Hiking, Crab Boil, Corn, 6 mo

It's almost like you can feel summer winding down as we start the month of September. Matt is ready for Fall but I'm not. I want more sun, more summer, more pool splashes, more picnics.

We are still working on potty training - I feel like we are close to a breakthrough... we go a few hours with things "working" perfectly and then have a pitfall. I did have to make an emergency trip to McDonald's this past weekend because someone pooped in the potty - and I was ready to make good on a promise... no matter the time of day. We may actually get there... I'm just hoping it's sooner than later.

Matt and E also have started hiking to prep for Matt's trip to the
badlands. He has a meat-carrying pack and E sits on the perch while Matt hikes.

For labor day, we did a crab boil - the kids were very intrigued, especially E who was curious about all the things that went into the pot - shrimp, corn, potatoes, and crab. G ended up with a burn on his hand from the pot - but he was in heaven with all the food!

Since we used all our corn in the boil, we headed out to the farm to pick some from Grandpa's field. We got so much!! They had a good time running in the rows and pulling at the ears. We got 2 wagons full! The thing that did make me smile was as we finished and headed back to the yard, I looked up and saw E and G holding hands. They may not always get along... sometimes she bosses him or he pulls her hair - but that was one of the sweetest moments I've seen.

 

We also took A's growing pics - since I had a little help in taking the pics, they wanted to be included in a batch of their own.

MJR and EER on a hike, they are about 2 minutes in.
EER: We stop for a snack soon?
MJR: We will stop for a drink of water but won't have a snack until we get to the top.
EER: We stop for a drink now?
they've walked for 5 minutes.
In another 5 minutes.
EER: We stop for a drink?
In about 7 minutes.
EER: I'm thirsty.
3 minutes later.
EER: There's a biker coming, maybe we stop and get a drink?
5 minutes later.
EER: We stop for a drink?
.....

Inquietude (in-kwah-yi-tood)

It was a beautiful week, weather wise! We had temps consistently in the 40's. Reminded me more of March than the end of January! The snow melted, the ice went away, Lola got to go outside more!

Regarding things at home, we were busy too! Matt's been going to the gym and working out to avoid sympathy weight and also keep his doctor happy. I've been organizing things at home a bit and trying to keep ahead of laundry and house cleaning. Even now, I look back and am not sure where the last week went. 

Some updates on being pregnant. Sometimes it can be hard - sometimes you break into tears when you come home because your husband has left you a beautiful card and your most recent craving sitting on the counter. Sometimes you don't realize how much you sweat at night either until your husband tells you he's freezing to death at night. So you rig up a new system. You put more of the covers on his side and then even given him an extra blanket. the cats don't seem to understand.

Mini-us also received her first package via mail from Great Aunt Judy. She had her own little clothes care package. Included were outfits and sleepers and shoes! Matt and I loved looking through them and can't believe it's she'll actually be here to wear them. We don't have a count down to the day yet. Here's hoping everything continues to look good.

Matt has been struggling a bit with the weather. He's got cabin fever so bad and if I see him watching another fishing video I am going to scream. I attempt to provide suggestions of things that he could do but I get a lot of wrinkled up "nos". At one point I looked at his sad pathetic face laying on the floor. I thought I might be the only one with disdain for this sadness but Lola walked up and sniffed him and wandered off.  


Best meal: we had fish/walleye tacos this week. Typically we don't use the walleye for tacos but I wanted fish tacos so bad and they were so amazing. 

Name of the week: Morgan
Cravings: milk, caramel apples, fried chicken (preferable from my grandmother's kitchen)
Pregnancy symptoms: Wonderment of what sleep is, night sweats, larger belly, groaning, sore ankles at the end of the day, crankiness/harping (this is added per definition of MJR

MJR turns around and sees "kitty room" where litter boxes are kept.
ALR looks. Sees that litter has been spilled from box. And there are "kitty presents" laying in spilled litter.
MJR's second rant begins:
MJR and ALR take totes to basement for storage.
MJR: WHO DID THIS!? WHO!!!!!
MJR rant begins:
NO RESPECT
WHO DID THIS
SOMEONE BETTER FESS UP
WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FOLLOW THE RULES
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME
AHHHHH
I SWEAR KITTIES
ALR interjects with: Did we learn our lesson?
LESSON?
I DON'T HAVE A LESSON TO LEARN.
I UNDERSTAND BASIC CIVILITIES.
I DIDN'T SPILL THE LITTER.
AND THEN PROCEED TO USE SAID LITTER AS A PERSONAL WASTELAND.
I HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR RULES OF SOCIETY UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE!
Shopvaccing begins.

