Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Mmmmm...pancakes!


Saturday is pancake day in the Voss household. (It used to be "Waffle Saturdays" but since our family has gotten a little bigger now, it takes all morning to make enough waffles, plus our waffle iron is kind of broken now....) We get up, have a leisurely morning, and make a double recipe of pancakes. I added a little sugar to the batter so they are slightly sweet, and don't need any syrup. Then we eat them right off the pan, so no dishes! The double recipe makes enough that after everyone is full, there are plenty left over to put in the freezer. This makes a great breakfast for Sunday morning, which is always busy and short of time as we try to get out the door for church. Just pull a couple of pancakes out of the freezer and pop them in the toaster - they reheat very well!

Here is my pancake recipe, which I have perfected after much trial and error:
(note: this is the double recipe, but you can halve it if you don't need so many or want leftovers)
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups "white" whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour*
4 generous teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sugar or honey**

4 eggs
3 cups milk
1 cup coconut milk***
3 Tablespoons vanilla

*I also use spelt flour in place of the whole wheat sometimes, or 1 cup of each
**I like to add the sugar so the pancakes are a bit sweet, and you don't need syrup, which cuts down on the mess with little kids, but you can omit it if you want to eat them with syrup
*** coconut milk has a consistancy similar to cream and makes really light, fluffy, and delicious pancakes. You can buy it canned in the Asian foods section at the grocery. If you can't find coconut milk, you can use 1 cup of plain yoghurt instead.

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric beater until smooth. Heat non-stick griddle or pan over medium heat. (make sure the pan is quite hot before cooking). Melt about half a tablespoon of butter on the hot pan until it is thoroughly greased. Using a cup measure, pour batter into small rounds on pan. (I found that 1 not-quite-full measuring cup is perfect for 4 pancakes, which is what fits on my square non-stick pan.) Once bubbles appear on surface and the edges appear slightly dry, flip the pancakes and cook the other side. They should cook fairly quickly - just a minute or two, depending on the heat of your stove and griddle. Remove from heat and repeat with the rest of the batter. You don't need to grease the griddle every day - maybe just once halfway through as all the butter wears off.

Enjoy straight off the griddle or smother in syrup, jam, or honey. Put half in a ziploc bag in the freezer and have quick breakfast whenever you want - just pop in the toaster on a low setting.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Apology and (partial) retraction

Oh, dear. I suppose I should double-check things before I go spouting my mouth - er, fingers off. My last post - or should I call it a tirade? - wasn't quite accurate. I did a little re-checking on the ModCloth website, and turns out I had their sizing system quite wrong. It is weird, not based on normal sizing where you measure yourself all the way around (you know, bust, waist, hips) but where you lay out a piece of clothing that you know fits you well and then measure it across the front ONLY! Oh. Oops.

So yeah. Sorry about that. That makes the sizes a bit more reasonable, rather than half as big as normal sizes, which is what i thought they were.

However, I would like to point out that they still tend to run a good bit smaller than regular sizes. AND most of their items don't come any bigger than a large, which is 15 inches across. So I still say they're designed for skinny people. Hence the "partial" retraction. But still much more reasonable than I thought. Sooo...sorry, ModCloth. I guess I need to learn to read.

Cute dresses for imaginery women

I found this website called ModCloth that sells really pretty vintage-type dresses. As I've gotten older (more "grown up"?) I've put my tomboy phase more and more behind me and embraced my girly side. I like to look feminine, although it can be difficult while chasing toddlers, crawling on the floor with them, being grabbed by all matter of sticky and muddly hands....but still, I like to try. Whenever I am browsing on the computer, I like to go to their site and look at all the pretty dresses and imagine wearing them...they are a bit pricey for my budget, though, so I am generally content to "window-shop."

Well the other day my resistance finally broke down and I was all set to buy a really pretty dress that was under $50. So I started looking at their size charts. That's when I got really mad! I mean, I am not built small. Even in the best shape of my life, when I was playing basketball every day and running and lifting weights, my bones structure is large enough that I would never be accused of being "skinny." I've had 3 babies since then, so you can imagine...but still. Their sizes were ridiculous! On their largest dress, the "extra-large" bust size was a 21. Are you kidding me??? Who makes these dresses?? And who on earth thinks that this is what women - who are not supermodels - actually look like?? Stupid website...now I am just bitter. Because I could have fit their dresses....when I was 7.

But I have a plan to get around their evil sizing charts. I am going to print out my favorites:


this cute checkered dress


this gorgeous pink lacy one



this dainty lemon-yellow frock (I love the word "frock", don't you?)

and this beautiful blue dress.
I will take these pictures to the fabric store, find similar fabrics and patterns, and just make them myself. In my own size! Take that, stupid skinny girl website!!
P.S. I read a comment by a girl who bought a dress on their site, and she said she was 5'10, and weighed 132 pounds! See the kind of freakish girls they cater to on this site?? I am 5'11 and weigh *$& pounds (oh, sorry, computer glitch there). And the worst part?? she bought a medium and it didn't even fit!! I ask you: is this reasonable??
P.P.S. My apologies to any freakishly skinny girls who may be reading this. It's nothing personal. My ire is directed at the website, not you. And it's probably just jealousy on my part.



Thursday, May 27, 2010

Today I...

- did Bible with the kids, in spite of one of the three yelling/screaming/crying at all times during the reading
- straightened and vaccuumed the front part of the house for one of Robert's customers (who never actually showed up)
- got the kitchen all clean and the dishes all washed and put away
- sorted all the laundry into loads
- put away all the clean laundry
- straightened up my room after the kids wrecked it while I was in the shower
- built the same puzzle with Joseph 6 different times
- kissed, bandaged, and comforted James after he cut his finger
- nursed a grumpy and teething Ellie pretty much perpetually, in spite of the fact that she kept trying to bite me

Wow. I guess I actually was pretty productive. No wonder I feel so tired.

Here are the things I still need to get done (but probably won't because it is SO hot):

-make dinner (ugh, too hot...I don't feel like cooking anything, much less eating it...maybe we'll have a salad...)
- straighten up the toyroom (think I'll save that for tomorrow)
- do 8 more loads of laundry (ummmm, maybe...)
- do my exercise video or take a walk (again, too hoooottttt....)

Hmmm...or maybe I'll sit here under the ceiling fan and help Joseph with his puzzle again. And we can have snow cones for dinner. That sounds good.

But I also:
- got hugs from Joseph
- listened to James and Gabriella giggle together
- had an actual conversation with Robert for the better part of an hour
- realized how much I love being a mom!
I think that makes today (ouch! Gabriella - stop biting me!!!) a success.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Monday, monday, monday...

Monday morning. Always a difficult time. Yes, I don't have to "go" to work, but I always seem to have tons of work that piled up over the weekend waiting for me. And it's so hard to find the motivation necessary to get going. I don't want the weekend to be over!

This morning is especially tough. The winds are crazy, which means allergies have flared up again, making me headachy and generally miserable. Then James broke my glasses last night, which means I have to wear my contacts, which, as any contact-lens-wearer can tell you, is no fun during wind/allergies! Plus my house looks like its been hit by a hurricane...which I guess it has: Hurricane Joseph-James-Gabriella. And while I desperately want it to be clean, I don't want to have to do ALL the work necessary to get it to that state!

I really should get going. I got up and dressed on the early side and I need to start school, cleaning, life... ok, here I go................................

nope. Nice try. I am still sitting here drinking my coffee and eating my scone with French apricot jam that Robert bought me. He must really love me, because he hates apricots. And the French, for that matter. But their jam is delicious!!

Looks like the score is procrastination: 1, productivity: 0. At least for now.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

How much $ am I wearing??

Ok, after reading this article, I was kind of interested. So I took inventory of what I'm wearing and decided to figure out how expensive my outfit is today:

jeans: $19.99 - from Cato (one of 2 pairs I own)
tank top: $9.99 (on sale) - ditto
button-up shirt: $9.99 (also on sale) - Cato again (can you tell I love that store?)
belt: $7 - ditto
unmentionables: $1 (Wal-mart) and $17.99 (Target - but again, one I wear every day)
hairclip: $3.99 WalMart
jewelry: earrings $5, WalMart
socks: $1.50 Target
Skechers: $39.99 (sale) and once again, I wear them every day

so far, $116.44 for my clothes (which is actually a little more than I expected...)
if you add in the accessories I always take with me, my cell phone, which I think was about $150, and my purse, which was a $5 find from Savers, and my diaper bag, which was a gift from a friend but let's say it cost $20, which is all I would spend on a diaper bag, I'm up to...
(hang on, crunching numbers....)
(ok, just kidding, I am using the computer's calculator!)
$291.44 to dress me and get me out the door. Wow, I'm expensive! At least that feels bad to me. And yet, it is not quite 1/5 of what they're saying the average woman in the UK wears every day. Yikes!
Of course, if you add in my most important accessories, namely...
Joseph
James
and Gabriella

well, let's see, they cost about $2000 apiece just for hospital/midwife fees while being born, then add in all the diapers, wipes, clothes, food over the last 3 years....
I am probably pushing more like 10K. Yup, I guess I am one expensive woman!
Sorry, honey. ;-)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

a whole new meaning to "waxing your eyebrows"

Soooo....this morning we were about to leave for church - a bit on early side, since Robert and I had to sing in the choir today. All was well, we were all ready to go and doing the usual get-everything-in-the-car-and-shut-down-the-house routine when I noticed a candle burning in the bathroom. (unfortunately, not for any romantic reasons...more for odor.) Definitely not a good idea to leave burning, a) while we were gone and b) around small children at all. So I leaned over and blew it out.

Or rather, tried to blow it out. It was a particularly stubborn candle - kind of like those trick birthday candles that won't blow out. I tried again...and again....silly candle would not extinguish! Finally I leaned in really close and pouf! I blew it out - and hot wax splashed up all over my face! Luckily it was only really warm, not hot, so I didn't get burned. But I now had tiny beads of wax all over - my eyebrows , my eyelashes, my forehead. And Robert was yelling from outside the door "Come on we're going to be late let's go!"


I had to scrape/peel all the wax off, which also resulted in most of my makeup coming off. Which meant I had to apply a good bit of it. Unfortunately my eyebrows didn't end up looking any better even after being "waxed." I guess I'll stick to plucking.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Monster Repellent and Fairy Dust

I simply cannot understand my boys' obsessession with smearing deodorant all over the mirrored closet doors in our bedroom. I admit that I've never actually tried smearing deodorant on mirrors, but then, I fail to see the allure.
However, turnabout is fair play. My mom never understood why my sister and I had to sprinkle baby powder all over her room. We tried to explain that it was fairy dust and we had to throw it on ourselves as we jumped off her bed so we could fly like Peter Pan! All she saw was her room covered in a fine white layer that was, I'm sure now, a terrible mess to clean up. (sorry, Mom)
But for us, that hour was magical. We were Wendy and Tinkerbell on our way to Neverland to consort with Indians and pirates and mermaids and, of course, Peter.

Which is why I try not to yell too much at my kids when I discover that, yet again, they've besmeared my nice clean mirrors. Because who knows? They might need to cover those mirrors with monster repellent to keep out whatever scary thing lives behind those closet doors. Who am I to stand in their way?

Saturday, May 8, 2010

the Mother's Day dress part 2

Okay, sorry for all the whining yesterday. Especially because of what happened today...
I made it back to JC Penny today. Found a parking space up close. Ran in and exchanged my outfit for the right size - was in and out in under 10 minutes. Super fast, super easy, didn't cost me a thing. Oh yes, and my suit was orignally marked at $70. I paid $26. Score!
Now my only problem is deciding what skirt to wear with my jacket...but I won't bore you with the details...I did enough of that yesterday.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!! And to those of you who will some day become mothers; you're in for a treat! (Yep, one big messy, sticky, you-can't-get-enough, emotionally satisfying, your-waistline-will-never-be-the-same treat! ;-) haha kids are a lot like chocolate, actually....

Friday, May 7, 2010

the Mother's Day outfit from...well, you know where...

