I need to learn how to say, No.

I don't know what my problem is. Well, actually I think I do. I really think I have this strange need to feel needed so when anyone or anything asks for something, I can't seem to say, No! I've always speculated it stemmed from having been one of the primary caregivers to my mother while she battled liver cancer when I was only 18 years old. She needed me. So I had to "grow up" quickly and I helped her in any way possible with every ounce of my being. Then she left me...so I needed someone to need me again. Hence, three kids...going on four. lol Seriously...I think that's the story of my twisted need to feel needed. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Actually, I'm just happy that I understand it.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the dynamic of this household come Fall, when the kids go back to school. And I'm afraid. I'm afraid I may have bit off more than I can chew. I was asked to take on a Coordinator position with the Parents Club at Isaiah's school. I've been pretty active with them since Isaiah started Kindergarten, but always just enough where I could turn away if I needed to. But now that I'll be holding an actual position with the club, it also means extra commitment. Now, I will be immersed in fundraising, multi-cultural fairs, bake sales, etc. Yay.

We finally signed Isaiah up for soccer, at his request (or, I guess I should say, demand.) He wants to play soccer. We have been hearing these words for the past three months. It doesn't matter that soccer only happens at certain seasons...he wants to play soccer. He's now registered with one of our city's youth leagues, has a uniform and cool socks (which he wore for the entire weekend that we registered him). And now, I'm also Team Mom. What the? Did I really volunteer for that? I guess I did....

I also recently took on the responsibility of being Co-Organizer for the playgroup that we participate in. This just means I have to think up a fun playdate idea for the kiddos a couple times a month. Pretty easy, right? Except I'm the type that gets insanely involved in any playdate (or party) I host, so it quickly spirals downward into a crazy mess called psycho, obsessive mom.

So all these new responsibilities, plus the existing commitments like Isaiah's jiu-jitsu classes 3x per week, swim lessons 2x per week, everything on the home front like a billion loads of laundry per week, cooking and work. Yes, I'm still working on consulting projects from home. I'm actually not putting as much effort into it as I should be, especially since the extra income it's bringing in is awesome. I am grateful that my boss continues to think of me as a resource for many of the technical projects they need completed.

Did I fail to mention we are expecting in December!? Holy crapola...if anything is going to tip ye olde scale, it will be this. And I mean that in every context possible! haha. So much to do and so much to think about. But if I can get myself organized before the summer comes to an end (and days can be 28 hours instead of 24), 2010-2011 is going to be a great year! Wish me luck!

Kitchen Adventures - Paneer Curry with Peas

Indian food (and culture) is one of this family's favorites. Even the boys eat the food, know how to order their favorites at a restaurant (with better pronunciation that I have, actually), and firmly believe in our rule of thumb: the spicier the better! I attribute their love for the food to our having lived in Fremont for a while. We were surrounded with all sorts of yummy Indian and Pakistani restaurants, which we so dearly miss. And we still have yet to find a decent Indian restaurant within 25 miles of Tracy. Also, for the first few years of Mikey's life, his nanny was an Indian woman who fed him all of the staple Indian dishes and snacks, which he grew to love, and continues to ask for. He even learned how to understand and speak a few basic words, like "eat", "come here", and "more".
It was inevitable that Shawn and I would try our hands at a cooking an Indian dish. Shawn has already mastered a pretty good eggplant curry dish, although I don't know how authentic it could be described as. We have been dyyying to try something new. Last week, I stumbled upon a blog post with this recipe for Paneer Curry with Peas and made sure it had a prime spot on this week's meal plan.
I love that we had every single spice that this recipe called for already present in our spice pantry, all the way down to the Garam Masala. Shawn and I are spice collectors. If we are at a store and see a spice we don't have, we will snatch it up, even if we don't need it or don't know what the hell we'd use it for. And more often than not, we try a new recipe that needs it within a few weeks.My favorite part of this dish is the paneer. I LOVE PANEER! Paneer is a fresh cow's-milk cheese that is frequently used as a substitute for meat in many Indian dishes. Anything on the menu of an Indian restaurant with paneer as an ingredient has never failed to be absolutely delicious. We bought a block of it at a local grocery store for this recipe. But I had a previous co-worker who taught me how to make it from scratch, so I might try that at some point. Buying paneer in the valley can get expensive since there are only a handful of stores that carry it.I followed the recipe word for word and it came out soooo delicious. I never imagined I could cook restaurant-style Indian food at home! We devoured the finished product so quickly, I didn't even get to take a photo. It looked just like the photo in the recipe post. :)

Reuse and recycle more than ever!

