the Green Wallet

The Joke that Back Fired

noreply@blogger.com (micah) — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:30:00 +0000

Hi. So, I want to apologize to everyone for possibly not mentioning all of the facts when I said that the Green Wallet is dead. The Green Wallet is, in fact, no longer with us, but that is only because it has been replaced by our new blog, Knotty Strings. The short story is that we have wanted a new design and name for quite a while. Couple that with the fact that Blogger no longer publishes to outside ftp site like us and it was just the push we needed. So, we have officially moved over to wordpress, which we like very much.

The new blog is still located at http://liz.heiselt.org/blog, but unfortunately, the RSS feed is different so if you would like to continue to get our blog fed to you (and we would love it if you did) then you will need to resubscribe. There is a link to do so at Knotty Strings.

Anyway, we hope to see you at our new home. Sorry about the bad joke.

R.I.P. Green Wallet

noreply@blogger.com (micah) — Sat, 01 May 2010 03:30:00 +0000

Well folks, after over four years and 500 posts we are finally calling it quits. The Green Wallet has been a fun ride and we have really enjoyed writing about our lives and reading everything you all had to say. But, like all good things, this too must come to an end.

Thanks for the good times,

Micah & Lizzie.

You cannot know the sweet unless you have known the bitter, right?

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Sat, 01 May 2010 01:09:00 +0000

Whatever kind of test that was yesterday, I must have passed. Because, wow, today was awesome. Simon didn't fight me to get dressed. He helped me clean the whole apartment -- and I don't just mean that he stayed out of my way. He cleaned his room and made his bed and vacuumed and put his books away. Oliver took a long nap while Simon and I worked, and even slept after we finished so that I had time to help Simon make his current favorite play-dough creations: a 7-legged elephant, a 6-legged squirrel, and a long, thin wiggly fish. We even had time to go to the playground before lunch, where Simon figured out two ways to climb up the tricky ladder and onto the equipment, a feat that has been thwarting him for weeks now. When it was time to go he came without complaint or comment. He ate the lunch I made for him. He went right to bed when I told him it was naptime.During his nap, I put Oliver's crib together (we figured it was about time since he is about 26 inches long and his basket is only 28 inches). I cleaned the bedroom and played with Oliver, and when Simon woke up we went to the playground again where Micah met us when he got off the train and we all went home and made dinner together and I kept knocking on wood and keeping my fingers crossed that the magic would not be broken.
The boys are in bed now. The magic has not been broken.

I hope we're able to laugh about this someday.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:12:00 +0000

Institute today went something like this: opening prayer, Simon needs some juice, spiritual thought, Oliver needs to nurse (insert battle with the nursing cover/Oliver/clothing), taking turns reading scriptures, Oliver needs to burp, discussion of miracles, Simon needs to use the potty, talk about how Moroni must have felt as the last surviving Nephite, Simon runs straight into a chair and jabs his ribs, I try to console him, Oliver gets upset that I'm not within his sight, I sit on the floor with both crying boys in my lap while the other member of the class shares some great insight (it was lost to me amidst the screaming), the boys calm down, we talk about hope as the knot in the end of the rope that keeps us hanging on when we've almost lost it, the class ends, I try to fill out the end-of-semester evaluation, Simon needs to use the potty (again), we say a prayer and partake of the refreshments (which Simon has been snacking away on the whole time), and then head out to catch the train.

Catching the train went like this: go through the turnstile, a train is coming, it's a G train, but we don't get there before the doors close, some cops need to get on, so the doors open and we get on too, but Simon wants to take the F train, he whines for 2 stops, we get off to transfer, we wait for a C train, an A train comes, we wait some more, another A train comes, we wait some more and a C train comes, but so does an announcement that the train is running express and will skip our stop, I am tired of waiting and tell Simon we're going to have to walk from the express stop, then there's another announcement that a local C train is right behind, so I change my mind, we get off and wait for it, Simon has his heart set on getting off at the express stop, he whines and cries the whole way home, stopping to to sit in the middle of the sidewalk, waving his bag with a muffin and bagel in it until they both ended up on the ground and I have to throw them away. More tears, more yelling. My grip on the knot in the end of my rope is slipping.

