a Saturday list

Guys! I can hardly believe it's been over a week since I posted last. I certainly didn't intend to go silent for so long. Let's blame summer germs, yeah? Last Saturday, Asher and I both got a stomach bug that left us feeling gross and fatigued well into Tuesday. And just as the two of us were recovered, Josh caught it. So we've just been all kinds of sick around here.

So on this Saturday, Asher and I are back to normal, while Josh is still on the fringes of recovery. To catch you up, here is a list of mostly non-consequential things.

:: The week before last Josh went on his first-ever business trip. Asher and I took almost a staycation of sorts. I didn't make a single official dinner, and we watched more TV than is usual. Though if I had known that we would soon be couch-ridden with a stomach bug, I might have been more conservative in our media consumption.

:: While Josh was out of town I painted our master bedroom. Because we've all been sick, it's not quite put back together yet. But when it is I'll definitely show you pictures.

:: Two of my Facebook friends tagged me in a post featuring this video:



It's hilarious and wonderful. And it made me especially embarrassed to realize late yesterday afternoon that on my sewing blog I used where instead of wear. I was appalled at my lapse in proofreading, though I guess that goes to show that writing blog posts at midnight has its grammatical hazards.

:: I've been loving my summer reading. I've read six books since June and have listened to three more. Reading is just all sorts of delightful, isn't it? My favorite summer read so far is The Time in Between, followed closely by Attachments. Remember at the end of that summer I'll be posting another Twitterature update for all my summer reads. What have you been reading this summer?

Now I think I'll head back downstairs to finish up an episode of Curious George with my boys, which brings me back to the nagging question, What does The Man in the Yellow Hat DO??  I swear that question will bug me until the end of time.

a mouth-watering week

Since returning from my Denver trip, I've tried to kick myself back into point-counting mode. (Weight Watchers points, that is. For more about my experience with Weight Watchers, read this post.) Some weeks have been better than others, and for me, Weight Watchers is more about being conscious of what I put into my body and how I treat it.

It's not an easy road, though. This week I have been craving dessert. Like, seriously. The moodiness of this month may have something to do with this (which probably also says something about how I handle mood swings). When I'm counting points, I have to consciously decide against foods that I love. Like cake. And brownies. And big, chewy chocolate chip cookies. So, on this Friday, I present you with some of the confections that have been haunting my food-mind all week. Please make them and enjoy them on my behalf.

the chocolate peanut-butter cake
You can find this delight here. It's honestly one of the most wonderful things I've ever had. I made it last year for Fathers' Day. It combines all the most wonderful flavors into one seriously amazing dessert. Please make it. 

Reese's no-bake peanut-butter bars
This is one of the easiest desserts ever. It's perfect for picnics, potlucks, or hoarding at home. These beauties are very pointy, like 15-WW-points a pop pointy. It's one of the first recipes I made from Our Best Bites, and I've been hooked on the site ever since. Once I'm in maintenance mode--or at least when I'm burned out on point-tracking--I will make this immediately.

{photo from Our Best Bites}

thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies
I stumbled on these when I was three months postpartum and dying for sleep. The recipe is from Baking Illustrated (the Test Kitchen, so, you know, my baking/cooking bible). These cookies are best when you use bittersweet chocolate chips. But really, everything is best with bittersweet chocolate chips.

frosted sugar cookie bars
I found these a couple of months ago and find them to be the perfect solution for sugar cookie cravings. (I love sugar cookies, but you have to make the dough and chill it and bake the cookies and frost them and clean up. There are just so many steps.) This bar cookie takes a total of a pound and a half of butter once you make the frosting, and they're amazing. Obviously. With a pound and a half of butter, how could they be bad? Seriously, if you make them for a crowd, you will have zero leftovers. (An aside, I half the almond extract in both the cookie and the frosting. Personal preference.)

{photo from Our Best Bites}

mint brownies
I haven't made these yet, but I've wanted to. Again, once I'm burned out on point-counting you can be sure that these will happen. And the recipe is once again from Our Best Bites, so you know it's delicious.

