Still pretty uninspired around here. Staying so busy that I'm trying to take the time to figure out what I really do all day and what I want to do all day. I feel like I could clean and do dishes forever and still feel like my house is a mess. Which makes my mind a bit of a mess too. Sorry for the lapse in blogs. I'm trying to remember why I blog in the first place. I feel like I read all these beautiful blogs with wonderful ideas and projects and decorating stuff and fashion and art and wonderful pictures... Then I come back here and I'm so unimpressed with my blog! But it's a work in progress. And really I'm not looking for any recognition or accolades, I'm just putting a little piece of my life in a spot where people can find it. And that's enough.
I can do that head stand now without help. Practice makes perfect.
I'm working on a cleaning schedule so I can clean my whole house in a week or two. Wish me luck. I'm blessed to have a cleaning lady but it makes me feel bad that I can't clean my own house. Or that I never know what has been cleaned/what needs to be cleaned. I'd love to do it myself without complaining to my husband all the time. You know, empowered instead of embittered.
I feel like I used to share more ideas I would come across on this blog. Let me share a couple now:
Check out Katie Daisy's blog. It's beautiful.
And this is a random one but check out Life With Little Ones. These two boys are so sweet. It makes me want to have another one... yikes.
One more you want to check out. House Industries. If only I'd been a typographer or whatever they're called. They're giving away catalogs here. Don't miss it. I'm specifically thinking Emily and Sarah... and Patty and Brian. Almost everyone who reads my blog...
Thanks for reading, sorry about the lack of pictures. I have to get moving :)
Amiee
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Hey hay hay
Happy weekend everyone! I hope you all got to do something special today, or at least out of the ordinary. Owen woke up early so I got to go to the 8am hot yoga class at the Wheaton Sport Center. It was so awesome. I did this one today:
Well, sort of. And not without help. But it was pretty awesome to do it and feel so strong!
Then we went to the market and had a freshly made donut. Holy crap those things are to die for.
We met my mom and she took Owen home with her to bake and play at the park. Thank goodness for grandmas!! I went and tried on every pair of jeans available at the Gap. Then I got a cup of coffee. It was a wonderful morning.
Joe has been out of town so I'm waiting for him to get back. I am very ready for reinforcements. I did, however, try a new recipe this week that was a success. I liked it, Owen liked and ate it, and it wasn't that hard. Oh, and the cleanup wasn't that bad, both after cooking and after eating (toddler-style). Here is the recipe, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine:
Vegetable Pad Thai
serves 4, active time 10 mins (unless you're me, in which case it's more like 20 or 25) Total time 25 minutes (add time for the noodles i think)
8 oz. dried, wide, flat rice noodles
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs (optional) lightly beaten
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts
1. Soak noodles according to package instructions. Drain. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice, and soy sauce.
2. In a large nonstick skillet (or wok), heat oil over medium-high. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add eggs if using and cook, scraping skillet with a rubber spatula, until eggs are almost set, about 30 seconds. Transfer egg mixture to a plate. Add noodles and soy-sauce mixture to skillet; cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are soft and coated with sauce, about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and toss to coat, breaking eggs up gently. Serve noodles with lime wedges, topped with cilantro and peanuts.
**Easy add ins: Before adding the noodles, toss thinly sliced chicken breast or peeled and deveined shrimp into the pan.
Okay so when I did this recipe I used red onion instead of scallions (because that's what I had) and I added some thinly sliced pork to the deal. I halved the recipe since it was just Owen and me, but I cooked the eggs too long and cooked all the sauce off since nothing was hot because I took too long to do everything. I also used half roasted salted peanuts and half unsalted, because I figured it would be fine without the added sodium. And it was. Oh, and I used light brown sugar, without much damage. All in all it was wonderful, if only a bit sauce-less. I tend to keep cilantro around in the summer because I love tacos and fresh salads with it all chopped up, so I use it a lot. I also have limes around for that reason. This dish is simple enough, and I figure the next time I try it I'll have it down. Hope you like it too!
Amiee
Well, sort of. And not without help. But it was pretty awesome to do it and feel so strong!
Then we went to the market and had a freshly made donut. Holy crap those things are to die for.
We met my mom and she took Owen home with her to bake and play at the park. Thank goodness for grandmas!! I went and tried on every pair of jeans available at the Gap. Then I got a cup of coffee. It was a wonderful morning.
Joe has been out of town so I'm waiting for him to get back. I am very ready for reinforcements. I did, however, try a new recipe this week that was a success. I liked it, Owen liked and ate it, and it wasn't that hard. Oh, and the cleanup wasn't that bad, both after cooking and after eating (toddler-style). Here is the recipe, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine:
Vegetable Pad Thai
serves 4, active time 10 mins (unless you're me, in which case it's more like 20 or 25) Total time 25 minutes (add time for the noodles i think)
8 oz. dried, wide, flat rice noodles
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs (optional) lightly beaten
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts
1. Soak noodles according to package instructions. Drain. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice, and soy sauce.
