Unrequited Love

I have to confess I have an unrequited love, my Brio stroller, baptized “the Cadillac” by my father. Of all the material things in my life, I have to say I love this the most. I used to think it was plain snobbery. I liked my Graco stroller I had when my daughter was first born, but it was hard to walk with unless the pavement was next to perfect. The wheels began disintegrating immediately, and I couldn’t see Pumpkin, she faced out into the world. But in the end, the Graco just didn’t hold a candle to the Cadillac. You see, my stroller is made of steel, has a suspension system (which means my children don’t have whiplash every time I drive them over a crack in the pavement), and the seat can face forward or backwards whenever I choose. But no, it’s not snobbery… it’s a cultural thing.

For those of you who don’t know, I spent most of my childhood summers in Sweden and I lived there for a few years as well and every once in a while my Swedish side pops up in the strangest ways. After reading Linköpinglivin' I had an aha moment last Spring. It’s not just the engineering of my stroller I love, but just what it represents. If you read that post, it really sums up how I feel about parenting. Growing up strollers were just a part of life, you see them shopping, at restaurants, on boats, trains and trams. Everyone helps you through a door if you have a stroller, upstairs, and into the bus. In fact, trams and busses have a special place for strollers. If the baby falls asleep while shopping, so be it, you wheel it into your house, and that is where the baby sleeps. Babies are just an integral part of the culture. Now, I know most Swedes live in a walking culture, that American’s don’t have, that’s for another blog. Back to my unreasonable, undying love, it was rekindled this past week.

In the search for better mileage last year, we downsized our minivan to a Mazda 5 before baby number three showed up. To my great sadness, I haven’t been able to use the Cadillac as much as I like, because it’s only drawback is that it’s HUGE and doesn’t fit in the car when I have all three kids with me. However, things changed this last week, I was giddy, my kids began to walk to school and I follow right behind pushing my stroller. I love it, I forgot how great it rides, it can take uneven pavement, it even has a raincoat, and just like the Swedes, in my hallway, my baby took a cozy nap in the stroller. Cadillac, I love you even though there are newer and fancier strollers out there, even the US has the Bugaboo now, after nine years, there is no other stroller.

Chokeables Everywhere!!!!

There is this cute little guy, that came into our lives about 7 months ago.  He’s cute and sweet, but he won’t stay put.  As of this morning he likes to play sitting up more than laying down.  He rolls, he crawls, he scoots, you name it he moves that way.  Sport thought his police car, that was 20 feet away and behind a chair, was safe…oh no, not for our little caboose.  Needless to say we are in a rush to baby proof the house before he decides to walk, oh I don’t know tomorrow.  Among many things that means LEGOS, are now restricted to the kitchen counter or our rooms.  And it means I have to tackle the kid’s art table, UGHHHH.

The art table, was a wonderful present from Santa, I guess about 5 years ago.  It’s been great.  The kids draw, paint and periodically have lunch on the table.  But the stuff that goes with the art table, yikes!  I have paint, pipe cleaners, beads, you  name it stuffed in closets and cute little bins beside the table.  But as with everything else my kids seem to have, if it’s not out they don’t use it.  So today, in the interest of the little one’s safety, I proclaimed it was time to get rid of the art table or at least move it out of the kitchen.  I lost.
So, this is my happy medium.  I decided to put everything in this little chest from my grandmother.  The chest is going to be right beside the art table and if they have to get anything it is right there.  The paper bin will sit on top, because if the baby gets into that he won’t choke immediately and it’s heavy, so it will make a large sound as it hits the baby to the floor before he reaches the chokeables.  I may have to find a lock…. we'll see.
I have told the older angels, that I want wonderful little art projects from them, since they have all types of creative stuff at their fingertips.  But, if there is one chokeable left out it is getting ditched.  All for the safety of the baby.  Seriously, I’m not sure if this baby is going to survive…

Garden Update

Here’s the last harvest from the garden.  Unbelievably, the garden grew even though it didn’t get planted until the end of June.  We’ve enjoyed, salsa, bruschetta, plain tomatoes, salads, and peppers for the last 6-8 weeks.   It’s been a great project for the kids, they’ve loved picking what we need for supper, and watering the garden every now and then.  It sure helped that this summer was pretty cool and had a good amount of rain.
 
The highlight of the tomato harvest I have to say was the Krim tomato.   It doesn’t look like anything at all.  It is blackish green on top when it’s ripe, the pulp is even green. So it appears as though it isn’t ripe.  But with a little touch of salt, it’s one of the best tomatoes, I’ve ever come across.

  Cheers to the harvest!

Harry Potter Cupcakes

Technorati Tags: food,Harry Potter

It’s Pumpkin’s 9th birthday tomorrow.  To celebrate I’m taking in cupcakes for the 23 kids, and their teacher.  These are the famous Weasleys’ Every Flavor cupcakes, that I’m bringing to her class to celebrate her birthday tomorrow afternoon.  They are decorated with the Gryffindor colors and the Every Flavor jelly beans (from Harry Potter) for decoration.  I wonder which kid is going to find the ear wax bean.  Aren’t they cute?
I digress, as I was finishing up the cupcakes, I realized my rows didn’t match.  I counted up my cupcakes, and there is one missing!!!  Somebody snuck down this evening and had a snack.  Now using my NCIS training, I’ve discounted Sport, since he is much more of a follower in these types of matters.  Since the baby isn’t crawling, that leaves Pumpkin.  I believe she had the motive and the means to commit the crime.  So now the question is, since there isn’t enough for all the kids and the teacher, do I make the birthday girl give her cupcake to the teacher. Or do I  let her think I didn’t catch her and let her enjoy her sneakiness.  I’m leaning towards not letting her know that I know there are 23 cupcakes instead of 24.  But then there is the chance that she will enjoy a life of crime because I didn’t stop her now.  I hope she gets the ear wax bean :-)

So how much candy did you get????

Cleveland has this little gem of a store off of Interstate 480, it is called b.a. Sweetie Candy company. I think every known American Candy is within it’s walls. There are the typical M&M’s, Jelly Bellies, and the more exotics such as clove gum and candied crickets. Yes, the crickets were real.

I was in the neighborhood, and since I have two birthday parties, Halloween (our neighborhood has to have 200+kids) and a little decorating project all in the next month, I decided to take my kids and a friend to the Candy Store.

So, here is the loot…

Do you think we need anymore candy in the near future? I’m sure I spent less than if I had gone to Target. I am sure, that this year, trick-or-treaters won’t get the run of the mill candy from us. That has to be worth something right?

Oh and by the way, here is my little decorating project that was the primary reason for the trip.

I am Back!!!

Ok, so it's 1:15 a.m. and I can't sleep, because a) I had an incredibly emotional day. Really had to do some soul searching on what I believe in and that has resulted in some incredible restlessness. Why didn't anyone tell me that this would still be going on at my age... b)I feel like blogging all the posts that have gone through my head over the past month or more. So I have decided to take that next step and BLOG finally, because I just love it. I don't know why I love it, it's partially because yes it documents my life, and my children's life. But also it clears my head and helps me figure out what is important in life. And after today I really need that. So here is to you, my one or maybe 100 readers, and I hope you get some enjoyment from what I have to say...

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies

I found this recipe and I had to try it. The timing was perfect, I had a huge box of strawberries and bookclub was meeting at my house. They are from Martha Stewart Living Magazine (June 2009). The recipe makes a ton of cookies and they are delicious especially if you want something to do with those extra strawberries before they go bad.