Joe loves sitting his toy bin…
Something about being surrounded by toys just thrills him!
Don’t worry – the bin has a safety latch so it won’t slam down on him or pinch his little fingers. And he’s never in there without me right beside him.
It’s so cute to watch him “talk” to his toys 
If you’re like me, then you’re often on the lookout for recipes that are filling, nutritious, easy to make, and easy on the pocketbook.
Here’s one that satisfies all of those criteria, and it’s a cinch to modify based on taste. It can function as a side dish or, if you’re like us, work as a main meal.
Lentil Rice Supper
Put the olive oil, onion, and carrots in the pot. Sauté for a few minutes, till onions begin to soften.
In the meantime, put the lentils in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Let them soak for a few minutes and then drain off the excess liquid.
Add lentils, rice, and broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Add mushrooms, replace cover, and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Season to taste.
Some Variations: You can add a chopped green capsicum {bell pepper} or some chopped cooked chicken. Throw a cup of peas in there. You could also cook up some Italian sausage at the very beginning, add the veggies, and follow the rest of the recipe from there.
The lentils in this dish aren’t soft and smushy, so if you like your lentils that way, then leave them in the hot water for a bit longer. This is a great dish for putting together and then forgetting about while I’m doing other stuff. You don’t need to stir it while it’s simmering away.
Chris and I aren’t the only ones who like this particular dish. I’ve taken a couple of spoonfuls out, pulsed them a few times with a hand blender, and served it to Joe. He loves it, but no surprises there. The boy eats pretty much everything we put in front of him!
Let me preface this post by saying a few things:
I don’t think that a woman is a better mother because she stays at home with her children or because she works outside of the home. I think that it’s entirely a case-by-case sort of thing. There are some women who would be much better mothers if they were able to get out of the house, and there are some women who would love to have the option of staying at home with their babies but can’t for various reasons. I get that, and I’m not judging anyone for their choice.
Now that that’s out of the way…
When it comes to me and our little family, I have to say that I love staying home with Joe. Those first 3 months were a bit rough as he and I got to know one another. Now? I love being with him. There are definitely days where he tries my patience and I struggle with having the right attitude, but taken as a whole, I love to hang out with him. We do things, see people, and have a great time most days. It’s taken me surprise, actually.
Despite all of that, I still work outside of the house.
New Zealand has a pretty nice deal for mums. In general, we’re entitled to 1 year of mat-leave. It’s not all paid, of course, but we have the freedom to say, “Yes – I’d like to take 365 days to stay home with my baby, and then at the end of all of that come back to my job in its current status”. That’s pretty amazing, in my book.
Depending on the type of job that you do, there are other options available to you while still on mat-leave. In my case, I’m able to go back to work provided that I don’t work an amount equal to the number of hours I worked per week before having Joe. Translation: if you worked a 40 hour week, you can work 39 hours, 50 minutes and still technically be on mat-leave. But if you work another 10 minutes during that week, your leave is up and its back to the grind.
So I’ve been working some shifts here and there. All of my shifts have been when Chris is available to watch Joe, which means that I’ve been working some late hours. It hasn’t been easy, and there are times when I wonder why I’m doing it. I wonder what I’m trying to prove.
I thought about that this past week, after agreeing to pick up a lot more hours. In the end, I decided that I was trying to work enough shifts to convince Chris that, once my mat-leave is officially over, I should just go to a prn/casual {as needed} basis rather than a regular X number of hours per week. Thing is, Chris has never pressured me about work or picking up more hours. He’s been incredibly supportive. So was I really trying to prove it to him, or was I trying to prove it to myself?
In the end, I’d say it’s a little bit of both. I’m working more hours to see how I feel about it, and I’m working more hours to see how Chris manages with Joe. If all goes as I’d like it, then once my mat-leave is over I’ll apply for a prn/casual position rather than going back to what I used to do.
This has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, I get to pick the hours and shifts that I want to work. I can work more or less depending on what’s available. I don’t have someone else telling me when I need to come in.
On the minus side, it means that I have to take whatever is left open. On one particular week, that might mean taking a shift that’s really strange hours. It might mean going a week or two without working and then picking up several shifts during subsequent weeks. There’s a level of unpredictability about it that might unsettle some people.
