The Farm

An Open Letter To America, from a Disabled Gulf War Veteran:

2012-01-21T03:42:00.001-08:00

An Open Letter To America, from a Disabled Gulf War Veteran:
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This whole "Tim Tebow" thing? Wow. Really, America??
So, Christians are not allowed to have as much of a public presense as non-Christians? Because that is what is being said when we are told that he must be silenced and put out of sight so no one can see him doing his thing. And before you go jumping my case about, "they are shoving beliefs down other people's throats" let's just calm down and take a serious look at this situation.
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First, let's put a few things into perspective, shall we? Nearly 80% of the American population not only believes in God, but also believes in the power of prayer. This means that a mere 20% don't believe in either.
So you're going to tell me that the majority of Americans need to shut up and get out of sight... because the minority says so? The minority who, for some unkown reason, don't seem to be adult enough to handle seeing/hearing things they don't agree with?
Because there is a HUGE difference between "disagreeing" and "silencing." And if you are doing what you can to silence those you don't agree with, you are a bigot. What, you don't know the real meaning of the word "bigot"? You think a bigot is "someone that says/does something I don't like"??
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Hardly. A bigot happens to be a person that *won't allow* anyone else to have differing beliefs. Get the point? It's perfectly acceptable to not agree with Tim Tebow's beliefs. That's fine. It's perfectly ok to not listen to the bible verses read on the TV by Focus on the Family dring the football game because it's not your thing. That's fine. While it's happening go and get a snack out of the fridge.
But it's outright bigotry to try and force all public display of Christian faith into non-existence. You might think that you are "cool" because you blab in public about those awful Christians daring to the exact same public presense that you also enjoy, but all that you prove is that you are dancing uncomfortably close with bigotry.
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And meanwhile the minority of you are free to display your beliefs and your lifestyles and your actions in public as you see fit, any time of the day or night, without being censored and silenced? Really? Do you honestly believe this is right and good? Really??
Of course this is supposed to be how it is: everyone is free to live their (non criminal) beliefs without hiding them for fear of punishment, and rightly so. But folks, this is how it is supposed to be **for everyone.** Not just you but for me as well. No one is "More Equal Then Thou."
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And I think a lot of you need to re-learn the meaning of "offended." Because if there was ever a word that has been rendered cheap and pointless, it is that word.
Sometimes I wonder, why did I place myself at my country's disposal **to die in order to protect our collective freedoms** if this same country is going to try and make it so that these same freedoms only extend to a select few, and the minority of Americans at that?? All because these "liberated" people are not adult enough to deal with the reality that... there exist people that **disagree with you.** And so they abuse the courts of law and the media in order to silence people like me because they are "offended"??
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And another thing, my fellow Americans: Like it or not, America was founded as a Judeo-Christian country. The very same Constitution that gurantees your freedoms is dripping with Judeo-Chrisitan refrences and appeals to God's authority to give Humankind these same freedoms. Those that created this country PRAYED and BELIEVED IN GOD and READ THE BIBLE. Oftentimes out loud. In public. Ya know?
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Oh, and spare me the revisionist nonsense about, "The founders were not christian." I've read the documents. I've read their letters. I've even read the Constitution!! I've looked into this via first-hand sources because I get off of my backside and *research* issues before I opine. Try as much as you want but you can't re-write God out of America. And don't even try and tell me that belief in God and prayer somehow goes against what it means to be American. YOU might not want to believe in God and that is fine, as well as your legal right, ~ but if any mention of God threatens you so bad that you must A) re-write history and B) legislate God out of public life then it's time to get some help for your crushing insecurity and your guilt issues... Obviously something is not right. We can agree to disagree but don't try and make me illegal in public.
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And don't give *me* any grief for writing this letter. I earned the right to say what I have just said: I was willing to *die* so you can be who and what you are without the government or your neighbors or some outside invading force taking that right away. At any point in my military service I could have been placed on the front lines to fight whoever it was that tried to take *your* freedoms away. I was at full disposal to protect your liberty. So don't even go there.
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Oh, and if you're about to let rip at me for daring to express my views, take a moment and answer me this: Exactly what have you done lately to protect and promote equality... besides whine about being "offended" ?? Oh, snap! You can pop a few witty comments on Facebook or write an article or whip off a Tweet denouncing those of us that believe in God? Demanding that we shut up and get out of sight?
Yeah. I thought so. Try leaving the keyboard and placing your actual physical self on the line while saying, "You have to go through me before you can take our rights and freedoms away."
God bless America ~ and let Freedom ring for everyone from the prostitute on the street to the bible-toting christian in their pew. We are all equal, we are all free. I broke my body defending your liberties and unless you are also willing to die protecting mine then please spare me your claims of being "offended" because we differ in our beliefs: That is what liberty and freedom is all about, my "open minded" and "tolerant" fellow Americans... so get used to it.
Thank you.
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Michelle Therese, former Aviation Machinist's Mate 3rd Class
US Navy
6th Fleet
NATO Forces Europe
South West Asia
"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;..."

