On my Mind :Cooking From Scratch

I am learning how to cook from scratch. I am starting at the very beginning. I learned the rudiments of cooking ( how to follow a recipe and make simple meals) from watching my mother in the kitchen, but now I am putting theory into practice.  I am discovering, much to Matt's waistline's  dismay, I enjoy baking. This is one of my first attempts: Applesauce Cake from scratch! Yum!

Keeping up with the Bumper

I never thought staying at home would keep me so busy.  I imagined I would have plenty of time to write, or craft or do whatever. Yet it seems my days are so full I can barely keep up with the house work.  I regret not learning about homemaking, when I was younger and did not have a small child to care for.

Yet I am immensely grateful to be at home with The Bumper.

At seven months she is crawling, and pulling herself up on the furniture, and is totally enthralled by laptops and electric cords. As I result I spend most of my day chasing after her. When my friends ask me how I keep my figure, being home, I just grin.

Now I must scoot, she is after the DVD’s!!

The Man Cave

Matt and I are doing some rearranging, and things are bit -- okay a lot-- more chaotic around here than normal. I am not generally a super neat and tidy person, but even this has me rattled. When we first moved into home, everything was in complete disarray, the movers packed things randomly without labeling which room the boxes came from or went into. For example I might unpack a box sitting in the kitchen, only to find all the stuff in it belonged to the bedroom, or bathroom etc... Then a little more than a week later the bumper was born. (I would definitely not recommend moving and immediately having a baby.)  Our friends and family rallied and helped us. The house was put in some semblance of order and it has remained in that state for the last six months. WE are slowly finding places for everything and throwing or giving away what we no longer need. The last part of this is the MAN CAVE.

What is a Man Cave? It is a place the man of the place can claim as his. The Man Cave is a place free from feminine meddling. A wife does not and should not clean or judge what is in the Man Cave.  In Mat’s case it is a place he can store his electronic stuff and tinker to his heart’s content.

  Originally we sectioned off a bedroom and part of the finished basement. (I had had dreams of Christmases spent sipping hot apple cider in front of the fire place in the other part.) That turned out to be a bad idea. The man cave spread. I kept finding drill bits in the living room, circuit boards in the kitchen, and tools on all three levels of our town house. Enough was enough.

We came to the sane decision that a split man cave just was not working. All of Matt's stuff needed to be in one place. So a couple of weekends ago we began the process of moving things from the upstairs bedroom to the basement. It has worked wonders, even though we still have a lot work to do to finish the transfer. He has a place to unwind after a day at the office and I peace of mind.

 What about those Christmases in front of the fire? I have gladly traded them in for the knowledge that my now mobile bumper will not be stuffing solder into her mouth.

Happy Half - Birthday

The bumper turned six months old on Monday. I am in shock. I simply can NOT belive my baby is a whole half year!. She turning into such a neat little person already. She laughs, she rolls over, she squeals, and she puts everything she sees into her mouth. She and I had dual colds last week and she lost her voice. It was so funny to see the looks of  surprise and dismay we she tried to "talk" and could not. When her voice came back  yesterday she wasted no time in letting her daddy and me know. She squealed just as loud and long as she was able, so much so she made herself a little hoarse.
Last night she had enough appetite to eat her cereal again and she kept trying to to do it all by herself. I can see I will have my hads full when she is older!
I am so very grateful to be spending this time with her. The bumper won't rember these moments, but I will.

Spring has Sprung

I love springtime. The warm weather,  the beautiful flowers, everything coming to life after the long winter. I feel like i just can't get enough sunshine soaked into my bones to erase the memory of the preceding grey, dam, chilly days. Then the trees start producing copious amounts of pollen, and I am done for. Sneezing, coughing , sore throat, and I can just forget about being able to breathe.
When we lived in our previous apartment, we not surrounded be flowering trees, and shrubs, so allergy season passed by causing little discomfort. Not so with our new house. Matt and I both feel like we have run over by a heavy delivery truck, even the bumper is uncomfortable. So last night I made our favorite comfort food: Cream of Wheat porridge and this morning I made myself a large cup of broth and have been reveling in the soothing steaminess of it.
Every day this week has been the same weather wise: Partly cloudy  in the morning and thunderstorms at night. I am hoping the rain will clear out the pollen and we will be able to go on a picnic on Sunday. In the meantime I am going to make myself a cup of tea, and curl up with some tissue.

Kim

A little late

It has been over a week since US forces killed Osama Bin Laden. It took me a little over a week to decide how I felt. Conflicted is the best word I can come up with. At first I was shocked: after all this time they finally got him! Then I was sorrowful. Let me be clear:I am not sorry his particular reign of terror is at an end. I am sorry he was the cause of so many deaths both in the US on 9/11 and afterwards. Christ taught us to love our enemies. Christ taught us to forgive. Christ also taught us that sin will be punished and the wages of sin is death.  All this past week I have been praying for the victims of 9/11, their families, the victims of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the soldiers and their families. Osama Bin Laden's death will not bring back those who were lost, but perhaps it will bring some closure.

Kim

Mother's Day - is on my mind

The Bumper

The Bumper and her Grandmother(Nana)

 This is my first mother's day. My little bumper at 5 months old. Oh how those months have flown! She will be crawling any day now.On some days it seems like she wants to skip crawling  and go straight to running. Mama is not ready for that! I want to hold on to these precious baby days as long as I can.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Kim