I still have time to decide. In the meantime, I’m enjoying working in a job that offers such flexibility and living in a country where new mothers are so well-supported
I’m loving these MMM posts. Why? Because after I take the photos of our apartment, I think, “Hmm… I’d better clean that up!” and start to do chores. It’s motivation, but in a strange sort of way…
In the meantime, here’s a look around our home:
Dishes in the sink and by the sink. I’d say that there’s only one time of day that there aren’t dishes in the sink, and that’s in the evening. One of my “tricks” for keeping on top of chores is to always run the dishwasher before going to bed. Waking up to an empty sink and clean dishes is one small way of staying sane.
The lounge, aka, the play area! I think that it’s time for me to put away the play mat. Joe never uses it, and its main function these days is a place to store toys when I pick up in the evenings. I need to get a bin and bookcase for this spot.
Then, there’s Joe’s room:
This suitcase was chock-full of baby clothes that were given to us while visiting family. I have enough clothes now that I don’t need to buy Joe anything till he’s at least 2 years old. I organized them by size and put them in plastic bags before coming back to NZ. The idea behind this was that, when we got home, all I’d have to do is open the suitcase and put them in the right spots. One problem, though. Here’s Joe’s closet:
Not pictured – a very full clothes rack underneath that bottom drawer
All of the clothing that was still “out” when we got back to NZ was in the size 3 – 6 months range, which meant that before putting away all of those neatly organized bags from the USA, I would have to go through his current clothing and find a place to store it. He has a dresser, but it’s entirely occupied with cloth nappies and baby cot linens.
So, I went to The Warehouse to buy some under-bed {or in this case, under-cot} storage bins. I looked and looked and looked. We asked a staffer to help us, and he told us where they were. I got there, only to discover {at the very back of the shelf after wriggling past several big, heavy bins} that there were some lids, but no under-bed bins! The staffer had assured us that they were there, and told me that I shouldn’t look for them in the sale aisle near the front of the store. Wouldn’t you know it, on my way out I decided to have a quick peek at the sale section {exactly where I was told to avoid} and there were my under-cot storage bins. Without lids. Grrr. I wasn’t about to walk to the back of the store, worm my way through the shelves, and grab the lids so I took 2 bins and 2 lids from similarly sized bins and checked out.
Anyway, I got the bins. I got the lids. I filled one bin with very small baby items (newborn – 3 months) that were already being stored in the hanging shelves of his closet. This freed up space for some of the suitcase items. Then, I went through the clothing rack and drawers and removed all of the 3 – 6 month items and put those in the 2nd bin, which freed up space for the 6 – 9/12 mos clothes. I’m happy to say that the suitcase is now empty and all of his clothing sizes are up-to-date. Still, it was sad for me to put some of them away. There was one hooded sweater jacket in particular that I found myself getting a little misty-eyed over. It was so cute on him, and now it’s too small! When did my baby get to be so big?
That’s Joe – 7 months + 1 week old and very messy Joe has taken to solid food like a duckling to water. He pretty much gobbles down anything we spoon out!
Thanks for visiting our home – see you next week!
I sometimes struggle with having an adequate balance of busyness and quiet time. Does anyone else deal with that? Surely I’m not the only one. Why is it so hard to unwind and simply “be”?
The sermon on Sunday brought this to the forefront. Travis, the pastor, was talking about rest. More specifically, where or who do we go to for our rest? One of the scriptures referenced was about Mary and Martha.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, allow me to paraphrase: Mary and Martha were sisters who lived in Jesus’ time. Jesus and several others were at their house for a meal. They were all talking and enjoying themselves, but Martha was so preoccupied with getting things ready that she couldn’t sit and enjoy His company. Instead, she stewed and simmered about the fact that she was stuck in the kitchen while her sister sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him. Eventually, she reached her limit and walked out to Jesus, saying to him, “Lord – don’t you care that I’m doing all of this work while my sister just sits there?”
I can picture it. How embarrassing! For Martha, for making such a public display of bad manners. For Mary, for being called out like that. For the guests, who were probably studying their toes quite intently and coughing awkwardly. And for Jesus, for being put in the position to say who was right and who was in the wrong.
At first glance, it’s easy to see why you might think that Martha was justified. After all, how fair is it that she was doing the work while Mary just sat around. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a time and a place for work. But Mary had her priorities right – her focus was first and foremost on God. Still, there’s a big part of me that sympathizes with Martha and that wants her to be right. I’ve had times when I was trying to organize something but stuff wasn’t coming together the way that I wanted. I’ve had moments where I’ve grumped and harrumphed at Chris for spending too much time socializing while I’m stuck in the kitchen, sighing like a bellows and blowing my bangs out of my red, frustrated face. Who enjoys being around that? Certainly not me! I get unattractive and waspish and… eugh.
