Quesada Family

A modge-podge of the last six months

2011-09-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

We've since cut Domenic's hair, and I've already forgotten how he looked before his first haircut. But boy, he was (and is) such a cutie!!!

Quinton loves to take pictures. However, I am the type to get dressed and showered only when necessary (such as before piano lessons, or when Antonio is getting home from work!). Hence a lot of pictures of me in my pjs and bed head.

A classic Quinton face.

Romancito (can you tell he's my son? Eyes half closed)

Hanging out

Couldn't you just eat him up?!??

So I walk by the dining room window one day, and out of the corner of my eye I see this dark thing on the window. After a big double-take, I see this monster beetle on the screen! I was too scared to get it all by myself, so I called the neighbor boy down the street (this was when school was out) to help me out. We managed to get it down from the high screen and get it in a plastic container. There was no way I wasn't going to get this guy since my nephew collects bugs.

Here are some pictures of Quinton's swimming lessons. Despite all of Quinton's craziness, he is very skittish around risky things, swimming included. I was so thrilled with how well his instructor worked with him!

My friend Olympia and I started a little business called "There's No Taste Like Home." We got a booth at our local farmer's market. Here we are on our first day. We sell baked goods such as individual sized pies, cookies, and mini-cakes. We also make "grilled breads." We incorporate ingredients into fresh bread dough and then grill it to order on the spot. Our most popular breads were the Crazy Greek (garlic, spinach, olives, feta, and fresh oregano) and Breakfast in Bread (eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese and chives). Our first season went well, we'll see where it takes us!

Scott, Olympia's son, aka the "Slave Driver" ;-)

So I woke up one morning to see this: Roman telling me "I make BIG mess!"

Domenic's First Birthday

2011-06-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Antonio's mother and sister came to visit during the week of Easter. The week also happened to coincide with both my mother-in-law and Domenic's birthday.

The birthday stars!

Domenic seemed more interested in making of a mess of his cake than actually eating it!

Roman and Daddy having a good laugh.

Such cuties!!!

Quinton and Abuela

Hi Roman!!!

We tried to pull the package out of his reach until we could clean him up a little!

Abuela opening her gifts.

Quinton's card to Abuela

Checking out all the loot!

Easter!

2011-05-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I had an itching for baking something fun, but it was still a little early to do Easter-themed treats, so it seemed like the perfect time to make these cupcakes that I have been wanting to do for years, every since I saw them in the "Hello, Cupcake" cookbook. They turned out just like the pictures, which is always very satisfying!

My mom saw this great idea for a Peeps flower in Woman's Day magazine. We made them one afternoon. I saw the carrots in this year's Martha Stewart, and I thought that they were a good combination.

Here is the finished display:

Quinton and I had a great time making our family into pinecone bunnies!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE marshmallows. Several years ago I bought a silicone mold for Easter (it was on clearance at Wal-Mart; I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it yet, but I thought it had potential). I was thinking about how much I love chocolate-covered marshmallows, and it occurred to me that this mold would be perfect to make my own. They turned out so-so. I think next time I would use extra-dark chocolate instead of milk and white chocolate. The combination of milk chocolate and marshmallows was just a little too sweet - even for me!

I love making iced sugar cookies, so I thought it would be fun to make them for Easter and not just for Christmas. Coincidentally we had some new neighbors move in, so I made them a tray to welcome them to the neighborhood.

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Of course, there was an Easter party at Quinton's school. Here he is eating his special lunch.

The Easter egg hunt!

Taking a rest after running around!

They had all the kids participate in making cookies, relating each step to a part in the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

Coloring eggs with Tia Bertha and friend Adriana. We employed a fantastic idea that my mom used to do: Since everyone always wants to color lots of eggs, but I don't necessarily want lots of hardboiled eggs to figure out what to do with afterwards, we color raw eggs. Well actually, Quinton colored hard-boiled eggs, and the adults colored raw eggs.

Okay, so Quinton brought this Easter craft home from school. I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, and Quinton wasn't sure either. I don't know if it is supposed to say "sin" or if he just put some letters on or what. In any case, I get a laugh out of it every time I see it on the refrigerator.

Easter morning. Roman wasn't awake yet, so I didn't get a picture of him in the morning (we have very early church - 8:30 AM), so the kids didn't even really get a chance to eat anything until afterwards. Domenic seemed more interested in the pretend cookies for the play kitchen.

Cutest Kids Ever!!!

2011-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Some of the latest pictures to prove that our kids really are the cutest!

Domenic climbing the stairs. Of our three boys, Domenic seems to be the most physically coordinated, at least at this age.

Quinton with one of his train track creations. Quite impressive, don't you think!

Domenic playing with one of his birthday presents. (more on his birthday in a later post)

Quinton waiting to use his contraption to catch a bird. Despite his patience, no pet bird for us!

Snack time!

Love is in the Air!

2011-04-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

I know this is several months late, but here are some photos from Valentine's Day. For breakfast I made the boys heart-shaped pancakes. Little did I know that this would lead to Quinton wanting his pancakes cut into shapes EVERY time!

For lunch I cut Quinton's peanut butter sandwich into hearts as well. For dinner the boys had hot dogs that are supposed to look like cupid hearts. I was in a rush to get these made, so they don't look quite as good as the picture I saw in Family Fun magazine!

Musings on Food

2011-04-12T18:19:00.001-07:00

Well, you all know that I LOVE food. To eat it, cook it, eat it....

Regardless of my personal beliefs on food and what constitutes a "healthy" diet, I am taking advantage of the fact that I have this format (blog) to blather on about my own ideas and am going to write about something that always bothers me regarding food. I have several friends and acquaintances who eat by different dietary "rules" and my philosophy is to say "great!" I mean, however they want to eat is fine with me. My gripe comes when I read posts or comments by people that in my opinion are completely illogical.

A few examples:

From a recent post on Facebook:

"... it is weird that we are the only mammals that drink milk after we're weaned. Just weird when you really think about it......."

Any time a person tries to make a point by comparing humans to other animals, I am always so baffled by their logic. So is this person saying that anything that separates us from other mammals makes us weird? How about everything about us. Like the fact that we wear clothes, go to work, read and write, etc etc etc... I mean, come on, it is even ridiculous to start listing the differences since they are beyond obvious.

Now to the raw food diet. Understand this, I have several friends who stick to this diet, and I support their choice. However, I have read/heard so many ill-thought rationalizations for this diet that it drives me crazy.

One such reason is that it is the way God intended us to eat. Now, depending on your particular understanding of God, this may have merit. The person I am thinking of, however, was a Christian, and so I am confused. To define yourself as a Christian usually means that you believe Christ was the son of God, and was a perfect person. Perfection being that he always did His Father's will. And according to the bible he ate fish and bread, both not approved in the raw diet. I can only suppose that this person was thinking of the Garden of Eden and the assumption that Adam and Eve only ate fruits and vegetables. I am unaware of this in the Bible, but I do know that after Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden they ate meat. And so we are back at the old Catch-22. Which way was the way God "meant" us to be - just Adam and Eve in the garden, or all of humanity outside of the garden?

The other argument is that it is natural and the way that we were meant to eat (who meant us to eat this way is unclear), and that our bodies are supposed to only eat raw food. If we were "supposed" to eat this way, it is kind of ironic that the only reason people nowadays can even do it is because we are getting fruits and vegetables flown in from South America and other parts of the country and world. Unless you live in California or some other climate that produces fresh produce year-round, this is an unsustainable diet. The idea that people "used" to eat this way is ridiculous. This is a diet for the wealthy who can afford to purchase fresh produce year-round.

