Life Gets Messy

New Blog (again)

2011-03-03T08:48:00.002-06:00

I'm moving... all of my posting will happen over at my new site

please stop by for a visit.

storm damage on our road

2011-03-01T14:21:00.000-06:00

I took the girls for a drive down our road this afternoon to show them how serious yesterday's storms were. Here are their pictures, all taken on Hurricane Creek.

The only undisturbed section of the road is right in the middle, where we live.

I'm so thankful we were so lucky.

My very own cupcake war...

2011-02-15T00:00:00.001-06:00

Me Vs. Them.

So I had this bright idea to bake cupcakes. They were supposed to be for Peanut's birthday on Sunday, but we ended up going out to eat and getting ice cream afterward, so we never got around to making them. So since I was on tea & dessert detail for the Senior Center lunch on Tuesday, I figured why not? After all what can be so bad about tripling a recipe that calls for a 1b of butter? Oh my, what was I thinking...

You see it happens that my mother is a Valentines baby, and so the girls and I spent a great day out antiquing with her to celebrate her birthday. No problem, right? I'll just make them when I get home... How bad can it be? First there was the tripling of the math. While on the phone with my in-laws. We got the cake batter made and started the first batch baking... did I mention I only own 1 muffin pan?

Then, I decided to start on the frosting... it started with a meringue. Now I'd never made a meringue before, but how bad can it be? It required Peanut to use the mixer on the egg whites, and I was stirring the simple syrup like crazy on the stove and trying to improvise a beer thermometer for a candy thermometer, scared the whole time I was gonna burn the house down. Add in the 2 lbs of butter, and we're good to go, right?

Well... that is until the first decorating bag blew out down a side seam... all over me...and then a second. and a third. and a zip bag, and another zip bag. I really wanted these things to look nice, but by the end I was slapping frosting on with a spatula, dropping them in any box I could find and saying the heck with it...

When the kids were headed up to bed I was reported to be sporting frosting on my forehead... Maybe it's still there. Who knows.. Who cares? I may never bake again. I think I'll go sit in the corner and rock, and talk to myself now... Thanks.

Love & Paella

2011-01-12T22:01:00.000-06:00

How do I love thee today? Let me count the ways...

for cooking me bacon for breakfast
for doing the dishes ~~twice~~ three times today
for helping M with long division
for helping M with multiplication
for the way you cackle when you beat me at Mario Kart
for hiking in the woods with me when it's cold & dark out
for taking pictures of the deer for me
for finding files for me while I chat online & on the phone with my friends
for hauling wood and keeping me warm
and most of all, tonight I love you for Paella. Gracias. Delicioso!

New Year's Itch...

2011-01-05T08:39:00.000-06:00

Do you have it? That start-fresh do-something-different bug that hits this time of year? A strange urge to move furniture, or paint something? Shop at the thrift stores? Re-arrange stuff? I've got it! BAD! Lucky me, my patient hubby is up for playing along. You might even say he enabled me when he put in that floor outlet so I could have a table lamp in the middle of the living room. It's love...

Here's everything I'm ~~obses...~~ considering right now. Ask Sherrie.

I brought paint chips to coffee yesterday! I've got a TON of ideas for nearly every room in our house, and the most expensive thing should be the paint. Score!

But aren't they great colors? I'm repainting our bathrooms barley, the main room craft white, the bottom kitchen cabinets coffee bean, and our room woodsmoke. Ahhhh...bliss...

And see this? No, I didn't spring for the good drop cloths for painting... think cheap fabric. I'll post pics once I get it done. Very PB-esque doncha think? Only Cheap.

This new little sign I scored for $2 at Burkes Outlet says it best.

cook it yourself

2011-01-02T19:00:00.001-06:00

So, by now we've all seen Rachel Ray whip up something tasty in 30 minutes or less, right? And usually, she doesn't start with a box of this or a bag of that. She cooks fresh food in a short amount of time. So can you. After all, you don't have to talk to a camera the whole time. By starting with fresh (preferably local) ingredients, and preparing it yourself, you have much more control over what you're eating. Here's a link from Rachel's magazine about saving money & eating fresh. This is a win-win here. You save money by staying out of the drive-thru, get to enjoy being home more, and know what you're eating.

11 new goals for 2011

2011-01-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

Confuse people less. Say less, with better meaning.
More camp, Less farm. This is our motto for 2011. Actually we've been trying for awhile to strike a balance between self-sustaining and working way too hard. I hope to make a go of it this year.
Eat better/ 100 miles. This was a goal for last year, which we did fairly well, and I hope to continue even better for 2011.
Exercise more. Wii fit is already helping with that.
Stay home more. We've been doing this for the last few weeks, and it's been great!
Spend more time together as a family (see # 4 & 5)
Learn something new. I'm working on a history class, an environmental science class and some seminary classes online.
Finish something. I aim to finish a scarf I've been crocheting, and some of the other projects in my basement.
Start something. I'm not sure what yet, but a new project I think for a new year. Stone walls maybe.
Take better care of my garden. This is big, since it impacts our attempts to eat locally.
Blog regularly. Well, here I am, but I startt every year with a big blog push, and somewhere mid-garden I get lost. I hope to fix that this year. I hope to post on Life Gets Messy on Monday, Wednesday & Friday, Listening for the Quiet on Tuseday & Thursday, and Eat Local TN on Saturdays. THe best laid plans of mice & men you know, but we'll see how I do.

So. What are your 11 goals for 2011? Leave a comment & share with me!

Happy New Year!

Read Labels

2010-12-31T07:00:00.000-06:00

The first thing I would suggest you do to know where you food is coming from is really learn to read labels. Religiously. Remember this Breyers Ice Cream ad from the 1980's? Take your cue from this and look instead for ice cream that has ingredients like milk, cream, sugar, & vanilla... You cannot assume any one brand will be real food. Most Breyers, for instance, now has all the crap in it they were bashing in the 80's. But they still make some labeled "natural" that is the real deal. Choose Carefully!

Before this turns into an ice cream post, lets get back to my point. Read the labels. Yes, this will sometimes get you looked at funny in the grocery store, but its worth knowing what you're putting in your body. I'd rather take a few minutes reading than risk drinking fish milk, you know?

Some things to avoid: Artificial sweeteners, HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), and things with too many words that end in ...ose, those are usually sugars too.

Really, I can make this simple for you. An ingredient should be something you can picture on it's own. Apple, banana, potato, butter. These are things you eat. Red #5? Not so much.

The Food-Nazis are going mainstream...

2010-12-30T07:00:00.003-06:00

I heard this from Al last night. Even I, the greenie-peacenik foodie was unsure what he meant. He was reading headlines on Yahoo again, and ran across this article: The Truth About Your Weight Gain. Suddenly someone is out there talking about what's really in a fast food burger (um... I read the word hooves), what really are Bacos (soy), and what guacamole "dip" is made of if it's not avacadoes (fillers)... Wait. A bunch of people have been talking about this for years.

Welcome to the party, Mainstream America!

So you've suddenly realized what they're feeding you isn't food. Now what? Take a deep breath, head to the library to check out these books, and then keep checking back for my new series on what to eat when you realize what you've been eating wasn't food.

Flashback Photo Recap...

2010-12-30T00:00:00.000-06:00


In 2010 we moved the front steps, built out the left side of the deck to match the right, added screen & screen doors, turned the greenhouse into a shop, and turned the driveway into a garden.

This was our house when we bought it in 2008

This is it now.

Garden.


Shop.

Now what will we do next year?

Fish Milk...

2010-12-29T19:43:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I've been saving this little treat for you.

Fish milk. Milk made from fish you ask? Well, Kind of. Let's begin...

Milk comes from??? (here's a hint)

That's right... a cow.

Now, I could argue the point of what type of milk you should buy... raw, organic, pasteurized, homogenized, whole, low fat, chocolate... you get the picture. But I'm going to leave all those choices up to you.

(for now anyway)

Let me tell you a little story... a few months ago I was having to buy some milk from the store (as my friendly neighborhood cows were on vacation...) When I buy "store milk" as we call it, I usually buy organic whole milk in the store brand from where I shop. I happened to notice a change in the carton that day... "NOW WITH OMEGA-3!" One of the super nutrients currently being pushed by the mainstream food industry as being "good for us..." Now. Me being who I am, I wondered how they got that omega-3 in there? Where did it come from? So I did what any smart consumer would do... I read the label. Lo and behold, there on my milk carton was a list of ingredients that nearly caused me to lose my lunch. Contains: milk, vitamin D, sardines, and tilapia.

holy... COW!

I like fish here:

not here:

I don't seem like such a food-freak anymore, do I?

Another Year, another blog...

2010-12-19T23:10:00.000-06:00

As usual I've started a new blog, but can't quite let go of the old one. No, this doesn't mean I have multiple personalities, it just means I have layers... like an onion, or an Ogre.. so, as usual with the onset of a new year, I'm changing things around, rearranging, and trying to decide what my blogging future holds... so... bear with me, when I figure it out I'll let you know. Thanks!

Little Bit turns 8

2010-12-16T10:26:00.002-06:00

Recognize her? This is the same little blondie who came home from the hospital in preemie clothes that were too big... I cannot believe my baby is 8 and in the 3rd grade for Pete's sake! Where did the time go??

new venue...

2010-11-05T21:39:00.001-05:00

I've decided to post somewhere else for a bit. I'm not giving this up, yet, but going in a different direction for awhile. Stop over & check it out...

Listening for the Quiet

Red Lentil Coconut Curry Recipe

2010-10-13T17:29:00.000-05:00

Hey- for anyone who was interested, here's the recipe for the curry I raved about on Facebook the other night. It's from the Simply in Season Cookbook, page 206, and makes a LOT so invite some friends!

1 large onion, minced
~saute in large soup pot on medium-high heat with 1 Tbsp coconut oil until transparent, but not brown

1 Tbsp minced Garlic
1 Tbsp peeled & minced ginger root (we used 1/2 Tbsp dried ginger)
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp each: ground tumeric, ground cumin, pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 bay leaves
~add to onion, reduce heat to low, cook & stir constantly for 3 minutes, do not let it brown

13.5 oz can coconut milk
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
~add and simmer on low heat, stirring often, 20 min.

2 cups dried red lentils, rinsed
5 cups water
~in separate sauce pan, cook for 15 min, then add (with liquid) to soup pot

1 med eggplant , peeled & cubed (original called for cauliflower, this is what we had)
1 lg sweet potato, peeled & cubed
1/4 head of cabbage, cut in 1 1/4 " cubes
(recipe also calls for 1-2 cups of peas. most people at my house call these "poison beans" so we left them out & added another sweet potato)
~add to soup pot & cook until veggies are tender, serve over rice (we used white rice)

YUM!!

Welcome back, Fall!

2010-09-24T23:26:00.000-05:00

Last Year's Hiking Trip on my Birthday

My favorite time of year in Middle TN is fall.

The weather finally cools off enough to actually enjoy being outside, and life seems to slow down a little. Maybe it's that I have a fall birthday, so I like it more, I don't know. I love going to the county fair and the goat festival, hiking through crunchy leaves, having coffee on the deck, hearing geese on the lake, eating crisp apples, sleeping with the windows open, and having mums on the porch. Welcome back, fall!

Life keeps moving...

2010-09-11T22:24:00.001-05:00

Hello!

Another "I can't believe how long it's been since I posted" post? I hope not. No regrets, just moving on.

Today is September 11th. This is our life.

Morning Fog

Homeschooling: We are already in week 8 of school. People who thought we were crazy to start school in July are now jealous of my time off in September. We're still using Sonlight this year as our curriculum, and everyone is studying American History. Little Bit is in 3rd grade at age 7, Curly Sue is in 4th grade at age 9, and Peanut is in 5th grade at age 11. The younger two do a lot of work together, in Core 3, while Peanut is charging on ahead combining all of American History into one year with Core 3+4, and working largely on her own. Peanut is also choosing to study Latin this year, and everyone is taking Piano Lessons, though they don't practice nearly enough. I'm studying American History on my own right along with them, getting ready to take a CLEP exam by the end of the year.

(Little Bit's Vault Routine)

(Peanut's Beam Routine)

(Curly Sue on Bars)

Gymnastics: Since the Summer Exhibition in July, we've moved from being a family at the gym to one of those families who live at the gym. This has happened for two reasons. One, the girls love gymnastics, and have added classes and the older two have joined the rec team. Between the 3 of them, they take 9 hours of lessons a week. Second, I went and got myself a job at the gym back in Feb. working at the front desk. That has changed, too, and I've been earning my certifications as a Preschool Instructor, and am now the Preschool Director, in addition to working at the desk. Not only did I get my first paycheck in 12 years last week, but I earned myself a raise too. I work about six hours a week, and really LOVE my job!

4-H, FCE, Senior Center: We have 2 girls in 4-H this year, and right now they are BOTH running for an office in their class (we go to the public school for 4-H twice a month.) Peanut is running for Reporter, and Curly Sue is running for Contest Chairman (though she hopes she doesn't win now that she knows how much she'll have to get up and talk.) They hope to sign up for several after-school groups with 4-H but I think we'll have to limit it to one each if I plan on still having any free time. I'm in FCE, which is a service group that meets once a month, and I'm also now a board member for our local Sr. Citizens' Center. It keeps me busy, but I love both.

Farm Stuff: We sold our eggs & veggies at the Lynchburg Farmer's Market all summer, and now that things are winding down in the gardens, the market is done for the year. We still get to see our farmer friends once a month, when we go help prepare & serve a meal at the Sr. Ctr. together. My own garden still has tomatoes, basil, chard, squash, and peppers, but not market quantities, just for us. Yesterday I got Napa cabbage, peas, & squash plants to put in for a fall crop. We have lost several chickens to a mystery predator in the last month, and plan to butcher about 20 more before winter to make it easier to keep them over the cold season. Really our motto around here lately is "more camp, less farm." It works for us.

The Shop. (You can only see 1/2 of it here, it's 2x as long as it looks.)

Mr. Incredible: Once again he lives up to the name. He's still working 2 full time jobs (one at night on F, SA, SU, and the second during the day on T, W, TH.) In his "free" time he's built an awesome shop, and screened in the front porch. We LOVE the porch, it effectively added half again as much square footage to our house since we eat out there, and have a second sitting area as well. And, more importantly, NO MORE CHICKENS ON THE PORCH!!

Breakfast on the new screened porch.

The Porch!

Exercise: Working at the gym has given me an even bigger desire to be fit. I don't really care what I weigh, but I want to set a good example for my own kids & the ones I teach. So, I now have a treadmill in the basement (thank you, Mr. I!!) and I'm up to a mile & a quarter in under 20 minutes. I start every day with 30 min on the treadmill, 30 min of mixed exercise, and 30 more of yoga. It feels really good.

The girls at the Colbert Ferry Site on the Natchez Trace in August.

Other: There's still the day to day stuff going on around here too. We re-arranged the furniture, and are planning a basement remodel to add 2 bedrooms for the girls, a cold storage room for canned goods & beer, and a smaller family room for the TV and treadmill. We have a trailer of firewood to unload, and another one to go get, before it's wood-stove season, and I want to do some more stonework in the yard now that the porch is done. We lost our freezer full of beef last month when the freezer accidentally got left open (I cried.) But, our 2nd cow went to the butcher to replace it last week. We took a week off in August and the girls & I went to MS to visit my sister & her family, and then we took another week off at the start of Sept. and took the girls to Oak Ridge, TN to the American Museum of Science & Energy, and to see the sights as far as the Manhattan Project goes. Hint, when going to an energy museum, take a Navy Nuke with you, you get WAY better explanations of what stuff is. It made the girls think Dad was all that much cooler. A geeky family vacation, but we're a geeky family, so everyone LOVED it!


Dad & the girls in front of a ?????(YOU read the sign...)


Did you notice how tall Peanut is??? 5'3" as a matter of fact.

So, that's us! Thanks for reading it all! See you next time!

Summer Madness...

2010-07-27T00:19:00.000-05:00

Ah. The lazy days of summer. Fishing...

Catching up with friends... (Hi! Marissa!)

Relaxing by the pool... HEY WAIT A MINUTE! That pool is in the new shop, by the new garden, in front of the porch so new I haven't posted pictures yet!!! Frankly, people, I'm wondering just where the hell my summer has gone, already?!

Oh. That explains it.

There are not enough hours in the day. In the month. In a year. I miss blogging, but frankly who has the time. I've taken pictures, or asked Meg to as I ran by, but they sit in a camera somewhere, waiting...

Waiting for the laundry to be done, the peaches to be canned, the blueberries to be frozen, the tomatoes to be dried, the blackberries to be jellied, the carpets to be shampooed (again and again...) The shop to be finished, the shed to be cleaned, the lawn to be mowed, the garden to be tended, the porch to be screened, the chickens to be fed, the kids to be educated... (and let's not even talk about the basement.)

You get the picture. How things can snowball in the heat of summer, I do not understand. Al works two jobs. I work one. We're still homeschooling, and are back to the books for the 2010-2011 school year. I'm taking classes online and working on becoming a certified preschool gymnastics instructor. The girls are active in gymnastics in their own right, and there's still the farmers market, this blog, my neglected website, piano lessons, computer lessons, FCE, the senior center, and our farm, for Pete's sake. I'm learning the hard way to say no. I simply can't be in all of these places at once and expect to get the girls school work done and done well at the same time. Coffee with Sherrie on Tuesdays is a must, it's how we both stay sane. Past that, school is having to come first. Around the house? Our motto is more camp, less farm. Now we just have to figure out how to make that happen.

On the positive side, local food for us is now a fact. Eggs, milk, cream, butter, goat cheese, fruits, veggies, flour, pork, beef, chicken, & honey. Oh, and beer. We now go to the big grocery store once a month, and it's for mostly non-grocery items. Whole food must agree with us. We're all very healthy, and ~bonus~ I've lost ten pounds.

So, as usual, life is good here, life is busy, and life is messy. I just have to figure out how to fit blogging back into it. Later. Maybe much later. Take Care.

Shop & Garden Update

2010-07-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

This is what our garden is looking like these days. I gave up on paved paths this year and concentrated on weed control instead. After putting down weed cloth, I spread some straw and called it good enough. It's working great. Off on the right there you get a hint of the other big change in our yard this last week. Yep. Shop-action.

Here's the new view from the far end of the shop looking back towards the house. We turned the carport into a pool cabana for the summer, and honestly, it's working great. Note the flowerbed in progress with the concrete deep sink in front of the garden fence. Hopefully it will be a fountain some day.

(the sink, that is...)

Ok, so if you come a bit closer to the house you get a much better view of the shop- action. Mr. Incredible put up a wall a day by himself last week. To give you the scale of the whole thing, those are 12' foot bays between the posts. 60' total including the carport. This picture all shows you how much light is coming in through the 3 skylights on the roof on the north side. I went in tonight and thought the lights were on. Oh, but there aren't any lights out there yet. This thing ROCKS ladies & gentlemen.

(and so does my hubby... of course.)

So now we're standing up under my clothesline near the front porch.

Looks good, doesn't it!?! You'd never guess this was a homely old greenhouse when we moved in.

(Note how small my Yukon XL looks off to the left there...)

Finally, here's the view from the front steps.

Great, isn't it!?!

Way to go, AL!

(woot woot and all that!)

They don't call you A-1 for nothing!

Garden Updates...

2010-07-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

This is what the garden looked like in late May, after we moved the 2 kennels.

Here's the fire pit I threw together in an afternoon to have a marshmallow roasting spot.

And, here's the tent pitched right in the driveway so me & 5 girlies could sleep under the stars bug free. Good times, people!

Still loving eating local!

2010-07-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

I may not be posting much about it, but we're still eating as locally as possible. This was our spring table at the market. YUM!

2010-07-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Crazy June storms out over the lake.

Never rained a drop at our house though!

VBS Fun...

2010-07-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

I spent the week of VBS in a covered wagon with Vicki and the little people. We had so much fun! So did our kids, but they were in a different building than me, so alas, no photos of them... Good Times!

Little Bit

2010-07-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes being the youngest isn't easy.

She makes up for it with a BIG personality!