The rest of the day went like this: we get home, Simon wants juice (I say no), Simon wants milk (I say no), Simon sits in the refrigerator crying, I go in the living room and tell him to come to me when he stops crying, he comes in and sticks his finger down Oliver's throat, I just about freak out, we read Wee Gillis, we have have lunch (yogurt for Simon, salad for me), Simon goes to bed, my grip on the rope has stabilized, Oliver eats, Oliver goes to bed, I eat a handful of chocolate chips, I work on a 90-minute shirt for Oliver, I watch some tv on hulu while I sew, I eat a handful of chocolate chips, Oliver wakes up, Simon wakes up, we get ready to go running, I chop up the veggies for dinner (crepes filled with zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and cheese), we run 6.2 miles and meet up with Micah, I'm climbing back up the rope, we come home, I feed Oliver, Micah makes the crepes, I cook the veggies, we eat, I head out the door (by myself!!!), take the train to book club, spend the evening chatting about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, head home, pick up some Nutella and ice cream on the way, devour some crepes with Nutella and ice cream while chatting with Micah, I feel sane again. The knot has done its job.

Just so you know I'm not totally incompetent.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:11:00 +0000

At least when it comes to making homemade patterns and sewing things from them. Of course, pants are much easier, much more forgiving, and I've made several pairs of pants in my life. But still, I think it is a bit of an accomplishment to have done it with a pattern I made and to have done it in less than one naptime. (Measuring things in naptimes is becoming my new favorite thing.) The most difficult part of the process was stealing the elastic for the waistband from another pair of pants. Plus, Oliver makes them look sooo good, don't you think? And so what if the legs are about 3 inches too long? He could grow 3 inches in 2 weeks, right?

I'll get it if it kills me.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:19:00 +0000

I worked on the blasted shirt a little bit more last night. And again this morning. Don't ask me how demoralizing it is that I've now been working on this thing for three days and it still isn't perfect. Nope, not perfect. But it is okay. Much better than before. It's just the left sleeve/neckline that is giving me issues. I will fix it. And then I will perfect the pattern. And then I will make a 90-minute shirt in 90 minutes. And then I will cry with joy. And blog about that as well.Don't you worry, I had to bribe the boy to put the shirt on and then bribe him again to stay still and smile for the camera. He tells me he never wants to wear it anyway, so it really doesn't even matter that it looks so funny.

Dear Jodie,

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Please come to NYC to teach me to make patterns so that I, too, can sew my boys some adorable envelope shirts. Believe me, I tried to do it on my own. But after spending the equivalent of two naptimes on the supposed 90 minute project, with multiple unpickings and alterations and nothing wearable to show for it, I'm willing to admit that I need help.

Apparently, I stink at pattern-making.

love,
lizzie.

ps Bring chocolate. Please. Dark is good. No nuts. Please. Thank you.

He's three.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:16:00 +0000

Over the past few days our kitchen floor has developed a light dusting of red along with some nice red splotches. I'm sure they'll come up when I mop, but who has time to mop when their eldest child is turning three? Not I. There was cake to be baked, food to prepare, presents to wrap (and, in one case, spray paint -- hence the red dust on the kitchen floor), a party to plan. And then, of course, there was the actual celebration of the birth of the most fantastic 3-year-old currently on the face of the earth. How do you celebrate such a momentous occasion? With lots of red, it turns out. And balloons. We thought it wouldn't be a real party without balloons, and it turns out that the party actually was the balloons, as 5 children ages 5 and under demonstrated for us. I would love to document every moment, from loading up our stroller as if it were an SUV to asking random people at the park if they had a lighter for the candles (no luck), but it just can't be done. Nor is there enough room for the 170ish pictures we took throughout the day (excessive? maybe -- but he only turns 3 once, and it's hard to get good pictures of such wiggly children).
Even with the wind and the cold and the threat of rain, we had a great time. Of course. Because what could be more fun than celebrating Simon? And we know he is indeed three because despite all the effort we put into the cake and the party and getting the right gifts and everything else, the thing that excited Simon most -- that caught his attention and wouldn't let it go -- was a tape measure in the shape of a dinosaur.Someday, 50 years from now, he'll appreciate everything we've done for him.

