DIY turkish coffee

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So I’ve stumbled upon a great way to make your own Turkish-style coffee. In your own kitchen! Without any fancy equipment! The catch: you have to be sleep-deprived, one-armed, desperate for caffeine and short on time. What a delightful state in which to be. Ready? Go!

  1. Pour the remainder of yesterday’s coffee into a mug. This is important, lovelies. It has to be yesterday’s coffee. Today’s coffee is not an appropriate substitute.
  2. Place mug with coffee into microwave for about a minute. Walk away.
  3. Hear microwave go off, but leave it because you are likely unable to get to the microwave anyway.
  4. When you are able to get to the microwave again, press the timer for another minute.
  5. This time you are able to get to the microwave and take a sip. It’s getting there.
  6. You will only be able to take one sip before setting it down in an easily-forgotten place like the bathroom while changing someone’s diaper.
  7. Time goes by, but you realize you’re not caffeinated yet and must find that coffee. Aha! Found.
  8. Place mug with coffee into microwave for about a minute. Walk away. This is when it begins to really turn into Turkish coffee: thick with settling dregs…
  9. Take another sip.
  10. Repeat steps three through nine several times throughout the morning, possibly into the afternoon.
  11. By the time the mid-afternoon rolls around, that same cup of yesterday’s coffee is just about the perfect cup of Turkish coffee with the dregs perfectly settled at the bottom. Aaah.
  12. Happen to have some Turkish Delight on hand? Score!

 

6 weeks

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Here’s our Phoebe at six weeks, smiling up at her big sister right after Wren tried to “just a little bit wrestle” her. I try to protect Phoebe from Wren’s over-zealous snuggles, pokes, tugs and way too tight hugs, but I’m beginning to think that Phoebe likes it. I don’t know about you, but I needed to see this gummy smile today. Anyone else have a case of the Mondays? Geesh.

the tree

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For most of the past seven years of marriage, Chris and I have decorated our Norfolk Island pine tree with origami balloon-covered Christmas lights. Chris has been making origami balloon-covered lights for (at least) several decades. So yeah, it’s somewhat of a tradition. This is not one of those new, hipster, DIY projects. This is old school, baby! And now we’ve passed the tradition on to our little birdies. Wren has enjoyed “starting up Merry Christmas!!!” by replacing the balloons that get too smashed in the box and those that are necessitated by a growing tree and a new strand of lights.

Take a look at this Harrisburg tree service that really helped us that evening with the tree, we couldn’t do it without them and the right tools.

Fun fact: apparently having a Norfolk Island pine tree as your Christmas tree is considered “green,” as seen in several magazines lately, but for us, it’s mostly just practical and cheap. Where would we even put a Christmas tree with such a huge tree already living in the house? A couple years when we decided to cut down a $10 Charlie Brown-esque Christmas tree outside of Empire, I swear Norfolk (as we call him) was depressed about it. What’s wrong with me, he wilted. Sniff, sniff. So here’s Norfolk, proud in all his Christmas splendour! Isn’t he handsome?

five weeks

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Oh the weather outside is frightful, but you are so very delightful!

Phoebe Jane is now five weeks old and she smiles! And also makes a lot of other funny faces as she discovers the world… It’s so gratifying when your baby starts to smile, isn’t it? They are oblivious to the dust bunnies, mountain(s) of dishes, ubiquitous spit-up. They are just happy to be cozily snuggled up with a full tummy. Aah, if life could only stay so simple… Thanks, Phoebe, for brightening up these gloomy early winter days!

Gingerbread Friends

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We’ve had a lot of fun with this book Gingerbread Friends lately. We’ve read it at least once a day for the past week and were inspired to try the gingerbread recipe that’s illustrated throughout the story. It’s a really good one – I was surprised that Wren liked them because they are a bit “spicy,” but she does. Or maybe it’s just the act of biting off their heads and limbs that she likes. Regardless, we’re getting our required holiday share of ginger and cinnamon these days. Oh, and butter. It’s really no wonder why I’m not shedding the baby weight very quickly this time around… sigh.

I love a book that inspires action or creativity, like when we planted our bulbs in conjunction with Planting a Rainbow. What is your favorite book that inspires you to do something? Green Eggs & Ham, anyone?

Christmas Countdown!

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Happy December, lovelies! Although it’s just gray and wet outside (no snow yet!), it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our nest. A certain toddler is VERY excited about all things Christmas and Chris and I are both getting into the spirit of it as well. It’s hard not to with Wren’s infectious enthusiasm for Santa, the reindeer, Christmas cookies, decorating the tree, candy canes, stockings and just “getting started with Merry Christmas!” Yesterday I was upstairs with Phoebe and Wren was downstairs doing who-knows-what when I heard her yelling up to me. I couldn’t understand her so I came to the top of the stairs and yelled for her to come closer and tell me what she was trying to say from across the house. She said, “I SAID, Mama, Merry Christmas!!!!!!”

The problem is that a toddler’s sense of time is so vague (yesternight, lasterday) and she thinks that Santa will come and bring presents–to good boys and girls–tomorrow. Whatever tomorrow means. So I thought it would help her to understand that we’ve got a little while to wait in a fun, visual way. I made a quick trip to the dollar store (thanks, China!) today and grabbed a bunch of these tiny stockings and strung them out while she was at school. We put little numbers in them and voila! A Christmas countdown calendar. I told her that if she took a good nap, Santa would come and leave a tiny present for her in the first stocking. It worked! Let’s just see how long this will work…