I MOVED!! You can come too!

Moving day has come!

I have now officially moved over to dreadlockgirl.com
You can go to:
reads for my new book review blog.
lives for my new everything-else blog

Why did I move? I felt it was time to step out and do something I have wanted to do but hadn't yet. I have wanted to have my blogs in one spot, to have them combine and work together. Anyway, so both my reads and lives blogs combine onto my main blog which is dreadlockgirl.com from which you can head back and forth between my different interest blogs.

Do you have questions? Keep them coming, and also let me know how I can improve!!

Caution: pirate playdough

There is nothing left in our house that hasn't been taken over by pirates. We enjoy every second of it, well maybe not the battling with swords at all times, but they certainly are having fun.

Ahoy, Thar! Ye lily livered land lubbers!







What is your household obsessed with?

palaces, castles and mansions of wood

One of the favourite things in this house is to make castles, barns, zoos, and garages all out of wooden blocks. The boys work together and come up with such fun stories about who lives there and what each room is for. Then, sooner than the other brother would like, the youngest always manages to knock it all down. This time I took some pictures before the devastation transpired.

golden

Easter is not about golden chocolate bunnies, or sweets of any sort, still it is okay to enjoy the treat. Before and after ponder the real reason for Easter's sweetness.

sushi in portland, or.

yum. I love California rolls, nothing surprising in them. What is your favourite sushi?

rain and tea sipping

oliver with tea by,dreadlockgirl.

The rain has come back. We are into tea drinking right now. No high teas or low teas thoguh, just whenever we feel like taking a sip of the warm liquid. I love many kinds of loose leaf teas, but the boys only know one kind: licorice root tea.

Do you share tea with your kiddos?

Winners of my homemade lunchbags:

Here are my two winners for the homemade lunch bags, each of you will get one lunch bag:

Shelly B from Write for a Reader
Kim from Page after Page

Congrats girls!!!! I hope you love your lunch bags :) I am a little late in announcing, sorry.
click on the contact me button and email me your addresses ladies!!!


There is still time if you'd like a chance to win on copy of the 2 the book Linen, Wool, Cotton books enter here.

recuerdos de infancia: Oliver y Benji

When we were little there was some tv that we had to watch, this series "Campeones" starring Oliver and Benji (in Japanese: Captain Tsubasa) was a huge hit in Spain, we loved it. I wish I could get it for the boys....

Heart Z Ranch, Crawfordsville Oregon.

Last weekend we went to Crawfordsville, there is so much to see on the way! I was happy to not be driving so I could hang my camera out the window for some shots off of Peoria Road. It is so pretty.



Lazy M Ranch is Brad's Grandparents ranch. His uncle John does most of the ranch stuff now though. It is really fun to go out there with the boys.




Why does food always taste better in the country? Well I think it is because you work for it!

After a good lunch we went to 'help' Uncle John load some cattle at Heart Z Ranch. He bought some little Holsteins for a friend. They are about 6 months old here.











I learned some things when we went to the ranch. Holsteins are not the kind of cows a rancher wants to buy, they are cheap and dairy cows...but are only good for hamburger meat. I didn't know that, maybe you did. Brad's uncle bought them for the lady who is on the fence in the pictures. She wants them to train stock dogs, which are dogs who herd cattle.

Info bit number two is that not all bulls have horns, and some cows have horns!Yea, Mr. Heart Z Rancher thought I was joking when I was astounded that that "black cow" in with the babes was a bull."Well, hey! I grew up in Spain, man where no bull would be caught dead without horns!" I told him, he laughed and said that many Mexican cattle have horns too, but that most American ranchers opt to breed it out, or dehorn babies- since horns can be pretty dangerous to people and to the other cattle. Every time I go I learn more, I love the whole thing.

Thanks Uncle John, it is always fun to 'hang out' and learn from you! Oh, and he gave us some Tenderloin Steaks- yes, we are vegetarians but, only fair weather veggies as we are always willing to make exceptions. Especially for tenderloin from Knee Deep Cattle Company it is Free Range Beef, Born and raised on Oregon's lush green pastures. No added Antibiotics or Hormones. (a company based out of Eugene, Oregon!) He also gave us jerky from Knee Deep Cattle Company- the owner of the company is in the pictures above in the blue hat on the fence. She warned us, " make sure you refrigerate the jerky after opening it, as we don't use any preservatives!" I just had to laugh. " You know this will be gone before we get home, right?" I asked. "Well good!" she answered smiling.

We all worked hard, and the boys were certainly ready for some good rest at the end of the busy day.

I would love to live in the country. And I love jerky. I love Oregon.

No-knead Sourdough Bread Recipe

I am in love with a website I have found recently, Breadtopia: For the love of bread.
I have made several of Eric Rusch's recipes, and since I am a sourdough fanatic (not really the sourdough taste but I love the idea of having it live and not buy active yeast!!)

I don't want to snag the whole recipe, so for this delicious bread you need to go to
Breadtopia: Sourdough No Knead Method
I add in 2-3 teaspoons of Baking soda to get rid of some of the acidity and sourdough taste. I know some people love the strong taste, but for me it is a little too sour.

Tonight I am making Breadtopia's Sourdough Pizza recipe. I'll let you know how it goes!

In the middle of the read-a-thon!!

Would you like to see the torture and fun of the read-a-thon??
I am in the middle in it right now! It started at 5am PST.
Updates will not come on this blog though, go to B&b ex libris to keep track (if you are interested). I will be doing updates every 3 hours or so!! Comment if you'd like...I'd love to hear how crazy you think this is. It really is nuts I have no doubts about that. HA!

Susan Boyle: I dreamed a dream.

Susan Boyle- the little gem of Blackburn, Scotland has made me cry every time I watch her. It is her voice, her song, the critics skepticism and her heart. I don't jump on bandwagons that easily but this is a bandwagon I ran too, not able to stop myself. You have to check it out, check out her performance, they mock her, and Simon rolls his eyes at her, asks her her age and they scoff - then they watch her sing and their mouths drop, not even Simon in all his grouchiness can stop grinning- she is outstanding!!

Britain's Got Talent Susan Boyle performance (you MUST see it!):

EMBED-Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing - Watch more free videos

These are two interviews with CBS after:


Watch CBS Videos Online

For me her song has really struck a chord, I don't really know how or why other than she definitely has emotion behind her words. Personally I don't care about the show, I don't care about the winner- I stopped watching American Idol a while ago, they only want teen idols who fit the mold. This gal, Susan Boyle breaks the mold in every which way. I am rooting for you Susan! :)