No more ice packs!

Just saw this today so I have to share. I haven't purchased one yet, but I definitely will!

This product is ingenious. If you're a parent or caretaker of a small child you are familiar with ice packs, blue ice, reusable gel packs, and all means of keeping milk or food cold while out of the house.

PackIt Freezable Cooler Bag | Daily Grommet

During our vacations has been especially difficult because I don't want to have a bulky cooler on the plane, and I want to pack as much food as I can into the cooler bag so I only bring one ice pack. With this product it looks like I can pack as much food & drink as possible without having to make room for the big ice pack that lasts the longest.

More positives?
* Freeze a little drink container of tea in the bag, it'll be nice and slushy for you by lunch time. (see Daily Grommet video)
* You won't forget the ice pack since the whole bag is the ice pack.
* Earth friendly solutions are having items that you can re-use, and help you remember to pack your own lunch, for a long period of time.
PackIt website

What's the buzz on the patio?

crisp, fresh peas from the patio garden

I know there has been much debate about whether or not the "year of the cicada" is actually as bad as people say it is. In parts of middle Tennessee it really has been! In our little subdivision (which has not been around for more than 13 years - the length of time in between said years of said bug's invasions) we have not experienced the tremendous volume of bugs. However, in the tree line that was undisturbed, on the edge of the neighborhood... You can hear them buzzing like a giant stereo needing to be grounded. How's that for an analogy? That one was for my siblings.

While harvesting the peas shown above, I was startled by some loud buzzing coming from the pea plant. Lo and behold, my first sighting. Ugly bug, yet fascinating.

This particular cicada did not fly away, but it's companion did. This one hung on to the plant and subsequently died while holding on. My little boy decided to squeeze it and I heard my daughter yell, "eeeeuw! He has cicada juice on his fingers!" Nice.

It looks like a mechanical bug, or the alien thing that is featured in the opening montage of Men in Black.

Here is a lovely shot of the onion flower that shares the pea plant's pot. I didn't want to leave you with a cicada nightmare image.

Toasted Bliss!

toasted oat flax bread with coconut oil & sunflower seed butter

Part of yesterday morning's breakfast involved a new product that I just purchased. I don't even know where to begin... I'm a bit too excited about this toast!!

Ok, I'll start with this:

1) I received an offer on Daily Candy – $10 for $20 of soap.com products. You can still get in on this if you've never ordered from them before!

2) I purchased a list of things I've been needing, plus a few things I want to try. One of those things is Coconut Oil (as a food additive or supplement).

3) I opened said coco goodness and spread it on my oat flax toast. I topped that with my new sunflower seed spread (I've developed an allergy to peanut butter so I'm trying substitutes) and took a bite.

4) I ran to grab my camera and took a picture of it to share with you all! I just couldn't believe how incredibly delicious it was!

I felt ridiculous, but at the same time there was an urgency. When something is THAT good, my friends that love coconut need to know. They just need to know.

Patio Garden Experiment 2011 (May)

Pretty little pea flowers at sunset

One of the most spectacular things about living in the mid-south is the miraculous growth of all things green, once the weather warms up. While we were away in California, lightning, rain, wind and warmth all brought abundant life out of our potted wonders.

Check out the size of our pea plants! Sheesh, they were just creeping onto the first ring when we left. Now (as you can see from the pea flower shot above) they are towering above the top ring!

We've been eating peas this week and it is a wonderful thing to see our kids appreciate their greens. My daughter loves that she has participated in planting, watering and harvesting vegetables.

Here is one of our potato plants, which has already grown a few inches since this photo was taken at the beginning of the week. The cute little white flowers have also bloomed on top.

another potato plant, accompanied by hosta, strawberry and young japanese iris

The rest of the photos are some of the iris flowers that I look forward to every year. It is so nice to see our planted areas filling up with lush greenery!

Thanks to my mom, Auntie Melodie (and a few of Mike's former patients), we are enjoying a variety of colors and frills in our iris beds.