Friday, June 29, 2007

pictures

I'll finally be posting some pictures over the next several days that belong to post from the last several weeks (months?)





Today's pictures go along with Tea and Cake from earlier this week.


Thursday, June 28, 2007

Arrgggh, they're taking away my Booty!

Press Release from Robert's American Gourmet, makers of Veggie Booty http://www.robscape.com/files/veggie-booty-recall.php

June 28, 2007 Veggie Booty Product Recall Information
Robert’s American Gourmet has been alerted to a recent outbreak of salmonella and the potential contamination of Veggie Booty. Due to the serious nature of the health risk, Robert’s has decided to temporarily stop the manufacture and sale of Veggie Booty ONLY until test results can positively identify the source. We stand by our snacks and hope to resume making Veggie Booty shortly.
Please note: this product recall is for Veggie Booty ONLY.
Read full letter from Rob..
Your next steps:
• Review our Veggie Booty page to identify the Veggy Booty product being recalled;
• Discard the entire contents of the package of Veggie Booty
• Contact 1-800-626-7557 or email info@robscape.com for reimbursement of your purchase. See details...
For more information:
Why is Robert's American Gourmet doing this product recall?
• Please contact your local doctor or medical services provider for questions about Salmonella
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

tea and cake

So the girls played together for 7 hours yesterday and it was wonderful. Paul was on bedroom restriction so he was of no bother to them at all. The day started off at 11:15 with a bit of dress-up then they had their peach tea with a piece of chocolate and a Fig Newman. Giselle finally got to use the tea pot that she got for her birthday and she did all the pouring herself. Later they were pretending that they were taking their babies to a wedding and they asked me to be the priest. I said all the usual wedding mumbo jumbo (the bride and groom were named Snowflake and Jonathan, in case you were wondering) and asked for a piece of the wedding cake as payment for my services. They said "Cake?! We don't have a cake!" I told them that it's not a wedding without cake (silly girls) and then they asked me if we could make one. I had nothing better to do than join in on the play date so I became the caterer also. I printed out Garden Gnome's TNT recipe (Tried aNd True, not explosive) for White Cake and the three of us set to baking up a wedding cake. The recipe was super easy and it conveniently only makes one layer - perfect for making a kid cake. I followed the recipe as I should since it was the first time using it, although I used butter instead of shortning (Garden Gnome said that it was OK to do that) and I used 50/50 flour instead of white. In my new oven I had to bake it for 50 min instead of 45 but it was GOOD!
While it cooled we made The Icing - Mexican Chocolate Butter Cream Icing. I used 1/2 butter, several cups of powdered sugar, 4 squares of Popular Chocolate, 1/4 cup creamy milk and a bit of vanilla extract. Next time I'll use less sugar so that the icing stays creamy and adds a little moisture to the cake. The girls iced it themselves and did a fabulous job. Then they cut themselves some huge pieces to eat and washed it all down with big glasses of cold milk. Paul was released from the bedroom so that he could have a piece too.
At 6 the boys came over and joined in the fun out in the front yard while Marie and I watched them eat the rest of the cake (yes, we shared a piece too). There IS leftover icing that the 3 of us will finish off tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

What I've won

So Antique Mommy posted about the only thing that she's ever won and asked us if we had ever won anything. Here's my answer that was too big to leave as a comment on someone else's blog.


In 1981 I painted a picture that won a National art contest. I got a gold key lapel pin.

In 1986 I filled out a TON of entry forms at a record store (Record World) and I won a Sony Watchman. In those early days of high tech it was just a black-and-white thing with a micro-sized screen but nobody else had one and it was totally cool.

In 1988 I won the heart of my wonderful husband! SCORE!

In 1993 I won a total of $350 playing scratch-off cards in the Texas Lotto.

In 1994 I won $93.70 in a radio contest (I did the best fake 'O').

In 1997 I won airfare, hotel and tickets for 2 to go see U2 in concert (the Popmart tour) at the Toronto Skydome in Canada from that same radio station. We had 5th row seats and were close enough to see how short Bono actually is, although his charisma makes him seem 7 feet tall.

In the baby lottery of 2001 I was the recipient of a wonderful baby girl.

In the baby lottery of 2004 I was the recipient of a wonderful baby boy.

In 2004 I won a nursing pillow at a local Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge.

In retrospect, I'm due for another win soon so I better start filling out those forms again.

