Photo Challenge

Hey I'm just popping in here to offer up a challenge to you or your kids that might be fun this week. I saw this on a blog and I thought it was a great idea. On Thursday I'm handing the camera (or maybe just my phone) over to the kids. Their job will be to go on a rainbow scavenger hunt and take a photo of things they can find that are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. It'll be fun for them and interesting to see what they come up with.

Here's mine...I didn't put a whole lot of thought into it and just used my phone, but it's fun to see literally what is right around you, in the smallest of spaces. These were all taken right in my kitchen and office.
Let me know if you or your kids do this, I wanna see!
P.S. this would be a cool addition to project life too :)

Black and White. And Orange.

I posted these on facebook the other day, but I started playing around in photoshop and I think I love these black and whites even more. Just thought I'd post them here.

This one below I just happened to crop vertical so it would fit in one of the little slots in my project life album. The closer crop makes it even better, I think. I love it and sort of want it on a big old canvas.

This one is from today and I thought it was just too cute! I set these Cuties in the window in the living room because there was such pretty light. I was just practicing, trying to get my aperture and focus right. As soon as I put my camera up to my face, this little guest popped into my view finder. Even kitties like Cuties, I guess.
Hope you are enjoying the weekend. :)
P.S. My dad is home from the hospital! I'm so happy. He's pretty worn out, but so happy to be home. ♥

5 for Friday

I don't know if you know this, but I love to cook. Like second to taking pictures and wasting time on the internet, I love cooking. I subscribe to over 100 blogs on Google Reader. I haven't counted, but I would venture to say that at least 80 of them are cooking blogs. I'm not kidding.
I have a bulging recipe binder. One day I'll actually get around to punching holes in the recipes and put them in the binder rings. I've found SO many good recipes online over the past oh...6 or 7 years. I usually write on them after I've made it with "good!" or "yummy!" or "Pete loves it" and shove it with the rest of them. When I was still subscribing to Weight Watchers, I'd note the points values too. Sometimes it's kind of fun to look through them all. I forget what I have in there sometimes! It's like a recipe scrapbook :)
Anyway, we've had some really yummy stuff lately so I thought I'd share our 5 favorite things, all recipes found right here on the internets.

1. Chicken enchiladas. Oh my word. I've made these 2 or 3 times and I just want to bathe in the sauce. It's sooo yummy. Use low fat sour cream...no one will even notice. Oh, also the recipe calls for flour tortillas, but I use corn because I think they taste better. Just fry them slightly in a tiny bit of oil first to soften them.
2. Ham and Cheese Pretzel Bites. Ok, technically these are an appetizer. But I made them for dinner Wednesday night. Goodness they were delicious! You know those yummy soft pretzels at the mall? I would bet these are better. For reals. I've made soft pretzels before, but these take the cake. They are a little labor intensive, but really not hard. Make em for a party.
3. Weeknight Bolognese. This sauce was off the hook! I changed the recipe slightly. Pete doesn't like chunky tomato anything, so I used a can of tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes. I also added about 1/4 cup shredded carrot and maybe a tablespoon of sugar to sweeten it just a bit.
4. Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. Do I really need to explain this? It's like warm gooey cookie dough in a pie. MAKE IT. you probably have everything in your pantry to anyway. :)
5. Double White Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel cookies....with sea salt. I know, I know....long name. But I didn't name it! These are so good! I love peanut butter cookies and these just kind of take it to the next level. Especially if you're into the whole salty/sweet thing. I put some semi-sweet chips in mine too, because I like chocolate and peanut butter. :)

Project Life update...

more than 2 months in and still going strong. i don't really have any more to say that i haven't already said. i still love this project. i posted yesterday on facebook about how much i love photos. my friend thought i was being mushy. i WAS. i just love pictures. i love how each one tells a story. i was watching a video of pics on Becky Higgins blog the other day. i don't know her, i don't know any of the people in any of the pictures but i just thought the whole thing was so moving. people living, people loving, babies being born, people dieing, little every day things, big events, good things, bad things....it's all part of life and it's so cool!




people might think it's a little self indulgent or conceded or whatever to have a blog, or scrapbook or take pictures of yourself. it's not. tell your story! how awesome would it be to know what your grandma was like when she was in her 30's raising young children of her own? or what your parents were like when they first got married? pictures + words = awesome.

