Snapshots: Desert Living

Of course these are all from our trip to Arizona. Because that's where I was most of last week.

I didn't have a chance to go to the grocery store ahead of this trip, so I didn't really have any particular traveling food. I made a completely ridiculous statement to A. that I could just stop for lunch at a fast food place. There were only three of us, after all. It wouldn't cost that much; it would be so easy; I wouldn't have to bring a cooler . . .

Yeah, sure. I was definitely fooling myself.

That was our lunch stop. We had egg salad sandwiches to use up the last few hardboiled eggs in the refrigerator. I also scrounged up the last of some deli ham, cheddar cheese, Triscuits, half a bag of tortilla chips, carrot sticks and radish slices, and all the candy the kids got on the last day of school. Oh, and the chocolate chip/oatmeal/peanut butter cookies I had made the day before.

It's always interesting to stay in rental houses. I encounter things I don't even know exist.

This is the microwave. It is a pull-out drawer. I was not a fan.

The first morning, I brought my coffee out by the pool.

Warm enough for bare feet, but still cool enough for jeans.

Then I got tired of listening to the humming of the air conditioning units and the frequent burbling of the pool as it cleaned itself and went back inside.

A good coffee spot.

After we got to my parents' house in Tucson, I actually went for a walk before I even had my coffee, so as to take advantage of the only time of day when I wouldn't have to walk in the merciless sun.

Light enough to see, but still no direct sun. Perfect.

Then I moved around the house to the various patios, searching for the best coffee spot.

This was the front patio, but it didn't have a particularly interesting view.

I eventually ended up on the patio right outside the back door, which has a view of the mountains. No picture, though. Sorry.

We spent much of our time swimming in four different pools. And when I say "we," I mean my children. 

Synchronized cannon balls with the cousins.

I don't actually like to swim, and I only got in my parents' pool once, for about five minutes. That was after I accepted a challenge to sit in my dad's cold-plunge tub for a full minute. The water in that is fifty degrees. That is very unpleasant. I did it, but I don't want to do it again.

He also has a sauna, which I also have no interest in.

Our last day in Tucson, we had many exciting events. First, my mother insisted we had to bring my car through a carwash. She said it was because the children would love it. I know it was because my country car covered in bug guts and dust was making her twitchy.

This is the first time I have ever gone through a car wash. It was an experience.

Next we went to play mini golf at a place that has been there since I was a kid. This was also my children's first time playing mini golf.

Golf 'n' Stuff has not changed in thirty years, God bless it.

And for one last new experience for Poppy and her brother, we went to a movie theater.

They were thrilled by the escalator.

And they loved the movie.

It was pretty funny. I enjoyed it, too.

One last lunch on the road . . .

Brisket sandwiches courtesy of my mom.

And we were home again.

There you have it! My Arizona life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Mostly Arizona

Friday 

Short version: Grilled chicken, rice, salad, cookies

Long version: This was the day I left with the younger two children to drive to Phoenix. We arrived around 2 p.m. to the house my parents had rented. My mom and dad made dinner. It was simple, but delicious.

This house had a truly giant kitchen island.

The cookies were like a store version of Girl Scout Samoas that my mom bought because Poppy loves coconut. They were not as good as Samoas, but no one had any trouble eating them.

Saturday

Short version: Hawaiian barbecue, cake

Long version: This was the night of my niece's graduation party, which was the whole reason we were in Phoenix. The graduate's favorite food is Hawaiian barbecue, so they got takeout from a restaurant for the party. I was not familiar with this food, but it was very good. Both beef and chicken in a sweet marinade of some kind--kind of like teriyaki--rice, pasta salad, and Spam and rice rolled up in seaweed. Oh, and Hawaiian rolls, which my children had never had an predictably liked.

Sunday

Short version: Reuben sandwiches, leftover vegetables, potato chips, ice cream

Long version: We went to Mass in Phoenix at 11:30 a.m. before starting the drive to Tucson to stay with my parents.

St. Mary's Basilica in downtown Phoenix is beautiful.

My mom had leftover corned beef, so she made Reuben sandwiches or just grilled cheese, depending on preference.

We had eaten party leftovers with my brother's family for lunch, so I just had some of the vegetables from the corned beef for my dinner. Plus whatever was left from my children's sandwiches, because there's always something.   

Monday

Short version: Cheeseburgers, broccoli salad, oven fries, spinach

Long version: We went to see A.'s family this day and swim in the pool at his dad's apartment complex. 

My children get all their swimming for the year into the week or so they spend in Arizona every year.

My father-in-law's wife fed us a huge lunch, so for dinner, I mostly ate the broccoli salad and fries. Very good it was, too.

Tuesday

Short version: Brisket, roasted vegetables, leftover rice, ice cream

Long version: My mom made an entire brisket, like eight pounds of meat. We ate about half of it this night. Both children had multiple helpings. They certainly burned enough calories with all the swimming and running around we did.

Wednesday

Short version: Jiggety jig soft tacos

Long version: Home again, home again. We arrived home at 4:15 p.m. A. had been eating hamburgers pretty much exclusively since the older boys had left for their FFA convention, and there was still a little ground beef in the refrigerator. There wasn't enough for all of us, but I added a can of pinto beans to it, plus salsa and spices, and that was enough in corn tortillas with cheese. 

The children had eaten large quantities of raw vegetables and fruit in the car, so I didn't bother with anything but the tacos.

Thursday

Short version: Italian sausage links, roasted potatoes, canned peas

Long version: A. had defrosted some Italian sausage, which I put right on the pan with the roasted potatoes.

Is this what they call a sheetpan supper?

We got a few cans of peas from commodities. I grew up with canned peas and loved them, though I haven't had them in many years. None of the rest of my family has ever had them. I found, to my surprise, that I still like them. A. liked them well enough. One child ate them. The other refused.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Oops

Lately I've been getting Poppy into older, longer* books by starting to read them to her. After several chapters of me reading, she'll get interested enough in the story that she'll start reading them herself. 

We did this with The Secret Garden and Heidi, and then we started Little Women.

She took over reading herself in Little Women after maybe five chapters and was happily zipping right along.

Then she came home from school and said her friend told her Beth dies in Little Women. "She doesn't die, does she, Mom?"

Uh. Well. Dang it.

Beth does indeed die. I had forgotten that. 

There was no way out of answering this question. So I asked her one of my own first. I asked her if she really wanted to know.

She did. I told her. She cried just thinking about it and then declared that she was not going to read the book anymore.

Fair enough. She can try again when she's a little older maybe. She's only eight years old. She has plenty of time to read the rest of it.

The next book I was going to read with her was Anne of Green Gables. I looked up if anyone dies in that book, because obviously my memory for these things is not to be trusted. Matthew does towards the end of the book. So now I have to determine if that death is going to be as upsetting to Poppy as Beth dying. I don't think so, since Matthew is an old man, not a little girl, but still. Maybe we should wait on that one for a little bit.

Anyone have any suggestions for classic children's books where main characters don't die? You'd think that wouldn't be so hard, but I guess not.

*This works well for older books because they tend to have longer and more complicated sentence structures. When I read them aloud, I can pause to break up the sentence with my voice. I also often have to define words, because the vocabulary in older books tends to be much more advanced, which is one reason I like them. When Poppy reads them on her own, she frequently calls out to me for definitions. 

Snapshots: Just Four

We have had such strange weather this spring. It was in the nineties in March, and then on Wednesday, May 20, I had to start the woodstove.

The last fire of the season. I think.

The MiL sent us this older book on running by Jeff Galloway, and I was not prepared for this passage.

Memento Mori, I guess, but dang, Jeff.

We have successfully completed the last day of school.

Mostly in the new gym, which, unlike the old gym, does not make all photos look green.

And now it is summer break. No more pencils, no more books, etc.

One of my pet peeves is non-human things that attempt to be conversational. For instance, I do not need to see a sympathetic error message on a website that reads, "Oops! Something went wrong. But don't worry; it's not your fault!"

The middle boy was given this water bottle at school. It has a helpful sticker to show where the push button to open the top is, and then this was under that.

I was not seeking validation for my water-bottle-opening skills, thanks.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Toad in the Hole

Friday

Short version: Toad in the hole, fruit shakes

Long version: All of the males in the family were gone working or going to town, and all of them ate fairly late and heavy lunches. I hadn't planned on anything big for dinner, fortunately, so I just made toad in the hole--also known as egg in the hole--for anyone who wanted one. 

What do you call this egg and bread preparation where you cut a hole in the bread to fry the egg in? I never had it growing up, so I call it what A. does, but I know there are lots of names for it.

And then I made fruit shakes for everyone. These are smoothies, but I hate that word, so I call them fruit shakes. This one had a banana, frozen strawberries, frozen grapes, and the last of the strawberry-rhubarb sauce. Plus yogurt and milk, of course. It was quite warm this day and half the family had been hauling and stacking hay for a neighbor, so they were very pleased to have the fruit shake.

Saturday

Short version: Hamburgers on homemade buns, baked beans, raw cucumbers and bell peppers

Long version: I was baking bread for teacher gifts, and I used some of the dough to make hamburger buns. Which were used for, um, hamburgers.

The grease-covered stove is the main reason I dislike making hamburgers.

I found one quart container of baked beans in the small freezer that I heated up, too. 

Sunday

Short version: Graduation potluck

Long version: We went to a graduation party in the late afternoon that was a potluck barbecue. Hot dogs and hamburgers were provided. Because the guest of honor can't eat any kind of bread besides sourdough, I brought him some of the buns I had made the day before. Then I also brought carrot slaw and deviled eggs.

Monday

Short version: Leftover hamburgers, Fritos, carrot slaw, and crispy rice treats at home; banquet food

Long version: I went with the older two boys to the sports awards banquet. The meal was provided--pulled pork, beans, creamed corn, potato salad--and the athletes' families brought desserts. I brought crispy rice treats.

I had three hamburgers left, plus three hamburger buns, for the three people at home. Perfect. I also had some bacon that needed to be cooked, resulting in very popular bacon cheeseburgers. And I made a small pan of crispy rice treats just for them.

Two for each person, o happy day.

Tuesday

Short version: Spanish tortilla, strawberry-rhubarb nut crisp

Long version: I made the Spanish tortilla earlier in the day, including in it some beet greens I found in the freezer that have been in there since last year and some of the last of the garden tomatoes I froze whole in November. 

While the oven was on to bake that, I also put in a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. I experimented with the topping a bit, making it with just oats and almonds pulverized in the food processor before adding the butter, sugar, etc. This worked better as a gluten-free crisp topping than just oats, which tend to get too wet in baking with fruit. The addition of the nuts made it actually kind of crispy. A good thing to remember when we have guests that don't eat gluten.

Wednesday

Short version: Creamy pork and potato soup, fried bread, chocolate chip cookies

Long version: It was quite cool this day. I took the opportunity to have the oven on for a long time to cook a pork shoulder. And then the kitchen got to 82 degrees and I had to open windows and doors to cool it down in there.

Anyway. 

The pork shoulder was so big I had to cut a chunk off so I could fit it in my biggest covered casserole. I had learned that a friend was sick, so I used that cut-off chunk to make soup to share.

I simmered the pork with onion tops, carrot peelings, and bay leaves to make a stock, and then used that and the meat, plus onion, lots of garlic, carrots, potatoes, and beet greens, to make the soup. I blended some of the vegetables before adding in the meat to thicken it all, and it came out very well.

The addition of the greens made it an unfortunate color, but it tasted better than it looked.

There were only four of us here for dinner, which meant I could fit half a piece of bread for each person into a skillet to make the fried bread. That's pretty much like a giant crouton, and is fun for dipping into soup. 

Thursday

Short version: Pork, cornbread, green salad with vinaigrette, rice pudding

Long version: This was the pork shoulder I had cooked the day before, pulled apart and broiled in its own rendered lard with spices while the cornbread was baking. The rice pudding had also been made the day before while I was cooking the pork. I figured that would be a nice treat to have on the last day of school, which this was.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

In the Thick of It

I have a friend who refers to this month as "May-cember." And any parent of school-age children--or any teacher--knows why: May is right up there with December as the craziest month of the school year*.

There are just so many things going on. So many extra events, so many special treats to provide, so much special apparel, gifts, cards, and on and on and on. There is SO MUCH to remember.

Let's just take the last week, for example.

We had field day for the elementary (sunscreen, athletic shorts, the special t-shirts provided by the school) and the FFA awards banquet (FFA official dress, which must be ironed) on the same day.

There was a field trip for one kid the day after (more sunscreen, a water bottle, spending money for the gift shop).

Saturday, I baked bread for teacher gifts.

A.'s winter hobby of painting watercolor cards has made it very easy to have a nice card to go with the bread. We're starting to run out of cards, though.

We went to a graduation party Sunday afternoon (card+cash, in addition to the food I made for the potluck). 

Monday, one boy woke up mumbling that they were watching a movie in class that day and did we have any snacks that would be good for a movie? So I was making maple kettle corn at 7 a.m. Poppy announced they were having a "camping" day in her class, as well as a water fight, so she needed a pillow and blanket and an extra set of clothes to change into after the water fight. The older two boys had track pictures, which required them to bring their track uniforms. And I had a meeting at the school in the afternoon. We finished off the day with the (THREE-HOUR LONG) sports award banquet, to which I brought a dessert, as requested.

Today is an overnight field trip for the younger two boys. I will help them get together their change of clothes, toothbrushes, etc., when I wake them up. I didn't get home from the sports banquet until after 9 p.m., which is why we didn't do it last night. Also, Poppy's teacher had a granddaughter born yesterday three weeks early, so she won't be there today and A. is going to substitute for her.

The two boys return from their field trip Wednesday night. Thursday is the last day of school awards assembly and staff vs. students volleyball game, and then we are done at 2 p.m.

Done in more than one way. We're all going to fall across the finish line this year, but we will make it. Just three more days . . .

* If you live somewhere where the school year goes to June, I suppose it would be June-cember, although that's kind of awkward.

Snapshots: Closing In On the End

First: We have lambs!

Two very healthy ewe lambs.

 The kids came home from school with these t-shirts this week.

It was a rather hectic year, with all the construction, moving schools, new teachers, etc.

Those were the shirts for the elementary field day this year, a day much anticipated by Poppy and her only brother still in elementary school.

Me and my finger waiting on the running events to start.

About two minutes after I took that photo, Poppy fell at full speed while running the 50-yard dash*. She was wearing shorts, and she absolutely shredded her knee on the rough track. It was ugly. She missed out on the sack race and the tug of war, although she did manage to do the egg and spoon race, since that's mostly walking.

The next day, her class went on a field trip. She was not in good shape when she got up in the morning. We had to soak her gauze bandage off, and she couldn't walk very well because she couldn't really bend her knee.

The place they went for their field trip had a climbing wall, which she was greatly looking forward to. I had told her she probably wouldn't be able to climb, though, because of her knee.

I should have known better. A. was there because he drove the activity bus, and he sent me this photo.

She wasn't quite tall enough to reach the bell in the middle at the top, but she almost made it.

I went to the FFA awards banquet this week. There was a peony on each table. 

Mine was sad.

And last, I found some purple flowers outside church to add to the yellow flowers that were already there.

A lot healthier than the peony.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

* She was winning, too. Alas for short-lived glory.