Life is in the details

some new bars

I found some new bars that I wanted to try. The other day when I went out for an early ride and didn't want to make a lot of noise in the house because everyone was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake them I grabbed an energy bar to have for breakfast and one bite into the Luna Bar (chai flavored) and I was instantly transported to 8 years earlier when I was training for running a marathon. It was my ritual Saturday morning pre-run "eat."  But even though the marketing is good and geared perfectly towards me, the ingredient list is a tad bit long for what  I demand from any packaged food that I may decide to eat (trying to keep the processed food-like stuff to a minimum). And on longer rides I really do need something to eat to keep the energy going. On the 2.5 hr ride the other day I didn't bring anything and was really wishing I had towards the end.

I found these Larabar bars at my grocery store and there are at most 6 ingredients in many of the bars and they are all real foods!

Take the Cinnamon Roll Larabar, here are the ingredients: Dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cashews, cinnamon.

Here's the Chai Tea ingredients from Lunabar: LunaPro® (Soy Rice Crisp [Soy Protein Isolate, Organic Rice Flour], Organic Toasted Oats, Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Flaxmeal), Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Coating (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Palm Kernel Oil, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Vegetable Glycerin, Inulin (Chicory Extract), Organic Soy Butter, Black Tea, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Ginger, Cardamom, Organic Cloves, Natural Flavors, VITAMINS & MINERALS: Dicalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Calcium, Carbonate, Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E), Niacinamide (Vit. B3), Ferrous Fumarate (Iron), Zinc Oxide, Molybdenum Glycinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine (Vit. B6), Riboflavin (Vit. B2), Beta Carotene (Vit. A), Thiamin (Vit. B1), Manganese Sulfate, Selenium AAC, Cupric Oxide, Chromium AAC, Cyanocobalamin (Vit. B12), Folic Acid, Biotin, Phytonadione (Vit. K), Potassium Iodide. ALLERGEN STATEMENT: CONTAINS SOY. MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF DAIRY, PEANUTS & TREE NUTS. NO HYDROGENATED OILS *WE SOURCE INGREDIENTS THAT ARE NOT MADE USING WHEAT OR DAIRY AND ARE NOT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED.

A bit of a difference, eh?

I haven't actually tasted the Larabars yet... and it may have to wait until Labor Day weekend (the next weekend that I'll get to go out for a ride). But I'll be ready! Oh and even though the long ingredient list I couldn't resist the chocolate raspberry flavor that Luna offers as that's always a winning flavor combination in my book (as long as there are no seeds from the raspberries - that my one issue with that little berry).

TODAY: I was planning on going to my first spinning class in YEARS but am opting to not put the kids in the germ-ridden kiddie area at the gym (Jessi is just about recovered from bronchitis and it's been two or three weeks since Ry last had strept  - which of course means we're due for it again - and I don't want to look for trouble). So we'll be getting together with some friends in the afternoon (yay!), we'll practice writing some letters with Ryan, get the kids out on their bikes, and eat the cinnamon rolls that we made yesterday (DELICIOUS!), and I will ride for 30 minutes on the indoor bike trainer for my workout today.

more photos from the photo-a-day project

projects update (photo-a-day 2008)

My photo-a-day project is still going strong. This project has been an incredible experience (and even Mike is loving it and is so supportive of the whole thing even wondering when I will upload the next batch since I haven't been uploading them and adding the text each day... I save it so I can do a bunch at one time).  I haven't missed a day yet, though there were some close calls and so there are some less than stellar photos like the one of some blurry arugula (shot as light was leaving the sky, and night was beckoning at our door) and  the one of us laying in bed (we were too sick to do much else),  but they still tell a good story or at least capture my life in still frame for that day.

Here are a few from the most recent upload (go check out the Flickr stream on the side or click here to view my photo-a-day set.)

let's go!

How did it get to be Friday already? Well I know how the calendar works and all and the whole light = day; dark = night but really... it's already the end of the week? Ok then. I guess I better start thinking about the possibilities for the weekend.

Any people from my Wellness class still lurking? I have fitness in the forefront of my mind lately and I'd love to hear how you are doing with your day-to-day and also your goals.

I did my weight workout today with a premix (the Total Body Sculpt - 47 min.) from Cathe's Low Impact Circuit DVD and was reminded (yet again) how much better of a workout I get when I use her videos (rather than go at it alone with just my pen, paper, weights, and bands). It also helps that I did it while the kids were at camp rather than trying to do it while they are playing in the basement with me (and needing to stop their bickering, which is becoming far too regular these days). But I'm totally fitness-inspired (and a bit scared/intimidated) by the new STS clips that were put up last night:

Digital Scrapbook Layout: Jessi's 7th Birthday

This was the one that I scraplifted from a Fontwerks ad. I love love love the design and knew the moment I saw it that I was going to use it as the basis for one of my pages.

Credits: layout design from a Fontwerks ad, patterned papers, taped journaling strips, and canvas squares by Jen Wilson, stitching by Kim Christensen, tied ribbon by Amber Clegg

Digital Scrapbook Layout: Sew Excited

These were photos from last year around this time when Jessi turned 6. She had been asking and asking and asking for a camera and sewing machine and this was her finally opening the presents she longed for.  Looking though old photos (and new ones from her most recent birthday party) I got caught up in birthday fever!!

Journaling: From Mommy’s journal on June 6, 2007: “Jessi and I were talking yesterday and she told me she wants to learn to sew. She wants to be able to make pillows and blankets for her American Girl and also eventually skirts and dresses for this mythical store that we created in a story and have been building upon. It started out as a small store that only had 5T (her size) and was filled with beautiful dresses that she could choose from to wear (sort of like a dream closet). At first it was a store that was just local. It then morphed into a store that will be everywhere (here in the mall, and also in "England, Spanish (her word, I told her Spain), Japan, China and all over"). And then I told her the possibilities of reaching a wider market for girls all over the world with a small online store that has more than just dresses (so she said they'd have all sorts of girl stuff like skirts and hair clips and stuff for dolls). I found a Janome at Target’s website that was so cute. It takes 4-6 weeks to ship so I'm going to do a little bit more looking and then try to order by the end of the week so it will get here in time for the big SIX! The other thing she’s been asking for constantly is a camera of her own!”

Credits: flowers patterned paper by Nancie Rowe Janitz, blue scalloped paper by Gypsy Chick; flower by Amanda Rockwell, scalloped journaling paper by Jen Wilson, Green corner stitching by Bohemian Art, aqua stitching by Lisa Whitney, tied ribbon, label, tag, file folder, and cross-stitching from Micheline Martin

goals: check

I was sick this weekend with some weird stomach thing (caught from one of the kids, I'm guessing Jessi this time but it could have all originated with Ryan, who knows?!) but the upside was that I caught the Olympic fever and we watched a lot of the coverage... and I'm loving it!

I was trying something new with my workouts this month and instead of just having hard days with easy days and a rest day thrown in, I consciously scheduled three weeks on (medium to hard) and then one week easy. Last week was my easy week and let me just say for the record right now that it's hard to hold back and go easy. At least it is for me. Now, I'm not saying I'm fast. Because I am not. But I do get a certain feeling of accomplishment from a good sweat-inducing workout. But I stuck to it and didn't do anything that got my heart rate much higher than 130 last week. This morning I was back to the regular "on" weeks and went out for a ride. Not with any expectations but with lots of water in case I wanted to go long. My usual good, solid ride is about 20-22 miles. My fitness goal for the summer besides being able to do pushups on my toes (check) was to go to the end of the trail that I like to ride. ALL THE WAY TO THE END. And today as I was going along I was feeling good 13 miles into it and I did the rough estimation to see if I had enough time to do it and enough energy. Once I realized that I did, I decided, "Hey, why not go for it today and see how it goes?" The weather was perfect even if it was a bit windy. But the temperature - ideal (cooler than you would expect in the mid-Atlantic in the middle of August)! It started to drizzle a little bit at around mile 15 but it cleared up quickly. The landscape was so beautiful and serene. I passed expansive houses and farms, cows and horses, storm clouds and clear skies. And lots of wide open land. I love that. Me and the great wide open. And I just kept going. Pedaling one foot at a time. And I went farther today than I've ever rode before. Over 35 miles! And I completed my goal: I made it to the end of the trail. There must be something to that recovery week. You can be sure that I'll be doing this from now on!!

