Vacation is almost here!!

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh, FINALLY!

The day is soon upon us when we, The Kerkan Family, shall take our very first family vacation!We planned this back in June when my husband found out for sure when his vacation days would be, and I can remember thinking this day would surly never come, the day we'd be all packed and on our way to.......DISNEY WORLD! 

We had always said we'd go when our daughter turned 4 and could appreciate the whole experience. Well, she's 3 1/2, so we didn't quite last that long, but still! I believe this is going to be a week of fun and adventures for all involved.It will start tomorrow (or today, since by the time I post this, it will be Friday) with a drive to Pittsburgh to meet up with my husband's parents and little sister. We plan on staying the night and waking up inhumanely early to brave The Strip District and eat at a restaurant that serves an amazing breakfast.
 So good in fact, that it was featured on Man Vs. Food, though the name of the place escapes me as of now.
All I know is that when I heard about it, I couldn't believe that I'd lived in Pittsburgh for 6 years and had never heard of nor been to this fabulous place, but not as surprised and blown away to learn that my husband who lived his ENTIRE life there had never been! Then, sometime in the early afternoon, we will depart on the grueling drive to Florida.I already know this is going to be interesting.
 20 hours in a car with a 3 and 7 year old will be a challenge. But, thanks to Pinterest, I found a few ideas for keeping kids entertained on the road. I just hope they sleep and don't fight for the majority of the ride...is that wishful thinking?This week certainly was a crazy one, with all the packing and cleaning I've done. I feel kind of like Superwoman, but to a slightly lesser degree. I must say, though, nothing feels better than sitting in my spotlessly clean room, on clean sheets, with a fluffy, clean smelling comforter, knowing when I wake up early, I only have a few things to do, and then it's relaxation city!I will admit, however, if it weren't for the fact that different family members will be taking turns spending the night with Grandma and sleeping in our room, it probably wouldn't be this way.I had enlisted the help of  organizing and packing last night from my cousin, Abbey, and when she walked in my room, the first words out of her mouth were, "Oh wow, did you guys decide to decorate your room to look like a crack house?" Ha ha ha!! It was a nightmare.
 I had three suitcases on the floor, the bed was striped down to the mattress because I was washing the bedding, and there were clothes spilling out of every corner, creating an unsightly scene. Good thing I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a complete and total scatter brain, and was going a little crazy running around trying to get things together, and the end result was just...a hot mess!But, it's all good now.
I got everything packed, made lists on my phone (with an awesome app called Cozi!), and even made a really awesome "in the car survival bag", complete with a mini grab bag for rest stops. (containing hand sanitizer, flushable wipes, and a little bag of quarters and dollar bills for my daughter to pick a treat from the vending machines!)So, here's hoping it all goes well!

And as you know, yesterday was Halloween, as well as trick or treating for us. We had a blast!
My daughter dressed up as a Steampunk-esque version of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, a costume that was my brain-child, and was executed quite perfectly by my mother, since I cannot sew to save my life.
I did add on all the little details myself, but without my mom, none of it would have happened.
 Sadly, I didn't get to take many pictures, because by the time we got back, miss Alice was so very tired that she didn't want to pose for me.
She just slumped down in a chair and wanted to change out of her costume and take a nap.
 I did manage to snap a few pictures (though not very good quality, since, afterall, the only camera I have right now is on my iPhone), but REALLYY hope to get a few more, since I love this costume! She got many compliments on it!
In fact, the very first house we went to said she had "the best costume of the entire night!" I guess when you put a lot of effort into actually making something yourself (or having your mom make it, whatever) instead of going out and buying one that EVERYONE and their brother is going to have, people recognize  and appreciate it.
I am a firm believer in non-store bought costumes. Not that I would NEVER buy a costume from the store, but as a kid, my mom always made our costumes, and I just think there's something special about home-made Halloween costumes. 

Miss Alice. Once again, not best quality with lighting, etc. 

When I was still working on adding details...

More details on her gloves and over coat.

All in all, this was pretty simple to make. She already had the fancy blue dress, the turtle neck, and the black sweater we used as her over coat. I bought some brown, leathery looking fabric from Joanns for the pockets, a white lacey tank top from Goodwill for the lace on the collar and her "apron", and a few little Wonderland themed charms/gears/clock faces from Hobby Lobby.
The little top hat was made by my mom out of foam, and I put the details on it (which I didn't get a good picture of yet, but once I do, I'll do another post!) I had originally wanted a little tea cup to be her hat, but had trouble finding something for it. I love the way the hat turned out, though, so no regrets!
As with all the costumes I dream up, there were sooo many more things I would have loved to do, but didn't have the time, and also, a 3 year old could care less about the little details, haha!

Welp, the hour is getting late, and I must be off to the land of sleep. I'll be back later with hopefully more pictures of her costume, and of course of our trip!!
Until then, dream big and drink coffee (or tea!)
~Marinda

Waiting out the storm....

 Well, I never thought living in Northeast Ohio that I'd be waiting out a hurricane, but, Sandy is on her way across the East coast, and her winds are hitting us hard!
I have spent the day frantically running around, trying to squeeze in as much laundry in our just-installed-last-night-washing machine as possible, as well as filling up pitchers and jugs full of water, just in case the power goes out.

Once all the water jugs were full, and the last load
was in the washer, we ate an awesome dinner, and realized half way through that were going to have TONS of spaghetti left over, so we called my parents and invited them down to finish the rest of it. (Leftovers don't often do well at our house. They get shoved into that dark, forgotten corner of the refrigerator and accumulate mold, so if we have a lot, we usually try and share with my parents, since they live right next door.)
There's something about having company for dinner on a cold and rainy day that makes me want to bake, and today was no exception, so what did I do after we cleared the table? Threw together a big ol' loaf of pumpkin bread.
I've probably baked 10 loaves of this stuff since September 1st. I am obsessed with it. This year was the first time I ever attempted it, and let me tell you, it will be a tradition from now on. It's perfect straight out of the oven, with a little bit of ice cream as a dessert, or the next day (and the next) with a cup of coffee for breakfast. And everybody loves pumpkin! (or they hate it, and that...is very sad.)
So tonight, on this gusty, rainy, cold evening, I shall share my super secret pumpkin bread recipe with you that you absolutely could not have found on simplyrecipes.com....

Firstly,pre heat the old oven to 350 degrees. Then, gather all your ingredients. You will need:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 water
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 really cute little girl (or boy) to help out.
(The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, but I never have nuts on hand, so I never make this loaf with nuts. You could also add chocolate chips for an even sweeter take on this loaf, if you want)

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Sing a song whilst doing so. This adds extra magical flavor!Then add eggs, olive oil, water, and pumpkin puree. Take a deep breath in and smell those spices!

 Mix all ingredients together!
Now, take your 9x5x3 loaf/bread/whatever the heck it is pan, and spray it with non-stick cooking spray or butter it to help prevent the loaf from sticking to the pan.
Pour your bowl full of awesomeness into the bread/loaf pan, and stick that puppy into the oven!
You'll want to bake it for about an hour. I usually set the timer for about 50 minutes and check it with a knife or fork to test for done-ness. (If the knife comes out gooey, bake for another 5-10 minutes, if it comes out clean, it's done!)
Now, we wait!
And what do we do while we wait?

Light a delicious smelling candle to alert everyone in the house that you're baking something! Hey, it's gonna be a while until we can smell what we're baking, so why not speed the process along with a decoy smell? 

Start the pellet stove! A cozy fire on a crappy, cold night is never a bad idea!
Dance! Entertain your guests as they await the yumminess in the oven!
Brew a big pot of coffee for everyone. This step is NOT optional. You must brew coffee or at least heat a kettle on the stove for tea to enjoy with the pumpkin loaf. Caffeine is never optional for me. (obviously...)

 Stare at the loaf baking in the oven. Drool over it. Imagine how awesome it's going to taste.
Wish you had a time machine to go forward in time another 30 minutes to when it will be done.
 Ponder time travel and worm holes.

Look up Hurricane Sandy memes online. Try and explain what a meme is to your 62 year old father. 

