Collecting the Moments... one by one

A year of financial peace

2012-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Almost a year ago my husband and I decided to go without credit. It was a horrible time for it. We were just about to have our 4th baby, we had spent all our savings that winter on a new furnace part and a few other unexpected house repairs. We realized that we had no way to go and get baby furniture so we headed off to Ikea after a really long night of ‘false’ labor.

That day, we spent nearly $700 on credit.

On the way home, we talked about how ridiculous it was that we would do that ‘on a whim’. It was true, we needed that stuff that we got, but honestly, it wasn’t like this baby had jumped out and bit us. He had been coming for a long time. We just had failed to plan (frankly, I was in denial most of the pregnancy that it would actually lead to a baby… laboring all night kinda snapped me out of my delusion.). We had a long talk that ended in “Let’s sign all our credit cards over to a counseling company ” (I can feel all out Dave Ramsey people cringing now.)

Two weeks later we had all our paperwork together and we went and switched banks, got all our credit signed over to the credit counseling company and I took a pair of kitchen shears to our credit cards. It felt great. And a little crazy. Luke wasn’t even born yet. We had no idea what the next year would hold… but we took a little leap of faith and it paid off. We are now one year closer to never having consumer debt again. This next month is our last van payment… and once we pay off our vehicles our debt snowball will really start rolling. We should be out of debt in less than 14 months. And that’s without any extra checks or small windfalls going to the cause. Perhaps by Christmas?

Last week in church, our pastor was talking about how God will provide. Now I don’t talk about my spiritual life here at all, but this one hit me hard. The ideas that he presented got me thinking…. what made this last year so much easier to handle than the times we have tried to go credit free before? It wasn’t like we hadn't tried. It wasn’t like we made tons more money, or never had unexpected issues arise that wiped out our savings buffer… it was just that some how, some way, we were able to sneak on through.

Sometimes when we talk about God providing for our needs… well it doesn’t mean that he will provide a way for us to get the things we want. It may mean that we will be given the mental space to choose wisely. It may mean that we will be given the opportunity to go without and see what that looks like. Or to do things another way and make stone soup or party favors out of old sweaters. It may mean we will be given an opportunity to be creative - but also the moment in which to see it.

A friend once said “Financial Freedom does not come from having money, it comes from not needing it.” And over the last year I have found that more and more true. You can do so much with so little in this world of abundance. The more I think ‘Simple, Classic, Elegant, Thrifty” the farther my money goes and I don’t feel deprived at all! In fact, I feel down right abundant. The most simplistic things can be the most beautiful of all.

Of Beauty and Destruction - Part 2

2012-01-21T12:34:00.001-08:00

Most of the snow and ice are gone now. Now is just the destruction. And the clean up….

People call these branches “widow makers”. I am not a fan of that term.

The sounds of trees breaking sounded like bombs going off. That sound has now bee replaced by the sounds of tractors and chainsaws all over the neighborhood.

This is our huge maple tree. Half of it is in the neighbors yard.

Then more huge branches are in our yard which landed on our shed and chicken coop (not a lot of damage aside from dents from what I can see. We were lucky it fell straight down.) I think this one may survive… but we will just have to see.

I have been looking at the broken cherry for two days now and although it will never be the same, I think I may be able to save it with some strategic dramatic pruning. It’s such a beautiful tree… Here’s hoping!

Of beauty and destruction…

2012-01-19T12:33:00.001-08:00

Freezing rain comes to the Pacific Northwest:

There is more than a half inch of ice on my entire world.

This is my backyard this morning:

This cherry tree exploded while I was taking these pictures. It is my favorite tree. I started crying. It shaded the whole backyard and every Spring it exploded with pink blossoms that would dangle down into our backyard. Sigh.

And here’s the garden:

This branch broke off and fell as I was standing there with the camera. I loped across the garden, jumping with my heart pounding, until I was at the chicken coop. I turned around and one branch had fallen and the other had dumped all it’s ice and snow right where I was standing!

It sounded like bombs going off all over the neighborhood. I could see branches breaking and falling from all the trees flocked with snow and inches of ice. I am sure that yards all over the neighborhood will take weeks to clean up. That was when I stopped taking pictures and came inside. The beauty of the morning was not lost on me… but the destruction will take weeks to clean up and years for nature to repair.

What a bittersweet morning!

Logan’s Monster Party (or ‘the party that almost wasn’t’)

2012-01-18T15:00:00.001-08:00

It is my year for birthday parties in horrible weather I guess. Yesterday started out with DUMPING snow and stories of doom. I had, of course, spent days on this party and had everything but the food finished before the morning even started. We went out to get some last minute things and we figured the roads were ok as they were not icy at all. Then the snow started dumping. And when I say dumping I mean flakes the size of Texas raining down so hard you could hardly see. I started to panic. Should I cancel? Am I asking everyone to risk their lives to come to my 5 year olds party? All of this flashed through my head 50 times as we went through the Starbucks drive through. We got back out on the roads and even though the snow had added slush, it was still just slush. There was no ice under the snow at all. Annoying, but not dangerous. So I plowed ahead. And I am SO glad I did. The afternoon turned out perfect and the party was wonderful! So let me share with you a few of the details.

The invitations:

I cut postcards from watercolor paper and drew some simple monsters. Then I took watercolor pencils and ‘painted’ them. I painted a frame on another postcard and scanned it into my computer. I printed them out after adding the wording.

A couple googly eyes and the invites were sent off!

(I like invitation poetry, here’s more.) Inspiration for these started at Dragonfly Designs.

The décor:

This year, I spent quite a bit of time on décor because I have a new mantel to decorate!

I am sure that the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now, I am having SO much fun with my new ‘strictly’ decoration space. I had these large wooden frames in my garage for another project and I figured I would bring them out for this party. My original plan was to spray paint them bright grey/blue, but over the last two weeks there has not been ONE day where it was over 40*. So as the party approached I needed to find a new plan. Breaking out the cardstock I figured that a blue mat would tie the whole thing together enough to use them and I wouldn’t have to spray paint in the snow. I drew monsters and added the blue mats to the wood frames and called it good. The bunting is made from orange cardstock and hemp twine.

The vases were from Goodwill for $.50 each, and I made huge orange puff ball flowers (tutorial here) and hot glued them to sticks from the backyard. I was tempted to add googly eyes to them… but thought that may be a bit of googly eye overkill. These are where my googly eyes went instead:

Aren’t they the cutest? I got the idea from Pinterest and mixed with these cute paper straws that are everywhere now, they made the kids lunches of hotdogs, oranges, and pretzel bites ‘monstrously’ good!

I had M&M’s and orange Sixlets set out to munch on, and the straws looked so cute in this little milk bottle!

The games:

The first one was a game called “Don’t scare the Monster” from a curriculum I highlighted in this post. It is pretty adorable. The kid who is ‘it’ leaves the room and the rest of the kids all choose which monster is their monster. Then each monster on the board is covered a M&M. The ‘it’ kid comes back in and starts eating the M&M’s but when he gets to the chosen monster all the kids in the room yell “Don’t scare my monster!!” It was seriously adorable to see all the 4-7 yr olds playing this game.

I just love the look on this kiddo’s face here. It’s like “should I eat it?” It was like a ticking time bomb! They LOVED it and everyone laughed and laughed.

The next game was ‘pin the eye on the monster’. I used this tutorial for the game. It was a blast!

The child that got closest to where the eyes were supposed to be got a mini monster chia pet as a prize.

Just add water!

The favors:

I spent my snowed in days these last few weeks making monsters out of thrifted sweaters that I felted.

Each kiddo got to pick a monster from the monster adoption crate:

They were all super simple and each one of them was cute and unique.

They named their monsters and Logan signed their adoption certificates. It made the whole thing very official.

For the certificates I used the same watercolor frame I painted for the back of the invites… I just blew it up on the computer. I added different wording and printed them up:

The Cake:

Once again I outsourced the cake to my lovely, talented friend. I suggested the coconut as ‘hair’ for the monster and I think it made the cake SO much easier to make! She did an amazing job, as always, and it was the perfect addition to our party table! (It was good too!)

The Outfits:

For Logan and Luke this year I picked up some second hand sweatshirts and added some terrycloth monsters so they could match at the party:

Logan was very involved in the creation of his monster shirt… I have a feeling it will be worn quite often!

This is as close as I got to a good picture of Luke’s sweatshirt before it was covered in chocolate. lol!

Then a friend of ours bought Logan his new favorite pj’s.

They have now done this three years in a row and Logan always loves their taste! I have to ask them where they went each winter before I buy pj’s for him. lol! He went to bed happy as a clam last night and we woke up to another 8 inches of snow. As I sit here it is STILL coming down. I am so glad that the party was yesterday and not tomorrow!

Just a few thoughts:

Aside from the food (which we have TONS left over), this party cost me almost nothing. We have been working on getting out of debt pretty seriously for the past few months and so I had very little to work with. It meant extra time and work, but everything I did for décor, favors, invitations, etc, came out of my stash of craft goods. (Which also means I have a HUGE and wonderful stash… for which I am very grateful!) I loved seeing ideas on Pinterest and figuring out how to do them for free or close to it. It was like a game that I got to be creative and crafty at the same time. The kids came up with ideas and designs for monsters… the orange monster on the invites was an idea from Cyan, many of the stuffed monsters were from drawings Logan did… I was able to pull from everywhere and enjoy the creative process. And it made me realize that to have a really wonderful looking party doesn’t require fancy stuff… it requires a creative eye and willingness to do stuff with seemingly strange materials. The old sweater I haven’t worn in years, the hemp twine I use to tie up tomatoes, the half skein of yarn a friend is done with… it can all be turned into sweet little details that really make a party.

Thanks for coming to our Monster party!

A half hour of Chicken TV

2012-01-10T17:40:00.001-08:00

New Year

2012-01-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

Taking down the Christmas décor with my boys…

I had the cutest help ever.

I went through the whole house and got rid of a ton of stuff I was holding on to for… well… no reason. And the whole house feels clean and neat again. Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

May 2012 be amazing and bright for you all!

Blessings and love from all of us here at the Rose Garden!!

Handcrafted Holiday ~ the homemade gifts of 2011

2011-12-27T18:22:00.001-08:00

These are the gifts we gave out this year from our little workshop. I couldn’t show them on here early because quite a few of the people that got them read this blog. It was hard not to share the ideas, but as it stands, I am already filing things away for next year and if you are too these may be perfect for filing away and making early for your own loved ones!

This one was a collaboration between Alex and I. I used dried craft moss as the base which is glued to the bottom with clear dry glue and then I put in the tiny cranes Alex made. It was kind of like a ship in a bottle… I needed skewers and glue dots, etc. It was so worth it though! I think they are beautiful and would gladly put a set on my tree… after the baby wouldn’t smash them. Perhaps I’ll make some and put them away for next year. I am also excited about new paper options for the cranes. We tried several things and the ones that worked the best were plain paper. I since have gotten some really pretty origami paper and am going to try to make some from that too. (The ornaments I got from the craft store. They had glass and plastic. We used both depending on who was receiving the gift.)

Next gift was a work with Logan. He wanted to give everyone popcorn.

So I made popcorn toppings in ranch, cinnamon sugar, and pizza flavors. Then added in organic multicolored popcorn and a jar filled with dark chocolate M&M’s and two movie tickets for the theater.

We used some of the left over topping last night while watching Kung Fu Panda 2… it was quite awesome! (The movie was good too.)

Logan obviously wanted to give me something similar…. I know this because a week before Christmas we had this conversation:

“Hey mama. We got you a present.

I can’t tell you what it is.

I can just give you a little hint…

It pops popcorn.”

(Good thing he didn’t give me a BIG hint, huh? Gotta love 4 year olds!)

This was the gift for the grandparents this year.

I am pretty sure that since you saw my holiday card and my banner that you saw this one coming. I still think it turned out lovely! It took a while to find a 4 opening picture frame… so just in case you would like to make one of your own, save yourself some time and go to Michael’s for the frame. It’s the place that has them. I am still seriously enjoying the one that is up next to my new mantel.

