10 good things

1. Getting outside with my hands in the dirt because the sun is finally shining.
2. A crock pot of marinara sauce that made every room in the house smell good.
3. A kiss from my Husband that went on a little longer than the usual welcome home kiss.
4. Decent enough news from a Doctor's visit.
5. Rescuing a piece of furniture, selling it and parlaying it into funding for a visit to a rummage sale. I LOVE rummage sales.
6. Chocolate Rootbeer cake.
7. Squishy little kid butts and chubby baby thighs.
8. Birthday wish lists.
9. Creamed honey
10. This one is soooooo special to me: We were looking up pictures of Astroboy, because Wolf has picked that for his Halloween costume. But, you can't get an Astroboy wig anywhere, so we had to look at pics so we could fashion our own wig ("fashion your own wig", Why does that phrase please me so?) So, Matt and Wolf and I are scrolling through images when there is a picture of a very well-built gentleman wearing a speedo and a large cat's head. Wolf reaches over and gently, and silently, covers my eyes. He apparently felt that was not something that his Mommy should have to see. It was such a sweet gesture and the first time I have ever been protected by a son. I am in love. But, the next morning, Vlad woke me up with a question--" Do you have a foreskin?" "Not on me" I replied as I put the pillow over my head and tried to pretend to be asleep until a decent hour of the morning. Ah, life with little boys...

I'm thinking about stuff

:: enjoying a few warm days still. I love rainy weather if it is warm rain.

:: ecstatic that my Mom will be in town in less than a month.

Mi Madre es su Madre, or something like that...

:: feeling  a little overwhelmed as I try to adapt to all the scheduling changes in our household. I am completely a creature of habit. Would that make me Nunzilla? Creature of habit, Nunzilla, get it?

:: harvesting basil and green peppers still. And ants still. argggggh.

:: wanting to go bra shopping. La ti da. Fancy.

:: enjoying eating seeds, seeds, seeds. Can't get enough of them! Especially weird little chia seeds.

:: riding MLK Blvd. through the cultural gardens every Monday to get to Wolf's music class at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. I love that drive especially now that the gardens have been getting spruced up.

:: holding  onto dreams of actually completing a pair of knitted socks. I started knitting a pair in April, I think, and after throwing away some early attempts, I am 1/6th of the way done. Ugh.

:: thinking I would love to soak in a hot spring, which I have never done. Preferably in Japan, but that might be pushing it!

:: grateful for my husband. He is my #1 partner in crime.

Not literally my partner in crime, maybe my partner in well-meaning, spirited hijinx.

:: anticipating the astronomical doctor and dentist bills in our near future. Totally worth it to go in for a tune-up though. Just wish it was more like other businesses where you could get an estimate and compare costs and service before committing to things. It always amazes me that it is all so confusing, even though I work in the industry. It must be terrible for people that really have no understanding of what their bills say.

:: itching to get creative. If I could find an extra few hours somewhere, I could really get sewing and like hide my house under a giant slipcover! With ric-rac!

:: wishing for a supremely cute vintage tear drop trailer. I can barely control myself when I see one.

I want to eat some weird jello mold and deviled eggs and then pop in for a little seista!

:: wondering if I will get my freezer emptied out to make room for home-made applesauce galore!!! Apple-picking with the Hoffbros is one of my favorite things all year. Would you believe it ranks higher than Christmas for me?!

Burnham Orchard photo circa 2010

:: hoping for more fun days spent with my daughter and grand-pumpkin! It is almost time for a first birthday which means bearing witness to a first tasting of buttercream. It's like a tribal rite of passage. Will she like it, adore it, GASP, hate it?!?!

Here is the dynamic duo!

:: remembering when Jassy was on t.v. when she was little, maybe 7 yrs.old. She was on "Brain Drain" and she was sooooooo cute.

::Imagining what it would have been like to meet my Gma-in-love, Edna. Whenever I spend time at the home of my Mom-in-love, which I was lucky enough to do today, I can't help but feel like I know her just a little bit because her memory is so lovingly kept alive by her daughter.

My sweet little pixie husband with Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Edna

what's up in our house...

****It is the 9th anniversary for Ma and Pa Hoff!  We are amazed by how fast the time has gone and how much our love has grown!  I was sooooooooo in love on our wedding day, I surely never imagined that I could actually fall more deeply in love, but yet here we are, still making googly eyes at each other.

Well, actually we are imitating carp, but very lovingly. We do those sorts of things. Publicly, apparently.

*****I got this great new toy at Educator's Market and Toy store. I am using it as a fun way to get Wolf to make some basic math worksheets, as he loathes math facts. This has helped take some of the "BORRRR-ing!" out of it. It was only a buck!

A die in a die!  

******I can not get enough of this...

p.s. my food photog is the worst.  Not even '70's cookbook bad, just fugly.

