Rainy and Sunshiney Spring Days

I have been excessively lazy these past few days. It has been grey and cloudy with an occasional fit of sunshine and more frequent bouts of rain. Just as it should be in springtime. The windows are open wide and I feel like I am slowly emerging from hibernation. Except that by emerging from hibernation, I mean enjoying looking out the window at the wet grass and think happy outdoorsy thoughts. I am not suddenly more active. To be honest, I have been  enjoying an afternoon nap or at least an hour or two of horizontal reading. I quiet my conscience by being somewhat busy in the evenings, making sure the dishes are done, laundry folded, and toys picked up.

There is something about this spring rain that makes me suddenly slow down and smile stupidly more than I should. I can't understand this, since last year, when it was so horribly rainy, I was depressed and hated it. My only excuse is "I am pregnant!" I am going to miss that excuse in a month and a half. I can be lazy, irrational, irritable, smile stupidly, and generally act like a half-wit and feel justified in doing so.

Whatever it is, I have enjoyed being slow lately. I have different ideas buzzing around my head of sewing projects I want to try, but inevitably, I decide to do them... well some other time. I wake up and decide to organize the counter by the refrigerator (it is the junk counter. Don't judge.) or put away the accumulated stack of kids clothes that are to "grow into" into the right rubbermaids in the basement. And every day, I find myself instead, puttering about happily, checking email, emptying the dishwasher, picking up toys, reading books to the kids and myself, and starting blog posts. I think this might be my third start. Ahhh well.

I am alarmingly mellow.

I think about people scurrying about being useful in life and I think what extravagant luxury and good luck I have in being able to slow down when life seems to call for it. And I feel guilty that I am doing this when other people can't. The good part is, I am so mellow, the guilt doesn't bother me deeply. I just continue smiling stupidly and puttering.

This post, this far, was written on Friday. I am still way too lackadaisical for words, but I have come to realize the reason I am not bummed  by spring rainyness is that almost every day has a brilliant flash of sunshine at some point, which stirs me out of my mellowness enough to feel joyful.

Everything is just so nice.

And to prove it, here are some pictures from Saturday. A perfect spring day. Nothing much was happening, but there was sunshine, blue skies, new leaves, and lots of joy about being outside so much.

I am really loving grape hyacinths this year

Dandelion picker. An effective weed control, since the flowers never go to seed.

Coming in again to tell me something startling amazing about the outside

Orianna lost her two top teeth. Cuteness.

Gilbert enjoying some Daddy and boy time

Cows and blossoming trees

Owen and Lily

Owen and Gilbert

New flipflops and dandelions

Putting up the pea's support

Lettuce maybe?

One of the peas

Onions. Justin let the girls plant the onions, hence the less than perfect row. The girls felt important. 

Shepherds purse. You can eat this stuff. How, I am not really sure. But apparently shepherd's ate it. 

Dandelions. I really like dandelions. They have such an outrageous cheerfulness and good will to all, despite the world's campaign against them.

Wild mustard. Or at least that is what we always called it.

Clover

Ruts in the garden. The garden does not get the respect it deserves. Or the drainage either, judging by this picture. 

Muddy feet

Cat

Lily told me that the little tulip at the top there was so cute she couldn't even look at it. So I felt the need to share its cuteness.

Gilbert helping Daddy put away a chain. He had SO much fun being with Daddy so much! 

Stopping to wave at a yellow airplane flying low.

Ashley and the girls running 

...to see Fiona and Livie and Tori who were going on a walk with Gilbert

A discovered butterfly. Hit by a car apparently, but still fascinating.

The cats swarm if you come out the door and walk over to the side of the house. That is where their dish is. Since I didn't have food and I kept almost tripping on them, I didn't find this very endearing.

Justin decided to scythe the lawn in the extremely high patch. It made him pretty happy. I love that guy.

Orianna is such a great big sister

"Encouraging" Gilbert to look at Mommy and the camera

Gilbert watching the dogs drink

Gilbert and Penny on the crooked sidewalk

Tori helping Orianna touch the quaking aspens

Galloping like horses

Laughing Fiona and the doggies

Gilbert hanging out on the engine hoist

Joy at having a rock

...to splash into a puddle

A boy and his orange

Meeting shoes with dirt and grass clipping. Not a good Saturday shoe. But Orianna is in love with them!

Lily and the kitty

Fiona pushing Orianna on the swing

Lilies

Dad and Justin working on riding lawn mower parts

The moon on Saturday night. 

Did the vast number of  pictures lull you into mellowness? Hopefully at least a stupor that could be taken for mellowness. 

