Stay Healthy Saturday

This week we tried a few new things in our diet including the TVP, and a recipe for quinoa stuffed peppers. If you have never heard of quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), you aren't alone. It isn't a new food though, rather it has been around for thousands of years and was the primary staple for the Incas in South America. It is high in protein and fiber and can be substituted for rice in many recipes. We hit our goal of diversifying our meals with only one big meat meal, our pot roast on the snow day, all the rest were either veggie or had small amounts of meat.

As far as exercise, I actually made it to the gym twice, and Jason's sneakers met the gym floor again today after a bit of a break. He continues to slowly drop a pound or two every week or so, and I'm in my healthy zone.

Personally, I forced myself to get outside to soak up some much need sunshine on the days the weather cooperated. Walking the kids to the bus, or chopping the ice off the front walk for a few minutes truly made a difference for me. I also finished a book, a small accomplishment as I rarely take the time to sit and have quiet time. Here's to another healthy week. Hope we don't throw it all out the window tomorrow enjoying our Super Bowl treats!

Snow Day, part 2

Well our snow day found us busy in the kitchen. I'm happy to report it was all a success. Everything tasted good, and it kept the kids busy and stopped them from arguing and driving me bananas! Benny and Paula Deen's pretzels came out awesome! I could have eaten the whole plate. Surprisingly, the salted ones were the favorite with the cinnamon coming in a close second. I hope they still taste as good by the time Jason gets home. I will definitely be making these again.

Next came the cupcakes. Even Noah got in on the action. They sprinkled coconut, walnuts, butterscotch chips and crushed candy cane on them. Ick. They had fun though, and the only time I intervened was when they licked their fingers and then reached back into one of the bowls.










With everything done and the kitchen cleaned, I ventured outside to shovel, and it's now raining as the temperature rises. The snow weighed a ton, and I'll be feeling it later. We only have to shovel about 10-15 feet of a front walk and it has never wiped me out like it did today! It's been a fun snow day, but I'll be looking forward to getting them back to school tomorrow. Too many days like this and we'll all weigh a ton!

Another snow day... what to do?

Make cupcakes! Alanya has been dying to make cupcakes and decorate them all by herself without me interfering, or telling her how to do it. (For those of you who know me you know how difficult that is!) I figured a snow day was the perfect day. We just put them in the oven, and I have a can of chocolate frosting taking up space in the pantry. She and Ben have been tossing around ideas "for toppings" - sounds like they are making a pizza!

Ben's choice for baking today was a recipe out of his Paula Deen's My First Cookbook that he got for his birthday. After much pondering, he settled on homemade pretzels with either salt or cinnamon sugar. He said he wants to try both flavors. His dough is rising and we should be getting the pretzels going right about when the cupcakes come out.

I also have dinner going already... a pot roast with veggies in the crockpot. A perfect day for it. Will post our results later today!

WTF is TVP?

TVP? Otherwise known as Textured Vegetable Protein. It's a food, a meat substitute to be precise that is high in protein. Yesterday I went to the store hoping to pick up frozen Boca Burger Crumbles, which is technically TVP colored and molded to look like scrambled hamburger, to put in some veggie chili. My store didn't have any, but much to my surprise, I was in the health food aisle and saw a bag of dry TVP. I'd never heard of it!

Dry TVP is rehydrated by soaking it in hot water, and then can be used in chili, soups, whatever you want to increase the protein in a vegetarian meal or stretch a meat meal making it healthier. A 1/4 cup serving has 80 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, 4 grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein. It sounds like a dream food. The ingredients are simply defatted soy flour that is mixed with water to make a dough and then dried. No preservatives, no colors, no nothing. And if that isn't enough... it's cheap. A 10 ounce bag cost me $2.89, and I'm guessing I'll be able to get at least 8 meals out of that little bag.

I brought home my little bag and plumped up my TVP. It smelled like soy, no surprise there, and was pale in color. Like tofu, it takes on the flavors of what you cook it in. I used it in my chili, and then made taco meat with lean hamburger and used the TVP to double the volume. I won't lie to you, it's different, but you'd be hard pressed to find the difference when mixed with the hamburger. Ben and Alanya gobbled down the chili and didn't say anything other than it was good. I never lie to the kids about food or try to hide things in our food. They didn't say anything, so I didn't offer it, but after we ate I told them. Some kids would have announced they didn't like it after all. Not these kids. Ben shrugged and today asked for a thermos of it in his lunchbox! Tonight's taco meal was just as successful, and it all got eaten.

TVP, my new discovery. I'm excited. And hopefully I didn't offend anyone with the title of this post. When I wrote it, it made me giggle, and isn't that what this blog is all about? My parents just figured out LOL and TTYL, so I should be safe that they haven't yet figured out WTF. Tee hee hee.

**Editing this to add** My mom emailed me and said "WTF you are CRZ!" Next thing you know she'll actually start texting people!!! You go Mom!

Stay Healthy Saturday

Without a doubt, the biggest thing we did this week to stay healthy was to get the horrific mold out of this house! It was truly shocking to see underneath the paneling and see the extent of black mold back there. I'm happy to report it's all out of here as you can see from these pictures I just took. Our contractor also just discovered there has been a leaking pipe behind one of the walls for quite some time that he just had to repair. Add that to the list. (Notice how I didn't have a Frugal Friday post this week?)

What else did we do to stay healthy this week? Jason went to see his doctor and got a battery of bloodwork. The conclusion after the appointment was exercise, exercise, exercise for stress management and overall health.

For the past two weeks I have also planned meals with a new strategy. My goal is to have two seafood, two vegetarian, two meals where meat is a small part of the dish, and one normal meat meal. We came pretty close this week. We actually had three vegetarian, one chicken, one seafood and one beef. The seventh night was breakfast for dinner and we had pancakes, eggs and bacon. Just two slices a person. We aren't angels, we can't go completely cold turkey, but I'm trying to just live moderation and see those times as treats maybe once a week. I have yet to plan my meals for the coming week, but we'll see if we can stick with it.

I guess what it comes down to this week is no mold, and less meat.

The basement, what you can't see

This past weekend we had to empty our basement in anticipation of the demolition that would be happening down there this week. You can imagine what our upstairs looks like now. Every cabinet filled, things under beds, plastic bins in hallways. This will be a long process. I went downstairs this morning at 8am and took a few before pictures. This is just a simple wall that was in the tool room, or workshop. Looks ok, right. Jump ahead to 10:30 am when I took this picture below of the same wall.

Nasty, isn't it? The mold is disgusting and in every single room. I'm so happy we are doing this. Tomorrow we have a guy coming to meet with us about installing a generator. The first power outage and flood was a fluke. The second made us determined that there wouldn't be a third!

What a day for a new day

Yesterday was a huge day for our nation. One we'll remember forever. It brought back memories of another January 20th in 1993 when I was a student in Washington, DC. Fellow Georgetown alum, Bill Clinton, was sworn in as President and I was there. Not at the swearing in, which much like yesterday, was nearly impossible to get near, but just being in the city was electrifying. Today I went and dug out my old photo album and scanned in a few pictures to share my brush with history.

The day before the swearing in, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and their wives attended a diplomatic ceremony on campus. Some friends and I got up before dawn, went through security and stood and waited. We had snagged a spot right on a security rail, and from what we could gather, Clinton would be walking along the rail to move from one building to the next. We stood in the cold and waited for three to four hours, but it was worth it. All four, Bill, Hillary, Al and Tipper came down the line and shook our hands. It was absolutely thrilling.

My friend snapped this picture of Hillary as she shook my hand. It all happened so fast, you realize you can't say much, never mind have a conversation. I decided I wanted to say something to Hillary. As a 21 year old woman about to graduate in a few short months and head off to graduate school, it was so exciting to have a First Lady who was a professional and accomplished in her own right. Who would have thought back then that she would have gotten so close to the presidency herself and would now be Secretary of State? So what did I say to her? My profound line was "Hillary, young women are looking up to you!" Not very impressive. But it was the best I could do in the frenzy and craziness of the moment. I remember she thanked me and moved on to the next person.

Here is the blurr of a future president moments before shaking my hand. The morning was exhilarating and I'll never forget it. The next day was the actual inauguration which I remember we watched on tv, then we bundled up again and headed downtown for the parade. It was sunny, but cold and we claimed a curb-side seat on Pennsylvania Avenue. We hoped the new President would venture out of his car, but this was the best we got. A glimpse of the armored limousine as it made it's way down to the viewing stand at the White House. I don't remember any specifics of the parade, but I do remember how it felt. We sat there like sardines with a bunch of strangers from around the country and we all waved flags, feeling like it was a new day and a new start. Who knows if I'll ever have the chance to be so close to history again, but it was an unforgettable few days.