Easterishness. Better late than never?

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:16:00 +0000

So, a week and a half has passed and Simon is still requesting we hide some eggs so he can find them. And when he says eggs, he means candy. (He is unaware that we still have some of his Halloween stashed away just waiting for him to find it so that we have a reason to throw it away already.) We had a great time with the egg hunt, mostly because it didn't occur to the boy that he could find all the eggs at once and then have a big ol' pile of candy. So the Easter egg hunt lasted late into the evening -- or even Monday morning -- as he would find one, pop it open, shovel the contents into his mouth, and forget about finding any more. Actually, he was more than generous about sharing his loot with his loving parents, and really really wanted to share with his brother too. I'm sure Oliver will one day love m&ms, but today is not that day. We loved asking him to go see if he could find some book or ingredient and then have him come back jumping for joy with another egg in his hand, jellybean juice dripping down his chin. We're so sly.
We didn't do all candy eggs, of course. We also did hard-boiled, dyed with onion skins. After he found the first one, he ran to the kitchen, got himself a spoon and assumed the roll of Lola in "I'm Really Really Really Concentrating." It wasn't until all of the hard-boiled eggs were severely cracked that he finally put the egg-and-spoon-race to rest. We enjoyed it while it lasted.

We now resume our regular blogging schedule.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Micah tells me that I woke up twice last night to tell him it was his turn to take care of Oliver. I have no memory of either event. Apparently after we rolled into bed at 12:40 (and then I promptly rolled back out to feed the wee one), I decided I was done for the night and that Oliver was too. It felt good to be that tired and to sleep like the dead for 6 1/2 hours. I think we had earned it. We put roughly 30 miles on our legs between Saturday evening and Tuesday morning over the course of 4 separate runs -- and Sunday was a rest day. The Ragnar Relay is a month away and it's about time we got serious about training. So it's no wonder that I slept like a rock. It's a shame I was too tired to let Micah do the same.

(Don't let their faces fool you. They love the stroller as much as we do.)

Incidentally, these two make wonderful running buddies. Oliver becomes mute the second we put him in the stroller and Simon reminds us to stop at all the lights. And together they provide the resistance needed for a much harder workout than we've put ourselves through in a while. Especially going up hills. We love us some nice hills. They take our breath away.

Peep Show 2010: Winners and Prizes

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:11:00 +0000

First place goes to "The 3 Apeepos" by Danica McDonald -- which despite being posted late managed to snag the most votes. Deservedly so.
Second place is "Peepers of the Deep" by Micah and Lizzie Heiselt (mostly Micah, although I do claim credit for the rabbit-octopus and the puffer fishchick).
Dad Blackhurst wins 3rd place with "The Springville Peep Stake Youth Dance," of which his niece says, "It's like social realism, all the girl peeps stick together, the guy peeps go on solitary rove mode, and the basketball team is trying to get in and play. Excellent!"

And the last prize, with a scene inspired by her daily life, goes to Becca Frazier with "Peepcher."

We will also honorably mention "Goldilocks and the Three Peeps" by Carlos and Stephanie Bassett, "Exploding Peep Volcano" by Will and Summer Blackhurst, and "Peep Hole" by Jodie Heiselt.

Danica gets first pick of the prizes (listed below). Then us, then Dad Blackhurst, and Becca gets whatever is left. :)

Prize 1: This handy tote made by the lovely and talented Jodie Heiselt. It is good for trips to the library, grocery store, park, church, or anywhere really.

Prize 2: A felt crayon roll made by Heather Cosby. It includes 8 crayons, can be made in any color the recipient chooses, and embroidered as well (if the recipient doesn't mind it taking a little longer to arrive). Thanks Heather! You are too generous.

Prize 3: Baby dress made by Lizzie Heiselt. Child not included. Supposedly fits a 1-3 month old baby girl, although the child pictured is 5 months and weighs about 16 pounds. And is a boy. So it's possible to squeeze a slightly older/larger child in. Emphasis on squeeze. I would not recommend dressing a little boy in it. At least not habitually.

Prize 4: A small globe or a MoTab dvd or a tasty treat (if the recipient lives in Utah) donated by Will and Summer Blackhurst.

Either leave a comment or e-mail me at heiseltea at gmail dot com and I'll hook you up with your prize.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, donated, voted, etc. We had a good time. As always. 'Til next year . . . .

Peep Show 2010

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:34:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who participated this year! We love what you've all done. A few matters of business:

1. To vote, leave a comment with your top three picks. Your first choice will get 3 points, second choice will get 2 points, and third place will get 1 point.
2. Voting will close midnight (Eastern time) on Saturday April 10th.

**UPDATED Note again: The final entry has been posted.**

**UPDATED Note #2: I just added entry #14. We normally want to be fairly strict about late entries, but the tardiness does not appear to be creator's fault. It was actually done early and had a hard time getting to us. Feel free to vote for it if you so choose.**

Prizes include: a felt crayon roll, a baby dress, a tote, a small globe (OR) a new Mo-Tab Christmas dvd (OR) treats if the winner lives near Layton, UT. First place winner will get first pick, second place get second pick, etc. Any additional donations will be added to the list as they are submitted. (Those who are donating, could you please send me a picture of your donations? Thanks.)

1. Goldilocks and the Three Peeps

2. Peepcher

3. Peeps Playing Football

4. Peep Robot

5. Colorful Peep Village

6. Exploding Peep Volcano

7. The Springville Peep Stake Youth Dance

8. Peep Hole

9. Peepers of the Deep (alternative title: Creatures of the Peep)

10. Pang the Peepatar

11. Down the Peepit Hole

12. Jurassic Peep Park

13. Jeepers Peepers!

14. The Three Apeepos

15. Little Bo Peeps

My Peep Show prize offering

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:13:00 +0000

Oliver was gracious enough to volunteer as the model for my Peep Show prize. Well, gracious in the sense that he didn't scream like he did the last time I put a dress on him. Not so gracious in the sense that he did spit up all over the skirt the second I had him in it. Don't worry, I'll wash it.It is supposed to be 1-3 month dress for a little girl. As you can see, it is possible to squeeze a 15-ish pound, 5-month-old little boy into it, but only if it is late and he is procrastinating going back to bed. It's amazing what kids will do to stay up with Mom and Dad for a few more minutes.
The little bird was kind of an experiment -- a successful one, I believe. After I wash it, it will fray around the edges a little more and give it a nice feathery look. At least that was the plan. Okay, so it evolved into the plan after I realized that my zig-zagging skills need some work. Still, it turned out well. Micah even says so and he's picky about these things.

I hope somebody who is having a little girl, wants to have a little girl, or knows someone who is having a little girl, chooses this dress as their prize. If not, no worries. I'm sure one of the other 7,539 pregnant girls I know will be interested.

In case you forgot about the Peep Show . . .

noreply@blogger.com (micah) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:20:00 +0000

. . . we thought we would remind you. Peep Show entries are due to us a week from tomorrow night. April 4th. We hope your plans are coming together nicely and we can't wait to see what you all come up with this time around.
As for prizes, we have four probable donations so far: Heather (a felt crayon roll), Jodie (a tote -- I think, correct me if I'm wrong), Summer and Will (undecided), and us (undecided). If you would like to contribute a little something, let us know what you will be donating by next Saturday so we can post the prizes as well as the entries. And yes, it looks like you won't know what you are competing for until you have already submitted your entry. Not ideal, but kind of fun nonetheless. If you are into that sort of thing.

Once again, happy peeping. And Happy Palm Sunday, too.

Cleaning out my shoes

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:09:00 +0000

This has been kind of a rough week. Nothing big, just a few pebbles in my shoe so to speak. But I thought I'd try to focus on the good things, you know, find the silver lining and such.

So . . . I was finally tired enough of the mess in our living room that I cleaned it up. Imagine that! (Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out that the reason stuff isn't getting done is that it is MY job. Better earn my keep.)

And also, I've made a lot of progress on the "special project" I've been working on for Simon (and eventually Oliver). If all goes well, I'll have something fun to show you all in a week or so.