{again, from Our Best Bites}

I've also had a hankering for snacky desserts like Rice Krispie treats and McFlurrys. Goodness. I know I'll thank myself later for this discipline, so how about you make at least one of these this weekend and tell me how much you love it. I'll enjoy it all vicariously. Obviously.

kicking off the weekend

Hey, everyone! If you've hopped over from Bonnie's blog, welcome, and if you're a regular, you know you can always just come on in. Today I'm over at The Life of Bon, and I hope you go check out her blog and spend some time over there. Over the past year Bonnie's blog has become one of my regular reads.

In the meantime, I just got back from the weekly church play group and have successfully put the boy down for a nap. I plan to spend nap time sewing and will wrap up the afternoon by baking stuffed pizza rolls for dinner with some of Josh's extended family. It should be a wonderful Easter weekend, and I am ready to get started!

the introvert card

Last night after our birthday guests left, Josh and I tumbled on the couch in collective party-stupor. And the clock read only 10:00 p.m. So. We're those friends now.

I spent today winding down from birthday week. Birthday week was delightful, albeit mentally and physically taxing. We had a wonderful time celebrating our newly minted 29-year-old. (Remind me to tell you about that time around Thanksgiving when Josh didn't know that he was already 28. The ensuing crisis was all too funny to behold.) Tonight, Birthday Boy is off doing something adorably nerdy at a game shop, and I get a night alone.

After a week like this one--and really, a month like this one--I am ready to play my introvert card and hole up for the weekend. I have done absolutely nothing productive this evening besides load the dishwasher, and that only made the cut because I pushed off unloading the dishwasher until dinner time. Tonight is not a night for sewing or cleaning or list-making. It's barely the night for blogging. Tonight is the night for Parenthood, stretchy pants, a long shower, some cocoa, a book, and very likely an early bedtime.

So world, I'm playing that introvert card, and in my game it's the trump card. If you want to go and party, then please enjoy yourself. Tonight my party has a guest-list of one, and I'm loving every second of it.

grooves and no grooves

I tried writing this post last night, but I wasn't in my groove. This week has certainly had its grooveless moments.

Like when we woke up in the middle of the night to mice scurrying in our walls. That's gross. And stressful. And when I'm lying there in the dark listening to the rodents, I think about how we'll likely have to fight the HOA to properly take care of the problem. I'm telling you, HOAs are the devil's work.

Then there's the general mom stuff that sometimes awesome and sometimes discouraging. Asher stopped eating string cheese this week, so that brings his total number of acceptable foods down to six.

Other moments haven't been as grooveless. Like when I made this recipe for steel-cut oats and it basically changed my life. Or when I actually started sewing these finger puppets for Asher in an effort to gain a grasp on my not-restful-at-all Sundays.

Almost all my shows had new episodes this week, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine maybe--just maybe--might be surpassing The Mindy Project in funniest show on television according to Charlotte. (The Golden Globes sure think so.) I also spent several hours this week catching up on podcasts, and this program has soared to the top of my must-listen-to-every-week list.

I'm also excited to enter this sewing contest in an effort to win a Bernina sewing machine. I'm almost dying from excitement over here. Except that I'm not, because if I did die, I wouldn't be able to enter. My odds probably aren't great, but seriously, I have to at least try. And worst case scenario, I win nothing and come out with a cute jacket anyway. But really, I need a Bernina. (If Josh is reading this, please take note and plan 2014 gifts accordingly.)

So here we are, Saturday morning, 11:30, and I'm still in my pajamas wearing no bra. What grooves have you found or lost this week?

TGIF: a photo essay

Smotherhood defined

Reorganizing the kitchen

Homemade ice cream

All bundled up with socks for mittens

Stocking up at the library

Abandoned snack

Christmas tree play

Pizza night

Chocolate

Brownie batter

And now I'm holing up in my sewing room until bedtime. Breathe.

early weekend?

First off, thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. This mama thing is hard on the heart sometimes, even when it's all good things in the long run. Blogging about these things makes me remember that all of us mamas aren't so different from each other. Our families are different, our mothering styles are different, but our hearts have so much more in common that all those differences don't matter so much.

I think I need to start my weekend early. I don't know what it's been, but I am ready for some hard-core, nothing-on-the-docket weekending. Maybe this has something to do with the Jillian Michaels workouts I've been doing after the babe goes to bed, consequently robbing me of my solo evening time. Or maybe it's that book I just want to finish or those sewing projects I've been dying to start.