Homemade wheat and flax bread toasted with half peanut-half almond butter with sunflower seeds and chia seeds. That sounds as stupid as one of those complicated Starbuck's orders, but I swear I am just not that fancy. But this is crunchy and creamy and sweet and salty and...o.k., it is a tad complex. 

*****We went to the Early Settler's Music Celebration at the Rocky River Nature Center with a short hike to the Frostville Museum. They had all kinds of activities and displays related to Pioneer and Native american ways of life.  The boys got to see a cannon fire, saw a log with a two-man saw, make clay pinch pots, write with a quill, dye yarn, taste honey and cornbread baked over an open fire. 

The sawing took forever, so the 'rents had to assist

They watched apple butter being made and cider being pressed and sampled it more times than they probably should have. They listened to music and tried out square dancing.  It was a great tie-in for the pioneer education we have been doing in homeschooling. BTW, I am loving the series from Little House for kiddos of the younger variety, My First Little House.  The kids love the short stories and have a better time absorbing them than from the regular Little House books.  The illustrations are nice too. I cried reading the one where they leave the Big Woods of Wisconsin for the prairie. I am total moosh inside.

**** Tonight we will attempt a "date" for our anniversary.  Nothing too far-fetched, just dinner.  We will see how it goes, as our track record is not good. Past events include restaurants being closed, shoes that hobbled me, getting too drunk to drive on ONE margarita and having to spend too long in a drug store searching for products with names that made us giggle and then sobering up on ice cream... well that actually was pretty good, so you never know!

Hoffman Family Vacation 2011!

The "Caviest Cave in the USA"

 We had a week of glorious gallivanting-- crossing the borders of 5 different states.  We started with a trip out to see my brother Cameron's troupe, Barely Balanced perform at the Bristol Ren Faire in Wisconsin. We stayed in a suburb of Chicago, and unfortunately, my brother in Chi-town, Ian, was out on tour with his band, Voice of Addiction. We must get back out there to visit him, which seems doable as the boys did pretty well on the ride. We stopped at Seneca Caverns, "the caviest cave in the USA", or as we like to call it, Hell. The caverns were great, don't get me wrong, the staff was wonderful, and the slogan is the best ever, BUT... I had on a dress and flip flops and a big old purse and it was treacherous, and I was responsible for Vladdie and apparently for cutting off any circulation to his hands as I held onto him for dear life.
Here's the pics of that leg of our travels:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627539516908/

Cameron, on stilts

Nothing says "Ren Faire" like food on a stick and giant pickles. So a giant pickle on a stick should merit at least one "Huzzah!"  

Next up was camping out at Mohican.  We stayed at our traditional campground, Camp Toodik. We first stopped at a great Amish restaurant, Des Dutch Essenhaus where even the vegetarians left full and happy.  The boys loved the toy train that runs through it and Wolfie enjoys interviewing any Amish people that he meets and especially enjoys informing them over and over that they are Amish. After refueling at the restaurant, we worked a wee bit of it off on the boys first long hike-- 4 miles of hilly terrain in Mohican State Park-- with almost no complaints from the boys. Jas and Nate on the other hand... just kidding! We camped out, the only campers that night...maybe because the gorgeous weather of the day turned into a 5 hour torrential thunderstorm that flooded most of the campsites and all of our tents. Somehow, after it stopped, clad in a garbage bag, I managed to get the fire started and bake blueberry pies with my toast-tite.  So what I mean to say is, I had completely lost my mind. The day turned into gorgeous 70 degree weather with a light breeze and we took the boys on a 10 mile canoe trip where we had the whole lake fork branch of the river to ourselves and a heron that we seemed to be following. Alas, the weather was set to have more thunderstorms plus hail and damaging winds, so we packed up and headed home.
Here's the Mohican pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627416368853/

We survived our hike!

I am a twisted firestarter. In a trash bag.

Next up, a day trip to Pennsylvania's Pymatuning State Park.  We visited the Pymatuning Deer Park for a picnic where we ate like animals (yeah, we stopped by an Amish girl selling little pies and cinnamon rolls on the side of the road. We bought one of each flavor of pie. We ate it all. and yes, Wolfie interrogated her and her Amishness) and then fed the park's animals. Then we stopped by the Linesville Spillway, "Where the ducks walk on the fish" where Wolf fell in love with "squishy mouthed fish" and longed to hug a carp.  Photographic evidence of our journey:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627417090231/

My heroes

A flurry of Carp

     We were able to celebrate my littlest baby, Vladdie turning 4 during a short break at home.  He requested a "Rainbow tornado snake cake".  We obliged.

Vlad and his cake

Vlad's  annual Birthday sign

Lastly, we decided to head back after I got off work on Saturday and revisit the spillway, at the Hoffbros' request. Then we finished off with a trip to Conneaut Lake Park. Mind you, this park had fallen on very hard times. It is not the park of my youth, but there are still so many things to recommend if you like nostalgia. 

