Bodecole!!!

This was my meal last week....

I suddenly had a craving for a childhood meal that my mom used to make quite regularly.  There is something so satisfying and homey about an old-fashioned dutch meat and potatoes meal.   I have no idea how to spell this, but the meal I made is called in Dutch something like "bodecole."  (Stop laughing at me, all you dutchies).  It was delicious!  Of course, when I was young I thought it was disgusting (other than the smoked sausage), but now I love it.  Funny how that happens!  I think pretty much every food I disliked when I was a kid I now love!  I kept the kale out of the potatoes for Juliet, knowing she would not like them, and overall it was a success.  Here's to kale, potatoes, and smoked sausage (with a side of fresh beans)!  What is your favorite childhood meal?

The Big Reveal

For months, Mike knew that he had to get glasses.  When we would be driving at night he would be squinting to read the roadsigns and I think he was pretty much a public hazard.  Anyway, a week ago we went to purchase glasses for Mike (I got new ones as well), and here they are!  We had so much fun trying glasses on!  The majority of them looked extremely dorky on Mike - Mike's head is large, to say the least - but we finally found a pair that we both liked!  Don't you think they make Mike look more intelligent?

On Teacups

If you've ever visited my parents on a Sunday, there is a pretty good chance that you've had coffee in one of my mom's delicate fine bone china teacups.  I don't know how many she has, but I have distinct memories of drinking from them and also carefully hand washing them afterwards (no dishwasher for those cups!).  I still have to smile when I remember Mike's first time coming over on a Sunday and being given one of those teacups.  First was the challenge of carefully pouring cream and  spooning sugar into the cup while desperately balancing the cup in its saucer.  Then Mike had the chore of actually drinking from the thing!  Did you just grab the cup from the top?  Did you pinch the handle with your thumb and finger in the hopes that the cup would not slip out of your grasp?  The challenges!  Anyway, when Mike and I got married, I eschewed the whole teacup business and used  healthy, good-sized American mugs.  But traditions die hard, and last time I was up in Canada, I decided that it was time I started collecting the things for myself!  I had about three in my china cabinet, but three teacups simply does not cut it!  One Saturday, with Ange and Josh and little Jules in tow, off we went to the flea market.  There were more teacups in the place then I could count, and one was prettier than the next.  This wasn't going to be an easy decision.  Well, Jules wasn't going to let this be a Mom event, and she loudly proclaimed which one she wanted, and could she please have a teacup for herself, and after nervously walking around the store waiting for Jules to knock some stand over, I gave in and told her she could pick out a teacup.  Now if you are Jules, you go for PINK!  Jules took her time and picked a rather ugly pink teacup.  Thankfully, I was able to get her to choose another cup after some persuasion, and we happily went home with our purchases in plastic bags.  When our trip to Canada ended and we were back home, I carefully washed the teacup and proudly placed it in my china cabinet.  I didn't actually intend to use it - or perhaps only when company came - and was simply satisfied with the addition in my china cabinet.  But did this satisfy Juliet?  Of course not!  "Mom, can I use the teacup at coffee time?  Mom, when can I use it?  You're not going to let me use it???  MOM!!!"  It seemed it was time to resurrect the old Sunday tradition of using teacups to satisfy a little girl.  Most Sunday afternoons, you will see Jules and I drinking from our teacups while eating a piece or two of chocolate...

           The teacup on the left is from Gran D., and the one on the right is Juliet's pink one!

                              Tea and chocolate, a natural combination, wouldn't you agree?

Cousin Love

What happens when you have two highly opinionated (perhaps bordering on bossy?) girls spend an afternoon together?  Well, an interesting day, of course!  Today Juliet's little cousin Annika spent the afternoon at our place.  This afternoon was an afternoon filled with learning life's lessons!  One minute the girls were happily playing with Juliet's pink, plastic tea set (filled with water, of course), and the next minute they would be arguing over which bathroom they were going to use, and who was going to go first!  I'm quite sure this is what the psalter means by "the joys of motherhood"....  At any rate, we hope to have Annika over more often since Juliet is not in school for now and enjoys the company.  Lora and I both decided that seeing as they both are quite assertive, we would let them figure out most of their squabbles on their own....

Annika and Jules

Central Park in the Fall

This past week Irene and Mom came down to visit.  What a great time we had!  I love when family visits as it always makes life a little more interesting for awhile.  Of course, it also gets you out of the house doing things!  I skipped housework for the weekend and figured I'd catch up next week!  What did we do?  Well, one day we hit the second-hand stores, on Friday night I went on a shopping spree at an outlet mall with Mom, Irene and Katrina (I left one of my purchases somewhere in the mall - grrrr!), and on Saturday, Irene, Mike, me, and Juliet went to Central Park.  Every time we go to Central Park it seems we discover some new monument and area in the park.  This time we hit the Mall - an area with statutes of famous literary figures, Bethesda pool, the Alice in Wonderland statute and a perfect little park for Jules.  It was a fun day!
Here are some pictures:

                                                    Bethesda Pool - no angels here, though!

Jules, Aunty Bubs, Me 

Jules and Mike - this was by a pond where they had remote-controlled sailboats!  Very cool!

Jules loves having Aunty Bean down!

Juliet on the Alice in Wonderland statute

A monument in the little park Jules played on - I loved the inscriptions on it.  

Something I frequently need to remind myself of!

And...the love of my life!

So, I've been having this mental argument with myself on the pros and cons of having family live far away.  Pros?  When family comes and visits, we go out and do SOMETHING!  Whether it is shopping, hiking, visiting historical monuments, going to parks, etc., it is great fun to go out and do stuff together.  And since they usually stick around for a few days, there is time for long discussions about everything under the sun.  Cons?  Well, that's obvious, of course.  It would be nice to pop in and visit whenever one feels like it.  So, I'll count my blessings and thank God for the times when family comes down!  

p.s.  time to get working on some of that housework...

Sewing Skills

When it comes to sewing, my mom takes the cake!  I remember growing up wearing clothes sewed by my mom.  Mom always made our summer nightgowns -pretty flowered ones made of cotton- lots and lots of skirts, sunday dresses (I particularly remember a sunflower dress when fabric with sunflowers was all the rage), bridesmaid dresses -all 4 of them- and even part of my wedding gown (the bolero jacket).  I've a talented mom, haven't I?  Now, I can't say that I've inherited the sewing gene - I've sewed a pair of rectangle curtains and that's pretty much my claim to fame!  This past year Mom sewed nightgowns for Juliet and here are the pictures...  Thanks, Mom!

It's that Time of Year....

Halloween is around the corner, and around here a little five year old girl's anticipation is slowly rising.  I find it almost laughable how Juliet disapproves of halloween yet has a secret fascination for it as well.  Today Juliet and I went for a bike ride around the block.  As we slowly made our way past our neighbors' houses, Juliet suggested that we would decide what were "fall" decorations, and what were "halloween" decorations.  As we proceeded, Juliet would either point approvingly at scarecrows, pumpkins, wreaths, etc. or shockingly exclaim over the witches, spiders, and ghosts!  If only my neighbors knew that they were being weighed in the balances and often found wanting by a little 5 year old with strong opinions!

Summer 2013

What do you think?  Christmas card material???  Mike and Jules at their best...

River Walk in Weehawken

One of our "new" traditions is to go for a bike ride along the River Walk in Weehawken once a year.  So a few weeks ago when the weather was gorgeous, we packed up Jule's bike and headed for some fun!  It appears that Mike took all of the pictures because he isn't on any of them, but he was with us!  Jules had a wonderful time (doesn't her smile say it all???), and it was a great excuse to try out all of her new bike paraphernalia she received for her birthday back in May!

What's in a Name?

Mike and I spent the night thinking of a name for our house. My dear sister Ange came up with one for her house, and I was overcome with envy at her inspiration. I simply had to name our place, too. In the past I had occasionally thought that it would be nice to have a set name for our house (so romantic and Anne of Green Gableish), but I pursued the idea rather halfheartedly. But Ange proved to be the impetus, so while Mike and I sat outside tonight on our adirondack chairs, enjoying the cool breeze and drinking refreshing beverages, we contemplated an appropriate name for our home. Now, naming a house seems like a piece of cake, right? It's harder than you think!!! After looking around outside for awhile, Mike commented, "You know, we are the only house on our street with a flag!" Hmmmm. Pause. Me- "You want to name our house the 'Flapping Flag?' That sounds really great!" Other ideas? Cuddles Place, Whispering Pine Place, Amorous Abode (Mike's idea), and a whole host of other ones that I can't recall! Any suggestions???

