general life – Page 15 – Myriad & Sundry

My Almost-French Husband

July 19, 2011 No Comments

At the farmers market Saturday before last, Brian picked up some raspberries for us. Usually we have trouble figuring out what to do with fruit. If it’s not in a fruit salad, sometimes it just ends up sitting until it goes bad. Oops! Does anyone else do that!?

Not this time though. Later that night, I walked into the kitchen to find him making crepes for us! A yummy surprise. Yes, my husband randomly decided to make crepes. You’re jealous, I know.

Add a little cool whip, some berries, and roll it up.

Dessert!

Sadly, Brian has started the Atkins diet again this week. Which means no more tasty surprises like this for a long time… Anyone else want to make me dessert?

general life, life with baby

Sun Babies

July 13, 2011 2 Comments

The weather was so wonderfully perfect this past weekend that we pretty much spent the entire time outdoors. It seems to happen so rare, we just had to take advantage of the clear blue sky. Jameson loved it! The kid is already taking after his dad. At the end of the weekend Brian told me I no longer look like “Casper the Mom”. I said, you mean “Casper the Friendly Mom”. No, no, that’s not what he said. Apparently friendly didn’t qualify at that time. Sheesh, thanks Brian.

Can I take a moment? I would like to talk a bit about sunscreen.

Despite the teasing, I would like to note that Jameson was protected all weekend with sunscreen and a hat or shade most of the time. Though I will also mention that the sunscreen we are currently using is not what I would prefer.

Having done some research on sunscreens, Jameson’s baby sunscreen has one of the two listed “bad” ingredients. It has Vitamin A, which recent research has shown may speed the development of cancer when exposed to sunlight (ironic). I believe some sunscreen is better than none, but I do plan on finding him a new sunscreen soon.

Yesterday I purchased Aveeno Baby Natural Protection Mineral Sunblock (a good deal going on, details here) – the stick for his face, not the regular sunscreen. The stick is rated a 1 by the EWG. I also plan on getting the new ThinkBaby sunscreen, also rated a 1.

Saturday, while Jameson and I were at his very first baby sign language class (more on that soon!), Brian went to the farmers market. He surprised me by coming home with wildflowers. One of the many reasons why I love him!

Jameson and I spent some time outside on a blanket later while Brian moved things into the shed now that it has a ramp. One step closer to parking in the garage again. Good thing, because it definitely mid summer now, it hit 90 on Sunday.

We also picked up a new “friend” for Jameson. The neighborhood garage sales were going on and we came home with a bopping penguin for Jameson to bat at for just $3. Jameson is not too sure about Mr. Penguin just yet! (Hmmm… It appears that most of the children in our neighborhood are girls. All the clothes we saw were pink!)

Sunday we went to the zoo, despite the heat. The nice thing about having a pass is not worrying about how much you see while you’re there. This time we visited the aquarium, monkeys, as well as the giraffes and elephants. Jameson enjoyed watching the fish move at the aquarium, but he seemed to enjoy people-watching even more.

Of course, we completely exhausted the little guy and he went to bed around 6:45 on Sunday. He’s definitely been a bit more cranky recently, probably because of the teeth we’re waiting on. It’s been nice to just pop outside and swing with him to calm him down. I hope this beautiful weather lasts, though today it’s not looking so good.

general life

Better than a Jar: Pesto

July 12, 2011 No Comments

You may remember, our first visit to the farmers market resulted in some lettuce a couple herbs. We bought basil, parsley, and cilantro. I’ve since learned that cilantro goes to seed quickly and the best way to have cilantro all season is to plant another after the first one sprouts, over and over. In any case, our cilantro went to seed pretty quick, and the basil… well, the basil pretty much exploded.

We decided to pick it all, because the beetles were starting to eat it faster than we were using it. And what else do you make with a whole lot of basil other than pesto sauce, of course! We started with this general recipe, but Brian always makes some modifications, so here’s what we ended up with (we did it 2-1/2 times since we had so much basil!). All you have to do is use a food processor to mix it all together:

2 cups basil leaves
3/4 cup parmesan (freshly grated is worth every bit of effort, though we didn’t for this set)
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves (we used the fresh in the jar kind, liberally since we love garlic)
pepper and salt to taste

Here’s our setup with ingredients. Look at that huge bag of basil!

Adding olive oil (side note: the new camera has the awesome swivel screen, which means I can hold the camera above my head and do awesome straight-down shots. Love it)

Mmm… that’s a lot of garlic!

Pulverizing it!

Of course, you have to taste test it.

Perfect pesto! The whole process took maybe 15 minutes.

This made a lot of pesto. We used some fresh, and froze 3 bags of the rest. I suppose that means we have to share with family…

Pesto with penne and grilled chicken.

general life, house

I Confess

July 11, 2011 2 Comments

Last week I showed off near-sparkling photos of my house a year after we’ve lived in it. Well, I have a confession.

It doesn’t look that way normally.

For about a week, Brian and I went back and forth on getting the house picked up enough to do that blog post, and in the end, I shoved all our crap around and strategically photographed the rooms. (while Brian laughed at me in the background)

Here’s a sneak peak into what it really looks like:

Those are what I like to call “standing” messes for the most part. That means, they’re pretty much always there, with a little variation. Except the kitchen counter with the fruit on it. Normally there is not that amount of fruit on our counters, haha.

Those photos might even be picked up a little from the usual. I couldn’t even bear to share my bedroom.

There, I feel better now, getting that off my chest.

diy, general life

Crossing off the to-do list

July 8, 2011 4 Comments

Last weekend was so nice out, Brian finally got to cross off something from his to-do list! (His personal one that is, not the one that I have for him… just kidding! sort of). Anyway, he’s been waiting since the shed was done last winter to put a ramp on it.

I don’t think I ever talked too much about the shed, but it was pretty much a long drawn out ordeal in which I demanded he finish before baby and it pretty much was impossible. It was finished about a month after the baby was born (with the help of some good friends!), in the snow.

The story quickly, in pictures:

So last weekend, he built a ramp that could hold a car. If a car was that narrow.

When the shed was built, he left an unfinished piece at the base of the door to hook the ramp up to.

All framed up! Note the side boards are in the ground. When all was done, about a foot of the side boards were in the ground for stability.

Oops. Need to get more wood!

And finishing touches.

Brian is really proud of how tightly the ramp came together with the shed.

All done! About 6-7 hours of work over the weekend. What this means for me is that stuff can finally go into the shed and stay there, like the tractor mower, and the old couches which we are still trying to find a place to take will go into the other garage annnnd I get to park in the garage again!

This weekend, we plan to plant a few more flowers, in hanging baskets around the porch. Also, we need to replace the rail basket. Oops. (Did you see how I captured live plants in the distance in this picture? that is so you don’t think I am a complete failure)

What are your weekend plans?

general life, house, life with baby

One Year Later

July 7, 2011 2 Comments

One year and a couple months, anyway. Last year right around this time I took photos of our new house. At the time, we had been in it for about a month or two, and we didn’t even have anything hanging on the walls yet. We weren’t completely unpacked and I hid off sections of rooms and only showed the glory of perfect unclutteredness in the new house.

Now here we are, one year later, older, wiser, and much more cluttered.That nursery has actually been used, cause yeah, we had a baby (though a year ago, the nursery wasn’t remotely finished).

I thought it would be fun to show you how our lives have changed in just one short year.

general life, life with baby

First Fourth

July 6, 2011 3 Comments

Jameson had his first Fourth of July this past weekend! It’s hard to get back to real life after a four day weekend, so I thought I’d try to extend the feeling a bit longer and share our weekend fun.

First, Jameson had to get dressed up in two holiday outfits. Luckily, there were four days in which to subject him to some photo shoots. I bought a little flag for him to wave, but he only wanted to eat it and poke his eye with it, so that didn’t happen (Brian took it away from me, sigh..).