Happy Spring!  

Pizza nights

Now for some recipes.

Frequently, but by no means always, do we have pizza for supper Friday night. Mostly at Mom and Dad's. I really like making pizza. I have an old menu from a pizza place we loved in Anchorage, Mooses Tooth, and I frequently try to recreate certain pizzas. So far I have never been spot on. This doesn't deter me though. It just spurs me on to try a different pizza or to fiddle with the ingredients a bit more. Mostly why it isn't spot on is because I don't have Moose's Tooths recipes and pizza oven. And it has been almost 5 years since I ate at Mooses Tooth, which makes comparison cooking a wee difficult. But we can't all have what we want in life. So lacking those fundamentals I have my own recipes. And they are pretty good if I do say so myself. No one is going to eat a slice and decide to fund me in opening a pizza place. But the pizza is thoroughly enjoyed, which is the whole point of pizza anyway.

I will apologize in advance for the complete lack of useful pictures for these recipes. Just imagine really good looking pizza, etc and that is exactly what it looks like. Of course!

The dough recipe I got from Pam Anderson's Perfect Recipes for Having People Over. (Side note, that is a pretty nice cookbook. I contemplate buying it instead of just taking it out of the library. That is how good it is.) It is basic and good. 

Pizza Dough

1 pkg yeast (2 3/4 tsp)

Warm water

1/4 c Olive Oil

4 c bread flour (I generally use all purpose, but bread flour crust is crisper)

2 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c warm water and let stand until yeast foams. Add 1 1/4c warm water and olive oil. Whisk to mix. Add in bread flour and salt and stir to combine. Turn out and knead a few seconds to form smooth ball. Cover and let rise until doubled 1.5-2 hours. Makes about 2 16 inch pizza crusts or 4 10-12 inch crusts. 

This recipe actually calls for putting the flour and salt in a food processor, pulsing to mix and then adding the year mixture. However, I generally double or triple the recipe and my food processor can't handle 12 cups of flour. So I just mix by hand. 

Easy peasy. I generally pre-bake the crusts, just so supper comes together more quickly. Typically about 15-20 minutes at 375 on an oiled cookie sheet. This means I can throw on all the toppings and broil for a few minutes to get everything melty and browned. And have 4 pizzas on the table in a somewhat similar state of warmth. Personal preference. 

Another awesome crust recipe is from Smitten Kitchen http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/pizza-even-sweeter/. This crust calls for white wine, I just buy the cooking wine at Wal-mart, but Pam Anderson's crust requires nothing out of the ordinary, so I generally end up making it, since I always have everything on hand. And the white wine makes it pricier. 

Pizza Sauce

I just discovered this in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook that I just got out of the library (I know, cookbook authors must hate me, getting everything from the library...). It was super yummy and as soon as I tasted it, I decided this was my go to sauce. Partially because it is so good, but mostly because I can use those bags of frozen tomatoes from last summer's garden that I freeze in good faith and then have no earthly idea how to use. 

1/4 c olive oil

2 cans (28 oz each) whole peeled tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

Obviously, I just substitute 56 ozs of my frozen tomatoes for the whole peeled tomatoes. 

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Using your hands, crush tomatoes into a bowl. Add to skillet along with oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon until sauce has thickened 40-50 minutes. If you are picky, Martha suggests you pass it through a food mill to get any remaining solids out. I am not picky.

With the frozen tomatoes, I just put them in a pot, cooked them on low until they began to release water and drained it off a couple times. When they were fully thawed and less watery, I added the oil, oregano and salt and pepper. And then mashed up the tomatoes with a spoon and simmered until thickened. 

Absolutely delicious! 

While we are on the topic, I would like to state how irritated I am at who ever had Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook out before me. Apparently they had never heard of a copier and just ripped out pages willy-nilly whenever a recipe appealed to them. There are some downsides to getting your cookbooks from the library. 

And salad is such a no-brainer when you have pizza. Particularly Caesar Salad. I am not sure if I have put this recipe up on here before. If I have, it is worth repeating. 

Caesar Salad (Cooks Country 2007) 

Croutons 

1/4 c olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

4 c baguette or Italian Bread cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Drizzle garlic olive oil over bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until browned.  (I was just complaining to Clover how the croutons I made this weekend weren't very garlicky. And as I was copying this recipe, I realized it was because I was using eight cups of bread cubes with the same amount of olive oil and garlic. Ha. I guess I should always read recipes, no matter HOW many times I have made them!)

