Salad

baby spinach leaves

sliced pear

feta cheese

sprinkle of pecans

pinch of salt

a few cranks of black pepper

little drizzle of olive oil

smatterings of balsamic vinegar

Almost no cutting, just assembling. Delicious, healthy, fast.

Salad Soapbox:

At a restaurant you may have found yourself thinking while ordering, "let's not go crazy and just get a salad." Beware, not all salads are created equal. Be careful of the drive-through ones, or the ones at steak houses. Just because it's a salad, doesn't mean it's good for you.

Iceberg lettuce - the fourth phase of water. It does have fiber in it, but that's all.

If your salad is comprised of iceberg (romaine is a little bit better, but spinach is the only one that can be counted as doing something really good for you) lettuce, cheese, chicken, croutons, cucumber, and a tomato, you may as well get a chicken sandwich and be satisfied.

In my book a salad must have some of the following to be counted as a healthful choice:

broccoli (my favorite vegetable)

carrots

onions - green or red are my favorite

nuts

oranges

beans

olives

peppers - Sam's has them for sale 6 red,yellow, orange peppers for $7. Wow.

avocado - has three times as many nutrients as most other high nutrient vegetables

RIPE tomatoes - I have a theory I haven't looked into, that unripe tomatoes don't have near as many nutrients and that's why they don't taste like anything, cause they don't have anything.

So when I go to the drive through I skip the salad, get a burger and really enjoy it. And get my veggies at home.

And fries don't count as veggies, though I have tried to convince myself that if I put on enough ketchup, maybe the combo will count?

No it doesn't count.

for my brother

Funny things on pillows seem so great to me. My brother in law, Pona, was accepted to law school. I was so overjoyed I had to embroider him a pillow. No, it doesn't really relate, "Congratulations for getting in to law school" but who really wants that on a pillow?

If you don't get the pillow click here and here.

What I'm eating lately

Grapefruit smoothies. Grapefruits are such a great price right now and so delicious, and so packed with vitamin C in this cold/flu season. So I've been taking the tender flesh out of them, put them in the blender with a little sugar and some frozen fruit. Here pictured with frozen strawberries. Yesterday I blended 3 grapefruits, 1 orange, 2 cups frozen strawberries, and 1/4 cup sugar. Paul got this little cup, and the rest I kept for myself. I usually share it with the kids, but I gave them bananas - that's at least some fruit. Since I have been pregnant or breastfeeding for 5 of the last 7 years means I need a lot of nutrients, and yesterday I was feeling like my body needed an extra boost. And what a tasty boost. I felt like a million bucks all day.

Try some, you'll like it.

Boone liked it too.

Funny or not?

In my opinion, funny.

I think the president would also find it humorous.

Lately

I've been enjoying embroidery and feeling very Valentine's festive. I love the Christmas decorations and it makes me sad that the celebration is over. To ease the pain, I jump right into Valentine's Day. Here is my latest loving creation.

One on each side of the front door. I got the frames at Goodwill more than a year ago and painted them with a blue wash. I think I'll change out what's in the frames depending on what time of year it is.

When I was a girl, I loved cross-stiching. I haven't done it in so long, because I didn't like the look of it. Now I'm liking it again, and I still love the process. I did these on a long car ride to see my Florida brother and family. Made the 20 hours of sitting much nicer. And no, it didn't take all 20 hours.

A few Christmas pics:

My parents came to visit after Christmas. It was lovely. You can see in the back my piano Valentine's decor - already up. The white XOXO is sheet music, "She's always a woman to me". Because I often feel like I must be as crazy as the woman in the song, and I imagine Paul singing it, and that he loves me in spite of my temperament.