Why the Absence?

You, my small readership, may or may not have been wondering where I've been over the past few days. Let's just say, life has been a little crazy lately. Would you like a recap? Well, you're getting one anyways.

First off, my parents and sister, my main sources of outside help and support, have been in London since the 22nd. To say that the time they have been gone has dragged on would be an understatement.

All the while, I have been taking care of two very adorable yet very demanding children. One, with his ever-expanding knowledge and vocabulary, likes to chat ... all the time. Here, he is telling me that his apple slice is in the shape of a parenthesis.

"Parenthesis!"

The other is all smiles one minute and screaming the next; she's got a short fuse and she likes to tell me exactly when she isn't happy with something I'm generally NOT doing. But she has fallen in love with the giant Goldfish cracker box, just like her big brother.

Cute as she is, she hasn't been sleeping for super long stretches at night. Part of it is probably my fault; I've been falling asleep while feeding her and not focusing on keeping her awake long enough to eat enough to keep her stomach from growling and waking her up. It's also been making me feel like I've been getting up twice as much as I have been, and thus making me feel almost twice as tired as I probably should be. I'm working on it, but it's a bit slow-going since I'm a bit behind as it is.

Then there was the whole "low hemoglobin" thing; we finally talked to Baylor's usual pediatrician and he wanted a more comprehensive blood test taken. *sigh* So off to the lab we went. The little man had no idea what was about to happen and very much enjoyed playing with their drinking fountains.

And crawling on and under their picnic table.

After we registered, we waited a couple minutes before they called us back. My sister reminded me not to make a big deal out of it, so I just told him that it was going to feel like a pinch and that while it might hurt a bit it'd be done quickly.

And let me tell you, just as I told him, my kid is a rock star! He didn't flinch. He didn't cry. He barely made a noise. He just looked at what they were doing and sat still in my arms. Such a relief!

Afterwards, we went to my parents' house to water their plants and he got to have a banana cookie.

Such a big boy with his first blood-draw battle wound!

They drew the blood yesterday, and today we found out that his hemoglobin level was normal. So either the first test was a fluke or a misreading or something because he's golden now! Whew!

Now, I have to say, Baylor's been doing some pretty cool things lately. He's been saying stuff like, "Where'd you go?" or "Where is it?" And he's enunciating, "I love you!" very well - which warms a mama's heart like nothing else, I tell ya!

And then the other day he did this ...

I know it doesn't look like much, but he pushed his high chair back exactly where it is supposed to go! Yes, I took a picture of it ... I'm proud of him!

Now don't get me wrong, he's still getting into mischief every now and then.

But he's overall a very good boy.

And she's a good girl! Though she won't let me get a good shot of her whole-face smile ... little stinker! It had just disappeared when I snapped this one.

Oh, and Baylor did this the other day, too ...

Yeah, he lined up both pairs of his shoes like that. Isn't that awesome?!

Don't worry ... he's still getting into stuff. Like the freezer, for example.

Yes, he pulls out stuff. Yes, we're thinking of locking it up for fear of finding ice cream sitting out in the living room one of these days.

To top it all off, when we went to water the plants like I had mentioned previously, the kid who is taking care of my parents' house for them mentioned that the pool was looking a little ... green.

Yeah, it was murky, awful green, so bad you can't see the bottom. Ugh! So we've had the water tested a few times, thrown a few chemicals in there, and now it has turned from this lovely blue-green to a limey-green-brown color. It's been a lot of running around and more physical labor than I was expecting to do this week, but it's quite frankly the least I can do for the people who help me out and have given us so much. And it has taught me that I will probably never want a pool.

Oh, and my husband caught my son's hand, foot, and mouth disease! His tongue is swollen and the sores on his feet make it a little painful to walk. So he's been working from home for the last two days, trying to keep his germy self away from the general population.

So that's where I've been. Sorry for the silence. I'll try to post more soon! And now I'm off to get some sleep!

The Good With The Bad

Yesterday was rough, and yet somehow wonderful at the same time. How can it not be wonderful when you have two awesome kids, right?

Anyhow, it all started the night before when Baylor's diaper rash had started to creep down his legs. Weird, right? And it was a bad rash, too. He woke up in the morning with it all the way to his knees, a little on his feet, and on the sides of his fingers, little red blistery sores that scared the crap out of me.

I called the doctor and they got us in for later in the afternoon ... right at Baylor's nap time, as luck would have it. But I took it because it was Friday and I didn't want him to turn into one big red bump over the weekend and have no idea why.

