Happy St Pat's Day!

I've never really bothered to learn much about it, so I have always been a bit confused by this whole "luck of the Irish" thing. A casual glance at their history makes me think it might have started ironically, but then went viral. Still, we've been very lucky so far today! The morning clouds cleared right out, and the sun is shining brightly and the air is unseasonably warm. It's treat day here, so we all walked to the Farmer's Market and indulged in some treats from one of our favorite bakers. Going home, we took long way around via the community garden. Jeremiah, Sarah and I all found 4-leaf clovers! I gave Kate mine, and she threaded it through the button hole of her overalls - now she's wearing some green.

I know it's been awhile since I've posted. The girls have been up to their usual - vacillating wildly between uber-sweet and monstrous. The other day, while Sarah was taking a bath, Kate went in and dumped cups of very cold water on her. They got water all over the bathroom. I considered breaking it up, but when I realized I'd be squelching what will certainly become a fond childhood memory for them both, I took a couple pictures instead. The bathroom is built to withstand a lot of water in places, anyway.

Now I must conduct a Reiki session, then get out into my garden, which is sorely in need of some compost and mulch. Also, the kids have gotten deadly quiet downstairs. Time to sign off here and carefully proceed down to undo whatever disaster is surely in the very quiet making.

The Sun Came Out

This morning the girls are bickering, screaming and slamming doors. I can't seem to get them to stay outside. It's beautiful out there, so perhaps I'll go play outside, and they can stay in here and declare each other "the worst". Meanwhile, to remind myself that they're usually a fun addition to the house I'm recalling just a couple days ago. A cloud of sweetness descended upon them both while we were at the chiropractor. Kate made up this poem about her sister -

There was a girl named Sarah,
who was very sweet.
Once, she did something so sweet,
that God smiled so brightly,
the sun came out.

She recited this during her adjustment and then again to Sarah, who embraced her sister with a warm hug. Then, they played without a terse word between them until bedtime, when they managed to brush their teeth without getting toothpaste on every surface of the bathroom. Yes, there are days like those, too. I had to write it down, because sometimes they're hard to recall.

Ramblings

Today it was pretty outside, so we decided to walk to the farmer's market together. You know, for some fun family outdoor time. It took us 45 minutes because incessant whining creates a lot of drag. Additionally, Kate has a styly new hat that is, indeed, adorable, but it's too big for her and keeps sliding down over her eyes. At one point on the walk, she ran smack into a mailbox. The sound was dreadful, but even as I picked her up and comforted her, I fought back mocking laughter. It's tough, you have to make sure everyone is really just fine before you can commence taunting when you're a parent. It's not like when we were kids.

Then it was time to hit the sto'! Our big time-saving plan was for Jeremiah to own the grocery store while I picked up some potting soil for today's big planting event (in our kitchen). This spurred still more whining (from the kids mostly).

Before I planted any seeds, I wanted to begin the prep work on my new shade bed, which I got all excited about last year, just before the interminable heat settled in and made me want to lay down and die until it was too cold to plant anything. So, I'm taking another go at it this year, and I'm excited. My nemesis, the ubiquitous English ivy, had overtaken the whole spot, which is larger than I remembered, so I dedicated my afternoon to that pitched battle. Jeremiah worked on moving the giant rocks that are piled up all around one of the dogwood trees. We've had that rock pile since we did the addition. Periodically, we move it to a new spot. I've been quietly throwing the littler rocks out in the trash, just a few each week in the barrel. No one will ever know!

The girls ran around in the yard with the dogs, as Jeremiah and I worked. Then our next door neighbors informed us that some maniac (my word) had clipped the corner while turning from Pharr on to East Lake, hitting the stop sign and overturning the fire hydrant. Water everywhere (and, as it turns out, not a drop to drink). When we determined that we didn't have water, the girls panicked, and immediately took up shovels and began digging a well. Their noble pursuit was derailed, however, when they began to turn up a lot of worms, which needed to be put together in a pile for later study. At last count, they'd displaced 17 worms. At one point I heard Sarah say "this one's so big and juicy...I just want to squish it!" I came to the worm's rescue before id got the best of Sarah.

After all that we were really hungry. I wasn't too worried about the water - the city showed up long before Kate and Sarah finished our new well and even though we have only a halfass dribble of water from our faucets now, I'm sure they'll have it fixed soon. We had to pause the yard work so there could be burgers. Jeremiah manned the grill while I tended the irresponsible and slightly scary conflagration we'd built in our chiminea using the branches from our Christmas tree (which had been sitting out there since New Year's day). It smelled wonderful, which is more than I can say for any of us. Not the best night for showering to be out of the question. I also found time to plant seeds with Sarah (Kate refused to assist).