On Saturday we spent the early morning at the farmers market. We picked up some amazing blueberries and black raspberries, along with our traditional salad lettuce mix. I couldn’t believe the black raspberries, they were across a couple stalls, so they must have been the fruit in season and perfectly ripe.

At the farmers market we also picked up part of Saturday night’s dinner, Ohio City Pasta. This is fresh pasta, never frozen. Here’s what it looks like before cooking:

We had red pepper, lemon basil, and garlic onion flavors. They stay good for about 10 days, so after having garlic onion on Saturday, I am looking forward to the rest of the week filled with tasty pasta goodness. (And these pastas, they only need butter or olive oil. They have amazing flavor all by themselves).

That night Brian and I watched the fireworks from our front porch. So fun to be able to see them, albeit far away, since we had Jameson and can’t go out late like we used to. And how amazing to sit there on a warm night together to do that.

Sunday we stopped by Brian’s parents for a cookout and brought over Jameson’s exersaucer.

Brian’s mother has filled a room full of Jameson items: crib, changing table, toys, burp clothes… everything he needs. It was so much more convenient to come over, and Jameson even took a nap in the crib.

We added those black raspberries from the farmers market to a fruit salad which we brought over to the neighbors’ on Monday for another cookout. Jameson enjoyed his friend Lily‘s pool and her toys. One toy in the mouth apparently means two more toys just arms length away. He took a little dunk and cried for a bit, but it was okay again after a little while.

Little champ loves to be held and swung by his arms. Immediately after sitting up by himself, he’s now decided that standing up is even more fun. Always looking to do things that he can’t quite do himself yet.

Hello handsome! Say goodbye now (oh well, he doesn’t do the wave thing yet, so we’ll just have to settle for a smile) Hey, look at that smile! A smile, in the grass!? Hurrah!

diy, general life, life with baby

Digital Scrapbook: Sneak Peak!

July 2, 2011 1 Comment

Today, I have finally started working on Jameson’s scrapbook. It’s a digital scrapbook and it’s gonna be huge. But no bigger than 60 pages (30 front/back), because that’s what the book I’m making allows. Or… maybe I’ll just make two? We’ll see how it goes.

So far I have done birth, family introductions, Christmas, Jameson’s photo shoot, one week, and his first bath and walk!

Last names were removed in the layouts for privacy reasons, but the images are all true to what it will look like once printed. I’m pretty pleased with how its turning out, though I am not sure where I will find the time to catch up to where I should be.

Next up:

Jameson’s weekly photo shoots, which I did until he was 10 weeks old. I think I’ll roll that into 2 pages
Jameson’s monthly photo shoot, 1 page for each month
Great-grandpa’s 90th birthday party… and more!

Today, Jameson went to daycare while I had off work so that I could work on this without interruption. We did pick him up early, and then his Aunt Melissa came to babysit him while Brian and I went with the neighbors for dinner at Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. It was a hike, but so worth it. I had their butternut squash ravioli, and since we were at a brewery, I had some beer as well. I hear that some beer increases milk supply…? haha.

If I have time over this holiday weekend I’ll continue working on the scrapbook but the blog will be on a short hiatus until Tuesday. Don’t worry though, I’ll have some good stuff lined up for next week! Have a great 4th of July everyone.

general life

Free Cards to the Troops: Tiny Prints, Lets Say Thanks, Snapio and more!

June 28, 2011 No Comments

My old friend from high school is deploying soon. Her husband is also, and their two very young children will be staying with grandparents for the next year. In honor of my friend, send some cards to the troops today.

Free cards for the troops through Tiny Prints

Select either the Forever Flag or American Heroes cards on Tiny Prints.
You can personalize, but you can’t specify exactly who it will go to.
Use promotion code TROOPS at checkout
Select “Send it to me first” in delivery options
Enter the following address:

Tiny Prints
Attn: Cards for the troops
884 Hermosa Court, Suite 100
Sunnyvale, CA 94085

*Note: you’ll still have to enter in your credit card information, but you won’t be charged. Tiny prints will be sending the cards on. Click here for more details.

Free postcard to the troops through Let’s Say Thanks (by Xerox)

Visit Let’s Say Thanks and pick any design.
You can personalize, though you can’t specify who it will go to.
Hit Send!

Free card to the troops from Quickie Card

Select one of these cards from Quickie Cards
No personalization options online but can be sent directly to whoever you want or to yourself to forward on.
Checkout! The card and shipping is free. One per day per customer.

Free card to the troops from Snapio.

Visit Snapio and select one of these designs.
Enter in the address of the solider
Create an account (for security reasons)
USO will deliver your card for free!

*Tip: Not sure who to send to? Check out these great resources.

Tomorrow, June 29th, make a Show the Troops you Care card at A.C. Moore with their Make & Takes! For details, look at your local AC Moore ad online or in the mail.

And don’t forget, you can always send a letter through A Million Thanks. They will forward it on to the troops. Here are some ideas and recommendations for your letter.

general life

What I’m…

June 28, 2011 1 Comment

It’s been over a month since our first edition of “What I’m” currently doing. I thought it was about time to see what changes have occurred. Notably, TV has changed a bit since summer season is upon us. And Brian still doesn’t have any dreams (he thinks he making a ‘clever’ funny, but I didn’t laugh… much).

What I’m…. Reading
Brian: The World is Flat and Brewing Better Beer.

Hilary: I bought a new (Kindle) book yesterday called Good Enough Is the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and Success in Modern Motherhood. A college teacher of mine is featured in the book, so I am looking forward to reading about her. Not to mention, it received excellent reviews.

Watching
Brian: Trailer Park Boys, Bizarre Foods and Modern Marvels.

Hilary: Covert Affairs started back up again, and Sanctuary on SciFi. Also, there is a House Hunters International show I’ve been dying to record. I’ve been following Design Mom and her amazing house in France was featured. The show already aired, but the next showing is on July 8th! I have it marked on the calendar.

Both: We’ve been watching season 1 of Fringe like crazy! My parents bought us the DVD and it’s our new go-to evening show. But now True Blood is starting, so Fringe will take a backseat for a month or two for this vampire favorite.

Listening to
Hilary: Alright, I confess. I downloaded the 99 cent album from Amazon the day they had that killer deal on the Born this Way Lady Gaga album. I’m now obsessed.

Brian: I just throw a bit of stoner rock (Fu Manchu, Sleep, Om…etc) on Grooveshark and let the radio take over .

Surfing
Brian: Beer Forums, Lifehacker, Gizmodo.

Hilary: I’m still following mom blogs and design blogs. Currently enjoying 7th House on the Left, and The Daily Doty for my dose of funnies in the morning. And I’m now on Twitter, so I’m spending some time there and enjoying watching the back and forth between some of my favorite bloggers. I also joined For the Love of Blogs and run into some new good reads daily.

Doing in my spare time
Hilary: Finally pulled off some video from our video camera! Playing in iMovie is pretty fun, though I’m still loving Lightroom and editing photos. Getting used to the color differences on the Mac has been difficult (perhaps a real monitor calibrator is in my future?). We’re also spending more time outside now that it’s nice out!

Brian: Being a Dad, Brewing beer, Yard work, building shelves.

Planning
Brian: To ride more this summer and build a shed ramp, installing a utility sink in the basement.

Hilary: On my dining room table are two fabrics (here’s the gorgeous print, the other side will be a solid), waiting to be sewn into a table runner. Also, Jameson’s Easter basket materials are still sitting under my craft table… yikes. And that scrapbook? Not even started. Guess you could say I do a lot of planning and not a lot of doing.

Dreaming
Hilary: I am dreaming in frames! Over the bed and up the stairs. Hopefully that dream will become reality soon!

Brian: Don’t remember.

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