Mentally Retarded? No kidney transplant.

2012-01-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

"We are in the year 2012 and my child still does not have the right to live, the right to a transplant, because she is developmentally delayed."

New website hopefully by April.

2012-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

I decided to slow down and try and do this thing correctly the first time around. In other words:

Hire a computer-guru friend to design the website (with blog incorporated) and run the website as webmaster.

We'll begin the project in March and hopefully it will be up and running in April. I will post the new web address here once it's ready to go. :-))

Yoga!

2012-01-06T13:20:00.001-08:00

I started a 6 week yoga class that ended just before Christmas. I'm hooked!! So I've signed up again for the next 6 week block. Here is my quilted yoga mat. (stretched up the stairs.)

Excellent book!

2012-01-06T13:01:00.001-08:00

This book is deffinately worth the money, especially when you save 34% on Amazon. I'm still in the very beginning stages of learning about beekeeping and so I'm forever poking around in books and on beekeeping websites. The two loaner hives are buttoned up for the winter. I'm not sure if the bees sleep most of the time or if they are just as busy as ever? But I never hear anything when I check to make sure that the latest gales have not blown the hives to Norway lol!

Cappucino!

2012-01-06T12:53:00.001-08:00

Where there is civilization... there be cappucino!!

Yay!

2011-09-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Bishop visits ~ and good news!

Montessori inspiration and other things.

2011-09-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

I really can't help but appreciate Maria Montessori's commen sense approach to children and their natural desire to be a productive member of their family. After reading several Montessori-based books about early childhood development I found myself being inspired to try and bring some of the practicals into our own wee stone farmhouse. So after a year of reading and planning and plotting... (Observe Inga used for scale hahaha)

...Behold! This unit was just installed today by our cousin: an uncomplicated play/work bench, made from inexpensive wood, with shelves above and below, five cubbies and farthest to the right we've taken the doors off of the cupboard under the stairs and we are in the process of turning it into a play cubby, soon to have curtains for doors.
Here is a closeup of the bench. Last night I placed toys all over the benches and shelves and in the cubbies so that the kids can begin to learn what these odd new things are all about. They don't really "get it" right now but soon they will delight in having their very own space for creativity, work, and afterwards, a place to store and stash their toys and treasures.
Here is a closeup of the five cubbies: you can see that it is all very simple. Nothing fancy. I decided to have the wood stained so that it remained a nice neutral colour.
This is the under-the-stairs cupboard that will receive a new coat of fun colour paint (maybe different colours for each wall?), some of the new blue wool carpetning from the offcuts out of the dairy, and two curtains hung for doors. (Kids loving having a hidey-hole!) And then in related news...
...my continuing efforts to organize this house!! We also had some new shelves made at the same time ~ here are the shelves in the hallway. My goal is to get things "up and in sight and no longer jumbled together in cluttered piles!"
Here are the new shelves in the kitchen. These will go a long way in helping me to keep the clutter off of the kitchen counter off to the left of the doorway there. I'm going to have more shelves put up around the house: I've been working out exactly where I need them in order to best rid us of clutter, clutter, clutter ~ because even the things that we need and use don't really have any place to go. It gets maddenig at times! But now we are beginning to triumph! :-)

Goodbye July!

2011-07-31T10:02:00.001-07:00

I'm blessed to be learning beekeeping. This was my first time wearing the bee veil and getting right up close and personal with the hives. I was scared to death lol "Beeeees!! All around me! They're landing on meeeee!"

A hot sunny day! And I was trying to make the front yard more appealing to my weird kids that seem to only want to fuss to come in, then fuss to be let out... I think they are reincarnated cats!

Our growing barley crop :-)

Diaper artists enjoy fingerpainting!

Updates, Photo dump :-))

2011-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

A lovely 100% wool rug that I found cheap on sale ~ perfect for the dairy studio and deffinately being enjoyed by the kids! :-)
I've recently purchased a few vegan and vegetarian cook books so that I can learn how to prepare vegtable dishes. Because at this point in time I hate veg. And it's working so well!! (I will still eat meat but not as much. Heavy red meat doesn't agree with me much any more. Did it ever??) Here I've tried my hand at stuffed red pepper and baked mushrooms coated in a hand made sauce. The pepper came out aaaawesome! The mushrooms were a bit too overdone. But practice makes perfect!!
A dear friend, Sister Mary of the Pure Heart, passed away two days ago. I will miss her so much! Sister was a true "Titus 2 Woman" who so lovingly and paitently, not to mention CHEERFULLY and with great joy and laughter, guided me on my journey as a new Christian. We met when I was 21 and fresh out of the Navy and she sustained me with her awesome letters wherever I lived, whatever I was doing. Oh, I'm going to miss her so much! God rest her very merry soul!And here I am, showing off my new skirts and aprons from Katie's Mercantile. They will be my "Town and church" clothes because the other skirts have big different-coloured maternity panels and the aprons are covered in paint!! (From painting the dairy studio... which is almost done.) I'll mostly wear the old skirts and aprons here on the farm ~ they are still lovely!

