Cozy Living

Farewell, bloggers & friends.

 

Can you believe that it was less than a year ago that I read a blog for the very first time?  I was one part 'behind the times' and two parts 'whoever reads blogs has too much time on her hands.' Oh, yes, I was one of those folks, thinking that my life was generally too busy and I was generally too important to spend my time in such trivial ways. Hello, pride, nice to meet you.

Yet here I am, a year later, and my life is so much the richer for living it with this blogging community. I realized while camping recently that blogging has helped me transform my attitude. I am somewhat of a negative thinker, always looking for something to complain about and generally finding it. But when I started my blog I wanted this to be a place of encouragement, of uplifting thoughts, of inspiration, and of peace. And when I began looking for the good in the everyday moments (so that I could take a picture and then blog about it!) I unconsciously built a new habit of looking for the good in life. Who would have thought that the seemingly meaningless activity of recording my thoughts here in words and in pictures could have transformed me in such a way? I am truly amazed at how it happened.

The very first blog I visited was Ali Edwards' blog after reading her inspiring "Life Artist" book. The book made me think of myself as an artist and a participant in life, not just a bystander or a maid (ha! only a mom of preschoolers would think that was her job description!) Reading her blog continued that journey of discovery for me. Then one day when Ali didn't have a new post, I found SouleMama, which became and is still my favorite blog to visit. Just reading Amanda's posts inspires me to slow down, to embrace my life as a mother and a person, to craft something new, to bake something in an old-fashioned way, and again, live life fully in this moment. Those two blogs were such treasures for me when I found them a year ago.

Fast forward to today, where my bloglines list has become so long that it seems like a chore to "get through" all the posts. Where posting on my own blog has become a chore, too. Where I'm in a much different place than I was a year ago, or even eight months ago when I began blogging. I wasn't really sure back then where blogging would take me, but I figured it would be fun since I love writing and photography. But what I didn't know then was how much this process of self-reflection would shape me. 

It was rare then, with a one and three year old, to take the time to think about what I was thinking, what I wanted to do, or what I felt about something. In the fog that was toddlerhood, it was hard for me to see the lighthouse of God and of what he was telling my own soul. Emerging from the fog, now, I can see that God was shaping me through this practice of blogging, both reading and writing. He can and does use so many sources to guide us in the most delightful paths for our lives. I'm so thankful for the way he has guided me this year through books I've been reading, a life-changing women's retreat, spiritual disciplines I've been learning, and yes, through blogging. 

With that being said, it's time to move on to other pursuits and say goodbye to my blogging here and my daily blog reading time. There are so many other lessons waiting to be learned in my life, and I've got to tear myself away from the computer and get out and learn them.  And what more appropriate way to end a blog in this thankful season than by thanking all of you who've joined me on this journey by both reading my blog and by writing yours. Joining the world of blogging served more purposes than I ever thought it could: bringing me a more positive outlook, inspiring me to cook and craft and live more closely to the earth than I ever thought I would, encouraging me to slow down, and connecting me with so many people who've transformed the way I think and live. For that, I will always be truly thankful. 

Heading off to new adventures,

Linn

 

Celebrating 10 years!

Today I'm headed down to beautiful San Diego where I'm meeting up with my old college girlfriends...it's been 10 years since we played together, cried together, laughed together, studied together, and just lived life together. I had fun in high school but this was the first group of girlfriends that I really felt connected to. These are my best girlfriends, and I can still say that 10 years later, even though most of us haven't caught up with each other in years. You know the kind of friends who pick up where they left off each time they see each other? We made midnight runs to Carrow's for jumpy monkey sundaes, we snuck into Half Moon Humphrey's to sit in the hot tub and listen to their concerts, we road tripped to San Francisco and Mexico and who knows where else, and we loved each other with the love of Christ. No wonder we're all so excited to meet up tonight at my sister's condo and reconnect. Tomorrow is the whole Point Loma Nazarene University reunion, but tonight is what matters to me. Were you a girl scout? Remember the song: "Make new friends, but keep the old...one is silver and the other's gold." I can't wait to see these girls! 

P.S. I'm the one with the LONG blond hair.

our Addams family halloween costumes (I'm Uncle Fester!)

again, I'm the weirdo who dressed as a guy...well, one of us had to!

my ride with me on top: I was known as the blond girl who drove the bonfire beast...because I could carry the wood pallets from the school cafeteria down to the beach for bonfires!

graduation day 1998

see you soon, girls!

What I've Learned About Living

It's interesting how much has changed for me this year, even since I started this blog in the spring. Although it's been a few years since I began slowing my life down to breathe more, it's only been a few months since I've made a lot of other lifestyle changes. Yet some of my new habits feel like they've been with me forever already. I know it's a bit early for a year's review, but I'm feeling reflective and thankful and ought to write it down now and acknowledge it. 

Nutrition:

Just this year (after dabbling with the idea since Tyler's birth) I became truly committed to feeding our family whole grains and cooking from scratch. Now I generally don't even slow down as I pass aisles of pastas and cereals and breads made with refined white flour and I walk right past the boxed meals, which may seem inconsequential to others, but has been a huge life change for me this year. The time I take to shop carefully and cook wholesome meals has become an integral part of how I take care of my family and our health. Having had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies, the boys and I have an increased chance (mine is 70%!) of becoming diabetic, so I will do everything I can to keep that from happening. And with Tyler's new nut allergy this year, I find myself reading every label, wondering why there are so many un-pronouncable ingredients in processed foods. I like that when I brought home hot dogs with white bread buns the other night because I had to buy our dinner at Target there was much rejoicing because we all knew it was a special treat. So as you can see, I am not religious about it, and we happily enjoy whatever we'd like when we're eating out, but at home our general routine now is having healthy meals on a regular basis.

 

Eating Seasonally:

When I think about how much of our lives are spent eating or preparing meals, it's not a surprise that another major life change comes in the arena of food: our commie basket, as Greg calls it. Being a part of our local CSA (community supported agriculture) and determining this spring to begin eating organically and locally has changed our diets drastically. Even Greg, the most skeptical of all skeptics, has realized how much better our food tastes now that we're eating seasonally and locally. It has given me a new compassion for the farmers with whom I come face to face at the farmer's market each week, and it has introduced us to some new types of produce. It has changed our mindsets and renewed our excitement about each new fruit as it comes in to season. It has pretty much eliminated bananas from our diet, but has brought the boys and I such pleasure at the prospect of apple season, which I only somewhat vaguely knew was in the fall before this year. I love that eating seasonally gives our family yet another yearly rhythm, moving us slowly from season to season, from one crop to the next. Saying goodbye to our beloved strawberries means saying hello to apples. God designed this yearly rhythm of the crops, so it's no wonder that it brings me peace and feels comfortable for our family. Isn't it funny that only a few months after deciding to do this, I get annoyed when I see recipes in cooking magazines for asparagus, knowing that if anyone is making asparagus at this time of year, they're flying it in from South America and it's been bred for the trip, not for their tastebuds. Oh yes, now you can see why Greg calls it our commie basket and tells me I'm spreading vegetable propaganda. 

Listening:

Listen was my word for the year, and I had hoped to learn how to listen to others better, along with some other things. Little did I know that this would be the year for learning to listen to God and his direction, too. Reading Keri Wyatt Kent's book, so appropriately entitled "Listen: finding God in the story of your life," while at a retreat led by her on the topic, was the culmination and paradoxically the beginning of my journey of listening. I'm listening to my heart in the family decisions I make instead of listening to what the world is doing or what they say I should do. I'm listening to my kids and my friends more fully as I learn not to multi-task when there's someone who needs me to hear them. I'm listening to my Lord more purposefully as I read and learn more about how he can speak to me and lead my life. In all this new listening, I'm realizing that I need more than a year to focus on listening! I may stretch this year's word into next year. Most important to me is that through listening I'm becoming more compassionate towards others and more mindful of my own true needs, too.

