What'cha Doin?....by Justine

Never a dull moment and this morning is no exception.  Here I am vacuuming the inside of my washing machine.

What?  You don't do that?!  Well you know me!  The clean freak.  Oh just kidding.  This is due to the unfortunate mishap of a disposable diaper making it's way into the washing machine.  And you thought the last time you left a tissue in a pocket was bad.  Imagine 5 million times worse.  You're going to have to trust me because late last night when I discovered it I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of the actual mess.  In case you don't know, diapers are filled with millions of little gelatinous balls that absorb moisture and when a diaper explodes in the washer guess where all the little balls go?  Yes. EVERYWHERE.  Don't even ask if it was a poopy diaper or not. 

Long story short, poor Hubby strung up some line in the garage and shook out the laundry while I tackled the clean up of the actual washer.  Poor guy.  This was after a week of sewer pump malfunctions in our Granny Unit from the improper disposal of something down down the toilet - which he had to fish out...twice. 

Eventually I gave up on my task and decided that cleaning the washer in the morning after the little balls dried would be easier.  Now there is a gritty film of diaper innards stuck to the drum.  Hmmm...maybe not such a great idea after all.

In case you are wondering, I googled how to clean up after diaper/washer disaster and got such varied answers that we were forced to go with our gut.  Throwing the whole kit and kaboodle in the dryer and then cleaning lint filter seemed risky as did just rewashing the load with salt(??)!

Well, off to run a rinse cycle and hope that does the trick.  Let's hope this NEVER happens again!

The Final Five...by Jessica

Well, we are now closing in on The Final Five**.

I'm sure some of you have guessed what I'm talking about.

Tomorrow is the kids final five hours of school.  

The pros of summer vacation are abundant: sleeping in, no rush to make breakfast/lunches, more playing, more swimming, more fun.

The con of summer vacation is: no alone time ever (I do work PT but that means racing to drop them off, racing to get my work done, racing to pick them up, so I don't consider that "alone time").

I never thought I'd struggle so as a mother.  I grew up in a full house with siblings around every corner every second of the day and my parents never seemed to mind the togetherness of us.  When Trin, the baby was born I hogged him and wanted to change him and feed him and put him to sleep and care for him.  I even went to stay with my grandma for a week (two weeks?) and got him close to being potty trained.  For fun.  

I saw somewhere a quote that said "Being a parent is like having a bowling alley in your head".  Just when I've got the pins all neat and tidy and figured out in my head, they come on barreling through and knock a few down and then I race to put them all back up and I never can quite them all up before another ball comes blasting through.  

My kids are wonderful.  Beautiful, smart, witty, well-behaved.  I'm not complaining.

I just really love my alone, bowling pin getting straight, in my head time.

So tomorrow is the Final Five.  Here's the plan: 
Hour (1) - Run (I say that but it will really be a slow trudge)
Hour (2) - Coffee and a book
Hour (3) - Thrifting
Hour (4) - Nursery for some veggie plants
Hour (5) - Lunch by myself with a book

Bonus sneak peek of Hour (6) - "Ian, don't touch me!"  "Anya, stop looking at me!"  "Mo-om, when can I play video games?  How long can I play video games?  Can I play now?  Now?  Now?"

Look for me on Instagram - I'll post my day hour by incredibly fast and sadly dwindling hour.

**After I wrote this I realized the girl child gets out early so it's actually the Final Four and a half.  Ugh.  I'm still going to try and get my five in though.  

Just Living, No Project...by Jessica

So remember when we always had a project going on?  

Yeah, well I don't think any of do this year.  Do we?

I thought my project this year would be to read 20 books and watch 20 movies and review them all.  What's the problem with that?

Well, besides the fact that I'm afraid I'd offend you all with my choices - also, apparently I'm unusually picky and weird.

I have strange tastes and there's no rhyme or reason as to what I will like.  I definitely hate reading a book or watching a movie and being able to predict the end.  If I guess what will happen I immediately hate it.  I hate a happy movie that's made with no other reason except to be happy.  

One of my biggest, worst, largest pet peeves is reading a book and loving it, and then seeing the movie and being so sorely, sadly, crushingly disappointed.  

Example: Memoirs of a Geisha.  I remember sitting in the hallway of our first little apartment huddled up to the heater, skipping a SHOWER, nearly being late to work to read more of that book.
Saw the movie and was sad.

Example: The Time Travelers Wife.  Finished the book, and immediately closed it, opened the first page and started reading it again.
Saw the movie and was mad.

Example: Water for Elephants.  Exciting book, full of adventure, edge of your seat suspense!
Saw the movie and was bored.

