And then there was one

Chuggie misses his sisters when they are at school.
Isn't that a sad picture? He went outside to pout, bless his lonely heart.

Don't worry, Corbin, you'll be starting preschool next week and will have a house full of friends to play and learn with.

"What they'd give just for the right to hold you..."

My little Quincy-bee went back to preschool yesterday! She is so proud to finally be in the "butterfly class". (yes, my children attend my preschool, but I have always sent them to another school on different days of the week so they can have the experience of having a teacher that is not their mom and a classroom that isn't their own home.)
Here is her teacher, Mrs. Shaefer.

Doesn't she look sweet?

Look out, this little bee packs a stinger and she's not afraid to use it. I love that about her. Quincy, you are a girl with zest!

She's ready to FLY!

Under the Carrot Top

We are harvesting carrots and there are many many more where these came from!
Anyone have a yummy recipe for glazed carrots?

Speaking of "carrot tops"....I colored my hair red yesterday. It's not as bright or as red as I woul like for it to to be, but it's a nice rich auburn. I'm welcoming the winds of change, this fall.

I'll take PMS for 1000, Alex

-After a tragic sunday evening with no brownies in the house, I realized I am completely unprepared for disaster. Monday morning arrived and I booked it to walmart and stocked up on Little Debbi Fudge Brownies.

-Big Brother is on tonight. Don't call. Yup. I watch Big Brother.

-It was decided in a recent discussion that Aaron would make a MUCH better contestant on Big Brother than I would.

-This discussion took place right after I cried because there weren't any brownies in our house. Brownies. Well---LACK of brownies, actually....and I think that should count for something, but really? Tears? Uhhhh Hormones anyone? Congratulations, Aaron, you've won tonight's Daily Double!

STATUS UPDATE: Big Brother was in fact, NOT on that evening. I had my days mixed up. Don't even ask about the meltdown that followed.

Swappy

My sister has a blog. Do you read it? You should! She is cute and fun and she gives away like a fazillion things every single week! I love her Happy List posts the most because they are such a nice contrast to all of the whining and complaining on the internet (um...scroll down on my blog to see what I'm talking about. guilty as charged.).

Another thing she is great at is hosting good mail swaps! Who doesn't love to get a package in the mail? Presents? Sign me up!
This particular swap is a favorite color swap....meaning I get to shop around and fill a package of cute stuff in my partner's favorite color, and she will do the same for me.

A box full of spicy orange fun for me!

I'm so excited about this (can you tell?). It's been a few years since I've done one of HolleeAnn's swaps, but last time, I made a new friend. Lately, I've trying to reach out of my comfort zone a little to really get to know other people. I am aware that I am much better at talking than listening, so I'm hoping this swap will be a lil' step toward changing that. I can't wait to see who my partner will be this time and put together a fab package for her!

Thanks, HolleeAnn, for hosting!

Eat This: Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

I'm always left with a bunch of too-ripe-to-really-enjoy tomatoes at this time of year. The weeds, blistering sun, bugs, and humidity try to take hold of my garden. Even with my best efforts to maintain the garden this year, I still had a share of less-than-sightly tomatoes. This was the perfect fix for them, and this has been the first year that every last tomato we picked has been used. We had close to 200 this year. The harvest is winding down, but I still get 1 or 2 every day.

Adapted from an Ina Garten recipe:
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, remove stems and quarter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock

1 tsp fresh oregano

1/3-1/2 c half and half

1 red bell pepper cut into 1 inch chunks.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the red pepper, tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, oregano, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Blend

Return to pot heat to med-low (no boil) and add half and half. Whisk up for minute and enjoy with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Say, "I can't believe how GOOD this soup is!" like 100 times.

Enjoy.

