A cool website if you have kids...

A loves "building" things- so we're thinking for christmas we'll get him some real tools and wooden building kits- while searching for things I stumbled across This Montessori website.

I love this hand drill.

Recipe

Yesterday my sister in law called wanting my vegetarian lasagna recipe. She and her husband are trying to cut down on the amount of meat they eat.

Last night it was 5pm and I hadn't figured out what to make for dinner yet, and I had to leave at 6:30. It was time for a throw-it-together dinner using things from my food storage, and it just happens to sort of be vegetarian- you can make it totally vegetarian by using vegetable soup base. But if you're just looking to cut down on the amount of meat you are eating, then this is pretty tasty.

All canned foods should be added with their liquid- don't drain them first.

1 can tomatoes (chopped or just mush them up with a wooden spoon)
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can kidney beans
3/4 C or so lentils
1 TBSP or so of Beef Base (I think it's the same as using bullion- but I use the kind from costco that you keep in the fridge once it's open, because it's MSG free and I think it tastes better.
Garlic, salt and pepper to taste
Water if it cooks down too thick

Simmer until lentils are soft.

The lentils would probably be better if they were soaked overnight first- I simmered my soup for 45 minutes or so, and the lentils were a little on the crunchy side.

I think it would also be good with a little fresh spinach tossed in at the end.

Feeds 1 Mister, one me, three small kids who thought I was trying to poison them so they didn't eat much (I wasn't here when they were eating but I'm guessing that quite a bit was left in their bowls), and enough leftover for my lunch today. I recommend serving with some warm bread or rolls (if you plan ahead).

Variation: Tonight I am making the lentil soup again (maybe if I feed it to them often enough, my kids will start to like it?). I ran out of beef base, and instead added cumin. I also added garbanzo beans. I'll have to report back on how it compares to the previous soup.

Tonight I planned ahead and made rolls (and I soaked the lentils overnight). The rolls are a recipe I got from Becca. They're fast and easy, and you can put garlic salt and cheese on top and shape them like breadsticks to go with a pasta dish.

Sixty Minute Rolls
1 C Milk
1/2 C Water
1/4 C Margarine
4-5 C Flour
3 T Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 1/2 tsp Yeast

Combine milk, water and margarine & heat to warm (butter does not need to be totally melted). Add 3 C flour, sugar and yeast. Mix. Add salt and remaining flour until you have a good texture. Knead lightly. Cover and raise for 15 minutes. Shape as desired, raise for 15 minutes (on greased bun pan). Bake for 12 minutes at 425 F.

(Photo Source Germes-online)

Happy Birthday to ME!

Last night I arrived home from the young women's activity that I was helping with to discover my sweet Mister had build me a compost bin. A BIG compost bin.

I was using a ring of chicken wire, but taja dog kept pushing the chicken wire over and digging in the pile. My Mister smuggled 4 pallets home without me noticing and bought a latch and two hinges at the hardware store. The front opens to the side to make turning and harvesting compost much easier.

It's an awesome compost bin.

If you have any spare leaves this fall, or bags of grass clippings let me know, I have plenty of space.

My sad news this morning was finding Mario (our only hen of the original 4 chicks we bought from the feed store this past spring) dead in the hen house. She seemed fine yesterday, so we don't know why she died. I'm especially sad because she had just started laying the cutest light blue eggs.

Hey, I know her!

My college roommate Charlotte was on 20/20 this past friday, talking about an eating disorder that has been labeled Orthorexia. Charlotte talks about her experience with the film crew Here. And you can watch the 20/20 clips Here.

Vrroom Vrroom!

CP says "Vroom Vroom" from Alice Roberts on Vimeo.

I haven't figured out how to edit the video clip, so you get the whole thing (including some light saber wars!)

Friday Movie Recommendations

Earlier in the week we rented Miss Potter (Rated PG). When it came from netflix in the mail, I kind of regretted renting it because it had "animation" throughout the movie and I pictured something very childish.

From Netflix...

Blending lush animation sequences with live-action drama, director Chris Noonan constructs this biopic about the personal life of beloved children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. Featuring the Academy Award-winning Renee Zellweger as the title character and co-starring Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, the film traces Potter's private life as well as her contributions to literature such as the timeless "Tale of Peter Rabbit."

I Say: I loved it. I shouldn't have worried about the animated sequences, they fit into the movie very nicely. It was sweet and funny, and made me cry a little.

My Mister's Says: "I liked it, it was okay!"

The second movie I'm reviewing today is one of my new favorites. It is a BBC period drama based on a book by Elizabeth Gaskell. North and South(Not Rated) (the link is an amazon link, so scroll down to read the reviews).

From Netflix (although we loved this move so much that we bought it):

When her father uproots his family from their serene rural burg for an industrial mill town, parson's daughter Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) struggles to adapt to her harsh new surroundings in this BBC series based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. As her mother's health fails, Margaret throws herself into the fight for workers' rights and clashes with mill owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage). Sinead Cusack and Tim Pigott-Smith co-star.

I Say: Everything about this movie is well done, I've searched for the soundtrack, but it hasn't been released. The cinematography is beautiful. The only downside to this movie is that it is four hours long, and you can't watch it all in one sitting (unless you have a lot more free time than I do).

My Mister Says: "I like North and South a lot".

FYI

Read this and let me know what you think. It makes me wonder how people can read things from church leaders and come away with such extreme interpretations. I suppose they think I'm too loose in my interpretations...

The Rights of an Embryo

Enjoy.

What are your thoughts about birth control and the church?

Guest Poster

I submitted a post to Feminist Mormon Housewives, and it has been posted this evening, if you care to drop by and share in my indignation...

Read Me!

(And don't worry, while there are all sorts of people who post and comment there, it's not, as I naively thought several years ago when I started reading it, an anti-mormon website.)

:)

Confession...I don't like pancakes

(sorry dad)

I have very fond memories of being woken saturday mornings to my dad's music blasting downstairs (Lionel Richie, and the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera (the musical) stand out the most in my memory) and the smell of Krusteaz pancakes wafting up the stairs.

Since I've been married, my Mister uses Krusteaz to make pancakes, but more often waffles, since I like them better. The sad thing is that waffles made with Krusteaz, taste like pancakes.

I'll eat them, but why? Does anyone really like pancakes?

I started making homemade waffles a couple of years ago, and discovered that I can even eat them with a small amount of syrup without feeling sick after.

Here's the recipe so all of you closet pancake dis-likers can discover the joy of breakfast again.

2 eggs
2 C flour (I use whole wheat, or today, since I was out of whole wheat I used white, but only 1 3/4 cups, then 1/8 cup of ground flax seed and 1/8 c of wheat bran)
1 3/4 C milk
1/2 C oil
1 TBSP brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs until fluffy (you're supposed to use a hand mixer, but I just wisk them really fast), mix in all the other ingredients, then cook according to your waffle iron's instructions.

I cook them until they're crispy. If you really want a treat, serve them with strawberries and whipped cream (although that's dessert not breakfast, but life is short, right?).

A Very Interesting Discussion on the Same Sex Marriage Issue

I like to see discussions like these where people stay so polite. I really recommend reading this post- and all the comments.

I personally have some major conflicting feelings about this issue, so I can't currently state how I feel one way or the other, but I did find the discussion in the link very interesting.

The Gay Marriage Issue at Northern Lights

Violent Opposition to the Plan of Salvation?

Anti-PC Infidel (warning, his blog is a bit much for a moderate like myself- also you can't comment and tell him you disagree with him, so read it at your own risk) said something interesting to me on Pursuit of Liberty


But hey, if you want to accept a political philosophy that is in violent opposition to the foundation of the Plan of Salvation, that’s your choice. Because I’m not a “liberal” (who are only liberal with their morals and other people’s money), I won’t try to rob you of your ability to choose between good and evil.

This was interesting to me, that someone would think being a liberal* is in opposition to the "foundation of the plan of salvation".

Any thoughts?

*(I actually consider myself more of a moderate, but compared to much of Utah, his assumption that I'm a liberal is probably not too far off- although I can't think of anyone in Utah that I know for sure fits his specific definition of liberal, except maybe our current republican legislature).

Recruiting a new generation of democrats

As a child, I have very fond memories of attending the Davis County Democrats picnics, shooting water balloons at pictures of Bush Sr, thinking Michael Dukakis was the coolest man ever, and winning a cake at a Democrat fundraiser cake-walk. I've said before that my dad used to give us a dollar if we said we were democrats. As I got older I had to question all authority, before deciding for myself what I believed, or what group I was going to join.

Recently, a good friend (who's name I won't mention, because she still thinks she's a Republican, and I wouldn't want to mess up her party standing too much :) ) was talking about politics with her son. He asked what it meant to be a democrat, and she told him the democrats believe in taking care of each other, helping the poor, etc...

He may be converted.

Why do I get excited about things like this?

...and what does that say about my life? :)

I did laundry today, and started to load the clean wet clothes into the dryer, there were diapers in the batch, and I don't dry them in the dryer, so I started to hang them on my awesome clothes drying rack. They didn't fill up all the space, so I pulled the rest of the whites back out of the dryer and hung them up too.

I used to do that all the time, but I've gotten lazy over the summer.

I was so excited about it, that I had to tell my Mister about it when I got on ichat.

After I typed it, I realized how sad that looked.

Lets just call it "finding joy in the little things".

Fight the Smears

Bekkieann posted this link in a comment on Utah Amicus. I guess to combat all the silly email forwards circulating, Obama created this website for people to find the truth.

Enjoy...

Fight the Smears

Funny thing of the day

Today at the park:

(J to a mom who we didn't know):

I don't want to brag, but look what I can do!

Then he hung from his knees on a metal climbing ladder thing, held on with his hands and flipped over onto the ground.

He's so humble.

This evening A was cutting paper, and got really frustrated. He had a bunch of triangles laying on the floor in front of him. He looked at me and said, I just can't cut a circle mom!

I told him it takes lots of practice.

He wanted to make a moon.

Why I'm a Democrat

A new reader, Carissa (welcome to my blog by the way...) asked me to make a case for being a democrat, since she didn't find my balance argument convincing, citing that there are too many mormons in Utah and that half of us should convert to catholicism. I think that is different, because the church does not run the government (for the most part...I acknowledge that some will disagree). I also want to note that in most cases, I typed my views before reading the entire party platform, so although there are some phrases that are the same, it wasn't intentional.

A lot of the reasons why I have chosen to be a democrat have to do with my religious beliefs. I believe that we were given the earth to live on and to be stewards over. That means that we must act responsibly and conserve resources, avoid polluting and otherwise harming the earth as far as is possible. I also believe that we were meant to enjoy the beauty around us and that there needs to be balance as far as land use goes. My Mister, for example, loves to ride dirt bikes. I think it's good that he is able to go out with his brothers and cousins and do something that they all enjoy together. I also think (and he agrees) that he needs to stay on set trails to protect the rest of the land. The world is not his to ride rampantly over. The Utah D. Platform says the following:

Natural Resources: Utah Democrats seek to ensure the protection of public health and create a legacy of clean, safe air, soil and water, and a sustainable and balanced plant and animal wildlife population... We place great value on conserving our diverse natural resources and public lands that belong to all the citizens and future generations...Utah Democrats support the protection of wilderness with the right of access to use it responsibly as well as acting to help preserve critical wildlife habitat. Multiple uses of the public lands in sustainable ways are encouraged.

I believe that we have a duty to care for those who are not as fortunate as ourselves. I don't believe in perpetual welfare, and think that we need to help people learn to help themselves. I think our current welfare policy makes it nearly impossible for anyone to overcome their current circumstances, creating the cycle of poverty. The state platform says...

Utah Democrats believe that all Utahns should labor to the best of their abilities to provide for themselves and their families. In return, employers should pay a decent, life-sustaining wage and appropriate benefits or taxpayers unfairly end up subsidizing those employers who fail to meet these standards... Utah Democrats support programs for low-income working families that break the cycle of poverty, reward industry, promote self-sufficiency, support parenting, and encourage
families to stay together. We also believe that government must continue to provide assistance to the low-income disabled and elderly members of our society who cannot provide for themselves.

I think that laws which attempt to push those in the country illegally to other areas are cruel and ineffective. I think that people should be here legally, but that our policies have created the current mess. I think that there needs to be away to allow those here illegally to pay a fine, or do some kind of community service, and then allow them to get work permits. The state platform says:

Utah Democrats strongly affirm that people who are in the United States should be here legally. We strongly encourage Congress to adopt humane and compassionate policies that control our borders while providing for a viable worker immigration policy that respects the contributions of these workers to our economy and their families and children, many of whom are United States citizens. This policy must not lead to programs of exploitation with employers engaging in a pattern and practice of recruiting undocumented workers, and must include whistleblower protections. We abhor the demonization and politicization – with undercurrents of racism – that has inhibited rational, fair-minded debate of the issue.