In 2 hours I will have completed my visiting teaching for the month, which is something I've been really bad at and really trying to improve upon. Pardon me while I pat myself on the back.The hood. Simon loves it. He won't go outside without his sweaterhat on. He's usually wearing a read sweatshirt with a hood, but this picture is all I had. I'm reminded of the black sweater I had when I was 4 years old(ish). I wore that thing every day until even I could smell its . . . scent. And it made me want to hurl.

We have a new grocery store nearby. On Monday we were looking at the basil, all of which was looking old and kind of purple. The produce man saw me searching and told him to give him five minutes and I could have some of the new stuff in the back. He brought me a large, fresh bag of basil. I no longer feel quite so guilty about abandoning the other nearby grocery store.

Simon and I danced in the living room this morning. Well, actually, I kind of danced and he mostly wanted me to help him jump. Even if I've been a slacker runner lately, at least I'm getting a bit of a workout anyway.

Yesterday I talked to my sister on Skype. She was listening to the Taylor Swift station via Pandora. I was listening to the Taylor Swift station via Pandora. We must be sisters.Oliver. Bless his little heart. He loves to hear himself talk. I feel like I'm always saying Oliver is a good baby, but he screams a lot. Both of these things are true. It's a game for him, I think. He'll scream and smile and laugh and it makes my ears hurt and I just have to love him for it. I'm sure those lungs will make him very successful somehow. Also, he's a second child; he smiles if I look at him.

Everyone I know is pregnant. Or just was pregnant. This is only a slight exaggeration. It makes me happy. There are few things I love talking about more than pregnancy/childbirth/child-rearing and I'm thrilled to have more people to share the joy with. May you all have chubby babies with three chins by the time they are three months.

Boiled bread . . . yuck.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:18:00 +0000

You know your meal plan was a spectacular failure when the thing that pops into your mind as you are serving dinner is the scene from "Better Off Dead" in which Lane's mother serves his father boiled bacon ("I know how you hate the grease from fried bacon . . . .") and it migrates off his plate and onto the floor. (I tried to find a video clip or a picture for you to enjoy, but was unsuccessful, so you'll have to be satisfied with the rockin' hamburger from the same film.)
I ate two bites and turned it over to Micah to make something edible out of it, which he did. And, naturally, Simon couldn't get enough of it. It was the first time in recent memory where the first words out of his mouth when he saw dinner were not, "I don't like it," and the first time in which he not only asked for seconds, but also thirds and fourths.

Am I unrecognizable, or just forgettable?

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:46:00 +0000

There was a boy I went to high school with at my ward today. I only barely recognized him, and I actually asked Micah to introduce himself and confirm my suspicions before I waltzed up and asked him if he graduated from Bountiful High in 2002. It turns out I was right, it was who I thought it was. And he didn't remember me at all. At least not my name. Micah told him that it was okay, I'm the kind of person that remembers and recognizes people from way far back, which is true. I didn't necessarily expect him to remember my face because I don't think we ever had any classes together, but I kind of thought he could have recognized my name. I wasn't popular in high school, but I thought my name at least got around because I was a good student and all of the things that entails. Apparently, I was wrong. And he was just visiting (all the way from Manhattan), so I may not get the chance to jog his memory any time soon.

I'm only mentioning this because this is at least the 4th time that someone that I knew from high school, or someone that was well acquainted with my family (as in, we're neighbors) did not recognize me when our paths crossed. One of these people I had counted as a friend in high school (if only in a loose sense), but when I ran into him a few years later, he didn't recognize either my name or my face.

I guess being completely forgettable could be a good thing. Especially since I was such an awkward nerd until . . . hmm, until I met Micah? Or maybe I'm still an awkward nerd, but being with him makes it seem okay (as in, yes, I'm an awkward nerd, but look at this fine specimen of a man I managed to seduce anyway -- having such a handsome husband does loads for my confidence level).

Then again, it is kind of deflating to find that I have left such a negligible impact on the lives of people whose names, faces, voices, laughs, random quirks, life stories, I can recall in a moment.

sigh.

Say it ain't so.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:30:00 +0000

It was recently brought to my attention that these exist. And have existed for almost as long as I've been alive.
(I know essentially it's a breakfast corndog. But why do corndogs exist? And with chocolate chips? Really?)

