Felt food

I really love pretend food. Always have. Playing grocery store was probably top of my list as a child. Which is probably why I love felt food so much. It looks pretty realistic, and has that aura of homemade that makes it seem so special. So I've tried my hand a few felt items. None of my stuff comes from a pattern, I just kind of make it up. It probably shows, ha! But I do scour the Internet for websites with pictures, and then go from there. This is made from cheap felt, not the nice wool felt, and it is partially machine sewed, and partially hand sewed. My stitches are never straight, my technique is sorely lacking, but by golly, if my kids don't think I'm awesome. What a confidence booster, especially for a non-crafter such as myself.

Here are some of my previous, uh, creations:

In case my handiwork is even worse than I imagine, this plate includes pancake with butter, fried egg, and two chocolate chip cookies.

This is the product of today's labor:

Lovely loaf of bread and a carrot. I should probably make more carrots to have a bunch. Maybe tomorrow. I also have a cinnamon roll in the works, and plans for tofu stir fry, pumpkin pie, green beans, and maybe, if I get really ambitious, a "peelable" banana.

Gross fact of the day.

So I read an article on MSN.com about common food additives. The first delight was about strawberry yogurt. Come on, don't ruin yogurt for me. But ruin it they did. Apparently, when you have something that's nice and pink, like, say cranberry juice or strawberry yogurt, they get often get that scrumptious color by adding ground up bugs. Oh yes. You heard me. But it gets worse, if that's possible. The Dactylopius coccus costa bug from Peru likes to eat red berries. A lot. And where does all that color from the red berries go? Into the stomach & larvae in the female bug, of course. And what better way to make your food look deliciously appetizing than to crunch a bunch of those suckers up and put them in your favorite foods. Delish, no?

For those of you who are worried, the FDA is soon requiring manufacturers to label their packaging to let consumers know if they have six-legged creatures in their cuisine. This particular variety is called "Carmine" or "cochineal extract." Sounds innocent, doesn't it? Well, I checked out our container of HEB Strawberry yogurt before making the kids their smoothie today, and guess what?
Do you see it in the corner there? Carmine. AKA bug guts & larvae. Yum.


And being the good mom that I am, I paused before pouring half a container in the blender. How can I in good conscience feed my children squished bugs? I gave a little laugh, and kept pouring.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Anyone who will roll around with you in the hallway of a hotel must be a pretty good guy. We lucked out and got a great Papa for our family.

Happy birthday, Dad.

A little piece of sanity

If you're a mom, you probably know that place when you feel like you're only partly human. It could be because you get stuck in your "cave," surrounded by mounds of laundry, dirty dishes, and general filth. It could be because you usually eat moderately identifiable food that you've scavenged from the back of the fridge because you've given all the "good" leftovers (those that are less than 2 days old and likely not a carrier of salmonella poisoning) to the kids for lunch. Or it could be because your conversations throughout the day consist mainly of either yelling about the necessity of cleaning up toys that cut deeply into the foot when not noticed, or the value of not dumping five boxes of cereal on the floor, or trying to explain why mommy has to take "happy pills" (I love you, Excedrin) when we get out the instruments basket. Well, this mommy was getting to that place. The worst part about that part-human place is that the longer you're there, the further back you crawl into that dark, dank space.

Today, I broke free! If only for a couple of hours. We met some friends at a park we've never been at before, and everyone had a great time. The boys came home with scrapes all over their legs and big smiles. Sofia loves any opportunity to socialize. And this mom became a little human, getting to talk to another semi-human mommy for a while. So thank you, Carlson Fam, for hauling us out of our shell for a while!

Blast from the past!

My parents met us up in KC for my 10-yr reunion, and whenever my mom sees the grandkids, she always brings "new" toys to entertain them. Imagine my surprise when I returned to the hotel room to find Sofia playing with my forgotten-favorite-game Alphabet Land! My mom was going to let us take it home, but the box was pretty mangled. Well, after I got home, I was thinking about it, rather nostalgically, and thought, "What good is ebay if not to give you the remanents of your youth?" So I found one, and bought it. I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids.

Goodbye, shaggy boys!

The boys have been long overdue for a haircut. I have been slowly watching their handsome features disappear.... first it was the forehead. Okay, I can deal with that. But then it was the eyebrows.... then the ears..... the pupils of their eyes. When the hair started to interfere with their eating, I figured it was time.

Oh, Sam....


Handsome Ben...

Sofia got her bangs trimmed, too. Tomorrow I'll try to get some pictures of the results!

Doughnut Day

Often when I take all three kids to HEB for grocery shopping, I'll stop by the bakery to let them each choose a doughnut to eat at home. It keeps them occupied while I bring in the groceries from the car. And I wouldn't want to leave myself out either, of course. My boys, though, don't really understand how to eat doughnuts. They choose ones with frosting & sprinkles, usually. Of course, since that's the best part, they start with that. They end up eating it from the top down. Which makes for some pretty interesting cleanup.