Friday Randomness

Crazy week!  But  filled with good things.

Went to Ft. Worth to hug on a baby.  Little B was smitten with her new cousin, Isabel.  She fussed all over her the entire time we were there.  It was cute... until she realized that Baby Isabel was not coming home with us.  That made for a very long 3 hour drive back home.  Whew... I think I still have a nervous tick from that drive.

Breakfast date with my friend, Pansy, to celebrate her birthday.  Sitting in PJs, homemade cinnamon rolls, coffee, kids running wild = perfect.  It is a top tier friend that you can sit around with crazy-ass bed head and still feel all sassy-like while your toddler picks her nose and you don't even care.  Pansy, you are one in a million.

A few days chilling in New Braunfels with the parents.  David is building a beautiful custom house for one of his clients down here. So it makes his commute pretty nice compared to that drive from Austin.

I have finally figured out 2 eggplant recipes that I actually like - Fried eggplant and baba ganoush.  These recipe discoveries are good considering how much I really hated eggplant and that we currently have a lot of it. Fried eggplant... do I really need to explain that?  It is fried.  Fried = Delicious.  The baba ganoush recipe came from this cookbook - The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl . I love the Pioneer Woman so much.  And by love I mean that I want to move next door to her and be that neighbor that drops in from time to time to have great conversation and eat amazing food.  Any woman that can convert me from an official eggplant hater to an eggplant lover liker should get some sort of trophy or something. The recipe for the cinnamon rolls also came from her. Yes, I have a serious girl crush. You should check out her cookbook. You'll be crushing too.

Started this workout routine the other day... ChaLEAN EXTREME Workout DVD Program: Burn Fat, Boost Your Metabolism & Get Lean Yeh, it is pretty much kicking my butt... or more specifically my arms and pecs.  I can barely open the fridge.  It hurts so bad but in such an oh so good way. And the best part is that it is efficient. I think the longest workout is 45 minutes. I can do that during naptime! Perfect.

Speaking of working out... I miss running.  It is just too dang hot.  And I don't do treadmills.  I feel like a mouse on one of those mouse cage/running things.  I am ready for this summer to be done.  I am ready for jeans weather and afternoon playground trips and drinking hot coffee on the back porch without breaking a sweat.

Whew.. I can't end on that note.  That is just too depressing.  What else?  Something fun?... Oh yes!  My girls are coming in town in a week.  I live for these kinds of weekends.  There are 6 of us that have been friends since I started this book club back in 2005 or so.  Well, actually I have known all of them for longer than that.  But they all became friends when I pulled together this book club. I love it when we get together.  We are all so different, but that is what makes us work.  We celebrate our quirks and admire each other for our differences. That weekend is going to be awesome.  Just what I need.

Happy Weekend!!!

What did you love about this week??

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Hit me with a hurricane

For those of yall that aren't from around here (Texas), let me fill you in on a little problem we are having down here.  And by little, I mean HUGE. 

For at least the past 3 years, Texas has been in a wicked, wicked drought.  It is worse than anything I have experienced in my lifetime.  Wells are going dry.  Crops are dying.  Everything is brown.  Everyone is on extreme water rations.  Summers are unbearable.  Triple digit heat used to be only in August.  Now it goes from May to September.  Morale is pretty low as it is affecting everyone. 

It is crazy to me that my little girl has never experienced a full blown Texas-style thunderstorm in her life... and she will be 2 in September.  And let me tell you, there are very few things to do comfortably with a toddler when it gets this hot. We are all experiencing some severe cabin fever.

In Austin, all of the lake boat ramps, except one, are closed due to lack of water.  And this is a city that loves its lakes.

The weatherman likes to joke that it would take 3-4 hurricanes sitting directly on top of Texas and camping out for a week to bring us back up to normal water levels.

And now as an answer to many collective prayers, we may just get our wish in the form of Tropical Storm Don.  We are hoping that Don likes Texas so much that he will tell all of his friends and they will want to come for a visit too.  Here's hoping! 

So in an effort to lure Don to Texas, everyone make a lot of outdoor plans this weekend.  Isn't that how this stuff usually works anyways? Weather always comes when you don't want it to.  And if anyone knows about good rain dances, let's do some of those too just for good measure.

I promise you that if rain starts falling from the sky, there will be a lot of deliriously happy people outside dancing in it... and I will for sure be one of them.

So everyone... repeat after me, "HIT ME WITH A HURRICANE!"

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Midnight in Paris

Have yall seen this movie yet?  Midnight in Paris.

I saw it weeks ago, but I can not stop thinking about it.  Usually Woody Allen is very hit or miss with me.  But I loved this movie.  Paris, books, writing, the 20s... so many of my favorite things!

I love how the theme is about what era you were meant for.  Sometimes I think that I missed my era.  I would be better in an era where fair skin is more appreciated.  I think I would have done well in the 20s.

If you could live in any time period, which one would you choose and why?

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Oldies, but goodies

Today, I was looking back through some old posts to find a certain photo that I needed for a project.  As I was perusing the archives, I came across some posts that I had forgotten about.

Some made me laugh because they are so ridiculous in only a way that someone with my same sense of humor would appreciate.  Others made me proud of what I have accomplished in my everyday life.  And many of them made me smile as I see how little Little B used to be and how far I have come as a mom.

So bear with me today, as I post about some oldies, but goodies... a little trip down memory lane.  These have been a few of my favorite posts from the past two years.

Hear, Hear to Forts!

Girl Scout Cookie Ground Rules

A Good One

The Lost Art of Mixed Tape CDs

What Motherhood Has Taught Me

The Quest for a Family Photo

One Year Ago

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The Red Wall

For those of yall that have been following this blog for a while, you may have noticed the red wall in the background.  I love my red wall.  It breaks up the constant beige through out the rest of the open area.  However, I am getting kind of tired of it.  This wall has been red for over 5 years.

I am in the mood for something new.  But the question is what.  What color should that wall be painted? Maybe a sage green?  Maybe something in the blue family? I don't know!

Suggestions anyone?  My absolute vetoes would be orange, pink, or yellow.  I can't paint the wall a color that I look horrible in.  You understand.

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Happenings

Lots going on these past few weeks.  It has been a blur of road trips, popsicles, friends, cooking, lounging by the pool, and other crazy fun.

Our past few weeks in photos...

:: Popsicles on hot days... the best!

:: Strawberry Vanilla Jam

:: Playing dress up with friends

:: Of all the new toys at our friend's house, the stairs were her favorite.  Go figure.

:: I opened my Etsy shop this week AND had my first sale!!! I am feeling very full of myself.

:: This girl would permanently live in the pool if I let her.

:: Between our garden, my mom's garden, and the CSA, we are swimming in vegetables.  Our pantry and freezer are fully stocked with salsa, peach butter, pickles, pickled okra, peaches, zucchini, jalapenos, and an assortment of breads.  I love this time of year!

:: fascinating wild life watching - the lawnmower guys!



And the fun isn't ending yet.  The rest of July and August are busting at the seams with more happenings.  We are cramming as much summer goodness into these hot days as we can!

  

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I am about to put Blogger in time out

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Slashing the grocery bill

I am on a mad quest to slash our grocery bill.

In the past, we have easily spent over $100 a week on groceries.  That is too much for 2 adults and a toddler.  Though in our defense, our toddler can probably out eat most adults I know.  But still, we can do better.

My strategy to get us to a smaller bill includes...

• We meal plan. This has helped us more than anything else.  We cook smarter. And there are less mad dashes to the store.

• We make our own yogurt. So much less expensive! You can read more about that here.

• We joined a CSA.  At first, this may seem more costly. But when you break it down, it really isn't.  We eat a lot more vegetables and a lot less junk.  Plus we also split it with our neighbor.

• We make our own bread.  I have actually gotten lazy on this one and need to start back up.  But this just makes sense to me when you look at not only the price, but also what is actually in store bought bread.  I want ingredients that I can pronounce.

