Food

I. Love. Food.
I used to be the PICKIEST eater. ALL growing up, my mom and dad did their best to try and get me to eat anything other than mac&cheese and Top Ramen. Most everything with vegetables made me gag. The smell of steamed cabbage- uggghhh...made my stomach turn. It was bad.
Then I got married and something happened. Spencer introduced me to a WHOLE new world of veges. It all started with that "California mix" of frozen veges from Sam's club. I realized that broccoli was actually GOOD when it wasn't steamed to death and all limp and nasty.
Anyway, fast forward to today. I could be a vegetarian. In fact, in the summer, I mostly am. I LOVE my garden. We are blessed to live on a big lot and we get a LOT of vegetables. We also have a plum tree (see previous posts) and for a while, we had a LOT of plums. Probably over 400. That's a lot of plums. So we did a lot with plums. Here are a few of the things we did with them...
Canned plums (16 quarts!)
Plum juice (canned it as well)
Plum fruit leather
Frozen plums (2-1 gallon bags for winter crisps!)
Grilled plums
Plum/blueberry upside-down cake (was FANTASTIC)
Plum crumble
Blueberry/plum syrup
Levels it. And we ate a whole bunch.

We were very regular, to say the very least.

Plum crumble a la mode


Upside-down cake


Syrup


Grilled plums with sour cream/honey in the middle (I was the only one who ate these)

Anyway, I've taken a few more pics of the things I have made lately. I have officially not turned my oven on since June. It heats up my entire house. My grill is on almost every night. Grilled squash, grilled corn, grilled chicken, fish, onion...whatever can go on the grill. Which brings me to my next topic- do you love sweet potatoes? (Yams?) Yes, I am a dork and have looked up the actual difference between the two. What it comes down to is that it doesn't matter. Eat the orange ones. They are awesome for you and the taste RULES! I was addicted to them in the winter- loved to put them in the oven. Since I don't turn the oven on, I tried them this way.

They are FANTASTIC. Peel 'em, cut 'em in chunks, toss 'em in olive oil, wrap in foil (looks like a tinfoil dinner) and put it on a medium-hot grill for 7-8 minutes/side. That's it! My first time they burned a bit but we didn't mind. They were awesome.

Also, I made some fab taco/fajita things with rotisserie chicken one night. Added sauteed veges, cheese, dab of sour cream, LOTS of cilantro (how did I only discover cilantro like 3 years ago?? Where WAS it?) It was a super-fast dinner. Also, a trick I learned from Spencer...He does this, I don't bc I usually don't add a lot of cheese- but it's super good...Heat a pan, add jack/cheddar cheese blend, melt, and then put a tortilla on top and let the cheese stick to it. It's done when it comes clean off the pan. MMMmmmmm...

It was a little hard...

Harder than I expected, really. I thought I wasn't going to be one of those moms who bawls on the walk back to the car...and on the ride home...and while making breakfast...and for a little bit after. I just want him to stay little an always think I'm awesome. Is that too much to ask?

The Hike- Part 2

Here's me going, "Holy crud this backpack is heavy" after which I turned around and abruptly deposited my pillow, a jug of water, and Spencer's sleeping bag in the back of the car. That night, I really really missed my pillow.

At this point we're at the top of the tram that leaves from Palm Springs. It was the best $17/person I have spent in a loooonnng time.

Oops, this is out of order...this is going up the tram. Seriously, the best way to hike :)

We went with our friends who for the sake of privacy I will henceforth refer to as "Poncho" and "Betty".

After a 3 mile hike with our packs, I was drenched with sweat and it was cold! COLD in August! I'm enjoying a delicious packaged tuna dinner, complete with crackers and fruit leather and finally topped off with some dark chocolate and nut trail mix while Poncho and Betty set up their tents.

I attempted to sleep that night but mostly just laid there listening to Spencer sleeping soundly next to me. He took his pillow. I attempted to use this sweatshirt all balled up and it wadn't cuttin' it. Kept coming all unwadded and was rock hard and my ear hurt when I laid on my side. But about 2 in the morning I wanted to smother him so badly just because I couldn't fall asleep. We woke up at 4:30 (FOUR THIRTY) in the morning (after I fell asleep for about 1.5hrs) to hike to the peak and get there for sunrise. We missed it by about 15 minutes but it was so pretty on the way up!

Finally at the peak. The pics don't do it justice. It was amazing!

Here's me and Poncho. But I didn't post this pic because either of us look very good, but because it was so awesome how you could see the shadow of the mountain over the valley. See the peak??

Self-explanatory (except I'm not going to try and explain Spencer's look here)

And here's a picture of all of us at the peak. Can you see us? If you do you get a virtual high-five from me.

Shortly after this picture is where I completely bit the dust trying to unstick a band-aid from itself so I could put it on a blister. I tripped and rolled like a rag doll down a couple rocks and stopped completely upside down and hoping no on had seen me, only to be disappointed a few minutes later that no one had, in fact, seen me. Because it would have been hilarious.
The End.

A truce with a mountain.

I climbed a mountain.
A big one.
The second highest in Southern California, to be exact.
And it was pretty grueling.
Pretty darned grueling.
My first top of the mountain ever.
I was operating on approximately 1 1/2 hrs of sleep (seriously).
I sucked in the air but it didn't satisfy my need for oxygen.
I drank water but sweated it out the second it entered my body.
My heart beat through my chest.
My hands were swollen, red, and freezing.
My thighs begged for mercy.
But I didn't stop.
I made it to the top.
Of a really, really big mountain.
15 minutes after sunrise.
And I thought I was freaking awesome.
And I told that mountain I whooped it and that I owned it....
It was my mountain.
And every time I'd look at it from down below I'd remember how I defeated the mountain.
And then we started back down.
And the mountain tripped me.
And I rolled a couple of times.
And as I was rolling I really hoped I would stop sometime soon.
And once I stopped I opened my eyes.
And I was upside-down on my mountain that I owned.
And scraped and bruised from that mountain that I owned.
And that mountain was laughing at me.
And I no longer felt awesome.
And I cursed that mountain that I no longer owned.
I ate a piece of humbled pie, prepared, baked, and lovingly served by that mountain that I really never owned.
And so we've come to respect each other, that mountain and me.
And we smile at each other because that mountain knows that it tripped and bruised me and made me look like a complete moron.
But I know I peed all over that mountain.
So we called it a truce.

Uh oh. It's a garden post. I'm just telling you right off the bat so you're not disappointed when you get to the end and you're like, "Jeez, that was all about her stupid garden. LAAAAMMMEE."
We love our garden. It seems like it's been more work this year. Maybe because we got more rain which equals more weeds. Or maybe I'm just more busy. Either way, it's been WORK. PLUS, the bugs have been awful and ate like the first 3 rounds of seeds I planted as soon as they popped up. ARG! I became like a madwoman. Picture me, with a headlamp and a can of Raid at 10:30 at night creeping around my garden hosing down the 1 million earwigs that were dwelling under ANYTHING that stood still. It was disgusting.
But we have been waiting oh-so-patiently for our fruit on our trees to ripen so we could gobble down as many plums and nectarines as possible. They are so incredibly good and we have been eating so many, I'm sure my kids'll come down with a bad case of the rhea's sometime soon. But it will be SOO worth it.
The rest of the plums will be good in the next few days. I see in my very near future a plum and blueberry upside-down cake and some plum bread. MMMMMmmmmm....I'll take some pics if we don't eat it all before I can snap a few.









Also happening in my near future, hubby and I will be HERE tomorrow:


At the top.
The TIPPY TOP.
Like the highest point.
YIKES.
Wish me luck!
p.s...anyone know what I can do with like 300 plums?

Yesterday...

...was a "no" day. Do you ever have "no" days? Where you are just inclined to say no to every dad-gum question your kids ask you, all day? For whatever reason?

"No, you may not have more chocolate in your milk"

"No, you cannot have a snack because we ate breakfast 20 minutes ago and maybe you will learn to eat your breakfast instead of complaining that it got soggy and throw it away"

"We are not playing in the water right now"

"We are not going anywhere today. We are staying home because I need to get some things done."

"No, I don't want you to get all the games out because the pieces get scattered all over the house and it takes forever to pick up"

"You don't get to wear underwear any more today because you already peed 3 times in your other ones"

"no"

"No"

"NO"

"NOOOO"

"N-O SPELLS 'NO'"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO SAY YES BECAUSE I'M JUST ANNOYED AT ALL YOUR QUESTIONS TODAY AND IT NEVER, EVER STOPS AND I'M GOING INSANE WITH ALL YOUR ENDLESS QUESTIONING ABOUT THE PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN. CAN YOU PLEASE NOT ASK ME FOR ANYTHING FOR 5 MINUTES! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

MAN, was I on a "no" streak yesterday.

And not surprisingly, we were all grumpy pretty much all day long.

And it was a long, miserable day.

