Food Friday: Bananas

Bananas are great. Tasty and full of vitamins and nutrients. Sadly there is a banana blight which effects the yellow bananas you get at the grocery store. I guess the same thing happened to another variety of the banana like 50 years ago. There was an awesome interview on NPR about it. So in an effort to diversify and general culinary curiosity I tried some new bananas. 

Small finger bananas: Taste about the same but much smaller. ( great for little ones)

Red bananas Taste like bananas but are much sweeter and buttery. And they are fully ripe. You don't have to wait for them to ripen at home. And the little bit at the end of the banana that I don't like stays in the peel instead of coming out. (huge bonus) And the fruit is a beautiful color!

The red bananas are my favorite so far. So that is what we have been getting. So if you see them in the store try them, they may cost more, but their flavor is better, and you can help smaller growers!

 check out the article it is a good one. 

Ready for Fall!

Finally!!!!! I have been waiting for this cool weather. My tomatoes have not. It stinks Just as they started producing a ton. It has gotten cool enough that it feels like forever for them to get ripe. I picked a few to ripen inside. To see if that will go any faster.

I am also ready to get out my fall wardrobe!!! I have been itching to since I saw the first few trees change color in the mountains. 

And it is cool enough for the orchids that I can open the windows at night and for most of the day. ( I am so excited for out bill to go down) 

The boys are begging to go to the pumpkin patch every time they see halloween decorations. 

Fall is in the air and the holiday season is coming! Are you ready?

Water Heating Woes

As some of you know our washer broke two weeks ago. I have been working on saving up money for a repair and washing clothes at my parents house. So yesterday I went over to do laundry. Having a nice time. Calvin has taken to spilling glasses of water just because he's two. I noticed that there was a wet spot in my parents carpet and I was a bit irritated that he had made another water mess. I grabbed a towel to clean it up and when I stepped on the towel there was a gush of water. Not good. So I checked the storage room and my parents bed room no water running in there. Then the water heater closet. And the floor was wet and the water awesomely enough was not draining into the drain in the floor even more awesome. I went up stairs to wake up Emma because this needed more than one adult. And took some pictures and sent the to my parents. Emma got the kids a movie and began trying to get ahold of my dad.  I found the water leaking out of the bottom of the water heater. Yeah! Emma looked up on you tube how to shut the water off to the water heater and i read up on how to turn the heat off and the gas off. we turned the water to vacation and tried turning off the gas but the knob would not turn past pilot. We then began draining the water heater. I tried collecting it in buckets and Emma got the shop vac and cleaned up under my parents bah tub and cleaned out the drain so the water would drain better. She also got out the fan and soaked up water from the carpet. Eventually we decided to just let the water drain out and use squeegees to guide the water into the drain. This was way faster.  We did this for about two and a half hours. Then my mom came home Then my parents neighbor who knows how to fix these things came over and hooked up a hose which made everything way easier. ( I will remember that for next time.) My dad came home and another neighbor brought over a shop vac that worked better and they cleaned up the carpet really good. When it was empty I helped my dad take the water heater outside. And the men hooked up a new one.
So now I know a little bit more about water heaters. The crazy thing is that if it is older it could go pretty much anytime. They were saying that many people come home to find their basements flooded and ruined sometimes after weeks. ( vacations) Crazy day yesterday. 

Tempting Kitty Part Two

Apparently cats like Borscht. I compost our leftovers by burring them in the garden. I hate how compost piles smell and this method id so easy you dig a hole fill it with the waste. Then dig a hole next to it and use the dirt from that hole to put on top of your food waste. Well I was a bit lazy the other day. We had some leftover Borscht. ( for those that don't know it is a tasty beet soup from Eastern Europe. No meat in it at all.) I took it out to the hole in our garden and poured it in. I decided that I would be burring stuff later in the week so I just left it. That night when Justin came home he asked me " So what did you put in the garden?" "Borsht why?" "There are 3 cats out in the garden eating it out of the hole."
So if you are interested in feeding any ferrel cats in your neighborhood. Make a pot of borscht eat what you like and then leave  the rest out for your neighborhood cats.

Also, I made a smoothie this morning with mountain dew in it. Felix has taken to opening the cans of soda. I am so excited! So instead of wasting it I added it. I have gone form barely having my eyes open to being alert enough to make several paper airplanes. I think this morning is about to get much better...

What we have been up to

Eliza and I at Chris' wedding.
None of my other pictures turned out good. 

Good times at Calvin's 2nd birthday

Having fun!

Happy Birthday Calvin

Funny story about Felix. Every time there has been a birthday party this year he has sidled up and tried to blow out the candles. Seriously one min. he is playing in the other room, then he is right next to the cake. We should get that boy a box of tic tacs...

Weird Wednesday: Tempting kitty

My goal with weird Wednesday was to share something funny silly or just plain odd.


    So yesterday I was at my parents house doing laundry and I decided to take the boys on a bike ride on the canal road. We rode a mile in and Calvin was done so we got ready to turn around and like 5 yards ahead I notice a cat jump out of the bushes. All spitty and hair up at some runners. I was like oh gosh what a silly cat. Calvin saw and was super excited. "Kitty KITTY!!!!! mom KITTY!!!" Surprisingly with Calvin making all that noise the cat walked over. Felix at this point had taken off on his bike and was having a great time. The cat was middle sized not an adult but not a kitten. And cow spotted. Super cute. It had a silky coat and seemed friendly so I pet it first. The cat seemed to enjoy it so Calvin pet the cat. The cat was just fine with that and seemed to like the attention. At this point I noticed how far Felix had gotten away from us so it was time to go. I finally got Calvin on the bike and we were off. Oddly the cat seemed to be going in the same direction. Which was great because it kept Calvin on the move. After about half a mile I thought it was odd that the cat was still headed in the same direction.

    Then Calvin was having a fit because I wouldn't let him run after the cat into the bushes and was being a general pain. So I picked him and his bike up. Oddly enough He became super calm after a few min. of me carrying him. I looked behind to see why and there was the cat on the road following us. By the time we caught up to Felix ,who was busy throwing rocks into the ditch, the cat was walking right next to us. At this point Several people we had seen on the way up were on their way back.
"Is that your cat?"
" Cute cat"
   We got to the part of the canal where you have to cross the road. I stopped with the boys the cat stopped to and we all crossed together. At this point I a thinking "what?!!? Do cats follow people home?" And it did. Followed us the whole way to my parents house. When we got home the cat let us play with it. And then it took a nap on the front porch. The boys and I went inside and had lunch and I finished laundry. The cat was still there when it was time to go get Justin from work. And at this point my sister and I have texted the people we know that have cats to see if they want a new one. No luck.

   We took the cat with us to get Justin. And it curled up at the boys feet and slept. Then we took the kitty to the shelter. It was sad. He was such a nice cat. Calvin completely broke down. I was also a little misty eyed. It was extremely tempting to keep this cat. But, we figured that it must belong to somebody. He was so kind and great with the kids. He was clean and well behaved. And taking it to a shelter was the best way to get him back to his owner. But I super wanted to keep it.

Workouts and Eating less

I love food. 

Which has made loosing weight hard for me. I get to a certain spot and I maintain. Not because I don't exercise everyday or stay active. 

It is food.

 So I have been working really hard on portioning better, making healthier choices, and listening to my body. It has been hard. But I am feeling great. I have finally broken the barrier and am loosing inches around my thighs and arms.

 I don't feel that I look like a stuffed sausage in skinny jeans anymore!

My advice to anyone looking to loose weight:

Eat less crap and eat more veggies

Run at least 6 miles every other day

On your non running day walk to get groceries or any old errand.

Take Sunday off and give yourself a treat 

Do some kind of weight training daily

If the weather is bad, locate an indoor track or GYM to run in.

Making this change has been very hard for me, but every time I look in the mirror I know it is worth it. Because I am worth it. 

And I still love food.

seriously guys 

it is 

awesome.