Ruler of the Elves

There must be something in the water, because suddenly, the past few weeks, I have had a slew of design requests. Not that I mind, of course. It is one of my favorite things to do! Take this little bugger for example…

Clean and simple. Unlike the counters in my kitchen. Since I’m done with these, I’d better get crackin’ on the cleanliness.

To say that I’ve been slightly scattered brained lately would be an over exaggeration. I’ve been extremely out of it the past week or two and I can simply imagine that it will get worse as finals week (next week) approaches. To prove my absent mindedness, take today for example, when I left for the grocery store and shopped for practically an hour, only to find that I had forgotten my wallet/pocketbook/whatchamacallit as I proceeded towards the check out. So, with my grocery cart pushed to the side of a random aisle, I quickly ran home to retrieve said money holder and hurried back to the grocery to buy my goods and leave again only slightly humiliated.

From the photo below, you can tell that fruits and veggies were priority this week. We are trying to eat a bit healthier and decided to try some new recipes this week.

While I was cooking a delicious dinner (with some help from Chris,) Pinky played on the patio and of course I had to get some shots of her being her silly ol’ self.

For dinner, I stole this recipe from Cooking Light magazine and served it with pork tenderloin. It was magically delicious. Like Lucky Charms. Minus the leprechaun.

Strawberry-Avocado Salsa
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1/4 cup)
Ingredients
• 1 cup finely chopped strawberries
• 1/4 cup finely chopped peeled avocado
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Preparation
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; toss gently. Serve immediately with roast chicken, sautéed fish, grilled pork tenderloin or tortilla chips.

A lot of people these days are hopping on the GREEN train and becoming more conscientious of their day to day choices and how those decisions will impact our futures. And as I mentioned before, we are trying to do our part to be more Earth friendly, although we are surely not perfectionists in that area.

For as long as I can remember, my parents have recycled. To continue on with the tradition, Chris and I decided to buy some containers especially for that purpose. It just so happened that our cute little bins fit perfectly in our pantry and after adding a couple of labels to keep track of what goes where, we have an efficient recycling system.

Honestly, a person wouldn’t even have to buy something to put their recycling in. Paper bags, grocery bags, etc. all work great at keeping the mess corralled and also allow for easy transport to your neighborhood drop off (assuming you don’t have door to door pick up.) Plus, recycling is fun!

See how much excitement Maverick exudes when he is in Earth saving mode? (We call him the Recycler.) You can get the whole family involved and you’d be surprised how little trash you actually end up lugging out to the garbage bin as a result.

CAR.

A couple weeks ago, I took my one of my best friends on her maiden trip to IKEA. The trip was such a blast and we both spent more moolah than we probably should have. However, after a filling lunch, my car (with a high tendency to have mechanical issues) decided it was no longer happy with being driven and began to overheat every time I pressed the gas pedal. So, we spent well over an hour on the side of the highway, slowly inching forward every couple of minutes, with the heat blasting to try to cool the car down a bit. Oh, and it was raining, mind you. We knew that in less than a mile we would be to an exit and could pull off at a gas station to wait for help.

Long story short… Chris came and saved us. My sad little car has now been sitting in the drive way for 2 weeks, completely un-drivable. Why is it not in a shop somewhere being fixed, you ask? Because my husband is a self-proclaimed mechanic, who pretty much refuses to let someone else touch our precious vehicles. And, since he is busy working and learning exciting business stuff for school, he has not had a ton of time to work his mechanical magic until yesterday.

This is what he found.

You are looking at the broken old water pump and the new water pump. Yikes. After practically 12 hours of dirty, manual labor, all new parts were installed and the car was ready to be started. But of course, the car wouldn’t start. It was just our luck. So now again, we wait for a time when Mr. Handy can get out there and make my little vroom vroom drive. At least to the car dealership so we can trade that lemon in!

I hope that everyone is having a safe and happy Memorial Day.

This weekend we celebrated the 2nd annual backyard camp out with family, friends and of course, relaxation. Some of the highlights included boating, kickball, a long walk through tall grass, a dirt bike, ashy hamburgers, theme songs sing-a-long, ticks and a lively game of croquet.

Competition during the croquet game was quite fierce, with players using exciting, yet strange techniques to get their ball through the strategically placed wickets. See?

About half way through the game, Pinky decided that she was the winner and did a little victory dance.

Then Daddy decided to do a little victory dance himself…

and this was the loving look she gave him.

Eventually it was time to clean up and Pinky’s cousin, J, did a great job at taking charge of the job.

We would like to thank everyone who made the trip to come to the camp out. We had a great time with you and hope to do it again next year!