And I accidentally let my mouth speak before my mind could catch up again and took away the midday movie privilege on account of bad behavior (which is not much more than self-punishment) which means I got no break. But I was too stubborn to just let them watch a movie and give myself a break.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS THESE DAYS? (and I wasn't PMS'ing. I know that's what you were thinking, you didn't have to say it...)

On to the good news...

children. are. patient.

WHAT? Yes, patient. Can they wait 13 seconds for their wants to be met? No, not patiently. But they are patient with me. Did they ever call me on being a total jerk yesterday? Nope. And guess what, they didn't hold a grudge against me today. Today was like yesterday never happened.

This is the good news. That today I got to start over again. And take advantage of this beautiful time of life where I get to start over and do better today and they won't hold it against me. Because I know that won't last forever.

So this morning, I earnestly prayed to do better at this, my struggle of "no".

And it was a COMPLETELY different day.

It was PLEASANT!

And we were happy.

So whatever screw-up happened with your kids today, get over it and fix it tomorrow. Make sure and love them more tomorrow. Try to figure out how to get out of your slumps (or whatever it is that you struggle with) when they happen. Pray for help. It will work! And they will be patient as you learn.

THANK GOODNESS.

To start things off...

Mr.Carter turned 5 this month. 5!! Seriously? Kindergarten next year. I'm having a mini panic-attack just thinking about it. He's gonna be known as the kid who gets nose bleeds because he can't stop picking his nose. Or maybe that's just all kids his age...


This kid loves everything about birthdays. He used to tell me "Happy Birt-day, Mommy!" about 10 times a day and sings the song all the time.

But what's NOT to like about birthdays? Especially when your mom makes you a sa-weet R2D2 cake like this: (I know this looks super-professional but it is NOT a store-bought cake. Merely the result of serious cake-making skills.... I was even asked "what is THAT?" by the B.B.)

*The only problem (a very minor one) with this cake is that it was disgusting and no one ate it. Not even the B.B.)

Carter recently achieved a huge milestone in life.

He stopped picking his nose.

Just kidding, he still does that.

No, he really got a stripe for his karate belt by memorizing some sweet moves and testing for it. He was SO excited and Spencer and I were just bursting our buttons, as you can imagine. So he officially thinks he can kick anyone's butt.

(pictures taken on Star Wars Day. Did you miss it? MAY THE 4TH be with you.....I know, I know...shut up)

And this one...well this one makes me laugh really hard at least once a day. He talks really well for his age and the things that come out of his mouth...he is just hilarious. Watching him try and keep up with Carter is so funny.

We have been working on potty training with him for about...hmm, I'd say 2 months now. It's two steps forward, one back for him. One day we made the mistake of letting him pee outside. Yah, you know what happened next....there's no such thing as a real toilet anymore. If he's outside it's free-game. So I find him like this a lot>

"NOLAN, did you tinkle?"

"Yes, I show you! It's in the grass"

"You tinkle in the potty. Not in the grass."

"Okay. I not doing it again."

(yes, they are holding worms. boys are gross. really)

This has been one of my recent DIY home-improvement project. Seriously, for YEARS I have wondered what our kitchen has been missing. It has just always looked a little, like unfinished. Then the lightbulb went off one day while reading an issue of "This Old House" and within 1 week, I painted and Spencer hung a new chair rail. (and apparently a lot of garbage)



I LOVE IT! And it looks finished now. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. (I may have also read that line in the magazine)

We have been picking and munching on mulberries like nobody's business. We have a random mulberry tree that sprung up years ago and heaven knows we tried multiple times to kill this thing but finally we gave up and now it's beautiful and surprised us with berries like 2 years ago. Who woulda known?? I hope they are good for you cuz we've (I've) been pounding them)

All my home-improvement has given Nolan the bug. He loves to "fix" our pocket door, which translates to chipping more and more paint off the part with the missing latch, which in turn makes another project for mom. It's like a never-ending cycle. But he sure looks stinking cute in his goggles and missing sock. Plus he sticks his tools in his diaper/undies/pull-up (whichever he's wearing at the moment- it changes about 15 times a day) like his tool belt. Just like daddy :)

So there's my update. I am still in the midst of painting the house. Thanks to my darling hubby, some help from his family, and our awesome friends Isaiah and Jennica, we got the house done last week (3 non-stop days!) before my brother Wes and his family came to stay with us. We were really up at the crack of dawn every day scraping off old paint (getting it ALL over) and rolling the eaves and walls. It was crazy. And it was hot. And I was sweating. And it's not over. Tomorrow we start the garage!!