All this said, I want to reiterate that I don't have a problem with the diets themselves, just the lame reasoning.

What would a good reason be? How about: "It makes me feel better, so I do it" Can't argue with that one!

Winter Fun

2011-02-03T13:23:00.001-08:00

Domenic "The Chunk" Quesada

Now who wouldn't want to kiss those cheeks!!

The snow storm that shut us down for a week. Quite literally, we couldn't get out of our neighborhood for 6 days. For me, it was pretty nice - everything was cancelled so I got a ton of little odd jobs done around the house that I never seemed to have time for before. Antonio got a little stir-crazy after only two days. Since he is used to going out to work every day, it was more of an adjustment for him!

This gives you an idea of the quantity of snow we had. For Georgia, this is a lot of snow. However, it was the ice, not the snow, that created the problems.

Quinton and his best friend, Athena (that's a chocolate milk mustache). They made a ton of "candies" with the play-doh factory, and then "sold" them in their store! They were quite busy for several hours on this project. And I was quite busy picking up little bits of play-doh after they finished!

Quinton and I showing off our completed puzzle. Note: I HATE how red my face always looks in pictures! I like to think that it has something to do with the camera, and that I don't always look so red-faced in real life!

Crazy ladies!!

2011-01-09T20:31:00.001-08:00

For our friend Laura's birthday, Olympia and I decided that we needed to do something "fun." So what do three 30-something moms do for fun? We had no idea, so we decided to do something that teenagers might do (they're always having fun, right?), so we planned a surprise scavenger hunt at the mall. Of course, it would have been really fun for Olympia and I to just make Laura do all of the humiliating stunts, but then we figured being her birthday and all, we might want to spread the humiliation around.

We brainstormed dozens of tasks, but eventually narrowed it down to just over a dozen. Knowing full well that we might pull out any one for ourselves, we were quick to get rid of the ones that were just too humiliating. We also allowed each one of us a pass option which allowed you to pull a different task from the bag. However, if you picked out the same on another turn, you had to do it.

Here are the stunts that made the cut:

1. Carry on a conversation with a mannequin - make sure there are other customers around, and comment on what a jerk the mannequin is for ignoring you.

2. Go into the bathroom and make a veil out of toilet paper. Wear it out of the bathroom, walking the way a bride goes down the aisle.

3. Put a balloon under your shirt and pretend you are pregnant. Complain loudly of your aching back.

4. Go to a Taco Bell and order a Whopper. Insist that you want a whopper no matter what they say. Finally give in and say: "fine, I'll have a Big Mac."

5.Sing Yankee doodle at the Yankee candle store and get someone to sing with you.

6.Make a loud passing gas sound in a bathroom stall.

7.Dance to the music from a store in a style of your choosing for one minute .

8,9,10.Pick some thing to wear for the rest of the evening, out of the prop bag.
(we had this one in there three time so everyone can only draw it once)

11.Get a handful of pennies and pretend to be bowling and toss them in to the fountain.

12.Stand in a prominent place, like a statue, wearing several items from the prop bag for 3 minutes.(You may change your pose once.)

13.Try on a pair of boots and walk around the store singing:These were made for walking and that's just what they'll do...

14.Pretend to be talking on the phone using your hand, in cell phone store then ask an associate in that store for an accessory, of your choosing, to fit your "hand held" phone.

15.Get a balloon out of the prop bag make it into your baby, then take the little tyke into a baby store and ask for help getting something that will fit junior.

We printed out the tasks on a piece of paper, then on the other side printed out the "prize" which was that we were taking Laura out to dinner at her choice of two places. It was sort of like a puzzle that she had to put together after we finished doing the scavenger hunt.

Okay, now that you have the background, here are the pictures (and video!)

As luck would have it, on both Olympia and Laura's first turns, they got to pick out a prop to wear the rest of the night.

Who is that great looking mannequin!??!

Laura's big day!

What was amazing about Olympia talking to the mannequins was how good she was at making small talk! You should have heard her: "What a great dog, whose is he?" "Now I see you are all dressed warmly, do you have plans to go outside?" By the way, she carried on a one way conversation for about 2 minutes. Not bad!

Laura with her bundle of joy. Although, and my math may be wrong, I'm thinking she may have been expecting before she got hitched!

What a beautiful dress - anything looks good with gold skin!

Oh my goodness! These cell-phone guys were HILARIOUS!!! Olympia approaches the kiosk talking on her hand, and asks what kind of accessories they've got. Without missing a beat, the salesman says he thinks he might have a glove that would fit. Reaches into a drawer and pulls out an imaginary glove. Olympia "tries it on" and asks how much. "$49.95" Of course, she says it is a little steep and no thank you, but once you put the glove on, they can't take it back. She tries paying with imaginary money, but they only take the real thing. Luckily for Olympia, her hand rung and she had to take the call, so we made our escape!

Maybe this one will be a girl!

Thank heavens for this great couple!!! Laura was walking around the store singing lightly under her breath, praying for a miracle that these two customers would spontaneously join her in the song. Eventually she asked them, and this guy jumped right in! Makes you feel good to be a part of humanity!

We survived!!!!

Laura's mini-cake after dinner.

Kids

2011-01-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

I know, I know. I have been posting like crazy. It is just that we have been snowed in since Sunday night and I can't believe how many little projects and chores I have gotten done since I don't have to worry about taking kids to school, appointments, or piano lessons. There are just so many more hours in a day! But don't worry, I am almost caught up, and then I am sure that I won't post for another 3 or 4 months!

This is a collection of pictures I've taken of the kids over the last 4 months. As you will soon see, my kids pretty much always look a mess. I really don't know how other moms do it - you know, the ones whose kids always look so neat and clean - hair combed, coordinated outfits, clean hands. I stick to the basics - clean diapers!!!

Antonio and Domenic taking a nap.

Domenic really has no choice but to like trains - his brothers play trains every day!

Roman posing for the camera.

This is on Antonio's birthday, so it is back in October.

Quinton made a thrown/fort - the orange boxes were very important (apparently). I know this because after I took apart his thrown and he redid it the next day, I had to get the boxes out of the recycling bin since the chair wasn't complete without them.

Domenic. I think that is sweet potato on his face. Or maybe carrots.

In the Sunday paper Quinton found this ad for a Disney train. He decided he wanted it, so he cut out the form and filled out the card. I took a picture since I was quite impressed with his initiative. Of course, he was disappointed when I told him that we weren't going to send for it. ("Quinton, that costs money and I don't want to buy it." "But Mom, just go to the bank and get some money out!!!")

But his diaper is clean!!!

Quinton's preschool class has a class mascot - Bananas. They went to Build-a-Bear for a field trip and everyone in the class helped to make him. Every day a different kid gets to be the "caboose," one of the special privileges of being the caboose is getting to take Bananas home for the night, along with a backpack full of clothes to dress him up!

Domenic before he was crawling. He could manage to stretch and scoot pretty well, though. With Quinton I wrote down the date every time he did something new. With Roman I started out writing everything down and then it kind of drifted off. With Domenic, I haven't written anything down. I always think I will remember so I can write it down later, and yet now, I can't remember when it was that he first crawled. I am going to go with around Thanksgiving time. Or it could be around Halloween. Nope, I think Halloween was when he got his first two teeth. Thanksgiving must be when he crawled. (See, I can't remember anything from just 2 months ago!)