Did I tell you I finally set up my sewing space? If you follow me on Instagram you'll know this. And did I tell you that I actually have an official sewing space in our new home? Because I do. A few months ago Josh's grandma asked me if the third bedroom will be for another baby, and I was all, "Heck no, lady! That's my sewing spot!" When a second babe comes along I think Asher will have to adjust to having a bedroom mate. I'm not giving up this sewing space for anything, even if that space is just a corner of a room. (See, the sewing room is also the computer room. We're all about sharing here. Asher will someday share a bedroom, and I have to share my sewing room.)

My time has been divvied out to varied household chores and church responsibilities that I haven't had much time for that therapeutic tactile work, that creativity expressed through textiles and buttons and the steady whirring of the sewing machine. I bought more fabric when I was in Denver (obviously), and I have a million projects jumping to be first out of the gate. Then on top of that I bought a houndstooth quilt pattern that I might just have to start come fall. Because what better fall project than a houndstooth quilt?

So it's official. My weekend will start tomorrow. After I write those articles. And fold that laundry. But after that? I'm reading and eating popcorn and maybe just pulling out some fabric.

sandal delivery, thank you very much

Yesterday after an unintentional, neck-cramping, disorienting nap I had to sit down and focus on some writing for these people. After some not so productive brainstorming I heard a quick knock on the front door. I found a white square box stamped with a simple pink ShoeDazzle on the side, and suddenly my weird Friday morning received a welcome tweak.

Inside I found my new pair of sandals that I ordered on Monday. Have you heard of ShoeDazzle? It's this site where you fill out a style profile, and after a day or two you get your own personalized shoe showroom. It's fabulous. Plus you get all these coupons in your inbox for crazy things like $15 off and save 25 percent and free shipping. So these all Italian leather sandals with that delightful metallic band were only $34. Seriously.

It was too chilly to wear them yesterday, but I was so giddy about their arrival that I gave myself permission to read my book for the entirety of Asher's afternoon nap, and it was lovely.

a weekend of firsts

First off, I am humbled by the response I received on yesterday's post. You all make me feel safe when I post on things close to my heart. Thank you.

I regret to say that the pictures we took in between classes at church did not make the blog cut. In fact, Josh told me that I couldn't post them anywhere. So the babe's first Easter is photographically undocumented. Just know that he was the definition of dapper in blue and white pinstripe pants with a knit navy blazer. 

We had a few other firsts this weekend, though.

Asher's first pair of sunglasses. And he kept them on. It's like he already knows that he has to be cooler than Mom and Dad.

Doesn't that face of his just kill you? I laugh every time I see it.

His first stick-your-head-in-a-stupid-place-for-a-picture.

His first slide ride.

And his first encounter with grass.

And let's not neglect to mention his first romper. 

Though, those ham hocks sure are giving this romper a run for its money.

memorial weekend parties

I spent my weekend in Denver with the family (Josh couldn't come--no vacation time and expensive plane tickets). My weekend was wonderful and busy. We were going from the time I got there to the time I left.

:: The little brother graduated high school (though little is poor word choice--John is a full foot taller than I am).

{Taking self-portraits with this graduate is just about impossible given his incredible height}

:: We celebrated graduation with a big family dinner, complete with marinated flank steak and grilled salmon. Plus two cakes. Obviously.

:: Emily went through the temple on Saturday. (This was the ultimate reason I came to Colorado for the weekend.)

{Super windy day}

:: My close friends threw me a delightful baby shower. Those newborn onesies just about kill me with cuteness.

:: Sunday night Mom made homemade donuts for John and some of his friends for another graduation celebration.

{Because who doesn't love a picture of a newborn onesie?}

I returned to Oregon yesterday and crashed on the couch in complete exhaustion--it was a great weekend, but right now, this girl is all partied out.

running away

Last Friday, I picked up Josh from work and we ran away to the coast for a night. It was bliss. We spent Friday night in Seaside.

Josh finally got to fly his new stunt kite.

See his kite way up in the sky?

Then we spent Saturday in Arcadia and Cannon Beach.

We took a walk along the coastline and named some of the features we saw. This was Seagull Rock (there were lots of birds on it that you can't really see in the picture).

And this is Lone Tree framed by Parabolic Rock. (Josh says the rock looks like a fourth-order polonomial--math nerd).

