Cosi Fan Tutte

Last night, I took Tatiana to her first opera ever.  We had a great time dressing up and getting out, just the two of us.

More snow fun

It continued to snow here all night long!  According to CNN, we got a total of 12.5 inches of snow, which is a new record, usurping the 12.1 inches we got in 1964.  Our dogs weren't quite sure what to think about all this white stuff!

Jonathan stayed home from work today, and this morning, we all went out and enjoyed the unusual weather more - this time, at the park.  I love it when the whole family is home to have fun together!  :)

SNOW!

In Texas!  Love it!  We went out after lunch today, and got to work on a snowgirl or two.  Jonathan, having left work early, even got in on the fun.  Of course, as soon as he pulled into the driveway, snowgirl-making quickly turned into a snowball fight!  Snow in Texas is just too rare not to skip school for the afternoon and have a little fun!

Jailhouse Rock

 

I haven't posted many pictures of the kids recently.  I know.  I'm bad.  We just haven't had too many photo ops since the holidays.  It's been pretty low key around here, in fact.  School, work, and the occasional night over at some friends' house just hanging out, have made up our days.  Last week though, Nana and Papa took the girls to a sock hop at the YMCA.  It looks like they had fun, don't you think?

Creation

I like to make things. Be it clothes, purses, or household cleaners, I love to put my creative side to work around the house! This morning, I was pondering what to fix the kids for lunch. As I stood, staring into my refrigerator, I decided it would be "leftover soup". Out came the black beans and rice, spaghetti sauce, and homemade veggie stock. Yes, I make my own veggie stock. More on that later. All this, I dumped in a pot, with a little extra seasoning, and heated up. It was served over tortilla chips, and monterey jack cheese. Even Tatiana, who doesn't like black beans, gobbled it up and asked me to make it again tomorrow. Success!

Some of this love for creating things stems from a desire to be a more natural household.  (Says the woman who uses baking soda and vinegar to clean everything!)  It struck me at some point, that bouillon is typically loaded with sodium, and just not natural.  I mean really, what is in that little cube?  I made some chicken stock over the summer in my crock pot, and it occurred to me that it was really easy.  Why not make veggie stock, too?  Now, every time I peel carrots, onions, celery, mince garlic, or basically any veggie prep, I toss all of the leftover stuff you would normally throw in the rubbish into a container and freeze it.  When I have a nice, full bowl of it, I throw it all into my crock pot, fill it with water, and season to taste with sea salt.  Leave it on low heat overnight and, voila!  Strain out all the veggies and you have yummy, homemade veggie stock without the cube!  How easy is that?

Some of the desire to create simply comes from a love of creative solutions.  The above dresser lived in our bedroom before we bought our house.  When we did, more of my old furniture came home from my parents' house, and we no longer needed this piece.  Originally, it was a sort of wannabe woodgrain brown.  It had chunky wooden handles, and just wasn't really my style.  For years, we had talked about buying a piece of furniture for our bathroom to help alleviate the fact that we had no counter space.  One day it struck me that we had this piece of furniture in the garage which wasn't being used and was the perfect size!  I picked colours from a picture that hung in the bathroom already, and we painted it, and replaced the handles.  Jonathan put hooks on the inside of the doors, giving me a perfect place for all my necklaces, and little trays inside for the rest of my jewelery.Yay for repurposing furniture!  :)

Yet another reason for creation is simply for creativity's sake.  Tatiana wanted her bedroom decorated like a "meadow with horses".  I saw this fabric, and just had to make her a big picture board out of it.  Sometimes, it's fun to make things just to make them.  I also knew that I wanted her to have actual flowers on her wall.  Yep, just to be creative.

I'm curious how many other people have this love for creating things.  Do you have anything you like to make?  Do you have one particular thing that you're really good at, or like me, do you have this innate need to make everything?

5QF

I have never participated in a blog hop before, but it looks fun, and I'm feeling kinda restless today, so... Welcome to Five Question Friday!

1. Would you ever vacation alone?

2. Do you go the speed limit?

3. Why did you start blogging/following blogs?

4. Where do you shop for yourself?

5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding...or...what song would you like your first dance to be to?

1. Would you ever vacation alone?

  Sure would.  Maybe not a long one, but having time to myself is a HUGE luxury.  I would love a nice weekend all to myself.  Bring a good book, sit on my hotel balcony (a must!) with a nice cup of coffee.  Sounds blissful!  :)

2. Do you go the speed limit?

Can I plead the 5th on this one?  Really, I try to stay within five miles of the speed limit most of the time.  Since we live so far out, the small-town police are often patrolling, and I would hate to get a ticket.  I DO have a lead-foot, though so cruise control is my friend!

