Market bounty

I spent an unusually high amount at the Farmer's Market this morning but didn't really know why until I got home. The boys were with me and thus helped me shop. Without my noticing, Cub placed every variety of tomato available into our basket, and Robbie doubled my order of Japanese eggplant. I don't know who is responsible for the huge amounts of ginger (two large bags) but at least that freezes, too. Might spend the rest of this lazy Sunday roasting tomatoes and Googling eggplant recipes. No complaints from me.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

This should fall under the category of "Be careful what you wish for." Robbie's writing has reached another level: Signs! He taped this note to the Kleenex box after our dog Cal ate some tissue one afternoon. But my favorite is probably a sign he made just for me. One afternoon I was watching TV with the boys and I fell asleep on the couch. When he saw me nodding off, Robbie created a sign that said, "No sleeping."

Back to school night

We're three weeks into school and tonight was Open House. The family trooped down to school and - what is a record for us - we were early enough to hear the Principal's welcome address from the cafeteria. (In our defense, one year traffic was a nightmare and the normal 15-20 minute drive took an hour!!) Robbie has a great teacher known for bringing animals into the classroom. Robbie loves the guinea pigs and he was very excited for me to see them, too. I let him loose with my phone and he took about two dozen pictures. It wasn't easy shooting through the cage bars. I think he did really well! Kudos to Ms. B for adding carrots and a bright green bowl for very photogenic pops of color.

Hawaiian quilt class

Last Thursday we received very sad news about one of our two dogs. More on Brady's status in future posts, but we expect we will be saying goodbye to her this month. After her initial diagnosis, I left her at the vet clinic so they could conduct one more test. I drove away crying and began what I'm calling a 24-hour "fabric bender." I guess it really started earlier... after finishing the boys' curtains, I decided to sew something for my niece's birthday from some quilt scraps. I couldn't shake the sewing bug and I stumbled upon a website early last week with instructions to make a simple bag that I wanted to try. With that project in mind, I headed straight for the store on Thursday to get some fabric and thread.
On Friday morning I woke up and decided it would be the day to finally attend a Hawaiian quilt class I had read about but hadn't had the free time to attend during the summer. (Local quilt artist Nalani Goard now teaches traditional Hawaiian quilting every Friday at the Marriot Beach Club at KoOlina!) So for a little less than four hours, I stitched and talked story with other quilt enthusiasts overlooking the lagoon at the hotel. I picked the "Papaya" pattern in a bold orange-red. Hawaiian custom says that the first quilt you make you should keep for yourself. I'm torn...if it's for me, what will give me the push to finish it?

Winner, winner eggplant dinner

Another recent find at the Mililani farmer’s market: Globe eggplant. The long, skinny (and some say less bitter) variety of Japanese eggplant is a market staple, but I’d never seen the globe variety until a few weeks ago. It was from the same new vendor that had the yellow watermelon for sale. I’ll be stopping by their tables regularly from now on.
A fancier dish was probably in order for the eggplant, but I went with the not-so-exotic eggplant parmesan. When we eat at our local favorite Italian eatery I typically get one of their baked eggplant offerings, so I thought I’d take a chance and try to recreate it at home. Didn’t fail, but not quite a raging success either. Maybe I should re-think the “I can make this!” approach and just leave this dish a treat to enjoy when dining out.

Tuesday inspiration

This image was floating around the Internet and I stole it - I don't even know who to give credit to. But whoever put this simple collage of words together, thank you! I think a lot of us need to be reminded about daily time drains: "If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV."
One thing though that I probably would never be able to follow would be "If you don't like your job, quit." This would only be after something else was in the pipeline for me (and that's a big maybe) and a six month emergency fund tucked away to pay the bills. I'm just that way. But honestly, I would probably take any job right now!

Fix-it time

Without the boys around to meddle, I’ve started to take on some DIY projects around the house. First up, a mini-demolition of the window blinds in the boys’ room. A few years back before we knew what was going on, Cub went through a significant wood chewing phase. That included a lot of toys as well as the slats of the window blinds. (Yeah, it was not a good time for us. He was diagnosed with an iron deficiency pretty quickly, but the damage was literally already done.) While he got better and we worked to stabilize his iron levels, I tossed out or donated nearly all of the wood toys in the house, damaged or not. I put the problem blinds on the ever-growing back burner and figured I’d think of something when it was necessary. Well, the boys broke the blinds this summer, so figuring out Plan B for the window treatment was now necessary.
I went with simple curtains – cheap and fun. I purchased 2+ yards of inexpensive fish fabric for $5.82 a yard, even cheaper lining fabric, and a $19 tension rod. I dusted off my sewing machine Friday, and by Saturday afternoon the new curtains were up. Mission complete! Next up for that room, re-painting the room and covering up the hand painted bugs that remain from the nursery theme (painted to match a quilt I made when I was pregnant with Robbie). I don’t know if I should channel my inner HGTV Design Star and do some fun painting, or just go for a simple, fresh new color. Or both. Decisions, decisions.

Not-so-welcome house guests

Over the years here (that’s six and counting), we have had the occasional wasp nest in the second floor eaves. I’m not disturbed by them too much, the wasps seem to like to keep their distance and I’ve never seen more than one in the house. But just this past month we started noticing a lot more. When we actually stopped to walk around the house and count all the nests, we realized we had over 12, including this one, the closest one to an opening – right outside our back door. I guess we’ll have to get aggressive about removing them soon.

Back to school

Yes, it's that time again in Hawaii. Classes started for public schools on Monday. Lunches paid for – check. Bus pass purchased – check. School supplies purchased, labeled, and brought to school (sorta) – check. Three mornings into our new normal and we seem to be doing OK. Late last year this kindergarten writing exercise came home in Robbie’s backpack. I visibly shook with laughter when I first read it. “If the dinosaurs come back thay wod help bild train tracks.” I met Robbie’s new teacher last Friday and she said to expect a lot of work on reading and writing in first grade. Well, if more gems like this are the result, I’m on board.
My mornings are alone, but I’m keeping busy. A baby gecko joined me this morning, hanging out near the ceiling above the refrigerator. As if he sensed I needed a little extra company! He is a welcome addition to our kitchen. When one of his cousins showed up last spring, the bugs in our kitchen disappeared for a few months. The kitchen bugs are back now, so I said to the gecko, “Welcome! Live long and prosper here, my little friend.”