My boy bounces…

He really does.  Watching him walk from the car to the bus every morning fills my heart with joy.  I watch his back as he quickly moves across the yard of the corner  house (with one of the best lawns in the ‘hood) toward the waiting yellow bus.  He goes fast because I suspect he’s just a bit nervous the driver won’t wait for  him.  His quick, choppy gait encourages his full backpack to hop up and down behind him, rather like a cork bobbing on water.

His hair bounces too.  His curls now settle around his shoulders in corkscrews.  I remember when he hated his curly hair.  He asked if we could straighten it with chemicals, or at least with my flat iron.  We tried once…. it took forever and looked terrible.  Now he loves his long strands, they are his Samson-esque pride and joy, his identifying marker.  He’s come home from school many a day and proudly told us about all the girls who want to touch his hair.

So far, he is thriving in middle school, and we are a bit shocked.  Aren’t these supposed to be the years where it all falls apart, when you lose your way and face fears of inadequacy and doubt?  Perhaps that is to come… we are just a few weeks into this new world… but he is different… in a good way!  Nearly overnight, my boy went from baths at night to showers in the morning.  He now packs his own lunch.  He’s reading books like a starving man would gobble down a cheese sandwich.  I should say a porterhouse steak, because he’s not doing “junk food”… he’s reading quality stuff.  On his own he chose to read The 3 Muskateers, The Art of War, and The Count of Monte Cristo.  He’s now reading Gulliver’s Travels.  He stood at Barnes and Noble’s classic section and inhaled volumes.  The speed he’s ingesting these works is astonishing.

These days are moving so fast… I watch him intently, trying to burn the image and the moment into my heart forever, so it will be there to recall when he is off and on his own.

Just you wait my bouncy baby boy… take your time…  don’t go too fast.

Oh lawdy

I’m a bad blogger!

WOW… I haven’t fallen off the face of the blogger world…just distracted I suppose!  But here we are, back at it! Life is good, busy, still enjoying my unemployment to a degree.

I must admit though, things are not going the way I had expected them to go… or the way I wanted to believe they would go… isn’t that always the way? We make plans and God laughs!  My plan was to enjoy the holidays off, start looking for a job seriously in January and be happily ensconced in a lovely new job by now.  NOT!!  I can’t say that I’ve even begun seriously looking yet, so I really can only blame myself.  I’ve only aggressively gone after one job and I can’t get the News Director to call me back.  All my other efforts have been half-hearted at best.  I just don’t know exactly what is in store, but I know something is brewing.   It is now my job to get in the game, start really playing and just remain obedient.  Show up and get the job of life done each day.  One day at a time.

I’ve been really loving the exercise thing, it is SO fulfilling to get a work out in most days in a week.  I’ve been walking, decluttering, FLYing with Fly Lady,  seriously thinking and praying about what is next and being a wife and mommy.  We’ve been getting more involved at our wonderful new church, following along with Dave’s FPU plan.

I promise to get a new Grammie recipe to you this week… can’t wait to see what will bubble up to the surface.  I’ve been seriously contemplating learning how to can and preserve… wow!   Grammie would be so proud!!  Pickles anyone?

Keeping it short cuz I got no pics to break up the boring text.

Cheers!
Susie

The abandoned house

Hi peeps this is Ethan usually my mom writes posts this time its my turn while we were going home i was looking at abandoned houses then i remembered one super scary house so we went to this house on the side of the street then my dad went in the drive way way then we started screaming my mom thought she saw someone all the window were shattered my dad said that we would get attacked by a hobo with a chainsaw and my dad kept getting closer and closer so that’s the story of the freaky house

Back on the trail with Ke$ha

Go outside and play!

It’s warmed up here in the ATL recently and I’m so happy to say I got to walk on my beloved trail today!  I went about 9:30 this morning and had a lovely walk!  I  listened to NPR on the way there and ended up in a “driveway moment”  listening to Scott Simon interview a new pop queen I’d never heard of… Kesha… oh wait it’s Ke$ha. And yes, clearly I’ve been living under a rock cuz I’d never heard her music but it’s like number one everywhere.  Well… the interview was fab! This chick rocks! She is smart and sassy and her music, while offensive and obnoxious, is SO catchy!  I immediately downloaded her album (could I love my iphone any more if it were my third child??!!)  and rocked out to it during my entire 64 minute walk!  She even bumped The Peas, which for me is pretty serious!

Today marks SIX days in a row of walking 60+ minutes.   So yeah, the walk was fun and the rain didn’t start until I was heading home.  Here’s a couple of lovely pics from  the still-icy bit of the greenway.

