Chairs

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 09:10:08 -0700

When Mike graduated from BYU and got his job here in CO we moved to Denver with a 2 month old, no money and NO furniture. My visiting teacher felt sorry for me and my card-table I was using as a kitchen table. She gave me an old table and four chairs. You can see the chairs in the background of this picture of Thomas, they were dark green with checkerboard material and covered in plastic. Fun for a craft table but not so much for a kitchen table. So my SIL Amy and painted them white and covered the seat with the pretty green fabric soon after. At least it used to be pretty green. I opted for no plastic, I figured it was simple enough to cover, I’d just recover it if it got dirty. Four years and another kid later . . . gross! The final straw, Emerson had an accident in his big boy pants. on. the. chair. Needless to say, the chairs have been recovered! It’s about time!!!

Warning! Graphic Dead Duck Pictures

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 20:40:13 -0700

Over Thanksgiving David (Mike’s brother) went hunting and brought me back the whole ducks I had been asking for. We spent a few cold hours in the garage plucking them and figuring out how to gut them. It was a learning experience for both of us and despite the smell and mess I had a good time with David. He’s a really good sport! I think he even ended up cleaning everything up himself, thanks David!!

We froze the plucked and gutted ducks and I brought them back to Denver with me. Then Christmas and the aftermath happened and I kind of forgot about the ducks in the freezer. Well, last week I remembered and thawed them. I had several recipes for wild duck in my Nourishing Traditions Cookbook but I decided on the Duck With Olives. It ended up being kind of an appetizer but super good!

I removed the skin and made cracklings with it (only I turned away for just a second, I swear, and totally burned them). Taking the skin off was also pretty gross but after cutting off heads and removing innards no big deal, right?!

I used the feet, the carcasses, and some vegetables to make a duck stock that I used for the base of the sauce.

I cooked the veggies for the dish in the duck fat and I added the shredded duck meat to the finished sauce (which included the reduced stock, green olives and creme fraiche, yummy!)

I served the Duck With Olives on large croutons. Ok, the croutons were a splurgy short-cut that I bought at the store, doesn’t quite fit in with my everything-from-scratch dish but HELLO I just cooked 2 ducks from start to finish, I’m allowed one cheat!

We had a Breaded Goat Cheese and Potato salad with our Duck appetizer-like meal, mmm good!

I took a bunch of pictures trying to make it not look nasty but, nope, it just looks like mush. Just trust me, it was good. Even the little boys ate it (Mike knows that if I put that much work into something he better pretend to like it so his opinion doesn’t count).

I made some notes in my cookbook after dinner: really good, more of an appetizer, makes a TON!

It lost some of it’s appeal after eating it for the 3rd meal but still pretty darn tasty.

Wanna hear something else gross? Sure you do. When I was eating it I bit into some buck-shot. For some reason that totally grossed me out! LOL!

I know, I’m a little nuts. But I’ll try almost anything once!

Knock Knock

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:56:51 -0700

This is at least an hourly occurrence at our house. It’s either “Boo Hoo” or the classic “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana.” Thomas started it first, of course, and now that Emerson’s picked up on it there is no end!

But sometimes it still makes me laugh.

Holy Emerson needs a haircut!

Super T

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:21:37 -0700

Thomas went to a birthday party at the beginning of December. It was a Super Hero party where the kids came dressed as super heros, and they were given masks and personalized capes. They had a cake caper (someone stole the birthday cake!) and they had to follow the clues to find it. Ok, hands down, awesomest little boy birthday party EVER! Now he’s obsessed with being a super hero and flying with his cape. No, seriously, it’s almost February and I swear he’s worn the cape at least once every day since he got it. Now he’s convinced he’s having a super hero party for his birthday too. Oui!

Sneaky shots

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 19:57:25 -0700

Every time I upload the pictures off my camera I inevitably find pictures like this. I don’t know how or when they get their hands on it but somehow they always find the camera and create their visual art.