As far as health care goes, I think all people should have access to healthcare, and that medical bills should not be causing people to file for bankruptcy. While I have no problem with doctors making a good wage, I think a health care system based on making profit is reprehensible. From the state platform:

Utah Democrats seek solutions to our ongoing healthcare crisis. We affirm that accessible healthcare is a civil right; no person should be denied access to basic and adequate healthcare. It is a national disgrace that the United States lags behind every other developed country in caring for the medical needs of its citizens. It is unconscionable that thousands of Utahns suffer or even die only because they lack access to adequate medical care and that those numbers continue to rise.

I don't think that prayers in schools are appropriate, and it always seems weird to attend a government type meeting and have people pray first. I'm okay with it as long as all religions are allowed to participate equally, but I would prefer a moment of silence where people can pray or not according to their religion. I like what the state platform says about it...

Utah Democrats believe that the constitutional principle of separating church and state maintains the rights of all Americans to worship how, where, and what they may.

We don't need to ban the practice of religion in public, we just need to be respectful, especially in utah, of people who do not share in the predominant religion.

It seems that there are two issues which keep most utahns from affiliating with the democratic party. Same sex marriage, and abortion. Same sex marriage isn't likely to be an issue in Utah any time soon. We already have a state constitutional amendment defining marriage, and I think the only way it might become an issue is if the federal government forced the state to change, in which case, it wouldn't matter what party you affiliated with. With abortion, I think we should do more to educate (Our current sex education isn't working, and I'm not sure if we could do more to teach parents how to talk to their kids, or if public schools need to expand their program) and prevent, then there would not be so much demand for abortions. I personally think that abortions should only be considered in cases of rape or incest, where the woman did not choose to put herself in the position where she might become pregnant, or in cases where the life of the mother is in danger, and I know many utah democrats feel the same way. The Utah Democratic party has a big tent that allows for differing views. The state platform says:

Utah Democrats believe in a comprehensive approach that protects reproductive freedom while fostering personal responsibility and education for thoughtful and moral decisions about sexuality, childbearing, adoption, and parenting.

I know people who are locally democrats, but still vote for republicans nationally because of those two issues.

I'll end with a quote that I think exemplifies the problems with our lopsided government: The state Republican party platform says:

We demand honesty, integrity, morality, and accountability of our public officials. We will work to expose and stop corruption.

Because of the inbalance, we have dishonesty, lack of integrity, immorality, and zero accountability in many of our public officals. There is no one to keep them in check, and I really think they've become power hungry and are abusing that power.

I also recommend readingThis article.

Remember That Time....

From my friend Becca's blog...Just write a memory you have with me or our family. If you leave one, we'll assume you're playing and we'll come leave one on your blog too... Happy remembering!

Loyalty or Balance

I've been thinking a lot about loyalty lately. What are we loyal to and why? I've always considered myself a loyal person. Maybe too loyal. I had a really difficult time switching preschools that my son will go to in the fall, because the first one was where my older son went, and had a wonderful experience, so I feel like I need to be loyal to her, even when a preschool opened within walking distance (as opposed to a 10 minute drive each way). So loyal, that when I finally did switch my son to the new preschool, in my guilt over leaving the first preschool, I may have said something that hurt the new preschool teacher's feelings. Hopefully not, but I'm not sure...

As a democrat, I'm having a difficult time understanding the hardcore loyalty that so many republicans seem to have to their party. In Utah, I think it's obvious that the one-party-super-majority system we have going on is not healthy, but still people seem to think that the next conservative republican will be better than the previous one.

I'm trying to imagine if I would feel the same way about the democrats if it were they who had a supermajority stranglehold on our government, but I'm just not seeing it. As far as politics go, my loyalty is to the well being of my community, my state, my nation, and this planet we call home, er.... earth.

I double dog dare (ooohhhhhh) any of you republicans who HAVE NOT already thought about the problems associated with a supermajority to do so, and to consider voting D this november (at least locally).

For some reason a supermajority has turned basically good people (I'm giving many of them the benefit of the doubt) into what appears to be arrogant, power hungry idiots (some just arrogant, some just idiots...). I can appreciate the desire to be loyal, but I think sometimes we need be careful of what we are loyal to, and make sure that there is balance and moderation.

10 uninteresting things about me...

Just for balance you know...

1. My house is quite often messier than it should be.
2. I haven't showered yet today, and am still in my pajamas (it's 2:30).
3. My kids ate kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch today.
4. I like corn dogs.
5. I don't exercise as much as I think I ought to.
6. I get embarrassed too easily.
7. My garden is weedy.


That might be all I'm willing to admit to publicly at the moment...

(I heard that some people think that blogs are the new way for mormon women to compete, so I just wanted to make sure no one feels that they are lacking compared to all the great things I do...)

I'm not tagging anyone, because really, who wants to post lame things about themselves?

Last aerial dance class tonight

And sadly, my sis was ill, and didn't come, so no video, which is a shame. It was just the teacher and I, so I got to do some awesome stuff- swinging was involved (think peter pan flying on a string).

I'm seriously thinking about signing up for another class this fall (the rest of the summer is going to be too crazy)- if any of you are interested, it's really fun!!!!

Ten interesting things about me....

I've been tagged by my friend Emily, so here it goes... (although I think most of my readers know these things already...)

1. I have ambitions to join the circus. Maybe not really, but I'm loving my aerial dance class, and am thinking that I might take another session in the fall (anyone want to join me?).

2. I enjoy making my friends eat weird food. For my 12th? birthday, I took my friends to an indian restaurant. I think they all liked it. I've also introduced several to the szesuan (that spelling looks wrong...) catfish at the Madarin (some of them liked it).

3. My friend Natalie thinks I'm a little bit of a hippy. In some ways, I am. I believe that we were given stewardship over the earth, and that we should take care of it, so I try not to waste things, or use things that I don't need. I garden and preserve the food for winter. I raise chickens for the eggs (talk about a years supply!). I don't wear a ton of makeup. And personality-wise, I think I revel in being a little bit different (although I'm trying to not let that make me feel superior- maybe that's a personality flaw...).

