Wordless Wednesday

Lefse Fest 2009!

I began the preparations for Lefse Fest with extreme trepidation.
I had concerns you see.....because I decided to try a new recipe.

I had to shield my eyes, from the hand written recipe....made out by my Grandma Ekern.
With her cute smiley face at the end, and the word AMEN! written nice and big.

It was not out of disrespect, but I guess a decision that is matching my overall mood.
Nothing is the same. Everything is different.
Lots of things are sad.
What is REALLY important?
What isn't??
What matters?
Lefse recipe? Let's try a new one.

And we did!
I was scared, that the angry viking members of my heritage would strike me down for abandoning the family recipe....but that didn't happen!

Making it every year is something I look forward to...because it is something I do with my dear friend Maggie. Maggie and I are friends from college, we worked at Roses R Read together and have made Lefse Fest a regular tradition. One thing that I had forgotten about traditions is that they are such a great time for reflection. Looking back to last year, I was thinking about how Maggie and I both had long hair, how Finn was just kind of toddling around, and where I was at that point in time.


It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.
This year we added heavy cream and butter.
Yum.
Refrigerated the dough overnight.
And kept the rolled out balls refrigerated as we cooked some..seemed to keep them from getting too sticky.

For whatever reason....it was easier to work with. We cranked it out like naturals. Check out the size and perfect round shape of THIS one!

Finnegan was helping out by taste testing, but actually stayed out of our way most of the day!

We baked over 55 pieces and wrapped them up with delight. And oooohhh man, when you eat that last piece, and you watch the melted butter seep into it, and you roll it up and sink your teeth into it, it's a tradition you look forward to, year after year.

Santa

Does "Knucks" now.....



Awesome.

Live from the field - an EMERGENCY

So tonight I bring you some action blogging, complete with iPhone photos.

So there is this new creature in our lives...his name is Cheers.
He's an elf.
He is an awesome elf, that came with an awesome book and he is single handed-ly persuading Finn into a 1st class model citizen, based completely on his arresting manner.

You see! Cheers (named by Finn) is a Santa spy......at night he high tails it for the North Pole to check in with Santa, doing the usual naughty or nice reporting. And then in the morning when Finny wakes up! Cheers can be found in a NEW location in the house.

Well! I must say that Cheers, just tonight has overseen Finn picking up ALL his toys, eating a HUGE dinner (usually an enormous feat) and handing out LOTS of extra please, thank you's and some additional hugs and kisses. And it's SO darn cute, because after he knows he's done something well...he glances up at Cheers outta the corner of his wee little brown eye.

So TONIGHT! When Finn gobbled down the delicious dinner Nick made us......he wanted a treat! Pretty standard in our house....since dinner time can be rough. Finn gets a treat when he eats a good dinner. SO....good dinner! Good manners, good consumption.....Finn is giving Cheers the thumbs up...."Mama! Get a Treat!"

So I start looking. If you know Nick you know he has a MAJOR weakness for sweets. That is why we don't have any in our house. I am digging through cupboards, checking shelves, freezer for some summertime leftover ice cream sandwiches.....NOTHING.

And then I remember this:
Given to me by dear friend Kresha...I had been hiding it away from NICK for my own chocolate emergency and it ended up that Finn needed it more than I. So we cracked it open, and the emergency chocolate bar SAVED the night.


This is Mama Keaty, reporting live from the kitchen in somewhere Hyde Park, Chicago, Il
Good night.

We Share A Love of Music

December is the anniversary month of my enlistment in the military. This is my 14th year of playing the saxophone for the US ARMY. It is always hard leaving Nick and Finn for my monthly drills, so I thought this month I would surprise Finn by bringing my saxophone home to show him.
He was PUMPED.....immediately telling me to "put it together Mama!"


His arms aren't quite long enough to reach the keys while his yap is on the mouthpiece, but I am sure soon enough they will be. He loved breathing/humming into it and also listening to me play rousing editions of British Eighth, On Wisconsin, and the Beer Barrel Polka. I am sure our neighbor upstairs was THRILLED. The dog maintained a safe distance...


The other day when he was at Open Books with me, Kevin, our store manager was playing a jazz album through the store's sound system. Finn stopped and said "MAMA! Listen!! (pointing to his ears) SAXOPHONE!" and then "I'm gonna find it Mama!"