Stuff:

I have never really been consumed by buying and keeping stuff, but only lately have I begun to realize how much having "stuff" can consume our time. I am slowly but surely paring down our possessions to that which we truly need for ourselves or which provide for the church fellowship we host in our home. I have finally realized that the more stuff I have, the more stuff I have. It has no meaning. If it is does not add beauty to my life, it doesn't generally give me more time or more happiness. This, with the huge exception of the breadmaker and the kitchenaid mixer I acquired this year, the former being free from my daddy, the latter costing me $50 from a friend of my aunt. Now those two machines do buy me time and happiness. Oh yes, I do recognize that there are some wonderful possessions out there that improve a person's life! But they are some of the few exceptions to the rule. Therefore, I am spending very little time out buying, and much more time home, living. 

Decisions:

I'm learning that decisions are personal. Each person and each family is on a road of their own, moving in their own direction. Not only will I probably be doing something years from now that I always disdained and denounced as ridiculous or even wrong, but I should recognize that other people have the right to make their own decisions today. Hmmm...now that's quite a mindset change for me. And this is one I'm really working on moving from my head down into my heart. This is just the beginning of the journey for me on that one.

Living:

Life is for living. Yes, I must keep the house from falling to bits around our ears and I'm still working hard to develop routines to sustain my rather lame housekeeping attempts. Yes, I must cook for us, which means shopping, but we go to Trader Joe's where a lollipop for finding a hidden monkey makes that trip much more fun for Tyler and I. Yes, I must do errands and go places I'd rather not be, but that is not my life. Going to the park and going to the meadow and sewing for fun and reading a book and cuddling a boy and smelling a good meal and connecting with God through all of these...that is life. It was hard to see that during the last few toddlerhood years, when life seemed to consist of cleaning up someone else's messes from dawn until dusk (and even into the night!). I'm welcoming true life back. Or maybe I never really embraced it fully before now. Either way, I'm glad for it.

 

Oh, dear. An unexpected computer break.

Well, what can I say. When you get a cd stuck in your computer's drive and expect to have them take it out at the apple store and then are blindsided with the idea that you must part with said computer for three to five days, (really six!) it is quite a shock. Five things:

1. Hallelujah, the computer is back home. In the meantime, I have learned that I am on the computer way too much (and I thought I'd already cut back appropriately!) I am making new computer rules for myself (again) and pledge to participate in the real world a little more often and the virtual world a little less. 

2. Less computer time provides more reading time, and I am almost finished with Tuesdays with Morrie. Have you read it? It is amazing. About the lessons learned from a weekly visit with an old professor who is dying. And it's a memoir, so it's all true. If you haven't read it, you should, and it's an easy read. Perfect for people who are constantly interrupted by unruly children (or spouses or pets or whatever interrupts you!)

3. Having been to the mall twice this week (apple store, remember?) I can say that I'm not missing anything by steering clear of that place for the last long time.

4. Kirsten over at Tollipop is giving away another set of her lovely drawings (three of the originals will be wrapped up and under our tree soon!) this week. This week's little girl has the most adorable lopsided pigtails! Stop by for a chance to win!

5. No new pictures today. The boys go to grandma's for some spoiling tomorrow so my to do list is as follows: 1. finish this week's Beth Moore Bible Study ("beloved disciple", if you're wondering) for tomorrow night's meeting. 2. finish uploading and making snapfish book for in-laws Christmas present. 3. Wrap all the Christmas presents I've already bought. 4. clean the stovetop. 5. take Ellie cat in to the vet for a check on her paw...she was attacked on Monday by some creature outside and has two terrible gashes! Poor thing. 6. make corn muffins for Jake's Thanksgiving feast at preschool on Friday. 7. upload recent pictures and edit them. 8. new blog post, making up for the past week of silence. 9. finish Tuesdays with Morrie. Okay, that's not really on my list, but I have a feeling I'll be doing it anyway. It's not like I really need to iron or anything. 

