I'm in a Pickle...

First significant harvest from the garden and it looks like I am going to have to pickle tomorrow.  From the looks of it, I should get a few quarts of dill pickle spears.  It has been a while since I pickled....the last time I helped my sister and took some spoils.  This time I will do it solo and see what I get.  I am rather excited.  I am a little disappointed though because my squash and zucchini are not doing well.  Most of them have died on the vine. I think the heat has been too much for them.  However, we are looking at some cool weather and maybe the ones that are on the vine and doing well will grow enough.  I love to have some fried zucchini and use squash in a saute.

My herbs are also doing extremely well.  The mint (julep and  chocolate) is thriving and I am having ice tea with it daily (seriously--who needs soda?!?).  My basils (thai, boxwood, spicy, and regular) are doing better than I have ever seeen basil do.  Finally, my oregano (spicy and greek) and rosemary are thriving in their container.  I need to figure out more recipes to use with herbs because at the rate they are growing I am going to have a lot to go to waste.  Normally, in my old yard, my herbs barely grew and I used them sparingly.  Now they are multiplying by leaps and bounds.

Finally, my flower gardens are coming along.  They have a long ways to come, but I am slowly but surely getting them under control.  The thistles in the front yard are almost defeated and I am moving to back to fight the good fight.  I have some beautiful flowers and I have been enjoying seeing what pops out.  After I learn what I have I will begin to add my own favorites...luckily I don't dislike any plants but the yucca (can you say yuck?).  I just need to do some thinning and repositioning.  I am most in love with a hydrangea called Glowing Embers.  It is a gorgeous pink and I think it fits in great in the bare back garden patch.  There is still a lot of work to do, but I think it will be easier next year after I get all the gardens edged, weeded, and mulched.  I will post more after my pickling exploits!  Wish me luck.

Kids Say the Darnest things...

So, Christmas break was too long for miss A to be idle and without constant focus and input. After Christmas her behavior went downhill. She was kicking, hitting, screaming, and pretty much making every day with her a nightmare. I thought, for a moment, I might be raising a sociopath because of her hateful behavior. I was worried.
Luckily, her dear dad has a degree in psychology and a book called "Raising the Strong-Willed Child" which helped us correct some of our behaviors and mixed messages which were causing some of the issues. We quickly changed and started taking every toy of hers away whenever she misbehaved. After a few more unbearable days, she started getting the message; however, she started getting hopeless at ever earning her toys back.

We implemented Audrey-bucks. She could earn one whenever she followed the rules for a bit and when she did something more than was asked of her. That was really the moment she gained control back. She is now at a 5:1 earned to loss ration. We can now reason with her and help her learn and make better choices.

So, the other day when she slammed a door in anger, I calmly walked upstairs to talk to her. Here is the conversation:
"Audrey, what did you do wrong?"
"I slammed the door."
"Why don't we do that?"
"We might break the door."

"Yes. What might have been a better way to deal with your anger?"

Pause to think.

"Uhhh...I don't know, walk away and hate you quietly?"

Mom's heart on the floor.

"Wow. I wish you wouldn't hate me, but I can't help how feel Audrey. As long as you don't slam doors or break any rules, you can feel however you need to."
"Ok, I won't slam the doors."

I walked out of the room and part of me wanted to cry and the wanted to burst out laughing. While part of me was a little disappointed, the other was pretty impressed at her mature thought.

While she will take great effort to corral and mold; the rewards will be great with this one. She is a wild one with a heart of gold!

Summer Recap -- July

July started out with a bang. We celebrated the 4th by also celebrating Brian's graduation and Audrey's b-day. It was a rainy day, but the weather cleared for the party (a cookout) and fireworks. It was a nice day with family and friends! It will be the last year that we were able to sit on our front porch and watch all the lemmings try to drive home in dead-stop traffic.
After that, it was time for my NYC trip. I did this trip last year and had a blast with my girls, so we decided to do it again. I got to see 6 plays: Wicked, Jersey Boys, West Side Story, Shrek, Billy Elliot, & Lion King. I truly enjoyed JB and WSS. Shrek was plain fun w/ great effects & costumes, but it wasn't anything special. Wicked was good, but I think it was better last year. Billy Elliot was amazing, although it had a very slow start. Lion King was just plain tired and lacked anything beyond with opening wow with with animal costumes. The weather was beyond amaing with nary a drop of rain and sunny skies in the upper 70's.
The ladies I was with decided not to be tourists. We did the subway the whole time and were all over the city. We traveled all the way up to the Upper West Side (near St John the Divine) and Harlem (for the city's best red velvet cupcake). We found Serendipity which elluded us last year and we indulged in their famous frozen hot chocolat. We biked through Central Park and went to the Top of the Rock. We also went down to Wall Street (I bought something at Tiffany's) & Chinatown. We did the purse buying craziness by travelling into an office building, up an elevator, down a hall, in a storeroom, and inside a secret room behind a hidden door. We were laughing the whole way, feeling like we were part of some clandenstine and dangerous activity. I wasn't going to buy a purse, but after risking my life there was no way I was going to walk

out of that without one. It was hot, in more ways than one. :-) Then we headed over to Little Italy for lunch at an amazing little restruant Il Cortino. They used to shoot scenes from The Sopranos (I never watched, so I was clueless). We had the best food and downed a bottle of Pinot Grigio. We also got acquainted w/ Tiffany's cousin and bought a bunch of fakes. We wanted more, so on the last day, we got up early and made our way down to LI to get more. There were no stores open at that early of a time, so we got some Italian pastries and coffee. After we killed some time and a few shops opened. We bought a little more and then headed back for lunch at our favorite Chelsea Grille. We also got our Stella's at Broome St. tavern before we headed to Washington Square Park. It was a wonderful trip. Full of fun and silliness. We laughed our way through the trip and had a great time.
After we got back from NYC, Brian was in full on NCLEX study mode although he didn't get his date to test (known as ATT) until a week or two later. We also worked on the house more and go serious about looking for a house. Actually, we decided to halt the looking b/c the house we wanted was out of our range, so we were just gonna stay here another year. That was until a friend from school clued me into a house that was going on the market near her. So, we were the first to see it and b/c the price was incredible, we put in an offer that day. Thus, we will own two homes (for a short time I hope). We put our house on the market 2.5 weeks ago and have had a lot of activity but no offers. I hope we get one soon because I really don't want to have to carry 2 house payments for long. I also need to buy a car.
Not much else happened this month. It was a whirlwind with house buying/selling preparation.
July quickly folded into August, but that is another post.