It’s an easy attitude to fall into, and once you’ve got it, it’s only a matter of time before it spills over to other areas of my life. Today, for example. I was so rushed about getting out with Joe that I wasn’t enjoying the morning. Running around, trying to get ready so that we could “have fun” made me more stressed than if I’d just had a quiet morning at home with him, playing on the carpet. I ended up snapping at Chris over the phone. I felt icky and ugly inside for having such a rotten attitude when so many things in my life were going well. Thankfully, I came to my senses soon after and called Chris to apologize. I cut my workout short by about 15 minutes so that I could just sit, relax, and recharge. I needed to take time to chat with God while giving myself a few moments of peace and quiet. I was rested and we ended up having a wonderful time at the pool with a friend.
So, where do I find my rest? Is it in other people? In activities? Is it in having a well-kept home? Is it in looking good myself? Or do I find my rest in God? I should. To put it nicely, I shouldn’t be spending so much time in the kitchen that I end up missing out on the fact that God’s in my living room, ready and waiting for me to spend time with Him.
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I realize that not everyone who reads this blog believes in God. Regardless, I encourage you to take a few moments to turn off the TV, shut down the computer, and turn off the iPod so that you can listen quietly to yourself while appreciating the good things in your life
The first time I saw New Zealand was when we moved here nearly 2 years past. There was no pre-visit for me – I just got on a plane and followed Chris, all while hoping that the country was as lovely as it seemed in pictures. My view from the plane window that early morning was hazy and rainy. We’d gotten here right at the beginning of winter and I wondered where the beautiful, green New Zealand that I’d heard about was hiding. It was so gray and wet. What had I gotten myself into?
This, my lovely readers, is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t always rely on first impressions. That gray, rainy weather cleared up and I got to see how beautiful New Zealand can be. Below are some of my photos from that first month {remember, it was leading into winter}…
Downtown Ferry Building – gorgeous, isn’t it?
Park by Emily Place – so pretty!
We saw some hilarious signs {those Kiwis and they’re dry sense of humor!}…
It’s fun to look back at old photos and remember what was going on when I took them and how I felt at the time!
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Linking up with Bloggy Moms for the Blog Dare 2012
Yes, I realize that this post is supposed to be “Messy Mom Monday”. However, by the time I saw Brittney’s post, it was already Tuesday here in New Zealand.
Oh well!
It’s so easy to for me to line my life up to someone else’s and think that I’m not doing enough or that I don’t have it “put together”. What I often forget is that, for most people, that put together look doesn’t happen all the time. Sure, I like to have on nice clothes with my hair done, make-up applied, and Joe in a cute outfit while the house sparkles and shines. These things do happen, but often not simultaneously. I’d hate for someone to see us when that once-in-a-blue-moon instance occurs where everything and everyone looks great and walk away feeling as though they aren’t good enough.
You know what, lovely readers? You are good enough, and here’s proof that we don’t always have it together.
Consider my current ensemble:
I’m wearing a sweatshirt and workout pants. My hair was in a bun at some point, but Joe wanted to play on the floor and the pins were digging into my scalp. Why am I still wearing workout gear at 2pm? Because (1) I jog almost every morning while Joe naps and (2) it’s an icky, cloudy day in Auckland and we didn’t go outside but for a few minutes before being chased back in by the rain. Still, I’m OK with this outfit – I know that the reason why I’m wearing it is because I was exercising, which is something that makes me feel better about myself {and look better, too!}. Yes, I like to put on a nice pair of jeans with some cute shoes and push Joe up and down High Street, but sometimes it’s stretch pants and flip-flops. Guess what – Joe doesn’t know the difference!
Oh, and there’s a little something on this outfit that you can’t see – the flour covering my front. I made 2 loaves of bread today and got messy in the process, naturally. And my feet? A total mess. That’s what happens when you give up a vehicle in favor of walking everywhere.
Then there’s my desk area:
Camera gear, passports that have yet to be put away from our trip to the States {we got back 2 weeks ago}, a box with odds and ends in it {grocery tote, a toy to bring to the church nursery, pad of paper…} my laptop with smudgy screen, and my vitamins and minerals {because one of the first places that I go in the morning after nursing Joe is to check my email}.
