New Favorite Recipe

I have a new favorite recipe...Honey Baked Lentils. Here goes:

1 cup lentils (I use brown because red turn to mush)
2 cups water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ginger
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients. Bake in covered dish at 350 till tender (recipe says an hour and a half, but mine only took an hour--I might use more water next time).

Serve with either white or brown rice. YUMMY.

Update Feb 2013:
Optional variations:
Sometimes I add sliced carrots.
Sometimes I add chicken (I just lay it on top of the lentils before I put it into the oven).
Sometimes I cook it in the crockpot, on low for 6-7 hours.
Sometimes I cook lentils, chicken, carrots, and rice all together in the crockpot for a one-dish meal.

Two pictures

I took two pictures today for the sole purpose of posting them here. :) First, here is the beautiful magnolia tree that I drive by every time I'm out and about. Springtime in Bloomington starts with the magnolias and the daffodils--but the redbuds and tulips are not far behind.

Mom tells me that in Texas, most of the magnolias are cone-shaped like a pine tree. That's not the case here at all.



And the second picture--this is a brand new neighborhood about 1/2 a mile from me. I think it's pretty. :) When we're out, Elijah will suggest, "Let's go look at the colorful houses." Each house on the street is a different color--one of my favorites is the one that is teal with chocolate trim (Mercy, I bet you would love it). They are all beautiful Craftsman-style homes with big front porches and gorgeous wood trim inside (I haven't been in, but I've seen pictures). And they all have cute little matching garages out back along the alley. :) Around the corner from this street, and part of the same development, is a row of traditional brick shopfronts--can't wait to see what stores will go in there.

But what itty-bitty yards!
You can click on both pics for ginormous close-ups. If you click on the magnolia picture, note the cute little seat that someone built around its trunk.

At long last...the story of my bathroom sink

I'm getting ready to make chicken pot pie. Chicken pot pie tends to take me a while--seems like there are a lot of steps to the recipe. So I thought I would tell the story of my bathroom sink while I'm in between steps. For instance, I just emptied leftovers out of the big pot I want to use, and set it to soak for a minute. While it soaks, here I am. :)

When we bought this house (townhouse I should say), it had been a rental for a few years and felt a little dingy and run-down. There were a few little things around the house that had obviously been done by a do-it-yourself-er. Like the living room trim. Apparently someone attempted to "upgrade" to nicer trim, except that the stuff they put down as baseboards was actually door casing. And they apparently didn't own a miter saw, as all the ends were just blunt-cut and stuck together with gobs of silicone caulk. Yes, it was ugly. :) But hey, we got a really good deal on the place, and I knew I could fix all the little "issues."

The "guest bathroom" (half bath on the main level) was done in similar fashion. Someone had attempted to touch-up the paint, and as you may know, there is no such thing as a successful touch-up paint job. The color never matches right, and it always ends up looking, well, patched. Also, the wall-hung bathroom sink was sagging away from the wall a little bit. Someone had attempted to hide the gap between the sink and the wall with--you guessed it--gobs of silicone caulk. Yes, it was ugly. :)

[Scrubbed the pot and a few other dishes, put Noah back to sleep, realized chicken was still frozen & set it to defrost under running water] Well I started by cutting away all the caulk with a utility knife. Then I got out my largest wrench to undo the drainpipe under the sink. Well my largest wrench wasn't big enough, and the neighbors didn't have anything big enough either. A couple of weeks later--oh wait, I should explain. I didn't have a car at the time, so I was relying on borrowed transportation, and errands of any sort were hard to do. We do have a hardware store within walking distance, but it closes at 5:00 and I work till 4:45--not enough time to bundle up the boys, load them into the stroller & mei tai, and make it there before closing.

Anyway, a couple of weeks later, I finally made it to the hardware store and bought another wrench. Got home and what do you know, the new wrench wasn't big enough either. A couple of weeks later (as you can see, this story spans a long period of time), finally made it back to the hardware store and got a proper wrench. Took apart the drainpipe, disconnected water supply lines, got the sink off the wall.

Wall-hung sinks hang from a metal bracket that is screwed into the wall studs. Well this bracket was screwed in with just two screws, which was clearly not sufficient--it had holes for five screws. No wonder the sink was sagging. Oh, and the bracket also was not level. Well I didn't have any screws that would work, so of course this meant I needed to make another trip to the hardware store.

