1. The Garden: preparations are being made for our first cannerful of green beans this evening. Big Fish found a large canning pressure-cooker at a flea market. We did a trial run last week to learn what to do and produced 2 quarts of green beans. Tonight is the real deal. I had to giggle because my husband has never heard the magic "pop" of a sealing jar lid. It's a delightful little noise!
2. The Children: it's too hot to bake today, but the the kids and I are about to make little snack cookies that look like little hamburgers. Nilla Wafers are the "buns", and peppermint patties are the "burgers". We'll share them at a playdate tomorrow.
3. The Children Again: yesterday a new little friend kept commenting that our baby was the "funniest baby doll ever because she keeps opening her eyes". I and the girl's mom kept telling her that the baby was real! Tee hee!
Woo it is hot here; thermometer reads 90 degrees. The humidity is the kicker, though. Enjoy some iced coffee peeps!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, Monday
Wow, it's already past 3 in the afternoon! I enjoy Mondays actually because they mean the kids and I have a quiet day at home to catch up after the various activities on Saturday and church on Sunday. My husband and I often remind each other that the Sabbath will become a restful day again someday, as 4 children 6 and under require a lot of maintenance! From wearing nice clothes to spreading out to various Sunday school rooms to later nap times, it makes for a rather hectic day! We are thankful for our church family with many in the same boat as us with young children.
Today we have been doing some baking and closet organization. The kids helped with mixing up the muffins and rolling the dough balls for snickerdoodles. I have a kid's cookbook, and we are trying the whole wheat version of snickerdoodles. They smell yummy coming out of the oven (I'm writing this blog post in between pulling out cookie pans).
The garden is starting; the garden is starting! We already have had bunches of yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and fresh herbs. Big Fish used my mandolin slicer to help me make my gallon jar of refrigerator pickles. We are thinking our neighbors might start locking their doors against us, as they see us come bearing squash! I really think that my honeybees have helped so much with the pollination of the squash plants. That is another thing I hope to do this week, check the hive. If there is honey capped, I will have to track down the loan of an extractor.
Small Fry just informed me that he needs to go check for groundhogs. Between his hourly garden checks and his daddy's gun, our garden has remained fairly varmint free! We did have a mole chew through one cucumber vine, actually.
We now come to the weight loss update portion of the blog. If you don't care (really, I don't mind), just go ahead and stop reading! Today's scale reading was 178.2 pounds. On this the baby's 3 month birthday, I think back to the fact that I weighed in at 216 pounds before she was born! Of course it is hard work to watch what I'm eating and keep rolling out of bed to exercise. Thankfully, loss is still happening! The hardest day was Saturday when we had my family over, and I kept handing out ice cream cones and such. I have found a nice drink that helps with my sweet tooth control: Italian soda made with sugar free syrup, club soda, and a bit of half and half.
Well, looks like we're in for another hot week! We're praying for some rain. Hope you are enjoying a dip in the pool somewhere!
Today we have been doing some baking and closet organization. The kids helped with mixing up the muffins and rolling the dough balls for snickerdoodles. I have a kid's cookbook, and we are trying the whole wheat version of snickerdoodles. They smell yummy coming out of the oven (I'm writing this blog post in between pulling out cookie pans).
The garden is starting; the garden is starting! We already have had bunches of yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and fresh herbs. Big Fish used my mandolin slicer to help me make my gallon jar of refrigerator pickles. We are thinking our neighbors might start locking their doors against us, as they see us come bearing squash! I really think that my honeybees have helped so much with the pollination of the squash plants. That is another thing I hope to do this week, check the hive. If there is honey capped, I will have to track down the loan of an extractor.
Small Fry just informed me that he needs to go check for groundhogs. Between his hourly garden checks and his daddy's gun, our garden has remained fairly varmint free! We did have a mole chew through one cucumber vine, actually.
We now come to the weight loss update portion of the blog. If you don't care (really, I don't mind), just go ahead and stop reading! Today's scale reading was 178.2 pounds. On this the baby's 3 month birthday, I think back to the fact that I weighed in at 216 pounds before she was born! Of course it is hard work to watch what I'm eating and keep rolling out of bed to exercise. Thankfully, loss is still happening! The hardest day was Saturday when we had my family over, and I kept handing out ice cream cones and such. I have found a nice drink that helps with my sweet tooth control: Italian soda made with sugar free syrup, club soda, and a bit of half and half.
Well, looks like we're in for another hot week! We're praying for some rain. Hope you are enjoying a dip in the pool somewhere!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Random Thoughts With Photos
It has been quite hot and humid in these here parts, but we were able to have a front yard picnic before the heat set in. My parents joined us, and I totally cut the baby out of the picture. She is in her car seat relaxing in the breeze.
My sign has been "installed" in the front yard! I'm hoping the campground down the road will help supply some customers.
Over the past weekend we traveled to Dayton, OH on a little family trip. We visited some relatives and had a lovely time visiting a working farm modeled after an 1800's homestead, a children's museum, the Air Force Museum, etc. I visited a yarn shop, flower nurseries, and a thrift store. The yarn shop produced some lovely fiber for spinning (another post); the nurseries gave ideas for a fairy garden or terrarium; and the thrift store was a quite productive stop. I missed the day of the week when everything is 50% off, but I still found some "stuff":
Included in the pile is a skein of Icelandic yarn, 2 men's polos, several long sleeve shirts for Brookie's fall wardrobe, a puzzle for Minnow, the classic game of Twister, a silk necktie to cut up for Easter egg dyeing, several books, and 3 dress shirts for Small Fry. I spent a hair under $32 for the lot.
Hope the weather is cooling off for you in your part of the world!
My sign has been "installed" in the front yard! I'm hoping the campground down the road will help supply some customers.
Over the past weekend we traveled to Dayton, OH on a little family trip. We visited some relatives and had a lovely time visiting a working farm modeled after an 1800's homestead, a children's museum, the Air Force Museum, etc. I visited a yarn shop, flower nurseries, and a thrift store. The yarn shop produced some lovely fiber for spinning (another post); the nurseries gave ideas for a fairy garden or terrarium; and the thrift store was a quite productive stop. I missed the day of the week when everything is 50% off, but I still found some "stuff":
Included in the pile is a skein of Icelandic yarn, 2 men's polos, several long sleeve shirts for Brookie's fall wardrobe, a puzzle for Minnow, the classic game of Twister, a silk necktie to cut up for Easter egg dyeing, several books, and 3 dress shirts for Small Fry. I spent a hair under $32 for the lot.
Hope the weather is cooling off for you in your part of the world!
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