I apologize for the lame post. What can I say, I'm out of practice. I promise I'll do better next time.

What I've Learned About Breathing

Two years ago, I read my favorite book, Breathe, by Keri Wyatt Kent, for the first time. That summer I was serving on high school staff at church twice a week (plus activities), running a mom's program at church once a month, hosting our church fellowship group at my house, holding monthly stamping classes, teaching card making at JoAnn's, leading a table at MOPS, walking three times a week with a friend, and trying to keep my life together with a two year old and a newborn. I was busy. Way. Too. Busy. I was so busy helping and volunteering and doing that I had lost the ability to just be. To breathe.

After reading this book for the first time, I realized I needed a major shift in my life and my thinking. I had been defining my success in life with what I was accomplishing rather than who I was becoming. There had to be a major shift in thinking in order for me to live the life of peace to which God was calling me. There was no room for peace in my busy schedule.

Two years later, my life is quite different. I've spent two years ruthlessly eliminating hurry, as Keri puts it. I'm still very involved at church, but that means a once a week Bible study (which I'm attending, not leading), hosting my fellowship group (which I truly love doing), meeting once a week with a friend to discuss books we're reading together, and holding a stamping class whenever I feel up to it, which is once every several months. What a change! Of course, the boys being two and four instead of newborn and two does help, but there are so many other areas which God has carefully shown me that needed to be pruned out of my life. Some things were a huge relief to let go of. Others I still wonder why he chose someone else for the job. But the point is, I have space to breathe.

The purposeful slowing down of my life has only been encouraged as I read others' blogs and see how their lives have benefitted from staying close to family, close to the earth, close to home. I read about others who are choosing to avoid the busyness of the world in their own ways, and I am encouraged. Life in the OC moves pretty fast, and we get some strange looks from those who wonder why our lives are moving at such a slow pace. And I'm okay with that. I know that this path is the right one for me and for my family. I can feel God's peace in our lives these days. Every now and then I find myself rushing the boys to get their shoes on or to clean something up, and I realize that while it used to be the norm, it's become somewhat out of character for me to do that. I notice it and I chastise myself for pushing the boys to live life at the pace of the world. What a change. 

Now that I've pruned my life down to the bare minimum, I am so much more able to enjoy the works God has given me to do. I find myself much less resentful about doing the housework, much less worried about what others think of me at church or in the neighborhood, much less stressed. I have space for unexpected things, whether that means making phone calls and cooking meals when someone at church has a sudden death in the family, or if it just means stopping to play in the sprinklers for a while on the way home from the park. Why not? We have no place to rush off to these days. Isn't this life, after all, these little moments? Creating space to breathe...it has made such a difference for me.

Yes, She's Ours.

 

Okay, okay. As I'm seeing an inordinate number of pictures of this little girl on my camera, I guess it's time to admit it. We have a cat.

I did not want a cat. Our yard is too small for a dog. I was not planning on being in charge of yet another life on this planet. But sometimes our plans are thrown aside when a starving little kitty who loves to cuddle just suddenly claims us as her own. She is such a lap cat, and when the boys are gone to grandma's or they're in bed, she suddenly appears, meowing for our attention and a lap to cozy up in. And despite Tyler's manhandling (I assure you, nothing beyond normal two year old 'loving'), she has yet to scratch or bite anyone. My cousin Karen will be glad to know that this sweet girl has changed my mind about cats. Maybe Karen can bring Gerald and Murphy over for a kitty playdate sometime.

