The Random of Steph

I apparently have some blog posts I prepped but never posted. This is from the Sunday before Artic Blast 2008 hit. We still couldn't get to the special Christmas service. But I took some pics and called it good At least it was good until later that day she decided to climb out of the crib over and over. And not nap. And not sleep. It wasn't a delightful day to say the least!

Some Christmas cheer a couple weeks too late!

I thought I'd post a little note to say I've been thinking of this little blog a lot lately. Almost every day I have an idea for a post. And just about every day I don't even get close to writing it. You see, part of the problem is time. But most of the problem is perfection. I don't have any pictures. No one cares what's in my head. I don't have time to proofread. I don't want to think. I can't find the stupid link to where I post on this simply too simple blog. I can't live up to my friends who post so often and/or have really pretty blogs and/or always have great photos..... not to even mention professional blogs that are just so shiny! (Professional blogs... i mean really, what has the world come too?) So here I am, for all three of you, (perhaps there are more of you than that thanks to Google Reader), telling you that I will make no promises. But I want to write more. And there will not be many pictures most likely. And I'll s...

Usually I look forward to Mondays with a strange sense of completion and routine. After a weekend that is busy more often than not, I long for a quiet day of laundry, sesame street and perhaps an errand or two. I'm free to visit friends, sew during nap time, go browsing at Goodwill, etc. I may vacuum, do dishes or clean.... which I don't like but makes the house feel much more pleasant. The morning, Monday took a turn for the worse. A little something called a "coughing kid" paired with "mommy sleeping in the munchkins room" added up and delivered a "get up with a horrible coughing fit at 5am" and "decide it was time to get up". Scott and I debated whether to have coffee or not as the munchkin happily ate yogurt. Would we get a nap? (Are you thinking what I'm thinking? ) "Not a chance". Scott poured the brown goo while I shut off the crock pot and turned on my Scentsy burner with the coffee scent. I like maki...

This morn the munchkin had her usual oatmeal with daddy breakfast. Apparently, Scott also fed her a banana and a piece of cheese. About an hour later, daddy leaves for work, and she needs cheese. Okay. Then I grab a bowl of cereal for myself. She demands not only to help feed it to me, but eat it herself. In between bites of cheese. After we've finished my cereal, while I'm on the phone she finds a banana in my lunch sack from yesterday. She runs up to me saying, "please, please." I feed her half of it, which she sucks down like a vacuum. I kid you not, she's eaten three times what I have this morning. And given the chance, she'd probably eat more.

Post to blog. Maybe at least monthly. We'll see how this actually goes. :)

I love my g's. Don't get me wrong. But baby cheapskate is giving away 12 BumGenius 3.0 one-size diapers. Those would be great for nighttime. Along with g's of course. :) The contest: http://babycheapskate.blogspot.com/2008/07/giveaway-12-bumgenius-30-diapers.html G's - www.gdiapers.com

Today I've decided to post an oldy but a goody. This is a picture that reminds me of exactly who Willow is. It's one of my favorites. It was taken the summer of '99. Way before Scott and I were even friends and Sage was a twinkle in anyone's eye. When I was young and idealistic. Oh the memories. I could wax and wane about how wonderful that time was.... but it's funny how you don't remember the more challenging stuff. That summer wasn't perfect, but it was wonderful.

Took the mass transit in today and missed the bus connection. Again. So, I just walked to work. And on 23rd I spied this: Here is the close up of the pole. Why yes, that is a troll. Who knew? Sage, do you like the troll??? He matches your stroller. Mom, are we there yet?

First, Strawberries: Second, evening bike ride to deliver some berries to friends. Sage decided she needed to help them eat some. It's not like she's already eaten 10 today. Good grief, the girl can't get enough. Then back home again. You think I'd be happy to be home, but my legs are killin' me and my bum hurts.

Happy Father's Day! Our new tradition (as of last year) is to head up into the hills into the middle of nowhere for the Dixie Mountain Strawberry Festival. Can you say, "YUM!" But the best part is the Strawberry eatin' Boy, she was hyped up on sugar last night!

