Home Alone

Thats right, I am home alone. Jason and Nate headed up to the farm this weekend. Jason felt I needed some time to myself. I tried to persuade him that I was ok, but he insisted. So, they left this morning. I have accomplished the following: Saw my chiropractor and had my back adjusted, dropped off a paper at Nate's ped's office to fill out his medical records so he can go to a Parents Day Out program one day a week, had lunch, grocery shopped, haircut and had my blood drawn. The last was so my ob can get the hormone pregnancy levels. I know that I miscarried over a month ago, but she wanted to make sure my numbers/levels dropped to zero. Oh, I also cleaned out the linen closet and cleaned up my side of the office and was able to wash most of the floor. I also cleaned up the closet floor and vacuumed. There is a vacuum cleaner in the closet that needs to be kicked to the curb. I inherited from my mom and dad. I believe they bought it in either 86 or 87. So, it's 20 years old. They used it, sent it to my brother to use who sent it back to my folks, I think. Then when I got my apartment when I moved here, it was sent to me. It has had a good life. Cleaned lots of floors and done a good job. I was optimistic about keeping it. Just keep fixing the hose, taping up the holes, and it will run fine. However, the hose can no longer be fixed. It is deteriorating. I think I will have a nice send off on Tuesday in time for the garbage truck. Maybe I will take pic's for the good memory.

I don't have plans for tomorrow. I find if I make plans, they don't get done. Maybe a little bit of reading tho. Will be nice to read with out being interrupted 50 thousand times! I am thinking of making a fitted diaper too. I have bought some cute tie-dyed flannel a few weeks ago and would like to take a stab a making a fitted diaper. I have a few web sites that I can look at to help. I have a few diapers that I can use as my form. Wish me luck!

It's late and almost past my bedtime. Maybe I will post more tomorrow!
Lynn

Yummy soup recipe

I am glad it's getting colder. I like the cooler weather. I enjoy picking out recipes that are great for fall and winter, turning on the heat, bundling up in long sleeves and pants. Oh, and getting out the fuzzy, warm, thick socks and settle in with a good book and something warm to drink. Which reminds me, I need to see if Jason will make his famous mulled cider, yum, yum!!!

Anyways, speaking of recipes, I found a really yummy vegetable beef soup. I keep looking for one and couldn't find any that suited my taste. Guess I am picky! So, I was looking through the book, Eating for Life by Bill Phillips. He writes the Body for Life book. He has recipes that we actually like. No frou-frou ingredients. I was needing some new ideas for suppers and came across this soup. We had it tonight. Perfect for a cold day.

Beef and Barley Soup:
1 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 lbs top sirloin, cubed
4 cups low-fat, reduced-sodium beef broth
1 cup water
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 carrot sliced
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 bay leaf
10oz frozen green beans
1 can (14 1/2oz) diced tomatoes
10oz frozen green peas

1: Brown cubed beef till browned on all sides in olive oil
2: Stir in beef broth, water, onion, celery, carrot, oregano, black pepper, garlic, barley and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 mins.
3: Stir in grean beans, tomatoes, and peas. Simmer, covered, until meat and vegetables are tender, about 15 mins. Remove bay leaf

I didn't leave this on the stove top. I browned the beef and then added everything to the crockpot. I had a few packages of vegetables in the freezer that I was able to use up with this soup. I had a pea/carrot mix that I used, but cut up a few raw carrots too. If I had gotten this all in the crockpot by noon instead of 2:30, the carrots would have time to cook all the way through. I also added a can of tomato sauce at the end and heated through. Tasted wonderful!

Nothing else has been going on. Nate and I have been having fun. Went to the park the other day. Nate loves climbing on all the structures there.
Jason took next week off. I am going to be getting some things done. I wanted to start a calender with Nate but hadn't gotten that far. Also, I wanted to start working on the alphabet with him too. Needed to get something copied and laminated. I am going to take advantage of Jason being home to do all this. I am also getting Nate signed up for Parents Day Out at a church not far from us. Thursday's only. I am going to let him stay all day. Should be interesting since he will be having a nap there and he wont sleep in a crib there, only on a cot. At least he can have his blanket with him. He will also have lunch there.

I bought another diaper from my message board! It is blue with vintage vans on it! I can't wait to get it. I also bought 2 John Deere diapers there a few weeks ago. When I get the new diaper, I will take pictures and share.

Went thru Nate's toys again the other day. We replaced the rocking chair and shelf that were in his room with his train table. The table was in the front room but it was taking up alot of room. Kept a few toys for the front room and found some cute baskets to put them in. I will have to take a picture of it all. I am proud of myself and getting it all organized. Nate still has toys in the back room. It's primarily Little People back there. Downstairs is misc toys. We are in the process of rearranging the basement area to accommodate the toys and his climbing cube. Can't wait till thats done. Hopefully we will be downstairs more. Especially this winter so Nate can climb all he wants.

