Sustainable Communities

For the past several years, Steve and I have discussed how we long to live in a close, rural community;  Neighbors helping eachother, bartering services and goods.  I found a fantastic post about this at Down To Earth.   Some of our friends and family have expressed similiar interest in the idea, making even the possibility of having something like this be a reality, a bit exciting. 

Feeling Good by Getting Dirty

I have several pictures like the one in this great post over at Simple Mom. Set my twins out in our garden bed (we gave up on trying to grow anything this year) with a shovel and some construction vehicles (or race cars, school buses... anything can be a dump truck) and their in hog heaven. It's a good day when they're covered in dirt, sweat, and smiles.

Worth a Look

A great idea for a kids Lenten activity. 

Preparing For Advent

Did you know that Advent begins next Sunday? This is my favorite season in the Church's calendar; the time to reflect on the history of God's people, prepare with joy for His coming at Bethlehem, and look forward to when He will come again. There are many books, activities and prayers available not only for children but for adults looking to celebrate, learn, pray and enjoy this wonderful time.

I recently found a post by Karen Edminsten, The No-Panic Advent Series. In it she has combined all her posts about advent, making it a one-stop-shop, so to speak, of all her ideas for making this season special. She covers so many great topics; The Jesus Stocking, December Feast Days, The Jesse Tree, balancing secularity with Christian heritage, simple traditions (advent wreaths and calendars, prayers and books), Santa, last minute checklists, and the Twelve Days. It's a very long post but is simply a gold mine of tips, links and ideas.

I have posted before about wanting to start some traditions for this time with my family. The Jesse Tree is top on my list but I have come across so many more wonderful ideas, it's almost a little overwhelming. Taking the advice of more seasoned mothers though, I have started a folder compiling ideas, activities, and websites full of prayers and meditations. There is no way I can do everything in one year, nor should I try, and this will allow me to hold on to these ideas for future years. We'll try more ideas as the years go on and hold on to those that are most meaningful for our family.

As time is in short supply this year I think the only new addition to our calendar will be the celebration of St Nicholas Day. We will make and hang stockings on the 5th (St Nicholas Day Eve) and read his story. The next day they will find a few fun trinkets, fruit or candy in them. We'll read some more, bake some Speculaas cookies, say some prayers and enjoy a special dinner.

What special traditions do you have for this season?

Water Play

I've come across another great blog, The Wonder Years. No, it's not about the tv show, it's a mom of two young children sharing toddler and preschool activities based on the Montessori approach. We've already tried a couple of the activities with great results.
Our first activity was water pouring. 2 trays (cookie sheets till I can get some smaller ones) with 2 plastic cups and one small sponge each. Simply pouring the water back and forth and wiping up the spills has become at least a twice daily event. I leave one stocked tray on their bookshelf and they bring the tray to the table when they want to work. When I introduced this activity I did it one child at a time and in separate rooms. Gabe started in the kitchen and Addie started at the kids table in the playroom. They were able to take in my demonstration and concentrate on trying it themselves without distraction. I think this was the key. They can work at the kitchen table together now without flinging (hooray!)

Kickin' Chicken Gravy

Thursday night I made Chicken Pasties using a recipe I linked to a while back. I used ground chicken, onion, white potatoes, carrots and peas in our pasties and an easy homemade pie dough. The veggies and meat were well seasoned and the crust was very flaky and buttery, but what really made this dish sing was the gravy. In fact, it's so good that we'll continue to make it for other dishes; it would be fabulous poured over baked chicken and rice.

Chicken Gravy

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp chicken base (or bouillon) dissolved in 2 cups water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp italian seasoning (we used pizza & pasta magic which has parmesan cheese, garlic, onion, crushed red pepper, thyme, basil, and oregano.)

Make a roux in a deep saucepan with the butter and flour. Whisk in chicken base and cook at a low boil until thickened. Stir in soy sauce and seasoning.

