Life without a sister home

Without Mary Rollins home, Will won't sleep upstairs by himself. For three weeks this summer, this has been the scene in my family room every morning.

Fun with Bok Choy

We are well into our CSA (community supported agriculture initiative if the letters CSA stumped you)and getting our basket on Monday afternoon is one of the highlights of the week. In a way, it's like a surprise present, that you pay for and you have some inkling what might be in there from the previous week's newsletter but still -- actually getting it and seeing what fruits and veggies are there is very fun. This week was the best surprise of all -- no more Bok Choy. Not that I don't like Bok Choy but I swear it's been multiplying in my refrigerator. I give heads of it away and still there's more bok choy. We eat it, and still, there's more bok choy.

The first night I did something with bok choy didn't end up with the best results. One of the few times Mark Bittman has failed me. It was okay if you are a die-hard vegetable eater like MR and I, but Marc and Will took one bite and swore off bok choy for the rest of bok choy season. This is bad news when bok choy season runs for four weeks. Did I mention that Marc said that if he heard the word bok choy again he was going to scream? Apparently bok choy was in season at the Transylvania University dining hall at lunchtime as well as at the Mathews' house at dinner.

Weeks later, I've done a lot of thing with bok choy reminiscent of Bubba from the movie Forest Gump listing off all the the things you can do with shrimp. You can have bok choy saute, steamed bok choy, grilled bok choy, juiced bok choy, bok choy omelette, bok choy quesadilla, bok choy stir-fried with left over chinese food (definitely the best) and bok choy & bratwurst (not good -- even with honey mustard dressing). Yesterday with the last bit of it, I had bok choy sauteed with a teriyaki and sesame orzo salad -- don't be impressed in spite of how cool that sounds, while Mary Rollins had a Bok Choy flatbread sandwich -- also not nearly as good as it sounds if that even sounds good.  I think I've lost all perspective on what and what doesn't go with bok choy.

I feel sure there's more fun I could have with bok choy but it's finally all gone I can proudly say that we wasted not a bit of it. 

Summer begins

It's officially summer now. For the first time in years, central Kentucky kids are out of school before Labor Day. In celebration, I'm at my Berea listing letting in some fellows for a termite treatment. Somehow my sellers and I forgot to communicate about the alarm code. Oops. If there was ever a doubt, sound can definitely be used as a weapon AND a cardio workout. My heart rate is just now returning to normal levels.

I went to my last middle school honors day yesterday at Morton. Will received an award for Academic Excellence for having a "4.0 All Year" and awards for Science and Geometry. We're so proud but I really thought it would be more appropriately announced as a 4.0 for the final day of the grading period when he managed to bring his grades in a couple of his classes up to an "A."

I'm looking forward to not having the discussion for the next few months about why we expect him to have all "As." Why? Because you can.

Oddly, I've never had that conversation with Mary Rollins.

And so, next year Will is off to high school. He'll be in the Liberal Arts Academy at Henry Clay, otherwise known as "The Academy.". Fortunately Will has linked together that good grades in high school equal scholarship dollars for college so perhaps he'll motivated for a more proactive approach to homework.

One way to wash a cat...

Adventures with Vegetables

Admittedly, not a single one of the photos included here contains a vegetable. Unless you consider rhubarb to be a vegetable and, well, I just googled it and it is so I now retract that statement there is a vegetable here it's just hiding under a crumbly top of butter, oats and brown sugar.

We are on Week 3 of our Greeley Farm CSA and I couldn't be happier. We were in New York for the pick up time of week 2 so my old friend Marian (she's not old, just our friendship) picked it up for me and she got to enjoy and share the bounty of my half-bushel basket. That made me happy although it was painful to have to buy conventional store lettuces last week. This week I've added some beautiful eggs from Farmer James into the mix. I scrambled some yesterday morning and what a difference it was. I'm going to hard boil some with some regular eggs and then do a blind taste test to make sure I'm not suffering from a CSA bias.

This week's basket included strawberries so becoming that I bought a spare second quart James had in his truck. It seemed a good decision since we ate the first quart in about 2 minutes with some homemade whipped cream.

We also have rhubarb this week, more bok choy (apparently they had a lot of bok choy at the Transy cafeteria this week as Marc was really elated to have missed dinner at home last night when MR and I ate one and half pounds by ourselves. He said, "please don't say another word about bok choy, I'm sick of it), chinese cabbage and green onions and a lettuce mix.

I hadn't cooked rhubarb before but I just whipped up the crumble below. and it couldn't have been easier. It's adapted from Mark Bittman recipe.

1.5 lbs of fresh rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
cup of brown sugar (I might use Splenda or stevia next time)

Toss in a bowl and put in a Bybee baking dish (or any oven-safe 8 or 9 inch round dish)

Then put into food processor:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
2/3 cup of brown sugar
5 tab. of cold butter cut into pieces.
1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts (any nut would do I think)
Pulse the food processor a few times and spread on top of the rhubarb in the baking dash.

Bake at 400 for approximately 35 minutes.   

Rhubarb Crisp

My basket (in case you didn't know, which I didn't, those long things
that look like celery stalk on the top right are the rhubarb).

Milestones or maybe mileage is a better title...

Dearest Blog friends (and Dad),

There has been much quietness on the blog since last week because there's been so much excitement in real life.  Mary Rollins turned 16, we went to New York to celebrate (saw Isabug and David -- on break from Rock Stardom for a night, had fabulous time, want to see some pictures?), returned home, and Mary Rollins got her driver's permit.

What I really want to write about is driving with a new driver.  It makes me twitch, as in, "Mom, could you please stop twitching?"  I can't help it.  It's not my leg sore from trying to phantom brake as I have been warned of; it's trying to control the impulse to grab the steering wheel.  All right, I'll admit, I have grabbed the steering wheel.  Trust me, there was good reason.  I don't think those walkers on Lakewood realized just how close to the grim reaper they were.  It's getting better each day though and yesterday we tackled Alumni Drive and two left turns across traffic.

On Friday, as she went for her very first drive after passing the learner's permit test, I said, "You know what?  I don't know that I put on enough deoderant this morning, Mary Rollins."

Her response, "Me either." 

CSA Radishes

Pretty, aren't they? We got our first CSA basket yesterday overflowing with Chinese cabbage, romaine lettuce, bok choy, green onions and these beautiful babies. I've never been a big radish fan but these were like vegetable candy. Will ate a slice of one with some ranch dressing and said it left the best taste in his mouth.

Hello Earth, it's good to eat close to you!

Afternoon with a rock star...

I know a rock star. To be more specific, my awesome nephew by marriage is a rock star. David Linaburg, guitarist for the college tour of J.Cole – Grammy nominated artist, played at UK last night for their spring concert. How awesome is that? And to make David feel completely at home during his three hour break between set-up and show, the Mathewsies showed him the best of Lexington life.

First, Mary Rollins and I picked him up from his hotel, drove him to Orange Leaf and we had frozen yogurt. In spite of living in New York, David had never experienced self-serve frozen yogurt. David pointed out that you probably have to live in a clean city to have something like self-serve frozen yogurt. Good point!

Why look, Will's had a tremendous growth spurt as
evidenced here with man in black, David.

We tracked down Will at home where he was busy burning his own microwave popcorn (he was full of self-sufficiency yesterday – see previous post) and let David see our old Kentucky home for 5 minutes, hug Will and be accosted by some Jack Russell Terriers. Then, Mary Rollins, David and I got back into the car to deliver her to the Opera House of a last minute blocking of Cinderella. He saw all the important landmarks of downtown Lexington: Transylvania University, Gratz Park, Christ Church Cathedral (twice).

Afterward, I took David, past my office (wow, you work above Starbucks) and stopped in to meet Marc at Charlie Brown’s on Euclid where we had a bottle of Kentucky Ale and everyone’s favorite Kentucky treat, beer cheese. Marc was meeting a CPA/attorney friend of ours at Charlie Brown’s that he’s trying to coerce into taking over as church treasurer when his term ends. Kenton was undoubtedly impressed with our rock star connections. I think we all enjoyed David’s stories about living on a bus with thirteen people and becoming fluent in hip-hop. He claims that he only understands it but can’t actually speak it.

David was a great sport shadowing me in my mom activities. He even offered to help me grocery shop! And, after his drinks and conversation at Charlie Brown’s, he indicated some interest in pursuing a future in public accounting if he ever makes a career change from music. He’d make an excellent accountant.

Next time David comes to town though, I want to take a turn shadowing him as the rock star.

We love you David Linaburg!! Thanks for spending your precious few hours of break with us!

Candy sandwiches

Lexington Ballet’s Cinderella began this morning with a first school show at 10 a.m. Mary Rollins had to be at the Opera House by 8:15 am so my normal morning routine was a bit off. I didn’t go to the gym so that I would be ready for the earlier than normal trip downtown but my schedule wouldn’t be so off that I couldn’t be home in time to resume my regular morning Will activities.


