This coat and hat were made by Brian's great grandmother for his aunt, as I understand it. We were thrilled to have her wear them.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Miscellany 12.20.09
I have about a million pictures on my camera, so my next few posts are going to be pic intensive! I have one (count it... ONE) deep thought in my head, but I'm not sure how to articulate it, so that will be coming sooner or later.
Tonight at dinner, I served twice baked potatoes. As some of you know, my two eldest children don't consider potatoes edible unless they are of the french fried variety. Nathan asked me in his most polite voice, "Mom, could you never, ever make this ever again?"
Brian is dog tired after working from 4am to noon Saturday and Sunday. I am thrilled for the two coming four day weekends.
I'm pretty sure Nathan's quilt will be done for Christmas. Yay!! It's weird to have a project that I've spent a year working on, but Brenna is eager for me to start on hers. It will be pink and pupple (yes, I meant to do that).
We have an ornament graveyard going on the kitchen counter. And none of them were broken by the baby.
An old friend brought a great book store, Better World Books to my attention. They have a 5 for $15 bargain bin with free shipping, so I just scrolled through books until I found five that I knew I wanted for the kids. Only a couple of them are appropriate right now, but I got Sarah, Plain and Tall. It's a short little book, and I decided to read it because I remember not really caring for it as a kid. It's heart wrenching. The story is about a widower who advertises for a wife in the newspaper, and his two children, as they prepare to welcome Sarah into their lives. The most important criterion? That she sing, because there has been no music in their house since their mother died. It's got me thinking about emotional maturity and when it's appropriate to introduce negative emotions in a safe way. I can't remember when I read it... probably around third or fourth grade.
We have only one meal's worth of turkey left from Thanksgiving, and I've decided that next year I'M NOT MAKING A TURKEY. Blasphemy, I know. But I've never particularly liked turkey, and having several meals of it after the big day, on top of the work of making it in the first place... just not worth it. Besides, Thanksgiving is about the carbs anyway, right?
Okay, I think that's it. My brain is sort of empty for the moment. If you made it this far, thank you!
Tonight at dinner, I served twice baked potatoes. As some of you know, my two eldest children don't consider potatoes edible unless they are of the french fried variety. Nathan asked me in his most polite voice, "Mom, could you never, ever make this ever again?"
Brian is dog tired after working from 4am to noon Saturday and Sunday. I am thrilled for the two coming four day weekends.
I'm pretty sure Nathan's quilt will be done for Christmas. Yay!! It's weird to have a project that I've spent a year working on, but Brenna is eager for me to start on hers. It will be pink and pupple (yes, I meant to do that).
We have an ornament graveyard going on the kitchen counter. And none of them were broken by the baby.
An old friend brought a great book store, Better World Books to my attention. They have a 5 for $15 bargain bin with free shipping, so I just scrolled through books until I found five that I knew I wanted for the kids. Only a couple of them are appropriate right now, but I got Sarah, Plain and Tall. It's a short little book, and I decided to read it because I remember not really caring for it as a kid. It's heart wrenching. The story is about a widower who advertises for a wife in the newspaper, and his two children, as they prepare to welcome Sarah into their lives. The most important criterion? That she sing, because there has been no music in their house since their mother died. It's got me thinking about emotional maturity and when it's appropriate to introduce negative emotions in a safe way. I can't remember when I read it... probably around third or fourth grade.
We have only one meal's worth of turkey left from Thanksgiving, and I've decided that next year I'M NOT MAKING A TURKEY. Blasphemy, I know. But I've never particularly liked turkey, and having several meals of it after the big day, on top of the work of making it in the first place... just not worth it. Besides, Thanksgiving is about the carbs anyway, right?
Okay, I think that's it. My brain is sort of empty for the moment. If you made it this far, thank you!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Who Says They Have the Best Food Here?
When we moved I had to give up my sourdough starter. It was a sad day pouring that down the drain, but there was no way I could bring it. So Brian and I have been on a mini-search (all inclusive of the stores we go to often!) to find some good sourdough. A few weeks ago, Sam's club had ONE package of sourdough, which we brought home, made sandwiches with, then spilled water all over. I almost cried.
On Sunday, at our weekly trip to Sam's club, I decided to ask the bakery if they had any, since there wasn't any on the shelf. A woman making an order kindly let me go in front of her to ask. The answer was, of course, no, but as I turned to walk away, I heard the woman who was behind me ask, "what's that she's asking for?" and I glanced over my shoulder to see the young lady at the counter, with a VERY dubious expression, gesture that it was a round loaf as she said, "you put filling or something in it". And with a look of total distaste and a shrug, "some people like it".
Alrighty then. A new starter is sitting on top of the refrigerator!
