Cupcakes for Hannah

Here are the felt cupcakes I made for my friend's daughter Hannah for her 4th birthday. I hope she likes them! It was so hard to believe she is now 4! I had the honor to be there when she was born and have loved watching her grow up! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Peachy!

We had our annual Peach Festival here in Lafayette recently! Colorado is the perfect place to have a festival of any kind because we have over 300 days of sunshine so the weather is always perfect, well not this year. It rained straight for 2 days! I mean RAIN, pouring rain, nonstop for 2 DAYS! It was wonderful for many reasons, but a bummer for the peach festival. We braved the weather, dug out the little rain gear that we have and walked to the festival. We ended up getting about 3 dozen yummy organic peaches! I was so excited to get started on making yummy peachy goodness!

I did a little research and decided on making my own fruit leather, I started with some peaches (duh...):

I pitted them, cut em up and put them in the food processor, skin on, and made a puree, nothing added:

Next I put some unbleached parchment paper in a broiling pan, poured in the puree and put it in the oven on it's lowest setting. Ours is 170 degrees, but if it goes to 150 that would be better. The point is to dry it out. So I would occasionally open the oven door and let a little of the heat out. You have to be careful to not let it *cook*. You could also use a food dehydrator or do it in the sunshine, just cover it with a cloth and rubber band it to the pan, so no bugs get in. This could take up to 3 days and I would recommend to take it in at night.

You let it dry in the oven for about 6 hours until it's set and tacky. Let it cool and cut it in to strips.

VIOLA! Fruit Leather! 100% fruit and nothing else except yummy goodness!

It has been a huge hit!!!

Me SO happy

This makes me proud... yesterday we elected Jared Polis in the 2nd Congressional District here in Colorado! He is an openly gay Jewish man! Yeah for us!

Me SO sad

I am so sad to say, but I can not do the Steamboat Triathlon next week.. Boo Hoo! A bit of a long story, but I am having "complications" from a nasty virus I got last week. At the advice of my doctor I am going to have to stay on the side lines and cheer for Tina and Tonnie. This was the tri that I have been training for, longer, harder, at altitude. We are still going to go up, enjoy the beauty of one of my favorite Colorado mountain towns and do my best to not dwell on the fact that I will not be participating.
The good news is that The Boulder Tri Babes Tri at the end of September will be a great way to end the season with my girlies. Something to look forward to.

160 Days left........

Thank God it's almost over!

Felt Food

So I decided to start to make Neva's "play food" out of felt. She has some wooden food she likes playing with, but I wanted to add to it with out getting anything plastic. I did some research and realized it is easy, cheap, quick and you don't need a sewing machine. Here is what I have made so far:

I have been getting the felt from the craft store for about .20 a sheet! The other day I looked at the sticker on it and it read, "Eco-Felt, made from %100 recycled plastic bottles"!!!!!!
CRAP!? It is plastic after all!! Real wool felt is much more expensive and harder to get. So I am looking around for some wool and letting her play with what she's got!

Toys I made for Neva

Meet Saxon, she was a ball of yarn until I knit her. I wanted to give Neva a doll that didn't have a big plastic head, when I came across this book I knew I had to make one:
http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Toys-Collection-Crochet-Fantastical/dp/0312359950/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218481933&sr=1-2

I made her to look like Neva, with white hair and blue eyes. Some say she looks like Christina Aguilera in her "Dirty" days. I agree although that was not on purpose.


I did, for my own sake, give her some pink hair! I also made her a pretty purple dress and some undies. I continue to knit other dresses and accessories for her.

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Here is the play kitchen Stuart and I made for Neva. I got the template off the internet for $5, we used recycled cardboard, contact paper and made the sink from a pie plate. It has been great so far, although she has been pretty rough on it, so we are looking in to making her another kitchen out of a recycled entertainment center.

See this movie!!!!

http://www.bluevinyl.org/animation.htm

It will teach you about the dangers of PVC, how toxic it is to manufacture and dangerous it is to dispose of.

FYI on Plastic Safety-Because you asked

#1 Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
Used to make soft drink, water, sports drink, ketchup, and salad dressing bottles, and peanut butter, pickle, jelly and jam jars.
GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

#2 High density polyethylene (HDPE)
Milk, water, and juice bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners, and grocery, trash, and retail bags.
GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

#3 Polyvinyl chloride (V or PVC)
Most cling-wrapped meats, cheeses, and other foods sold in delicatessens and groceries are wrapped in PVC.
BAD: To soften into its flexible form, manufacturers add “plasticizers” during production. Traces of these chemicals can leach out of PVC when in contact with foods. According to the National Institutes of Health, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), commonly found in PVC, is a suspected human carcinogen.

#4 Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Some bread and frozen food bags and squeezable bottles.
OK: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones, but not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.

#5 Polypropylene (PP)
Some ketchup bottles and yogurt and margarine tubs.
OK: Hazardous during production, but not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones. Not as widely recycled as #1 and #2.

#6 Polystyrene (PS)
Foam insulation and also for hard applications (e.g. cups, some toys)
BAD: Benzene (material used in production) is a known human carcinogen. Butadiene and styrene (the basic building block of the plastic) are suspected carcinogens. Energy intensive and poor recycling.

#7 Other (usually polycarbonate)
Baby bottles, microwave ovenware, eating utensils, plastic coating for metal cans
BAD: Made with biphenyl-A, a chemical invented in the 1930s in search for synthetic estrogens. A hormone disruptor. Simulates the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer studies. Can leach into food as product ages.

I DID IT!!!

Here are Molly and I right after our triathlon today!! Yahoo! We did great and are so proud of ourselves! For those of you who don't know triathlons require a bit of preparation. Separate from all the physical training, there is a whole slew of stuff you bring with you. There are often thousands of athletes that set up all their things in what is called a "Transition Area" which is where you go between the swim/bike and bike/run. Here is what a typical transition area looks like:


You have a very small space to put your gear. Here is my run down: For the swim I wear a "triathlon top" that I wear for the whole race and separate bikini bottoms. After my swim I run to the transition area dry off, put on a padded bike skort, socks, shoes, bike gloves, helmet, sun glasses, eat an energy gel, get a drink and head out of my bike. After the ride I go back to the transition area, take off my bike skort, put on my running skort, take off my helmet, put on my visor, eat another energy gel, get a drink and start running.

The race today was great, I wasn't nervous at all and did really well. Here are my results:

http://downingevents.com/data/Results08list.php?x_LAST=smith&z_LAST=LIKE%2C%27%25%2C%25%27&x_FIRST=katlen&z_FIRST=LIKE%2C%27%25%2C%25%27

I feel really good overall, my swim was great, my bike was good, my run was terrible, but I did my best considering I am injured and it was 100 degrees out. Seriously, it was SO hot by the run and it was a totally exposed course, brutal!

So yeah for me, I am really proud of myself and look forward to the 2 other triathlons I have this season!!

Wildlife and Rainbows

On our last day at The Box House we did see some real beauty!

Rainbow!

A deer decided to rest outside a window, he didn't mind Neva at all.

Giving the deer a kiss.