Leave it to the Professionals

The other day Moses said to me...

 "Mama- since you are so professional at cutting eggs, will you please cut these eggs for me?"

He's a charmer.  ;-)

Eastering

The happy couple, up to their old tricks

 Ineke thought she hit the MotherLoad as she was opening up the largest of the eggs which was not only impressive in size but hanging from a tree and duct-taped to protect the immeasurable treasures within. Little did she know that it was filled with a crushed soda can, some empty wrappers and a single measly mini-kitkat for her efforts.  (No doubt the shenanigans of the conspiring boys above.)

(it was supposed to look like an Easter Egg)

"Resurrection Rolls" in which an empty tomb is revealed after baking a dough-wrapped marshmallow.  The marshmallow dipped in cinnamon was meant to represent Jesus' body, wrapped in spices.  We mustn't take the analogy too far though.  I can get behind an empty cavernous roll but there it must end as I am certain Jesus didn't ooze and puddle.

One "gift" middle age has given me in the last year or two is the inability to sleep.  Or should I say the ability NOT to sleep?  

(Even if I want to.)

It is a bane unless it happens around 2:30/3ish on Easter morning, leaving me time to finish up all the Easter things I had left undone the night before...like setting up the table, hanging the hanky bunting, making clues and going out with a flashlight in my robe to hide Easter treats.  

In these instances, insomnia becomes a superpower.  

Easter Egg stuffing elevated to a whole new level as I now have health conscious adult children. 

Pistachios, cashews, beef jerky and chocolate covered coffee beans rounded out the jellybeans and PEEPS this year- and the grocery budget barely recovered. 

With each stuffed egg, I felt my nose pointing upward more and more.  (What a snob.)

The Smooth Twin and his practically perfect wife.  And wonderful children.

The Hairy Twin, who it seems may have married a Cruella de Vil. 
Surrounded by wonderful children, nonetheless.

Happy Spring

It's the first day of SPRING.  

I didn't get every single thing checked off my Old Man Winter list- but just three shy of doing so, ain't bad.  

I really had to push myself to do these tasks- it wasn't something I wanted to do- but I have to say, having checked some of these long neglected chores off the list has made me much happier.  (AFTER they were done, mind you.)   

My life had gotten pretty frayed around the edges and I didn't realize just how much until I started forcing myself to look closely.    The grime was real, my friends.

But, as I knew it would- much of the work that I have done has already been undone.  The dust continues to settle, the toys become unorganized, lincoln logs roll under couches, mail gets tossed on top of the fridge, and those drawers with all the utensils facing the proper way? Yeah, that stopped being a thing the very next dishwasher load.  

Life never stays tidy.  Not when you are truly living.  

Finding the balance of taking dominion of my domain while also embracing Proverbs 14:4 eludes me most days.   But it is a necessary paradox.  

I'd rather have a whole disorderly house full of joy and chaos and dust-bunnies (and INCREASE and STRENGTH!!) than a disordered house full of bad attitudes and grumps about the chaos and mess. 

It's pretty clear the Lord would too.

A few observations I've made recently:

~ Perhaps canned dill pickles from 2015 are something worth dumping.  Yes, even if the seal is still good.

~ I'm not certain but I may be a recovering cotton yarn addict.  I haven't bought any in a long time. (years?) But I still had two HUGE baskets worth at the end of sorting my yarn this past month.  (That's it.  EVERYONE is getting a dishcloth for Christmas this year.  THE END.)

~ I discovered THREE overdue library books that I had to pay replacement fees a few months back for... and I DIDN'T find one book that is currently racking up those charges again. (Woe!  WOE!)

 ~ I picked out the dusty A Year In Provence that has been patiently sitting on my bookshelves for year, awaiting its' time to shine... and shine, it does. After a lot of heavy reads lately, this was just what I needed.  Peter Mayle is such a good storyteller.  A bit foreign, a bit foody, a bit memoir, a lot hilarious.  It scratches all my itches.  How many more happy moments are awaiting me on my shelves?!

~ I recently picked out Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell (from said bookshelves) and was thoroughly underwhelmed.  Which led me to wonder... how many more unwhelming books are using up valuable real estate on our bookshelves?

~ If you sneak Things-Which-Nobody-Cares-About into a donation bag, you had better do it in a BLACK garbage bag because if it is seen, it will immediately become The-Most-Important-Treasure-One-Can't-Live-Without.  This is true of little children AND husbands.

~ I began a crochet project... which I haven't done in forever.  I started a baby bonnet to give to one of the many new babies coming into the world.  I did this knowing that it was dumb... because who will want a yarn baby bonnet in the summer?  (I have no illusions that I would finish it before then.) But also- baby yarn bonnets are darling.  And it will use up the rest of the yarn I had used to make a matching one for little baby Moses.  And... baby bonnets.  And... babies.  And.... waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

~ Homemade sourdough crackers are delicious.

~ Hard relationships are hard.  But God is merciful and gracious and kind to those who persevere.

~ Moses makes the cutest four year old doodles ever.

~ If you wait for months for the perfect time to make soap, just as you reach the critical moment of emulsifying fats and lye, you positively WILL get distracted with More Important Things...   

~ Judah makes the best reading nests ever.

~ The smell of lilies in March might be the best smell in the world.

Well Read

I was tucking Moses into bed the other night, I couldn't help but smile when I saw the books he had chosen to read during rest time.

What an erudite fellow.

It pays to clean

Still working my way through the spring-cleaning list... slowly, but surely. 

And making cheese.  Which is, in a way, cleaning out the fridge.  Sort of.

This past week I was particularly proud because I cleaned out from under our bed.  

This is not a thing I do.  

Monsters live down there and I don't want to cross them. 

And a whole host of things that will make me sneeze.  

So, of course, I avoid it like the plague.

But this week, I decided the time had come... and now under the bed looks like this:

(I should mention I have more than two pairs of shoes. But if you saw my shoes, you would NOT see that I mopped the wood that was LITERALLY furry 10 minutes previous.)

And just like when you give a Mouse a Cookie, it inevitably leads to something else... 

I wound up tackling the rest of the room too.

For over a year I have not seen the surface of this vanity.  (Don't judge.)

 While cleaning the under-the-bed Inferno, I found that the dust bunnies were hoarding a portrait of me someone had made me in college.  I had entirely forgotten about this moment in history.  

They got my nose all wrong. 

In fact, I appear quite Barbie-ish in this portrait (which I assure you was never an accurate representation.)  

Nevertheless, it is a sweet memory that was once lost and then was found.  

I plunked it in a frame and it makes me smile.  (Even though now I am even less Barbie-ish than I was back then!)

In cleaning up the rotting fruit bowl, I decided to make banana muffins for breakfast tomorrow and Ina Garten's no-sugar, no-flour oatmeal raisin cookies this morning.  The cookies were an experiment.

If YOU are ever tempted to try no-sugar, no-flour cookies (even if they are from Ina Garten), I am gonna stop you right there.  

Just don't do it. 

 You're welcome. 

It's almost pizza night!

 The extended Newman family decided to have a Pizza Party.  The idea was for everyone to bring a pizza (or two) from a favorite local pizza joint and we were all to decide which place made the best pizza.

I paid an exorbitant price for a single pizza at a local pizzeria and while there, I asked if I could have two extra boxes...

and then I made my own pizzas to fool them all. 

BBQ chicken and onion

Buffalo chicken

Homemade mozzerella.  Loaded with leftover wedding chicken.

I win.

😉