canning joy

I tried my hand at canning for the first time this year. I started with a basic strawberry jam, and it turned out very well!! We sampled the first jar yesterday, and oh YUMMY! It's amazing how much fresher it tasted than store-bought jam. It just has four ingredients: strawberries, lemon juice, fruit pectin, and sugar. Simple and tasty!

The process itself demands a lot of focus from start to finish, which meant doing it when Jim was home to keep the boy occupied. But other than a slight incident involving fruit and sugar boiling over and onto my stove top, it went smoothly, and I now have lots of yummy jars of jam to share with family and friends.



My mom and dad are coming down Wednesday to stay for a week, and my mom and I are going to make some Plum jam together while she's here. After that, I may also make my dad's salsa recipe, and maybe also his cinnamon applesauce. Yum :D

my homemade advent calendar

Eli is getting old enough to start appreciating special holiday family traditions now, so I decided to make my own Advent calendar based on what I saw in volume 18 of Better Homes & Gardens' "Christmas From the Heart".

First, I ordered a 3D boxed calendar from Karen Foster designs, as seen here. It consists of 24 2" x 2" boxes that slide out to hold goodies or small toys. It also comes with a sheet of adhesive numbers.

Here it is before I decorated it:




I went to Michael's and picked up 4 different designs of coordinating Christmas scrapbooking paper, some embellishments, and some beautiful metallic red adhesive letters. I cut the paper into 2" squares, cut out the finger notches with a 5/8" hole punch, attached the numbers, and adhered the pieces of paper in a random pattern with a glue stick. Then I added some embellishments to some of the pieces, and two large embellishments to the front cover of the box. I finished up by gluing the adhesive letters to the front cover of the box. Here's how it turned out:




I can't wait to start our family Advent tradition! Eli will get a surprise each night in December up until Christmas day!

As Eli would say, "Num NUM!"

child of God

The other night, Eli did something that will stick in my mind forever. It had been a long day filled with the challenges an energetic young boy can provide, and I was stressed. I ended up doing something I strive really hard to avoid: I raised my voice to him. (I was raised in a loving family, but a family of yellers, and that is one thing I do not want to pass on.) He stopped what he was doing, clearly surprised. Immediately afterwards I sat down and apologized, almost starting to cry out of frustration, and thinking he was going to cry as well. Then something incredible happened. Eli didn't cry; instead he came over to me and started rubbing my leg and saying "Mommy" in a very comforting manner over and over. Then he crawled up on the couch and hugged me. I was so touched by his actions. How can a two and a half year old, who according to all the books should be going through his selfish-independent phase, show such amazing compassion and selflessness? We just sat there and hugged for awhile, and then he went back to playing. But in that brief moment, God gave me an insight into the man of God He's already shaping Eli into. I became aware that even in little moments that parents can pass off as insignificant, God is shaping our childrens' character and integrity. Out of a moment of heated frustration came what will be one of my favorite moments ever with my child. A moment that pointed me to my creator, my God who can use any situation to show me His love for us.

dinner talk

(At a pizza place, with Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman" playing in the background)

Jim: Why wouldn't she always be a woman?

Erin: No idea.

Jim: You'll always be a woman, right?

Erin: I was planning on having some man parts attached next week, but I can cancel if you'd like.

Jim: Please do.

Erin: Okie doke.

(Later during the meal)

Jim: (Licking a large meatball suggestively)

Erin: Would you like for me to explain the homosexual implications of that gesture to you?

Jim: (Putting meatball down) Please don't.

(Today over the phone)

Erin: I was wrong and you were right, I admit it.

Jim: I plan on reminding you of that every single day.

Erin: (silence)

Jim: Just kidding...hehe...hello?

Erin: Mmm-hmm.

praising God for acid reflux

For quite a long time now, I've been experiencing soreness in the base of my throat, feelings of having some kind of "lump" down there, and random coughing. Sometimes it would even wake me up at night and affect my breathing, which scared me. Then two weeks ago I was watching an old rerun of House, and there was a girl who came into the ER with a basic cough, and ended up being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. That freaked me out enough to call my doctor and not give up until I found out what was going on down there.

*On a side note, NEVER self-diagnose while watching House. It will inevitably lead you to the conclusion that you have something really rare and hard to find that will kill you, or at best, leave you disabled.*

Yesterday, I had a physical exam, with focus on the neck and throat. Nothing was out of place or growing new things, so she recommended I go to a specialist. So I went to an ear nose and throat doctor today to find out what was causing the symptoms I've been having on and off for two years. "Two years and you just went to the doctor yesterday?" Well, no. I mentioned these symptoms at my first physical with my new doctor down here last year. At the time, she thought I might have allergies and recommended that I take some over-the-counter meds. I'll be honest, I didn't. I know my body, and I didn't have allergies. After the appointment last year, I decided perhaps I was just experiencing anxiety from the move and being separated from friends and family and having to re-adjust my life. I brushed them off and hoped they would go away. They didn't.

So today, after talking to me for only a couple minutes, the specialist said, "I know what you have. And I'm going to put a scope down your throat through your nose to prove it." My first reaction? COOL! No, really. I love anything having to do with medicine and the body. Especially seeing inside the body. Blood and guts? Bring it on. I really am that girl.

I admit, the process of inhaling and swallowing the numbing agent almost made me barf, but once we got past that, she put the scope in and I got to see the inside of my nose, throat, larynx, and entrance to the esophagus. It was awesome.

Once she got down to the base of the throat, the problem became pretty clear, even to my untrained eye. There was all sorts of burns and bubbly irritated skin from stomach acid just hanging out up there without my permission. And I had no clue this was happening, because I don't have heartburn. Ever. The doc said most people with my form of acid reflux, called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR for short, can have symptoms for years (like me) and not have any idea what's causing them because of the lack of heartburn. And the symptoms are really varied and come and go. Because that's fair. Stupid acid.

At any rate, I have specific instructions to follow to help prevent and eventually heal the damage in my throat. I have to take one Prilosec every day for two to three months, and I can't eat 3-5 hours before bed. That one will be tough. The biggest challenge, though, is that I have to give up caffeine, and all soda. I've gone off caffeine in the past, so I know I can do that, but I might be a zombie for a few days getting there. Perhaps I will try to wean myself slowly. Going cold turkey might kill me.

More than anything, I am just SO thankful to God for finally knowing what was wrong with me! I really felt at times like I was just going crazy. But now I know that every one of my symptoms has been explained. Even a couple I didn't mention, like hoarseness in the morning and my occasional random runny nose, the doctor said are common symptoms as well.

The best part about today's visit was that my doctor gave me a print out of the pics she took of my throat. I am really looking forward to grossing Jim out with them when he gets home from work.

[fiendish grin]

birthdays and other stuff

First things first - happy birthday to my amazing and wonderful and (many other really good adjectives) husband, Jim!!! I cannot express in words how grateful I am to have you as my partner in this life. God has blessed me SO much through you!!

new home bliss
We've been in our new place for over a month now and we're really loving it! I've already lost count of the number of times Jim and Eli have been to the pool. I've joined them a couple times, but I have to be careful. My pale Irish-ness could cause me to spontaneously combust if exposed to too much sunlight at once.

I have been really enjoying the gym, though. I've been able to exercise muscles I'm pretty sure my body forgot existed. The only challenge is that, with Jim occasionally traveling, I have to use a DVD or the like to workout when he's gone, since I obviously can't leave Eli. The last one I attempted was a Jillian Michaels cardio DVD. I'm not going to lie. I used the easiest workout and was pretty convinced I was having a heart attack afterwards. Who knew she hated me so much?

And on a related note, it is virtually impossible to do jumping jacks within ten feet of a sleeping toddler and not wake him up. Not that I didn't welcome the chance to stop that sadistic woman's death-workout...

retro joy
It took about nine months, but I finally have my great-grandmother's 1938 Zenith console radio all cleaned up, put together and working with a newly re-coned speaker and a few other new parts. All I have left to do now is get it refinished and the missing vertical slats on the front fabricated and attached. I actually already have an estimate for all that, but it will have to wait a bit. I have the full photo-documentation of the restoration so far on my facebook, but here are a few pics:

Here's a photo I found online of what is is supposed to look like:


It was in pretty bad (and gross) shape when I first got it at Christmas:




Here it is all cleaned up, repaired, working perfectly, and with many new parts:


Hopefully I can get it completed soon. Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying using it. I turn it on, listen to the crackle of the glass tubes heating up, sit back and enjoy. It's like I'm living a scene right out of the 40's :)

I'm still alive!

So lets see, there was a two week vacation up to Indiana to see family, then three weeks of packing, and then a long weekend of moving, and that gets us to today. We are now in a new apartment that I LOVE. And pics will be coming soon. Meanwhile, some final pics from the garden at the house we just moved out of:

visitors to my garden

A beautiful Swallowtail. She danced around my flowers for quite a long time.


This big fella showed up a couple days ago. He stayed by that tree eating for several minutes. I looked away for about five seconds, looked back, and he was gone! Must be quick on his feet :)

yes, that's my boy...

I am now the mother of "that kid".

Jim's company picnic was this past Saturday. Since it was for the employees and their families, there was a huge blow-up water slide with a pool at the bottom, and a bounce house for the kids. Eli had a ton of fun in the bounce house, and he really wanted to play in the pool, so about a half hour or so before we were going to leave, I decided to let him get in a splash around a bit. I took off his diaper, of course, so he was just in shorts. [Start ominous music here] I'm sure there are many of you who know where this is going. One of the young girls came over to play in the pool as well, and she and Eli splashed and screamed for a few minutes. Then Eli got kind of quiet. I had a bad feeling about this, but somehow I didn't think quickly enough to stop what happened next. After a couple minutes, the girl looked down in the pool, and sitting on the bottom of the pool was something she thought was...a leaf. I looked down and immediately knew what it was, but before I could get it out, she called her grandpa over to "get it out of the pool". I just kind of froze, as this man I did not know came over, reached down in the pool, and fished out...my child's poo. That's right. My son pooped in the pool. As soon as he had casually flung the poo out into a field, I begged Jim to get Eli out of the pool quickly. He did, but not before Eli let a couple more go. He scooped Eli up and gave him to me to get cleaned up and dried off, and then Jim got the illustrious honor of removing the rest of his excrement from the pool.

Needless to say, we left pretty quickly after that. Thankfully, the only other person who knew about it (other than the little girl), was the man who handled the poo.

...eeeeeeeeeew.

blooms from my garden

One of my potted plants.


My first Zinnia bloom. I planted a bed of Zinnia seeds about 2 months ago. Now the different varieties measure between 1 and 2 feet tall and are blooming in all sorts of gorgeous colors.


A little flower bed of petunias and lamb's ear.


One of my hanging baskets of impatiens.


It's dragonfly season here, so these little guys are all over. This one was following me around the garden today. I think he just really wanted his picture taken. I'm calling him Roger.

vivaterra

I'm not sure how I was signed up for emails from this company, but I really enjoy their products. Most everything is recycled and/or eco-friendly.

http://www.vivaterra.com/

there's not enough caffeine in the world

...to keep up with my two year old. My days are spent chasing him around, picking up whatever he is currently destroying. Does this count as cardio? And when he's not on the run, he's glued to my legs. Thankfully, when Jim gets home from work, Eli is all about Daddy, so I get a break, and Jim wears him down playing. Most nights, he goes to bed in his own room, but even then he ends up in ours at some point in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes sooner.

At this rate Eli certainly won't be getting a baby brother or sister anytime soon. But it doesn't really matter, because this "terrible twos" phase is the best birth control on earth.

links

Stampin' Up: an invaluable resource for stamping supplies.

Bake It Pretty: my go-to site for fun and unique decor when baking for a special occasion, and...well...just for fun.

