Amazon

This post is to review an item I bought at Costco that I found thanks to the reviews on Amazon.com. Blake sleeps on a blow up mattress in our bedroom when guests stay overnight. We have been through two blow up mattresses and I got fed up with them popping after the fifth use. I know I can patch the things, but they seem to blow out somewhere else on the next inflation. Andrew told me he used to sleep on a trifold foam mattress whenever he slept over at his grandparents. I looked them up and couldn't believe that they are $200 from futon shops. My kids are little so I decided to go the cheap route. They have them on amazon.com for $65, but they looked so cheap. For the first time, I read the eight comments attached to the reviews. Someone posted that you can find a similar product at Costco for $48. That sounded better to me. I called Costco the next day and the customer service woman told me they had 72 in stock. Let's just say they now have 71.

Unfolded:


Trifold:


Info:


Item # (from Mountain View, CA Costco):


It is not the firmest mattress, but will definitely do the job.

Scones

I had a play date with our old neighbors today and decided to bring everyone some scones since my lemon tree is full of ripe fruit. The recipe was super simple to use and turned out yummy.

Reade got out his stool and tried his hardest to reach those lemons:


I decided to save time by using the Cuisinart:


Who needs a scone pan anyway?:


Packaged and ready to go:


I found the recipe here. I doubled the amount and prepared it my way:

3 CUPS white flour
1 CUP whole wheat flour
1/2 CUP sugar
2 Tsp baking powder
2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt
1 CUP chilled butter (2 sticks)
1 CUP sour milk (1 cup milk with 3 tsp. lemon juice added - let sit for 5 minutes)
Zest of two lemons
Additional sugars

Add all ingredients into Cuisinart. Pulse slowly until the dough sticks together. Dump onto floured counter and knead until it all sticks together. Split dough into two balls and shape each one into a flat disc about and inch thick. Cut with dough cutter (like a pizza) to get eight pieces each. Arrange on two, oiled cookie sheets with enough space since they will puff out a bit. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

There was lemon juice left over so I added about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the mix and a bit of water. It was really runny, but I lightly brushed the mixture over the top of the cooled scones and then sprinkled them with sugar. This way they aren't super dry and have a tiny amount of sweetness on top.

Clover

I need to get cracking on my St. Patrick's Day crafts/leprechaun traps. This is one of my favorite holidays and there is so much to do before that leprechaun tries to make off with anything he deems lucky from our house:

Can clover stand up to my brilliant idea involving a glue gun? We shall see:

Photo

Permission was granted from our neighbors to gather some clover from their yard for terrariums/traps:

Photo

You have to check out this blog post. Kind of sickens me to think about eating it, but what a great idea:

Crazed

I wanted to breath beach air. I didn't mean to freeze us. Yahoo weather said it was 62 degrees and sunny in Pacifica, but when I got there it was 54 degrees and windy. It was so cold it made my inner ear hurt. Blake ran around like it was summer and even waded in the water until I forced him to sit up in the sand with us. Reade was wrapped in towels and seemed okay playing in the sand right next to our blanket. Hot baths followed once we returned home.

How the heck do they do it? The surfers would jog around in circles to get warm before heading into the surf. One guy even had his dog go out with him. Poor dog and poor kids being forced into a chilly beach day:


I came up with the idea of re-purposing old board shorts into kids beach pants. I thought it would keep them a bit warmer since Northern California beaches aren't always warm:


Reade wearing his pair (a bit too short):


I really did enjoy how quiet the beach was:


Different kind of play:


That fog is so calming:


Taco Bell looked less like a fast food joint and more like a place where I would curl up next to a warm fireplace:


I am still working out the timing where the beach is that happy medium between shivering and sunburn.

Good Behavior

After weekend shenanigans...


it was time to get back to some good behavior.

Smoothies for breakfast:


Andrew's homemade croutons on salad for lunch:


And that simple something to get me through a Monday:

Friday

I didn't want to be bored today. In a selfish way, I didn't want this day to be focused around my kids. My dreams came true.

My friend offered to show me around a Korean market (super fun). Then, another friend was invited to shop along and we got to go out to lunch afterwards and talk about adult things (again, super fun). Here is my loot:


I went to an Open House in our neighborhood and got to see the finished product after a quick remodel by an investor. I hope we get some fun neighbors in there. A realtor sent a flyer around saying that his last listing got 20+ offers on it. Another realtor told me he had 15 on the last house he sold. Everyone is in panic mode to get into houses before the Facebook people drive the prices up even further. This tree is down the street, but I just wanted to showcase how alive the end of winter can be in California:


Ellen had stopped by to have some tea and it turned into an impromptu date night for us. We promised Blake he could watch Star Wars for the first time so why not turn it into a grandparent movie night? Andrew and I had a great dinner together and laughed when we walked by this store on our way to Peet's Coffee. I said, "What is it exactly?" Andrew replied, "I think it is a hipster bike store. Yup, it's a hipster store." Funny:


Full day. Can't say I was bored one bit.

Coousins

Erin and Holly came over for a mid-week slumber party. After dropping Blake off at preschool, we headed to Google for some breakfast. Erin hadn't seen Google yet so we thought we had to initiate her.

Walking around the campus:


Reade crying in the ball pit and Holly being happy:


Where are all the people?


Reade doing his best daddy impersonation: