Little Squidgen Home

That man of mine...

2012-01-30T15:58:00.001-06:00

He is always telling me he is not a carpenter, but he could easily fool me. He may not be a carpenter, but whatever he is, he surely is pretty fantastic. This whole project took two days and only cost us the price of hinges for the cabinets (and someday a couple quarts of stain). The wood is all reclaimed pine from the ceiling of my parents former "palace", so it was totally free AND we get to conserve some memories in the process. Plus this wood is really beautiful, the richness and diversity of the color is really lovely. Mr. T took about 2 hours planing all the boards on day one and did ALL of the construction on day two.

I was just intending to dry fit the electronics and dvd's in the cabinets to be sure there was enough space and that just rolled over into trying out the books too and then it was full so we decided we would stain it another day...possibly never. Still lots of things to do on "finishing" this room, but one step closer, I'll take it. It is only about 8 inches deep, perfect for DVD, VHS ( yes we still use those, yes we do) and most book storage, a bit wider than 7 feet, and about 8 feet tall. It is MASSIVE and STILL, we got back about 6 square feet of floor space after taking out the old tv stand and floor speakers. The room seems massive and it doesnt make that wall seem quite so ridiculously tall. Not to mention it was a total distraction for a few days, that was desperately needed. Winning all around.

The funny thing is, I was expecting a cheese press and aging cave (old fridge brought in from the garage really not as fancy as it sounds) so the cheddar making can commence, but this was the chosen project instead. No complaints. This was super fun.

In other news, we are awaiting some test results from a procedure MAT had done last week, hence the necessary distraction. Fingers crossed for good news and more on that later. Happy Monday!

A completely frivolous, yet totally worthy, way to spend $10 a week

2012-01-30T06:51:00.000-06:00

I am cheap. I admit it. The only thing I buy new are hair dye, underwear, jeans, and flip flops. The hair dye is a every few months thing and I always do it myself. Undergarments are self explanatory, NO ONE wants skivvies that have been all up in anyone else's bits. Jean are a once every two or three... or 6 years, expense. I only buy them on sale and REFUSE to spend more than $35 a pair. I REFUSE. And flip flops, well, those last me about 3 years a pair and I buy the less than $5 ones. Most everything else we buy second hand.
So when I say I am spending $10 a week on something totally frivolous, has no useful purpose, and expires readily, you know it HAS to be something worthy. I assure you it is.

Earlier this week during my trip to the grocery, I passed the floral department, as always. I like to take a leisurely stroll through and smell the flowers and let the boys look at the balloons and gift baskets. As I was nearing the end, I saw a display with beautiful flowers and they were marked down to $3 a bunch. I thought to myself, "well, I can reasonably spend $6 on two bunches, I am saving $7 on milk this week. No one else buys me flowers, sorry Mr. T, but you don't. I like flowers, they make me happy, and it is January it will be months before our start to do anything again. And I LIKE flowers."

Decidedly, I picked out two bunches, a white one and a red one, and brought them home with the rest of my goodies. Mr.T gave me a funny look when I brought them in and I gave him a "go ahead, say something about me buying myself flowers, I DARE you" face and he smiled and said they looked nice. He also had the good sense not to ask how much they cost, even though they were not expensive, it is still a frivolous item. He's rather smart that one.

They have been on the table for nearly a week now and I cannot say that they have worked miracles or been particularly useful. What I can say that they have done is made me stop, take a deep breath and smile, nearly every time I walk past. They have lightened my mood more than once. I find MAT and RAT admiring them often and on a few occasions stems have been plucked from the vase and presented to me by my boys with declarations of " I love you Mom" and "you're the BEST, mom."

For that I have decided that between $5 and $10 of our weekly grocery budget will now go to buying fresh flowers, when we cannot grow our own. There is just something uplifting in the brightness and beauty they bring. I like those two things in my home that is often too filled with noise, wrestling, and arguing.

Seriously, tranquility and beauty in such a simple package.

Three, of my very favorite, things to make with sourdough discard.

2012-01-24T11:25:00.003-06:00

Aside from sourdough bread of course. That is the purpose of the sourdough mother, but I cannot help but think of all the other wonderful things to do. And we only need bread every three or four days so we have discard daily. I have noticed I am the "just throw a cup of starter in there and see what we get" kind of baker. I refuse to throw it in the garbage and I prefer not to compost it. I want to USE that flour, water, and culture, otherwise I am throwing away money and health. So I have started putting a cup, or two, in just about everything I bake. It hasn't let me down yet.

Sourdough Waffles (adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook Waffle recipe to incorporate sourdough)
1c. sourdough starter
1 3/4c. flour, a combination of whole wheat (3/4c.) and white(1c.) works well
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs (or 1 goose egg)
1 3/4c. milk
1/2c. oil

Mix the egg, oil, and milk. Add the starter. In separate bowl combine dry ingredients, make a well, and add wet mixture. Mix, just till it comes together, it should be lumpy. Pour onto hot waffle iron. Bake according to iron instructions.

This is NOT a sweet waffle recipe, they are light with a twinge of sourdough tang and are PERFECT with real maple syrup, strawberries, or mulberry syrup.

Sourdough Rhubarb Muffins (adapted from Angry Asian Creations and I doubled it)
2 eggs (or 1 goose egg)
2tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2c. oil
2c. sourdough starter
1c. whole wheat four
1c. white flour
1tsp. baking soda
1/4c. white sugar
1/4c. brown sugar, plus 4Tbsp. for topping if you like
1c. rhubarb, diced (I used, thawed, frozen chopped rhubarb)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 to1/4 tsp. each nutmeg and ginger (can easily be omitted)
Preheat oven 425 degrees.
You can macerate the rhubarb with the sugar for a couple hours, I do NOT, I like my rhubarb tangy.

Combine dry ingredients, set aside. In another bowl combine sugar, oil, vanilla, and egg, add starter, add rhubarb. Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Fill greased or lined muffin cups 1/2 to 3/4 full and top each with 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. brown sugar if you like.
Bake 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. This recipe made 14 muffins for me( and I filled the cups more than 3/4 of the way up)

Secret Chocolate Chip Sourdough Cookie Bars (cookie shape also works)
1c. Sourdough starter
2 1/4c. flour (a combination of whole wheat and white works well)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2tsp. salt
1c. butter, softened
3/4c. brown sugar
3/4c. white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (or 1 goose egg)
1/2c. rolled oats (NOT the quick oats)
2-3 c. chocolate chips
and feel free to throw in nuts or cranberries or what have you.

Mix dry, reserve oats for later, set aside. In separate bowl cream butter and sugars, add vanilla, add eggs, add starter. Combine wet and dry and mix well. Add oats and mix. Add chocolate chips and any other goodies you might have. Spread whole mixture onto greased pan and BAKE at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or till toothpick in center comes out clean.
OR drop spoonfuls on parchment lined baking sheets bake 350 for 14 to 18 minutes.
Cool. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! And I hope to get back to some gardening, poultry, building posts soon. Fingers crossed!

Take Care of your Mother...

2012-01-20T11:19:00.000-06:00

else-wise, THIS might happen!

I swear I am not totally inept.

I DID start this sourdough mother all by myself with only water and flour, love and attention, and time, lots of time. It was a week old on the 18th, it was easily doubling every 12 hours and smelled of alcohol, all great things for sourdough.

I made my first loaf on Wednesday and it was pretty good, everyone in the house thinks it is the best bread yet! So in preparation of today's baking extravaganza I didn't discard any yesterday and then fed it again at 8 am this morning. My jar was only half full, so I thought that I would be ok till I got to make my dough at 10am (naptime). How much could happen in two hours? Right?

I was woefully wrong. On the upside, I have enough "discard" to make bread bowls AND sourdough pancakes. WINNING!

So, in summation, just a reminder, take care of your mother... and enjoy your Friday!

Homemade Ricotta cheese

2012-01-13T12:15:00.004-06:00

Here it is, fast and easy. I Promise.

Tools
Non-reactive pot, stainless steel or enamel
Wooden, plastic, or stainless steel spoon
Candy thermometer (not a necessity but makes this easier)
Cheese cloth, muslin or clean dish towel (for the latter two you will also need kitchen string)
Colander
Large bowl, preferably one the colander fits in
Storage containers
Time.10-40 minutes to stand in the exact same spot stirring, constantly, OR a helper to do it for you.

Ingredients
1/2 gallon milk (I used whole milk, because that's what we had)
1tsp citric acid (lemon juice also works, but we have a giant tub of citric acid to use for cleaning and canning)
1 or 2 tsp kosher salt, I use 2 tsp because I like it, but the recipe calls for 1 tsp.
About a Tablespoon of water.

Start by dissolving the citric acid in the Tbsp of water. If you are using lemon juice you are good to go. Pour milk into pot. Add half the acid and all the salt. Place candy thermometer in milk. Turn on burner.

You want to slowly heat the milk to 185 degrees. This only took me about 10 minutes, and I didn't do it terribly slowly and I had a less than constantly stirring helper and mine turned out scrumptious.

When it reaches 185 degrees it should start to curdle on its own but it might not, this is where the thermometer is very helpful.

You can't read that but it says 185!

At 185 degrees, sdd the rest of the acid and remove from heat.

It curds up REALLY fast. Suppress the urge to stir, stirring gives you smaller curds, as you can see ( I couldn't resist it). Ha!

Leave it alone for 15-30 minutes, the longer you leave it the more defined the curds will be.

Line your colander and place it in a large bowl.

Careful, "them curds be hot" (in a pirate voice), pour your curds and whey into the cheese cloth, muslin, towel lined colander.

If you are saving the whey, which I HIGHLY recommend, place the colander in a large bowl. If you aren't keeping the whey (for shame) you can place the colander right in the sink.


You have made curds and whey! Congratulations!

Then tie the curds up and let them drip for 15 minutes or so. The longer you let it drip the drier the curds will be, the shorter amount of time the wetter they will be.

Something like this, if your curds don't sit in the whey than there is no need to hang them.

When they have dripped enough it is time to save the whey. Yes it looks a little odd all washed out with a green tint, but I assure you it is wonderful stuff.

There are lots of uses, I have learned, for whey. And since you will have a quart and a pint, at least, from this recipe, I suggest you familiarize yourself with a few of them.

I used this whey in place of a stock in a soup recipe yesterday and it was marvelous. I also used it in place of water to cook our brown rice and this mornings oatmeal, and just like that it is gone. Really it is very useful, keep it, you wont be sorry.

Now that they whey is handled it is time to admire, and taste, your curds. Have a small spoonful, make the Yummy face, try not to eat it all. It is scrumptious.

Beautiful, right

And then put your curds in an airtight container and there you have it. 1 Pint of homemade Ricotta cheese and a quart and a pint of whey.

whey and 1 pint Ricotta.

Put it all in the fridge, the Ricotta should be used within a few days, though I used mine the same day. And the whey will keep for about 5 days to a week. Enjoy!

What I can do in a naptime.

2012-01-12T11:52:00.001-06:00

Lay the toddler down. (Who coincidentally, went and got a pacifier and stood by the stairs when I commented that "it might be naptime" because of someones attitude. Oddly enough apparently DOT also thought he needed a nap. AMAZING. That boy. Oh. I love him.)

Put in first load of laundry.
Re-read the instructions of homemade ricotta cheese, again, for like the 20th time.
Ready and add ingredients.
Cook ingredients with stirring assistance of RAT.
High five 3 year old for excellent help and for not burning himself, turn off stove.
Put first load in the dryer while curds rest.
Start second load of laundry.
Trip over the cat who is attached to your ankle because she thinks you haven't fed her, even though you in fact did, 2 hours ago, like you do every day.
Dance break with 3 year old helper.
Surf net to find out uses for whey other than pouring it down drain, hit the jackpot.
Search recipe box for Amanda Soule's fantastic carrot tomato soup. Because, after all, it has been a week since you have had it.
Line colander and place it in large bowl.
Strain curds and separate whey.
Forget to write "cheese cloth" on the grocery list.
Tie and let drip.
Wash pot and whey and ricotta storage jars.
Dry them.
Put pot back on stove and toss in 2 Tbls butter and turn on burner.
Cut onion, carrots, and ready herbs and seasonings for soup.
Toss goodies in pot.
Pour whey and ricotta into containers.
Remember write "cheese cloth" on grocery list and this time immediately go do it.
Taste ricotta, roll eyes and make the "yummmmmm" sound when something is delicious.
Try not to eat it by the spoonful.
Stir pot.
Wash some more dishes, our dishwasher is possessed and nearly impossible for me to start so I hand wash dishes.
Add tomatoes, we use our whole home canned tomatoes instead of fresh roasted ones, it is winter after all, and whey, instead of stock, I'm gonna try it, why not. What's the worst that could happen?
Make self a salad and 3 year old's lunch.
Eat.
Dance break (we put a radio in the kitchen, that's why all the dance breaks).
Remove dry laundry and think about putting them away, then decide against it.
Hang load of dedicates to dry.
Go get toddler who has now woken from his nap and also wants lunch.

2 hours, 6 minutes.

I still have to puree and strain the soup, but really I feel like a rockstar. If only I had got the bread made...Oh well we still have enough to get through today and there is always tomorrows nap. Enjoy your Thursday folks! And to those of you, like me, who are expecting snow. Button up and enjoy the show!

(I will post pictures of the Ricotta cheese making process one of these days, but I didn't get the photo's off the camera yet.)

What we've been up to..

2012-01-08T18:13:00.001-06:00

It's been a busy month. The family is finding a rhythm, sort of, with Mr's strange work schedule and things are moving along.

At the beginning of December MAT had a CAT scan. He has been having swollen lymph node issues since June so the doctor and I decided it was time to check them out, just to be safe, and to be sure it isn't something serious. Most likely it is just that children's immune systems are constantly under some kind of attack and that's what is causing the prolonged enlargement. In this case, no news from the doctor is the very best news. If it doesn't need immediate treatment we won't hear boo till the follow up appointment, and chances are if it is an issue that doesn't need immediate treatment it isn't a REAL issue at all. That appointment date is January 16 and we haven't heard boo from our ENT yet. Let's be happy with that. I am anxiously awaiting to hear the doctor SAY it is nothing, but the hearing nothing has me strangely at ease.
Other goings on include a trip to the Windy city, Many a Happy Christmas, food, crafts, fitness, and generally loving my life.

Just after MAT's scan I adopted some books and some lovely furniture. We ventured to the Windy city to scoop them up when their owners found out they were gonna move and had 2 weeks to do it. I wish we would have been able to help more and that we had seen more of them while they lived so close. Hindsight is funny that way. So we helped with what we could and visited and they moved their family of three across the country with crazy calm, precision, and speed. To my joy we inherited a load of wonderful literature, a new couch and many many house plants. I have already started in on some of the classic...that I have never read... I am so ashamed. But aren't they BEAUTIFUL!

Then it was Christmas number 1, with my parents and siblings. It was a super wonderful day with loads of family fun and love. And will you believe not a single photo was taken of the fun, just the aftermath.

They were all asleep before we hit the highway. Morgan is asleep behind them in the back too. It was a wonderful day.

Then it was Christmas day.

We opened presents and played and played and played. It was a wonderful day. We have had a lot of those lately.
Then after the holiday, life returned to normal...well that kind of normal, that is normal for us.

I made some new quilt squares, always a good time.

DOT thought they looked like something for him, he was quite bothered when he learned they weren't for him.This is his "These are NOT for ME? You must be joking" face.

In other normal for us news Morgan has taken over Watermelons bed. Watermelon doesn't seem to mind and Morgan doesn't seem to mind that she doesn't really fit in it. This is her "What? I totally fit in the bed. I am ROCKIN this two sizes too small bed!"

She is too wonderful for words.

And then it was 2012, officially.

No pictures of New Years Eve, of course, but I do believe the "I stayed awake the longest" award goes to MAT. I left him watching a movie at 10:30. Mr. T won the award for first asleep, he even beat DOT to the title.
2012 Garden planning has begun!

And I'm gonna be honest, with the weirdness of this weather we have been having, next to no snow and last week we had a 55 degree day, in January, in Northern Indiana, the SNOW capitol of the state. We have had a total of like 10 inches fall so far. It is totally bizarre. Anyway, because of the weird weather I am considering planting some lettuces and other cold hardy veggies because, well, I dont have to dig under 4 feet of snow to get to them. I am also considering trimming the apple trees, again because, well, the weather is warm enough that I won't have to wear a parka, or trudge through the snow. I have no idea what this weather means for the planting and growing seasons ahead, but I suppose we will find out.

Gratuitous cute baby shot #2.

Shut up, I'm his mother and this is the greatest face ever.

In other news, I have joined the make all our bread club...Mr. T and I have both tried our hands at the baking, I am great at traditional white breads and wheat bread. Mr. T excels at pizza dough and sandwich slice bread. I am nearly ready to start my own sour dough mother, but I want to get more in the routine of daily bread making first.

Today it was the first try at French bread, it turned out spectacularly.

I have been baking and cooking new things and trying all the soup recipes I can get my hands on. It is fabulous. Tonight was homemade cream of broccoli and french bread. It was SO good.

MAT asked for seconds, which was impressive because he doesn't typically like soup or broccoli, and RAT actually took a bite of the soup, swallowed it, without making a face, thought about it, and then said he didn't like it and asked for some apple sauce. They both approved of the bread, thankfully. They can be a little picky about bread. So that's the happenings around here.

Also, I have decided to get fit. This is a month along already, not a New Years resolution. It is more of a "get your ass in shape, you can't even do 5 push up's? you want to play with your children? don't you want a new wardrobe and to be able to make your own clothes without having to buy 5 yards of fabric for one shirt dress? you gained 10 POUNDS Thanksgiving week and that is ALL the weight you lost in the YEAR after your third child was born, do SOMETHING about this right now!" kind of thing.