Icy trail

More icy trail

The afternoon was spent taking E-dawg to a birthday party for his friend Kai (love that name!)  a library and energy smoothie run (my new obsessive indulgence but too pricey) and then home for some cleaning and cooking.  Did a cavatappi pasta dinner with meaty sauce, easy yummy and used up lots of pantry goodies!

Shopping, FPU, church and basement cleaning are ahead por la manana!

Keep batting a thousand peeps!

E-joe at Kai's birthday party

Go listen to “Stephen”...  we all had one, didn’t we?  I know I did!!

Cheers!
Susie

Uh oh…

I’m really sorry peeps!  (peep?)

So I promised I’d blog regularly in the new year and I don’t even make it to February before I start to slack!  I have been more successful  in other areas though, so let’s say I’ve been busy and working hard on different goals!

The eat down the pantry challenge is going smashingly well!  We are having a blast… well at least I am.  So fun to get creative finding delicious and healthy choices from what we have on hand.  Last night, paella… omg, delish!  All stuff  in freezer/pantry.  Tonight, salmon patties and zucchini orzo.  SOOO good, and I don’t even like fish!  I used some expensive canned salmon I bought mail order after briefing losing my senses (and a chunk of cash) reading a Dr. Perricone book.

So to me my pantry is staring to look quite bare, but the hubster says we have a longgggg way to go before we’re in any danger of starvation.  I think he’s probably right.  Here’s a peek inside.

Yes, it looks full, and it is, but many staples are gone… no more olive oil or canned tomatoes… almost out of flour and sugar (lots of baking!) but TONS of pasta, rice, soups canned beans.  OK… we will survive, as long as we carbo-load!   We shop again for the last time this month (hopefully) next Sunday.  We have $83 left of our $200 grocery budget, which is amazing!!!!

While I’ve slacked on the blog this week, I have been totally committed to the work out my friends!!  I’ve hit 10K steps every day this week, and logged a great 60+ minute walk each day.  I’ve been embracing the program options on the treadmill at the Y…  no more flat walks for me!  Loving the random hill program!  I’m getting a much better work out and I know cuz I’m schvitzing like a coal miner!!   Also doing the weight circuit, 2x this week.

OH… I also did a mini-make over this week.  New glasses, new haircut and new color.  I am looking fine!!  Ready to hit the interview circuit…. now why aren’t those job offers rolling in yet?? Hmmmmm….

We shall see…  stay tuned for the next installment of “Grammie’s Goodies”… it’s gonna be GOOD!!!!

OH>>>>>  my mantra for this year is now official, thanks to my fab friend and stylist Jannell…

KEEPING IT ZEN IN 20-10!!

Embrace the calm with me!
Susie

Lemony GOODness

Round two of the lemon sour  bake-off was a TOTAL success!!! Now I get it! Now I know why everyone loved this gems!  Bottom layer, shortbread cakey-ness, middle kind of a pecan pie like layer of sweet goo, and top is a glazy haze of lemon sour!

"Bobby" Bollin's lemon sours on grammie-ish plate

Please, go make this now!  Recipe is Grammie’s,  method details and hints are all mine.

“Bobby” Bollin’s  Lemon Sours

First layer:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

Cream butter and sugar together, then add flour. Press into a well-greased 13×9 baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Second layer:

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup chopped nut meats (love that term! She preferred walnuts, I used pecans cuz it’s Georgia, and it rocked!)

Mix dry ingredients then add beaten eggs and nuts.  Pour over top and bake at 35o for 20 minutes.

Third layer

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp softened butter

1 tbsp. grated lemon zest

juice from one lemon

Add butter to sugar and work together with your hands until butter is incorporated.  Sugar should still be crumbly but you won’t see any butter in there.  Add lemon zest and enough juice to make spreadable glaze, should be about one lemon’s worth, but don’t let it get too runny.

Spread over the hot bars.  Let cool fully before cutting (good luck waiting for that!)

I haven’t picked my next Grammie recipe yet… maybe a relish (!) … this woman really did relish the relishes…  stay tuned!

We had a snow day yesterday and we all quickly reverted back to our winter break lethargy.

E goes for a snowy ride

The only real accomplishment was we picked up the hubster’s new car.  Now don’t go get excited… he replaced his old dead beater with a live beater… it is slightly less awful than his 1992 Nissan, and more than a decade younger.  But as we are committed to debt reduction, we are following Dave on this purchase, so we’re grateful to be a 2 car family again and without a massive car loan.

So now that we’ve got 2 cars, guess that means I can get my hiney back to work!  Progress is occurring on that front, I hope to have an announcement soon, but these things rarely go as you expect,  so we shall see.  Please send your good job vibes my way, I really am ready to get back to being productive and excited about what I’m doing.  I also function better with a set routine, a free-form schedule really tests my discipline and really… how many battles of will can I face each day?  New research says ONE… one!  That means if you’re working to eat well, your exercise resolve is doomed, or if you’re focusing on limited spending (hello??!!) that’s about all you can mentally accomplish! Yikes!!!   Now maybe that’s why resolutions fail!