Dressing

1 garlic clove minced

1/2 c mayonaisse

1/4 grated parmesean

2 anchovy fillets, minced

1 Tblsp EACH: fresh lemon juice, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard

Mix them up. I just plop it all in the food processor and whizzle it a bit. I have made it without anchovies, in a pinch and it is still pretty good. So you can leave them out if you have moral objections to anchovies.

Salad
3 Romaine hearts, chopped-12 cups
1 c shredded parmesean cheese

Drizzle dressing over greens. Toss with parmesean and croutons.


And for dessert--I generally do Brownies. This recipe is from a magazine or newspaper in the '80s. It had a Hershey's cocoa box on it, so I assume it was from Hershey. When I was 8, I made these--the first recipe I successfully made. I don't think we should count the cookies I made with my grandmother that included a 1/4 cup of salt. They weren't successful. I used to make these frequently on Sunday afternoons when Mom and Dad were taking a nap. Yeah, I felt grown up, baking away by myself.

3/4 cup (12 Tbsp) butter melted
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix butter and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Whisk dry ingredients together and gradually add to wet mixture. Mix well, but don't beat. Spread in 8 inch pan, 30-35 minutes.

I double it for a 9x13 pan. Which takes longer to bake, since 9x13 is not actually double the volume pan size.

These are really good brownies. They generally bake up somewhat cakey and crunchy on the edge and solidly gooey-ish in the very middle. Makes everyone happy. And yes, I did steal a little nibble from the top. I hate serving something that I have not made sure it tastes good. In my defense, I was testing them for doneness and that little bit came up with the toothpick. So what was I supposed to do? Not eat it? Hardly. 

May Day

How can a holiday (is May Day an actual holiday?) that involves leaving baskets of flowers and goodies anonymously for friends and family also be connected to dire situations on the high seas? Not logical.

I slacked on the writing every day thing. And the every day thing was actually every WEEK day anyway. And did anyone notice? I feel no guilt about this.

We had a great weekend. Clover and Evan were up and Scott F was here too. Lots of cousins, an equipment auction, a lot of food made AND consumed, games, games, games, and even a walk in the woods. Not one of those weekends that leave you feeling rested to face the week ahead. More like a sliding into Sunday evening in an unsuspected fit of exhaustion that suddenly rears its ugly head and requires an hour of mustering up the courage to get off Mom and Dad's sofa and go home. A weekend that requires all your energy (in a good way) is a weekend well spent.

I spent yesterday in my pajamas doing calm and slow things. How slothful. But that is one of the upsides of being a pregnant stay at home mom with your husband away. I did try to hide behind the open door when I opened it for Orianna's bus. (Which is difficult with a glass front door.) I might feel okay about staying in my pajamas, but I am not okay with the bus driver seeing me IN my pajamas at 3 PM. Hypocritical.

Justin got home last night around 8. I stirred myself finally to get the house cleaned. I felt like I should have the house calm and welcoming for Justin. Or at least not the disaster of toys and cloth scraps that it was when he left. The kids helped, grudgingly at first, but then they got into it and had to make me come SEE how clean their room was getting every 5 minutes and ask if it was time for a break yet. They are pretty nice kids.  As I was just about done cleaning it, I suddenly realized I was sending all the wrong subliminal messages to Justin. I was feeling sort of super-mom-ish, having a clean house and all the kids alive after him being gone for 6 days. But there was a slight chance that he would think "Bet has it all under control. I really don't need to help her with housework--I would just be in the way." Still, the house is all clean, which is nice.  

There was noisy rejoicing to see Daddy again! The kids had just enough time for some pictures of Colorado before bedtime.

I think I will now go sit on the sofa and stare contentedly at my clean house for awhile.

This is a random smattering of pictures from this weekend. I forgot my camera on Sunday, so I might actually get some pictures from Olivia and Ashley and put them up. But don't hold your breath.

Gilbert and pizza Friday night

The boys

The girls 

Somehow, even this young, Gilbert and Lincoln seem to understand that Elliott is where it is at, not the girls.

Ashley helped the kids do a clean up, walking around with bags, fighting over who gets to pick up the trash along the road. "That is my trash. I saw it first." Kids.

Talking

And more talking

Brainpop.com which is a huge hit that my kids discovered this weekend.

Gilbert was wading in puddles happy as a clam. Then he stumbled. And continued to be happy as a clam. 

Mommy, on the other hand, wasn't quite as excited. After a bath and new clothes that Clover had just brought up for Gilbert, he was clean as a wink. And then Lily came in with a crushed, newly discovered chicken egg in her vest pocket. She had to wear a pair of Elliott's hand me down pants and for some reason, was hugely embarrassed about it. 