Poor guy was running up and down the rows of shelves looking for the saxophone. It became pretty clear that it was going to be tough to explain to Finn how the music was actually an mP3 file....put onto an iPod, playing through speakers....etc! So we quickly gave up our search.

But I will say that I was PRETTY proud that he can pick out the sound of the instrument I have been playing since I was in 5th grade. I wonder if Finn will want to play one someday...only time will tell!

Inspiration

If you are struggling to get in the Holiday spirit this year like I am, you too might be searching for inspiration.

I LOVE getting Holiday cards, but always find myself scrambling to figure out what to do for our own! I always have grand ideas in my head of these beautiful works of art, that I never seem to get the time to create.

Take a look at these beauties.......

Thanks to the Smithsonian web site for sharing these Artists' Homemade Christmas Cards.

I especially like this one....
How are you, my dear readers getting the spirit?

Open Books is OPEN

You may have already read about the opening here, and here...
But I know that I need to also share some of my thoughts about the Grand Opening!


As I said in my little speech at the Friday night party....words are hard to come by in describing what this milestone means to me.

I have been working on Open Books for 3 1/2 years. It has been absolutely a labor of love.
I have watched it grow from 2 women in a basement, to where we are today! 9 full time staff members, an army of interns, 2,300 volunteers/supporters, over 300,000 books collected and this beautiful store, here NOW, not sometime, unknown. NOW. It's here. It has finally arrived.

I think Emily's description (while way too flattering) comparing me to the night of my wedding is very accurate. At many moments during the planning I compared the process to planning my wedding. The invites! The guests! The food! The moment your heart stops because you don't think the photo slideshow is going to work! The dress! (which it deserves to be mentioned, that I have ALWAYS said, that if and WHEN we open this damn store, I am going to Anthropologie, my favorite store of all time, and buying a brand new dress, not even on clearance. And that is exactly. what. I. did.)

But more than the dress, the food, the guests, what made it feel most like my wedding night was that I was marking a moment in my life that I will never forget, because it was a moment in time completely dedicated to things I LOVE! (Yes, just like my love for Nick...)

My love of books
My love for the journey and process of starting an organization.
My love of the amazing working relationship I've been fortunate to have with Stacy, our founder.
My love for all of the amazing people I've met along the way, partners, interns, some of them have become my closest friends!
My love for such an IMPORTANT cause.

I don't think I stopped smiling the entire night Friday night.
I will soon share some of my favorite photos from the evening (besides all the GORGEOUS one's emily took) that were taken by a lovely woman, who donated her talented eye for the evening.

To be surrounded by people you love, your friends, family, and something you've worked so hard for......it is difficult to top.

The weekend was also wonderful, marked SO special by a surprise visit from Nate & Greta who once again shocked me with their AMAZING gift of time and support. Having you both there means more than you'll ever know.


Another very special part of the weekend was sharing Open Books with my family. Nick and Finn.

I remember telling Stacy Ratner, about 3 or 4 months into the Open Books project that I was pregnant. I remember my belly swelling....and growing...and finally becoming a pretty handy place to rest a book. I remember thinking, my kids will grow up in this bookstore. My kids, hopefully, when they talk about their lives will say, "Yeah! So my mom helped start this bookstore, I spent a lot of time there growing up, it was awesome! And that is why I love reading so much and am a super successful (fill in the blank)" :)


Seeing Finn, red balloon attached at the hip...running through the store, yanking books off shelves, talking on the podcast, "how do we get there?!" witnessing our first puppet show, and author events, taking it all in....was very special. Sharing it with Nick, who has helped out in so many ways throughout the years, always LISTENING to the struggles, and triumphs, encouraging me, taking SUCH good care of Finn as I put in some REALLY long hours.....never once complaining. He has been so wonderful and supportive and I hope he knows how much I appreciate him.

I know I have read, heard, seen on TV/Movies, that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Well....if that is the truth, this weekend is going to be in that flash.

Thank you to all of you that came, celebrated with me, have been there to listen, have donated books, have picked up books, volunteered, sent me a card, supported Open Books financially, stocked my house with food, sent flowers, helped out with Finn, care about literacy, THANK YOU!

I cannot WAIT to see what the next chapter of Open Books will be.

Our Little Drummer Boy

So I get home from work tonight....and THIS is what I find set up in our kitchen:


This story actually begins almost two years, when my Grandpa Ekern bought Finnegan a drum set for Christmas. It was so cute this gift. And I'll never forget hearing my Grandpa whisper to Finn as we left the room..."I probably won't be here to see you playing these, but I'll be listening."
.

Well Grandpa! These beats are for you! I know you're listening.

BIG Buck, BIG News!

I admit that I am little afraid that this blog is starting to look like the Cabela's web site.....
BUT!
In the spirit of all this talk about deer hunting.....
CHECK out the beauty my dad got.
(Yes, that's right the deer in the previous photos I believe was shot by my dad's FRIEND Todd)

Here is the prize my dad got last night. Biggest one he's ever shot apparently, weighing in at OVER 200 lbs. My dad said, and I quote:

"We could have REALLY used Nick, (to help with the dragging) the buck's last act of defiance was to of course head straight downhill into one of the nastiest spots Vernon County has to offer!!"

WAY TO GO DAD! ;)

Also in other BIG BIG news......(DRUM ROLL)
Nick got his letter from the Chicago Fire Department today!

After taking the test 3 YEARS ago, and passing with around 16,999 others, his number has been called up!
What does this mean?
It means that on Friday he will hand deliver a note card stating that he is still indeed interested in being a candidate.
Then the tests and hoop jumping begins!
He will have to take a physical fitness test.
A medical health exam, and submit a TON of paperwork.
The process takes about 4-6 months.
Once he flies over all of those hurdles, he'll start The Academy!
That's when he'll start getting PAID! :) and working full time, training to become a firefighter. That program takes 6 months.
And then once he graduates for the academy he'll be a real live Chicago Firemen.

This has been a LONG time coming, and I'm so excited (and nervous!) to see what this opportunity will bring.
I think Nick's brains, his slow to anger, calm presence and of course his BRAWN will make him the perfect fireman. CFD would be LUCKY to have him.

CHEESEBURGER!

Hello blog readers!
Trying to get back at it :)
Nick and I took Finnegan Trick or Treating and he loved it.
We went out to Beverly with Nana and Papa and Erin, and had a blast.
Here are a few pictures of our very own cheeseburger.


Why a cheeseburger?
Because it is Finn's FAVORITE food. If you ask him, really at any time of day, what he'd like to eat, he says, "Cheeseburger, French Fries, Milkshake". It typically sounds like one word.
So when we saw this adorable get-up in the Pottery Barn catalog, it was a must-get.

He LOVED all of the candy. He ate so much chocolate... he had Smarties, a Blow-Pop, SO so much. He even barfed a little bit at the end of the night. Poor guy. What a glutton :)



And then after a long trek through the neighborhood, gathering up candy, visiting friends and family, Finn was pooped. Here is a great shot I got of him relaxing.

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend.
More pictures and a new post coming TOMORROW!

One Love

I am sure that everyone that reads my blog knows that the last week has been one of extreme sadness for my family.

Losing someone, shockingly, unexpectedly is heartbreaking.
But I think that more than ever, I realize the importance of family and loving one another.
Witnessing the loss of love is also something that just cannot be described.
It has changed me forever, and everyday I am looking at things, people, the world in a new light.

Thought I would share this video with you all. I think it is so special.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "One Love" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

More!

It's the least I can do....
Here are a few pictures I took of Finnegan today at the Lincoln Park Zoo....

Pictures of Finn

That's all I got for you.
Those that are still checking in on me.
I am not even going to start making promises for more this time.
I need to survive the next 6 weeks.
If I can do that!
Then we shall see.
I would think that blogging SHOULD be more therapeutic, maybe it will be....to get me through this stressful time.
But I'm not promising anything!
For now....
Pics of the Finn :)

Things I Found on a Beach

Today was beautiful in Chicago.
We went to the beach.
There are things you expect to find on the beach.
Like seagull feathers.
There are things you are sad to find. Like many many butterfly corpses. Beautiful still.

And I guess, sadly, you might expect to find some trash.
BUT you probably would never guess that you would see this....

Yes that is a whole ear of corn. Found washed up on a beach.
I love how random life can be.