More goat pictures!

2011-06-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

Nanny Goat, Toggenburg/Anglo Nubian cross. I LOVE when she perks her airplane ears!!

Zack snoozing in the sun. He's Anglo-Nubian and a whether. I hope to train him to pull a cart.

2011-06-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

I stand
with
Israel

(I just want to make that very clear.)

Our Three Goats

2011-06-02T01:23:00.001-07:00

Sqweeeeee!!

2011-06-01T22:12:00.001-07:00

It's early. The house is asleep. I'm sick as a dog with swollen throat so sore I can't even swallow and... get this!!... green pus coming out of my right eyeball. YAAAAAY!!!! I just love waking up looking like (and feeling like) Hell personfied bwaahahahahahaa!!

Oh! Oh! And did I mention that on top of all this I have killer cramps?? Ah yes, when I am ill I am ill with panache.

So, that said, I figured gee, since I'm sitting here feeling like I want to die... or imbibe deeply, swigging straight from the neck of the wiskey bottle... (for medicinal purposes, you prude!) why not share with my dear readers my latest Dairy Update?? And so, here it is: and it makes me smile!! The funny thing is, "it" was hidden by the door when I went into the dairy last night to fetch something and so I didn't even notice that "it" had been completed until I happened to turn around. And that felt great!!
I am a huge Transformers fan. In long skirts. On a farm. Yeah.

The man that has built all of the shelfs and some of the cabinets, he was here the other day and I said to him that I had this rather huge poster and I couldn't find a poster frame to fit it. And so he constructed the coolest looking frame **from plywood** and there you have it, folks! I am one very thrilled pus-eyeball woman!! **Golf Clap**

Ok, back to bed with my scary self! I see the doc at 10am. I sure hope I don't scare her half to death when I walk through the door ha ha ha **cough** ow, that hurt...

My art space ~ now completed!

2011-05-31T13:44:00.001-07:00

This is only one section of the dairy studio. I claimed this part for myself so that I could have a space dedicated to my artwork. (I'm a novice artist!!) I was determined that this creative space would be big enough for me to spread out while also organized so that I did not have to compete with my arch nemesis: Clutter!!!
We were given some offcuts of kitchen counter tops but you can also buy leftovers, usually at a discount, from decoration stores or builder's supply stores. The shelf with the two tins of stamps and the bottles of inks (some out, some inside of wee boxes) was made from plywood and painted. The containers are a variety of things I found around the house, from popcicle tray to Tupperware cup, and hung either with fencing wire, screws, or long strips of sturdy velcro. I also added velcro to the bottom of each of the other containers to keep them steady.
Now when I work on an art project I will have everything at hand ~ but better yet, a place for everything and everything in its place!
(I'm going to sew a wee curtain to block that light so it's not blasting into my eyeballs.)

Sorry, the image below is a bit blurry ~ I wanted to show the wee lip at the edge of the equally wee shelf that keeps the inks and stamp tins from falling off:
My eyes!!! lol

Dairy Update: plastic organizer boxes, playing "Tetris" with clutter lol

2011-05-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

I've learned a few new lessons with regards to clear plastic storage containers. As I stated before, I found that clear containers worked best for most of my art, sewing, craft (etc) supplies instead of solid tins and boxes. But I ran into a problem: most of the storage containers that I found in the shops were inefficiently designed, much to my frustration! Observe in the photo below where I have placed my thumb (ignore the work-worn nail lol) You are looking at the bottom of the tub and my thumb is between the body of the tub and the overhanging lid. Do you see all of that excess space? When I used these tubs in shelves and cabinets those overhanging lids hogged up a lot of valuable and limited space. Also, the body of the tubs being much smaller meant that I had difficulty fitting things inside. So, be aware of this if you go and buy plastic storage tubs: be wary of those that have overhanging lids, and also those containers that have sides that curve inward ~ again taking up excess space while offering much less storage area.
Here is a photo containing my recent victorious find: "Really Useful Boxes" ... lovely plastic storage boxes that do not have overhanging lids, nor do the sides curve inwards. (They come in every size imaginable!!) And even better: they are less expensive then the other frustrating brands!! Yet made right here in the UK from quite sturdy plastic. (No sweat shop slaves??) The lids also fit much better due to the locking bits that look like handles. They aren't handles ~ they are locks and this means the lids don't fly off at the slightest bump, nor do they warp as badly later on. Because I have also found that the frustrating kind of plastic storage boxes end up with lid warpage in less then a year. (What gives???)
So now at long, long last I feel that my organizing adventure has been pulled out of the breakdown lane and is back in action! It's like a log jam really, with every room in the house backed up because of two places: The dairy and... the boxroom upstairs! Which has been converted into our "library." (But don't get excited as the room is only 8'x6' lol) The box room was once rather organized but now that the dairy is "organizable" I've wreaked havoc by removing books down to the diary but wait, no, changing my mind, moving them back up and grabbing different books and then changing my mind about some of them too... yeah, it's an adventure!
Today I am going to focus a lot on the box room so that I can remove some of the logs from the clutter log jam. Seriously, it's like playing real life Tetris!! (Without the hypnotizing background music lol)
Here you can see, if you look at the edges of the shelves, that I've simply taken a black sharpie and written out the topics/subjects for easier access. Yes, I've heard over and over "why don't you just use the public libraries?" As a matter of fact I'm fed up with hearing, "Why don't you just use the local library??" lol!! Well, sure. We do. At times. But with the library a half hour drive away and gas going for $10 a gallon and three small screaming kids to drag into town while farm chores are left behind on hold... can you see why I have built up a small easy-to-use library right here in our house? Oh yes, that and the fact that when all that we need is one small bit of information, one teeny wee bit, because a project has suddenly screeched to a halt...(doesn't it drive you bonkers when that happens??) I don't want to wait a solid week or more before I can get that information from a distant library. After dragging three screaming kids into town on $10 a gallon gas LOL! We love the library but we also love our library too :-)

