Blocks with Moo

My parents are in town for a few days this week and we are having a nice time. I heard so much giggling coming from Augie's room this evening that I ran and got my camera to catch this cute moment on video...

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

Today Forrest and I finished Augie's new book shelves. They are made out of-- you guessed it!-- rain gutters. This project was cheap, simple, and cute. I would link a DIY site but if you just Google it you will find page after page of instructional's on how to do this. 

Oh yeah, I also painted the walls sky blue and painted a tree on the wall. I decided that I wanted to stick with something simple and relaxing. Ahhh. I love laying in here to play with him. I wondered in THIS post from when I was 4 weeks pregnant with Augie when I would get the "nesting urge" to create a nursery. Well, he has lived in our room up to now and I have never decorated a room for him. Until now. I guess this is my mind and heart realizing that soon it will be time for him to transition. 

One last funny thing: This is how Augie insists his shelf (well, the only one he can reach so we put the board books in) must be kept. I kept trying to lay out the book nicely, and he kept fixing it back this way. Sigh. Love that boy. 

Garden Update

For a while there I was getting kind of worried about my crops. Yes, I call them my crops. My tomato and pepper plants were producing flowers that would wither off without producing fruit, but recently I started spying some teeny baby fruities! 

Heirloom tomato-ette

The itsy-bitsy watermelon vine that didn't grow for two months has suddenly, over the course of a few weeks, become a mammoth!

The zucchini plants aren't doing too bad, either.

Have you ever seen a baby watermelon? Not the kind they sell at the store, I mean a real baby watermelon. As in, an inch long.

Cute and fuzzy!

And of course this post would not be complete without a shot of my little dirt-eater. 

Puerto Rico

Before I get into the details of the trip, it is worth noting that many unfortunate incidents occurred right before and during the trip. Two of which were my camera breaking the day before we left and me forgetting the charger to the camcorder (which all of my pictures on this blog are from) so I was really only able to get pictures of the first half. Sad times. In fact, just to get them all out of the way I will list all of the other foul-ups that took place.

• Augie got Hand Foot and Mouth disease right before the trip, and we were still getting over it when we had to travel on the plane.
• Forrest contracted HF&M as well, though his "adult" version only lasted about 24 hrs, he did run a good fever on the 5 hour plane ride and felt rather cruddy. 
• I also contracted HF&M about day 2 of our trip and had to spend a day lounging and napping. 
• My dad twisted his knee a little bit on one of the first days, and used a funny cane for the rest of the trip.
• My mom completely fell going down a slick ramp (oh yeah, it rained most days we were there) in a fort we toured and sprained her knee and ankle. She was hurt so badly we took her to the ER to make sure there were no fractures and her leg swole up like a sad balloon. (I know swole isn't a word, but I am a Texan, so it is.)
• Forrest re-injured a calf tear/sprain and his calf swole up and got hot and red. He was in a lot of pain for the second half of the trip and had to ice his calf a lot and prop it on pillows. Also sad.
• I got sick again a few days before we came home and am still recovering from the worst virus that I have ever had in my adult life. This time, I had to take a 5 hour plane ride with a toddler while very ill.

Okay. Now onto the "meat" of the trip. 

We spent a total of ten days in PR, the first half staying in San Juan and the second half staying in a little beach town called Rincon. While we were in San Juan we did a lot of walking. It is a very historic area (we stayed in "Old" San Juan) and there were a couple of Forts/Castles to tour.

This is Castillo de San Cristobal (where my mom fell!)

During the San Juan half of the trip we took a couple of excursions in a rental car. The first was to the El Yunque rainforest. It was absolutely beautiful, but I DO NOT recommend taking a baby in a stroller on  the "easier" trail to the waterfall. Not easy. Not safe. Wouldn't even recommend taking the old people you bring. Luckily the old people stopped early, found a bench, and waited for us to make it back to them. There were actually two waterfalls, a small one that was easy to see from the road and a big one to hike to, and this first video is the smaller one. 

The other side excursion we took was to the "Pork Highway". The Puerto Ricans call these restaurants Lecharones and it is where they roast whole pigs and serve it with local side-dishes. Forrest saw this on Food Network and it was a trip must-do for him. 

The second half of the trip was beautiful, but unfortunately I have no proof! We swam at calm, amazing beaches and drove around the small town discovering neat things to eat. We also made an excursion on this half of the trip to tour a coffee plantation up in the mountains. It was a hour of winding road there and back, and I got very carsick. Not my favorite part of the trip, but as a coffee lover I am still glad we went!

All in all, I think Puerto Ricans as a whole are exceptionally sweet, helpful, and country-proud people. That being said, they are horrific drivers. Also, I am an equally horrific camera-woman, so sorry if anyone feels motion sick after reading this!

The End!

Señor Gringo

This is our new bird, Gringo!

Our family had no intention of adding a feathered friend, but this was just fate. A while back at the park I found this bird sitting on a handrail in the middle of a bunch of kiddos. When I asked the moms standing around me whose bird it was, they all said it was not theirs. I then took it upon myself to save his little life. I wrapped him in my over-shirt (I am not fond of birds and did not want to get bitten) and  put him on my passenger seat. I strapped Augie in and we were off to get him some water and food. I called Forrest and he said we should keep him until we could find out who his real owner is. On the way home from the Petsmart I stopped at the Chick-fil-A drive through and got some food and a little cup of water for Gringo. He gulped it thankfully, hopped onto my thigh, and whistled a cat-call at me. That was the first moment I realized that this bird might not be Satan incarnate like most; any creature than can recognize my beauty, even when un-showered and sweaty must be a winner. Anyway, I brought him home and started researching what kind of bird he was, what he needed to live, and the best ways to find a lost bird's owner. For a few days I searched for the person who lost him, to no avail. In the mean time, I got to know him and as it turns out, he really likes me. As it also turns out, it is really hard to hate something that really likes you. Tertiarily, it turns out my husband is a big fan of birds. We are now bird owners. I knew we would end up keeping him when Forrest and I both started spending money on creature-comforts for him, unbeknownst to each other. 

He had a bit of a rough time bonding with Augie and Forrest at first, but he has calmed down about both of them since. 

Isn't my husband handsome!?

He is a low-maintenance, chilled out sort of person bird and he makes a few fun little sounds, including mimicking the song our washing machine makes upon completion of a load. We intend to take him to the vet to get checked out, sexed, and find out about how old he is. 

I have to admit that at first I desperately wanted to find his owner, because I don't like birds and did not want to be responsible for him. I was even intending on eventually finding a home for him if we didn't find who lost him. Now I have completely changed my mind. He is a super little love bird and I have adopted a finders-keepers sort of mentality. 

Bountiful Baskets Experience

For those of you who aren't familiar, Bountiful Baskets is a non-profit food co-op. It is completely volunteer based, and they ask you to volunteer at least once every 6-8 weeks of participation. That is how the produce ends up so cheap! For more information click HERE. More than likely there is a BB group in your area, as they are all over the nation! If there isn't one, you can even start your own. This week was the first time I had participated and I loved it. I paid $15 for the conventional basket (as opposed to organic) and this is what I got:

1 Honey Dew melon

1 brown lunch-sack full of Fava beans

5 HUGE bananas

7 Roma tomatoes

 2 heads of green lettuce (NOT Iceberg, GREEN!)

5 ears of corn

1 Butternut squash

1 head of Cauliflower

6 Apricots

2 Mangoes

A MASSIVE Sweet potato (4 servings?)

I think that is it...I might have even forgotten something. I started searching for recipes to employ all this fresh produce and found some yummy looking dishes! I am not a huge fan of raw tomato, but I love me some Bruschetta. I found a pretty standard recipe and BAM! Delicious lunch. As far as the squash goes I can't wait to make THIS little baked side dish/dessert. I plan to have a feast of grilled corn one day, and keep it simple there. Chili powder, butter, salt....heaven. I found lots of recipes for the Fava beans but THIS one really struck my fancy. Finally, the two heads of lettuce worried me, since I don't want to eat myself sick of salad before they go bad. I found THIS little gem hiding on the internets. I am the most excited to make it, as I am very fond of soups. They seem to stay good in the fridge forever, and they even freeze well!

I had some of the needed ingredients already in my house, and the only things I have to get from the store to complete all of them is this short list:

1 lemon

Goat cheese

Basil

A baguette (I could make this even)

Parmesan cheese

Chicken stock

Tah Dah! I am definitely going to make this a weekly part of my groceries. It is an easy way to save money, it is fun, and it "forces" me to find interesting, new, and healthy recipes. It is worth noting that there are also usually "side items" you can add to your basket, like fresh bread and treats of all sorts. If any of my local friends or neighbors want to hitch up with me and volunteer together sometime (if you choose to get involved) that would be fun! I choose to go to the Plano-Skaggs Elementary School location. 

EXCITING!!

Today's Bad Decision

Let's cut to the chase. We have known each other too long to beat around the bush about something so trivial. I tried to cut my own hair in the mirror and failed. Here is the long story:

A few weeks ago...more like a month and a half, Forrest and I decided we were going to lose weight. Well, my handsome husband is currently 30lbs lighter and I am just about where I started. I decided one day that I needed more motivation. I told him that if I could lose just TEN pounds that I would reward myself with a good haircut. I love going to a salon and having my hair scrubbed by someone I don't really know and then getting a gloriously overpriced coiffe. Unfortunately with a baby and a budget and more things to care about than myself, this does not happen too terribly often. Not because Forrest won't let me go, but because I am a real cheapskate. So, back to my reward system and failure thereafter. Today I got the harebrained idea that maybe...just maybe I could get away with trimming it the mirror myself. I would not be breaking my bet/challenge and my mother-in-law does this regularly and she is still alive to tell about it. Why not, right? Anyway, about 10 minutes and a sink-full of hair later I decided to call it quits and declare myself the loser of this ill-chosen game. I couldn't seem to make my "tiny trim" even on both sides and my hair kept getting shorter...and shorter. I was even using a makeup mirror to trim the back. YIPES!

I ran to the phone to inform Forrest that I needed what I dubbed an "emergency hair cut" and then called a salon to see what they had this afternoon. Two hours later I came home with much shorter hair, but I am happy to say that the gristly home-dyed blond part is all gone! I was really enjoying having long hair. I had even begun to master the tricky art of self-French-braiding. Oh well. It'll grow again!

Here are a few "selfies" that I took of my salon cut. Enjoy!