delicious dinner

i am not a fan of cooking poultry (or, most meat for that matter). in fact, i actually get really disgusted when i have to cook chicken. so disgusted that i usually don't end up eating what i've cooked. today was no exception. my husband is on crutches and in a fair amount of pain so i was left to cook up some whole chicken breasts. on the bone, which is just the creepiest. my directions started with "rub chicken with olive oil," which i did in a weird amelia bedelia sort of way. i'll spare you the details (it literally felt like i was making out with a chicken) but i will share the ingredients because the chicken turned out delicious and i did, in fact, eat it.

• put raw chicken in container (one with lid for marinating purposes)
• rub chicken with olive oil
• sprinkle with cracked pepper
• crush one garlic clove per chicken part (obviously you can use pieces other than breasts)
• place crushed garlic inside skin of meat
• in a separate bowl, juice 3 lemons (or more depending on your taste. my husband said to juice two lemons, but i love lemon so i juiced 3)
• drop in thin slices of lemon ( i sliced a 4th lemon for this)
• add some freshly picked (or store bought) rosemary, oregano and thyme to juice (no specific quantity. i probably used a handful of each)
• let soak for a minute or two
• grab some of the herbs and place inside skin with crushed garlic (do this to each piece)
• pour lemon juice over chicken and place lemon slices on top of each piece of chicken
• drizzle more olive oil on top and lightly sprinkle with cracked pepper
• cover and refrigerate until ready to cook (i let mine sit for several hours prior to cooking)
• grill chicken with lemon slices on top of meat (most of the slices stayed on the meat even after turning over on grill)
• my husband says chicken is done when it  has reached a temperature of 165 degrees for 5 consecutive seconds (or longer if you're picky like me). or, click here for other guidelines. i do recommend using a thermometer.

i wish i had taken a photo of the chicken because it really turned out lovely, as well as, tasty.  every bite was lemony and the herb mixture was perfect-o. try it, you won't be disappointed.  we paired it with some orzo that had a slightly creamy sauce (i think we added a small amount of chicken stock and cream that was cooked down) and some of our homegrown vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, tomato) with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and basil.

since i don't have photos of the meal, i will share with you some photos of the garden:

little pumpkin. we already have ten good sized pumpkins growing with at least one or two new sprouts every other day or so. claim your pumpkin now and start planning your design for our pumpkin carving party in october. on another note, if you're planning on growing pumpkins, make sure you have plenty of room for them to grow. these plants are wild and they are growing way beyond the space i had intended them to grow in. in fact, i am almost certain that by the time october rolls around, our yard will be covered in pumpkins. my plan for next year is to plant them in the front yard in neat rows so it will actually look like a pumpkin patch and so they will have plenty of space (and so we will have a green yard instead of the ugly, brown, dead weeds. we use minimal water and a lot of recycled water so i promise we aren't using more than our fair share).  i just have to build a fence and work the soil before next spring.

corn. it's finally growing. the stalks are much taller than me now. they had a growth spurt while i was on vacation, of course. i just hope i find a way to get the corn once it's ready...the pumpkins are totally surrounding the stalks so it might be difficult.

take a look for yourself. it doesn't look that crazy in this photo but it really is. i can't step through the pumpkins for fear of breaking the feeding tubes. this was obviously a very poor design on my part. i'll figure it out, i will.

another view. see how far out the pumpkin vines go? the space between the railroad tie and that little tree is at least six feet. the vine next to the fence actually extends to another tree that is probably 12 feet away. good thing we like pumpkins. we make pies using fresh pumpkin and pumpkin soup is just delicious. i'm most excited about having a bunch of friends over to carve pumpkins, though.

we are already preparing for the fall crops. cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach and onions. this is just a start, we have more seeds to plant soon. some seeds must be ordered through a seed catalog or online. i'm being more thoughtful this time about what we're planting and how. i am definitely going to do the successive planting so we always have stuff to harvest. i also prefer to start my seeds in these little containers as it makes it much easier to plant without harming the roots.

the original garden is going through a transition. i pulled some zucchini plants out, as well as some bell pepper and green beans. my lettuce ended up going to seed so i pulled that out, too. i guess lettuce doesn't last forever which is why successive planting is important. the zucchini plant in the back produced tons of zucchini but i kept having to cut the tubes because they were crowding my watermelons. i finally decided i wanted watermelons more than zucchini. my watermelon plants sure are taking their time, though. it's a little frustrating but i am trying to be really patient and i am giving them lots of tlc.

oh, look at this strange little tomato. it has an appendage. i'm interested to see how it turns out.

and our cool discovery of the day: a full and complete lizard skin. i still can't figure out how the lizard shed his skin without damaging it. the little leg parts are even attached. quite fascinating.

