I love Valentine’s Day. Yeah, it’s commercial. Yeah, its a money sucking ploy by Hallmark. Yeah, it’s cheezy as all get-out. Kinda like matching tattoos…which the hubs and I actually have. We both have trebel clefs (I had one for my love of music, he got one for his love of ME.)  I also two bass clefs linked together to form a heart. See? Cheezy as all get-out. Like Valentine’s Day.  Watch out!  This paragraph just came full circle.

Valentine’s Day may be all those things. I don’t care. I love it. It’s fun. It’s whimsical.  It’s also an opportunity to make these origami hearts in large quantities so that you can hang them all from your ceiling and totally overwhelm your poor husband with your cornball obsession with a ridiculous holiday.

Maybe that’s just me.

Perhaps you will only make one or two of them.

I will make enough to make my family roll their eyes and giggle at my insane excitement.

They are going to look great with my heart shaped meatloaf. 

I have been on many a spiritual journey. I have been swayed by others, influenced by some, and fought to have my own identity. I have parented well, parented poorly, and ultimatley claimed my role as “mother” in a way I never saw coming. I have complained, I have sung praise, and I have learned that ultimately, contentment in all situations is the goal.

I have grown.

I am proud of that. It has been more of a struggle than I will ever put into words. I wouldn’t change a thing.

I remain “The Hopeful Housewife”.  What that means to me may be completely different than it was years ago, but the title still fits.  I still cling to my faith, just not with rules and societal expectations that once restrained me. I still value my role as mother, wife, and homemaker..but it no longer defines me. I am, and forever will be, frugal, but my approach to simple living means something entirely different these days.   I still sing the praises of Homeschooling, but feel much more free flying my “Unschooler” flag without fear of criticism.

Long story short? I feel free. Beautifully, remarkably free.

God made me who I am. A unique, one of a kind type of woman. A mother…and a darn good one.  A loving, FUN wife.  A devoted friend (who has learned what the definition of boundaries is and doesnt put up with the nonsense she used to!) A free spirited, music loving, book obsessed, wannabe writer who may have made the best or worst decision to document her feelings and experiences at a little place called The Hopeful Housewife. 

Oh, how things change. And I am glad they do.

1.) Our new puppies are growing! They are starting to look like dogs, and not little giant headed black rats, so I’d say we are making progress. The little one found his bark this passed week. Warms my heart to see him catching up. Take a look at how small he was when we got him about a month ago:

2.) I think I have mastered Kettle Corn. Yay! I have sworn off all vegetable/canola/corn oil, so I haven’t had any of the kettle corn that seems to be “popping” up all over farmers markets. Sooo…I decided to figure it out myself with ingredients I trust. Take 1/4 cup coconut oil and heat on med/high. Add 1/2 organic popping corn kernels (Trader Joes sells a big bag cheap.) Wait for 2 or 3 kernels to pop, then quickly add 1/4 cup demerara (Which is essentially “sugar in the raw”.) Give it a quick stir to coat, put the lid on your pot (big pot!) and start shaking the pot back and forth over the burner. Once the popping slows down to about 2 or 3 seconds in between pops, quickly transfer it to your bowl. Add salt to taste. Last night was movie night and the popcorn was gone before the opening credits were done.

3.) My garden is thriving. I am completely surprised. I just might be figuring this out!

4.) I made Ciabatta bread the other day for a family dinner. I used this recipe and it was AWESOME. I sliced it into sandwich size pieces, sliced them open-faced, lightly grilled them, spread this basil aioli on both sides, and topped with seasoned, butter seared, boneless/skinless/split chicken breasts, fresh basil from the garden, fresh slices of mozzarella, and the most gorgeous tomato slices. Voila. Caprece salad chicken sandwiches on fresh ciabatta. To.Die.For.

5.) I am planning my sister’s bridal shower and having a blast doing it. Because of our guest list, we are having it at a restaurant, but I have to admit that I am a little bummed I am not doing the food prep. I guess it is my way of showing love to those around me, so it sort saddens me to pay someone else to feed everyone. That said, the other details (invites, centerpieces, prizes, etc) has been fun to come up with. I will make sure to take pics of the process and the event. Here is a picture taken during their engagement pic session. I believe this pic will be displayed at the wedding too. Aren’t they sweet together?

6.) We are harvesting roosters this weekend. Would you like pics of that too?

7.) I have lost 9 pounds! I attribute it to the lack of packaged foods, and the addition of daily kefir, kombucha and coconut oil. The coconut oil and kombucha really seem to make a big difference. I have been drinking kombucha for years, but rarely daily. I am really trying to stay on top of drinking it now.

8.) I haven’t been making yogurt lately because I cannot make it like Brown Cow. If you haven’t tried Brown Cow Cream Top Vanilla yogurt, you are not a whole person yet. It is much cheaper to make my own yogurt, yes, but it is NOTHING like theirs. With the lack of every other snack food in my life, I will make room in the budget (and my meals) for this creamy deliciosness.

9.) I finally have a title for the cookbook I have been working on for a decade. The title means that many of the recipes have to go, but I now have a sense of direction I haven’t had before. Keep your eyes open for my book sometime in the next decade .

10.) I am tired of talking about myself. What is going on in your world?

Bought a really cute reuseable bag at Trader Joes btw. Had to have it. Its almost cute enough to be a purse. A really, really big purse.

I also brought home a ton of other stuff including some really great deals. I have always loved Trader Joe’s and am really glad I have found my way back there. Heads up: Their pint sized jar of raw coconut oil is 5.99. It is an awesome deal by comparison. I realize its still more expensive than vegetable oil, but trust me, you dont want to eat that stuff anyway.

I also found my way to some killer vanilla bean goat cheese rolled in blueberries for 4.49 (a splurge for company that came over), organic penne pasta for 1.39 per bag, organic spaghetti sauce for 1.99 a jar, a big ol’ bottle of Dr. Bronners peppermint soap for 9.99 (my fave soap ever) and some gorgeous avocados too. All that and about 40 other items…no joke.

One of those items was a lovely little chicken. No hormones, no antibiotics, no guilt when eating it.

That little chicken is thawing on my counter and will be used tonight in my terracotta roasting chicken dish thing.

I will season it with onion, green garlic, rosemary and olive oil  (all from our CSA box), and serve it with roasted new potatoes,  (also a CSA item), probably seasoned with the rosemary, garlic, and olive oil as well, and oven roasted beet chips as well to give some color to the plate and use up the large quantity of beets I have amassed.

Recipe is here.

Total cost for dinner? About $10.00. Cheaper than a bucket of chicken, and actually good for you.

Time invested? About 2 hours. At least. I didn’t say it was easy folks, just healthy, and not super expensive.

Off to go make my kitchen smell like a Rosemary Wonderland…

Our sweet puggy Jack (the one photographed a few posts back) died a week ago yesterday and I am just now starting to get back on track. I cannot even begin to explain how attached we all were to him, and how hard it has been.

One look at my house, though, will tell you how rough it has been.

I decided yesterday that it was time to get it back in order but was definitely awakened to the fact that this will take longer than a day of motivation. I am so overwhelmed and at that point where I kind of want to just light a match.

Kind of.

Being that torching the joint isnt an option, I have to perservere. One room at a time, as energy allows. It is also like 100 degrees outside, which makes me incredibly lazy. I honestly just want to lay down and sleep all day.

But I wont. I will keep moving until it is done. One load of laundry, load of dishes, toilet scrubbing, and cobweb sweeping at a time. When I lose motivation, I go back to something I have finished and remind myself that it not only can be done, but that it makes me feel so get when it is completed.

Have you ever found yourself drowning in housework? How do you motivate yourself?

 Barbara P.!

Her comment,

“My favorite cookbook is Cooking from the Farmer’s Market - There are wonderful recipes for cooking vegetables inside this book.
Thanks, GREAT giveaway!!!” was the comment pulled by Gavin today

Barbara P., I will mail your package out to you as soon as I have your mailing info. I am emailing you right now and will look forward to getting your cookbooks and special prize out to you.

 Thanks for playing, all! More contests to come.

HH

I will get the winner up and contacted today in just a bit!!!!

HH

I go through a TON of Mason Jars. I never seem to have enough of them, in fact.

I have a feeling that wont be a problem for a while now.

A few weeks ago I went down to my favorite thrift store in “town”. I dont get to go very often anymore but the hubs and I had a few minutes while we were “down the hill” (as us mountain folks say) and we stopped in for a peek. I was looking for mason jars, but only found two. I know the manager of the store because of my frequent shopping there when we lived in town so I stopped to chat with her a bit. I told her I was looking for Mason jars and she asked for our number so she could call me when some came in.

Well, some came in.

And by some, I mean more than some.

She said she had a trashcan full, and some boxes.

I forgot to take pics of the trashcan…but it was a huge, outdoor rubbermaid style trash can FULL of 1/2 gallon jars. all of these plus a dishwasher load full of more.

Then we have these:

and two more boxes worth that I had already moved to the dishwasher:

I have already washed about 80 jars and haven’t even touched the ones on the floor yet.

I am on my 2nd dishwashing cycle of the day, and I suspect I have about 3 or 4 more to go. I really think I have close to 200 jars.

I paid $10.00 for all of them.

Neighbor Extraordinaire (thats her official title) just spent like an hour and a half helping me wash and put away. We hardly put a dent in it. I have no idea where I am going to put them all, but I SO dont care. I will figure it out.

In the meantime, I am going to keep on washin’.

Happy Monday All!

Winner will also get a surprise “extra” in their package!

 -HH

With that, I will begin my shameless blog devoted strictly to my pugs. They are the best buddies ever.

Jack inspired this post when he decided we had been doing school long enough.

He eventually moved back to his corner…

Where Cornelia (aka the worlds tiniest pug) was also resting…

Dixie (the un-pug) was outside barking.

and Miss ‘Nelia finally decided she’d had enough. She retired to my bedroom and shot me a dirty look as I snapped her teeny tiny picture.

I realize that this post could only be about homemaking if I mentioned the extreme amount of dog hair that pugs create, but I will spare you.

Instead, let’s stick with the connection between homemaking and being happy. Because really, that’s what they make me.