Playing catch-up...ketchup...catsup?

There are many things to talk about since my last blog entry (*cough* 4 months ago *cough* *cough*).

1. Ran my first 5k on April 16th. It was drizzling, in the upper 30s and miserable outside, but I did it. Then my kid did the fun run. As you can see, she was pretty excited about her ribbon.

2. My daughter turned 3 on April 19th. I have a preschool aged kid. hold me.


The cake I made. I think I'll stick to frosting next time.

3. ShankRabbit and I went to Las Vegas in May for our first real vacation since 2006. It was relaxing, fun, and holyhell HOT (not that I'm complaining. Spend October - April in Wisconsin and you too would be willing to sit on the surface of the sun if it meant warmth).

4. June was a blur and I can't remember what happened during that month. I know I was training for my first triathlon and really starting to freak out about it.

5. July went by even faster than June, but at least I can recall this one:

5a. We had a 4th of July gathering at our house. Our city's fireworks can be seen from our backyard, so we didn't have to go far for the show. Thanks to a wonderful brother-in-law with noise cancelling headphones, my kid enjoyed the fireworks without having to shove fingers in her ears. *Note to self: purchase a pair of those headphones for the kid before she stabs her brain with her fingernails*

5b. My first ever triathlon was on the 10th. It was tough (fought through hip pain throughout the entire run portion) but I had an absolute blast! I accomplished all three of my goals - 1) don't die, 2) finish in under 3 hours and 3) don't be DFL (dead f-in last).

Smiling through the pain.

5c. We had our first family vacation in Eagle River, WI (ShankRabbit's parents, brothers, and respective families). If it wasn't for the mid to low 60 degree temperatures, I think it would have been perfect.

You can't tell, but the kid is sound asleep. For real.

5d. Fresh from our northwoods trip, we spent the next weekend camping. Not much to report other than it was crazy hot and ShankRabbit got heat exhaustion. Fun times.

Went to the county fair after camping all weekend. Believe it or not, the kid is having fun on her first Ferris Wheel ride.

I think that gets us caught up to the present. My 29th birthday was this past Friday. I got exactly what I wanted - spending time with the ones I love. Oh, and a pinata*.

I have been at parties where there has been one, but never one of my own. Now I can cross that off the list. Next up...aerial fabric acrobatics! Just kidding...maybe.

There are exciting things to come - another race (an adventure 3-miler with ShankRabbit), more birthdays, and possibly a giveaway or two on this here blog. I'll keep you posted.

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* - Please picture a tilde over the n. I don't know how to do it in Blogger and my failed attempt led me to automatically post an unfinished blog post. Just in case my high school Spanish teacher is reading this...yes Sra. S, I know how to properly spell that word. Carry on.

Why you mock me blank page?!

I walk around almost every day with a blog topic in my head. It gets written and edited in my head before it hits the page. The moment I sit down in front of a blank screen, it disappears. All I am left with is a vague idea of what it might have been about. Family? Shoes? A family of shoes? So I will give you "Things Currently Occupying my Noodle." And maybe, just maybe, I will get my brain back to blogging:

1. Garden, version 2 - Due to crappy soil in our garden area, I decided on raised beds this year. Our garden wasn't terrible, but it took a lot more work than I was willing (and able, especially after surgery) to put in. This year, we will also have smaller sections and more vertical structures (but more produce).

2. Crafts - I swear I am in the middle of a craft crapstorm. I have 5,476,392 things I would like to do...and I have started about half of them already. I thought about detailing them, but then I realized it would exhaust me just to write them out. I have learned that any project without a set finish date will likely not get completed.

3. Vacation - we haven't been on vacation since 2006 (excludes anything in the midwest). I have been wanting to go somewhere - anywhere - other than our neighboring states. Preferably some place warm. With or without the kid.
Finally, I got ShankRabbit on board with the idea. We will have a small getaway (without the child) sometime soon and another one toward the end of the year with the kid (at a place with a kingdom of magic...).

I am about as shocked as I can physically be. Yay for vacation!

* * *

My brain has officially checked out, so here are some random pictures for you to enjoy (sorry to anyone on Twitter who has already seen these):


Gluten free thin mints. Yes, they can be done (om nom nom nom...)