It has been surprisingly smooth so far. I have lost 10 pounds, in a month just by eating proper portion sizes, watching my caloric intake and moving an hour or so a day, not even exercising necessarily, just up on my feet doing things, the weight comes right off. I am working out a little at a time. I don't want to overdo it and then burn out. I want this to be a lasting and healthy change in my life. I am still working on self control, but when your stomach is the size of a grapefruit instead of a football, self control comes pretty easily.

So that's the low down on the goings on of the Little Squidgen Home. I hope your Holiday's were lovely and happy and that the New Year is being good to you so far.

Totally unrelated- Anyone have a sour dough mother recipe for me? or positive assurance that I am capable of maintaining it?

Someone had a Birthday.

2011-12-07T11:51:00.000-06:00

DOT turned 1 year old, on December 3rd. Yeah. Time FLIES. I wish it would slow down, but here we are none the less. We went and saw Santa and Mrs. Clause in the morning, had some lunch and then home to play till dinner and cake. DOT was by far the least messy first birthday cake eater of the bunch. We all had a great day.


I am 1 year old.

A partial living room renovation.

2011-11-10T09:58:00.000-06:00

Some things have been changing around here. Little by little, when free time is had, between with Mr. T's new shift at work and general winter prep, this time is limited, but things are getting done. The current project is our living room. A roof leak, working around a giant fireplace, and ridiculous ceilings are just a few things on the agenda. So far Mr. T has flashed the chimney, something the previous owners thought was unimportant and has stopped our roof leak. Woohoo! Only took 2 years to fix, but I am SO not complaining. It is fixed and that is what matters. And since this was fixed, other, more fun, projects can be undertaken. Cue- The Living room Built-in Project 20011

Here is where we started on October 9th 2011

When we started the only project I thought was on the docket was to build book shelves and a cabinet but then this happened...

Which turned into this

This needed to happen for three reasons. 1) it was VERY ugly. Seriously, I can deal with many things and label them charming, but this was not, it was just ugly. 2) many of the tiles were broken and/or chipping, and slate is SHARP. This was a daily hazard for our kids, DOT in particular who often was found with shards in his mouth, so this was the main factor in the change. and 3) there was this weird carpet peninsula thing that ended up under the wood supply so it was always dirty and it just didn't work.

And as a bonus 4) Mr. T started removing it without me even asking, we were on the same page about it, sweetness.

We saved many many of the whole undamaged tiles, waste not, and I have a project in mind for them in the laundry room. For that project, they will be charming and wonderful. Mr. T also started on one of the built-ins I was promised when we purchased the house.

Tile up, and 3/4 of a built-in all on October 9th. And it sat that way for all of the rest of October. I was starting to get concerned that another two years would go by before we had a floor and bookshelves. But as chance would have it, Mr. T had 6 days off in a row last week, and he wanted to go deer hunting. We made a bargain and a lot was accomplished.
First we purchased tile and tried to pick out a stain. The tile was fun, but kind of a pain. The one we like was out of stock and we needed to get this done in 6 days, no time to wait for shipping. We ended up going with a different tile, that WE love. It was more expensive than the one we wanted, still inexpensive compared to the majority of other options, but it is beautiful and all other options could not have worked better. So first Mr. T handled the tile instal and did a beautiful job. ( I would have helped, I did help with the cabinets, more on that later, but my tiling skills SUCK. I did not want to mess up something that had the potential to be so nice. I opted for camera handling rather than slinging mastic and grout)

From start to finish in about 27 hours, with a couple hours of deer hunting in there too. Tada!

Yeah, Watermelon was HUGE help with this project too, as always.

So the tile was down and 3/4 of the left built-in was built, now the right side built-in could begin. This one doesn't have a cabinet on the bottom, it has tile under it for firewood storage. Yay! Me. T got it up in a flash.

And then after some fast learning and quick work, I stained it. *bows gracefully* Thank you, thank you, I try my best. I am very proud to have helped.

Then DOT woke up and I couldn't help any more because my job of baby wrangling has become all consuming. Have I mentioned to you all that DOT started walking? Yup, he did, just a few days before Halloween. And he now walks EVERYWHERE, quickly. It is marvelous, and I am thankful that he waited till he was almost 11 months old before doing so, unlike his 9 month walking brothers, but really a toddler makes remodeling difficult and far more dangerous than it already is. Mr. T took over the staining and did a fine job.

He also fabricated some doors for the left cabinet and added an additional shelf to the right one.

Waiting to be loaded with goodness.

All loaded with goodness and fun.

The cabinet on the left holds games and puzzles. My books are very happy in their new home. The bottom shelf on the right side will, eventually, house the satellite box and dvd player. I say eventually because this will only happen after we purchase a new wall mount tv and build another book shelf on that wall. And since a flat panel tv can cost quite a lot of money, it could be a while. However, black Friday deals have been known to pop up, and you never know. But for now, we are calling it done. Hole in the ceiling, unmudded drywall , tv and additional built-in aside it is done. I am very happy with the end result, in fact I might be in love with them. I put the room back together and here it is. As of November 9th 2011, 1 month from the start, we have a finished(-ish) living room.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

Good times were had by all.

Taking a break...unintentionally

2011-10-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

Our desktop took a nap with the fishes and it is talking Mr. T a little longer than usual to bring it back from the depths. What with the AC going out, sealing the leak in the roof before winter arrives, general fall cleanup, and little safety projects here and there (like covering the gap the previous owners left between the basement stars and the wall they built, that is just perfect size for a T child to fall through), finishing the special project he did for the boys and working 40+ hours a week.

So with all that to do, recovering pictures and user friendly options ( I hate the finger mouse thing on the laptop), I might not make another post for a while. I have lots of things to post, but until I can easily post them with photos it is not worth my aggravation. Hopefully I will be back in short time, but I am guessing it will be a few weeks at least. Thank you for your patience. TTFN.

King sized quilt for me...and Mr. T too.

2011-09-29T11:28:00.000-05:00

I have been working on this quilt for what seems like years, though it has only been about 9 months.

However, I have been saving fabirc pieces for nearly a decade for the "someday" quilt. Well folks, someday has arrived. This post is actually a few months overdue, the finished quilt has been on our bed for more than a month. I am a bit behind what with thefood preservation, garden cleanup, MAT's tonsillectomy, DOT's learning to walk, tattoo coloring, and other general life things.

Anyway. This quilt has been slow going and a whole lot of fun.

I don't have any pictures of the piecing, mostly because it was done in our ~~dungeon~~ basement and the light is no good there. But here is the finished top quilt, the bottom sheet (literally a king sized sheet, for $5 is far more durable and cheaper than quilters cotton at that with and length) and the batting is two polyester twin size blankets that are no in good enough shape for the boys to use but will be just fine once quilted. The coffee mug holds my fantastic curved safety pins. Ask me how much I love curved safety pins... SO MUCH. They are much easier for this big ole fingers to work with than straight ones.

Watermelon is my constant sewing ~~pain in the ass~~ helper. So much so I often have to banish her from the working area. She is super cute though.

To get started I cleaned out my kitchen furniture, swept the floor and laid the bottom sheet. Then I found tape, I was looking for duct tape but only found electrical, oh well still sticky. I taped the bottom sheet down.
Then I laid my batting ( the poly blankets)

THEN I locked the cat in the basement, and RELAID the poly batting and then laid the quilt top over that and secured it with tape.

On to the pinning! PIN ALL THE THINGS!

After it is all pinned and secure some would hand baste. I am not some. I do not have the patience for this. So I started folding. And then someone opened the basement door and this happened. It was still flat till the tornado cat decided to ball it up for a nap.

So once again Watermelon was whisked away to her room and I folded it up, and stored it in a bin in my workroom, for 4 months. Yes, thats right. Then 2 months ago I got the itch, about the time I did the receiving blanket quilts, I decided to hand tie this quilt too. I will most likely go back and hand quilt it since I now have a quilt frame, Thanks MOM!

So, its been a while from start to...mostly finished, but it is done-ish, and I love it. So does Watermelon.

How much do I love the Muppets?

2011-09-23T21:28:00.000-05:00

SO MUCH.

If you do not have youtube.com viewing capabilities, so sorry. The basic concept of the video is a monster, dressed as a bunny, with actual Muppet bunnies, singing "Stand By Me", doing what monsters do best.

But to those of you who can watch it, right at 21 seconds is my very favorite part. I must have watched this 10 times and laughed out loud each time. I do love the Muppets, so very very much.

I also have a huge crush on Jason Segel, ever since "Freaks and Geeks", yeah, so... I can have a celebrity crush, and I adore him. And I bring him up because the new Muppet movie comes out at Thanksgiving and Jason co-wrote the new film and also stars amongst others...He loves the Muppets too, one more reason I adore him. Anyway. I hope you could view the song and if you couldn't stop by and I will play it for you, repeatedly.

Oh and go see "The Muppets" on November 23rd.

Thank you goodnight. You may now return to your regularly schedules day and avoid any more plugs from me.

A bit of helpful advice to myself

2011-09-09T13:22:00.001-05:00

Note to self: Self, on the very rare occasion you clean windows both on the inside AND outside of our house, just a friendly reminder, clean the outside FIRST. Otherwise you will have to re-clean the inside windows when little helpers, children, dogs, and cats, decide to watch you and put their grubby adorable little faces and hands/paws all over the freshly cleaned inner glass. Work smarter not harder. Just sayin.

Secondary note to self: Remember THIS is why you NEVER clean the windows. It is much easier to have dirty windows and zero frustration toward adorable housemates than it is to be annoyed whilst re-cleaning an entire ground floors worth of interior windows. Please make a note of it. Love, Self.

Rhubarb custard pie recipe, as promised, 2 months ago...

2011-09-01T07:44:00.000-05:00

Rhubarb Custard Pie (Grandma's Recipe)
1 1/2 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (I also add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon)
3 Tbsp. flour
1 TBSP. butter, cut in tiny cubes
2 eggs
3 C. chopped rhubarb, raw, washed, dried, and about 1/2 inch pieces.
2 layer pie crust

Combine first 4 ingredients, then add:
2 eggs, 1 at a time, and beat till smooth, and then your rhubarb.

Pour mixture into pie crust and add top crust, and BAKE 450 degrees for 10 minutes, THEN turn DOWN heat to 350 degrees for an additional 30 minutes.( I like to do a lattice because the custard bubbles up between the strips)
Remove and cool on rack.

Try: Cutting it hot and tossing a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it, it is insanly good, my boys thought it was apple pie and now, because of this recipe, will GLADLY try anything with rhubarb without even a thought. Enjoy!

Fiber Rich

2011-08-22T11:30:00.000-05:00

It was a successful visit to the local thrift store this week. I came out fiber arts rich and only $7 down. 2 twin size afghans, 1 throw, 1 crib size throw, and one...I'm calling it a shawl because that is how I am gonna use it. No holes, a few loose ends to crochet or knit back in and a couple stains that, thanks to the magic of homemade laundry soap paste and hand washing, came right out. They all washed up beautifully and dried very quickly on the line. Oh, and did I tell you, we are currently without a dryer, thankfully it is only August and a perfect time to hang all the laundry out to dry. The only thing that gives me pause is we need new prefold diapers, the ones we have are 6 years old now, and it was my intention to purchase some more, but I suppose we will have to go to the laundromat to fluff them up...that OR we could beg the favor of a neighbor. Anyway, this is about the wonderful scores from the thrift.

A twin size red, white, and blue blanket. I cant decide whether it will go in the guest room or the Independence day decor. Hell it may stay on this chair. It is marvelous.

FINALLY a granny square blanket, and its TWIN size. Weee!

I will probably store this with the Independence day decorations, as I don't see the lightness of color faring well as an every day use blankie.

Perfect size for baby or kiddo and it is all cotton.

I am going to use this as a shawl, it is very bright orange, but I like that a whole lot.

"Custom made, especially for you, by Helen Dworak". Thanks Helen.

This Moment

2011-08-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

This Moment- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ( inspired by Soulemama)

A new use for that unfolded basket of laundry

2011-08-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

We all have baskets of unfolded laundry around the house, right?
No?
Just me?

Okay, well...Oh! YOU have one or two too, good!! So glad I am not the only one.

In my house there is always the dilemma of what to DO with said basket. Can't put it away, oh no, that would make sense, we like to leave one, willie-nillie, sitting about the house. You know, to trip over on occasion, for children to pick clothing out of rather than walking all the way upstairs to their closets, to get messy again and require rewashing before even being worn. You know how it is.

Turns out there is another USE! It works especially well on laminate flooring, I would assume hardwoods or tile would be equally as stellar. Full laundry baskets make EXCELLENT walking push toys for babies. And if said baby gets tired they can lay right down in their walker, win/win. And this is a good reason to always have one ready and in the living room. That is my rationalization anyway...

Happy Wednesday!

"ME CAN do IT!!!"

2011-08-15T10:55:00.000-05:00

I LOVE when RAT realizes he is capable of yet another big boy task. I have just spent the last 20 minutes watching him repeatedly, unhook his overalls, drop them to the floor and then put them back on and rehook them, all by his "own self", and then he proclaims "ME CAN do IT!...again Mommy?" Of course buddy, do it again, ~~ignore mommies poorly masked blubbering over how big you are~~, and carry on growing up... I will be cheering you on through my internal sobs. High five sir! I am very proud of you.

I missed him getting on by seconds

Why did you pick MAT's first day of first grade (CRAZY) to accomplish such great a feat!

You will notice one hand on "base", this is after the 20 second free stand as I was too afraid to leave him to get the camera in case he fell, which of COURSE he did not.

And not to be outdone, DOT chose today to stand for 20 seconds hands free of support (and frankly too wobble-free for my comfort level). He will be walking before I know it.

He made it three steps up the stairs yesterday before anyone noticed...and Yes the baby gate situation has been rectified, there will be no more unintentional baby mountain climbing for the foreseeable future.

Why so many big changes TODAY? Such is the way of things I suppose. You three are so BIG to me today.

You three are making me feel, happily mind you, completely obsolete. This momma needs some snuggle time, lest she feel unnecessary. I am a touch sad, but VERY proud, my heart bubbles over with pride. My big boys. So many big things for a Monday, what will the rest of the week bring?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

2011-08-12T13:28:00.000-05:00

I love it. It is nowhere near finished, but nearly 4 hours of work and it being an hour after closing, required us to stop. I love it just as it is, I can only imagine its beauty when all colored up, I suppose I will know in a month. Thank you Ken for being a master of your craft, thank you Mr. T for the gift, and thank you boys for not driving your father mad while I was gone all last evening. And the biggest thank you to natural childbirth, for making every other discomfort not seem so bad.

This Moment

2011-08-12T06:40:00.000-05:00

Around here...

2011-08-11T12:48:00.000-05:00

DOT is sitting up, all by himself.

Brothers are bonding

Monsters are being scary.

Fun is being had.

Sword fights are being fought.

Butterflies are loitering.

Gardens are OUT OF CONTROL.

Brothers are wrestling. ( and DOT is PULLING UP)

The chickens are laying, FINALLY,

(Isn't it dainty compared to the duck egg on the left?)

AWESOMENESS has arrived.

(yes, thats right that says COMPLETE SERIES, Superb)

So that's what has been going on around here. Loads of windows open to let the breeze blow through, playing outdoors, new milestones being reached and smashed by a certain 6 toothed baby, lots of food preservation and prep, and most of all lots of time spend together whether it be watching critters or introducing my boys to my favorite ass kicking super-powered girls. Life is good folks, indeed it is.

Little by little, bit by bit...

2011-08-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

Mr. T has been working on the upstairs hallway. We are not fans of textured ceilings, some people are and that's ok, we are not. So a few weeks ago he started scraping, and spraying with loads of water. Fun fact, did you know unpainted textured ceilings can be removed with just scraping, but PAINTED textured ceilings require soaking and then lots of scraping, and then more water and more scraping.

Our smooth ceiling

But then, eventually, you have a bare surface ready for mud. Which, as it turns out, even a novice can do relatively well, with the proper tools...and a step ladder. (sorry, no pics of the bare ceiling or the mudding) And, also as it turns out, I kind of like mudding, good thing too, two bathrooms, 4 bedrooms and the entire downstairs ceilings have to be done eventually. When the mudding was done. Mr. T went off to the home store to buy some ceiling paint...he also purchased the wall paint, without a paint chip or a color given by me. I will admit I was nervous. It needed to be light because it is an upstairs hallway and the only natural light is let in from the bedrooms, and we are putting a chalkboard and old school maps up on the walls (more on those later, I promise) so it needed to be just right. I had mentioned I wanted a buttery yellow, error on the side of cream, rather than sunshine. I was thinking old paper to go with the maps. Good news, my husband is a rock star, he picked the exact color I wanted. Apparently we are on the same page. So after the ceiling was painted and the walls, I am safely saying we are 50% done with that hallway. Woohoo!
We have miles to go before this house is done. But knowing that the process is officially starting is incredibly satisfying.

Receiving blanket quilts

2011-07-25T11:33:00.002-05:00

Wanna talk about receiving blankets for a minute? Sweet. Lets face it, most store bought receiving blankets are only good for up to about 10 pounds of baby. They hardly ever get used enough to wear out, and most are just painfully undersized for use more than a couple weeks. But they are also too cute to get rid of. I had this giant pile of receiving blankets, once used for swaddling tiny babes, then stockpiled for diaper making, secondary sewing projects and sentimental purposes. After we realized, with MAT, that they would be short lived for their intended use, we kept them. We used them as lap blankets for car rides, for playing, for making into capes, they were used and loved. But now that DOT is no longer swaddled we only need to keep a few out for playing, this freed up...many more than I care to admit, and off to storage they went. I will admit it, baby blankets are one of those things this Moma has a hard time parting with.

While going through my stash a few weeks ago, working on a separate project to be talked about later, I opened a box full of baby blanket wonder. I began to think of what I could do with this box of gently used flannel goodness. Parting with them was out of the question. Two were kept back for each boy to pass on to their potential kiddo's, and the blue and pink striped ones, you know the one I am talking about, their very FIRST blanket, I kept for me to use at a later date. But I still had a rather large pile and I had to do something with it. All that snugly love and warmth was wasted in a box. So I thought.... And then it came to me when I was making MAT's bunkbed one day. After I laid the top sheet and was wrangling the comforter for the top bunk I had a thought. Quilts!

Not super fancy heavy top quilts. You know the kind for show and not for use, no, not that kind. Thin, snugly warm, extra blanket in winter, quilts. Keepsake quilts made from baby blankets, for the boys to use, everyday. Beloved baby blankets that were no longer useful, made usable for the next 20 years. For use when watching movies, sitting in the sun, roasting marshmallows on chilly nights, eating oatmeal on foggy mornings, and yes sleeping. Receiving blanket quilts. I browsed the local thrift shop for sturdy stain free flat sheets in the sizes of our beds. (This also made me realize we have NO blankets for our beds, comforters and sheets, yes, but no bed sized blankets) I procured the bottom quilt layer, two twin sheets and a full size for a grand total of $1.25 thanks to a half off sale and coupon combo, and headed to the fabric store for the batting. I have used poly blankets or poly batting for previous quilts and it was my intention this time, BUT I saw a sale on cotton batting and couldn't pass up the $6 a yard spectacular price. I sewed my quilt tops, pinned the layers together (can I tell you HOW much I love curved safety pins? SO MUCH!) and then thought about how I wanted to quilt the layers. I am a terrible machine quilter, sad but true, I do not have a quilt frame for hand quilting, so knotting was my best option. I may go back and hand quilt after I have a quilt frame. A few days of knotting and some sore hands later and voila, 3 finished quilts, made of receiving blankets, for my boys to drag in the mud, snugle and sleep under. And for me to remember tiny little pink newborn faces peaking out so long ago, every time I see their sleeping faces peaking out from now on.

This Moment

2011-07-22T08:25:00.000-05:00

BEANS! and zucchinni and stuff.

2011-07-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

"Mom LOOK! Green Bean MOOSTACHES!"

One more.

Now to work. This is our first year, EVER, that I have managed to get green bean crop to produce. So we are in the height of picking, snapping and canning them. The first batch, which was picked and snapped by my lovely MAT and Spider-Man, canned the very same evening last week, and I am just getting around to telling you about it now. If it dries out a smidge I will pick and can another batch tonight, as is the plan, but with the soggy that is happening right now I fear they will have to wait till tomorrow.

"Shootsing webs at yous."

(in case you don't know, Spider-Man has been joining us for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner most days the last week or so. I don't know where RAT goes, but he never seems to be around when Spider-Man joins us. Weird right?)

We are kicking the bean harvests...bum. But the zucchini harvest is the other way around. I have made some zucchini pickles, I will give a recipe and photos after they have time to "pickle" and I know if they are good or not, we have been dicing, shredding, making baby food, putting them in bread, on eggs, in pasta, and eating them with two meals a day. None have gone to waste yet, but there is only so much room in the freezer and there is a limited amount of ways to can them. I am thankful for my zucchini, they are quite delicious. I am impatient for the tomatoes so I can add them to my sauce.

So that's it on the harvest front. The sunflowers are blooming, the pumpkins are taking over and climbing everything, the sweet corn is tasseling, and the tomatoes are plumping, though none are changing colors yet, rats.

And we ended up with about 3 pints, for a first haul, not too bad. I hope to get 4 quarts or so today or tomorrow. Gotta keep those plants picked so we can get enough beans to get us through till next year. Here's hoping! And happy growing!

2011-07-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

Around here.

2011-07-07T10:23:00.002-05:00

Days have been flying by, and times have been good. The 4th (well the 3rd actually) brought friends, food, and fireworks, but you know what, I did not take a single photo of the day. I know, I am terrible. But here is a couple photos of what has been going on around here the last two weeks.
Up first is the holiday sewing.

Unfortunately I dropped the ball on photos of all the projects. Seriously, I didnt mean to but things got away from me this year. I blame general distractions of life. Below are the place mats I made, I heart them. I also whipped up a patchwork table runner, 50 or so feet of flag bunting and three table cloths, all of which you will have to take my word for because...I suck. Look for them in next years pictures. Ha!

And Now onto the food, or rather two of the 17 things I prepared. Yeah, I know, incomplete, oh well.

My Grandmothers rhubarb custard pie. OMG, this is absolutely to DIE for. Fresh out of the oven under some vanilla ice cream it is just as good, maybe better, than the best apple pie ala mode I have ever tasted. Really delicious. Not to mention, fresh homemade pie crust, freshly laid eggs from my ducks, and fresh cut rhubarb from my garden make it that much better. I intended the pie crust to be woven lattice, but got sidetracked during that step. I am sure my children had something to do with it, possibly Mr. T too, it is still pretty and delicious anyway. Recipe to come later.

I made an easy lemon cream pie too. Sadly no photos, it consisted of a vanilla wafer crust, as not to use up any needed s'more graham crackers, one can of lemonade, one can sweetened condensed milk, and 8 oz. whipped cream. It was spectacular! and VERY easy. But looked a bit bland. So to punch up the presentation I made some candied lemon slices.

I am gonna be honest, I was worried when I first had the idea. I thought it was going to be very labor intensive and difficult. It couldnt have been further from the truth. The seed removal was the toughest part, and totally worth it. Two lemons thinly sliced and seeds removed. Blanched for 5 minutes. Then into a boiling mixture of 1c. water and 2c. sugar. add lemons and simmer for at least 1 hour, though 2 is better.

Remove from syrup.

and let dry 24 hours, they will still always be sticky.
Then I placed them on top of my pie. You will have to take my word on how pretty it was as I am sans pictures.

And now a gratuitous kiddo picture, just because. MAT came to me and said " Hey mom, lets all put on hats and you can take our picture!" so, they did, and I obliged.

How about some garden pics!
I noticed that my dill was looking quite sad and upon closer inspection I found these.

I thought for a split second about giving the ducks a caterpillar treat, then I decided to sacrifice the dill for some potential black swallowtail butterfly beauty later. Fair trade by my accounts.

Things are growing and blooming.

The corn is FINALLY cooperating with me, see "knee high by the 4th of July". It ACTUALLY happened this season! Now if I can just keep the critters out to actually get a harvest. More on that later I am sure.

The kale and chard are coming in beautifully and are delicious! The onion are also looking quite plump...and the weeds are thriving too, I am going to work on those tomorrow...probably.

The beans are happy too.

And I pulled my first zucchini, of hundreds this season I'm sure, this morning. I cannot wait to eat it for lunch.

Much of our days, of late, have been spent in our pool. Thank you to friends who get a REAL pool and have the courtesy to offer up their perfect pool from last summer to poor, pool less, cheapskates. Ha! It is nothing fancy and its only 18 inches deep and 8 feet around, but we love it just the same. As it turns out, 18 inches deep is the perfect height for RAT to play safely in the pool but for the rest of us to be able to float. It holds the 5 of us and that is all we need. Sorry there are no pictures of the children in the pool, they were in for 6 hours yesterday, but I am having too much fun with them to stop and take photos. The story of my life.
MAT is finding his way to putting his whole face in without encouragement and thinks we picked the depth just for him. RAT is a little fish and frighteningly fearless. And DOT, well DOT nearly fell asleep in his ring yesterday. He is just perfectly content in the water, as long as the water is 80 or above, he's a happy camper. Have I told you all what a delightful even tempered baby he is? Cause he is just a happy dude pretty much all the time.

We all just think this summer is the bee's knees.

2011-06-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

DOT says, "LOOK EVERYONE ALL 4's!"
I say, "We are SO in trouble".
I am in no way ready for this. Thankfully he hasn't figured out locomotion yet.

A great Fathers day, in photos.

2011-06-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

Many games of tag were played.

MAT cant knowingly get his picture taken without making a face.

Morgan poses nicely, MAT makes a face. Ah, good times.

S'mores were made and eaten, LOTS of them.

Babies were cute in their sun hats.

Morgan helped with s'more prep. I think she had other plans for those marshmallows.

It was a day spent resting, playing, eating and celebrating one particular Dad. It was a good day.

I do so love custom orders for repeat customers.

2011-06-23T08:52:00.001-05:00

Really I do. Particularly when the custom work is asked for by such awesome moms as two of my repeat customers. The two customers, who have come back year after year, asking me to make goodies for their kiddos. I heart them and their childrens (yes, I intended to say childrens), that I have dresses for nearly every year of their young lives. Makes me feel good.
And it has awoken my urge to sew. I see some custom goodies in my kiddos near future, and maybe some table runners for the holiday, and some new curtains, and a quilt or two.... Something has definitely awoken.
Of course the part of me that obsesses over the garden is kicking and screaming, but with this wonky Indiana weather as of late, it can't go into the garden with out sinking up to its knees in mud.

Anyway. Here is a few pictures of the goodness I made for one special little bud in North Carolina. His Moma has the very best taste in fabric. She sends me a big ole box once a year and has me make his wardrobe. Here is this years collection totals 10 shirts, and is modeled by MAT, he had fun, I swear.

It took a while to get started with this project. I have had the fabric for nearly a month, but again with the janky weather, it only took two days to construct all 10 shirts. Much Thanks to the rain, whom ever invented the baby sling, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" streaming live on netflix, and the play-dough cupcake maker. Don't judge, when going out of doors is not an option Mom's do what they must.

Both RAT and MAT have requested wardrobes of their own, so we will be taking the monies(again an intended misspelling, its more fun to say it that way) from this batch of goodness and purchasing the materials for my boys wardrobes. Yay! Of course I will tackle the table runner for Independence Day first, then off to the button ups! I forgot how much fun watching the boys light up at things made just for them is.

2011-06-17T09:27:00.000-05:00

Because MOOOSTACHES are the coolest...and so are shark goggles.

2011-05-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

"Mama, I need a MOOOSTACHE today."

	RAT says, "Me EBIL, a scnientist. Me gonna blow stuff up! then go swimmin' in the ocean!"
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Thrift store goodness

2011-05-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

I love when I find awesomeness cheaply. My weekly trip to the thrift store turned up some goodness today, ps, I dont always go IN every week, but I do drop things off every week, today just happened to be a go in kinda day.

It was a VERY successful trip. I picked up 3 baskets, a lovely green glass pitcher, RAT picked out a pink umbrella (and has been asking if it is raining yet? since we got home), AND the piece of the day, the adorable white bench, for $5 none the less! I would love about 6 more just like it...just sayin.

He is SO pleased with his umbrella.

I cannot wait to use this.

I have already filled this beauty with my newly un-mussed yarn stash and current crocheting and knitting projects.


For yet undetermined destinations, but will store something somewhere

I love it when I have a hunch something special is waiting for us and there REALLY is when we get there. Total trip, $8

A task 5 years in the making...

2011-05-27T14:21:00.002-05:00

Who says I'm a procrastinator?
I do.
I, typically, loath tedious tasks, no matter how necessary. Patience and even temper are not my strong suits, though I can say they are sturdier than they once were. Because of the impending summer heat and the bizarre severe weather this week I started an unimaginably tedious and infuriating task. Cleaning up and going through my workroom in the basement.

This lead me to the most troublesome, yet freakishly rewarding, task yet.

I began sorting through this massive jumbled mess of yarn, and latch hook pieces, and ribbon, and friendship bracelets, and a few wire flowers for good measure.

MAT mussed up this wad 'O' madness when he was 18 MONTHS old in my workroom in our other house. Yes, you read that right MAT, not RAT who is pictured with the mess and yes it is almost as big as he is. My OLDEST child who is 6 did this when he was a toddler. It has traveled from the old house, to storage, to this house and it is now time to do the deed.

Yes, I HAVE been avoiding this particular task since 2006, thanks for doing the math with me. It was going to be done sooner or later. Because of my magnetic baby this week, the weather being what it has been, and not being able to do the outdoor tasks that are calling, this was a very productive way to spend...about 9 hours.

It took a very long time untangling. But I vowed before I began to not lose my temper OR cut ANYTHING. I would become zen like my Grandma Virginia did when I once watched her untangle my mothers sewing box thread ball. If you don't know what one looks like, one, I hate you for having that much control over your sewing box, and two you must have NEVER seen a functioning in use sewing box in a home with children.
It took hours and hours and hours, but in the end Grandmother had usable thread and the sewing box was organized. My sewing box currently looks a hot mess, but I do NOT have that kind of zen skill yet...I honestly do not think I ever will. If I would just tuck in the thread ends onto the spool when switching thread, this wouldn't be an issue, but who has time for that.

Anyway, back to the yarn ball. After many hours and helpers. Watermelon was a BIG help, ok she was obnoxious, but she could have been SO much worse. I had a neat decently sized pile of yarn balls and one giant pile of ruined yarn, fuzz, wire flowers and a pile of friendship bracelets and a pile of ribbon.

And it was very good. Now to force myself to do some knitting and crocheting to use up all my little bits...Granny Square quilt anyone?

To do

2011-05-27T13:42:00.000-05:00

RAT and DOT and I went out for some errands this morning.

To DO for today:
1)Pop in at feed store and place inevitable order for duck starter feed. All 4 of my Muscovy girls are now sitting.
2)Stop by the dairy down the road and pick up as many bales of straw as the tahoe will hold with us in it.(the answer to that is 4 bales.) AND put them down in the bare spots of the garden, reserving 1/4 bale for Uncle Nate.
3)Pick up a couple bags of topsoil to cover fast growing tire potatoes to keep them covered and thus productive.
4)Pop by the goodwill and see whats new and good, if anything. (I scored some Excellent finds today, see my next post for more)
5) Finish untangling yarn wad that MAT mussed up when he was 18 MONTHS old. I started this earlier this week. What with all the lousy weather we have been in the basement, thus my workroom, for a few days. I couldn't stand the mess anymore so I started organizing and going through it, and I came upon this box of disaster.Yes, I HAVE been avoiding this particular task since 2006, thanks for noticing. It is something I can do with DOT in my lap and he is teething, so, he is attached to me this week.
6) Continue organizing basement and working on"heat escape cave". This is a room in the basement with a tiny tv (now with satellite thanks to my genius skills), mildly comfortable seating and other amenities that we can use on impossibly hot days this summer. As I am not interested in running the AC ALL summer and wasting the money, when we have a whole level of the house, as large as the main level of our house, that stays between 50 and 65 year round.
7) Snuggle with the boys.
8) Make a plan for the rest of the weekend.

I am on the final 3. Its good to be nearly done before 2pm. Have a good one!

2011-05-20T08:10:00.000-05:00

Around the Homestead.

2011-05-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

Back to the fun of production.

We started May with a bang. I made my first (EVER) batched of jam and Jelly.

rhubarb jam boiling and being skimmed

I started with rhubarb, well because we, somehow, have 5 hills this season. So the abundance abounds and I cannot stand the thought of wasting it. It is delicious by the way, we have frozen bags and bags and I am considering canning some compote too. I also made dandelion jelly, because, you know me, abundance and all that.

It is surprisingly delicious. Here is the recipe I used.

About half the garden is planted.

<--The peas are thriving as is the swiss chard, broccoli, kale, onions, spinach, strawberries, onions, rhubarb, and asparagus.

I found some yarrow growing wild in the pasture. According to companion planting resources it is supposed to be very beneficial to loads of things in the garden, and the flowers are pretty and the foliage is cute.

I am trying to grow potatoes in tires this year. This is particularly unnerving for me as it is also my first time growing potatoes. But anyone who has driven by our home knows we have an abundance of old tires, some were left here by the previous owners, and 4 or 5 have piled up from Mr. T's truck, so we might as well give it a shot.

All in all I am very happy with the garden start this season. And those raised beds I told you about are to the right of the garden, on the other site of the drive.--->

We have other excitement going on too. It is spring so we have babies on the...farm? that just sounds misleading, on the homestead does too... in the pasture. Anyway, our goose who started on a clutch of 13, was down to 5 eggs till last week. One hatched. One. It is 4 days later and she is still sitting on the other 4 eggs. The little guy is going out with his Daddy's, yes both ganders are helping take care of the little guy. I am giving Mildred 2 more days then I am kicking her off the nest. I am super sad that the little guy is all by himself but this way he gets to stay with his parents. If more had hatched I would have taken them all away and raised them myself, but a single baby would be very sad and lonely.

Surprise, we have a stubborn Muscovy hen who will do nothing but be broody, so she is sitting on 5 Ancona eggs. She is a right nasty little lady, but I suppose I would be too if I sat in a box all day staring at the wall and some annoying lady came in and messed with me 4 times a day. Rousting me out of my bed, forcing me to eat and drink and bath.

OH and I dont think you all have met our newest motley crew.

These are the birthday chickens that MAT and I picked up this year. There were 10 originally, but one died and one became dinner. They are LOADS of fun to watch and listen to. I think I like chickens, I am sure Mr. T will not like this, but I can like a bird and not have to have 40 of them, surely I can.

In other news DOT has started eating. He has tried rice cereal and he enjoyed it...and the other boys enjoyed watching him enjoy it. They were just tickled that he can eat, and that most of what goes in comes right back out.

I am just in shock that he is old enough to BE eating real foods. Didn't I JUST have him yesterday? Anyway.

Things are blooming, growing, and beautiful around here.

There is a song that goes with this swinging, it goes "twinkle star, twinkle star, TWINKLE STAR, WHERE YOU ARE, twinkly star, where you are..."

This was a good day.

A decade of hair. Years 2003-2007

2011-05-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

2003
This year I turned 21, cut back my hours at school, and got a job. So the hair had to go a "natural" color for some years, and apparently took very few photos.

2004
I was blessed with SO many excellent roommates over the years, Steph was one of the very best.

And then we got engaged

And then Mr. T and I moved in together, and then like a minute later, we got pregnant with MAT.

2005

This was a very good year.I had a baby, this was MAT's baby shower...(Also shaved my head for the first time)

We got married.

And I dyed my hair black for the first time. (there was also an orange and black mohawk in this year, but I have no clear photos of it)

2006
I started 2006 with a plan...a plan to let my hair grow for a specific purpose.

I still colored it, but I didn't cut it.

And then one day when it had grown long enough, I called my friend Melissa.

And over she came to make me look fabulous. For hours and hours, she sat, and combed and ratted my hair in tiny sections, for hours, because she is awesome.

And then in the wee hours of the morning. I had dreadlocks.

And it was good.

2007

And then in the fall of 2007, whilst very pregnant, I noticed they were no longer locking. I attributed that to hormonal changes from being pregnant with RAT. Some womens hair goes stick straight, or limp while pregnant, my hair would no longer lock, no matter what I tried. I feared I would have to shave my head to lose my locks...ok not really feared, I had done it before, but I didn't really want to shave my head. So began the research.

After lots of research, a half gallon of super duper detangler conditioner, locating a heavy duty fine toothed metal comb, and a WONDERFUL husband who agreed to do the work, we embarked on the week long (potential disaster) of combing out my ratted matted mess of dread-locked hair. Seriously it took a week and there were no guarantees.
After hours of combing a day for 6 days.

After all the work, time, pain, and patience, I had a head of destroyed, but long unlocked hair. And it was good. I left it alone for many months after this, it was too damaged for me to play much with.

Thus ends years 2003- 2007.

The reclaimed wood raised beds ( yes I am FINALLY posting pictures)

2011-05-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

You may recall me mentioning the wonderful reclaimed wood raised bed boxes that Mr. T made me last fall, if you dont it doesn't matter. But here they are! finally, sorry it took so long, I've been busy. A friend of ours mentioned they were removing their old deck and wondered what to do with the refuse. They were thinking call for a dumpster, but I suggested they should call us. We drove down and picked it up. It sat for months, we picked it up in 2009 if that tells you anything, but then last fall Mr. T decided to build things. And off we went.

The farthest one contains asparagus and petunias, supposedly they are helped by each other. The middle one contains strawberries, spinach, and onions, we are all about companion planting this year. The box on the end contains the most successful rhubarb planting of my life. And the closest bed again contains strawberries, spinach, and onions.

Here is a close up of our spinach and strawberries. We harvested a handful of baby leaves today for lunch, yummy.

Mr. T also built me some boxes for my wee blueberries, mostly so we wouldn't run them over with the mower. I paired them with pansies, no real reason other than I think they look pretty.

They looked so bare last week.

There you have it. things are growing, being planted, and worked on around here. I am not avoiding you, I'm working here.

I hope things are growing well where you are!

One more reason my kids rule.

2011-05-11T13:55:00.000-05:00

"Mom, today is gonna be AWWWWESOME. I'm gonna get to school, do a worksheet, they are gonna take attendance and then... BOOM, go to the zoo. Just 2 things then BOOM the zoo! How cool is that?!"-MAT

Very cool bud, very cool. One lucky Mama, right here.

Another confession

2011-04-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

I have a very powerful urge to tidy my childrens rooms when I go in to put away laundry. They are 6, 3 and 4 months. The 4 month olds room is totally my room to mess with for another 6 months or so... but with the 3 and 6 year old, I never know what is still in a state of play or what scrap of paper it desperately important. I want to nurture, particularly in THEIR spaces, the ability to have total control. They are children and really get to control very little of their day to day lives. Yet, I cannot shake the urge to clean it all up and put everything in the place I think it needs to go.

My bedroom was a total disaster growing up. It was not filth, as there was no dirt or garbage present, but the toys and clothing often piled knee high (not an exaggeration) well into college years. Bless my sister and college room mates for tolerating and loving me despite my mess. There would be a path to the closet, bed, and door as wide as my feet and the rest would be a giant mess. Thank you to Mr. T for believing I would change and not force us to live in squallier. It was not till after I had children that my spaces became organized and put away and I became, frankly, a little anal about tidiness.

I want my children to be able to play and keep their rooms how they wish. But I gotta admit, I also REALLY want to clean them all up and have them live in museum like surroundings. I suppose I can settle for the Master bedroom being a serene, clean, and organized space, the main living areas being a bit off, and their rooms a total shambles if that is how they want them. I can relinquish control of three rooms for three special boys. Their space should be their responsibility and their choice. If I can keep MY bedroom looking like it came out of the pages of Better Homes and Gardens I suppose I can call it a win.

Confession

2011-04-18T07:36:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of writers block and my scanner is being difficult.

I am very busy around here doing spring cleanup things, but I cannot seem to find the words to write about them. I take photos and sit to write about our day and... nothing.

I do plan on completing my "decade of hair" posts but the scanner is being difficult. I didnt have a digital camera till like mid 2005, so a few years are still on paper and I am taking forever to get them copied.

I am still here, hanging with the poultry and menfolk, playing in the dirt, and I want to give you all something to read, hence this post, but I also want to give you something worthwhile to read, hence the lack of other posts.

I will *hopefully* be back with fun, entertaining, brilliantly worded posts soon, until then enjoy the spring...and a few kiddo photos...just cuz.

3 months and 6 and 29x2

2011-03-08T09:23:00.000-06:00

So we had a busy week last week. MAT and I had birthdays on Thursday and then Mr. T had a birthday on Sunday. It was a fun cake filled celebration, as it is every year. I cannot believe my oldest child is 6. I know I say this every birthday or milestone for all my children but REALLY, 6 seems like such an...appropriate but at the same time wholey unbelievable number.

We had waffles and bacon for dinner, I let MAT choose our celebratory dinner and I feel he chose well. And then ice cream cake for dessert, again no complaints from me.

We opened presents and blew out candles. It was a happy time had by all...except RAT and DOT who were sick and pretty much coughed and slept through the whole thing, poor guys.

On Friday I spent the night alone and away from my kiddos. I got a hair cut and color and went out for drinks with a friend. It was a very nice time, but just as a reminder to all you nursing Moma's out there. When you are going out and there is eve the SLIGHTEST possibility you might spend the night, do not, REPEAT, do NOT forget your breast pump on the kitchen counter. There is a reason, if you live anywhere near a dairy farm, that EVERYONE nearby knows when the farmer is late for milking. Ouchie. It turned out ok, I will not go into detail, but it was comical. I will not forget and make that mistake again.

While out I had my first "beer" in 13 years, feel free to do that math by the way, I am now 29. Yes, when I was 16 I indulged in a few too many Natural light brand beers, yes I am aware of the yuckiness of that particular brand, believe me, and had a night with my head in the toilet and have never since been able to drink a beer. I have tried many but never have I got past more than 3 sips, until Friday. I was whisked away to an establishment that only serves beer on tap, and there were about a hundred kinds. After tasting MANY MANY MANY, I settled on a cherry something or another and it really wasn't too bad. But I had exactly one beer, I didn't like it THAT much, but it was very drinkable. My drink of choice is still an amaretto sour or a greyhound, there is just something so yummy about them both and no hoppsy after taste.

So we had some drinks, many laughs and I got a haircut.
Cute no?

It was a good time, AND Mr. T did an excellent job with the boys. This was the FIRST time he has had one of our babies overnight without me. I knew he was up for the challenge and woudl do fine. MAT went to Grandmas, to lighten his load, so he only had RAT and DOT for the night. He told me after I got home that he has a new respect for what I do. "I don't know how you do it" he said. I just told him,"I do it, there is no how, you just do, because someone has to".

On Sunday we celebrated Mr. T's birthday with some roast beef , an Oreo pie, and presents. Good times, happy celebrations and much love, I can ask for nothing more.

Oh, and DOT turned 3 months on Thursday...has it really been 3 months already, yes, yes it has. So here is some random cuteness to get you through the day.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

A future architect in the making?

2011-02-25T08:56:00.000-06:00

I think so. Look at that symmetry.

RAT= 3, it is a very complicated equation, I still can't comprehend it

2011-02-16T08:35:00.000-06:00

On Sunday RAT turned 3.... 3.
It is hard for me to wrap my head around, but it is a fact We had a lovely day playing with balloons, dancing and begging every 5 minutes for cake. For dinner we had Spaghetti, because that is what the birthday boy asked for.

This balloon was the biggest hit, ever. He carries it around with him and takes it everywhere. He will be so sad in two weeks when it is no more.

And for dessert we had chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, sprinkles, and chocolate ice cream. RAT likes what he likes.

Present highlights include a helmet. He opened this first and then wore it the whole time while opening all his other presents. He also got a big kid boost seat. No longer will he sit in the 5 point harness seat.
They are all growing up so fast...*cue up "Sunrise Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof*

My boys are getting big too fast.

It's potty (training) time!!

2011-02-09T14:19:00.001-06:00

So T boy number two is officially...wait for it... POTTY TRAINED!!!

Yes folks, that's right! RAT is potty trained BEFORE his third birthday. (which, incidentally, is the 13th. I KNOW, crazy right)

Back to the subject at hand.We said bye bye to diapers Monday, January 24th 2011. Mostly because Mommy was really just sick of changing two little guys diapers and I KNEW he was ready. It was REALLY easy, surprisingly so. I just asked if he wanted to start using the potty all the time and wearing underpants like MAT, Mommy and Daddy.
He said, "Yup", and off we went.

As of today, we are diaper free, accident free for more than a week, and he has been sick for the last 5 days.
Impressive? I think so.

He is still wear training pants at night even though he has proven he will wake and get to the potty in time. But it makes him feel better knowing he is covered in case of accidents (cause no one likes a wet bed).

SO high five to my little RAT. I am super proud of you little dude.

Sick Day...s

2011-02-09T14:01:00.000-06:00

We are all sick here at the T house. Last Tuesday Mr. T came home feeling like yuck, and by Wednesday he was shivering and shaking with a crazy fever, rumbly tummy, and cough. Of course Friday morning RAT woke with a cough and by mid-afternoon was wiped out. MAT got home from school and by 6pm RAT, MAT and Mr. T were all asleep on the couch. Vomiting, coughing, and fever. This continued all weekend...and most of this week so far. The pull out couch earned its place as a valuable piece of furniture this weekend. And Mr. T verbalized his appreciation of my creating and hording of blankets, since there seemed to always be some in the washer and some waiting to be all weekend. Yes it was rather gross, but, vomit happens, as you all know.

DOT and I tried to steer clear as much as possible. I cut quilt pieces and organized my workroom, trying to quarantine us from the epidemic upstairs. But as you moms know, most of the time, when your kiddo's are sick, there is no one on the planet they wanna snuggle with more than good ole Mom.

Despite my best efforts on Sunday evening DOT got sick. This was kinda scary for me, as he is just two months old and I have been fortunate enough, till now, to not have sick babies till the were 6 months or so. Thankfully DOT got over his fever very quickly and is just coughing now. But yesterday, *ominous music*, I got sick. CRAP! I cannot afford to be sick, I have sick kids to take care of and a house to run. Luckily, yes I said luckily, the older boys are still feverish so they just lay around, drink, and sleep. DOT, thankfully, is just phlegmy. When this mom is sick she needs her kiddos to either be sick too or totally healthy. Well enough to go to school or Grandma's or sick enough to lay around with me and not complain about boredom.

As soon as Mr. T got home I went to bed. I went wearing sweat pants, tshirt, fleece robe, wool socks, and sock hat. I crawled into bed under the comforter, fleece blanket, cotton afghan, and sheet, and there I layed shivering for 3 hours. Then last night I didn't get any sleep thanks to alternating cold chills and hot flashes. Thankfully I woke this morning fever free and just battling a cough and runny nose. The older boys didn't wake so lucky.

DOT seems to be feeling the best while the older two are still feeling pretty puney and have on again off again fevers. They did manage to successfully eat today, so that's a plus. AND RAT made it through being yucky sick without having any potty accidents. That boy has been a potty training savant. That's the news from the house of ~~puke and phlegm~~ Little Squidgen.

Now I have to go check all the rooms for tissues to scavenge.

And on a totally unrelated note: I think I am going to give knitting another shot. Who knows I might have developed some patience since I last tried.

A decade of hair (+1 ).. Years 1999-2002

2011-02-02T20:55:00.002-06:00

My hair is one of my favorite things to change, my other favorite thing to change is the furniture arrangement of my home, but this is about hair. We are gonna go back a bit more than a decade, when my hair was very basic and regular.
Starting in 1999. Oh yeah. I'm going there.
(This series will be a picture heavy one, sorry to my dial up friends, I'm talking to you Mom. ;) Oh also sorry to anyone who doesn't appreciate their candid photos, suck it up, we are reliving my, sometime nightmarish hair. Thank you and I love you)

1999 (high school)

Me and my dawg.

My very best friend in the whole wide world, you will see her A LOT. Just sayin.

2000 (the hair experiments begins. I chopped hair off and dyed it caramel colored August 2nd 2000)

That's me on the right, with the semi-bowl cut. ( Oh and it gets worse, way worse. sidebar-Aren't my siblings the CUTEST)

2001(and it starts to get very interesting about now, I find the joys of COLOR.)

My favorite hair color (and the best improvised Halloween costume) EVER! Why yes those are plastic cups on my wrists being used as super hero cuffs.

2002 (the year I met my husband and the first photo is me the night we met. I was adorable, I know)

I had this thing for poofing my hair out, it was a bit clown-like...

Sadly there is only the one photo of the Mohawk up, it is still there in the next photo. I rocked it up many times, I just, apparently, did not take any pictures... I am noticing I was living the moments rather than capturing them. This is good and bad I suppose. I will have to try this color again someday, I did adore the Aqua.

And thus ends our review of my hairstyles from 1999-2002. Yeah I know, you might not care, but I think it's fun and this is my game so...nanna nanna boo boo, I will do what I want to. And if you pay close attention you will notice when I got my tongue and libret pierced, it is like a very strange game of "Where's Waldo".

Thanks for reminiscing with me, there will be more to come. 2003-2005 were kind of bland (I had a "real" job and wasn't allowed to do anything fun) so I might lump them in with 2007-2008, but who knows. It all depends on what gems I can dig up.

Baby bunting

2011-02-01T08:23:00.000-06:00

Just some photos of DOT, cause I can...and because he's cute.
(this is our FAVORITE bunting, we have had it for all three boys but DOT is the first to actually wear it more than once. We call it the "Maggie Simpson" though it is actually Tigger). Enjoy some cuteness.

Fun.

2011-01-18T11:54:00.000-06:00

Good times with eyeliner on a snowy day.

Yes I drew a soul patch on my newborn. But isn't he super cute with one... he seems pretty happy with it.

Super Mario anyone?

We need a Snidely Whiplash hat...

Goodies.

2011-01-17T11:43:00.001-06:00

I took a trunk load of our unneeded things to the local Goodwill this morning. This is something I seem to be doing about once a week lately, and of course I went in to browse the shelves a bit after the drop off. I cannot seem to resist browsing and as an added bonus I was ALONE. Yup, Mr. T had all three boys all by himself for over and hour today and everyone was happy and alive when I got home. Good things my friends, very good things.

I had three items on my list and $10 to spend.
An interesting tall container to store my cookie cutters in. I didn't care if it was glass, metal or a basket, just that it was big enough, interesting, and woudl fit in the cupboard.
An old double prong adapter plug for an old waffle maker we acquired a few weeks ago.
And an item ALWAYS on my list, a glass dome, or cloches, for covering baked goods and treats.

Today I found two of the three, two additional goodies, and while there, I had a thought about a container I already had to hold the cookie cutters, score.

Right off the bat I found the cord for the waffle maker, and BONUS, it works!! Guess who's having waffles tonight!?
Then right after that gem, I found a glass dome!!!(...that NEVER happens! At least it never happens that they are in pristine condition, and this one is perfect!) I will probably not use the wood cheese plate, instead opting to use a cute painted plate, but I am thrilled about the find. It is going to look smashing on our kitchen table filled with goodies next to our full size dome.

I also came upon two other fabulous finds. The wee little tool bench, that has been played with nonstop since it came in the house and for only $2 who can beat that! And lastly little tan and brown pot, I think I will use it for our homemade sweet pickles in the summer.

I am quite content with my trip today. And with the addition of my coupon for donations I spent a whopping $7. 27! It was a super good trip. I dropped off 4 garbage bags of things for others to use and came home with one little grocery bag of perfection.

Once again, the universe provides.

Ch, ch, ch, ch, Changes

2011-01-13T11:26:00.000-06:00

I am going to be working on a new layout for a week or so. It's time a new year, a new family of 5, just time for new. Bare with me, I wont take too long and I might even make a few more posts before I change for good. So dont be alarmed if some things seem wonky for a while, I am just shaking things up a bit.

Mmmmm Eggs

2011-01-12T13:29:00.001-06:00

So we are snowed in today. yippie? It has been a bit chaotic keeping everyone happy and occupied. But we have been having fun, or at least trying to. We have been playing with play food, taking pictures and in general being silly. MAT and RAT each received a set of play cookware for Christmas and they were both asking for eggs to cook. So I crafted.

I give you, felt fried eggs, sunny side up.

You need:
white and sunny yellow felt
matching thread for each color
pins
a sewing needle
scissors
and, if you want your yolks to be risen, a bit of fiber fill.

Simply cut some wonky whites shapes, I double layered the felt to give it strength, cut a sort of round yolk, take a pinch of fiber fill and rolled it into a wee little ball and pine the yolk onto the white with the batting between the top layer of white and yolk.

Stitched around the outer edge of the white and then around the edge of the yolk, removed pins and Voila! Felt fried eggs sunny side up.

