Updated Tiki Torch

photo courtesy of Design*Sponge

I just saw this recycled wine bottle torch on Design*Sponge and had to post about it. What a clever way to reuse a particularly pretty wine bottle while keeping mosquitoes away when entertaining in your backyard. I also love that it is an updated version of the bamboo tiki torch that screams backyard luau.

This is going on Oscar's to do list for next summer if we can't get it accomplished by this summer which I fear is quickly coming to an end.

Click here for the complete instructions on Design*Sponge.

Craftig

Crafting is Good, aka Craftig, is a new social networking site for crafters that I just stumbled upon and that you should check out.

I like the idea of going to one site to find find all of the fun craft projects, templates, patterns, tutorials and more that people are sharing instead of spending all day searching the many many blogs. If you sign up today you can download a free Amigurumi pattern.

Fun, fun, fun!

From the Garden

Tonight's dinner was from my garden and I couldn't be happier about it!

Yesterday Oscar and I harvested more tomatoes from the garden. I can't believe how many tomatoes are ripening. Below is just half of what we harvested. I gave half to my Mom who came over to help me with Ozzie today since I am still recovering from surgery.




I decided to make my first homemade spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes. Since turkey spaghetti is a family staple, I always have the ingredients available and I don't have to be on my feet for a long time to make it.


First I pureed the tomatoes and some fresh basil. Sadly the basil was not from my garden. I tried to grow basil twice this summer and both times our friendly neighborhood rabbit ate it all before I could harvest it.





Next I sauteed thinly sliced onions and garlic in olive oil and browned ground turkey. When the turkey was cooked, I added the pureed tomatoes and basil, fresh oregano {also from my garden}, olives, artichoke hearts, sea salt and pepper. I let my sauce simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat. While waiting for my sauce to thicken, I cooked the whole wheat rotini. I topped each helping with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese.


We had a fresh from the garden, healthy and delicious meal; all while I'm still recovering from surgery {patting myself on the back}!






Homemade spaghetti sauce doesn't have the same bright red color as the canned stuff but it tasted delicious even without red dye #5.

Family Tree

photo courtesy of Hope Studios

Ever since Ozzie was born I've wanted to make or buy a family tree of some sorts to hang in his room. I think family trees are a lovely keepsake and can make a beautiful addition to any nursery or child's bedroom. Something about showing your child who his family is and who will always love him appeals to me.

Originally I saw this family tree from Good Stock via Over Cocktails and thought about getting it framed. But today I ran into Hope Studios on Etsy and am leaning towards this beautifully crafted family tree out of pine. I absolutely love the hand painted leaves for each family member's name.

I think both of these would make a lovely gift for an expecting friend or family member. Which do you prefer?

Mom Down

This summer has certainly been crazy for the house of O. Other than baptisms and 1st birthdays to keep us busy we experienced our fair share of summer colds. Ozzie had a scary 104 fever that lasted one very long week. I had that 24 hour stomach bug and I got mastitis! One full year of nursing and I get mastitis just as I'm ready to wean Ozzie.

In July Seattle had record breaking heat causing us to go stir crazy in side. Coincidentally the warmest day ever in Seattle's history was Ozzie's first birthday. I'm thinking Mother Nature wanted everyone to remember his big day.

To top all of that off, yesterday I had emergency gull bladder surgery and my gull bladder was removed. Apparently this procedure if fairly common after you are pregnant. Ah pregnancy, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

I'm happily recovering at home after two lonely nights in the hospital. It's funny, my surgeon asked me where my family was and I told him that I didn't want to disturb my son's nap schedule so my husband and son stayed home. He laughed and said parenthood is full of sacrifices.

Oscar, Ozzie and my Mom and Dad eventually made a short visit after my surgery. I'm thinking they wanted to make sure I was still alive. But I was a little {okay a lot} drugged up so everyone left early and I crashed. I don't think I've slept that long since I first found out I was pregnant in 2007! I guess it took getting my gull bladder removed to get a full nights rest!

With all that said, my posts in August may be a little less than usual as we try to get back into the swing of things and I heal. Obviously I'm going to be even later in posting Ozzie's first birthday pictures but I doubt anyone is on the edge of their seat {except maybe my Dad}

Also you know those yummy pancakes that I said I was going to make this morning? Well that new cooking adventure is at least a week away. I will definitely share with a post since I'm dying to try the orange maple butter.

At this point, I'm hoping the rest of the summer is less eventful but still filled with warm and sunny {but not record breaking} days!

Speaking of Eating...

Ozzie has decided he must always feed himself. Did I tell you he's a full blown toddler now?

I really don't mind Ozzie feeding himself since I know it's an important skill for him to learn. I mean I don't want to be spoon feeding him at 20 do I? My only concern is how dirty my kitchen floors and countertops and appliances or anything else within throwing reach are. Safe to say you can find dried strained squash on my kitchen floor at anytime. Squash and sweet potatoes are his favorite and they blend a little too well into my wood floors. Not to mention, you can't really mop wood floors so the stains may just be there forever. Oh the challenges of raising a toddler.

Instead of fight him the other day I decided to take a few pictures. As soon as the camera came out Ozzie started posing with his spoon. What a ham!

I just can't get mad at that sweet face! I can already tell that disciplining him is going to be tough.

P.S. I love his Popeye the Sailor Man pose.

Ozzie's 1st Birthday

It's pretty unbelievable to me that my sweet baby boy is now one year old. A full blown toddler!

It has been a crazy, amazing, challenging, rewarding, some times sleepless but all around fun year. I really enjoy being a Mom and Ozzie truly steals my heart every day. The love that you feel for your first born child is almost indescribable.

His actual birthday landed on a Wednesday so the three of us celebrated with a huge red velvet cup cake. We threw his big 1st birthday bash on the following Saturday. I will post more on that later. For now, here is my little O loving his cup cake! Although he wouldn't eat it, he was much more interested in the #1 candle especially when it was lit.

Happy 1st birthday Ozzie! You fill our lives with so much joy and our hearts run over with love!

My Problem

So the problem with following all of these food blogs is that you want to try every recipe you see.

Like this one.

Or this one.

Even I'm not dumb enough to take on this one. I do know my limits!

However, I am going to attempt this one on Saturday.

We love pancakes in this house. Plus I have left over corn meal from the cornbread muffins that I made for Ozzie's 1st birthday party so I have an excuse to make them. I'll let you know how it goes. My pants are getting tighter by the minute...


*all photos courtesy of Bakerella

Ozzie's Baptism Featured!

Ozzie's baptism was featured on ANOTHER blog, Kara's Party Ideas! Hip Hip Hooray is what I have to say!

Thanks Kara I heart blogger love especially since it was my first party in honor of my little O!

From the Garden

We harvested our first tomatoes from the garden today! I was pretty excited and anxious to try them since tomatoes were one of the main reasons behind starting my vegetable garden. As I've mentioned before I was inspired by Animal Vegetable Miracle to grow my own herbs and vegetables this summer.

In her book, Barbara Kingsolver goes on and on about the taste of fresh from the garden tomatoes compared to super market tomatoes. She spent so much time talking about it I was convinced I had to grow my own to just to taste what she was talking about.

The consensus is she's right! Fresh from the garden tomatoes are very juicy and sweet. I sliced them up thin added a little sea salt and had myself a great afternoon snack. Ozzie didn't particularly love the tomatoes but he's 1, it'll probably take him a few more tries.

The tomatoes were on the small side, I'm thinking the recent heat wave in Seattle ripened some of them a little early. My parents came over for a visit so I sent them home with some lettuce, parsley and tomatoes as well. My lettuce and parsley are growing like crazy and I try to send anyone who visits home with some.

So far this summer we have harvested all of the spinach, cilantro and snap peas. We're still happily eating the lettuce, parsley, oregano, mint, lemon verbena and we are still waiting for the onions, leeks, sweet peppers, jalapenos, celery, artichokes and the rest of the tomatoes.

If you knew me at all, you'd be as surprised as I am that I'm growing vegetables let alone eating them since one of the two times I was grounded in my youth was because I didn't eat my broccoli. Growing up I hated veggies, what kid didn't? As an adult I don't crave vegetables per say but I know I need them. Plus now that Ozzie is eating table food I have to set a good example. Luckily all of the veggies I've harvested this summer have been yummy {patting myself on the back} so I haven't really had to choke any of it down for Ozzie's sake.

Below is a picture of today's harvest. I can not wait for more tomatoes to ripen. I am going to attempt homemade tomato sauce and freeze it for the winter. Yum!