Maple Syrup Lemonade with a Hint of Bourbon

I thought about posting a picture of a lemon. Or maple syrup. Or bourbon.

Or I could just give you this link. It's the happiest summer cocktail you can imagine. Sunshine in a highball glass. Or you can serve it, as I did tonight, in martini glasses.

I have to admit that I posted this to pinterest myself. It's an old Smitten Kitchen recipe, so it wasn't exactly a Pinterest find. But I'd bet a dollar or two that someone already pinned it. If only Pinterest were searchable.

Oh well. Happy Summer!

P.S. As it turns out, Pinterest IS searchable. And Vermontucky Lemonade (as Smitten Kitchen dubs this drink) has been pinned about two thousand times. Guess this makes two thousand one.

Pinterest has been very good to me lately.

For breakfast today, I made these lovely breakfast banana splits. Holy yum! And if you make with fat free plain Greek yogurt and 1 tablespoon honey it is only 4 points. Add 1 tablespoon of toasted walnuts for an extra, very well worth it, point! (BTW, I calculated these points with the recipe builder on the WW site which means extra points are add for what would otherwise be non-point items, like the fruit and plain yogurt).

Earlier this week, we had some AMAZING (not to mention simple) chicken. I have no photos for you because it was gobbled down so quickly. Simply being amazing, delicious, and moist beyond words does not guarantee my red-headed kiddos will enjoy a dish. And yet this was one of their favorites in a long time. We upped the Greek yogurt and parm and cut the chicken into smaller pieces, and the points still were pretty low.

What pinterest fun have you had lately?

Spice it Up!

I've been doing Weight Watchers. There. I said it.

7 weeks. 15 pounds. I feel like a new woman.

The focus of this week's meeting was "Spice it Up!"

SO I thought it was time to get back to my blog and share some SPICE!

Dinner tonight:

Cumin-spiced fish tacos with Nectarine and Scallion Salsa.

I deviated a little from the recipes, leaving the balsamic out of the relish but adding the red onion, jalapeno, red pepper, and avocado from the fish recipe. In the end it was amazing. Unfortunately I couldn't find corn tortillas, so went with basic white wheat instead. Whole wheat would have been healthier (and maybe a tad lower in points), but I've been so disappointed by fish tacos in the past that I didn't want to risk it! I'm glad I didn't. These were amazing. My (very skinny) husband is loving WW as much as I am!

Travelling

I'm excited to be working on a new project. A Trekaroo Project.

I've guest-blogged on Trekaroo and written tons of reviews.

Now I'm researching the Top 10 Things to Do in North Carolina. Trekaroo is compiling these lists for all 50 states and I am exciting to get to cover North Carolina.

But now I need help. I want ideas from real moms and dads. Can you help? Where have you traveled in NC? What have you done with your kids of all ages? Whether it's a specific location or a general theme, any ideas will help!

Otherwise, the article is going to be all about hiking and museums. Help a girl out!

A Not-So-Pinteresting April

Enough with the Pinteresting Puns. I know. I know.

But April has been anything but Pinteresting. And yet it has been a wonderful month!

We have been busy with soccer.



And art shows.



Some not-so-natural Easter Egg Dying.



And all things outdoors.



The only Pinteresting Pursuit was a disastrous attempt at making homemade liquid soap. The ingredients included glycerin. Which is purchased in pharmacies. "Would you like the topical or suppository form?" ... Say what, now?

So ... back to the Pinterest. I leave you with this inspinteration ... um, sorry, another Play on Pinterest. I promise. No more puns.

Sushi, Soap, and Hand Sanitizer

The plan is to make soap tonight. Homemade liquid soap. And this brings me to a confession. We aren't really handwashers, this family of ours. Sure, when the six year old had cancer and a completely absolutely suppressed immune system. Where a fleck of dust carrying the wrong opportunistic pathogen could lead to our dear daughter's demise. Well, then we were big believers in Purell and all things hand-sanitizing.

But nowadays, with those happy white blood cells zooming through the bloodstream, why bother? Frankly I'm a little opposed to the obsessive hand-washing of our culture. In part, this comes form the fact that triclosan (a compound which, some believe, promotes drug resistance in certain bacteria and carries a whole host of potential risks to users) is in most hand soaps. So when I'm in a public restroom I can risk E. coli or wash my hands in triclosan and hope we aren't selecting the most drug-resistant of the E.coli. I love the Purell but not the unidentified dispenser soap. So, sometimes I compromise with just a water-rinse. Plus, it keeps the old ladies from scowling and might even let me fly under the radar in case researchers have hidden cameras in the public restroom ... I'm not making this stuff up. (BTW, I used to be a member of the American Society of Microbiology ... hmm ... you'd think I'd be a better hand washer after working with hepatitis and Pseudomonas)

The other reason for my hand-washing disdain is that (in most cases) a little dirt never hurt anyone (for exceptions to the rule, see above). It's even good for the immune system, right? Like the three second rule. Okay, okay. Maybe it's an excuse for laziness. And on that note, I've noticed that the children are washing their hands. Maybe because of their sitter. Maybe school. And, if I'm being honest, they are pretty grimy kids. So maybe hand-washing is a good idea. Plus, if I'm ever going to earn that Mother-of-the-Year award, I need to at least have some hand soap in the (otherwise very dirty) bathrooms. Right?

The children are uber-excited about the soap-making. They are perhaps slightly more excited that "a friend from mommy's work" will be participating and that there will be snacks.

So, tonight, we make soap. And, possibly hummus. But not in the same bowl.

The six year old suggested we serve left over veg sushi roll. I should mention there are 4 pieces, and one is falling apart. The four year old contributed "I hate sushi!" He also hated the miso soup and the sushi rice. He did, however, gobble down the carrot slivers (intended for sushi-filling) and the bowl of apple sauce that accompanied the meal. Do the Japanese eat apple sauce? Topped with cinnamon?

So tonight we make soap. But what about the snacks? Any suggestions?

BPA-Free Family

Before our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, my husband (then a stay-at-home-dad-extraordinaire) was on a casual hunt for BPA-free water bottles for the kids. He switched us over to Klean Kanteen. Stainless steel. BPA Free. Guaranteed not to cause leukemia (just kidding).



Klean Kanteen even featured The Boy on their website for a little while.

I eventually added in Sigg bottles with their Swiss superiority, super cool designs, and promise of BPA free liners. Only later to learn that those Sigg bottles aren't exactly BPA-free, but no BPA gets leached. Okay. Fine.

Then we got the cancer-at-three diagnosis. And the BPA-free, guaranteed not to cause cancer water bottles came with us to the hospital where we pumped glorified poison into our daughter's body in hopes of killing those Damn Cancer Cells.









And the quest for a chemical-free life started to seem a little silly. A little irrelevant. A child with chemo-cravings and cachexia gets whatever she'll eat. Chic-fil-A and steaks, mac and cheese and hot chocolate. It wasn't a complete food nightmare. But all-natural, whole and healthy took a back seat to, well, calories.

That is more-or-less behind us, now. And we are slowly reinventing a healthy and whole lifestyle. By slowly I mean I just finished a soy mocha and English muffin sammie from Starbucks. Baby steps.

I've been investigating (and, of course, pinning) BPA-free options for canned veges and soups. I mistakenly assumed that the tetra pak style soup boxes were a nice, chemical free alternative to BPA laden canned soup. Wrong.

So I've been reading, investigating, and sharing better options and trying to reinvent our kitchen and our eating habits. Less eating out. More whole grains and veges. Less chemicals. More fresh. We'll see how it goes!

I'm Not Pinterested In That

I would never, ever go on and on and on about a pin I saw on Pinterest. Just like I never start a conversation with "So my facebook status was ..." I mean, it's the internet. It isn't real life. Boundaries, right?

So the last time I was going on and on about a pin, my husband says, "I'm not Pinterested in that." He grinned a sly grin. Little did he know this would make him the target of a Pinterest campaign.






I know what you're thinking. What if dear husband becomes Pinterest-addicted! He'd be all Hey, let's try this goat cheese pudding recipe! And Don't you want to make these Russian handheld firecrackers for the kids' birthday parties? And Maybe we should run by Michael's to pick up some puffy paint for some more Christmas sweatshirts. It could happen.



No. We don't want to create another Pinterest addict in the family. But, since the husband has a few days off this week and I have none... Is it too much to ask the hubby to do a kid-friendly Pinterest project?

Let's take a vote! I've posted images of Pinterest projects throughout this post. Which one should he should do with the kids? Sharpie Tie Dyes? Rainbow Volcanoes? or Homemade Hershey's Syrup? Vote in the comments section.

Keep in mind he is a former stay-at-home dad extraordinaire and pretty much capable of anything!

Not-so-lazy Sundays (and Saturdays)

Ah, lazy Sundays. I remember those. Breakfast at 10:30, pajamas until noon, maybe a few hours in the sun. Lazy Sundays don't exist once you have kids. But Sundays are still great.

And today was all kinds of fabulous. Family swimming, lunch with friends, Art Walk at my son's school (he's a brilliant artist, and I'm not at all biased).


Then we were off to the park with other friends, and a yummy dinner with a Lychee Gin Fizz that was not-too-shabby.


Oh. Did I mention there was no pinning?

That's right. No pins. No projects. No Pinspiration to speak of. (Wow, that sounds a lot like perspiration.)

And if today was fabulous, yesterday was pretty great. Also with no pinning.

Yesterday was the Easter Egg Hunt.

Rather than take awesome Pinterest-inspired Weibo eggs we took (are you ready for this?) plastic eggs. (GASP!) They were filled with rubbery salamanders that stick to the wall when you throw them. Yeah. Well. The kids loved them.

The fun in the Easter egg hunt is not only finding the eggs, but later discovering what treasures wait inside! So in that sense, plastic eggs beat "my mom is super crafty and we made these Martha Stewarty eggs filled with ... well, yolks, which, by the way, you can't eat because they've been sitting out all day and the Salmonella's been a-multiplying"." Am I right?

Speaking of Easter Egg treasures. My son found an eggs filled with "money!" Plastic coins, to be exact. Which he is now referring to as "Hannukah money!" I suggested "Passover money" might be more seasonally appropriate, but he insists on Hannukah.

My kids have been curious about all things symbolic of Jewish holidays since their early days at Dad's Group. In fact, about a year ago, the elder of the red-heads (then 5) wanted me to tell her everything I knew about Hannukah. It happened to be Spring and Sesame Street was running a Passover special. It went into a fair amount of detail and the kids were sucked right in. SO even thought it wasn't exactly what she asked for, I let Sesame Street do the parenting and it seemed to work out. Until later that night...

We just so happened to be spending the weekend at my mom's and the kids were sharing a bedroom. The boy (3 at the time) had a hard time going to sleep and was keeping his sis awake. I went into their room with a serious "GO TO BED NOW" mommy face and he yells, "Oh no! It's the scary Jewish monster!" Laughed so hard I peed a little.

Hopefully the Scary Jewish Monster doesn't steal his Hannukah money!

Translation, please!

A few days ago, I repinned this lovely little Easter egg project.

I thought, "lovely", promptly made an "Easter" board and pinned it without clicking on the link. Rookie mistake.

We are going to a huge egg hunt tomorrow. We are supposed to bring eggs.

So like the procrastinator I am, I click on the link tonight at approximately 1:22 am, only to realize the text is in a language I do not understand. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what language it is.



带优雅植物叶子水印的染色水煮蛋》我们常常要给鸡蛋染色，比如制作复活节彩蛋和庆祝BB诞生的红鸡蛋等。也有妈妈为了让宝宝更乐意吃鸡蛋，也会用植物染料给鸡蛋染色。








And while the step-by-step pictures are gorgeous, I'm not so super-crafty to be able to intuit the process.

Suggestions? I really want to make these eggs!

Clementine Lassi

1 cup plain yogurt ... ideally Greek
1-2 tablespoons honey or agave (or sugar in a pinch)
1/2 cup ice
Juice of 4 very juicy clementines







Blend well.
Sprinkle with cinnamon (wanted to use cardamom here, but we were fresh out).

Enjoy.

The 6 year old and I loved the tart, semi-sweet flavor. The 4 year old ... not so impressed. Next time we'll go with a banana lassi and let you know how it turns out!

More Fun Than Disney

"This is the funnest day ever." These are the words I overhear my six year old saying to my four year old. Then she elaborates, "I think home is more fun than Disney, don't you?"



My four year old hesitates. He loves Disney, with its princesses and candy apples.



Then she elaborates. "Disney is close, but home is better. Right?" My son nods in agreement.

What a boost to my MomEsteem!

So what made for such a great day? Aside from the fact that the stars aligned and everyone woke up on the right side of the bed?

Maybe it was the grand tea experiment - the kids filled buckets of water and added spices (carefully selected from some of my older, out of date, rarely used spices) to make an assortment of "teas".

Maybe it was the homemade play doh.



Perhaps the clementine lassis (recipe coming soon!).



Or maybe, just maybe, it's spending time together.

The Waterfall Braid

So when I wrote that I'm not that kind of girl, I should have also mentioned that I'm not that kind of mom.

You know the type. The mom who spent the previous evening printing templates, cutting out felt, lining up googly eyes, puffy paint tubes, and glitter for the next morning's crafts.

Or the mom who grows her own veges, uses it to make her own salsa, and then puts it in jars with homemade labels.

There is nothing wrong with these moms. It's just not me. I couldn't be those moms if I tried. I'm more the let's stomp in the puddles, paint your heart out even if the painting doesn't resemble anything I can identify, and, btw, isn't it time for your weekly (monthly) bath and shampoo? kind of mom.

So when Lindsay asked me to do the Waterfall Braid my palms started to sweat. It's not that I didn't want to. But come on. I'm lucky if I can get a brush through her tangles without tears (hers and mine). I don't "do" my own hair (unless blowing it dry counts). I'm just not skilled in that particular set of mom skills.

Well. I put my mind to it and it turned about quite pretty. This was our third go, but even the first and second try earned compliments from friends. And most importantly, I could see how proud Lindsay felt about her new do. Thanks Pinterest!

My Very First Pin

Dare I say, my virgin pin.



Cranberry-lime infused vodka. The glasses came from the Container Store. The vodka came from the ABC store. Kettel One, to be exact.

Unfortunately I didn't get to try the vodka, as I gave these away for office Christmas presents.

But I can't imagine it was bad!

Not that Kind of Girl

I'm really not that kind of girl. The kind of girl who not only crafts, but also snaps some photos and blogs an instruction manual.
The kind of girl who throws on some organic lip balm and a head scarf and swirls out of the house in a cloud of fabulous. The kind of girl who spends Sunday making seven whole and healthy meals for the week ahead.

I know what you're thinking. But really. I'm not.

I'm the kind of girl who spends too much time in front of the computer, usually in sweats. The kind of girl who flips on the TV the minute the kids are in bed and wonders why the house isn't clean. The kind of girl has 7 or 8 blogs, each with 1 or 2 posts.

(BTW, that photo ... not me ... that is the uber fabulous Keiko Lynn.)

So here's to all of you out there. Girls like me. Waiting for Pinterest to change your lives! Pin away, ladies!

And may, some day, your house look like this ...

contemporary kitchen design by dc metro architect AHMANN LLC

Instead of this ...

Clean and Green

One of my Pinterest Boards is entitled Clean and Green. It was one of the motivations behind this blog.

I can't tell you how many times I have vowed to be done with environmentally toxic household cleaners. Then the bathroom mirror gets painted in window crayon and mom is visiting and "notices you didn't have any window cleaner". Or your husband goes out on the nightly Oreo run (what?) and returns with grout and tile cleaner. Or there is this really, really big sale and you can buy 13 bottles of Brand XYQ Laundry Detergent for 72 cents each and, really, how can you say no to that?

Meanwhile the bottles accumulate. Each one filled with its own questionable list of ingredients. And each one in its own, brand new plastic container. Which you may or may not remember to recycle.

So that brings me to today's post. Homemade window cleaner! Which, if I'm being honest, I made yesterday. Yes. Technically I squeezed 2 Pinterest activities in on my first day of blogging. What can I say? It was a Sunday. A family day. Perfect for Pinterest Projects. And I'm working 11 hours tomorrow, so I want to be prepared with a post, even if I don't carry out a project!



While at Lowe's (picking out the previously mentioned drill) the kids each picked a colorful spray bottle for about $2.75 at Lowe's. We filled with 2 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, 1/2 tsp dishwashing detergent (7th generation ... yay!), and 15 drops peppermint essential oil. This was the recipe for glass cleaner and it worked well, but it also worked well on the linoleum floor and the base board (which is covered in more dog hair than I care to admit).

The best part? The kids were begging to clean. Usually I'm reluctant to let them use window cleaner and other chemicals, but I had no reservations about this. I turned them loose and simply wiped behind if they left too many streaks or too much spray.

These Boots Were Made for Planting

We've moved quite a few times since the kids were born. And each time we move, we clean out the closets, throwing out everything that isn't being used. Yet for some reason, I have not been able to bring myself to toss out these super cute rain boots. They were too dirty for ebay or Goodwill but too cute to trash.



So when I saw the rain boot planter idea on Pinterest, I knew it was a project I could handle!

Unfortunately, it required the purchase of a new drill.



But once the drill was purchased, it was really a piece of cake!



Simply drill holes in the bottoms, add drainage rocks and potting soil, plant your flowers and, Voila! Super cute boots!