eight and a half acre farm

Wow, Christmas is already passed and the decorations will need to be packed up soon. A perfect chance to talk about a gift that seemed innocent, but caused a big mess. Christmas morning the wrapping was flying and it was hard to keep track of who was getting what, even with me passing out the gifts. In the end I sorted through everything so I could see what each child got from Santa and the grandparents. Jakob got this cute Dino dig box. It had 4 sifters, 4 dust brushes and several skeletal dinosaurs. I thought how great, place them in the playground sand and he can dig them up in the summer. I thought of how many hours he will get lost playing with them. He couldn't wait until summer. The bag of ashes that was by the fireplace... on the floor... dinosaurs placed in there... sifter sifting them out of the dirt...ashes... on my carpet.

This is our elf's name. He doesn't look like that horrid elf in a red one piece outfit with white starburst neckline though. Ours is much cuter. Curly blonde hair, stripped stockings, red coat with bells on his shoes. I haven't moved him for 3 days now. I told my kids he must be depressed from not having snow. Can an elf get depressed? And should I tell my kids that we have to get him an anti-depressant? (I can see it now, the depressed elf on a shelf, comes with his own prescription drugs.) Part of me can't wait until they are old enough to place him around the house themselves and turn it into a family tradition of finding him. I bet they would be really creative with what he gets into. I haven't been too creative this year, just the typical sprawled out on the counter because he overdosed on christmas cookies, crumbs surrounding him. There must be a pattern here, cookies, depression, prescriptions. Would it be wrong to put him with an empty beer bottle one mo...

Wow, This season is just whizzing by. (what a great word, whizzing.) This season has been a little rough so I have been turning to the comfort of my bed, peppermint hot chocolate, or peppermint mocha's and holiday movies. I have just about had my fill of Hallmark movies (I have been a bit desperate, and november christmas is actually pretty good.) So I have turned to Netflix to send me my favorites. Favorite number one: A Christmas Story. If you haven't seen this one, you are missing out on life. I love the movie, and now my oldest loves it. It is not Christmas until you see this movie. Favorite number two: The Santa Clause Not sure what it is about it, but it pulls me in every time I watch it and I always feel good after watching it. It is a great curl up in bed movie. Favorite number three: Fred Claus Don't knock it till you see it. It actually took me a bit to see it cause I was thinking it would be another stupid Christmas movie. I happened to catch it in Ju...

I love this time of year because of only one thing. Well ok, that is a lie, there are many things I love about this time of year...that isn't what this post is about. THE ULTIMATE SANDWICH. I had to write that in all caps because I hear it that way in my head with a little bit of an echo. So just imagine a deep, booming voice right now. So, to my point. Are you sick of the turkey yet? the stuffing? any cranberry sauce left? Then we are good to go, and you are about to experience THE ULTIMATE SANDWICH. Cranberry sauce, stuffing and turkey, sandwiched between two pieces of toasted bread. OH-YUM!!! Talk about heaven in your mouth. The whole time I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, all I could think about was this sandwich. The day after, as we were getting lunch ready (leftovers like everyone else in the world) my husband was looking at me like I was crazy. He wouldn't even try it, he is so not the adventurous type. He says it's the soggy bread in the stuffing. By the ...

I LOVE the color yellow. It is sunshine, happiness, bright, and fun. For the past couple of weeks I have been updating my kitchen. Painting the cabinets and walls and re-doing the counter tops. The color scheme I picked is yellow, black and cream. Today was the day I finally got to paint the walls with the "applesauce" color I picked. YEE..OWZA. I have never put a color on my walls that made me doubt my sense of design and decision making in my home. This color is doing that to me. I love yellow, but is it right for my walls? I am unsure. I need to place the second coat on and live with it. Beginning to think I should have picked a very light warm grey color instead. Yellow is definitely Yellow...

So, I have a little challenge on my hands. My husband, about a month ago, mentioned to me a cycling challenge called the Gran Fondo. It is in New York and that was what perked my ears up and made me say: "hey, can I do it?" That question brought on the look in my husbands eyes that has kept me thinking that I should go for it and just do it to prove to him and myself that I am strong enough to train, and do this challenge and do a good job at it. There are a lot of "have never done's" in this race though. have never done #1-Ridden 100 miles. have never done #2-Ridden up a hill that takes longer than 2 minutes to crest Those are two giant Have never done's. But it is that look in my husbands eye, that gleam that even though what is coming out of his mouth is "you could do it" the gleam is mocking me saying there is no way you could do it. Now, I am not stupid, I know there is no way that I could even measure up and beat or even be a cha...

I have been rebuilding my website which has taken me into a new realm of css and html and xyz and flip. Basically my brain is applesauce right now. But not so applesauce that I can't think that I deserve some cookies. The cookies will give me strength. If I drink a coke zero with them it will cancel out the calories that the cookies have in them. Yeah, that's the ticket.

This past weekend was the Cub Scouts Family Camp Out. It was 20. Ok maybe not that cold, but cold is cold. I decided to try the whole sleep in the tent thing with my family since the kids were sooooo excited about sleeping in a tent. I placed Kadence into the car seat at 2 o'clock in the morning and drove home. This is how I look at it: Camping is like a pair of stiletto heels. If your going to wear them, make sure they are comfortable or buy inserts that make them so. Cause if they aren't you are going to kick them off. Maybe that only makes sense to me...but it is perfect sense.

I love chick flicks. Not just any chick flicks, but the ones about falling in love with someone for the first time. That first meeting, those feelings, the sweet things that are said. The first time you say I love you and the first time you are told. When I met Rick some odd 17 years ago, I met him in a bike shop. Just walked in with my dad to buy a mountain bike and there he was. Funny, not that I was really looking, or looking at him in particular. I was hoping a best friend would finally see me, so glad he didn't, and I didn't realize that till I went in to return the helmet I got that was the wrong size. I bent down to look at the sizes, and there was Rick, helping me. That was the first time I saw him, and his smile, his green eyes. (Funny thing is someone mentioned a couple weeks later that what is said should be watched, for I could end up being Rick's wife one day.) That fist kiss. The thoughts in my mind wanting to scream out "Kiss me!" The heart fl...

Back in June I turned 37. Back in June my hair turned 37. It flipped out, it doesn't like 37. Since we turned 37 it has been frizzy, unmanageable, and just plain pissed off. I look like I stuck my finger in a light socket. Maybe I did. Early in the morning, sleep walking...That would explain a lot.

On cold mornings like this one, I love to spoil my kids. As bath and showers are being taken I place their bath towels in the dryer. There is nothing like a warm cozy bath towel after a shower or bath. I even go so far as putting their clothes in there. Socks, underwear, pants, shirt. It is an indulgence that I cannot deny my kids, and in the cases of being a wonderful wife, my husband. This morning was no exception, I even treated myself to a warm bathrobe. Krischan first, which now consists of cracking the door ever so slightly squeezing my arm in the bathroom while looking the other way and dropping the towel on the floor. Kadence and Jakob next who get the royal treatment of being wrapped up and then put under the covers of mommy and daddy's bed while I get their clothes warmed up. Little secret: putting them under the covers keeps the towel warm for much longer. I was a little slow in getting Jakob's clothes this morning and when I heard him in his room getting cloth...

Last weekend I ran a duathalon. It was a 2 mile run, 15 mile bike ride, and then a 5k run. Now I am not a runner, or at least I don't run very fast when it comes to distance. I was a sprinter, or am, or was in high school, does that make you a sprinter for the rest of your life? anyway... I finished in 2 hours 1 minute. I finished 4th in my age group. ok, so there were only 4 people in my age group, and I finished last out of everyone, but my goal wasn't to place, it was to finish. Now my friend Jo, she kicked my ass. How much so? She finished 20 minutes before I did. Like I said, she kicked my ass. Well, after killing myself with that race, I signed up for another. This one is a 3 mile run, 12 mile bike, and another 3 mile run. OUCH... 2 weeks to train means 2 weeks to get my body running faster. What am I thinking? I am thinking that by running, I am killing myself obviously. Today I ran 2 miles. I am sore from yesterdays workout, but forced myself out there anyw...

Every night after I put my daughter to sleep, I get the boys ready and 1, then 2 everyone is in bed. I take deep breaths and enjoy the quiet then go about doing what needs to get done. After about an hour or two I go and check on the kids. Boys asleep, Girl...naked. So as she sleeps I put back on her diaper, and her pajamas. Go back about an hour or two later. Boys doing fine, all covered up, Girl...naked, lights on. Again, I turn the light out and dress her. This can either happen once or several times. I don't know what it is, but she doesn't like clothes. Sometimes during the day I look at her and have to ask her where all her clothes are. I hope she outgrows this...and fast.

