Vote for ME!!! (Please?)

I am in the running to win a Baby Bunad for Bootsie.

ACK!

You have no idea how excited I am by this. Here's a link to a baby in a bunad photo (I don't have the right to post the photo, but go see. It's soooo cute.)

My story is #1, about my aunt Kathy's first experience with Lefse. It may not be the funniest of the five, but if I get enough votes, I still win. Yes, I guess I am a corrupt politician at heart--I want that bunad!!!

Could you please take a moment and go over to the post and comment? All you have to say is Story #1, and they'll count you. And spread the word! I would really, really appreciate it.

And I promise to post pictures of Bootsie in the Bunad. Heck, if I win, maybe I'll even post my mom's awesome Norwegian meatball recipe. But sorry, my lefse recipe is still a secret--I'm holding on to it just in case some day I find a Lefse-Off to enter. Heh.

Here is a link to My Little Norway's post on what Bunads are.  Here's one more link to the voting post.





And THANK YOU!  Takk! Mange takk! Mange tusen takk!

In her blood

The paints were a BIG hit., originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

I have been a musician since the day I was born. You couldn't stop me--I was always singing songs, making up my own lyrics, playing any instrument handy (including my own body), and even tapping out rhythms on my teeth so no one could hear (yes, my dentist yelled at me.) My dad's #1 rule (that he no longer remembers) was "NO SINGING AT THE KITCHEN TABLE."

Rowan loves to make music, too. So far, she's still kind of monotone, though she's still young, but her rhythm and ear are excellent. She identifies instruments like kids much older than she, and is already asking to learn to play the piano. Her first big hit was a song she wrote called "Broken Doors". Broken doors...are...broken. Broken tables... are... broken. The broken toy... is... broken. We have no idea where the inspiration for that one came from, but she sings it often.

Dr. B is musical, too, but has always been a visual artist. His mom tells stories of his complete and utter meltdown when the dragon he drew at age 9 had the scales going the wrong way, and how he simply had to be excused from class to sit in the hallway of the school and painstakingly erase and redraw every single scale. He won awards with his artwork through school, and still sketches when he needs to think.

We were invited for Easter dinner (her wife made lamb, NOM) at a dear friend's home. She happens to be an opera singer, and has a baby grand piano in her living room, as well as lots of animals to entertain us. Rowan was in heaven. She had also brought along her new watercolor paint and book set that came in her Easter basket, and insisted on trying them out after we finished eating.

We added the accessories. I think it's a good look for her.

Dueling GPS

We had a free day today, so Rowan and I went to a nearby town to do a little shopping. Since we are a small town (despite the enormous college here), we don't have all the common stores, and sometimes it's worth a 45-minute trip to head out, just for a bit of fresh air.

I had decided a few months ago that it was time to get new dishes for the kitchen, because the ones we got for our wedding, nearly 14 years ago, had seen better days. Chipped I could deal with, even a few broken pieces, but when all of them started to show gray knife marks that couldn't be removed--well, it was time. I remember when my mother got her second set of stoneware--probably after about 20 years of marriage. She was so excited to have something new and different.  I scoured the internet for something we both would like, looked in all the local stores, and still couldn't find what I wanted. I had our phone rebate cards to spend, and nothing to spend them on.

Then I figured it out. I wanted something sort of Pier One-y. But of course, our Pier One closed last year.

So we headed to Altoona. I pulled off the highway, figuring it would be near all the other stores. Drove around for a while, no luck. So, using my smart phone, I pulled it up on the browser and punched in the address. It showed me the route, but none of the street signs matched the ones I saw, so I brought out the backup GPS. On that one, the address didn't exist.

So we drove around for over an hour, dueling GPS machines fighting it out in the cup holders, and me getting more and more frustrated. We stopped for directions. And a potty break. And ice cream. (Hey, DQ is just as good a place as any...) Asked a person, but of course she didn't know where it was either. Drove more. Stopped for gas. Rowan kept saying, "It's OK, Mommy! We'll find it!" She was a trooper.

