A Special Touch Online

Sharing thoughts to guide you in a journey towards happiness in every aspect of life. Health, Love, living life to the fullest.

May 19, 2012
by Kathleen
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Jenica the Artist

My oldest daughter Jenica is going to be 24 this coming week!  I know this may sound cliche, but it seems like just a short time ago that I was holding her in my arms as a baby, amazed at the love I had for her.

I have watched her grow, laugh, create, breathe in life..the incredible and the hard parts.  One thing I can say that she is a true artist.  From the tattoos she designs, to the doodle she makes, to the snowboard created to the paintings she has done.  I think that she is one of the most talented individuals on this earth.  I am amazed when I watch her in action, whether it be singing a beautiful song, to putting a henna piece of work on someones leg…this is just a small piece of my Jenica…

May 19, 2012
by Kathleen
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Two More quick Garden Container Ideas…

I love to plant flowers and veggies in containers…here are a few wood pieces I have on my porch…one is my old wine barrel I just can’t get rid of…poor thing is losing it’s rings.  The other is a cute little wooden container my husband Jeff picked up for me a few years ago that has four little compartments…perfect to tuck a flower or two in!

May 19, 2012
by Kathleen
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Mikaela’s Garden

Riley and I went down to visit our dear friend Mikaela, who loves to putter about in her garden as much as I do. On Saturday she has a “Gardening Club” come to her house to garden. They can plant their seeds and help tend the yard, and in return they share the wonderful produce from the garden. For those of you who don’t know Mikaela, I wish you did. The has been a dear friend to me, and example, a teacher, a second mother to my children and my go to person for almost everything.
She is SO incredibly talented at building with wood, laying tile, fixing things up, sewing, cooking and gardening to name a few things.
Her garden is a fun mix of small boxes she has made herself out of wood, pallets and old display racks from her work. I love going down to see what’s new there and we like to share starts. I just came home with a lovely little batch of apple mint that I am going to tuck in my rock herb corner, then make a big batch of apple-mint tea…yum!

I asked Mikaela if I could share a couple of pictures of her gardens and she said yes…YAY.

Another quick note…I forgot to mention the AMAZING little old farm house Mikaela lives in. She was driving around with her sister Cara, and they saw this little old house from the road and hunted down the owner…oh how I love those hunt girls and their drive!

May 18, 2012
by Kathleen
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Garden Container Idea #1

There are many different containers you can use to plant vegetables, flowers and plants in.  Some people like to use a contemporary look in their gardens and big glass spheres, sleek plan marble containers and small statues are fun to use.

I like more of a antique, eclectic look and feel.  I have some antique wash bins and and old door  on my front porch.  I plant something new and different in them every year.  This is a picture from last year…

May 18, 2012
by Kathleen
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Bedroom

How are we doing in that master bedroom? You should have all the piles put away…all your extra clothes given to a happy new owner, and all your knick-knacks and surfaces dusted and wiped down…if not, take a few more minutes or hours and get that bedroom to this point.

We are now going to wipe down the base boards, light switches, light fixtures and doors…use what ever you like to use the most…rags and soapy water to lysol wipes. wipe down the cobwebs in the corners and wipe down the walls…aaaahhhhh…we are making our haven a wonderful place to be.

Stop, light a candle and read a favorite magazine or book for a minute and enjoy!

May 15, 2012
by Kathleen
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Garden Boxes

Guess what I got from my hubby for mothers day??  a trip to Lowe’s for a sprinkler system for my garden beds, a trip to Sunriver Gardens for some  amazing plants ( a girl cannot have enough plants) AND….A NEW GARDEN BOX!

I plant in many different containers, beds and nooks and cranny’s, but my husband has built some amazing boxes for my veggies that are my favorite!  I think the main reason is that he dug a good 2 feet down, then they are raised, so I have a wonderful, DEEP, growing space that only takes minutes to fluff back up come early spring, add a bit of soil fortifiers and we are ready to rock!  I could grow 24 inch carrots if my family would leave them in the ground long enough!

Here is the pic of the top part of the box before being put in the ground…it is not complete, but you get the idea.  I didn’t want to waste the precious inches around the fence post cement, so my husband cut the box to fit around them, giving me more space!  I LOVE IT… My tomatillos, broccoli rabe, kale and cilantro, and my sungold and roma tomatoes will be going in this box.  Also some nasturtiums and eggplant as well as my armenian cucumbers…I hope my co workers are ready for my extra produce:)

May 15, 2012
by Kathleen
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Bountiful Baskets…

Saturday morning, bright and early ( 7:00 AM!) Jocelyn and I made a trek down to Jeffrey’s work to pick up our Bountiful Basket. Jeff works for Habitat for Humanity, and they host the co-op a few saturday’s a month.

