Growing My Garden

Yikes! I haven't posted since Monday, and I'm just not sure where all that time went!

I have a few ideas though...

1. A trip to Reno.

Being a big brother has it's perks - while I had to feed the baby at Target, Ryder got to share a frappuccino with Mama. BTW, did you know that Starbucks has a new 'mini' sized cup for their cold drinks? I'm a fan!

2. An outing to the library.

This time, Ryder was enthralled by the wooden puzzles. 

Those eyelashes!

3. Developing the habit of self-entertainment.

This one has been in the works for quite some time. We're still a long way from the goal, but Ryder is getting much better at playing on his own and coming up with creative ways to entertain himself - like this evening when he played 'Stack 'Em Up' while I fed Lynden. 

He managed to pile up 10 wooden blocks on his own. I think someone may have the Apperson engineering genes. :)

On another note, for any of you parents out there, I highly recommend these Uncle Goose wooden blocks. Not only are they MADE IN AMERICA (!!) but they're also beautiful basswood with educational letters, numbers, math symbols, and animals carved into them, and come with a canvas bag for quick and easy clean up. Definitely a toy worth having or giving to a friend. This set of Uncle Goos blocks was baby shower gift and Ryder has already gotten hours worth of enjoyment out of them. This is not a paid advertisement. ;)

3. Yardwork!

A few weeks ago, a sweet friend from church offered me some plants that were overpopulating her flowerbeds. Of course I couldn't turn her down. I know nothing about gardening in Nevada and so finding some plants that are already thriving here in this desert climate is just what I need. I came home with boxes of white and purple irises (my favourite flower), hollyhocks, lilac shoots, and a few more varieties that I can't name. Everything was free! I hurried home to get everything into the ground before a rainstorm hit. So far it seems like the plants are all still thriving. 

Ryder rode his tricycle on the driveway and Lynden dozed while I transplanted. I still have a bit more weeding to do, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow - weather permitting.

4. Enjoying the rain.

We've been praying for rain, and boy has it been coming down! The last few weeks have had more than their share of rain (no complaints from this West Coast native) and we've just been enjoying the sight and sound of falling water. The canals in town are also full and while we're certainly no Venice, it's great to see water flowing and know that the farmers are benefiting from it.

A stormy sky and full canal.

 Happy Friday One & All!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart - Recipe Included...

This weekend I had the opportunity to get creative in the kitchen again!  On Saturday we had dinner with friends and I had to got to bring desert! If you know me very well at all, you will know that I felt like a kid in a candy store.

My first plan was tiramisu. The Pioneer Woman has a pretty straight forward looking recipe for this, but my plans were dashed when I went to Safeway with an ingredient list, and realized that our little town doesn't carry mascarpone cheese - the assistant manager didn't even know what it was. :/

Ryder accompanied me to pick up our Bountiful Basket and swing by Safeway on Friday night. It's incredible how freeing just managing one child is after having two from just a few months. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the Safeway bakery just so happens to give free cookies to children - best marketing move ever!

Then on Friday night, one of those new sponsored advertisements that Facebook has started including on my newsfeed showed a quick video of how to make Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart.

SOLD

It looked simple enough. Besides heavy whipping cream for the ganache, I had everything on hand already. The only tricky aspect was that it required 9 hours to make - with chilling each different layer.

First I made the chocolate crust. I think if I were to do it again though, I'd change it up and add more crushed nuts for texture. The recipe ends up tasting more like a chocolate pie crust.

This was my first time making caramel from scratch - also known as sugar, water, butter, and cream. Well, first and second. The first time I tried making the caramel, I got nervous and didn't let it simmer long enough. The result was a very creamy looking soup that didn't have any distant caramel flavour. The second time I cranked the heat and just let it work its own magic. Yum - no more store bought caramel sauce for me!

I added the caramel sauce to the cooled crust and let it chill for about 4 hours. By the time I pulled it out to add the ganache, the caramel was nice and hard.

I cheated on the chocolate ganache. The actual recipe called for bittersweet chocolate whipped with warm cream, but I didn't have just plain chocolate. What I did have was my favourite brand of chocolate EVER. Have you heard of Theo? It's based out of Seattle. I should warn you, it's ridiculously good. If you're ever in Seattle, call ahead and schedule a tour of their factory. It's well worth the $7 - and you'll sample all the chocolate a soul could want.

Anyhow, I just ended up using 2 bars of Sea Salt 70% Dark Chocolate with the cream - so I skipped the coarse salt garnish. It was salty enough. 