Will typically rises at some time between 8 and 8:15. His morning includes dressing and some laying about on the couch snuggling with Howie and then having a breakfast that I fix while I also make his lunch. MR fixed her own by the time she was Will’s age but I don’t mind fixing Will’s lunch as I have a bit more control of what he eats. In truth, I guess I don’t really think that Will’s capable of successfully making a healthy lunch for himself. And, another part of me figures he has the rest of his life to make his own lunches so I’m happy to pack his school-day meal.

As I was driving home from the Opera House ready to switch into Will gear, I was talking in depth to a client about Jessamine County property values. Will was calling in but I couldn’t get to his call. I didn’t worry as I was only a few minutes from home. Pulling into the driveway, there was Will putting down the garage door, climbing onto his bike and heading off to school, on his own. This, the boy I had left asleep in the bed twenty-five minutes before.

“Will, what about your lunch?” I called.

“I made it myself. See you!” and like that, he was off.

Good heavens, what did that boy make for lunch? I thought first that we had Peeps left from Easter and perhaps he made his own version of chicken salad out of them.

But, there on the counter was an open pack of cheddar cheese slices and an open bag of bread. There was a missing banana, and the drawer with baggies was open and my sack of used grocery bags was laying on the floor. There was also an open box of frosted mini-wheats on the counter so clearly he had even made his own breakfast! I’m so proud and only a little sad that Will doesn’t need me to get himself off to school.

He only needs me to clean up afterwards.

More real estate stories...

One day I'm going to write for you all the true story of how I became a Realtor. Seriously, I did not ever think, "when I grow up I want to be a Realtor." It happened in a more organic kind of way. However, my grandmother, along with being an attorney, was a real estate agent so perhaps it was there in my blood all along.

Although, I never aspired to be a Realtor until February 8, 2005, I haven't ever regretted the decision. Why? Because I'm never bored. I may have days that are frustrating but I never, ever have boring days. And, I never have the same day twice!

For example, it's not every job where you can have learning moments like this:

A buyer-client called me yesterday to tell me that she had seen a for-sale-by-owner home on line that interested her. I call the owner after finding the on-line listing myself to see if I can set up a time for a showing today. The owner says, "well...you see, that might not work. My soon-to-be ex-husband is still living in the house with a guy friend of his and he doesn't know that I'm trying to sell the house. So, I guess I'd better tell him that I think we should sell it. How about if I call you back?"

I don't know about you, but I think I can see one of the problems in their marriage.

Note to self for both best marriage practices and home-selling: Never try to sell your house without telling your spouse.

A Book Review: Born Wicked

Living with young people, I find myself often reading Young Adult literature. Truthfully, when it's well-written I really like the genre as a whole and read YA books just because they're fun. I read the Harry Potter books, for example, ages before my kids were ready for them. I suspect I'll be reading YA books when my children are grown-up (which feels like it might be next week at the rate time seems to fly by...but I digress).

Recently, the first installment of a new YA book series fell into my hands courtesy of the Blogher Bookclub. Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood is a story of three young witches living in New England in the late 19th Century. The US, in which they live, is not that of our history but one run with religious fervor by a Taliban-style Brotherhood who fear the uprising of witches. Young women are forced to declare their intentions at age 16 either to marry or join The Sisterhood--a convent of seemingly pious women who serve and support the men of the Brotherhood. Women live in constant fear of being named witches and sentenced to an asylum or labor on a prison boat without the ceremony of a trial.

Cate Cahill and her two sisters Tess and Maura are motherless teenagers whose father, still grief-stricken over the death of his wife years before, has abandoned his children to the care of servants and their own devices. Cate, the eldest and our narrator, was charged on her mother's deathbed with the protection of her younger sisters. The three girls also happen to be witches. As Cate approaches the age of intention she worries what the future holds for her sisters who have difficulty restraining their magic if she marries and is forced to move from her family home.

Oh, what tangled webs! If I rated this book on my personal Twilight (1) to Harry Potter (10) scale of young adult fiction, I’ll give this book a 7. I passed it on to Mary Rollins who is reading away at it – it has lots of romance, a bit of mystery, a good-sized helping of magic and a pinch of The Scarlet Letter. It doesn’t have any vampires which I find wonderfully refreshing. And, now I’m waiting expectantly on the edge for Book 2.
Just so you know, I was compensated for writing this review for the Blogher Book Club. The opinions, though, are entirely my own. Always are, always will be.

Cooper River Bridge Run

Here we are making our 5th consecutive Cooper River Bridge. Some of us we're really happy with our times, some of us...not so much.

Three of us finished in the top 10,000.