Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Baby Food

Ok, so Kaylee's doctor had me start her on solids a few weeks ago - namely, rice cereal, vegetables, and fruits. I went to the store and picked up a couple of each flavor of the stage one (single foods only, no blends, no added sugar or salt) stuff to see what types of foods she would enjoy. I was surprised at the cost - about $1.20 for 2 2.5 oz portions.

Kaylee ended up liking most of the stuff we tried. Well, let me rephrase that. Kaylee did not spit out most of the stuff we tried. I can see, however, that she prefers vegetables over fruit, and perhaps sweet tastes over tart or bland.

When I tasted her foods to see what they were like, I thought they were vile. Well, not entirely. The squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and pears were tolerable. The colors of the veggies were a little surreal though, which I blame on the processing during canning.

So after debating on the cost and the taste, I decided to make my own. It would be cheaper, have NO added preservatives (even the natural ones, like citric acid, change the flavor considerably, and I want to know what she REALLY thinks of the foods she tries).

I went to the grocery store and bought some beautiful vegetables: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, string beans, and carrots. I then proceeded to cook them, puree them in the blender, and spoon them into an ice cube tray to freeze into individual 1 oz. portions, which I then put into ziplock bags.

Now all I have to do is take out a couple cubes and nuke them for one minute and stir. And they taste AMAZING! Kaylee loves them and opens her mouth really wide and starts freaking out if I'm not fast enough with the little food shovel.

Pictured L-R: sweet potato, green beans, carrots, squash.

Just thought I'd share. By the way, I used water from the cooking process in my vegetable purees, that way I figured I'd be using the vitamins that had leached out in the cooking process. Oh, I know some of them have oxidized their way out, but I can try and feel like I'm doing good, right? Besides, look at the amazing colors these veggies retained - the canned ones sure didn't look like this!

Also, just for reference, about 1 to 1.5 pounds of vegetable cooks and purees down to about two ice cube trays full, which in my case was about 32 cubes, I think. I'm not sure, since I don't have my trays in front of me.

I'm still working on what to do about fruits, but I think I'll be able to do some fruits the same way. I know for a fact apples and pears will work easily - just peel and cook and puree, not sure if I'll do bananas or just make a raw puree with a little apple juice for ease of blending.

Until next time!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Somebody's Watchin' Me!

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








stupid Geico commercials.





that is all. *sigh*

Sparkly Soap?

So I've had this strange thing happen.

You know how if you have little girls, eventually there are so many little costumes and other little girl princess-y stuff that has sparkles on it, and how eventually you just get used to the sparkles kinda showing up everywhere? You see a glint of a sparkle in a sunbeam on the floor, you catch a sparkly glint on her cheek? You see a sparkle on the dog's nose? (Or so I'm told by my friends who have had little girls for a while....)

Well a couple weeks ago, I noticed my hands were slightly sparkly. As in, I'm not sure if they're really sparkly or not. As in, it looks like I accidentally rubbed some neutral eyeshadow on my palm sparkly. As in, there is a strange sheen on my hands sparkly.

I was completely confused. These weren't actual individual pieces of glitter that I had gotten into and were stuck on my skin. This was more like the metallic sheen of a powdered mineral. Kinda reminded me of pigment powders for mixing in a media to paint or emboss with.

So where could I have possibly picked up this sparkly sheen on my hands? And why was it so brilliant even after a whole day of caring for Kaylee and constantly washing my hands?

Well, I started to get suspicious and decided that it had to be something different that I had recently incorporated into my life.

Guess what I had just done a few days previously to noticing the sparkles on my hands?

Yeah, that.

I had been to the mall and wandered into a 3 for $10 sale on hand soap at Bath & Body Works. We love their soap (well, certain flavors of it, anyway) and about twice a year I go in and stock up.

My "normal" flavors are Mandarin Orange and Cucumber Melon. Just the plain anti-bacterial stuff, not the moisturizing cream stuff or the foaming pump stuff.

This time, I decided to shake things up a little and got a bunch of flavors and a couple different types. Since it's winter, and my hands look like reptile skin, I opted to pick up a couple of the moisturizing soaps. Oh, and since I love citrusy scents, I got Kitchen Lemon for the kitchen.

One of the moisturizing soaps smelled so delicious... Warm Vanilla Sugar... mmmmmmmm. My hands smelled like candy after washing them.

Sparkly clean, they are.

Now why would a hand soap include sparkly stuff? And what is this sparkly stuff? Is it safe to eat? For I am sure that as I prepare food or touch my face or eat that I am consuming sparkly hand soap residue. And you can't actually see the sparkles in the soap... it's more like it's just left on your hands.

So if any of you out there make liquid moisturizing hand soaps, maybe you can clue me in. Why is my soap sparkly?

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Hamlet - the Facebook Newsfeed Edition

OK, so this is also in my Facebook Notes section, but any of you on Facebook that are familliar with the newsfeed will probably appreciate this. ~ GVJ

HAMLET
(FACEBOOK NEWS FEED EDITION)
BY SARAH SCHMELLING
- - - -

Horatio thinks he saw a ghost.

Hamlet thinks it's annoying when your uncle marries your mother right after your dad dies.

The king thinks Hamlet's annoying.

Laertes thinks Ophelia can do better.

Hamlet's father is now a zombie.

- - - -

The king poked the queen.

The queen poked the king back.

Hamlet and the queen are no longer friends.

Marcellus is pretty sure something's rotten around here.

Hamlet became a fan of daggers.

- - - -

Polonius says Hamlet's crazy ... crazy in love!

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet are now friends.

Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not.

Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent.

Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests.

Hamlet posted an event: A Play That's Totally Fictional and In No Way About My Family

The king commented on Hamlet's play: "What is wrong with you?"

Polonius thinks this curtain looks like a good thing to hide behind.

Polonius is no longer online.

- - - -

Hamlet added England to the Places I've Been application.

The queen is worried about Ophelia.

Ophelia loves flowers. Flowers flowers flowers flowers flowers. Oh, look, a river.

Ophelia joined the group Maidens Who Don't Float.

Laertes wonders what the hell happened while he was gone.

- - - -

The king sent Hamlet a goblet of wine.

The queen likes wine!

The king likes ... oh crap.

The queen, the king, Laertes, and Hamlet are now zombies.

Horatio says well that was tragic.

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, says yes, tragic. We'll take it from here.

Denmark is now Norwegian.

25 Random Things about Me

This is from a meme I ganked from my Facebook Notes section - I thought it was a little fun, so wanted to post it over here, too.

1. I play bass guitar and piano.
2. I love driving motorcycles.
3. I am becoming more earth friendly/conscious every year.
4. I love being a Mom.
5. I love being a wife.
6. I get along very well with my parents.
7. I've lived in three Canadian provinces and two US States.
8. I haven't been to church for years, but miss it and hope to find another church that's a good fit someday.
9. I love big piles of clean folded laundry.
10. I have always wanted to take dance lessons; clogging, tap, jazz, contemporary, line dancing, and ballroom dance. Someday...
11. I miss living in the South - it's too cold here for most of the year. Even the summers feel cold to me most of the time.
12. I am addicted to Diet Mountain Dew and M&M's.
13. I love taking long road trips.
14. I hate everything about flying except being above the clouds. TSA is a joke, and plane crashes suck.
15. I miss having an aquarium and love staring endlessly at fish swimming around.
16. I love my kitties.
17. The only thing I miss from my pre-weight loss surgery life is the ability to eat ice cream. However, since ice cream contributed to my predicament and I love being thin (relatively speaking) now, I totally think it was worth giving it up.
18. I miss all our friends, but especially Matt and Jen. We need to get a duplex next time.
19. I love smelling all the stuff at Bath & Bodyworks.
20. I love sushi.
21. I love beer.
22. I hope to see Europe someday.
23. I love cruising.
24. I own an apartment building and am a co-landlord with Ian to two of the best tenants ever.
25. I hope we sell our house in Caribou before summer so we can take a vacation.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

I'm so excited...


Rachael Ray has just walked into my life in the form of a 7 qt. round dutch oven. Enamelled cast iron.

The thing probably weighs at least 10 pounds empty. But I'm in love.... I can't decide what to cook first, so send me your ideas via comments!

Edited to Add: This pot is available from Amazon.com. I used rewards points to buy it, but I think it costs around $100. You can get enamelled cast iron for less, though - probably $40-$60.

I think I am going to do some kinda browning/braising dish - maybe a beef stew - first. :)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Snowing....

Wow. It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. I think in my mind I had this sweet idea of what my blog SHOULD be - a place to write clever commentary, wry rants, and sarcastic synopses. What it's ending up being so far is a lame assortment of simplistic observations and an occasional point. So much for the witty cynicism...

Anyhow, for any of you who check my other blog about my daughter Kaylee, you know what's been keeping me busy and occupied. Although I don't think that your child should necessarily completely consume you, Kaylee has at least 90% consumed me and I am totally OK with that. I think the reason I am OK with it is that I know it's temporary as far as time consumption goes - her needs and my time commitment to them will change as she grows... also, I have waited so long to have her in my life that I am really enjoying being totally committed to her right now. There's almost nothing in my life that one of her smiles or kisses can't fix.

Today it's snowing. We were supposed to get um, maybe 4 inches of the stuff. So far, I've seen about 6 inches and it's still coming down pretty good. The weather website has updated their forecast to say 4-10 inches... so I guess we're going to have the full Monty. It's pretty, and I'm thrilled that it finally warmed up to freezing (since when does freezing feel warm?) as the cold was pretty intense here for the last week or two... but I am DONE with winter. It might be one thing if we were into winter outdoor activities, but I think that living in Florida has changed that for me, forever. Of course I still have it in the back of my mind that we should run down to Mars Hill and go downhill skiing at least once before we move, but I don't know if that's gonna happen or not. Regardless, we are looking forward to getting the heck out of here in the winter.

I still feel a bit like my previous post - like I get frustrated at my productivity level, or lack thereof; but in reality, most days I am getting basic household chores done and tackling a little project or two. I am just entering tax season for now, which involves lots of sorting and filing, cursing about my lack of filing discipline in the previous year, resolving to file regularly in the current year, failing to file at all, and just generally hating filing in general. In reality, a whole year's worth of filing takes less than a few hours and I shouldn't fuss about it one way or another. I have always hated it at my jobs as well, so I shouldn't worry too much about it. I just feel momentarily overwhelmed when I have this mountain of tasks in front of me, and then I dig down into my firm resolve and start plowing through the mountain and before you know it, I'm on the other side! Yay! I can't wait to be on the other side!

Anyhow, I'm still here. I've been enjoying being Susie Homemaker and cooking lots of delicious things over the last couple months, and I'm really enjoying laundry, ironically. I think I'll get going for now, as I can hear Kaylee stirring in the other room and it's snuggle time, I think. :)

Until next time...