Dirt: Weird

Hope your weekend was lovely. Mine was rushed, but very good. I cleaned my house, drove to Murfreesboro to see my sisters and then had  Steve's college roommate here for 24 hours.

Seeing my sisters is always great. However, this time was so rushed, I really felt discombobulated after.. My sister had her house decorated for the holidays already. Literally, Santa was waiting when I walked into the door.   I am a firm believer that our country is going to hell in a hand basket and skipping Thanksgiving is the finest example of this. But whatever floats  your boat.

1975 or 1976 Christmas

Dirt: A rough week indeed

This week has been a rough one for my girlfriends. One friend lost her sister-in-law's father, who was a local news celebrity for decades. All over town, I have heard snippets of conversation about his passing. The service is being held in the baseball stadium. This loss must be so hard, being so public. My heart goes out the the family that must mourn publicly for days before they can say goodbye themselves.


The other is a much more private loss. My dear friend lost her older sister to a long battle with cancer. 10 years ago, Maureen found out she was pregnant and then that she had cancer. She has been brave, stubborn and at time successful in battling the cancer. Recently however, it came back with a vengeance. The oldest of three sisters, she had a great support system. Now they are relying on each other.

As one of three myself, I know that the other two are leaning hard on each other. Their faces will remind them of the missing piece. Their hearts will be always soft in that third spot and their stories will now have to be told extra for the one who is not there to reminisce to her children.

I did not know Maureen well. I do, however, know her parents well and they are two of the kindest and most generous people I know. Large personalities and large hearts for caring are what I think of when I think of Ann and Henri.  They raised three very awesome daughters, each unique and special in a different way. My heart hurts to imagine facing the loss of one of their precious daughters.

As a friend, I can only say the words in my heart and cry the tears on the phone with my friend. I can only call my own sisters and tell them I love them and that my world would be a dimmer place without them.  I can only look at my own children and hope that I don't have to leave them as teenagers to traverse the path to adulthood without a mother.

Rough week indeed.

Gratituesday: Lately

Gratituesday in a list:

• Teenaged daughter who are kind, polite and free thinkers
• Friends who text me randomly and don't mind when I do the same...                                             out of sight is not out of mind
• Sisters who give me art for my birthday
• Husband who still  grabs my butt 
• A 10 year old car with no car payment (fingers crossed it keeps going)
• My new Fitbit that has me getting up and moving around
• Pure Barre...I love/hate it about 4 times a week. Stronger abs, harder challenges and cute tights
• Hard lessons that I sometimes actually learn
• My nephews, niece and brother-in-law who are still hanging in there after a long, long journey of watching my sister-in-law come unwound. Her memorial was last weekend.

Life is full of hard things. Death seems to be all around me lately. A friend's college son, my sister-in-law, two friends and my brother lost their fathers...we are all delicate creatures  and we are all called to lift one another up.  The little things are what makes life so much more bearable and in fact wonderful.

Dirt: I heart cheese

I love the cheese of Valentines Day. The elementary school kind. Hokey jokes, candy hearts, platonic love and crushing on the cute boy that you have your eye on.I love that my husband and I buy each other useful gifts (coffee, gum and a dark chocolate bar) and share our love via movie quotes on social media.

Gratituesday: A weekend of fun and family

Such a fun weekend.

 

 

My brother, Eddie, who lives in the  Dallas area  (Allen to be exact) came to visit my parents at their farm. He and his wife and two sons drove a million hours (or 13) and then drove a million more while they were here (Atlanta, Nashville and Chattanooga were all on their hit list). 

We hung out with them earlier in the week  and caught a Lookouts game with them Friday.

The weather was perfect!

 

We normally only see them every two years and so it was a treat to see them.

 

Saturday, my sister Jennifer came into town with her husband and kids.

We got tickets to a event at the local zoo. We had a blast. The carni folk tasted barbecuefrom 8 or so vendors, the adults had a beverage, a wonderful local bluegrass band played and we had free reign of the zoo and all the exhibits. I was extremely impressed with all the improvements at the zoo. We really enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

Sunday we got up and went for a hike with our families. The weather could not have been better. We have had so much rain this summer that I forgot what low humidity felt like. Chattanooga is gorgeous and our hike was really rewarding. We really enjoyed ourselves.

 

After our hike, we hit the Chattanooga Market for lunch and music. Then headed home to build a fire. Yep, a fire. Steve and my brother-in-law burned a huge stump. For about 6 hours.

We grilled out and made a delicious dinner including fresh peach upside down cake. The dinner we cooked was the perfect ending to a very busy and very fun weekend.

 

Hope yours was just as lovely.

 

I cannot think of anything more gratifying than being outside and entertained, except being so with the family that you miss most of the year.

I am so grateful to have an extended family and for the time I get to spend with them. They are such a gift to me.

Cooking: Holy smokes, where did the time go?

 This is it...

The week my partner and I  close a chapter on our lives.

Our last consignment sale. We started it when our kids were barely in pre-school and now they are almost in highschool. I am not sad, but I know in two weeks when we finish up.  When we have put it all to bed for the last time. When our kids complain for the last time that they are tired and bored of helping us. I will be sad.

How cute are these kids?

This has been such a great time in my life. 

I have learned so much, grown so much and become such a better communicator thanks to being a "partner". Dominique has taught  me so many valuable things and I will cherish this past decade. We have bonded over building a business, laughing about things that may/may not be inappropriate to laugh at, reading books, running races, raising great kids, and most of all trying to be ourselves. I immediately knew I loved her when we met,  because she cursed (she doesn't as much anymore and it is my one disappointment in her.)

via

This week, sale week, there are several late nights. Lots of driving (1 hour round trip) on my part and luckily, no sporting events. I have a great mother-in-law, husband and several friends helping pick up my slack one last time. And, today, I am in the process of preparing several meals tonight.  I have a pork tenderloin marinating to be slow cooked all day tomorrow, a chicken thawing for Wednesday, spaghetti squash roasting and tonight's dinner will be lunch for my husband and go into the freezer for Saturday's dinner. Planning, I am not the best. However I have learned from the best over the last 10 years. 

The Little Pigs Swan Song Menu

• Chili/ Veggie chili
• Slow cooked pork loin/ spaghetti squash and broccoli bake
• Daddy dinner...
• Garlic Brown Sugar chicken/ roasted butternut squash soup
• Spinach quiche
• Chili/ Veggie chili

Gratituesday:Confessions of a lousy gardener

So, my  home girl Meg blogged an email that I sent her.

Whoa. 

That makes a girl want to be responsible for what she writes. 

I mean, I tell my kids all the time to be careful what they text, Facebook, email because it can be altered and shared. 

Luckily for me, Meg is a good egg and I was on my best behavior.

 

So, today I am grateful for two things.

 

#1 Best Behavior 

 

 

I am a pretty simple girl. What you see is what you get, warts and all. I have a little bit of a filter, but not really much of one. I hate fake and I loathe having to act that way. Small talk, I am not that great. Telling  a funny story about how I made a fool of myself at the gym, that I have mastered. I give advice freely. I hate being told what to do and rarely listen if I feel you are trying to boss me around. I swear, I snort and am prone to interrupting.  I am judgmental and sometimes crass.

However, when I like you, admire you  or better yet adore you...I am true blue. 

Meg, I think the world of...she is funny, nice, a good friend to her friends and a little bit like me,

 I think. Smallish of filter.I am glad that she liked my advice, and even better that I didn't say anything embarrassing when I replied to her compliment and offer to help MY daughter decorate her room. I get where she comes from all too well, and knew that the offer was sent with love and not with territorial infringement.

 I replied on my best behavior.

 

 

 

#2 Friends

 

 

 

I have not taken very good care of my friend garden for the last few years. I have the same lame excuse that all parents use, I have been busy.  Lame. I also have been a little bit snotty and snappish to two of my truest and most loved friends. Horrible. 

Meg sent me a very sweet email about something else she read on my blog and at the very end of it said " I'd like to hang out with you more." Sock in the gut. 

A hand being offered when I myself have been a terrible friend. I told her God uses her to speak to me fairly often and I hope it did not freak her out. However, it is true. Little niggling reminders of how I should be acting come in various ways, some via Meg and her blog. 

So, I am thankful for all of my friends, especially the ones who offer to hang out with me after years of being a neglectful gardener. 

 

PS. Meg gets EXTRA points with me because she thinks my kids are cool. They are my garden I have been tending.

