Wednesday's "What We Ate July 15-21, 2013"

How's your summer been treating you? For us, it has kind of been a whirl wind with lots of visitors, but we're hoping to slow down in August & enjoy some extra quiet times & get to a few projects around the house that have been staring us in the face (our bathroom floor needs some help, our fence & patio need to be sealed & some other actually fun projects too!)

This past week, I scored a free solid wood table that I plan to start lovin' on in the next couple of weeks. John also brought me home a sweet wood box that I plan to clean up a bit (is there anything better than free treasures?!) I really want to get into restoring furniture since I really love doing it & it could be a helpful source of income (at least to fund the hobby!) My only problem will be parting with each piece, as I strangely get attached to furniture (as demonstrated by the 13 or so random chairs that fill our house). I also picked up some old, tarnished silverware that I plan to clean up a bit & use for some of my food pics. I can't wait to shine those babies up!

We also had a kickin' BBQ at our house on Tuesday. It was hoooooot, so we were thankful to hang out in our shady yard.  Shady, as in, there was shade. We packed in 23 people in that little space! The kids enjoyed swimming in Ruby's tiny pool. Well actually, they enjoyed taking the water out of the pool to water my gardens, but I wasn't complaining. Free labor!

We had more family in town this week: John's mom & grandma came up from Springfield, MO. We were able to do some fun things with them, like the La Crosse Interstate Fair & riding on the La Crosse Queen. While they were here, it topped out over 100 a few times & even my "anti-oven summer meal" list couldn't encourage me to be in the kitchen. We ate out several times & had our fair share of treats while they were here, & although it was fun (who can resist cheese curds at the fair or ice cream at the Pearl??), I can't wait to get back to cooking healthier meals at home. There's just something so right about getting back into a healthy meal routine, at least for me.

Some of our friends joined us at the fair too! Ruby was quite hesitant about the animals...

Sweaty, happy girlies

After all the hub-bub, I've been feeling quite run down & sick these past couple of days. It is such a physical reminder that food can either help or hinder your body. I think I've just had too much eating out this week & we're not used to that! I'm excited to fill our coming weeks with more fresh veggies, which will include many zucchini, tomatoes, celery, green beans, squash, & plenty of herbs from our garden, as they are looking plump & rich.

On Friday, our baby girl turns two (!!!) & we are celebrating by going camping with some of our neighbors. Stay tuned for a post on her birthday cake, pending I feel much better & it all turns out!

Also, in very exciting news (to me, & maybe only me), I have started the process of switching our blog over from Blogger to WordPress. Why? Well there's a whole host of reasons (this guy posted a list of 35 reasons), but to keep it short, let me just say that with WordPress, there is way more potential for the blog to look like something more representative of us. Don't worry... you'll hear all about the juicy details as they come along!

 Saturday's dinner: grilled pork steaks with zucchini, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, & basil (grilled)

What We Ate July 15-21, 2013
Monday: Creamy avocado pasta with chicken & strawberries
Tuesday: Fillet mignon on the grill with southwest stuffed peppers (the vegetarian version)
Wednesday: John's mom & grandma got into town & we went out to Polito's Pizza
Thursday: We ate at Buzzard Billy's for some cajun food (we weren't hot enough)
Friday: We ate at the La Crosse Interstate Fair (pulled pork sandwiches with cheese curds)
Saturday: Grilled pork steaks with zucchini, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, & basil (grilled)
Sunday: We ate on the La Crosse Queen (carved turkey & roast beef, carrots, wedge potatoes & a roll)

I also made a batch of my homemade deodorant this week