Overwhelming

That would be the word I would use to describe things in my life, lately:  the fatigue, the queeziness, the emotions, the state of the dishes...

...the smell of the forgotten crock pot on my counter.

For the past week or two (or more, lets be honest, here), my dishes have been in a sad state of neglect.  We've been cycling through them for the most part, doing a load almost every day, and my kids have been merrily earning more video game time by eagerly doing them for me on occasion.

Two days ago, I noticed my crock pot still sitting on the counter from a previous meal.  (I'm not going to tell you how long it's been sitting there, that's just embarrassing.)

I thought, oh, how nice - Matt cleaned it for me!

I went to lift the lid and was oh-so-quickly proven wrong.  After closing the lid almost as quickly, I walked away.

I've been avoiding it since then.  Seriously.

Until tonight, when I found an ounce of motivation and a smidge more of fed-uppedness due to the clutter on my counter that makes me dread breakfast time.

I was going to wash the crock pot. 

Matt was with me.  I asked him for his special work mask that keeps out all things toxic to one's lungs.  He thought I was kidding.

I wasn't.

He helped me put it on and I set to the task.

Word to the wise:  when wearing said mask, make sure it's tight enough or it just doesn't work.  (I almost lost my dinner in the two inches of space in front of my nose and mouth.)

While Matt held the mask on tight enough for me while trying not to toss his cookies (he really does love me), I scrubbed, rinsed, added more than was needed in soap, rinsed some more, then dried.

The smell was still there.

The crock pot is now soaking with soap and hot water till I can tackle it tomorrow. 

If I had to describe the smell, Matt and I both agreed it smelled like rotting flesh.  No joke.  (Leftover roast?)

Needless to say, the dishes will be at the top of my list from now on.  ;)

p.s.  For those of you cursing my husband right about now for not helping me with the dishes, no need.  He DID try to help me, even enlisted the kids.  But, due to my psychotic emotions, I felt I was being run out of my own kitchen and told them to stop.  That's what I get.  lol

Funnelicious

After a bike ride with the kids and some gardening, my inner child and I decided we needed to sit for a minute.  (I really hate getting tired so easily - I hope this passes with the 1st trimester!)

This year, our family made a goal to learn something new every month.  We put some topics in a jar and every 1st Sunday we pick a new topic.  So far, we've chosen places around the world (we each chose a place and learned about it), our bodies, volcanos, art, and space.  This month, cooking was chosen. 

We typically try to have some sort of grande finale presentation or learning experience (i.e. for art, we went to a gala and created our own piece of artwork using the medium of our choice; for volcanos, we created a volcano using a cool recipe... stuff like that.) and yesterday for our Family Home Evening, we made our very first funnel cakes.

I've only ever had funnel cake at amusement parks and such where they're terribly expensive, so I've always shared one - never had one to myself.  Until yesterday.... mmmmmm hmmmmm!

We all added and mixed the ingredients and fried away.  We used this recipe, here.  I get nervous about frying, but this was quite a success:

Better things to do with my time

Do you ever just not feel like blogging? I have a list of blogs on the right side of my page that I like to read when they're updated - and I see that there are people who haven't updated in a very long time.

I used to think that was weird.  Why have a blog if you're not going to keep it updated?

I almost feel like I'm growing out of it, if that makes any sense.  Like, why would I want to waste so much time uploading pictures when I could be out taking more? Or better yet, having so much fun the camera isn't even thought of?

My kids have been on summer break for four official days, now, and I've loved every minute of it.  We've gone on bike rides, watered the garden, ran through the sprinkler, mowed the lawn, jumped on the tramp, gone for walks, gone grocery shopping... and it's been awesome.  No lists, no schedules, just us. 

I've been looking at my front and back yard while thinking, I need to take a picture of these things and label it "These are a few of my favorite things" on my blog. 

But then I think, nah, I just want to stay out here and keep enjoying it. 

I don't feel the urge to keep up on other people's lives or keep whoever cares updated on mine, anymore. 

I just want to live life.  

So, my garden pictures will stay right where they are, daily growing out of date because of the things that are daily growing in my garden.  My lilac bushes will only be remembered when the heat of the day wafts the scent in through my bedroom window at night because a camera just doesn't do that justice.  My beloved trees in the backyard will have to continue providing the perfect canopy without ever gracing this computer screen.  The only images of my two year old bouncing his cares away on the trampoline will be the ones ingrained in my memory.  (Well, I might take a picture of that, but only because it's just too cute not to.) My kids riding their scooters down the driveway on their bums will only be seen by those passing by.

Here's to life.  :)

RPE rocks the barn

I'm a big Richard Paul Evans fan.  Huge. 

My husband was browsing Amazon.com one night and found one of his books I not only didn't own (I own all of his books), but haven't even heard of. 

So, I did some searchin'.  I was only able to find it on Amazon.com used, starting at $63.00.  I couldn't find it anywhere else. 