I've already started thinking towards the fall and to think about what I want to do and how I want to structure my time. And it's no surprise that I want to keep challenging myself physically before the winter comes where I will likely relegate myself to my indoor trainer and spinning classes. So I've started thinking about getting ready for STS. I've pretty much been doing my own thing with regards to weights. Going heavy but not much more than two sets and often times only one. When the kids go back to school in the fall I will start hitting the weights with more structure and thought and trying a few group classes at the nearby gym. Oh, and this morning I've been drafted to be the preschool ROOM MOM which also includes being on the preschool advisory board. I'm really looking forward to that as I really love many of the teachers and the director. They have the perfect philosophy on early childhood education and one that I embrace. Kids learn by playing, and getting dirty, and experiencing things hands-on!  After taking a year off from being room mom I'm fresh and ready again. And I want to be in Jessica's class more often too... maybe once a week. Just a few thoughts out loud. :-) Thanks for indulging me, loyal blog readers.

And it would be nice to finish the flippin' BLANKET that I started so long ago!!! I think we may have found a winner in the blanket-to-cover department this Sunday (you may remember that the first one was waaaay too heavy). We tried out the new one last night and it felt pretty good; tonight will be the Night Two Test. Wish me luck! (Because then it's time to get busy on cutting out the back and then sewing, sewing, sewing!

Digital Scrapbook Layout: It's In The Cards

We were supposed to be out of town visiting some friends starting today (and visiting the sleep-away camp that Mike used to go to when he was a kid) but we ended up having to cancel since Jessica is sick and Ryan seems as if he's catching it... or at least he needed a breathing treatment this morning and doesn't usually need them unless he has something.

I wanted to share another layout from late July. I'm so behind in posting to galleries that it's not even funny. It's strange how something can be such a HUGE part of your life. Galleries can be addicting. The uploading. The checking. The praising others. The adding to your favorites of all those wonderful layouts that you love. And then it can suddenly be something that you just don't do anymore. I think it started happening when digital scrapbooking seemed to morph into something very large. Or maybe I just felt there were just way too many places to post. And it was way to hard to keep up. And who has the time (or desire) to post to a gazillion different sites? Not me! And that's probably when I discovered blogs and preferred to frequent those people whose art I knew I liked and lives I found inspiring instead of having to sift through all those gallery pages.

Plus there are all the other things that I like to do. But I do know that balance is a delicate thing. It's something I'm always striving for. So I guess it was all a part of the creative cycle. And now I'm in a "scrapbooking mode." And wanting to create art. Yesterday Grammy and Ryan spent some quality time together while Grampy was at the Amercian Girl movie with Jessica... and I finished up a mini-album from last year's summer vacation (that I started in Stacy's class that I took at Get Croppin') and started a 12x12 traditional paper layout that I grabbed the first photos that looked decent to me, grabbed some white cardstock, and some Golden Fluid arcylics, as well as some other supplies as I went along (I only have the journaling left on that one about Jessi loving arts and crafts). (Thank you for that gift of "time," Grammy!). It was the first time I used my new space to do three activities at once with all the different "zones" that I created in my workspace (painting, scrapping, and sewing - just plugged in the sewing machine for some stitching on my mini-album pages).

So although I haven't been as productive as I've been in the "early years" of this hobby... I feel that what I'm doing now is much more meaningful. I'm still capturing our memories and having fun in the process of creating (even if it's at a more relaxed pace), but most importantly, that I am living in a way that makes these moments that are so worth capturing. That's what it's all about. Allowing an openness that can be filled with laughter, tickles, neighborhood walks, leaf collecting, fairy house construction, questions of curiosity, and lots of hugs (or huggies as Ryan calls them). And I don't feel guilty about any of the photos that are still on my photo unscrapped. I will never scrap all the photos I take. That would be insane. And that's not why I take all of them. I take them because they inspire me at the moment to capture that something special that I don't want to forget.

And that's often why I take time to document the seemingly simple things. I mean, there's nothing earth-shattering about playing cards on the  cold, hard floor of a gymnasium. But it's in those little moments, when you think you're just passing the time, that life happens.

