What I Loved About Last Week 5th Edition

Here's what I loved about last week (4/16-4/22):

1. Paying off Andy's student loans!!!  Quite some time ago (probably close to two years ago) I mentioned on the blog that we were putting away our extra money each month to pay off our student loans.  When Andy got furloughed, we decided to just keep the money in the bank in case we needed it.  We never did have to dip into it and last week were able to pay off his student loans.  HOORAY!!!!  It feels so good to have that debt off of our backs!  Next up in the debt snowball:  my student loans, followed by our house!  Then we'll be debt FREE!!!!!

2. Ruby galloping.  So often throughout the day Ruby gallops instead of walks.  It is the cutest little thing.  A video would probably be more convincing, but for now, you'll have to take my word.

3. Butterflies on our Salvia.  Talk about the glory of God's creation.

4. Rummage Sale finds.  Twice each year, several of the "supermoms" in our parish host a Rummage Sale to benefit the missions.  They collect items on Monday then have a sale on Tuesday and Wednesday where everything is 10 cents.  I was able to find a pair of uniform pants for Ira and two school sweatshirts in the next two sizes up for him.  I also got an adorable dress and 3 pairs of tights for Ruby as well as some sewing notions, some Little Golden Books, and some kitchen utensils.  I think I spent $2.10.  Seriously?!  Does it get any better than that?

5. Rubyisms.  Ruby has been delighting us lately with all her little sayings, so I thought I'd share them with you.  She calls granola bars "monkey bars."  Her sandals are "shoe schlops."   Dump it is "bonk it."  Band-aids are "ban baids."  An umbrella is a "bunumbola."  When you ask her where something is she says, "I don't knoooooow.... I lose it again?"  And she calls the little pocket in the door of the car "the bathtub."  Ruby - where's you're binky? "In the bathtub."  She's such a goose!

6. The new Muppets Movie.  Ira received "The Muppets" for Easter from Andy's parents, but we wanted to pre-view it before we let him watch it.  It truly is a wonderful, wonderful movie.  We laughed a LOT, I cried, and we even re-watched several scenes after the movie was over that were just too funny not to rewatch.  It's definitely a movie we would let Ira watch.  There were just two things that I thought they could have left out: they said the word "butt" once and "idiot" once or twice.  We'll probably watch it with Ira to make sure that we can voice our disapproval over those words, but overall, wow, AWESOME movie!

7. Ruby helping Andy make biscuits.  It's their little thing together and it is so darn precious to witness!


8. We got the 5th bed for our garden done on Saturday.  I tell you what, that double-digging is some arm/leg/neck/feet/back-breaking work!  We still have two more left to do and I can't wait until they're done!

9. We also got quite a bit else done in the garden on Saturday: finishing up the fence for the peas, putting up fence for the blackberry bushes, and planting: green onions, beets, marigolds, cilantro, chives, oregano, and nasturtium.  The kids were dolls and played outside all day.  It just makes my heart swell to hear them playing together.  After wondering for so long if we would ever be able to give Ira a sibling it just feels like I'm living a dream to hear them playing and laughing uproariously together (because they were throwing sand at each other...still...)

10. Cardinal friends.  We have a very friendly male cardinal in our yard who supervises us gardening.  He'll seriously come within 5-10 feet of us and doesn't dart away when/if we move from what we're doing.  Andy was able to capture a picture of him and his lady friend on the bird feeder just a few feet from our house.

I think that about covers last week!  Also, if I could ask for prayers, Andy and I are trying to get pregnant again, which as you can imagine, is kind of a bittersweet situation to be in.  If you would, pray that we are able to embrace whatever God's will is for our family.  Obviously, I hope that means more babies, but there's that whole "Thy will be done" thing that I try to submit myself to too.

What I Loved About Last Week 4th Edition

Here's what I loved about last week (4/9- 4/15)
1. Weeding the garden.  That's not something I would typically love, but with the wide raised beds that we have now, and the walkways to stand on, it is very, VERY easy to hoe all 4 beds in a matter of 15-20 minutes.  I even hand weeded around the lettuce.  Weeds/grass just come out so easily because the dirt isn't compacted from being walked on.  So yes, I actually enjoyed it!

