Zombie Mint Mojitos!

The mojito is one of my favorite summer drinks. Mojitos originate in Cuba and are said to have been the favorite drink of famed author Ernest Hemmingway. We happen to have mint growing in our garden, or rather, taking over our garden. Mint sends out creepers and creates new plants with the same root system, so it tends to spread out everywhere. A while back we decided to get rid of it. We dug it up and literally chopped up the roots and pulled them out of the dirt, leaving only miniscule, mutilated root fragments, and it still came back from the dead. Thus the name, "Zombie Mint Mojitos". I love the combination of fresh limes and fresh mint muddled together, soaked in simple syrup and drenched in rum. ¡Delicioso! I spent much of my college years bartending so I am familiar with the recipes but if you're not here's the one I used, I used simple syrup instead of straight sugar. Simple syrup is two parts sugar to one part hot water, mixed until the sugar dissolves. There are a lot of fun variations on the mojito, some people like to use dark rum or flavored rum, but I like the classic version. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Ice
6 ounces light rum
12 mint sprigs, or spearmint, 8 roughly broken apart
6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons sugar
Club soda
4 slices lime

Directions
Place ice in beverage shaker then add in the rum, 8 broken up mint sprigs, lime juice and sugar. Shake well and serve over ice in a high ball glass. Top off each glass with a splash of club soda.

Garnish each with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint.

Everyday Miracles

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17

I am struck nearly every day with how amazing God is. Most of the time it's when I'm nursing Vivienne, and she is so sweet and vulnerable, and completely trusting in her mommy. I can't help but stroke her round head and her soft, fuzzy hair and smell her sweet skin. She still has that baby smell that smells like milk and happiness. I am utterly in love with my children, and feel so unworthy of the blessing God has bestowed on me through them. 

Vivienne passed out in her daddy's arms

I've recently been reading the book 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and it has opened my eyes to a lot of truths about my faith. I have been struggling with the weight of my sins since I was a teenager. I really felt that things I had done in my life were unforgivable.  Reading that book made me realize that I was not accepting God's gift of grace and mercy. Since realizing that I have been trying to accept it every day, and it has made me realize how much grace and mercy is pouring though my life. It's overflowing and cascading and covering every aspect of my existence!

I watched a documentary a couple of days ago on the sinking of the Costa Concordia, and in it several experts in the shipping industry made the point that, even with modern safety measures and sea charts and highly technological boats, there's really no way to guarantee safety, and it's pretty amazing that we have even devised a way to cross the untamable oceans at all. It made me realize that when disaster strikes and people ask why, it might be more apt to simply praise God for the thousands of times it didn't. Instead, we become complacent and feel that safety is our entitlement, which is incredibly presumptuous. That's why I'm trying to remember to praise God every day for every thing I have, but most especially my husband and children.

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. - James 4:14

Taking a Nature Walk on an "I'm bored" Summer Day

Picture source: www.mrjacksfarm.com

It has been miserably hot here since about mid June so we have been staying inside with the blinds closed, the curtains drawn and the lights off, cave man style to save energy. We only have one family car, so Eric takes it to work and it leaves us with few options of how to fill our hours. There's only so much coloring a kid can do before she starts speaking whine-ese and repeating the phrase "I'm bored" like a broken record. She loves movies but I hate having her planted in front of the TV for hours on end so yesterday morning, before the whining could start I decided we would go take a nature walk.

Bella's "yuck" face!

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of us on the walk, because I was having too much fun! We just walked around the lake in our neighborhood and picked "samples" (aka leaves). I would have Bella run up and grab a leaf sample and we would talk about the tree or bush it came from, she would smell it and see if it smelled good and then we would put them in our "sample box" (the compartment in the stroller handle). After we picked a sample from pretty much every tree, bush and interesting piece of grass out there I walked her to the playground and pushed her and Vivienne on the swings, and even let Vivi go down the baby slide!

