Hamburger update #1

This is the Homemade burger, showing signs of mold growth...

This is the Mcdonald's hamburger, still good...  The Rocket doesn't want to eat this particular one anymore!

It's been a week, and already my thoughts are being proved...  Stay tuned!

McDonalds' "Food"vs Real Food

I have a son that is a junk food junkie.  I mean, he would choose any fast food restaurant over a home cooked meal ANY DAY and EVERYDAY!  So I am going to do a little experiment, one I have seen the pictures from before(so I guess I am stealing the idea), but I want to experience it first hand in the hopes of curbing the monster within him.  Here goes:

First, the McDonald's hamburger.  Regular, nothin' special about it.  Ketchup, mustard, little chopped onions, pickle, what they call "meat", and a bun.

 Now the real hamburger, ketchup, mustard, little chopped onions, minus the pickle, 100% pure beef, and an organic bun.

They will be kept in identical containers on my kitchen counter for however long it takes to show some major degradation.  I labeled them and dated them.  This started on the 22rd of March.

I have been thinking of doing this for a while and the bread I needed finally went on sale at a time when I was contemplating the experiment.  When my neighbor brought the McDonald's hamburger over(bought on his way home from work. Thank you, Mark!), my junk food monster came running in and exclaimed " Is that for ME???"  Dear Lord, he is disappointed I am wasting this burger on an experiment!  The next morning, he said "Can I have it now?"  After learning it had sat out all night on the counter and would continue to do so until it rotted, he didn't want it anymore. 

My kids have watched most of Food Inc. and Sweetie Pie is not a fan of fast food anymore.  The Junk Food Junkie(otherwise known as The Rocket) on the other hand is only mildly deterred.  Zman is indifferent, and S just rolls his eyes.  My work is cut out for me...

I will be posting pics(I will try for weekly) on the progress of the experiment.  My hypothesis is that the regular hamburger, made of real food, will degrade(rot) faster than the McDonald's hamburger, because of the lack of preservatives in the ingredients.  My hope is that my Junk Food Junkie and his father will learn something about the "food" they love so much, and it will be burned on their minds, so as to never forget it. 

Is that too severe?   Naaaaa

Stop the clocks!!!

This has been my plee as of lately: Stop the clocks, PLEASE!!!!!  Usually, things tend to slow down a bit after the holidays and kids go back to school.  Not this year!  It seems we have been going non-stop for the last two months and I am tired.  Camping trip, visits to Naples, homework(good Lord the homework!), and just everyday life has been hectic! I am ready for spring break, and the brightness of summer vacation is coming into view...

The Rocket practicing his flying skills in a jacket he wore when he was 3!

And now for our camping trip photos: 

Gathering place of our campsite, filled with good food from the breakfast the campground put on.  $5 for all you can eat, the women were all smiling- no cooking or cleanup! : )

Now, what to do for the rest of the day?

How about the pool?  While the men went grocery shopping(how we lucked out with that one I'll never know...) we girls took the kids swimming:

The pool was shaped like the state of Florida, and they had kareoke on Saturday afternoon.  We did not participate(I know you are dissapointed), however the kids enjoyed the show while trying to warm up in the sun after swimming in the frigid waters for about 5 minutes.

The kids spent most of the day going back and forth from the playground to the campsite by any number of different ways they found.  The playground was fantastic!  It was old fashioned with a METAL slide, and the kind of merry-go-round that really gets going good!  Here's how good the merry-go-round was, one of the kids actually threw up after getting off of it! Now that's a GREAT merry-go-round! 

Later that night they had a race party as it was the weekend of the big race and the campground was PACKED!  It was a grill out, with 75cent hotdogs and $1.50 hamburgers(with or without cheese) and all the fixin's, including chili and cheese for the hotdogs! This campground does things like this on special weekends, a nice touch and it cuts down on the cooking and cleanup(always a dreaded thing) while camping.  All those groceries the men got, we came home with alot of them...

At the race party, they had contests for all ages.  Sweetie Pie ran up when they announced the hula-hoop contest!  She didn't win, but for all who participated there was free ice-cream or a candy bar from the general store.  Everyone was having a great time, there was dancing and music and tiki-torches and lots of smiling faces! 

