Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real in short

This post will be full of subpar pictures I took on my cell phone. But, at least I'm getting a post up!

{Pretty}

Geraniums in this wine barrel were my Mother's Day gift last year. Look how good they are doing!  (I recognize this is only something to celebrate when you are a veteran plant killer like me).

This sweet little girl.

{Happy}

Baptism gowns, washed by Jenny Wren's godmother-to-be in anticipation of her baptism this weekend.

This prickly pear cactus was given to us by a friend, the man who used to teach me US history back when I was a homeschooled 5th-8th grader. The bottom leaf is what he gave us. It came from Luther Burbank's garden, and it has no thorns.  I was told he spoke kindly to this plant always, and prayed over it, and thus it grew without thorns. We have tried to be kind to ours and say some prayers for it, and, indeed, it grew new "leaves" just recently, after being in our garden for about 5 months. The new leaves do have thorns, I am sure we are not as dedicated as Mr. Burbank, and I know there has been a fair share of yelling that takes place in our back yard. But the children are thrilled to see the new growth.

Finally getting caught up on all those thank you notes for everyone's kindness after Jenny Wren's birth.

{Funny}

Sparrow has this funny thing. He does not like chairs to be upright. You can always tell he's been in the room when you see this.

My handsome oldest boy got a hold of my camera phone.

{Real}

My breakfast this morning. Frozen quiche. Reheated two-day-old coffee. Water. However, it was delicious because I was hungry, and I got to eat it on the patio the cool of the morning. As you can guess, I shared the quiche.

We got the dreaded stomach bug. This is Sparrow on day 3 of it. I thought he was done so we went to the park. Alas, not so. But he was a trooper.

A day later and the rest of the family dropped like flies. Oddly enough, despite the sheet washing and bathroom scrubbing and generally feeling awful that had to occur, we actually enjoyed some quiet family time together, doing puzzles when we felt up to it and taking lots and lots of naps. I'm not used to Bluejay and Chickadee sleeping during the day anymore, but they napped wherever they happened to be sitting this time.

Linking up with Suki at Like Mother Like Daughter...

I am linking this post up with 

January Daybook

Outside my window... It is foggy!  I love the fog.  It reminds me that I am really home, the place where my roots were put down as a child.  Foggy, west coast, mist.

I am wearing... My pajamas.  The baby is still asleep and I am NOT about to go into the bedroom to get my clothes, put on my contacts, anything.

I am thankful for... A few moments to blog.  A very kind, respectful and helpful oldest son.  I've been marveling at how pleasant his personality is lately.  I will admit that he has a stubborn streak the size of a 12 lane LA freeway, however.

I am thinking about... Possibly keeping a list of books I read this year.  I have generally been bad at doing that.  It's like keeping a diary, a great idea but something I rarely manage with any consistency.  However, I've enjoyed reading people's "what I read this year" posts, so maybe I'll manage a little list.

Learning all the time... Ok people. It's time to get real with this.  I don't do New Year's Resolutions (I mean, not the real kind), but I did promise myself that after the holidays were over, I'd finally spend some focused time studying and thinking about what we will be doing with Mr. Bluejay, who will be five this summer (and by default, his younger siblings).  I'm leaning toward homeschooling until he is six.  I had a fortuitous run in with the teacher of a tiny Orthodox school, someone I've known since I was the student, at the grocery store this week.  My friend handed me her big book of homeschooling resources out of the blue when we stopped by the other day.  My sister-in-law sent me a link to a lovely kindergarten curriculum a month or two ago.  I feel like someone is tapping me on the shoulder saying "hey, time to pay attention".

From the kitchen... Cooking again!  Slowly.  Does anyone else find that all the staples are running low after Christmas?  We had some stomach bugs over the holidays and didn't eat much beyond yogurt, egg and rice bowls, and frozen pizza for the healthy ones.  Right now I have plans for some barbecue chicken (yes, I will light up the Webber in January, we live in Northern California) and artichokes, because Bluejay has been asking for artichokes and a fire.

I am creating... Still crocheting Sparrow's blanket.  It is my first time doing basketweave stitch.  I really like it.