Jacques, our new dishwasher. I love him so much.


A non-deviled egg. Part of an elaborate "welcome" gag played on a friend's boyfriend. He hates deviled eggs. So I made some out of meringue, yellow cupcake frosting, and red sugar. Heh heh...


My kid. My almost 3 year old.

My cup runneth over.

2011 - it's only just begun

Nintendogs has entered this almost-3 year old's life. She's completely self-sufficient with this game. I fear I'll never get my DS back.

What has happened in the last month or so?

1. We all eventually recovered from the stomach plague. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. We didn't regain normal activity and eating until 2 weeks after it struck.

2. Now that I've paid for my registration, I shall announce it to the intarwebz: I am training for a sprint triathlon in July. There's more to the story of why I'm doing it and I will share that as the training progresses.

3. Because of #2 (heh...), I have been working out almost every day. And I enjoy it.

...

No really, I do! I think it's because I love our gym - great facility, great atmosphere, great people.

4. A gluten-free store and cafe opened up over the summer. I didn't realize their true significance to my life until I found they do carry out and take-and-bake pizzas. Tried our first ones on New Year's Eve. Heaven help me.

Yes, it's a good thing I enjoy my gym so much.

5. Our family Christmas present this year is a dishwasher. We are finally getting around to picking one out. I now know way more about dishwashers than I ever thought possible.

6. Speaking of Christmas, it was fantastic. There was a moment - a few days beforehand - that we thought my in-laws would be trapped in Nairobi for the holidays (due to terrible weather in Amsterdam that they needed to connect in), but they made it back safe and sound. Slight panic ensued when we heard there was a bombing at a bus station while they were supposedly still there. They left the day before.

7. At some point this month, I got so frustrated looking at our terribly inefficient, standard reach-in closet that I tore it apart to make a new one. I had every intention of making this a "me" project - showing that anyone can build their own custom closet (Califor.nia Closets be damned!), but ShankRabbit (and Peanut for a while) was intrigued and offered help. Projects are so much quicker when you have help.

I will have a post up when all is completed. Here's a sneak peek:


Before (ugh)


Current state (still in progress). Can you see the double closet rods on each side?


8. Got the chance to attend both Bears playoff games. At one point during the second one, we noticed a couple of F-16 fighter pilots* sitting at a table near us in the United Club. I told ShankRabbit, "hey, we should go over and say hi. I'd like to meet them." So, he tells me to follow him, taps their shoulders and says, "Hi. My wife has a thing for guys in uniform...can she take a picture with you?"

(Enter completely mortified expression and bright red face)

One of the guys responds with, "well, how can we say no to that?"

So, this picture was taken:


Pretty eventful December/January. A little scared and excited to see what February brings.

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* - Despite what my husband said, I really wanted to meet them because what they do is so friggin' cool! Thanks to the power of the internet, here is the information on the fighter pilots that did the flyover after the National Anthem. I believe I met the two that coordinated the timing from the ground.

Of sickness and the power of Christmas

The one time I pledge to do a daily posting commitment like #reverb10 and our household comes down with the stomach plague*. I will be back to my regularly scheduled reverb-ness, once I get this past weekend/week out of my system.

Don't worry, none of the gory TMI details about the plague will be shared. I'm just going to tell you how pathetic we were all weekend.

Peanut kicked off the happy fun sickness party! for us on Friday night (on our way to visit a family I haven't seen in 3+ yrs...uh, yeah, trip was instantly cancelled), ShankRabbit was stricken by Saturday night (the night of the big snowstorm. Needless to say no snow got cleared), and by Sunday night I thought I should join in! Oh joy! By Monday we were all dehydrated, delusional, and downright diseased.

Around 4am on Monday morning, I was trying to grab a few moments of rest with Peanut on the couch. She was proped up on a couple pillows, looking just as tired as I sure felt (and probably looked, too). She insisted I turn on the Christmas tree and sing her Christmas songs** while she tried to sleep.

