Liza's big day

Here are a few photographer shots from back in July.  

Even if you don't know her, this post is a little present for you, because when do wedding pictures not make us happy?!  Especially of a couple as gorgeous as this one.  

And now her last name is George, which makes me jealous because it could be the coolest last name ever.

this is how much fun we had....for a whole weekend....I love this family!

Could someone please pretty please get married so I can wear these shoes again?!

Lovely.  Just lovely.

TMI #3

Read TMI #1.
Then read TMI #2.
Then read Pity Party
Then read this....

Ok, still on Ativan so its probably not advisable to post.  But let's just go ahead an ride into the danger zone (that's for you, Top Gun lovers everywhere).

Speaking of guns, McHottie is on probation.  During today's surgery, he brought up the NRA.  Also Rosie O'Donnel and Tom Seleck, which I couldn't quite link all together.  But I understood enough to know that he and I would likely not carry matching signs at our next protest rally.  So, probation.  If he keeps his shallow thoughts to himself on such matters at my Tuesday appointment, I'll consider letting him off.  I'll also be much more lenient if he could stop referring to my crotch as "home."

Today's Great Killing of the Great Sapheneous Vein Leg 2 was much like Leg 1, but more painful.  I asked him to keep hitting me with the numbing shots and finally it was better.  There for awhile at the beginning I was truly nervous that I was going to feel the whole thing.  Now begins The 48 hours of wrapped leg, hobble around, chew Lortab, take advantage of my children's pity.

I also had an appointment on Monday to look at Leg 1.  Let's play Good News/Bad News....

Good news is it looks great.  Its shutting down, all is as it should be.
Bad news is they didn't go low enough on my calf, which means more injections in a month and more wearing of those things we'll not mention today.
Good news is that news prompted me to buy this:

Bad news is I bought it in three colors - that darn free shipping online from Target.  But I figure if I'm going to be wearing those unmentionables all day every day for the next month, it would be plain rude to wear the same three skirts I already have day after day.  People might start to be offended and wonder why I don't give them something more interesting to look at, don't you think?

Alright.  This post has taken me significant effort.  Time to give in to this slump and enjoy the next hour to myself before the nanny leaves!  There's your TMI #3!

pity party

Yesterday I threw a most exquisite pity party.  Complete with potato chips and wine and whining and a bit of real estate on the couch.  My leg hurts.  (Newflash:  I should've expected pain.  A dying vein should hurt.)  But worst of all, these compression hose are ridiculous, just total shit, and strip me of all beauty and hope.  They are hot, tight, and ugly.  That thing that you do - the laying on your back on the bed routine - to get your jeans on?  Amp it up about 6 notches and you have got me trying to put on those horrible things.

But like all parties, that one cannot last forever.  So when I got up this morning, before I put on my pants or poured the coffee, I grabbed the kitchen shears and lobbed off the feet of the hose.  Then I asked google if its safe to wear compression hose without feet, deciding that even if the answer was no, the therapy of those cuts could carry me until the next pity party.

But yay, it IS indeed safe.  And I'm feeling better about life now.  Helped in no small part by looking back at a fewpictures shot in the past few days.  Despite these disgusting hose, life is still remarkably amazing..

 .

Makes a mama proud....when my gimp leg benches me for the nightly dance party, they can carry it all on their own!

I have an addiction to old things.  Also free things.  I found this old, free door on the stage at a local high school, and couldn't help myself...

Life is too short and this girlie is too adorable for pity parties to last!  Plus, I'm out of chips.

TMI #2

You might want to pour yourself something and read TMI #1  first.

Then read this...

Today was the Great Killing of the Great Sapheneus Vein.
In the interest of full disclosure of too much information and the release of all my remaining pride, let's just start with this picture.

Ativan, I love you, but holy cow you put me into a slump.  At the time this photo was taken (4 hours after the Great Killing), my tongue was still huge and when I told Eva to take a picture, it sounded like "falla nico my sunday feeeeel schmeeel."  

You know when they promise you that as soon as you arrive, they'll give you a sedative, you're in for a real treat of a procedure.  Second clue is when they ask your "driver" to sign the paperwork under your name and then hand them the copies instead of you.

Nurse Amy fetched me from the waiting room (still super nice ladies in there, by the way) wearing full body gear - hair net, scrubs, face mask.  We went into a room with two more nurses dressed for a nuclear explosion.  Um, are we expecting a lot of blood or something here?!  (Turns out there wasn't - lots of blood or explosions - just extremely sterile everything.)  McHotty was there as promised, and I'm telling you that Grey's Anatomy is for REAL, people!  He had a scrub cap exactly like McDreamy's.  