A Little Link Love

Have you heard of Ciao Bella? It's a wonderful brand of gelato and sorbet that I have recently discovered. As I type this I am enjoying a cup of Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet. It's so rich and smooth, I have never tasted anything quite like it. Yum!

This is such a great idea for keeping mementos from vacations and trips. I have never been one for scrapbooking although I like the idea of holding on to more than just pictures. -From The Inspired Room

This video clip of a musician explaining why he hates Pachelbel's Canon is hilarious. - Hat Tip: Many Little Blessings

What a sweet idea for a way to celebrate one of Juliana's Patron saints, St. Rose of Lima. I am excited to find ideas for Addie and Gabe as well (St. Irene and St. Gabriel.) - From Catholic Cuisine

Are you thinking about fall yet? This is my favorite season if for no other reason than the smells; burning leaves, pumpkin pies and all things apple and spice. I can just imagine how wonderful this garland would smell and it's easy enough to be an afternoon craft the kids could help with. Well, ok, by help I mean mush dough in their fingers and slap cutouts on it repeatedly. But they would certainly enjoy it. -From Skip To My Lou

Pint-sized furniture

Mom picked up this table and chairs set for us the last time she was up at IKEA. Dad took it home, stained it and put on some polyurethane. The result is gorgeous and functional. The kids love having their own place to read and draw. Now if we can just get them to stop using it as a personal launch pad....

A Little Link Love

Life lessons from finger painting; it’s the process, not the product. From On Simplicity.

Check out some awesome pictures of the Dawn Treader being built for the new Narnia film! From Under Her Starry Mantle.

I am anxious to try out this recipe for Ground Beef Pasties (though I'll use ground chicken.) They look delicious and easy to boot. Plus they freeze well! From Cooking During Stolen Moments.

I can hardly wait for Easter to try out these silk-dyed eggs, they're so beautiful! From Our Best Bites.

Check out this blog about a Mom's hobby of fixing up her daughters' hair. No, really. It's crazy. I hope Addie and Juliana don't expect things like this from me, I can do a ponytail and a straight braid. The end. From The Story Of A Princess And Her Hair.

How fun are these chocolate bowls?! I'm so finding a time to make these. From Gourmet Mom on-the-go.

Freshly Baked Goodness

I've been on a baking kick for the last couple of weeks. When I'm stressed, getting in the kitchen and working with my hands can be very soothing. So can the smells of freshly-baked-goodness wafting through the air after all the effort.

This past week we've had zucchini bread and applesauce breads made with my chunky spiced applesauce. (The batch I made for last Christmas turned out a little strong so it works perfectly to add texture and spice to these sweet breads.) I made some modifications to these recipes, omitting oil and nuts and changing spice amounts but they're great recipes to start with.

I've also tried two new chocolate chip cookie recipes, one fairly straight forward and one using vanilla pudding mix. Both are excellent but I'm working on merging them to get the perfect flavor of one with the structure of the other.

For the baptism party I made a wonderful bundt called Too Much Chocolate Cake. Instead of topping it with a glaze or frosting I opted for cool whip (Kool Wheep!) and fresh strawberries and it was a perfect compliment.

Last Thursday I made a batch of pull apart dinner rolls but they did not turn out as well as I would have hoped. I like my rolls to be light and buttery but these were quite dense and the flavor wasn't quite right. (Though it could also have been in my conversions, I cut the recipe by a 1/3 but some ingredients aren't easily converted, like the 2 eggs. uhh....)

Yesterday was my first attempt at soft pretzels. The dough came together easily and I decided to try a few different ideas with it. I believe the total weight of dough was just over 2 lbs and with that I made 3 hoagie rolls, 6 pretzels and 3 wrapped hot dogs. They cooked up easily and tasted great, though not anything I would normally consider as a pretzel. We also didn't have kosher salt to top them with so they were just brushed with melted butter. Next time I will be trying a recipe from my Bakers Dozen cookbook.

