One Step at a Time

Decorating isn't as fun for me as it used to be.  I used to enjoy "the hunt" for just the right piece to fit in just the right spot.  And I found pleasure in garage sale and flee market finds that I could go home and "re-purpose"for my current decorating tastes.

Kids, schedules, commitments, and conflicting design ideas reduce the joy of decorating to more of a function than a fun action.  Regardless, I try to squeeze in a little bit pretty whenever I can; one step at a time.  Today I gave the guest bathroom a quick pick-me-up.  I moved the towels from under the sink (where they were getting pushed and piled into such a mess that I'd have to wash them before I could offer them to company) to a rack on the wall.  And I brought some color and life into a bathroom that is usually dim with the shades drawn (since the window faces the road...and who wants to pull their drawers down in front of an open window?).

It's not much, but the cabinet under the sink is neater now, the guest towels are up and out of the way, and the flowers are pleasing to look at when I go in to do...whatever I went in there to do.

Color and Texture

This summer is roughly half over already.  By my calculations, I would have to say it will probably go down as one of the best summers in recent memory.  That's saying a lot since two summers ago we had an *epic* (if I can steal a well-used term from my children) family vacation riding motorcycles through Germany and France.

This isn't *that* kind of summer, but it's got some pretty awesome highlights; nearly three weeks on a road trip with my kids - visiting family and friends along the way, building a beautiful deck on our house (I'm assuming that it will be beautiful, because it isn't done yet), and keeping things low key.  Aside from the road trip and the deck, we have kept the commitments simple and short, leaving lots of time to do...nothing.

Nothing except enjoy looking at my garden.  Yep, that's another highlight of this summer.  Last year I planted two *epic* car loads of perennials in the front yard, in newly created flowerbeds flanking our newly installed walkway.  This summer I get to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

The Hydrangea are gargantuan.  The large bloom in the front is about the size of my head.

 

(A Queen of Hearts for size reference.)

 

 One of my favorites - Astilbe

 Yellow Columbine

 This Menarda is actually in the back yard, but I have a hummingbird that really likes it.

 I'm not sure what this tiny green moss-like plant is.  I didn't plant it, but it's covering some of the shady ground.

 I'm not very creative with pots, but I really like Celosia.

 Creativity in gardening isn't really my strength, but I sure do enjoy a variety of colors and textures.

 And another Astilbe favorite.

 I can't wait to see the deck finished so I can start dreaming up pots of sun-loving annuals.  Hmm. Better order more irrigation supplies.

It's Official

Tonight was Awards Night at Trinity Baptist School, where the kids attend.

In addition to handing out awards for perfect attendance, academics, sports, and character (for the students), the school honors its volunteers and teachers. Volunteers drive the kids on field trips, to and from all the sporting events and programs, serve in the school office, assist teachers, make lunches, help raise funds, and teach some classes.  The list is endless.

This year I was one of those volunteers.  My job was to teach technology to the elementary (1st-6th) and music to everyone (1st - 12th).  My parents have been laughing at me (yes, you have) all year. You see, three of my four parents were teachers; two of them - my mom and my dad - were band directors.  Well, I became a business major because I knew I couldn't be a teacher (not enough patience), much less a music teacher.

But, it would seem, as evidenced by a pile of Thank You notes from all my students, that I am, indeed, a music teacher.  Not only that, it turns out that being a music teacher is a...SUPERPOWER! Who knew?

Hang Time

I have a perfectly lovely set of chairs with an ottoman, which I received as a birthday gift last year, sitting nicely in the shade of our front yard, but they aren't available at the moment.  So, I have taken up residents in the hammock.  It's nice enough here, but will quickly become too hot to hang.  What we need is a good breeze right about now.

Another Success

With my entry table "dressed" and my front hall looking more decorated, I was ready to attack a framing project.

Seven years ago we built this new house, and for the past three years or so my husband has been expressing an interest in putting up pictures.  "This would be a great picture for the wall"...hint, hint

But with all the windows in this house, portals to the beautiful surroundings that we call "home", who needs pictures on the wall?  All of nature is my picture.  Right?  That's a good excuse for not hanging pictures, isn't it?  Well,  that's my defense and I'm stickin' to it.

