Ash of All Trades

This weekend was Memorial Day weekend.  To many people this means parties, barbecue, family, maybe a beach trip or a vacation.  All of these things are good, joyous even.  However, this weekend is not about the start of summer, good weather, or even time with family.  This weekend is time to reflect on life, liberty, freedom, happiness, and so much more.  Sure parties, vacations, and family time are all related to those things but why do we have these things?  How are we free?  We are free in large part due to the sacrifice of our military past and present.  Technically to those who died for our liberty, peace, and freedom. Our Girl Scout troops gathered this weekend to place flags on every grave in our local National Cemetery.  Joining them (or rather we joined) over 1,000 people honored the sacrifice and strife these people went through for themselves and for us.  The sight of a National Cemetery covered in American flags is profoundly moving.  Kids, adults, veterans, everyone was

Recently our 5 year old under went a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy and I thought I would share some tips and tricks of the process - you know in case you find yourselves in our situation.  Now first and foremost none of this is medical advice.  This is maternal advice - advice from one mom to another. Prepping - We didn't tell our daughter she was having surgery.  She loathes doctors and hospitals and can stress herself out pretty well.  Literally she didn't even ask at the surgery center so we just let it be.  She did great this way and has not questioned us.  Her older sister however was sad that we didn't tell her.  Hindsight - I would do it exactly the same way! Post Surgery: We were told she would need a cold liquid(ish) diet for 24 hours.  What we weren't told is that she shouldn't eat anything with red dye for 3-10 days after the procedure.  This is in case of bleeding - we need to be able to spot it as blood not food right away. Shaved ice Jello

Welcome back friends and readers!  Above is our first Sunday Dinner of this new challenge albeit late.  Man oh man was it delicious! Thankfully my husband likes to cook so after 4 hours at cookie booths with my daughters I came home to this delicious dinner.  Yes I am blessed and maybe a wee bit spoiled! The recipe for the pork is here . (It is similar but not quite the same ours has cooked bacon in the salsa). The potatoes are just mashed with roasted garlic, green onions and fresh cilantro.  They were awesome! Asparagus and bacon go so well together - I never liked asparagus until we started experimenting with different cooking methods.  This is just salt and pepper dressed asparagus wrapped in bacon and grilled for 20-30 minutes.  My husband is a happy man now that we eat asparagus - he loves it! What did you have for your family dinner this week? - Ash of All Trades

A year ago this weekend I ran my first (and probably last) Marathon!  Yes, 26.2 miles!  It was horribly awful and yet exhilarating and fulfilling at the same time.  I LOVE running.  I did not even like running 26.2 but it has been my life goal for a long time.  In preparation for running a whole marathon I started slow.  Couch to 5k style then up to a 10k finally I ran a half marathon. Let me be clear - I am a runner at heart - I started at age 8 inspired by my dad and his running and ran through high school.  During college I ran off and on however once I had my first daughter exercise in general took the back seat.  Faster forward 6.5 years and I was ready to lose the baby weight.  But something happened this time around and losing the baby weight became second fiddle to so much else. Each of these races proved difficult but thrilling.  Each one was a stepping stone to my ultimate goal.  Every race had its own preparation and took step after step of grueling training.  Missing