Things I Survived

I threw my back out yesterday. I've narrowed the cause down to either wrestling with Corbin or lifting the freezer by myself to level it. Either way, It hurts like nothing I've ever experienced, and I spent my day changing ice packs and hittin' the ibuprofen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We took a small outing to the library, this morning. Corbin's behavior there could be compared to that of a fire breathing dragon in a ...well a library still works for this comparison. The good news is that I scored 2 movies (Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life to add to our Christmas movie collection) and 3 hard cover books (The Secret, The Glass Castle, The Thirteenth Tale) for $8 total from the For Sale section in the back. Hopefully, it will take me a month or two to get through them, because it's going to be as long before we are welcomed back into the library with a smile from the ladies behind the counter.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

During naptime today, Quincy wandered out and said, "Mom, there's poop in my room."
Me: Poop? In your room? Why? Hey. You've got chocolate on your face..."

Wait.
Noooo.

I went back to her bedroom.

no.
No.
NOOOOO.

It was like a minefield.
I don't even know how she did it, I really don't. More than anything, though, I wish she hadn't tried to clean it up herself.

With ALL of the clothes from the dirty hamper.

and her bedding.
and the curtains.
and Reese's bedding.
and all of the stuffed animals from Reese's bed.

No surface was left untouched.
Is I scrubbed (which my back did not appreciate) and started a 2nd load of laundry (this is not including the pieces I simply threw away because there was just no coming back from the devastation), I looked around and seriously considered just closing the door and boarding that bedroom up.

Why, Quincy? Whyyyyyyyyy???!!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We fed the sister missionaries dinner the other night. As soon as they entered the kitchen, the girls ran up to them and announced, "Guess what?! We have a rat in our kitchen!" Nice.

Stay Classy San Diego.

Get Off Your Buns

So this is the sofa we purchased from IKEA in April. It is massive and we totally love it. Uno problemo. The profile is waaaay too low. We thought we wouldn't mind, but it is driving us crazy. In the image above, there are little feet visible, but in reality, when the furniture is placed on carpet, they disappear, because they are only 2 inches tall.

I've been on a search for the "perfect" bun feet for awhile, but I can't seem to find any dorel feet that are 4 inches tall and skinny legs just look awkward with the fat sofa propped on top of it.

I think I found a happy medium. A tulip foot. Not too ornate, not too skinny, not too short, and most importantly, not too expensive. $5 baby!

So, what color should they be? Keep in mind the color of the upholstery, my laziness (gotta be a stain or spray, I am not brush painting them) and the furniture nearby (tv armoire is antique white and old piano is mahogony that I would not really love if it were not suited on such a pretty piece of furniture).

Antique white like the armoire? Stain? What kind? Do I try and mock up an aged black walnut stain so they look like my kitchen table? I don't know if a weathered stain would look good on such a modern sofa.

Suggestions, friends...

Summer Reads

I think I have officially converted. To the Kindle! I'm so spoiled. Picking up "real" books seems like a chore, and turning pages? For suckas!

Anyway, I'd recommend all three of these to anyone. Loved them all. Some themes I found in all three of them are the beautiful power of words and escape of literacy, overcoming adversity and making the best of bad situations, grit, gumption, grudges, and gratitude, mother/daughter relationships, abandonment, and loving what you have. Be sure to read The Glass Castle (also by Jeannette Walls), too.

I cried, cheered, and laughed out loud from behind a book a lot this summer.

What should I read next?

Imagination Station

When we lived in Morgan Hill, Ca (2003?) I taught at a preschool that had an awesome indoor playground called "The Village". (ahhh! no! Not like the scary movie, The Village! It's a kid's playground.)

Scaled down to child size, it looked like a walkup commercial building with four little store fronts on the first floor and one room above with stairs on one side and a slide back down into a ball pit on the other. It rocked. When I taught there, I was commissioned to make little signs for the stores, like Jamba Juice, Pet Store, Library, Flower Shop, etc.. The signs and coordinating prop boxes could be swapped out so the kids would have different environments for dramatic play.

