swimming in a sea of packing.....

Day 400 of this long drawn out move.......

Ok maybe that is a bit much :) This weekend instead of heading out to relax we have been packing. well when I say we I mean me. I started with the storage items, I know we have to store the china and the antiques. It is hard to see it packed away though, I know we are nomads right now and it is as it should be. I love my great grandmother's china and to know it will be in storage not being used there is a bit of sadness. We cleared out the dining room and put all of the storage items there...including the brand new washer and dryer. Then today we have been separating out stuff that will go in the third shipment of immediate good ( the stuff they fly there less than 1,000 lbs) that has been a challenge. The stuff that needs to follow us quickly is stuff we use a lot almost daily so how do you stash it for 11 days? Of course one thing I have learned with this move is that all of this purging and shifting and packing is a dry run if you will for the real show. This is our dress rehearsal to see what we can go with out and what we need to pack in our suitcases. The kids of course will be fine they have plenty of toys and clothes it is really myself that is having angst over everything being just so. That sums it up in a nut shell really it is control freak me wanting everything to be "perfect" and smooth sailing... which it isn't nor will it :) I can laugh about it . So far so good I have all the storage items in one place and all the plane shipment goods together we'll see if everything stays on course. 5 days until the first set of movers come !!!!

Finally

Well at last at last !!!!! Our paperwork is in and it is all official. We have the papers , we have the movers, we have our passports 9 both of them) so here it is finally ! We got our papers Wednesday and today we heard about our movers. We will have three separate movers for the 3 different types of shipments we'll have.  A couple of our different movers came today to do a walk through next Friday already the movers for our storage items will come. We have our plane tickets we leave in 2 weeks can you imagine ! It seemed to take forever and now it is moving at the speed of light how fun is that ! This will be  busy blog hopefully and now it is safe to say in 2 weeks it will become a travel blog:) I am very excited !!!! I will keep you posted. Today the twins " helped" me pack the china.. S broke a sherbet dish and P broke a wine glass......... packing paper was strewn about the room.... giggles were round and round the room and H asked 4 times if all his stuff was going. 

Reflections of Summer

It is back to school time already ! Thank goodness as all across the world Parent's sigh a great sigh of relief. The boys had a wonderful first week back to school. There have been "relative" moments of quiet at our house. As quiet as it gets here with twins that are 20 months old. The twins have enjoyed their quiet time in the morning before H comes home from school. They play together and giggle and laugh it is wonderful.

 The "quiet" has been nice for mom too I have started writing again which is good I have several new book ideas that I can't wait to get started on. Over the summer I home school the kids and H completed a 200 page book with flying colors ...he is brilliant. t worked on his math skills. There were bike rides hikes, camping, walks together playing in the yard and trips to the beach. Despite the chaos of the pending move I am happy to say the kids had a relatively normal summer.

More knitting News !

Crazy knitting lady also makes a post today :) I am still completing projects with alarming speed. which can be good I am finally getting the projects finished.... or I am going crazy waiting on paperwork.... either way here is the latest endeavor. I have ( hold onto your hats ) Felted a projects before. I know there is a felting craze in the knitting world, but alas I have never attempted to felt. I finally felted a project. This Wizard/princess hat project in featured in Vikki Howell's book New Knits on The Block. I highly recommend the book it is full of really fun quick kids projects for both girls and boys . The author has 2 boys before I had S I found it really hard to find knit projects for boys so I really enjoy the book as it has ample mixture of projects. I opted for the wizard hat so all the kids could wear it. it came out a little bubble but overall came out just like the picture in the book. It was fun.... My second felted project I won't even post a picture of it is so sad and pathetic..... but this one came out wonderful and all 4 kids have enjoyed it immensely. Especially H , he has a wand to go with it. I am not sure felting is my thing but I have enjoyed trying something new ! so to all you knitters out there I wish you fast projects full of fun and relaxation !  For those of you who are interested in more patterns by Vikki Howell her blog ( with free pattern of the month) is posted in the other blogs section of my blog Enjoy !

