Goo Sale

It took Jack about an hour and a half this afternoon to think of the idea and implement this sale.  I know it doesn't look like it, but there were a lot of experiments to make his product.  He wanted to yell for the neighbors to come to his sale, but I advised him to wait until his brothers got home to ask them if they wanted to come to his sale. Unfortunately, they weren't interested in touching his Purple Goo for $1.00.  So I did.  Matthew said, "JACK!  It's not worth a dollar.  It's probably only worth 25 cents!"

A couple pencils, a stick, and a lot of tape.

Even a towel to wipe your fingers after you touch the Goo. 

Customer service at its finest.

Babygirl

When the captain and I were on our second date, we were talking about things we want for our future.  He said, "I'd like more children one day."  I responded, "Me too.  I'd like six."  He gave me a surprised, "Six?" but he proposed anyway.  Ha.  Sucker.  I'm happy to say that we're well on our way, expecting our fourth in August.  And after three boys, we were really pleased to find out that this one is a girl.  Pleased?  Shocked.  Amazed.  It seems that I am the only one among my friends and family who was surprised, though.  They claim premonition, I claim they just wanted this for me as much as I did.  All of my feelings about having a daughter seem inadequate in words.  The feelings are much different than I can express, I'm sure, but I'll try.  I'm going to start at the beginning.

Pregnant Belly.  21 weeks.

Last December, when I took that pregnancy test, I started crying.  And if I'm being honest, they weren't exactly happy tears.  But they weren't sad tears either.  I think I was mostly scared.  Scared of the first trimester.  Scared of delivery.  Scared of starting over (Jack will be a kindergartener in the fall!).  And some of it was valid.  I spent six weeks in bed from the sixth week on.  It was pretty gross, as I knew it would be.  But I got through it. 

Once I was through that trimester, I could not wait to find out the gender of this baby.  The minute I told them I was expecting, my boys (all three of them) all said, "Oh!  I hope it's a sister!"  Whoa.  That's some pressure.  I assured them that is was the perfect baby for our family, and that God already chose if it was a boy or a girl.  Still, they pestered me daily with their hopes for a girl baby.  It got to the point where Jack would say, "I hope it's a girl, Mom.  I know, I know.  God already chose!" 

I was sure it was a boy.  I don't know if it was partly self-preservation or if I thought the captain could only make boys or if it was my limited knowledge of the shettles method, or a combination of the three, but I told everyone I was sure it was a boy.  I fell in love with a boy name.  I went through periods of panic about my reaction to the gender news.  And then I found peace. 

So last week when we went to the ultrasound, I was pretty prepared emotionally.  It took the sonographer about 20 minutes to confirm girl parts.  I broke into tears.  She said, "Use your towel, honey!"  To which I responded, "Oh, no, it's okay.  My husband brought Kleenex!"  And he did. And I used them. 

Can you imagine my joy?  I'm 35 years old and realizing a dream coming true that I never really believed would.  The captain is going to be the father to a daughter.  And to be honest, I'm thrilled for me.  But at least as thrilled for him.  And for my boys.  And for her.  How loved will this little girl be?  You're going to find out...stick around a few months!

When Matthew was a baby, he couldn't say his "d" sounds.  So we started calling the captain "Papa."  And it stuck.  And it's adorable.  They love their papa with all their hearts, my boys.  And so shall she.  And so do I.  Even though he thinks four is as good a number as six.

Sharing the Love: Zuppa Toscana

This is a copycat version on the Zuppa Toscana soup at Olive Garden.  (If you have the Magnolia Lane cookbook, it's on page 168.) It's absolutely scrumptious!

Zuppa Toscana

1 16 oz package spicy or hot sausage, cooked and crumbled
4 strips of bacon
3/4 c onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 c chicken broth
4 sm or 2 m potatoes, skin on (I prefer red or Yukon, but Russet work fine), thinly sliced
2 c kale leaves, chopped (stems removed)
1/2 c heavy cream

Brown sausage and set aside.  In large saucepan or stockpot, cook bacon and onion over medium heat until onions are translucent.  Add garlic and cook an additional minute.  Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add sausage, kale, and heavy cream.  Turn off burner and let rest for five minutes while everything incorporates and your kale wilts down.

