project life 2014

project life 2014–week 15

sunday: on the way home from church… first of all, yes, we squeezed them all into the back of the kia. hey, it’s 20 miles to church! we gotta save gas! second, #1 kid is tired because he was out super-late at a bowling party. #2 kid is tired because she was at a slumber party. #3 kid is not tired, but thrilled to be stuck in the middle and used as a pillow.

monday: sunny and 70? that means one thing to me! got the clothesline strung back up and hung 2014’s inaugural load to dry! happy dance, happy dance! I wanted to twirl, sound of music style, across my backyard in glee!

tuesday: a little mishap earlier in the day caused us to need to take the computer desk out of shane’s room to replace the one in the office which was no longer functional… of course, this led to many ‘redecorating’ possibilities for shane. the wide open space in his room was soon filled with the papasan chair. he also had the sudden urge to use his computer (for the first time in many, many months, if not actually years, simply because it was no longer on a desk?? not sure about that.) but anyway, he rigged a table, of sorts, by setting a spare portion of the desk top (that we’re not using) on a bucket, which is then the perfect height for playing computer games while lounging in one’s papasan.

wednesday: every now and then, my freezer winds up with too many bananas in it. that leads to banana bread.

friday: out for dinner at red hook brewery. layla’s reaction to the high-powered hand dryers cracks me up.

also friday: AND… micah lost a tooth while eating an oreo that comes with the kids meals!!! it was quite exciting slightly distressing, as there was the blood factor, and the food-in-the-mouth factor, and the no-place-to-swish-and-spit factor, and the wrapping-the-bloody-tooth-in-a-napkin-to-take-home factor. but all turned out well, and he was quite excited to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy.

saturday: dave made bacon burgers. bacon INSIDE the burgers.

and a couple of skinnies:

layla decided she wanted to learn to knit… doing quite well, actually! and… (yes, this is quite embarrassing) this is called a “plop”. “plopping” one’s hair after washing it is apparently a favored technique among curly-haired types… thought I’d give it a try. jury is still out on how I feel about the results.

Comments

dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r...

the zoo

yesterday, the last day of spring break (well, weekday, at least) and shane had had enough of not doing anything expensive interesting. so we packed a lunch and went to the zoo. it was a little cold and rainy when we left, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be relatively warmish. layla was determined to see some fish. i guess we should have gone to the aquarium, but we did manage to find her a few fish. i think her favorite was the super huge reticulated python that actually moved while we were watching. well, the top 3 feet or so of it moved. the remaining 5 or 6 feet of it stayed coiled up where it was. we probably spent the bulk of our time in the “zoomazium” which is a fabulous indoor playground type area. there’s a huge tree that layla and shane spent time doing laps through. you climb up the inside (think mcdonalds playland climbing structure) and then slide down a big twisty slide. there wa...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2! i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical. we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice. allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

the saga of layla's ankle

on Monday morning, layla got out of bed and complained about her ankle hurting. I looked at it, and not seeing anything or figuring how she could have injured it in her sleep, I dismissed it. she didn’t complain about it the rest of that day, even through walking to a friend’s house for a playdate, playing all afternoon, and walking home again. that evening, during dinner, she started complaining again. I thought she was being dramatic and trying to get shane in trouble, because the two of them had been horsing around. when she didn’t want to finish her dinner and crawled down the hall to get her jammies on, I went to look at it. lo and behold, it was crazy swollen! the first picture is the bad ankle, the second is the good ankle, just for comparison… so we put some ice on it and chilled out for awhile. I wrapped it in an ace bandage and put her to bed. she did not sleep. she whined and whimpered and moaned and cried. dave got her up and had a look. we put some more ice on it. we dis...

rachel's continued ramblings

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