I wanted to cry for two different reasons:
1) This was the first night of the plague for me (and by far the worst) and I was running on no sleep 2) Peanut wanted me to comfort her by singing. She usually says "mama...no!" when I sing to her. Ok, so maybe I get all vaudeville with it most of the time, but it is common knowledge that she'd rather have her dada sing. And with his voice, I don't blame her.

As I quietly sang every Christmas song I could think of and petted her hair, my daughter - looking angelic in the glow of the tree - drifted off to sleep. *sob*

- -

We were worried we'd have to take her to urgent care that day because she was becoming seriously dehydrated...but after a regimen of 2 sips of watered down juice every 10 minutes, she kept it all down and started to perk up.

* * * * *

Last night was the first real meal we all had. We had been eating small bits of plain rice, toast, and the like when we could handle it, but we ate CHICKEN SOUP last night. Such a colorful and flavorful meal after so many days of blahness. Ah, food heaven.

So, now that we are almost healthy, I will get back to that #reverb10 thing I was working on. And maybe get some humor back into my life, too. That'd be nice.

___________________
* Every time we get a major sickness in our house, I hear "yeah, it's just that nasty bug going around." Is this just a canned answer or are people seriously all sick at the same time? Do these bugs travel like frickin' Santa Claus? I swear someone on the East Coast can have the exact same symptoms as we do in the Midwest. How is that possible?!

** Funny moment - after a particular awful "spilling" (a.k.a. vomiting, to Peanut) episode, she looks at me and starts singing "simply having a wonderful Christmas time!" If it wasn't so sad, I probably would been on the floor laughing.

It's funny what happens when you finally let go.

Day 3 of Reverb 10

Moment.
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year.

During my September/October can't-get-out-of-my-head period, I came to a lot of conclusions about my life and the relationships around me. Once I accepted where some of those relationships would stay, no matter how hard I tried to change that, I felt at peace.

I realized how lucky I am. I have an outstanding support system.
At the very core of it, an amazing husband and a beautiful daughter.


d'awwww....

I needed to accept and embrace the love I have around me every single second of every single day...not try and hold together what was ultimately never there.

Writing - no, scratch that - Creativity

Day 2 of Reverb 10

Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

I am going to modify this prompt a little bit as it doesn't pertain to me (I'm not a writer. Plain and simple). Here's my edited version:

What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your creativity - and can you eliminate it?

Honestly, there is a lot of creativity in each day. Having a toddler almost demands it. While there are times I wish I could spend more time in front of my sewing machine or holding a paintbrush, I cherish being able to break out some Playdoh and making funky creations with my kid. Or playing a modified game of hopscotch through the mall while window shopping. Even making dinner can tap into my creative side (especially when I'm too lazy to go out to the store and we have limited supplies in the house).

There is nothing to eliminate...well, aside from the need for sleep. If I can just get rid of that then I'd be able to get so much more done (like my business that I still need product for. UGH!).

Unicorns!

I am participating in #reverb10 this year (thanks for the idea, CallMeCate!)

One word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

My word for 2011 is unicorns! I have a disturbing lack of unicorns in my life and I feel 2011 needs them.

Contentment and love can wait until 2012. I need some unicorns. Stat.

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See what happens when I try to be all serious and introspective? :)

Thanksgiving Recap

Overall, our first hosted Thanksgiving went well.

Positives
1. We didn't have to travel

2. ShankRabbit had the day before Thanksgiving off, so he could help me clean the house and prep the food.

3. Each dish we made turned out fantastic (recipes below).

4. We ordered an all natural turkey from our local health food store. Fantastic flavor, wasn't frozen, and only cost us about $2.69/lb.

5. I deligated the desserts to my mother-in-law, who showed up with 8 (!) pies and a tray of pumpkin bars. We only had 9 adults and one child.

6. We're still eating pie.

7. A wet kitchen sponge was thrown at my head. That's how you know your kitchen is the fun place to be.

8. On Friday, we packed up our Thanksgiving leftovers and went to my brother-in-law's house. Another fantastic meal followed by some Kinect playing, where my sister-in-law tried to pull one over on my husband. Little did she know that he is super-competitive and knows how to drop it like it's hot.

The not-so-positives
1. The turkey took over 4.5 hours to cook, as opposed to the 2.5 our recipe claimed. My entire food timetable was thrown off. Boo! But hey, it was a darn tasty turkey.

