What's that smell?

As we were driving to the dentist for a small filling for Killian, Molly complained of a smell in the air.  "What's that smell?" she asked.  

"What does it smell like?"

"Dirty socks.....Yucky...REALLY yucky...tart....and...the smell of a factory that makes TOILETS!"

Balance?

In the interest of a bit of balance, in addition to making heart attack rolls, we've got some lovely little sprouts peeking up.  Crappy picture, but the sprouts in the egg carton are baby broccoli plants, and the little bitty plants in the pot

are baby basil plants.

Our tomatoes aren't looking so hot, but we actually have a few ripe grape tomatoes and got to eat some last night.  Actually, I ate them, not "we." ;)

We have ONE lovely pepper growing on our two pepper plants.  We never seem to have much luck with pepper plants.  I still haven't put any seeds in my little garden plot, but I'm thinking about snap peas, carrots, and the aforementioned broccoli.  If there's room, I might also plant  some lettuce or spinach.  Soon...

Pure Evil in 5 minutes a Day

I made these last night for desert from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day Cookbook that I keep raving about.  They were pretty stinking good, but not something we need to make on a regular basis for sure.  Ben said they caused him chest pains, LOL.

Mundane Ramblings...

For those wondering, Reagan, in fact, was not such the artist that she managed to cover herself so thoroughly.  That is all Molly's work. ;)

Ben has had to work late the last couple of nights.  He has a big quote that needs to go in.  He tried to bring his work laptop home and work on Tuesday night, but discovered he could not access the database he needed, so the last two nights, he's come home for dinner and then headed back to the office, not getting home until after midnight.  Yesterday morning, he had to be in Douglas at 6:00 am, so he had to leave the house at 5:00 am.  Poor guy.

Last night, I was going to make penne alfredo, but when I called Ben, he didn't sound enthused, and I knew the kids would not be.  Sadly, we decided on McDonalds.  After we ate, I decided that I wanted to go out and dig up some more space in our garden plot for a mid-late summer planting.  I think it was the sweet tea.  I rarely drink caffeine. So, I dug up a little spot, putting some of the sod in a couple bare patches in the lawn.  It looked like a decent size when I was digging it.  Molly and Reagan helped.  Killian kept coming out and asking when I was going to come and lay down in my room and watch TV with them (our M.O. when Ben's not home).  I told him they should come outside, but they weren't interested.   So, I dug a rectangle, or sort of a rectangle, about 2 X3 feet, I suppose.  I turned the soil in it after we peeled off all the grass and poured in a bunch of purlite I happened to have sitting there.  I need to get some other additions, but I had that on hand.  When I got done, the area looked tiny.    Darn it.  But, following  square-foot gardening guidelines, it should work well enough.  I will clear a bit of grass that connects the existing garden to the new area, and there should be plenty of room for some snap peas, carrots, broccoli, and lettuce.  Yum.  Hopefully, they will do well.  Our tomatoes don't look very good, though there are a couple of grape tomatoes that should be ready to pick today (Yay!).  After our romp in the dirt, Molly insisted on a couple of rounds of tag using grass roots to tag each other, so we ran around the yard a few times, and then Reagan and Molly were dumped in the tub.  Once I got them out, I jumped in the shower, something

about  which Reagan was not terribly happy.  It was late then, after ten.  We all cuddled (and poked and fussed) into bed and watched Ace of Cakes, which Killian has been asking to watch for days, and went to sleep.  

I harvested and dried some mint yesterday.  

I have some tiny little basil seedlings popping up in little pots on my kitchen windowsill, and I think that is what prompted my need to dig.  I'm going to try to track down an egg carton--I had a couple just recently, and I don't know if I tossed them or put them in the recycling bin--and start some broccoli seeds today.

I also got some house-cleaning done yesterday, though there is still much more to do.  

I added a new link to my websites list.  It is Casaubon's Book: Sharon Astyk's Ruminations on an Ambiguous Future.  It is rather interesting, and I've only read small portions of it so far.  It is slightly less doomsday-predicting than some, though it is still reminiscent of that thinking.  She presents practical reasons for conducting our lives in sustainable, prepared ways in addition to "the sky is falling" stuff.  And, being my father's daughter, I have a tendency to want to live sustainibly without reliance upon outside sources as much as possible anyway.  If that should be of assistance in living in the future, or if learning how to do things in order to live that way is of assistance to my children's well-being in their future, then all the better.  Thankfully, I have Ben to keep me in check.  Be assured, he won't let me step off the deep end any time soon.  

Anyway... Enough.

Sooo...

