Ring Sling Giveaway!

Man do I love to wear my little boy! But he is sure getting HEAVY!

Emily from Joyfulabode.com is giving away an AWESOME SnuggyBaby ring sling...go and check it out!

http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/27/review-and-giveaway-snuggybaby-ring-sling/

You might just win a Ring Sling!

An Awesome Scentsy Review and Giveaway

Go take a look at The One Fantastical's Scentsy giveaway! She did a great review and is giving away a plug in and 3 bars....Man do I LOVE scentsy

Here is the Link: http://networkedblogs.com/7LjCc

Have a great day!

Its been 2 whole months...

So it has been 2 whole months since blogging. Tons of new things have happened. Here is a long list!

• Jayson got 2 teeth back to back
• Jayson learned to sit up
• Hayden celebrated his 3rd birthday with his Daddy (party since his real bday is Sept 28th)
• We visited the Gilroy Garlic Festival (too much garlic!!!)
• Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Nicole visited
• Grandpa Dave and Aunt Amanda visited
• Grammie and Aunt Melissa visited
• Brad leaves in about 2 weeks
• We got approved to move home on the Navy's dime (come on November)
  
• My garden is HUGE
• We started our CSA deliveries
• 79 days til we move!
• I think I may have found 3-4 different apartments to look at.
• We found out 2 of the neighbors are having babies...sucks I will miss them.
• We discovered that you don't necessarily have to plant a specific number of corn to get baby corn...seriously!
• I realized how much I really do like this stupid place I live and how much I don't want to leave my neighborhood and recently made friends, but want my kids to know my parents and have an awesome relationship with them like I did.
• I have recently became addicted to Pampered Chef
• I love my husband more today for the sacrifices he will be making by going on this trip and running around like crazy to get our move accomplished in time.
• I will be home in time for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Jayson's birthday and whatever else I love and miss about that time of the year in VA
• I realized I will miss the fruit and the veggies that are so incredibly fresh and cheap out here...seriously 20 lbs of grapes, peaches and tomatoes for $8
• I only have 2 more days of watching kids so I will now have time to focus on my own!
• The days just keep coming and going and eventually he will leave.

Wow...that was quite a list. I am sure there were more. Who knows?

These last 2 months have been a blur with trying to spend every waking moment savoring my husband. I miss him and he isn't even gone. I have so much to do and no time to do it. I am scared beyond belief. I find myself crying at a song, a commercial, the news, anything that makes me think of him. I don't sleep very well. I guess I have a bad case of the predeployment blues. I am thankful he has rather safe orders and that he might be able to come home in between training and actual duty.

So no pictures this time, just words. I promise there will be more. Just wait...there are big adventures coming for me!

So....

I am sucking at this blogging thing lately. I have a few excuses though.

1. My husband volunteered to go to Iraq. There were so many benefits to him going that I couldn't say no. Yes, 18 yes Eighteen months seems like forever. But, when I think about it, I can't believe how fast they went by while watching Hayden grow up. Now, I have two incredible little boys to go on this long adventure with me. I am not really looking forward to the separation but, I have a lot of great things planned. I want to travel, garden, quilt, craft, and just help my boys grow into healthy and happy people.

2. I have been looking into a BIG lifestyle change. Every woman in my family have struggled with their weight. I recently read "The Primal Blueprint" and I am sold. It is basically a no grain, low carb, high protein diet along with a way to make our bodies work they way we have evolved to work. I have been slowly switching to eating the primal way and I cannot tell you how much better I feel after not loading up on wheat, corn, rice and other grains. It's crazy the things in this book. I highly recommend the blog, www.marksdailyapple.com.

3. I have acquired some kids to babysit, so I don't have much time at all during the day. And then, because of number One I have no time at night since I am trying to savor our time together.

So, at the end of August I will be back full time!

Oh and I will be starting to experiment with square foot gardening. I am super excited!

Until then...

I Love My Garden!

My Garden as of tonight...that's right, I actually got these up on the day I took them!

I decided to pull up my potted lettuce. They were looking very yucky and bug eaten. I planted a few seeds of both lettuces in the bales just to see how they would do.





I am also feeling like my snap peas need to be rethought about in the fall when it isn't so blazing hot. I feel bad for them. They are producing pods but aren't getting as tall as I thought they would.

I discovered that my poor little bell pepper has a black spot. I hope nothing bad happens to it since Hayden is getting really attached to it.



On the other hand, Target was having a sale on their strawberry plants. I decided to grab one and put it in a hanging pot I had bought. It is an ever-bearing variety so it should produce right until it gets cold. Yay!





So I was looking at my acorn squash and discovered these.





They are ZUCCHINI!!!! I couldn't believe it! I can understand that all squash look alike but I wouldn't imagine Lowes would mess this up. I am not really angry since it is producing.

Pretty much everything is thriving. I am so proud of my little garden.


Sunflowers


Big Bertha Bell Peppers


Lavender


Basil


Cilantro


Green Beans


Big Boy Tomatoes


Roma Tomatoes


Carrots


Cherry Tomatoes


Cucumber


My eggplants that have outlasted Brady from seeds!

