Uncovering the Shell

beeeeeeeeeeeep

2010-07-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

Is this blog dead, or what?

Favorite Things Friday #10

2009-11-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

Dave's birthday was a week ago so I'm a little behind. But I've been wanting to post this and I'm taking the opportunity today.

A little bit about Dave:
He is a genuine big kid. He loves sugar cereals. He loves getting the t-shirt or other special offers on the back of the sugar cereals (one of the very few things he ever asks me to do for him). He is a collector of hats (mostly of the beanie sorts). Come winter time and we start digging through the hat/glove bin, I'm always amazed that we probably could clothe the heads of an entire elementary school.

His words, "Now we can be a modern family!"

He is such a good father to Charlie and Pete. He gets down on their level, ya know. He understands them, he loves them, he entertains them. They love him too. Recently, Charlie has been clapping and cheering when Daddy comes home from work.

He loves what he does at work. He loves the people he works with. That makes me happy. He is currently re-reading the Harry Potter books in his free time.

Never is a complaining word uttered from his mouth. He is gracious to me for everything I do. He is thoughtful and considerate. He is nonjudgmental. He is a man of integrity. He is practical, incredibly intelligent, and thrifty. He'll eat anything I make, except for some squash I made when we were dating but I apparently didn't cook it enough, so....

He has a few really good friends, whom of which will be his friends for life. He has a soft spot for cats because of his childhood, long-living friend, Silver.

And, he is a great dancer---the real reason for which I married him. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Favorite Things Friday #9

2009-10-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

I love free giveaways. Emergency Essentials is a neat website where you can order just that...emergency essentials. They also have a blog that gives little tid bits about food storage, what you need, that sort of thing. Last year for Christmas, my parents gave us Emergency Essentials gift certificates and I just barely ordered a bunch of #10 cans of food storage. If you get hooked up with their e-mails, they let you know when they are doing giveaway contests. I've already posted their button on my family blog and I got a $10 gift certificate in the mail about 3 days later.

And here is, yet, another chance to get a $10 gift card. Try out their food storage analyzer. It is free to set up an account where it asks you how many people are in your family. Then you enter what you have in your food storage. It calculates how many days your food storage will last, the nutrients available in the food you have and the kinds of foods you need to add. I thought it was very useful! With my little family of 4, we could survive 35 days with what I entered in the analyzer! Pretty neat, huh?! Check it out and get your $10 card.

Favorite Things Friday #8

2009-09-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Jelly Bellies!

My favorite flavors are:

Cinnamon
Pink Grapefruit
Root Beer
Black Licorice
Peach
Dr. Pepper

What are your favorites?

Garden update

2009-07-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard me rant and rave about Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, well, just go to his website, get the book at the library and contemplate the possibilities. In a weekend, we got our garden up and running. We planted from seed: beets, radishes, two kinds of lettuce, carrots, onions, beans, sweet peas, cucumbers, squash, and green peppers. Then we transplanted our three tomato plants. We are learning what things we like to grow and where to strategically plant them so they don't take over the sunlight of some poor unsuspecting lettuce plant. Here is what it looked like when things were just starting to sprout in May:

And here is today:

That monster in the middle there is apparently a bush tomato plant of the grape variety. It looked so small and innocent when I bought it at Lowe's. It is taking over and we keep having to support it up and up. Ya, probably not going to get that kind again next year. Or maybe we'll have to make that support system Mel talks about.

Another view. We replanted some more lettuce and sweet peas because we want more of them. And our green peppers are a little slow to grow, that's what the little ones are.

Our carrot box is doing so-so.

Here are just a few pictures of our harvest, though tomatoes, peas, beans, and lettuce are not included because we are constantly harvesting them.

Look closely and you'll see two tiny frogs playing in the lettuce. We love that the frogs like our garden and hopefully they keep the bugs in check.

