Miles's Favorite Book

Back in January, I was trying to explain to Miles why he shouldn't pick his nose. In true Miles fashion, he had about a million questions as to why he shouldn't do it. I explained that we have boogers to keep the viruses and other germs out of our bodies, and if we pick our nose and eat the boogers, the boogers can't do their jobs. He was confused, "but boogers don't have brains!" and that led to me looking up some websites on the internet about T-cells, macrophages, phagocytes and all kinds of other interesting information. Miles was enthralled by all of it.

The next day we were at Costco, and Miles found the Body Book. A thick illustrated basic anatomy book. He begged me for it, and I told him we'd get it on his birthday.

Every time we went to Costco, we'd have to make sure they still had lots of copies. And finally on his birthday, we bought one. Of course he wanted to look at in the cart while I finished my shopping and I was totally embarassed when he started yelling, "Hey, there's a naked woman in here!" And Simone points at her and says excitedly, "Mommy!" Hah. That made me laugh.

Each day before his naptime, we read him more of his body book. He is fascinated by knowing just what is on the inside, how our cells function and develop, and how we grow.

He asked the other day, "But how come our spirit isn't in my Body Book?"
and wanted me to explain exactly how Jesus sent us to Earth. That kid is a thinker! Now I just wish he'd stop picking his nose.

Monet is a Democrat

Monet's first grade teacher showed me this last night at parent teacher conferences. Looks like we've got a little Obama supporter on our hands. ; )

Just call me the Handywoman

That is right, I fixed my own dryer last week. I am proud. Almost as proud as when Jared and I installed a new disposal last year.

Okay, it was easy, I admit. I just had to take the back panel off, take the vent apart and clean out all the junk in it. We had all kinds of stuff in there, but it was mostly cornfeed from the animal park at Thanksgiving Point. Guess I am not that good at checking my kids pockets!

I’d called Jared earlier in the day to tell him that we either needed to call an appliance repair place or get a new dryer.

Then I came home and searched in internet and diagnosed the problem. After fixing it, I was so excited I called him to brag and he was all disappointed because he had been researching too, and wanted to be the hero.

That’s okay honey—we have lots of other home repairs. In fact, you can be a real hero and paint the wall patches.

Good tip for extending your toner cartridge

If there is one thing I hate, it is shelling out cash for things that are boring: prescriptions, toner cartridges, car repairs, boring purchases that always crop up at the most inconvenient times.

A few weeks ago I was ready to fork out $50 for a new toner cartridge. But I wanted to see if the prices were better online. I came across a review on Amazon where a guy had just put tape over this little circle on his cartridge and got another couple thousand pages out of it. Apparently there is a light that shines through this hole to measure the amount of toner, and if you cover the hole, it will keep printing. Ours is a Brother printer. I don't know if it works for other brands.

Sure enough—it totally worked. There is still plenty of toner in there, and I suspect it will last a long time.

Jared used that trick on his printer at work, and combined we just saved $100. Yahoo.

In Love with Baby Acara

It is a great time to go to the zoo! We went last week when the weather was good and it was the best zoo experience we've had hands down. All the animals were so active. We had a staring contest with the cougar, lots of animals totally looking at us and were just more fun in general.

The highlight of our day was the little Orangutan, Baby Acara. She is the cutest thing ever! We saw her a couple of years ago when the docents were wearing their vests and feeding her bottles. It was really cool to see such a tiny orangutan, but she was so cuteand active this time!

She walked right up to the glass where we were standing and put her hands on the glass where Miles's hands were. Then she made a hugging sign (at least that is what we imagined it was) and hugged her arms across her body. And when I reached over to kiss the glass, she did the same. So I got to kiss a little ape through the glass! The kids thought it was hilarious. She was playing with her balls, and we'd just laugh, and she seemed to like the attention and she'd do it again, and come right up to the glass to look at us. It was very fun.

A Couple of Valentine's Day Ideas

I love Valentine's Day! One of my favorite things is to go to Costco or the mall the night before Valentine's and watch all the sweet and desperate husbands trying to find something for their spouses. : ) It is really sweet to see all the carts full of flowers. It reminds me that we live in a really unique place.

What I don't like about Valentine's is all the commercials on the radio that sound like this: "Get her what she REALLY wants: diamonds" or worse yet, the heart shaped pendant. I hate the idea that ALL women want jewelry.

To me, Valentine's is about telling the people in our lives how much we love them. I love homemade stuff. I love hearing other people's traditions, so I thought I'd share a few of the ones I like.

Today, I went to the mailbox and found a manila envelope with Valentine's hearts for all of us from my dad. I think it is the sweetest tradition. Ever since I was probably about Jr. High age, my dad has given us simple homemade Valentines cards with a really thoughtful note. I've kept mine through the years and it was really fun to read them a few months ago. They meant a lot to me, and I've done them for my kids too. This year he put a joke on each of the kids cards. They loved it. Getting mail is so fun for kids.

For the girls school Valentine's, instead of buying cards from the store for the kids, we used some of our scrapbook stuff and the girls made bookmarks for all the kids in their classes and we laminated them when they were done. They turned out so cute and we very simple. They designed them and had a lot of fun creating ones that the girls and boys would like.

Last year, Jared wrote me a funny poem for Valentine's. It is seriously my favorite gift yet. It makes me laugh everytime I read it.

I put all of our letters and cards we've written over the years in a binder. It is so fun to have them all in one place so they don't get lost. I love reading them.

On Valentine's Day, we decorate the table with a white tablecloth, the red chargers and heart napkins and candles and put a Valentine's card on each of their plates with a small gift. Jared makes omelettes and we have pink strawberry smoothies. Chocolate covered strawberries is another favorite of ours. They are very easy to make. Here is a recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/chocolate-covered-strawberries-recipe/index.html

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Cranberry Lime Salsa

I loved this recipe! My cousin Joy made this for one of our recent family parties, and it was so tangy and delicious. She is an amazing cook and published a cookbook recently called Bliss. She was even featured on Good Things Utah a couple of times.

Anyway, this is a raw salsa, is very tangy, and is something totally different than the normal salsa. She served it over a brick of cream cheese, which of course is delicious, but it is great plain as well.

Isn't it beautiful? I love the colors.

Here is the recipe:

1 bag cranberries
1 handful cilantro
1 or 2 serrano or jalepeno peppers
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic
1 T grated lime peel
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup agave nectar (she uses sugar, I use agave because it has a lower glycemic index and doesn't spike your blood sugar levels)
2 T lime juice

Wash and remove the seeds of the peppers. In a food processor finely chop the cranberries, cilantro, peppers and red onion.

Stir in agave and lime juice, then cover and refrigerate for four hours or more to allow the flavors to mix.