Lemons make Lemonade

My friend Maggie has a lemon tree in her yard and she brought me a bag full of lemons.  When friends give you lemons, make lemonade!

 I have never made real lemonade before, I had no idea how easy it would be!  I looked up multiple recipes for lemonade, they all had the same 3 ingredients (water, sugar, lemon juice...pretty simple).  Each recipe called for a different ratio of these ingredients so, I decided to let my taste buds be my guide.  When I was finally satisfied, this was my recipe:

6 cups water

1 cup of sugar

1 1/3 cup of lemon juice (for me this was 4 lemons, but my lemons were pretty big)

I also had some old(scary, almost moldy) strawberries, I put them in my poor-man's "magic bullet" and  voila! Strawberry puree :)  I added a spoonful to each glass of lemonade....it was de-lish!!

A day at the beach

It was a beautiful Saturday so we decided to head out to the beach.  This was Baby Love's first time and it started out great...............

We were all smiles

Hanging out with Dad (thanks Auntie D for my awesome outfit :)

and Mom

We were having a great time, but it was getting a little hot.  So into the ocean we went......

Daddy tried first

ummm, not so much.......

Then Mommy tried

Yeah, still not really into this whole "beach" thing yet.  At least we tried.   

Walking in Hawaii

In an attempt to lose the "baby weight" every morning I put Baby Love in the Bjorn and we are off.  We live in a valley, so I always feel like I am Dora the Explorer;  pass the mountains,  into the grass forest and through the land of trees....{I can hear Boots' voice in my head as I say it}

pass the mountain....

into the grass forest......

and through the land of trees.

In order to have a successful walk there are a few rules:

1. Never leave after 8am, you will die from sweat and sun burn

2.  Always face Baby Love out in the Bjorn {even when he is too little and doesn't have good head control}  Otherwise he will scream the ENTIRE time.

*3.  Always keep an eye out for the local animal species

*3 is very important!  During early morning walks you will encounter two types of animals; feral cats and wild boars.  Both of these are no joke and can be scary!  The wild boars are the easy ones, most of the time, they run back into the grass when you get close.  However, every so often a big Papa boar will stand his ground and even take a few steps toward you.  That is why I always know where the nearest light post is so that in case Papa decides to charge I can quickly climb to safety {I am serious}.  You might be asking yourself, cats...really?  Yes, until you have had a pack of stray cats start following/chasing you with all of their diseases {cat scratch disease anyone?}, you have no idea how creepy it can be.  I am not a cat person to begin with and when they start rubbing on my leg I want to kick them.  I  do refrain, but I may "gently" nudge them yet, they keep coming at me.  Then I pick up the pace and say things like "go away" or "RARRR" to scare them.  It doesn't usually work.  After a block or so they typically give up on you and go back.  Sometimes I just start to run...sometimes it helps to run screaming {again, I am serious}.

My little walks can be quite the adventure.  Feel free to call me Dora, I go on adventures, I have a backpack {aka bjorn} and a little friend that goes with me.  Only problem is I am not 4, tan with brown short hair, nor do I speak spanish, but whatever.  I enjoy the fresh air and getting a little exercise.  Baby Love enjoys........well, let's be honest, he's just a baby :)

*unfortunately the one time I bring my camera there were no wild boars and very few cats out.  I will have to follow up later with a few pictures of the local species.

So I guess it's been a while....

I'm jumping back on the blog waggon.  I've been meaning to for some time now, but life kept happening.  Now I am so far behind on the things I would have wanted to write about, I am not sure where to begin.  So, I present: "a year in review" ....

Last May, I quit my job at Central Christian School and decided to go back to teaching full time.  Of course this sounds ridiculous, but I was super bored working part time.  I had very few friends and Big Love was traveling all the time, I needed something to do.  I applied for a teaching position with the DOE. In Hawaii you apply with the state and once you are accepted your name goes on a list and you wait for a call.  I was a little anxious to start over again (for those of you who don't know, due to my many moves, I have taught at a new school every year for the past 4 years), but I was also ready to be back in the classroom full time.  So I waited........and took a little intermission the whole month of June........in the form of a trip to Italy :)  

Font Di Trevi

But, first we had to make a pit stop in Germany so Big Love could do a little work

Not here specifically, but wow!  Isn't this gorgeous!?  Germany was beautiful!

Venice

We visited 5 main cities/areas; Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Tuscany and Rome. 

Cinque Terre

Florence

 Ponte Vecchio

We were able to catch part of the Palio in Siena.  It's hard to tell, but there is a full fledged riot in front of us.  We were able to witness an Italian beat down!  At one point Big Love actually picked me up and ran!  It was definitely one of the craziest experiences of my life!

View of Tuscany from our balcony

 The Vatican

Colosseum

Needless to say, we had an amazing time!  Despite my month long intermission during prime teacher hiring, I was hired as a Jr. Kindergarten teacher at a school only miles from my house.  I was so blessed, it is seriously one of the best school to work at on the whole Island.  I got the job the week we returned and started the following week.  For all of my teacher friends, I am sure you can relate to how stressful the beginning of the school year can be.  So imagine the added stress I had when I was suffering from what I thought was jet lag and generally ill feelings ..............well, I guess this little guy was making himself known long before I ever met him :)  Apparently we had a REALLY good time in Italy.

