Hmmmm....

No comments on my last post, so I guess I'll take my cue from that silent message. 

I think this blog lasted longer than my last attempt, at least.  I'll be done with it.  Maybe I'll try again, someday. 

Bye!

Long Break

So, I disappeared for a while.  I'm not sure I'm going to continue with the blog at all, or just periodically.  I know that when I was trying to post everyday, I got tired of it and didn't think I had much of worth to say.  I don't know if anyone regularly reads this, so if you do and you want me to keep writing, please let me know. 

My dad and sister told me to write more about diabetes, but I don't think they understand just how many diabetes blogs are out there.  Seriously, google it.  I read 4 regularly, and my favorite one just posted a link to some of her favorites.  I checked them, and now I'm adding at least 2 of her favorites to my list.  I'm not sure that I want to focus on diabetes primarily.  I spend a lot of my time dealing with the disease, and don't really want it to take over anything else in my life.  If I could kick it to the curb permanently, I'd be ecstatic.  (you could find me celebrating at Dunkin' Donuts, which is also a Baskin Robbins....yum....)  Regardless, if you're reading this and agree with them, please let me know.  I will consider it, and may ignore the suggestion completely, but maybe not. 

Since it's been so long, and you may have forgotten, my kid is still cute:

Taking Moo for a drive.  She had to sit in the "trunk". At least she only fell out once.

Success! Butternut Squash

Last nights dinner was both successful, and not.  The butternut squash was yummy, and I'm so glad my impromptu side dish went well.  I cubed it, and sauteed it with garlic and olive oil.  The recipe I found for my cooking directions advised it would take 20 minutes, which I planned for.  However, it was a liar.  I had to put them in a bowl and nuke them for about 4 minutes after the rest of the dinner was ready, and they were not.  They were very tasty!

Cubed and in the pan!

On my plate, now get in my belly!

The part that didn't work was the main course.  A friend/business associate of the Husband's gave him some steelhead trout.  We baked it according to the directions he gave, and it tasted delish.  The problem was that it "shouldn't have any bones" in it.  The Husband's portion didn't have bones.  Mine had 5 or 6.  I have this weird thing about bones in fish.  It makes me want to gag, and then I can't finish it.  I wanted to, and I tried to, but I couldn't.  I'm kind of like a child.  Actually, I'm worse than a child.  Colin ate his fish, and then asked for more.  I gave him mine...sans bones.

Anticipation

I went to the grocery store earlier and bought a butternut squash.  All I have to say today is that I am SO EXCITED for dinner.  I'm going to sautee the squash with some garlic.  There is really no reason for me to be this excited to make dinner, but there it is.  I'll let you know how it turns out, with pictures, if it's beautiful! 

I'm not even kidding that this is all I have to say today.  Short, sweet, to the point.  I can not stop thinking about how good dinner is going to be. 

Winter Just Got Better

We've been having a mild winter so far.  We've had some snow, but it doesn't last.  Sledding/playing in the snow has only been possible with 2 snows, and the temperatures have been mild in between "snowstorms".  (That's in quotes because nothing quite qualifies for that word, yet.)

Today, we went to play outside.  We still had on coats, and I put on Colin's hat and mittens.  I tried to get him to take them off part way through playing, but he said no.  It was way too warm to be February 20th in Michigan, but we didn't mind. 

We were out for an hour and a half.  We walked around the block, rode a tricycle up and down the driveway, and used a sand shovel to dig at the tiny amount of snow left from the snowplow/snowblower piles of snow.  We even went over to the middle of our yard and the neighbors to play in their Little Tykes house and slide, as well as pick up sticks from their yard and drum them on the sandbox seats and their tree.  It's amazing how much fun that little boy can have with the oddest things. 

The best part of the adventure was that when we came back in the house, I took Colin's hat off, and he had the best hat hair I've ever seen.  He wouldn't sit still long enough to get a picture, but it was pretty awesome.  I couldn't stop laughing, and chasing him with the camera to try to capture it.  All I got were blurry, back of the head pictures.  I think he thought it was a game.  I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture.  I think only a lot of hair product will ever reproduce the look.

No Mess Painting

I've seen a bunch of mommy blogs talking about painting in a sealed plastic bag, taped onto a table.  It looked like fun, and an easy way to paint without worrying about a big mess.  I found a homemade finger paint recipe on Pinterest a while ago, and have hesitated making it because I'm not sure that Colin is ready for it.  This gave me an opportunity to try both. 

First, I made the finger paint.  It's very easy, and you can find it at this website. I was expecting it to be like the photos, but it didn't quite work that way.  I followed the recipe exactly, and got lumpy, thick "paint".  I added some water and it thinned, but it was still lumpy.  I found another website that used this recipe that advised to remove the mixture from heat before it reaches it's desired consistency because it will thicken as it cools.  I found this website after I made it all and had a lumpy, thick mess.  I added color to it anyway, because I wasn't going to stop the project midway through.

This is what my paint ended up looking like:

I put 8 drops of food coloring in for blue and red, less for yellow, and it worked for the yellow, but everything else was still pretty pale.  I wonder how much I'd need to use to get the dark, beautiful colors I was picturing.  Also, if I have to add much more food coloring to get dark colors, won't it stain fingers?  I guess it's a good thing we were bag painting with it and not finger painting. 

After it was all set, and in a bag, I couldn't figure out how to get the air out so Colin could "paint" without a bunch of air bubbles.  I tried several ways, and lets just say it's good there was no video camera on me during this portion of the project.  For me, it was good.  You all would have had a good laugh. 

I taped the bag down on Colin's high chair first, because I was making more granola bars and I thought it would keep him occupied while I cooked and cleaned up my mess.  I was wrong.  He told me "done" less than 2 minutes after I put him in the chair.  After that, I taped the bag to the tile on my kitchen floor, and just let him come back to it when he wanted.  We both played with it for a while, but it didn't really hold our attention. 

I ended up putting paint in a smaller bag, and that worked better.  I had put too much in the large bag, and that plus the air in it didn't create a really workable surface. 

So, if you want to do this for your kids someday.  Learn a few things from me.  1) Don't let your paint thicken so much when it's cooking.  2) Use lots and lots of food coloring, except with yellow.  I used 6 drops of yellow, and that was plenty bright.  3) If you buy painters tape from the dollar store, you should expect that it won't stick really well.  Splurge and buy nicer stuff, maybe it will work better and your kid won't have more fun peeling it up over and over.  4) Only put in a small amount of paint into the bag.  If you use a large amount, it just doesn't smear around as well.  5) This is probably an activity meant for children a little older than Colin.  Not quite 2 is not the ideal age for this. 

He enjoyed it a little, but I expect it to be more entertaining in a year or so. 

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers, and Nanas

Nana stopped by today with a few little somethings for Colin.  One was this Tigger, which upon waking from his nap, Colin wasn't all that interested in.  He's kind of a grump when he gets up from a nap.  (I wonder where he gets that from...)  Once Nana left, however, he and Tigger bounced all around the house like old pals.  He loves it!  He grabbed the old Winnie the Pooh that used to be mine, and they all bounced for a while.  I followed and took pictures, of course.  :) 

I made him smile at me so I could show Nana he really did like it.  He wasn't pleased to take a break from bouncing, but agreed to my request. 

Thanks, Nana!