(these last 2 weeks weren't my favorite, it's been a bit of a rough couple weeks! but it's documented and done and I'm happy about that--it's about the good bad and ugly, kids!)

i have run into a slight hiccup in my process.....i'm already out of ink in my home printer. that kinda sucks. but in the printers defense, i have printed way more than just one picture a day. i think the way i process my pics in photoshop probably causes the printer to use more ink. i'm guessing?? i usually sharpen and saturate the colors a bit so i'm thinking that would take up more ink, right? i dunno. i didn't get the 100 pics the print pack promises, but i never thought i would anyway. i did think i'd get more than this though. anyway, last time i paid $50 at Staples but this time i got smart. hello, Amazon--duh! i love Amazon. i bought the prime membership a few years ago and it has been worth every. single. penny. i just ordered a new print pack for 30 bucks and free 2 day shipping. yeehaw. it's better than the 50 bucks and i figure if i sent my pics out to Costco weekly or monthly, i'd probably still pay the $30 a month + gas to get there so for now as long as i can get the ink for this price, i'll continue to print at home. we'll see.

10 on tuesday...

10 things i love about living here. or maybe just 7. but still...i like living here even if I can't think of 10 things.



1. discovering new things. I keep finding all kinds of interesting things around here. as i've mentioned before, when we moved in this place was so overgrown and there was just weeds and leaves and more weeds and leaves everywhere. my mom and i spent and entire weekend clearing out flower beds that hadn't been touched in years. besides what was already overtaking the beds, i never really thought there was anything else in them. then spring came. (well sorta) and there are bulbs popping up everywhere! and flowers I never knew were there are all of a sudden popping up on the side of a hill. It's like something new every day. It makes me feel more connected, knowing that this place has a past. a past full of love and life.




2. the house is quirky. it's hall is long and narrow. it's bathrooms are old and funky, the kitchen is teeny tiny, there's little secret cupboards above all the closets and a ironing board built into the wall in the kitchen. it's funky, but i kind of love it. sure, there are plenty of things i would change. I'd knock down a few walls just to start with. but it's pretty cool the way it is too.
3. the view. we've lived here....8? 9? months now? and i still haven't gotten over it. i SO wish i could show you just how awesome it is. you'll just have to believe me. or buy me a zoom lens :D
4. homeschooling. i'm pretty sure the only reason why we're homeschooling now is because we moved specifically to this house. if we would have moved just about anywhere else, Jake would still be in public school and I'd probably still be complaining about the teacher, the homework, the other kids, the lack of learning or all of the above ;) not to say there aren't good schools out there. our school in Tracy, was actually really great, but all i'm saying is that i don't think i would have done this if we didn't move here and i'm really enjoying it, and the kids are too.
5. we seem to have a happier life, in general. we're all together WAY more than we ever were before. so much time was spent driving and commuting and waiting. now? Pete's commute is like 20-30 minutes--tops. he's home by 3 in the afternoon most days! he has friday's off which is not good for our pocket book but SO WORTH IT in terms of togetherness. we both talked about how yes, it would be nice to have that extra days pay, but how we're so happy to have the extra time together...it would be weird to go back to a 5 day work week.



6. so many things to do and places to go. hiking trails, lakes, museums, the beach, parks, friends, the city...it's all so close now. I love it.



this is lafayette reservoir. i have no idea what that tower is for, but the kids call it 'Rupunzel's tower' :)

7. chickens. raising chickens is fun.

A little bit brighter...

*The sun is shinning through the haze today.
*I feel more human than I have all week.
*Dad is going on day 11 in the hospital. But he's feeling so much better and we're all hoping he gets to go home soon.
*Things are still up in the air and feeling crazy. But a little sun shinning through the kitchen window, a little warmth on my face, makes all the difference.

The good news is...