4. I'm a democrat. In Utah. Although, the more I learn about life, if Utah had a decent two party system, I think I'd look more into other parties. When I was little my dad would give us a dollar if we said we were democrats. (Don't worry, I don't take payments for party affiliation anymore). I think I'm fairly moderate on some issues, and others, I'm probably pretty liberal (which is not a bad word-as much as Sean Hannity would like us to think so).

5. I use cloth diapers on my baby, maybe that should have gone in the Hippy one...I don't eat off of plastic dishes regularly, the real thing is much nicer- same with diapers. Although I don't blame anyone for using disposables. New babies are a lot of work, and cloth seems overwhelming when you've never tried them. I got into cloth when A had diaper rash problems that wouldn't go away. I also sell them on my very own website- Green Peas Baby. And my store was named best "diaper dandies" (whatever that means) in SLC Weekly this year.

6. I'm building a "dry riverbed" in my front yard. My Mister helped get the landscape fabric in, and did the sod, but he's been too busy, so every day (or so) I haul several loads of rock from across the street. I was using 5 gallon buckets until my Mister fixed the wheel barrow. It's taking a long time, but it's looking great.

7. Another hippy one maybe- I am growing cranberries in my backyard. So far they're doing pretty well. I'm hoping to get enough in a year or so to start making cranberry juice and canning it.

8. My dream house is going to be passive solar, and have solar panels, and cork flooring, and, well, you'll have to come see my dream house book sometime.

9. I make my own yogurt, it's tart, and I love it. I also use it to make homemade sherbet. I love it with home canned apricots- with just a tiny bit of sugar so that it is still tart. I like tart things. My kids love yogurt but I didn't want them eating so much sugar. Plus it is satisfying to make my own.

10. I love BBC miniseries'. Other than Pride and Prejudice, which I love, I've more recently fallen in love with North and South. I just got the first disc for Cranford in the mail from netflix.

Okay, if everyone made it through that- I may not be as interesting to other people as I am to myself. I tag Becca and Emily (my sister) because she LOVES things like this...

Aerial Class #3

Just me and my sis...
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Funny things and Naughty babies

Me: What should we have for lunch?
A: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches!
J: I'm retired from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

(I'm not terribly fond of peanut butter myself, so he must take after me.)

This is what happens to babies who are naughty at our house. (Just kidding- this kid just likes to crawl into small areas!)

Aerial Dancing

I'm the one with the darker purple top (the one that is NOT the instructor).

What foods don't you eat?

My friend Charlotte commented on the RIP post and made me think of what foods I eat, and what foods I am trying to avoid.

I have started buying nitrate free deli meat, since I'm uncomfortable with my kids eating so much lunch meat. It's harder to find, and our regular grocery store doesn't carry any. If I say I'm not eating meat with nitrates/nitrites in it, I'm also going to have to stop eating ham, hot dogs, and who knows what else.

The other thing that I've decided really grosses me out is jello. I LOVE jello. Especially red jello with bananas and raspberries inside and cool whip on top ala my granny (who died a few years ago). Gelatin just sounds nasty though. Thankfully, my sister found some vegan gelatin, and made some for us at a family party last year. It was a little runnier than granny's but didn't have the "ew gross" factor.

So what foods don't you eat, and why not?

(My mister loves it when I decide that "we're" not eating certain things anymore. He doesn't know about hot dogs yet. Sorry Mister. Maybe I'll be able to find some that both taste good and are nitrate free....)

RIP Chickie, Black, and Red (3/25/06-6/24/08)

In order to make room for the new chickens, we had to (ahem) "retire" the old ones.  We all knew this day was coming, and that this was "fulfilling the measure of their creation", but it was still difficult for me.  I'm glad they had a good life, not like battery cage chickens.

My sweet Mister took care of everything, making sure I didn't see anything that would be upsetting.  He came and told me after that he vocally thanked each chicken for providing us food before killing it, which made me feel better.

The boys wanted to see them (after they were plucked and cleaned) and were surprisingly not upset- although they thought it was gross.  We talked about how we were so grateful to the chickens for giving us eggs and now meat.  I think it's good for them to see where their food comes from.  

Mr. Gordon, Fred, Mario, and Little Jerry all seem to be doing well, and as far as we can tell, are all hens (although we're not so sure about little jerry (which is especially funny if you're a seinfeld fan)).  They are getting huge and are really hard to feed in the pen in the garage, because when you take the top off the fly up at you.  It's a little scary, and I've thought about wearing safety goggles (my eyes! my eyes!).

They'll be thankful for the larger pen out in the fresh air and sunlight. 

Joining the Circus

My sis (Hi M!) and I signed up for an aerial dance class together.  It isn't something I would have ever done on my own, so I'm especially grateful to M for asking me....

I love it.  Ever since our class last night, I've been trying to figure out how to hang silks from the ceiling in my house.  We decided that we need a barn.  

Note... This picture is not me, and I didn't do anything that interesting, but it gives you an idea of what I'm doing.  It didn't seem all that difficult, exercise-wise, except that I could tell my hands were going to be sore, but by the time class was over, I was out of breath and felt like I'd had a pretty good work out.  

Why I still read the Trib comments....

Usually the comments on articles are mormon bashing, and I try (unsuccessfully) to not read them.  This article, although not funny in itself (I don't advocate laughing at people who get attacked with shovels, really!), had the best comments.  My Mister and I sat last night (granted it was late) and laughed so hard we were nearly crying.

Check out the articleHERE, and if you need a link directly to the comments it's HERE

Rereading them this morning, they're not quite so rolling-on-the-floor-funny, but still amusing.

Here are the comments just in case they disappear from online...

This is the kind of headline newspaper people fantasize about!

A shovel? He may have been planning on more than urinating. (having a dog that we do poop scoop duty for, this one is my favorite)

It will be interesting when the name of the criminal is released.

I wondered where all my neighbors moved to.

Never bother a man urinating on your lawn while he is holding a shovel.

Looks like someone needs to be more discreet with their public urination. Its a skill that takes time, but once mastered, the world can become your urinal..

Not for the women :-(

Men have the power to water down bugs while camping and can write their name in the snow with urine. Maybe thats why "MEN" think they should rule the world.

