A grapefruit-sized watermelon, pole beans and tomatoes

Miss Petrie was excited to eat our tiny watermelon after watching it grow all summer.

This zucchini made excellent calabacitas (I steam the zucchini, onions, tomatoes in butter then add a cup of shredded cheese at the end. SO good!)

We've been grilling the green chile and jalapenos then freezing them.

SPICY grilled jalapenos and green chile.

Salsa made from stewed tomatoes, onion, cilantro, grilled jalapenos, and lime juice.

I dehydrated this basil. It will be a welcome addition to Italian meals this winter.

Tonight I made stirfry and added the bush beans and pole beans to the veggie mix.  I was finding it difficult to figure out what to do with 15 beans, so this was a good solution.

How was your Labor Day weekend?  Casa Petrie had mechanical problems galore including a swamp cooler motor that had to be replaced and a very clogged garbage disposal.  Labor Day it was at our house!

Enjoy your day.

She eats blended veggies and drinks water from a sippy cup.  She weighs over 17 pounds.

She slaps her hands when she’s happy.  She growls in imitation of Miss Petrie.  Her babbling is beginning to have noticeable English language sounds.

While she is still teething heavily, no new teeth have appeared.  Her hair has curl and is light brown with a slight reddish tinge.  Her eyes are now hazel.

She is currently at the mommy stage and she gets anxious if I’m not around.

She takes two naps a day and still sleeps through the night, but now she doesn’t nap very well when we are out of the house.  This can certainly throw off her sleep schedule.

I did not know what kind of child Miss PD would be.  She is so different from her sister, but equally wonderful.  It has been joyous to watch her personality emerge.

Happy 7/12 birthday, sweet girl!

Miss Petrie was sick on her first day of school, but she looked sharp in her fancy black and white outfit.

I don’t know how much longer Miss Petrie will go for matching outfits, so I’m indulging her desire to dress like a “twin”.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Stephanie’s Daily 7 Chores

1. Make Beds Right Away
2. Do One Complete Load of Laundry
3. Empty All Garbage Cans
4. Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty
5. Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same
6. Bathroom Wipe-Down
7. Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

Every day Stephanie adds a few other chores to her Daily 7 such as meal planning or specialized cleaning (such as cleaning the top of the fridge).

Here’s my adapted chore list:

Casa Petrie Daily 9 Chores

1. Make Beds Right Away- I do this anyway.
2. Do One Complete Load of Laundry- I thought I was doing an okay job with the laundry, but this has really made keeping up so much easier.
3. Empty All Garbage Cans Once the Kitchen Garbage Can Is Full- I feel wasteful emptying out half a bag of garbage.
4. Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty- I keep the kitchen sink clean, but I’m more diligent about it now.
5. Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same- I’ve been going through rooms in the house and quickly putting things back in their place.  I include this as part of Miss Petrie’s chores.
6. Bathroom Wipe-Down-  I have Clorox wipes under the sink in both bathrooms and I have been trying to wipe off the sink and toilet when I remember.  I need to make a point of doing this daily.
7. Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up- It feels so good to wake up to a clean house!
8. Sweep- We have three dogs and all have lots of fur.  If I didn’t sweep daily, the floors would look gross.
9. Dust- For the same doggy reason, I have to do a quick dusting in our main living area daily.

I do many more chores than this on a daily basis, but if I just do these chores, the house seems to stay clean and orderly.  I’ll let you know how this method works and how I’ve adapted it further in the coming months.

Have a great day.

Last weekend we took a trip to the Bandelier National Monument outside of Los Alamos, NM.  We usually spend our weekends doing work on the house and hanging out with the family.

Mr. Petrie recently read that taking a few short vacations increases happiness more than a long, expensive vacation.

I think that enjoying the outdoors is going to be more cost-effective for our family and will provide our girls with a love of the environment.

We’re utilizing my Sunset subscription to find ideas for day and overnight trips.  We’re looking forward to our next mini vacation!

August & September Goals

• Get my hair cut.  I have not had my hair cut since the end of December!  Ridiculous. Finally, I took the time and I got my hair cut.  Perhaps I will be brave and post pictures!
• Take yard stuff to the dump.
• Order a new garbage can from the city.  The city will have someone come out to fix it.  I was hoping for a new one, but I know this should work, too.
• Weed in the back and front yard. We did the front yard this past weekend and I did the back yard this week.  I also added some mulch to the ground for additional weed protection.
• Put a few high end items on eBay.  I’ve never done this before.
• Prime and paint the ensuite bathroom cabinet.  I’m thinking white.
• Finish removing rock from the ground in the backyard and replace it with mulch.
• Start collecting color ideas for painting the exterior house trim.
• Price out exterior shutters for added curb appeal.  Collect paint color options for the shutters.
• Remove lots and lots and lots of yucky bushes from the front yard.
• See an advisor for my graduate program.  I have some ideas for my thesis and I need to start taking elective classes to support it.

This is in addition to daily and weekly activities that keep our household moving.  I’m testing out a new cleaning system which I will let you know about very soon.  So far, so good!

Have a productive day.

Protein Balls:

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup nonfat milk powder
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup crushed cereal, such as Honey Bunches of Oats

And one or two of the following:

• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup Craisins
• 1/3 cup sunflower nuts
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup walnuts

1. Combine peanut butter, milk powder, flaxseed, honey in a bowl and mix well. Stir in sunflower nuts and Craisins.
2. Roll mixture in small bowls and then roll balls in crushed cereal. Place on waxed paper.
3. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Chill time: 1 hour

Yield: 16 balls

I used the sunflower seeds from our garden in the recipe.  I googled sunflower seeds and found out that if you use your blender to break up the seeds, then dump the crushed seeds into a big bowl of cold water, the shells will float to the top!  Each deshelled sunflower seed is very tiny, so it took a lot of shelled seeds to make about 1/2 cup  of seeds.  But it was easy and that made me so happy, because I had been dreading cracking open each individual shell.

I also used raisins my mother-in-law made from her own grapes.  These raisins are sweet and juicy and not overly sugared as some commercial varieties are.

Yum!  Have a great day.

Speaking of jalapenos, we have harvested quite a few this season.  It’s difficult to use them in lots of dishes, because Miss Petrie and I can’t handle the heat!  Mr. Petrie grilled several of the jalapenos and we froze them for later use.

(This week we finally got a pole bean!  I was beginning to worry that we weren’t going to get any, but the more I look at the plant, the more I see little developing beans.  Very exciting.)

Have a relaxing Sunday.

Time to break out the bibs!

Have a delicious day.

Mr. Petrie’s mom came to visit us last weekend.  She’s a whiz in the kitchen and she had a great idea for using extra garden produce: dehydrate it!  She purchased a dehydrator for us. (Thanks, G!!)

On my first go with the dehydrator, I made dried apricots, apples and blueberries.

The apples and blueberries were sweet, but the apricots were a little bitter.  I served them with dark chocolate, and they were perfect.  (Haha-I guess that’s kind of like covering salad in tons of Ranch dressing.)

Both girls enjoyed the dried fruit.  Even my new eater gummed an apple.

I have lots of dehydrating ideas.  If we’re friends, don’t be surprised if you get a dehydrated gift for your next birthday or Christmas.

Have a great day.