Friday Randomness...

I know, I know, my posts have been few and far between lately!  I'll spare you another email full of excuses and just get to the postin' already!  I have a bunch of randomness to share.

First, we had a family photo shoot at our home a while back, which was a birthday gift from my fabulous hubby, and was done by the most fabulous Erin Johnson.  (You check out her MOMtrepreneur interview on the right column of this blog.) It was such a perfect gift for me...a way to capture my sweet little boys' childhoods, and also to celebrate the fact that we survived (barely) a year of fighting to sell our home to get to this wonderful new (old) home on a lake! I think if you look closely you can see the relief in our faces.  There are SO many GREAT shots but I'll just post a few favorites...

All of us by the shoreline...love the sepia tone!

Sweet little Toby was losing his patience with this photo shoot stuff...started to tear up and retreated into his "Monkey." This one really captures his sensitive side!

My boys (and "Puppy") on the dock! Believe me, I'm about as close as I could be without being in the photo here! :-)

In my Paintertainment world, I've already shared about the county fair that has kept me busy...I've had several other face painting "gigs" this past week too, and am currently in the process of adding new products from 3 new vendors to my store! But I'm most excited that the first copy of my new face painting book just arrived in the mail yesterday and is now available for sale!  I've had so much fun making this book!!

The other thing I wanted to share unfortunately has no photos with it, but I promise it's not to boring.  ;-)  Over the past month or two my hubby and I have sortof evolved our evening routine and it's been awesome.  In the past we've gotten the kids in bed by 8, and then often spent the remaining 3 hours of our evening zoning out in front of the TV. Granted, I am usually doing other things at the same time, like emailing, crocheting, or whatever.  But sitting in front of the TV for 3 hours is just not the best use of our time.

So, without going into the lengthy story of how it evolved, here's what we're doing now:
8:00-9:00 - "The Productive Hour" - We both spend time getting something done on our to-do list. 
9:00-10:00 - "The Deck Hour" - We sit on the deck with a beverage, no computers, and TALK!
10:00-11:00 - "The Vedge Hour" - We vedge out in front of the TV.

It has been so simple yet so awesome in so many ways.  At the end of the night, instead of feeling like a vegetable, we feel satisfied that we've gotten something accomplished.  We have some quality time to connect and talk about our day without interruption.  And we still get to watch the Tivo'd shows we like.  Often times the deck hour will extend right up until bedtime and we skip TV all together. I suppose in the winter "The Deck Hour" will have to turn into "The Living Room" hour or something.

So there you have it.  A small change in our routine that is really a life changing thing, I think!  I know it may not work for everyone, but I thought I'd share it as a great way to cut a little TV out of your day, get stuff done, and stay connected to your spouse in the chaos that is child rearing!

Have a beautiful weekend everyone! 

Fun Friday Finds

Time for some fun Friday finds!  Here are a few things that caught my eye this week...

Feel like the domestic ninja you are with this cool Gama-go Karate Lettuce chopper! (via Core77)

This is a good gift idea for the office worker (or origamically challenged people) in your life! Just tear out, wad up, and you're good to go!

I love this art history twist on an old puzzle concept...the Mona Lisa puzzle! This isn't as simple as it looks...each image is actually a reflection of it's neighboring piece, so the images change on each square depending where you slide them.

"PLAY" Design for Kids Calendar

"Made by Joel" is definitely one of my favorite blogs to browse.  Check it out and you'll see why!  I just had to pass on this recent calendar project he shared that includes some of his work.  Another thing for my Amazon wish list this year!

Fun Friday Finds

Happy Friday!  Here are some fun finds for you...have a great weekend!

What an interesting mix of materials and functions...check out the crystal iPhone/iPod dock. If you think about it, a piece of heavy lead crystal is not something that is unusual to see sitting on a table top...but mix it with a piece of electronics, and you get a pretty neat presentation.  Ranging from $199 to $349, it's no cheap plastic accessory!  (via Cool Hunting)

Getting fed up with bp and their massive oil spill?  Greenpeace has launched a competition to re-design the bp logo.  Hundreds of entries have flooded in...check out the entries on flickr! I do have to say that while I don't feel bad for bp, I do feel bad for whatever design firm put in the time and talent to come up with their once beautiful logo.  Graphic designers cringe to see people even print their logo in an off color or stretch it out of proportion...I can only imagine how many designers are pulling their hair out seeing these entries!

Check out these delicious popsicles, complete with recipes to make them. (via DesignSponge)

Looking for some great Father's Day gift ideas?  Check out this post of some fun books for the do-it-yourself'er Dad!  (Bonus gift for Mom: enjoy a latte and a good magazine while the kids help Dad with one of the many great project ideas inside!)

Book Review: "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld

It's an age-old struggle: child vs vegetable.  We all want our kids to clean their plates, but where veggies are concerned, well, we all know what happens (or more likely, doesn't happen). I heard about this book a long time ago on TV, and have always had it on my mental list of books I'd like to get someday.  Deceptively Delicious is a cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld's wife).  In it she shares the recipes that she makes for her family, and how she hides vegetable purees in every one of them.  I picked up this like-brand-new copy at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $1.

My little boy is actually a great eater...he loves fruits and veggies, will try just about anything, and will always surprise us with the distinctive flavors he will just love...like Thai food, sushi (cooked of course), and Indian.  So why get a cookbook that's all about sneaking veggies into your kids' food, you ask?  Well, I really picked it up for a couple reasons.  1) The recipes I've heard are tasty, and if it tastes good AND has healthy stuff for you, it's a good one to have anyway.  2) My husband refuses to eat broccoli and cauliflower, among many other food items I consider staples.  So, I thought if nothing else, it would be fun to try to sneak something into his food and see if he'd notice. 

The first part of the book explains how to make the vegetable and fruit purees that are called for in all of the recipes.  Basically you want to steam the veggies and then puree them in a food processor.  This was not really new to me, since I make my own baby food, and it's basically the same process.  But, the book does a good job of explaining what to do to prepare your pantry for the recipes to come.

Last week, while my husband was gone in Chile on business for a week, I bought some broccoli and cauliflower, steamed and pureed it, and froze it in 1/2 cup portions.  I figured if the recipes don't work out, I can always feed it to Toby when he starts solid foods any day now.

Last night I decided to try a couple recipes for dinner.  The first one was the mozzarella sticks.  I figured it would never cross anyone's mind that these had anything healthy in them whatsoever.  However, turns out their creamy, white innards are perfect for hiding pureed cauliflower.  And so, with my sneaky mad-scientist-like laugh ("bwah-haa-haa-haaaaa"), I went to work.  I followed the recipe to a tee, including putting them in the freezer for 20 minutes before frying them.  However, while I do consider myself to be one who knows her way around the kitchen, they turned out to be more like white piles of goo with bread crumbs.

So here's a photo of my plate of...um...stuff, next to the cookbook photo.  Not exactly like the picture.  They seemed to be working great, until the frying part, during which they all fell apart and melted into the delicacy you see here on the right.  While they didn't turn out as planned, they did still actually taste really good.  My husband came home and I warned him that I made two things...one turned out good and the other not so good.  He went right for these while saying, "well, can you still eat 'em?"  as he scooped one up I replied, "yeah, maybe with a spoon."  But all was not lost, as I got the reaction I was hoping for, "Well they taste good!"  At which point I revealed to him, "they have cauliflower in them!"  Here I thought he would suddenly change his mind and start making fake gagging sounds, but to my surprise, he said, "oh, you tricked me!"  And then he had another.  So, while they did NOT turn out like the photo, and in no way are able to be dipped in ketchup like the book suggests, I still got the satisfaction of knowing I had just fed my husband cauliflower without him knowing, he ate it, he liked it, and after being told what was in it, he still liked it.  Now if I can just figure out how to fry the darn things without ending in a gooey cheese massacre, I'll totally make them again!

The other recipe I tried was the main dish.  I really need to get some groceries asap, so I was surprised to find that there was a recipe that used some of the odd things I had lying around that I wasn't sure how I'd use them up....a half of a butternut squash, some plain cooked noodles, and an opened block of cream cheese.  I made the "macaroni & cheese 1" recipe, which called for all of these things, among others.  The butternut squash was the hidden veggie puree, although you also could use cauliflower in this one.  I thought I'd do this one, since I know my husband loves butternut squash anyway, and didn't have to "trick" him into trying this.  I also had half of a package of diced ham in the freezer, and decided to use that up too by adding it to the recipe.  (My husband is a carnivore and requires some kind of meat every night for dinner.) This one turned out GREAT and was a hit with everyone.  While I used penne instead of macaroni, it looked as good and creamy as the picture in the book.  It was creamy, thick, flavorful, and filling, and adding a little ham made it into the main dish I needed for the night.

While I've only made 2 recipes so far, I think this is a fun book to have on hand, whether you have a kid who's a picky eater, or you just want to find ways to get more nutrition into your meals.  I am dying to try out some of the delicious looking desserts, like chocolate cake, brownies, cupcakes, and cookies...all with hidden nutrition inside.  I'll be sure to let you know how they turn out!