Interesting things learned while surfing the web today

"Nails grow at different rates depending on the nail and on the individual. Toenails take approximately eighteen months to fully grow out. Fingernails take nine months and the fastest growing nail on your body is your middle fingernail. Infected nails grow more slowly than normal nails. Toenails grow at a rate of approximately 1cm every six months. If your nails don’t seem to be growing at all, you could have a fungal nail infection."
http://www.ie.novartis.com/pdf/Lamisil_Nailcare_Guide.pdf


"Homeopathy, a form of medicine that relies on minute amounts of herbs, minerals and other substances to stimulate a person’s natural defenses and help the body heal itself, often tames illnesses with a single dose of medicine and causes virtually no side effects, proponents say. Worldwide, homeopathy is commonly practiced in many countries, including India, Mexico and Russia. About four in every ten people in France and one in three people in En gland—including the British royal family—use homeopathy, according to the National Center for Homeopathy."
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/21/25.cfm


"Ear wax is good for you...If water gets in your ear canal, while you're swimming or taking a shower, for instance, the earwax will cause the water to bead up and move away from your eardrum. The natural slipperiness of the earwax encourages the water to run out of the canal. Ear wax is also slightly acidic, which discourages bacterial or fungal growth in the moist, dark ear canal. Without earwax, it would be almost impossible to avoid ear infections. The ear wax that your body produces is part of a self-cleaning system.Most people don't need to do any ear maintenance at all. The ear wax slowly migrates toward the opening of the ear canal and is sloughed off. If you want, you can take a washcloth and, using your finger; gently wash the opening of your ear."
http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/currie1.html


Uses for Tea Tree Oil


"a few key important facts about ringworm.
- Ringworm (also know as Tinea) is actually a skin or scalp disease caused by fungal infections. Ringworm can be infected on scalp, body or skin, nails & feet (also commonly know as athlete’s foot). Ringworm is not worm related at all.
- Ringworm fungus will cultivate on the surface of your outer skin as well as in the dermal layers on your skin. Hence, to get rid of ringworm effectively, you need to kill the fungus on and in your skin!
This is the reason why most ringworm treatment solution you see out there don’t work! All they do is to treat the surface of your outer skin only. They don’t kill the fungus in the dermal layers of your skin! Hence, the fungus in your skin will cultivate again and ringworm would recur or relapse in a matter of weeks!"
http://www.ringworm-cure.com/index.html


"Recently scientists discovered that crocodiles have the strongest immune system in the world. They stumbled on a substance in the crocodile that can kill bacteria which is immune to standard anti-biotics. BBC News..more....
Apparently the discovery was made during the BBC filming of crocodiles. The producer noticed that despite the horrendous injuries that crocodiles inflict on each other, their wounds rarely get infected. It was decided to get a samples of the croc blood and fat. From these samples researchers have since isolated what they termed a novel anti-microbial peptide.
Tests have found that the substance kills strains of virulent bacteria that are resistant to all standard antibiotics.
“A crocodiles chilly fat may save us from disease,” a few scientists announced. They say they have definitely discovered a powerful agent in a crocodile that may one day be used to fight off infection. Natural antibiotics have been found in various animals including frogs, but now we can add crocodiles to that. ""
http://www.crocodileoil.com/


"Traditional remedies for athlete's foot include tea tree oil or crocodile oil in a topical application on the affected area. Users report instant relief from itching allowing lesions to heal. Proponents of urine therapy claim that urine is very effective at killing athlete's foot. Urea, the "active ingredient" in urine, is already used in many drugs and treatments made by pharmaceutical companies to treat athlete's foot. This controversial treatment method recommends urinating on the infected area once a day in the shower. According to supporters, urine therapy not only kills existing fungi, it prevents new fungi from growing in the infected area."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletes_foot


"Kids get lost all the time – over 2000 times each day, affecting 90% of American families. 7 out of 10 children will get lost at least once in their lives. The Department of Justice reports that there are over 1.3 million children lost or missing each year. Of these incidents, there are approximately 100 kidnappings compared to 800,000 children lost for other purposes that are not of their own will (family-related snatchings, lost for benign reasons such as wandered away, etc.). However, Wander Wear research found that 90% of the time, lost child incidents are never even reported. "
http://www.wander-wear.com/faqs.html