Finally, I gave up.

Called the store. Found out they were near Walmart. (Of course.) Punched that in. Finally got there. (Only had to turn around twice.)  YAY! And found dishes I liked, at a decent price, and 8 place settings. (They aren't shown on the website.)

But no mugs.

Sigh.

Stopped at Kmart (we also don't have one of those, so I thought I'd check, just in case.) I stuck a salad plate in my purse, and we walked in, hoping. They didn't have enough of the solid color mugs I liked that matched, but these mod florals went with them and they had enough. I grabbed 8, and off we went. We snuck back into town with minutes to spare before my rehearsal, and Dr. B walked in the door as I walked out. As I ran out the door, I said, "do you like them?" "YES!"

It's a done deal. We have new dishes. They are NOT WHITE. I'm happy. The picture is kind of awful (from my phone, and at night), but it gives you an idea. They're a sort of ecru/taupe with earth tone stripes around the outside in espresso and a kind of rust/pink/orange/reddy color-ish. Sort of. The mugs are shown here. They match, and they're not too huge so your coffee gets cold.  Yay!



Now it's time to box up the old stuff for the church rummage sale, and finally cull all the unmatching and just plain ugly dishware we've collected over the years. I guess this is nesting for baby #2--when Mommy gets new stuff. :) Bonus!

10 Fingers

34 weeks, 6 days., originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

Sometimes, I feel enormous. Other times, I barely notice I'm pregnant. (That's usually when I'm vegging on the sofa and all crunched up under an afghan.) I get more tired, dizzy when I climb the stairs, and wake up often (to pee. Or because her father is snoring). As of 2 weeks ago, I'd gained 16.5 pounds (they don't tell me, I had to ask.) The baby weighs about 4 pounds now, though it feels like a lot more when I'm supporting my enormous bulge with my hands as we walk the dog up the hill to our house. Both Rowan and I are thankful for warmer weather, because our walk has shrunk from a mile and a half to a mile with a break in the middle on a grassy hill.

This pregnancy has been much easier on me than Rowan's. For one thing, I didn't tear my ACL, lock my knee and have to have surgery and physical therapy, nor were there the worries about the pain killers (and yes, I needed them. The pain was horrendous--much worse than labor). I was allowed to take Prilosec the whole time, so heartburn was a non-issue. I never barfed, and the morning sickness only lasted 10 days. And I guess I either knew what to expect, or after doing it once plus 17 months of breastfeeding, my body was more used to the wacky hormone surges.

Plus, we were here, where we are. Settled. No questions about the future, no worries about finding a job. And though I've heard others talk about their concerns about not loving a second child as much, I've had no feelings like this at all. The anxiety I felt when pregnant with Rowan has just been absent this time. It's been wonderful. The big leap from woman to mother was the hardest step--mother to two just seems natural. I am excited to meet my second daughter, and I can tell that the baby will be very different from her sister, unique in her own way. Dr. B is happy, and more relaxed about this one. I think he secretly is hoping that Bootsie will be a bit more like him. Rowan is so much like me, he jokes that I just budded. (Note, she has his bootie, his eyes, and many of his personality traits. She just looks like Mini-Me.) Rowan is so thrilled she can barely contain herself. I am blessed that her personality seems to be made to be an older sister--she loves having friends around, is very sweet, caring and thoughtful, and doesn't seem to struggle with jealousy. Yet, anyway.

Dr. B's grandmother Mitzi summed it up pretty well--"You have ten fingers on your hands. No matter which one you hurt, it hurts the same." They're all different, but they're all equally important, and they are all a part of you.

I am hoping this one is the part without colic. That would be good.

What not to put in a sippy cup

Rowan, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

"Mom, can you put something in my sippy cup?"

"Sure, honey. What do you want? Soymilk, juice or water?"

