X Marks the Spot

If you're looking for a great family hobby, I would highly suggest geocaching. It's a modern-day, high-tech treasure hunting activity designed for all ages and skill levels. And, with almost a million caches around the world, it's a hobby that will travel with you wherever you go. I joined the program and searched for local caches today and was shocked at how many are within walking distance of my house.
The basics of geocaching require a hand-held GPS device and Internet access. Visiting and joining (for free!) http://www.geocaching.com/ will give you detailed descriptions and locations. Find a cache you'd like to hunt for, enter it into your GPS, then have fun searching. Each cache is different. Some contain a trinket you can take and ask you to leave one in its place. Some have a log to record the date you found it and your name and hometown. At any rate, geocaching looks to be a really fun and inexpensive adventure for your family. I can't wait until my growing family is all old enough to understand and enjoy the hunt!

If you've already begun your geocaching adventures, I'd love to hear your stories in the comments!

Family Cookbook Pumpkin Pie Spread

Here's a recipe perfect for this time of year. I've heard there's a canned pumpkin shortage this year. You can easily substitute fresh roasted pumpkin. Just cut a pumpkin pie pumpkin in half, and remove the seeds. Place cut-side down into a casserole dish filled with 1 inch of water, and bake at 400 degrees until soft. Fork mash.

Ingredients:

1 pk cream cheese, softened

1 cup canned pumpkin

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 ½ Tbsp orange juice
2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

Whip ingredients together until fully combined and smooth. Serve with gingersnaps.

Good-smelling vacuum

I've always had a problem with the vacuum exhaust stinking - probably because I've always had a dog. Our dog is an indoor dog who is very clean and gets regular baths and grooming, but it doesn't seem to keep my vacuum from stinking up the house when I use it. I've resorted to using a very inexpensive vacuum cleaner because replacing the filters is so expensive. Anyway, I heard a trick and tried it without much hope, but it's completely solved my stinky vacuum problem. Just stick a scented drier sheet in the bag (if it's bagless, you can throw it in the canister), and the exhaust will smell fresh and clean. It works tremendously. I am almost at the point of having to replace the bag again, and it still smells as fresh as it did the first time I used it. Nice!

Family Rules

I will definitely be doing this soon. Love it!

Basil Oil

We are a big bread-eating family around here. To accompany pasta dishes, soups, etc., I often make a loaf of foccacia bread or buy some crusty bread to break and dip in marinara sauce or olive oil. I recently saw an idea for infusing olive oil with basil to use as a dipping oil. Since I'm still bursting at the seams with my basil bounty, I thought I'd share.

Basil-infused Olive Oil

1 cup olive oil

3 stems of basil (no need to use the leaves even, just stems)

In a saucepan, warm the olive oil over low heat. Add the stems and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Serving suggestion: In a shallow plate, drizzle enough olive oil to cover the surface. Top with fresh cracked pepper and Italian seasoning. Use it to dip crusty bread. Yum!

I'm back!

Late summer was a doozy for us, and I appreciated the time away from this blog. I did, however, write down tons of ideas in my time off to add when I got back. In the interest of the reason I took a break in the first place (I'm pregnant!), I thought I'd start with a precious keepsake idea that I recently heard about to record your baby's first sounds.

Build-a-bear allows you to record your own sounds to a sound box they will stuff into the animal for you. Choose two of the recorders. Take one with you to one of your prenatal appointments where you will hear the heartbeat, and record the sound. Take the second to the delivery room to record your baby's first cries. Then you can put one into each hand of the bear you pick out. Precious!

Bloggie Vacation

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm taking a brief break from this blog. I've found myself really busy lately and needing to concentrate on some new endeavors this Fall. I will be back in early October, and I can't wait! See you all back here then.