How to drink a Mint Julip...

For those that didn’t know this, I have a secret thing that I do when spring

comes…I start searching. Searching, scanning, watching for buds on trees. Trees can’t lie, they know when it’s safe to assume it’s spring. I’ve been scanning for over a month and some trees have really taken off but the one outside my bedroom gets a quick scan every morning, hunting for the little leaves.

The best surprise happened this past weekend when I woke up and looked out over the buds and there they were….flowers. All over. It was beautiful. Just gorgeous. I love a flowering tree but when I see those blooms completely cover the tree, it’s a sure sign of spring. We’d kicked around the idea of cutting a tree down for more yard, but when I saw those blooms, there was no way I’d even talk about it anymore.

Other things have been happening in the yard. Matt has really spent a good amount of time. Whether it is transplanting sod, building garden beds for us, mowing, looking at sprinklers, or whatever…he’s enjoying the yard like he was never able to in Dickinson. Makes me happy, despite having to stand and look at sprinkler heads in every store in town.

We’ve had a few guests over recently, mostly for meals and drinks, but it’s been fun. Matt has really perfected his pizza, which goes over well with the groups. I don’t complain, especially because we have it the next day for lunch too!

This past weekend, we celebrated the Kentucky Derby. We had to hold off celebrations a bit because Matt volunteered to pick rocks to help my parents, which helped with seeding. I spent time with Mom and cleaned house a bit. We fast forwarded through many parts, but I did much better in my pickings this year, I chose the second place horse. We also enjoyed a twist on the mint julep from last year. I made a basil simple syrup that we added to the fun. They turned out soon good, but I think the credit goes to my cute bartender.

We want to start getting some seeds in the ground soon and we are excited about the garden this year.

Best meal: Matt made a brisket and I made mashed sweet potatoes, I was super impressed with that! 

After putting the last bit of dirt in the raised garden bed that he built.
MJR: I bet the cats think they are coming outside.
ALR: Why would they think that?
MJR: Because they think I made them each their own huge litter box.

ALR: They don't think that! Pshaw.
MJR: (Imitating TonyDanza) This one is all for me and it will never be dirty because it's so huge!
TonyDanza sits at patio door staring. Difficult to read whether this is true or he thinks it's absurd.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa -

I thought you loved me! All I wanted to do was go outside. So I cried at the window, thinking I could convince them using my oratory skills. Matt decided to bring me outside but insisted I wear that ridiculous harness thing. I decided to protest and fight the system and when you saw the video where I decided I wasn't standing for it, all you did was laugh! 

Heartbroken -

Nike

How to take care of the herd....Pour on.

An update on the pickup, Matt is still in love. He's working to get it registered and official but there is no buyer's remorse on his end. 

An update on the Pontiac. THEY have it LISTED for SALE on their SITE! AH! I wasn't prepared to see it up so quickly. The 350 isn't there yet, but the car is!

Anyway, back to the Remynse household...we helped out at the farm this past weekend with shots and such for the steers and then weighed heifers. Dad has some of his home raised steers in the bunch so it was fun to see them. There were a few in the group that are already over 1000 pounds. I think Dad has them for a short time until they go east and then he'll make room for the maternity ward. I did laugh at the kitten that stuck close to us all day, just watching and enjoying the show.  

The weather was beautiful this week, highs in the 50's. We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful week in January. We even found the yard under some of the snow and I'm a bit itchy for patio season.

Meal of the Week: we tried something a little different. We took our ground pork, seasoned it, pattied it, paired it with some ham (that came from Sunday's amazing lunch) and pineapple and had it as a burger.

ALR: We had a catastrophe tonight.
MJR: Why?
ALR: You left the grill cover off the grill and there was a bit of a wind.
(MJR looks at TonyDanza.)
ALR: Someone thinks the big brown blob is coming through the window to get him.
(TonyDanza looks down.)

How to stay in on a weekend....

TD and I's 1st pic of New Year.

