East Coast Regrets

What could have been

To spite yesterday’s post, this summer was not only filled with carefree days soaking up sun and escaping from reality.  A good portion of our summer was filled with indecision and uncertainty.  In July, John was offered a career opportunity in Washington DC.   After weighing the pros and cons over and over into exhaustion, we ultimately decided against the move. 

I am happy to close the book on this stressful decision.  I am thrilled to continue to reside in such breathtakingly beautiful area.  I am relieved not to have to say goodbye to wonderful friends, family, and an amazing community.  As with most difficult decisions, there are still regrets.

I regret not having the chance to live closer to my East Coast family.  I regret that my children will not have the opportunity to see (2 sets of) their grandparents more frequently.  I regret that I will not see my 8 month-old niece and nephew grow and change month by month.  I regret that my husband will not pursue a job that seems to be tailor made for him.  I regret that we won’t have the chance to live in a place dripping with architectural and historical culture.  I regret that I will spend the rest of my days subjected to the torture of eating only west coast bagels.

As the family and I drove out of Annapolis, MD, I was sure that we were being sent a divine sign.  As we passed a strip mall ,  I noticed a sign that combine John’s life passion and mine “Naval Bagels”.  It turns out that the sign was not beaconing me to Annapolis. Instead, it was telling me something else.  If john could stay in Tacoma working on his passion, boats.  I could, make a bagel that was better then those found at Trader Joes.  If you haven’t had a Traders Joes bagel – don’t.  You could stick your thumb through the center of a dinner roll and get the same result.

So back to my kitchen I went, searching for the perfect bagel recipe.  Yesterday, I  tried a variation on one I found here:  www.sophisticatedgourmet.com/2009/10/new-york-style-bagel-recipe/

The end result:


As Liam sees it....

Not much better...

I worked the dough, best I could, but still got lumps

Most importantly, how did they taste?  Not bad.  much better then TJ's.  They also tasted better then our grocery store options.  I chose this recipe because I had all of the ingredients on hand and didn't want to make a "starter" and extend the process.  Next week, I will try my hand at a more authentic recipe.  Until then, we have  20 bagels to finish!

Puppy Love

Ultimately, there are only 4 reasons why one finds themselves off to bed at just 8:55 PM:  a really good day, a really bad day, illness, or an early morning.  I am happy to report that last nights early turn down was the result of a super fabulous weekend.  I hope that wherever this finds you, you can share sigh and smile in reminiscence of a happy weekend .

We extended our weekend by playing hooky from Friday afternoon responsibilities.   In the clear, bright skies, we headed out to our cabin in the Olympic peninsula Friday afternoon.  That gave us a full two days to swim at Lake Cushman, hike at Dow Creak and play in the forest.  We also made good on a summer long promise to our children.  Well, we sort of made good on a promise.  The promise was to rent Kayaks.  With only one 2-person kayak left and 5 of us, we had to make do with a motorboat.

Beautiful Lake Cushman

Sunday afternoon is usually the time when the dread returns to our bellies.  Not this time!    Yesterday, as we packed up and closed down our Hoodsport home, we were excited to leave.  Why?  Because we were headed out to meet a new little of vizsla puppies!  After following pictures and videos of the anticipation, entrance, and early days of these 10 pups, we were finally going to meet them.  The result:  puppy love.

Amelia's Fav

Sleeping Puppies

 Which one looks like a "Cotter"?

I plan to ride this puppy bliss all the way to next weekend.  

The Bitter and Sweet of life

Yesterday was a typical "day in the life"for me.  It was all over the place.  I worked on my closet conversion (pictures to come), made a run to the airport, baked, cleaned, played, argued, and threatened (and administered) many a time out.  I missed yoga, but squeezed in a run.  I took my daughter and a friend to the pool and hosted a sleepover.  I cleaned up potty accidents (of both the dog and preschooler variety) as well as a gigantic kitchen spill.  Yet, at the end of the day, I still looked back and felt completely unaccomplished.  I "did" a lot (hooray!), but finished little (boo, hiss!).  Task completion  had alluded me for another day.


Just as my day lacked all sense of fluidity, so will this post.  On that note, I tried to break up my mid afternoon with a treat.  I suffered from the, Liam didn't nap and I need a second shower (I mentioned all of the accidents, right?), blahs.  This is the part of the day when I usually start rooting around for my french press.  It doesn't matter if it is at the peak of the sun in the peak of the summer.  I love my hot coffee mid afternoon.  The feeling isn't mutual, so I have been struggling to cut back.  Inspired to find another indulgence, I decided to try a new recipe.  Instead of torturing my stomach with coffee, I decided to love on it with lemon and mint.  Here was my starting point:

two trays of ice,  one pot of green tea, 2 lemons, mint and sugar to taste 

The Bitter:  Just as my iced lemon mint smoothing was reaching perfection, my blender started leaking.  The leak was more like a wild gushing of cold lemon juice all over my new countertops.  Granite countertops and lemon juice go together about as well as my nervous system and  the afternoon french press.  I frantically mopped up the mess.  All that was left was a watery hunk of lemon slushy.  So, I added more tea to the ice mound.  This was my final result:

The sweet:  It was actually pretty good.  Not as good as I imagine my wasted smoothy tasted, but super refreshing.

The Bitter:  Sacrificing myself for my daughter (..sigh..), I gave up my Thursday yoga class to save her play date.  It, indeed, needed saving from pesky, grumpy little brothers.  The Sweet:  The afternoon started to look up when I was relieved from duty at 5PM for a run.  By this point, the only person that needed a run as much as I did was my seven year old.  So, we walked over to the UPS campus for a jog on the super soft, amazingly wonderful track.  This was the first time that I have ever taken Jack with me on a "real" run.  The track there is pretty much fence contained, and I am trying to let go of my overprotectiveness.  With sun was shinning down and Mount Rainier smiling over our shoulders. it seamed like the right opportunity.

The Bitter:  At times like these, I realize just how much my children have grown.  They aren't babies anymore.  The years, while often slow, have passed and the time has slipped away  The Sweet: While I ran, paced by my breath, Jack jumped on and off of the track.  He barreled past me in total abandonment, and then walked when he ran out of steam.  He ran the wrong way to charge me with a huge shiny grin and then grabbed my hand to run with me.  When he lost interest, he sat on the bleachers are watched football practice.  By the end, I ran 3 miles.  Not the most impressive or vigorous run, but I still ran and got my sweat on.   Most importantly, I ran with my child present!  A day I thought would never come.  We are entering a new era, it is both bitter and sweet.

Closet Conversions

You may have noticed a theme in my last postings.  Schedules, school, and organization have captured my thoughts.  Accordingly, I am moving my preoccupations from the cerebral to the physical world.  I am armoring up for the school year and next Kindermusik session by organizing my physical space.  

With three kids in school this year, the paper work alone is dumbfounding.  Icalander can only help me so much when I have lost a permission slip, project directions or phone directory.  This has sparked my first conversion:  Hallway built-in to family central.  I spent yesterday morning rehoming tea supplies and wine glasses.  You may wonder: "what were your children doing?".  They were helping.  I must really be loosening up if I am allowing my 3 year old to help me move stemware.  Can you believe that we made it through with only one broken teapot?  Today, I can repurpose the closet.  Here is what I need this closet to do for me:

Charge phones, ipods and small electronics 
House mail that needs attention
Hold and sort each child's school and art work for the week 
Post important memos and reminders
Post weekly meal calendar
Post a weekly family activity schedule
Save my sanity

Before I start rearranging, I need some inspiration.  One of my favorite place to turn for home ideas is Sunset.com.  No Surprise, there I found a whole gallery of "creative offices".  Many of these ideas will be filled away from my next project:  closet to office conversion.  A lot of the inspirational photos are useful even for my small space.

Here are some ideas that am filing away:

(sunset)

Here are some others from various sources:

 

(decorator on a dime)

(sf gate)

So, off to work I go.  My own pictures are coming soon.

Do you have a place in your house set aside for family organization?  Have you ever converted a closet?

  

Back to School Time

There is no denying it.  It is the season of "Back to School".  With school starting on September 1, there are only 5 more weekdays left.  I'm sad about it.  Don't get me wrong, I love the quietness of the house on a Wednesday at 1PM when Liam and Cali dog are sleeping and I am free.   However, I will miss the closeness that we share over the summer.  In the past few months I have seen the friendship between my children grow.  There has been a lot of argruing, but a lot of comrodery too.  Here are some of the things that I will miss the most:


A flexible bedtime with nowhere to be in the morning
Lingering after a family breakfast in pajamas until 10AM
Messy morning art projects
Listening to epic sessions of imaginary play
Family bike rides to the library
Noontime swimming

I will keep this post short and upbeat by not listing all of the things that I will not miss.  This week, I will continue with all of our back to school preparations.  We have had school supplies and clothes for a while now.  So, I am going to focus my time on things that will set us up for success once the chaos begins.  More to come....


Are you excited to get back to school?  What will you miss about summertime?

Schedules, schedules, yuck!

Perhaps one of my favorite things about summer time is the taste of freedom from my families increasingly complicated schedule.  With fall rounding the corner, it is time to brace for the rush of activities and schedules that come with it.  My icalendar and I have a very special, codependent relationship.  Without my input, he has no purpose and doesn’t exist  Without him, I remember absolutely nothing.   If I do not have things written down, they don’t exist.  Hence, my life, intricate schedules and all, does not exist without my faithful ical.

Those who are close to me know that I am HORRIBLE when it comes to dates and times (also when it comes to directions, proper loading of the dishwasher and getting less then 9 hours of sleep ).  I must write things down or they are a jumbled mess.  So, my calendar and I will never part ways.  Thankfully, this means that we will both always exist.

My saving grace is that I am a super planner and idea organizer (note the insertion of the word “idea”).  But lately, I have noticed that I do not have mental clarity on my side.  As I gear up for the fall, I feel that I am falling apart at the seams a bit this year.  I turned to Ical for support.  I now have 7 sub calendars:

Home

Husband's Work

Meals

Activities

Minuet Studio  

Fitness

When ical had to start recycling color codes with the addition of my last calendar, I started to get a little worried. This will be a very, very, busy 15 years (when Liam goes to college) ahead of me.  Like working a budget, I have been over and over where cuts can be made.  Should I take out the kids piano lessons?  (I already teach them in the living room to save time.)  Do we need a family swim night?   Where can I add in time for the dog(s)?  Date night or family night? 

Here is where I would like to write down my master plan for my a perfectly balanced and efficient schedule.  Unfortunately, I am not there yet.  Perhaps this year, I will have to let the cards and activities fall where they may.

How do you keep your life organized?  Do you manage to keep a balanced schedule?

Summer's Bucket list

One of my favorite "to do's": a weekend with the ladies at Lake Cushman

Perhaps one of the reasons that summer feels so magical is that it always seems to be fleeting.  In Western Washington, the weather makes that especially true.  This year, the Summer didn't seem to arrive until late July.  I won't complain about it, I am sure that I have covered all angles of my frustration long ago.  But, it does present a challenge.  Yes, living in the Northwest means that you get used to camping in the rain and picnicking under cold gray skies.  Still, how do you fit all of the wonderful experiences of summer in the few short weeks between rain and the start of school?  Here was my original list of Summer "to do's"

• A Family Camping Trip
• East Coast Vacation/ family Reunion
• Go to each of the Tacoma Farmers Market's at least once
• Spend a week at Lake Cushman with the kids
• Go Berry Picking
• Can Berry Jam
• Teach Jack and Amelia weekly Piano Lessons
• Work with Jack on his handwriting
• Stain the Cabin
• Host a Ladies weekend away
• Go Kayaking
• A Backpacking Trip sans Kids

Most of my summer dreams deal with traveling.  Like you, I only have a limited number of weekends to turn those dreams into reality.  So, backpacking will have to wait.  Some of my "to do" should never have made the cut.  Stain the Cabin?  That was really more of a "honey do".  Now it is just an "undone".  Other then that I have actually completed quite a bit.  Still left and feasible:

Visit more of the Tacoma Farmers markets

squeezing in a few piano lessons

Kayaking...I hope

How about you?  Do you manage to experience all that you hoped for this summer?