Favorite Things Friday #7

2009-07-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

I had the best tasting, most tender, melt-in-your-mouth nectarine today. I'm pretty sure they are my favorite fruit. Nectarines are said to be a "mutant" peach. They are genetically identical to peaches but nectarines have a recessive gene that makes them fuzz-less.

If I like nectarines so much, then other people must like them too. Why, then, are there not nectarine-flavored things like yogurt or candy or recipes for nectarine pie or crisp? Nectarine-flavored gum, jelly bellies, fruit juice, ice cream, jell-o, or chewy vitamins.

Someday I'd like live in a place where I can grow nectarine trees and pick them perfectly ripe. That would be nice.

Favorite Things Friday #6

2009-06-26T10:23:00.001-07:00

So I took a bit of a vacation from FTF. But I'm back and committed to keep postin'. Today's feature: Good friends and bubbles. I'm convinced, it really doesn't get better than this.

Anna, the cutest little girl in golden curls you've ever seen!

Favorite Things Friday #5

2009-05-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Square-Foot Gardening--the simplest way to garden. All I did was follow Mel Bartholomew's book and website and wala! I'm a gardener. I'm convinced the soil mixture is the secret: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 of a variety of composts.

With a 4 x 4 foot square, we've planted:
onions, 2 varieties of lettuce, 3 varieties of tomatoes, beets, squash, radishes, beans, peas, cucumbers, and peppers! And our carrots have their own box that is a little deeper. We transplanted the tomatoes but everything else we started from seed.

Here are my radishes up close. Check back in a few weeks and I'll have tomatoes.

Favorite Things Friday #4

2009-05-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

I have an unhealthy addiction to watching Gilmore Girls. 7 seasons sure takes a long time to watch. I've been checking out DVD's and watching them constantly...I mean constantly for 10 weeks now. These people and their lives have become REAL to me. They are people I know. Call them friends. Only it is pretty one-sided. Not pretty, IS one-sided. I'm gonna need to get my own set of these DVD's because this is going to become a yearly 3 or so month event. Had I an extra $200, I could buy the complete series on ebay. I need, I need...Hummmm, Mother's Day is coming up.

Forgotten...Favorite Things Friday #3

2009-04-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Oops, I'm already behind.

Ode to Tulips

um....Okay, I'm not a poet. But if I were I would write a very nice poem about tulips and why I think they are a wonderful flower. My favorite.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T06:41:00.001-07:00

Ever since I learned the word "biodegradable" as a Brownie Girl Scout in the 3rd grade, I have tried to respect this planet Earth. Hug a tree here, pick up litter there. Reuse, reduce, recycle. It seems the trend these days is "Green". Everything and everyone is turning "green". We have a new grade school being built down the street that is "green" with solar panels etc. People roll their eyes, but I say the "greener" the better! Call me naive, but I don't care if it is the trend, as long as people are making an effort I think it is a good thing.

Favorite Things Friday #2--Gripe Water

2009-04-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

"Here I come to save the day!!!" (Mighty Mouse singing voice) Behold, Gripe Water, the best stuff ever. In the middle of the night, a gassy baby won't sleep for anything. If the baby isn't sleeping, neither is anyone else. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of gums is immediately soothed with 2 tsp. of this nectar sent from Heaven. Ginger and Fennel extracts with a touch of Chamomile settle the gassy stomach and all is well again. Zzzzzzzz.....

Double stroller

2009-04-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

We got this Valco baby stroller for $90 at a local consignment sale. It is in good condition and works pretty well for our needs. If only it will stop raining so we can get out and use it!

A dang good haircut

2009-04-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

...if I do say so myself.

Favorite Things Friday #1

2009-04-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Maybe a weekly thing will keep me committed to this blog. In no particular order...just things that make me happy.

