5.29.2007
SHE'S 5!!!
This is my darling darling darling. She's a light in my life and an almost-constant source of joy. I'm thrilled I'm her mom and that she's my girl. How could it be 5 years already? I don't know . . . but at the same time, I can't really remember life without her. Here's to you, Leah Blue!
*thanks goes to ph for the darling tutu skirt. I think I should commission some for Darlybird!
5.26.2007
Cure for a Steaming Sacramento Afternoon . . . or Recipe for Fun
Mix
2 cute and saucy girls
One crazy mom
3 bowls full of water balloons
Enjoy some girly screams, hearty laughs, and silliness all around.
2 cute and saucy girls
One crazy mom
3 bowls full of water balloons
Enjoy some girly screams, hearty laughs, and silliness all around.
5.21.2007
I Love Life
Last night Leah and I perused PetFinder. This almost-5-year old is dying for a dog. We'd love one, too, but are just now getting warmed up to the responsibility owning a dog entails. We had so much fun reading the little profiles and looking at the pictures of these animals.
These are the three dogs we currently have our eyes on.
They are all poodle mixes, since the poodle part makes them hypo-allergenic.
Top is Turbo: I talked to the foster-owner of Turbo last night about how he did around small kids. She said, "Is your 2.5 year old the type that would want to be in his face all the time?" HELLO! Turbo might not be a good fit for our family.
Middle is Seabiscuit: Leah said, "Mom, he's smiling at me!" Is that not the saddest/cutest/most pathetic little mug shot you've ever seen. I wanted to drive up to Grass Valley last night to get little Seabiscuit. His time ran out on Friday, but we're hoping they let him live a little longer. At least long enough for us to go check him out.
Bottom is Noodles: This girl is a Labradoodle and she's potty trained! I love labs, but we can't have one, so I'm hoping that the labradoodle mixture will mean no shedding! Leah said she'd want to change her name, but I kind of love the labradoodle named Noodles.
Who would you adopt?
5.14.2007
My Little Paradise
Check out my amazing green chair . . . $5 at a yard sale on the way home from Yosemite. You like?
4.29.2007
Feist nugget
I love calling my kids random nicknames. This is a "feist nugget" moment. I love it! At times when my girlies are driving me bonkers, I refer to them as "toxic midgets." Totally un-PC, and even though I believe in PC-ness, it wouldn't be nearly as hilarious to say "toxic little person." I coined the term when I was pregnant with Esther and Leah was using me as a jungle gym and refused to be extricated. I just blurted it out: "Get off of me, you toxic midget!" And it stuck. We all think it's pretty funny. Even the TMs themselves.
I'm still Estie from the block.
Cruising (more like Fred Flinstoning it---she refuses to use pedals!) all the way to the neighbor's pool. Look at that milky white skin!
Cheese!
We went swimming yesterday. Actually, Jon and the girls went swimming. I dipped my legs into our neighbor's unheated pool. It was hot yesterday (90 degrees?), but the water was a chilly 72. Maybe this week I'll venture in past my knees. Just maybe.
4.27.2007
A few family photos
It was rainy last Sunday, so we lit our first-ever fire in this home. We've been waiting because we "need" a custom fire screen for our corner fireplace. But Jon couldn't wait any longer. I came out and he had started a fire. He tried to roast marshmallows, but that was thwarted because we used a Duraflame log; the marshmallows turned gray. Who knows what's in those logs?
4.23.2007
4.19.2007
Being the Baked Good Queen . . .
I discovered via my fabulous sister Susannah the best chocolate chip cookie recipe on the planet. Yep. Undeniably the best. I called her this afternoon in a pinch, when I couldn't find the trusty old Tanya's No Fail recipe (which now I think I just remembered I posted on my blog some time ago. I guess it's serendipity that I didn't remember, because now I've got a new fave.) This recipe comes from a Martha Stewart Comfort Foods cookbook. So I'm calling them Comfort Cookies, and they're making me feel the love right now.
