Tag Archives: friday

Five Foodie Fun Facts For Friday #1

07/11/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Food encompasses our lives and is typically on our minds the majority of the day. Of course our loved ones always have a place in our thoughts, but don’t you ever think about what to feed your loved ones? See, you can think of food and loved ones simultaneously.

Sadly, too many people only view food as something they eat and either tastes good or not. There is so much more to food than we realize and it affects more than our taste buds. From skin, hair, mind, how we function and recover, etc. food is a major player.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m a huge advocate of real food and try my damnedest to limit packaged products. Sure, there are many healthy packaged options, but whole foods trump all.

I could go on forever, but I’ll save that for another day and another post. Today, I’d like to start the first of a series of fun facts revolving around food. Some may be funny, some may be serious, but hopefully all will be of interest.

Going Mom and I went out last night to use her Mother’s Day gift I got her to attend a BYOB painting class. The chosen item to paint was a jellyfish and I’ll be sure to share our pictures soon.

For now, enjoy these facts and please feel free to share your own in the comments below. Happy Friday!

1. Broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are also flowers!

2. Onions, apples and potatoes all have the same taste. The difference in flavor is caused by their smell. Pinch your nose and try it – they will all taste sweet.

3. Lettuce is the only vegetable never sold frozen, canned, or processed in any way, it’s only sold as fresh lettuce.

4. The meat from a fast food hamburger can come from up to 100 different cows.

5. Best for last…..The largest living organism is a mushroom in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. It has been growing for 2,400 years, killing trees along the way. The giant fungus covers 2,200 acres with an average depth of 3 feet into the ground.

Stay tuned for the second installment of foodie fun facts if for no othe reason than the joy of knowing it’s Friday!

And, of course I have to share a photo of Avery. Here she is working on her pull ups.

Then she just came over to say “hi.”

Life, Parenting

Beers with my Brother and Avery with Her Mother

04/25/2014 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

Hey, hey!

Friday has arrived and even as an at-home parent, I’m still excited for the weekend! With no travel plans, it means our little family trio can enjoy time together!

If the title scared you a little by making you think Going Mom and I are in a situation where we are sharing Avery, don’t worry, I just like to make rhymes. Really, I just went out to meet my little brother (Uncle Preston) for a couple of good beers while Kelley was home alone with Avery.

I made sure she was okay with this before making plans, and of course she was happy to set me free…..for a few hours at least. It helps that she’s going to be hanging out a with a group of other girls tonight and I will be the one home alone with Avery.

This could be scary having just me at home with our daughter……Oh wait, not much of a difference from every other day!

We both need our time out and thankfully we understand and work with each other on this. Great communication is key to a great relationship! Write it down, remember this, and never forget! I sometimes do forget and it gets me into trouble…..oops.

Preston and I went to a bar called The Flying Saucer which holds over 200 beers at one time. I’ve been a member, “beer knurd”, for 6 or 7 years now and once you reach 200 different beers, you get a saucer with your name and whatever quote you want on their wall.

After Wednesday night, I now have 53 beers. Yeah, I won’t have that saucer for a while, but I’m okay with that. I do love the occasional drink, but I hardly actually drink. When I do, I might split a good beer with Kelley or sip on bourbon, but that’s it.

Having not had dinner yet, I was feeling pretty good after two draft beers on Wednesday night, and then Preston and I shared a Belgium beer flight. I am confident in saying that Belgium and trappist style beers are my favorite!

Every Wednesday night, The Flying Saucer has a special brewery night where you can get the beer and the keep the glass. I used to do this every Wednesday when I worked late and have a nice collection. I even asked about the prior week’s glass and our nice waitress gave it to us. That glass was a “420” glass from Stone Brewing Co, and although I’m not into that kind of thing, it was still cool.

Here’s the 420 glass..

I hardly ever go out, and when I do, I will not eat at the places we go. I’m a picky person who has to know exactly how my food is prepared, so I tend to do it myself. That said, I can enjoy a few beers as long as it isn’t too expensive, and I had a great time just hanging with my brother.

We don’t get to see each other enough, so we were able to just talk about everything in our lives. For me, that’s Avery, but he had a lot of fun stories to share. Hopefully we’ll plan another outing in the near future and maybe I’ll make it to 55 beers!

It’s Preston’s 22nd birthday on May 1st, and I tried to get a free beer from the waitress; only problem was that I already paid. Dummy! Yeah, I don’t think things through sometimes, just ask my wife.

Oh well, like I said, it was a great time, and we were even treated to this as we were leaving….

The van had a handicap sticker, but hopefully this isn’t a seeing drive dog!

Meanwhile, Kelley had a pleasant evening with Avery and even took her for a short walk in the Onya Outback. Everything was peaceful with Avery sound asleep when I arrived home. I can only hope for the same when Kelley comes home tonight!

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Ever enjoy the simple things like just have a beer or two with friends or family? I feel I don’t do this enough!

Parenting

A Walking Revelation, Darth Vader Sweat, and Avery in a Zippy

03/21/2014 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

So, I had a revelation while walking with Avery and Abby. Since Avery never has much input and Abby is just looking for a place to poop, I’m usually alone with my thoughts during the 1+ hour long walk. Today, I thought of how much I used to dread work and couldn’t stand to be sitting (ha ha, that’s funny) inside. Poor Kelley, she had to listen to me complain about the same thing almost on a daily basis! Sorry, Kelley.

But now I’m here, raising our precious daughter and staying out of an office setting. Sure it’s hard work, but one look at Avery and I know it’s well worth it. Plus, I’m really hoping she’ll be nice and not put Kelley and me in a crappy nursing home one day.

Then, in thinking of the future, I realized I need to cherish each and every walk I take with Avery in the carrier and everything else we do together. Because one day, she’ll suddenly be fully grown and off doing her own thing. It’s the bittersweet fact all parents know is inevitable; our babies grow up.

Sometimes it takes deep thought before you realize the obvious, and today it just hit me. I know I’ll have to remind myself many more times, but as parents, we should make it a point to enjoy the time with our little ones as much as possible. That’s the best advice I’ve ever received and will ever give. I love our little family and will forever hold it dear to my heart!

Today’s walk was very warm with the high in the 80’s, and windy too. I sweat a lot, and poor Avery had to be right up against my stomach and chest. But, I made good use of the handy hood on the Onya Outback and she didn’t mind one bit. As a matter of fact, Avery slept almost the entire walk which lasted over an hour today.

Once we returned home, Avery was startled awake by splashing sound while I used the restroom. Hey, it’s a part of life, and I like to share it! I took my well rested but slightly damp with sweat daughter out of the Outback and went to the sink to splash my face with cool water. But, before I turned on the water, I was surprised to see my giant sweat mark from carrying Avery beared semblance to Darth Vader.

The force sweat is strong with this one. — The ~~force~~ sweat is strong with this one.

Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, just about as cool as my Dos Equis bike socks I wore for the walk….

Despite her mobile slumber, Avery didn’t last too long before getting cranky again. We just received a swaddle transition blanket called a Zippy from the very kind Stephanie at Zipadee-Zip. Stephanie sent us 2 beautiful Zippys to use for Avery and I will post a review in the near future.

Kelley has been pushing to stop swaddling Avery, but I’ve been reluctant since I worry her constant arm movement will disrupt sleep. But, Kelley is right to want to transition Avery out of the swaddle since she’s starting to roll over now.

Anyway, I decided to give a shot for a quick afternoon nap. I couldn’t help but do a photo session before trying to get her to sleep though. Isn’t she just even more adorable in this thing?

After rocking with Avery for about 20 minutes, she finally dozed off and I laid her in her crib.

30 minutes later and she was awake, but that’s how most of her afternoon naps are anyway. We aren’t using the Zippy for nighttime quite yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as we do.

Our neighborhood friend has one for his little girl and nicknamed her “Patrick” from the Sponge Bob cartoon. Now I get why, they look like starfish! I love it, and Kelley didn’t want to take it off of her when she got home.

I’m thankful the weekend is hear and my faithful companion, Going Mom, will be here with us for 2 full days. I’m looking forward to spending quality time with my two girls as usual, and I hope you enjoy your time as well!

Total time in the Onya Outback = 1.5 hours / ~4.5 miles

Onya Notes: today I used the chest clip instead of crossing the straps and am not sure how I feel about it. Crossing the straps feels more secure, but I do like putting Avery in the carrier better when the chest clip is used. I’ll have to test this more and report back.

Do you ever have to remind yourself of things more than once?

Have you tried the Zippy or another swaddle transition alternative?