Monday, June 25, 2007

Bats

So I just went outside to put the kitchen trash in the big trash can for pickup tomorrow morning (Joe - don't forget to put your trash out) and I looked up at the night sky and saw a lone bat flying around catching dinner. With a summer as wet as this one has been, meaning lots more mosquitoes than usual, I would expect to see a lot more. Well, maybe he was an early arrival and his buddies will be joining him in an hour or two.
Congress Avenue Bats in Austin Texas - Bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Breastfeeding reduces arthritis risk

Breastfeeding reduces arthritis risk Breastfeeding for 13 months or more can reduce the mother's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, Swedish researchers reported Friday.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Friday

It was a Friday in the Summer so it was Park from 2 to 5 and Pool from 5 to 7. We got a late start to the park since VBS ended today and we (Giselle) was a bit fried from it so we had a leisurely lunch - the kids and Joe and the dog all had turkey sandwiches made by me and I had a hard boiled egg and MORE TOMATOES.
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention earlier about the tomatoes. Last week we were so slammed at The Market that we had about 500 lbs of tomatoes left over at the end. Edgar gave me a full case of Russian Black Plum Tomatoes (my favorite and the same type that I used to make my canned pasta sauce last fall) that I've been distributing among friends all week when I haven't been stuffing my own mouth full of them.
UH OH, it's getting late and there's a big storm coming so I better give the dog some Rescue Remedy and get us both to bed so that I can get a good night's sleep before The Market in the morning. And my sister Cea is coming into town tomorrow with her husband and their oldest son so I have to finish prepping the house for visitors. I got all of Joe's laundry put away this evening and washed almost all of the dishes today except for tonight's plates. I need to wash the dog, vacuum the house, put away all of Paul's and my clean clothes and work at The Market from 9 to 2. Wish me luck!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

it's all over the web but...

So there's this email going around with pictures of horses made out of driftwood. A quick Google search led me to the website of a British gallery Courcoux & Courcourx. They know all about Heather Jansch - they carry her stuff and have an 'interview' with her regarding her work process.
Giselle was impressed for a bit and then went back to playing with Paul - they are driving around a radio controlled car that 'Super Girl' and 'Super Guy' are riding in (Super Girl is really Poison Ivy and Super Guy is Robin but the kids don't know who any of them really are so it doesn't really matter - they were hand-me-down gifts).

more bad meat

CENTRAL TEXAS
No illness yet from tainted meat
State and local health department officials said Wednesday that they have not received any reports of illness associated with a ground beef recall announced Friday by Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. of Sherman.
However, some of the 40,440 pounds of meat involved in the recall was distributed by Wal-Mart stores in the Austin area, Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said.
A sample of the meat analyzed by the company was found to contain E. coli O157:H7, which causes stomach cramping and diarrhea and can be deadly. He declined to provide a list of stores that received the meat, and Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said he did not have the list.
The meat was produced June 2, and each package bears the code EST 244S as well as a "use or freeze by" code date of June 13, 2007.
Specific products being recalled include Angus steak burger patties and all-natural beef called Carne Molida de Res in various-sized trays.
Consumers can return the meat to the Wal-Mart where they bought it for a refund, Gardner said. They also can call Tyson at (800) 233-6332 for more information.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/14/14roundup.html

oh, and the couple that died in the car accident were homeschoolers.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I don't usually make celeb comments but this one I couldn't pass up

This just in from Britney Spears' mom "Mom: Spears 'just figuring things out'"

The quote that kills me is this one "It's sad that the whole world had to watch her make mistakes that all of us have made at one time or another,"

Excuse me but the last time that I reviewed my personal history I did not give birth to 2 kids within 2 years, I did not drive around with my kids in the front seat with me, I did not go out in public without any panties on, I never had to go into any kind of rehab, I've never divorced the father of my children, I've never left the kids with a sitter so that I can go out bar hopping with my BFFs, I've never gone into a gas station restroom without shoes. And even though I shaved half of my head when I was 18, I NEVER shaved my entire head.

Yo Lynne, instead of making excuses for your seriously messed up daughter how about you act like a mom and help her get her life together. Better yet, take her and the grand kids back to Louisiana and have her grow up a bit and start acting like a mom. Oh but you aren't much of a good example yourself, are you? Gee, who let your daughter get in this position? Who was there (or not) giving her motherly advice in her life decisions? Why weren't you being more of a mother to her instead of trying to be her best friend? Were you busy taking mothering lessons with Lindsay Lohan's mom, Dina, instead of guiding your daughter?