2. We ran out of clean - and dry - dish towels, so by the end of the night we had to just leave the dirty dishes on the counter. We don't have a dishwasher (or a dryer), so we resorted to doing a drying-rack full of dishes and waiting for them to air dry.

And here is who made our Thanksgiving possible...the recipes (all gluten-free):

Roast Turkey
We mostly used Alton's brine, with some added tweaks from Gluten Free Girl's brine recipe. Also, we used butter to coat the bird instead of canola oil. BIG MISTAKE. The butter sizzled and smoked through the whole 500 degree portion of cooking (we had to make some temp and time adjustments...which may have been the reason why our turkey took so long to cook).

Udi's Gluten Free Stuffing
We stayed true to the recipe and it came out beautifully. Because our turkey was taking so long in the oven, our stuffing did dry out a bit waiting for a final warm up in the oven. I think next year we'll add a bit more moisture.

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls
I can't begin to describe the amazing flavor these rolls have. Yes, they are a little dense in the middle, but not at all like the hockey pucks most GF folks are used to. These were a big hit with everyone!

Biggy's Sweet Potato Casserole
The only change we made was to cook it in the CrockPot. About 20 minutes in, we added the mini marshmallows so they could melt. Yum.

Honey Glazed Carrots
We used regular carrots and cut them up into circles. A simple, yet flavorful dish.

Green Beans Almondine
Perfect as is.

Mashed potatoes were made by my sister-in-law. I don't know what she did or how she did it, but they rocked!

Random Thoughts: November Edition

1. When I was a kid, I remember learning proper letter writing in school. I was taught when it was OK to have a more casual correspondence and when a more formal letter was required.
Now that email is part of our daily lives, do they teach proper email etiquette? Are future employers going to receive an email like this from their employee:

Yo,
so i was all lolz cuz i thought OMG i forgot the deadline! but DOOD...totes dun!
:D

I think the intricacies of forwarding and cc/bcc should be covered as well.

2. I saw some brand new (in the bag) halloween costumes at Goodwill today for 75% off. I wanted to grab all the cute baby ones - ladybug, bumblebee, football - but my 2.5 year old is no longer a baby. And she's a 4T. Maybe I can put the bumblebee one on her leg and dress her up as a beekeeper next year? Though a giant bee attacking the leg of a beekeeper might be more of a beekeeper FAIL.

It's a good thing Peanut tells me exactly what she wants to be for Halloween.

3. ShankRabbit brought up the baby topic last week. I think we're rounding the corner from "ohgawdnowaynobabiesanytimesoon!" to "well...it wouldn't hurt to revisit the topic...in 6 months..." It's all about progress, right?

4. My grandmother had a funny quirk. Whenever we'd sit down for a family meal, our forks would mysteriously disappear. Turns out she would grab the nearest fork to serve dishes, cut meat, etc. and not notice which one she grabbed. We'd all laugh when she'd say, "goodness, how did I get 3 forks?"

Why do I bring this up? Because I have developed a similar flatware-related quirk. I use so many knives during the day that I can easily use every single one we own in a day. Putting butter on toast, making sandwiches, cooking...by the time we sit down for dinner they are all gone.

I've secretly started using disposable plastic knives on occasion. Shh...don't tell ShankRabbit. He thinks I've gotten better with my knife usage.

5. I had a very introspective September/October. Mostly, I was thinking about family (probably a post for another day). Blah blah blah...I decided somewhere in there that we should host our own Thanksgiving.

...

Did you catch that? I am hosting one of my all-time favorite holidays. I will be cooking. For other people than the husband and the daughter.

If you've never cooked a full turkey before, do you make a practice one a couple weeks before or do you just hope for the best the day of Thanksgiving? I did find helpful tips from a couple of "never let me down" sources - Alton Brown and The Gluten-Free Girl.

6. I'm so happy November 2nd is over. I don't mind the political ads (yes, annoying...but whatever). You know what bothered me? The "AAAARGH! GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!"
"I VOTED AND THERE WAS NO ONE WAITING IN LINE! SO SAD!"
"IF YOU DON'T VOTE YOU'RE THE WORST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Did I vote? Yes. But I didn't make a big deal out of it.