3. Why did you start blogging/following blogs?

Why?  Because I started thinking about Christmas cards and had a panic attack.  Seriously.  Jonathan has a big family, and just the thought about put me over the edge.  Besides, what to do?  Picture cards?  They kinda seem impersonal to me.  I love seeing pictures of everyone's beautiful families, but the postcards? ... That's it.  It's a postcard that says "Merry Christmas from the Martins!"  Totally cute, but not very personal.  Pictures in cards?  A little more personal.  You have to sign them.  I could do that maybe if I got everyone's addresses.  (More hyperventilating.  The addresses?!)  A family news letter?  Now that's personal.  A bit of a note about what we've done throughout the year, and a nice pic of the fam at the bottom.  I could go for that.  Except...  Almost every newsletter I've ever gotten has seemed a bit like whoever was writing it is...  How can I put this?  A sanctimonious donkey.  Or a not-so-nice-word for a donkey, if you get my drift.  "Dick got a promotion this year, and Sally-Sue made honour roll.  Little Billy is at the top of his class at Harvard, and we bought a ridiculously large house even though all of our children are growing up and we will be empty-nesters soon.  We had a fabulous vacation to Europe for a month last summer, and upon our return home, purchased a yacht."  Wow.  Great.  So happy for you.  Maybe a newsletter isn't such a good idea.  Good news seems like tooting your own horn, and bad news is just, well, bad.  So, long answer, but that's why I started a blog.  To keep our families up-to-date with us all year long.  And not to sound like a sanctimonious you-know-what!

4. Where do you shop for yourself?

What us this "shopping for yourself" that you speak of?  Um...  I don't, really.  But, I guess when I do, Target is a favourite.  Or Ross.  Or thrift stores.  I love a good deal.  And recycling.  ;)

5. What was the song that you danced your first dance with your spouse to at your wedding...or...what song would you like your first dance to be to?

Love that song!!!  

That's it, folks!  You can check out other people's 5QF through MckLinky.  Hope this works!  hehe!

On being thankful

Have you ever noticed how easily we slip into griping about little things?  I know I fall guilty to that more than I would care to admit.  Lately, I've been trying to take my annoyances and turning them into things to be thankful for.  It's not always easy.  Last week, a friend came by, and my house was in a sad state of disarray.  With all the rain we had gotten, our dogs tracked in mass quantities of mud.  I was in the midst of washing all the cushions on our sofa, and vacuuming up the mess.  As she came in, I looked around and said "Sorry about the mess.  The dogs tracked in mud and I'm working on cleaning it up.  I'm trying to be thankful that I have a good vacuum cleaner instead of being annoyed by the mess!"  She laughed and nodded knowingly.  You see, there was a time, not so very long ago, that I didn't have a decent vacuum cleaner.  Had I been attempting to clean with our old one, Jonathan probably would have come home to a broken window, a vacuum cleaner on the lawn, and a crying wife.  (I'm just kidding about the window and the vacuum cleaner.  Not so much the crying wife!  lol)

Saturday, we ran out of milk, and had to get some for supper.  I hopped in the truck and ran up the street to Brookshires.  They were out of gallons in the kind we use, and no one in the house will drink their brand, so I took a deep breath, and bought a half gallon.  Jonathan had also asked me to pick up some soda, so I grabbed a 12-pack while there.  As I was walking out to my truck, frustrated that they didn't have what I wanted, and what they did have was over-priced, I had to stop myself.  Not so very long ago, I would have to either go to the truck stop, and pray that they weren't out of milk, or drive into town.  It wouldn't be practical to do all of our grocery shopping at Brookshires, but how convenient to actually have a grocery store here in town!  We've lived in Anna for five-and-a-half years now, and for most of that time, we didn't have that luxury.

This morning, it has started early.  The girls are just not at their best so far today.  They've already gotten themselves grounded for the afternoon.  BUT... how hard have we worked for me to be able to stay home with them?  How often do I read news articles about what is happening in public schools around here, and thank God that my girls are homeschooled?  How many times (even on days like today) am I reminded that I have awesome kids?  I do, really.  Sure, they argue, but I'm told this is normal.  (A complete lack of sibling rivalry on my part as a child did NOT prepare me for this love-hate relationship.)  We get to study in our jammies, if we want.  If cabin fever sets in, it's off to the aquarium for the day.  I have the unique opportunity to teach my children every day.  Not just in the afternoon.  Not just on the weekends.  Every. single. day.  How amazing of a blessing is that?

It's time for me to step away from the keyboard, now.  The dogs have tracked in more mud, and the laundry beckons.  This day will bring plenty of opportunity for me to exercise this attitude of gratitude.  I'm off to go enjoy my new singing washer and dryer a little bit!