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A bread baking deal.

I have to start this by admitting I have a thing for kitchen gadgets. Most people who know me find this interesting, or maybe odd, because I really don’t enjoy cooking or being in the kitchen. But for whatever reason, I love neat kitchen things! I do try to hold back a bit because I want to live simply, its just a struggle sometimes Anyway I was walking around Bed Bath & Beyond a few days looking for a pineapple slicer. We all love sliced pineapple and I have been buying it already sliced and cut at costco, but its about $7.99 and I was curious as to whether having a slicer of my own would be cheaper because then we could buy the whole pineapples when they are on sale for $2.50/$3 each.

However as I was walking around an open box bread machine caught my eye. I have a bread machine, I got it from goodwill for $10 a few months ago. I love it for making dough, but I don’t cook in it because it makes funny shaped, tough crusted loaves. It was perfect for mixing/kneading dough and then doing one rise. Then I would take the dough out, shape it and let it do the 2nd rise in the pan and then bake in the oven. Yet, staring back at me at Bed Bath & Beyond was a $200 Zojirushi X20 Bread Machine for only $49.99 on clearance because the box was opened. I stood in disbelief for a bit because this was the same machine I had almost bought months ago and then decided I couldn’t spend $200 on it no matter how good the reviews were. Luckily I also happened to have a 20% off one item coupon in my purse (I have a collection of these since BB&B excepts expired ones) so I walked out of the store with that $200 bread machine for $42 after taxes.

Now I can make horizontal, unfunny shaped, loaves without using my oven! Its been so hot lately that we were buying bread, but since purchasing the new machine we have made 3 loaves. Yeah the first 2 were “test” loaves and not really very good, but now I have a recipe that works and my house doesn’t heat up to bake it. On top of that I am totally trying to think of a good reason to use the cake function on it. It also makes jam, too bad we don’t have a pick your own berry place somewhere around here!

Tags: baking, bread machine, zojirushi

Posted in Every Day Stuff | 3 Comments »

It’s almost time for fall planting…

I learned from the container gardening workshop at the Springs Preserve that the best time to start planting for the fall is right around August 15th. That day is quickly creeping up on us and I have big plans this fall!

So to start getting ready I pulled up my tomatoes and peppers - they were dying a slow death anyway. I also pulled up the corn because the soft soil recommended in Square Foot Gardening just isn’t right for corn. The stalks just fell over sideways. Then I constructed a few more trellises - goodness knows the honeydew melon needs it. IT has taken over the back section of the planting box… now I know to plant smaller veggies in front of it. Planting the eggplant right next to the melon was not the best choice.

Anyway, here are updated pics of the new trellises. I love how easy it is to make these… and cheap! They may not be the prettiest things int he world, but they work well. They are made with just regular white PVC pipe and nylon netting. IF you buy the 10 foot long pieces of PVC pipe from the hardware store you can then cut them in half. You need three 5 foot pieces and 2 PVC elbow pieces for each trellis if you are making a “single”. If you want to make the double you need five 5 foot pieces, 2 elbow pieces, and 1 PVC “T” piece. So you can make 1 double and 1 single out of 4 of the 10foot long pipes, which works out to about $8-10 plus another $4 for the nylon netting.

Jim had the great idea to angle the add on I had to make for the melon outward. It was really a necessity because of the hard ground next to the wall and it will also allow me to put a few potted herbs back there and offer them a bit of shading by means of the trellis!

At the container gardening class I also learned of a neat resource -the Cooperative Extension of the University of Nevada. They have a ton of really helpful information and flyers related to gardening and other nature issues on their website. One of which is this Becoming a Desert Gardener Flyer which is packed with great informating including a chart of what to plant when! Next weekend I am going to build another box on the side of the house for smaller, non vining type of plants (lettuce, carrots, etc).

