blog game - where is this?

last sunday, i went to washington for my friend's baby shower and i took some maternity pictures of her while i was there. as most of you know, i lived in washington (NC) for several years before i moved back here.

every time i've visited washington since i left there, i've always had that feeling of "oh, i'm home" when i got there. i have to say, this was the FIRST TIME that i did not have that feeling. i've lived here almost 5 years now.

as always, i had a great time and i do still love washington. if we ever "win the lottery" (got to play to win!), i'd love to buy a condo there so my kids would know about such a great little town and community.

anyway, on the way home, i took the "long way back" and had that feeling of coming home. in particular, i took the long long way back by this particular field, which i happened to stop at and the cows, which were all way off in the distance, came running to me. they were so fast that i thought for sure they were going to push through the fence and attack me. they were literally running, and if you know anything about cows, you know that cows generally don't run.

i thought i'd play little game of "where was i" - i know for SURE that several of my friends and/or family may know where this is.



the field was the other side of the road - the cows that came up to me were not in that field, but they are on the same farm.  the cows just kept coming.  so many that they wouldn't fit in my 50mm lens (as you can see).








my only hint: it is WEST of hwy 64. ok, ok. it is in franklin county. :) you tell me where - EXACTLY! if you know where it is, then you'll know what i mean.

A Reflection of Me

This week's photo challenge at the paper mama is "self portrait" - I wasn't going to enter it but this past sunday, I went to Washington (NC) to take maternity portraits and a baby shower (same friend)!  Plus, I always avoid the camera (I love being behind it, not in front of it.)  

Emily wanted to do an urban setting for her maternity photos so we were walking through downtown Washington with her husband and son and I noticed how clean and reflective the windows were.  The lighting was just right.  I took my picture in several of the windows - this one you can see Emily's son peeking in the window to see what was in the store.  However, this one had a coke stand in the background.

We kept walking and then got to a clothing store.  I thought this was an interesting shot, too.  It's probably the closest i'll ever get to being a model!

and then last, we got to a clear window with no coke trucks in the back.  This one I am entering as my "self portrait" - by the way, it is hard to get a straight picture when you're holding the camera sideways AND not up to your eye.  But, I did not crop this one!  I kept shooting until I got it right!

dress yourself sunday

everyday sunday, i let the kids pick out their own clothes.  they don't have to match.  (however, one of the nice things about holly's closet is that i have everything paired up in outfits.  that doesn't always make a difference but on this day it helped...)

the outfit sometimes matches for holly, but usually the socks and shoes are crazy.

here was her pick 2 weeks ago...




i used a new, free action i got this morning - by patti brown (called kaleidoscope).  supposed to look like an oil painting.



this one is the sketch off of elements...  and i wasn't making them stand like that, they were playing hide and seek and they were counting.



this was edited using florabella's glam action.

holly-wood. seriously.

i spent my gymbucks last week.  my goal was to buy stuff ONLY for kendal, but when i decided to buy him swimtrunks and a rash guard, i went ahead and got holly a swimsuit and a big hat to protect her head.

the box came yesterday (friday).  the sad thing was that kendal could have cared less for what was in it.  holly, though, every time i pulled out something new said "for me?" and i had to say "no, for kendal."  i waited until last to show her her new swimsuit and hat.  and, she didn't like it.

...until later.  much later.  like, at that anything-but-go-to-bed time.  she wanted to put it on so i let her.  she was so adorable in it.  it was a little big on her length wise (tight width wise) so i think it'll fit just right this summer.  the hat, well, it's big enough to fit me (one great thing about having kids with extra large heads) so i can wear it when she decides that she hates it.

here are some of her not-so-glamorous shots.









showing kendal her new outfit...