This one (at the beginning of the post) was so much fun to do and I discovered some new-to-me designers at ScrapArtist that I now LOVE!!!! You gotta go check them out (see the credits so you'll know who to look for).

The inspiration: a game of Uno with Ryan last week. It reminded me of how we hadn't played in a while but there was a time that we played card games multiple times a day and of how much I really enjoy a good game of cards. (And they are so portable too!! Gotta love that.)

Journaling: "You and me. We’re steady companions these days Ry. We’ve been spending lots of quality time together while Jessi is at school and on days that you don’t have preschool. And I have to say you are so much fun! You always know how to make me laugh. In addition to trains, we’ve been playing card games lately. And to be honest, I LOVE playing cards and, since you’re part of the family and pretty good at matching, it was time to start teaching you how to play Uno and Crazy 8s, two of my favorites! Now we entertain ourselves by playing cards whenever we take Jessi to her weekly gymnastics class and whenever else I can convince you to play with me. xoxoxo, Mommy"

Credits: Papers and elements by Micheline Martin & Melissa Bennett
Fonts: Arial and CK Ali’s Writing

Digital Scrapbook Layout: Garden Play

I was inspired by the photos of the children's garden that we found that I mentioned and shared pictures with you from last month. Just a few photos and a paragraph about passing by this place many times before - never even knowing it was here, having some free time and throwing caution to the wind and meandering about and taking time for exploration, and discovering a hidden treasure right beneath our noses!

So simple really. I've been liking the white background lately. And white space in general. I'm sure there's some hidden meaning behind it all but I'll leave that for another time. The background was almost all white right up until the very end. At the very last moment I added the purple and scalloped the edges of the white paper and saved it off before I could change my mind.

Today: Have some art fun with the kids (Jessi has some plans involving the canvases that Mike and I bought her for her birthday), finish the laundry, hang out with my in-laws, go on a 1-2 hr bike ride with my father-in-law after an early dinner (so excited!!!).

the concert

Last night Mike and I went to see Coldplay in concert! It was so much fun to see live music again... something I LOVE, but don't do nearly as often as I should. (For one, live music seems to always start when I like to be in my jammies and going to bed to read right before bed.) I could have done without both opening acts and had more of Coldplay... I didn't feel like I got enough. Have you ever left a concert and then wish you had the foresight to bring your iPod with you so you could have listened to them on the way home? That was me last night! There were many songs from previous albums that I would have liked to hear. And not almost every single song from their most recent album (serves me right for not going to the X&Y tour, which I'm sure I would have loved since I can't get enough it)!

But I got some good shots of the band. (None of these have any post-processing done yet and I'm too tired right now. I switched from my normal lens to my 70-300mm lens, had the flash off, and my camera set to AV - Aperture priority mode as I usually do)

This weekend I also did some scrapbooking! YAY! Feels like it's been a while. Even Mike, when I was working at my computer and he caught a glimpse as he was walking past me, said, "Oh it's good to see you scrapping again." (<-- love that guy!!) I did about 4 pages (one I lifted the design from a Fontwerks ad because I loved it so much - I'll try to post it tomorrow).

Today was filled with lots of cleaning up since the kids' art table was a mess, Jessi's room was filling up with all sorts of detritus from camp and who KNOWs where else, and we also had to clean up a bit in the basement to prepare for Grammy and Grampy (Mike's parents) who are coming in for a visit tomorrow. Jessica was so helpful and couldn't wait to help with the dusting. She loves being armed with the spray bottle. Apparently she didn't have "enough" to clean because she kept asking me for more stuff to do so I told her she could do all the door knobs (or basically anything she might have touched today since she seems to be coming down with something and well why not - it kept her happy! She was even asking for more to do after doing all the door knobs. I'm thinking if I tried to make this a regular part of her "job" then it probably wouldn't hold such allure, right? I didn't think so.)

party time

Today was Jessica's birthday party (at one of those "bouncing places" that seem to be sprouting up all over the place) and we all had a great time. But what's not to love about fun music, jumping up and down, going down slides, pizza, cake, and balloons? Nothing. That's what. And then back to our house to open lots of presents. Not a bad way to spend the day.

...there's the birthday girl....

