Long time no see!

Hi there! Long time no see! Sorry it's been so long...my crazy life has been crazier and busier than ever. I made the decision in January (well, maybe in December) to cut out a couple of things from my schedule. I thought that would free up some time for me, but it ended up making room for more stuff! I really don't mind, though. I love staying so busy. As long as I am home to leisurely prepare my family's meals and spend quality time together most evenings, I am good.

A little schedule rundown: Monday - soup kitchen, Tuesday - babysit in the AM then free after 10, Wednesday - cater lunch for BLT'ers, Thursday - farm, Friday - free, usually visit with a friend.

My sweet, sweet husband has been very busy around here, too. He built the girls a loft-style bunk bed. DJ decided he wanted one too, and got a loft as well. Only with his, there's no bed underneath, just a nice cozy space to keep his toys and a comfy chair to kick back and watch TV on. Then, a couple of friends called and asked if we were interested in some chickens. Danny got on it and built a coop and we acquired 5 hens this weekend! That comes to 8 chickens in all - 6 girls and 2 boys.

Here is the coop. D built it off of the playhouse that he built for the kids a couple of years ago for Christmas. It is 8' x 8' - isn't it great??? He used all recycled materials, except for the wire and screws. It is securely covered with poultry netting so as to keep those pesky night time marauders out. By the way, Sweet (grumpy) Eddie was taken by the N.M. a couple of weeks ago. So sad.

Here is Sunny. We have had her for a while. She always laid her eggs where I couldn't find them. In fact, since November, I have only found her eggs twice! Now she's in the coop and we are finding them. : ) She has never been overly friendly with humans- always very skittish. She didn't take well to Rosalina (see below) at first, but they are all finding their place.

Here is Star. This is DJ's baby. He is our largest chicken. We have to have a golf club in our hands when we go outside so he knows to stay away from us. We don't have to use it, thankfully! He stays away for the most part and is getting much better now that there are more girls around. I am glad he started behaving better because he was in trouble for getting grumpy with Turkey and was going to take a trip to the feed store. He has another chance! : )

Sweet, sweet Rosalina. She was born in a kindergarten class. She only wants to be with us humans. Sunny wasn't very nice to her at first, and she spent all of her time hiding from her and the other hens, but has found a friend (see Honey). This girl will come up to me and reach to be held in my arms. She snuggles and sleeps in our arms. She is my favorite! (I think the kids' fave, too.)

Here is Moon. This was Sophia's baby from the start. He is a gentle giant with a wonderful disposition. Notice the chicken wire between him and Star. Star is the dominant rooster and will kill Moon if he has a chance. We are very diligent about keeping them apart and it all seems to be working out well. They take turns with the hens and grazing outside of the coop.



Here is Honey. Her name is appropriate, as she is so doggone sweet! She and Rosalina have bonded and now they cannot be separated. She also will stand there waiting to be held in our arms. She makes me smile, especially since she "rescued" Rosa.




Here are CiCi (l) and Dotty (r). They are not very personable, quite bossy, and they stick together. They are great egg layers, though! : ) This picture doesn't do them justice - they are very beautiful.

Here is Bella. We just got her today. She was hen pecked by CiCi and Dotty when they had to share a small space together. She is extremely timid and is hiding away in the crate. I am hoping that she will come around and get accustomed to living with the others.

I recently bought the book Nourishing Traditions. That has been taking up a lot of my time as I

have been devouring the pages and highly recommend it to anyone who is concerned with feeding their family the most nutritious and wholesome foods possible. I have learned so much, and it has reinforced many of my gut instincts (no pun intended, hehe!) about food preparation. I can honestly say that I have been eating foods from the recipes in this book and have never felt better.

Here's a picture of the heart of a head of red cabbage that I used for my ruby slaw recipe. Doesn't this picture make you smile? I am amazed at the beauty of God's creation. Even inside a head of cabbage. How beautiful and perfect!

