I have ten minutes

I've got ten minutes while the Creamy Citrus Ginger dressing mellows, then I'll have to go round up the children and turn a hose on 'em so they can eat. Ah, it's gorgeous out. AND, I have a child who asks to mix up something called Creamy Citrus Ginger Dressing. Seriously? When I was 12, I failed a Home Ec assignment because my lab partner and I were convinced that if we doubled the brown sugar and the chocolate chips, we'd create the BEST COOKIE BARS EVAH. For obvious reasons, Mrs. Baker (kid you not, real name) disagreed. We could not choke down the cookie bars to save our grades. But here, I have been blessed with a child who makes this, and not even for a grade! Ah. Sometimes, when life is not fair, it's totally not fair in-a-good-way. Mrs. Baker would be proud. Or shocked. But I'm going with proud.

Zorak, turns out, broke. his. arm. on our ski trip. Yeah, I know. I have no clue what can be done a month later, but he goes in tomorrow to see a specialist about how to deal with it. He asked me last night to go with, so I've spent the morning leaving messages with everyone I know who either lives between us and the doctor, or isn't afraid to watch five kids at a Chick-Fil-A playground for an hour. On a day's notice. Wee! (You can imagine how terrifyingly short that list is. *sigh*) I very briefly considered giving Jase a heavy dose of Nyquil and just taking them all with us, but that was only for fun. Nobody really does that. Anymore. Ah, yes. So, I'm hoping somebody will call me back and say, "Sure! I love those fries!"

We spent the weekend thinking about getting some work done on the land. Got the driveway graded, so that was huge. Plus, we got to visit with friends when that was done, so that was cool. You can't hear the Volvo cry out in pain when Zorak leaves each morning, now. It's very comforting. Now, to get gravel on it before it rains. That will be the challenge.

And, I do believe that was ten minutes! Time for lunch! Yum!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

We Do Love Our Food

If I could say one really terrific thing about 2010, it's that we made some great food. (Evidenced by the fact that not a one of the children will remain in the same size clothing for more than a week or two, and it's all up-up-up!) We've made some changes in the kitchen for 2011 that will make it infinitely easier to work together on our kitchen fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Tamales - this is Zorak's Christmastime tradition. He loves doing it, and the water bath canner works perfectly for larger batches (plus, this saves it from the shame of being a unitasker, per Alton Brown).

We left some for Santa. He was very good to us, in exchange. I erm, I mean "he" was especially tickled over the fresh pico de gallo.

We found a new pecan pie recipe! I know, I know, this comes very close to announcing, "We have reinvented the WHEEL!" But it's true. This recipe is very different from traditional pecan pie, but it's oh, so very good. OH so good. It's the recipe on the back of the 40 oz. ALAGA Original Corn Syrup. I can't explain it. You'll just have to come over and we'll make you one.


And, of course, there was the annual decorating of the cookies. There were an awful lot of zombies, skeletons, and ghosts. I suppose the Halloween folk like to get their Christmas colors on, too. Amy has assured me this is normal in a house full of boys. And none of her boys have been banned from the bakery, or singled out for profiling. So I just decided a few years ago not to worry about it. And EmBaby? Well, her brothers were so proud - all of her monsters had bows and pretty dresses.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Ur doing it wrong

As much as we love LOLCats, it's not always fun to feel like we'd be in a picture with that title. When it comes to gardening, we feel like we are quite often. And, looking on the bright side, sometimes, we're not. We canned pickled okra last night (learned a lot), had a good time, and in the end, we've got pickled okra. Yay. We also canned pickled cucumbers. Kind of blew through the learning curve on the okra, so the cucumbers went much more smoothly. I've learned a couple of things about canning this week:

* Only can with someone you love.
* You can pack more in that jar. Really.
* Okra floats. (Well, duh. We knew that. We just didn't put that together with the packing and the liquid until it was too late. And I mean that literally -- it was nearly midnight.)
* Don't make it harder than it has to be. (Applies to a number of things, actually.)
* All Other Kitchen Rules Apply (don't touch the pot without a pot holder, clean as you go to keep your blood pressure down, you get to eat the mistakes, and lick the spoon... whether you want to or not, is another story)

It's been a good gardening season, this year. We have also discovered a new superpower for JackJack , um, I mean Jase. Or, rather, we've found a way to direct his powers for Good. He's very good at pulling things apart, at tearing things open, at throwing things. He's quite detail oriented, and can mangle things for hours on end. So, he's the new bean sheller!

