Marla Anson Photography

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A few weeks ago I decided to finally make some baby food. This is something that I meant to do for my oldest son, and never did. Now I want to do it for my youngest son, plus I want to have the puree’s on hand to hide veggies in other foods. So I went to our local farmers market, picked up a bunch of produce and came home to steam and puree. I pulled out my knife, cutting board, rice cooker (to steam), food processor and some bags to store everything in. I had cauliflower, broccoli, green and red bell peppers, summer squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, bananas, plums, apples, and a few others I’m sure I am forgetting.

I cut up a batch of zucchini, placed it in my steamer, set the timer and started cutting up the next batch. Once the timer beeped, I took my cooked zucchini and put it in the food processor. This is where I first started having trouble. As I started to use the appliance I realized that the blade in it was for chopping only. I got the food processor for free from a friend, and it only came with the one blade. So, now it looked like I wouldn’t be able to puree with a food processor. Now, you may be thinking (as I did), that’s easy enough, just use a blender instead! Which is a fantastic idea, it’s just that our blender died just a couple of weeks before we moved. So I don’t have a working blender either! My hand mixer also crapped out on me recently. Argh!

So, in spite of this obstacle I decided to just chug along with the steaming so as not to waste any food. Sometimes the stuff you get at the farmers market just doesn’t last that long, so you need to do something with it fast. I continued to cut up my zucchini and steam and bag it up, and then put that in the freezer. Roadblock number two of the day; the steamer dies on me!

Now I am really annoyed and on my way to getting very upset. I have lightly used this rice cooker, and it isn’t even a year old. As a matter of fact, this is my second rice cooker of this brand in as many years. I had to bring the old one back to Target to get it replaced when it died, and now the replacement dies!

At this point I am so upset with the entire situation of my kitchen appliances and gadgets that I decide to just scrap the project for the day. I spent the remainder of the day Googling the best rated food processors and rice cookers and adding them to wish list on Amazon. In case you are wondering, the food processor I want is the Cuisinart Prep 11 Plus Food Processor and the rice cooker is the Sanyo 10-Cup Micro-Computerized Rice Cooker/Steamer. They are both really expensive, but I am tired of spending my money on cheap products that don’t last.

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Happy Thanksgiving.

This year I am thankful for a lot of things. First, my cousin Kristen is alive and she has been given a chance to and is able to recover. I am thankful for my two wonderful little boys. I am thankful that Hunter and I came out of the delivery room alive and ok. I am thankful for my current job of being the primary caregiver of my children, even though it is probably the hardest job I have ever had! I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband and that he has a really good job. I am thankful to all of my wonderful family and friends for all the support that we have gotten throughout this trying year. Especially my Mom and my Aunt Julie, they were both AMAZING! I am thankful that my enlistment in the Army is over, and thankful for all the things those past six years taught me. I am thankful that we are in a good financial situation. I am thankful that we were able to buy our first home this year. I am thankful to have a wonderful support system to turn to in the Joy Troupe. I am thankful for so much this year.

On that note, because I am thankful for so much it also means that we were terribly busy. Since I didn’t want to be overwhelmed I decided not to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I felt kind of guilty about it, and it was really weird waking up this morning and not preparing a bird, but tensions and emotions are running high in my family right now. I thought it would be best to not put the stress of doing the traditional thing. Instead we went over to my friend Angel’s place. It was really nice. All the food was really good. Trent had a really good time. We watched a little bit of football, played the Wii, talked with friends. I really enjoyed myself. Since Angel only has her self and her boyfriend she sent me home with a lot of left overs. Rad! (yeah, I just said “rad” wanna make something of it?)

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So we have now been in the house for about a month and it is going really well. Despite the size of the kitchen, it is working out really well. I’m baking and cooking all the time. I have a had a few playdates for the Joy Troupe in my new family room, which was a lot of fun. I LOVE the size of my master bedroom. Besides the kitchen, it is the room where I spend most of my time. There is enough space for the kids to play and for our office area. It’s fantastic.

