Crazy for Coral!

{top, l to r: Sally Hansen Coral Reef #405; Maybelline Peachy Scene #525; Revlon Orange Flip #710. Bottom: Maybelline Coral Glow~I think, label's too small for my vision!}

This season I have been drawn to all the beautiful shades of coral, peaches and and soft apricots. This is highly unusual since I've always been drawn to pinks and roses and berries, feeling that they best set off my naturally pale coloring.

A girl can change her mind...right?

{top, l to r: Chico's blouse; close up of detailing on blouse; bottom: still obsessed with "accent nails" Ulta peach nail polish~can't find the bottle to get the true name/: & OPI Nicole Love your Life on ring finger}

{Revlon Orange Flip on lips; the Ulta brand peach colored nail polish. I am SOOOO impressed with Ulta's polish! Lasts for days with minimal chipping and wear!}

Crack Pie

{crack pie}

While listening to the radio one day, I heard mention of this pie. That it was soooo good, you just wouldn't be able to stop eating it. Now, I could probably say that about a lot of foods since I tend to have addictive tendencies when it comes to sweets especially. Dare I tempt myself? Yes, I did.

And while it was pretty darned good, luckily my family didn't find me passed out in a corner with an empty pie plate and the dog licking crumbs from my face.

Behold the Lowly Dishcloth

I crochet and knit. But I am only at a beginners level. I have made many, of what I am sure is a beginners project, dishcloths. I found that most patterns that I have tried create a dishcloth in a size that, when wet, becomes heavier than is comfortable for my hand strength and just larger than I can comfortably deal with in general. So I decided just to make myself some smaller, nothing fancy, dishcloths. They work for me. (:

{The larger cloth was one of my first dishcloths made from a pattern}

{the smaller dishcloths were "freestyle"}

Carrot Pie

After being faced with almost three pounds of organic baby carrots that my daughter said she didn't care for (I keep them around for her lunches), I knew that meant only one thing: they weren't going to get eaten any time soon and I'd better figure out something to to with them before they ended up in the trash.

{my trusty Ninja}

So, I remembered a little recipe card that has been languishing in my recipe files for years. And it had been years since I made it. (Only because I go through periods of wanting absolutely nothing to do with anything having to do with the kitchen and cooking or baking.)

{I had just run out of my sea salt so substituted kosher salt instead.}

{many times I use dried milk in my baking and cooking}

*Not pictured is the homemade whipped cream I made to top the slices of warm pie ):

**I find I prefer the pie better after it has been chilled in the fridge for a while.

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Multitasking

Each morning, after getting the family off to work and school, I come home and immediately head for the office to take care of emails and other "necessary" online tasks. I thought I would add a little spaaahhhh treatment to the business at hand.

*It's completely coincidental that my polish matches the yoga toes (replica) thingy and not so coincidental that they are in dire need of a redo.

Today's Green Smoothie was Red

Today's smoothie contained beet, which I'm not normally a fan of. But mixed in with other sweet things I do like, I couldn't detect the normally dirt like taste that I associate with eating the red bulbous roots. The results were actually quite good and I will be eating...ahem, drinking my beets more often.

Ingredients: 1/3 of a large beet + the green & red tops, kale, frozen banana, frozen pear (from our tree in the backyard that I froze a couple of years ago), frozen figs (again from the tree in our back yard, frozen two summers ago-I LOVE my Food Saver!) and wulong (oolong) tea.

Rich Country Buttermilk Bread

{looks normal on one side but, turn it around and you have...}
After buying a bag of bread flour at Sam's Club that I could hardly lift to get home, I have been keeping the bread maker busy!
Usually, I make a french bread that everyone likes but, today I thought I would pull out the cookbook that came with the bread machine and try something new.
This one turned a little funny, like it had blown it's top, but the result was a dense, moist, easy to slice bread that will be perfect for making Ari's lunch sandwiches and quick grilled cheeses. Best of all, everyone loved it!
*************************************************************************************
Daily Doin's:

Yesterday, while waiting outside the school for Ari to finish with tutorials, I was listening to "Ask Martha" on Sirius XM as I usually do on the way to and from picking her up from school. I was particularly excited that Alexis was hosting in place of her mom since I used to enjoy listening to her on the "Whatever" radio broadcast and miss it. On a whim, I decided to call in to ask about her fitness regime since I am only a few years older than her but she is in SOOOOO much better shape than me. I was surprised to find that the phone was answered promptly and I was put on with Alexis right after the caller before me! I thought I'd be nervous but she was so gracious and took time to answer my question that it felt as natural as talking to a good friend. She asked what I currently did for exercise (hardly anything, but when I do, walking & light weights), she suggested heavy weights and working with a trainer at a gym for starters. She works out at home since time is a factor and puts in EFFORT, even though she admitted not liking it so much. Thanks Alexis!

I'm still using items in the freezer and pantry to put together meals and snacks and desserts~haven't given up yet! This week, we've had navy bean and ham soup and turkey vegetable rice soup, both meals that were stashed away in the freezer as leftovers from a previous meal weeks ago. Last night, we had ham (freezer), mashed potatoes (from flakes I had in the pantry bought at a great price and in bulk), brown gravy (from a package I had in the pantry that had been planned for a long since forgotten recipe), and a simple green salad. We've also had deliciously tart lemon bars since I had bought lemons in bulk, overestimating our usage of them (we took a few with us on our trip to Corpus for a sweet bite to eat when a snack attack occured. Dollface even likes them!).

*10X=confectioners/powdered sugar

Today, if we don't go out and eat tonight as we usually do on Wednesday evenings, I will make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches from the ham that didn't get eaten last night and the turkey veggie rice soup that didn't get eaten night before last.
Even though the freezer & pantry continue to keep on giving day after day, I have had to fill in some meals with a few things from the grocery store here and there but I feel great knowing I am putting the food we have on hand to good use instead of letting it go to waste via freezer burn & expiration dates.

A Corpus Christi Graduation

{view from our hotel room}

Last Thursday, we headed out to Corpus to attend my younger brother's graduation from Del Mar after earning his degree in nursing. He is a busy man, juggling his work as a firefighter, EMT and of course having to study and attend classes for so long. I'm sure he is happy to have completed his studies and next up, he wants to study for the Captains test in regards to his firefighter position. I am so proud of him!
It has been a while since I've seen him but he is happy and in a relationship which he seems thrilled with. What more could you ask for?
When we first got into town Thursday night, after an uneventful but pleasant drive, the local weather was predicting heavy thunderstorms and we were in the area of town that was under a tornado watch. It rained heavily and the winds blew hard but after about a half hour, the skies dried up and all was fine, weather wise, for the rest of our weekend there.

We did a lot of relaxing, walked a bit along the shoreline (until we got uncomfortably hot!) attended the graduation and was able to visit for a while with family (my parents and sister and three of her kids also came). Saturday, we went to an indoor flea market which was fun looking around at all the vendors wares. Ari discovered a makeup line called iCandy and was able to meet the owner, who had a booth there. She ended up scoring five vibrant eye pigments and a primer to use with them, a kitty t-shirt, a Hello Kitty necklace and an ice cream cone! Mike & I just enjoyed the time by window shopping and Dollface was happy to stay in mama's arms. She did meet a chihuahua who wasn't thrilled to meet her back.

Sunday, Mother's Day, we headed back home and, even though we all enjoy getting away from time to time, we agreed that there is no place like home sweet home!

{replica of Christopher Columbus' Nina}

{Our last night there we indulged in soothing face masks!}

Today's green smoothie consisted of: spinach, carrot, ground flax seed, frozen apple cranberry juice cubes, frozen banana, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, frozen grapes, and wulong tea. Lip lickin' good!

It's Green Smoothie Time!

I must confess, I spoil my husband and daughter by getting up early and making their lunches and doling out their vitamin supplements. And since it is still fairly early and I haven't eaten yet, I don't take mine at that time. Each day would end without me taking my vitamins and supplements and I would think, "I make sure everyone has their vitamins but I don't take my own." I knew I should take as good care of myself as I do others so why wasn't I? I think that's just how we mamas do sometimes, putting everyone's needs before our own, ultimately at everyone's expense.

Well, this past Monday, while at my dentist appointment, I learned that I have significant bone loss and receding gums. I knew about the gums, as my previous hygienist told me I was brushing too hard, causing the gums to recede. But this bone thing was a big wake up call. After wearing braces for over a year recently, my orthodontist place permanent wire retainers on my top and bottom front teeth since my teeth wanted to continue to shift and not stay in the place the braces were supposed to have trained them to. Could the fact that I have the bone loss and receding gums be the reason my teeth wouldn't stay in place? Because they were loose? Aaagghhhh!

I went right home and began to research everything I could to help arrest and reverse this condition if possible. After reading many articles, I came away with the most often repeated advice: floss every day at least once a day, don't brush with toothpaste too often (twice a day is good), swish and rinse with water after each snack or meal during the day, take my calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, omega 3's (can be gotten from fish oil) and vitamin C. I also read that tea tree oil, mint oils and sesame oil was good to swish around in your mouth to help keep any infections at bay.

I began immediately following all of that advice and in addition, I started "oil pulling" again and making and drinking a green smoothie each morning. I'm also sure to eat more veggies throughout the day. All this in hopes of boosting my immune system to help my body and mouth heal.

Why do we sometimes wait until we get "that wake up call" from our health care providers before we start taking excellent care of ourselves? I have always tried, half heartedly, to eat healthily but still the siren call of the junk food always lures me in.

Let's all raise our (green smoothie) glasses and toast to our GREAT health!

Today's green smoothie contains: frozen banana, frozen grapes, frozen cranberry (sauce that I had in the freezer), frozen mandarin oranges, frozen strawberries, cucumber, baby carrots, kale (from my kitchen container garden), spinach, wulong tea, bee pollen and ground flax seed. YUM.
*I like my smoothies to have a frozen slushy texture and more sweetness than not. I do plan on trying to wean myself of so much fruit and weighing heavier on the veggie side. I also try to buy as many organic fruits & veggies as are available. When I can't obtain organics, for whatever reason, I soak my fruits & veggies in a vinegar & water bath and then rinse.