Next year, we'll wait until the beans are dry in the pods before we harvest them, like the professionals suggest. This year, however, we're eating the daylights out of fresh black beans. Soft, sprouted, semi-dried, and partially neglected. I figure by August, we will have figured out at least three completely new ways of eating these things! And, it'll keep Jase busy for the rest of the summer.

EmBaby gets in on the action, too. She prefers the washing and the picking, for actual work, but who doesn't love joining in on the kitchen activity?

This is our third year gardening, here. We've killed a lot of plants. We've grown a lot of weeds. We've tilled significantly more linear feet of soil than we've actually gardened. But, we've also expanded the garden significantly, widened our range of produce, and actually managed to harvest enough food to make a dent! We've figured out where to put what , developed some new trellis schemes, and nailed down the price on Japanese Beetle bounties. Now, to figure out a rotation plan that will work - one entire corner of the garden seems willing to grow only okra, and 18" tall corn stalks.

Sometime this week, I hope to put up pictures of projects the kids have been working on: new compost bin, chicken infirmary, shooting gallery, and American Revolution re-enactment field.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Gardening, Homesteading, Frugality

No, not really. But doesn't that sound like I've been thinking hard, and have come up with something exciting to share? Or maybe more of the same, but couched in new terms!

Nope, sorry. It's about all I can do to keep the kids sorted out with school, plan the next term's work, and start shifting the boxes in the foyer out to the car to be shipped. The fact that the Growing Season is pretty time-sensitive doesn't help much. Not really.

We have no clue what we're doing, as evidenced by our lack of fertilization every. single. year. Or by my recent attempts at growing beans, without figuring out how best to, oh, I don't know, *harvest them*, before we put them in the ground. (Or, hey, even before they ripened! Or maybe just before I pulled them off the plants and *then* tried to figure out how to store them.) On the plus side, our overall disorganization and lack of ability means that most of this year's crop is still, technically, organic. Not Gov't Certified Organic, but Organic in the Way That Most People Really Care That It's Organic. But we don't have a label for that. As a matter of fact, we don't even have labels for the stuff we're putting up for our own pantry.

Which brings me around to the title, and my immense joy that there are Other People who have A Clue, and share their knowledge with us. What a blessing!

I've blown quite a few hours tonight (this morning? The sun should be coming up soon...) reading new blogs that I've thoroughly enjoyed. They seem to offer a blend of humor, honesty, and information that works for me. Perhaps you'll enjoy them, too.

Kathie, at Two Frog Home, has a baking fetish that makes me envy, and a craft fetish that makes me wish I had that genetic pre-disposition (but I don't. So I will continue to hope somebody will pass the quilts along when they are done with them.) Not to mention, she lives in Montana, and I'm pretty sure that's where God retired when He finished creating the world. *sigh* So beautiful!

From Kathie's wonderful Friday Favorites posts, I found this recipe for Tibetan Butter Tea, which I'm going to have to show James in the morning. And then, of course, had to poke around at Gracious Hospitality. But they don't mind me poking around at four in the morning. They're hospitable like that. ;-) (And yes, I am winding down, and it's about time to stop. talking.)

Also, Kathie had linked to the Urban Homestead (now called The Path to Freedom). I'd heard about this family's project, but had not seen the site. Wow! What a source of encouragement! It's amazing what they have done with 1/5 of an acre, and makes me ever more excited about progress on the Forever Home's land. (Caution: it's a little overwhelming, and can be depressing, or at least it was for me, until I realized *they've been at this since 1985!* This doesn't happen overnight! Just keep going, one plant, one corner, one lesson at a time.)

I've added a new category to entries: good neighbors. This will be the posts with links to other blogs or websites that I don't want to lose. It's good to keep up with good neighbors once you've found them.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy
And, that said, I'm going to save this post.

On Changes, Food

Ok, so Emily and Mere wanted to know more about the nutritional changes we're making. (But y'all need to share yours, too! Learning is more fun, together!)

I'll be upfront: I hate change. Really, I do. Sometimes, it's necessary, and good. Then, I can handle, at times, even embrace it. Most of the time, people want change for the sake of change, with no regard to whether it's a change for the better. When that gets foisted upon me, I loathe it even more. That's what re-arranging the furniture, or coloring your hair, is for. Not for major life changes.

So, when we do decide to change things up around here, it's usually done with a fair amount of thought, research and planning before hand. That's not to say we have all the answers. We're pretty sure we don't even have most of the questions yet. It just means we've taken stock and decided that, for this house, and this family, at this point, this is what we're going to do. And sometimes, in case those aren't enough qualifiers, we don't end up able or willing to pull it off at all. Yep, just drop your pocket change in the therapy jar as you enter the foyer.