With a face like this, it's no wonder he was making my life difficult :) 

That pretty much sums up the last year.  Wow, it's crazy to think how much things can change in a year.  I went from being a stay-at-home wife, to teaching full time, to being a stay-at-home mom.  God has amazing timing.

Can't sleep

I am notorious for getting my second wind about 9-10pm.   This is the worst, it is always right about the time I should be in bed getting my beauty sleep.  Tonight we got in bed, Big Love massages my feet with lotion{in case you haven't noticed, Big Love is precisely that, a big lover...what can I say I am a lucky girl} we chat for a bit and we say our good nights.......

I always feel like I have to pee within 15 minuets of laying down.  Then I get up go to the bathroom, lay down and toss and turn a few more times.  By this time Big Love is fast asleep and the violent twitching begins {seriously what is it with the twitching???  I swear it's like his arm knows exactly where my face is!}.  The twitch always ends the same:
Me: yelp
BL: "WHAT, what happened!!??"
Me: "you hit me in the mouth and my hair got caught in your arm pit"
BL: "Honey, I'm sorry, are you ok" *gentle kiss
Me: "yes, I'm fine, go back to sleep"
BL: sleeping
Me: staring at the fan

By this time I am hot so I take off all the covers.  Then I get a little cold, so I grab for the sheets.  They are stuck under Big Love so I try to gently pull, nope, not an inch.  Now I pull the sheets while trying to simultaneously push Big Love {Not an easy task on a sleeping giant who has 100+ lbs of muscle on ya}  This usually wakes him up:
BL: "Babe, what's wrong?"
Me: "Just needed some sheets." 
BL: "Oh, sorry honey" *gentle kiss
{Fade out, BL rolls over and falls right back to sleep, Amy stares at the fan}
{Fade in, 3 hours later, BL: sleeping soundly, Amy in a dark room with the dim glow of a computer screen lighting her face}

I think you get the idea.  Oh to be a person who lays in bed and actually falls asleep..............

What am I eating?

I am a lover of food.  I dream about food......at night I think about what I will make for dinner the next day, what I want for lunch, if I am going to go to the grocery store in the morning to get a donut, what restaurant I should request  for date night.....the list could literally go on for pages.  I eat completely based on my craving.  I have actually found this works ok for me, mostly because I actually crave healthy foods along with the junk foods.  I have also decided I end up eating way more when something didn't "hit the spot"  I will continue to eat trying to satisfy the beast.

I tend to go in moods with my food.  I will/could eat the same thing for a few weeks.  I eat it over and over until I can't stand it any more!  Then it is never seen or talked about until months later.  Big Love gets a kick out of this!  Let's just say I may have eaten half a box of Rice Crispy Treats from Costco in about a 4 days, then never touched them again.

So what am I eating now?  One night a few weeks ago I was hungry and we had "nothing to eat".  I wanted a sandwich, a really hearty sandwich.  I threw together this sandwich out of what we had at home.

It's kind of like a grown-up grilled cheese.  I saute onions, cook some turkey bacon and throw it all on some turkey and cheddar cheese....yummy :)  Big Love isn't one for sandwiches (not ever enough meat), but he even enjoyed my little slice of heaven!

Green Thumb Disabled

Growing up my mom would plant a vegetable garden almost every year.  I can still remember her sealing jars of canned tomatoes.  I can remember being sent to the neighbor's house with a paper bag of extra vegetables.  I remember eating peas straight from the garden as a snack while I played outside.  I've always dreamed of  having a few gardens of my own. 

The first would be a beautiful flower garden.  This I achieved, when I was still in college I began planting a flower garden at my parents house, in what was once my mothers vegetable garden.  I started with my favorite flowers, Peonies.  Oh the anticipation each year waiting for my peonies to bloom.  I would cut fresh peonies for my bedroom and bathroom every few days.  Slowly over a few years,  my mom and I added to the garden until it was a nice, low maintenance flower garden. 

When I moved to Hawaii I thought it was the perfect chance to begin a produce bearing garden.  Imagine my disappointment when I find out our meticulously HOA maintained *yard {5ft in front of our house} has a strict "no plant" "no flower box" "nothing on your front porch" "nothing on your patio ledge" policy.  To say I was discouraged is an understatement.  I had dreams of cooking glorious meals with vegetables straight from my garden.  Big Love would be so impressed with this wonderful woman he married!  Not to mention the money we would save! Red Pepper from the market: $4.99, from my garden: free  Tomato from the market: $1.50+  from my garden: free.  {Note: do not move to Hawaii if you enjoy eating any sort of fresh food or food not purchased at Costco}  My new neighbor, Dottie {name fits her well}  invited me in one afternoon to show me the planters  box contraption her husband built for her.  It was high enough for the herbs to get sun, yet still low enough not to be seen by the HOA police.  It gave me some hope....Big Love has a great many talents, but I don't believe building box-contraptions is one of them.    After careful/mathematical planning, I found a spot on our deck/lanai where plants could get sun/rain and not be seen from the street.  I went out and got some beautiful herbs. 

I bought I plain planters box and some soil...I mean it's simple right?  My dreams are coming true!!  Now fast forward a few months..........

Umm yeah, that's pretty bad.  I would like you to note the right side where the plant was completely dead I actually had to pulled it out. 

Thank goodness our livelihood is not dependent on my gardening skills.