These were for Luke from me.

Two have plastic bags that crinkle inside for some added fun. They are all nice wool felt too… so lovely to feel (and taste, I'm sure). Pattern from this post on The Purl Bee. I decided to blanket stitch the ends instead of turn them because the felt fabric choice is super thick and hard to turn. I think it added a cute touch of handcrafted to them.

My last minute Handcrafted Holiday project was this:

These stockings I sewed by hand during my college lectures before I got married (although Don and I were engaged, so his and mine were made to match on purpose). I made 5 because I just had the time and that was how many different kinds of fabrics there were. I didn’t think we would have 3 kids, much less 4. So when we had Logan I naturally thought that because we filled all the stockings meant we must be done having kids (I know… it sounds silly… but why else would I make 5 stockings when, at the time, I only had 1 child??)

Last year when I was pregnant with Luke I was SURE that bringing person #6 into our family meant I would have to make all new stockings. (See how me being sure about something is so accurate?) Cyan vetoed that idea by reminding me that we have technically used those stockings since 2 years before she was born and we couldn’t possibly stop this year “just cuz we had Luke.” Sigh… so the hunt was on for matching fabric.

I asked everyone I know and my friend Heather just so happened to have some IN HER STASH! She said she must have had it for 10 years or more. Yep, that sounds just about right. Talk about magical! So the day before Christmas as everyone else was rushing to get gifts wrapped or braving the mall, I was wearing a thimble and sewing away on Luke’s stocking. I even found the same felt in my stash… somehow it survived the fabric purges that came along with all the moves and everything else and I was able to put the same color holly and berries on the stocking with it. Even though it is not really my style anymore, I feel like it is a cute addition to our Christmas décor and now Luke can be added in on the “timeless” tradition. (Thank you, Cyan! ) Can you tell it was made 13 years after the others?

I loved working with my kids on these projects! They are getting good at the handcrafted holiday thing and it made me very hopeful for their handmade gifts in the future!

Merry Christmas to me! (Livingroom reveal!)

2011-12-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

That project I posted about in October got finished last week. My livingroom went from being sadly outdated:

To beautifully timeless:

And I LOVE it… love it so very much! It updates the whole house just like I thought it would. And I have a wonderful new place to decorate for holidays and birthdays. Which is always fun for the crafty at heart.

We had to change a few things from the original design:

Finding faux brick to make the whole thing work proved to be the hardest part of this project and with some advice from the friend who built it for us (who is awesome!) we decided that instead of getting faux brick we would just build out over the brick and mirrors. He built out about 3 inches on both sides with studs so that we could drywall right over the top of everything and still have space to put up pictures. Then he built a mantel to fit over the top of the concrete one that was there, and put in the side columns to pull the whole thing together.

Then I puttied, sanded, and painted the whole thing a nice white color and could hardly wait to put up my Christmas décor. I was feeling grateful that I could go to sleep and let the paint dry while I slept… I may have ruined the paint with sheer excitement!

Some details:

I feel like I got pretty spoiled this Christmas. I got this beautiful new mantel, a new phone, and a new wool coat in my new favorite color: red. I feel downright pampered right now!

I’m starting off my New Year warm and bright with tons of new inspiration for my new space!

Blessings to all of you!.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T08:52:00.001-08:00

A Summertime Holiday Down Under

2011-12-17T09:02:00.001-08:00

Our day started out with Koala Chocolates in the kids advent pocket and a card that said “Let’s spend a sunny afternoon Down Under!”

In Australia Christmas is in the middle of the summer. You are more likely to be camping or playing at the beach when the presents get passed out and chestnuts aren’t even in season. The holiday is in the middle of their summer vacation, so kids are already at home and Christmas is the highlight of the summer.

We started our day off this version of The Greatest Story Ever Told from down under:

Cyan said “Mom, are they at the beach??” and I got to explain about the equator and sun rotation and all that jazz before moving on to pictures of Santa Claus in the sunshine:

After our little online summer adventure, we sat down to make wrapping paper with a summery theme! I got out all the flower stamps (because of course, flowers are all blooming right now in Australia) and as I did the kids saw the seashell stamps and wanted to add those too! Sure!

The wrapping paper turned out beautiful and the kids really enjoyed making patterns and ‘flower gardens’ on their papers. (I was going to use this idea… but someone threw away my two celery ends… they probably thought they were garbage. Funny about using everything… some people’s everything is somebody else’s trash. )

After we were done with that we made s’mores! I was thinking of going outside like they would be camping in Australia, but saw that it was 26* and thought better of it.

Sometimes it tastes GOOD to be a homeschooler!

Design on a Dime - Seriously

2011-12-16T13:00:00.001-08:00

It was my favorite show on HGTV (for the 6 months I had cable out of the last 15 years). So much fun and good improvements made on modest budgets. My kind of show! $15,000 is really hard to get up and pay for anything short of a complete remodel….. but $500? Yep. I could see spending that.

For me, the same is with holiday décor. I can’t spend money on it. At least not much. And anything I do get has to be able to be used again and again. The cones in the top left of this picture were filled with mums. I bought them in a moment of weakness. I really liked the shape and could think of tons of things to do with them. But whether I would was yet to be determined. So when the mums were dead and gone, I asked Alex to collect fir branches from around the yard. That along with some branches from our holly tree next to the carport and an old ribbon saved from a package several Christmases ago and I have two of these horns of plenty hanging from my porch bringing Christmas cheer! I LOVE them!

For all of you who have been following our advent stuff… I will catch up. I have all the pictures, I just am having a hard time finding the time to post anything that requires thought. Two new teeth for the baby and a new living room for me (soon to be shared!) and I just didn’t have the brain power to sit down and write anything intelligent. Thank you for your patience! Blessings and love for this merry time of year!

A new home for the bitties

2011-12-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

We finally finished the chicken coop in the garden! We can’t paint the flowers again until the weather is warmer, so they look somewhat unfinished for now, but everything is set for birds. The nesting boxes have already been put to good use!

We thought our birds were molting, and thus not giving us any eggs, but a couple days after we finished remodeling the coop, we discovered the real reason we had no eggs:

This little bugger is happily relocated to the deep forest near Roy and we are getting 4 eggs a day again!

Moving the chickens from coop to coop.

Happy chickens!

A Filipino Christmas

2011-12-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

The Philippines is the only country in Asia that is mainly populated by Christians. Christmas is a very festive time there and there is much focus on star of Bethlehem. Stars are everywhere. They are shown in windows, hung from doorways, even strung across streets from house to house. People make large star lanterns called Parols to share with friends and neighbors. (The name change between the types of peoples and the name of the islands is explained here.)

We started out the evening with a book about stars!

What an adorable book (and horrible picture… but whatever). The little owl follows the star to the baby Jesus and gets to see the baby and then go back and tell the star all about it.

After that book we read this one just for fun:

We spent the next two hours making all kinds of stars! The main ones the kids loved were the ones made out of straws and tissue paper from the book Celebrating Christmas Around the World. (They love anything with pipe cleaners. Seriously!)

The kids LOVED those stars!

Here are some more star making tutorials that we thought would be fun, but didn’t have time to make. Perhaps another day:

Greek Paper Stars

Music Sheet Stars

Star Birdfeeders (would also work for Scandinavia)

Another cool paper star tute (not English, but really good pictures)

Cyan and Logan put theirs above our nativity scene from Greece and then we made some star soup with tiny Stelline pasta for dinner!

As the starry night closed in, the kids and I went to bed with tummies full and some new fun crafting memories.

Christmas in Scandinavia

2011-12-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Scandinavia started out with the tale “Who’s that Knocking on Christmas Eve” which is a wonderful story by Jan Brett, based in Norway.

And a movie called Christmas in European Style with Tasha Tudor.

After that we moved on to making Swedish straw ornaments. Many Swedish Straw Ornaments are very complicated and it wasn’t until we were nearly done making ours that I figured out that you make them with damp straws! The straw is soaked in water and then used while damp to be shaped into the elaborate and beautiful ornaments that we see in the stores.

(These are NOT ours):

Ours were much more simple, but beautiful just the same! Here is the website we used to make our Swedish Straw Stars!

After the crafting, we made St Lucy’s or Saint Lucia Bread in the traditional style:

As the oldest girl, Cyan got to light the candles (which thankfully were NOT in her hair as the St Lucy girls usually are) and she served us each a slice of this amazing sweet bread!

It was a beautiful homeschooled day!

A German Christmas

2011-12-09T17:37:00.001-08:00

German potato soup and homemade soft pretzels anyone? That was our celebratory dinner tonight from Germany. The kids and I read about the German Christmas Markets! How fun those places must be! And the prune people? It is said that gold and good fortune will always be yours if you have a prune person in your home. (So where is mine hiding?)

This was one of the easiest lessons yet. Everyone was in a good mood, they all LOVED the food (ie: had seconds, and thirds, and then put cinnamon sugar on the left over pretzels), and we didn’t have a craft because we were going to make cake, but we were all stuffed!

I let Logan use a big knife for the project and although he has done it before, this was the first time I really gave him the job of cutting up something like the main ingredient of a meal and he did REALLY well! I was super impressed with my little man today.

All of my kids and I were in the kitchen at the same time. Normally I would say that’s a recipe for disaster (just cuz we don’t have a big kitchen) but we all did really well and sticking to our own corners and the meal was amazing!

Then we read German folk tales from Grimm’s Fairy Tales (The Elves and the Shoemaker being my favorite) .

and Alex read a book called Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo

We finished the evening with tea and looking at pictures online of the German Christmas Markets.

It was a super yummy day!

{this moment} - behind the scenes

2011-12-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Oh the many faces of Luke…

2011-12-07T20:42:00.001-08:00

Today was a horrible day. It started out good, with a trip to Target and a drop off of Logan to a dear friend for a birthday celebration. Things went very down hill from there. We got lost for over an hour in a place called Buckley, people got in trouble, a hole was put through my living room wall, lies were told. Just bad things…

But tonight… tonight was Luke’s first bath alone where he did not cry. In fact, he was having FUN! I decided to document the occasion and then found two other collages I had made that were similar through out the last 9 1/2 mos of my life. Just look how big my little monkey has gotten!

6 wks

6 mos

Today

What a blessing this little man has been! Even today he proved that as we got completely lost and the two girls in the back of my van were close to tears thinking they wouldn’t go to their party that we were headed to… Luke was fast asleep. No complaining, no crying. Just gentle snores from behind my seat.

I think he would be too perfect if he actually slept through the night. I think that’s why he has held off that blessing for so long. I think his perfection would be just a bit too much. At any rate, he is such a huge blessing and I am so glad he decided to surprise me last year. I love him so very much!

A British Christmas

2011-12-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

One thing I know very little about is the etiquette around a true British tea time. We have gone to tea rooms and had ‘high tea’ and ‘afternoon tea’ but I hardly thought about the practice aside from a fun thing to dress up and do with my little girl. Going to Britain afforded me the reason to study this fun tradition a little more.

First off, High Tea and Low Tea are different things. “High Tea” is a tea that is a full meal complete with meat. “Low Tea” is the traditional afternoon tea that is known for it’s bread and butter sandwiches and tiny cakes. Both are usually taken about 4pm and they are to bridge the gap between lunch (around 11) and dinner (around 7-8pm).

On the site “What’s Cookin America” the author writes:

According to legend, one of Queen Victoria's, ladies-in-waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope, known as the Duchess of Bedford, is credited as the creator of afternoon teatime. Because the noon meal had become skimpier, the Duchess suffered from "a sinking feeling" at about four o'clock in the afternoon.

At first the Duchess had her servants sneak her a pot of tea and a few breadstuffs. Adopting the European tea service format, she invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular, the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." The practice of inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other social hostesses.

For our tea time we decided to have a “Low Tea” at 4pm of cakes and treats along with the customary Early Grey. I set it up in our dining room in a formal way so the kids could invite their friends. According to my sources, an actual ‘Low Tea’ is set on small tables with couches around, but we are remodeling the living room wall this week, so I had to compromise.

