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John Wayne Casserole

One thing I love about cold weather is good warm food. I love baking, yet in the heat of the summer turning the stove on for a soup or the oven for a casserole just doesn't ever sound appealing - which is unfortunate because  I love soups and casseroles.  Recently I've tried a few new casseroles that I found via Pinterest.

The first picture is John Wayne casserole.  It has a biscuity crust,  ground beef deliciousness, a layer of onions and green peppers and a layer of creamy/cheesiness.  It was  hearty and good all American yum.

Chili Relleno Casserole

The second picture is Chile relleno casserole.  I love Mexican food, and I love chili rellenos but I have never attempted making them because the whole process seems so fussy.  As a casserole the flavors are brilliant - a  blend of Mexican goodness with poblano peppers, cheddar and jack cheeses, eggs, and a layer of tomato zing.  It had a bit of spiciness, but not too much.  The chile relleno casserole was fabulous and will definitely be a part of my rotation. The pics do not do it justice.

Domestically speaking

I have a decent career. I'm a consultant at Deloitte and I get to work on a variety of projects for the federal government.

In my spare time I prefer to stick with the domestic arts. I am always thinking and scheming and testing and tweaking my house processes to try to make things run better and more efficiently.

I write at work ad naseum about what we do or don't do and how to improve this or that but I don't get a chance to write about my adventures in the domestic arts hardly at all. So I am going to be writing about all of that stuff more often.  

Mama/Audrey date

The other day I realized that I have not spent much time with just Audrey recently, so Saturday morning she and I went on a date to the new Starbucks in our neck of the woods.  She got a vanilla steamer and a snowman cookie, I got a latte and their delicious classic coffee cake.  

We also walked around the new shopping center - we have all kinds of fancy stores near Wegmans now.  It is crazy actually.  We finished up our date with grocery shopping - less fun for a 7 year old - I know.  I sweetened the deal by letting her pick one thing - she picked the Jim Carey version of The Grinch movie.  

Holiday Craftshow

We went to a Holiday craft show this past weekend.  It was really cool to see so many talented artists displaying and selling their wares.  We each got a treat - I got a homemade dark chocolate peanut butter cup, Audrey got a marshmallow dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles, and Ryan got a whoopie pie.  I also bought a handmade lotion bar made of beeswax and olive oil - it is really lovely, and a couple of beeswax candles.  I love the smell of beeswax - that lovely honey smell is just awesome.

Beeswax tealight in small mason jar turned votive holder

I also took the opportunity to pay attention to the types and styles of decorations that I like the most.  I gravitate towards the homemade and country style decorations.  My favorites are always the more irreverent versions.  I am less into the cutesy decorations.  I guess I would categorize my holiday style as fancy handmade redneck. :)

New phone

I just got my new iPhone 5 and I love it already. It is noticeably lighter and that makes it so much more comfortable to hold in one hand while typing a blog post.

I also love the bigger screen. It feels less squished.

The one downside that I see so far is that the connection element changed so it no longer fits my fancy Bose speaker. I use that a lot so I am going to have to find an adaptor of some sort.

On the sticks (works in progress)

Even though, I don't have a whole lot of time to knit (and crochet), I enjoy it immensely.  There is something so calming about the sticks just clicking away.  It instantly lowers my stress level and makes me smile.  What's not to love about that?  So, I always have a yarn project or seven in the works at any given moment. This is what I have in the works right now:

Pink and Purple Hexagon grannies

Hexagon granny style afghan in pinks and purples with white centers and trim:  This is supposed to be a stash buster project to use up the copious amount of pink and purple cotton yarn that I have.  Every time I buy a ball of cotton yarn in Audrey's presence she asks if I will let her pick one too.  I usually say yes, and the result is that I have more pink and purple yarn than I knew what to do with.  This will probably be for Audrey since she is the one who picked most of the yarn.

