Denim Daisies

 Hi! I am an HGTV person. I love the Gaines' of course, but I'm also a huge fan of Fixer to Fabulous, Home Town, and well pretty much any reno show that's not a competition nor a "high stakes anxiety ridden nail biter". If I'm watching TV it's to relax, there's enough anxiety in life without adding fictional to the mix. That tangent being said, I saw an episode recently in Fixer to Fabulous where Dave Marrs used a flame thrower to clear a large portion of weeds on a patio in a short time. As a fellow pyro person I was intrigued and started the all-knowing Google machine on if this is actually a thing. Turns out it totally is. Weed flame throwers are here and available in your local home improvement store.  Once I knew that this existed I decided that Grant and I clearly needed one as I still had sores on my hands from a "rage weed" session a few days previously and I went to the store and got one for Grant and my Dad as birthday gifts. (When ...

 Happy Monday! I really want to switch to more fully plant based meals and so naturally I went to my favorite grocery store to see some of their prepared options. Spoiler: this was not my favorite thing but Grant liked it and it gave me a ideas for how to make my own version! I really liked that this was easy to find and the prep for oven options was as simple as throwing on a cookie sheet. We don’t have a microwave and don’t plan on getting one any time in the near future but if you’re looking for microwave vegan options this is a win.  I paired this new with a Mediterranean salad, different regions but the idea of light greens seemed great with this sauce. I loved this salad kit and will likely get this again. (Don’t forget to recycle the plastic from it in your orange rumple bag!!!) Fully prepped this was the look, appears pretty much the same as the animal protein one though I wasn’t a huge fan of the protein texture. I think if I just had the rice, sauce, added some green...

 Hello! My boys are always up for an adventure, but for regulation purposes we do try to keep at least a couple of hours each afternoon at home to give us all a reset. During that time they can nap, read, play quietly, or we'll watch a tv show together. Their favorite toys are the ones listed below, they will vary from time to time, right now Jamie loves his toy tool set from my parents and he and Leo both will play dinosaurs pretty frequently as well. Most of these I found at Once Upon a Child for only a few dollars. Counting down... 5. Puzzles! Leo has been really into puzzles lately. These were a gift from the Dayton Children's cardiology team and we've used them multiple times a week for a year and a half and they've held up pretty well. We have several other puzzle options for him, though I like the board backing for keeping these together. I've also downloaded some onto a kids kindle fire for him to use when we're out and about. 4. Paw Patroller Mini-Car S...

 Hi! I was beyond pleasantly surprised to walk into the education hour at our church this past weekend and see that the new series that we are working through is called Creation Care as in care of everything on 🌍. Sadly I have not always associates organized religion and our responsibility to this planet which is an unfortunate discrepancy for me as an individual, but I think for the religious community at large. The series that our church is doing not only gives the Biblical backing for an amazing ministry, but also gives a lot of helpful tips on how we can do better. Redeemer Cincy Creation Care This week we learned about The Hub recycling center in Cincinnati which can take items and materials that we don’t always associate with being recyclable, I’m talking about you car seats and plastic packaging! The details are in the link below but if you find yourself throwing out something, just think of it it might be recycled instead! Cincinnati Reuse and Recycling Hub We also spoke a...

 Hello! This post is all things Jamie. Here's to my favorite six year old who celebrated his birthday last week! We had an event for A Kid Again the night before which just happened to be the annual birthday bash for this wonderful organization so it felt very fitting that our big guy's actual birthday was the next day! The next day I'd set up a special experience for Jamie at the zoo and so we met up with Biddy and Grandpa and our favorite one-year old cousin Rosie for a fun day of animals, merry-go-round, and PENGUIN FEEDING! Guys, the penguin feeding only costs $15 per person with half of proceeds going towards their keep and half going towards penguin conservation world wide! You have to be five years old and so Grant and I took Jamie while Leo went with Biddy and Grandpa.  It was the best experience and Alexa did an amazing job tailoring the information to what Jamie could understand. We loved this and will definitely do it again!!! And here's a random shot of Leo ...

 Hello! This is an exercise we did in one of my classes for my Master's in Public Health (MPH) and I loved getting a real assessment and have done this calculation every year since then to see how we're doing. We started at a 14 as a household and have made it down to a 7 in the past three years by making some changes and being more conscious of the impact of our actions. EPA Carbon Footprint Calculator Essentially you just input your information to the best of your knowledge and this option from the EPA gives you the ability to "commit" to your goals for the coming year to see what effect you can have if you stick to them. It gives me a little extra motivation, especially to just put on a sweater in the winter rather than turn the heat up in the house.  Other things that are brought up are: - switching your energy to 'clean energy' which can typically be done, or might already be done through your electric provider - drying your clothes on a line rather than ...

 Happy Earth Day!!! One of our favorite vegetarian and easy weeknight options is to “church up” a store brand freezer cheese pizza (could easily grab a vegan one as well) by adding red onion, green pepper, dates, feta, olives, balsamic glaze, essentially anything you can think of. The phrase "Churched Up" I got from an episode of Queer Eye: More Than A Makeover where one of the folks daughters described it as adding some extra nice things like you do to your outfit when going to church. I love this phrase, and am a huge fan of the show! 😀 I really like peppers because it makes the house smell amazing and it’s practically zero effort so it’s great for a weeknight meal when you are tapped out. It also makes for a fun activity for the kids by letting them add their own toppings without having any ‘no touches’ in the prep outside of the oven. On other news we had a wonderful birthday weekend for Jamie and did a lot of gardening this weekend which will be detailed another time wh...

 Hello! Happy 6th Birthday to Jamie!!!! I love you Jamie bear and I'm so proud of how many mountains you've already climbed at this young age and how many more you will in the future with the biggest smile and brightest attitude the world has ever seen!!! Daddy, Leo, and I are so grateful for you!!! With Earth day coming up next week, Monday April 22nd, what better way to prep than to start brainstorming about it early! 😊 Jamie is a huge outdoor/nature show/all things awesome about the world fan, so this is right up his alley! Here's the five ways that we'll likely be celebrating this year. Go on a hike! Smale Riverwalk in Cincinnati was just voted the best in the US by Today! and so getting outside and enjoying all the work that has been done to this area with the plethora of natural flowers and the dedication to clean-up is definitely on our list! Participate in a local 'church swap', our church Church of the Redeemer Cincinnati, is hosting an item swap on th...

 Hi! One of my favorite people to follow when I was still looking through IG regularly was Sam Bentley. He does regular good news stories about conservation wins around the world (and might have an amazing accent while doing it 😉). If you are like me and not on IG/X/whatever platform regularly you can still watch his videos through youtube!  https://www.youtube.com/@itsSamBentley He posts a monthly video here and it's just really inspiring and a welcome dose of positivity as well as ideas on how we can carry these wins even further! These are just some of the amazing topics that he covered this past month: mangrove planting in Pakistan recent updates to the EU 2030 goals Black Rhino population success in Kenya new filtration for microplastics I'm a really big fan of including the successes in a topic that unfortunately has so many negatives and work to be done.  💛 Jess

 Hello, If you're like me then your day tends to go a lot smoother if you're able to start it with your routine of simple, but productive tasks. I don't do this everyday because I'm human and therefore we have changes to our schedules, but for the most part this is it. 4:40 - 1st alarm 4:50 - 2nd alarm and actually pick up phone and look through calendar for the day, delete spam emails and note ones that I might need to actually read, make 'to do' list in notes, look up a few random memes to send to a group text with my friends B and L that has been going daily for the past 8 years 5:00 - get out of bed, brush teeth, wash face and go downstairs for COFFEE! :-) I like having something really nice to look forward to and make getting out of bed feel like a kid at Christmas, so a few years back we got a really nice espresso machine with some awards from work and it is one of my favorite things. I also like to unload the dish washer and take care of any 'late nig...

 Hello! So Cincinnati has recycling pick-up every other week, however they, like pretty much all recycling trucks, don't pick up plastic from grocery bags/packaging/etc. Kroger has a solution to this and it's relatively simple: 1. bring all your plastic (clean with no food residue) into Kroger 2. put them into the bins designated for plastic recycling right next to the front doors in the entry area 3. walk away feeling good because less plastic is going directly into landfills as 'single use plastic' 4. realize that you forgot your reusable shopping bags and facepalm while walking back out to car *#4 is optional but I do it pretty frequently  If you are like me and constantly forget to bring in your reusable bags, try ones that fit in your purse/backpack and you then have at least one on hand all the time. It's worked pretty well this past year for at least smaller trips. One of my wonderful friends gave these out to all of us as a holiday gift this past year and I ...

 Hello! I love recipes with lemon. Especially in the spring and summer, but really I could eat lemon all year round and be happy. (Except if there's large amounts of sugar or buttercream involved which unfortunately feel gag-worthy.) This recipe started with something from Everyday Italian and apparently was something that Giada served to Princess Kate and Prince William when they visited LA right after their wedding. Since then we've definitely played around with it, frankly finding as many ways as possible to make it even easier and fewer dishes at the end. The original Giada recipe can be found here:  Sweet Corn and Basil Mini-Lasagnas   Ingredients 1 tub (8oz) mascarpone cheese 1 small bag frozen sweet corn  3 cups shredded salty cheese (we use cheddar a lot because we have it on hand, but gruyere would be delicious with this too or the classic Italian Parmesan Reggiano) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp minced garlic (I use the preserved kind from the grocery store) 1/4 cu...