Okay.  I know, it's a crappy excuse to not have pictures of my children on the wall.  And then, to further reduce my good excuses, my mother sent me these awesome collage frames from Pottery Barn.  The fact that two out of three of them arrived in pieces doesn't matter.  Just look at those cute faces!  Each collage gets a theme; His, Hers, and Theirs.

Her

Him

Them

The threesome is hanging in the hallway that leads to their bedrooms, and the balance (frame to wall space balance) is really good.

It's not a great picture, but this panarama gives you an idea of how the whole wall looks.  I really like the way it turned out.  Hmmm.  Maybe this framing thing isn't so bad.  I wonder what else I can frame and put on the wall.

Finally

It only took me a year and a half, but I finally did what I set out to do.

Last summer (not the one of most recent past, but the one before that) I enjoyed some good ol' fashioned shopping for home decorating supplies while I was visiting family in Michigan.  Good decorating stores are hard to find here, so I took advantage of being in a larger metropolitan area.  I had a plan.

Then I got home.

Once I was back, I put the table in place and stored the new purchases in the basement with the other decorating supplies that didn't have a home upstairs.  Weeks passed, but the table sat there...naked.  Months passed, but still the table was alone.

Fast forward to this week.  Joerg is out of town, and every time he travels (for more than a day or two) I work on predefined projects.  For example, since his departure on Monday morning, I have scanned two binders filled with the kids' educational documents that go back to preschool.  I have sifted through old binders of house-building documents from seven years ago when we built this house.  I have scanned about one hundred old random photos to our new cloud, and I have "downloaded" thousands of pictures from their CD storage onto the cloud (two CD binders down, one to go).  Today, was 'decorate the entry' day.

It wasn't a hugely time-consuming project, but decorating (like clothes shopping) is one of those things for which I must be...in-the-mood.  Today, I was (for decorating, not clothes shopping).

I think I like the way it turned out.  I'll have to "sleep on it" for a couple of days before I call this project complete, but I would say it's a very good first draft.

We have been enjoying a wonderfully relaxed, no-commitment, stress-free, minimal-labor Christmas vacation.  Two weeks away from school and work, and nearly two weeks of video games, screen time, (catching up on) neglected projects, eating out, and sleeping in.  It has been faaaaabulous.

The kids have had play dates and sleepovers, we have visited with friends and family, and we have enjoyed doing something we get few opportunities to do normally… nothing.

Personally, I created a small list of things that I wanted to accomplish during this break. These are projects that are not necessarily important to anybody else, but require time - and sometimes a large chunk of time.

The first item on my list was to make a large batch of Zuppa Tuscano, a recipe from a friend, that uses kale. We don't cook kale here very often (nobody particularly cares for it), but we get some each summer with our vegetable CSA shares, and this soup is very flavorful.  So, I made a triple batch, served some for dinner, and put the rest in the freezer for random meals during the winter.

Speaking of recipes, the other larger project on my to do list involved entering all of my favorite recipes from two recipe binders into my recipe software.  Several years ago I purchased Cook'n  software to store all of my recipes. The plan had been to put all my favorites into Cook'n so that I would have one place to go where I could search by ingredient, or some other keyword, to find the recipes that I wanted. During this break I finally finished entering my favorite recipes into the software.  I still have a collection of Pinterest recipes to add, but the box sitting on the floor of my office (the one that held my recipe binders and loose random recipes) is now (finally) gone.

The next two projects on my list involved shopping on the Internet. First, I needed to order tablecloths for my table. It is not always easy to find tablecloths for my slightly smaller-than-normal dining table when I just walk in to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; I can either find the right size OR a color/style that I like, but not usually BOTH.  Thanks to Amazon, this is no longer a significant problem.  While I was browsing the pages of Amazon, I did some searching for drinking glasses. We purchased several sets of drinking glasses when we finished building our house several years ago, but after years of children, entertaining, and carelessness, it was time to replenish our supply. Amazingly, Amazon was able to provide me with not just any glasses, but the exact same glasses that I already have. A perfect match.

