typical spring in Western Washington

It is a typical spring here in Western Washington.  One day it edges near 70 degrees and people are walking around in shorts, the next day is cold and rainy in the 50's and we have a fire going.  Today it can't decide what to do, sunny one minutes, pouring down rain another.

We did 77 baskets at the co-op.  We got:  Jonagold Apples. Cara Cara Oranges, Bananas, Kiwi, Pineapple, Asparagus, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Carrot, baby cucumbers, Romaine and Grey Squash.

Our day was a crazyness of overlapping obligations.  Produce co-op here 9-10:30, have Isaac at the church at 8:45 for a tour of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with his scout troop.  Have Miriam and Elizabeth at the church 9:30-11:00 for a primary activity.  Pick up Isaac at 12:30.  Have Elizabeth at a birthday party 25 minutes away from 1-4.  Anastaya had a birthday party to go to from 2-5 but decided to stay home.  My brother came over around 2 and my mom and Greg showed up around 4.  Dode managed to get a bike ride in on his continuing quest to map the Pilchuck Tree Farm.  The part he was on was way more horse friendly than bike friendly, lots of beat up trails.  Hike a bike adventures are not my cup of tea!  Kayla and Alisa came over for a few hours and enjoyed our time honored tradition of lawnmower rides.

2004, out in the "back 40" with Isaac and Elizabeth.

2004, Grandma Sharon giving the grandkids a ride

Isaac's birthday party 2006

Alisa driving the lawnmower

I finally got my lamp up that my dad gave me for Christmas.  It had belonged to my great grandmother.  It passed from her to my mom.  Now it's mine.  It's a converted oil lamp.  It took us a while to get it up because we couldn't make a hard wired installation for it because of the radiant heat in the ceiling.  Dode had to run a wire down through a chain and we plug it in at a wall outlet. 

The crystals were all missing so I had to buy new ones.  When I received them, they were held together with shiny brass metal.  It did not go with the aged brass of the lamp so I took each of the 21 drop crystals apart, spray painted the metal, and reassembled them.  You can't tell very well from the photo, but in real life it was jarring.

When Greg comes up, he brings his guitar so he can give Jacob a lesson.  Miriam has an old guitar that she brought down.  She was singing and composing a song with Greg.

If you have over 100 laundry baskets, you might as well find a new use for them.  Anastaya and Miriam built a "house" that they played in for hours.  The green baskets are bushes and the blue baskets are flowers.

3/20/10

It was an absolutely beautiful day today.  Sunshine, warm, amazing.  Isaac's scout troop took advantage of the day by going on a last minute bike ride on the Centennail Trail.  Dode met them at the turn around spot with a hot dog lunch. 

We had a full morning.  At one point in the morning we had the following going on.  The driveway was busy with people coming and going as they got their produce.    Sheri and Joel were picking up their produce and Seth was driving Ellie around in the power wheel jeep.  Elizabeth was jumping on the trampoline.  A friend from church was outside near us with Anastaya on a chair, teaching her how to embrace her curly hair, complete with spray bottles, hair gel and hair dryer.  Her happy baby was cooing in the infant seat, her toddler was playing on a scooter, her older son was enjoying the zip line.  Children were showing up for Miriam's birthday party and Miriam was driving them around in her new jeep, Dode was fiddling with something and I smiled to myself and thought, I really like this kind of chaos. 

Miriam had a fun party.  She wanted to make gingerbread houses so before the party, we went over to Haggen and she picked out lots of different types of candies from the bulk bins.  Because she was the guest of honor, she had to spend a few minutes sitting on the couch crying when her friends didn't want to do just what she did.  But, in the end, she had a great party.

What'd we get today at the co-op?  Pink Lady Apples (a perfect crisp balance of sweet/tart), Bananas, Savoy Cabbage, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Asparagus, Cucumbers, Romaine, an enormous Papaya, Cauliflower, Red Potatoes and Fennel.

Miriam turns 5 years old

Saturday our sweet Miriam turned five years old.  It's hard to believe how much she's grown!

3/13/05, 4 pounds 1/2 ounce

meeting Grandma Sharon

2 weeks old

hanging out in the NICU

Leaving Miriam behind when I left the hospital was the hardest thing I've ever done.  I cried so much in the days following her birth.  We should have known she was a fighter when she made it out of the NICU in only 10 days.   The only times Miriam could be held was when she was being tube fed.  Because of my C-Section, I couldn't be at the hospital as much as I wanted.  It meant so much to me to have our family there to hold her in "kangaroo care" when I could not. She definately began her life on earth surrounded by people who love her.