When we got home we had a snack of apples and water, and Vivi had this Dole "fruit squish 'ems" thing. I can't say precisely what it is about this thing that is so nasty, but it is just absolutely repellent. Eric bought them because we had a coupon for them, and it's essentially baby food so we thought we could take them with us when we went places and give them to Vivi, but they are gross! It might be that they have the color and texture of grainy applesauce and the odd flavor of blueberries, like, extremely potent blueberries. Whatever the issue, none of us liked it. Vivi and Bella made the funniest faces when trying it, so of course I had to try it myself. Yuck. After that I just gave Vivi an apple slice and let her use her two teeth to chomp on it a bit and gum it all up.

Bella's rubbings! I can't identify all of these - there's Juniper,
Crepe Myrtle, Red Oak, and some kind of evergreen, and I
don't know what that cat-tail looking thing is.

After snack we sat down with some paper and crayons and made leaf rubbings! We talked about each plant sample again and how to make a leaf rubbing. I had intended to press each sample and keep it for a scrap book, but Vivi got grumpy and needed to be nursed and put down for a nap and then afterwords I just forgot about them until this morning and they're all dried out! I suppose I could still press them if I had some clear contact paper or laminating sheets but I don't, and it was fun enough that we could do it again and I will save those instead.

The trick about doing something like this in the Texas heat is to do it well before noon. We left the house at 9:00 AM and got back before 11:00, and we were all still sweaty and tired! Thank God for air conditioning!

Stuff Bella Says

Bella has always been a talkative child. Whatever comes to her mind immediately comes out her mouth. The other day I was sitting at the island in our kitchen and (apparently) my low-waisted jeans were showing what I refer to as my H.A.C. (high ass crack - no seriously, it practically starts up between my shoulder blades). So she comes up and says, "Moooom! Your butt is showing!" I'm kind of sassy so I retort, "Do you like it?" instead of getting all grossed out she bursts into giggles and says "Yes! I love it, I want to hug it!" and then seriously, she hugged my butt. Where did this kid come from? She totally gets my sarcasm and she's still not even four years old.

Sometimes she doesn't even mean to be funny. For her third birthday we had a pool party at the neighborhood pool. Since we were outside we bought small boxes of Nerds™for the party bags (because anything chocolate would have melted in the Central Texas heat). A few days after the party there were still plenty left over and she asked me if she could have some. She had been good that day, so I relented and she followed me, skipping, to the pantry. I'm reaching up to get them when I hear her say "Mmmmm! Turds! I love turds!" I laughed for five solid minutes, and then had a hard time explaining to her what was so funny.

Just this morning she was looking at one of my copies of "Us Weekly" and said, "Mommy, is this magazine about fashions or boobies?". That's a valid question, I think.

When she tooted in front of my friend Kristen, her excuse was that the fart came from her elbow. Kristen advised her to go get that looked at.

Just the other day she was playing Doc McStuffins with my friend Michelle and told her she was sick with "bad-itis".

Bella makes a bubble beard and bubble hat

When I was first pregnant with Vivienne and we didn't know what we were having, we kept telling her she was going to have a baby brother or sister, so one time when my sister Pam was babysitting her she proudly proclaimed, "I got a baby butter sister... in da mama".

When I was working, I had to get her up early and drop her off at my friend Ashley's house who would watch her for us while we were at work, one morning she said to her, "I was sleepy, like a sleepy chicken" but she said it so somberly that it really made me chuckle.

Random Cuteness:

Bella cuddles her Jimmy John's sandwich

I love how she puts an "M" in front of everything. Her friend Alexis is "Malexis" (it sounds like "molasses" when she says it), she also says "Maprade" (Parade), "Magraff" (Giraffe) and "Magrage" (Garage).

She always asks you if you remember things that either didn't happen or you weren't there for.
"Mama, remember when Nanny and me saw peacocks at the zoo?"
"I wasn't there for that, sweet pea."
"Mama, remember when that hippo farted?"
(Laughing) "That was a youtube video, sweetie."
"Mama, remember when I ride on a unicorn on the rainbow and I'm a princess fairy?"
"Uh... no, no I don't remember that at all, honey."