Good food Good fun Great Company

What fun it has been to see all those we love ! This past weekend we had more treasured guest visit! Thankfully this makes the time related to the paperwork saga not seem so horrible. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have been such a wonderful support to all of us ! We played games and visited it was such fun. Thank you for the beautiful sunny flowers as well ...sunflowers make any day brighter ! In honor of food fun and company I have decided to include another crowd pleasing recipe.  One of the pot luck parties we attended for Sam's office one of the spouses made this fabulous dip....and kindly shared the recipe with me. Since then I have used it for many different gatherings and it is always a crowd pleaser. We shared this dish this past weekend and so I thought I would include it in the post.

Bethany's Hot Artichoke Dip

10-12 servings 35 minutes to cook ( I often double the recipe for larger gatherings)

1 10 once box of frozen spinach chopped thaw and squeeze excess moisture

1 14 once can of artichoke hearts drained and roughly chopped

1 C. of shredded Parmesan-Romano cheese mix

1/2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

10 ounces of prepared Alfredo sauce

1 tsp. minced garlic

4 ounces of cream cheese

pre heat oven to 350 degrees

combine ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and spread the mixture into a baking dish (8x8)

Bake for 25-30 minutes until cheeses are bubbling and melted

serve with chips or crusty bread..... could use bread bowls also

 

Family from The South

We have happily had a lot of visitors come to see us before our move ! Sadly I have been  a bit behind in blogging  so I have missed the chance to share our adventures..... Funny a whole week of no posting and now you may get 2 a day for the next week ! In honor of our family coming I Have decided to share a few recipes. Salsa has oddly been a center point for many of our visitors and while we enjoyed restaurant salsa I have in honor of their visit decided to include my recipe for homemade salsa. This salsa recipe was actually given to me by a friend from Texas and it is SO yummy !

Janice's Salsa

5 chopped jalapenos ( remove seeds for a milder salsa)

4 chopped tomatoes

1/2 sweet bell pepper  Chopped( I have used all the color varieties my personal favorite is yellow or orange)

1 C. tomato sauce ( I often use diced tomatoes for a chunkier salsa) you can add more tomato sauce for a milder salsa also

3 TBL. of Garlic ( Sam is a fan of this so I usually add 6 TBL)

2Tbl of white vinegar

chopped Cilantro ( the more you add the hotter the salsa)

mix all ingredients together and it becomes a Paco de Gallo style salsa

More sights.....

Sights of LA

It has been too long since I have posted. I am feeling distanced due to the paperwork mess..... which has now just become THE SAGE OF OUR MOVE. Moving on I figured I would share a few quick snapshots of the LA area. Primarily the Kodak Theater, Oriental, and The Grove near CBS studios. There is also the Farmer's Market. We have lived here in California for nearly 2 1/2 years and in that time we have had the pleasure of seeing everything from the Golden Gate bridge, Snowy Sequoias and Los Angelas...and Monterey Aquarium. The time has been fun and over the next few days I may put some of the highlight pictures on the blog. To fill the time while we wait for our orders, which at the rate they are working on the saga the twins might graduate from High school...... The first picture is from our Tent city... last week our friends came over and the kids all had the play tent out in the living room ( why not we have no furniture..... due to the pending move :) ) The next few are a few sites from  LA.

People

Brace yourselves for a long post. I have been composing this post in my mind for 4 days I have a bit of writer's block. I always say I am going to be in bed by 9 and here it is 9:30 already. I have even started this post and deleted 3 times in the last 3 days. The first post I felt was too negative... a filter with which I am stuck with at the moment so sadly. then I wanted to write my thoughts but condense them and not sound like I was "preaching". It is odd in the first place that I am agonizing over this post as I love people they are my passion you can say. All the jobs I have ever held or dreamed of holding have revolved around people and helping or interacting with them. I am social by nature. I for better or worse am defined by my relationships with people. I have been talking with friends and family for the last few weeks just normal conversations, I have to admit though 2 of my friends have thrown me loops. One friend is embroiled in a silly fight with her sister and her 2 brother's..... at times I wish my brother was still here I wouldn't be fighting with him.. I miss one of my best friends. I sound like I am judging I adore my friend she just gets a bit self centered at times and she is "in the wrong" I love her and I am there for her and it isn't anything dramatic. We all have our own relationships to sort out. People can be inspiring in strange ways I was reading an article about the POLICE the singing group and how over time they have learned to work through their differences. I admire anyone who works through any difficult relationship to make it work whether it is professional or personal. We are adults and could walk away and say I don't have to deal with this. I respect the effort that people put into facing challenges. We as humans seek to be with people surround ourselves with them and yet oddly we spend a lot of time escaping each other too. I am an optimist by nature and this move has crushed some of my faith in people...... which is why sadly I feel depleted and negative at the moment. I know it won't last forever I know it is the murkiness of change and this challenging move. When things go awry I reach out to others to gain strength and hope. I have chatted with friends and family and happily I am blessed to have many of both.... with all the quirks and oddities that go along. Yet I tend to be a "take the bull by it's horns" kinda gal and when I feel as though change is not going well I seek to change that.  Self doubt is running rampant here which is why I think I am struggling to write about how inspiring people can be and how wonderful it is to have friends and family. I am in the middle of these observations of the positive and the negatives of people and in a day a thousand moments of both are playing out right here. I encourage all of you this week to work at some relationship that may frustrate you either at work or at home and try hard to make it work on some level..... I know I am working on patience to understand the people handling my paperwork..... mishandling would be a better word. I am going to appreciate the wonderful relationships I have a little more this week to. thank you to those of you who are positive and love me.  Yes I know this post is odd and not pretty or witty and even a bit disorganized.... but like anyone else I am working through it all this week; sometimes getting to the good stuff is more of a process than we ever imagined. I promise the sun will come out tomorrow !

Interesting blog

Today.... I saw Mc Cain's daughter's blog. apparently she is out on the campaign trail with her Dad and she blogs about it. I found it on MSN.com...anyways not getting political here...

I read it and it is interesting to see a campaign from a different view her blog is actually kinda cute. It is mostly full of pictures it really has a funny  ..it is kinda cool to see behind the scenes. Whether you are for against him is irrelevant I just found the blog funny..... this does not mean I have endorsed anyone either..... I like being me and deciding when I'm ready.....

read the blog it is cute I loved her visit to the Iowa state fair what a hoot !!!!!! they saw a huge pig ( over 1,000 lbs) it brought back memories of my beloved Wisconsin sates fair...... which thanks to ^&%&**&((*)*(())_( people not doing our paperwork I missed on my way out of the country. I missed pig races the giant slide and the cream puffs ( heaven) and the pickles...... I LOVE LOVE going to the Wisconsin state fair.....totally bummed I missed it 

so seeing the fair and the pig I loved it.  To all my Iowa friends and Family who are homesick to it is cute.

I also enjoyed the post where they visited the everglades in Florida...she took pictures of the swarms of reporters following them OMG what a hoot. and she is SO funny about the pictures to it is hilarious......they are in hordes.

with out further adew...the blog site is

http://www.mccainblogette.com/

I am going to keep reading for the humor I may add it to the other blog spot we'll see..go visit.