In case you're wondering after reading the first post, her name is Mittens Elizabeth. This satisfies the boys' insistence that her name should be Mittens, but also works with my desire to call her Ellie. Really, we mostly call her Ellie Cat, even the boys, but when asked they'll say her name is Mittens. And then there's Tyler, who stalks her incessantly, calling softly with his hand outstretched, "Sweetie, where are you? Come here little sweetie," and he asks for Kitty when he's crying about something. I guess it was meant to be.

And don't tell Greg (no, really, I'm serious about this) but I can actually picture a dog in our house at some point in time. But I'm not willing to admit to myself that I've crossed over the threshold and become a pet lover yet. After all, I agreed to keeping Ellie with the strict instructions that Greg would be in charge of everything not fun about having a cat (litter boxes, flea medicine, etc.) and I would be in charge of everything fun about having a cat (naming her, holding her on my lap, etc.) Luckily, he agreed.

So welcome, Ellie Cat, to our little family. It sure is nice to have another girl around the house.

 

Japanese Okonomiyaki in Germany

Eleven years ago, I moved to Germany to find a little adventure, learn a new language, and generally escape my burnt-out college days. I lived in a beautiful little college town with old German architecture, and it brought me just the life I needed at the time. My best friend in Germany was another exchange student, originally from Japan. She and I kept each other company and traveled together, but my very best memories of my dear Naoko-san are of us cooking together in the room she lived in on an old cobblestone village street. We ate okonomiyaki, a japanese cabbage pancake of sorts, and we laughed and talked about friends and family and God and Germany and hopes and dreams together. 

Today my CSA basket had a head of cabbage in it, and I immediately knew I wanted to make Naoko's okonomiyaki with it. My house is empty today, with the boys off at Grandma's for a day of fun and indulgence. On these quiet days, I like to work on my to-do list first thing in the morning so I can spend the rest of the day reading, journaling, praying, puttering and eating anything I want to anytime I want to.

Today that meant eating a nostalgic dinner at 4:30 while watching the food network. And everything else was silent. Aaahhh.

I know that eleven years has probably skewed my thinking about how a proper japanese girl makes okonomiyaki, but here's what I did today. If you search your favorite recipe site for okonomiyaki, there are tons of wonderful recipes which use a variety of vegetables along with bacon and other yummy things. I didn't have any bacon, but that's okay, because what I was really after tonight was the memory of Naoko-san's cozy room above Frau Buesse's home, of her fork pressing down the okonomiyaki as it cooked, of us laughing and drinking orange juice and eating Ja! brand cookies from Minimal. I'm sure there are other wonderful ways to make it, but this is how we made it back then and how I made it tonight.

Naoko-san's Okonomiyaki

1/2 head of shredded green cabbage

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. water

1 1/2-2 c. flour

soy sauce

vegetable oil for frying

salt and pepper

mayonnaise (yes, really. I hate mayo, but I have to have it with my okonomiyaki. try it.)

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. Combine the eggs, water and enough flour to make it like pancake batter in a bowl. Add a tablespoon or so of soy sauce. Mix well. Add the cabbage and coat well. The batter should coat the cabbage completely.

Spoon the mixture into the hot oil like one large pancake (I suppose you could do several small ones.) Make sure to smash it down with a spatula so that it's not too thick. (flat enough that the inside batter cooks before the outside batter burns!) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip. Finish cooking then enjoy with a dollop of mayonnaise and some more soy sauce.

Naoko and I changing trains when our train home from Paris broke, and atop a tower on Ruegen Island in northern Germany. (Yes, I'm naturally blonde. The auburn that is admired by so many (ha!) near and far is, sadly, only from a bottle.)

What food brings up a memory for you?