Campsite by dark, ambiance provided by about 5 super long strings of white christmas lights strung up by Brian( Thank you Brian!!). 

Yes, that is a refrigerator you see there.  All I have to say is- It's good to go camping with the Bagley's! : )

It was a bit chilly at night, and with the heaters warming the insides of the camper and tents, we had to have something to warm the gathering spot with...  Good thing Brian brought the gas grill...

Sunday Morning.  Sorry boys, no breakfast buffet today. It's poptarts and bananas and boxed cinnamon rolls(YUM! Thanks Denise!)for you today. 

But for the girls, we will be having champagne cocktails!

We decided to visit the beach Sunday.  It was really nice after it warmed up and the sun felt wonderful!  The kids all played in the sand for hours(no-one got sunburned!) and only went in the water to wash off as it is still very cold!  What am I saying?  It's the Atlantic, it's always cold!

The trip was great.  Everyone had a really good time, all the kids got along really well and were able to be rather independent in their wanderings.  They stayed together in a group and included Sweetie Pie most of the time.  I felt bad for her being the only girl, but she worked it just fine.

The name of the campground we stayed at is Sugar Mill Ruins, in New Smyrna.  You can visit their website here.

Back at home...

Here's some of the neighborhood wildlife:

Hehehe, just kidding Mark!  Although he is wild about the Packers!

Spring time planting has started, and I need to get moving on incorporating the compost into the beds.  The Spring Master Gardener plant sale is tomorrow, and I need to have the areas ready as I never come home empty-handed from it!  I have already started my tomatos and several veggies.  I also got a bunch of flower seeds from the catalog as well, and am looking forward to the bouquets that Sweetie Pie and The Rocket will be bringing me!  Last fall, I sprinkled out packets of wild flowers(mainly coreopsis, the Florida state wildflower), I can't wait to see if they cover the areas.  Photos of the garden will be coming...

What are you planting this year?

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

 While in Naples over the holidays, we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  I have been wanting to make a trip out here for a while, since it's been so long since I've been here.  When I was little and went to the Nature Conservancy for camp over the summers, we would make field trips out here and go tromping around in the swamp, exploring nature and getting right up close in the experience.  Alas, my kids lack that experience, and I know I will regret it! Hopefully all the outings I drag them along on, and make them go painfully slow on, will make up for it(a bit)...hopefully! One day I will take them on one of Clyde Butcher's swamp walks, when the $70.00 for each of us isn't such a big deal...  I did it when it was FREE!  My how the world has changed...  But I digress.

Entrance to the visitor center.  The kind man inside let me have the Audubon Society member rate even though I didn't have my card!  Figures, I have been carrying it around for a couple years and haven't used it even once and then after I decide to not carry it(after streamlining the wallet), I have the ability to use it and don't have it! UGH! I believe there's a man named Murphy who has a law that applies to this...?

After paying our fee for entry, we began our walk.  Just outside they had a lady that had a baby alligator you could pet.  I just snapped a picture, I have petted these before and I had also just washed my hands. Being a Florida Native- been there, done that, many times. 

Beyond the Alligator lady, there was a marquee that has some recent wildlife sightings.  My good friend Kathy and her boys went on this walk with us and they are checking out what we might see from the 2 mile walk on the boardwalk. 

We started out the walk with some loud cries that sounded kind-of like a laughing gull.  They were the cries of some red-shouldered hawks.  It was rather dry and not very birdy, but that is the norm for this time of year.  By all means it was teeming with life, just not right out in the open type of stuff.  If you go here in the winter-time, you must have time to spare, and stop along the way to be quiet and listen and watch.  Only then will you see the goings on around you.  We did this alot much to the dismay of Z-man and The Rocket, who accompanied me this time.  It caused us to loose our friends along the way as her boys were more interested in barreling through.  They are young, and kudos to Kathy for introducing them to the area and letting them explore it at their own pace(key to their enjoyment and retention of knowledge)! 

My escorts on this journey. 

Scenery along the way: 

A small garter snake, sunning on the boardwalk.   