We’re still snow covered and freezing today.  My Saturday plan includes a deep cleaning downstairs, sammy lunch and maybe a movie night…

Stay warm, cuz I’m not!!

Freezin' in the ATL

Susie

Grammie’s goodies

Happy Hump Day!

We’re preparing for snow here in the ATL.  Three minutes of heavy flurry activity is forecast tomorrow, so naturally all metro area schools will be closed.  The children are pleased, but I fear they’re destined to grow up with an abnormal fear of winter, or at least, they’ll regularly over-react to frozen precipitation.

Here’s what I’ve got cooking peeps…  I have a treasure sitting in my kitchen and it’s high time I share. My Grammie’s recipe box is chock full of the most delicious and bizarre concoctions you can imagine. I’ve been threatening to organize and log it, and as my dear brother reminded me, what better time to do it than now, as an underemployed journalist? (Like that term? I saw it today in a NYT article about a former classmate… “underemployed” sounds so much nicer than laid off!) So I’ve decided that Grammie’s Goodies will be a regular blog feature!

Wait… have I actually thought of something or is this just because I got “Julie and Julia” for Christmas?  Like many other “underemployed ” bloggers, I’ve been wanting to do a “cook through” for a while. I was going to cook every recipe in Jack Bishop’s “A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen” as it is a gorgeous book full of amazing and creative seasonal recipes, but my Grammie is going first! I’ll still let you know when Jack’s creations make it into our dinner rotation though!

So here’s a look at “the box.”

Grammie Bollin's recipe box

Let me tell you a bit about my Grammie and her recipes. She was born Virginia Juanita Marshall in Pea Ridge, Arkansas 1n 1900. She married Roy Louis Bollin in Coolidge, Arizona and had two sons. Roy Louis Jr. and my dad, Edgar Marshall. Tragically, Roy Jr. drowned in an irrigation ditch behind their house as a toddler in 1924. My dad was born the next year. His father, a hemophiliac, also died too young. So my dad and Grammie were a tight twosome for most of his life. She worked at the local fancy department store and loved to garden and cook. She had a dear circle of friends in her garden club and these girls could throw down in the kitchen! They loved to share recipes and were all about the 3×5 index card, along with newspaper clippings. Her collection includes an abundance of sweets, lots of nut-filled creations, plenty of citrus-centered stuff (she had lemon, lime and pomegranate trees in her back garden) many odd pickled things and even a few man-pleasing hearty casseroles. I can’t wait to dive in!! My mom and aunt cooked a lot of Grammie’s specialties, but there is a huge wealth of undiscovered gems in this box!! It could get pretty random folks!!

Looking at her cards reminds me of so many reasons why I loved her… here’s one: my Grammie was known all her life as Bobby because she was a petite lady, and on all her recipes she was very careful to credit the creator. If it was her original recipe, her name is on the card and often “Bobby” is in quotes. You have to love that!

Bobby Bollin's Lemon Sours

I’m going to try to not think too much about what to cook but rather grab and just go with it each week. This month will be rather limited since we’re cooking down the pantry and I plan to stay true to that mission of very limited shopping, but come February, it’s going to get interesting!!!!

The boys and I decided that first out of the box will be Grammie’s Lemon Sours. My Ethan LOVES lemons!! A Bollin family classic, my mom made these pretty often. I really didn’t like these as a kid… too sour! But everyone else seemed to love them, and if I’m not mistaken, the Arizona cousins still make these, but it has been YEARS since I’ve tasted them.

So typical of Grammie, there were multiple copies of the recipe in the box, ready to hand out to friends and church ladies. One had them cooking in a 13×9 pan and one said 8×8. I did 8×8 and this didn’t work!! So stay tuned, Lemon Sours round two will hit the oven tomorrow, after I make a few phone calls back home for advice.

Lemon Sours gone terribly wrong

We’re cooking through Grammie’s goodies people!!

Stay tuned!

Susie

I-post from bed

I can’t go two days in a row without posting because I AM COMMITTED people!!! But I’m also exhausted, so I’m I-phone blogging from bed watching “The Biggest Loser.” I’m even too tired to go dowstairs and get the laptop.

So why, you ask, the weariness? Today was bBack to school after 2+weeks off for all of us…

This says it all.

Boys in the backseat, school drop-off line

The good news… I’m working on a blog project that will be so fun!!! Come back to check it out later this week.

Good workout today, 64 minutes on the treadmill at the Y and a full circuit lifting. Cooking today pretty dull and not too healthful… Cheesy eggs for late b-fast, snacky stuff then knockwurst and sauerkraut for dinner along with oven-roasted broccoli and sweet potato oven fries.

Great news … There was room for us in the FPU class at our church!!! Financial peace, here we come!!! We are SO jazzed about the program, stay right here to witness the transformation for our family.

How’s about those teases?! I didn’t write television news for 18 years for nothin!!!

Stay tuned!!
Susie

My I don’t have-ta run day

Helllooo Sunday, my fun day and renew your spirit day!

Today actually turned out to be quite a run-around day.  Made it to church and really enjoyed it.  It was roughly 17 degrees outside and we were frozed!!  We planned to head out on our weekly shopping trip afterwards, but forgot our cash envelope at home, so ran back.  We are just getting rolling with the Dave Ramsey paying cash idea and we really haven’t figured out the logistics yet.  Off to Costco next for a budget lunch and some staples.   Shocker of shocks… WE SPENT LESS THAN A HUNDRED BUCKS AT COSTCO!!  This is seriously a first.  Stuck to the list and everything!   Walmart run was next to get drinks and more fresh veg in smaller portions.  We stayed on track and plan to avoid any and all grocery stores for TWO weeks.   The next shopping trip is on the calendar for January 17,  and I’m feeling confident we’ll make it.  We are eating down the pantry baby!

I got ambitious with dinner today.  Started by making a batch of our fav peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  I will post a recipe soon, they rock.  Then I did homemade rosemary focaccia.  SOO good! I started the dough in the bread machine then finished it off in the oven.  Used rosemary from our garden too!  The only  thing that hasn’t frozen yet!

Rosemary Foccacia

Then on to homemade pasta.  Did fettucine alfredo.  The pasta went well up until the cutting stage, and my cutter jammed again.  I think I just can’t get the hidden bits of dried old pasta out of the roller cutter and it’s making a mess.  I ended up hand cutting which took a while but it work.  My wonderful hubster helped, and hung in despite my deriding insults that he just didn’t get cooking.  But then I realized hey, at least he’s standing here holding the dough for me!!!  Many lesser men wouldn’t have set foot in the kitchen! So what if he couldn’t figure out how to hang the dowels on the pasta drying rack, I mean really!!  He is indeed a prince!  Kisses honey!

Homemade pasta

Sauce was your basic fat-filled alfredo and it was delish… really too heavy though, we all felt like slugs after dinner.  I bemoaned the lack of green veggies, but after church, shopping, bread-making, pasta making and saucing, I just didn’t have it in me to make the zucchini.

Going to bed early to gear up for tomorrow, big day with Y workout, yoga, cleaning and most of all, un-decking the halls!

Edawg snuggie

It’s cold outside, so be sure and snuggle up with someone you love!
Susie

Saturday with the Queen

Happy Saturday peeps!

Day two of 2010 was a very low key lazy day ’round here.  Slept in, went to see “The Young Victoria” finally (!) and came home.  Not much else to report.  I worked on menu plans for the week, incorporating lots of pantry foods.  I also went through my coupon stash and built a (very short) shopping list.  Hubster slept most of the day and the kidlets were glued to technology most of the day.

Dinner was soup & sammies… I made bean soup using a 15-bean Hambeens chicken version starter and leftover Christmas ham and added lots of veggies, onion, carrot and spinach.  It was SOOO good!

Did fancy grilled cheese along side, using my homemade whole wheat bread,  mixing shredded cheddar with mayo, dijon and chopped black olives, added a slice of colby.   To grill I melt a bit of butter then mix with canola and brush onto the bread, I really like the crispness you get combining oil with a  bit of butter.  Yum-ness!

So, back to the movie…  I liked it but didn’t love it.  It was a charming story, beautiful to look at of course.  I love the idea of seeing Queen Victoria before she became the iconic prude we all know.  And I’m fascinated that Martin Scorcese worked with Sarah Ferguson on the film.  But there is very little suspense or tension to the story, since we all know how it turns out.  Paul Bettany was the highlight for me as Lord Melbourne (he is delicious!) and it was fun seeing familiar faces from my Austen regulars… Mark Strong, Mr. Knightly from the Kate Bekinsale’s “Emma” and of course I loved Harriet Walter, the wonderfully awful Fanny from Emma Thompson’s “Sense and Sensibility” who played the dowager queen.  So it was pure enjoyment, but I don’t see this one joining my DVD stack of movies to watch over and over. But really, nothing beats a Brit in a costume drama folks!!

I have had no opportunity to exercise today, but I will not rest until I do something… I’ll either head upstairs to the treadmill, do a yoga download, or check out more workout videos on Uverse…. we shall see!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!!
Susie