Have you "redone" or redecorated or organized anything?

2011-05-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Even if it's something small like organizing a "junk drawer" or a linen closet, please feel free to share! I am *not* an organization queen. I'm learning all of this on-the-go with plenty of frustrating and time consuming mistakes.

The best way is to post your links in the comments section :-)

Dairy Update: Final shelves, organizing bits and bobs.

2011-05-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

My art workspace is dedicated to Saint Luke, the Patron Saint of artists, he himself being an artist, a physician, and the very skilled writer of two books in the New Testament.
As you can see above I almost had a heart attack when pricing "wall organizer" items and instead of purchasing those over-priced things I dug around in the house and dairy. Much to my delight I discovered an assortment of tins and other containers that Husband then attatched to the wall using his concrete drill. (Some of the containers are hung by strong velcro ~ we'll see if that lasts!) Now all of my most heavily used art tools will be readily at hand instead of buried inside of boxes and bins inside of a shelf. Much better! As you can see the mismatched hodge podge of cups, popsicle bin, tins, old plastic food storage containers, and even an incense canister have managed to work well together in a funky artsy sort of way. Not bad!
Above sits one of the yellow shelves ~ I've done my best to utilize every bit of available space including the tight area above the window. My goal here is to be able to organize the various work spaces of the dairy studio in such a way that everything is easy to get at without having to paw through piles of clutter. Less avalanches that way! If I want to make a cup of tea I can simply reach for a teacup without breaking three others in the process. ;-)
One thing I have discovered during this adventure is that I don't do well with organizing things inside of solid boxes and tins. I end up having a very hard time remember what is where and even labels can leave you not 100% certain of the contents. I managed to find some inexpensive clear boxes at a local office supply shop that solved the problem perfectly! (I will still use some solid storage for some things, sure.) Again, the goal is to make things easy to access and locate without me (or anyone else) wasting large chunks of valuable free time hunting in vain... I mean, nothing kills the creative momentum like the frustration of trying to find that one single thing you absolutely need in order to carry on! Arrrg... been there, done that too many times lol
It is really nice to have a space dedicated specifically to creativity, be it art, crafts, soapmaking, cooking, or writing. Now all of my instruction dvds, books, articles, etc. are in one place and right there when I need them! No more having to try and find things upstairs in the main "library" (tiny room with shelves hehehe) or maybe kicking around in the livingroom or stashed in the attic ~ if I want to work on a craft or art technique or homesteading skill I will have the information right there in the same creative space where I am working.
I found that tree wall art on sale on the Internet and I just LOVE it! Up close the leaves are actually really cute ~ they are "made" of various fabrics, even newspaper clippings. I've found that being surrounded by creative things helps to inspire me in so many ways! It's rather interesting that I prefer my creative space to be organized but in a sense totally cluttered with mismatched funky this-and-that, clashing colours, and enough visual "activity" to make you dizzy. If this were Feng Shui I'd have to call it, "Merry-Go-Round" ...

Dairy Update!

2011-05-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

I am so very happy with a new book I bought last week: "Organizing Your Craft Space." Although the dairy-to-studio conversion is still in the works I've already started organizing my art, craft, writing, baking, etc supplies ~ with sad results. But then: enter this book!! After flipping through the various chapters and oggling the related pictures I discovered so many fantastic ideas! But after searching out several types of craft organizing boxes and shelves, bins and trays... I about cried! The prices were insane!! Highway robbery!! Seriously, a 24" tall **plastic** 6-drawer "bin" costs nearly forty bucks?? Wow.

