bento #3

bento #3:

baby carrots, edamame, teriyaki tofu, onigiri with black sesame seeds, and teriyaki quinoa balls.

bento #2

oooooh....bento #2:

baby carrots, edamame, onigiri (mine is made of bamboo rice - naturally that green color), tofu and veggie potstickers, tamari and potsticker dipping sauces, homemade (killer) blueberry muffin, and a banana!

i feel good...

i feel really good today. almost euphoric. weird.

it's raining outside - that might have something to do with - barometric pressure changes or something weird like that - like when women go into labor early because of a full moon or a freak snow storm in late may... maybe it can affect your mind too?

i did make fresh grapefruit, berry, and banana juice for breakfast this morning - fresh fruit gives you energy right?

i did some calesthenics too this morning - worked up a good sweat...perhaps i released an abundance of endorohins?

i haven't eaten dairy in a week....???

i left the house in a "clean" state...laundry done, dishes cleaned...what do they say? a clean home reflects a clean life...or something like that?

thanks god for whatever the reason behind my happiness and good feelings - ultimately it's you anyway!

my first attempt at bento!

it's not too pretty but kinda cute in a homemade sort of way! i gotta practice before eisley gets big enough to go to school - so shane gets cutesy lunches while i practice my "bento skills".

skinny b*$@h

so... i just read (literally i read it in like 3 hours) the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. it was recommended to me as a supplement to my reading of YOU: on a diet and The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood which i have mentioned before. it starts off telling you exactly the same stuff in the other two books - don't eat high fructose corn syrup, don't eat anything with dyes, eat whole grains, don't eat hydrogentated oils....blah blah blah boring i already KNOW this. but then.......the books hits you up side the head with the facts on meat and dairy in our society. wow. shane actually asked me what was wrong cause i was so shocked i couldn't speak. the book brought tears to my eyes, not only from the horrific stories (there aren't many - it's not a PETA pamphlet) of animal abuse and slaughter practices, but also from the policies or lack there of on the safety of the food that actually reaches our mouths via grocery stores and restaurants. i was pretty disheartened about my supposed "healthy" eating plan that i had in place for not only me but my husband and child. so that being said, we as a family are going to try and cut out most (if not all, in time) of our dairy and meat consumption. i want this to be clear too - that i don't in fact think it unethical to kill for food. i am concerned about how the food that i buy is killed and the seriously gross practices of the meat industry that compromise my family's health. i have ordered a few books from amazon to help us start slowly cutting out certain things... i'll post reviews as i read them...

for now, i leave you with an exerpt from the book. this is what put me over the edge.

"A worker at another poultry plant said, 'Every day, I saw black chicken, green chicken, chicken that stank, chicken with feces on it. Chicken like this is supposed to be thrown away, but instead it would be sent down the line to be processed.' Another worker at another plant said, 'I personally have seen rotten meat - you can tell by the odor. This rotten meat is mixed with the fresh food and is sold for baby food. We are asked to mix it with the fresh food and this is the way it is sold. You can see the worms inside the meat. " Skinny Bitch pg74.

take your health seriously - you only live once - now there's a different way to look at that saying!

p.s. the book does contain A LOT of profanity - i mean look at the title :) But, if you can get past it - it's brutally honest and a good quick, enlightening read.

the smell of summer...

the wind runs its fingers through my hair
the sun delicately kisses my face
the smell of summer tempts my nose
the trees whisper sweet nothings to me as i pass
the sky bright blue like silk
the clouds soft white like cotton
ducks drift lazily downstream
a butterfly challenges me to a race around the pond


i have just had what can only be described as an "amelie" moment. all was right in the world. i wish i could have filmed my bike ride this afternoon - it was poetic, inspiring, calming, perfect.

lately i've noticed that i am much happeir than i was about a year ago. maybe it's exercising more - that high that people say they get when they exercise - maybe it's finally kicked in for me. what ever the reason, i'm not as depressed or as down as i was before and i am glad! i feel like i am reclaiming my life once more and i like where it is heading.

one more thing - i don't know what smelled sooooo good outside today - but i wish i could bottle and sell it as the essence of summer - i could live in the smell today.

no babies yet...

"WHAT?!?!?!?!!" you are saying to yourself right now, "THEY WANT MORE KIDS??? I THOUGHT THEY WERE DONE...."

you're right - we are soooooooooo done (well, maybe we'll adopt a little boy someday - but yeah we're done having babies)

what i AM talking about is....it has been over 17 days since the earwig decided that my ear looked like a pleasant dwelling place. 17 days? why is 17 days important? it takes 17 days for an earwigs eggs to hatch. there no babies in my ear that i know of - thank god - but maybe they're just realllllly tiny right now and i can't tell...

*whimper, whimper*

a squashed bug...

dear silver beetle,

you will not be missed. i'm sorry to say it because at one time i had high hopes for you. you were never that shiny, that cute, that good in the snow, that peppy, or that great overall...like we so hoped you would have been. i will not miss your weird sound you made when first turning the engine over in the morning. i will not miss your dents and sad scratches. i will not miss your dodgy tape deck that sometime worked and sometimes didn't. i will not miss having to stamp on the brakes to make you stop or because your clutch caught so high, the many times i pealed out, turning heads and embarrassing me. i will miss, however, your seat warmers. they were one of your few redeeming qualities. i will also miss your sunroof - though i never did figure out how to open it all the way. i never sat in your back seat - i don't think i missed much there though. i'm not sad to see you go. though i must say that it was strange this morning to not see your very uniquely shaped body outside the house.

please be kinder to your knew drivers than you were to us. i don't want to give you a complex - you weren't awful...just not great...and we want great. i'm sorry we took so long to let you know how we really felt about you. we should have dealt with this failed relationship long ago and i apologize for that. we've moved on and i hope you will too.

yours no more,

the beesons.

bee in your bonnet?

yesterday, i had the most horrific, traumatizing experience...


let me set the scene for you...


i am sitting on the stairs leading down to the "park" in our neighborhood holding eisley talking with some of our neighbors and watching our next door neighbor's little girl mia yell at lewy repeatedly to drop his ball for her to throw...'dwop it woowee dwop it dwop it dwop it dwop it!!!!" ( he did eventually 'dwop' it for her ) all is well, the sun is shining, there are even the proverbial birds singing! i decide to let eisley walk around in the grass...yes, she is walking...kind of, mostly, sporadically and only on her terms...all of a sudden i feel/hear a flutter-like something in my ear. i quickly wave my hand by my ear, but feel like the something has flown into my ear or something. i say aloud - "gross, i think a bug just flew in my ear!" i call shane over to look in there for evidence of the supposed bug intruder...he doesn't see anything(this time). i go about playing with the boo boo...then i hear the flutter again - this time definitely IN my ear. "shane, look in there now"...nothing... the neighbors advise me to get a q-tip and get the sucker out, but i'm too afraid to squish it in there or something...minutes go by...i can FEEL it in there now which is even worse than just hearing it!!!!!!!!! "SHANE, look now!" he rushes over and in only a way he could so delicately put it..."HOLY COW!" i of course freak the heck out! "what is it what is it what is it what is it what is it? he tells me to hold still, meanwhile everyone in the park, including the little girl mia, our dog lewy and his furry friend lister, are looking at me with concern.





*graphic content to follow be warned!*





OUT CRAWLS not flies a LONG BUG...let that just sink in for a moment...upon seeing shane it THEN IT CRAWLS BACK IN! 15 seconds later (the longest of my life), it reemerges and shane deftly brushes it off me. i feel like i have bugs alllllll over me (think indiana jones the temple of doom when the lady has to reach into the grimey hole and pull the level and there are creepy crawlies all over her) and i am on the verge of tears - my eyes welled up and i ask "what was that!!!" shane, again so delicately, "oh my god it was an EARWIG!" i nearly threw up right there on the spot! my neighbor denise (lister's mom) says "geez, shane you coulda lied to her!" yeah i really would have liked NOT knowing what exactly it was! you see, i have a history with earwigs......again let me set the scene


beautiful summer day, i am young - elementary school age - and i have just come in from playing outside for something to drink. my mom used to save and wash our straws from mcdonalds or wherever and kept them in the dish drainer next to the sink. i grabbed a straw put in my beverage and took a long drink - something foreign and solid is in my mouth. i spit it out and it was an earwig....so gross...i know check every straw i use - ALWAYS...just in case.


what is up with me and the earwigs???? i'm still pretty freaked out it layed eggs in my ear or something out of a horror movie is gonna happen to me....remember the Wrath of Khan - they killed a guy by putting a bug in his ear....remember Broke Down Palace - she almost died because a cockroach layed eggs in her ear! maybe it's just psychological, but i swear my ear feels different...grossssssssss


i hate bugs ( whimper whimper )