I Never Promised You an Organic Garden

Matt and I went to the Red River Gorge Geological area this weekend and spent the weekend camping and hiking with his parents.  It was a wonderful weekend, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We did quasi-car camping in a primitive site. There were bears in the area so we had to carry all our food back and forth between the car and the campsite everyday and there was no water available, but we had a pretty nice campsite.  Our huge Coleman tent was especially nicely decked out.  Matt’s parents have a double height air mattress that looked like a real bed and we even had throw rug to keep our feet clean.

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I thought that since I previously posted some of my cooking fiascos that it would only be fair to myself to post about a cooking success.  Matt went to Elgin, Illinois for a business trip today, which meant I was responsible for my own dinner this evening.  And not only did I cook a good meal for myself, but I also fed two of my friends.

I made whole wheat penne with a homemade tomato sauce from the Cook’s Illustrated Pasta cookbook.  (the pasta was NOT homemade).  It wasn’t anything fancy or difficult, but it was certainly a step above pasta sauce from a jar, and it was quite tasty.

Amazingly, nothing was overcooked; nothing caught on fire; I didn’t pour boiling water on myself; all the appropriate ingredients were added at the correct time; no one was bleeding during or after the cooking process; and I am pretty sure all everyone enjoyed their food.

Does this mean I will cook more often?  Not likely.  Does this mean I will happily feed myself at least a few nights while Matt is in New Zealand this fall ? Probably. But feel free to invite me over for dinner.

Lent and the practice of giving something up for 40 days has never been a spiritual discipline that has been particularly useful for me. Instead of feeling reflective and grateful for what I have, I usually end up grumpy, mean, and focused on the one thing I chose to give up. I remember specifically one year giving up Dr. Pepper, and even though I was allowing myself coca cola to deal with my caffeine addiction, I was still quite a baby. I moped around the grocery store carrying a Dr. Pepper I knew darn well I wasn’t going to buy, whining about how stupid lent was. It was not one of my finer moments.

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For those of you who don’t know her, the girl in the photo next to me is my little sister.  I say little knowing she would quickly remind me that she is no longer my little sister but my younger sister.  Only 3 years, 11 months, 10 days, etc.  I am pretty sure she even has the number of minutes separating our ages memorized. But to me she will always be my little sister.  (Deal with it Meg, it’s not changing).

My little sister who,  by virtue of me being her BIG sister, I feel the need to harass, help, direct, give unsolicited advice to, support, and protect. So two years ago when I found out she has Lupus it was quite upsetting.  Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body.  Basically it causes your immune system to attack various parts of your body.  In Megan’s case, it is currently manifesting itself in joint pain and extreme fatigue, but it can vary from person to person and even from year to year. Unfortunately, there is no known cure for Lupus only treatments to keep the symptoms under control.

However, this May, Megan is participating in a walk to raise money for the Lupus Foundation of America.  The money she and other walkers raise will go to support research for a cure and help provide programs and treatments for people suffering from Lupus, along with supporting their friends and families. I would love to be able to join her team and walk with her in May; however, the walk is taking place in North Carolina, and I am in Indiana.  So in order to still participate and support my little sister, I am trying to help her raise as much money as possible.

Her team has set $1,000 as their goal, and they are on their way.  But, they could use your help getting to that goal.  You can donate online at Megan’s website or by giving me check or cash.  I will be sending her all the cash donations I round up before the walk.

I know everyone is probably already inundated with request to support various causes or groups, and I am sorry to pile on.  But this is something extra close to me and my family, and I want to do anything I can to support my little sister.

Thank you for your help!

I had a once in life time experience when it come to knitting.  I started a scarf for my husband a year & 1/2 ago using gorgeous bamboo yarn I got from Unwind Yarn Shop.  I made the mistake of letting my non-knitting husband pick out the pattern so it turned out to be a little more complicated that I intended.  It requires my undivided attention so I haven’t worked on it much.  Sunday night I picked the scarf back up and after doing some math realized I would not have enough yarn to finish.

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Very Exciting News: I have finished my first hand knitted wool sweater.  I started this in February, and I just finished sewing up the sleeves at 9:30pm this evening.  I still need to take the time to block it, but it is totally wearable at this moment.  For all you non-knitters, blocking is dousing a completed project in water and pinning it out into the final shape you want.  This helps to work out uneven stitches, ensure proper length and width, and generally improves the final look of your project.

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Well, after a month-long self imposed hiatus, I am back to blogging. Life has been very crazy the past month and something had to give. Unfortunately it turned out to be my blog. If anyone is still paying attention, thanks for your patience.

So what has been going on all this time, you ask? Matt and I have been, and still are, buying a house. Yes that’s right, buying a house. Now I know we said we were going to do the responsible thing and wait a year so we could save up a substantial down payment and then buy a house, but the more we thought about it the more now felt like the right time. It is truly a buyers market, interest rates are they lowest they have been in years and are only going to go up, and we are tired of throwing our money away paying rent.

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Checkout our recent photos of Garrett and Haley

Last night Matt was looking through old photos to find some for his new office, and it reminded me that we have been together for 9 1/2 years and married for nearly 5. It was quite humorous to look at us 9 1/2 years ago and us now. We have been through a lot together, and I am happy to say have only gotten closer over the years.

So I thought I would share a few photos from over the years (don’t laugh too hard):

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Some of you may have noticed a very conspicuous lack of posts here in the last couple of weeks.  This has been caused by a big change in our life that has been taking place, which used up a lot of my time both physically and mentally as I was processing everything.

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