So there is the garden update! I can't wait to start eating my veggies!

And out no where, we have baby veggies!

So my garden was looking a little yellow. I looked around on the internet to see what may be causing it. I saw the too much water thing but the sun bears down on the bales all day long and my plants look droopy and the soil is dry in a matter of minutes. Then I looked at the fungus thing but when I broke off a squash stem it wasn't slimy. Then I came across that my soil might be iron deficient. I found this iron supplement at Lowes that was on clearance for a whole 97 cents. I was so excited I ran (really drove the speed limit so I would not get a ticket) home to sprinkle this stuff in my soil. Now 4 days later, my plants are miraculously green again. Woo Hoo!!!! Anyway, here are the pictures I took today after I got done watering. Oh and I didn't remember planting as many watermelon seeds as had popped up today. Let's hope they don't overtake the corn!


My 2 new babies because I had space!


Chili peppers


Big Bertha Bell Peppers (not too sure what that means)


Hayden's Pumpkin is doing incredibly well!


The roma tomato is finally catching up with the big boy tomato


Acorn Squash (I think thats where the fruit is going to grow from)


Holy Watermelon


Baby sugar snap pea pod


Buds on the sugar snap pea


Cherry Tomato


Baby bell pepper


My basil I originally thought Brady ate


Yay for baby veggies. Now, lets hope the birds or dogs or any other animal doesn't eat them!

Blackberry or Anyberry Cheesecake

So we went to the bbq last weekend and were asked to bring something. I decided that no one ever bring desserts so that's what I did.

I made a simple blackberry syrup by boiling about a cup of sugar with one of those packages of berries you would buy from the store. I cooked it until it was half of what I started with in the pan. I could have used a small hole colander to get out the berry junk but it looked yummier the other way.

Here is the cheesecake recipe, including the crust.

I used about 1/2 a bag/box of Nilla wafers and crushed them in the food processor. Then I mixed in enough melted butter for the cookie crumbs to be slightly wet. I then pushed the mixture into a spring form pan and baked for 10 minutes at 325.

For the cheesecake itself, I used:

16 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 c sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

I just basically mixed everything together in my mixer and poured into the crust and baked for 40 mins. I let it cool for 20 minutes before adding the sour cream topping.

For the sour cream topping I mixed together:

1 pint sour cream
1/4 c sugar
1 teaspoon sugar

After the cheesecake was done, I added this to the layers and baked for another 15-20 minutes.

I let the cake cool completely before adding the fruit. Then refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours.

Enjoy your yummy cheesecake. You could sub the blackberries with blueberries, raspberries or any berry for that matter!

Stuffed Mushrooms

So I can't stand eating fungus but my husband requested stuffed 'shrooms and he LOVED them. I thought I would pass along to other fungus lovers....here you go!

24 large white 'shrooms
1/4c chopped green onions
1 minced clove of garlic
1/4c butter
2/3c plain breadcrumbs
1/2c shredded extra sharp cheddar

I have never made anything so easy.

Preheat oven to 425.

Remove the stems and chop finely enough to make 1 cup.

Saute stems, butter, green onions, and garlic until tender.

Add breadcrumbs and cheese and mix until blended.

Using a spoon mound the filling in mushrooms.

Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

See super easy!

The biweekly garden update

I had a ladybug visit this past week. Hayden and I had so much fun watching it crawl around on my bell pepper plant!



Flowers on my bell pepper plant!!!



My baby tomatoes!



My broccoli!



Swiss Chard



Head Lettuce



Baby cilantro



Lavender Flowers about to pop out



Potted carrots



Sweet peas



Cauliflower



Hayden's Sunflower



Corn

Everything is doing pretty well. My squash's are having a little trouble staying green. I am worried they are iron deficient. I have to get some compost to try and fix that. It looks like the acorn squash is going to be getting fruit soon. I love gardening, even though it takes FOREVER!

Meaty Stuffed Shells

I am normally a cheese ravioli or stuffed shells kinda girl but these made my belly very happy. They were also another really easy recipe! Oh and in the picture, they weren't baked yet. I forgot to take an after picture before they were eaten.

You will need:
16 large pasta shells
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1.5 cups of mozzarella cheese
1 lb of ground italian sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 eggs
Some plain breadcrumbs

So first, make the shells according to the package. Stop the cooking by washing them until cool with cold water.

Next, cook the onion and the garlic until soft with a little olive oil. Add the sausage and cook until brown. Mix the 2 eggs, about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and 1/3 cup of the sauce with the meat mixture. This will be the stuffing for the shells.

Take you shells and stuff with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the meat mixture or however much you want. Once you are done stuffing, arrange in a 13x9 glass pan. Cover with the remaining sauce and the cheese. Bake in the oven at 375 for 35 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly.



There a picture of my Hayden spreading the cheese on top of the shells. He did a great job!


He thought the cheese was slimy and yucky!

Enjoy!