Living room pillow cover

Living room pillow cover: I started this project because I wanted to make a striped and wavy something with these colors.  I thought it was going to be a hand towel for my bathroom, but I quickly decided that it was not the right size or colors and it just so happens to be the right size and colors for my living room - so instead it is going to be a living room throw pillow cover.  As it turns out, we need to recover the throw pillows in there, so this is a practical project afterall.

multi-colored wool wrap

Multi colored wool wrap: My dad used to work near a fancy yarn store in Kansas City.  Several holidays in a row,  I was the lucky recipient of a ball of fancy yarn or two.  This multi-colored wool is beautiful was something he (or a store lady) picked.  The colors are deep and vibrant and they flow together in unexpected yet beautiful ways.  I had to order a few more balls of yarn in order to make the wrap big enough, but I really love how it looks so far.  I am excited to finish this and then block it so that I can see the pattern "bloom" (expand).  I do not have the fancy blocking materials that hard-core knitters have, so I am going to use some wire hangers to stretch the yarn.  Then I'll spritz it with water and let it dry.

Hot Water Bottle Cozy

Water bottle cozy:  This pattern is called winterberry and it has a lovely bobble pattern with some cabling mixed in to make it look like the bobbles are berries on branches.  It is really pretty and has been fun to work on.  Also, it is worked in the round, which makes it fast (other than the complicated center panel with the cables and bobbles).  I bought a nice wool blend for this pattern.  It is a dusky eggplant purple.  I wanted wool for the warmth, but I wanted a blend to make it washable.  I am pleased with how it is going so far.

Dishcloths

Dishcloths - I always have a few dishcloths in various patterns on my sticks.  I use them everyday and I give them away a lot too.  Plus they are fun and portable.  The dishcloths in the picture are for my sister Farrah - she chose the bright yarn with the turquoise and purple.  I added a bit of white to accent it a bit.  I hope she likes (and uses) them when I finish the set.  The square with the triangle halves has been one of my favorite dishcloth patterns for years.  The center open pattern makes it dry quickly and it is super quick to make.  I add the crochet lacy edging because I think it looks prettier that way.

As you can see from my project list, apparently I have more good ideas than I have time or good sense. :)

Halloween

I dyed Audrey's hair red for Halloween this year.  She decided to be Ariel (as in the little mermaid of Disney fame).  We got her a wig, but with her hair being so thick and long, the kids wigs just weren't cutting it and the adult wigs were too long and too expensive.  So manic panic hair dye to the rescue.  Allegedly it washes out in 6-8 washes, not that Audrey will be disappointed if her hair is red longer than that.  Her hair turned out great and she really did look like a seven year old version of Ariel.  She was also wearing pink sparkle tights and Ariel fancy shoes and her toes and nails were painted glittery purple and she added stick-on jewels on top of that.  I let her wear my earrings that are (according to her) just like the pair that Ariel wore for her wedding.  She also had an Ariel tiara and make-up on.  She was fancy from head to toe.

Meredith was a little chick.  Audrey was a chick for her second Halloween and I love that little chicken costume so much that I was determined to have Meredith wear it as well.  Meredith was less-thrilled with my plan.  The hat scared her at first, but then she got used to it (ie gave up trying to pull it off with limited range of motion due to an overstuffed bird costume).  She looked so cute though.  I managed to get no good pictures, but here is a mediocre one.  :)

To live a long life

I don't know when I decided it, but I have long held the belief that I would like to live to at least 100, maybe even 125 if I can manage to keep my witts about me and my body moving.

So am always interested to read about people who have figured out how to live a long and healthy life.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

So who is with me, let's move to Ikaria.  I better start learning Greek.

I do seriously think about what it will be like to be 85.  What will I do for a living?  What will I do for fun and  where will I live?  It makes me slow down and take things at a less frenetic pace (which I have an unfortunate tendency towards).  I hope to have a great garden then and to live in a small house with friends and family nearby (I like the closeness of my townhouse community a lot, but I sure wish some of my family lived here too).  I also hope that I will get to take a good walk and a good nap most days and that I will get to make things for grand and great-grand babies.

Dishes

Anyone who has been to my house knows that my dishwasher is mediocre.  It looks nice and fancy - stainless steel can mask a variety of ills - but it truly does not clean well and usually things come out looking a little dull.  So I tried rinse aids and vinegar and different types of soaps - all with little success.  Eventually, I came to just more or less wash my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, where I would run the normal cycle and have them coming out dull but allegedly clean.

After a few years of that - ok, maybe it was 5 or 6 years - I figured I would try just hand washing my dishes.  It turns out, that the process of hand-washing and rinsing is faster and my dishes are cleaner. So I have been doing my dishes by hand for about a year and it works pretty well.  I still use my lovely dishwasher occasionally (mostly as a drying rack) and at some point might switch back to using it full-time.  For now however, I am doing dishes old-school.  Also, a big thank you to Aunt Myrtle (Desiree's mom) who taught me how to hand-wash dishes efficiently when I was a teen-ager.

