ok, the stew wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good! Course I made Dan taste first, just in case...Fresh beets are actually pretty tasty, I wasn't expecting that!

I Guess You Can't Hit a Homerun Every Time...

That's what Dan will say when he tastes this stew/soup thingy that I have simmering on the stove! This was made by a complete hodgepodge of everything I could find....usually, I try to "match" the ingredients that I think will complement each other, but this time it was just "whatever".

Let me say that we are not big beet fans in this house. And there were beets in my CSA box this week. I think my problem is that I'm very inexperienced with beets...I only know that I detested beets from a can when I was a kid and hadn't tried them since. So, anyway, I was getting a nice little base going....sliced carrots, mustard greens, cubed eggplant sauteing in some olive oil when I saw the beets. I don't want any veggies to go to waste so I sliced those puppies up too. After I finished cleaning PURPLE STAIN off everything within 5ft of where I was slicing, I saw my stew had turned bright purple too! Everything. The eggplant, chickpeas, everything. I like the color purple, I really do, but I have to say this soup does not look the least bit appealing.

I haven't even tasted it yet. It just doesn't look great. After last night's grand slam....it looks like today I tripped on my way to the plate and never made it to bat.

*sigh*

Spicy Carrot & Butternut Squash Soup!

Ok, not one to toot my own horn, but I made this soup last night with the fresh organic veggies I get from the CSA that I belong to and let me just say....YUUUUUUUMMMMY! It was so good! Everyone liked it, even both the girls!

Ok, enough horn-tooting....I'll be sure to post the recipe soon!

Off to finish my xmas ornament projects. I swear I'm almost finished and then I stop blogging about it. Promise. Well, except for one more just to post pictures of how it all came together....;)

Oooh, I just love me some prizes!

I entered a contest! All I need to do is direct you fine folks over to my friend's Etsy store here:
http://www.loriensilverleaf.etsy.com and hopefully, I'll win a prize! yay for me!

Yay!

You have probably figured out by now that I'm neither creative, nor crafty. So this silly little ornament is actually quite the accomplishment for me. I am quite proud of it!

The Ongoing Xmas Tree Ornament Project

$100 spent at the craft store and a few days later we are well on our way to making our xmas tree ornaments. There are about 5 different kinds that we're making and we're about 1 or 2 steps into each of them. So my dining room table is completely covered in craftiness...It's awesome! Lola is obviously really getting a kick out of this. She told me she was so happy to be doing crafts with me...such little things we can do that mean so much to our kids....I really don't do that enough.

OH! And Elise is very, very close to taking her first steps! She now tries to go from one piece of furniture to another, or from me to Dan and takes a step or two on her own before just plunging forward. She is soooo proud of herself!

What Was I THINKING???

Be forewarned, this is going to be a bit gross....
A few days ago, Lola came up to me and, out of the clear blue sky, tells me that she didn't eat her mocos. Now, I know better so I'm suspecting she did actually do it. Then this little fib flies out of my mouth: "You know, Lola, if you eat mocos, a mocos tree will grow in your tummy". I don't know why I said this, except for the fact that when I was little, my mom had told me that an apple tree would grow in my tummy if I continued eating the seeds of my apples. But I know my daughter well enough to know that she is extremely literal and very sensitive. I was totally joking and for a few days she didn't really talk about it so I thought maybe she realized it was just a joke.
Then, today, we were driving back from getting fresh eggs from a friend's house and it's a pretty rural area. There's trees everywhere. Lola is talking non-stop in the back seat, like usual. I'm pretty good at listening to everything she says (as much as I would love to be able to tune her out sometimes!) because, like I said earlier, she's very literal and takes my responses very seriously so I have to make sure I respond accordingly...Anyway, the area we were driving in is unfamiliar to me so I'm trying real hard to concentrate on the road and I ended up effectively tuning her out, but I can hear that she's going on about a tree. I'm doing the "umm", "uh-huh" responses, but then she starts getting really upset and begins crying hysterically!
That snaps me back into reality and I'm trying to figure out what the hell she's so upset about. All I can hear is "tree" and nothing else makes sense! I'm looking frantically at all the trees around!
This is what I get for not listening...It turns out I had agreed that there was, indeed, a mocos tree in her belly and that it was so big, it would never be able to come out.
Sheesh!!!! I told her that mommy just made a bad joke...I managed to convince her, finally, that there was no tree in her tummy and all was well.

Last time I do THAT!