I-Teeth

No, Tucker hasn’t cut his incisors yet. In fact, every time I try to look in his cute little mouth, he covers his lower gums with his tongue; it’s almost like a reflex.

With all the sucking sounds, slobber, and what may be the hint of white (it could also be the glare of the overhead light reflecting off the half-gallon of saliva he tends to leak…spit…produce?).

We have been begging Tucker, “Show us your teeth!” for the last few weeks. But to no avail. Those I-teeth are stuck inside his jaw for now.

His 6-month well-baby check is this Friday, and we’ll ask his doc if those teeth are in fact on their way.

I’m at least hopeful that he will follow the order of eruption. Although, he does like to chew toward the back of his mouth. Molars before I?

Hot Jam!

A few years ago, I made strawberry (and orange, and banana) jam the wrong way. We were in Seoul, and while the berries were awesome, the world of home canning wasn’t known to me there. I didn’t have any of the cool tools. We did have a huge pot to use as a canner. We reused our spaghetti sauce jars.

Today, I did it the right way!

Thanks to Katy’s bridal shower gift of a canning kit (yes, it was on my registry), and my trip to Sprouts and Target the other day, I was able to get the job done easily.

I opted for the pectin-free recipe with just two ingredients: Strawberries and sugar.

8-10 cups cut strawberries, 6 cups white sugar.

In a large, heavy bottom pot bring strawberries and sugar to a rapid boil. Stir occasionally.

You’ll want to have your jars in a hot water bath to sanitize (boil the jars, lids, and rings in water).

To test if the jam is ready, dip a cold spoon (let it sit in the freezer for a while) into the jam. If it drips pretty fast, it’s not ready. If it sorta oozes off the spoon, it’s ready.

Once the jam is ready, ladle it into your prepped jars (which should now be out of the water). The canning kit is awesome for this… it comes with a funnel, a pair of jar tongs, a magnet to get the metal lids and rings, and a jar tightener. The funnel is great to keep the jars clean. Fill the jars up to about an inch from the top. Wipe off any jam that spilled onto the lip of the jars. Place the lid (the flat metal thing) on, then loosely screw on the ring.

Set the filled jars back into the hot water bath to set the seal and extract all the air from within the jar. I had them in there for about 5-10 minutes.

When I removed the jars, they seals popped (a fun sound indicating a good, strong seal) and I tightened the rings with the tightener. And I’m letting the jars cool before refrigerating.

These should last a good while unopened. Since there are no preservatives, once the jar is opened, it should be used within a week or two.

Grolsch Premium Lager

Today is my husband and my 1st anniversary. A year ago today we shared a lovely few hours with friends and family and celebrated our commitment to each other.

I’ve never had cause or means to have a guest post on my blog. But I thought about it and who better to proved an alternative voice to my blog than my amazing husband, Jason.

What you should know: He blogs about beer. That’s right, he’s cool like that. Should you read his blog? Heck yeah! and to convince you of that, here’s a taste (see what I did there?) of what his blog is all about.

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Grolsch has that certain kind of name. You know, a name that you pronounce the same before and after drinking a twelve pack of the stuff. It’s also probably the only beer that your dog could successfully order.

This beer came in my 18 pack of international beers. My wife asked that I review this beer to guest blog on her blog page. She’s doing the alphabetical days project. Today is G. G is for guest blog, and G is for Grolsch.

Grolsch has been brewed in Holland since 1615. Grolee, where this beer was first brewed, was known for its greenwood forests. In fact, I understand that ‘grolsch’ means ‘beer from the green woods.’ The water source for this beer has always been a natural spring, but since 2004, the water travels out of the spring and down a 7 km pipe before reaching the location of the ultra-modern Grolsch Brewery.

The first taste of this beer was slightly flowery, but that devolved into a light, thin beer. I would believe it if someone had told me this beer was cut with water, or even club soda since there was a quality to it similar to that. When the beer was held in the mouth, it was almost astringent. When it was consumed quickly, it had almost a metallic flavor. I can’t say that I enjoyed this beer.

Would I buy this beer again? No, and I’d choose a different one if this beer had companions in a friend’s cooler. Should you buy this beer? It’s not the worst beer out there, but with so many good beers available, I can’t recommend spending your time with this one. Of course, you might like it. If you do, please tell me what you like about this beer in the comments. Maybe I can try it again paying attention to the points you make.

I give this beer only 2/5 caps.

The Nouveau Nuclear Family

We moved home for family. We probably could have stuck it out in Korea another year but for the fact that my family needed me (and by ‘me,’ I mean ‘us’).

When we arrived back to the States, we moved right in with my parents. And brother. And two dogs. And four cats. Jason and I were set up in the back den, which used to be a back porch, but someone, at some point decided it should be inclosed and insulated. My parents ripped up the carpet and laid hardwood floors. My brother painted the walls a nice color. My dad turned the dark room into an office.

When we moved back, we sought out two things right away: A king sized bed and a Macbook Air (x2). My parents graciously put us up while we reestablished ourselves. Jason needed an address to claim his NM residency since his license had expired around 2008-ish.

We bought our house a few months later, in November 2011. Wedding in April 2012. And of course THe baby in October 2012.

Fast forward to about a month ago. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, our family (my folks, my brother, my husband, my son, and me) had to pull together once again. This time, the result was that everyone moved over here (more or less, since my brother is actually still at our parents house working on getting things out of it so we can then clean, paint, and ultimately sell).

So, while it is still a little tight around here, with the merging of two and a half households, it’s kinda nice. We have live-in babysitters who LOVE their grandson. They get to see him every day. We have help around the house. And we, both my parents and Jason and I have help financially. Everyone is benefiting from it. My parents are a great help when it comes to Tucker. And we’re trying to help them prep their house to sell. From there… We will see if this house will continue to fit our needs. If we need/want, we’re already considering purchasing a multi-family home or a property large enough to support two homes.

Bro, Me (and Baby), Hubs, Mom, and Dad

Elephantastic

When I was in third grade, I was assigned my very first research report. It was supposed to be on an animal, and I of course chose the best animal ever: The Elephant. I can’t say WHY I love these animals. I just do. I have about 50 or so elephant-related knickknacks, figurines, plush stuffies, and statues. My in-laws have even discovered an elephant rescue near their home that they plan on taking us to when we visit them in Florida.

Elephant photo bomb:

Some elephant rescues:

Two Tails Ranch

The Elephant Sanctuary

PAWS