I have accepted a challenge of posting a picture daily for the next month. Or is it taking a picture. I'm not sure. Here's how I'm doing it: attempt to take picture(s) each day. Try to post each day. Not sure how that will actually work, but they may not get posted every day. So here's to say that my lonely blog should be seeing a bit more love over the next month. So, here's a preview, of the day before the challenge, July 14th. This is Sage and her friend Pauline from church. Pauline is a month or two older than her and enjoys many of the same things as Sage. Balls, bubbles, cheese, chicken and running!

Well, it's official. I'm part of gHQ. For those of you out of the loop, I picked up a part-time gig at gDiapers, my lovely diaper company. I can still feel like I'm just joe-smo coming in to do my random things. Yesterday, in celebration of Earth Day (it's like our Christmas) Jason & Kim took the tribe out to lunch and bowling. Jason posted pics of the event on his blog and it was so strange to see me in them. Weird. http://gdiapers.typepad.com/earlyyears/2008/04/bowling-for-ear.html#trackback I must say that I have really enjoyed working at the g. It's probably the best place I've ever worked. I have a big soft spot in my heart for all these people and greatly enjoy the days I get to go see them. Sage is in the "village" or the daycare in the basement and she seems to enjoy it. She has made a wonderful transition. It would be hard not to considering how wonderful the caretakers are and how much fun the other kids are. In fact, one of the ...

Ode Magazine published a little something called the Organic Top 20. G-diapers was featured and had a nice little spread. Just scroll down and check it out. http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/52/2008-organic-top-20/ I love that it mentions the Village. They really are passionate about taking care of the children even while running a very busy business. I

My blog has a new "skin". I'm not sure how it's working for me yet. I also have some things to add now that I've only got two columns. What do you think?

Well, it seems that someone besides Snotty reads my blog. Okay, two someones. My MIL and Cowgirl in the City. Might I just add, they are wonderful people and not because they read my blog. So the verdict is that I will randomly post (randomly, is that fitting or what?) whenever I can. We know this equals a bunch at once or about once a month. There ya go. So, if there is anyone else out their who cares (ie. read my blog), let me know. I might even do something special for you. Or maybe not. See, I'm being a little wishy-washy. What are you going to do about it?

So, I'll come clean. I've thought about no longer blogging. Most times it seems like the only person that reads is Scott. This could be because I don't post very often. Which I feel guilty about and at the same time, is why I've thought about quitting. However, reading past entries I have realized that much of the posts document Sage's coming into the world and growth. I also now have a real job. Let me rephrase that. A job in which I track my time, arrive and go home, and am compensated with money for. Although part time, it's going to eat up some free time/ unstructured time. So do I continue to blog??? If I do, do I need to post more often??? What do you think? Or will this be the real proof that no one is reading... To be continued

I've got all kinds of recycling things to try. I've been reading a blog called Wardrobe Refashion where participants pledge not to buy themselves any new clothes for a given amount of time, instead they just rework things they already have or find a thrift shops. It's a way to give old items new life. But this takes the cake. It gives sewing instructions on how to create underware from t-shirts. I must admit it's kind of a cool idea. Especially for shirts that you never wear but can't bear to part with. Plus somewhere I think it would be cool to make my old library coffeehouse t-shirts into undies. That would show them what I thought of their management! In case you are so inclined you can find instructions here . Beware there are pics of a bottom in homemade undies.

I think this is pretty cool.

Small child took a nap during the Super Bowl. Or rather, I made her. Enough said?

It is probably bad enough that I bought whole chickens from Costco because they were a screaming deal. Then, I've cooked them, picked off the meat, cooked them again to create chicken stock which I then froze and to get every possible morsel of meat off that bird. Okay, that's not so bad right? You know you might be taking the "being more green" and "being a better homemaker" thing a bit too far when you are scraping frozen fat off the top of your chicken stock in the muffin tin before removing the rounds to go into a Ziploc freezer bag. O but it gets worse. Yes, it's true. Now, I'd could point out that my stock shouldn't have frozen fat on it because you are supposed to skim off the fat before you freeze it. This is where I admit I stink at skimming fat and you are more than welcome to buy me this . So as I'm standing in my kitchen on a Saturday night with a teaspoon in my hand scraping at the creamy white fat on top of the popsickle ...

