Who Needs a Portrait Studio?

Packrat Much?

Yikes.


I've been working on our big house shuffle and can I just say that I am SUCH a packrat?! I'm getting so much better, but wow. The stuff I've found...

I spent the whole morning going through cookbooks and recipes. 3 BOXES FULL!! I had more recipes stashed than I could possibly cook in my entire lifetime. I've pared it down to a very small selection of old favorites and really good sounding new ones to try.

The other thing I realized this morning...


I've come a LONG way baby!!

Not just in the packrattery department, but in the food department. All of the recipes I found were either for sugar-loaded desserts or unhealthy "real" meals. Any recipe that called for bisquick, velveeta, or canned soup as a main ingredient was tossed. That was almost all of them. Yikes again. It was amazing to me to realize that was how I used to cook every meal! There was nothing real about our food back then at all. Now we eat actual real food. Whole grains, beans, vegetables... everything as close to original form as possible. Real food tastes so much better and we feel so much better when we eat it. And you know what else? It's cheaper too.

Teagan says if he would have known how much better the food was when we had to "make do" we would have started making-do a long time ago! LOL

Well, I got completely off topic there, so it's time to sign off and get back to work. More on the "Big Shuffle of 2008" later...

I've Created a Monster

So, it started with the chocolate cookie. And then I found this...



Apparently Hosanna has a thing for chocolate! That's right, she chewed open a package of hot chocolate! Yikes!

You're all wondering how a thing like that happens. Well, we're smack in the middle of a home re-organization project, stuff is everywhere, and we're all a bit distracted. It's not always like this...

My Honey's a Ham

Teagan is officially a amateur radio operator! He passed his test last Saturday and got his call sign yesterday. KC9OKC He made his first broadcast this morning. I guess he chatted with his dad and a couple other hams from the area. One of them was broadcasting from our old Ford Contour! It was the guy we got the grand cherokee from a few years back. We traded the ford for the jeep. He still has it. The jeep died long ago. Go figure.

Anyway, I'm really proud of my honey! He put in a lot of time studying for his test and he did it! Go Teagan!!

Silly Video

A message board I'm on challenged everybody to post a short video clip of themselves. Here's mine... I thought you might get a kick out of it.

I Suppose

I suppose you all would like to see pictures of my children. I've shown you pictures of food, plants, and my feet, and now you are wondering why you even read my blog because you really just want to see my cute kids...

So, here you go. I took these pictures a few weeks back when the garden was still in full swing. I have the cutest garden helpers!!

Got My Quota...

...of grease for the month!!!

We had fried green tomatoes and pan-fried onion rings for lunch.

I've never had fried green tomatoes, and I'm not sure I'll go through all the trouble to have them again. I wasn't all that impressed. They were okay. Maybe I did it wrong? The onion rings were wonderful though!

Now I want to go lay down. I think we will have something very light and healthy for dinner.

LOL

A Sad Day

Today was a sad day. I woke up to this:


Yes, that's my garden. With frostbite.

We knew it was going to freeze. The tarp we have is only big enough to cover half of the garden. So I told Teagan to cover the tomato and the peppers. Both are still loaded with immature fruit, and if the weather rallies, they may mature yet. We've eaten a lot of eggplant and I knew the kale would survive, so we left that end uncovered.

What I didn't take into account, or didn't remember, was the basil was on that end. I had been planning to pull it all out before we got frost and make pesto to freeze. There was a ton of basil out there. And I totally forgot about it last night in my haste to save the other veggies. All of my basil froze. I was so so bummed.

We harvested the remaining eggplant, all the lima beans (it froze too), and the last few broccoli heads. Then we pulled up all the frozen plants. Teagan found a few (very few) basil leaves that had been hidden enough to be saved. I was grateful to have even a little.

We celebrated the day with one last Eggplant Parmesan. I used up the last 5 little eggplant, the last bit of basil, and all the ripe tomatoes. We relished each bite and talked about how good it would taste next summer when the garden was in full bloom again.

