Lavender Blue Days

So--I'm keeping a tally of how much Shawn works this week. The way I calculate it is hours away from home--so that does include several hours of driving.

Monday: 6:00am-6:00pm (12 hours)
Tuesday: 6:00am-1:30am! (19.5 hours)
Wednesday: 7:00am-7:00pm (12 hours)
Thursday: 12:00pm-8:00pm (8 hours) We had a nice morning this day.
Friday: 6:30am-6:30pm (12 hours)


Plus at least 1/2 hour each night for phone calls (which I am not including in my tally of hours away from home, I am just mentioning them so that you have a better understanding of what his at home hours are like)

63.5 hours, and he's taking Saturday off, so I'm excited about that!

The kids and I are doing great, so I really can't complain about that. We have our routines, I have my ways of dealing with any problems, and we've been having so much fun...

Maybe that's actually the worst part--that we're doing so well without him.

Here are some pictures from our day visiting cousins! Lucy, Ruby and Milo are playing with Isaac (5), Naomi (2.5), and Eli (11 weeks or so). We had a blast! I think I need to get some photography tips from Chris and Rachel (and Nolan) though.
I love the look on Isaac's face in this one!

Naomi was either eating, or asking to eat something the whole time we were there! I got a lot of pictures of her eating! =)

Lucy would rather play in a puddle (and the mud) than the slip n' slide.

Here's Milo with one of his huge smiles!

Laurie and Eli--adorable!

It was just a really great summer day!

We're fixing the playroom! Shawn and I spent the weekend trying to make sense of the playroom. I even followed Kim's example and had the girls help. (Well, they helped a little, and then they left to spend the weekend with grandma and grandpa.) And I know it looks like I just threw everything out, but really things are just getting moved and reorganized. Yes, we still have a ridiculous amount of toys, they are just all put away!

And I remembered to take a 'before' picture this time!

Love ya,
Val

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Jacksonville police say Reginald Peterson needs to learn that 911 is not the appropriate place to complain that Subway left the sauce off a spicy Italian sandwich.

Police said the 42-year-old man dialed 911 twice last week so he could have his sub made correctly. The second call was to complain that officers weren't arriving fast enough.

Subway workers told police Peterson became belligerent and yelled when they were fixing his order. They locked him out of the store after he left to call police.

When officers arrived, they tried to calm Peterson and explain the proper use of 911. Those efforts failed, and he was arrested on a charge of making false 911 calls.

Peterson did not have a listed phone number.

Lucy peeled herself with a vegetable peeler today.

She was pretty calm, but there was that hint of hysteria in her voice.

"I think my finger is dead!"


Shawn

Here's one for you

2 packs of ramen soup (pork works as well as any)
Make those up the same way you did when you were 12, but 2 minutes before the noodles go in, add some stuff:

Fake crab meat
Mushrooms
Cabbage
Parseley flakes
Garlic
Ramen powder (sodium asplode!)
Soy sauce
Sesame seeds or oil
Any other crazy crap what comes in your mystery vegetable box every week (Kale today)
Egg- That's right. Just crack the mother and put it in the soup. Makes it kind of rich and filling.


I don't know if I'm proud of it, but I ate it.

Shawn

I love zucchini! It seems like one of those vegetables that no one really loves, but I do! I love zucchini stir fried with onions and mushrooms, I love zucchini sliced in half and cooked on the grill, and I love the tasty zucchini crumble the girls and I made for dessert today! Here's the recipe:

Makes 6-8 servings

4 1/2 cups flour

3 cups granulated sugar, divided

½ teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups butter, cold

6-8 cups thinly sliced zucchini (about 4 large zucchini)

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

•Stir the flour, 2 cups sugar and salt in a large bowl until well combined. Add the butter and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse oatmeal.

•Pour half the mixture into a 13x9-inch cake pan. Using your fingers or a rubber spatula, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside.

•Combine zucchini and lemon juice in large pot over high heat; cook until zucchini is tender, 8-10 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer 1 minute more. Stir in ½ cup of reserved flour mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove the pot from the heat to cool for 10 minutes.

•Pour the zucchini mixture over the baked crust and sprinkle with the remaining flour mixture. Return the pan to the oven and bake until it is lightly browned and bubbly, 40-45 minutes.