Yummy Japanese vinigarette-like sauce. A Japanese neighbor of mine recently brought over some cucumbers with roasted sesame seeds soaked in Ponzu sauce and I am addicted to them! It is such a nastalgic taste to me and just transports me back to Japan. The sauce is used with lots of Japanese dishes like Shabu-shabu and Yakiniku, some yummy dishes that I'll have to save for another Friday.
Here is the recipe to make your own if you can't get to an asian market, however, you might need to go to the asian market to get some of the ingredients. :o)

Ponzu Sauce

Yield 2 1/2 cups

Time 15 minutes, plus 2 hours

Mark Bittman

Summary

Homemade ponzu will keep for several days with no loss in quality.

Ingredients

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, more to taste
1/3 cup fresh lime juice, more to taste
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 cup good-quality soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin (or 1/4 cup sake and 1 tablespoon sugar)
1 3-inch piece kelp (konbu)
1/2 cup (about 1/4 ounce) dried bonito flakes
Pinch cayenne

Method

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Let sit for at least 2 hours or overnight. Strain. Just before using, you might add a small squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice. Covered and refrigerated, ponzu will keep for at least several days.

Source: The New York Times

Back from hybernation

2009-04-10T18:00:00.001-07:00

Apparently, the Shell has been very covered for a very long time. I want to regroup here and get back to bloggin'!

Which Twlight Heroine are you??

2008-10-17T05:15:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Fortune Cookies

2008-09-09T10:50:00.001-07:00

I just happened to be on a sewing kick last week when I was preparing my sharing time. This wasn't my idea totally. But it is pretty fun what you can come up with if you just improvise.

Baaak baaak baaak!

2008-08-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

I roasted a chicken yesterday for the first time. I usually just buy the rotisserie ones from BJ's or something. It was pretty easy. The hardest part was washing it in my sink, having to imagine where the head and feet used to be. That part was less desirable but the final product tasted great!

Home grown...I'm so proud

2008-07-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at growing tomatoes here in Maryland...They are a bit slow because of the lack of light on my porch steps but I'm using the railing as support and I don't mind the wait. They are just starting to ripen. However, I'm going away for two weeks and I'm afraid that they will all be ready to be eaten before I get home!

Suicidal Spider

2008-06-10T09:20:00.001-07:00

So there I was..

Cooking bacon for BLT's, minding my own business. Then, out of no where, something...or someone...dive bombs it into my sizzlin' bacon grease, Kamikaze style!
"What species would be so foolish as to jump into a pool of piping hot bacon grease?" I thought. A closer look revealed it to be a small spider. This small spider must've had spirit, though. Was it a dare that caused this brave soul to plummet to its death?? Or was it the end of a tragic love scene?? Perhaps it felt no one cared. Whatever the reason, this spider is now crispier than my bacon!

(Some legs got detached when I rearranged it for a better view.)

I had no idea...

2008-06-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

I really didn't. I had just heard from a few people about the books and innocently put my name on the waiting list at the library for all three. Finished them in about two weeks. Yea, they were great! But I had no idea how big her following was!! Just the sheer number of fan sites is amazing. She's HUGE to say the least. With #4 coming in August and the movie coming in Dec., I hope this quick rise to fame isn't short lived, for her sake. Bigger than Harry Potter??? That's quite a statement.

dinner tonight

2008-04-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

I have always struggled with ideas for dinner. I frequently wait until the very last minute or I spend all day looking at recipes to find something that I have the ingredients for.
BUT! Tonight I will be prepared!
Have you all discovered iGoogle yet? It is kind of neat way to personalize your google homepage. You can choose a theme and it has little mascot characters at the top that do different activities throughout the day. I have a frog and a lady bug who are playing croquet right now. Sometimes they dress up in karate pants and kick through boards. I have Japanese vocabulary and local weather.
The "How to" of the day section is what caught my eye today. One of my favorite Japanese dishes is easily made and I happen to have all the ingredients (except for the sake and the pickled ginger bits, which I can do without).

Katsu Curry (breaded and fried pork cutlets and curry)

Thanks wikiHow!

april fool's day after blues

2008-04-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

This may be a silly thing to admit, but I was disappointed that I didn't get one single joke played on me yesterday. Not even a "What's-that-on-your-shirt?"-flick-the-nose kind of joke. I thought for sure my I-LIVE-to-play-practical-jokes husband would have thought of something. I even waited until the very last minute of the day after all the lights were turned off and the covers pulled up....nothing.

I played my own little jokes, though. I food colored the milk green. I made meatloaf cake, frosted with mashed potatoes and wrote "Happy April Fools" in barbecue sauce. I even played a trick on my husband that he hasn't discovered yet, hee hee.

I supposed you could say that Jeopardy played a trick on me. I swear that I saw a mustache on Alex Trebek one minute and then the next camera shot of him.....there was no mustache!! I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Tell me about jokes you played and jokes that were played on you.

4 1/2 months ago

2008-03-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Reach into the deep depths of your memory and try to remember 4 1/2 months ago. Need a refresher? Yes, if I dare go there, I'm dredging up the experience that I tried so hard to forget. Only it isn't that easy to forget since I see the repercussions everyday in the mirror. What I didn't tell you all is that I went back to the original hair salon and asked for my money back. Then I drove 30 min. to go to another lady who has a salon in her home. She was very sympathetic of my bad hair cut and tried her best to fix it, necessarily cutting it even shorter. But the damage was already done and it just needed time to grow out.

As the weeks and months went by, the upside down pineapple evolved into a pyramid with a duck tail...no really, those are the official technical words! I waited as long as I could to let the little dividing, then dying cells build up and build up until I couldn't stand it any longer. Plus, we leave to go visit family in Denver next week and we are taking a family photo, thus the whole motivation to get it cut. Here are the results:

(The back view is what really went through transformation. The front pretty much looks the same.)

You might be saying that it would be helpful to see the before picture. Well, I'll just tell you that it was too bad to document and you'll just have to trust me on this one. I'm happy with this cut. Phew!

Gotta share these!

2008-02-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Neglect

2008-01-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well, this blog has officially been neglected. I hope that isn't some sign of how well I'm taking care of myself. I'm afraid it may be.

Just wondering...

2007-12-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have always been fascinated by sleepwalking/sleepwalkers. First of all, I haven't ever seen anyone sleepwalk before. Do they really walk with their arms stretched out like a zombie? And can they really not remember or have any control over what they are doing? That's just scary to me. I think my cousin, Tyler, used to or still does sleepwalk.

Especially, with those sleeping pills these days, where the commercials say, "if you experience sleepwalking, driving while asleep, or eating while you are asleep, contact your doctor." How are you supposed to know if you are doing these things if you are asleep??

On the other hand, I have experienced a good share of sleep talking. Now, that is funny! Especially, when you can interject and carry on a conversation and they respond. They totally can't remember what they said. Back in my college days, my roommate's mom came to visit and she was taking a nap on the couch. Tiff had told me about her mom and how much fun they had had growing up, getting her to talk in her sleep. Hee hee hee, we got such a good laugh outta that one. I kind of felt bad, but then what is the harm if they don't remember anything?

I want to know if I know any closet sleepwalkers out there. Show yourself, you! Apparently, about 10% of the population will experience it at least once in their lifetime.

WOW, so WEIRD!

2007-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, it has been a little bit but I have most definitely found something cool to share with ya'll. (I live in Maryland now, where people actually do speak with southern accents and that gives me leave to use the word, "ya'll".)
You know those 3-D pictures that are computer generated where you concentrate and use some not-used-very-often muscles in your eyes and you see the "hidden" pictures? Well, THIS gives a similar "rush" once you figure it out.
I started out seeing it spin counterclockwise which would lean me towards left brained. But now I can change the direction whenever I want. Focus on the spinning foot or try to look at it through your peripheral vision. More than trying to determine which way it spins for me, it is cooler to me to be able to change the direction at will. Let me know if you can do it! SO WEIRD!

Nicknames...they stick with ya

2007-11-27T13:51:00.001-08:00

My roommate in college gave me the nickname, "Eggshell" along with any other word that had "shell" in it: "Magicshell, Turtleshell." I suppose it is fitting that these pictures find their way to me.

Worst haircut in the history of women

2007-11-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm literally crying right now. Don't you think that if you bring in a nice specific picture with views of front and back of a cute haircut that they could at least get it anywhere close to the picture??? I look like a pineapple...upside down! I'm just sick about it. What do you do when the hair cutter person is arguing with you that THIS piece is supposed to be longer? All I could say was, "It looks good," halfheartedly. I'm not an "in the moment" kind of person. I always react after the fact, when it is too late. Sure, now I have plenty of things to say!

I mean, these women who take us under the cutting scissor's knife really have NO idea what they put us through. For me, getting a haircut is so nerve wracking that I always come home with a tension headache because every muscle is flexed while I'm getting cut. I get flushed, have to remind myself to breathe, find myself making weird twitching shapes with my fingers.

You know, usually, after a haircut, it takes a washing and a styling yourself to really see if it is an okay haircut? Well, I did give it that chance and it is literally the worst haircut I've ever seen. Holes and unevenness all over the place. I can't go out in public looking like this. I have a pit in my stomach.

What else can I say...There is just nothing worse.

A Good Way to Start and End the Day

2007-11-17T15:28:00.001-08:00

So, yes, I am a mother of a 9 (almost 10) month-old boy. Before he was born, I was warned by many that, "you've got to watch out for boys" and "boys are different, they'll getcha." You mean, the whole diaper changing thing right? Yep. They pee on ya. Since the first diaper change, I've had my fair share of drinking fountain-style streams shot forth at me.

However, this morning I was caught off guard, standing by the changing table. I looked away for a second, then looked back and suddenly felt wet being sprayed into my eyes and around mouth area. "AAAAAAAHHH!" I shouted. That's right, folks, my son peed in my mouth. All my husband, Dave, could do was stand at a distance and say, "I'm sorry that happened to you (snicker)."

Also, around 9-10 months a little devious monster emerges and suddenly they start protesting routines that have been routines for 9 months! You wouldn't think they would be so attached to that stinky, very full diaper? "What?" you say. Well, why else would they protest getting their diaper changed so much?!

Dinner time used to be so peaceful. Anything that was put infront of him, he ate. When he was full, he'd let us know. Now, it is like dodging the spinning propellers just to get the spoon in and out without a major splattering all over the place. Tonight, peas was the choice of vegatable. I will replay the events exactly as they happened:
"Dave, I'm goin' in!"
"Shelly.....(long pause) be careful. Its a jungle in there."
"Call for back-up if you don't hear from me in 10 minutes."
I swerved this way and that. Must...get...spoon...in...mouth...
YES!! I did it. "Breaker, breaker, the rabbit is in the hole, I repeat, the rabbit is in the hole."
"Wait, NO! AAAHHHH!"
"Code red, code red! I've been hit. Multiple hits in the eye and mouth! I've been...PEAD. The enemy has used the dreaded machine gun with full force!"
And that's exactly how it happened.

So, you see, I began my day by being peed on and ended my day by being pead on.

My Love for Cheese

2007-11-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

www.pdphoto.org

Really, I would marry it if I could. I love all kinds of cheese: cheddar, Swiss, Colby, mozzarella, cream cheese (especially when it is cream cheese frosting!), just to name a few. But today I would like to nominate brie as the cheese of my heart. I love to slice it thick on baguette bread (as pictured above) and melt it under the broiler. Mmmm...so good. Anytime I can muster up an occasion to splurge and get some, I do it. My first trip to Trader Joe's was about a week ago. I went in to see what all the hype was about. I didn't intend on buying anything except for when I came across the cheese section. The brie was on sale and I HAD to have some. That's all I wanted.

"Can I please, can I please??"

