A day in the life of Spring

I love Spring...there is something just so exciting, fresh, & new about Spring. Maybe this is why it is the time of new birth...a time to dust of our feathers and dive head first into whatever may come our way. For us, our new endeavor is gardening. I have always loved to dig my hands in the dirt. Thanks Mom & Dad for showing me the way to pull out a weed, cut back a palm, trim back bushes, & plant a tomato plant. I feel like we just got thrown into gardening haven. Our home is surrounded by fruit trees, rose bushes, ferns, you name it...we probably have it. There are endless areas to throw a plant in the ground and see what happens. That is the part I love about it, the uncertainty, excitement, & accomplishment of growing something from a seed, or tiny plant into something we can eat or view just for it's pure beauty. I was walking around the yard today and it just inspired me. The pomegranate tree has the most bright red flowers on it, ready to become a sweet but tart fruit.

The fig tree's electric green leaves have such a distinct shape

with beautiful fig buds getting bigger every day.

And the yellow plum, with it's bright white flowers ready to make way into sweet yellow goodness.

I am not sure what this beauty is, I am thinking it is an apricot or peach, the bees are loving the sweet nectar coming from these beautiful pink flowers.

And here is the start of my tomato garden. We have so many gophers, so we dug out a space behind the shed, hoping it will give these plants a chance to grow! We already had some sort of critter try to eat one the other night, so we wrapped the cages in celophane to keep them away and provide some extra heat for them to grow.

My next blog will be about all the nasty bugs we have come across since we started our gardening/composting expedition.... and let me tell you, that is the part I am not quite digging about the garden:)

A cup of Health

I have been sick... my goodness, this one lasted a whole week! I even went to Urgent Care on Sunday in hopes that the good 'ol Doc would give me some magic pill to make my relentless cough disappear. Haaa... who was I kidding? I just had the same virus that everyone else has been walking around with. All I came home with was some cough medicine with codeine. Which, I might add...is the best cough medicine in the world! I am sure my husband can agree, since I am now not waking him up a few times a night coughing up a lung.



This brings me to my attempt of self medicating. I have tried all the home remedies out there, like Hot Totties to put me to sleep, baking soda/salt tinctures up my nose to clear me out, hot steamy showers (no...not the one's you are thinking of), Riiii---cooooo-laaaaaa's, etc etc etc. Finally, I dug deep...really deep....back to my old days as a juice bar girl at Ki's in Cardiff. Those were the days...ok, I am daydreaming. Do you want to know what I did??? I JUICED! I remember being sick and having Ki, herself make me up the most delicious fresh squeezed juices and saying to me...drink this and you will feel better. So, I made fresh CARROT APPLE GINGER juice. And...WA-LA.... my cold was gone! This could have been some sort of coincidence, but I am thinking it really did the trick. It was my life saver, my lucky star, my pot of gold...heck, it was my cup of HEALTH.



If you want to try it for yourself, this is how you make it. (you will need a juicer for this)



~1" piece of fresh peeled ginger

~a few apples (leave the skin and everything on them)

~a few carrots






Run it through your juicer (in that order), and you got yourself a delicious sweet & spicey cleansing drink loaded with Vitamins A & C.


Mason even loved it.













CHEERS TO YOUR HEALTH!

I am a MOM

Ok, I have been a Mom for almost 4 years now... I often wonder how I got that title?!? I am constantly reminded of it everyday. Mason calls me Maaaaaaaammmmmm, with this whiney drone; Mama, so sweet and sickening when he wants something; and Mommy, when he is hurt. Miller only knows how to say MaMaMaMa....which melts my heart everytime he mumbles it. But seriously, I am not sure how cut out I am to be a MOM! I mean, I LOVE my kids more than anything in this entire world and feel incredibly blessed to have my children, including everything that comes with them, like worms in pockets, snotty noses, ear piercing shrills, and dirty diapers! I feel like this past week I have been put to the test though. You see.... I have been SICK! How I would love for my MOM to come and give me some chicken soup, rub my back, get me meds, make me tea.... Nope, I am the Mom now and instead of sitting on my rear watching re-runs of Afterschool Specials on TLC, being taken care of.... I am going to the store, making dinner, doing dishes, wiping rears, picking up toys, folding laundry, etc etc etc... all you Mom's....you know the drill. I don't know why I feel like I should be complaining about this, but I am. I am just plain SPENT! You may be wondering where my husband is during all of this? Well, he is sick too.... So, there you have it...... I am clocking out as MOM right now, even if it is only for a second.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

"Reduce Reuse Recycle...words that we all know, we have to save the planet so we can learn and grow.. we might be only children, but we can try to please....we have to save the planet, it starts with ME!! "

That is the song that Mason has been singing these days. I can't say that those are the exact words, but it sounds sooo cute coming out of a 3 year old's mouth. Thanks to Shuckleberries Preschool, my kids are learning how to save the planet at a young age! This past month they have been bringing in water bottles & cans to collect so that Shuckleberries can recycle them & earn money to buy a new bike for their preschool.

Today we went to the Recycling center in Oceanside to see just where all of our recycleables go. The kids loved sorting out the cans & bottles and watching the big trucks. Here are a few photos of our adventure today.

An Orange Tribute

When I was growing up, going to my Nana's house meant playing with vintage barbies, making cookies, and Orange Julius'. My Nana had a special blender just for this occasion. My sister and I would go out to the backyard and pick the oranges off the tree, squeeze them into juice and add the other ingredients. I don't remember exactly what went in them and what the ratio was, but I do remember the raw egg. I guess this gave the drink some sort of froth that you can't get without the addition of possible salmonella poisoning!

Now that we live in my Nana's home, there are just certain traditions that I have to (and want to) keep alive! So, I got online and found a few recipes for Orange Julius (minus the raw egg). I even held onto Nana's vintage blender! She would be so proud to know my boys have now experienced their first Orange Julius mustaches, using the same ingredients she did, and at the same spot in her kitchen.

Here is my version on Nana's Orange Julius

1 cup fresh squeezed Orange Juice (or more if you like)

1 cup milk (I used 1% milk)

1/4 c. sugar (I used less because the oranges are so sweet)

1 tsp. vanilla

~ 1 cup ice

Add all ingredients to blender and WA-LA....

** One thing to know about me... I hardly follow recipes and I don't like to measure, so I apologize in advance if your Julius takes some tweaking.

ENJOY

X is for X-RAY

The letter of the week at school this week is "X". I find it ironic that Mason had his first "X" ray today. Yep, that is right....my 3 (almost 4 year old), had to have a picture taken today of his collar bone. The story to how we got to this point, goes like this.....

Saturday afternoon....Mason is racing down the driveway on his bike, jams on the breaks, fish tails and high sides himself right onto the pavement, via his right shoulder. He fusses a bit, but gets back up and starts playing, because he had friends over...and obviously can't let a little crash slow him down. No problems the rest of the evening.

Sunday morning @ 2am. We hear a scream and crying from Mason. We have no idea what had happened, we chalk it up to a bad dream and put him in his bed. Mike picks him up to carry him back to his room and cries even louder. We think he is being dramatic, and brush it off.

Sunday morning @ 7:30....the poor kid is in PAIN! He tells us he fell out of bed and hurt his shoulder. He is obviously injured because he just sits on the couch all morning (not normal for our child at all!). We give him some ice, tylenol, and lots of hugs. You can see in his eyes that he isn't right, but he tries to go about his normal day with a flacid right arm. I hope no one passes judgement on my lack of taking him to the Urgent Care on a gorgeous Sunday! I mean, yes...it was 75 degrees out and we were knee-deep in dirt, gardening! Really, if I thought the doctor would have any magical cure for his debility, I would have gone...but I pretty much chalked the injury up to a bruised shoulder.

Sunday evening.... we are getting Mason ready to bed and I take a good look at him and notice his right collarbone looks a bit swollen. He still wails in pain when I try to get near it and touch it. I figured, ok.....tomorrow we will get a picture of it.

Monday morning.... doctor says "I think it is bruised not broken." I mean, Mason was even high-fiving Dr. Park! But the X-ray says..."Non-displaced Clavicle Fracture." And that is our diagnosis.

My son has his 1st broken bone just shy of his 4th birthday. I guess I am pretty calm about this because I know there will be many more of these. If he is anything like his Dad, we might end up with our own parking spot at the ER! As for now, he loves his ice packs, his sling, his gardening gloves (thanks Grandma), hugs, and the attention (of course!). We are still trying to figure out EXACTLY what happened...was it the bike accident or falling out of bed? I think we have concluded that it was him falling out of bed. Now, I feel even more guilty! But at least my son has something to share @ school this week for the letter "X". His very first X-ray.