Love/Hate

If I had to sit and make a list of all the things in life I have a love/hate relationship with, it would be many...

1. running - love the outdoors and fitness, hate the achiness in my piriformis

2. love and hate my twin daughters' very strong personalities (hope it serves them well later)

3. how overly cautious my nine-year old is - I told him yesterday he would make a great mom someday - he was less than thrilled

4. swimming - love that nothing aches (see no. 1) after an hour swim, hate the damage it does to my hair

5. love my house, hate the mortgage

6. hate our 9-year old Chevy Tahoe, love that I don't care what my kids do the backseat

and though the above list is definitely not all inclusive, today, a new one...

7. love cherries, hate the price! Cherry season, I do wish you could stay here forever, but my grocery budget will be glad when you are gone.

Princesses are Rich

This post is a result of a very interesting conversation I had with Eden and Clara yesterday.

Clara: Collin told me Princesses are rich. I don't think they are

Me: Why is that Clara?

Clara: Because they are little.

Eden: Clara, of course they are rich. They had to pay for all the nice stuff in their houses and when the lady at the furniture store gave them change they got rich.

And that was that!

So, here is what my kitchen would look like if I got lots of change from buying stuff for my house. Photo from Urban Grace Interiors

And regarding yesterday's lunchbox post - my nine year old is thrilled! Can't wait to get his.

Check out these lunchboxes!

I am really excited about these lunchboxes. After I swore off buying my kids new lunchboxes this year, a friend of mine posted something in Facebook about these lunchboxes. After about 5 minutes online reading about them, I was hooked.

We have been really good around here about not using baggies and throw away items to pack lunches, but the washing and putting away of all the sandwich boxes and fruit holders and cracker boxes is alot when there are three lunches to be made each day (our school doesn't offer hot lunch - not sure we would eat it anyway based on the things Jamie Oliver says). But this just removes that extra step - the lunchbox is the plastic containers all divided. So, at the end of the school day, I just throw the whole lunch box in the dishwasher! Done.

They are available here and you may want to order now as the expected ship date is August 16th and noone in the Kansas City area carries them.

I am a little worried about how my nine year old will feel about these, I know my kindergarten girls will love them - especially with all the cute stickers they come with. Also - note that great little drink holder - 8.5 oz. so I don't have the waste from drink containers either! Yeah!

Can't wait for them to get here!

Our Experiment

Okay - a while back I started focusing on making all my kids snacks from scratch, if they were not already that way (i.e. fruit, cheese, nuts, etc.). I really wish I had done a better job documenting these things along the way - but anyway here we are. What has come of this is my insatiable desire to create ice cream and gelato from scratch using only natural ingredients, good milk, nuts, fruits, spices and yes, even things found in our garden and our friends' gardens.

To make what could be a very long story, short, from this has come my own little venture into the custom culinary business, GOOD artisan ice cream. Now I know, ice cream is not as good for you as say a summer squash (though those are darn good) - it provides me a way to reward my family and friends for all the healthy eating and living we do and also allows me to make sure I know what my family is getting in their treats!

My husband and kids and I are navigating this world of too much of everything with the simple motto that Good things can be good for your body, mind and soul ... in moderation! We know we can't eat ice cream every meal, every day - but it is a great treat and knowing it is fresh makes it even better. So enjoy today's flavors... Blueberry Lavender and Mint Chocolate Chip and e-mail me if you would like to order some!



Blueberry Lavendar - This is made from fresh blueberry puree, lavendar steeped in warm milk, cream, eggs and sugar! I know it sounds funny, but it is a great combination.



Mint Chocolate Chip - Real mint here folks! Steeped in warm milk for two hours, eggs, sugar and dark chocolate chunks added during the freezing stage. This doesn't taste like store bought mint ice cream it has a really great leafy mint taste - very natural! Also, did you know, good mint ice cream will not be green - those are food colorings and dyes that make that color! You can see from below I was going to add strawberries and also make a mint strawberry, but my batch didn't make enough to split it! Will do again.




Other flavors now available - Salty Caramel, Lemon Poppyseed, Cherry Chip, Espresso with Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans, Pistachio and of course, Vanilla.