One egg takes about 7 minutes start to finish, so this is a super easy project. And you can vary the shapes and sizes of the whites and yolks. If you notice I even made two eggs at once. or you could make a double yolker, which I also made since they are a fairly normal occurrence around here.

Happy Crafting!

If anyone knows of any other simple felt food tutorials PLEASE let me know. The boys really love their eggs and have been asking me to make more "fuzzy foods".

Some photos of DOT's introduction and cuddles... I know it took forever

2011-01-07T12:59:00.000-06:00

So it is a bit late but I did promise pictures of the boys meeting, and holding DOT, and I am finally getting around to it. Yay!

Proud and happy brothers, Momma and Daddy. We are chugging along and settling into our routine and I cannot believe it has been a month already. ALREADY!

DOT sleeps really well, I am VERY spoiled by this little dude. Hooray for us!

I hope to be around making more posts on a regular basis, particularly since there are so many changes around here to report! See you all soon and Woohoo for 2011!

Look what we made!

2010-12-10T19:03:00.002-06:00

Last Friday, December 3rd 2010, at 4:49 pm, central time, we welcomed DOT to the world an our family. He is an 8 pound 5 ounce, 19 inch long, bundle of pure joy. He has loads of dark brown hair and, we think, blue eyes. His labor was incredibly easy, really it was unreal how pleasant it was. It was only tough for the last 20 minutes and 10 minutes of that was pushing. There was a bit of scariness for me after delivery but I won't go into it now, and everything is FINE now so no worries. That is a story for another day. Today is just about introducing you to DOT. So without further a due here he is. (and there will be more posts and photos to come, like "the T boys meet their new brother" and such.)

So until I can post again, I asure you we are on cloud nine. He has been with us for a week now and honestly it seems like he has always been here. The older boys are just in love with him and so are Mr. T and I. Our family of 5 is totally content.

Confession. (it's a rant really)

2010-11-17T07:43:00.000-06:00

Bahhhhhhhh! Rizzin Frazzin Rootin Tootin, poop!!!

I am having an easily annoyed, ungrateful, cranky, bad day. And it stinks.

Nothing is where I need it to be, the boys keep finding all kinds of wonderfully destructive or destructible things, none of which is in its proper place. I am realizing because of an overabundance of certain items in our home they have ZERO appreciation for many things. I will rectify this I am just not sure how to go about doing it, I for sure will not be attempting anything involving this situation today, or I will inevitably blow up.

One alarm clock has been broken this am past the point of fixing, my spirit also may be broken. I kind of just want to throw my hands up, sit on the floor, and throw a fit of my very own, though it will solve nothing and probably get me stuck on the floor for a while. I know this mood is probably hormone related but things are just dropping left and right this morning and all I want to do is go back to bed and pout and say "to hell with today".

Something dug a GIANT hole trying to get into the duck barn, thankfully it is predator proof, fingers crossed, we think. My cement mixing tub that the birds use to bathe in, either was emptied by very thirsty and playful critters overnight or it has a hole, either one annoys me to no end today. I froze my buns last night filling the damn thing only to let the birds out this morning to NO water. It is particularly annoying since I filled it last night to avoid having to fill it this morning. See the hoses freeze at night and I do NOT need to be hauling 5 gallon buckets at this point. Harrumph.

AND we have no cookies, WTF happened there??? BOOOO! At least we have coffee, that helps a little. I think I shall go do very little, as to not find more things to drive me batty this morning. That is my confession of the day, I am a grumpy cranky pregnant lady on the edge and everything annoys me today. I hope tomorrow is better, correction, I know tomorrow will be better. I just have to make it through today. Here we go.

20 days.

2010-11-14T20:22:00.000-06:00

Yeah, that's right I'll say it again. 20 DAYS till my due date.

Now realistically it could be 30 days, my midwife will give me 10 days past my due date, BUT we will for sure be parents of 3 in no more than 30 days.

Of course ALSO realistically, it could be as early as tomorrow... I am hoping for at least 14 more days and no more than 25. But we all know I will take whatever I am given and be happy about it. That's all.

I have been busy cleaning, cooking, baking and tidying. I have also been busy ~~over lording~~, um, overseeing(?) the enclosure and construction of the bestest poultry house I could have asked for, by my overworked, under rested, and much appreciated Mr. T. It is nearly completed and I will probably post pics sometime this week.

Again, 20 days?

In the dead of night she came...

2010-11-04T08:45:00.000-05:00

Ok not in the DEAD of night, it was more like 8:30pm, but it was pitch black out here. Anyway, a lovely, and brave, lady who responded to our now weeks old craigslist add, came out and loaded the back of her toppered pickup truck with the 11 Muscovies I desperately needed gone before Little T#3 arrives. Thank you, though now your name escapes me. She also said next spring whenever I have a quantity over 10 that I would like to be rid of she would happily make the drive, about 50 miles, once again to get unwanted birds, and PAY me for them. I am glad to know this and will be sure to keep her info.

Catching the birds in the dark was, not surprising to me, MUCH easier than catching them in the light. I hold this as fact because I came out of it with only a single, albeit deep, 1 inch gash on my middle finger. This ONE wound and moving ELEVEN birds is proof enough to me, considering catching one in daylight often results in at least two nasty scratches.

So now were are left with a mere 5 Muscovy and 4 Ancona ducks and 3 American Buff geese that we are keeping over the winter. Of course we still have 6 Ancona ducks and one Embden goose to find homes for if we can. I dont mind so much if these birds stay, they are extra mouths to feed, but at least they are laying eggs and contributing around here.

SO once again thank you craigslist for putting a little money in my pocket and lowering my workload.

Christmas Craftiness...finally

2010-11-01T17:07:00.000-05:00

SO I have been intending to get to making Little T#3's Christmas stocking for like WEEKS AND WEEKS now, I finally got to it... yesterday. It was on my "get done before November" list, and I did get it done, at the very last second. Better late than never. He WILL be making an appearance before Christmas and even though he won't know he has a stocking, he still needs one. The devil cat and neurotic dog each have a stocking so the newborn gets one too. Yesterday I got off my keester and made one, a blank one, waiting on a name and holiday image of some sort, I am thinking a gingerbread man, reindeer or maybe an embroidered strand of lights...

Note, the pins AND, the lack of name, not that we don't have two or three picked out and are quite sure what it will be, but my luck would be to stitch the name on and then when he is born he looks nothing like that name and we change it and I have to start from scratch with a newborn. SO I am waiting, I am quite proud of myself actually, this is far more restraint than I have shown in other baby preparations.

There you have it, a bit of Holiday craftiness to enjoy. Stay tuned for the picture of it completed and all in a row on the mantle with the rest of ours in a month, give or take.

Ticky Ho Ho!

2010-11-01T08:51:00.000-05:00

Just a few photos of pumpkin carving and the boys in their costumes. They had a marvelous time trick or treating with Mr. T and I had a marvelous time at home completing projects, some of which I intended to have done WEEKS ago, and waiting for potential trick or treater's that I knew would not come.
Oh well maybe next year. ;)
Now on to the pictures!

Bliss, on a yucky, sickly Thursday morning

2010-10-28T08:41:00.000-05:00

I found a little bit of bliss this morning. Something I REALLY needed after being up almost all night with RAT, he has a bad cold and could not sleep, oh and we didnt have power, so I did all my mommying by flameless candlelight. Anyway this is not about sick kids or all the hard work around here, this is about mother nature and her endless bounty and why she gives me bliss. It is very simple, really it is.

I made pumpkin muffins yesterday for MAT to take to school Friday for their Autumn/Halloween party. And in making these masterpieces I completely depleted our egg stores. Normally this would be fine, as Thursday is grocery day, but I shall mention, sick RAT, very large pregant belly, AND I am on a HUGE muffin binge lately. I can't seem to get enough and I need eggs to make the deliciousness appear. Poo. I was kind of sad about it last night as I ate the last apple cinnamon muffin.

This is why mother nature made my day and why I now love it when I run out of eggs, ok it isnt the running out I love it is the next part. I run out of eggs and then the next day when I go to let my flock out there are brand new eggs waiting to replenish my carton! Our girls havent been laying much since June, a few eggs a week, but by no means as many as they should be laying. But today, 4 eggs, all in the same neat and tidy nest. Just enough for me to make more muffins if I so desire. Bliss! Just what I needed nothing more nothing less.

And I didnt have to bundle up the sick boy, drive against the still crazy wind, get through the store before someone threw up and unload the car with my ever braxton-hicks contraction having very uncomfortable belly. YES! Mother nature YOU THE MAN! You always seem to provide us with just exactly what we need and only when we need it.

This morning gave me the same joy as raspberry and strawberry seasons seemingly endless bounty, its is funny how much joy those 3 little eggs brought me.

Yes, my flock laying just the right amount of eggs I need today, instant bliss for this momma. Enjoy your Thursday, I hope all is well in your home this fine day.

And for those who want a babe update.
(The belly is getting bigger, "fake" but rather painful contractions are with me all day most every day, sleep is nearly impossible, eating is a constant, nothing fits but it is almost entirely because my belly is so HUGE, the point of no return will be upon us next week, you know the point where if I happen to go into labor they will let me go instead of stopping it, YIKES, Halloween is very nearly here, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and thus Little T #3 will be here before I know it, so much to do, and as always ever little time to get it done, 5 weeks people, yes it is potentially 6 and 1/2 but more likely (I think anyway) it will be 4 weeks.)

Anyone wanna guess the date and weight that Little T #3 will arrive?

No, I haven't died, I'm just preoccupied

2010-10-21T14:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting, though I have MANY MANY things to post about, I just can't seem to get motivated to write worthwhile finished entries. Must be the "Only 6 more weeks to go so all I wanna do is sit, read and eat" part of pregnancy that has me blocked for posts.

I promise, I will make a post next week, possibly several. I at the very least have to make one about the beautiful finished planted raised beds and post photos, if only to praise Mr. T for all his hard work and help, yes I do appreciate it very much. I have another idea bouncing around about dump trucks...but I digress.

I am off to continue sitting and reading and eating and growing a soon to be met person. Toodles all. I will give you something potentially interesting soon.

Frost me

2010-10-05T08:20:00.001-05:00

We had our first frost yesterday and a much thicker, and colder, frost this morning. I would be upset about the fact that I still have NOT pulled a single pepper off my plants (that I started in MARCH) and we have now had our first and second frosts, but I cannot bring myself to care. I do not care that the tomato harvest is over far too soon, that the eggplants will no longer be burdening me with too abundant of fruit, and that the blasted peppers did not give me a single capsicum to nibble upon. I honestly gave up on caring about the garden a few weeks ago, instead shifting focus to trying to general fall cleanup and trying to get the raised beds squared away for the spring, which is still not done mind you. Oh well. We also had to turn the heat on this week, boo hiss. I really didn't want to, but when the children are ACTUALLY under their covers sleeping I know it is too cold in here. We keep our thermostat at 66 degrees in the winter, though it will probably be hanging out more like 70 after baby comes home. Where does your thermostat sit in the winter?

Last week was very productive, we replanted the blueberries in their own raised beds, Thanks very much Mr. T for making their little boxes for them. No more trimming oh so carefully around them with lawn sheers. I made and froze 3 lasagnas for after Little T #3's arrival, along with 12 cups of chili mac. I still have a whole lot of preparatory cooking and freezing, and nesting, to do in the next 8 weeks, YES WE ONLY HAVE 8 WEEKS, but I feel like 5 days of dinners is a really good start. My lists of things to get done keeps growing and it seems for every one thing I cross off I add three more.

I still have many closets to go through...and I think I am going to swap the decor in our bathrooms. Right now the bathroom off our master bedroom is pretty and calming, two things that frankly are lost on the menfolk who use it all the time. I have resigned myself that until I have a masterbath with only ONE door to it and that door is off our bedroom, and no one else will be using said bathroom, I will not have the master bath I want. Till then the bath needs to be a child and more specifically boy child friendly place. I am not removing the toilet seats or anything, they still need to lift the seat and put it back down when finished, but I am going to relinquish the pretty/calm and bring in the fun of the much beloved Spider-man bathroom. Of course Mr. T only had the one qualm with this, he love Spider-man. His response was, "But it isn't painted "spider-man-y" it's pained all green-brown, that won't work..." more importantly "Do I have to paint it?" Of course that is what he focuses on, NOT the whole heap of crazy that is is wife, thankfully. So I told him no, at least not anytime soon, which to me means months and I am sure to him it means years.

Oh well we will discuss that later. I have things to put away, rearrange, go through, toss out, miss desperately, convince myself we dont need, then go get them anyway, cooking, cleaning, resting, all in all avoid the reality that we will be parents of three in two short months.

I hope it is not too frosty cold in your neck of the woods, or at least maybe that your yards and gardens were ready for the frost, not mush like mine. Stay warm, drink hot cider, eat something made out of pumpkin and fill your home with the smell of cinnamon while you watch the leaves turn colors.

General kiddo news and building stuff

2010-09-15T08:12:00.000-05:00

So alot has been accomplished since my last post, some things I shall recap for you now.
MAT lost a second tooth, not even a week after he lost his first and his adult chompers are already several millimeters through his gum's. Apparently his teeth were more than ready to fall out on their own.

Mr. T had a week off after the Holiday so we got many outdoor type chores done. Cleaned up the yard and brush piles, half-assed cleaned the barn ( I say half-assed because really it is just going to be a disaster again in a month so no need overexert ones self cleaning), and we FINALLY got to the large pile of used decking that we are going to recycle into a duck house structure, patio furniture, and possibly raised garden beds.

Some boards were split or cracked, most had at least one broken end and very nearly ALL had rusted sharp jagged screws all up and down them. We, Mr. T, myself, and RAT, spend several days sorting, removing screws, and ripping down boards to usable undamaged lengths. By the way, I have a renewed LOVE of power tools, the chopsaw in particular, it is just plain fun. I did a bit of power sanding too, but I am not as comfortable with that, I am worried about breaking it so it is not as much fun.

We no longer have an unsightly, jumbled pile of dangerous garbage behind the barn but neatly stacked, useful, and eco-friendly piles of usable lumber for projects big and small stored away inside the barn. Most of the screw removal and board ripping was my job, as crawling around on the concrete floor on all 4's is not really a good idea for a lady as pregnant as I, though I would have had Mr.T not frowned upon it.

I helped as much as I could and Mr. built me a beautiful, albeit rustic (just what I wanted), dinner table for 6.

( I see two reclaimed wood benches one on either end of this monster, maybe even two little bottoms will fit on each bench, and then eventually some wood or old iron chairs instead of the plastic ones, but we make due with what we've got!)

He kept trying to put braces on the ends which would make it mildly sturdier and a table for 4 and I had to keep reminding him that in a few short months we will be a family of 5, so the table needed to fit at least 5. His rational was that Little T #3 wouldn't need to sit at the table in his own place for at least a year or two and we would have a new table by then. Little does he know, I plan on using this table FOREVER. It is huge, and heavy, and beautiful, and we made it, together. This table is not going anywhere, ever. I want to serve 4th of July dinner on it to my Grandchildren. I love it so... though it could be longer, but we can make another some day I suppose...

We also built an end table for the South deck. It is small, sturdy and just what I wanted.

And a coffee table/bench for the deck off our bedroom.

The coffee table/bench was supposed to just be a coffee table but someone overbuilt it, IMAGINE THAT, and made it a bit too high. It is perfect sitting height and super sturdy so it might change jobs and be a bench for sitting. I already have a request in for at least 4 more just like it. Boards are ripped and ready to be connected, but that will be another job for another day.

We have the boards for the raised beds sequestered away and I am hoping to at least get the strawberry and asparagus beds built, installed, filled, and planted this fall. This will mean much less work for me next year babe in tow, so I am pushing hard for those this fall. The strawberry bed at the very least. Raised beds mean more easily protected against deer and rabbits, and you KNOW how I loath deer in my strawberries and we are not having another repeat of the deer buffet we had this spring, no Sir. But they have yet to materialize, maybe later this month.

That's all I got, aside from a good midwife appointment last week, not much is new. Just trucking along, building things when we can, decorating for fall and Halloween, doing yearly cleanup, and making a person. Pretty standard stuff. Maybe my next post will be more exciting...

Things that make this Mommy weep, in a good way

2010-08-26T08:33:00.000-05:00

Big School buses pulling up in front of my house.

And my oldest child getting on for the first time.

And then after his first week and a half of school, he comes home yesterday like this.

He lost his first tooth!

The Tooth Fairy also wept as she retrieved his wee little tiny tooth and rewarded MAT with a surprise.

Then she rolled the tooth in her hand a few times sniffling and wondering how he was getting so big so fast. Then she realized, "yuck, this is a tooth I am weeping over." And she sucked it up and moved on to her other duties.

All things that make this Momma weep, for the best reasons.

Woopsie.

2010-08-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well, HELLO Third Trimester. Wasn't expecting to see you so soon and my apologies that you actually started last week and I was totally oblivious, what with other things on my mind. (The other things being MAT starting Kindergarten, more on that later)

I am not sure where this pregnancy is going but it is going there far too fast. Seems like just yesterday it was Easter and I had all the time in the world and now I have a skint 3 months left. Eeep. On the upside I feel pretty ready, labor aside, for this new addition. The closets have been organized, the nursery room(which wont be used till next summer, most likely) is ready, Christmas shopping is all but finished, all storage areas in the house have been sorted and organized and the house has been rearranged several times over. I fear I may have let the nesting instinct take over too early this go around and I think it might change focus, sorry Mr. T, on painting and home improvement things for the next three months. When all the drawers have been sorted and organized there is not much left to do but paint I am afraid. I keep telling myself to start quilting but with RAT underfoot all day I fear he will end up pin poked and scratched.