"Can I have FUZZ water?"

(She means carbonated water, which, by the way, is pretty hilarious when randomly squirting out of the sippy cup's nozzle.)

Help!!! Reliable freezer recipes needed ASAP

The baby's on the way. I am at 33 weeks, so the urge to nest is starting to kick in. No, my house is not spotless (as if), but I'm planning for the practicalities, borrowing a bassinet in preparation for Bootsie's arrival (planning on setting up the pack and play with bassinet and changing table downstairs--this came later last time but was very helpful.) Since this time I have 2 kids sharing one room, Boots is going to need to be with us for a bit (I'm hoping she isn't as loud of a sleeper as Rowan was.) Rowan is getting used to sleeping in the double bed in her room and plans have been made to reset up the crib, banishing her toddler bed to the attic for a while. I'm on the hunt for a new dresser to move Rowan's clothes into (found one I like, but am waiting on a friend who may have one due to some estates in her family that are being cleared out).  I'm researching strollers, because we pretty much wore ours out, but since the baby will be little, for the first few months she'll be in the Bjorn for walks anyway, so it's not pressing. The carseat is in the attic and can be used again, and I have boatloads of clothes. I do have the tabs to sew on the cloth diapers, but other than that, it's all little stuff to do. Except for painting the upstairs bathroom and our bedroom. But those are pipe dreams. If I can get the bathroom done, that would satisfy me. (For now. Ahem! Honey? You reading this?)

However, I do want to begin stocking my freezer with ready-to-go meals. A friend recommended this book, but our library's copy is lost. (Though now that I see the price, I may just order it. Gotta wait a bit though, because we are in the process of switching banks to a local one rather than a big corporate bank and I currently do not have easy access to funds except cash. And knowing our local Barnes and Noble, they'll charge 3 times what Amazon does. And they're both big corporations, so I have to stick it to at least one of the men by going with the cheap one.)

SO! This is where you come in. Do you have some reliable recipes that you make ahead and freeze that you can send me? I have a big, upright freezer, so have plenty of room. I'm looking for things that are healthy and easy, and am trying to avoid huge amounts of either dairy or tomato because of Rowan's lactose issues and my memories of her screams when I ate anything acidic while breastfeeding during the first months (seriously, one fry dipped in ketchup meant hours of crying.) I won't avoid them entirely, but if I can have some good alternatives that I can trust in there, that would be great. I have done some internet searches, but would loves some "I make this and my family loves it" recommendations--proven recipes are always the best. Please send thaw/bake directions, too! If you have links, great, if you want to email them to me, just look on my site for the email link (I think it's still there) or if you know me on Facebook, send it there.

And I'll get cooking! At soon as the shooting pains in my butt from the sciatica stop, anyway.

Nutella is health food, right?

She loves Nutella., originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

She must be going through a big growth spurt. Clothes that fit last week don't now, and in a span of 2 days went from wearing her shoes to "these hurt!" She wants to graze all day long, and eats more for breakfast than I do. The other day, that was Silk, 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and nutella, a banana and a yogurt. Remember, she's not even 3 yet. She prefers crackers and peanut butter at all times of day, is eating apples by the bushel, but tends to not want to eat her meals. (And I know, I shouldn't let her and should make her eat her meals, but she is normally a great eater at mealtime, so I'm not stressing about it. She's craving carbs right now. It's a phase.)

But I guess I don't need to worry too much--half the nutella ends up on her face, anyway. ;-)

Rowan's new Freecycle Tricycle!

Rowan's new Freecycle Tricycle!, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

A friend suggested joining Freecycle to look for a piano. I've just gotten started, but it's a really wonderful service. When a neighbor put a perfectly good mountain bike next to the trash, I listed it and it was taken hours later with a nice thank you. I just *hate* seeing perfectly good stuff go into the landfill, so this service is really fabulous.