I have been thinking about this post for the past couple of days. I hope it makes as much sense on "paper" as it does in my head. 3 years ago this coming December Rick and I went to New York for the very first time in our lives. We did typical tourist things: Looking out from the empire state building, going to times square, checking out the HUGE christmas tree, Central Park. The one thing I mentioned that I wanted to do was the one thing that ended up being the best thing we did while we were there. We went down to ground zero. By that time it looked like a large construction site, as we know now what was being built, between the new building and memorial. As we tried to get to a high point to see over the fence into the construction site, we happened upon a sign that said "9/11 museum" with an arrow pointing to our left. We looked at each other and said "why not" What we found was a tiny museum about events from that day and how the towers were b...

A horrific thing happened yesterday. Chelsie was hit by a car and killed. Our dogs become so much of our family that it is so difficult when they move on. We "rescued" chelsie from her previous owner who kept her in a crate most of her life. Letting her out to go to the bathroom, then right back in. "She is just too hyper" was the excuse. Once we adopted her the crate was thrown away and we gave her free roam of our house and yard. Now Chelsie had hunting dog in her so she loved going all over our 8.5 acres. She always came when she was called and was a good dog. Had some cuddle issues, but that is what will happen when a dog spends most of their life in a crate. She never did come out of her funk after York died (our golden who passed a year and a half ago) so I know that she is up there with him chasing him and teasing him when he tries to chase her, knowing he can't run as fast as she can. I hope there are motorcycles up there that she can run after. ...

564,800 people are expected to die from cancer this year, and about 1,228,600 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed. So says a cancer fact type website. You also get numbers like this: 1500 people die a day of cancer. Fuck you cancer. Yes I am a little mad today that out of all the scientists in the world, no one as of yet has found a cure. In my opinion, someone is always "close" to a cure... Hmmm, what is that saying? Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. This morning a friend of my husbands died of cancer, after being diagnosed a little over 4 months ago. He was such a vibrant man whom would join my husband at Brew's cafe in Granville, drink beers and talk. Rick loved talking to him and spending time with him. He was a cyclist who would come out to ride with Rick, or if he was out on his motorcycle would stop by to say hi. Every time I saw him he was smiling, even when he was weak from his battle with cancer, and always happy. Always caring f...

as I happily tore my garden up yesterday with the tractor (because I am so over it this year) I thought of all the things I learned this year that I will carry onto next year. Ok, so I will forget them, no one is perfect. 1. Don't plant things people won't eat but you. cantaloup. Every year I plant it and it has never grown delicious, but yet I still plant it. Even if it was delicious, I am the only one who eats it and I never eat it fast enough. 2. I am allergic to weeding. I hate weeding and I just don't have the time to keep up with it. What I need to do is what my neighbor does and put down weed barrier. 3. Put more room in between rows. I usually only put a foot, but then the plants start fighting and I have pumpkins on the other side of the garden from where I planted. 4. Cucumbers have sex and reproduce on their own. 1 plant = 500 cucumbers. I should know this, but I always plant 5 and have cucumbers coming out of my ass. I now have a lifetime supply of ...

Another day is over and I think to myself: "What have I done today?" What is it I have actually accomplished? Given hugs and kisses to my children. Then yelled at them for splashing water out of the tub. Enjoyed the sunlight on the front porch absorbing a good book while waiting for Krischan to get off the bus. Made a mediocre dinner that will sit in the fridge and be forgot. Gave my middle child some play-do to play with that I now can't find. Cheered and jumped up and down when my daughter pooped on her own in her potty. Worked in Quickbooks to fix the major foul up I caused. Another day...and it is over.

After my workout tonight, I walked right out the front door, into the night that was so beautiful it was breathtaking. There was enough of a breeze that it felt like little caresses all over my skin and I stood for awhile enjoying the coolness of the evening, looking up to see how stunning the night sky was. These are the moments that all thoughts of moving closer to the city vanish. The stars shine bright, the air I breath in is fresh and cleansing. I turn my head up toward the sky and close my eyes. I hear Nirvana playing on someones radio off in the distance to the east, a couple of dogs barking to the north of me, and all around me crickets chirping enjoying the evening like I am. This I think to myself, is perfect peace.

