Monday, March 28, 2011

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Posting Pictures Online

I know, I am a paranoid parent. I am sure that many of you think that I am crazy when I ask that my kids aren't tagged on social sites. But now I am even a little more paranoid. We are having a family council tonight (again) about stranger safety, but we're also now including the line "we don't want your friends posting pics of you online". If one of my tech savvy siblings can make me feel less worried, I would welcome it. For now though- I am hating the web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

Friday, March 25, 2011

So I was thinking that it would be nice to get some new healthy recipes and share some of mine so if this is something you'd like to do we can either do it on this blog or set up a new one just for recipes. I'll put my first one on this blog though until I get everyone's input.

This is a recipe that actually comes out of the Weight Watchers cook book. It's super easy and super fast as long as you have fresh salmon on hand. It is a little spicy but you can squeeze some lemon juice on it to blend the flavors even better. Lay off the tarter sauce though. It's good but will make this healthy recipe not so healthy.


CAJUN BLACKENED SALMON
Ingredients
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
1 teaspoon canola oil
lemon wedges

Combine the salt, paprika, cumin, coriander, thyme and cayenne in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture on the side of the salmon with no skin.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon, skin -side up, and cook until fish is just opaque in the center, about 5 minutes on each side. (It's always taken longer than five minutes whenever I've made it.)
I hope you guys enjoy it!!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

On your marks, Get set, GOOOOO!!

I meant to get this finished way before now but we've been so sick this last week it's been the last thing on my mind. Jules has strep and as a result all of us but Isaac are on antibiotics and luckily we're finally starting to feel better. So let's get this party started!! If you haven't weighed yourself, do it, cause we're starting the contest now. It will go until the family reunion so work your little hinies off so you can win some money. I'll get back to you later with more info but for now start eating better and exercising. I love you guys!! Thanks for being my motivation to get healthier!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Right or wrong

Ok, so I have a question.  The last couple of shopping trips Avery has wanted a fruit snack from the box I put in the cart of a juice box from the box I put in the cart.  I give them to her fully intending to buy the item of course.  It makes my shopping trips less noisy and she stays in the cart.  I can pack things for her in the diaper bag but of course, she sees what I am putting in the cart and wants that one.  It's spoiling her I know, but that's beside the point.  Is it right or wrong?  It seems ok to me, but when my older ones see this and say " you are using that before paying for it?  Isn't that wrong?"  Makes me wonder.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Biggest Loser, Bean Style

So Josh and I came up with an idea that we think would be a lot of fun and in the long run improve the quality of living for all of us. Recently there have been a few of us who are wanting to change our lifestyle and become more healthy people and yes loose a little bit of weight in the process. So we were thinking how fun it would be to have a contest in our family to see who can loose the biggest percentage of weight in a certain amount of time. Now, for you lucky, lucky people who don't need to loose weight don't worry you will be included in this as well. I was thinking that maybe during the family reunion we could hold the first ever Bean family endurance games, or whatever we want to call them. During these games we'll have races and other games to test endurance and strength. This way the skinny ones will still have something to work toward. So here's the clincher. In order to make it worth it for any of us to get off our bottoms and make a change there needs to be some money involved as a prize. Preferably a good size amount. If we want to do this would you all be willing to contribute to the pot for the winner. If so what is a good amount for everyone to contribute. I need input on this and I need to know if you'd even want to do something like this. And please, if you don't want to do it, just say so. You're not going to hurt anyone's feelings. I will be making this change even if we don't do this. It would just be fun to have everyone's support and some one to hold me accountable to help me on this journey. I love you guys!! No one could ask for a better family than you!!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

March Madness

Just had to say it.
Greg and Brian:
My bracket beats your bracket.
And Alex's bracket beats them all.
Seriously.
Who would have picked Morehead to beat Louisville? Alex
She has Temple and BYU in the final though.... if that happens, she deserves the trophy!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Gas Prices?

I just got the following e-mail, and it makes sense...but can it work? I dont' know. What do you guys think? If nothing else, it's saving me from having to forward it on. :)


THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.

This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please.

Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May!
It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?

We need to take some intelligent, united action.
The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas .

It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can Really work. Please read on and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.08 at Arco and Costco for regular unleaded in Salem, Oregon and climbing every week.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers.

With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.

The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas.

But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.

If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers .
If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all!

(If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician But I am . so trust me on this one.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.