I've always wanted to give my own children a similar experience but clearly, I do not have the space for an indoor playground (wouldn't that be a dream?). Rather than miniature buildings for the kids to play in, I designed and constructed a market stand instead. It's about 3 ft wide and 4 ft tall. Perfect for my littles.

I bought the wood (I paid extra to have them cut everything to my measurements right there in the store to save time, have less cleanup, and make for easier transportation of the lumber back to my house. The total cost for the in-store cuts was $1.75. Totally worth it.) a few weeks ago, and it has been sitting in my garage waiting for me.

Yesterday, I felt like doing something creative.
As soon as Corbin and Quincy were down for a nap, I got started.

2 1/2 hours later, they woke up, Reese got home from school, and their very own little Imagination Station was waiting to be played with. Cute, right? With an electric sander I smoothed all of the surfaces and corners down to bullnose so there are no sharp edges for little hands to get hurt on. I also cut out 8 wooden signs that will attach to the top so it can be a bakery, a library, a lemonade stand, a ticket booth, a theater, a grocery store, a pizzaria, whatever!
I'm still trying to decide what color to paint it. I'll probably just use whatever I have leftover in my garage from another project. Even with it unfinished, the kids love it already.
I cannot wait for my preschoolers to see it!

Mousetrap

R.I.P Little Fatty.

In All Fairness

We hit the Benton County Fair on Saturday night. Notice the pit stains on Captain Murph. Those are no coincidence. The fair is a schwetty place. First stop? For obvious purposes, we went for the deep fried foot long corn dogs.

We ran into the Nielsen girls and they rode the swings together. Before they saw their friends, my girls were afraid of the swings, but the power of peer pressure worked toward our advantage and before we knew it they were circling by with their hands in the air and smiles on their faces.

When Corbin grew tired of watching, Aaron took him to the carousel for a horsie ride.
Reese, Quincy and I went on one more ride-they chose the kiddy coaster. Their faces were classic. We walked around and enjoyed people watching at it's finest. Carnie Edition. It doesn't get any better than that, folks.

Say, is that a knife game for children? Yes. Yes it is. Forget the rock hard stuffed bear as big as your car. At this booth, little Sally can win a switchblade!
I think my biggest regret from the evening is not paying to see the World's Smallest Woman. The striped tent had a small wooden box in the middle of it and for 50 cents you could go inside and look in the box. This offer came with a "money back guarantee that she was in really the box and alive and breathing." How did I pass this up? Question: What do people do once they get in there and see the tiny woman? Do they just stare at her? Take pictures? Does she like to chat with people? That's awkward, isn't it? Here's how I imagine 100% of conversations with the Tiny Woman go:

Patron: "Hi! Wow! You're tiny! And real!"

Tiny Woman: "My husband is a pimp. Please save me from this horrible life of exhibition."

Patron: "Amazing! 'Alive and breathing' just like they promised! Totally worth 50 cents. Come on, Jack, let's go tell Brenda, she's gotta see this..."

Tiny Woman: "Seriously? I'm in a freaking wooden box. [sigh] Okay..uh..enjoy your cotton candy. help me..."

We hit the petting zoo next and held the baby chickies, but not before stopping to sample the smoked wings, sausage, and pork shoulder. Priorities, people. Corbin loved the chicks. The girls thought the piglets were "so adorable". Milked a "cow"

and pet a bunch of livestock. Yup. Q's "shorts" are pants, that she has hiked up to her thighs. She's been sporting this style anytime we force her to wear actual clothing other than just underwear on the bottom. She says, "it's too hot for clothes. These are my hot pants." Hot pants, they are.

Later, we heard the siren call of the funnel cakes.

And Aaron gave the evening a grand finale of gigantic fresh squeezed lemonade. He definitely knows how to keep his women happy. Any beverage that includes a straw wide enough to suck up melty little ice pieces is so much better than diamonds.
Great night. Captain Murph was right. Totally worth the schwetty pit stains.

