Back to Balkemania

My inlaws-ish. I wish you could meet them. You'd love them as much as I do.

The couple on the left weren't there this time. 

Saturday morning, Samuel, Lisa and I made steak crepes for breakfast with the help of Sarah, Bonnie and Ellie. They turned out amazingly, although the crepes weren't perfect. We spent the rest of the early afternoon prepping for dinner, playing Carcassonne and hanging out.

Later in the day we went to the YMCA to workout. Ellie, Susan and I walk a mile on their indoor track and Ellie and I ran quite a few laps. Can you believe that I can bench press 150 lbs? Anyway, we sure know how to take over a gym. There were 11 of us there... 

Elsa loved being around so many of her favorite people. :-)

I had never seen the whole frosted windows like this. It was so amazingly beautiful!

 Then we had a birthday celebration and then more Carcassonne with Susan, Mathias and Ellie. It was a great day. While the visit was short. It was still loads of fun. When I first fell in love with this family during the week before Samuel and Lisa's wedding, I doubted we would ever see each other again. So I made it happen. I suggested the roadtrip. After that trip, I doubted I'd see them any time soon, but now, I've seen them three times in six months! I love this wonderful family!

Adventures of Roadtripping

A long weekend coinciding with a birthday in Lisa's family meant an 545 mile including four states. I had high hopes that the drive would be as fast as the previous one had been. Elsa had been wonderful and content last time.

Those hopes were dashed about two hours into what was supposed to be an 8 hour drive when Elsa got really motion sick and threw up all over herself and the car seat. Poor girl. The car smelled horrible. We scrounged around for bags, went through an entire NEW package of wipes, wishing we had garbage bags and paper towels. Let's just say Elsa and I now have an even more special bond. I have not only cleaned up multiple vomits off of her and her car seat, I have caught her vomit in a bag. Anyway, long story short, four outfits for Elsa, we finally arrived, exhausted and so ready for the drive to be over.

Jane and Ev thought sending this would be funny. -_-

She was so happy to see her grandparents and all her aunts and uncles.  

We left Michigan more prepared. Elsa ate simple foods that day and we had a good stock of wipes, name-brand paper towels, tons of garbage bags, car Frebreeze and clean clothes. But she was the least of our problems on the way back. 

There was snow all the way from Balkemania Michigan through all four states back home. Most of the trip home was low visibility with either snow spray from other vehicles, snow or rain. There was snow and ice on the highways. Instead of getting to drive 70-80 mph, Samuel was forced to 45 mph or under for the majority of the drive.

We watched the car lose control and spin around facing the wrong direction on the highway and slamming into the barrier. It was kinda scary to realize that could have been us.

I was able to get a few cool pictures from the moving car... Not super clear, but I loved getting to see part of the states in snow. I saw these same fields a bright green in September!

We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel, A first for me. It was fun.

I am so thankful we got home safely and after 12 hours of traveling. This morning I looked up traffic/weather articles for Indiana and found out this happened in a span of eight hours, all while we were driving on road around us.

68 personal injury crashes
199 property damage crashes
102 assist motorist calls

There was a forty car pile up, jack-knifed semi trucks, tons of slow plows, emergency vehicles, police cars.

Anyway, I was so tired when I got back that I didn't take out all my hair pins, brush my teeth or even take of my makeup...

So another traveling adventure. Not my favorite, but one full of memories. 

Dishes, Snow and Warmth

I had no right to be freezing. Samuel and Lisa had to go to work in it. I got to sleep late and stay inside the warm house. It was a nice quiet day, Elsa and I hung around the house watching Winnie the Pooh and playing. It is still snowing outside, has been off and on for three days now. It's made it feel awfully quiet around here, but peaceful.

After Elsa's  nap, we went downstairs and snuggled under the blankets on my bed. Even after working out and showering, I was still cold, so it seemed like the only option, although I knew catching up the mess of dishes from the past couple days would warm me right up. The dishwasher broke on Sunday. So from Sunday until today, I had only washed what we really needed to eat or prepare each meal. So now the counter at least is cleared of all dishes. 

Adventures with Mom

Thursday:

Elsa and I spent the majority of the day cleaning and tidying up the house. Not just for Mom's visit, but because an appraiser was supposed to come the next day. I did three loads of laundry and dishes as well as watching Elsa. Mom came in the evening and we talked for several hours on the floor of between our two bedrooms. It was awesome. 

Friday: 

More cleaning. The appraiser came and then we had lunch and a game of Carcassonne. We pretty much just hung out around home. In the evening, Samuel and Lisa went to a concert, so Mom, Elsa and I hung out at home and watched a rather disappointing Gary Cooper movie. We talked and read stories. It was great for Mom to get to hang out with Elsa.

Saturday:
Mom and I went to Franklin, TN for the day. It's an old historic town, much like Old Snohomish, but bigger and more cool historic houses around. It is also within ten minutes of a gigantic shopping mall. We had a blast shopping together and finding some gift type things and mostly drooling over things we could never justify spending money on. It was awesome. We also talked... A lot...

We walked several blocks more to get to antique shops. I found a lovely old Mrs. Southworth book. They actually had quite a few, which is awesome, because I usually have a hard time finding them. For those of you who have never read one of her books, they are super sappy, but fun stories.
I love the name and the picture and the inscription inside. The color green is my favorite too!

We also got a new book for Elsa. She has one called Little Panda, which we got from the San Diego Zoo during our road trip last summer. It is one of her favorite books. I could literally type out the entire thing because I have it completely memorized. So I figured it would be the perfect thing to get her.

We went to the spice shop and got colored peppercorns and peach habanero pepper jelly. It's one of my favorite shops, so if you ever get the chance to go, do so! 

We really enjoyed looking at all the historic houses outside the main shopping street. Every historic house had a black sign in front and it saying what year it was made in.

Perhaps the best part of the day I got no pictures of. We went out to dinner in Nashville. A restaurant I had been to before and fell in love with the place. If you go to Nashville and want a place to get REALLY good food, go to Urban Grub. They cure their own meats and everything tastes super fresh. All the waitstaff were super efficient and friendly and answered every question about the menu we asked.

Mom and I had the best dining experience ever there. She got rotisserie chicken with coleslaw, fries and white bbq sauce. The chicken was super tender and full of flavor,  The coleslaw was light and fresh and made out homemade stuff just not work anymore. The best part of her meal was by far the white bbq sauce. For everyone who doesn't know what that is, it is a mayonnaise based dipping sauce. I'm working on finding a recipe, so I'm not exactly sure what else is in it.

My meal was Club Carbonara. Homemade pasta with chicken, tomatoes, spinach, onions, bacon and a cream sauce. It was amazing! The pasta was cooked just right so when the hot sauce was poured over and it was brought to the table, it had continued to cook to the perfect al dente texture. It was unbelievably flavorful and was even good the next day cold. We got dessert and it was also delicious. Each bite of food we had there was amazing from the biscuits to the last bite of dessert we could fit.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with Mom. We had really good food because we made Superbowl food and played games on Sunday as well as touring a couple new houses in a neighboring neighborhood.

A Book with Two Stories

A book with two stories, one know and captured by the blackest of ink set into yellowing pages and waiting to be read while the other is hidden, never to be remembered, never to be heard.

On a sunny February day in Tennessee, after exploring the more expensive modern shops, we walked to explore through the old antique shops. One in particular was called Arbor Antiques. It looked a little stetchy or not welcoming, but we decided to brave it anyway. Mom was immediately drawn to looking at the old crocks, retro mixing bowls and wooden boxes while I was drawn to the book shelves and hidden corners stacked high with old musty books. I'm on a search to find old copies of a couple of my favorite books, so I looked at every title. I found a couple books by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (or Eden, though most commonly on her books Mrs.).

I love her books, The Hidden Hand in particular. They're also pretty hard to find, so having six or seven on one bookshelf made me pretty happy. 

What made up my mind on the book I chose to buy was the inscription and the title.

To Grace- Dec. 25, 1906

Who was Grace? Who gave her this book for Christmas? How did it end up in his particular antique shop in Tennessee? She could have easily been a child, a mother, a best friend, grandmother.... I wish I knew, but it will always remain a secret. 

I was looking at what the fashion looked like from 1906. The book I bought and am going to read is from the same time as they wore dresses like this? It's kinda amazing and interesting! 

I'm looking forward to reading this story and beginning the quest for the sequel. And that, my friends, is why I love antique shopping and books. Lots and lots of books. 

All About Baby - Swings and Things

Today, Elsa woke me up at seven. She seemed pretty awake, so I got her up and we were snuggling in the living room when she began to fall asleep again. This is my favorite. We went down to my room and she fell asleep next to me on the bed. It was pretty awesome.

I decided to make the most of the sunny weather. We had horrible weather yesterday. Gross grey all day and rain, then thunder and lightening, tornado warnings, wind and tons more rain. I was actually pretty surprised to find such a glorious morning. So we went to the park, about a .8 miles away. I didn't know if she would like the swing set or not. She loved swinging with me, but would have nothing to do with the baby seat swings. Go figure. Elsa kept pointing out birds, dogs and cats on our walk and had a lot of fun. Plus we got some vitamin D. :-D

Since Samuel had part of the day off, I got to go out. I've been meaning to pick up 5.11 pants for Civil Air Patrol. They're much, much, much more durable than grey slacks and now I don't have the annual pressure of finding woman's grey pants (because trust me, in my size and height, it's hard). I'm super pleased with them, just need to get them hemmed up and I'll be good to go! 

Other news, Mom's flying out tomorrow to visit me for the weekend! We have some fun plans, including one of my favorite restaurants and mental health dates. It's going to be awesome! She is ridiculously excited to see Elsa. Of course. She's a grandma!! 

Socks and Hands

This morning was spent tidying my cluttered room. After lunch, working out and relaxing while Elsa napped, I put her in the backpack. We had garbage to take care of again. I did that, which was a great additional work out with a twenty-five pound baby strapped to your back and stairs with garbage bags in hands. We also took down the holiday lights from the back porch and pulled out all the staples as well. It was fun.

Elsa was so cute today, she kept trying to put one of her little socks on my foot. She learned the word recently and every time I wear then, she says it. Needless to say, it didn't quite fit my entire foot...

I would also appreciate prayer for my hand. Almost five years ago I got a bleach burn on my right hand and ever since I've had troubles with eczema, hand dermatitis and allergies since I have fewer layers of skin there. My hand is swollen, tender and itchy and cuts really easily. I scratched it in my sleep last night until it bled, I've got it wrapped up tonight, but in the past I have ripped off all the tape and gauze in my sleep (talented, I know). Anyways, it's no fun and there's not a lot I can do about it. I've noticed that when I get stressed it get's worse, but I'm not stressing about anything now, so I think it must have something to do with the weather changes we're going through.

Anna calls it my leprosy hand. Everyone says I should amputate -- at the neck just to be safe. Zombie hand. Mummy hand, "is it contagious?" ... All still a more accurate diagnosis then both my dermatologists (who, I'm pretty sure, dig up dinosaurs remains, but claim to be skin doctors) gave me...

It does kinda obscure my fingerprints on that hand... *laughs evilly*

Anyways, I've convinced (pranked) too many people that I got into a fight and this is the result. I even went as far once as to say I broke 'his' nose and just bruised my knuckles a little. The weed smoking, sketchy, failing-the-class high schooler (who was hitting on me at the time) totally believed me (and stopped hitting on me, hhmmmmm....) When I tried to really explain what had happened, he definitely had a hard time believing.

It's a good way for me to turn to God and ask Him to heal my hand. <3