[Checked the chicken, disciplined my son] Well a couple of weeks later I finally made it back to the hardware store and got screws to match. I decided to rehang the bracket about two inches higher than it had been previously, because I thought a slightly higher sink might be nice. So I marked and drilled the holes and screwed in the bracket (which sounds simple, but in reality I ran into several more obstacles, for instance not knowing how to get the screws in, until I finally found a ratcheting socket wrench in the basement).

[Checked chicken again, set it to boil with herbs, showed Elijah that two pretzels plus three pretzels equals five pretzels] Well before I could actually rehang the sink, I needed to patch some damage to the drywall behind it. But I went ahead and set the sink on the bracket just so that I could admire how straight and level it would be. And when I did, lo and behold, the water supply lines and the drain pipe would no longer connect, because I had raised the sink two inches. Why, oh why, did I not think of such an obvious consequence? *sigh*

But I was not to be deterred. I re-drilled and re-hung the bracket at its original height. I patched and sanded the drywall behind the sink, primed and painted the trim, repainted the entire bathroom in a light neutral shade, and replaced an old towel rack with a more practically located towel ring. And I hung the sink again...but....

[Made a mad dash to the kitchen because the chicken was boiling over. Then leaped over several obstacles and halfway up the stairs to turn off the smoke alarm which of course went off. Then explained to Elijah the difference between steam and smoke] The water supply lines and drain pipe (I hope I'm using the proper terms for things here) still do not connect properly. This is because the sink, while at its original height, is now more level than it used to be. So while I can screw the connectors together, I get a little leaking when I actually run water. I think this is something that I can fix with some tugging and a little teflon tape, but given my history with this particular sink, I would not be surprised if more obstacles lie in store. :D

Well, that only took me an hour and a half! I thought it would be much longer! I'm not sure how many of you will find this interesting at all (perhaps Jeshurun will, though I'm sure he could have done the entire project in one afternoon), but now you know the story of my very challenging little project. And I must clarify, that I have enjoyed this project very much, in spite of all the roadblocks!

I would like to edit this post to death, but I know that would take ages, and I don't have ages, so it's going up as is.

A few very belated pictures

Here are a couple more pictures from Texas. The first is just of Noah being his cute self. The story behind the second one...Mom ordered a dump truck load of sand/topsoil to fill in a soggy place in the back yard. Then a bunch of helpful young folks came over to help haul the dirt from the driveway (where it was delivered) to the back yard. This meant a lot of trips back and forth with the wheelbarrow. Caleb (doesn't he look spiffy for someone who is hauling dirt?) decided to put Elijah in the wheelbarrow too. Elijah was nervous at first (as in this picture) but soon warmed up to the idea.

Enjoy!

Coming soon...

Stay tuned for "The Story of my Bathroom Sink." It will be a tale of ingenuity and creativity triumphing at last (after a long struggle) over a complex, frustrating, and seemingly impossible situation.

Just making a note of it here so that I don't forget to post about it.

A day at the beach

On Wednesday we went to the beach in Freeport. It was a windy, sunny, beautiful day. The boys loved every minute of it. Of course we took lots of pictures.

Those who read Mercy's blog will already have seen this picture, but I had to post it again. Here is Noah getting his first taste of the ocean. He was fearless, marching right in. When we got out far enough, I would try to steer him back, but he was determined to turn around and get back into those waves.

And here are the boys digging in the sand. Elijah preferred the sand to the waves, I think. Noah kept putting sand into his mouth, then making spluttering sounds and trying to get the sand out of his mouth with his very sandy fingers (didn't work so well).

Jellyfish! Lots of little ones (dime and nickel-sized).

Here's Noah being his cute self.

In the background you can see me and Elijah, while Noah plays happily in the sand. If you look closely, you can see that he is soaked up to his shoulders from his adventures in the ocean.

Well, that's all for now--more to come soon!

Okay, okay, I'm updating

Hi! I'm in Texas with the boys. We are enjoying our visit, except that Noah is not sleeping well. Or when he does sleep, he sleeps well, but he's enjoying himself too much to go to sleep in the first place, so he stays up late but does not sleep in to compensate, then because he's behind on sleep he gets all wound up and doesn't want to go to sleep--and so on. I'm apparently not much of an expert on babies and sleep, because it's something I've always struggled with. I've read a few books and articles on the topic, but different people have entirely different opinions, so reading hasn't helped me much.