A little glimpse into what is left of Conneaut lake and even some of the old houses there in the park:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoffmanhaus/sets/72157627539711464/

Devil's Den

The Hotel Conneaut

Many of my favorites from yesteryear were still plugging away, like Devil's Den (with the infamous wall of chewed gum), the jolly caterpillar, the bumper cars, the tumble bugs and the old hotel. After dark, we sat on the  boardwalk and enjoyed fireworks.  It was chilly and everything had that summer fading into autumn quality.  It sort of felt like you knew everyone there and were bidding them goodbye, and for me, all the memories of having been there with my Dad. A good way to end an end-of-summer vacation.

Matt swoops me up in a whip, ala Indiana Jones, and plants one on me, right in front of the whole world. Swoon.

Wolfieisms

Some recent Wolfieisms:
   --"Timing is everything."  This was his comment during our dash to get to the aquarium building at the zoo before the rain hit.

--"This is my third finest hour."  This was his comment when we got  to the aquarium before the rain hit and he was finely viewing his beloved stingray, Dot.

--Wolfie was speaking to a woman at the park. As he bid her adieu, he reached up and tipped an invisible hat to her!!! Swoon!

Something Old, Something New...

 My daughter just got married this Summer in a beautiful, eco-frugal, vintage, DIY wedding. Whew. The wedding day was so much fun, but so was all the preparation.  One of the questions we had to answer was how do you come up with a bouquet that doesn't involve fresh or silk flowers, that can be made ahead of time and has personal meaning?  Our answer was to fashion fabric flowers from clothing that belonged to some of the Bride's Grandmothers.
  We took silk scarves, a fancy nightie, old brooches, feathers  and the jewlery that the Bride wore to prom with the Groom, and turned it into  a vintage chic bouquet.

Some of the flowers were made from a Grandmother's "fancy" nightie that was also worn in the Father of the Bride's "first" wedding!

The bouquet ended up being a really fun project that brought a lot of memories with it.  We learned a lot about making a bouquet.  One of the best tips I learned was to create individual picks for the jewelry and flower combos and then it was a lot easier to arrange the larger bouquet. We also learned that tea staining and coffee staining are cool eco- friendly tips to help blend newer materials with antiques.  Also, you can blow-dry feathers, and they stink when you do so, but not once they dry, thank goodness!

a sad little feather after a brief coffee soak, tea just didn't do it.

Post fluffing with a blow dryer

Much better and stink-free!!

Things I am loving right now...

Flax seeds  Just like that sweet little Granny in the hot sauce commercials-- I put that $^!# on everything!  In my yogurt, oatmeal, bread dough, baked goods, everywhere.  Matt got me a little coffee grinder so I can grind them up and I am a happy flax-grindin' fool.

Cocoa butter I just use this like a big old lip smacker lip gloss.  Only 100 % cocoa butter and it is somewhere around $2.  Awesome.

Skin Deep Database I love that I can easily research the risks associated with cosmetics and toiletries and make a decision whether or not I want to take those risks. Known carcinogens are in so many products it is sickening (literally) and overwhelming. I challenge you to look up a few of the products you buy for your family. If the risk is too great, you can easily find products listed that are safer.

Cleveland Metro parks We use them so much! Whether it is one of the many excellent nature centers, the zoo or just some cool little spot, you will find us there a couple of days a week.  We started going back to one of my favorite childhood haunts, Tinker's creek/ Hemlock creek.

Edgewater, a beach on Lake Erie

At one of the Nature Centers during Super Pollinator Weekend

That's me, kickin' it after a rainstorm in Hemlock creek

Bananagrams We have been playing this game like crazy!  A fun, portable game that is good even with only 2 players. I looooooove word games!

Pick-ur-own So far this summer we have hit local farms for cherries, blackberries, and peaches.  Soon will be raspberries and apples. Last night we had peaches and "cream" (skim milk, stevia and a squirt of light whipped cream,but one of my fave treats anyway!) Tonight was the mother of all calories, peach cobbler with ice cream. Amazeballs.

Actin' a fool  I had a date night the other day which included a margarita. one. Which left us "tipsy" enough (Yes, we have become panty-waists) that we didn't want to drive.  So we tormented a nearby drugstore, taking pics of things that titillated us.  Somehow we did not get kicked out.

Attention: No animals were injured, or even mildly humiliated during filming of this date night. O.k., Maybe just a little.

Grown-upVisitors Yeah, visitors that drink coffee without a straw. That are old enough to drive. It is so nice to get company that can talk to you without needing to be put in time-out for slapping or standing on the table.  It was extra nice to receive such a visitor today AND they came bearing soup, which made for an excellent dinner.  Thanks Mama Jo!

What are you loving right now?