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week 29 in pictures

sunday: while killing time in portland, we were lucky enough to get to visit w/ my cousins and aunt and celebrate a special 2nd birthday. micah was very excited about the golf set he picked out to give him… and very concerned when he wasn’t “using it right”.088

a couple skinnies for the center slots of the offensive way to use the golf clubs wrong… they were not supposed to go in the pool and micah was not amused! LOL.

also, micah, in a tree, waiting and waiting for dave and shane to cross the finish line of the STP.091 092

finally! (shane was there too, but I didn’t have my camera ready fast enough. it’s hard to time it right.093

and cole and kat finishing w/ their entourage. they got much fanfare as they finished.094

wednesday: prepping for layla’s birthday party. we bought out michaels’ supply of lanterns.122

thursday: every now and then shane just needs to love on ginger.129

saturday: I had a TON of errands to run and I made the mistake of taking layla with me to spend some birthday money at target. OMG… she took for-ev-er… finally wound up with a bed for julie.2013-08-0612

also saturday: dave planned a little surprise party for me at fireside cellars. I though he and I were just going out, but then we got there, and lynn, miina, lisa, and my friend dave from high school were all there! I was SO surprised, and I had a ton of fun. it was a beautiful evening, and while we were there, we had an awesome balloon flyover.239

and then I have a bunch of instagrams:

part of my killing time in portland on sunday involved spending my lululemon gift card. layla and micah had to come along and micah was most excited about the display of yoga mats. not sure what was so great about them, but he was impressed…

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every time I get to the bottom of a jar of nutella, I wish I had the long, flat, tongue of a dog. it’s true.097

found this on the wall. when I asked micah what it was, he said he was playing “stick the straw on the cup”. okay…102

fun at willis-tucker park.107

a nice mom at the park alerted me to the fact that I had a sticker on my back… at least it doesn’t say “kick me”.112

more park fun.

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shane is always finding new and improved ways to torment his cat. apparently toby is an STP finisher.121

big display of ‘bacon’ goods at the party store.123

more party prep: we acquired feed sacks for the sack race. they had to try them out. micah didn’t want to race because he wanted to be the starter.134

the ‘food tent’ ready for the party.137

and… 1 hour before the party, this happened. right after the dog at the hot dog buns, and right before a guest arrived 36 minutes early… not awesome.141

me, after all the guests had gone, and kids were in bed. 229

and 3 big collages from layla’s party.2013-08-06272013-08-06282013-08-0629

book shots will be added after I get the pics back.

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someone googled this stuff and found me!

these are as is... spelling errors and all. how to use a bathroom scale seriously? how hard is it? if you want step by step instructions, read this . washing machine doesn't empty bummer dude rachel's restroom i seem to remember someone predicting, when i was in high school, that i would go into the portable restroom business some day... "locks of love" site:blogspot.com because i'm totally the authority on that sort of thing. my hair is still in a ziplock bag waiting to be mailed. http://rambling-rachel.blogspot.com/ i think you typed this in the wrong place does 2 year old talk with imagination is there any other option? SLUDGE IN WORM BIN yummy. diapers to bed well, considering the other option... yes, please! imagination and 2 years old once again. 2 year olds do like to use their imaginations. loose change in my washing machine what priceless wisdom are you looking for here? how to get some? where did it come from? what to do with it? duh! rachel joe

tater tot casserole recipe

i realized i forgot to post this last week when we had it.  i actually like it a little better than the hash brown one, but both are good.  it’s VERY similar. once again, this is something i’ve made so many times that i just kind of wing it now, although i do have the recipe that kate sent to me after she made it for my family when micah was born. i like to keep the recipe because it has some little ‘britishisms’ throughout, just like kate! ;-) who, by the way, rocks, having called to check up on me the other evening when she saw that the power in our area was out AGAIN!  thanks kate, smooch smooch! but now i’m getting distracted… big surprise. here goes. you will need: 1 lb or so ground beef (or ground turkey) 1 chopped onion a bunch of veggies (kate’s recipe calls for a ‘tin’ of mixed veggies, but i use fresh carrots & celery if i’ve got’em, frozen beans, peas, corn, whatever).  maybe 2-3 cups. 1 can (or tin) of cream of something soup (i use celery usually

beef stew recipe

another taken from the betty crocker cookbook, but i mess with this one so refer to the disclaimer … 1 tbsp olive oil 1 clove of garlic, pressed (or some good shakes of garlic powder) 1 lb. stew beef 3 cups of hot water (I probably use closer to 3.5 or 4) 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 3 medium carrots, cut in thick coins 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1-2 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 small onion, chopped 1/4 tsp salt 1 bay leaf *optional: 1/2 bell pepper of your choice; 1 turnip; 1/2 tsp browning sauce (whatever that is) 1/2 cup cold water 2 tbsp all-purpose flour heat oil in large pot. cook beef and garlic in oil about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown. add hot water, 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper. heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. cover and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until beef is almost tender. stir in remaining ingredients except cold water and flour. cover and simmer

“you should have your head examined!”

… i just did! yup, yesterday i had the thrilling experience of sitting in a hospital waiting room for 2 hours, followed by another in a trauma room.  no, i don’t think i had suffered any sort of major trauma – i think that’s just what room they had left to stick me in.  i mused about where we would go if they had to kick us out because a ‘real’ trauma situation arose.  thankfully, we didn’t have to learn the answer to that.  i guess i was a traumatic as it got during that window of time. backing up, i wound up in the hospital yesterday because micah threw some clothes on the ground.  the night before i had been folding laundry in the living room.  i had a couple of stacks of ‘hang up’ clothes that were draped over the baby gate in front of the fireplace.                         yes, it’s a christmas picture, but i knew i had it in my stash.  at any rate, there’s the ugly baby gate that the clothes were hanging on.  also notice the wood mantle above it that the nativity set is on. 

tootin' my own horn! (for the sake of the earth)

so i'm not usually one to blab about how 'green' i am, but in honor of earth day tomorrow, i've decided to take a personal inventory of the choices i make daily that affect the future of our planet and the quality of our lives. i'm not usually an earth day celebrator since i try to treat every day as though it were earth day, and not just once a year. but i figured this was a good excuse. i've always walked a bit on the green side, but i really took a turn about a year and a half ago when i was influenced by raffi - yes, the children's musician - after reading his autobiography, life of a children's troubadour . this is, by the way, a fantastic book and i highly recommend it to anyone who has ever enjoyed his music, or even remotely cares about children's or environmental advocacy. i don't want anyone to see this as any sort of snobbish, 'i am greener than you' kind of thing, but rather as a challenge to myself to see what else i can do,