7. Medical update: still broken. The doctors have no idea what's wrong...still. I think I'm done trying to figure this out. I've been on a gluten-free diet since August and this seems to help with most of the problems I'm dealing with, but no concrete answers.

8. 2010 seemed to be the year of "frustration." Can 2011 be "contentment," "love," or even "unicorns?" Let's make it happen.

A rant. And a lesson about Laundromat etiquette.

Instead of trying to stretch a couple more days out of our dwindling clean clothes selection, I decided to do laundry today instead of Friday (my usual day of laundered fun).

This particular laundromat has several washers and dryers (single and multiple load capacity) and 4 tables for folding. 1 is at the back, 1 in the middle, and 2 right by each other in the front. All of the tables were being used except for the 2 in the front (right by where I was sitting).

My clothes had about 15 minutes left in the dryer when a couple of ladies walked in. Upon getting all of their clothes in the washer, they sat at a round table nearest the 2 empty folding tables and placed a purse on each of the folding tables. Considering there was absolutely nothing in front of them at the round table they were occupying, I could only assume they were "reserving" them for when they were ready to fold their clothes.

Say what?!

Hold on, these ladies want people to wait for a) another folding table to clear (by the looks of it, the other people were doing laundry for half the county) or b) wait until their clothes are washed and dryed?!

Oh, I don't think so!

Just ask my husband, when I'm on a mission to get something done there better not be a soul in my way.

I swear these ladies were out to annoy the holy jebus out of me. In addition to the purses, the one lady was standing in front of an open dryer waiting for the other to fill it with clothes. Normally, not a big deal...in this case, the open door just happened to be blocking access of the dryer my finished clothes were in AND their washer was not done...completely oblivious to my presence at the dryer. I didn't want to wait around, so I finally said "excuse me," pointed at my dryer, and moved their door just enough to get my clothes out.

Once all 3 loads of laundry completed their tumble in the dryer (pretty much done at the same time! hooray for laundromats!), I wheeled them over to one of the "reserved" folding tables, ignored the presence of the offending purse, and folded my laundry. These ladies were sitting a mere foot away from me. In my head, I dared them to say anything to me or each other about where I was folding.


Maybe it's PMS. Maybe I'm just easily aggitated when people aren't mindful of others around them. But c'mon...laundromats will forever and always be first come, first served*.

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* - the only exception to the rule are wheeling carts. If you're injured, pregnant, or otherwise physically limited, go ahead and lay claim to one of those bad boys.

Recipe time!

I have had luck with a couple of recipes recently that I wanted to share.

Pulled Pork
Let me give you background on this one. I had a recipe for pulled pork sandwiches that I wasn't all that crazy about (too much brown sugar and ketchup made it really sweet). I wanted to try it again, but I couldn't find a recipe that I liked. So, I turned to the BBQ extraordinaire, NukeDad, and asked what he had in his arsenal. He didn't have one of his own, but he sent me to this pulled pork recipe. Go ahead and take a gander at those lovely pictures. *drool*
My only changes were brining for 12+ hours and using my CrockPot instead of the oven (on high for 6 hours).
This recipe will be etched in stone and saved for all eternity in this household. It's that good.

Egg Salad
This one I can actually take credit for (which, as someone who is just getting into this cooking thing, makes me really happy).
Background: There is (was?) a little coffee shop/deli near my fosterdad's work that would serve the most YUMMY egg salad sandwiches ever. I interned at his office for a while and used to get that for lunch most days. The trick was to either get there just as lunch was being served or call ahead to have it waiting for you. They would only make so much egg salad and once it was gone for the day - it was gone.
I have no idea why, but I had a craving for it the other day. So I turned on my laptop to see how difficult it was to make. Most recipes I found had the basic ingredients of eggs, mayo, mustard, salt & pepper. Sounded simple enough to tweak.

Because I was so in love with what I made, I wanted to share it with you all.

