Check it out

I love to bake and like to cook but every once in a while I find myself in a bit of a rut when it comes to meal planning. But the last time I was at my parent's, my mom gave me Feeding Our Families, healthnutfoodie's new real food cookbook.

I've tried several recipes from this book so far and they have all been good. Most of the ones in the book aren't on her website but luckily for you, my favorite of the ones I've tried so far, Shrimp and Soba Stir Fry, is just a click away. Even my little brother, who rejects most food that has any sort of natural color and lives off of candy and cereal, loved it and went back for a second helping.

And as you can clearly see below, Lucy enjoyed her first experience with spaghetti accompanied by the book's classic Bolognese sauce...this is her right after I gave her seconds.

The recipes are easy to follow, kid-friendly but still flavorful and she explains what ingredients to use and why. Whether you are well versed in whole/real food cooking and are looking for new recipe inspiration or if you are just beginning to try your hand at healthy eating, I highly recommend you check it out.

I was not compensated for this review, I just wanted to share something I have enjoyed with you. 

This, that and trouble

Oh, it feels like a Monday, doesn't it? Mondays always seem worse when they follow nice weekends. We didn't have much going on. Craig helped some friends of ours move into their new home on Saturday but the rest of the weekend was free. We did a little antique shopping and errand running but mostly we worked on a few odds and ends at the house.

There is a bit of a fire under our feet since I volunteered our house for my next women's book club meeting. I now have one week to get things looking ship shape, not that they would care but I would. Hospitality it is a great motivator; pictures are getting hung up, curtains are finally getting hemmed, and hopefully by the end of the week, the box spring that has been in our dining room for almost a month will be gone. (It was supposed to go into the basement but it won't fit down the stairs so we have had to come up with a plan b).

Lucy has been busy too. She not only learned to wave but I came into the living room yesterday to find this:

She can't walk, can barely crawl but boy can she climb. I think I'm in trouble.

3 more!

I've been busy reading. I finished up three more historical non-fiction books for my challenge and for those who have been on the edge of their seat, I will let you know that I am still working on Gone with the Wind. I'm about half way through and I will admit, it is growing on me. I do think it helped to stop thinking about it as a love story.

Anyway, on to the reviews:

Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanne Raybourn

The 4th in the Lady Julia Grey.  As you may guess from the title, this one is set in India where Julia is assisting two of her siblings in their attempt to "rescue" Jane, who for ease of explanation I'll call a friend who's husband died mysteriously leaving her with child. She and Brisbane are both working the case but neither is willing to assist the other more than seems to be absolutely necessary.

I obviously like this series or I wouldn't still be reading it :-) Everytime I pick up one of Raybourn's books, I find I can hardly put it down until I'm at the end and in some ways I think this was one of my favorite of the series. The new characters were interesting and I enjoyed getting to know some of the minor characters a bit more. And unlike one or two earlier ones in this series, there were several big reveals that I just didn't seem coming.

 I was curious to see how the dynamic between Brisbane and Julia would change now that they are married but I think Raybourn did a good job with having their relationship progress and not plateau. I've heard complaints that Julia's character is annoying is this one but I didn't think so, she is just struggling to understand her role in her marriage and her detective work. Maybe I sympathize with her struggles with selfishness at the beginning of her marriage too much to be unable to forgive her for that :-)

That isn't to say it is perfect, this one like all the others has a few things I wish she had left out and I thought the ending was a bit sad. Plus I can't help but compare it to the Lady Emily Mysteries by Tasha Alexander and I must say I think I prefer those just a tad bit more. But there is always room in my life for both and I will continue to read these.

The Inimitable Jeeves/Very Good, Jeeves - P.D. Wodehouse

I'm reviewing these two together because they are very similar. I found these at my parent's house and didn't even realize they were the inspiration for the tv show Jeeves and Wooster until I started reading. Even though I've only seen one episode of the show and that was several years ago, it didn't take long though for me to figure it out, seeing as the main characters are two men named Jeeves and Wooster (didn't see that one coming did you?). I'm going to have to find some episodes of the show now.

The books are composed of little lighthearted stories about the young gentleman Wooster who always finds himself in tough spots. Luckily he has his very helpful valet Jeeves to assist him with his dilemmas. If Jeeves has a fault, it would be that poor Wooster suffers in comparison. It reminded me that I need a bit more humor in my life, laughter is good for the soul. A great book to keep in your car for filling those few minutes when you are waiting in the grocery store parking lot for your baby to wake up, or waiting in the garage for your baby to wake up or waiting outside Target for your baby to wake up...or at the dentist I suppose. I'm glad they're are more of them in the series.

9 months

Dear Lucy,

3/4 of a year down already! I'm not sure I approve of how fast you are growing. This month you only had a couple milestones but they were big ones.

First of all, pulling up and cruising around. You pretty much have to be standing 75% of your waking time or you are completely unhappy. It's not so bad until you get sleepy. You don't want to stop standing but you begin to lose the little coordination and balance you have and end up falling over and crying every 30 seconds. But soon enough you'll have it down. You can already move from your push walker to the rocking chair, down to the floor then up again on the couch.

You still love to be read to but I've had to come up with creative solutions to make it work. When you are really sleepy, you might sit still for a couple books but we also read a lot of books with you standing or in your jumper or laying down with the book over our head. We also read in the car. When you refuse to take a nap, I'll often just hand you a book, grab one myself and you'll play quietly for a few minutes "reading" next to me.

Another fun activity is getting up and down from the bed. You have been able to get down for a little while now. You can go front ways but normally you go up the edge, look over, turn around and scoot back. The you stand there for a few seconds before trying to climb back up. It still takes you quite a while to get back onto the mattress but once you do, you crawl right over to the other side and go right back down. You have repeated this for up to 20 minutes with me lying down on the bed reading. You don't mind, you just climb right over me.

But when I say "crawl," I really mean scoot. You still don't really crawl. You can though. When you get close to your "target" you will get up off your tummy and crawl the last one or two steps. You actually don't even like to scoot or explore much. We've been encouraging you to and now you might go 4-5 feet away to see something really exciting before turning around and coming back to me or your dad. You'll also come to us if we leave the room sometimes, but other than that you like to climb and stand. Of course, if you don't have to travel anywhere, you don't mind exploring a bit.

You are still very much a fan of your mommy and daddy.

You like your grandparents too but anyone else had better stay back. I thought your stranger anxiety was bad before but you are even more shy now. Your poor great-grandmother couldn't come within 2 feet of you. But you do like people from a distance. If someone you don't know talks to you, you'll snug up close to me before turning the them and smiling.

It is getting difficult to get a good picture of you without a helper. I have many shots of you looking away

and just as many of you looking at me, but maybe a little too close. 

You love to play games. Your daddy has taught you to "give him five" and you really like to be tossed about in the air.  But while you love to laugh with us, you do not like to be laughed at and you can tell the difference. You also do not like to be told "no" but luckily you are pretty distractable. You also love to sit on people's shoulders.

Your other big milestones this month were getting your first two teeth and babbling. You babble quiet a bit now. You also say "mama" but only when you are really upset. I'm not sure if you know that I am mama but either way, it works and I come quickly because you are my girl and I know it :-)

And the winner is...

So the CSN giftcard goes to commenter #15,

Carrie said...

I'd get a new drying rack. Ours is dying and we have so many things we air dry, we need to have one.

Congrats Carrie! I will be emailing you your prize soon so you can go pick out your drying rack...or whatever else you decide to use it on. I won't be checking up on you or anything :-)