valentine's day

I just got off the phone with my mom telling me to get a blog post up. She misses her grandkids. So here we go. I think I have a few I can fire off. I believe I left off on Valentine's Day. I had a lovely post all about Rory and how recently he told me that he would be thrilled if I made Hamburger Helper once a week. He loves the stuff and is so excited when I make it. He even called it one of his love languages. This little-known-fact used to bother me. I felt I was above Hamburger Helper. But two kids later, Rory's love for Hamburger Helper is one of most endearing, wonderful parts about this easy-to-please Valentine of mine. 

We had a great Valentine's day. I followed in my mom's footsteps and had a heart supper. We had finger jello hearts, cupcakes from our favorite shop, and a heart pizza from Papa Murphy's. Anyone else get Papa Murphy's? When I picked up my pizza, there was palpable excitement in the store. My sister said her's was like this too. The manager was all happy telling everyone it was their busiest day of the year. I got swept up in the giddiness, and then got back into my car and remembered I had only been in a pizza shop on valentine's day. It was as if I had walked into some sort of unexpected christmas joy or something...

And my funny Valentine, while eating his pizza, kept telling me how he couldn't quite figure out how a place like Papa Murphy's broke on to the scene. Rory said, "Just think about it. After delivery was invented, why would anyone open up a pizza shop with unbaked pizza's? It seems backwards."

And those are the sort of sweet nothings my Valentine discusses over a romantic dinner with our children. :)

i love big, colorful, world market wall art

A few weeks ago we were walking through World Market with the kids. I saw this painting and was in love. For a while we had it in the living room, but it loses something when you look at it from afar. I love it up close. So I brought it up to our bedroom where, due to it's size, everything is up close...

World Market art seems to fit us well in this season of life. We have three big paintings in our house that add color and break up our bare walls. Obviously they're not originals. But that's why we can afford them. One day, when we are collecting large pieces of expensive art for our estate (I kid!) I will purchase lots of paintings from that gallery just outside of the Barnes and Noble in the Galleria. Anyone ever been in there?!! Have you seen the magical birch forests that look like blobs of rainbow paint up close, but when you step back you can see birch trees?!! Oh they're awesome. This painting from World Market sort of reminded me of that, but for thousands less.

(And just because I thought it was noteworthy... As I took the pictures of this new painting over our dresser, I also took a shot of all the clean clothes I washed on Monday that each evening we put back on the floor and each morning put back on the bed. If only someone would put it away!)

i love seed catalogs (and a review of our 2013 garden)

Right about the time Christmas cards started arriving in our mailbox, so did a smattering of seed catalogs. Mail doesn't get any better that the combination of both.

I love these catalogs. Similar to the way I used to pour over the toy section in the JC Penny catalog, I pour over heirloom tomatoes, a variety of beets that spans the rainbow and sweet corn.

Rory and I have gone on two dates this week (gasp!) and on both dates we spent most of our time talking about our 2014 garden. I even brought a seed catalog and a notebook in to the chinese restaurant last night and we sketched our game plan for the garden ahead while eating pot stickers.

Our 2013 garden was a pretty great success. We started with a lawn and ended up with awesome BLT's, lots of potatoes, sweet peas, eggplants, beans, onions, peppers and sweet corn. I'd consider that a success.

Here's my greatest gardening take away point (I think I've said it before...I'll probably say it again): gardening is all about trial and error. You try things. And some seeds, plants or methods of gardening work great, and others don't. So the next year you course correct and try something different. Sometimes you know why a crop didn't produce well, sometimes you don't.  I remember feeling pressure while planting our first garden to "do it right." And though there are rules in planting seeds that you should follow, there is also a whole lot of wait-and-see in gardening. So a girl like me needs to just relax. And then enjoy how amazing it is that we are planting teeny seeds that have life in them and will grow to produce food for us to eat!

Our garden in 2013 was basically strips on lawn that Rory rototilled up. Then he painstakingly went up and down each strip with a pitchfork and scooped the sod into the wheelbarrow. It took a long time. With each pitchfork he had to loosen the grass, shake the dirt off and dump it into the wheelbarrow. But he kept at it.

We planted berries in the front of the garden, in two patches running horizontally. We prepped one patch for blueberries, getting the soil to the right acidity level so we can plant blueberries this year.

Our only water spigot is way up on the side of the house. Which would be a pretty long way to drag a hose. So one Friday afternoon Rory ran an errand and come home with a trencher and proceeded to put down hose that would reach a second spigot out near the garden.

When he was done with that he built his own drip irrigation system out of pvc piping. Because in his words, "I'm not going to go out there every thirty minutes and move a sprinkler around. This is way easier." And of course in the long run it was easier. But watching him diligently drill holes every few inches down his pvc pipes didn't look super easy...