Smile Box: design your own scrapbooking layouts, e-cards and invites, and photo slideshows, all in a free downloadable application for your computer.

converting the crib

We recently converted Eli's crib to a toddler bed. It's SO cliche to say, but it is really true - it goes so quickly! It feels like I fell asleep and woke up two years later. But every new phase has its perks.

It's been a week now since we converted the bed, and it also marks a week of Eli NOT napping. This is not one of the perks. But he gets really excited about bed time now, and lays right down, gets cozy, and drifts off. This is a perk.

Last night, for the first time, I went into his room and he was on the floor. He'd slipped out apparently at some point. I just picked him up and put him back in and he fell right back asleep. Then, at about 2:45 am, I was woken up by Eli standing at my bedside. He said, "Mom?", and I about peed myself. Scared the crap out of me. But he wanted in our bed, so I picked him up and laid him between Jim and I and he snuggled up and fell right to sleep. I have to admit, I kind of loved it. It took me awhile to fall back to sleep because Eli was moving around a lot, but once I did, we both slept comfortably until this morning.

Jim told me before he left for work, that he was woken up a couple times by Eli kicking. I figure that's fair since Eli kept me up kicking for most of my last trimester.

Payback is sweet :)

recipe cards

I've been given several recipes over the years, and even with the most amazing recipes, the recipe card itself was always very plain. So I designed my own:



Standard recipe cards can be either 3" x 5" or 4" x 6". I chose the smaller size, because it best suited my needs. After you've decided on a size, choose a color scheme. I chose pinks and browns.



Helpful Hint: To get a variety of designs within the same color, opt for the smaller sample pads of cardstock, usually 6" x6" or smaller. The size is much closer to what you need, meaning less waste, and you'll get a lot more variety for your money.

Cut a variety of 3" x 5" (or 4" x 6") cards out of your card stock. These are your backer cards. Then print your recipes on contrasting card stock. I used a standard package of 8 1/2" x 11" mottled pastel card stock, available in any office supply store. Make sure to print the title and ingredients in one section, and the directions in another (adjusting the font based on number of ingredients and length of directions), and then cut them out separately and adhere them to opposite sides of your backer cards. It's very important to make sure you leave enough space on both sides of your text so that when you cut it out, the width will match the width of your backer cards. Here is what they should look like when you're done:



And there you go! Simple and easily replicated. For some additional little fun touches, I bought some notecard dividers, and printed categories on white labels:



I also created a cute little title card for the front:



And to house my cards, I bought a fun little notecard box from an office supply store:



If your recipe collection is too large for a small box, an easy (and very attractive) solution is to buy a larger, clear notecard holder. That would not only house all of your recipes, but people could see your beautiful handmade cards right through the box.

This project might take a little time, depending on how many recipes you have, but these cards will not only be beautiful, but also be durable and last :)

invites

Here is one of my designs for simple hand-made invites.



There are five basic parts to this card: the backer piece, the printed piece, the vellum cover, twine, and of course, the envelope.



When printing the actual text on the card stock, I use the column feature in Word to separate my page into two columns, and then print the text twice in each column. This makes getting an even border when cutting it out a lot easier. I also prefer to use scrapbooking fonts, although handwriting invites can add a nice personal touch if the handwriting is clear and neat.

Your backer cards and vellum should measure 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".

Helpful hint: Each 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock and/or vellum makes four 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" pieces, when cut down the center both ways. And these cards fit perfectly into 4 1/2" x 5 3/4" envelopes - a standard size carried by craft and stationary stores.

Trim the printed card stock to a slightly smaller size than the backer card. This will reveal a nice border of contrasting color. I prefer to use Zots to adhere the printed piece, because it gives it some depth. Then cover with the vellum (do not adhere), which not only looks nice but also protects the printing. Tie it all up with a piece of twine and it's ready to be put into the envelope and mailed!

The best thing about this design is that it can be adapted for various occasions, just by changing the color scheme and vellum cover. Having a fall wedding? Just coordinate the shower invite colors with the wedding colors:



Or say you're making baby shower invites. Change your color palate to pastels, and use blue or pink ribbon in place of the twine.

The possibilities are really endless.