Five Foodie Fun Facts for Friday #2

07/18/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Alright, it’s Friday!! I’m willing to bet the clock is watched more often on Friday than any other day of the week. What do you think?

In an attempt to be consistent with my Friday Fun Facts that I first posted last week, I present to you another installment of 5 foodie fun facts you may or may not know.

Posting these almost every Friday shouldn’t be a problem because I’m learning new things about food as well. And, as many of my friends, family, and readers might know, I’m pretty into food.

Popcorn pops because water is stored in a small circle of soft starch in each kernel. As the kernel is heated, the water heats, the droplet of moisture turns to steam and the steam builds up pressure until the kernel finally explodes to many times its original volume.
The same chemicals that give tart cherries their color may relieve pain better than aspirin and ibuprofen; about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory and headache pain.
The banana plant can grow up to 20 feet tall, which is the height of a two-story house. This large tropical plant is really an herb which means it does not have a trunk like a tree. The stalk is composed of leaf sheaths that overlap each other and grow from an underground stem called a rhizome.
Egg shells have as many as 17,000 tiny pores, and can other absorb flavors and odors. Keeping them in their cartons helps to maintain freshness and flavor! Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of soda.

I love making air-popped popcorn, and thought it was cool to know exactly how those little guys “come out of their shell” and turn into those fluffy, white puffs that are fun to eat. Much better than using them to make soda…

Tomorrow, Saturday, our little family will be going to visit several other families nearby. I met the dads through a dad blogger’s group on Facebook, and one of them offered to have everyone come over with their wife and kids.

Hopefully Avery is cooperative and has a good nap so we can head over there in the early afternoon.

Who me? Of course I'll be good! — Who me? Of course I’ll be good!

I’ve already explained my peculiar food ways after they generously offered several things to eat, but I think we’re on the same page with having good beer!

We are looking forward to a good time and getting to meet new people. The kids coming over vary in age, and I think the one closest to Avery’s age is 11 months, so maybe they’ll have something to….errr, blabber about….

http://instagram.com/p/qaBHmnDRn-/?modal=true

Any plans for the weekend?

Ever meet up with others that you met online?

Life, Parenting

8 Month Photo Session with Snaggletooth and Sleepy Face

07/17/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Every month we have been taking a picture of Avery in the same chair with the same bear; nothing different.

What is different, is the level of difficulty with each passing month as Avery’s mobility only gets better.

Last month, she was on the verge of crawling, and very hard to keep still as she constantly attacked her bear. This month was no different, but she was able to stabilize herself a little better. Yep, Going Mom still needed to stand by to prevent the gravity defying Avery from falling right off the chair.

Notice Mommy’s safety net arm ready to catch our baby as she lunges forward in her crazed state.

Another variable I never considered is the fact that she’ll eventually have more than just a gummy smile, she’ll have teeth! This is the first month where Avery is flashing us a snaggletoothed smile with only her front top right making an appearance.

Hard to see, but it’s there. She also has her two front bottom teeth cutting through, but they’re still hard to see.

Our 8 month photo session was short lived, but we successfully obtained a few good shots. The temperament of a teething baby is grab bag of emotions; you never know what you’ll get from one minute to the next. First, she’s happily hugging her bear-friend….

…..then it’s suddenly hands-to-face….

…..and more hands-to-face, really rubbing those eyes….

……oh, it’s back to happiness and bear hugs…

…..but wait, maybe the bear said something mean…

…..nope, it’s that damn tooth….

……okay, one more hug? for the bear with Mommy’s supervision…

……aaaaaannnndddd, she’s spent…..

…..now it’s all business, the bear is gone.

All of this happened in the span of approximately 4 minutes. I know, it’s a crazy life, huh?

As all parents already know, the randomness of our kids’ temperaments means us adults will also have a varied temperament. Guess that’s why we have our options of beer, wine, or liquor should the “need” arise!

I know, we never actually think we need alcohol to solve our problems, it’s just fun to reference………..and drink. 😉

If you take frequent growth pictures of your kids or used to, what difficulties did you experience as they grew older?

Life, Parenting

Nana and Papa’s Visit and Would You Let Your Wife Cut Your Hair?

07/16/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Seriously, who needs teeth anyway? Can’t we all survive on pureed foods?

We are in full blown teething mode over here, and Avery is constantly reminding us every second…………not kidding.

Poor girl, life is hard.

This past weekend Nana and Papa came over to have dinner at our house. They hadn’t seen Avery since Mother’s Day when we brought her to their house for her 6 month photos.

I’d say she’s changed a little; crawling, “talking”, and sprouting a few teeth.

After everyone ate, Avery provided the entertainment for the evening. She could crawl anywhere (within reason) around the house, but chose to go under the table just to make it difficult to get her. No worries, though, Papa joined her to see what’s so great about her chosen location.

Not sure what is was, but the hung out down there for a while. Eventually, she climbed out and her and Papa had a little peek-a-boo time.

Where is Papa?

There he is!

She wasn’t buying it. Teething can really “take a bite” out of your sense of humor, huh?

Avery actually enjoyed most of the day, but for some reason she just wouldn’t show smiles for the camera. We really have to work for those smiles now!

After Papa had his Avery fix, Nana could hardly resist scooping Avery in her arms for kisses. I’m going to guess Avery isn’t quite ready to return kisses though…

Just a wild guess.

We moved outside to our backyard for a bit and Avery practiced standing in the grass as Kelley held her hands.

The air was stagnant and even with the sun starting to set, it was hot, so we migrated back inside. We played with Avery a little longer until Nana and Papa had to head home. It was great seeing them, and I know Avery enjoyed their company, despite her expressionless face in the pictures!

The next day, Sunday, in an effort to “cut” costs, I agreed to have Going Mom cut my hair. We bought a new hair cutting kit for just less than the price of one haircut, so after just one cut, we’d be in the green!

I normally try to wait a month before getting my hair cut, so it was getting pretty messy and growing over my ears.

Here it is from the side: before

I never fix my hair or do anything with it unless my wife asks me to, which isn’t often thankfully. When I had an office job, just the act of putting something in my hair stressed me out. Yeah, it’s a minor thing, but just what it represented pissed me off.

Anyway, after a few YouTube videos and reading the included instruction manual later, Kelley started her first time attempt to ever cut anyone’s hair. At first, I wasn’t too worried, but as she started laughing and saying “It will get better”, I had an immediate face palm reaction.

But, in the end, I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s a lot shorter than I usually have it, but definitely makes it easy to wash and there’s no way to style this now!