Whatever: Where your heart lies...so is your treasure

Holy Macaroni (favorite phrase from one of my funnier friends)!

2012 is almost over!

How in the world did it go by so quickly?

Guess I need to order some of these beauties...

Seems like just a few weeks ago, I was planning my year.

Now, I am faced with a brand new blank year, with lots of possibilities.

Amazing how fast time flies, especially once you have kids (or more than one). I feel like I am on fast forward through my life anymore.

I have lots of plans for my 42nd year on this planet.

Some are long term and some are more easily one and done. Most are not life changing, but hopefully will be building blocks to a better and continually improving life.

Whatever: Decorations are done, man!

I went and got my hair done on Wednesday. 

FAVORITE thing in the world to me. 

Love it like most people like getting their nails done.

I digress. While I sat in the chair, I chatted up my most fabulous hairdresser and her co-worker about the lack of insanity this Christmas. They work on the busy road that leads to the mall and both remarked on how very light the traffic is this year.

Christmas seems to be slowly, slowly trickling in, rather than punching it's way into town.

I personally love that. As someone who is finally into the Christmas spirit, and who is really enjoying the slow pace of it all, I am relived that apparently everyone else is as well. I feel that the spirit of Christmas is peace, love and fellowship.

That being said, my house is decorated for real  now. 

We have lots of things that didn't make it out into the house, but we have just enough of things that did. My girls get an ornament every year and those all made their yearly appearance. 

I love looking at them every year and for them to see how they have changed by how their tastes have evolved. (Two years ago, my oldest picked this ornament.) 

I also had several  from college that have managed to linger over the years. I lived in a house that had a mantle when I was 22 and bought ornaments to decorate it. This is the only one from that lot that survived. Prophetic, I believe. 

My husband is huge Florida Gators fan. With the exception of one year, I have bought him a gator ornament every year that we have been together. That means after this Christmas, we will have 16 of these suckers on the tree.

My two playgroups that I belonged to merged into a dinner group that met for almost 10 years. We started having ornament exchanges about 3 years into it.

 I also have participated in one with moms from my daughter's kindergarten class since she was in kindergarten. She now is in 8th grade and I am lucky enough to be meeting them next week. There also are a fair amount of the cute ornaments that Delaney and Ellie have made over the years in school, beginning when my oldest two and in a mother's day out program.

We have two trees now to hold all the ornaments. My lovely vintage white tree holds  our glass ornaments. I love the tackiness of Christmas and the traditions that go along with the holidays. 

My sweet Aunt made jars of my grandmother's ornaments for my sisters and me after my grandparents passed away. Now, I get to have a little their home with me at Christmas. 

I love this part of the holidays. The traditions and the fun of reliving the past and planning for the future, whatever it may bring.

I  hope that is what folks are doing right now as they are slowly getting ready for Christmas.

Dirt: The priviledge is mine

I have been in a panic for a week.

Trying to figure it all out.

How will we I get it all done. How can I get my house clean, fun planned, food prepped and ready and still work, feed my family and chauffeur my kids around.

The cooking and the cleaning. The planning and the prepping.

Normally, I am a planning fool, ready the hit the road, plans in hand, cooking started on Sunday. Normally, I relish a party or gathering, especially if it involves my family, ALL of my family.

This year, I am paralyzed. How will I get it done? Why am I doing it, to start with?

So I have been complaining to all and any who will listen.

Thankfully, it was a good friend, my mother in law and my sister  to whom I complained about my horrible lot. The friend reminded me graciously, that I am just like everyone else. (Thanks,Cindy!) Everyone else who is lucky enough to have family that speaks to them or is close enough to come to visit. Silently reminding me that I am lucky to have a wonderful family. WHAM!

Then, my awesome mother-in-law, whom I don't thank enough for what she does to keep me sane, offered to make not one but THREE dishes. She is an amazing cook and I am thrilled and humbled  to have her help me feed the crowd. BOOM!

Last, my younger sister put things in perspective for me. She reminded me that no one cares if I have dust and bathrooms that may or may not also be drinking fountains for dogs. She reminded me that we  will all start laughing and having fun. She also reminded me that it is okay that I don't know how to process the feelings I have about my mother's death. That it's normal that I am sad and can't get out of my own sad way.  SMOOTH! 

I am truly a stubborn woman. I ask  God weekly for help in handling the funk that I can't seem to escape, never actually putting a name to that funk.  And, as I told my kids on the way to school this morning, God speaks in a whisper. A soft whisper of a  patient  friend, a helpful and generous mother-in-law, and a confirming sister. 

I will be utterly exhausted come Sunday night, but I will have had my soul fed and my family around me, which is really all I long for anyway. The panic will have subsided and I will be back to normal.

Thank you, God for whispering to me.

Friday: Friends

 Thanksgiving is 6 days away.

 

I am looking forward to it, for sure.

Laughter will ring throughout my house as sisters, cousins and friends gather to celebrate our nation's holiday celebration of friendship and giving.

I am so thankful that I have had the good fortune to surround myself with excellent friends. But more so that my daughters have followed in my footsteps to do the same.

My sincerest hope is that they will have  wonderful friends to love their entire lives.

Cooking: Post Ragnar week

We did it!

Pacers and Chasers finished our second Ragnar Relay.

Fun, exhausting, strenous and a test of our mettle.

I was dreading it, partly because my knee had been killing me and I wasn't up to my fitness level I was last year. But, I sucked it up and did it.

I learned a lot about myself, mostly that I don't like to let people down. Especially people I love and respect. My team was full of people like that.

So....we got into two vans and ran 196.2 miles. Finished in 30 hours and had a blast.

We smelled, we ached, we slept three hours. We crashed in a blaze of hazy glory at 10 pm.

But we did it.

Best one yet.

Casa Swann's Post Ragnar menu

• Garlic Shrimp with Tomato Artichoke soup

• Baked chicken, sauteed spinach, oven roasted veggies

• Chicken noodle soup/ Tomato Artichoke soup
•  Spaghetti squash spaghetti

Friday Fun Fact: Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is here in Chattanooga.

For my family, that means the Chattanooga Market all day with our friends.

A few years ago they branched out and held it on the Walnut Street Bridge, which is a walking bridge in our city. That day was magic to me.

I took my camera and took about 1,000 pictures. The day included some of my very best friends and their families being with us and that was the magic. Friends make your days full and rich.

Last year, my parents went to the original Oktoberfest Celebration held in Munich,Germany.

Like all the other tourists, they drank large beers and ate lots of German food. But their pictures tell me something else. Their Oktoberfest was magic as well. The common element? Friends.

These girls know what friendship means. And partying.

Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival held to celebrate beer, which is specially brewed during that time.

The de Wiesn started as a celebration for the marriage of Prince Ludwig in 1810, and gradually morphed into the Autumn festival  by the 1920's. It was not celebrated during WWII, but came back after the war shortages were finally over in 1946. Since then, it has steadily grown to one of the largest parties in the world with many traditions including food, music,  clothing (lederhosen, dirndle, and Tirolerhüte) and terms (passed out drunks are called beer corpses). However big and international it gets, Oktoberfest is always about food, beer and friends. Personally, I bet it is the friends that make it so much fun.

 

Happy Oktoberfest!

Guten Tag! 

*Sadly, my pictures from the last three Oktoberfests have been eaten by faulty computers...

Eating: Southern Kings

 

Well, the novelty has worn off the renovation.

I am sitting in my office surrounded by makeshift clothing racks. Essentially, I am sitting in a closet.

Last  night, however, we escaped the madness that is three beds and a spin  bike in our  bedroom and went over to our buddies' house for Sunday-Funday. We ate like southern kings and even had peach daiquiris from a real daiquiri machine like the ones you see in bars in New Orleans. They are fancy, these Sunday-Funday friends of ours.

Stacey is the hostess with the mostess and we had bbq, homemade macaroni and cheese, fabulous basil and tomato dip with fancy crackers and potato salad. I brought roasted green beans and tomato,cucumber and feta salad along with semi-frozen homemade strawberry ice cream. Oh, and had this, which was delicious and quite refreshing, I must say.

       Source: laurenconrad.com via Annie on Pinterest

We had met at the Chattanooga Market yesterday for a quick (and extremely warm) trip away from our families. A full shopping basket, a glass of sangria and we were back in our AC cars in about twenty minutes. In that twenty minutes, in addition to lovely sangria, I acquired two different kinds of tomatoes (Holy Land being my newest to try), patty pan squash, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, peaches, blueberries, green beans and strawberries. Oh, and Rio Grande spicy goat cheese. Summer is the best time for eating, in my opinion.

