ALVIN!

Happy Wednesday!!  Back in the spring the hubs built a garden planter in the sliver of land that gets enough sunlight to sustain a garden.  Fast forward to yesterday, around noon.  I walked out onto the deck and saw a flurry of activity over at the garden box.  Then I saw a streak of brown chipmunk fur fly down the driveway and into the woods.  Hmmm, I thought.  Wonder what the chipmunk was...AAAACCCCKKKK!  That little creature managed to chomp through every ripe tomato on the vine.  And now he knows they're there.  He'll probably invite all of his chipmunk friends over for lunch tomorrow.  I'll have nothing left by the end of the day!  Here's the sad, sad carnage (note all the tomato flesh on the ground):

Next year, Alvin, we're going to have to employ some netting.  And some chipmunk traps.  I'm kidding...maybe.  I'll get you my Chippy, and your little friends too!

Mail Time

Happy Monday!!  My little Stinkerpuss loves to 'help' get the mail.  He also loves going to the Post Office...dropping things into a big mailbox...seeing a mailbox as we're driving by...walking past a mailbox.  This kid has a thing for mail.  So obviously we have to devote a whole week to it, right?!  I was surprised at just how much mail-themed stuff there is out there.  The little guy big boy is gonna be so excited :)

Letter of the week: M
Creative, Crafty, Sensory Fun:

• M is for Mail letter craft
• 'Writing' some letters for the Grandmas
• Letter matching game
• Match the stamp to the letter game (I'm making some felt envelopes with shapes on them and matching stamps to be adhered with velcro)
• Pretend Post Office play - complete with big mailbox (aka cardboard box), letter carrier bag, 'letters', small mailboxes and rolls of 'stamps' (aka stickers)

Books:

• Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier
• Post Office Book: Mail and how It Moves by Gail Gibbons
• Word Family Tales: Snail Mail by Maria Fleming
• Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells
• Delivering Your Mail: A Book about Mail Carriers by Ann Owen
• Sadie the Air Mail Pilot by Kellie Strom
• Post Office: Active Learning about Community Workers by Carol Wawrychuk

A bit unrelated, but...we were at Target this past Saturday and the Dollar bins are STOCKED with back to school stuff.  We bought lots and lots of tot school supplies - tons of stickers, learning-to-tell-time clock, great color bins, foam shapes, sorting containers, puzzles... 

Sunday Joy List

Summer Veggie (Crust less) Quiche

Happy Friday!!  By this time each year our Farmer's Market is packed full of just-picked perfect veggies.  We love grilled veggies in the summer, and I generally go a little overboard buying them.  This crust less quiche is such a yummy way to use up the last of the veggies and makes for nice weekend brunch.  You can use any veggies that you like - these are just the ones that I had on hand on the day that I wrote up the recipe.  To make it a little heartier, the hubs usually makes a slice of quiche into a sandwich with a little fresh tomato.

Summer Veggie (Crust less) Quiche

Ingredients
1 yellow summer squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet Hungarian pepper, diced
1 bell pepper (any color), diced
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)
1 cup shredded cheese (I use a Colby-Jack blend)
1/4 cup hot sauce, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
olive oil spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F)
2. Spray 9x9 glass dish with olive oil spray
3. Heat medium skillet over med-high heat, spray with olive oil spray
4. Add veggies to hot skillet, and saute until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes
5. Add veggies to 9x9 baking dish
6. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, hot sauce, Dijon mustard & pepper
7. Pour over veggies
8. Top with shredded cheese and sprinkle with paprika (I mix the cheese in a bit, so that I don't end up with a thick layer of cheese on top)
9. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean
10. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting

Magnet Doll Up

Happy Thursday!!  A few weeks ago I scored few packages of Making Memories flower petals from Tuesday Morning for $1 a package. (Oh Tuesday Morning, how I love your little craft section!)  I knew they'd come in handy for embellishing something, I just didn't know what.  Then when I saw packages of clear round magnets at the dollar store (and maybe I bought something like 10 packages), I thought some pretty flower magnets would look lovely on my fridge.  And maybe they'll work to distract company from the dirty fingerprints..