And FINALLY, after a long time of waiting.....



Pull that baby outta the oven! Wait about 2 minutes, and flip the loaf out of the pan onto a rack or plate, or whatever you want to let it cool. Or don't let it cool and eat it right away. The choice is yours!
(Due to my impatience with this particular loaf, I took it out of the oven a little too soon, and when I flipped it out, the top came out and the bottom stuck to the pan, and well, lets just say it turned into more of a "pumpkin bread pile" and less of a "loaf", hence the reason I don't have a finished product picture to share with you. The way it looks is neither here nor there. It's allll about the way it tastes. And this one? WINNER!)
We paired our pumpkin loaf/mess with caramel heath frozen yogurt and coffee. It was yum!

So, if Sandy doesn't rain on your parade and knock your power out, you can give this a try!
Until next time, stay dry, safe, and full of yummy foods! 
~Marinda

Fall and all

The woods at the edge of our neighbors field. See the moon up there?

So, here's a big surprise:
I. Love.Fall.
I love it! I love all the colors, the smells, and all the Hallmark bull crap that goes along with it!
Pumpkins, wreathes made out of colorful leaves, scented candles from Bath&Bodyworks, Halloween, carving jack-o-lanterns, hayrides, bonfires, trips to the pumpkin patch, the fact that I become the Martha Stewart of the kitchen when it comes to Fall themed baked goods, that I can now layer clothing and wear sweater dresses with thick tights, or leggings as pants with oversized sweaters and boots, etc, etc!
I just love it all.
I have fond memories as a kid, of jumping in leaf piles on chilly Friday afternoons after school, as the sun was starting to set and my father was trying to get the last few piles in our yard, which was set far off the road and into the woods, (so there were PLENTY of leaves) raked before dark. And then running inside to the smell of chili that had been cooking on the stove for dinner, and warm corn bread. I remember anxiously awaiting to light our jack-o-lanterns, that didn't have your typical, run of the mill, faces carved on them, but spooky looking characters from a really awesome carving kit that they only sold in the early 90's (which we still use today, because honestly, the crap patterns they give you now are way too cutesy-pootsy cartoony for my taste!).

My Frankenstein jack this year, from an old pattern my parents had!

In my teenage years, I remember letting the goats out of their pens to run around and eat up all the crunchy, golden leaves on the ground, and laughing as they happily pranced around the yard, free for just a little while to eat until their hearts content.
Then there were my young adult years. Living in Pittsburgh with my friends in a big house just outside the city, dressing as whatever we could come up with and going to Halloween parties that lasted early into the morning. The walks home from the T station, after a long shift at Starbucks (the job that fueled my love of CAFFEINE!), with my favorite version of a pumpkin spice latte in hand, breathing in the smell of the leaves on the little road around me, and missing my home in the woods back in Ohio.

All 6 of the pumpkins we grew!

And now, here I am, back in those woods in Ohio, teaching my daughter to love jumping in the leaves, to listen to the rustling and crunching they make under her feet, and smelling the air. To drink apple cider and get excited about carving pumpkins, and growing pumpkins--which we did this summer, and it turned out quite nice! To have a love as deep for Fall and it's beauty that I may not have fully appreciated until I was older.

 I'm so glad we have the opportunity to be here, where I grew up, even for only a two year stay,  and I can share my love of seasons with her. All seasons, which I think are 10x's more beautiful, here in our woods, than anywhere else.

_________________________________________________________________________________

This was a particularly warm day last week. Full advantage of it was taken!

This was the one...