But other than Noah's sleep issues, we are enjoying our visit. Both of the boys obviously enjoy their aunts and uncles quite a bit, and their Meemaw too. They also enjoy the warm weather, and the opportunity to spend some time outside. If all goes as planned, we will be taking them to the beach tomorrow. They have not seen the ocean before, and I bet they will love it! I will too, I'm sure.

We visited Caleb and Leah's house between services on Sunday, and hope to visit again later this week. I like their home a lot--it's very comfortable and inviting. I think it's interesting how some of the more modest and "ordinary" homes I've visited felt so much more comfortable and welcoming than some of the bigger and more expensive homes. I would love to be able to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes a house feel like a home, not only to its inhabitants, but to visitors as well. Of course, it's probably something indefinable that can't be pinpointed. :) But I have my ideas. I know one thing that always makes me feel at home is bookcases, with books in them of course.

Well Noah needs me--gotta go!

Well Dr. #2 agrees with Dr. #1 that it is not mumps. He doesn't quite seem to know what it is either though. Some sort of underlying infection, he says, causing things to swell a bit. He showed me Elijah's parotid glands (glands that produce saliva), which would be infected if he had mumps. But they are pink and healthy looking, no inflammation or discharge. Elijah submitted to lots of poking and prodding as the doctor examined him very thoroughly. But he didn't complain at all and once the examining was over, beamed at the doctor and jumped around the examining room.

So, it's NOT mumps, but he looks like a chipmunk just the same. :)

Mumps, maybe

Elijah looks so mumps-ey that I called the doctor's office and asked them to do a mumps test just in case. If it is mumps, it's not a big deal, but I should probably keep him away from other kids till he's better. So this afternoon he's getting a mumps test.

Here are a few pictures of my little chipmunk. You can see the swelling on the left of his neck and face.























And also a picture which I just got from the kids' grandma. Can you see why the kids like visiting Grandma so much? (Hint: look at the background.) When Elijah saw this picture, he said, "I miss Grandma. I want to visit Grandma." I said, "Do you miss Grandma, or do you miss Grandma's toys?" I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know the answer to that question! But he passed the test with flying colors when he answered mournfully, "No, I just miss Grandma." Awwww!

p.s. I apologize once again for the funky layout. I suppose I should just line the pictures up down the middle, since any sort of creative layout ends up all wrong.

A few updates

Updates:

Noah has been taking a few steps lately. He thinks walking is soooo entertaining. He gets a great big silly grin on his face every time. He can now wave bye-bye and blow kisses. He can say a few words: his favorite word is "geggle-bop" but he also likes Dada, Mama, Buh (brother), Voom (vacuum cleaner or toy car), and sometimes Puh (up). Unfortunately, he frequently chooses to communicate by screaming. He screams when he's upset (brother took his toy) or when he's excited (brother made him laugh) or when he wants more food. When I tell him "No screaming," he looks at me and gives a few test screams in progressively quieter tones, with a question mark on the end, until I stop saying "No screaming," and give him a smile.

He is a big fan of the 6 month old baby that I care for. When she arrives in the morning, he gets that big silly grin again. He crawls up to her carseat, pulls himself up, and leans over to put his face against hers.

This morning I awoke at one in the morning to find him sitting next to me and clapping. He was very delighted with himself for discovering how to clap. I was delighted too until I saw what time it was.

Elijah is sick today. One side of his face is swollen up like a chipmunk, and he is feeling very out of sorts. I wondered at first if he might have mumps, but the doctor says it's probably some sort of subcutaneous skin infection. I think that's doctor-speak for "I don't really know what it is, but maybe antibiotics will fix it." So he's got some antibiotics. I have mixed feelings about giving him antibiotics when I don't really know for certain what he's got.

I got Elijah a book called Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse. It goes through things like colors, numbers, alphabet letters, days of the week, and so on. The book is right up Elijah's alley because each page has lots of things going on, so he can sit and study each page for a while before he's seen it all. My only complaint about the book, and a complaint I've had with a few other books too, is that it says things like "All children go to school to learn how to read and write." Well obviously this is not quite true. When I read it to him, I rephrase it as "Many children go to school to learn how to read and write," and then I add, "but some children learn how to read and write at home." Yes, I plan to homeschool him if at all possible.

Well, I have some cleaning to do, so I will leave you with a picture (or three). These are of Noah expressing his usual level of interest in the camera. I can't figure out how to post them three in a row side by side, so this is a rather convoluted layout.