Fracture!

I was just introduced to the COOLEST photo product to hit the market since Polaroids. Its called the Fracture, what it does is print your digital photos right onto glass! They are then simple to mount and view! I think this product is incredible! 

The glass that Fracture prints on is super safe, it has no sharp edges, it is also shatter proof! You can pick a frame from the website and print it right onto the glass with your picture!

The  Fracture  images won't fade or scratch! And they will last in full sunlight 3-5 years! Not that I plan to hang any pictures outside in full sunlight but its always nice to have options.

The process is simple, upload your photo, customize the picture and choose the frame, they'll send it to you and you can hang it on your wall!

Check it out at www.fractureme.com

I found out about this on Twitter moms and if I'm one of the first 100 participants to write about this, I'll get to try a  Fracture, and writing a follow up post about my experience

Wish me luck!!

I wrote this blog post in response to a TwitterMoms RAMBO alert, making me eligible to get a Fracture picture frame for review. You can learn more about Fracture at http://www.fractureme.com

Five favorite family time ideas

Fall is almost here! I think that fall is most definitely my favorite time of year, The colors, the harvest, the smell, the games, the way the air feels.  Its the perfect time for creating family memories, and enjoying what the earth provides if you work for it a little!

That's why I'm sharing my five ideas for family time,

1. Go Fruit Picking! Pick your own is a site that allows you to find local farms where you can go pick your own food! Not only do you get great fruit, but you can enjoy the farm itself, take great fall pictures, and have a blast and maybe a pie!
2. Canning! Use up what you didn't eat from picking your fruit and can some food with your family, it is so helpful to have lots of hands while canning, and you can remember your fall all year long! Or can  up jam and save it for Christmas gifts! Home-canning.com has all the info you need to do it yourself
3. Volunteer! Do something good for the community with your family, weather it be cleaning up a park, or working at a soup kitchen this will help you feel good inside, and instill caring in your children
4. Play! Mini-Golf, football, soccer, go for a bike ride, or just go to the playground, playing with your kids outside is not only good for your relationship, but its good for your health. Stock up on that Vitamin D, because winter will soon have us cooped up inside.
5. Read a book, why not pick a book that you can read a chapter from every day, I like the idea of picking a long book with a wonderful story (think Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time) books that may  have too many words for younger kids to understand,can become fun story-time when read out loud. Older children can also enjoy the story, and as a parent you will also like the book and reading out loud helps build vocabulary and will help you speak clearer in everyday situations.

Enjoy this fall while it lasts, my fondest memories are ones of fall time.  Get out there and enjoy it with your kids

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and LEGO blogging program, making me eligible to get a prize pack. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

What was I like in 2006

I was inspired by this post from Ashley over at How to Hide a tank and was inspired to share some of my own memories with you

Employed at Subway!

My best friend for life, we were joined at the hip at this point in time

On tour following Bob Wier and RatDog lead to meeting Keller Williams in Providence RI (seriously check out his stuff it rocks)

Practicing my modeling poses

Getting ready for nights out

We became pros at taking pictures of ourselves

Hippie Festivals were the weekend regular

And of course the fabulous and famous Hot Pink cast, a warning that roller skates and a day of margaritas don't mix with skate parks!

Todays Scores!

Today was a successful day, which should provide for a productive week

My plans?

A raid of the wine cork barrel at whole foods should provide plenty of corks for this

Wine Cork Bath Mat

from crafty nest

I also scored the Gracie Dress Pattern pattern for just $4.00! At the used fabric shop in Sebastopol! This pattern is definitely worth the regular price of $15.00. It has 4 styles of dress and fits ages 6 months to 8 years! There are lots more styles at the  Portabello Pixie!

We also scored this on the side of the road this weekend

And someone is very anxious to learn to ride it!

See you all soon!

How does my garden grow?

Well now that we got the computer back working again, I can continue to update you on my garden!

I know its been a long time since This post, where I showed you my sugar snap peas, lettuce, and celery. 

The Lettuce was amazing, I had fresh salads for about a month and a half. I think next year I will try a different variety, because they didn't produce as much as I liked, next year I think I will try them in a shallow box. 

As for sugars snap peas, they DO NOT GROW WELL in pots, not nearly enough root space, they did wonderful until they ran out of room then they quickly got brown and would only produce small pods with one maybe two peas in them, the peas though, were delicious, and Annabella loved picking them off the vine

The Celery,was my favorite out of this day! It stayed small until its first feeding of Compost tea, then it bloomed out and the foliage turned bright green, here is a picture of it as of a few days ago its the one in the orange pot. The one in the purple pot is Lemon Verbena. It smells like Lemon PEZ.  I haven't figured out what to do with it yet, but I know it will be something fabulous

I attempted a California pepper this year (again after many failed attempts) so far we haven't eaten any peppers, but there are lots starting, and I hope to eat some.

This year I have quite a large herb collection, I'm working on a greenhouse to keep them going in the winter, its been so nice to have fresh herbs outside my door

Oregano, Marjoram and Sage

Roman Chamomile, Peppermint, and Kale

Thyme and Flat Leaf Parsley (orange pots)

Rosemary and Sweet Basil (purple pots) next year I'm going to plant more basil, I use so much!

Genovese Basil (yellow pot), Moss Curled Parsley (purple pot), lavender (green pot) and thats the thyme again in the orange

Here is are the result of the dill seeds that my mom gave me! This was delicious on fish!

My San Marzano Tomato is my pride and joy, planted in a  SMART POT it has not stopped growing, smart pots force the roots to form a good root ball and prevent them from getting root bound! 

They will be red soon, San Marzanos are pretty much the only tomato in a can that I'll buy, and I always get them imported from Italy, I'm anxious to see how mine compare.

The zucchini is doing great in a wine barrel, It keeps it a manageable size.

Annabella loves the squash blossoms and baby zucchinis

Thanks for reading!

We're Back! And its our 100th Post~

How wonderful to be back in Blog Land!

For those of you just tuning in, we were going through some financial difficulties and the internet was not quite in our budget, sadly due to some past losses, my library card holds some serious debt. But nevertheless we are back and so happy to be here.

Being away from the internet has had its downside, directions, e-mails and staying in touch in general has proved to be sort of a problem. My supply of soap nuts dissapated quickly, and I found myself spending loads of money on laundry detergent! (However the oxyclean did come in handy when I accidentally spilled a glass of wine on Ryan)

All in all though life has been good, we have been enjoying life without a computer, which has meant lots of episodes of the The Sopranos! And Star Trek (I'd almost consider myself a trekie and I'm anxiously awaiting the next convention!)

Annabella keeps growing and getting bigger, she has mastered 'no' (although I'm not quite sure she grasps the concept of it yet)

I have been practicing my photography skills, and been busy using up my fabric stash (annabella now has a collection of dresses constructed of old curtains) I was lucky enough to win a copy of 

Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby

from Prudent baby, and I have been making some adorable projects from it, so far we have three dresses from curtains. Here's a picture of her farm dress that I made from some old kitchen curtains and a scrap of fabric from the free box outside the fabric store

A chicken with velcro chicks made from scraps, has become a new favorite toy

I also made this quilt which only cost me about $8 because everything came from the discount fabric store!

It was originally meant for etsy, but Annabella claimed it

Annabella has found a new interest in cooking with mama

Some kind relatives sent us a Christmas dress (it should fit perfect in about two years when she will wear a 3T)

Feeding herself has been a little complicated but less messy then expected thanks to the 

Boon Catch Bowl

and

 

Boon Benders

but not totally without a mess!

We also got a swing and tied it in an old oak tree, this has provided for hours of fun and it only cost us about $24 for the swing!

I'll have another post later with updated garden pics and some pictures of our trips to a few rivers!

I'm back

Well, we finally got the interenet turned back on! I should have a post up soon! I'm so glad to be back!