Firehouse Tour

Now you know why I post so rarely.

We're always on a field trip, lol!

Field Trip!

Scenes from a recent field trip to a local airport. Although, it's only technically an airport. It has a runway and hangars, and a few die hard local pilots; and that's about it.

But the kids had such a good time. They even got some pilots together to take off and land every five minutes or so while the kids were out by the runway. It was magical!

Pita- The Recipe

Heavens! I didn't even think of giving you all the recipe!

I originally found my recipe here at The Fresh Loaf.

And let me tell you, if you are interested in baking your own bread, of any kind, this is the place for you. Along with recipes and tutorials, they have a forum where people just like you have made the same mistakes that you have made and they discuss how you can fix it. It's kinda like having an experienced bread baking mentor right there in your computer.

I've done things a little differently though.

I use 1 1/2 cups AP Flour and 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour. I add my honey and warm water together, then bloom the yeast in the resulting mixture. And the biggest change, I cook mine in a very hot cast iron skillet instead of in the oven.

The rising time is much shorter than conventional bread (I can do a whole batch, start to finish, in under two hours) and I actually split my dough into 12 pieces, instead of 8, because we use them for sandwiches. In fact, this is the only bread that I bake some weeks, lol!

Enjoy!

Pita

My very homely but oh-so-delicious homemade pita bread. I can't believe I ever bought this stuff ready-made. It's so easy to make and so much more tasty than store-bought. The whole house is addicted. Sydda even eats it plain!

Picture Post

A little pictorial evidence of what we have been up to lately.



My new pantry shelves. A huge improvement over what I had before.And I even have an empty shelf left!


Our raised beds. The green that you can see in this photo has already doubled, even though this was only taken two days ago. Way in the back you can see my new compost bin. A lovely custom design that takes advantage of the giant slope that is our yard.


The inaugural load of wash hanging on my new clothes lines.

The last board being nailed in place on the new bridge. And..


Ta Da! All done.
Everything pictured so far was built and designed by my husband. And not only that, everything except the pantry shelf was made from repurposed materials, so the costs were minimal. Sometimes it's like I live with this magical genii. All I have to do is ask and POOF, he creates it! I'm so blessed!


And finally, the lovely view of God's handiwork that the last few days of warm weather have made possible. I love opening the curtains in the morning!

Productive

Oh April, how you tease!

Today it is grey and rainy. After a lovely weekend of working outside and our first sunburns of the year, we are once again stuck inside. But we have been busy.

My husband is constructing a bridge to cross the little stream at the bottom of our hill. Now we will be able to take better advantage of the rest of our property.

The raised beds are constructed and cold-weather lovers planted. We should see the peas, spinach, and lettuce poking their heads up soon with all of this rain.

My tomatoes, peppers, and marigolds are flourishing in our livingroom window. I love the big southern-facing windows that are in our main room! I use them for so many things.

My ever-continuing home bread experiments are going well. Although, the lack of sun today has led me to find an alternative heat source for my rising dough. I'm giving my crock pot a try. I placed three drinking glasses inside the heating element, turned on low without the crock, and placed my loaf on a plate balanced on the glasses. It seems to have worked very well, and the loaf just came out of the oven looking beautiful.

My handy husband is also midway in building a new set of shelves for my pantry. All of my cans, bags, and boxes have been moved and dusted in anticipation of their new home.


I guess that we have been productive enough to make up for our rain delay.

Man's Best Friend?

The drive home from church today found me, as it usually does, chatting with my daughter about her Sunday School lesson. With this being Palm Sunday, I was pretty sure what to expect.


Me: So what was your lesson about today?

Sydda: Um... I don't remember. (also usual, lol.)

M: Did you do anything special today? (I knew they were supposed to have a "Palm Parade")

S: Yeah.

M: Like...?

S: Um... Oh! We talked about Jesus riding into town on a dog.

M: A dog?!

S: Yeah, a dog.

M: Do you mean a donkey?

S: No mom. A dog. (said with her best teenage disdain)

M: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

S: No, I'm pretty sure that my teacher said a dog. And everybody shouted
something at Jesus and threw down their plants.

M: Oh? They threw down their plants?

S: Yeah, and shouted something... I can't remember.

M: Hosanna?

S: Yeah! That was it!

M: Sweetie?

S: Yeah?

M: Jesus rode a donkey, not a dog.

S: ...

S: Oh.



And then ensued a discussion of the Palm Sunday story. It's funny how mishearing a word can change your whole perspective of a story, lol.

Clean Home Carnival

I haven't posted since President's Day?!

Goodness!


Well, today should be entertaining anyway.

My friend-for-oh-so-long, juliemom, is hosting a jumpstart to spring/fall cleaning on her website today. And here is my contribution.

First, let's start with an exerpt from a letter that I sent to juliemom a few weeks ago.


"...I also wanted to tell you that the Lord used you and your pots as a wake-up call today.

We have been living the 'drop-it-and-run' lifestyle lately. It's seems as if I am never home, running from playdate to program and my home has been suffering. It's been making me feel restless but I just kept telling myself that I was too busy and there was no helping it. And I've been noticing that look in Brian's eye, the one that says "you are dropping the ball around here, but I'm not going to say anything
because you will just snap at me and tell me how hard you work everyday and that I just don't understand". I HATE that look, mostly because it is perfectly justified and I don't like having my shortcomings as a wife and mother pointed out to me.

I've been praying for peace about my running around and half-finished tasks, knowing full well that the unease I've been feeling is straight from God. It's so strong that I can almost literally hear Him speaking. "You are not doing this the right way. Your job is to nurture your family and teach your child, not play keep-up with the other homeschoolers. I gave you Brian and Sydney to care for, not to ignore and blame. Slow down and do what you know is right. Stop this busy-ness. It's not what you need or want."

But, as per usual when I'm feeling chastised, I played dumb and and ignored the wisdom being sent my way. All the while, praying for a change.

And, as per usual, God gave me exactly what I needed. A good swift kick in the behind. Well, actually, the ankle.

As I was running around today, desperately dashing in from a shopping trip, trying to come up with something for lunch in the hour before Brian had to leave for work (because I have been too busy to do my meal planning lately), Sydda asked for a glass of water. My first reaction was annoyance, "Why does she always want something from me when I am my busiest?". So I half-stomped into the kitchen peeved and distracted "Why do I never have enough time!", and... I fell over a can of paint. (Paint that my husband was nice enough to go and pick up for me so that I could finally finish my part of the bathroom refurb that was begun over a month ago (because I was too busy to pick up the paint or to do the actual painting)). And when I say fell, I mean FELL, arms windmilling, body twisting, frantic grabbing for anything within reach, and a mighty crash.

Sydney came running in from the living room, asking if I was alright. I sent her out to the garage for Brian, thinking that by the feel of it, my ankle was broken. I crawled over to the cupboards and propped myself up, pulling off my sock and trying to catch my breath. The ankle was already purple, the faint outline of the can's handle bail showing in the bruise. I was sore and embarrassed at my lack of gracefulness, seething at one more thing making me run behind.

Brian came in, took a look at the ankle and deposited me on the couch with some ice and assurances that he would order a pizza for lunch. I was told to sit and rest. "Oh great! Just what I needed. Yet another delay in my already busy day. I don't have time to just sit around." But I sat and rested as I was told, for really the first time in two weeks. And that's when I noticed it... my house...

MY HOUSE IS A COMPLETE WRECK!!!!!

It looked as if no one had really cleaned in weeks. Sydney's copywork on the whiteboard were the same words that we had worked on two weeks ago. There were Valentines and envelopes still stacked all over the coffee table. A mountain of library books were piled on the floor near "my end" of the sofa, unread and over due, even though we make two trips to the library a week. The dust was thick on the TV and stand, and Sydney had drawn pictures in it. The carpet was so covered with crumbs and hair that I can't believe we were brave enough to walk on it barefoot! Truly disgusting!

And now, I was stuck on the couch and could do nothing about it! Great!

But then I realized, at the rate I had been running around, I probably wouldn't have noticed the extent of the mess until we were about to have company. Which, with Brian's schedule, wouldn't have been for another month. I would have continued to plow my way through the house only picking up what was necessary to keep us from tripping (ha ha) because I was too busy.

Well, since I had all this time on my hands and I was feeling guilty about the state of affairs, did I pray and ask for guidance? Was I grateful for the situation being brought to my attention? Of course not. I picked up my computer and proceeded to ignore and squash down my feelings. Hiding in my email inbox and my blogroll list. I wasn't about to admit that this was a message created especially for me, as an answer to my prayers and guidance as to the way I knew I should go. A forced slowing so that I could actually see the damage I was doing to my husband, daughter, and home.

Ignore it and it will go away.

But God is ever patient and persistent. And He knows that it takes a few beatings over the head sometimes to get me to listen.

Here is where you come in. Browsing around, I came upon your half-hour pot scrubbing pictures and I was inspired by your Spring/Fall cleaning. (kudos by the way, your pot looked spectacular!) There are no such things as coincidences. God was not allowing me to mentally run away and forget. ("Look! I will not let you brush this off yet again.") Your post reminded me of why I was so uneasy with the state of affairs around here. Why it bothers me so much that we run, run, run and never get anything accomplished.

God was saying, "Remember, you enjoy being a wife and mother. You enjoy serving your family. All of this other stuff is just busy-work created by the world and yourself. That is why you are so unhappy and unfulfilled. Because running around and ignoring your home and family is not my plan for you or for wives and mothers anywhere. You know this is true. Wake up. Pay attention"

And so I woke up.

Brian had taken Sydda outside to play, so I was alone. I had a good pray-n-cry, felt my conviction renewed, and started to make a list.

So thank you. Thank you for the reminder, even though that's not what you meant it to be. God did. Also thank you for being there for me to send this ridiculous ramble to. Your friendship to me over the years has meant so much.

And here is where I need to ask you for one more thing. I need someone to be accountable to. I know myself and all of this new conviction can fade very easily if I don't have someone checking in on me. I am planning on taking a whole batch of 'before' pictures first thing in the morning and I'd like to send them to you. You can just ignore them if you like, but I'll send them on anyway. As I finish, I'll be sending you 'after' pictures. I've given myself a week to deal with the actual "dirt" and two weeks for the clutter. Also, I have decided to cut any and all playdates, homeschool outings, and out-of-the-house lessons to two days a week. This includes library trips. If we can't do it in those two days, we are too busy. I need to schedule home time much more than yet another playdate. This is actually perfect timing (is God awesome or what?) because it is time to renew a few of our commitments, and I plan to drop them cold turkey. I would like things to be running smoothly again by Easter, so here goes..."




Reading over that letter, I am reminded again of how really desperate I was feeling, but, out of a misplaced sense of obligation to my daughter's "education" I was ignoring the feelings. I am now happy to report that things are running more smoothly.

I managed to get everything major done in one week, with just a few organizational projects left (pantry, I'm looking at you). Of course, scheduling a Mom's Night get together at my house helped to keep my conviction running high. And also a renewed desire to have my daughter learn more about helping around the house has given us both a reason to clean and enjoy it.

So, here are a few before and after photos for your entertainment...

Our living/diningroom before






And after...





My office before...





And after...



And the project that has had the most impact on my daily life,

The Homeschool Closet!

Before...



After...




Mostly, things have stayed under control. I have noticed a few areas that tend to collect stuff (mainly my desk) that I have to be extra vigilant about keeping clean. All in all, it's been a much happier home for all of us.

I think the biggest help has been actually staying at home. I've made good on my plans to keep all homeschool/play running down to two days a week. It has made for a much calmer and more productive week.

So, there it is, my mess and recovery. It feels wonderful to have a neater and more organized home. If you are feeling inspired, go on over to juliemom's blog and leave a link to a story and some pictures of your own.

Happy Cleaning!

President's Day is Delicious

Celebrate Lincoln with brunch!

Enough Already!

More snow.

We now have about 15 inches on the ground.

Don't get me wrong, I love winter. I'm always so happy when the temperatures start to drop.The snow is beautiful and our home is cozy, but this year has just been so COLD!
And the snow just won't stop coming.

It's usually late February/early March before I'm this fed up, lol.

All of this glorious deep snow, and it's too cold to go outside and play.
I can't find anything to read (which in and of itself is a sign of the Apocalypse).
We've watched all of our movies over and over.


Ennui has set in.

Be Still My Wannabe Archaeologist's Heart

I love Playmobil toys.

I love the hundreds of tiny pieces.

I love the variety of themes.

I love that my daughter can make up stories about Santa visiting a band of pirates and helping them plant a garden, and she has toys that she can use to act them out.


So imagine my joy when I opened my inbox to find the new Playmobil catalog and this staring back at me.




IT'S A PYRAMID!!!!!

With collapsible stairs, and secret chambers, and treasure, and mummies, and trap doors, and Snakes ("Why'd it have to be snakes!")!

This set doesn't come out until August and I can't wait to play Indiana Jones see the joy in Peanut's eyes while she plays.

Do you think I could convince my husband that it is a purchase to help me teach history?

Snow Woman

 

This was taken about a week ago when the temps were in the mid twenties for the day. The lovely woman in the photo with Peanut is my mom. They made a snow woman, complete with purple shawl, because the snow just wouldn't roll into a nice round ball. My mom molded the skirt in the bottom and Peanut later made stick arms.

She has stood outside my kitchen door looking elegant all through our snow storms and negative degree weather. I brush her off every time I walk past. There's nothing like single digit weather to make your snow creations last!

