I Am From The City, People!!!

As many of you may know, I was born and raised in New York. Now, that statement can have many different meanings because New York is a large and diverse state. I was born on the island of Manhattan and moved to Brooklyn before I was 1 year old. We lived there until the summer right before my 11th birthday. We moved to Staten Island and let me tell you it was like moving to the country for us. All of a sudden, we had a yard with a pool, a garden and a swing set. We went from living in a semi-attached, 2 family house in the apartment above my Nonna's to a large one family home with a yard that backed up to protected wetlands. We went from sharing a driveway with the house beside us to never having to park in the street. We had made the move to suburbia and never left the city of New York.

I lived in that house until I went away to college. I experienced culture shock when I moved to a small Indiana town of 3,000 (when school was in session). Corn as far as the eye can see! I came home to get married and have a baby. My new family and I lived in a one bedroom apartment in the house in Staten Island until November of 1999 when my parents sold the house and moved to North Carolina. We too were looking to move south but my husband was having trouble finding a job. So our little family of 3 moved back to Nonna's house in Brooklyn except this time, we all lived in Nonna's 2 bedroom apartment. By February, Michael had found a job and we moved to North Carolina.

I say all of this to say . . . I am a city girl. Until now (and except for college), I have never lived outside of New York City. I hate yard work. I do better with potted plants. I miss sidewalks, street lights, block parties, the ice cream man, L&B Pizza, being able to walk to the corner store and get milk and bread. I know you are all saying, "We have those things in the south." I know! I just don't live near any of it. The morning after we moved into our house, I was awakened to find that roosters really do crow early in the morning but they also crow all day long. Goats and cows smell bad from far away. Country folk let their dogs run free and don't spay or neuter their animals (ASK ME HOW I FOUND THAT OUT!!!). Did you know that you never have to go the grocery store for meat because you can sit on your back porch with a shotgun? For this city girl, This was like Green Acres!

After almost 10 years of living here, I am used to the . . . shall we say, quirky ways of country folk. Every now and then something really strange will make me ask what I was thinking but for the most part, I realize that I am raising country boys!

So we were really excited when one of our homeschooling friends came over this morning with a gift for us. Let's call them Farmer Bob and Farmer Amy. They are dear friends and our boys get along very well. They brought us some fresh eggs from the chickens that they raise on their property. Amy told me she had some extra and asked me if we wanted some. I am never one to turn down free food so I said, "Sure! I'll take some eggs! Thanks!"

Amy and Bob showed up at my home with 5 DOZEN EGGS!!! I only took four dozen because that was all that would fit in my basket. Did you know that eggs . . . fresh eggs straight from the chicken coup are dirty? You are probably saying, "DUH! Of course their dirty, Genius! They shoot out the back end of a farm animal!" In my defense, when you have ever only seen eggs in a carton in the grocery store, you don't realize that eggs are dirty and somewhere along the way someone sterilizes those eggs before they can be sold in stores. So I gratefully took my chicken poop and dirt coated eggs into the house and gave them a bath in anti-bacterial hand soap. They are so pretty and let me tell you how good they tasted! YUM! We are being short changed at the grocery store. These eggs were huge and all different. When I cracked them into a bowl to make breakfast, the yokes were a rich deep yellow and they were huge. I just had to share them with all of you.

Here are 3 and a half dozen eggs that are left. They are shiny because they are still a little wet from their bath.

See all the color variation and pretty speckles?

You can see the reflection of the skylight above in the eggs.

This one is my favorite one. It is a really pretty pale blue-green with brown speckles.

So I know all my country friends are shaking their heads and laughing at the city girl. I am glad I could make you smile.

And The Winner Is . . .

One of my new blog land buddies, Stacie has graciously presented me with this Honest Scrap award. I just started following Stacie's blog after we met at the Nester's swap meet a few weeks ago. She is a really sweet lady and we had a blast spending time together.


In accepting this award, I need to do the following:


1. Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2. Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.


