Its Been a Long Time

So, its been a while since I have tended my little blog.  The thing is this:  I have had a lot of heavy things on my mind and have not come to any conclusions yet.  I feel like I need to have the problem worked out and answered in order to write about it for it to be of any use to anybody.  So, I've written nothing.  Maybe I'll just set those things aside for now and think about something else...

It has been a long cold winter.  We've spent far too much time indoors and watched way too much TV. We finally had enough on a few mildly blustery days and bundled up and went out anyway. (These pictures are from early January) 

Spring is on its way and will be here soon.  I know this because I bought garden seeds today. Yay :)

Lately I have had some opportunity to spend some time with my nieces and nephews and it has been wonderful.  

My oldest nephew is in middle school and is on their archery team.  He's a great kid and I recently was able to attend the tournament that his school hosted.  He even sat by me while he was waiting for his time to shoot and we got some good visiting in.  He loves to read and was telling me about some books that will change my life, like the Harry Potter series.  After he was all done shooting, we went out for lunch.  Just the two of us.  It was a grand day.

My youngest niece got baptized yesterday.  It was such a special day for all of us.  Even though she was sick with a cold, she was awake and interested in everything going on.  Mostly I think she wanted to go for a swim in the baptismal font.  After the ceremony, we went out for brunch as a family and had a little celebration for her.  There is just something so peaceful and magical about seeing a baby baptized and I am so glad that I got to be there to witness it.  

Soon, the weather will be warmer, there will be green grass and flowers where there is now only snow and there will be a lot more to write about.

Until then,

Happy Monday!

How I Knew I Was on the Mend

I think I can safely say that  I am recovered from the flu.  Not because I feel so energetic or ravenously hungry or anything like that, but because I am feeling well, bored.  Bored with being sick.  Bored with just sitting in my house.

I'm not good at being bored.  It almost never happens to me.  There are too many things I want to do on any given day for me to ever be bored.  But, it happened.  That's the day I knew I was on the mend.  That's also the day I cleaned my house from top to bottom with the windows open (even though it was only 9 degrees outside and the wind was howling).

Now that I'm satisfied that all flu germs have been eradicated from the premises, I feel like I need to cook and stock the pantry back up again.  It has been a few months since I have done any canning or making ahead of anything.  I have a little list in my head of things I want to make up and get canned/frozen.

First on the list, beef stock.  I had a little bit frozen from a roast I made a while ago and I put it in the gravy for a pot pie and it was amazing.  Now I need to have more on hand.  I made some today and it is in the fridge while I debate whether to can or freeze it.

Tomorrow's project: grind up the venison and pork.  Some of the pork is to mix with ground venison.  The rest is for making sausage.  Just regular bulk sausage.  Maybe a little Italian sausage, but for sure breakfast sausage.

Our cookie jar is also empty.  So, some molasses cookies and zucchini bread are on the list too.

If time allows, I'd like to can some beans.  There are a few pounds of dry beans sitting in my pantry that should get jarred up if they will ever get used.  I'm trying to work up the nerve to make my own baked beans and can them.  It hasn't happened yet.  I'm still at the plain salted beans level.

Last on the list is to make up some pie crusts to freeze.  The Pioneer Woman has a great recipe for make ahead pie crust.  Its the only crust I have ever made that works.  Every. Single. Time.

Realistically, I will not get all of these things done tomorrow.  I'll probably freeze my stock and bake a batch of muffins.  This pantry stock up list will probably take a few days off to complete.

Hoping to have a post on the beef stock with pictures and recipe soon.

A Few of My Favorites

I was looking at pictures on the computer the other day and I picked out some of my favorites to share.  Its funny how seeing my kids as babies and toddlers seems like just yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time.

Influenza is the Pits

It has been an interesting week around  here.  Mostly due to the fact that I have been sicker than I can ever remember.  Matt and the kids did their best to take care of themselves as I mostly was a lump for about 6 days while I muddled through Influenza A and H1N1.  

Yuck.

The kids were sweet to me and brought me warm packs when I was shivering with fever and drinks of water when I coughed.  Matt did extra running to get the kids to and fro and he held down the fort.  Truthfully I don't remember much else about the days.

I am very grateful to my wonderful neighbors who helped with getting Joey to school and checked in on me every day. 

 It is really surprising to me as I look back at the week and who took time out of their day to give a call, send a text, let me know that I was in their thoughts.   

Smile.

Please know that I am deeply grateful for each one of you.

Christmas 2013, the highlights, and other random information

Christmas 2013 is officially in the books.  It was a wonderful Christmas filled with things the that Christmas should be.

 The kids and I jammed out to some fun Christmas music while we baked and decorated cookies on Monday morning.

We went to church on Christmas Eve (Yay for our new music director who picked all my favorite hymns!).

We had our fill of goodies at the in-law's house and exchanged simple gifts.  This included our new baby niece, who we got to share in her first Christmas.  

Santa came.

We had a "quiet" morning on Christmas morning and opened gifts here at home with our kids.

My dad and his girlfriend along with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew came for ham dinner later in the day.  The kids played in the snow and ate too many cookies.  We had a lot of laughs.

Now its all over.  The Griswold-ish Christmas tree that shed bucket fulls of needles is outside and will be filled up with assorted things the kids find to feed the birds.  The furniture is back in place and we can see each other without peeking through the branches of that enormous thing.

Now the living room is back together and thoroughly vacuumed and sap scrubbed off the walls.  I only have to return my laundry and dining room to their pre-holiday states.  Oh and find a home for the 1,001 toy kits my kids got for Christmas.  Their aunts and uncles hit the mark this year by getting them things they can build (oh and dinosaur stuff for Joey.  That kid is a nut about dinosaurs!) and I kind of want to hang onto some of those things for the next 4-5 months of cold/snow/mud/rain.  That means I need a place to put them, you know that's not on top of the laundry hamper.

Maybe today some of it will get done.  Today is a rare day when we all have the whole day off to just hang out together.  I'd hate to waste it on laundry.

I do know that we're going to town later this morning to see if we can find any artificial trees left on clearance (reference the above statements about buckets full of needles and gargantuan size trees) and to take the kids to the movies.  Movies at the theater are a pretty big treat around here.  Come to think of it, we've never gone to a movie as a family.  I have taken the kids a few times with some friends, but never all four of us together.  The last one we saw was Toy Story 3 in 3D.   There are a few good family shows playing so it should be a good adventure.

 The rest of the gang is still sound asleep at the moment. So, I think I'm going to curl up with my library book until they all wake up, which should be 30 seconds after I get comfortable.

Happy Christmas Vacation Everyone!

Why I'm With Phil

Every time I go online, there's another blurb about Phil Robertson and will "Duck Dynasty" survive after his scandalous interview with GQ Magazine.  Our family does watch this show.  We love this show.  It has no swearing, no nudity, and frankly, we identify with the goofy redneck characters.  That said, if I were in the Robertson family right now, I'd be hard pressed to want to continue with the show.

Here's why.  The article that started this whole mess was written by someone who clearly does not respect their beliefs.  I can say that positively just because of how many swear words are in the article.  Now, those words didn't offend me and I can see where the author was trying to be funny, but that kind of language is strictly forbidden in their family and on the show.  Who knows what was written that is out of context?

The whole thing is a train wreck.  First of all, let's take a southern Evangelical Christian and ask him point blank what he considers to be a sin.  Then let's make some leaps from there about what he "really means" by his statements.  And by all means, let's not draw any attention to his bottom line, that no matter what sins anybody is committing, we all need to love each other.

That is where I think the magazine and leftist media is missing the point.  Every denomination of Christianity has a different idea of what constitutes sin.  If we didn't then we'd all be Catholics.  His personal religious beliefs of what is a sin are not uncommon.  Are they 100% accurate? I don't know.  I am not theologically educated enough to make that call.  Even if I was, there would be a line of equally educated people waiting to disagree with me.  The two things all Christians believe is that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and that we are all created in the image of God and therefore are all worthy of love.

That is the point I feel he is trying to make and why I agree with him.  Beyond the Ten Commandments, definitions of sin get a little sketchy for me.  I really hope I'm not going to burn for eternity because I cut my hair and wear pants.  I'm pretty sure that the Lord has bigger fish to fry with all of us.  

I believe that we are all created by God.  That said, who am I to say that He didn't make people homosexual?  I  know that I could not call myself a Christian and knowingly mistreat someone who is different than me.  God loves us all. Period.  What happens when we leave this earth is anybody's guess.  I believe in heaven and that's what I'm shooting for.  Will I make it?  That's up to Him.

I do not completely agree with Phil's definition of sinful behavior, but I do believe strongly that this is what it boils down to: we are never to judge someone on who's going to heaven or to hell.  That is the Lord's job.  We are just supposed to love each other and let God sort it all out later.  The world would be a better place if we all treated each other better.

Any Day Now

Any day now, winter could come to stay.  So far we are enjoying the late fall weather. The air feels crisp and clean. Waiting for the bus in the morning is frosty and just barely daylight.  Colorful leaves have gone and trees are bare.  The only remaining color is the tamaracks with their golden yellow-y orange needles.  Birds are starting to flock to the feeders.  Today I saw our female Pileated Woodpecker for the first time since spring. (Joey calls them "fluffyated woodpeckers").

This knowing that the weather could turn any day has me feeling the rush to get projects done inside and out.  The gardens are all cleaned out and mulched for the winter, leaves have been mowed and mulched.  The last of the garden has been harvested and canned.  (My garden didn't amount to much, but thankfully I have unlimited access to another huge garden, a co-worker's mom who shares her excess veggies and a dandy farmer's market to find my treasures.)

Just for kicks, I took out all the jars I have canned this summer and fall.
This is about 2/3 of the total jars I canned in 2013.  

More canning than I have ever done by far.  I still have a little bit more to do, as my selection is a bit light on protein.  So, beans and turkey are still on the "to-can" list.  Preserving the harvest has been a major part of my weekly schedule for several months now.  I've expanded my selection away from just jams and jellies and included pickles, relish, tomato sauces, apple pie filling, and pumpkin. 

Isn't that pretty?

We have been making steady progress on our fall to-do list over the last month or so, being grateful for every clear, dry day.  We finally cut down a dead birch tree that has been threatening to fall over near our house, along with a few other standing dead trees and got the wood stacked by our fire pit.  The garage and shed have been tidied up, recycling has been brought in and the yard cleaned up (We even made a long overdue trip to the dump on our anniversary.  Try not to be jealous.).

Soon the gourds and jack-o-lanterns will be fed to the chickens, autumn scarecrows replaced with winter snowmen.  Rakes traded in for snow shovels.  Any day now.

Until that day comes, the kids will be waiting as patiently as they know how to get out their sleds and Matt and I will be enjoying these last mild days before winter sets in.