One last caveat, so that nobody confuses me with a "professional" in any sense of the word, I'm a gleaner. Gleaning has saved people from dying off, and from making poor choices whole hog, for centuries. Any process that provides that much consistent return is worth looking into. So, when I say I get a lot of insight from Nourishing Traditions, (and I do!) that doesn't mean you'll be able to pry the pressure cooker from my cold, dead (and potentially malnourished, since I keep using the danged thing) hands. I still believe the pressure cooker is the procrastinator's crock pot, a little technological gift from God so that we don't have to choose between eating our food raw and not eating at all. (Yeah, I know, Jess, but I will probably always cook at least some of my food. Love me where I'm at, right? *grin*) Gleaning means that I get why that's not the best way to go about getting food on the table, and I'm willing to work toward an ideal. Or to incorporate those bits that seem to mesh with the above mentioned legwork, meow meow, study, meow family. Meow. (tried to find a link to Daniel Striped Tiger's talking, inserting "meows" in, here and there, but, um... wow. the word "meow" has been taken to an HNL in the past few years. no video for you!)

So, the nutritional changes, we've actually been making slowly over the last year or so. It began with raw milk, spread to soaked grains, moved on to my quirky affair with kefir, and so on. Then, due to logistics, we let the raw milk slide. Life has a way of not letting things slide, however, even when you think it'd be easier to do so. And this was no exception.

John's had a bit of health trouble the last six months or so. We got most of it ironed out, except one: stomach pain. We checked the wheat, we tracked his diet, we flipped his mattress, upped his water, tested eighty gallons of blood, blah-blah-blah. The kid's been a tough little lab rat the past six months, lemme tell ya. Then, one day, while a friend lovingly let me freak out to her about scheduling a visit with a neurologist, it hit me: in John's nine years on earth, the ONLY time he's been free of stomach pain has been when he was on raw milk. That includes the wheat-free years. He's never been free of stomach pain. He had a lovely reprieve last spring, and then, *bam* it was back. Right when we went back to store-bought milk. Hmmm.

So, we found a closer source. We got him spooled back up last week, and within 72 hours, the stomach pains diminished significantly. Within another 24 after that, gone. From 3-4 episodes a day, to nothing, in a week. Guess what's going on our regular grocery list, now? We've made some other changes, too - not all at once, but bit-by-bit.

~ We're pretty much a juice-free home, now. Zorak occasionally buys orange juice. But I don't schedule it into our regular diet. The kids eat fresh fruit several times a day, and they drink water both at meals and throughout the day. They have access to the milk whenever they want, as well.

~ I've cut my coffee consumption exponentially (not exaggerating), replacing that with water, as well.

~ We've moved our Big Meal of the day to an earlier spot in the day, and added in a few smaller, but more intentional meals.

~ We eat breakfast and lunch outside, whenever possible. The atmosphere can't be beat!

~ Oat groats, instead of rolled oats, go farther, are more filling, and have more nutrition. Larger upfront investment, if you buy through a co-op, but an enormous savings, overall - not just financially, but in health benefits, too.

The savings from eliminating juice (and other peripheral beverages), and reducing the coffee consumption, alone, freed up money to spend on local, free-range chicken eggs and fresh, thick, clean milk.

And some changes aren't changes. They're things we've always done, and still feel are the best choice for our home. We still use lard. We still eat meat - red meat, white meat, wild game, you name it. We still have pintos (or some kind of bean) available every day. I've got the boys convinced lentils are cool, but they're relegated to lunchtime only because Zorak thinks they're puny and lacking in body, much preferring the noble pinto. We skimp on junk food and keep a good supply of veggies in the fridge.

The boys are cooking with us more, too. Now that Jase can get up onto the counter and back down, he's pretty, erm, "involved". Em dons her fairy wings and mixes or pours. James made a fantastic guacamole to go with lunch, today. They made a dutch baby (new recipe) and a recipe for German pancakes the other day for breakfast (they did a comparison - and the verdict is, it's the same thing. We ate it all.) Jacob's venturing into the kitchen for a little one-on-one, and learning the ropes as he goes. These are always excellent kitchen happenings!

