Lately I've been feeling a bit nostalgic. This happens every year around this time. I think of my high school years and am reminded of the crisp morning walks to school and the cold Friday nights sitting in the football stadium bleachers. Music has always played an important role in my life and always has the power to bring back many memories. Yesterday I was feeling particularly reminiscent and decided to download some songs that I used to listen to back in the day. I looked at the Billboard Top 100 songs for the years I was in high school and found some great gems that I haven't heard in years. I realized two things while doing this. 1) I'm older than I feel, and 2) I listened primarily to hip hop until I got married, when I decided I should listen to something a little more enlightening. I still love hip hop but have cut back a lot. So anyway, I thought it would be fun to list some lyrics of some of the songs I listened to to see if anyone remembers or recognizes the songs. Some people should know some (Quinn) and others should know most (Jackie). Good Luck!

Apples

Pumpkins

Apples and Pumpkins

Apple Picking

Laughing



Laughing while picking apples

Smooshed Apples

Lots of wind

Once upon a time, before I was a wife and a mother, I had a good paying job and a lot less bills in my mail box every day. Those were the "good ol days" for me. The days when I could buy whatever I wanted without worrying about having enough food to eat at the end of the week. The days when the only thing stopping me from going to the Dave Matthews concert was, well, nothing. Those days are long gone. These days I am often shocked at how economical, almost frugal, I have become. For instance, I have a system for buying clothes, especially clothes for Devan. I will not buy pants that cost more than 10 dollars, and I absolutely will not buy shirts that cost more than 5 dollars. I probably sound cheap, but I have bags full of new clothes for her just stacked in her closet. When you shop the clearance rack you don't always get your first choice of sizes, but for children this is great. And I'm lucky enough to live in a pretty affluent area close to several nice malls and shopping centers with clearance racks that the rich people wouldn't dare touch. Anyway, I could go on and on about my money saving strategies, but here are some of the sweet deals I've found this week.

A package of eight of these too cute little gift bags from Target for 2 bucks:


This bowl from Tuesday Morning for 4 bucks. (This is not a very good deal. I was very aware of that when purchasing it, but it was too cute to resist).

Also, last week I was at Old Navy and I bought this really comfortable, soft sweatshirt for 6 bucks. I was pretty happy with the price. Today I went back and the same sweatshirts were marked down again to $2.97. So I bought another. I had an economics teacher in high school who taught me in order to save money you should wait to buy something until it has been marked down 3 or 4 times. He was right. (Mr. Ropes, anyone?) Old Navy has some killer deals going on right now. If you like Old Navy and you live close to one, I'd take the time to check it out. Oh! I also got free floss at the grocery store with my coupons. If your interested in saving money on groceries, check out this site. http://www.thegrocerygame.com/. If you sign up, put down my name and I get free weeks. It cost about a dollar a week I think, but its worth it. Or check out couponmom.com. This one is free but not quite as good. Well this post has gotten very long. I will leave with a picture I took this morning. Yes, it actually rained!

When I was 16 I decided I wanted to be a vegetarian. I have never been crazy about eating meat, and so I thought being a vegetarian was right for me. So for about four years I didn't eat any meat. Not even chicken. But for some reason, at some point in my life, I started eating chicken again. I stuck with only chicken for a few more years and then I found myself eating some red meats. And now I eat both, a little, here or there. So the other day I was trying to think of something to cook for dinner and I got this overwhelming feeling of disgust towards meat again! I believe I actually said aloud, " I loathe chicken." Where did it come from? Why is this feeling back? Now, out of no where, all kinds of meat totally gross me out. No, I am not pregnant. ( Isn't if funny how once you've had a baby, every time you start to feel a little sick everyone assumes you are pregnant?) Anyway, to make a long story short I have done some extensive online research to find some tasty, vegetarian meals. Heres what I found, for all you vegetarian readers. (If there are any).


Last night I tried this recipe. Stuffed peppers. They turned out pretty good and were actually very filling. John ate the leftover pepper for lunch today and he claims they are better the next day.

Tonight I tried this tasty dish. This one is a definite keeper. Even the little one liked it. I was giving her little bites of broccoli mixed with the rice and she didn't notice, until one bite I said " I sneaked in some broccoli in that bite"...and then she spit it right out and said "yuck". Oh well.

So far my family has been very understanding with my relapse into vegetarianism. Who knows how long they will last, or how long my meat loathing will last.

Here are a few things my new best friend and I have been working on. First is what I now refer to as the beast. I had this great idea for this disapearing nine patch quilt I was going to make. At first everything was going fine. I made a few little mistakes as it was my first time attemping this pattern. I wanted it to be a really big, comfy quilt that would make a perfect Christmas present. But days turned into weeks and it felt like I would never finish. So, I eventually finished the quilt, and very hastily might I add. In my haste I soon realized that on one side of the back of the quilt I did not cut enough fabric. So I had to hand sew an extention piece on the back, because it was too late to fix it the right way. My Mom thinks you can't even notice it, but all I see when I look at this beast of a quilt is the big, fat part where I screwed up. So, I gave it to my Mom. She loves it. But she's my Mom and she loves everything I make. She's got a growing pile of things I made that I didn't like or messed up on. Anyway, here it is:

Next is a little dress I sewed up for D. It was my first time sewing with elastic thread and I think I made it a little too tight. Didnt' get a good front shot, as usual. Here is the back:

And last night I found a tutorial for this little bag. I actually had the same fabric as her tutorial, only in different colors. Love love love the fabric. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but here it is:
Well, now its time to start on Christmas gifts. I probably won't be posting any sewing projects any time soon because they might be a gift for you!

I know, I know! I never really gave bratwurst a fair shake. My family never ate them, Morgan's family never ate them and my friends never ate them, so it's not my fault. They have always looked good but I always thought they were a meat that sat on the periphery of the sausage world, somewhere just above liverwurst. I only considered them after seeing someone else eat one.



We were watching Paul Deen on the Food Network and they were making tailgating food. These brats were the main course. They boiled theirs in beer first, but I skipped that and went straight to grilling. Then I topped them with grilled onions and peppers and wrapped in a toasted hoagie roll with spicy mustard. Delicious!



I have to say that the bratwurst has definitely brought itself to the forefront of the sausage taxonomy, just behind Kielbasa and Linguica.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch for some fun photo ops. We saw big pumpkins, we saw small pumpkins, we saw animals...and then we saw the slide! This was no ordinary slide. This was a full fledged Carni slide. It was tall, fast and probably hadn't passed inspection. Sounds to me like an equation for FUN!

First I went with Devan, not knowing if she would like or not. She was either going to love it or hate it. As we scaled the inflatable beast the worker shouted, "Don't put her in your lap because if you tumble you could crush her!" Oh man, this must be one bad ride. We got to top and surveyed the surroundings, then sat down and prepared for action. I placed Devan next to, made sure Morgan was ready below with the camera and then slid. It was fun and Devan loved it.

So we got up and did it again. This time, when we got to the top Devan insisted on going by herself! That's my girl! I yelled down to Morgan for approval, "She wants to go by herself!?!" With a nod from the mother I placed Devan down. Without any hesitation she shot off. It was pure comedy. That little body with legs in the air, hair flying and huge smile raced to the bottom.

We will look back on this and remember the slide and the time Devan wanted to do it by herself.

Last week at the Farmers Market I bought some fresh basil. I usually also buy cilantro, but now I have my own cilantro plant in my garden so just basil this week. I have this great recipe for an artichoke salsa with basil. It is so delish. Everyone in our house is snacking on it right now, even Devan. John thinks it needs something extra, but my experience with salsa is that you need to give it time to let the flavors mesh. Homemade salsa always tastes better the next day. Anyway, here is the recipe. Definitely give it a try if you like artichokes and/or basil.