This was the best kind of project - quick and instantly gratifying.  Here are my supplies:

Just take one clear magnet, hot glue three flower petals of varying sizes and finish it off with a small button. 

And now off to clean those darn fingerprints!

For Love of Laundry

Happy Tuesday!!  Over the past few months laudry has become a bit of a monster in our house.  It's not that we're creating more laundry, its just that I started to hate doing it.  The problem is that I was waiting to do all the laundry on the weekends.  There's something so depressing about starting a Saturday morning with a towering mountain of laundry.  So a little while ago I started a new resolution - one load a day.  It has been life transforming (okay, so maybe I need to get out more).  After a few weeks I am totally hooked on it!  Our laundry is completely caught up.  I have time to do something other than laundry on the weekends.  Even the hubs has noticed that he has more clean clothes in the closet (and doesn't have to beg for clean socks).  And here's the absolute best part - it's my no-fail, sure thing accomplishment for the day.  Even if everything else goes wrong (or I didn't muster up the strength to change out of my pj's), I can still go to bed feeling like I accomplished something.  Now I'm feeling a inspired to try out some of the 'clean a little every day' approaches to housework.  Does anyone else use the 'little bit every day approach'?  Does it work for you?

Bugs!

Happy Monday!!  Over the past few weeks, we've spent alot of time pondering insects of all sorts.  There have been the evenings trying to catch firelies...The worms that we found in the dirt while planting flowers...The butterflies that we've been chasing with little nets...And the bees that have been buzzing all around the garden.  Now, truth be told, we haven't caught a single butterfly and holding worms in my hands makes me a little queasy.  But since I've been trying to follow Munchkin's interests, this week's Munchkin Theme is Bugs!  Here's what we'll be up to this week:

Letter of the Week: B
Creative Crafty Sensory Fun:

• B is for Bug letter craft
• Catching fireflies
• Spotted Ladybug paper plate craft
• Bug scavenger hunt
• Egg carton ant craft

Books:

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
• Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
• The Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Miss Spider’s ABC by David Kirk
• I Love Bugs by Phileomon Sturges
• Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming

Sunday Joy List

Tasty Turkey Subs

Happy Friday!!  Today's recipe is another one of our favorite sandwiches.  I know, you'd swear that most of our meals are either sandwiches or desserts!  The hubs is a huge cheesesteak fan and I thought it would be fun to come up with another type of cheesesteak sandwich like one of my favorites from a local spot.  Their's is a chicken terriyaki, but I thought lean turkey might help counterbalance the cheese factor!

Tasty Turkey Subs

Ingredients
1 pound lean deli turkey, sliced into strips
1 green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 pound provolone cheese
4 sub-style buns
terriyaki sauce, to taste
mayo, to taste

Directions

1. Heat griddle or large skillet to medium-high heat
2. Spray pan with olive oil
3. Add the onions, green peppers and turkey until veggies are softened and turkey is slightly brown, about 5 minutes
4. Reduce heat to medium-low
5. Seperate the veggies and meat into individual sandwiches (on the griddle/pan), squirt with terriyaki sauce and lay 1-2 slices of provolone over each pile of yumminess
6. Cook until cheese starts to melt
7. Apply a thin coat of mayo (or to taste) on each of the sub rolls
8. Using a large spatula, carefully remove each sandwich pile from the griddle/pan and onto the bun (I actually kind of hold the opened bun over the meat & veggies and use it to help the spatula flip it over onto the opened bun)

Note: The terriyaki sauce is totally optional, the hubs prefers his sandwiches without it, but I think it adds to the flavor

Pretty Paper Decor

Happy Thursday!  This past weekend we hosted a bridal shower for my SIL at our house.  My in-law's family is on the small side, so it was an intimate party held outside under the shade of our ancient silver maple (well most of it was in the shade!)  This is the hubs only sister and my MIL went all out with a pink & girly theme.  There were dish rag bikini's, big tissue paper flowers (ala Miss Martha) and a completely decorated chair of honor.  My contribution to the decor (aside from cleaning like whirling dervish and impromptu landscaping), were some paper napkin flowers and these lovely paper doily garlands:

There are really only two three steps to the process:
1 - Fold all the doilies in half
2 - Use dots of hot glue to attach them to a length of ribbon
3 - Fold over each end  of the ribbon and hot glue down to provide additional stability for hanging.  This is a totally optional step, but I wanted to be able to hang the garland from my dining room hutch with another length of ribbon like so:

They are incredibly simple to make and I absolutely love how sweet and delicate they are :)

And here are a few more pictures (because I can't help myself!)

I used thumb tacks to hold them in place outside

Yes, he did attend the shower (he wanted to be 'out with the ladies')

Here's a table shot - aren't those tissue paper flowers gorgeous!

Bookcases Dressed for the Ball

Happy Wednesday!!  So the hubs has been asking whether I ever put a picture of the finished bookcases on my blog (whew, thank goodness he doesn't read this here blog!).  I always give some non-comittal reply and quickly change the subject.  The problem isn't the actual bookcases (I love them!), it's my inability to fill them.  (It's not you, it's me!)  I've spent the past two months decorating and undecorating...adding and subtracting.  I just don't have that designer instinct.  My problem is that I don't know what I want the to look like, but I'll know it when I see it.  Yep, that's my problem.  Well this past weekend we hosted a little shindig (more on that tomorrow) and I finally have the shelves filled in a way that doesn't make me want to completely remove everything and start over.  It's not perfect, but I have a feeling I'll be moving stuff around forever.  Sooooo, now that you've listened to read my ramblings, I give to you my lovely built-ins:

Thank you hubs!

Frosty Coffee Treats

Happy Tuesday!!  So I'm a bit of a Starbucks junkie.  I work in the office 3 days a week, and my body somehow seems to find itself in line twice a day.  So I was THRILLED to see that the Treat Receipt is back for the next few months (through October 4th!).  The Treat Receipt officially started on June 29th and all the details are here.  The abbreviated version is...buy something before 2 PM and use your magical Treat Receipt to get any grande iced beverage for 2 bucks after 2 PM.  Oh iced coffee how I love you!  My wallet is always much happier during Treat Receipt season :)

  

image from blog.ventes-responsables.com

Starry Night

Happy Monday!!  Well we are officially back from vacation and ready to dive into another week of summer fun.  This week's Munchkin Theme is Stars & Sky.  Here's a look at our stargazing plans for the week:

Letter of the Week: S
Creative, Crafty, Sensory Fun:

• S is for Star letter craft
• Shooting star paper craft
• Star Counting activity
• Constellation drawing
• Star sponge painting
• Star shape treasure hunt

Books:

• How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers
• Harold's Trip to the Sky by Crockett Johnson
• The Little Fallen Star by Robert E. Geiger
• Fancy Nancy Sees Stars by Jane O'Connor
• The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers
• I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown
• Little Star by Sarah Willson
• The Little Star by Deborah Nash
• Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field
• The Night Sky by June English
• Five Wishing Stars by Treesha Runnels

Songs:

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

V for VACATION

Happy Monday!!  This week's Munchkin Theme is V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!  The hubs and I have taken this week off to relax and have fun with the Munchkin.  All of this week's books include things that we'll be doing while on vacation.  The crafts and activites will be a little sparce since we'll be busy doing everything else.  Here's a peek at what we'll be up to this week:

Letter of the Week: V
Crafty, Creative Sensory Activities:

• V is for Vacation letter craft

Books:

• Curious George Roller Coaster by H. A. Rey
• Curious George: The Boat Show by H.A. Rey
• Curious George Plays Mini Golf by H.A. Rey
• Maisy at the Fair by Lucy Cousins
• A Fabulous Fair Alphabet by Debra Frasier
• Up and down on the Merry-Go-Round by Bill Martin Jr
• Berenstain Bears Go to the Movies by Stan Berenstain
• Toy Story by RH Disney
• Toy Story 3 : Read-Along Storybook by Toy Story
• Great Doughnut Parade by Rebecca Bond

Sunday Joy List