More photos to come... but how could I NOT post a photo?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!

Happy Birthday to my girl!!

Jessica arrived on the scene 7 years ago today. It's hard to believe that she is already seven and yet it seems like yesterday that we were driving to the hospital (and before that when I was taking the terbutaline catheter pump out of my leg to keep her growing inside of me so she could cook some more). My little artist is growing up. She has definite opinions. Ideas and dreams of her own. She can ride her bike without training wheels. She requested a real NICE restaurant to go to for dinner to celebrate where she can order her OWN dessert instead of having to share with her brother as we usually do.

Happy Birthday Jessica! I love you with all my heart!!

(pics of her opening some of her presents this morning to follow as soon as I can get to them... but now I need to pick up Ryan from camp and then we have some serious cake and cupcake picking up to do! And LUNCH! Can't forget that.)

what to do with leftover ricotta - Vegetable Lasagna

So I had a TON of leftover ricotta from when I made it the other day and so when I came across this recipe in this month's Cooking Light I knew it had to go on the menu for this week. Especially when I saw the beautiful graffiti eggplant at the market. These are so gorgeous they just beg me to eat it. I'm definitely going to try growing these in the garden next year now that I see where the peppers and eggplant do well and where they DON'T (most of where I planted them this year but I think it has to do with needing a good layer of compost added to the soil)!

I laid the eggplant slices out on some paper towels and salted them and let them sit while I cut up the rest of the veggies (the yellow squash and zucchini).

Then I added some freshly ground pepper and lots of basil to the ricotta (my Genovese basil isn't doing so well because I put them in a different spot this year but the Thai basil and Lemon Basil is doing GREAT so I used a combination of those two for this.)

Then I layered marinara sauce, noodles, veggies, ricotta until I got to the top layer of noodles and then gave it a final douse of sauce, some shredded mozzarella, and a sprinkle of parmigiano reggiano and into the oven it goes covered for 40 minutes and then uncovered for another 20 or so until the top is nice and bubbly.

Pasta with Ricotta and Green & Gold Squash

I wanted to make this from Local Flavors so I headed to the Sunday farmers market, not my usual Saturday farmers market that I love, because Saturday morning was spent on my bike out on the trail. Sadly, though, the Sunday market didn't have a dairy purveyor and Wegman's doesn't carry fresh ricotta which really is needed when the ingredient list is simple as it is this dish. The ricotta would be very much a star of the meal. The only place that I know that would have had it is Whole Foods but it's a bit of a trek and I couldn't justify going there for one thing. So what's a girl to do? Make her own, of course!

It's so easy. Like one of the easiest things you can do in a kitchen. You basically just throw the milk and buttermilk into the largest pot you have and turn the heat to medium. You walk away and go workout and get the kids ready for camp and stir it occasionally if you happen to walk through the kitchen like, say to get their snacks and lunch bags from the fridge to make sure they have it with them in their backpacks.

I used way too much and ended up with LOTS of leftovers so you can scale it down, which I will do next time, and use 1 quart of milk with the smaller container of buttermilk. (Oh and you can use 2% or 1% milk with this which I will ALSO do next time!)

So eventually the mixture will start to look like this.

The curds float to the top and the whey hangs out on the bottoms. At this point you can skim the curds out into a bowl.

Here I've skimmed the first few scoops. I drained this too as you can see there's some whey that came along for the ride. You can also line a colander with cheese cloth so that it drains by itself but I couldn't for the life of me find mine and this worked just fine.

And when all was said and done I had a nice big bowl full of rich, creamy ricotta.

Then I went to work on chopping up some sage, chives, and basil (although the recipe only called for sage but my sage upped and died on me last year and I forgot to replace it because I didn't know that it was dead as a doornail until it didn't grow back this year.)

Then I added some squash from the farmers market - I had to get the light green variety because I thought they'd look nice together.

And I boiled some spiral pasta while I....

Julienned the squash. The recipe doesn't say to julienne it but I thought it would be more palatable for my family if I made them into pieces so thin that it would be hard to cast aside...

there was that reason and also that I bought a new tool that makes julienning the easiest thing ever. I think I'm going to julienne everything now!

Everyone loved this light dinner and we will likely have it again in two weeks. And maybe next time we can use some from our garden as some little ones are setting up nicely right now.

it's here...

Yesterday while I was making dinner I noticed a large package outside my front door. The blender has ARRIVED! So exciting! So I instantly got to work on making a smoothie after opening the package and washing everything out. We had a refreshing mango strawberry smoothie last night with our dinner. And this morning we had a strawberry orange smoothie. Not yet adding greens. Sticking to the basics so I can get a feel for what everyone likes.

 

Turns out Mike is a bit disappointed because he is used to the super sweet tea smoothie mix that I bought at Wegmans. It's the kind they serve if you order one at from their coffee bar area - it's delicious but it's got  sugar and maltodextrin which isn't exactly what I want out of a smoothie (the peach one that we love has 35.5% percent fruit in it and 37 grams of sugar. So I may have to add some sweetener to his (maybe maple syrup or agave nectar since that has a low glycemic value and both have some vitamins and minerals) and then wean him off of it slowly like we've done with whole wheat in baked goods and pasta.

But the kids and I are so excited about the smoothies. Jessica and I slurped our down on both occasions and I'm sure we'll make another one later today. Now I just need to make sure I have lots of fruit varieties on hand for smoothie experimentation.

menu planning (late) & I'm done shooting video tutorials

The menu plan for this week was:

• Asian tilapia, with Sauteed Snowpeas and Mushrooms, with brown rice
• White Bean & Sage Fritters from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison on top of arugula and romaine salad, Steamed artichokes with garlic aoli (made with a mix of light mayo and plain nonfat yogurt)
• tuna (with finely diced red onion and red bell peppers) topped with cucumbers, with cherries, and chips
• Pan-seared chicken with Salsa Verde, rosemary roasted potatoes, salad
• Corkscrews with Green & Gold Zucchini and Ricotta from Local Flavors (I julienned the veggies which I'll post about in an upcoming post as well as showing photos from the homemade ricotta)
• Gazpacho

I just finished filming the video tutorials for week 4 of an upcoming 4-week digital scrapbooking class. Whew! So glad that part's completed. Now I move on to the editing. The reward to myself? A shower. Now I feel all nice and refreshed and am going to start on the editing for the next 30 minutes until it's time to go get Ryan from camp. Next week I will have time for long bike rides and... PAINTING, and possibly getting to a bunch of emails that have been waiting patiently in my inbox for my response. :-) Here's to a great GO-GET-'EM day!

the girl can R..I..D..E!

Look who was riding with NO help at all this Sunday!!

That's my girl!!

And big props to Mike who taught her how after me mentioning that it would be a good summer goal to work towards! He's such an overachiever... G-d, I LOVE that man!

And I have to share some more of the children's garden with you because I am in love with it!

And this was from other parts of the garden (I guess the adult garden??)

Oh, how I love purple coneflowers! And I bet I would have some in my garden right about now if it wasn't for that wretched groundhog that ate the two that I planted! All I can say is that I hope those little plants are sending down some serious roots right now for next year!

And how can you not love hollyhocks? I can't wait for the ones I planted this year to bloom next year. We got one that bloomed because it was a larger one that had probably been started a year ago. But the three other little ones were probably just started this spring. Don't ever let me tell you that I don't have patience. Because, seriously, I think this proves that I do.

And I ADORE fruit trees. Mike will tell you about the time I ordered a bareroot peach tree and stuck it in the ground (but probably after it was already dead) and how I kept it in the ground for two years. TWO YEARS. Nothing but a twig. I kept telling him to wait... that it takes a few years to bear fruit. Of course I should have known that it shouldn't take two years for it to bear leaves. But I was young and naive at the time. It wasn't until the third year that I finally waved the white flag. And it's why I have sincere appreciation for this.

Okay so this happens to be an apple tree. But still. Fruit's fruit. And I thought I took a photo of the peach tree but it turns out I didn't. So I'll have to take one next time we're there!

And Ryan preferred the shade garden to any talks about trees the other day. He whined the whole time we were there because he was so hot. That and he was probably feeling the first effects of the strept (before we knew there was anything wrong). Poor little guy.

He's not eating the car as it appears in the photo, but merely holding it up to his face.

green smoothie?

This turned out brownish gray (but given what's in it that makes perfect sense). I think I need another recipe. I used swiss chard, strawberries, bananas, and water. It look horrible so then I added some orange juice to help it out somehow.

I tried to drink it, really I did. But the plain truth.....it was awful. I had to abandon ship and start over.

So I went the traditional route this time and left the greens out vowing to try again once the Vita-Mix arrived (I took the plunge and ordered one yesterday! It should be here within 10 days.).

Strawberries, orange juice, bananas. Just like in my college days!

Aaaah. Much better.

And I plan on making Ryan lots of smoothies with the greens in it (he is lump and green-averse... if he so much as sees a fleck of parsley on something he freaks out - here's where the Vita-Mix is going to help us all!). The boy has been getting sick constantly. He's had strept four times since only February, as I mentioned previously, and has had a cold and pneumonia within the last month to boot. And each time he gets sick he has problems breathing and we end up having to give him tons of breathing treatments. I've had enough. I'm going to take him to an ENT and I'm also going to try to get things better on the homefront. He has got to start eating a more varied diet. He cannot live on dairy products (especially because if we could get a phlebotomist to take his blood and get it allergy tested I bet it would show some dairy intolerance), especially cheese. Or cheese on top of cheese.

Today. I am supposed to be back to work developing my upcoming workshop for BPS after missing a day yesterday to take care of Ry but it turns out that Ryan has contracted yet another virus (this time Hand, Foot, & Mouth - he has little blisters all over his hands and feet and he says it hurts to walk). I'm so close to finishing. I'm working on the last week's content and still need to finish up the handout content and shoot the video tutorials, then there's the editing, and the audio. I still have a lot to do. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel after working on this for so long. I think another week and this baby will be a done deal. But it will all have to wait. Then what happens when I finish? I ride! Yep, I'm looking forward to spending more time with my bike. And the kids. Since they will be out of camp at the end of the month! August has POOL written all over it!

children's garden and bean fritters

I'm back to shooting mainly with my dSLR for a bit after mainly taking the little point-and-shoot everywhere. I made the shift when Mike went to the Yankees game last week and took the little one. I forgot how much I like having some control over the focus!

I'm in party planning mode for the kids' birthdays... when I'm not in working-on-my-BPS-workshop-mode when I'm not in taking-care-of-my-little-guy-who-has-strept-again-for-the-4th-time-since-February mode. I have a whole bunch of photo-a-day photos that I need to add text to. I'll share some of those soon.

This weekend I took kids to the children's garden that we discovered for a little learning about trees (and above you can see the fairy garden that they have in the shade of a beautiful tree). Each child was able to pot up their very own native tree seedling to bring home.

I tried running since I was feeling so good from biking. And I'll just come right out and say it: Stupid. I mean, really, what  was I thinking? Clearly I wasn't but it's hard not to be tempted into thinking you are better even if you DO limp to the bathroom in the middle of the night and in the morning. Sheesh this sounds even more foolish the more I type. So I'll just stop and say that I'm sticking to biking. Until I have surgery to remove the problem  (anyone want to come and watch my kids for 2 weeks while I am in bed recovering?), I will NOT run and will NOT think about triathlons (okay that last one might not be true - but I won't run - I promise! So Mom, please don't call me and give me a "talk." Lesson learned on own. And doesn't it always stick better that way anyway?).

But in very good news... guess what I got Mike to eat for dinner?

Well not with it looking like that! I made White Bean and Sage Fritters from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors and they were quite yummy!

Nothing like a little frying to entice Mike into liking this bean meal!

I served these over salad greens (arugula from the garden for me; baby romaine for Mike) with cherries on the side and steamed artichoke (for Jessica and me). Mike is not feeling well and I think this caused his level of effort to fight about eating mainly beans for dinner to be on the low side (think: "I would complain and refuse, but I have no energy to go out and get anything else to eat") or it might be affecting his taste buds since he said, "These aren't bad" (which is a huge compliment from him) and then, "They kinda taste like potatoes." Boo-yah! I'm in baby, I'm in! It's a little more fried than I typically like but it's not an everyday kind of thing so I don't worry about it much.