Working

I've been neglecting my blog.  All of my creativity has been sucked out every other facet of my life and syphoned into the Nye Beach Market where I've been working this summer.

I love, love, love working there...and I'm not just saying that because my boss reads my blog.  (Hi Judy!)

I have learned SO much since the beginning of the summer.  I can now flip eggs in a pan without a spatula.  Oh yeah.  I also learned how to make polenta, biscuits and gravy, clam chowder and I'm perfecting and inventing new scones every day.  I can also make Huevos Rancheros (this picture is Judy's...but she taught me how.)  :)

The down side of working around food is that I'm around it so much that I forget to buy it for my own home.  I get into my own kitchen and expect to see all the food I know is in the fridge at work.  I can't even tell you how many times I've thought, "I KNOW we just bought butter!"  and then I remember...that was for the Market. 

On the up side, I've tried lots of new food and learned many great  new recipes.  It's so fun working with Judy because we cook alike.  As in...we make everything up and don't measure stuff.  Everyday you will hear this conversation.
Me-"Judy, how much (insert ingredient here) do we need for this recipe?"
Judy- "Some"
Me-I throw "some" into the pot
Judy will either say, "That looks about right" or "Add some more"

One difference in our cooking style is that she ALWAYS remembers to set the timer.  Me...not so much.  One day I made a sour cream coffee cake and put it in the oven.  We had a breakfast rush and when it was over I remembered the cake!  I pulled the cake out of the oven and it was BLACK!

Judy took one look at it and said, "We'll just say it's Southern Blackened Cake and serve it with shrimp and okra."  (Did I mention we have the same sense of humor?)  I'm really not trying to schmooze my boss here...I just really love her.  We have so much fun together!

Hey Judy, can I have a raise?  Just kidding. 
Can I?
;)

Mother's Intuition

When I was pregnant with Leah, I would have bet my life that I was having a boy.  Clearly she's a girl.  I also thought Emilia was going to be a boy....and Heidi too.   Wrong, wrong, wrong.  I tend to over react to little things, and blow off big things...like broken bones. In fact, I have pretty much just decided that I was in the restroom in heaven when they were handing out "Mother's Intuition" because I didn't think I had any. 

There may be hope yet!  Sunday evening Heidi came down with a fever.  She barfed all day Monday and has been laying around miserable since then.  Her fever has been between 100 and 104, up and down.  High enough to scare me, but not enough to get me running to the E.R.

Last night her fever spiked pretty high.  Our not completely reliable ear thermometer said 106.1, which I don't think was quite accurate, but it gave us a good scare.  Lars and I gave Heidi a cool bath and some Tylenol and it brought her temp down to 101.  She was still really lethargic all day today with a pretty steady temp of 103.  When I got home from work I was holding H and she wet in her diaper.  My motherly instincts kicked in and I know this sounds weird, but her urine smelled "off".  Then the thought came to me, maybe she has a bladder infection.  At that point I realized if that was indeed the problem, it wasn't going to go away on it's own.  It would only get worse and spread to her kidneys and then her blood. 

So at 6:30 tonight I brought H into the E.R.  They had to get some urine from her to run tests so they tried to put a catheter in.  Heidi wasn't having any of that and ended up peeing all over the table.  Miraculously the nurse caught some in her little tube and sent it to the lab.  They brought Heidi some clean p.j.'s since her dress was now soaking and the nurse brought her in a teddy bear.  Heidi would NOT take the bear.  In fact, she wouldn't even touch the bear the entire time we were there. :) 

Two hours later, the nurse realized that although they had sent the urine to the lab, the test order was never sent.  Thirty minutes after that they confirmed that Heidi did indeed have a pretty advanced urinary tract infection and brought in her first dose of anti-biotics. 

Heidi was SO good the whole time.  While we were waiting forever, we just curled up on the bed together and took a nap.  I'm pretty sure I was snoring when the Dr. came in.  Anyway, we got little Heidi taken care of and hopefully this UTI will clear up quickly and she'll be back to her old self again soon.  I miss her dancing a round the house, jumping off furniture, changing her clothes three thousand times a day, hitting her sisters and then feigning innocence and her sweet little voice and laugh.

Lincoln County Fair

This year the Wight women introduced Lincoln County to our amazing artistic talents.  ;)  Leah, Naomi, Emilia, Heidi and I each submitted art to the competition and ALL of us won prizes! 

Naomi by her painting "Pink Studio" and Leah by her sketch "Lighthouse"

Naomi also won the "Judge's Choice" award

Leah with her collage and sketch

Leah painted sand dollars and glued sand to her board

"Light house" up close

Heidi, Emilia and Leah's on display

Emilia's crab painting

Heidi's painting "Stripes!"  (She named it herself)

Me and my first blue ribbon EVER :)

July the 4th

So I really didn't make a big deal about my birthday this year.  I mostly just wanted to spend it with my little family, which I did, so it was quite pleasant.  Leah had spent the week before with her friends in Monmouth where we used to live so we drove out Sunday to pick her up.  We stayed at our good friend's house over night and enjoyed the activities and parade there on the 4th. 