Sorry, the lighting here isn't awesome. Nevertheless, it turned out. I'll warn you that it's very rich. I think most of it can be blamed on the extremely dark chocolate I used. A milker substitute would take care of that. But, with a nice steaming cup of black coffee, I'd say it turned out just about perfect.

Oh, and here are the boys all matchy-matchy heading out for our dinner party in their pjs. Those were fun shower gifts!

Here's my latest Baby Lynden picture. He sure does love his sock monkey pjs from Mimi & Pop. What a joy this little guy is. <3

And did anyone else notice that GAP is trying to market culottes?  

Sorry, but some things are better left dead. :P

Boys' Rooms Complete!

Happy Friday!

I'm back! I took a day off yesterday to complete a few orders from my Etsy shop, but got back at it today. It was high time to go through and tidy each boy's room, so those were my projects today. 

First off, Lynden's room. The trouble with Lynden's room is that it used to store all of my sewing/crafting supplies - actually, it still does. I just bought clear plastic totes and organized everything in his closet when he arrived. Unfortunately, I can get lazy sometimes and leave my things out instead of putting them away neatly when I'm finished a project. Plus, with some new fabric gifted recently (thanks Darcey!) I didn't have a spot set aside for it yet and it just found a home on Lynden's change table. 

Enter motivated Mama, and....voila! 

Room once again organized and tidy.

Oh, and let's not forget the 'baby t-isses.'

The same thing went for Ryder's room, except his mess tends to be of his own doing. So we made his bed, picked up clothes, emptied the laundry basket together, and then I decided to repurpose an old crate that was just storing extra diapers, wipes, and bedding, into a little bookshelf. Previous contents were tucked into his closet and we're now in business. 

I have a feeling that his new messes will be books all over the floor. This little guy loves to 'read.'

 Half way through our clean-up, Ryder decided that he wanted the rocking chair in his room. This little guy is already king of distractions when it comes to getting work done. :)

 And that's that!  I'm considering unloading, cleaning and organizing my kitchen pantry next. Anyone else been putting that one off?? :S

Stay tuned...

Day 3 - This Time A Success!

After yesterday's unsuccessful attempt to get my laundry room in order, I decided to choose a much less difficult task to complete today. I need that feeling of success at the end of my day. With that in mind and also preparing to dog-sit for a couple of days, I chose Dixie's room to deep clean today.

If any of you need proof that we really truly live in a desert, here it is!

Floors were swept and mopped, food bowls dishwashed, shoes straightened, crate and bedding cleaned, nasty dog-nosed window wiped, etc. and we are back in business!

Much better!  Though I'm not sure why Dixie is looking at me like that. You think she'd be loving her new clean room and not looking all sheepish.

I even found a few minutes of time to plant my second raised vegetable garden box. This one should grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, cantaloupe, and watermelons. My other box has shoots coming up nicely. Not exactly in nice neat rows though, thanks to the chickens and my dog that got in there one too many times.

If all else fails, at least we'll have some kale this year!

And since it's been a little while since I swamped you with photos of the boys, here are a few recent shots. Ryder is up early and begged to hold Baby Lynden - he loves his brother so much, I couldn't turn down the request.

This little fella is just all smiles these days. <3

Progress Counts for Something

It's Day 2 - time to get started on the laundry room. It's one of the smallest rooms in our house, but the work that gets done there is some of the most important, especially with mess-making kiddos. While I don't usually have a problem with getting loads washed and dried, they do tend to sit in the basket waiting to be folded - for much too long.  As you can see, today is no exception. And this is just since this weekend.

Up here, my ironing baskets haven't been touched in a few weeks, other than pulling out and ironing just what I needed on Sunday. It'll feel good to finally see a few empty baskets and be caught up for at least a day or two.  Also hanging, I have some dress shirts that I picked up at the cleaners well over a week ago. Time to put everything in it's place.

Well, the day got away from me just a little bit. I made it through getting my kids ready, dropped off, and to the dentist by 8am. Things went downhill from there, though I did spend a few hours on the on today's goal. 

Laundry Folded & Put Away

Headway Made on My Ironing

A few things you should know about this picture:

1. This isn't all of it. I finished 15 items before Braden said he was on his way home from work.

2. Half of the shirts are Ryder's.

3. Ryder still has more dress shirts in his closet.

4. Ryder's Mama might buy him too many dress shirts...

The long and the short of it is that I tried to get my laundry room spick and span today and didn't quite make it.  But progress is still rewarding, even if I was a little too ambitious. That's the beauty of motherhood. One additional load of laundry was required today because after Ryder tipped over my water bottle and spilled my glass of orange juice, he decided to throw his creature in the toilet. Really?!  Haha, life with a toddler!