I am currently fighting the urge to turn our master bedroom upstairs into the playroom/guestroom and turning our current playroom/guestroom downstairs into our master bedroom. I know it would not be a good switch and should wait till our youngest child is no longer climbing into bed with us at night, but the urge is very very strong... I will continue fighting it, we will see how it goes. I suppose rearranging furniture within the confines of individual rooms will just have to do.

Time is flying by this year and it will be a whole new year, and we will be a different family, before we know it.

There will come a day...

2010-08-12T09:36:00.000-05:00

A day when I can keep the stapler ON the desk, rather than empty and sequestered in the back of a drawer, gathering dust instead of papers.
A day when I can organize the desk drawers and things will stay in their place for more than an hour.

A day when things like glue, whiteout, and fountain ink pens can be rescued from atop the refrigerator and returned to their rightful home in the desk.

A day when the roll of stamps does not have to be guarded with ones life to insure they are not savagely used as stickers.

A day, when a desk and all that comes with it can again just be a desk and office supplies and not a wonderland of many hazards for little people...

Someday the time will come, but today is not that day. So back in the drawer stapler, continue to run amok paperclips, I will try to remember to dust you glue, and stamps, dear stamps, hide well my friends.

Someday your liberation will come. Someday...

Maternity sewing, pictures finally.

2010-08-10T11:40:00.000-05:00

A girlie dress that makes me feel like I am 5, but I love it just the same. I made it from scraps, the bodice is a very loved purple paisley, the sleeves and a tiny check gingham, and the skirt is a larger check gingham.

And now we have some striped jersey skirts, and the ever growing baby bump.

Taking advantage of an early rising, cool, overcast morning.

2010-08-08T09:31:00.000-05:00

I should have been alot more productive, however Mr. T was out late at a wedding last night, and then had to work this morning. Needless to say he slept in, sort of, and then vanished within 10 minutes of waking. But I did accomplish 2 loaves of Banana Pecan Bread and 2 pans of Blonde Zucchini Brownies (with organic chocolate chips).

I would like to take a second and explain why ALWAYS with the chocolate chips. Aside from making them more kid (and Daddy) friendly, the semisweet chocolate chips allow me to cut the sugar in the recipe to less than HALF of what is called for and no one notices or complains. Plus there is all the semi-sweet chocolate benefits. So that is why always with the chips in things. I also threw in a handful each of flax and wheat germ so they are more breakfast-y (at least in my mind) than dessert-y.

We have replenished our freezer stash of zucchini, I shredded 7 zucchini for a grand total of 18 cups of zucch's for the freezer. Our plant is nearly dead, again the powdery mildew and squash bugs are really taking their toll this season, but we now have enough stored to keep us in bread or brownies for 18 weeks. I hope to get another 10 cups or so before the plants are totally dead, fingers crossed. So it was a productive morning, I wish I had gotten MORE baking done. But I will not dwell on what I cannot change. I hope the rest of today is just as productive and that the weather holds, I would LOVE meat loaf for dinner...but might settle for B. SC.T's (Bacon, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes) if it gets too hot.

The great gourd harvest of 2010

2010-08-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

*Started August 6th, POSTED August 8th*

Today I harvested gourds. Yes I am aware that it is only August 6th and Autumn is not officially till September 23rd. However it has been a particularly bad year for powdery mildew and a great year for squash bugs, this means ALL of the vines are dead or quickly dieing. So rather than let the gourds rot in the garden, I picked all of them to hopefully postpone the rot of some of them till after November reaches us. Yes I am aware this is most likely a pipe dream, but if one doesn't have hope then what does one have.

I guess I am optimistic because I did not plant a single gourd, intentionally, this season. Yet I had probably a hundred vines come up and even through thinning they kept coming all season. I did COMPOST the gourds I purchased last season in the spot where the new garden sits. They all volunteered and were very insistent about it. I suppose I didn't pay for seed or tend them so if they all turn to mush before we get to appreciate them in season, nothing is really lost other than my hour of harvesting.

Me and my Bestest

2010-08-06T13:52:00.001-05:00

Last week I took a little trip, all by myself, for 4 days. I hopped a plane Friday evening to Greensboro, North Carolina, with a short stop in Cincinnati, Ohio. I flew on two of the tiniest planes I have ever been on, and I am not one to enjoy flying much, but I made it safe and sound. JLowe, my very best friend of 23 years, met me at the airport. A short 1/2 hour car trip to her home, in another town, and we were in for the night.

The next day I slept in and got out of bed at 10 am! We spent the day watching tv, picking through the art district, eating, chatting, and getting ready for an Alopecia fund raiser concert that evening. JLowe planned and put it all together, it was called Bald Girls Rock. She is pretty involved in the music scene, being that she lives with musicians and is in a long term relationship with one, and is also afflicted by Alopecia Universalise. She found 4 very talented bands of very different genera's to play, and it was a spectacular show with lots of money raised. The proceeds benefited this organization, which helps women suffering from alopecia by teaching them skills to help them cope with the difficulties of living with this disease. Have you ever considered how you would do your makeup if you no longer had eye lashes or eyebrows? It is just an excellent group and I am proud to have helped if only by selling raffle tickets and enjoying the show.

(This photo was provided by JLowe, # 5,789 of the two of us, or something like that. AND that tiny hint of rainbow on my hip is one of those things I made for myself that I have been ~~lying~~ teasing you about posting pictures of for weeks, they ARE coming I promise.)

The night ended far to late for this pregnant lady, and still quite early for the non-pregnant folk. I went home and to bed and the rest of the wild bunch stayed out till the wee hours of the morning. They didn't even wake me up when they got in, at 5 am! Again I slept till 10..or later.

Sunday we first got sushi, don't worry mine was cooked sea foods only, and then a massive quantaty of Chinese, and red velvet cake, and settled onto the couch for a day of watching Dexter Season 4 on demand, eating, and enjoying each others company. It was the very best lazy day I have had in a very long time.There were many other options of things to do, but with being tired and the fact that the sun did not come out the ENTIRE time I was there, this seemed like the best option. Plus, later in the evening, there was a band practice in the basement that we got to listen in on before True Blood, our other shared tv passion, came on. It was really a fun and full day.

Monday JLowe had to work half the day, so again I slept late and it was marvelous. We then went and browsed some more shops, hit the Tattoo Archive, and the bookstore, got pedicures, ate some ~~cake~~ dinner?, and then I dragged my very best friend who know practically nothing about the Twilight universe to go see Eclipse. I very simply brought her up to speed on how the whole sparkly vampire thing works and what she missed from New Moon, she had seen Twilight a while back and didn't need the full explanation.

*I personally don't consider Twilight vampires actual vampires, in my world vampires burst into flames when in sunlight, not sparkle, but I still really like the story and it appeals to the core of my 16 year old self that I refuse, rightfully so, to let go of.*

She actually told me after the movie she thought it was pretty ok. I think it was the most likable of the three so far, still it will not be winning any Oscars.

We got out of the movie kinda late and headed straight home. We hung out a bit more, swapped some music, and then headed to bed. We had to leave her house at 5:30 am for me to catch my 7 am flight. A quick good by and a long hug and I was off to security. My first flight was cake. The second, not so much. We got stuck on the tarmac in the plane for what seemed like forever, I missed my second breakfast, because of the delay and dislike recycled air, not to mention the horrible turbulence due to some thunderstorms. Long story short, I made it through the wait and flight only to toss my cookies in the garbage can immediately outside the gate, in front of a terminal of waiting to board passengers. Yeah, super fun.

Even with the not so fun travel ending it was a spectacular trip. So spectacular in fact I took NO pictures. Not one with my own camera. I took photos for others, on their cameras, but did not once whip out MY camera. I guess I was just having too much fun in the moment. Oh well next time I will take pictures, loads of them, and we will go to the beach.

Confession.

2010-07-28T08:37:00.000-05:00

I REALLY wish I had the patience to knit (and crochet too). I have the skills to make basic items, I know HOW to knit and pearl (and I can make a crochet chain like a mile long, OH YEAH, recognize), but I just do NOT have the patience to make... anything. I have started many a dish cloth and scarf only to leave them sit in the knitting bag unfinished for...well years now. And dish cloths are little! and I cannot seem to finish ONE! I am such a sad unmotivated knitter, I blame the fact I am not efficient so it take a long time, and thusly does not satisfy my need for crafty instant gratification the way sewing does.

For me sewing, though able to create BEAUTIFUL, long lasting, durable items, just does not seem to embody, to me anyway, the warm, homie, cuddly, handmade goodness and beauty that a hand knit cardigan or blanket can and does. Maybe I need to make more intricate and fancy quilts...

I wish I were that chick who could sit down and knit here and there or anywhere and make a beautiful sweater, I REALLY WISH that chick were me, but I am sooooo not. Nuts. Maybe someday I will find the patience and I will return to a normal human shade instead of this unsightly green that I tend to Hulk into whenever I see something beautiful and intricate that someone has crafted with their needles (or hook) and fiber. I really want to be able to make cardigans for myself, granny square afghans, and beautiful woolly sweaters for my boys and longies and hats and...

I hope for the patience, someday. And maybe someday I will be granted the patience, determination, and drive. So that is my confession for the week. I am HanaJean and I am filled with knitter envy.

TV

2010-07-26T11:43:00.000-05:00

I love that MAT would rather watch "This Old House" than any kid's show on PBS. And would rather watch "Dirty Jobs" or "Mythbusters" than any kids show on cable, of which there are far too many. This crazy kid and his grown up tastes, he makes my day.

We have been trying this limiting tv to two hours a day thing. I noticed a while ago that often the tv is on and no one is watching OR the show that the kids are watching have ZERO substance. Case in point, MAT has a fondness for infomercials and QVC as well as the previously mentioned programs, and because of this we watched 20 minutes of snowman shaped teapots that are "oven, freezer, dishwasher and microwave safe" on QVC yesterday afternoon. Wow.

I also noticed that the boys have to be extra loud be heard playing over the tv, particularly when Dad leaves the tv on and leaves the room. Why do men have to listen to the tv SO LOUD!? Well the simple answer is to hear it over the children who then get louder to be heard over the tv. It is a vicious cycle and it gets pretty loud around here. So my solution is to turn the tv off, this is VERY easy for me as most of the shows I would like to watch are not on during the day and I do not get to watch tv for me with children awake.

To be honest the tv usually ends up being on more like 3 hours a day, I am just not a wake up and interact kinda mom, that hour of cartoon in the morning gives me the time I need to wake up and be a fun, kind and loving mother, not the giant, snapping, grouch that inhabits me before I have had breakfast, time, and large quantities of coffee.

So, back to my original point, MAT has been thinking VERY carefully about what is worth his tv time. He is currently watching "This Old House" and I am very happy to not be watching any of the other options.

Boy! Oh! Boy!

2010-07-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

Big things happening in the last two weeks. Last week I hit the 20 week mark, halfway to the finish. Woohoo! This pregnancy is flying by. Yesterday I had my 20 week, more like 22 weeks apparently, ultrasound and things look wonderful.

After wrestling with whether to find out the sex of this baby or not for months, yesterday came and went and we decided to try something new. With the boys we opted for surprises. I had a very strong feeling with MAT that he would be a boy, with RAT I was undecided, but we waited till they were born to find out their sex. Since we waited with the first two and frankly I wanted to know this time, we found out. I went in with the opinion of if they can tell us easily, great we will find out, and if the baby is uncooperative I guess we will wait. I am glad our little bundle was very cooperative.

And Little T #3's sex is....*drum roll please*... BOY! Yes folks that is right, another boy for the T family. The technician said "I rarely see babies that are THIS obvious. And now he has curled up into a ball..." I sat up a little and said "HE!" with a smile. The tech said "Oh, I did use that word didn't I, well you wanted to know right? (We had discussed it before she started) So here you go!" She turned the screen so I could see, and folks, I am NOT good an understanding what I am seeing on an ultrasound, the head, heart, and spine are pretty easy spots for me, but never having seen a penis on ultrasound, remember the last two were surprises, I am amazed at how obvious it was. Even a complete novice penis spotter had NO trouble spotting it.

So there you have it, another boy. Mr. T was not able to attend the ultrasound with me, work and all, so I waited till he got home and let him decipher the photos all by himself. He got the the fourth frame, the one that said BOY, and sat down. He mumbles something along the lines of "we are so screwed" and then stood up, smiled, hugged me and said "Another Boy! Woohoo!".

To me, the best part of his reaction is that was my exact internal reaction when I heard. I thought, "Oh boy, another boy, we are screwed...but its another healthy baby boy! Yay!" I think it is funny we had the same reaction. When I told RAT he would have a little brother he, as expected, was indifferent, he will have a real opinion when the little guy is here and comes home. When I told MAT he was getting another brother, dismayed, he said he needed a minute, and went and sat down. After a few minutes he came back and asked, "Well, will he be a nice baby brother?" I assured him that he would be a very nice baby. He then stated, "Well, ok then, I am very happy." He also later told us that this brother would be named MAT, just like him, and would look just like him, and they would be twins and like all the same things. We tried to tell him that this baby would, in fact, NOT be named MAT but they might indeed look alike OR they might look very differently. I suppose we will know in 4 months.

On a completely unrelated topic. I am taking an "All By Myself" mini vacation next week to see my best friend, in North Carolina... I am VERY excited. So between preparing for that, our family reunion, getting ready for MAT to start school in August, and life in general, I might not be around all that much for the next couple weeks. I will return, I am just not sure when.

2010-07-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

MAT took this picture this morning.

Mr. T and RAT enjoying an afternoon nap yesterday. (aren't they prescious?)

The boys decided that the doors look much better white, so they started pealing the old (and much HATED) brown paint off the doors. I was upset for a split second, the mess, the lack of respect of property, the destruction, wait...the quiet, but then I got the garbage can and told them to knock themselves out. Honestly I like the doors better this way, even though they look a bit disheveled at the moment AND it got me a half an hour of near silence, amongst the giggles and "Oooo that's a big piece" and "Need help RAT, let me start that one for you." I suppose this act of destruction really was an improvement...

Morgan's favorite spot on hot days, aside from bring in the pool with the boys of course.

Mr. T WILL fix that hole in the pasture fence today, and the pool will also be disinfected. Very cute and all, but we know that ducks poo where they swim and we do not need duck butt tea to play in. They knew they were in trouble the moment I stepped out the door, they ran back to the pasture and waited at the gate. They have their OWN pools to play in but insist on playing in this one, I think they like the slide.

Someone has been sewing

2010-07-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

Oh yes someone has. I recently realized that I have almost no presentable, holeless, airy, comfortable and baby bump allowing garments in my closet. I have MANY MANY pair of long pants, long sleeve shirts, and sweaters. But really nothing for summer, and it is HOT. I have been wearing boxer shorts and sad tank tops around the house, but have only one pair of shorts to wear in public. I have MANY skirts, but none that fit because I have none with an elastic waste or drawstring. So in lieu of this pregnancy being 3 months ahead of my last two, still ending in winter though so we are covered there, and needing summer maternity clothing, it is only the second week of July after all, I have been sewing. Not buying fabric, or clothing, just using up some of the MASSIVE fabric stash I have accumulated over the last 6 years or so

I am going to North Carolina at the end of the month to visit my bestest best best friend, who has been my best frined since we were 5, so 23 years wrap your head around that for a moment, and with it beint THIS hot here, I can only imagine hot bad it will be there. I dont think boxer shorts and holey sad tank tops are proper atire for the plain ride nor the visit, so again the sewing is very much a necessity, if only to not look like that "poor sad barefoot pregant lady". The barefoot and pregnant part I can deal with, but the poor sad not so much.

Today has been productive, and frankly COLD in the basement where my workroom is. My machine is right under a vent with no valve, so it is friggin cold down there. I am sewing summer clothed whist in my corduroys and wool sweater only to come upstairs during potty breaks and nearly pass out because of the temperature difference. But I am so NOT complaining. I have taken almost the whole day, thanks to Mr.T being home for the day, and been drafting patterns, cutting, and sewing almost all day. I have several pieces finished and several more cut and ready to go, sadly I woudl have much more done but the serger decided to go all wonky on me and I had to take and hour or so figuring out the tension problem, luckily I did fix it, so later tonight the sewing will resume! and probably this weekend too.

"Where are the pictures?" you ask. They will be up soon, just because a garment is finished and pristine does not mean I am finished and pristine enough to be photographed in it. Patience my friends, the traveling wardrobe will be posted soon, probably by Monday. There will be lots of stripes, patterns, combos of the two, and versatile pieces. They are probebly not to everyones taste, remember most of my fabric in my stash was origionally intended for children's garments, but all the pieces are sure to be fun, heat friendly, comfortable, and very me. That is all for now, ta.

Just Because...

2010-06-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend a monkey came to visit, a Pygmy Marmoset to be exact.

And a boy with a silly face and a dog who wears pants.

And we were also visited by the first little break dancing kicks of this pregnancy. My favorite part of pregnancy has officially arrived!! The part where I feel exceptionally great most of the time and when I feel little baby arms and legs bouncing around in my tummy. All the wiggling and dancing of a babe in utero reminds me constantly of the awesomeness that is life. And I noticed this today...

That's unmistakeably a baby bump, much larger than I was expecting it to be, but totally wonderful.

And just for me, a self portrait today, because I can, though it is not a very good one.

Raspberry love

2010-06-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

The black raspberries are ripening, they have been all week. Today I finally got my butt out and started picking.

Sadly the storm last Friday dropped a rather large cherry tree on my largest patch and cut their harvest by more than a half.
But that's ok because I found two new small patches that have HUGE berries on them. I am a happy lady. We trudges along our entire property border picking and playing and hunting bugs for a little over an hour this morning. We only brought in about a pint maybe a little more, but we had a lot of fun. It has been raining, practically nonstop, around here and the pasture is full of puddles and mini ponds. The ducks really love it and so did the boys today. There was much stomping and splashing and when we came in we had a bucket of berries, boots sloshing with water, and to very happy and very tired, soaked boys.

