Special Day With My Boy

Today was the annual "special day" for my boy and I. 

 

Our morning began with hot chocolate and the very last double chocolate chip muffin available at the local coffee shop. Were lucky like that. 

 

  We spent the next 2 hours on our hands and knees hunting crinoid fossils in a dirt path at Pammel Park. 

 

Crinoid Fossils

 

 

Yep, it takes over 2 hours to find this many crinoid  fossils on a dirt path.  I'm sure you were wondering.  I had no idea what a crinoid was until last week.  Feel free to Google it.  It's a buzz word at our house this week.

 

 

 

We dined on lunch at Montross Pharmacy, spent another 2 hours at the Madison County Historical Complex (a cross between Living History Farms and Pioneer Village) and giggled through a fierce game of tetherball on Grandma and Papa's driveway. 

 

 

Ross was attempting to pull scotch tape off a very tiny crinoid. (above)  The crinoid broke.  My favorite part of the day was Ross' response. 

 

"This crinoid just broke. I'm kinda glad though.  Now it has some character." 

 

 

Painting the Deck

I discovered Molly took the privilege of painting the deck this morning.  I'll let the pictures show the story.

 

Living Life

Yesterday began with half a pot of coffee and Ross crabbing about running errands. Luckily, Grandma retired so I was fortunate to be able to leave Ross at her house.  While at the bank, Maisie opened the bathroom door while I was changing my tampon. Turned out she was scared of the toilet flushing. 

 

The day carried on with endless loads of laundry, countless dirty cups, wiping cottage cheese curds out of kitchen cabinet grooves, digging out splinters, pulling weeds, watering my basil, sending Ross to ‘digging camp’, arguing over whose turn it was to swing, Ross hitting Maisie then dumping a bowl of noodles over himself when I came after him, slicing my thumb and foot when that bowl later shattered, picking up countless pairs of pee-dampened training underwear, baking cookies in which the recipe forgot to mention flour, making pudding, Jello, ranch dressing and pizza crust. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We played with the timer on my camera which entertained the kids for hours.  We followed up with charades in front of the fireplace before bed.  The game ended when each of the kids’ actions involved some sort of emergency bowel situation.  That’s always my clue they’ve lost interest.
 

 

Yesterday we lived life.  We yelled, we worked, we laughed, we pretended, we sang and we played.  It was a normal day.  However yesterday I watched my life and

actually saw it. 

Jacka

Meet Molly’s new doll.  Her name is Jacka. 

We adopted her from our favorite store on the square as they were clearing out.  Molly's crazy about her.

 There’s just something so familiar about that hairstyle I can’t quite capture with words. 

You see, it reminds me of my baby.  So what if it appears slightly flammable?  It takes gobs of personality and the face of an angel to pull off a ‘do’ like this.  Jacka and Molly rock it.  I find them both incredibly irresistible.

Something For You

 

Click the link:  Something For You End

Friday Night on South 5th

It all started after Mike and I snuck out on the porch after dinner to listen to the quiet.  Kratt wandered up and suddenly the robins became obnoxious.  One, in particular.  Kratts’ ears perked up and he went into Crouching-Tiger-Hidden -Dragon mode.  Crouched down with his tail low, he wouldn’t look directly at the robins, but we knew he was on the prowl.

All of a sudden, 6 robins began swooping toward Kratt, screeching and swarming him.

Sure enough, Kratt had a baby robin hanging out of his mouth.  I begged Mike to save it, yet Mike insisted this was nature and he didn’t want to kill Kratts’ spirit.  Huh?

The robins were now going completely ape.  You’d have thought the robin FBI had been called and Kratt was under the scope.  Kratt took the baby bird under a bush to finish his assassination.  Mike finally caved and decided to rescue the baby.  As he grabbed the baby robin, he noted a dead baby bird under the same bush. Mike scooped up the baby and offered it up to the robins (in his palms like he was offering his soul to the Lord).  I did what came naturally, went straight for my camera.

Mike ended up placing the bird in the crotch of the tree. (Not sure trees have crotches, but if they did, that’s where he put it).  That’s when the birds started taunting.  They screeched, they swooped down (as if they were trying to nip Kratt), they flew from one tree to the next, did everything except rescue the baby in the crotch.  I yelled “Get your baby, you idiots!”  Mike noticed one bird being extra cocky and it pissed him off.  Conveniently, Mike had an empty bottle of Summer Shandy in his hand and decided to take aim.  He flung it a few times, knocking twigs and leaves out of the tree, but no bird.  This had become war.  Eventually, he was lined up perfectly, he aimed, and he fired.  He missed the bird by a hair as the bottle shattered against the front of the porch. 