I think I am going to stop here. I might go out for a few before Nate goes to bed. Jason wants to go to the YMCA after Nate goes to bed. We are heading out to the pumpkin patch tomorrow and then the Fire Station for an open house.

Sad time at the Starbuck household

As you all noticed in the last posting of my blog, I said that we were pregnant. Well, on a sad note, I miscarried on Monday the 24th. According to my blood test and the numbers that my ob had to look for, my progesterone levels were low. I had the same thing with Nate but my former ob caught it fast enough and started me on the progesterone pills. I hope that my current ob will do that before we try and have another baby. I am going to try and get my health back on track so we wont be trying for a while.

On a happier note, we were visiting Jason's parents this weekend. They had the family auction on Saturday. Jason was able to find a few things he wanted. I will let him talk about them in his blog.
The mule we are always talking about Nate riding, small farm tractor, was part of Jason's grandfathers estate so it was at the auction. Nate wasn't too happy that he couldn't ride it and didn't understand why. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa bid on it and won! The mule is here to stay and Nate is quite happy!

I am looking forward to getting back to life. I am always anxious for a weekend like this past one so the week before I am running around getting things ready and our days are out of whack. I think tomorrow morning, we will be going to get my mums as I always do in the Fall. I can't wait to work on the front of the house getting it decorated for Fall. I wasn't able to get some cornstalks from the farm so I will be buying some this year. This weekend we have a birthday party at a farm in O'Fallon and they will be having pumpkins so we will be picking our pumpkins there.

I had the privilege of getting some older catalogs and magazines from the farm that have sewing, crafting and such in them. I am looking forward to sitting down and looking thru them and getting some ideas.

Have a nice night, morning, day etc.!
-Lynn

Really fun day!

After all the running around the country lately, I decided to take Nate up to my bro's house and spend the day with my SIL and our nephews. Nate and the boys haven't spent alot of time together lately so I thought they would like that. My bro is out of town all week working in Chicago so I thought my SIL would like some girl time too.
Nate was the best kid on the trip up. It takes a good hour and 40 mins to get to Springfield, Illinois. I made sure he had his Thomas engines and box cars and Harold the helicopter and lots of books. He was so quiet but we did have a time of I Spy Bombines! (combines). Tractors and semis also! Every time we saw a semi, Nate would ask "Papa?" My dad drives a semi. We saw alot of semis on the road and I had to break it to him every time that no it wasn't papa. Oh, well. He took it pretty well.
He slept for half an hour on the ride home. The boys, Ethan and Nolan, ages 5 and 3 respectively, wore Nate out. They played at the park, with the train table, chasing each other. They had lots of fun!

I guess I should have been posting to my blog a bit more. I can't believe I did not post about Nate's birthday. What kind of mom am I?!! Ok, so Nate is 2 now. Not the terrible 2's everyone talks about. I call them the terrific 2's with some terribles on the side. He is the best kid. So fun to be around. He is in a very curious stage right now. So fun to watch and see what he is going to investigate. At the park today, he really could care less about the climbing structures. He wanted to walk the perimeter of the structures. It was a ledge about a foot high. He walked over a bridge I don't know how many times. Just investigating!!!
So, we celebrated at Jim and Kathy's house on the farm, Jason's parents, over Labor day. Had a Funfetti cake with green frosting with a farm scene. Here is a pic of it:


The 8th of September, we went to my parents and had my bro and his family there to help celebrate Nate's birthday. It was a carrot cake and had a Thomas the Tank engine theme. Here is the pic:


We bought Nate a Thomas train table for his birthday. We decided to set it up the night before his birthday and let him see it when he got up the next day. When I got him out of bed, he ran down the hall and stopped really quick when he saw the table. He didn't get as excited about it as I had hoped, but I know he really likes it.
That night we headed for Indiana by the way of Hillsboro Illinois to drop of the dog at my folks to take care of while we were gone on an extended weekend trip. Our main goal was to get to French Lick Indiana for a train ride for Nate. This is a train that was still running up till the 1960's. It was a diesel engine that pulled 2 passenger cars. It was an hour long trip with a pass thru a tunnel. Nate enjoyed it especially when the whistle went off. Here are 2 pics from the train we rode and one of Jason and Nate is an old steam engine that doesn't run anymore.



This is Nate looking out the train window:


This is the old steam engine:


After the train ride, we headed to our Bed and Breakfast. It is called the West Point Cottage. The family that runs this B&B acquired the cottage and relocated it to the current place. They dismantled it and when they put it back together, they added on and used screws and bolts. In some of the pictures, you can see some original beams between the living room and kitchen. Quite the history.

This is the only picture I could find. I will see if I can have Jason find the other pictures I took of the cottage.