What a mess.
Last but not least, there’s the lounge/play area:
That is a pile of Joe’s toys and books on the sofa. Why is it there? Because I vacuumed yesterday and picked up the whole kit ‘n caboodle so that I could sweep. Joe has a perfectly good toy bin and bookcase in his nursery, but it’s a hassle to take everything from there to the lounge each day. I’m on the lookout for a small bin to keep next to the couch to help de-clutter this area, but I’m not in any rush!
Oof – yikes! Can’t believe I’m posting pictures of our messy house and a clearly far from fabulous looking me on the internet, but here goes!
This was a good weekend.
We went to the farmer’s market on Saturday. Bought some things that were fresh and yummy and all at good prices. Got back home just before the downpour began. Always a good feeling to know that you narrowly missed getting soaked!
I worked Saturday evening. It was good, but I’m hoping to sign on for some longer shifts. Working the short ones makes me feel all discombobulated. Right around the time I’m hitting my stride, it’s time to start getting ready to hand over to the next shift!
Got home to find that Joe was still awake… barely. Apparently, Chris had undergone quite the ordeal with Joe’s afternoon nap. I’d been telling Chris for the past few days that Joe’s afternoon naps were turning into something of a battle and I was considering tweaking the timing of them. Chris really understood what I meant and why this was frustrating to me once he’d experienced an over-tired, not-wanting-to-nap version of Joe! So, yes – Joe was still awake when I got home. I simply nursed him and put him to bed.
Got up on Sunday and enjoyed the fact that neither of us had to be at church till 10am. Normally, one of us has to be there sooner than that for some reason or another. As it worked out, I was the one who had to go early today (to set up for morning tea) and Chris was able to stay home with Joe, thereby allowing Joe to get a good nap in before the service. Of course, about 45 minutes before I had to leave, Joe spat up all over me – on my neck, my chest, running down my back, and getting a lot of my hair as well. I had to go back into the bathroom and rinse my hair out in the sink and blow-dry it for the second time that day. And there was a distinct smell of baby spit-up lingering about me! I just sprayed some perfume and that did the trick.
I walked in to set up for morning tea by myself. It was like a mini-vacation! The sun was shining, it was warm and beautiful, I had some happy music playing on my iPod, and I felt refreshed and energized.
Got to church and set things up fairly quickly. Morning tea consists of making a pot of coffee, setting out the mugs, the serviettes (paper napkins), some milk, sugar, spoons, tea bags, and a jug of hot water… all of this is for before the service. For after the service, we have the same things but also treats of some kind. This morning, it was cinnamon-sugar mini-donuts and chocolate-caramel slices. I served along with another regular attendee, chatting with people while filling their mugs. After about 15 minutes – once everyone has gotten a full cup and something to munch on – we start the clean up process and begin to wash dishes and slowly put away the coffee, tea, and sweets after going around and making sure that everyone has had their fill.
Chris was on take-down responsibilities. While he took care of that, Joe and I visited and eventually wandered back to the church offices, where I could nurse Joe in a comfortable chair. We chatted with a new friend and once Chris was done, headed for home. Joe stayed up till 2pm (rather than his usual nap time of 1pm) and that seemed to do the trick. He slept straight through till 4:30p and I was able to get a quick cat-nap in on the side. Chris played his football game in the relative quiet of our inner-city apartment.
Once my nap was over, I came out to the lounge and made up the meal-plan for the week: baked mushroom mac-and-cheese, lentil rice skillet supper, lasagna, chicken soup, crustless pizza, and baked bean chili. I’ve never tried baked bean chili and it sounds awfully heavy and wintery to me, but Chris loves baked beans and we have a bunch of them in our pantry that I wanted to use. So, we’ll give it a whirl.
Once Joe was up, I nursed him and then fed him some pureed spinach and carrots. The boy loves spinach! He finished it up quick as could be and then we 3 headed to the new supermarket down the street. It’s so nice to go shopping when Chris is available to help with Joe and carry some of the bags back home. Otherwise, I have to take Joe in the pram and lug the bags back by myself. That usually means at least 2 trips up and down the stairs, since I don’t want to over-burden myself while carrying Joe and risk falling or dropping him.
Chris was my pack mule knight in shining armor and carried the bags for me. We got in and out of the store in less than an hour and all while spending less than $100. Love it! I also bought ingredients to make sangria. Since it’s so warm over here, this seemed like a good time to give it a try. It’s currently marinating in the fridge as we speak and I’ll finish it up tomorrow evening. Can’t wait!
Once Joe was in bed for the night (around 7:30p) I got back in the kitchen. I wanted to make some no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies while I had the time. I was almost done when I realized that I had no vanilla – only almond essence! I substituted half the amount of almond essence for the amount called for of vanilla and added in some coconut, and Chris declared that they were better that way than the original method
Since I was already making a mess, I decided to brown the beef mince (ground beef) and have it all ready to go for later this week. Afterward, I cleaned up the mess, started the dishwasher, and sat down at my laptop to send some emails and write up this post!
All in all, a good weekend. Busy, but good.
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So, my lovely readers, how was your weekend? Share!
Joe loves his solid foods. Avocados, parsnip, carrots, chicken, spinach, beef… and so on and so forth.
However…
I’m worried about having a picky eater. I don’t think that Chris or I were particularly picky eaters {though Chris did have a reputation for gagging and making himself throw up whenever they went out to eat at a restaurant!} but I’m a bit of a picky eater, now. I know that, many times, children learn how to eat based on their parents’ eating habits. I’d like for Joe to look at ours and see a diet full of healthy, diverse choices.
I’ve been hearing really good things about the book “My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children Who Love to Eat Everything”. It covers a range of things from breastfeeding to preschool, from parents’ eating habits to problem eating, from eating at home to eating at restaurants {and actually enjoying it}.
So far, everything that Joe has eaten he’s loved. I’m hoping that this book will give me some more tips on how to continue to encourage him to try new foods!
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Are there any strange foods that you ate as a child? Any strange foods that your child eats now?
Linking up with Bloggy Moms for The Blog Dare
According to some recent surveys, New Zealand is, hands-down, the friendliest country on earth {click on image to go to report}.
Auckland – where we live – was also recently ranked as “The World’s 10th Most Liveable City”. Wellington – the capital – was ranked #23 {click on image to go to report}.
Auckland also scored fairly highly in another recent survey: most expensive :-/ Yup – we’re #24 in the world {New York was #14, to give you an idea}. The survey found that, in a 2 year period, Auckland’s average wage went up by 45% {good news!} but the cost of living increased by 58% {bad news!}.
Still, at least we live in the friendliest place on earth, right? Though “Happiest Place on Earth” still belongs to Disney, doesn’t it? It’s also nice to be in the most liveable city in the country, but a bit of a bummer that it shares that title with “most expensive”.
How about you, my lovely readers? What about your country makes it – in your opinion – the friendliest? What makes your city the “most liveable”? What makes it expensive? Share!
Dear Joseph,
You are 7 months old, baby!
You are so precious to us. Every day, I marvel at how much you’ve grown and developed. It’s hard for me to grasp how quickly time has flown since your birth – 7 whole months!
We started you on solid foods when you were about 6 months old. So far, you’ve loved everything that you’ve tasted: chicken, avos (avocado), spinach, carrots, parsnip, bananas, apples, pears… the list goes on!
You do a wonderful job at sitting up on your own. I used to be a bit worried about you falling over (with good reason!) but lately, it’s as if you don’t need me around at all!
Either way, I like to keep a pillow nearby juuuuuust in case you decide to keel over backwards.
You do need me around, you know. And I know – trust me! Lately, you’ve had this thing where you don’t want (most people) except your momma. You can be happily playing on your own, fully engaged, and then shriek at the realization that I’m no longer within your line of sight. Same deal if you wake up during a nap. Where before you would just grab your passie (pacifier) and catch a few more “zzzz’s”, now you cry and cry until I come in and give you kisses. I figure it’s all just a phase and in the meantime, enjoy the fact that you love snuggling with me.
I’m not too fussed about your nap-time awakenings, because you’re doing a wonderful job with your sleep. You get a bit cranky around 6pm and by 7pm, it’s lights out. You generally wake around 6/6:30am. When you do wake, what do you want? Me! You’re fine with Daddy for about 10 minutes, but if you catch sight of me out of the corner of your eye, it’s a no-holds-barred crying jag until I pick you up and feed you. Don’t worry, sweetie – I’m hungry in the mornings, too
Most of our days are spent playing and reading and taking walks and visiting with friends. You got to see your friend Rex this past week and it was pretty cute watching the 2 of you interact! You also love your “girlfriends” Sophia and Zoe at church, and I can’t wait for you to meet some of the other bubs that are soon-to-arrive.