(Pickle on the side. Toasted Udi's bread. Heaven)

Recipe:
6 jumbo eggs, hard boiled and peeled
4 tablespoons mayonnaise (the real stuff...not that low fat tasteless excuse for mayo)
1 teaspoon horseradish mustard
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
4-5 drops of Frank's Red Hot (or more if you're feeling saucy...)
Dash of celery salt
Dash of freshly cracked pepper

Directions:
Are you clueless on how to hard boil eggs? Go to the American Egg Board and look up their recipe. These people know what they are talking about (much more than I do).

Now, chop up the cooked eggs (to your preferred texture) and put in a bowl. Add 2 Tbsp of the mayo, horseradish mustard, yellow mustard, and the Frank's Red Hot. Add the celery salt and pepper. Add the rest of the mayo if you feel it needs it (I certainly did).

I probably would have added a little celery for a bit of crunch, but we were out. Oh well...it was still yummy.

WAT?!

Let's say you are listening to music in your house and your favorite song comes on. Are you one to turn the song WAY up and sing/dance/become-a-rockstar-in-your-head? I'm so with you...minus the music blasting.

Just like every little quirk in my life, this one stems from childhood. I'll spare you from the emotionally scarring back story and just say really loud music irritates me. It makes me slightly edgy and uncomfortable. If there are other noises in addition to the loud music, I go into a panic. Something must be quieted A.S.A.P!
My ears are pretty sensitive as it is...loud music makes it 1,000 times worse.

Side note: Live concerts don't count. Except for that one small bar venue in Chicago where I saw Murder by Death with some friends. My ears were stuffy and ringing for days after that...worst feeling ever!

My husband loves his music loud - in the car, in the house (in a box, with a fox...). He enjoys rocking out, but knows that if I'm in the vicinity, I will more than likely turn it down to conversation-level. This frustrates him a bit, but he's gotten used to it (I think).
The only other person I have to work on is Peanut. If we're in the car and she hears a song she loves, she says, "Mama...button!" Which in her language means, "turn up the volume, lady...it's time to ROCK!"
Most of the time I'll do it, because I can control just how loud it gets. At home is a different story since she knows how to do it herself.

In this situation I have two choices:
1) Let her turn it up to her volume and just grin and bear it (or hide in another room of the house until she's done enjoying the song)
2) Fight with her over the volume and be subjected to the ear-piercing screeches she can produce.

((sigh))

She's only 2. I am fearing her teenage years.

Accountability: an update

Remember the post from June 2nd (you know, the last time I posted) where I was all "I need to do all this now. No excuses?" Well, here's an update -

1. I will get up earlier in the day...before the hubby and child are awake. I will work on all of my business obligations at that time. This will also be my time for running...bad shoes or not. If I do 3 weeks of consistent running, I will reward myself with new shoes.

This earlier time of day has given me great uninterrupted work time. Work = money...so yay me!
I did really well with about 3 weeks of running. However, I had a laparoscopic procedure on July 1st* and can't do any strenuous physical activity for 6 weeks. So, let's just say this has been deferred for the time being.

2. My business will be up and running by my birthday (August 5th).

My logo is done. Website design ideas are down on paper (virtually) and discussions with my web developer (a.k.a. that sweet piece of keister I call my hubby) will happen in the near future. Also, as far as product goes, I started over with a new larger pattern and have had better results.

3. Once the business is established (and hopefully making money? :) ), I will join a fitness class (not sure where/when/what just yet).

I have found a class I want to take in the fall. I'll let you know what happens come August/September.

________________

* - there will be a post about the surgery at some point. I promise.

Accountability

It's hard to admit...but I let excuses get the best of me.

"I can't start the Couch to 5K program because I have a terrible pair of running shoes."

"I really want to get up earlier in the day to get stuff done, but I'm afraid my alarm will wake the slumbering child. And once she's awake...no alone time for me."

"If I only had a few more hours in my day, I could really get going on my sewing goals"

"I prefer work out classes to working out by myself. But those cost money..."

Honestly, just typing this all out makes me want to slap myself. I sound like a whiney beeotch and I hate that. Not to mention all these excuses put me in a funk that I'd rather not be in.

So, I am declaring this to the intarwebz because that makes it all kinds of official (...right?)


Here is what is going to happen. right here. right now.