For those of you who have not participated in a co-op, all I can say is BREAK DOWN AND DO IT! We paid a nominal amount of money for a LARGE amount of fresh, mostly local, and WONDERFUL produce! It is so much fun, because it is a surprise what is in your basket. You just have to volunteer a few times and you are golden. It has been SO much fun to try to use ALL the produce we got in fun ways. Some are new recipes, some are tried and true. We eat a lot of it in simple and whole ways..just the plain food.

We got the regular basket and the italian bag…both were AWESOME! We will be sharing our ideas and recipes with you.

The regular basket had mango’s, red potatoes, a bunch of spinach, a bunch of green leaf lettuce, apricots, some blackberries, a pineapple, a honeydew melon, a large bunch of bananas, tomatoes and avocados….WOOT WOOT!

The italian bag had a red pepper, a green pepper, zucchini, three lemons, a bunch of mushrooms, eggplant, some flat leaf parsley, rosemary, and basil…

I suggest you make a mental or actual note of the shelf life of the foods, and use up the ones in your menu that don’t last as long…I actually like to make a menu that I write down to help me with this…

You CANT beat this amount of amazing food for under 25 bucks!

This last summer I had some little special friends come over to share in a Fairy Tea Party. Olivia Hansen and Ryan Smith came over for fairy face painting, special fairy tea. Little pink almond butter and apricot sandwiches, fresh fruit and lemon cupcakes with butter-cream and a fluff of blue cotton candy. They had a candy tray and some knock out rounds of ring around the rosy They got to pour their own fairy juice and pick out all the candy they wanted. They even got to knock on the special “fairy” door and put the magic willow branch over the door and a fairy magically tied a present to the end of their willow stick.

This is a tea party that we can bring to your door. We can cater and entertain. Paint the little faces and play the fairy games of your choice. You can choose from an assortment of sandwiches and cupcakes. Let us know

May 10, 2012
by Kathleen
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FRUITS and VEGETABLES

This month, as we are focusing on getting AT LEAST 5 fruits and vegetables in our daily food intake, here are a few easy and fun ideas that we have done with our kids to get them excited to eat them.

1. We make the produce section at the grocery store exciting.  We take turns with the kids letting them choose any fruit or vegetable they want to try.  That way they are excited to help prepare and try the new food, and they are not thinking “Ewwww nasty, I have to eat a green vegetable!”  Some of the fun things my children have picked were brussels sprouts, starfruit, guava, white asparagus, red bananas, plantains, crazy melons I don’t even remember the names of, jicama, mustard greens, cumquats, blood oranges, daikon radishes, scotch bonnet peppers to name a few.

2.  chop up a few fruits into small pits (strawberries, kiwi, oranges, grapes).  cut some tortillas into triangles, dampen with a paper towel and sprinkle a dash of natural sugar and cinnamon on them and bake on a cookie sheet until just crisp.  Use these “chips” to dip in the the fruit “salsa”…delicious!  Have the kids help prepare…this is one of the HUGE KEYS to success.

3.  plan your meals around the fruits and veggies you use, then the starch and protein are the add on.

4.  We ALWAYS have baby carrots, bananas, kiwi, apples, grapes, celery sticks, jicama sticks, pineapple chunks or watermelon chunks in the fridge to snack on…it is not uncommon to see the kids or their friends grab a handful of baby carrots or grapes and eat them.

5.  add tons of veggies to your spaghetti sauces ( celery, peppers, onions, mushrooms, shredded carrots etc).  Stirfry’s are great to tuck tons of veggies in.  SKEWERS ROCK!  Have the kids thread their own.

6.  Frozen bites are fun treats.  Frozen grapes and blueberries are a fun and easy treat.  Even a little cup of frozen peas are fun to eat.

7.  Plant a garden.  I don’t think I have ever been able to bring peas into the house from the garden as my kids always eat them straight out of the garden STILL!  Cherry tomatoes are the same.  My 21 year old daughter Jordan doesn’t live here anymore, but will stop by on her way home from her work up at the Sundance resort near where we live and pick a bagful of fresh produce from the garden to take home to cook for herself and her boyfriend Jon.

8.  Smoothies are like a dessert.  Fill them full of berries, spinach, peaches and pears, melon and oranges, carrots and apples…pineapple and mangos and guava…the greatest!

Please tell me your ideas to incorporated veggies and fruits into your day!

 

May 9, 2012
by Kathleen
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ART

My kids are VERY artistic…come see my kitchen table, you will see paint from a snowboard that was painted there, or glue from an art project.  This is something that I just can’t get rid of.  We have nice furniture other places, but that kitchen table is a place where they can create!  I will be sharing a bit of each of their art as we go, but tonight, I am going to share some of Riley’s photography.  He has some beautiful pictures from our yard, and has an eye and perspective that I find incredible!