Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to everyone! Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, founded in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. Thank you, Gaylord! Some of you may know that I am an avid recycler, now that I have left the non-recycling Midwestern ways (that's not to say that no one recycles in the Midwest, it's just not nearly as prevalent and easy to do as in the Pacific Northwest). At the office, I started using recycled paper only in all of our copiers and printers when I was the office manager, and it made a noticeable difference in the amount of new paper we used. There is a rumor happening now at my work that recycled paper "sucks the moisture out of the paper" and causes the copier to jam, but I don't buy it! I'm the girl who relentlessly hounds everyone at work to recycle and digs through the trash to pull out recyclables. One person in particular at the office gets so fed up with my green ways that he threatened to compost me today in celebration of Earth Day! How rude! But I guess I call this person "Earth-killer", so we're even :)

I feel a little guilty that Chelsea and I will be on an airplane on Earth Day, but I'll be wearing one of my many "green" t-shirts to help spread the word, so maybe that helps? Today's shirt has a picture of the Earth and says "I'm too hot"--clever, right? Global warming is real, people! Happy Earth Day :)

For those who would like to find out what you can do, please follow the link to get easy, daily tips on how to be "green": http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/ .

Antiques Roadshow

I'm addicted...to Antiques Roadshow! I love it! :) Chels has gotten used to it and I think she secretly likes to guess the value of the items! I used to watch Antiques Roadshow in middle/early high school and talk on the phone with my best friends Emily & Joni and we would each try to guess the value to see who was the closest--dorky, I know. But super fun! Check out this awesome find: www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200101A48.html . Love it!

Hummus: Part Two

Tuesday I decided to give making hummus another try. Claire & Sean, thanks for the recipe! It's a Cook's Illustrated recipe for restaurant quality hummus. It actually turned out pretty well! I did notice that without mixing all of the ingredients in together and then blending made it a little more difficult to mix (the beans were spraying out of the bowl before I poured the tahini & olive oil in). Next time I might use the stand blender instead of the immersion blender, we'll see... All in all, pretty good! I think I put in a tad bit too much lemon, but otherwise it's quite tasty :) Next time I'll add in some roasted red peppers or roasted garlic depending on how adventuresome I feel.

Aunt Cathy, Steph, and I went for our ritual Thursday morning walk around Greenlake today. Great weather! Chels was at work so she couldn't join us, but we stopped in for a little visit to say hello to her. And now I am heading off to work, too, with delicious hummus for my lunch! (I realize hummus should be relatively easy to make because there are such few ingredients, but I've discovered it's actually easy to mess up! It's interesting how different it can taste depending on the ingredients and how you mix them together. I'm on my way to becoming a hummus-making expert!)

The Miracle on Ice

No, I'm not referring to the 1980 US Men's Olympic Hockey Team (though they were pretty great, too) but rather my face "on ice" after my wisdom teeth surgery Thursday. No swelling, yes! We're not in the clear yet, however...apparently it can still swell up to 5 days after the surgery. Five days, yikes! I'm feeling pretty good--getting used to chewing on one side of my mouth (I'd already gotten my wisdom teeth out on the right side of my mouth, so now it was time for the left).

Anywho, in more exciting news: Chels and I bought our plane tickets to visit Minnesota this summer! We'll be home Tuesday July 13-Wednesday July 21. The Hilliard Family reunion is Friday 16-Tuesday 20 in Wisconsin, so we'll be in attendance some of those days. We're also planning a trip up to northern MN to visit my Dad's side of the family with Ashley and Clarabelle, maybe Wed-Thurs after we get in. Chels has yet to visit "Up North" so it should be a good time! Maybe she'll get to do some fishing :) We hope to get a chance to visit with everyone while we're home, so let me know if you'll be around.

Gardening with Chelsea

Chelsea has taken up gardening and we're having a blast! Here are some pictures of her replanting, with Kitten looking on from inside. She desperately wanted to join her mom in the fun!

We're planning on planting flowers, plants and maybe some shrubbery in the area behind our place. Any suggestions on what to plant that will flourish in our climate?