you see?

how she just grew up *snap* like that?



The long hair and sassy attitude. She spent the night at my parents' house last night and wore that backpack all morning in preparation for their arrival. Doesn't miss me a bit. Nope. Not one iota! Ungrateful monster. Hmph.

So, hey. I want to start a garden. We kind of loved our CSA last summer but the winter CSA has been less than spectacular and has kind of turned us off of it. I love that it introduced us to some new stuff that we wouldn't have used otherwise but there was also a fair amount that I don't' want to continue using. Tell me what to do. Seriously, don't laugh at me or tell me how woefully lazy I am for even considering it but tell me, is this a fairytale solution?

OK, short post as I've been alone, ALL ALONE, for the past 4 hours and have just 2.5 hours left. Off to find something to do that can only be done when I have the house to myself! Not sure what that will be just yet but there must be something!

sayonara numero dos

Do you see what I did up there? How I mixed my languages? Just trying to keep you on your toes, my friends.


And the best part? He didn't SWALLOW it this time (we never did locate the first lost tooth...would you have searched for it?)

made me happy

Just organizing and backing up photos today and I ran across this photo. I took it in June of 2009 and I just think it's the sweetest thing. I don't remember seeing these birds last year...I wonder if they broke up? Probably, he cheated on her. Or her, on he. Or maybe one of them kicked the old bird bucket. Maybe they retired together and took up permanent residence in Boca.

Whatever.

Just made me think about relationships and what makes them work and not work. Carlos and I work. We have our disagreements but we resolve them with respect. And we're stronger for them. And they are few and far between.

Mostly though, we share things. Interests. A strong belief in our children and their potential and how to guide them. A desire to spend time together. And apart.

We appreciate each others strengths and compensate for each others weaknesses. He has an uncanny ability to step in with a hug or a diversion or some sugar just when I need it. I hope I do the same for him.

Guess I'm feeling a little weepy missing him while he's traveling for work. I'll be better tomorrow when he's home again :)

So anyway, I hope the birds are happy. We do have some rather frisky (and fat!) squirrels that seem to have taken to the place. We welcome non-destructive animal pairs of any type here in casa de hernandez.

adventures in vegetarianism

So, I know we haven't talked much in the past year+ but I've been eating a vegetarian diet now for close to a year with the rest of my family joining me for the past 8 months or so.

I'm not some crazed advocate so I'm not going to bore you with the details of the hows and whys but I know a lot of people like to do a meatless meal once or twice a week so maybe on occasion, I'll share a meal that we particularly like.

For the most part, we don't eat a lot of meat substitutes. We mostly stick to a large variety of vegetables, grains and beans. When we do eat "meat-like" we don't really go for tofu based substances but those made with vegetable proteins and the like. I'm trying to be very responsible about this because it's my kids' health and I don't want to cause any deficiencies that will hurt their immunity or health. So far, we all seem to be holding up pretty well ;)

THIS meal though - yum. It looks like meat, it has the texture of meat and it tastes like meat. It's not vegan, it's not low sodium, it's not low fat. It's probably the LEAST healthy meal we eat but it's still better than the real thing in a lot of ways so I don't feel at all guilty working it into our meal plan every couple of weeks. It would work in any recipe you use meatballs in. Everyone loves it (except for Zack, who has been subsisting on a steady diet of sandwiches and yogurt and fruit for years anyway.)

(apologies for the less than stellar photo)


I've adapted this from a cooks.com recipe - a few changes that make them much better ;)

1.5 C italian bread crumbs
1.5 C almond meal/flour (I use bob's red mill - I buy it in bulk from amazon - much cheaper than the grocery store usually!)
1.5 c. grated colby cheese
1 chopped onion
1 t garlic powder
4-5 eggs
a couple of shakes of worcestire sauce
1 pkg. (1.5 oz) pot roast seasoning

Mix everything together and form into balls (I get about 35 1" balls) and brown in a pan before baking for 20 minutes at 350.

I make a simple gravy from onion soup mix, low sodium/low fat cream of mushroom soup and water to pour over them while they bake but like I said, you could easily substitute these into any other recipe that calls for meatballs.

sharing of a crafty nature

I went perusing my blog last night at some older (I mean baby Zack era) posts and got all verklempt. I simply love that glimpse of what our life was like in past years. So why is this so hard for me to continue? I'm trying, really. And seriously, I HATE visiting favorite blogs and seeing all of the "sorry for the lack of blogging, I'll try harder" posts. Just DO it - don't tell me about it. But here I am doing it. More as a reminder to myself that anything.

So, digging into the photo archives, I thought I'd share a couple of things I made for Christmas...since the gifts have been gifted and the photos taken :)

First up, some yarn that I dyed for my mom. In *my* favorite colors - green with just a hint of blue. I'm dying to see what it looks like knitted up (go mom, go!)

And a shawl knit for my aunt/best buddy Jaimie...in the softest tweed imaginable.

And a scarf for my grandma.

I feel like I'm forgetting something but my photo editing mojo is kaput for now so, we'll call it good :) Have a great Tuesday!

so, to sum up

We're halfway through the first month of the new year. Just like that.

Over the past month we've had flu and earaches galore and sinus issues and a finger lancing [blurgh] and lots of fights and lots more good times. We've lost a first tooth (and promptly swallowed it...don't worry, there are two quickly following the brave leader) and spent a very first night away from home and mommy and daddy (she did wonderfully well and asked daily to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's AGAIN.) We have karate (ahem, pardon, Tae Kwon Do) and tennis lessons and daily homework x2. We're picking up speed and I'm fairly certain I don't really like it.

I've tackled 365 and amazingly enough, am 14/14 so far (go me!)

I still love parentheses and ellipses.

I still have lots of weird and random thoughts but have yet to stumble upon the formula that allows me to share them here on a regular basis.

Once again, it's January which means I have a serious boner for purging and organizing. (that word still makes me giggle like a 12 year old. sorry I'm not as sophisticated as I may appear :p)

I'm still knitting and occasionally sewing and reading lots and scrapbooking once in awhile (pretty much all digital now...that stash of scrapbooking goodies is high on the purge list in lieu of the yarn and fabric stashes which sadly, can't be stored on a hard drive.)

Me and my camera were on a break for awhile when it was out of commission with a serious case of broken-shutteritis and now, even a month or so after reuniting, we still haven't rediscovered that comfortable groove we inhabited once upon a time. So, my photos have a heavy tendency to be blurry and over/underexposed and there is just only so much our therapist, Photoshop Elements, can do to help us out. I'm wondering if the super talented Allison will be able to permanently resolve our intimacy issues and allow us to be comfortable together once again.

So, just saying hi to the blog.


(I do have other kids too but I so rarely see them during the daylight hours - oh, and this one is a ham!)