In like a lion out like a lamb...wha????

I think March is backwards because as we come to the close of the month, I am currently sitting with my heat on high and socks on my feet because it is blowing so hard outside that my huge garbage cans (full of garbage too!) were blown over!

We recently did a seasonal celebrations swap on my friend Erika's blog this month. In our swap packages to our recipient, we were supposed to:

• MAKE a handmade spring decoration
• TELL our family tradition to welcome spring
• SHARE our favorite spring recipe

As I shared with your earlier, my handmade bird nest for my recipient somehow took off and was hidden by the kids-which made me scramble at the last minute to replace it. I did a nest with handpainted blue wood eggs and fabric birds as my decoration.

My favorite tradition with spring is "out with the old, in with the new" I like to make or purchase from other crafy mamas brand new knitted or crocheted cotton dishcloths. I keep a basket on my counter for all my dishcloths and cloth napkins.

I also always put away my old fall and winter scents and get new springy smells....soaps, scentsy tarts etc. For my partner she will get my favorite soap maker's sampler pack of soaps to try out 5 yummy soap smells! Tami's soaps are all vegan and I have been a customer of hers for going on -- well, ages! Since the old days of Amity's! And I have never been disappointed.

The recipe I shared is my favorite pizza....cool veggie pizza that I got from my days with Pampered Chef.
We decided to make it to night, and as always it was a huge hit!

Recipe:
Cool Veggie Pizza
(Preheat oven to 350 degrees.)

1 package (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls –or make your own dough!
1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 garlic clove (pressed)
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups assorted fresh vegetables such as:

broccoli
cauliflower
cucumber
green or red bell pepper
tomato
green onions
mushrooms
carrots
zucchini
yellow squash

Unroll crescent dough and separate into 8 triangles.
On pizza stone or pan, arrange triangles in a circle with points in the center and wide ends toward the outside.
Using a roller, roll out dough to a 12-inch circle, pressing seams together to seal.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool completely.

In 1-Qt bowl, combine remaining ingredients except vegetables; mix well
Spread creamcheese mixture evenly over top of crust.
Prepare assorted vegetables as desired and sprinkle over top of pizza.

Refrigerate 30 minutes. Cut and serve;

I will be stocking MY STORE on Wednesday at 2pm eastern. lots of yummy yummy yarn will be there! And as always, you can message me for a custom request!

The kids go back to school tomorrow. They are happier than I am. I wish I had them home a few more days. With everyone being sick I feel like our whole break just raced by. Oh well, it will be summer soon.

I am working on knitting a new bag for myself. I got about 1/3rd of the way through the intarsia when I decided I hate it and ripped it out. Now I am re-working it. I will share pictures when done.

Enjoy the last 2 days of March! April is on its way!

school breaks suck---for the kids!

My poor kids! First on Christmas break they all had the stomach bug. Everyone puked and Christmas day could have easily been spent lazing on the couch as everyone had NO energy!
Now, spring break is ending and they are still sick with this horrible cold! Conner started it before break even began - and now they are going back on Monday but everyone is still ill. I had to take Harrison in yesterday and we are taking Bella and Lexi in today. :(
I will say that all the sickies has made for a very quiet house for spring break! But then, I am not one of those mom's that is saying "I can't wait for them to go back to school!" which is probably why I loved homeschooling so much and miss it. (besides the superior education they were getting! LOL)

Today has been quiet. I started off this morning by scoring Jonas Brother's concert tickets for me and the 2 oldest girls. I am taking them in June for Kaitlyn's birthday. They are going to be so surprised!

I knit Bella a shirt this week...she loves it! She chose the yarn and everything out of my stash.
My gauge was off a bit so it did turn a bit tighter than planned-but she loves it and it is so pretty on her.





Speaking of stash....have I showed pictures of my stash lately? Keep in mind that even now, there is more yarn that is not pictured! LOL



and what Harrison can do with a few moments alone:


**disclaimer** no yarn was harmed in the process of this play time**

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE THEM LARGER

So what does a sunny day

$26 and the promise of watching back episodes of Criminal Minds equal out to?










SPRING CLEANING!!!!



Today we decided that with the weather being so nice and the kids being on spring break that we were going to do some spring cleaning!

With the promise of watching Criminal Minds, the kids were very cooperative! Well, except for Noah who slept most of the day as soon as we got home from scouts as he is running a fever and feeling quite ill.

However, that didn't keep him from pack meeting...he earned his Webelos today and got his recognition for getting the highest score on uniform inspection! 99 out of 100 points! He only missed 1 point because his shoes were dirty.

We also took a trip to the library to pick up a book I had on hold. There are several others that come with it, but this was the only one there today-specifically for the kids.



I recently heard of it and remembered reading quite a bit about it a while back-I like that it really falls in line with the Word of Wisdom which is our law of health in the church. In it we are told concerning food:
The Lord also declared in the Word of Wisdom that the following foods are good:

* Vegetables and fruits, which should be used "with prudence and thanksgiving" (see D&C 89:10–11).

* The flesh "of beasts and of the fowls of the air," which is "to be used sparingly" (see D&C 89:12–13).

* Grains such as wheat, rice, and oats, which are "the staff of life" (see D&C 89:14–17).


I have only read a bit of the book so far - but I am very impressed with it. The research is their to back it up to. We already eat less meat than most families as we really do feel that we are told to eat it SPARINGLY. So this is going to be good for us. Whole foods, little meat. healthy living. I can do that.

Today is also a crafty day for me. I had most of my swap package done up and then realized that part was missing-probably taken by one of the kids and so I had to improvise and quickly replace it as it was nowhere to be found. Stay tuned for pictures of that later.

Hope you are all enjoying your saturday!

oh man, the blog sucks this week

I keep forgetting to come out and post! *blush*

Currently, I am on spring break and it is so nice to not worry about classes or homework! I have had a lot of time to just clean and knit and watch tv and play with the kids, it has been so nice! I also got a TON of yarn dyed up this week...here are a few new colors:









so I hope that excuses my lack of posting! LOL

Update on my brother

I have had some requests for an update on my brother. For those that don't know, you can read in the 2008 archives for November and December.

So he is doing a lot better. He has been released to work part time but he has to wear a helmet which of course mortifies him because he is 20 years old and running around all the other cowboys he works with wearing a helmet! LOL

His balance is still iffy-his right side still responds slower due to the brain injury-but he doesn't have the walker anymore! he can tell though that his body still doesn't respond 100%

I talked to him tonight and he was actually doing dishes!

His therapy has been reduced down. He still cannot drive. He is gaining more and more every week.

I am so grateful for his survival and his recovery.

very productive day

this week has been wonderful. I have had a lot of time to actually do stuff I want to do around the house.

I thought about just doing my day in pictures, but you know that I am too wordy to let it go by without saying something! LOL

Today, I made yogurt. If you have not made your own yogurt, you are missing out! It is very good and is so nice to have in the refrigerator to throw in a smoothie and you can even use it in pancakes!




Last month, I talked about my "new plates" that I found while out thrifting, a favorite past time of mine! LOL This is the second set of plates that I have found....I have a complete set of each now for my large family!

I also have yarn soaking to dye up tonight for my store

I also broke out my brand new serger today and did this shirt to finish up a gift for expectant friends. could these longies be any smaller?

and of course, with the opening of the serger box came the brand new toy for Harrison!

and a few random pictures:

cloth diapers: organized

My beautiful girl

and last, I got 3 new cookbooks this week and have started reading them looking for yummy new stuff to serve to the family!

WHOLE FOODS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

THE VEGETARIAN FAMILY COOKBOOK

THE VEGAN LUNCH BOX (NEW VERSION) - I have the first edition too!

I bought some fabric, and did NOT buy any yarn!!

so that was my day, today. *smile*

A new knitting for me

ok, I have never done a scarf for me. They are boring. A knitters curse. But I finally found a pattern that I thought I might actually like. I am working on it slowly, but it is coming along. This is the last picture I took of it, I have about 3 times the length done now!



Today was a beautiful day! It got up around 69-70 degrees. It was funny because the sky was so dark and stormy and the wind was really whipping around. It was totally misleading and as I looked outside I figured it was cold and did not take the littles outside. My bad...they would have had so much fun. Now it is pouring rain so we may not get to go out tomorrow either.

This week is going to be a bit more relaxing for me. One of my professor's decided to give us a break this week so I only have one assignment due on the weekend! That means I have lots of time to knit and DYE YARN! WOOT! Our STORE is stocking again on the 15th of this month so I need to get a few yarns done up. If you haven't seen our new design, come by and see it! It is so pretty and calming!

Sunday was a good day-we actually all got to go to church as no one was sick. That was a first in a long time!

we are starting to talk about a garden this year. I want to rip up a good portion of our backyard so we can have a big one. With the good eating we are doing, we could definitely use a larger garden this year!

Noah has finished his Webelos and is starting to work on his Arrow of Light. Conner is about done with his Life and Kaitlyn is going to girls camp this summer. How did my kiddos get so big?

Hope all is well with you and yours!

High fructose corn syrup-yup I am going there

Watch a video here

So I am sure we have all seen the videos--high fructose corn syrup isn't bad--its just ... well.. corn! right?

yeah-and a little mercury added in for what? flavor?

an article released in January caused quite an uproar and many denials of the ingredients carrying mercury. ok, so say that is true...it still isn't JUST CORN.

Do you really know what high fructose corn syrup is?

My friend gave the best explanation for everyone: HFCS is corn syrup that's been processed to force some of the sugars to change to fructose. And fructose is worse than the other sugars in terms of telling our brains we've had enough to eat.
It is artificial. not natural. its not JUST CORN!

One thing I love about the commercials is it really touts "its fine in moderation" but have you looked at your labels? HCFS is in a HUGE amount of foods. that makes it hard to be "in moderation"

Just one more reason to eat a whole foods type of diet

oh-and huge kudos to Pepsi for this

Weekly meal plan

in case you are wondering why....I have to admit that I do tend to lose my paper that has my meal plan written on it. GASP! How could that be? With 7 kids, a home business, school and just life-how in the world?

let me tell you--it is actually quite easy!
So here I am going to write it out so if--strike that...WHEN I lose the paper this week, I will still be able to find it out here-because nothing bugs me more than having food that I can't remember why I bought it or what I am supposed to make out of it.
There, a deep dark secret from me.
i put it on facebook, but then became paranoid that somehow the server would crash and i would lose it there too..so here we go!

And now-onto the food-just through thursday
breakfast:
*brown rice cereal with golden raisins and vanilla soy milk
*whole grain toast and eggs with homemade yogurt
*oatmeal and juice
*muffins and homemade yogurt

lunch:
*Aloo samosas
*homemade chicken and corn soup with homemade bread
*baked potatoes with chili
*tuna salad sandwich with fruit and pretzels

dinner:
*massur dal and carrots over jasmine rice
*Grilled salmon with veggies and rice
*spicy jasmine rice with cashews and carrots
*veggie fried rice

snacks:
*smoothies
*pretzels with ranch
*celery with peanut butter
*peanut butter bars

whew-now I can't lose it. my meal plan that is!