2. In a large nonstick skillet (or wok), heat oil over medium-high. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add eggs if using and cook, scraping skillet with a rubber spatula, until eggs are almost set, about 30 seconds. Transfer egg mixture to a plate. Add noodles and soy-sauce mixture to skillet; cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are soft and coated with sauce, about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and toss to coat, breaking eggs up gently. Serve noodles with lime wedges, topped with cilantro and peanuts.
**Easy add ins: Before adding the noodles, toss thinly sliced chicken breast or peeled and deveined shrimp into the pan.
Okay so when I did this recipe I used red onion instead of scallions (because that's what I had) and I added some thinly sliced pork to the deal. I halved the recipe since it was just Owen and me, but I cooked the eggs too long and cooked all the sauce off since nothing was hot because I took too long to do everything. I also used half roasted salted peanuts and half unsalted, because I figured it would be fine without the added sodium. And it was. Oh, and I used light brown sugar, without much damage. All in all it was wonderful, if only a bit sauce-less. I tend to keep cilantro around in the summer because I love tacos and fresh salads with it all chopped up, so I use it a lot. I also have limes around for that reason. This dish is simple enough, and I figure the next time I try it I'll have it down. Hope you like it too!
Amiee
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The best day of the year
Happy Mother's Day! I just want to say thank you to my mom for enduring everything we threw her way, for giving us the example of a strong woman who not only got through tough times but made them feel special, and now for encouraging me in my own endeavors as a mom. My own little guy is crying in his crib right now, ready to get up, and it from this feeling of reluctance that I say to my mom, thank you. For being a good mom in the not-so-fun moments of my life, for sticking with it, for mothering me even now.
And for all you moms-of-toddlers out there, hang in there! No matter if the effort seems bigger than the reward (Mother's Day brunch, for example!). Our lives right now revolve around Cheerios, legos, basketballs hit with baseball bats, temper tantrums, runny noses, countless loose socks everywhere, shoes left out in the rain, diapers, meal after meal after meal, wet kisses, doses of Tylenol, time-outs, embarrassing episodes in random parking lots, and so much love. But it is not forever. And for that we can be thankful, and for that we should hold on as hard as we can to the little hands that reach up for ours. To the bumps that need kisses. To the endless calls for "Mommy, Mommy!" To the feeling that we are absolutely in the right place at the right time, indispensable, heroic. To the oxymoron that describes our love and exhaustion and irritation and devotion to these little people who share our last name (or our DNA and stubbornness, in my case). Is there a word for it?! Here's to you moms. May we all wear our pride like a badge today (even if we'd rather celebrate Mother's day far away from our children...)!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Largely
Today I am largely uninspired. Nothing is nudging me forward, there is no anticipation, nothing really waiting for me. Tasks, yes. Fulfilling tasks, no. So on this day of moment to momentness, here is s poem that let's me be okay in that.
The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Thanks for sharing the whole thing Leanna. I needed it today. It feels like a Monday or something. I've also been thinking about this (click on "this." I know it's hard to see the hyperlinks on this blog. I'm working on it.) Want to do it, don't know if I can, or why exactly, or for whom. Input?
Monday, May 3, 2010
Guess what
I saw today in the Lincoln Marsh? This:
A Baltimore Oriel. I felt really lucky. Owen was crying on the path a little bit behind me (having yet another time-out) and I looked up to see this little guy looking right down at me. I watched him for a few minutes and pointed him out to a sniffling Owen, and then he flew away. It's these little things that make your whole day, don't they?
A Baltimore Oriel. I felt really lucky. Owen was crying on the path a little bit behind me (having yet another time-out) and I looked up to see this little guy looking right down at me. I watched him for a few minutes and pointed him out to a sniffling Owen, and then he flew away. It's these little things that make your whole day, don't they?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Did you know?
That it was national scrapbooking weekend? Yep. It was. I hope it was great for you. I tried to do some today and something was off because I put together the ugliest page I have ever seen maybe. And I was super disappointed because it was using paper my fav aunt sent me. I might just have to tear it apart and start all over. Or maybe I won't! It's all a process, isn't it? Anyway, Crate Paper is an awesome company that has some of my favorite paper/scrapping products. They are having a giveaway and I thought, why not?
I hope I win :) Hope you guys had a great weekend. Maybe I will have something to post later this week. I've just been surviving lately, you know? This too shall pass, as my mom says. What did you do this weekend? Anything cool?
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