I'm officially obsessed with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I took a picture of some of the bread and when I find my camera....I will post it.

In the meantime, Molly pulled out some art supplies today.  I let her go to town.  I was helping Liam with some math work when she told me that Reagan was painting herself.  Thinking that she was likely painting her hand or arm, I let it go for a few minutes as I continued with Liam.  Then I stepped into the kitchen to see a member of the Blue Man Group sitting on my kitchen table.

In case you were wondering, this pic was taken with my phone.  Reagan's a pretty good painter, don't you think?  She even got the back of her head.  There was glitter too.  Thankfully , it all washed off without any apparent discomfort to her eyes.  There's still a little glitter in her ear.  

Glorious!!

I had a nap this afternoon with wee Reagan at my side, er, more like attached to me, but anyway...a nap is a nap is a nap!

What I said about the pizza dough, yeah, I was wrong.  This IS the one!  The key is the stone (well, that along with this recipe, because I've made pizza on a stone before).  I got one today at Meijer.  It was $15, and I had a coupon for $5 off a $15 housewares purchase, so, there you go.  I got it and baked my GLORIOUS bread (I picked up the book at the library today, and I may have to buy it).  It is seriously the best bread I've ever baked, and the absolute easiest!  How great is that?   I then  baked up the pizzas that I had the parts to in the freezer.  Ben was going to grill steak, but I ate lunch late (after my  nap), and wasn't up for steak.  

Now, we're off to watch a movie (at home), and are waiting for a batch of brownies to finish baking in the oven.  Yeah, we heated up the house today, but it's been worth it. :) 

Three-Nine

Can you believe it?  Today, I am thirty-nine.  

In other birthday news, Reagan and Nora had half-birthdays yesterday!  Reagan is now officially 18 months, and Nora is 6 months!  Shout out to Nora!

This morning, Ben got up at about 6:00 am, went to the store, came home and did the enormous pile of dishes that I never got to yesterday, despite being home all day.  Something about keeping one eye closed all day makes the other one want to be closed too, LOL.  My eye is improving.  I am taking some homeopathy and drops.  I did not leave the dishes until my birthday so that Ben would feel obligated to do them.  But he did every last one of them AND put them away, and there were a lot.  Then he fixed me breakfast--a yummy egg bagel sandwich (an eggel, as the local bagel shop calls them).  He's a good man.  There were also some doughnuts and candles and a few gifts: A bunch of seed packets I had in an envelope upstairs packed nicely into an old tin lunchbox that I bought at a garage sale from Molly ;), a pair of earphones for my ipod (Ben bought an I-pod for me some time ago, and the earphones that came with it are not at all comfortable), and a $25 Itunes gift card, so I can get some tunes legitimately.  Don't tell Ben I would have been thrilled if all I had was breakfast, let alone all the dishes done too.  Dishes are, like, the bane of my existence.  I think I inherited that.

So, today Ben is going to show me how to work the I-pod, because I'm too lazy to figure it out on my own (not what he said, that's me talking).  And, we're going to hang out.  We haven't done that in awhile with all the goings on the last few weeks, and I have been very much looking forward to it.  

Say, did I mention how great Ben has been the last few weeks?  Despite being burdened constantly with back pain (which he doesn't like me or anyone else to talk about, BTW), he helped enormously with the kids when Julie and her crew were here--coming home from work and then getting us out to the park one evening and wading in the creek catching crawdads and other creatures (he did the wading, not Julie and I), and again, out to another park to do some pier fishing (he took care of the bait and casting and all that jazz), one night after fun in our back yard, washing ALL of the kids' feet in the tub, and taking two fishing trips with the boat by himself with a handful of kids.  Oh, and I shouldn't forget a couple of trips to Costco to stock our kitchen and restock the popcorn chicken that the kids devoured.  Then, he spent a great deal of time (which he was happy to do) preparing for Jeremy and Marlene's wedding ceremony, working every day these last weeks, and having packed evenings and weekends, and doing all the driving to Chicago and Wolcott.  He set up the tent before I even realized he was doing it, helped Dad with the outdoor shower construction, gave Molly a shower and put her into fresh pjs after a day of romping with kittens, and got the boys and Molly settled into the tent while I removed my contacts and got ready for bed.  Then, the next day, he took down the tent, rolled up all the sleeping bags and air mattresses, and packed up the van.  What the heck was I doing?

Anyway, as I said, he's a good man.  I'm lucky to have him.  I don't say it enough.  I love him dearly, and more every year.  Can you believe that this is the twenty-first birthday I have spent with him?!  We have now officially been together on this earth longer than we've been apart.  It's a wonderful life.