A New Year a new Sketch Book!!

While in my effort to learn coding for java, i decided that i need to draw out a flow chart for my new app the i will design. (this is my way of procrastinating on learning java) I whip out my sketch book... flip, flip, flip....... flip, flip..... no new pages.... Discouraged i pull out an even older sketch book, quickly fan through it, pages are falling out... 

I NEED A NEW SKETCH BOOK

but these sketch books have served me so well!

i grabbed my camera and snapped some shots to memorialize my doodles, ramblings, experiments, layouts, flow charts, designs, patterns, and most recently lettering/fonts!

and compiled them here:

farewell old sketchbooks

Marvin went through this phase where he hated books (and charcoal drawings) so he would seek out my most precious books(or most expensive aka text books) and chew the spine of them OFF, see figure A.1. This was not because i was lazy and left them out... he would pull them off of book shelves or out of my book bag, chew them up(to where i couldn't resell them) and then go hide under the bed!!!

I am angry just thinking about it

A.1

So come next pay check Mamma's gonna get her a new pair of shoes sketch book (and maybe some new prismacolor pencils... or not cause we have a mortgage to pay)

     / / preemptive Haha

System.out.println("new sketch book")

}

  

I'm Goin on a Troll Hunt

... well actually others will go on a troll hunt! After watching a crazy flick called "troll hunter" and liking it, i felt like a nerd... then i was bringing Daughter to joy school and realized that i pass two bridges on the way there and they would be perfect spots for trolls... letterbox trolls!!!! Then i felt like an enormous NERD maybe i should write a post for all the things that make me [feel] like nerd... like using brackets, not to mention my over usage of ellipsis, or the fact that i know what those are called :/  but i digress

So the plan is to carve out some awesome sauce trolls and plant them under bridges and release my Letterboxes to the world (or at least the letter boxing community)

Since this will be my first plant I will painstakingly out line every single detail of this for my dear readers enjoyment (all 7 of them) i am quite excited, since letterboxing was practically invented for ME...Allow me to elucidate:

When i found out about letterboxing i felt like i had simultaneously been given the best gift anyone could ever conceived, and been kicked in the gut, for it had been around for a long long time and i had not heard of it. To think of all the letterboxes i missed while in cali... it kills me a little inside :(

I have always liked hiking, but at times it seems pointless. Unless i run across a really neat bird or have an actual destination to go to, then why in the world am i going to subject myself to the perils of hiking, like mosquitoes and spiders and humidity. But with letterboxing there IS a destination, the best destination Anitra could ever ask for!!!!! Not only a stamp, but a HAND CARVED UNIQUE STAMP, and you have to follow clues, like a treasure hunt!! I will admit to many many hours as a child and **cough** young adult making up treasure maps for my brother and neighbours and following the maps they made up. Like i said before this hobby was invented for me!!

My kids freaking LOVE it too, we find so many cool things other than stamps while searching... like mushrooms, they really like taking pictures of mushrooms, and once we found a Turtle(it broke their hearts that we couldnt bring the turtle home) they have their own sigy stamps and there own log books... but i keep the family log book under strict lock down. I cant have pierce coloring all over our hard earned stamps. So enough talk lets have a looksie into THE "lastnamehere" FAMILY LOG BOOK


This will be breaking a few rules... like "dont post others stamps on the interwebs", so this will be my only post of our finds, i just want others to be as excited out it as me!!

this is our signature stamps... river is due a new one cause hers says 2011

Our very first letterbox finds

letterboxing with the play group!!

me and the children got way way lost on this trip, but we found our first hitch hiker!!

Another perk is that most boxes are hidden at parks... so we go get a box and then go have lunch at the play ground <3<3<3

we found a turtle at the cemetary

Andy came with us on this one, he doesn't share my enthusiasm  :) hehe

There are more but this is all i am going to show you ;) you'll have to find the rest on your own!!

Go to http://www.atlasquest.com/ to get started!!

And while you are researching your local letterboxes, you can also do some research on Trolls... Go to netflix and click on Troll Hunter. Unless you threw up for 'blair witch project' if so DONT go watch it

Pony Express

Today i was pulling onto my street an saw the mailman jeep in front of my house, and thought to myself i should stop and harass the mail person...

~~~~~~picture a flash back ~~~~~~
evil mail person with horns passing our mailbox with the flag up

mail devil guy in fiery jeep piling mail in over our netflix movies we are trying to mail

disgruntled mail man in a lab coat laughing maniacally as he throws away our mail and gives us the wrong addressed mail

~~~~~fade back to present~~~~~~~~

This vendetta was more than personal now, it involved a box of Christmas gifts sent from the grandparents. About two weeks before Christmas husbands mom tells us, husbands dad sent off said Box.