Hanging out around the brain pop. I am not sure if it is called that because connections and wisdom just POP into your brain after being on there or because it is like soda pop--junk food for your brain. The jury is still out. 

Lily talking to Daddy. Yeah, I have a corded phone. It was my Grandmothers. Seriously, if you knew how often I used to run all over the house trying to locate one of the 4 cordless phones that may or may not be ringing due to a dead battery, a corded phone would make perfect sense. 

We had snow on Friday. Bits of it hung around until Saturday afternoon. It was a cold weekend. "Yankee wither." (We had a Benjamin Franklin tape when we were kids that said that and it is still the phrase that pops into my head when the weather is not behaving itself.)

Seriously, I think March was warmer than April. And now it is May and in the 40s. But things are looking up! 60s tomorrow and 70s after that. Open window weather finally!!!!

Thoughts and musings

I have really enjoyed a thought passed on yesterday--we have to fight to keep what we have. This was spoken in reference to the Children of Israel and the promised land--they had to fight to get there, but once there, they couldn't just sit back and rest on past victories. There were always other kings, nations wanting to take what they had away from them. Such a great reminder, both spiritually and naturally. 

I tend to be a goal oriented person. This does not mean I accomplish all my goals. However, if I get a bee in my bonnet, I can get something accomplished. My thought process does not generally go beyond the goal. I tend to think of accomplishing the goal as the end of it. But it never is. Even something as basic as a neat house--You can clean it from top to bottom and yet, if you sit around for a day or two, it is in a state again. Like pregnancy--the culmination of pregnancy is a grueling process that results in your very own baby. That is generally the "goal" in my mind. With my first pregnancy, my mind didn't focus much on the after. It was all blinded by rosy visions of fresh clean babies to cuddle that magically change into dear, brilliant little toddlers. And yet, everyone knows that the reality is completely different. They can easily be fresh, clean babies but that is definitely an uphill battle that this here overtired mother did not always accomplish. And they can be dear, brilliant toddlers, but there is discipline necessary to keep them dear and encourage brilliance. 

My mind did the same with marriage. I hated laundry, dishes, etc. But I had this idea that once I was married I would magically love to do those things because I would just love to be able to do it for my sweet, darling husband. Yeah, let me tell you, As darling and sweet as your husband is, marriage doesn't magically convert you into suzy homemaker who never wishes that her husband would at LEAST rinse the dish off before putting it in the semi-full sink or put his clothes in the hamper. And as people always tell you, marriage is work. It should definitely be work where the happiness, love, and fun out weigh any efforts, but it isn't the constant, rosy hued ever after my childhood and teenage self thought it should be. I blame fairy tales for this. Happily ever after should be changed to "pretty much happily ever after". Hmmm... It doesn't have that same ring does it? 

Obviously I have unrealistic expectations. I prefer to think of this as being an optimist. I like to think that once  I accomplish _______ then that aspect of my life will be lovely and can be put from my mind. This applies to finances (if we got credit cards paid off, then we wouldn't have to worry about finances anymore), health things (if I could only get down to X lbs, life would be so. much. easier.), house remodeling (if we only had the room above the garage done...).  But it is never that simple. There will always be awesome sales, fabulous looking desserts, and one more idea for maximizing the useability of our house to tempt me to get into the same situation I was in before. 

I think I am a bundle of optimistically unrealistic expectations and lazy, self-indulgence tendencies. I don't WANT to have to clean my house every day. I don't WANT to have to not eat desserts just because I want to loose weight. I don't WANT to have to correct my children and have a fight on my hands. I don't WANT to not buy a great deal just because I don't need to have it. I don't WANT to have to be nice to Justin when I think he is in the wrong about whether or not we should have another window in the room above the garage. 

And if I don't do all those things, then the things I love best, calmness/peace in our home, health, sweet kids, financial independence, and even my marriage are all threatened. 

That phrase--Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, sort of applies here. While I love the response of "Well then you certainly don't have the right recipes," there is a certain aspect of truth to that statement. When I make sure to do all the things I don't WANT to do, life is so much lovelier. There isn't a nagging, never-getting-done to do list running through my head or vague feelings of guilt of how I could have better handled Orianna's over-tired outburst when she walked through the door after school.  

We can never just stop in life and rest on our laurels for the rest of time. So there is no point in thinking life should be easier or more fun. The things I have in life are precious. The things I have spiritually are even more precious. They are worth fighting for. Everyday. 

And now that I have beat that thought to death and motivated myself to sweep the floor and put toys away, I will wish you all good day. Hope it is a good one for you all.