Quiche

I've always been a little afraid to make a quiche.  They sound so fancy and french.  As it turns out, they're very easy!  And they do look fancy.  And they taste great!  This is a picture of my first ever quiche - Apple Cheese Quiche - and it definitely won't be my last!

H1N1

Swine flue sounds nasty.  Like I'm a pig.  An animal.  I have it.  The swine flu.  I prefer H1N1, though that sounds like I'm just a number.  I'm not positive that I do have it, but J does, and I've  had a lot of similar symptoms.  My fever just decided to stick around for a few hours instead of days.  We were in Urgent Care Sunday night for 4 hours, while they ran tests and looked at J.  Yesterday the test results came back and we found out what was bothering our sweet baby.  Then, A woke up from his nap with a fever.  Another one down.  DH took N to get the vaccine last night.  They wouldn't give N a shot; she was too young for their location.  We have to take her to a pediatrician.  DH got his though, so hopefully he won't be the next casualty.  N?  Um, there's a conundrum.  What's a mom supposed to do?  Take out 2 sick kiddos and herself to a dr.'s office, to get the well one a shot so she won't get sick, but the sick ones could make a lot of the well children sick, besides being cranky and uncooperative for the entire outing or stay home and the well one might get sick but the sickies won't pass on their sickness, and they can rest and hopefully get well soon.  I know she needs the shot, but the thought of leaving home in our current situation drives me crazy, let alone the actual doing of it.

Confession

I am a bibliophile.  I love books.  I love buying books.  I love holding books.  I love reading books.  I have my favorite authors: Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Brandon Mull, Nicholas Sparks, Elizabeth Gaskell, to name a few.  I could spend all day reading.  I have done that, on many occasions.  It's harder to do, with three little kiddos.  I've done it, it's just harder.  "Burning the midnight oil" is frequently done.  Books are my friends.

When I was first married, with no kiddos, DH humored me, letting me turn our dining room into a library (we had an eat in kitchen, so we never would have used the dining room).  It was fabulous!  3 moves and 3 kiddos later, a library just isn't feasible.  So, what am I going to do with all of my books?  As I go through the boxes, I'm re-aquainted with so many friends, that I just can't let any of them go.  But I don't have anywhere to put them.  I love my kiddos, but they're not always as careful around the printed word as I would like.  Don't get me wrong, I'm in the process of bibliophile training, and none of them would willfully tear a book (even N, and she's in a phase of tearing and cutting and folding like nobody ever told me about.  Is it normal 3 year old behavior?).  But accidents happen, so I'm not going to move my library into the family room.  Without a designated library, though, what am I to do with them?  I already know the answer.  Leave them packed in boxes.  Stored for the next time we move.  How sad!  My poor friends!

We've Moved!

Again.  Wow.  We've made a goal to be here for 3-5 years.  The wall of boxes is huge.  The painting we'd hoped to do probably won't be done for a while.  There is a lot more of the yellow paint than I remembered.  But we're here!  Kind of crazy that this city is where DH and I met.  We had definite plans to not move back here.  Just goes to show that you shouldn't make too many plans.  One perk is that we still have friends in the area.  Sometime in the future (no earlier than January) we'll have a party here.  But until then, don't be strangers!  

Here is our Thanksgiving turkey, Tom.  We met him a few days before he became dinner.  Some of our friends raised turkeys for Thanksgiving and they let us have one.  He was a very impressive sight.  It was fun to see him next to all of the hens.  He was huge!  When he was delivered to us, ready to cook, he weighed 17 pounds!.  And he tasted absolutely delicious!  

Owl Sighting

I was sitting by our front window and saw a big thing run into our neighbors tree branch.  I looked again and realized that it was this huge owl!  We called the neighbors and I started taking pictures through the window.  When all the neighbors had been notified, we carefully opened the front door and made our way outside.  After a few minutes of being carefully quiet, A got out.  And he's not quiet.  And the owl still sat.  So we let N move and make noise.  And still he sat.  The owl eventually flew to the peak of our roof, but still wasn't disturbed by us.  Very cool!

Shoe Shopping

Not for me.  For A.  He had outgrown his size 5 shoes, and we only had a hand-me-down pair of size 6 sandals.  So it was time.  Crazily, he had never had to go shoe shopping, having received hand-me-downs from the time that he started needing shoes.  Love hand-me-downs.  So we go into Shoe Store #1.  They measure his foot at a 5, and tell me to buy 5 1/2.  Ummm, okay.  You're the expert.  5 1/2's wouldn't go on his feet.  I tried the wide variety, they went on, but he was screaming.  Size 6, still screaming.  So we left the store.  He could wear sandals all winter.  Not really.  We went across the hall in the mall to Shoe Store #2.  They measured him at size 6.  The sales lady helped us find a pair of shoes and tried to put them on my boy.  When the wouldn't go on, she felt his foot and found that he has a high instep.  And his foot is wide.  So we go for a size 7.  And they go on.  And when he stands up, they have room to grow, but not too much.  And now when he walks, he doesn't trip (as often.  He's still a toddler).  My 1-year-old wears a size 7.  Crazy!  But he loves them. When I get him dressed in the morning, he usually finds his shoes and insists that they go on his feet.  And he wears them ALL day.  I love my boy!

Round Two

We made an offer on a second house.  And we've had the inspection.  And we're very excited!  If it all goes according to schedule, we should be moving in Thanksgiving weekend.  Wahoo!   And because I forgot to take pictures (again), here is one that I took while staying with my Grandparents this past weekend, while in town to find our house.

Yikes!

You know how I blogged a while back about winning a Grand Champion at the county fair?  With my wheat bread?  The recipe that I got from my mom?  She just realized that she'd forgotten to put 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt on the recipe card.  A pretty vital ingredient.  Or so I've always thought.  And I still won Grand.  Oh, and I've been making the bread from that recipe card for well over a year now and I never noticed a difference.  Which leads one to wonder, how vital is salt?  Or have I just been really lucky to not have tasted the difference?  And how bad were the other breads that were entered into the fair?  Because you'd think that the judges ought to have been able to tell that SALT was missing.

Fall

A and I found ourselves alone for a while yesterday.  It doesn't happen often.  We took the opportunity to play in the leaves - each in our own way (i.e., he played, I played with my camera).  Fall is such a beautiful time of year.  I think I've finally decided that it's my favorite season - and not just because it's where my birthday falls.  I love the colors, the smells and the sounds.  

In other news, we had our inspection and decided not to take the house.  So we back to the hunt.  DH is currently working over there, so he's working with our real estate agent to find something that we'll like.  I'll keep you posted...

Accepted

We put an offer in on a house and it was accepted!  Hooray!  Now, pending an inspection, it's ours!  So I thought I'd share pictures.  We didn't think to take pictures of the inside, but here is the outside.  After some work and water, the grass will turn green and beautiful.





The inside also needs some work, but we're excited about it.  It's a tri-level split, which apparently we both really like, since there were more than one on our favorites list after looking at all the homes.  Inspection, here we come!