So that's our day but, really, the only reason I even bothered to open the blog tonight was to show you pictures of Sarah's recent haircut. She went with Aunt Jo Jo to the salon yesterday, and while Joy had it hair done, it was decided that Sarah also needed a cut. Cute, right? Also, this picture of Kate was on my phone and I think it's cute too. It's hard to tell, but she's wearing that dangerous hat. It's a sort of chauffeur's cap and I keep expecting her to break out with "Chuck E's in Love" at any moment. I kind of wish she would.

Food. Good. Now.

I don't usually do this here, but I'm breaking protocol and I'm going to post a recipe. I found these things called Breakfast Cookies. They are not cookies, not really, but they are good for breakfast. I admired them as good potential for sustenance on those days (the non-S days) when I don't really leave myself room for real breakfast. I made them. I didn't really love them. I liked the idea of them so well, that I altered them significantly enough to claim this one as my own. Mad props to Foy Update, who, for reasons I can't quite conceive, receives a lot of jam from people and subsequently posted about this earlier.

My desire was to have something flavorful, that goes well with black coffee and can also pass as fairly nutritious. I think this qualifies, despite the lack of anything fresh, because of the fiber, omega 3's (chia seeds. Yes, cha-cha-cha-chia seeds), and all the glorious death-defying chemicals found in raw cacao (maybe, if you believe the media blitz. If you're lucky enough to live right down the road from Your Dekalb Farmer's Market, like I am, you can get those uber-hyped raw cacao nibs for just $.26 an ounce. Whole Foods charges, like, 4 times that much. A-holes.) Anyway, here's what I've concocted. I hope that you, unlike my entire family of ingrates, enjoy them -

Breakfast Cookies (or perhaps Mounds. Lumps? Globules. What You Will)
1/3 cup jam or jelly (I like something in a raspberry jam)

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 large egg
1 egg white

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (GF flour blend if you're high maintenance like me)
1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
2 tablespoons raw cacao nibs (I just like saying "nibs")

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (generous) coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (GF oats if you're even higher maintenance than me)

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/4 dried cranberries (or whatever dried fruit you fancy)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl - jelly, oil, honey, and egg.

Step 2: In a second bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.

Step 3: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix till combined. This will be a very course dough. Plop the dough out onto a cookie sheet using your favorite cookie-plopping spoon. These cookies won't spread or rise. Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms turn brown(er).

Shameless

Here's my website (click on the giant logo there to your left) - check it out, won't you? Tell your friends! Fun at parties! Promotes hair growth! OK, now I'm just making stuff up...

Another Scandal

At the chiropractor/wellness center where I now not only maintain awesome health but also work, a massage therapist named Sara operates. There's also a chiropractor named Kate, so they have Kate and Sara, too. Anyway, Sara's terrific and Jeremiah and I consider a massage by her a great treat. We have, from time to time, overlapped massage time with adjustment time and the girls have been granted admittance to the massage room while Jeremiah's on the table, just about to begin his massage, just so they can say hi and try to figure out exactly what is going on in there. Since the only thing we ever take off for an adjustment is our shoes, the kids find the whole scene a little weird.

So, the other day the kids and I were getting adjusted and the talk came around to the exciting news that Sara is pregnant with her third baby. Lots of happy jibber-jabber from all the grown-ups about, then our own Sarah, trying to place our topic of conversation, asked "is that the lady that makes daddy naked?" Loudly. In a room full of people. What's to be said but "Yes. That's her"?

Stupid Blogger App

I updated this blog several days ago, after having been nagged about it by a certain someone who shall remain nameless, but who I just call "Mom". I did it on my fancy iPad, though, and the dang thing didn't post...and it didn't save. Since I've made it a habit to forget everything I've posted to my blog immediately (leaving room for important things like passwords, PINs and favorite ice cream flavors) I'm sorry to say a precious memory of my children is now lost to me forever. SIGH.

Just kidding, it was just this little tale:

Last Saturday morning Kate awoke (this item unto itself is pretty big news; she's become quite the sleeper lately), and made breakfast for her sister. Plain yogurt drizzled with honey and topped with just a flourish of Honey Nut Cheerios. She even managed to do it neatly. It was all very puzzling but so cute no one asked questions.

Later that day, as we walked together to the park, Kate and I sauntered along well behind Sarah, who was zooming down the sidewalk on her balance bike, and Jeremiah. "I had a nightmare this morning" Kate confided. "There was a tsunami". Already my interests were piqued. Since I was at least her age, my go-to stress-induced dream is always centered around a tidal wave. When I was her age, we just called them "tidal waves", so I still do. Later, when I was in college, I learned my mom has them, too. So how d'ya like that? Anyway, this thing gets gruesome. Here we go. "Sarah was killed in the big wave" Kate continued. "I saw her body and she wasn't breathing or moving or anything. When I woke up, I was crying". Yeeeeehsh. "I think that would have made me cry, too" I said. Kate nodded, holding my hand, walking impossibly slow. How does she walk that slowly? How? "So anyway, " she said "I guess I really do like Sarah."

And this is how the breakfast incident came to make sense.