I'm sure there's more we can do. Probably more we will do. But right now, for this home, and this family, at this point, this is a good place to be.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

A Celebratory Weekend

Zorak woke me Saturday morning with a kiss, saying, "You get your birthday present a day early." I felt bad pointing out that my birthday is in July, not January. I also worried a bit, considering he's known this for 14 years, and he's had the actual date down pat for about eight years, now. But, no. No worries. He had the right date, and the right girl. He also had a beautiful sentiment...

He gave me a gift, to commemorate Emily's birth. A token of the work I'd done that day, and a loving Thank You for everything I do, every day, year in and year out. Talk about humbling! (And here, I was wondering if perhaps he needed a Palm Pilot to keep track of dates! Sheesh, what a dork.) That's it, up there: a pasta maker! I love it!

We spent the day, making pasta, trying new things, laughing, eating the mistakes. It really was the perfect way to honor our family, and all we share.


The boys were helpful and interested, and we all learned a lot. (Let the smoke right out of the pasta bottle, so to speak. That was cool!)


But I think they got a whiff of the whole meat grinder introduction (do you know how long it takes to grind 30 pounds of sausage by hand? *grin*), and while they hung in there and tolerated my weirdness, after a couple hours they dispersed to go do more varying things, like playing with Legos and cleaning the bathroom. EmBaby hung in there, though, cracking jokes, asking questions.

I introduced her to my favorite pasta obsession: CHEESE! Cheese IN the pasta! (Confession, I could eat my weight in cheese ravioli, cheese manicotti, and cheese-based-cheese lasagna. But I never buy it at the store, and I don't order it at restaurants because, either way, it would cost $90 to feed me on that stuff. But now??? Whoooeeeee! Yeah, baby! We're eating right!)


Em is a master crimper. She's awesome. And she's tough. She never left the counter to follow the siren song of Other Things. What a trooper, huh?


"I did it! Can we have pasta on my birthday, Mom?"

Yes, Baby, yes we can. With cheese.

I hope to earn that appreciation, day in and day out, from both him and the children. I know it sounds hokey, particularly coming from me, the Queen of "Suck it up and do yer job, already," but I am honored to be their mother, and his wife, and to have brought these children into this world. There's not another job in this world that would be worth it, to me.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

And then there was baking!

Today, we baked. Fancy Fingers, Bon Bon Slices, Pushbuttons, and some thing that Emily got a hold of before we finished with it, so we baked it like that and called it good. Oh, and James made a Devil's Food cake for Scouts, too.

I took no pictures, because when you are in a kitchen with five children, a hot oven, and myriad open containers of various tempting and/or messy substances (and gravity! there's always gravity!) the last thing you want to do is get out of arm's reach long enough to snap a photograph. However, I also did not drink, and I did not swear, so it's not all bad. I didn't even raise my voice!

And I only made Emily cry once, but that wasn't even on me. I just asked her to get down for a second and she burst into tears. When I asked her why she was crying, she paused, and said, "I'm not sure." *rolling eyes* Oooohhhhkay. Well, then you need to stop, because that's just... weird. She stopped, got down, we got into the drawer we needed to get into, and she was soon happily back in the loop and feeling the love.

Since Zorak and James were at Scouts, and I was still kind of tired from the not doing things today (that... sounded more reasonable in my head), we had a lazy man's evening: leftovers, cookies, and a movie. I started the movie with Jason in my lap, then laid him in his crib and moved Em over onto my lap. She was out in minutes, at which point Smidge climbed over with this Snuggie. I never did get around to starting a fire, and didn't even realize the house was chilly until I sent Smidge to bed! Kids are such fantastic insulators.

And the countdown continues!
Kiss those babies!
~Dy

My-my-my-myyyyy Papaya!

John butchered a song, just for me, while we were making the fruit salad Saturday! I'm so glad I let them "help" in the kitchen back when they weren't much actual help. Now they really are a riot in the kitchen, and they like being there.

We had the boys' belated birthday cookout last night. We had rain for ages. Then it cleared up, with stray downpours on the various days we tried to have the cookout. I chose my words poorly at some point in the planning process, by referring to the get-together as a "BBQ", at which point, James decided we had to use the grill. So. There's that. (I can't complain. I'm the genius who's always telling them to be precise in their language. Obviously, I need to be a little more precise about "Mom's limitations" from time-to-time, no?) Finally, however, Saturday dawned dry and clear and glorious.

It was a small group, and a little disorganized (which is sort of our signature *sigh*), but a really wonderful time, regardless (hopefully, also, at least a little, reminiscent of "us"). They got to play with their friends, and see Uncle Wil, and shoot off fireworks and enjoy a small bonfire. Both James and Smidge feel duly celebrated, now. Good stuff.

We served fish tacos (those hamburger baskets for the grill work beautifully for fish, by the way -- we may be the last people to know that, but in case we aren't, now you know), tropical fruit salad (fresh papaya tastes SO much better than dried papaya! WOW!), beans (of course. If you're eating at our house, there will be beans. Always.), rice (again, sometimes we are just. so. predictable.) and homemade carrot cake (because there just isn't a mix that makes it worth it to not have to shred that many carrots).

The boys helped with the cake decorating by making the molded carrots to put on the cake. Oh, too cute! Thankfully, because they'd been working in the kitchen all morning, their hands were washed repeatedly and well by the time we got to the Making of the Carrots.

I'm still stuffed. They're still glowing. And it's raining again. :-)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Sweet, Sweet Six

Six? Wow. He's so happy about it. We are, too. We're just a bit caught off guard. Six? I blame Jess and Andie for letting their kids turn six. Then everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon and do it, too. (Keep 'em off the bridges, okay, guys?)
Since we're *still* in the middle of the Mad Rush To Finish, we all agreed that a belated, joint party, later would be best. When we're done with the Madness and the Rushing and can relax a bit. He was good with that. So very good with that, really. But still... *today* was his birthday.
So this morning, there were fudge ripple pancakes (from The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks), and there was singing, and there were phone calls that made him smile a sheepish smile.
For tonight, he picked shrimp scampi, with salad and garlic bread for supper. And for his cake? Cheesecake. The four-pack sampler from Sam's, to be specific. I love that kid, and his taste in food.
And now, he is six.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

(The pics are bad b/c they're from my phone. The camera finally died a horrific death and needs to be shuffled off to ICU. Later. After the rushing and the madness have died down, and I can get it boxed up.)

Home Again

We hung out the "gone fishing" sign, and then we went. Literally.

It's been a week of good food...

Beautiful scenery...

And relaxing time on the front porch...

Now, we're home. But I'll spare you any images of the laundry.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Productivity and Ruts

Sometimes, I have no idea how we accomplish anything at all. It's just sort of a mystery, to be honest. And yet, we had a productive day, and are looking to have a productive rest-of-the-week. It's a mystery I'll take!

The mower is now working again. So says Zorak. I will believe it when I've mowed more than a quarter acre with it and haven't broken it (again). Why, yes, I am starting to develop a bit of a complex regarding my effect on lawn equipment. Bless him, he says it's not my fault. Every woman should have a man who is willing to say that. Even if there is nothing to indicate that it's true. It's still Very Sweet of him.

Speaking of my Very Sweet Man, I need some summer meal ideas. Normally, we have a full repertoire that we enjoy eating, enjoy preparing, the whole shebang. But lately? Meh. On all counts.

When I have a plan for supper, it usually leaves Zorak thinking he should have hit the buffet for lunch that day. He is never, ever ungracious about it, but you can just feel the disappointment radiating from the phone as he manages to choke out, "Oh. Yeah. That'd be fine." It's deflating, for both of us.

Of course, when I figure we'll just wait 'til he gets home and then figure it out, that's the day something exploded at work, or didn't get signed in triplicate, or whatever, and he never had a chance to eat lunch. (Considering he does not eat breakfast, this means he arrives home ready to eat laminate flooring and wash it down with cold bathwater, if necessary.) Also somewhat deflating.

If this could reasonably be called "a rut", we are stuck in it. I suspect we are too close to it (or not hungry enough yet) to sort through it quickly and subjectively. Everything we came up with that sounded remotely good for the next two weeks' menu centered on wintery, thick, body-warming meals. Probably not "just the thing" for heading into Southern Summer. So I thought I would beg for help from my fantastic readers.

Help?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Fish Taco Batter for Jeni

We had fish tacos again tonight, and I kept thinking I'd forgotten something... Oh, yeah. Jeni had asked about the batter recipe. This recipe doesn't give us any pockets of grease. Plus, it's easy. And we're all about the Easy. So, here ya go.

Fish Taco Batter
1 c. beer
1 c. flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
pinch of baking powder

mix until smooth.

chill for 1 hr.

dry the fish well. cut into pieces (about the length of your corn tortillas), dust with cornmeal.

dip fish into the batter.

fry in hot oil.

serve on a warm corn tortilla with fake salsa, homemade tartar sauce, lettuce and cheese.

enjoy.

