First of the Year Cleaning and Organizing Challenge

Ask Anna has thrown the gauntlet down...the cleaning and organizing gauntlet! And I'm going for it! Anyone want to join me?

14 Days to Get Clean and Organized

Kib's Bay 2011

It was down to the wire but we did it! We had Kib's Bay this year! Not sure what I'm talking about? Read up on it here.

We came up with the theme "Mission Impossible!" We woke the kids up at 8:00 a.m. by blowing party horns (a Kib's Bay tradition) and informed the kids how to dress (jeans, tshirt, closed shoes, hoodie or windbreakers). They were ready in no time and off we went to grab a quick Hardees drive-through breakfast. On the drive south on I-95, we reminisced what we've done for Kib's Bay over the years. We came up with the following list:

• IMAX Movie in 2007
• Blizzard Beach in 2008
• Surf Camp in 2009
• Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2010

After remembering the good times we announced the new theme by playing the Mission Impossible theme song ( via YouTube app on our Iphones). We had a show-up time of 9:45 and as we were a little early we stopped for coffees in St. Augustine. The kids still didn't know what we were going to be doing. After coffee, we drove through town and across the Bridge of Lions. The kids were really curious as to where we were going and were a little worried that it had something to do with the boat!

We pulled into the Alligator Farm parking lot and they were a little confused/suspicious/skeptical. We just waited for them to see the people on the zip line course and for it to sink in. It finally dawned on them what we were doing and they began to get excited. We signed in, paid, and got outfitted with our harnesses. After a little class on how to clip in and move through the obstacles we were on our way. Tommy and Timothy went first and they were soon out of sight. Annie, Michael and I stuck together. There were eleven obstacles before we got to the first zip line. It was long and a little intimidating! But after the first one, it got easier. We did the long course and it took about an hour and a half to complete. The boys would have done it much faster had they done it on their own. At the end I thought we would be able to walk through the farm but that would have been an "additional cost" so we didn't. (really?! for the price of the zip line they could easily have let us in to walk around a bit!) 

We were not allowed to bring in any phones or cameras for fear of dropping them into the pens below. Here are the only pictures we were able to get.

 You can kinda see the course in the distance behind the brown fence.

Afterwards we went just down the road, to the entrance to Anastasia State Park, in the Surf Station Parking lot and ate at Nalu's Tropical Take Out, a converted pop-up camper.

 Then we hurried to our next destination: World Golf Village IMAX theater for the 1:00 showing of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It was really intense to watch it on a 6-story screen! The IMAX was a throw-back to our first Kib's Bay where we went to an IMAX movie (no one can remember what it is that we saw that first time).

Ahhhh....another Kib's Bay. We had a great time and made another deposit in the memory bank! Boy, are they adding up!

Homemade Granola

I love granola but I don't care for the sugary sweet kind (and loaded with calories and fat!) so I prefer to make my own. I've tweaked the recipe over the years and now this is my standard one. The first one is the yummy, not-so-healthy for you. The variation is the one I usually make: not too sweet, scant on the fat.

Sheila’s Granola

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup coconut

1 cup almonds

1/3 cup wheat germ

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 can f/f sweetened condensed milk

½ cup oil

Spray baking pan with Pam. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix first 4 ingredients. Add next four and mix well. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

You can vary the ingredients at will. Try other nuts. Add raisins or other dried fruit (after baking.) Can be doubled and tripled as long as you have a large enough pan and can stir it.

Healthier version: I cut out the sweetened condensed milk and substitute ¼ cup of sweetener: either honey, real maple syrup or agave nectar. I reduce the oil to ¼ cup. Also oatmeal is increased to 6 cups.

Makes great trail mix when mixed with pretzels, M&Ms, etc. I've also given it as Christmas presents packaged in pretty bags or jars.

Seeds of Kindness

I read this blog post this morning and decided this was what we needed to do this year for advent! But rather than plant the seeds, we would gather them so we could have a visual reminder of the good we would collectively do. So I quickly set about to get what we needed ready. First I typed up a short description of this new activity.

Then scoured around looking for something to use as seeds. I debated using popcorn or beans but I happened to have a sizable amount of coriander seeds I had collected from my cilantro plants. I found a diminutive bowl and filled it up.

Next I found a tiny glass receptacle in which to put the round seeds. I put a pink bow on it (one of the colors of advent) because I didn't have purple. And then I arranged it all together.

We used to read the Jotham's Journey books together as a family as an advent activity but my kids have outgrown the books (memorized the stories) so we needed something else to focus on. I decided to put this little activity together with our advent wreath.

I look forward to all the seeds of kindness that will be planted in our hearts this advent season!

Pasta con Carne di Maiale

Recipe for Pork Pasta


Ingredients:


Onion
Olive Oil
Ground Pork
White wine
Chopped tomatoes
Sage (fresh is best but can used dried)
(Quantities of each vary depending on how big a crowd you are cooking for.)


Saute' onion in olive oil. Add ground pork and let brown. Add white wine and let evaporate a few minutes. Add canned tomatoes. When almost done cooking, add sage and salt to taste. Serve over pasta cooked al dente.


Want to see a picture? It looks sort of like Bolognese sauce but with chunky tomatoes rather than puree'. It also has a different hue since the pork is "the other white meat." The sage lends such a distinctive yummy flavor.