Our prep started about 1pm (as soon as the baby was down for nap). We used bought shortbread (it was on sale at World Market) and that gave us some room to use other English recipes… like scones! Cyan made scones and mini pumpkin muffins, and then she cut bananas. (Let me tell you, the scones recipe from Jamie Aramini’s Eat Your Way Around the World is SUPER good! Especially when you add white chocolate chips. ) I read “Cratchit’s Christmas Dinner” from A Christmas Carol while we all enjoyed our treats.

After tea we all sat down and made Pomanders (clove studded oranges).

The smell wafted through the house and is still here this morning. Cloves and oranges and cinnamon… what a lovely sent!

Soon after we were done with our craft, our friends went home and we read the selections of Christmas Around the World, and Celebrating Christmas Around the World, and we made Wassail.

Then I set the kids up with the gentle, animated version of A Christmas Carol. (The Jim Carry one and the real actor ones were just too scary.)

It was a lovely day!

Russia in the Winter

2011-12-04T21:54:00.001-08:00

So, off to Russia we go! Today started off with church and a wonderful yummy lunch out and then Don went off to work so we didn’t get started until late.

While I got ready for our Russian adventure, my niece offered to let the kids watch Peter and the Wolf on her laptop! What a perfect addition to our Russian day!

I got everything ready and had a few friends come over to help us make Russian Tea Cakes.

I tried to make a traditional Russian Christmas eve dish… Kutya (wheat porridge)… but it was a huge flop! The stuff was completely chewy and not very tasty at all. Perhaps the next time we travel through the area we will get it right.

While the cookies baked, we colored paper Matryoshkas and my Russian speaking friend, Ali came over. She and I discovered that matryoshka dolls, while forever known as Russian Nesting Dolls, originated (by a Russian) for a fair in France! It wasn’t until after they won at this away-from-home blue ribbon that their fame in their own country was really recognized and they have been a Russian favorite ever since.

The kids loved hearing the stories and making their own matryoshka dolls:

We ate the Russian tea cakes with tart cherries and then we read Babushka, the tale of a woman who was so obsessed with keeping her space clean that she declined to go with the wise men to find the baby Jesus until it was too late. She is said to wander the Russian country delivering toys to the good children she finds to this day in search of what she missed.

Ali also treated us to a little bit of Eloise's tour of Moscow, complete with good pronunciation (which I could not have ever done without her!) and the page in that book where Eloise goes to the Kremlin was particularly wonderful! With all the towers and rooms and such… it looks like such an amazing place to visit!

We are learning so much. Sometimes I really get tired of homeschool (Did I just say that out loud?) but other times I just revel in how much we all learn (me included!) each day and how rich our experiences can be!

Thank you Ali for letting me use all your Russian props (and explaining what they are). Thank you to my niece, Felicia, for the wonderful additions you made with the music and videos. And thanks Sarah Jean, for letting me borrow your kiddos to play with.

It’s great to be a homeschooler!

{Best book for Christmas in Russia - The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan}

Edit to add: We tried the Kutya again today and it was very tasty. It needs HOURS (ie; overnight) to cook to make the wheat berries soft enough. I think that was what I did wrong. I added some honey and dried fruit to it and we had it for lunch today while reading The Miracle of Saint Nicholas to the kids. It was much yummier than yesterday. )

A feast from Japan

2011-12-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight my niece was here for our trip to Japan. We woke up this morning and in our pocket for the 3rd was a box of Botan Rice Candy and a card that said “Let’s travel to Japan!”.

This morning started off with Breakfast with Santa at the station. It was super fun and the kids spent the morning eating pancakes, playing games, and winning little toys. They had a blast!

Afterwards we did some school and finished up with a tale from Japan called Tree of Cranes by Allen Say.

Then came the food. For dinner I had gotten the stuff to make California Rolls and all the recipes from the Japanese section of Eat Your Way Around the World from Jamie Aramani. We made California Rolls, Yakinegi (Leeks with sesame oil and soy sauce), Sukiyaki (beef stir fry with mushrooms), and Daigakuimo (candied sweet potatoes). It was AMAZING! What an incredible feast!

The kids all helped set the table and make the food. We ate it Japanese style… on the floor with pillows to sit on. We read about table etiquette in Japan and all took off our shoes before the meal. We each served someone else because in Japan you only serve yourself if you are alone. And at the end of the meal we each left a tiny bit on our plates… because if your plate is empty that signifies that you are not done yet.

After dinner we had planned to have some friends come over and they were just in time for an origami lesson! Alex taught us all to make paper cranes to turn into ornaments for the Christmas tree.

It was a super fun lesson and Alex did a great job teaching everyone!

We finished off the evening reading Come and Look with Me: The World of Play by Gladys S. Blizzard and the kids went off and played with their friends until bed. It was a wonderful day!

{Best book for Christmas in Japan - Tree of Cranes by Allen Say}

A day in China

2011-12-02T20:05:00.001-08:00

This morning started with a mad dash to the Advent Calendar. They found four red envelopes I made from this pattern with Kanji stamps on the front that stood for Love, Peace, and Faith.

Each had a chocolate coin from China in it along with a card that said “We are going to China today!”

We went to co-op and did our classes and on the way home we picked up some egg rolls and wonton soup for lunch.

I served them in some actual ‘China’ my mom gave me years ago with even a covered dip cup to put the plum sauce in!

Alex read us “The Monkey King” over lunch and we talked about chop stick etiquette. (A great video for that can be found on the Kung Fu Panda Special Features.)

For dinner we had chow mien and talked more about chopstick etiquette. Then we made wonton cookies for dessert! They were SO good!

The filling was easy. Equal parts dates, cranberries, unsweetened coconut flakes, and raw almonds all ground in the food processor and put into purchased wonton wrappers and fried in coconut oil until brown and crispy. (About 3/4 of a cup of each makes a whole package worth of cookies.) Logan dusted a bit of cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top and they were done.

We ate our dessert by the light of Kung Fu Panda and watched an awesome special feature when it was done about the making of noodles:

It was an amazing day and I am looking forward to the next country!

I think this one is about to come true.

A Trip Around the World for about $50 {Advent Calendar ~ 2011}

2011-11-28T19:58:00.001-08:00

Our Around the World for Christmas List is shaping up beautifully! I put in all the cards in the Advent Calendar this morning and the kids, one by one, came out and asked me when we were going to start opening the cards. lol!

We got some ideas from our curriculum “Children Around the World” from Winter’s Promise, but many other great ideas come from free websites. My two favorites:

http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

http://www.teachingheart.net/worldmas.html

Each and every day has an activity or a craft and I shared as many links as I could just in case you wanted to join along! I have chosen a treat, a tradition, a craft, a recipe, and a few stories for each country/culture to focus on each day and I will share our most loved ones as we go along. This has been a labor of love, but I have to tell you that I am more excited about it than the kids are!

Our Christmas Around the World advent list:

1. Journey to Bethlehem!!

2. (China) Fried Wonton cookies

3.(Japan) Swan and Crane Origami Ornament

4. (Russia) Metryoshka Doll and Russian Tea Cakes with Russian tart cherries

5. (Great Britain) Pomander oranges & put your shoes out for St Nicholas Day

6. (Great Britain) *Small gifts left in their shoes overnight* Christmas Party Crackers (Easy and Not So Easy party cracker instructions) Shortbread & Wassail

7. (Scandinavia) Straw Ornaments

8. (Germany) Hidden Coin Gingerbread Cake

9. (Italy) Gingerbread Manger Scene and making a St Lucy Wreath

10. Getting our Christmas Tree

11. Put up lights with daddy

12. Shopping with daddy

13. (Greece/Italy) Write love notes to parents to open on Christmas Eve & St Lucia Paper Dolls (for St Lucy’s Day)

14. (Africa) Make a Christmas drum

15. (Philippines) Make Christmas Stars out of whatever we can (sticks, straw, beads and wire... all kinds.

16. (Australia) Celery Rose print wrapping paper & making S’mores

17. *This starts the weekend of lights that leads right up to Hanukkah* Zoo lights w/ hot cider

18. Fantasy Lights w/ cocoa

19. Driving through Gem Heights looking at lights w/ warm honeyed milk

20.(USA) *Happy Hanukkah!* Dreidel for Chocolate coins and Challah bread. Hanukkah coloring sheet.

21. (Canada) Christmas tree cookies to our friends and neighbors

22. (Mexico) Making paper poinsettias

23. (Guatemala) Sawdust Ornaments

24. Family Christmas Movie

25. Open Stockings!!

I will send you the table I made with a treat, tradition, craft, story list, and recipe for each country if you would like. I spent so much time on it I would love for others to get something out of it! Just drop me a comment or an email.

And now I am going to bed with this sweet young man. Have a beautiful night!

{this moment} - Thanksgiving Nap

2011-11-25T10:50:00.001-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T08:45:00.001-08:00

I am thankful…

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nine Months In - Nine Months Out

2011-11-22T17:16:00.001-08:00

From this:

To this:

“What? Snow White ate poisoned APPLES?”

And already a Jedi.

We are so proud.

Just shows that our family is strong in the force.

Tea ‘n’ surf - Christmas!

2011-11-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

I have a box of books in my garage that were given to me. They are small spiral bound books that are blank aside from the company logo that was dated in 2008. I want to cover them pretty. I would love to find something super simple, but completely lovely to cover them to give as gifts.

I found this idea from Homegrown Hospitality and she has the pattern over at her blog. What an adorable idea, isn’t it?

And a bit of whimsy to go with it:

Oh yes! I will. The link for these on Pinterest was dead, but I managed to find the same picture after some searching at Bockfitz. She says it’s super simple… but it surely isn’t simple for someone who doesn’t wet felt. Cuz I haven’t been able to figure it out yet and I have tried and tried! (I will keep trying and let you know how if I figure it out.)

Some more things I have been thinking about making:

My crafts and gifts Pinboards are just positively brimming with wonderful ideas!

If only I could find the time to make some of them. That is my next goal. To make more time.

Any craftiness brewing where you are this season?

Stone Soup

2011-11-15T07:09:00.000-08:00

I am guessing everyone already knows the story of Stone Soup. It has been told hundreds of different ways…. but the book that we have was this one:

Three very smart travelers come into a town where everyone is scared and worried all the time. The villagers are all very private and everyone only works for themselves. The strangers claim that they can make soup with nothing but three stones. The villagers all gather around wanting to see this miracle and the strangers say things like “Of course, stone soup should be well seasoned with salt and pepper.” and the people start opening their hearts to help make this miracle happen. In the end they have a huge feast on the soup ‘made with nothing but stones’.

I have been amazed how many things you can make with things you find in your dying winter garden! “With nothing but stones!” lol… Once again I am thankful for California and all those lush green pastures in warmer climates where I can get my children fresh foods that are safe from the crazy winds and the frost that keep coming here each night. I am so thankful for knowing how to make food from scratch and my dying winter garden that is still giving us subsidies for our dinner.

Part of being thankful this month for us is that it’s the leanest month of the year. We have been through much harder times… and having such memories, these times when I have to tighten my belt seem really scary for a little while. Until I see where we really are. And how we will never be back there, with food stamps and food banks and a car that is broken half the time… we will never be there again. And I am SO thankful!

Although we are looking fondly at the times of leisure, even now we have everything we need and often a bit more! We are broke with a purpose. We are broke because we CHOOSE to be broke to keep on our road to being debt-free… and it’s HARD… man, is it hard sometimes. But we have less than 2 years until we are debt-free (including cars, but not school loan. Sallie Mae owns a piece of my soul.) and each month that ticks by without debt is one more closer to that freedom. So we are working every angle and making cuts where ever we can.

We have been using every scrap out of the garden. Right now we have green tomatoes ripening on the windowsill that I saved from the first hard frost last week. The last salad greens that are growing now are being used for salads and soups. Even the baby pea greens are being cut up and added to salads. I planted them so late that they didn’t flower before all the pollinators were gone for the season. (Another lesson for next year!)

Logan helped me gather the last of the potatoes and carrots from the garden and we cut off the eyes of the potatoes and put them back into the dirt to start up another crop for next year (this is an experiment and I will let you know how it goes!).

The kids love finding new things to put in ‘stone soup’ and I am finding ways to be super creative with the rest of the budget as well. We still eat like kings. Even with a smaller budget I am super selective about the foods we eat. It’s just a bit… different. And each night when I sit down to another wonderful meal, even though sales rule the menu, gratefulness rules the table.

Thankfulness and gratitude

2011-11-14T11:55:00.001-08:00

This is the month of thankfulness for us here in the Rose Garden. We started the month off with a Thankful Tree and it’s shaping up rather beautifully:

We have tons of stuff on there. It has given us an opportunity to love on each other a little bit without being too sappy. (Which has been great for my teen who would NEVER say this stuff out loud, but he has several leaves up there with things like “Parents that care if you succeed” and “A mom that makes you great food”. In times when he can be super trying on a regular basis these types of things really give me hope. He is still turning into a great person. He’s just 15.)

We have been able to tell each other that we are grateful for the things we each do in writing and the tree makes me smile every time I look at it.

Recently we had a food drive at our church for our local food bank. I pulled out all of the change I could find and gave it to the kids with the stipulation that they had to find as much of a meal as they could at the store for the food drive. Before we left, we read the book Can-Do Thanksgiving.

SUCH a sweet book! It’s the story of a can of peas and the little girl that decided to give her can of peas to the food bank and volunteer there for Thanksgiving.

In our own trip to the store we spent the better part of an hour discussing the particulars of the meal. Logan was insistent on a can of peas just like in the book. Cyan decided that they needed dessert. Before we left we had the makings of a pretty decent meal.

We dropped it off at the church with the other offerings.

This week we are working on our Operation Christmas Child boxes. I picked up one for each kiddo and they are all planning what to put in their boxes before we drop them off this weekend for sending.

It has been a wonderful month so far of watching my kids turn from wondering what they will get for Christmas to making sure that their gifts and meals are just perfect for those in need.

I am thankful indeed.

My sweet crazy baby

2011-11-08T20:33:00.001-08:00

I know. He’s all I ever post pictures of anymore… but you have to admit, he’s darn cute! He has also taken over my life. He is a mama’s boy like no other and he doesn’t sleep much… so neither do I. I see him nearly every moment my eyes are open and often that is at 1, 3, 4, and even sometimes again at 5 in the AM before he wakes at 6:30. His stomach is having issues again, and he has decided that he doesn’t want food anymore… just to nurse. Even when he does want to eat food he wants real food, not baby food, which causes a few issues with the ingredients and makes it much harder to pin down what he may or may not be reacting too. BUT… he is CUTE! He is smiley, has a great personality and is just adorable to watch. Even Logan will walk through the room and let me know if Luke is doing something cute. Which is nearly all the time.

He is crawling at top speed and has now been able to stand for 7 wks. He turned 8 1/2 mos today. It’s crazy to think that he will walk before 9 mos but I think it just may happen. He wants to be up, mobile, and running…. and he is dedicated to it.

Here is a video from last week of him being cute and playing with a pillow he pulled down from the couch. Obviously, he was really proud!

Enjoy!

A fun weekend…

2011-11-05T16:44:00.001-07:00

Some pictures from our fun!

My Dad’s new beach property:

Last day of the harvest festival at a local farm:

And the last day of Cyan’s unit study on the wetlands with a field trip to Nisqually Valley Wildlife Refuge!

Hope you are all having an amazing weekend!

(Alex was there too… but he declined any pictures. I have one video of him from the whole weekend in which he moves a log that is about 400lbs using a lever. But it’s too big to share.)

{this moment}

2011-11-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Friday Fun

2011-11-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Every other month or so we get a Friday off from co-op. Most of the time we have schoolwork to make up and so spend our days doing that, but this week we were all caught up… so Cyan and I set out to make a fun evening for Logan and his visiting friend:

A play silverware tray for a cash register, printed money from Google Images, felted wool bowls for display, small glass jars and wooden food from our play kitchen and we had a adorable little store for the boys to play in.

What kind of pampering is going on in your house this week?

(Thanks to Steve of Blue’s Clues for teaching me how to draw. )

A Tale of Two Pumpkins - Recipes

2011-11-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

There was this can of pumpkin…. I split it between some really great ingredients and and made it into something beautiful.

I have seen quite a few of these dips coming up… most of which say things like “Only three ingredients!” and then include things like Cool Whip or Dream Whip. I can’t tell you how annoyed these messages make me. That is SO MANY MORE than three ingredients! So here was my response to that… a yummy dip that is ‘only 5 ingredients’ and yes… it’s really only 5. :)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
2 - 5 Tbs brown sugar (this depends more on the brand of sour cream you use. I have found that with Daisy sour cream I only need 2)
1 tea cinnamon
1/2 can of pumpkin puree
and if you like it, add in a little pumpkin pie spice.

Whip ingredients together and chill. That’s it! Gingersnaps were the best loved dippers but the apple slices were a hit as well. And the stuff tastes just like pumpkin cheesecake!

Pumpkin Spelt Pancakes

dry

2 1/2 c spelt flour
1/4 c sugar
2 tea baking soda
1/2 tea salt
1/2 tea pumpkin pie spice
dash cinnamon (or more)

wet

1/2 can pumpkin
2 cups almond milk
3 Tbs melted butter
2 lg eggs
1/2 tea vanilla
1/2 cup water

Mix dry in one bowl and wet in another. Once completely mixed, combine mixtures and cook on a well greased griddle on Med heat until dry around the outside. Then flip and cook on other side. Serve with butter. Syrup is optional. ;)

A month of Thankfulness

2011-11-02T20:48:00.001-07:00

We have so much to be thankful for! This month I decided to try out an exercise. I wanted to see if we could write down all the things we are thankful each day at breakfast… to start our day off right.

I found some die cut leaves at a teacher supply store and decided that they would be the perfect way to keep our thankfulness thoughts at our finger tips! I put out a pretty basket filled with the leaves and a few sharpie markers on our kitchen table, and each morning we sit down and write down what we are thankful for.

Then we tape them up on our tree coat wrack in the homeschool room:

As this tree fills up we are all starting to see the many blessings we have been given and how wonderful our lives are. It has taken the place of our petition punch cards for behavior. No treats required. Just a bunch of love dished out with breakfast each morning.

We are traveling around the world for Christmas!

2011-11-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

It’s almost that time of year again! Time for advent crafts and fun.

Advent list for 2010

Advent list for 2009

This year, we are traveling around the world for Christmastime! I am excited to see what types of traditions happen in other cultures during this magical time of year. For some (Northern Hem) it is the coldest darkest portion of the year, but for others (Australia) it is mid Summer! The traditions are just as varied as the weather this time of year and I am excited to share that with my kids.

Our Christmas Around the World advent list:

1. Put up lights with daddy

2. Pagoda Manger & Fried Wonton cookies (China)

3. Fish tree ornament (Japan)

4. Metryoshka doll Christmas card (Russia)

5. Pamander oranges & put your shoes out for St Nicholas Day (Great Britain)

6. *Small gifts left in their shoes overnight* Christmas Party Crackers & Wassail (Great Britain)

7. Straw Ornaments and hidden bean cake! (Scandinavia)

8. Gingerbread Manger Scene (Germany) *only cooking and cooling*

9. Gingerbread Manger Scene (Italy) and making a St Lucy Wreath

10. Getting our Christmas Tree

11. Journey to Bethlehem!!

12. Shopping with daddy

13. Write love notes to parents to open on Christmas Eve (Greece/Italy)

14. Make a Christmas drum (Africa)

15. Make Christmas Stars out of whatever we can (sticks, straw, beads and wire... all kinds. Philippines.)

16. Celery Rose print wrapping paper & making S’mores (Australia)

17. *This starts the weekend of lights that leads right up to Hanukkah* Zoo lights w/ hot cider

18. Fantasy Lights w/ cocoa

19. Driving through Gem Heights looking at lights w/ warm honeyed milk

20. *Happy Hanukkah!* Dreidle for Chocolate coins and Challah bread. (USA)

21. We are sending a Christmas tree to a friend! (Canada) *cookies to neighbors*

22. Making paper poinsettias (Mexico)

23. Sawdust Ornaments (Guatemala)

24. Family Christmas Movie

25. Open Stockings!!

We got some ideas from our curriculum “Children Around the World” from Winter’s Promise, but many other great ideas come from free websites. My two favorites:

http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

http://www.teachingheart.net/worldmas.html

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T10:45:00.001-07:00

It has been a very hectic week and I am looking forward to calmer weeks ahead. Our Halloween was great though with lots of kid made costumes and pumpkins! Both of these were designed and completed by Cyan (above) and Logan (below) and they were also grown in our garden.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

{this moment} - goofy leaf collector

2011-10-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

The next big thing and a request for help/advice

2011-10-27T13:11:00.001-07:00

I have been working on a plan to update our livingroom for a while. It is very much 70’s with glued on mirrors on the walls and an old cast iron fireplace that may or may not be safe. Our gas company sent us a letter saying that they would pay for over half of the cost of replacing our fire place, and so I thought that while we were ripping out the fire place anyhow, I wanted to update that whole wall… which I think in turn will update the whole room.

So enter my pencil and drawings again. Just like in the garden, I need a picture in my head of what I want and then go on to figuring out how to get it. This is the plan…

From this:

To this:

I want to find some faux brick to extend the look to the opposing wall and then paint the brick white.
I want put in a new wooden mantel that is larger and is also based in the center of the wall (the current one is not even centered over the fireplace… which is weird.) I am currently thinking a really dark stain, but it could be painted white also.
I want to put in a fireplace that doesn’t stick out into the room.
Because the fireplace is higher up in the wall (and that isn’t likely to change) then putting a ledge shelf under the fireplace. I am really not sure how we would do that. I was thinking or mirroring the mantel, but I don’t think that a wood shelf under a fire place (even a gas one) would be a good idea.

I do need some help though! How would someone make faux brick inside the house that doesn’t stick out farther (or much farther) than the brick already in place? And what kind of shelf would be safe under the gas fireplace (there is a small brick area between the fireplace and the wood floor so there can be supports that connect with that brick and nothing will be going into the floor). And how in the world do you get the mirrors off the brick and the wall? It’s seems like they are superglued up there… do I have to break them?

Any help you could give me would be great! Thank you!

Spontaneous Gratitude for a long tired week

2011-10-26T21:29:00.001-07:00

It’s the day for it.

(History of Spontaneous Gratitude can be found here.)

Today I am grateful for the peas coming up in my winter garden:

Parking lot Amanitas:

Sweet 8 month 2 day baby who is very close to walking:

My current happy place:

And two sweet boys enjoying their first bath together:

I love this blessed life!

“and now you are a grown up”

2011-10-21T21:29:00.001-07:00

The landmarks for being a grown up are all messed up in my head. My 21st birthday was mixed with my college graduation and raising my 3 year old, my 18 birthday I was nearly 7 months pregnant, and my 16th birthday, instead of my license I got shipped across the country. It’s not a pity party for my lost youth, but I have never had that “and now I am a grown up” feeling until I turned 30. And I had three kids by that time! But being a collector of moments, I discovered lately that little things make me feel much more grown up than the those bigger landmarks ever did.

Recently we have put some time and effort into the interior of our house. For the first time in my ‘adult’ life I own a bedframe. I don’t just have a mattress on the floor. A real, honestly to goodness, cool looking wooden bedframe. For the first week we had it I couldn’t stop saying “I feel like such a grown-up!” And tonight… instead of my nightly organic dark chocolate from Theo I decided to try Dagoba milk chocolate instead. It was gross! Way too sweet and almost slick in texture. I now understand my dad saying over and over again “when you are a grown-up you may like dark chocolate” which was his favorite for as long as I can remember (I was born when he was about my age now, come to think of it). I couldn’t imagine ever liking that icky bitter stuff anymore than my children can imagine enjoying a square of my Theo now. But here I am, enjoying the pallet cleansing taste of 73% cacao with orange and almonds to wash away the sticky sweet of the (very good quality) milk chocolate.