I told Micah about them. His response: "It's amazing the things people aren't scared of."

Amen.

Has it really been that long?

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:19:00 +0000

I had one of those moments the other day. We'll call it a "senior moment." I walked into the grocery store and started perusing the apples just as the intro of a song I liked started playing on the radio. Then the DJ came on and said, "It's the Saturday night 90s where we bring back all your favorite songs from the 90s. If you have a request, give me a call and let me know . . . ." blah blah blah, you know the drill.

I stopped in my tracks. "Bring back"? We're to the point where we're bringing things back from the 90s? Really? I can't be that old. The 90s were practically . . . a decade ago. Wow. Funny how that happens. It's been 10+ years since I was riding around with my sister and her friends, music cranked up loud, singing along at the top of our lungs, driving by all the cute boys' houses every day after school.

It's good to be reminded of those times. Let's bring the 9os back more often. Make me feel young again. ;)

(I'm winking because I still think I'm pretty young . . . even if no one else does.)

Brad Needs Your Help!

noreply@blogger.com (micah) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Hello everybody. Two weeks ago I wrote a post about a product development contest my company is running. Our good friend, and super creative and talented guy, Brad entered the contest and has made it to the final five. His idea is really great and I think he should win.
In the final round the winner is chosen from those five by the votes of our facebook fans. Brad is doing really well on his own, but if he is to win we need everybody to spread the word and go and vote for him (you only have to do it once).
Here are the super simple steps:

1. Go to the UncommonGoods facebook page.
2. If you are not a fan already then become one.
3. Click that you "Like" the Brainy Blocks post.
4. Blog, email, & tweet all of your friends and family to do the same.

That's it. The winner will be the person who gets the most "Likes."

Hey, I just had an idea. Just for kicks, let's make this a contest too. If Brad wins and we develop and sell his blocks then I will send a free set to the person who managed to get the most people to vote for him. Just leave a comment on this post when all is said and done letting us know how influential you were. Just remember, honesty is a virtue.

These things happen

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:08:00 +0000

We spent the other night in the ER with Simon, learning about febrile seizures the hard way. Simon is fine now, a little lethargic, but I'm still kicking myself over it. He'd had a fever since the previous night. I gave him children's Tylenol once during the day but I hadn't been monitoring the fever very closely and I hadn't been consistent in giving him medicine. I keep thinking that if I'd done those things, we could have saved ourselves the drama of a 911 call, an ambulance ride, a wait in a crowded ER, the pain of finding out he was up to 105 degrees, and the embarrassment of thinking that if we had been more diligent, it might not have happened.

It's possible his temperature would have spiked anyway, that the Tylenol itself wouldn't have been very effective, that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. The seizure was relatively harmless (for him if not for us); Simon is fine and he should have no lasting effects or be in any danger of suffering more seizures. But I can't stop thinking that it's so hard to know what to do sometimes. He'd had a fever a few weeks ago and we took him to the doctor -- he had a bit of an ear infection, but the doctor said he would be fine, that kids bounce back from these things quickly, and so I didn't think another comparable fever was a big deal. On top of that, I'm the kind of mom who is hesitant to give medicine too quickly or too frequently.

I'm trying to chalk it up to experience and hope that next time I'll be more prepared. I'm trying to tell myself that these things happen -- to anyone, to everyone. Still, I can't help but blame myself and wonder what would have happened if the seizure hadn't stepped in to wake me up to the seriousness of the situation.

Blegging for Peep Show prizes

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:54:00 +0000

The Peep Show. And prizes. Last year we had prizes donated by various people and that seemed to work out pretty well. The winner got a logo designed by Micah, second prize got a scarf, and next time we're in Utah we'll be getting backflip lessons, I believe.

And so we're thinking of doing that again. We already have someone willing to donate a handmade felt crayon roll, so you can keep your crayons nice and organized while you doodle during sacrament meeting. I mean, your kids can keep their crayons nice and organized . . . . :)

We'll come up with something to donate as well. And we invite anyone else who is feeling crafty or generous to donate a prize. And we'll have as many prizes as there are donations. The winner of the Peep Show will get to pick first, second place picks second, and so on down the line. Good idea? Bad idea? I'm all ears.

