Warning: This is what happens when your kids pick their own outfits

(Which, of course, my kids have been doing since they were old enough to point.) When you say, "That outfit totally doesn't match" and they say, "I don't care" and you say "Fair enough, you're the one who has to wear it",  you are forgetting that you still have to go out in public with them.

In other news:

• My parents came to visit for ten days. We had a fantastic time. They were so super helpful that Libby commented on the fact that I'd reverted to a child-like existence where everything was done for me. Bliss! We spent a lot of time outside, went away for a few days, and just generally made good memories. I think my parents liked Wall-E more than the kids did and no one spent more time reading to Libby than my dad.

Oh Well

Yep, this is what we do

• My in-laws came to visit and stayed for the 4th of July. Their visit overlapped with my parents' visit so we had a full house and good times. We went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and ate lots of good food. On July 4th we went to the fireworks display on the Purdue campus which was not a disappointment.
  

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• The day after all of our visitors left, I loaded up the car, waved goodbye to my husband and furry children and drove (with my human children) to Washington DC (a suburb, more specifically, but I'm not saying where exactly to protect my sister-in-law from the stalkers that are lurking aroud every corner.)
• I am exhausted from traipsing around DC today but for some reason I'm faffing about on a computer when I should be sleeping. Photos of DC will be forthcoming. Tomorrow we go on a tour of the White House. Yay!

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Blongo Ball

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I don't have a name for this drink outside of "Limoncello Cocktail"; that's what the guy who showed me how to make it called it. Sounds good enough, right?

Anyway here's how you make it:

4oz Limoncello (I made my own, I thought I blogged about it but it seems I only Twittered about it. Here).
1/2 oz Heavy Cream
5-6 Mint Sprigs

Combine all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker, shake, strain and enjoy.

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I've either lost my mind or an alien has invaded my body.  I've decided to make Wednesdays technology free.  No TV.  No video games.  No computer (aside from work-related things).  Those who know me well realize this is a huge step.  I think I was born a TVaholic.  I'm also a large fan of computers and the internet.  So, I'm sure you're just dying to know how I came to this conclusion?  It was our last morning at the lake.  I was lounging with Ray on the couch with my cup of tea.  Then, Lily woke up and came and snuggled me.  Everything was quiet and serene and I was trying to figure out how to capture that feeling at home.  I came to the conclusion that technology was our problem.  Our TV is on pretty much all waking hours.  We only have one TV at the lake and that's in the kids' bedroom.  There's no cable, just movies, and its mainly used when the weather is poor or at bedtime.  We do have my mom's laptop with internet but its a pretty small distraction.  Instead, we spend our days fishing, boating, playing cards & games, reading, and enjoying each other's company.

I broke the news to the kids today.  They freaked out at first until I started listing off all the alternative things we could do:  go for walks, bike rides, swimming, to the beach, play cards, play games, etc.  Now, they seem pretty excited.  Wish us luck!  (And, I'll be posting tonight for tomorrow.  Wouldn't actually want to miss a day)!

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The other day I saw a post on Anna's blog that inspired me to once again try my hand at candy making.

About 6 months ago I made rosemary caramel shortbread cookies. The caramel was delicious, the cookies not so much.

I started by using the recipe she linked to for Fleur De Sel Caramels on Epicurious and it was going well until  the candy thermometer went from 210 degrees to over 250 in less time than it took me to shoo the dog out of the kitchen.
Suddenly molten candy was bubbling and jets of it were shooting out of the pot and before I knew it a big glob of it landed on my finger and took with it what felt like a pretty sizeable chunk of skin.

Oh it hurt; but once I washed it off it off it look as bad as I was expecting.

It burns! It burns! No. Really. It burns.

I powered through pain, poured out the caramel into the pan and within seconds it was hard as glass and tasted like burnt something or other.

So I tossed that and decided I would make my rosemary caramel instead. This time things went off without a hitch.

When it was done, I cut them into individual pieces, covered them in bittersweet chocloate and sprinkled some Kosher salt on top (because, you know, I didn't have any Fleur De Sel.)

Chocolate Covred!

I found this recipe in an ad published in Bon Appetit magazine, it turns out to be from a website run by dairy producers in Wisconsin
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From butterisbest.com:

Rosemary Caramel

1/2 cup butter
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Melt butter over low heat in a heavy sauce pan. Place sprigs of rosemary between two sheets of waxed paper and pound until flattened. Place sprigs in butter and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove sprigs from butter. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling, stirring frequently, until caramel reaches 242°F (use candy thermometer); remove from heat.

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Things that are stressing me out:

- Not having a single showing in almost a week.

- Not having a solid job in our new location yet.

- Not having a contract on our house yet.

- Not knowing if we will really be able to house hunt this weekend because of the house here.  (Dumb housing market)

Things that remind me not to stress:

- Wistful and kind, yet excited-for-us words from folks at work when they hear that I am leaving.

- Lovely recommendation letters!

- Catching up with "old" friends on Facebook.

- Knowing folks are praying with, and for, us.

- The Youngest's unabashed laughter.

- Psalm 77:11-14 ---

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Photo, video or song... Show us laughter.

you can't really see the whole fireworks explosion but i posted it because of the background laughter...i will post video of the fireworks creation my buddy made...stay tuned!

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Today my mother, perhaps sensing her mortality, or entertaining a fleeting case of nostalgia, pulled out a box of black and white photos she had never shown me before.  There were probably 40 photos, still in good shape, despite some of them aged 50 years or so.  Most of them were of her in her twenties with her girlfriends - at the beach, on hikes, and at the girl's school where she taught. 

There was even a beach shot, where she posed in a swimsuit, an umbrella dotting the landscape.  Out of her girlfriends she seemed the most stylishly outfitted, channeling Katherine Hepburn, and emanating a strong and wry expression. She appears to be a woman who knows where she's going and how the hell she's going to get there.

My favorite photos of my parents included one where they're both peeking out between the branches of an orange tree.  They look youthful and happy, the constraints of war and life-in-general not etched on their faces yet.

It forced me to consider what my mother was like before children.  Who was she, this woman who lived a colorful life on a different continent, who hadn't yet experienced the heartbreaks and challenges that were to come?  I'll probably never fully know, as the bonds of motherhood keep her from disclosing herself unabashedly.  But, these photos, brief windows into the past, gave me some perspective - romanticized or not. 

So, when she said - mostly as a test, "Oh, I don't know if I should hold onto these any longer."  I, of course, told her that I would love them when and if she's ready to let go of them.  In fact, I told her, I'd be happy to scan them so my brother could also have them.  She nodded then, and said, "You may want to look at them someday."  And for some reason, when she said that, I couldn't help feeling a little sad.

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color me happy

Originally uploaded by gamany

love:

• dancing
• fresh flowers
• birdwatching from my living room
• snacking on cucumber kimchi after a workout
  
• drinking a cold glass of plum tea
  

• sweating like a horse after a workout
• [edit] prissy bitches bogarting their way through an open door. I swear the next chick that does this while I'm walking through a door is going to feel my elbow in her chest.
  

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At least if you like the Twilight series.

A bunch of Barnes & Noble stores are selling Breaking Dawn at midnight August 2, so there is a really good chance I'll be heading to my local B&N at 10pm Saturday night to get myself a copy.

Huzzah! :)

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