I find that I can enjoy the things I missed in my younger years better now too. Ok… that made me sound REALLY old, but honestly. I was SUCH an uptight young mama. I was so worried that at any moment someone (anyone) would come and take my precious baby boy away from me and I would be left with a hole in my life forever. It made me a very organized person, for which I am grateful… but it also made it so there is a mental block between me and truly enjoying anything. I always have to be doing something productive. And when I wasn’t… when I was, say, watching a show on tv, or enjoying a bath, I would slowly feel guilt weasel it’s way into my heart and I would have to spend the rest of the day making up for the fact that I took an hour to relax. My parental rights were never in question. But even so, I always felt like taking time to enjoy myself would result in all my inhibitions disappearing overnight and the concept of complete meals, clean floors, and regular bedtimes would fly out of my head and I would be left a shell of a mother who was only after time for herself.

Fast forward 12 years:

Today I took a nice warm bath. I let the laundry pile up. Not for long. I am still OCD about having a clean house (esp now with the crawling baby in full on ‘search and destroy’ mode), but those moments are precious to me. I feel their lack when I don’t take them often enough and I understand their value.

Does that make me more of a grown up?

I have no idea.

I know that I like dark chocolate and I have a really nice bedframe.

Only grown-up’s do that right?

{this moment} - Not hiding good enough

2011-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Décor for Autumn

2011-10-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

I have been working hard on getting into the spirit of this dark and dreary season for this last week. I put some special thought into today and this morning in our workboxes the kids got a note that said their first task for our school day was to decorate the house for Autumn! I turned on Pandora’s “Children’s Halloween” playlist and we listened to “Purple People Eater” and “Monster Mash” as we put up our favorite seasonal decorations. We pulled out Autumn books, candles, and other fall décor and then we went and picked the pumpkins from our garden and added them to the ones from last weeks pumpkin patch field trip.

Alex set to work making these beautiful bats out of cardstock and we spent quite a while getting them just perfect on the front door. (Check out my love of paper Halloween decorations here and here.)

I pulled all the things out that I thought would go well in the entry way shelf and put them up there. I also added some ornamental pumpkins to fill in blanks.

In the school room Cyan and Logan were hard at work putting the new seasons décor on the nature table!

This is our workbox wall. Many people have asked me about the tubs. They are the Trofast system from Ikea. They work amazingly well with the Workbox System and if we ever stop using them for school we can always move them to another room in the house and store something else in them! (I currently have them in Cyan and Logan’s room and then these sets in the school room. They really are fantastic!)

Our book basket was another thing that was revamped today (top rt of the white framed workboxes). I added all our seasonal favorites and a few magazines that I have saved up over the years. We have the October copy of Sunset, Martha Stewart Kids, and a book installment called “For the Love of Pumpkins”. Books that got added included Elsa Beskow’s Christopher’s Harvest Time, Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White, Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger, and Autumn Story by Jill Barklem.

It was a great start to a good and productive school day and we made hot cider and watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” after we were finished with our school day. There was no time for seasonal blues today!

Happy Autumn!

Ways to beat those Winter Time blues!

2011-10-18T21:42:00.001-07:00

I am making this list for myself. I decided to share it as an afterthought and am excited to do so, but it may not fit anyone else's lifestyle or choices. I just happen to feel better when these things happen. So here it is! I hope it helps someone else battling this type of depression out there:

#1: Music. Whether you love gospel (I am seriously enjoying Third Day right now) or rock (Amy Lee rocks my world!) or anything in between turn it on and turn it up. Unless you are trying to hold a long and deep conversation it will most likely infuse you with a driving beat, a need to move, and a bit more of a cheery attitude by the time you turn it down.

#2: Get lost. A good book, a TV show you used to love but haven’t caught up on, a garden plot that you can dig up in the rain… whatever will take you away for an hour or two so you can come back refreshed.

#3: Warm food. It always makes me feel better to have warm food in the winter. Summer is for smoothies, ice cream sundaes, and BBQ burgers on the grill. Winter is for roasted veggies, hot oatmeal for breakfast, and tea or hot cider any time at all.

#4: Get outside every single day. Rain or shine. Buy a good umbrella and decent shoes. Put the baby (or toddler) in the stroller and cover them up with a nice blanket. If you need to, give them a critter warmie to help them stay warm while you take a nice brisk walk. (A cup of rice in a old sock will do the trick as well.) You don’t have to be going anywhere… but the outside air will do you good and make you feel more alive every time. Even if it is just around the block.

#5: Keep your feet warm. I have noticed a serious decline in my mood when my feet get cold. I keep socks on and most of the time slippers or shoes, even in the house.

#6: Take your vitamins. Vitamin D is shown to be low in most people who live in northern climates (like Seattle). It does many things but one is regulates mood elevators so keep that on hand for when you feel down. St John’s Wart is proven to help battle depression and ease symptoms of despair. Both of these are on my daily regimen for all 9 of the Winter months we have here in the Pacific NW. (I so wish I was joking.)

#7: Chocolate.

“Research tells us that 14 out of any10 individuals likes chocolate.”

~ Sandra Boynton

If you just can’t pull out of it (or have only been taking your vitamins for a day or two and want a quick fix) try chocolate. Seriously. Chocolate contains tons of the chemical in our brain that helps up feel loved and satisfied. Even though it is a temporary fix, a chunk of dark chocolate can help the scary feelings go away. Just be careful not to go overboard and make sure you get GOOD chocolate! A Hershey bar may taste good but the calories are not worth the tiny amounts of actual chocolate (and good feeling chemicals) that you would be getting. The idea is to make you feel better! Not help you gain 10lbs.

#8: Enough sleep. When the weather takes a turn for the really dark and dreary it seems that all I want to do is sleep. But real sleep, good sleep, often eludes me as I think of all the undone things I have to do in my head. (The baby doesn’t help this year, but this has been an issue for as long as I have had SAD.) Taking a bath before bed, a warm cup of tea, and making sure I actually go to bed when I am tired instead of just cuz I am feeling blue are some of the things I do to battle this issue. My morning workouts really help with this issue as well. For some reason, if my body moves a lot each day, I sleep better.

#9: Turn off the screens. I know this seems silly when the weather is so crappy outside, but when I find myself in front of the computer every time I turn around I know I am starting to get depressed. I try to turn to something beautiful instead. A piece of artwork (wet-on-wet water color is awesome!), or some new food creation is what works for me most of the time. What pulls you into the creative?

#10: Most of all, know you are NOT alone! So many people battle this in our society of northern-living indoorsmen. Many people don’t get outside every day to do anything but walk from one interior to another. It’s bad for our bodies and just not natural, but it is part of our society and most definitely ‘normal’.

I hope this list helps you! It needs to be posted to my brain right now but it will definitely help me.

Many Autumn Blessings!

Tis the season…

2011-10-17T04:04:00.001-07:00

Nope. Not the Christmas season… but the season of seasonal depression. Yup. I’ve got it too.

I wasn’t thinking I did. But then I looked back on the past month and realized that I hadn’t taken any pictures during the three incredibly infrequent visits we have with family visiting from CA. Not one. I spent lots of time even at one venue, taking beautiful pictures of flowers and didn’t take pictures of my kids, or my visiting family. Something is up with that. Like slowly, over the last 45 days, the creativity has been sucked out of me.

It’s getting dark here. It’s dark when I wake up to go workout and it’s dark by dinner time. And when Daylight Savings hits it will just get worse, getting dark about 4:30pm. And the rain! It’s already been raining for three weeks. I need to get outside more, but it’s hard with the baby and the rain. Honestly I could make hundreds of excuses… but they are all just that. Excuses. My brain likes to make them this time of year, because my body is depressed and devoid of…. something.

Time for the St John’s Wart and the Vitamin D. Time for regimented daily walks whether it’s raining or not. Time for gardening more than ever, and for art at the dining room table for the hour we get of direct sun in our NE facing house. Time for warm soup for dinner and lowering screen time. Time for winter routines that make us less prone to feeling like the dismal days outside have to be dismal inside too. I have a plan in place, ready for action. The punch cards were just the start of the lovefest I wanted to produce around here over the next few months. But I need to get started earlier than I thought. And I need to start with myself.

Help Please! Punch card…

2011-10-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

There is a new item on my fridge. It is a behavior punch card. It has been there for 5 days and it’s making big changes in my house.

I made these out of desperation when my kids were nagging each other to get their chores done because I had said they could watch a library movie after they were done. It sounded horrible and was making me seriously grumpy, which is never a good start to any day, let alone a weekend day where it should be all fun and giggles. (Notice they sit next to our chore charts on the fridge.)

I quickly went into Word and printed out these punch cards on cardstock so that each of them had one. The activity was aimed at Logan, who had been talking in this horrible tone to his siblings and would not follow any of their requests without parent intervention. But the older kids decided they wanted one too.

The rules are printed on the back. They are very straight forward. The one rule that is not on there is that you cannot petition a punch for yourself. You must get one from someone else. This works esp well when we are not here and Alex is babysitting. I came home today from a quick trip to the library and the kids were raving about how great each other were and the wonderful ways in which they helped each other. lol….

For treats, I went to Target and stocked up. Just small, simple things that I don’t feel bad about giving them often. Organic fruit snacks, mandarin orange cups, tiny boxes of yogurt covered raisins, glow sticks, and puzzles from the Dollar Spot to put in a basket for when they get their whole cards filled out.

Already the positive reinforcement is helping Logan have a better attitude. :) They can’t wait to earn more punches and are even helping each other get their efforts recognized.

I looked around the net for ideas that were similar to this:

~*~ This adorable punch card is for good deeds!~*~ ^{(I totally would have used this had I seen it before I made mine!)}

~*~ This one was for TV time. Another great idea! ~*~

Mise en place ~ Seared mushrooms, roasted peppers, onion jam

2011-10-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

A recipe I have used for the past several weeks that I love is the caramelized onion jam. It came directly out of that Whole Living Magazine article I raved about in this post.

Caramelized Onion Jam

From Whole Living Magazine

Makes 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup extra-virgin Olive Oil
2 lbs onions thinly sliced (this is about 4 med sized onions)
1/2 cup of water or low sodium chicken stock
1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tea sugar
Course salt

In a medium pot, heat oil over medium heat and cook onions, covered, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add water, vinegar, and sugar and cook uncovered, stirring, until onions are caramelized, about 30 minutes more. Season with salt. Let cool completely. Can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

I also was thrilled with the idea of cooking mushrooms and having them ready to drop into whatever meal I wanted. The boys and I LOVE mushrooms (Don and Cyan give theirs to us… so the more the better!) so I set about to make a recipe for seared mushrooms. In Whole Living they added liquid to the mushrooms making more of a braise. For me, I am usually adding my mushrooms to liquid sauce or soup, so I didn’t want the extra liquid. This is what I came up with.

Seared Mushrooms

1lb of whole mushrooms, sliced (I used oyster, button, and baby portabellas)
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tea course salt

Place a bit of olive oil in a hot pan and add enough mushrooms to cover the bottom of the pan. Sear on one side and then flip the mushrooms until seared on both sides and soft. Working in batches, cook the rest of the mushrooms this way adding olive oil and salt to each batch as you go. Place in a jar and allow to cool completely before you put them in the fridge. Use within 1 week.

The last cooking ahead recipe I have for you today is roasted red peppers. Using this guide I happened to find (no pictures… just cool info) I decided to store my peppers in extra virgin olive oil instead of water and vinegar. I am so glad I did! Their flavor is much better and if I remember not to oil the pan when these are added it saves me even another step for a future meal. :)

Roasted Red Peppers

4 red bell peppers, cored and cut in half
1 tea course salt
olive oil, enough to cover

Place halves of peppers face down on a broiling pan. Place in the broiler until the skins are black. As soon as you pull them out of the oven, transfer the peppers to a large paper bag and close, leaving for 10 minutes. (This steams the peppers so the skin falls right off.) As soon as they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and slice into very thin strips. Place in a jar and add a dash of salt each time you add a layer. Cover with olive oil and allow to cool completely. I have always eaten these within a week, but I am guessing that they can be stored for longer.

