When life gives you....

So, I've been planning this little feature called "When life gives you...." for awhile now. The plan was to feature items from my garden and what I make with them. Yep, that was the plan. I have been so good about growing the food, preparing the food, and even taking the pictures needed for the feature. The problem here lies in me...more specifically, my inability to update this blog. Even as I type here now, I have one kid wanting me to beyblade battle him (whatever that is) and another who's woken up in tears. Blogging has definitely taken a back seat to my real life. As much as I enjoy my little space here, I feel like my days are already too short, and fitting in daily (or even weekly) posts has become increasingly difficult. Still, being as I still took the time to grow & prepare the food and take all those pictures, I suppose it would be a shame if I didn't try to make the effort to follow through with the little feature. Better late than never, right?

With that said, here's my first "When Life gives you....". Hope you enjoy!

xoxo
-L

When Life Gives you....Sour cherries, make fresh cherry scones!

First you start with fresh sour cherries. Our sour cherry bushes are still young. This is only the second year we have been able to get enough cherries from them to use them in recipes. I had enough cherries this year to be able to make this recipe and a compote for homemade vanilla ice cream.

Pick your cherries when they are firm, but plump to the touch and are medium to dark red. **Note: Be sure you pick your cherries before the birds eat them all. Our birds were fierce this year! Next year, all fruits will be netted.**
I have noticed that bing cherries are readily available and relatively cheap in the grocery store right now, so that would be a good option for those that don't garden.

The next step is to 'pit' your cherries. I don't have an actual cherry pitter (note to self: invest in cherry pitter)because I haven't found one at the local hardware store yet...maybe I need to break down and get one online, huh? I like to remove the stones while watching videos on the internet. I'm being productive and catching up on my favorite British shows all in one go.

After you've prepared your cherries, you're ready for baking.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour (you can use 2 cups of AP flour if wheat is not your thing)
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup dried dates (optional)
1/2 cup fresh pitted sour cherries
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a large baking sheet with vegetable-oil cooking spray or place a piece of parchment paper on the tray.

In a large bowl, combine flour(s), 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture (I do this part with my hands) until particles are the size of small peas; stir in dates (optional). Add 1 egg, vanilla extract, and whipping cream; stir until just mixed. Fold in cherries. When making scones, work the dough quickly and do not over mix.

On a floured surface, knead dough gently. Pat or roll out the dough into a circle 1/2-inch thick. To make wedge-shaped scones, cut into 8 pieces-like cutting a pizza. Place wedges 1 1/2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet.

Brush scones with the beaten egg; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar or make a confectioners sugar syrup for scones when they come out of the oven.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Yields 8 scones or 16 mini scones.

So good with coffee and fruit. Yum!

A smattering of outfits

I mean to keep up with this blog, I swear I do. I take a bazillion pictures, but just never seem to get around to posting. Hopefully now that summer is here I can catch up a little bit. Unfortunately, that means that I'll be writing about old news first. Sorry 'bout that.
I probably won't be doing a lot of wardrobe posts over the summer since I basically live in jeans and tank tops (exciting right?)...so I thought I'd share a smattering of outfits from the past month to tide you over until next school year.

My sister and me. She was in Raleigh which allowed us to get together for coffee so she could meet the baby.
Details (on me):
sweater: Target
dress: thrift
shoes: DSW

Details:
dress: Kmart...I know, right?
shoes: Target
cardi: thrift

Details:
dress: Old Navy
Shoes, belt: thrift
hat: Bahamas

Details:
Top: Old Navy
dress worn as skirt: thrift
belt: cato
Shoes: Chicago--Anna, where did we get them?

Details:
Dress: Vintage
belt: ?
shoes: thrift
shades: Target

The hubs makes a rare appearance--its not often he's that cleaned up, but we were headed to a friend's wedding which meant he had to leave his grubby work clothes behind.
Details (me):
dress & shoes: TJ Maxx
earrings: Target?
Details (him):
shirt: Kohl's
pants: Old Navy?
hat: Bahamas

Last day of school outfit!
Details:
dress: Target
shoes: Aldo
shades: Target

Lazy days of summer are here! Who needs accessories or shoes!
Details
dress: Charlotte Russe

Well, that's it--last months picture worthy outfits. I'm off now to the library, grocery store and daycare run.
Have a lovely afternoon,
-L

Poor Mermaid

This little drawing was left on the white board in my classroom after EOG's. I don't know which of my little weirdos made it, but I kinda like it.

New specs

So, I FINALLY got new glasses. I've been wearing the same vintage frames with the same lenses since the end of my college years....I don't even want to really admit to myself how long that's been! Uh...13, 14 years. Man, I'm gettin' old. Geesh.

Anyway, I love love love my old frames, they are perfect. Slight cat eye, tortoise shell, and the perfect amount of rhinestones (with none missing, might I add), but as I've gotten older they just didn't fit my face anymore. I know, sad.

Ah, the glory days.

The newbies. No rhinestones but still good, right?

That's right, I jumped on the bandwagon and got a new pair of vintage inspired ray bans. Whatcha think? The hubs thinks I look like Dane Edna Everage.

Thanks, babe.

Easter (Yes, I know I'm way behind).

This was a busy Easter for us. We had parents and grandparents out the wazoo visiting our house. My mother came in from Vegas, and my grandparents came down from the mountains. Needless to say, my little house was bursting at the seams. We celebrated with a cookout (I know, not very traditional--no ham!) and picture session on Saturday because my grandparents decided to take A. to Disney as an early 7th birthday present. BTW, trying to get a decent pic of 4 kids together is pretty much impossible. Here are a few of the best ones:



My hats off to those Picture People photographers--what a job! I have lots more (and better) pics of the kids on my Flickr page, if you're interested.

The boy and the grandparents left at the crack on Easter morning, before the rest of us reared our little heads. Good thing the Easter bunny made an appearance before the 5:00 AM hour.

Sunday was pretty low key, with one less child and two less grandparents in the house. We went to fellowship in the morning and spent the afternoon gorging on chocolate and planting a hedge at the front of our yard. The weather was just right for keeping the kids outdoors--that's right, making 'em play hard all day=sleep all night!

I spent Sunday evening packing for a trip. My mom won a cruise in a poker game and decided to take me with her. Yay! That's one of the reason's why its taken me so long to post here--I've been gone...no kids....no dishes...no laundry. Just a lazy week in the sun. Good times. Thanks Mom for being such a good gambler. In fact, she won $700 on the cruise in the casino, can you believe that! Of course, the kids, dishes and laundry were all waiting for me in full force when i finally made my way back to NC. I'll be posting pics of my trip once I get them put on the computer. Its been a really busy week back to work, so....

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter filled with family and treats.
~L

Welcome to Polyvore!

What a fantastic time waster! Its so much fun to create outfits on this site. This was my entry for Orchid Grey's giveaway this week. Fingers crossed...I sure would love $100 free dollars to shop with! What would you buy if you had $100 to spend at lulus.com?

Welcome to Polyvore! by ellemvee featuring brass jewelry

Short
$39 - lulus.com

Qupid swimwear
$38 - lulus.com

Wallet
lulus.com

Brass jewelry
$26 - lulus.com

Bracelet
$17 - lulus.com

Sunglass
$9 - lulus.com

Gifts for Teen Girls and Young Women | Lulus.com
$14 - lulus.com

Collective Concepts Top - Beige Top - Print Top - $55.00
$55 - lulus.com

BRB!

Hi friends.

I'm sure that the few of you who follow this blog have noticed that I haven't been posting for a couple of weeks now. Well, there's a couple of good reasons for that. First, we were all sick. I mean SICK. Snot by the bucket loads kind of sick--that's a lot of snot in a six person household! Funny how you just don't feel like dressing up when you feel like crap.