• I make a grocery list.  And I stick to it.  It is based off of the meal plan that I created for the week.

• We have a garden in the backyard.  There is an initial investment to get it set up and to get seeds/plants.  But once that is done, the payback in awesome!  I don't buy salsa... because I make it from the garden.  And it tastes 10x better than anything store bought.

• We make our own jams and salsa.  With stuff that we get from the garden and the CSA, we have to do something with the bumper crops.  And when the good jam costs $2-$3 a jar, that adds up.

• We make granola at home.  It tastes better and makes your house smell delicious.  And because of it, we do not buy cereal (with the exception of Cheerios for Little B).  Cereal is ridiculously expensive when you think about how much food you actually get for the money.

• I make our own laundry powder. You can read more about that here.

• I try to substitute with things we already have.  If a recipe calls for sour cream, I substitute with our plain homemade yogurt.  This practice works for a lot of stuff.  Pecorino instead of Parmesan.  Basil instead of sage.

• I only buy meat when it is on sale.  And when it is on sale, we buy a lot and freeze it.

• We make our own bread crumbs.  No use paying the stores for overpriced stale bread.  I have a bag in the freezer that I add stale bread to.  And when it gets full, I run it through the food processor and Voila... bread crumbs.  

• We have developed staples.  You will always find canned beans (we like black and Northern), pasta, flour, and spaghetti sauce in our pantry.  These staples are good when I have a mish-mash of fresh stuff that need to be used up.

• I do not buy baby-specific food.  Babies do not need special food.  They can eat the same things the parents do.  Baby food is like wedding stuff.  Once the word "baby" is added on to something, the price doubles.

• I am going to try to limit our grocery visits to once every 2 weeks.  Right now we do at least once a week.  My theory is that less trips to the store will mean less purchases.

Now with all of that said, I do have my areas of failure.  When I want to indulge, I don't want to buy shoes, jewelry, or a fancy bag.  Nope.  I want to buy Nutella, fancy cheeses, good wine, sparkling water, avocados, olives, and smoked paprika.  But I committed to this challenge.  So if it does not fit in the budget, then they will be put back on the shelf. 


My goal is to get us down to $75 per week.  I would love to get us down to $50, but that seems unrealistic until we can cross diapers off the list.  But I figure if we can at least get down to $75, then that is a savings of $25 per week/$100 per month!

Are you on your own quest to slash your grocery bills? Tell me all about it! I'd love the advice . . . and just knowing we're not the only ones out there embarrassed at how much we spend. So, leave a comment and let me know how you do it.

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Hunger Games Motion Poster and Release Date

Make sure your sound is turned on to get the full effect.

 

I think a girlish squeal just came out of my mouth!!!  

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Cookbook Craze

Two cookbooks that I had reserved at the library have finally come through... so I am cookbook heaven with these two beauties - The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen and A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table.

So far I am loving both of these books for the recipes of course, but also the stories.  The authors have fascinating lives and there is usually a story behind each recipe.  I love that.

Now, the downside of being cookbook heaven is that it makes me very hungry.  I have been thinking about the Farm Chick's Enchilada Soup all day!

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Meal Planning Monday

This post is going to be short and sweet as we are still in middle of crazy, fun busy-ness.

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• Monday: Sausage, baba ghanoush, and green salad
• Tuesday: Date Night to go see Harry Potter!
• Wednesday: Turkey sliders and Caprese salad
• Thursday: Pork chops, baked beans and salad
• Friday: Spanakopita and grilled squash goat cheese roll ups

Do you have your own version of Meal Planning Mondays? If so, I would love to read about it. Please share a link to your menu in a comment. I love a little recipe inspiration!

Be back soon!

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diy: chicken wire hair bow holder

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I am on a hair-bow-making-crazy-spree these past few weeks.  And as these hair bows began multiplying and taking over my dining room table, I quickly realized that if I ever wanted to sit down and eat a normal dinner at the table again, then I needed some place to store all these hair bows.

At first I put them in a glass container, but they became all smushed and you had to dig to the bottom just to get one out.  I needed a plan B.  I dug through the shed to see what assortment of materials I had - chicken wire, a wood frame board, and yellow paint.  Perfect!

First I cut down the frame board into 4 pieces and glued them together in order to make a rectangular shape.  If you have an old picture frame, that would work well too.  I just used what I had on hand.

I stapled chicken wire to the back of the boards.  Very simple.  Then I painted it bright yellow.  I love the pop of color.

Here it is hanging in Little B's room.  I think it looks great, especially against the blue wall.

Sorry for the blurriness of some of these photos.  I had to work fast as my assistant is a bit handsy!

Easy, affordable, practical and I think it looks really cute without being too frou-frou.

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Cuff her and cuff her little tomatoes too!

I can not believe this article I just read.  I am fuming and it did not even happen to me.

Some lady in Michigan is being charged a misdemeanor for having her vegetable garden in her front yard.  Apparently her neighbors think it is an eye sore and against code violation. 

Their front yard was torn up after replacing a sewer line, so instead of replacing the dirt with grass, one Oak Park woman put in a vegetable garden and now the city is seeing green.

The list goes on: fresh basil, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cumbers and more all filling five large planter boxes that fill the Bass family’s front yard.

Julie Bass says, “We thought we’re minding our own business, doing something not ostentatious and certainly not obnoxious or nothing that is a blight on the neighborhood, so we didn’t think people would care very much.”

But some cared very much and called the city. The city then sent out code enforcement.
“They warned us at first that we had to move the vegetables from the front, that no vegetables were allowed in the front yard. We didn’t move them because we didn’t think we were doing anything wrong, even according to city code we didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. So they ticketed us and charged me with a misdemeanor,” Bass said . . .

City code says that all unpaved portions of the site shall be planted with grass or ground cover or shrubbery or other suitable live plant material. Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are what Basses see as suitable.

However, Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski says the city disagrees. He says, “If you look at the dictionary, suitable means common. You can look all throughout the city and you’ll never find another vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard.”

Unbelievable!  Someone get Michelle Obama on the phone!  Does Jamie Oliver make house calls?  Have these people ever tasted a fresh tomato? What is our nation coming to when someone is not allowed to grow vegetables in their yard, but instead is forced to have water-sucking, non-useful front yards? 

This lady has started a blog to talk about this situation - http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/.  So if you are so inclined, head on over there and show her some support.

I am tempted to head up to Michigan right now and give those neighbors a piece of my mind!  Who's with me?  Road trip anyone?

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Meal Planning Monday

This week is going to be especially crazy.

We have bumper crops of bananas, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and peaches.  This, of course, translates to lots of time spent canning and bread making.  I have a love/hate relationship with canning and bread making right now.  I love it because I know that we will be enjoying peach butter and pickled okra all winter long.  But I also hate it because the last thing I want to do during our triple digit heat wave is stand over a hot stove to can and then stand some more over a hot stove to get dinner ready.

The other adventures making our week crazy have to do with a lot of time driving in the car.  We are helping a good friend move back to Austin... Hooray!!!!  I just can't seem to wipe off the silly grin on my face knowing that my friend, Pansy, and I will soon be up to our old tricks.  And then at some point I need to see this stinkin' cute new baby niece that recently came into this world.  I need to hold some cute baby buns!  We also have a few other friends that had babies within the last 2 weeks... so we are bringing over food and such to them.  Then add swim lessons, work stuff, and all the other normal stuff that a week throws at you.  Whew... I am exhausted just thinking about it all.

You may ask what all of this has to do with meal planning.  Well, I am getting to that.

With a crazy week like this, it would be easy to just order takeout.  And the thought has crossed my mind.  But I also feel that on weeks like this, it is even more important to eat healthy, homemade meals.  It just takes a bit more planning and some additional prep work but it is worth it to feel good and have energy to do everything.  And meals need to be quick and easy.  So with all of that said, here is this week's meal plan.

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• Monday: Ribs (cooked on the grill over the weekend) and fried eggplant.  I don't really like eggplant so we will see if frying truly does make everything better
• Tuesday: Black beans and rice
• Wednesday: Meatballs (pulled from the freezer) and salad
• Thursday: Ham and cheese pasta bake (using leftover diced ham from the freezer).  I will most likely sneak a few vegetables into this as well.
  
• Friday: Grilled pizzas

And that's that.  Hopefully this menu will help me keep my sanity while also keeping our bellies full of good food.

Do you have your own version of Meal Planning Mondays? If so, I would love to read about it. Please share a link to your menu in a comment. I love a little recipe inspiration!

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My dirty dark secret

Want to know a dirty dark secret about me?

My name is Colleen and I am a closet Sci-Fi girl.

My latest addiction is brought to me on a regular basis by Netflix Instant Queue - I swear I should be Netflix's spokesperson.  Hey Netflix! Have your people call my people.

Everyone, let me introduce you to Battlestar Galactica.

This series has been out for a while.  2004, I think.  But, hey, it's new to me.  So every evening after Little B goes to bed, David and I snuggle up on the couch to watch an episode or two of this series.

I guess I really have my dad to blame for my Sci-Fi tendencies.  He often reminisces about when I was little and after my bath with my hair still up in a towel turban, I would sit in his lap and we would watch the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica series together.  I vaguely remember this.

But I do remember that the character Starbuck was a guy in the original series.

In this more recent series, Starbuck is a girl.  Not sure what that is all about.

But anyways, back to my secret.  Now you know.  Don't judge.

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From my bookshelf: Daughter of Fortune

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In my years of reading, there are certain characters that I have fallen in love with and like to think of as my literary imaginary friends - Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables, Jo from Little Women - the list goes on and on.  Eliza Sommers, the main character in Daughter of Fortune, is one of those kindred spirits that has joined the rank on my list of literature soul mates.

Eliza is an orphan raised in Chile by a Victorian spinster and her brother.  She falls in love with the "unsuitable" Joaquin Andieta.  At this time, gold has been discovered in California and Joaquin takes off to San Francisco to seek his fortune.  Soon after, Eliza learns she is pregnant and decides to follow him.

We watch Eliza as she ventures out on her journey taking her across the ocean and into Calfornia territory where she learns to live among gold-crazed men, prostitutes, her new friend Tao, and the rush of the wild, wild west.

I love this character because she is strong, yet fragile.  Stubborn yet fearful.  Bottom line is that she is real and not one dimensional.  And when I read this book, I can imagine the scenes playing out in movie-style glory.  This really would be an amazing story to see played out on the big screen.

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What I am loving...

Recently, Little B and I have been working on saying "please" and "thank you".  The "please" has not quite stuck.  But the "thank you" is in full swing.  Her "thank you" sounds more like "achoo".  I am, of course, a little bias... but I think is so cute.

"Achoo, mama.  Achoo, daddy."

She tells us thank you for everything from a hug to picking her up out of crib to changing her diaper to feeding the dog to checking the mailbox.  In this photo above she is thanking me for giving her a very messy bite of my paleta/popsicle.

Speaking of paletas!  I am definitely loving the little old paleta guy that pushes his cart around through our neighborhood.  My favorite paleta is the coconut one.  Think pina colada on a stick.  Makes me feel like I am sitting on a beach somewhere.

BLTs - The perfect summer sandwich.  I could give up all other sandwiches for this one.

Iced tea.  The perfect summer drink.  I mix a few bags of this with some regular black tea and stick it in the fridge.  Delicious!

I am loving these beauties from the garden.  A little olive oil, salt, and fresh mozzerella and I am in heaven.  Or if you are like Little B, you can try to take a bite out of it while it is still on the plant.  Hey, I am all for creative eating if it means she eats her vegetables.

That just about sums it up for me.  Actually, I could keep on going, but this post is already getting too big.

So tell me, what are you loving this week?

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