I am working on... working.  I have several clients now.  It's a blessing to have work.  I'm enjoying doing it.  Aaron is working four ten hour days so that I can have one "full" work day each week.  And my dad has been terrific at helping me out lately.  I'm also going to be doing a child-care swap one day a week, a friend from church is also a work-at-home mama and will be bringing her adorable little girl over here so we can take turns shepherding the younglings and working.  I'm excited to see how it works out.

I am going... to the usual places only.  It's nice to have a routine again.  I need to have a place to "go" on Mondays.  I struggle with that first day alone with the children after having my husband home for three days.  

I am hoping... to get up north to visit my brother's family sometime in the next few months.

I am reading... P.G. Wodehouse.  I finished Leave it to Psmith and started on one of the Jeeves books: Joy in the Morning.  I do love old Pelham Grenville, and it turns out that I'm more of an Anglophile than I realized. I lived in the UK for 2+ years during high school.  I can't wait to travel there with my family when the kids are a little older.

I am praying for... The soul of my friend Alan, who died one year ago this coming Sunday.  My family.  All of the little children.

I am hearing... The "big" kids talking to little Sparrow, who just woke up.   Sparrow giggling.  I love how they can keep him happy for a bit now, so that I can finish something (like a blog post)!

One of my favorite things... New coffee cups we got for Christmas.  Hand-thrown and kilned (is that the terminology?) by Bluejay's preschool teacher's husband.  They are so nice to hold and look at.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Working. Preschool. Cooking. Cleaning, and most importantly, putting away all of the paraphernalia from Christmas.

A picture thought I am sharing with you... 

We all look so serious!  Eating is no time for joking around, people.

OH MY GOODNESS I JUST SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED AN ENTIRE BLOG POST!  YIPPEE!!

   

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Breakfast Burritos

My dear husband leaves for work at 5:30 in the morning. He needs a pretty solid breakfast to start off a long day of cabinet building, moving and installing, but it's not easy to eat a big breakfast at 5:30 a.m.  So I've been buying frozen breakfast burritos at Trader Joe's and he pops one in the microwave when he gets to work. Now, those Trader Joe's burritos are pretty healthy, and pretty friendly to the pocket book, and unfortunately pretty dry.  So I've been meaning to make some from scratch and freeze a batch so he'd have something a little more yummy and a little more homey to start the day.  I tested out the success of freezing homemade breakfast burritos as follows: the last time the little ones did not finish theirs, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and popped them in the freezer in a ziplock bag.  A week or two later, wrapped in a paper towel and about a minute in the microwave, I was happy to find that they were still very tasty.  However, it took me another couple of months to finally set aside the time to make a big batch.

I fried up some potatoes in a little sunflower seed oil.

Added finely chopped garlic.

Salt and pepper.

Sausages (I did everything in one pan for ease of clean-up, and also because it's my favorite pan).

When these were all done, I took them out of the pan and scrambled some eggs with a little cheese, in a generous amount of melted butter.  Oh, how I love butter.

I made sure to only lightly cook them since they'll get microwaved later and hopefully won't toughen up in the process.

I toast the flour tortillas on the open flame (if that makes you uncomfortable, do it in a dry hot pan).

And assembled!

You can of course put in as little or as much as you like of each ingredient.  I wanted them to be pretty hardy.  Also, I cut them in half so if an entire burrito is too much to eat at once, the other half can stay frozen.

Aaron stole my phone and got a picture of the actual action.  They're all off in the freezer ready for a quick meal.  I think they are pretty yummy with a little salsa.  We usually use this one from Trader Joe's, unless my mom or sister stops by Lola's Market and picks up the really good stuff.  That never lasts long enough to make it to the fridge though.  

Now I'm hungry.  Off to scrounge something up before bed.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Master Bedroom Edition

This week, Like Mother Like Daughter issued a challenge, to post at least one thing in your bedroom that you made useful and/or beautiful, with the appreciation that starting in the bedroom that you share with your husband is of key value to making your home life and marriage beautiful and God-fearing (that's my own paraphrasing).

So, here is a peak into our bedroom.  I did not do anything new beyond making the bed, which I succeed at probably two or three times a week these days, and clearing off a few surfaces of books, toys and clothes, which I succeed at once every couple of weeks (ok, months).  But I have made some efforts here throughout the short years of our marriage, and in the spirit of the statements above, I do try to keep this room from becoming too much of a catch-all and mess.  I think our room is vitally important as a little sanctuary.