The white arrow points to the flying bottle.

Eventually, Mike surrendered and called it a night.  I think Kratt was completely confused.  Meanwhile, I don’t think we’ll be making those homemade birdfeeders off Pinterest after all.

Change Jars

Ross and Maisie won’t stop fighting.  I started money/change jars to encourage them with a reward system.  Today was the first day.  It’s going something like this:

 

Ross: I don’t even care about having the money.  I didn’t even get any money today.  Only money taken away.

Me: When should I have given you money?  When you took Maisie’s ring from her, or threw a fit when I beat you at Wii bowling, or when you bragged to Maisie about getting to invite 2 friends over on Friday?

Maisie: Mommy, I love your shirt, I just love when you wear it.  It’s so cool.

Ross: Why should I even care? The Dollar Store is full of junk anyway.  You can have the money back, or I’m just going to throw mine away in the trash.  Money’s stupid.

Me: Ok, fine, I’ll give yours to Maisie.

Ross: I don’t even care, I don’t want it. I don’t want to do this stupid money thing because it’s just trying to get us to be good so we can go buy a piece of crap.

Maisie: Mommy, I love you so much.  I’m so glad we started the money jars.  It makes me so happy.  I just want to buy some special things from the Dollar Store like glitter!

Ross: I hate this dinner.  I can’t believe this is all were having tonight. 

Maisie: Dinner is delicious tonight Mommy.  I wish we could eat this every night.  You are so beautiful.

 

I’m wondering if Ross got too much heat today.  Meanwhile, I’m retrieving another bottle of wine from the basement and reveling in the fact that I’m beautiful and own a cool shirt. 

 

 

Tight Tutu

While Ross was busy hand-stitching a sleeping bag for his Build-A-Bear, the girls practiced their ballet.

 

Molly's tutu seemed tight and short.  When she took it off, I realized the size was 'newborn'.  She insisted it fit fine.

 

Obviously, underwear was optional.  From the majority of my photos, it was clear she was either dealing with an awkward bug bite or a lousy wipe.

 

We found for a fairy costume for her instead. 

Returning

Rooms cleaned
Sheets washed
Random boxes of gravel in Ross' room discarded
Naked baby dolls dressed
Missing ponytail holders found
Freezer cleaned out and inventoried
Outgrown kid clothes boxed-up
Date nights with my husband
Cat brushed
Arm roast in crockpot

Today my babies return...

Bring it on.

Meatball Madness

Let me start by saying, no, this is not a food blog.  However, my kids are gone this week and I can't get a good story on the cat... 

I’ve had an unexpected hankering for meatballs these days.  I can’t explain it other than I witnessed Maisie eat 11 meatballs at her cousins birthday party last weekend.  While the kids are vacationing in Long Grove this week,  I’ve been plotting my new frugal housewife lifestyle.  With that said, I dug out my trusty ol' meatball recipe.

It goes something like this:

2 lbs ground beef

¼ cup finely minced onion

2 minced garlic cloves

1 cup oats

1 cup milk

1-1/2 tsp salt

(if you want to add any herbs, now would be the time)

Black pepper, to taste

Flour and canola oil for dredging and browning

The original recipe calls for 1 ½ pounds beef.  Well Einstein, my ground beef comes in 1 pound packages so whoever decided to call for an odd poundage of ground beef obviously doesn’t get their beef from the same locker I get mine.  Moving on.

I mix up the beef, onion, garlic, oats, milk, salt and black pepper just to combine, then I start pulling out golf ball sized pieces of meat and gently shape into rounds.

 

 

I roll each meatball through flour to coat and set aside on a plate.  If you find the meatballs to mushy to work with, you can pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm those babies up before rolling in flour.

Meanwhile, I add oil to coat the bottom of my pan, don’t be shy with this step.  Once the oil is hot, I brown about 10 meatballs at a time, turning the balls occasionally to brown evenly.  It’s important to note; We are only browning the outside of the meatballs, not cooking them through.  They will still be pink under the surface.  Relax and turn on some music.  You’ll be fine.  I found myself browning this batch to a catchy tune of Big and Rich ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy’.  It added to the ambiance of frying beef as well as reminded me of dancing with Mike at my sisters wedding reception...

