checking in. :P

this is me during a spare moment or two at work. [i've been working a lot lately. though no wifi. or i might, by chance, post some rambles. oh well.]
me and my webcam.
i have to admit, we had fun.
a little bit each day. lol.
a lot on my mind today.
that's when i get a cup of water and sit down to pin things only relevant to tmi for future stuff.
helps take the brain off things.
that's why all the house and birth pins. apologies. i find that stuff interesting. i knew i was weird before; you don't have to tell me through your computer screen. i heard you. ;)

anyways. just wanted to say hi. :)
and....i want to try all of the pioneer woman's recipes and not get fat at all from the experience. lol.

it's a pie kind of night.

i made apple pie tonight.
it's justin's favorite....and i'm just glad i'm testing out my skills making it, because i've only made it a few times so far in my life......probably once a year, each fall with all the apples we get from one of the local orchards.

and let me just say.....
it's really one of the best things to ask how the pie is and hear things like
i think there's just enough sugar in it.
i think there's just enough salt in it.
there could be a little more butter in it. [says the person who loves butter a little more than the normal butter-loving people out there. ;) ]
i've developed a solid taste for softer, acoustic-style music, but today it's been three days grace as i peeled apples with caleb....red as i sliced the apples. rise against as i mixed up a lazy crumble topping for the pies instead of rolling out crust. i haven't bridged into underoath yet tonight....just going back in the archives of rise against.....but it may come yet. lol.

i ran a little over a mile with my awesome, younger siblings, caleb and rach.
ran...then walked a bit....then ran more. i got a side stitch, or else i would've ran the whole time, obviously. :P
i'd have to say my favorite part was the yoga-related stretching before and after the running/walking....
the lightly-chocolate protein shake that caleb made for him, rach and i was not to my liking but i drank it down anyways because they said i'd be more sore if i didn't partake. oy.

next up in my night: making a minestrone soup for tomorrow lunch so i don't have to do anything but warm it up when we get home from church. :)
and.....clean this kitchen.

i have a feeling i may be sleeping really good tonight.......

but first, let's burn the butter that's heating up, waiting for onions and soup fixings first.
this is a great start to the rest of the evening.

sigh.

it's been an interesting monday.

...in the middle of it all, the thing making me happy are:

music by glenn miller

music by florence + the machine.

the little guy. [crappy quality webcam picture. he was astounded that the little circle was a camera. lol.]

chocolate cheerios.

[the other day.]

sunshine, finally. the weather was deceptive and indecisive for the first 3/4 of the day. :P

clean stove tops.

simple, easy-to-execute dinners like vegan fettuccine already assembled. the above is said dish, but minus mushrooms tonight....and with spaghetti, not fettuccine.
also, the psalms and proverbs i read today....oh, the faithfulness of God.

...and....to finish off the list.....getting to hear somebody's voice before heading off to a memorial service being held for a long ago, distant family friend.

my tuesday. [last week.]

last night we went swing dancing, i had a sore throat, woke up my favorite person with a phonecall because he worked overtime today, i slept in, have been drinking echinacea tea and going from hot to chilly back to warm . . .
so i decided to blog one of my drafts. lucky you guys! ;)

this was last tuesday.

cold tangerines, shauna niequist.

the lilac bush in our backyard; not yet bloomed fully.

me and danny, the little half-naked chef [lol, what a spin on the original;)] made stuffed shells.
the marinara sauce, ground beef, ricotta, simple mozzarella cheesy kind. :)
it was a good day.

a beautiful october beginning.

yes, this was breakfast.
and then i made cinnamon chip scones.
what a morning this was, i tell you!

well.

well. [again.] 
it's 3:50pm.
crazy unmatched socks.
insane hair with no mousse. [yes, again, martha. hahaha.]
loud music . . . this song: calling you.
dishes to be done.
i'm going to clean, clean, clean . . .
even though right now i feel like dropping . . .
curling up in a cozy blanket [even on the floor] and taking a nap.

5-6 mile hikes to that to a person and their legs.
but it was gorgeous, so . . .
it all evens out in the end. :)

and, what's better than girlfriends and exercise??
nothing.
that's what.
exercise by itself is stupid.
but double-duty . . . plus wonderful photo ops . . . a very good time, indeed.

this music: something in the water. ice on her lashes.

at 11, anna and i carpooled with martha to a nearby area of hills and forest and sand [hah!] and leaves . . .
it's just starting to turn colors around here, so i got some really delicate color palettes on camera.

we took a few detours and had adventures, due to the place not having many signs at all.

hey, they didn't even have a map where there should be one.

the point of the hike, kinda, was this elephant rock that martha wanted to see . . .

a slightly snobby lady on one of these horses told us a couple vague directions. 
we ended up going the wrong way, thanks to her vagueness, and ended up getting the right directions probably almost a mile later from two hunter dudes coming peacefully up the path out of the wooded trail, one with piercings all over his face and the other with a voice to tell us reason.
el oh el.
we went through the maze of downed branches here and the guys were coming out of the woods. hah. funny that i took a picture right before it happened.

when we finally got there, we found it did not, in fact, look anything like an elephant.

 trees like lothlorien! all winding together...

. . . steepness to climb before finding the end point. lol.

wait for it . . . 

and believe me, i checked out the trail further up....there was nothing past this. this was it.
it looks like a whale.
a freaking whale.
but hey, it was fun.
they should rename it so people don't get their hopes up and dashed with the reality of the non-elephantness of it all.

it's totally a whale. see the jaw? i know my whales and dolphins, from being obsessed when i was 10-12.

5:21pm
let's face it: i'm not getting a nap today.
oh well.
the only thing left to do is grind some beans and brew coffee up to the 6 for the 3rd time today.
. . . it's days like this that i'm not sure i want to have kids of my own.
rach and lyd: playing monopoly . . . [oh yeah, sweet siblings bonding time? hah.]
15% yelling [random stuff with and at each other], 20% fake violence, 30% laughing, 35% annoying each other.
"don't tear apart the living room!"
yeah, that's me.
when they're older it doesn't matter if they're cute anymore to balance out "those days".
because when they're older they know what's acceptable and what's not. :P
but anyways, in the end, i'm just kidding about the no kids thing.
if it's possible, i'd like a few. 4 sounds grand. maybe a couple more. but no less than 4. even if we have to adopt. there's just something about having siblings.
there are phases when they drive you nuts and there's almost nothing except annoyance between certain pairs, but still . . . when everyone's actually growing up [no longer middle-little children] it's. awesome.

6:30pm
i like boiling potatoes for dinner.
and not just because they're flippin' easy.
i mean, they are good with butter and sour cream and pork seasoned salt. :D
but, even moreso prefer doing quick brown rice. the kind we get in a 5lb bag. hah.
even even moreso, i could go for some vegan fettucine/spaghetti tonight . . .
i might be making it soon anyways, because i told some certain people that i'd make it when jen has her bebe . . . which might be sooner than we think! who knows. as i've said before, babies are an unpredictable business when done natural. hahah.
unpredictable is good.