It's the Little Things

During the freezing winter months, it's fun to sprinkle a little luxe into the standard uniform of jeans, sweaters, cardigans, etc. These are some of my favorite go-to accessories as of late. As most know, I am helpless to the siren song of purple. Thanks to either serendipity or Lady Luck, Bekka, my fashionista sister has drawn my name not once, but TWICE in the past two years in our family gift exchange so I've been the happy recipient of her (mostly) flawless taste. Last year, the purple scarf, this year...The buffalo plaid flats. Another sister of mine hates to wear socks as much as I do, so we freeze our toes off all winter long in flats.

Andy's sister Charlotte, gave me these adorable earring for Christmas. When I first wore them, I asked Ben if he thought they looked like earrings Autie Char would wear. He replied, "No, they look like ones you would wear." True, true. Maybe he was secretly trying to tell me that Char is more hip than preppy. Yes, if money were not an issue, I would shop at JCrew, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor with reckless abandon. Oh, and Nordstrom would probably become my new best friend as well.

I absolutely adore these shoes. They are red patent leather with a little wedge heel and the best part is that I got them for...wait for it...$5.75 on the clearance rack at Target! Sometimes it pays off to have really big (9.5, baby!) or really small feet since fewer people fit them.

P.S. Photo courtesy of Ben Haws

P.P.S. Sorry to subject you to my feet closer than you probably ever wanted to see them.

Cabin Fever

Have a child that is sick ALL week and not sure what to do with yourself to avoid going crazy? Why not grind some flour?? I borrowed an electric grain mill and tried my hand at making oat, rice, and bean flour for Ben-friendly baking.

The finished product: A canister of oat flour. Cost: 99 cents for the canister of whole oats. A similar quantity at a specialty store would be upwards of $18.

The WonderMill, a.k.a. "The World's #1 Whisper Mill." I would give it high ratings for its ability to quickly dispense with large amounts of grains, but I don't know what kind of whisper it's talking about. I wish I would have worn earplugs. But I guess that's pretty standard for these kind of contraptions.

Still trying to figure out how to use the pinto bean flour I ground. Any ideas? Have you ever ground your own flour before? Do you think it's worth the time/effort/money?

I'm also a big fan of making my own baby food and am excited to start whipping up big batches of baked sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, and peas for Miss Lucy. She will be six months old on Feb. 20 and we'll start her on solids. We started Ben before a little before four months old because he was so big and our witch doctor (no joke) at the Harvard Health Services told us it would help him sleep through the night (big joke). We think it mostly exacerbated his allergies, but I do have fond memories of spending one night a week in the kitchen slipping baking sheets loaded with veggies into the oven, mashing them up onced baked, and partitioning them into ice cube trays for individual servings.

Whistle While you Work

It's not hard to get excited about cleaning out a cluttered pantry and messy refrigerator when you get to look at that cute face cheering you on.

Just Sayin'

Thanks to Auntie Char for these fun shirts for Ben and Lucy. You rock!

Indulgence Delayed

So obviously I can't read a calendar. Somehow I got it into my head that the Miss America pageant was tonight, even though the graphic I posted clearly says Jan. 30. Wow, the brain cells are evaporating quicker than I thought. Sorry if I got anyone all excited for nothing. :)

Here She Is...

My guilty pleasure is on tonight, but we won't be home to watch it! Thankfully, a friend is going to record it on her DVR so we can sit around and dissect the pageant afterwards. Oh, the drama of Miss America, home of fake tans, false eyelashes, double stick tape, Vaseline on the teeth, strategically placed chicken cutlets, and more makeup than Tammy Fay Baker and Dolly Parton combined. Pure spectacle. I love it.

Will you be watching?

Three Cheers for Winter!

As you may know, I'm not a huge fan of the cold, but don't you just love the abundance of citrus fruit during the winter months? Ben and I are slowly working our way through this 18 pound bag of grapefruit and I'm about to go get an 8 pound bag of oranges this weekend. Eating such yummy jewels lets me pretend that I'm actually in one of the warm places where such delicacies originate (i.e. California, Florida, etc.) If only partaking could make it so... When we lived in Arizona people had tons of lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange trees in their yards. If people couldn't eat the fruit fast enough and the trees became overburdened, pesky roof rats would come to eat the leftovers and then chew through wires and other parts of the house. To avoid this problem, a little old couple we knew would leave bags of fresh grapefruit on our doorstep. Thinking about them makes me smile. Another wonderful thing about citrus is the smell of orange blossoms. You know it's spring when you can smell the orange blossoms in bloom.

Everyone else in the world probably already does this, but I've just started buying bags of frozen mangoes, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. Defrost a bowlful overnight, mix with your favorite yogurt flavor and voila! A perfect parfait.

Do you have a favorite fruit and any preferred method of eating it?