seeds for Logan to plant there.

Also, I must mention, it is REALLY hard to get any gardening done with my kids. Jordan EATS ROCKS and dirt. I don't mean puts them in his mouth and spits them out. I mean he EATS them. Repeatedly. And for some odd reason, Logan was eating grass. Like chewing it up and swallowing it. What the heck?! Then he started pulling baby lettuce leaves off and eating those. I had to stop him before he mowed down the whole garden.

Anyway, hopefully this little project works out and we get some extra salad to eat! Yum!

One pound, week 2: Motivation

Week 2 is on, and I... haven't done a darn thing!

Well, actually, I did SOMETHING. I went shopping at Kohl's on Sunday for a little while and got kind of disgusted about the way things fit--rather, didn't fit--me. All the cute stuff in the junior's section was too tight. But the stuff in the women's section wasn't the look I was going for. I just wanted a cute little dress to wear to my cousin's wedding in July.

I went somewhere else, though, and spotted this sweet little dress. I really like the coral-pink-red colors and the fireworks-ish design. I also like the shape of the dress. The only thing I wish it had, however, was a wide black sash around the waist. I might try to find a scarf or something that would work. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. What I picture is a heavy satiny wide black ribbon to match the satiny ruffle around the bottom of the dress.

Here's what it looks like.



So, I tried it on, ready for disappointment. I liked it! It fits, but is a clingy material and only looks OK right now, and I feel the need to "suck it in" pretty hard. I am going to hang this dress in my kitchen and use it as motivation. Hopefully it will make me think more about what I am eating.

I haven't weighed myself. I know what I weighed a week ago, at the start of this challenge. I am pretty sure I haven't changed at all. I need to tighten down HARD on my diet in order to do that. How annoying.

I am setting a goal, not based on the scale, to look good in that dress by the mid-July wedding. Preferably without any sort of shape-wear assistance! As a reward, once I make some progress, maybe I'll buy myself some pretty summery shoes to wear with it, because I don't really have anything that would work great right now.

So, this week, Lisa at This Mommy Works, which is the host blog for this challenge, asks:

"So, ladies, please tell me what you have tried or what you are planning to try to change it up a little"

Well, as far as exercise goes, I change it up constantly. I never, ever do the same workout. I use a number of resources to design a different program each time I go. I might run hills, do intervals, or just take it easy and walk for cardio. I am hoping to find some rollerblades so I can skate, too, because I really used to enjoy that. As far as weights go, I generally strength train three times a week. Sometimes upper body, sometimes, lower, sometimes full-body and sometimes it's core-based. I use my husband's "Men's Health Big Book of Exercises" (A FANTASTIC resource, and they make a women's version, too) to put together my routines. It has 619 different strength training exercises, and there are some really good ones in there!

As far as diet, I need to change SOMETHING. I think it's in my head though. I make healthy meals and I enjoy them. The problem is that mid-afternoon combo of natural human energy slump and boredom when I'm just ready for Hubby to come home. That's when I start picking around in the pantry looking for energy. And what I choose might generally be healthy, but while almonds are a healthy snack, FIVE handsful (plus some fruit and whatever else I grab) are packed full of extra calories. Something about that time of day just makes me never feel satisfied.

I am thinking I might try to just take the boys out for a walk or something as often as possible at that time of day. remove myself from the boredom (and the pantry).

Yep, so that's where I am in Week 2. I have my pretty little dress hanging there, and hopefully she'll whisper in my ear when I am about to rummage in the pantry and make me reconsider my actions.

A tip for those folks at Meijer

Well, this is how my column came out (all true, by the way):

There it was, Mother’s Day morning.
I had set the clock for 7, so I would have plenty of time to get ready for church at 9:30, including clipping all the coupons for the typical post-church grocery store trip. I got up, got ready and received a beautiful Mother’s Day gift from Hubby and my sons.
But then Jordan flipped out. He screamed. He cried. He was inconsolable.
So, Hubby and Logan headed to church without us, and we headed to the store to get the groceries.
And he screamed. And cried. And was inconsolable.
I stopped in the produce department, took him out of his infant seat and let him sit in the cart like a big boy. It worked for maybe a minute.
Then he screamed. And cried. And was inconsolable.
I gave him his pacifier.
He pitched it.
I gave him the goldfish crackers I’d stashed in my bag for such an occasion.
He ate two and then screamed, cried and was inconsolable.
And then he threw the cup containing the goldfish crackers, creating a goldfish cracker crumb mosaic right there in Aisle 7.
And screamed, cried and was inconsolable.
All I could do was try to finish up the shopping as quickly as possible while trying to console this inconsolable child. So I tried, I really did, but all these well-meaning folks seemed to think that they needed to stop me, poke at the baby and get in his face, asking him what was wrong.
Even after their inquiries were clearly not working to calm the baby, still they expected me to chat. I felt rude, almost dismissive, but what could I do?
There was one girl who just kept talking. She was nice enough. She was clearly concerned and wanted Jordan to stop screaming, but really, I just needed to get him out of there.
“Maybe he’s teething,” she said, Feeling my baby’s forehead. “Oh, yes. He’s kind of warm. You might want to give him a little Tylenol.”
Oh REALLLLLY?! The mama bear in my head was growling, in pure disbelief that she, a complete stranger, had the audacity to TOUCH MY KID.
“Yeah, he’s a hard teether,” I said, gritting my teeth and nudging the cart forward.
Then she reached forward and unbuckled his seat belt because his arm had become tucked underneath it during his fit.
“Let’s fix this so it doesn’t choke you,” she said to Jordan.
Mama Bear was nearing the red zone at this point, but I knew that if I let her loose, there would be carnage. I continued to clench my jaw, and just looked at this chick.
“I work with kids, and I see this a lot,” she said. “I bet he’s teething.”
As my blood neared the boiling point thanks to the high-pitched screaming and the rather inappropriate actions of said well-meaning girl, I managed to squeak out, “Thanks! Have a nice day!” and started off.
She tossed me a look as if I was the one being rude.
I took off in a trot to the baby aisle, which was being blocked by two women with their carts, deep in conversation, completely oblivious to anyone else in the store that might need to get down that aisle RIGHT NOW.
I ran around to the other end of the aisle, grabbed a bag of baby snacks, ripped it open (Yeah, I was THAT mom.) and handed a handful to Jordan, just to shut him up. I sprinted to the checkout, and got us the heck out of there as quickly as possible.
Finally, we made it to the car and, as I knew he would, Jordan fell asleep on the way home.
Peace at last.
Blood pressure returning to normal levels.
Stress-sweat trickle down my back slowly drying up.
So, to all you well-meaning people out there, let me give you a tip: If a child is having a meltdown in the store, the very best thing you can do is get out of the way. As fast as you can.
Or you risk unleashing the Mama Bear, and that ain’t gonna be pretty.
Trust me.

A good ending

In all, my Mother's Day was decent. The baby woke up realllllly cranky, and stayed that way, rendering me unable to take him to church, so Logan and Hubby went and Jordan and I went grocery shopping.

He screamed throughout the store. Lots of annoying people for some reason thought it would be helpful to stop us and poke at the baby, asking him what was wrong. I clearly needed to just get the shopping done but people kept stopping and this one girl was telling me he might be teething and feeling his forehead and telling me to give him Tylenol, blah blah blah because "she works with kids and sees this all the time." Um, hello, I'm his mom. Please step aside and by the way, stop touching my baby!

Geez.

Anyway, I got a beautiful mother's ring from my Hubby (and the boys, of course) and I couldn't stop looking at it all day.

The baby took a nap but was still kinda crabby. He woke up and I fed the kids lunch while Hubby went to the gym. Then he came home and I got ready to go for a run. First, I went to Kohl's to browse around, but it was rather disappointing. I was kind of shopping for a dress for my cousin's wedding in July, and all the cute ones in Juniors were too tight but the ones in Women's weren't all that cute. I swear, WHAT are mid-30s people supposed to wear? I don't want to look like I'm trying to look 20, but I don't want to look like I'm older, either. It's hard to find a happy medium. Especially when you're carrying an extra 15.

I did find a dress somewhere else. More on that in an upcoming post.

After shopping for a bit, I went for a jog. Then I came home and found my Mother's Day card.

They didn't get me or even make me a paper card, but I thought this was so much cooler. While I was gone, hubby and the boys spent some time sidewalk chalking me a sweet Mother's Day message. I loved it!











And then, after dinner, Jordan started flipping out again, so I gave him a bath and was in Granny's rocking chair in his room reading him some bedtime stories when Logan came in and crawled up onto my lap to hear some, too. Then, he read a book to me and Jordan, which was so sweet. It was by far the best part of my Mother's Day. I was just snuggled in the chair with my babies.

Hubby took a pic of the moment. Please pardon my appearance as this is after-run, after-dinner and after giving a howling baby a bath!



In about an hour, Logan will be going to bed. I have to write my newspaper column still (Ugh. No idea what I'm going to write about.) and then I will take a shower and just maybe have five minutes or so of reading before I need to go to bed, so I can get up early and hit the gym.

Wish we had some wine! :)

So, that's how my day went. Hope yours was awesome!