when I get to be 21 again

Say all you want about men not planning in advance. I sure have said much on that subject concerning one man I know, but I now need to take it all back.

He asked me out on a date for September 3. (I said yes by the way and am already planning on what to wear).

What could possibly be so important to promote such advanced planning?
The Def Leppard and Heart concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited. I'm thinking of some of those clip in hair extensions in dark purple are in order!!!

Now to line up a babysitter. Think I'll wait a little bit on that one.

on the mend

Last week was not what I intended it to be. We were sick (we being the children and I, Super Man seems to rarely ever get sick and he already took his turn for the next 10 years or so). Grace even stayed home one day. We lounged a bit in our pjs, coughed on each other, and relished in the idea we had no where to go. The next day everyone felt better. Well, everyone but me. I pretended I felt better, because I had better things to do than sit around being sick. Who has time for that? I played that way all week until I couldn't play anymore. Saturday it hit me. Super Man agreed with my self-diagnosis of bronchitis (it helps that I had that last year the the symptoms including the old-man wheezing where the same). With the help of some appropriate meds and some serious veggeing, I started the mending process. I played hookie from church (and napped during the time my family was gone - oh how I love a good nap in a quiet house). And today, well I'm better. I can move about caring one load of laundry after another without being short of breath. I'm not achy and I'm not too cranky (though the children might disagree, but we're all entitled to our own opinion, right?) So here's to a new week - may it be one without wheezes and crankies and one full of sunshine and fun.

we're back

We survived a Spring Break Road Trip. And by survived I mean that we went, we're back, the laundry's done, and we're all still speaking to each other. Fourteen hours each way makes for a lot of togetherness. We went up to Northern California and saw Nate's old stomping grounds (and lots of other things). We visited cousins and friends and San Francisco. We pondered why we don't live there and found the answer to our question at about 5:50 p.m. one evening (traffic - its easy to forget how awful it is when you haven't been in it in a decade). We were rained on A LOT and found it ironic our first day back to the grind in AZ it rained A LOT as well.

Today we think fondly on our trip in the comfort of our own home as we cough and sneeze at each other. Grace has the added bonus of coughing and sneezing on us and not her school mates. A nap is in order for some and I think 2 out of 3 of us may actually cross the line of sleep.

Wishing you a restful Tuesday. May you find joy in your journey (wherever it is you are going - across country, across town, or across the living room) and relish in the laundry when you get home too.

the cape

An amazing and talented gal who used to live near me in STL (both she and I now reside in different parts of the country) made this cape for Jimmy's Halloween costume many, many moons ago. She had no pattern but she certainly had know-how.

The cape can be worn while riding one's scooter or bike, while making breakfast, and playing with cars or trucks. You should note it is effective at Target to keep all the bad guys at bay. Its also helpful when watering the garden and a nice accessory to tooth brushing.

The cape is constructed with two layers of material cut into almost a triangle shape (with a straight edge at the top). When first made, the cape came to about mid-to-upper calf on him. (I guess he's been growing up, huh?) An extra swath of cloth was used to make a fastener that went in front of the neck. It was secured so it was not tight in the least with Velcro tabs. (This allows the superhero to disrobe as quickly as possible when he is trying to regain his incognito status). The "J" was then stitched on top in an applique sort of fashion.

The only role I played in the construction of this masterpiece was hemming and hawing over which material to use and that took about 2 minutes (its all about color combinations, people). Then the MacGyver of Domesticity whipped it together in no-time and we have been forever grateful.

So if you are even slightly crafty and unafraid of your sewing machine (its a fear I still need to overcome), I bet you can whip out one of the guys in no time!

dream on

The following actually took place in one of my vivid dreams of last night-
Donald Trump came up to me with that crazy flop of hair while carrying an acrylic pitcher of Diet Coke. "You want to split this?," he said. "Sure," I said.

We were of course sitting across from an immaculate-looking Sophia Loren named Donatella Versace. She of course was sitting with Valentino.