Some of your favorite pastimes include reading…
Hanging out in your Jolly Jumper…
You also love to go on walks around town in your pram. Now that it’s summer, you really enjoy kicking your heels up and seeing the sights!
You’re doing a wonderful job with your practice-crawling. You scoot yourself all over the place (mostly backwards!) and sometimes, I don’t know how you end up where you end up. Any day now, you’re going to figure the whole thing out and then we’ll have to step it up in the baby-proofing department.
Oh, and in case you begin to get smug and think that you’re always a doll and happy as can be, just check out the following photo (which your father insisted I put in!):
You do have your moments 
We love you!
I’d like to vacation here:
Queenstown (image via)
Fjordland National Park (image via)
Fox National Glacier (image via)
Arrowtown (image via)
Dunedin (image via)
Stewart Island (image via)
Marlborough Wine Region (image via)
Abel Tasman National Park (image via)
In other words, I want to visit the South Island (of New Zealand)!
Now, all I have to do is convince Chris… shouldn’t be too hard considering how close we are (living on the North Island) but we’ll see
Two ingredients can get you this:
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen and it was so easy.
Want to know how I did it? It took 5 steps…
Step 1. Open a can of cheap beer (12 oz/330mL)
Step 2. Measure out 2 2/3 C of self-rising flour
Step 3. Mix flour and beer together till flour is just moistened
Step 4. Spoon mixture into a 9 inch loaf pan (lightly greased)
Step 5. Bake for 40-50 minutes at 375F/190C
That’s it! Let it cool for 5 minutes on its side and then take it out of the pan. So easy, and it yields a good, hearty, crusty bread that took a minimal amount of effort to make and yet still manages to look impressive. People will “oooh” and “aaah” when you tell them it’s homemade.
The bread is great as is, but would probably benefit from just a bit of salt. A variation that I’m keen to try: add 1 C shredded cheese + 1/2 C thinly sliced scallions + 1 1/2 tsp chicken seasoning/seasoned salt.
Did I ever tell you about the time I let my sister take a spanking for me? No? Well, maybe that’s because I never “let” her take one for me. More like I made her.
And all because of a goldfish.
Let’s back it up a bit and give you some more information. You see, when I was younger I went to a small, private school for a few years before transferring to public. This private school held a country fair night every single year. Hayrides, carnival games, you name it – all in the school gymnasium. One of the “big” prizes was winning a plastic baggy full of water with a goldfish swimming inside. I really wanted one of those fish and used many a ticket to win one.
Once I had my little fishy, I cradled that bag and took him home with me. He went into a bowl and sat on the kitchen counter-top, but I wasn’t quite tall enough to see him without having someone hand me the bowl. My mom wasn’t always around, so I did what any kid would do – I decided to reach for it myself.
Side Note – My mom had warned me several times not to pull that fish bowl down from the counter-top!
The inevitable happened. I pulled down the fishbowl and it, the water, and the fishy went everywhere. My mom came back into the kitchen, surveyed the scene, and that’s when I did it – in a moment of total rottenness, I pointed the finger at my little sister. She was too little to explain, and she was a ready scapegoat. I figured she’d get put in time out or get a scolding, but no – she got a spanking.
Odds are, she doesn’t even remember this. But I remember it, and it tormented me for a long, long time. It was years later before I finally worked up the courage to confess. I was 16 years old, driving the car over the Martin Luther King, Jr. overpass in my hometown, and my mom was in the passenger’s seat. I figured then was a good time to tell her because if she killed me or tried to strangle me, we’d both go over the edge. I knew she had too much to live for, and so I spilled the beans.
She just laughed. I couldn’t believe it – I’d been agonizing with this off and on for years, convinced that whatever punishment was meted out would be horrible, and there she was laughing at me. Harumph.
She told me that she figured I’d punished myself enough, and she was right. Here I am, 30 years old, and I still feel bad about it.
So, Valerie, in case I haven’t told you this story, now you know. And if you want to throttle me, all you have to do is catch a plane from Indiana to Auckland
One of the perks of coming from a big family: there’s plenty of hand-me-downs and things that are saved for future use. Case in point: the seemingly unending supply of toys available to Joe during our holiday. We have photos of Joe seated in bins with playthings spilling out around him – he was so excited!
One of the {many} toys that my mom saved from our childhood days was a Fisher-Price record player. Joe loved that thing – if he could see it, he was reaching for it…
See what I mean? My mom took the above photo and it captures Joe’s interest perfectly – arms outstretched, lips pursed and concentrating… something about this 30+ year old toy captivated him.
Knowing how much Joe loved this toy, I’m sure that you can imagine how happy we were when we my parents gave him this:
That’s right…
Joe now owns a Fisher-Price record player, and he loves it just as much as the original
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What about you? Is there a special toy that you remember from your childhood, maybe something you’ve saved so that your own little ones can play with it down the road?
***Linking up with Bloggy Moms for The Blog Dare 2012***
Back in November, Carole from ExpatFocus.com approached me about coming onboard as a columnist. I’ve just had my first article published and would love for you to stop by and check it out. Click the image below to be redirected to my post on the Expat Focus website.
Thanks in advance for stopping by to check it out!
Chris and I decided to stop subscribing to TV channels about 4+ years ago.
Notice that I didn’t say we decided to go TV-free – we decided to go without any TV channels. Bit of a difference there. We love to watch movies and there are some shows that we have on DVD {“Friends”, “NCIS”, “The Office”, “Andy Griffith”… wait – did I just admit that out loud?!}
We made the decision to forgo most TV because it was too easy to fall into the habit of zoning out in front of the screen at the end of the day. And this isn’t just in relation to TV – computers can do it, too, and we’ve both been guilty of staring at our laptops in the evening without communicating to each other about how our lives are going.
So, giving up the TV channels has meant that we talk to one another more. We read more books. We do things like play games, clean the kitchen or some other household chore. Having a picked-up house and/or a clean kitchen makes me feel rested and at peace. When I’m rested and at peace, I’m far less likely to get cranky about small stuff, which means that Chris is usually in a better mood, too.
Some friends ask how we stay abreast of the news. That’s what the internet is for, in my opinion!
So, there you have it – we’re not big TV watchers. We might be out of the loop when friends ask, “Did you see _____ last night?”, but we’re OK with that.
***Linking up with Bloggy Moms for The Blog Dare 2012***
Apparently, New Zealand has some really great coffee, but don’t ask me for any recommendations. I, my lovely readers, am a tea drinker.
Having a “quick cuppa” with some bikkies {biscuits, aka, cookies} is part of the culture over here. My staff break room at work is fully equipped with hundreds of tea bags, a milk fridge {yes – an entire refrigerator devoted to milk} and a hot water tap. It was pretty much inevitable that I fall into the habit of drinking tea while at work, and that slowly transitioned into drinking tea during the morning on my days off.
I try to limit myself to one, maybe two, cups a day. I never drink it past noon – if I do, it’s a fair bet that I’ll have trouble sleeping that night. I take mine with a healthy drop of milk, no sugar. I like it strong and hot. No green or herbal teas, thank you very much – black tea is the way to go in my book!
I stocked up on some really delicious teas when we were Stateside. My supplier of choice is Upton Tea Imports out of Massachusetts. They pack the tea just for you with your name and the freshness date clearly printed on each individual package. My mom had some in the kitchen when we got there and I happily sampled her supplies – so yummy! I had to go online and order some for myself.
My favorite tea right now is the New England Harvest Blend – a mix of china tea, cinnamon, dried apple, almonds, and vanilla bean. It’s from Germany and it’s so delicious with milk. It makes me think of a crisp Fall day in the States with crunchy leaves underfoot and the smell of woodsmoke in the air.
My second tea-of-choice at the moment is the East Frisian Sunday Tea – a blend of assam and bourbon vanilla.
Other teas in my pantry include Melange de Chamonix, Chai Agni (decaf), Chai Spice, East Frisian BOP, Kensington Breakfast Blend, Irish Breakfast Blend CTC (crush-tear-curl method), Mincing Lane Blend, Tippy Orthodox GBOP Assam, Cranberry Flavored Black Tea, and Melange Noel (a “Christmas Tea” made up of black tea, cloves, vanilla, cardamom, citrus peel, rose petals, and almond pieces).
I’ve even got my own little tea scoop, two different brewing baskets, a “to go” cup for tea with a built in tea-leaf strainer, and a tea infuser.
Brewing Basket #1
Brewing Basket #2
Chris has tried to claim one of these brew baskets for his coffee, but I’ve put my foot down. He already has a fancy-dancy coffee machine and a french press all to himself, and putting coffee in the brewing baskets can alter the flavor of the tea. Sorry, Chris!
Having a cup of tea in the morning is my “aaaahhhhh” moment. I usually enjoy a cup shortly after Joe’s first feeding of the morning but after I’ve had a full glass of water (don’t want to get dehydrated!). It’s relaxing and gives me an excuse to take a moment or two to think about the day.
Do you have a tea addiction? Or is coffee your morning drug of choice?
*****Linking up with Bloggy Moms for The Blog Dare 2012*****
Chris doesn’t wear a wedding ring. Some wives might find that weird or be intimidated by it, but not me. I’ve learned my lesson.
When Chris and I got married, I bought his wedding ring. He had it for about a year and a half but was always fiddling with it. Chris likes to fiddle. He flips things and bounces things and flicks them across tables. Same thing with his ring. He’d take it off and fiddle with it constantly. It was always bouncing on the floor or slipping through his fingers, and I warned him that he’d lose it.
He did, naturally. Lose it. Between his office at Notre Dame and his car in the faculty/staff parking lot. He called me at home {I was living in Lafayette and he spent about 2 – 3 days a week in South Bend doing his visiting scholar thing} and told me that bad news. He followed it up with a story about a friend of his who had flushed his wedding ring down the toilet, and wasn’t I glad that he hadn’t done that?
I shook my head, rolled my eyes, and let out a wry, “I knew this was gonna happen!” kind of laugh. I told him that his next wedding ring was going to be from Walmart as a “training ring”. Naturally, he thought this was a great idea and headed over there to buy a replacement ring ASAP. Oh boy. Wouldn’t you know he wore that thing for 3 years and never lost it once?
But like I said at the start of this story, he doesn’t wear a wedding ring. The reason being that, eventually, that cheap-o Walmart ring wore through and the metal broke. And Chris, being Chris, took it off and fiddled with it, bending it into all sorts of curly-cue shapes until I finally confiscated it and threw it away.
I offered to buy him another ring, but he couldn’t decide on one that he liked and so time stretched on and now, here it is, nearly 2 years later and still no ring.
We’ll get him a new one eventually, but it doesn’t bother us. Now, if I lost one of my rings, that would be a different story!
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Have you ever lost something that some people would consider valuable or important, but realize that you’re entirely unfazed by it? Share!
I had such a blast during our visit to the States.
Food! Family! And shopping!
I bought so much stuff. And returned so much stuff. And thought about, and hemmed and hawed, and drooled over so much stuff.
America has a lot of “stuff” in it. Just visit any Walmart and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Anyway, the point of this post isn’t about stuff that I bought or didn’t buy. It’s about what I shouldn’t have bought. What, at the end of our time to the US when I was frantically trying to stuff things into our suitcases, I looked at and thought, “Why the heck did I spend money on this?!”
For me, it was a pair of shoes.
It seems anticlimactic, but it’s really not. I bought a lot of shoes while we were there and I was happy with each and every one of them, save one pair.
These:
These are a pair of shoes that are almost exactly like a pair that I already owned and wear for work in the hospital. My old pair is black and I love them. They are hands-down the best pair of nurses shoes {that aren’t really nurses shoes} that I’ve ever owned. I love them so much that I decided to buy a pair in brown and ordered these.
They came, and that was when I realized that in buying them through some discount, end-of-line sale website, I had purchased a pair with a wider width than what I normally own. I wore them for a little while, figured they were OK {I’d just wear thick socks – brilliant!} and put them in the closet.
Fast-forward to 6 weeks later. I hadn’t worn those shoes once but it was too late to return them. I threw them in a bag with all the rest of my shoes and brought them back to New Zealand. They’re sitting in my closet right now, untouched.
I’ll probably wear them eventually, but they weren’t the smartest purchase. Oh well. Maybe I’ll find someone with the same shoe size as me, only wider, who could use a good pair of shoes. I’ll let you know if I do.
What did you buy this holiday season that you’re now regretting? Anyone else out there with a pair of shoes {or two!} collecting dust in the closet?
***Linking up with Bloggy Moms Blog Dare 2012***
