Parsons' on scooter vs. car.... part two

It seems that Jesse and I should not ride scooters anymore. On monday morning a woman driving a black SUV decided to run a stop sign at 9th and Girard, causing my dear husband to collide with her. After two days in the hospital, three staples in his head, and lots or cat-scans and ex-rays, I finally got to bring him home last night around 5:00. There is quite a large blood stain on the road if you care to see it. I might write more details at some point.

I feel sick....

Sick might be an understatement. My brother is out of control. He has no job, no place to live, no friends, is satanic, and is now using crystal meth again. Not only using it, but selling it. Because he has no place to live, my mom feels as though she has to let him stay with her, but has informed him that if he lives with her he cannot do, or deal, drugs. It has only been one night, and she already had to tell him to leave because he was treating her so horribly. He then called my grandmother with the sob story of how my mom kicked him out, and she aggreed to let him stay there. None of these words are even doing the situation justice. I am worried about the safety of my mom, my sister, and my grandmother. I do not even care what happens to Alex at this point. I do not even know him anymore. He is 23 years old and we have been going through this for ten years. I do not understand how much longer this can go on for. I am at the end of my rope, and I am 3000 miles away. How will the rest of my family get through this?

Fall Is Here!

and I am so pumped. To welcome it on Monday, I made a moroccan stew and cornbread, yum. Tuesday I spent the day in the 'burbs with Carina and Michael Henneghan, where we made a stop at a local farm! I picked up some mums and decorative gourds, which I had been wanting so bad. It was the perfect start to my favorite season.
This morning I went to the oral surgeon, because I really need to have my wisdom teeth removed. After waiting more than an hour to see this dude, I find out that my teeth are impacted, which is a good thing. I do not have dental insurance, but my health insurance said they would cover it if the teeth were impacted. This is all good news. Then I find out more good news: it is going to cost me a total of $60, not the $575 I though it was going to be! WOOHOO! It is a long story, but the end result is amazing, especially since I am currently unemployed.
Speaking of being unemployed, it is so boring! I have begun the search for a part time job, because I need something to do.

Elliott Ryan Parsons

It has been a while since my last post, but this is def worth posting. I watched my nephew enter this world, yesterday at noon. Elliott was 8.8 lbs and 22 inches long! He was also posterior, which slowed things down a bit, but she got him out just fine. My sister-in-law Miranda (Jesse's brother's wife) was so amazing throughout her extremely long labor. I acted as her sister, and as her doula. I am so blessed to have been there....

Making Things

This weekend was spent well, equal amounts of productivity and fun. Friday I had breakfast with Marlee and Bess, to celebrate Marlee's birthday. After that, Bess went with me to get tattooed by Luke. It came out awesome, and I was reminded how I am much more of a baby about the healing process than I am about getting the tattoo. Then I took the tootsie to the vet, which she hated. Jesse and I made dinner, and then went to get ice cream from Franklin Fountain and see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Franklin Square Park. 

Saturday morning we headed up a work day at the new Circle Thrift, and got a lot of work done in a short amount of time. We went home, relaxed, finished the rocking chair we have been working on, and then met up with a crew at FDR Park for an evening picnic and hang out. The evening ended with Franklin Fountain..... again! It does not get much better than that.

Sunday was spent enjoying the storm, making yogurt, making tomato sauce, jarring the tomato sauce, watching olympics, watching Fargo (which Jesse had never seen), repotting house plants, and going to PM. Jarring went really well. Thank God for Jesse, I have no patience and would not get anything done without him. 

I need to post pictures of several of the above mentioned, which I will try and do tomorrow. The weather was so amazing all weekend, and I am loving today's overcast 75 degree weather. Fall will be here before we know it, and I cannot wait.

"Life Is Beautiful"

I have been listening to Ryan Adams on the way to work in the morning, and boy oh boy what a wonderful way to start the day. He is so rockin', but so peaceful. I love this song so much....

"Life Is Beautiful"

You plant a rose
And if the rose comes up
You're thankful to God
And when it doesn't you cuss him
You raise a child
And when the child grows up
You got to learn to let go
If you can't learn to love him
But, oh, what a beautiful thing when you sing
Hear all them bells ringing out in the street
Hammer strikes the metal and it makes me believe
'Cause if I don't believe in love
Then I don't believe in you
And I do

Now I'm not saying only bad news comes
For the people who want it
But you gotta play that music for who's listening
You got to have someone you wanna sing it to
Oh, what a beautiful thing when you sing
Hear all them bells ringing out in the street
Blue sky cracking and it makes me believe
Oh, hear all them bells ringing out in the street
Hammer strikes the metal and it makes me believe
'Cause if I don't believe in love
Then I don't believe in you
And I do

Close my eyes, see the glorious sunset
Through the windows of a store and I want it
Anyway, if I ever felt haunted
You were there for me
These angry people who are waiting to judge you
Have their own judgment that they'll have live up to
Open your mouth
And if nothing come through
Remember
You're the one that sings
And it's a gift
And life's a beautiful thing
Oh, don't waste it doll
You build a house and if the house comes up
You gotta work on that house
If you want to make it your home
'Cause everything inside that's not something you own
Is what you're taking with you
On the day that you go
And oh, what a beautiful world when we sing
Hear all them bells ringing out in the street
Hammer strikes the metal and it makes me believe
Hear all them bells ringing out in the street
Oh, hammer strikes the metal and it makes me believe
'Cause if I don't believe in love
Then I don't believe in you
And I do

Cannot think of a title....

Jesse makes seitan from scratch, which he did on Sunday night, and then made chicken fried seitan for dinner last night! When I got home I made the mashed potatoes and a vegetarian white gravy, and Jesse finished by making the zucchini. It was an amazing dinner!



Here is the quilt that I made, which I gave to Miranda at her baby shower on Saturday. I called it the one week quilt, I made it last week, the week from hell. It is not very good for me to work on projects like this during mental breakdowns, but I did it anyway.



I just email Luke White about getting tattooed on Friday. It has been a long time since I have had any work done, so I am super excited and super nervous. I am getting a dad tattoo, in the ditch of my right leg. If anything is worth going through that much pain, it is a dad tattoo.

Feeling Better

It has been a week since my last post, and boy what a week. It sucked to say the least. I was pmsing, depressed, curled up in pain from a bladder infection, and feeling like I could not catch a break. When I get in those funks, it is literally impossible for me to get out them, I just have to wait it out. What makes it even worse is that Jesse has to deal with it, which he does very graciously by the way. It is always hormone related, which is hard, because there is nothing I can do about it. As J-Mal would say, life man. Anyway, I woke up Sunday morning feel 100% better. 

It is almost August, and we have not gone to a water park yet. Maybe this weekend? Who is in?

Weekend Fun

We spent the weekend doing this.....


And this......


Saturday we relaxed, and did things we have been wanting to do for a while. I did some cooking and worked on my quilt, while Jesse worked on the scooter that has not been running. As you can see, he had to do this in the house. After looking at some diagrams he figured out what was broken, took the part he needed out of the working scooter, and put it in the broken scooter to make sure that was the problem. Sure enough, the broken one started right up! He is so good at figuring things out, it blows my mind. So now we just need to order the part, and we will have two working scooters again.
Sunday we went to the shore with Bess and Matt. It was Matt's birthday, and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately we returned home to find Matt's car, with a slashed tire. Happy Birthday! I do not understand pointless shit like that, it makes me really mad at the world.

Do not let it go to waste

I am a big girl, I figured out how to post pictures.....

Dessert from last night: chocolate beet cake! Do not be afraid, you cannot even taste the beets. They add fiber, and make it super m-o-i-s-t.

These yellow squash were the first things I got to pick from my garden!

This was last night's dinner. It does not look so appealing, but it was fun and delicious. Sometimes I have random things that are about to go bad, and in times like that I must get creative. First I made fresh pico de gallo with tomatoes that were getting soft. We had this head of bib lettuce that needed to get used, so I decided to make wraps with them. The last thing that needed to get used was some cabbage, so I sauteed it and added salt, pepper, and cumin. That plate of mush that you see is the cabbage, refried beans, and brown rice. Put all of that, some of the pico de gallo, and sour cream into a piece of lettuce, and you have yourself a wrap. I would also like to mention the mermaid bottle opener that you see on the table. My dear friend Lindsay sent that gift to me in the mail randomly a while ago, and it is so cute.

Thank You

Lana! If I knew how to make a link, I would link her blog right now.  She made mine super cute.

Exciting x's 5

I have a few things that I am pretty pumped on right now.....

1. The quilt that I am starting for my soon to be niece or nephew. Jesse's brother and his wife Miranda are expecting their first child, and the sex is a surprise. The baby shower is next Saturday, and I am hoping to get it done by then. When I say I am starting it, I mean I have not started yet, but I am going to as soon as I am done with this post. 

2. I am going to be Miranda's doula. This will be my second birth, and  I imagine it is going to be amazing to help someone that I am close with. If you or anyone you know is pregnant, let me know, because I really want to do more births.

3. I am going to start canning! Lana and I were blown away by how big my four tomato plants were the other day, and there is going to be way more tomatoes than I know what to do with. So, I am going to make tomato sauce, salsa, and anything else that I can think of with all those tomatoes, and then can it for the winter months! Other than getting jars, I have to buy a pressure canner...... they are not cheap, but I think I will make back my money in one season.

4. Mallory is back in town!

5. Bess is back from what seemed like the longest vacation ever.

Screwdriver

Earlier today I was tightening a curtain rod with a phillip's head. Seeing as how a curtain rod is almost beyond my reach, I was on my tip toes and struggling. As I was finishing, I dropped the screwdriver, and on its way down it stabbed me right in the middle of my forehead. Now there is a big bump, and a cut that is the shape of a star. Jesse got a good laugh out of it.

Number Two

So, how do I "get friends" on this thing? When I go to other blogs, they have a list of links to their friend's blogs. Help please.

Jesse and I joined a CSA this year, which has been absolutely amazing. We pick up fruit and veggies every other Thursday, and I anticipate it like a child anticipates going to Disneyland. Yesterday we got romaine lettuce, bib lettuce, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beets, onions, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and cherries. 

For dinner last night we had mexican oven zucchini fries, and spaghetti with a hearty sauce. I took a jar of pasta sauce, and added some fresh chopped tomatoes, tvp, veggie stock, sauteed beet greens, and more spices, then put it on whole wheat spaghetti. For the fries I just cut the zucchini into strips, tossed them with olive oil, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, then baked them at 450 for about 20 min.

Cooking makes me really happy. Especially cooking with locally grown, organic, fresh, beautiful things. Maybe I will continue to write about our dinners.

Number One

I guess I just started a blog.