Autumn

This is my favorite season.  I get giddy the first time the air feels crisp outside and I smell the fall leaves.  I love the colors of the trees and the nights getting longer and cooler.  I love living with the windows open and the breezes blowing through the house.  I love apple and pumpkin picking and going to harvest festivals.  I love trying to get that last little bit out of the garden (my kale is still going strong).  It is just a good time of year to be alive.  That stifling summer heat that makes days seem like they will last forever is gone and fall seems to hasten things for me.  As if I only have a little bit of time to enjoy it all before the cold of winter descends.

I also love that I get to start baking with gusto again.  Pumpkin muffins are one of my favorite foods and I usually have muffins ready all fall long.  Inside the house, we start the season of decorating.  First we decorate for the Halloween and Fall, then the Halloween stuff gets replaced by a few Thanksgiving things.  Last but certainly not least, we get the Christmas decorations out and the whole house seems cheerier.

Work project

I finally found a project at work or rather it found me. I was "on the bench" for five weeks which is a nerve wracking place to be. It basically meant I had a job but was not making the company any money. That is not a good place to be for long. So I am thrilled to have a real project.

I am working on a counter narcotics study of our (the US) work in Afghanistan. It looks like I may have to travel to the infamously dangerous Tampa, FL; but thankfully not to Afghanistan. :)

Projects - Cross-stitch, VW, dehydrator

As mentioned, I love Alicia's style at Posie Gets Cozy.  So earlier this year, I bought a cross-stitch sampler kit from her.  It was so much fun to do, because once I got started, it was easy to just do a few stitches whenever Meredith would start playing with something.  And easy to set down again as soon as she noticed that I was not focused exclusively on her. ;)

Also, here is the finished lego VW van.  It turned out awesome and is perfect on my fireplace mantel.  Audrey and Claire both helped me with the van.

And last but certainly not least, I bought a dehydrator!!! I have a whole bunch of kale and basil to dry.  I am super excited.  Please don't be surprised if your Christmas present includes dried kale and/or basil this year.

Moving along

After our first week of school, daycare, and work;  we all took turns getting sick.  However, other than that, we are adjusting pretty well.  Audrey loves school and being with her friends again.  Meredith does not love daycare, but she is playing and calm when I pick her up everyday, so that is a start.

I am enjoying reconnecting with old friends and colleagues at work as I try to find a project that I want.  I am trying to stick with international public policy, but not the exact same project.  I would like to expand my perspective and work with other agencies.  I basically have one week left of looking for my dream project before the utilization gremlins come out to get me and I will be more or less assigned. 

Week one back at work

This week has been rough.  Apparently, I was so focused on getting us personally ready to go back to work for me, school for Audrey and for Meredith to start day care; that I forgot about making sure our house was ready to support those efforts.  So Audrey ran out of clean undies by day two, milk was gone by day three and the one freezer meal I had made was eaten quickly. 

Luckily, my job has *not* been the stressful part.  Right now I am not on any projects, so I just go to the corporate office everyday and work on all the company requirements that used to make my life miserable (because I did them late at night on the last day they were due as I never had time for them during the workday).  Now, it gives me something to do.  It doesn't seem like as much of a pain to download, learn and understand random computer programs when that is your entire job instead of last-minute late-night adventure.  I have also been reconnecting with old colleagues, updating my resume, and looking through open positions to try to find something that fits.  Eventually, I need to actually be a profit earning employee.  Embedded into this mix has been losing my badge, reconfiguring my computer and all kinds of other little issues to make the days more interesting.

School for Audrey has been wonderful.  Audrey loves the magic of childhood.  She was excited to reconnect with her friends and she has already made some new friends who love princesses as much as she does.  Unbeknownst to me, she brought a miniature magic wand to school yesterday and 'the princess club' buried it in the school yard during recess for the fairies.  She also left something under her pillow last night for the night time fairies (like the tooth fairy) to get while she was sleeping.  If I would have known I would have put something there instead for her. :)

Daycare is going less well for Meredith.  She likes playing and she has been taking short naps at the appropriate times, but she isn't fond of drinking from a cup for her milk and she is luke warm on their food.  One of the other kids bit her arm the second day.  And she cries like crazy when she finally sees me at the end of her day - like all the built up frustration and anxiety of a long day all comes out at once.  To top it off, she is sick with a fever today, so I am home with her this afternoon.  Ryan stayed with her this morning, so I could go into the office.