She bookends questions with "why":
"Why I hafta take a nap, why?"

Some gems from my Facebook page:

Bella is well on her way to becoming a full on movie buff. She picked out "Young Frankenstein" to watch, and then ran into the living room about half way through and exclaimed, "Mama! The bookcase squish his face, and he say, 'PUT THE CANDLE...BACK!'" and then she ran around the living room for 5 minutes giggling and screaming "PUT THE CANDLE BACK! PUT THE CANDLE BACK!"

Bella this morning: "Mama, Bampires are mean!"
Me: "Vampires?"
Bella: "Yeah cuz Bampires are mean to princesses, and all peoples are scary to her."

Bella has learned to use her cuteness the same way a super villain might use his powers. She came into the kitchen tonight and the following conversation ensued:
Bella: "What are THOSE?!" (Pointing to some cake pops I've just made)
Me: "Cake Pops"
Bella: (Folds hands together like she's praying and squeals) "OOOH I WUV cake pops! I eat them?"
Me: (I pick her up because she's so cute I just can't resist) "Not tonight, but you can have one tomorrow."
Bella: (She throws her arms around my neck) "Okay. Lets be rain clouds!"
Me: "Rain clouds?"
Bella: "Yeah. Tickle me!" (She jumps down and runs off screaming and giggling.

Bella just ran into the living room as Eric was hanging my new curtains and said, "It smells like dragonflies in here."

I made up a little song with Bella's name to teach her what her full name is, but I think she may be a little confused about her surname, because just now in the tub I found her singing it thusly:
"Isabella Charlotte Abrahamsen!"
"Isabella Charlotte Abra-footies!"
"Isabella Charlotte Abra-booty!"
"Isabella Charlotte Abra-tooties!"
"Isabella Charlotte Abra-scratches!"
"Isabella Charlotte Abra-boo-boo!"

We're watching TV and a diet pill ad comes on, Bella watches for a second and then (parroting a phrase that is repeated often in the ad) yells, "EWW! WOOK! BODY FAT!" I bust out laughing, in response she starts trying to make me laugh by screaming out things like "Body fat in you head! Body fat in you feet!" So I'm laughing uncontrollably now thinking of all these people who need diet pills for their fat heads and feet.

"Bitamins make you all shiny and warm in your froat, mama." - Bella's assessment of the benefits of vitamins.

Last night I wrapped Bella in her unicorn towel after she got out of her bath and in response she said, "I'm a unicorn! Moo!" And I started to say that's not the sound unicorns make when I realized I don't know WHAT sound unicorns make.

This morning Bella came to me holding her "Fur Real Friends" kitty and looking all sullen and pouty she says to me, "Kitty BIT me." I seriously could not stop laughing.

Whatever you have, Bella has the sparkle version of that. According to her, anyway.
Sample conversation:
"What are you doing, mama?"
"I'm doing laundry."
"Oh. I got my sparkle laundry?"
"...Is that a question?"
"No, I TELLING you, I got my sparkle laundry, mama."
"Oh..kay... Sparkle laundry sounds interesting, baby."

And the pièce de résistance:

On the way home from viewing Christmas lights (two years ago) she made up her own version of Silent Night that goes like this:
Silent night
Tryin' to sleep
Under the blanket
Silent night
Dreaming night
Tuesday night
Silent night
In a blanket
And a cake
Silent night
Silent night
Night night
Sleeping
In the stars
Silent...
(long pause)
Silent night
Silent day
Silent sleep
(Unintelligible but emphatic)
(Makes snoring sounds)
And I wake up!
And I not cry!
And it's sad!
And I not cry!
And a wakey
Silent night
Never night
German night
Okay
Silent day
Stylin' lemon (<-- I swear she sang that)
Where Bella sleep

Painting Over a Canvas The Austin Liz Way

This is what I painted over. What language is that anyway?

