MissB gets Mommy offed.

MissB gets Mommy offed.

Originally uploaded by fullofstitches.

It's official. Scissors are outlawed in this here house to anyone under 3 1/2 feet tall.

BB cut off half her hair. Ben's on his way home. If I don't post again after this, just know I made it look way better than her self-done job.



Edited to add: BB greeted Ben at the door with "I'm a Boy!" Oh my!

Chicken Vid Clip

LOL! I haven't signed up for U-Tube yet, but this clip is hilarious (watch the first 5 minutes):
Ira Glass Talks About Chickens, Karen Davis, Going Veg

Doesn't keep me from eating chicken, but it's funny!

Silly Book Meme

I saw this on At Home on this Mountain and decided to join in.

From Slow and Steady Get Me Ready:
"The child may be instructed to pull the plate with the object to a specified place."

I hadn't realized that book was still on my desk, I just grabbed the closest book. Maybe I should start using it...


If you want to play along, follow these instructions:

Grab the nearest book.
1. Open it to page 161.
2. Find the fifth full sentence.
3. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
4. Don’t search around looking for the coolest book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Busy Week

It's been a nice week here. Grandpa was in the area on business and was able to stop in for 2 evenings! He finally met little Cow - she just smiled and loved him right away!


I ordered a quick mozzarella kit from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Last night, while TJ was making Eggplant Appetizer, I was making mozzarella.

It's fun to let the children venture in the kitchen! We'll be at the store or farmer's market or wherever and one will say "Let's get this" and when we come home we'll search online or in the cookbooks for how to use it. Some things turn out great, some so-so, some let us know we don't like it. This one turned out tasty!


When I finished the cheese, I gave a few bites to the children and set it in the fridge. Then I used the pizza dough recipe from the pamphlet and mixed that. Ben swung by the store on his way home for toppings (otherwise it would have been crust, sauce, cheese). That let the dough sit a good long time -when using whole wheat, the dough has to sit at least 30 minutes to unwind the gluten, overnight is best. Ben used to work in a pizza place, so I let him stretch the dough into a crust shape while I chopped veggies, then he had fun topping it. It turned out so tasty! I forgot to get a pic after cooking!

Motivation

I love to work with my hands. Oh, you noticed? Well, I'll focus on sewing today.

I like making things for myself and others that are useful in some manner. When I started cloth diapering again with AJ, I bought candy pink fabric and made her a bunch of medium-sized diapers. When I was pregnant with BB, a friend and I went garage saling to find good material for another batch (needed small and large diapers). I try to at least occasionally make myself a dress -I like them good and long. I make my girls' dresses out of a need. It is difficult to find a dress of a good length that a child can actually 'grow into' any more!

I have trouble motivating myself to sew for someone who I know well, and especially for the males in my life. I've sewn my husband one pair of pants (cords) and a shirt in all the time we've been married. For my son, I occasionally make him a shirt. Perhaps part is that I just don't see a need there. They can easily find clothes to cover them appropriately, whereas the girls are often faced with wearing slips as dresses and/or showing their behinds when leaning over to play.

Fair-skinned girls, like mine, find it necessary to cover their skin, even in summer. That means Momma needs to make them light-weight garments with sleeves. I'm not suffering them alone, instead I'm making up my wardrobe and allowing theirs to follow suit. Wovens are much cooler than knits. A little elastic or ties helps make them fit, if needed, but dresses can generally be made nice and loose.

I'm not keeping points, but do like to look back and see some sort of production. So, I'm considering tallying what I make each month. Those days when I feel I can't accomplish anything, maybe it'll balance out to see what I did do.

I Broke the Car.

The other day I mentioned in passing that I hit one of those divider curb things. At 40MPH. It was late at night and poorly lit. I noticed the left turn lane at the last moment and as I was going into it noticed the curb - I think it's to keep people from turning left from the side street onto the main street - but too late to pull out of the way. The curb is on the right side of the left turn lane between the turn lane and the through traffic.

Ben took it to the shop and they told him that if I'd struck the tire itself it would have been much worse. The force would have bent the axle, and affected breaks and a number of other things (bent strut, control arm,etc). Basically immediately undrivable. As it was, I hit the large housing next to the tire and bent it enough that they had to bend it to reattach the anti-sway bar and the brace (?) arm that goes from that to the body behind the bumper can't be reattached.