When I was unpacking the Thanksgiving decorations, Quinton found the picture I had framed from last year's pumpkin patch. He really wanted me to take his picture while holding his photo from last year.

Quinton discovered that if he took one of the two gerber foods out of the box, he could build with them. One of his many creations.

Air Show

2011-01-09T19:40:00.002-08:00

Well, the Blue Angels came to Marietta back in October. Anyone who knows Antonio knows that he LOVES anything aerospace, so he took Quinton and they met up with Mom and Dad. I am not sure my parents knew exactly what they were getting into when they agreed to go along with Antonio - when it comes to events like this, Antonio is serious about staying the whole time and hates to lose any time on things like waiting in line for food, etc... He is a man on a mission - see planes - and that is it! Well, now they know!!

In the cockpit!

He is wearing Mom's vest. Ironically, I guess it was a little chilly, and yet they came back really sun-burned.

Antonio and Quinton watching the show. Quinton is up at the fence so he could see.

Quinton and Grandpa. I am not sure what is going on here - I can't tell if Quinton is just squinting because of the sun, or if he is upset about something.

More pictures of the fun day!

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-09T19:40:00.001-08:00

For those of you who have read previous posts, you know how much I love to play with paper. I had made a whole slew of coasters in matching boxes maybe 6 months ago (or more, I always lose track of time). The first time I made the caramallows recipe - from Better Homes and Gardens magazine - it made a ton, and I was quickly realizing that my efforts to lose weight were going to go down the tubes if I didn't get rid of them quickly. I also off-load a lot of treats to my neighbors across the street, but even after giving them a plate full of caramallows, there were too many left! Anyway, I am making this story really long, but I gave some to Roman's speech therapist, and I wanted them to look nice so I ran downstairs (this occurred to me, of course, about 10 minutes before we had to leave for therapy!) and dumped the coasters out of a box and put four caramallows in the box and tied it with string. It looked so beautiful, that an idea was born. I remembered last year in BH&G they had a spread on mini-pies. I really liked the idea, and when I thought about combining a fun box with a mini-pie, I loved the idea!!

Mom, my favorite accomplice, found pie pans on-line for a great deal and there you have it : personal pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving!

Pies cooling on the countertop.

Packaged up and ready to give away!

Thanksgiving dinner at mom's house was great as usual. Here is the turkey hot from the oven - beautiful!

I had really been craving something chocolate for weeks before Thanksgiving. Knowing this, Mom asked me to bring a chocolate dessert. Well, I had all of these ideas going on in my mind of new techniques I wanted to try and how could I get the max chocolatey-ness out of one dessert. Well, this is what I came up with. It was a four layer cake, filled with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream, and a chocolate "collar" (that is the chocolate surrounding the sides of the cake). I topped it with pecan "acorns" as a garnish. I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed with the texture of the cake - it was much drier than I expected, I think I should have brushed each layer with a sugar syrup. I also think I may have overwhipped the chocolate mousse since it was stiff instead of creamy. All that said, it was intensely chocolate, which was what I wanted!!!

The dessert table.

Part 2: Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T19:36:00.001-08:00

I'll tell you what, I am so behind on posts! My plan is to work backward, so here is part 2 of Christmas and then we are going back to Thanksgiving, then back from there until I am all caught up! Not that I have any requirements to post or anything, but what can I say? I have a lot of my dad in me!

A tradition that has carried on from my childhood is that the first Sunday of the month of December we make gingerbread houses at my mom's house. It has become a serious endeavor for her since growing up we just decorated one house. Now she makes a large house for her, large houses for my family and each of my two brothers' families, and little houses for each grandchild. For those of you doing the math, that is 4 large houses and 7 small houses.

Everyone hard at work!

Quinton working on his house.

My nephew Caleb and his dad, my brother Carter, working on his house.

Isaac's house in-process.

Carter Paul working on his house.

Domenic eying the candy table!

I had to take a close-up of Caleb's finished house - check it out!!!! Santa going down the chimney - and even his bag is full of toys. INCREDIBLE!!!!

Carter and Carter Paul helping me out with Domenic!! It is great to have so many people willing to hold him when we get together as a family. Despite Carter's pleadings, I didn't let him feed Domenic marshmallows! (not that I have anything against feeding my kids sugar - but I am against feeding them food they can choke on!!)

The final products and their proud designers!

The boys Christmas morning before we opened any presents. And, yes, Roman does look a bit of a mess!

Roman diving right in to play with his big Santa gift - a car garage.

Quinton's big Santa gift - a workbench. Since Grandpa and Grandma were in cahoots with Santa, their gift to Quinton was a box of wood and bolts, as well as a vice that had been kicking around at my parent's house for a while (when I say a while, I mean that the wood turned legs you see, are from the first year my parents were married!)

A table that Quinton made with his workbench. He and Roman had a tea party with his "Quinton bear."

One of the most miraculous things about this year's Christmas was that it actually snowed on Christmas day!!! (remember, this is Georgia!)

Adorable Roman. Hard to believe that last year's pictures of snow were with Quinton in this jacket! Little Roman is really growing up.

Quinton and a neighbor friend. Patrick is 3 years older than Quinton, but they still play together pretty frequently. The problem with Quinton being so big for his age is that people (and kids) think he is older than he is, but he definitely doesn't act any older than 5, which can sometimes create problems when he and Patrick play.

I love to have everyone over on Christmas Eve - usually after dinner we sing carols while I accompany on piano. This year my parents surprised us with musical pipes they made for each of us. We played several carols with the pipes - each person being in charge of one "number." Quinton loved it so much, I helped him set them all up on the broom handle so that he could play songs by himself. After he practiced, he put on a "show" for us and demanded that we sing along!

Part 1: Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T18:07:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was the advent calendar my mom did every year for us kids. As a matter of fact, she continued the calendar for us up until each of us were married. I am so excited to be continuing the tradition with our own children. The boys rotate days, and I will admit it was very difficult to come up with 8 special things for Domenic. He had several "stay up an hour late" options, which of course was completely irrelevant to a 7 month old baby, but gave Quinton and Roman the idea that Domenic did get something special. One of Quinton's advent days was to go to the Children's Museum of Atlanta. It has become a sort of tradition in and of itself to go to the museum every December. Here are this year's crop of pictures:

Playing with the moon sand. I have to say, the sand was really neat! It holds its shape, although it is not "wet." I am not ashamed to admit that I really enjoy doing a lot of the "kid" activities with Quinton. They are still super fun to do as an adult!

At the train table with a fellow train aficionado:

We really lucked out in that the weekend we went, there happened to be a HUGE model train on display. It was quite amazing - there were all of these buttons every foot or so that you could push and it would make a electrify a little scene along the track. Quinton basically parked himself in front of this particular button which controlled a RR Crossing Arm. He took the responsibility very seriously to raise and lower the arm every time the train came around the track. Luckily for me there was a nice big beanbag chair positioned just perfectly to sit and watch since he manned his station for quite a while!

And of course, where we spent the lion's share of our time: at the ball factory!