Hospital Stays

Well, this blog has been silent for quite some time. Right now, with all the extra time that I have I've been writing blog posts in my head before I fall asleep at night! Mike and I have been in the hospital for the last eight days with Juliet and I've been thinking about the whole hospital experience. At first I felt keenly disappointed that we would miss out on our planned Disney trip scheduled for this week. Disney was Juliet's pick for her Make a Wish. She was so excited about the whole trip and to spend the week in the hospital instead of making memories with her seemed a rather big let down. I was looking forward to seeing Juliet's eyes light up when she saw the rides, the "resort" we were going to stay at (Give Kids the World), the swimming pool, etc. But God has reasons for everything, and knowing that makes it easier to accept a change of plans! For some reason, God saw fit to have us miss our trip and spend it in the hospital instead (we do plan on re-scheduling for some time next year, so don't feel too sorry for us!). Although Juliet has not always been feeling that great, we are still having TONS of family time together. Yesterday I discovered an adorable library in the hospital. It's this tiny, tucked away room, decorated cheerily, and stuffed with books. Well, once I found that, I happily spent half an hour on my hands and knees looking for books to read to Juliet. Yesterday I read 13 books to her and it was such a welcome break from doing "crafts" with Jules. I confess I'm not really a craft momma. You know, the moms that post these amazing pictures of the crafts they do with their children. The cute little turkey made of painted popsicle sticks, cotton balls and who knows what else.... The truth is, when I do a craft with Jules, it's out of a sense of obligation. That's it. Sheer obligation! It's the old -I really should do this because Jules is asking me to - sort of obligation. But that's me. So when I find something I enjoy doing with Jules it's a bonus. This particularly applies to when you are in the hospital and you have limited resources! Discovering the library cheered me considerably yesterday; I think I'll find excuses to look for more books tomorrow. But back to the hospital experience. What are some of the essentials? I have to have good books to read! A couple of days ago I completed a biography on L.M. Montgomery titled Gift of Wings. It was so interesting! I love a good biography! What made me curious about this biography was that although Maud had a very difficult life, particularly near the end of her life, she wrote cheerful, happy books. It made me wonder how a woman could write such inspiring stories while dealing with depression in herself and her husband, a generally unhappy marriage, and an extremely difficult son (her oldest son, Stuart). I had to conclude that though she wrote some of my favorite books (The Blue Castle comes to mind) essentially her own worldview let her down. The Gospel was old fashioned and science was the answer to man's questions (so she thought). Other reading? I started Edith Schaeffer's book Hidden Art. The basic premise of the book is that Christians have "some talent which is unfulfilled in some hidden area of his being - a talent which could be expressed and developed." The chapters deal with the hidden talents of music, drawing, gardening, interior decorating, food, clothing, etc. From what I've read so far her goal is to inspire Christians to embrace and develop the hidden talents they have - even if it is in seemingly small ways. For example, if you love to sketch and draw but have limited time, you could make home-made cards for family. As I continue to read I plan on trying to discover what "hidden talents" I could further develop and to also challenge myself to FIND time to do so. So books are essential for hospital stays! Anyway, it's getting late and my thin, hard mattress draped in white sheets is calling me by name... Oh, and a night filled with IV beepings, having to wake up and give Jules her dose of tylenol, and other events that naturally pop up in the middle of the night... So this girl needs some sleep...(a terribly elusive thing in hospitals).

Valentine's Day

Well, here I sit in my robe, typing on the computer. I was reading my sister Bub's blog this morning and seeing that she posted about Valentine's Day, I'm going to, too! I always love reading what people do on Valentine's Day. Some people are adamantly against the whole thing and think of it as one big marketing scheme. You know, Hallmark in its glory and the chocolate makers raking in the dough... The cynics see their dollars disappearing on flowers that will be significantly cheaper the next day... Me? Well, you probably know this already, but I like Valentine's Day! Why not celebrate love? Who cares? Loosen the ole wallet and spend a little... (My mom would be shaking her head at this statement right now). Anyway, so one change this year was that Mike bought Juliet some things for Valentine's Day as well - a box of chocolate (with a teddy bear)and a bouquet of three roses. She was thrilled!!! At the clinic they make a big deal of pretty much every holiday (I'm waiting for a reformation day party - so far no luck) so Jules knew all about Valentine's Day and wanted so badly to do something special! So needless to say, when Mike came home with some gifts for her, she was thrilled. And Mike has been secretly substituting some of his chocolates (yes, I bought him a box) with hers (he accidentally bought her a box of mixed chocolates - you know the ones with disgusting fillings) :)

Humble Pie

Every once in awhile it's time to eat humble pie, right? Well, here is a story for you. I think it was two weeks ago that I took Juliet to the clinic. They were having a special day where crafts and other camp activities would be put on by some organization. I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I figured Juliet would have a good time and so we went. When we arrived, we saw a young man (we'll call him "George") who was in charge of the whole event. He got us started on creating some crafts from the great Oriental Trading Company (that's sarcasm there, folks). I'm not too impressed with those types of crafts but what little four year old cares? Anyway, so Juliet happily glued foam pieces onto her penguin and was quite content. After some time George decided it was time to start singing some camp songs. So he got the kids to sit around a fake fire and was busy trying to teach the kids to repeat the lines of some song after him. Well, four excited kids were not picking up on the whole repeat-after-me concept so he asked the parents to help him out and show the kids what he meant. So he started out by saying, "I brushed my teeth this morning..." and we parents dutifully repeated "I brushed my teeth this morning..." This went on for some time till he said, "I picked my nose this morning..." and we parents dutifully repeated, "I picked my nose this morning..." As I was saying this along with the other parents (and laughing), I saw Juliet stand up with this big grin on her face. "Oh no," I thought, "what IS she going to say?" I desperately tried to shake my head at her and signal her to not speak but it was too late. Juliet smiled at everyone and declared loudly, "My mom picks her nose ALL THE TIME!" Suffice it to say, I was mortified. And everyone laughed. And for the record, I don't pick my nose! Well, hardly ever. p.s. I thought I should share this on my personal blog where hopefully not too many people read this as opposed to our other blog on Jules... :)