The bookshelves in the library are from Ikea

As I mentioned in my blog about my new photo wall, I removed the painting that had been in place before and painted over the canvas. I had never really liked that painting, the perspective was all off and it just basically looked like something I could have painted, so I decided to actually paint something over the canvas myself that I would like better. I decided to hang it in the library because I have a big blank wall above the desk in there where it will fit perfectly.

Let it be known that I am not an artist. I rarely paint but I do like to from time to time when I'm feeling particularly deep or when I can't find the words to match my feelings, so I have a set of acrylic paints. They're not the best, and frankly, I don't really know what I'm doing, so please keep that in mind when reading this blog. Any real painters who read this may faint from the short-cuts and substitutions I used to make this happen.

Chicken party!

Since I'm not a painter I didn't really know what I wanted to paint so the first thing I did was google search "paintings" to get an idea of something I could paint. It would have to be rather abstract or rudimentary for me to be able to suitably recreate it. Our library has a bit of an African safari feel to it and so I decided to look for an African painting. I found a blog with a painting called "The Massai" by David Ndambuki (oil on canvas, 2006). I thought it was really beautiful and simple enough that I might be able to do something like it.

The huge brush on the far right was the main one I used.

I have been told that, if you're going to paint over a canvas, you should use a thick, chalky, paint-like substance called "Gesso" so I went to Hobby Lobby and dutifully bought my (freaking expensive) gesso. However, when I got it home I realized I'd bought the wrong stuff. The gesso I bought dries clear, which isn't that great if you're trying to paint over a canvas to start anew. I am nothing if not resourceful, however, so since I couldn't run off to Hobby Lobby I decided to use interior latex house paint instead. That's right, house paint. I happen to have a whole gallon of my interior wall color that is just slightly too light to match my walls. Also, while I was out poking around in the garage I found the color I used when we made Bella's "house bed" (I'll do another blog about that one) and it's a nice, rust-colored reddish-orange, so after the wall color was dry, I re-painted over it with the rust color.

These are the acrylics I used

My formal painting education comes from one night at a wine-drenched "chicken party" where my friend's mom (local Austin artist Virginia Vaughan) taught about 20 or so of us how to paint... you guessed it... a chicken! Well, actually it was a rooster. So I was desperately trying to remember what she had taught us from that party over a year ago.

 If you've dabbled in painting yourself you may know that there are certain advantages and disadvantages to the different media. Oil paint is wonderfully thick and full of texture, but it takes ages to dry, and you have to use paint thinner to get it off your skin. I use acrylic because, even though it doesn't have the great texture of oil, it dries much faster and it will wash off your skin and out of your brush with just water. I've got babies around, so fast drying paint and no paint thinner is my modus operandi.

My pallet and the background

I'm sure real painters would laugh at my set up with my little cup of water to rinse my brush (it was only good for setting my brush down - when I really had to rinse it I took it to the bathroom and ran it under the water tap) and my 35 different sizes of paint brushes (I ended up only using two sizes, huge and medium huge) and my mixed media paint (not only did I use interior house paint and acrylic, I also used fabric paint!) I needed a lot of yellow, orange and red, and my little tubes of acrylic were not working out so well all by their lonesome. I had bought them maybe five years ago and they weren't the best brand; the caps on some of them had broken off on the inside and allowed them to fully dry in their tubes, so there were certain colors I couldn't use at all. Instead I supplemented with my fabric paint, which was left over from another craft.

I'm starting on the people...

I painted the background first, while Vivienne was taking her morning nap. I used a mind of blotting motion, bringing the brush down vertically on the canvas over and over again. I layered it with the reds and oranges at the top and then added the yellows throughout the middle. I let the background dry while I got Vivi up and made lunch for Bella and I. When both the girls went down for their afternoon nap I was able to paint the people. Either my canvas is too narrow or I painted my people too big because I couldn't get them all on there, there's about three people who just didn't fit.

Finished painting!

I (obviously) didn't capture it the way Mr. Ndambuki did, but I have yet to travel to Africa, so that's my excuse. Believe it or not I seriously would love to go there some time. I haven't gotten the painting hung yet but when I do I will add the pictures. My friend's husband had traveled to Africa when he was in the military and had brought back some wooden pieces of art that they couldn't use in their decor so they've given them to us and when I get them hung I will add those pictures as well! I also found that I am not the only one who tried to recreate this beautiful work, check it out!