It surprised me a bit how sentimental I am over my garden. I suppose that's a part of being a gardener. The thrill of spring & planting, the joy of a bountiful harvest, and the sadness when frost comes. I am so thankful for it all.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot..."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

My Feet Are Cold

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I used to wear sandals in the winter. I must be getting old.

It was cold today. One of the coldest days so far this fall. We haven't gotten a frost yet, but it was only 40 degrees this morning. We are trying to go as long as possible without turning the furnace on, so it was only about 63 in the house. I was very sensible and put on some nice warm socks.

I don't think they helped.

I think my feet might have been warmer without them.

My feet are so cold!!! And it's not even winter yet!!

Sauced

For my first try at gardening, I've had a pretty good year. Our tomato plant in particular was especially spectacular. And fruitful. For awhile there I was harvesting 5-8 tomatoes a day. With the cold snap, it's down to 8 or so a week, but we still have quite a few tomatoes to contend with.

My family "doesn't like tomatoes" - or so they say. They don't like plain tomatoes. But they like pizza, spaghetti, chili and all sorts of tomatoey foods. So I decided to make tomato sauce with my tomatoes. I found a recipe for lazy, I mean efficient, folks who don't want to peel & seed tomatoes all day. You can find it here. And then you can be efficient like me & Laura.
All I did was cut out the core of the tomato, quarter it, and throw it in the blender. Hit puree and you're good to go. It took all of 10 minutes to get all those tomatoes in the pot. I did add some onion, garlic, peppers, carrots, and basil for flavor and added nutrition, so that took a bit more time. The results were worth it though.

After 2 hours of bubbling away on the stove, the sauce was all ready to go in the canner. I got 5 pints and 1 half-pint out of my tray of tomatoes.

I have repeated this process twice now. My friend Lori gave me a 1/4 bushel of tomatoes from her garden that I used also. I've canned a total of 3 quarts, 9 pints, and 5 half-pints of tomato sauce. It's rich and thick and will taste wonderful in the middle of the winter.

The Tree Comes Down

Those of you who have been to my house probably remember (or are quite familiar with) the HUGE tree that hung over the driveway. It was hard to miss. The base of it grew right between the house and the driveway, and the branches completely covered our driveway and shaded almost half of the house. It was a box elder tree though, and was starting to have problems. Each year, we lost more and bigger branches off the tree and could tell it was starting to die. Just a couple of weeks ago a large branch fell, barely missing the motorcycle and the fence. We knew it was a matter of time before the really big limbs would come crashing down on the house or the cars.

So, last Thursday, we had the big tree cut down. It was bittersweet in a way. I always enjoyed the shade and protection that it provided. And it was such an old tree. It had seen many more years than I. If trees could talk, I'm sure it would have had great tales to tell. But it's time had come and we were ready to see it go.

The tree service guys did a great job. They had the big beast on the ground safely in only 4 hours time. Teagan's grandma & grandpa came over and we all sat watching. I've never seen Ruby sit still that long. It was really fascinating to watch.
When it was finally down, we went in to investigate. The core of the tree was less rotten than we had expected, but it was still rotting. The tree guy said we might have had a few more years, but you just never know. The kids had a great time exploring the tree.We measured the widest part of the trunk... 54". That's 4 1/2 feet! Here's Kordell with one of the big chunks of trunk.
By the end of the day, there was nothing left but a pile of woodchips and sawdust where the tree had been. (oh, and piles of brush and logs all over the yard...) Our house looks a bit naked now. And it's still weird to look up and not see tree. We will get used to it, I'm sure.

Frugal Friday: Ditch the TV

Now, I know how most of my regular readers feel about their beloved TV's, and I think most of them know how I feel about it, but this issue has come up a few times this week in my mind, so I am revisiting it here.

Save money! Get rid of your TV!

Those of you with televisions, think for a moment about how much you spend on it. First, you have to buy it and you probably bought the nicest one you could afford! Then you bought a DVD player, a gaming system, and maybe even surround sound. You paid to hook up cable or a satellite. You pay to buy or rent movies. You even pay for electricity to run it all.

Ah, but those aren't the only costs. You sit there and watch countless advertisements, which send you running to the store looking for the newest gizmo, the limited edition flavor, the hot new color, the end-of-season clearance sale!!! How many times have you gone out for a burger, ice cream, pizza, because a commercial made you hungry??

And there are costs that aren't financial... you pay with your time too. Instead of looking at you family (and interacting with them) you stare at a glowing box. You pay with your health. You pay with your intellect (I'm sorry, but TV does not make you smarter.)

So, save money. Enrich your life. Turn off the TV!

Michelle at Frugal Granola has a wonderful post on this topic here. She makes a very eloquent argument.

And for more Frugal Friday tips, go to Biblical Womanhood!

Rutabagas: A Health Hazard?

Well, they seem to be a hazard to my health!

I bought a rutabaga at the farmer's market last week. They were only 50 cents, so I picked out the biggest rutabaga in the basket. I decided to cook it for dinner last night. I called my mom for some rutabaga-cooking tips and got to work.

Can I just say, rutabagas are not easy to prepare! At all! They are lumpy and bumpy, but have to be peeled, and they are thick and hard to cut. I was having trouble cutting the huge thing with my usual knife.

So I got out the BIG knife. More power right?



I don't think that was such a good idea.



I cut a big hunk out of my middle finger.



And apparently I don't do too well at the sight of my own blood. I nearly fainted while Teagan was bandaging my wounds.

I saw the doctor today and had him look at it to make sure I didn't need stitches. He said there was nothing to stitch... I took the whole piece right off.

So, I am a hurtin' puppy today and will be for awhile. Doc said to expect a long healing time due to how I cut it. It's not easy to do all my mom work without using that finger! And the bandage makes it hard to bend, so it looks like I'm flipping everyone the bird. yeah, nice.

At least I didn't bleed on the rutabagas. But I might not buy them again for awhile.

An Adventurous Afternoon

This afternoon I had an opportunity to spend some time alone with my 2 baby girls. (Okay, so Ruby's not a baby anymore, but she's still my baby!) Teagan & Kordell were off doing some guy stuff of some sort at Grampa's, so we had the place to ourselves.

Our first order of business - harvesting some vegetables from the garden. There was a bunch of broccoli that needed picked, a few peppers that were ready, and a couple of eggplant trying to take over the world! (Okay, that's exaggerating, but they were getting REALLLY big.) I gave the girls a ride in the garden wagon and Hosanna ate grass while Ruby & I harvested. Then we came in and put up our harvest. Hosanna napped on my back in the carrier and Ruby helped wash the broccoli and pick the seeds out of the peppers.

When all that was done, we took the scraps to the compost pile and got the mail. Exciting stuff, I know.

We had a little time before Jade was due home, so we decided to go for a walk. Ruby was upset that she didn't get to ride in the stroller. I suggested she ride her bike instead. She'd never been able to ride out on the road, so this was a big deal. She happily hopped on her bike and off we went. She did really well staying on the side of the road and stopping when we heard a car. We made our way down the road to look at the neighbor's cows. As we were admiring their bovine beauty, Jade's bus turned down the road. Apparently short walks take a bit longer with training wheels.

Now, in the past when the bus came before we were all the way home the driver would just drop her off wherever we were and I would have to wrangle her home with us. But we have a different driver now! She opened the door and said, "Need a ride?"

So we all piled on, bike, stroller and all. What fun!! Ruby was SO excited to get a ride on Jade's bus. We drove the 1/4 mile (or less) home and all piled out again. What an adventure we had!!

It was a good afternoon with just the 3 of us. :-)

Back to Homeschool

Since Jade went back to school, it was time to get back to work at home as well. Kordell was not as excited to see the new year come. He doesn't really like school and it's like pulling teeth to get him to do anything. In an attempt to make things more likable, I'm trying a new approach for science. It's called nature study, and it's as simple as it sounds. He's studying nature. He started a nature notebook and everyday I encourage him to go outside and observe something in God's creation and then draw & write about his observations. So far, he seems to be enjoying it.