And a treat for you, My Ruby Slaw recipe:

Slaw

1/2 head red cabbage, shredded

1/2 head green cabbage, shredded

(you can use one whole head of either if you want)

2 beets, peeled and shredded

1 kohlrabi, peeled and shredded

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

1 tart apple, peeled and shredded

2 green onions, chopped, or 1/3 red onion, very thinly sliced

Dressing

1/4 c oil (canola)

1/2 c white vinegar

1/2 c honey or white sugar

1/2 t celery seed

pepper

salt

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Combine all dressing ingredients in a glass jar and shake vigorously till well combined. Add dressing to slaw and refrigerate till serving time. (I like to eat it right away because I can't wait!) This is delicious and pleasing to look at.

Enjoy!!!!!

Thanks for being so patient and checking back in! I will try to blog more, I promise! : )

Love you!

Update on Goals and Resolutions

Here is the list of resolutions and goals I made at the beginning of January, with my progress in red. I hope to re-visit this once a month (or maybe quarter) to track my progress.

Resolutions - in 2009, I resolve to:

~never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink, even if it means going past my bedtime. Accomplished. A good habit has been established. YES!
~stay on top of laundry - meaning putting away the clothes once washed and folded. Again! Yes, another good habit established. I have gone beyond what I expected and my hamper and washer are empty, one load is drying now. And they are being put away. YES!
~spend less time online. Eh, not so much. I am on the computer too much, still.
~go for at least one walk a week with my children We went for 2 walks as a family (me and the kids, anyway) this month. I put a spare pair of tennies into my car this week so that when we visit Grandpa on Sundays, we can go for walks. I have only had my church shoes up till now so no more excuses.
~put my sewing machine to good use, a project a month. I have discovered that I am sewing challenged. This is harder than I thought. I have a full pattern all cut up but am stuck. I have a good friend that can come and tutor me, though. Gotta plan on that.
~knit for charity, at least one project a month. I have one started and will likely be done next week. SO for February, the project will be a little smaller.
~to speak my mind in a loving and respectful manner (not that I am unloving or disrespectful when I speak, I just don't usually speak my mind when something bothers me, and I end up stewing over it.) YES! I accomplished that twice this month. Oh what a feeling!
~drink 8 glasses of water a day. I don't know where I am with that. I need to create some sort of record keeping with that. I think I do it some days and not on others.

Goals - in 2009, I plan to accomplish:
~lose 20 pounds. This is not my ultimate goal, but I want to be realistic. One month down, no pounds lost. I haven't been working for it though. I eat healthy, but I haven't been exercising. I must get on that!
~learn how to run. I got some running shoes Sunday. That's as close as I have gotten. Now that DJ has a bigger bike, we can go together, and he'll keep me at a brisk pace. I will start out walking then go to a jog and so forth. Gotta get my resistance up.
~find part time employment (a job which I can impact my community in a positive way) in September. It's not September yet, but I have a couple of leads.
~make and sell soap, at least $50 a week. I haven't made any soap lately, but I found another gig that'll make me a similar amount of $$ starting in February.
~set up a chore schedule for the children and enforce it. I haven't tackled that yet. Ugh.

Artisan Bread - 5 minutes a day

Here is a loaf of the Artisan Bread that I mentioned in the last post.

This loaf was baked from the dough after living in the fridge for 7 days.

I know it's late but...

Here's our menu for the week. I have had it up on the wall, which is more important than here, I guess! It's been a simple week:

Monday - scrambled eggs/cheese chalupas and burritos
Tuesday - cereal/chicken soup that Danny made - YUM!
Wednesday - oatmeal/picadillo, rice, beans and tortillas
Thursday - French toast/homemade pizza
Friday - Smoothies or oatmeal/ribs, mashed potatoes, corn

Lunches have been leftovers. Today I ate homemade yogurt made with raw milk - I forgot about it when it was heating and it went too long, but I strained it when it was properly cooled - the consistency is a little off, but still delicious - I ate that with a dollop of homemade applesauce that I made y'day with some apples that were no longer pleasant to eat. I will never buy applesauce again, especially since homemade tasted better and wasn't laden with sugar AND high fructose corn syrup and whatever else.

