This basket sure is bountiful...

Let's face it: I'm addicted to carbohydrates. I crave them. When I think of a snack, I think of a bagel topped with cream cheese, or at least some toast with freezer jam. I'm always stymied by what to eat when there's no bread in the house (like today; I'm going grocery shopping later).

But when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last year, blood-sugar-raising carbohydrates became my enemy. I searched for them everywhere, finding them in unlikely places (who knew milk had so many carbs?). I counted them carefully, doling them out miserly at each meal and snack. I ate a lot more fruits and vegetables to get my nutrients and fill my hungry tummy. I ate healthfully, because I had to.

But then once Nathan was born, I fell into my old ways. Alas. I'm not so health-conscious as I once was. The trouble is, now I feel guilty about it.

So when my sister-in-law told me about Bountiful Baskets, I was all over it. Bountiful Baskets is a produce co-op of sorts. You pay your money ($16.50) and they pool everyone's money together and go to the same produce warehouses that grocery stores and restaurants buy from. Since they go to the source, though, you're able to get a lot more produce than you'd be able to at the store. This is what I got last week:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 2 lbs carrots
• 2 bunches broccoli
• 3 red onions
• 1 bag green grapes
• 11 oranges
• 11 fuji apples
• 7 lemon plums
• 6 nectarines
• 9 bananas

So now the race is on to eat all this before (a) it goes bad, and (b) the next pickup is scheduled (they do it every two weeks). The selection changes every time, so it's like a produce lottery. They've just started it in Utah, with pickup locations in Clearfield and Brigham City. Check it out at www.bountifulbaskets.org.

So hopefully this produce challenge will cause me to eat so much more healthfully, causing me to have more energy, exercise more, and cause a cyclical increasing of general feel-goodiveness.



In honor of what we hope to be the last snow, we dressed Nathan up snuggily and let him crawl through the backyard. He seemed to be mildly interested in the snow, and really interested in the leaves and dirt he found in our garden box. Which is another sort of basket we hope will be bountiful this year. More on gardening later...

All About that Husband

Well, Mari tagged me, so here goes. Which is good, because I didn't really have anything to post about this week. Nathan just learned going down stairs today; he's pretty excited about it. He's also working on standing independently.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV - what is on the screen?
the news

2. You're out to eat - what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
hmm...well. He had really great parents that taught him to eat. Anything. He doesn't like Dr. Pepper--does that count as a food?

4. You go out to eat and have a drink.
rootbeer. If there is no rootbeer, lemonade.

5. Where did he go to high school?
Lake Powell School

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10-ish

7. If he could go to any one sporting event what would it be?
I'll say basketball because I like that better than football.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Philly Cheesesteak

9. What would he eat every day if he could?
Well, we had a disagreement about this in front of our ward. We were playing the Newlywed game at our February ward activity (we were coerced into playing said game--we're not into volunteering for public humiliation.), and I was asked what his favorite food was. I said hot wings because he asks for them ALL THE TIME. He said prime rib (which answer he later justified by saying that hot wings are an appetizer, not a food. At which I just shook my head). We came in third, by the way.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Currently Marshmellow Mateys. He went grocery shopping with me and specially requested them. He doesn't do that often so how could I refuse?

11. What would he never wear?
Hmm...probably all the clothes he owned before we got married that I (tactfully) vetoed. Someday I might sneak in and get rid of them. See earlier post.

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Well, besides USU (obviously), anyone who is playing against BYU.

13. Who did he vote for?
With reservations, Obama. It was more a vote against McCain and especially Palin, though.

14. Who is his best friend?
Well, if it isn't me, we're going to have a long talk when he gets home from work.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
When he's snoring, I go sleep on the couch instead of waking him up to go sleep on the couch.

16. What is his heritage?
English

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind?
I'm not sure what it's called, but white cake with a cream cheese-y frosting and strawberry topping. It's divine.

18. Did he play sports in high school?
You betcha. Not the organized kind, though.

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing his flight simulator games on the computer. Usually that only is allowed when I'm gone, though. So when it's book club nights, he gets a few hours of uninterrupted flying time. He tried to get me interested in it, but it didn't take. Turns out I don't like crashing every five minutes.

20. What is one unique talent?
He is the only person I know who can spin on a tray on his middle finger. Yeah, he's got pretty valuable skills.

The Battle of the Elders

The tree in my backyard has buds! This is exciting news. This picture would be even better had the sun been out, like yesterday.

Yesterday morning I blearily walked a diaper out to the garbage can and was exhilarated by the feel of spring in the air. The light breeze was crisp, yet alive. And it smelled good. It woke me right up, usually something that eludes me until a good long shower.

In the early afternoon the thermometer on the bank sign said 71 degrees. Now, I've learned through hard experience to never trust those fickle (and often very wrong) bank signs. But this sounded nice, so I decided to believe it.

And, in celebration, I cleaned out my flower beds. I cut down all the dead flowers that yes, I should have cut down last fall. I even pulled a few weeds (who knew I'd get so excited about the season's first weeds?). I have grand plans for actually planting flowers this year.

The only thing that marred this was the brazen box elder bug I found sunning himself. On my t-shirt. The nerve. [Back story: Last year my yard was teeming with red-and-black-bugginess. I usually don't like to kill bugs, but last year I took great pleasure in summarily stomping on any that I found--I especially liked killing the mating pairs (who did their business hedonistically on my front porch), because I not only killed two bugs at once, but also untold future generations.]

I rounded out my glorious spring day by going for a run at the park. I can't run outside when it's cold; it makes me cough. It was invigorating. I did not cough. Today I am sore.

Isn't it wonderful to be alive? Unless you're a box elder bug, of course. Your days are numbered.

They Learn so Young

TV just isn't TV unless you are six inches away.

I would like to point out that Nathan doesn't usually get to watch TV. I turned on PBS Kids solely for my benefit (Word Girl is my favorite!). Although TV did help distract him from pulling at the masking tape.

And, as you can see, the painting continues. I'm getting trim-painting fatigue.

P-Day and V-Day

We've discovered windows. They are very fun. Nathan will stand at the window for a long time. It's an added bonus whenever a car drives by, and then he will crane his little head to see where it goes.

For President's Day weekend we went to visit our favorite southern Utah grandparents. We had a great weekend. We drove down Friday afternoon so we could spend all of Saturday playing. Mike, Erin, and Ethan came down too so Nathan had someone to watch all weekend. He thinks Ethan is so neat, and that he needs to play with everything Ethan has.

We also did the requisite hiking, because you cannot go to Bullfrog and not hike. This is my favorite time of year for it, too, because it's not blasted hot. This time of year you get just warm enough that you can take your jacket off when climbing mesas. We found an easy way up the mesa, but it would just be no fun to take the same way down. The way down was not quite so easy, and occasionally quite steep. Luckily my dear husband was always ready to catch me when I lost my traction and slid. I'm not quite as adept at slickrock navigation as he is.

Note: we would not have attempted this had Nathan been in the hiking backpack. He was safely in his grandparents' care.

Once we safely reached the ground, we meandered along the water's edge on our way back to where we'd left the car at the ferry ramp. If we'd been collecting them, we could have gotten two pairs of shoes--as long as you don't mind they were mismatched. We also could have gotten several beer cans, an inflatable mattress, and a lego man. We like seeing the refuse that's exposed when the lake level recedes in winter. I've never seen anything quite so cool as the burned-out boat that I've heard about and seen pictures of. But we did see a nice petrified sand castle.

The day after we got home, Nathan got a glimpse of the pictures of his grandparents' and got so excited. He had such a good time playing with grandma and grandpa. We miss you already! We'll see you in a couple of days, but we wish it were under happier circumstances.

I Broke My Brain

I woke up with a bruise yesterday morning. It's quite the bruise. It's so bruise-y that there is a small bump in my muscle where it's been injured. I know approximately when I got the bruise (the middle of the night). But I have no idea what I ran into. I guess that's what happens when you're walking around in the dark, with a mad baby, and you're drunk with tiredness. But I do feel concerned about my sense of self-preservation. What kind of state are you in that you don't remember getting injured?

Nathan's been really expanding his boundaries lately. He loves to climb things now, like low-lying shelves. He's pulled all the books off the lowest shelf in the living room and I've put them up so he won't love them to pieces. So he climbs up onto the shelf to see the few remaining books that can withstand him turning the pages. He's also learning to pull himself up to a sitting, then to a kneeling, and occasionally a standing position. He gets so pleased when he accomplishes this.

The only downside is that he wakes up at night to practice. Last night I went in his room and he was sitting up, holding on to the bars, with his legs poking through the bars, wailing. I picked him up, calmed him down, and laid him on his back. But he popped right up again. This stage cannot end fast enough for the three of us.

But who else is excited about the snow? I figure if it's going to be cold, we might as well have some nice snow to look at.

I Caught It

The family cold, that is. I was hoping my immune system was invincible. But, alas.

First the husband, then the baby. I don't feel as sick as they have acted, though. My poor husband had a sore throat that lasted two eons. And Nathan had a runny nose but seemed pretty fine. Until he woke up from a nap with green oozing out of his eyes. (Isn't ooze such a wonderfully descriptive word?) Turns out colds can get in your eyes. Who knew? We got some drops from the doctor, though, and it's cleared right up. His eyes look great today. Which is, of course, why he's only been awake for an hour all morning and was super ornery the whole time.

So I'll nurse my cold and pray that winter ends soon. I guess it's because I'm home all the time, but I am so sick of winter! We're trying to be creative to come up with things to do. And I may have decorated the rest of my house by the time the weather warms up. Yes, we moved in more than a year ago, but still the living room is the only room in the house with pictures on the wall. It's not really my thing. I've been painting lately and it looks so much better.

Nathan can do things with a keyboard we didn't know were possible. Talented kid.