The kids were really into Jovie-Belle, their Elf on the Shelf, this year. These are a few of my favorites. Post your favorites in the comments! (I have a bunch on Pinterest too… some appropriate, some not at all.)
We didn’t get crazy creative every night, but the kids really made a big deal about finding her every morning. Maybe next year we’ll get a second elf and have some more fun.
Well. Damn, you Pinterest. Ha ha. We made more progress on the Back Yard Race Car Track. It may now also be a construction zone, gravel pit, monster truck arena, and dinosaur garden. Molly even asked about building a volcano. I do have an extra bag of concrete.
Check out the latest photos. We added a gravel pit, some large rocks for edging-work to try to contain the gravel, and dug out the grass so we have a dirt pit. Not sure if I should plant grass and leave a dirt track, or make it all a dirt pit. I may try to buy some river rock to make the outside edges look a little neater, and mix some more extra sloppy concrete to smooth it over, and fill in the edges smooth.
I bet it will evolve greatly over time.
I’m anxious to see photos of other projects like this. Show me what you’ve got in the comments!
🚧 🚧 🚧 👷 👷♀️ 🚚 🦕 🚗 🏁 🧚 🌱 🚧 🚧 🚧
So, on Labor Day this year, we labored. We finally got around to pouring cement for the Backyard Race Car Track, and we started a Fairy Garden.
I have been sitting on the race car track idea for a while, and wondering what to do landscape-wise around the one small tree in the back. We recently got some fairy garden furniture stuff as a gift… so we thought that would be a cool second (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th?) backyard play-space.
I had purchased some Quikrete coloring from Amazon a while ago, and some bags of Quikrete Sand/Topping Mix from Home Depot this Saturday knowing that we had a full day to work today.
We had also started the digging a while ago when Ian was over-zealous and wanted to “Dig, Dig Dig!” in the back yard.
We had an easy enough start, put down some gravel, and mixed two of the three bags of Sand/Topping Mix with the coloring. I mixed it a little thick, and really what was all the coloring was meant to cover. The track was only about ⅔ of the way complete. So, I mixed the one other bag we had on hand. It was a little sloppier and went on really well. The kids helped in a kid-helping capacity, and Bethany did nearly all of the troweling/finishing work. Molly told me that she wanted to use the trowel because that’s what “brick builders” use to put the stuff in between bricks. I have no idea where she learned that.
So. It was obvious we needed a quick trip back to Home Depot to get some more bags. Ian & I went on a mission.
I asked the little man if we should get 3, or 4. He was adamant about getting 4. We also got the cheapest bag of garden soil, and some pebbles. Sadly, the bottle of coloring didn’t last long, and maddeningly Home Depot didn’t carry it… even with two shelves full of Quikrete products. I ended up asking if they had anything in the paint department, and they just had a concrete paint or dye to use after the fact.
We got back and Bethany made us a delicious salad for lunch. We needed to re-fuel for more work out back! I mixed 2 more bags, with some help:
After that, we did use just one more bag… but that’s OK. I can use the rest for some driveway patch work now that I have some more recent practice with this stuff. (A long time ago, I worked for a bit for a general contractor, and would sometimes mix mortar all day for the subcontracted bricklayers.)
For now, that’s about all we can do. The bag says it needs to set up for five days. Hopefully we can be patient and the neighborhood wildlife (including my children) stays out of it. I did grab an odd old brick from out front that had originally been in the back yard, and made a sort of garage out of it. I plan to get some river rocks or pebbles or something to kind of clean up the edges of the track. Maybe they will need to go on with concrete, or some of that stuff that comes in a caulking-gun dispenser. If they’re not stuck down, they will end up all over and most likely destroy my lawn mower.
The other quick family project was to make a fairy garden. I was hoping to use stuff that we had around in addition to the recently gifted furniture and starter items.
After thinking about a couple of different ideas, we settled on me taking a chainsaw to some large branches and small logs that we had out back, and driving nails partway into the bottom so we could drive them into the ground and they would hopefully hold. It worked!
I played with the chainsaw, demonstrated the nail technique, then Bethany and the kids did most of the nail-driving… and I think that was mostly Bethany. Molly helped me place them around the tree in sort of a kidney bean shape, including an old wooden bucket that I think we bought from the estate sale of the previous owner of this house (who coincidentally said she would miss the little tree in the backyard most of all).
Then we pulled up 90% of the grass, and Ian hauled it away in his wheelbarrow. We put down the bag of cheap garden soil and it was perfect for coverage & fairy garden decoration placement. We also planted a small succulent plant that my mom had recently given us in a small pot that should be durable outdoors, but may look cool covered in small round stones so it looks like a fairy house. We’re putting Grandma on craft duty to help make little projects to decorate the space. I would love to use some of the stuff we have around the yard or house like tiny terracotta pots, or Popsicle sticks, or wire.
It would be nice to plant some small ornamental succulents, moss, or super tiny flowers eventually too. Luckily (?) Pinterest is an endless rabbit hole when it comes to fairy garden stuff. Speaking of rabbits, our backyard is overrun with them as well as squirrels, chipmunks, birds, deer, and who knows what else. Think they’ll leave this stuff alone?
At any rate, playing in the dirt has been proven over-and-over to be good for you. These spaces offer two additional opportunities for the kids to get into the dirt in the back yard. It’s great to learn about gardening, ecosystems, using your imagination, and more… all without even realizing that you’re learning.
Check out some photos from the day if you have the time and interest, and let us know what you think in the comments!
If this is something you’d like to try yourself, check out these Pinterest boards for inspiration:
If it’s something you have tried yourself, please share your stuff in the comments! I would love to see some other backyard family projects.
Succulent Turtle 🐢🌱
Have you seen the succulent turtles on pinterest? I thought they were neat, so I wanted to make one. There are plenty of sites with instructions, try these three:
…If you’re interested. Really though, I bet you could figure it out from the pictures.
🐢
I used what we had around. I just bought a bit of potting & garden soil which I already needed for the vegetable garden. I used an old hanging basket, door screen, two different types of wire mesh that I had in the back yard, and some zip-ties. I had planned on using chicken-wire, but the other stuff seemed better suited to the task.
I did have to buy the plants. Anyone have any hens and chicks to hand over?
🌱
Also, I didn’t have four little flower pots… only two. But, I had an old branch, nails, glue, and a chainsaw… so Timmy the Turtle got wooden legs.
At least I can say I have used the potting bench.
If you make one, be sure to share your photo in the comments! Next time I’ll have to get sculpting with the chicken wire, and make a Bantha or a Tauntaun.
🐢🌱
My wife got a great shot of our cat Butterscotch in the Christmas tree. I know some amusing people. Let’s have a caption contest in the comments!
Caption this in the comments!
I got some funny ones too, but Bethany‘s shot takes the cake:
I’d like to once again say thank you from the whole family to everyone who took the time to spread the word, and especially those who were able to make a donation to support us in the Pittsburgh FARE Walk for Food Allergy this year!
FARE Walk for Food Allergy 2016 – Pittsburgh, PA
We had a great day with so many others affected in some way by a food allergy or multiple food allergies. It’s really nice to know that we’re not alone, and that we all have the support of family and friends to enable us to get to the walk and work to make a difference in all of our lives.
Upon arrival, we did many things in a special event tent before the opening ceremony. Several “top-8-free” food samples & small toys were handed out. The kids colored some food allergy related pictures, decorated some foam teal pumpkins, made a beaded necklace & bracelet (Ian even threaded some beads all by himself!), danced with a DJ, played with masks in a photo booth, and just mingled with people who “get” it.
Molly also had an EMT help her wrap “Miss Daisy” (a stuffed bunny/dog/thing that was Bethany’s when she was little) in some gauze bandages, apply a regular band-aid, and administer a practice EpiPen auto-injector with the Teddy Bear Clinic. She did really good! She may need to help me or any of her friends some day.
We listened to a speech by that very same brave young lady about her struggles she has had as someone with 15 allergies that can all lead to anaphylaxis. More important than the struggles are the many things she has learned to overcome, the incredible friends she has made, and how well she has learned to adapt while moving away from home and going to school at Pitt. She has used an EpiPen, and it has saved her life. She leads a normal active life and is dedicating it to service to others by being an EMT!
Along our walk, there were many food allergy facts on signs throughout the zoo. We used them to start conversations with the kids about how Molly has outgrown her allergy to eggs, how I will not outgrow mine, and how they will probably have a few friends in school with food allergies and that they need to be good friends to those kids and help them avoid their allergens and get the proper help quickly if needed!
It’s amazing that last year Molly knew at 2 years old to ask if a food item contained things like eggs, mayonnaise, or ranch dressing. She understands now that daddy can’t eat shellfish. She even pointed out the (incredibly creepy spiny) lobsters in the aquarium & said “You can’t eat that.” I know Ian is a bit young to understand, but I don’t think it hurts to throw all the information out there and see what eventually sticks.
In the zoo, we had the incredible opportunity to get a photo with Victoria the elephant, pet (and get liked by) a deer, and pet some goats and sheep. Ian loved the peacock roaming around, and I think he almost touched him. Ha ha. We also talked about how similar yet different Butterscotch is to all the big cats among many other animal facts that we have read in books & on the signage there in the park.
You can check out more photos on my Facebook or Instagram, or Bethany’s Facebook.
Heh. We’ll have to try again next year. Maybe it was the shade, maybe it was the bugs, maybe it was the timing, maybe it was a lack of Miracle Gro. Did you see our posts about building it and hanging the sign?
This is all the growth we got:
And something ate our sunflower:
Sigh. Ha ha.
So, Axl is everywhere in the rock media world again and 15 year old me reads every stupid article like those it’s those goofy gossip columns in Rip or Metal Edge that used to be one sentence stories with bold rock star names jammed into one long nonsensical paragraph. I’m actually excited to maybe try & see whatever version of Guns N’ Roses eventually ends up in Pittsburgh (if it makes it that long).
#AxlRumors
I even made a parody news article with my last post that fell super flat with no reads or comments. Oh well, my bad.
I know I broke the one rule of blogging by never having regular steady content any more, but work with me here. I want some interaction. Maybe no one cares. I guess we’ll see.
Let’s start some Axl Rose rumors. Use the hashtag #AxlRumors on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or newer cooler social media platforms that I am wholly unaware of but still use hashtags.
You can post the url to your rumor(s) here in the comments, and we’ll see if it gets beyond this little corner of the internet, and if anyone finds their way back here.
Kapish?
I’ll start:
Now you.
⚠ Go! ⚠
(Don’t forget the #AxlRumors hashtag!)
So, I’ve been hungry for meatball subs. They’re so simple to make, but we just never seem to do it at home. I shared the photo on social media, because I’m weird like that and it annoys people, and some people seemed to dig it. wanted to share how easy it was with a minimal amount of effort.
So, the wife got a pound of ground meat from Aldi the other day, and I picked up the rest of the stuff that we didn’t already have at Giant Eagle on my way home from work. I probably could have gotten all of this from Aldi.
So this is what I used…
And this is what I did…
MEAT.
Turn the oven on first so you don’t have to worry about it later. Put it on 375° because that’s always what they seem to say to put it on. I don’t know why. I don’t even know who they are.
I made some meatballs with the meat, some hand-crushed crackers, a dash of the pizza sauce, a dash of Italian dressing, a dash of whatever spices I grabbed off the rack (probably pepper, season all, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika), a bit of the Parmesan shake cheese and the mysterious “six cheese Italian” stuff.
I put some spices on the outside because why not, and tossed them into a frying pan with EVOO and a small pat of butter on the bottom. I pre-heated it to high, then turned it to 6 before I tossed in the balls. 6 is at about 6:00 on my stupid electric stove top.
I melted a bit of butter in the microwave. I quickly cut open the buns, put them on a baking sheet, spread on some melted butter with a brush and added… garlic powder, onion powder, a dash of shake cheese, and “Italian seasoning” to the buns. No Italian seasoning for my wife, and no garlic powder for my 2½ year old. I popped them in the 375° oven on the middle rack for a bit.
I used tongs to turn the meatballs over & popped a lid on the pan.
I dumped the remaining pizza sauce into a soup cup (it was a little jar), and added a sprinkle of brown sugar. I nuked it for 45 seconds or so. Why? I like sweet sauce, and grandma always said “it cuts the acid.”
I turned the meatballs on to an undone side, and got the sub rolls out of the oven. I knew they were done because… I didn’t even look at them. I just took them out. They looked fine. Plus, we’re not totally finished. I added some pizza sauce and some of the finely shredded awkwardly named cheese to the buns.
I made sure the meatballs weren’t going to kill us with the food thermometer. They weren’t. I put those on the buns and added more sauce, shredded cheese, and shake cheese.
I set some meatballs aside for my 10 month old. The sandwich was a little much for him, but he will eat just about anything you put in front of him. Seriously. even if it’s not edible.
I put the now built subs into the oven and cranked the knob to 400° because I am impatient and my 2½ year old kept asking if lunch was ready. I turned the light on in the oven and watched the cheese melt. Not only was that fun, I could also make sure I wasn’t going to burn the bejesus out of things. I didn’t. I took it out in time.
Well, some of the cheese that fell on to the baking sheet burned, because I made a mess. Oh well.
These were pretty good, although next time I will use different/better sauce. That squeeze stuff isn’t bad. Maybe I can make a simple marinara. Also, homemade-ish deli rolls or Cellone’s are worth it… and I would cut a little triangle out of the top like Subway used to, before we were over-saturated with them and they started to serve terrible cream-of-deathfish.
At any rate. This is easy to do. You could buy your own meatballs or bake your own bread or use cheese slices to make this as easy or as difficult as you like. I cut my 2½ year old’s into 3 sections so she had sliders. I cut my wife’s in 2. I ate the whole thing in one big sandwich like a hungry hungry pig. I refuse to apologize.
Share photos of yours or links to your own blogged recipe in the comments!
This year, we’ll have 3 bowls of treats for Halloween. We’ll have the traditional chocolate gooey goodness, a bowl of peanut/tree-nut free treats, and a bowl entirely made up of non-food party favor-ish goodies.
Why? Why not? I was able to pick up a bunch of party favors at the Dollar Tree, and my wife Bethany got some Halloween themed stuff from Target. The no-nuts candy wasn’t a big deal either, all we had to do was read the label… which we’re used to. Even the extra bowl was only $1. It wasn’t a whole lot of effort or money.
Even painting a foam pumpkin teal for use for years to come wasn’t a big deal, or printing the posters from the FARE website. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. This is a movement. It started with some of the most kick-ass people on the planet, food allergy moms in Tennessee.
My point, I guess, is that it isn’t a lot of effort but it can be a big huge gigantic deal for a kid. What’s a big deal? To feel included on a holiday where you’re hyper aware that you’re different. To know that this piece of candy doesn’t contain nuts or wasn’t “processed in a facility that may also use peanuts or tree nuts.” To know that if you’re allergic to dairy or chocolate or just about everything that everyone else can eat or isn’t one of the top 8, but this little trinket or toy (or 2 or 3 if you’re at our house) is all yours. To know that you don’t have to go home & “trade up” for safe candy on this one. To know that your parents didn’t have to drop off a safe treat with all the neighbors ahead of time, and that someone else “gets” it.
I always liked getting those Little Hugs drinks (which may be a safe treat), but some people would complain about the weight. That would have been gone by the time I got back to the road when I was a kid. Then again, times have changed. When I was a kid, we had to play the “guess who you are” game. If I asked a kid his name now, the next ring of the doorbell would probably be the local police. Also, kids… always let your parents check your candy for razor blades or syringes.
Like I said, we read labels. Luckily shellfish is generally easy form me to avoid in packaged foods, slightly less so in restaurants. Our little girl Molly can’t do eggs. Well, she can do eggs baked into things, but has to avoid straight up eggs, mayonnaise, some mustards, custard, and we just noticed… Mallow Cups? (I hate them, they are the devil’s candy. The wife loves them though… even though it tastes like someone replaced the inside of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with sunscreen.) Will we have to avoid meringue too? Who knows? Hopefully she outgrow her allergy, I’ll never get over mine without some kind of cure.
There are many others out there going through the same thing. We can stick together, and support each other. We can ask those without any food allergies to support us too. Spreading awareness is the key to keeping us all safe. So, take a few minutes to learn about the #TealPumpkinProject. Use the hashtag on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.), get a pumpkin and paint it teal, and/or print out the fliers. Get some safe treats.