Check Out My Melons...

So it probably could have used another week of growing, but the pesky squirrels have been messing around in my garden (I think they're after the sunflowers) and knocked this guy off the vine. We'll bust it open tomorrow. I don't even care if it tastes good. I'm just proud of the fact that we managed to keep it alive. We never seem to have good luck with melons. The watermelons were devoured by squash bugs. There are a few other small cantoloupes out there, so maybe we'll enjoy a couple more before the season ends.

I planted another round of butternut squash about a week ago, and this weekend I planted acorn squash, more butternut, spaghetti squash, winter squash, ornamental gourds, and fingerling potatoes. Most take about 60 days to harvest (butternuts a little longer), so hopefully the first frosts of winter will hold off long enough for us to get a good crop and have a yummy Autumn feast!

Quincy

-is really lonely when Reese is at school.
-is back on a wearing pants strike.
-makes her own oatmeal. This is actually a pretty great thing, since oatmeal is one of the 5 things she eats willingly.
-has insisted that we refer to her as, "Astrid" for about 2 weeks.
-still chooses to wear flip flops on the wrong feet.
-finally stopped adding a request for a pet unicorn to her dinner prayers, but replaced it with a request "that mommy and daddy be so very nice."
-really needs a haircut, but cries everytime I get the scissors out.
-makes me laugh out loud multiple times a day.
-still asks to take naps and I love her more for it.
-has been telling a lot of "stories" (read: elaborate lies) lately. Her most recent being the one where she told Aaron she caught the fat rat while he was at work and then she stabbed it in the stomach with a sharp knife, and the one where she told us that last year, at preschool, Mrs. Shaefer had no clothes on for a whole day. We aren't really sure what to do with this information. We know the stories are false, but that doesn't actually do anything to dissolve the creeped out effect they have on us.

Wanted: Dead or Alive...but mostly dead.

A few nights ago, I accidentally left the door that goes out to our garage from the kitchen open all night long. Oopsie. I've squished a couple crickets, but no biggie, right?

Wrong. There is a biggie, alright. A big FAT mouse. He ran across my kitchen floor when I flipped on the light in there at 6 am and he scared the crap out of me. My house is clean. I have like 50 stray cats in our yard. How the CRAP did I get a mouse? Sick!

I'll tell you how. HENRY. We frequently see little critters coming in and out of his garage, and last time I was over there, the floor was a carpet of rodent feces.

Dear Mouse,

Why? Why my house? You had a freaking paradise set up across the street with your pals. The kitchen alone is a smorgasboard. Were you crowded out? Did the fruit fly colonies hog the rotten fruit pile? What about the bathrooms? The toilets are full...that seems like the kind of thing a nasty little critter like yourself would be interested in. Why did you come to my house? Now I feel all icky and want to move. Also, I'm afraid to take off my shoes and it is 103* outside.
Curse you, tiny beast!
I am armed with dcon bricks and enough traps to kill an army (just in case you have any little friends, but I really don't think you do). You are going to die.

-Meg


Dear Henry,

Your house is disgusting. Now that you've attracted mice, do you know what are going to come next? Snakes. I don't do mice, I definitely don't do snakes, and I don't do well with hoarders. Expect a visit from the Health Department very soon. Also, you probably should not be driving while taking hydrocodone. You also probably shouldn't continue taking hydrocodone if you're describing its effects as "just the same as water".

-Meg

I cleaned my garage today (finding a mouse in your home will drive you to absolute insanity.) I'm sorting, scrubbing, and purging everything I own. Nothing is safe from the wrath of my ScotchBrite sponge. I even cleaned my cleaning products. Hopefully Little Fatty came over on from Henry's on his own and doesn't have 20 cousins slummin' it with him in our crawlspace.
I'm so grossed out I can't breathe. I don't think I'll sleep until Fatty is dead.
I'll blog more later. I need to go finish bleaching everything I own.

Things that must be shared

I am a terrible photog. Especially when it comes to food. I should have channeled my inner Sheena and at least wiped the basil from the side of the bowl. No time for that. I snapped this shot, we sat down to eat, and the pasta was gone within minutes. Thanks to Emily, this is my new staple. (how am I not 500 lbs?)

fresh garlic (pressed)

pasta: linguine, spaghetti, angel hair

fresh tomatoes (dice)

fresh basil (chiffonade)

sea salt

pepper

marjoram

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

cook noodles. toss with everything else. eat. be happy.

thank you emily, for bringing this simple goodness into our lives.

Out of the Blue

Reese: Mom, having a brother is much more fun than not having a brother.

Mockingbird

Tonight, when I closed the door to the chicken coop, I peeked inside and did a head count.
"One, two, three, four...uh oh. Where's Goldie?"

Missing.

Crap.

Did something eat her? Did she hop the fence?
Where is she, and why didn't she go to bed when the other hens did?
We grabbed flashlights and after searching the yard for her for 15 minutes, I thought to look UP.
Busted.
Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Yeah. That's a freaking chicken up in my dogwood tree. Evidently, Goldie has earned her name, as Quincy named her after Goldilicious, the imaginary pet unicorn from the Pinkalicious book series. Both unicorn and hen are fans of playing hide and seek in the dark when they are supposed to go to bed.

The problem: I couldn't just leave her up there. We have squirrels, oppossum, raccoons, snakes, groundhogs, armadillo and all sorts of predators back there. She'd never make it until morning. I really didn't want to tell my kids the story of the Little Dead Hen in the morning, so we set up a light by the coop to lead the way for her, and tried to coax her down. .

My first attempt to get her down was to shake the branch. THAT got her to move.
To a higher branch.

Then, I tried poking her with a golf club to "shoo" her down. She hopped around and bawked at me. What a tease.

So I busted out the ladder.
Goldie freaked out and hopped from branch to branch, always inches out of my reach.
The scene was not pretty: me in a skirt, at the top of a ladder, clinging to the tree, swatting at a hen in the branches with a plastic golf club, and getting pecked at and pooped on, while Goldie spazed and sent feathers flying everywhere. Add "coax a chicken down from a tree" to the list of things I cannot do. We all know that if she had been a kitten stuck up there, I probably would have gone to bed and left her up there to die. Goldie seemed to be aware of the fact that I'd rather be watching Big Brother on Hulu than fetching a hen from a tree and I swear she was heckling me the entire time.

Aaron thought this scene was just ridiculous. He brought a broom outside and tried to push her off the branch, but instead she was so spooked, she perched herself on the bristles of the broom to roost! Naturally, he tried to get her to fly off, so he started gently waving the broom around and banging the handle against the tree branch. She wouldn't budge and her claws held onto the end of the broom like a sticky booger that wouldn't fling. Now add to that me wiggin out the whole time, I'm screaming at Aaron, "No! Stop! Just bring her down to me like that! I can catch her! Bad chicken! Goldie! Get down! Aaron stop! You'll squish her!"

He slowly lowered the wobbly broom end down from the sky and Goldie plopped right into my arms. As I put her to bed in the coop with the others, I felt like one of those...those pet people.

You know the type...remember The Office episode where Dwight locks all the doors for his "fire safety" scare and Angela franticly throws Sprinkles into the ceiling with Oscar?

Maybe we'll change Goldie's name to Smelly Cat.
Yeah, I named my chickens.

Oh my gosh. I AM a cat lady! Ahhhh!

Remember

Do you blog?
You should. Blogging beats Facebook, and here is why:
The other night, I couldn't remember a detail about something that happened like 3 years ago.
I searched my blog archives, and sure enough, the answer was there. Booyah.


Blogging: 1 Facebook: 0.


Do you have a blog that you've been neglecting? Why? Did you run out of things to say? Do you feel like you can't blog unless you have an elegant manuscript to post?
Who cares? Out of the 133 people that have permission to view this blog, I think only 15 or so come back regularly, and y'all would come back to read no matter what I posted, right? Right. So if you're hung up on posts that you need to catch up on, or you don't have the time to edit photos or writing to perfection before posting, here is my advice:


Blog anyway.

Edit later. Catch up later. Sit and write an amazing article later. In the meantime, don't miss documenting the everyday. I've only had this blog for 5(ish) years, and there are already so many little things that when I look back and read, I know I never would have remembered had I not blogged about them. Imagine how much foggier days like today will be in 30 years.
I'll want to have access to details my memory failed to hold captive.
Whether it is 3 years or 30 years from now, when I read some of these posts, I hope that Future Meg will be filled with gratitude for:

-Corbin being out of diapers
-letting Quincy dress herself
-the paint stain on the Dogwood finally wearing off
-braving a torrential rainstorm to get blueberries and grapes in the ground
-scotch gaurding the sofa
-an easier first day of school for Reese
-Aaron's job
-helping others and accepting help offered
-literacy
-saturdays spent driving to and from the temple
-Q's hair no longer being a mullet
-choosing good friends
-hours in line to meet princesses at Disneyland
-magnifying church callings
-bagging chores and spending a day at the splash park
-skipping naps and playing in the pouring rain
-hours spent on lesson plans
-deciding to save this or get rid of that
-going on dates and little getaways with Aaron
-efforts to be more frugal
-splurging on things that mattered
-trying new things
-taking the kids to the library
-trials overcome
-saturday morning runs and soccer games
-time and money spent building and maintaining a food storage supply and 72 hr kits
-keeping my house clean
-growing our hair out to donate
-remodeling our house
-reading good books
-long drives to visit family
-battling weeds and bugs to have a garden



I know some of these are small things, but my hope is that in years to come, reading posts like the ones about raising baby chicks and the long wait for eggs will remind us of what a miracle and a blessing it is to get fresh eggs from our backyard every morning. Eggs are a novelty that will probably wear off eventually and I don't want to take it for granted. Sticky hands and syrupey kisses are a novelty I don't want to take for granted. Glue stick decorated chairs are a novelty I don't want to take for granted.
My children will not be small forever. I was slapped with that reality when I sent Reese of to 1st grade yesterday. Really? 1st grade? Pretty soon it will be high school, and all we will have of what's behind us are memories.

and hopefully, 1200 more blog posts to help us relive them.

1st Grade

Look at how brave my girl is.
She tried so hard to hold back the tears on her first day of school. We gave her a hug and a kiss and reminded her that she can do hard things, and then we left her at her desk. (Obviously) I went back and spied through the window by her classroom door. She continued to cry quietly for a few more minutes, and then a girl from her class last year went into the room and said, "Hey Reese!". I knew she'd be ok, so we left. This morning, Reese was all smiles when it was time to go to school. She happily got on the bus and blew us a kiss from her seat. Great improvement from last year. Watching her cry is difficult, but I'm not going to lie...I love feeling needed. I miss her so much more than she misses me. We had chocolate sprinkled donuts (what else?) after school, and dinner (cut into star shapes) was served on cafeteria style lunch trays.

The school year is off to a great start! We are proud of you, Reese!

"Make a Wish, Take a Chance, Make a Change..."

Our back to school party was everything I had hoped it would be for the kids. (scroll down to the last post for the lesson)
I don't have the right set of words to describe just how beautiful and peaceful the evening was, and the photos don't do it justice. It was special night I hope my children never forget. Thanks to the Irlenborn girls, Zebleys, Nielsens, and Engers for partying with us!
Prepare for photo overload

yup, that's Corbin dressed as Woody. He was the lone boy with 13 girls! I think he grunted, threw enough rocks and waved enough sticks that no one dated question his masculinity.