Monday, March 29, 2010
Cooking 101 Lesson : Using Lemons (practical advice)
Monday, March 29, 2010 | Original Musings by
Jen
I've been cooking since I was 8. You would think in the last 20 (some) years since I started cooking, I would learn the following lesson:
Do Not Squeeze Lemon Without Gloves if You Are a Nail-Biter and Pulled on a Hangnail Earlier That Day.
The pain that will ensue to equal or greater than the pain of walking half asleep over the living room rug to step on a corner of a lego. But without the 3 am surprise factor.
Another side affect is that you may say a word (or three) that makes cooking-dinner-time a not-so-family-friendly event. There will be nothing Zen-ful about the 30 seconds that follow this incident.
Lastly, if you decide to disregard my advise, I am not responsible for any wrinkles that may permanently appear on your face from the wincing involved.
This is my public service announcement for today. Carry on.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
St Patrick's Day Parade 2010
St Patrick's Day in Kansas City. You never know what you're going to get. This year, I was pleased it fell on spring break week, so we were able to head to the parade.
It was cold. Toe numbing cold.
A's biggest concern was seeing the Dancing Cobras (and similar groups) and the Irish Step Dance girls (especially important considering she's only days away from doing her own Irish Step routine at a school assembly).
We found a spot near the end, across from Streetside Records. Despite the fact we only got there 10 minutes before the start of the parade, we got curb seating (yay mom for bringing the camp chair). Unfortunately, we had to wait about 45 min before we even saw the start of the parade. By then, we were already discussing what we were going to eat at Eden Alley before I had to go back to work!
The boys on the balcony of the apartments about 30 yards to the North of us kept us amused until the parade got there. The best exchange of the day was, "Mama? Are those people drunk?" Of course there was nothing left to say but "yes, dear. remember, moderation is key, otherwise you'll look and sound like that." Her response was a simple, "Oh." Maybe you had to have been there, but let's chalk it up to an opportunity for a life lesson ;)
The boys on the balcony of the apartments about 30 yards to the North of us kept us amused until the parade got there. The best exchange of the day was, "Mama? Are those people drunk?" Of course there was nothing left to say but "yes, dear. remember, moderation is key, otherwise you'll look and sound like that." Her response was a simple, "Oh." Maybe you had to have been there, but let's chalk it up to an opportunity for a life lesson ;)
After about 45 min of parade and no end in sight, we packed up and headed off to lunch.
Overall, another year, another parade, and one more notch in our tradition of parade watching.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Road Trip 2010 : Bonnaroo
This isn't just any music festival though, and if you add on a road trip plus 3 nights of camping, well....... I have two thoughts. This will either be an epic adventure that we repeat year after year (until she doesn't want to be seen with her mom anymore) or an epic failure and I'll never get her in the car again! ;) I hope it's the former.
In researching this topic, of course google was pretty handy. A search of "children and Bonnaroo" brought up more links than I could ever read. Overall, it seems that the type of person who would bring a child to an event like all had an overwhelming positive experience. Even the moms of small toddlers found workarounds that made the festival enjoyable for all. I think it helps that Bonnaroo provides a family-friendly campground where we can retreat if needed.
Now, on to start making lists, practice camping trips for Bebe, and gathering supplies.
Epic indeed.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Urban Homesteading Plan take 1.
I don't know why I do this to myself. LOL
Work.
Parenting.
Working Out.
Volunteerism.
and now? Urban Homesteading.
This actually isn't a new concept in our house, we've been working towards purging clutter, going green, being frugal, and being more self-sufficient for years. This is just an attempt at a formalize plan and take our current habits to the next level. LOL.
So, the March/April rough draft looks like this:
- raised garden beds (that I meant to do LAST April *blush*)
- fencing in the second lot behind ours
- extending the fence on the main lot to allow the raised beds to be within the fenced area
- moving the plants from my container garden from last year to said raised beds (to be built)
- finish compost pile structure
- gutters (ok, gutters have nothing to do with urban homesteading, but just need to be done before spring rains)
- install rain barrels
Seems like a lot, and I decided it's worth it to hire the fencing done by my awesome Rent-A-Husband aka Miguel and his team. They've helped with various projects over the last 18 mos around the house, and I would give them a 100% recommendation for painting, carpentry, and other handyman type services.
One of the best things about this project, is my daughter is 110% on board with this and realizes since this will be a family garden, the whole family helps out. Good in theory, I'll update you on the reality come Mid-July when it's over 90 in the shade. ;)
Combine this with the busiest travel month I have for work, and we have a recipe for one of two things.
Either the most productive home-improvement month ever
or
The biggest FAIL on home to-do list ever.
HAHA!
So, send me links to your favorites gardening and home-projects blogs and sites.
p.s. I don't really need to blog about how home-repair/upgrades cut into tri-training, I'm pretty sure you know how that blog would read. haha
Labels:
environment,
family,
Frugal,
gardening,
Green,
HomeImprovement,
social responsibility,
UrbanHomesteading
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