"Hey, it's okay..."

Being the blogger that I am I'm totally addicted to reading other peoples blogs and keeping up with their own lives. One of the blogs I follow is about a family in Athens. The main purpose of their blog is to keep people updated on their youngest's, Piper, battle with cancer. However, the wife, Sus, in her sweet humor makes me laugh each week with her new series, "Hey, it's okay..." because I can totally relate. Stuff happens on a daily basis and sometimes I have to laugh because how else do we deal with life's ups and downs but with grace and a little humor. If you feel like following the Needham's here you go.

And here's to my first "Hey, it's okay..." post.

--to give your toddler a side of Goldfish with his pancakes for breakfast because it's only 9am on a Wednesday. And inevitably there is bound to be bigger fish to fry as your day progresses.

--to hold off on weaning AG from his paci because he's a bear who gnaws when he teethes. We've discovered that if we don't give him his paci as of late that he gnaws on his wrist and or four fingers like they are a drumstick. So rather than have a raw red arm we opt for a paci as AG cuts his incisors. The goal is to be done with it by his 2nd birthday.

--to let my toddler go to bed around 8:30ish because his parents, the night owls, enjoy the fact that he sleeps till 9 or later most mornings.

--to have apps on your iPhone specifically to entertain your child while you try and enjoy a meal in a restaurant. And hey, without a little help from Peek-a-boo Barn and Peek-a-boo Wild we wouldn't know all our barnyard and safari friends with their corresponding noises.

--to contemplate asking Santa for a "laptop" that's for kids ages 4 and up for your not yet two year old with the slight hope that he might leave yours alone...even if it's just for a little bit and he's really tech savvy.

--to let your child be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween even though you feel it's cliche to go as something trendy and you'd rather do something classic. But Buzz is who he's in to these days and we are going to run with it...at this point it's highly possible we'll be celebrating our 2nd birthday with Buzz. And I'm okay with that. Really. :o)

--that some days it's all you can do to get dinner (from the freezer) on the table because it was one of those days and you weren't able to shower, get out of the house, or put real clothes on that day.

Words for Wednesday...Charlton's Coffeehouse Edition.

18th century style hot chocolate. Mmmmmm.

A new project...

...there is always something to refinish around here. The latest find is a dining room table that I found at our Habitat for Humanity HomeMart, yesterday. It was a steal. Which made it even more fabulous! With the use of our handy power sander and some paint we should be in business. Andy and I are going to refinish it and give it a Pottery Barn type makeover. In the mean time I need to decide which color I want to paint it and decide on seating. I love the idea of a collection of mismatched chairs and I also like the idea of benches. The thing with the chairs is that it could take me awhile to collect the amount that I need and they would probably need to be refinished, too. Not a problem just time consuming. In this stage of life benches are a little more practical. We entertain our students on a monthly basis and I need maximum seating when we do this...one reason we bought this table is that it has two leaves to go with it. I'm betting I can get 10 people in chairs around it easy...benches may give me even more room to work with. I think I'm leaning towards the benches at the moment. Another plus is that Andy could build them relatively cheaply. And one day, in another house I can repurpose the benches and use my mismatched chair collection, that I better get started on! Ha.

Like I said...there is always something to refinish around here. Makes me grateful that my husband is so talented and enjoys it as much as I do. This will be our largest and most detailed refinishing project to date. Pictures to come.

Wordless Wednesday...Bert and Ernie Edition.

A few photos from Mountain Day 2010

Here's a few of our highlights from Mountain Day weekend. We had a great time welcoming October and celebrating Martha. The weather was perfect and we had a great time sharing the weekend with some of our students.

Will came up for his college visit and got to see the Mtn. Day Olympics.

Alayna, Emily, and Thelma during the Olympics.

Emily, Mallory, and Abby on their first Olympics. 

Grand March on the Mountain. Jess came back to visit and join the fun with Thelma and Harrison.

AG needed his chicken leg to meet Victor.

Two of my sweet, beautiful girls.

With some of my girls before the march started.

Post-March snack for AG along with some tickling from Alayna.

Our traditional Grand March photo.

Two more of my girls enjoying their first Grand March.

Finally, in white and leading the Grand March.

Daybook for October 17th

Outside my window: Falling temps and falling leaves. Although, today it was a high around 80...oh, life in the South. The weather is always unpredictable.

I'm thinking: About everything I need to do now that we are back from our trip...laundry, clean the house, groceries, errands, etc. In addition, I'm starting to think about holiday plans. We have several events planned with our students between now and the end of the year to celebrate the holidays. I've also started lists for gift ideas this year.

I'm wondering: When we will put AG in his twin bed. In our little bungalow we have three bedrooms. The master and the guest bedrooms are quite large. The third bedroom, AG's room, is the smallest room. However, his little room accommodates a crib and a twin bed quite nicely thanks to the inlet on one side of the room. His twin bed fits perfectly in this spot. When we decide to make the switch I'll only have to buy one bed rail and he'll be walled in on all four sides! Fabulous. I bring all this up not because he's attempting to escape his crib but rather he's developing a preference for sleeping in a bed with covers. Similar to his developing a need to sleep with his head on a pillow. We'll see what happens but this change may happen sooner than later.

I'm praying: About lots of things right now...

I'm thankful:We had a great trip and we were able to spend time with my family last night to celebrate the October birthdays.