I feel horrible. I broke the car. In my youth, I was taught that people heal, things don't. I would have heard it here to my deathbed! Every time I turn around, I would be hearing someone telling me how awful it was to have to pay out all this hard-earned money for something that could so easily have been avoided if I'd been more careful.

Ben just looks at me and says, "We'll fix it or I'll get you a new car." He's just happy that we're all okay.

I'm so lost.

Weaned

Yesterday was BB's birthday. We had a quiet day. A package arrived from my parents that the children tore into.

The girls were giddy and immediately put the gift to good use.

(Why do they make them so short? It says 3+, so shouldn't it be close to the ankle on a 3yo? And, the shirts are already midriff...)
Mom made this adorable card:


And, I received in the mail a parcel for me! The Blessed Designs #2100, Convertible Apron/Bonnet. It's so cute, I immediately cut one out for BB's gift


The chicks are a week old (well, Sunday) and went on their first fieldtrip! They're growing feathers. Most have their flight feathers and the tails are peeking out. The RIRs are a little slow to fill out. Some are getting feathers near the 'shoulders.'

No, I haven’t been sewing.

I've just about figured out what breeds each chick is, unless the Americaunas are madly crossed (and I really hope they're *not* the yellows). I've narrowed the big chick down somewhat: Speckled Sussex, Dark Cornish, or Legbar or Kraienkoppe(looks almost exactly like this one!) -neither of these last two are advertised by the hatchery. We'll see when s/he grows more feathers!

Cheesecake

My husband likes cheesecake. I've never made it before, and I've just sworn off white sugar for now. I hope Sucanat substitutes okay!

This week I made cream cheese. I took most of a half gallon jug of raw milk and poured it into a glass bowl, and set it on the counter. I had a lid on at first, but it wasn't separating after a day, so I took it off -cheesecloth is wonderful to keep dust out of this sort of thing. After a couple days, a drier layer forms on top. I was concerned that maybe I should remove it, but the 'recipe' doesn't call for it. After another day (it can take up to 4), I poured it through a smooth cloth napkin in a sieve (a more open weave would have been better).When most of the whey had run out, I tied the napkin to a wooden spoon and hung the napkin-become-bag of curds in a pitcher. Throughout the day, I scraped down the sides of the bag to release more whey. The curds slowly gained better consistency and the drier layer simply mixed in. The cream cheese can keep about 4 weeks and the whey will keep up to 6 months in the refrigerator, but I froze the whey in ice cube trays (1Tbsp per cube) for ease of use.

(cream cheese recipe from )

Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out a couple cookbooks and found a simple cheesecake recipe. Hmm.. out of eggs and I don't have a lemon. I got out the first couple crust ingredients, then realized that I needed the egg and zest IN the crust. It was getting near 5:30PM, so I thought I'd give Ben a bit to get home, then I could just take the baby to the store. The children were all tired from being up late last night, they'd be a cinch to put to bed.

I was raised that it ought to be a life or death (or pretty close) emergency to disturb a man at work. I figure that if he's working late it must be awful important to take time from the family.

At 7:30PM, I gave up. I packed the tired children into the van and drove to the store. It's in the next city over (of course, in this area, the cities all run together, so it feels like across town to me). BB fell asleep on the way there, but awoke as I took her out and strapped her in the stroller.

As usual, TJ grabbed the cart and I pushed the stroller. I tried to read labels, but the bouncy wild 4&9 year olds overcame my patience. We would just get the perishables and get home. Maybe Ben would be home and put them to bed and I could go get the rest of the groceries. Milk, eggs, cream, meats, some veggies, line. Oh, the line. There was someone with crates of tomatoes from the Produce department and they couldn't figure out how to ring her. The line next to me was slow, but perhaps would go quicker. I moved over. Cow started fussing -she had to use the potty! Just a few minutes, hang in there, I told her. One of the baggers suggested a line on the other side. The man next in line was waiting on his wife to get something more and let us be next! TJ wanted a drink of water from the fountain. So AJ did, too. And so did BB, but she was in the stroller and I wasn't going there. Finally checked through, out to the car! Pee baby, empty cart, nurse baby.

Have you ever driven with an infant who knows it's bedtime and wants to be in bed, but knows that This. Is. Not. My. Bed.? Let's just say it was a long drive home.

And, Ben wasn't there. And, I forgot the lemon. Drat.

TJ had fallen asleep in the car, so I had the girls help me bring in the bags. Then, we piled back into the car. Off we drove to a more local store. But, the turn lane isn't well lit and I noticed it at the last moment and hit the raised curb/center divider thing at 40MPH as I veered into the lane. (Honey, I think we need a front end alignment.. the steering wheel is at an angle for some reason when I drive straight) Well, that woke TJ up!