Posted in Gardening | 2 Comments »

Meet Lucy

We adopted a boxer mix from a local rescue back in April. She is 5 years old and supposedly part lab and part boxer, tho we are pretty convinced she part boxer party rhodesian ridgeback. Her name is Lexi and we love her. She adores the kids and follows me around like we are attached at the hip. The only problem we have had is that she is generally a bit skiddish when it comes to men/boys - including Jim. We have been working on this for months it seems, but she still barks at Jim whenever he walks around the house. We were quickly coming to the realization that maybe we may not be the perfect home for her. We adopted a dog hoping to get a companion and playmate for the kids, especially Kyla, who would be happy living in a forest full of strange creatures.

Lexi didn’t really enjoy playing tho, she would chase, but playing fetch or anything similar to that was just not her style. One evening Kyla came crying to us becuase Lexi wouldn’t play with her. Over the next few days I managed to convince Jim that we needed a puppy, someone that would play with the girls and we could raise and train from the beginning. It took some convincing, but he gave it under the stipulation that we may need to send Lexi back to the rescue if we couldn’t fix the barking problem.

So we headed off the Lied Animal Shelter and in the first tow of kennels found the sweetest little lab retriever mix puppy. She was only 4 months, a bit shy at first, but after she ran around with the girls for 15 minutes she had opened up and was bounding around like a puppy should. So, we brought her home and Kyla named her Lucy.

We love Lucy, she is fun and playful. And the best thing is that Lexi seems to enjoy PLAYING with her. They wrestle and chase and all kinds of things. They also cuddle up together and seem to be generally becoming great buddies. I think that Lexi was probably a bit lonely (she was with another dog at the home she was surrendered from) and a puppy has really perked her up. In addition, Jim seems to be making some progress with getting the barking to stop. So for now, they are both staying! Jim even said to me the other night “I am glad I let you win that one” in regards to getting the puppy. Hopefully things continue to go well from here.

Posted in Every Day Stuff | 3 Comments »

29.3 mpg

Just a really quick update in regards to the new car, the Honda Fit. Our 3rd tank fill up and I am now up to 29.3 mpg. The last one I forgot to blog but it was about 28mpg…. so it has been going up by about 1mpg a tank as I drive it more and break it in. I am pretty thrilled to be getting 29.3 mpg even with the A/C on about 99% of the time. I didn’t even do a lot of coasting on this tank. I can’t wait til Fall and to see what kind of mpg I can get without the A/C - gosh that sounded dorky!

I have a bunch more to post about the new puppy and some gardening updates, but it will have to wait til tomorrow. I should be sleeping!

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Go Naked…

I came across a really fabulous food for my kids the other day at Costco. Blue Ribbon Naked Nuggets. Now I know you are thinking - thats silly just buy chicken and cook it up. But for some reason my kids don’t enjoy it that way nearly as much as they enjoy the Naked Nuggets. I admit, I think part of it is the name, they giggle every time they ask for them. In addition to that, because they are really nugget sized bites of chicken breast with no breading they cook up very quickly, even if you bake them. However, I throw them on the cast iron skillet for a few minutes on each side, no thawing and no butter or oil needed.

They are also darn tasty on salads and in tortilla rolls with veggies. So, do the healthy thing and go naked.

Posted in Health & Fitness, Kids, Kids, Kids! | 1 Comment »

Melons, Eggplant, Peppers, oh my!

I figured it was time for a garden update! Some things are doing well, others not so much. First we have the squash, it seems to be doing OK. No babies yet, but looks healthy enough. The watermelon is doing ehhh… parts of it seem ok, others seem a bit dry. I need to get it climbing up a trellis and just haven’t had time yet.

Here you can see the wonder that is my honeydew melon. It is climbine and trailing all over the place. The tomatos in the back corner have become a support system for the melon. There are lots of little bulbs on it, but 3 that are most promising.

The green peppers are so-so, it is just too hot and they are being drowned out by the melon and eggplant. I know better next time! I do have a nice sized yellow one that I need to pick. Also a nice sized eggplant that is ready to harvest I believe.

Finally we have some green beans that are doing great! I thought they would climb up, but they are really just bushy and I need to find a better place to plant them next time. You learn so much by just planting things and seeing what happens. It turns out the corn is just not doing well, the plants are doing fine but the soil is too loose to hold the stalks up. Carrots and lettuce are growing tho.

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Bellydancing requires coordination

Maybe this was obvious to everyone but myself, or maybe the problem is that I thought I was more coordinated than I am? The truth of the matter is that bellydancing, even for fun/aerobic purposes, requires coordination. We have a great TV channel here called Fit TV - it offers all kinds of fitness shows as well as other programing. One of my favorite things is the “All Star Workouts.” They do a different workout every day - anything from yoga, to cardio, to bellydancing. Since I have jumped back on the Weight Watchers wagon a week ago, I thought I would give Bellydancing with Aubre a try. After about 10 minutes I admitted defeat - I am just no longer coordinated to do the arm swirling with the shoulder shimmying with the hip rolling. I am sure it would have been amusing for anyone to watch tho

For now I am going to forgo the All Star Workouts and say goodbye to my night owl habits. Instead I am going to attempt an earlier bedtime and a 6am walk with the dog. Its not going to be easy to retrain myself after 10-12 years of nightowling.

I need to break out the Wii Fit again too. It has been neglected and I failed miserably in keeping committed to it.

Posted in Health & Fitness | No Comments »

Imeem - make your web browsing musical!

I was messing around with a few design issues on the blog and decided that I needed an embeded music player. (over there —->) There didn’t seem to be a lot of options, but instead I found Imeem. Pretty nifty if you ask me…. you can create playlists that you can keep open while browsing around or doing anything on the computer really and its FREE, can’t beat that.

That last sentence reminds me I am going to have to start laying off the use of the “…” soon. I am hoping to register for a few classes this fall to get back to work on a degree of some kind and I am sure English will have to be one of them.

Posted in Every Day Stuff | 2 Comments »

1:55 am and 27.5 mpg

For some reason or another I found myself awake at 1:55 am last night. Could be because the summer break is really wreaking havoc on the girls and getting them to bed at any hour is turning into an ordeal. Could also just be that lately I am an really really late night owl. Anyway, earlier in the day we had passed by Huey’s Mart at Decatur/Vegas Dr and gas was only 3.99 a gallon. AT 7pm tho, the line was like 30 cars long…. just not worth it! However I found that at 2 am, there are barely any people out and about filling up their gas tanks.

So, if you want cheap cheaper gas, just get up in the middle of the night! The rest of the town is at anywhere from 4.15 to 4.29 a gallon. Its crazy! The good news is that I can happily report the new Honda Fit is getting 27.5 mpg even in the excessive heat and with the air conditioning on.

Speaking of gas mileage, I admit that I am intrigued by the I drive 55and Hypermilling. I am not going to get all obsessive and mount funky gadgets to my dashboard to track my MPG, but I may coast around town for a while and see what happens

Posted in Every Day Stuff | 3 Comments »

Summer is finally here…

Its been a surprisingly cool summer up til this point. It was definitely hot, but still cooling down in the evenings and barely above 100 during the day. This week things got “I feel like I am sticking my head in an oven” hot and it is definitely not cooling down in the evening. We decided to take the girls to the drive in on Sunday to see Kung Fu Panda and were surprised how warm it was even at 8:30/9pm. Next time we will bring chairs so we can sit outside the car and catch the breeze. We are happy to report tho that the Honda Element is surprisingly comfortable at a drive in. You can lay the seats flat, grab a few pillows and lay down quite nicely.

Along with the heat came haircuts for the girls. I think all 3 of us were tired of fighting the knots and tangles. Besides, it only gets worse as summer is here and everyone is sweaty or swimming on a daily basis.

Oddly enough, I had the same haircut picture for both girls. Neither of them came out just right, but they will pass for summer. Here is Kyla - I wish her had been a bit shorter, more like Willow’s but she has coarse hair and sometimes the stylists have a hard time with it.
  

Here is Willow’s - I love the back of hers, I just wish the front bangs were a bit longer and off to one side so she didn’t look so much like a little boy LOL But they will grow soon enough

Posted in Every Day Stuff, Health & Fitness, Kids, Kids, Kids!, Politics | 2 Comments »