Farmers Market

From left to right:
Pint spray free blueberries ($4), 5 cling free peaches (5), quart sugar sweet tomatoes ($3), large Athena melon ($3), 3 peppers , purple, green and yellow ($3), 2 summer squash and 2 zucchini ($3), 3 handfuls green beans ($3.50), 7 large "ice cream peaches" (bruised, super ripe) ($5)
=$29.50, and one super thrilled Crystal!

As an added plus, Loki was quite the whole car ride there (15 minutes) and fell asleep just before we left, and slept the whole way home.  Just before I got home, I used my coupon to get a quart of organic ice cream for $1 at Earth Fare.

The tomatoes and peaches we a huge hit with hubbers and Jeanne.  Although, I think next time I will just get ice cream peaches.  The 6 were enough for 2 quarts of ice cream and some eating peaches, or a quart of ice cream, and a cobbler.  Wish I got some jalapenos and garlic, but I will get some next week.  This was all from Western Wake Farmers market. 

Next week Mom and I will hit up the State Farm in Raleigh.

Currently enjoying the thunderstorm, and the (finally) sleeping children. 
Always look in the bright side of life!

A new twist

My husband called to fire our Realtor today.  He won't release us from the contract.  He says there is an offer on the table, but alas, we see none. Going on 11 months here.....

Dire times

eh, all I think about is the tough stuff, all hubbers thinks about is the tough stuff.  I'll try to only write about the good stuff here, a nice change of perspective.


Jeanne and Loki had been waking at 5:30 for some unknown reason the last few days, but mum and dad weren't fans of this.  This morning, I heard Jeanne rustle in her room at, yep 5:31.  I told hubbers she was up, and he grumbled "What do you want me to do about it?" 

Well, go to her! 
He brought her milk (which she has been drinking less of since she sleeps ALL through the night now).  A quick sleepy diaper change and both Jeanne and Daddy got to sleep another 2 hours.

Not mommy though.  Loki was up, burping, spitting up and just plain DONE with lying down.  So we played (quietly) in the living room and I drank my HOT coffee in a calm and quite room.

Loki fell asleep in the car sear today for the SECOND time in his life.  Jeanne told me in a  (quite whispery voice)
"Loki seep mommy"

I looked in the rear view and smile!  We whisper back and forth, 'sleep nice', 'yes, he's quite', 'let's not wake him Jeanne,  "not wake!"

Took Jeanne to Gymboree, the big kid class (28-36 months). We went up because I wanted her to be around more talking kids.  She talks all the time, but not when she is in the 18-27 month class, because none of the other kids are talking.  I am having mixed feelings about her staying in this class, as a) she is the smallest and b) she is very much acting like the smallest pup in a litter.  She will sometimes get pushy or grab an arm too hard (that's my opinion, no child has said ow yet), its more her face.  She will stare down a kid in a way I don't like.  She won't have an obvious 'mean face' or rude face, but I (perhaps because I am this way) think shes punking them out, daring them to do something.  Either way, hard to put into words, but it leads to behavior I don't like.  I will let her go to one more big kid class and decide, it may be that she is trying to meet these kids the only way she knows how... staring.

Hubbers and I have lost weight this month!  YEA!  He has lost 6 pounds and I have lost 6 pounds too!  I broke the 140 mark this morning weighing in at 139.8!  WOOT!

Loki is asleep.  I mention this since he really isn't a great napper, he does 30 minutes, then will fart and wake up.  He has been asleep for almost TWO HOURS.  Must be from the shots he got on Tuesday, body working overtime to produce all those antibodies!

Yummy Foods this week:
homemade tomato sauce (yes I did it!, and Jeanne ate TWO servings!)
bread
peanut butter chicken over Barrilla pasta
kettle corn made in my microwave popper (2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp brown sugar)
peanut butter cookie crumble (was supposed to be cookies, I think I put too much sugar in) which I froze to top in ice cream later!

When Daddy is away..

it is SO hard to put both kids to sleep.  Today was even worse since Loki had his 4 month check up today, followed by 3 shots.  He missed his morning nap (he didn't have a nap routine the last time we were there, otherwise I wouldn't have picked 8:45 am), then was upset/sore due to his shots, so he only 'cat napped' for about 30 minutes.  A few hours later (requiring lots of hugs and snuggles) he was still awake.  Finally by 3pm, he took a nap for another 30 minutes, but it was fitful.  By the time 630 cam araound, he was rubbing his red eyes, and had his pout lip going. 