 Happy Friday! As promised, here's my top 5 favorite places in Cincinnati, I'd have nice pictures of everything but I'm frankly too tired after a night shift. Counting down to best: 5. Smale Park with the riverfront trail. We absolutely love this for the views and the GIANT slide for the boys. Scootering is one of the activities that centers both my kids and so we do it a LOT. 4. Cincinnati Museum Center. Set in the old rail terminal, their children's museum and dinosaur exhibits are unparalleled, plus the mining exhibit is super cool. It can get a little crowded and over stimulating because so many people agree it's awesome and therefore didn't get the top spot.  3. Lunken Airfield. This is a really fun spot with a five mile trail to run/scooter around the airfield. The boys love it because the planes take off and land directly overhead. Only negative is not a lot of options for potty breaks with two little bladders. #sorrytrees 2. Ault Park. WE LOVE THE CREEK!...

Jane Goodall Book of Hope In case you missed it, Jane Goodall, celebrated her 90th year on Earth on April 3rd!  Jane's work in wildlife conservation and activism has made her a household name for decades and her institution, through its Roots and Shoots program to inspire young minds, will continue to do so for decades after she departs.  Just about every news organization did a special on her 90th and the link below is to the Forbes article that highlights one of the brands that she has formally partnered with as a fundraising campaign for this milestone birthday. Brilliant Earth has already donated $100,000 to her institution and has a collection premiering later this year as a partnership with Jane. If you are looking for a new family heirloom, you should check out their sustainable collection. (Again, I'm not sponsored by anyone, just a fan 😊)  Forbes Article on Jane Goodall 90th Birthday In honor of her birthday here are five facts about Jane from reading her books ...

 Hello Friends! In case you didn't hear about it on literally every news/radio/email distro/etc, this past Monday was a total solar eclipse in the US! Leo found the perfect viewing position! :-) Grant was working from home that day and school was out so we were able to view it as it started to show in Cincinnati through the nearly total eclipse here. (We were just south of the path of totality and would have driven the 30 minutes to my parents house to view the full thing but Jamie tested positive for the flu the day before and so we are keeping to ourselves for a few days to prevent spread.) It was really fun to be able to see this together and we brought out some snacks to enjoy while we waited. Teddy, our Bordernese, particularly enjoyed the excitement! ;-) Doggles! <3 Thank you Grandpa Dave and Biddy for the glasses!!! Overall it was fun, though Jamie did get overstimulated, unfortunately, because he's terrified of bees and the big fuzzy carpenter bees that live in our p...

 Hello! So I am not affiliated with anyone or anything and this is not an ad, just how I sell used clothes as a sustainability tool that's easy on the wallet. “The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.”  –  Joshua Becker I don't really know a lot about Joshua Becker other than he's written a few books on minimalistic living, but this quote makes a lot of sense to me. If you have the chance to alter/repair clothing then go for it! It'll fit better and saves $$. That being said, as a mom of two, I still definitely have to buy clothes and items for myself, my spouse, and our boys. We will very occasionally purchase new items, but I always check used clothing/equipment stores first whether in-person or online. The three I use the most are: - Thred-up (online and super simple, especially if looking for something very specific) - Once Upon a Child (in-person, if you have kids and are not shopping there you're missing out BIG TIME!) - Snooty Fox ...

 *As a disclaimer, this recipe does use eggs so there is some animal-based protein, but you could totally switch that for a plant-cased substitute. We've used "Just Egg" in the past and have loved it for recipes, I just didn't have that on hand this week. Grant and I really like this recipe because it's simple and you can pair with pretty much any sauce/side depending on how easy the week is going. They taste a little crunchy and are akin to a falafel.  Ingredients: -     2 eggs - 1 can garbanzo beans/chikpeas - roughly 1 cup panko breadcrumbs - 1 tsp majoram - 1 tsp herbes de provence - 1 tsp oregano - 1 tbsp olive oil Preheat oven to 350. Either smash, great if you have little helpers around like Leo this time, or blend in a ninja or food processor, the garbanzo beans. Once they're more 'paste-like' add in the eggs and herbs. Transfer to large mixing bowl and fold in the panko breadcrumbs a little at a time until incorporated but not a ton sitting in...

 Hey there! I'm Jess, a mom in Cincinnati Ohio, who is passionate about my family, doing my best to help the planet, and, hopefully, bringing a little positivity to the internet. I've worked on doing a practice blog for the past year to see if this is something that I want to pursue and it has been very therapeutic for me.  As an intro, because no one wants to hear me ramble in paragraph form, here's 10 things about me: 1. My family is my priority. Always.  2. I'm extremely type A and therefore already have a schedule for this, if my mother ever reads this she's likely rolling her eyes and telling me to chill. 3. I can't sit still and will therefore fill my schedule part a a coping mechanism and part just because it's me. 4. I've been working extremely hard this past year to prioritize things that serve our family and saying goodbye to whatever adds unnecessary stress. 5. I'm a hardcore Enneagram 2 (the helper) and therefore my professional backgroun...