 

 

I sprayed 3 pans with nonstick cooking spray.  2 loaf pans and 1 (8-by-8-inch) pan.  You think I’m crazy right?  3 Pans! Why not just put all the meatballs in 1 (9-by-13-inch) pan and get it over with?

Three reasons:

1.      My family won’t eat 2 pounds of meatballs at one sitting.  That would be insane and cause more cholesterol issues than we already have.

2.      I have a picky eater in the family who may not eat meatballs cooked in marinara or bbq sauce.  He would prefer his meatballs with a cream of mushroom soup/milk/garlic/black pepper mixture poured over his meatballs.  Separate meatball pans create options.  It’s like a meatloaf buffet.  Plus, I can cook up a batch of spaghetti noodles to serve with either the marinara meatballs (we call it spaghetti) or with the mushroom soup meatballs (we call it stroganoff).  Genius.

3.      Lastly, I only have matching lids for my 8-by-8-inch pan and my 2 loaf pans.  End of story.

I place one layer of meatballs in each pan, let the meatballs cool slightly, cover with lids and freeze.

From here it’s easy peasy pull out a frozen pan of meatballs, top with whatever sauce desired, cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350, or until the internal temperature of the biggest meatball reads 160. 

 

 

At this point, I'm sure your wondering what's up with my cast iron skillet?  Is that a crocheted handle cover? Bingo.  Luckily for us, we have a crocheter in the family.  Mike's sister made us not 1, but 5 of these beauties.  Were spoiled like that. 

 

 

For Sure

For over a week, I’ve been at a loss for words.   Writing has always been therapeutic for me, yet I’ve been struggling with where to begin. 

When suddenly and without warning, Oprah came to mind.  Am I nuts?  Yes, but that’s beside the point. I imagined being a guest on the Oprah Show.  What for?  Who knows, but at the end of my interview, she would ask (as she does all her guests),

“What do you know for sure?”  That question got me thinking.

This morning as I ran (okay, walk/jogged) through the Winterset cemetery pondering that very question, the answers arrived all too easily…

I know for sure, life doesn’t stay the same.  It’s constantly changing and the ability to roll with those changes is what living is.  I know I have family, both immediate and extended, who would drop everything in a heartbeat to help, guide and support me.

What do I know for sure?”

I know the majority of people are good.  I know money is important, yet not everything.  I know I love my kids in a way words can’t describe and I know marrying Mike was the best decision I’ve ever made.  He’s the perfect combination of strength and tenderness and I can't imagine being on this ride without him next to me. 

What do I know for sure?

I know things happen for a reason. I know love is what makes this world worth being a part of.  I know a bottle of wine and good cheese can make a dull day brighter.  I know laughter can be more powerful than prescriptions and kindness can bring peace.  I know everyone who follows my blog can probably determine where I am in my menstrual cycle by the tone of my writing.

What do I know for sure?

I know I no longer have a job.  As of right now, I’m a stay-at-home mom; although my kids are spending the week in Long Grove with my parents.  I know when I struggle for words, I look through my camera lens for answers. When those answers don’t appear, I turn on my oven, thaw out some meat and sprinkle in some onion soup mix.  When it’s too hot to turn on the oven, I run.

While running through the cemetery this morning, I discovered one central theme.  Of all the headstones, not a single one listed the persons’ place of employment, what their insurance plan looked like, how much money they made or how fast they could type.  If there was anything listed besides a name and 2 dates, it was, ‘wife of…’; husband to...’; ‘parents of…’ .  That’s when I figured it out.

At the end of the day, all the little things I worry about don’t really matter.  At the end of the day, I’m not Heidi Boyd, the Home Economist, or Heidi Boyd, the Office Assistant, or Heidi Boyd, the Teacher.  At the end of the day, I’m Heidi Boyd, the wife of Mike Boyd and mom of Ross, Maisie and Molly.  They are, and always will be, my everything. 

That’s what I know for sure.

 

 

Pond Party 2013

Click the link for a peek into the 4th of July Pond Party...

Pond Party 2013

Stay Tuned

Whew, now that was a party!

 

More photos coming soon....

Happy 4th of July!

 

Hope your 4th of July is a boom!!