Do you know how hard it is to explain to a 2 year old that you need the room to be 'quite' so Loki can sleep?  I'm not mad at Jeanne, she tried really hard!  I could see little pea brain trying to be 'good' and play by herself, but every 10 minutes she would run into my bedroom looking for me, as if I disappeared.  I wasn't harsh with her at the time but was worried about Loki, he needs his sleep.  I put on a MOVIE for her (I'm not a fan of the TV as a big distraction, ask hubbers, I max out at 50 minutes in the morning for her then its OFF!)  I would some out periodically when Loki was screaming and tell her how grateful I was that she was being so good and I promised her DESSERT when Loki fell asleep.   Finally, FINALLY, Loki fell asleep at 7:40pm.. (poor sleepy boy). 

I came into the living room and pulled Jeanne into my lap and hugged her.  We snuggled and watched the rest of Ice Age 2 (3?).  I made her popcorn in our new SPLURGE microwave popcorn bowl with a little olive oil and brown sugar to make KETTLE CORN.  I brushed her hair, then we started our bedtime routine.

Jeanne really was great (for the most part) considering she didn't get to run, jump, or interact with kids today.  Sure she threw down a couple of 'stand and scream' sessions, but nothing I couldn't handle with a deep breath.  The hard truth, she knew that Daddy was 'gone' and asked for him a lot today.  She'll be happy in the morning to get a big hug and some snuggles from Daddy.

Me too.

P.S.  Loki's 4 month visit:
weight: 14 pounds 14 ounces (50%)
...Dr.s comments, "Oh what a happy baby!" 
My response:  "That's new, we like that."

Shh...

My house is quite.  Jeanne woke up at 545 this morning so she went right to sleep for her nap with NO issues.  Loki soon followed!  I did some dishes and the laundry, and they are still asleep (60 minutes later).  Searching for a re-fried bean recipe per hubbers request, I was pointed to this site Heirloom Beans from Rancho Gordo.  Oh great googalie moogalie, if I wasn't literally counting pennies as I went food shopping I would SO love some of these beans!  Just look at all of these YUMMY heirloom beans!  They even have recipes for their beans if you want to try something new....  I have a recipe from my "Wildly  Affordable Organic' cookbook (gift from the best mom in the world!) to make Southwestern Bean Stew using the Yellow Indian Woman Beans.  I will add these babies to my list and I will make this fantastic dish some day.  Ah yes, BEANS!

Eat them!  Make them, put them on salads, squish them on wraps and add avocado, cilantro and tomatoes YUM!  OK, all this bean talk.... I'm going to soak some BEANS!

FOOD and a visit

I have been very into making super yummy food on the CHEAP lately.  Yes ME!  I love, love, LOVE my slow cooker, and have been making even more super delicious meals.  I also recently got the book "Wildly Affordable Organic: by Linda Watson (she is from Raleigh).  Her book is all about buying in season foods, and making everything by hand (something I know Laurie and Eileen do all the time, but not so for me).  The best part was her very efficient bread recipes, no kneading required, and only 5 minutes of dirty hands at a time (essential for me, I never know what will happen 10 minutes from now, so having my hands covered in dough has got to be limited).

In the last 2 weeks, I have made 3 loaves of homemade wheat bread, pizza dough, summer bean and corn salad, a quart of outrageously yummy strawberry ice cream, a quart of strawberry banana ice cream.  I also have pizza dough in the freezer and more bread in the fridge.

From my slow cooker, I have made chicken curry, which delighted both hubbers and my mom (nary a piece went in the trash), rotisserie chicken (I made this today, and my husband gave me the best compliment ever without realizing it, he said it was better than any roasted chicken he has made.  WOW, I LOVE his chicken!).  I was planing on saving the broth from the rotisserie I just made to then made chicken noodle soup, but as I stared as the seasoned stock, I just figured I would make it over night tonight and have it all done in the morning!  I cut up a potato, 1 celery stick, 1 carrot, half an onion and BLAMO!  Homemade chicken soup DONE while I sleep (I'll add 2 handfuls of pasta and a bunch of spinach in the morning, and it will be done by the time I finish my coffee)!  I've made black beans which were then used to make chicken and bean enchiladas, and chick peas, which hubbers then made hummus (oh so garlicky!).  The Baked Bean soup I made last night was SO good, JEANNE ate a whole serving!  The recipe said it made 6 servings, but I have NONE left!  It didn't last 24 hours in this house!

