One for the Dog

Ever since the kids came along, our firstborn has been a bit neglected. But really, she's a dog and once she finished growing she stopped doing funny puppy things and she just does annoying dog things. We love her anyway and so Lowla, this post is for you!

Our favorite things about Lowla

• She's the most patient and tolerant dog ever known. She lets our kids or anyone's kids stab her in the eye or pull on her ear or try to ride her and she just sits there and takes it. Maybe it's stupidity but I'm glad she's so mellow.
• She's just the right size. She's not too big that she takes up significant room in the bed or is cumbersome to hold in your lap, but she's not too small or low to the ground that we trip over her all the time, though she does have her moments.
• She's mostly obedient. She does love to get out and run off but she almost always comes back when she's called. She will stop barking at squirrels usually if I tell her to, but sometimes that urge to bark is too much for her. Overall, she's an easy dog to control.

That's so Lowla

• She waits until the kids have gone to bed and Brandon and I settle in to relax and have our time in the evening and then she grabs her toys and jumps into our lap dying to play and have attention.
• She has radar knowing the moment a squirrel enters the yard. Though instead of chasing them out of the garden, she watches them destroy my plants and then chases them down only when she thinks they're close enough for her to catch. She never catches them.
• She will take any opportunity to dash out the front door, especially if it's garbage day. She always finds chicken bones and brings them into the house on garbage day. Blech!
• If you lay on the couch with a blanket, she will join you about 2.5 seconds after you get settled. If two people have blankets she will choose the person she thinks has the warmest blanket.
• Despite getting kicked in the face multiple times at night, she still insists on sleeping under the blankets between Brandon and I, every night. She usually only comes to bed with Brandon.
• If she wants to be petted she will incessantly try to shove her nose under your hand, her very cold and very wet dog nose. It's futile to resist, she always wins.

We do feel very blessed to have the perfect dog for our family.

Peas and Pork Chops

Typically when most 18-year-olds leave for college, they know how to cook a few choice things, among them, toast and ramen. For me, I couldn't really do either of those very well, some how I had difficulty remembering to put water in my bowl of ramen before I microwaved it. Yes that happened more than once. But when I arrived in Provo, UT with all my worldly possessions, there was only one thing I could cook, and that was Peas and Pork Chops. I'm pretty sure I was in High School when my parents instituted a dinner night for each kid, they had to decide what was for dinner and tell mom, she'd get all the ingredients and tell us how to cook it if need be and then we would make that for dinner. I'm sure there were other things I made for dinner on my night but after the rave reviews of my Peas and Pork Chops, I don't think I ever made anything else. Mom would always tell everyone how delicious my Peas and Pork Chops were, that making this dish was one of my greatest talents.

My brother and I, whom I lived with at college until I got married, ate Peas and Pork Chops an awful lot and first. While it is a really delicious meal, when its the only thing you're eating, it gets pretty old pretty fast. I didn't really start learning to cook until after I got married. I somehow needed to impress my new husband with my awesome domestic skills. We ate a lot of Peas and Pork Chops as newlyweds until I slowly learned how to cook other things, there was a potato cheese soup we ate a lot too. I now have an overflowing bookshelf and recipe drawer of delicious things I've learned to make and love. But every now and again, we come back to that familiar old favorite, Peas and Pork Chops. She ain't much to look at, but she sure is delicious.

Peas and Pork Chops

1 to 2 lbs Pork Chops or cuts, my favorite is country style ribs with white and dark meat, but a classic bone in chop makes the best flavor. Alternative to Pork: boiled eggs. no really, it's yummy!

3 cans Peas, I like to use the small early peas, but the regular ones are fine too

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

Cajun seasoning to taste, I like to use Tony Chachere's

Heat a large skillet with 2 Tbs oil. Season chops heavily and brown both sides in pan but don't cook all the way through, allow a nice dark brown crust to form on the pan bottom. Remove chops and add onions and more oil if needed. If using boiled eggs, just heat oil and saute onions, boil eggs separately. Saute until clear, about 3 minutes, deglaze the plan with some water and scratch up all the yummy bits. Add two cans of the peas with juice, cover and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Add seasoning if needed, usually not. Add the last can of peas sans water. Cook uncovered on medium until some of the peas begin to break and make gravy. Add the pork (or shelled boiled eggs) back to the pan and cook just until the meat is done. Serve over hot rice.

This makes the best chops, but you can also use the lazy person way and not remove the chops, but if you go this route, you need to cook the chops much much longer so they are very tender and falling from the bone so they regain moisture. Anything been just barely done and falling off the bone is going to be dry, tough, and difficult to eat. As Alton Brown would say: not good eats!