We skyped a bit around noon with my family, then I realized it was getting a bit late, so we signed off and got lunch. Mollie had blissfully fallen asleep, so I was sure we'd make it to the appointment on time, no problem.

Such assumptions should never be made when one has two children under the age of two.

Baylor wanted ketchup on his grilled cheese sandwich bites, and since he eats it so excitedly that way I happily obliged. Unfortunately, he was in a lovey mood and ended up putting his ketchupy fingers all over my shirt; luckily it was black so you couldn't see the ketchup. (I could smell it, though, and honest to goodness that is one of the worst smells in the world - in my opinion.) He also got some on the floor, but I put that aside until a later date.

Then Mollie woke up and decided it was lunch time, too. So I nursed her while I fed Baylor his pureed veggies, and he kept me entertained with his little boy thoughts. First he did "This Little Piggy" on his toes, right up to the "wee, wee, wee" part. Then he wanted a drink of water, and when his cup fell down and rolled away he said, "He shoots, he scores!" Then he started saying, "Orange juice ... on sale!" over and over again. I love his little character these days!

Mollie finished up, and I put her on my shoulder to burp her. As luck would have it, the girl who never spits up did so all down my back ... and splattered it all over the kitchen floor. Ketchup you can't see on a black shirt but spit up you can, so I did the world's fastest wardrobe change and got the kids in the car.

I had calculated that we needed to leave no later than 2:00, preferably leaving around 1:55 if I could swing it. We pulled out of the driveway at 2:02, and I was feeling pretty good about that until I realized I was supposed to be to our 2:20 appointment ten minutes early! Yeah, I had completely miscalculated things. Oh well, we were going to be a little late but at least we'd get there. Then about two minutes away from the office, I realized that our appointment was at 2:30, that I had already factored in the ten minutes early deal, and that we were going to be even earlier because I had sped ever so slightly to get there.

Anyway, we checked in and Baylor promptly headed to the play room section of the waiting room, while I stood and swung Mollie back and forth in her car seat, mentally begging her to go to sleep. She didn't. But we did get to enjoy watching a grandma and her four grandchildren play "I Spy" - the grandma totally stumped the kids with her last spy: a mouse, which turned out to be a computer mouse! So clever!

They finally called us back, did the usual check-in routine, and left us waiting in the room for about a half an hour. My kids awake when they should have been napping. Ughhh. When the doctor finally came in, she took a look at Baylor and quickly figured out that he has hand, foot, and mouth disease. Oh boy.

Before she left I decided to ask her if him eating his blanket could hurt him, and she said potentially if he ended up with a build up of it in his stomach. Then she asked when his last hemoglobin check was, and seeing that the last one was in December she decided to have that tested. Good thing too, since it turns out my little man is pretty anemic! The blanket eating is part of that; apparently you can develop pica, a craving for non-food substances, if your blood is low in iron. So we need to up his iron intake to see if that helps; if it doesn't, then he has to start going through a battery of tests to figure out what is wrong. Needless to say, I really hope I'm just doing a crappy job of getting iron into his system; that is something that can be easily fixed.

Over the next month, he'll be taking an iron supplement to see if that helps. In the meantime, blankie is taking a siesta in my closet and has been temporarily replaced by a polar fleece blanket. And in spite of all the rashes and toe pricks and waiting, waiting, waiting, Baylor only had one meltdown and was otherwise very well-behaved and happy. Mollie was pretty happy too, only a couple crying fits when she got overly tired and/or hungry.

I am so lucky to have two wonderful children.

Go Green: Love For Earth buys

Remember the package from an Etsy seller I mentioned? Well, it finally arrived a couple days after that post, and I am happy to finally report that I have tried (and love) everything I got!

I bought three items from Love for Earth on Etsy. I found the shop when their reusable cloth napkins came up on the ticker at the bottom of the Etsy home page. I was looking for ways to go green, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

I purchased a set of 40 cloth napkins, and so far I just love them! We haven't used enough of them to wash a load of them yet, but I'm sure we'll get there soon. They are incredibly soft and do a wonderful job of wiping up faces, hands, and counters!

Whenever we go out to eat with Baylor, I always put a wet washcloth in a plastic baggy so I can quickly and easily wash his face wherever we are. I didn't like throwing away said baggy every time, though, so when I saw the zipper-top reusable sandwich bags I had to have one. It does a great job of keeping the moisture in, and so far it has only needed a good wipe-down afterwards to stay clean.

