Specials

Daily Specials

Tacos

Pizza

Eggs

Cinnamon Rolls

Sunday in the backyard

We spend Sunday afternoons on the deck. Kyle grills, the girls swim, play on the swingset or climb trees in the backyard, I read magazines and go through the Sunday paper. This past Sunday was no different. I "heart" Sundays.

News brief...

To the Fair

I had promised myself that I wouldn't have to attend the County Fair this year. I feel I paid my "fair" dues during my many years in 4-H. (The crowds, heat, smells, dirt and grime are really not my thing.) I started rethinking my "no Fair" policy when my nephew Simon won Grand Champion with his hog, my nephew Jake's hog got first in its weight class, and our neighbors Brooke and Zack did exceptionally well with their turkeys. During my run Saturday morning I made the decision to allow the girls to choose: the Fair, or the beach. Much to my chagrin, they chose...you guessed it...the Fair. 

Josie and her cousin, Natalie.
(The held hands the entire time.)

The girls convinced me to go on the
Tilt-a-Whirl with them. Barf.

We saw my brother Mike, Jen and Natalie a few minutes after arriving. Josie and Natalie were so happy to be together – you'd think they'd been separated for months! Ellie ran into a few friends, hugs and squeals all around, I saw a number of people that I haven't seen in years. The girls and I shared an Elephant Ear, slushies and ice cream. We rode the *terrifying* carnival rides, roasted in the blistering August sun, and had a wonderful time together.

I guess I'll rethink my "no Fair" policy indefinitely....

Kite flying

Josie was curious about kite making and flying last week. She'd repeatedly ask me for string and skewers so she could fashion and "better than the last one" kite. After three or four test models, she finally created something she was happy with.

I love this one, she's blowing a feather into the wind.

Sunday Photo

RECIPE: Pico de Gallo

This family loves salsa. Loves, loves, loves it. Add in a bag of La Fiesta chips – locally made by a restaurant in Hart, MI –  and you have the perfect summer afternoon snack (or to be perfectly honest, dinner.) As much as I find salsa to be tasty and satisfying, the fresh ingredients in Pico de Gallo make my taste buds sing. And dance. The mariachi.

RECIPE: Pico de Gallo

Ingredients
2-3 cups of fresh, diced tomatoes (seeds squeezed out)
1 small white onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, diced (**most of the seeds removed unless you like it crazy hot**)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salt and pepper

Directions
Throw it all into a bowl, stir it up, and keep adding salt and pepper until you get the perfect flavor. Eat it within 24 hours. Unlike canned salsa, this doesn't get better with age, it's best eaten immediately with good company and cold beer.

A Happy Little Winner!

Congratulations Stacey! 

(Are "congratulations" in order 

when you win dish cloths?) 

Send me an email (address to the left) or a 

FB message with your address 

and I'll get these in the mail. Enjoy!

RECIPE: Homemade Taco Seasoning

A few years ago I came across this recipe for homemade Taco Seasoning. It's a perfect combination of spices you have on hand. Dump them into a jar, shake it a bit, and get ready for tacos! We prefer "Taco Tuesday", but "Taco Thursday" works too.

Click Here for a printable jar label/recipe. (You won't have to worry about losing the recipe, it will always be on the jar!)

Don't want the printable PDF? Here's the recipe:

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Ingredients
1⁄4 cup + 2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon oregano
11⁄2 tablespoons paprika
1⁄4 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions
Brown 1 pound of ground beef, drain,
add a 1⁄4 cup of
seasoning mix and
1 cup of water.
Simmer for 5 minutes.

It's in the air.

Just 13 more days until school starts. I can feel it in the air this morning. This is the first summer that our girls have gotten the concept of "sleeping in". I've enjoyed every...single...morning of it. For some reason, the past few days I've been wide awake at 6:00am. I think my body and mind are prepping me for the early mornings that are just 13 days away.

The backpacks are washed, the pencil cases filled with awesomely sale priced Crayola crayons and markers, pencils sharpened, school shoes ordered. We didn't do much as far as school clothes this year. Instead, I took inventory and ordered a few key pieces online (Love Boden end-of-season clearance! Who says you can't wear a summer jumper in February? Throw a t-shirt underneath, a sweater on top and you're set!) Both girls are asking daily "How many days until school?"

I'm both excited about getting back into our fall routine, and a little nervous. Since Ellie is in First Grade this year vs. just Monday, Wednesday and Friday, our tuition went up considerably. Josephine will be in Preschool Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Josie will be five at the end of November, and looking at our expenses while discussing tuition, Kyle and I decided that we can't pay tuition for both girls and have child care on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our four (almost five) year relationship with Heidi, our nanny, is coming to an end.

We're all sad that Heidi won't be here every week, but we know we'll keep in touch. I'm really nervous about packing my usual full days of work into three mornings and after bedtime, but I know I'll make it work – looks like Fresh Graphic Design is going to have a third shift soon.

Change is in the air...

The things we find...

I love finding unusual little surprises around the house.

A roll of tape on one of the deck chairs.

(Not a dispenser to be seen, anywhere in the vicinity.)

A cattail with a hair clip secured around it.
(I have absolutely no idea why this seemed necessary.)

A fairy house with an "I love Fares"
sign prominently displayed.

(We do love our "fares"/fairies/faeries around here.)

I'm always stressing the importance of
 picking up after yourself, but in a few years
I know I'll miss these little 

unexpected gems popping up in unexpected places.

A Happy Little Giveaway!

A little kitchen store that I like is  having a "Retirement Sale". I stopped in after yoga earlier this summer and found these Skoy® cloths. They were touted as being ecofriendly and each cloth is supposed to be equivalent to 15 rolls of paper towels. I think they are great. I'm not a fan of sponges since I can't stand the cold slimy-ness and wash cloths are way too stinky for me after a day or so (I used them anyway, of course). These Skoy® cloths are kind of a cross between the sponge and the wash cloth – flat and spongy, but thin and pliable like a cloth, but dry much faster so they don't get all nasty smelling.

Anyway...I have a 4-pack that I'd love to share! Leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner on Friday.

Happy Monday!

Sunday photo

Fooducate

We've been having fun with the Fooducate App lately. This rather addictive little App lets you scan a food's bar code, then it gives you a letter grade. Last night, Ellie and I scanned the following:

Cliff Peanut Butter Crunch Granola Bar... C
Cliff Z Bar... B-
Annie's Cheesy Ravioli... B-
Tostitos Pepper Jack Corn Chips... C-
Quinoa... A-
Steel Cut Oats... A-
Carrots (the only fruit or veggie we had that we could scan)... A+

Not only does it give you a grade, but comments on why the grade was chosen. (I loved it when teachers did that in school. My over-achieving little mind wanted to know what I could do better next time.) For instance, the Tositios were given a C- because they contain "MSG-like ingredients to enhance flavor", yuck, not so good. The PopChips that I enjoy were given a D+ because "Bag size leads to over consumption", makes sense. The Skippy Natural peanut butter and the Justin's Almond Butter both got a B+, this surprised me. I thought the Almond Butter was better, but they both have "A high number of calories for the serving size of 2 tablespoons." I knew that.

We all know, of course, that the prepackaged food that we eat isn't all that great for us. An apple is better than AppleJacks, but its fun to actually see the "grades" that we'd get if all we ate were the bar coded foods in our pantries. Plus, Ellie and Josie are getting a little more of an education as well. There's a reason why Scooby-Doo Fruit Snacks are a once-in-a-while treat, but I never say "no" when they ask for a snack cup of blueberries.

If you have a smartphone, make yourself a little smarter (and eat a little healthier) with a Fooducation! Plus...it's FREE! Wait, should this be a Frugal-Lisa Friday post?

What to choose?

We're in the market for a new coffee pot. Our $20 Mr. Coffee machine has decided that 30 minutes is an appropriate brew-length for a pot of coffee. This was fine when the "delay brew" function still worked, but now that I have to manually press "brew" each morning, watching it drip for half an hour is pure morning torture.

So...do I get another $20 machine and be done with it, or do I upgrade to a fancy Keurig machine? The one-cup machines seem like such a fun, novel concept to me – hot, fresh coffee with each cup, in less than five minutes, different flavors and strengths. Cup 'o joe heaven. On the other hand, novel or not, it's more than four times the price for the machine alone, and the brew cups are at least 50¢ a piece. (Not to mention the garbage that's created with each of those little cups. Unless they are recycleable?)

What do you think? Plain or fancy? If you have one or the other, why do you love it?

Talents

Josephine has been tearing up the driveway lately on her bike...sans training wheels. A big deal for her. Eleanor, on the other hand, is a little more timid on her bike and hasn't quite gotten the hang of riding without them. She has, however, mastered the art of tree climbing! A huge deal for her!

The Fred...where to start?

Nancy, Phil, Amanda, Annalisa, Lynette, Janet,
Amy, Susie, Lisa, Ann, Jackie, Jeni

How about I start at the beginning? I was up dark and early Friday morning at 4:30am in order to make our team's 8am start time. We arrived in Comstock Park to find cold drizzle welcoming us at the start. Lynette was our first runner out, and at 8am sharp she was off, leaving the rest of us to pack into our vehicles and head up the trail.

Nancy our 3rd runner, passing off to Phil.
Notice the skirt and bow that we used as our "baton"

Our team transportation and me in my "cozy" clothes.

We took our Suburban as my team's vehicle. I was the first runner from our vehicle and wasn't scheduled to start until 1pm, so the six of us stopped for breakfast and slowly made our way to our first stop at Spur #7. (Please note: due to the pouring rain and general chaos, I didn't even take my Nikon out of the case. These photos are courtesy of random team iPhones and Nancy's camera.)

The Fred Meijer White Pine Trail

My first Spur was from Pierson to Howard City – 5.56 miles. It was a monsoon! The air was 53˚, the rain was pouring, the wind was blowing, and the trail was muddy. The run? Fantastic! I finished in 53:00 at a 9:35/mile pace, passing two runners along the way. From there I passed off to Jeni (see photo below). Our six Spurs were finished around 4:30pm, when we passed off to Lynette. We went to a hole-in-the wall bar for dinner, found a laundromat for our clothes, and tried to catch an hour of sleep before our group had to start running again at 10:30pm.

After my first "Spur". Love Jeni's face in the
background...the skirt was wet and cold!

Ann, running her first Spur  – 6.56 miles.

Amy, leaving Spur 10 – 8.85 miles

Amy passing off to Susie at Spur 11 – 6.48 miles

That's me...lower left. I couldn't sleep, but was
glad to stretch my legs and warm up.

After eating, warming up and resting for a few hours, we were back on the road at Spur 17 for Susie's 9.5 miles from Tustin to Cadillac. From there, Jeni and Ann ran around Lake Cadillac and back to south of Cadillac to Spur #20. This Spur was supposed to start around 2am, but we were ahead of schedule and I left for my 9.5 miles back to Tustin at 12:30am. I don't do well at night, I'm usually fast asleep by 10:30pm, and after waking up at 4:30am and already running 5.6 miles, I was really nervous about this Spur. I shouldn't have been. The rain had stopped and the air warmed up about 10 degrees since my run earlier in the day. I started out at a really great clip, my legs felt loose and strong. After a few songs, I knew I was still running along at a good pace considering the circumstances. I usually listen for my Garmin's "beep" after each mile, but hadn't heard anything for a while, and wondered how far I'd gone. I was afraid that if I looked down and saw how many miles I had left to run, the exhaustion would kick in and be discouraging. I made a deal with myself, no looking at the Garmin until six songs. I lost count after a while, and kept going. There were lights ahead from another runner in the distance and I decided to keep going at that pace and try to catch up. Eventually, I passed her... **ecstatic**! After a few more songs I needed a water break. My team mate, Jeni was following me on the team bike, and handed the water over. Finally, I looked at my Garmin – 6.68 miles. Sweet!!!  I slammed as much water as I could in ten seconds, then took off. Knowing that I only had three more miles ahead of me put a spring in my step. I pushed through the next two, then ran my ass off that last mile, passing another runner along the way. My final time was 1:36:00, a 10:03/mile pace, however, I wasn't done. I had to strip off the skirt and hop on the bike to chaperon Janet on her 4.66 miles to Spur #22. 

My group – up and ready for our third batch of Spurs.

The next few hours were a bit of a sleep-deprived blur. Amy was sick when Janet and I made it back to Spur #22. Despite vomiting for the entire 5.6 miles, my BRF toughed it out and ran the entire distance (puke or no puke). She was thoughtful enough to not wear the skirt. Amy was our last runner for the night/morning and as soon as we picked her up we drove back to Reed City and got about three hours of sleep before our final Spurs started. These last six Spurs went fairly smoothly. Amy, Ann and I ended up switching Spurs. I ran Amy's 5.6, Ann ran my 5.04, and Amy ran Ann's 4.19. This gave Amy a few additional hours to try and feel better.

Coming in from my FINAL Spur!

My last run wasn't that great – 5.6 miles in 1:06:00 at an 11:01/mile pace. Under normal circumstances I'd have a hard time accepting a pace like that. However, I reminded myself that I had at that point been awake for 31 hours, slept a measly three, and had already run 15 miles. Coming into the finish of that last leg I had a smile on my face, tears in my eyes, and the greatest sense of accomplishment. My part in this crazy adventure was over – time to cheer on the team mates.

My group – Amy, Janet, Jeni, Ann, Me, Susie

Our group was done after Amy's last run at Spur #34. We quickly drove back to Comstock Park, showered, and met at the finish line to cheer on Nancy as she ran the last 4.3 miles of our 200 mile adventure.

All of us...following her to the finish line.

Team Loco-Motive (minus Susie and Jackie who had to leave early).

We don't know yet how we finished overall, but at this point it doesn't really matter. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this run, and looking back, I couldn't have possible imagined the fun I'd have. Yes, were were tired, smelly, and physically exhausted, but none of that mattered. We laughed, we cried (one of us puked), we had the most amazing time together. Will I do this again next year? Perhaps, but first I need to catch up on a little sleep!

Sunday photo

I don't remember what she was so excited about.

I love this smile regardless.

Where I'll be...

Back in December when I posted about signing up for The Fred Relay, it seemed like such a long time away. That isn't the case any longer. This 36-hour long, sleepless, running like a crazy person adventure starts for Team Loco Motive at 5:45AM. Ahhh!!!

For the next couple of days I'll be running (with 11 other team members) from Comstock Park, MI to Cadillac, MI and back. I have three legs totalling 20.5 miles – the longest being 9.5 miles at 2:00AM Saturday. If you're awake around then, think of me as you snuggle back into bed!

I know I'll have a great time. The group I'm with is filled with current and future friends, and what a fantastic memory we'll be building together. There will be tons of photos, lots of laughs and stories to share when I return. Until then...wish us luck!

GO TEAM LOCO-MOTIVE!

My motive for doing this?
"Love of beer and pizza. Fear of 'Mom' jeans."

Sunday drive

Sunday afternoon we loaded up the Jeep and spent a couple hours following the neighbors down seasonal country roads. We stopped for snacks near the White River and visited while the kids played who-knows-what with sticks, leaves and their imaginations. We all took turns playing with Bo, the neighbors' sweet little Chocolate Lab.

Berry picking

A few Fridays ago my forever friend Tracey drove up with her kids for the day. We had planned a beach day, but of course, it was the one day that week that it wasn't 90˚. Instead of playing in Lake Michigan, we took advantage of some of our areas other delights...blueberries!