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Healthier TV dinners

Back when I was a kid, Swanson's TV dinners were ultra popular and we ate them about once a week when our parents went out and the babysitter came over. I'm sure they were really terrible for you -- filled with all kids of crazy ingredients -- but we loved those little compartmentalized dinners. When I had a kid of my own, I caved and allowed her to get those Kid Cuisine meals from time to time, but I really couldn't stand having her eat that stuff. And I wouldn't exactly call corn -- which is all they ever included -- a healthy vegetable. Not only that, she didn't always like all the parts of those kids meals.

Good news though! A while back I reviewed a vegan chocolate cake over at the Chocolate Blog. (It was really good, btw!!) As a result, I got to talking with someone at Amy's and they took a look at my blog, noticed I had a daughter and sent me out some of their kid's meals for her to try. They sent one of each variety -- Baked Ziti, Mac 'n Cheese and Mexican Quesadilla.  Maddie loved them all! But even better -- I loved the ingredient list. Organic, no trans-fats, preservative free. And there were veggies -- real veggies. And fruit!  Maddie keeps asking me to get more (unfortunately our local grocery doesn't stock them yet -- but they do carry some Amy's products, so I'm asking them to carry the kids meals.)

If you are looking for a healthy, and quick frozen meal to give to your kids, Maddie and I both highly recommend Amy's Kids Meals. Find out more at their website. (Seriously, I was super happy with these -- give them a try!)

Kumihimo Cord

When you live in an old house, sometimes you have to improvise. In our closets, we have the old fashioned exposed bulb fixtures with a cord hanging down that you pull to turn on the light. Since the ceilings are quite high, the cords need to be very long (about 4-5 feet). So when the ancient string attached to Maddie's closet light broke, I decided to replace it with a sturdy and prettier cord.

This cord is just the basic spiral braid in two colors and I'm using a pearl cotton floss in pink and magenta. The Hamanaka Kumihimo Disk is super easy to use, and makes this project portable. In fact, I did a good portion of it while I was in the car on the way to and from Mitsuwa yesterday.

I wrote more on the topic of Kumihimo and info on where to get supplies back in July of 2006.

I forgot the green lawn toy!

Last year we made a big change in how we take care of our lawn. Enter the reel mower. Good old fashioned human power -- healthy for us, healthy for the planet.

For Earth Day -- Green Products I use and love!

Baggu Bags -- I have three of them and they are always in my handbag.  I use them absolutely everywhere I shop and they still look as good as the day I got them.  I want even more -- including a cute little Baby Baggu.  The number of colors is amazing and they have limited edition bags sometimes.

Kleen Kanteen -- I bought these for the family a while back and I use mine almost every day. Great product, super durable and no plastic!

What are your favorite Green products? 

Rubber Stamp Sale & Clearance!

I'm not sure if any of you are stampers, but I have a big sale and clearance going on right now at Stamping Online. I just found a bunch of stamps and other goodies (watercolors & brushes, etc.) that were not on my website for some reason so I uploaded all of them and they were added to the sale too. There are some great deals to be had, so please stop by and take a look!

Silvia is clean!

I got a few things from my "to do" list done before the week was up. In fact, I came in just under the wire by descaling the espresso machine this morning. Speaking of coffee -- I have a Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine and I would *highly* recommend it to anyone looking for a solid machine that makes really excellent espresso. And it is simple to use -- my husband, happily makes his daily Americano with the Rancilio and he wouldn't mess with it if it was too much trouble.

Ah espresso -- sweet elixir of life!

Can I just say?

That I totally and completely love my Kindle .  Really.  I haven't read a regular book since I got it.  I'm completely in love and I'm 100% satisfied with my purchase.  If you are a reader and you have a tax refund check burning a hole in your pocket, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Currently reading Quicksilver -- a massive 960 page book that would be (at best) bulky to hold and (at worst) painful.  Books like this were made for the Kindle -- seriously.

Blah.

That's how I feel right now. It's cold and rainy and I'm itching to get to work on the garden. Perhaps my body is craving vitamin D after the long winter because I feel completely unmotivated right now.

So I'm going to write a list. A "to do" list. Something I don't usually do, but I'm hoping it will give me some things to cross off so I feel like I'm a productive member of society.

To do:

1. Clean out my drawers, donate what I can and try to recycle the rest.  Figure out what I need to purchase.
2. Descale the espresso machine (baby steps, I tell ya).
3. Get going on the new bag.  (Perhaps I should be more specific here.  Hmmmm. . . Knit 20 rows and revise pattern as needed.)
4. Review one craft book.
5. Review one chocolate bar.
6.  Clean out one drawer in the office.
7. Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning or organizing the spare room.

Okay, I think that's ambitious enough for this week since I know there are other things that will come up -- school, an order for Stamping Online, trips to the post office and library, etc.  Here's hoping this kick starts me despite the gloomy weather.

Dry Ice & Bubbles

Maddie and I were lucky to receive a box that included some dry ice yesterday (oh yeah, and a chocolate cake -- more on that later today on the Chocolate Blog), so we decided to play around with it a bit. This is an easy and fun experiment -- just add warm water and a squirt of dish soap to a tall glass, then add some dry ice. The usual "smoke" that is generated in this reaction will be encased in the bubbles. Pop them and the "smoke" (just carbon dioxide and water vapor) escapes. Super fun to do with kids and it is relatively safe -- just don't let them touch the dry ice since it is super cold.

Maddie is making her first quilt!

As Maddie turned 4, 5 and 6, I started to introduce crafts to her. While I saw a spark of interest now and again, nothing really seemed to stick. At 7 I took a step back and waited. Now she's 8 and suddenly she's turned crafty!! First there was the potholder business ( which is still going strong! She's sold 4 potholders through etsy and now she's making some for Grandma.) and this past week she started sewing. Be still my heart.

We stopped by the local fabric shop -- Robert's Sewing Center -- after a failed trip to an estate sale that was a total dud. We were looking at all the pre-cut Moda packs and she fell in love with the Fresh Picked fabric pack and I told her she could get it and try sewing on the machine. She was nervous at first, but soon she was off and running! She's sewed 3 strips of her 6 strip quilt already and has plans to make a pillow after finishing her quilt.  I'm so proud of her!

Crafty Books!

Yesterday I received a box of crafty books from Trafalgar Square Books which I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks. I already quickly looked through about half of them and I have to say that there are some awesome books here! I'm especially excited about Crochet Workshop which is a Rowan publication. And I'm wishing I had a little one to knit for after looking through Essential Knits for Kids from Debbie Bliss.

I'll share more soon!

Vintage Buttons

I went a little crazy buying vintage buttons at estate sales last year, so now I'm selling some on etsy. If you are in need of some vintage, estate sale buttons, just stop by the BoogaJ Shop!

The Pincushion Challenge Returns

Do you like to make pincushions? If so, then pop on over to the Pincushion Challenge and check out the new theme!