Got Yogurt?

We are big yogurt eaters. Perhaps it has something to do with Evan growing up on a farm, or my parents fostering my love of yogurt since a young age (I think my dad even made his own yogurt at some point). But whatever the reason, we consume a whopping 10 little 6 oz. yogurts and 1-2 big 32 oz. yogurts a week. That's 92-124 oz -- in other-words, a heckuva lota yogurt! For a while we bought cheaper brands of yogurt because we found it hard to justify spending 30 cents more per 6 oz (89 cents @ Target), and almost a dollar more per 32 oz. But ever since Evan tried his first bite of Stonyfield French Vanilla a little over a year ago -- he was sold. Which was perfect, because I was already head-over-heels!


And now we're reaping the benefits of eating the yogurt -- quite literally! Of course it's already well known that consuming yogurt on a daily basis (especially kinds that are organic and free of high-fructose corn syrup) is good for your health (read more about that here). But with Stonyfield, there are all kinds of other benefits. Like:

Did I lose you somewhere?

Let me back up a second. About a year ago, Stonyfield started putting these codes on their lids

that you can enter online here. Each code gives you a point -- well actually the 6 oz. yogurts earn you one point, and the 32 oz. ones give you four. It seems like it would take forever to earn a reward, but if you are crazy yogurt gobblers like us, you can get 18 points in one week -- which is just two points shy of a free 32 oz. yogurt! When our free yogurt coupon arrives in the mail, we usually truck on over to Lund's, one of the few stores that carries our favorite Banilla. Lund's is pricier than our frequented Target, so we save Banilla for the coupons!

In the past year we've also snagged a years subscription to Whole Living Magazine (formerly Body & Soul) for 60 points. And our biggest reward to date: a Patagonia backpack, priced at $69, for 350 points!

Now, if your only reason for upgrading to this yogurt was to receive these rewards, it wouldn't actually be worth it. We did some calculations on our end and discovered we spent about $105 in our yogurt upgrade before we were eligible to receive the $69-priced backpack. But if you simply love good-quality yogurt and would consider buying the higher-end stuff anyway, why not stock your fridge with the kind that says Thank You every once in a while?

Random E & C Yogurt Trivia 

We went through a stage where we made our own yogurt. It works pretty well actually when you use this little helper (ours looks pretty similar ... we call him R2D2). But it takes quite a bit of time and you kind of need to have a system down. I hope to start that up again one of these days. Maybe after Stonyfield ends their rewards program!

We try and use yogurt in our meals every once in a while. Stoneyfield has a great recipe website. When we make smoothies they are always yogurt based. My favorite smoothie consists of a little orange juice, lots of vanilla yogurt (or plain with honey), frozen berries, and right before you are finished blending -- add a banana. But what makes the perfect smoothie? Popping in a few ice cubes of frozen mango juice!

How the heck do we eat so much yogurt? We always pack a little yogurt in our lunch, and then C typically has yogurt and granola before bed, and E enjoys a bowl a few times a week. C also eats yogurt on pancakes and add it to hot cereals -- yea a little crazy I know.

C's yogurt of choice: when at home, Stonyfield Plain, lowfat (fat free has a weird consistency) mixed with some honey, frozen blueberries, and homemade granola. When on-the-go: smooth and creamy raspberry or fruit-on-the-bottom blueberry.

E's yogurt of choice: when at home, Stonyfield Vanilla, lowfat (not a fan of fat free) either alone or mixed with some granola. On the go: fruit-on-the-bottom strawberry or else vanilla. But his runner-up favorite yogurt choice sings quite a different tune:

What are your yogurt habits? Have you ever tried making your own? Do you like the simplicity of plain yogurt or do you go crazy over exotic and fun flavors? If you don't fit into any of the categories below, feel free to leave a comment explaining your yogurt preferences and habits!

WHAT'S YOUR YOGURT STYLE?

Banilla Stonyfield photo taken from here, magazine photo from here, and backpack photo from here. Yogurt code photo taken by C and edited in Photoshop, and army of yogurts taken by C. YoCrunch photo taken from here.

Patio Progress: Phase 3

I left you a couple of weeks ago as we were laying pavers down the walkway of our patio (and you can read about the first phase here). The third phase of our big project involved a lot more sand hauling,

navigating a tricky corner,

(here's a quick video demonstrating Denny's knack for leveling sand! From earlier in the project - you can hear Evan operating the chop saw in the background)

and basically making the most perfectly level "sandbox" I have ever seen!

Later that night E and I decided we were ready to check this patio off our to-do list, so out we went into the night (with a handy work-lamp perched in the windowsill so we could navigate the dark and work on into the night without fear of crooked lines).

When you are laying pavers you aren't supposed to apply any extra weight to the bricks (not until you tamp them down that is), so we had to get creative and use our old closet doors to distribute our weight as we sprawled out to reach the middle of the patio.

By the next morning (and no, we didn't work straight through the night!) we were ready to lay our final brick!

(imagine big smiles and corny high fives, celebrating the almost finished project we've been tackling since August). Well, we still had to finish up our one tricky edge, which would involve more cutting of bricks to fill in the gaps.

But that was a project for another day -- and another post.

Check back soon for our final installment of the Patio! It involves some heavy machinery, a helpful Craigslister from North Minneap, and a little broom-action.

Home Remedies

I have a little secret I'm going to share with you:

These two little items are my cold-battling weapons. Just last Monday I noticed I was starting to get a cold, so I whipped out these two items and put them to work. I still suffered from some cold symptoms, but for the most part, the brunt of my cold only lasted for TWO DAYS! By Thursday I was feeling fine:
scratchy throat? gone
stuffy head? what stuffy head?
persistent congestion? hasta la vista!

Propolis Echinacea is a throat spray and quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have tasted in my life. It has a really bitter taste that almost makes you gag at first, but by now I've actually gotten used to it. If you spray right at the onset of a scratchy throat you can wake up the next morning in tip-top shape. You can find it in health stores (such as WholeFoods) or online for around $10. Read more about it here and here.

NeilMed Sinus Rinse is basically the same as its more well known cousin, NeilMed: The Netty Pot. Except this new version is much easier and tidier to use. You fill the container with warm water, add the sinus rinse packet, and then shoot it up into your nose -- but make sure you're over the sink because the rinse (and any gross congestion) will run out the other nostril or mouth! My coworker has used the sinus rinse regularly for the last few years and says she's even noticed a decrease in allergy symptoms. It's worth a shot! And kind of fun in a gross sort of way .... Check it out here, and if you're really curious, watch this youtube video:


I know, a random topic to write a blog post on, but something that is a regular part of my life. I use the sinus rinse twice a day during allergy season or if I'm fighting a cold! And the throat spray I have ready to grab from the hall closet whenever I feel the onset of a scratchy throat.

Here's to staying healthy this winter!

...it was a Monster Mash!

Happy Halloween from the Pierson house!

Why that's Waldo on the left and an arctic spelunker on the right, of course!

We've started picking out our costumes by giving ourselves 5 minutes in the closet the night of Oct 31... it's like a Halloween challenge! Last year this is what we came up with.

After enjoying some "witches stew" (while answering the door for trick-or-treaters of course)

taking a knife to one of our home-grown pumpkins! 

I went with a somewhat unconventional pattern this year ...

And whipping up some of Evan's special Apple Crisp (we have rivaling recipes!)

while listening to Monster Mash on repeat

We were finally ready for Halloween:

Patio Progress: Phase 2

We left you a couple of weeks ago as we were shoveling gravel into our patio area, with only the walkway complete. Only a few days -- and sore muscles -- later, it looked like this:

The next step in the process called for tamping down the gravel to make a solid and level surface for us to build our patio. But we decided it would be too hard for us to tamp our own gravel (which would require heavy machinery, a truck, and a healthy back - of which we are in short supply) so we hired it done. This is where I will spare you the boredom of looking at a photo of tamped gravel.

The following weekend we were again blessed with wonderful weather and the assistance manpower and guidance of the Piersons. We soon discovered that the most difficult and tedious process in the whole patio operation is in the prepping and framing. Thanks to Denny's ingenuity, we got 'er done.

We started laying our pavers by the gate in a herringbone pattern. Tessa and Leo headed up the brick-laying, while Evan stayed on top of those sport's scores (notice the background) ... ; )

The holes are where we needed to cut bricks to fit. That was Evan's job (since his bad back kept him off the ground).

We all had fun pitching in ...

Even Kate ...

And by the end of the evening, we had the walkway and the angled portion done!

Stay tuned for stages 3 and 4 ... I'm a little behind on recapped our patio progress. We are actually about 99 percent done right now!

Adventures with the Piano Man

The secret's out -- here's a peak at what we were up to Saturday night. Shhh! Don't tell Evan's physical therapist!

No worries, Evan wasn't actually lifting the piano (much...) because he is currently recovering from a back injury. But late Saturday night, and I mean LATE, we got to meet the official Piano Man. Or at least I'm going to think of him every time I hear that song.

But let me back up a bit and tell you how it came to be that we spent most of the day Saturday without any idea we'd be waking up on Sunday with this in our house:

That's right, we have a piano! I played for a few years back in high school and I believe Evan took lessons sometime during elementary school. But for both of us, piano was always our secondary instrument (Evan plays trumpet and sings, I play violin). Since we bought our house last summer we've been dreaming of those ivory keys and finding ourselves plunked down at the piano exercising our fingers and enjoying our favorite pieces of yore -- and maybe figuring out some new stuff too!