I used about a half cup of these and added them to my Roasted Tomato Sauce I already had in the fridge. Then I tossed in a scoop (ie: Large standard spoon, heaping) of Caramelized Onion Jam and 2 scoops of Seared Mushrooms… I put it on top of spaghetti squash with baked (from freezer) turkey meatballs. It was SOOOOooooo good!! (My turkey meatball recipe was adapted from here.) My kids ate it all and had seconds. That hint of super sweet red bell pepper was a perfect layer of flavor. I could have just eaten the sauce by itself!

Happy cooking!

Preserving Food - How to keep ginger

2011-10-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

I LOVE fresh ginger in every recipe I can put it in…. but my family doesn’t. With a 4/1 ratio that makes ginger an uncommon guest at our dinner table. So I had to find a way to store it so it wouldn’t go bad between infrequent uses.

I discovered that if you freeze it in useable chunks it is very easy to grate or slice as well! So for the last few years I have been using this method. I freeze the ginger in chunks in an airtight plastic bag (the airtight doesn’t matter near as much once it is frozen. It’s pretty hardy stuff.).

When I want to use a piece of it I take it out and hold it in the palm of my hand for a few seconds to melt the skin so it is soft enough to peel off with a peeler or a knife.

Once it is peeled it is easy to grate or slice for whatever use you want!

I grate it up as small as I can with my micro planer. This is a handyman's woodworking tool that has been modified for kitchen use. It is used for hard cheeses, zesting, and ginger grating! I love the thing! When it is grated like this you can measure it and add it to any recipe.

Ginger, squash, and carrot soup topped with caramelized onion jam that was made ahead and waiting in my fridge.

If you are an infrequent user of ginger as I am this tip can really save you money. Ginger in the freezer can be kept for an entire year! :)

Grains - the gateway drug

2011-10-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about the evolution of food in our society? Fast Food Nation touches on it, Omnivore's Dilemma talks quite a bit about it, and even Super Size Me talks about it.

Then the Paleo Diet and the Primal Diet pops up. Everybody thinks it is SUCH a novel idea to eat like that… but really, it’s just one way to make sure you get ‘real’ food in our society where food is used only for it’s parts. A society in which food is usually a placebo for real food, real taste, and consequently, real nutrition.

Now the idea that we can’t get real food without eating purely in the produce section is a bit disturbing, but I’ll be honest, I am finding it more and more true. Heck, yesterday I spent a half an hour looking at baby food and realizing that after those first foods that are nothing but ‘bananas’ and ‘peaches and water’ you VERY quickly get into the foods that *I* would classify as junk.

This is the ingredient list for “Chicken Noodle Nutritious Dinner”

Ingredients
WATER, CARROTS, COOKED ENRICHED EGG NOODLES (WATER, DURUM WHEAT SEMOLINA, EGG YOLK SOLIDS, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMINE, MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), GROUND CHICKEN, PEAR JUICE (WATER, PEAR JUICE CONCENTRATE), WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE FLOUR, CANOLA OIL, ONION POWDER, BALSAMIC VINEGAR, DRIED PARSLEY

Now if we look at that and know what most of these things mean then you do see that many are added vitamins. But I find it scary that at 8 months old our babies are already starting to get deconstructed foods. Broken down foods. Foods that are only used for their parts and not as a whole. (Seriously, egg yolk solids?)

I honestly believe that whole foods is the answer. Not necessarily never breaking down foods at all, but breaking them down as little as possible with no chemicals.

The French eat much more fat than we do. So why were they not dealing with the heart disease and obesity problem that we do? The Japanese eat more starch than we do as a culture and yet they experience many health benefits in their culture that have been sought after for hundreds of years. Think of the book “Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat”. Even though that is not technically true, it seems true to our culture where gaining weight as you get older is a fact of life and obesity is now posed as an ‘epidemic’. I honestly think that in both of these cultures, their health success has to do with a high ratio of whole, complete foods. They do not take everything out of their sour cream, add in corn solids and whey powder and then call it ‘low fat sour cream’. I’m not sure that a Frenchman would call that ‘food’!

(Img found here)

I feel like that has been the same issue with grains. When we take the whole grain or refine it just slightly (ie: Something you could do by hand that is now done by machine for convenience due to the sheer volume that is needed) then I honestly do not think grains are bad. It is the breaking them down for their parts that is bad. Husking and grinding are all you can do to a grain and if you do much more than that you are altering the entire process of food… not just in your body, but in nature. The grains no longer have the same chemical properties, so why is it that we think that our bodies will treat them the same? Diseases like heart conditions, obesity, and type 2 diabetes did not develop with the beginning of agriculture. We did not see a steep rise in these types of diseases until we refined grains and sugars to completely unnatural degrees, making it impossible for our bodies to know what to do with all of the disproportionate ingredients we were giving it.

This is my own personal conclusion after studying Paleo and Primal diets for the past several months. That grains are not bad, they are merely a gateway drug to so many other processes that are dangerous for our health. Eating whole, unrefined grains does not pose a risk to our health. In fact, it can be part of a very healthy diet. However, for those that think that the best form of wheat is Wonderbread… yes please. Go Paleo. Make a change that will impact your life forever. Search out and choose to eat a huge variety of meats and vegetables and you will feel like a million dollars (esp if you pair it with Cross Fit or P90X which many people have discovered already). However, if you have a healthy diet. If you do not have huge weight fluctuations and if you are a basically active person who enjoys the occasional piece of Dave’s Killer Bread. Well… even then Paleo would not be a bad change, but I am pretty sure that it would not be the huge benefit the new diet dictocrats are selling it as.

Personally, I hope this fad lives on… I hope that the trend to get fit, eat real food, and lots of variety becomes more than a fad and becomes a lifestyle that is seen as American… but in my mind, the line between ‘grain’ and ‘corn on the cob’ does not matter so much as the choice to eat food for the whole package, and not for it’s prospective parts.

Answering questions from readers and authors

2011-10-03T15:17:00.001-07:00

To answer an email: I store all of my cooking ahead recipes in mason jars in my fridge. I do not use plastic in my kitchen as much as possible. I have two old glass pickle jars that I like the shape of and I use those but most of my stuff goes into mason jars with the plastic lids (that do not touch the food) that you can find in the canning section of any grocery store.

To respond to a comment: Ronna Welsh, who’s kitchen was the inspiration for the article “Perfectly Prepped” in Whole Living Magazine wrote me and requested that I direct all of you to her amazing website: 2minutestodinner.com. On her site are many more ideas along the same mise en place lines for those of us that this type of cooking resonates with. Thank you Ronna for sharing your work with all of us! (For those of you located in NY she has workshops as well.)

Mise en place - Mirepoix

2011-10-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

No, I didn’t change my blog to French. In fact these are two of the 12 French words I know. lol! But mirepoix is something I have been making ahead for the last several weeks and I wanted to give it a mention here.

This mixture of diced celery, carrots, and onions is the basic start of any soup and of many other recipes as well. When cutting some mirepoix for the third time one week I decided that it would be added to my weekly mise en place.

For best results include equal portions of the three ingredients and if you are working on soups I would consider adding some fresh parsley into the mix (I have some in my garden that I added to two of the three recipes that called for Mirepoix this week).

Store in your fridge for up to 10 days.

I do not have a food processor, or this process could be made much easier… but a good sharp chef’s knife treats me well and within minutes I had my own jar of mirepoix to add to my ‘grab and go menu makers’ in the fridge.

One recipe I made with it was basic chicken soup. This is as simple as recipes come and it was made in about 10 minutes with basic ingredients that I keep on hand just for days such as the day I made this one (ie: days where you think “Seriously? Didn’t I just feed you???”)

Simple 10 Minute Chicken Soup

1 quart of chicken broth (homemade or store bought, I have used both here)

2 cans chicken or 1/2 lb cooked, diced chicken meat (I have used both here as well)

2 cups mirepoix

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine

1 - 2 teaspoons chicken base (bullion or reduced broth packets)

2 cups cooked small pasta noodles (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Put it in a pot, get it hot. Cook until onions go clear. (If you used dry noodles cook until noodles are soft.) Eat and enjoy!

New for T shirts for Luke

2011-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

I found these two second hand shirts for $.50 each and decided it was the perfect time to snaz them up with some decals!

My plan is to match them up with some baby pants made out of my maternity tees.

They should be perfect for my little crawler!

The best dahlia this year

2011-10-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have a tradition of taking pictures of dahlias each fall. I didn’t have any in my garden this year so I had to go to Pt Defiance Dahlia garden to get my yearly dahlia fix. :)

This is my favorite. What a beautiful flower!

This are other ones I got that day that I just love:

And some of the local wildlife:

Here are other dahlia predominate pictures from previous years:

2008

2007

2006

{this moment} - Kitchen baby

2011-09-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

(modified) Primal meal fit for kings!

2011-09-29T18:14:00.001-07:00

From my mise en place kitchen comes my newest favorite breakfast! Onion jam and mushroom omelet with pico de gallo and fried polenta.

I put a pat (about a Tbs) of butter into a hot pan, when the butter had melted and formed a pool I poured two scrambled eggs into the center. As they started to cook I slowly pulled the cooked parts to the center until I had a good omelet. Then I flipped the omelet so the hot side was up and placed 2 Tbs each seared mushrooms and caramelized onion jam into the center and folded it in half over the top of them. While I was doing that I fried some left over polenta (which had formed solid little squares) in a little bit of butter until hot and crispy on the outside. I topped the omelet with my garden pico de gallo and half of an avocado. It was amazing!

Along with this fun success (it wasn’t even for dinner!) I have had two more flops this week. I hate those. It makes me feel as though I am wasting food…. even when it is eatable I feel as though somehow I wasted it. One was a curry acorn squash soup. I have a recipe that has 2/3 yellow split peas and 1/3 squash and it’s delicious! I thought that I could substitute the peas for cauliflower and make it work. Yeah, I was wrong. lol… it was gross! We threw the whole thing away and if you know how much organic cauliflower and squash cost that means it was REALLY bad!

More recipes are coming along though. I made a 10 minute chicken soup which was wonderful with this method. As many flops as I have had, I still feel this is the way to go.

Over the next few days I will be setting up posts for recipes that I have been using on a regular basis. I am hoping to devise a whole new menu plan that incorporates this method and will once again bring my whole kitchen to a level that anyone can just pick up and make what’s for dinner!

Autumn Décor Craft

2011-09-29T17:31:00.001-07:00

I have seen a lot of these felt flowers around and I wanted some for my own. So I set about making myself something with the idea and truly enjoyed putting this together.

All it took was a $4 twig wreath from Michael’s, a glue gun, and the felted flowers I made with this tutorial from Blue Cricket Designs. It was very easy for the amount of awe factor and autumn cuteness!

Happy crafting!

Mise En Place - Saturday is cook ahead day.

2011-09-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely I am getting the hang of making really incredible food on a mostly primal diet. It has taken some serious planning and prep, but this last few weeks I found a technique that makes it much easier!

I have 6 people to feed 3 times a day, with snacks in-between. Doing that while we are running from homeschool co-op classes, horseback riding lessons, youth group, and the various field trips we do has been a huge challenge. I started making things ahead of time… not a lot of things… just sauces and cutting up veggies etc that would help me throw meals and packed lunches together in less time. I didn’t really have a technique for it… I just made a few things here and there that cut the minutes. (Logan’s yogurt is a good example. And is also in the fridge right now. )

Last week I read an article in Whole Living that talked about prep for the weeks meals to make incredible, restaurant quality food in about 10 - 20 minutes. That was exactly what I had been doing! The article also had some incredible ideas for recipes…. all whole foods, mostly grain free. Woot! So this week I started using the technique that I have learned is called mise en place. It means ‘everything in it’s place’ in French and is specifically used in restaurant kitchens for this type of mix and match cooking. I added the recipes from the Whole Living article to my list and now I feel like I am well enough prepared that I can share my newest recipes with you.

