A Contemporary Samaritan

Saturday Devon's school had a Fall Festival where each grade had a game booth set up and the kids could play the games for 50 cents. Devon had a blast and even saw a few of her friends there.

Well when it was time to go Matthew was pretty pooped and fussy. So I put him in the car and he got even more mad, because he is not a big fan of the car seat. This made me flustered, so I was trying to start the car to cool it off, then I tossed the stroller in the back and hoped in the car to leave. Luckily it is only a 5 minute drive from the school to home.

We get home and I'm excited because I get to get fussy Matthew out, but then a horrible realization came to me. I had left my purse on top of my car and left it there because I was in such a hurry to hop in the car and get home. So of course it didn't make it back home with us.

So we turn around to go back to the school and it is not on the ground where we had parked. So I went inside to ask if anyone had turned in a purse. Nope. So we drive the same route we took looking for my purse on the side of the road. Nothing.

Let me tell you, I felt so lousy and horrified. I couldn't believe I did such a bone head thing like driving with my purse on top of the car. So I call the bank and they canceled my debit and credit cards, so no one can get a free ride on our money.

Then I went to the police station and filled a report. Luckily it was an officer I knew from the Neighborhood Watch, and he was telling me how someone took his wallet from his house when he had a party and spent $3,000 in four hours. Yikes!!! It made me feel a little better that I wasn't in that boat. But when I told him my drivers licence and social security card was in there he just looked at me. Uh oh. Apparently I just handed someone all they needed to steal my identity to get a credit card, buy a car or even a house!! This really made me miserable. But luckily my parents were there to help me feel better and Chris did an awesome job cheering me up, while picking on me too.

I tried not to let it ruin my weekend. Sunday after church we went to our churches fall festival on the capital grounds. While we were sitting there enjoying some barbecue Chris gets a phone call from Reel Flix, the movie rental store in Manor. Apparently, someone called the store because they found the membership card in my wallet, which was in my purse on the side of Highway 290.

That's right!! A sweet old lady saw me turn onto 290 with my purse on my car and watched it fall on the ground. She turned around and picked it up. The reason it took until Sunday afternoon to find me was because she couldn't figure out a way to contact me, until she thought to call Reel Flix.

Isn't that awesome that there are still honest people out there. Hooray for contemporary good samaritans!!!!!

Test Kitchen #2

Well, I did more cooking from scratch last night. I made chimichangas! Which I have done one other time, but they weren't too fantastic. But last nights batch was awesome. Chris was very impressed, which is hard to do. So Hooray for me!!!

These had beans, meat and cheese, and yes I do mean my homemade "refried" beans that are not fried. Devon even liked them, until she heard me call it a chimichanga instead of burrito. Why that made a difference I'll never know, but she sure did finish it.

Test Kitchen #1

Well, for the last couple of months I have been collecting tons of new recipes and many of them oddly enough call for the ingredients of fall. Such as squashes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mmmm. I have had a butternut squash hanging out in my cupboard for a few weeks and I've been pretty anxious to use it in something.

Monday, for some insane reason, I decided to go ahead and cut it up to encourage me to use it soon. So for dinner Monday night I decided we were having pasta with butternut squash and brown butter sauce. So I take the cubed squash out of the refrigerator and pop it in the oven and start cooking the pasta and the sauce. Well, I wasn't very confident with how the sauce turned out so I didn't use it. I just put a couple of spoon fulls of butter on the pasta after I drained it and then added the squash and mixed a pinch of nutmeg.

The verdict. I think the squash should have been cubed a bit smaller (my bad) so it would have cooked a little more tender. BUT it did look so appealing that Devon popped a piece of squash in her mouth without me having to make a bargain for her to try it. She said she didn't like the way it felt in her mouth. Once again my bad. But she did eat all of her pasta which had little tiny bits of squash on it from mixing, so haha she ate it without knowing it, even if it was just a little bit.

I liked it, but I didn't eat all the squash because it wasn't cooked enough for my liking. Oh well, next time I will know better, which is good because hopefully next time Chris won't be sick and will maybe try it. Good thing I worked the kinks out. Now I just need to get a handle on cooking sauces. Anybody want to volunteer to teach me?

Keeping Our Roots

I know I'm probably 80% Italian and Chris is around 50-70%. We like pasta, and especially pizza. The other night when Chris had to go into work early and wasn't able to eat dinner with us I took to easy route for dinner. I simply made spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese. Easy. Cheap. And one of Devon's favorite meals. I also took this opportunity to let Matthew play with some noodles and have a little taste.

Of course he loved it. What baby wouldn't want to make a big mess and eat it up at the same time. Devon and I got a big kick out of watching his amazement and the faces he made.

Why? Why? Why?

Most people consider me to be a hard ass about allowing what and when Devon can watch tv or movies. And I'll admit it's mostly true. I am especially picky about what she can watch (there are rating for a reason people!) and how often. Most of the time, probably 90%, she doesn't watch tv on school days. Now she only goes in the mornings right now, which is why I am "nice" 10% of the time. But when she does start going to school everyday and eventually has real homework, she will be used to not watching tv on school days and will spend her time after school being a kid and playing, and completing homework. No one will ever be able to convince me that doing otherwise is beneficial. So cut it out! Seriously.

