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Cooking

It's been a busy couple weeks around here.
Last weekend I did a little cooking.
Saturday morning and I was totally in love with the beauty of this squash
I know. Commit me! I'm crazy.
But the contrast of colors on my kitchen counter was making me so happy.
I had to take a few pictures. Shiny granite! I love this different perspective.

What was the squash for? A tomato sauce recipe that Kris usually makes to have on hand for Willy. It has all sorts of veggies in it, and some ground beef too. So it makes for a well balanced, easy, healthy meal for him. I knew she was out of sauce, and up to her ears with beautiful baby Aila at home, so I offered to fire up my crockpot and make some. I'll post the recipe another time. It smelled really great, though I didn't get to taste it because since I ended up doing it in the crockpot I put it all in together early in the process.

Visiting

I visited Kris, Matt, Willy and Aila on Saturday afternoon.

Watching Willy with his baby sister is almost breath-taking. He's a very sweet, loving boy anyways but you can just see how much he loves her. Sweet boy! {and she's just sleeping right through it... but at least we show her when she's bigger how much her brother loved her right from the beginning}

its hard to see from this angle, but Aila was smiling so big!
so many connections. mom. big brother. baby sister. touching eachother. loving eachother. smiling at eachother. i love this family! :)

the rest of saturday was a little more stressful.

marilyn was taken to the hospital battling a fever and flu-like symptoms and a lot of pain and trouble moving after a fall. she's been in the hospital ever since... not making a lot of progress and not, in our opinion, getting very good care where she was. after pulling some strings yesterday we got her accepted at MGH and are waiting for a bed to become available so she can be transferred. hoping things will start looking up for her soon.

Cleaning
still, saturday night we managed to finish cleaning the house.

no small feat since i was away the previous 2 weekends and there was a LOT to be done.

we also ticked another thing off the to-do list. (see photo below)

i bought these frames from IKEA and picked out some of our favorite vacation photos.

i put them all together and Dan hung them up Saturday afternoon.

i love the look.

it adds so much color to the room.

and i love remembering the wonderful memories of our 2 trips to Jamaica where these photos were taken.

{kind of blurry, but you get the idea}

Fundraising
Thanks to the kindness of so many people I know and love (and some I've never met before) I have now officially raised $1905 for the Susan G. Komen & National Philathropic Trust for the 3Day, 60 mile walk I am participating in this October.

I am so inspired by your generosity and during this first week of training with all of the other stress and sleepiness that threatens to interfere, it is this sacrafice and sense of community that keeps me motivated.

So thank you! And let's keep raising that number. I raised my goal to $3500 but I'd ultimately like to aim for $5000. We can totally do this!

Scrapbooking

This week I took a little time to scrapbook. My weekend in Philly got the creative juices flowing again and I realized how much I missed it. I only posted a few photos online but you can check them out here- My Lifetime Moments Gallery.

I still have half- completed pages scattered on the kitchen table with intentions of doing a little more this week. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

CSA

I am 99% sure I'm going to buy a half share in a Massachusetts CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture) that has a new pick up spot in Scituate for this summer!

The gist is that you choose a half or a full share (a half share would be more than plenty for me) and every Wednesday for 15 weeks beginning at the end of June you pick up a box of fresh organic produce from a house in Scituate. The produce is all farmed in Western MA, (Heaven's Harvest Farm) picked freshed and delivered to the drop-off spot the same day.

It comes out to $25/week for the half share. I figure I spend that much on produce anyways and the grocery store stuff is definitely not as fresh... plus this will force me to try some new things. And what's really cool is that their website offers recipes that contain the ingredients you get, so if you're at a loss for what to do with them, you've got some options right at your fingertips.

As the lady said to me: "It really is a great program - you eat better, support local farms, reduce the carbon footprint, etc... and it's kind of fun to get a big box of fresh fruits and veggies each week that you didn't have think about buying."

Some more information about CSAs from their website:
"The concept of CSA membership began more than thirty years ago as organic family-run farms realized that a new local delivery system was necessary. This new system of operation would greatly enhance the consumer understanding and appreciation for the process of growing and harvesting high quality organic foods. The immediate concern was always price, which was hard to overcome when marketed through other distributors. As a result, some courageous and bright farmers decided to eliminate the costly middle-man and bring the savings direct to the consumer.

This Community Supported Agriculture concept has enabled many locally operated farms throughout the U.S. to stay in operation in order to provide the highest quality local, sustainable, and certified organic produce for the discriminating consumer. The model that we have embraced involves a set fee for the growing season in exchange for a weekly delivery of organic vegetables and small fruit."

Well that's enough for today!
Have a good day everyone!