Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
John Prine Wrote a Song About Us
We blew up our T.V.
threw away our paper
Went to the country,
built us a home
Had a lot of children,
fed 'em on peaches
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Gotcha Day Take Four
The first hour that Harold was our child, four years ago in Guatemala, he was incredibly hungry. His foster mother, in her great distress over saying goodbye to Harold that day, had forgotten his formula. By the time the formalities of the "transfer" meeting were over, we had one fussy baby on our hands. Room service was the surest and fastest way to get food to our room and into the belly of our chubby little guy. That is how it happened that Harold had french fries and tortilla soup for his first meal as a Rudstrom.
During our most recent trip to Guatemala, we stayed in the same hotel as we did on our first trip and called room service. Shortly after, french fries and tortilla soup were delivered as we relived our first minutes as parents.
On Saturday we once again relived our first day as parents. We cuddled in bed in the morning telling Harold our memories from that day. Saturday the 22nd was Harold's fourth annual Gotcha Day, a day to celebrate.
We experimented with fondant,
invited some oh so fun people over,
ate some delicious food and watched our adoption journey video.
Happy Gotcha Day young man. We are thankful for you each and every day.
Gotcha Day 2010
Gotcha Day 2008
During our most recent trip to Guatemala, we stayed in the same hotel as we did on our first trip and called room service. Shortly after, french fries and tortilla soup were delivered as we relived our first minutes as parents.
On Saturday we once again relived our first day as parents. We cuddled in bed in the morning telling Harold our memories from that day. Saturday the 22nd was Harold's fourth annual Gotcha Day, a day to celebrate.
We experimented with fondant,
invited some oh so fun people over,
ate some delicious food and watched our adoption journey video.
Happy Gotcha Day young man. We are thankful for you each and every day.
Gotcha Day 2010
Gotcha Day 2008
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Tundra Tea
One cold wintery day, my friend Darla offered up a new and wonderful hot beverage for C.O. and I to try, tundra tea. Since then I've had a little thing for this steaming hot goodness. It tastes like what I imagine the tundra would taste like if you could bend down and gobble it up. When we're locked in by snow and ice, it's a wonderful reminder of warmer days out in the countryside.
Tundra tea is more commonly known as Labrador Tea. Here is a cute, little Labrador "forest".
This year we decided to collect and save a bunch for ourselves. This way we don't have to show up at Darla's house with sad puppy dog eyes begging for a cup.
After pulling off the leaves, we put them on a piece of parchment paper to dry in the food dehydrator. Darla just puts the whole works in the freezer until she's ready to brew her tea, but we are white folks and like to make things more complicated than they need to be.
We use this lovely little tea pot to make our loose leaf teas. It just happens to be the very first thing C.O. and I bought together as a couple. Isn't it cute and classy at the same time? Our very favorite feature is that it never, ever drips from the spout when we're done pouring. This makes my engineering minded husband very happy.
Throw those leaves in the strainer.
Add boiling water. Psst! Electric tea kettles are the bomb if you drink a lot of hot beverages.
The tea turned out a bit weak, but still very tasty. I added some leaves to the water just for visual interest in this photo. Oh and I don't recommend sugar for this tea. Usually I cannot drink coffee or tea without copious amounts of sugar but tundra tea is different, sugar detracts rather than adds to the taste.
I found this blog post by a gal up near the Brooks range mountains who talks a bit more about Labrador and how it is used by Inupiat people in her area. Check out the rest of her blog as well while you're at it. It's worth reading.
Tundra tea is more commonly known as Labrador Tea. Here is a cute, little Labrador "forest".
This year we decided to collect and save a bunch for ourselves. This way we don't have to show up at Darla's house with sad puppy dog eyes begging for a cup.
After pulling off the leaves, we put them on a piece of parchment paper to dry in the food dehydrator. Darla just puts the whole works in the freezer until she's ready to brew her tea, but we are white folks and like to make things more complicated than they need to be.
We use this lovely little tea pot to make our loose leaf teas. It just happens to be the very first thing C.O. and I bought together as a couple. Isn't it cute and classy at the same time? Our very favorite feature is that it never, ever drips from the spout when we're done pouring. This makes my engineering minded husband very happy.
Throw those leaves in the strainer.
Add boiling water. Psst! Electric tea kettles are the bomb if you drink a lot of hot beverages.
The tea turned out a bit weak, but still very tasty. I added some leaves to the water just for visual interest in this photo. Oh and I don't recommend sugar for this tea. Usually I cannot drink coffee or tea without copious amounts of sugar but tundra tea is different, sugar detracts rather than adds to the taste.
I found this blog post by a gal up near the Brooks range mountains who talks a bit more about Labrador and how it is used by Inupiat people in her area. Check out the rest of her blog as well while you're at it. It's worth reading.
~AnnMarie
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Another Man's Treasure
Nome isn't the only option for shopping around here. Another favorite of ours is . . .
the dump.
Honestly people throw away the craziest things.
C.O.'s love of scavenging is rubbing off on our son. Harold manages to find all kinds of useful stuff.
C.O.'s been needing a new tank for his shop and found a perfectly good one just waiting for a good home.
C.O. has come home with all kinds of other wonderful treasures: pots and pans, copper to sell for scrap, lumber, metal for making thing such as this, plumbing fittings and ATV and snowmobile parts.
Normally I'm not too crazy about going to the landfill because of the smell, but since it's getting colder and starting to freeze up, it hardly even stinks.
Certainly can't beat the view from our dump.
". . . all kinds of good stuff dear."
"There's a trailer hitch ball, they're worth $20!"
"The trailer's full, I'll get that on the next trip."
-- Quotes from C.O. during our latest dump run.
the dump.
Honestly people throw away the craziest things.
C.O.'s love of scavenging is rubbing off on our son. Harold manages to find all kinds of useful stuff.
C.O.'s been needing a new tank for his shop and found a perfectly good one just waiting for a good home.
C.O. has come home with all kinds of other wonderful treasures: pots and pans, copper to sell for scrap, lumber, metal for making thing such as this, plumbing fittings and ATV and snowmobile parts.
Normally I'm not too crazy about going to the landfill because of the smell, but since it's getting colder and starting to freeze up, it hardly even stinks.
Certainly can't beat the view from our dump.
". . . all kinds of good stuff dear."
"There's a trailer hitch ball, they're worth $20!"
"The trailer's full, I'll get that on the next trip."
-- Quotes from C.O. during our latest dump run.
~AnnMarie
Saturday, October 1, 2011
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