Eden’s sweater

Originally uploaded by pretendingsanity

I’m making Eden this sweater out of Mirasol hapi which is a thick thin squishy cotton. I went back and forth over striping the sleeves, but I think I’m gonna be happy with having them solid.

 Jim has been playing a ridiculous amount of shows  lately and this weekend has become the pinnacle of his rockstardom. He played two shows yesterday and two today, church tomorrow and another show in Salt Lake on Monday.  Yesterday they played for a conservative convention/rally of sorts about how to increase jobs in the morning and then at our favorite pub, Naggy McGees, in the evening. 

At the conservative rally, the band thought the signs were really funny and brought a few home with them. So during sound check at the pub, Jim thought it would be funny to march around the stage with one of the signs.  Little did he know, the (Democratic) governor of our state was at the pub watching (and appeared to be enjoying) them play. Little did the governor know Jim was waving that conservative sign in jest.  

Jim didn’t realize any of this was going on and found out from a server afterwards that as soon as he started waving that sign around, the governor left!

Ahh, he really is a rockstar, upsetting political figures unintentionally.    

When i was little, my mom read the Little House on the Prairie series to me. I immediately fell in love with the characters, begging my mom to read another chapter when she would close the book and say it was time for bed. I remember sobbing hysterically the night she read about Mary going blind. I refused to let her read more of the book, and it took days of convincing to get me to let her continue. 

I don’t really know what it is about me that gets so attached to characters in stories, that is so sensitive. I still a feel a little heartbroken about Mary. And even the thought of the end of Prison Break turns my stomach in knots. Or Lost. Or The last Harry Potter book where everyone dies, or that movie they made about Ernest Hemingway where he leaves Sandra Bullock at the end. Or even though I was happy with the ending of the Hunger Games, I couldn’t stand the pain written into the main character.  I thrive on happy endings and redemption. I just can’t do tragedies. 

I think this is because in life, at one point, we all live a tragedy. I don’t know why God chooses to write tragedy into our Stories, maybe because that’s the only way he can point us back to Himself. I don’t know. But maybe my aversion to reading about or watching them is that they hit a little too close to home. I think being super sensitive with a good imagination makes me feel way too much of what the author is portraying and I end up feeling like its all happening to me. Tragedy isn’t entertaining, it’s just so painful – in our own lives…watching other people live it.

In the end, I will always be a fan of stories of Redemption. I will always love seeing the underdog win or the unlikely hero rise from the ashes or the screw-ups find peace with themselves. Maybe this is because I refuse to let tragedy dictate my life, even though it may effect it from time to time. Because even in the face of tragedy, I ultimately believe in happy endings and forgiveness and change and redemption.

•My yard sale-ing buddy, Amy, and I had a yard sale. We did pretty well, but were mostly heartbroken about missing out on being to go out and yard sale.

•Tangle had our 4th birthday sale. It was a smashing success, and our biggest day ever. (PS there’s still yarn at 40% off.)

•We floated the river for the first time. It was one of the most fun and relaxing things I did all summer. (The two twelve packs of beer didn’t have anything to do with it.)

•GJ has been especially cool and rainy, so when Brooke, our kids and I went to pick green beans, we had to wait out the sheets of rain and then pick green beans in the mud. (Delicious, organic green beans that we blanched and froze.)

The boys found toads that kept them busy while we picked.

•A few days later Amy and I and our kids went and picked peaches, again in the rain. We picked close to 300lbs of peaches that we’ve been working on turning into pie, chutney, jam, syrup, baby food, dried peaches, frozen peaches and canned peaches.

There’s nothing like a fresh Palisade peach right off the tree.

•I participated in my first race, which was FIVE miles. I’ve been dabbling in running for the last several years, but haven’t really experienced much success in it. Imagine my surprise when I watched the miles go by without dying. Carrie and I ran pretty slow (Carrie has been really supportive of my running and has vowed to always stick it out with me) and we ran the first 3.2 miles, walked the 4th and ran the last, finishing in about 69 minutes. I was SO proud of myself for even being able to do it and it has really changed the way I look at physical activities. I feel like I really can do anything now.