I learned my lesson from last time and went in with very very pretty underwear.  Very.  But darn it, Nurse Amy said I had to take them off immediately and replace them with paper shorts, which would soon be cut up to heeeeeeere.  All the better for McHotty and his wandering wand, apparently.  Oh the humiliation. Really, I cannot begin to describe what it is to lay on a table in cut paper shorts, on a sedative, surrounded by people in body armor, being probed all up and down my leg and in my nether-regions by a guy my own age.  I reminded him that this is about my LEG, which he found funny.  I was serious!

It lasted about 20 minutes.  There were lots of shots up and down my leg, an incision, a catheter that burned off some ends or something.  And then at the end, enough ace bandaging to mummify my whole body.  It goes groin (a gross word McHotty said at least 6 times) to toes.  Ryan wrapped some more up my thigh tonight.  On his top-ten list of things to do in his lifetime, I'm sure.

But here's the good news....My leg is enormous in this bandage, and there's pain (and more promised to come during the night).  But it already feels soooooooo much better.  Tonight, I talked to one woman 20 years older than me who had this done.  Her legs look amazing - no vein to be found anywhere.  I talked to someone 30 years older than me who did it too, and hers, well, not so much.  So I'm just going to hope and pray and follow the rules and wear the damn compression hose and tell the universe that this is going to fix it once and for all.  

Next week is the Great Killing of the Great Sapheneus Vein Leg 2.  I'm skipping the pretty underwear and going straight to a wax.  TMI, as promised.

on Routine

We are so close to routine now that I can taste it.
Routine + Me = Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sigh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Just so ready for it.

It seems there have been mountains to climb in getting us all coordinated and clothed and washed and fed and spanked and coached and read-to and checked-out and registered and played-with and encouraged and let's not forget bathed.

Now I can go back to doing this...

This is what we "mom's who don't work" do all day, right?!

She looks blissful, but how happy can she really be?!  She is attached to the wall by a cord and she just got done polishing every last spoon in the house.  Despite how deeply I covet her phone and mani, I would take my life over that any day!  

Ok, all jokes aside, I'm done with the pool, and done with the "I can't believe the summer went so fast" conversations, and so very very happy that fall is here!  Things feel full, but really really good.  Highlights and lowlights of the past week...

* We got Eva's test back.  She truly is Gluten-Intolerant.  We weren't barking up the wrong tree, and my mom-gut was right.  We have made the adjustment, and eating at school is easier than I thought it would be, snacks are no biggie, and stomach aches are few and far-between.  All helped tremendously by the fact that I'm the only one around here that misses breadsticks.  She could care less.

* Ryan single-handedly organized orientation for his school of 6th graders.  I don't talk about it a lot on here because he makes it seem like no big deal and doesn't like it to be a "thing," but he teaches in the poorest, roughest junior high in Wichita.  He is the Team Lead, which means he leads a team (imagine that) of 25 teachers.  The poor man worked 24/7 the last two weeks to get the school year off the ground.

* Buzz told me today that he loves me "as much as a giant weighs."  Quite possibly THE sweetest thing that small man has ever ever said.

* Sage McCage has started pinching, opening doors, and climbing things.  Last week I found her on top of the piano.  Shortly after, I found her leaving marks on her brother's arms with those teeny tiny strong fingers.  These may seem like small things, but in the life of this mom who "works at home with my kids," these are monumental.  They mean life as we know it is changing and I will now have to be Vigilant Velma with not two, but all three, children.

* I finally chalked up our motto on the wall at about 2 feet by 6 feet tall.  Ryan and I have our absolute best talks on road trips when the kids are strapped down, we're holding Starbucks mugs, and there's a long stretch of highway ahead.  We scratched this one out awhile back while trying to nail into words what we hope to live in our home every day and convey into those three little growing souls.

Yes, it is.  And the presence of routine just made the Now a bit roomier.  Joy!

cans

So there she goes...2nd grade.

My 2nd grade teacher was Miss Wettich.  I had a shiny fuscia folder that unfolded three ways, which I would spread across my desk while I pretended that I was at a very important business meeting instead of math class.  I had one friend named Amy and a crush on a boy named Brandon who ate paper.  Am I ready for this?

She is so ready to go that both of her feet are literally off the ground.  