Five years have gone by and she is spunky as ever.  She was definately the birthday queen on her special day.  Several times throughout the day, when she was told "no", she said, "but it's my birthday!"  No Dora lunchbox from Haggen?  "But it's my birthday"  No ice cream as a main dish for lunch?  "But it's my birthday"  For breakfast, Miriam and Dode walked over to Haggen for donuts and gummy candy selected from the bulk bins.  We let her open a gift after breakfast, a Melissa & Doug ice cream play set for her kitchen.  Then, she and her dad road bikes around outside.  After lunch, she got to open the rest of her gifts,

a BBQ set for her play kitchen,

 

a booster seat with built in lights, and her 1st pair of roller skates.  For dinner, she wanted pancakes and strawberry cake.  She ate one crumb of cake.

After dinner, we went to a night orienteering event.  It was a bit cold, but as long as we were moving we stayed warm.  If you don't know what orienteering is, it's a geeky sport where you are given a topographical map of an area. There are locations marked on the map.  Your job is to find each location, in the order they are marked on the map. When you get there, you find a white and orange orienteering flag.  There is an electronic gadget at the flag that you stick a special electronic "punch" in to prove you were there.  They stagger the start and the person with the fastest time wins.  The competitive orienteerers run through the course.  We've never been competitive.  The added challenge of a night "O" is that you're trying to find your way around in the dark.  Running around in the dark with flashlights in the woods?  Sounds like fun to me.  It took us an hour and 1/2 to complete the course and at various times the children were thrilled, discouraged, fighting, sick/needing to use the restroom, excited, scared.  Typical family outing!

At the produce co-op this week, we received:  Braeburn Apples. Bananas, Kiwi, Navel Oranges, Anjou Pears, Pineapple, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Red Leaf Lettuce, Red Bell Peppers, Yukon Gold Spuds.

Another reason to love the co-op... tasty lunches.  I've been eating variations on this for a few days.  A Yukon Gold potato, diced and cooked in the microwave for 7 minutes, topped with a generous scoop of my eggplant dip, asparagus steamed in the microwave for 5 minutes, 1/2 a red bell peper to dip in a small cup of hummus from Costco.  Easy, nutritious, delicious.

It was a unique weekend in that twice there were two Dorrels in the same location.  Now, how often does that happen?  Friday Mark Anglin, Dorrel Quinton's son-in-law, was baptised and Sunday night Dorrel's daughter Cori and her two sons were baptised.  We've known Cori and Mark for years and have enjoyed their family.  We were so excited for them.  I wish I could have captured a photo of the Dorrels together.

Sunday we celebrated Miriam's birthday with my mom, Greg, Matthew, Millie and Gabe.  Boma's gift to Miriam was a new Jeep.  Dode and the kids assembled it when Miriam was gone.

And we had the big reveal on Sunday.

We've had Isaac's jeep for years and years and it has seen a lot of miles (and a lot of replacement batteries). 

 

June 2000, giving Jacob a ride

July 2000, took it along with us when we went camping at Baker Lake

 

Isaac was three years old when he received his jeep. 

He doesn't fit so well anymore in this photo taken in 2008.

A truly wonderful eggplant recipe

I love the produce co-op.  I love having access to lots of varieties of produce.  I love trying things I haven't had for a while.  Fresh pineapple on a weekly basis?  Bring it on.  New varieties of pears to try and enjoy?  Sign me up for more Starkrimson please.  Fresh beets to roast?  YES!  I wasn't loving eggplant.  I'd tried it cooked the way my cooking gurus at Cooks Illustrated suggested and it just wasn't doing anything for me.  I know I like it as eggplant parmesan but that's a lot of calories or work to use up a vegetable.  Then, I went to my friend Margo's for book club and she served an eggplant dip I could slurp up with a spoon.  I've made it at home and scoop up the yummy dip with celery (another of my less than favorites).  Best of all, I can eat the entire recipe along with 8 stalks of celery (I know serious pigging here) for 250 calories and 1.6 grams of fat.  I like it so much, I'm actually looking forward to the next time we get eggplant.  Here's the recipe that made an eggplant lover out of me.

Eggplant Sichuan (a dip)

4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 eggplant
1 tsp hot pepper paste (adjust spiciness to your taste)
1 Tbs rice or apple cider vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar

Cut eggplant in half, seeds down and roast in the oven until soft at 350F for about 30 min.
Scoop out eggplant pulp and discard skin.
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth or slightly chunky whatever you prefer.