With 4 grouchy, half-scared children, I ventured into the supermarket. I started just finding the rest of the list. Cow fussed, we went to find the restroom.I had TJ wait with the girls as I took Cow -no, she didn't need to pee, just wanted to fuss because she's sleepy! TJ took his turn and my phone rang. It went something like this:
cheery chipper Ben: "Hi, how are you?"
less than cheery me: "I'm at the store with 4 children. Where are you?"
cautious Ben: "I'm home."
silence.
silence.
silence.
impatient me: "Ok, I love you. Bye." click.

I need to work on my people skills.

We made it to the bake aisle before they ran out of any remaining scrap of control. We didn't get everything on the list, we just got in line.

"Do you want help out?" No.

Home again. We brought it all in and I sent the children off to bed. "But, I'm not sleepy." Yeah? So sorry. Now, get in bed.

Then Ben stirred and woke, I hadn't seen him on the couch. He gave me a hug and went to bed.

I finished mixing the crust and started the filling while the bottom baked. Following directions, la dee da, cheesecake was put together and in the oven. Clean up, run dishwasher. Time for mayonnaise! I pulled out the ingredients, spices, vinegar, egg yolks, olive oil, and squeezed the lemon. I made up the mayo -So simple! The cheesecake came out. I cleaned up again, ran the dishwasher. Ran a spatula (scraper) along the sides of the pan to loosen the sides. Cleaned some more. Read my recipe for dinner tonight.. Cow woke, peed and was nursing when the timer went off.

I found out that I am not superwoman. Thankfully, I was careful enough not to drop anything (cake or baby), but I couldn't remove the cheesecake from the pan while nursing. She finished and I put her to bed. Then I put the cheesecake on some cloth napkins on a plate. I was frustrated that I couldn't let it finish cooling properly (another 2 hours) before heading off to bed, but I stuck it in the fridge, left a note for Ben, and went to bed pretty close to 2AM.

This morning, I think he said, "I love you," as he was leaving, but I'm not sure. When I woke, the cheesecake was gone.

A Long Day

I'm having fun trying to figure out which chick is what using Feathersite.com's list. I can't seem to figure out which are the Rhode Island Reds. The pictures on the site show light red, like what I'm guessing are the frizzles.. So.. My guess is they're the mahogany/brown ones.. Or, their feathers are growing in funny.. At the hatchery site, the bantam version RIR have much darker chicks (image of RIR from hatchery)..

We ordered 3 each: Americana, Red Frizzle Cochin, Partridge Rock, Buff Brahma (of which they hatched extra for us to receive the maximum potential # of live birds), Golden Sebright, Mille Fleur, and
4 each: Rhode Island Red, and Black-Tailed White Japanese

There was a minimum order of 25, so we just had fun ordering a few of each of a bunch. They don't 'sex' (check gender) the bantams, so we have good odds of getting the 4-6 hens we can keep in a variety of looks. We want some layers, that's why we ordered more reds in our interesting assortment. I really hope one or both of the yellow chicks is female! Just one for looks would be nice. That was our favorite when we were ordering.

Baby Bantams

Monday morning, I called the Post Office to let them know I'm expecting chicks in the mail. The lady seemed a little nervous, she asked several times if there's a phone number on the box. We then continued our day. At 5:11PM, the phone rang. The P.O. lady told me that the chicks have arrived, but the P.O. is closed. I asked if I may pick them up. She said I could, but the P.O. is closed. The lobby is locked up, but there's a side door with a door bell. She didn't specify where the door was. When I got there I glanced around the lobby, didn't see a door, went out and looked at both sides of the building.. One door, no bell. Said a little prayer, headed back in and there it was.. A big obvious blue door. I rang and heard the quiet behind the door fill with peeps. They scanned by box and I took the little chicks home.

The minimum order is 25, and the hatchery usually puts in a couple extras to keep the numbers up. Plus, they often have a 'rare chick' thrown in. The chicks seemed to be alright when they arrived. Lost only 2 in transit, but there were some that didn't eat or drink well right off. Before bed last night, we lost 2 others. This morning I awoke to 4 down and 3 not looking well. I've changed the water out and put milk in to hopefully keep them from Coccidiosis (a bacterial infection which can kill them easily at this size and season). Summer's not the best time to get baby birds.

