cultivating me

These past few weeks I’ve been struggling with keeping the house together.  It seems no matter how much I clean, the mess just does not seem to go away.  It got me thinking.  I know other families whose homes always seem so clean and more importantly so much cleaner than mine.  I know I have [...]

this is my new daily mantra. it’s what i tell myself each morning when my alarm goes off at 6am. … as i sometimes struggle through an afternoon of trying to explain fractions to my 10 year old. … as i jog a mile on the treadmill or struggle to complete one last rep on [...]

101 Simple Salads, #25 Ridiculously good.  This is another salad I would like to eat every day for the rest of my life.  As you can see, I added some pinto beans to this salad even if the recipe didn’t suggest it.  I’ve been eating these salads for my lunch and wanted to round out [...]

101 Simple Salads, #3 I really like cucumbers and red onions and I go waaaaaaay back (in fact my dad’s favorite sandwich is peanut better and red onion – i know, it explains a lot of things, about both of us)  but I’m no so big on dijon mustard.  I was really unsure about this [...]

101 Simple Salads, #10 today i made a salad which included a type of green – arugula.  i am again using tomatoes from my garden. i only planted 3 plants this year:  2 larger variety (champion and best boy tomatoes) and 1 cherry tomato plant.  i have learned this gives us more than enough tomatoes [...]

101 Simple Salads, #13 i feel perhaps i might be cheating by choosing another salad which contains fruit.  but i currently have a refrigerator full of ripe strawberries and tomatoes from my garden so i decided to use what i had on hand. it was delicious and i would have loved to have served this [...]

101 Simple Salads, #4 after the way yesterday’s salad swept me off my feet, i had high expectations for this salad and ended up a bit disappointed.  this is not to say this salad was bad, it just wasnt’ as scrumptous as i had hoped it to be.  i think perhaps some of the problem [...]

101 Simple Salads, #2 directions form the article: 2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing. oh my this salad is good!  i admit i was a bit skeptical by the pairing of tomatoes with [...]

This morning the kids and I made breakfast together.  We had a lot of fun together and it was a good reminder for all of us to keep trying to find ways to spend this kind of time togeher.  We are all so busy these days and it seems as if our time to just [...]

So I’ve been using Weight Watchers online for the last 6 weeks and I have lost 4 pounds in that time. I know it’s not the kind of number most people would jump up and down for but I am really happy about it.  I could have lost more weight if I had put more [...]