Well, the whole family got really sick the week or two before Christmas. First it was a stomach virus, then some sort of flu-like virus with fever, etc. Needless to say, I got really behind in my Christmas plans. A piano student gave me these beautiful cupcakes. Because of being sick, I didn't get to my Christmas cookie baking when I had originally planned, so I didn't have the cookies that I was originally going to give Quinton's teachers. I know this sounds terrible, but I regifted the cupcakes to his teachers. I went out and got cup holders and gift cards for Dunkin' Donuts and put together these gifts.

Quinton's school Christmas party. It was fun and well-organized, but boy, was it LONG!! Two hours, which may not seem long, but when you have your other 2 children with you and are trying to keep them out of the festivities, it was about an hour and a half too long! I usually don't take the other kids with me when I go to Quinton's school activities, but I am always asking friends to watch my kids for Roman's doctors' appointments, that I didn't want to ask yet again for someone to watch the kids. Several other parents bring their children with them, but whew! I think next time I'll risk asking another favor and have a friend watch the boys!

Pizza for lunch.

Roman pointing to something which I don't remember.

A snowman pinata.

A "snowball" toss game.

Another sibling of a student - she was very sweet and was very attentive to the boys!

One of several crafts the children made.

The night of Quinton's Christmas program for school he got sick. He threw up in the early afternoon but he told me he "felt good." So he got all dressed and in my infinite wisdom :-), I brought a bowl with me in the car. We didn't even get out of the garage before he threw up again. So we came back in the house and called his teacher to let her know we weren't going to make it. (This was the beginning of the stomach virus that made its way through the family before the flu-ish virus made its way through the family) He looked so handsome, though, that I took his picture before he changed back into his pajamas.

I did finally get around to making the cookies. It was very tempting to just not bother with it since I had so much to get done in such a short period of time, and I was still feeling pretty exhausted even after the fever and aches went away. But, why is it that there are SO MANY gifts to give at Christmas time?? The visiting teachers, the visiting teachees, the home teachers, the home teachees, close church friends, neighbors, etc etc etc... Well, cookies was my plan for all of these people, so if I didn't make them, I'd have to come up with something else. Plus, I really love to make the cookies, it is just that this year I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Luckily it went pretty smoothly and I was able to get them all done with few problems.

This year's sugar cookies.

Quinton helping put coconut gumdrops in mini fluted cups. He was quite proud of himself after he filled up the whole tray!

The "cookie factory."

Closeups of the cookie trays. Each tray had 8 sugar cookies, 4 caramallows, 12 gumdrops, 5 lemon cranberry crunch cookies, 8 mexican wedding cookies ("snowballs") and 10 ginger chewies.

I have lots more to share from Christmas, namely Christmas day, but I am going to do that in a separate post because I am tired!!

Kids

2010-09-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

One of Roman's most striking features is his big brown eyes.

Although his smile is awfully striking, too!

Quinton's fantastic smile!

Domenic and Roman

My three boys!

Oh my goodness! I actually was able to post a video!! I am coming up in the world!
Now to see if I can post that video of Roman from a previous post.

Quinton's Birthday

2010-09-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

Quinton turned five on September 23rd. His birthday fell on a Thursday, so we had a family party on Thursday night. Saturday he was allowed to invite one friend to go to the train museum with him and then to McDonald's for lunch where we were meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa.

As I mentioned earlier, I definitely have an incorrect setting on the camera because every single one of these pictures is blurry. Stink!

Quinton is a keep-it-simple kind of kid. He likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and that's it!

Blowing out his candles.

A pack of playdough.

There is a store that I go to all the time called Kid to Kid. It is a consignment store where I buy the kids clothes as well as toys for birthdays/Christmas. Recently there was a Groupon for a $30 gift certificate, but it only cost $12. I got such a steal on a huge GEOtrax set complete with battery operated train and controller. He has literally played with it all day every day since he got it!

Roman is also becoming quite the train aficionado like his big brother. Although he likes cars and trucks just as much, if not more than trains.

Quinton invited his absolute favorite friend, Athena, to go with him to the trains. They are a great pair. Athena is a great influence on Quinton; they have a lot of fun together, but she helps temper his craziness.

Fun at Home

2010-09-25T17:49:00.001-07:00

Antonio thought that Quinton looked like a thug in his hoodie, eating rice, while drinking mate. I thought it was pretty funny, so I took a picture. Quinton and I are mate buddies since Antonio won't drink mate with me. He thinks it looks illegal and used to say he'd be deported if anyone saw him drinking it. However, now he is a citizen, and still thinks it looks too shady to drink!

After I gave the boys haircuts, Quinton decided he wanted to give a haircut, too. Here is his keeping his teddy bear looking sharp.

Quinton showing off his cuteness! Although I am forbidden from calling him "cute." He is "cool" or "awesome," but never cute or handsome. On Sundays - the one day I insist he comb his hair - he always protests: "but I don't WANT to look handsome!"

I get the Betty Crocker recipes magazine (which I love), and last month's issue had cake pops on the cover. I absolutely had to try them. I happened to have some purple candy melts that I wasn't going to use for anything else, so I made little purple boys and girls. They were really fun to make.

Roman's Birthday

2010-09-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I must have a setting off on my camera because all of my latest pictures have turned out blurry despite my efforts to keep very still while taking them.

Roman turned two on August 10th. His face has really thinned out over the last few months, and he looks like a little boy instead of a baby.

One of his very first words was "Doggie," so it seemed appropriate to make a doggie cake.

Sorry Dad, but this picture of Roman was so cute, even if I did catch you in the middle of saying "wow!"

Roman's cousins were able to come to the party. Here is Isaac playing with the pretend phone with Roman. We are really lucky that my nephews are very patient with my kids and are always super helpful. It takes a lot to be patient with my boys sometimes!

Grandma and Grandpa relaxing after eating some doggie cake. Mom is holding Domenic.

2010-08-10T08:50:00.001-07:00

WARNING: This video clip is pretty vulgar, but I had to post it because, frankly, who hasn't thought the same thing while watching this infomercial???

http://www.hulu.com/watch/143264/saturday-night-live-shake-weight-dvd

2010-08-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel bad because I post a lot about Quinton on Facebook, but talk very little about Roman. It is not that Roman is any less important to me, it is just that he doesn't really talk yet, so I don't have all of the funny stories like I do for Quinton. Not only that, but Roman is a pretty mellow kid and therefore less likely to do something "post worthy." This is certainly a good thing since "post worthy" often means writing all over the walls or flooding the bathroom. So in honor of Roman's cuteness and general sweetness, here is a video!

Happy Domenic!

Quinton's graffiti. As you can see, Dad was on the good list, and Mom was not.

Roman playing in the sandbox.

We took the kids to Day Out With Thomas in North Carolina a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful drive, if not a particularly pleasant drive (three boys sitting in close proximity for 3 hours each way). They had a blast and didn't seem to notice that it was over 100 degrees outside with the heat index.

Here they are waiting to be called on to board Thomas.

Boarded and waiting for departure.

Strategically, you entered the Thomas area through a big tent full of Thomas toys. The great thing, though, is that they had all these different stations set up with activities and train tables that were free for the kids to play.

Happy boys on the ride home. You'll notice that Roman is definitely my son. I rarely get a picture of him with his eyes fully open.

Quinton holding Domenic.

Here is Quinton holding Domenic again, but a few weeks after the previous picture. Coincidentally they are wearing the same color shirts. You'll notice that Domenic is significantly chubbier. He certainly is a chunk!

