An idea

Not mine. Head over to Lea's Blog if you need motivation to start some of the small steps and habits (i.e. 52 Bites) in Tsh Oxenreider's new e-book. I downloaded the book for $5, and while not all of the "Bites" will apply, that just means I may have a few extra weeks to work on other things I haven't quite mastered...I can think of a few. Exercise is a big one. Lea is taking one Bite a week, following the book, and is making a cute printable poster to go along with it each week for our printing pleasure. I could do a whole post on decorating with printables. So could she. She's a genius, that Lea. Anyway, care to join us? You don't necessarily have to buy the e-book to participate, but I think it's worth the $5.

And in other news, I've been playing around with a new lens. Still so much to learn! We keep harvesting plenty from the garden. My ebay selling is not going so well, which I think means my IKEA trip will not be quite as much fun. But oh well...I can't blame them for not wanting my junk. I'm off to throw together a taco salad.

A favorite summertime drink

Now that summer is almost over (did I mention it's pretty cool here at night, especially with the attic fan running?), I have a family-friendly summer drink to share. It's not really a recipe, and I stumbled upon this combination unintentionally.  During my first trimester I have a tough time getting much water down, so my sister-in-law suggested carbonated water. Just plain water with CO2. Nothing fancy. I'm sure there could be issues with it being in an aluminum can, but it has no sugar in it. The Santa Cruz organic lemonade has no preservatives and is usually on sale for $1.25 at our local grocery store. Fill a glass with ice, add about 1 T. of juice or lemonade per tall glass (less for these kid-sized glasses) and then fill all the way up with sparkling water. The kids think they are getting some sort of soda, and I don't mind them having 1 T. of lemonade every so often. It's become our Sunday night treat (and my 6 times a day treat). It's a lemonade tonic of sorts. I like to use a reusable straw, but the kids like the bendy straws. And you know what happened to the glass straws.

P.S. I'm joining The 10 Day Produce and Protein Challenge over at The Nourishing Gourmet- care to join us?

Survivor

 Yes, in case you are wondering, we did survive yesterday's earthquake. (I know you were worried.) I let Thomas stay up and read books instead of taking a nap, so my first response was, "How can one kid disturb the peace so much?" I went in to check on him, and he had fallen asleep. I checked on the other two, thinking they must be banging on the ceiling, but they were playing quietly, too. My last thought was that I REALLY must need a nap, because instead of being dizzy, I felt like everything was shaking. I didn't remember ever feeling that tired, but still. I did tell the kids it felt like an earthquake, but didn't even make contact with the outside world until I turned NPR on during dinner prep. Of course, it was the talk of the town. Even though it was really nothing and the impact on us was minimal, I still got a little teary realizing what just happened. Not because we were in danger, but it was such a reminder of so many of our friends who actually did survive the tornadoes earlier this year, and the way they must have felt. And yet we are always out of control, in the hands of Him who holds the earth, aren't we? 

Well, as much as I wanted to start that cash flowing in by listing stuff on eBay and Craigslist, the following was higher on my list of priorities. The zucchini didn't really need to be picked...I could have fed three families if I had let it grow a few more days. But the laundry and ironing- that was reaching a crisis point. The crisis was really because I got tired of going up and down the steps to the laundry room every time someone needed a clean pair of underwear or socks (or pjs, or shorts, or anything). Thomas is wearing this lovely outfit because it was his last pair of clean shorts. Oh well...we don't go very many places. And I know you are probably thinking, "You should add: Give Boy a Haircut" to your list, and soon. But, I have decided to buy him a few good hats, including a church hat, and try to grow that buzz out. I admit, it was not a good decision to take the easy route and shave his head. Pay now or pay later, that's what they say. However, he has a ton of hair, and I just got tired of it always looking bad. (What? You are asking how it feels to still be so tired?) Now it's just bad in a fuzzy way vs. bad in a I Have 5 Funky Cowlicks kind of way. Not sure when I will be a winner with this one.

All washed, and put away...until we start over tomorrow. Oh, and now you know that I own a pair (or three) of fuzzy socks. How embarrassing. You would too, if in August, it was already down in the 50's every night. 

hearbeats and other less important things

No, not two babies. My heart was delighted to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time last week. I'm 12 weeks, but it took a while to find out about local midwives, interview, and set up an appointment. I'm really pleased with our new midwife, and after having the last three children all with the same Chattanooga midwife, I feel like she has big shoes to fill. This pregnancy has been better than any of the others, and I hope to have a whole week of posts about what has helped thus far. But that will have to wait until my garden dies, which may not be too far off by the looks of the blight on my tomatoes. I would like to say that I'm sad about that, but I've canned spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, and made lots of fresh salsa, so I fee like we've had a good run with the tomatoes. Plus, I need to start school with the kids after Labor Day, which means the garden needs to produce less or I need to clone myself.

 Lots O' Leeks and green onions

 Tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, peaches, peppers of all kinds;
and our garden is small compared to many friends in our area!

In other news, we finally saved up enough Amazon bucks to buy a new SLR digital camera- and let me tell you, I had to work REALLY hard to buy enough stuff to earn all those points...just kidding- we've been saving for a long time. The ever talented and camera-wise Lea recommended I just purchase a body and not get the standard kit lens that comes with it, and then purchase a 50mm f/1.8 lens as well as a zoom lens. So that's the plan, but you can imagine my excitement when I realized that my old Canon SLR film camera lenses work on my new digital camera. I haven't had time to read the book yet, so I haven't used it all that much (aren't you proud, Dad?).

On an unrelated note, there's nothing like a fresh, new IKEA catalog to motivate a person to actually go through that box of stuff sitting in the basement, waiting to be sold on Craigslist and eBay. I'm just saying...listing those items will be high on my to-do list today. We're going to Charlotte for Labor Day, and we *might* get to swing by IKEA, and it would be so nice to have a list and some $$$ to go along with it. Plus, I have strong suspicions my white loveseat slipcover has sharpie down the back of it, so I'll have to dish out the $12 and buy a new one.

Today we have peaches to can and jam to make. Friends keep giving us peaches, and free fruit is always a good thing (I guess technically tomatoes are a fruit, too...). I go back and forth between thinking, "Wow, putting up food is a lot of work," and "What a blessing that we have all this food, and with the economy the way it is who knows if we will always be in a season of plenty." So the latter thought has kept me freezing and canning. I'll have to write a garden post another time, too. I've made LOTS of mistakes, e.g., thinking a radish seed would give me more than one radish, and a butternut squash seed would only give me a couple butternut squashes. Um, how about 15-20? Lord-willing, I will have a baby in late February and be back on my feet in time to plant a great garden next year, with all these lessons learned, and mistakes not to be repeated. I say, "There's always next year" a lot when it comes to the garden.

Lastly, I got on the computer to find my old favorite grocery list, of which I forgot to save a master copy so I've been without for a few months. Find the downloadable template here, at Design Sponge. I like it because it has room for a week of menus at the top, with a grocery list underneath PLUS a place for things you forgot to buy that week but need to add to next week's list. Must be a universal problem.

Happy Monday!

Lego Birthday Boy

On Monday, Cooper (my baby!) turned six. He really wanted to have a Star Wars Lego party, which I think is hilarious, because he's never seen Star Wars. He only recently found out that Darth Vader is a bad guy. He just has cousins who have lots of Star Wars toys, and they are favorites. So we compromised on a plain ol' Lego themed party. After searching the internet for do-it-yourself party ideas, I realized that six-year-old boys must be programmed to love legos, because almost all the blogs that featured party ideas were for boys in that age group.

So, here is the birthday boy before 8am, ready to open his first present. We let him open his biggest present because we were supposed to go to a fun little water park that day with some of the cousins, but with a high of 74, it just didn't seem very fun. When I told him we weren't going he said, "That's good news for me! Now I get to stay home and build my new legos." We did end up going yesterday, so it was a win/win.

 

 He was pretty sure he knew what it was because in the car on Sunday Adeline informed us all that, "I didn't tell Cooper what his present was, he just guessed it." We had a little impromptu lesson on how to mislead people about their presents.

 Almost all our party decorations and ideas came from Delia Creates, which is goldmine of crafty ideas. Check out her recent blog post on the seamless scarf. I need to make one of those. Limited maternity clothing options seem to make accessories all the more valuable. But I digress. Her lego ideas...very fun, very easy, and Cooper said it was his best birthday party ever (out of six!). She had the ideas for the minifigure head plates, and also has the downloadable templates for the juice box covers.

We did splurge and spend $7 on Lego candy from Amazon. It was a hit. Underneath is a personalized placemat we made for each of the kids. Find the stickers free at www.minifigures.lego.com. We also got the templates for the place cards there.

 Looks like a lot of places? We only invited family...

 Here the kids are all making their initials out of legos. Not an easy task for some. The "L" names had it made.

 

Cooper wanted an angel food cake with ice cream and chocolate syrup, and after looking at so many attempts mothers made to create lego cakes, I encouraged the idea. I'm not sure it was anyone's favorite except his, but he loved it. Tricky getting anything to stand up on/in an angel food cake, hence the improvising.

 This last picture is really blurry, but I love the look on his face! Cooper is such a hard worker, is learning to be tough and brave when it comes to helping his dad around the house/farm, and has a servant's heart, which I think he also learned from his father. He has a grin like no other (which comes from having two parents with big mouths). I am so happy to have my firstborn a son, and I love this boy.

It's a start

Introducing our newest baby...

visit us here.

a day in the life of

My brain is full of posts to write, and yet there seems to be very little time. Since I am still in my first trimester, the days are somewhat less productive than normal (and yet the unseen productivity is huge, I know...but it doesn't show well...except on me, who seems to be showing very much). So I decided to write down what I did yesterday to see I did actually accomplish something worthwhile. This is probably a good activity for moms to do every so often. 

• woke up
• made breakfast (okay, that's a stretch...Monday is cereal day)
• cleaned up the kitchen from yesterday- we were out most of Sunday, and we were napping when we weren't out
• oversaw clothes being sorted, baseboards dusted
• started a load of laundry
• laid down on the couch and read aloud (The Boxcar Children, Surprise Island) to the kids for an hour...finished the book, on to Book 3
• called a friend
• cleaned up a potty accident- so glad we have wood floors
• made smoothies and leftover garlic noodles for lunch
• forgot to change over laundry
• worked on the farm blog for 20 minutes (more on that soon)
• took a nap with Thomas and told him he was my napping buddy
• told Thomas 10 times to be quiet and still so I could sleep, finally fell asleep and slept through my alarm
• woke up miffed and disoriented because I'd slept too long
• told Adeline I would play the Grouchy Ladybug game with her (trying to do that out of delight vs.duty, but it's such a boring game)
• welcomed a friend who stopped by for about 30 minutes
• finished the game with the kids
• made potato leek soup (next year I will grow a lot more leeks)
• had an early dinner before husband left for a deacon's meeting
• made jam while the kids made the entire house their playground
• called my Mom
• went out to pick veggies at dusk with Thomas, told him he was my garden buddy...when you have a mischievous two year old, he's your everything buddy (FYI, dusk is not a good time to decide if a tomato is ripe, ..they look darker in the dark) and told the kids if they had the house cleaned up they could all sleep in the same room
• put the kids to bed
• ate a snack...and egg and gluten-free toast with fresh peach jam
• washed dishes
• took a shower
• worked on the farm blog a little more
• crashed at 11pm

One Kings Lane

I heard about One Kings Lane (OKL) from the Nester, and several of my friends have boasted of their beautiful finds on this online store that seems to me like a very upscale TJ Maxx. The various stores and companies they feature change every day, and their items sell out fast. Sometimes they have some designer finds that are outrageously expensive, but of course are "steals" because they have knocked several hundred dollars off the price of that beautiful lamp. But there are almost always fun finds for those of us whose budgets can't fit a 75% off $200 lamp. Almost every week they offer some items in the under $25 range.

One of the great things about OKL is their referral program, so if you refer someone to their store, and that person makes a purchase, you get $25 in credit. So a few weeks ago I found myself with $50 credit...not a ton, but $50 more to spend on my house than I was expecting.

I probably should've spent the credit on a bigger item, but I was enamored with the store, Bob's Your Uncle.  They have a lot of quirky and fun gifts. I ended up getting two packs of these:

 
And two packs of these (set of four, each plate is different, and this happens to be the only color I'm not crazy about)

I really wanted to get these for my globe-trotting brother:

It would have been funny, but it didn't seem like $15 of funny.

If I purchased these things off the website, it would have been a grand total of $80, and only because the plates are now on clearance. The other 4-packs of melamine plates are $40! That would have been $120. Ack. Anyway, they accidentally sent me four packages of plates instead of the two I ordered, so it turned into a super sweet deal for me.

So, if you are interested in looking around, sign up (it's free) and use my referral link. And remember that you don't have to actually purchase anything to refer friends. Sneaky, I know.