Just my $.02

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

wedding cake

Big Mama has a great post about the current crisis among wedding guests regarding the ever increasing delays in cutting the wedding cake. Check it out!

VBS day 1

I'm way too anal retentive to ever volunteer at Vacation Bible School, unless of course I was going to be the one in charge. That's all I'm saying about that!

While Giselle had her first day of something even remotely resembling public school, Paul and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some diapers, at least that's what we were supposed to buy. Instead we left with a package of 7 size 4 underpants for Paul (and after doing laundry this evening (it was supposed to be done yesterday) I see that I SHOULD have bought a package for his Daddy too (obviously in a larger size)), a 3-pack of sport bras for me (they are pink, yellow and orange so I couldn't pass them up), a pretty tank top since all of mine shouldn't come from Old Navy, and a pair of over-sized movie star sunglasses to wear at the pool (I feel very Sophia Loren when I wear them). Giselle doesn't care for them but I explained that Mommy can't be getting wrinkly eyes from squinting at the pool every day and I'm not going to return them no matter what she says. Paul and I also got our HEB shopping done and picked up Giselle on time. We went home, ate lunch, I paid bills and made important phone calls and produced the weekly cash report and by 3:15 we were ready to head for the pool. I loaded up a bag of Russian Black Plum tomatoes to take over to Marie's house and we headed out. We got to the pool just before 4 and stayed until 6:30. We left early because 1) all our friends had all left to go home to eat and 2) the kids had been bugging me for the last week to go eat Asian food and tonight seemed like a good chance to go. My new sunglasses worked fantastically (although Marie says that I need to get a better brand so that I don't get melanoma on my eyes) and I'm very pleased with my purchase as they double well as goggles when the kids decide to splash me in the face full force for 5 minutes at a time.
Dinner was good, my favorite food item is no longer on the menu and there was nothing on the buffet that appealed to me so I asked if they could still make the Hot & Spicy Bean Curd that I loved to get from them; they said yes! I guess that I'll have to use the shrimp that I was thawing out for another night. Maybe linguine with a shrimp cream sauce for dinner on Tuesday, yep, that sounds good. Except that Paul doesn't like shrimp, oh, I'll just pick his out and give them to Giselle. Oh, I know, I'll go by HEB and get 1/4 lb of salmon and cook that with the shrimp so that Paul and I can have salmon with our pasta and Giselle (and Joe?) can have the shrimp with theirs.
Oh it's late, I gotta get to sleep since I'm mowing the lawn in the morning after I drop Giselle off.
Thanks Joe for getting the trash out - I hear you doing that right now!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Finally

We went peach picking after church today - the peaches were not ripe enough for me so we'll go back on Tuesday. We got $13 worth so it wasn't a total loss walking around a peach orchard for an hour at 3:30 in the afternoon on a hot sunny day.
And we FINALLY made it to the pool - for the first time since October! We went at 5 and met up with Marie & DH and kids. While there we saw our neighbor with her daughter Jessie who is one of Giselle's best friends. AND we saw our Summer Friends - Patsy & DH and Leia and Kaya - who we haven't seen since the beginning of September!!! Leia is still 2 teeth ahead of Giselle on the loosing side but Leia's top teeth still haven't come in while Giselle's are all the way in - Leia is Giselle's tooth buddy.
Gosh I've missed going to the pool, we are definately going to be there almost every night this Summer!
I started dinner at about 1 this afternoon - I stuck some frozen fresh purple hulled peas (black eyed peas), some frozen fresh okra, a can of tomatoes, some brown rice, half a slice of bacon, green garlic, sweet onions and a bit of dried oregano and sea salt into the slow cooker (the very same one that my sister Cea gave me when I graduated from High School). When we got home from the pool at 7:20 it was ready to be put into bowls with a big dollop of Daisy on top and the kids loved it. I think I'll be using it a lot this summer along with the delay start function on the new oven.
This is shaping up to be a GREAT Summer!
Vacation Bible School starts tomorrow...

Side note to Suzanne - the pool water makes the itch of my chigger bites go away.