I guess yesterday was a food day. This week however, is my favorite week of the year. 

Independence Day is my very favorite holiday and I am working hard to make it my kids' favorite as well. So, this week, we will eat like southern kings, we will light things on fire and we will enjoy the freedoms that come with being Americans. Including sitting in a makeshift closet while blogging.

 Casa Swann Best Week of the Year Menu 

• Salad with grilled chicken, blueberries and avocados
• Grilled patty pan squash, chicken/veggie  pita sandwiches
• Happy Birthday, AMERICA! Roasted veggies, shrimp, cucumber, tomato and feta salad*
• Pesto pasta, kitchen sink salad

* I have two recipes to share with you this week. 

The first came from my sweet and oh so super cool friend, Amy who lives the cooler version of my life in Charleston, SC. She and I have the same sense of humor and sensibilities about things, but she is less mean and has better clothes.

The second I got from Pinterest and made last night for Sunday-Funday.
Delicious and EASY!

Enjoy!


Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad

• about a pint of halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1 medium field cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded, and diced to about 1/2-inch
• 1/2 of a medium red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves
• 1 tbsp  red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste

1. Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, basil and feta cheese.  Toss to mix. 
2. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, sugar, pepper and salt in  small bowl.  Taste dressing and adjust seasonings if necessary.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad, whisking as you go.  Toss salad to coat evenly with dressing. Taste and adjust seasonings.  Serve immediately, or allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes for the cucumbers to soften and the flavors to blend.

Serves 4 as a healthy side portion.

Roasted Green Beans

• 1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in half 
• 1 package sliced mushrooms
• 1 tbl. Olive oil
• 1 tbl balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper 
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Roasted green beans with mushrooms and balsamic . Marinate in ziploc bag, spread out on cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 30 minutes,  turning once.Sprinkle with Parmesan and roast for 5 minutes more.

YUM -O!

Cooking: Sunday/ Funday

This week, my goal is to blog four times

____________________________________________________

We have accidentally started a tradition at my house. Accidental traditions are the best kind, I think. 

Accidental means not contrived, spontaneous and a matter of fate.

Starting on Easter Sunday, we have spent every Sunday cooking,eating and being outside. 

Usually we are with our friends and family, twice we have been to an event. One week it was our

 Four Bridges Art festival and yesterday to the opening of the local farmer's  market. 

We relish hanging out. Truly hanging out and relaxing with friends. We have been using our smoker and cooking chicken, pork and salmon. Delicious! I have made easy favorites, kitchen sink salad,key lime pie, black eyed peas, and homemade slaw. Easy and quick has been my motto.

My husband and I were talking earlier in the week as to how we used to hate not having anything to do on a weekend day. When our kids were little, we tried to cram as much into our weekends as possible.Now, we look forward to a calm Sunday to end our crazy week. Now, don't get me wrong, we still go hard on the weekends. This weekend alone, we went to two separate dinner parties, out to dinner with our kids, chauffeured a kid to a dance, a plant sale,  the garden center, a musical, church, mountain biking, the farmers market and Home Depot.  We planted our garden, mulched flower beds and mowed. The difference is now, we schedule our down time instead of trying to make up for it on Monday.

Yesterday, by mid afternoon, we were relaxing and hanging out with friends. Smoking a wild pig, cooking other treats and eating. The kids played wiffle ball and hide and go seek. The adults stood around and swapped stories and laughed hard. Relaxing and rejuvenating for the week ahead.

This week, we are going to my sister's and Sunday/Funday will be on hiatus, instead spent in the car, driving home. But it will return, in two weeks and we will be ready to do  what we now know we do best...cook, eat and relax.

Via my favorite way to waste time on Sunday/Funday

Post Sunday/Funday menu

* We over indulged yesterday. For instance, I ate about 10 pounds of goat cheese covered with this on lavash. THEN ate home made mac & cheese, corn bread salad, home made coconut cake and rosemary rolls. SO this week, we are going Spartan.

Taco Salad

dinner out due to kid's schedules (salad bar at Greenlife)

baked chicken, baked sweet potatoes, salad

Egg salad or turkey & cheese sandwiches