Anyone out there going to join me today in catching up on laundry and/or deep cleaning your laundry room?

 In other news, in an attempt to come up with interesting and not terribly unhealthy lunch snacks, I tried a new granola bar recipe today.  The only thing I changed was adding a cup of peanuts (maybe next time I'll try peanut butter too) and they turned out great.

Goals For The Week

Our last week was a beautiful break from our Apperson norm. I had a friend in town and so set aside most of our usual routine in order to just take it easy and enjoy our company. Boy was it nice! I'm not sure who was on vacation, because we sure benefited from our sweet guest. She cleaned and swept, watched the boys while I went to the dentist a couple of times and then again a few evenings so that Braden and I could date. I enjoyed relaxing late mornings over endless mugs of steaming coffee and listening to another voice read Ryder his Richard Scarry and construction site books. Did I mention that she also baked up a storm? 

But now that we're back to just us, I need to get my act together again and get back to the things I set aside. In order to make each item on my to-do list seem a little more manageable, I've decided to tackle one room or area of my house each day in hopes that by the end of the week, my house will be back to operating at full capacity.  

Here's a little fun fact about me...  I don't get stressed very easily. In fact, I can't remember the last time I lost sleep for any reason other than a needy child. That's just how I roll. The one thing that causes me the most anxiety, however, a mess within sight. Am I the only one that has a hard time concentrating where there's work to be done all around me?

So here's my goal for the week. One project a day until all of the glaring chores have been taken tackled.

WILL YOU JOIN ME?

Day 1: Kitchen

Before - don't judge!

Until recently, our kitchen was getting out of hand in the messy department on weekends. We would just leave things out instead of putting them right away after using them. A couple of weeks ago, Braden really stepped up and helped me get on top of things and we decided to give a few minutes throughout our weekend days to clean as we went in the kitchen. Making it a team effort has really saved us a lot of time as well as made my Mondays a lot more enjoyable. 

But this weekend things got a little busy. On Saturday I was in Reno most of the day, dropping my friend off at the airport and running errands. That evening and then again early Sunday morning Braden and I were busy helping a friend with plans for a surprise party (what fun!) and so by the time church and the party were over and we'd made an impromptu trip to Reno to pick up a Craigslist find, the kitchen was once again a nightmare. 

After - deep sigh!

But, everything is once again in it's place and I'm feeling back on track - and much less stressed - already!

I would love to have you join me this week in getting on top of your housework as well - surely I'm not the only one that gets behind....

Let me know if you're on board, I'd love the mutual encouragement...and Happy Monday!

More Company And An Introduction to Geocaching

I am just so excited to have another friend visiting! It's funny, I was best friends with her daughter in kindergarten, yet over 20 years later (yes, I'm that old!) we're still in touch and are having such fun together!

Sweet Darcey arrived on Sunday and that night I went to bed with a sore throat because I haven't talked as much as I did that night in ages. Probably not since my 911 operating days. Yet it was just a delight.

Monday was a very laid back day for us. Ryder was a little out of sorts, so we ended up hanging around the house and going for a huge walk in the afternoon sun and on our walk Darcey introduced me to geocaching.

Today we were up and at 'em nice and early finding one more cache at Starbucks and then heading into Reno where we walked around a beautiful lake - 4 more caches, including one found in the centre of a roundabout.

Here we are, the Starbucks crew.

Of course, Darcey spoiled Ryder with a cake pop. <3

Ryder spotted every duck, turtle and dog at the marina.

Of course we had worked up a healthy appetite by this time, so it was off to Chipotle for lunch and then on to the quilting store where I drooled over the Bernina sewing machines (my cheap machine is starting to slowly die) and bought bright colourful fabric to make some new quilt-as-you-go placemats. I'll be sure to show the end results!

Then, as if having a friend to chat, walk, and shop with couldn't get any better, she insisted that Braden and I get out for a date tonight.  I can't tell you the last time we were out and undistracted, just the two of us. I purposely left my phone at home and just enjoyed a fun coffee date with Braden, dreaming together and talking about our goals. And since it was just us two, no kiddos, we were able to take the motorcycle. Another first in the last two years.