2. Moving the big bed into the kids' room.  Andy and I are trying to get Ruby into a big bed, but we only have one bedroom (besides ours) in our house right now.  So with some gut-sucking effort, I (by myself) moved Ira's twin mattress, box spring, bed frame, and headboard downstairs and moved the Queen mattress, box spring, and bed frame from the basement to the kids' room.  I set it up in their room like a "kid's King bed" (i.e. tucked the sheets in at the long side, not the foot, like you traditionally would.)  It's nice to have room for 3 (or even all 4) of us to be able to snuggle in and read books at night.  Ruby has done fairly well taking naps in it (she's definitely not the "the floor is lava" type like Ira was, but she does stay in the room - just not always in the bed.)  Night time.  Well, that's not something I love.  It's like a freakin' circus in there with 2 of them in the same bed.  They bounce and squeak the mattress, get out of bed, come out of the room, jump on the bed, and Ruby even BIT Ira last night!! (Where they're getting all this I do NOT know as they NEVER act like that any other time.)  So we're still trying to figure out what to do at night.  Ruby has ended up in her crib both nights we've tried because Ira does has school in the morning and we don't want him to be too tired.  The Queen bed is temporary anyway until we can find a twin over full bunk bed that has enough headroom on the bottom bunk that when Andy/I sit down we don't hit our heads on the top bunk.  (Really, is that asking too much?!)

3. The Easter Bunny brought me some amazing Easter Lilies (cut, not potted) and they have lasted beautifully.  Plus their smell is just out of this world.  I don't think I've ever smelled an Easter Lily before, but wow, they are just SO aromatic and delicious smelling!

4. At Mass one day last week Ruby wanted swaddled in her blanket (seriously, I know, she's crazy) As I was holding her, she arched her head back and it was like total deja-vu of all the times I saw her on sonogram when I was pregnant with her.  She still has the exact same face/cheeks/chin/head shape as she did in utero.  I was certainly waxing nostalgic.

5. The irises and some other beautiful green, leafy thing that I have no idea what it's called are blooming.  I added some of them to my Easter Lilies and have a beautifully full bouquet on the table.  Really though, any ideas on the greenery/hangy flower stuff to the left?

6. The soften button on our microwave.  It's the little things really.  But it has come in so handy lately to soften but not melt or even heat up frozen shredded cheese, frozen yogurt starter, and ice cream.  Seriously, it is really cool.

7. With the weather predicted to be scary on Saturday, I decided that if our garden was going to get hailed out/blown away, we were at least going to enjoy something out of it.  So we picked a surprisingly big bowl of lettuce to go with our homemade pizza on Friday night.  There's just nothing like lettuce fresh from the garden.  It was DELICIOUS!

8. Making yogurt in the cooler.  I always use the heating pad method, but that's kind of a pain because our stinkin' heating pad automatically shuts off after 2 hours. Yogurt has to "fester" for 8 hours or more, so I'm constantly setting timers and unplugging then plugging back in the heating pad.  My mom sent some directions for making it in the cooler awhile back and I finally decided to try it.  It worked wonderfully.  It's still not very thick, but it does seem less tart/tangy than the heating pad stuff.  The kids (and Andy and I some too) have already gobbled up 3 Quarts of it - totally UNSWEETENED!!!  We just put some homemade granola on top and my is it tasty.  (They never ate the heating pad stuff unsweetened.)

9.  Surviving.  By the grace of God we were spared from an EF-3 Tornado heading straight toward us on Saturday night.  Seriously, it miraculously stopped less than 2 miles from our house.  It was horrifying to actually be taking shelter from a very imminent and real (and large (1/2 - 1 mile wide) tornado.  Andy's brother and his 2 children joined us in our 10-15 sq. ft. under-the-stairs closet.  There were 7 of us in there along with all the stuff that we had put down there during the day in case we really did get hit: (a duffle bag with jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, and tennis shoes for all of us; 5 of Ruby's diapers, a cover, wipes, and wetbag; my NFP charts and my medicines; a box of my contacts and my glasses; our external hard drive; peanut butter crackers, granola bars; a gallon of water; our wallets, cell phones, and keys; all the camcorder tapes we've taken; our DSLR camera and charger; flashlights; a battery powered radio; 4 heavy pilllows from our bed, a DeWalt sawz-all with 3 spare batteries; and a hatchet - just in case you're curious.)  It was surreal to be sitting in our storm shelter wondering not if, but when we would get hit, what it would sound like, and how bad it would be.  We heard them say on the radio, "Town X, you are in a Tornado Emergency.  If you are in Town X, you need to get underground or you will not survive."  We heard lots of loud booms (thunder apparently) then it was silent for a long time.  Ira nearly passed out/puked (because of the total lack of oxygen) but we escaped unscathed (both ourselves and our property.)  A number of homesteads outside of town took direct hits, so please keep those families in your prayers.  No injuries, but there are a number of total property losses.  I can't even fathom if it had been us.  Andy said our guardian angels must have been standing outside of town slashing the tornadoes apart.  And I tell you what, the "Angel of God" prayer had never been more meaningful than praying it that night with the kids when we put them to bed (before we went to the basement.)

