I know you aren’t supposed to blog about what you had for lunch BUT I guess I’m going to anyway. I’m a rebel that way. Today I had a perfect tomato sandwich (cheap white sandwich bread, Miracle Whip, homegrown red tomato) for lunch. Then I had another one for supper. They aren’t overly filling, however. It is 9:45 pm and I am ready for fourth meal.
A couple of weeks ago I brought home a package of fresh cherries from the market. Determined not to let them go bad before using them this time, I came upon this recipe for Cherry Slab Pie via Martha. My cherries weren’t the sour variety, so it was pretty sweet. We’re fond of sugar overload around here.
Martha recipes can be intimidating with their fancy paté brisee this and sifted confectioner’s sugar that. However, I found this one pretty straight forward and not all that complicated. Just time consuming, as they tend to be. But if that’s what you are prepared for going in, then its not that big of a deal, as long as you set aside an afternoon to pit cherries and roll out dough.
This recipe makes a very large pie, so prepare to share with friends and neighbors. If your neighbor happens to be your father-in-law that you enjoy sucking up to with desserts, then so be it.
You could always use it as an excuse to make new friends. Stroll up to a new-to-the-neighborhood family’s front door while belting out “She’s my cherry pie!” Wouldn’t that make a great first impression?! Guess it depends on the type of impression you’re going for.
I would have liked for the filling to be a bit more gooey. Four out of five fruits.
I apologize for being absent. There’s just been a lot going on, and then the little fact that I have been spending all of my free time catching up on Very Important episodes of The Closer, Big Love, and CSI. I get a little obsessed. Anyway, here I am and I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what I’ve been doing the past few weeks.
Last weekend we attended a wedding in the same place Bubby and I were married. I was a little worried about the weather (outdoor wedding in mid-July). I have heard numerous times (still 6 years later!) that people thought it would snow on our wedding day in early November (it was sunny & in the 70’s). But it was a gorgeous day, the ceremony was simple and sweet and the reception was very kid-friendly. I took a boatload of pics and they are all here if you are interested. Arwyn looked like a dirty little urchin by the time we left the party.
Two remotes - check. Phone - check. Snacks - check. 47 pillows - check. Complete season of CSI cued up on the DVD player - check. This is my nest. This is where I unwind and sometimes scare myself silly. Especially when my child who never ever gets out of her bed, comes out of her room at 11 pm without making a sound, then goes back in and closes the door.
Me: BUBBY! Was that you?!!
Bubby: No.
Me: What the !@?!?@L@?? (heart pounding, opens the door to her room) Oh, it was you! (collapses in heap on floor)
Please excuse letajoy from her blog this week. She is slaving away in an air-conditioned office working for the man.
On our walk today I realized that I have a limited number of years to instill in you the things I think you need to know in order to succeed in life. Oh, how I wish I could just write you a little manual to follow. But you have to live it, experience it, make your own mistakes and learn from them. Seeing as how you greatly resemble your mama in temperament, you are going to have to learn these things on your own because you won’t listen to anybody who tries to keep you from making the same mistakes they did. I know this, yet I will still try to protect you from my own past regrets.
I hope that you always keep your fierce independence, your persistence and your beautiful spirit. At three years old you already know what you like, what you want and you are not afraid to express your preferences. You are smart, resourceful and innovative. You have a wonderful imagination and love to be silly. You walk like you own the world. You don’t yet know that there are people out there who will try to hold you back and prevent you from being your true self. Don’t let them.
Dear Neighbor’s Grown Ass Son,
If you insist on blaring that new-fangled heavy metal rock & roll during naptime right outside my window I will have no choice but to introduce you to my boombox and the giant stack of Wiggles CDs I have readily available.
Sincerely,
me
Here are a few of the things I sent to my swap pardner. OMSH has the next swap rolling already. SmocknMama, if you read this here blog, look away quick!
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I filled the extra spaces in the tea box with a variety of goodies: candy, hair bobs, earrings, a bouncy ball. You just never know when you might be in desperate need of a good orange bouncy ball.
I included one of Arwyn’s birthday CDs for Miss Rae’s kiddos. If you would like one for yourself or your offspring, leave a comment (including your email). I have 6 more to give away. Also included were some markers, paint chips, thank you cards, stickers (made by me) and baskets.
This is the piece de resistance and why the package was late being sent out. I hope everything arrived in one piece.
I found an old recipe box in my stash of “maybe I’ll do something with this some day” which I then painted and decoupaged to within an inch of its life.
This box was so much fun to make. I love it when I have a theme or some sort of topic to go on, even if it is just a color. It makes the idea process so much easier.
Please excuse me. I have a snack and a movie calling my name from the other room.
I sort of participated in this flickr pool on Saturday. I say sort of because I really kind of forgot about it. I even had it written on my calendar and everything! And its not like we did anything very exciting on Saturday, so I can’t blame my bursting-at-the-seams social calendar either. I did a much better job documenting my day on May 5th. Here’s the only decent shot from the only activity of the day. There are some great photos in the flickr pool, so go check it out.
Our new and much improved living room in Japanese Fern (a Behr color) with Sherwin Williams paint. I was a leetle less pleased with the paint this time. I bought primer and had it tinted green because two of the walls were a fairly dark blue. I was a bit worried about covering it and I had no white paint left that wasn’t rusted to the bottom of a four-year-old tin. The primer worked well, it was just super runny. No matter how much I stirred it up, it was a runny mess. It went everywhere when I poured it out of the can. FYI, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser takes paint off of hardwood floors if you get to it quickly and curse a lot. I now have most of a gallon of Japanese Fern tinted primer if anyone needs it.
The paint seemed pretty runny also. The overspray was like nothing I’d ever seen before. At first I thought it was the roller I was using, but I switched rollers and still had the same problem-o. I ended up putting on three coats of paint on the two walls that I didn’t prime, and probably could have put on a fourth, but me and my bum knee were pretty much DONE painting by then and Arwyn was coming home and I wanted the room somewhat put back together. The moral of this story is: if you are priming some of the walls, just go ahead and prime them all. I didn’t have this issue in the kitchen and dining room, even though I primed one or two walls and not the rest. Any professional advice? Skinner?
Bubby and I are very happy with the color (We agree! On a color!). Only one more room to go (and possibly a hallway? and the bathroom?), but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it. I’ll have to wait for another paint sale and for Arwyn to make another trip to Aunt Banana’s house. Since it is her room, it might be a little difficult to work on it while she naps.
In other breaking news only 10 more days until the basement work begins and we can move all of the crap toys out of our living space!
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