Checking In
Well hello there. It has been a busy, busy couple of weeks. I have successfully completed my first grant application. It was like writing your final essay in college but drinking a lot more coffee while doing it. I’m excited to see what happens though. Our house was incredibly spotless and sparkling for 4 days last week. Then we brought over the rest of the boxes from the condo and the whole sparkling thing went out the window. On the plus side my basil plants are growing like weeds and all of our avocado and lemon trees are doing good. I made vegan cupcakes for the second time and they were really yummy. I think living without dairy is going to be more managable than I originally thought. I now have cupcakes and ice cream to eat again. Now if I could just find cheese. That tasted something like cheese. All in all it’s been a good day 
Design dilemmas
I have always been excited and a little scared to decorate our house when we eventually got one. Well the time is here and I’m a little overwhelmed with all the choices. I think we both tend to gravitate towards dark colors and behr’s groundcover will make an appearance somewhere in our house. I painted a wall tan and while it is better than the turquoise it replaced there’s so much light in our living room that I think I need a more gray/blue neutral. I am starting to love oystershell by Benjamin Moore and I saw a pic of it in a room that had a white fireplace mantle and light tan stone too and it looked really pretty and calming. I could also see it in the bathroom b/c we have slate gray tile in there, or our bedroom too. And I think I’m leaning towards spanish tile red in our dining room complete with bronze sconces and a spain inspired painting. It is possible to put color in a room without having to out all of it on the walls. I have some decisions to make for sure. And hopefully soon. Right now everything is this weird neutrally green yellow. Ugh. Every accent wall is turquoise. It just seems like such a big decision.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)One thing at a time
it’s 8 AM and I’m sitting here with a big cup of Awake tea eating honey roasted pb on toast and Riley is chasing her tail. In short, life is good. Also busy. I go to work at 9:30 and my head is already swirling with my to do list. You wouldn’t think so much planning would go into an easter egg hunt (hide eggs, find kids, kids find eggs) but we are expecting over 100 of them so that means some serious planning. I am also trying to come up with ways to make our household run smoother. Does anyone have a system to organize your bills that you feel works really well. Having a house means having all kinds of bills that are due at awkward times. I am also thinking about making a standing shopping list for the things we need every week- soy milk, bread, lunch meat, bananas ect. I would like to paint the inside of one of our cabinets or doors with chalkboard paint but a lot of them have fancy patterns and aren’t flat surfaces. Mike planted my basil plants in a window sill pot in the kitchen and they are growing like weeds. Yummy weeds. I also talked to my dad and he said next planting season is October. Apparently Florida summers are too hot. We do have a key lime tree, a meyer lemon tree, and a pink eureka lemon tree that will all be just fine in the summer once they’re planted. I keep thinking there must be a secret to getting everything done but I think you just tackle one thing at a time. Have a wonderful day!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Growth
Well I am taking a break from pulling weeds to talk about all the “growth” we have experienced. In addition to our new house we now have three tiny avocado trees (grown from avocado pits- thanks dad!) and three much bigger palm trees that are now newly planted. I also have two small basil plants that are rapidly outgrowing their small pots and plans to talk to my dad soon about the best way to start a garden. On the foodie front, I have made the tremendous discovery that I am in fact allergic to dairy. What? That’s been my problem all this time?? Apparently so. If I avoid cheese, milk, sour cream, heavy cream, buttermilk, butter ect. I have zero problems. If I slip and make say buttermilk pancakes, instant problems. As much as I wish someone might have pointed this out sooner I am so so incredibly relieved to not have an upset stomach 24/7. And after a quick trip to Whole Foods, earth balance butter tastes just as good as real butter, coconut milk creamer is delicious and I bought coconut milk ice cream as a treat that I’m excited to try soon. Also I have lots of soy milk but I’ve been reading that too much soy isn’t super good for you either so coconut and ricle and oat milk are all on my list to try. It’s going to be an awesome day. Now, back to pulling weeds
Munchkin
Hi munchkin. Someone came into my office today and noticed the collage hanging on the wall with your two little footprints. I look at it everyday so it seemed odd that someone would notice it. Probably because you have become so much a part of me. You are my munchkin, my baby and whenever someone unexpectedly points out this corner of my life I recognize it as a haven for my tears and my hopes. But then I see your tiny tiny feet, so perfect with 10 wiggly toes and it makes me smile. I love you munchkin. When I get to heaven I know I’ll see you and there will be no more tears.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)My perspective.