Another Weekend Report

Another weekend has gone by so there must be something to blog about.  Dode left Wednesday morning for a 4 day surveying conference in Tacoma.  He is required to take continuing education to maintain his land surveyor's license.  His employer, the Tulalip Tribe, gives each employee $1200 each year for education to use as they please.  He was able to attend the conference and still be paid for a 40 hour work week.  He was lucky enough to stay with his cousin Jennifer and her family so he saved a lot of drive time driving between Tacoma and home or the expense of a hotel.  While he was gone, Isaac also left by going to my mom's.  He left Wednesday evening and Dode picked him up on his way home Saturday.  She took him skiing and he learned one of the hard truths of spring skiing, streams!

I decided, what the heck, I might be single parenting but it's time to tackle a sewing project.  (I HATE sewing.  I make Dode take care of it whenever I can.  I have to sew with a seam ripper in one hand because I am forever sewing things together that shouldn't be).  Disney, a creative lady not the company, at Ruffles and Stuff is having a contest that I decided  I'd enter.  When I talked with Dode on the phone and told him what I was doing, he said... "A what kind of contest?  You've got to stop blogging."  Disney is great at taking clothes and "upcycling" them.  Following her example, I went to the Stillaguamish Senior Center on Thursday when they have a $5 bag sale.  You can purchase 15 garments for $5.  I found a couple swim suits for Miriam, an brand new looking American Girl brand shirt for Elizabeth (who loves American Girl), and a summer blouse for me.  I filled out the rest of my 15 items with patterns I liked.  I ended up getting enough to make four aprons and add a ruffle to my white t-shirt.  I'll give more details of my sewing project in another post in case you're interested.  Here are three of the aprons.  I'm still working on the last one.

Friday was teacher inservice and the girls went to my dad's school and then spent the night with him.  Jacob went to a friend's house, Isaac was still gone, so it was just William, me and a sewing machine.  When he took his nap, it was so quite in the house that I considered turning on music (there's so much going on here that music just adds to the chaos), but I decided to enjoy the peace and quiet.  

Saturday we did 61 baskets at the produce co-op.  William  has a terrible time with rules that aren't consistently enforced.  It's not safe for him to be outside by himself because he gets into things  he shouldn't and wanders places that aren't safe.  During the co-op, there were lots of kids running around, going in and out of the house, and William was playing with them.  Once the co-op was over, he continued to think it was ok to go in and out so I spent the day with William suddenly missing, and then sitting in time out.  I wish he was able to understand that it was ok to go in and out because there were other children playing with him and mom was outside watching, but that it's not ok to suddenly decide to leave.  Life is very difficult when you don't understand conditional rules.

We are in the process of having William evaluated at one of the clinics at the University of Washington.  They specialize in developmental delay.  We went in for two hours to talk about his history/abilities, then William went in on two separate days for two hours at a time for testing.  We also filled out several forms and his teacher at school did as well.  On the 15th, we get to go in and hear if they have any new information for us.  The reason I'm hopeful and willing to do all this driving to Seattle is that this clinic doesn't just give a diagnosis. (the one we have now is PDD-NOS (aka Pervasive Developmental Delay, Not Otherwise Specified or in layman terms, your kid is behind and we don't know why)), they take the diagnosis and tell you what to do now.  They offer parenting classes, sibling classes, counseling for the children effected, and hook you up with community resources.

Saturday afternoon, when William took his nap, I went for a walk over around the airport.  As I walked down the street from our house, I couldn't believe I live in such a beautiful area.  The sky was bright blue.  I could see airplanes taking off from the airport, small planes towing gliders (how I would love to ride in one, the thought of being up there, seeing everything below without the noise of an engine is so appealing).  There was a slight breeze and petals were floating down around me like pink snow.  I know Washington DC is famed for their cherry blossom festival and while the monuments are more picturesque than the manuafactoring buildings we have as a backdrop, I don't have to walk shoulder to shoulder with a crowd while I enjoy the beauty.  One of the businesses has a large American flag that was flowing in the wind and combined with the many pink trees, it was amazing.  I timed my walk perfectly.  I was just a few feet from the mailbox on my way back home when I heard the friendly toot of Dode's horn as he and Isaac prepared to turn in to the driveway.

Soft and Tasty Gyro Bread

I'm of the belief that most things we eat in restaurants can be made at home cheaper and more tasty.  That was not the case with gyros.  All the pita bread recipes I had made a hard pita while the local restaurants had soft squishy pitas.  I searched the internet and found a recipe we love at  My Kitchen Cafe blog.  Now we can have gyros at home for a fraction of the cost.  And I don't have to pay an extra $1.50 for a sprinkle of feta!