As a postscript, I have had a moment with the new administration. The closest I got to Barack Obama was sitting in a traffic jam last January trying to go see him speak here in town before the New Hampshire primary. I ended up turning around, going home and watching him on C-Span instead. However it's Vice President Joe Biden who I have actually crossed paths with. In the fall of 1989 I had shared a cab to Union Station with a girl who lived on my floor. We were both going home for a long weekend, she to Delaware and me to New England. As her train was being called she said, "Hey, there's Senator Biden, want to meet him? I went to high school with his kids." So I shook hands with then Senator Biden and exchanged pleasantries about college before he got on the train to return home himself. I guess in some ways it really is a small world.

Stay Healthy Saturday

If I had to pick a "Before" picture I think this would be a front runner. At least out of digital pictures that I have. This picture was taken in August of 2003, and a few months later I slipped on my front steps, fell and broke my tailbone. There is nothing they can do for that other than send you home with a bottle of percoset and advise you to lay off the Oreos. It was winter, I was in pain, I was depressed and I was eating. One Friday night I announced to a shocked Jason that I was going to Weight Watchers the next day. I was nervous how I would be accepted there since I knew I didn't need to lose tons of weight, but I knew I needed help. Five months later I had lost 29 pounds and made "Lifetime" at Weight Watchers.

Five years after going to that first meeting, I'm happy to say I've kept most of the weight off. I'm about 4-5 pounds heavier than my lowest weigh in at WW which I am very happy with. I realized that I actually was too thin and look healthier with a few extra pounds. So I guess I'm right where I want to be.

But this year I had a wake up call that health is not all about weight. In May, my very active and thin father had a quadruple bypass. That alone was a shock. Then my older brother was diagnosed with cardiac problems and he needed a stent put in. I started to get worried. This fall at my annual exam I discussed my concerns with my doctor and she ran a bunch of tests. My blood work showed that I had an inherited gene that predisposes me to heart disease. So what does that mean? It means I have to be extra careful with diet, exercise and stress management now because once I hit menopause my risk sky-rockets. The time to deal with this is now by making lifestyle changes. Keeping the weight off is a great start, but there is so much more I should do. I'm already labeled as "the healthy aunt" by my nieces and nephews because I make bean muffins and wholewheat and soy flour pancakes with flax seed. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Jason thought I was kidding, but I'm going to institute "Stay Healthy Saturday" here on I Absolutely Do. Ok, maybe I'll post it on a Tuesday, but who cares. I want to reflect on what I did to stay healthy that week. Jason and I have already started a Saturday morning weigh in. His goal is to lose, and he's already lost ten pounds since the fall. He has another ten to go. My goal is to keep my weight in my healthy zone, find time to exercise, and make positive changes to our diet. I hope this keeps me a little accountable. If I know I have to write something, maybe I'll squeeze in a trip to the gym. Which I did this week... twice. My kids asked if my card beeped when I scanned it since I haven't been there in so long. Buzzards.

So here is to Stay Healthy Saturday. Small changes now will make a big difference down the road.

Frugal Friday #2

Last Friday I did a look back at everything I had done that was frugal over the course of the week. As I sit here today, I'm not sure this is going to be so easy. Last week was all about shopping, but this week was definitely not a shopping week. Probably the most frugal thing we did was Jason and I sat down this past weekend and planned our meals for the week based on things we had in the freezer and fridge, and I just picked up a few things to round it out. I knew what we would have, and it kept me out of the grocery stores all week.

Another regular money saver for us is packing lunches. I was thinking about this today as I packed up three lunchboxes (Jason packs his own). Alanya would eat hot lunch at school every day if we'd let her. When she first started school, we let her pick and choose because it was still so exciting for her to have a hot lunch. But at $2.00 a pop, that really adds up. Ben likes to say that I could feed our whole family for a week with $2.00 and a few coupons. Probably not, but he's on the right track. The rule had been two hot lunches a week, but we weren't really sticking to it. If it was a busy morning and the kids all said they wanted hot lunch, it was easy for me to agree. New rule is once a week. Period. Don't think my kids are suffering, this isn't the lunch we'd get 25 years ago in a crumpled bag. Today Ben and Alanya both had hot chili in their thermos. (I just got chewed out by them because I put the wrong thermos in the wrong box! Ben was not very pleased he had the Hannah Montana thermos, and Alanya said there was way too much chili in hers! Ooops!) We had the chili for dinner this week and it has two kinds of beans and is loaded with vegetables. Hope they aren't forever labelled in school as 'the gassy kids'. Noah took peanut butter and jelly on two leftover pancakes. For Noah it's always pb&j, it's the vehicle that carries it that changes for him.

This year while packing lunches I also changed the way I did drinks. Fifty cents to buy milk? Are you kidding me? I have reusable plastic drink boxes and they take one for lunch and one for snack. When this school year started I switched from two milks to a milk and a water. The kids stopped complaining after two days, and I save a full gallon of milk a week.

What else did we do to save a little? We moved forward with refinancing. Paid bills online. Wore warm socks and shoes and a sweatshirt while home so I wasn't tempted to turn the heat up. Threw a snack in my bag when I went out in the morning so that I wouldn't impulsively buy anything to eat. It's the little things that add up. Thanks to Jennifer at Getting Ahead for encouraging me to reflect a little!

Things that make me laugh outloud

Laughing is good. Laughing is healthy, and they actually say that people who laugh regularly live longer. With that in mind, here are a few things that recently made me laugh outloud.

1. After checking out books at the library, Alanya held up her library card and said "Mom, do I have any money left over on this to get a dvd?"
   
2. Jason is on some fabulous mailing list for Victoria's Secret (I know, I won't go there) and we get some great promotional things from VS. At least every 6-8 weeks I get a coupon for a free pair of panties. I haven't paid real money for undies in years. Yesterday we got another one in the mail, a complicated 5 paneled folded brochure with a heart shaped card that is the coupon. You can imagine the graphics with pink roses and ladies in itty bitty undies and bras. Benjamin giggled at the sight of it, then completely serious asked "Is that scratch and sniff?!" Eight going on eighteen.
3. And finally, no words are necessary here.

Low of -10 tonight

We are in the middle of an arctic blast. Tonight it will be ten below. Tomorrow a high of 9. Don't we look warm and toasty in this picture? I think our feet were burning too. Sigh........

Relationships in the 21st century

When I started this blog a few months ago, my intention was to have a place to jot down little stories and ideas, and stay better connected with people who I don't see everyday. Boy was I wrong. Today I received an email from my mom with the subject title "Blogs". In the body all it said was this, "I miss your blogs- are you having a busy week?" Since when did this two way street become one way? Is this how relationships in the 21st century function?

And not to pick on my mom (we just talked for a long time on the phone after I replied to her email with 'why don't you pick up the phone and find out!') because it has happened with other people too. Friends who read all about the mundane details of my life, get their fill and move on, feeling like we chatted. Kelly.... are you out there? I know you are reading this right now. The last time I spoke to Kelly on the phone I realized she was getting her fix of me through my blog, she feels fulfilled, but I get nothing.

Attention everyone who cares about me enough to read this every now and again! Would love to hear the mundane details of your life too. Leave a comment so I know you were here, shoot me an email, pick up the phone. Otherwise pretty soon our closest relationships will be pinging people on Linkedin, or winking at people on Match.com.

Snowy Sunday sleep in!

This morning I woke up to the tail end of another snowstorm. The kids were up and I could hear quite a bit of activity downstairs. The microwave was beeping, dishes were clanging, the kids were yelling orders at each other. A little while later Noah came up and told us we should sleep in because he had warmed up pancakes and gotten breakfast together for all three of them, and even passed out vitamins. He was so proud of himself. Later when we got up, Alanya was also proud of him and said "Mom, Noah is going to make a great dad someday!"

For the love of RedSox Nation

This is one of my favorite pictures from Florida. That's my dad, Jason and seven year old Noah. Three generations of men happy as clams to stand in the hot sun on metal bleachers to watch grown men take batting practice. Ahhh.... baseball.
Spring training tickets for the Minnesota Twins went on sale today. Who cares, right? When we go down to Florida in February to visit my parents, it's always about the Red Sox. This year we wanted to mix things up a bit and see the Red Sox while they visited the Twins who also train in Fort Myers. So today at 9am I logged onto the MLB Twins site to buy tickets, and due to the high volume of traffic went to their 'virtual waiting room'. Every fifteen seconds the screen would refresh, and the idea is it would refresh and I would be able to buy tickets. Having done this before, I knew I was in for a long wait. Problem is you can't really do anything else, because when the screen pops up you only have a minute or two before you lose your spot. What to do when you have to stare at a blank screen for who knows how long? I put on NPR. I called a friend. I took my 15 seconds and ran to get our paper shredder and sat here shredding papers. Thank goodness our bathroom is close by and we have wireless!

Fifty five minutes after entering the virtual waiting room, I finally made it to the so-called ticket window. How come after less than an hour, the best available tickets for the game I wanted was the last sections of the upper deck, way down the base line? Sigh... the good thing is that there really are no bad seats at spring training. Now our fingers are crossed that our favorites Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia will actually play that night. Opening day will be here before we know it.