I caught him also as he slithered off into the brush.  He evidently didn't like his audience even though we were very quiet and didn't crowd him.  It was very neat to watch him in the bushes, and how he maneuvered through them, of course it helped that he is not a venomous variety. He was, in fact, rather beautiful with his racing stripes, and serene stillness. 

A VERY OLD cypress tree.  This thing was huge! 

A red-shouldered hawk landed on this snag above the boardwalk. 

Night heron(?)

It was so neat to watch him walking on top of the vegetation.  Every once in a while he would step into a hole and stumble, causing him to raise his wings as if in flight.   

Cypress tree knees.  

Contrary to popular belief(even mine, as I was taught this), cypress knees have little to no bearing on the oxygen exchange of the tree it is connected to, rather, they provide stability in the unstable and mushy landscape for storms with high winds that would otherwise knock over the better part of the forest.  All the roots underneath the ground are growing together to form a mesh that provides stability.  It would be damn-near impossible to dig a hole in a mature swamp because of this very reason!  

The bald cypress trees are bald, they will get their "hats" back in summer. 

...and a parting shot. So true, so true. 

But you have to experience these things in order to love them and want to conserve them.  Get outside and visit your national, state, and local parks with your kids.  Unplug them and let them experience what's out there in nature that is ever-changing, entertaining, and imperiled by man if we don't conserve it!  If they don't know what they are missing now, how will they when it's gone?



Teeny-Tiny

While I was gone, I was thinking about you all, as evidenced by this tutorial.  I made some of these for the teacher's Christmas gift bags, and I thought about doing a tutorial on here for you.  So I took pics while I made them and here goes...

Walnut candles

Ingredient list:   beeswax, walnut halves, wicking appropriate for small candles, double boiler or the equivalent, and patience for pouring the wax...

 When you halve walnuts, be careful and you will get some nice little "boats" that make great candles(they also make great bath-tub boats if you use a tooth pick and a paper sail with only a little bit of wax in the bottom...). 

Start by shaving/chopping off some beeswax, the smaller the pieces, the quicker it will melt.

I don't have a double boiler, nor do I have the need to purchase one when I can engineer one of my own!

Melt the wax over simmering/gently boiling water.

Using your spoon, place a drop or so of melted wax into the bottom of your walnut half.  Immediately place your wick into the wax drop and let it harden.  This will stabilize your wick so it isn't moving around when you pour the rest of the wax into the shell.  As you can see in the picture, I bent the bottom part of the wick, it gives the wax a bit more to hold onto. 

After wick stabilization, you can pour the rest of the wax in, gently!  Be careful, and go slowly because the walnuts will sometimes tip over.  When you are done filling the shells, some will look like hearts, awwwwww!

 

Be sure to trim your wicks to about 1/4 inch before burning.

And there you go, Walnut candles.  Nothing to read a novel by on the winter solstice, by any means, but a sweet addition to a tea party or a mug of hot cocoa by the fire before bedtime...

Keep warm yall!

Gee, it's been a long time!

          

Hello, it's been a while since I've been in to visit. Sorry, I have just been so very busy the past couple of months! Halloween and then Thanksgiving and all that comes in between has just kept me from sitting and talking to you about what's been happening around here.

Well, the kids have a cold this weekend, they stayed home from school yesterday.  Today we completed the above winter wonderland scene in about 6 hours.  It was something fun to do while cooped up in the house(I didn't hear "I'm booooored!" once today!!! *big smile* )  I started out this morning hearing "After we make it, can we eat it?", and now I don't think they are so into the eating part.  It took too long to construct!

I think I will go backwards in the happenings around here:

            Starting with Thanksgiving, my parents came over and Zman came up and we had a grand time!  I didn't even set fire to anything this year, however the turkey didn't cook all the way through and so after carving a bit off, we had to flip it over and cook it some more.  We were NOT going to wait any longer!

Before that, we took an overnighter to St. Augustine to see the lights.  It was pretty and crowded, but we love St. Augustine, so it was ok! 

 Here is Sweetie Pie rockin' it in the tower at the Castillo...   

and here I am rockin' it on the top of the Castillo... 