I went to see my dad at the hospital today and they did the angeogram of his heart while we were there. I guess they go In through a vein in your leg with a camera all the way up to the heart to have a look around in there. The good news is... It's NOT his heart!! The doctor said the lining around the heart is fine, the heart itself is fine, and there are no blockages or anything! Amen!
They gave him some meds to control the irregular heartbeat and he's been fine since then.
BUT. But but but.... The fluid is still accumulating in his lungs. And we're really just not sure why. If it's not the heart, and the chemo is working, then why why why is there still all this fluid?
I don't know the answer.
Since it's not heart issue, they are going to send him back to the original hospital tomorrow. We're all just praying now that once he's back with his normal doctors they can figure out what is going on and decide what the next plan of action is.
So that's it for now. We are all SO relieved that he doesn't have to have heart surgery!!
Thank you all for your love and prayers! It means so much to me. I let my dad know that he's got a lot of people praying for him and he was so grateful. Thank you all and than you Lord that it wasn't his heart!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Prayers for my dad...

Most people who read here know that my dad wad diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma back in August. It all started with him feeling fatigued and really out of breath during the most simplest of activities. Shortly after a visit to my house he went to the doctor to find that there was lots and lots of fluid building up in the lining around his lungs. This is when he was diagnosed with the lymphoma. Anyway, he went through some chemo treatments, and then a new round started in December. The doctors could see that the chemo was working...his lymph nodes had shrunk considerably. Yet he was still having massive amounts of this fluid continue to build up, making it very difficult for him to breath.
This last Wednesday he was admitted to the hospital for a procedure that would, in a sense, "close up" the wholes in the lung lining, preventing the fluid to get in there any longer. He was told he would have to stay in the hospital for 3 to 7 days. By Friday though...he did not seem to be getting any better. The chest tube was still pumping out lots of fluid.
I'm still not exactly clear on all the next events (the kids and I have been pretty sick ourselves) but they discovered the problem is actually with his heart. Apparently he has a condition called Constrictive Pericarditis where the lining around the heart thickens causing the heart not to be able to function correctly. Right now his heart is beating 140 beats per minute. Normal is like 60-90 beats per minute. Anyway, he was transferred yesterday to another hospital that is MUCH more equipped to handle these situations and is known for their cardiology department.
I don't really know much more at this point, but it is looking like he will be having open heart surgery sometime this week. I would appreciate any thoughts and prayers for this surgery, for the doctors to have steady hands, and for comfort for him.
The good news is is that he is in pretty good spirits. A little worried, but rightly so. He's in no pain and basically feels fine right now. So that is a good thing!
The kids and I are headed up there tomorrow morning and will probably be gone most of the week, I would imagine.
Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers! ♥♥♥

10 on Tuesday.

1. This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just think it's kinda funny. She always is making funny faces.
2. French braids on little girls is great for keeping hair out of their faces. It's my favorite style for her lately. Plus-less tangles! Which is a huge bonus for me (and her). Combing through tangles is not fun.
3. Online bill pay. Why am I just discovering this?? I mean, I know it's existed for quite some time but I just really started using it like a month ago. You mean all I have to do is click a button and the money just goes there? I don't have to write a check? Or use a stamp? And there's no charge for this service?? Um yeah. I'm totally like a decade behind the times!
4. Only in California can you have a beautifully warm day at the beach one week and then have it snow the next! Seriously, it snowed here Friday night. I was sitting on the couch waiting for Pete to get home and I was playing around with my phone. My weather app said it was 34 degrees. I thought for sure that had to be wrong. I mean, I knew it was cold but I didn't think it was that cold. Then about 20 minutes later Pete comes in and announces it's snowing. And sure enough big old fluffy flakes were falling from the sky. It didn't stick or anything. But still. SNOW. In Oakland.
5. Confession: we love Little House on the Prairie. For some reason a few years ago my mother-in-law bought the entire series on DVD. All 9 seasons + bonus material. I have no idea why. The last time we visited, she gave us all 10 sets of DVDs to bring home. It's certainly not on my list of "must have" dvds! However, we all have enjoyed watching them immensely. Can you get any more wholesome than Ma and Pa and Laura and Mary?? The kids LOVE it. They've actually learned stuff about history from it. And life lessons. I admit to not really caring for this show much when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on our list of must see TV at the time. I do remember watching it in syndication later on in life, but still I could take it or leave it. But watching it with my kids is great. I love that they love it. And I know there is NOTHING like this on TV nowadays.
6. The kids now play "little house" and argue about who should be who. No you be Albert and I'll be Laura! No I wanna be Mary, she's blind! I'm going to be Miss Beetle. No she's married now, so her names is Mrs. Sims. Lets pretend it's the one when they find all the gold! Yep. They do this all day. It's funny, but cute. And it's better than playing say....CSI or The Bachelor, right??
7. I have so much to do today yet I'm sitting here avoiding-as usual! But I have to go to the post office. I hate going to the post office. We can all commiserate on hating the PO, right?
8. The estate wedding we went to on Saturday was beautiful. The house was amazing and had this awesome brick fireplace in the kitchen. Pete and I both decided we want one. And a wrap-around porch. It sucked though, because it was freezing and rained the entire day. I guess that's the risk you take getting married in February.
9. I was secretly so glad I was not asked to take pictures at this wedding (I have for the last few weddings in our church) because I was miserable. I was so cold. And it was so crowded--no one wanted to go outside because of the rain so everyone was huddled inside. And the place just wasn't big enough. Beautiful, but not big enough for 200 people. Anyway, I got stuck in the kid room all day--which wasn't much fun either, but still the better end of the deal I figure!
10. Our baby chicks are growing fast. I'll have to update on them later in the week. It's amazing how big they are now compared to just two weeks ago. We still have 29. I honestly thought a few of them might die. It's typical. But nope. They are all thriving! Oh my goodness we're going to have a lot of eggs.

Words for Wednesday.

I just couldn't go without words today.
Notes from the photo:
* Megan's hair desperately needs to be washed and combed.
* Jake's hair desperately needs to be cut.
* Jake's front tooth looks funny. It's loose, but not loose enough to come out yet. And the new tooth is coming in anyway I guess and pushing this one sideways.
* You can't tell that it's pouring rain/hailing like crazy in this picture at all. But it was.
* This picture was taken approximately 10 minutes before all hell broke loose.
* Words I actually uttered to my 7 year old: You better pray there is no glass in her bed and that she doesn't wake up with bloody cuts tomorrow morning! (awesome parenting moment right there y'all)
* Of course I had to write yesterday how awesome "quiet reading time" is. Because today it all went to hell.
* They both completely disregarded my instructions and took advantage of the fact that I was doing paper work in the office and that surely I wouldn't notice them NOT reading.
* They decided to play in Megan's room instead. And threw a stuffed animal at the ceiling. And broke the glass globe over the light in her room.
* I've tried to tell them time and time again---mom will ALWAYS find out if you did something you weren't supposed to. One way or another-ALWAYS.

10 on Tuesday.