More from the Everyday

I promised you more of my week in pictures. That was a really eye-opening project. I used to hate it when people who aren't stay-at-home moms asked me, "What do you do all day?" (Yes, people do ask.) I never had a good answer. This was not only a good exercise for me for posterity, but also one to remind myself that I'm valuable. My job is valuable. If I were working, I would lose this once in a lifetime opportunity to read (and read and read) "just one more" story in that same old Curious George treasury and cuddle on the couch with the boys. I would miss the chance to help Jake carve a "shamu" killer whale out of a cucumber, just because he had a bizarre longing to do it. I know I would miss Tyler's spontaneous hugs, and I'm quite aware that those won't be coming to me for long.

And speaking of pictures, I'm oh so desperately hoping to win this giveaway of a beautiful printer on Simple Mom's wonderful blog. I've had trouble the last few times with my usually so dependable Costco photo printing.  Head on over to the link and play the odds...but don't you go ruining my chances of winning!

Hope...

Yes, I do have hope...for a beautiful Christmas present from my dear hubby. These three lovely ladies are on their way to my house to make my Christmas morning a bit merrier, and to cheer up a space in my home (either my office or my future "library nook"...haven't decided yet.) But this is a Christmas present, so as I write the check I'm repeating, "Don't tell yourself. Don't tell yourself." Perhaps that will be enough to make it a surprise for me on Christmas morning. (What can I say, we're the comfortable old couple who shopped for our engagement rings together and who still purchase our own presents for ourselves, if we do presents at all. Aren't we romantic?)

If you love these little girls as much as I do, please pop on over to Kirsten's lovely blog, Tollipop, which I've mentioned before is one of my favorites. Dabbling in writing a bit myself, I do so love to be captured by words, and Kirsten's writing grabs onto me with every post. So I send you her direction today, and as your reward, she's doing a giveaway where you can win prints of these lovely girls, inspired by a favorite book of hers, 100 Dresses. Each girl has a unique story to tell, all of which you'll find on her blog. Please do mention that I sent you, and perhaps I can win a few extra prints of my own! The more girls on my wall, the merrier, right?

(I'm simply taken with this girl, who reminds me of my months living in Krakow, Poland. I can just picture her, a ragamuffin in the streets of Eastern Europe a long time ago.)

Enjoy Kirsten's blog and her giveaway!

One Year Later.

This was the view from our front porch one year ago, with a fire burning out of control and heading toward us. Wildfires were burning all over California, a few of them worse than ours, but it's always difficult to focus on each other's struggles when we're in the middle of a crisis of our own, isn't it? 

On a Sunday afternoon, we heard that a fire had been started a few miles from our house, in the beautiful wild area that we've always affectionately referred to as "our canyon." It was headed away from us, and we only hoped that the canyon wouldn't be completely burned up, and prayed for the safety of the few who live there. On Monday morning, Greg called me from work and said we'd better start packing up, as the fire was now headed back toward us. I have to admit that I chastised him for making a big deal out of nothing, until I looked into it a bit more and realized we were really in the fire's path and were under "voluntary evacuation." Within hours, our most precious things were packed in the trunks of our cars, as neighbors scurried back and forth from home to trunk, gathering their necessities, too.

Have you ever packed up your home for an evacuation? It's a very surreal experience. I vividly recall walking into room after room, glancing around and thinking to myself, "Nope. Nothing in here needs to go." Can you imagine? We have a large house, but we're pretty frugal and don't have a lot of unnecessary things, so I thought. Yet that Monday, as I looked through closet after closet, I found myself realizing that the things we'd accumulated were not really that important to us. It still seems bizarre to me, one year later.

What I did pack was lots of scrapbooks, a favorite dog-eared book that helped me through a hard time, some small boxes of sentimental letters, several quilts and a few framed photographs. Social security cards. The computer's hard drive. Cd's full of photos. That's about it. I packed everything precious to us, and it didn't even fill up my trunk. 

We spent a week with all of these treasures in our cars, and the fire did come within a half mile of our house, only one major street and a bunch of brush separating us. The firefighters successfully used that street as a firebreak, and finally after a week of worry and firewatching from our street and online, we felt confident enough to unpack our trunks.