Yard Updates on the house blog

House Blog Updates

Things that make you think it will all work out.

We've had a difficult time adjusting to having J home during the day. It feels a little bit like he is always in trouble, and I have been wondering if I need to let some things go, or keep doing what I'm doing in hopes that eventually he'll start listening and obeying. It's nice to know that even though they argue and yell and sometimes even hit each other, that they still love each other. (at least during cartoon time)

Rule of the Day...

If it looks nasty, put cheese on it.

I warmed up some spinach that I had frozen awhile back, and ran it through the food processor. I mixed it with baby rice cereal because CP seems to eat anything if it's mixed with rice cereal.

It looked disgusting. I didn't even want to test it to make sure it wasn't too hot. So I melted some cheese into it. It actually tasted okay. Not something I'd seek out for lunch or anything, but better than mashed up green beans for sure. He ate several bites and enthusiastically signed for more. Then all of a sudden he must have realized I was trying to pull one over on him because he signed "all done" and wouldn't take another bite, not even when I flew the spoon at his mouth with appropriate motorcycle and/or airplane noises.

We'll try again at lunch tomorrow.

Raise your hand if you had soggy cereal this morning.

I think it must be a mom thing. As soon as I pour milk on my cereal, all of my children start needing something, and by the time I get back to my bowl of whatever cereal was on sale, it's nothing but a soggy mess. I either need to learn to eat cereal dry, or hide in a closet to eat.

Today, A wanted a snack (really, a snack? I haven't even had breakfast yet!) and I had of course, just poured the milk. I told him I'd help him after I ate my cereal. He suggested putting it in the fridge so it wouldn't get soggy. He wouldn't give up. Thankfully I had just shoved the last bit of food in my mouth when I saw him scooping yogurt into a bowl, and was able to "help" him before we had a yogurt table cloth.

I'm not sure speed eating beats soggy cereal. Maybe, but just barely.

Today's A-ism

Did you know that, "Mindiana Jones has a bendy whapper"?

A says so.

If you can't figure out what a bendy whapper is, just ask.

My own About You non-email forward

You know how it goes... Copy and paste, then replace my answers with yours. You can thank me for not sending an email forward later (just kidding, I like getting those from friends!).

1. What does your spouse call you? Al

2. What do you bake/cook that you do better than anyone you know? I like most of the food I make, but especially my stir fry, and my cheesecake and orange rolls, and swedish pancakes, and butter mints (although I get the orange roll/cheesecake/butter mint talent/recipes from my mom (who got them from other family members).

3. What is the most important thing you do for yourself? I use to go running, but I've gotten a bit lazy about that. Now it's probably having time to myself to blog or read or play online scrabble.

4. What is your favorite thing to do with your kids? I love bedtime. I love how they smell after a bath, with clean damp hair while they sit with me and read a book. I also like to run around with them on the grass until we get so tired that we all fall down. I also love listening to them play together or by themselves and hearing the things they come up with.

5. What was the last date you went on with your spouse? I think we maybe went to Ikea? We usually get movies and have popcorn and smoothies at home. We are going to see two plays in June in Cedar City, which I am super excited about.

6. What made you smile recently? On tuesday night, I was at YW's, and my Mister was out in the yard. The kids were supposed to be in bed. My Mister had just mixed cement for the basketball stand when he heard A screaming. By the time he had the cement in place, and made it inside, A was in his bed asleep. He asked J why A was screaming, and J said that A went to the bathroom and needed help wiping. Since no parents were there to do the job, J helped him. I'm so proud of my boy! He does things like that fairly often, and it makes me think that he's growing up just fine, even if sometimes he doesn't listen as well as I think he should.

7. Where would you most like to be right now? Home with my family, during a power outage (as long as it was only a couple of hours before the power came back on).

8. What is your favorite job to do around the house? Vacuuming, maybe? I'm not so fond of doing jobs around the house, but I love how the house looks when it is clean, and there is something satisfying about having the lines from the vacuum all match up (OCD anyone?).

9. What is your least favorite job around the house? Folding laundry. I don't do it. (Thank you Mister)

10. What should you be doing right now, instead of answering my silly about you questions? Cleaning my house. :)

Coffee Tables are not for the belly

A said to me, "My teacher said we shouldn't drink coffee".

I said, "That's right, we don't drink coffee".

He said, "Then why do we have a coffee table?".

He suggested we call it a water table, or a milk table, or an orange juice table.

Baby Vampire

Racing Dad

The boys like to ride their bikes to the park, it's especially fun racing dad on the way home! (J is in the stroller with the CP because losing his bike riding privilege is one of the more effective consequences to not obeying).

In the second picture A is about to crash, but he immediately hopped up and said, "I'm Okay".

Baby Fauxhawk

CP is the puppy. He loves everyone and gives smiles to anyone who passes within his range of vision. LG is the kitty, who makes you work for his attention.

We had so much fun seeing LG (and his parents) during their break from school!

Story Time

We were late getting to bed tonight, so instead of reading a book to A, I told him a short story, and then he told one to me...

"Once there was a dinosaur, and his name was Bip-G and he was digging for treasure. He digged and he digged, and he found....nuffing! Then he digged another hole, and more and more and more and more holes, and then he found a mom dinosaur, and her name was Bip-D, and they looked for treasure and they found some...little teeth (said as he saw me smiling at him, because he was so adorable) and some little eyes, and HUGE dinosaur bones, and a house.

The End"

As I said goodnight, I told him to have some good dreams about his dinosaurs, and he said he'd dream about a huge dinosaur named Bip-A.

I have no idea where those names came from, but at least he has a theme going.

The Pain and the Joy (maybe that should be the Joy then the Pain?)!

The landscaping company finally came to grade our lot, which means we can start doing stuff in the yard. My Mr. had built three raised beds awhile back (back when we thought we could start on our yard stuff...) and the landscapers actually filled them with dirt* while they were grading, which was very nice, and saved us a lot of money and time.

Yesterday I planted Amish Paste tomatoes, a cherry tomato (I don't know how that one got in my cart, I didn't mean to buy it), a grape tomato, and one heirloom big slicing tomato that I can't remember the name of at the moment, and 6 beefsteak type tomatoes. I also planted 6 bell pepper plants and 6 anaheim peppers. We're planning on lots of salsa this fall.