So we turned to trusty ol' Craigslist to find us a nice used piano at a reasonable price. We were drawn to the upright studio style because that's what both of our parents' have, we've heard they have great sound for their size, and we thought it would look good in our modest-sized living room (and yes, it fits perfectly!). Enter Piano Man, stage left. He reigns from Eden Prairie with his garage full of pianos -- all shapes and sizes. We contacted him Saturday morning and decided to meet up around 7pm. After testing out a few of his pianos and asking a bagillian questions, we decided that the Baldwin/Hamilton from the 1970s was the one for us. We asked when we could expect it delivered, assuming it would be a couple of days or weeks. Piano Man answered: well, how late are you guys up tonight? (!!!). He informed us he usually stays up until around 2am and could probably get this baby in our pad by midnight. Wow! We said we had no problem staying up all night if it meant getting a piano, so we rushed off to the ATM and scurried on home to clear a space for our newest piece of furniture.

At exactly 12:45AM Mr. Piano Man rolls in, and within half an hour has that baby in place! He has this piano-moving thing down to a science and only needed our help to give a slight nudge up the steps. Needless to say, we were very impressed.

If anyone in the Minneapolis area is on their own hunt for that perfect piano, let us know and we'll drop you his name. We only spent 400 buckaroos for this beautiful instrument and believe the sound quality far exceeds the price tag. What a steal!

Here you'll see the cozy corner our piano now calls home! The front door is a few feet to the right.

We already enjoyed brushing up on some old pieces this morning and can't wait to get our hands on some new music ... and duets!

But first, let me leave you with a funny video from last night. Our neighbor (two over) occasionally blasts his outdoor stereo system, even when they aren't outside. Well, last night as we were waiting for the Piano Man to show up, his music kicked on -- right around 11:30pm. What makes it funny is that he is an 80s junkie, so we enjoyed the Wind Beneath my Wings and various other tunes. I could actually make out the words of the song from inside the house. Between his music and our midnight piano delivery, our poor neighbor sandwiched between us must've been a little confused; you would've thought it was the middle of the afternoon! (Sorry for the poor image quality on this one).

Coming Soon: find out where we relocated the black chest that used to sit in the piano corner. And I'll have Phase Two of the Patio Progress up as soon as I edit all of the photos!

Patio Progress: Phase 1

GROUNDBREAKING ...

As some of you may already know, lately we've been itchin' to dig into an outdoor project -- quite literally. Now that our fence is done we are craving a space where we can relax with a book, enjoy a meal, or even roast some marshmallows. Of course we could still do this on the grass like we did back in August, but we want to use our creativity and manpower so we can sit on something solid. Initially we were thinking of building a deck just off the ground, but after taking some time to consider our yard and our budget, we decided what we really wanted was a patio.

So we started out with the typical run to Home Depot (we also visited Lowe's and Menards) to do a little research. We quickly decided it would be most cost-effective to order our pavers from a home improvement store (Menards had the best prices by far) but get our gravel, which goes under the pavers, from another source. That's where handy-ol' Craigslist came into play. After a quick phone call and some negotiating, we found ourselves with a big pile of gravel in our driveway.

Unfortunately, Evan then proceeded to hurt his back starting up our old lawnmower, so our patio project went on hold until ... this past weekend! Here's a little peak at what went down at our official groundbreaking:

Denny (Evan's dad) came up Sunday mid-day, ready to get his hands (err...shovel) in some dirt.

You can kind of see our plan in the above photo. A path right outside the door (which is just to the right of the frame) leads up to a rectangular patio off the corner and front of our dining room area. Initially we were planning on designing scalloped edges and curves for a nice soft look, but we decided a rectangle would significantly minimize the number of pavers we'd need to cut to fit. And we figure we can always spruce it up so it doesn't look like an intrusive landing pad in our backyard by adding pots and planters, or even building a raised bed along the side.

Later in the afternoon Mary (Evan's mom) popped in to help out, and that's when things really began to take shape!

But we weren't prepared for the amount of dirt we ended up with and had trouble finding a new "home" for all of it. We piled some of it around the house to build up the foundation, some of it we used to level out an uneven patch in our backyard (due to an above-ground pool from the previous owner), and the rest we stashed in the corner of the yard to use in a garden next spring. As you can see, the dirt got a little out of hand! (note the crazy pumpkin plant taking over our backyard?!)

We were so eager to continue with our project that we kept working after dark!

Tessa and Leo stopped by and did their share of shoveling and transporting gravel from the driveway to our patio area, which was six inches deep. We need to fill that entire space up about five inches, tamp it down (we may hire this done as the equipment is really heavy), add an inch of sand, and then finally start working with the pavers themselves. (Don't quote me on the layers and inches ... I'll have to check with Evan).

We are already enjoying having a gravel path outside our house - I can't wait until we have the pavers in place! A big Thank You to everyone who pitched in!

Now I'm heading outside to shovel more of that gravel!
~Carolyn