And yes all that water on the deck came from the soggy bottom boys. Their boots were literally slopping out water on the walk back to the house from the pasture. It was so fun.

We immediately, after dumping boots and undressing and redressing, sat down for a treat. My MIL brought us some shortcake shells earlier this week and I thought of the perfect application for them, since our strawberry harvest was wiped out by the deer, I still despise you Bambi.

We place one shell per bowl, topped with a generous helping of vanilla yogurt, and then topped that with a handful of fresh black raspberries. It was absolutely delicious. I may have also dusted the boys treats with powdered sugar, but I can't be sure...

I enjoyed mine without the powdered sugar, more raspberries, and a delicious cup of coffee. (Coffee and I are testing our relationship to see if we are ready to be friends again. Things look promising.) It has been a very good morning.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Storms, again.

Watermelon has claimed this blanket basket as her nest.

Dreaming of the future.

2010-06-21T06:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone will care, but I had a funny dream last night and I want to share it.

The year was 2018 and Mr. T and I had 5 children. We had 3 boys and 2 girls. We also had milk goats and sheep and had expanded our homestead by 10 acres. There was a big wind turbine on our south end that gave us the ability to live off the grid and provide electricity for our neighbors. It was pretty great, but all I could focus on after I woke up, was the kids.

Our youngest child in the dream was 5, this would mean we would have 3 children in the next 3 years to keep up with the dream in real life. For some, this would be a joy, for me this is a terrifying prospect, it would be wonderful, but it is not exactly what I am looking for.

I was pretty excited about the goats, sheep, and wind turbine though...

Happy Father's Day and some other info too

2010-06-20T07:33:00.000-05:00

I was musing to myself on this beautiful Sunday morning as Mr. T sleeps in, it is Father's Day after all, and the hum of the generator working so hard allows my boys to not watch the episode of "Max and Ruby" that is on thanks to said generator.

Sidebar, we are without power, have been since Friday at around 5pm when a wicked storm went through. 90+mph winds were recorded locally, a neighbor just up the road actually lost their roof, very scary and sad. We were very lucky, no major damage to our home, just a messed up garage door, a toppled and broken new duck house, that was still in progress and parts were free we have just lost the labor which stinks, and our wooden love seat glider cartwheeled about 50 feet and now just isn't quite the same though it is in one piece.

After vacuuming the duck pasture, yes vacuuming with a shop vac, in the debris trail I think I got nearly all of the broken glass from the 1 window that shattered. Really I think that was pretty good, there are 4 windows and we only lost 1, could have been so much worse. Yesterday they quoted our electricity reconnect time at 9 am Sunday, today, but I think it will be more like Monday evening, if not later. There are still limbs on the lines on our property and it is that way in all our surrounding counties. I think it will be a while.

Anyway, that is what has lead up to today and that is the sound of my morning, the hum of the generator and the ruckus of the boys tusseling, I am sure there is a faint sound of Mr. T snoring in there somewhere too. Back to my origional reason for posting, Father's Day.

6 years ago on this very day Mr. T found out he was going to be a father for the first time, and now we are expecting our 3rd child. He works so hard to be a provider, good father and spouse and we thank him for it. Happy Father's Day Mr. T we love you very much. Have a steak an a beer and relax, oh and if you want you can cut the grass today.

Adventures in yardwork

2010-06-14T07:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I cut our lawn all by myself. That's right, I grew up with a giant yard yet yesterday was the first time I drove the riding mower all by myself and cut the yard. I used to be scared of the mower and the topography of our yard. Not anymore, well mostly not. The bit up by the road on the 60 degree angle I will still be leaving for Mr. T to do. I am just not comfortable with that, it is too scary to have to hold on to the tractor, lean almost completely sideways, and watch the road for hazards.

But the rest of the yard, even with ALL the things to cut around and move, was kind of a blast. Our yard is about an acre, and then the pasture is an additional acre and half, I did not cut the pasture, there are WAY too many holes and soft spots. If Mr. T wants to get the mower stuck or break it, that is his deal, I will NOT be mowing the pasture till we have a real tractor that can handle it.

So I only cut the yard. It took just under 3 hours, was very messy, and sometimes very hot, luckily the sun was behind clouds most of the day, and was very loud. BUT I think I will take this chore over, at least as long as I am able to this season.

Why? you ask, it is a dirty, loud, hot, sweaty CHORE!? Honestly. It was all those things, but it was also almost 3 hours to MYSELF. Three hours, in the sun, outdoors, with just me and my thoughts, and I got to cut fun patterns into the yard. I mean, yes it was work, but it was MY work and mine alone, for those three hours. I think this could be very good for me. Mommies new quiet time... And I get to mock Mr. T for his loathing of the chore, so for me it is a win win.

DARN YOU BAMBI!

2010-06-10T08:12:00.000-05:00

So the strawberries have started ripening, I am pulling about a pint a day of juicy sweet-tart beauties off my mere 24 plant patch daily. All spring I battled with the rabbits and deer to get keep any leaves on the plants. The strawberry patch is on the most northeast corner of our property, in the old garden with the rhubarb and asparagus, and right off a field that teams with critters every evening and morning. We didnt get so far as to move the perennial veggies and fruits this year, but we have a plan for some raised beds in the front where we wont have to worry about yearly tilling damaging roots.

Anyway, back to Darn Bambi. I finally, about a month ago, found something that worked. It is gross, but effective. Turns out both critters are not fond of people pee. Yes, you read that right human urine turns them off.

SO I have had Mr.T go out and pee around the perimeter of the patch, at least 8 feet away from the plants, every 3 or 4 days, and yes it has worked marvelously. It is a bit of a strange request I will admit that, but it is an effective and DARE I say organic? pest deterrent. All but 3 of my plants came back to thrive and produce beautiful and large fruit. That is, however, till today. With all the rain we have had lately Mr. T hasn't been able to keep the invisible fence up to par. As was apparent this morning I went out to pick deliciousness and found over half my rows ransacked. Leaves gone, berries eaten or trampled. I know this is not the work of rascalie rabbits because the bites are straight across not angled. There are also several deer footie prints strewn through the strawberry patch.

Poop. I figure my very shortlived strawberry harvest is about to come to a close for this year. This tells me that maybe the dog needs to spend the night out in the strawberry patch occasionally or maybe we just need to get the raised bed in the front of the house built so they arent so far away from supervision. Either way, you may have beaten me THIS time Bambi, but next year YOU WILL NOT BE SO LUCKY. Oh and Bambi's, please feel free to come back anytime after dawn and before dusk during hunting season, we would LOVE to have you for dinner.

45

2010-06-09T09:38:00.000-05:00

Yes. 45. That is the number of birds we currently have. Yeah. In March we had just 12 birds, but NOW in June we have grow to the ridiculous total of 45.

I hadn't even thought of the total till Mr. T brought it up while we were doing yard work over the weekend. We were taking a break and he sat next to me and said " you know we have like 40 birds out there, right" as he nodded his head to the pasture. I responded with a "...well yeah, but we are only gonna keep 4 geese, and like 16 ducks, so really there are only like 20 out there. The rest will be dinner..." I wasn't about to tell him that his "like 40" is actually 45.

In the 1 and 1/2 acre pasture they really don't look like that many, at least to me, there is still sooooo much space. And the 10 Muscovy ducklings are only 6 weeks old so they are still pretty little, they don't even count. Everyone is grazing and our feed costs are currently NOTHING... I can find a million ways to rationalize having so many birds.

Ok lets get real. Here's the breakdown. 20, yes 20 Ancona ducks, 16 Muscovy ducks, 5 American Buff goslings, and 4 Embden Goslings. Of the Ancona we will keep probably 10 or so, maybe as little as 6. I haven't decided yet and the Muscovy we will only keep the girls of the recent hatch, I think it will end up around 8 muscovy total. And I think we only have one American Buff girl, but if we happen to have two we will keep 4 and have two breeding pair. That makes 22, which is still alot, but much more acceptable. All the others, all 23, will be sent to freezer camp, which is their intended purpose anyway. I still think it is funny that we have 45.

If we hadn't lost two goslings to failure to thrive, 1 duckling to the fox, had 3 culls this spring with sick ducks and then the countless ducklings that either didn't live through hatch or mysteriously disappeared when Godzilla was too close, we could easily have 60+ birds right now. Thankfully I did not let every broody sit on every clutch they wanted, I would easily be at the 100+ mark. So really 45 birds isn't so bad...as long as we aren't feeding them anyway.

"Daddy is way better at making tire swings..."

2010-06-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Daddy is surely the better constructor, I can admit this.

If you remember my sad, but functional and MUCH loved, tire swing of last summer.You can read about it HERE.

Many fun hours have been had on that swing, don’t get me wrong, it does have its drawbacks. The vertical tire requires much more pushing and swings less time all by it’s self, the rope, which was a recycled broken tow rope, is stretching and I fear starting to splinter as well, and the tire is now mere inches off the ground, and frankly the swing is just to darn close to the tree trunk to be truly safe for our rambunctious children to play safely on.

Then Mr. T gets motivated yesterday, out of the blue. He gets motivated to use his ruined giant truck tire, that has been sitting on the walk in front of the house for…well almost a year, to make the swing we all wanted last summer. We even saved the best limb in the best tree in the yard for a swing. Just a few hours of very short work, an old tire, some cable we had laying around for who knows what reason, and a stout rope with a clasp to attach the swing to the tree (this way not twisting of the cable can occur and no little fingers can be severed) we have a beautiful horizontal tire swing.

It is perfect. The children love it and I do as well. And Daddy has proven, once again, his construction projects are always better than Mommies. Mommy can make something that will do for the time being, but once Daddy gets his butt in gear he makes something truly marvelous and sturdy.

I have a confession.

2010-06-01T07:28:00.001-05:00

We watched "Nanny McPhee" yesterday. All in all I like the film, the boys loved it, especially the dancing donkey, but the part I cannot get out of my head is the children's bedroom. If you have seen this film you know what I am talking about when I say it is PERFECT! OK, you may not agree that it is the perfect child's room but you have to agree it is pretty and unusual.

One large loft room with iron twin beds linning up and down BOTH sides of the room. Handmade afghans and quilts, each very different, adorn each of the beds. It is just my ideal dream of a childrens room. Maybe not 7 beds...but I do really like the way they all looked and hope to attain some symblence of that style in our childrens room. Simple, comfortable, playful, and childlike.

Now to find iron beds...

Just another week of being a pregnant.

2010-05-22T16:17:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I threw my back out. I was preforming the simplest of mundane tasks. I was making our bed. The sheets, blankets, and comforter were all in place, as were all but ONE of the throw pillows. The smallest of our beds throw pillows was left on the floor. It is about 8 inches by 8 inches and is probably no more than 10 ounces in weight. I bent over, I didnt twist or anything like it, simply bent over, picked it up and started to straighten my back and, PAIN, over onto the bed I fell. Weeping, hot flashing, shocking pain, and yelling for Mr. T to help. He came in and of course thought I was having some kind of baby trouble and rushed to my side. I explained that the baby was fine but I had thrown my back out and couldn't move. He asked what I was doing, and I explained about the pillow, he immediately broke out into laughter, and then quickly composed himself. He helped me up and took me down to out "hang-ups" table, which honestly, did nothing at he time. Now, a week later it helps alot, but immediately after an injury, it just makes it worse. Back up to bed I went with a couple tv series on DVD and the laptop. And I stayed in bed all day Saturday and Sunday. Sunday Mr. T sent MAT up with an odd rash for me to check out. It wasn't itchy, just odd and started on his face then moved to his trunk. No fever and he seemed fine so oh well, no worries. Honestly if Mr. T had been able to stay home Monday I would have been in bed all day that day as well, but he had to work so I had to muster the energy and stamina to be a parent.

I had to wrangle two children and drive an hour to my first midwife appointment. It was very stressful and not too much fun. I have a due date, December 4, and I am in fact pregnant. My blood pressure is 120/60, which always makes the nurse raise eyebrows till they look at my chart and realize that is EXACTLY where it always is. They drew many viles of blood from both arms leaving me looking like a junkie. Things were loud as the boys were very uncooperative and disruptive. So that was about it and I decided they will not be going to any more appointments with me as I do not need the stress. It was a typical first appointment for any pregnancy.

Then Monday night I noticed that MAT's rash was spreading, but his face was now clear, but is was migrating down his arms and legs. I decided a trip to the Doc on Tuesday would be good. We go in and it is revealed that MAT has Rubella. "Isn't that in the MMR vaccine?" I ask, because BOTH of my boys are up to date on their vaccinations and I KNOW MAT had it. I get the answer that sometimes it doesn't "take" or maybe his antibodies just weren't enough to fight of the infection. But at this point he is fine and recovering nicely. Great.

EXCEPT, Rubella is one of those terrible things for a fetus that expectant mommies are supposed to avoid, and I have been around my sick son for 2 WEEKS. Awesome. So I call my midwife, who reasures me they are already testing the blood they drew the day before for and they should have the results by the end of the week. They assured me if anything "hinky" came up they would call immediatly. It is now Saturday and I have heard nothing. I did call yesterday around lunch and the results were not back yet. I am assuming no news is good news, but who knows. I am going with the opinion that all is well, because otherwise, I might go crazy with wild imaginings.

I have also begun getting asked the question of what I think the baby's sex is? and if we are going to find out ahead of time? and if it is a boy are we going to keep trying for a girl?

The answer to question one is, I have a feeling it is a boy. I am holding out hope for a girl, but I think it will be a boy, and that is wonderful too. A healthy baby is the optimal and only outcome I am really interested in.

Two, we are still up in the air about that one. We have quite a while to decided that still and I am not sold on either side. So there is no real answer to number two.

Three, no. If it is a girl, we will talk about another baby if and when we are ready for one. If this is a boy, I am most likely done. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys, but I really think 3 boys would be enough for me, and I have a feeling we could have 25 children and they woudl all be boys. We could try for a girl forever with no luck, just more and more wonderful boys. I don't know how many more trips to the ER I have in me before I have a break down. So that is that.

It is Saturday again. I am still having lumbar pain and I most likely will the whole pregnancy. Just a perk of the third pregnancy and me being 28. I am going to start some prenatal yoga to try and ease the back pain and help me relax, of course I am going to wait another week to see if my queezies pass a bit before starting. Still no puking, just feeling like it. Otherwise, I feel great and most everything is rosey. MAT is feeling much better and RAT is showing no signs of illness. All good things.

Happy Anniversary to Us.

2010-05-13T13:25:00.002-05:00

That's right, 5 years of marriage today. Today is our 5th wedding Anniversary. Today we celebrate 8 years together, 5 years of marriage, two homes, two children and a third on the way and all the love that comes with it.

Mr. T is still the "cute punk boy" who's foot I stepped on and in retaliation he pulled my pigtail at the party where it all began so many years ago. I still think it was fate that my best friend, since I was 5, happened to be the roommate of Mr. T's longtime high school friend in college and they threw one of their ever so popular and semi frequent parties that we both happened to attend. There had been other parties before and we had attended them at different times and had never met. This time it was fate, and we met, and we instantly liked each other. The timing was a little off, but in the end it did work out.

And now we celebrate our 5th wedding Anniversary, I still find him just as handsome, wonderful, funny, annoying, occasionally obnoxious, and lovable as I did that first meeting. I won't say it was love at first sight, but I will say it was instantaneous "like-like".

So to the man I have loved for nearly all of my adult life, Mr. T Happy Anniversary, I love you, and may we be lucky enough to have say...75 more happy years ahead.

MAT's question of the day.

2010-05-10T16:11:00.000-05:00

"Mom"
"Yes, MAT?"
"Um, Mom, what's a Scurvy Pirate?"
"Well, Scurvy was a disease that, a long time ago, often effected people who worked on boats and spent long amounts of time a sea. They were on the ocean for long periods of time without fresh fruits and vegetables and Scurvy is a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, which is in alot of fruits and vegetables. Pirates were often at sea for long periods of time and didn't have proper nutrition so they often got Scurvy. That's how you get the term Scurvy Pirate. Now days you can get oranges or tomatoes at the store so it happens much less. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah...(long pause................) Pirates got sick cause their Mommies didn't make them take their vitamins."
Exactly.

I miss Coffee

2010-05-05T13:13:00.000-05:00

It has been two weeks and coffe and I are still in a fight. We have tried to reconcile several times with near disastrous results. Apparently this pregnancy has decided to despise coffee and as I am involved in this pregnancy, I too must refrane from consuming it. I pine for you half caf. coffee. I have not forgotten your aroma or delectible flavor, it's just currently you make me want to wretch. It is truly not you, it is me, my senses are completely at fault. We will be reunited at a later date, I hope you will wait for me. As for now I have to focus on my relationship with my ~~parasite~~ unborn child, and I must say, nay. I miss you...

"I don't want to be the angry mom that yells all day!!"

2010-04-22T08:21:00.001-05:00

I don't. And I am.

I am making a real effort the last few weeks to give an order and then give time to allow the appropriate response. And yes I say order. I am not requesting that the children come to dinner, we sit down and all eat at the table together, we just do, it is not optional so it is not a request. It never changes and it is mandatory, the exception is if one is sick.

I am trying to remain calm when talked back to, and when a certain toddler throws a horrendous fit. I am trying to defuse the situation when I can, pick my battles, and say yes as often as I possibly can without spoiling or overindulging.

I expect a lot out of my children, I am afraid one of the last things I have been expecting out of them is for them to be children. Obedience, manners, patience, kindness, gentleness, and then behave like a child. Frankly my children give me being a child (smurfyness my sister says), high energy, rough and tumble, impatience, typically good manners, and rarely they obey without punishment, time out, trip to room, taken away toys, and then only for a short time. They are both very high energy and strong willed, with parents like us what else should I expect. Mr. T and I have turned out to be far more disciplined and hard nosed parents than either of us expected to or wanted to be.