Framed P

Ke$ha Don't Give Two F*%#$ But I Do.

I see you in the club showin' Ke$ha loveAin't trippin' on them bitches that be hatin'Catch a dub, chuckin' deucesYa'll hating's uselessIt's such a nuisanceYa'll chickens keep your two centsAnd keep your dollars, keep your lootI'm fresher than that GucciThem boys, they want my coochieI say no, I'm no hootchieYour homegirl hatin', I say who she?Ke$ha don't give two fucksI came to start that ruckusAnd ya wanna party with usCause we crazy mothafuckas

Read more: KESHA - CRAZY KIDS LYRICS 
It's clear from these lyrics that Ke$ha don't give two f*cks if I don't like her or her music, and I'm sure some of my friends will write this blog off as slut shaming but the fact is I am raising two daughters in a society that tells us through every medium that they are lust objects solely meant to give pleasure to men. It's one thing for them to be hearing this from men but for women like Ke$ha and Nikki Minaj to be perpetuating this falsehood makes it really hard for me to raise strong, independent women who don't feel like they need to use their physical assets to get ahead in life or to manipulate people in to giving them what they want.  

I was faced with this sexual inundation recently when I went shopping for work out clothes. I got extremely angry after a visit to Dick's Sporting Goods where I couldn't find any shorts that didn't threaten to show my butt or lady parts. I looked across the aisle at the men's running clothes and they all came down to their knees. Now, there was a time when I sported my daisy dukes in the summer, but as a married mother of two, I think Nike should make women's running shorts that don't show my ass cheeks. I just feel like there's something backwards about men being encouraged to be more modest than women, who are more vulnerable to rape and abuse. There are sick fucks men out there who have

actually claimed that a woman in short skirts or short shorts is "asking for it". Asking for it! If wearing short shorts is "asking for it", and sporting goods stores don't sell long running shorts, what are you supposed to do? I left without buying anything, and I run in my husband's basketball shorts, but that was not my preference.
The media, fashion designers and artists like Ke$ha make it very hard to even attempt to be modest and raise modest girls. I might applaud Ke$ha's effort here at asserting that she's "no hootchie" except that I can't stop laughing long enough to say it with a straight face. Pretty much every other hit she's had contains vulgar and graphic lyrics that proudly display her promiscuity. She has also partnered with the band 3OH!3 a couple of times. 3OH!3 represents the misogynistic other half of the Ke$ha lifestyle touting lyrics like "Hush girl, shut your lips, do the Hellen Keller, and talk with your hips,". 
Ke$ha's public persona is pretty much that of a woman who will take any guy who will stands still long enough for her to hop on. The strange duplicity of this (and Ke$ha is certainly not the only one, the worst one or the first one) is that these women try to turn sexism on its ear by asserting that using their genitalia to gain power is fighting fire with fire and somehow empowering to women. I assure you, it's not. It's the same old lie that has been told to women by men since the dawn of time, that they are merely a life support system for a vagina. For a woman to be preemptively using hers the same way a misogynist man would does not empower women at all, it further subjugates them. Ke$ha is a great example of this because at this point it's impossible to take her seriously when she tries (as she does in this song) to assert that she is more than just a polyamorous hedonist. 
This is why I like women like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. Sure, Taylor has been connected to more celebrities than IMDB, but she doesn't sing songs about slinging her lady parts around thereby glamorizing a profligate lifestyle to my child. Also, she hasn't made a sex tape! (Taylor if you ever make a sex tape I will cry). I like women who show my daughters that they can grow up to be successful women without having to shake what their mama gave em. I'm waiting for a time when we will realize that there is honor in modesty and women can be attractive without having to flaunt their sex appeal and arouse mens' desire. Until that time, I'm just going to have to keep my girls away from Ke$ha and her ilk.