Also, we're thinking of extending the deadline through Sunday, April 4th for the simple reason that sometimes General Conference is a good time to work on projects and a Peep Show might be a fun conference project. What do you think?

I'm such a good mom.

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:36:00 +0000

This is the part when I start having to be careful about what I expose my child to. Because you never know what kind of fearsome beasts are lurking in your recent issue of The Friend.

Yes, The Friend. The church's magazine for children. You think you can just flip it open and read any story to your toddler and it'll be fine. But no. I learned this a few weeks ago as I was reading Simon the article by Pres. Uchtdorf -- "A Banner of Faithfulness." A lovely story. It's about John Rowe Moyle, a stonecutter who worked on the Salt Lake Temple. His leg gets broken by a cow. His leg is then amputated so he doesn't die. And then he carves himself a new leg from wood and eventually works up the strength to walk the 20+ miles to the Salt Lake Temple every week (and then back home on the weekend) where he carves the stone that says, "Holiness to the Lord The House of the Lord."It is a lovely story, one that I've heard often in my 26 years. But if you are 2 years old, you may not make it to the part about him getting better and accomplishing this amazing feat. You may be hung up on the "broken leg" and the "amputation" bit at the beginning. Which I only realized when I finished the story and asked Simon what he thought. He was staring wide-eyed at nothing, looking slightly horrified. Then he asked me to show him where it said "broken leg." And that is when I realized my mistake. We talked about it. I tried to explain that things like that can happen but bodies can heal. The next morning he wanted to look at his "new magazine" and he flipped straight to the broken leg story. We talked about it again. I summoned Charlie and Lola to help me via the episode "Charlie is Broken." He was clearly still troubled. It's been about 3 weeks and he still flips straight to that story and wants to read about the cow and the broken leg. (The amputation was more frightening at first, but he seems to have gotten over it.)

If you ask him about it now, though, he'll tell you that a man got his leg broken by a cow and then he got better and went and built the temple. So, all's well that ends well, right? And in the meantime I'll hope he doesn't develop bovine-phobia or some other such dreaded condition.

Milestones and such

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:34:00 +0000

This is my 5 hundredth post.

Today is the 4th anniversary of my first blog post.

We are now announcing our 3rd annual Peep Show. Entries are due to me (heiseltea at gmail) or Micah (heiselt at gmail) by April 3rd. I'll re-post the rules and come up with prizes later this week. If I feel like it. Or remember.

Thing 2 is no longer screaming.

Which is good because if it had gone on for 1 minute longer, he might have lost his voice. Poor Thing. (And also poor Mom and and poor Dad, but mostly poor Thing.)

What we ate last week

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:34:00 +0000

I know that some people dislike meal planning as much as I do, so I thought I would share the results of last week's plans just for kicks. Maybe it will be useful to share ideas/methods/recipes, etc.? Maybe? I don't know. Also, I did not remember to take pictures of everything we ate. Sorry. But please enjoy the pictures I did take.

First, how I plan. (Some of these may seem really obvious, but I know that it took me a while to figure things out -- and I'm still figuring things out -- so I am sharing them anyway.):

I like to try new recipes, so chances are about half of the meals I make on any given week are things we've never tried before.
If we have things left over from the last week (a half carton of sour cream, some spinach, some olives), I try to incorporate those into the next week's meals so they don't go bad.
I try to use a variety of everything: carbs (potatoes, rice, bread, pasta), proteins (beans, meat, cheese, eggs), veggies (tomatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots), soups, salads, Mexican, Italian, oven, stove, pressure cooker, rice cooker, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc.
I try to cull recipes from a variety of sources: our cookbooks, websites (some of my go-to sites are epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, the Pioneer Woman Cooks, and 101 Cookbooks), recipes from friends, etc.
I usually do not have many side dishes. Our family is small enough at this point that a main dish will feed us and usually produce leftovers for lunch. If the main dish isn't colorful or vegetable-y, I'll add a salad or a vegetable to keep us healthy. :)
We often have things come up and one of the planned meals won't get made, at which point it goes on the next week's list.
I don't really shop the sales or use coupons. Too much work. I would end up going to 7 different stores and I don't have a car . . . not worth it. If something is a good deal at the local store, of course I'll get it, but I usually don't see the sale items until I'm actually at the store, so I don't plan a meal around it until the next week.