He used extra pvc to built a trellis for the sweet peas and for a while we protected our baby tomato plants with cement cylinders.

The potatoes were heaped with hay and for a while our garden was looking pretty impressive.

So much so that we had to put some fencing up to deter the animals. But my budget-happy husband only spent enough money to fence three sides of the garden. The plan was that we'd buy more fencing the next month when we had more money back in the "lawn-and-garden" category of  the budget. But that never happened, so we had a three sided fence all season. And actually not a lot of critters either. I think the animals haven't found us yet...

We were gone much of July and came back to a very overgrown, but wildly producing garden. This is the joy of gardening! Our first tomato was celebrated with much enthusiasm. Until Ivar tried a bite and threw it "far, far away."

And even better than the first red tomato, are the first fried green tomatoes. My absolute favorite. One of the biggest reasons I enjoy a vegetable garden. I think I made fried green tomatoes six or seven times last August and September.

This 2013 garden was largely Rory's venture. I wasn't really interested in helping out. But something has changed in me for 2014. I have been looking at canning books and working backwards: if I want to can this many quarts of tomato sauce, how many plants do we need this year? I have a sketch of our garden all figured out after our date tonight and I'm excited. And Rory is thrilled that I'm joining in.

And if I loose motivation, I will just look at this lovely picture and remind me: it is totally worth it. Because this BLT killed me. It was so good.

And now, if you'd like some seed catalogs to come to your mailbox, click on these links and fill out your address. It makes for happy, happy mail and makes for much easier garden planning. Burpee Catalog, Johnny's Catalog and Rare Seeds Catalog are my three favorite. And this site has links to 68 other free seed catalogs! (In case winter has got you down and you're needing A LOT of happy mail.)

i love this bedtime book

I found this little board book at a garage sale for 50 cents. And it has become my favorite bedtime book. It's a sweet and simple prayer, thanking God for many different things.

But there prayer is simple and one that I have had memorized for a long time now, after many, many nights of reading this one with a baby in my lap.

"Thank you for each morning that we wake to a new day.

Thank you for the friends we have, our games and fun and play.

Thank you for the winds that blow, tossing leaves on high.

Thank you for the sun and clouds, racing through the sky.

Thank you for good tasting food, for eggs and fish and meat;

thank you too for lovely fruits, ripe and full and sweet.

Thank you for each drop of rain and thank you, God, for puddles.

Thank you for our special pets who come up close for cuddles.

Thank you for the silver moon, the stars that shine and peep.

And when the day is over we thank you for our sleep."

The book is illustrated by Stephanie Longfoot. Copyright Brimax Books Ltd 1995. I tried to find a link online, but I have a feeling your best bet is to find this book at a garage sale too. :)

i love mr. rogers

I really loved sharing things that I love last week. So much, that I decided to keep it going a bit longer. It's fun to think during the day of all the small things that you appreciate and love. I've got much more to share!

Rory started taping Mr. Rogers for the kids to watch. But it's actually turned into the family favorite that all four of enjoy watching. It's a calming and relaxing show with an incredibly slow pace. A very noticeable contrast to the flashy kids programming of today.

I am so excited I found the video of the segment below because it stopped me in my tracks. Mr. Rogers is talking about friends and says "some people think that friends are always happy, always having fun. Well that's not true. Friends often have hard times and sad times. But friends can come together again and again, and build a stronger and stronger friendship between each other."

Mr. Rogers was speaking to me. And I was so taken aback by how plain his lesson was. And how absolutely true it was too. it's not often that you hear someone speak so plainly about the reality of relationships. There was no animated happy ending to his lesson. He just spoke the truth.

Throw in a visit to the graham cracker factory, and you have yourself one quality children's program.

i love the olympics

This winter has been freezing cold. Which is why I feel so grateful that we have sixteen days of awesome television to enjoy while we continue to hunker down.

It's no secret I adore the olympics. I'm a huge fan. Love the back stories, love the panoramic aerial shots of the surrounding area, love the music that leads to and from commercial, love the P and G commercials about the mom's, and I enjoy the sports themselves. (Though I am no a huge fan of the team sweaters this year...a bit too reminiscent of an ugly sweater christmas party. But whatever...they're olympians...they can wear whatever they want.)

So bring it on Sochi. We're hoping our new couch arrives in the next sixteen days so we can have friends over to watch and share in another international smorgasbord. (Fun fact: we found out we were pregnant with Ivar during the last winter games. Crazy the changes in four years: two moves, two kids...)

I'll leave you with a favorite commercial so far that got me excited for all the fun that is to come.

i love samoa creamer

I just googled how to spell Samoa...and apparently these little cookies are now called Caramel Delights. And for some reason I took offense at that. Maybe because I went door to door peddling these cookies for many March's of my childhood.