Other exciting news in the family is that we are expecting a new baby around May 10th!!! I had my official appointment yesterday. I am seeing a new Dr and really like her. She was so nice and sweet. I like the other ladies in the office too. I think I am going to like seeing them for the next 8 months! I am 6 1/2 weeks along. I will have an official baby appointment the 8th of October and I am hoping Jason will be able to join me. The first appt yesterday was the one where they say, yeah you're pregnant and find the due date. Boring! I am hoping to get an ultrasound the next time I am there and maybe see the heart beat! I don't know about hearing it tho. When I first heard Nate's heartbeat, it made it so real to me.

I guess that's all the fun news on this end. I am sure I will be adding more as this pregnancy progresses.
-Lynn

Can't take the dog hair anymore!

I am about to go insane with the dog hair. I try to vacuum every other day but lately, I need to everyday. It's awful. Can I shave my dog? Should I shave him? Does anyone want a Golden Retriever? Seriously, its awful. He can be laying on the wood floor, get up, come over to the rug and scratch or shake. The hair would fly everywhere. Come on, is the hard wood not good enough for you?! I think he is doing that to spite me! One word: UGH!

We had one of the best days today, Nate and me. We stayed home all day. Played in the front room with Thomas,books,container of elbow macaroni, cars, and yes, a movie. I had the want to watch "The Christmas Story". I know, I'm weird! Nate cuddled thru quite a bit of the movie. He got to have nekkie time too! After I took off his nite time diaper, he got this look of pure joy that he was naked. He ran around so happy.

Had a lunch with daddy here at the house. Played some more. I worked in the office cleaning things up.

I was perusing the cloth diaper boards yesterday and today. Thought I would share a link to an ebay listing. It is very funny and I have the ladies blog book marked. You need to check it out! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D130144061675%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1%5Dmoms

Another thing I have been reading on the cloth diaper boards are the recalls from China. Now, I have gotten rid of alot of Nate's toys in the past 2 weeks. Not because of the recalls, because we have too many toys and his birthday is coming up. If I had money, I would buy him a few wood toys. I have some great web sites of people who make wood toys. Don't know if I want to touch that issue with a 10ft pole! Alot of women on the boards are getting quite upset over it all.

I noticed that my laundry room was getting cluttered with tubs of Nates stuff so I went to home depot and bought some new shelves. Alas, the tubs dont fit! So, I started putting the Christmas decorations on the shelves and will put the tubs on the shelves the Christmas stuff was on. The previous owner made some shelves and they will work just fine for the tubs.

The 12th of September, Nate's birthday, we are heading out to Indiana for a few days. We as a family haven't taken some time for ourselves in a long while so we decided to get away for a long weekend. There is a train museum in French Lick Indiana that we want to see. Nate is really into Thomas right now. In fact, we found a train table and tracks and accessories on craigslist and decided to buy it. Can't wait to see Nate's eyes when he sees that when he wakes up on his birthday!

Well, Jason is home and I need to work on things for supper.
-L

Found the pic

I finally found the picture that I wanted to add the last time I posted. Jason said that he hadn't uploaded to livedigital. So here it is. Nate looks so cute munching on his first ear of corn!



I didn't get around to getting any new pictures, but tonight Jason was able to get some. Since all this heat this week, we haven't been outside. There was a big storm that passed just north of us and we ended up with some good wind that cooled things off. So, we sat outside for a while tonight and Jason was able to snap some pics!

This weekend we are heading up to my folks for my dad's birthday and our nephew, Nolans birthday. We are staying over night and coming home on Sunday.

Nothing else is happening lately. Kinda boring around here.
I will have to post another time when things get exciting.

I've lost my purse...

No, I haven't really lost my purse. It is the title of a poem and when I find the poem, I will share with you. On Friday, 2 friends and I went to tea at The St Louis Tea Room for one friends birthday. The ladies there read poems aloud while you eat. We only heard 2 poems and one was titled "I've Lost My Purse". At least I think thats what the lady said. I did email the tea room and ask for the author so I could find it online. It was a funny poem about a mother needing to pay a bill and couldn't find her pocketbook. This took place I would think in the 40's or 50's. Very cute poem and I hope I find it!

I had my first Diaper Class here at the house on Saturday. Only 3 people came. One person already cloth diapers. I didn't sell anything. I have 2 feelings about the day. 1: Sad because only 3 people showed and didn't sell anything, and 2: Happy because the people that were there are good friends and I trust them with critiquing my presentation. Now that my first class is done, and as I look back on that time, I know what I can do different. As I figure things out, I might share with you. I guess I am a bit embarrassed about my recent presentation. It didn't go as smooth as I had hoped. I think I need to have info on paper for people to look at as I am talking. I can use that as a cheat sheet too. Like I said, I may post more when I figure out what I want to do different.

I haven't shared any pics lately of us even tho Jason has on his blog. I would like to find some to share, or take some more and share then. My favorite lately is of Nate eating corn on the cob for the first time. I will try and find the pic. Well, livedigital is having a tough time loading and I don't want to wait around. I will have to post pics of Nate here another time.

Guess thats all for now.
-Lynn