An American Girl Settles in the South

Guest Blog: Superhero Kids.

2012-01-30T18:24:00.002-05:00

So both the kids have been pretending to be superheroes. Mostly with capes, sometimes with deeds for the kitties and Michelle. But recently, Logan has been making some ridiculous face which I found out today is his superhero face or his hardass face. I learned today when I was babysitting him if you say "Get hard, Logan." he will make this face, which just reminds me of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Tonight's entertainment...

2012-01-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

This table rock concert is brought to you by an hour in the pool at the new gym, discovering that gym showers are so much fun, Wendy's kids meal and a Dairy Queen kids cone.
Bedtime went off without a hitch.

Family Weekend

2012-01-16T06:57:00.000-05:00

We spent the past weekend at the Hilton at Myrtle Beach. We were lucky enough to be invited to a deployed family retreat hosted by the Chaplin. Not our chaplain...but another units chaplain. Not that it matters. The hotel was paid for as was all meals at the hotel. All I had to do was go to classes about how to build stronger families and how to be sure that kids know they are loved. None of the classes were earth shattering, but I was reminded of things I need to do better and was reassured that on the whole we are doing pretty good as a family. The kids were in childcare (also provided by the retreat) while I was in classes. Saturday we spent an afternoon having fun. We did things that I thought the kids would like, and I really focused on them rather than me. We went to the aquarium, rode some rides and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe...where we were all like rock stars.

They actually wanted to share a bed at the hotel

Checking out the sharks. Logan is into sharks right now.

Being brave and holding a horseshoe crab

Maybe not too brave

They have added a mermaid show at the aquarium. Kids loved it. I was kicking myself because we just had a big talk about how mermaids and unicorns are not real...only in stories. And then we go to the aquarium and there is Vivian's proof of mermaids.

Enjoying the rides at the boardwalk

Missed the presidential candidates by an hour or two. Vivian was pissed that we weren't staying for the rock n roll concert.

Sunday morning breakfast.

Sunday night we get home. Vivian is so out of her routine that she insists on sleeping at the top of the stairs. I moved her to her bed when she was sound asleep.

Logan on Pizza Night

2012-01-10T06:45:00.000-05:00

A Sneek Peek

2012-01-09T22:05:00.002-05:00

Its called 'Golden Fleece'.

Tumbling

2012-01-07T09:09:00.000-05:00

Both kids started tumbling this week. They love it. The teacher is fun and really sweet. I love her teaching style because she though she is keeping the class at their levels she is still using the proper gymnastics terms. Vivian went first, then she sat on the sidelines coloring while Logan and I did parent/toddler class. Logan wanted to run and climb and jump. He had no interest in sitting and stretching. Both kids are pros at the balance beam on the floor and at frog rolls (head roll). They are both looking forward to making this a regular part of our week.

Big Girl

2012-01-07T09:03:00.002-05:00

As I came out of the shower the other morning, Vivian chirps at me, "Its ok, Mommy. I got my own snack."
Yes that is a brick of uncooked ramen noodles

Meanwhile on the other side of the world

2012-01-07T08:58:00.001-05:00

Dustin took part in a baseball clinic for local teen at the Embassy

Some of the kids.

Dustin had his fortune told by a monk

Apparently you must do something goofy to receive a fortune

The guys go to the opening of a school they had built

They followed this man around Siem Reap to look at temples

Like this one

There were lots of beautiful carvings on the temples....Dustin also took 500 pictures of the temples. Fear not, I will not post all 500.

Sunset on the Mekong River

Boats on the Mekong

Tuckered Out

2011-12-28T21:38:00.001-05:00

Christmas day night- Two kids compleatly out of energy. At 7pm I turned on an episode of the Simpsons. Both kids compleatly zoned out. They didn't move for 20 minutes, compleatly engrossed in the adventures of Bart and Lisa.

Boxing Day

2011-12-28T21:30:00.001-05:00

After so much excitement over Christmas, the kids needed to get out of the house before we all went crazy. I woke Meghan up with, "We have to get out of the house.We're driving south, and I don't know where we're going we're just going before someone gets killed."

Checking out himself in the mirror at the bar.

Shells and soccer

Aunt Meghan torturing Logan by trying to put his feet in the water.

Seriously this is wrong. Bare feet in the ocean on December 26th

Happy

We ended up in historic downtown Wilmington. I would love to spend more time wandering around looking at the many many old mansions. After lunch at a pub, we went to the beach. It was beautiful. We had a blast kicking around the soccer ball, and looking for shells. We all had a wonderful time.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-28T21:10:00.001-05:00

Daddy still was with us via Skype all Christmas morning. This made the day less sad.

Well, there was still saddness. Logan was upset that we wouldn't let him play with the first toy he opened. We MADE him open more presents. Thus the crying.

Helping Logan move past his tears.

One of many Pony toys. They all make lots of noise.

Meghan with her almost ugly sweater. She loves it.

Logan loved the flash lights from Iowa Grandparents. More tears when I set them aside so he could open more presents.

The mess

An amaizing sunrise I found when I took out the trash Christmas morning.

Santa

2011-12-24T17:09:00.002-05:00

Picture of a picture

Today (December 24th) in an attempt of finally getting into the Christmas spirit, we went to see Mall Santa. The line was about an hour long, so I slyly talked Vivian into going shopping instead. We made a random stop at JCPenneys and had portraits done. After pictures, Vivian still whimpered for Santa, so we went back to stand in line. Vivian was determined to see the jolly old man, so we waited. And waited. And waited. Logan talked about 'Santa Cars' and acted pretty excited to see him. Meghan and I secretly hoped that he would freak out for Santa, and our wish came true. Vivian glows with Santa magic, while Logan screams bloody murder. Ahhh Christmas.
On the way home, Logan tells me, "Mommy! Mommy! Santa scare. Santa spooky." So true.
Both kids had a great 2 hour nap after out outing. Now kids and Meghan are bouncing off the walls waiting for Christmas Eve.

Whats making me happy: Coming this summer

2011-12-19T20:09:00.001-05:00

Please for the love of all that is awesome check out the trailer for the Rock of Ages feature film. I have never been interested in the Broadway show, but after seeing this trailer I'm giddy to see the movie.
Watch this then just try and tell me this doesn't look fun!

Disney on Ice

2011-12-19T07:45:00.001-05:00

Armyland came though once again. I may never get use to these great perks of Army life. This week we received free tickets to Disney on Ice. Rather than wrangle Logan all night, I invited Hannah to come along as Vivian's date. I'm so happy that we brought Hannah. The girls were so well behaved, that I actually enjoyed myself. The girls had fun too. They got caught up in the Disney magic. Everyone loved the Rapunzel part of the show. It was pretty fantastic. The characters did aerial tricks in ice skates!!! The girls were pretty tired after the show. Vivian was so tired she fell asleep mid sentence on the way home.

Christmas Party

2011-12-19T07:35:00.002-05:00

Saturday we went to the battalion Christmas party. It was a small affair and very much geared toward kids (a Christmas miracle its self in Armyland). Vivian spent most of her time at the arts and crafts tables, and Logan played ball with a pack of other boys his age. Santa made a showing. Vivian caught the Santa magic, and the soldier in a beard and red suit REALLY WAS SANTA!!! Logan had the opposite reaction. He clung to me and cried at Santa.

He'd rather play alone with a ball, than play with someone else and share the ball

Serious crafter

He didn't actually shove, just used his hand to make his point. Again with the not sharing

Glitter and paint. Two things we don't do much of in our home.

Look at that face! Santa's still real.

New Blog

2011-12-12T16:55:00.000-05:00

My sister and I have started a blog. We think that reader boards at local churches are funny. So funny that we just HAD to share and mock them. Luckly our favorite church signs change each week. So feel free to check out It's a Sign.

Stock

2011-12-11T08:28:00.001-05:00

My cooking soapbox of the day...
For the love of all that is holy in the kitchen, please make chicken stock rather than buy boxed or canned chicken flavored salt water.
First lets look at the cost of making a pot of stock. You'll spend $4 on a whole chicken, plus toss in onion, celery and carrot (leek if you want to spend too much money on fancy onions). You'll make about a gallon of stock, plus you get a whole poached chicken to make meals with. You can use the chicken to make soup (duh), enchiladas, chicken salad, casserole....
On the other hand canned chicken stock is about $1 a can (1 1/2 cups). A gallon of store bought stock will cost you something like $10.

Now factor in the taste. There is no compare between store bought broth and homemade. Homemade tastes like cozy, and actually like chicken. You control the amount of salt, and you know that it is made with real ingredients because YOU made it. Store bought is salty...so salty and to me tastes and smells like fake chicken.

The only down side of homemade stock is it takes some time. My way takes a couple of hours, but on the upside I can freeze it in 1 1/2 cup batches in either mason jars (leave 1 inch head space) or freezer ziplock bags.

Here's how I make my stock.

1 chicken
1 gallon water
a handful of baby carrots or 2 carrots diced
2 stocks of celery chopped
1 onion chopped into quarters
2 T dried parsley or some fresh if you have it
ground pepper

Put all in a large pot, bring to a boil and then turn to a gentle simmer for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from pot. Let cool enough to pull the meat off the chicken. Return bones and skin to the pot, and simmer for another hour. Strain broth and cool until its cold enough to pour into whatever containers you're storing it in (jars, plastic containers, bags...whatever). Throw away the bones and veggies from the pot. Use the chicken meat for whatever meal you wish.
*A note on salt...I prefer to add salt to my soups as I'm cooking them. When I add salt to broth I always end up with too salty of soup. That's why no salt in this recipe.

Another stock option is to buy a grocery store roasted chicken for an easy dinner (or cook a chicken however you would on a normal dinner night), then thrown the carcase, some celery, onion and carrot into a pot with 1/2 gallon of water. Simmer for about an hour. I did this with a carcase from a barbecued chicken last month and the broth was so good, we could have eaten it on its own. The soup I made with that stock was beyond good.

I hope I've inspired you to at least consider making stock. Thanks for suffering through my rant.

What's making me happy: Ken Jennings

2011-12-07T06:55:00.001-05:00

I've stumbled onto a great blog this morning. Ken Jennings is the world record holder for most wins on JEOPARDY! I think he threw the last final Jeopardy to loose, because really it was an easy question. (Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year). Woot! has gotten a hold of Ken and he now writes a mythbuster type blog once a week. This is the sort of knowledge that will be perfect for all these holiday parties we have to go to and make chit chat with the spouses of co-workers who we've never met, don't care to meet, but are stuck for an evening of endless chit chat.

Here is your chit chat arsenal. Enjoy! And please don't serve me a salad of poinsetta leaves.

The question is: What is H&R Block? Ken went with FedEx.