It is completely inevitable that when things are on a deadline, all hell breaks loose. With work it happens when I have to present a design to a client the next day. My computer fritzes or my printer runs out of ink, or the network goes down. Today doesn't deal with work, it deals with the kids. Of course, your thinking, what else would it involve. Getting Krischan ready for camp has been to say the least, an experience. As I get ready to wash his white polo's I do a ditz thing and put in bleach and then for the fabric softner I place in the usual vinegar.(I do this to save money and no, your clothes won't smell like vinegar) When I usually do the whites I use regular fabric softner because I have heard vinegar and bleach don't mix. Panic sets in, I try to pull out the tray to dump the vinegar and since there is a hole in the tray to deposit it into the washing machine, both bleach and vinegar mix and filter into the machine. Then I really panic as I hear them ...

I remember the first movie I took Krischan to go see. "Finding Nemo". He lasted through a half hour of it. The first one he lasted through was "Shrek 2". Jakob's first movie was "How to Train Your Dragon" Even now he loves that movie and could watch it over and over again. Today I took Kadence to see her first movie. I was either brave, insane, or stupid. I will go with insane since I dealt with so much screaming today that I am pretty sure I will be deaf by nightfall. To keep myself from running out of the house this morning screaming, I made the boys sit on their beds until it was time to leave for the dentist...One hour before we actually had to leave. It worked out perfect if I do say so myself, they made the wise decision to look at books together. At the dentist office, Kadence threw a outrageous hissy when Jakob had the nerve to want to look at mommy's phone with her. She was so loud that the dentist actually came out and asked what ...

Fifty things to throw away. I am at 7 items after completing my bedroom and bathroom. Bathroom wasn't that bad considering that it is all torn up. I was anxious to dive into my office so I skipped ahead to that part. My space is such a mess I have been having problems buckling down and doing the work that I need to get done. It just isn't a place I have wanted to be in, which of course makes doing work a bit difficult. I am into my second day of clearing out and I still haven't scratched the surface. There is layer upon layer of crap in here, and I am hoping I might find a hidden treasure of money even. Not likely, but wishful thinking is fun. It has so overwhelmed me that I needed something sweet to quell the feeling of being buried alive by ones own junk. Step in: Out of the Box Brownies.com My choice: Low-fat salty-scotch brownies. Of course I am not a fan of butterscotch so I substituted caramel (Sorry Denise.) And my caramel isn't low fat so I kinda ruin...

At Barnes and Noble I went into the section to find some inspiring literature on home decorating, but instead picked up the book "Throw out Fifty Things" By Gail Blanke. At that moment I decided the book was for me. Everything happens for a reason and everything presents itself at the time you need it most. Something I very strongly believe in. I just wish I knew why all my crazy moments are presenting themselves. Maybe this book is going to explain that to me. Maybe... The point of the book is that you are cleansing and getting rid of things not only in your home, but in your mind. Basically you are getting rid of all that heavy stuff that brings you down, whether it is mental or material. As I began reading I was wondering if I could just throw out my house and make that item number one. My house so brings me down right now. And as a mother of three, my house gets very messy and very cluttered very fast. Which, in point, is my main problem with my home. I read the...

It is Friday and this day means that Jakob has zoo class in the morning. This Friday was a little bit different. I misplaced my phone. Oh, the horror!!! I knew I had grabbed it on the way out the door, but wasn't sure where I put it exactly after that. Coming back to the car after dropping Jakob off I thought maybe I had imagined that I picked up my phone. How would someone get a hold of me? What would I do if I couldn't look at facebook? or Instagram, or e-mail. Again...with sarcasm...Oh, the horror!!! As I was driving toward the mall to exchange some shirts I bought Krischan I began to wonder if there were any pay phones left in the world. Who would I call anyway and why? What if I did have my phone with me and it fell out of my car at the zoo. EEKS. Ok, I will make a trip to the apple store and do a "Find my Phone" But what do I do if I see that it is at the zoo, how would I call my mom there to see if someone turned it in? Would someone actually let me...

I have recently been thinking about all the things that need finished around my house. Every project gets started, but it never really gets done. Whether it is putting quarter round around a room after it gets tiled, or putting up the woodwork around a door. If my house was a bicycle, no project would go unfinished. (If you knew my husband, this would make sense.) The past couple of days I have been going around and doing some finishing of my own. I hung back up the coat hangers on the new "coat and shoes" location, (wall still needs fixed on old location) Hung brand new curtain rods in boys room. They are monkeys and hung on the others, which resulted in them being ripped out of the walls. Hung three towel hooks in the bathroom so that they don't have to hang their towels on the ends of their beds anymore. Spackled area where towel rod was taken down, just need to paint over it now. Hung back up curtain tie backs that were ripped out of the wall this past winter by s...