Comfort Cookies via Sus via Martha
1 c butter
1.5 c brown sugar UPDATE: I am going to reduce brown sugar to 1 c. next time
.5 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 c flour (+ 1/4 c extra made the perfect consistency. Not quite so greasy.)
.5 tsp soda
.5 tsp salt
12 oz chocolate chips (Please take this advice for the best cookies ever: I used a Ghirardelli block of chocolate purchased at Trader Joe's and cut it into big chunks. Can I just say divine?)
Cream butter, add sugars and cream more. Add vanilla, and egg till well mixed. Then add flour, soda, salt until almost well mixed. Add chocolate chunks and mix just until combined.
Bake at 375 for about 12 mins.
Eat at least 4 that first day because you'll never taste anything better.
Oh---and to make it even more sinful, sandwich two of these puppies together with some Dreyer's Slow Churned Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. (I didn't do it for us, but I brought these to Jon's cousin who just had a baby on Saturday. All new mothers deserve sinful divinity in the form of dessert.)
Comfort Cookies via Sus via Martha
1 c butter
1.5 c brown sugar UPDATE: I am going to reduce brown sugar to 1 c. next time
.5 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 c flour (+ 1/4 c extra made the perfect consistency. Not quite so greasy.)
.5 tsp soda
.5 tsp salt
12 oz chocolate chips (Please take this advice for the best cookies ever: I used a Ghirardelli block of chocolate purchased at Trader Joe's and cut it into big chunks. Can I just say divine?)
Cream butter, add sugars and cream more. Add vanilla, and egg till well mixed. Then add flour, soda, salt until almost well mixed. Add chocolate chunks and mix just until combined.
Bake at 375 for about 12 mins.
Eat at least 4 that first day because you'll never taste anything better.
Oh---and to make it even more sinful, sandwich two of these puppies together with some Dreyer's Slow Churned Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. (I didn't do it for us, but I brought these to Jon's cousin who just had a baby on Saturday. All new mothers deserve sinful divinity in the form of dessert.)
4.18.2007
Ladybugs, Scraped Knees, and Finishing UP
Leah has a new pet. Actually, two new pets---ladybugs to be exact. She came inside on Monday morning, walking as if on eggshells so she wouldn't harm her new friend---who happened to be crawling on her, and insisted on a jar for her new pet. The next hour was precious: she quickly gathered leaves (lots of them from our gorgeous, slow-growing succulents), blossoms, rocks, blades of grass to make a new habitat for Lady. My favorite moment was when I looked over and she had a red plastic twisty straw in the jar . . . the ladybug's play structure. She's brilliant, I tell you! If I were a ladybug, that's what I'd want for my jungle gym! Later, the straw was gone and I asked her what had happened. "We decided it was too much." Classic.
She insisted on bringing her ladybug to preschool that afternoon. As she walked into school with her Mason jar of wonder, she was a little timid; she had that cute I'm-so-pleased-I-could-burst expression---the one where she's smiling, but kind of trying not to. When I came to pick her up, she had placed the jar in her "cuvvy" (I can't bear to tell her it's a "cubby" because I think "cuvvy" is so much cuter!) . . . the whole class had eagerly checked in on Lady periodically.
That night, Esther accidentally (?) threw Ladybug's home on the back aggregate patio. Yikes! Leah cried, Jon swept, and I hid out in my office so I didn't have to help in the melee. I thought that was the end of that phase.
But, yesterday, she realized she wanted another pet and started collecting again. This time I gave her lots of stickers to decorate the jar with. And, this morning we took the new Lady to the gym, Target, and of course to preschool again. I love that girl!
She also drew a million pictures on construction paper and had me as her scribe for the captions. She then went around the house hanging them up on windows, doors, walls, etc. My personal favorite sign is actually on the outside of the front door (as per her orders). It says: The party of nature and other things. There's no picture. Just that announcement. I'd love to have seen the look on our contractor's face when he showed up to finish our mold job this morning and found that as his greeting. (And it's in my handwriting.)