"Doctor" Quinton

Happy boys!

Me holding Domenic. Quinton loves taking pictures. Unfortunately, most all of them are terrible of me. This is in part to 3 things: a - I am not particularly photogenic to begin with, b - I am really heavy right now so any picture of me is not my favorite, and c - the worst angle to take a picture of me is from below, and of course, every picture Quinton takes of me is from below since he is shorter than me. All that said and done, I had to post this picture because Domenic looks so cute!!

Not sure they know where babies come from...

2010-06-15T11:30:00.001-07:00

While we were in the hospital after Domenic was born, I watched TLC's 19 kids and counting. Talk about putting my situation in perspective!!!

I really enjoyed the episodes that I watched, and the kids seemed kind and happy, and the parents seemed much calmer than I am with only 3!

However, the reason for this post is because of a pet peeve that I have regarding people who say that the number of children they have is "up to God" - making the case that each of their children came to being because it was the will of God. This idea is ridiculous from my viewpoint. I thought that God had created natural laws the govern this world, one of which is that children are a consequence of having unprotected sex. I will make it even more clear: if you do not have sex, you will not have children. If you do have sex (unprotected), you will very likely have children.

By the logic of the Duggars and others who use this argument, every child born on this earth is the result of God's will. Meaning children born to teenage mothers, children born to drug addicts, rape victims, etc.. etc...

Additionally, it means that if a couple cannot have children, it is the express wish of God that they not have them!!!

Really??? I would hope that anyone with a little common sense would realize that as miraculous as the birth of a child is, it is only made possible by biological means!

Okay, I think I am done with my soapbox now.

Follow-up on Avocado Trees

2010-06-15T11:23:00.003-07:00

Yep, I haven't forgotten that I was going to update on how my little avocado tree experiment was going. Well, they are thriving, after Quinton's very diligent watering of them all winter long (we over-wintered them in the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom!)

Unfortunately, my cursory research of them when I first rooted the pits was that with two plants, they would cross-pollinate each other and I would have avocado fruit!! Upon more in-depth research, I have learned that almost no plants rooted from the pits will actually develop fruit - you have to graft in a branch from a producing plant. Plus they take at least 7 years to fruit, and they are a very large tree.

Hmmm... problem is, Antonio is very pro-tree, so he is determined that we should plant them, whether they fruit or not. I'm not sure we have the space for it (actually, I AM sure that we don't!) We'll see if we can come up with a compromise, assuming they can even survive a winter outside.

Fun with the kids

2010-06-15T10:42:00.001-07:00

This is a project from my favorite magazine: Family Fun. I had been wanting to do something cute for plant markers, and then this idea was on the cover of their spring issue. I started saving the milk caps, and when I had enough, Quinton and I made them one afternoon. I love how the flies are "saying" what each plant is!

Roman showing off his great smile while eating his lunch.

Domenic at about 1 month.

Roman(pre-haircut) and Abuela.

Quinton and Roman playing "Piano Lessons."

Abuela keeping a close watch on Roman. She adores this little fellow and is very protective of him.

Quinton showing off his "big boy bike" skills!!! Way to go, Quinton!

Quinton frequently asks me how to write a number or a letter. After countless scraps of paper with the numbers on them, I decided that we needed a more permanent solution. I remembered that I used to put my piano music in sheet protectors so that I could write notes on the page protectors instead of the actual sheet music. I used this same idea for Quinton: I printed out free pages that I found on-line for all the letters and the numbers. Then I bought a zippered binder pouch for some dry erase markers. Now he can practice his numbers and letters as much as he wants. When he wants to start over, he simply wipes off the page protector and starts over!

This is a little project that I had been wanting to do with Quinton for a long time, but I didn't have the right container. Then one day we finished off the pretzels, and I said to myself - this would make a perfect piggy bank! So we raided my craft room and Quinton made the little bank with some help from Daddy.

Enjoying a well-deserved lunch after completing the bank. Miraculously, it is still in great shape (miraculous because you should see what that little piggy had been through!)

Roman and Quinton enjoying their water and sand table (I didn't put sand in it - I just put more water in the sand part). Antonio and I wanted to get them a toy as a special surprise after Domenic was born.

Recent Addition

2010-06-15T10:21:00.001-07:00

I have already posted most of these on my Facebook page, but for those who don't do facebook, or you want to see little Domenic's adorable face up close, here you go:

About to leave for the hospital. Since I was being induced, we knew exactly when we were heading to the hospital. We were scheduled to show up at 7PM on April 27th. They were going to administer a cervix ripening agent (I was only between 1 and 2 centimeters dialated, and they don't like to start pitocin until you are dialated a little more than that). It was a pretty simple procedure: swallow a teeny pill (actually, it was only a portion of a teeny pill!!!) They gave me some ambien as well to help me sleep because anyone who has spent some time on one of the delivery room beds knows it is not that comfortable!

Domenic Duarte Quesada right after delivery. Domenic's middle name is Antonio's mother's maiden name - both Quinton and Roman have meaningful middle names (Antonio and Joel, respectively), so we wanted to make sure that Domenic also had a middle name with some family history.

He weighed 8lbs, 13 oz (which my mom tells me is exactly what I weighed when I was born!), 21 1/4 inches long. As you can see, he was born with a lot of hair, and six weeks later, it looks like he is going to keep it. Interestingly, he is our biggest baby, but I believe he has the smallest head - thank heavens!!!

Here is Domenic waiting for us to be discharged. The outfit he is wearing was a little big on him, but now he has almost outgrown it, and he is only 7 weeks old!

These pictures were taken a week after he was born. He is a really wonderful baby - adorable, good sleeper, good eater, and only fusses for an hour or two a day for a little extra attention.

It was only a matter of time....

2010-05-13T09:05:00.001-07:00

So last night I saw a commercial for Gillette - heralding a new advancement in razors to be announced on June 6 (aka 6/6). Gee, could this be a razor with SIX blades????? Because we all know that 5 is better than 4, 4 better than 3, etc. etc... I am waiting for them to come out with a razor that is so big, it only takes one swipe for a man to shave his entire face!!!

Made me think of a hilarious clip from SNL I saw years ago titled PLATINUM MACH 14: 14-blade razor gives you the closest (and most dangerous) shave there is. (Ferrell). I can't figure out how to find a clip of this spoof, so if anyone knows where to find one, I would love to link it to this post.

Little Projects

2010-01-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from projects over the last few months.

These are called "snappies" that I saw on Martha Stewart's website. I thought the idea was really cute. You create these little felt creatures and attach a male snap. Then you can attach the corresponding female snap to a shirt or whatever you want (I think this would be really cute on a headband).

I made these for my friend Liz who had twins. As cute as these shirts are, her twins are WAY cuter!

As I have mentioned many times before, I LOVE pretty papers. This is one of those neat origami boxes that uses only folds. I thought it was the neatest idea, although apparently it is a really old one (but new to me!)

For Christmas every year, I like to give all of my piano students a little something. It needs to be something that I can easily do a lot of. This year, I saw these cute snowmen in the Family Fun magazine. They were a lot of fun to make, and I was really pleased that they turned out just like the picture in the magazine!!

Miscellaneous Photos

2009-12-07T18:38:00.001-08:00

Quinton always insists on helping me in the kitchen. I was making a lot of roasted garlic, and of course he wanted to help. But not before he crafted his own "nose mask" because he thought the garlic was really stinky!!!

