Do I Hear 20?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me to an auction. Bright and early, we headed out to the warehouse to have a bit of a look see.

We wandered around for some time and I found a ton of stuff that I wanted, but only a few things I actually have room for. As cool as it would be, I decided against the school nurse’s exam table.

Eventually, I bid on, and won, a bunch of vintage Pyrex bowls for $20. The bidding process was almost as exciting as the bowls themselves. (And I'm pretty darned excited about the bowls.) Though, I am convinced that the auctioneer wasn't saying actual words between all those numbers. I was desperately afraid that I would somehow misunderstand what was being hollered and end up paying 200 dollars or something.






(I have no idea what I'm going to do with those little, rectangle baking dishes, but I adore them anyway.)

Once I got home, I spent several hours searching through all the auctions in our area. I found auctions for a liquor store as well as a day spa. I also found one for a tree farm. While I wasn’t interested in the trees (they had ridiculous things like non-fruiting pear trees- why on God’s green Earth would anyone want that?), they did have some great landscaping stones. Unfortunately, from the pictures, I had no way of telling how big they were.

So Jenny and Kam and Joey and I made the hour drive to the farm to see for ourselves.


(Kam helped with the tape measure.)


(And Joey had to personally test each stone to see how it held her weight.)



The bidding was on a Saturday, and only online, which wasn’t nearly as fun as in person. Also, I lost my bids in the last half hour of the auction, so bummer.

I’m not terribly disappointed, though, because after the weekend that Jeff and I had (we began to convert one zone on our sprinkler system to drip, which left both of us tired and achy) I didn’t feel like moving any large rocks.

But I now know those auctions are out there. And I’m keeping my eyes peeled for things I could use.

Maybe you should too. Just don’t bid against me. K?

A Few Random Things About Me- 51 thru 55

So, today I am officially 35 years old. Somehow I think I feel older than I should.

Makes me think it's a good time for another installment of 8,452 Things About Me.

55- I am a storage whore. And I will drag home from the curb (or thrift store or garage sale) just about any bookcase, cubbies or shelving-type piece of furniture that looks like it might help organize any of our crap.

54- I cannot stand it when I’m under the covers and someone else sits on the bed on top of the covers. Drives me fracking bonkers.

53- I majored in molecular biology in college. So, yah, Joey gets a lot of science in her homeschool curriculum. This explains why, when her older sister Kenzie was complaining about the high-school standardized testing and how she and most of her friends didn't know what asexual reproduction was, Joey did.

52- If I need to type more than 2 numbers in a row, I use the ten-key pad, not the numbers at the top of the keyboard. I am wicked fast on the ten-key. (Which is what years working in warehouses and managing databases will get you.)

51- I find speaking a foreign language (or even just speaking with a foreign accent) incredibly hot. When I saw Jamie Lee Curtis in a Fish Called Wanda, I thought, Glad I’m not the only one. Luckily, Jeff likes to learn random bits of foreign languages and he can also do a mean Russian accent. Sigh.


(Jeff was singing this song yesterday with the accent and I had to seriously restrain myself.)

A Little Help in the Kitchen

At least I didn't need to make breakfast.

I'll Take Timezones for 100

So, Jeff's out of town right now. Here's a hint as to what he's doing.



If he does well on this round of the tryouts, he'll be on Jeopardy sometime in the next year. And I hope that he's not too exhausted today because of the fact that I don't understand timezones and therefore called and woke him up early this morning.

Sorry, Hon. I know you'll do great despite my inadvertent sabotage. And also, that explains why you're the one who's trying out for Jeopardy and not me. I wonder if they'll have questions about timezones. In case they do, remember the Pacific timezone is one hour BEHIND the Mountain timezone, not one hour ahead. Hope that helps.

Anyway, since he's been gone, and despite the fact that I actually enjoy having the bed by myself, Joey somehow convinced me to let her sleep in our bed.

I'd swear that kid is made entirely of elbows. And last night I woke up with her chin in my back.

I am not even making that up, though I'm not completely sure how she managed to do it.

When I described her sleeping habits, she said, "So it's like I'm all corners."

Yep, it is exactly like sleeping with a thrashing, eighteen-sided box who is capable of stealing the covers.

I'm so glad Jeff's coming home tonight.

Weird Adult Wednesday

I just came across this picture from Easter. It happened on about the third round of egg hiding.



A significant amount of wine had already been drunk by this point, so it isn't really surprising that it took me and Aurora about 5 minutes to get this thing balanced.

You should have seen us... giggling like crazy, misty rain coming down, wine glasses in hand and very proud of ourselves when it finally stopped wobbling.

It's good to be so easily amused.

Easy Recipe for Granola

After months and months of oatmeal for breakfast, we're ready for a change.

So we made up a batch of kid-friendly granola. It is cheaper than the premade granola and it also tastes much better. And though I haven't done any official research, I'm pretty sure that it's about a billion times healthier than most boxed breakfast cereals.



It's based on a recipe which calls for whole nuts. Frankly, I think the roasted nuts are the best part of the recipe, but Joey… not so much. Despite the fact that they are full of fats that are actually good for your heart and all kinds of other nutritiousness, she won’t touch 'em.

She isn't allergic. She just doesn’t like them.

So I grind them up, because dang-it, she needs the protein. And it isn’t like I’m trying to sneak them past her; she’s right there helping me. She’s just learning that sometimes when you don’t like to eat something it has more to do with the texture than the actual flavor, which is definitely the case with her.

Personally, I like this best with a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey. The kids prefer it swimming in milk with a handful of frozen berries.

The Ingredients
2 cups of your favorite nuts or seeds (a combination of walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds is especially good)
3 cups rolled oats (not the instant kind)
1/2 cup dried fruit (I like dried cranberries or raisins)
2/3 cup of maple syrup (you can cut it back to 1/2 cup if you prefer)
1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

How To
-Preheat the oven to 325.
-If you don't want whole nuts, put them in a food processor and pulse til they form a course meal, but not til they form a paste.
-Mix the nuts, dried oats and the fruit in a large bowl.
-In a 2 cup capacity measuring cup, mix together the syrup, vegetable oil, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until everything is well coated.
-Spread on a large baking sheet and bake until golden brown (about 30 minutes), stirring occasionally.
-Let cool and store in the fridge. (I use mason jars.)

Once you've tweaked the recipe to your liking, I would suggest doubling it (and spreading it between two baking sheets) because it can go fast. We usually eat it for breakfast, but it also makes a great afternoon snack.

2 Kinds of Funny

On Friday, my cousin Aurora helped a friend make a spoof of a SNL video (more about Aurora here, here, here, and here). Frankly, it cracks me up, probably because I know her. And, yep, that's totally how she wakes up. I've seen it.

However, I have to warn you. If you're offended by a bunch of m-fers in rap songs, you might want to just watch the video embedded below.

I'm On a Boat- Watch at your own discretion.

They shot this at the same place where we had Aurora's kickball birthday party last year. You can even see the kids jumping on the tramp in the background of one of the scenes. And I'll tell you what, in case you can't tell, it's a ridiculously fun place to have a party.

This next one (also by the same guy) is much more kid friendly. So I'll leave you with that.

(Link)