Unloading the Dishwasher

That title just draws you right in, doesn't it? This might the most unprofound blog post of them yet, but still, I'm here writing it (and presumably, you're here reading it.). Anyway, onto the revelation.

The dishes are historically Ian's chore. I never do them after dinner and even rarely do them during the day. But since he's working this week (a very noble and brave thing for a teacher to do during summer), I felt it was the least I could do to do my own dishes. I know, I'm so giving. But, giving that I am, I decided to go above and beyond and even UNLOAD and RELOAD the dishwasher from yesterday's dishes. When I began, I had the sense it was a big chore and that I was very selfless. But you know what? It took me about 6 1/2 minutes to do all the dishes. And you know how I know that? Because I was able to do the dishes in the time it takes me to sanitize my pump - three minutes in the special bag in the microwave for each side of my pump. Two sides = 6 minutes, plus a tiny bit extra. I was actually shocked at how little my *huge* sacrifice had cost me.

True, there weren't very many dishes since I worked last night (hence the pump parts that needed to be cleaned) and Ian was left to fend for himself with a frozen pizza. But still, 6 minutes? That's hardly worth feeling a martyr about.

Seven

No, not the movie, the book. I started reading Seven: an experimental mutiny against excess yesterday afternoon and I think I'm in love. Seriously, I resonate with almost everything the author Jen Hatmaker says. And not only am I totally tracking with her, I think we're long lost sisters. Twins. Identical. I'm serious. In a section where she talks about her month of eating only 7 foods, she discusses the challenge as she loves eating. Here is a direct quote from one of the sections: "Food is the centrifugal force that draws together my people. According to me, a party needs no other activity than eating...I love to chop. I love to saute. I love to deglaze. I can't live without shallots." Is that not me? A while ago I was out of shallots (gasp, I know), so I called my mom, Sarah and Mary, asking if any of them had some, since we were meeting up later that day. To my shock, none of them had even one. Mary volunteered to pick one up at the farmers' market but do you know what she said after I hastily took her up on her offer? "What do they look like?" It's a miracle the sun came up the next day.

Anyway, I was hooked on this book (and my twin) in just a few paragraphs and the more I read, the more I'm convinced she's onto something. The excess in which we live is astounding, but we don't see it, because everyone around us lives in it too. I am excited to see where her experiment takes her - seven months of fighting excess. In the first month, she ate only 7 foods. In the second month, wore only the same 7 items of clothing. In the month I'm reading now, she's given up 7 forms of media. One of those was TV, and it was while I was reading one of her entries (it's sort of written like a blog) that I became convinced we're clones. She writes, "My favorite show is currently on its fourth week - So You Think You Can Dance - and I haven't heard boo about it from my friends. They are acting like they're not watching....pretending to wish they were on a media fast because there is nothing good on and they could spend more time in Bible study and mediation like I was getting to..." I mean, come on. Her favorite show is SYTYCD? She even arranged dance parties and went to see it live. That reminds me of someone who once tried to buy tickets to see the tour only to find the LA stop sold out.

Still not convinced? She lives in Austin. I know?! Were we separated at birth or what?

Seriously, I am stoked about this book and ruminating some of my own ideas about implementing a few of the challenges she poses. I'll keep you posted. And thanks, Eric, for the book recommendation and loan! You were right - I dig it.

Baby in the Window and Not Afraid of Grass

If you've read here recently, you might remember by post about the baby in the mirror. Well, it turns out she's in the window too, much to Ruthie's delight.

We were over at Mike and Mary's house recently and Mike took several great shots of our girlie. We are also so appreciative of people taking pictures of her, since we aren't very good at it. It was fun to see Ruthie so cheerfully crawling around, even on grass. She doesn't seem to mind the various terrains we've put her on! (Thanks, Mike, for the photo!)

T Minus 3 Days

If you're a true fan, you know what I'm talking about. That's right, in just a few more days, the Olympics will begin and I can't wait! I am a die hard lover of the Olympics - I get caught up in the music (theme song for which I recently downloaded; I might just have listened to it a few minutes ago), the stories, the athletics, the people living their dreams...you get the drift. I love it all. And I can't wait for it to begin this Friday! So, am I alone? Or do any of you love it too?

Getting Caught Up on My Baking

We've had a quieter weekend, which has been great, so I've had some time to get caught up on my baking. We were all out of bread and dinner rolls. I know, I know, what will the world come to?

But now we are back in business! 