Just about the time we all started feeling better, our little world was turned upside down--in a good way. About a week and a half ago, we got a call from DSS asking if we were interested in taking in another kid. At first I was a wee bit skeptical.....until they told me the child was a 3 week old baby girl! What!!??! I just knew that I couldn't pass up the opportunity, especially if she were a child that could become adoptable one day. After all, finding our little girl forever child is (hopefully) our end goal. We just had to say yes, knowing that the risk(and the insanity that would come from having 4 kids under 7 wreaking havoc on our home)is worth the reward.

After work Ian and I went to pick her up from the hospital where she had spent the first few weeks of her life in the NICU. I have never seen such a small baby in real life. I was almost afraid to hold her--funny right, being as I've had two of my own. The moment I met her I was in love! I have been blown away by how quickly I have become attached to this little girl. I have thanked the heavens for her everyday, and just hope and pray that she will be able to stay with us. If there is a god or any kind of justice in this world, she'll be able to stay.

So, I'll get back to posting more regularly once life feels a little 'normal' again. Until then, meet Allison:

Please keep your fingers crossed for her health and happiness.

Until then....
xoxo
-L

stylish Teacher Tuesday

Well, I had good intentions today. I've been wanting a gauzy, 70's style dress for awhile now. I found this little number on sale at Old Navy--damn you Old Navy, every time I try to get away from you, you pull me back in! In my mind 63 didn't sound too cold, but with the rain and wind it sucked. In the end it didn't matter much anyway because A. threw up at school, so we came home early. Jeans for me for the rest of the day. Oh well, I tried.

Details:
Dress: Old Navy
tights: Kohl's
shoes: Aldo
jacket: thrift
jewelry: F21, I think.

Doesn't that sky in the background look so wintery? It better not frost or snow! I'll be losing lots of baby trees and plants if it does. Grrrrr....winter. Go away.

On a more adorable note:
Check out this pic of Bulldog. This is the face he made at my dinner the other night. Not sure if his yucky cold made him not want to eat, or if he really just doesn't like curry. Either way, he let me know how he felt about the food.

I'll go back to tending to my sick boy now.
xoxo
~L

What she said....

For days I have been thinking about writing about Monkey and what its like to be his foster mom. Strangely though, I can rant and rave about my feelings to my husband, but find it difficult to put them into words here. Then, low and behold Alison over at Monked and Fifed wrote a beautiful little piece about a young girl who has been spending a lot with her and her family, and her feelings about that little girl not being around much anymore. As I read Allison's words I felt like, this is someone who just gets me.

She wrote about many of the same feelings I have on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Emotions like feeling skeptical about having another kid in my home--especially a needy one, guilt associated with spending time with another child--almost like cheating on your own kids, guilt associated with being a little bit relieved when the child isn't around, upset over realizing that the child just may be better off with you and your family than their own, and sadness when that child isn't around. Also, as we move closer to the time that he will be reunited with bio dad, I feel this nagging pinch of loss. I know that when he is gone for good, its gonna be bad--really bad.

Lately I've been torn between wanting to hug and smooch all over him constantly (knowing that my days are numbered) and wanting to distance myself from him. Monkey has become such a big part of our little family, I've almost forgotten what life was like before his arrival. We are starting to get a little taste of what's to come now that he's started spending Saturdays and Sundays with bio dad. It's definitely much more quiet in the house. Bulldog has no one to fight with over toys, and speaking of toys....the house stays much cleaner on those days because Monkey has a need to play with everything! He has the attention span of a gnat. The last couple of weekends have really made it clear to me how much easier it is to have just the two kids. This is when the guilt kicks in....I know in my heart that this little boy would have a better life and bigger opportunities with my family. It's true. It might not be nice to say, but its true. However, I also realize that without him here, I have more time for my own kids, my husband, and for myself. I feel a little selfish saying that. Life is supposed to be a little fun though, right? Not that he isn't fun--he's an amazing little kid, but he's also a lot of work.