Make your own baking powder

I was baking something and noticed that I was running out of baking powder and I had read that you can make your own. A quick internet search led me to a recipe. I increased the quantity by using ratios (math lesson!) and came up with the following recipe:

·         1 T baking soda

·         2 T cream of tartar

·         1 T cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together using a mini whisk until well combined. Store in a plastic container.

I think it's much cheaper and it contains no aluminum! Happy baking!

Bucket List

In December of '98, Michael and I sat down with a scrap piece of paper and came up with a list, 5 each, of things we wanted to do. Following the adage "A failure to plan is a plan to fail" we set it in writing so we could start crossing things off our list. Our combined list comes to 10 things but I can easily add 5 more things for Just Ask's Bucket List Getaway.

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details. 


So ready for my (our) list? (We do these together so what is his is mine too.)


1. Grand Canyon Double. Being a marathoner and Ironman, it's been Michael's dream to run the Grand Canyon rim to rim. We would combine that with a family trip to the Grand Canyon, of course.


2. Go for a gondola ride in Venice with my husband. I'd been to Venice before and had even been on a gondola ride before but I wanted to go with Michael. We checked this one off our list in May of '99 with two little kids in tow. Not exactly as romantic as I'd pictured it (15 month old threw his sippy cup in the dirty canal water...) but hey, it was a gondola ride in Venice with my HUSBAND! How unromantic can that be, right?


3. Go to the top of the Eiffel tower. This is actually on Michael's list even though it was my dream. I went backpacking through Europe the summer of '90 and had gone to the 2nd level of the Eiffel tower for lack of time and funds (I actually had the funds; we were just scrimping). It was a regret of mine that I had not gone all the way to the top when I had had the opportunity. My husband, being the knight in shining armor that he is, wanted to reverse that for me. We got to check this one off our list on September 7, 2011, in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary. Now THAT was romantic! Here's a picture to prove it:

I love this man!!


4. Three month trip across the US. This is on my list but kind of because of something that Michael did as a teen. His family took the RV across the US for a month. I'm the one who upped it to 3 months. Too much to see and do in 1 month! I had taken a "Physical Landscapes" class in college (to satisfy a science credit for my liberal arts degree) which gave me such a taste to visit the country. We haven't done this one yet and time is running out. Our first born is 16...


5. Fly fish the Snake River in WY. This is on Michael's list. I'm not a fly fisherman by any means but I love the outdoors and I like to keep him company while he fishes. I sit on the river bank and read, knit, whatever. Of course it's been YEARS since he's been fly fishing but it's still on his list. 


6. Sea kayak the Baja Peninsula. This was on my list but I'm ready to switch it out with Canal Cruise of a river in France. Didn't know about that when we created this list. Now that I'm getting older and have a bum arm, not sure I'd enjoy the kayaking anymore.


7. Run the Boston Marathon. This was one of Michael's dreams and he fulfilled it in 1994. And again in 1995. The first time we made it into a family trip, and because we homeschool and were studying US history that year, it made a perfect field trip. The following year we made it into a romantic getaway. And it was.


8. Bike tour of California vineyards. I love wine (perhaps because I'm Italian?) and thought this would be so fun! We got to check this one off in May of '02 when Michael ran the Big Sur Marathon. It was such a fun trip because we went with two other running couples, friends from church. We toured San Francisco, Malibu and then Sonoma and Napa Valleys. The biking part was actually quite short (driving is so much more efficient!). Those vineyards are spread out a good distance! But the whole trip was a blast!


9. Sail the Polynesian Islands (Vanuatu in particular). This is on Michael's list. I used to want to sail, but long story short, after owning a sailboat and having our dream shattered, I'm not so keen on the idea anymore. I'm still willing to bareboat charter though, so this may actually happen....ONE day...


10. Cruise the Panama Canal. Going through all those locks would be so cool. Again, I used to want to do it on our boat, but now I'm thinking a cruise ship. Maybe we'll knock out 9 and 10 out with one stone.


That's the end of our list that we created in '98. Out of 10 items we've crossed off 4 things. Not too bad! Now for my extra 5...


11. Visit our Compassion International child in Honduras. I went to Honduras this past summer with my first born for a mission trip. We had a great trip, but logistics didn't allow for us to visit A. I'd like to go back sometime and do that.


12. Own a Bernina sewing machine. I bought myself a Sonata sewing machine as a graduation (B.A.) present to myself oh so many years ago. It's not fancy at all but it works and I've made lots of things with it. But it's my DREAM to own a really *really* nice sewing machine.


13. Take my kids to Spain. We've been to Italy several times to visit my family. But in 20 years of marriage we've not been to Spain to visit Michael's family. My kids know they are part Italian but it doesn't sink in that they are part Spanish. I want to take them to visit that side of the family.


14. Take my family on a surfing vacation. I'm not a surfer (although I did have lessons two years ago and stood up on a surfboard!) but my whole family surfs. I'm thinking Costa Rica so then we can also go zip lining. That sounds fun!


15. Fix up the house. All those little (and big!) things that need doing. The bathrooms, the kitchen, put in a pool....


What about you? Do you have a list?