So totally random.
1. We're almost done with 2nd grade. And it's only February! Crazy to think about it, but we've already moved ahead in math and will finish everything else within the next 2 weeks or so. 3rd grade and Kindergarten, here we come!
2. Word problems suck. They sucked when I was a kid and they still suck now. There's just no real way to make them better. Not that I've found anyway.
3. Valentine's Day was nice. We don't ever really do anything. I'm just not into going out because it's a made up day and then having to deal with everyone else who went out too. Lame. Mother's Day though...well that's different ;-) We didn't share any cards or candy or flowers. There were no school parties. But I did make heart shaped cookies. And Pete and I had a date "in" ala Jude and Micah style ;-) We do this all the time so it wasn't anything new, but it was still special. I ♥ him no matter what day it is.
4. Winter has returned to CA. boooo! I knew it was too good to last, but man I sure miss those nice sunny and warm days.
5. During 'school hours' my kids call me "Miss Mommy". I have no idea why, they just started doing it. Jake started it and now Megan does it too. Maybe it makes him feel more like he's in school? I don't know. It's funny though. I promise, I do not make my children call me that. I'm not Mother Dearest.
6. So a while ago I 'hid' someone on Facebook. I just kinda got tired of her negative posts but I felt maybe it would be offensive to just delete her. But then I discovered yesterday that she deleted me! Whaaaat?? Should I be offended or relieved? Oh the drama.... 8-P
7. I went to see my dad this weekend. The boys were gone so it was just me and Megs. I haven't seen my dad since Thanksgiving because he was feeling bad from the chemo treatments. Also, the chemo makes him very susceptible to infection so kids with colds don't mix with cancer patients too well. Anyway I was so happy that he was actually feeling really good when we were there. But also SO shocked to see he had become so thin from just a few months ago. I think it was the first time I really realized just how sick he is. I was so happy to see him up and moving around and feeling good, but so sad at the same time. It was just like a big dose of reality.
8. I've been enforcing "quiet reading time" every afternoon for the past few weeks. Ahhh it is so nice to have a little down time before Pete gets home and we start dinner etc... Since Megan isn't taking naps anymore I make sure the kids have at least a half hour in their rooms, by themselves to read and relax. We all get a chance to recharge.
9. We're going to a wedding on Saturday. It's at this really fancy estate on a vineyard. I just realized I have nothing to wear to a fancy estate wedding. Nor do my children. EEKS! What are we gonna wear?
10. Speaking of fashion.... I did, in fact, wear heels yesterday for our 'date in'. Wearing heels was part of my things to do in 2011 list. And judging by the reactions of all 3 other family members it was obvious wearing heels is something I never do, but should do more often. Jake blushed with bright red cheeks when he saw me walk out of my room. Megan shouted "oh mommy! those are really pretty, fancy shoes!" And Pete's reaction...well that's between him and me and not the internet. ;-)

Weekend + chicks.

I almost hate to write this...Knowing that half the country was buried in snow and frigid subzero temps this weekend.
But it was absolutely glorious here. I mean tank tops + flip flops weather. Saturday it was about 75 and Sunday got up to almost 80. Fantastic! I now understand why people love the Bay Area so much. It certainly isn't the summer. But Fall/Winter/Spring just might make up for those foggy, dreary, freezing days in July. Maybe. I'm still on the fence about that one. I mean sweatshirts in July just doesn't compute with my brain. No matter how nice the fall and spring were.
Anyway, Saturday started off pretty normal. I had plans to clean the house in the morning then spend the rest of the day outside doing...something. I was in the middle of mopping the dinning room when I get at text from Pete's sister. Are you going to the beach? it said. No, Pete doesn't want to go, he's working outside, but I want to! I replied back.
The next thing I know, my SIL and 2 nieces show up and we head out for Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I love spontaneous, fun weekends! We got a little bit of a late start, and it was quite crowded over there, but we had a nice little picnic and the kids got to chase the waves for a while.



Jake could spend all day looking for 'treasure'. On our way back to the car he found some sort of animal skull in the sand (gross!) and quickly proclaimed "It must be a monkey skull or something!". You know, because it's totally normal to find a monkey skull on the beach in San Francisco. It's definitely not a monkey skull but maybe a squirrel? The beach is just across from Golden Gate Park so maybe?
Sunday was just as fantastic, but in a different way. We went to church in the morning and I wore a skirt and didn't complain that I was freezing. Awesome. Then we came home, had a nice lunch then....naps in the sunshine! I sat out on the patio and read my book. I don't even know what everyone else was doing. I just know it was quiet. We all just relaxed and read and napped. LOVE days like that! Oh and I guess there was some sort of "big game" on. But we didn't watch it. :)
Yesterday our baby chicks arrived.

Yep, we're doing it again. We are totally crazy. I'm just thankful they AREN'T turkeys. I still have nightmares about stinky, yucky turkeys in my garage. (you can read about that here and here) I just had a great laugh reading through those old posts! So yeah...29 baby chicks arrived yesterday. Twenty. Nine. What in the world were we thinking?? That is a whole lotta chickens ya'll! Got eggs? We got all different types. Our chicken yard will be very colorful. Some red ones and black ones and black and white ones. It'll be fun for the kids. And maybe a money maker too, if we can sell some eggs to the neighbors. This time, thank goodness, they are NOT in my garage. Pete built a cage thingy and it's in the shed on our patio. And this time they actually have a place to go once they are big enough. We have a barn here people! And they will go in the barn just as soon as they are able. And the barn is far enough away from my house that I don't have to smell them.