On a different note, Esther has fallen three times this week and repeatedly scraped her knees. This morning as we left the gym, she was thrilled because I had asked for an orange helium balloon for her. She was running as fast as she could (in her brand new, slightly too large See Kai Run shoes), tripped and skidded---oucH!---and let the balloon go all at the same time. It was tragedy. Her little body was shaking and she was crying, "Hold you, mama! Hold you!" We've run out of bandaids on her this last week, so we immediately went to Target where she picked out Dora bandaids. Being a kid is sometimes so glorious, sometimes so traumatic. But I do love it when she comes to me for comfort, I must admit. She's become such an independent spirit, insisting "I DO IT!" at every chance.
Our laundry room and bathroom were finished today! Yippee! I feel like I'm in ecstasy when I walk into the laundry room with its amazing new tile. Can I just say BEAUTIFUL! Wish you were here. I'll take pictures once we get the washer and dryer back in and the new Ikea cabinets up. But for now it's just my little happy spot. (Aside: I really want to get new front-loading machines for my new gorgeous laundry room. The others have served us very well, but I'm not sure they "fit" anymore. I'm sure Jon will beg to differ. There are definitely bigger fish to fry in our lives, our home, etc . . . but it's fun imagining the big stainless steel beauties glimmering almost as much as the floor.)
Time to go retrieve Leah and said ladybugs. Over and out.
She insisted on bringing her ladybug to preschool that afternoon. As she walked into school with her Mason jar of wonder, she was a little timid; she had that cute I'm-so-pleased-I-could-burst expression---the one where she's smiling, but kind of trying not to. When I came to pick her up, she had placed the jar in her "cuvvy" (I can't bear to tell her it's a "cubby" because I think "cuvvy" is so much cuter!) . . . the whole class had eagerly checked in on Lady periodically.
That night, Esther accidentally (?) threw Ladybug's home on the back aggregate patio. Yikes! Leah cried, Jon swept, and I hid out in my office so I didn't have to help in the melee. I thought that was the end of that phase.
But, yesterday, she realized she wanted another pet and started collecting again. This time I gave her lots of stickers to decorate the jar with. And, this morning we took the new Lady to the gym, Target, and of course to preschool again. I love that girl!
She also drew a million pictures on construction paper and had me as her scribe for the captions. She then went around the house hanging them up on windows, doors, walls, etc. My personal favorite sign is actually on the outside of the front door (as per her orders). It says: The party of nature and other things. There's no picture. Just that announcement. I'd love to have seen the look on our contractor's face when he showed up to finish our mold job this morning and found that as his greeting. (And it's in my handwriting.)
On a different note, Esther has fallen three times this week and repeatedly scraped her knees. This morning as we left the gym, she was thrilled because I had asked for an orange helium balloon for her. She was running as fast as she could (in her brand new, slightly too large See Kai Run shoes), tripped and skidded---oucH!---and let the balloon go all at the same time. It was tragedy. Her little body was shaking and she was crying, "Hold you, mama! Hold you!" We've run out of bandaids on her this last week, so we immediately went to Target where she picked out Dora bandaids. Being a kid is sometimes so glorious, sometimes so traumatic. But I do love it when she comes to me for comfort, I must admit. She's become such an independent spirit, insisting "I DO IT!" at every chance.
Our laundry room and bathroom were finished today! Yippee! I feel like I'm in ecstasy when I walk into the laundry room with its amazing new tile. Can I just say BEAUTIFUL! Wish you were here. I'll take pictures once we get the washer and dryer back in and the new Ikea cabinets up. But for now it's just my little happy spot. (Aside: I really want to get new front-loading machines for my new gorgeous laundry room. The others have served us very well, but I'm not sure they "fit" anymore. I'm sure Jon will beg to differ. There are definitely bigger fish to fry in our lives, our home, etc . . . but it's fun imagining the big stainless steel beauties glimmering almost as much as the floor.)
