Roger in search of a "love nest"

Continuing to follow his plan to settle down and show his girlfriend that he is "the marrying type", Roger has been looking for a home of his own.  He really loves this one; great view, wonderful neighborhood, not too far from work.  He just wishes there was an elevator... 

Silhouetting

Me, myself, and I

For some time now Josie's bedtime routine has included a 10 or 15 minute conversation with herself in the mirror in her room (or sometimes a song and dance with herself, if she is feeling musical).  So here are a few shots of that conversation tonight, which from what I overheard consisted mostly of the phrases "please don't be rude to me" and "would you like something to eat, honey?".  

April flowers

At least the flowers are enjoying all the wet weather we've been having.  These shots were taking in between showers today, and so far there is no end in sight to the rain.  I shouldn't complain though, it's not snow, and everything looks so green and lush and alive, so it's not so bad.

Happy family

Ceiling tile to the rescue

Well, I worked on something else for awhile this evening, which just didn't turn out at all.  Not sure what to do, I wandered around the house for a bit, and then settled on this old ceiling tile I have hanging on my wall.  Not a very challenging subject, but a decent (and available) plan b.

Josie's Easter

Josie in her Easter dress

 Finding eggs

Crashing from her sugar high and playing with her new chickie

Okay, so what else would I post on Easter but lots of pictures of my Josie in her cute little dress?  We had a very nice, old fashioned kind of Easter: egg hunt, new dress, dinner at Grandma's house, etc.  I hope you all had a good Easter as well!

Easter cheat

I'm up late playing Easter bunny, and making a trail of photo clues for Josie to follow to her basket tomorrow morning.  So here are a few of the places Josie's clues will be hiding.  These photos are pretty bad to begin with, made worse by the fact that I have to wash them out a lot to get them to print out okay.  

 In the gaudy pot



 By the Buddha

 Somewhere on Josie's messy desk

  And last (where her basket will be) in her bed. 

I think one of us will sneak upstairs and put it there while she is looking for clues.

Happy Easter everybody!

I can do it myself

Josie, putting on her pajamas all by her self (though she is putting her head through the arm hole in this particular shot).  Sorry for all the Josie pictures and general lack of commentary lately, been a bit busy lately.  Good night!

River walk

 King of the stump

One foot and tail feathers

Thinking

Seemed to be what she was thinking today...

Artistic voice

I think my paints are trying to tell me something.  If I don't listen to their demands soon they may strike.

Peek-a-boo

Where's Josie?

Peek-a-boo!

Okay, so she is a little old for this game, but she had fun doing this, and especially looking at the pictures "change" on the display on my camera.

Here come the ferns

Terrarium black and white

Soap macro

The last few remnants of some fancy soap I got as a gift, I thought they might make an interesting macro shot.  I really should have gotten out the tripod for this though, I think I could have gotten much better detail.

Vegging out

My husband, deservedly vegging out after a very long day.

Mmmm...muffins

Things are looking up here, Josie woke up this morning a bit more like her old self.  She's still more tired than usual, so while she slept this afternoon I made muffins!  I love to bake; I find it very comforting and it was a nice way to do something for me after several days of 24/7 caregiving.  I think I mentioned a few posts ago that I have been reading about nutrition lately and one of the books I really got a lot out of was "Superfoods Rx" by Dr. Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews.  I like it because the author talks about adding these "superfoods" to your diet rather than going on and on about what you shouldn't eat.  I have a history of relating badly to my food, and since going through an eating disorder as a teenager I've flopped between almost returning to that illness and not thinking about what I'm eating at all (because I know once I start to think about it I'll start to try to over control it).  So...long story short, I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel and I've been interested in really learning about food lately and what I'm discovering is that it is amazing, powerful stuff.  Just for the last three weeks or so I've been trying to get as much good stuff into my diet as possible, and I feel great.  These additions may be the reason I didn't get sick when Josie and Phillip did (I've been trying my best to get both of them on board with some new foods, but it is a slow process). 

So what does this have to do with muffins?  Well, these arn't just any muffins, they are Whole Wheat Pumpkin Almond muffins.  The other great part about the "superfoods" is that they aren't really wierd, hard to find foods, they're pretty normal.  Pumpkin is probably the most unusual of the bunch.  Being that it is a food that I almost never eat, I wanted to find a great recipe to give it a try.  Below is that recipe, with my modifications, it is really easy and really good, and I'd highly recomend it.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
(or, as the recipe orginally called for, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 -1/2 cup vegetable oil (I increased the pumpkin puree in the recipe, so I used less oil than the original 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup chopped almonds or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Make a well in the center, and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil and honey.  Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed.  Gently stir in almods or walnuts.  Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full.

Bake for 18 - 21 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.  Cool in the pan before removing from cups.

Spring in the yard

The hardest thing about Josie being sick the last few days has been that those days have been beautiful!  Sunday especially, it was almost 80 degrees.  And we haven't hardly enjoyed it.  Josie, by the way, is doing a bit better, and we went to the doctor today just so I could get some reassurance that my policy of keeping her hydrated and waiting it out was the way to go.  On the way home she fell asleep, and after putting her in her bed I crept outside to take a few photos (instead of passing out next to her, as I've done every other time she's fallen asleep since getting sick).  Seems like it is really spring out there now, like we can stop dreading another snowfall (knock on wood) and break out the sandals.  The top photo is of a budding branch on a little flowering tree in my yard (not sure of the type), the second is my day-lilies coming up, and the third is a weed that I've always found pretty, called stinging nettle I think.

Seedling update

Hello all, and thank you for your well-wishes for Josie, she's still not doing great, can't hold anything down.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Since I'm on my way to bed to get some much needed rest, I thought an easy subject for tonight would be my little seedlings.  They are doing pretty well, the tomatoes, peppers, basil, and thyme have all sprouted, the one pictured at the top is tomato.  Now I have figure out where I'm going to put all these things outside, there is only a few more weeks until the frost free date!  

Quarantine

The last 17 hours or so has been spent caring for my sick little Josie, so please excuse the lack luster photo.  She's really been a trooper actually, usually she is the biggest baby when she gets sick (like her father!) but today she has been great; I guess she is growing up. 

Also, I just realized when I logged in to blogger that this is my 100th post!  Kind of snuck up on me, I feel like I should have done something special for that tonight.  Oh well, maybe for post #200 I'll come up with something.

Visiting Grandpa

Went to my Dad's tonight for a little bon-fire and what turned into Josie's first baseball game.  Grandpa takes his wiffle ball pretty seriously I guess.

I also found myself taking some shots of the woodpile at his house, the wood had some really beautiful colors and interesting patterns.  I don't think I really did it justice; I was called away from my camera by the promise of s'mores!

Dog tired

Well, the nieces just left (we also had Piper's little sister, Noelle today) and we're all wiped, including our dog, Tama.  They are both great kids, I'm really not complaining, but it sure does make things louder and more energetic around here when you increase the number of children from 1 to 3.  Guess it is good practice for me, since I've always wanted a bunch of kids, or maybe it is a good reminder that while it seems like a lot of fun on the "Brady Bunch" or "Cheaper by the Dozen", kids are a lot of work!  We all had fun though, and I'm glad my daughter will grow up close to her cousins. 

This picture was taken only a few minutes after the girls left.  Tama is the best dog in the world, she puts up with being climbed on and drug around and even endured being covered in hair clips (until I saw what was going on and rescued her).  She passed out on this chair and didn't notice I was taking her picture at all.

Tangled

I love it when our niece comes to stay with us, but I have to say I do NOT love combing her hair.  She has gorgeous, thick, slightly wavy hair that comes half-way down her back.  It is beautiful, but a pain!  So here is a shot of me doing battle with it (and my camera on timer mode, though I think I'm actually starting to get pretty good at using it).

After the bath

Josie and her cousin Piper (who is here for a sleep over) and some after bath time silliness.

First fire

Yay, first bon-fire of the season!  This makes it feel like summer really is almost here.  No time to chat, the fire is still glowing, I just thought I'd share these couple of shots with you before I go and get too relaxed.  Goodnight all!