1. I will get up earlier in the day...before the hubby and child are awake. I will work on all of my business obligations at that time. This will also be my time for running...bad shoes or not. If I do 3 weeks of consistent running, I will reward myself with new shoes.

2. My business will be up and running by my birthday (August 5th).

3. Once the business is established (and hopefully making money? :) ), I will join a fitness class (not sure where/when/what just yet).

I thrive on schedules, routine, and established goals, so I'm hoping this will get my bum in gear.

More random

1. Our van succumbed to a faulty ignition coil...again (there are 6 on this vehicle. This was #3 to replace). For the first time it broke down in the state of Wisconsin, so we were able to send it to our favorite mechanic. He fixed it all up nice and purty and it's back in our hands.
(I'll skip over the part where ShankRabbit had to walk 2.5 miles to the nearest car rental place in dress shoes. Yeah...that's more his story to tell)

2. My brother-in-law and his wife are on a lovely vacation in Mexico right now. Aside from being super jealous, we get to watch their two bundles of snuggly doggy love while they are gone.
2b. I still can't believe dogs crap this much
2c. I do not care for 5:30am wake up calls
2d. No soft paper product is safe in this house
2e. But they are soft and cuddly...so it's ok

3. My kid has phased through several favorite movies. We were on a constant "Tinkerbell" kick for a while. Now we've moved on to "Toy Story." Every time I watch it I think back to the days when my cousin (who is a day away from coming home) was obsessed with it. His mom and I even made a birthday cake with Buzz Lightyear on it...complete with army men accents.

4. I'm hoping to report back soon on the status of our garden. We've spent the last several weeks trying to make seeds grow in our house for transplanting, but they are in a sorry state. I'm hoping we have more luck with seeds planted outside...which will happen by the weekend I'm guessing.

Several bits of crazy...er, random.

1. I am working on Craft Hope Project 7 (educational bean bags for schools in Liberia). I am having serious issues with odd numbers of bean bags. I can't make 9 or 11 bean bags...it has to be EVEN! So off I go to find suitable additions for the shape collection.

2. Today is my kid's 2nd day of dance class. I had to go out and buy a larger size leotard because the size 2-3 was way too small (what can I say? I gots a big kid). More fun stories to come about this class.

3. The day of my great uncle's funeral, I was talking with some of my relatives about being pulled over. They were telling me how they got out of tickets in the past (interesting what some people will do).

A few days later, I was pulled over and told the honest-to-jebus truth about why our plates our expired. I got a warning (and a firm reminder to get our car fixed and plates renewed). See?...telling the truth pays off too.

4. Remember about a year ago I shared with you the results of my medical mystery? Well, after a follow-up ultrasound it looks as though nothing has reduced in size (it's "persistent," as the nurse said). Now I'm scheduled to speak to my doctor next Wednesday about possible surgery. Ugh.

5. Ah ha! CRESCENT! And a 12th shape has been found. Happy dance!

6. My kid, my baby, my Peanut turned 2 on Monday. *tear*

7. I really really want to put our various vegetable seeds in the ground, but we still have some time to wait. Stupid frost times.

8. What purpose do slugs serve? I have found a couple in the soil of our future vegetable garden. Ew. I can handle earth worms...just not slugs.

So, I have this sister...

It all started Sunday.

My brother-in-law and his wife stopped over (and their two little lumps of doggy love). We made a great dinner and relaxed around our new fire pit. At one point ShankRabbit went to check on the kid (she was whiny) and it was just the three of us outside. My phone made a noise, notifying me of a new message on Facebook. Normally I wouldn't have looked at my phone while people were over, but my great uncle passed away on Friday and I figured it was one of my family members giving me details about the funeral*.

I received a friend request. At first glance, her name was not familiar, but had my maiden name as her last name**. She wrote a note with the request:

"Hi, I am your older half sister. I would love to get know you and your brother. I am older than you both. I have prayed for years to be united with you all and that is the primary reason I started my Facebook page. We can build a relationship independent of our father...".

Whoa.

My parents told me of possibly having a sister (my father's child with a different woman...before my mom came along), but at the time their words could not be trusted (substance abuse played a role in this distrust, among other things). Upon questioning other relatives, I was told that this was untrue. Many years passed...and so did the memory of this conversation.

Now I know that I really do have a half sister. Someone who I regret not knowing about sooner, but so happy she wasn't a part of my dark childhood.

"a relationship independent of our father..."

I know she knows.

After a few days and a stream of emails, I've gotten to know my sister.

Gosh, even saying "my sister" and not referring to an in-law or a friend is weird.

She has a 12 year old daughter (I'm an aunt?!) and a great career. She lives on the west coast.

Yeah.

I'm still processing this whole thing.

_____________

* - I'll save the story of my great uncle's funeral for another day. But I will tell you that this person is indeed my sister, as confirmed by my father who was in attendance.
** - She only put that (somewhat unique) last name so we'd recognize it as a possible family member.

Garden 2.0: A New Year, A New Attitude

The previous owners of our home built a 7' x 24' raised bed in the backyard. In the back quarter of the garden (in this picture that would be to the right) are everbearing raspberry bushes.

I was going to leave it be and figure out what to do with it next year, but I started to feel guilty. All this space is just begging for seeds. care. life in vegetable form.

I failed miserably at our herbs and tomatoes last year, but after quite a bit of research on vegetable gardening, I know my mistakes. I know what I must do to give my plants a fighting chance this time.

I did hours of research. I tested the pH level of our soil. I plotted the garden (using a loose interpretation of square foot and companion gardening). Now all that's left to do is buy some supplies and get some of the seeds started.

I will take you all on this journey with me - the ups, the downs, the dirt, and the laughs (c'mon, this is *me* we're talking about here). And hopefully share the fruits - er, vegetables - of my labor.

Oh man...here we go...

Friday Laundry Adventures

Ah, Fridays. My newly dubbed Laundry Day. Some of you may think this is depressing, but I enjoy doing laundry. Even more so when I can take a couple hours out of my morning and get all the loads done at the laundromat.

(side note: we did our budget for April and looked at the monthly cost of taking our laundry to the laundromat. My goodness, it's a lot of money! It doesn't seem like much at the time, but it really adds up!)

Fortunately, I found a laundromat that's nearby, in good working order, and barely has any patrons on Friday mornings. I'm selfish antisocial cool like that.

The first time we showed up, the laundry attendant came over to us with a small basket full of toys. Peanut's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she said quietly under her breath, "wow."

These toys aren't anything special. A lot of them seem to be happy meal toys from various establishments, but by Peanut's reaction you'd think I just gave her the keys to a toy store.

Now that we've been going to this laundromat on a regular basis, she has developed her "favorites" from the toy bin. Let's look at the cast of characters (pardon the photos, but these were taken with my phone under the wonderful fluorescent lighting):



By far, one of Peanut's favorite toys. This toy car has taken many a journey across plastic chairs, washers, and occasionally off-roads on the buttons of the soda machine.


Another car. Not as big and impressive as the first, but this little guy can CRUISE! Often seen on adventures with the one pictured below.


This is the creepiest choice, but she loves it all the same. I get what it is supposed to be [Padme in a royal cruiser (I think? Forgive me if I botched my Star Wars vehicle labeling)], but it's a bobblehead. In a space ship with wheels. No matter...Peanut uses this as her "Super Why!" vehicle.
"Super readers...to the RESCUE!"



And no adventure would be complete without a ragtag group of heroes! I give you...
Angry Man!
Condescending Military Guy! (*pat* *pat* "that's OK Spidey...you tried your best")
and....
Spider Man!

And where does this group hang out in between daring adventures?


On the bible, of course.

When the last item is folded and we are ready to go, Peanut and I put the toys back in the bin and return them to the attendant. Once handed off, I am given this face in protest:


"Mama...I don't wanna GO!"

Though today was different. I think she has figured out we will come back next week (at least until we have a washer of our own).

A short post

What we did this morning:



What do you think the dirt smudge on her shirt means?

A. She's having fun playing "gardener" and asking for more water for her "wah can"
B. She tasted the fruits of her labor...even if it was only the dirt she was digging in
C. Water + dirt = fun mess
D. All the above

* * * * *
The kid is awake from her nap. Time to go play outside some more!