Finally, I ordered some reusable produce bags! They came in this adorable recycled cotton bag.

Yes, seven may have been over-kill, but I know I'll use them ... just maybe not all at once!

They come in three different sizes, great for varying amounts and sizes of fruits and veggies! I used the largest one to hold about six apples, though it probably could have held up to eight or so. The middle size was perfect for a green pepper or two. And the smallest size was a little big for a head of garlic, but MUCH better than a giant, disposable plastic bag like they offer at the store. Also, the bags are incredibly light, so they don't really add any weight to your produce, and therefore don't increase the cost.

I could totally see bringing these to the farmer's market to score some delicious summer harvest!

Check out Love for Earth and all that they have to offer!

And go green!

Ugh, I Feel Dirty (This Post is About Poop ... You Have Been Warned)

It is a blessed day in a parent's life when their child drops down to an average of one poop a day. It is an even greater day when that daily constitutional can be counted on at a particular time of day. Baylor accomplished these feats long ago; we have known for months that after breakfast he'll probably take a quiet moment to (as I so indelicately put it) "drop a deuce". Every so often he goes number two more than once, but those days are blissfully few and far between.

Because of this, I have decided to put cloth diapers on him only after he does his business for the day. He pooped in a prefold once and, since I am rather new at this cloth diapering thing, I promptly decided to keep him in a disposable until that time of the day had passed.

He did his business today, and after disposing of the stuff quickly and easily with a Pampers diaper, I wrangled him into a prefold and Thirsties cover. All the rest of the morning and midday, he played and ate lunch without a problem, and I was mentally getting ready to take him upstairs to change his diaper and put him down for a nap. We were horsing around a bit while Mollie sleepily looked on, when I playfully laid down on the floor near the couch and pretended to sleep. Baylor, knowing I was awake and that a toy he wanted was on the couch, toddled on over to me and climbed over my head.

It was at that point, with one of his chubby legs on either side of my head, that I realized he had pooped. This, by the way, is not the way you want to find out your son has pooped in his pee-soaked cloth diaper.

*Right about here is where things get a little dicey. Squeamish readers need not plod ahead.*

After promptly changing him into a disposable diaper for his nap, leaving the dirty diaper on the living room floor as contained as possible, getting Mollie situated, and taking Baylor upstairs for his nap, I returned to the living room where the odor of the event was overwhelming. Mollie was a bit upset so I calmed her down again, then set forth to the bathroom to try to get rid of the poo. I know full well that you're not supposed to flush wipes, but I threw caution and all my rules to the wind and used the wipes to get out as much of the squishy stuff as possible.

It was in the middle of all this that I realized Mollie's binky had fallen out and she was quite upset about it. Ugh! Not wanting her to keep Baylor up, I dropped the prefold in the toilet and dashed to the living room to help her find her binky. Once she was properly calmed, I returned to the bathroom where the diaper was just sitting and soaking. It was at this point that I became infinitely grateful for my mom having done the cloth diaper thing with us and having told me all about how she used to do it. Since I don't regularly have to wash off "food poo" (breastmilk poo washes off in the laundry), I don't have one of those handy dandy sprayers they have now, so I ended up repeatedly dunking the diaper in the toilet - just like my mom did. And, as poop had snuck out of the prefold onto the cover around the leg area, I had to clean the cover off with toilet paper.

And now I feel dirty.

Clearly, I am not set up just yet for handling the food poops that are inevitably coming my way, but we'll get there. Just you wait and see!

Shirtless and Loving It

Baylor got some schmutz on his shirt the other night during dinner, so we had a shirtless evening at home!

First up, putting on Mama's flip flops.


Next up: trying to put on Amalia's sock whilst wearing the tummy time Boppy. A true art form.

Then I caught him in a moment of repose, listening to a little keyboard music.

Meanwhile, Mollie was thoroughly enjoying her shirtless time, thanks to excessive saliva production, on her play mat.

Having enjoyed a little music, the little man of the house decided to study the presidents a bit. I just love the way he says, "Jimmy Carter."

"Wait ... Baby Sister has a belly button, too?!"

Sometimes it gets a little cold with one's shirt off, so a blanket becomes necessary to retain a "nice and warm" level of comfort.

After taking in a good book and warming back up, Baylor got down to business, pretending Bob the Dog was going for a walk.

With the chicken quilt vacant, Mollie took her turn warming up.