There are some exceptions I do have to admit: The Help.  Little Women.  The Secret Life of Bees.  Charlotte's Web.  Anne of Green Gables.  Great books, great movies {in my weird and opinionated opinion}

Where am I going with all this?

Well, I saw a great movie and I read a great book and I'm going to review them {briefly}.  

Book: Rules of Civility.  It's not what I expected.  It would make a great movie {ha ha}

Movie: Quartet.  No need to rush out and see this at the theater, but rent it when it comes out.  It doesn't look very exciting, but it grabs you. Made me laugh, made me teary, made me watch all the way till the very last credit rolled. 

  

The End.

Kids, Pigs n Jelly....by Jessica

My friend asked me why there's been no new posts.  No excuses, just uninspired I suppose.

A funny thing.  My kids made a game called The Family Game.  You pull cards out of a bag that tell you how many spaces to move.  Some of the cards read things like: 

Mom spanked you - Move backwards 4 spaces.

Mom's in a bad mood - Move backwards 3 spaces.

Car broke down - Move backwards 2 spaces.

Ian gave you a wedgie - Move backwards 3 spaces.

We did have to move forward at some point to get the game finished: 

Mom and Dad kiss - Move forward 5 spaces.

Anya gets a puppy!  Ian gets a turtle! - Move forward 10 spaces.

Dad brings home ice cream - Move forward 3 spaces.

Family Night! - Move forward 4 spaces.

The whole thing was pretty cute.  But they had far more move backward cards then move forward so it was quite a long game.

Let's see, what else can I tell you?  Not much else except I went on a walk and I saw "my" plum tree has quite a bit of fruit and several cherry trees that I didn't spot last year.  It's going to be jam making season very soon.

Sorry mom and dad, no peaches on "my" tree AT ALL.  I think the tree is dead.  {Leaf curl is my uneducated diagnosis}.

Zack is up rummaging through looking for some tougher allergy meds {has everyone else been itchy, runny nosed and sneezing as well?} so I'm done for now.  

I'll leave you with some delicious food pics from the Cochon 555 event that I worked a few weekends ago. 

***Lots of pigs were harmed during this event.  Please don't proceed with viewing the photos if that statement alarmed you***

A cake for the non-baker...by Jessica

I liked the idea of this cake recipe that I found in a Sunset magazine because it called for whole oranges pureed in a food processor - yes, whole oranges - peel and all!  I like that because i have problems with fussy recipes - but a recipe that doesn't even require me to peel the orange - YES! - that's the recipe for me.  

I modified the recipe slightly to use less butter so I could tell my husband that it was almost (sort of, kind of, not really) vegan.  Below is the revised recipe, but you can find the original recipe HERE.  

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup mashed banana

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 whole oranges, end trimmed, seeded, quartered.
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. 1. Preheat oven to 325°. Oil a bread loaf or bundt pan. In a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
2. 2. Whirl orange chunks in a food processor until mostly smooth but not puréed. Add 1 1/2 cups orange mixture to batter and beat until blended. Add flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to bowl and beat until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan.
3. 3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few crumbs clinging to it, about 55 minutes. Cool pan on a rack 10 minutes, then invert cake onto rack and let cool completely.

I didn't use a bundt pan, and I didn't glaze it, so mine didn't look very pretty but my was it moist and delicious.

Taco Truck Tromp....by Jessica

Ian and I ate 6 tacos in search of the best taco in town.  Anya and Zack stayed home and juiced a pile of veggies.  Her response to the invitation to join the Taco Truck Tromp was "I will feel so sick if I eat that many tacos" and then looked at us like we should feel sick for even wanting to eat that many tacos. And just to clarify - we felt full, but we did not at any point feel sick.

Here were the rules.  We ordered una {1} carne asada taco and ate whatever came with that taco.

And to clarify, we ordered {1} taco ONLY, so we technically only ate 3 tacos each.  That doesn't sound so bad put that way, now does it?

Here's our picks for the best taco in Healdsburg.

#1 - Taqueria Guadalajara (the place across from McDonalds)
#2 - Taqueria Guanajuato (the taco truck on the way to the dump)
#3 - Lola's (the Mexican market near Fincher's)
#4 - Taco Truck X (the taco truck on Lytton)
#5 - El Sombrero (the one across from Oakville)
#6 - Taco Grande (the one no one goes to next to CVS)

Any surprises?  I was surprised too.  I went into it thinking the best one would be from the taco truck on Lytton Springs, which we named Taco Truck X.  I didn't expect Lola's to be as good as it was.  I hoped Taco Grande was a hidden treasure that was ready to be unveiled.