vacation

one of my favorite portions of the interstate. after traveling through major cities with large buildings, traffic and lots of pollution, you get to this spot that takes you back in time a little. the buildings are replaced by velvety mountains and it feels like you are escaping the hustle and bustle to a place where things slow down a bit and it's much easier to breathe.

and we did escape to a special place where the streets are lined with trees, where you know your neighbors very well (heck, you probably know the whole town), where your kids can run free without worry and where you support your local businesses. my kids went crazy for this town. they played on the front lawn, on the sidewalk, they crossed the street by themselves (even the two year old, gasp!), they had a little freedom.

and then we escaped again, to the coast, and it was lovely. definitely a change of pace, a time for rejuvenation and so much peacefulness. oh, how i love my state.oh, how i love my country. oh, how i love this planet earth.

finally, you can't visit these parts and not visit a farm for some fresh fruits and vegetables. that would be a sin.

dissecting

one of the cool things we did on vacation was dissect an owl pellet. we found some pellets on a walk and then we decided to go back to collect them to dissect. this was one of the coolest projects we have ever done. my six year old son loved it. like many other six year old boys, he wants to be a paleontologist so this was right up his alley. we even saved a pellet to bring home with us to dissect with dad (who is not in the least bit excited or amused by this project).

all in all, we discovered fifteen skulls, six jaws, eight scapulas, thirty-four forelimbs, six hindlimbs, two ribs and four vertebrae. what did you do on vacation?

last thoughts before i head out on vacation

this tomato was divine. as soon as it started turning color, i claimed it as my own. we must have about twenty-plus green tomatoes but they are taking f o r e v e r to turn red. i had no idea it took so long. if they all turn red while i am away i will be so mad. i can still taste the sweetness and the warmth of this little guy. wow.

this girl has no mercy. i was trying to set the little bugger free but she came over and just squished him. poor guy. remember the photo where she's holding a ladybug? i didn't mention that she squished it, too, shortly after the photo was taken. big brut. but you know what's really cool about these photos? you can see caterpillar (or worm?) poop and guts. you might not be able to see it but she has green, slimy stuff running down her finger. so cool.

meet bo-bo (short for bro-bro) and boba fett. the kids won these at the fair. i'm actually scared to post this because i recently came upon some comments to a post asking if you can put two goldfish in one bowl and the comments were scathing. s c a t h i n g. i didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or crawl under the table in tears. i mean, do goldfish really fall under peta? geesh. if i listen to them, we are in the same classification as murderers. in fact, they recommended just killing the fish in order for it to live a better life. apparently, there is no such thing as a fishbowl. so let me just say, we have two fish in separate bowls and i feel no remorse about it. they make my kids happy, they are an acceptable pet, we keep them very clean and well fed and we have even tried to spruce up their bowls. to me, they are just goldfish. if they are more to you, then i apologize.we can leave it at that. there's no need to send me hate mail.

so, a few posts back i shared a recipe for laundry powder. it worked out well for me but i felt like i had to wash in hot water to make sure the soap melted. i don't wash in hot, i prefer cold (unless it's bedding and/or some whites). anyway, i decided to try out the liquid version and i love it! for one, it made a little over three gallons of laundry soap so i won't be running out soon. for two, apparently the cost broken down comes out to .01 cent spent per load. but, most importantly, it's all natural. there aren't any sneaky ingredients in there and we aren't wasting tons of giant plastic bottles. the only change i made to the recipe was a change in the soap. i used dr. bonner's baby mild organic bar soap.  i'm really digging this homemade stuff. next up? homemade deodorant.

okay, i am off on vacation now. i'll be back in about a week. enjoy summer.

that's my covergirl

my mascara came in the mail today from bzzagent. love it, love it, love it. check it out:

can you tell which one is before and which one is after?

i used to have super long, super thick lashes that i loved playing up with super fancy mascara (the kind from overpriced department stores that cost upwards of thirty...for mascara, can you believe it?!?). but i have this undiagnosed issue with pulling my hair out. i don't pull out big chunks, i only pull one hair at a time. i know, i know, weirdo. it's a texture thing, that's all i can tell you. well, i also pull on my eyelashes. i close my eye and run my lashes through my fingers and then i gently tug some lashes out. too much information? it's okay, call me whatever you like. we all know i have issues. i have been working on stopping this bad habit of mine for several years now. anyway, because of my habit, i hardly have any lashes left. my top lashes are almost invisible and that is why i stopped wearing mascara. well, guess what? i am in love with this covergirl lashblast fusion mascara and i am going to use my free tube until it is gone, gone, gone. and then i might splurge and buy another tube (thank god they sent me two dollar off coupons. i'm willing to share the coupons if you're interested). 

this stuff is great. the brush is genius as it doesn't leave clumps. i hate clumpy mascara that flakes off or smudges. i like my lashes to be completely separated. i think it did a nice job, don't you? it's very light and natural looking. and, it's easy to put on. i, of course, put it on right before i went swimming which annoyed me because i thought i was going to end up with raccoon eyes since it's not waterproof. but, i didn't. i'm sure some it wore off but my lashes still looked great afterward. they claim it's smudgeproof and i will say it definitely is. no flakes, no smudge, no raccoon eyes. i'm sold. thank you, bzzagent and covergirl, for allowing me to sample this product. 

bzzagent

i was once a product girl but i have slowed down...waaaay down in the last two years or so. for one, i no longer have the disposable income i once had (or thought i had) and for two, i now prefer to just buy stuff i know and love. with that being said, i don't have issues with trying stuff out at no cost which works out perfectly for this program i recently joined called bzzagent (bzzagent.com). they send me stuff to try out and all i have to do is report back my opinion (and i have plenty of those). they don't pay me but i get free samples of products so it's worth the trade-off. i just did my first campaign for got2be smooth operator. i wasn't quite impressed with the results but i was satisfied with my hair on one of the days i used the product. i was even able to share samples and coupons with my friends so that was a bonus. my next campaign is for covergirl lashblast fusion and i can't wait to try it out. i used to wear mascara all the time, in fact, it was my only make-up necessity but now i rarely wear it. i can't wait to see if i can wow people with my lashes. don't worry, i'll be sure to tell you all about it.

if you like products and you want to try stuff out for free, check out bzzagent. they get all up in your business but...well, i haven't thought about that too much.

reading together

my family reads all year long. we are definitely bookworms. i keep a journal of all the books i read and my husband keeps the books he reads but we don't keep track of what books the kids read or how many they read each year. as a kid, i'm sure i had some sort of system since i read books very quickly and i don't tend to re-read books. the one thing that stands out to me is the summer reading program at the local library. i always joined and i always met my goal. i looked forward to summer just so i could join the reading program. so it's a given that i sign my kids up every summer for it. their goals are based on minutes read and activities which is age-appropriate but kind of boring. because of that, i have created our own summer reading program. our goal is to read one hundred books we have never read before. we are on week three of summer vacation and we are more than halfway to our goal. yippee. we have actually read some fantastic books, some i'd like to share with you.

first, i must share one that i read called reading together (everything you need to know to raise a child who loves to read) by diane w. frankenstein

i found this gem at the library but it's now on my list of books to buy. not only does it have lists of books to read from picture books to books for kids in 6th grade and beyond but it also has conversation starters and story pages. this is a book i will use as reference for many, many years to come. definitely worth the investment of approximately thirteen bucks. the philosophy is:
help children find an appropriate book + talk with them about the story = children who connect with stories and love the stories they read.
what's even better is that we have not read any of the books on the picture book list so that's thirty one books to add to our summer reading list.

now, here are some of our favorites:

we were so lucky to find this book since we planted our pumpkins from seed. the kids (even the two year old) were excited to read more about how our pumpkins are growing.

i think all kids love to talk about poop, at least boys do for sure. we are a poop and fart loving family so we were excited to read this one. we learned so much and laughed even harder. science + humor = five stars.

we love butts, too. i saw this sitting on the shelf and i couldn't resist. my two year old who is a gal of few words ran around the house yelling, "bug butts" -- hey, whatever it takes, right? again, this one combines science with humor. we learned that butt juice is actually a favored treat. who knew?

a fascinating read with wonderful illustrations. we liked this one so much that we ordered all of gail gibbon's books. later that night, we watched the wizard of oz for the first time and my son was able to classify the tornado.

another wonderful book. this one gave step-by-step instructions about what you need to go to the moon and what you should do once you get there. beautiful illustrations. it ends with a reminder to take care of mother earth.

there really aren't many words to describe this book. it is beyond beautiful. my six year old son loved it. wonderful story, gorgeous illustrations, amazing message: the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth. even though the message is over a hundred years old, it is totally relevant and it's exactly what i want my children to know. we are lucky enough to own this book so we can read it over and over again. 

we just discovered this series by tedd arnold. hilarious! and so easy to read for a beginner. my son can read these on his own which as helped boost his confidence in becoming a reader. we have an older series by tedd arnold called parts which has been a favorite of ours for a few years now. cute books.

little ladybug

ladybug, ladybug on the tree
fly down here and sit with me
rest on my hand, i'll count your spots
2,4,6, 8 polka dots!
-taryn campbell

babies

babies, babies, everywhere. check it out. our first lil' pumpkin. too cute for words. there are at least 4 more of these. i have a feeling we are going to have a serious pumpkin patch in our very own backyard. 

do you know i have an opportunity to go out of town for a week and i'm hesitant to leave my little garden friends? i will fret over them the entire time i'm gone. i have already reminded my sweet husband about 20 times to water and care for the plants. since yesterday. i don't leave until next wednesday. clearly, i need a life...or, at least a little time away.

carrot

we saw a little carrot popping out of the soil so we picked it. it wasn't quite ready but it sure was delicious!