On Sunday, at our weekly trip to Sam's club, I decided to ask the bakery if they had any, since there wasn't any on the shelf. A woman making an order kindly let me go in front of her to ask. The answer was, of course, no, but as I turned to walk away, I heard the woman who was behind me ask, "what's that she's asking for?" and I glanced over my shoulder to see the young lady at the counter, with a VERY dubious expression, gesture that it was a round loaf as she said, "you put filling or something in it". And with a look of total distaste and a shrug, "some people like it".
Alrighty then. A new starter is sitting on top of the refrigerator!
Friday, December 4, 2009
7 Quick Takes Friday - New Orleans Edition
I've wanted to do a New Orleans edition (I typed 'addition' twice) since we moved here, and finally I'm remembering before Saturday. Woohoo! Here goes:
1. First things, first, here is a map of the city. We live in the Lower Garden District, which is at the bottom right of the crescent (circled, a little hard to see). Brian works right now up in the Jefferson Parish (northwest of the crescent) while they prepare to start work on the levee, but the levee is actually in St. Tammany Parish (East of the crescent). Click on the map to view it full size.
2. Neighborhoods in Brief Here's a brief summary of each of the major neighborhoods. A little bit of history and the boundaries. I found it interesting.
3. How Ta Tawk Rite The street names here are a whole mix of languages, and this guide cracked me up. I was so proud of myself when I was able to pronounce the names of the muses... but who knew, New Orleanians pronounce their names phonetically (for instance, Calliope. Pronounced Cuh-lie-oh-pee, right? Nope. Here it's cal-ee-ope. It feels so wrong!) Oh, and my favorite street name, we live a couple blocks from Tchoupitoulas. That's Chop-it-too-las.
4. As soon as we moved here, we made a beeline for the Louisiana Children's Museum. It's wonderful, but has the most horrendous parking. Trying to park at this place has almost broken me a couple times!
5. The place we're spending the most time exploring right now is The Audubon Zoo. This is absolutely the most beautiful zoo I've seen, and we really loved the Columbia, SC zoo! Today, when Isaac wakes up we're going to visit the Insectarium. Nathan is SO excited!
The fountain in the zoo entrance
A huge grove of oaks in the center of the zoo
A little fairy descending from Monkey Hill
7. Tomorrow, we're going to spend the day at Shady Pond Tree Farm hanging out and picking out a Christmas tree. The kids are very excited about the tree, and Brian and I are very excited about a (very cold) day spent outside exploring what looks like a beautiful farm! I plan to take my camera and make the kids wear clothes that don't clash wildly in an effort to get some great Christmas pictures of them. We'll see how that goes!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Our Yummy Thanksgiving Mess
Actually, that's not entirely true, since I knew I would need to be as efficient as possible in my tiny kitchen, I cleaned it from top to bottom before I started and kept it pretty clean along the way. I was quite proud of myself (and briefly considered why I don't do it that way all the time, but well, whatever).
I started cooking on Tuesday night, with the pie crust and first set of dinner rolls.
On Wednesday, I had a wonderful helper, who's only flaw is that she gets really mad when I won't let her help with something. Here she is helping me unearth the stock pot from that cabinet behind her for mashed potatoes. Can I just say, I probably should have realized that if I was using a stock pot for a party of eight, three of whom definitely weren't going to eat them, it was entirely TOO MUCH POTATOES! That's okay, I found an awesome recipe for mashed potato pancakes (which my children still won't eat).
Rolls getting started in my wonderful, awesome and amazing bread machine:
Thank you, Sam's Club, for potatoes on steroids. I have never, in my life, seen such gargantuan potatoes. And being the lover of potatoes that I am, I made about two thirds of the bag, ten pounds or so.
I tried a new stuffing recipe, and it was PHENOMENAL! This is going to be my stuffing recipe. The corn bread is another of my favorites, and was used Wednesday night with taco soup.
Were you wondering what the boys were up to while Brenna and I cooked? Brian was helping clean up, Nathan was playing with Legos, and Isaac was eating washable crayons, which foam when they get wet, by the way. I heard Brian yell, "Miranda, I need help! It's getting on me!" by which I'm pretty sure he actually meant our precious baby is eating something and I'm terribly worried about his welfare!
Just a side note, but see those really steep stairs behind Brian? I fell down them this morning. Which is why I'm now sitting here blogging, and not walking to the park with my family.
Here's the turkey. I got a big one, 15 pounds, I think, because I figured if I was going to spend the better part of a day cooking it, I wanted to be able to use if for a while. Mission accomplished! It was lovely, but too dry. Next year I'll try the bag thing like Linda told me I should...
And here is the meal. My moment of glory! And a little fear, because what if it was terrible? Oh, the green beans were. Terrible, I mean. Scrap that recipe. But everything else was wonderful. Yay!