Time to go retrieve Leah and said ladybugs. Over and out.
4.09.2007
On Whirlwinds, Cupcakes, and Over-doing it
I had a most lovely trip to Utah last week; my parents graciously hosted me, Miss Leah, and Miss Esther, and my Darlybird Trunk Show. This was no small task. So thanks be to the padres who are always willing to take in their frazzled daughter, ragamuffin grand-daughters, and the hair-brained schemes of us all.
So this whirlwind trip was fabulous, even though I'm feeling the aftershocks of it at present. Laundry, laundry, laundry, without access to in-home machines (laundry room's being redone, thus washer and dryer are sitting in the toyroom) . . . looks like we'll be in our dregs by week's end. (That's how much I love the laundromat). My exhaustion factor is pretty high, seeing as though I drove home the whole way on Saturday, arriving home at 11:30 pm, and then got up before the crack of dawn for church meetings (on Easter? YES, on Easter!) And me without spousal help for a week=toxic combo. (Thanks, Jonnie, for being such a helpful husband!) The girls are exhausted, cranky, we have no food in the house, and my Darlybird stuff is strewn all over the office.
BUT . . .
I had a marvelous time! After these trips, I often wonder what I'm doing in Sacramento without any family and lifelong best friends right nearby. It's a crazy combo of wanting the independence and the adventure versus being cozy and available and safe with family surrounding you. So why am I here? Oh yeah, Sacramento has the job. And the weather. And lots of other great amenities, too. Can my whole family and friends please, oh please, just relocate to Northern Cali and start building the commune? It shouldn't be this difficult! We could have co-op school, weekly dinner parties, babysitting trades, girls nights out, knitting parties, craft days. Please?
I know you'd all get sick of me after about 2 weeks. But it's fun to dream.
Thanks to everyone who came to my Darlyparty. (Yes, I know it's CheezWhiz to use 'darly' for everything, but a girl's gotta do what a . . . ) And also thanks to those of you who helped me pull it off (Righteous Mama, you were a tremendous help!) It was so much fun to meet lots of my "customers" and to be in the presence of a lot of classy ladies (thanks for driving all the way down, Tropical Velvet.) ASIDE: Just so you know, I am not a saleslady . . . I do a fabulous job of selling people on things that I'm not selling, but when it comes to me being the seller, it's really hard for me because I feel guilty taking your money. It's a problem for a small business owner. (ASIDE over.) And, yes, the cupcakes were divine. I was pretty proud of myself. I emailed recipes to cjane late Friday night/Saturday morn, before the homeward trek. I've had many requests, so I'm going to copy part of the email here, rather than re-type it all. Please forgive the shoddy instructions:
CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS
i'll give you a quick rundown of the three versions i did. all started with a $1 cake mix . . . and i definitely recommend using a mix since you'll be doing a fair amount of other things, like making fillings, etc. DISCLAIMER: i just reread these instructions and they're a bit frenetic at best. sorry. it's just that they were all a grand experiment. i figured out what i was doing as i did it. so i hope it makes sense.
so, first: Lemon cupcakes with lime curd filling and raspberry frosting
--lemon cake mix....make and bake as instructed
--lime curd: one can sweetened condensed milk with 1/3 c. fresh lime juice. (stir till combined)
--raspberry whipped cream frosting: this recipe is totally approximate, since i was just mixing random ingredients in. so bear with me and my imperfections:
Whipped cream with a bit of almond extract, powdered sugar, a couple TBS of butter, and a bit of cream cheese. mix together. add 1/2 bag of frozen raspberries and blend. let it sit for a bit so the raspberries have time to slightly thaw. then mix more. voila!
Chocolate Whipped Cream Cupcakes
chocolate cake mix -- make as directed
filling=whipped cream with some powdered sugar and almond extract (i had a ton of this left over, so i actually used the leftovers to make the raspberry frosting).
frosting: it's wilton's buttercream recipe. tamra just called me for the recipe and i looked it up online, and i think i have it memorized. dang! that will not be good for the baked good addiction. i've only made it once before, but it is the best buttercream on the planet!