I don't judge people who don't use this same method, so don't worry. It's ok to be different, just respect when others won't agree with you. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing.

I saw a commercial this morning during the news for a new version of the v-smile. For those who don't know what a v-smile is, it's a video game system with games fit for three to six year olds. It is made by v-tech a popular children's educational toy company. When I first saw this a few years ago I instantly asked how much Nintendo or Sony payed to get this product on the shelves.

V-tech claims that it teaches your child while they play, and you know what they're not lying. It does teach the kids. My problem is that it puts kids in more solitary conditions lessening their social skills, and it gets kids used to overly visual based learning. How often do you hear about ADD or ADHD increasing in children. You're three year old can learn the same things the old fashioned way, through playing, being read to, and experiencing the world. A simple trip to the grocery store can replace just about every bit of information your kid will learn from the video games.

Now to the new version of the v-smile. It basically is a preschool version of the Nintendo wii, which I secretly love. The wii, not the v-smile. As a fan of the wii I don't necessarily believe that it is superior because it gets people "active," it's just made for people like me who used to turn their remote control while playing Super Mario Brothers. Basically this v-tech and even leapfrog products state that they can be educational, and immediately people grab them. When did people decide it's ok for a machine to spend so much time teaching our kids? Is this going to create a disconnected generation of people who cling to things instead of people? Or is that what we have already become?

Oh Baby the Places You'll Go

Well, little Matthew is getting dangerously close to being eight months old. Seriously, in four days. He is such an awesome little guy though. Always happy and gives away smiles to anyone who asks. We both hit a big milestone this weekend. He stayed in the church nursery for an hour while I was in Sunday school. And he did really well. I, however, was a nervous wreck, clinching my cell phone in my hand to make sure I didn't miss any vibrations. Luckily I had alot of support from the other moms in the class who knew exactly how I felt.

Also, Matthew is become a little climber and instead of describing his expeditions I will demonstrate it with a montage of pictures. All of these were taken just within the last two weeks.

Here we have Matthew climbing up on the lego table.

Instead of going around the box, he just went over it. Was this the path less traveled?

He absolutely loves climbing over people!

This is definitely my favorite age (of children in general), from now until about two. This is when everything is new and demands exploring. The simplest of objects can become powerfully stimulating. It's just amazing to watch the learning process unfold.

Rain + Garage = No Problem

So we have lived in our house for a year now. I can't believe it's gone by so fast, and it's definitely not slowing down. Today was the first day since about March that we actually got some good rain. It's been awesome. I think I can even see our grass turning back to green in the backyard. That's how long it's been.

This morning it was raining when it was time to take Devon to school, but there were no worries on my end. We are apart of that small population of folks who actually put their cars in the garage, "where it is supposed to be!" says Chris, and I agree. It was so nice to just hope in our (dry) car and head to school. I didn't have to worry about Matthew collecting water in the car seat or Devon "melting" in the rain. It was nice. I love it.

And another bonus will be if we ever get a cold winter again we don't have to worry about scrapping ice/snow off our windshield in the mornings. I can't wait until that happens. I mean do they even sell window scrappers in Texas?

I'm Bringing Bulky Back

Shortly before we moved to Austin I discovered an awesome place that is pretty well known to most, Central Market. And when we moved here I was so excited that there was one pretty close to our apartment complex. Then I found a second one downtown! It was heaven. Then I looked at the prices and got less excited. Regardless, they have some awesome food! And I love even to just "window shop" (it's odd to call it that when I'm talking about a grocery store).

Recently a friend mentioned that she buys her spices in bulk. And silly me pictured her buying a five pound bag of paprika. Then I found out that she meant from bulk containers. So I went to Central Market to check out their bulk bins. Wow came to mind pretty quick. You can get dried fruit, grains, spices, coffee, sweets, cereals, beans, nuts, sugar, and a whole lot more. Most of this stuff even has an organic option that is only a tad bit more in price, and I do mean like a few cents.

So with some birthday money I recently received, I went to town. Don't give me that look. I can spend my birthday money on whatever I want. *sticking tongue out*

I came home with

some organic rolled oats (for making muffins, cookies and oatmeal pancakes mmmmm) I've already used half of it. :)

a salt and kosher salt,

organic pinto beans,

granulated fructose (which is sugar that is processed less than regular sugar)

and a few spices that I racked my brain to remember the most recent recipes I had jotted down to know what to get.

It was very fun. I can't wait to go again!

Neighborhood Watch

Well, last week Chris and I went to our subdivisions first neighborhood watch meeting. Only about 6 other households made it to the meeting. Not too impressive. Chris ended up volunteering to be the president of the neighborhood watch, because no one else would. Then three other people were chosen to be block captains, one for each street.

Tonight was National Night Out, and Main Street organized a pool party with hot dogs. Chris and I got some funds and got a huge pinata, put nine pounds of candy/toys in it and bought some door prizes. Oh yeah, we filled up a bunch of water balloons, but there was a cool breeze tonight so that was a bad idea. I didn't anticipate more than ten households to show up. But boy did they surprise me! I would guess about twenty came. It's amazing how many people you can draw with free hot dogs.

Well, Mr. President had to go and get recertified on firearms tonight so I picked up as the First Lady. Now I'm not big on being a go getter. I like to hang back and watch. So it took a little bit for me to sike myself up for being Miss Personality, but I did it. I went and introduced myself to people and got many of them to sign up on the e-mail list.

Then I rounded up the kiddos when the fire department came so they could explore the fire truck. After that I rallied them again to beat the monster pinata we got. I think that was the best part of the whole night. Everyone was gathered around the pinata to watch the kids each have one try to hit it (I didn't think to bring a blindfold) starting with the little ones. It was very fun, even the adults without kids enjoyed watching.

In the end, I was sooooooo pooped. Between carrying Matthew around, meeting and greeting, figuring out how to hang the pinata, rallying kiddos (twice!) I was done for the evening. I packed the car back up and we headed home. It was 7:30 when we got back so Devon did not get a bath (she can just be the stinky girl in class tomorrow) and neither did Matthew. I got Devon ready for bed and then Matthew.

And after all that, do you know what I did? I googled "neighborhood watch" and found lots of pdf's about starting and maintaining them. I'm such a nerd, or better yet a research junkie. The best job I ever had was being a research assistant at SFA, and if I could still get paid to do the same thing now, even though I'm not a student, I definitely would.
'

Raising the Bar

During the past few months I have been consuming all sorts of information about nutrition and health. I just can't get enough of it. Who knows maybe I'll become a nutritionist and conquer the school lunch systems out here. (when I find the time)

But anyway, my new found hobby is finding new recipes to cook. I've been scouring the rows and rows of cookbooks at the library, searching recipe websites online, and taking notes from friends. I'm even borrowing a technique from my grandma where I copy down all the recipes in a spiral and then make a table of contents at the beginning. It's quite fun and I'm not waisting money on cookbooks that I might only use a few recipes from.

Unfortunately this also means there is potential for yucky dinners from poor recipes, and the only way to know if it is bad is to make it. And there are some pretty bad ones out there. I have attempted twice now to make mac and cheese from scratch and both were horrible. But I'm not giving up! Mac and cheese from a box is insanely processed and I KNOW I can outdo a box.

I have made a few dishes where I surprised myself. And if you know me, then you know I hate to have to touch meat, aside from cutting it. I don't like to eat meat with bone in it so I don't cook meat with bone in it. Poor Chris, this really limits my meals. I have been making baby steps though. Last week I made pan fried tilapia, and it was actually good. I've also made chicken nuggets, chimichangas and my own refried beans. Which I must add that Chris said, "These are better than the can." SUCCESS!!

So maybe I'll get really bold and post some pictures of my new found culinary skills. Although they will never compare to the great Bescow, Chris's best friend. He is actually attending the top culinary school in the US and his pictures of food he prepares makes me drool. Shoot, I am still trying to figure out how to mince garlic properly. One of these days I'll get it right.

Motherhood Secret #1

If anyone has me as a friend on myspace, you know I LOVE to post pictures of my little bears and I love (almost just as much) to add clever captions. That is when my brain is functioning properly. But sometimes my pictures seem like random moments when they really aren't. Take this picture for instance.

It looks really cute, like perhaps brother bear went sneaking into the cabinet to attack the tupperware. When really I opened it while he was fussing at my ankles while I was cutting up vegetables for whatever I was cooking for dinner. And then ran and got the camera when I saw how cute he was being.

Misleading? Nah. To me it's just another part of motherhood that happened to be camera friendly. I've used the cabinet trick twice now, both times while prepping veggies for dinner because I like to do it in the afternoon. It makes cooking dinner go by a little faster, especially now that I am cooking from scratch more.

Run Devon Run!!

So this morning started out just like any other. Breakfast, shower, get Devon ready, feed Matthew, and head out the door at 6:40am to walk down the street to the bus stop. We even saw our neighbor walking her 8 year old daughter to the bus stop. As we are walking, I notice our neighbor and her daughter running and since we are so early, I assume they are being goofy and racing or something. But then, a few seconds later I notice flashing lights on the next block. Panic!

All I remember from that point is saying, "Devon the bus is here. Run!" I grab her hand and hug Matthew with my other arm, he's in the baby carrier and we book it. Poor little guy, he begins to get concerned after a minute of running so I hug him tighter. And for the record, if you are looking for a good lung opening work out just strap 18 extra pounds to your chest. If that doesn't make your chest burn, nothing will.

Oh and did I mention Devon was yelling, "Mommy! Wait! I can't run that fast!" Yep, it was total excitement this morning. Why the bus came almost ten minutes early this morning I will never know, but I sure would like a warning the next time that is going to happen.

After a week of walking Devon to the bus stop, I have timed it just right to where we only have to wait a couple of minutes before the bus gets there. I don't like having to stand out there too long in the chilly morning air with Matthew. So for the next few days I'm going to be leaving earlier just to be safe. Uhg...