Isaiah's class recently went on a field trip to the Tracy Material Recovery and Transfer Facility, which I was able to accompany him to. I originally thought this was pretty much 'the dump', where garbage just sits and boils for years and seagulls hover mercilessly above, waiting for you to drop anything closely resembling food. But nope, it was actually a very interesting, eye-opening place where they sort all of our garbage and, basically, pick out everything that can possibly be recycled. Then, the rest of the garbage that can't be reused, is transferred to the actual 'dump', which is up in Lincoln somewhere.

The folks a the MRF are doing a fantastic job of reducing the amount of garbage that is sent to the landfill. I think I remember our tour guide saying that they are able to remove 65% of what comes in to their facility, thus reducing what goes to the landfill by that much. Amazing, I would say. Note that everything that comes to this facility is only from the garbage bins. The stuff in the recycling bins are sent elsewhere upon pick-up.

The tour started where, well, where it all starts. The pile of stuff just dumped out by the garbage trucks. We were all giggling because this day was actually our neighborhood's garbage pick-up day, so all of our garbage was sitting in that pile. Mental vision (and smellivision) of oodles and oodles of dirty diapers that come from our house alone!
All of the miscellaneous garbage goes up a conveyor belt where it gets sorted into different categories: quality paper, newspaper, styrofoam, etc. There are also actual people along the belt picking out things that were missed by the mechanical sorters.

The kids had to get a group shot with the dump truck. :)

And by the bales and bales of recyclables.

Cans. Cans everywhere. Remember, I said this is just stuff that isn't put in the recycling bin. So without this sorting facility, everything here would end up in the landfill. They wouldn't even be compacted like this! Just imagine!!!!

Bales and bales of laundry soap jugs. I'm convinced at least one of these bales is from my house alone.

Lots of laundering going on in Tracy.

Milk jugs galore!

I also believe at least TWO of these bales is from my house alone.

The folks at the facility did such a great job of showing the kids (and the moms!) around. They ended the tour with a short movie and cookies and juice. (After we all washed our hands, of course! Yikes!)
Everyone had a such a great learning experience. It was definitely much more than I expected it to be. And it has also made our family more aware of what we throw away. Isaiah has been collecting our recyclables and redeeming them for money for a while now. But this experience definitely made him realize how important his job really is!

Giving thanks....

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and we are making it a point to give some thanks and show some appreciation to Isaiah's wonderful Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Driskill. First and foremost, thanks for willingly taking our Isaiah for four hours every day. That in itself is worthy of recognition and buttloads of thanks. And thank you for teaching him proper penmanship, how to count by fives, how to add and subtract, and HOW TO READ. I am still in awe of how quickly his reading skills developed and improved during this last school year. He is now reading bedtime stories to his brother, which I absolutely love, love, love!
A sampling of delicious cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Dublin. Just a lil something to say THANKS, TEACH! How sweet it is to be taught by you!

America's most wanted

In preparation for a possible family vacation to the Philippines this coming January,  we are applying for passports for the boys.  We applied for Isaiah's first,  and he has already received his.  Next step was to get photos taken of the two little boys.  Their mug shots made me giggle so much,  I just had to share.  These could be the cutest passports to ever pass through customs, don't you think?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Droid

My boys built the Space Needle

Shawn and I were in Seattle this past weekend for our anniversary. While we were sightseeing at the Space Needle, we spotted THE PERFECT surprise for our big boys, Mikey and Isaiah. It is a Lego set that creates a model of the awesome architectural structure. Our boys love, love, love Legos. They have both been known to proclaim, "Legos are my life," on numerous occasions. I hope that we are effectively fostering a future in engineering for our boys. :)They waited patiently all day for their Papa to get home from work so they could build it together. Here they are, super proud of their new model.

Author, inventor, pioneer in a breakthrough scientific discovery...

HA. Those would have been things that I would have longed to be described as as I charged through college and planted my feet in the biotech research industry. But a few years passed and few children and marriage happened...and, whodathunkit, now I'm a stay at home mom. And I must say that I love it more than I loved investigating the strength of the ionic bond in different chemical formulations.

Today, I was reminded of how much I love my new job. I received an early Mother's Day present from my 6yo, Isaiah. It was an adorable coffee mug that he painted himself through an in-class field trip with Color Me Mine a few weeks ago. Isaiah knows I love me my coffee and that a coffee mug would be the perfect gift.The card that came with it is what made me smile from ear to ear. And it also made 'Mrs. Feller' (one of the other classroom moms whom I formed a great friendship with) crack up when I chased her down the street to show her the card as we walked the kids home from school today.
Today, I am Katrina Adams: scrapbooker, comedian and chef of delicious dinners (as long as they don't have chili peppers). I couldn't be happier!