Mother's Day is coming soon - 2 days, in fact - and while this is normally not a "huge" holiday in our house, since our kids are too little to cook breakfast or even realize anything is going on, this year we are doing Gabriella's baby dedication on Mother's Day (which is the only day our church does baby dedications...anyway...) and all our family is coming and we are going out to lunch afterward (and I am trying to rival Charles Dickens in paragraph-long sentences...). Sooo...the point is, I want to look nice, because I have to stand up in front of our whole church and family, and...well, I'm a girl. And a mom, but that's no reason why once in a while I can't look nice. I went through my whole closet and couldn't find any post-baby clothes that look good on me...and Robert said I could get a new dress for Mother's Day (probably just to stop having to listen to the whining), so I've went to the mall today. (at 4:00 on a Friday...yeah, that was a good idea. Bad economy, my foot!! I drove around for 20 minutes trying to find a parking space...)

I had a cupon for JC Penny and thought I'd run in, find a pretty dress or at least a yellow top to go with this skirt I'm making out of a dress with a broken zipper (sorry, different story...) I was having one of those "nothing looks good" days with a side of indecision and low-self-esteem on top...plus it doesn't help that buttoned shirts are in and, thanks to 3 babies in 3 years, nothing buttons across my chest anymore. I spent 2 hours and tried on lots and lots of clothes, to no avail. A pretty pink top, which would have gone with my white skirt and was on sale, was too small in medium and too big in large. A blue dress looked nice on me, but the color was too bright to look good on me and I didn't care for the slinky fabric. A pale pink dress was the perfect color for me and fit pretty well, but was a tad too short and very expensive. I got quite frustrated and fed up and was leaving when I spotted a skirt-and-jacket outfit I had tried on the week before and dismissed because I wanted a dress instead. It looked exactly like this:


except with large yellow flowers on the skirt instead of geometic patterns. I grabbed it, bought it, and brought it home. Perfect, I thought. The yellow jacket will go with 3 other skirts I have, including the one I'm making. I tried it on again. Well, it buttoned. But...it just buttoned. Who knows what will happen if I inhale! Now I remember why I didn't buy it last week when I actually tried it on. Sigh. I think I have to take it back. But I can't face shopping again. I will run in, exchange it for the next size, and run out.
And if that size doesn't fit, I will go naked. Everyone's going to be looking at the baby anyway, right??

Thursday, May 6, 2010

choir practice (at last!)

We joined a new church back in December, and even before we joined, people in the congregation kept asking up to join the choir. We go to the "traditional" service, better known by it's unofficial name, the "old people service," so we are the youngest people there by about 30 years! But we both like the old hymns and we like the older people, so we are happy. We have been planning on and trying to go to the Wednesday night rehearsals for months now, but something always came up, or we would get sick or too tired or just forget it was Wednesday.
But last night we finally succeeded! We planned it all out, made dinner early, and actually made it to choir practice. It was really fun. It's been way too long since Robert and I have done any real singing. When we were dating, we were chorus members of Opera Southwest and we always had fun going to rehearsals and performances together, but since we got married, and especially since we had kids, we just couldn't find the time. This is the perfect compromise because reherasal is only 1 hour a week, and the choir only sings during the 2nd service, and not every week.
Everyone was very nice and welcomed us most enthusiastically. Probably because we were the youngest people there...I think it makes them happy that some young people still enjoy traditional music. I think our worship pastor (who is also the choir leader) welcomed us about 4 times. It was funny, because when he was closing in prayer, he said "and thank You for bringing Robert and...and...and...I can't remember her name..." which made me laugh. Story of my life. I told him not to worry cause God remembers my name and knew who he was talking about! (some days I think God is the ONLY person who remembers my name, but hey - He's the only one who matters, right?)

So I am excited about singing in the choir and can't wait for next week. It's nice to finally feel like we have a group we belong to. People who will notice if we're there and miss us if we're gone. Plus we are singing some great patriotic music for Armed Forces Day. I have had "Mine Eyes have seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord" running through my mind all day.

There is only one drawback. Our choir does not wear choir robes. ;-( Whatever shall we fight about??