I'm hearing: The tv in the background and AG's white noise machine coming over his monitor.

From the Kitchen: I need to decide what to cook this week and restock the fridge. I've also got the itch to make Rice Krispie Treats and Puppy Chow. We'll see what I decide to do...

I'm reading: A backlog of magazines that arrived this past week in our absence last week.

One of my favorite things: I'm looking forward to girls night this week...I missed the last two Thursdays due to our trip and I have missed my girls!

I'm creating: Eh, I've got lots to do around the house to regroup from our trip before I can start another project. :o)

Around the house: Andy did yard work today and I still need to get some fall plants planted. I didn't get a chance to mark that off my to do list before we left. I've also started trying to figure out where I plan to let all my plants "winter" this year. I have a collection of different houseplants and ferns. The houseplants spend the warm weather months out on the screened porch and then spend the winter inside. The ferns are in huge terra-cotta pots around the yard and they spend the winter in the cellar near the windows.  The weather hasn't dipped low enough to put them away for good and it's still plenty warm enough during the day. I'm just trying to get ready because with our crazy weather I'll have to put them away in a hurry...best to be prepared. The only plant I'm coddling at the moment is my Christmas Cactus. It was my grandmother's and I managed to bring it back to living a few years ago. It's a tough old bird and it has rebounded beautifully. They do require a little TLC to get them to bloom when you want them to...but the effort is worth it once it is in full bloom. Once she finishes after the holidays I need to get to working on potting up two pieces to share with Meghan and Caroline...as a little gift for their new homes this spring when they both get married.

A few plans for the week: Getting my house back in order! Ha. And celebrating my 27th birthday later in the week. :o)

Week 16 of 52 in 2010...

This recipe was found by my sister, Caroline, and I had to give it a try. The only difference to the original is that I didn't have time to grill the chicken so I just chopped my chicken in to bite size pieces and sauteed them in some EVOO with salt and pepper and some lemon zest.

Easy Lemon Pasta with Chicken
By: Gina and Pat Neely

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried penne
• 2 chicken cutlets, cut into fingers
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, until al dente.Drain well.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan over medium high and add chicken. Grill until golden and completely cooked. Remove to a plate and slice.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to a saute pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and saute until fragrant. Add the cooked pasta and turn heat off. Mix all together.

Remove pasta to a large bowl. Add chicken to the warm pasta and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in chopped parsley. Add the juice of 2 lemons and mix. Before serving top with Parmesan.

Week 15 of 52 in 2010...

Grilled Asparagus

Granted I recognize this isn't much BUT it was something we had never done before and we did it several times this spring.

Bunch of asparagus
EVOO
Garlic Sea Salt Grinder (I use McCormick)

Wash asparagus and snap off the ends. I used a pyrex dish to spread out my asparagus in a shallow layer and then tossed with a couple tablespoons of EVOO and fresh ground garlic sea salt. We then grilled them in a grill pan on our outdoor grill. Cook until tender but not limp. These go with any meat on the grill.

Few words needed...

...thanks Bobby for your dedication to a club that was considered a nobody. You saw something and made the Braves "America's Team" and for that we will be forever grateful. Life at The Ted will never be the same. It's the end of an era.

Wordless Wednesday...Braves Game Edition.

Daybook for October 3rd

Outside my window: It's dark (it's late) and crisp (the way fall should be) outside.

I'm hearing: The Amazing Race in the background...thank you DVR.

I'm thinking about: My game plan for the week...I need to finalize it after I finish this post. We leave Thursday for Virginia...I've got to clean the house up after the chaos of Mtn. Day, tackle the mountain of laundry, get us packed, pick up last minute supplies, and finish my To Do lists.

I'm praying: That I can get everything I need to do done so that we can have a great week with the Edwards family. Also, that we have safe travels and great weather.

I'm thankful for: A fabulous weekend with family and friends. I'm also thankful our upcoming vacation.

From the kitchen: Not much this week since we are planning to go out of town. Last week, Kroger had a great meat sale. I stocked up and cooked 9 different meals to put in the freezer. I'm not going to lie when we were driving back from the Braves game tonight I was relieved because I didn't have to worry about what to cook this week!

I'm reading: I'm looking forward to having my nose stuck in several books in a few days once we are on vacation.

One of my favorite things: Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Besides how gorgeous it is, it's been voted the world's most beautiful theme park 20 years running, it has some of the best coasters I've ever ridden. Alpengeist and Griffon...along with the late Big Bad Wolf. And the food is INCREDIBLE. Andy's favorite food at Busch Gardens is the brisket at Trapper's Smokehouse in New France (Canada). We'll be frequenting Trapper's this weekend I'm sure.

I'm creating: A game plan for the week.

Around the house: Cleaning! Packing! Laundry!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Not much that I haven't already stated...just prepping for our trip. This week I don't have to teach at Model High School because they are fall break. Which I'm grateful for because it gives me time to get us together to get out the door later in the week. If I had to teach Tuesday/Wednesday I'd be stressing more than I already am. :o) But at the end of the day it will all get done and we'll be on our way. It'll be great.

I feel like this post is scattered. Eh, I'm guessing it's because I'm wiped from the weekend and I have lots to do between now and Thursday. I feel like my mind is racing in 10 different directions. I'm off to finalize my game plan...if I don't check in between now and Thursday I will once we are on vacation. I'm hoping to get caught up on my backlog of recipes plus record the highlights of our trip!