Today I planted one long hill with several Kabocha squash seeds (I use to think my favorite squash was acorn, but I think kabocha's are edging them out), corn, beans, peas, two hills of zucchini, and pumpkins. I can hardly wait for things to start sprouting.

You'll notice (or not) that a chunk of the raised bed in the front of the picture isn't planted and doesn't have compost added to it (if you didn't notice, it's not planted and doesn't have compost added to it), you also may notice that the raised beds are HUGE, and way too wide to get at the center without stepping into the garden. It's not ideal, but it was necessary for the chicken coop to be able to fit inside the raised beds- no more dead grass (hopefully) surrounding the chicken coop, since the chickens won't be able (hopefully) to reach the grass from up in the bed. We'll also rotate the coop each year to spread the "fertilizer" around.

All the digging and bending has made my back REALLY sore, but it's a good pain.

*dirt, not soil, because the stuff we have out here is very heavy clay with little to no organic matter. It's going to take a lot of amending to turn it into soil.

Support Kyle

As anyone who reads my blog must already know, Kyle (My Mister) is running for the House of Representatives in district 20. He is doing it because he believes that it's time for more of us (you know us, regular citizens) to get involved in our state government. We have to remind the current legislators that they are not doing their job (representing us), and that we deserve and expect better.

Kyle supports public education, ethics reform, and affordable health care for all Utahns. For more information see his blog, and coming soon, his campaign website.

Please make a donation to support Kyle, also consider becoming a fund raiser, go to Act Blue to send emails to your friends and family.

Every dollar matters.

You can donate using the act blue donation box in the side bar of my blog.

BPA and Fear Mongering

I somehow missed the original hubub over BPA or Bisphenol A, and have continued as with my previous two children, to feed my baby with bottles that could cause cancer.

Part of me figures, my other kids drank from those bottles and they're fine, this is just fear mongering, trying to get consumers to toss all their plastic stuff and go shopping for "safer" products. The other part of me wonders if I should join in and go buy some glass baby bottles.

From the things I have read, it seems that putting boiling water in the bottles, microwaving them, and washing them in the dishwasher are what we should be most concerned about, although I can't find anything that says whether the plastic continues to leach the chemical after one washing/microwaving, or if it just leaches at a higher level while it is hot. If that is the case, it seems like it would be fine to just stop microwaving the formula in the bottle (which I know I'm not supposed to do anyway).

I found an interesting article called Truth and Rumors Muddy Plastics Debate and it says that in the rat research, the rats are injected with BPA, which our bodies would deal with very differently than the way we would absorb the chemical, which makes me think it's not a big deal for adults. The article also says that in infants and fetuses, because their bodies don't metabolize things the same was as an adult, it didn't make a difference if baby rats or rat fetuses were injected with BPA or if they swallowed it, it was equally harmful.

I guess the good news is that my baby just turned one, and really shouldn't be drinking from bottles anymore anyway, so I just have to make sure his cups are safe and we're good to go

Until the next scare.

What do you get when you cross a Pear and a Carrot?

A Parrot!

A says they make good snacks, at least the pear part, since he didn't really want to eat carrots.

A. A Wash Cloth, A Bandaid, A partially emptied Kit Kat Wrapper and the Camcorder charger cord

Q. Things CP tried to eat this morning, so far.

I saw him with the bandaid and wondered where he got it, until I saw the wash cloths all over the floor and the box of bandaids dumped out into the drawer. Just prior to that, I heard rustling sounds and peeked over at him and saw him trying to devour a mini kit kat wrapper, which for some strange reason had just a bit of kit kat left in it (Someone else must have eaten that kit kat, because I would never leave a partially eaten kit kat sitting around).

In other news, A told me recently that we needed to purchase two more humans.

Originally he wanted to buy a blue car, but I told him that we wouldn't all fit in a car, he then pointed out that we have two empty seats in the van. He's been trained well (maybe) that we shouldn't waste resources, so naturally he wanted to fill those empty spots right up. "We need to buy two humans mom".

Hmmm, good luck with that.

Finally, on Sunday I saw the most adorable little girl I think I have ever seen. Maybe not the most adorable, but there was something about her that caught my attention. Maybe she reminded me of me. Whatever it was, she made me really want a little girl. Almost bad enough to forget that I already have a baby, and that I've got my hands full at the moment (CP just tried to eat his daddy's glasses, and everything else left out on the night stand- I think our house needs to be more clutter-free).

The Rest of The Rest

The Rest

I was having a hard time uploading pictures of C's birthday party, so I stopped, meaning to go back and add the ones of the cake eating, but forgot.

So here are some, since I'm still having a hard time uploading pictures

Best of 2008

I got an email from Salt Lake City Weekly letting me know that my diaper store won "Best Diaper Dandies". I'm not sure if I should be honored or if it's just because I'm pretty much the only place around here that sells cloth diapers locally.

Still, it's very cool.

Best of 2008

I'm seventh down on the page.

Happy First Birthday C!

If you can't tell, it's a bumblebee sitting on a flower.


In case you think I forgot the stinger (which I did) here it is...


Opening Gits...


Help blowing out his candle...

Too much

I just read that New Kids on the Block are getting back together.

I'm speechless.

(My seventh grade locker partner (hi K!) loved them, so maybe she'll be excited!)

April Fools

J&A weren't sure what to think about the weird breakfast dad made them this morning, until they realized it was a Dr. Suess Breakfast.

You do not like them so you say, try them try them and you may, try them and you may, I say.

Updates...

Updates to our house.  We're finally getting things put on the walls, and it's feeling more and more like home.  

Updates to my Mr's already busy schedule.  My Mr. is running for the House of Representatives.  I'm so proud of him.  Anyone interested in volunteering in the campaign should email him (his contact info should be on his site- follow the link).  As a quick primer in all things political (just kidding) we watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington a couple of nights ago.  Look out Utah State Legislature!  

Updates on the new chickens:Clock-wise from the top: Mario, Fred, Little Jerry and Mr. Gordon. (and yes, they are all hens (as far as we know)).  The bigger they get, the more I think about having to put the old chickens in the freezer.  It's not the freezer part that has me worried.  It's the what happens before they can go in the freezer.  I'm letting my Mr. take care of that part, because while I think I can handle eating them, I know I would have a hard time killing something that we named.  (and sorry to anyone we have named chickens after- killing them isn't some sort of statement about our relationship)

Updates on C.