One of the many crafts Quinton brings home from school. This is a turkey hat, which he is modeling upside down. He is at that age when he thinks that sort of thing is so funny!

If you can't read all of these signs, they all essentially say the same thing: "No Mom." He does this whenever he gets mad at me (a.k.a. several times a day). It is a two step process, first he "x's" me, meaning he draws a picture of me then draws a big "X" through it. Then he writes "No MOM" and tapes it up. He was particularly mad at me this day, as is evidenced by the many signs that accumulated... Although I must have redeemed myself at some point, because one of the ones with yellow highlighter actually says "YES Mom", with a check by my face.

Here Quinton is having a tea party with his stuffed animals. So cute!

He loves to play with empty boxes. This one is a car, in case you can't tell. His all-time favorite thing to do is tape several empty coke fridge packs together to create a train. He'll play with it for hours!

At the Halloween party at our Preschool's church.

Halloween Pictures

Adorable Roman

My boys!

Quinton and Roman enjoying a morning banana shake.

Musings on TV, Commercials, Etc...

2009-11-09T08:33:00.001-08:00

Lately it seems like there are a lot of ridiculous commercials and shows that just crack me up. Let's start with the commercial campaign by Target which they have been airing recently. You know the ones, where they play hip music and show a mom who is ultra cool - slamming the tetherball around, goofing off with her kids....

But let's get serious, I want to know how many moms would be having as much fun as they claim if your son or daughter started squirting a garden hose at you in the kitchen. Now I know my reaction wouldn't be to grab the sink sprayer and have a fun-loving water fight in the KITCHEN!!!!!!!!! Perhaps I am not shopping at Target enough.

The other commercial that kills me - I can't even remember what it is for (probably a car), about the couple who are out in nature, and then he can't find his sunglasses, so they turn around and retrace their steps. Of course, he finds them in his hoodie after he runs out of a cave full of bats. So, maybe I am just a crabby wife, but if Antonio forgot his sunglasses, I don't think I would be smiling and joking as we spent several hours retracing our steps. I mean, they're sunglasses, buy a new pair!!!!!

My last observation became more solidified after I stubbed my toe a couple of times. Now, if you have stubbed your toe hard lately, you can probably relate the the intense pain that causes. I generally stop walking and wait a moment or two for the pain to subside. Another small physical pain that I get is from broken blood vessels in my hands and feet. I am not exactly sure why it happens, but occasionally, a blood vessel will break in my fingers or palm, and it will be surprisingly uncomfortable - bordering on painful. I mention all of this because I'll watch some TV show where people are being thrown against a wall, punched in the face, kicked in the stomach, etc... and they just get up and keep on fighting. Now if a stubbed toe and a broken blood vessel are enough to make a person pause, are we really to believe that a human being can keep on fighting while a chair is being slammed over their head??? However, that is only the good guys. Everyone knows that bad guys have terrible aim and a much lower tolerance for pain than the good guys. I sure hope this doesn't mean I'm a bad guy!

Arts and Crafts Fun

2009-08-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

At the recommendation of my mom and sister-in-law, I have subscribed to Family Fun magazine. I had never heard of it before they mentioned it, but what a gem! Each issue has tons of easy and cheap craft ideas, as well as loads of imaginative games.

Every time I read it, or see cute craft ideas on-line, I wish I had a day care or something so that I could do these ideas. For some reason, it seemed to me like I needed a group to do a craft. After I got out of that absurd mind-set, I decided to have little art sessions for my very own adorable Quinton.

Here is a picture of Quinton stamping from his very own stamps. They are made of (clean) foam meat trays. You just tape 3 or 4 squares of it together, and then with a ball point pen draw in your design. The pen creates a relief drawing, so when you stamp, it inks everywhere but your design.

He had great fun; granted, it was a little messy, but what art/craft isn't??

Another day we did the "Foamerator." Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures. Quinton had some friends over and they all had a ball. You cut the bottom off of a plastic bottle, then cut a piece of old terry cloth (I used an old robe) and rubber band it to the bottom. Lightly wet the cloth, and dip it in a dish of liquid dish soap (aka Joy, or something like that). You blow into the bottle, and this foam snake forms. The kids had contests to see you could get the longest snake. Very fun, and, of course, very messy!

Can a Black Thumb Turn Green?

2009-08-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I cannot keep a plant alive. At least, that has typically been me. That is one of the many reasons that I love cut flowers - they are already dying, so no pressure to keep them alive!

Anyway, 5 years ago the realtors who helped us find our house gave us a housewarming gift of an exotic (indoor) tree. Miracle of miracles, it is still alive today. Although it's future is questionable if Roman continues pulling all the leaves off.

Well, over the last few years, I have slowly started venturing into gardening. Wait, let me clarify. I have cried defeat on all landscape gardening and replaced all the flower beds (read: weed beds) with pine straw that I spray every few months with plant killer to keep anything from growing. What I meant to say was that I have slowly started venturing into food gardening. It started with just a few herbs that seemed to survive no matter what I did to them, and then it has grown to the point where I actually have a thriving herb garden. This is the first year that I have planted more than just a few tomato plants. Everything is doing well, in large part due to the beautiful raised beds my Dad put in my backyard. Moral of the story: I am only willing to put work into plants that I can eat!

Boosted by my recent successes, I decided to try and sprout some avocado pits. And believe it or not, they did sprout!!!

See the proof below:

I have since transplanted them into large pots since they cannot survive the cold, and I'll need to bring them indoors to winter. I'm excited to see if they will produce fruit, assuming of course, that I don't kill them first!

Back-to-School Deals

2009-08-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe how much kids LOVE tape, markers, paper, staplers, etc... Oh, and glue sticks, too! For some reason, kids (or at least Quinton) prefer markers to crayons, so a while back I went to the store to buy him some washable markers. (because that is another thing, not only does he prefer markers, but given a choice of markers, he'll go for sharpies every time. NOT my favorite choice for him!) Anyway, I soon learned that washable markers cost more than I expected - I mean, he leaves the lids off half the time, pounds them on the paper so hard the tips get smashed - who wants to spend money on expensive markers???

So, when I started seeing the back to school sales at places like Office Max and Office Depot, I was thrilled!!! We are now stocked up on all sorts of school supplies: protractors for 5 cents, compasses for 10 cents, markers for 50 cents, 1 cent rulers and notebooks. He is in heaven!

Here is a picture of a his school supplies box, yet another use for all the scrapbook paper I collect!!!

Six Years, 3 Months, 10 Days

2009-07-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's how long it took me to finally get our wedding album done. Most of that time was simply waiting to decide to pay the exorbitant price for the prints. We finally ordered them several months ago. Then I thought I would scan them all in the computer so I would have digital copies of them before I made the album. Of course, that meant that I always put off making the album until I had time to sit in front of the computer scanning picture after picture.... Last night I decided that this album will never get done if I wait to scan everything. So, in about 2 hours it was done! Today, I decided to scan a few of my favorites to post. Enjoy!

The Toddler Contract

2009-06-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

So I read this in a magazine, and laughed so hard, this is Quinton's DREAM contract!! I looked online and found it posted at Mommslikeme.

"Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you for your interest in remaining my parents. Below is a list of my demands.

The Toddler Contract

I. FOOD
1. For breakfast, there will be only milk from my sippy cup while I'm watching television (see Section II).

2. From breakfast until what you probably call lunch, I will be provided with an unending supply of cookies. No arguments.

