flowers, gardening, yellow

Little Frogs in my house

by casadeberry5 Comments on Little Frogs in my house

The sweet yellow flowers I am SO loving right now are Ranunculus, which is Late Latin for little frogs, according to Wikipedia.

I love their round shape and many layers of petals – here are some tips from The Martha herself on how to arrange some of these beauties.
I have yellow and red ranunculuses (ranunculi?) so I prefer to keep each color by itself when I arrange them around the house.

Another idea, this time from one of my favorite publications – Real Simple:
I usually place three flowers in a little bud vase or a spare glass jar for a sweet and simple look, but I will try the terracotta pots idea.

I’ve also pinned some lovely ranunculus images on Pinterest if you’d like to join me there.

I can’t wait until my yellow roses bloom again, I am hoping for a pretty arrangement of yellow roses and ranunculus with some greenery thrown in for balance.

Do you have a favorite flower?

boys, school

I’m not a Belieber!

by casadeberry4 Comments on I’m not a Belieber!

My oldest had his school walk-a-thon last Friday. It was the warmest day so far this year although it didn’t get miserably hot. He and his buddies are showing off how many laps they walked:
Or rather, how many laps two of them walked. The boy in the center, my son’s BFF, ran all 42 laps. His own mom was surprised. My thighs hurt just typing that, “ran all 42 laps.”

The teacher told the parents we could walk alongside our kids if we wanted to, so I joined my boy at about lap 8 (I’m no fool) – we did 7 laps together, then the DJ started playing that Baby Baby Baby song and I was walking around in the heat with a zillion tweens singing along and thank goodness right then my boy said he was tired. The goal for kinders was 15 laps so I told him we could just chill if he wanted. After the walk was over, the kids went in for lunch and then there was a carnival. My son was very happy I joined him for the carnival.

We ate pizza, popcorn and otter pops. We sat in the cool grass, under the tall trees and watched people. We met his teacher’s little baby and my ovaries started to hurt. He was all chubby grumpiness at first. I don’t blame him, I was scared they’d start playing another Justin Bieber song, too.

I’m joining my bloggy friend Donna’s Taking Care of You Tea Time this morning!

fruits, gardening, veggies

Happy (future) Meals

by casadeberry2 Comments on Happy (future) Meals

This past week we checked on the progress our seeds and seedlings have made. Wanna see?

Ah, our avocados. Much beloved by us and our friends and family.
We cannot possibly eat the hundreds of avocados we get per season, so we share them as much as we can. When my boys were starting out on solid foods, they enjoyed a mashed-up avocado for breakfast every day, and love them still!

Last year we tried growing bell peppers for the first time and it was a success.
We look forward to slicing up these guys in fajitas, or saute them in stir-fries, yum yum!

This is our first try with carrots – you start them from seed, and we have them in this one pot and several other little ones.
Many of these will go into smoothies – grow, little carrots, grow!

Our onions can’t be stopped. The green ones grew through winter, and now we’ve planted more of the white and yellow varieties.
I see some veggie trading in our future.

We jumped into the potato-growing bandwagon and chose basic russet and Yukon gold varieties.
If these are a success I will definitely get adventurous and order some mail order potato goodness next year!

My husband hacked up a pumpkin from last Halloween and planted some of the seeds.
Maybe we’ll have a few little scary ‘kins this year!

Look! My roses are starting to bloom again!
I love yellow roses and my husband bought this plant for me, so happy to see it’s doing so well.

We’ve planted a ton of squash – zucchini, summer squash, crookneck, etc.
Zucchini chocolate chip cookies are in our future!

The boys’ favorite thing to do in summer days is to go out and look for strawberries ready to be picked.
We also have blueberries and grapes growing in our yard.

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at our growing fruits and veggies – while I am NOT looking forward to the high temperatures of summer, I most definitely AM looking forward to enjoying the bounty of our plantings. Big thanks to my husband who did most of the work, including building raised beds and getting me plants he knows I love!

friends

A lovely morning

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on A lovely morning

Yesterday I had a nice walk and cup of coffee with a good friend. We’ve known each other since our kiddos (her only, my oldest) were weeks old. We met at a mom’s club meeting and realized we lived around the corner from each other.

Here they are in one of their early dates ;D

You’d think we see each other often. How bad is it, in reality? It’s been so long since I’ve seen her that she didn’t even know my dad had died last July.

To be fair, she is studying to be a nurse and keeps a schedule that would drive me batty, but the light at the end of the tunnel is very visible and I look forward to congratulating her when she graduates soon. She has no classes this week so we walked to Starbucks – which we used to do all the time with our babies in strollers – and chatted for a while.

It was lovely. She is a calm, kind, gentle soul (VERY unlike me) and it was good talking about what what our kids are up to now and what we’re up to now. It’s good to make the effort, to find those precious minutes when we can reconnect with a friend. It’s what makes my life well-rounded.

cooking, family, food, organizing

Organizing: Meal Planning

by casadeberry5 Comments on Organizing: Meal Planning

I’ve been slowly getting into the Once a Month cooking idea. Not completely, because with my boys being picky eaters and my husband needing lunch as well as dinner (he works from home) I couldn’t possibly cook an entire month’s worth of meals in one day. But, three times now I have cooked and made more than one “batch” of the same meal, twice to freeze for future meals and once to share with a dear friend.

The two meals I made to freeze were from Fix, Freeze, Feast and they were both delicious, but you can find freezer recipes throughout the web, and of course, at The Martha’s website. Some recipes I will try next week are Chicken and Rice soup, Mini Meatballs, and her Basil Pesto, with one modification: I prefer to make mine half basil and half spinach. The original recipe with all basil can be a bit overpowering to me, and I like the idea of squeezing in some extra veggies wherever I can.

Got any freezer-friendly recipes you’d like to share?

accessories, clothing, shoes

Come on LOFT, wtf?

by casadeberry1 Comment on Come on LOFT, wtf?

Okay, this is where “fashion editors” completely lose me. One of my favorite stores, Ann Taylor LOFT invited 3 magazine editors to style some looks. Here is one by the Glamour editor:
All I’m saying is that if I’m wearing a fricking anorak with a scarf, then it’s not the right weather for those flimsy little sandals.

One of my little fashion quirks is – the longer the sleeve, the more closed up the shoe should be. That’s just my personal rule because inevitably, that’s how it’s worked out for me. If I am out and about in a sundress and sandals and it gets chilly enough for a cardigan, then my toes are also cold. So to see a coat and scarf paired with barely-there sandals is ridiculous in my shoes.

Thank you for the kind comments on my comparison between White House Black Market and more budget-friendly looks.