Sewing Machine Saga

Sew I have this friend who very generously gifted me her grandmother's sewing machine.
(I know, TOTALLY sweet).

 But it didn't work.
My other awesome friend, who sews for a living, offered to take it and make it work.
But she couldn't.
Sew then I took it to a place that repairs such things and they charged me $180 and I got back a working machine. That is, until I started to sew on it. Something was off. We packed up for Idaho and I took it to the sewing center here and they repaired it. I started sewing again, and it broke again. Back to the shop.  The one gear the original repair shop DIDN'T replace totally broke all to heck.
This is the part where I started to cry.
You see, I WANT to love sewing. My mama is SEW good at it, she made my wedding dress. I know. As I said, a totally awesome seamstress. And she likes it, to boot. Sewing that is. Probably she liked my dress, too.
Mama and I went to the repair guy, and he said my poor, poor machine had bit the dust but for $100 he could get it running again. However, there was no guarantee of how long the new gears would last.
There was some more crying in there somewhere.
My sweet wonderful mama offered to buy me a new machine that comes with lessons.
You see, she wants me to like sewing, too. Or at least to be proficient at it.
Husband and I talked it over that night and agreed we couldn't let her buy a machine, but that a new machine would be best.
So the next day mama and I headed back to the sewing machine store.
And we came home with this:


Which I totally didn't buy because I don't believe in committing violence against one's mama, and that's the only way I could have beat her to the cash register. I'm going to pay her back somehow. Probably not in home-sewn goods, since even with a decent machine it turns out my hems aren't all that straight. :)
Ah well. At least now I can practice without my machine falling all to pieces.

PS HOW did I live without the needle threading option? I have NO idea. It's amazing.

Edgar, Allen, and Poe

The kids got a book from the library this week called Edgar, Allen, and Poe and the Tell-Tale Beets. It's a children's spoof on Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart, made palatable for young children.



The Boy, in particular, is in love with this book. So, like any good mom, I made beets for dinner tonight. The Boy ate LOADS of beets. Before bed, we got a little reminder of what, exactly, beets do to a person who eats them in large quantities: it turns your pee pink. The Boy loves beets even more now.   I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when he sees what beets do to other, eh hem, waste products.

PS The Boy was quite disappointed when I wouldn't tell him the REAL Tell-Tale Heart, but I like our status quo where the children sleep through the night in their own beds. Call me crazy. (hehehe)

I Need Inspiration

Do you ever hate cooking in the summer? Even if you LOVE cooking? Yeah. That.
This week we've had pizza, pancakes, leftovers and chips and dip.
I need some serious inspiration.
If you've tried something new recently, or have a summer dinner-time favorite,
please PLEASE PLEASE share!

Randomness From The Week

1. "Boy, please take your sister to the slide." I NOT a SISTER!!!! I a ZSA ZSA!" She was so sure about this, that I couldn't help but laugh. It's three days later, and I'm still laughing. 
2. I ruined some perfectly good junk food when I ran out of butter and subbed applesauce. Huge mistake. 
3. The kids have been running outside every three seconds to check if Grandma Cathy is home yet. She lives next door, but works during the day. It's pretty funny because they won't believe me when I tell them she's not home, they have to check. 
4. Zsa Zsa said a marshmallow would make her owies feel better. 
5. Zsa Zsa, against a direct order to stop doing so, was jumping on an air mattress. She fell and face planted on the deck. When she came inside to cry to me and show me her goose-egged forehead and smashed and bleeding nose, I couldn't help but say, "And momma called the doctor and the doctor said, no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" For the rest of the week, any time someone new came to the house, Zsa Zsa would tell them, "my mom called the doctor and the doctor said, no more MONKEYS jumping on the bed!" I think she learned her lesson. Poor thing. 
6. Also this week, Zsa Zsa was petting a kitty. This particular kitty is scared of people, and in particular the pint-sized versions. The de-clawed kitty took a swipe at her head, and so she came crying that "The kitty hit me!" which was kinda funny. 

More Camping Pictures

 These are cows. Husband took the picture from a moving car. We thought it would be nice to show his dad that cows can be raised in such a beautiful area, as well as in Arizona. (wink, wink) Even though I KNOW Husband's family will never move, I can dream, can't I?

 Seriously. Who WOULDN'T want to live here?

And one more of my seriously cute babies.

Camping 2.0

My sister talked me into going camping with her family this weekend. You know, because it went so well the last time. Briefly, here's how the last time went; I had a less than 18 month old, was hugely pregnant, and it rained. The whole time. Our tent nearly floated away. Yes, really. The boy cried the entire night so we packed up camp at two am and drove home. It was pretty much the worst camping experience ever.

Needless to say, I was reluctant to try camping again. Really reluctant. But my sister had an ace up her sleeve; flushy toilets. In my opinion, flushy toilets can make or break a camping trip.

