we're outside

hello mary anne!

2009-09-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

this would be blouse number two. for thrills and giggles, I sewed the sleeves on the correct arms this time. it's red gingham (not showing in photo) and I was already wearing the boots....didn't throw those on for the whole cowgirl thing...
I am beyond pleased with how it turned out, but my next project will have a bit more space in the chesty region. wearing it without a cami looks too much like a freaky pamela anderson photo and not at all what I was going for.
I remember way back when, my older sister made a dress out of carpet squares and wore it proudly for ages. I am feeling just a pleased with myself and will have to use an immense amount of willpower to STOP myself from wearing this more than once a week.
I've got some fantastic needle cord for a fall skirt just waiting for me in the other room. it will not match the blouse at all and hopefully stop me from getting out of control with the cutesy gingham thing.

blouses and other things.

2009-09-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

I've been working on sewing another blouse, I find they aren't that hard. it's getting the freedom to work without interruptions that's the tricky part. for me, the cutting is the main hurdle. I do my cutting on the floor...the fancy way with tins of tomatoes and beans holding down the pattern pieces. crawling all over is murder on my back and knees, but once it's done, the rest is easy enough.

it's very puzzley-mathy though, my brain has to wrap itself inside out and backwards to figure out things like collars and inside/outside facing. I had to call it quits for the night yesterday when I realized I'd sewn the collar stand on wrong. I was too knackered to mend it without a glass or two of wine and a good night's sleep. I'll tackle it again today.

I will say, though, that American women should give blouses another go. clingy knit tops just aren't working for a lot of us and structured blouses can be very forgiving, as long as you buy the right size! yes, there will be a lot more ironing, but they hide muffintops and backflab. what could possibly be better than that. I intend to fill my closet with lovely blouses and leave the world guessing about my imperfections and extra dessert helpings rather than have my knit top spell it out for everyone. bleck!

the kids are back to school as of last week. all.day.long. poor roo is bored out of his tree with mrs. dull mommy. I don't know how only children manage, that kidlet sees no point in playing outside alone, and who's going to play cards or candyland with him if momma is busy doing dishes or say, ironing? grainne is a first grader this year and has been blessed with the hip, young and supermodel pretty teacher. this could be the year that john makes it to all conferences despite business meetings. ciaran has all of his favorite pals in his class this year, which is great...but I hope won't ruin his focus. he has two teachers (job share) and is "birthday buddies" with one of them. whoopdeedoo.

ciaran and grainne are also both playing soccer this year. it is a free time snatcher and dinner interrupter. they play on different fields on the same day, one following the other, all during normal dinnertime hours. it's just as well that I have a crockpot. it will be my lifesaver for sure. gra plays on a very old field with no bells or whistles. it gives me that "inner city vacant lot" feeling to drive over the nasty pot holes the size of a baby elephant to get to the parking lot. a parking lot with weeds taking the pavement back via the huge cracks. it's like that "nothing but flowers" song by the talking heads in action. I'm guessing that place has 10 years before it's reclaimed by nature again. ciaran's practice field is great. two fancy playground for siblings to play on, picnic tables and bleachers. I suppose that none of this matters as soon the rain will come and we'll be watching practices from the shelter of the soccer mom minivan. I was told recently that one way to save the interior of your vehicle was to bring your muddy soccer player home in a garbage bag, then stick him/her in a shower. sports in the northwest. good times.

on the gardening/canning homefront, things are humming along. we've made 16 jars of blackberry jam, canned 8 quarts of green beans, 12 jars of summer squash relish, 8 jars of strawberry jam and canned 8 pints of plums. our pantry is buldging. our potatoes are fantastic this year, which is a good thing considering we dug up another major part of our lawn to grow more food. must be the fresh soil. we've gotten 1/2 way through our spud field so far, hopefully we'll be able to save some for Thanksgiving. our tomatoes are in and would you believe that after hating tomatoes for 40 years, I finally like them!! our yellow pear tomatoes are amazing and make great caprese salads, that is, if grainne hasn't been out there eating them off the vine like a little deer who's jumped the fence. our cucumbers are going crazy, not that we ever see those either....dang kids....and I've been enjoying the beets and corgettes, carrots and cabbages. our cornfield didn't do well this year. I had read that planting it with pumpkins was a great idea, but our pumpkin vines wrapped around the cornstalks and held them down, as well as shading them. we've only gotten a few ears (they were very good, tho!) and I'm planning to do things differently next year. the pumpkins are doing very well, with all the hot weather this summer, they turned orange in early august! my butternut squash never came up (grrr) but we were blessed with bajillions of those tiny white decorative pumpkins that cost a fortune at the grocery store. I bought one for roo last fall and saved the seeds when I finally convinced him to compost it. granted, we don't eat them...but they are adorable and great for decorating. I'll be saving those seeds again this year. maybe I'll beat the grocery store at their own game and sell them for a buck apiece and supplement roo's college fund. ;)

here's a photo of our little caprese salad maker/tomato girl/raw food chef.

John's birthday!!

2009-08-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Johnnie turned 40 this July and was surprised by his family flying out from Ireland to celebrate!!

Alki beach

Meadowdale beach

Kubota gardens

call me granny...

2009-07-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

but I am in LOVE with this!!

and yes, I do walk to the grocery store...

I like polka dots

2009-07-15T08:22:00.001-07:00

oh! you wanted photos?!!

I'm channeling Lucille Ball here. :)

as you can see, I like color and patterns. I guess that's because it's super boring going into a fabric store and buying plain black. Roo threw a couple of things I'd made for him in the photo too...a stuffed robot and a robot napkin. I promise, I don't wear those!

I've been sewing

2009-07-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

there. that's where I've been. no time to blog.

my mother (seamstress supreme) tried so hard to pass her gift along, but I never "got it". patterns were too hard to follow and aside from making tons of handbags and floppy hats in my 20's, I never did much else.

until....I bought this book. I love it. amazing and I get it now.

I've made about 5 skirts which I wear nearly everyday. they look much better than shorts in the summer and are a breeze to make. yesterday, I tackled my first blouse. with a collar, cuffs and 7 buttonholes. it rocks.

I'm on a roll.

see you when my machine breaks! ;)

lopez island, the sequel

2009-06-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

my darling johnnie surprised me with a cycling trip around Lopez Island to celebrate my 40th birthday. we'd done this before, 12 years ago during the summer we first me (ahhh...the romance of it all!) and it was one of the most silly and fun times we had together. and the most poorly planned. back then, neither of us owned bikes. I'd borrowed one for the trip and john was planning to rent one once he got on the island. the problem was that the bike rental place was 4 miles from the ferry dock. ahhh...the hot sun, two people, one bike and loads of gear for camping. good times.
this time, we were smarter. we brought TWO bikes! :) and we rented a hotel room. (on our last trip, all the campgrounds were full and we were forced to ride bikes around until it was dark, then pitch a tent on someone's property! eek!)

here is john waiting to board the ferry in anacortes....
me, in the same place. I would like to warn you all to cut me some slack about the hair. my husband took about 40 thousand pictures of me. considering that I've been taking a bike helmet on and off my head all day and it was hot, things were pretty frizzy and fugly.

about to hike around shark reef, after a long cycle from the hotel.

homina homina

shark reef, very pretty...didn't see any sharks. ;) strong currents, tho. would be hard to navigate, but we did see a few boats going through.

john and kate plus helmet hair

cute!!

seaside dining and a lovely shot of our beer.

turning 40 has been really fun. I had a great time with john and really enjoyed the cycling without pulling a trailer or attatch a bike. (no offense, children!) we saw a lot of wildlife...deer, BUNNIES everywhere and many many hippies. I like hippies. they are good people and it reminds me of a lot of family reunions. :) Lopez is a lot like Gig Harbor used to be. like if all the pretentious rich people were replaced with good, earth crunchy hippies who kept smallish homes and lived a less "things" oriented life. good stuff.

Ruairi's Robotic birthday

2009-05-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Roo and "robotty" the night before his birthday.wine, soda, and pizza making! Cheers!
getting a little goofy

this sickly looking cake is supposed to be a robot. Roo insisted on dark grey frosting. on the bright side, it did taste good, even if it was hard to look at!

Happy Birthday Ruairi!!

need to get back on board!

2009-05-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

I will post more later, but we've been busy with the start of the Fleming birthday season...

Roo turned 4. 4!
suddenly, he's a big guy. and heavy. he used to be my "pocket sized baby" and now he's 33lbs! oh, and he wants to be called "Ruairi" now. :( well, just sometimes.

I had my 40th birthday last weekend! woo hoo!

will post pictures later of both celebrations!

woo hoo! we've got a bear!

2009-05-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009235728_blackbearbox19.html

we recieved a notice from the school district today stating that the bear had been sighted early this morning in the woods at the end of our street. here is the advice from the dept of fish and wildlife:

remain calm.
If it approaches you, stand up, wave your hands above your head and talk in a low voice. (Don't use the word "bear" because it might associate the word with food ... people feeding bears often say "here bear.")

there were, of course, other tidbits of advice, but that is my favorite. I'm envisioning that the guy saying "here bear" while offering food has been mauled and is possibly armless.

a trip to ballard sunday market

2009-04-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today was an amazing sunny day in Seattle. 24 C in our backyard and 71 F according to a reader board that I passed on Greenwood Avenue. Besides being Palm Sunday, today was also the last day of spring break for my poor suffering children. I say suffering because it was very possibly the worst weather all last week that I've seen in ages. Snow, hail, wind and rain so hard that it made trenches in the lawn. Our main activity during their spring break was cleaning the attic. "thanks mom". Ahhh....9 bags of childhood memories dropped off at the Goodwill.

note to everyone-my children have enough toys. please, have mercy!

So as you can imagine, today's sunshine was enjoyed down to the last drop. Grainne, Ciaran and myself went to the Ballard Sunday Market for the first time. I usually don't bother with Farmer's Market's as they tend to run only during the summer months when we have plenty of our own produce to indulge in, but this one is better. It runs all year round and is more than just veggies. We bought a few amazing things and are planning to head back next week for more.

Firstly, we bought some goat's milk. I must admit that I have never had goat's milk. Funny, because I do own dairy goats. But, Mrs. Blue is still "with kid" and showing off a lurvely pair of udders, but not ready for milking. And I'll be honest. Goat's milk scares me. I know what my goats smell like. Not bad, but that warm goaty smell that I sometimes wonder if people on the bus notice when I get too close. (are people talking about me? eek!) I really don't want my coffee ruined by a "goatesque" taste/odor. The vendor told me I'd love it. Grainne was practically salivating and bouncing up and down with the excitement of tasting raw goat's milk, so how could I say no? And truly, I was shocked. No smell when I opened it and I have a nose like a bloodhound. It tasted great. But, keep it cold. Gra loved it cold, but she prefers cow's milk hot. Not so much with the goat's milk. Remember that warm goaty smell I was afraid of? Yeah. Little tip. Don't heat it. (although I did put some in my tea this afternoon and didn't notice.)

We bought some lovely spuds, parsnips, beets (oh how I love beets!!) kale (gra's favorite) and the most delicious fuji apples. And we bought some grass finished beef. I'm all about good meat. I am such a carnivore that I have a hard time resisting eating my meat raw. For real. In fact, I'll just fess up. I licked the raw steak at home. It took a lot of willpower to keep from nibbling on a small slice. It was truly the best beef I've had since leaving Ireland, and that's saying a lot. (they'll be no feedlots on that island!) The kids all ate it too, including Grainne who normally won't eat meat. We're all hooked.

I recently read a fantastic book called "animal, vegetable, mineral" by Barbara Kingsolver. Ironically, it was recommended to me by a Seattle City Light employee who was enthralled with my backyard during a routine maintenance check. (big shout out to SCL dude, wherever you are, I totally dug the book!) I highly recommend that others read it, it's informative without being zealoutous. Yes, they do eat locally for a year, but they actually prepared for it, canning, drying foods, large gardens and protein animals at home, ect...I learned a lot, including how to make mozzarella! Who knew you could make that in just 30 minutes?! I won't say the book was life altering, we already have a lot of food production going on at home, but it's great to get inspiration from someone who's taken it that much farther. I totally want to raise turkeys and broilers now, but understand that our "office" as John calls it, is just not big enough for my big dreams.

I must say that this fresh, chemical free, local food didn't come cheap. The flat iron steaks were $18.99lb. (ahem, and well worth it!) But, I'd like to look at it as not an indulgence, but rather like reality. I often tell myself that I can pay full price for organic/local/fair trade (insert buzz word here) or eat a ton of chemicals for a discount. I really really try to go for the first option and am realizing that it's probably just best if we ate healthy meat less often than a daily dose of nasty meat. That's not such a lofty notion now, is it?

spring? maybe?

2009-03-24T21:11:00.001-07:00

spring is slow in arriving this year, but I am doing what I can to help it along. I got all crazy and put the kids snow pants back in the attic and re installed my outdoor clothesline. I've hung my clothes outdoors 2 days in a row (woo!) and both times they were nearly dry before I made the mad dash outside to save them from the rain. and hail. and icy balls of coldness. (this weather! ugh!)

the chickens are sure that spring is here and suddenly are laying eggs like mad women. we're getting five (5!) a day. hot diggety dog, omelette's for all! since 3 of our girls are "easter egg" chickens...yes, that actually is a type of chicken...most of the eggs are green. or pinkish. we've yet to get the coveted blue egg. otherwise, my barred rocks are laying big huge brown eggs. we've a lovely and colorful egg collection in the fridge.

blueberry is doing well with her pregnancy. at least, I think she is. she doesn't really give anything away, but we have noticed that she spends a bit more time chewing the cud instead of romping around the yard. zoom is getting very fat, if it wasn't for the beard, you'd think he was the one expecting! he's still as sweet as ever and thinks he's a lap dog.

we've yet to dig over the garden beds. last year, all of our hard work was rewarded with a snow in late april that killed most of our seedlings, so we're waiting a bit longer. there are many fences for john to repair and a few gates to be built. not an easy job as john scavenges free timber for our gates/fences from pallets at a glass factory, pulls out nails and screws and then cuts and builds. tons of work, but the price is right!

blueberry smiles for the camera as zoom looks into the horizon. photo by Ciaran

early St. Patrick's Day pressie?

2009-03-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

snowball laid a green egg today.

cool.

today's eggs

date night and a killing

2009-03-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

last night, john and I sent the kidlets away to nana's for the evening so we could head out to the tractor to see k.m.r.i.a.
they were awesome. well, except that I never really knew the words to pogues songs before. does anyone? the lyrics were somewhat sober and crystal clear last night. weird.
so it was a good good night.

with the kids gone and all that, we had decided that it would be a good time to butcher the rooster. nothing says "bonding as a couple" quite like a hung over butchering. neither of us had ever butchered an animal before. sure, we've tossed the live crab into the pot, same with lobster and, well, clams...but this was a bigger job. I did a lot of research on the internet. looked at a lot of pictures to get a feel for the gore. (I'm totally not into blood and have passed out in gorey movies and health films more times than I care to admit to.)
but we did fine.
we did it as swiftly and thoughtfully as we could. we kept the other animals away from the area so they wouldn't watch. I thanked ez and gave him a little kiss before the chop because I'm a softie like that. I held him while john chopped, but I turned the other way. he drained, we plucked and plucked and plucked and pulled out his goo. it took us an hour. it was pissing rain, windy and we're amateurs.
I roasted him up for dinner tonight and though he was a bit sinewy in some places, he was delicious. we had enough for tonight's dinner, leftovers for sandwiches and a hugs pie, plus bones for stock. very little will be wasted.
I'd totally do this again, but with a meat breed and better equipment (such as a scalder). it's a labor intensive process, but worth it to us, knowing where our food comes from.
I can also say that paying $18 for a whole organic, grass finished chicken is a bargain. seriously. caring for the animals is time consuming, dirty and costly if you are providing feed along with room to roam for your birds to peck and scratch at everything. butchering is intense, even if you are a pro and shouldn't be rushed. I have gained a lot of respect for the compassionate farmer through this experience!

ciaran's camera

2009-03-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

Ciaran and I took the bus downtown last weekend to do a little shopping. He is growing so tall that his new Christmas trousers have become highwaters. Wow. He saw this as a great opportunity to bring his camera for a few pictures of "the city". Ciaran is lucky enough to have recieved a nice used digital camera from my father (big thanks dad!) and as you can see, he takes his photography pretty seriously.

Ciaran is so in awe of police officers, especially the bike ones. a nice view of the market

Ciaran loves crab, but prefers to buy them live like a real Seattlite.

nice shot of post alley and the tri color!

amazing colors for February. I suspect these aren't locally grown!

mmmm....fresh bread....

a dream photo op for a 7 year old dude.

asian influences everywhere in the market

and this would be the photographer, posing for a shot by momma's pasta maker and toaster. as you can see, I don't have his gift for photography, but it was kind of him to share the camera with me. :)

so, we have a rooster

2009-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

grainne and esmerelda

uh yeah. our neighbors are still talking to us, so that's good.

a few weeks ago, john heard a faint "doodle doo" coming from the coop at 5ish am. now we hear it every morning, but very quietly. as in, we open the window a crack and if we hold still and don't sip our coffee too loudly, we will hear mr. doodle practice his crowing.

we have our suspicions as to who is the culprit. esmerelda has suddenly become very flashy looking. amazing gold feathers around the neck, like a lion's mane and some on the place where a tail would be. except he/she is a rumpless chicken.

our plan for the rooster involves inviting him to dinner. this will be so crushing for grainne, as esmerelda (henceforth to be known as ezra or pot pie) is her favorite chicken. if he knows what's good for him, he'll keep the crowing on the down low.

I totally understand the way gra feels about her chicken. my favorite chicken is mrs. weasley, but I was lucky enough to see her lay an egg, so she's safe. as weird as it seems, I truly enjoy her company. she follows me around the yard while I feed her slugs and allows me to pick her up. she's super silky soft. she spends a lot of time resting on our porch. I'm pretty sure she'd hang out in the house if I let her. maybe I'll need to get that chicken diaper after all. (just kidding, I will never go that far off the deep end!)

as far as the eggs go, we are getting one a day. yup. one. we have two barred rock pullets, that breed tends to be good in the winter egg laying department. I guess our other chickens (the easter eggers) are all waiting for springtime. or easter.

I'll keep you posted.

honeymoon with Romeo

2009-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

sadly, our doe, blueberry didn't concieve after her last breeding in the fall. we decided to send her off with a younger buck for awhile. this is the handsome fella miss blueberry recently spend a few days with. he has lovely blue eyes, doesn't he? if all goes as planned, we'll have some 4th of July babies!

Valentine's Day Dinner and Dance

2009-02-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, our family decided to combat the commercialism of Valentine's Day by making it a family centered occasion. No gifts are purchased, no dinners out, no guilt. Just silly, good times. We have a nice dinner and a "dance" with the kids and Nana. Grainne had wanted us all to dress up this year. Nana was kind enough to wear sequins, Ciar threw on one of Johnnie's ties and my grandfather's hat. Roo put on his ladybug costume and Gra wore her flower girl dress from Panda's wedding a few years ago (it still fits!)

and here we are, in all our finery. Gra chose my dress. I look like a obese hippie house frau, but it is hands down "the most beautiful dress" that I own, according to her. I am also wearing clogs. the girl really knows how to accessorize mommy.
mr. fancy "nice boy" jumper really liked his rack of lamb. sadly, he took off the headlamp he was wearing...it was a bit hard to see our plates during the candlelight meal.

nice tie

Grainne giving "dance dance revolution" a go

nice moves!

shake it, manbug!

kids getting down, notice the tightwad streamers (adding tape)

pretty nana

first egg

2009-02-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

it was delicious!

carpatia sausage

2009-02-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

I just have to post this because honestly, it doesn't get any better. this place is so amazing. I'm cooking the brats right now and cannot wait for dinner.
we've been buying sausages from here for years and they are truly amazing. all made the old fashioned way with no fillers, no msg, no liquid smoke and all that other crud. we've brought brats to a cookout before and they didn't shrink.
please, if you live in the area, give this guy some business!!

chicken diaper

2009-01-17T16:46:00.001-08:00

you really can buy some for your beloved indoor chicken. don't believe me? see for yourself here!

puffy puffy (or homemade pita bread)

2009-01-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

One of my most valuable kitchen appliances is my breadmaker. It works harder than nearly anything in our house. Besides making our daily sarnie bread http://we-are-outside.blogspot.com/2007/01/homemade-bread.html it makes wonderful pita, naan, cinnamon rolls and pretty much anything.
Here's a great recipe for pita bread, I usually have to make 2 batches as it goes really fast around here!

put into your breadmaker in this order:

1 1/8 cup water
1 tbs olive oil
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

set your machine on the dough cycle and let it do the work for you.

when the dough is ready, place dough on a floured surface (I have a canvas rectangle of fabric that I keep folded up in my baking drawer for rolling things out, makes for a really fast clean up!) roll a snake and cut 8 equal pieces. we actually prefer small pita breads and make about 12, but it's up to you. roll each piece into a ball and roll flat with a rolling pin. set out on a floured surface and cover with a towel for 1/2 hour to rise. in the meantime, set your oven to 500 degrees F.

here's the weird part, using a cookie rack, like the kind you let cookies and cakes cool on, and put a few of the pita rounds on them (don't let them touch) and put the racks into the oven for about 5 minutes. remove them when they are puffy and starting to brown. the end.

we serve ours with homemade hummus (no recipe, it's just a little of this and a little of that) a variety of greens, red cabbage, leftover meats and plenty of olive oil, to die for, trust me!

ta-dah!

tightwad skylights

2009-01-13T16:45:00.001-08:00

john's solution to our dark dark dining room...I've learned after all these years to trust him...but I'm still a little scared.

homemade laundry soap

2009-01-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

I've been making our laundry soap for the past 4 or 5 years. The initial reason was to save money, but the big earth lovin' benefit is the amazing reduction of garbage, as in...no more plastic bottle of laundry detergent!

This is what it's made from. While it's not totally organic, there are no spooky chemicals or creepy things involved.

The day before I make the detergent, I put my bar of Ivory in a large pot of boiling water and simmer it for about a half hour, until most of it has dissolved. I leave it out overnight and by morning, it looks like this:

This is my soapmaking assistant, Grainne. She will be handling all of the non hot water parts of the job.

We put the gelatinous goop that used to be Ivory soap into the 5 gallon bucket and pour a hot kettle of water on top. Then we add 1 cup of Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax and continue to fill with warm water until we have approximately 3 gallons of solution. Grainne was in charge of the stirring.

And honestly, that's all there is to it! Within an hour or so, you will have a bucket of laundry gel that is pretty much the consistancy of egg drop soup. We use about 2 Tbs per load in our HE washer and do at least one load a day. This bucket will last us a couple of months, works great and costs next to nothing. ka-ching!

Christmas break at the cabin

2009-01-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

a few pictures from last week...roo sharing a laugh with that magical glowing orb, the tv.
grainne displays the scarf we knitted the night before

bushwackers

bushwackers with bags of crackers

big waves!

scientist

errand runner

dude and his dog

it was really cold there!

time for s'mores!