The rare is a full sized chick, the ones we ordered are bantams. I'm a little nervous the big one will squish the others. We have them in a box for now, Ben placed it in a closet (no doors, so I think they're still getting a good air exchange). By the weekend after this, I'm sure they'll need a bigger space. They should a a bit heartier, too, so they'll get to live in the kitchen. For now, I'm focusing on keeping them as healthy as I can and trying to stave off any more listlessness in the tiny chicks.

A Cushion

Do you ever feel like there's so little that you do? Here's a little that I did:


It's a simple cushion for the miniature garden set. I have the other 3 cushions and the table cloth cut out, they're so little and quick to sew up!

Yesterday, we picked up some sprouted bush beans, a squash and a bell pepper for the garden. I'd like to make space for some carrots somewhere.

When we lived in England, the neighbor girls taught TJ about "wish fairies." They would catch the fluffy seeds blowing by and say it was a wish fairy. Then, they'd make a wish and send it up to the clouds. TJ just found a fluffy yellowish seed and asked what plant his wish fairy comes from. Any one know which plants make fluffy seeds?

Bistro, Sugar, Soap

I bought a new set of patio furniture today. It was labeled "ice cream parlor set," but it looked to me like the perfect bistro set for my new garden. The "cushions" on the chairs were easily removed by BB (2yo), and that gave me the idea to replace them -which I'm working on (one was made for trial, looks good, 3 to go plus a matching table cloth!).

I thought I'd also note on here that last year Ben asked me to avoid high fructose corn syrup. That was difficult at first! Today, as we were drinking our HFCS laden sodas at lunch at Aqui's, we discussed buying some Sigg bottles so that we could bring our own water or what have you. This will save us money (it's $3.30 for 2 refillable drinks) and quench our thirst (is it just me, or does soda leave you thirsty, too?).

This last week, I also made the decision to not knowingly have white sugar any longer. That is going to be the toughest! I will not be able to eat dessert most places. I *love* dessert. Yesterday, I ran out (on purpose) of white sugar at home. I've purchased Sucanat, and we like Rapadura, so we can still bake things, but we will slowly change what sort of things we bake. Muffins will be made more frequently than cookies soon, though we'll still have our share of cookies.

I'm going to begin menu planning to budget healthy meals, and I'd like to start going regularly to the Farmer's Markets (My friend, Mrs. A-, suggested one not too far from here on Wednesdays). The children love going to market, I usually let them pick at least one new or favorite item to bring home. When we get something unusual, we go online to find out how to prepare it in a way that sounds appealing. Then, we work together to make up the new recipe. This often makes it easier to treat them to new foods that otherwise wouldn't be as appealing!

Today, I made up some laundry soap. The local Safeway carries Fels Naptha, so my soap is yellowy (next time, I'll either make soap or buy a white one for looks, I think), and they didn't have the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, so I looked in the pool supplies for sodium carbonate (used to up the pH) and found it there (not labeled as washing soda there, though on the front it's labeled as sodium carbonate and the back it does say soda ash). When I run out of my store bought detergent, I'll begin to use the soap (should be just a few days). I've cleaned out the previous detergent bottle to put it in and when I run out I'll have one more bottle, I think I'll have enough space for most of the new soap that way!

It's interesting to 'watch' my progression towards the 'natural' cleansers and things. My hair looks good, but is a bit oily to the touch currently. It's been 2 weeks or so since I used product on it, though I try to shower and massage my scalp each day. I'm trying to use up the products I have and replace their use with more environmentally friendly cleansers. I saw suggested on another site (may have been sewgreen.com) to use the bath/shower water in the garden. That works great in the main bath, there's a tub and I can just scoop out most of the water in a bucket and carry it out when the children are done. I may need to get a shower basin for collecting it in ours because there's no tub in the master bath. My tomatoes and citrus will be quite happy this summer if I water them regularly!

Just playing with tickers

Embroidering

Embroidering

Originally uploaded by fullofstitches.

I was blog hopping yesterday and came across this adorable site. I saw this pillow she made and jumped out of my seat searching for a good fabric for embroidering!

In 2004, TJ had made this list and it just touched my heart that he thought to include the unborn baby. I hung it up on an empty nail on the wall. When we moved, it was packed with my sewing supplies and journeyed to the Midwest. Again we moved, and again it ventured. Last night, I was able to get it about 3/4 done and I finished the sewing this morning.

Now, I just need to figure out what to do with it.. Pillow or little blanket? I may make it into a quilt to hang in my sewing room.