behind door three

coworker: "our nine o'clock is here."

me: "wait, we don't have a nine o'clock."

co-worker: "ding! ding! ding! you passed the test! you win a prize!"

me: "is the prize more time to read before our next patient?"

co-worker: "is there ever any other prize?"

happy friday morning

today has been a great morning. i know that's not too exciting to read, but dude, it's been awesome. D got up with me because he was having a hard time sleeping in, and he made me cheesey scrambled eggs with garlic toast. also, coffee. we got to spend some time this morning talking and looking at the girlchild's school packet while waking up, and it was just nice and quiet and such a great way to start my day. i came into work and my co-worker had gotten me a blueberry scone. i'm having a good hair day, i'm in the middle of reading a good book, and it's friday and this weekend i'm just going to bake and goof off and get kids ready for school. yay!

PTA, represent

hey! i get to go to my first elementary school open house tonight. well, the first open house i've been to since becoming an adult. i know the girlchild isn't too stoked about her teacher this year, he has a reputation of being a bit stern and strict, but i'm trying to convince her that sometimes teachers that are tough are actually worthwhile. in any case, it will be good to put a name to a face, and maybe they'll have punch and cookies to make it all worthwhile.

speaking of cookies, i made an amazing batch last night. my oven cooperated, and i baked off a batch of browned butter sugar cookies. they were thin and crisp on the outside, slightly chewy in the center, coated in crunchy "raw" sugar and tasted like toffee. everyone liked them but the boychild, who for some crazy reason doesn't dig on caramel flavors. we're going to have to work with him on that. i'll post photos and a recipe soon!

dear diary, i love my tent

it took me forever to find a decent cup of coffee this morning! i was way too lazy and lame to make a pot this morning before i left the house, and the hospital coffee is cheap but is just so bad that i can't drink it anymore. i'm fairly sure it's not made of beans, but instead from old socks. old, burnt, crusty socks. i shudder to think. coming back to work from five days off is hard, y'all. getting up early because i have to get dressed and take a shower and be civilized is not as much fun as sleeping in late, living in a tent and being slightly dirty all the time. granted, our most recent sojourn to jim creek was a short one, but we got into the swing of things by not really unpacking from our last trip out. work today is nice and quiet and a good way to ease back into things, but i'd prefer to be crashed on the couch watching tv with the kids. they got a whole summer, why can't i?!

jim creek was gorgeous! the big downside to it is you have to be military or be related to someone in the military to go, the other downside is that you aren't actually allowed anywhere in or near the creek itself (it's protected for salmon and freshwater mussels). all that water, but no wading! they have some lakes and boats you can rent for fishing, but you can't swim in them, which is also sort of lame. especially if it's hot. you'd think maybe they'd have a pool or something there as an alternative, but they don't. the campsites themselves were really nice; they had privacy hedges between sites, and the RV's were in a seperate part of the campground. i have nothing against people to camp in RV's per se, i mean, people should vacation and camp any way they like, however, when we were out at prineville we were right by two big RV's and campers who stayed up all night long watching tv and movies. their camping was noisy and bright and irritating if you were living next door in a tent. i think having campers in vans and RVs out on their own turf is just a reasonable thing, as well as polite. jim creek also had some cute as hell cabins out there, which i really wanted to stay at. my little family scoffs at the idea of this as "camping" but i don't care. living in a tiny, rustic cabin (or yurt! don't forget my favorite!) for just a few days makes me feel all laura ingalls wilder, and i love it. plus, sometimes when i camp i'm less all about hiking and hanging out outside, and more about just taking some quiet time "off" from the rest of the world. doing some thinking, reading, writing or whatever away from TVs, radios, and the rest of the world is just a nice thing to do sometimes. it's refreshing. i don't always need to be out doing stuff, especially considering i'm one of the laziest people i know. i'm all about getting my sloth on at times!

we had a great time on our both camping trips, and last night before drifting off to sleep D and i talked about how much fun we had and how excited we are to take more trips. we'd like a bigger tent so we can all sleep in there (the boychik right now prefers to sleep in the car; he gets a bit of privacy and a bit more room to stretch out), or at least have more wiggle room. we're getting better at camping all together, although on both trips we forgot stuff. once it was silverware, once it was fire, and i kept talking about yogurt and granola for breakfast and then forgot the granola! nothing huge or life-shattering has ever been left behind, though, so i think we're doing okay. i know it's late in the camping season, but the best thing about the pacific northwest is that we often get our best weather starting in september, so we probably have at least one more trip in us. i'm hoping for two, but we'll see! first we have to attack the mountain of laundry and get kids ready for school (ASB cards are $30 at the high school. can you say WTF?!). they go back in a little less than two weeks, and while it's been great having them around, i'm kind of looking forward to having my monday's back. monday was always the day i had off by myself, and i got a lot done on that day, and enjoyed a bit of quiet alone time. i'm a much nicer person and more pleasant all around when i get a bit of alone time, trust me.

vacation all i ever wanted

the past couple of weeks have been a hell of a lot of fun. we all went down to prineville to go camping, and that was awesome. the reservoir was nice and warm, perfect for swimming or going on sea-doos or boating. there were a million kids there, and despite a few reservations on the parts of M and C, a good time was had by all. all the kids got along great, we ate some great dinners, got a ridiculous amount of sun (our new skins are coming in quite nicely, bytheway), and came home tired, dirty and happy. can you ask for more out of a camping trip? i think not. i worked a few days after we got back, spent one day majorly cleaning the house, and now we're back on vacation week part two. tomorrow we got on a small overnight camping trip with D's brother and family, which should be fun.