Butterfly Wings and Passports

Multiple Metamorphosis occurred at our house this past weekend. The summer reading program ( Catch the Reading Bug) came to an end with a big party. The boys have had so much fun this summer H read 122 books, T 50, and the twins had 116 books read to them ! Part of the fun at the party was going through the metamorphosis machine. When the kids arrived on the other side they had earned their Butterfly ( for girls) or Moth ( for boys) wings ! There  were plenty of fluttering moths and butterflies to make the reading garden seem alive :)

I choose to see some symbolism in this....... Today WE FINALLY RECEIVED OUR STATE

 DEPARTMENT " official travel " PASSPORTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so yes now the entire family has 2 passports each..... well except for Sam. Two passports per person are now in hand..... phew one hurdle overcome. Yes the picture to the right is in fact all 800 passports the kids and I will have to carry, in addition to the orders, papers,and other official stuff.  Now we are just waiting on T's medical clearance. As soon as we hear about that we can pack our bags and all move together !!!!! Please keep your fingers toes and the like crossed that this will come in this week so we can move together.

I feel like in a lot of ways this move is like the

 Caterpillar all cocooned I am waiting to be a butterfly or moth and fly away to new adventures overseas.......

Fall is an excellent season for change so hopefully this fall will be our turn for a change

Blessed Day !!!

Today was an amazing day ! Today I was blessed to be present for the birth of my amazing friend Jessica's daughter. Jessica's husband is deployed right now... just like Sam was for the birth of our twins. Jessica's friend Danette and I were  backup birth helpers if her mother in law wasn't here yet. Baby M came early ( not too early) and so Danette and I had the ultimate privilege of being there for gorgeous baby M's big debut. Mom and baby are doing wonderful and little M couldn't be cuter. It was so incredible. I have been present for other births when I was an EMT and a nursing student and each one is cool but today I just felt incredibly blessed to be a part of something so special. A real privilege. I was thinking how amazing t is babies have been born for centuries and women have rallied around each other for support and to share this experience for just as long and it never gets "old" it is so amazing and wonderful. I really truly feel blessed to have been there for the baby and Jessica how privileged am I to have shared this amazing moment. Welcome baby M !!!!!!!!! we all love and adore you !!! 

happily Dad was on the phone for her birth and I got to cut baby M's umbilical chord while talking to Dad it was awesome !!!! Thank you Jessica for sharing this all with me I truly feel blessed today !!!!!!

Tales of Twins.....

I have not blogged to much on being the mother of twins. I don't feel like an expert on twins I just happen to be the mother of twins. Having twins can be wonderful frustrating and interesting just like any parenting journey. Now the last two days I have to tell you Dennis the menace has seemed like a saint compared to the twins.  Every so often even the most angelic of kids has their day and in my limited experience this is no different for twins just double the fun. I happen to call these days "If You Give a Moose a Muffin " days , and anyone familiar with this series of children's books knows that children by nature are like this. Yesterday I started the day like any other getting the twins up taking them to the bathroom ( we are in the process of potty training and yes it is more challenging with 2 at the same time) Making breakfast....all went according to plan then something changed and it all unraveled.......

While I was changing P... S decided to pull every book off of her book shelf..... then

while I was cleaning that up P decided to go and get a bowl of dry

(thank heaven's for small favors) Frosted flakes that T left to close to the edge of the counter.

P was trying to come and show me they needed to be picked up, but being 20 months old he was running down the hallway holding the bowl tipped leaving a trail of frosted flakes in his wake. Now while I ran off to get the frosted flakes from P, S locked herself in her bedroom

of course I didn't know she had done this because the phone was ringing and it was a family member I had been playing telephone tag with. So I took the call while walking the frosted flakes back to the kitchen. Now T & H had left the door unlocked and P had escaped to the courtyard while I had gone to get the vacuum to clean up the frosted flakes.