Bill Who?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:18:30 -0700

On the way to preschool this morning I grabbed a stack of letters that needed to be mailed. As we drove out of our neighborhood I dropped them off at one of the community mailboxes, in the out going mail slot, and then hurried back on the road. As we drove Thomas asked me what I had done. I answered, “I was paying bills.”

“Who’s Bill?”

“No, paying bills.”

“Who?”

(sigh) “Paying bills is.... Ok, you know when you turn on the faucet...”
 “What’s a faucet?”

“the sink. When you turn it on water comes out, right?”

“Right.”

“That’s because we pay money to have water.”

“huh.”

“And when you flip on the switch, that’s because we pay to have the light.... I know, I have to buy the lightbulbs but we pay money so the lightbulbs will work. That’s called ‘paying bills.’”

“What else do you pay for, Mom?”

“Well, today is garbage day, we pay for the garbage man to pick up our garbage.”

“Wow! You pay the garbage man?! What else?”

“Hmm, we pay our mortgage on our house.”

“What???”

“Well... (oh boy) houses cost a lot of money so we borrowed money to buy the house and now we pay the money we borrowed back every month.”

“What? Why do we pay for our house every month? I thought it was our house? What happens if we don’t pay?”

“Umm, if we don’t pay for it then the bank would take the house.” (uh oh)

“WHAT!! SOMEONE IS GOING TO STEAL OUR HOUSE!!!!”

“NO! Nobody is going to steal our house...”

“Then why did you just say that???”

“That would only happen if we didn’t pay our mortgage and we will pay our mortgage, that’s why Daddy goes to work every day.”

“Mom, I don’t want anyone to come and steal our house.”

“Never mind Thomas, no one is taking our house.”

“Then why did you say that?”

“I don’t know.”

I just don’t want anyone taking our house. Mom?”

“What?”

“When I get big, I’m going to buy a garbage truck.”

“Cool.”

Talk to the Hand

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:12:59 -0600

Do you talk with your hands? Apparently I do and I suspect it’s genetic. This summer I recorded a video of my mom and some of her friends, when we went back and watched it her comment was, “do I really use my hands that much when I talk?” I assured her that she didn’t, I had never noticed that she talked with her hands, it must just be one of those I-know-I’m-being-recorded things that we do self-consciously. Right?

Then my little Thomas got sick and lost his voice last week and while he continued to attempt to communicate (it’s impossible for him to just NOT talk) I realized as I watched his mouth move with not a lot of sound coming out that he waved his hands EXCESSIVELY when he talked. “Huh” I thought, “that’s kind of funny, I never noticed that before.”

I finally plugged my camera into my computer today after filling it with pictures all month and I found this photo. Now, I know I talk a lot and I also know I can be a little dramatic (I don’t exaggerate I just make things more interesting lol) but I guess I never realized just how much I use my hands to express myself. I have no idea what I was doing or saying in this picture but I think it’s clear. I am completely at the mercy of my hand-talking genes!

Dog-Sitting

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:28:40 -0600

Was it really June since my last post? Time flies during the summer! Some friends went on vacation this week and asked if we’d like to watch their dog while they were gone. Mike was ecstatic and is still convinced that this will persuade me to relent on my no-dog policy. I have to say she’s been nothing but easy and fun to have a round. We didn’t tell the boys she was coming, it was hilarious to see their first reactions to finding a dog in the house. This is a video of them playing with her the first morning. I hate to admit if but I might be a little sad when she has to go back home, she’s a cute little thing.