Homemade Christmas

2011-12-05T16:18:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty much done with putting up Christmas decorations. I like the natural look (please don't mock my fake indoor tree. Next year will be real). I've bought a real wreath and longleaf line garland for the front door. For the windows, I put my very amateur florist skills to work and made swags for each window. I like how it looks-old fashion, but the swags look like moustaches. The funny thing is I've been teasing my neighbor for putting up red lights on her house (makes me feel like I live in Amsterdam's Red Light District). Now my house has shady rapist moustaches...I could say Gypsy or cowboy instead.

Vivian picked the rainbow lights. And look my ferns are still looking good and it's December!

Window moustache

Vivian and Bella made decorations too.

They put their decorations on the mailbox.

Logan playing outside without shoes...it was 73 degrees today

What's Making Me Happy: Better Books

2011-12-02T19:10:00.001-05:00

I think I've told you that I have a healthy appetite for total trash books. Its so bad that many times I just grab books off the library shelf without even reading the title. I judge a trash book by the cover. This week, I tried something a bit more healthy.

First up is Ellie Krieger's new cookbook "Comfort Food Fix". I'm not normally a cookbook author super fan. (If there is such a thing). Ellie is different. Her food is healthy (not diet food) and so so very good. Her books are ones that you can cook every recipe and like them all. The two books I own are ones that I cook out of a couple times a week. Nothing is too weird. Ingredients are easy to find and are probably already in your pantry. I was pretty excited to find "Comfort Food Fix" at the library. After cooking broccoli cheddar soup and breakfast cookies, I now need to buy my own copy (or ask Santa) before I get food splatter on the library book. My library is unforgiving with damage to books.

The second book that actually made me giggle aloud is Tina Fey's "Bossypants" Again this was a good library find. The book is a funny biography. I don't know how much is true, and how much is exaggerated, but who cares? It was fun. Tina's feminism is forceful, humorous and logical. What's better than a book reminding us to ignore people who may bother you but aren't in your way. Or reminding us that 'alot' is "inexcusable." Best of all, this book was one that I can pick up and put down without feeling like I need to rush to see what happens next.

Ain't what she use to be

2011-12-02T18:10:00.001-05:00

'This old grey mare, she ain't what she use to be...'

By no means do I think of myself as a old grey mare. Not at all. Today however, the song popped into my head because I said coyote the 'wrong way.' I said coyot-E. You know the way people who have never seen a coyote in the wild say it? Well that's what I said. This stopped me in my tracks because when in the world did I become one of those people who can't say coyote correctly. What's worse...my high school mascot was the coyotes. I still find myself chanting "C. C. COY. T. T. TES. COY. OTES. COOOOYY OTES!!!" (A school cheer of course).

And then that little tune started in my mind, "Ain't what she use to be. Ain't what she use to be. Ain't what she use to be."

How subtly this change happened. It stared with calling pop soda. Saying pop feels unnatural now and a little embarrassing if I were to say it outside the safety of my own home. I put ketchup on my fries, mustard on my soft pretzels, barbecue sauce on my burgers and ranch on my salad. Where I come from, ranch dressing is the ONLY condiment. The other day, I flaked when someone mentioned 'mossy oak'. I thought he was talking about scented candles. It took me three days to figure out he was talking about camouflage clothes. I dislike Sarah Palin and I know that President Obama is not a secret muslim. (He's also a US citizen).

Big deal, you may say. You've grown up. Your focus and taste has changed. Yeah that's part of it. But what's more, is that I see these little changes as evidence that I'm oh so out of touch with where I grew up. I never meant to loose touch with my little community way out west. So there. I'm no longer a rural Washingtonian. Nor am I a Southerner, or Italian (thankfully). I'm going to go with this...I'm a transplant.

If I move back to Washington will I be replanted?

FIY: The 'correct' way to say coyote is to drop the e.

Wet Halloween

2011-11-30T07:45:00.001-05:00

Hula Girl and Monkey

For Halloween, Vivian's class went trick or treating at City Hall and to the police and fire station. The school does this every year, and I think the city employees look forward to it as much as the kids do. I was really impressed by the city hall folks. The city manager, mayor and most of the other employees with thier own office handed out candy they had brought from home. This was just one more reason for me to love our town.

Logan got to join Vivian's class for trick or treating

The wonderful city employees

Class picture at the fire station.

Halloween night was miserable. It didn't rain. IT POURED. We had some company over for soup and bread before trick or treating. The dinner idea was great, but going out in the rain and wind was awful. It was so wet, I didn't dare take out my camera. Vivian was a Seattle hula girl with her rain coat, rain boots, grass skirt and flowers. She clipped the hair clip to the hood of her rain coat so everyone knew what she was. Logan actually did more trick or treating than Vivian. She was done after a block. They ate all thier candy within 24 hours. After that we tossed the leftovers.

Kid Pics

2011-11-30T07:31:00.001-05:00

Logan loves his cape. He calls himself 'Hero' when he wears is. He even 'wooshes' around the house.

Some of his trains that he got for his birthday.

Now that I have a working computer, I can post more pictures. Here are some kid pics for you all

All about the monkeys

2011-11-30T07:02:00.001-05:00

Saturday we headed to the NC Zoo. We went last year, but it was 100 degrees and utterly miserable. This post Thanksgiving Saturday was perfect. Weather was in the 70s and the animals were pretty cooperative. When we told the kids we were going to the zoo, Logan asked if there would be monkeys. Indeed there were, and he continued to ask about monkeys during the entire drive, and wouldn't shut up about monkeys until we actually saw them. Of course we set off straight for the monkeys when we arrived.
The chimps were great. An old male sat right by the window watching all the zoo goers and there was a baby who was pretty cute.
My favorite was the African plant and bird pavilion. It was like a giant green house filled with African plants. The birds flitted around freely. It was like playing 'I spy' for birds. The plants were beautiful.

Getting a good look at the chimp

Monkeying around

The only time Vivian didn't complain was at the zoo playground

At this point she was beyond done

Vivian was pretty tired and grumpy most of the day. She doesn't normally complain, so today's complaints were amusing. She said her legs hurt, she was tired, she was hungry, she was thirsty, she needed a snack from the zoo, she was grumpy and couldn't be happy. The best was, "I wish I could just sit here and wait for you to be done." It was no surprise that she fell asleep 5 minutes after we got in the car at the end of the day.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T18:14:00.001-05:00

Setting the table

Yummy

The spread

Picking the turkey like any good glutton

Watching 'A Christmas Story' as Flick gets his tounge stuck on the flag pole

Today has been a success. The turkey on the grill was the best turkey to date...and I'm not just saying that. Meghan and I starved off home sickenss by pretending to be various family members. Its probably only a game that we find fun, but what else are sisters for but to be utterly silly with. Vivian set the table and with Meghan's help made the 'flower' arrangement from leaves and twigs. Dustin was grill master and wine waiter. We took the kids from next door for a post dinner walk around the block, and now we're settling down with "A Christmas Story". The kids are loving this movie. I'm digging that as an adult I find this movie funny now from the adults point of view. Lately, Vivian is Randy...the younger brother.

Molly is a brat

2011-11-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

There are times when misunderstanding Vivian is funny, and times when I really really wish she could speak just a bit clearer.
Monday, I'm cooking dinner and talking with Meghan. She tells me "Mommy, Molly is a brat." At least that is what I heard her say. I tell her yes yes Molly is a brat. Five minutes later Dustin comes in from the garage and asks,"Did you know that the kids are playing with a rat in the yard?"
What, what huh?

Sometimes as a parent you put your freak out on hold because the damage is already done or sometimes the situation is so unbelievable you just have to walk back inside and grab the camera to make the moment real...to make it last.

Sure enough there were four kids in the yard petting a rat that Molly had finished playing with. The rat (possibly a escaped pet but probably not) ran to the kids to get away from the fierce cat. After I snapped a picture, I got the kids to leave the rat alone so it can find his mommy. Then each child was doused in hand sanitizer. Does sanitizer kill rabies? What about the plague?

In the days since Ratty's appearance (he has a name now), Vivian has spent hours building a house for him. The house has a fridge, couch, lamp, flowers for decoration, a nest of dried leaves to sleep on and even a cookie to lure him home. "Yippee just what I wanted.

The Meal Plan

2011-11-22T12:03:00.001-05:00

48 hours till turkey goes into the oven. Are you all ready? Please tell me you at least have your turkey in the fridge thawing. On the menu at our home this Thanksgiving is:

Brined and Grilled Turkey with Cranberry Gravy
Green Beans with Almonds
Mashed Potatoes
Pear and Pecan Stuffing (we do not stuff the bird so maybe I should call it dressing)
Spinach Dip with pita chips
Frog Eye Salad
Coconut Ginger Custard Pie
Hot Apple-Cranberry Cider

Its just us, so we aren't going too crazy with the food. We're experimenting (as always) with the gravy, pie and stuffing. We've grilled turkey a couple times. It was necessary when we were in Italy because the oven wouldn't fit a turkey pan.

Today I've cut up french bread and toasted it for the stuffing. Have to go to the grocery store for a couple more items.
Tomorrow we brine the turkey and make the frog eye salad and pie.
Thursday we cook and eat.

My yoga teacher taught me a pose on Sunday that is suppose to help with digestion. I think melting into the couch and turning on The Goonies or A Christmas Story will work just as well.

Pause for thought

2011-11-22T11:47:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning I went the grocery store to grab a couple things. As I walked in I smiled at a homeless man sitting on a bench near the entrance. As I left I smiled again. He took my smile as in invitation to ask, "Do you know if its going to rain today?" That mundane question stopped me in my tracks. I looked at the sky which was grey and cloudy. I told him I hope not, but as I spoke it dawned on me that for once in my life this was not a useless conversation. This man probably had no way to check the weather report as all he had he carried in the grimy backpack sitting at his feet. Rain meant he would need to find somewhere to get out of the weather for the day. My God! How can I be so flippant when I am so lucky to have not just a home but cable, internet, smart phones and a newspaper all which told me the same thing: No rain for Sunday.
I told him that very fact, and wished him a good day.
I could have forgotten this 45 second exchange, but I've been thinking about it off and on since Sunday.
Funny how the ordinary can give you a chance to change your perspective.
The conclusion: I am thankful and I have more that I need.

Whats Making Me Happy: America in Primetime

2011-11-22T07:42:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks PBS has ran a four part series called America in Primetime. You can watch all the episodes online here. As a tv junkie, its no surprise that I would fall in love with a documentary about TV. I won't bore you with a review when you can just hop online and watch for yourself, but I have to share a couple of deep thoughts that I've been stewing over since watching it.
The final episode focused on 'The Crusader' character that we see in TV. Early on they interviewed Alan Alda about his character Hawkeye on M*A*S*H*. Alda talked about how his character was quite subversive. Under his Gracho Marx character Hawkeye passionately cared about being a doctor. In a show about war, Hawkeye cared about people. I grew up watching M*A*S*H*. Reruns were on all the time. Jud Apatow had a great quote in the documentary that floored me because it was like he was speaking my mind for me.

Judd Apatow (executive producer, Freaks and Geeks) on watching M*A*S*H as a kid:“On some level I knew, ‘Oh, this is someone who is speaking out against hypocrisy and that it’s wrong to hurt people.’ I assume it just wired my brain for almost a compassionate way of looking at the world that seems kind of full of crap. But it is true. When you’re watching M*A*S*H two times a day from the time your like five years old for ten or twelve years you know what you’re soaking in is the humanity of Larry Gelbart and his way of looking at the world.”

Yes...that's exactly it.

Often times we dismiss TV as just entertainment. Today its filled with reality TV that really is crap. I watch the crap. But good TV also shapes who we are. It helps us define the world around us and ourselves. It inspires us. Would my life philosophy be different without My Name is Earl ('Do good things and good things happen')? Where would my political ideology come from if I had never found 'The West Wing'? Would I ever have managed to marry a soldier and still hold tight to my liberal ideas if M*A*S*H* had never shown me that humanity trumps war?

So my advice for you all this long weekend is to gorge yourself on yummy food, and on good TV. Think about where you would be without the shows that shaped you. Then please in the comment section (or email me) let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear your deep thoughts.

How I am

2011-11-18T17:24:00.001-05:00

Meghan...dear sister...inspires me to get back to blogging. Thank Meghan for this.

If you were to ask me how I'm doing right now all I can do is refer you to this video.

Meghan said it best: "Things in the house are just weird right now."

Excuses, Excuses

2011-11-04T07:50:00.002-04:00

My blogging has slowed down. I could give you a million reasons, but honestly, life is too busy right now.
Don't worry, I'm not closing up shop. For now I'm taking a break until I can find time and inspiration.

As an apology, please read Sams' blog about our Halloween.

Pain in my...

2011-10-30T20:02:00.000-04:00

It all started with a lower back ache months and months ago. If an ache persists long enough, I just start to accept it as part of life, part of aging. I was severely injured when I was a teenager...broken leg, broken pelvis, dislocated hip. Thought I am all healed, I've gotten use to the idea that that are of my body is going to ache. So like I said, it started with a back ache. Then three weeks ago I stretched my hamstring too far and I added a pain in my ass. My butt cheek hurt when I climbed up stairs. So I told my doctor, and decided to not climb stairs for a while. Then was Disney...a 5 day road march with stroller. Finally was the 9 hour drive home. Somewhere in all this, I started to hurt a lot.
Tuesday I woke up at 5am and was in the worst pain I've ever been in...remember those broken bones from when I was a teen...this was just as bad. My right leg stung, throbbed, ached, and was weak. It was so bad that I passed out, twice. Dustin was right there, doing all he could. He ended up taking me to the ER. In under an hour the doctor had me diagnosed with a compressed or pinched sciatic nerve. I have classic symptoms of this. My doctor said it is a flare up; it will go away in a couple weeks, and I should expect that this will happen again in my life. There is no obvious cause. If/when this happens again my doctor and I will decide what the next next step is. Now I'm focusing on getting over this flare up. Next I'll work on preventing this from happening again. My doctor says I need to stay active, which is hard right now when pain is occasionally crippling, but it gets better if I keep moving rather than give into the pain. Good posture, strong core muscles and all that.
I've learned now to never think badly of people who are on disability for back problems. I'm doing all that I can to keep this temporary. I cannot imagine living with these pains everyday of my life. I also have a better idea of what Dustin feels (or doesn't) with his nerve injury in his arm. And can I just say, shaving my leg...half of which I can't feel, is a little frightening.
So ladies and gentlemen, lessons learned. Take care of your body. Find a good doctor who you like and trust. Be stronger than your weaknesses. And never ever forget the words of Dory from 'Finding Nemo'..."Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming."

Prayers needed

2011-10-28T08:17:00.002-04:00

Remember sweet Miss baby Riley from a couple posts back? She needs your prayers or good thought or hopes or whatever it is that you believe in when you ask a higher power to be with someone when they go through one of lifes trials.
In short Riley has mutiple heart defects. For more please read her mom's blog: What it's like: having a child with congenital heart defects.
Riley's big surgery is Novermber 8th. She will be at Duke Childern's Hospital for a week recovering. Understandably her parents are worried, but staying as strong as they can. Rileys big sister, Hannah, is concerned but thankfully she is not lettting her worry get in the way of being a typical 4 year old girl.
My hope is that Riley's surgery is a total success. That she will have a strong heart and be able to grow strong and healthy like any other little girl. I hope that as she grows up and becomes aware of her scar and what she went through as a baby, that she will appriciate life more than her peers. I hope that her parents and sister will be stronger and will learn that uncondituional love and support fills the heart and makes life worth while. I hope that this family comes out of this nightmare and can live the life that we all dream of.
That is my prayer.

Earth Shattering

2011-10-27T10:14:00.002-04:00

I've had many memorable meals in my life. Most I love because of knock your socks flavors. Others its the location. Many meals simply capture a fond memory of enjoyable companions and that something special. As a food lover, its rare that I sit down to a meal that floors me.
Of all places, I was stunned by food at Epcot. For our 10th anniversary, Dustin made reservations for "The Bistro" at Epcot. Its a little quiet restaurant tucked away in the French area of Epcot. We ordered the fixed menu. The plates were beautiful. They looked like plates I only see on the Food Network, but never in the real world. The first course, I ordered a seared tuna salad on a bed of couscous. The flavor was delicate, and I was sort of disappointed. But then I started to admire the skill that went into making the dish. The tuna was perfect--chard on the outside but raw inside.

This dish didn't make me ohh and ahh, but it got me thinking about good food. Can good food be about the skill of the cook rather than flavor? Can flawlessness be the same as perfection?
With these thought swirling around like wine in my glass (forced metaphor?), my second plate arrived. Sea scallops on parsley risotto....this was when my view of food was shattered. It was so good, I didn't know what do do with myself. Part of me wanted to throw my silverware down in surrender. I would never be able to make something this perfect and delicious. The rice was creamy yet al dente, the scallops melted in my mouth. At one point, I had to send my self a text message that read, "Blog note. I can't even cope with how good this is."

Dessert was some chocolate almond cake thing with ice cream. It was rich and messy and in some way a little romantic. Romance is messy, right? Our waiter even brought out a fancy little chocolate covered plate with anniversary well wishes.

After dinner Dustin and I wandered around Epcot. We went on one more ride, and happily headed home by 9pm. We're old now and even on fancy date night 9pm is late.

Tea Cups

2011-10-27T08:48:00.002-04:00

Happy to be making Meghan a little sick

Ok, seriously, a little dizzy

You ever ride the Tea Cups at Disney? If you've been, you've gone on the nauseating cups. Its an icon, and thus a must. Some how all five of us fit in one cup. Logan was interested. Dustin wanted to spin faster. I was focused on taking pictures. Meghan focused on not getting sick. Vivian got bored and started practicing adding.

Turning the wheel like Daddy

Two plus three is five

Just having fun

My Princess

2011-10-24T08:53:00.000-04:00

Vivian has met the princesses--Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. We saw The Little Mermaid in a show. Of course she was happy. Face breaking smile happy. As a result of thier influnce, Vivian has adopted some very princess behavior. She aquired a regal smile, she pretends benavloance, she speaks in a falsely sweey voice, and the singing....so much singing. We possiably live in a musical right now.

My BFF read a book earlier this year that talked about Disney Princesses killing feminism and turning little girls into princess monsters. I see the point of that line of logic. There is a princess botique here where little girls can get makeovers into princesses. They all come out with hair shalacked with hairspray and coated in glitter. I'm just not comfortable with that, especially not for a cost of around $100 a girl. Now that we've met the princesses, yes, they probably applied makeup to every visiable part of thier body with a putty knife, and their hair/wigs were utter perfection. But...they were nice (as they are suppose to be), they are aproachable, and they made my little princess feel like the most special person in the world. Not the mention the hours and hours of princess inspeird pretend time, which is way more calm and quiet than pretending to be Tinkerbelle or My Little Pony.

Splash Mountain

2011-10-24T08:52:00.001-04:00

Vivian is a daredevil, but I didn't realize how brave she could be until Splash Mountain. She was exactly 40 inches tall so could go on the ride. While waiting in line, Vivian was excited, not a bit scared. She looked forward to being splashed. She loved every minute of the ride.

Watching for Vivian and Daddy to come down Splash Mountain

Ahhh. I got wet from Splash Mountain

The next day we grabbed a couple Fastpasses for Vivian and Dustin to ride it again. We couldn't use the fastpass until 1:40pm. Vivian was impatient and wanted to go NOW, so we used the moment to teach her to tell time. We told her to watch until the big hand gets to the 4. She watched and watched and in the middle of lunch yelled, 'There! Its on the four! We can go on Splash Mountain now!!!" Well my little smarty pants was watching the second hand not the minute hand. But hey, she was still telling time...a little.

The Mouse & My mice

2011-10-24T08:29:00.002-04:00

My mice waiting for the Monorail

Logan wanted to meet Goofy, but we kept missing him. Vivian wanted to meet Rapunzel, but there was no way we were waiting for over an hour to meet her. Meghan wanted to meet Peter Pan, but we don't think that he actually exists in Disneyworld. Me, I'm happy with Stitch. Dustin is happy that we were happy.

Fuel for the imagination

2011-10-24T08:20:00.001-04:00

We saw Tinkerbelle fly from the top of the castle on our first night. It was very awesome. The only toy Vivian wanted from Disney was a Tinkerbelle. Tink has been flying around the hotel room nonstop.

Logan on a REAL steam engine. There are soooo many trains in Disneyworld

It seems that one reason the world loves Disney is because it fuels the imagination. People of all ages are inspired to do more, dream more and create more thanks to Disney. My kids were no exception. A week in the World has given Vivian and Logan months and months of ideas for pretending.

Playhouse Disney live on stage. The kids were enthralled as puppets from their favorite cartoons acted out scenes. The kids came alive when gold de blumes (pirate money) fell from the ceiling.

And then there are the pirates. Pirates in the Caribbean and Captain Hook and Jake and the Neverland Pirates...and Vivian

Both kids are pretty good at yelling 'yo ho' and 'argh' like pirates

The Haunted Mansion was spooky. Spooky was Logan's new word of the day. He said it the entire time we were on the Haunted Mansion ride.

Logan and Daddy went on the racetrack ride together. Daddy let him drive. Logan talked nonstop with , "Daddy, race cars," "Go race car, go!".

