DAY IN THE LIFE / FEBRUARY 2015.

It's Tuesday, February 17 and I wanted to document a day in my life.  This is how my day rolled.

6:00AM / my alarm goes off.  wake the girls up.  callie gets up really easy, but my teenage daughter, mckenzie moans & complains about having to get up so early when all of her friends get to sleep in until 7am.  i fix callie a protein drink with a little peanut butter blended in.  she gets her dose of medication, vitamin D, flax oil and a probiotic chewable.  mckenzie always makes herself a bowl of cereal

 6:24AM / i make the girls lunches.  callie likes the berry jelly with her sandwich cut in half and mckenzie likes her sandwich with the mango jelly.  callie usually gets a cutie & some pretzel sticks with a juice box.  mckenzie loves apples.  i have to cut them up for her due to braces.  i'll toss in a protein bar, seaweed (she loves that stuff) & a juice box.

usually during this time i'm reminding callie to get dressed because she'll get side tracked and start playing with our guinea pig or playing in her room.  it's a constant battle.

6:53AM / i drive the girls down the road to catch the bus.  the mornings are getting lighter earlier, so i'm looking forward to walking the girls to the bus stop.  

7:00AM / then it's back home to wash the dishes left over from last night.  i try to have the dishes washed before bed but sometimes it doesn't always happen.

7:12AM / i reheated some left over coffee that was in my french press from yesterday.  i know this doesn't sound to tasty but when your tired, sometimes i really don't care.  i put a couple slices of bread in the toaster and spread some sunflower butter on top.

7:23AM / start a load of laundry.

7:30AM / out the door for a 5k run.  i love this part of my morning.  it's the perfect time for me to think about what i want to accomplish for my day.

9:09AM / showered and ready to work.

9:24AM / i have a love with my crock pot.  Anytime I can prep a dinner in my crock pot is a great thing.  tonight we had crock pot enchiladas.  a dish my family devours.  i make a huge batch so there's plenty of left overs.

11:24AM / made a reservation for our annual summer family camping trip.  we love camping at jedediah smith state park.

11:48AM / i'm usually getting hungry around this time, so i usually put together a smoothie in my blender.  throw a handful of spinach or kale, a banana and some frozen mangos and about 3 tablespoons of hemp seed or chia seeds.  blend it up in my vitamix & enjoy!

12:22PM / yep!  lots of laundry to be folded and put away.  i actually enjoy this task.  i find it therapeutic.  call me crazy!

12:50PM / quick mexi bowl for lunch.

1:10PM / i'm never walking around our property in sandals in mid february.  i'm usually knee deep in snow around this time of year and there's never daffodils about ready to bloom until mid april at 4500 feet.

1:56PM / i usually pick the girls up from school on tuesday's.  tuesday's mckenzie has violin lessons at 3:30.  i love to hear her play but i made a long over due appointment with my chiropractor, so mr. m picked them up and took miss mckenzie to her lesson today.  i need to remind myself to do this more often.  it's ok to ask for help occasionally and take a self care day.

4:02PM / after my appointment i made a quick stop at my grocery store to pick up some ingredients for a salad and also this satisfying kumbucha drink.

4:36PM / the rest of the family hasn't arrived home yet, so i'm taking this time to prep a little salad for dinner tonight.

5:01PM / family dinner night.  an extra bonus of lit candles.  poor mr. m. he's thinking would you just take the damn shot so i can enjoy my dinner now.

6:21PM / mckenzie is showing her sister how to properly crack an egg.  we're making brownies for dessert.

it's callie's turn to crack an egg.  not to bad.  only a few shells i had to dig out.

6:45PM / bath time for miss callie.  she's a ham for the camera.

7:05PM / she loves giving her guinea pig lots of cuddles before bed time.

7:54PM / everybody gets to enjoy a brownie before bed.  i love drinking a cup of hot tea with mine.

8:04PM / i brush and floss calllie's teeth.  yes!  she's 9 and i still brush and floss her teeth and i'm very proud of that.  i did the same thing for mckenzie until i was confident she was able to do a proper job.  i remember my own father brushing my teeth at this age.  proper oral hygiene was always important to him.  his dad was a dentist and it was always at the top of the priority list for him.   i'm so grateful for this because at the age of 45, i have never had a cavity.  my girls have virgin teeth and i hope it stays this way for their lifetime.  then miss callie gets lots of hugs and kisses before i tuck her in bed.

10:14PM / i'm showered and almost ready for bed.

10:28PM / one last cup of hot tea before i call it a night.

ps. all shots taken with my iPhone.

HOW I MAKE SPAGHETTI SAUCE.

This recipe really doesn't take a whole lot of prep time.  But I really enjoy slicing, cutting, chopping & dicing.  I know.  I know.  I'm kind of weird like that but it's kind of theraputic for me.  I think in 2014, I really started to enjoy cooking.  I think it all started when I found Pinterest.  It really simplified cooking and baking for me.  The world of recipes was just a simple click away.  I could type any key word into that search box and a plethora of cooking and baking recipes were just ready to be made.  

So here's how I make the most scrumptious sauce...