I’m slowly getting stuff organized and put away. We still have lots of boxes, but there is no need to be in a huge rush to get everything unpacked and put away. I’m happy that everything is getting put away in a nice orderly way (except for the kitchen, I’ll just change that later). One thing that I do find very frustrating is those days when I do get a lot of stuff done, but it just doesn’t look like it. I’m having one of those days today. I’ve been working really hard and you can’t even tell.

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Image from Wikipedia.

Today I introduced the kids to Interstella 5555. Trent thought it was pretty cool and after the first viewing asked to see it a second time. The animation in this is so beautiful and matches the music wonderfully.

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So I haven’t been updating my site in a while, for a few different reasons. One, I didn’t feel right posting a bunch of stuff about mundane things going on in my life when a major crisis is happening to my family. Two, we didn’t have internet for about a month, and while I could use my phone to update, it was still difficult. Three, I was getting tired of religiously posting blog articles and decided to lay off of that for a bit.

Now, it seems that my cousin is doing better and I feel ok putting stuff up. It will be a very long and difficult road of recovery for her, but I think she’s going to be a ok. Kristen has made so very many improvements since she was injured and it is nothing short of a miracle all of the things that she is able to do. I am very proud of her, and all of my family who are in Washington right now giving her the support she needs. My thoughts and prayers continue to stay with my cousin and all of my family who are with her right now. Love you all.

Here is a picture of Kristen, myself and a few of our cousins doing a token “feet shot.”

Please note that if you want to help Kristen you can donate at ANY Bank of America to the “Kristen Grindley Medical Fund.”  Insurance only goes so far and only covers a fraction of what she needs for her recovery.

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Please keep my dear sweet cousin in your thoughts and prayers. On Veteran’s Day, November 11, a terrible thing happened to her. Police are still trying to piece it together. She is in a hospital in Washington state at this moment with very severe injuries. Kristen’s family and friends are all praying for a miracle right now, so please add to the goodwill. You can go onto Facebook to Rally for Kristen Grindley. There you can find some of the news articles that are coming out, learn about updates in her health or add a positive comment of encouragement. Please help Kristen. She is such a sweet person and she needs a miracle. Help us make it happen.

Update November 16, 2009 3:57 PM: Kristen is responding to people! This is such wonderful news! She tried to say something and she tried to touch her head. When she couldn’t reach her hands to her head, she tried to move her head towards them. My Aunt Julie also said that the doctors are really optimistic. Keep fighting Kristen! DO NOT GIVE UP!

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For the past week I have been feeding my family all these super healthy meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It makes me feel really good when I know my family is eating well. That pomegranate fish I posted recently was one of the meals. I made this quinoa dish that is a big family favorite. I call it a super food dinner because in addition to the quinoa there is also spinach, sweet potatoes, lots of garlic chunks and chicken. One of my easiest and healthiest one pot meals.

We had spaghetti squash with sauce and meatballs the other night. Another night I made a rotisserie pork roast with brown rice and roast vegetables.

For breakfast I’ve been making kasha with cranberries and a little sugar. That is really yummy. Since my husband isn’t too fond of cranberries, one morning I made it with blueberries.

It feels really good to finally be eating good food as opposed to the past month of fast food and dining out we have been doing because if the move.

My oldest son hasn’t been eating much, but I am not going to cook a seperate meal for him. He has to eat what we eat.

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I have been browsing through the baby and kids section on Craigs List. That is a dangerous thing to do, let me tell you! However, I found some some good deals on stuff yesterday and spent today driving all over Northern Virginia getting that stuff. I got a bunch of cloth diapers for Hunter. Fuzi Bunz instead of Bumgenius, but I got a good deal on them. I also got a gorgeous Vera Bradley diaper and ditty bag. I had to drive out pretty far from my home but it was such a beautiful day for a drive. The trees still look really pretty with their fall leaves and I drove through an adorable little town. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Perfect day for a fall drive. Last thing on my list for today was a crib for Hunter. I got the crib and a matress for less than fifty dollars. Not too shabby. Tomorrow I’m getting some toys for Christmas. I think we shall be having a Craigs List Christmas this year.

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