Thanks to my wonderful mother, my lawn is finally mowed!! No, she didn't mow it for me, she watched the kids so that I could mow it. Mowed grass brings sanity to my life. I guess you could say that the state of my grass represents the state of my mind...When it is cut it is so clean and pretty. And of course I have control over whether my lawn gets mowed or not. The time to do it is another story.

The past couple of days have had me thinking of so many things. Old friends that I don't see or talk to anymore, memories of summers. Some of them are sad thoughts: Parents who are dealing with the 1st anniversary of their 19 year old daughters death, and some are surreal: watching the storms roll in, imagination running wild. Dream thoughts, where would I be thoughts, what would I be thoughts. Things are so busy that I feel like I can't even take a deep breath, certain days make me feel like I am suffocating. Working non-stop day in and day out whether it is for work or housework, because if you don't work, you don't get paid, and if you don't do the housework, it becomes an unbearable mess. It is a weird feeling to live with someone and miss them at the same time. How can you miss someone you live with? People talk of taking a break, but how can you take a break when there is so much work to do? How can you take a break when you are running to catch up with so...

As I have said before, gardening gives me peace. Although this time of year it is a bit hard for me to keep up with it. The weeds are growing in, and I only have so much time to get out there and pull them. But the vegetables are coming in beautifully. Green Beans. Yum. I love them straight out of the garden. Strawberries are on their second round. I don't know if this is normal, but I get a batch first thing in June and they start flowering again in July. Brussel Sprouts are a bit of a disappointment. Not sure what I did wrong, but I just have these big huge leaves. On one of them I cut the leaves off to see if the sprouts would grow (I read that somewhere), that one has teeny tiny buds, so we will see what comes of that. (see all those horrid weeds?) zucchini. Two c's, not two n's by the way. Any good zucchini recipes out there. I have already made zucchini bread, give me more of a side dish recipe. Please. Bell peppers. They are supposed to be red, not s...

Last summer I decided to cut Jakob's hair short. I don't know what came over me, I just did it. Rick and I tend to relate Jakob's crazy hair with is personality so to have it be short was a bit of a shock. I let it grow back out, curl back up and become as crazy as his personality again. Well, I did it again. I must have been possessed. I only wanted to trim it, but ended up just about shaving it. I am pretty sure his crazy personality is still there though, you can check for yourself. Before: After:

I wanted to share my new favorite app on my phone. Of course everyone (that has an iphone) probably already has it and I am behind the eight ball on this, but let's just pretend that I am telling you something new and exciting that you have never heard of. Okay? Cool. Instagram. I am in love. If you were a man, I would sleep with you. You make my photos look so cool and exciting, and my favorite part: old. It is so nostalgic to take a photo, place it in Instagram and play with the filters. It brings me to my childhood and when I sat down looking through photo album after photo album of my childhood. Without Instagram With Instagram Without Instagram With Instagram (I know I did poorly on the crop job) You get the "picture" Here is the fun I have been having. (If you feel so inclined, you can follow me on Instagram. I am at Moonbeedesigns.) This is Kadence trying out for the part in The Shinning. Krischan, wanting me to stick my camera in someone...

As of lately, I have been spending way more time than I would like at ball fields. If you have never noticed, I will tell you now: There is no shade at ball fields, unless you are sitting in a dug out. There is also some sort of weather phenomenon that happens around ball fields that cause the temperature to be 20 degrees warmer. Today for example. I was perfectly comfortable. My grey t-shirt, capri jeans and flip flops. I was even out playing with the kids and picking vegetables in my garden in these particular clothes. Then...I get to the ball field. We are suddenly ants and someone is holding a magnifying glass above us and we are frying. Seriously. I didn't sweat all day, then at Krischan's baseball practice, I am sweating like I just rode 50 miles on my bike. Even my lip is sweating. I hate that, there is nothing more creepy than someone who has a sweaty lip. I am now officially creepy. My jeans were sticking to my thighs. My shirt was slowly becoming one with my s...

Baseball season is over for some, but for the ones that made the All-Star teams, enter tournaments. Yes, this year Krischan made one of the all-star teams and I don't think my life has ever been so hectic and my house so messy. OK, maybe my house has been this messy before. This is how my schedule has been for the past two weeks: Get up in the morning, water flowers, get kids to whatever activities they are doing during the day, or run whatever errands I need to get done, get home, make lunch, clean up, then run out the door to practice, keep two little ones entertained for two hours on a ball field while practice is going on, go home, make dinner, eat, give baths, put them to bed, then sit down in office and work until 1 or 2 in the morning. This week is a bit worse because Krischan has zoo camp this week. I drove a total of 200 miles today, and there is no baseball on mondays. In a more understandable explanation it goes like this: Practice on tues and thurs, batting cages ...

Writers block is not fun. So I will just write to tell you what Jakob said to Krischan one day this week. We were in the van, and Jakob says: "Chun-chun?" He waits for the reply, then as casually as anything says this: "A bee flew up my butt and I farted it out."

Saturday night after Kadence went to bed it was just Jakob and I sitting on the couch watching cartoons. (Well, he was watching cartoons, I was reading a book.) As the sun started going down, Jakob tells me he wants to go out and catch lightning bugs. This is something he has just been introduced too, and watching him and Krischan run around after lightning bugs brings back a flood of memories from my childhood. So we go out the back door and he begins his search, but then gets distracted. Fireworks over the horizon. One here, one there, then a show starts. We meander around the side of the house and into the front yard for a better look. We sit down in the grass to enjoy the 3 backyard shows we can see and I am loving that it is just a Jakob and mommy moment. In between, I am sure, the people setting up more fireworks to set off, Jakob jumps up to catch lightning bugs. He has no luck, but tons of giggles and laughs are caught by me. I am soaking it in. He is crawling in my lap and...

Wow, I am almost speachless today. I knew I had a million places to run to so I was rushing to get out the door this morning. Hoping not to run into any hungry/tiredness crabiness. Well, that didn't work. I left the house at 10:45. Post Office: Stop number one. Yes, I left my kids in the car while I ran in to mail some letters. Big Whoop. I was in there for a total of 2 minutes. The phone was left with Krischan in case he needed it and I didn't leave the car running. Besides, you might not know this but Krischan is a super black belt ninja. Very deadly child, don't mess with him. Bank: Stop number two. So easy, drive through cinch. But then Jakob says he is hungry. oh no. But wait, ok, it is 11:45. No problem. Super mom has a chipolte card for a free burrito. Chipolte is just down the road and Jakob says, as I am pulling out of the bank, "Go there. Chi•po•weigh." Chipolte: Stop number three. It is always intimidating and nerve wracking to take three ki...

At 3:30 pm on Thursday, I got into my van and drove to a meeting I had scheduled. What is so important about this? It began my 42 and a half hours sans kids. The options of what I could do were bouncing around in my head. Rick had appointments till late so the first part of my time was all me...alone! I headed straight for the salon for a pedicure. It was so nice. I took a picture, but my toes are ugly and I didn't want to submit you to that kind of horror. Then, after that...I went grocery shopping. Yes, you read correctly...grocery shopping. You never appreciate the time in the store that you have. Mindless work of grabbing things off the shelf, checking coupons, thinking about an item before you place it in your cart. Actually looking at prices and deciding on the best buy. When you have to grocery shop with kids in tow, it is never peaceful, you never look at prices, it is actually a race to the end. That is why I wear my jogging pants and running shoes when I go. So I can...

It's Friday. the kids are away for the day. What do I do? Sleep, clean, read, garden... I will start with a shower. One that doesn't consist of little kids coming in the bathroom. One that doesn't consist of hearing screaming and wondering who is killing who. A long one, one that isn't rushed, one where I can stand and close my eyes and take in the quiet. Wow. No kids for a whole day! what do I do?

I love food. I love cooking food. I love eating food. I have what you would call food memories. I remember what I ate on Rick and my first date. When I eat strawberries, I remember being a little girl, picking them off the plant at Doran's down the road. The owner of the farm always asked if he needed to weigh me on his really cool old fashioned scale, since I ate more strawberries than I put in the basket. When I eat hamburgers, I remember the cruise I went on with my parents and the juice from it running down my arm. You get the point. Which brings me to another point. Another food memory that I remember so well, I thought it would be a great snack idea for my kids. Veggie and fruit pizza. When I was in high school, I cheered on the basketball cheer squad. (Yes, I was a cheerleader. I don't know why people find that hard to believe.) We had before each game what was called a spread. (get your mind out of the gutter.) Each cheerleader picked a game to host a dinner for (...