Unfortunately, a blanket was not enough to keep Miss Mollie warm, so we got her dressed. Baylor, on the other hand, was sly enough to dodge getting his shorts back on after a diaper change and went pantsless for the rest of the night.

Not wanting his sister to miss out on any fun, he tried very hard to reattach the activity arch to her bouncy seat, but to no avail.

Oh well, another day.

Just One Thing ...

I have been wanting to write so much lately. I have had so many thoughts and feelings to share and get off my chest, but between one kid who has been hitting and another who gets up at least once a night and laundry and trying to keep the house in order and sheer exhaustion I have come up short. When I want to write I should be in bed, and when I have time to write I lack the words. I haven't even had as many chances to take pictures lately because of life being so hectic, which is partially why so few have been posted. And the ones I have taken are riddled with red eye and must be fixed before they are shared.

So ...

I'll leave you with my favorite moment of the day. I was bouncing Mollie around her room, cloaked in darkness, listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof. She wasn't really close to tired, but I thought I could will her to drowsiness if I just tried hard enough. All of a sudden, I could feel her little body tense up and she let out an adorable little baby sneeze. I said, "Bless you!"

And in the other room, I hear Baylor say, "Bless you!" too.

He should have been asleep, but he was listening. And he cared. So very sweet.

Go Green: Reusable Nursing Pads

Nursing pads are pretty uniformly awful, I have found. They are bulky, lumpy, and always show up under your clothes. And if you buy disposable ones, they are pricey and rather wasteful.

Enter the reusable nursing pad.

Now, I will say that it's not as convenient to have to wash and dry your nursing pads; I bought the Gerber Reusable Nursing Pads and, since they come in a six pack, I have to wash them every three days. But it saves us money, and I don't have to throw them away after one use. And really, they're quite easy to wash; just throw them in a bowl with some hot water and a drop or two of gentle detergent and you're good to go!

Many companies make reusable nursing pads, but they aren't prominently displayed in stores so finding them may take a little effort (or you may have to order them online). Some shops on Etsy also make them; I haven't tried any of those, but I might if my Gerber ones give out on me.

Will they work for everyone? Nope. Some women make too much milk to be contained by these pads. But I like them just as much as other nursing pads I've tried, so the savings to our wallet and the Earth are worth it.

Go green!

Cloth Diapering Saga: Part 3 (All About Poop)

You have been warned. This post is going to primarily be about poop. If you don't like it, don't read it.

As I have ventured into the world of cloth diapering, my days have been consumed trying to figure out the best way to contain poop. (Though I have to admit, it probably started back when I first became a mother and had to actually worry about poop getting anywhere and everywhere.) The other day I actually cheered aloud when I successfully contained two infant poops in a row. Yes, it has come to that.

Anyhow, I haven't been overly successful in keeping it away from the diaper cover, but I thought I'd share my efforts with you all in case you're trying the cloth diaper thing, too, or if you have any advice on what I may be doing wrong.

It all starts with the prefold. The first line of defense against poop leakage. At first I was only using a prefold, folded into thirds in a long rectangle, and slapped in a diaper cover. While this might be fine for solid poop, it does nothing to combat the squishy, slippery-ness that is infant poop. I did a little research and found that using a Snappi for infants works better, so I began a quest to figure this whole thing out. When it comes to folding a prefold, to be used in conjunction with a Snappi, you have to flare out the back and create a sort of pocket to catch the poop. Like this ...


Then you should set your baby in, since the whole thing is pointless without the baby, and bring the prefold around, flaring it out at the other end. I grab the back flare farthest from me, secure one side of the Snappi to it, and pull the Snappi across her waist. Like so ...

Then I pull the back flare closest to me up and secure the Snappi to that. Finally, I pull the center of the Snappi down and the bottom of the diaper up so it is closer to her skin (creating a better catcher, if you will) and fasten the last piece. Voila!

With the prefold securely in place, I put a diaper cover on. I have tried two different brands and have found Thirsties to work best for both kids; unlike the Bummis I tried, they don't leave a mark on my kiddos' legs. I just put the cover on like you would a regular diaper, make sure the prefold is tucked into it on all sides, and bada bing, bada boom ...

You have a diapered baby!

I have only had a couple leaks onto her clothes, but I have had numerous leaks onto the diaper cover itself. Thankfully, the Thirsties seem to be highly leak-resistant! Ah woo hoo!

They held yesterday when Baylor pooped in his cloth diaper, unbeknownst to me, and I took it off rather haphazardly. (Unprepared as I was, though, I got poop all over the place in the process of disposing of it. Definitely gonna have to work on that one!)

"Dood It"

Lately, Baylor has been all about who should do what. It all started with him saying, "Baylor dood it!" when he wanted to do something himself. Then it became, "Mama dood it", "Daddy dood it", etc. He quite often wants Mollie to do things that are well beyond her area of expertise, which I think is just adorable. I'm just happy he gives two hoots about her.

And while my little dude shouldn't be doing what he's doing in the picture above, he certainly has his mind made up about things these days!

Not a Laughing Matter

The hitting continued.

At one point, he even motioned for me to bend down towards him, like he was going to hug me, then he slapped me on the cheek.

(He also unraveled a roll of toilet paper, put an air freshener in the toilet, and tried to climb out of his crib.)

I wouldn't have minded the other stuff as much, but I cannot abide the hitting. As proud as I am of how smart Baylor is, I would rather have him be dumber than a stick than be a mean person. There are too many mean people in this world as it is, and I would consider it a failure on my part if he grew up to be a mean man. Or even a mean child. Kindness is highly underrated, and hitting should never be funny - which he thinks it is.

So I'm asking for any help or advice you can give me. How do I teach him that hitting is not okay? And before anyone suggests it, we do not spank at our house; that's just another way to hit someone in my book.

Give me what you've got. I've tried telling him how nice people don't hit and how sad it makes Mommy (which he should have gleaned from me starting to cry after he hit me - it didn't hurt but I was at my wit's end). How people who hit don't get the things they want. But I'm not sure it sank in.

Help! Please!!!!

All Before Naptime

Whew, it has been one heck of a day!

All I wanted to get done this morning was a trip to Gumballs and Overalls in Rockford (about 15 minutes from our house) and then lunch with my husband in Lowell (about 40 minutes from Rockford). That's it. Get a few diapers at said store and have lunch at Arby's. Not too tough, right?

Wrong. So very, very wrong.

I managed to get the kids out of the house by 10:47 a.m. and get on the road. I knew the route to the store, so that wasn't a problem. Nonetheless, getting there proved impossible. Apparently, Rockford was starting up a summer celebration of sorts and most of the streets were cordoned off. Stubbornly persistent as I am, I finally found a parking spot a few blocks away, strapped Mollie into the Ergo Baby, scooped Baylor out of his car seat, and started walking. Then Mollie spit up all over my chest ... great.

By this time I only had a half an hour to get to the store, purchase a few things, and get on the road again. This seemingly simple task might have been possible in the time allowed except for one small problem ...

The summer celebration included a parade. A parade I would have to cross before I got to the store.

Still hopeful, I walked the couple blocks, carrying both kids most of the way, as Baylor was too distracted by all the people and noises to walk with any speed. I finally reached Courtland Street and my hopes were dashed; there was no way to get across. The couple next to me had no idea how long the parade was going to last, but the woman suggested I scoot across the street anyhow and even offered to carry one of my kids! I was just about to decline her offer when a parade worker came by and urged people to get back on the sidewalk away from the street. No chance of me crossing. I did, however, score some Tootsie Roll Midgies from a Mason with slightly dirty fingernails; if I turn up dead tomorrow, you'll know why.

Disappointed, I scooped up my little man, checked on my little lady, and hurried as fast as I could back to the van. Ugh. A block away, I let Baylor down so he could walk a bit and stretch his legs. I hated hurrying him as he wanted to go into the Marathon station nearby and inspect some flowers, but we had to get going; I had stood too long watching the parade pass me by and now we were in a hurry. Still, he stopped to pull a petal off one of the flowers and on our way to the car he halted at a sewer grate to try to dispose of the petal. I hate, hate, hate hurrying him and stifling his natural curiosity, but such is life sometimes.

Finally, I got the kids in the car, headed to Arby's, had a nice lunch with the hubby until Mollie started to lose it.


Then the kids and I headed home. Mollie was much happier once I got her into a clean diaper and let her stretch out on her play mat. Baylor suggested that she have some tummy time (seriously - he did) and I concurred that that was a good idea.

Once she tired of that, we read a Sesame Street counting book a half-dozen times, and Baylor tried on the tummy time Boppy.

Then he joined his sister on the play mat. All he wanted to do was share the chicken blanket with her ...

... and do "This Little Piggy" to her toes.