We bought 12 of these totes to store eggs in for our city youth council's easter egg hunt. We figured we had close to 7000 eggs this year, and probably got 5-6000 back at the end. Our goal is 10,000 eggs next year.

Hey, what a fun box to be in!

I'm not so sure about the whole being-buried-in-eggs-thing... If he turns out to be deathly afraid of the easter bunny and refuses to participate in easter egg hunts, we'll know where it came from.

Well, mom and dad are smiling, maybe it's not so bad... (he was really happy when we pulled him out though)

Being a kid's a dangerous job...

...And safety's important (especially when you're watching cartoons)...

Map to NSL Easter Egg Hunt

Here's a map of where Hatch Park is, if you're interested in bringing your children to the NSL Easter Egg Dash


View Larger Map

Funny Quote of the day...

Republicans aren't for less government. They are for less effective government.

-Obi Wan Liberali

(My apologies for perpetuating stereotyping and being divisive.)

North Salt Lake Easter Egg Hunt

The North Salt Lake Youth City Council is holding this year's Easter Egg Dash, this saturday (the 22nd) at 10am at Hatch Park.

The Dash is open to all children ages 2-12.

Bring a basket and don't be late. Once the signal goes off, it's only a matter of seconds until the fields are picked clean.

Almost a year old!

I lost my camera somewhere in the move, so I haven't been talking pictures lately, but my Mr. left a camera home today.

Hard to believe C's almost a year old already.

Babies! Babies!

After a couple of days of waiting, the chicks are finally here! They are adorable, and are settling in nicely in the laundry room. The darker two are Aracauna's (the kind that lay blue or green eggs) and two are the same as our old chickens, Rhode Island Red's. In the first picture they're cold and nervous, but it didn't take long for them to warm up and start exploring their new home.

Not voting for Hillary Clinton doesn't mean I don't care about women!

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

I am astonished by the number of 20-, 30- and 40-something women who don't support Hillary Clinton for president. Have they forgotten (or never learned) that it took brave, strong women working hard to get us the rights we now have? Do they not see that electing a woman will help get us the pay equity we deserve, break the glass ceilings and dismantle the good ol' boy network? Electing a woman who shares our values will make tremendous strides in obtaining equal footing with the men who run this country.
Clinton is just that woman. She has worked hard for women and children during her entire career. She was instrumental in getting the Children's Health Insurance Program legislation passed. She has the best plan for universal health care. She is leading the effort in the U.S. Senate to get equal pay - women are still making 77 cents for every dollar of our male counterparts. From her days at the Children's Defense Fund, she has been an advocate for children with special needs. Her list of accomplishments is deep and important to me as a woman.
She'll be a great president, and it's our time.

Lisa Tzovolos Allcott
Salt Lake City

Lisa Allcott may be right on some points, but voting for HIllary Clinton just because she is a woman, doesn't cut it (for me). I'm supporting Obama because I think he's the better candidate and it bothers me that people think I ought to vote for Hillary Clinton because I am a woman and she is a woman. It has nothing to do with being loyal to my sex, or breaking through the glass ceiling. It has to do with voting for the PERSON who will do the best job. I'd love to see a woman president, but I don't currently see one that inspires me.

Another reason to not drink soda...

Drinking Cola Now Could Hurt Women Later
Visit The Health Section
Reporting
Molly Hughes
DENVER (CBS4) ― The cola you drink today could come back to haunt you decades from now. That's the message doctors are trying to get out to young women who confess to a cola compulsion.

Visit any mall food court on any given day and you will have no difficulty finding women who admit they drink more cola than they probably should. They call themselves cola fans, cola aficionados and cola addicts.

They like the taste, they like the fizz and they like the caffeine. And their habit can add up.

Drink four colas a day and by the end of the week, you will have tallied a grand total of 28 high phosphorous, high acid, caffeine-laden drinks.

But University of Colorado Medical School's Dr. Michael McDermott points out that all this cola could come back to haunt young drinkers.

"It very well might. And at that point," McDermott adds, "It's too late."

An estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis -- a disease where bones become fragile and break easily. Usually, we think of the disease as one afflicting elderly women, but it can begin decades earlier when we drink colas.

The phosphorous which makes the cola fizzy stimulates a hormone that pulls calcium out of bone. The cola is acidic and our bodies seek calcium to offset the acid. Finally, the caffeine in the cola takes that leached-out calcium and sends it out of our body in our urine.

"Sodas in excess probably promotes significant bone loss over a lifetime," warns McDermott.

But how do you define excess? A 2006 Tufts University Study showed that women who drank four or more colas a week had lower bone mineral density in their hips.

By the time today's young women hit middle age, they will find themselves at University Hospital getting a bone scan with Deborah Johnson.

"It's time to check these old bones out," said Deborah as the scanner quickly and painlessly passed over her body. And now that she knows more about the connection between cola an osteoporosis she's planning to cut out all cola from her diet.

"Not even one!" she laughs.

A-isms

Today I asked A if he was going to be my good helper unpacking boxes. I told him that I thought he was a good helper, and asked him if he was a good helper. He said, "I'll have to think about that one for a little while".

Wildlife at the new house

Our neighbors saw a deer a few weeks ago, and today I saw what I think was a zone tailed hawk. It was a little more brown looking than pictures of zone tailed hawks I've seen online, but it had the band across the tail and I can't find any other hawks with the same stripe. If anyone knows what else it could have been let me know, since it doesn't look like zone tailed hawks actually live in northern utah.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is a slender bodied buteo with long wings and tail. It is in appearance much like the Common Blackhawk and nests in the same habitat but is much different in habits.

The Zone-tail is 19-22 inches long and has a wingspan of 48-55 inches. The plumage is a dark black except for a gray ring around the eye, and the tail which is banded black and white alternately; tail ends with a broad black band and a narrow white tip. The undersides are black. Immatures are similar in appearance to the adults, but differs in color. The plumage overall is more brownish; the undersides are spotted white, as well as the upper sides, which are spotted more sparingly. The tail is brown striped with black.