The other day I was looking at trikes for her. She's ready. Her own little scooter is too small, and she's growing up fast. I thought it was worth asking, and lo and behold--look what we got! Less than a week later, a practically brand new trike--probably the one I would have bought anyway (it's still listed on Amazon) and in fantastic condition, not a scratch. For free. LOVE it. So thanks to Barb from Bellefonte--Rowan is thrilled with her new Big Girl Trike!

Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day

Magnolias are starting to bloom!, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

We had two gorgeous days this weekend--65-70F, sunny, neighbors out and chatting, and things were really looking up. Everyone was in a great mood. We ate on the patio, walked the dog without our jackets, and played in the sandbox. It was lovely.

Today was not gorgeous. Cool, cloudy, rainy, and one of those days where everything that could possibly be annoying just was. Rowan wanted to eat constantly all day long, except when I made actual food. Money is tighter than we'd like it and there are more zits on my chin than ever!!! Things that had been taken care of weren't, glitches happened, and someone forgot to refill the TP. Facebook was full of complaints about politics and THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT OMG, the yogurt soured, the projects I wanted to complete got waylaid and Dr. B didn't make it home in time for dinner that looked horrible but tasted good, even though Rowan wouldn't eat it although she wanted a PB&J and apples and applesauce and crackers. The laundry still isn't put away.

But, I'm trying really hard to look on the bright side. The magnolia tree on the next block is blooming, and Rowan thinks they "feel like socks!" God bless her, she was in a great mood even when her mother wasn't. I can look down and watch my stomach moving like dolphins surfacing. (Or sharks. Nope, looking on the bright side. Going with dolphins.) I have a lunch date with a friend after my doc appointment tomorrow, and am picking up a free tricycle from our local Freecycle. I goofed around with my template again and the new Draft Blogger tool thingee is much easier to use. Still not perfect, but more interesting, I hope. (Do you like it?)

Spring is coming, things are getting done, and progress is being made. Not always easy to see that through this flurry of hormones, but I'm trying.

French pj's are so cute, wear them as clothes!

French pj's are so cute, wear as clothes!, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

When we were in Paris last May, Aimee got us into the Message group's annual brocante (tag sale) early by manning the snacks table, and they let me in on her say so. This allowed me to scope out the cute stuff and score several darling dresses, books, and this little outfit for Rowan to bring back to the US. It was too big last year, but when I heard 70 degrees predicted for today, I knew it was the perfect time to break it out. A Japanese print on a delicate cotton lawn, with tulip cuffs and contrasting borders, it's absolutely adorable.

As she "swam" in the bathtub, I read the tag. It's pajamas. No Dora the Explorer--French jammies are gorgeous.

Pbft. Who cares? It's darling, and it's her favorite color.

Sigh. I miss France.



*PS I am not sure what is up with the goofy faces whenever a camera is present. I hope this is just a phase.

UPDATE: on a walk, she tripped in the grass and tore a hole in the knee and grass stained them pretty badly. Really delicate fabric. Darn it.

I had a good idea.

S'mores are pretty good, but they're too messy and a tish too airy for me. I like something a bit more substantial with my sugar and fat. Years ago, I tried to perfect the perfect S'mores Brownie. I failed miserably. The graham cracker crust was never anything but dry, the browned top I wanted meant the brownie itself was too dry or else I overcompensated and it was undercooked, and I couldn't come up with a way to get everything I wanted all at the same time.

I went to this site the other day, and came upon a great method while reading the reviews. It totally worked and the brownies are awesome and were super easy.

Here's the method I used. It's not that site's version exactly, but it's pretty darn easy. You can adapt it to any size pan and you can use your own homemade brownies or cheat with a box like I did.  Excuse the photo--it's from my phone. As you can see, I've sampled them already.

