Christmas blessings

It's been a less than ideal week leading up to Christmas this year. We've all been sick and with sickness comes our sins bubbling to the surface more than usual. My kiddos have been whiny and bickering and crying over little things and rude and grumpy and grunting and not responding when they are called or asked a question...and truth be told, I've been a lot of those things too and also impatient, critical of every little thing, inattentive, short-tempered, and definitely not showing the love of Jesus to anyone around here. Really, it hasn't been lovely, it's been quite the opposite.

Tomorrow morning, though, even though my children may deserve a lump of coal in their stockings, they will each find a doll sling and doll blanket, lovingly made by their mommy. They will get something they don't deserve, because we love them dearly and they are our children. And, though I won't have anything in my stocking tomorrow morning, I too deserve a lump of coal and much worse, but instead I (and the rest of my family) will celebrate a much greater gift that our heavenly Father has given to us: "...for today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord."

The catechism we do with the girls has this question and answer: "What do our sins deserve? God's anger and punishment." Our heavenly Father gives us what we don't deserve: a Savior, forgiveness, love, mercy, adoption as sons and daughters of the King. What blessings we have in Christ!

We were sad to miss the Christmas Eve service tonight because of our little sickies, but I am glad that the Holy Spirit took all the yuckiness of the past week and showed me how much I have been given in Christ. And I am also grateful that one day all the yuckiness in me and around me will be gone. Merry Christmas!

Girls' blog updated

Finally posted an update on their blog.

Listening

I started listening to podcasts from thatmom.com tonight. So encouraging and enjoyable, especially as a homeschooling mom. But I think all moms could benefit from her wise, Godly words. I started at the beginning tonight and listened to about seven of them (they are fairly short) while finishing the gift for Nathan's grandmother (we are visiting her soon).

I think she, along with some Two Towers or Hobbit, will keep me awake while driving through the night on our next trip to Texas.

New stockings

Nate's mom and I collaborated to make the girls' Christmas stockings this year. And by collaborated I mean she did all the work and I gave my input. :) She did such a wonderful job. When she visited in early November she finished them and gave them to the girls. They were well received.



Becca's is the manger scene:



Ally's is the shepherds and sheep:



And here are the girls with their Mima. We had such a nice time with her. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, caring, and talented mother-in-law.

My camera woes

Ever since breaking our digital camera back in August (by tossing it onto cement while it was inside the pocket of my Ergo baby carrier), we've been lacking the pictures around here. I was just looking through the pictures on the computer to choose some for our Christmas card (I'm a bit behind on that) and there are not many for each month. It kind of makes me sad. I do have one small batch on the laptop too.

We did use my parents old digital camera for awhile: an old HP 4 megapixel one, very slow. I missed many a good picture waiting for it to focus and zoom. That recently broke too; the battery door broke off and we tried duct taping it back on, but it just won't stay there.

Now I'm on to my Nikon film SLR. It's a nice camera, but it's film and I've really gotten used to the digital. I thought I'd never say that, but it's true.

I have considered a digital SLR, as I mentioned before. As much as I'd like a Nikon D90, I just can't justify it for us. And I don't think I could handle carrying around a camera worth that much. I wouldn't mind the D60, but the 50mm fixed lens I have won't automatically focus with that, which is pretty essential when taking pictures of fast moving children. I would get a zoom lens with the camera that would auto focus, but I really like the f-stop (1.8) that my fixed lens gets down to.

I know there is Canon too, but I have enough trouble keeping up with the many DSLRs that Nikon has without trying to figure out Canon.

I'd like to know what others out there have. Even if you don't have a DSLR, what do you have instead. Nate wants something smaller. I want something that I can mess around with a little and that makes that cool clicking sound that an SLR makes. :)

Flour tip

We made sugar cookies yesterday and putting flour on the table was made infinitely easier by having the flour in an old spice jar and shaking the flour on the table. I got the idea from the New Best Recipe Book.

I've also put ground flax meal and powdered sugar in old spice jars. For the ground flax I decoupaged fabric on the outside of the jar to keep light out and I keep the jar in the fridge.

Dating my husband

Nate and I got two dates last month. Nate's mom watched the girls while we went out for dinner at Chipotle and ice cream at a local Mexican place and then for a little shopping at Target and Marshall's in early November when she came to visit.

Over Thanksgiving my parents watched the girls from Friday to Saturday so we could have our first overnight away in 4 and a half years! We had a great time eating at our favorite GH places (Snug and Morning Star), shopping, and staying at the same hotel where we spent our wedding night. The girls had a great time with my parents, decorating their Christmas tree, hanging out with their uncle and cousin, staying up late to watch movies in Nana and Papa's bed, and riding the Santa train on Saturday. They loved it and I think Nana and Papa had a pretty good time too.

Glee Disappointment

So disappointed with that last kiss on Glee. As much as I would think Will and Emma would be great together, I was really hoping they would have Will go back to his wife. I guess I just can't expect the writers for a prime time show to care about the commitment marriage is. Especially since his wife was trying to take steps to make things better. So bummed.

On the other hand, loved watching all the fun songs they had this episode.

If they are going to pursue this Will/Emma thing next season, I really don't know if it's worth watching it.

Landscaping plans

Yesterday the girls and I went up to the nursery where we got Little Bun's tree to purchase a pine tree for our front yard and try to make some other plans for what to put in our landscaping. After spending two hours there, we left with good plans and a purchase. They'll be delivering and planting a five-foot tall Black Hills Spruce in the next week. That will be going in our front yard a ways away from the house on the left if you are looking at the house.

We also bought a couple other plants that they will deliver since they are already delivering the tree. I'll post a picture below first before I describe where we are putting things.



We bought a burning bush and some ornamental grass called Maiden grass. Both were on sale...yay! The burning bush will go to the left of the porch kind of where all those weeds are growing next to the porch, except out a ways. The Maiden grass will go slightly out from the left corner of the porch, kind of behind the lilies and in front of the drainage spout. We'll be moving the lilies back a few feet so they will be next to the Maiden grass and then in the lilies place will be a Globe Blue Spruce.



We'll be putting three more boxwoods in--two to the left of the boxwood on the left side of the porch, evenly spaced, and one to the right of the boxwood on the right side of the porch. We'll be moving the geraniums, which you can see below, to the two small triangular shaped areas on either side of the front walk.



Lastly, we'll put in hydrangeas on the right side (Endless Summer or Lady in Red or both). One to the right of the boxwoods in the corner in front of the drainage spout and one behind the drainage spout. If I still have room, I'd like to find a Royal Family Holly bush. It apparently has both male and female parts, so it can produce berries with only one bush. The nursery doesn't carry them now, but may in the spring.

Travel felt board

We're going to be traveling again sometime soon and I saw these cute travel felt boards on someone's blog and thought it would be fun to try and make one for each of the girls. So I watched tv on Hulu (which Nate told me is thinking of charging people to use it next year...boo) and worked on them. They are exactly alike.

