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Baby Watermelon

I am growing watermelons!  I can hardly believe that the tiny, struggling seedling I started back in April from little seeds are now huge and producing a bunch of tiny watermelons.  I have never grown any kind of melon before and I didn't have high hopes for these.  The plants were so small for so long -- then one day they went crazy.  I'm ridiculously excited and check on the baby watermelons several times each day.

Tomatoes are just starting to turn red here and there.  I love the bright green against the red-orange on this one.  I think these are Brandywine, which I've never had much luck growing in the past.  It looks like the wet Spring was just what they needed.

And we harvested the garlic!  This was a new crop for us this year and I have to say it was crazy easy to grow.  Pete stuck the cloves in the ground last autumn and we dug them up this past weekend -- that's it.  We have laid them on a piece of fencing over the basement stairs in, what we call, our vestibule. They have plenty of air circulation, but I'm hoping it's not too hot in there.  We shall see.  

There is so much happening in the garden right now that I could go on and on, but I'll finish up with one last photo -- the first of many cukes is nearly ready for harvest.  I think 2 cucumber plants will be more than enough to keep us in cukes for the rest of the summer.  These things are prolific!

First Harvest of the year

We pulled and ate one of the radishes today.  This is the first official harvest of the year, and I'm pretty excited that it is happening early in May.  

And soon we will have strawberries!  Our strawberries apparently liked the wet Spring -- they look amazing this year.

The cherry tomatoes should be ripe before long and since I planted a ridiculous number of them, we will have more than we can handle.

I'm feeling pretty good about the garden this year.  It's taken several years of trial and error to get to the point where I sort of feel like I know what I'm doing and I also know what I like to grow.  

This will definitely be the year of the tomato since I planted a ridiculous number of plants, but it is also the first year I'm planting radishes, beets, tomatillos, watermelons and garlic (which was planted last fall).  Old favorites are back too -- tomatoes (obviously), strawberries, raspberries (which are multiplying like mad!), potatoes, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, herbs (flat leaf parsley, basil, sage, oregano, cilantro and thyme), carrots and lettuce.  And I shouldn't forget the flowers which I grew from seed this year -- petunias, impatiens, marigolds, and sunflowers.

Whew.  I really need to keep a gardening journal to keep all this straight from year to year, but I suppose the blog will suffice.

Starting on the New Treadmill

I had a good first workout on the treadmill today, although I took it a bit easy since I was still getting accustomed to the new machine.  Oh yeah, and I'm sore from getting the massive thing into the house and assembling it yesterday.  It's all set up in the new work out room / sun room, which is quite a nice set up.

In other news, Winter has finally arrive -- on January 12th.  It's been such a strange and ridiculously warm winter so far (yesterday it was 50º here!), but today we have the beautiful snow I've been wanting.  And judging from the forecast, it should stay for at least a few days. 

Ah, global warming, I am not a fan.

The Summer of Walking -- Podcast Recommendations Needed!

(This photo has nothing to do with this post, but I don't like photoless posts -- so there you go.)

With Maddie in Summer Camp for the months of June and July, my schedule is completely disrupted.  Here's how things go for most of the year:  Maddie and I wake up when we wake up -- usually between 7:30 and 8:00.  Maddie eats breakfast and plays/watches TV while I work out and shower.  School runs from 10 - 1.  Then lunch, work (me) and homework (Maddie) plus free time, errands, etc. until dinner.

Now we are dragging our sorry selves out of bed at 7am.  Neither Maddie nor I are morning people, so this is quite a feat.  Then we eat breakfast, get ready and I take her to camp.  This has screwed up my work out schedule, so I've given up on the Pilates/Yoga I usually do and started walking after I drop her off. 

This new routine has been quite enjoyable (after the initial shock -- I do not like changes in my schedule), and I've started listening to podcasts again. 

Here's my question -- what podcasts do you like?  I walk for between 30 - 60 minutes, so I am quickly burning through the podcasts I have on my iPhone.  Please give me suggestions.

I hate the dentist.

Yes, I realize that this is probably a common enough complaint, but today I have an appointment, and I'm already bargaining with myself.  We all do it, don't we?  I mean, shouldn't I get a treat for sitting in that chair, having my sensitive gums and teeth poked and prodded.

I hate to admit it, but since I now am a very good girl and go to the dentist twice a year, I'll tell you that for about 10 years I avoided going to the dentist altogether.  I do not recommend this tactic, as I ended up with a root canal and a couple little cavities, not to mention the pain of a deep cleaning in my first year back.  

So, off I go.  Maybe I'll make some cookies when I return.  I deserve it, don't I?

Get Healthy -- Work Out!

I don't think I've talked much about it here on the blog, but I enjoy working out. In fact, I've been exercising 5 days a week for about 7 or 8 years and I can't tell you what a difference it has made in my life. Since this is the time of year for getting back to healthy living, I'm going to share a few posts in the coming weeks on the things I do to stay healthy.  Today I will focus on exercise.

If you are just starting out, I can highly recommend the Wii Fit Plus...

I received the Wii Fit Plus disc for Christmas, but had the original Wii Fit before that. The new edition has added games and lets you create your own workouts which keeps you moving and burning calories. There are tons of activities to keep you interested, weight & bmi tracking to help you meet your goals and you can do it in the privacy of your own home. It's so much fun that your other family members will likely start doing it too, which is a bonus.

Let's say you are like me and you've been working out for a while and want an extra challenge, or maybe you want to work on specific areas, but the gym isn't your thing. In that case, I recommend Gaiam DVD's. I've done their Yoga (I like Rodney Yee), the Pilates BodyBand Workout (which is nice because it comes with 3 bands, so you can work your way up), Total Body Balance Ball which is so fun that you hardly know you are working out (until the next day), and my current favorite...

The Covered Resistance Cord which comes in light medium and heavy. I just started doing this one and let me tell you, it works muscles you didn't know you had! Best of all, the same instructor from the Balance Ball DVD is the instructor here. Her name is Tanja Djelevic and I think she's great at getting you motivated and keeping you interested in what you are doing.  She focuses heavily on the core, which strengthens your back and abs, improves your posture and helps with balance.

I also do 20-30 minutes daily on the elliptical machine which gives me a bit of extra cardio, but the Resistance Cord DVD really gets your heart rate up.  And there is always walking (or running) which requires only a pair of shoes.

Mixing and matching workouts keeps me interested and makes working out enjoyable, but I've found that the most important thing is sticking to a routine.  Every weekday morning I get out of bed, fill my bottle with water and workout.  Making this the first thing I do each day gives me energy and makes me feel like I've done something good for myself form the start.  It sets the tone for the day and makes it easier to make other healthy choices.

Do you have a favorite workout or exercise program?

Probiotics?

I have a sick child napping on the couch right now. She was up half the night with tummy troubles. This morning we went to the doctor and she recommended probiotics, so off we went to Target to grab some. The pharmacist was very helpful and recommended Florastor for kids, which is a yeast probiotic. After further chatting with the pharmacist, she recommended probiotics for me too --specifically Lactobacillus acidophilus, a bacteria as opposed to a yeast (the yeast probiotic was really expensive!). She says that she takes it herself and feels it improves her immune system -- quite important since she deals with sick people all the time. It also is supposed to aid in digestion and such.

So, Maddie and I have each taken our first dose and I'm really hoping it will help her out since she's been dealing with this off and on for a few weeks now.

Anyone out there have any experience with probiotics? I'm very curious to hear about your experiences, and to get your advice on the subject.

Healthier TV dinners

Back when I was a kid, Swanson's TV dinners were ultra popular and we ate them about once a week when our parents went out and the babysitter came over. I'm sure they were really terrible for you -- filled with all kids of crazy ingredients -- but we loved those little compartmentalized dinners. When I had a kid of my own, I caved and allowed her to get those Kid Cuisine meals from time to time, but I really couldn't stand having her eat that stuff. And I wouldn't exactly call corn -- which is all they ever included -- a healthy vegetable. Not only that, she didn't always like all the parts of those kids meals.

Good news though! A while back I reviewed a vegan chocolate cake over at the Chocolate Blog. (It was really good, btw!!) As a result, I got to talking with someone at Amy's and they took a look at my blog, noticed I had a daughter and sent me out some of their kid's meals for her to try. They sent one of each variety -- Baked Ziti, Mac 'n Cheese and Mexican Quesadilla.  Maddie loved them all! But even better -- I loved the ingredient list. Organic, no trans-fats, preservative free. And there were veggies -- real veggies. And fruit!  Maddie keeps asking me to get more (unfortunately our local grocery doesn't stock them yet -- but they do carry some Amy's products, so I'm asking them to carry the kids meals.)

If you are looking for a healthy, and quick frozen meal to give to your kids, Maddie and I both highly recommend Amy's Kids Meals. Find out more at their website. (Seriously, I was super happy with these -- give them a try!)

I forgot the green lawn toy!

Last year we made a big change in how we take care of our lawn. Enter the reel mower. Good old fashioned human power -- healthy for us, healthy for the planet.

For Earth Day -- Green Products I use and love!

Baggu Bags -- I have three of them and they are always in my handbag.  I use them absolutely everywhere I shop and they still look as good as the day I got them.  I want even more -- including a cute little Baby Baggu.  The number of colors is amazing and they have limited edition bags sometimes.

Kleen Kanteen -- I bought these for the family a while back and I use mine almost every day. Great product, super durable and no plastic!

What are your favorite Green products? 

Worried about plastic?

I am.  And not just because of the latest new snippet.  I've been making the switch to glass food storage containers and I'm trying to make more of our food at home so it doesn't come prepackaged in plastic (trying being the key word here).  And I've been anti bottled water for a while now for numerous reasons (landfill woes -- thriftiness -- etc. . . ).  Fortunately I work from home and homeschool, so Maddie and I are more likely to drink out of real, actual glass glasses instead of plastic.  However, when we are on the run it isn't easy to carry along beverages and stay away from plastic.  Maddie has been into using a plastic commuter mug for her water, so I knew I had to find an alternative.  Enter Klean Kanteen!  I bought mine at Amazon because they were cheaper there and I also got free shipping.  Now we each have a safe bottle for on the go! 

Henna Results

Whew!  My first henna experience is behind me and I've learned a bit.  The results were quite good and I'll definitely do it again.  Here is the before shot:

Notice the very grey roots and the really faded dye job on the rest of the hair.  Ugh!

And here's the after -- sorry, it's really hard to take a photo of the top oy your head!  You can see that the color is much darker now and you can't tell where the grey roots were.  Here's another shot:

I think it's getting a little redder as time goes on -- they say it will become more intense over the next day or so.  I was surprised that it came out as brown as it did.  I really like it!  Pete thought it looked very natural.  You can see that there are some color variations -- almost like highlights. 

So what did I learn about henna?  Well, it is really messy to put on -- probably worse because of the long hair.  I could smear it on my roots easily enough, but trying to coat the length of hair was tricky.  Maybe adding an egg or oil as some sites suggest would make it a bit more easy to work with.  And I took some advice I saw online and wrapped my head in plastic wrap and heated it with the blow dryer every half hour or so.  I guess the heat makes it activate better.  I also used a spray bottle to keep my hair damp -- very important since this stuff did want to dry out quickly.  I think that helped to make it easy to wash out -- it was no trouble at all.  And finally, I was actually patient and kept it on for about 2 hours.  I would say my patience paid off, because the color was really quite good.

So that's my henna experience!  I'll definitely be doing it again.  Usually after dyeing my hair with chemical dyes, my scalp is itchy and my hair smells strongly of the chemicals for the next few days.  Today my hair doesn't smell and it feels conditioned (rather than stripped!)  And no itchy scalp or sneezing!  Yeah!

Henna -- oops!

Oops!  I forgot to put my henna questions in my last post!  Here goes. . .

Lately I've been trying to live a healthier lifestyle -- more whole foods, less chemicals, etc.  Well, I'm afraid that I am prematurely quite grey.  Quite.  So I've been coloring my hair since my early 20's to cover it.  (yes, early 20's!)  And I started using the mild semi-permenant color, but the greyness advanced quickly and soon that wouldn't cover it.

It seems that everytime I color my hair, I end up with allergies -- I get a sinus headache and all that.  And lately my scalp even itches.  Not good.  So I've decided to give henna a try.  I'm a little nervous about this though.  I've read tons of info online, but I really would love to hear from someone who has dyed their hair with henna.  I'm thinking of doing a henna-indigo mix so that my hair doesn't go too bright orange.  I'm thinking grey hair + henna = orange. 

Any advice?  Any reliable suppliers I should check out?  Please, I would love to hear your thoughts!