Do you feel short on time?  Do you wish you could eat clean more often? Do you want to eat food with less fat but LOTS of taste? Are you sick of coming home from a long day knowing its either take out or more time on your feet cooking?  You need a slow cooker.  I spend about 15 minutes each weekend looking for 3-5 recipes I want to make that week.  I will spend anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes preparing (chopping or measuring spices) in the morning (while drinking my coffee).  That's it.  Dinner is made.  Hubbers gets to hang out with his family, I make dinner, I save money, I make YUMMY food!

Here are 3 books that will satisfy any.  Low cost, low fat, low meat, LOTS of meat, cheesy, dairy free, gluten free, low points (weight watchers).
Male it Fast Cook it slow
MORE make it fast cook it slow
The Indian slow cooker make your OWN fantastic Indian food without all the butter or ghee and loads of taste!  I make something from the cook book every week, it has never let us down!

OK, end food rant.

Jeanne and Loki had a visitor last week.  Their Grandmother Ardith came to meet them for the first time.  Jeanne really liked meeting Ardith, and I am really glad she came.  I will upload pictures once we get them off out camera.  It was funny to see where hubbers got his sense of humor from.  Thank you for coming to meet Jeanne and Loki Ardith, it was very nice having you here!

Stay well all!

HOT and humid

Everyday is the same here lately.  80%-95% humidity in the morning and at 6am its 75F.  Not a comfortable to be outside really, but Jeanne needs to play.  This morning, after dropping hubbers off at work (which meant Loki screamed the whole way), we went to the playground nearest our house.  Jeanne played very well with a 4 year old girl for almost 2 hours.  She drank all her water, and the rest of mine, and we were both dripping with sweat (her form playing, me from carrying Loki on my chest).  We left around 11am, but while sitting in the AC comfy car, she kept asking to go back to the playground.  So, I filled the car with gas (Loki was asleep), and drove to Gymorboree.  Jeanne then spent another 50 minutes RUNNING around and played really well with the babies there and another 2 year old.  I was able to keep my velociraptor (Loki) happy by nursing him while in my Ergo and chasing Jeanne around.

After a big lunch, Jeanne went down for a nap easily, that is, after I explained that thunder is just natures way of telling all the trees and birds its TIME FOR A DRINK!

That's all the good stuff.  I wont tell you about the bad stuff, too depressing.

Cue foreboding music

Buyer number two has backed out...

Happy 4th of July!

Loki really and truly hates being in the car seat.  He has never fallen asleep in the car seat, nor has he ever fallen asleep in the swing.  Due to this, our family decided to stay real close to home this nice long weekend.  Perhaps next month we will venture out to the Durham Life and Science Museum... I really wanted to go, but not so much that I wanted to listen to Loki cry to whole way there, and the whole way back.

And now the photo update!

We started the weekend with a walk in Umstead Park.  Oh how I love walking in the woods with my family!  I can't wait to go camping!  That will have to wait a couple of years though... I will NOT deal with diapers and a sleeping bag in the same night.

This image made me so happy!

We stop at the lake to watch the dogs swim and try to catch dragonflies!

I left the water in the car.... Silly mommy.  It's hot out here!

Jeanne loves finding something special to carry through the woods.  Today it was a beautiful flower.

I exist!  Loki was happy and slept most of the time in his new carrier!  Much cooler than the Bjorn.

We try to catch all the smiles we can. 

Jeanne DID do a lot of walking, but eventually wanted to be UP!  She got to ride with Daddy.

We always find the coolest wildlife.  Here is  a scarab beetle or DUNG beetle.  Yep, that'd dung he's pushing!

Jeanne and I take a walk:  I try to take her picture, but every time I ask her to look at the camera, she looks at the ground, so I put the camera away.

This is what happened next:

 Ahh, Loki...

Yeah family picture! (minus mommy of course)

July 3rd we went to the playground:

Chasing the soccer ball!

Close to the playground is a smaller walking loop, Jeanne found a cool cat o' nine tail

Hey Loki!

July 4th, we break out the chair for Loki, and he LOVED it!

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend!