New Twitter box is up!

Just in time for all those anonymous twitter stalkers, my new twitter box is now up. Yeah you thought you were the only one.... and you probably think this post is about you.

Watching yo gabba gabba at home!

Ah kicking it...any questions? I am so very blessed to have so many wonderful supportive friends. You light my path in more way than one. Thank you and may you all know how appreciated you are. Happy new year!

5 lesser known ways to trap a cat

5 lesser known ways to trap a cat..at least one of my cats....

purely for entertainment purposes LOL!

5. Leave the closet door slightly ajar

4. Change the sheets and TRY to make the bed.

3. Let the bathroom facet drip.

2. Sit on the couch and completely ignore the cat.

1. Scoop out the box. What cat can resist a freshly scooped cat box?

Whatever you do... don't call the cat, look at the cat or put out expensive cat food.

The adjustment period...First Week in new house.

Ok, so we have one whole week under our belt. Everyone is experiencing adjustments. The first night Shraddha was asking if she could go home. But we are all having comfort in each others presence. Heck, even the cats are all getting along and smooshing next to me. Dogs sleep and fart at my feet, and Shraddha is cuddling with me all night long. She laughs as I get ready for bed, she sings and teases... "I am on your side of the bed!"

Not really sure what to call this blog now... as we are not Woodland Foothill folks anymore. We are officially living in the suburbs. And it is nice. I am so glad that so many people pressured me to move even though I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do. As a new found single mom. Yes officially posted as of now..... Life is much easier here in the City.

I am thankful for my sabbatical up in the foothills far from civilization. I had much meditation and time with nature and many conversations with the earth in which I learned so much about myself and grew stronger for it. Stronger emotionally and physically. It is quite jarring moving back into the real world. But I am ready and enjoying it. I love being closer to friends and that my commute has been cut from 60 min to 5 minutes. This has been much like a birthing process.... not easy...very painful... yet somehow all so worth it and I feel so much stronger knowing I made it through. So I hold on to my daughter and smile in our ability to be strong enough to make it through this process and flexible enough not to break when the heavy winds blow.

Many thanks to all my supportive friends and family! For you, I am forever grateful!

Remembering Baby Sai

I was blessed with his presence for only a short while but thankful none the less. I rocked him and sang to him and told him stories with Madhava on my lap that was growing smaller and smaller. He kicked like a kung foo master and I could see his kicks and punches and flips amazingly bulging through my skin. For whatever reason the Universe had for him or for us, he wasn't supposed to stay here very long. He was born at almost 5 months gestation either because of incompetent cervix or from placental abruption. His little body was strong and perfect and he looked exactly like his little brother. We only held him for a moment watching his heart beat through his chest and watching him practice breathing before the cord was cut and he left.

We remember him during my favorite season. We remember him when we play in the leaves and wait for the pumpkins to ripen. When the summer finally cools off and we start preparing for the holidays. I do not remember him with sadness, I am thankful for the opportunity to be with him.

So for all my friends that also have Angel Babies and for all those sweet little Angel Babies....

Let the wind be behind you,

Angels dance with you

And your consciousness

Guide you to victory.

Let the Angels, The Great Souls, The Avatars,

And all Incarnations of God

Pray for you.

Walk tall and bless all,
In your innocence with your love,

For each one's peace

And prosperity.

Remember what time wants;

Serve the needs of the time and space.

You will be sacred, exalted,

Beautiful, bountiful and fulfilled

-Yogi Bhajan

The Eight Human Talents by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa

Fresno Fair - It was a Blast!

We had so much fun with Beckie and Fam today! We were at the Fair during education days with GAGY lol Gist Academy for Gifted Youngsters. Here is Shraddha after winning a ribbon for a bean bag toss and sporting her I love you Honey sticker. Something new I learned today, that almost all the honey bees/worker bees are female. Beckie and Danielle, after Danielle won a ribbon for the bean bag toss.
There was a great kids pavilion there this year with fabulous kaleidoscopes just ask Jack, he didn't ever want to leave them.

Shraddha's favorite was the Tree House and the Pirate Ship. It was scary and at time the optical illusion was overwhelming and she would scream and hold my hand. Funny thing is she INSISTED, begged and cried to go back. So we did, with less crying the second time, thankfully.

Police motorcycles are FUN! Shraddha in the mist.

OMG! are you SERIOUS? REALLY?

What are we up to?

Well it seems it is 11:51 and I am still very much awake. Why would that be? Could it be the GINORMOUS Pepsi I had at 5:30 this evening? Yeah, I thought I was cutting out caffine from my diet? So besides that I am working and Tweeting and Stumbling and Mothering Miss Shraddha.

Seems she might be spending too much time at Beckie's house because on the drive home she insited that her last name was Gist. ****sigh**** She is sooooo funny. But look at how much fun she has been having! at TOT SCHOOL. She loves spending time with Beckie and family. She is so excited in the morning when she asks where are we going, and I say to Beckies!

Shraddha asks, "To see Jack?" yep "He is my friend."

"and Danielle?" Yes Baby and Danielle "YAYYYY!"

"and Dean?" Yes "He brings me rice and beans."

"And Beckie?" LOL yes, and Beckie, of course! "She loves me and I love her too"

I have to blog this as a Blessing because we are so blessed to be able to have such good friends to hang out with and to play with Shraddha when I am at work. The hardest thing in the world for me is to not be with her and have to be at work. It is so much easier for me knowing she loves to hang out with you Beckie.

I do very much love my job/career/calling as a physical therapist. I love helping people, but if not for financial reasons people... don't make me choose. Seriously, I almost walked away from my house because it is not worth more to me than time with her. Mortgage companies are nice right now though, helping me to modify my loan and have smaller payments. I may hang out here for a little while until I can sell. Still up in the air though.

It's nice having a house, way out here with a forest across the street and a waterfall and creek. Lots of place to play and have chickens and dogs. Tons of butterflies to catch and flowers to watch grow... Beautiful sunsets and sunrises all of which I can see from my dining room table while I have breakfast and dinner with the light in my life.

At the same time the drive, the maintence, the expense... just isnt what I planned on when I moved here. I never planned on needing to work more than 1-2 days a week and the plan was only for a little while.

Amaranth compared to other grains

	Amaranth	Wheat	Corn	Rice	Oats
Protein (g)	19	12.8	9.4	5.6	15.8
Fiber (g)	5.6	2.3	3	.3	3
Fat (g)	6	1.7	4.7	.6	6.9
Carbs (g)	6	71	74	79.4	66
Calcium (mg)	250	29.4	7	9	54
Iron (mg)	15	4	2.7	4.4	5
Calories	414	334	365	360	389

For More complete info see the following sites:
Great Grains for Celiac Sprue / Glucose Intolerance - NetNutritionist.com
Goodbye wheat, hello amaranth, say consumers Alternative grains with higher fiber and protein move into the mainstream - MSNBC.com
Mexico's Grain of the Gods: Cooking with Amaranth - MexConnect.com
Popped Amaranth Cereal Recipe - MyRecipe.com

Jazz up your Oatmeal!

We love oatmeal around here and it is so nutritious, but sometimes its easy to get bored of the same ol' thing. We can have plain oatmeal with a little brown sugar and soymilk for most days and love it ... then all of a sudden. Shraddha won't eat a single bite. So, I jazz it up!

Some of our classic favorites Oatmeal toppings are:

• Brown sugar
• Cinnomin
• Sliced Almonds
• Raisins and dried fruit (blueberries are YUM!)
• Strawberry Jam
• Maple Syrup

But even more fun is:

Spiced Oatmeal for two

• 1 cup of Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• 1/3 cup of raisins
• 1 tsp of Pumkin Pie Spice* (or to taste)
• 1 3/4 cup of water
• Mix it all together in a microwave safe bowl. Cook for 5 minutes on 50% power. Sprinkle with some brown sugar and 1/4 cup of soy milk. ENJOY!

*Pumkin Pie Spice is a blend fo cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace and cloves.

To sneak in some extra nutrition and make it even healthier try:

• 1/4 cup of ground flax - (keep in fridge) mix it in before cooking and add a little more water.
• amaranth - the whole raw seed or ground (mix it in before cooking and water) or popped amaranth sprinkled on top after cooked. More info on why amaranth is so good for you.
• Agave Nectar - by Madhava (not my Madhava LOL) - It is a natural sweetener made from the juice of the Agave plant. This sweetener is more healthy than sugar/honey because of it's low glycemic index. And it's great in tea and on pancakes!
  
• Popped Amaranth Cereal Receipe - MyReceipe.com

Blogging Blessings

Here's to a sure fire way to cheer up!
It's been a while. I have really searched long and hard for something useful or interesting to say. And whenever I have trouble with that .... it means it's time to start blogging my blessings. Give it a try, it works wonders.

I love The Oneness Center. I am just so appreciative of a place here in Fresno that is jam packed of people with the same amount of openness to spirituality and similar spiritual direction as me.

So happy as always for all my friends. IRL and in Twitter-ville. Twitter, it's a blessing no an addiction.... no a blessing LOL!

• And of course, my daughter and the fact that her father and I can adjust to all the changes in our family and keep things amicable just for her.

Peace to you and yours,

Sure fire way to cheer up! - pass it on.

Feeling a little blue? Here are 10 things you can do!

1. Go exercise. Get that blood flowing! Even if it is just for 15 minutes at first.

What do you like to do for exercise?

2. Get outside. Get some fresh air. Breathe it in and just appreciate that you can do that. Appreciate nature and just know that you are a part of a whole and not alone.

Where is your favorite place to renew? Or your favorite thing to do outside?

3. Blog your Blessings. Make a list of all the things in your life that you are thankful for. Fostering appreciation really does help change your mindset away from complaining. Did you ever find yourself more happy after complaining?

What do you do to remind you of your blessings?

4. Act happy. You do it at work. You do it for your kids. Even if you just have to pretend. What kinds of things do you do when you are happy? Go and do them.

5. Stay focused on what you would like in your life and pretend they are on their way or already here, waiting for you to discover them. Make a vision board. Make a collage out pictures and words of what you would like to have in your life and post it where you can look at it and focus on it everyday. Name one of your goals.

` 6. Meditate. Let go. Quiet yourself and just be. Let the thoughts float by and let them keep blowing away like clouds in the sky. Eventually you can learn to be in the here and now... and you can find a peaceful place to rest and reset your thought patterns.How do you change your mindset when you are stuck in complaining mode?

7. Volunteer. That's right focus on someone else. Or plan a party for someone.... focus on cheering someone else up.Where would you like to volunteer? or who would you like to help?

8. Go socialize. Go to church, hang out with friends, visit some family... or just get out of the house. What is your favorite way to socialize?

9. De-clutter. Clear some space for you. In your house, in your life. Try Flylady.net

What spot in your house/life feels so much better when you de-clutter?

10. Go on a spiritual journey. Whatever that might be for you. And remember you are a spiritual being experiencing a human journey. I love HayHouseRadio.com or HayHouse.com for inspiration from Louise Hay and other inspirational people.How do you fulfill your spiritual needs?


Copy and paste to your blog and pass it along.... after you answer the questions LOL!

What do you like to do for exercise?

Where is your favorite place to renew? Or your favorite thing to do outside?

What do you do to remind you of your blessings?

What kinds of things do you do when you are happy?

Name one of your goals.

How do you change your mindset when you are stuck in complaining mode?

Where would you like to volunteer? or who would you like to help?

What is your favorite way to socialize?

What spot in your house/life feels so much better when you de-clutter?

How do you fulfill your spiritual needs?

For ME?

Awesome! Thank you Beckie! you rock as always!

I pass this on to Kimmie Sue because she is brillantly funny and I love funny.

you are funny too Beckie! But you already have the award ;)

The obligatory silly questions about me..... here's your chance .... it rarely happens that actually answer...

A. attached or single? Attached to my 3 yr old baby girl!

B. best friend? BECKIE everyone should have a Beckie

C. cake or pie?today it would be white cake with sprinkles

D. day of choice? Tuesday and Thursday are Mommy-Baby days … all day!

E. essential item? My cell phone, my laptop, car keys!!

F. favorite color? purple

G. gummy bears or worms? Uh no bovine cartilage for me thanks

H. hometown? Squaw Valley, CA (no not THAT one … the one outside Fresno/Clovis)

I. favorite indulgence? Cheese cake! Any flavor but lima bean.

J. January or July? July! I love hot nights outside! January is too foggy

K. kids? Yep, 2 of them bipedal type and 4 fury quadrupeds

L. life isn't complete without? twitter.com

M. marriage date? October 12th

N. number of brothers & sisters? One younger brother, one half sister, 2 step brothers, and one adopted brother and sister.

O. oranges or apples? Oranges

P. phobias? I’m not beating that drum! But I will keep my space clear of rattle snakes. They have officially been invited to stay outta the yard.

Q. quotes? “Before you speak, THINK - Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Will it hurt anyone? Will it improve on the silence? Sathya Sai Baba

R. reasons to smile? CHICKENS especially when they run. Just try not to laugh!

S. season of choice? Fall! I love Halloween, it's my Christmas. Dashing thru the leaves on a one horse open pumpkin…

T. tag seven peeps!

U. unknown fact about me? Dr. House rocks the house (did I just rhyme house with house?) KNOWN fact about me..what a dork!

V. vegetable? Mushroom

W. worst habits? Running late.

X. x-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound as long as there is no probing!

Y. your favorite food? Mexican mmmm Burritos! No carne!

Z. zodiac sign? Scorpio on the cusp of Sagittarius

Shraddha Sings Silly Songs Sunday

Mama isn't up to blogging just yet, still adjusting to changes in Rahn Family life. So here are some videos from Shraddha.

Happy BurDay (G)ramma!

Clafoutis: a fresh idea for cherries and berries

The Cherry Claufoutis was originally made with whole cherries. The pit emits a nice almond flavor to the dish when cooked.

Looking for something new and different to do with the abundance of summer time fruit?

This recipe works great with fresh cherries and berries. Blueberry Clafoutis is my all time favorite, and I can't wait to try peach and berry clafoutis. Thawed frozen fruit will work and rinsed and drained canned fruit will also work in a pinch or the middle of winter.

Claufoutis (pronounced kla-foo-TEE ) is a traditional French pudding. It is great served with whipped cream, ice cream, half & half or just a dusting of powdered sugar. Traditionally it is more of a dessert, but I have found it to be a great breakfast food and it sets nicely in the fridge.

• 1tsp margarine or butter
• 1.25 lbs fresh cherries (pitted or whole), strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or peaches
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 5 TBS powdered sugar
• 7 TBS flour
• 1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease baking dish with margarine or butter.

Rinse and dry fresh fruit. ( for canned fruit: rinse and drain; defrost frozen fruit)

Whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla until smooth (in a large bowl).

Add powdered sugar 1 TBS at a time whisking until fully absorbed (reserve the last TBS for dusting before serving)

Add flour the same way, whisking until smooth, adding the salt in at the end. The batter is a bit runny like a cake batter.

Pour into dish and sprinkle fruit around evenly. Bake 50-60 minutes checking with a sharp knife the center to be cooked completely. The fruit may be very juicy and make it difficult to tell if it is cooked all the way. Another way to check is to cook until the center does not wiggle (like custard pie). Serves 6.

Pear Clafoutis

Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis

Fig and Raspberry Clafoutis

**Please note when searching for Claufoutis recipes be sure to check alternate spellings like Clafoutis and Claufuti

Blogging Blessings: Friends, Family, and Chickens

1. Birthdays! Happy Birthday Tiffiny! Had a great time at that party, and especially loved how Seren guided every single guest, one at at time during the evening to take us on the tour of the balcony. She is so sweet! As was that Pink Champagne cake Whoo!

2. Spiral Scouts! We love having a spiritually eclectic group of friends all working on earthy projects together. Here is Shraddha with her first Firefly award and award ceremony...

Jack and Shraddha are just pooped out from all the clay play and running around like airplanes. Here they are just enjoying the clouds flying by.

4. Chickens. Yeah, they are counted as a blessing ... maybe not in the same way others count them as blessings.... They are friends not food! Anyway... they are funny! And anything that makes me laugh is a blessing LOL!



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Meet Tiny, our feather footed friend. He just came out this week with his first crowing session! Congrats Tiny on being our FIFTH unexpected rooster LOL! And stay out of my grapes, man! Really seriously, ALL Y'ALL OUTTA MY GRAPES!

Watch Suki kitty try to casually slink by the chickens for a chance to roll in the Wisteria flower petals. We know who's yard it is now... and it isn't the dog yard.

Fun with Friends on Fourth of July

Here comes Jack and Shraddha...

and there they go... and go and go and go...co-conspired to run away 3 times!

The water park was a blast! and so were the great times with great friends!

Blogging Blessings

I am just loving all the spiritual support in this new transformation of sorts that my life, and my family's life seems to be going through. Just wanted to send out my appreciation and be sure to count my blessings.

• Thank you Beckie for sending so much positive energy and help my direction. I love all the sites and posts that you send my way but most of all for telling me about co-creating and exposing it to me over and over until it finally sank in.

• Thank you to Hope for being so connected with your own spiritual energy that you can create such meaningful and thought provoking posts. It just amazes me how you post on what I am thinking about and pondering at the moment.


• And thank you to the Universe, GUS (Greater Universal Spirit), God, Goddess, My greater self, __________<----or enter the diety of your choice here.... for the enfolding miracles happening in my life and for all the supportive souls that you have placed in my path.

From Lessons From Womon Gathering by Lady Rose

"Just for today I’m going to rememberI have the power and the wisdom within meto deal with whatever the day brings.I will let go of stress, worry, and angerand let healing and love flow through me.Just for today, one moment to the next.~ Lady Rose
To take care and honor self first, this is essential for all of us so we can do what we were meant to do in life as well as what we want to do each day and in order to nurture our loved ones and the planetAll emotions are welcome and honored within sacred space.I am valued, useful and needed, regardless of age or physical ability.I can laugh and cry and be wholeI am a healerI am safe, loved, nourished and empowered to set my boundaries."

OHM SHANTI

Family Time on Father's Day!

Catching up on posts!

Thank you for being our Daddy!

This is Madhava putting on the Madhava Show.

Shraddha giving hugs.






Hope you had a nice one!

Shraddha saying goodbye to Daddy's truck.... off to be recycled.

Just a couple of days later I was driving to work when I realized that the truck I had been following for miles, was filled to the brim with Daddy's chopped up truck! So weird!

It was fun having you around to play on!

Some Shraddha time!

Good Morning! and Welcome!

It was early in the morning when Shraddha decided to start taking pics of Mama!



Time to go out and hold her babies! This little bantum chicken's name really is Baby.

No, she isnt being treated badly... actually she is in chicken heaven!

Baby loves when Shraddha holds her, even if on her back, not only will she put up with it...

she falls alseep there too!

I never realized how much fun we would have with chickens. We are always so excited to run out and feed them leftovers and they jump all over us in excitement whenever we come to visit...especially when leftover oatmeal is with us.

Working on a badge there somewhere for Spiral Scouts.... We are noticing and taking pics of all the wildlife that wanders in our yard (at least for those that wait around for us to take a picture!)
This white butterfly loves our lavendar spearmint flowers. I wonder if the nectur is minty?

And THIS cute little guy a juvenile cottentail finally hopped close enough for his props too!



Just one of the many beautiful sunsets we watch in the evening!

Eating Mindfully - Short Grain or Jasmine Brown Rice?

Wow I had the best question from HopeAlso from Hippie Dippie Bebe! In regard to my using Jasmine brown rice in one of my favorite recipes, Thai Spicy Eggplant and Veggies.



Unfortunately, I hadn't considered the nutritional difference between brown short grain rice and brown jasmine rice before but since I am working on the 100 Day Reality Challenge and eating more mindfully is one of my goals, this question comes at just the right time!

I always use brown rice now and was happy to see the Organic Brown Jasmine rice from Lundberg at our store. I also use the Organic Brown Short Grain from Lundberg too! Often I mix them as I like the stickiness of the short grain and the texture of the longer/medium grain.

It seems it is a toss up as to which is better nutrition wise. The short grain has 3 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein compared to Jasmine’s 2 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein. Jasmine has less carbs and a smidgen more iron. It may vary with different brands.

I love your articles Hope! It is just amazing to me how often we are pondering the same things at the same time. Thanks for the question!

Things that make the mommy laugh!

5. Come on it's funny - first patty pan squash.

4. Blues rendition of three little pigs...

Madhava's kindergarden graduation was so cute! I can't believe kindergarden is over and that he is 6.5 yrs old. He is reading so well! I was holding back the tears ... being so happy for him and proud of him and just smiling at the same time because his performance was so fun!

3. Sweat pea scented diapers... Roger was wondering why I am hanging the diapers out on the gate when he made a perfectly good laundry line for me. Well, because I love the smell of the sweet peas that only live by the gate.

2. Do I have to eat ALL the cake on my plate? Madhava and Danielle at Shraddha's birthday party. Thank you Beckie for all the awesome ideas and making the party run so smoothly... you are THE Party Mama! Thanks Mom for financing the castle. And thanks to everyone for making Shraddha feel like the Birthday Princess!....

1. My daughter's favorite white hen, Shirley...crowing just like a rooster.

Thai spicy eggplant and veggies - from garden to table

This is one of my favorite meals, inspired by Veggie Meals: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals It's quick, it's almost a one pot meal, its healthy AND yummy! I love the sweet and the spicy especially with the basil!

Gather all the ingredients.

Its still early for my Japanese eggplants, I only had one, but quickly substituted broccoli, yellow and green zucchini. I even tossed in some tofu just because it was in the fridge.

1 cup of brown jasmine rice cooked as directed.

2 tsp of vegetable oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes - its hot!

1 Japanese eggplant, 2 medium yellow zucchini and 1 medium green zucchini, 1 small crown of broccoli - or any other veggie combo that sound good like mushroom, napa cabbage, bell pepper, onion, carrot....

1/2 package of firm tofu (optional)

4 cloves of garlic

2 tbs of rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

3 tbs of soy sauce

2 tbs of brown sugar or honey

20 leaves of basil

Prepare Rice and start to chop and cook.

Chop all veggies and tofu into bite size pieces.

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a deep skillet or stir fry pan over high heat. Add pepper flakes, cook for 10 sec. Add eggplant and tofu and 2 minced/crushed cloves of garlic and cook 3 minutes. Place in a dish while you stir fry the broccoli, and zucchini the same way for another 3 minutes. Combine all the veggies in the pan together. Pour vinegar and soy sauce and sprinkle with sugar or honey and toss. After 1 or 2 minutes, remove from heat, add basil and serve over hot rice. Serves 2-3.

A glance at the vegetarian life: a guide for first timers

A friend of mine was thinking about taking the PETA 30 challenge and going veggie for 30 days. It can seem a bit time consuming when first thinking about meal planning with the goal of staying veggie (it did for me at first too), especially when you have a picky eater and kids. And it may take a little bit of time only because your mind is used to things being a certain way and you are accustomed and used to having the same meals your mom made for you. I happen to feel it is much easier to not have to worry about thawing out meat just the right way, cleaning up the juice and stuff to keep from getting sick, and making sure that it is cooked just right but not too overcooked. Once you have a few veggie ideas to work with, it really does become a no-brainer. To help get you started I made a menu of the foods that we eat.
I also try to include fresh whole grains, flax, and amaranth as well as a mixed green or spinach salad with lunch and/or dinner. I try to just avoid the meat substitutes for personal reasons as well as the fact that they just taste funny when you are used to the real thing.

	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Monday	Oatmeal with sliced almonds, raisins honey and soy milk	banana	Burrito with beans, rice and cheese and all the veggies	Salsa and baked tortilla chips	Pesto Pasta with veggies, zuc, mushroom, broccoli
Tuesday	French toast Fruit and OJ	Apple and peanut butter	Balsamic Tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese sandwich	popcorn	Baked potato with broccoli and cheddar cheese
Wednesday	Cold cereal Banana	Cottage cheese and fruit	Hummus & tomato wrap with celery and carrots	Cheese and crackers	Stir fry or steamed veggies, tofu and brown rice
Thursday	Scrambled eggs and toast	Fruit popsicle	Egg salad sandwich with carrots, fruit	Pretzels and raisins	Pasta with veggie marinara
Friday	Plain yogurt with jam or honey and toast	Carrot & flax muffin	Lentil soup or Sambar	Grilled tomato with cheese	Garden burger sandwich with grilled veggies and fries
Saturday	Bagels and cream cheese fruit	Cereal fruit bar	Mac and cheese with carrots and peas		Veggie Omlette Spinach tomato and mushroom
Sunday	Pancakes and eggs	Fruit smoothy	Veggie lasagna	Cucumber, tomato, sprouts and cream cheese pitas	Homemade pizza with fresh tomatos and pineapples

What to eat when you are out?
Fast food: Wendy’s has a baked potato, BK has veggie patty, Taco bell burritos (the 7layer is yummy). Most fast food places will make the item you like without meat (and charge full price of course).

Sit down meals: Pasta, Pizza, Omelets, veggie burger substitute (my fav is Red robin’s mushroom burger) or Portabella burgers. Stir fry with tofu and rice or noodles, Eggplant Parmesan, Veggie or cheese enchiladas, grilled veggie fajitas, and all kinds of Indian and Thai and Mediterranean food.

Enjoy your veggie adventure!

Favorite veggie books:

Favorite veggie site:

TryVeg.com

Praying for caffinated rain.

"God, please make mama drink coffee. I don't know how much more of this withdrawal I can take!"

-Shraddha praying for mama not to decrease caffine intake any further.

-Mama wishing it would rain caffine. Day 5 of no morning coffee just a cup of green tea. Slowly decreasing morning intake of caffine.

Found 70% pure cocoa organic dark chocolate bar. Wonder how much caffine there?

- First day of no headache in the morning YEAH!

I'm not sarcastic but i play a sarcasitic person on TV

copied from...http://www.shof.msrcsites.co.uk/sarc.jpg. Thanks Beckie you always find the funnies!

Blueberries are here!

The blueberries are getting blue! And there is just something about homegrown blueberry goodness. They have a kaleidoscope of fabulous flavor that you just can't get from the ones in the store and not even from the farmers market. These are Misty Blue. I am not sure exactly how big they can get because Shraddha loves them too much to wait... or share for that matter LOL!

We also found many beautiful red Pomegranate blossoms and almost ripe cherries! We know they are almost ripe because the birds haven't stolen all of them yet.

And is it just me or does it seem that animals follow Shraddha around like she is Snow White? If she could just get them to help out around here that would be FABULOUS!

This is Buffy and Puffy, they are Buff Orphington chicks. The other two New Hampshire Reds, are yet to be named and one of them is growing a comb. Highly suspicious of maybe not having the egg laying capability....

Those flowers lasted forever mom, thanks!

Spiritual Inspirations

http://theknowledgelab.net/%28k%29now/Spirit/BuddhaDrankTequila.mp3

I love this!

Don't expect "perfection" from your teachers and rock stars. Allow
yourselves to relax enough so that you too can write, draw, play a musical
instrument and sing. Even Buddha and Jesus did things disapproved of by their
friends . "Imperfections" were part of their wisdom.
-Americ Azevedo
Lecturer: University of California, Berkeley.

Top 5 strangest things in our garden this week.

5. Now this is also one of my favorites! Black Hollyhocks! Yeah they finally bloomed and I love them. They are striking and weird and gigantic at 8-10 ft tall! Only took almost 2 yrs to see so enjoy! I am already planning where and how many more for the next couple of years.





4. Check out this brown fuzzy hairy caterpillar! I figured out from http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ that it is the larva to a ....



Giant Leopard or Tiger Moth as seen on BugGuide.net



I remember we had quite a few of these giant leopard moths....in November... here is the pic of one laying eggs on the side of my house on 11/04/07











3. Alligator Lizards! I thought this was a skink! but on closer look... it seems it is not. We do have skinks and blue belly lizards but I have never seen a lizard that big up on our house! This guy was huge at about 16 inches long. But all skinks and lizards are very welcome here!


more on Alligator lizards.










2. What the heck! Is it a spider? Is it like a potato bug? ugh! Whatever it was... it was crawling toward me while I was folding laundry....EWWWWW! But you can be relieved to know it wasn't squished. It was gently placed back into the garden.... for us to find again later I am sure.


Here is what we learned from WhatsThatBug.com:


"The Solpugid is not an insect, it is an arachnid. It is related to spiders and scorpions, hence its common names Sun Spider or Wind Scorpion. In some places they are called Sand Puppies, but they are not related to dogs. Unlike Spiders and Scorpions, Solpugids do not have venom. They are harmless unless you are small enough to be considered food, in which case gram per gram, they might be the fiercest predators on the planet. We are lucky they don't weigh 150 pounds. They will eat anything they can catch, which is a benefit in the desert. "



1. Top strangest thing found in our garden this week!!!! AHHHHH!


Opossum with a huge long nose and huge long tail...eating out of Sadie's dog dish in the middle of the night. That thing was almost as big as our 16 lb cat Chamois! Now we know who made a huge den at the edge of our play yard. This seems to be an unusually fat Opossum, with a HUGE head! Must have been munching in Sadie's bowl for the past couple of years! Would that make it our pet? EWWWW!









This is one I found in the front yard on 5/26/07 wonder if it is the same one? Here it is in my hat... i was just too chicken to hold it in my hands. It was so cute when it was tiny!

Chillin with our Peeps 2

This is Betty (4/26/08 @ 2-3 wks old?) an Amerucana she and Rose will make blue/green eggs. They are our favorite most sweet and docile hens so far. (Wonder how I came up with Rose's name?)

This is Laverne, Shirley, and Ivanna. Figured out that Shirley is a White Leghorn - a good egglayer. They are about 5 weeks old and needed their own separte brooder because they pecked on the little ones. But with Shraddha, they think she is Mama and enjoy sitting with her and being held and kept warm.















To the left is baby a little golden seabright runt. Tiny (the one in the middle), as named by Danielle, has feathery feet. She might be a Mille Fleur, or another Amerucana. Either way she is very cute and friendly and it is funny to watch her walk (on eggshells LOL) with her feathery feet. Kinda like walking in scuba flippers!