Can you say mortified?

When we become adults and need to buy something at a drugstore that may be considered 'embarrassing', somehow we get this crazy idea in our heads that the cashier is a professional. They see it all, they don't judge, they ring it up, forget and move on. Like they are a priest in a confessional, or have some kind of doctor-patient privilege. We try to block out the fact that they are just standing there making an hourly wage. Well a few weeks ago, something happened to me that is just too hilarious, I have to share.

I was returning an item at a drugstore. It was an item that "aids in regularity". (I'll leave it at that for obvious reasons.) Anyway, I put it down on the counter and say I need to return it. The cashier looks at it and says with a very loud voice, "Good thing you didn't need that after all, huh!?"

Frugal Friday

Over on Getting Ahead, Jennifer is starting a weekly wrap up where she posts about all the frugal things her family did that week. I was thinking about it, and sometimes a fresh set of ideas can really set you on a new path. I thought I'd participate today and post my Frugal Friday summary. What did we do this week that helped save some money?

It was a busy shopping week for me. One of those weeks where there were so many good deals to be had, it nearly made me giddy. My trip to CVS should have been $41, but after I used my coupons, rain checks and extra bucks, my total was $.01. Yes, you read that right, one penny. I also got all my extra bucks back with some profit for next time too. One of my better CVS runs. The cashier simply seemed dumbfounded. Next to Walgreens where I made two trips this week. One day my total was $29 and after coupons, rebates and everything else, I paid $1.61. To quote the cashier, "unbelievable!" (tee hee hee!) On to the grocery store that was running a spectacular deal where you spend $30 on certain items and receive $15 to use next time. If you do that deal, but use coupons and doubled coupons for all the items, you can imagine how you can do these transactions back to back and "roll" the $15 over and over again. I did 6 runs in all this week, but luckily there are two different stores in town, so I was bound to be driving by one every day or so. We are now well stocked on frozen veggies, granola bars, cereal and lots of other things that fill the pantry.

Just to give you an idea, I got home one day and took this picture, and emailed it to Jason with the subject "$2.54 out of pocket". That was misleading though, because I forgot the vitamins were in the picture. I did pay for those, but about $2 a bottle instead of $6 a bottle.

The key to the success here was combining more than one shopping strategy. If you clip a coupon and then go buy the product, you are just skimming the surface. On all these deals I used coupons for items on sale that also had other store promotions attached to maximize the savings. I also took advantage of rain checks. Did you know when CVS has an item that is "free after extra bucks" but they are out of stock they will give you a rain check? It means they just give you the item for free. I had a raincheck for Listerine, limit 3. They simply put three bottles in my bag and away I went. We like fresh breath around here ; )

Beyond my shopping it was the regular stuff that has become automatic in our house lately. I packed lunches and made muffins for snacks. I meal planned based on what I need to use up. This week it was Christmas ham - quiche one night and Hawaiian pizza another. Instead of turning the heat up during the day when I'm here alone I put on another sweatshirt. I only ran full loads in the washer and dishwasher. And of course, I freecycled.

I guess we did do pretty well this week. The weather kept us in a bit, but nothing is more affordable than hanging out at home!

My frugal partner in crime

Being frugal, being green, buying local, reducing waste and consuming less.... over the last thirteen years of marriage Jason and I have travelled the spectrum of all of these, focusing on one more than another at different times. Sometimes they conflict, but more often than not, they work in conjunction with each other. One thing I have determined is that having both of us on board has made it much easier. If you cook beans and rice instead of steak, and your partner isn't ready to make those kinds of changes... forget it. It will be an uphill battle from day one. Luckily Jason has been my biggest cheerleader and teammate. But how did we get here?

Almost nine years ago we had one child and I worked. Noah was in daycare, but with two incomes we were doing ok. We owned a home, drove two cars, had a gas grill with a pool in the backyard. When we decided we would try for a second child, we ran the numbers and realized it would be a break even proposition if I continued to work. If I stayed home full time, we would need to change our ways a bit, but it could work. I started researching frugality and budgeting and soon discovered The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn. This massive book really opened my eyes to the possibilities. Not only could I stay home with my kids, we could actually save money and become debt free. We started small, cutting back on eating out, cooking from scratch more, reducing energy usage. We were off to a good start. I got pregnant, just like we planned. But then a month later Jason got laid off. Now our situation had taken on a whole new level of urgency. Luckily we were both willing to work together to make it work.

All these years later, our immediate motivations may be different than a new baby and a lost job, but we both still work hard at this "job" I have which is being home.

Will my children ever go to school?

It started with the ice storm, two days of school cancelled. Then a delayed opening, another snow day. The holiday break. Monday the new year is supposed to start at school, only a delayed opening. Then today, another snow day! Alanya may be in first grade until she is 12.

If this blog had sound, you'd hear Ben and Alanya arguing over the computer right now. I think they have had enough, as have I. It's not even a good day to play outside as rain, freezing rain and sleet will be coming down all day. I'm not sure I'll make it. If I don't blog again within 24 hours, assume the worst and send in the troops!

Freecycle, part II

Well, if this doesn't prove what goes around comes around. As I mentioned earlier, we have been purging and giving away a lot of things with Freecycle. Well on Saturday, we had loaded up the van to go to the dump and I happened to look at the Freecycle posts. Someone in our general neighborhood was offering two white Ikea bookcases. We are desperately in need of good quality shelves for our playroom, and Jason told me to try for them. Within 10 minutes the owner of the bookcases and I were exchanging emails, and about 40 minutes later, they were in our house. Turns out the people lived only a few streets away! They just about look like they came straight from the store. Jason calls it good karma for all the stuff we have passed on to others.

I don't care what it is, I'm just happy to have real shelves!

Do you Freecycle?

The drama of the December ice storm is still playing out here with the latest chapter being the impending demo of our basement walls. Our insurance agent pulled back some paneling, and the mold is everywhere. We've decided it all has to go due to Jason and Ben's allergies and the health problems that are possible because of mold. Some rooms will have sections of the walls spared, and others will be stripped down to the studs. Sounds simple until you look around at all the stuff.

Like any basement, ours is full of stuff. Some stuff we use, other stuff we don't. Jason and I are on a crusade to purge, de-clutter and simplify. I went and got a 2009 sticker for the dump in anticipation. But what about the stuff that we've just outgrown? The toys, the old VCR, the kids' highchair that I thought would be so useful to keep? The answer is Freecycle. Freecycle began in 2003 in Tucson as a way to gift and receive items that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Have a working VCR you don't need in your basement? You create a post offering it to anyone who wants it, and you'll start receiving emails from people who would be happy to come by your house and take that VCR off your hands. Someone offering something you could use? Send an email, and you just may be the person chosen to receive it.

I've given a lot more than I've received through Freecycle, but that's ok. I think it's easier to get the stuff out of here instead of saving it all for a nightmare of a yard sale some day down the road. Yes, these people are strangers, and they are coming to your house, but I usually just leave the item on my front step and rarely even have a conversation with someone. Freecycle critics say that people pick up free stuff and then re-sell it. Well, more power to them I say. If you have the energy to clean up this bucket of toys and sell them on ebay, good luck.

Yesterday I finally posted something I have thought about posting for some time... our Rescue Hero collection. Noah wanted to be Billy Blazes when he was five years old. One of his birthday parties was a massive Rescue Heroes obstacle course covering the entire front yard. Every time I thought about passing them on, I'd discover the kids playing with them again. A friend of mine was going to take them over two years ago, but we never got around to getting together to make the exchange (sorry Christine!). But Billy Blazes and friends have sat untouched for well over a year now. I had Noah pick some of his favorites to keep, and the rest were offered. The mom who picked them up had two little boys who couldn't wait to get their hands on them. She told Jason she had just had some of her stuff picked up that afternoon so she had plenty of room for this new treasure. That's what Freecycle is all about, passing the good stuff around.

Their "first" First Night!

My kids hit a milestone last night. Actually seeing their first New Year roll in. Jason and I must be softening with old age. New Year's Eve day saw a bitter cold snow storm roll through, but our friends were able to get here last night for our annual celebration together. We ate, and the kids watched Back to the Future, danced, played and just had a great time.

Our guests left at 10:45, and as expected the kids asked if they could stay up. To my shock, Jason agreed. We all piled around the tv and we did our best to keep Alanya awake as we watched the minutes tick by. We took this video of the big moment. I just love Ben's excitement as he stands there with his hat and horn waiting for the infamous "ball to drop".

Much to my horror, Alanya still woke up at 6am. And by the time I rolled out of bed at 9:30, they had already watched Back to the Future II. I imagine we'll have kids collapsing around our feet somewhere near 3pm today. Happy New Year everyone!!

Editing this to add this photo of Alanya... I was off by three hours on when she'd crash!