Now if only I could remember what I was wearing, I'm sure it was amazing.

wild kingdom

The children have decided to use their new nets (the butterfly variety) to catch rabbits. The plan is to just swoop the net over the bunny's head. They have conducted a thorough search of the backyard on tiptoe (one in actual sneakers, the other in frog boots - kind of hard to tiptoe in those as it becomes more of a quiet clunk).

After a few minutes they requested some vegetables to bring outside. They were given leftover sliced red peppers from last night's dinner. This allowed for the next step in a proper rabbit hunt: tiptoeing around the yard with their nets and produce. After a few minutes of that, they decided the rabbits wouldn't come if they (the children) were still outside.

Its now time for the next step in the rabbit hunt - Rabbit Trickery:
G: Hey, I'm real, real sleepy. Aren't you Jimmy?
J: No. I not sleepy.
G: (whispering) Just say that you are
J: (whispering) Okay. I am.
G: Okay bunnies, we're tired. We're going to bed.
Then they tip-toe around the corner.

Still no bunnies to behold.

Next they ask for carrots. Because you know, bunnies really like carrots - not red peppers.

They now are sneaking around the yard with their new produce (not sure of the fate of the red peppers yet).

J: Carrots, Carrots!! Any bunnies in the yard want carrots at my house?

Wait!

I've now been asked to find lettuce. I was instructed not to worry though, as they are just going to place it by a rabbit hole. Minor problem is that they haven't found one yet. However, they now are armed with shovels. The consensus is that the rabbit hole is buried and all they have to do is just dig it up.

Could this be a yard-sized conspiracy to get out of eating salad tonight?
hmmmmmmm

queen of cool

Third Grade is cool. Its a place where just about everyone is cool and everyone does cool things. Its also a place where you can say if someone isn't cool. Someone like Justin Bieber. Apparently he's fallen out of coolness with this third grade crowd. What does this mean for his career, I wonder?

Also, there's a new "cool" game one plays in the Third Grade. Its called Slug Bug. This has nothing to do with a burnt out headlight though, it only has to do with VW Bugs. When one sees one, one punches one's brother in the back seat. It is delightful. We've scaled it back a bit to just yelling "Slug Bug" whenever one comes into view (less bruising that way). This is how it went this morning:
G: SLUG BUG!!!!
Me: That's not a Slug Bug, that's a Porsche.
G:Oh, well they look alike.
Me: That's grounds right there for not being ready to play Slug Bug

In other news when we went to check on our automotive enthusiast last night, she woke up a bit. Then she sat up in bed and gave us a mini-lecture on the metric system. The hilarious thing to me is that she was totally awake. Who does that?!! Only my girl.

We are so lucky to have her!
I sure to love that girl of mine.

day of rest

Yesterday was Monday, and it really felt like a Monday. I got a lot of things done, but in doing so found myself 5 minutes late for everything. That is why I am grateful for Tuesdays.

Tuesday lately has been our day of taking it easy. One of its beauties is that Jimmy doesn't have school. So he and I take a casual approach. We even are casual in our dress. I generally opt for sweats for a good part of the day. He goes for something a bit more freeing than that.

Once I convince him to put clothes on, we venture outside. He'll ride his bike, or we'll go to the park. Sometimes if we are wild and crazy we may run an errand or two. In between all our activities we'll do laundry, watch whatever fine entertainment Disney Jr. is offering, we'll swashbuckle, and play rousing games of Goldfish (you may just call it Go Fish). And we'll wait with anticipation for The Bus.

The Bus is an exciting thing for Jimmy because it brings home his girl. She'll bound into the house full of news, drama and tragedy all from the world we call The Third Grade.

We slog our way through homework (Jimmy will often join in and do his; lately he's really been into dot-to-dot and writing his letters) and then we're done. No more responsibilities, no more places to go. Just plenty of time to play with our toys, dabble in more card games (Goldfish and Blackjack), build forts, etc. Sometimes an early bath is in order. Then its Jammie Time. I love Jammie Time. Don't you?

easy lit.

For those of you unaware, the above is an actual photograph of an actual fort constructed in my front room.

What does one do in such a fort? Well if one were Jimmy, one would snuggle down with one's monster trucks and drive them all over and up and down one's sister's princess pillow. If one were Grace, one would re-read some favorites.

This particular day she was caught re-reading some serious H.P. (for about the 74th time).

Her recent out-of-fort reading has included "Oliver Twist" (she chose to do that while the rest of us were watching the Super Bowl) and "Little Women" (this one she decided to wake up early on a Sunday morning and dive into it). She is a ferocious reader and its hard to keep her in books.

Good thing she can quickly construct the Re-Read Fort.

bennett crater

This guy I know says some of the craziest things. While dropping Grace off at school yesterday he said, "Hey, that guy looks like Nicholas. Only he has the wrong face."

Today on the way home from preschool, he spotted a young gentleman sporting a rather impressive mohawk. Jimmy said, "Hey (as many of his statements seem to begin with "hey") look at that guy. He's a cock-a-d000 guy. He probably doesn't say cock-a-doodle-do, but his hair is cock-a-dooo hair."

And sometimes he uses his own set of naughty words.

In response to having to having to wear clean socks today he said, (in the meanest, growling voice he could muster), "BENNETT." I asked him to repeat it to make sure I heard him correctly. And sure enough, it was "Bennett."

Then upon hearing we were driving Grace to school once again, he said (this time in a more complaining, yelling tone) "Oh Craters!!"

So if you find yourself in a pinch, feel free to borrow from his vocabulary.
Oh no-
Hey, my water is boiling over....
Oh, Craters.

a night on the town

The above was taken a few months ago by our fine photographer, Grace, in Tucson, AZ. I don't seem to have many pictures of Nate and I. I guess I'll have to remedy that.

In the past several years Nate hasn't always been available on birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines and other days when you really need a date! This has been one area I've been hopeful would improve once we made the transition from Fellowship to Real Job. And its been one area that still needs improvement. Although this time around I can't blame it on the job, I just have to blame it on real life.

Our anniversary last summer was celebrated with the children on a very hot day with a road trip between St. Louis and Chicago (how exciting that I-55 drive can be), just a mere week after we moved into our home here in Arizona. If I remember correctly we shared a milkshake in the car. How romantical.

Next, my birthday was taken over by Strep. Damn you Strep!

And moving on, this Valentine's Day happened to be our night to clean the church. For real. And of course it was also the day he had some real complicated patients and had several visits to the NICU. He missed the church cleaning and almost missed our traditional VDay dinner. I just kept reminding myself that at least we weren't the ones whose new baby was in the NICU. I always feel for those parents who's new, tiny baby is whisked away to the NICU. Certainly miracles happen there, but its so scary.

With all that said (boy do I sound like a complainer today!) we made up for it this past Saturday night. We went to the swankiest place I think we've ever been in all our days: Mastro's Ocean Club. The food was so fabulous and so well done, I just can't even put into words how wonderful it all was. But I will try:

Holy. Cats.

Here is what we dined on (you can start salivating now if you wish):
Alaskan King Crab legs with clarified butter
Horseradish Caesar salad (crisp & delicious!)
22 oz Ribeye, cooked to dreamy perfection (Nate)
12 oz bone-in filet, so good (me)
Seared scallops, (so perfect, so amazing, I could have just died)
Creamed spinach
Lobster Mashed Potatoes (for real, and if that doesn't sound indulgent I don't know what does)
And the most decadent 7 layer chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberries. It was so dreamy I decided it was my birthday cake, just a few weeks late.

At least half of what we ordered came home with us in giant, fancy bags. And Grace polished off most of the steak the next day (man that girl can eat, sometimes as much as a truck driver one would find on I-55!)

It wasn't until last night that we finally finished the chocolate cake. Mmmmmmmmmm

So here's my lesson learned - good things will eventually come to those who wait. And next time (thanks to the knowledge of where one can find chocolate cake perfection), I just might be able to wait a bit more patiently.

hanging by a string

Why is it so funny to watch people try and eat a donut hanging on a string?

I don't know.

But it sure is!

Happy Saturday!

hello, my name is not martha

Jimmy's request for his birthday party theme first was Cars. Then it was cars. Then it was cars and monster trucks. Then it was Cars and fire trucks. I decided to just roll with it.

After initial research (i.e., I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and his response was "brown cake"), I thought the easiest approach would be to do a tire cake.

You might say though, Sarah those look like donuts, not tires. And you would be right for that particular group of goodies on the left is indeed donuts leftover from the donut-on-a-string game.

You might then say, Yes but the other ones in the middle and on the right really do not look like tires. And to that I would say, well that is YOUR opinion; but to me and this boy they are and always will be tires.

See, even Zac thinks so.

Incidentally, they (whatever they looked like) were really good. I cheated and used a cake mix, but the frosting was a homemade butter cream and boy-howdy was it delicious.

its a numbers game

(please note their coordinating Christmas attire. Try as I might, I can't convince Nate his sweater vest is done. Well, we all have our own tastes, right?)

This post could also be called, "What happens in the living room, should stay in the living room."

Our latest family activity: Black Jack. Turns out its not just for Bond girls and villains, its also an effective tool to speed up math facts. Nate makes a fabulous dealer. Grace is a serious player. Jimmy likes to hold his cards so everyone can see them. Everyone especially likes the part where you say, "hit me." So far there have been no wagers...

It reminds me of the stories of lore from when Nate was a kid. When they would drive between Utah and California, they would find themselves in Nevada (if you could guess that, you are awesome at 2nd grade geography, but we're now in third grade and that is why we find ourselves playing black jack - all in the name of education I say).

His dad would talk to the kids about gambling and why it wasn't a good idea. He'd put quarters in the slot machine - to show them how wasteful it was to basically give away a hard-earned quarter. And wouldn't you know, each and every time more than a quarter would come out.

Next month we are taking a trip to Northern California. Too bad we won't be going through Nevada. I could use some new quarters.

cloudy with a chance of meatloaf

Strange things are afoot here - its cloudy. Make that Quite Cloudy. Its a friendly reminder that it actually is "winter" (a fact that many of you are painfully aware of, and a fact that my kids wished they remembered more often).

In honor of this Slightly Breezy (did I mention that part too?) and Quite Cloudy day, I'm firing up the oven. We're having roasted fingerling potatoes and mini meatloaves. We'll counter all of that oven-cooked goodness with a crunchy green salad. I am pretty sure Jimmy will eat none of anything prepared. Grace will be a good sport about the salad and dive right into her meatloaf. Nate and I will counter our dinner experience with some serious exercise - I'll be doing a bike ride right before we sit down and he's playing ball tonight.

Have you given up on the meatloaf in your life (I've said goodbye to many a meatloaf recipe over the years)? This is the one that floats our boat.

And since I seem to be on a recipe kick, here's a fun after-school snack (that is if you have kids that are willing to dip fruit into things, mine are not - but that doesn't stop me from snacking!):

Apple Dip

8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Using a hand-mixer, mix together until smooth and creamy. Us as a dip for several cut-up apples. So good!

the way to my man's heart is paved in basil

I made this our first Valentine's Day when we were married (for those of you keeping score, that was a mere 12 years ago). I've made it almost every VDay since. Its not red. Its not steak. There are no oysters or other aphrodisiacs (that I know of). But there is basil. And lots of it. And he loves it.

The recipe comes from my friend, Mario. He calls it Leguria Pesto. I call it Valentine Pasta. (you say tomato, I say yum)

Pesto:
1 c fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/2 c pine nuts
1/2 c fresh (ie. not from a can) Parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 c olive oil

Combine everything except the oil in a food processor. Start grinding and add oil in a slow stream to make a nice paste.

Pasta:
1 pkg cheese-filled tortellini
diced new potatoes
asparagus, cut into fork-sized lengths

You want to have equal amounts of potatoes and asparagus (btw, nice green beans can be substituted if the asparagus at your store is just out of the question, because as we all know good asparagus is good and bad asparagus is more than bad). The amounts of potatoes and asparagus should equal the amount of pasta. I'm sure there's an easier way of saying that, but it escapes me at this time.

Cook the tortellini according to pkg directions. With 5 minutes left of cooking (and really if you are using fresh tortellini, they may cook in less than that), add your potatoes. Add the asparagus with only 3 minutes left of cooking. Reserve a cup of cooking liquid before you drain. Drain, but don't rinse. Transfer to a large bowl and toss the pasta with the pesto you made earlier. If it is too dry, sprinkle in a little bit of the reserved cooking liquid. Serve with sprinkled Parmesan cheese and wear something skimpy (oh no, wait - what i meant was don't skimp on the cheese!)

fly by

Seems like life is moving way too fast.

You peek out and before you know it,

life just flies by and you realize your baby is 5 years old.

Time sure flies when you're having fun.

party time, excellent

Look who's 9!!!!

She even has lovely friends,

(well, mainly silly friends).

But she's all mine!!!!

parting ways

This is the replacement car Nate has driven for much longer than we thought it would even last (since 2007 if you can believe it!).

Thanks to Nate's smarts and his unwillingness to throw out any twisty-ties, the bumper has remained affixed to the car since our last year in St. Louis with those industrial-strength twisty-ties you pry off of children's toys on Christmas morning.

This old thing would speed him to and from the hospital for countless emergencies. It was ugly, wussy, and somewhat clanky. But evidently those qualities in a car don't really matter much when the car can get the job done.

The week before Thanksgiving, this car met its end. A hose blew out and squirted oil all over the engine. The engine fried. The car was dead.

My favorite part of the story is that this occurred on his way to the O. R. There was a very good chance that his patient he was going to operate on passed him standing on the side of the road next to his twisty-tie car with plumes of white smoke emanating from the engine. You'd never think of your surgeon in that situation.

Well think again, because it just might be!
Goodbye car. Thanks for the memories!

super supper shuffle

I have remarkably vivid memories of the Bears 1985 Superbowl win. Remarkable, because its me and I'm really not a super football fan. I paid attention when my brother would play and I sometimes pay attention to BYU, but that's really it.

But this was DIFFERENT. We actually left church early to be sure we were home in time to watch it. A certain Brother K used to wear a small earphone and would listen to key games, you could tell who was winning by watching his facial expressions. But Brother K's expressions would not do for this game.

We hurried home, changed into our comfy Bear-cheering clothes. We got down and grooved to The Superbowl Shuffle. And then my mom made what we now believe to be the key to the Bear's success: Super Nacho Supper.

We could not believe that this actually qualified as dinner. It was as if there had been a major shift in the cosmos (obviously there was, as the Bears won 46-10 and yahoo sports has now named the '85 Bears as the best team in NFL history).

And so now, dear readers, I share it with you.
(Mom has appropriately enhanced its name... )

Super Bowl Nacho Supper

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. Taco mix
1-cup water
1 cup bean dip
2 tbsp green chilies
2 cups shredded lettuce
3 medium tomatoes
tortilla chips
1 cup guacamole
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Monterey jack cheese, grated
1 cup cheddar, grated

Brown meat and drain. Add seasoning and water, simmer 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, spread bean dip to cover bottom of 14” pizza pan. Sprinkle with cheeses, top with meat, sprinkle with chilies. Broil 5-7 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Around edge, arrange a border of lettuce, tomatoes, and chips. Place mound of guacamole and sour cream in center.

Let's Go Bears!

Please note the Bears won the Superbowl when I was Grace's age.
Also of note, as I write this my kids are singing the Superbowl Shuffle in the backyard.
Its the circle of life, people, the circle of life.