A Little Bit Early:: Car Seat Cover Makeover

As I slipped the finished cover over my friend's car seat, my phone rang with news of her baby girl's three week early arrival! Made me wonder about why I had the sudden urge to finish it up first thing this morning....



This was a wonderful distraction for me yesterday, as you have no idea how badly I wanted to call our adoption agency. But I told myself I would wait until Wednesday. I even let Mr. Smarty take the cell phone we share yesterday, since it has free long distance. But he kindly left it here this morning. And our friendly agency staff have been hard at work for an hour and 43 minutes already today, and look at how polite I'm being, letting them settle in and get a good uninterrupted start for the day. Think I'll post this then give them a quick call. No big deal.



Okay, gotta run. Congrats, Ray & Melissa! Can't wait to see Baby G in her new car seat!

September

Reading:

Hold On To Your Kids by Neufeld & Mate. Essentially why parents need to matter more than peers.



Home Grown Kids by Raymond & Dorothy Moore. An urge to parents to consider teaching children at home informally in the early years. They have also written the book, Better Late Than Early.

Learning:

New love is amazing, but love realized is even more wonderful.

That is is my desire that:

I am more concerned with principle than social pressures,

I cherish my children more than my own freedoms and

I am willing to study to provide them sound values, academic excellence and a sense of self-worth.

Working On:

A Car Seat Makeover for a baby girl due in October using these fabrics:



Deciding what fall color needs to go into my window box and large pots.

Trying Not to Think About:

The Phone Call that hasn't happened yet...I am granting myself a phone call to our agency on Wednesday, though, to ask for a status update, Come on, Wednesday!

What have you all been up to?

A Totally Awesome Weekend

that was so awesome I had to break my blogging fast.

Okay, I haven't technically been fasting from blogging...it's more like it's just been very hard for me to lollygag in blogland and homeschool at the same time. And giving up sleep is not an option...so my blog has been ignored, and likely will continue to be over the school year...

but enough with the excuses and back to my aforementioned totally awesome weekend...



Mr. Smarty swam, biked and ran his way to the prestigious title of IRONMAN. That's right, he's an IronMan. Just like Robert Downey Jr. but without the ability to fly...and all the money. Yup, pretty amazing, folks.

Let me break it down for you:

Breakfast at the hotel began at 4:15 and consisted of 3 Ensures and a Cliff bar. Yum-yum. Don't you wish you could eat like that?



Into the water after a little weather delay, at 8 am.





Out of water at 9:28 am, after 2.4 miles in the lake.



Transition from wetsuit to bike gear, onto bike for 112 miles.









Off bike, fresh socks, start running at 5:30 pm for 26.2 miles. This is not Mr. Smarty. He was going to fast for me to get him. I warned him that he might get a speeding ticket, but he kept on truckin'.



Finished at 11:00 pm after running the ENTIRE marathon-A-Mazing!!!





Another runner took that photo, but Mr. Smarty says he likes it all out of focus like that...he says it's just about how he felt.

Half an orange, two IV's and three hours later, we made it back to the hotel, almost 24 hours from when it all began. Wonder if RDJr. can do that...

I miss you all-my sweet friends from blogland! More later, when I get a chance to breath,

HELP! I've got Rabbits Coming for Dinner! or what to serve vegetarian guests.

You may or may not know that my family is vegetarian.

If you didn't know, it's because it's just not that big a deal. For us, it's a simply a lifestyle choice, not a moral decision or judgement on anyone else. But because vegetarians are usually in the minority at occasions and get-to-gethers, I worry about people fretting at the thought of having us over for dinner. Actually, I don't know any vegetarians who aren't concerned about making people feel awkward or inconvenienced by their diet.

Last week, my cousin mentioned she was having vegetarian houseguests and needed some meal ideas. That I can do. And if it helps other readers fret less before their vegetarian friends come over, I am happy to help!

Let me share some of our regularly scheduled meals:



(one of our new favorites- Ethiopian Miser Wat)


Easy Black Bean Soup-so simple, just a can or two of black beans pureed with 1/2-1 cup of salsa. Serve warmed with cornbread and orange slices.

Quiches-Spinach, Lorraine, Broccoli, or whatever veggies you have on hand. Just make sure your guests DO eat eggs, and dairy products. We love this warm meal in the winter with half a grapefruit or summer with tomatoes.

Breakfast for Dinner. Often on the weekends, we'll toast bagels with peanut butter & honey or whipped cream cheese and eat with homemade smoothies.

Soft Tacos-one of our new favorite ways to make tacos is with a baked or blackened tilapia with shredded cabbage sauteed in a little bit of e.v.o.o. and lime juice (I cheat and use the bagged shredded cabbage intended for cole slaw). Of course, we love tacos with any kind of bean, too-pinto, black, vegetarian refried, super easy and usually everyone can make their own the way they like them.

American feasts-spaghetti, lasagna, macaroni & cheese, and burgers (veggie or salmon) are also very big hits in our home, but we also love International meals-we have an Ethiopian grocer down the street from us, as well as some Indian and Tai places, with plenty of vegetarian choices.

I do hope these help! Anyone have any ideas to add?



I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday!