Yes, my husband and I just had a wonderful weekend away but don’t worry – this is a completely g-rated post! Our weekend of reconnecting was indeed just what we needed. It was filled with gorgeous weather, walks along Lake Michigan, sleeping in (!) and lots of wandering around looking at beautiful views while wine tasting. We hit a weekend where a group of wineries held an event – at each winery you had a snack waiting for you designed to be paired with a wine. Beef tenderloin on a baguette paired with pinot noir… dark chocolate brownie made with cherry wine and paired with a cabernet franc… creamy wild rice soup paired with a chardonnay… oh it was a yummy weekend.

One of the most fun parts of this event, and of wine tasting really, is getting the chance to meet the winemaker. These people have such a passion for what they are doing – it’s contagious. Tasting a wine with the person who spent months making decisions on how to craft it is far different than just sitting down at a wine bar and having a person (even a knowledgeable person) tell you about the wine’s flavors.

We heard about the 12-16 hour days they’ve been putting in lately harvesting grapes. (One of them was still wearing his stained jeans & boots from working in the vineyard that morning!) We learned that one wine is made from three different grapes but they grow the grapes all together and harvest them all at the same time to create their wine. We learned that some wines of the lightest color are made from the darkest grapes. We learned that red wine takes longer to make than white wine and involves far more variables.

We were enthusiastically greeted by Dan at Chateau Fontaine and told that we must try a bit of this with a sip of that and then a cracker with this and a sip of that. We sat across the bar from Charlie at Bel Lago and learned about his inspirations to create new wines. We listened to the son of the owner at Bowers Harbor talk about wines from different hillsides. We laughed with John & Jo at Willow Vineyard. I could go on and on – we visited approx 17 wineries over the weekend.

It’s so inspiring to hear the passion in these people’s voices. Of course, they have invested more time and money than a lot of us do in our profession but it almost seems as if they were driven to do so. I honestly think there is something in each of our lives that inspires that same passion. We may be lucky enough to have it from our work. Or maybe it’s a hobby or our family. Whatever it is, I left this weekend refreshed in many ways and one of them is inspiring me to relish the passions in my life. In some ways, far more simplistic than battling the weather to grow grape vines and making all the delicate decisions to create a wine. But they are passions nonetheless. Where’s your passion?

Northern Michigan is calling me. It’s been calling for about a month but today, today I’m able to answer. In just a few hours my husband and I will be wandering north. I’m hoping for some sunshine and glimpses of sparking blue waters in my favorite Great Lake. It looks like that sunshine might be somewhat hard to come by but I’ll take a few semi-warm, cloudy days to see some dunes… visit some wineries… walk along the Lake… relax.

It’s gonna be a good weekend. And thinking back on my week – it hasn’t been so bad either. Here’s a few small moments of grace, week #40 and still counting…

1. Shoeboxes! Operation Christmas Child is a fantastic service project. Especially for kids – it’s a project they really get a handle on. I’ve been doing it for years and this week I did the project with E’s girl scout troop. I’ve got 20 shoeboxes in my car waiting to start their journey. Awesome. There is grace in helping others.

2. The value of a good vent. There’s something about running with the right person that lets you get a few things off your chest… that makes the weight pressing down a little bit lighter. I didn’t need that vent (at least not this week) but I’m so glad I could be the ear for someone who did. There is grace in listening.

3. Family dinner. I had the family at the table a decent number of nights this week. And I was all adventurous trying out three new recipes. I’m happy to report that two of the three are repeat-worthy (the third was awful). But even on the awful night, eating together and sharing our days is good. There is grace in coming together.

4. Confidence. My oldest set off on a new adventure this week. As for many of us, starting something new takes some courage. And in this particular case, it took finding some confidence in her abilities. She did it. And she did it well. There is grace in inner-strength.

5. Visiting grandparents. My in-laws have been here two weekends in a row. Once just for fun and this weekend to watch the kiddos for our little getaway. I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it now. We are so lucky to have all of our parents so active in our children’s lives. And I’m not just saying that because it lets Matt & I get away – though that is a nice perk. I love that my kids have real relationships with each of their grandparents. There is grace in family.