Oven Fried Eggplant

1 large eggplant, sliced inch thick

1 egg

seasoned breadcrumbs to coat

olive oil

Coat a baking sheet with the oil, dip each slice of eggplant in the egg and then coat well in crumbs and lay on the oiled sheet. drizzle lightly with more oil. Bake at 380 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Broil on low for another 5-7 minutes. They should be sizzling around the edges and tender when pierced with a fork.

This is one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant, well actually I like them deep fried better, but this way is delicious and less mess. Even though I only had three eggplant plants this year, I put 8 quarts of eggplant in the freezer and then ripped out the plants even though they were still going, I just couldn't bear to put anymore in the freezer. If you're looking to get into gardening, eggplant is an incredibly easy to grow, high yield, tolerant plant. It's a great success. Look for my eggplant dressing in a later post. Even if you don't like eggplant (like Brandon) you'll love this dressing!

Garage Sale Savings

My mom taught me from a young age that buying second hand is the best way to spend your money. More product for less cash. I didn't always appreciate it so much growing up, even though I am an only girl, I rarely ever had new clothes. I did love finding authentic 80's My Little Ponies at just .25 or .50, and no matter what you're shopping for it is always thrilling to find that one gem, worth 3 or 4 times what you pay and in new or like new condition. It's that thrill that keeps me going back for more.

Our neighborhood frowns upon individual garage sales but at least recognizes the need people have to periodically get rid of their accumulated things for a little cash. That said, they do allow twice a year a community garage sale where anyone in the neighborhood can have a garage sale and not face the wrath of the HOA. This is great because you can hit a lot of sales in a short amount of time and have more chances at getting the good stuff before its gone. We have A LOT of re-sellers in our area so beating them to the best deals is always a challenge.

I typically spend less than $50 and come home with gobs of stuff. The fall sale is my favorite because I can do Christmas shopping. Yesterday I wound up spending more than usual and felt I didn't get as much as usual. My heart wasn't totally in it, but after carefully admiring and cleaning all my finds, I feel like I did ok.

Retail: 7.99

Paid: .50

I don't usually buy books because I'm so picky about what I read, but the lady was insistent it was really good and it's an amnesia book, and those stories I typically find interesting.

Retail: 14.99

Paid: 5.00

I bought an older model and was jam packed with a few other potato head sets as I got two bodies with it.

Retail: 19.54/box

Paid: 3.00/box

I bought 4 boxes of this resin stone edging to put around my blackberry bed, orange tree, and mint bed to keep the lawn guys from tearing it up with the weed whacker.

Retail: 49.99

Paid: 10.00

The one I bought was very similar in style and all wooden, but not this exact one.

Retail: 9.95

Paid: 1.50

I dunno how much use this will get, but I thought it was fun anyway.

Retail: 14.95

Paid: 2.00

Ok so I guess I can be honest, I lost money on this one since you can buy the book new on amazon for less than 2.00 but the back of the book said 14.95 so at some point it was that expensive.

Retail: 129.00

Paid: 25.00

The set I bought doesn't have the original box any more but all the pieces are there and all the edges are crisp, some tracks still shrink wrapped, it seems it might have been played with only once or twice. The box also included a couple of Thomas trains and cars.

Retail: 109.00

Paid: 10.00

This is probably the most used thing I bought, it needs a couple minor repairs, but overall is sturdy and usable.

Retail: 30.00

Paid: 3.00

This is a large 2'X3' chalkboard, it's old and worn but I didn't buy it to use it as a chalkboard I bought it to be a puzzle board!! I haven't been able to do an adult puzzle in ages because there just isn't anywhere to do one where the kids won't get to it. When I was younger we had a chalkboard similar in size that we used to work on a puzzle and if we didn't finish, we'd just slide the board and unfinished puzzle under the couch to work on later. I can't wait to start a 1000 or 1500 piece puzzle to work on in the evenings and store it under the couch where the kids will never suspect. This was definitely my favorite buy.

I also bought a small wicker basked for .25 and some wire landscape fencing for 1.00.

Total Retail: 444.03

Total Spent: 69.00

Total Savings: 375.03

Not bad. I think I'll keep doing this garage sale thingy.

Showin' the Camera Some Love

It's been a while since I used my 70-300 lens and it's also been a while since I shot any black and white. So this morning I thought it was a fitting way to celebrate the first day of Fall and our slightly cooler morning by going to the park and taking some pictures.