Summer Recap -- June

June was a good month. Audrey finished up kindergarten with a bang and Nathan completed his tenure at LT BAll (5th grade). Brian finished up school and graduated, and we went on a trip with Brian's parents down to Old Man's Cave area in southeastern Ohio. Brian wanted to take Nathan backpacking with his dad, but Nathan wasn't trail hardened yet, and Brian's dad wasn't sure he was physically up to anything too demanding. They settled on the Hocking County area, and I must admit that it was really nice down there. Of course, there was no cell phone service, but the view and nature was enouch to make it all better.

The rain was a bit of a bummer and sleeping in a tent really sucked, but the trip was a nice start to the summer. Nathan, Brian, and Bill went on a good 5+mile hike through some amazing areas (Ash Rock, Cedar Falls, Old Man's Cave). Nathan really like hiking and got into it in the end. He also started his first fire with only one match. I think he really liked camping.

Audrey enjoyed her first camping trip (grandpa don took nathan last year). She enjoyed playing with all the little girls camped near us. She will never be at a loss for friends. She is a like my sister who always made friends with people wherever we camped. She got swim twice, and the two of us went on a rather disappointing hike. We thought we were going to see Rose Lake, but apparantly you can't see Rose Lake from the trail we were on. We finally gave up and headed back.

June also saw the end of Brian's schooling. He found out he got a job at the OR at MVH. At first we thought he didn't get it b/c his website status changed to "declined". We sat there a little sad (I think Brian was a lot more bummed than me). About 2 minutes later the phone rang and something in the back of my head was telling me that it was MVH offering him something else. Sure enough it was MVH, but they offered him the intern position in the OR. He got just what he wanted through some divine intervention. It doesn't feel real, but he will start on Monday and start beinging in the $$$$.

June also brought a lot around the house work as we set off to comeplete all the little tasks we had neglected since school started. Here is the list of stuff we accomplished in June:

painted bathroom

painted upstairs hallway

painted outside window trim

There was still a ton of fun to come in July and August!!!!

Selling a house is an intense experience

Well, the house is on the market and has been for about 15 days. In that space of time, we have scheduled 13 showings (or viewings as my vocabulary challenged mother says) and declined one. I have sold one other house in my lifetime and I don't remember it being this "intense". We have had a lot of traffic, but on top of that, we've had some crazy experiences.
The first was a night that the kids had soccer. Brian comes home with a pizza in hand and says, "there is a woman on the phone and a gaggle of people outside looking at the house." I reply that we'll probably get a call for a showing, and before I know it the phone rings and the agent on the other end says, "if you look out your window, you will see the agent and people who would like to see your house right now." We were not in a position to show at that moment, plus we had a dinner to eat and kids to get to soccer. I was able to get them to hold off on the showing by an hour, but it was really difficult.
Then today we had a showing scheduled from 2:15-3:15. We had the house cleaned and ready to go, but we still had the cats to gather and kids to collect (they were playing at friends' houses). We always leave the house about 15-20 minutes early, so we thought we were in good shape when at 1:27 someone starts to come in my house. I go to the door and sure enough it was a realtor. I introduced myself and she was little flustered as she said "oh, we're a little early." A litter early is right. Geesh. I told her we coudn't get out at the moment, but we'd be out w/in 10 minutes. She said they would just come by closer to the scheduled time. We left early, and came home and there was NO evidence that anyone had been in the house to view it. That is really frustrating. Brian says there is no way he will accept a showing from her ever again.
I know it is a "buyer's market" but COME ON. There has to be some respect to the life the homeowner leads. I can't wait until we move out and are in our new place and don't have to uproot ourselves for some showing.
I know it is the game we have to play, so I am trying to grin and bear it, but it is unbearable at times. I hope we get a contract soon, but I know it took our first house over a month before we had a contract. We've only been at this 2 weeks and 2 days. At this point the old cliche patience is a virtue holds true.

Recycle: Freecycle!!! One man's junk is another's treasure!

About a year ago, I came across a new concept in recycling: Freecycle. Freecycle it a movement that encourages people to give the stuff they would toss to people who want to take it off their hands. There is no exchange of money and most of them time you don't even meet the people taking your stuff. It is done through a listserv at yahoo groups, and the most annoying thing is all of the emails. But the delete key takes care of that. Mostly, I have been a "giver", but recently I was in need of a cat carrier. I posted a "Wanted" post, and low and behold someone in the neighboring city. All it cost me was the gas for the trip. It couldn't have been more perfect. If you want more info visit the Freecycle site.
It amazes me what people will take and use. While I could give my stuff away at Goodwill (and I still do at times), I like to offer to Freecycle so I can hopefully reep the benefits if/when I need something. I am sure that there are some people who take it and sell it somewhere, but as long as someone takes it off my hands what they do with it is their business. What warms my heart the most is that people will take a lot of stuff that may have made its way to a landfill. Now it will continue to be used and have a life well after us.
You should try it!

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