The Hose

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:46:34 -0600

Mike’s gone camping until tomorrow. Today was sunny, hot and humid. I was feeling better than I did yesterday when I went to the doctor for strep and got a shot in my rear (he said the shot would focus the antibiotics on the strep this time since it my second round in a month). My kids couldn’t take anymore tv or legos this afternoon, they needed to get out and I could see their energy starting to manifest itself in fighting with each other and me. Thomas wanted to go for a walk but that sounded more than my sore bum or my exhausted body could handle in this heat so I suggested popsicles, the hose and bathing suits in the backyard. We ate our popsicles on the deck and Emerson (with just a diaper on) was siting in a puddle of grape juice by the time he was done. As we finished eating I could see the clouds coming. I stripped off Emerson’s diaper (he needed to air out that little diaper rash anyway) and turned the hose on with the sprinkler attachment to lure the baby over to the cleansing water. Soon the dark clouds came rolling over our house from the mountains and covered up the sun, there wasn’t much time. The temperature started to drop and the wind started to pick up. I splashed off the last of the purple off of Emerson, turned off the hose and tried to reason Thomas into abandoning the wet fun. Emerson, naked except for his sandals, was NOT happy, he started screaming and wiggling in my arms when he realized my intentions. I took off his soaked sandals and scooted him into the house and closed the glass door, he loudly protested and banged on the window. I quickly gathered up clothes, the juicy diaper, and the popsicle container. Thomas started yelling, “MOOOOM!! Emerson’s peeing!!” Sure enough I turn to the door to find him spraying the glass with a grin on his face. Is there maliciousness hiding in my 18 month old baby? I run inside and frantically try to soak up the urine with wet wipes, which is pretty silly considering they are already wet. It didn’t even occur to me that his weapon was still exposed. He peed on me as I tried to clean up his pee. I think he was really mad. I’m so glad I invested in that mini carpet cleaner for pets back when we were having issues with puking (you know, when Thomas would throw up at the thought of something gross). I kind of wish we’d gone for the walk.

Update

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:17:13 -0600

Here’s a quick rundown: Thomas graduated from preschool (yes, like a month ago). He misses it and his sweet teacher, Miss Leigh, and keeps asking when he can go back.

I got strep. All I have to say is blegh, if I never get that again it’ll be too soon. I wouldn’t let Mike take any pictures.

Mike’s parents came for a visit, we had a good time and I managed to remember to take a couple of pictures and they all turned out pretty terrible so I’ll spare you. It was a fun weekend of shopping, more shopping and a thunderstorm.

Mike had surgery on his nose to straighten a deviated septum. Never believe doctors when they say that any kind of surgery is not a big deal. In my experience ALL surgery is pretty disruptive and this one was no exception (especially when Emerson tends to headbutt). Mike wouldn’t let me take pictures either.

Thomas started Pee Wee soccer and swimming lessons this month. He loves both and I love that he gets worn out. He can’t get enough of either one.

And we are still having bunny issues.

Bunny Drama

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:04:54 -0600

I’ve been fighting to keep the rabbits out of our backyard all year. They dig up my tulip bulbs and . . . well, that’s all I really have against them. They live under our deck and get in and out of the yard through various holes in the fence. I systematically boarded or blocked every entrance, Thomas and I would chase them from their hiding places with the hose and obstruct their escape routes after them. I thought I’d finally done it, barricaded the entire backyard until it was impenetrable to the little rodents.

I found determined digging under the gate but they were no match for me, I had sunk a 2x4 under the fence to keep them from digging back through! I really felt smug in my success, until one day I looked out the window and saw baby bunnies emerge from under the deck! They were tiny and scared and I felt the ice in my heart melt a little. They were so cute, really. That is, until I saw my tulips still being decimated.

It’s a long sad story, I caught one bunny (to my great surprise) in a bucket after chasing it around the yard with the hose. I released it
into some open space near (but not too near) our house. One down, one more to go.

The other bunny resisted every tactic. Flooding, pounding, food, it kept a healthy sense of fear and caution through it all. I finally borrowed a “have-a-heart” trap from a friend and sacrificed one of my tulip bulbs as bait. This happened to be the day before a heavy spring snow storm so I pushed the trap up next to the deck, surely the bunny would take the bate when the grass was covered in snow, right? Wrong. Two days later with the 2 feet of snow melted I admitted defeat and went to retrieve the trap. I passed a window well and yelp in surprise and horror to see the baby bunny at the bottom. dead. Sad. I admit I still carry a little guilt about it, after all it was a baby. I realized that the open space had coyotes and other predators but if they killed the bunnies it was the circle of life, you know? Somehow the senseless death in the window well made me a little sick, so I made Mike clean it up :)