Sooooo I returned to the book and scrutinized the details in the photographs on each page and spied so many alternative ideas that I had missed the first few times around. Then, excited to bits, I ran back and forth between the dairy and the house so that I could gather up all manner of unused tubs, popcicle trays, cans, tins... and came up with this for my immediate art area:

I had also found some really useful hanging drawer-things on line that I decided were worth the price. These and all of my filled bins/tins are going to be hung on the wall so that my art tools are nearby but up, out of the way. No clutter! No digging around in endless boxes cluttered with layers of stuff. No more having to dig six boxes out of a shelf to find the one box I *think* might contain what I'm looking for (only to find out most of the time oops, wrong box)... and best of all: no more forgetting about what I have and what I don't have!
And here we have the final shelves for the dairy ~ I've been working on this project since June and I hope to be finished by the end of June of this year. However, I might not be fully "moved in" until July. But once that happens YAHOOO! And along the way I have learned so many wonderful organizing tricks that I can then employ in the house. :-)

Platter closeup photos...

2011-03-30T09:06:00.001-07:00

The platter is 19" long by 14.5" wide. It's very thick and very heavy! And it is believed to be called, "Wren and Cricket." From the Georgian period. :-)

Laptop fixed. Observe this lovely gift!

2011-03-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Yay I can post photos again! Our old PC can't take photo cards... A friend of mine has given me this gorgeous 200+ year old Georgian Spode platter. It's huge! This photo doesn't do the platter very much justice. Isn't it lovely?? It amazes me to think that 200 years ago there was a fancy Georgian family being served (by a sturdy maid in a mob cap!) their roast or joint in an equally fancy dining room. Touchable history!!

2011-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Been soooo busy. Will post soon and do a photo dump!!

Second Watercolour... more practice.

2011-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

This was a rather mindless project so that I could experiment with moving the paint around the paper. Watercolours are very tricky! In the end my imagination led to an alien landscape.

My First Watercolour...

2011-01-07T03:08:00.000-08:00

This was an assignment for the art class and we each had to pick a picture that had been sketched by the instructor. This is not a watercolour class so I had to have a go at this with minimal understanding of technique. I also had to skulk around at 11pm, propping my eyes open with toothpicks after the kids had finally settled down to sleep. (They can sense when I'm up to something and then they refuse to snooze lol...)

But I really like this medium so I don't plan on staying ignorant for long muwahahahahaaa! The hilareous part was my attempts at painting with these teeeensy little pots of dry watercolour paints ~ each one held pinched between my thumb and forefinger and oh wow. That was an adventure lol ~ and you should have seen me doing the background "wash" of colours with the huge wash brush vs. the teeny paints. I felt like a behemouth LOL "YArrrrr... me paint with big brush!"

Huston, we have a problem lol

2011-01-05T13:01:00.001-08:00

Very big brush, very wee watercolour pants...

I love post-holida sales...

2011-01-04T14:16:00.001-08:00

What do you think of this for an elegant daytime bag? It's time I stop sticking husband's wallet into Elspeth's coat hood LOL

New blouse and some pearls...

2011-01-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

I ordered this embroidered black blouse that was on sale, in sizes small through 3x, plus a long-sleeved black shirt to wear underneath. I can wear several of my existing skirts and my pair of boot-leg trousers and my mary-jane flats with this beauty.
And I ordered those mauve double-strand pearls. I have no idea what matches with mauve though... but these are a bit less granny then white pearls.

The twins disapeared from sight and then it became very quiet...

2010-12-29T01:16:00.000-08:00

And so I was suddenly very worried! Dashing from the kitchen, I peered around the livingroom door and found... this:
Benji and Inga were sitting together and reading a book!! It was soooo sweet!!

Proof that life in Alaska was a hoot...

2010-12-26T14:07:00.001-08:00

This is so fun to watch! An entire village gets involved:

A Merry Blessed Christmas to All

2010-12-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

See amid the winter's snow
Born for us on earth below
See the tender Lamb appears
Promised from eternal years

Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Say ye holy shepherds, say
What your joyful news today?
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?

Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Sacred infant, all divine
What a tender love was thine
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this...

Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Listen to the song here! Very beautifully sung.

Winter Solstice: At the Break of Dawn

2010-12-21T09:58:00.001-08:00

Old Fashioned Letter Folding!

2010-12-18T08:52:00.000-08:00

Have you ever watched a movie set in the old days before envelopes were invented? Such as the Jane Austen movies? They had such a lovely way of folding letters and then sealing them with wax.

I found a link that is filled to the brim with illustrated instructions on how to fold letters and also how to fold envelopes. It's very fun!

Click here.

2010-12-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

"Mr. [Ted] Turner – a long-time advocate of population control – said the environmental stress on the Earth requires radical solutions, suggesting countries should follow China’s lead in instituting a one-child policy to reduce global population over time. He added that fertility rights could be sold so that poor people could profit from their decision not to reproduce."

Durn those Poor People!! How dare they breed.

Shoot, I wonder if I could manage to squeeze out at least one more ... just to spite this dumbass??

Doing the barley stroke...

2010-12-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

New post at "Catholic Orkney"...

2010-12-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

I just don't have the energy to repeat it here lol
This be the link ----> Click Me!!

"My" Nuns have a blog!!

2010-12-07T03:31:00.000-08:00

The Benedictine Nuns of the Priory of Our Lady of the Rock on Shaw Island in the state of Washington have a blog!!. .. they are SO COOL!!... they have a farm on the island where they raise rare breeds of cattle and sheep, as well as llamas and alpaca. They live the full Benedictine monastic life, complet with full habit, Gregorian Chant, mass in Latin, ~ while also living a full farm life! I've visited with them twice for about a month each time and I can't even begin to describe the absolute beauty of their way of life ~ not to mention the incredible beauty of their island home and organic farm! They even hand milk their cows!

These busy agriculture nuns pray all of the Hours (in a stunning wood chapel) while also engaging in such amazing work as carding, spinning, and weaving with the sheep and llama/alpaca fiber... several of the nuns are highly educated and the monastery is blessed with a diverse range of talents from master musicians to clinical psycologists. These nuns... they are absolutely amazing. One look at their lives and no one can try and claim that the Catholic Church "oppresses" women!

Please, please, please take the time to visit their blog, comment on their posts, and get the word out about their incredible community. They are connected to the motherhouse of the Benedictine Nuns of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT. Which is also filled with mazing women!!! Deffinately worth getting to know these wonderful nuns in person, even if only through cyberspace.

And most of all beg and pray to God that these nuns have many steady vocations to help keep their monastery going! (From what I've observed there doesn't seem to be a hard and fast age limit??)

God bless to everyone ~ now, back to folding landry. It has been trying to take over the world!!

Peace On Earth: No Christmas Craziness here :-)

2010-12-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

Peace On Earth December Challenge ~ click here :-)

This year is going to be different from all of the rest: not much in the way of decorating, not very many Christmas cards being sent. I'm going to withdraw from the "craziness" of making the house all christmassy and sending out masses of cards, decorating a tree, shopping for gifts... and instead focus on the coming of our Savior.

And in so doing I will, by default, focus on what the children really need (and Husband too as he also struggles with the demands and needs of small kids) vs. all of the fuss and stress of trying to make the house look like a spread from Country Living Magazine. Not that I'm against that sort of thing! It's just that I need to be very careful to keep my priorities straight whilst caring for three very young children. The fancy decorating, the cards, the crafts, these things can all wait to be enjoyed together when the Three Weans are old enough to understand what is going on, and join in the fun. :-)

Advent snow!

2010-11-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

Early snow this fall!

How is this for one very cute photo? hehehehe

Inga was really into this book last night.
Squishy Boy in his Sunday best looking as cute as ever.

Elspethy enjoying some fun in the snow this evening.

A blessed Thanksgiving to everyone! Lots of food and... books!!

2010-11-25T13:23:00.001-08:00

(my shift key is not playing nice so bear with me...)

happy, blessed thanksgiving!!
even if you're not american, may you have a blessed day!

we didn't do anything super-special for thanksgiving today because i've been preparing instead for possible blizzard weather as britain braces for a ten-day freeze. we can get a lot of power outs, sometimes well over a dozen in one day! so our thanksgiving meal is really several pre-cooked meals that i've made just in case we lose the use of our cooking stove.

so while we are not stuffed to the gills on turkey and pie we're feeling relieved that we had time to prepare. and now that i've spent so much time cooking and also catching up on laundry, cleaning, you know: doing all of the things that need electricity... we'll not have one single power out. not one. the lights won't so much as flicker. yeah, so as you can tell folks, i got this welllll figured out hehehe

as fall rolls out and winter rolls in i've done my usual late-fall-book-stashing thing that i learned in alaska, where i load up on good, edifying, empowering books that i then read through the darkest days of winter. which is usually late november to mid-january. they help me to remain positive when instead all i want to do is pack up and move to sunny florida lol

here is a taste of this year's stash:

I have this book and at first i was put off but it's grown on me a lot. so i picked up the audio cd to go with it, so that i can listen while i work.
holy simplicity sounds like just the thing i'm searching for at this point in my life! i can't wait to see what this wee book holds.
a very good book aimed at Catholic mothers. it's so nice to finally see good solid catholic family and parenting books emerging. this book is laid out really nice, the pages are ivory with a big, brown font that is very appealing. gives it a bit of a homey feel and goes will with coffee lol
a fantastic book/workbook combination. i love to chant the psalms via the Divine Office but i don't always understand what i'm reading. since advent is about to begin (on sunday!) and i'm about to get back into the swing of the Divine Office after some time away... i thought this study would go well with the start of the new liturgical year :-)
another good book, although it does have that hyper-focus on "quiet time" spent with God. i do think that in some circles christian women are pushed a bit too hard to engage in this quiet, alone-with-God time that honestly isn't often very possible in a busy household. but even still, i thas a lot of gems between the covers!
i love this wee journal! EVEN IF ooops caps lock, even if the cover is actually fake and it isn't really held together by string lol ~ but the pages inside are goregous!! Fully coloured, with flowers and lines, scripture quotes and encouraging devotions from the author. it's even divided into topics so you can read/journal about specific areas such as blessing, God's love, family, etc. Very lovely!

So i'll leave you all with that and, since i've worked so hard prepring for the worst, i'll probably be on the internet every day without a single power-out to complain of LOL

Garbage Toys and Recession Soup

2010-11-21T23:46:00.000-08:00

If they haven't seen something before it tends to be very interesting and will amuse the children for some time as they explore this thing: Jar lids, small boxes, egg cups, sealed sippy cup containing a few beans... Just about anything will make a good, interesting toy to explore even without decoration. Better yet, place these objects into a bowl and let the fun begin! But sometimes it's just as enjoyable to add some decoration to an everyday object that you normally would toss into the trash. And since most "everyday" objects are being used around the house the kids will consider these to be important. Because of this, it is extra exciting for the child to finally get their hands on something as mundane as say... a milk jug!

Take some strips of paper, even newspaper works, maybe even some tin foil you were about to throw away... or colorful food wrappers like a pasta bag... torn up chunks of a cereal box...

Stuff them inside of the jug and add one or two hard objecs (such as the fat crayons) that will make noise when the jug is rattled... (The strips of paper are easier to see through the jug in real life!) ... add some ribbon scraps to the handle, making sure to singe the ends with a match or lighter so the ribbon does not unravel...
Duct tape the cap so that it can't be yanked off and there we have it: One happy kid in the morning that has a new toy to play with for the better part of a few days! You can then pass this toy along to other kids that you know so that it can be enjoyed for some time.
And now: how about some more Recession Soup? Once again, using the basic bulk staples of brown rice, black eyed peas, and lentils, we create a thick and filling soup with whatever we have on hand around the house.
The advantage to the "boring" vegtables, meats, and staples that are most familiar to us according to our various cultures is that they all tend to mix together well. The tastes match up like a puzzle and this makes it easy to combine various foods into a delicious and filling soup. Or curry. Or goulash... every culture has a "toss it all together and cook" dish.
If you take the time to brown the onions, cooking them slowly and steadily in olive oil so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pot ~ yet parts of the bits begin to brown, you will bring out the flavor in a way that will make the soup much less "boring."

Same with the leeks, or whatever meat you are going to use, or peppers...

Cabbage goes well in so many dishes. If you don't like cabbage on it's own you may find that you like it when combined with other food. Cut out the core of the cabbage and compost. Slice the rest of the cabbage into managable bits that won't dangle out of your mouth lol

Chop, brown if necessary, combine together in The Soup Pot... add a dash of olive oil, a dash of garlic powder or puree, stir, bring to the boil for about five, ten minutes, then bump down to a gentle simmer. Let the soup simmer all morning ~ be careful to check the water level. Also, don't be afraid to use meat scraps and/or bones to make stock beforehand. The simmering helps to leach out an amazing amount of nutrients from the bones, the marrow, the cartalidge etc. These scraps can be simmered from morning until evening to create a very healthy stock base for any soup. Such as this one!

Floor Soup ~UPDATED and revised :-)

2010-11-21T03:24:00.000-08:00

Now that we have bairns (kids) everything, even the most mundane every-day task, has become an exciting adventure. May I (we!) present: Floor Soup!

First we start with the usual bulk staples and add whatever veg we have on hand: Turnip, shallots, pickled beet root, carrots, broon rice, lentils, blackeyed peas (Navy beans?) and since I didn't have anything from which to make stock: cheater stock cubes hehe! And yes, let's not forget 1 eager toddler... (Update: After Sunday dinner at Grandma's hoose we have now also added a chicken carcass hehehe)

With the ingredients chopped (under the watchful eye of Elspethy) and placed into bowls (with helpful chubby hands joining in) that are then set on the floor around the soup pot Elspeth can get busy mixing everything together...
Well, on Planet Elspeth it seems we have to first dump each bowl of ingredients into this one special pudding bowl and then pour the contents into the soup pot!
This touching scene has two motives: to have fun with Elspeth and... to run her absolutely ragged so she has a fantastic nap and thus might not behave like a demon at church!

More transfering of ingredients from the other, inferior bowls into THE bowl of bowls... (I gave up questioning Toddler Logic long, long ago.)

And then, only then, can they be poured into the soup pot. :-)

Add a generous glug or five of olive oil...

...give it all a good stir and voilà! The soup is ready to be simmered into deliciousness!

And because nothing in Toddler Land ever comes to an abrubt halt, Elspeth has moved on to re-creating the exciting soup-making with a measure of lentils, THE bowl of bowls, and a plastic mixing bowl. Meanwhile mummy has collapsed into a chair with a cup of coffee and is taking full advantage of the Distracted Child.

Once imaginary soup-making became dull, Elspeth ran back and forth across the lentils for ten minutes ~ while giggling and having a grand time. After which, while mummy cowered behind the playpen, Elspeth got busy "sweeping up" the mess ~while nearly wiping out half of the kitchen with the other end of the handle... but hey, she had FUN, we have soup simmering on the stove, and The Child slept like a log afterwards. Mission accomplished!!

Help Iraqi Christians ~ they are being slaughtered.

2010-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

"As we speak they are still being individually chased and killed near or in their homes. The clergy are lost on what advise do they give to the community. It is mayhem."
(Harrowing words from an email sent to me after I contacted Iraqi Christians In Need...)

"For the moment we ask you, and the good people in your town to pray hard. Our religion is based on hope. I must stay we are running low on this. We want you to tell the story, not many know the details off. Those people can do with material support to help them either stay, if they can, and stand the storm, or leave for good.
In either case ICIN helps. But we are running short of funds and in this we too need to be helped."

Click here to visit an organization that has been set up to directly assist Christians in Iraq, who are being systematically slaughtered ~ all while our governments refuse to grant them any type of refugee status.

Please, spread the word and share this link. Through Iraqi Christians In Need you can donate or sponsor children and/or widows with children, all of whom are living as destitute and depressed refugees in other countries. They even have it set up so that you can call those you sponsor on the phone and speak with them and make certain that they are receiving the money and being cared for.
Please help ~ even if you can only afford to share this organization with others. They will even send you text and other information to give out at your church.

"Another way of help is making appeals on our behalf in your churches. We can send you the necessary text and the various material needed."
"Please encourage people around you to donate to ICIN. We help by supporting the fleeing frightened people through the clergy on the ground who are also shattered and inundated. Already we are sending a delegation from us to see to the needs of the first contingency of relatives of the massacred parishioners of our Lady of Deliverance to arrive in France for treatment."

Inga sitting up all on her own!

2010-11-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

She'll be ten months old in three days.

Amusing babies...

2010-11-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

I've removed the latest, boring toys from the playpen and replaced them with new and exciting objects to be explored by a pair of feisty babies: (Empty boxes, two egg cups, baby food jar caps, other sundry things of great interest to 9-month-olds...)
And here they are merrily digging into the pile and thus buying me some time to check email and post to this blog! :-) Happy babies!

Color pencils are not my thing...

2010-11-10T10:44:00.001-08:00

But we had to ues them for art class last night ~ so Hook was my victim lol He looks bored.

Even more art practice!

2010-11-08T14:26:00.001-08:00

Still working with Transformers since they keep me focused and interested :-) ... Next I'll try and draw this guy at a different angle! Perspective. I've got to nail it arrrrrg!

More art practice...

2010-11-07T10:13:00.001-08:00

Ever have one of those days when you feel as if you're squashed under a mount of back-logged work? hehehehe! Well, I was actually practicing perspective and Transformer feet so I thought I'd have some fun while I was at it. :-)

And here I was trying my hand at some water colour techniques. Only problem is... I, uh, don't know how to water colour???? But I have a how-to book coming LOL (hurry!!) I did the Dynobot in the foreground first and he came out far too dark in the hindquarters. Ooops. Then the Dynobot in the distance has a light-grey tail but our scanner turned it white!!

And here I've added feet using the original "master copy" and my light box.

Since practice is downright tedious I'm trying to use my favorite fantasy subject (Transformers) for studies rather then bowls of apples, trees, and houses ;-) After all, I'm taking "Fantasy Illustration" class lol

Fantasy Illustration Art Class: Practicing what I've learned so far...

2010-11-05T03:32:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I'm loving the class! :-)

From the Kitchen: Leftover Chicken

2010-11-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

Roast chicken on Sunday = chicken curry and chicken soup with the leftovers!

Crack out the leftover chicken carcass and dig in. Pull off all of the good meat and separate the bones, skin, and cartalidge.

The beauty of soup is that you can slap together all manner of leftovers, pad out the meat or whatever, and serve up a hearty, filling dish.

While you are picking at the leftover chicken: Preheat oven on a low heat so you can slow-cook.
Turn on a burner for the stock pot and heat up some water, either in a tea kettle or in the stock pot.
While things heat up, pick at the leftover chicken ~ don't neglect the underside where there is a rich deposit of tender meat! And don't worry about getting every last scrap because it won't go to waste in the stock. Just scrape the skin away and dig with your fingers (works well to push from behind a chunk of meat) or a butter knife, chop the bits into bite-size portions, and toss into the roasting dish that already contains the curry sauce. