In celebration of Earth Day

Who doesn't love Sunchips?  And the best thing, did you know that in 2010, they are making FULLY COMPOSTABLE CHIP BAGS??  I'm seriously excited about this because I just ordered a composter (more to come on that later...).  Plus already they are made with whole grains and 33% of their energy is solar.

Foodie Survey

This was kinda fun...

On Kids and Eating

This was written by John Rosemond in the Daily News Record on Saturday, April 4.  Sometimes he can be a little harsh, but I liked this scenario that he gave today.  Kids come over to our house a lot  - and 2 specifically are picky.  Their mom says they don't eat anything but cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, etc. but they eat great at our house.  

Growing up, my family didn't let us eat separate things.  We ate what the family was eating, or not.  There were usually a couple parts to the meal, so if I hated what was being served, I could have veggies and maybe potatoes or something.  And guess what, my brother and I are some very un-picky eaters.  

I just find this interesting...

"Mom and Dad are eating roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans, but 11-year-old Che is eating a hot dog and french fries and 6-year-old Fidel is eating a grilled cheese sandwich and the only brand of potato chips he will deign to consume.

This may look like democracy, but as we painfully discovered, it is the tyranny of the Children's Republic.  Furthermore, someone ought to tell the parents in question that a family shares the same food at family meals.  That is one of the things that makes them a family.

"But John," the guilty protest, "my child doesn't like roast beef and green beans!"

That, my dear, is because you serve him a hot dog instead.  I'll bet there are no children in Darfur who suffer from roast beef anorexia."

Best Gift Ever

I gave this to Reber a couple years ago for his birthday and I was so proud of it (and still am).  It doesn't look that special upon first glance, but it actually took some thought and effort.  Maybe I even like it more than he does, but too bad.

The papers are Chinese for our names (supposedly!) and I got them from this guy at Pike's Place market in Seattle.  He didn't speak English and I had to repeat Reber's name like 3 times because I guess he'd never heard of it.  Anyway, that was really special because Reber's always wanted to go to Seattle but hasn't been yet - I was there for a death in the family so not under the best circumstances anyway.

So I wanted to do something special and give them as a gift, but custom framing can be out the wazoo expensive.  I went to the Frame Factory right up the road (a locally-owned store :) and asked what were my options.  The lady suggested a custom mat with a frame that they had in the store.  She went to a corner with the discount frames and pulled out this one - exactly perfect for what I needed and it was on clearance PLUS I had a 10% off coupon so the whole entire thing only ended up costing around $50.  I just love this thing.

Finally - Pictures from our newly designed room!

Here is the color - it's called "castle" and is a little darker in real life.  We went into the store and picked the first color we liked.  Reber and I always pick colors like that.

That is my favorite poster.  Everything in our room is pretty muted except that lamp (from my grandma - love that thing) and the poster, so they draw your eye to them.  Plus I like flowers but not really frilly girly ones so these are perfect.