 "Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love entrusts me here.  

Ever this night be at my side: to light, to guard, to rule, and to guide.

Amen."

Foolproof Pie Dough

So a week or two ago, I blogged about how I can finally make pie crusts thanks to America's Test Kitchen.  My friend, Karen, asked about the recipe, so I thought I'd share it on the ole' blog in case others wanted to try it as well.  Oh, and for those wondering, the alcohol completely cooks out of this while it is baking in the oven, so although you make get a buzz if you eat the whole crust raw, you will not after it has baked.  I'll type it exactly as I found it on the ATK website.

Foolproof Pie Dough
For one 9-inch Double-Crust Pie
Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor - do not substitute.  This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup.)


Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
12 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vodka, cold
1/4 cup cold water

Instructions
1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses.  Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour.)  Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade.  Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.  Empty mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk.  Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Technique (Tips)
Key Steps to Foolproof pie dough:
1. Make a Fat and Flour Paste: Completely blending part of the flour with all of the butter ensures a consistent amount of fat-coated flour in the final dough.
2. Add More Flour: Pulsing in the final cup of flour ensures a consistent amount of uncoated flour in the final dough.
3. Add Water and Vodka: Sprinkling with water and vodka ensures even distribution.  No need to skimp - unlike water, vodka won't make the dough tough.

What I Loved About Last Week (3rd Edition)

Happy Easter Season to all!!  We're on a roll here - 3 weeks in a row!
Here's what I loved about last week (April 2-8, 2012):

1.Miracle of miracles.  After my rant last week, the bike riding w/ training wheels reached a fever pitch on Tuesday when it took us FORTY-FIVE minutes to ride home (it's like a 5 minute ride.)  Two blocks from home, I said, "that's it, the training wheels are coming off at home!"  We took them off, and what do you know, Ira can ride on two wheels without training wheels!

2. Getting over Strep Throat.  Yes, that means that we all (with the exception of Ira) had Strep Throat last week.  Andy's had it about a million times, but I'd never had it (thought maybe I was immune to it or something.)  Alas, I am not, nor is Ruby apparently.  Props to the antibiotics for working FAST.  And props to people who deal with Strep regularly - it is NO FUN!

3. Good Friday.  Ira was off school.  While Ruby napped (from noon until three o'clock oddly enough) Ira and I both decorated one of his Birthday cakes together and prayed the Stations of the Cross with a Stations Booklet that I'd made from materials from Holy Heroes' Lenten Adventure.  He was also FULL of questions (had to have been the Holy Spirit) about other faiths, masculinity and femininity, authority of the Catholic Church/the Pope, and martyrs.  Thanks to the Holy Spirit's help, I feel very good about the answers I was able to give him.  It made me hopeful that he will always feel comfortable asking me questions that he has about our beautiful faith.

4. Like I said, we decorated a cake for Ira's birthday party together.  Ira refers to himself as the ace of cakes now.  I would say he did a pretty bang up job (with some help), wouldn't you?

5. Rubyisms.  She has been full of good ones lately.  She calls green olives "blue grapes" and has recently started saying "Goo grief," "What in the Lord (world)" and "Eeee my dooness (goodness)"  She is just too funny!

6. Ira's Birthday Cake.  One of my proudest yet.  I did a gel transfer (1st time) and although I messed it up a little transfering it, I was able to fix my mistakes for the most part, and ended up with one of my "proudest" cakes.  I was really, really excited with how it turned out.

7. We hosted about 30 people at our house on Saturday morning/afternoon for Ira's birthday party (aliens from Toy Story theme).  The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and the party was a blast.  I just can't believe that our little boy is SIX!

The sandwiches we served "alien style"

Playing with his new kite from my parents

8. We had a beautiful Easter (albeit busy.)  We went to Easter Mass in the morning, then to Andy's folks' house, then to my parents' house.  Ruby didn't take a nap all Easter weekend, and *spoiler alert for next week* she took a FOUR hour nap on Monday.  Can I get a WOOT!  And the Easter Bunny did not disappoint as far as the "Sacrifice Jar."  Look at what our table looked like on Easter Morning!

I love how Ruby looks like she's getting ready to punch someone.  And Ira, well, the sun was in his eyes, what can I say?