Epcot in the family way

2011-10-24T08:01:00.001-04:00

Our first Disney morning was spent at Epcot. I wanted to see Epcot more than any other park. I've always loved the idea of Epcot (exploring technology that makes our world better and the world showcase). Unfortunately we went into the day with a lack of a plan. As a result we got overwhelmed and missed much of Epcot. As we entered the park, Stitch was there greeting visitors. The kids rediscovered Stitch right before we left on vacation. They each have a Stitch doll, and pretended with the doll the whole drive south. So meeting Stitch right off the bat was pretty much perfect.
We started in the Sea area where we rode the Nemo ride, and watched Turtle Talk with Crush. Both were fantastic, but we had our first lesson in staying together when Vivian exited the Turtle Talk theater without us. She was found quickly but not before I started running through the exiting crowd saying, "Excuse me, I need by; I lost my daughter." Seas of people part when you use that sentence.
Other highlights:
-Vivian meeting Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She smiled so big I thought her face would break. When I asked her what Belle told her, she said, "I don't remember but it was great."

First Ride

Belle & Vivian

Happy to have brats in the Germany area

Spaceship Earth

Trying for the perfect shot

2011-10-24T07:26:00.000-04:00

The long drive south

2011-10-17T06:43:00.001-04:00

Hour 7 of the road trip.

Dustin and I were too excited to sleep, to today started with us waking up at 5am and taking our time getting ready to go. We did every concieviable last minute house cleaning duty we could think of, including cleaning the bathtub and washing the cat pee off of the carpet. Yuck. We were on the road with two excited kids and one sleepy Meghan in the back seat.
The drive went really really well. Since the kids were throughly seperated, and we had a DVD player in the car, there was NO yelling or fighting. Not even once. Must be the Disney Magic seeping into our vacation already.
We made it to the hotel by 5pm. The kids demanded to go to the pool NOW!! so we spent an hour in the water before dinner. They were litterally bouncing off of the walls, and furniature, and windows...both kids suffered an injury or two because they were too wild. Logan played the slam the door game resulting in a spanking.
By 8pm Vivian was tucked into bed with a kiss and, "Go to sleep because tomorrow will be the best day ever." She went straight to sleep. Logan and I fell asleep on the giant couch while Dustin watched the Cardinals v. Brewers game.

My Baby Fix

2011-10-16T06:14:00.000-04:00

Since Logan was born, I had no desire to have more kids. Two is plenty. Trust me. But every so often I get that itch to have a baby. Not forever, just long enough to get a few gummy smiles hopefully be able to hand baby off when crying starts or diapers fill. So lucky us that baby Riley is here. Logan and I got to watch Riley on Friday while her mom took a run. We're hoping we can make this a weekly thing.

Unfortunattly I wasn't able to get a picture of her giant, goofy, gummy smile. Riley has the best smile.

Help!

2011-10-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

It took a while, but Logan has figured out that baking is fun and tasty. While Vivian is an eager and intrusive sous chef, Logan is a demanding one. Every cup full and spoon full he yells, "Help!" and reaches for the ingredient to add to the bowl. He stirs, and knows to not eat the raw egg. He tastes along the way, and thoroughly licks the spoon and bowl when we are done.

Knock Knock Take Two

2011-10-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

Logan has gotten into the knock knock madness in our house. The jokes are getting a bit better, but they are turning into something that resembles Heidi's 'fluffy dog' joke. Perhaps She will tell the joke for us.

What's in it for me: Iyengar yoga

2011-10-06T07:46:00.001-04:00

I think I may have mentioned that I've been taking a yoga workshop at Embrace Yoga studio. I really didn't know what I was getting into when I signed up for six 2 hour classes of Iyengar yoga. I wanted to take more advanced classes and build my yoga skills. I signed up, then read up on Iyengar yoga. All the internet really gave me was that its yoga with props (blocks, straps, bolsters...) and it focuses on form. What an inadequate description!!!!
Let me tell you what an Iyengar class is like...at least my class.
Two hours, and we only get to eight or ten poses. There is rarely a moment of silence. The teacher instructs non-stop using both Sanskrit and anatomy terms and sometimes Sanskrit words for anatomical terms. She then instructs us to focus on what each part of a body part is doing in a pose. When I say each part of the body, I really mean each muscle. The thigh, for instance...she will tell us what the inner thigh, outer, front and back thigh should do, also the glut, inner and outer groin...Can I actually focus and move each piece of my thigh as she says to? No, not really. Does that frustrate me? Not at all. The opposite.
This type of instruction is helping me advance quicker in yoga than I thought possible! I also must confess that I tend to zone in and out with the instruction. Lucky for me that this is a positive thing. You see, when I find the pose, meaning I feel like I'm doing it right and am just being in a pose, I can zone out on the teacher and just be in that moment. My teacher, Elizabeth, is awesome at recognizing when we are in zoned out and backs off. It is a really amazing ebb and flow between teacher and student.
As for props...yes we use folded blankets, blocks, straps, sandbags...but the class IS NOT ABOUT PROPS. To me they are just a side note. Tools to get better alignment and from. Nuff said.
I'm not going to say that Iyengar is for everyone. Its not a class that you go to to get a great workout. It's a workout no doubt, but not in a typical fitness yoga class sort of workout. I think of it as graduate level yoga. I am there to learn (a lot). I am a student. As a girl who loves being in school, this is the perfect marriage of mind and body.
(Plus I'm learning cool tricks like standing on my head and turning into a pretzel)

Be damned if I understand

2011-10-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Today I am 32.
This should be a sentence that brings me joy. For some dang reason I feel none of the birthday spirit, and instead feel morose. Utterly sullen and blue. I have no cause for this dispondent mood. I've noticed over the past couple years that this is how I feel on my birthday and especially the kids' birthdays. I'm not sad that I'm a year older. I don't have any expatations, so I'm not feeling let down as if I were still a kid who didn't get what she hoped for on her birthday.
In fact, I have every reason to be blissful. I have two adorabe kids who are amaizing playing happily this morning. I have a husband who loves me beyond a showdow of a doubt and even after almost ten years is still the person I want to spend all my time with. I have family who show me in all thier own ways that they think the world of me, and I have the best friends a girl could ask for. On Sunday the neighbor boy was here and wrote me a simple note on my chalkboard. I refuse to wipe it off because it makes me so happy to have neighbors of all ages who make me smile each day.
Why them am I weepy girl on my birthday when I know from head to heart to toes that I am happy?

My sister just wandered in to find me typing and sniffeling. With sleep still in her eyes she threatens to sing the happy birthday song, "like Farmer Ted in 'Sixteen Candles.'" So I will leave you with that thought (and video link) so you too can be chered by John Huges getting it right.

What's in it for me: I did it!!!

2011-09-28T20:06:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I made the goal to be able to do a headstand. Doing it against a wall is no problem for me because, honestly, I'm not scared of kicking my legs up and driving them into a wall (espically other people's walls). Doing this in the middle of a room with no support and relying only on my own muscles to keep me from falling over...well that's a heck of a goal.
I'm going to brag a bit now.
I rocked the headstand in yoga class today! I'm still suprised at how under my flab there are so many strong muscles that are doing what I ask of them. I'm seeing that head/hand stands are as much about stregnth and control as they are about trusting yourself. Turns out that today it all came together and what weeks ago seemed impossiable, today was easy.
Next goal...head stand for 3 minutes without support. Goal after than handstand with no support. Then crow pose. Yippee for goals.

Guest Blog #2: The Suburbs

2011-09-28T19:29:00.000-04:00

Since I have moved in here I have met all the neighbor kids and learned all about them. They are always so stoked to just be playing in the streets or Michelle's driveway. It's actually pretty awesome seeing these kids just enjoying such simple things in life and not being so connected to technology. And when I see this, I think of this song. And I really hope these kids keep enjoying the simple things.

But anyways, me and Michelle kind of sorta went dumpster diving and acquired a dresser. And our lovely neighbor mom, Leigh kindly gave us two cans of paint. And as I started to paint, kids kept showing up wanting to help. By the end of the job, each kid was assigned a drawer and just had a blast helping out.

Guest Blog: Because Vivian Can't.

2011-09-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

Michelle is letting me abuse her blog for this post. I have moved in and am slowly getting used to living with little ones. Once in awhile I have gone to pick up Vivian from school and she is always so stoked to see me and to tell me what she learned for the day. This Monday when I went and picked her up she ran up to me and gave me a hug and as we were leaving her class, we had this conversation.

Me: Guess what Aunt Meghan is doing today?
Vivian: I don't know, what?
Me: Getting a tattoo.
Vivian: OH WOW! Can I get one too?
Me: No, not until you are 20.
Vivian: But why....

So because she can't get one, I just had to.

Surprise Mom and Dad. Also, it's based off of this film.

International Festival-again

2011-09-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

Last year we went to the International Folk Festival here in Fayetteville. We had gone to the parade, enjoyed it, but were too tired or overwhelmed to enjoy much of the festival. This year we went on the last day of the festival and had a great time. The crowds were manageable, every where you turned there was some sort of performance. We saw a magician with a magic bunny, a clown, belly dancers, Korean girls playing drums, Africian tumblers, and a glimpse of some Africian dancers. As we left we could hear the Lumbee Indians drumming and singing.

Meghan, "This is the BEST day I've had in a long time!"

Bubbles make kids happy

And did I mention the food? Food traditionally prepared from nearly two dozen countries. Dustin and I decided to try food from places we've never tried. I had Korean; he had Filipino. Meghan satisfied her longing for Mexican food by getting a Torta. She won with best food of the day. Dessert was specially made snow cone for Meghan, ice cream for the kids, and micro brew for Dustin and I.
I feel like a broken record (or my dear friend Stacy when she speaks of loving New York)...I am so lucky and happy to be living here. I am always surprised by how interesting and kind people in this area are. I can't get over how diverse Fayetteville. There were Buddhist monks enjoying the performances and cheering on the Thai dancers. (One monk reminded of my cousin Eric.)
As we left I longed to watch the Indian Dancers and Dustin wished he had space to eat an empinadia. Luckily we can say, 'Next year.' Next year we will watch more dancers. Next year we will eat more interesting food.

Cumberland County Fair

2011-09-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

Little ribbons for a little fair

Worst slide ever

Logan picked the airplane ride

Logan angry that the airplane ride was over

tea cups

I will say that for what you get, the Cumberland County Fair is a good deal. $10 gets you in and you ride all the rides for free. Good deal.
As an agriculture fair...bad fair. Meghan was angry that she wasn't suppose to touch the animals. The animals were in one section of the convention center (indoor!!!). The convention center housed all the commercial booths, the livestock, the model train guy, FFA displays and all art, sewing, cooking, plant and other various entries were in the corner opposite the animals. It was pitiful. Our company from Iowa were taken aback, and Dustin was flat out disappointed. I was smug because this is exactly what I expected.