Kendal and Holly

i haven't really written about them lately and i thought i'd write about them.  you know, like about how they've been growing and things like that.

kendal has been to two birthday parties over the past two weeks.  both were at "bounce houses" - previously, he has never wanted to even get inside them.  he has finally developed enough that he likes them.  last sunday when we went to pump it up, he ended up alone inside one of them.  he stood up!  that takes a lot of balance and i was really proud of him.  he also likes to play air hockey.

holly likes head bands.  she also likes hair bows.  i'm ever grateful to myself for buying every color of bow they have at silly goose (a children's boutique) so that she has one to match every outfit. 

kendal likes to pee in other potties.  other, meaning any potty that is not located in his house.  he also likes to do it himself, in the stall himself, without his mama.  and, he can.  that makes me proud too.  i realize that most kids can do that way earlier so you can understand my relief that it is finally happening.  now if he would only get the poo in the potty (he's a fast pooper, most times it happens on the way TO the potty...)

holly prefers her dora PJs.  thankfully, we have 2 pairs.  she even got new PJs from grammie and grandpa and she STILL wants to wear the dora ones.  she also has dora sheets.  everything dora.  she always wants to watch dora movies.  we are really tired of dora.  i know she'll grow out of it, just like kendal did for wonder pets.

kendal and holly both are into watching real movies now.  like, not the 15 minute episode shows.  we watched (finally all the way through) alice in wonderland that holly got for her 2nd birthday from j2s2 (her aunt and uncle and her cousins).  and, the sponge bob movie that kendal got for his 1st birthday from "uncle" chris.  they also have watched cars and monsters, inc. and some other movies like that.  holly right now is watching cinderella on VHS on the VCR that kate's uncle mark's mom (as opposed to amy's uncle mark - we do have to differentiate since we have two uncle marks) gave us.  she intermittently is drawing on the chalkboard.  she has a hard time sitting still.

kendal can write capital As now.  we didn't even know he could do it until last week one day we were out in the driveway with chalk and he wrote one on the ground and said "look mom, and A!"  it was good, too!

holly can draw just about any shape you ask her to.  even apples (with a stem and leaf).  at school, they decorated bunnies and hers had drawn-on buttons on his shirt (like a snowman) and loops on his ears and paws.  everyone elses was just scribbled with markers.  even the teacher commented that holly's was very advanced for a 2 year old - she'd never seen a child draw that on one before.  holly has always loved to draw.  (which reminds me of the coloring set that amy brought to holly's birthday party that i think was intended for kendal but holly opened it... holly STILL plays with that set!)  she spends a lot of time on the chalk board and uses so many wipes cleaning it.  the eraser isn't good enough for her, she needs wet wipes!  ha!

ok, so that is about all i can think of. 

oh, and holly is officially a pull up girl now.  though, she doesn't really pee in the potty but she does try (just no success).  she also sings all the time.  constantly, really.  right now she's singing "this old man" but 5 minutes ago she was singing "ba ba black sheep."

life is great with children!

black and white: photo challenge

this one is so hard for me.  i have such issues with converting a photo into black and white.  i have 3 actions that do it and hardly ever is it just right.  plus, my children look so good in color.  just a plain desaturation doesn't do it nor do any of the "convert to black and white" options that elements offers, and with all the adjustments in the world, i have a hard time getting just what i want.  guess it is one of those "everyone elses are better than mine" sort of deals...  and, i just need more practice.  that is why i rarely have black and white as a final product.  i'm never satisfied.

thepapermama has a rule with her photo challenges in which your child has to be in the picture:  any G-rated part of the child, it doesn't have to be the face.

for this picture, i am going to enter a picture of holly's hand.  i used one of MCP's actions for this black and white conversion - with a lot of tweeking - but i think the "jewels" are super shiny and holly's snow white skin doesn't appear to blown out. it was simply the best i could do...

radioactive chickens

I don’t think this is secret or confidential and when it was mentioned to me, it was said “this would make a great blog topic.”  I didn’t think so at first but the more I thought about it, the more I agreed.  I agree because I believe every American should be provided with safe food, water, and products that are free from chemicals that will have short or long term negative effects on their bodies – REGARDLESS of their income.  I certainly can’t decide for everyone what to do, but I can help educate.  (i.e., you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.)

Who shops at Walmart?  Do you buy your meat there?  Do you trust Walmart to provide you with quality meat?  Why do you shop at Walmart?  Is it because their meat is cheap?  Do you understand that, regardless of the pricetag, all meat isn’t the same (i.e. the chicken on sale at Walmart is NOT the chicken on sale at whole foods or on sale by a local farmer who raised the chicken himself)? 

Does someone who buys chicken at Walmart do so only because of the bottom line price?  Is it because that is all they can afford?  Isn’t it important that they be protected from large animal farmers who use poor management to raise large birds on poor quality feed or inject the meat with water to make it weigh more?  In essence, the Walmart shoppers aren’t getting a quality product. 

What if there was a poor management, large scale poultry farmer in the US who started importing their grain from a company who blended their feed with corn from eastern Russia – where the soils were still contaminated from the Chernobyl explosion?  That radiation would be transferred via the feed to the birds that were sold to Walmart.  All those Walmart customers would then be buying that meat and feeding it to their families here in the US.

Do you think I’m making up a horrible story?  Well I’m not.  Right here in NC, there is a poultry farm owned by a non-US company that plans to feed their birds 100% corn (not blended) from eastern Russia.  They plan to sell their birds to Walmart.  The FDA is deciding whether this is OK or not.  I can guarantee that you’ll never hear one way or another.  If you shop at Walmart, there won’t be a label indicating that your food is radioactive.  Or, that you may get cancer if you eat it.

YOU SHOULD KNOW WHERE YOU FOOD COMES FROM.  Buy local.  You pay more but you can eat less meat and eat more veggies.  You can also rest easy knowing that you don’t have cancer from a nuclear explosion that happened 20 years ago.  You can rest easy because you know you’re supporting local farmers. 

Lastly, regardless of where I buy my meat – which is never at Walmart – I think the people who DO shop at Walmart for their meat should be protected.  Feeding for-consumptions animals this type of feed should be illegal in the US.

here's an article i found online about this same topic:
http://heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12454399/article-Save-the-Townsend-Poultry-Plant-and-the-Rocky-River

thai red curry eggplant and mustard greens

if you don't subscribe to vegetarian times, you need to.  every one of their magazines has wonderful recipes in them - whether you are a vegetarian or not, they are wonderful.  you can always plop a grilled chicken breast on the side for any of these dishes.

The april/may 2011 magazine subject is to eat in season and to "clean up your diet" which features 8 spring detox foods.  as you probably figured out from yesterday, bok choy is one of the 8.  they say that it promotes digestion and also is packed with vitC, carotenoids, and phytonutrients that help strengthen the immune system and may reduce the risk of some cancers.

Mustard greens, they claim, are high in glucosinolates that are detoxifying enzymes that protect liver cells and other organs.  plus they are high in vitC and beta carotene.

The recipe i tried last night was so wonderful.  only one thing needed to be changed and that was the amount of water i added.  i added NO salt to it and it was also spicy (that could be adjusted by the amount of thai red curry paste you start with).  both nathaniel and i loved it.  it also makes 4 servings at only 200 calories each.  it is also vegan.

1. whisk together 2 Tbs Red Curry Paste, 1 Tbs. sugar, 1 tsp (or 1 clove) minced garlic, and 2 Tbs water in a small bowl (set aside for later).  Incidentally, i had no idea where to find red curry paste.  it is in the asian food section and comes in either a 4(?) oz jar or a smaller pack - the jar is the better deal but the pack is exactly 2 Tbs.  "a taste of thai" is the brand i got.  there is also a green curry paste but this recipe is for red.  i got mine at lowes foods so i know they have it there.

2.next, i just happened to buy the most hugest onions ever and the recipe calls for a small onion. so, i "quartered and sliced" half the large onion (recipe calls for 1 cup of onion).  i tell ya, it was the biggest onion ever.  i used it on 2 recipes.  and though the recipe called for thai eggplants, i just got one of those purple ones at lowes foods and cut it into 1 inch cubes.  the recipe calls for 2 cups of 1" cubes of eggplant.  mine was good, so it worked.  i know the thai eggplant has a slightly different flavor.  if i had been at whole foods, i would not have gotten that type of eggplant.  but, i was at lowes foods.  i also went ahead and washed - three times - mustard greens (until there was no sand left in the sink) and then i stemmed them and roughly chopped the greens.  this part by far took the longest of the prep.  the recipe calls for 1 pound of mustard greens trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces.

3. oil in the pan, medium heat.  onions and eggplant went in and cooked about 5 to 8 minutes until it was brownish.  i poured the curry sauce on top and stirred it around.  i added the mustard greens (which were heaping over the top.

4.  here is where i'm gonna vary from the recipe so that you don't have runny sauce like i did.  only add 1/2 cup of water  (the recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups water, which leaves you with a LOT of juice, it does not thicken) - into the bowl that you had the curry - and mix it all around.  that is the best juice and you want to make sure it all gets in the bowl.  pour that in your pan.  then, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup LIGHT coconut milk (also comes in a can in the asian section).

5. put the lid on the pan making sure all those leaves are inside.  turn it down to low and let it sit for 10 minutes or so.  open it to stir and then let it sit for about 5 more minutes.

6.  i served it with quinoa but it'd be really good with some sort of noodles.  what kind of noodles are usually served with thai food?  rice maybe?  not sure.  but it needs something for that sauce to stick to. it's also supposed to be served with a squeeze of lime.

this dish is wonderful.  be prepared for a runny nose!  and your mouth to be wanting more.  this dish is way good enough to serve company too, and to impress them with your cooking skills (though it really only took you about 30 minutes to prepare it!)  it really isn't that expensive either, it'd be really cheap if you bought it all from the farmer's market.

bok choy with mushrooms, tomatoes, and quinoa

i made an interesting dish on saturday.  it is my first time having bok choy, and i used baby bok choy.  4 of them to be exact.  i was trying to make the dish on the front of the april/may 2011 vegetarian times cover except with a few modifications.  and, since i don't have the recipe in front of me, i'm going to tell you what i did.

1.i put some EVOO in a large frying pan over medium heat.  to that, i added a pint of pre-sliced button mushrooms and 1/4 tsp of minced garlic.  while that was cooking, i sliced in half a half of a container of grape tomatoes (which were already clean from a week ago when i bought them). when i got done with the tomatoes, i put them in bowl and started chopping two shallots.when the mushrooms were brown (i wasn't done chopping shallots yet), i removed them from the fry pan into a bowl and put the cherry tomatoes in the frying pan, cut side down, for about 1 to 2 minutes. i finished chopping the shallots.  when the tomatoes were starting to brown, i put them in the bowl with the mushrooms.

2. i added a bit more EVOO to the pan and when it was hot, i added the diced shallots. when they were cooking, i gathered the rest of my ingredients - quinoa and vegetable broth. after 2 to 3 minutes, i added 8 oz plus 1/4 cup of water and then 1 cup of quinoa, stirred, put the lid on the pan, and turned the burner down to low.

3.  while that was cooking, (remember i have no idea how to cook with bok choy), i sliced the ends off the bok choy and then cut them in half (semi-following the directions from the magazine).  when i cut the ends off, they fell apart.  i think you aren't supposed to chop the ends off.  after 10 minutes, i opened the quinoa, tasted it (added salt, it wasn't done yet), and laid the bok choy in  a spiral around the outside.  then, i poured the tomatoes and mushrooms in the middle.  it looked like the picture. 

4.  after 5 minutes, i turned the burner off and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

it makes 4 plates at about 200 calories each.  it will fill you up, and i didn't get hungry for anything else that evening because of the wonderful protein in quinoa.  i can't say that i'm a real fan of bok choy yet but it is supposed to be a "clenser" for your body.  so, i'll eat it. it doesn't really taste like anything.  i expected it to be more cabbage like.  i think brussel sprouts would be good on this, same for zucchini.  i think ginger would be good too, as for some cayenne and, well, more salt (but i am trying for less salt). 

as a side note, the quinoa is good cold, as mine has chilled as i've typed this.  quinoa is so yummy.  i think it is even better than rice.  quinoa cooked like this (with the shallots and mushrooms and veggie broth) reminds me of brown rice (not brown rice like the grain, but brown rice as in when it is white rice cooked in beef broth).

YUM!



in 5 more minutes, i turned the stove top off.

true personality

yesterday at the farm, i was trying to get a picture of kendal and holly by the fence.  they would NOT cooperate.  not even in the slightest.  one would look up and to the right, the other to the left and to the side. one would have a smile, one would wouldn't shut up.  by the end, they started feeding off each other making the craziest faces.

ended up that i really captured their true personalities.  if you notice, kendal started it.  holly was watching him, and copied it.  that pretty much is how it works.  he does it, she watches, and then does it 10 fold, which makes him do it more, and her do it even more... until it they are laughing so hard they can't control themselves.  however, they skipped the laughing part here and just keep being crazy.




i love this one...


but this one is my favorite.






i did get some cute pictures from the tractor though.  they love sitting on tractors.  "like granddaddy" they say.



she kinda looks like her daddy in this one.  i think it's the flycatcher mouth.  (haha).  really it is the look of concentration!  she was having a fun touching all the gears, pretending to really drive it! 

the farm

a real farm cat!


yesterday, we visited my cousin's farm (ray family farms in bunn).  they have all the normal farm animals and, well, kendal and holly just love it.  they talked about it for 2 days (which was all the days they knew about it prior to going).  kendal's favorite part was the pigs, and holly - clearly the horses.  there was one sow with piglets and kendal thought they were cute.  holly just loves horses anywhere, anytime.






the really neat thing about this farm - well, there isn't just one neat thing.  there are several.  first, you can go ANYWHERE.  nothing is off limits.  and no matter where you go, you will not find containers of pesticides or chemicals.  you will find lots of chickens, and chicken poop.  they are free range.  and, they know it.  they aren't scared of you and you almost have to shoo them out of the way to walk sometimes. 



another thing you won't find is a yard full of manicured grass.  to me, that says they don't use chemicals on their yard, where the chickens also "range".



you will find about 10 (? i didn't count them) super friendly horses that kendal was even brave enough to kiss on the nose.  and a greenhouse, and a garden (which i'm sure is fertilized with not only chicken poop, but with horse manure and cow manure too!)



and you'll find pigs with plenty of space to run, root, and explore.  no small confined pens, except for the mama with the piglets but that is to protect the babies.  yesterday, the pigs had some leftover spaghetti and some oranges - "slop".  one boar, the rest sows.  one was pregnant still.  there weren't more than 8.  most were those big pink kind but there were 3 black ones - some special old timey breed that he got. 



the chickens, they have a net-covered area and a large barn to roost and lay in.  for now they were free range, but the last time we were there they were limited to the large net covered area because of a chicken hawk.  that hawk was killing them.  they also have a gazillion guineas, which are a favorite of mine.  my grandma (also jodi's grandma) had them.





maybe i should have bought less meat so that we could go back sooner (to buy more).  next time i'll think about that.

surprise!

this week's paper mama challenge is surprise.  i thought this picture was the perfect entry for it.  though he wasn't actually surprised here, this is technically his surprise face.  and silly face.  and fake smile face.