The HomeMuchier

The Homemaker has deemed today "Much More Muchier Me Day"! I WENT BACK TO PLATINUM SPIKEY BLONDE! Well, since you all haven't necessarily SEEN my mugshot, you will have to trust that the last year has been sort of a Disney-soccer-mom-helmet-head kind of year... But today I am a Muchier Me!

The fun part was greeting Que Sera Sera at the front door with the new 'do! And did we have some fun today! I am almost done scrapping my wedding photos from SIXTEEN YEARS AGO (this coming December) and having a blast reminiscing. These are the two 2 page layouts I completed...

All day we nibbled on the num-nums QSS so kindly brought along to share and I kept well-hydrated with my new fav: cucumber water! What? You want the recipe? Well, okay, it's a doozy... 1 glass, fill with ice, slice cucumber, place 4-5 slices on top of ice in glass, add water! TA-DA! It is so stinkin' awesome!

Anyhoo, just wanted to pop in and say Hey! Have a fab Saturday Night!
~Much More Muchier Me, The HomeMuchier

LIST? I don't need no stinkin' list!

Well, my pre-chemo brain didn't need no stinkin' list, but post-menopause brain is relieved when I have one!

Tonight we have two new friends coming over for dinner! I love it when company comes to town! So I dragged The Girl to work today do we could shop for a special wedding this weekend... Oh how I love going to weddings! And so rather than drive all the way home, she was the lucky winner of "A Day At Work With Mom!" (and the crowd goes wild!) The Girl? Mmmm, not so much. Nonetheless, off we went to YFC, then to lunch at LaBoulangerie in Fig Garden Village, a bit of wedding and early Christmas shopping (shhh, Cap'n Jack already has gifts under the tree!) and then, joy-of-all-joys, WINCO! You'd think I was making The Girl run lapse in the sweltering sun while wearing a thermal snowsuit complete with mittens, dragging a fully smoldering BBQ pit behind and jumping through a hoop on fire. I so could have made the trip miserable for her... I could have gone aisle by aisle, reviewing each familiar catagory of food to verify, "Let's see, do we need a bottle of sparkling apple cider this week? Do We have a back-up jar of mayo already in the pantry?" But no...

The Homemaker came prepared, LIST IN HAND! The Girl should thank her lucky stars we didn't rely on
the failing memory banks! We were in, through and outta that grocery store quicker than you can
say "paper or plastic?"!


(And I only had to send her back to the first aisle once for an item I forgot even though it was on that blasted list!)

Suitcases Schmootfaces! I want a TOWER!

Good morning alarm. Good morning light. Good morning pillow. Good morning bright. Good morning yawn. Good morning sweet. Good morning room. Good morning feet.

This is what I realized I wake to every day... And yes indeedy I do consider myself blessed...

I think I may have already shared the story of that framed photo, but I'll share again in case one of my 12 friends that follow the blog are out of the loop... That is a photo Cap'n Jack took of The Homemaker teaching our Girl the fine art of chasing seagulls.  It was a glorious New Years Eve Day in 2003.  God blessed me with that moment and Cap'n Jack blessed me with the memory.

A day before I took this pic, the decor was a bit different.  I had a suitcase propping up the pic rather than the breakfast in bed table.  Which got me to thinking.  So I went through the house yesterday and realized something...

Hi, I'm The Homemaker and I have a suitcase fetish.

I had also broken a major decor rule that I have tried years to abide by and it just flat snuck up on me... I had suitcases strewn throughout the entire Homestead!  WHAT ON EARTH was I thinking?  I was thinking THESE ARE STINKIN' CUTE!  That's what I was thinking!  But alas, once one discovers one's own weakness, it is one's own responsibility to fix it.  Suitcases Schmootfaces!  I WANT A TOWER!

Yes, that is the crown molding you see at the top of the photo.  Yes, that does mean I have a tower.

A TOWER O' SUITCASES!

Ahhh, my day is complete.  ;)

And The Homemaker says... PEACE OUT!

Welcome to the Disneyland birthday party weekend!

Let the celebrating commence!

What an amazing place, Residence Inn Marriott Maingate! Our room is nearby the front so we were able to see Disney's Nighttime Fireworks Spectacular... Perfectly timed at our arrival...
Mickey 8:•) had it all planned!

What better way to start a vacation than with S'MORES?!

(HIDDEN MICKEY ALERT!)

So we are settled in, the girls are already asleep & now The Homemaker is going to do some home-away-from-home tidying up... Heavenly Father, thank You for this time with The Girl, her ZBFF and Cap'n Jack, MY Cap'n Jack, not Mr. Disney's version. And all God's mouseketeers and The Homemaker say Amen.

GadZukesLasagna - NOT!

A shining example of why one should not panic that there isn't enough squash!


MamaMia grabbed the zukes we harvested the other day and she promptly steamed the daylights outta those little buggers (her fav way to eat them). Oooh I was hoppin' mad because I had my own plans... GadZukesLasagna! Layer marinara, pasta, ricotta, zukes, repeat. Well, in light of said prior usage, I figured "just elbow marinara, thanks".

Cap'n Jack went out to water and came back in with another round o' harvest dontchaknow!  Rather than let those, too, suffer a sauna death at the hands of MamaMia, I snatched them up & rightly stuffed 'em with a mix of Italian panko breadcrumbs and some Apocalyptic Parmesan "cheese"!

Okay, okay, barely one step up from the sauna-steam-beyond-recognition method simply by crossing over into Preserv-O-Matic cheese products, but hey, at least we can eat them with a fork and not a straw!

Heavenly Father, thank You for providing this day, the bounty of our kitchen garden... and Apocalyptic Cheese.

Humbly, The Homemaker and all God's children say, Amen.

boun·ty [boun-tee] –noun

1.a premium or reward

2.a generous gift.

3.generosity in giving.

I say, D) all of the above!  Oh my word had I known what a joy this little garden endeavor, no wait... adventure!  Garden ADVENTURE!  If I had know what a joy it was going to be, I so would have put my sweet Cap'n Jack to work much sooner!  Tomorrow night we shall have squash pasta bake!  It's a bit of a spin on lasagna, so I'm certain with all those yummy pasta carbs on board it is sure to be a hit.  ;)  Okay, have I rambled long enough to keep you in suspense, waiting for a glimpse of the first of our harvesting efforts?  

TA-DA! 

I mean, really!  How stinkin' cute is that little basket o' bounty I ax ya?!?!  ;)  Heavenly Father, I thank You sincerely for the wonderful gift of these little miracles.  I planted seeds and little sprouts and the next thing I know, You have given me vegetables.  You are amazing.  I love You.  Amen.