Kiss by Ted Dekker

I recently had someone pass "kiss" by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy my way and ask me what I thought about it. So I said I'd tell you all too.

It was an intense book. Lots of mystery and twists centered around the main character, Shauna McAllister, who wakes up after being in a coma for six weeks unable to remember anything about her recent life. Add in a distant father who is a presidential candidate, an abusive step-mother, a boyfriend of whom she has no memory, and a brother who suffered brain damage in the same car wreck that took Shauna's memory, and you have a twisty tale of a family with a closet full of dark secrets. Shauna also discovers that the accident has left her with a strange new ability which leaves her not sure who she can turn to or trust.

The was very suspenseful and definitely kept me interested to the end. The mystery aspect of the plot was excellent and I might be interested in reading some of Dekker's other books, based on this one.

That being said, I am a little confused. This book is marketed as Christian suspense but as far as I can see, it doesn't really fit into that category. The only real "Christian" aspect of the story line is the main character's exploration of pain vs. perspective when it comes the things that God brings into our lives. The book is not bad, I just think the marketing it to a Christian audience is a little misleading.

Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

And I Thought That I Loved Winter

 

Yes, you are reading correctly. My kitchen thermometer reads -13 this morning. That's -25 for my non-Fahrenheit friends. Which would not be such a big deal if I lived in say, Minnesota or Alaska. But here in Ohio, this is not the norm.

And notice the inside temp. 50 degrees. Inside. We have the thermostat set on 60 to conserve energy. But the only place in the house that is actually 60 degrees is the hall where the thermostat is located. The extremities, like the kitchen and bedrooms, are considerably colder.

So I, who is normally thrilled when the temperature drops, am cranky as a badger poked from its den this morning. I spent the night with a hacking cough, stuffed up head, and a flailing 5 year old who joined us in our bed because it was cold. I watched the sunrise through the completely frosted over window next to my bed, and then stumbled downstairs to breakfast the Peanut.

On the upside, it is achingly beautiful out, with the sun on the snow and the neighbors chimneys laying out streams of smoke.

But who wants aching beauty when you have an aching head?.

Ahh, The Cake

Everyone keeps asking about the cake in the background of my daughter's photo.

Yes, I made it myself.

It took me three days.

EIGHT CUPS of ICING!

As I see it, I only have a few more years when the things that I know how to do will wow my child, then I will become boring old Mom and "Why can't I have a cake from the store like everybody else?" I have to score points while I can, lol. And believe me, she was wowed. She was in five-year-old heaven!

Here are a few close up pictures. They aren't very good, because, as I found out later (after the cake was devoured), the settings were off on my camera. Enjoy!

5!!!

 

Well, my Peanut had her fifth birthday party this weekend. I uploaded these pictures tonight and I just can not believe how grown up she looks. It makes me excited and sad at the same time. I look forward to knowing my little girl as a young lady, but I will miss her so much when she's grown and gone.

Although, if you ask her, she has no plans of ever leaving me. She tells me that she is going to stay with me forever and cries at the thought of having her own house and family. I keep telling her that one day she'll change her mind, but she doesn't quite believe me.

Notice Anything Different?

The blog has had a makeover!


My good friend juliemom, whom I have known since kindergarten (and who, by the way, is looking very svelte and healthy. Yea Jules!) worked her digital fingers to the bone in creating a new look for my much ignored home. I love the new color combinations!

Thanks Jules!

Retro Food

 

So, with the economy crunch and things in general being a bit mad, I'm trying to be more responsible with our resources. Trying to get every penny's worth from the money we spend on groceries. And for us this means utilizing the deep freeze in the basement. We're lucky enough to live in a very agriculturally centered area. We are surrounded by farms big and small from whom you can get quite a discount if you buy in large amounts. So I stock the freezer.

But...

Just because I put it in there, it doesn't mean that I remember to take it back out. Which is just like throwing money away.

So when I noticed a lonely pack of hot dogs languishing towards the back of the top shelf, my guilty concience kicked in and forced me to pull them out and serve them up. The only problem was how?
Generally, hot dogs around here are summer fare. Either roasted on a campfire or cooked on the grill, slapped into buns and slathered in condiments. That is usually the extent of our hot dog cuisine. And lets face it, they're not exactly a gourmet specialty. But with the banishment of highly processed carbs from the house, we haven't seen a hot dog bun in months and the weather was not compatable with outdoor cooking.

So what did I do with a sad pack of wieners that must be used up?

Beans And Wienies Casserole!

