They say it's your birthday...

And it is!
I turned 28 today. Although people keep pushing it to 30. I told Corey I was hanging on tightly to the last 2 yeas in my 20's.

Do I feel older yet? A little, My hair is a dull color and the roots are hanging out, I have about 20 pounds lingering here and there that need to be dismissed and Chloe keeps me up during the night so I am super tired during the mornings...those are things that make me feel not so much old, but weathered. Those are things that are adjustable though-starting with the body clutter. My Advocare cleanse was delivered today and I was very excited to get on the 10day system. They were out of Citrus, which is my favorite, so I settled for Peaches N Cream which is palpable. I have not cleansed since Lily was born so I am sure there is a good 3 years work of toxin and debris in my gut waiting to be released.
We are fasting at church which goes hand in hand with the 3-4-3 Cleanse-
no junk, fats, fried foods, sweets, dairy, meats etc.
(Annual Easter Fast, which means I am usually fasting for my Birthday each year)

What do I want to do this year and next year while I am still in my 20's? Well, I have my 10 year reunion this July which is a good time to reflect on the last 10 years of my life, which went by so fast I can't believe. What have I done and not done in the last 10 that I can look forward to in my 30's...
This year I want to establish exercise in my life as habit and lifestyle choices.
I want to buy a house.
I want to plant a garden.
I want to enroll in singing lessons or in school for music.
I want to learn to play piano.
I want to keep a shiny sink.
I want to invest in someone other than myself.
I want to teach my girls something new.
I want to be comfortable being me.
I want to go back to blonde (!)

When you gotta go

My cat has been in the habit of urinating on clothing. It started with the birth of Lily 3.5 years ago. When she was born, he started peeing in her room, her carpet, her carseat, even her crib once. After she started crawling I guess he got used to her and stopped peeing on her items.

Then came Chloe

And here we go again. He pees in their laundry basket, always on the dirty clothing. Recently he peed on a shirt Corey inadvertently left on the living room floor, it was dirty however and there was one of the girl's socks mixed in with it.
Well- the kicker (I say that because that's what he got when we discovered his recent pee pile) came when he peed on our BRAND NEW Ikea mattress on OUR BED!
I am infuriated and so very close to making him an out door cat for good. Of course I can't really do that because we adopted him and signed an agreements saying we could not put him outside or face a fine of $1500!
But come on - the bed...he peed on clean laundry on the bed. Of course it soaked all the way down, we just took off the mattress pad so it went right on to the new mattress itself too.

So this is the adventure of odor removal.
So far, we have:
rubbed baking soda on it: No go.
Step 2: 50/50 vinegar and water dousing. I'll blot it and add more baking soda. I need to put it in the sun to dry but me moving a queen mattress all by myself is silly and I am liable to break something in my path. (Call it a path of destruction)
Step 3: Vacuum with a NEW vac. Our old one was 8 years old and not going to cut it- it sucks, no wait...actually it doesn't.
*update* I got a new vacuum- The Hoover that says it works better than a dyson! WOW- there was loads of old dirt and fuzz in our carpet that the old vac was not getting.
The vinegar solution worked, but the mattress smells a bit sour like vinegar now. When we get a hot sunny day (like tomorrow) I am going to put some water on the spot and put it out to dry and get some UV sterilization.
HE also peed AGAIN and his litterbox was 3 feet from the bed. This time though, the topper was in place so it did not make it to the mattress. But now I don't know what to do to clean the topper, it is memory foam and won't go in the washer. I guess vinegar/sun/baking soda.
I am beginning to hate my cat.

Encouragement

My blogs are usually random things that are going on in my life, or things I found edible and interesting. I love reading my sister's blog-it is more of a truth searching mom trying to make it in a "modern" society blog. Her links really inspire me to dig deeper as a mother, a wife, a leader, a sister, a daughter, a woman.

http://iguessmylifeisprettygood.blogspot.com/

I love that I am not the only woman out there appalled at the number of women "trying to make it is a man's world". It is encouraging to remember that there are mothers, working out of an in the home that still cherish good old-fashioned values, that make their own bread (even if only a few times a year), that love their husbands no matter what and discipline their children with stern love. In this world of highlights, high heels, acrylic nails and eyeliner (all of which I have or do wear) it is refreshing to see the woman underneath the temporal things.
Thanks Sis for reminding me of those things!

A little off the top

Or a little off the sides really. Each year in winter, Corey starts his winter "coat". Which meant 2 years of Christmas photos with him in a beard. Not that I am anti-facial hair, but he looks older with the beard and I don't like to feel the scratchy poky facial hair when I want a soft kiss. Even Chloe agrees, crying when he tried to kiss her cheek. (Score 2:0)
This is him taking it off one layer at a time, down to my favorite soul patch. I really want him to go back to the chin-strap, but he said it is impossible without a good trimmer...

"the wrasler"

"the pobber"

"the baron"

" das fuhrer"

Seeing Red

Did you know that until recently, red food dye was banned in the US? It is STILL banned in the UK for being a carcinogen and linked to ADD/ADHD and other diseases.
. I recently started trying to wean us off of food coloring because it has to be better for our health. DH is not going to well with it, he loves colorful candies and I can't find many that are all natural and colored in blue and green and red and pink and yellow. We also love Red Velvet cake which contains...GULP-2 bottles of red food dye when I make it.
I am on the search for natural alternatives for the next time I make a RVC. I found many online shops that sell natural colorings, some do say they will deposit flavor into the cake. I don't want a cherry flavored RVC and definately not a beet flavored one.
I came across a website that not only gave an alternative, but said it is being used in some foods as well and we may not even know it...
That red popcicle you are holding may be colored with bug guts!

"The way for you to know if you're consuming red beetles is to check the label. Although it won't read, red beetle, it can appear under several different names that unless you know what they are, you'd never suspect what it is." http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Natural_Food_Coloring

Red Beetle Color:

• Red 4
• Natural Red
• E120
• Carminic Acid
• Crimson Lake

They give them a clever name to disguise what it really is!
Now, I know that these bugs are, they live in cactus and if you squish them, which I have, they turn pretty purple red and you smear them on your face as war paint while you play cowboys and Indians, or you draw on your brother's arms with them when he isn't looking. But I never would have considered smooshing them up in my batter to make it red.

I have a feeling if I call it red bug blood, Corey will refuse a slice of Red Velvet, no matter what it looks like.

Homemade Marshmallows

I did it! I made marshmallows. This started last year, around my birthday. Austin is knows for their Trailer Eateries and we went to one that has cake balls. I got Lily homemade marshmallows, which I never thought about making from scratch. The taste of this fluffy, squishy white powder coated square was enough to send me to Google for some recipes. I came upon one that gave trial and error about the mess involved and to not expect clean beater, bowls or spoons.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined.

(IT WAS THICK!)
Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.


Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.


These are her directions, mixed with my images.
I used my hand mixer, for the mixing and a regular knife (not oiled) for the cutting.
The best part was bouncing the fluffy white squares in the powdered sugar. I toasted my first one on a shish-kabob skewer, over my stove's flame. It was delish~! I boxed them up in Christmas containers and gave them to family and friends to eat alone or with cocoa. The next time we get the fire going, I will be sure to have a batch of these for smores. Maybe I'll even make graham crackers...!

DIY Coconut Milk

After a friend told me about doing it, I wanted to try too.
I made my own coconut milk...well, Coconut flavored water at least.
I started with a brown coconut (then later read that I should have started with a younger one that has more water in it)

After breaking it and getting out all the meat I peeled the brown skin off as much of the coconut meat as possible. This was a little hard because the skin is so tough, but using a small paring knife made it easier. Then you toss it in the blender and add water.

As you blend, you have to get your hand and squeeze out some of the "milk".
You can also use cheesecloth, but what is the fun in that?

I felt like I got a really nice moisturizer for my hands with all the coconut oil and there was oil and coconut snow on everything in my kitchen.

After you strain off the milk, you have milky white juice and flaky coconut meat.
I tried making granola bars with the coconut, using oatmeal, raisins, walnuts and chocolate chips. They didn't hold well, but they tasted great and ended up more like granola than bars. I guess I could have tried to bake them to make a crunchy bar.
The milk was used in my fruit smoothies and added a great flavor and creaminess.

It did NOT come out the consistency of the canned coconut milk, either because of what I used, or the lack of power from my blender, but it was usable.

The best part was Lily wearing her coconut hat. I didn't get a picture because I was busy with my mess.