Yardale this Saturday - It's About Time!!!

We have needed to clean out a lot of clutter from our place for a long time now. Did have two good yard sales about a year and a half ago, but definitely time for another. We have slowly been going room by room, closet by closet and cleaning things out. We aren't finished, so we'll do another sale in the fall, but we've made a great start!!

So this Saturday, with my great neighbor Mel, we are having a yard sale. Here is all the info if you're local and want to come!!

Find garage sales
in Clearwater, FL.

St. Patrick's Day!!

Goodness!! Has it really been since last EASTER that I posted??? Life has just gotten in the way, along with really not being a faithful blogger, and before you know it here we are almost a year since my last posting.

Anyways... I am working on ways to remedy that and hopefully will be more faithful with blog postings!

This Thursday is St. Patrick's Day. This isn't really a holiday we actively celebrate in our house - I'm not a corned beef fan.

This year I am off on Thursday and decided to make a fun dinner for the kids that celebrates the St Patty's Day GREEN theme.

For dinner we are having Cauliflower Mash with Pea Puree added to make it green, Organic Angel Hair Pasta with homemade Green Pesto and Edamame which the kids both love.

For dessert I am making Simple Green Cupcakes - http://greenlitebites.com/2011/03/09/simple-green-cupcakes-st-patricks-day-surprise/

I found this great recipe on www.greenlitebites.com and will make my own cupcake base and then add in the applesauce and pureed spinach for the wet ingredients.

With Sam on his 12 week weight loss journey and me really wanting to incorporate more veggies and less meats into our diets, this should be a wonderful meal!!

For breakfast I will add some spinach puree to scrambled eggs for some fun Green Eggs....

Still trying to be "super mom" and think of Green ideas for Conner's school lunch. A Green apple will be his snack, but still need things for his main lunch.... Any thoughts from my oh so few loyal followers???

Easter

We spent Easter Sunday quite differently this year!! I think this is my first year ever that I wasn't at church on Easter. I woke up (very early) Easter Sunday a.m. when we docked in Tampa after our Western Caribbean cruise - which I am going to blog about - soon!! We finally got home and had the car unloaded by 11:00ish, rested for just a few minutes before we got back in the car and headed down to my parents to have Easter dinner and pick up the kids.

We had a great lunch (kudos to my mom and thank goodness I didn't have to make anything) and then the kids got to open their gift from GGma and GGpa from up in PA.





Grandma made them each "Lollipops" and sent money and candy as well. Caylee liked the blue "stuffing" the best of all.

Conner showing off the goods from GGma.


Then we headed into the living room and the kids got to open their Easter baskets from Sam and I and Aunt Jessica.

The squish!!


My niece Lina.


Caylee


So happy to get a new book!!


Reading it already!


Conner liked his new fun sidewalk chalk.


Next we headed outside for the Easter Egg hunt. Conner and my mom had dyed and decorated Easter eggs and Conner got to go first and look for the dyed ones.



Look closely - this actually was one of "his" with his name written on it.




All found!!


Helping put them back in the carton.


Girls turn!!






Last one!!


Somehow we ended up on the back lanai and let the girls play with their baskets and eggs for a while.

Tough work - that egg hunting!!






Headed home shortly afterwards as Sam and I were exhausted!! It was a different kind of Easter this year, but still an enjoyable day spent with family.

Silence...

Things have been SO crazy busy lately. I miss blogging and have so many pics at home and on my camera that I need to work on uploading and talking about. Spent 2 great days at Disney with friends from PA and FL, had a MOPS Spa Night, co-hosted a baby shower and then had a fun day with my sister and different PA friends down at my parents.

I promise I'll get on the ball and get back to regular blog postings soon... My house feels like it's grown weeds and I need to do some serious pruning - or cleaning and purging of stuff!! Once that's done, I can play on the computer!

FREE Starbucks!!!

Oh those two words together make me SO happy!!! First because I really am a Starbucks snob - that's the only place I stop for coffee and then of course because who doesn't love getting something free....



Stopped there this morning armed with my oh so cute travel mug:



I had thought about getting the Pumpkin Loaf which is one of my favorite things there, but last minute decided to go for lower calories and get the Perfect Oatmeal. Only had a couple bucks left, but enough for that. Turns out I had enough $ left on my Starbucks card to get my Oatmeal for free - with just $.07 cents left :). Now I've got enough money left for BOGO meal day at Boston Market - YUM - their green beans already have my mouth watering for lunch....

But my oatmeal should be enough to keep me warm and satisfied for a while - tastes great!!

Chocolate...

Mmmm…. Just one little word is all it takes!!! Women just love chocolate – dark, milk, white (which really isn’t chocolate) – it all tastes wonderful! Not only is the taste of good quality chocolate so appealing, it also is good for you!!

Dark chocolate has antioxidants in it that have been shown to make a difference in your cardiovascular health. Chocolate also contains phenyl ethylamine, which is the same chemical that is released in your brain when we “fall in love”.

Gets my mouth watering just thinking about chocolate….

So this past Sunday on Ultimate Recipe Showdown - http://www.foodnetwork.com/ultimate-recipe-showdown/index.html, Kerstin Sinkevicius did an amazing job and I can’t wait to try her Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies – oh they looked wonderful - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/peanut-butter-cookie-dough-brownies-recipe/index.html.

Anyways, Kerstin has a blog – http://cakebatterandbowl.com, which in addition to being fun to read, is also having a contest for (yup you guessed it) chocolate – Derry Church Artesian Chocolates to be exact!! Here’s the exact blog posting so that you can sign up to try and win a sample pack of these amazing chocolates - http://cakebatterandbowl.com/derry-church-artisan-chocolates-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CakeBatterAndBowl+%28Cake%2C+Batter%2C+and+Bowl%29

Hydroponics

So anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE Disney and the Epcot is my favorite park to visit!! One of my favorite rides to go on there is Living with the Land. I love when we get to the Greenhouse part and get to see all the fruits and veggies that they grow for consumption on Disney property.



One of my dreams (besides a house that has a library with built in bookshelves, two overstuffed chairs with ottomans and a fireplace) is to have a small greenhouse. I so want to be able to grow my own fruits / veggies and have an idea now for a small garden, but an actual enclosed greenhouse would be amazing...

But I digress......

Anyways, one of the biggest highlights is the Hydroponic system that they have. They grow tomatos, lettuce, eggplant, etc. all using Hydroponics. Hydroponics is is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.



A local grocery store in Pittsburgh - Giant Eagle Market District (yes, I know, shocking that anything good comes from Pittsburgh) now has a Hydroponic section where customers can pick from rows and rows of Bibb Lettuce. This has become so popular that they are adding more varieties soon. How cool is this???



Now to search to see if I can find a store close to me in Florida.