If you want to really do it right, whip up these in your breadmaker:

Foccacia Breadsticks

9 oz warm water
3 T olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 c flour
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients according to your breadmaker instructions.  Run on dough cycle.  Lay flat on greased cookie sheet.  Top with a little olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt (and rosemary if you have it!).  Cut into narrow strips with a cookie cutter.  Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes.  Break apart and enjoy with soup!

One Day

One day,

I won't have to yell at them for poking holes in their shirts with a pencil.

I won't have to search half the morning for the bathroom trash can which someone needed to flip over and use for a stepstool in the toy closet.

They won't cut hunks of their own hair off.

I won't step on their toys all damn day.

We won't go through band-aids on fake wounds as fast as we go through milk.

I will sleep as late as I want on the weekends.

I won't "count to three" as often.

I will forget all the words to "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun."

But that day,

They won't believe in Fairy Dust.

They will be too big to sit on my lap, and they'll have moved beyond Junie B. Jones and Dr. Seuss.

My house will be quiet with their absence, because they will stop believing that they want to marry me, and they'll find some other girl.

So today,

I'll hug them and love them and try to be patient with their deafening noise levels.

I will allow them to play Marching Band and Ninjas and wrestle in the living room.

I'll giggle watching them walk down the street after school as they climb every snowbank and step in every puddle.

I'll cook and I'll clean and I'll teach. I'll hold and I'll comfort and I'll sooth fake owies.

And I'll pray every minute of every day that "one day" takes its sweet time.

Creamy Linguine

Coming off my first-trimester hiatus to share a recipe with you.   You're going to love it.  But don't make it if you're counting calories.  Make it if you want to indulge, if you want to make something you might order at your favorite restaurant.  I have a ton of leftover ham this week, and I remembered I had seen a recipe for ham and peas linguine.  My google search turned up a bunch of different recipes, but this one had mushrooms, so I was sold.  Delicious.  Here's the recipe with my variations:

Creamy Linguine with Ham and Peas

8 oz leftover ham, cubed
1 lb linguine
2 T butter
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T flour
1 c chicken broth
2 c heavy cream
1/2 c parmesan cheese
1 c frozen peas, thawed
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
6 leaves fresh basil

Cook linguine according to package directions. Be sure to add enough salt so cooking water tastes salty. 

Heat butter in large skillet.  Add mushrooms and sautee until soft.  Add garlic and sautee another minute or two until garlic is soft.  Add flour, and stir until cooked slightly.  Add chicken broth, and cook for a few minutes until flour is incorporated and sauce has thickened.  Add cream and heat to simmering.  Add peas and ham.  (add salt and pepper to taste if desired.)  Toss sauce with linguine, then toss gently with parmesan cheese, tomatoes, and basil. 

Serve and enjoy!

Holiday Letter 2011

We had a great 2011, my little family. 

Cole started high school, and played his first year of football.  He's a lean, mean Falcon machine, and we're super proud of him.  He's on the A honor roll, and he's a pretty nice kid.  We have a lot of conversations now, but I'm convinced he never really listens to me talk.  He just sits silent thinking of the next smartass thing he can say.  He hangs around the kitchen and pesters me non-stop, unless he's pestering his brothers.  Or playing XBox Live.  (I adore this stage.  I never want him to grow up and leave.)

Matthew learned to read this fall.  That business makes me thrilled.  And proud.  And amazed.  His whole world is opening up.  He lives and breathes Pokemon.  And video games.  I am proud to say I know absolutely nothing about the PlayStation or the Xbox or the Wii.  Or the DS.  Or the computer.  "Hey, Mom, can you get me to the next level?"  Uh...nope.  Sorry dude.  There are lots of big boys in this family who have that covered (see photo above.)

Jack is doing great in his final year of preschool.  (Remind me to schedule his kindergarten screening!).  He's still my super hero.  I'll be sad when he inevitably stops pronouncing his brothers name, "Maffew."  And when he stops saying things from the bathroom like, "Hey, Mom!  When I say "Praise the Lord!" come wipe me, okay?"  