This week felt crazy and frantic, like I have too many things to keep track of, and not enough brain power, sleep and organizing power on hand to do any of it well.  I backed into a parked trailer at Meredith's daycare and I keep physically dropping things (computers, phones, my badge, keys, etc).  It is as if I am both physically and metaphorically juggling more than I can handle.  I am sure it will all smooth out and calm down.  In fact, I can already feel myself thinking through household stuff in a different way (I froze two quarts of lentil soup after we ate some for dinner yesterday, so that I will have a few healthy dinners on hand).  Little things like that will start to add up and things will start to run more smoothly.  I have to keep reminding myself that it will just take some time and patience (and a few deep breaths) and soon things will feel more calm again.

New shoes

These are one pair of my new shoes for going back to work - comfy red patent leather. The other pair is nice and sensible black leather loafers (snake skin leather though - I had to add a little pizzaz).

Favorite blog reads

Lately I have only had Internet access via my phone and iPad. This has limited the number of blogs that I visit and without realizing it I found my favorites.

My all time favorite is: http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/?m=1. Down to earth is the title. It is written by a 64 year old australian woman who decided to leave the corporate world and simplify her life so that she could make her home her life. She writes enthusiastic and wise posts on just about anything and everything. Her blog has been so successful that she has now written a book (which I hope makes it stateside soon) and sometimes writes for magazines and does radio interviews.

My other favorite is: http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/. Poise gets cozie is written by a designer in Oregon. I love her style and I recently did a cross stitch sampler kit of hers and loved it. I love her photography too. She has just a wonderful aesthetic.

Garden adventures

Last year I really wanted to start a garden. So I built a 4x4 box and made a lovely concoction of soil (following the square foot method) and compost and planted every square of my nice little grid. It grew like mad. However, as a big pregnant lady I didn't have the energy to go out to harvest or weed or really anything that involved me spending any extra time out in the heat and humidity towards the end of summer.

This year I vowed to do better. So my neighbor and I went to some local gardening classes in February and March and planned and plotted our gardens. We even shared a seed order to a local nursery.

But then when Audrey and I went out to plant it started raining so we quickly sowed a few seeds rather haphazardly. I intended to write down what we had planted and where but instead...

This year my garden has been full of fun surprises. The squash turned out to be cucumbers. The lettuce is perhaps kale. Things are still growing like mad but I'm just not sure what they all are. I may have some carrots but that could be parsnips as well. I am quite sure that when I am a more experienced gardener I will laugh heartily at this garden of surprises.

Conflicted

I will be starting back to work in less than a month. Part of me is excited about that. I always enjoy work and I derive a sense of satisfaction and self from my job (no matter what it is).

However, a bigger part of me feels a sense of gloom over leaving Meredith in someone else's care. It was easier with Audrey because she was twice as old and I left her in the care of her aunt first and then her dad.

I know Meredith will do well away from me. She is a happy curious baby who will love having others to play with and crawl over. I am just not so sure I will do well away from her. :)

Happy birthday project

My wonderful sister Claire sent me the coolest birthday present - a Lego model set to make my own Volkswagen van!

There are 160 pages of instructions and over 1300 pieces. I am amazed at the detail already. I just finished the engine. Here is my progress so far.

Thrifting

Today the girls and I went to a new thrift store in the area. I am trying to be a super frugal person and so I think I should shop primarily at thrift stores for clothes and other household things. However, in general I don't really like them. They are too much of a treasure hunt for my tastes. Same thing with places like tj maxx. It just seems like more work than it is worth.

Strangely I love antique stores and shows. I am trying to figure out the difference. I think it is the clothing aspect. I like looking at furniture and decorations and what not but not so much clothes or shoes.

Speaking of clothes... There are some things that I think should not be purchased second hand - under garments in general but thongs in particular. This store had a whole aisle of thongs - one side for women the other side for men. The thought of it still gives me the heebie jeebies, I wish I had taken a picture. As my mom would say different strokes for different folks...