First post of the new year….smells so fresh and timely. What you don’t smell is how dang cold it is. It’s so cold that I’m passing off athletic socks as dress socks and debating about wearing long underware under my dress clothes. It’s so cold that we are running the fireplace at night while we hunker down to relax. It’s so cold that I welcome the cats to sit with me, defiantly a two cat night, if I’m lucky. The temps are saying they’ll feel like they are between 30 and 50 below. Glad we are parking in the garage. 

Our first weekend, we weren’t too exciting. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have left the house. I had two goals: take down Christmas and take out tomatoes. We started the weekend off with a little tradition, Friday night pizza. First time in the new house. First time with the new mixer. We made 1 pizza and 2 calzones and had 0 complaints. 

We pulled the tree down, I got all the decorations corralled and put away. We put the totes (we even had to add one more to the Christmas stash) in storage, we vacuumed, I even played with my Christmas spot bot, which is really slick, even though it didn’t work like I thought. I carted it around the house looking for spots. The house began to have some semblance of normalcy for the new year. 

My other goal was to find a bit more of the freezer. We were blessed to be given tomatoes, which I will never turn down. I canned close to 50 pounds this weekend. That came down to 35 pints and 5 half pints. In it was two different types of spaghetti sauces and 2 different types of salsa. Matt hadn’t been impressed with my last batches of salsa. How dare I put corn in the salsa! Gasp. I know there are still a few tomatoes hanging around still frozen that will become something greater than just tomato. I do think that the only things I have left are deseeded and peeled, but I’m scared to get too excited until I’m sure! We did reach an interesting problem:

MJR: You brought me jelly jars to sterilize?

ALR: Yes. I know. We are out of pints. We have a couple options: 1. Can in jelly jars or quarts, 2. Start eating to free up our pints. 

MJR: I suppose those are good options.

The cats have survived New Years and are settling into 2015. Nike has been surprisingly good natured. Don’t think for a moment that her and I settle in with a cup of coco and she lets me braid her hair but she isn’t quiet as mouthy and fighty as normal. I say this and remember the two-sided argument a couple days ago about her being in the utility room. Lola enjoys the stools and I think I caught her watching her own version of reality tv.

Meal of Note: We had eggs in purgatory, Batch 1 Spaghetti sauce with capers with poached eggs with Parmesan cheese over a bed of noodles. Matt was super happy, which means that I was super happy! We'll have that again. 

ALR: Hurry up, we can watch the ball drop.

10, 9, 8,.....

ALR: Happy New Year.

MJR: It's not the new year.

ALR: Close enough for me.

Watching.....

ALR: Who's the guys in the yellow?

MJR: I don't know.

ALR: And that's how I know we are old.

MJR: What?

ALR: If they are there when the ball is dropping, they are a big deal. And we both have no clue.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like......

December. Christmas. It’s here.

There’s something about Christmas this year that feels wonderful. I’m probably way behind the 8-ball on this year but it almost feels like I don’t care. It’s just wonderful. First weekend of December and we are in full holiday swing. 

We made a trip back to Dickinson to help out with a Scentsy booth with my director, we’d done this at my birthday and it worked really well so we replicated it again for the holiday show. There was good attendance and we did a good amount of sales. Was fun to be with a few friends as Jo and I hung out all day at the show but we also visited Kay, Jess, and the kids and we stayed with Rick and Shantelle. Matt went out bird hunting a bit and brought back some to make pheasant jerky.

We also went and picked up our Christmas tree. We were very happy with the customer service that we got at Cashman’s Nursery. We brought it into the house that night and set it up for its final fall. I know Matt loves the real tree, when he brought it in the door he keyed up “Oh, Christmas Tree” for the grand entrance. I also picked up a wreath that looks beautiful on our front door. 

Best meal: this is a tough one, we haven’t been good meal planners lately. I threw in a crockpot chicken dinner that had Matt a bit worried (Hawaiian Chicken) but I was very happy with how it turned out. I’d probably have to say that Dad stopping over last week, while Mom was in Vegas, and I picked up chicken was a great meal too. Nice to have him over. 

Little known Matt fact: Matt usually takes 1 line out of a song and sings that line over and over to the point that murder is threatened, 2 lines if I’m lucky. However, it has been proven to me over and over again that he knows the whole Twelve Days of Christmas song. In entirety. Not. Joking.

