Old School Blogging

My gal pal Sarah over at The Sadder But Wiser Girl recently tagged me in a post that consists of lists of 5 things about myself. I’m still laughing over some of Sarah’s answers! Below you will find my answers to these questions. Enjoy!

Five Things I Have a Passion for:

1. Creating and looking at art

2. Going to thrift stores and garage sales

3. Being a mom

4. History

5. Dessert

I love being a mom to these kids!

Five Things I Would Like To Do Before I Kick the Bucket:

1. Eat an entire can of sweetened condensed milk

2. Wallpaper an entire room with little magazine pictures like I did with my attic (I think I am going to wait until I’m 80 years old and don’t care what the resale value of my home is).

3. Build a rock wall

4. Learn how to build stuff with wood (I guess that would be carpentry skills).

5. Own an art studio for kids (this seems overly ambitious for me but MAYBE).

This is our attic wall…I would love to do this to an entire room

Five Things I Say A Lot:

1. Why on earth would you think this okay to do? (this is to both my husband and kids)

2. Just a minute. Hold on. Wait a sec. (I have 4 people constantly asking me for something so they get some sort of variation of this)

3. That is flippin’ hilarious!

4. You are driving me crazy!

5. I don’t know (I seriously have to say this a lot because I get asked questions like “Would hopping on an ostrich save me if I got stuck in a tornado since they can run really fast?” all day long)

This is what it looks like when I am on the phone

Five Things I Read Recently:

1. The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman (I read this to learn more about my kids and ended up learning a lot about myself)

2. Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd (wife to George Harrison and Eric Clapton…pretty interesting)

3. Hundreds of children’s books ranging from The Potty Book for Boys, The Star Wars Easy Reader Books and Ramona Quimby

4. Penny Press’s Variety Puzzles (ok, so this isn’t really reading but it is a magazine I subscribe to…I absolutely love extremely hard logic problems that make me break out in a sweat trying to figure them out)

5. Country Living magazine (my mom always subscribes to magazines that let her pass on a second subscription to someone else and she always picks me)

Five Favorite Movies:

(disclaimer: I am really not a movie person because I usually fall asleep during them. The following movies are ones that not only I did NOT fall asleep during them but have watched  them multiple times)

1. Life is Beautiful (a movie about the Holocaust)

2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (a movie about the Holocaust)

3. Say Anything

4. The Help

5. The Green Mile (this is the only book I ever read that I equally liked the movie)

Five Places I Would Love to Travel:

1. Oregon/Washington area

2. Hawaii

3. Costa Rica

4. India

5. A remote African village to help out (I actually looked into joining the Peace Corps when I was in high school)

Five Bloggers I’m Tagging For This Thing:

1. Courtney @ Embracing the Insanity

2. Cathy @ Go Mama O

3. Lidia @ Ohlidia

4. Christine @ Momtimes4

5. Kate @ Did That Just Happen

All you ladies need to do is get to answering and writing so we can all learn a little more about you!

Have a great day!

Melissa

Red, Green or Pepto Bismol?

On our recent trip back to my husband’s hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico; we ate food. We ate a TON of food. The food in New Mexico is amazing so it’s very hard not to overindulge.

For those of you who have never had the chance to visit this area there is one very important question you need to answer everywhere you go here.

Red or green?

When you go out to eat in New Mexico it really doesn’t matter what you order; you will be asked, “Red or green with that?”

What they are referring to is the chile pepper. You have the choice as to whether you want red or green chile sauce on it. I myself am a green chile person but over the years I have learned moderation is key for this native Wisconsin girl.

This was one of our meals at the family reunion we went to. Red chile enchilada on the left and green chile enchilada on the right. Beans and pasole (spicy corn stew) in the middle.

Cheeseburger with green chili on it at Western View restaurant on Central

My first visit to Albuquerque, many years ago when my husband and I were still dating; I went overboard on the green chili and had it on everything. Apparently my stomach is not made of steel and after 3 days of being there and consuming more spicy food during that short time frame than I had over the entire course of my life I was left with a pretty messed up stomach. I remember my husband’s mom slipping me some Pepto Bismol through a crack in the door at 2am.

The next morning I asked if we could eat at a non-Mexican food related establishment. We found an IHOP and I asked for some bacon, eggs and white toast. The waitress asked, “Red or green?”

Since then I have learned my lesson and just ask the wait staff to put my green chile on the side and that way I can control how much I add.

This is my enchilada I ordered at Garcia’s on Central with my green chili on the side! In the middle of the table are sopapillas (fried bread) which are another staple of New Mexico!

Besides having great food at restaurants on our recent trip we also had the pleasure of going to my husband’s cousin’s house and she made and taught me how to make some authentic tacos and Spanish rice. One of the best tips I have ever learned was to add mashed potatoes to your taco meat to make the meat stretch more so you can feed more people. I thought this was absolutely brilliant because it doesn’t change the taste at all!

My husband’s cousin teaching me how to make tacos and Spanish rice

Here are the tacos and rice I made the other night at my house!

Also, I can hardly mention New Mexico without talking about tortillas. They are served with every meal. You can eat them plain, you can put meat and beans in them or use them to sop up the juices from Green Chile Stew. I have been making homemade tortillas for my family on a regular basis for over a year now and they are fantastic! While I was visiting our family I made up a huge batch of tortillas for everyone.

Here is me mixing up the tortilla dough!

Here I am rolling out the tortilla

My mother-in-law was kind enough to pass down to me her bolio (a tortilla rolling pin) that she used to use when she made homemade tortillas for her family. Of course after she gave it to me I pretended to hit her over the head with it. This is why she loves having me for a daughter-in-law!

This is me pretending to hit my mother-in-law over the head (I would never really do that)!!

 

When you go to New Mexico be prepared to eat. The food is absolutely fantastic. If you are into hot, spicy food you will not be disappointed and if you are like me don’t be afraid to pass every now and then or just ask for it on the side!

This is my youngest son Cesar trying to give his hot pepper back!

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I also have a winner to announce! Last week I held a giveaway on my blog for a recent children’s book I wrote  What’s in the Bucket? 1 Year Blog Anniversary and a Giveaway. Instead of just throwing everyone’s names in a hat and choosing randomly I did something a little different. My children don’t really know that I blog nor have they ever read anyone’s blog so what I did is write the first names of non bloggers and blog names of those who blog on a piece of paper. I then asked my 8 year old daughter to choose a name to win the book I wrote.

She chose The Sadder but Wiser Girl!

I asked my daughter why she picked this one and she said, “I picked this one because I like wise girls. I think the wiser you are the more honest of a person you are and I don’t like anyone who tells lies.”

I thought this was a perfectly good reason to give Sarah at The Sadder but Wiser Girl blog my book. Sarah is wise and I really do think she is a honest person! She is also very funny and super sweet. When I announced that I was doing this giveaway she blasted my name all over the internets! Thank you Sarah! I hope you and your kids enjoy the book!

The Places I’ve Been

In my 20’s I was a frequent traveler. I was up for any adventure. Oh, the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen are astounding. The following are all pictures I took on my journeys.

Some of the things were just right in my neck of the woods here in Wisconsin:

Copper Falls in Wisconsin

Me canoeing down the Wisconsin River

I also ventured throughout the United States to places like California, Washington D.C. and all over the south:

An alligator in the Everglades in Florida

Key Largo, Florida

I’ve also been to Mexico:

an island in Mexico

children on their way to school in Mexico

I have also seen quite a bit of Europe and even had my own apartment in Venice, Italy for a bit:

And then I met this guy. We fell in love.

My husband and me

This in turn started me on my grandest journey. The places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen are astounding!

The most astounding things I have ever seen!

This Grand Adventure

When I became pregnant with my first child, my husband and I fully intended to submerse our children into our world and our lifestyle. Before I had children I loved to travel, hike, go to concerts, attend estate sales and create art.

I imagined a life of going to a Jack Johnson concert with a baby strapped to my chest as my husband and I sang along to Bubble Toes. I pictured us traveling around the world stopping in at cafes to give the babies biscuits and croissants. I knew there would be long hikes with a kid strapped to my husband’s back as we crossed streams and climbed over rocks. And there was no doubt in my mind that the kids and I would spend long Saturdays going from estate sale to estate sale buying used furniture that we could go home and sit together and refurbish.

Me hiking through the mesa in Albuquerque, NM

Me hiking the Jemez Mountains…notice my shirt is wet in really great places…I had just got done swimming in hot springs

Our dreams were quickly dashed when our new darling arrived and immediately hated car rides. Instead of being a soothing experience that put her into a calm trance she screamed like a banshee. As soon as you strapped her into that car seat she acted like a holy terror and there was nothing you could do to get her to stop. A drive across town with her felt like an eternity so our plans of going to a music festival 3 hours away were certainly not in the cards.

An Eric Clapton concert my husband and I went to before kids

We had front row seats at a Keb’ Mo concert

My husband and I at a Dave Matthews concert

I however did tote my new baby along to estate sales. She rested comfortably strapped to the front of my chest. In recent years she has become somewhat of a minor celebrity at these gigs because she has been coming with me for so long. However, these were never all day endeavors. We could only go to one and then be home for nap time. The people at these things don’t even know I have three kids because there is no way I would bring 2 rambunctious boys to a house filled with expensive breakables. They are too much of a liability.

I did take my kids hiking once by myself. My daughter was 4 years old and my middle son was 2 years old. There is a great wooded area with paths not too far from our house. I loaded them up and gave them each a plastic bag to collect treasures and told them we were going on a grand adventure. It seemed to be going very well and then about an hour into our hike with no other people in sight my son fell. No, he didn’t trip and skin his knee. He fell down an embankment. A four and a half foot drop covered by plant growth. My daughter and I couldn’t even see him but we sure could hear his screams. My daughter immediately began screaming at the top of her lungs, “My brother’s dead! My brother’s dead!” I jumped down to save my son and got him hoisted back up to safety. He was fine besides a few scratches. The true problem came in when I needed to get out. Since I am only 5 feet tall I couldn’t just lift myself out of this ditch. It was a straight shot down and there was nothing to hold onto or dig my feet into. I struggled and struggled to get out. Both kids were trying to pull me by my hands which of course were no help. I’m still not quite sure how I got out of there but somehow I manage to get my leg swung over and kind of launched myself out. Needless to say we immediately headed back to the car and have not been back there since.

The kids all ready to start their grand hiking adventure

The embankment my son fell down

In the past 7 ½ years of being a parent we have not traveled internationally, we have hiked once, the only concerts we have been to are the ones my children perform in at school, we do not go to estate sales as a family and most of the art we create includes paper and glitter.

I have been submersed into the life of my children. The life of playgrounds, naps, goldfish crackers, play-doh and crayons is really not that bad and it is incredibly safer.  The only embankments I have had to try to climb out of are the stacks of dirty laundry and dishes and clearly that that is just a metaphor. A metaphor never hurt anybody.  Plus this life with kids is a grand adventure!