The Baby in the Mirror

Ruthie has found her, and it appears to be true love.

New Patio Set!!

After two years of plastic patio furniture and a hand-me-down table, we finally sprang for a new patio set. Ian has wanted one for a long time. What he really wanted was a comfortable place to read in the mornings and evenings, so we decided to go big on a new "conversation set" and not upgrade our table. We found one we loved at Home Depot, but didn't want to pay the $80 delivery fee, so we went home and ordered it online. But then, a week after ordering it, we got an email saying it was out of stock, for an unknown length of time. So, back to Home Depot we went, to see if we could find something else, and low and behold, we found that very set in the store! Instead of paying the delivery fee, we rented a truck for $19 and brought it home ourselves. And, we bought the floor model of one of the pieces, so we got 10% off that. After all was said and done, we ended up saving money (after spending quite a bit.) =) As soon as we got it home, we set to work putting it together. Here is how it looked when we started:

After only half an hour of trial and error, we had one chair together! Yay us! And everyone says we can't do home improvement projects...

The Bugaboo was a BIG help. =) We gave her one of the huge boxes and she loved it. We almost considered keeping it - a patio set and playpen all in one!!

And here is Ian, enjoying the finished product. Doesn't that look so good? Like something from a magazine?! We think so. Now come on over so we can have some good conservation in it!

Making Ruthie's Food

In keeping with my frugal tendencies, I am making all of Ruthie's food. So far, she's just had bananas, rice cereal (which I'm not making, thankyouverymuch - that stuff is cheap!) and avocados, which don't require any cooking. But another new mom and I are each making big batches of different fruits and vegetables and then swapping them. So far, I have cooked and then pureed huge quantities of plums, apricots, peas, and zucchini (from our garden!), and have gotten from my friend pears, carrots and yams. I literally have a month's worth of food in my freezer in the garage (oh, by the way, we got a small freezer in the garage - I really feel like a grown up now!). It's great, having this food co-op, and since I like cooking, I don't mind making the food. Ruthie's not a big fan of the food processor, but she's a big help in the Bjorn while I'm doing it. =)

 Anyway, here is a HUGE batch of peas, which I froze in two ice cube trays.

Since I still had peas left over, I then froze two portions worth (for when she's bigger) in Dixie cups and put those in the freezer too. So handy!

After the peas, our house really stank, but hopefully she'll love peas and eat them right up.

Life with Ruthie

Not too much new to report, except that Ruthie continues to be the happiest baby on earth. Well, that's what we think, at least.

She is especially happy when standing - we try not to encourage it, as we want her to master crawling first (and I don't feel like spending the next three months bent in half while she holds my fingers and walks around the room), but we can't really stop her from pulling herself up, which she does all the time.

Just last week, she pulled herself up for the first time on our coffee table, and promptly began "reading" all our books up there. Man, we're in for it with this girl. She is BUSY!

But look at this face - how can we be anything but delighted with her?

It's All Just Part of the Magic

On Wednesday, we had our final hurrah at Disneyland, before our pass is blocked out for the summer. We had to wait for Ian to come home from school (he's been in "staff development" for the past 7 days but tomorrow is his first official day of summer!) and Ruthie to wake up from her nap, but when she did, we hit the road for the Magic Kingdom. We invited my parents and had such a great time, riding a few rides, eating dinner at the Hungry Bear and walking around the Happiest Place on Earth.

But early in our trip, we had a slight hiccup. Ian was carrying Ruthie in the Bjorn and I had put on her little Robeez, these awesome tiny leather shoes my mom bought for her at Nordstrom. They are da-har-ling on her. =) Ian asked me if I thought they would stay on and I assured him that they would. Fast forward less than ten minutes, as we're just about to approach Pirates of the Caribbean, and Ian says, "Ruthie only has one shoe on." Okay, ten points to Daddy for being right. So all four of us retrace all our steps, hoping to find a tiny white shoe. Alas, no luck.

On the way out, in a vain hope, we go to the Lost and Found, where they tell us they haven't seen it yet, but we could fill out a form and they would let us know if they find it. We were both pretty sure it was a waste of time, but we filled the sheet out and left our address.

And guess what came in the mail yesterday? Yep, a tiny white shoe. Can you believe it? Now that is customer service. Even though we were irresponsible and left our belongings there, they go through the trouble to match it up with the owner and mail it back to you on THEIR dime. Very impressive.

Don't you just love Disneyland? We will miss you, oh land of churros, rides, music and customer service. Until September...