Pita Bread
Makes 8
3 to 3 1/4 C  pizza flour  (Cash & Carry)
1 1/2 C boiling water
 1/2 C potato buds or flakes
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp instant yeast

Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl.  Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir till smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes or buds) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes (by hand, mixer or bread machine) to form a soft dough.  I did mine in my Kitchen-Aid.

Note: You can allow the dough to go through the entire kneading cycle(s) in the bread machine, but it’s not necessary; about a 5-minute knead in the machine, once it gets up to full kneading speed, is fine. The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat sticky (the dough is fairly stiff, so don’t be worried – just be careful not to overflour the dough). Add additional flour only if necessary; if kneading by hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled. Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour (I let mine rise up to 2 hours).

Divide the dough into 8 even pieces, cover, and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece into a 7- to 8-inch circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat for about 1 minute per side (I cooked mine about 2-3 minutes per side and they didn’t dry out), until they’re puffed and flecked with brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out. Transfer the cooked breads to a wire rack, stacking them to keep them soft. Serve immediately, or cool slightly before storing in a plastic bag.

Great Wolf Lodge

I am frugal to the max.  My favorite "department store" is Value Village, where 95% of my clothes come from.  It's so easy to find something when everything is organized by type of clothing, size, and color.  Most of my clothes bear fancy labels but I didn't pay fancy prices.   I crunch our grocery budget down as much as possible by using internet sites to combine coupons with sales at local grocery stores.  I have a produce co-op at my house each Saturday to save money on produce.  We have DSL, but pay less than the going rate because we use a slightly slower service.  The list goes on and on.  One place I am willing to spend money is experiences.

Last year, I took Isaac to the Great Wolf Lodge for Isaac/Mom day. 

We had a blast.  I decided to take the kids again this year, adding in Anastaya and Elizabeth.  It's a two hour drive from our house, to Grand Mound, WA.  The next closest Great Wolf Lodge is in Kansas, so compared to that, two hours isn't very long.  They really do a great job with the lodge.  It's decked out in a wilderness lodge theme.  You get two days of playing for one night's stay.  They have a huge indoor waterpark attached to the hotel. 

Anastaya going across the lily pad obstacle course

The girls hanging out at the edge of the wave pool.

Who doesn't love to pull a lever and splash people with water?

In addition to the water park, they have an electronic scavenger hunt called MagicQuest.  It's very well done.  The kids each have a wand that they use to interact with objects scattered throughout the hotel.  They go to specific places based on riddles they solve.  Here is Elizabeth interacting with a book.

The walls are painted with a forest theme and are really beautiful.  Each time they complete a quest, they earn a special power.  When they have enough powers accumulated, they can fight the dragon.

Here are the kids in the dragon's lair.

It's a nice break from the waterpark and the kids absolutely love it.  It's designed to wear them out.  The quest takes place over five floors of the hotel and they encourage the use of stairs over the elevator.  It's not unusual to go from floor 1 to 5 to 3 to 4 to 2.  Last year, Isaac was so into it, he did all the quests and adventures twice!

Great Wolf Lodge is a bit spendy but is worth it for two days of playing.  Driving home, I was the only one in the car who was awake the entire time.  Since I don't have a working radio in the car, it sure was a quiet ride.  I hope we can go again next year and take the younger kids.  

A Miriam funny.  Miriam is at the age when her brain is coming up with so many fun connections.  I bought her new shoes and the next day, as she was running across the pavement she fell down.  As I was patching her up, she told me I should not have bought her those shoes.  I asked why, thinking she'd tell me they were too small  or too large.  Nope, "They are too fast".  It was quite a mental image to imagine these shoes flying across the pavement with my daughter trying her best to keep up with them.  Reminds me of the story of the dancing princesses.

Another one, Miriam always sleeps in a t-shirt.  The other morning she came downstairs dressed in her snow white dress.  She said to us, "I woke up wearing this, but I wasn't wearing it when I went to bed".  It must have been quite a party in the girls' room!

Three months to go!

Three months to go!