It's been busy in the kitchen lately, but baking is something I really enjoy. It allows me to channel some of my need to be creative and productive and also give something useful and enjoyable to my family. Next on my list are pizza bread, bagels and cinnamon buns.

Friday Finds

I am frequently drawn to vintage and old fashioned styles so I am always excited to find stores that offer inspired clothing, like Red Dress Shoppe. I am completely in love with the 1940's couture dress, isn't it fantastic?!

As much as I appreciate pieces like these I don't have many places to wear them. This is where my love of aprons comes in. They protect my clothes when cooking or cleaning, serve as towels for drying hands or little eyes, and can actually help keep me productive. Something as simple as putting on and taking off an apron clearly marks the beginning and end of a task. But most of all, they can be so. darn. cute. The perfect way to have my cake and eat it, too.

My sister, Jen, made this fantastic reversible apron for me several months ago. "More work than you'd ever think would go into an apron." she said smiling. But oh, so worth it!!

A Friday Find

I love tea. All kinds of tea. Hot, cold, black, white, green, and herbal. My favorites are usually black teas since I don't drink coffee and they can give me a caffeine boost when I need one. So when I came across a tea called Pu-Erh Tuo Cha at Whole Foods the other day I was intrigued. It's described as being full-bodied with notes of sweet molasses and cocoa. Cocoa? I'm there. And now I'm hooked. One of the best things about this loose leaf tea is that one brick will take me through multiple servings and the flavor doesn't become bitter if steeped for a long time. Even Steve, who normally won't touch tea with a ten foot pole, enjoyed it. Now that's saying something.

Small Successes

1. The kids room is almost done! We've gone with a safari theme and it really looks great. The border is up, the kids each have a leaf canopy over their cribs, there are animal decals on the walls, and we just hung the mosquito netting tent last night.

2. Juliana is becoming a chub in record time. For her 2 week checkup the goal was for her to be back at her birth weight, 6lbs 10oz. She was 7lbs 5oz and pronounced wonderfully healthy.

3. This is actually coming two weeks late, but our first catering gig as The Brunch Box was a smashing success. People were blown away by the variety and portion sizes and our clients expressed an interest in having one of those suction tubes (like at a bank) set up between their building and ours.

Today's brunch

Bacon and Cheese Breakfast Bread.
It's in the rising process right now, but every indication is that this bread will be delicious. For the meat and dairy eaters of the house, that is. Though I must say, any bread that requires aprox. 3.5 hours to make isn't going to be a breakfast staple in this house, hence our eating brunch today instead.

Good Friday

"On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes her gaze on the Cross at Calvary. Each member of the Church tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption." - www.catholic.org

If you are like me and unable to get to Church today here is a link to the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori, read by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf. I find it helpful to see representations while praying, so here is another link to The Stations of the Cross that has beautiful images accompanying the meditations.

And over at Kristen's blog you can find today's Gospel reading, John 18:1 - 19:42

Small Successes

1. I made a trip to In His Name and picked up some items to start putting together a mass kit for the kids. I got them each a rosary with small plastic beads on a rope, so no more breaking! I also picked up 12 holy cards, laminated them, punched a small hole in the top corner of each and put them on 2 key rings for the kids to look through during Mass. Each ring has a Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary and 2 male and 2 female saints. I picked up St. Dominic, St. George, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Nicholas, St. Anne, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Therese, and St. Catherine Laboure.



2. Mondays dinner was terrific, so I'm sharing.
Crockpot Chicken Merlot w/ Mushrooms
1 lb chicken breasts, cut in large chunks
12 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup chicken broth
6 oz tomato paste
1/4 cup Merlot
2 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
2 tsp basil
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine veggies, garlic and chicken in crockpot. In separate bowl whisk together remaining ingredients then pour over mixture. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours (or low for 8.) Serve over pasta.

3. The kids have started putting their crayons to paper instead of in their mouths! I got a big pad of white paper and set them up with a few crayons each and they went to town. They really enjoy when I draw a few pictures for them of their favorite things like a school bus, balloons, or a kitty cat. Addie was so into it the first day that, apart from a break to get dressed and brush teeth, she colored straight from breakfast to lunch.

Mind over clutter

Deep in the trenches of clearing out our spare room, I found this blog post encouraging me to do what I know needs to be done. Just get rid of it already!

A dear friend came over yesterday and helped me clear out the spare closet. I had been dreading this task for a year, at least. The longer I put off doing it, the bigger the undertaking seemed to be. We were sitting in the room, discussing all the changes to be made and de-cluttering still to do, and I mentioned my anxiety over clearing out the closet. After taking a quick a look and pronouncing that it wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting, she pulled out a single item and said, "What would you do with this?" Good Will, I said. She dropped it in the box, and stepped back to the closet for another item. Attic, was the determination and in the box it went. In the course of the next 30-40 minutes we had filled up 2 bags of trash and allocated all remaining items to their appropriate sorting boxes. I think I knew all along that the job wasn't as overwhelming as it seemed to be, I just needed some help getting started.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."
-William James

Last harvest before the frost

I am amazed at how resilient our tomato plants have been. Over a month ago we were sure we were going to lose them in the high winds of a passing hurricane. While two of the plants did topple, their stems didn't break and they kept right on growing, extending suckers and leaves out to two feet beyond the garden bed. To my surprise, this final harvest yielded 70 (mostly green) tomatoes and 15 peppers. Regrettably, we didn't keep a formal count of this years harvest but our estimates are 350 tomatoes, 35 peppers, and 40 cucumbers. In all we had 4 tomato plants, one pepper plant, and 3 cucumber plants that only survived for a month or so before succumbing to downy mildew.

Soon we will clear out the remaining greens, turn the soil and add compost and leaves to condition the soil for the next planting. I am excited to plan for next spring and have learned much from this year’s effort. I know we will have more tomatoes next year however I plan on using a ladder system instead of the veggie cages from this year. The cages did work well, but I think I'll use them for a different kind of veining plant, pole beans perhaps. We were unprepared for how large the four plants would grow (learning about pinching suckers to control size a bit too late) and they quickly outgrew what the cages were meant to handle. We will also be building a second bed, 4-6 feet by 2 feet just for the tomatoes. It was easy to prune and tie the tomatoes from the back, but to reach up high in the front actually required stepping into the bed. Fortunately our radishes had already been finished off so there was no trampling.

In all I would say this year has been a great success for a novice gardener. Learning to provide for our family in this way brings comfort in uncertain times and has instilled a greater respect for natures workings. Looking at the garden every day and seeing the growth that comes from such tiny seeds, along with the loss of whole crops (ahem, carrots) has served as a reminder of Jesus' parable of the Sower and the Seed. Quiet prayer and reflection on God's creation and plan for mankind was a wonderfully unexpected fruit of this garden.

Wonderful news

over at Faith and Family today!

Small Changes, Part 2

Ditch the Disposables Challenge: Paper towels and household cleaners

So far things have been going well with the re-useable cloths instead of paper towels. I get out 2 each morning, one for cleaning the babies and one for spills and general cleaning. I use new ones each day for 4-5 days then wash all of them with a larger load, no need for a special load, which saves energy.

In addition, I have stopped buying many household cleaners. I have found that the cleaners made at home with simple ingredients that are cheap and readily available work just as well as, if not better than, store brands. My all-purpose cleaner of choice is a 50/50 split of white vinegar and water. For clogged drains I pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain followed by 1/2 cup of vinegar, allow that to sit for a few minutes then flush down with a gallon of boiling water. I use Borax and washing soda when I wash the kids cloth diapers and I'm planning on making laundry detergent with them as well. Check out Earth Easy for tons of great non-toxic home care tips.