Heavy

This:

is what I'm working on this summer. It weighs on my mind like a ton of bricks. The essential part (yet to be written) is a narrative, probably as long as anything I've ever written. It intimidates me, to say the least. After all these years, I still hate writing essays.

These:

give me lots of reasons to procrastinate on the project above. Don't they look like more fun? They are... :)

Happy 4th!

To celebrate the holiday weekend, I made this:


It took a little more time than standard Jello, but it wasn't hard at all. I've seen something similar in Family Fun, with just red and white, for Valentine's Day. How about green & red for Christmas?

The recipe:

Two 3 oz boxes red jello
Two 3 oz boxes blue jello
4 envelopes Knox unflavored gelatin (one box)
One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
water
3 mixing bowls
something to boil water in, a cup at a time
9x13" glass casserole pan

For each colored layer, mix one box of red or blue jello with ½ envelope of unflavored gelatin, add 1 cup of boiling water, and stir to dissolve. For the white, mix sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup of boiling water. In a separate small bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin over ½ cup of cold water. Let stand a few minutes and then add ½ cup of boiling water to dissolve the gelatin. Add to the milk mixture and stir to combine. You should have 3 cups of this, so measure out one cup for each white layer.

The trick is to make up each batch of jello, let it cool in the mixing bowl to room temperature !!! , pour it into the 9x13 pan (onto any previous layers that have had a chance to set up), and let it refrigerate for 15-20 minutes between each layer. Cooling the liquid to room temp is crucial so that it doesn't melt into the previous layers. At the same time, liquid jello can't sit out forever... my last blue layer tried to set up in the mixing bowl, but a zap in the microwave fixed that. Also make sure your pan is level in the refrigerator, so that your layers are level!


Next up I want to try Rainbow Jello:

I think it's super-geeky-cool how just the 3 primary colors, stacked and translucent, can make the whole spectrum appear! (photo courtesy of Do Better)

Summer Fun

What's summer without a few bugs?


We got this fun pedal car a while back off Craigslist, but Noah finally fits it now. Very cool!


...and kite-flying with Daddy is always a hit.

Yummy!

Amelia is our "eater," and always has been, so it's not surprising that we have so many photos of her in the highchair. Now that she has a few more teeth, she's had lots of fun with new foods... like BROCCOLI!

Noah is happy that she likes "the bushes" because his favorite part is the stems. He'll happily eat the defoliated leftovers. :)

In less than a month's time, Mia went from two teeth to six (PLEASE, let that seventh one pop through soon!!!) so mealtime is not always happy time... unless there are popsicles involved. These are my special recipe -- dark berries hide spinach really well! Can you tell she likes them?


Yesterday, Mia had her first taste of corn-on-the-cob. Turns out that having opposing teeth is pretty handy. She cleaned this cob pretty well, and another one tonight.

Pampers Gifts to Grow

I've had a couple of posts about Pampers Gifts to Grow points, listing free promo codes as I find them, and some hints and hacks I've figured out along the way. I'm a big fan of their rewards program, especially now that S&H is free on all the prizes. If you use Pampers and you haven't signed up yet, you should. The 8x8" Shutterfly Photo Book is my favorite reward. I've gotten 3 of those so far, plus some awesome Duck & Goose books, and a onesie, and I can't remember what all else. A friend of mine finally cashed in her points for a Jeep Stroller.

So, rather than post here every time I find a new code, I decided to keep a running list, in the right-hand sidebar, of promo codes, including those I know to be expired. Personally, I like keeping track of the expired ones so that when I run across codes on other people's old web pages, I don't have to retry every single one to see which are still good.

Please let me know (by commenting on this post or anywhere) if any of my "current" codes are expired. Or if you have a current code that's not on my list... or if you have a one-time code from a Pampers product that you don't plan to use... or just comment for the fun of it!