Spring Tease

Listening to the rain fall on the roof in mid-February. Doesn't get much better than that. It was warm yesterday. 49F. Warm enough to roll the windows down in the truck. Eli had his 100th day of school celebration yesterday. He picked me to be his VIP for the day. Out of everyone he could have chosen, he chose me. How honored I was. We did activities such as string 100 cheerios for a delectable necklace, make a 100 day crown filled with glitter, a 100 day sash filled with items of 10...10 stickers, 10 finger prints, 10 doodles...and so on and so on. We had a great day together. And for a bonus, when I went to pick up Gabe at Great-grandma's house, she offered to keep both the kids for another hour so I could get wood in and just sit ouside and enjoy the weather for a bit. Quietly. It was heaven.

The agenda for today. Bread-making is a must. A couple loads of glorious laundry. I promised Gabe we would make 'paper plate' masks today. Not sure what else the day holds.

Honestly

I'm just gonna come right out with it and I know people are gonna eat this up...because we all just love imperfection. My room is a disaster. It's one of the many unfinished rooms in this house. No trim. Exposed wires. No organizational areas ie: shelving. The beast of all beasts. It's not a sweet little nook of a space I'd like it to be. It's more of an ongoing organizational project -- boxes of maternity clothes, boxes of outgrown kids clothes and bitty baby clothes I want to keep for reminiscing, a laundry basket full of where-the-heck-do-I-put-this random shit, craft paraphernalia galore. Anyway, I started cleaning it today. And it's not finished - by any means. But it's a start. I am thirty-something and most certainly, thirty-something-year-olds can have very clean bedrooms - and cook - and be really, really great moms - and wives - and take pictures - and write - and document their children's lives - and have friends - and read - and love. Love a lot.

I have that wonderful feeling...like I felt in college when I procrastinated for weeks on a twenty-page paper, saved it to the night before, stayed up all night to finish it and finally, twenty minutes before my class started, triumphantly hit "print". I finally hit *print*.

Cake Anyone?

I've never made an upside-down cake. I have a ton of oranges and felt like doing something different than the regular ol' making juice or eating them 'raw'. So, here it is. An ooey, gooey creation. Haven't tried it yet but it looks delicious.

Butter and brown sugar.

Oranges on top of brown-sugary goodness. I also plumped up some dried cherries in orange juice and put them on top of the oranges.

The start of the batter.

Fluffy whipped egg whites.

Ta-Da!

And a pic of the boys. Took them snowshoeing/skiing yesterday and Eli was too tired to continue the trek home, so he hopped in the sled. I'm surprised I'm not sore today! It was brutal!

Girls Night Out

In my opinion, every woman out there with children NEEDS a night out once in awhile. For sanity sake! When I was working, the girls would always plan on doing something after work on a Thursday or Friday night, usually at a local bar. Why is it that SAHM's hardly do this!? I'm lucky and blessed enough to have some really cool chicks to hang out with. We usually go out for dinner and then a pub or dancing afterwards...or sometimes just dinner. Here are some pics from our latest outing. We started at The Pointe Afta, a local bar in Winslow, Maine. Then we went to Bootleggers in Waterville for jello shots. We ended the night at Champions.

Fresh Snow

It snowed at least 8" yesterday. The temps finally worked their way out of the single digits this morning so the kids and I decided to trek through the corn field for an adventure. Eli has his own skiis. Gabe got to ride in the sled attached to a rope that was held by my waist. Not an easy venture for me...my camera dangling from my neck, skiing AND pulling Gabe-o, who loved piling the snow into the sled making it that much heavier for me to pull. Good times.

The chosen path.

You can barely see the house with all of the effing corn.

At least the turkeys and deer will feast on corn treats all winter.

The bottom field with more effing corn.

Gabe thought he would walk home. Until he realized how deep the snow was and how much more fun it was to be dragged by momma.

Ah, home again.

King of the snowbank.

Cheers to a three-day weekend and a new President tomorrow.

`

Being cold makes me tired

Just part of living in Maine I guess. I've always lived 'up north' so it shouldn't bother me. And it really doesn't. Except when it's this cold - and I mean really really cold, you can feel it in your chest when you're breathing cold - and I can't really go outside with Gabe and get some fresh air. Poor little guy. I managed to bring in two loads of fire wood for the furnace this afternoon while waiting for Eli to get off the bus. It was just too cold for Gabe-o. I don't think tomorrow will be any better.

We get our eggs fresh from a farmer up the road from us. Once you've had fresh eggs, you'll never go back. I'd love to get some chickens someday.

Finished a scarf today that I started making yesterday. It's cotton and really soft. Gabe was more than happy to model it for me...even though purple and yellow aren't really 'his' colors.

A new year

And the start to blogging. Again. Hopefully life doesn't become too demanding this year. With work, classes, the challenges of raising two boys, my marriage and everything else I stive to accomplish. It will be different this year.

Recap. My oldest son started kindergarten last September, and as of December 1st, has been going full days. It's been hectic getting everyone ready in the morning and out the door for the bus and again, in the afternoon, but I think he really enjoys going. The struggle has been with his headstrong attitude (wonder where he gets that from). We're working on that though. Patience is a virtue.


With Eli in school my youngest, Gabe, gets the privilege of staying home with mom all to himself. AND getting to play with older bro's toys is another plus. I can tell you it's a heck of a lot quieter with only one child in the house. I'm loving this time alone with him...knowing it won't last much longer.



Last semester I took Chemistry. I only have three classes needed before starting clinicals (plus the l o o o n g waitlist that I'm on). Aced chemistry with a 98. I feel a lot more confident in studying now and knowing it's for a purpose unlike when I was in college with no real direction. Well, one direction of partying. My new class this semester is Human Development. I'm excited for it. Kinda. Excited to get it done and over with! I'm already looking forward to next semester - Microbiology. Then the wait will continue.

I've been working on my own projects. Working on small, non-time consuming projects. Scarves. Loving them. Knit or crocheted. So easy. Instant gratification.







Keep warm everybody. They saying it's going to be well below freezing for the unforseeable future - which equivilates to the next week in meteorological terms. I'm cold just thinking about it.