Here it is, in pictures. Pictures I took with a REAL camera, no less! Be impressed.

Yeah, nobody said I was GOOD at taking pictures. 

Just that I can occasionally use a half way decent actual camera. :P

Red Fish Beach

 Paddle Boat Ride

The View. Honestly, I fell in love with Idaho again on this trip. 

On the way home we stopped at Smilie Creek Lodge

Someone did NOT want their picture taken. 

The Grumps had set in.

And the sleepies. 

If that's not the most tired you can be while still eating ice cream, it's close. 

Idaho Summers

Idaho in the summer is AWESOME.

I can get into my car and not die of a heat stroke. Popsicles don't melt on the way home from the store, even in the afternoon. We can go to the park any time we want. And best of all, we can sleep with the windows open.

Now if only we could adjust those gloomy winter days, you'd really have something, Idaho. You'd be California, but without the crime, crappy politics or fairies. Wait...you'd be Washington State.

Independence Day 2011

We started out the morning with Red White and Blue pancakes. (recipe to follow) It just seemed like the thing to do on the Fourth of July. The Hubs even volunteered to run to the store first thing to grab the fruit we needed.

Then we waited around for my sister and her husband to show up for our planned 8:30am walk around the lake. At 9:30 I called. At 10:30 we gave up and drove to the lake ourselves. At the end of the trail we ran into them coming the other direction. Zsa Zsa walked at least half of it on her own.

 She was fascinated by dragon flies, and thought they might eat her.

 The Boy is simply not as ambitious as my baby girl, and ended up being carried for quite a bit of the hike. We're working on effort with that kid. He's not internally motivated.  Like, at all.

The children both took glorious three hour naps during which the adults played cards. It was AWESOME. I can't remember the last time my oldest took a nap intentionally. We told him he had to rest if he wanted to go see the fireworks that night. I think it helped that we wore them out on our hike. :)

After dinner, I cleaned up the mess and collapsed into bed. Hubs and a couple sisters took the wee ones to the city fireworks display.

Happy Birthday, America. I hope you're still around when my kids are having kids, and that you're worth living in. It's kinda sketchy right now, to be honest.

Blender Pancakes
1 Cup whole grain stuff (I used oat groats and wheat berries)
1 1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup oil or some oil/applesauce combo
2 Tbls sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Blend whole grain and one cup milk on high, three minutes. Add remainder of milk and blend two more minutes (you can just blend for 20 seconds if you have a Vitamix) add the rest of the ingredients and blend. Cook per usual.
Topping
1 lb strawberries, sliced
1 clam shell blue berries
2 bananas sliced
toss gently with a tablespoon or two of sugar or agave

Northern Migration

Well, we made it to Idaho. In a fit of stupidity, Hubs and I decided to try the trek from Arizona to Idaho all in one go. Again. Because it went so well the last time.
This trip the children did beautifully. They played nicely, napped, and only watched one movie for the entire 17-18 hour trip.

Hubs and I both stayed awake the entire journey. I started out this trip in slightly less than stellar condition. I'd tweaked my back (no doubt doing something stupid) and sitting for that long didn't improve things. In fact, I walked like an old woman every time we got out of the car. I'm sure I gained all sorts of sympathy from strangers with my beautiful children and my hunched over, gimpy gait. :/
Luckily, my awesome chiropractor was able to see my Friday, and by the time I left his office I was again walking in the full upright position, albeit still rather sore overall.

Playing In Pioche, NV.

Here are some awesome Boy quotes from the trip.
"Zsa Zsa damaged her toe on the bathroom door".

On Las Vegas: "This is a funny sort of place for a town".

And some Zsa Zsa quotes
"The bugs! They eat me!" followed by a full-on melt down. And the bugs? Gnats. To be fair, she did walk into a swarm and I don't think she's experienced gnats before.

Saturday The Hubs and I got back in the car and drove an additional 4 hours to Driggs, Idaho for the Huntsman Family Celebrate America shindig. We rather enjoyed our free time, ate funnel cakes and square ice cream and generally goofed off. The speeches by Huntsman Sr and Glenn Beck were both fabulous; focusing on the wonder that is America, and our God-given right of freedom. I may have to write up the speech at some point.

My cell phone camera doesn't zoom, but there's snow on those mountains. In July. Just say'n.

We watched the start of the fireworks and then drove to Idaho Falls where we stayed in THE crappiest motel IF has to offer. Seriously. It rivaled the by-the-hour hotel we stayed in during our honeymoon to San Diego, solidifying my theory that poor people shouldn't travel. :)

Both coming and going we got to visit with wonderful friends from our years in Idaho Falls. We wished we'd had time to see more of you. We also wished Bajio Restaurant hadn't closed. Ferills. That place is da bomb.