1 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. clear vanilla (i bought this at shepherds.....it just doesn't color the buttercream brown)
2 TBS milk
beat the butter in your pinky pie mixer (so cute!) until it's totally whipped. leave the butter out for a couple of hours or at least microwave it for a second so it's room temp.
add powd sug one cup at a time, vanilla, and milk last. i made a double batch of this and then took half out for the guava cream cheese cupcakes. then i added 3-4 TBS of cocoa powder and some more milk and that is what makes it a chocolate buttercream. super duper easy!
Vanilla cupcakes with guava cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream
yellow cakemix- m.a.d. (as directed)
guava filling is found in a weird sealed bag at shepherds. i loved it and think it is awesome. it's a little thick to pipe into cupcakes, so i added some cream cheese and milk to kind of tame it down and thin it.
fill cupcakes and then frost with the vanilla buttercream from above recipe.
FILLING CUPCAKES: there is a tip at shepherds that is 1.50 or something and it looks like a long hollow needle. you put the filling in your bag and then stick that tip into the cupcake at least halfway. squeeze filling out into the cupcake to the point that you can see the cupcake expanding, but not bursting. it's super easy and i think it makes them so much fun.
if you need more instructions, you can ask at shepherds, or call me at 530-304-1235. i'll most-likely be somewhere in nevada going bonkers with my darlings in the back seat watching charlie and lola for the 765th time. but don't tell my husband!
gotta go to sleep so i don't fall asleep at the wheel. thanks so much for coming last nite. it was lots of fun to see you (as usual) and you look so great and happy. 30 suits you well. good luck with the cupcakes, happy easter, and we'll definitely have to do lunch or otherwise or both next time i'm in town.
have fun----
Now my goal is to exercise every day this month to burn off those 6-some cupcakes and the chocolate-covered cinnamon bears my mom buys me whenever I come to Utah. And oh yeah, the Cadbury MiniEggs I basically inhaled to keep myself awake on the long journey home. YIKES! When it comes to baked goods, I'm a goner.
So this whirlwind trip was fabulous, even though I'm feeling the aftershocks of it at present. Laundry, laundry, laundry, without access to in-home machines (laundry room's being redone, thus washer and dryer are sitting in the toyroom) . . . looks like we'll be in our dregs by week's end. (That's how much I love the laundromat). My exhaustion factor is pretty high, seeing as though I drove home the whole way on Saturday, arriving home at 11:30 pm, and then got up before the crack of dawn for church meetings (on Easter? YES, on Easter!) And me without spousal help for a week=toxic combo. (Thanks, Jonnie, for being such a helpful husband!) The girls are exhausted, cranky, we have no food in the house, and my Darlybird stuff is strewn all over the office.
BUT . . .
I had a marvelous time! After these trips, I often wonder what I'm doing in Sacramento without any family and lifelong best friends right nearby. It's a crazy combo of wanting the independence and the adventure versus being cozy and available and safe with family surrounding you. So why am I here? Oh yeah, Sacramento has the job. And the weather. And lots of other great amenities, too. Can my whole family and friends please, oh please, just relocate to Northern Cali and start building the commune? It shouldn't be this difficult! We could have co-op school, weekly dinner parties, babysitting trades, girls nights out, knitting parties, craft days. Please?
I know you'd all get sick of me after about 2 weeks. But it's fun to dream.
Thanks to everyone who came to my Darlyparty. (Yes, I know it's CheezWhiz to use 'darly' for everything, but a girl's gotta do what a . . . ) And also thanks to those of you who helped me pull it off (Righteous Mama, you were a tremendous help!) It was so much fun to meet lots of my "customers" and to be in the presence of a lot of classy ladies (thanks for driving all the way down, Tropical Velvet.) ASIDE: Just so you know, I am not a saleslady . . . I do a fabulous job of selling people on things that I'm not selling, but when it comes to me being the seller, it's really hard for me because I feel guilty taking your money. It's a problem for a small business owner. (ASIDE over.) And, yes, the cupcakes were divine. I was pretty proud of myself. I emailed recipes to cjane late Friday night/Saturday morn, before the homeward trek. I've had many requests, so I'm going to copy part of the email here, rather than re-type it all. Please forgive the shoddy instructions:
CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS
i'll give you a quick rundown of the three versions i did. all started with a $1 cake mix . . . and i definitely recommend using a mix since you'll be doing a fair amount of other things, like making fillings, etc. DISCLAIMER: i just reread these instructions and they're a bit frenetic at best. sorry. it's just that they were all a grand experiment. i figured out what i was doing as i did it. so i hope it makes sense.
so, first: Lemon cupcakes with lime curd filling and raspberry frosting
--lemon cake mix....make and bake as instructed
--lime curd: one can sweetened condensed milk with 1/3 c. fresh lime juice. (stir till combined)
--raspberry whipped cream frosting: this recipe is totally approximate, since i was just mixing random ingredients in. so bear with me and my imperfections:
Whipped cream with a bit of almond extract, powdered sugar, a couple TBS of butter, and a bit of cream cheese. mix together. add 1/2 bag of frozen raspberries and blend. let it sit for a bit so the raspberries have time to slightly thaw. then mix more. voila!
Chocolate Whipped Cream Cupcakes
chocolate cake mix -- make as directed
filling=whipped cream with some powdered sugar and almond extract (i had a ton of this left over, so i actually used the leftovers to make the raspberry frosting).
frosting: it's wilton's buttercream recipe. tamra just called me for the recipe and i looked it up online, and i think i have it memorized. dang! that will not be good for the baked good addiction. i've only made it once before, but it is the best buttercream on the planet!
1 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. clear vanilla (i bought this at shepherds.....it just doesn't color the buttercream brown)
2 TBS milk
beat the butter in your pinky pie mixer (so cute!) until it's totally whipped. leave the butter out for a couple of hours or at least microwave it for a second so it's room temp.
add powd sug one cup at a time, vanilla, and milk last. i made a double batch of this and then took half out for the guava cream cheese cupcakes. then i added 3-4 TBS of cocoa powder and some more milk and that is what makes it a chocolate buttercream. super duper easy!
Vanilla cupcakes with guava cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream
yellow cakemix- m.a.d. (as directed)
guava filling is found in a weird sealed bag at shepherds. i loved it and think it is awesome. it's a little thick to pipe into cupcakes, so i added some cream cheese and milk to kind of tame it down and thin it.
fill cupcakes and then frost with the vanilla buttercream from above recipe.
FILLING CUPCAKES: there is a tip at shepherds that is 1.50 or something and it looks like a long hollow needle. you put the filling in your bag and then stick that tip into the cupcake at least halfway. squeeze filling out into the cupcake to the point that you can see the cupcake expanding, but not bursting. it's super easy and i think it makes them so much fun.
if you need more instructions, you can ask at shepherds, or call me at 530-304-1235. i'll most-likely be somewhere in nevada going bonkers with my darlings in the back seat watching charlie and lola for the 765th time. but don't tell my husband!
gotta go to sleep so i don't fall asleep at the wheel. thanks so much for coming last nite. it was lots of fun to see you (as usual) and you look so great and happy. 30 suits you well. good luck with the cupcakes, happy easter, and we'll definitely have to do lunch or otherwise or both next time i'm in town.
have fun----
Now my goal is to exercise every day this month to burn off those 6-some cupcakes and the chocolate-covered cinnamon bears my mom buys me whenever I come to Utah. And oh yeah, the Cadbury MiniEggs I basically inhaled to keep myself awake on the long journey home. YIKES! When it comes to baked goods, I'm a goner.
4.01.2007
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