Shhh…. do you hear it? The Lake has missed me.

Yesterday I came up with a fun way to keep my lists of five going this week. I was going to give you a recipe today with just five ingredients. But that recipe is for a crock pot and I’ve been doing crock pot recipes a lot lately. So I decided it was boring to do that after all. Besides there’s a recipe I’ve been wanting to share and it’s kind of seasonal so now is as good a time as any.

Pumpkin cookies. Yes, you can make them year round but there is just something about the fall that makes me want to put pumpkin in as many things as possible. I make a mean pumpkin muffin and I’ve got a great pumpkin bread recipe (for the bread maker no less!). But a few weeks ago I went on the hunt for a good pumpkin cookie recipe. I’m happy to say, I found it. I’ve only made one tiny change to this recipe – its original can be found on Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen website (a great resource for all sorts of recipes).

Here is THE pumpkin cookie recipe. Approved by my kids, my cheerleaders who received them as a post-game reward, and myself. Mmmmm

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 a bag of mini-chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Sift the first five ingredients together in a medium size bowl, set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl cream the sugar and shortening, then add the pumpkin and blend well. Add the egg and vanilla, mix well.
4. Gently stir in the dry ingredients, a little at a time until you have a nice smooth batter. Stir in your chocolate chips.
5. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for around 12 minutes.

These might be the fluffiest cookies I’ve ever made. Be gentle with the dough and yours will be too. Mmmm…. I love pumpkin treats!

Note: be sure you buy canned pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie mix.

Hey – there are five steps in the recipe so that still works in my lists of five! wahoo!

So I’ve done two posts this week with lists in them. I feel like I should stick with that theme but as I’m lying in bed this morning waiting for my alarm to go off I realize I’m terrible at top five lists. My top five movie list would go something like this:
1. Bull Durham
2. It’s A Wonderful Life
3. that movie with Denzel Washington as the coach of the newly desegregated high school football team… you know the name??

Not long ago at the dinner table we were talking about big shows that we’ve seen. One of the kids asked for our best show list. I started it in no particular order:
1. Jersey Boys
2. Thoroughly Modern Millie (on Broadway)
3. Ummm… and then Matt reminded me of the show we saw oh 2 months ago that I totally loved but was leaving off the list: Spring Awakening. Definitely in my top five but I couldn’t think of it.

I swear I’ve got a good memory but I just don’t have the brain storage for names. I can’t remember names of songs, movies – heck sometimes I can’t even remember the titles of books I’ve read. It’s sad really. I’m going to be old and gray sitting on my rocking chair some day and I’ll be able to carry on a perfectly lucid conversation, as long as it doesn’t require me naming something from my past. Sigh… SO in honor of my future missing memory I’m going to write a list of things I miss. It may or may not be five things, we’re just going to roll with this one and see where my tangent-floating mind takes us..

1. Family Feud: the original one with that guy who kissed everybody (and no, I don’t remember his name)

2. Playing fun board games: we don’t do that enough any more, probably because we don’t hang out with my brother & sister-in-law as much as we used to. Which is most certainly due to the fact that we moved two hours away.

3. Which reminds me, I miss living within 15 minutes of a real downtown with real museums and sports and restaurants. Oh! And a Target I drove past every day.

4. I miss having nothing more important to do than pack a backpack and walk across a beautiful campus to stuff my brain with knowledge.

5. I miss having a puzzle always lying there waiting to be worked on. (In our first apartment we always had a card table in our living room with a puzzle on it. We’d work on it while we watched tv or do a piece or two while waiting for water to boil. It was fun. And then we had kids. Kids who run around and knock things down all the time.)

I could go on and on… I miss fitting in size 10 clothes… I miss Must See TV (esp Seinfeld in it’s heydey)… speaking of tv shows, I miss Ed and the notion of the $10 bet… but if I don’t stop thinking of random things I’m going to end up missing a paycheck. I’ve got work to do before the patter of little feet come down the stairs demanding things like breakfast.

This morning I’m going to spend 2.5 hours as a helper teacher in J’s classroom. It should be fun, if headache inducing. I do like teaching in its various forms and when you teach preschoolers you get to be a little goofy – that’s always fun. But I have a feeling that when lunchtime rolls around I’ll be glad that I’m just an occasional helper.

