silver bells and cockle shells

Eight days after planting seeds (and the tomato and strawberry plants) my garden is growing. I think it's the cutest little thing. All of my vine plants are sprouting up: Tomato, Peas, Cucumbers and Beans

lettuce my aggressive strawberries (anyone know? Can I trim them back?) onions

spinach

swiss chard

carrots

(it's hard to see the green sprouts but trust me, they're there)

I'm going to dream about a fresh salad tonight!

Tonight, however, brings us another slight chance of severe weather. Since Matt is out of town Mr. Buddy set up my nasty-weather garden-shelter for me. (Everyone needs a Mr. Buddy for a neighbor!) my budding fresh salad is snug as a bug

The weather radio already went off with a Tornado Watch for the overnight. Unfortunately it went off within ear shot of Lauren who for the first time freaked out. She heard it mention thunder, lightening and hail. (oh the hail!) She sobbed that the thunder scares her, the lightening hurts her eyes and, amidst gasping sobs, that Tera told her hail can make a huge hole in her head. Tera and I will have a chat the next time I see her. =)

I assured Lauren that my job was to keep her safe and no matter what I would.

I love these intense storms (including the weather radio for warning and the basement for shelter) and if we ever move back to the Pacific NW I will miss them.

Moving on: I talked to Matt today and he is doing much better. He was able to give his presentation as scheduled and was actually going out to eat some dinner. I told him to order whatever he ordered VERY WELL DONE. I should probably insist that he only eat my cooking. We rarely eat out at restaurants but when we do he often (well twice now) catches some kind of bug.

One last thing: Tyler says the absolute coolest things. He's very literal and analytical. After watching a mattress commercial on TV he said, "Mama, have you ever seen a mattress that growed?"

"No son, I haven't"

"Well it was on TV and they said it was 16 years old."

(Since we have Tivo/DVR and normally fast-forward through all the commercials, he thinks it's a special treat to watch them and he listens intently.)

a day and night at the beach

Matt is presenting at a conference on Pensacola Beach tomorrow (Monday) so we decided to take advantage of a (partial) paid trip and spend the weekend at the beach.

Tyler settles in at the hotel and practices his new smile.

It was a little foggy Saturday morning so before hitting the sugar sand beach we explored Fort Pickens (again.) As you can see...this really is Tyler's new smile. Bless his heart!

we toured the fort at a child's pace (running)

soon after we began, we were done

finally - BEACH TIME

(it was a humid 85 degrees, sometimes foggy but no one complained)

our slice of beachly heaven

(our hotel, the Hampton Inn, is behind us)

We spent hours on the beach and had a blast.

I'm pretty sure The Gulf of Mexico is my favorite body of water that touches the United States.

(sorry Mom and the Pacific)

playing after dinner at Crabs

uh-oh someone missed a spot with the sunscreen (she's humoring me with a sad face even though she insists it doesn't hurt (yet))

The restaurant had a balloon guy so of course T and L needed balloons.

a parrot

a rabbit (said rabbit popped 30 seconds after the picture was taken...the smile on her face disappeared 30.2 seconds after the pic was taken.)

After the rabbit popped we left the restaurant. Lauren was in tears. I'm thinking this was a sign, and not a good sign.

In the middle of the night Matt woke up sick. We're pretty sure food poisoning sick. He was up all night and into the morning. I had to make a tough decision. The original plan was for me to drive home with the kids on Sunday (they have school on Monday) and Matt would catch a ride with a co-worker after his presentation. After his hospital ordeal last year every time he throws up I think it's a life and death situation. So after hanging out for a few hours this morning we decided he seemed to be on the mend. I decided we could leave him in Florida. We also let his co-worker know that he was on-call if Matt needed anything...food, water, a ride to the nearest ICU.

So I drove the kids and I home...a 6 hour drive with one stop for lunch and obnoxious traffic. (I'm pretty sure everyone in metro Atlanta went to the Florida panhandle for Spring Break and we ALL drove home this afternoon.)