MJR: This version if very hard to sing to. Four calling birds, three French hens…..

ALR: This version?

MJR: Yes.

ALR: It’s the muppets. They are even singing the real version.

MJR: I don’t know, it’s just very difficult to sing with them.

ALR: Because of the 5 Golden Rings?

MJR: Yes.

ALR: So you are saying you are upset with Miss Piggy?

MJR: YES! 

Dear Grandma and Grandpa -
I'm writing you from this place you left me. I thought when you visited at Thanksgiving you were going to rescue me. You misled me. You could have at the very least removed those other two from this place. I had great plans to sneak into your car so we could go back. I promise I won't puke in the car this time. The only good thing that has happened recently is they brought a large tree into the house. I'm using it for my ambush point. Amanda isn't impressed. She is dead to me and has no authority anyway. Matt is wonderful, but you already knew that. Visit soon. I'm working on my escape plan to return as they are starving me here. I'm protesting by only eating one brand of food. I think it's winning because it irritates Amanda.
Nike
P.s. Tell Dexter to get off my window seat.

Moving to Bismarck....er Baldwin.

It was Matt’s turn for a transition week. I’m settling into the new living arrangement and new job but he had to say good bye to the old. They threw him a going away/good luck party where they presented him with a parting propeller. He said that he was touched by who came and the speech that Bob had made. He said he was amazed by what Bob knew, however; I have a feeling that Bob did a little blog research! I saw I had awful high page views a couple days before the party! I was sad I couldn’t make it but my girls at Job Service didn’t let my location stop them from bringing me. They printed off a pic of me and took it along. They also chose one that was site appropriate as it was me in an airport…partying! Well enjoying a beverage before heading to Hotlanta. Glad they got a few pics! Ha! Those girls know how to make Matt and I laugh!

Before taking off for Lansford, we took a quick tour past the airport as Obama and the first lady took their first visit to North Dakota. While we both disagreed on the final destination of their visit with the reason, we could appreciate that it was a big deal and a big deal to see Air Force One on the runway. We are hoping this viewing isn’t a once in a lifetime experience.



 



This weekend we headed to Lansford for Father’s Day weekend and Nike visitation. What a difference in the drive time! Didn’t hardly take anything at all! We got there Friday night in time for a normal supper of pizza! Saturday the plan was to golf but after discovering the course was monopolized by a tournament we headed to Base and got a tour of the family’s old stomping ground including old neighborhood, old work sites, the b-52s, Randy’s present working location, and the shopping center. I was a bit shocked at how big the stores were, not what I was expecting! Was fun to see and do a bit of shopping! Michele and I got some good steals. Sunday, we did get out on the course. I see where Matt inherited his “golfing edge”….I think I was the only one that didn’t threaten to throw a club or a ball. Not that my playing was anything spectacular…but Michele’s did improve over time. They went from not keeping score to suddenly keeping score. Randy better be careful, she might get too good for her own good! It was a nice weekend.

 

Garage Update: there are now walls. And the exterior stairs no longer threaten my neck.

Day 9 of living with my parents. The great raccoon disposal. Pictures will tell enough of a story.

Day 10 of living with my parents. I made concrete with Goldilocks. Too wet. Not wet enough. Too dry. Too little. Too much. 

Best Meal: Randy's pizza...we had a deep dish AND a normal crust AND spinach dip as an appetizer!! Matt did hog the spinach dip and here is a picture to prove it. I'm patiently waiting and he's hogging.

PM: I want to look at this website...bring up your computer.
ALR: Okay...you aren't going to like this site...it looks hard to navigate.
PM: I wannah look at this equipment (points to flyer picture in magazine)
ALR: I've got to create you a profile.
(Starts typing....username...then comes to password.)
(Both look at each other.)
PM: What's my password?
ALR: That's what I'm trying to figure out. Hmmm...think I've got one.
ALR: What's your email?
PM: Dear, what's our email? (to DMM)
DMM: We've talked about this....you need to remember this
(input email address, get into site, find air seeder that he wanted to know more about)
PM: (looks at it for 5 seconds) well, I don't want that.
ALR: We did all that work and you looked at it for 5 seconds?
DMM: (Mouths from across the room) welcome to my world.

Happy Birthday to THEE Eric Remynse. I know it was on Monday....27 was a good year for me.