That evening when we came back, Lars and the girls cleaned the house for me, did the dishes, vacuumed...all while I took a nap.  Best. Present. Ever.  :)  When it got dark we watched fireworks over the Newport bridge.  It was a beautiful night and a wonderful birthday.

 Our friend Hannah helping Heidi up the giant inflatable slide

 Heidi sliding down on her own

 Heidi, Emilia (not sure why she was wearing boots and a fleece blanket), Naomi, friend Lilli and Leah

 Some kids came by with Super Soakers to cool down the crowd

 They got the girls pretty wet!

 E wasn't exactly thrilled about it

And this is the only pict I got of myself on my birthday...Man my nose looks good for 32!  ;)

Practice makes perfect

Emilia becomes attached to random things.  Today it was a piece of ribbon. 

While we were on our walk Heidi somehow confiscated the ribbon and was running around flailing it in front of E.  Naturally E didn't appreciate this and started to cry and stomp around.  I told her that wasn't the right way to get it back and she needed to ask Heidi kindly for it.  Emilia insisted that it wouldn't matter how she asked because Heidi would say "NO!".  I encouraged her to ask kindly anyway because Heidi needed to practice being nice and taking turns.  Naomi, who had been a silent observer up to that point piped in.  "Heidi could be practicing saying 'NO!'"

Touche

SLUGBUG

This is my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipRGr8Y9Ko&feature=related

My girls are obsessed with playing SLUGBUG!  The only problem is...they don't know which cars are VW Beetles, so they just slug you for any car they see.  Even H has joined in on the fun.  The only problem is...her height.  She's just tall enough that if I were a man, every time she threw a right jab I would be in a lot of pain, if you catch my drift.  E gets really into it if her older sisters are around.  She's not about to lose just because she's younger.  The only problem is...she's merciless. 

Today walking home from the post office I was holding E's hand.  She spied a Beetle and called out, "Yellow one!"  and slugged me in the stomach.  N just happened to say it at the same time, so to make sure I knew she won, E called out "Yellow one!" again and punctuated her victory with a second slug to my gut.  I got it. 

Athletically Declined

Naomi- Mom, will you sign me up for sports?
Me- Sure.  What do you want to do?
N- I want to do "Catch".
Me- You  mean softball?
N- No, Catch.  When you wear a glove and throw the ball to each other.
Me- That's part of softball.  The other part is hitting the ball with a bat.
N- I don't like bats.
Me- Well, that's part of the game.
N- .........Can you sign me up for soccer?

Birthday and Father's Day

Lars's birthday was Saturday and today was Father's Day, so we had a great celebration for both.  The girls wanted to make a special dinner and have it be like a restaurant.  Leah decided it would be called "The Phat Viking".  The girls cleaned, vacuumed and made centerpieces.  Naomi set the table and even folded the napkins into origami boats!

The centerpiece and a careful examination of the napkin boat :)

Naturally, I was the cook and Naomi was the waitress.  She went around taking every body's order.  We feasted on Danish Pork Loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, green beans, and homemade french bread. 

 N taking L's order

N taking E's order and H wearing the boat napkin as a hat

After dinner we sang Happy Birthday and ate a very rich Chocolate Orange cake layered with chocolate mousse and topped with chocolate orange ganache.  (My own creation.)

It was a wonderful dinner!  We had such a great time.  Then the girls gave their Daddy his Father's Day present, a movie night in a bag.  They each picked out a box of candy, some popcorn and a movie. 

Happy Father's Day Lars!  We love you

Performance Review

"Don't eat me!  Wait for my sissy.  She's much more tasty!" - Smallest Billy Goat

This past week the Wight girls introduced the world to their creative theater production of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff".  The setting was non-traditional, transforming common pieces of furniture into cliffs, bridges and water.  This stunning performance was accentuated with costume designer Leah Wight's newest line of goat and troll accessories. Exceptional acting and emotion was conveyed in every line delivered, especially from the two year old. 

Don't miss this opportunity for fine entertainment.  Performances are being held daily, sometimes hourly.  Tickets available at the door.

 The Cast-Smallest Billy Goat, Medium Billy Goat, Large Billy Goat and the Grumpy Old Troll

 The Smallest Billy Goat crossing the bridge

 The Middle Sized Billy Goat crossing the brigde

 The Large Billy Goat bucking the Grumpy Old Troll off of the bridge

The Grumpy Old Troll in the "water"

Pick up etiquette

This morning I was working at The Market and these two teenage boys came in to order a couple coffees.  Aside from taking their order, and "Be careful, it's hot" we didn't talk to each other.  They didn't say a word as they left either, but did leave me a crumpled up napkin and this cup with a phone number and a tempting invitation.

They looked pretty young and seemed inexperienced since they overlooked some very obvious "Pickup Rules".

Rule #1  Check for a RING!  Rookie mistake.

Rule #2  Talk to the girl.  (Unless of course you are in the midst of a voice change, which I'm pretty sure they were, and don't want to risk sounding half man and half school girl.)

Rule #3  Leave your name with your number.  There were two of them.  How do I know if I'm calling the cute one?

Rule #4  Know your own phone number.  Although I suppose it's better cross it out and correct it rather than handing out your mom's number on accident.

All mishaps aside...he had guts enough to leave his number...maybe I should give him a call.  I do need a babysitter for Saturday night.