Baylor then wanted to look at his President place mat, and after going over them with him for a few minutes (as we have in the past), I asked him where Thomas Jefferson was. He pointed directly to him, then said, "James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison", pointing to each of them as he went along (and obviously not pronouncing them all perfectly). I was very proud, needless to say.

It wasn't all wonderful moments, though. Mollie seems to be having tummy troubles today; she has spit up quite a bit, including everything I gave her one feeding. I can hear her tummy gurgling, but I have no idea what could have caused this.

Also, Baylor saw my belly button at one point and was fascinated. He poked at it and smiled. Then he poked at my stomach and said, "Soft." Yup, kiddo. Soft. Thanks for reminding me.

*sigh*

Then it was nap time. We headed upstairs, he chose a book, and we read it. I then told him it was time for Gossie, his pre-sleep book, and turned him around so we could snuggle.

Then he slapped me. On the cheek. Not hard enough to physically hurt, but my heart sure ached. I told him sternly that we don't hit.

Then he giggled and hit me again. And he laughed.

So, I nixed Gossie, turned off his lamp, endured a couple more hits, and put him to bed. He balked a bit, but he actually went to sleep pretty quickly. I really hope that is the last of the hitting. We'll see.

Oh, and just because it was "nap time" doesn't mean Mollie slept; she seems to be a half-hour napper just like her brother was when he was a baby. Ughhhhh.

Sorry for the whining ... it's been a day.

Hair Cut Number Five: Summer Cut

Bryson and I decided that, since his hair is very thick, Baylor should probably have a summer hair cut to help keep him cool. So, the other day, Mollie and I took him to Snip Its to get a cut.

He seemed much more comfortable when we got there than in times past, even though that kid seated in the background had been sobbing and screaming at the top of his lungs when we initially got there.


It was quite busy, so we had a bit of a wait. During that time, he inspected everything.

I told him this sign had eight sides ... he told me it was an octagon. Atta boy!

Neither of us, however, could figure out what the red button did.

He liked pointing out what colors were in the pictures behind him.

Finally, it was time for his hair cut. He balked at first when I put him in the chair, but there was a buckle to fasten and that is his specialty.

Almost his entire hair cut required electric trimmers, so the stylist and I spent some time showing him that they weren't scary. Then she went to work. And my little boy disappeared.

Look how long that hair on the top is!

Mollie slept through every second of it ... and it was pretty loud in there with all the kids, blow dryers, and trimmers.

Shorn like a sheep.

Still handsome, but looking so much older!

I miss my little boy, but hopefully he'll stay cooler as the weather heats up!

Go Green!

Lately, something inside of me has changed. I have an itch, a sudden urge, to protect this Earth of ours. Maybe it's the whole BP thing, maybe it's having two kids and wanting this planet to last as long as possible for them and their progeny, or maybe it's watching our garbage bin fill to the top week after week and finally being sick of it. And I am sick of it.

So I'm working on it, trying to make "Go green!" something I shout in my everyday life, not just at sporting events.

I'll share my efforts with you guys here, in case you are wanting to join me. The cloth diapers were the start. I have a package on the way from an Etsy seller that should go a long ways. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I have been reading Gift from the Sea to Mollie because she loves grown-up books (or just hearing my voice, I can't tell which) and this one passage struck me and seemed appropriate for today. So here it is, courtesy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh ...

"But it must not be sought for or-heaven forbid!-dug for. No, no dredging of the sea bottom here. That would defeat one's purpose. The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures not only shows impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach-waiting for a gift from the sea."

And to anyone who hasn't read this marvelous book, I highly recommend picking it up.

Hungry Hump Day: Deep Dish Sausage Pizza

We made this two nights ago for the second time, and it was delicious! Not to mention quick ... my husband and I whipped it together (from soup to nuts) in about a half an hour. It might have gone even faster if we didn't have two kids to wrangle.

Anyhow, it comes from my favorite recipe book, 101 Things To Do With a Casserole by Stephanie Ashcraft and Janet Eyring, and I hope you enjoy it.

Deep Dish Sausage Pizza

1 tube (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 pound sausage, browned and drained (we used Italian sausage the second time and it was better)
1 can (3.8 oz.) sliced olives, drained (I left this out because I don't like olives)
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Press dough over bottom and halfway up the sides of a lightly greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake 9 minutes. Spread sauce over crust. Sprinkle Italian seasoning and cooked sausage over sauce. Layer olives, onion, and bell pepper over sausage and then sprinkle cheese over top. Bake 7 to 11 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Makes 6 to 8 servings (maybe).