Today's CSA delivery consisted of kohlrabi, beets, red cabbage, and broccoli. I also got some spinach in addition to the CSA stuff.

Monday's lunch at the soup kitchen was a mixture of beef, veggies and rice, served with salad and bread. The meals there are better than any restaurant, by far. Everyone deserves a hot delicious meal that was prepared with love.

I get the Mother Earth News online newsletter and this article was featured last week - it's about making artisan bread - you only have to work for 5 minutes a day for this delicious, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside bread. I have been making the loaves and the flat bread. I made a whole wheat bread and will be using the other half of the dough to make pizza tonight. The dough stays in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and improves with each day. It is easy and well worth the effort of trying. Even if you have never made bread in your life, you will be able to make this...and impress your family and friends!

We are going to till a garden this weekend....on the *to plant* list is: lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, broccoli raab, chard, parsley, cilantro, and more to be announced. Oh, and onions. Lots of them.

That's it for now....have a great one!

Stuff

I am having trouble finding the balance between teaching my children that stuff is just stuff, to not develop earthly attachments to it, and teaching them that it is important to take care of their stuff. Hmmm.

Meal Plan for the week

Here's our meal plan for the week:

Sunday - Spaghetti and meatballs
Monday - egg and cheese tacos
Mexican beans with chorizo and greens (and corn bread - at Emily's house)
Tuesday - oatmeal
Ham steaks with cabbage and carrots
Wednesday - banana cereal
Grilled Stuffed burritos (made with leftover MxBwCaG, beef rib meat and rice)
Thursday - Peanut butter and banana toast sandwiches
Grilled sausage, mashed potatoes and cole slaw (or cabbage some way)
Friday - smoothies
Pork tortas (Mexican sandwiches on crusty bread, topped with avocado)

Monday or Tuesday evening, I must will myself to make yogurt. I haven't done that in a long time and we are really missing it. Maybe now that I mentioned it here, I will more likely do it. I have been intending to for weeks.

Tuesday, I plan to saute the spinach I got from the farm with some mushrooms, garlic, and onions to use as a filling for quesadillas for lunch throughout the week. I have some nice white cheese (maybe provolone) that came in last week's cheese ends to go with it.

One day, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, I plan to make more cinnamon rolls. They were so good. I wonder if I can make all the icing ahead and freeze it in little baggies, because I would like to freeze some of the rolls.

Well, that's all my food talk for now. I know this blog has centered around food lately, but I have been finding it hard to find the right words for all the other stuff that's been going on. It is hard to write something when I don't have the words. The good news is , I feel some coming! So, stay tuned!

Love to you....

They say it's your birthday

Introducing...the last of my offspring to turn 5 years old!!!! Danny Jr.

This child has always been so full of smiles, laughter, and joy. His eyes are so big and beautiful, they can melt even the hardest of hearts.

Danny is Mr Sushi Boy. For his birthday, we made sushi candy - made with fruit roll ups, rice krispie treats, gummi worms and sour s'getti. Here are the rolls:

And here is his "cake" - a nice big pile of sushi candy. It tasted way better than you'd think! It lasted half as long, too. It went fast!

I can't believe my baby turned 5 today. He has grown so fast - there is never a dull moment in our home. He is the biggest Momma's boy I have ever known, and it is hard to imagine that soon he'll be going off to kindergarten. I have cherished every single moment of being his mom. I love every snuggle and cuddle (which he asks for often!), every deep question and discussion. He is very quick and seems to have a clever answer for everything. He and his sisters have so much fun, and although they have their *moments*, they are quick to forgive each other.
I can hardly remember when he was this little - good grief, was he ever a cute baby!

I am so thankful for this child - and for the laughter and joy that he brings to our family.

Happy Birthday, my sweet big boy! I love you!