Naturally Optimistic

Ahhhhh.... Saturday! I have been looking forward to you since Monday. This week I really REALLY REALLY felt the need for you. Bad. Thank God you happened. The breakfast thing worked out okay - the kids actually slept til about 7:15 which is about an hour 15 longer than I thought they would. I hooked them up with a DVD & their breakfast boxes & went back to bed. IT WAS AMAZING. I was sort of in that hazy in between sleep & awakeness for about another hour which was fantastic. Loved it. August relaxing in the "Pillow Pit" from the night before. Love his repose.  We had some "hometime" which consisted of dragging most toys out of their homes & spreading them throughout the house. It also included multiple snacks & requests to play PBS kids on the computer & watch more movie (I said no...such a terrible Mom....) A little jammie-painting time before moving on to anything else.  By lunchtime I wanted to get out for a bit. I bought a SU...

I've been getting a little carried away on Pinterest looking at all the fabulous ideas for school lunches (amongst other things...of course). I am totally hooked on the BENTO style of packing lunches! I have to admit, I didn't know what it was & had to look it up on Wikipedia but there ya go. You learn something new every day. Basically it's a style/concept from Japan about takeaway food or packed lunches that are in one container, look aesthetically pleasing and well...you can read the rest . I love the concept of a) no waste...no plastic bags or things to throw away (although I have purchased fruit cups for Dahlia. I would gladly reuse them, but she keeps throwing them away!) and b) making lunch a little *fun* or *cute* for my sweet girl. I LOVE making her lunches. I love tucking a surprise or two in there. Granted, we've only just completed day 5 so I'll let you know if the passion still exists in April. Most of the Bentos I've seen online are WAY way...

Wow - Yesterday was a big day in the Boberg household.  At long last & after much anticipation Dahlia started KINDERGARTEN! Last spring I was so worried about which school she'd be going to. Would there be enough to challenge her? Would there be a lot of kids with behavioral & emotional problems (there's a long story behind that...I don't just randomly worry about such things)? Would she slip through the cracks because she's not the 'squeaky wheel?' I set those worries aside earlier this summer & decided to embrace our neighborhood school. We'll see how it goes! I do know that this school has become one of the most sought after schools in the city! It's a "new" school - well, a combination of two of the more 'urban' schools in the district. It's in an OLD building, but is very much renovated & added on to. it's beautiful. We saw it for the first time last Friday. They've done a great job. BUT...enough a...

Hey! Look at that...^^^^^^^^^^^^^ yep - right up there. I finally figured out how to add a 2nd page to my blog. It's only taken me...um....9 years. Go me! ;) But there you have it. A handy dandy link to What's Carrie Cooking? . I will probably be the person using it the most. ha. Ah well. Maybe I'll start posting over there again too. Right now most of my new recipes are on Pinterest. Nothing wrong with that!

Going to lock up the site. It's probably past time. I am sad because I have met some people by chance through here and that likely won't happen again in the future, but I feel like my memories, my children, my family are more important to keep out of the eyes of everyone. If you'd like to join me, please let me know. Thanks.

Glensheen Mansion from the lake side So we made it to Glensheen today. No bike ride or picnic. Instead a nice hearty breakfast at Perkins. That worked. Looking down the main hallway from the living room. The tour was great, as usual. I think I have been there at least 6 times. The first was shortly after it opened (1979/80....?!) It is a beautiful home and I love all of the rich fixtures, decor and history. I wish I had longer to spend there. I wish I knew more about really how the family spent their 'every' day days there. My favorite room - the breakfast room The grounds are amazing - the vegetable garden makes me so envious! But holy hannah - they need to get in there and pick some produce! There are flowers upon flowers upon flowers. The formal garden screams to be photographed, the trails in the woods beckon you to explore. The kids really enjoyed the grounds, as did Steve & I. I am thinking a picnic on the grounds (grounds only passes are available for...

I had a great idea for today. We have a gift certificate that my folks gave me (early) for our anniversary for a "Rose Garden Picnic Basket lunch" from Valentini's (located, right by the Rose Garden)....AND we have passes to area attractions which expire tomorrow. I asked Steve if he'd like to go to Glensheen with me & the kids & do the picnic thing and he said - yeah, sure! So, the plan was go park at the Rose Garden, bike with our picnic lunch to Glensheen, tour the mansion & gardens and then head back for our picnic along the Lakewalk somewhere. I called the restaurant this morning to see if we could get a basket, what comes in it, etc. They're not open on Sundays. WHAT? I checked their website...they're not open on Sundays at all in the Summer (hi! They're RIGHT on the LakeWalk....) or in the Winter (makes more sense). I would've never thought a restaurant would be closed on one of the busiest Sundays in Duluth! Ah well...on t...