World’s cutest Peanut on her 1st birthday.

Happy birthday, Auntie Jane!

Momma says it’s that time again.  And she doesn’t mean markdowns at the Eames store, either.

She also says you aren’t getting older, only better.

But since I’ve been working on my math skills this summer, I’m not sure that’s possible. Unless we’re talking quantum physics, and I don’t think we get to that until after first grade.

Way, way after first grade.

I hope.

Momma says I can have some cake later on because we can’t be there in person to celebrate.  Yay!  Thanks for being a year older so I can have some cake!  You rock!

Sure hope you get something yummy, too.

I like frosting best. I bet you couldn’t tell that from my picture?

Hugs and kisses to the poodles!

Your pal, The Peanut

Zebra butterfly via ewanr.

With a month and a little more of summer to go — we live by the school calendar on that these days — I’ve been thinking about ways to get out and enjoy nature, and still make certain we get healthy meals.

But doing that and coming up with ways not to bust my budget can be tricky.

Since I get e-mails from folks who are having similar issues, I thought a conversation about how people are managing budgets, family time, healthy eating needs and all the other issues that life throws at us would be helpful this morning.

Especially since the economy is still doing a bit of an up and down tapdance.  Sure seems to me like there are a lot of folks who are trying to stretch their dollars and still have some fun this summer.

Here’s an example of how I handled the craziness that was our house this week.

With the liveblogging of the Sotomayor hearings, my time – especially in the mornings — was really tight.

Nothing new, since it used to be like this every day when I was working as a lawyer.  So I pulled out some of my old time management tricks for eating and tweaked them a bit for our budget and our healthier eating choices.

It worked out really well. So much so, that I thought I’d share with you all what I did this week.

I’ve put together a sort of pre-mixed dry "porridge" that can be cooked in the microwave in about 4 and a half minutes that is healthy and yummy. It’s a combination of Wheatina (or Cream of Wheat or whatever I have), Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain cereal, ground flaxseed, oat bran, rolled oats (not the quick kind, but the rolled kind) and several other breakfast grains with similar cooking times in our cupboard. I mix all of this up in a huge bowl, and then transfer it to an airtight container that I keep on top of our fridge in easy reach. (more…)

We haven’t done a "getting to know you" post for a while.  Since that time, we’ve had a lot of new folks join the FDL commenting and writing community.

So I thought this morning, we might start the day with a howdy.

And an invitation to folks who don’t often comment to step out and say "how do you do."  Because you know we’d all love to meet you.

Consider yourself at home. Consider yourself part of the family.  And consider yourself invited to introduce yourself to everyone as if they hadn’t met you yet. 

Because some of the folks reading may not have done so.

Plus, some who’ve been around for ages might find out something they never knew about you, too. How fun is that?!?

To start the conversational ball rolling, here are a few fun questions for everyone to answer — some, all, one, whatever — pick yer poison:

1. You are at a party with a well-stocked, open bar. Your drink of choice is _________?

2. Your favorite book of all time, ever, in the history of literature in the universe, because it’s so damned awesome is. . .what?

3. Harry Potter — love it or loathe it?

4. You have a horrible cold or a case of the mopes, and your partner offers to get you your favorite comfort food and a movie. What do you want to eat and watch?

5. If you could travel anywhere, and expense and time were no impediment or concern, where would you go and why?

These threads are always a blast, so kick back, say howdy and enjoy the read. Pull up a chair…

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Hope you all have a day filled with family and friends, good food, relaxation and a little reflection on what “a more perfect union” might look like. If you have any ideas on how to get us there, I’m all ears. In the meantime, thought I’d share some recipes I’ve scrounged up from around the internet for summer munching, potlucks, picnics and BBQs. If you have a fave you’d like to share, please do….

As I said earlier in the week, it’s been quite frenzied at our house for months on end. And as I sit here, there isn’t anything I’d undo — but there are some things I might do better. The most crucial of which would be to have taken better care of myself as I was taking care of everyone around me.

Facebook in real life.

My nephew sent this along to me. Hilarious.

Enjoy the Saturday laugh…and pull up a chair.

Homemade chicken stock via anjuli_ayer.

Travel usually means I catch some dread ick. But this time I caught it from my own family. While with them on my trip.

The sort of ick that saps all your will to do anything but sit still and try to breathe.

Here’s my weekend movie recommendation for you: go see Up. Go today. Seriously. You can thank me later. Poignant, hilarious…at times, almost pee yer pants funny. And yet? It reminds you all over again what the best things in life are about: holding the hand of someone you love, ice cream cones and nothing but time, watching the clouds float by…