3. For lunch I will eat yogurt. Anything containing fruit on the bottom will make me pick out the fruit and throw it on the ground or else will throw it up on your carpet.
a. So no fruit on the bottom.

4. For lunch until dinner I will enjoy having something to lick. Why not a lollipop? Why not seven?
a. Between licks, I may place the lollipop on your
grandmother's Turkish rug. This will be ok by you.

5. For dinner I will have macaroni and cheese. Any attempts to give me vegetables in addition to the macaroni and cheese will result in tears.
a. And don't you hide anything in the cheese sauce, because, my God, how you will rue the day.

6. After dinner, you may provide me with ice cream.
a. No frozen yogurt. Trust me, I know the difference.

II. TELEVISION
1. The TV will be on all the time, unless I say differently. You are to sit by my side, quietly, hands folded in lap, will I watch my shows.
a. You may arise to fetch me a snack.

2. No diaper changing or pleas to engage in physical activity will be tolerated during watching of television.

3. Turning off the television will result in much kicking and screaming.

III. TOYS
1. There will be many.
a. They will always be strewn about the house so that I may simply reach down and pick up a toy, no matter where I am.
b. They will be loud, complicated, and contain many small pieces. I enjoy shooting noises that go w-shoooop! or zim zim zim.
c. Nothing that results in any type of learning, please.

IV. FRIENDS
1. They should be available whenever I'm in the mood to use someone else's toys or ingest someone else's cookies.
a. These friends may not ever so much as look at my toys or cookie supply.
b. Ever, ever, ever.

V. SLEEP
1. Is when I say, where I say, and how I say. If I want to sleep upside down with my legs locked around your neck, then that's how it will be.
a. And you will enjoy it.

VI. AFFECTION
1. Occasionally I enjoy being hugged and kissed. I stress occasionally.

2. I will not be pelted with wet mouthed assaults on an hourly basis. Should you feel the need to hug or kiss, you must provide me with a written request.
a. And then wait for me to offer my pudgy cheeks."

Signed: (fill in blank) XOXO

Menu 2 - Economy Size

2009-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

This plan showcases how to build a menu around an economy-sized food purchase. I do most of my shopping at Costco, and even though I love the good deals of purchasing in economy-sized quantities, I hate having a huge container taking up space in my refrigerator! By planning a menu around such purchases, you can really take advantage of the great deals and only lose refrigerator space for a few days! This menu uses large sizes of salsa, strawberries, spinach, pork, and ricotta cheese.

Meal Plan 2 - Economy Size Meal Plan 2 - Economy Size RLQuesada

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Recipes & Menus recipes Uncategorizable-Unca

Even More Fun with Paper!

2009-05-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

I really wanted something fun and bright for a summertime display. I had been seeing a lot of ideas for paper flowers lately, and so one afternoon when my mom came over, we made the paper flowers. They looked really great (although certainly not perfect, but I think that adds to the appeal), but it was missing something. Hence the striped "artwork" was born. We did all of this with tissue paper, and I have to say, I am very pleased with the results!

Fun with Paper!

2009-05-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I love scrapbook papers, but I really don't like scrapbooking. That means that I am always looking for creative ways to use the beautiful papers that I can't help buying!

Here are some of my latest projects:

I made this because I needed something on the wall to finish my Easter decoration. I was very pleased with how it turned out, although if I were to do it over again, I would make the bird with a different paper so it would be easier to see.

This is my inexpensive "art" in my dining room until my money tree starts producing. These are $5 frames of $.20 paper. I wanted something modern looking since my home is decorated very traditionally, and I love the look of modern touches to freshen it up.

This is a stool that I decoupaged for Quinton. I bought this stool unfinished at Michael's. Then I cut out the designs that I liked from some scrapbook paper I had on hand. I just free-cut t - channeling the clouds from the PBS show WordWorld.

Menu 1 - Morphing

2009-05-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is!

I tried to format the menu in a user-friendly way, keeping all recipes for each day on it's own sheet, with a summary sheet at the beginning.

In an effort to organize my ideas, I have decided to highlight a different menu-planning technique or food-preparation technique with each menu.

I have included an estimated cost for the menu, using my shopping philosophy as detailed in a prior post.

Please let me know how you like the organization, and of course, the recipes! Any comments would be appreciated!

Meal Plan 1 Meal Plan 1 RLQuesada

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu menu 1

Cooking Philosophy and Tips

2009-04-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

I am working on the first menu, but it is taking longer than I expected. It will be up soon, but in the meantime, I have a million ideas that are swimming around in my head, so I thought I better write them down.

I like delicious food, and I also like to cook. This means that I enjoy spending time making a great dinner or special treat. However, I teach piano lessons most afternoons, which means that by the time I am finished up with lessons, I don't have that much time to get dinner on the table (usually less than 30 minutes). I accomplish this by doing a lot of prep work ahead of time.

I also get a thrill out of seeing how good we can eat on as little money as possible. I love to have dinner be only $4 or $5 dollars total. Of course, this is not always possible, but on average, I try to have the total cost of groceries for the week be no more than $50-75. Some weeks I may spend more, some weeks less.

Understanding the previously mentioned philosophies is critical to understanding the development of my meal plans. First and foremost, the only way that I am able to do this each week is because I sit down on Sundays and plan out the week. What does this planning entail? Most importantly, what I am in the mood to eat. This is the privilege that the cook gets for doing all of the work! I enjoy cooking the meals so much more when it is something that I am looking forward to eating. This is also where having the week's meals planned out is helpful. If on Monday I am not in the mood to eat or cook my planned meal for Monday, I at least have several other meals already thought through, with the ingredients to make them.

In order to eat inexpensively, it is absolutely essential to know the best prices for your most purchased items. Only buy these items when they are at their best price. Then buy a lot if they are freezable. I have a large freezer just for this purpose. To keep costs down, it is more important to plan your meals around what you have in the freezer or what is on sale versus a particular recipe you want to make. In the Atlanta area, here are my price points of common things I buy:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: $1.99/lb (Kroger)
Split chicken breasts: $.99/lb (Kroger)
Chicken leg quarters: $.59/lb (Kroger sold in 10 lb bags)
Flat iron steaks: $3.99/lb (Kroger)
Boneless pork shoulder: $1.50/lb (Costco)
Pork shoulder with bone and skin: $.99/lb (Kroger/Publix)
Pork loin: $1.89/lb (Costco)
Salmon: $5.99/lb (Costco)
Tilapia: $4.99/lb (Costco)
Ground Beef: $2.20 (Costco) This is not the cheapest available, but the quality is unbeatable

Ethnic markets are my best friend. Specifically Asian markets. Their cuisine relies so heavily on produce, that produce at Asian markets is invariably loads cheaper than standard grocery stores. For example:

Cilantro: $.33/bunch
Limes: 5/$1 or better
Tomatoes: $.60/lb
Fresh or dried spices: TONS cheaper than the grocery store
Green onions: 5 bunches/$1.00
etc
etc

It is important to note that I am a stay-at-home mom. This means that I have the luxury of time earlier in the day to prepare dinner ahead of time. I understand that this is not possible for everyone. In addition to prepping earlier in the day, I also take advantage of preparing more than one meal at a time. For example, if I am going to the effort of cooking chicken one night, I will cook whatever extra I may need for another meal later in the week. Or perhaps to freeze. This doesn't work will all foods, of course, but I utilize this strategy all of the time when I know that later on in the week I will be pressed for time one night. Again, this is where a weekly meal plan is crucial because I have already thought through the food requirements and what I can do ahead of time.

I think that is all for now. Hopefully I will be finishing up my Menu #1 shortly, and I am anxious to hear any critiques that you have!

Menu Coming Soon

2009-04-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

Most of you know that I love to cook. Combine that with my love of list-making, and you have every meal that we've eaten for the last 4 years!

Of course, not all of those meals have been good - some have even been downright terrible. However, I have also discovered quite a few great meal plans, as well.

I have been wanting to publish some sort of cookbook for a while, now. However, I always end up feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. Add to that the many ideas I have for how to best organize it, and you understand why I haven't done anything about it yet.

However, I thought that the best way to start would be to just simply start. So this week I am going to put up my first planner for a week of meals. Try them out, tell me what you think! Some will be recipes from cookbooks, some will be from online sources, and many will be my own. I'll be sure to write the source.

Speed Dial Add-on

2009-04-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Now I know that I have written about Speed Dial on my Facebook page, but I simply have to put a plug in for it again. I LOVE THIS APP!

If you are like me, then when you log onto the internet you go to the same 3 or 4 pages: maybe your email, the bank, facebook, or even your blog. Speed Dial lets you see all of these webpages as a little picture on your homepage. And get this - has an option to open all your pages at once.

Not only that, but I have it set up for Quinton, which is a huge help since now he can navigate the computer all by himself. See the picture below for how I have his homepage set up. He has his own profile on the computer, so he logs on as himself. Then when he sees the wireless turn green, he knows he can click on Firefox. His homepage is set up with all of his favorite games, so I don't have to keep navigating for him.

Again, I love this Application!

Writing/Talking Style

2009-04-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

So I just read my Organizing Post and there is nothing like reading your own posts to realize your many errors in speaking and/or writing! Sorry in advance for all of the "quite's" and "I find's!"

Organizing Fun

2009-04-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Is my house always clean? Or, put better, is it ever totally clean? Well, not really. I often joke that I can only keep one level of my house clean at a time. It would probably be a funnier joke if it weren't true. However, one of my favorite activities is organizing. I have a ton of stuff. However, my house doesn't look like I have a ton of stuff (I am not a big fan of clutter) because I have it very organized and out of the way.

I get frustrated sometimes reading magazines (typically the January issue) which feature articles on organizing your home. My frustration is from the fact that most all of their organizing ideas require buying expensive organizing boxes and baskets. I don't know about you, but I don't have the resources to pay $15 for one box or magazine file. So here are some pictures from things around my house that I use to organize.... hopefully this can help someone else out there who is looking for an effective, but affordable, way to organize.

These two pictures are a perfect example of how I save nice containers to reuse them. Baby wipe containers are perfect for sorting and storing craft supplies, and Swiffer containers are great for larger supplies.

I have quite a collection of sewing patterns, and at first I had them stored in miscellaneous boxes. These inexpensive boxes from U-Line (I believe about 40 cents each) are the perfect solution. I made sure that they were exactly the right size to fit patterns in and not stick out from the edges of my shelves. I think that the simple repetition of same-sized boxes with uniform labels makes it appear much neater even though they are just cardboard boxes!

In our house we are lucky to have a storage room in the basement. I have heavy-duty storage racks where I keep decorations, clothes the kids have grown out of, and all the other sort of stuff a homeowner has stored away. I ordered these boxes that are just the right size to fill these shelves the entire length (about the length of two Xerox paper boxes together) in order to maximize the use of these shelves. In the past, I had the shorter boxes stacked two deep, but then I never knew what was in the back! These boxes solve that problem.

This was one of my very first do-it-yourself organizing projects. I made this makeup organizer out of basic white tile that I bought at Home Depot. This project actually was not cheap - costing me about $40 - but I was able to create exactly what I wanted. Those clear plastic ones that they sell in the store never had the kind of compartments that I wanted. One of my favorite things about it is that it is made of tile - so it blends perfectly with my bathroom!

One of my all-time favorite organizing finds has been this corrugated cardboard bin from U-Line. As you can see from the many pictures from around my house, I use them to organize all sorts of things. I bought them originally to help me corral all of Quinton's clothes since his bedroom has built-in shelves, but no drawers. I loved them so much, that I started finding uses for them all over the house. They cost $1.53 each, so although not super cheap, they are certainly less expensive that other options out there. Granted, they are not as pretty as those $15 boxes I was talking about earlier, but I find that grouping many boxes together, as long as they are identical boxes, makes a neat presentation.

I save all sorts of sturdy boxes. I find that low boxes - the kind that perfumes or stationary come in - are perfect for using in drawers. Here is an example of that drawer we all have in our house - you know the one with the miscellaneous hardware, batteries, tools, etc. I play around with several combinations of boxes until I find a perfect fit.

This is another example of using boxes to organize my knife drawer. I personally like to keep all of my sharp knives and kitchen shears in one drawer so that I only have to worry about keeping the kids out of one drawer instead of several.

Here is a picture of our library. You could say that my husband and I have quite a collection of magazines (almost all free subscriptions, by the way!) Neither one of us is good at throwing them away, so I have to figure out what to do with all of them. These magazine files are from Ikea. They are corrugated cardboard and sold flat in packs of 5. The printed ones sell for ~$5 a pack, and the white ones sell for about ~$3 a pack. I have found that all white files look too utilitarian, so I intersperse the less expensive white files with the printed ones. They are certainly not as durable as a leather magazine file, but hey, it is not like I am throwing them around!

Okay, so here is a picture of one of my spice drawers. One of my favorite resources for organizing tools is U-Line. They offer many products in bulk at great savings. The real clincher, however, on why this is such a good deal for me is that they have a warehouse a few miles from my house so I am able to pick up my order and avoid any shipping charges.

These 8 oz clear jars, for example, cost me 60 cents each. I buy all of my spices in bulk at ethnic groceries (where they are invariably loads cheaper) or bulk at Whole Foods.

Another advantage of these jars is that they stack easily, so I also have them in my cupboards. Granted, I love to cook and so it is a sort of hobby of mine to collect spices, so this method has saved me a lot of money compared to the $3 and $4 I used to pay for .75 ounces of McCormick brand spices at the grocery store!

I am a huge fan of Costco, and I probably do about 90% of all my shopping there. Instead of having tons of bags in my pantry, I put everything possible into cans. I save cans from everything, formula, nuts, dry milk, etc. This picture of cans stacked up doesn't look particularly beautiful, but it is an extremely efficient way to keep my food fresh and stackable.

Here is a picture of another shelf in my pantry. I find that the most difficult food to work with comes in bags, so I do my best to make it stackable. For example, I always opt to buy powdered sugar or brown sugar in boxes. It is infinitely easier to stack several boxes of powdered sugar than it is to stack several bags of powdered sugar. When I don't have a choice of a box (chocolate chips, for example), I group them with like products and put them in boxes, as you can see here with the "Dried Fruit" and "Baking Chips" boxes.

Welcome!

2009-03-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have decided that it is time that I start a blog. Why? I suppose so I have a place to write all of the great ideas that I stay up late at night thinking about! Will you find my musings interesting? Probably not, but I like the idea of being able to get the mess out of my head and in some sort of organized form. Here goes!