I wasn't about to pay that, so I did the next best thing.  I emailed Richard.  Ok, not Richard, himself, but someone who takes his emails for him. 

She told me it was out of print but she just happened to have one.  She said send me a check and she'll get it right to me.

$5.00 and a couple weeks later, I have it.  :)

And I got his autograph! Again! (This is my second one!) :)

Summertime!

I could listen to the "Fresh Prince's new definition of summer madness" over and over.  ;)

We went for a short walk today.  We try to every evening if the weather's nice enough.  I think we hit 86 degrees! Woohoo!

Natalie's smelling my lilacs.  My huge, out of control because the people who lived here before never took care of them lilacs.  :)

The fam strolling down the street, Quin doing his cute little hippity-hoppity run:

And this one was just cute:

I'm so stinkin' excited for summer! And I don't plan on blogging about most of it! Though, we've put so much work in to our rockin' garden, I have to post pics about that.  ;)

Defective Typewriter

Ever seen Grease?

You know the part when Rizzo's in the bathroom with Marty and she says she skipped a period? When I try to put into words my outlook on life today, that scene comes to mind.

"I feel like a defective typewriter."

I hope this goes away.  I hate snapping at people.  Especially my kids.

Fondue Soup

Ingredients:

2 boxes Swanson Organic Vegetarian Vegetable broth, 32 oz. each
9-12 pork chops, trimmed and cubed
2-3 cups broccoli
2-3 cups cauliflower
1 orange bell pepper,cut in to small pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, cut in to small pieces

Add vege broth, salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, liquid smoke, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley (all to taste) to a pot to simmer.

Once to boiling point, transfer to fondue pot over flame.

Stab ingredients with fondue skewers and set in pot that is no longer boiling.

Wait three minutes.

Check food for doneness.

Put back in pot.

Wait another five.

Check again.

Put back in pot.

Wait another two.

Take a bite.

Decide this is stupid, dump broth back in to original pot and add all of above ingredients.

Simmer for about 10 minutes while you boil some rice.

Put some rice into a bowl, pour soup over top.

Note the plethora of colors; the savory blend of all the flavors dancing together in the broth... and then...

YOU EAT.

No more of this waiting-for-a-single-bite-to-cook nonsense. ;)

Moral of this story:  When life doesn't work out the way you planned, throw everything in the pot and eat it with rice.

p.s. Unless you're at The Melting Pot and you've got a couple hours to kill, save the fondue stuff for chocolate and cheese. ;)

p.p.s.  I really wish I had taken a picture, it really was a pretty dish.  But, dude, I was HUNGRY.  My whole family loved it - it's official name on my recipe card is, "(Used to be) Fondue Soup".  YUM

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR

That's what I put on the cake I gave to Matt to tell him we're pregnant.  :)

He came home while I was doing the letters so they're a tad rushed... lol

I wasn't sure how long I could wait before I told people.  It was two days, for the record.  hahaha! (Karen, you know me better than to expect me to wait a few months! hee hee!)

I also wasn't sure if I was going to tell yet because it still doesn't seem real.  The test says it is.  My lack of period today says it is.  But nothing else does.  I hate this feeling, because then I worry that there's nothing there and I'll get my hopes up for nothing.

I've had a miscarriage, before, and the worst part about it was telling people.  Not because it was a hard thing to get through (though it was for reasons not of the normal sort), but because I really hated how people reacted.  Don't feel sorry for me, people, I'm stronger than you think.  Just say, "Oh.  Well, life goes on.", then walk away.  No hugs, no sob stories, no whining... just let. it. go.  lol

Anyway, we're excited! I've started exercising, so I'm hoping to keep that up in hopes for a healthy, strong pregnant body. 

There's a story behind this pregnancy, though.  It's sort of funny.  To us, anyway.

So, a while ago, I was really gung ho for this baby thing, right? Plastered it all over facebook, might have even blogged about it...

Then I started the new get-healthy thing.  I started to reconsider the whole baby thing.  So we started preventing.  For a good part of this month (except for six days after my last period - I know, TMI.  Deal with it.), we've been "preventing".  Apparently, though, my ovulation days aren't "by the book".  That or our prophylactic paraphernalia didn't work.  Either way, we got a baby, anyway.  All we can do is laugh and be excited.  :)

Haven't been to the doctor yet for the blood test, which, to me, will be the reality point.  I have to wait till June 9th for that.  That's going to be a long time.  :)

Resident Weed Puller

My Natalie has brought me more flowers than anyone else in this whole wide world.

And I've loved them.  Even if they do look like this:

She called this one lucky:

You know, sort of like a four leaf clover! :)

Morbidity at its finest

My kids are so weird.

What's really sad, is this is not the first time this has happened to a poor, unsuspecting toy at my house.  I swear we don't watch rated R movies, don't even own any.  The most violence my kids get out of TV is Star Wars, and I can't say there are any hangin's on those movies.  Not too sure where they got it from.  LOL