Zoey enjoys the curly slide at the butterfly park.

Due to the speed of Masten Park's slide, Ian thinks all slides are that fast and this is now his preferred sliding position.

Artsy or what? Love that black and white.

I love that I can sit completely across the park and capture a moment so close.

Image Stabilization on this lens is so amazing. Even my little Ninja can be stopped at such a distance.

I can't believe how my little baby is growing up.

Reasons I love Halloween

While growing up, the only thing Halloween meant to me was candy and dressing like a black cat and that was ok. In college, it was just another cold day and it was even worse if it actually snowed. Ugh. Now that I have kids, Halloween totally rocks my socks!! Ok, I haven't actually made Halloween socks yet but now I've gotta put that on my to do list!

• Decorations! The kids think it is so fun to decorate the house with orange lights and giant spiders and flat-nosed witches with bad eyesight. 

• Themed Costumes. Once you're a family there's so many more amusing things you can dress up as. When you can sew, only your imagination is the limit!

• Carving Pumpkins. Not only do they smell good when they're lit with a real candle, they're so fun to make. Mmmm and roasted pumpkin seeds, and real pumpkin pie. Again your imagination only limits the things your pumpkin can be. Kids are pretty imaginative.



• Trick or Treat. If you thought it was fun getting candy as a kid, it's way more fun seeing your kid figure out all they have to say is Trick or Treat and they get lots of candy! It pays to visit a nice neighborhood for the good candy since you get to eat most of it anyway, also a plus.

When I wasn't a kid anymore, I thought holidays would never be as much fun again, but when I became a parent, being able to make the magic happen and seeing the kids enjoy it, make every holiday even more fun than it was as a kid. 

How could you not love this little Ian Dinosaur

This will be the first year that Zoey can really tell me what she wants to dress as. It's gonna be so much fun! Ian just loves attention so I don't think he'll care what he is, but depending on what Zoey decides I might coordinate Ian.

Don't forget the November 1st Jack-o-lantern pie. Mmmm Mmmm!

Welcome Fall

Fall officially starts on Friday and I am really excited for fall this year. I was recently inspired to pick up my needles and try out some yarn I bought some time ago. I don't do much knitting in the summer, I should probably fix that, but I always knit LOTS in the fall and winter. What better way to welcome fall than with a new hat.

Love this kid, he looks so sweet in everything

Some simple 1x1 ribbing at the brim

A plain stockinette stitch to let the yarn do its thing. I didn't use a pattern, I just figured all the math on my own this time. I'm getting pretty good at hats. I made a newborn size one first and the pattern is different at the different gauge. It's neat. I don't have any male newborns so I don't know what I'll do with it. 

I used Red Heart Soft Baby Steps, color 9982 on Size 7 DPNs. Here's a general pattern if you're interested:

Fits 16-18 inch noggins.

CO 78st

Join in round and K1 P1 around for an inch and a quarter

K around for 3 inches

Start decreases: *k11, k2tog* repeat around

K around

*K10, k2tog* repeat around

K around

*K9, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K8, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K7, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K6, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K5, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K4, K2tog* repeat around

K around

*K3, K2tog* repeat around

*K2, K2tog* repeat around

*K1, K2tog* repeat around

*K2tog* repeat around

cut long tail, pull through remaining 6 sts and weave in ends

TA-DA!

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy

About a year ago on a sunny Sunday morning I suddenly felt like I was in labor. The pain was unimaginable and the nausea was unbearable. A week later I gave birth to this beauty:

Kenny the kidney stone

It was a pretty awful experience and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I later found out that Kenny is a calcium stone, the hardest and most jagged of all known kidney stones. I likely formed this stone while pregnant and consuming lots of tums for heartburn (curse you HEB and your delicious antacid tablets!). Most parents-to-be are thrilled at the knowledge of twins, but I was not when I learned Kenny had a twin sister in my other kidney twice the size of Kenny! Kendra however was not an immediate threat as she was high up in my kidney and not showing signs of movement. I knew she'd have to be blasted at some point since she was much too large to pass on her own. I put it off and put it off and put it off because I really was dreading the experience.

So last Thursday I finally went in to have my stone taken care of. Everyone knows that doctors offices and hospitals are freezing cold. I'm guessing that's to keep people fresh and preserved but it's just a bother to me, someone who is almost always cold anyway. The staff are finally starting to realize this and while waiting for my procedure they gave me this awesome gown, not your usual cloth hospital gown, it was mostly paper and plastic. It had these terminals that they hooked a hose that blows warm air into it and the whole gown inflates and you can sit in your own toasty little heater. Man it would be great to have one of those at home. I should have brought it home and hooked it up to my hair dryer. So while Brandon was shivering and mourning the loss of an hour's worth of video game progress, I was relaxin' all toasty in my gown.

Next various people come through: prep nurse, anesthesiologist, OR nurse, and my urologist and I'm hooked to an IV, given some saline, briefed on my trip to lala land and the procedure and recovery. About 1:45 the anesthesiologist comes in and gives me a pre-sedative to relax me and make me drowsy. As they wheel me out of the room I hear him mention it should kick in pretty fast and I immediately start giggling. I think I made it another 3 feet and I was laughing outrageously and then I don't remember another thing.

I kind of envisioned the procedure to be my urologist aiming some large death-ray looking gun at my back and laughing manically as he repeatedly pelts me with shock waves, but in reality the machine probably looked more medical and boring, like this:

So for me it was over pretty quick, the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and asking the nurse if I had been snoring. I don't know why that mattered to me, I've never been self conscious about snoring before. Only about 45 minutes or so had passed since I went under. Once I seemed to be awake enough they wheeled me into another recovery room and had me sit in a chair and they hooked me back up to a warming tube. Brandon came in shortly. I guess we were there another 45 minutes or so while I finished waking up, eating some crackers and juice, taking some Vicodin for the sharp pains in my back, and pee some blood to make sure my kidney didn't shut down.

The ride home was the worst part of it all, and Brandon was being an unusually good driver. The nausea was so bad, probably because everything was still moving in slow motion for me. Once home, and over the next couple days I had to take it easy and drink at least 2 liters of water a day. I'm so tired of drinking water. Thankfully, the pain wasn't too bad, just some general abdominal discomfort and nausea. Kendra has been leaving as little sandy bits, not painful at all. I'm glad it's done and over and I'm feeling back to my old self. And for the record, I have not eaten another antacid tablet.

Man Purse

Lets face it, sewing really does lend itself to the female side of the equation. All the creative puffs and ruffles and cutsey fabrics and decorative stitches just are easier to incorporate into a some female garment or accessory. I decided that my first project on my new machine would be for Ian. He really likes the handbag that Grandma made for Zoey so I thought I'd make him his own bag to put things in and tote around. I happened to have a pattern for a dress and matching purse for Zoey but the purse could easily pass for a messenger bag and was rather plain, a good start to add some embellishment with my new machine's capabilities. His first man purse was born. It's too hard for him to carry around so he doesn't use it much, oh well I had fun making it anyway.

Button closure is not really a good idea for a bag, but I just love using the button maker function on my new machine, it works so awesome. As you can tell I had some fun with the built in decorative stitches. I tried to pick some manly ones.

What kid doesn't love some shapes eh? Used the satin stitch foot to sew those on, nothing special there really.

3-year-old prayers

Zoey is starting to understand how prayers work. Instead of telling her what to say each night we now prompt her to thank heavenly father for things and to also ask for things from him. It usually goes something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank thee for the chair.
We thank thee for the pillow.
We thank thee for Mommy, Daddy, Zoey, Ian, and Max and Ruby.
We ask thee for the closet.
We ask thee for the chair.
We ask thee for a coloring book.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well, it's getting there I guess. Maybe she'll be more imaginative when she actually closes her eyes during a prayer.

Sew Guilty

Brandon comes home one day and says he's bought a Christmas present for me already. He said it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm thinking Christmas is still 3.5 months away, but whatever, I guess it can just hang around until then. About a week later a large box arrives at the door, Brandon swears he has no idea what's in it, even though it is sent to him. Brandon ALWAYS know whats in any box he's ordered. I am skeptical, but he is insistent I should open it. Inside:

Singer Perfect Finish Sewing Machine and Serger Set

I have always been very leery of electronic sewing machines, even though I'm an IT major. I've just always felt like if you're going for durability and quality, a sewing machine should be all mechanical. My 60's Necchi has been a great companion for all the years its has been mine. I still love that thing and man is it heavy. I'm sure you could chuck it down a flight of stairs and it would just sew on like a champ. However I have always been a little curious of the new machines and features they offer. While I get the general sense this is a mid-line machine, if nothing else, the serger was worth the price.

I finally got the chance to sit down with it and explore its features the other day and overall I like its capabilities. I think the real test will come on a sewing project verses some scrap fabric. I have to say as I moved my trusty Necchi to the side of my sewing table all I could feel was horrible guilt as it sat there looking at me longingly as I giggled over the cool decorative patterns the singer produced and the ease at making perfectly sized button holes. I only felt a little redeemed as I told my Necchi she could never be completely replaced because she would let me control reverse speed and the needle threader on the singer was just a ridiculous attachment and when the electronics surely busted a capacitor, she'd still be there to see me through the thick and thin fabrics.

I do have to say I was quite impressed with the manuals for the sewing machine and the serger, they had a lot of useful information and examples on using many of the techniques and presser foots, excellent reference charts, and are overall well written. A horrible design flaw of the sewing machine is the bobbin area. A flimsy little plastic door covers the bobbin and mechanism and the latch to open it is sitting right where you feed fabric through to the needle. No doubt that little door is going to pop open all the time. The bobbin also sits very loosely in that space and tends to bounce around and clickety clack as you sew. Otherwise the machine would be whisper quiet.

While my Necchi will always be my first love, I think I can find some room in my heart for this bobbin-clackity new Singer. The serger and I will no doubt be attached to my hip and I can return my mom's serger back to her. It performed exactly as expected in all tests I did compared to the old Simplicity serger I had been using. The only slightly annoying thing about the Singer serger is to use the free arm is a bit clumsy and difficult to remove the side casing and it completely comes off. The Simplicity machine allowed you to pull lightly on the side casing and it swings out of the way of the free arm remaining attached to the machine. Related to that effort, rethreading the Singer is a little more annoying than threading the Simplcity, but it's a serger, and rarely is threading one not a time consuming feat. Next sewing project will be performed solely on this new duo to see what a perfect finish it really is.

Haircuts are overrated!

Ian has been pretty blessed to have a full head of hair, though it is a bit thin and wispy, it was getting pretty long. While hanging out in the hammock the other day I decided it was time to cut his hair since I could pull it into some pretty decent pig tails.

I thought, "How hard can this be, I cut Brandon's hair and give the kid a Popsicle and he'll be fine"

"I'm not really liking this mom"

"AAAAHHHH!!!! I don't like haircuts!!! LET ME GO!!"

So yeah, he wouldn't let me finish fading the sides so it's pretty choppy, with the fact that it is thin, all the cuts are very obvious.

His Masten hairline is very apparent now

I think the back turned out the best. haha. I suppose it will grow out soon enough and I can try again...or maybe I'll just leave that to the professionals.

Happy 3rd Birthday Zoey!

Anyone that knows Zoey knows she LOVES Max and Ruby. For her birthday I decided she could be dressed like Ruby and have the Angel Surprise cake with Raspberry Fluff Icing that Ruby makes for Grandma's birthday. I had a lot of other ideas, but those were the only two that came to fruition at the party.

It took me a while to find just the right pattern for the dress, and still it's not 100% like ruby's but pretty close. Since the pattern on the dress wasn't something I was able to find readily I just used a solid yellow broadcloth to the make the dress and make a stencil from some paper and drew on the Xs and +s with fabric crayon and then set it with a hot iron. I like the way it turned out. Ruby's shirt isnt a button down but this was the pattern that I had and the collar and sleeves were correct so I figured it was close enough. Overall I like the way the outfit turned out. Ian was supposed to be Max, though max's shirt is yellow and red striped and his overalls are plain, but since it wasn't his party, I think it was ok like this.

For the cake I made an Angel Food Cake from scratch, and it turned out perfect. Zoey doesn't like raspberries so I used strawberries instead. For the icing I whipped some cream with a little powdered sugar. Though technically the top of the cake is supposed to have butter cream roses, I liked the whole strawberries. The heart and star sprinkles are right! Mmm Mmm good.

A very eager Zoey waits to sing happy birthday so she can dig in.

At 3 years old, they have the blowing out candles thing down pat!

Then presents! Zoey got so many great clothes!

Fun activities, she loooooooves play-doh and paint!

Of course more sidewalk chalk. Whatever crazy person that invented colored bubbles was totally smoking something, after blowing 3 bubbles I decided the only way we were going to use these things is if the kids are naked outside and getting ready to take a bath. While they claim to be washable they're an uncontrollable mess!!

The thing I thought she would be most excited about, her very own scooter, she had no interest in, and still, days later, isn't very interested in it. :-( That play-doh she can't stop playing with it! Who knew the whims of a 3-year-old could be so fleeting?

We all enjoy some cake and ice cream while video chatting with Grandma Lisa. The kids played into the evening at Masten Park and it was a great party! Happy 3 years Zoey dear!