I used a pocket folder instead of a manila folder. This allowed for extra storage in the pocket. I store the felt shapes in an envelope in the pocket. I used Mod Podge to attach the felt to the folder. You could use a glue stick or regular glue too if you spread it thinly. Nate helped cut out the apples. :)

Here is a dark, slightly blurry picture from Photo Booth:


And it all put away:

Projects to do

1. Doll slings (2 for friends, 2 for girls' stockings)

2. Doll blankets (for the girls' stockings)

3. Repurposed wool felt hats (for the girls)

4. Calendars (for 2 gifts)

5. Crocheted towel toppers (2 for each grandma)

6. Finish Ally's first year scrapbook

7. Becca's Halloween flower costume just had to include that one to make me feel productive

What we've been up to

Blogging and pretty much anything on the computer besides watching TV shows on Hulu has taken a back seat for the last few weeks. I've been having some stomach and abdominal pain that we think might have been a gluten intolerance. The past three days or so I've finally had no pain and that might be because I've been eating gluten-free for over two weeks now. I won't go into too many details on here since it is so public, but I don't mind discussing it. I've seen a doctor about it and will be seeing a naturopathic doctor tomorrow.

So, with having some pain just about every day for the past month and a half, some things have slipped by as being not quite as a priority. I'm hoping things will be getting better soon. I did post a couple posts on the girls' blog yesterday, complete with pictures.

We have been up to other things around here besides neglecting blogging, trying to figure out how to avoid gluten, and dealing with stomach pain. My parents came to visit and we went out to an orchard. Silly people didn't let us pick apples there, but we did pick pumpkins. The next weekend we made it to another orchard and have enjoyed the apples from that.

We also finished our fire pit and have had one small camp fire in it. The girls liked having a little picnic out there while the fire (smoked) burned.

I've been doing lots of reading lately. I finished Pilgrim's Progress, reading just a little bit each night while the girls fell asleep. I tried reading it out loud for a while, but that didn't work, so I just read the rest silently. I'd still like to read it again sometime, maybe in a more modern version.

I picked up Harry Potter again when I was having to lay down a lot when I had pain and have been rereading the series. I'm in my least favorite one right now, the Order of the Phoenix, book five. Drives me crazy every time I read it.

After I finish HP, I think I'll pick up When Children Love to Learn, a birthday gift. I've read it before, but I think it would be a good reread as we work on figuring out what our children's home education will look like.

That's all I'll share for now. Nothing else too exciting going on around here.

I'm off to bed.

A grocery experiment: Week 3 (4?) groceries

Trader Joe's: $81.50
Includes:
tortilla chips
dried cherries
organic frozen raspberries (2 pkg)
multigrain crackers
organic chocolate syrup
Dr. Bronner bar of soap
organic plain whole milk yogurt
organic frozen strawberries
organic light brown sugar
vanilla whole milk yogurt
butter
2 zbars
bananas
garlic naan bread (so good!)
chocolate chips
frozen petite peas
frozen mango chunks
pizza sauce (the refrigerated kind)
clif bar (For Nate)
whole wheat tortillas (2 pkg)
organic peanut butter
frozen edamame
fresh ginger
organic spinach salad
organic broccoli
organic whole carrots
uncured bacon
shredded cheese (2 pkg)
monterey jack cheese brick

Kroger: $12.33
Includes:
2 gallons milk
4 cans orange juice
buttermilk
whole wheat bread

Locally Grown Gardens: $15.40
Includes:
3 apples
green pepper
broccoli
2 dozen eggs

Note: Just found out they raised their egg prices .50 to $4.25 a couple months ago. I've not been paying attention. I thought I was getting such a deal there, since the Farmer's Market eggs are usually that much and LGG was lower. They had to raise it cause the price of feed went up.

Locally Grown Gardens: $19.11
Includes:
dozen eggs
1 onion
4 apples
4 peaches


Grand total for September: $548.86

A couple of thoughts:

--I can't wait to go apple picking. Apples are expensive at LGG. We're going to Beasley's this coming weekend when my folks are here. Hoping to eat lots of fresh apples, make apple pie a couple of times, make applesauce with extra to freeze, dry apples, and maybe some apple crisp and baked apple muffins too. Mmmmm.

--Thinking about going back to Farm Fresh Delivery. I don't know if it will save me money, but it will surely save me time. I think it will save a bit of money compared to what I've been spending this month. :)

--I can't wait to get a chest freezer. We're waiting until we can save for it. I'd like to buy a 1/4 or so of a grassfed cow.

--I won't be posting my grocery bill from tomorrow for this month. Since there are only three days left in the month, I'm counting that for next month. I will be keeping track of how much I spend, but I'm not sure if I'll list what I buy. I guess if I wanted to be really thorough I'd compare right down to each thing I bought, but I don't think I will be.

A grocery experiment: Week 3 Menu


Mostly skipping lunches on the menu. Will figure those out as we go.

Monday:
B: yogurt, granola, and fruit or cereal with milk
L: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or tortillas and smoothies
D: chicken (turkey) curry over rice with naan and peas and corn (Nate gone at boy night)

Tuesday: (make Powerball Cookies today--note: I chop up the nuts and chocolate chips in the food processor or hand chopper so they stick better and also include shredded, unsweetened coconut)
B: oatmeal with fruit
D: baked french toast with apples (board meeting for me)

Wednesday: (make cookie bars for community group)
B: eggs and toast
D: community group--bring cookie bars

Thursday: make English muffins and pizza dough
B: German Apple Pancake (see below)
D: Salmon melts and tomato basil soup (from freezer)

Friday: (make banana bread or muffins)
B: Leftover German Apple pancake or cereal
L: Leftover english muffins and toppings
D: Pizza and salad

Saturday:
B: Pancakes or oatmeal with fruit
D: Leftover pizza

Sunday:
B: Granola or cereal and fruit
D: Burros (beans, cheese, taco meat, cheese)

German Apple Pancake
from Nate's mom
Serves 4-6

4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk, room temperature
2 T butter
about 2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced or diced
cinnamon sugar mixture (2 T sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon)

Beat eggs with electric mixer until thick and lemon-colored. Beat in flour, sugar, salt, and milk. Preheat 9x13 inch pan in preheating oven (preheating to 400 degrees), melting butter at same time--tilt to coat. Pour batter in pan and scatter apple slices over. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes--will get puffy. Serve warm with maple syrup, powdered sugar, or just plain.

A grocery experiment: Week 2 and 3

Locally Grown Gardens: $12.90
Includes:
6 peaches (4 for community group)
3 apples
2 pears


Good Earth: $16.81
Includes:
almond milk-1 quart
one quart TP yogurt
about 1 pound TP ground beef
yogurt raisins (treat for Nate and girls)


I went to Kroger because Good Earth was out of TP milk and Kroger sells it too for a little more. They were out too, though, so I gave up and bought Kroger brand milk.

Kroger: $9.12
Includes:
3 cans frozen orange juice
whole wheat bread
2 gallons milk (actually 4 half gallons because they were cheaper)


Total: $420.52

I'm toying with the idea of stopping the experiment here. I know the month isn't over yet, but I'm at least thinking about giving up on the milk. TP milk is the most expensive milk I've seen out there. It's even more expensive than getting raw milk from a local farmer even after buying a share of the cow and all. Oh, how I wish we hadn't missed out on that deal we almost had to buy a cow and board it with a farmer...oh well. Letting that go, now. :) Nate's been saying that he's been drinking next to no milk this month and it is kind of a pain that the milk comes in quarts. We are constantly opening a new bottle.

So, i think that's my compromise. I'll go back to buying regular milk (hormone-free, at least), mostly at Trader Joe's, but still try to buy other things local, like produce, beef, yogurt, honey, eggs. I'll keep track of my spending on here for the rest of the month still. And maybe even next month for a comparison, we'll see.