we've been doing crazy amounts of cooking as well on our little vacation. the weather's cooled down a bit, making grilling and baking a lot less painful and stifling. the other night i made pizza dough for the first time; a process that was a lot easier than i thought it would be. the results were good too, although the next time i make it i'll add a bit more salt to the dough and let it rest a bit more before baking. it made great zucchini pizzas, which is good because as those of you with friends or family who garden know, it's totally zucchini time. we've eaten it in salads, grilled, baked, in pizzas and added to just about anything that might need a touch of green. tonight i may make some muffins or something to use up some more of it! it's a green squash invasion, to be sure. on today's agenda as well is the making of some pork sausage. while out shopping yesterday we found pork shoulder roasts for only .99 cents a pound, which my dear sweet boyfriend couldn't say no to. the look on his face was like a boy on christmas morning! we're in the middle of grinding and cooling, waiting for everything to come down again in temp so we can grind some more and add some spicy goodness. we're going to try a couple new recipes, you can be sure i'm taking pictures and notes as we go along. the waiting is the hardest part for me, i just want to get in there and make it now, but if you go too fast the meat gets too warm and the results are lame. patience is a virtue and all that jazz.

this is one reason i want to marry D; i love days where all we do is cook and goof off and make stuff. i have fun with him, i get excited about trying new recipes and trolling websites to find new ones. it's exciting to be with someone who is so passionate about food and cooking and gets swoony about cuts of meat and fresh veggies. i can't think of a better way to spend a "staycation" than in the kitchen, radio going, good smells coming from the oven and a mess being made.

prineville!

camping was gorgeous, hot, dusty and bright. i am sunburnt, filthy, and ready to spend the night in my own bed. funny how exhausting vacation can be. once i shower and put on something clean and brush the tumbleweeds out of my hair i'll have photos and stories! we had a great time, but i am happy to be home.

...aaahhh...

taking a few days off to go spend time with my favorite little family. packing tonight has been lots of fun; i think we're all getting excited about getting out of town and goofing off. our house-sitter comes over tonight, to use the wi-fi and watch endless amounts of tv. i still have boxes of stuff to get ready, lists to go over, and a bag to unpack and re-pack (as usual, i brought too much!). ooh boy, i'm ready to go!

have a great few days! hopefully i'll have loads of photos and stuff when i get home!

p.s. how coincidental is this post?

sun spots

this was a really fun, family-packed, busy-bee, sunny weekend. on saturday i took M out to D's folk's house for a big barbeque. D had to work all day, and the boy had just gotten home from his epic camping trip and opted to stay home and relax. after 12 days in the woods, no one could blame him. D's dad grilled a prime rib (!) which was seriously delicious. there were a lot of cousins, aunts and uncles, and more food than i thought was possible. we had a great time. i won't lie; going by myself to these sorts of family functions is a little nerve-wracking, but M really wanted to go and i wasn't going to keep her home because i was feeling a bit shy. whenever i actually hang out with D's family, though, i remember that they are awesome and fun and easy to get along with. i talked about gardening with D's dad, the kids with his mom, and a million other things with everyone else. later in the afternoon D was lucky enough to get out of work early and meet up with us. we've both been working a lot, at totally opposite hours, which made spending an afternoon together that much better.

the next day we ventured out to whidbey to see my mom, as well as my favorite evil niece. all four of us headed out there, and my sister's mother-in-law and ex were also there. i'm fairly sure my mother's new favorite thing in life is feeding the boychild. the joy she gets in stuffing him is contagious! maggie and M had a great time together. i love to hear maggie talk about her, she's always asking about her "friend" and wanting us to come over to her house, or to come visit us. they play well together, and both kids are patient and indulgent with her. she always takes a while to warm up to the boychild, i think because he's so tall, but by the end of the day she's always throwing herself at him and climbing him like a jungle gym. it was so nice to see my mom. it feels good to have my little family all together, and to see them all eating and laughing and enjoying each other. it's still a little bittersweet, given that the only time they ever got to meet my pop was in a costco parking lot, but i'll take it.

while we were home we found a box of photos we didn't know existed. mom and i pored through them, passing around the good ones and showing maggie endless pictures of her mom. she still gets a big kick out of seeing her mom as a baby, and we found some great old photos of pop. have i told you before how handsome he was? i might be biased, but it hasn't only been family members to point that out about him, honest! seeing photos of he and i when i was little, photos of him and mom being all young and dopey and in love, pictures of he and my sister (which look a lot like photos of him and maggie), it was great. i still spend part of my drive back from my mom's crying, but it's getting better. we talk about him easier now, and while i still miss him, i find more that i'm crying for my mom, and worrying about her. we're all going to be okay, and i'm thankful we have each other, but it is still difficult.

to end our weekend, we spent the afternoon inner-tubing down the nooksack river. when D was explaining it to me i wasn't so sure, but it was seriously relaxing to float on the river all day and come home sun-addled and hungry. we ate hot dogs and pasta salad, and now i'm doing laundry and getting ready for the week. the boys are watching a best-of UFC thing on tv, and the girlchild is watching coraline in the computer room (a.k.a. our room). we're settling in for the night, happy and sleepy and getting ready for another week. i'm certainly glad we all have mondays off together this summer. this saturday we head down to oregon for a nice, long-ish camping trip, and we're all looking forward to that too. i need to start making lists of dinners and stuff we need to pack and buy. i'll do that after i finish the laundry, honest...you know, if i don't get sidetracked by beer and ultimate, no-holds-barred, octagon cage fights.