Oh, hello. You still there?

Gosh, I didn't mean to go so long without a post. Spring has sprung and it's such a pretty time of year around here. We've got Santa Barbara daisies, several varieties of sage, lavenders, and every dandelion imaginable (ahem), all in bloom. We have a caterpillar named Freddie who should be emerging as a Gulf Fritillary butterfly any day now. But I guess the biggest thing going on right now is some serious yard planning and transformation. Think - lots of weeding. Think - homegrown veggies. Think - chickens! Here's how it happened...

Chris says one day recently that he wants to buy a new bike frame (you knew it had to do with cycling, right?). It's new, it's better, it has a custom Fast Friday paint job, and it's great deal, he says. It's such a great deal, that he can likely sell his current frame for the same price. Sounds great, right? So I say, as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans for planter boxes and chickens, (oh, and it doesn't involve me changing jobs), it's fine with me. Wink, wink. Chris must really want that bike frame because he's been working really hard in the yard.

We built three 4'x8' raised planter boxes, arranged them on the lawn, and re-routed the sprinklers to a drip line in each box. I have started a bunch of seeds inside - kale, spinach, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, ancho pepper, snap peas, beans, basil, catnip, cilantro. We're a little late on some things but that's ok, we're learning and we'll see how it goes.

We have also selected our coop location and we purchased some plans for the coop. We decided to get chicks and raise them because we've read they will be more docile and friendly than if we bought pullets. We're going to start with four and perhaps increase to six hens. We've been doing lots of reading and we're very excited.

I'm also stalled on a couple of cute tiered skirts - finished one but not the other. Maybe now that the girls will be back in school it's time to get back to that little project.

So that's what we're up to, how about you?

Moving On

We seem to be past the worst of the pneumonia with small improvements every day. Maia is back at school, although I had to bring her home early yesterday because her chest was hurting. Despite that, her breathing has been improving every day (less gurgling) and there has been less coughing at night. I just don't want her to end up in the hospital, so we're taking one day at a time.

This has been my first week with some child-free moments in quite a while and I'm determined not to get bogged down in the depressing under-employed state of things. I took on a small job at Maia's school doing the newsletter and other paperwork. The hours are minimal and the pay low, but there is a generous tuition discount that makes it worthwhile. It will give me some structure to my week and if my other job picks up (can't get any slower for me), I will still have plenty of time to get it all done.

My mom visited last week so that we could work on a top secret project together. It's going to be *great* but I can't share it - yet. While she was here, I was cringing at the state of her room. It is our guest room slash sewing stash slash Chris' cycling gear slash art supplies slash knitting stash slash what ever else doesn't have a place - you get the picture. So after she left I tackled the clutter, organized the closet, and hung a couple pictures. The result is several bags of giveaway, a couple boxes of books to donate, much fabric to give away, a box of cassette tapes to record digitally, and a much. cleaner. room. Now my mom has to come back before it gets cluttery again.

Well, I'm going to wrap up this boring no pictures post and run off to work on my kitchen wall chalk board. I spray painted chalkboard paint directly on the wall yesterday (bad idea, too messy, don't do it, use the brush-on paint) and now I'm figuring out some sort of border.

Move it along, move it along

nothing to see here. Been busy.

Doing art? Well, a little. I'm enjoying using some watercolor pencils in a little hand-bound watercolor paper book my mom picked up on one of her travels. Nothing to share yet though.

Knitting? A smidge. Finishing up some fingerless gloves just in time for our transition from winter to summer. Some people call it spring.

We're mostly recovered from last week's treatment at UCLA for Maia - it's a hard week - no two ways about it. I'm so glad to have family that is willing to help out. Three weeks to mentally prepare for the next one.

Trying to stay on top of the seemingly millions of "Processed Claim Reports" that we're getting from the insurance company. Got one yesterday which show a $920 lab charge that was not covered. Something so unsettling about seeing "You owe provider: $920" I knew there must be a mistake. Right? It must be a mistake. Please let it be a mistake. So 3 phone calls and half and hour later, I think we have that one cleared up - maybe. Until next month when the same exact charge comes through...

