family – Page 28 – Peaceful Reader

Eight-Year-Old Whirlwind Weekend

I’m exhausted! It’s been a memorable weekend celebrating my daughter’s birthday. I still can’t believe how much she’s grown-really! I do take time to appreciate the small moments but no matter how much you hold them close they still grow up. I know 8 is not grown up yet but it seems like yesterday I was holding that tiny thing above. Happy Birthday to my peaceful sweet girl.

Thank you to all those who entered my BlogFest Contest and became new followers. I hope you will visit often and find all sorts of matter to engage your brain. I will tally all entries and pick a winner-but tonight I have to go to bed. Yesterday we had six little girls here celebrating, had a beautiful birthday dinner last night with my Mom and today did more celebrating after church. My evening though has been taken up with lesson planning. I used to get my plans done for the beginning of the week and see how it went for the rest of the week but now we are required to turn our plans into our principal before Monday. This takes my lesson planning up a notch and requires more pre-planning on my part. It’s fine but it does require extra time on my weekend.

But the birthday girl was the main focus of the weekend; not the lesson planning or the BlogFest! I didn’t blog all weekend which means I didn’t have the chance to enter any of the great giveaways offered on other blogfest sites!! What with overnight guests and birthday cake making! I didn’t even get to post a food-related post this weekend!

I love my girl and am so happy to share in her celebration of life!!

She went from being a 3 # premmie to a human being who put together her party gift bags-in the buff! She is a free-spirit (where does she get that from, I wonder)

Blueberry Dessert and friends.

I’ve been to the Farmer’s Market twice now to collect my 5 pounds of pickles and today is the day I begin the Bread and Butter process! I’ve had a really busy beginning of school week and each night we’ve had events so I’ve set aside this afternoon to start, finishing tomorrow hopefully.

Last night we had friends over for wine and homemade pizza. One of the best things ever is to whip up dough before school, come home and roll it out on my pizza stone. I made the sauce quickly from soft tomatoes from our garden and added sautee’d zucchini and garlic, with homegrown red pepper, store bought mushrooms and fresh mozzarella! Oh, it was so delicious-the crust was perfectly crisp!

For dessert we had something I made the night before using a recipe a friend gave me last year. It isn’t “healthy” but it is yummy and tastes like summer. Luckily, I had fresh blueberries to use!

Blueberry Lemon Squares

Crust:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on low to beat together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add the flour and beat just until it forms small crumbs. Press about 2/3 of mixture evenly into bottom of the baking dish. Set the remaining mix aside. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until slightly browned. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile whip up the filling.

1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
Juice and zest from one lemon
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt. Add the eggs and lemon juice, then whisk until smooth. Spread the blueberries over the already baked crust. Pour the filling over the blueberries. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the top. Bake 30-40 minutes, until topping is golden and the filling is puffed up. Let cool completely then cut into squares. Makes about 9 squares.

We ate the entire pan even after finishing the pizza. My friend Nikki is English and has served me delicious tea at her house and she brought me some Tetley English Black Tea so I can make it myself now. She says the key is to add 2 % milk-not skim.

I finished A Place for Delta by Melissa Walker this morning and hope to finish One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia Williams today or tomorrow.

I hope your weekend is filled with incredible food and friends with maybe a little reading inbetween!

This is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Take a moment to go check out the other food-related posts on her beautiful blog.

I want to dance like that…

My husband just arrived back this evening from the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. His youth theatre group performed there and did an excellent job. They were able to catch quite a few shows and Casebolt and Smith was the big favorite. I didn’t get to go to the Fringe-I was at home with children and the dog, preparing to head back to school (tomorrow!) but after watching several of their videos I had to share this fun!

July Update

I’ve spent the last two days thrilled to have my fifteen-year old back home. He’s been traveling and fishing his way through Wyoming, Montana, Canada and Alaska with his grandparents for a month! We’ve missed him and it is good to have him back. He’s grown taller and his voice dropped a little and he has about 300 photos of their fun.

So I’m about two days overdue with my July update. And turning a black cloud into a silver lining my back injury upped my reading by almost double. Yeah for crawling around my house, twisted pain…no, I don’t mean that! But yeah for the amount of reading the pain pills allowed me to get done during that time. Other important events during July: a beautiful baby girl was born over at Janssen’s blog, Everyday Reading-check out her posts and photos! I won not one but two books from Rebecca at Lost in Books. My friend Tina says has reached 101 followers!!

July
38. Devil on My Heels by Joyce McDonald (YA)****
39. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (YA)****
40. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (adult)****
41. Never Change by Elizabeth Berg (adult)***
42. The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by e.l. konigsburg (middle)***
43. The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank (adult)****
44. Home to Italy by Peter Pezzelli(adult)***
45. The Reinvention of Edison Thomas by Jacqueline Houtman (elementary-middle)****
46. The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro (adult-short stories)***** not reviewed yet
47. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow (adult fiction)*****
48. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (adult fiction)*****
49. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (literary fiction)***** not reviewed yet
50. From Alice to Zen and Everyone in Between by Elizabeth Atkinson (middle grade)**not reviewed yet

I have been desperately trying to read The Girl Who Played with Fire so it could have been added to my July total but it just didn’t happen. I’m still about 45 pages from the finish-I love the story and the character, Lisbeth Salander so I guess just enjoying it and adding it as my first August read will be just fine.

How about you…did you meet or exceed your reading goals? Have you read any on my July list and if so, what did you think of them?

20 Questions-I answered them all…

(My kids playing by Lake Michigan)

Rebecca at Lost in Books hosts 20 Questions and I was featured waaay back on June 24th-right in the middle of my Michigan camping vacation. Read my answers to her interesting questions by clicking here. Her questions really made me contemplative about how everyone comes to reading from different places but how similar we all become with our faces tucked behind a book.

Lazy days

dedicated to the one I love

I’ve had all week to post reviews and what have I been doing…

laying around…groaning and moaning in complete agony!!!

I have a pinched nerve at the base of my spine which is affecting my left leg and
causing great distress in my brain-meaning the pain overrides
everything else I try to think about. My back and leg did hurt during our Michigan trip but the pain
skyrocketed when I got home.
I dislike pain (most of us don’t…), dislike not being able to walk or
do any number of the household chores waiting for me after camping.

Thankfully my helpful husband has stepped right up to the plate and
taken over…just as he did when I was on bedrest during my last pregnancy.
Okay, that is not to say he hasn’t stepped up at all in the last 7 years but this
is different-he’s become some what of a man servant for me!

He’s doing the massive loads of laundry left from camping, he’s planned and made meals (salmon, even), and he’s driven me
to and fro chiropractic and doctor appointments all in-between getting me glasses of ice water, breakfast,
etc. He’s a Godsend, literally.
Yesterday after pain was not subsiding from adjustments I headed to my regular doctor for some relief. It came in
the form of muscle relaxers and pain meds. As an organic mama I’m not a big fan of over the counter, under the counter or behind the counter drugs but something had to be done or I was going to pull my head off. Really.

Today I’m lucy in the sky with diamonds…
loopy with a dry mouth and eyelids at half mast.
Small price to pay for a pretty decent sleep last night.
oh, and I’m not a-weepin’ and a-wailin’ as I was
the day before. Yes, I even cried walking through my chiropracter’s
waiting room yesterday. (not a positive advertisement)

During the low pain moments I have accomplished some reading…

I finished Devil on my Heels by Joyce McDonald-a great historical fiction that let me escape to Florida’s orange groves for a bit. I will finish The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley today and I’m going through my stack of food magazines to clip the recipes I want to save. I used to save all my Vegetarian Times copies but the stack gets to be too much so now I clip them and put them in a three-ring-binder.

Thankfully friends have kindly taken my girl to the pool several times this week. Fetching ice packs and refreshing my water glass is not her idea of summer fun either!! Hopefully by next week things will be much improved on this end-then I will be crying for joy with new appreciation for walking and sitting pain-free!

What about you…what has you crying for joy this week?

Weekend Update

We’ve been camping in Michigan for one week and we made it out alive. I love camping but I kissed my [dirty] carpet so thankful am I to be home!! Camping makes one appreicate home so much…the indoor plumbing, the kitchen sink, baths, wifi, the ice box, a roof! We went to Michigan so teenage son could fish and so sweetheart husband could run the Charlevoix Marathon [his 10th]. I planned to have some marathon reading sessions in-between adventures. My reading dreams are always bigger than reality. I did spend a fair amount of time with my lovely in-laws and enjoyed a wine-tasting with them (quietly, just the 3 of us).

What I did read:

Maggie’s Door by Patricia Reilly Giff (yes, I started off easy but it was good and I love Giff)
Serena by Ron Rash (oh, my)

What I’m still reading:

Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs (lighter reading after Serena)
Singing for Mrs. Pettigrew by Michael Morpurgo (still, I know, V and A)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (I’m on chapter 10 with peaceful girl-oh what joy to be rereading this aloud for another child!!)

What I carried all the way to Michigan and back without reading:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alen Bradley (even though I’m really looking forward to this one)

I also did a little knitting and worked a large crossword, which are both easy activities to do while riding in the passenger’s seat so I can talk to driving husband. I’m so grateful for his driving abilities!! Love you.

We had very sporadic cell and wifi service and it was refreshing to be off the grid. I did have two posts pre-written before our departure last Saturday and I was thrilled with how well my Father’s Day tribute turned out. It is difficult for teenagers to be without their technology but I love to watch my son fish much more than play FIFA soccer on his ipod. Stepdaughter is still waiting to hear about housing assignments at Oberlin so had to check email each time we landed at a cafe. Please…she wants the new green choice available only to freshman!!! [waving magic mama wand]

I have several posts to write about camping and knitting as well as the books I finished.
As I browsed through other blogs tonight, touching base with many on my blog roll, I saw lots of challenge up-dates (woe is me!) I need to get my reading in gear!!
Now that our major vacation is done and checked off my summer to-do list and number one son is off for a month camping with grandparents I may have tiime to read a ~~few~~ many days away~in my hammock.

Now since I am very sleep deprived [how much sleep do you really get in a tent while it is downpouring?] I need to get some rest. No alarm.

What about your week…what fantastic and marvelous adventures did you have?

My Dad

I’m not a fan of Father’s Day because I miss celebrating it with my Dad. What’s a hallmark holiday without the person? I do celebrate that I had such a great dad and that really he was always there for me. Even when I was mad at him for a few years he still welcomed me. Even when I made bad choices he grinned and loved me anyway. The bad choice list is long (tattoos, long-haired boyfriends, lack of studying…) he still opened his arms and hugged me. I’m glad I spent many years after my teens and twenties fully appreciating him and his love for me. So in celebration of Father’s Day I’ll share my dad (Roger)with you.

Ten Facts about my Dad:

1. He was a writer and worked most of his life in the newspaper business.

2. His parents came from Russia just before WW II.

3. He wasn’t afraid to cry and often did as he aged, especially when talking about his 4 children.

4. He always told me I was his favorite daughter; I have 3 brothers! He loved this joke.

5. He was a good photographer.

6. He once severed a finger working in a factory; he asked them to sew it back on as he wouldn’t be able to type.

7. He was a computer geek from way back and he ended up loving his Apple.

8. He smiled and laughed a lot.

9. He loved holidays especially Christmas. He had a game he liked to play involving gift-giving and it had a set of rules!

10. Boating was his favorite leisure time activity. He loved Minnesota lakes and took us on many water adventures.

I miss him immensely but am so very thankful for the time we did have. My peaceful girl doesn’t have clear recollections of her grandfather except through photos (he was the first one to feed her Newman’s ice cream) but she loves to say “I sure miss Grandpa Roger, don’t you mom?” She usually says this as she rocks in his family’s old rocker.I’m happy my other two children do have great memories and that my husband and my dad had a fantastic bond.

Happy Father’s Day Dad! Love you and miss you!

(and as usually dad, I need help; new tires and your extra $100.00 you always seemed to save for me and I have so much to share with you…)

The photo is a late 1950’s publicity photo. Someday I will share a newer photo but doesn’t he look stylish!

Chicago then and now

(Kalila and her dad-my peaceful husband)

My step-daughter Kalila graduated from Northside College Prep on Monday night. It was a grand and lengthy event but filled with many tears and memories. Long ago when I met Kaylee’s dad we used to road-trip back and forth to pick her up from her mom’s Chicago home. She was already an avid reader-she was reading Julie of the Wolves as an 8 year old. She didn’t really care that I had also read it-years ago. Now Kaylee drives herself to us-a time-saver-but I worry every trip. We no longer plan her days, coordinate time with friends-she is a very independent being and soon she will head off to Oberlin in Ohio where she will learn and grow even more. She already is an exceptional person, an economic whiz, a writer just waiting to be published and a humorous yang to her 15-year-old brother’s yin and her little sister’s heroine in her own family’s story.

Kaylee and I had trouble from the beginning forming a relationship and I know this is not unusual but I expecteded it to be different. I wanted too much and she didn’t want anything. I thought I had things to offer her (the hip stepmother) but again, she was so not interested. She loved her mom and made it clear there wasn’t any extra for me. I wish I had acted more like I didn’t matter. She regretted ever thinking it was a good idea that her dad and I marry. It was a hard stretch and we generally battled about at least one thing every time she came to visit. At some point I stopped trying so hard and at some point she hugged me by choice. She and I have formed, just in the last few years, a more permanent relationship and I feel blessed to be let in just a little bit to this inner love circle. We both love reading but as I’ve explored a variety of genres we have crossed over into similar territory. She turned me on to Sarah Dessen and I gave her the Anna Godbersen series.

I look forward to her visits as I know we will find common ground in books, blogs and writing and someday there will be more. I especially love to watch the relationship expand and change between her and her two siblings. Life is ever evolving and we never know what amazing relationships might grow if given the time. I am so thankful for her wit and wisdom and what she brings to our family. Congratulations, Kalila!

Baked Goods

My family loves baked goods and I’m not talking about the kind you get at the big box bakery or even the small local bakery, although they do eat those if you put them within reach. The kind of baked goods I’m referring to are the ones whipped up in our own kitchen. My family feels “cheated” if there isn’t something freshly baked. I’m not even a pro at baking but they don’t seem to mind, at all.

The question every week is do I actually make them something sweet to eat or do I get by with a package of Matt’s Cookies? What do you do? Do you bake, buy or completely abstain?

Tonight I was in the process of making a long time family favorite, Alice Bachman’s Chocolate Cake. Yes, it has always been called that-even growing up-my mother made it and we always referred to it as Alice Bachman’s CC. Alice was a family friend and while I don’t think she “invented” the cake she brought it to many potluck functions thus the cake became hers. My older brother, Mike uses it for many of his own family celebrations. I tend to just make it on a whim. I do make it with as many organic ingredients as I can-a change from the original but it is not exactly “healthy”-it has two sticks of yummy butter. Hmmm! Good thing I have an active family! Click on Alice to find the recipe.

Trader Joe’s shopping spot.