10 Random/Honest Things about Me:

1. I am the oldest, youngest, middle and only child of 5 kids. (That's a post for another day!)
2. I dropped out of college get married and have a child when I was 19 years old. I finished my degree after my 2nd child was born in 2002. I use my teaching degree to teach my own children at home.
3. I love soup! I love making soups from scratch and in large batches. I can eat soup even on the hottest, stickiest North Carolina day. My husband looks as though he might pass out when I order soup in the summer.
4. I love to bake and cook. Every year starting in September, I start making Amish Friendship Bread. I keep 2 batches of starter going 5 days apart from each other and I bake, wrap and freeze the breads as gifts for Christmas. Last year, I baked my last batch on December 23rd and had over 80 loaves of bread to give out.
5. I could spend hours at the mall or any store for that matter and never spend a dime . . . especially if they sell furniture, fabric, home decor items, flooring, paint or shoes. I LOVE SHOES!!!
6. The first time I met my husband, I was a little afraid of the dorky guy in the Tazmanian Devil t-shirt and duck slippers. My fears were validated when he introduced himself to me as "Tater". I didn't find out his real name until we started dating a year and a half later and I met his sister and she called him "Mike". He is still just as strange as ever.
7. I am quote sure that I probably require medication for OCD. I have this thing where the inside of everything has to be exactly right and it looks like an advertisement for California Closets or something like that. The funny thing is that I have 3 boys (ages 12, 8 and 4) and a husband which means no one cares about what anything looks like and they are all slobs. I am slowly converting my 12 year old.
8. I have a photographic memory and I live in a house with 4 other people who are also blessed with this gift. I have found that it makes for really long drawn out explanations of everything because they feel like they have to describe everything from every angle using every sense. It also causes arguments like, "No it wasn't a white shirt, it was off-white."
9. I hate the feeling of newspaper. I cannot touch it with my bare hands. It makes my teeth hurt. Even typing this and thinking about newspaper is making my teeth hurt. When we moved and I had to pack up breakables, I wrapped everything in rags and clothing. I can read a newspaper if I don't have to touch it or if I am wearing gloves but even the smell of it makes me nauseous. I am going to stop talking about it before you send someone to my house to take me away to the psychiatric hospital.
10. I love fast, high, spinning rides. There is not a ride on earth that I will not try.


I tag... Rona, Amy, Terri, Nester, Jen, Emily, and Tracey because as different as they all are, they have all brought creative ideas, insight, encouragement, a great recipe, new friendships, spiritual advice, or laughs to me through their blogs. Thanks for being real, girls!

Prayers Answered

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Michael's job will be changing for the better. We are SOOOOO excited about this. I will let everyone know more when I find out more details. This is going to be a great year!

My Late Post About The Swap Meet

Pardon my tardiness. Yesterday was a crazy day. I was all set to take the boys to the movies with friends but all 3 decided to show me their "Mr. Hyde" so I said, "That's it! We are NOT going to the movies with our friends." As they sat there crying and begging for forgiveness, mercy and second chances, I said, "And there will be no Wii or TV either." To which Judah asked, " Well, can we go to the pool?" You gotta love 4 year olds!




We did not go to the pool. We did chores! Caleb, my peace maker, did everything I asked and tried to motivate the others.

Jeremy snuck off to his room to play with Legos but I did make hime help with the laundry when I found him.

Judah . . . well, I am just grateful that he did not try to make a bigger mess while we were cleaning.
He picked up fruit snack and granola bar wrappers and picked up the crayons.

We ended the day with more pizza creations (which I did not photograph). We had Black bean and shrimp with Mexican cheese blend and spinach alfredo pizzas. The boys actually preferred the bean pizza. We watched The Sandlot while we picniced on the family room floor.


This morning . . . Let's just say everyone is being super obedient today!


So one week ago, I attended a Swap Meet at the Nester's house. I met so many lovely ladies. Some that I knew from following their blogs and others that I am following now. It was a wonderful time of food, fun, fellowship and . . . getting new stuff (I couldn't think of another word that started with "f" that fit here). I got some lovely mossy green fabric and trim to match, tan curtain panels and a tall skinny lamp that I'll be using on my buffet in the dining room. I will post more on these items as I figure out how I will be using them.

There was so much food and while I tried to be healthy and brough a fruit tray (I know . . . boring), Stacie brought these yummy simple little treats made with bugles, peanut butter, chocolate and sprinkles. For a sweet/salty junky like myself, this was like CRACK and they were wonderful. I will be making them in the near future. Oh and Stacie was very sweet and great to talk to. Jen, Kimba, Richella, Emily (the Nester's sister), Bonita and Terri were just some of the ladies that I met that day. They are all just as fun and genuine as they are on their blogs. Here are some photos of my fun Saturday.







Here is one of me and the Nester. She is just as real and sweet as she can be!



All of these ladies have posts about the swap and we all hope to do another one.

Pizza That Cleans Out The Fridge

The other day my fridge was full of bits and ends of meals that were not enough to just reheat and eat alone so I had to get creative. I knew that pizza would be something that would be eaten with no complaints so . . . I pulled 2 partially baked pizza crusts out of the freezer and all my ends of food out onto the counter to brainstorm. I had made shrimp with spaghetti the night before and since shrimp was $4.99/lb at Harris Teeter, I made 2 pounds instead of one (which is never enough for my boys anyway). All of the spaghetti was eaten but there were 21 shrimp leftover. They had been cooked in a yummy lemon, garlic and herb mixture so I knew they would be fine on a pizza. I had also made some pesto using baby spinach earlier in the week and had a small container of it ready to be spread all over a pizza crust. I wasn't sure the kids would eat the pizza with only the pesto as the sauce so I mixed a little bit of jar Alfredo sauce that I had in the pantry into the pesto. And so I began to build.

Here is my thawed partially baked pizza crust with the pesto/Alfredo mixture and my leftover shrimp.

Then I realized that our oldest was not going to eat the pizza because he just recently decided that he does not like shrimp. I planned on making the second pizza a cheese pizza but I thought he might be weirded out by the sauce. I chopped up 2 Roma tomatoes that I had in the fridge and sauteed them in EVOO and a little kosher salt until they started to break down.

I ran them through the blender and mixed them into the rest of the Alfredo/pesto mixture. It made a lovely creamy tomato sauce.

I spread the sauce on the crust that was to be the cheese pizza.

There was a little leftover so I spooned it over the shrimp on the other pizza.

I topped both pizzas with a bag of pre-shredded Italian blend cheese. Here is the cheese pizza.

Here is the shrimp pizza going into a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I just put the pizza right on the oven rack.

Here is the cheese pizza baked for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is as golden as you like it.

Here is the shrimp pizza. I didn't want the shrimp to get over cooked so I took it out at the early stages of doneness.

Both pizzas were devoured and it took less than 30 minutes total to make them because I used leftovers to make some very gourmet style pizzas. My friend's son was over for dinner and he said I should give his mom the recipe. The bonus was that all 4 boys (my 3 and our guest) ate spinach without even knowing it.

What are your favorite leftover recipes?

What is up with me?

I vowed in April to start blogging more regularly. You see how well I've done. Later on tonight I am going to do a post complete with pictures. BUT, for now, I will just ask your forgiveness for breaking my vow and let you know that I have much to share. Come back later.

Hello . . . Do You Remember Me?

Yes, I am still alive. And NO . . . the computer is not fixed yet. However, I have found a way to upload pictures to the laptop and will try to be more consistent with the blogging.

The week before Easter, everyone here had the flu and once I had everyone back to health, I caught the bug and it turned into a sinus and ear infection. I am finally feeling like a real person again but I've had so much to do to catch back up on all my work. I even missed church on Easter Sunday which I was not happy about since I went to all the choir practices and missed actually singing the songs on Easter. I did get dressed and met everyone over at my Mom's for lunch. See our cute family picture.

Anyway, things are back to normal . . . whatever that means. I sat down to write this post on April 15th. I typed the first 2 paragraphs and saved it as a draft. I finally have the time to sit down and my mind can't even organize the thoughts in my head of all the things I haven't been able to post. So here is my apology in advance: If this post is hard to follow, I am so sorry but, I am about to go into a Dennis Miller style rant about laundry. Here goes:


I have had so many tasks and projects going on at once I can't even think straight. I have been sorting and purging for a church yard sale that is happening this Saturday. I have to drop everything off today so it can be sorted and priced. I am trying to refinish and recover my old glider and ottoman for a dear friend who is having her first baby. I have been doing laundry perpetually for the last 13 years of my life and I am beginning to wonder whether there is a secret that everyone else knows about laundry that I don't. It's not funny. If there is a secret . . . I need to know what it is. Does everyone else out there feel like there is always either mountains of dirty clothes or mountains of clean clothes? I'll get all the clothes washed and dried but then there are mountains to fold and put away. Once I get those put away, I take a deep breath and feel that sense of accomplishment only to walk into the laundry room and there is a mountain of dirty clothes again. The nerve of these people I gave birth to perpetuating the cycle of insanity which is the laundry. And one more thing . . . Why is it that when I fold all the laundry my stack of clothes to be put away is the smallest by half. Even the 4 year old's stack is bigger than mine and his clothes are tiny. There is only one thing that I can conclude from this observation. I am not wearing as many clothes as they are. If that is true then eiter they are changing clothes 3 times a day or I am having "Pajama Day" mor often then I care to admit.

Here is another question for all 2 of my loyal readers: Do you wash everything after it has been worn once or do you do a "stain and sniff test"? I am not talking underwear or socks or even shirts. Obviously, if they were outside working or playing and were very sweaty or had worn a shirt for an enitre day, then by all means, pitch it in the hamper and I will wash it. I am talking about jeans, towels, sweaters/sweatshirts worn over another shirt, church clothes worn for 3 hours and then changed out of before lunch. Here is my attitude toward this issue. If you take a bath and put on clean underwear and pajamas and get into bed, are your underwear or pajamas really dirty in the morning? Can't you wear those underwear that day? Can't you wear the same PJ's for at least 3 nights? If you get out the bath or shower, where you have presumably washed your entire body from head to toe with soap, and then dry your clean body with a towel, why can't you hang the towel to dry and use it at least 3 days? My view on jeans is this, I check them front and back for any marks or stains. If they are clear of marks or stains then I sniff. If I don't smell anything but denim, then they get a spritz of Febreeze and go right back to the boy who thought they were dirty. I would need to own a laundromat and stock in Tide to wash everything daily. I am NOT saying wear filthy clothes or sleep on crusty sheets or use a stinky towel. What am saying is this: I am NOT the laundry fairy. Laundry takes work and it takes all day (we don't have a super capacity washer). And for the love of all things holy, use a napkin. Your shirt and pants are not there for you to wipe your hands on and long sleeves are not a built-in snot rag . . . neither is the side of the seat in the car. Why do you think there is a box of tissues in every bathroom and the car and napkins on the table? They are not for decoration. I am going to go on laundry strike one day just for laughs. I don't think anyone else in this house knows how to use the machine. I am sure Michael could figure it out but I have been doing his laundry since February of 1995 and before that, his mom did his wash. I think that everytime they put on a pair of clean, fresh smelling underwear they ought to come hug me and tell me they love and appreciate me. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong . . . but I don't think so.

(BIG BREATH)

I say all that to say this: My new dream washer and dryer are being delivered today. I asked the guy in Lowe's to sell me the floor model and got him to give me a discount because it has a small dent. It is barely noticable. Dave Ramsey would have been proud of my negotiation skills. Anyway, this new set is twice the size of and 23 years younger than my old set so I am hoping that will help me in my laundry endeavors. I am really excited about it. It scares me a little how excited I am over a washer and dryer. I think maybe I need to get out more. I think I might have already said that in this post. I know you are thinking it.

Yesterday, we took a little field trip. We went out for pizza and then bowling and then to the park with 3 other homeschool families. We had so much fun and did alot of laughing. Here are some pictures of the kids bowling.











I just want to thank my good friend Rona for taking a "Rear View" picture of me and my sloppy form. I have great friends . . . friends I can count on to lift me up and encourage me . . . people who will help me feel better about myself. I have come to the conclusion that Rona hates me because she took this picture. I am going to go drown my sorrows over my spreading backside in a tub of ice cream now. (Just Kidding, but not about the ice cream! Love Ya, Rona!)


Here are some group photos of the kids. It is impossible to get a good picture of 9 children. Take a look:























Hopefully, I will be blogging more regularly from now on. Two of the boys had birthdays since my last post and we went to Disney World and Myrtle Beach. I have pictures and stories to tell. Maybe I will post some pictures of my new washer and dryer and you can help me think up names for them like Bert and Ernie or Thelma an Louise.