When I think back to the emotions that stirred in us that week, I remember us coming together as neighbors, watching the fire helicopters dip over and over into the reservoir behind our houses (oh, what a thrill for little boys!), the helping hands for a neighbor whose husband was serving in Iraq at the time, and most of all, the realization that we sure do have a lot of junk. I made several trips to the donation truck after it was over, and I'm thinking it's about time to do a major "dejunking" like that again, one year later.

A few weeks after it was out, we drove down our winding road, where Jake cried, "Somebody broke our beautiful canyon!" The ash and smoke remained in our clothes and homes for several weeks. At Easter, we go to a pancake breakfast at a little country firehouse in that same canyon, where we saw the faces of those who fought the fire, those who lost homes to the fire, and those who were and still are rebuilding. And now, one year later, the grasses have returned, the fields are yellow, and it's only the blackened trunks that remind us of a year ago. Although the canyon is renewed and the emotions fade, I'm hoping to hang onto the lessons I learned for a little bit longer. 

Revelry

I love the sound of the word 'revelry.'  Boisterous festivity, merrymaking, revelry.  That's definitely what we had in mind on Halloween.

Everyone gets in on the carving of the pumpkins. 

The black widows...which Jake kept reminding us are POISONOUS!

...and we just had to torture our poor Ellie cat. What can I say, I've always wanted a little girl to dress up like a chicken! (No, I'm not kidding.  Tried to convince Greg we could do it with Jake when he was 10 months. He disagreed.)

Revelry.

Tyler, who suddenly and without warning sat down on a driveway one street over and proclaimed, "I tired! I wan go my house." Are you sure you don't want to trick-or-treat a little bit longer? "I tired. I wan go home an drink milk!"  Okay, if you insist. So he spent the remainder of the night like this. Resting in his chair next to Nonna, drinking milk and handing out candy to the other kids. Or chasing people down the street yelling " 'top! I hab treat for you!", in the case of one man who passed by our house without stopping.

Happy Halloween!

Two Ways Not to Make Caramel Apples

Beautiful, aren't they?  Gorgeous...and inedible.  Oh, yes, I now know not one, but two different ways not to make caramel apples.

This is my first autumn of trying to be a domestic-ish supermom in the food department.  We're eating seasonally, cooking more from scratch, making pumpkin cakes, baking bread, eating apples and onions just like Almanzo Wilder, so of course we should try making caramel apples, right?

Attempt #1: Melting caramel candies.  Easy enough: unwrap and heat.  Started in a double boiler on the stove, but when it was taking too long, I tossed it into the microwave, and voila! Perfectly melted, sticking so nice and evenly, just the right tackiness to hold onto the various things we were rolling them in...I was formulating my blog post in my head about how I'd found the most wonderful easy way of making gorgeous caramel apples and how I really am the next Martha Stewart.  

Beautiful. Crunch. What? Could that be my tooth cracking from the rock-hardness of this beautiful confection?  I think it might be. The boys LOVED making these, but their poor little teeth couldn't even bite through the caramel, it was so hard.  I, on the other hand, persevered, as I do so love that perfect combination of crisp apple and sweet caramel.  Alas, the teeth do need to be used for other things on future dates, so even I had to give up.

What to do? Well, seeing as I can't bring myself to waste perfectly good fruit, and the rock hard caramel came chipping easily off, I thought I'd give it another go and do it right this time.  I quickly removed the offending caramel from the apples, and this time I'd cook it over the stove.  

Attempt #2: Found a super easy recipe on familyfun.com with just brown sugar, butter and water.  Now, in their defense, I didn't really measure exactly because my brown sugar was all in one big rock hard clump and all attempts to microwave it back to life had failed.  Please tell me I'm not the only one. So I guesstimated.  And failed.  These poor apples were subjected to yet another attempt to cover them, with this try not sticking in the slightest, but quickly sliding off the smooth apple skins and resting on the wax paper in a pool below. 

I do hope you did not visit today looking for a caramel apple recipe, because I do not have one.  Do you?

Beachy Bonding Time

We're safely home from our family camping reunion, saturated with salty water, covered in ashy dirt, and full of new family memories.  We had an afternoon of digging and romping in the beach sand, two evenings of s'mores by the fire, and a healthy dose of playing and being together.  And if anyone wonders where I get my competitive nature, let me just say that our weekend also included a kite making & flying contest, a survival fire making contest, a trac ball contest, and a rousing game of musical chairs, courtesy of my cousin Kendy's lovely singing.  Oh yes, this is what our family calls fun.  

You've heard the phrase, "The family who plays together stays together"... cheesy, but definitely true for our family.  I only hope that my own boys will still like hanging out with me when Greg and I are "old folks at home," as I so affectionately call my parents.  

Only my dear uncle Don would think to bring the boys back issues of his magazines: "Trains" and "Equipment Today," which has page after page of pictures of and articles about construction equipment.  Come to think of it, it could be that it is only my dear uncle Don who has ever heard of these magazines.

I love this family 'portrait' of us just living life together...the boys and I eating popsicles while Greg keeps working on the fire making contest.  Yes, now we've revealed who does the real work around here.

How Tyler spent his Saturday afternoon...oblivious to the mud covering his body, but hanging on to the all important baseball cap, which he can be found wearing at all times, even when running around our house naked.

the kite flying contest, which my dad and brother in law Rob won for actual flying, as well as my cousin Becky, who won the 'most creative flyer' award, as she ran with her kite on a six foot string, just hoping it would defy all odds and soar.  Better luck next time, Becky.

Sunrise over San Elijo State Beach...

and sunset.

Family fun...

and family bonding.

I'm off now to do some family bonding with my own two trying little boys. I'm ever so tempted to focus on the fact I'm exhausted by the cold that's settled into my exploding sinuses, and that the boys' "rest time" was far from restful for any of us, and that my little pocket of afternoon silence wasn't as silent as I expect it to be.  There was no time for 'official' meditation, prayer, and renewal, but there was a brief time for writing and reflection, and I'm finding that God can speak peace to me through that time, too. Thank you, Lord, for beautiful photos and words, and for the strength to change my attitude.  

As Helen Keller said, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."  

I'm off to improve mine.  I hope your day is wonderful.  

The Year Round Outdoor Life

April 2007

Sometimes it's hard not to be jealous as I see the crisp fall weather pictures from various parts of the world.  Here we are, in another 90+ heat wave.  This is unusual, but it does come with the territory here in Southern California.  My roses are confused.  This picture is from last year, but outside my door right now the roses are blooming like crazy.  

I got to thinking about our heat, and realized how blessed we are to have this kind of weather where we can be outdoors, in nature, all year round.  I know some of you can't imagine Christmas without snow.  Growing up, I couldn't imagine Christmas without going rollerblading on the boardwalk at Huntington Beach.  Rather than be annoyed about the extreme heat today, I'm going to be thankful, especially since we're heading out to our annual family reunion camping trip on the beach today!  The boys favorite cd right now is a Veggie Tales sing-a-long, and there's a song that reminds me to be thankful:

'A thankful heart is a happy heart.  I'm glad for what I have, that's an easy place to start.'

I'm remembering this as I look back at some favorite old pictures of our adventures outside in the past couple years.

January 2007

March 2007

Annual family reunion campout on the beach (we're leaving for this year's today!), October 2007

Christmas Eve 2007

The Rose Parade: January 2008

Our meadow: January 2008

San Diego Train Museum trip for the boys' birthdays: February 2008

Around the neighborhood: February (yes, February!) 2008

Our first pool trip of the year: March 4, 2008

I do hope you're enjoying your beautiful fall weather, wherever you are.  As for me, I've decided to enjoy the heat around here.  Happy weekend to you all.