Posts

Lately

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This week.. well at least the early parts of it were finally t-shirt and flip flop warm. : ) And when April rolls around our little town becomes cherry blossom central.. so D and I had a little impromptu picnic in the park after school one day.. Another cherry blossom post  featuring a chubbier, less toothy D. We had a tantrum filled Wednesday and after so much crying and me trying to stay strong and firm we ended up with an afternoon of ice cream without lunch, ducks at the pond and a trip to the local pet store where D pretended he was a parrot.  On the eleventh we had an incident of D barricading himself in the bathroom making us almost late for school and completely forgetting about Picture Day! His first : )  Friday we took the train into New York to meet M after his Epi LASIK surgery.. successful thank god! So we've had a weekend of dark shades and eye drops.  Today M continue's his recovery.. D has his last swim class of the year most probably.. :(

The Backyard Solution

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When people ask if we have a backyard our answer is no.. but we're lying! But then again so would you if your yard looked like this. In all honesty is didn't always look like this.. it was more of a 3 foot tall jungle of weeds that M pretty much tackled single handed when we moved in. We went through bottles of weed killer, vinegar solutions, hot water suggestions we found online but nothing stopped the mutant weeds from coming back.. so every other weekend M wasted away hours trying to control our backyard. We may not have hated doing it so much and may have found a better solution for the space if we ever used it, but we didn't. There was no way to get to the space without leaving the house and going around the house to get to it, it lacked privacy and most importantly we didn't/don't see ourselves living here for a long time.. So we cut it all down and lay down some tarp.. and placed a few rocks to keep the tarp down.. when we ran out of rocks we filled ou

30 Days to Take Off

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Yup it's that time of year again when we start to pack our bags and head off on another adventure. But this trip is going to be different.  Which is why I have been prepping for it way more that 30 days before take off.  We're going home. pinterest The trip will start with just D and I and we'll be gone for a few months.. spending time with grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles and great uncles and aunt.. seriously our family is huge.. and not to forget cousins.. and so many other people. And towards the end of the trip M will join us to attend my little brothers wedding.  So I am making lists, buying presents, cooking and freezing meals so the M doesn't starve nor has to resort to take out every night. And while I'm excited I find being away from M for so long extremely difficult..and M finds being away from D for so long extremely difficult.  But I haven't been home in two years.. I last saw my mom and brother 6 months ago.. my da

Stacked Enchilada's

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Oh God these are so good.. trust me. Slice up one onion, peppers (i use one green chili, jalapeno, non green bell pepper) and mushrooms. You can add more vegetables to it.. I reserve half a can of black beans, one small can of corn for later. Line a pass with aluminum foil and toss all the sliced veggies in salt, pepper, oil and cumin. Roasted in the oven for approximately 45 minutes. Shake the pan occasionally to make sure everything is roasting evenly. Add the drained and rinsed beans and corn to the veggie mixture 25-30 minutes in. Adding them in the beginning backs them dry out. This can be done ahead of time. When ready to put the enchilada's together.. grab a deep backing dish. Other things you'll need is tortilla's, salsa, avocado, shredded cheese and sour cream. Spread some salsa on the bottom of the dish.. cut the tortilla in half and place on top. Then add the roasted vegetables, cheese and chopped avocado and more salsa. Place another layer of tortilla,

The Picture Game

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D has been a slow talker so I am always looking for fun  new ways to help him learn new words and grow his vocabulary. I decided to make a picture game. I gather various clip art of letters, number, fruit, vegetables  animals, clothes, furniture.. just about everything and anything I could think of.. and printed them out. I cut them out and backed them with some cardboard to make them more sturdy. Instead of going out and buying cardboard I simply recycled cereal boxes, tissues boxes, waffle boxes etc. Sweet M even surprised me with a box or two he brought home from work. Oh so romantic we are.  And so the games begin.. these are just a few of them.. I have almost 100 so we work.. i mean play in batches. I know not all of them are the same size and shape.. but I wasn't going with perfection.. I didn't want to be in a situation when I put in so much time and he decided he doesn't want to play with them.. or spills something on them.. or looses them.. the impor

Chai. Tea.

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I was about 15-16 years old when I started drinking tea.. once a day.. usually in the evenings.. and though I have switched to coffee..mainly because whatever I do it just doesn't taste the same, plus it reminds me too much of home, friends and family. So now we drink it only when in the company of freinds or family. Tea back home is called chai and it has nothing to do with chai tea (which actually doesn't make sense because chai and tea mean the same thing.. so you're just drinking tea tea.. or chai chai). Unlike tea, chai is made with a strong black tea that is cured in a special way creating tea granules instead of leaves. It is inexpensive. The method of preparation  (this I did not know)  is also different. In a kettle you take water, tea and sugar and simmer to a boil until a rich aroma engulfs the room and the water becomes dark. Then milk is added and the mixture is once again brought to a boil. It is then strained into cups. (methods may slightly vary) Wikip

So This is Spring?

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Cause it sure doesn't feel like it.. we got snow, rain and wind chill and then sun shinning through my window may try to fool me but when I go outside I know without a doubt that this is so not spring! So this is my way of sending Mother Nature the memo.. Frosted Willow   Fluid Ink Letterpress   Yizhen Ma   Wrap All   Violet Queen B Boutique Beauties   Crystal Fascination   Milchundhonig   Handmade By Ukropova   Stella Creations     Madam Lili The Show Pony     Albi 333 Coop De Villa Get my post directly in you inbox with  Bloglovin I am now also offering ad space.  See  Sponsors  for more information .  Newsletter Sign Up - Let's Stay Connected, Shall We?