Next up on my to do list; prepared two computers to be donated to our kids' school. Prior to Christmas we started making some computer changes in our house and the end result was two decent computers that we no longer need. With little time and effort we could prepare those computers to be donated to the school.

That leaves the last thing on my to do list.  It's a creative project, something I have been wanting to do for a year now. It's a project that I pinned on Pinterest, but just never made the time to do.  Now it's done; homemade ornaments for my Christmas tree.  The timing really couldn't be better; a few years ago our tree tipped over and several ornaments were destroyed, then this year, for whatever reason, several more ornaments were damaged during the decorating of the tree.  Now I have six new ornaments done in some of my favorite colors.

With that done, my holiday projects list is complete.  I love the fact that I accomplished these many things, and yet still feel like this was a quiet and relaxing vacation; the ultimate success in my book.  May the rest of 2015 be as relaxingly productive as this Christmas holiday has been.

Happy New Year.

Gettin' in the Mood for Christmas

Katherine and I went to the Old Brick Church in Williston where they are running a music series through the fall and winter. Tonight they had a concert harpist who has been playing with an orchestra in Philadelphia for many years.   And an "Grammy nominated" flutist who runs a chamber music group here in Vermont.

Katherine has expressed an interest in learning to play the harp.  When she learned that the harp had nine pedals on it to shift each string from natural to sharp to flat, she started to back down from her position...until the harp started to play.  Katherine had brought her Kindle along (we were plenty early in order to get good seats so she thought she might need something to read), but as soon as the music started she closed the Kindle and kept her eyes glued to the harp.

When we got home, I was enjoying all the lights on our house and thought I'd take a couple of pictures.  It's amazing how helpful these lights are in helping me get into the celebratory mood of Christmas.

This little tree is covered in LED lights, and is now covered in snow.  It looks like a candy tree...or maybe that's just my sweet tooth talkin'.

 
This is our front door.

Never Say "Never"

When I was younger, I used to say that I could never be a teacher (except maybe to my own kids), much less a music teacher. After all, genetics and upbringing (both my parents were music teachers/band directors) can only go so far, right?

Well, maybe not. It seems that, despite my best efforts (I was a business major), a part of that family business has been passed on to me. The only difference between my parents and me? They were trained for this gig...I am not. There are other significant differences between us...not the least of which is natural ability...but I'll do my best to to not shame the family. :)

Tonight I am arranging a hand chime version of O Little Town of Bethlehem for my general music students.  Trying to get a group of largely musically inexperienced first through fifth graders to play a song on the hand chimes is...well, it's about as difficult as it sounds.  Cross your fingers.

Call Me Old Fashioned

You can call me old fashioned if you'd like, but this blog post articulates many of my thoughts on hymnal use.  I think I would add another functional reason like 'hymnals are easier for short people see', but these fifteen reasons are a solid start.



15 Reasons Why We Should Still Be Using Hymnals

Katherine's Piano Recital

Up until the week before the recital, Katherine had been telling her teacher that she was NOT going to perform. She told me the same thing one day and I responded with a cool "yes you are".

By the time she was done, Katherine was prepared to play three pieces for the recital. Not bad for a girl who wasn't going to play. And she did a really good job, despite being really nervous.

Happy Mother's Day

After my kids took me out to dinner in a mom–gets–to–pay kind of way, we went to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream on Church Street. Ben & Jerry's offers free ice cream to mom's on Mother's Day.

I told the kids that I wanted a picture with them, but they were pretty reluctant. After the ice cream, I finally got a picture. I'm not sure that I will be hanging it on my wall, but it was a sweet and to a pretty relaxing Mother's Day.

Fond Memories

On Friday, Patrick and ten of his classmates (all the junior high students...all eleven of them) went to New Hampshire to compete against eight other Christian schools from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut.  Represented by 213 students, these schools came together to compete in 49 different events in 5 categories: Bible, Art, Academics, Speech, and Music. 