It reminds me of other jobs in the world that I’m glad I don’t have. My kids are fascinated with that show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. Now there’s a list of jobs you don’t want – roadkill collector, sewer painter, ostrich wrangler. It’s like a train wreck, you can’t stop watching the show while at the same time being completely disgusted/in awe that he is doing that job. That someone has to do that job every day! Whew!

Here’s my Top Five Most Miserable Jobs (paid and unpaid)

1. Copy Mom: I’m not sure I can even tell you how much I hated this job. For one school year I went in once a week and made copies for a teacher. Now, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if I was copying for a regular teacher. (Unless it was for kindergarten or first grade – those copy moms have their work cut out for them with laminating and cutting and copying and punching things out – whew!) My copy job was for the wackadoo teacher. I spent my time breaking copyright laws – copying entire books mind you – or trying to make abnormal size papers copy onto normal size papers with an ancient, touchy copy machine.

2. Street Cleaner: I was on the board of our local Y in Indy. Our Y adopted a very busy road/intersection nearby. The board had to volunteer once every three months to go clean it. OH! Talk about a crappy job. You’d be amazed at the stuff people will throw out their windows. And this was even in a nice part of town.

3. Cold Caller: For 4 short hours (6 if you count the training) I was a cold caller at IU. Wow was that a bad job. I consider myself to be a reasonably persistent, successful person. However, I was extraordinarly bad at this job. I’m not sure I got past the first step in the ladder of money asking all night. And I felt like a total chump doing it. Terrible.

4. Inventory: When I was first married we decided to move to Indy for no other reason than it was a big city and Matt’s Aunt & Uncle had a place for us to crash until we got on our feet. Our first day there I went out to get a job – any job. Something that would at least let us pay rent on our own place while I was looking for a real job. I went to the mall and by the time I left I had a job. I spent the next 2 days counting inventory at L.S. Ayres. Dusty, crappy stuff in the backrooms that I can’t imagine people buying. Racks upon racks of clothes. Boooooorrrrrriiiiinnnnngggg.

5. Second Shift Support: I quit the inventory job because I got this job with more hours. A catalog producing company out by the airport needed an all-around support person to work from 2pm until 11pm. I made copies, created work schedules, proofed copy, stocked supply cabinets. It was grunt work and it was at a crappy time of day too. But I was able to spend my mornings interviewing so I only had this job for three weeks before I found a real job. I must have been too excited to leave this lovely position because my supervisor said something along the lines of don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. I didn’t.

Makes me appreciate the job I have today. Writing for other people in the comfort of my own home. Calling my own hours. Watching my kids play while I work. It’s a darn good gig.

Ugh – I’m becoming a Halloween grinch just when Halloween is taking off and becoming a huge holiday. You’re surprised, I can tell. After all, what’s not to like about little kids dressed up in adorable costumes? And adult parties with fun drinks and silly costumes? And all that candy?? I’ll tell you – teenagers out begging for candy.

I think the trick or treat stopping age is somewhere around 23 these days. We get more teenagers at our house than any other age group. I’ll admit, most of them are well-mannered and dress up – sometimes quite creatively. But others? They are rude and don’t even wear costumes. They’re just out begging for candy.

My neighbor gave me the idea to make the teens sans costumes do a trick to get their candy. I was all for it – you want something from me? You gotta bring me something. In one group of teenage boys only one was in costume. I told the others my rule and they looked completely dumbfounded. Once they realized I wasn’t joking they tried to talk their way out of it. Their costumed friend was giving them all sorts of fun ideas to perform but they were sticking to their guns. Finally one of them looked at me and said “I will not degrade myself for candy.” I laughed in his face and said “Really? Just what do you call walking around begging for it then??” And then they left – with no candy from my house. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth that even candy-stolen-from-the-kids’-bags-when-they-are-in-bed can’t get out.

I want my Halloween filled with excited 4 year olds, assorted witches, super heroes and animal costumes. Not surly teenagers with lame costumes and lamer attitudes. Sigh…

But all is not lost when I see how much fun these three had:

So in honor of the holiday that is all about candy, here’s my personal Top Five Halloween Treats:

1. Snickers – next to the turtle, it’s the world’s most perfect candy
2. Fun size Crunch bars
3. Twix
4. Baby Ruth bars (again, fun size. Full size these are too much for me)
5. The beer(s) I drink while handing out candy non-stop for 2 hours. Oh – and the apple cider/whiskey witch’s brew from the neighbors’ party (hey, I said the list was ‘treats’ not ‘candy’!)

Ahhh… November is here. Let the countdown to Christmas decorating begin!

It’s Fall Break in this neck of the woods. It wreaks total havoc on my work schedule to have the kids home for two days. Not because I can’t work with them in the house, but because I feel compelled to plan fun adventures with them when they’re on short breaks. I wonder if it’s physically possible for me to have a school break with no adventures planned???

Yesterday it was a visit to a new dunes park on Lake Michigan and pumpkin hunting for just the right squash to be carved on Saturday. Today it is a drive south to play with friends (and an Aunt) at the Children’s Museum. It’s fun, I do love getting out & about with the kids. But it does destroy any plans of a clean house – I’ll tell you that. Hopefully the company coming this weekend will be forgiving!

So, what fun has burst into my life this week? Where did I see a glimpse that made me stop and smile? Let’s check out Grace in Small Things #39

1. K’s face when she realized that she cut all her times at her first swim meet of the season. And that was after a week of being sick and not practicing.

2. The looks on the faces of 5th graders when I whipped out a carving knife in their classroom this week. I was there to help cut up some pumpkins for a class project so they knew it was coming but I suppose it was still a bit surprising to see something like that come out of a mom’s purse. Not every day that you walk into an elementary school with a lethal weapon!

3. The pop of color that explodes when you turn the corner. A tree with bright orange leaves against a background of trees with brown leaves. An unbelievably red tree standing all alone. It’s been a good fall for leaf colors up here.

4. Sunshine. It’s a rare treat this week (month) so every glimpse feels full of grace.

5. A hike along the sandy dunes of Lake Michigan:

Is there grace in a countdown?? Anticipatory grace perhaps?? Seven Days… Seven days from today and I’ll be driving far north into the beautiful state of Michigan to spend a long weekend on the shores of my most favorite Lake with my most favorite person. I’m looking forward to an easy-going weekend with no kids or laptops in sight. That’s something worth a countdown!

This time of year we have soup about once a week. I almost always make soup in the crock pot which makes it very convenient for those busy nights. Note: I use a big crock pot, if you don’t then you should cut the broth/water and meatballs in half but leave the rest the same. Here’s one of our favorites:

Meatball Soup
In your crock pot combine the following
6 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 (15 oz) can of white (cannellini) beans
1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 tsp Italian seasoning

Now make some meatballs. In a large bowl combine:
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 TB parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb ground meat (I use turkey)

– Mix it with your hands until everything is incorporated into the meat. Now roll small meatballs (think quarter to half-dollar size) and drop them into your soup.

– Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Or on high for 3-4. For the last 30 minutes of cooking time, put the heat on high if it wasn’t already, and stir in 2 handfuls of fresh chopped spinach and 1/2 box of small pasta (alphabet pasta or star shaped pasta for example.) If you’re not home 30 minutes before dinner don’t stress: just take 15 minutes, stir in the spinach while you bring water to a boil on the stove. Cook the pasta and just stir it in before serving.

For those of you who would like a nice neat ingredient list. Here it is:
6 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 (15 oz) can of white (cannellini) beans
1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 TB parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb ground meat (I use turkey)
2 handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 package of small pasta

I’ve been trying to channel my inner Stacy & Clinton lately. You know – the hosts of What Not to Wear? I love that show. They take some poor unsuspecting woman and, without her knowledge, video tape her wearing her yoga pants and holey jeans and then bring her to New York City to show her how to shop for more attractive clothes. They even give her $500 to shop with. Dang – I need to get on that show!

It’s not unusual for them to have some poor bedraggled, stay-at-home mom on the show. She still wears her maternity pants because they are comfortable. She doesn’t own a shirt without a stain on it. The only dressy clothes in her closet are from some cousin’s wedding a few years back and they don’t even come close to a flattering fit.