Anyhoo. This stuff. It is my happy juice. I don't drink coffee in the morning, I wait until I need it most. Which can be any time between 1:00 and 3:00. If the kids nap, I save it for when they wake up. If the kids don't nap, I listen to them cry in the monitor until I have made (and drank) my happy juice. I consider this practice a healthy boundary.

I have never been a coffee drinker. Not through college, not after. But little kids sort of necessitate a caffeine hit. I know many get stuck on the stuff and later try to get off of it. But most of those people are in the 40's. So I've decided I'll try to kick the caffeine in my 40's too.

This non-dairy-what-is-it-then creamer is yummy. So yummy that a few weeks ago when I met my friend Erika (one of my bridesmaids, now living out east) who I haven't seen in forever at Starbucks, I brought my 2 Tablespoons of creamer in a little tupperware. It took me about twenty minutes of catch up to finally dig in my purse and tell her, "I love this stuff. Don't think I'm strange that I brought my own creamer to starbucks."

i love slugs and bugs

We have a few kids cd's in our car. Rory once said to me, "let's put something in that has no xylophone." The xylophone is sort of the staple instrument, apparently, in kids music. But it can be hard to listen to these songs again and again and again.

Enter Slugs and Bugs. I was first introduced to Slugs and Bugs through The Rabbit Room, a blog I like of solid Christian thinkers. There are many authors who write on the site. A few of them are musicians, a few are artists, a few are pastors. Andrew Peterson (whom I love) and Randall Goodgame (who I now love too) came out with the first Slugs and Bugs. I would describe the songs as Shell Silverstein poems played with an incredible band. The songs are silly and the music is awesome. No xylophone on a single song.

And the last five songs are stunning lullabies that have now entered our family repertoir. Click here to see a song list  (at the bottom of the page) and be sure to listen to #16 Beautiful Girl, #17 My Baby Loves to Dance (both lullabies) and #10 Chicken Wiggle and #14 The Boy who was Bored (both awesome and silly).

***

BUT THE NEW FAVORITE is Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs! (The yellow cd pictured at the top).

This cd is 100% straight out of the Bible. Each song's lyrics are taken right off the page. And the music was heavily influenced by Paul Simon with a strong Graceland style.

Here's the thing. I always wish I could memorize scripture better. And I know that if I really worked at it, I could do a whole lot better. But you know the scripture that comes to mind when I need a word from the Lord? Every camp song I have every learned. Somehow that scripture is at the ready when I need it most.

I feel like Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs is a sweet gift for me. We got this CD for Christmas just while I was beginning to think, "I should make a goal to memorize more scripture in the new year."  We popped this CD in and bam, I have a whole CD of new verses in my head.

The songs are great, the music fun, the words powerful and there are some really silly moments mixed in too.

It's a good one for kids and mom's and dad's. Everyone will like it.

So I just looked at the other two Slugs and Bugs CD's, one for Christmas and one called Under Wear? And they look great too. I just heard a snipet of a song called "I'm adopted" on the Under Wear? cd that sounded so great. So maybe just buy all four, while you're at it. Until then, you can't go wrong with the other two I wrote about. :)

To close, I'll leave you with Ivar's most requested song on the Lullabies cd. A song that starts cute and ends so, so three-year-old silly. He laughs his head off every time:

i love alba shampoo

For all of our marriage I have shared a bottle of Suave shampoo with my husband. It's fine. It seems to have done the job for eight years. But I have a strange confession: I love using other people's shampoo and body scrub and face wash. Because using someone's Aveda is like a little sweet luxury. Using someone's four step face wash system is like a day at a spa.

So it was during the second polar vortex here in Minnesota that I found myself wandering the aisles of Target telling myself that I deserve nice shampoos. That maybe after eight years of Suave I could justify a shampoo like the ones I utilize at friends' houses. So I crossed over from the Pantene-and-friends aisle to the Bed Head, Redken and Bumble and Bumble aisle. I read labels. I gasped at the $29 price tags. You understand there is a 50/50 chance this will all fall into the bathtub with my kids one night and wash down the drain...

So I wandered a little farther down the aisle and found this Alba stuff for $10 a bottle. Ten bucks still felt expensive to my Suave-buying self, but I smelled it and it smelled like Hawaii. And a little Hawaii in the middle of a polar vortex is always welcome.

It's sulfate free. And though I don't know what that means, I feel I can sleep better at night, knowing I don't have all those pesky sulfates in my hair any more. I do know it smells awesome and leaves my hair soft. I love it. 

That night I also got a foot pumice, a new lafoof thingy and a big bottle of shea butter lotion. And let me tell you, a little home spa is a wonderful addition to my winter life. Especially when my showers are basically shared with two kids in and out, opening the curtain, letting all the cold air in. It's nice to have yummy shampoos when I'm freezing because the bathroom door is wide open.