****I hate to make a long post longer and I know the future Tyler will KILL me, but I need to insert a story here. Right when we hit the GA border the traffic was stop and go. When we were 15 miles (stop and go, remember?) before the next exit Tyler said he needed to go tee tee "really, really, really, really bad." I told him I'd stop as soon as I could. Well he shook, held, squirmed and eventually cried (bless his heart!) and begged me to pull over (on the I-85) so he could go in the grass. Finally we made it to the exit and we ran into the nearest gas station. He went into the single user Men's room while I stood out the door. After awhile I heard him say, "Momma, something happened in here." Through the door and within ear shot of other Gentlemen waiting for the Men's room, he said, "I accidentally went poo poo on the floor. I thought it was only a toot." OMGosh! Thank goodness it was a single user Men's room because I'm not sure what I would have done in a bathroom full of urinating males. I walked right in and did what any good Mom would do. (scoop and flush using almost an entire roll of toilet paper) And then we got the heck out of dodge.****

We finally made it home safe and sound. I got the kids fed and tucked into bed but as I was typing this post the power went out. (another sign?) After scrambling in the pitch black to find the flashlight and light some candles I called Matt on my cell to check on him. He wasn't feeling much better. He still can't keep any liquids down. He said he'll try to make it through the night and if he's still sick tomorrow he'll go to the hospital (what? WHAT!)

After that phone call the power was finally restored and luckily, my entire post was saved (hopefully a positive sign?)

I really don't believe in signs but all I know is Matt better get himself healthy real quick. Because I for sure can't handle another life and death hospital stint. Especially one that takes place in a Pensacola hospital. (do they even have hospital's down there?) I'll keep you posted.

Troy's Mom (an update)

I'm not sure if you all are interested in these updates but it's something I think and pray about before falling asleep every night. I've only met Troy's mom twice but she's my age and she was completely healthy. During a neck adjustment at the chiropractor's office her vertebral artery was torn which caused a stroke and damaged her brain stem. Her brain stem is damaged but the rest of her brain is functioning just fine (according to the doctors.) She's able to hear, see, understand, etc. etc. but she's not able to speak or move. According to the latest CaringBridge update, "The Doctor described the feeling she is having as being locked in a box." It's hard for me to even think about what she is going through. From what I hear she is a fighter. I'm praying for her and I truly believe in the power of prayer. Please pray for her as well.

Spring Break 2011

Today marks the halfway point of our Spring Break 2011. (we sure love our breaks here in GEORGIA...Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter and now Spring) Our days have been productive yet monotonous. I thought I'd choose TODAY since I don't have much to say to give you a run down of a typical Spring Break day in the Untangling Life household.

5:30am: Both kids wake up, tiptoe downstairs and then play LOUDLY for two hours while I pretend to sleep.

7:30am: Matt and I "wake-up." (Matt likes to sleep in during Spring Break.)

8:00am: Breakfast

8:15am: Matt leaves for work. (Every morning he wishes he didn't have to drive 45 minutes to his office.)

9:00am: The kids and I leave for the YMCA. I work out and they play in the child-watch.

11:00am: We leave the Y and head to the park to meet up with our Mom's Club friends.

At the park we eat lunch, play on the playground, and feed the geese

2:00pm: We head home from the park.

2:15pm: I shower (finally) and the kiddos play the Wii.

3:30pm: We leave for Lauren's gymnastics class.

5:00pm: Head home from gymnastics to find Matt prepping dinner. (yay!)

6:00pm: Eat Healthy Sausage Pizza with Sweet Peppers (awesome pizza!)

7:00pm: Clean up, have a snack and then watch educational videos on the iPad. (sometimes I love that thing)

They were loving the Brain Pop app !

(very educational...check it out)

8:00pm: Two very tired kids get tucked into bed, with a firm warning that they are not allowed to get up until the clock says "6:30am!"

8:30pm: I start to post my blog.

9:00pm: I'm so ready for bed...after I watch an episode of General Hospital, of course. =)

G'Night Y'all

I don't bake cookies

Baking cookies is not one of my favorite things. I don't like the tedious-ness of the whole thing. Scoop tablespoons of cookie dough onto cookie tray, bake, cool, remove and repeat and then wash the sink full of dirty dishes. Not my cup of tea. Luckily, (for the cookie lovers in my family) my husband doesn't mind baking cookies. In fact, my children think only Daddy's know how to make cookies. (and really, what's wrong with that?) For Christmas Santa brought Matt a couple of silicone baking mats and today he was finally able to try them out. (Has it really been that long since he's baked cookies or have I just not reminded him that he has them?) He loved the baking mats. He didn't even need to use a spatula to remove the cookies.