P was splashing in the pond..... I realized that S had locked herself in her room.  I had to go out in front and crawl in the window to rescue her. Now mind you breakfast needs cleaning up and I am still in my Pj's..... I had H try to get her door unlocked because he is a master of this in the house ...to no avail so after crawling in the window to get S...P had run out of the house 3 times so I had to keep bringing him inside while trying to get into the window. Yes it looked as bad as it sounds. Then I get into P & S's room to discover that little miss sassy S has opened 3 drawers and pulled every article of clothing out  of the drawers. Clothes are strewn all about the room Sam kept calling me I had to keep telling him to call back. Now while I was attempting to fold clothes and clean up P had gone to the other room to get is Lego wagon and began running wildly around the house pulling the wagon....which at the speed he was running was tipping back and forth wildly and flinging Lego's all over the hallway. Now if you remember the frosted flakes are still in the hall because on my way to the vacuum S locked herself in her room so now I have ground in frosted flakes with a nice topping of Lego's to round out the mess. I go to help P to stop spilling the Lego's and have fun with his wagon.....when I turn around and head back to S's room where I discover that S has ripped all the re folded clothes out of the drawer..... I was only about 1/3 of the way into the first re-fold...... I am still in Pj's and the breakfast things still need cleaning...... and the phone is ringing between my sister in law Liz and Sam...who I keep telling to call back...... T & H come into the house asking for morning snack ( it is now 10 am and this fun began at 7 am).  YEAH my mother came  home on her break from work so I begged and pleaded for a shower. ( sometimes I don't get one if I can't have a set of hands to watch P & S)........ While I was in the shower S ripped apart a Tupperware cabinet while my mom was taking care of breakfast stuff. P had discovered that t & H had left the linen closet open and had pulled towels off the shelf to help clean up the frosted flakes ( he was wildly rubbing the flakes with the clean towels)...I come out of the shower wet because P had figured out how to get into my room and was ripping the cabinet under the sink apart ( yes he figured out how to open 3 different versions of child proof locks). While I am corralling P .....S has gone to my jewelery dish with safety pin and extra earring backs and dumps it on the floor because she loves how things fly about the room then sits on the floor and flings them for added effect. Now mind you my mom is working on new messes while I am corralling kids well trying...My mom has to leave to go back ( she was home for 30 minutes) while I am cleaning up the jewelry ( choking hazard) in a towel P has ripped apart the under sink cabinet again. ( rushing to that peroxide is in there) S is pulling things out of my drawers..... Finally P & S are coming over to "help" me as I am putting the final things in the cupboard..now I had just had  Sam's USA today newspaper picture framed and due to the move I didn't hang it I put it in our room for safe keeping...... P saw something behind the picture pushed it forward.... right into S's cheek just below her eye...thank goodness all she had was a bruise and it missed her eye. I was comforting S putting ice on her cheek and P managed to get into H's room...and was dragging toys all over the Lego's and frosted flakes.... Sam is still trying to call. Finally when all is settled I put P & S into their play pens at their noisy protest. I can finally rush around and clean up messes fold clothes and sort things out and finally vacuum..... and put clothes on.... Now it is lunch time........ and we all know what feeding time at the zoo is like......

Now about 30 minutes into nap time Sam comes home for lunch..... by this time I have cleaned messes including breakfast and lunch frosted flakes and other Lego's etc..... so the house looks as though nothing happened. Sam says   " what happened why couldn't you talk and what was that noise in the background".........

Now I thought yesterday was the end of the stretch...I was wrong this AM...S & P were back to being the dynamic duo....partner's in crime........

While I was taking P to the bathroom..S was ripping apart the same 3 drawers from the dresser.... while I was folding those clothes for the 400th time P was pulling all the toys out of his basket.... while I was picking those up S was emptying cereal boxes in the kitchen T & H forgot to lock the cupboard after their breakfast...........it is nap time right now..... and all is quiet for the moment.

Conquering our Fears and More knitting fun

Wow here it is already August 5th and I have yet to blog. I wish I could write that happily our paperwork has moved forward and we are preparing for our move...this is not the case. Currently our paperwork is lost in space with no expected date of return......

Moving on from that mess.........