A grocery experiment: Week 3 menu

Sunday-
D--Texas Chicken Enchiladas

Monday-
B-eggs and toast
L-leftover chili, blueberry bread, leftover baked oatmeal and fruit for girls
S-Chris's mexican food in Nora for my birthday

Tuesday-
B-Oatmeal and peaches
L-Texas chicken enchiladas, tortillas with pb and j or plain chicken for girls, fruit, carrots
S-Mac and cheese and turkey hot dogs

Wednesday-
B-Pancakes or granola (need to make some)
L-Texas Chicken Enchiladas, smoothies and toast and chicken for girls
S-Community group--bring something

Thursday-
B-Eggs and toast
L-Texas chicken enchiladas (they are yummy and last a long time with only Nate and I are eating them)
S-Eating out somewhere--hoping the gyro place--I'm getting a massage before dinner!

Friday-
B-cereal and milk
L-Not sure--probably cheese, fruit, crackers, bread, tomatoes, carrots, and yogurt
S-Salmon melts (see below) on homemade english muffins

Saturday-
B-Leftover english muffins and eggs (after we go early to a couple of yard sales, I hope)
L-maybe not much if we have a big enough, late enough breakfast)
S-Burros (basically taco meat and cheese and beans and sometimes rice and corn, wrapped up in a tortilla, baked in a pan covered with aluminum foil or wrapped each in alum. foil. you can also freeze them and throw them in at 350 for an hour straight from freezer) Only 30 minutes in oven if just made and 45 min if from the fridge.)

Sunday-
B-baked oatmeal
L-
S-leftovers

Salmon Melts

1 can salmon or tuna
1/3 cup celery (I usually don't have celery-can use celery salt or some other crunchy veggie)
1/2 cup mayo (can substitute some plain yogurt for part of this)
1 Tbsp Dijon or regular mustard (sometimes I do half mustard and half honey)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp salt
ground pepper
english muffins
butter
tomatoes, thinly sliced
cheese slices

In small bowl, combine seafood and celery. Add mayo, mustard, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper; mix well. Lightly toast and butter English muffins; top with tomato. Divide seafood mixture evenly among halves. Top with slice of cheese. Broil until cheese bubbles. Sometimes I put cheese under the seafood mixture.

A grocery experiment: Week 2 and 3 groceries

Some of these are from the end of last week and some for the beginning of this week. It's hard to keep up with posting.

Locally Grown Gardens: $27.09
Includes:
Sugar baby watermelon (medium-sized)
5 peaches
2 dozen eggs
2 apples
2 red peppers


Good Earth: $35.34
Includes:
4 quarts TP milk
1 quart TP yogurt
bulk pinto beans (3 cups or more)
bulk organic rolled oats (about 2 lbs)
toothpaste for Nathan
cumin (ounce and a half)
garlic


Nathan went to these two for me yesterday. He forgot that we were experimenting with avoiding Kroger for the month. But I appreciate that I had a little break from grocery shopping anyway.

Trader Joe's: $29.19
Includes:
whole wheat flour
turbinado sugar
altoids (hmmmm)
organic whole carrots
turkey hot dogs
butter
frozen mangos
frozen strawberries
bananas
turkey breast half


Kroger: $16.08
Includes:
Edys ice cream-2 (for my birthday!)
orange juice (5)


Total groceries so far: $381.69

A grocery experiment: Menu for Week 2

This is a flexible menu for week 2. I didn't perfectly follow my menu for last week, but planning ahead was still helpful for knowing what to have in the house.

I'm not doing the breakfasts this week. We will eat breakfast, of course, but I don't have them planned at the moment.

Monday:
L: sandwiches, apples, snacky foods that we would have taken to the beach
S: Zucchini pie with homemade crescent roll crust (this is a lot more work, but so worth it and so much better for you...except it uses a ton of butter--I'm happy to email it, but I don't think I should post it), blueberries, and smoothies for the girls

Tuesday:
L: Leftover zucchini pie and some tomatoes for me, girls will have sandwiches, edamame, and apples
S: Pasta with pesto (see below for recipe) and leftover tomato basil soup and bread

Wednesday:
L: Smoothies, apples, blueberry bread (from freezer) and leftover zucchini pie if there is any left for Nate and me
S: Community group--bringing tomatoes

Thursday:
L: Avocado quesadillas (if they are ripe) and fruit
S: Chili and cornbread (didn't have this last week because didn't have beef in house)

Friday:
L: Chili and cornbread leftovers
S: Slow cooker chicken

Saturday:
L: Chili leftovers (we always eat this for a few days) and smoothies for girls
S: Texas Chicken Enchiladas (See below for recipe) with chicken leftovers

Sunday:
L and D: Yummy leftovers

Pesto (from Mommy-made (and daddy too))

2 cups basil leaves, rinsed and tightly packed
1/2 cup walnuts (could use almonds too)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Process above in blender or food processor until coarsely chopped.

Slowly or gradually blend in:

1/2 cup olive oil

Remove from processor or blender to bowl and stir in:

1/2 cup parmesan
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Let sit in covered container in fridge for 1-2 hours to let flavors develop. Then can use with 1 lb of cooked pasta.

I froze half of the pesto. Place in container and cover with olive oil before freezing. Freeze for up to three months.

You can also freeze fresh basil. Rinse and chop basil (I use a scissor to cut in small strips. Then place 1 Tablespoon of basil in each cube of ice cube tray and cover with water. Once frozen, pop out and place in freezer bag. I'll be using three cubes in each batch of tomato basil soup.

Chili (from my mom with my variations)

1 lb ground beef, browned (I don't drain mine, because it doesn't have a lot of grease)
Add one clove minced garlic
Add one small/medium, chopped onion
Add green pepper (take seeds out and chop)--opt.
Add 2 cans beans--I use garbanzo beans--about 2-3 cups cooked beans. Use what you like.
Add 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes--sometimes I blend them to make them less chunky, sometimes I leave them how they are---this week I may use fresh tomatoes
Add spices:
1 1/2 tsp chili powder (or more)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin (or more)

Simmer for about 1 hour before eating (mine usually simmers for 2-3 hours, at least, because I make it right around lunch time). Or I make it the day before, let it simmer for an hour, then let it cool and bit and place it in the fridge for the next day's meal.

Texas Chicken Enchiladas
recipe from friend of family with my variations

Ingredients:
8 flour tortillas
1 small onion, chopped
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked, seasoned, and diced or shredded
(chili powder, cumin, and splash of lime plus 1/4 cup water to season or buy a fajita seasoning mix in a jar in the spice section or buy chicken that has been pre-cooked and seasoned)
frozen corn, optional
black beans or pinto beans, optional
8 oz shredded cheese

Sauce (from Whole Foods for the Whole Family):
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups water
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano

1. If your chicken is not already pre-cooked and seasoned in the package, you need to cook the chicken and season it. You can bake it in a pan on 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until center is no longer pink. Then shred or dice the chicken, place it in the pan on the stove and add spices or spice mix and water. The easiest option is to buy pre-seasoned chicken until you get the hang of it.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Saute onions over medium to medium high heat in 2 Tbsp margarine or butter until transparent. Add seasoned chicken and cream cheese. Mix well. If desired, add black beans and frozen corn for extra nutrition, texture, and flavor.

3. Either have tortillas at room temperature or heat briefly in microwave to soften. Spoon 1/3 cup of chicken mixture on each tortilla. Roll them up and place seam side down in 9x13-inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

4. To make sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a small pan and stir until blended. Heat on medium high until it boils and then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour sauce over rolled up tortillas, trying to get liquid over as much as possible. Sprinkle with as much cheese as desired.