Yesterday, we spent the day raking and "catching up" on laundry.
I use the term "catching up" loosely, because we are no where near caught up. Our washer broke about 2 weeks ago,(been doing laundry at my parents house, next door) about the same time we were running out of hot water every 2 days because the propane company decided we could wait a week to come fill our tank that was empty.
(Needless to say, Grandma decided to buy an electric water tank so we would never have to worry about that again.)
It was one of those days where I felt like everything was just flowing nicely.
My favorite kind of "be productive" days, which seem to be few and far between for me anymore.
It was one of those, "throw a pork loin in the crock pot, clothes in the washer, dishes in the dish washer, vacuum the floors, while the cookies are baking in the oven, then out to do yard work, multiple-things-are-being-accomplished-at-once" kind of days. I just love it when everything flows and I feel like a master of time management, which I am not, but yesterday, yesterday I WAS!
I was so proud of myself for leaving my phone inside on the charger ALL day, and not getting caught up in the app-trap I often find myself falling victim to (habitually checking all your apps social networking apps for updates).
So, naturally, the one day I don't check my Instagram for 8 hours, what happens?
Oh, just that picture that I tagged with #enjoyingthesmallthings for a chance to have it put on Kelle Hampton's Friday Photo Dump gets chosen, and she comments and asks me if I could email it to her to be featured with the other pictures she liked that day. And I don't get the message until AFTER the blog post goes up.
I was in total shock and disbelief when I saw the comment on my picture. I never thought, of the hundreds of pictures that get tagged a day, that she would like one of mine!! She's a blogging celebrity in my opinion,and I adore all her pictures, and this was like...like a BIG deal to me, haha, and I TOTALLY BLEW IT!
I was shaking so hard from excitement and shock, that I could hardly type!

So, I sent her the picture anyway, hoping that maybe it could be used next week, although, I'm not sure if that's against the rules or not.
I'll be super happy if it is, but of course, there are so many pictures out there to choose from each week, I could understand if it doesn't.
Ah well. I'll just keep taking pictures, and maybe some day, she'll like another one of mine?
Either way, that'll be the last time I don't check up on stuff all day!

 Well, the day is still young, and I have many things to do, including working on a little girls costume for trick-or-treating (and possibly figuring out how to modify it to fit a SNOW SUIT underneath the whole thing...)
as well as a laundry room to paint.
Until next time, keep caffeinated!
~Marinda

Drum Roll.....

Well, I did it. I started a blog. After a year of my husband encouraging me to, "Just start a blog already", here I am!
I caved.
I guess it's taken me so long because I just wasn't sure what I would write about.
Would anyone read it?
Would I post enough to make it worth it?
I'm not one of those "eloquently worded" writers, and my grammar isn't always 100% correct.
Oh, and my spelling? With out spell check, I'm worse than a third grader!
It seems as though everyone has a blog these days, and I'm sure to be just another blog in the sea of blogs.
So, after much thought on the matter, I decided to just do it. Who cares if anyone reads it?
Ok, I might care a little, but I'm doing this for ME.

I recently started going through what some may call a "quarter life crisis." I've been feeling like there's something much bigger than myself that I'm supposed to be accomplishing.
Something a little more than being a mommy and a wife. More than gardening and baking. Even though I LOVE all of those things, I am on a search for something that's different than the everyday. A hobby outside of the home life.
I guess this was all triggered by seeing so many of my friends and former classmates graduating college and/or getting "real" jobs.
You know, like the kind of jobs you used to have to write about as a kid for a school project. A lawyer, doctor, ballet dancer, police officer, business owner, etc. Those kinds of jobs, making real money. And here I am, almost 26, dropped out of college after less than a year, with no trade skills to offer the world, not even a drivers license! (Yes, I know. A 26 year old that doesn't have the ability to drive, and all because I just haven't taken the test yet! No, I NEVER had my license, and let me tell you, depending on other people to go places SUCKS! But, I did live in the city for nearly 4 years and didn't have to worry about driving for a while, so that didn't help motivate me! I'm working on it, though! I know how to operate a vehicle, just a matter of making it legal, haha!)
But, I am a mommy! A full time mom of a wonderful 3 1/2 year old girl, and to tell the truth, that's all I've ever wanted to be! I'd just like to add something more to my "life resume", if you will.
Still searching for what, exactly, it will be.
I know one thing I've always wanted to do, is to inspire people. Deeply inspire them, in some way. Whether it be from a picture I take, a poem I write, advice I give, or in some other magical way, to create a spark inside someone.
Who knows?
Maybe I will!

Cheers, and goodnight!
~Marinda