Trinity Baptist School - Junior High

 Our students participated in twenty-four events and brought home many first, second, and third place ribbons. Trinity's new hand chime choir competed against three other handbell choirs who were well-established and experienced ringers.  We didn't place, but they did their best and performed admirably.  As their teacher has been out of school quite a bit in the past few weeks, I was asked to substitute teach the chimes as they prepared for competition.  On competition day, the teacher asked if I'd direct them since they were clearly used to me by now.  It was fun to be directing a choir again, although I do miss my old handbells.  At Trinity, everyone participates in hand chimes, regardless of musical knowledge or ability.  That can create some musical challenges, but also demonstrates a good message that participation is more important than winning.

Patrick competed in the Small Ensemble category with fellow seventh grader, Sophia.  They played Irish fiddle tune "Road to Listoonvarna", which is apparently the only song Sophia can play.  Patrick made it work by scheduling an extra guitar lesson specifically to work out the mechanics of this unknown piece.  And I spent some time at school helping them practice together; to stay focused, work on their stage presence, and fine-tune their timing.  I also helped them stretch this super short (only two lines of music) song into a performance piece by adding a second run through the piece where Patrick plays chords to Sophia's melody, and then adding the tag at the end.



The really cool part of their performance was what happened before the competition.  Their duo was the first event of the Small Ensemble category.  We arrived at the judging room about ten minutes before they were to start, but the room was empty.  We went inside and took our seats, and waited for the judges to arrive.  While I was setting up the camera and the seats were filling, one judge walked in and took a seat.  Patrick (probably in an attempt to quiet some nerves) started playing the guitar.  His friends coaxed him on to play this song or that song and he just kept playing at their request, telling stories and working the crowd the whole time.  One parent spoke out and asked if he knew any scales.  Patrick immediately ripped off two flawless scales and then went right back to playing songs for the crowd.  Eventually the judges were all seated and ready and gave them "the nod" to start their piece.  This is Patrick vamping for the crowd.

Proud smiles for Sophia and Patrick as they take home first place for The Road to Listoonvarna.

It's fun to watch Patrick get so jazzed about music (Did you see what I did there?  Jazzed about...oh never mind.)  We have definitely turned the corner from forced practices to having to take the guitar or mandolin away so that he can get his chores done.  He takes either the guitar or the mandolin to school almost every day, and is always looking for opportunities to use his music at school.

As Trinity has seen a consistent drop in enrollment, our resources for things like music instruction have taken a hit.  A once vibrant and active music program has been reduced to interested musicians taking private lessons, and a patchwork of volunteers coming in to teach music history and songs for concerts.  Changes are afoot for next year...exciting times.

Breakfast for Dinner

My kids love when they have "breakfast for lunch" for school hot lunch. Now I think I understand why.

Tonight was one of those everyone-eats-at-a-different-time nights so I served the kids their beloved pasta before taekwondo, and then made this nice fritatta for the adults.

WOW!  Yummy.  It's very basic, and the ingredient list is short, but the flavor was really fabulous.  I used a good cheddar cheese and quality ham, and it was the perfect end to a long day.  I will definitely be using this recipe again...and again.

Date Night

Long, long ago, before I had kids - before I was even married - I was already making notes about how I wanted to parent. Who knows where most of my ideas came from, but some of my ideas were mental notes while others I actually wrote down.

One such written note, which I have transcribed from one tattered piece of paper to another for something north of twenty-five years, was the idea that when a kid turns thirteen the parent/child relationship starts to change. As a parent, I wanted to be *more* involved with my teenager, not less (remember, I didn't have any kids at the time, so of course I knew it all).

Obviously I had no idea what that would look like in reality, but I wasn't sure I liked the notion of being relegated to a wallet or short order cook.  At a time when my kid is really starting to stretch his wings for flight, I wanted a front row seat...not back.  I wanted to be there with wise counsel and experienced insight (which I was certain would magically appear when I got "old") when my teenager was challenged by difficult relationships, frustrating teachers, and all the other annoyances that were sure to present themselves.

Well, it has happened.  My son is now a teenager and I think I found a seat in the front row.  We have instituted a regular mother/son date night.  My daughter isn't so keen on being left behind on these nights, but now she is looking forward - with even great anticipation - to becoming a teenager.