I've been practicing giving shots to lemons. I hope to start giving Maia her shots myself maybe next week. Next week. Maybe.

Oh yeah. And the job search. That's still going on too. I feel like I was in a game of musical chairs, and the music stopped and here I am still standing. Crap.

Good Times

Tonight after books, I was laying with Maia and rubbing her little foot and leg, like I do most nights, and she whispered in her breathy little voice,

"Mama."
"Shhhh, nigh-night Maia."
"Mama, today there was music and Jeff [the music teacher] swallowed a frog."

I lay there for a few seconds trying to figure out what might have happened for her to say that, and then I got it. Ah.

"So did his voice sound a little funny?"
"Yeah." Giggle, giggle.

And then I started giggling and we both giggled until,

"SHHhhh! Stop giggling!" Sofia scolded from the top bunk. Oh, man. That's good stuff. Giggle.

Thankful, Still

These are certainly uncertain times. The excitement of my last post was quickly drown out by the sheer weirdness of what's going on with our economy. My company has experienced a severe slow down in the due diligence practice area due to the real estate and credit market, so much so that they let four people go. Since I am a casual part time employee, my work load has been cut significantly. In a way, it's been nice to have some time to work on a couple projects, but it makes us want to hang on to that stimulus check we were about to spend on a new mattress...

Still, I have a lot to be thankful for. Here's a short list before I have to get back to my Thanksgiving feast preparations...

My job... slow as it may be, and not exactly what I want to be doing, but very handy in paying the bills.

My husband, who is very smart, very handy, loves his job, and loves his family and who was born on Thanksgiving 39 years ago tomorrow.

Sofia, who amazes me with her stories and illustrations lately.

Sofia's school, where she's doing journalism, yoga, Spanish, and drama.

Maia, who is such a good friend to her sister.

Maia's school, where she's learning her letter sounds, learning to pump on the swing, and making new friends - her favorite new friend? Another Sofia.

My friends, who have been so willing to help out with my kids on the days I have to work later than normal, and who my girls love.

Open enrollment, so that we could switch back to a PPO starting in January and finally take Maia to some real experts in the vascular anomaly field and figure out what's going on with her leg.

Recipes from epicurious.com.

My food buying group that buys monthly from Azure Standard. I'm preparing my first organic turkey this year!

Back to work! Happy Thanksgiving!!

I Love Quiche

I made a quiche last night for dinner that was both tasty and well formed. I wish I had taken a picture before we gobbled it up but I did not, so you'll have to look at this one; it was the inspiration for me to find a new recipe. I used the "Madame Quiche's Quiche Au Fromage" recipe from epicurious.com and modified it this way.

First, I used Trader Joe's Frozen Pie Dough, thawed it, shaped it into a 10-inch pie dish, and put it in the freezer again (like the recipe says). I baked the crust, as instructed. I'm sure home-made pastry dough would be better, but this worked out pretty well.

For the filling, I used 1 1/2 cups whole milk, no cream (didn't have any), 6 eggs, 4 ounces goat cheese, salt and pepper and a little nutmeg. I mixed the filling using a non-electric hand mixer, which resulted in a nice fluffy texture. Before pouring the filling in, I lined the bottom with chopped basil. I baked it at 425 F for 30 minutes, as instructed. The one thing I will do differently next time is cover the rim of the crust with foil while baking the filling - it was a little beyond "golden brown".

I loved it, Chris loved it, Sofia loved it, Maia, well, she ate it. That's about all I can hope for.

Caterpillar Updates

The caterpillar metamorphosis is being well documented (I'm a little obsessed). I don't think I ever did this as a kid, so I'm completely fascinated by the whole process. The caterpillar has now started turning into a chrysalis. We've also confirmed that it will be a Gulf Fritillary, which is the same as the butterflies I saw around the vine where I found the caterpillars. Picture updates are being posted at our flickr site.