Sweet Pasta Salad

Sweet Pasta Salad

Perfect for summer

Chili

Easy, delicious four bean chili.  Freezes well.  

Chickpea Salad

Chickpea salad. Eat plain, as a salad, in crackers or gluten free or regular bread.

Daniel Diet Breakfast Bars

Daniel Breakfast Bars

This is such an easy recipe.  Three ingredients.  No added sugar or sugar substitutes.  Fun to do with your kids as long as they are supervised.  

EIDL Loans Small Business

Timeline

March 30, 2020  Applied for EIDL

April 13, 2020 received letter from SBA 

Dear Applicant,

On March 29, 2020, following the passage of the CARES Act, the SBA provided small business owners and non-profits impacted by COVID-19 with the opportunity to obtain up to a $10,000 Advance on their Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). The Advance is available as part of the full EIDL application and will be transferred into the account you provide shortly after your application is submitted. To ensure that the greatest number of applicants can receive assistance during this challenging time, the amount of your Advance will be determined by the number of your pre-disaster (i.e., as of January 31, 2020) employees. The Advance will provide $1,000 per employee up to a maximum of $10,000.

April 18, 2020  SBA pulled a credit check

Source

EXPERIAN

Alert Date

04/19/2020

Inquiry Date

04/18/2020

Name

US SM BUS ADMIN ODA

Phone

(404) 347-3771

April 21, 2020 EIDL Advance funded

Business Type

VF

Street Addressa

1 BALTIMORE PL NW STE 300

City

ATLANTA

State

GA

Zip

30308-21April 21, 2020 AdvA

How Good are Your Taste Buds

 

Below are the 5 sense of taste, if you notice umami was added to the list.
See if you can test yourself without knowing what you are tasting and get it correct.


sweet
sour
bitter
salty
umami (savory taste)

In five or more small bowls put 5 different items.  See if you can figure out the taste, bonus points if you don't look at it only use your sense of taste.

Ideas:

potato chips, pretzels, lemon, sugar, pickle, baking chocolate
explore your own

Below is a chart from Kitchen Counter that gives more ideas

Science Walk

Here are simple machines

Walk around your home and yard and see how many that you can find.

Below is a hint of a few things you may have at your home.

matching terms game

Simple Machine Quiz

Worksheet for your science walk  Worksheet

Power of Produce

Power of Produce

https://farmersmarketcoalition.org/programs/power-of-produce-pop/

Check this out.  Many farmers markets have started this program.  Below is what there website lists as the perks for the program.  

• POP Club Guidebook featuring activity guides and planning tools.
• POP Club Activity Guide with over 50 children’s activities to do at the market.
• $2 POP Buck Template. Use their existing tokens, or print out FMC’s POP Bucks for kids use to shop at the market’s participating vendors. Markets are responsible for reimbursing participating vendors.
• Tools and templates for promoting POP Club, including social media graphics, fliers and signage. Markets can use the templates as is, or get creative and customize them with their own activities.
• POP Passport. Each POP Club kid gets a POP Passport book to track lessons learned, and document new foods tasted and activities completed.
• Prizes for kids participating in POP Club. Stickers, temporary tattoos, tote bags and other goodies will be available for purchase at FMC’s online store. Members get 20% off.
• A POP Club Facebook Group Connect with other POP Club organizers to discuss programming, and share ideas!

Summer Time Cooking

This is so easy to make that your kids can help.  The adult can chopped up the tomatoes and cucumbers and the kids can spread hummus and avocado onto a pita and shred up lettuce and add the chopped up tomato and cucumber. Put a bit of ranch dressing on top.  Lunch is done.  Healthy. Easy and no real cooking necessary only preparing it.

Small Plants Make Great Holiday Gifts

This cute little guy sits on my windowsill. He has succulent hair..

Cacti make great gifts and need very little water so they can be left alone longer than most plants.

This Holiday cactus won't stop blooming. So pretty are the flowers.

National Geographic shows different types of cactus as they bloom in this video.

There are unique plant holders out there that you can purchase to personalize your gift.

Not only are small plants a great gift to brighten up someone's home or workspace, but they are budget friendly.

Decorate For Thanksgiving.....by Using Halloween clearance items!

Starting on Thanksgiving Table Decorations

There is a lot of Halloween items on clearance with a fall theme.  The stores already are stocking so much Christmas merchandise than could not seem to wait to get rid of their mini pumpkins and decoration kits.  The entire project was only a couple dollars and the kids had a blast.

We found this kit for 75% off in the Halloween section.

Little Pumpkins are fun to decorate.

So are the pumpkins that have a bit of white on them.

Sitting and waiting to decorate our Thanksgiving table.

Daylight Savings Ends today....and my tree literally drops all it's leaves!

Well today not only did the we all get an extra hour of sleep and then have to wake up and change all our clocks that do not automatically change when daylight savings ends, it seems that this week the beautiful leaves are falling off the trees. I literally stood outside and watched the leaves drop off my tree.

No longer on the tree.

Just yesterday this tree still had leaves on it.

Deciduous-  This is a good week to teach your kids the difference between evergreen trees and deciduous trees.  When I was a young adult in my first home, I did not take into consideration that there are different types of trees.  When winter came, my yard looked very dead. There is just something nice about seeing a nice pine tree in the winter to perk me up.  I am guessing that part of the reason years ago people starting using Christmas trees was to perk up their home during the winter.

Indoor plants that stay green all year.

Perennial- This was another term I did not realize to look for when planting things in my new home and was amazed they are were dead the next year, as I had only purchased annual plants. Not having a lot of money and realizing I had to buy plants all over again I really studied up on annuals vs. perennials.  I have several annuals that I love and they just seem to be big and beautiful when winter comes, so I have learned to grow them in pots and watch for the first freeze and bring them indoors so that they will stay green all year.

Even a nice country drive will show such beautiful scenery. 

So go on a science walk with your kids this week and look for different types of plants and trees.  This is the perfect time of year for it while the weather is still nice and the leaves are all different colors of red and yellow.

More beautiful turning of the leaves

Oh, an I am great, until March 11, 2018 when they take away my morning sunshine and make me get up in the dark.  I call daylight savings time "Grumpy Week". 

Virtual Field Trip 2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

This was a unusual day above with the balloons as they lifted off a bit late. A few of the balloons did not go up on Monday the 9th but inflated so that we could see them.  The rest made it up after the slight delay and it was worth the short wait. That was the only day that had a slight bump due to windy weather. The previous weekend and the rest of the week the weather was perfect and the balloons went up and filled the sky.

Here were a few of the special shapes balloon.  The motorcycle was huge!

You can see at least one of these balloons getting filled with hot air.

This balloon is based on fractals: Science, Math and Art.  Fractal Foundation Information

Although pin trading is still popular, most of the pilots have cards telling about where they are from and all about their balloon that they hand out for free if you ask them. 

Balloons land everywhere! Parks, fields and even around homes.  You can see a bird balloon and another balloon peeking behind homes in the area. 

Another fun thing was to watch a few balloons on Wednesday the 10th of October lift off at around 6:30 a.m. and flicker in the sky similar to fireflies.  They also have an evening glow that you can see the balloon light up as the sun goes down.  These are some extra perks that are fun to watch.

Sights from 2017 Fiesta

Lots of cool stuff to buy and to eat.  If you like balloons it seemed that you could find balloon earrings, lights, quilts, canvas to paint, or lots of other stuff.  The size of the food servings were so big and you could buy fries, donuts, breakfast burritos, drinks and all other types of food. 

The police patrolled on horseback.  The horses did not seem to mind the crowds nor the balloons.  Pretty remarkable animals aren't they?

Decorations to buy or wear.  Long time weather man, Steve Stucker, has covered the event for about 26 years for KOB-TV.  His weather jacket was covered both front and back with pins.  

Interested in more information on attending in person?

Balloon Fiesta Info

What is a trip to Albuquerque without going out after the fiesta to get your favorite green chili item. Green chili burgers, green chili pizza, green chili burritos or my favorite green chili sushi.  I love it!

Virtual Field Trip to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks by Pueblo de Cochiti in New Mexico

Tent Rocks

Only $5 for a group of eight!

Views that were probably seen in 1540 by the Spanish Explorers, like Coronado.

Tight fit and often single file lines to get up and down the hike.

Look straight up, the views are so unique and different all along the trail.

We saw tree roots and even some petrified wood along the trail.

Information and warning signs along the trail.

Informational Sign

Some of the Tent Rocks you will see are short, but others are as tall as 90 feet. 

Everywhere you look people were talking photos of the amazing sights.

Lots of twists and turns on the trail, also with a bit different details.

Created from volcanic materials and then sculptured by water and wind over the years.

More Tree Views 

BLM Information Page

Amazing...Nature's Artwork

Located less than an hour away from Albuquerque, New Mexico.  You do need to bring water with you, in a non-breakable container.  They do have restrooms.  Pets are prohibited and you will be fined if you bring a pet as only identifiable service animals are allowed.  Taking things home with you, bringing a drone or shooting are all things that are strictly prohibited.  

Interested in visiting you can call 505-761-8700 or 505-331-6259 for more information or click here for BLM information website