I've been making an effort lately to try and be more conscious of the foods we consume alot of around here, and more importantly, the ingredients contained in those foods. I did some research on Red Dye #40 after a conversation with a friend in MOMs Club, and without getting on a soapbox, I'll just say that it probably will not hurt to eliminate it from our diets (some studies have shown that it increases aggressive behavior and attention deficit in kids who may be naturally sensitive to the dye). I realized that I was serving up a healthy dose of red dye to my kids at almost every meal of the day, and I figured that even if it poses no harm to my family, it isn't a necessary part of our diet and so it couldn't hurt to eliminate as much of it as possible. The kids all eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch just about every day, so strawberry jelly seemed like a natural place to start. When I read the label on the store bought jelly, I was surprised that it contained a whole host of ingredients that I didn't recognize, and, of course, Red Dye 40. I headed over to the natural foods section, but went into to sticker shock when I saw that a 6 oz jar of organic jelly was
on sale for $6! Since I didn't want to take out a second mortgage to keep my family in jelly, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own jelly.
I did a bit of internet research on canning, and was tempted to buy a canning kit, but the whole boiling and sealing and possible bacteria contamination scared the bejeezus out of me (I'm still interested in giving it a whirl, so if any of you out there can, please comment with any tips, suggestions, etc. I'm hoping that next year's garden will be bigger and yield more produce so that I could at least can tomatoes and green beans for the winter). As luck would have it, the grocery had freezer jars and freezer pectin on sale, so with those supplies and a couple of pounds of fresh strawberries in hand, I gave freezer jam a try.
Casey was home from school and wanted to help me make the jam, so he became my co-pilot for this adventure. By far, the best part of the whole experience was when I handed him the big ziploc full of strawberries to crush with a rolling pin. He approached the bag of berries and announced, "Ha-ha strawberries! You're no match for me!" and proceeded to whack the hell out of them. The jam could have turned out crap and I would still have called it a success because I'm still laughing over that line. I used half Splenda in this recipe to reduce the sugar because I had read that using all Splenda could result in runny jam. We tossed in some blackberries from the freezer for a little extra flavor and color. When the jam had a chance to set up we tasted it and were pretty proud of ourselves. It is sweet but also a little tart, and we all seem to prefer the flavor and consistency of our jam over the store bought. Casey colored some labels, and when it was all said and done we had 5 jars of jam for just slightly more than the cost of one jar of organic from the store.
So one food from the dye list down, about 150 to go. I'm not foolish enough to think that I can control every single thing that goes into my kids' mouths or ensure that 100% of what we eat is totally healthy (nor would I want to - I'm pretty sure my system would go into shock if I cut out beer and chocolate and the kids might revolt if I took away their Goldfish crackers), but I feel better that I'm taking small steps to help us make some better choices. Plus, after Casey's destruction of the strawberries I'm kinda' anxious to see how he tackles tomatoes. I suspect they'll be no match for him either.
Whew. I just put the finishing touches on an order of custom clutch purses from etsy, and it looks like I've been running a mini clutch purse sweat shop out of my basement work area. The bride has seen photos of her bags, and has given her stamp of approval and is excited to get them in hand. It was fun to design and put these together, and I got some warm fuzzies knowing that I was making something that was going to be a part of a special day. But I think I'm going to have to take a break from the custom work. Something about a looming deadline makes me crazy, and even when I have budgeted my time wisely something always interrupts my schedule - someone gets sick, someone has a birthday, family comes for a visit (or in the case of last week, all of the above). Or maybe I should just take a break from accepting orders of 12 bags at a time. Something less stressful. Maybe just 6 bags at a time...
Here's a hint: it is not the 6'5", 230 pound quarterback with a rocket arm.
I'm always on the lookout for something fun and easy to occupy the kids during those periods of time I like to call "the witching hours" - those pockets of time that if left unplanned will ultimately result in the boys rolling on the floor fighting while Riley scales the kitchen pantry in her never-ending quest to eat everything not nailed down. I saw this craft in Family Fun magazine, and so this afternoon we made "bubble snakes". Aside from occasionally inhaling the bubbles, everyone had fun making them and playing with the bubbles, and it did eat up some of the witching hours. Now if I can just find something to occupy the remaining 8 hours, I might survive another Monday.
I'm missing most of the hoopla surrounding the new Harry Potter movie because my kids aren't old enough for the books or movies, my husband has no interest in Harry Potter, and the chances of me getting out to see the movie on my own are about as likely as me riding my flying broom to the theater. Luckily, one of my favorite fabric designers and all around craft genius Heather Bailey has gotten completely carried away with Harry Potter mania, and has created several recipes and crafts to indulge in all your wizardry desires. The one I'm most likely to try is her recipe for Butterbeer, which I always wished I had a frosty mug of while reading the Harry Potter books. Now, if she would only get to work on an invisibility cloak...
This is one in a series of photographs by Dina Goldstein titled "Snowy", and I love it. Haven't we all felt like this at some point - like "This is NOT the Happy Ending I signed up for!". I'm a fan of this very theatrical style of photography, and although I feel several in her series go to far and unnecessarily reinforce some negative stereotypes, I think this one is brilliant. My favorite part about this photo is the fact that the prince is watching polo on the TV. Typical.
We're back home from a quick weekend vacation to Lake Michigan. We rented an adorable cottage in Sawyer, MI that was a short walk to the beach and Warren Dunes state park. We managed to pack quite a bit of activity into a short amount of time - shopping, swimming, hanging out at the beach, long walks, cherry picking, wine tasting, and just meandering through the area. Traveling with 3 kids under 5 is tough, and we were all sleep deprived, but even with tired, hyped up kids we were able to have a great time. And even better was the fact we were able to take Ani with us, as we're pretty sure she would not have survived the sounds of fireworks on the 4th here by herself (I'm started to suspect she did a couple of tours in 'Nam, just judging by her behavior during thunderstorms and firework displays). 
What happens when you wear 3 different Halloween costumes all at the same time, add a mullet wig, a toy saw & drill, and alot of attitude? If you're me, you get a free hour to cook dinner in peace.
They say a good man is hard to find. Not so, I say. I found one 12 years ago, and according to Casey, "He's the best!". I know this is a day late, but I hope all the dads out there had a great Father's Day yesterday. Keep up the good work, gentlemen.
Actually, they cost $5 for shipping and handling. But now our butterflies are free in the "Great God Almighty, free at last!" way. Casey received a butterfly habitat from his Nana for Christmas last year, and I promised him when the weather was good enough we would order the butterflies. He reminded me last month it was warm enough, so we sent off for and received our live caterpillars in the mail. We watched them turn into chrysalis', and then hatch into painted lady butterflies. We released them yesterday, and were all surprised at how fast they flew out of the tent - I was only able to catch this one little guy with my camera. We really enjoyed this project, and all the supplies came from Insect Lore. Looking around on their site it appears they have some neat stuff (except the spider kit, which I think should be outlawed. Aren't we all trying to keep spiders out of our house? Ick.), and I'm considering ordering some more.
You may have noticed the little square of pictures on the left side of my blog and wondered, "What the heck is Etsy?". Etsy is a wonderful website that allows creative folks to sell their handmade items to folks who like to buy handmade items. I like to think of it as a craft fair you can browse in the middle of the night in your pajamas. I had been hovering around Etsy for awhile, just looking at all the cool stuff other people were making and selling, and then I finally decided to open my own shop. I've been reluctant to really promote my shop because I didn't have that much for sale, and also because I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in my work. A few recent sales, such as the purse in the above photo that sold in less than 24 hours, have rebuilt my lacking confidence. 
It is rainy and gloomy here today, which is providing an opportunity for us to catch our breath a bit from a busy weekend. My parents came in on Friday afternoon and met us at the annual neighborhood camp-out. Scheduled on the last day of school every year, the neighborhood association sponsors the camp-out on the soccer fields in the neighborhood, and it's a big party complete with games, food from local restaurants, a DJ, fire truck tours, and a "camp-in" movie projected on a big screen after dark. Families are encouraged to pitch a tent on the field and spend the night. We had a blast, and Casey & Rob braved the night in our tent (Casey reportedly slept like a rock, snoring all night in the tent). 76 families participated this year, making it a huge success. 