Today it is three months to our crazy, exciting, looong road trip!  I'm not sure if I should jump for joy or be filled with dread at the thought of dragging the kids most of the way across the country and back.  I've been scouring the internet, consuming massive quantities of tripadvisor, and sending away for every tourist guide I can to prepare for the trip.  I'm posting here some of the things I have planned in hopes that those of you who've visited where we are going can give me feedback.  Are we missing anything?  Are some of the stops duds?  (I know some of the stops are tourist traps but remember, I'm traveling with children who love tourist traps)

Black Hills area of North Dakota  We're spending five days here.  In Rapid City we'll visit:  Black Hills Maze (or Pirate's Cove Mini Golf), Storybrook Island, Cosmos of the Black Hills.  We're camping in Custer State Park at Stockade Lake North Campground.  While there we're going to:  drive the Needles Hwy, visit Mt. Rushmore, enjoy President's Alpine Slide, tour Jewel and Wind Caves, bike the Mickelson trail, be junior palentologists at Hot Springs Fossil Dig, drive the Wildlife Loop and Iron Mtn Rd.

Driving I-90 through South Dakota
stop at Wall Drug for donuts, tour Minuteman Missle National Park, drive through the Badlands and camp at Cedar Pass Campground.

Our fun stop in Iowa  Lost Island Waterpark, camping at George Wyth State Park

Illinios visiting Grandma and Grandpa, can't wait!

Nebraska (I-80 corridor)  Omaha- Winter Quarters, Pioneer Cemetery, Zoo, camping at Mahoney State Park, Buffalo Bill State Historic Park, Bailey Railyard, Lake Maloney State Park

Colorado Denver- Denver Mint and Denver Museum of Nature & Science, then drive through Rocky Mtn. National Park

Utah
Moab area-Island in the Sky, Mills Stop & Eat for burgers
Kanab- North Rim of the Grand Canyon, 1/2 day mule trip, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, Coral Dunes State Park, Moqui Cave
Zion National Park- use the shuttle and take a few short hikes, float the Virgin River near Springdale

If you have any experience with these parts of the country, are we missing anything?

Building a console table

Part of the danger of blogging is reading other people's blogs and feeling the compulsion to do their great ideas.  I found the plans for this table from Anna at Knock off Wood.  Her plans are really user friendly and take all the scariness out of building furniture.  There are some plans of hers that I love, like her Farmhouse Bed, Farmhouse Table, (especially the narrow version) and Kid's Play Area.  I started off easy with her Console Table.  Here's my experience with the table.  I bought all my lumber at Lowe's.  I found that I could have saved money by buying one of the 1x12 and one of the 1x4 in a 4' length.  Wood here must be more expensive than where she lives because it cost me about $40 for the lumber.

Here's the lumber all laid out,

everything cut to length.

I was the brace holding down the 1x12 while Dode cut it.

We assembled the table in the tv room.  It's nice to get another opportunity to use the nail gun and air compressor I bought for the hall trim.  It took us about two hours to cut and assemble it.

The 1x12 had a bow in it so we had to glue and clamp it down overnight.

Our big problem. 

A 1x12 isn't really 12", it's 11 1/4".  Her plans assumed the 1x12 would be 11 1/2" wide (maybe wood is wider in Alaska!) so the base of my table was 1/4" too wide.  It's hidden up against the wall but it was still frustrating to have the table not be quite perfect.  Once we got ready to put the top on, it was too late to make the sides skinnier.  If you decide to make this table, measure your 1x12 ahead of time and if it's the same size as mine, adjust the plans accordingly. 

Here is the finished table.  I'm not an expert at staining and being lazy I purchased an all in one (stain + varnish).  There are some spots with drips and some where the finish isn't quite at sharp but it's only noticeable if you get up close and examine it.  I love the clean smell of the fresh varnish.

hall before all the updating                                  hall after

This wall is what you see when you walk into our home.  I think our house has a much better "entrance" now with the trim (details about the trim) and table.  I also love the framed photo, a birthday gift from my mom.  It's a path by the ocean taken at the beginning of sunset. I can imagine myself walking down the hall and right into the photo, if I was a character in a fantasy book, I could do it.

Building the table was a great easy project and I have to keep myself from bringing everyone who comes over up to it to brag about the fact that Dode and I built it ourselves!

Elizabeth's blog

Elizabeth now has a blog to show off the photos she has taken with the camera she received for Christmas. 

Elizabeth's blog 

 Please visit her blog and leave her nice comments, she can't wait!  There's also a link to her blog on the left hand side of mine.

2nd life for a thrift store lamp

I bought this lamp years ago at Value Village.

It was fine, nothing too exciting, but I always hated the water damage at the bottom.

A can of trusty spray paint to the rescue, and I had a whole new lamp.  I used oiled bronze with a hammered finish.  I found a metal key for $1 that added a bit of a decorative touch.  Hopefully, the double knot will defeat small fingers for a little while!

Fancied up with a metal key

before                                                            after

no more water damage, hooray!