had for sixty-nine cents...

the rainy-day blues of this past friday inspired us to take a trip to our local, dirt-cheap thrift store. it's the thrift store that always feels a little rough around the edges. the "ick factor" can be pretty high, but many a bargain can be found with a little dedicated sifting. and sure enough, we came home with a few things to love.


check out this vintage alice in wonderland pop-up book. in perfect condition, for a mere 69 cents. i couldn't believe it--i flipped through, sure that i'd come across a destroyed page. but there were no rips or tears, and all pop-up pieces were working! a pleasant surprise for sure. there's no copyright date to be found (i think the book was part of a larger set) but it's got a real sixties/seventies vibe going on. lucy thinks it's groovy.

also purchased: this stack of clothes for little hudson. we happened to hit "half-off" day, luckily enough. grand total for 9 shirts and 1 pair of pants? $3.90. most of the items were baby gap and children's place. can't beat that for affordability!

this moment...

if you follow the uber-popular soulemama blog, than you're likely familiar with her new friday installment this moment. (if you're not familiar with soulemama--oh my gosh, you're missing out.) anyhow, she's invited other bloggers to participate, and i'm totally game. in the hustle & bustle of life with 2 under 2, anything that helps keep the mind focused on the "simple, special & extraordinary" sounds good to me.

here's ours for this week--no other words allowed.

farm box friday...

in our box today...

3 navel oranges

2 golden delicious apples

2 pears

2 tangerines

2 pink lady apples

1 fuji apple

1 lemon

green cauliflower

red chard

2 lbs red potatoes

broccoli crowns

1 bunch carrots

1 lb red onions

lucy began devouring the broccoli as soon as i opened the box. i'm not a raw broccoli kind of girl, but she seems to love it uncooked. more power to her for that!

stew is on the menu for the coming week, with grass fed beef which i've got in the freezer. not sure what to do with the cauliflower--directions for roasting were included in the farm notes, so perhaps i'll give that a go.

i used about half of our farm box potatoes this afternoon in making bread--specifically, a potato and roasted garlic loaf. i used the cookbook "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day," which was gifted to me by a very generous reader--thanks again renee! we're on carbohydrate-overload around here trying out a bunch of divine pizzas and breads--i haven't even tapped into the sweets & pastries section of the book yet. more to come on all of this in a later post.

lastly, the farm notes mentioned that asparagus is near-ready for harvest. i'm greatly looking forward to our next delivery--asparagus is one of my favorites, stinky pee and all. did you know it takes 3 years before an asparagus plant is ready for harvest? neither did i. kind of explains why people don't typically grow it in their backyards...

hudson is 4 months old!

time flies when you're having fun. recent talents include:

~ trying to roll. he can get over to one side--big sister is always good for the final push.

~ sleeping in nice long stretches. always good for the mama.

~ checking out the dog, the cat, the chickens. i think we have another animal lover on our hands.

~ snuggling. not a recent talent, as he's always been snuggly, but this lil' guy is good. he can sometimes talk me into a 9 o'clock bedtime--no small feat!

we love, love, love this tiny, cuddly man. cheers!

antique fair finds...

us californians were blessed with amazing weather on sunday. my little family decided to take full advantage, and headed out to the alameda antique fair to browse. in past months, we haven't found all that much, but this time around was a different story. we found a bunch of sweet little things, including a few nice linens, a $1 dress for lucy, and shortalls for hudson (see his 4-month photos--coming tomorrow).

i'm super excited about this old lidded tin, which is perfect for toting around our lunches while out & about, instead of trying to cram everything into my (already-overflowing) diaper bag. it's quite roomy for all of our good food. now, if i could only remember to get it into the car. (i left it sitting on the counter at home today, much to lucy's dismay). yeah, a picnic lunch isn't so fun when mama forgets the entire lunch...

i wish i knew the story behind this pail. any guesses?

the other great find was this little wooden push cart. in great shape, just missing the set of blocks i suspect it used to hold. but guess who had a stash of alphabet blocks hidden away in the depths of her closet?

i can't wait to see little husdon tottering behind this cart someday. lucy's having a blast with it--not bad for $15. (plus the 69 cent thrifted blocks).

what good fun she has, stacking those blocks.

on a side note, we lost lucy's "my first laptop" on our trip to disneyland. with the exception of our thrifted fisher price seahorse, it was our one and only battery-operated toy. poor thing got mistakenly left on the roof of the car, and clattered off as we were heading over the grapevine.

ker-thunk!

sigh. oh little laptop. you gave me many a headache while driving in the car, but lucy loved you so. rest in peace.

mmmm. crackers.

when i saw this recipe recommended online last night, i knew i had to give it a whirl. and soon. cheesy crackers are one of my favorite snacks--and something that we've pretty much given up on around here, what with the artificial flavors and colors and all the rest. as a kid, i used to LOVE cheeze its. later in life, i was hooked on goldfish. since having lucy, i've purchased annie's bunnies on occasion, but they're pricey and honestly lucy didn't care that much for them.

these crackers are delicious. but i wouldn't call them crackers, exactly. they're crispy on the bottom and soft on top, and full of good, cheesy flavor. i'm kinda embarrassed to admit that between jeremy, lucy and myself, we polished off the entire batch this afternoon. yeah, they were just that good.

i skipped the oatmeal (though i'd still like to try a batch with it) and used the stated 1/2 cup of (organic) flour instead, along with sharp white cheddar from trader joes and organic unsalted sweet cream butter. i also used my kitchenaid stand mixer because i didn't feel like hefting out the food processor--which worked fine. the dough came together after two or three minutes of mixing on high. the crackers puffed up beautifully in the oven. we found, between our two batches, that cooking only on one side gave crackers with the flavor of goldfish, while cooking on both sides (for a total of 12 minutes) made crackers that tasted more like cheeze its.

and of course, both styles were yummy. i'm planning on making more tomorrow--and the three of us not polishing off an entire batch in one sitting!

we're back...

any ideas as to where we took our family vacation?

disneyland was too, too fun. i had some reservations about how it would go with "two under two," but the kids were stars. we had very few meltdowns overall--i was mightily impressed. we traveled with friends with their own "two under two" brood, and good times were had by all. i personally had not been to the park since i was 12--18 years ago! lots has changed, but much is still the same. here are a few things that struck me:

~ healthy food choices abound. we packed all of our own food, but i was surprised with the amount of fresh fruit for sale around the park. several carts also offered organic fruit snacks for the kiddos, and fresh juice. impressive.

~ cleanest petting zoo in the world. swear.

~ the baby care center just off of main street has the sweetest tiny potties for toddlers. it also has a super-wide, flushable basin for dunking cloth diapers (an original fixture from the fifties).

~ jiminey cricket encourages recycling:

~ finally, the "it's a small world" ride is nothing short of absolutely charming. especially when your toddler is sitting at the edge of her seat, eyes open wide, clapping along with the music. hands down, best thing at the park. at least in this mama's opinion.

lucy is 22 months...

she's edging in on two, people! can you believe it? recent talents include:

~ singing the abc's

~ 'reading' herself to sleep

~ brushing mommy's hair

~ referring to daddy very seriously as "jeremy"

~ helping to put away folded laundry & diapers

~ sleeping in until seven on occasion--always a blissful occurrence

gotta love her! cheers!