{Pretty}

in my humble opinion

Here is our room from the door entering from the hallway.  The only pieces of furniture we have bought were the bed (before homebirth number one) and the rug at the foot of the bed (we had a rug prior to this but our former dog pooped and threw up on it, and homebirth number two was so fast that we did not have time to get out all the chucks ~ sorry if that is TMI).

I made the comforter cover myself, before any babies of course. I found two Ralph Lauren sheets at Marshall's for $7 each, and sewed them together.  I had to re-sew the top since it was much longer than the actual comforter, and more recently, I went in and sewed lots of ties to the inside, as well as to the top of the comforter, because it drives me nuts when the comforter slides down in the cover.  My husband does NOT like helping me change the comforter now.  :-)  

This little table was in the entryway of my parent's house for as long as I can remember, holding hats and other debris that got dropped off as we trooped in through the front door.  It is wobbly and not strong but I am attached to it.  And see!  I actually have my first little crafty project in the works in about 3 years... started a couple of weeks ago.

{Happy}

I found these elephant book ends at Marshall's ages ago, when I was a single girl with lots of time to help my mom Christmas shop for my five siblings and various relatives.  I bought them with her credit card and told her to give them to me for Christmas.  Even without the element of surprise they were my favorite gift that year. They had languished on top of a bookshelf holding overflow books, until my husband saw the messy stack on my side table and put them there one day to surprise me.  I was really touched that he thought of that.  Anyway, they make me happy every time I see them there.  Also {Real} they are very dusty, as is much of the room.  I.do.not.like.dusting.  So it gets done about twice a year.  At most.

This is the rest of the corner, I cover up my alarm clock because I can't sleep with light in the room.

A friend gave us her old glider rocker when Bluejay was a few months old, and it has made nursing SO MUCH nicer.  I mean, I love nursing.  But the glider brought the whole experience to a new level of comfort (especially when I was having some back problems).  My sister-in-law found the footstool at a yard sale, and we only bought the replacement cushion, which {Funny} or maybe more maddening, took 4 months to get here from somewhere in Canada from whence it apparently travelled by train, pony express, and turtle-pack animal delivery service.  Chickadee is going through the "write on everything in the house with ballpoint pen" stage, so I recently had to attack that cushion with hairspray, soap, and various cleaners.

{Funny}

My dresser is never this clear.  I just put away bunch of things including stacks of clothes. 

On my dresser are some of a recent haul of hairties which Chickadee picked out at Target, and now will not let me put in her hair. All she wants to wear are her Elmo and Big Bird clips, which she pulled out of her hair somewhere a few weeks ago, and I now cannot find.

We put the curtains up to hide our closet, which was originally closed by horrid gold-framed mirrored sliding doors.  The curtains are generally opened, I closed it to hide the mess for these pictures.  But I can also close it when I just want our room to look nice for US and no one else.  I like that.

{Real}

This is my husband's dresser top.  I feel bad about this.  While right now it is mostly covered with his clothes, because I finally did the laundry after he ran out of socks and work pants, it also often acts as a repository for things I'm hiding from the kids, random stuff that ends up in our room, and, I'll be honest, overflow from MY dresser.  Poor guy.  He doesn't even like his dresser (it was a hand-me-down from friends who moved) and has a lot of his stuff in boxes above the closet.  Also you can see a dress hanging there on his side, which is one of a bunch from my childhood that I'm saving for Chickadee, taking up his very minimal closet space.  

Also, not shown (I know, I should but I just didn't really want to photograph it) is the closet floor which is covered with shoes all mismatched, dirty clothes and toys, and the closet shelves, which we've organized several times but are pretty disastrous, because we both use them to stash things on top of other things, that are either a big problem when the kiddos get into them, or are meant to be surprises, or are for future use, or are just OURS and we don't really want to share with said toddlers or relegate to the garage or shed.

So that's it. It is pretty much the nicest looking room in the house.  The rest of the house is much more cluttered and messy so please, please do not take this as an example of my homekeeping skills.  In fact, as I type this, Aaron just called out to me "Maybe this weekend, we can figure out all the crap behind the couch, get rid of some of it."  So yeah.  It's just that I do try to keep this room a little bit nicer. It's important.