*this was the first mistake... men should never be trusted in the post office

next week, no box... mom-in-law says dad-in-law sent it parcel post (see *) and it could take up to ten days. the next week still no box... mom-in-law call postmaster, says they are still running on Christmas eve

**second mistake... trusting usps

A few days after new years mother of husband calls her post office, and they tell her if the address was at all wrong they would not return it to sender... and since there was not insurance or delivery confirmation on the Box (see * & ** ) there was no way of finding it.

Husband decides to call our post office and they dont have a random box laying around anywheres, so he calls other post offices around us to check them, and he gets forwarded to the national hub, located in ~~~hell~~~ who told us to give up. So grudgingly we gave up. Up until last week we kept expecting it to just show up at the door, but it never did.

As i draw ever closer to my house, thinking of what profanity i should yell at the flesh eating mail zombie, i think its been at my drive way a long time. Then it drives away, and i forget about it completely (which would be how mailmen survive as long as they do)

I pull into my drive way put car in park and notice this...

sitting on the porch. Apparently parcel post means they hand your precious box over to kevin costner on a horse and wish him luck.

opening gifts a month later hehe

And it snowed today so it was like christmas!!

A Week in the life of a Vegan

It all began about three months ago. Andy comes home from work, having recently finished reading "Born to Run", decided that we should not eat meat anymore. I agreed immediately, and made our first vegetarian dish. A couple days later we were looking up healthy vegetarian tips, and we came across a vegetarian athlete list, with a short bio for each. One cyclist had put in his bio, that he became vegan after reading "The China Study". So naturally andy bought it on his kindle!

One thing led to another (Brian Reagan joke 1:27) and we no longer consume animal protein!

We both have our own feeling towards being vegan: Andy wants to be healthy and fit, but really doesnt have feelings about animal cruelty. I also like being healthy and fit, but also feel like cows, chickens, and ect. don't enjoy being in a cage or standing in the same small pin for their entire life.

The kids seemed to be okay with it at first, then we hit a rough spot, after they were getting to much "auxiliary" food from friends and church activities. Now we are doing quite well, Pierce loves every thing  we put in front of him,  River (thinks she)HATES mushrooms, but will eat almost anything we feed to her... like actually feed it to her, like she is a baby. This is more than irritating, but at least she is eating.

My dear sweet husband is so awesome. He wants us to avoid animal protein, but is concerned that we dont receive enough nutrients through a vegan diet, so after researching he found the "green smoothie" life style to be the perfect compliment to our current eating habits. This was met with a tiny bit of skepticism(mostly from me)... "You expect me to drink THAT!?!" of course a bunch of spinach thrown in a blender with a banana and some water,  does not sound to appealing, and believe you me, it doesnt look appealing either. So for two or three weeks, dear sweet husband got to drink his smoothies ALONE! Then a break through happened, he got this amazing gift from his awesome mother-in-law, enter the blendtec stage left. (i only say left because i am a democrat)  this crazy blender doesnt really deserve to be called a blender it will do anything, including getting me to drink those GREEN smoothies, also a little bit of peanut butter will go a long way.

I have gotten a lot of questions about being vegan, and since i am still a greenhorn(yet another killer joke) i really dont know how to answer them, so i have decide to record a weeks worth of food that the family chef (she is terrific by the way) whips up for us.

So here it goes!

Starting with  FRIDAY

Indian spiced challah bread Donuts!! (five minute bread, had to replace the egg with flax and water)

Super Spirulina Smoothies, in super hero cups

Love the mess he makes :/

Andy made this one up for afternoon snack, it had carrot greens so it was pretty stringy

Curried cauliflower and chickpeas over basmati rice

cookies for dessert from HERE, they were scrumptious

 SATURDAY

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal

Sunrise mango smoothies!!

 Indian Guru for lunch, you haven't lived unless you've eaten at Indian Guru

Dirty rice 

Sunday

this with some rice milk and a banana

Choconana peanut butter spinach smoothie!! for after church snack

 Left over dirty rice for lunch

Korean hot pot, kinda like fondu, sooooo stinkin' delicious 

Braided Challah bread for Desert

 MONDAY

Banana Spelt pancakes

Peaches and cream dream

WEGMANS for lunch... wegmans is so cool, there is a really spacious lounge area up stair, and the cafe serves vegan food, so when we go shopping the kids and i sit up stairs while i feed the baby, they watch tv and play with the toys and hubby shops, and sometimes we trade off, if the kids get restless. Fridays at 7 they have Movie night. They put on a kids movie on the projector and set up chairs and a play mat and the kids really like it, and we can get our shopping done then.

