Life With Boys

Small Changes!

2012-02-13T06:30:00.000-05:00

You can now find Life With Boys on Facebook. A big shout-out to my oldest boy, Brendan, for his tech support. He helped me ~~iron out the kink~~s ~~tweak the FB widget~~ put the FB widget on my blog. I hope he enjoyed his Slurpee as payment. There's plenty more where that came from, kid!

Now if only my tech support didn't spend most of his day in the 8th grade!

I'm also working on a logo for Life With Boys. Here's draft #1

I need to tweak it a little....but it's coming along. It's a little busy, and picnik, which I used to edit this, is closing it's doors so I need to hurry! I should add that I am not a graphic arts person. I can garden like a fiend, can 'til the cows come home, organize 56 children for chess, scrub Sharpie off most surfaces, but graphic design? pffft. Not my game.

If you like what you read, go like Life With Boys on Facebook! You can simply just click "like" on the Facebook widget on the right of your screen. Easy peasy. Some of the crazy things that go on in this house & yard just don't make the blog; mostly because there are too many things to write about!

Applesauce shortage?

2012-02-12T13:45:00.001-05:00

I canned 113 quarts of applesauce last fall. 113 quarts! That's a lot of applesauce. Wanna guess how much is left?

(cue drumroll)

50 quarts. Yep. 50 quarts. My children have eaten 63 quarts of applesauce since October. Are you kidding me? They are going through 2-3 quarts per week. I can't believe that in order to have enough applesauce for these bottomless pits, I'm going to have to can a minimum of 150 quarts. Seriously?

20 qts batch, put up in October

I should add that my 14 year old consumes 10 pounds of fresh apples per week. TEN POUNDS. per week. No joke. Lucky for our budget, we can purchase 10lb bags of Michigan apples for just a few bucks. Since I've eliminated the traditional after-school snack foods, it pretty much just leaves cheese, fruit, veg or fresh bread. Oh yeah, and applesauce. (so it's my own fault that they're eating it, right? ha ha)

Of course, I will not mention the fact that I put up 32 quarts of peaches. For myself. And I will not share how many are left--but do know that I gave a couple of quarts to Brad's aunt, so it's not just me that's ~~inhaling~~ ~~quickly consuming~~ savoring my canned peaches.

Victory Gardens.

2012-02-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

I pulled this image from Google; it's a World War II Victory Garden poster. The WWII Victory Gardens were inspired by the Liberty Gardens of WWI. What an amazing thing these were! I think that in 2012, the Victory Garden concept is still applicable. People should grow some of their own food to save money, to cut down on oil consumption, and to just have fun! (ok, there's lot more reasons, but I think these 3 reasons speak to everyone.)

Easy for me to say, right? I like gardening and truly, it comes as naturally to me as riding a bicycle. (HOLLA to my agrarian gene pool!) What about my neighbors? My neighbor behind me has a traditional garden that he grows because he likes fresh tomatoes (um, who doesn't?) and fresh cukes. He makes a mean salsa-but he gardens because he enjoys it. I have a neighbor across the street who grows a few things (again, love of that fresh tomato!) and another neighbor around the corner who, in spite of being busy with 3 toddlers, manages a small garden patch.

I live in the suburbs. I have hundreds of neighbors. I really only personally know 3 families in my neighborhood who do any gardening. What about everyone else? (yes, I'm sure some are gardening behind their privacy fences!) This gardening season, I'm going to see what kind of neighborly interest I can drum up by planting a a front yard Victory Garden. That's right. I said it. I'm going to grow vegetables in front of my house. Oh, the humanity!

I have a perfect spot along side my driveway that just BAKES in the hot summer sun. I don't water the front lawn, so it always looks bad. (ask me if I care. I do not.) It would be the ideal spot for peppers, for rosemary, for so many things. The neighbors already know me as "that crazy garden lady", so why not prove how crazy I am? I'm still in the thinking stage of this little project (Brad doesn't even know....how long can I put off telling him?? ha ha). I'm thinking some simple raised beds, maybe 2 feet wide and 8 feet long, starting at the end of my perennial garden. Also, some sort of laminated "victory garden" poster from the 1940's announcing what I'm doing. Maybe some edible flowers (nasturtiums, maybe?) to pretty it up a bit.