Other Tips:

Corn tortillas are notoriously dry and crumbly, and they don't really like being folded up for a little soft taco action. You can beat this buy putting them into a sandwich bag (about 8 or 9 at a time) and nuking them for a minute. They'll be warm (ok, scorchingly hot, so be careful), and pliable, and will stay that way long enough to get them eaten!

Fake Salsa is embarrassingly easy to make. Take one can diced tomatoes (or diced tomatoes and green chiles), about 1/4 onion (cut into big pieces), 5 or so jalapeno slices, and one Knorr brand mini cilantro cube, a squirt of lemon juice and blend together to a chunky-smooth delicious topping.

Tartar Sauce... we usually discover we don't have any, right about the time we need it. So we started making it, and the last time we actually bought some, we all agreed we preferred the stuff we've been making. If you don't make your own, try it. It's easy!
Salad dressing or mayo, dill relish, finely minced onion, lemon juice, and a titch of paprika. Mix it together and start dollopping it all over the place.

The kids love this. Smidge ate three, and even Jase enjoyed the fish *after* he'd eaten a few cookies. Good stuff, and a fun, easy meal.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Crockpot Lasagna

A couple of you had asked for the recipe for the crockpot lasagna. I found it... um, somewhere. But the conversion for the crockpot was so simple, and the recipe itself a bit involved (for my taste) that I didn't bookmark it, so I can't give proper credit. (I will go look, though. Found it!! A Crock Cook.)

The recipe, itself, looked a bit too detailed (y'all know how I am about recipes), so basically, the only change you need to make is this: Just use the no-boil lasagna noodles.

Layer in the crockpot.

Cook on low, all day.

Enjoy when you get home!

The recipe online was for a meat lasagna, but we usually use my sister-in-law's super-easy spinach lasagna recipe.

Aunt Ka'berta's Spinach Lasagna
1 box frozen spinach (thawed, drained)
1 C. parmesan cheese
1 C. cottage cheese
1 C. mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
Seasoning to taste.

Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl.

Cook lasagna noodles. Crack open a jar of pasta sauce.

Layer, in a baking dish:
sauce, lasagna noodles, cheese mixture, sauce, etc.

Repeat until the dish is full, or you run out of ingredients. (About three full layers.) Sprinkle a bit more mozzarella on top, bake at 350' for approximately 45 min.

And there ya go!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

And so it begins.

Tonight begins the pre-season tournament. I missed last year's, because I was in labor. As nice as it was to be home, alone, in the quiet house for four days, I'm kind of glad I'm not in the same situation again, this year.

We're going to attempt to put the house on auto-pilot today. Not sure how that's going to work out, as we haven't found the switch, yet. But it's *got* to be around here, somewhere. Right?

We'll try lasagna in the crockpot, since we'll be at the batting cages, then Smidge's practice, then the tournament, and won't be home until way awfully late. Of course, the kids will eat at the field, but somehow Snack Shack food doesn't register in the brain. I don't get it, but it's true. If we don't have food ready for them at home, they *will* be ravenous. (They'll be ravenous, anyway. It's just not as noticeable when they aren't draped over the breakfast bar, claiming they can feel their bodies turning in on themselves, eating their own muscle. Kids are weird like that.)

Maybe I should take burritos, too.

But for now, laundry. There is no auto-pilot for laundry. (Yet.)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Funday Sunday

Heh, you can mock. I couldn't think up a decent title. I'm beat. Happy, but beat. We had such a great time today. Ben and Claudia, et al., came over to carve pumpkins and have supper! I had helpers in the kitchen while we got ready for company...

Once they got here, the kids got to get messy and gross, and they worked quite diligently on their pumpkins...

And in the end, we had a lovely evening by the fire(s)...

Food, friendship, life... it's good.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy
(P.S. I figured out the watermark feature, but it seems to be a bit of a PITB to use. Bummer.)

Autumn Joy

We're breaking out the flannel sheets! That means the temps will probably be back in the high 80's at night sometime in the next two weeks! heh. I hadn't even thought of it, until James asked tonight if we could turn up the heater, and I realized we don't have the heat on. Uh, come to think of it, why don't you try wearing warmer jammies? Oh, and hey - warmer bedding! Ta-da! We don't need to turn on the heat yet, at all.

Zorak took all the kids to work on the barn and lower meadow Saturday, leaving me in relative peace and quiet (so there were no witnesses, should the whole experiment go horribly awry) to put up four jars of persimmon jelly and eleven jars of pear jelly. They haven't set yet, and that's okay. The pathetic level of enthusiasm I garnered just hearing the little "pop" of the jars as they sealed, one by one... that was worth it, right there. (I was somewhat certain the whole canning thing may be the homemaker's parallel to snipe hunting.)

Me-Wa is back! He'd been gone the last four months. Long months, for the kids. (Probably a lot longer for Me-Tae!) And today we were able to head up that way to visit. It was good to see him, great to visit. We got to meet the newest member of their clan, little Katie (a golden lab - oh, so cute!) The older dogs are not so fond of her, but she's sweet enough that I'm sure she'll grow on them.

There's a little boy who lives just up the road from them who comes over to visit - he's a sweetie. They play outside, go in to play pool, and migrate to the computer after a while. He hit me today with a doozie out of nowhere, though, and I had to laugh at how it all turned out.

Boy: You still homeschoolin' them?

Me: Yes, we are.

Boy: What's wrong with y-- uh, I mean, why don't you just send 'em to school?

Me: *aherm* WELL, we like the education we can give them at home.

Boy: Hmpf. Well, they're lucky, then.

He left it at that, and we moved on to an in-depth discussion of Dodgeball. I'm not entirely sure what the converation meant from his perspective, but it made me chuckle.

There's an awful lot going on right now, not the least of which is that I can't seem to carve out time during the week to be left alone for fifteen minutes or so. Long enough to compose my thoughts, find something humorous in it, and write it up. I've been able to compose my thoughts, but I could sure use a few more minutes to find the humor before having to move on to the next thing. Hopefully, a little more rest, and a better schedule will help. I'm going to give that a shot this week and see how it goes. The kids deserve a Mom who can find humor in the daily things. I'm sure Zorak prefers that, too, over the rather irritable alternative he's been presented with lately. So. Yeah, gotta work on that.

And in that vein, I think I'm going to sweep up a bit, lay out tomorrow's plan, and try to hit the hay before eleven! (Livin' large, no?)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Just For Fun

Because sometimes, we need that.

When the older boys were wee ones, there were certain things we could not mention in their hearing. This went beyond Christmas gifts and various hallucinogenic holiday characters. A mere mention of the name,"Bob the Builder" would send the boys into fits of excitement, insisting that they must return home right that instant to watch Bob. That was exhausting. So, we took to calling him "Robert the Construction Worker".

This little slight-of-tongue worked so well that we expanded our code to include other things.

"Playgroup" became "frolick collective", "ice cream" might be "frozen bovine excretion" (hah - like they'd ever have figured that one out!) For years, Zorak and I have been able to create our own cryptic dialogue for just about anything, without fear of discovery. Now that the older two are, well, older, they're catching on. And they're pretty good at it.

For instance, Smidge wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. (Granted, I'd much rather let a street vendor in Juarez perform liposuction on my butt than spend the day there, but you know I'll go.) The real question was when we'd go, my main criteria being that Zorak has to go with us, since he's the one who introduced the vile place to the children, to begin with. At supper tonight, I asked Zorak if we should hit the "Italian Rodent's Lair" on Saturday. He processed the request, and replied in the affirmative. That was about the time James burst out laughing. He then said, "Oh, do you mean...

...and he made a wretching motion, a surprized motion, and shouted
"Mozzarella!"

I just about died laughing. It wasn't subtle, but it was good. Our code has been broken, and none of our secrets are safe. But it's worth it to have let him in on the game. This is what allows me to enjoy them well beyond the fuzzy infant, the insane toddler, the funny preschooler ages. We're raising adults, and from the looks of it, we're raising pretty good-natured ones, to boot.

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This is Smidge's Pear. He smelled the blossom. He watched it die back. He squealed and giggled and leapt up and down as the fruit began to form beneath the remains of the flower. This one was his. And he managed to not pick it, not pester it to death, not lose it to deer or siblings or foul winds. All. Season. Long. Sweet, sweet reward. **************************************************************

And this is John's latest find. Looks an awful lot like a chicken head, doesn't it? Complete with one buggy eye, and everything. He was quite proud, and wanted a picture before he ate it. (I have never been so tempted to call the National Enquirer, in my life, but John really didn't want to wait to hear back from them.) He found another one in the same batch that looked, as he put it, "More like a goose than a chicken. A really small goose."

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Yes, this is how we spend our days sometimes. Laughing at inside jokes, taking pictures of weird foodstuffs, and enjoying everything we've put into all of it. Good stuff, indeed.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

How Do You Like Your Beans?

Jenni asked for bean ideas. I will share my *one* method of cooking beans, and then I'm going to have to beg the rest of you to chime in with your faves because otherwise, she's going to be on her own, here.

We eat pintos. That's pretty much it. And we eat the pintos cooked pretty much one way. It's delicious, and, obviously, we're okay with it, but since the question was about variety, this doesn't exactly answer the question. (I love other beans, and other methods of preparing them. But I'm the only one, really. Hillbilly Housewife's Baked Beans give me happy little daydreams. Nothing makes me smile quite like a navy bean and ham soup. Lentils, yum! However, for the day-to-day bean eatin', this is how it gets done around here.)

Sort your beans. Be sure to set aside the magic beans. (These are any that are significantly different from all the other beans in the bag. Might be a piece of corn or barley, a black bean, or just one of a different color or size than all the others. I like the mostly-white ones. James likes the darker ones. The boys all like the really large ones. Zorak and I get a kick out of the itty bitty ones. Make your own magic, it's all good.) Rinse. Cover with cold water.

Theoretically, you allow them to sit all night. (We never remember in time. So, we boil them for a while.) Then drain and rinse. Rinse well, as this helps counter the, erm, side effects of eating beans. Refill the pot, add chile powder, paprika (this adds an absolutely gorgeous color to it!), and a titch of garlic and salt. *Side Note: some people have severely erm, adverse reactions to garlic salt or onion salt. Use fresh to avoid that.*

I used to add bacon to the beans. However, I have a bad habit of not putting the pot into the fridge before I go to bed, and I got tired of having to throw out most of a pot of beans because of that. When cooked without meat, they can survive the occasional absentmindedness. ;-) I haven't really noticed much difference in the flavor, either, except that they're a little more flexible in adding to other foods, now.

Cook until done.

This recipe pretty well lends itself to whatever you want to add to it at the table. They're easily convertible to make an excellent side dish, or a main dish. Depends how you dress 'em up. Chopped onion, grated cheese, salsa, sour cream... tabasco, cajun seasoning, Greek seasoning... Eat it with cornbread, or tortillas... Add ground beef and call it chili. Add green chiles and tomatoes and call it... um, beans with green chiles and tomatoes. Mash them with a little lard or oil in a skillet and you have unbeatable refried beans.

What do you like to do with your beans?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

The Visit

Hi! Wish you were here! We're eating, visiting, eating, chatting, eating, napping, and then eating some more. It's good stuff. And check it out - the mostly-finished balcony!
Aunt B, Aunt Linda, and Gram arrived safe and sound Friday night. Cousins P and T arrived sometime Saturday morning, while everyone was asleep. Anybody remember being young enough to drive all night and still function sometime in the following 24 hours? Me neither! But they're tough.

We had company today to visit with the... company. That sounds weird. Friends of Zorak's from work came down. Me-Tae came down. (We bribed her with puppies and children - she's such a softie!)

Zorak cooked and fed everyone into a near-comatose state... pulled pork bbq, chimichangas, beans and homemade Spanish rice... so good! Then we just sort of plopped down until our circulation could be rediverted back to our limbs.
And this... is a great way to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon, is it not?
Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Basking in the Chaos

Me-Tae came and spent the day with us! See her there? Amidst all the movement? No? That's because she's buried beneath all the children, but if you could find her, you could see her beautiful smile, too. (This isn't the clearest picture, but Zorak and I liked the composition. And it was fun to play with. I know you don't come here for the mad photography skills. Or, if you do, that's kind of sad...)

I told Zorak it felt so good to be able to have someone out on the balcony and not be afraid. He said Me-Tae may have been afraid, but was too nice to say so. I said, "Not her, me! I wasn't afraid on her behalf! I knew she wouldn't fall through. That felt good!"

We had an epiphany. Y'all are going to laugh at us when I share it, but let me say now that IT WORKED! I'm so excited, I could just pee. I plan to ignore my children tomorrow afternoon in order to finish it up and make John document it with photos.

We ate well today. Of course, we had the obligatory Saturday Morning Cinnamon Rolls while we watched Saturday Morning Cartoons. That's a great way to start off a day. My favorite part was lunch, though. Grilled salmon, brussels sprouts, rice, corn on the cob, beans (the beans almost go without saying around here, there's always a pot of beans), fresh pineapple, and for dessert, ice cream -- that makes a lovely Saturday afternoon luncheon. It was so lovely, we didn't have to make supper! Double bonus!

And that's pretty much it. Only five-ish more days of July. Then we have to make it through August, and then we can start acting surprised that it's still hotter than Hades come September! Woohoo! Summer's almost, nearly, partially, halfway over!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy