3 minutes of very good

Landfill Harmonic | Juliana Penaranda-Loftus & Alejandra Nash from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

thanks to my brother-in-law for pointing out this little film

Happy Fathers Day

This guy here is a great dad.

Happy Fathers Day to good fathers everywhere, including the ones I love!

4.01 K Business Run

My brother-in-law came up with a run that’s 4.01 kilometers, goes down Wall Street, begins with clever business banter, and is run in business attire.  Jess participated in the event a few years ago and this year it was my turn.  It was a good time.  The onlookers to the event were one of the best parts of the race; that, and the clever comments that came from the event organizers and participatees.  I couldn’t stop laughing while running.  We ran through the Salt Palace, some with coffee cups and keyboards, others with notepads and office tech gear.  I just came with a dress (light blue, below) and running shoes.  The race finished at the Gateway fountain with grape juice.  The organizers never know if they are going to keep going with the event, but it just keeps coming back each year.  I have to yell "success!" to that.

photo courtesy of said brother-in-law

Correct punctuation

Help me out here, does the period come before or after the quotation mark in a sentence?  I thought it was one way and then at work a few years ago I was told it was another way and since then I've seen it both ways.  But which is correct?

John said, "I like spaghetti with meatballs."

OR

John said, "I like spaghetti with meatballs".

I've always thought it was the former, but at work they liked me to use the latter and with all of the autocorrect going on with smart phones and tablets, I am confused.

I've heard that the former way resulted from back when they used printing presses.  The typesetter would place the period inside the quotation marks because if he didn't do it that way, the period could possibly get bent.

Hmmm, what do you think?

The gardeners before us

Lucky for us, our yard came with some beautiful perennials. It has been a fun surprise to see what spring means for us. Tulips, iris, peonies, and the yard just keeps on giving.I take no credit but thank the gardeners who came before us. We’ve been trying to make sure we can keep up with it.

The art of supplementation

I'm pretty sure at one point in everybody's childhood their parents added stuff to boxed macaroni n' cheese for dinner: peas, corn, hotdogs, craw fish (yes, we had that once).  Now tell me, as an adult, have you done the same thing?  At the age of 8, I never thought I'd add a thing to mac n' cheese.  That would be a travesty! A shame!  A true detriment to the cheesiness of the boxed meal!  But as an adult I have done the unthinkable, I have been guilty of adding peas to my mac n' cheese.  And it was, well, still not that great but a bit healthier (peas are not my favorite).

This brings me to the art of supplementing a dish to make it taste better and/or become healthier.  I find that it is an art.  Maybe peas in your mac is not an art, but other supplementing can be quite delicious and sometimes very necessary.  But it takes experimentation and honing.  Take for instance pre-made ravioli or tortellini.  For some reason, I buy the stuff thinking it will taste good on it's own.  This is never the case.  There is a reason the food company uses the word "delicate" when describing the taste of it's seven cheese blend.  How can a blend of seven cheeses be so bland?  I don't understand it nor can I believe it, and that is probably why I keep on going back for more.  I think another package will prove the blandness wrong.  And each time, I eat a serving and think, this really tastes like nothing but paste. Then I salt and pepper it in hopes of saving the meal.  I've been known to add marina sauce as well, and that's an improvement.  But I've finally come upon something that's really good at turning "delicate" into "delicious".  Cook up that tortellini, then add tomatoes, artichoke hearts, pesto and stir.  Like I said, delicious.

Other good supplementing that I've discovered includes adding stuff to your bottled marinara sauce.  I like to add balsamic vinegar (my sister taught me this one), a can of tomatoes, fresh spinach, and Parmesan cheese.  And lately, I have been adding Greek yogurt to anything sweet for a kick of protein.  Try this recipe for waffles.  It includes yogurt as well as oatmeal.  Fiber, here we come!

Is there any creative supplementing you do?  I'd love to hear.

Snapshot of our little fam

With these beautiful June evenings we can't help ourselves from spending them outside and using the nice light for some quick pics.  In this first photo, Oliver wanted to take a pic where he was very tiny. He got quite a kick out of how small he was in this photo and how his parents just couldn't believe it!

Frugal or just plain cheap?

You know you are frugal/cheap when:

• Your version of internet shopping is perusing the pages for items, placing them in your cart, but never pressing the "buy" button.
• Going to Costco is one hour of long division practice, taking the price of an item and diving it by the number of items in the box, then trying to remember if that is a better price than the previous math you've done earlier that month at the local grocery store.
• You wait so long for something to go on sale at the Gap that it is no longer there, or it is there but the only size they've got is XXL.
• You never get items that you so desperately need, so your sisters/friends end up buying the items for you.

These are some of my current examples.  How did I get this way? I'm not sure.  Sometimes it serves me well and sometimes it does not.  The funny thing is, I don't mind spending money (sometimes) to eat out or travel, but when it comes to other things it takes me forever to make the purchase.

four months

Ansel is growing like nobody’s business. He is such a smiley guy. When Oliver notices he announces, “Ansel’s smilin’,” and we all love it around here. Ansel likes bathtubs, he’s getting better at sleeping, and he’s recognizing his hands. He’s just about the cutest babe around, talking lots and laughing during a good tickle. He loves to go outside, sit on my lap, and listen to the wind rustle through the leaves. I remember doing the exact thing with Oliver. Now I am at it again, and it’s nice.

Reliving my high school smoothie days

Back in high school zuka juice had just opened around my neighborhood and it was very popular. We'd go there on weekends and pay top teen dollar for a smoothie packed with flavor and any power-powdered extras we were interested in.

Fast forward a few years and now zuka juice is jamba juice. The smoothies are near the same and the extras are something like 25 cents. But now they serve sandwiches too!?!

Anyhow, in my desire for something delicious, nutritious, and flavorful I look to the tradition of high school (ha!). I whip up a smoothie at home and add an extra, spinach. Very good. Fairly cheap. And just about as good as those at zuka...I mean jamba juice.