It's hard to see the taillights of my children.  Because one day they're four year olds who need me to zip their jackets and the next day they're fourteen and I'm starting to look at driving schools. 

The captain is still the world's hardest-working, most-adored man.  He takes incredible care of all of us, and overlooks my many faults and fits.  He loves his boys and shares so much of his valuable time with them.  I'm thankful. 

It was a good year.  And next year is shaping up to be even better.

If you were a client this year, I am thankful for your business.  If you referred a client to me, thank you for believing in me.  If you were a friend...from the very bottom of my filled-up heart, I love you.  My life is better for all these bits and pieces.

If you lost a loved one this year, my condolences.  May the love of the Creator surround you and give you peace. 

God bless you and your family this holiday season!
Joy to the World!

Occupy Wallstreet

Do you miss my political blog posts?  Me too.  I've been silent, but I'm not sure why.  Partly because I don't want anyone to dislike me for my worldviews. Partly because the biggest thing going on right now is Occupy Wallstreet and people are downright mean about this protest.  Even reasonable people who are generally kind, are rude and unwilling to look past the people who are causing trouble to see that there is an actual movement here.  But in the last three days, two people have sparked conversations with me regarding this current event, so I thought I'd tell you how I feel.

I think people are going a little crazy.  It's been five years now since the market started to fall.  In that time, people started to lose their jobs, their retirements, their homes.  If they've been lucky enough to hold their jobs, their pay hasn't increased and their costs of benefits have skyrocketed (see: health insurance premiums).  They are struggling, and they are frustrated.  There is a group of people who are experiencing an opposite phenomenon, however.  The bankers and the CEOs of major corporations are taking home record bonuses.  In the hardest economic times since the great depression.  Our government continues to protect them and their tax loopholes, because -- in theory -- they're creating jobs.  We've actually labeled them "Job Creators."  But the people in the first group I mentioned...well, they're not seeing those jobs.  So they're not mad at people for being rich, but they're mad at the disparity between the situation of those thriving financially and the majority of the people who are struggling financially, and who are hurting.

Occupy Wallstreet (OWS) isn't sponsored or promoted by anyone.  No big corporation or corporately-funded group is building smooth websites and putting out the OWS message.  There is no group of billionaires behind it.  Therefore, the message hasn't been clearly distributed.  But that doesn't mean that it's not legitimate.  It just means you're going to have to dig a little deeper to find it.

Increasingly, corporations and politicians are in bed together.  The corporations pay politicians to protect their interests by way of funding their campaigns, and then the politicians make policy that does just that.  They have to, so they get money for their next campaign.  And the cycle continues.  And I think people are sick of it.  I think they're becoming aware that the corporate voices are more powerful than the peoples'.  And know what?  That's not democracy.  That's a corporate oligarchy.  I think that most Americans, right and left, liberal and conservative, are interested in preserving the democracy as laid out by the Constitution. 

Therefore, I do not understand the anger against the protestors.  I don't understand why we don't support not only their right to assembly, but their message. I don't understand why we can't all get behind what is happening here. 

The very best part of this movement, in my opinion, is that people are involved.  Probably the best way to make a difference, and promote good change, is invested citizens.  Tea Party, OWS, doesn't matter.  Be informed.  Learn the issues.  I think we'll find that we actually agree on some of this.

One friend posted this article today.  It's written by a conservative blogger (columnist?) in the UK.  They have a big battle going on over there, not completely different from the OWS movement in the US.  They're calling it an extension of ours, but the conservative legislature in the UK is trying to take away many rights of the people in the name of budget reduction.  They're as frustrated as Americans are.  But this author said basically the same thing I've been saying:  I think we actually all agree on much of this.  We'll make more progress united. 

So there.  That's my political opinion du jour.  You're welcome to comment here or by email or on the phone or come on over.  I'll pour you something to drink and make you something to eat.  And between us, we'll solve this thing. And I'll convince you that you don't actually have to delete me from your friend list this time.