When I was in college at Valencia CC I got together with a group of my friends and we started a club Students for Liberty that still survives today. In fact my husband’s roommate and friend went through Valencia four years after I had and was an active member in SFL too. I had an incredible economics professor that taught Frederic Bastiat and Adam Smith in a way I have never heard since. One of our assignments was to write the president (Bush not Obama) a letter about how we were concerned that he was taking steps toward becoming a socialist nation and it was signed Frederick Douglas, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Regan. Our professor went down the list in the Dictionary of Freedom and we had to research what our person would think about America and what they would say about our freedom and liberty possibly being in danger. I can only imagine the essays they must be writing about America today. Politics, parties, CNN, fox news it seems like everything has become a caricature of what you would be proud to believe in. All of the people I respect and consider role models never asked for a handout. I have been without insurance for a good part of my life. I got two wisdom teeth pulled separately without any anesthetic because it would have been 300 more per tooth and even suffered dry socket with one of them and at no point did I think, gee I wish the government would step in and pay for this. And I also think that health insurance is no bed of roses either. I want to start with just how we treat people in pain. That alone could revolutionize our healthcare system. After waiting three hrs in triage at one of the best hospital in the country for babies I sat across from a nurse who very pointedly told me “I don’t know why you’re here” and “the doctor you were sent here to see is probably busy and can’t see you.” Really Winnie Palmer? After I was just told my baby has no chance of survival you are treating me like I’m complaining about skinning my knee? Health care has to regard people as people. As mothers, daughters and sisters. That’s a good place to start.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Sunshine and a nap can do wonders
I have been slacking in my blogging lately and it’s probably because we’ve had so much going on. Well that and the fact that Riley chewed my apple computer charger so I can’t get on the computer at home. We have been so blessed these past couple of weeks to have my hubbys parents here to help us out with all the projects big and small that our house needs and it is such a happy thought to think we have years to tweak and paint it into our home. Just the fact that we can call it home is still amazing to me. I am hoping to go to whole foods tomorrow and pick up some non dairy items after work but so far today I ate oatmeal and bananas, veggie and tofu pad thai and honey roasted organic pb on celery. It’s my late night tonight too so I brought a cliff bar and “lemonade” with me. I squeeze lemon juice and agave nectar into bottled water and shake it up really well. It has all been pretty yummy, especially the celery. Everything can start to seem kind of overwhelming but after I took a nap and sat outside with Riley as she sniffed every single weed in our backyard I realized how awesome everything is. Oh and happy St. Patrick’s day too.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)I think I am officially a flirt
Let me explain the title of my post. I got a new cookbook and there’s three levels of recipes in it, flirts, vegans and superheros. Thank you blog for bearing with me as I traverse this crazy world of food. Organic, vegan, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, veggies, it’s enough to make my head spin. I want to be healthier, no scratch that I need to be healthier in the sense that I have to find a way to eat food that doesn’t upset my stomach or leave me with not enough nutrients. I don’t have anything against meat I just know that its pretty hard to digest which equals really really hard to digest in my case. I got the kind diet by Alicia Silverstone because I wanted a cookbook that focused on veggies mainly and was reading what it means to be vegan. I have a good friend that went to a natural doctor and found out she had to avoid dairy, eggs, and to a lesser extent, wheat. I would love to go to a natural doctor but seeing as we just got a house I figured the cheaper path would be to start with brown rice and add one food a day to figure out what I could or couldn’t eat. I’ve also been trying to eat less dairy. I’ll see how it goes. I have been hyperfocused on figuring this all out. I undrstand the eye rolls and the “you’re not really going vegan are you ” incredulousness. I just need to do what I need to do. Thanks for listening, and I’ll let you know how the recipes go
May I?
I have intentionally not written a post about babies for a long time. And if I did then I’d mark it private. When Mike and I originally thought about starting a family we said we should have a house first and he would have a job with great benefits ect ect. We had a whole list of things to check off. So now most of checklist is done and there’s a room upstairs that could really only be a nursery and I sit down again to organize my thoughts on such a delicate subject. I am still a children’s minister. I play and hang out with kids three times a week and plan how we are going to play and hang out during the rest of my week. I went to preschool registration and saw all the mommies holding hands and lugging baby carriers. I held babies that cooed and smiled and cried. I’m at a place where my emotions don’t seem as volatile as they once were. The longing I felt still follows me around and curls up on my lap sometimes, but I feel like we understand each other now. So what do I do in this stage of life? I wait. I pray. I thank God for the blessings He has given us. I acknowledge that His blessings never run out. I take care of myself. And then I pray again. I do want to say to anyone reading this, it is not my intention to invite you to worry. Worry never ever did me any good but writing does. I think the power is in the acknowledgement of it. It’s like taking life in sections of a puzzle and fitting the pieces back together as a process of healing.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Thoughts on a Tuesday
Life is always much harder and much more rewarding than I anticipate it to be. I don’t think I realized how much work would be required of our house or just how good it is to collapse on your pillow at night knowing that all the work and effort is going into a place and a home for your family. We hosted a baby shower exactly a week after we moved in and I know there’s mixed feelings on doing this (I have heard crazy, brave and you need to set boundaries among other comments) but it turned out lovely and it fit with the faster pace that life has been coming at us lately. I’ve had small victories at work which usually just lead to more work but it’s nice to be three minutes away. And eventually, life will slow down and we can look back on when we first moved into our house and be grateful. So in a nutshell. Life is good.
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