What I Loved About Last Week 2nd Edition

Hello and a blessed Holy Week to "all" my readers!  I'm back with another week in review!  Here's what I loved about last week (3/26-4/1):

At My Parent's house playing on the Plasma Car

1. Eating outside.  We've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather lately by spending the evenings outside.  The kids both love playing outside (in the dirt, on the swings, on their bicycles/tricycles, practicing fishing casts, etc.) and I'm growing to love the outdoors more the older I get.  (I didn't really used to love it outside, mainly I hate bugs (mosquitos/flies) but Andy - Mr. Would-Rather-Be-Outside-Than-Anywhere-Else - is turning me more and more into an outdoor lover.)  So, with all the playing outside, what's easier than fixing dinner (on the grill) and eating outside?  Not much - so it's what we've done several  nights this week.  And it's so easy to clean up too!!

2. Speaking of the nice weather, have I told you how much I love it?  Well, I do.  And I love being able to have the windows open too.  Our house was built just right for having the windows open.  If you open them all, there's a nice breeze that runs through and cools down the entire house - and I (as well as our budget) really like that!

3.  Speaking of the nice weather (Part deux... or is it trois...) we've also been riding our bikes to take Ira to school.  We have a great Schwinn Bike Trailer that we got when Ira was 9 months old that is perfect for Ruby (and Ira too, only this mama's not in good enough shape to pull the 60-70 lbs. of the 2 of them combined for very long - one day was enough for me!)  So Ira's riding his own bike.  He still has training wheels on, and let me tell you, riding a bike with him is a REAL exercise in patience. We've tried letting him go without training wheels and that just doesn't work at all (every time he'd get going, he'd STOP and fall down) but the training wheels are angled far back (so that he doesn't totally rely on them) and he does this crazy, awkward knees-pointing-out pedaling thing that makes me totally understand why he cannot manage to ride without training wheels.  And sometimes he has the focus of a flea, so riding his bike without hitting everything around him (because Heaven forbid he watch where he's... IRA DON'T HIT THE... too late) would be asking so much.  So what if the ride to school is kind of like a circus - we're getting fresh air and good exercise.  He will get how to ride a bike eventually... right?!


4. Sewing.  After getting a sewing machine from my parents last year (2010) for Christmas, I've really developed a love for sewing.  I even made myself an Easter Dress for this year.  It's nothing extravagant, but I'm very excited about it.  I LOVE being able to make modest clothes that actually fit my tall self just right.  It's nice being able to wear a knee-length dress that's actually supposed to be knee length.  As opposed to wearing a knee-length dress that's supposed to be tea-length - not that I've ever done that.



5. Pie success.  Now, because I have no shame, I'll admit that I cannot make a pie to save my life.  I think I've mentioned it before.  Well, I finally figured out that all I needed was a little vodka.  Not for myself!  Yeesh!  For the pie crust!!  (Although, I had to stand up for myself just a smidge when I went to the liquor store to buy it - "Excuse me sir, I promise I am not an alcoholic, but could you please tell me where to find your cheapest vodka.")  According to America's Test Kitchen, it is the perfect moistener for pie crust because the ethanol in the vodka does not turn the flour into gluten (which makes for a tough crust) like water does.  Well, to have a pliable pie crust (which has been my problem all along) you need plenty of liquid.  But if you add too much water, you end up with a tough old heifer, which no one likes - I know - I'm mixing metaphors - it's my specialty.  Well, vodka won't do that because of the whole ethanol/gluten thing - so you can add enough liquid to make a VERY workable pie crust, while still turning out some of the flakiest, yummiest stuff on the planet.  And the alcohol bakes out while it's baking, so you won't even turn your kids into alcoholics just because you want to make a decent pie crust.  Now isn't that a win-win situation?  So I was proudly able to take a homemade Tropical Sunrise pie to our Altar Society Quilt Bingo.  Score one for science!

6. Ruby making "snaremiches."  For her birthday at the beginning of March (which I've yet to post about, I know, hush your mouth) Andy's parents got Ruby a Melissa & Doug Sandwich Set.  It's all cloth (mainly felt) so you can actually stack up a huge sandwich and have it stay together (unlike with the molded plastic junk.)  That's a fact that hasn't been lost on either of our kids.  They both love it because it's actually like making a real sandwich.  And the set is a real winner, including everything from pitas and subs to slices of bread and just about every kind of meat, cheese, vegetable and condiment you could ever dream of putting on a sandwich.  Needless to say, it's gotten played with a lot.

7. Getting our budget updated.  Although we operate on a cash-only system for our groceries and sundries budgets, I track every penny we spend on everything else too (which is actually pretty darn easy with online banking.)  Well, it'd been a couple of months since I'd entered everything into our spreadsheet.  And even though we'd gotten a little off track these last two months (which I knew going into it), it is good to know where exactly we stand and where we want to go.

And I think that's about it for me!

Wishing you a reflective Holy Week,
Michelle