Nests are built in deciduous and coniferous trees; often the nests are built in the highest tree around. The nests are build of sticks, loosely. The nests are reported to be reused from year to year. 1-3 white to bluish white eggs are laid, sparingly spotted with brown. The eggs are incubated primarily by the female for 35 days. The male hunts for food while the female tends the nestlings. The nestlings will fly in 6-7 weeks.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is at home near mountains, valleys or other "rugged" areas. Hunting usually takes place in open spaces such as desert grasslands or in sparse forests. The Zone-tail soars and glides in circles in search of food, which is primarily birds and lizards. It will also eat large insects and small mammals. The Zone-tail is very much in appearance and in flight similar to the Turkey Vulture, and some claim it uses this resemblance to come closer to prey and catch them unaware.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is found throughout Mexico and Central America, as well as southern and central Baja California, southern California, central and southern Arizona, much of New Mexico and southern Texas.

What is it really about?

I was talking to a friend about SB 267, which would do away with Ralph Becker's domestic registry. She said it's about defending marriage and standing up for families, because our families are failing, and are causing society to fail.

I agree that we have some real problems in our society, and I believe many of those problems come from homes where children are not getting all the things they need to become healthy, productive members of society*. There's just been something that didn't sit right with me and I couldn't figure out what until today.

"Standing up for marriage" and "Defending Marriage" are terms I associate with the LDS church. My church. I believe it was Elder Oaks who said that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is a sin. It doesn't matter if it is homosexual activity or heterosexual activity, it's the same seriousness sin-wise. The thing that gets me is that with SB 267, and anything else like it that I have ever heard talked about, the justification for it is that we can't allow homosexuals to have too many rights. Granted, this bill would affect unmarried heterosexual couples as well, but no one talks about that, leading me to think that the main reason the bill is brought up at all is because people are scared or grossed out or whatever by homosexuality.

If we're so concerned about legislating morality, lets at least be consistent.

Or we could follow Jesus' example of love and compassion. In our rush to deny rights to anyone different than ourselves, we're missing out on an opportunity to make sure that more families and more children are protected. From the Tribune article: Melanie Schertz, who insures her ailing mother under the city's adult-designee provision, said the Legislature should not have the right to determine what constitutes a "family."
"If they're going after this because a few gay people get benefits," she said, "they're not seeing the whole picture."

*I've heard that decent health coverage helps children become healthy productive members of society, regardless of the sexual preference of their parents...

Dear Friends.... A Message From Dave Matthews

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

A question, a reflection, and an endorsement.

Why is our country divided?
Why has this division been growing?

Can we not all agree that we are a country that supports its families, that protects its citizens and respects its neighbors?
A country that educates its children?
Are we not a country that can lead by example rather than by force?
Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people?

I would like to think so.
But I believe that corporate greed and its involvement in policy making, along with political cronyism have made it nearly impossible for the people to govern.
So we fight amongst ourselves over the spin of political slogans and half truths.
And so we are divided.

It is time for a change and that is why I support Barack Obama for President.

Respectfully,

Dave Matthews

A comes up with some funny quotes...

When we were at our new house and some people were working there- he yelled, "Hey worker! Hey Worker! I love you worker!". The worker ignored him until the last part, which got a smile in A's general direction.

While visiting family: "Hey dad! See that old guy over there? He's my uncle!"

I'll add more when I remember more or we get some new ones...

Why I Think Obama's Great!

He sums it up so well...We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.

Consumerism

This time of year I always think I have too much "stuff". This year, it's epsecially sad that I think I have too much "stuff", since the majority of my "stuff" is packed away in boxes waiting to be able to move into new "stuff" (aka "new house").

My Mr. and I are having a contest to see how long we can go without spending any money. It's proving to be difficult though, since yesterday we had to go buy a new bike helmet to replace the one that santa brought our 3-year-old (the one who apparently does not have a 3-year-old sized head). I don't count that since we returned something first.

Today we have to buy some trim to finish up a bit of molding in our old house that is still unfinished (anyone want to buy a house with some minor finish work to do on the trim?).

It seems never ending, this need to acquire more stuff. In my need to compartmentalize things, I'm temped to stop buying anything made in China. That accomplishes two things- less chance of lead in our "stuff" and stops supporting a country which is still (I believe) the worlds top polluter. It's hard to have principles like that when you have children. Sorry kids, no more matchbox cars for you, they're made in china. Sorry kids, you'll have to play with these crude wooden cars that I fashioned out of old twigs. That doesn't sound so bad to me, but my kids are having a hard time not buying into whatever commercial they see on TV (maybe we need a TV made out of twigs).

I guess we do what we can, but I have to say that the best gift any of my sons received for christmas was the small wooden saw that my dad made (with my 3-year-old helping) the day after christmas.

Book Recommendation

I received several new books for Christmas. My brother gave me a book titled Look Me In The Eye by John Elder Robison. John Robison grew up with aspergers before anyone knew what aspergers was. He had some amazing life experiences that he shares in the book, but weaves them together with his insights and the things he learned about acting "normal".

I couldn't put it down, and read it all day Christmas day, and finished it up this morning. If you're looking for a good book to read, I highly recommend this one.

Simpsonize Me

You can Simpsonize you too

The Least of These

My heart aches for people who, for whatever reason, are without a warm place to sleep, a place to feel safe this winter. Sometimes it feels overwhelming that there are so many people who are in need of help. I can't fix much of anything for these people.

The North Salt Lake City Youth Council is holding a drive to benefit the Road Home. They are collecting blankets (any size), bath towels, gloves, hats, and other items.

Fleece blankets are on sale 3 for $9.99 at Albertsons, and I understand that Family Dollar has similarly priced blankets.

Donations can be left at the NSL City building (20 South HWY89, North Salt Lake), or can be dropped off to me (email me at alliegator321atgmaildotcom).

It may not be much, but maybe a warm blanket will bring some comfort to those who have so little.

Here are some recipes for some fancy gourmet baby foods (and you can say you made them yourself!)

Making homemade baby food is difficult...

Peach Pie

Combine the following: Baby cereal, a scoop of formula (used as a weight gainer), mashed peaches (home canned), and water or breast milk.

Green Bean Casserole

Baby cereal, a scoop of formula (used as a weight gainer), mashed beans (home canned), and water or breast milk.

Banana Bread Pudding

Baby cereal, a scoop of formula (used as a weight gainer), mashed bananas, and water or breast milk.

You get the idea.

Next week we're trying a sweet potato dish. (steamed sweet potatoes, peeled, mashed, and thinned with a bit of water or breast milk (with some formula as a weight gainer).

(My baby wasn't gaining weight fast enough if you were wondering. He's fine though.)