**And I think this goes without saying, but just in case. I'm a teeny little blog here that has no affiliates. I don't get any kickback for the products I'm telling about this week. These are just my own thoughts, my own opinions...for what they're worth. Up next: my favorite kids cd!

i love melanie claire

So this is sort of fun. I've decided to take this week to pass along a few of my favorite things. At the start of this lovely short month of February, I am going to share a few things I love. Because you may love them too. From shampoo, to kids cd's to favorite etsy shops, here are a few things I love.

Today I'm starting with a bang. Melanie Claire is a good friend of mine. She has a heart of GOLD and is a very empathetic listener. She's a joy to be around and if I were to describe her in one word, I'd use the word sweet. Kind, thoughtful, considerate...sweet.

And she makes the most adorable dolls and sells them on etsy and recently in a store in Minneapolis. Here's a question: Do you feel a certain joy when a friend you know opens up their own online venture? Or is that just me? Because I think it is the coolest, most inspiring thing to see someone take their own creations and offer their craft to the world. And to make some money for all the time time, love and labor they put into their craft. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I'm inspired by people selling their goods.

Especially adorable dolls. Like this one I purchased for Elsie for Christmas, who we have affectionately named Melanie Claire. (Who was very cooperative this nap time for her window sill photo shoot.)

I mean, people. Short, red hair for my red head? Polka dot tights? A chevron skirt?!! How cute could a little fabric doll be? And how fun is it to use Elsie as my excuse to start buying dolls again?!!

Her dolls are getting a little face lift this month, and you can check out her new girl and boy dolls on her etsy shop: Melanie Claire Creates. And be sure to click on the doll faces to see the whole doll...because the outfits are cuter than I dress my own children.

Might be fun to surprise your little one for valentines with a new doll. Might be fun to surprise yourself by buying a new doll just for your own adult self. Might be fun to buy a doll to keep at your house for when your grandkids visit. Just sayin... Because I love them!

Back tomorrow with my new shampoo.

mom hours

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This was a good week for me. Monday during dinner I had a particularly helpful conversation with Rory. Monday was an especially solid day. I felt good about my role as a mama. I played hard with my kids. I ran a few loads of laundry. I had a plan for supper and had it on the table before little children came and threw themselves at my feet to "Eat! Eat!"

It was during dinner, and about the eleventh time I had gotten up to get something that I said to Rory, "hey, would you do bedtime tonight?" He said he would. A few moments later I added more. "And would you mind clearing the table and starting the dishwasher tonight?" He said he would.

And the strangest thought came into my head and I said it aloud. Without the typical exhausted emotions, without being an ounce dramatic or full of self pity I said, "I guess I'd just like to be done for the day. I put in a good days work, I was present with the kids, I accomplished many things, and any boss would be pleased by my performance today. I guess I'm done." I said something like that.

And Rory replied, "You mean, you'd like to go home now."

Bingo.

"Right! I would like to go home and disconnect from my work tonight. I would like to turn on the tv and eat chips and corn salsa all night long."

It was such a funny non-emotional conversation. Usually these conversations are intense with me exhausted and needing an out. But this conversation was so matter-of-fact. I just wanted to go home for the night, come back in the morning and once again give it my all.

Rory did load the dishwasher and I went out to feed the chickens. Then we put the kids in the tub to fill up the last hour of the day. The kids did go down, and eventually I was on the couch watching the bachelor eating corn salsa.

I just had wanted quittin' time to come three hours earlier. Because mom hours are long hours.

ivar quotes

+ A few nights ago we told him he needed to play nicely with Elsie in his room until it was time for her to go to bed. He came down the stairs a while later:

Ivar: I'm so tired of this! I'm so tired of this!

Me: What are you tired of?

Ivar: Of her up so long!

+ We have a favorite Sesame Street book and when he reads the characters he'll say, "and here's Bernie and Ert!" He also calls the remote control the camote untroll.

+ One of his best not-falling-asleep-stalling tactics is to yell from his bed, "I HAVE A BOOOOOGER!" Which means he wants a kleenex. I brought him one during his nap and he let me know, "there are teeny rocks up there."

+ After he and Elsie stayed with Rory's folks while we were at Disney he said to me, "When Papa was my daddy, he put a washcloth on my eyes." I love that so much.

+ Ivar is beginning to quite consistently drop his nap. I am in a season of grieving. While drinking my afternoon coffee, watching tv he came down the stairs quietly, sneaking out of his bed. He came up to me and said sweetly, "After this day I'll try to sleep for a long, long nap. okay, mama?"

And just tonight Rory tried to talk to him about his lack of napping.
Rory: Ivar, how come you aren't sleeping any more during the day?
Ivar: I'm not, because I'm not really into naps.