I am realizing I might be expecting too much, ok I KNOW I am expecting too much. There is a place for discipline, and obedience, but they are still children and need to be able to be children. So I am working on my expectations. We have been having some major behavioral issues with MAT. I will not get into them here but they are very inappropriate and more than I can or will tolerate. I am trying to get to the root of the trouble and modify my behavior to help him to modify his.

We are having more discussions, I ask more questions and give him time to give me the answers. We are modifying the timeout and individual playtime routines. I am really trying to find a solution that doesn't involve being red in the face daily. We have tried that for 3 years, believe me, yelling all day doesn't work, I know I tried it. But this seems to be working.

One of our major problems is retaliation. I send MAT to his room and while in there he digs a hole in the wall, or throws things out the window, or draws on the wall, or rips up a book. These behaviors all get him in more trouble and often cause me to yell more. When I asked him why? He replied, "Well I was already in trouble and I was really mad so I thought, why not if I am already in trouble why not a little more."

That was last week.

This week we have been talking about consequences and thinking before doing. I let him know if he is thinking about something and he isn't sure if it is a good idea or not, it probably isn't, but he can come talk to be and check. We have also been talking about setting a good example for RAT and Little T #3. RAT already does everything MAT does and this often ends up with RAT holding the bag that MAT stole.

He seems to be getting it and has had a few requests, like he wants to play by himself sometimes. This requires him playing in a room by himself behind a locked door, as this is the only way to keep little brother out. This requires trust, and that has to be earned. He is working very hard to be deserving. And he is clearly thinking things through. Yesterday he was sent to his room, the only time in the whole day, for a snowball of offenses over about a half hour concluding with him telling his brother and myself that he doesn't like us. I told him he needed to go have a time out in his room and he then needed to come down and apologize for hurting our feelings.

He went up very frustrated and emotional and about 20 seconds after he got in his room he came out and stated, "Mom, you probably shouldn't send me to my room cause I am thinking of making a bad decision while in there." To which I replied, "Thank you for thinking before doing and you may sit on the landing". He sat for his timeout without complaint and then came down and apologized, with hugs, and the rest of the day was reasonably peaceful.

We are limiting the tv, trying to find constructive outlets for energy and finding ways for MAT to play without little RAT Godzilla distroying everything. I am counting the number or times I raise my voice in a day, It is still higher than I would like, but I am still working on it. I have my own anger issues and temper I need to square away so that my children can see that just because one is angry they do not need to lash out. That one can be furious and still be civil and kind. One does not need to yell or throw things to feel better, that one isnt mine, that is Mr. T's problem, a favorite of RAT's to emulate. I am working on being a better mom, I am convinced this will make me happier and healthier and in turn giving us happier healthier children.

Getting a Little Heavy for a minute.

2010-04-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

So, while filling out MAT's school paperwork, we signed him up for Kindergarten last week, I stumbled upon a conundrum when it asked his race. Clearly he Caucasian, descended of MANY European countries on my side alone. And on is fathers side he is Hungarian and Italian, that comes from Mr. T's Mother. Mr. T's father is Puerto Rican. This made Mr. T's forms very easy to fill out, says Grandma T. "He was always marked Hispanic, or I wrote in Puerto Rican. He was more Puerto Rican than any percentage of any other ethnicity." Simple enough, but...is it really that simple?

Enter the now present "multiracial" box. Perfect! A box I can check, my children are in fact multiracial. Funnily enough until I got married I never thought of our relationship as being interracial. Mr. T was just a really cool guy who I fell in love with and wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with. His race never even came into my thinking, though it did come into others minds and out of their mouths, but we wont go into that here. That is not what this is about. I have noticed, in most cases, "multiracial" is associated with people of strictly 1 black and 1 white parent. Or I suppose it is associated with couples who look "more different" than my husband and I do. Is it correct for me to check the "multiracial" box for my children? I think I should, so I do. And I am not going to lie, it gots a strange look from the woman who took my paperwork at the school, from the speech therapist who MAT sees once a week on his first day, even the receptionist at the doctors office. Clearly they see "multiracial" marked they expect something much different than my children.

So what is the rule? My children are 3/4 various European descents, and 1/4 Puerto Rican which puts them in the Hispanic realm. This, and I could be wrong though I don't think I am, to me says they are multiracial. Honestly they are probably more Puerto Rican, percentage wise, than they are of any other single European descent. But we don't count the Scotch, Irish, Italian, Hungarian, German, French, English, whatever independently by percentage. They are all Caucasian so they are counted together and thusly Caucasian is the higher percentage. BUT What % does one have to be to claim themselves as any specific race or ethnicity? Is it a personal choice? Is it your outward appearance?

If it were based solely on appearance, they would both be categorized as Caucasian. There is no doubt in my mind. They have blue eyes and are fair skinned. One has brown hair and the other has blond. They are "average white kids" by most anyone's standards. But the question of percentage still looms. I mark them as multiracial and Hispanic and Caucasian whenever I can, but when only given one choice I pick multiracial, and when that isn't an option I usually leave it blank, but I want to mark Hispanic.

Might seem silly to many people, but it is a very real question for me...for us. How I answer this question could have very real repercussions down the road. Say for scholarships, grants, college applications, these are very real situations where I do not want to have answered this question wrong and cost my children funds for education. Not to mention the irrational fear that some form of segregation might someday return and how i marked a box when my children were little could take them way from me. I understand that it is irrational and HIGHLY unlikely, I REALLY get that. But I bet Americans of Japanese descent never thought their country would imprison them for their ethnic heritage during war time either.

It is so silly, one would think the boxes wouldn't and shouldn't matter, but when you are talking about the future of your children, it makes a big difference. I normally do not speak so much on race, because honestly I don't think about it that often, but with the school sign up and the census, I have been thinking on it often. I suppose I will have to contact a government office to hear how they would label my children. Because we all know what a headache improperly filling out government paperwork can be and they ALWAYS have the right answer. That is sarcasm people, but in all honesty I bet someone will have the answer, somewhere, I just have to find them.

The Saga Continues.

2010-04-19T08:18:00.001-05:00

You all remember the two very LARGE hole that Neighbor and Mr. T put in the yard looking for the waterline last fall, right? Well I am sad to say they are still there. But the past weekend brought some good fortune and it also brought Mr. T home for the weekend, the first he has not been working since sometime in March. Due to his lack of being home and then his fortune of being here all weekend, the man was VERY productive.

Saturday 9 am. Mr. T comes down from his sleep in dressed and ready to move. I ask what's with the clothes. He mumbles something about stump grinding...and Neighbor would be here in a few minutes. Um, ok, great! This way we (I) will no longer have to worry about ruining mower by hitting a stump. Wonderful. He wasn't kidding about the speediness of the arrival. Neighbor was here within the hour and the grinding began. In about an hour and a half I believe they took out 12 or 13 stumps. There are still 2 in the pasture and they missed one in the yard, but with such a vast improvement, I am not complaining.

I knew the big holes in the yard were not just bothering me, and I was right. Mr.T had a plan all along. He has been, unknowingly to me, searching for a trencher to rent locally. Neighbor mentioned, in passing, why not check with other neighbor's, like maybe one down the road specifically who runs a geothermal business and uses trenchers daily.

Light bulb. Mr. T hopped in the truck and off he went to introduce himself and rent the trencher. He returned about 20 minutes later. He said that they are very nice and the guy woudl be down in an hour, and when he mentioned "renting it" Geo-man said, "no worries, I will be down in an hour." Me thinks we might just have the very best neighbors ever. Really. Mr. T's plan only included trenching from hole to hole, not from house to pump, he was sure we found the only break in the line, but more on that later.

Geo-man, who's name I do know, arrived and checked all kinds of things out. He and Mr. T walked the property looked at our heating system, and talked about a nearly free geothermal option (but more on that later), He also helped us locate our septic, which is very much appreciated. So after about a half hour of wondering and chatting they got to work and in 15 minutes we had a very long trench from one hole to another. We thanked Geo-man and on his way he went.

About that time Neighbor came back, this time with the tiller on the back of his tractor. He had already roughed up the new garden sight earlier in the week and was back to make it beautiful, which he did. It is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to get out and get dirty and plant things. Sadly we are still a few weeks away from planting things without frost resistance. But those lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, and broccoli WILL go out this week.

All this was done by 2 pm and Mr. T, after a trip to the hardware store, was happily instaling the waterline. I had water in the barn by 5 Saturday evening. It was beautiful, for about 20 seconds, until Mr. T realized the total lack of pressure indicated that there was another break in the line. Back to the digging and working, tomorrow.

Sunday 9 am. I wake from my sleep in and Mr. T greets me at the bottom of the stairs. "I am going to go dig, ok?" Of course I respond something along the lines of whatever...mumble mumble. Out he goes. Dug a new trench, BY HAND, from the house to the first hole, punched a hole in the foundation block and ran a new waterline. At this point he was still convinced that the break was in the line from the house to the first hole. MY guess was that it was right at the pump, because it is in the barn and under concrete. After the new line was installed and hooked up. I was proven to be right.
Mr. T came in from trying out the new line and said " I HATE it when you're right." And then trudged back out to dig a hole under the barn. I replied, " I usually LOVE it when I am right, but in this case I HATE it too! I love you! You're the greatest!"

One more hole later and a new connection under the pump and VOILA! We have running water in the barn with a frost free hydrant! Thrilled! Water, and water pressure and conveniently located. Mr. T also put a T in the line so we can install another hydrant out of the barn for the garden and outdoor duck pen. I am still going to be carrying buckets to water the ducks in the winter, BUT I will only be carrying them 20 or 30 feet not 200. And I will be carrying them through the barn, and NOT 2+ feet of snow. Huzzah! I am VERY happy!

I think Neighbor's skid steer is going magically appear this afternoon and fill in ALL the holes.Again, YAY! No more fighting to keep little children out of the holes. And maybe if we are very lucky, we will also get the house graded today, probably not going to happen, but one can hope. Grading the house and building the new duck house were actually on the docket for last weekend, but the skid steer had other obligations so we rolled with and it ended up being better than expected.

If we can just find someone with a jackhammer to get rid of these pesky front steps we will be golden...of course then we HAVE to build the deck... more on these things later.

stinky cheese?

2010-04-13T14:57:00.000-05:00

Catching up a bit...

2010-04-13T07:52:00.000-05:00

I finally got on the ball and ordered our goslings. I ordered 6 American Buff geese, which are an American critical breed. They are supposed to have the best disposition and be very quiet and they are also beautiful. I also ordered 5 Embden geese, they are all white and have blue eyes. They will both be for eating but the Embden in particular. We plan on keeping 2 mated pairs of the Buff. Of course I am the main dispatcher so when butcher time comes around I might not have the energy, stomach, or will for butcher. I suppose we can take them to the processor this year, I think it might be worth it. But at least we know what we will be having for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, since I will NOT be going anywhere those holidays this year. Goose, it's what's for dinner.

I also finally got my butt in gear and started some seeds indoors. Yes, I know it is the middle of April, I should have started these weeks ago, but I didn't, sue me. I have my peppers (rainbow sweet peppers), tomatoes (Green Zebra, Caspian Pink, and Reisentraub and I am contemplating a seedless hybrid that I have), basil, eggplant, broccoli, and three types of lettuce.

I had a nice little side of 5 asparigus with my lunch yesterday. My plants are awake but tey are not fully producing yet, I hope to be up to my eyeballs by next week or so, one can hope right. I am cleaning up the Strawberry beds, but not clearing them of their protective blanket just yet, we still have the threat of frost for another month. I am not getting much done and our new garden bed is about a week behind from last year. Our wonderful neighbore tills it for us when he tills his. Since it is a benevolent act of kindness I dont ask him when he is going to do it, nor do I push him to get it done.

If I want it done on my schedual I should till it myself or PAY someone to do it. I have considered both, but the boys love to watch the big tractor ripping up the yard, I can't take that away. Plus I have the back garden that I can plant along the southe side of and get descent results. Lettuce and other greens dont seem to be too bothered by the Jungalone. I may plant a row or two to satisfy my hunger for greens, or maybe try some in a pot...

Hark in the distance, what IS that?

2010-04-10T07:59:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I looked out my kitchen window and saw what looked like a big rock slowly crossing the field. I knew instantly what it was and where it was going, and it was SO not happening on my watch.

The area to the left and behind the field is a swampy boggy place several acres around. This big sucker was plotting along from there to our little 1/4 acre mud hole duck pond to the right and forward of the photo.

I sprang into action. I knew what I was going to do...first I called my dad because honestly for this big guy to get from where he started to this point it had probably been 1/2 an hour, so I knew I had time to chat a bit.

I called Dad, to confirm my strategy then I finished dinner, which took 5 minutes, and then sprang into action. I went to the barn and gathered a duck barrel, or a 35 gallon barrel that was repurposed into a duck house by removing one end, and trudged into the field. I positioned the barrel in front of the big snapper, and waited for him to puff up and draw back. When he did I scooted the barrel as close as I could and then flipped him into the barrel by the butt of his shell. TADA! Snapping turtle in a bucket!

Now it is a good idea to point out snapping turtles are dangerous and ill tempered critters, do not mess with them unless you know what you are doing. This was fortunately NOT the first snapper I have encountered. And yes it was necessary for me to stop him from getting to my pond, I am sure it already has all the snappy residents it needs and did NOT need another dinner plate sized shell inhabitant. Yes it was a BIG cranky fella.

My original thought was turtle soup, but with the pregnancy, reptiles are an no for pregnant mums, AND MR. T working crazy hours and not being home to supervise the kiddo's whilst I work, I decided this guy would get a reprieve. I took him several miles away to the marsh and let him go. He will be happy there. And I am sure will get very fat on duckling, just not mine.

Urges.

2010-04-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

I am seriously fighting the urge to sew maternity clothes and loads of little bitty girl things. I do not need maternity clothes yet, or at all really, and to begin with it is far too early to do either. Both my previous pregnancy's were mostly through the winter so I should have a massive amount of clothing in storage that I will fit with no problem. I do not want to make a bunch of items I will probably not wear. Lets face it I will end up wearing old tshirts and a belly band or dresses that aren't maternity anyway. There is no point in making things that won't be worn.

Along similar lines, I will NOT make girlie items unless we know Little T #3's gender. I made the mistake of sewing girlie things for RAT during his pregnancy, with the first two we waited till they were born to find out their gender, and then was sad when I had to put all those goodies in storage because, well, as we all know RAT wasn't a girl. Not that I was sad that RAT was not a girl, I am and was thrilled to have two sons, but I was sad that all those carefully created and loved items would not be worn. As a result I am holding off till we know...anything really. I suppose I do not have a need to sew girlie things anyway, we have a 50 gallon tote full of items that would have been for RAT.

I think I will fulfill my sewing urges with some new pillows and perhaps a quilt. I suppose one can never have too many pillows or quilts...or at least I can tell myself that. Or maybe I will spend my time converting far oversized t-shirts to rouched maternity t's... NO no I will make pillows and quilts, and shopping bags! Perfect!

Little Squidgen Home

That man of mine...

A completely frivolous, yet totally worthy, way to spend $10 a week

Three, of my very favorite, things to make with sourdough discard.

Take Care of your Mother...

Homemade Ricotta cheese

What I can do in a naptime.

What we've been up to..

Someone had a Birthday.

A partial living room renovation.

Halloween 2011

Taking a break...unintentionally

King sized quilt for me...and Mr. T too.

How much do I love the Muppets?

A bit of helpful advice to myself

Rhubarb custard pie recipe, as promised, 2 months ago...

Fiber Rich

This Moment

A new use for that unfolded basket of laundry

"ME CAN do IT!!!"

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

This Moment

Around here...

Little by little, bit by bit...

Receiving blanket quilts

This Moment

BEANS! and zucchinni and stuff.

Around here.

A great Fathers day, in photos.

I do so love custom orders for repeat customers.

Because MOOOSTACHES are the coolest...and so are shark goggles.

Thrift store goodness

A task 5 years in the making...

To do

Around the Homestead.

A decade of hair. Years 2003-2007

The reclaimed wood raised beds ( yes I am FINALLY posting pictures)

One more reason my kids rule.

"Mom, today is gonna be AWWWWESOME. I'm gonna get to school, do a worksheet, they are gonna take attendance and then... BOOM, go to the zoo. Just 2 things then BOOM the zoo! How cool is that?!"-MATVery cool bud, very cool. One lucky Mama, right here.

Another confession

Confession

3 months and 6 and 29x2

A future architect in the making?

RAT= 3, it is a very complicated equation, I still can't comprehend it

It's potty (training) time!!

Sick Day...s

A decade of hair (+1 ).. Years 1999-2002

Baby bunting

Fun.

Goodies.

Ch, ch, ch, ch, Changes

Mmmmm Eggs

Some photos of DOT's introduction and cuddles... I know it took forever

Look what we made!

Confession. (it's a rant really)

20 days.

In the dead of night she came...

Christmas Craftiness...finally

Ticky Ho Ho!

Bliss, on a yucky, sickly Thursday morning

No, I haven't died, I'm just preoccupied

Frost me

General kiddo news and building stuff

Things that make this Mommy weep, in a good way

Woopsie.

There will come a day...

Maternity sewing, pictures finally.

Taking advantage of an early rising, cool, overcast morning.

The great gourd harvest of 2010

Me and my Bestest

Confession.

TV

Boy! Oh! Boy!

Someone has been sewing

Just Because...

Raspberry love

Wordless Wednesday

Dreaming of the future.

Happy Father's Day and some other info too

Adventures in yardwork

"Mom, today is gonna be AWWWWESOME. I'm gonna get to school, do a worksheet, they are gonna take attendance and then... BOOM, go to the zoo. Just 2 things then BOOM the zoo! How cool is that?!"-MAT

Very cool bud, very cool. One lucky Mama, right here.