Today we went shopping. Kind of. We went to a photography store to learn more about cleaning negatives before scanning them. (Snotty got a fancy new scanner with his Christmas $) It also was a good reason to get out of the house even though it was cloudy, cold, raining and miserable . And also to wander through REI . They have a cool new bag that I want. ( drool here ) Since we were already right there, we also stopped into Banana Republic. We've had luck in the past finding stuff there for Snotty. We only buy what is marked down and a good deal. And that fits. The real good deal is that it's usually quality stuff so it stands up to Snotty's rough- ness , repeated wear and washing when I can steal it away. While the women's stuff is often picked over and not my non-working style. Which is good because I usually don't need anymore clothing where he needs nice looking but casual and comfy clothing for work. That fits. You have no idea how challenging ...

does yours???

The small child is ten months today. And she is on the move! I forcasted at Christmas that within a month she would be walking. Not quite. But just about. Good grief, I can't keep up with her as it is. Check out the video on our web album. I mean, Snotty's web album. Then say a prayer for me. My life is never going to be the same!

Italian Pasta and Bean Soup—Pasta E Fagioli Makes about 4 quarts, serving 8 to 10 4 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped fine 1 medium onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup) 4 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 heaping tablespoon) we use about double the garlic 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with liquid 2 cans (15 ounces each) cannellini beans , drained and rinsed we use great northern white beans because that's what Winco has 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 2 1/2 cups water table salt 8 ounces orzo or other small pasta (ditalini, tubetini, conchigliette) 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves we usually skip this Ground black pepper 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup) fresh is best, but kraft in a can works 1. Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Stir in the onion, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes. Co...

Yep, that's me. The infectious Mom. I'm infectious. With laughter? No. With the best mommy tricks around? No. With hippie green living goodness? Well, maybe, but that's not what I'm getting at. There is a reason that picture of yours truely is in B & W. And there is a reason I'm sitting on the couch in comfy clothes with stringy, dirty hair on a Sunday morning. (ie. not at church) I'm disease ridden. Never mind, that I didn't get it from Small Child. Never mind that I haven't spend time with school aged children, or daycare children at that. I am the proud owner of Pink Eye. Isn't it beautiful. It ITCHES like crazy. I would rather be at church, even though I'm working in the nursery. Want to see another pic. Here you go, closer and in living color. Go ahead, make my day. Scratch my eye for me. Please? Pretty please? This stinks!!!

The pic of my family at Christmas. Taken semi-professionally. That's a story for another day but we got some good pictures and that's all that matters.

A couple weeks ago, right after we got home from our Christmas travels, Snotty got on his bike and headed to work. It's been unusually cold here in Oregon and there was ice on the road. The mountain bike might have been okay, might, but he was on his trusty road bike. Which makes commuting a slice of pie. Unless there is ice on the road. Coming up round the corner to get on the street our house sits on he crashed. Luckily he was close to home. I was wondering what he had forgotten when I heard the key in the front door shortly after he had left. Besides a hole in his most wonderful rainjacket, he scored a most wonderful bruise. I told him, "that's going to be pretty in a couple days!" And so it is. A most pretty bruise. Needless to say, he's been taking the car more often lately.

What is this I see? Wow, it goes all the way back there.... Let's see what I can get to. Isn't this what Mom does? There you are Mom. This is fun stuff!

It took her a little over a week. That is, to discover the drawer in our kitchen that is like the one at Grandma Terrell's. It has pot lids in it. I think you can hear her anywhere in the house. She is making NOISE. It is loud. But she's having fun. Please tell me that's all that matters. Because in about ten more minutes it's going to be OLD!

The drawer at Grandma's containing the straws that Favorite Niece taught Small Child how to get in. Grrrrr....

During our last trip (that 2 week holiday vacation) Sage got to spend some time with her cousins. Now, I must tell you that Ava is my favorite niece EVER. Or at least she was. She taught Sage how to pull open the bottom drawer at grandma's and pull out all the straws. Not the end of the world. Earlier, as I try to unpack from the craziness that is traveling, Sage was hanging out on the bathroom floor while I shuffled things around. Never mind that the entry part of our bath with the double sinks is not the best place for her to play already. But, without a blink, she pulled open the bottom drawer and started tossing everything out, at times tasting out the flavor by sticking things in her mouth. I never thought I'd accuse my niece of making my life more complicated. Ava, stay away from Sage. Seriously. No more teaching her stuff. I've got other things to do. Doesn't everyone?