Dinner was bean burritos, and portobello tocos... it was game night with some friends, so i forgot to take pictures 

 TUESDAY

what is left of Chocolate chip oat meal, a bit indulgent,
but we had some chips left over from cookies... pierce had two serving of it

a pretty throw together lunch of peanut butter and banana rolls, fruit and granola(river already ate most of the grapes)

An after school snack, whats left of the challah bread with some Spiced honey maple sauce, my own personal recipe!

This dish has appeared on my blog before, ziti and roasted cauliflower,  it is just so dang good!!!

 WEDNESDAY 

Banana nut Oatmeal (the nutty flavor comes from flax (yummy Omega 3's)

Lunch pack up for our long trek to the foot doctor... Orange ginger couscous and dried fruit, compliment of my hubbs

Post doctor smoothie... GREENYA COLADA, as i am putting this one together river pierce and i are singing "you put the lime in the coconut" :)

Candying some pecans for our....

Endive pear salad... every so often i come across a recipe that I  really really dont want to eat, for instance vegan chili(which my family begs for now) this sounded great, and anything with endive makes me happy, it was from a new cook book wich always makes me a little nervous, but how can you co wrong with pear. Candying the pecan smelled amazing the pears were delicioso i tossed every thing together then added the grape seed oil !!!!WHOA!!!! is that smell coming from my salad!?!? why does it smell like that? So i put on a happy smile for my kids and reluctantly stuffed a fork full in my mouth... it was good... no great! 

 THURSDAY

toast with vegan butter, peaches, and pierce throwing a fit (finished bearded beanie in the corner right their)

Spent most afternoon julienning  vegetables, and mixing fillings in preparation for

SUSHI!!!!  wooohooo

And that, my friends, is a Week in the life of a vegan!!

I must add a disclaimer here, we as a family are not 100% vegan all the time... our philosophy is to eliminate animal protein the best we can, and if something nonvegan slips in every now and then, it shouldn't be a problem. When we are eating as a family or in our house, we eat 100% vegan, but in order to symplify life and not be difficult friends, when eating at church functions or at friends houses, we will just not eat meat. If anyone reading this is really interested in our reasoning behind eating vegan, you should either read the books listed at the beginning of the week, or you can watch 'Forks Over Knives'  

That is All

No Life Syndrome

WARNING this is a whiny post

I remember now the hardest part about having a baby... I remembered it before having a baby, but had forgotten how hard it is to get over... Whilst in newborn-ish age, all projects come to a screeching halt. I have this crazy need to continue with my hobbies, but my beautiful little miracle, has an even more overwhelming need to eat. So as per usual i spend all day every day thinking not stop of things i would like to make or do, and then come to a final decision on what is more pressing or more interesting, or reasonably inexpensive... think about how i am to accomplish this "project"... think about every detail OVER again to make sure i havent missed anything (which i usually miss something anyways)... think of a way to break "yet another project" to my significant other... then DONT DO IT and go feed baby  :(

Then i get sad...

Then i think of something else that i would like to do, and start the whole process over again, thinking i can totally do this one... then realize that i have more pressing motherly duties to attend to, and wind up putting off yet another project :(

Then i get sad again...

I remember this with the other two and i believe it lasted until My new bundle of joy was about a year old. Second baby wasnt so bad because i could have husband tend to the little guy for a time, and i was able to get my "me time" in. But my "me time" is being compromised in so many new ways now. For instance our sorta new eating habits take up an ENORMOUS about of time, and use an EXTREME amount of dishes(still no dishwasher), and my finger tips are actually peeling from all the dish washing and diaper changing i have been doing (this has never happened to me before) Though i love to provide for my family the lack of hours in the day is making it even harder to cope with my "no life syndrome".

I have also been trying to fit in extra cuddle time with middle child, and as much as this helps me relax it is hard to accomplish with all the other things i have going on.

So i have decided to start a list. Sort of like a bucket list, except no dying is involved. I shall include all the projects that I stir up in my head, and cant get over, on this list. My goal is to get them on record so i can stop dwelling on them and stop being anxious about forgetting them completely. I havent come up with a uniquely cleaver name for this list yet, so lets just call it

Appendix A:

• The hats on my side table needing to be finished
• DH knitted hat
•  husbands cousins crochet beard hat
• husbands running hat
• diaper cover that Oly has already crown out of

• New letterbox signature stamps
• Troll series letterboxes
• Take the pictures off of old computer
• Finish rivers baby book
• Finish our new years DVD
• Start Olys baby book
• Make a puff quilt
• Make a cathedral window quilt
• Finish the banquet seat in dining room
• Paint a picture of the DC temple
• Paint a macro image of an orange
• install shelves into my new cabinets
• Get a costco membership(write blog about costco)
• start food storage
• Build more garden enclosures(for spring)
• Dig up grass on sides of porch
• Plant last years christmas tree
• Make birth anouncments
• Finish doll house cabinet

So in a few months i will make an Appendix B, for projects completed, and see if i can add ANY thing to that list

3rd baby, really really mad about wearing a hat!! but it's so cute!!

oh yeah Appendix A Amended:

• Start Food Page favorite recipes
• Blog about Oly's club foot (catch up on blogging in general)
• add picture rail to my board and batten living room
• make a baby doll moby wrap for dd
• write a chardes App for an android(after of course learning how to do that)

..............

since i wrote this post in draft form, and posted it, i have completed a task so:

Appendix B:

• pull pictures off old computer
• jan 11- ordered pics off snapfish
• jan13- finished rivs baby book
• started olis baby book

Now i need to figure out how to reformat my hard drives without a start up disc :/ (and add this to appendix A

Wells i got some more projects to do before baby three wakes up again!
Later peeps

My thanksgiving surprise

A Thanksgiving to remember!! I know this post is quite late but it is necessary, for it ends with a bang!

So it was the night before thanksgiving(eve), and all through the house not a baby was crying... so we decided to do something about that... we faked labor to go into the hospital and get checked to see is baby was coming anytime soon, well i was at a very "bulging" 6 cm. The midwife did a "rough" exam to try to get things moving and they told us we could go home if we felt like it but we would for sure be back that night. So we went home made dinner and a good friend of our took the kids for the night, and we prepared to go to the hospital... then the next morning we woke up, the/n picked up two very disappointed kids and went shopping for thanksgiving dinner!

The family came in the night before thanksgiving, and andy and i prepared some dishes and bread that afternoon in preparation for the big event!! Then we all went out to my FAVORITE restaraunt "Indian Guru" YUMMO!

The next morning i woke up and made some Pumpkin doughnuts(recipe from "Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day" which were fantastic... I think Pierce had at least 10 of them(they were 2 1/2 inches), and would have had more if we hadn't run out. My candy thermometer worked out just perfect for making the doughnuts puff up and not be greasy.

Then we played Some pretty intense games of Dominoes before starting our Vegan cooking extravaganza!! River learned what it was like to lose, and lets just say she didnt like it at all, and it is pretty hard to "throw" a game of dominoes :/

Then we boarded the Titanic!

We set the table with napkins folded in the "indian guru" style :) 

set out our Ikea ware, and menu!

We had originally planned on being in "Dinner dress" to add to the ambience, but the cooking wore us out and we decided to co casual... but river was so excited about getting all dressed up I let her do it anyways 

Our first course... Bruschetta, this turned out being every ones absolute favorite! Lemme tell you it was delicious!!
Olive oil wheat Bread from our '5min' book and tomato recipe from allrecipe.com   without the cheese of course ;)

The soup du jour... a dish we made the night before, and threw in the spinach before serving! Most of the recipes to follow (including this one) were made from This Book... Which I LOOOOOVE

Pierce enjoyed the soup, but then was way to tired to go on, so we put him down for a much needed nap!

Husband enjoying some pear salad. This salad required roasted walnuts, which i decided would be cheaper and fun to roast ourselves, so the first batch mom and i made wound up food for the opossums, the second batch turned out much better and it is surprising how much the flavor of walnuts change once roasted! 

Stuffed Provencal Mushrooms, we all agreed that this would be better with some sort of sauce, but they were still pretty darn good!

Some Ziti and Cauliflower, This won the Husbands Choice award

What is left of my Curry Shepherds pie, and some sparkling cranberry juice!

Husband made this one and i gave it the "prettiest thing at the table" award! so festive and the cranberrys shined like jewels it was so perfect we had to video chat with my brother in LA to show him! And it was yummy so perfect all around... this recipe was found HERE and i highly recommend it!

We then cooled our taste buds with some sorbet! 

 We had planned on having some Spanish style hot chocolate, but we were all so stuffed we gave up and planned that for later!

So after ALL of that food settled and we put the kids to bed, we decided to go black friday shopping, to pin down a couple of Leap pads for the cheeren(sound it out yankees) We left at about 9 came back at 2 am (black friday) empty handed......... bummed and bewildered and sore, being as it was now my due date and baby was still leaching from me. We hit the sack.... Well every one else hit the sack i was waking up every 15 minutes to go potty and then finnaly the contractions started at about 4:30, i told andy it was time to go, we hobbled out to the car and headed to our final destination as a 4 person family (mom and them stayed behind with the first two unsuspecting and sleeping kids)

at 5:30(yep an hour later) Oliver Rhys arrived!!! he was a beautiful sight

Now we are five!!!





(and counting)