For most people, maybe it was unusual to walk out of Trader Joe's with only one thing. The guy at the check out counter said,

"That's IT?! That's all you have?"

"Yep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Wow. Usually people come in for just a few things and end up spending $150."

"Not me."

"Would you like a bag."

"Nope."

Funny thing about Trader Joe's...everything is hormone-, pesticide-, yada yada-free. That's great and I'll support the cause whenever I can pretty much afford it. But, sometimes they just don't make sense. For example, on the label for my brie cheese, it says,

"Our cows just say noooo Our Farmers Guarantee" and then in the middle of the stamped seal it says, "MILK *from cows not treatedd with rBST*."
That's great! Really.

Then in even bigger lettering, just above the Nutrition Facts, it says,

"No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from cows treated with artificial hormones and those not treated with artificial hormones."

Kinda funny. But I still love my brie.

Distracted

2007-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

I got off to a good start with two posts in one day and then not a word for over a week. Well, I'll tell ya, I've been involved in another world. My mother tipped me off to a blog featuring a series about a woman and her rancher husband and how they met. She is a great writer and frankly after reading her work I don't have a whole lot to say in comparison. She's great and has a huge following. Like thousands of people who actually leave comments and, I'm sure, lots who just read silently. I couldn't sleep last night because my mind was racing with her witty way of writing and the romantic story. Now, I'm just waiting for the next installment. It's like waiting for the next Harry Potter.

P.I.

2007-10-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

A P.I. came to my house today. Being in the science world, "P.I." stands for principle investigator, the guy who runs the research lab, the boss, the guy who writes grants that, these days, probably won't get funded. But there is another "P.I" that is more widely recogized as a private investigator. One came to my house today. My significant other has just entered a field in which he needs security clearance. This P.I. called, set up an appointment, showed up to the minute, on the dot, came in, sat on my couch, with notepad and pen in hand. It was very robotic. Not at all how I had imagined it. She had done this many times. I guessed she was just here to confirm information that had already been given to her. I suddenly was being asked questions like "Do you have any reason to suspect or question your husband's loyalty to the United States?", and "Has there been anytime since you have been married that you can not account for your husband's whereabouts, etc.?" There was a 2 week trip to Taiwan to race a solar car and, collectively, 3-4 weeks of backpacking with his buddy, but other than that, yes I can attest for everyday of our 2 year, 3 month, and 11 day marriage together. It was a very surreal experience.
When she finished the robot-voiced questions, she looked up, broke character, smiled and said, "Okay, that's it." In and out, like she was never actually there...

Epiphany

2007-10-31T20:21:00.001-07:00

Hello.
"Blog", such a little word and such a huge concept. I entered the blog world about 10 months ago with intentions to keep the grandparents updated. Though pictures of my son probably keep them satisified, I somehow felt I was misusing my http://. We recently moved even further away from my family and friends. I found myself missing the place we used to live and got caught in a blogging spree, visiting friends links, amazed at how much has changed already. But then, something happened...I wandered onto a blog of someone I didn't know. You may be saying, "DUH, that's what they are for!" But I had always thought that if I were to click on a link of something that I didn't have a clear expectation of, I would find some graphic picture, racey words, or sicko website I wished I'd have never gone to. Turns out, I'm the one that has been missing out. There is a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. I wonder if "blogging" is going to be added to the dictionary this year.

It is interesting to me that some people write as if they have a specific audience: their family, sister, circle of girlfriends, moms on the block. Others write into the deep, eternal space of cyber. Don't you feel sometimes like you are looking into someone's underwear drawer? Reading someone's thoughts about a personal sickness, catching a glimpse of the family vacation. I feel like that guy on Heros, what's his name... (let me look it up) Matt, who can hear people's thoughts. I wonder if this is what it is like in Heaven where we can communicate just by thinking. That is how I feel when I read someone's blog. Who knows how many "thoughts" are floating out there just waiting to be intercepted.

I have no one in particular I'm writing to. So if you are reading this, I am writing to youi