So, this is what we ate last week:

Monday: Poached Chicken Breast with Peanut Sauce and Noodles from The Everything Thai Cookbook. I made this two weeks ago and had a ton of sauce leftover. The second time around I fried the chicken instead of poaching it and I served it with broccoli instead of snow peas like it calls for in the recipe. Sorry, no picture. It didn't look that great anyway. But it tasted good.

Tuesday: Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup with muffins. I made this soup several weeks ago and we froze the leftovers. At Micah's request, I made some lemon-poppy seed muffins to go with it.

Wednesday: Cheese and Potato Layer Bake from SuperCookery Potatoes and Vegetables cookbook. I was looking for a way to use a leek I had leftover from a previous week and decided on this. It was a lot easier and tastier than I expected. Don't ask me why I made it when I didn't expect it to taste very good.

Thursday: Olive Cheese Bread and salad (which I threw together at the last minute -- arugula, grape tomatoes, feta, salmon from a can, and capers). We've had this before as well, only without the salad. It is very tasty, but note that it contains 1. butter 2. mayonnaise 3. cheese. The only way I can feel good about it is if it is served along side lots and lots of leafy greens. :) I used some of our homemade bread instead of a store-bought loaf.

Friday: Spinach and Feta Pita Bake. This is a new recipe. I wanted to try making pitas with the bread dough we use and came across this when looking for a way to serve them. I really wish I had remembered to take a picture because it looked -- and was -- super tasty, but I didn't. Sigh.

Saturday: We ended up being invited to a friends' house, so I didn't have to cook and our Saturday meal became our Sunday meal.

Sunday: Pancakes. I was in the mood for pancakes after reading several posts about Fat Tuesday and pancake traditions on various blogs. I wanted something a little bit healthier than our normal breakfast pancakes. These are topped with frozen blueberries that I heated up and added a wee bit of sugar to.

And that is that. Feel free to share anything you feel like sharing. Tips, tricks, favorite meals, food aversions. The grossest thing you ever ate. The grossest thing you ever made. Confessions from the middle school cafeteria. You know, whatever.

Drowning in a Sea of Words (and Pictures)

noreply@blogger.com (lizzie) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:18:00 +0000

The title of my last post and the previous snow day post are from the book Snow by Uri Shulevitz. It is one of Simon's (many) favorites. The first time it snowed this season, he stood with Micah on our front steps and said, "I am a boy and you are a dog." In reference to the line in the book, "'It's snowing,' said boy with dog." We still get a kick out of that, as you can imagine.I love that Simon loves reading so much. I love it when he makes references to things that we've read, or when he pretends to be a character from a book. I love sharing stories that I grew up with and I love finding new treasures that we both enjoy. It's so exciting to me. Some of my favorite memories are of going to the library, checking out the 21 books that were the maximum number we could have out at a time, and then sitting on the couch with my mom while she read them to us and I'm so happy that Simon seems to get the same joy out of such things.

I thought I'd share some of the books we're loving these days, for your own enjoyment. And if you have any to recommend, please do so in the comments.
First, A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. I remember my librarian reading this to us when I was in elementary school, then playing the weather-telling game at recess for days afterward. I used it in a Primary activity last week and the kids loved it. They could have kicked their shoes off for hours. I highly recommend it.

Quick as a Cricket by Don and Audrey Wood. I'm a huge fan of the Woods. This one is perfect for Simon's level, as is Piggies. I remember loving Heckedy Peg back in the day, but I think it may be a bit too much for Simon right now. (Remind me to tell you about how I freaked him out about broken legs and amputations during FHE the other week . . . I'm such a good mom.) Simon also loves The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. As well as the other Frog and Toad books. Of course. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't be able to stay with me through all of the stories in the book, but he really enjoyed them.

And finally, The Pigeon books by Mo Willems. We've been able to get Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy at our local library, but there are several more. I'll let Simon read this one to you himself. It's fun.