Saturday, April 23, 2011

My Bountiful Basket

Today was a good, busy, long day and I am exhausted.  But I thought I could muster up a few minutes of typing to share with you one of the best parts of my day.  Today I picked up my first Bountiful Basket and I am hooked already. I have to send out a huge thanks to my body back teammate Wendy for sharing the information with me.

A quick "about them" paragraph.  Bountiful baskets is a fruit and veggie food co-op that is non profit and volunteer run.  Every other week they offer a basket full of half fruits, half veggies for $15.  Plus there are extra options including bread, cookies, and specialty baskets like the Italian basket I got this week.  Here is the website link http://www8.bountifulbaskets.org/.

This morning, after a wonderful early morning 4 mile run with my momma friends, I had to hurry to pick up my basket in the alloted window of time.   I was a little shocked by the weight of everything as I lugged it to the car.  And unloading it all at home with like unloading the Easter Basket a day early.  As I said before I not only got the weekly offer but the Italian basket too.  This was the take this morning - all for $22.50.



12 apples
2 bananas
1 lb strawberries
2 grapefruit
1 pineapple
1 honeydew
3 onions
4 zucchini
1 eggplant
4 broccoli heads
2 parsnips
11 yams
1 package mushrooms
1 bag spinach
1 bunch asparagus
Bunches of basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley 

I had fun writing my meals/shopping list for the next week.  The only produce I will have to pick up are some blueberries and tomatoes.  Otherwise we are set!  

Monday, April 11, 2011

Spring 2011

I know that is broad title for a blog post, but I am very behind in posting pictures and talking about the events over the past couple of months, so I figured why not get it all out in one long post.  So, fair warning, this blog will be long and filled with lots of fun pictures of a gorgeous little girl that I am very partial to.  We start with a naked butt :)  Sure to catch some attention...

Nothing better than being outside with no pants on

Just a cute picture


The first week in March, Lilah and I piled in the car at the awful hour of 4 AM and made the 10 hour trek to Visalia to stay with Shannon't family.  The fact that it was my niece Peyton's first birthday was the overall reason for the trip.  Lilah is a trooper in the car.  I couldn't ask for a better traveling partner.  The week started off great.  Lilah had SOOOO much fun with her cousins.  They are all going to be such good friends.   The birthday party was good.  And then we ended the week with sickness.  Yes....more sickness.  But it didn't stop Lilah from hanging out (and ultimately sharing her sickness with everyone).  When Lilah was starting to feel a little better and I was just starting to feel like I was coming down with it we made the long drive home.  Lilah was trooper, but driving that far that long when you don't feel good was terrible.  
The girls playing

My adorable niece Peyton


My adorable daughter 

Lilah liked Peyton's birthday present

The present opening crew

Yum - that frosting is good

Ok, that just looks disgusting

DONE!

Hiding out in the quiet house

So this is why Duke put up with Lilah all week

When we got home it took me almost two weeks to recover from the nasty bug we caught in CA.  But in time, with some antibiotics for a sinus infection, things seem to be back to normal for us.  Lilah decided it was time to only nap once a day, so she takes one afternoon nap now.  She also weaned herself off her bottle completely.  She was down to just one in the morning and she stopped asking for it, so I stopped offering it to her.  She can be so easy some times.  The most exciting part of the last month is that she has started talking like crazy.  Her vocabulary is huge right now and she just wants to read books ALL the time.  She loves pointing out all the things she knows and her pronunciation is getting better and better daily.

It was a real treat to have my parents come out for a week at the end of  March.  They got to witness the changes that Lilah has made since Christmas.  She is changing so much I know that they wish they got to see her more.  But it was so great to have them here and Lilah loved having them too, she always had somebody paying attention to her.  For my Dad's birthday I got tickets to go see a Spring Training game - it was the last game for the Mariners and the Rockies.
Enjoying the game




We also spent a day at the Wildlife World Zoo.  Lilah was using some of that vocabulary to name animals and learned how to talk like a monkey.  She and Gramps had a great time together looking at all the animals. She got most excited in the aquarium and was running around, crazy, excitedly pointing out all the fish and critters.  It was a fun day.  
Checking each other out

Watching the birds, monkeys, and fish with Gramps

The baby monkey was one of my favorites

Another cute picture

Parrots

Oh, I see him!

Not sure what to think about touching anything in the touch pools.
The week went quickly, as I knew it would.  We spent a few hours out at the Scottsdale Fashion Square doing some dress reconnaissance for Megan's wedding.    We took Gram and Gramps to swim lessons to watch.  We had great meals and sat out on the patio every night to eat.  It was nice and HOT for the snow and rain weary.  We finished the trip with a breakfast at The Buttes resort in Phoenix with my Uncle Bunie and cousins Neal and Kiana.  It was great to see them all.


Daddy took this picture last week.  This is the position that you will find Lilah and I in most of the day.  Reading, reading, reading.

I had the hose on our poor citrus trees one evening and Lilah has stepped outside for a few minutes.  I watched from the kitchen window as she gingerly picked up the hose and checked it out.  Then started playing with it a bit more, and got more and more wet.  Time to start playing in the water outside.

Am I in trouble?

Hey, this is pretty fun to drink from
So from the Friday my parents were here to this past Saturday the temperature in Phoenix changed 50 degrees!  We still made it to the park even though rain was threatening.
She is enjoying herself, I promise

Watch me go

That was AWESOME!

Just another cute picture

Time for a snack after all that playing, and time to get home, the sky is dark
After her fun with the hose, we couldn't resist this table from Costco last weekend.  It is supposed to hold water in half and sand in the other.  I was envisioning lots of mud, so we opted for water only.  But she seemed to LOVE it!




If you made it to this point, you must really care or be super bored and have nothing else to do.  But I am finally done!  I will try to keep blogs coming more frequently now that we are not sick anymore and getting out of the funk I was in.  Because we are NEVER getting sick again - ha ha ha!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Addiction

My name is Kate and I am addict.  It has been only two minutes since my last online purchase and that is my third for the day.  Seriously, this is getting ridiculous!  Out of curiosity I searched for order confirmations in my email for the last month.  I almost fell out of my chair at the grand total.  And that didn't include the $300 TV for bedroom because ours went out or the other extravagant purchase of the month (just a car)!  Let's not talk about how much time I spent researching cars!  I think I need to go cold turkey and just unplug.  But the thought seriously makes my palms sweaty.

I don't know why I go through these phases, but it is truly an addiction.  I think about checking all my sites for good deals before they are gone every morning as I am getting out of bed.  I brush off my child's attempts to read a story with me or run around the back yard because I don't want to miss a good deal.  I feel devastated if the one thing that interests me is sold out.  And lately I have been bad about buying stuff that I don't even really need or want once it comes.  But my heart races as I check or shop.  I get excited as I add something to my shopping cart.  I have a moment of sensibility that starts to take over as I add my credit card number, but I quickly squash it.  And then I wait, with excitement, as shipment notices come, and for the doorbell to ring each day.  If I don't have anything outstanding I get, well, depressed and try to come with some excuse for something that is needed.  This latest bout came because Lilah has gone through a bit of a growth spurt and is finally ready for 18 month clothing!  It is summer time and time for a new wardrobe.  She now has a dresser stuffed full, granted of VERY cute things.

So I am writing this blog as my public intervention notice. If you hear me excitedly talk about Kid Steals, Zulily, fun clothing sites, etc... feel free to give me a good slap.  And remind me that car payments start soon!