Rocket Man and Sweetie Pie in front of the Castillo... 

We also took a trip in the opposite direction, to the panhandle of Florida.  Specifically Appalachicola, to the Florida Seafood festival.  Here, we were witness to an oyster eating contest: 

No-one threw up on stage, but I think they were close...  EWWWW!

Now I have to tell you, do not make a special trip for this festival as it is not anything like it's name implies.  The food is mostly vendors not from Florida(read: carnival food) and it is more like a county fair.  The gumbo I purchased from the booth of a local church was fabulous, but there were not many local or even Florida seafood food vendors like the name indicates.  Very sad and unfortunate for the area because it is such a charming town to visit! I fear the attendance will diminish in years to come if something is not done about the local representation of Florida seafood at this festival!  Cudos to the churches and local organizations for representing the area! 

The next day we had lunch at Wharf Express(EXCELLENT! I highly recommend this place!) down at Summer Camp.  We then took the liberty of walking out on the dock and the beach.  The kids had a blast with all the things they were finding, namely the horseshoe crab moltings and, of course, the dead stinky ones too.  We also watched the tide as it went out and the flora and fauna that were left behind.  Oh, we could spend hours and hours observing and exploring... 

And finally...  Here is Rocket Man on his final day of Archery class. 

He is such a fruit!

Now you are all caught up on the goings on around here, hopefully I can keep up through the rest of the holiday season.  Don't hold your breath!

October randomness

 Now that October has flown by(did it for anyone else too? or was it just me?) Here are a few pics of some events that happened...

                                                  Sweetie Pie's Ancient Roman mosaic cake:

It was a part of her project for school.  It's a bowl of fruit, with sunshine and some grapes laying down by the right side.  Good project to do as there wasn't really anything to bring home, disassemble and clean up! Yea!

The Rocket and I went on a field trip with his class to MOSI(Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, FL).  We got to experience the weather exhibit going on right now.  I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed.  The kid's free play area was neat, however the actual exhibits going on were dissapointing.  Also, we saw an IMAX movie about dinosaurs, and WOW, was it B-O-R-I-N-G!!!  A bit of advice for those of you going to see IMAX movies: This is the second dinosaur movie that I have seen that was WAAAAAY over my head!  Don't go see a dinosaur movie at a museum unless you are really into dinosaurs, and know the jargon that goes with them!  UGH!

                                                   I got The Rocket's head on a platter....

                                                     And he got me on a bed of nails:

Yes, those are REAL nails!  It's not as amazing as it seems though, the surface area of your body offsets the effects of the nails.  Even so, it was still kinda pokey... 

And finally some Halloween pics... 

These are the kid's pumpkins.  They usually paint their pumpkins, which actually they did and then decided when S was carving the larger ones that they wanted to carve their own out.  These are baking pumpkins, and were very hard to carve.  But I think the kids did a good job anyhow! 

Here are the pumpkins that S carved, while I did laundry and made beds and washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen... 

From Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire cat.  I think he did a great job on them! 

Sweetie Pie in one of her many Halloween get-ups.  She couldn't make up her mind... (yes, her hair is purple) Technically, I don't know what she is dressed as, but I guess it doesn't really matter, she was happy and had a great time trick-or-treating!

Here is The Rocket.  He is a Werewolf.  His hair is green with black stripes, and he has fangs!  He had already been to a few of the neighbor's houses and this is the photo after I had called him back. His expression reads:  "HURRY!"  Geez, they get so antsy! 

The weekend before Halloween, some neighbors and I went to a costume party. The Rocket did not attend, but we let him in the group picture anyhow. 

What a motley crew we make!

At this party they served goat.  It was interesting, gamey, stringy and smokey, totally edible, but not something I will be running out to the grocery store for any time soon!  Now, it was the first time the man had cooked this kind of meat. The first time they took it off the grill, it was not done, so they had to put it back on the grill and cook it longer.  They will be serving it again next year and I think it will be better because they have a whole year to practice cooking techniques!

Well, the month of October and the start of the fall season has whizzed past and now we are racing into the craziest two months of the year...  ONWARD HO!!!!

I just blinked, is it January 1st yet?