Let me tell you, it has brought the meals I have been able to pull together to a whole new level! And it also shows my undying love for everything Mason Jar and Pyrex! (Ignore the very off-plan Monster can in the background. Pretend it doesn’t exist. I do. )

Here is a list of what I have currently prepped in my fridge (which is labeled with what it is and dates just to show how OCD I can be):

Caramelized Onion Jam (from article in Whole Living)
Beet Puree (for the cupcakes at the bottom of this post)
Seared Mushrooms with their juices (also from Whole Living)
Pico de gallo (this recipe with 1/2 a jalapeno added)
Salsa verde (this recipe with tomatillos from my garden!)
Roasted tomato sauce (my recipe from here)
Roasted tomato drippings
Wild rice made with chicken stock
Polenta (Whole Living recipe as well)
Baked white acorn squash (using same technique as here)
Chopped up green and purple kale (in the Pyrex with the daisy on it)
Minced garlic in olive oil
Sliced bell peppers (in a zip lock)
Chopped green leaf lettuce (under the bowl cover to keep crisp)

This is our dinner from yesterday.

I seared a bunch of the cut up kale and peppers in a little bit of olive oil and salt. When they were starting to get nice and soft I added 3 Tbs of the Caramelized Onion Jam and two sliced zucchini. Then I pan fried some shrimp with cayenne pepper and added a fresh made hollandaise made from eggs from my backyard chickens. It was SO good I can not even tell you! And it took about 20 minutes to make from start to finish.

(Since I have concentrated on cooking and the developing of recipes I decided that I wanted to be able to eat the food I cook and be able to give an accurate opinion…. so I decided that I am not going to concentrate on taking great pictures. At least, not at this time.)

Tonight I pan fried some more kale (this time I added a bunch of purple too) and added sliced organic chicken sausage, 1/2 cup of seared mushrooms, and 3 Tbs of the Caramelized Onion Jam. To get all the good stuff on the pan I added 2 Tbs of the Roasted Tomato Drippings. We had all of this over warm polenta with baked acorn squash on the side, drizzled with maple syrup. Again… a meal fit for a gourmet restaurant in under 20 minutes.

Now, for some, this type of food would be a really hard sell to the children in the family. It did take some getting used to for my kids, tell the truth. But now that they are more used to it (I think the word “detox” fits here.. sugar and starch takes time to get out of your system and sometimes it actually requires withdrawal time.) and they really enjoyed both meals. The shrimp being the favorite between the two (even though the squash had the maple syrup).

The planning that has gone into these last few weeks have reminded me quite a bit of the Once a Month Cooking fad that went on for a while. Did anyone else try to do that? I loved some aspects of it, but hated that the foods usually had so much cheese and pasta. With the method I am using now, I still get the fast cooking time while sparing our health and diet ideals. It’s a win/win!

What I love about you - Luke, 7 months old

2011-09-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

I love how you hug my face when you wanted me to pick you up… and I did.

I love how you crawl the fastest on one foot and one knee.

I love it every time you scrunch up your nose when you are excited and wave your arms like you are going to attack something with all your might, and then how gentle you usually are when you actually get it.

I LOVE your babble. So far it is just a series of “brrrrrrrah - bah - bah - bah” but it is so adorable!

I find it really curious that you hate baths but you don’t mind sitting in the grass, even with bare legs!

I really love that you like to be outside with me and will sit in the garden and play with the chickens, or the grass, or some rocks, while I work.

Most of all, I just love you little buddy. I still watch you sleep in awe and amazement that you would be so precious, grow so fast, and learn so much in these last 7 months. You are such a blessing my sweet amazing boy!

{this moment}

2011-09-23T07:57:00.001-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

A few little things….

2011-09-20T18:09:00.001-07:00

This week has been a long one already. I have been trying out recipes and I have some good ones to share, but I also have had quite a few flops. But the biggest news is….

I have a baby with TWO NEW TEETH! He got these teeth in two days last week and was in a ton of pain to the point where I bought him Tylenol (not normally kept for the youngest folk in the house) just so we both could sleep (like, at all). Even this did not help for the two days they were coming in and I spent much of my night nursing just to sooth him enough so *I* could dose fitfully with him laying across my stomach which made me really only half human during the day (and him just a complete bear)! Now though, he has two new pearly whites poking through and he is a much happier baby. :)

It has taken a toll on the blog though. And I am sorry to be absent. A few pictures of recipes that I have made recently:

Peppered chicken breast with sautéed summer veggies (mostly from my garden! YUM!). This recipe was super simple, totally grain free, and completely delicious! One of those recipes I could eat every day. :)

I have also been doing quite a bit more stuff for my kids so they enjoy this process more:

Spaghetti squash spaghetti with ‘angry bird’ meatballs and my Roasted Tomato Sauce (first of the season out of the garden!).

A cantaloupe and grape ‘butterfly’ for Logan’s snack while we learn about caterpillars and metamorphosis.

I have also taken my precious moments that I get every now and again to craft for the first time in a while. In the moments I have taken, my 6 mo old learned to stand (yes people… he’s standing!) So we will see how long the crafting lasts and I am holding on to every second of it!

I promise to tell all, but for now, I have to get back to my baby and our company who is up from Southern CA for the week. Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

{this moment} - Big me, Little me

2011-09-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

A few shots from last week

2011-09-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

I just love following the baby around with the camera. :)

He just so follow-worthy.

On another note, he got his first tooth this week! It was a hard couple of nights but during the day you would not have even known that he was getting teeth. I’ll miss his toothless grin, but I am guessing that the one with teeth will be just as cute!

My how much you’ve grown!

2011-09-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

Isn’t it amazing what 6 short months can do?

5 ways to pamper your children- Part 5

2011-09-13T08:59:00.001-07:00

This food transition has been a huge blessing to me… and it is benefiting my entire family’s health already (Alex’s skin has completely cleared of blemishes, which is saying something when you are a 15 yr old boy). But the emotional connections to certain foods are strong. Alex actually came home from his vacation in Florida and kept saying “where is all the food?” Logan glanced longingly at the Great Harvest Bread Co the last time we went to the Trader Joes (that is next door) and said “Mama… can we please have bread?” complete with puppy dog eyes (I let them get the samples and he seemed thrilled with that). They have had sad moments with he lack of crackers or bread and excited moments when they get to do things like eat two peaches all to themselves…. But the transition has been the hardest on Cyan. She has a tender palette and is a starch lover like my husband. And she has the most emotional connection to her food. So a few moments this week were all about making sure that there were special things for Cyan.

Way #5: Follow up on a promise

It also worked that we started school this week and had our first playdates of the year. I wanted the connection she got from this pampering NOT to be about food. I wanted it to be about love and feeling proud of herself. So when she asked me to do her hair and I thought why not take this opportunity to pamper her a little bit? Afterall, she has asked me tons of times for cool hairdos but I haven’t ever done more than a few variations of Laura Ingalls braids and pig tails.

I found this site with wonderful hairdos for girls and decided to try one out for a tea party playdate we had that afternoon:

She wore it so proudly!

Then two days later, I tried another one for the Puyallup Fair parade:

It was so wonderful to see her so proud as friends asked her about her hairdo. Neither one was hard, I just hadn’t taken the time to follow up with some research on our hairdo conversation. I am so glad I took that time. I feel like I have a new skill too! I have two new fancy hairdos under my belt that I can put together in about 15 minutes and I plan on learning more.

What type of pampering is going on at your house this week?

Let’s start with dessert

2011-09-12T15:58:00.001-07:00

Seriously, be honest. What is the first thing you think of when you think of a ‘healthy/grain free/dairy free/soy free’ dessert?

Yeah… “Yuck!” Me too.

But not this one. It is AMAZING! It is also SUPER simple.

Dark chocolate and unsweetened coconut grilled bananas

Just slice the banana down the side longwise and stuff with a few dark chocolate chips (*fair trade please!) and some shredded unsweetened coconut.

Then wrap in foil and grill on high for about 30 minutes. The inside of the banana should be super gooey, all the chocolate should be melted, and the outside of the peel should be black. (You can do this in your oven at 450* too.)

Carefully unpeel your banana and serve with a spoon.

A tip… the riper the banana the sweeter the taste, to a point. If your banana is already looking crazy soft (like spotty enough for banana bread) then it will taste fermented when it is grilled. So avoid the super ripe ones and pick one in the middle if you have a real sweet tooth.

Enjoy this low sugar treat for an amazing end to any meal!

Lets talk about food (with injected pictures of really amazing meals)

2011-09-11T17:27:00.001-07:00

Hey there. It’s been a while since I have subjected any of you to my rambling deep thoughts… so I figure this post will be forgiven. ;)

In the last year I have gone through a total food transformation. One of those food transformations that can only be caused by the eating of foods making you or someone else in your family very sick. I honestly have had a hard time believing in food sensitivities in some regards and then surprised beyond all reason that we are ALL not subjected to them in others. On one hand, we all eat food. Some of us are more sensitive than others. And I am always shocked at what people’s systems can handle without being amazingly sick in our western food diet! The mutilation of the human diet is just mind baffling if you really study it at length.

Strange fact about me, I can’t have cooked fruit, juice being the worst. So many of these things you see me making on here during this season of plenty I can’t and don’t eat later. The peaches and applesauce especially is just for my children or to be used in cooking. Occasionally I have something like a Jamba Juice or apple cider to test my juice resolve. I am always punished with severe intestinal cramping. So juice is out. Cooked juice is the worst (like apple juice from concentrate) unless I am using it in cooking where the concentrated juice sugar is mixed with tons of other things.

Breakfast.

When I did the elimination diet for Luke’s vomiting issues back in April I had thoughts that I was crazy. That he just had reflux and would throw up no matter what I did. But now I see it is directly linked to dairy and soy. So I took those out as well as the cooked juice and the normal breastfeeding no-no’s that would cause gas.

Then Don decided to go on the Paleo/Primal diet 6 weeks ago. This is a HUGE change for my pasta-lovin’ man and I decided to take that challenge as well. I was THRILLED with this veggie heavy diet and excited that he was willing to take the plunge for something so completely different than his taste. The journey has already been rewarding. Although the price to feed our large growing brood nothing but produce and good cuts of meat is amazing! (I am figuring that out too, slowly but surely. More on that to come in another post.)

Turkey stuffed peppers with a salad from our garden (and bought avocado).

As I discovered the joys of cooking without grains and legumes (and some intense frustrations, I’ll be honest!) we became more and more happy with our diet but we were surprised when we had two completely different body reactions. Where Don’s intestines started to clear out, mine backed up completely. Both of us had to adjust what we were doing for our specific body needs. Me, never being much of a carb addict, added my homemade three grain granola and wild rice back into my diet. I figured that because my body was so limited (already I was “no cabbage family, no cucumber family, no juice, no soy, no dairy”) that I just wasn’t able to get enough fiber with the limitations I was dealing with when I added in paleo (ie: “no grains, no starchy tubers, and no legumes”… so basically, I was eating meat and carrots). I was back on track in a matter of days. Don’s eventually leveled out and and my adjustments made it easy for me to follow suit. I now had the new parameters for our ‘daily bread’ (which was now nothing but a figure of speech as we are no longer eating bread. lol!) and set off to make the best menu I could.

At this time Luke started being really interested in food. I was looking at books like Organically Raised by Anni Daulter and Babylove by Norah O’Donnell for his first recipes and I realized that the requirements that were used to feed the youngest of our population were somehow forgotten once our bodies got to the ‘Age of the Happy Meal’.

My first really GOOD grain-free dinner pancake with blackberry honey syrup.

This really got me thinking. What happened to the way we fed ourselves as a society? What happened to the simple foods that are for babies? Why is it we have to add in so much stuff in our food? Is it for taste? Because I have found that very often the most simple fare is by far and away the best tasting. A little olive oil and perhaps some salt on a whole huge pan of root veggies baked to fork tender, a teaspoon of honey on a bowl of fresh sliced strawberries… what else is needed? I have seen SO many restaurants that serve the seemingly ‘gourmet’ foods and really all they are doing is making super simple FRESH food. What a strange conundrum that a box of mac & cheese (“with new fun shaped pasta!!”) reads like a science dictionary and something so simple as a half a pear with blue cheese and some reduced apple cider dressing would be a $12 first plate in a gourmet restaurant. What a backwards world!

Packing Don’s lunch of fajita salad with spring greens.

I have watched the diet dictocrats go back and forth for a long time and this is the first time that they fall directly in line with some of my personal beliefs about food. It has made me laugh aloud more than once to read the pure common sense that is coming out of some of the Paleo and Primal food writers. Get outside every day. Eat fruits and vegetables all the time. Eat meat that hasn’t been raised standing in it’s own excrement. That will make you healthier and feel better. You don’t say?

I am excited to share some of my food findings and new recipes with you. And I am even more excited to see how easy this can be and share THAT with you. I was really worried this would be tough as nails to try to get 6 people enjoying super simple, fresh food every day, but I am finding that once the crap was gone (and crap is such a limited term in my household already) this has been one of the most rewarding food journeys our family as taken.

Blessings to you and yours for this new and beautiful week!

Corn for Fun

2011-09-10T14:16:00.001-07:00

Just like the onions that I planted, I have never had success with growing corn. I got this set of corn plants the same day I got my onion starts. They were wilty and sad looking and obviously root bound. I spent $.99 on two packets of them. I called my tiny patch “corn for fun” because obviously, I wasn’t going to get a ton from 8 plants that were on super sale due to neglect. But I put them in the ground with some good intentions and lots of water and hoped they would grow…. and they did!

This last week in home-school Logan and I read the book Harvest by Kris Waldherr and went out to harvest our own little patch of garden. We picked lemon cucumbers, tomatoes, sunflowers, and we checked on the corn for fun. It was ready! Logan LOVED bringing in this super yummy treat and he helped me cook it for lunch. (The way I cook corn is bring the water to a boil and put the corn in for 2-3 minutes. Just long enough for it to get good and hot… and no more.)

It was the tastiest treat we had yet this season out of the garden! Everyone raved about how fantastic it was and the whole plate was gone super quick!

I even cut the kernels and gave the baby a little ear of the yummy treat. We had a very happy crew and I will definitely be planting corn (and onions) again next year!

This has been a good garden year after all… Right now I am turning over the corn patch for some winter greens and beets and my tomatoes are starting to come on in force. With these two yummy successes under our belts we have a better idea of the rotation that we want for next year and the amendments that are needed to get the rest of what we want out of our 1/4 acre of heaven. I am thankful every day for this blissful little piece of land that is ours.

{this moment}

2011-09-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Moments in the garden with boys

2011-09-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Beautiful harvest afternoon with my two curious little boys.

Peaches are done! Barely…

2011-09-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

These jars should be worth about $20 each. lol… these peaches were a different variety than I normally get. I got the deal from Zycon, which was a great deal! But when you factor in the new variety doesn’t peel at all (even when blanched)… well then it takes on a whole new level of value. One that takes about 22 hours of work, two friends, and two super late nights for my yearly 40 quarts of peaches. YIKES! So I will not be buying peaches from them again. I sure hope all the other people in line for the peaches had better luck with the peeling than I did.

Recipe - Sugar Free Canned Peaches

Labor Day Weekend on the Canal

2011-09-05T20:22:00.001-07:00

This weekend we were invited to camp up at a friends property on Hood Canal. It was an incredible trip!

We spent the second day on the boat searching out the elusive Dungeness crab.

Cyan, who had never been crabbing before, was seriously impressed with the haul. They found tons of crab (although not many big enough to eat), a Sun Star (which Cyan was able to identify for everyone on board), and saw several seals, one of which who was doing some fishing of his own.

Alex was quite chill about the whole adventure and hung out the whole time on the bow of the boat enjoying the scenery.

Logan and Noah (our friends son) sat in the back of the boat with me and seriously enjoyed the jets…

Only three crab were big enough to come home with us for dinner, but we shared an incredible meal of crab and potluck yumminess!

This was the view from our campsite. How beautiful it was to wake up to this!

Sunrise was stunning! And due to the baby and a 42* night (fall is coming!) we were up very early making oatmeal and cocoa and had the wonderful privilege to watch the sun come up over the trees from our picnic tables!

The whole trip was amazing! It was beautiful and I loved hanging out with our wonderful friends watching the beautiful view, reading books in lawn chairs spying eagles, grey doves, and bats fly by in the evening and just being in the wilderness.

Thank you, garage sale fairy! (Yet another $50 remodel)

2011-09-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

The garage-sailing good luck fairy was with me last Friday. I found this pair of PERFECT condition winged back chairs for $25 each. They bring the blue into my very beige and red living room and round the whole thing out so nicely, pulling the blue from the tv cabinet curtains that I made last year. My living room is becoming my happy place again.

In the last month I have also found a perfect condition clock stereo for Cyan, two 12 lb hand weights (the good rubber coated ones, $1 each!), TONS of clothes for both Cyan and Luke, a backyard toddler slide, a hanging lamp (also blue and funky), a new bed frame (our mattress has been on the floor for 13 years!) and more. I allow myself $40 each payday and then spend all of Friday morning garage sailing. We have two ritzy neighborhoods we hit regularly, but I have rarely gotten anything truly awesome from those (although I have discovered that the clothes are nicer). It’s the little hole in the wall neighborhoods that have the best scores and the man selling these beautiful chairs was no exception. He had an entire garage FILLED with nice pieces of furniture, mostly older pieces like these ones, and nothing was over $100… not even a huge beautiful table and chairs! I could have spent quite a pretty penny there… but I refrained and stuck to my budget +$10 cus it was the best deal I had seen in forever. $50 and these babies are sitting in my livingroom, making things pretty. Can’t ask for much more than that! A true score!

I just love creating something beautiful with 50 bucks and an afternoon!

{this moment} ~ I Spy, a Cat…

2011-09-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

5 Ways to Pamper Your Children ~ Part 4

2011-09-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have no memories of ever having a lemonade stand. And most of my friends have bad memories at best. However, against all advice, my daughter has become obsessed with them. She has asked me for one every week or so all summer long. Well, last weekend, it just so happened that a neighbor was having an estate sale. There were signs all over the neighborhood proclaiming said sale and cars started tooling past our house about 8:15am. How could you make a more perfect day for a lemonade stand than when you have hundreds of cars driving past your house anyway?!

Way #4: Make dreams come true.

I told her she could have her long sought after lemonade stand and I started to make a huge pitcher of real, from scratch lemonade. She started to pull out school desks and make signs:

She was positively BEAMING with joy as the first person got back into their car after giving her $1 for a cookie and 3 glasses of lemonade for their kids in the car. It wasn’t long after that that a sweet old couple passed by and each bought a glass. Soon after that the neighbor kids came over to join in the fun and together the girls made signs, and instructed their little brothers to stand on the corner and call out “Real lemonade! Mom made! No germs!” LOL!

Before long they had people stopping every few minutes and people even walking down to take a break from the sale for a refreshing drink.

By the end of the afternoon they had made over $15! (When your stuff costs only 25 cents, that is crazy impressive!) They split it amongst the two families of kiddos and came in the happiest kids in the world!

Could you pass this by? Yeah… me either. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What kind of pampering is going on in your house this week?

My first onion braid!

2011-08-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

These onions have been so satisfying!

To braid them I followed along with this video on how to braid garlic… it worked out great! I could hang them on my wall or tuck them in a basket and either way they are cured and all ready for eating. YUM!

Take my breath away

2011-08-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever woken up to an absolutely perfect morning?

This is what it was on Wednesday when I went to pick up my Zycon peaches (which look great btw). I couldn’t help but turn around and go back to grab my camera.

What an incredibly lovely place we live in! We are so amazingly blessed.

5 ways to pamper your children - Part 3

2011-08-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

It was a long night. I had just had dental work done and we had friends over late. I woke up and barely stumbled through the house to make breakfast. I was barking at everyone and Don was leaving to have the car’s breaks fixed and then head to the doctors… which meant that any moment of peace I would have before he left for work would be gone. I had woken up thinking of all the things I had to get done and decided that I wasn’t going to play by the rules today. I was going to wake up and craft and the house could go to pot. (This was the day of the craft fail).

I then decided that all rules were off. Heck… lets have banana splits for breakfast.

Way to pamper your kids #3: Break the rules.

Notice that not once does Logan look at the camera. He was completely in love with that banana split. It reminded me of the time we made s’mores for breakfast when our furnace broke.

The headlines read that day: “Grumpy mom makes kids happy.” :)

What kind of pampering is going on in your house this week?

‘Craft Fail’ no more. :)

2011-08-27T20:17:00.001-07:00

Remember this? It took me quite a while the next day to figure out how to make them not all look like they had fallen victim to terrible vertigo, but once I finally got it I was SO happy with the results! Only two birds ended up being weighted correctly to ‘stand’ and the rest I hung from 40lb fishing line so they are ‘floating’.

The top of the birds is made from the hem of an old linen curtain, and the bottoms are left over quilt squares from past quilts (one of them being the quilt on Logan’s bed, so it matches.) The entire thing was free (I already had the fishing line.) and I can say that those are my very favorite types of crafts! I just love turning something that would have been trash into something that I will treasure.

Below is the view from Luke’s bed.

All the pretty colored bellies make me happy.

Best of all, he loves it! He will lay there and make happy baby babble to it. It is quite adorable!

5 ways to pamper your children - part 2

2011-08-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

It’s been ‘hot’. And I leave that in quotations because it has been on average about 80* in the afternoons here. lol.. so not really ‘hot’… just hot for Western Washington this summer. How sad is that?

My kids don’t get to play in water outside until it is 80* outside… so they haven’t gotten to pull out any kind of water device until this last week.

Way to pamper your kids #2: Just Add Water!

Above are two squirt bottles that are in the beauty section of Target (these replace squirt guns in our house, and they usually work better anyway!) and then sponge balls (idea from here).

Two full days of outside water battle fun and a beautiful 7 day forecast. And my kids have naturally stayed out from underfoot while I do some last minute homeschool prep for the start of our year. It’s a win/win pampering moment.

{this moment} - First Friends

2011-08-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{Inspired by SouleMama}

Flavored Water Break

2011-08-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

My body requires that I drink about a gallon of water a day. Yes, you read that right. Between breastfeeding my 6 month old, P90X, and just it being summer time 100 oz is what is recommended to be by my naturopath to protect my milk supply and head off mastitis (which I have had twice this time around! Blech!). But let me tell you, 100 oz of water a day gets BORING. I started adding lemon and slices of cucumbers into my water. Then my friend gave me a set of 4 old milk bottles that she found at a garage sale and I went crazy.

Here is what we have tried so far (and if it was good for the kids or not):

Slices of Lemon
Slices of Lime
Sliced Watermelon
Sliced Watermelon & Sliced Kiwi (kids say no)
Slices of Orange
Pineapple Sage (my current favorite)
Fresh Mint
Fresh Chocolate Mint
Cucumber (we used the lemon cukes out of the garden, they worked great!)
Cucumber with Fresh Basil (kids say no. I thought it was great!)
Pineapple
Blueberries (kids say no)
Lavender (kids say no)

And I am still looking so this is what we are trying next (please, let me know if you have tried any of these!):

Slices of Ginger
Coffee beans (just a few?)
Lavender & Blueberries
Celery

I have tried so many different kinds of water in the last few weeks and it has made getting my daily ration of water SO much easier! I hardly even have to think about it. I have three or four different kinds of water in my fridge at all times. It feels like a treat to fill up my cup.