P.S.  - This day, more than any other day in my life, is the day I should have worn my "I don't speak Spanish" sticker.  There were many disappointed conversations when I responded back all gringo like.

Here's more detail:

Taqueria Guadelajara was actually Ian's #1 pick and my #2.  It was a great medium spiced taco with a perfect ratio of filling to tortilla.  The taco had (2) corn tortillas, carne asada, cilantro, onions and a hot red sauce.  I felt the carne asada could have been a little crisper and did have some chewy bites.  It was on the pricy end of the tacos we tried, but it also came with chips and a great spicy red salsa.  Service was slow - about 8 minutes to get our taco. Price - $2.69

TAQUERIA GUADELEJARA

Taqueria Guanajuato is the little taco truck that you see near the turnoff to Hwy 128.  There is a little seating area, a table that seats four.  Ian's first word when we got the taco was: "teeny".  I felt like there could have been a tiny bit more meat in ratio to the tortillas. Quit complaining, Jessica - it was only $1.50.  The taco came with the standard (2) corn tortillas, carne asada, cilantro, onions and a hot red sauce.  Sliced radishes as well.  Ian felt there was too much onion.  I thought the tortillas were excellent.  It arrived about 2 minutes after we ordered and was piping hot, we had to wait a bit to pick it up.  Service was excellent and we felt so comfortable sitting on the side of the road eating that taco.  Price - $1.50

Lola's Market.  This was our last stop of the day and Ian did not want to go here for some reason.  I still haven't figured it out.  I'm glad I forced him because it was the surprise of the day.  The (2) corn tortilla taco came with carne asada, cilantro, onions and your choice of rojo or verde sauce.  I chose rojo and it was dark and rich and smoky.  The carne asada had nice crispy charred bits, and there was no fat anywhere to be found.  The taco was pretty hefty with quite a bit of filling (maybe even too much) in ratio to tortilla.  Service was okay, I had to wait for someone to look at me to get my order placed and then had to wait in a longish line to pay, and then my to go box got all sloshed around so my taco was dismantled.  Price - $2.59

LOLA'S MARKET

Taco Truck X didn't have a prominent sign with it's name but after a little investigation I learned it is really named Los Plebes Taco Truck.  It's located near the Lytton Springs exit.  I've been here quite a few times and I thought it would be numero uno.  It's a good taco, though, for sure.  Ian let out a big "mmmmm" at his first bite.  But then we looked at each other and at the same time said: "SALTY!".  So so so salty.  It's a very mild taco, not much heat.  This was also in the minority in that we got (1) corn tortilla along with the carne asada, cilantro, onions and red  &hot sauce.  I felt the carne asada was a little on the fatty and chewy side.  I love the grilled onions pepper on the side.  The service was fine - I didn't feel as comfortable on the side of the road as I did over at Guanajuato as there is no seating area, no garbage can and they really wish I could speak Spanish and I disappoint them every time.  Price - $1.50

TACO TRUCK X / LOS PLEBES TACO TRUCK

El Sombrero.  This is one of our go to spots so we weren't expecting any surprises.  We got chips, but only the chunky salsa - you think that's because we only ordered one taco?  Who knows.  The taco had 2 corn tortillas, carne asada, cilantro, onions and hot sauce.  Lots of filling - maybe even too much.  the meat had a nice char on the edges and nice crispy fried bits.  Service was slow, slow, slow - but when we finally got the taco it was so hot we had to wait to let it cool before eating it.  We decided the temperature made it taste better than it was.  $2.50

EL SOMBRERO

Taco Grande.  The worst taco in town.  We now know why no one ever goes here.  Inside it was devoid of people.  It also seemed dark and kinda gloomy.  Service was quick and efficient.  Taco was no bueno.  One corn tortilla that got all soggy and wet from the chunky cold tomato salsa that was poured over the cold and chewy carne asada, cilantro and onions.  The hot sauce wasn't hot and just tasted like nothing.  Blech.  Ian thought that a schoolmate's family owned the restaurant and he said "I'm going to tell him - DUDE - your tacos suck!" and when I gently explained that maybe that wasn't the kindest thing to say, he replied "Don't you think they would want to know so they could IMPROVE?"  Thankfully, the schoolmate's family owned Taqueria Guadelejara and Ian did not get punched in the face.    Price - $2.99

TACO GRANDE

What's your thoughts on the best taco in town?

P.S. - the next night we ate at El Farolito and had a taco there.  It was hard to compare on a totally different day, but we feel it came in after the Taco Truck X, before El Sombrero.  

Tooter Rooter....by Jessica & the Kids

The Culprit

The Victim

The Punisher