I don't expect any grand revelations from these little dinner duets, but I am hopeful that by establishing this practice now, while teenager-dom is still fresh, we will be ready if and when the real frustrations, dilemmas, irritations, and questions present themselves.  In the meantime, I'll settle for a full conversation with my son, one void of interruptions, where I can just listen to his stories and answer his questions about "back when *I* was young".

 
Date Night #1 - Hoagie's in Essex Junction.

Char Siu Bao

When my husband and I had an opportunity to travel to Indonesia last year, I came home with the taste of new flavors on my tongue and a desire to introduce my kids to some international flavors, or at least flavors that were foreign to them (I realize that if you go far enough back in America's history, most of our food is "international").
I thought I would introduce a different cultural meal once a month or so, but I didn't make it very far in my plan. Today, finally, I made a start.

Tonight I made Char Siu Bao. Char Siu Bao (Char Siu is "pork") is Cantonese in origin, but many cultures have a steamed or baked dumpling with a meat filling.  This same dumpling in Hawaiian would be Manapua.

My experience with bread making came in handy with the pouch portion of the dumpling, and (surprisingly) I only needed to buy the pork loin as the rest of the ingredients were already in my kitchen.

While this recipe does take some time to prepare, now that I know how it goes together I would break it up into steps that would fit into a week night schedule better.  (i.e., cook the pork loin one day, make the filling during the day that I want to serve it, and then prepare the "bao" in the afternoon for a final evening assembly.

I served my Char Sui Bao with fried rice, and set the table with chopsticks for a more authentic feel.  We had some leftovers because the dumplings are quite filling, but they definitely won't go to waste.

Maiden Recipe

Technically, this is the second recipe I have made with my new mixer, but I forgot to report on the first one so we'll just call this one "the first".

We're having company for dinner tomorrow and I made this Lemon Cake for dessert.  The cake itself is quite spongy and has a light lemon flavor (I tasted it from the bit that I shaved off the bottom layer to make it flat), but the real yummy part is the lemony icing.  The lemon flavor just makes it light and (almost) refreshing.  I could eat the whole bowl.  Not a good idea, but I could.  It's *that* yummy. :)

New Mixer

My old mixer bit the dust earlier this week...in the middle of a triple batch of gingerbread, of course.

It was a refurbished Kitchen Aid that we bought about twelve years ago.  I really liked it (although it was little loud) and over the years I have added attachments that have made working in the kitchen a little bit easier.  My only real frustration with the mixer was that several of my recipes overwhelmed the six quart mixing bowl resulting in ingredients being shoved out and onto the counter.


Several years ago I did a little window shopping to see what the next size up was; eight quart "semi industrial".  With that larger bowl size came a much larger ticket price.  As it turns out "semi industrial" is code for "super expensive".

I knew I wanted a larger bowl, but I wasn't willing (nor would my husband approve) to spend crazy money on it.  Fortunately, Kitchen Aid has come out with a new line that has a seven quart bowl - larger, but not overkill.

And, check this out! It's "Candy Apple Red"! (My mom would be so proud.)

Sunset

It was a beautiful sunset over the Adirondack Mountains today while we were at raptor rescue. Sometimes volunteering has double payback.

From the Mouth of Babes...

So my daughter, who is nine, has an e-mail account and uses it to communicate with her grandparents (and sometimes her parents).  Until she is of an appropriate age (which we will figure out when the time comes) her e-mails are copied to me.  Partly because people (grandparents) send her e-mails and for a long time she didn't check her e-mail, and partly because I want to make sure that she's safe.

She has been e-mailing with my mom and I usually don't bother to read these e-mails because I know that she is reading them and I know that she is safe.  Beyond that, I can accept that her e-mails are not really any of my business.

I was deleting a long string of e-mails back and forth between them (my mom and daughter) and "lot of books" caught my eye in the following e-mail from Katherine to Oma:

"That is a lot of books. Wish I read that many books. My favorite subject besides reading is math. It is so quick and easy for me. I am going to learn four digit dividends on Monday! Cool huh? Katherine P.S. I wish I was having cocoa right now."

For the last three years, I have been bragging about how awesome the school is where my children are getting their educations.  But I had no idea that they were teaching the kids how to get "four digit dividends"!!

If only.