AND both kids are old enough now that THEY can take care of them and their poopy water and food thingys. So we'll see how this goes. Right now they are so very cute. I said that about the turkeys too, remember? :)

Project Life update...

Thoughts:
*I love this project. I mean I just really love it. Right now, at this point in our lives it just works. I don't feel like have the time, or more importantly, the desire to do put more effort into scrapbooking than this project expects.
*There is something so satisfying about putting a photo into a slip in an album, and adding a few words and calling it done. I already have pages to flip through. An entire month. It completely satisfies my instant gratification tendencies perfectly.
*Chrissy, it is a little bit like a never ending Week in the Life project. Except that it isn't. At least for me, this is way easier. It's one photo a day. Not like 100 to sift through and pick which ones to use and where to put them.
*My iPhone has been wonderful in this project! LOVE it. The peacock photo and the sunset photo were both taken with my phone. Not bad, eh?! And I don't even have the nice iPhone. Mine is the old 3G. The pics print out great. I do have a few that are grainy because of low light, but that kind of adds to the coolness, I think. Not every photo is going to be perfect. I'm ok with that.
*I don't think I could do this, or be this enthusiastic about it without my own photo printer. Last week I went and bought the ink for my PictureMate. IT WAS FIFTY BUCKS. Holy crap. I couldn't believe it. I've never paid more than 40 before. But I guess this thing is kinda "old" now, technology speaking so they get to charge more for the oldness?? It sucked paying that much, but in the end it is worth it....At least if I get the 150 prints it says I'm supposed to get out of it.
*Every day I spend about 10 minutes loading a pic to my computer, editing it if necessary and the printing it out and putting it in the slot in the album. I spend maybe another 5 minutes filling out the journaling card. If I feel like it. Well, maybe not every day. But so far it has been at least ever other day.
*The kit comes with these little filler cards to put in the 'extra' journaling spot each week. They're cute, but I've been enjoying filling these spots up with other pics from the week. This week I couldn't pic just one, so I cropped 2 into a 2.75 x 3.75 canvas and printed it out for that slot. Another bonus to having my own printer :)
*Right now I've been good at keeping up with the picture a day. But I know from experience, I tend to get bored about 6 months in. LOL! But that's kind of the great thing about this. It can be a pic a day, or not. It'll work no matter how you do it.

George Washington's Breakfast.

Have I mentioned how much I love our history curriculum? I think history might be all of our favorite subject. We use Early American History published by Beautiful Feet Books. The curriculum itself isn't all that great, in my opinion. It is Christian based and while that is not BAD, it's just that in this case it seems to be a little contrived. BUT the books...the books are fantastic. My kids just love them all. They love the stories and are both really learning.


Today we read the book George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz. It was just kind of a fun little book of fun facts about Washington to follow up on our main study of him and the Revolutionary War. The book is about a quizzical little boy named George who wants to know more about George Washington, specifically what he ate for breakfast. If he found out exactly what he ate, his grandmother promised to make it for him.
We find out at the end that George Washington's breakfast consisted of 3 hoecakes and 3 cups of tea every day. Kind of a humble breakfast for the father of our country, right?
Hoecakes are basically little cornmeal pancakes. The name "hoecake" comes from the original way they were prepared. Turns out they were actually fried on an actual garden hoe over a fire.
I decided we needed to make our own hoecakes to try them for ourselves.
I got out the box of Jiffy cornbread mix and followed the recipe directions for corn pancakes/waffles. I'm sure these are a little different than actual hoecakes, but it worked for our purpose.


Oh, and I didn't fry them over the fire on a hoe. The kids thought that would be really gross. I used a cast iron pan instead. :)


The verdict?


One thumb up, one thumb down. But Jake would say anything was "gross" even if he actually liked it. And Megan likes everything. I loved them! But I love corn bread.
Anyway, it was a fun little activity. I love being able to bring our lessons into our real life.

Saturday morning.

I've had the house all to myself this morning. The kids both stayed the night at Pete's sister's and Pete had to work today. You'd think I'd be running through the house, hanging from the rafters, having my own personal dance party like Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Nope.
I'm totally, completely bored. And I can't wait to go pick up my little people.

Project Life.

Got my Project Kit in the mail today. I was SO excited! I quickly got down to business putting it together. Since I'm basically a month behind because they ran out of kits, I had 26 pics to print so I could "catch up" so to speak. Because I have NO patience what so ever and because I have these instant gratification tendencies, I sent my photo order out to Rite Aide this morning, knowing my kit would arrive this afternoon. Lesson #1 don't do that ever again. Please, please please I'm telling you now...Don't ever get your photos printed at Rite Aide. It's like...they're not even on photo paper. More like really cheap brochure paper. You know what I mean? The color isn't right, but I half expected that anyway. Anyway, they look crappy. I won't be doing that again. I will either print myself (going to get new ink tomorrow!), or drive the 30 minutes to Costco for what I know will be excellent quality + better service. The girl at Rite Aide was like a strung out crack ho. No joke. Lesson #2 I took way too many vertically oriented photos. The way the kit is set up is for 4x6 landscape photos. In it's simplest form anyway. You could order another set of page protectors for this, but I didn't. So I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with those pics that are vertical. Because I don't like the way they look in there all sideways. What I'll probably end up doing is just printing them so that they will fit in the smaller journaling pockets and then find some other "stuff" to go in the bigger pockets where the photo normally would have gone. Lesson #3 get my home printer working! I just know this whole process will be so much easier and more fun for me if I can just print daily or at least every couple of days. Like I said before, I like instant gratification. So if I can print it myself, I will! I have an Epson PhotoSmart printer and I love it. I just don't love having to change the ink all the time. They say you're supposed to get 100 pics out of it, but I have never ever got that much out of one ink pack. Anyway, I'll be heading to Staples tomorrow morning to get that ink and spending the rest of the afternoon finishing up my journaling. (That is, after I fold that mountain of laundry I ignored today!) I'll post some progress pics as I go.

WW. His & Hers.

Panini = YUMi

First, I apologize for this horrendous photo. My house has horrible lighting, particularly after the sun goes down. I didn't make it in time to take a decent pic of this meal.
Anyway...
Paninis! Oh my goodness. Ladies if you dare serve your families sandwiches for dinner you will surely get a strange look, a curled up lip and a uuuhhhh ?? sandwiches?? for dinner?? Or, at least you will at my house.
BUT! If you grill them on a fancy grill machine and call them a "Panini" you will get all smiles.
I don't know what it is. I mean It's just basically a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich. But I'm telling you, something magical happens when you squish it all together and get fancy grill marks on it. mmm mmm mmm.
I jokeingly listed on my 2010 post that I wanted a panini press in 2011. I wrote that because at the time I was just hungry and I couldn't think of anything else to write! Although, I HAVE really wanted a panini press for quite some time. I just never could justify paying 50 or 60 bucks for what is basically a waffle iron. I already have one of those that I rarely use. I just happened to be browsing the kitchen area at Target a few weeks ago and found this one on sale for 20 bucks. So I grabbed it. It's not fancy. And I think it would be better if it were actually cast iron instead of just Teflon. (my sandwiches slip around quite a bit when I'm trying to close the lid. I'm thinking cast iron wouldn't do that as much) BUT for 20 dollars, I really can't complain. And I love that I can totally get away with making sandwiches for dinner. Holla!
These that I made last night are rounds of french baguette, provolone cheese, turkey, bacon and avocado. I added tomato and red onion to mine too, but the man and the kids don't like it that way. I also served easy peasy garlic parmesan fries. A recipe (copied here) from this site. And they're baked, not fried SO they're TOTALLY healthy ;)

Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries (copied from What's Cookin' Chicago)
recipe adapted from Tyler Florence
serves 3-4

2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (i just used regular old parm)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley


Preheat the oven to 425.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Then cut the halves lengthwise into fourths to make 16 big, fat wedges.

Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt and minced garlic in a large bowl. Place the potatoes onto a metal baking sheet, spreading to a single layer.

Roast the potatoes for 30-35 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through, brown, and crispy. Don't shake or turn the fries around while they're cooking. The longer they sit in contact with the metal baking sheet, the crisper they get. (This is true! They really do get crispy, I promise!)

Toss the fries in a big bowl with the cheese and parsley and serve hot.

Go get thee a panini press!

5 for Friday.

1. California has this wonderful way of teasing us into thinking spring is almost here. The last few days have been wonderfully warm and glowy.
2. Public Service Announcement: Leggings are not pants. Though they are very comfortable and paired with the right booty covering top, dress or skirt they are very cute. But they are not pants and should not be warn as though they are. Also, proper undergarments are a must. There are appropriately manufactured garments that will not show lines or...uh....other stuff. Find it, buy it, wear it!
3. I don't know why I have become the fashion police as of late. I really have no room to talk!
4. Pete should be home tomorrow! YIPEE!
5. I'm addicted to red, seedless grapes. I can not wait till warmer weather stays around and local fruit is available. Because I just paid 7 dollars for 3 lbs of grapes. What the heck?!

10 on Tuesday.

1. Megan this morning when I woke her up said: oh mommy my nose is all stuffed down!
Oh that girl cracks me up.
2. I'm getting annoyed with Facebook. I mean, there are so many reasons I like it and feel the need to check it many times daily. But I am so tired of the crap people post. I'm about to go weeding through my "friends list" and let go of some of it. I get really annoyed by the copy and paste status updates. Sure, some of them are great but I do not need to see them multiple times a day, week, month over and over and over filling up my feed. ugh. And don't send every single person in your friends list a private message asking for money (oh yes, it's happened) or advertising your 'business'. And don't reply to the message either because then I'll just keep getting stupid messages from people I don't even know all. day. long. It's really only one person that does this, and I've tried hiding her, but I still seem to get 'event' invites and private/not so private messages from her all the time. Crap, it's annoying! She even went as far as going to my wall and posting direct links on it. GO AWAY.
3. Maybe I should just step away from the Facebook. Because the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. Ha!
4. My niece, Hannah, came and spent the night with us Sunday. It was so fun. The kids really loved having her over. We don't have overnight guests too often. So I made sure they had lots of popcorn and pizza and cookies.
5. I've been keeping up with Project Life even though I don't have my kit yet. So far it has been a picture a day, but I'm pretty sure knowing me that won't last forever. I'm just going to go with the flow and make it work for us. Since I haven't been doing much scrapbooking at all the last few months, it's important to me to do this project. I've been using the digital one online. I don't like it. But it's giving me a place to put the photos, right some journaling and get a feel for the project. When I get my actual kit, I'll just print out my pics and copy the journaling I have saved there.
6. I've gotten a jury summons every year (sometimes twice) since I was 18. I've only actually had to go to the court house once in all those summons, but....why me? Why so often?? Pete has only ever been called once since we've been married.
7. I keep finding myself cleaning stuff up only to turn right around and make a mess again. Something seems very wrong with that to me.
8. Do you ever get something pop in your mind...like something you forgot about or lost and it just pops in your head and then you can not rest, can not do anything else, can not think of anything else until you find it? I do this all the time. I did this on Saturday. All of a sudden it popped into my head that I need to have Megan's birth certificate for enrolling her in school. I knew I had it, I just couldn't remember where exactly it was. I started getting all panicy and tore through our file box until I found it. Luckily, it was right where I left it. Right where it should be. But I freaked out for about 3 minutes.
9. I need my own personal stylist and shopper. I need someone to say: here, this looks good with this, now buy it! Or just have them buy it for me. Because if it's left up to me, I will circle the store 2 or 3 times and then put everything back. I also need money.
10. I get really bored when Pete is out of town. I also get really lazy because my routine is out of whack. I've been trying to stay on track this week, but I'm so easily distracted.

Boy, that was random! Happy Tuesday