The weather was sunny, in the 70s, and very slightly breezy, so pretty much perfect.

We laid out our beach chairs and I read for a couple hours while Josh dozed.

Then we went to downtown Cannon Beach to our favorite fish market for fresh Pacific cod fish 'n' chips.

After some boutique browsing we ate huge, delicious crepes. Mine had Nutella and bananas and whipped cream.

We headed home a bit earlier than we would normally, because the beach was getting pretty crowded, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to get another parking spot. So we skipped the crowds and headed home with a giant bag of salt water taffy.

Like I said, it was pretty much perfect.

lately

:: I cut my bangs blunt again and no one noticed at first.
:: Everyone and their dog has already seen The Avengers--we're behind the times.
:: I finally unpacked my books, and it feels good.
:: I bought my first piece of nursery furniture.

I'll be back on Sunday to conclude my mother series with some thoughts of my own. In the meantime Josh and I are currently on our way to the coast for a much needed weekend away.

ending a weekend

To lie or to lay? That is the question. One's grammatical reputation rests on this choice: when to lay and when to lie.

That's what my cocoa mug says. Josh's mug contains an explanation of pronouns. (Sometimes, though, I want the pronoun mug.) I'm sitting with my feet propped up in an apartment that is full of unfolded laundry, dirty cereal bowls, and folders of Primary lesson helps on the floor. I have half-finished knitting projects sitting on the kitchen table and one of two IKEA nightstands put together.And I'm thinking about the weekend I've had.

Yesterday was my first Saturday off work since November (excepting our trip to Colorado), and it was lovely. We went to the Living Room Theaters downtown, where you order lunch before the movie and they bring you your meal in the theater: The Adventures of Tin-Tin, big comfy chairs, deep cup holders, and a cheese-pesto panini--delightful. Then I spent a few minutes in Powell's stocking up on books to get me started on my 2012 reading. Right now, though, I'm rereading another favorite, These Is My Words, and I'm falling in love with it all over again. We had waffles for dinner and spent the whole evening in stretchy pants.

So it was a pretty good weekend. And we've had a pretty good weekend end, what with our grammar-conscious cocoa and everything. Instead of worrying about the mess and unfinished projects, I'm going to lie down on the couch after laying my computer on the floor.

Mount St. Helens, or what happens when you marry into an adventurous family

{Low-level recreator: one who is content to vacation at home, preferably while drinking Diet Pepsi and eating peanut-butter M&Ms}

When you consider yourself a low-level recreator, you may not consider yourself particularly adventurous. So when you end up marrying into a family of mid-level recreators, you sometimes do adventurous things you probably wouldn't do if it was up to you.

You may drive up to Mount St. Helens with the in-laws (which adds one more state to your Have-Been List, a list that has, up to this point, been remarkably small, a result of your low-level recreator status).

And you do things that you know you're comfortable with, like picnicking and checking out the visitors' center. You even get to watch a movie about the Mt. St. Helens explosion—it's pretty cool.

Then the adventure steps up a notch when you start hiking. Remember, your last major hiking experience was not great.

You're still feeling pretty good about this adventure, because the trail is wide and you see lots of pretty wildflowers. Your husband may love the wildflowers and insist that you take pictures of

every

single

new flower

 you see.

Even the ones that are kind of ugly.

Then the trail starts to narrow, and you find yourself on a ridge with a steep rock wall on one side and a sloping cliff plummeting a thousand feet on the other.

Don't forget that there are hikers going both ways on the trail.

One time your foot slips, and you're nothing short of terrified. And your husband almost has a heart attack, ready to dive down after you to catch you with his walking stick.

After a quarter mile of this craziness, you reach a resting point. And the view is pretty great.

So you make sure that you document your adventurous family with the pretty scenery.

Don't forget the boys. They were happy to make it too.

Then you head back, hoping that your feet stay steady.

They do, and you proceed to offer silent prayers of unending gratitude.

You make it back to the car and wind up zoning out on the drive back, because you see, you had a pretty adventurous day.

And even though you're not naturally adventurous, it's good for you to step outside your comfort zone like this.

Because really, you had lots of fun, and you realize that your husband's adventurous family is the perfect complement to your low-level recreator-ness. 

And you end up really liking that.