The first day we found some acorns on the ground, so our study was about acorns.


He kept all the acorns he found so he can put them out by Dad's hunting stand. You know, to lure in the big bucks. Because there might not be any acorns in the woods...These are his notebooking pages about the acorns. (You can click on it to make it bigger.)
It worked really well the first day. The next day he didn't want to do it. But he's coming around the more we work with it. Now if I could just figure out how to make math exciting...

Back to School

Yes, school started 2 weeks ago, but I wanted to share pics from Jade's first day of first grade. She was SO excited to go back to school... and frankly, I was just as excited to see her off. I needed a break after the summer.

So, here she is waiting for the bus.
And there she goes! Off to Mr. Wendland's class. Bye Jade!

All the reports coming home are glowing. She is doing wonderfully and settled right back into the school routine. She even did show & tell on her own last week. She took her little notebook and showed the class her drawings. I'm very pleased with the transition this year. It's been much easier than last year. I'm excited to see her progress!

Hosanna meets Oreo

My Hubby's Old...

...And I'm not! Neener neener. :-P

Teagan turned 30 yesterday.

We had a big bash last weekend to celebrate his big day and Logan's 12th birthday too. Here are the birthday boys (with some of the rowdy partygoers):
And Logan hamming it up for the camera. He had to do something interesting for me to photograph... it was too breezy for the candles to stay lit. We sang to them anyway.
And here is a shot of our family taken that day. There were tender emotions as Grandma Anthony praised the Lord for Teagan's life. There were days they didn't know if he'd live to see 30. And yet, here he is, blessed with 4 mighty arrows and a fruitful vine.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

Brave or Stupid

Yesterday I did something brave. Or maybe it was stupid.

I went on a date with my husband and we took the motorcycle.

Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it? People ride motorcycles all the time, right?

See, the thing is, I can't even ride a bicycle. There, my secret's out. I never learned as a kid, and though I've tried, I never got the hang of it as an adult either. I finally got rid of my bicycle. No use letting a good bike rot in my garage if I'm not going to use it. And after the scooter incident I decided that I should stay on 4 wheels thank you very much. (What scooter incident? Well, let's just say it was Willie's fault and it's lucky I wasn't hurt worse.)

Anyhow, my history on 2 wheels was not very promising, so I had never given much thought to the motorcycle. I have 4 kids to raise after all. But my husband loves his motorcycle and he always dreamed of us going for a ride together. He lined up a babysitter and I agreed to a date on the bike.

We went out yesterday. It was all of 40 degrees when we set out and me with no leather clothing to speak of, so it was a brisk ride to say the least. The first 20 miles or so I hung on so tightly to his jacket that my hands cramped. When we stopped he told me not to do that, I wouldn't fall off. So I stopped, which is good because if I'd done it the whole 50 miles I probably wouldn't be able to type today! I had to talk myself through the ride - Don't panic. Hang on. Lean in to the corner. Stay in alignment. Don't bang into his helmet. Teagan thought that was funny when I told him, but it kept me sane and on the bike!

In the end, I learned how to (mostly) relax and enjoy the ride. It was so interesting to not only see and hear the countryside, but also to smell it. That sounds funny, but it was what I really noticed as different from riding in a car. The smell of the corn fields, the horse barn, the forest... it was a whole new dimension.

I also learned a new level of trust in my husband. I had to trust his abilities as a driver and follow his every move to keep us upright and going in the right direction. It occurred to me that our whole marriage should be like that - me trusting his ability to "drive" this family and following so closely that it appears we are moving as one person.

So what do you think? Was I brave or was I stupid? I think I was a little of both. But it was worth it. My husband was blessed by my actions and attitude. It doesn't get any better than that.

(no, that's not us) Image courtesy of Canada Trust. Thank you google image search.

Covered Wagon

My husband got creative again. He wanted to take the kids (ours and a friend's) for a wagon ride, but he didn't want them baking in the sun. So he rigged up a covered wagon. The kids all thought it was great!