5. Bake for 25 minutes, uncovered. Enjoy plain or with salsa or sour cream. You could probably freeze half of these in individual portions, maybe even wrapped up in aluminum foil and placed in a ziploc bag. Enjoy lots of leftovers. These are Nate's favorite!

A grocery experiment: Week 2 groceries

Farmer's Market: $72.80
Includes:
Honey-1 gallon for $35 (my last gallon lasted us 7 months--see below for a note on storage)
Whole roaster chicken-$13 at $3 a pound
Zucchini-$1 for 2
Apples-$3.50 for 1/4 peck
Raw milk cheese-$5.30
Cookies-$3 for 2 (a treat for Nate and the girls)
2 quarts TP milk-$7
1 quart TP yogurt-$5

Good Earth: $20.35
Includes:
2 pounds TP ground beef
bulk whole wheat pastry flour
bulk whole wheat flour
bulk all purpose flour (can't remember how much I got of each flour)
swiss chard (it was so pretty, but I've given up on really liking it...spinach is so much better tasting)

Trader Joe's: $53.48
Includes:
dishwasher detergent
TJ's O's cereal
munchies for beach (we didn't end up going cause Ally had a fever)
--mini cheese sandwich crackers
--schoolhouse cinnamon cookies
--dried cherries
mozzarella shredded cheese
organic peanut butter
organic strawberry preserves
all purpose flour
organic carrots
bananas
avocado (bag of four)
chocolate chips
ham for sandwiches
parmesan cheese
apple juice
2 cans frozen orange juice (1.99 each, much better)
sour cream
package of cream cheese
butter

Blueberries: $22.50 for 10 lbs from a farm up north through a friend from church

Almost forgot the totals.
Total groceries so far: $273.99

A couple notes there: that total includes the honey and the blueberries, both which will last me much longer than this month (I froze lots of blueberries). That's $50 of the total. It's so hard to really see how much you are spending unless you look at both the monthly and the total year.

I'm hoping that's all I'll need this week, but I think it won't be. I at least have to go out and get some more milk once. And I might want to get some more fruits or veggies.

Honey storage: You can leave honey out, but it will crystalize eventually. Place bottle in pan of water and warm slowly just like a baby bottle to de-crystalize. It will crystalize even faster in the fridge, apparently, but if you stick it in the fridge it won't crystalize. Pour what you need for a week or two in a jar to leave out, then put the rest in the freezer. Let it thaw for four or five hours when you need more, refill jar, place gallon back in freezer. I'm going to try the freezer this time around to see if this works.

A grocery experiment: More coming

I have receipts and lists of food I've bought this weekend and lists of meals for next week, but I'm a bit tired and ready to go relax for awhile, so I'm going to post them in the next couple of days.

A grocery experiment: Week 1 groceries

Good Earth: $61.85
Includes:
4 quarts TP milk
1 quart almond milk (to use in recipes to off set the TP cost)
organic butter
raw milk cheese
small bag lettuce
1 lb chicken breasts
mustard
broccoli
2 cups corn meal
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2-3 cups garbanzo beans
2 frozen orange juices (4.70 each)
Echinacea extract (tincture?)--this was $11 of the bill--we put a dropper full in our oj to boost our immune system when we are getting sick

Note: they didn't have TP beef in stock and I totally forgot bulk whole wheat and all purpose flour--I was so distracted by stopping Ally from re-organizing all their small bottles every where. Also didn't have buttermilk there. I'll either have to find a substitute for it (anyone?) or buy it at Trader Joe's.


Locally Grown Gardens: $43.01
Includes:
Sugar baby watermelon (a medium-sized, seedless watermelon with a dark green rind--can't stop eating it!)
Cantaloupe
2 dozen eggs
Maple syrup--made locally in Indiana-$19.50, but it lasts awhile and is so delicious--we like to give it as gifts sometimes too.
2 apples (for the girls to munch while we shopped)
2 peaches
2 onions

Total grocery: $104.86

A grocery experiment: Slight change of plans

Due to a few prices being out of this world (frozen oj for $4.70) at Good Earth, we've decided to add back in Trader Joe's for some of our grocery experiment shopping this month. We think this will still help us accomplish our two goals in doing this:

1. Buying local on produce, meat, chicken, eggs, honey, milk, yogurt, and possibly cheese. (we couldn't buy local frozen oj, seafood, and many canned goods, so we'd like to save a little money by buying from TJ's).

2. Buying Trader's Point milk and yogurt and seeing if this is reasonable for our budget.

So here is sort of what I will buy at what store:

Trader Joe's

frozen foods that I haven't been freezing from what I have bought or grown
frozen orange juice and other juice
seafood
cheese (unless we can get it from a local source)
canned goods
paper towels and toilet paper
tortillas (unless I find a local source--Mexican store or something?)

Locally Grown Gardens

Eggs
some produce
maple syrup


Farmer's Market

some produce
some meat
chicken
honey

Good Earth

TP yogurt
TP milk
some produce
bulk grains and beans
dried bulk herbs and spices
TP beef

Garden

tomatoes
basil
green beans
spinach and lettuce once I plant our fall crop


I'll be making my own bread (something I haven't been doing for awhile) and english muffins when needed.

A grocery experiment: Menu for Week 1

Edited to add: links and notes
Note: side dishes of fruit or veggies not included in menu

Monday:
B:Granola with milk or yogurt, fruit and oj
L: leftover tacos, corn, tortillas, carrots with peanut butter for dip
S: Chocolate banana shakes and peanut butter and jelly (Nate at boy night)
(Note: for the banana shakes recipe, I use cow's milk for almond milk and chocolate syrup for sweetener and cocoa/carob...granola recipe to come, I hope)

Tuesday:
B: Baked oatmeal
L: Smoothies, muffins or quick bread, and left over ham and potato soup (from freezer)
S: Homemade pizza (sauce, cheese, and pepperoni from freezer)
(Note: for baked oatmeal recipe I up milk to 1 1/4 cups and cut sugar to 1/2 cup...for soup, I use Organic Better than Bullion (from Meijer) instead of bullion cubes...pizza dough is made 1-2 days ahead of time and stored in fridge--so good)

Wednesday:
B: Eggs and toast or tortillas
L: Left over baked oatmeal or pizza
S: Community group--bringing either fruit or dessert

Thursday:
B: Baked french toast (recipe from Weight Watcher's cookbook)
L: Left over pizza and smoothies
S: Edwina's Mustard Maple Crockpot Chicken(haven't tried this one yet)

Friday:
B: Granola with milk or yogurt and fruit
L: Leftover chicken
S: Chili with cornbread

Saturday:
B: Pancakes and fruit (make two batches)
L: Not sure
S: Zucchini pie and homemade crescent rolls (maybe try to post these sometime--at least the zucchini pie--could email the crescent rolls if someone wanted them)
(Note: We don't do dairy free on the pancakes, but you could if you couldn't do milk.)

Sunday:
B: Leftover pancakes with fruit
L: Smoothies (and bagels at church)
S: Left over zucchini pie

A grocery experiment: Explanation

Disclaimer: In no way, by this experiment, am I looking down on people who aren't making the same choices with their shopping or food. Just wanted to clarify that. The last thing I want to do is put an extra burden on others who already have much to deal with. We just thought this would be an interesting thing to do.

After visiting Trader's Point Creamery this past weekend, Nathan and I got to talking about groceries, and particularly about milk. TP does the minimum amount of heat and time for pasteurization (destroying fewer nutrients) and does not homogenize their milk. This, along with a few other reasons, made us wonder if we could drink less milk, but get more nutrients from it. Since we don't have a raw milk source right now, this seemed like a good option.

So all this and more of the conversation, let us to think about trying to avoid grocery stores for a month (yes, even my beloved Trader Joe's--I do still heart you, TJ's, and I don't completely fit you in with the others) and see just how much it would cost us compared to how much we spend now. The goal is to buy more local food, if possible, but at least, support small local stores.

For the next month (starting tomorrow, a day early), we will shop at:

The Good Earth (a natural food store that carries the beef, milk, yogurt, cheese, bulk grains, dried beans, dried herbs and spices, etc, that we will buy)

Locally Grown Gardens (a kind of every day farmer's market bringing in mostly local produce, but some from SC--peaches--and some from Florida--citrus)

The local farmer's market on Saturdays (we can also get beef and chicken and dairy here, along with our produce)

I will attempt to keep track of our weekly costs and menu on here.

Lacking posts

It's officially been a month since I posted on here. How did that happen?

I guess we've been busy. July was nice weather, so we were out a lot. I went to visit my parents with the girls last week. We had a nice time visiting with our friends visiting from Portugal, my parents, my brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, other family, and friends. I got my Morning Star, Snug Harbor, and Butch's Beach Burrito fixes while I was there. Oh, and ice cream a couple of times too. :)

We've been eating lots of tomatoes, or I should say that I have been eating them because I'm the only one who does. Our friends' garden has given us small, sweet cherry tomatoes that I've been enjoying with pasta with pesto made from their basil. I just ate one and a half Brandywine tomatoes today...our first ones we've harvested. So amazingly delicious. I love them sliced on toast with some mayo and cheese slices. I found the first teeny, tiny green bean on our bush beans. I'm hoping to plant some spinach in the next few weeks for a fall crop. Not sure when to plant them.

Nate's parents are here for a couple of days. We are going to look at minivans tomorrow. No buying yet, just looking. We might try and take the girls to the children's museum one of the days too.

Let's see, what else. I tried freezer paper stenciling for the first time yesterday. I did a stencil of a VW Beetle on a onesie. I still have to heat set it, but it turned out cute.

Oh, and I broke our digital camera while at my folks'. It was inside the pocket on the Ergo when I tossed the Ergo over about 8 feet to the cement. I might try and get it fixed. But I also really want a digital SLR. Nate wants a small digital camera.

I think that's all for now. I did update the girls' blog with a post about Ally. It is lacking in pictures since I couldn't get them to load up on the website, but I'll add those later.

Girls' art displayed

I have some very local art displayed on our mantel.



I was pleased with how their paintings looked in the frame. Becca was so excited to see her paintings so officially displayed. Ally's is the one second from the left. The rest are Becca's. It's only the second watercolor Ally has done and Becca is kind of a prolific painter, so that's why there is a few more of hers.

I tried to make it easy to switch out the paintings for others, so I'll add another of Ally's once I get more.

Garden-middle of July and teepee building

A view of our garden the first week of July. It looks pretty much the same now, except the two tall black seeded simpson lettuce (frilly light green stuff) are pulled out and the tomato plants are taking over even more.


A glimpse of one of the many tomatoes on our two plants. This is a Brandywine...yum.


And now onto teepee building. Not sure how to actually spell it, so I'm spelling it teepee.

I referenced two sites to build it. This Lowe's page and the pictures of this blog to help me figure out the instructions, since she used the same instructions.

First we set up the poles after tying them together on the ground.



Then the girls helped me fill in the holes with good dirt: a mixture of peat moss and various composts (I think mushroom, shrimp, and our home compost from our bin).



Nate put up the clothesline and I tied on the twine. Then we planted the beans. Two beans in each of two holes around each pole and three beans in three separate holes in between the poles. I soaked the beans in a wet paper towel while we were setting everything up.





Tada!



Right after we finished packing up it started to rain a nice soaking rain, so they got a good watering. Pretty much all the beans sprouted within a week. I've lost about five or six to the resident rabbit. Some of them were chewed, but new leaves were still growing, so I'm hopeful. I put some plastic fencing in cylinders around each of the groups of seedlings. Once they get tall enough, we'll start them vining up the side.

Still here

Life has kept us busy lately, so the blog suffers. I have a list of things to write about on all three blogs and pictures to post. Not sure when I'll get to them, but I hope to soon.

A few small updates, though:

Garden: We have at least ten tomatoes on both the Roma and the Brandywine! Yay! Lettuce plants are almost done. I planted some later lettuce, but I'm not sure how long we'll be eating it for. I've been disappointed with the swiss chard. I thought it would produce more, but it's been a slow one. The basil is growing well. I'm going to harvest a bit later this week for tomato basil soup. The bush beans are up and the pole beans are too. I can't wait for them to get high enough to start climbing the tepee. I folded down the chicken wire fence a bit so I can harvest without opening it up and so the tomatoes have some more space. Pictures to come.

Tree planted: We buried Little Bun and planted Little Bun's tree this past Wednesday. Both of the girls refer to it as Little Bun's tree and I like that. It's a single trunk Serviceberry. We're watering it like crazy and hoping it does well. I'll write more about that on my pregnancy blog and hopefully have pics too.

New laptop: We used some of our refund money to purchase a refurbished Macbook for me, who from now on will be referred to as Jubilee. Nate likes to name our computers and so far they have all been X-men (we've had Storm, Bishop, Nightcrawler, Gambit--on whom I'm typing this blog post). It makes it much easier to tell which computer you are talking about when it has a name. So anyway, I'm excited about having Jubilee because it allows me to be more mobile when I'm on the computer. Once we get everything switched over to Jubilee, we'll either be giving away or selling Gambit (our 3 year old iMac). Becca's really enjoyed having Jubilee because see can show her grandparents her tricks with the hula hoop on Skype since we can bring it down to the living room for the calls.

That's all for now. Hope to have more soon.

First day back

We got back from my parents' yesterday late afternoon. Today I didn't have anything planned and the house was fairly clean already, so I thought I'd try some art projects. We did three art projects today! We also got some bush green beans planted (thanks, Serina) and I got to use my own compost that I made in my trash can composter (it's mostly composted except for some of the egg shells and a little of the newspaper).

Anyway, I was out in the garden at 7 this morning by myself. It was nice to be out there that early. It's so cool and only a few mosquitos. No slugs about at the moment. The grass and weeds around the garden are dead, so there is no place to hide. I waited until the girls were out with me later to plant the beans and pick lettuce and chard. I was out early to pick a few weeds (there are hardly ever any to pick) and cut off any yellowed leaves on the tomato plant (my Brandywine has three little tomatoes!) and to water the plants. One of my basil plants is going to town and the other one is not growing quite as fast. No idea why.

After breakfast with Nate and gardening and swinging, we started our first art project: making marker holders with plaster of paris. I followed the instructions in First Art and used $1 pails from Target for each of the girls.

We mixed the PoP in a recycled container with paint sticks. I tried to let the girls mix, but it sloshed out too much, so I mixed it. Then I poured about two inches in each of their pails and let them push their marker caps halfway into the PoP. Becca did great with this, Ally did pretty well. After pushing one in, she got a bit on her finger and where did that go? In her mouth, of course. PoP contains ingredients that are known to the state of California for causing cancer. Great. I tried to wipe it out and give her water and then firmly told her never to do that again. She did well after that.

We set them aside to dry very carefully. When you move the buckets, the PoP moves and so do the marker caps, so you have to move VERY slowly. Becca put the markers back in each of the caps (7 in each pail) after lunch.

Then we tried putting PoP and water in freezer bags to make sculptures. I wouldn't do it again. If I did, though, I'd put it in two bags, because Becca squeezed too hard and had some squirt out on her sandals and leg. When I tried to take them out later to let the girls paint the sculptures, they fell apart. Oh well.

Sculpting with PoP led to taking out play dough in the kitchen (I did the other two out on the front porch). They had fun with that for a while.

After nap I thought we would paint the PoP sculptures, but as I already mentioned, those crumbled, so we threw them away. Instead we made some play clay that is supposed to dry in a couple days. This is also from the First Art book, the Big Beads part. The girls helped me mix and then each used some to make beads and other shapes and used a straw to poke holes in their creations. I wanted to press some into a disc shape and then press shells or something in them, but I didn't have any shells. They are drying on plates and the girls will paint them on Sunday or Monday.

So after a major lack in art around here, we've had quite an art-filled day. Becca has been painting with her Prang water colors too and I love the vibrant colors they produce.

Garden clean-up and harvest

I realized this morning as I was looking out at the garden, that getting rid of the weeds and grass right around the edge not only removes the hiding place for the slugs, but it also exposes any who dare to venture up the side to the birds, one of their predators. Yay for birds! I know they sometimes can be a pain when growing things, but right now they are my friends.

I harvested all the rest of the spinach today. Most of it had bolted, many of the leaves were kind of thin and wilty, but I got a handful out of the rest. I had gotten quite a bit from that square and can't wait to plant it again for a fall crop.

I also took out one of the Winter Density lettuces. They are so nice looking. I need lots of lettuce for a meal with friends coming up, so I thought I'd just take it all. I also cut off some Simpson lettuce and red lettuce.

I took pictures of the garden, but they are still on the camera, so that will wait.

Garden clean-up step one

I let the girls play with playdough on a kid's table in the shade while I worked on my tiny garden this morning. It was so hot and sunny already, but I was determined to get it done.

Using wire cutters I cut off the extra chicken wire that had been a collecting place for weeds. Then I went around the base folding up about three inches of the wire and using a bush and hedge shears to cut down the grass and weeds that were hiding the slugs. That alone looks so much better, even if there hadn't been any slugs to hid. It looks nice and neat.

Then I worked on killing the slugs I could see. I used salt. Probably not so nice for the slugs. I shook lots of salt around the base, hoping to deter other slugs. When I get more time later, I'll probably work on an actual garden pathway around the garden, but for now I can at least easily keep the weeds and grass cleared.

I'll take a picture once it's not so sunny. Maybe this evening.

Slugs and snails and garden tales

Edited to add last paragraph.

I'm just on a posting frenzy tonight.

I've been finding what I think are baby slugs or snails on my lettuce in my garden. From what I've found online, I think they are coming from the tall grasses and weeds surrounding the wood edge on the raised bed garden. Plus, it's been so rainy here and they like the wetness. Pests are my least favorite part of gardening. I can handle ants, but slugs/snails...ewww. I'm a wuss.

I have a few possible solutions. One is that some people say they are attracted to stale beer (how do you make beer stale?) and that they will drown in it if you place a cup or dish in the garden. I could also try an ammonia/water solution (1:3 or 4) and spray it right on the slugs to kill them. The last solution is to get rid of their hiding place: the tall grasses and weeds.

I'm definitely doing the last one even if I don't do the other two. I've been combing the internet for ideas on garden pathways around raised beds. I'm either putting the wrong words in the search engine or there is not much out there. I know I'll be cutting the grasses and weeds down right next to the garden, but then I'm trying to figure out if I should dig up the grass about for a two or three foot path around the perimeter of the garden (I would like to have more raised beds, so these would end up being aisles, that's why they are so wide) and then put down something. Most people I've read say to put down woodchips, but maybe something else would look better. I also wonder if I could just put down many (10 at least) layers of newspaper or some corrugated cardboard and then put some woodchips on top of that. Any ideas? Links? Garden forums where people are talking about these kinds of things?

In other fun news, I found an inch long green roma tomato on my plant today! Yay! Very exciting. :) I'll be ripping out most of the older lettuce and spinach later this week because a lot of it is going to seed. The basil is starting to grow and I'm trying to pinch the tops to make it bushier, but I don't know if I'm doing it right. After I rip the lettuces out, I don't know if I'm going to do anything in those squares. I'll have two empty squares. I don't know if there is anything I can plant right now.

Wish I had pictures to post, but they're on the camera and I'm too beat to get up and go downstairs to get that. :)

Okay, I found something on the iVillage Garden Web Forum. But I'm still open to suggestions. I'm thinking of cutting down weeds and grass right next to the bed and then laying down corrugated cardboard and then a few inches of wood chips. Should I wet the cardboard?

Chickens?

I've been thinking about and looking into raising a small (very small) number of female chickens for eggs and meat. There are a number of good sites to look at and I was excited to find out that there are people in our area who do have backyard chickens. Now if I can only get myself invited over to their house to see their set up. There's got to be some sort of backyard chicken support group around here I can attend to get connected, right?

Anyway, there is a lot to think about when it comes to raising poultry. I've decided that it's something I (we) want to do, but not for awhile. I want at least Becca to be old enough to go out on her own to feed the chickens if I need her to. I'm afraid at this stage in my life I'd neglect the poor things.

I also want to figure out how to keep the chickens through the winter. I know I could have them slaughtered before the cold weather comes, but I just don't like the idea of killing all my chickens every year. At this point I'm really more interested in the eggs than the meat anyway.

So lots to think about still.

Places I've looked:

Backyard Chickens

Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart

Indiana Living Green Urban Chicks article

New glider

Just before we lost Little Bun we bought a new (to us) glider. It's a Dutailier wooden nursery rocker with no ottoman. I was looking for a used Dutailier and found one on Craig's List. We got it for $100. The family said it's been used through three kids, and it still rocks so smoothly and silently. I love it.

Sometimes it's kind of sad rocking in it, thinking of the baby I would have rocked and nursed countless hours in that very chair had things been different, but most of the time I'm just happy to rock my current almost two-year-old "baby" in it. I don't know how I lived without such a smooth, comfy chair for so long.

I highly recommend the Dutailier brand.

Tree for Little Bun and other plant talk

We went up to a nursery today a little northwest of the city. We spent a lot of time talking and walking with one of the workers there about trees to plant in our yard and front bed. Mostly I wanted to pick out a tree to plant when we bury Little Bun.

I'm happy to say that we were able to find a tree and I feel so relieved. It was weighing down on me that we didn't have anything and that I couldn't figure out what kind of tree to get. We bought a Serviceberry (I think the Shadblow type, but I don't have the paperwork with me right now). It's a single trunk tree (most of the pictures I could find online were multi-trunk trees, more like a shrub) and already eight or nine feet tall. They'll be delivering it and we'll plant it. I'll make sure to post a picture of it.

The Serviceberry is a flowering tree, white flowers in the early spring. It also has small berries that attract birds. It shouldn't get taller than 25 feet. The bark is gray and smooth, kind of pretty. I'm just really pleased with our final choice.

We also started deciding on some other plants and trees for our front:

Black Hills Spruce: we'd like to get one of these for our yard on the left front side.

Globe Blue Spruce: I love Colorado Blue Spruces, but they just get too tall. We'd like to have something with that blue color, so we're thinking of this one for the spot to the left of our porch instead of a tree.

That's as far as we've gotten. We walked all over the nursery, way back where all the trees are, and the girls were so tired by the time we left. We didn't want to push it to look at anything else. They both fell asleep on the way home, which meant no naps this afternoon. Instead we made Nathan a Father's Day cake and had some rest time in the living room all together. I took some time to look through the book First Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl while we rested. I found lots of fun ideas I hope to try.

Anne's House of Dreams

I finished my fifth Anne book yesterday. I think this was my favorite following the first one. Miss Cornelia cracked me up. And I found I could relate to Anne's loss in the book. I thought I had read somewhere that Anne has six children in this book. Don't know where that came from since she definitely does not by the end of the book.

I love Anne. She's so real to me after reading so many of those books. I love that she is not perfect, but really wanting to be better. I love other amazing characters L.M. Montgomery has thought up. I can't wait to share these with the girls.

Other books read in the past couple of months:
The other Anne books before this one
Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto (took me awhile)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Tales of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

Landscaping current pictures

When I took pictures of the purple flowers tonight I thought I'd snap some pics of the current landscaping. It really doesn't look too bad (except the weeds) and we have a lot to work with.

The whole front, including the lovely lawn (on a side note, TruGreen (sp?) left a note hanging on our door knob today saying that we really needed their services on our lawn--I think they want to save us from the weeds--we won't be taking them up on it).



A close up of the front right--notice how weed free it is in the bed. That's my hard work (and a little of Nate's).



And closer of the front left including the weed wilderness where we want to plant a tree right by the porch behind the lilies. I hope to have someone else dig up all those weeds. I (and Nate) will be pulling weeds to the right of the lilies.



Now I've just got to figure out what to put where and hope it looks good in the end. :)

The purple flowers

At Laura's request, here is the picture of the flower. Thanks for you thoughts, Laura. I have more to think about now. I went out and drew a diagram with measurements of the front beds and now I can figure out what to put where.

Landscaping

Nate said that he wanted to get the front bed weeded. I was out there tonight with the girls and got a bit more done (Nate was out demolishing a friend's kitchen). I'd like to get some things planted in there too.

Plants:
Two boxwoods on either side of the steps already. Maybe add more boxwoods.

Hostas--I see these all over and love their big leafy look.

Daffodils--these make me so happy and I want to have some coming up in the spring.

Lillies--I don't neccessarily want these, but I tried to rip them out last fall and they came back. They are tall yellow lillies, one patch of them. I guess they are pretty hardy.

Some purple flower--Don't know what this is, but we have two patches of it. Maybe we'll plant a hosta in between them. I want to find out the name.

Pine tree--we want a tree to the left of our porch and Nate said he wants something with needles on it, so pine it is. We like the Christmas tree looking kind. We'll have it delivered and planted. That are is so weedy that it needs some professional work, I think. :)

Roses--I didn't think I wanted these, but Nate's parents are sending us one in remembrance of Little Bun. I'm excited to get it and I think I have just the place to plant it.

Ornamental grasses--Don't know if I'd do these or not, but a few small patches might be nice. I see them around the neighborhood and they look nice. Not the really tall kind, but the 1-2 feet kind.

Ally update

It's lacking many pictures, but I did a 22 month update on Ally over on the girls' blog. I hope to have more pictures up next week sometime.

Skirt

Updated to add pictures:

I finally made a skirt that I like. I mean, I have skirts that I've bought that I like, but this is the first one I've made that I like. It feels so therapeutic to create and sew right now. I've had this need the past few days to make things.

I followed the Five-minute skirt tutorial, but then had to rip out everything (elastic and side seams) to make it narrower at the waist and to make the bottom not flare out so much. Oh, and I used newspaper taped together to make the pattern. Not the greatest thing to use, but it was free, so I tried it and it worked well.

I watched this video to learn how to sew on fold over elastic, which I bought from Sewzanne's online store. I will never use elastic in a casing for skirts again.

I watched this video to learn how to use bias tape to do the hem on the skirt and I love how it turned out. It really makes the bottom look nice and finished. And it adds a little weight to the light fabric that I used.

Pictures:

A Sad Announcement

Right about now we would have been announcing some happy news to many of you. Some of you knew our news already. Now instead, we have to share our loss.

Yesterday we lost our baby. I was twelve weeks pregnant with our third child, due in December. We only knew something was wrong since Sunday. I had a miscarriage at home yesterday morning.

There is so much to say, and yet, this doesn't always seem the best place to say it. We are sad beyond words to lose our child. Little Bun (as we call him/her) was so much a part of our family already and it breaks our hearts.

This is all I will say for now. I wrote out a long post this morning, which I posted on my pregnancy journal (a password protected site). It contains many details of our experience and my thoughts and a sort of farewell. If anyone (whom I know) would like to have access to it, please email me and I will send it to you.

For now we grieve and rest in the shelter of our heavenly Father who is our comfort and strength and who meets us in our suffering and bears us up. If you pray, please keep our family in your prayers.

Being neighborly

I was so excited (and a little nervous) when we were invited to eat with our neighbors last night. I was out cutting some spinach out of our garden for part of our dinner, when Greta called over the fence that they have plenty of food and would we like to come get ourselves a plate. They had family over and were grilling out.

We had to get the girls changed, but we got over there. We even stayed and ate with them. Becca was polite to everyone. The food was yummy and we even got cake for dessert. It was nice to actually sit down with our neighbors. We felt so welcome. It was also interesting to hear a little about what it's been like for them to live in this neighborhood for 35 years.

A little later we were taking a walk down the block and we met some other neighbors in the next block who knew our friends, the previous owners.

Garden photos

This is what our garden looked like when we got back from Texas at the beginning of May. There are no plants in the two squares on each side. The top left has 16 radish plants. Below them are 9 spinach plants. Top right is two black seeded simpson lettuce (the green) and two red salad bowl lettuce (one actually never made it and I replanted it). Below that are two winter density/bibb lettuce plants and one swiss chard (the other died and I recently replanted):


Before we left for NC I planted two tomato plants: an heirloom Brandywine and a Roma. I also planted two squares of basil (one in each square) and those are finally up, but haven't gotten past their seedling leaves.

We harvested our first radishes and lettuce on 5/20. I left them out in the sun while I let the girls play (and because Nate accidentally locked us out while he was showering after mowing the lawn) and the lettuce got a little wilted, but we ate it with tacos anyway. Becca even ate a leaf of lettuce with her tortilla and cheese. I have since harvested all the radishes and am planting that square with more lettuce (two simpson and two bibb) since we get our money's worth that way and I'm more likely to eat it.


I finally got a real fence up. I hammered in four metal posts and we used plastic ties to hold the chicken wire to them. I then attached the chicken wire to the wood with nails (no staple gun or would have used that) and keep it tied shut with some rope. We have yet to cut off the excess chicken wire. I wish the ends weren't so sharp. Anyway, the rabbit can't get my lettuce and I'm happy.

Art area take 2

After almost a month of on and off traveling I come home and what do I do? Not laundry (Nate did that...thanks, honey). Not cleaning (our bathrooms are a bit scary). But rearranging the girls toys and art area.

I have no pictures of the toy area. I mostly rearranged that to put their play kitchen in an area that would accommodate the doll high chair Becca is getting from Mima and Popo. And to free up one of the bookshelves for the art area.

