Saturday, June 16, 2012

Fathers

Happy 'Day-Before-Father's-Day'!!
I hope you have a brilliant day and spend some time with your beloved daddies.
My poor dad has been beset with one distress after another since his knee surgery in May. First, his leg swelled more than it should have, then his Doc found a blood clot, now he has shingles. He is just miserable. Not to mention he's on water pills that make him pee every few minutes. He is not a happy camper these days. So, here's to my 82 year old dad, for withstanding the aches and pains of my growing up.


Dad and me


Dad and me


Dad and me


Dad and me


With my daughter


Dad with my youngest


Dad with my oldest


With my daughter

Cheers dad.
I'll see you tomorrow.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Friday Five!!

Hmmmmmmmm, my mind seems a bit obsessed with food this morning. Perhaps figuring out my weekly menu and shopping list as well as reading my fav blogs and attempting to finally pull together my own blog post (although I am quite the chatter, putting together a daily update is proving to be extremely difficult) is what's keeping food at the foreground of my mind.

Remember, all who reply will be tossed into a bucket (your name that is) and the winner will receive a special surprise from me. YaY!! Free stuff!!
So, give it a whirl!!



1. Do you menu for the week or cook whatever you feel that day?



2. Do peas belong in a 'mornay'>
(borrowed that q from Chantelle over at fat mum slim. You MUST go visit her blog, it's very cool and very fun!)



3. What is your fav 'go-to' dish?



4. Are you an 'adventurer', always trying new recipes or are you more of a comfort cooker?



5. What is your favorite 'Food Network' show?



Yes, that gorgeous little girl eating her peas is my amazing granddaughter Haley. How cute is that child? She looks so much like me...
but we're hoping she grows out of that!

Remember to stop by Wednesday for my newest weekly installment of 'What's For Dinner Wednesdays' were we all get to share our favorite recipes!! So cool, plus, anyone who shares has a chance to win a fun gift!! YaY!! MORE FREE STUFF!!
So, come on back by, I'll be looking for you!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

You Capture ~ What I Did


Went to breakfast at The Galloping Hen, ate some yummy Steak Ranchero


To Barnes & Nobles, didn't buy anything though cause I'm still reading Bitterblue


Worked on my herb garden


Worked on learning to knit


Got flowers


Got more flowers


Watched my dog watch cars go by


Made chocolate lemon cupcakes. Super yum!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

You Capture | Sky

Weekly photo prompts over at I Should Be Folding Laundry/You Capture. This week is... Sky.

Morning walk just as the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds.

PW Photography Assignment: LOVE

This handsome man is my SIL holding my beautiful granddaughter. Seemed to be the perfect photo to submit to Pioneer Woman's photo assignment theme...love.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

All Boy - I Heart Faces June Photo Challenge

A quick snap of the boys tearing up the pinata at Ben's 5th birthday party, (pirate themed, of course).



Photo Challenge Submission
Check out more 'All Boy' photos at I Heart Faces.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Happy 5 on Friday!!


Happy 5 on Friday!!
Answer these 5 questions to be entered into a drawing for a fabulous prize!!
(Yes, ya'll know it's Avon)


1. When placed on hold, how long are you willing to wait before hanging up?
2. What music app do you use?
3. When you go to the theater, where do you prefer to sit?
4. When did you last use 'snail mail' and why?
5. What is the most embarrassing TV program you watch?


There you go, very simple.
Please share this among your friends, the more the merrier.
Drawing will be Monday.
Come on, it's so much be fun to win free stuff!!



**Photos taken by me for www.aday.org. Pop over to check it out.**


Thursday, May 17, 2012

No Mo Mojo It Seems

Why is it so hard to get into a routine and so easy to slip out of one? Before I went to stay with my dad during his recovery from knee surgery, I was walking 7.45 miles 4x a week. Throughout my stay I couldn’t WAIT to get back home, missing my morning walk along the beach, my body ached for it, my mind craved the serenity. Finally, I was home yet all I could seem to think about was sleep. Sleeping in my bed. Sleeping until 9. Pleasurable, uninterrupted, silent sleep. It was glorious, the way it is when one is reunited with her bed.


Then, it was time to get moving again. It had been a week since my last walk, time to get back on track.

But, each morning, I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to walk out the back door toward my beloved beach. Both my motivation and momentum were nowhere to be found. I kept allowing myself one more day, just one more day of rest.


Tomorrow. I will start tomorrow.
I promise.
I swear.
Tomorrow…
"Tomorrow, tomorrow..
I love you, Tomorrow..
You’re always a day away”


Why is it always so hard to take that first step?

Yeah, yeah, I know. If it was easy everyone would be doing it.


Thankfully, my soon-to-be DIL, who I adore, sweetly dragged my lethargic bum out for a stroll along the beach. Although she walked me hard, it felt wonderful to work up a sweat. What was my problem? This felt amazing!! Yes, I was a hot, beet red, panting mess soaked in perspiration but it was great. We only walked 3.3 miles but I think that was a decent beginning. I probably could have walked more had I not been talking so much but I’m a chatter.


Maybe I haven’t totally regained my mojo but I can feel it fluttering all around me and I’m sure it’ll land right back where it belongs.



**Photos taken by me for www.aday.org. Pop over to check it out.**

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Breastfeeding



When I first saw this photo I’ll admit it disturbed me. Not because some mom was breastfeeding her able-bodied toddler or the rebellious ‘I’ll do as I please’ expression both participates wear (I actually kind of respect that) but for the shitstorm of repugnance it would evoke at a time when hatred toward women is escalating.

I’m amazed, pleasantly, by how many people are embracing the ‘attached parenting’ view of toddler nursing. Being a proponent for breastfeeding (my kids were all mommy-juiced), I admit to being surprised at how many moms are supplementing their 2, 3 and even 4 year olds with the breast. I loved breastfeeding my babies, loved the closeness, the comfort, the knowledge I was filling them full of wonderful, healthy elixir but I stopped when each turned 12 months old. It was time..for me, for them, to move on. They didn’t need the feedings and I found other ways to comfort them.

I will cop to being slightly offended by the title "Are You Mom Enough?" as if the only REAL moms are the ones nursing through the onset of puberty (perhaps I'm more offended than I thought). I'm all about mom's making the decision when enough is enough, for you..and for me. As women and mothers, instead of criticizing and one-upping, let's support and defend a woman's right to choose.

8 Really Good Reasons To Breast-Feed Your Baby
1. Early breast milk is liquid gold – Known as liquid gold, colostrum (coh-LOSS-trum) is the thick yellow first breast milk that you make during pregnancy and just after birth. This milk is very rich in nutrients and antibodies to protect your baby. Although your baby only gets a small amount of colostrum at each feeding, it matches the amount his or her tiny stomach can hold.

Tricia Cline

2. Your breast milk changes as your baby grows – Colostrum changes into what is called mature milk. By the third to fifth day after birth, this mature breast milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein to help your baby continue to grow. It is a thinner type of milk than colostrum, but it provides all of the nutrients and antibodies your baby needs.

Katie M. Berggerv

3. Breast milk is easier to digest – For most babies — especially premature babies — breast milk is easier to digest than formula. The proteins in formula are made from cow’s milk and it takes time for babies’ stomachs to adjust to digesting them.

Picasso

4. Breast milk fights disease – The cells, hormones, and antibodies in breast milk protect babies from illness. This protection is unique; formula cannot match the chemical makeup of human breast milk. In fact, among formula-fed babies, ear infections and diarrhea are more common. Formula-fed babies also have higher risks of: Necrotizing (nek-roh-TEYE-zing) enterocolitis (en-TUR-oh-coh-lyt-iss), a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract in preterm infants.
Lower respiratory infections
Asthma
Obesity
Type 2 diabetes
Some research shows that breastfeeding can also reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes, childhood leukemia, and atopic dermatitis (a type of skin rash) in babies. Breastfeeding has also been shown to lower the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

Leonardo da Vinci

5. Life can be easier when you breastfeed – Breastfeeding may take a little more effort than formula feeding at first. But it can make life easier once you and your baby settle into a good routine. Plus, when you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. You do not have to buy, measure, and mix formula. And there are no bottles to warm in the middle of the night! You can satisfy your baby’s hunger right away when breastfeeding.

Karen McKendry Minton

6. Breastfeeding can save money – Formula and feeding supplies can cost well over $1,500 each year, depending on how much your baby eats. Breastfed babies are also sick less often, which can lower health care costs.

Orazio Gentileschi

7. Breastfeeding can feel great – Physical contact is important to newborns. It can help them feel more secure, warm, and comforted. Mothers can benefit from this closeness, as well. Breastfeeding requires a mother to take some quiet relaxed time to bond. The skin-to-skin contact can boost the mother’s oxytocin (OKS-ee-TOH-suhn) levels. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps milk flow and can calm the mother.

Mary Cassatt

8. Breastfeeding can be good for the mother’s health, too – Breastfeeding is linked to a lower risk of these health problems in women:
Type 2 diabetes
Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Postpartum depression
Experts are still looking at the effects of breastfeeding on osteoporosis and weight loss after birth. Many studies have reported greater weight loss for breastfeeding mothers than for those who don’t. But more research is needed to understand if a strong link exists.
(womenshealth.gov)

Photo by me of my daughter and granddaughter

**Quotes and articles about the Time mag cover and breastfeeding**

"The battlefield keeps shifting. One week, women are attacked for earning more than men, the next week for poverty. They’re assaulted for having too many children or too few, for physically clinging to them in “attachment parenting” or coldly hiring nannies, for breastfeeding too long or weaning too soon, for seeking public daycare or private, using birth control or forgetting to use it, for staying home full-time, marrying rich, marrying deadbeats, accepting welfare, aborting for Down Syndrome, not aborting, being Yummy Mummies, being “too posh to push,” the list goes on.
Watching anti-abortion protesters on Parliament Hill this week after the Harper government had beautifully shut them down during a Commons debate was more of the same. If you’re against abortion, don’t have one. If you don’t like other women breastfeeding, pump and donate. That’ll go over well."
Quoted from article by Heather Mallick, Star Columnist

"Prudishness from our flesh-flashing culture is blatantly hypocritical. Grocery stores display racks of magazines with nearly-naked models. Our beach may as well be a nude one for all the skin shown. Out in public, I see scantily-clad adults, teens and kids everywhere. I'm expected to be tolerant of this. Well how about some tolerance for functional breast exposure? If nude is nature, then breastfeeding is the best example."
Quote from Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben's commertary

“There’s no one way to parent,” she writes. “But we’re told in many insidious and just plain overt ways that we’ll never be good enough. It doesn’t make sense, and the result is that we have lost the ability to trust our own instinct.”
Taken from article by Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer Christian Science Monitor

"Time Magazine Asks "Are You Mom Enough?" Every Mom Should Be Offended"

I am not the Babysitter - Jamie Lynn Grumet's blog

Monday, May 14, 2012

8 Fun & Easy Crafts

I promise you, you will LOVE these crafts. Not only are the beautiful and great gift giving ideas but they are simple to make and the tutorials are so easy to follow. I promise.

Lievo el invierno

grey luster girl

A*Dor

Shelterness

Les Choses de Marie

Glitter Guide

Mixed Creations


And this..
this one is my favorite..
Beyond/Beyond

That should keep you busy for a bit. Keep me posted on what you finish up.

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