What do you think? Will you proudly plant a front yard garden this summer?

Cure Dry Scalp on a Child!!!

2012-02-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

Does your child have a dry, flaky, itchy scalp? Want an easy, DIY, at home, NATURAL remedy for fixing a dry flaky scalp on your child? Or your husband? Or YOU?

You won't believe the answer....it's a food....it's a dessert....it comes in a can....

it's WHIPPED CREAM!

Yes, it's true! I'm not joking. Keep reading-----

Brett battles a very dry & flaky scalp in the wintertime. It's really bad--borders on looking like cradle cap! But he's a very sensitive dude, so I really didn't want to just reach for the horrible dandruff shampoo. (trust me, there's lot of crying if dandruff shampoo gets in a child's eyes.)

A friend suggested using whipped cream. From a can. Seriously. Just buy some REAL whipped cream in a can, apply to the child's head, rub it in, leave it sit for about 10 minutes and then wash it out. Take a fine toothed comb and comb out those flakes (& stimulate the scalp a bit.)

Check out Brett in his whipped cream glory:

Ok, so the cherry is optional. Funny-but definitely optional. Brett was a good sport with this one. He doesn't like to eat whipped cream, but he went along with it and I think he enjoys the extra attention. He now asks me to make shapes or patterns on his head. Dude, I'm not Picasso!

It took 3 applications over the course of about 1 week (he only showers every other day) to notice a HUGE change. His scalp is no longer dry and flaky. His very coarse hair is also soft and silky. The bonus? MY HANDS. My hands are so soft and not beat up looking from rubbing in his whipped cream that I actually use whipped cream 1x/day on my hands in lieu of lotion. No joke.

Why does it work? Look, I'm no scientist. I don't even play one on TV. But I'm guessing there's some sort of moisturizing going on with the fats and maybe some sort of exfoliating going on as well.

Try it & report back. It really works!!!

Food Allergies Still Stink.

2012-02-08T17:00:00.001-05:00

In case anyone was wondering, yes, food allergies still ~~stink~~ suck.

Bryce goes twice annually to his pediatric allergist. His allergist is a nice guy and I trust his opinions. So, when I found out today that Bryce is now old enough to be re-skin tested, I didn't question. He was skin tested as a baby and they tend to not do that again to children until they are 4 or so.

The bummer part was that I had NO IDEA this was going to happen today, and I did not bring Cow and Blankie with us. I had nothing with which to try to make Bryce feel better. (note to self: always bring Cow and Blankie to the allergist.) So they needed to test/re-test Bryce for 16 things, including the control. Sigh. And this time it is to be done on his forearms instead of his back. What does that mean? That means that I get to sit with him on my lap, restraining him from bending his elbows or scratching his arms. Without Cow and Blankie, restraining Bryce was no easy task.

Here's a recreated photo of how he had to sit (you can see the identifying marker letters and the little dots that remain from the skin prick test):

This translates into 20 minutes of screaming. From Bryce. I was cursing food allergies on the inside, he was the one with the decibels you could hear in the parking lot. It's really the second worse part of food allergies. The first worst part of food allergies is the always being worried that he'll react to something. Skin prick testing comes in at a close 2nd.

Bryce required about half of them to be stopped at the 10 minute mark. They apply a topical gel to the prick sites to stop them. At the 20 minute mark, he was getting more hives and the ones they "stopped" were getting larger. He required Benadryl. Just the word "Benadryl" makes him cry, so now he was crying again. Lucky me, I got to restrain him to give him his meds. Fun times.

What's the verdict? No change. Some things were actually much worse, none were really improved and he added 1 new allergen: Barley. The kid is now allergic to barley. (insert any number of curse words here.)

The Dr. said, "So, looks like nothing will change in your kitchen."

Food allergies still stink.

Quotable Kids.

2012-02-08T08:14:00.001-05:00

Actually, this is Quotable Parents.

scene: the kitchen, around 7 AM.

Me: You know, I'm thinking I could plant some carrots and spinach outside in the next week or two and just see how they do.

Brad: Yeah?

Me: I need a window, though. I guess I can't do this until I can get an old window off Freecycle or something.

Brad: How big?

Me: What, the window? Big enough to just lay on one of the beds and warm up some soil.

Brad goes downstairs. I hear him rummaging around. I think he's crazy. (wait, I know he's crazy).

Brad: (hollering from downstairs) How many do you want?

Me: What? How many windows do I want? (insert incredulous tone)

Brad: Hang on.

He comes upstairs with 4 huge windows, remnants from our remodel 12 years ago.

Brad: I saved these because I knew in 10 years you'd want to make a cold frame.

Me: Seriously?

Brad: No. I just forgot I had them down there.

Me: (facepalm!)

The moral of the story is: Ask Brad. He probably has it in the basement!

Zone Warming.

2012-02-07T14:20:00.000-05:00

There was an article in this weekend's Free Press about the newly revised plant hardiness zones for Michigan. I'm guessing there are similar for other states. Here's the visual to help you out:

For the longest time, much of metro-Detroit was classified as a 5A/5B. I planted as such for a long time. Then I started noticing things. I could grow broccoli unprotected into December. My bulbs were coming up early. I could start seeds in the ground before Memorial Day. Made me think that maybe out here in the 'burbs, we were more like a zone 5B/6A. I even noted that in my blog on my " garden harvest totals" page.

Lo and behold, seems the lake effect does more than dump snow on the west side of the state and the Thumb. It seems it also keeps the Lake Michigan coast a little bit warmer than we thought. It means Kalamazoo and suburban Detroit are BOTH a zone 6A. Now remember-this has NOTHING to do with precipitation. Kalamazoo and the west side of the state will continue to get massive amounts of precip.

What this means is that while I thought I was "pushing" my zone by growing some things for Zone 6 on the south side of my house, I might be able to push a zone 7 plant with protection on the south side. It opens up a huge list of plants that are hardy to a Zone 6-a few more Lavenders are options, maybe some JAsmine or Crepe Myrtle. I might go crazy and plant a few new grasses, like Pink Muhly, which I've always wanted but didn't want to deal with covering it.

So, Michigan gardeners (and you other gardeners)--what do you think of the new zones? Will it change what you plant?

Super Bowl Commercials

2012-02-06T09:19:00.001-05:00

Like many households, our family watches the Super Bowl every year. We eat junk, we watch the game, we holler, "Commercial!" so the kids pay attention. Brad and I love to see what America's shining ad agencies come up with every year. I've never done a full-on critique on a commercial and I'm not gonna start. So, here's a few of my favs from last night.

First things, first, however. I have to remind you that I live in Hockeytown. If you don't know where Hockeytown is located-it's Detroit. I'm from The D, my parents are from The D, most of my grandparents are from The D. I have a Great Grandfather who came here from the South to work for Henry Ford making $5/day. We live and breathe the auto industry here. It's what we do. Even though I'm really more of a Ford girl, I cheer on the Big 3's commercials. Here's the Clint Eastwood/Chrysler one from last night. I'd really like to hear from you as to how this commercial makes you feel about Detroit--especially if you're not from here. Good or bad--I'm a big girl, I can take it.

Let me apologize now for not being tech-savvy enough to make these videos fit properly on the blog. My tech support is busy being an 8th grader.

We also enjoyed GM's "end of the world" commercial. I'm sure Ford will be simmering today over the not so nice attack on Ford Trucks in the commercial (but honestly, the F-150 *is* the best truck in America, made just a few miles from me!), the commercial was clever, witty, and that Twinkie bit at the end? Priceless.