As I have said before I have been knitting up a storm it is very therapeutic and keeps me from going postal. hehehehehe

Before I fill you in on knitting adventures I want to talk Fear. Yes that big ugly word conjures up such nasty thoughts most of us can hear our blood pressure soar. I have made efforts most of my life to conquer even the slightest hint of fear. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" or another one of my favorite quotes ever " People often fear what they do not understand" which I believe wholeheartedly is true. Now am I one of those loony people who thinks that a person should have no fear what so ever ? NO !!!! for goodness sakes there are all kinds of healthy fears that motivate us to do great things for the world or others or for ourselves. There are also scary things in the world we should fear..... and of course as a mother my children find new ways to put fear in me almost daily...remember I have those 3 boys...... heheheheheh

Now I had a fear of math..... so I took math classes I even got a very hard earned B+ in a serious math course in graduate school and statistics..... also..... I feel better having tackled that challenge I no longer fear math just try to find short cuts :)

I had a serious fear of spiders....... I couldn't even walk near the glass showcases at a pet store..and forget about me stomping one in the house even if it was microscopic.... I didn't want the kids to acquire any unnecessary fears so I had to learn how to hide my fear for them. I can now safely squish certain size spiders in the house on my own with no squealing or ewwwwwwing. I can walk past a display at a pet store at a safe distance. I would like to someday not be afraid of them..... I even bought T a folder for school which has a spider picture on it ( he wanted it..boys and bugs you know) I can even tolerate the plastic ones now that seem to come in any bug kit that H has....... The boys will never have a pet tarantula though.

Funny enough this past weekend I was at a friend's house and she was telling me she is claustrophobic. I have had other friends with this so I know a little about it and I can sympathize that this is very frustrating for them. I have to say I was very surprised she didn't strike me as the claustrophobic type. Now now before you get upset I know that sounds like a stereo type but it isn't. When you hang out with friends you get a feel for things they like and dislike very quickly and Jess and I have been friends for awhile the subject has just never come up and I was surprised. Not surprised in a judgemental way at all...... so having said that. We all started talking about fears ..I don't know a person who doesn't have a fear of something large or small and it doesn't matter what it is we are all human and it makes sense. fear can even bring us together.

Having started this long story...it does have a point.... and I am about to begin remember I have  5 days worth of writing pent up :) I also haven't left anyone a super long voicemail message in at least a few days so bear with me while I ramble on a bit :)

I LOVE knitting as you know and I tend to go for funky fun projects for the kids etc. I like "quick" projects that can be done in a week or two and this is relative. I have always wanted to knit a sweater... but I haven't for FEAR it would turn out lopsided or funny or in knots... that pesky FEAR of mine that I 'm not good enough for ( insert insecurity of the day here X) but finally I found a sweater pattern for beginner sweater knitters.. yes it has sleeves ( Oh the shock) and it even has a tricky hood !!!!! I DID IT I KNIT A SWEATER !!!!!!!!!! it took me 2 weeks now I only get an hour of knit time here and there so in real people time it could be a few days. I KNIT A SWEATER !!!!! the sleeves are the same length and fit the sweater... the picture is above !!!! I have to tell you though that in person the yarn is gorgeous the colors are so pretty in the picture it looks yellow but it is more red purple hues it is really soft beautiful yarn the picture doesn't do it justice... the sweater is for S. I am starting P's sweater tomorrow..... in a different color with out the hood new sweater pattern. I know I knit one now I am trying another pattern. I don't think I am a sweater knitter though I will make one for P so the twins have them but I think I like the fact that I make unusual funky things. so hat's off to my fellow knitters who are excellent sweater knitters. both my grandma's could knit sweaters my Grandma S knit gorgeous I mean perfect baby sweaters. All my kids wore them and they were flawless. My other grandma could knit beautiful adult sweaters some I wear still today..... so t least I know I challenged myself to knit a sweater. I think my knack is for funky and wild patterns of the fun and whimsical kind. I have now knit instarsia and a sweater I have knit with 3 needles and tried challenging patterns.... while I will not be making sweaters after P's I do feel like I have crossed a threshold....... I can become an advanced knitter who knows what wild thing I will attempt. I have conquered a knitting fear this week.. They say we should do something that scares us everyday..... I think we should try to conquer a fear large or small every week :)