hmmm

I went clothes shopping this weekend.

I may have mentioned

- I can't remember -

I'm not a big clothes shopper.

Well. 

I do shop for big clothes,

so I guess, technically, I am a 'big clothes' shopper.

But I'm not a big clothes shopper.

No wait, that's still not right.

I am big. And I am a clothes shopper....

Let's try this:

I don't much care for shopping. especially for clothes.

But

I needed a dress.

We've got two more weddings to go to this summer

and I'm not about to go dressed as 

the frumpiest woman in attendance

again.

So I had no choice - but to shop.

I walked into the dressing room with 9 dresses slung over my arm.

That may have been over the limit - not sure.

As I walked down to the last little room

(I always go to the last room)

I passed a woman stepping out of her torture chamber

and I heard her say to her daughter,

"This," she drug the word out nice and long,

"looks amazing on me!"

I don't think I have ever said that.

Not even when I was skinny.

(Believe it or not - I was skinny, once upon a time.)

Which got me to thinking.

We are so careful to train our daughters

to not say, "Yes, I know." 

when someone tells them they are so pretty,

to compliment back if they've been complimented,

to focus on inner beauty, not outer beauty

blah, blah, blah

Maybe,

just maybe,

it's not so bad to think you look amazing

once in awhile.

I always suspected we were 'different'

picnic in the LEM

little miss adorable panty-bottom
has only used one diaper in over 48 hours!

I need help.

I

have got to be

the biggest idiot

in the world.

Since I was on the south side of FSM

I decided I'd run by the firework tents 

so I could make a list of prices.

Figured it'd save time and driving back and forth between tents

when we take the kids.

I exited the bypass

and turned right.

And didn't see one single firework tent.

I drove a mile or so down 71

- you know -

just in case they were further down the road than I remembered.

But I was pretty sure there were right by the bypass....

I didn't recognize anything.

Not only was there no place to buy fireworks,

there were businesses

(that didn't exactly look new)

where the tents should have been.
Baffled,

I got back on the interstate and headed home
and called Tyler 

to ask him 

to ask the guy he works with who runs a stand

where they moved to.

Never once

did it dawn on me

I'd taken the wrong exit.

I clearly need help!

the end of an era

A few months ago - back when things were especially

crazy

and I was hanging on by a thread

and my back was killing me

pretty much all the time

instead of only occasionally,

I decided to put away the cloth diapers

and just use paper.

Washing diapers really isn't that time consuming,

but I felt like I was adding something to my workload

that I didn't really have to.

Tony asked my if I was sad our cloth diapering days were over.

I quickly told him that they weren't over yet.

It was just a short break.

But the realization that they would

indeed

be over before terribly long did sting a little.

Last week

when I realized I wasn't stressed

every

single

day,

I pulled the diapers out,

threw away the ones that truly were unwearable

washed 'em all really good

and put one on my girl.

It made me happy.

Made Lex' pretty happy, too.

I started re-designing training pants in my head

(I never got around to making any for Lily....)

but I realized something today; 

We only go through a couple of diapers a day.
Lexi is doing super going on the potty!

They really need to be washed every other day.

It seems a little foolish

and wasteful

to run a load for 4 or 5 diapers.

And so, just like that

after 4 1/2 years

my cloth diapering days are over.

And yes, it makes me sad.

scrumptious summer salad

I could eat this every day!

It's so easy - just throw everything in a bowl,

mix it up

(although it does look so pretty in layers)

set it in the fridge so the flavors can mingle

and eat!

Summer eating at it's finest.

~

1 can garbonzo beans (chickpeas) rinsed & drained

(I rarely buy canned beans,

I just cook my own & freeze them, without liquid,

in can-sized portions in sandwich bags.

They thaw super quick;

just empty bag into strainer and run under hot water)

Gosh. 

After all that, I feel like I should start over.

1 can garbonzo beans (chickpeas) rinsed & drained

1 bell pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced kinda small

couple of tomatoes, diced.

1/2 cuke, guess how? diced

few handfuls of baby spinach, chopped - ha, gotcha!

 1/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 c  cold H20

few splashes of Italian dressing*

splash of olive oil
squirt of honey

a bit of salt, pepper, and paprika

If you really want to make it special,

add a few handfuls of fresh mozzarella pearls

~

delish!!!

just a little FYI

 Aldi has peppers, onions and decent-tasting tomatoes on sale through today

*

for years, we have used Good Seasons italian dressing packets

(someday, I will try making my own...)

mixed our way in their cruets:

white vinegar to water line

splash of apple cider or balsamic vinegar

water to oil line

add dressing packet

1-2 Tbls of a light cold-pressed oil 

(grapeseed,, sunflowerseed, etc)

YUM!

(if you know of a copycat recipe for GS packets

that really tastes like the real thing ~share, please??)

nap, interrupted

Whack, whack, whack...

I was immediately awakened

- if I had even been asleep at all -

from my nap.

"Stop that banging!" I hollered.

And I heard it again,

whack, whack, whack...

in rapid succession.

I jumped out of bed and threw open the door.

I figured there was a slight possibility

it was my husband making all that racket

and not a child, after all, so perhaps I shouldn't holler again.

I rounded the corner to the living room to see Josiah,

holding Jeremiah's brand-new-almost fishing net

up in the air

trying to catch a fan blade.

whack, whack, whack...

Of course

I then pulled the old (stupid)

"What were you thinking?!" card

and clearly

 - as is usually the case when that card is used -

he wasn't thinking at all.

At least not beyond, "I wonder if I can catch a fan blade."