•Which is good because I have this new trainer who is hell bent on getting me in shape. She has been great, but is really pushing me hard! My body really resists losing weight so I figure if Janae can’t get me to lose weight, I’ll just decide to be happy with where I am and deal with it.

•We went to some Pineapple Crackers shows. Friday found me in a rare moment with no children so I hung out at Naggy McGees and watched Jim play. Then Saturday, the kids and I were able to watch them play at a pizza place in Fr-Utah. Jim’s such a rock star these days.

•Eden started third grade and Honor started first (lost his second tooth the same day too). The kids were excited to go back to school, Jim and I were excited to send them. Everyone’s happy.

The End!

We took a little trip over the mountains last week – a trip full of cousins. We stayed with my sister and got to see all the twinzies’ new tricks. Elias was crawling and pulling himself up, Silas started crawling a few days after we left.

We also got to spend a lot of time with Jim’s sisters kids. We went to Casa Bonita and Elitches (six flags). Jim and I successfully scared both kids on the roller coasters and I didn’t puke, so we consider the trip a ‘win’.

Pasta with arugula, sausage and fresh basil

Half pound of short pasta, such as penne
1 large, yellow summer squash, sliced into rounds
1/2 cup basil, sliced into thin ribbons
6 links Italian sausage, I prefer turkey
Olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
Red pepper flakes
Ricotta cheese
Parmesan cheese
Arugula

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. In the last two minutes of cooking, add the summer squash. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile grill the sausage until cooked thru and slice. Tent with foil to keep warm.
In a large skillet, heat 3-4 tbs olive oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. Once the oil is heated thru, turn off heat and add the pasta/squash, sausage and basil and stir until pasta is coated, adding pasta water as needed to reach desired consistency.

Serve pasta mixture on individual plates over a bed of arugula. Top with a dollop of ricotta, sprinkle of parmesan and extra red pepper flakes.

My garden is doing really well. I finally tied up my green beans, which were threatening to take over. Now that I don’t have to water, Ive been terribly lazy about the whole thing. I noticed when i took this picture that I have one cherry tomato ripening. Mmmm. Can’t wait for the whole crop.

PS here are the previous photos from a little over a month ago.

•A Chow Life I bookmark every single recipe and I love the stories that accompany the recipes.

• My new quilt. I feel like such an adult having all matching bedding for the first time ever.

• Bittersweet on it’s way to me.

• The twinzies wearing baby legs.

and being cute in general.

• Honor eating a jaw breaker.

My mom and I went on a trip last week to visit my sister and then my grandma and she bought the kids giant jaw breakers for the trip. As kids, my sister and I enjoyed a few giant jaw breakers on trips to see grandma so it seemed appropriate.

• The kids traveling. (They were angels.)

• A new swimming suit on it’s way to me that will hopefully, actually fit the girls.

When I was a kid we would have epic 4th of Julys. Our whole block would get together and have a huge block party with games and a parade for the kids, lots of food and combined fireworks. As an adult, I always strive to make my independence parties as epic as my childhood. But as much as I try making the holiday special, it just never seems to live up. Sometimes it’s hard to make things as amazing as you want them when you’re dealing with broken families and unwilling participants.

This year was not epic, but it did end up being pretty fun. We spent the evening hanging out with Jim’s mom, sister and niece. The menu was delicious if I do say so myself. Carne asada, homemade refried beans, aunt ann rice, chips, salsa, guac, jarritos and homemade ice-cream. Jim and Honor picked out a pretty amazing array of fireworks and Jim had us rolling with his jokes as he lit each one off in the alley. I told him that it was possibly the funniest he has ever been.

Afterwards, the kids and I raced to the baseball field to see my friend, Carrington, perform with her 1940’s singing group. The city had a pretty cool fireworks display this year, but I forgot that we were to be subject to the onslaught of patriotic country music. I kept thinking how much more powerful the fireworks would have been if we could have watched them in the dark, quiet, alone with our thoughts – that would have been an amazing end to the evening.

Finished picnic quilt

Plastic bagel – new edition to main street

Tag sale find

Amy Butler’s new yarn and patterns

My new hat