Another fav, this one from the "Laugh Out Loud" catergory, was this gem from Doritos. The use of a Great Dane as a cat killer was hilarious--and that he could keep his human's mouth shut about said cat with lunch-sized bags of Doritos? #winner.

What were your favorites last night?

MATH! MATH! MATH!

2012-02-04T17:57:00.001-05:00

Did you know there is such thing as competitive math? Not just taking individual pencil & paper tests, but honest-to-goodness head-to-head math competitions? With real TEAMS of students? And even crazier---I *coach* a math team. Now, that's really funny if you know me from my K-12 days. Math and I were not friends. ~~I didn't like math~~.I hated math. I lucked out in college and tested out of any math requirements. WHEW. So how'd I end up with a kid who's a math WHIZ? I'll just say that God has plans for this kid. But I digress. Because my son (actually, both of the older boys) love math and are pretty darn good at it, I've had to do some things that are pretty shocking.

Like coaching a math team. (oh, the horror!) Now--I say "coach" in lieu of "teach" because, honestly-there's very little I can teach them. I was approached by the REAL math coach (hi, DQ!) when Brendan was a 5th grader to have him shadow the 6th grade math team...and as they say, it's all down hill from there. I ended up coaching his 6th grade math team, which lead to coaching his 7th grade math team AND helping the 6th grade math team at the elementary school and now-coaching the 8th grade math team (well, really, it's 7th and 8th graders) and still helping a teeny bit with the elementary math team. I have other super parents that also help guide these kids. What do I do? Mostly I say things to the girls like, "don't let him beat you!" and "Put your hand up, you got that right!" I focus a lot on our girl team members (who just crack me up!) and helping the kids with pacing, properly reading the questions, testing strategies, team building things, and supplying them with lots of minty gum for the day of competition. Oh, and I take lots of embarrassing photos, too!

What's my point? My point is that when your kid is good at something, you figure out how to nurture that love. Even if it means doing something ~~you're not hugely fond of~~ you hate. So, here's my favorite 8th math student, clutching his **FIRST PLACE** team trophy from today.

Our team of 4 (two 7th and two 8th graders) competed against 19 other schools. These are some of the BEST schools around-charter, private, and public.

Don't worry. If the schools ever come up with a competitive GARDENING team I'll be all over that action!

Boy Survives Delayed Reaction To Peanut Allergy - Des Moines News Story - KCCI Des Moines

2012-01-31T14:48:00.001-05:00

Boy Survives Delayed Reaction To Peanut Allergy - Des Moines News Story - KCCI Des Moines

I haven't posted much about Bryce's food allergies lately. Mostly it's because they are such a non-event these days!! I don't mean that in the "he's outgrown them," but more in "we know what they are and keep him safe" kind of way.

This story illustrates why food allergies can be so very scary. Short of attending school with your young child or homeschooling, how is a parent supposed to keep their food allergic child safe? My one criticism here is that it appears the school's health plan does not say to immediately call 911 when ingestion of an allergen is known. They called the Mom, which is good-but they should've called for an ambulance. Hind sight is easy for me, right? ha ha.

What's Bryce allergic to these days?

Wheat, Dairy, Soy, Rye, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nut, Sesame, Cinnamon, Garlic

All produce hives. All but Garlic give him symptoms of anaphylaxis.

Quotable Kids.

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Scene: Early morning on a weekend. Peeking in Brett's room.

Me: Brett, you're naked!

Brett: No I'm not. I'm wearing my watch.

DOH!

Quotable Kids.

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Scene: breakfast time. I am thawing some (homemade) frozen pancakes for Brett. Brett is sitting at the counter, reading the bottle of syrup.

Brett: Mom, I don't get it. How come honey is always packaged in those bottles shaped like bears? Bears don't make honey, bees do. It doesn't make sense. The bottles should look like bees.

Me: Well, we like to think of bears as the hunters of honey, so maybe that's why?

Brett: Ok, so why do bottles of maple syrup have cabins on them? Cabins don't make syrup; maple trees make syrup.

Me: I don't know. Maybe because cabins in the woods make people think of syrup?

Brett: I just think it's false advertising. Bees make honey, trees make syrup. Simple as that.

I'm guessing Brett will not be working in an ad agency as an adult!!

Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

2012-01-12T16:21:00.002-05:00

We finally have one of these bad boys in the kitchen.

Finally.

Finally!!!!

We were gifted some money this Christmas and told to use it for something "fun." Well, what is more fun than a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer? Really, I don't get out much anymore because this mixer is more than FUN. It's AWESOME.

(*and no, I am not being paid by anyone to share my opinions of the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. Now if Kitchen Aid gets wind of my LOVE, they are welcome to shower me with gifts of gratitude. But I digress...)

We chose the 600 professional series and have been very pleased. It has done a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, mashed potatoes, bread, pizza dough (2 kinds!), frosting, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Basically, it's been used pretty much daily since it's purchase and will be earning its' keep. If you don't have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and are thinking about getting one--GET ONE!!!!

2011 Garden Harvest Review

2012-01-07T10:08:00.001-05:00

This was a great year for our garden. I say "our" because while I do the majority of the work, my hubs does much of the heavy labor, and my kids help with weeding, watering, chasing squirrels out, and harvesting. Who am I kidding? Mostly the kids play in the pool!

I set a goal to double this year's harvest over 2010's 68 pounds...and then I realized I needed to set my goal higher because I hit that doubled amount (136 pounds) in August. I set a new goal of 200 pounds--and I blew that out of the water, too! 231 pounds were harvested! WOOT! I had green onions almost all summer & into fall, I had parsley o'plenty for our ongoing butterfly hatchery, we had great success with cantaloupe and watermelon, and even tried a few new things. One of the new things, brussel sprouts, taught me a few lessons. They need more space, they need to be topped off in August, and I need to water them more.

Here's what I harvested: (remember, I only have 320 square feet of raised beds)

231 lbs 10 oz
from Memorial Day to Dec 19

Goal for 2012 growing season: 350 pounds, use cold frame to plant cool season veggies earlier
Chives 2oz
Dill 7 oz
Parsley 1lb 6oz
Rosemary 5oz
**
Broccoli 15 oz
Cabbage 14lbs 10oz

Carrots 13 oz
Cauliflower 4 lb 11oz
Cherry Tomatoes 8lbs 14oz
Cucumbers (pickling) 4lbs 3oz
Cucumber (slicing) 8lbs 3oz
Lettuce 14.2oz
Onions 8 lbs 12 oz
Peppers (bell) 15lbs 2oz
Peppers (Anaheim) 4lbs 7oz
Peppers (Jalepeno) 1 lb 6oz
Peas 8 oz
Tomatoes 22lbs 4oz
***
Cantaloupe 43lbs 11oz
Strawberries .5oz FAIL (darn birds!)
Watermelon 86lbs 15 oz
***
Brussel Sprouts 5 oz

2011 Canning Totals

2012-01-06T09:56:00.002-05:00

This marks year 2 of my foray into canning. I put up a whoppin' 340 jars of food. Seriously, peeps. 340 jars of food. Amazing. Sadly, no pears this year-my kids love canned pears & they are bummed. It just didn't happen-we weren't home when pears were fresh/local, and then school started and Brad kept finding sweet apple deals (hence-the 113 quarts of applesauce!).

Canning goals for 2012

Put up 450 jars total of canned local produce (from my garden, farmer's markets, or the Amish folks up north). This includes canning similar amounts & types as in 2011 (applesauce, salsa, pickles, etc)
Put up 50 quarts of pears
Make fermented sauerkraut & put up at least 15 quarts
Learn to pressure can (get the pressure canner a new gasket & pressure gizmo)
Put up 30 quarts of green beans, pressure canned
Pressure can chicken stock (on-going throughout the year)
Make rasberry jam (didn't know Brad likes it!)--15 half-pints

Do you have any canning goals for 2012?

2011
total canned: qts-190, pts-99, half pts-51

Applesauce--113 quarts
Dill Pickles--46 quarts
Pasta Sauce--33 pints
Peaches--32 quarts
Peach Jelly--21 half-pints
Pepper Jelly -- 30 half-pints
Salsa-- 65 pints

Sauerkraut -- 1 quart

as compared to

2010
canned=83qts, 48 pts, 16 half-pintsor next year=triple the amount of dill pickles (and skip the refrigerator ones) and double everything else

applesauce- 36 quarts

dill pickles-19 quarts

pasta sauce- 12 quarts
pears- 8 quarts
pepper jelly- 16 half-pints

refrigerator pickles-8 quarts

salsa-48 pints

Quotable Kids

2012-01-03T17:12:00.001-05:00

Bryce has recently discovered our set of GeoMags-an amazing toy we purchased for Brendan many years ago. They are small vinyl coated magnets and stainless steel balls that attract kids like, well, like magnets.

Bryce was recently doing experiments on which items were magnetic and which weren't. Ok, so he didn't formerly state his hypothesis or create an elaborate experiment, but he did walk around with a GeoMag magnet, checking to see what it would "stick" to.

He stuck several of them on the fridge.
"Hey, Dada", Bryce said, "Look at my magnets!"
Brad looked and said, "It's magic!"
Bryce said, "It not magic, it MAGNETS!"

Best of 2011

2011-12-31T14:54:00.002-05:00

It's the last day of 2011 and I'd be remiss if I didn't post a "best of" Life With Boys. There was lots of action on the blog this year and I feel like I'm really finding my groove in blogland. I started this blog merely as a way for family & friends to keep up with the kids and it has morphed into so much more-a garden blog, a kid blog, a craft blog, a cleaning blog, a daily life blog.

Here's some of the most trafficked posts, as determined by Google Analytics:

Organizing Stuff For People

I stumbled across a blog and started organizing our closets, drawers and life. Yes, I have Longaberger baskets in my cupboards, don't judge. Oh and yeah...ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED NINETY ONE people read this. Dang. I don't even know that many people, so I know it's not my friends looking at it (and if you are my friend in real life and you clicked on that page 1,000 times---don't tell me!) I hope your cupboards weren't as embarrassing as mine were!

Rain Barrels!

My husband and I made DIY rain barrels. Super easy, super practical and something that anyone with a garden and a gutter can do for themselves!

Putting Lipstick On A Pig

I spray painted our nasty old outdoor fixtures and now I hate them a little bit less.

Decrapified Decor (aka-I discovered spray paint!)

Here it is. The very first thing I spray painted. Well, I think I spray painted one of the kids Pinewood Derby cars a few years ago, so this was the first thing I spray painted FOR ME. I love spray paint. Holla if you do, too!

Homemade Seed Tape!

My youngest garden helper and I made seed tape. Thanks to Pinterest, this little gem of a post got quite a few hits. I had no idea what pinterest was at the time, so I had to check it out. Now I'm a Pinterest Fanatic!

Garden Update July 17

It must be all the adorable itty bitty melon photos that drew your attention! This is one of my weekly garden entries-chock full of dying lawn and sad looking cruciferous veggies. But the tiny melons are sooo cute!

Quotable Kids

We joined the 21st century and got a flat screen TV. Bryce thought it was for him....read the funniest thing said in 2011 (according to Google!)

Cub Scout Cake Bake

Our Pack's yearly Cake Bake Auction was a hit this year--both for the Pack and for my blog. maybe it's the ginormous Angry Birds cake that the whole family helped Brett make, or maybe it's because I finally figured out to title my posts as though someone were searching for it--but this post garnered 143 hits. (*jumping up and down "people like me!!!!")

You Be The Chemist Challenge 2011

YBTC was Brendan's 3rd consecutive trip to the Michigan Finals of this chemistry contest. He ended up placing 6th IN THE STATE out of thousands of middle schoolers.

What's on tap for 2012? I have set some blogging, gardening, family, and organizing goals for myself. I'll fill you in on those in the coming weeks! Happy 2012, everyone!

Garden Harvest & Update December 8

2011-12-08T17:37:00.001-05:00

Carrots in December!!! WOOT! 6 whole ounces of organic carrots. I count the tops in my weight because those will get tossed into a pot of bone broth later. We've had multiple hard freezes and several coverings of snow. An inch here, and inch there-that kind of thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll be brave and check on my broccoli and brussel sprouts...

My total for 2011 is 230 pounds 14 ounces as of today. YAY!

This post linked to Daphne's Dandelions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:28:00.001-05:00

From my home to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I am thankful that I have enough to eat, a roof over my head, and a family to blog about that I love like crazy.

Quotable Kids.

2011-11-21T14:58:00.001-05:00

~~We've~~ I've caved. We are now the owners of a ginormous plasma television. It's 500 inches wide and replaces our 32" tube television that is 8 (maybe 9?) years old. We did some research online, figured out what was a good price and bought this one. Currently, the TV resides in it's box in our kitchen, as we need a few things to install it properly.

Needless to say, my TV & DVR junkie children are VERY excited. They ran around the house like crazy monkey children when Brad brought it in. But it was Bryce who had the funny comment of the night.

"This TV is for my room. So I can watch my Thomas in bed." He said.

Really? The 3 year old wants a ginormous 500 inch TV in his room to watch Thomas the Train?

Of course he does. He's a child of the 21st century. =) Oh-and no, the TV is not going in his room.

She SCRAPS!!!!

2011-11-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

Yep. That's me. Last weekend at a scrapbook weekend with my BFFs. (except L--we did talk about you, though!) Don't I look fine? I never seem to have pictures of myself on this blog--it is called "Life With Boys", so it is about ME, right? We haven't gotten together to scrap since 2009. WAAAY too long, people. Way too long.

We were greeted with this lovely sign when we came into camp:

Yep. It says "crapbooking". We were crapbooking last weekend. HA! For the record, it was very windy and that sign is magnetic, so the "s" had just blown to the ground. But still. "crapbooking"? I can't make this stuff up!!!

What does one do at a scrapbook weekend? Well, for me it means sleeping in bunk beds with my 5 BFFs, eating a lot of junk food and laughing. A lot of laughing. When you are with ladies you've known for 25 years, there's a LOT of laughing. I'd post photos of my BFFs, but I'd like them to STAY my BFFs, so you'll just have to look at random shots of our gear. And food.

If you "crapbook", or ever go away on a weekend trip with your BFFs, you know that this kind of junk food collection is just the tip of the iceberg. We had a blast scrapbooking, eating, and just being together. I love you, girls!

Collecting Jars Is Normal. Right?

2011-11-21T10:27:00.001-05:00

Look at all the beautiful jars I inherited from my deceased Great Aunt Joyce. Aren't they lovely? Some are modern, some are old, dating to the 1930's. I also got a few zinc lids which I'll use on my food storage jars. (you cannot home can food using those old zinc lids.) While I never canned with my Aunt, I do remember her going off with my Gramma, buying peaches in a little town near our family home in West Virginia. She always said they were the BEST peaches-and at the time it seemed crazy to me. I was a teenager, and sheesh, what teenager wants to talk about peaches? I'll put these beauties to good use-maybe even for canning amazing peaches I purchase from the Amish.

There was a surprise in the boxes of jars--check out this blue beauty:

Isn't it pretty?! I do not can with the small handful of blue Ball jars that I own. They sit out on a shelf and I use them for collecting change. And for looking blue and pretty. Don't judge.