Here is a sort of before picture. You can see the art area in the top left corner behind that white blanket. I had nothing better. Basically, the art supplies were stored on two plastic crates on the floor with a blanket over them to hide it.



After:


I think this looks so much better. Top shelf is misc. art supplies in the basket (glue, feathers, pipe cleaners, stickers, etc). Yarn and fabric scraps in the two plastic bins on the left. Second shelf is all painting supplies (paint, paint holders, brushes). Bottom shelf is drawing supplies: paper in the drawers; coloring books next to the drawers; markers, crayons, and colored pencils and scissors.

It works for now and I used things I had, so it was free. Eventually I want a nice looking cabinet that has three or four shelves and is a little wider. I want to get it used, though, so I'm just keeping my eyes open.

Random update

I've been MIA, I know. While in Texas I didn't have much computer access, so I didn't post, plus I didn't want to tell we were away from home.

We had a nice trip to Texas. We survived the drive, though we wish Nate's parents lived closer. I got a migraine on the way down and Nate watched the girls when we go to the hotel...good husband that he is. :) Our second day was a little rough since Ally didn't sleep as much and wasn't happy.

We spent our time there going to the park, playing on the front porch, and getting out shopping a little bit. Nate and I had a date one of the last days there. We went to Half Price Books and got lots of good books (Peter Pan, Just So Stories, Boxcar Children #1-3, 5, Jungle Books, Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, A Pocketful of Crickets, etc). Then we went to a yummy local restaurant for lunch and sat under their outdoor leaf-covered trellis. We topped that off with Ben and Jerry's. It was a nice time. Our last day there we went to our old church in Houston and had a delicious, homemade lunch with some dear, kind friends.

Our trip back was pretty good. We arrived home around 7-8pm, unpacked, and got to bed late.

Our garden is doing well. A rabbit or something got to the spinach, some of the radishes, and some of the lettuce when I left our cage off. I hope the spinach survives. Otherwise I might try to plant it again. One of my chard and one of my red lettuce died. I bought a roma seedling and a brandywine tomato seedling and those are in. I can't wait for the tomatoes! I'll plant basil seeds in a day or two.

Does anyone want a cat? We're looking for a home for Cassie. Praying for a loving, attentive (she needs lots of attention) home for her. Not really doing much looking, but hoping to find someone. It's sad, I know, but we think it would be best for all involved. We just don't give her enough attention since I rarely sit down, even in the evenings (though I do rest during the girls' rest time), to pet or play with her. I think she'd be responsive to clicker training, but I don't have the time or consistency to teach her. If we can't find anyone, we'll keep her and give her what we can.

Seedlings up

I forgot to mention that seedlings have been up for nearly a week. Becca's have been up for longer.

9/9 spinach seedlings up
6/6 lettuce seedlings up
1/2 bright lights chard up (these are red, so pretty)
0/16 radish seedlings up (I planted these only four days ago)

Yesterday it sleeted or hailed a little on our garden before I could run out there and cover it with the kiddie pool. I dragged Becca's pot inside. Only one spinach seedling seems to be damaged, but I have hopes it will survive.

First planting

Our first garden seeds are in the ground. Becca and I put them in this afternoon.

Square foot: 2 Black seeded simpson lettuce and 2 red salad bowl lettuce
Square foot: 2 Bright lights chard and 2 winter density bibb/romaine lettuce
Square foot: 9 tyee spinach

Becca also has a pot of her own. She chose to plant the simpson lettuce in hers. Becca helped me pinch a few seeds into each hole and cover them up.

Library

I heart our library. They have nearly every book and DVD that I've looked for there. Saves me so much money. :)

Books

Read:
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (library)
Anne of Avonlea (library)

I love these books. Green Gables was a little better than Avonlea, but I still liked Avonlea too. I can't wait to finish the series. I think I saw the tv series when I was younger, but never read the books.

Reading:
Raising Your Children for Christ by Andrew Murray (own)
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto (library)
Green Pharmacy by James A. Duke, PhD. (library--more of a reference)

April goals and projects review

I'm mostly doing this for myself, but I'm putting it up here anyway. Skip it if you don't care or if reading about all this overwhelms you (it overwhelms me :) ).

Goals:

#1. Be in the Word: I'm not doing so great on this. It's pretty sporadic. Since I am trying to make myself sit down for an hour in the afternoon during the girls' rest time to read or rest, I'm hoping to use part of that time to read scripture. I did start reading Raising Your Children for Christ by Andrew Murray again, so that is my scripture right now since he has lots of it in the book.

#2. Physically active at least 30 minutes a day: This has gotten better since it's gotten nicer. We have lots of options at least: biking to the park, walking, hooping, gardening. I'm trying to get the girls outside at least once a day on the nice weather days.

#3. Reading good books to the girls: Even if I neglected to remember to read books to them, they would remind me. :) I love having children who love books as much as I do. I'd really like to start another chapter book with Becca this month.

#4. Art once a week: So I've been neglecting the art thing for a couple of reasons. First is that we are outside a whole lot more, so that is taking the place of art projects. The other is that Ally wants to participate so much more and so it's much more messy. And she hates having paint on her hands, so it's much more busy. Becca does lots of drawing and writing on her own. I'm hoping to find a nice wooden enclosed cabinet at a garage sale to hold all their art supplies.

I don't feel bad about neglecting the art, since we are doing the outside thing so much. There will be time in the heat of the summer when I don't want to go outside in the late afternoon and we can do art. We did do a shaving cream art project which went pretty well.

#5. Getting up on time: This went well for awhile. I love getting up on time. I'd like to get up even earlier and do a little yoga or something, but I've got to get back into getting up on time first.

#6. Staying in touch with family and friends: I feel like we've had some good contact with people lately. I'd like to call each of my grandmothers once a week. The Skype calls on Saturday and Sunday with our parents are going well when we are home.

#7. Prayer: It's just so hard as a mom and wife to focus long enough to pray. I suppose lots of people could say that, but this has really been the hardest time of my life for prayer. I have lots of spontaneous prayer moments when I get an email or hear of a prayer request from a friend or family. I'm hoping making myself rest and read in the afternoon will provide some concentrated time to fellowship with my heavenly Father in prayer.

#8. Serving my husband: Don't know how I'm doing here. I'm trying to give him a good birthday week this week. We had some friends over on Tuesday night, yesterday we gave him a CD and a Cliff bar snack, today I bought him some of his favorite Burt's Bees Peppermint lip balm, and Saturday will be breakfast in bed. I'll have to ask him how I'm doing and what I can do better.

Whew...now for projects.

#1. Ally's baby book: This is started! I am on the pages with her birth story and just have to put them together. I took a little break to do some sewing, but I'll get them out again soon.

#2. Catch up on photo albums: waiting until done with Ally's book.

#3. Wedding album: Nothing done.

#4. Garden: We have a compost bin! Well, a compost garbage can. :) I bought a Rubbermaid 32 gallon one, drilled holes in it, stuck it up on wood and put a couple of bungee cords on the top to hold the top on. We can roll it to mix it with the cords on. So far so good and less than $20 spent (thanks, Kate :) ).

We also got the garden built and the cage for the top. Tonight we made the Mel's mix (compost, vermiculite, and peat moss) and filled it up. Saturday we'll screw on the dividers (to make it look like a square foot garden) and plant Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce, Red Salad Bowl Lettuce, Winter Density Bibb/Romaine Lettuce, Bright Lights Chard, and Tyee Spinach.