When the day comes, I know the hubs will be heartbroken too. He may not really show it, whereas I will probably be an emotional mess, but I know its gonna be hard for him. Monkey loves working with Ian on the farm. Although all the kids like their outside time, Monkey loves being outdoors the most. He's in heaven watching the horses, riding on the tractor, or just simply playing in the yard. Its so sad to think that in as little as a month he could be living in a small apartment on one of the worst streets in Durham. We have worked so hard with him. When he came to us he only spoke about 5 words. Its amazing that six months later he speaks in complete sentences, has formed familial bonds, has let go of his aggressive tendencies (other than those common to your average 2 year old), and has been removed of his developmentally delayed status. We just hope and pray that the big change he is getting ready to experience doesn't cause him to regress too much. In that way, having a foster child is super frustrating. You pour your heart, soul, and energy into a kid and then you have to send them back to a life that is probably not as good as they one they've lived with you. That's the goal though, right? DSS does all they can to reunite families. Sometimes a little too much, if you ask me. They believe that the best place for a child is with their bio family. I'm afraid that as a foster parent and teacher, I don't necessarily agree with their philosophy....but that's best saved for another post.

Will I continue to foster after Monkey is gone? Not sure yet. Depends on how bad it feels to let go. I'll keep you posted on that one. In the meantime, I'd like to say thanks Allison. Your blog has entertained me, given me good recipes, and most importantly helped me sort through some of the emotions I have on being a parent.

Monkey's second day at our home. He's grown so much since then.

Monkey and Bulldog playing--and nicely at that.

xoxo
~L

35!!!

So, on the 2nd I turned 35. It's taken a couple of days for that number to sink in. 35. It just sounds so grown up. Funny thing is, I don't always feel as grown up as 35 sounds or should be.
Over the last couple of months, I've been thinking a lot about how a 35 year old should look. Let's face it, at some point I have to stop getting Delia's catalogues and perusing the junior's department at TJ Maxx. That said, I don't want to look like a boring grown up. There has got to be some balance. What does a 35 year old look like? What is age appropriate? What would Stacey and Clinton say? I guess I'll figure it out over time--one big ole work in progress, huh?

Here's what I wore on my birthday. I was going for a boho, southwestern look. The outfit looked a lot better in my head than in real life. First off, it was not as flattering as I thought it would be. Secondly, a coworker friend of mine said I looked like I walked out of a Chadwick's catalogue. Yikes! See what I mean...gotta find that balance between age appropriate (not like a dowdy hag) and somewhat fashionable (dare I say hip). Like I said...work in progress.

Talking to the MIL in England.

Why won't he ever pose for a picture like a normal human being?

Details:
shirt: Target
skirt & belt: thrift
boots: Aldo

Overall I had a nice birthday. I started my day with a student bringing me a very yummy, giant Elmo cupcake. I also had students write me lots of nice birthday messages on my white board, and one student drew a portrait of me.

Isn't that sweet student of mine so talented?

After school, the we played in the yard for a bit. Then we took the kids for a walk downtown and went to eat Mexican food at Bandido's. The food was yummy, per usual. Unfortunately, Bulldog was not on his best behavior-which is very apparent by the look on my hubby's face in the picture below. See, Bulldog is a pig--which means that he did not want to share the basket of chips on the table and showed his dissatisfaction by screaming at the top of his lungs. It got so bad that Ian had to take him out of the restaurant. Needless to say, we didn't stay for a sombrero, spanish happy birthday and flan. Bummer huh?

Mr. Happy

Monkey.

THe littles enjoying a little post Mexican play time before bed.

On Friday, my work buddies treated me to a night out at Tony's Bourbon St. Oyster bar. What a place! Its not the kind of place I would've picked for myself, but it was priceless as far as people watching was concerned. I even spied one of the moms that A. goes to Scouts with lap dancing and smooching some dude in the corner. Good times. Thank you, friends.

Details:
dress & clutch: thrift
shoes: F21

I have some pretty incredible video of the evening, and if I can figure out how to upload it, I'll post it. I'll try to work on that cause its classic!

Hope your weekend was filled with friends and dancing too!
Smooches,
~L