I bought a puzzle for the evening because, well, I love puzzles, but also because Brian's aunt and uncle had one out a couple years ago at Thanksgiving and I loved how it gave people a chance to sort of exit the main conversations and have quiet conversations, but not actually feel out of the party. It turned out really well in this case; our three guests were people Brian works with who for whatever reason were staying in New Orleans. I have no idea if they know one another socially, but I had never met them before they rang my doorbell. So the puzzle gave us something to do with our hands and softened the inevitable breaks in the conversation. One young lady left pretty early in the evening, but the other had to be dragged away from the puzzle because her ride needed to get home :)
Oh, and those leaves on the wall behind the table? They were part of our school project a couple weeks ago, when we were talking about Fall. We've spent the time since we made them thinking of things we're thankful for and writing them on the leaves.
I know it's a little blurry, so if you're interested, here's the list:
Here are my favorite recipes that I used:
Sweet Dinner Rolls
I made a recipe of regular flour, and one of half whole wheat.
Stuffing
based on some of the comments, i added two granny smith apples, 1/2 cup walnuts and a handful of cranberries. And I used homemade cornbread instead of a mix.
Speaking of:
Cornbread
I love this recipe because it isn't crumbly. very moist and sweet.
Potato Pancakes
I started cooking on Tuesday night, with the pie crust and first set of dinner rolls.
On Wednesday, I had a wonderful helper, who's only flaw is that she gets really mad when I won't let her help with something. Here she is helping me unearth the stock pot from that cabinet behind her for mashed potatoes. Can I just say, I probably should have realized that if I was using a stock pot for a party of eight, three of whom definitely weren't going to eat them, it was entirely TOO MUCH POTATOES! That's okay, I found an awesome recipe for mashed potato pancakes (which my children still won't eat).
Rolls getting started in my wonderful, awesome and amazing bread machine:
Thank you, Sam's Club, for potatoes on steroids. I have never, in my life, seen such gargantuan potatoes. And being the lover of potatoes that I am, I made about two thirds of the bag, ten pounds or so.
I tried a new stuffing recipe, and it was PHENOMENAL! This is going to be my stuffing recipe. The corn bread is another of my favorites, and was used Wednesday night with taco soup.
Were you wondering what the boys were up to while Brenna and I cooked? Brian was helping clean up, Nathan was playing with Legos, and Isaac was eating washable crayons, which foam when they get wet, by the way. I heard Brian yell, "Miranda, I need help! It's getting on me!" by which I'm pretty sure he actually meant our precious baby is eating something and I'm terribly worried about his welfare!
Just a side note, but see those really steep stairs behind Brian? I fell down them this morning. Which is why I'm now sitting here blogging, and not walking to the park with my family. Here's the turkey. I got a big one, 15 pounds, I think, because I figured if I was going to spend the better part of a day cooking it, I wanted to be able to use if for a while. Mission accomplished! It was lovely, but too dry. Next year I'll try the bag thing like Linda told me I should...
And here is the meal. My moment of glory! And a little fear, because what if it was terrible? Oh, the green beans were. Terrible, I mean. Scrap that recipe. But everything else was wonderful. Yay!
I bought a puzzle for the evening because, well, I love puzzles, but also because Brian's aunt and uncle had one out a couple years ago at Thanksgiving and I loved how it gave people a chance to sort of exit the main conversations and have quiet conversations, but not actually feel out of the party. It turned out really well in this case; our three guests were people Brian works with who for whatever reason were staying in New Orleans. I have no idea if they know one another socially, but I had never met them before they rang my doorbell. So the puzzle gave us something to do with our hands and softened the inevitable breaks in the conversation. One young lady left pretty early in the evening, but the other had to be dragged away from the puzzle because her ride needed to get home :)
Oh, and those leaves on the wall behind the table? They were part of our school project a couple weeks ago, when we were talking about Fall. We've spent the time since we made them thinking of things we're thankful for and writing them on the leaves.
I know it's a little blurry, so if you're interested, here's the list:
Hannah and Claire
Get together
God takes care of us
Yummy breakfast
Our family
Isaac
Daddy
Clayton Community Church
We got to New Orleans safely
Our bedrooms
Our garden at home
Wonderful friends
Our new beds
Sophia
Mama
Brenna Mae
Daddy's job that helps provide for us
Toys
Jesus took away our sins
Nathan
Get together
God takes care of us
Yummy breakfast
Our family
Isaac
Daddy
Clayton Community Church
We got to New Orleans safely
Our bedrooms
Our garden at home
Wonderful friends
Our new beds
Sophia
Mama
Brenna Mae
Daddy's job that helps provide for us
Toys
Jesus took away our sins
Nathan
Here are my favorite recipes that I used:
Sweet Dinner Rolls
I made a recipe of regular flour, and one of half whole wheat.
Stuffing
based on some of the comments, i added two granny smith apples, 1/2 cup walnuts and a handful of cranberries. And I used homemade cornbread instead of a mix.
Speaking of:
Cornbread
I love this recipe because it isn't crumbly. very moist and sweet.
Potato Pancakes
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