Check out how big it is:

I placed a standard quart jar next to it. (oh, and a cute 3 year old and his cow, too.) I'm guessing this is a 2 quart? Or maybe a quart and a half? I really don't know much about canning jar history. I just know that I like jars. My teenage self would probably be aghast that my 40-something self gets excited over canning jars.

I've written about canning jars before--check it out: more jar love

Garden Harvest & Update November 20

2011-11-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

My mini-harvest today was a handful of broccoli to have with dinner, and some very tiny carrots that my garden helper, Bryce, HAD to pick. He's been bugging me to pick them for a few weeks. 2 oz of carrots--we each got to eat one tiny carrot (the biggest one was the size of my ring finger) and I cleaned the tops & threw them into a big ol' stockpot of bone broth. Not bad for planting them back in mid-September.

Don't be hatin' my HUGE carrot harvest. I mean, seriously---two whole OUNCES!!!

And lookee here---4 ounces of broccoli.

As of today, November 20, 2011, I have harvested 229 pounds 12 ounces of produce from my suburban garden. I'm inching my way to 230! =)

Linked to Daphne's Dandelions.

Garlic. Finally!

2011-11-19T10:05:00.001-05:00

Sooooo, as usual, I'm late planting garlic. Last year I was so late I didn't even plant ANY! I have 8 or 9 reasons WHY I'm late planting garlic this year, but the main one is because I never.ordered.cloves. Yep. I never ordered any garlic and as I didn't grow garlic this year, I had zero to plant. Phooey. So I rectified that by doing what you're not supposed to do and I planted grocery store garlic. I don't know if it's GMO or if it's organic (yeah, it's probably not). I'm not fussy enough to care. The good news is that because I waited so long to grow it, I had garlic sprouting in the pantry. WHOO HOO!!!

I used only the largest cloves that had sprouted. 42 of them. Go ahead-ask why we had so much garlic? It was on sale, of course! Bryce has recently been diagnosed with a garlic allergy, so that's the other reason. I've not been cooking with it as much because I haven't quite figured out how to make many of our dishes with and without garlic AND not have be become some sort of short-order cook. blech.

Anywhoo, my garden helper and I set out to the veggie bed behind the pool, where the garlic can grow undisturbed. I dumped some of my large planters from the deck into the bed and turned the soil. I then used the end of my trowel to make holes for Bryce to plant the cloves. I later went back and made sure they were all turned the proper direction. 3 year old boys don't care too much if the garlic is pointy-side up, it seems.

The garlic bed, before working fresh soil into it and pulling out all the sticks that a certain garden "helper" threw in there!

My helper, Bryce, planting garlic. I sent him off to play before I dug into those holes and turned the cloves the proper way.

I hope that by the time this garlic ripens, I will have a better handle on how to cook our food so it's garlic free for Bryce. Because 42 bulbs of garlic is a LOT!

Garden Harvest & Update November 16

2011-11-16T10:46:00.001-05:00

"Harvest" is really too strong a word for the little bit of produce I'll pulled lately. We've had several hard freezes and even some big, wet flakes one day last week, so I know winter is just around the corner.

Last week I pulled some onions for cooking and a cauliflower mini-head. I use the term "head" loosely because it was the size of a lime. Phooey. I just didn't get big heads of cauliflower this year. Oh well.

I pulled the remaining green onions today--2 and a half pounds worth! I also pulled the two parsley plants. The green onions were really floppy in their beds; I think the cold nights were getting to them. The parsley, well, I know the parsley won't survive much longer and decided to yank it all out.

The parsley landed in a huge stockpot of bone broth I have going. 3 ounces worth of parsley! Not too shabby considering the caterpillars were the main consumers of parsley this year. I will miss having fresh parsley this winter and I'm regretting not drying some.

As of today, Wednesday November 16, I have harvested 229 pounds of produce. I have broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and carrots still growing so I may squeak another 5 pounds out of the garden before true winter sets in.

Linked to: Daphne's Dandelions