Hiatus

I am taking a blogging hiatus, at least from this blog.  In fact, this may be a retirement.  I do not love blogging.  I began blogging as a way to stay in touch with family or friends who were far away, but as it turns out I do not like putting personal information in the public domain.  And, I surely do not like putting the kids' pictures out there for the perusal of weirdos.   Kind of defeats the purpose.  Instead I am considering doing a monthly e-mail newsletter for friends/family. 

So, for now I will be concentrating on my other blog, which is mainly about food, fitness, and weight loss.  Blogging has become a chore and I do not need another one of those.  Can I get an Amen?

I am open for suggestions and/or comments.  On the off chance this blog is the only thing that gets you through the day, please let me know.

Canada Bound

Excitement has hit feverish pitch as we are all leaving for Canada to see the fam tomorrow. We have the Suburban packed with canoe and camping items, too. You never know when we might get the urge to get dirty and mosquito bitten. And, those pit toilets, they hold a special place in my heart.

I realized today that I have hit another milestone. My kids all packed their own suitcases. Oh sure, they have "packed" their own before. My oldest has been able to pack hers for a while, but the youngest. . .hmmm. . not so much. Kids definitely live by the Life-Is-Too-Short-To-Pack-Underwear theory. I still checked to make sure they had all the essentials AND that they were all clean and relatively hole free. And, if that was not good enough, my oldest made banana muffins for our breakfast tomorrow morning. AND, she also cooked supper. What a kid.

Speaking of the oldest, a couple of days ago she was cleaning the kitchen. I walked in and said to her, "You know, I am beginning to wonder what I would do without you." "I'm just sorry it took you this long to realize it," she replied. All I could do was laugh and think, in the words of my mother-in-law, cheeky brat.

That all, folks.

Arnica to the Rescue

If a person has a daughter,

who loves figure skating,

who practices her waltz jump,

and who, hypothetically speaking, lands wrong on her ankle, a body might want to have a good supply of arnica.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Northwest Anniversary to us.  August 1, 2008 was our official Moved to Washington Day.  We all tried to think of something Northwesty to do to celebrate, but alas, it is still very hot here.  I don't mix hot and outdoors.  We wanted to go to a locally owned ice cream shop and could not find one.  Very strange.  So, we ended up going to a chain and getting ice cream.

While we were having said ice cream, I asked everyone what they liked about living in Washington.  Weather and living closer to family topped the list.

Some things I like about living here:

• Definitely, living closer to family.
• Seeing Mt. Rainier all the time.  (When it is out.)
• This place is GORGEOUS when you get out of the city.
• I like how they obsess over espresso.  I am not a huge fan, but for some reason this obsession amuses me.
• The weather. (except for heat waves)  I even, kind of, sort of miss the rain this summer.  Weird.  I like that a normal summer day is in the 70's or 80's.  I used to love hot weather and now, anything over the mid-80's has the potential of making me sick.
• Not many snakes in western Washington.  Although, I have already seen two since I have been here.  
• A person can actually grow things in the soil here.  If, that is, you can get past all the rocks.
• I love the trees here.  (And, I am secretly happy that with the economic situation, building has virtually come to an halt.  Therefore, fewer trees are being chopped.)

Pass The AC, Please.

It's hot  here.  Record breaking hot.  It is not supposed to get hot here in the Great NorthWest, but, oh baby, it is sweltering.  Not 120 degrees, Texas hot, but 100 degrees hot.  And, let me tell you, 100 degrees, (38 degrees Celsius), is no picnic when you have no AC.  I am a southern girl and I know how to handle heat; I handle it with freon and iced tea.

Did I mention that today is supposed to be the hottest, yet?  And, when I say "yet", I mean in record keeping history.  edited to add: Sea-Tac did it.  Woohoo!!  102 degrees, never before in record keeping history.  I feel so honored that they waited for us to get here to enjoy the festivities.

Basically, the four girls here at Chez Delphiniums are getting as many chores done as possible before it gets hot and then we laze around for the entire afternoon and evening drinking anything we can get our hands on, watching movies, and trying to figure out which room in our house is the coolest.  Right about now, grey, rainy and chilly winters sound divine.

We are also eating our weight in Otter Pops, and, thinking up clever ways to get calories that do not involve cooking.  It is not healthy to eat frozen pizza without cooking it, is it?  

This pic is for you, Gwen.

What is in that smoothie?

Somewhere I heard of people putting vegetables in their smoothies.  Why, why would a person do this?  I love smoothies.  I often have some blended concoction for breakfast.  But I shuddered at the thought of adding vegetables to my morning nectar.  That is, until yesterday.  Yesterday I happened to read that putting spinach into your morning smoothie is an easy way to get in an extra serving of the leafy greens.  (if you can choke it down, I thought)  After doing a little research, I found that lots of people do this and swear you cannot taste the spinach.  (As a side note, I like spinach, but not to drink)  For the first time, I decided this sounded like a good idea.  I was off to the grocery anyway yesterday, so I picked up a package of baby spinach.

This morning, I was so excited I could barely contain myself.  Revolted, really.  What was I thinking?  Nonetheless, I tossed in a couple of handfuls of spinach, a banana, some peanut butter, and milk into the blender.  I also added some vanilla and almond extracts, because everything tastes better with those two.  The PB may have been a mistake.  I am undecided at this point.  I know what you are thinking.  You put spinach in a breakfast smoothie and it's the PB that concerned you????

My kids are used to me drinking all sorts of liquid inventions out of the blender, but even they were not prepared to see a green elixir.  My oldest said, with wide eyes, "What did you put in that smoothie?" "Spinach," says I, matter-of-factly.  "Are you serious?"  They are also used to me trying to pull one over on them.  And, I may or may not have been guilty of threatening them with spinach and/or broccoli smoothies in the past.

Verdict:  It was good.  Even the skeptical kiddoes said so.  There is just a small hint of a spinach aftertaste.  Unless you are a super taster you won't even taste the spinach.   So, try it people.

Funny Kids

Kids say hilarious things.  I was afraid mine were getting too old to say the things that make me work not to laugh in their presence.  Apparently, they are good for a few more chuckles, afterall.

Today, my youngest made up a new word: fastinate.  Think, fascinate.  Hmmm,  I think I can use that in a sentence.  I am fastinated with cello music.    Or, perhaps,  "Oh, really?  You own your own horse ranch?  How fastinating!"  I like it.

We are have some rather warm weather here.  Two of the girls need to wear deodorant, now.  As we were sitting in the warm car a few days ago, I heard, ". . .sigh. . . I never wear enough deodorant on days like these."  For obvious reasons, I am not naming names.