What you'll need:

•  1/2 cup finely chopped onion
•  2 Tab olive oil or coconut oil
•  1 pound grass fed ground turkey
•  3 cloves finely chopped garlic (I use a garlic press for this)
•  1 chopped green bell pepper
•  2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
•  2 15 oz. cans crushed tomatoes (I use the tomatoes from our garden that I prepped & had frozen in our freezer.  Of course I defrosted them over-night)
•  fresh mushrooms.  This is your call.  Add as many as you like.
•  1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (I cheat and use a large handful of the dried stuff you can find in the spice aisle)
•  1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
•  1/2 teaspoon cumin
•  salt & pepper to taste
•  1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
•  4 bay leafs
•  1 cup cooking sherry or red wine (I use an entire bottle of cooking sherry)
•  1 small can of sliced black olives
•  1 small jar of green olives (I cut them in half)
•  1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
•  1 teaspoon lemon juice
•  2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

In a large skillet heat I heat up my coconut oil.  Add the chopped onions, bell pepper and minced garlic and salute until golden brown.  Add your ground turkey and continue to cook until meat is throughly cooked.

When the meat is finished cooking, add it to your crock pot along with the remaining ingredients.

I have my crock pot set on low heat and let it cook all day.

Top spaghetti sauce over your favorite pasta.

PS.  I swear if you have left overs, they taste even better the next day.

Enjoy!

around here : august 8

We're growing:  Yellow Pear tomatoes.

Nasturtiums that surround our tomato plants.

 Giant Belgium Heirloom.

 Zucchini Elite.  It wasn't doing very well in one of our large ceramic pots, so we transplanted it into the area where we had our spinach.

 Celebrity

 I love basil.  I love the smell and I love this recipe that I have made several times over the summer.

 kale for making lots of green smoothies.

 carrots.

 Large Cherry tomatoes.

Matt planted a few of these flowers.  Can't remember what and it's possible it won't bloom this summer.  Maybe next summer.

And a garden wouldn't be complete without some kind of rodent.  The girls and I catch them in these no kill traps and then drive them a couple miles up the road to release them.  I'm sure P.E.T.A. would be so proud of us.

around here : may 20

 Enjoying the tiny buds that will hopefully turn into delicious strawberries.

 I've already made my first smoothie using our garden spinach.  Matt told me that we should thin it out but I don't have the heart to do it.  It's like aborting tiny spinach plants.  I know that sounds crazy but I literally think I would cry.

 We caged all 6 of our tomato plants and I can't wait to dismantle that extra wood that was used to make a makeshift green house.  there was once a tarp over that because at 4500 feet we were still having some pretty cold temps..

 Loving this gorgeous iris that is in full bloom.

 I think we're going to be eating broccoli very soon.

 Lots of flowers in bloom around here.

 And our front yard will have lots of poppies very soon.

 Loving these too.

 And soaking up lots of afternoon sunshine.

 Saying hello to our trailor that came home after having some major repair work done.  Really looking forward to our camping trip in August and having some just-for-fun-sleep-overs in it.

 I'm pretty sure by tomorrow these tulips will be open.

 Reading my first book Finding Me (a memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings) on my iPhone.  It's an awesome read and a book that's hard to put down.

Dropping off our ballots at our local library.

wednesday ramblings.

 She likes to... build makeshift cat toys out of sticks and grass.

 She likes to... encourage the cat to play with her makeshift cat toys and the cat is eager to try them out.

 She likes to... strip broken branches of their moss covered growth.

 She likes to... pout on the bench when she doesn't get her way.  She wanted to go to the Yogurt Hut (it's her favorite treat spot next to the Human Bean).  Mommy said it was getting to close to dinner.

 This is Mr. & Mrs. Martin's beautiful cat (McKenzie takes violin lessons from Mrs. Martin).  My girls love cats and always look forward to a little play time with this one.

 So very happy that the sun made an appearance yesterday.

 So very thankful for her love of music.

So very thankful for two girls even if they drive me crazy most days.

around here : april first.

Around here, it's been one of those weeks where we have been getting a variety of weather.  Periods of sun then rain.  Periods of snow and then some hail mixed in.  I'm anxiously awaiting warmer weather.  I'm ready to plant... plant... plant...  I'm also super excited for our second growing season in our garden.  Mr. M. built FOUR 5x8 raised beds last Spring that supplied us with a variety of veggies all Summer long.  For now, we have planted some strawberries and broccoli which will survive the colder temps. we have at our elevation.  Today I watched as Mr. M. planted seeds that will hopefully grow into baby carrots.  It hailed and was super cold but we will look back 52 days later and say it was totally worth.  I really enjoy the process of planting seeds and watching them grow into something our family can eat.

Around here, Mr. M. has been cutting and stacking fire wood for next Winter.

Around here, flowers have been planted and crossing my fingers that our deer don't find them.

Around here, I'm wearing these most comfortable shoes on my days off.  I highly recommend sizing down a whole size because they do run big and will stretch.  I normally wear a size 7 and I ordered a 6 and I'm so glad I did after reading the reviews.

Around here, I'm enjoying things that are just about to bloom.

Around here, I'm watching to see who takes residence in our bird houses.