I haven't eaten this stuff in decades, and I don't think that I want to put it into regular rotation on the menu, but it was kind of yummy! And I tried to make it all "Betty Crocker Cookbook, circa 1965" beautiful with the 'fillet o' frankfurters' on the top. Very scary! Very orange! But we finished it off with no leftovers.

One More Thing Crossed Off My Winter Prep List

One flannel gown covered in marching elephants that is finally finished, just in time for my daughter to grow out of it.

Check

Visitors

Earlier this summer, we had daily visits from a small flock of turkeys. They came down to enjoy a dust bath in all of the newly dug earth at our construction site. We asked around the neighborhood to see who the owners of these "free range" birds were and apparently they are ownerless. The story goes that someone made a dump and drive of the poor mother turkey earlier this spring and she hatched four eggs. The flock now wanders the "neighborhood" on a daily basis and tends to roost for the night on our neighbor's garage roof.

We've gotten a kick out of seeing them for the last few months, strolling around like posh Edwardians on holiday. Of course, I can't help but look at them and think Thanksgiving.

This afternoon, I walked into my kitchen to put a glass in the sink, and there they were, all five of them, perched on my deck railing, just outside my kitchen window. I was shocked at just how big they really are. Of course I had to get my camera, although they weren't too happy about my opening the door and they quickly took off flapping for the yard.

Maybe if I spread some cracked corn I can keep them coming until November.

 
 
 
 

Number five seemed to elude my camera for every shot

Birthday

Tonight at 12:01 AM I will be 32 years old. And as usual, mentally, I feel no more than 15. I'm just as geeky now as I was then. It's just different categories of geeky-ness now. I hold no hope of ever growing up.

Peanut crawled into bed with me this morning and said, "Daddy is coming to get me from playgroup today and we are going shopping. Don't even ask where we are going." in her now, nearly perfected, teenage voice. She has already learned the knack of making her words drip with sarcasm and disdain. (Hmm, I wonder where she gets it from? LOL!) The present hunt is officially on.

Tomatoes, Ugh!

Canning season is upon us.

The family and friends are coming round with the excess produce that they can't bear to waste, thinking that we, with no garden, are in desperate want of it. And I am grateful, really. With the price of groceries in general and produce in particular, every little bit helps. I just wish it didn't mean that I had to drop everything and preserve the bounty before fruit flies began to fill my kitchen.

Last weekend it was a pile of peppers and two boxes of tomatoes, which I translated into 10 pints of salsa; five canned and five fresh. All of that boiling, peeling, chopping and onion tears. My husband will probably finish it all off before the end of October.


Maybe I should take my FIL up on the offer of more tomatoes.

Tonight is a dreaming night.

The laundry is undone.
The dinner dishes are still sitting and waiting to be washed.
Today's mail lies unopened on the table.

Maybe it's the crisp change in the weather.
Perhaps it's that the moon is just past full and glorious to see.

Likely, it's just that I have been rereading the "Anne of Green Gables" series lately.


Whatever it is, I'm not anxious to break the misty little spell that has fallen over my house tonight and has me staring at stars and planning in my head. I think I'll just enjoy it.

The dishes will still be dirty later.

Stoned

Yesterday was spent in the ER having my first CAT scan. My husband made a silly joke about feeling like the jelly in a doughnut. I thought I was going to leave the hospital with frostbite, the ER was so cold.

It turns out I had a kidney stone.

I say had, because as of this morning, I no longer have a kidney stone. But for the last four days, it was all that I could think about. All I can say is "Ouch!". Don't get one of these if you can help it.

I've had my gallbladder removed, I've endured labor pains, and I've gone through a scary hemorrhaging miscarriage. This was less fun than all three.

But now things are fine and my bladder isn't making me do the twelve-trips-to-the-bathroom dance all night long.

Now if I could only get my daughter to be as considerate about my sleep.

Short Vowels and Miracles

This has been the week of "Zac the Rat". Next week it will be "Peg the Hen".

Yes, we are working our way through the short vowels.

It's funny, but I expected this to be the most boring part of our homeschooling years. I thought that the interminable repetition and struggle that comes with laying down the foundations of reading would frustrate me, but it just isn't the case.

Seeing my daughter's eyes when she realizes that all of those sounds that I have been forcing her to learn actually make words when she says them out loud together is priceless. Walking through the grocery store and noticing that she is actually reading the signs for "milk" and "eggs", carefully sounding out each letter, is such a thrill.

I love that I get to be here for those moments and that they are not wasted on some exhausted teacher with 38 other minds to mold who has seen it so many times before that it is no longer miraculous to her.

I love that the miracle is mine.