Sunday Seven #12

Seven things I’m thankful for this last week ending 6/9/07
1 – Maralee Dawn and Friends on TiVo on Sundays to continue Sunday School lessons.
2 – Grocery shopping only lasting one hour at HEB once a week.
3 – Sharing one last meal with Magee & Pagee before they left.
4 – Only one tree coming down on the rental house during the storm.
5 – Getting all of the thank-you notes taken care of.
6 – Good friends to hang out with at the park.
7 – Getting to The Market right at 9 am because it was already packed and it stayed that way until 12:45.
And I’m thankful for Joe too.
Leave your link in the comments.
Learn more about Sunday Seven and read others' Sunday Seven lists.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

buffet palace

DH and a friend of his ate dinner at Buffet Palace over on Westgate yesterday evening. As they were going into the restaurant they saw some guy in the process of stealing a stereo out of a pickup truck. The guy had smashed out the rear window and was inside of the truck ripping out the stereo with his legs hanging out of the back window. After he was done stealing the stereo he took off running on foot. This was at 7 pm, pretty much broad daylight and during dinner prime-time. SO, when dining at Buffet Palace sit where you can see your car.

DH's friend is with the Travis County Sheriff's Department so all appropriate followup was done. Unfortunately, since you (a civilian) never know who has a gun, it's unsafe to try to stop anything like this while it's happening. Just try to remember all the important details (what they were wearing, the licence plate on the car they drove off in, which direction they went in, how tall they were, etc) so that a complete report can be filed.

Summer School

So two weeks ago when the public schools got out for the Summer (Thursday, May 24) Giselle asked me if she was going to get summer vacation from school too. I looked at her and said "Well let me put it this way, If we did school 6 hours a day 5 days a week for 9 months of the year then yes I would let you have the summer off. But we do school for 1 or 2 hours 6 days a week so you will not get the summer off. Now, if you want to go to school for 6 hours every day then I'd be happy to give you the summer off!" She wisely said "No thanks, I'll stick with what we're doing now!"
So, our Summer schedule is this:
Wake up whenever (somewhere between 7 and 8)
Everyone eats breakfast (dog included)
Take the dog for a long walk
Play outside until school starts at 10
School from 10 to 12
Lunch
Do anything we feel like indoors until 2 (unless more time is needed for school)
Do anything we feel like outdoors until it's time to start dinner
Watch TiVo while I make dinner
Eat dinner about 6:30
In bed by 7:30, story time and asleep shortly thereafter

On Saturday we do school while at The Market
On Sunday there's Sunday School and then Religious shows TiVo
On Monday we do school in the car and in the grocery stores

Hey, this is AMAZINGLY similar to our schedule the rest of the year!

not good dream

So this morning I had a not so good dream, not a nightmare because had I not been awakened by Paul wanting to nurse I would have resolved the issue and it would turned out ok. But prior to being woken up, in my dream I let Paul go for a drive in the front seat of somebody's car (I know, but it was a dream and my dreams are like movies - a lot of times things happen that just don't make any sense). My only comment as they drove off was to tell Paul once again to buckle his seatbelt. The next thing I know, it's evening and I'm talking on the phone to the guy who took my kid and he's telling me that they are keeping him. Then I'm talking to the guy on the phone again later and his wife is almost begging me to come and get Paul since he won't stop crying for me and he keeps wanting to nurse and she's not lactating. And that's when Paul woke me up in real life and says to me "I love you Momma, please let me have comida". My little man saves the day!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Another Joe Show

Joe McDermott is playing at Pottery Barn Kids at Barton Creek Square Plaza Center Mall on Wednesday. Two shows, 10 and 11. We'll be there and will be sure to get his new CD, Everybody Plays Air Guitar.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Sunday Seven #11

Seven things I’m thankful for this last week ending 6/2/07
1 – My nephew Nick being able to come and visit us at the last minute.
2 – Joe doing the drive to La Grange to trade Nick off to my sister coming from Houston.
3 – My sea salt not running out until AFTER I made dinner for 6 on Tuesday night. It was linguini with meat/red sauce.
4 – The rain letting up in time for a little girl’s 6th birthday party, it was a princess party and it was outside.
5 – A fabulous Park Day with all of my fabulous friends and my kids’ fabulous friends (except that Marie had to stay home and study her nursing book).
6 – Blueberry season starting up again since we have eaten almost all of the 6 or 8 gallons that I froze up last year.
7 – The rain also being gone for another little girl’s 5th birthday party, it was a pool party.

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