S'mores Brownies

• your favorite brownie mix or recipe, prepared according to directions (with eggs, oil, water or coffee, etc.)
• mini marshmallows
• chocolate bars, broken, or chocolate chips
• graham crackers, crumbled

Preheat your oven and spray your pan with cooking spray or grease as you like. Pour in your batter and smooth. Bake as long as the box (or your recipe) tells you MINUS 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle with handfuls of marshmallows until it's mostly covered. Sprinkle with chocolate and graham cracker pieces. Return to oven for last 5 minutes until the marshmallows are puffed and gooey and the chocolate starts to melt a little.

Wait a while before cutting unless you like it a gooey mess. (It's good either way. The gooey mess version would be great with ice cream.) The marshmallows will stay fairly gooey even when it's cool. They aren't browned like the perfect campfire marshmallow, but you won't smell like woodsmoke all day either--it's a trade-off.

Yum.

I do not have the skills.

Bleh.

Hate this template. Super bored with my old one. No abilities to make a new one worth a darn. Not enough readership to justify plunking down a chunk of change for a pro to do one, either (as evidenced by my paltry ad checks that show up about twice a year).

I don't even have photoshop, much less know how to use it, and I am really quite lost. This is what I've done for tonight. I guess you could say it's a little bit of nesting. I want it to look fantastic, but really am stuck in 1998 when it comes to web design. Blogger doesn't make it exactly easy to make it look good (you can change it, but only within their parameters), and I don't have the energy to figure out switching everything to a different site at the moment. So there you go.

If the template fairy wants to show up, she'll be welcome. For now, I'm going to eat another S'mores Brownie and then go to bed.

I love this.

The arm swoop, the "actions", and especially the strut off stage at the end--it will be stuck in my head for months.

I think I'm going to download the ringtone.

Yes, I grew up in North Dakota. Loving the Lawrence Welk style is in my blood--even if it is Soviet Russian Cheez.

Girlie Girl

Shoe shopping partner, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

She loves to wear dresses while she plays trains and cars. She tromps through the mud in her pink tights. Rarely leaves the house without a necklace or bracelet, but runs faster than the boys and hasn't met a jungle gym she can't conquer, even at 2 3/4.

The day I snapped this shot with my phone, we spent quite a bit of time shoe shopping, just for fun. She loves red heels, just like I do. (I would have bought these, but they were too big for both of us.) We giggled and pranced in the isles of Ross, trying on silly shoes we didn't need just because it was fun and they were really inexpensive, anyway.

I am so proud of my little girl. She is her Grandma Judeen's granddaughter. I have no doubt that she, too, will be bailing hay in a miniskirt or stomping across the cow pasture without looking down, perfectly accessorized.

Hard Working Man

12/365, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

This is a normal sight at our house. My husband, at work. He's definitely not one to leave it at the office. Relaxing just isn't in his blood. He cannot do something halfway, and doesn't understand how anyone else can, either. When he doesn't have anything to do, he goes and learns something. Like one of 5 programming languages he taught himself in the 90's. How to repair his own bike. How to build a computer. How to speak French. Extensive reading on Buddhist philosophy. Sailing in the 1800's. Sci Fi. Or changing his career path entirely, from Art (Yes, Art!!!) to Geology and Mineralogy to Geomicrobiology to Environmental Chemistry and Technology to Nanotechnology to Thinfilms to Solar Technology to Materials Science to Architecture and Sustainability to who knows what.

And he doesn't stop there. He not only learned French, he worked to get us a position there so I would be able to realize my dream of living in France one day. And now, he wants to find a way to go back.

A vacation for him is not laying on a beach with a beer. (Though he'd happily walk through a museum with a beer.) On our honeymoon in New Orleans, he went to every museum there was. Thankfully, we're well matched. I love that, too.

He's kind of maxed out on the academics--though I guess he could get a second PhD (don't tell him, please!) As a professor, he's constantly busy teaching, recruiting, researching, mentoring, leading a solar decathlon team, and now heading up an entirely new degree program. He's not tenure-track, but even if he was and got it, he said he wouldn't change a thing. It's who he is. The idea of taking it easy just isn't a part of his DNA. He can't not do his best. I love that about him. I love how hard he works, both for his calling's sake and for his family's sake. I love that when he believes in something, it is with every fiber of his being. I love his devotion.

