Is it HOT enough for you?

This is my window thermometer.  The Red is Outdoors, the Blue is Indoors.  I live in Central NY.  This should be illegal.

So today, I am grateful for Central Air, and cheap pools.  Because seriously, today would be unbearable without those things. Oh, and Sun screen.

I'm Back!

Did you miss me?

I took an unannounced hiatus for the last few months, mainly because I was sick as can be.  Turns out, I was pregnant, and it seems that with each pregnancy I have, I get worse morning sickness.

But here I am, 12 weeks along, and feeling a lot better than I was. I have energy for the first time in forever, and even managed to get things done around the house.  At the end of the day I'm definitely more tired, but at least now I don't quite so useless.  I managed to survive, but for one reason only- I have the most awesome husband EVER.  I'm glad that my first post back can be on this day.

Feeling better meant I could make pancakes for breakfast.

Lilia LOVES pancakes, and Letters.

Despite being the end of the semester, and being super busy, my husband stepped up and just took charge of the house and the kids while I whimpered in the corner of the house with my bucket and pillow.  He made meals,, he did laundry, he cleaned, he shopped...he took care of the kids- baths, school, playing, clothes, hair, lunches...the man was a SUPER man, and he never once complained about it, nor did he guilt me for all the work he did.  I am telling you- I am one lucky woman.  As I started to feel better, he didn't push me, he still pampered me and made me feel like a Goddess.  Last week, he drove me to three different midwives (all over an hour away from Herkimer) so we could interview them.

Liam ate his L and M before we could grab a picture!

And today for Father's Day? Do you think he took a break?  Nah- he took the kids outside and started working on cleaning and filling our small pool, and then went to Walmart and went shopping.  Now the pool is slowly filling, the kids are napping, and so is he.  I don't know how I ended up being so lucky, but I'm so happy to have such an awesome husband.  "Happy Father's Day", and "I love you, John" don't seem to be enough to convey how happy I really am.


For dinner, I'm making him his favorite meal- Home made Manicotti.  It's the recipe his Grandmother gave and taught me.

Shells:
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients- the batter will very thin.

Lightly grease a  7 inch skillet with oil, and place over medium heat.

Place about 1/8 cup of batter into the skillet, and cook like pancakes.  It should be very very thin- like a crepe.  They will also cook up very fast, so be careful!  I always just cooked it completely on one side, for about 1 minute, and then about 5 seconds on the other side.

Filling:
2 pounds course ricotta
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated mozzarella + more for topping
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB parsley

Spaghetti sauce

Mix ingredients together, except spaghetti sauce.

Scoop 1 TB of mixture into the center of the manicotti shell, and roll up.  Place rolls in a single layer in a baking pan (I usually end up with 2 pans).  Layer sauce and additional mozzarella cheese on top.  Cover, and back at 375º for 25 minutes.

We usually freeze one pan, and you can take that out to defrost in the morning/afternoon, and then bake in the evening.  I also half the ricotta recipe quite often.  I never seem to make quite enough shells for the full recipe of filling.  It's absolutely delicious, and one of my favorite recipes to bake (mainly because of the memories I have of learning to make it with John's Grandmother.)  And it's probably John's favorite dish ever.  It's super good with home made sauce, but I didn't get a chance to actually make any, so it's a jarred sauce tonight.

Manicotti- fresh from the oven and being devoured very quickly.

It's time for things to start growing!

Tulips and Hyacinths

It's that time of year...well actually it's not.  My flowers actually started blooming in the end of March, after that week of super warm weather.  It's CRAZY.  I cleaned out one garden bed, but that literally took me all week, so when it returned to cooler weather, I had to postpone finishing the rest of the garden beds.  At least I have a small head start, right?

I started some seedlings for the vegetable garden today.  Tomatoes (Heirloom Rainbow), Eggplant (Black Beauty) and Peppers (Sublime hybrids).  Hopefully they will be sprouting in a few days, and then be ready for the outdoors in 6 weeks.  I can't tell you how giddy gardening makes me.

Pretty pink hyacinths

I'm enjoying my flowers this year.  Last year, I let them just go to see what grew, what didn't, what did I need to do.  Apparently I need to be handy with the pruning sheers because my flower beds looked like a jungle.  This year I'll aim to keep tight control of that.  I'm amazed at how much came back.  I didn't plant anything, and yet all the spring flowers came back.  About the only thing I didn't care for was the millions of mums growing, mainly because they just were not in a place I liked, so I ripped quite a few out...but I plan on adding my own stuff this year.  I love everything I find on Burpee.com so I might pick some kinds that I like, for my own touch.

And I plan on creating my own sunflower garden, on top of doubling my vegetable garden.  I already know I started too many tomato seedlings...and I plan on adding cucumbers, squashes, melons, lettuce, corn, kale, peas, and beans (totally making a bean pole/ living plant teepee this year...). I also have strawberry plants from last year, and blueberry plants, although I think I need to move them.  And I might start an herb garden, although I'm wondering if I could make one that could be moved indoors over the winter...not something I need to do, but I am curious.

The weather is supposed to be super nice this weekend, so I hope I get a little gardening time in.  I enjoy it so much, and just can't wait to get my hands super dirty while being in the sun.

My Favorite Things

It's the season to list such things...the things that bring me joy and happiness- my favorite things.  It was something I spoke to my BFF Harriet about as we came home after she treated me to a little pampering.  She flew all the way from England to visit me, and the family for two weeks.

Being pampered

Who doesn't love being pampered?  I'm not a girly girl, but I admit to love going to the salon to for a manicure and pedicure.  Harriet decided to treat me to a trip to a spa, where we both got a lovely full body hot stone massage.  It was completely awesome- I've never had a massage before. 70 minutes of pure bliss (and a little pain...) and I think I'm going to have to go back for more.  

Craft stores

I don't get to go to craft stores that often anymore.  I think while Harriet was here, we went to Hobby Lobby three times, Jo Ann Fabrics twice and Michael's once.  I love going to craft stores and getting ideas for things, even if I never make them.  (Ok, so that's a little depressing...) and I love going to craft stores with a friend who enjoys the same thing.  

Hockey games (and friends!)

I love hockey.  I don't eat, breath and live hockey the way I used to, but it's still a big part of my life.  I miss being able to go to games as much as I did (but I still have my season tickets!) so going to games is just awesome.  Particularly when it's during a small losing streak but the team wins the night you are there (and the only game the team won while Harriet was in the country.)  Plus sharing the experience with someone who never attended a game before.

I'm so glad that Harriet could come and visit me.  I had a lot of fun with her around and I will miss her immensely.

And those are the things that made me very happy this week.