I wonder what he would have done
if he actually caught one?!

Kieron, 3 1/2 months

Luke & Lana and the babies 

came over yesterday evening for some water fun.

I was busy cooking and forgot to pull out the camera.

I'm such a dork sometimes - sheesh.

I did have the presence of mind to grab it

when I sat Kieron in Lex's beach chair

and he matched it :-)

He's such a little cutie!!

 

a day off

~

thanks, Love!!

waiting

this kid

makes me smile.

Every Sunday night

(and the occasional odd other day)

Ton' leaves a note for Tyler

requesting a wake-up in the morning.

I know - some folks are opposed to full grown peoples

(and little peoples, too)

being woke up by other peoples,

and think a blaring alarm is the only proper way to great the day,

but in this house, we think a loving 'rise and shine'

works just as well, if not better, 

when possible.

Now, the wake-up songs - those I could do without.

But alas

 this post is about Tony's notes, 

not various methods of waking one up.

Never, ever

is the request the same.

Because 

that

wouldn't be my boy's style.

And I do love my boy's style!

Love you, Ton'!!

an exciting discovery

More than once,

when I've seen the clusters of tiny starlike flowers

image courtesy of  irishviews

and then later in the summer,

when I'd see the clusters of dark purple berries

(which look an awful lot to my untrained eye 

like poisonous poke berries)

image courtesy of thriftyliving.net

I would wonder

(sometimes to myself, sometimes aloud)

do we have elderberries on our property??

~

Book learning is great

and I've learned so much via the world wide web

but sometimes,

it would be nice

to have a real live person

teach me things.

Things like painting furniture and identifying herbs;

'cause you really don't want to mis-identify an herb!

Since I am not aware of any 

real

live

herbal wildcrafting

enthusiasts,

after years of wondering,

I finally pulled out the book,

googled,

and grabbed a branch off the bush.

And I discovered that

yes, we do, in fact,

have our very own elderberries!

And, of course, the accompanying elder flowers...

It makes me happy that I have herbs (besides plantain) 

growing wild on the old homestead

 but I'm especially tickled

because elder flowers are one of four ingredients

in our most-used momma-made herbal remedy.

Now, I just need to learn how to harvest them.

Time to hit the books.

again...

little baby is growing up

Guess who

- yesterday and today -

took herself to the potty

and pooped!

I'm sort of a pro, having done it eight times

but I have only one potty-training tip:
don't bother trying until the child is ready.

Really ready.

You'll save yourself

(and your poor baby)

so much frustration

(and laundry!)

If you do that

- wait on the child's readiness -

you won't have to potty train the child;

she will potty train herself.

Last weekend, Lexi wasn't quite ready.

Today, she's wearing panties.

I'm happy and sad at the same time...

another sneaky peaky :-)

for women only

Consider yourself warned, Boys....

~

A little over a year ago,

there was flu bug running rampant in our house

and in an effort to keep from getting it,

I loaded up on garlic pills and probiotics.

I happened to be having my period at the time

(I told you ~ this is a ladies only post....)

and was shocked to discover that my flow was considerably

lighter than my usual soak-a-super-tampon-and-a-pad in a hour.

I had very little cramping and back pain to boot!

Interesting!!

So the next month when Aunt Flo came to visit,

I repeated my garlic / probiotic therapy. 

I wasn't sure which of the two supplements

 was responsible for my tolerable period of the previous month

and having 'known freedom'

I wasn't willing to go back.

Then 

one month

I ran out of probiotics,

but I faithfully took 1 or 2 garlic pills every time I changed

(I'm almost blushing, ya'll)

and you know what?

Same results!

All along, it had been the garlic alone

that was responsible for the reduced pain and decreased flow.

I mentioned it to my doctor recently

and he was like,

 "Oh yeah, of course garlic slows your bleeding

because blah.blah,blah...."

I can't tell you why it works;

I can only tell you that

extra garlic

during that time

works for me!

the test piece

 There are certain things that are non-negotiable for the LEM:

Tyler insists on a table.

I really wanted a window seat for reading

but we didn't think a built in would work well in the space, 

so in lieu of that, I gotta have a padded bench.

Tyler and I both said a comfy chair was a must

and Jeremiah has had his heart set on a nature table

ever since we started talking about adding on.

 When I spotted this chest

I got excited.
It was bigger than what I had in mind

but I thought it had nice lines
and I loved the pulls
and over all was in pretty good shape.
The drawers were a bonus ~ I hadn't even considered drawers;
I was just set on having a 'surface' for a nature table.

It was a bargain at $20
so I figured it'd be a good practice piece for me.
If it ended up being too big for the space
or if I ruined it,
I wouldn't be out too much.

So, I bought it and we got busy.

Of course, the kids all helped where they could.

And I made repairs just like the pros.

What?! The 'pros' don't  use popsicle sticks??

okay - so my fix isn't exactly perfect and professional....

  At one point during the re-do

 Tyler said, "You know, I'm testing you."

(remember, he's not a painted furniture fan)

I was like, "Yeah, well, I'm testing me, too..." 

I'd spent hours learning - could I actually do it, though??

 I gotta say,

even with all my imperfections,

brush stokes,

and obvious under-use of sand paper,

I love my test piece!

 Sadly,

I'm not sure that it's gonna work in the LEM;

it is, after all, bigger than I had allowed for the nature table

when I drew up the room on graph paper.

I wouldn't say I exactly aced the test,

but I did pass with flying colors,

I think.

I linked up with Sarah's Before and After Party