This week, he figured something out. For the first time in 36+ years, he's bored.

Heaven help us.

Budding Foodie

I rushed to prepare dinner while getting ready for my rehearsal afterward. Dr. B walked in just as I loaded the plates, and we sat down to eat. She refused to come to the table, but rather than be late for Choir, I ate and ignored her. "I'll take care of her," he said. "She'll eat. I think she's..." he began to whisper, "pooping." (The potty training is still hit or miss, and the misses are often the messy type.)

I ran upstairs to change my shirt, and heard her sitting down at the table and pick up her fork. As I searched for another top to wear, she exclaimed, "Wow! Yum! This is yummy!" Hmmm... I wonder if she likes the garlic mashed potatoes? I zipped up my boots, and headed down to grab my choir folder. Maybe it's the pork chops with Roasted Garlic Rub and Dijon mustard and brown sugar glaze?

"I never had this before!!!" she said, gleefully, as she leaned over her plate, shoveling food quickly into her mouth.

I walked into the kitchen, smiling and proud of my culinary triumph. She loved it! Something I made was a huge success with my darling daughter. I took a quick look at her sectioned, plastic plate to see what had been such a coup.

Corn and Peas, mixed and boiled. With some butter.

"Hello, Food Network? Yeah, cancel that Toddler Tidbits idea. She's definitely not ready for prime time quite yet."

Spammed

I got hit with some sort of stupid bot last night writing in some sort of Asian characters that I don't read and leaving a lot of links in the comments. PLEASE DON'T CLICK THEM. Of course, this happens on the morning when I don't have time to go in and fix it all right away.

When I get back from the Valentine's Party, I'll go fix it, but I have also had to turn on comment moderation. Ugh. Why this could not have happened after my first cup of coffee, I do not know. Stupid bots.

Happy Friday, nonetheless.

Treasure Box

Treasure Box Diptych, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

We spent an hour or so flipping through magazines, finding most of her "favorite FAVORITE!!!" things in Martha Stewart Living. She chose crayons, a cat, a dog, lots of roses (purple are her mom's favorite), oranges, pots and pans, ballet shoes, an Eiffel Tower, a Sophie La Giraffe, presents, "bling", a girl with a lollipop, a mommy and daddy, tomatoes, fruit, multigrain bread, glass cake stands (they were very pretty, I have to give her that), and even a cupcake. She was very particular with each choice, rejecting the white bread and raisin bread, saying no to the orange roses, and turning down the chocolates (I do NOT know why.) I trimmed all the pieces, and we sat down after supper to apply them to the sturdy box I'd saved from a gift. I finished it after she'd gone to bed with a few extra coats of Mod Podge to protect it for her.

She now has a special box, just for her special little things. Little does she know how much of a treasure the experience was for me.

5/365

5/365, originally uploaded by MrsBinParis.

I guess her growth spurt is over--she's no longer eating much, so I'm getting more creative with what I feed her. Today, I turned her blueberries and yogurt into a smoothie. She liked it. (But she still didn't eat much.)

Note: more 365 photos are on my flickr site.

iPhoto thinks it's smarter than me.

I went to clean up. Tons of extra folders were created when I uploaded pics to flickr and Facebook, so being a typical Norwegian, I went to throw out the folders I didn't need. After all, the photos are still there, right? Why have duplicates?

Well, apparently, iPhoto now has a special relationship with Flickr and Facebook, and when you do this, it deletes them off the sites you loaded them on.

Stupid. Argh!

So I am busy reloading everything, but all the comments are gone and the links are likely broken, so sorry. At least it's only a month's worth.

Sigh. I feel like yelling at someone to get off my lawn.