I’m not in that bad of shape. BUT the common theme you hear from Stacy & Clinton is that you don’t have to dress like no one is going to see you. Comfort doesn’t have to mean slouchy/dumpy/ugly. And then they dress her up in fantastic jeans, pointy toe shoes and send her on her way.

To ruin her clothes when her kids spill paint on them or splash mud on them.

I’ve been making a decent effort in the past few months to try to dress… well not like I’m just working from home all day. I even bought some jewelry people. And I wear it! Just yesterday I wore a cute layered top (with a v-neck because it’s more flattering), some boyfriend jeans and a long funky necklace. (but no pointy toe shoes) But here’s my dilemma. There are some days, yes Stacy & Clinton even days where I leave the house, when I have to wear kind of slouchy clothes.

Take today for example. I’m going to help in K’s classroom. Now normally when I’m working in the school I do indeed try to dress with some tiny bit of style (still no pointy toe shoes, those things hurt). But today… well today I’m going to be chopping pumpkins and scooping out pumpkin guts and I’m going to be doing it in a room of 5th graders… some of whom are boys.

I could wear my orange long sleeve shirt with my new cream colored scarf. Maybe some long earrings. It would be both cute and Halloween festive. BUT seriously… pumpkin guts!! So I’m wearing my old levis and a long sleeve IU t-shirt. I’ll probably even wear gym shoes.

Stacy & Clinton would be soooo disappointed.

I read an article last week that talked about how morning people are different from night people. There is literally a difference in the brain chemistry. Some chemical or hormone that fires up to make us productive and energetic literally kicks in at different times in some people. You can fight it but your body wants to be more productive at a certain time of day.

Me? I’m definitely a morning person. Most days I wake up before anyone else in the house with no problems. I’m not a grouchy morning person. I don’t drink caffeine (at least not in the morning, the diet coke doesn’t start calling me until around noon). And I’m ridiculously productive in the morning. A typical morning at my house involves me sitting at the computer by 6am answering emails, writing this blog, reading a couple online newspapers and moving thru a few small work projects. Then I eat breakfast and read the Chicago newspaper. That’s when the kids start trickling downstairs. They are pretty self-sufficient when it comes to breakfast, J is the only one who needs much help. So while they eat I read a chapter to them from our latest breakfast book. Then I’ll pack lunches and snacks, read through any school papers that were “forgotten” during homework the night before, help J get his clothes down and feed his fish. Then I’m back on the computer trying to grab a few more moments to cross something off my list, I might start a load of laundry, pick up the living room floor. When we’ve got five minutes until it’s time to leave I give the warning, help find various items of outdoor attire, tie shoes, etc and then we walk to school. And it’s only 8:30.

I move at a pretty good pace through my morning, working out, running errands, volunteering at school. But after lunch? I start to slow down. I find my mind wondering what Facebook might have to show me. I read a couple blogs in between my work projects instead of just plowing thru them. And then somehow I’m always amazed that the girls are home from school already and it’s time to start the post-school to pre-bedtime rush.

When I’m really stressed or busy I’ll get up even earlier. Adding hours to my day can be a huge help and for me there’s no question that they have to be in the morning. I’ve even been known to do my grocery shopping at 6am. I can’t pull an all-nighter. I’m not sure I even did in college, though I remember trying once. If we’re going on vacation I’d much rather go to bed at a normal hour and wake up super early to get going than drive late at night. Yep, definitely a morning person.

I’m predicting that two out of three of the kids will be morning people too. Though I can’t quite decide which one will be the night person. E is almost always the last one out of bed but she fades quickly at night when she’s tired. Plus she’s almost always cheerful in the morning. K is usually an early riser but she tends to push tasks like homework until late at night… are procrastinators always night people?? J is the one least likely to be a night person – he’s an early riser and immediately ready to be active, play etc.

It kind of makes me wish there was some test to tell me when this magical energy-chemical is firing up in their brains so I know when to get the most out of them. Then when I need chores done I can make the morning kid do them before school but hound the night kid to get more done after dinner. Oooo… just think how much more I could squeeze out of them in our ‘quick like a bunny’ world!!