They came right up and were perfect in consistency and shape. Matt and I highly recommend them.

While I don't enjoy baking cookies I do love to cook dinner. We've been enjoying some great dinners lately and I thought I'd share.

(no pictures...just links to recipes)

Havarti Turkey Heros

(feel free to omit the peanuts like I did)

Caramel Pork

Yumm.

Israeli Vegetable CousCous with Feta and Olives

(this is from the April 2011 Weight Watchers magazine so the copyrights are strictly enforced...aka I can't find it on the internet) It was really good though!

Chicken with White Beans & Tomatoes

Grandma Jan recommended this Real Simple recipe and everyone loved it. Instead of chicken thighs I used 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (because that's what I had on hand.) I baked it at 350 for 35 minutes.

tomorrow:

Sausage Pizza with Sweet Peppers

can't wait!

P.S. In case you were wondering, last night's tornado watch was just that...a watch. We got an inch of rain (in 3 hours), some high winds and a bunch of lightening and thunder but nothing more than that. My garden and all our trees in the yard survived.

Tornado Watch Tonight

It looks like the tornado already hit but don't worry this is just Tyler, Lauren, Tera and Big Tyler playing. I'm not sure what they are playing and I'm not sure who won. All I know is no one cried and that makes me a happy Mama. The Tornado Watch for Atlanta is already in effect but the bad weather shouldn't hit us until around 1 o'clock in the morning. I'm a little bummed about this weather system coming through since I just planted my garden YERSTERDAY! So while the children played on the swings...

Matt built a shelter for my little garden.

(ain't he awesome?!)

No, it's not for the children...but for my little plants and seeds.

(For the shelter he used a rug from the 2009 Final Four basketball tournament. I'm guessing he got this rug from our friend who works for Coke...ya think?)

He staked it in to hold up against the potentially strong winds.

I opened my water container to hopefully capture some free rain water. As the sun set and the high winds set in the girls played in the sandbox...

and the boys played with the iPad.

I think the storm is supposed to fly by just North of us but I'm sure we'll 'enjoy' some thunder and lightening tonight.

Going Granola: the Square Foot Garden Edition

It is the 1st week of April and the Dogwoods are blooming. Down here in Georgia, that means it is time to plant the garden. Before I get to my first EVER garden I have a couple of updates for you.

Update #1: Troy's Mom (the 33-year-old who suffered a stroke) is going to survive. She is able to answer questions by blinking her eyes (once for yes and twice for no.) She will go through a tremendous amount of therapy but is expected to have a significant recovery. She suffered her stroke immediately after a neck adjustment at the chiropractor's office. Although this is very rare (and I have nothing against chiropractors) please don't let them touch your neck.

Update #2: Tyler hit a coach-pitch ball during his T-ball game on Saturday! We were so proud. He is loving his T-Ball! The Square Foot Garden (based on this book)

Lauren and her gardening hat were a big help (whenever she wasn't fighting with her brother.) First we mixed 1/3 part Compost (from 3 different types of compost,) 1/3 part Vermiculite and 1/3 part Peat Moss. This made our Garden soil. We (mostly Matt) put it in our Square Foot Garden container. Matt then screwed on the grid. While Matt built the deer fence around the garden I planted the seeds. Since Anne C. asked...here is what I planted:

(l-r, back row to the front)

Tomatoes, Peas, Cucumbers, Beans

Cilantro, Jalapenos, Peppers, Basil

Spinach, Onions, Strawberries, Lettuce

Snapdragons (flowers,) Swiss Chard, Pansies, Daisies

(gotta love the Ikea kid chair supporting my be-hiney) I used popcycle craft sticks to mark my plants.

The orange pot will hold carrots and potatos. It looks a little small from the back deck.

getting bigger

Matt finished up the deer fence and added a trellis to support my vine plants.

(tomatoes, peas, cucumbers and beans)

I filled the grey bucket (on the left) with water so I can easily add it by the cupful to the plants.

Doesn't it look cute?

I really hope something will grow.