Buzz is eager to escort her and hurrying to catch up.  

The note she duck-taped to the tree says "I love my family."

corn snap salad

You know that Crunch Snap Burst of Flavor Why Do We Not Have Fresh Sweetcorn All Year Round thing that happens in your mouth when you eat uncooked sweetcorn?  Well, this salad is a celebration of that.  Also of garden tomatoes, basil of course, and fresh mozzarella.  Because what is NOT to celebrate about those three?

4 ears of sweetcorn, shucked, rinsed, and cut off the cob

1 cup-ish of fresh tomatoes, chopped and danced a bit in the colander to remove some of the juice

6 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed

handful of basil, chopped

Dressing: 

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix the dressing and then toss it with the sweetcorn mixture.  Chill for a bit before serving.  

In other news, these pumpkins got confused about the month.  This is August, not October, sillies.

But they are sitting on the porch anyway because they are just so pretty and well-meaning.  Makes me anxious for hoodies and football games.

Ten, month 2

9 pictures.  10 hours.  Two days after the 10th.  (Thank you again, Plaid Sheep, for this practice.)

In overwhelming gratitude for this amazing life...

Brigadeiros

Things are hectic enough around here right now that I'm developing a tick.

But here are some pics from a moment of bliss this week....Brigadeiros...

These Brazilian candies are the country's traditional treat, served at every party and in specialty shops devoted solely to them.

Gil and Cecilia and baby Gil are moving to Brazil this week.  They have shown tremendous courage and hope - selling their home, car, and absolutely everything they have to move from Wichita to Sao Paulo, where her family lives.  They are family to us and we'll miss them!  Cecilia makes these for every single celebration.  Parties won't be complete without their family, but I learned to make these delicious candies so that we can have a reminder of their family.  And because they are soooo amazingly tasty.  Like chocolate caramels.  Sort of.

Cecilia is beautiful and kind and an incredible cook.  Think - Brazilian Ina Garten.

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

4 heaping Tbsp. cocoa - really really heaping

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 c. milk

Empty the condensed milk into a large saucepan.  Put the cocoa powder and milk into a jar with a lid and shake it until the powder is dissolved.  Pour it, along with the butter, into the pan.  Turn on medium heat ("not medium-high, Tonya, not medium-low, but medium-medium").  Stir it constantly, while gesturing with your hands and talking gently to the batter to coax it into heating just enough. It will take about 25 minutes of stirring to reach the right consistency, which is "when the chocolate starts dancing in the pan when you move".  Oh my word, I love the way she talks!  Basically, that means when it stops making that bottom-of-the-pan cooking sound and pulls away when you tip it.  

Pour it onto a buttered dish and let it sit to cool for a few hours.  Set out teeny tiny candy cups.  Really teeny tiny.  Smaller than for mini-muffins.

With buttered hands, scoop off a 1/2 tsp. size bit of the candy.  Roll it in a ball and then drop it into sprinkles.  We used chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, coconut, and tiny balls.  The chocolate is my favorite.  Duh.

Set them into the cups and let them rest overnight uncovered.  Serve them the next day and cover to store them.  There should be about 100.  (Not left over.  There will be 3 left over after you serve them.)

Gil and Cecilia, we we will dearly miss you!!

3 Challenge

New backpacks are on the hooks ("Mine is orange and blue and has a dinosaur!!!!" - spoken like he won 17 million dollars), preschool schedule on the calendar.....its real....summer is ending.  

I wanted the kids - every day - to either

build something

have a significant conversation with someone from our community

or get wet

It seems that we need no excuses in this house to get wet and/or naked.  So that happened nearly every day.

Conversations.....librarians, Sunday School teachers, friends who were over for supper, neighbors.  Dear friends and strangers, thank you for taking the time to look my children in the eye and talk to them like real people.  You don't know it, but the job you did in those minutes is life-changing.

Building Something was like the surprise basketball starter that comes out of nowhere and leads the team to the state championship.  Much more often and easier than we ever thought.  And oh my did I ever dig deep to tolerate it.  It involved messes, tremendous amounts of tape, more messes, paint, more tape, sand, and a few more messes.  But it also seemed to bring them the greatest joy.  We rarely guided it, and the stuff they made was so random and strange and perfect...

These three seem a worthy goal for all of life - not just summer.  If they can look people in the eye, value their relationships, learn from others, create something from nothing, and splash and have fun without care, is there really anything they can't do?!