Buggin' Out

Mr. NeverBored planted a lovely garden this year (i.e. I have brown thumbs) and we have been eating delicious fresh spinach for the past month or so. A couple batches in, I noticed some teeny tiny white specks on the underside of most of the spinach leaves. Trying not to be overly alarmed while thinking about how many of these we must have already eaten (and hoping we don't have caterpillars growing in our tummies), I started washing each delicate leaf by hand. ugh. This takes sooo much time. I have no idea what these white dots are or what to do about them. If anyone knows what kind of bug lays these, if they are harmful to eat, and/or how to get rid of them...I would appreciate a comment ;)

Bento Laptop Lunch for Kids

I have been trying to get more creative with the girls' lunches. I have also been trying to come up with ways to be more environmentally conscious and change some of our bad habits. Switching to mostly WASTE-FREE lunches seemed like a step in the right direction. I came across LAPTOP LUNCHES while surfing the web one day and decided to order a couple for the kiddos. We've been using them for a few weeks now and really like them. I love that I don't have to buy and dispose of about a million little plastic baggies any more, not to mention all the waste from individual packaging for milks, juices, fruits, snacks, etc. It is usually cheaper to buy in bulk anyway, so this is also a money-saving decision, too. Additionally, I am finding that I am getting more creative with the girls' lunches and that they are more willing to try new things for lunch when presented nicely in their cute LAPTOP LUNCHES.

Here is Thing 2 with her Bento style lunch for today:

Cold mac 'n cheese, apple slices, Sun chips, peanut butter and apple "sushi", Clif fruit snack and a Mix Berry Mix 1...mmmm....(yes, I realize there is going to be some waste after this lunch is eaten, but only one small wrapper from the Clif snack...the Mix 1 bottle will be recycled ;)

Thing 2 turned up her cute little nose and said "eeeeewwwwww" when I told her she was going to have sushi in her lunch, but then she quickly realized it wasn't real sushi as she watched me make the little rolls. She thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait to try them! I found the "sushi" recipe at On a Whimm... Click here for the easy tutorial... 

If you aren't familiar with MIX 1 protein & antioxidant drinks, you should be. We discovered Mix 1 because a good friend of ours is one of the founders of the company, but we recommend Mix 1 because it is delicious and healthy and you should run right out and get some...now. It is available at Whole Foods and King Soopers in our area, but it can also be ordered on-line at Amazon.com. So there, you have no excuse not to try it...no matter where you are ;) I have linked to my favorite Mix 1 flavor, Lime, but you can easily find the other flavors from links on that web page...

Tapaslicious!

I found a nice cookbook holder at Re-Store the other day. I brought it home and started looking through our multitude of cookbooks for an attractive, colorful one to set out in the new holder. I settled on TAPAS: A Classic Collection of Spanish-Style Recipes. It's one of those had-to-have cookbooks that we've never actually used.

I started flipping through the pages and got REALLY motivated to make some Tapas....right then. So, I picked out three recipes that sounded especially yummy and ran to the store for some ingredients.

The menu consisted of: Mini Spinach, Tomato & Pine Nut Pizzas, Lemon & Garlic Chicken, and Green Beans with Slivered Almonds. These were paired with a lovely Cycles Gladiator Pinot Grigio from my new favorite winery...they have such an AWESOME logo (and the wine is pretty tasty, too ;) 

Here is a photo of the mini pizzas and beans:

Next, I was going to take a photo of the chicken, but some hungry munchkins started digging into the food before I got a chance to set up a nice photo. So, all I got was a quick, sideways snapshot...

Oh well, at least everyone, even the picky kids, liked everything ;) Verdict: make it all again!

April Fools!

This year, I was prepared to pull some April Fool pranks on the girls ;) I decided to add some fun to their school lunches. I cut an apple in half, cut out a "bite" and made a small hole. I stuck a couple gummy worms in the hole and one near the bite mark...

Next, I removed a granola bar from it's wrapper, put in a carrot and sealed it back with double sided tape.

I had also planned to make Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast, but forgot that Thing 2 had Student Council and had to be at school extra early. Maybe I'll do breakfast for dinner.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Office Redecoration Project in Full Swing!

The office painting, redecorating, organizing project is underway! I got all my stuff out of the office and some of the furniture. I finally got to start painting today...yay! I picked a lovely shade of light pink called "Pink Reef". It is VOC free (I think that is what it's free of and I don't know what big long chemical that stands for and the paint can isn't near me now) and very low odor. We painted the first coat today and can hardly smell paint...it's awesome!

Here is one of my adorable helpers :)

Another view of the cleaned out room:

Can you believe this is the same room as shown in my last post?!?

Before we started painting, we were hungry and didn't have much in the house (did I mention that I hate to go grocery shopping?). I did have the ingredients for a quick batch of Key Lime Poppyseed Scones....mmmm......