The upside was that the rides were included in our ticket. They were decrepit, and I think my sister in law (that's you Emily) and my mechanical engineer brother would have advised us against getting on any and all of the rides. We were told to keep our hair inside the Ferris Wheel so we don't get scalped, "Its not pretty," said the hungover ride operator. That said...we had fun on the rides.

All American Tourism

2011-09-17T19:18:00.001-04:00

Friday we took our company to the Airborne and Special Operations Museum and the new Veterans Memorial Park. The park is beautiful and makes me get all teary. I am so grateful to the people of North Carolina to fund this park. It is meticulously maintained. Meghan said that it is eerily quiet. I prefer to think of it as reverence.

The kids like splashing in the fountains.

Busy!

2011-09-17T19:08:00.000-04:00

In the past two weeks, my sister has moved in, Dustin has been away from work (now is home again), Vivian started school, and we've had company. I'm swamped, but happy. So here are a couple posts documenting our busy week.

2 year warranty how I love you

2011-09-17T19:06:00.000-04:00

This week Canon camera number four bit the dust. I am averaging one camera a year since I've had kids. I do not take care of my cameras as I should. Kids play with them. They get tossed into bags, cars, and pockets. I never ever put them away. I don't think I've owned a camera bag since before I had kids. Each camera has suffered a lens error. Meaning that someone has dropped it when the lens is open on a hard surface and the thing just won't open or close. I've also never spent more that $200 on a camera. This my dears is why I will never own one of those fancy, expensive SLR camera like many of you have. I don't plan on changing my ways, so its in my best interest to just get the best camera in my price range.

When I bought canon number 4, the sales guy at Best Buy offered me a 2 year warranty,. I asked, "Does this mean if my kids throw the camera repeatedly on stone floors that you will fix it?" "Yes," he said, "Or we will give you a new one that is comparable to the one you have." Sold!!!

That was 18 months ago. I had forgotten if I had a one or two year warranty, so I asked the Geeks at BEst Buy if they had the info on file. OF course they did. A few more strokes on the magical computer keyboard...turns out that my broken camera qualifies for replacement rather than repair. Walk to the camera section. Ask the sales person to pick out somethign that is equal to my year and a half old camera. He hands me a new Canon that is better in all respects than my dead camera. Turns out that a year plus means that my camera was woefully outdated!! Bought another 2 year warranty on camera number 5, so that in a year or two when this new camera dies, I'll get another free camera!!!

Scam you think? I say no. They make so much money of of protection plans that are never needed, that my cheap cameras will bankrupt Best Buy.

Dang, I should be buying that for my netbooks too. They have a shorter lifespan than my cameras. Next time.

What's in it for me: Playtime

2011-09-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

Ask my family how flexible I was when I was a little girl. Go ahead, try it! You will hear stories of me watching tv on my tummy with my feet touching my head. You'll hear about walking on my hands and feet while in back-bends, chilling in the splits, cartwheels and round-offs galore...I was a gymnast in the making.
But then I grew up.
Somehow the five year old favorites fell by the wayside in favor of roller blades, bikes, 4-H, friends, CD players, reading (lots of reading), softball and school. It became a 'hey can you do a kart-wheel?' 'I dare you' sort of thing. I forgot that my favorite activities when I was five made me happy. They were FUN!

Feathered Peacock Pose, aka Fun!

As I get further in yoga, I'm relearning/remembering how to do my favorite tricks from childhood. I am in my second of six classes on Iyengar yoga that I'm taking at the studio downtown. I'm quickly building on what I learn at the YMCA and getting better than I thought I would be. The best part is I am doing headstands, handstands and back bends just like when I was a kid. While most of my classmates are timid about kicking their legs up into a headstand, I swing up in a jiffy. Remember, it's fun! What's more fun than being upside down?
I'm thrilled that I'm at this stage in yoga. I feel like I'm regaining a part of me that was lost when I grew up. Other yoga students may focus quietly while in these poses and try and find inner calm...me...I'm trying to not giggle for joy now that I've discovered a little girl inside me. I'm seeing that this little girl doesn't care that I've worked hard to get my body strong enough to do this. She doesn't care that I'm probably never going to be thin. She doesn't care that I feel worn out with adult life many days. All she cares is that in this moment, while I stand on my head she gets to come out and play.

Wonder

2011-09-12T11:15:00.000-04:00

Meghan and I took the kids to a Japanese restaurant on Friday. It is one of those places where they put on a whole cooking show. The kids loved the show. Lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. Best of all, they eat like its their last meal. Vivian ate 8+ shrimp and over a cup of rice. Both even like the soup/salty broth, that is served as an appetizer.
I thought you would all enjoy the kids totally enthralled in the cooking show.

So Vivian

2011-09-08T14:32:00.000-04:00

For no other reason than she asked and I see nothing wrong with it...Vivian has a few purple highlights. She loves it. I love it. Its very much Vivian.
Oh and its temporary and vegan.

What's in it for me: Honesty

2011-09-04T07:24:00.001-04:00

There is a special sort of honesty that comes with practicing yoga. I'm not talking about honesty in the words I speak. This honesty is one between my mind and my body.
Most obviously, when you're doing yoga, you quickly find the limitations of your flexibility. Your yoga instructor is demonstrating a forward fold (bend over, touch toes, but keep back straight). Her hands are flat on the ground and is folded in half like a piece of paper. You can't do that! So you have two options. You could do the pose wrong and curve your back thus gaining enough inches to get your finger tips to the ground, but in the process you restrict your breathing and stretch your hamstrings so much that they start to go numb. Or you could be honest in the pose. You acknowledged that your body is in the right form and is bending as far as it can, granted your hands only reach to your knee caps, but your body is doing the best it can at this moment. As a yoga student this honesty was a big step in my success. I'm very flexible. I can do many of the 'bendy' poses with ease. But with practice I've learned that doing a pose properly required strength. I can now be honest and say, I'm just not as strong as I would like to be...but I'm getting stronger all the time.
Lack of strength was the first moment of honesty with myself. This helped me open my eyes to the most obvious realization.
I am not thin.
Ok, yes, that's an oh duh statement, but when I was overweight and out of shape I stopped looking at my body. I ignored for too long that my body was not healthy. Even after I lost 20 pounds this year, I still did (do) not look in the mirror much. I check to see if my shirt shows love handles, but that's about it. For months I had been talking off my glasses in yoga class and furthering my blindness to my body. In the last two weeks I have open my eyes and watched myself in the mirror at the front of the class. 60-ish minutes twice a week of watching my reflection. In all honesty (that's today's subject remember), I'm not completely happy with what I see. At first I spent most of the class disgusted with my midsection and my fat knees, but I've never been a girl to spend time hating myself. Not long after that, I started to use the mirror to focus on making my hands strong. Soon I saw my reflection differently. My form is spot on. I hold deep poses with stillness and strength. Finally I focused on my face. Poor face, I've overlooked you for so long. My sweat soaked face did not show strain. It shows determination, concentration, calm and strength. Wow...
When I visualize a new improved version of myself, one that is thoroughly changed from the overweight out of shape a tad bit insane and insecure self of many months ago...what I saw in my reflection...that's it. That's how I want to be in every day and every movement. I want to be confident, strong and at ease. My god. My reflection is showing me that I am what I dream of being. All I had to do was be honest and open my dang eyes to see what was right there all the time.

What's making me happy: Brian Williams

2011-09-03T21:18:00.001-04:00

If I'm going to start a fan club, it would be for Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News. Not only is he a wonderful news anchor. The man gives us the news with heart and a a bit of cynicism. I've seen interviews where he expressed total disgust with a person/politician with a single well placed adjective. I cannot say how much I respect and enjoy seeing him every evening on the news.

What makes me a super fan is how dang funny Williams is. This man who spends most nights telling us in a serious voice that the world is falling apart, will later in the evening crack us up with a guest spot on NBCs "30 Rock." He has hosted Saturday Night Live. He slow jammed on Jimmy Fallon.
Life got a little more awesome when this morning Brian Williams was on Sesame Street. We've seen the bit about squid many times (see below), but today everyone on Sesame Street had 'mine-ie-tis.' They didn't want to share. Williams was reporting about the epidemic and eventually caught the disease too. Oscar cured him by sharing. 'Sharing makes people happy,' as Vivian summarized. When the episode started Logan saw Brian Williams and yelled, "No news! Cartoons!" Yes my son knows who gives us the news.
Tonight when I put Vivian to bed she tiredly said, "Mommy, you shared your toilet with me. That was good. On Sesame Street the chicken took the news guy's microphone. Then the guy wouldn't share. He was mean. Then Oscar made him share. I don't like sharing with Logan."
So yes a little rambling tonight. But point is, Brian Williams is the bomb in Sesame Street, yo!

Back to school

2011-08-29T10:21:00.001-04:00

Ready to go

A little shy a little excited

Today was Vivian's first morning back at preschool. She is in the Parks and Rec preschool like last year. She was happy to see some friends from last year and a couple new girls who are four like her.
What did I do with my new found freedom? Um, same as I would have done if Vivian was home. Get a new battery for the car, mowed the backyard and if I get to it I'll empty the dishwasher.

First day of school, last year. She has grown so much

What's in it for me: Exploration

2011-08-28T15:53:00.000-04:00

As I get older (yes I know I'm young-ish), I find I get too comfortable and set in my ways. I like my routine. I'm content with my life. Happy in fact. This state is not bad, but at times I find myself restless, sometimes even resentful. I didn't realize until recently that I needed some exploration in my life. Something new every so often to get me to see life a little different. Something fun. An adventure.
Yoga allows encourages me to have little explorations with movement. Some days I get to have an adventure on my little yoga mat. I have fun trying something new. Heck I even have fun when I fail.

Wide Leg Forward Fold

Today I took my first class at a yoga studio downtown. I was a brave little girl and went somewhere new all by myself, and I wasn't even anxious. The class was SO fun. The students were more advanced than I was, but I didn't feel intimidated. I felt inspired and encouraged. At one point during a wide leg forward bend I lost track of the teacher's instructions. I glanced between my legs and noticed that many in the class had lifted their legs into a head stand.

Supported Headstand

I'm not strong enough to do it, but I was thrilled to watch my other classmates do it. I got up on my tippy tip toes, but wasn't brave enough to lift my legs. Who knew that failure...no that's not the right word...non-completion of a pose would be so dang fun! I love that there is no failure in yoga. Even falling on your butt is not a failure, everyone had fallen one time or another. I see it as 'I'm just not there yet'. Someday I will be able to do a headstand, but not right now. With that attiture, trying new things, better yet, being brave enough to try new things is another great aspect of yoga.
I'm trying to carry this sense of exploration into the rest of my life, but for now, I confess, I'm stuck.

Here she is: 8:30am Saturday

2011-08-27T09:17:00.000-04:00

Here she comes

2011-08-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

3pm friday

3 pm friday


3:20 pm Friday

I was standing outside with my neighbor talking about how ominous the clouds were. Moments later the middle school bus pulled up. As kids got off the bus is suddenly started to POUR. Tweens ran in all directions screaming, and my kids ran into the rain screaming for entirely different reasons.
So far just some wind gusts, but nothing too wild.
More to come pending no power outage.

What's in it for me: Tension

2011-08-26T08:21:00.000-04:00

Staff Pose

Try this: Sit as in the picture. Looks so simple, right? Nope. Activate your legs, pressing your thighs into the ground. Flex feet and point your toes up. Keep your back straight (you could even do this with your back against a wall to be sure of alignment) head tall, neck long, shoulders rolled back and down. You should feel like you have lots of space between your shoulders and your ears (you should always feel this way even if you're standing at the sink doing dishes). Finally place your palms on the ground. Push your palms down while you head tall. As if someone is pulling your head up and your hands down. HOLD for 60 seconds.

What I love about staff pose is that it is a lesson in releasing tension. When you're in the pose you are intentionally making your muscles tense and it feels a little painful. The release you feel from letting go of this tension is great. There are many poses and aspects in yoga that are about creating and releasing tension. You do it enough and your body starts to naturally crave tension and release.
So now I'm home, trying to blog about how staff pose helps me react to stress differently. I have a splitting headache, the kids are fighting like cats and dogs, Dustin keeps coming in and out of the room asking where one thing or another is and Vivian is finally in time-out. Rather than losing my shit and yelling at one or all of them, I softly close my eyes, squeeze my shoulder blades together until they hurt a little bit, hold it for a bit then release. Something happens in my body and I feel like I can handle this moment. I can get through this bit of insanity and feel calmer. I notice that the fighting children are only fighting because they want to play together but just can't get on the same page, Dustin is talking more to himself than to me, and my headache is... well its not so bad if I don't think about it.
Does yoga help me stay calm and level headed when I get a flat tire and learn that it's going to cost me $175 to get a new one? Does it prevent me from stressing out over the prospect of my husband leaving for the better part of a year? No of course not. That's silly. But it helps a little. Sometimes a little help makes all the difference.

Whats in it for me

2011-08-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

Two times a week for the past 3 months I've been going to a yoga class at the YMCA. I'm realistic enough to know that I'm not going to lose another 20 pounds by doing yoga. I'm not doing it for weight loss. I get so much out of my practice, that weight loss would be a trivial result compared to my other gains. As weeks go by my body is becoming stronger and more toned. Though my weight has changed very little since I've started, my new post weight loss pants are once again falling off. I'm learning that the true challenge is not only going deep into a pose, but being able to hold with calm and even deepen further. While other fitness programs are about movement, yoga is about stregnthing stillness.
After I blogged about a complicated pose I did in class a couple weeks ago, many friends said, "I tried that pose after I read your blog. I couldn't do it." Well of course not! Standing on one leg with your other leg bound to your chest with your arms behind your back IS NOT SOMETHING YOU DO COLD TURKEY. Don't hurt yourself people. Come on, now.
It got me thinking about how to express how much yoga has changed me by using a particular pose as a way to illustrate various aspects of yoga that have helped me for the better. So welcome to the first installment of the series I'm calling, "What's in it for me". I hope that I'll be able to show you why this is so important to me.

We're prepared

2011-08-25T06:43:00.000-04:00

Fear not loved ones, we're ready for our first hurricane. 15 gallons of drinking water, cooking fuel, batteries and flash lights set, gas in the cars, food in the pantry, important documents at hand... We really don't expect that Hurricane Irene will cause much havoc for us. According to the current forecast we will be on the far west edge of the storm...38mph winds and rain. We expect to loose power and maybe a tree into the yard, but nothing too daunting.
I will post a blog about our Irene Adventure once the storm passes. I'm sure all will be well.

The Mill

2011-08-24T08:59:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned (ranted) that I take yoga classes at the YMCA a couple times a week. The great things about the Y (other that the price) is that it is housed in an old cotton mill. You know the mill in Hope Mills? I love spending time in this historic building. When many old buildings in the south are abandoned or being torn down, my town is making an effort of keeping the old mill part of the community. There is also indoor batting cages, a church (of course) and martial arts studio in the mill.

Since a big piece of yoga is focusing to find strength, stillness or to simply avoid falling on ones ass, I get to focus and ponder old rough wood floors, stained ceilings and the architecture of the locally made bricks in the walls. I try to not ponder the stains or wonder if there is lead in the paint or asbestos around the pipes. I put limits on my imagination.

Summer Showers

2011-08-24T08:32:00.000-04:00

I never thought I would write so often about the joys of living in a cookie cutter, suburban neighborhood. I never thought it was for me. It may not be my style, but my ticky tacky neighborhood is perfect for my family for now.

Sunday at dusk, the clouds opened up and just dumped on us. We were cozy in our home relaxing, when I hear shrieks at my front door followed immediately with a pounding on the door. The kids from next door were in their swimsuits and soaking wet. They yell, "Can Vivian play in the rain!!!???" Vivian suited up with lightening speed, and joined the other crazies. I rounded up the other moms, and we watched our crazy little people from the dry garage. We did have to tell the girls to not drink the water from the road (where do their brains go??) Logan also joined in; I just failed to get pictures of him.

Self Portraits

2011-08-24T08:15:00.000-04:00

The kids got a hold of my camera and have been working on the art of the self portrait. Vivian is surprisingly good at it.

Cream Soda

2011-08-18T16:42:00.000-04:00

When was the last time you had a cream soda? Me? Years, probably. As a kid cream soda, specifically Shasta Cream Soda, was a camping/boating/summer treats staple. If my memories had a taste, happy childhood memories on hot days would taste like cream soda. Its a glorious sweet creamy taste that when you get a craving for, you'll never find a substitute. Best get thee to a supermarket and buy a can.
Imagine my glee, when at mandatory fun* the ice chest was filled with Shasta soda. Floating to the top was a lone cream soda just waiting for me. There was at least a hundred people at mandatory fun. The woman manning the ice chest (this is mandatory fun after all, someone in the FRG is assigned to manning the ice chest for no particular reason) said, 'Oh we only bough one six-pack of cream soda'. How lucky I was to be one of the blessed six cream soda fans.

Me happy, but giving a Grandpa Don smile

*Mandatory fun: the Army term that is applied to family outings that the higher ups say is mandatory. Typically a barbecue with over or under cooked burgers and lots of chips.

I hate football

2011-08-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

There I said it. I hate football.
I know many, many, many people beg to differ. I'm not going to be swayed to like the sport, nor will I hope that you see it the way I do. Here goes.
Football has cost me a new flat screen TV and has directly resulted in my beloved Volvo being severely dented. Both times the Seahawks were loosing and both times my dear husband reacted poorly. The dent, he would argue, was not the Seahawks fault. It was an 'accident'. But I argue that if on that day the Seahawks had been wining dear husband would not have had to leave the house in disgust to buy more beer at halftime.
Dear Lord, why didn't the strike last for the whole season rather than just the summer. While fans were biting thier nails this summer, worrying that the 2011 football season wouldn't start, I was unabashedly cheering with each news report that began with, "The NFL strike between players and owners continues today." Dear husband thought I was being cute, but my cheering was genuine. A year without football was my dream come true.
Now you may wonder, why in the heck I've waited so long to vent my anti-football sentiments. Its August for Pete's sake. Football season hasn't even started. Why don't you go pick up today's copy of Southern Living. Go ahead; do it. I'll wait. Did you notice that the first 30 pages are dedicated to women and football. How to make a stylish homecoming mum out of ribbon. Look at these table accessories for tailgating. How to dress like the real life woman who inspired the movie "The Blind Side" (which is oh so very racist by the way). Shoot me now.
You see, I so dislike this sport that I genuinely cannot understand why any woman would enjoy it. I figure that ladies who are football fans are a) pretending to like it for the men in their lives b) former cheerleaders...gosh I can't even think of a c) for this list.
Where is the joy of watching football? I don't see it. The players all wear helmets with masks so admireing thier good looks. They wear protective pads so no checking out their natural physique. The plays are: Stand in a line, throw the ball, smash the guy with the ball, stand around for 5 minutes then do it again. Mind you, I am not a totally ignorant viewer when it comes to football. But like Dada art (think urinal on a wall in an art gallery), I just don't get it.

So there, I've said it. The girl who's marriage may have never been if it weren't for meeting dear husband at a homecoming football game while I was in college...the girl who will never say no to the following invitation, "Want to come over to watch the game" because I love game day food...Well I hate the game. I won't make a big fuss if its on, but don't expect me to pay any attention let alone care about the score. Wait I'll only care about the score when the Seahawks are loosing and things may be broken in frustration.

To myy female football fan friends: (Gretchen) I love you. Mostly I'm just pissed at Southern Living.

Highlight of my day

2011-08-16T21:07:00.000-04:00

I'm sure that cheering in a yoga class is out of the norm, but today I had to give myself a mini victory dance for doing "Bird of Paradise" pose. One of my other classmates even gave me a little applause while another looked on with a "What the heck is the matter with you?" look.

Bird of Paradise--I didn't get my leg straight, but then again, I didn't know that I was suppose to. One step at a time, right?

Here is a video of the series we did.
Recently I've been able to do more advanced yoga poses. I typically come home and have to tell someone! I called my sister the other day to tell her about a great bind I did for the first time. I put the phone on speaker to talk Meghan through what I did. I expected her to just imagine what I was telling her, but at one point she said, "Wait, let me put my phone on speaker. I'm doing it too. Wait! What the hell. That's not right." This is, oddly, the best complement. Dustin says essentially the same thing. For me, these more advanced poses are big milestones. It may not be power lifting ten more pounds or a personal best mile, but its pretty freaking cool to me. Each new pose is another personal lesson in trusting my body to be strong enough to do what I ask of it. That, my friends, is amaizing.

Fabric Arts

2011-08-10T11:35:00.000-04:00

A baby quilt for my niece who will be arriving in October. I'm calling it "Sherbert Log Cabin."

Logan hamming it up for the camera

Tie dye that Vivian, Mom and I did

With the left over dye I'm coloring my white dish towels that are so stained that bleach won't save.

Hot summer garden

2011-08-09T07:56:00.000-04:00

Our new Crape Myrtle Tree

Elephant ear is about 4 feet tall

Black eyed susan

"Baseball!"

Bringing it back

2011-08-04T12:31:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, Susan and I started a blog about traveling with kids. It had been abandoned for a long while, but we're bringing it back. As I work through plans for our first trip to Disney World (shhh don't tell the kids), I'll be journalism about the big decisions and discoveries I make during the travel process.
So feel free to check out Traveling With Tikes. I especially recommend looking at some of the awesome discounts I've found for military families.

Red Velvet Cake

2011-08-03T14:33:00.000-04:00

Its just a cake mix. Not from scratch, but some day soon it will be. I just have to get over adding the better part of a bottle of food coloring to any one recipe.

"Its like there is blood on my hands," Vivian said.

Vivian made the cake mostly by her self. She used the picture to see that she needed three eggs, which she got out of the fridge herself. I measured the water and apple sauce for her and did the last bit of mixing with the electric mixer. I may even let her frost the cake tomorrow. God help us.

Kids + Computer

2011-07-26T20:21:00.000-04:00

-20 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-26T09:26:00.000-04:00

The clothes that are too big.

In late April, I started Weight Watchers. The first ten pounds fell off thanks to eating better. I've worked from there on out I've worked on eating better and doing regular exercise (yoga 2x a week). I'm not sticking to the Weight Watchers plan every day, but then again I think flexibility and forgiveness is why Weight Watchers is working for me. I know that I've made healthy changes that will last. Focusing on the permanent changes has me take the focus off of the number on the scale.

I'm happier. None of my clothes from the start of the summer fit. I just went through my closet and collected all the clothes that are too big and I will take them to donate later this week. I want to make going back to my previous weight a non-possibility. The funny thing about my clothes being too big is that I've found new use for my elastic waisted pants and skirts. Before they were handy because they didn't require buttoning and thus I could wear when I was too big to button my size 16 pants. Now I'm wearing the elastic pants because my pants with buttons are so big I can't keep them on. I also refuse to buy a whole new wardrobe because I don't want to maintain this weight. I would like to keep working on getting smaller. Size 8 is my goal. In the mean time I've got some nice jeans at Goodwill to get me through.

I'm also happy because I see that being healthy for me is helping the family make healthier choices. Vivian is accepting that she cannot have a cookie AND a cupcake because she can only have one unhealthy snack. The kids are happy to go to the daycare at the YMCA while I go to my yoga class. Having them happy while I work out is a big burden off of my shoulders.
For the first time I even have realistic fitness goals. No I don't want to do an Iron Man. I'm not like that. My big goal is to next summer backpack for a weekend on the Appalachian Trail with Dustin. I don't know where, when, how far...or any of that. But I can visualize spending time in the mountains with my favorite man and knowing that I have the strength and stamina I need to carry my own pack and to keep up with Dustin. I'm excited.
All very exciting and new for me.

Oh and I can fit back into my wedding dress--no shapewear needed.

God are they annoying

2011-07-25T19:14:00.000-04:00

Listening to NPR with a 4 year old

2011-07-25T06:50:00.000-04:00

Listening to the hours headlines on NPR with Vivian this week. From the back seat she says, "I know Mater. Mater is in Cars 2. He is a tow truck. I know Mater...Why is he with the president?"
"Huh?" I ask. "Not Mater. Boehner. He's a man not a tow truck."
At least she is listening. Which should be my warning to keep thee radio and TV Vivian appropriate.


Mater

Boehner

Snickerdoodle Childern at Ocean Isle, NC

2011-07-18T18:34:00.000-04:00

Playing with Daddy. See how happy Logan is.

Vivian demanded that she be buried in the sand

This is a Snickerdoodle child

Snack time on our little patch of the beach

Snickerdoodle (noun)-- a delious cookie made with cream of tarter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. See also: Dustin's favorite cookie.

Snickerdoodle (verb)-- the act of rolling in the sand after one has applied sunscreen or swam in the ocean.

Snickerdoodle child (noun)-- a child with an even coat of sand from chin to toes. Typically found at the beach. Child tends to seek out the cleanest member of the group and proceeds to sit in that persons lap and wiggle around with no regard to personal space or cleanliness.

Welcome Rielly Moon!

2011-07-18T17:33:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Rielly Moon-3 days old and a smidgen over 6 pounds

Vivian, "She is so cute."

Logan, "Baby! Baby! Shhhh. Baby."

Vivian was as amazed as I was that babies have such little feet.


Big sister Hannah keeping watch while Vivian held 'her baby.'

My dear friends Sam and David, welcomed their second little girl into the world. Rielly looks like her big sister, Hannah, did when she was born. Only Rielly has lots of dark brown hair. Mom and baby are doing well, and family is happy...of course.

Is there any person who can hold a newborn and not give a goofy grin. Any parent who even though you have never dropped a baby, feel awkward and clumsy when holding a newborn. As I held and chatted at baby Rielly, I found myself wondering insanely, "Is she a healthy weight? She just seems so small. People aren't suppose to be this small. Was Logan really this little? Look at how thin her legs are! Where is her baby fat? Is her neck suppose to bend that way?" This I know is an illogical line of thought. Logically I know that babies are little. They are little and helpless and completely adorable. The combination makes them imposable to not want to handle gently and to do whatever you can to help take care of this new little person. I think Vivian and Logan felt the same way as they got to know Rielly. My kids were gentle, quiet and completely in awe. I hope that they will be good friends to Rielly and help her grow up to be a great girl. After all, what are friends for but to be there when you need them?

Shoe throwing mad

2011-07-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

When I get angry (yes, mellow Michelle can get man), I instinctively want to throw a shoe. Today I nearly lugged my shoe at the substitute yoga teacher at the YMCA. It would have been so easy; my shoes were already off and close at hand. I was only in the second row and could have missed the little old lady in front of me, but I may have dinged the pregnant lady next to her.
Yes, yoga put me in a rage.
I've been going to yoga classes at the YMCA for almost 4 weeks, twice a week. Since I've started I've seen not just a change in my body but in my state of mind and relationships. I'm more calm, less likely to react and feeling better about life in general. I've come to rely on my class. "We come to this class with no bias, no expectations, no competition," "Listen to what your body is telling you today," and "When I'm in that place, and you're in that place we are one." Ahh yoga talk. The class also flows. Its like my body knows which pose to flow into next. It comes naturally and is a time just for me when I can check out of my life and surroundings and just focus on this moment in my little bubble. I love it and need it. Don't think that this means yoga is easy. It still kicks my butt on most days, but not in the way that, say, a spin class would work you out.
This morning, I came into class frazzled as always because this kid has the trots, the other won't listen to me, and they both keep fighting. That's the tip of my mommy iceberg. Loud gay porn music was pouring out of the yoga room and I thought it was the Zumba class finishing up. Oh no! That was a packed room of people on yoga mats: old ladies, a lady recovering from chemo, three pregnant women, two kids, and a handful of ladies who stayed after their Zumba class to chill with some yoga. And me. Me in a bad mood with a headache and a NEED for some quiet calm flowing yoga.
(Please note that all opinions are based on me still pissed off)
The instructor looked and sounded like an exotic dance from Eastern Europe. She shouted above the porno music to call out moves that were crazy hard and had no logical order. Chair on tiptoes with one leg crossed over your knee, but if you want to be challenged stick one foot out straight in front of you and hold it with your hand. Worried that the octogenarian in front of me was going to fall and break a hip, I loudly whispered that she could just do chair on two feet. That got me a glare from the teacher. From insane balancing poses we went into Pilates...or least that's what I presume it was since it certainly was no workout I've done. Arms and legs swinging in all directions. There were so many people in the class that it was impossible to not hit someone while I flailed. While flailing we were doing endless abdominal work. The kids, elderly and pregnant women really LOVED that. By then end of that part of the class over half of us had given up and just laid down. To make things worse the teacher got frustrated. She gave the class a look that said, "Why can't you do this? Is it really that difficult?" Uh yeah and totally illogical.
At the end of class I went to the front desk to check that this teacher was only a substitute because flapping my arms and legs and turning myself into a human pretzel while listening to that chanting monks sing pop songs (which still sounds like gay porn music) is not my idea of a pleasurable workout. Thankfully Sarah, a stereo typical yogi, will be back next week. I will not have to suffer through that insanity again.

That said...my core did get a great workout.

My square dancers

2011-07-05T15:12:00.000-04:00

An evening in Asheville

2011-07-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

One evening just wasn't enough time for Asheville. Remember how Vivian had high expectations for camping? I had too many expectations for Asheville. My plans for the evening were hampered by the time limit (only a couple of hours), poor planning, and having two kids in tow. Asheville was/is awesome. For my friends out west...Asheville is all the great parts of Pacific North West hippie earth muffins, but with out the pretension and with cheery bluegrass roots rather than depressing grunge.In 2010 Asheville was named Beer Town USA because of its big craft brew scene. (Of course I would know this fact). I did not know that Asheville is also big into eating local (!!!) and vegetarian fare. This we learned when we stopped into a vegetarian restaurant to use the potty (Vivian emergency as always) and Dustin asked the hostess what restaurant she could recommend...for meat. We were pointed in the direction of "Early Girl Restaurant". We had the new best meal we've had in America. I was totally floored with how good my fried chicken was...and the homemade jam--beyond yummy. Dustin ordered lamb shank, which was only $13!!! The same price as meatloaf. You see, everything on the menu comes from local farmers. That's how they can charge so little for lamb; it came from a farm ten miles down the road not from New Zealand. (Step off the soapbox Michelle)

The EArly Gril dining room. I really want to paint my kitchen these colors. Yellow walls, blue accent wall where the windows are with teal painted trim on the windows. Dustin says ok, and even said that cafe curtains would be ok in our house if they were like this dining room. Ha! I win the cafe curtain debate!

Local beer. $6.25 for 22 oz (essentially 2 beers in one bottle). Dustin ordered a porter which I liked more than my ESB (and visa versa) so we traded beers and were very happy.

Fried chicken with fresh herb gravy, collard greens and REAL grits. This was my first taste of true grits and I'm sold. Dustin kept reaching across the table and stealing bites of my grits.

Lamb shank, sweet potato and fried eggplant

After dinner we went to Pack Square for "Shindig in the Park". It is a casual mountain music and dance show put on most Saturdays in the summer. This has been going on for 65 years. We were late, and didn't bring lawn chairs so we didn't have a great view. In many ways it reminded me of Prarie Home Companion. A down home host, good music, and mountain dancing...dancing doesn't translate to radio...anyway it had that vibe. I really wish that I had been more patient and just sat an listened to the music rather than being antsy. Next time we will be prepared so we can spend the evening on the lawn enjoying this uniquely Asheville experience.

Next trip to Asheville will be kid free and filled with great food, good music and too much craft beer. Don't worry, Mom. We'll stay in a hotel in downtown so we won't have to drive after our too much fun.

Blue Ridge Parkway and Cradle of Forestry

2011-07-05T08:37:00.000-04:00

We had the pleasure of driving the Blue Ridge Parkway on our travels. Vivian was awed by the views...well we were all pretty impressed. On one drive Vivian counted the tunnels. I was proud that she continued to count even though our drive took 45 minutes and we went through 11 tunnels.

Taking in the view from the Parkway

On the top of the world...or at least North Carolina

Vivian's picture of the view point parking lot

In the Cradle of Forestry school house

We also spent a morning at the Cradle of Forestry. This is a historical park that was once the first forest conservation/forest rangers school was. Conserving forests was pretty revolutionary in the 1900s. The school was created by the rich (Vanderbilts), the idealistic, the dreamers and one German. The story made me think of some of movements happening right now. In the 1900s it seemed not only silly to protect and conserve forests, but it was also horrible business practice...according to the business men of the day. Now we are eternally thankful that SOMEONE had the foresight to protect the forests. Today many look at the eat local movement as frivolous. "Its too expensive. Its too much work to find local food. The food I've eaten my whole life from Wal-Mart is just fine with me. I don't taste the difference between expensive local food and any other food." There is a difference. Its worth it to try and buy local food. When more people see the cost saving, health benefits, and the impact to the local economy, then maybe we won't have to think about doing the right thing...maybe like National Forests, buying local will be a way of life.

Paved walking trails that are handicap and stroller friendly

One of the houses from the original school campus

Moore Cove Falls

2011-07-05T07:28:00.000-04:00

Highway 276 runs through Pisgah National Forest and along this road you'll find some great sites--waterfalls, hiking, The Cradle of Forestry, and an intersection with the Blue Ridge Parkway. Saturday the road was busy with families heading to Sliding Rock, tubing down the river and just enjoying nature on a wonderful day. We took a .7 mile hike up to see Moore Cove Falls. It was beautiful. Dustin and I kept smiling at each other and saying, "This is exactly what I wanted from this weekend."

Some raised paths to keep hikers out of the mud

The waterfall. The rocks make a great cave for exploring

Had to build a rock tower like we use to do when we were kids

Sliding down the rock

So happy to figure out how to drop the rock in the water to make a splash. I did cringe each drop worried he would crush his toes.

A bridge at the start of the hike built by the C.C.C. back in the day

Camping at Lake Powhatan

2011-07-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

Dustin and I have not been camping since a 'we shall not speak of that trip' to Germany. (One of the few happy memories of that trip was that in anger, I learned how to like beer...that was 8 years ago to the date). 'Able to go camping with the family' was one of my arguments for getting a new/bigger car. We were so happy to pack up the Taurus with camping gear with space to spare. There is something not quite right with that sentence. After much research, we booked a spot at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest. We picked this camp because it seemed the best for our family with two small kids. There was a lake for swimming, kid friendly hiking trails, showers and flushing toilets. We spent each morning on a walk of a mile or more and most afternoons in the lake swimming.
The first 24 hours Vivian was a nut case. She had so many expectations that she wanted met immediately that she made her parents insane. "We need to go hiking. I want to look for animals in the dark. I have an idea, Lets tell scary stories. Where is the sap? We need to get sap to get stuck together then get clean." After a day we all calmed down, stopped planning and just enjoyed nature and each other.
Logan was awed most of the trip. The first morning he work up at 6am and said, "Wow!!" then crawled in bed with Dustin and I to jabber with the morning song birds. Logan was ever enthusiastic. He was a pro hiker, and wow-ed at everything wow-worthy.
We don't think that we would head back to this particular camp ground. Though it was fine...great in many ways. It was just too civilized for us. Next trip we want to find something with less camp sites (Lake Powhatan had 98 camp sites) and with a stream/creek/river that the kids can explore rather than a civilized lake.

First morning, camp stove malfunction

After staying up past 10pm on the first night Vivian didn't want to wake up

Logan on the other hand was ready to explore and yell

Logan got ahold of the camera while I washed dishes

Walking in the camping area

hiking around the lake

The rhododendrons were in bloom.

Fruit snacks halfway through the hike.

I have such handsome men

Me and my favorite little girl

The swimming beach before the herds of families showed up

The pretty view of the lake. Swimming beach is on the right.

If you don't have kids, are on the Blue Ridge Parkway and looking for somewhere breathtaking...think about Mount Pisgha Campground. We drove through the tent only area and were envious. It was breathtaking.

Christmas in June

2011-06-29T15:49:00.000-04:00

From top to bottom: Bellini jelly, tomatillo salsa and mango-citrus spread.

The Bellini jelly up close. It is peach and prosecco wine. I love that there are chunks of peaches and bubbles floating in the jelly. I know that jelly isn't suppose to have bubbles, but since sparkling wine is an ingredient it seems fitting.

Last year around December 15, Dustin looked at me, looked at the bank account and panicked. What were we going to do for presents for the far away family!?! We tried homemade beer, but since we/I didn't think it through too well...the beer ended up being flat and having a bad taste. So this year with the same anemic bank account, I'm planning ahead and canning gifts as local produce comes in season (and is thus dirt cheap). So far I have mango-citrus spread which is crazy good, smokey tomatillo salsa (tomatllos are half the price of tomatoes) and Bellini jelly. I may sew something else for the presents, or bake something, but for now I'll be happy knowing that I'm prepared for the gift giving...even if it is 6 months early.

I did that!!

2011-06-27T07:42:00.000-04:00

Our newest project

After too many months of intending to do something, Sunday morning we finally built a trellis for the raspberry bushes. I'm proud to say that I did 60% of the work on this project. This is also one of the first projects that I didn't do the cheap way. I have a habit of taking shortcuts. But the past two projects (Vivian's room and this trellis) we did the right way. So yeah me.

What was I thinking? I can't reach beans that are 8 feet in the air!

The heat has taken its toll on the garden. We're down to tomatoes, peppers, basil, onions and cabbage.

Sweet red peppers.

My front garden. Don't you love the elephant ear?

Swimming School

2011-06-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

Both kids are in swimming school this summer. Vivian is in a preschool class and Logan and I are in Mommy and me. You should know that I'm not torturing my son; that's just what he wants you to think. He is a complainer by nature, and swimming lessons...well he complains for all 30 minutes unless he is jumping off the edge of the pool or throwing things. I fear that the moms sitting pool side (a.k.a. the mean girls/mommies) think that I'm horrible. My rule for Logan is that he has to have tears for me to believe his crying. No tears at swim lessons.
Vivian is doing awesome. She is much more brave with her teacher, the perpetually positive and ever encouraging Mark, than she is with me. She kicks, puts her face in the water, swims with a floaty in the deep end, leaps off the edge. All things that she would never do with me.

Saturday Dustin got to play Mommy in Mommy and me. Logan complains.

Logan complains more.

Vivian swims in the deep end with her class.

Logan working on being happy

Logan happy, but only for a moment


Vivian's big jump

Blue

2011-06-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

Vivian has the best daddy. Last night, after a couple weeks of bad/awful/horrible bedtimes with Vivian, Dustin decided that we need to do something to encourage Vivian to like her bedroom. Most nights have resulted in crying and threats of spanking and eventually giving in and letting the little girl sleep on the couch. Today, Father's Day, was spent painting and rearranging Vivian's room. I let Vivian pick out whatever paint color she wanted. She was a little overwhelmed. Thankfully she picked a great color...one that I wish was in my bedroom or bathroom. We also picked up a Tinkerbell poster and sheets. This is not to say that Vivian is into Tinkerbell, but Tinkerbell was her bedroom inspiration...probably because there was no "My Little Pony Pink" at Home Depot. In a few moments Vivian will go up to bed in her new blue room. I hope that after our renovations she will be happy to stay in her bed and not stay up for an extra 90 minutes trying to convince me to let her sleep on the living room couch...in 90 minutes I'll be asleep.

Blueberries!

2011-06-15T12:34:00.000-04:00

A few are ready

Lots waiting to be picked

Only about 1/2 cup today

My blueberries are starting to ripen. I've never grown blueberries, but this variety is doing great in my yard. That's because they are native southern plants. I'm going to make a blueberry bundt cake today, and for Sunday we'll be able to have fresh from the vine blueberry pancakes. I'm not big on eating them fresh, but once my raspberries are ready I'll be gobbleing them straight from the fine.
In other garden news...lost the zucchini to squash bugs. What sort of gardener can't grow zucchini. Also lost one pumpkin to the same bug. Tomatoes are looking pitiful, but are producing. Only problem is a larger pest named Logan who likes to pick my green tomatoes and throw them like balls. He has been scolded many times for picking my tomatoes. Sweet peppers are great. Carrots ended up bitter. Basil is coming up nicely. in a week or two my cosmos, marigolds and zinnias should be blooming.

Vivian's Graduation

2011-06-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

Ready and waiting for the ceremony to begin

Wee Bits Class of 2011

Today was Vivian's preschool graduation. I got to spend some time with Vivian and her classmates while their teacher set up for graduation. It was so amazing to hear them having conversations. The girls sat in chairs and chatted about their pets and complemented each other on their shoes. Once the boys settled down they told me about their dreams and I asked each of them what they would like to do on vacation. A year ago Vivian was hardly talking. Today she was one of the crowd. She is a well behaved girl in her class and nice to everyone. I'm so proud of her. Yes she learned her letters, shapes, numbers, colors, months of the year, and much more at school, but I'm more focused on her social education at this age...thanks to preschool, she is blossoming into a wonderful little girl.

Standing for the National Anthem

She was pretty uncertain and bored through most of the ceremony

Asking Vivian if she wants to sing anything...she did


Getting her certificate

Brave and Priceless

2011-06-06T15:19:00.000-04:00

Vivian at graduation in front of a group of 50+. She has come so far from the socially awkward girl she was 9 months ago.

Dustin's Graduation

2011-06-06T12:25:00.000-04:00

Handsome boy

She barely sat still during the cermony

Logan got in and out of his chair the entire time. He never held still, but at least he was quiet

No Civil Affairs gathering is complete without cake

Dustin graduated from the Civil Affairs course on Friday. He was given the Leadership Award for his class.
As he said, "I must have done a good job herding CATs out in the field."
"So you mean that CA soldiers are like cats and have a hard time following directions?" I ask.
"No C.A.T. Civil Affair Team. Our teams are called CATs."

I'm very, very proud of Dustin.

Canoeing

2011-06-06T07:30:00.000-04:00

We went to Dustin's graduation party on Saturday. It was at a country club. My description of the country club, though probably not fair or accurate....its like summer camp, but with expensive houses rather than ratty cabins. There was a canoeing lake, pool, playgrounds, paddle boats, golf course (of course), fishing pond, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and even a reflecting garden. We made use of the canoes.

I think my son may hate me.

Last weekend Dustin and I were daydreaming of outdoor activities we could do as a family. Canoeing was on that list. We gave it a try. Everyone loved canoeing but Logan. He was pissed.

Unicorn Girl

2011-06-06T07:19:00.002-04:00

Fun sign

2011-05-31T07:17:00.000-04:00

This is a building supply in Lumberton, NC. The nearest Lowes/Home Depot to Lumberton is in Sanford...well there was until a tornado destroyed it. I love the 'we know what's best for you' attitude in their tag line.
Dana, you should suggest this motto for your local Italian hardware store.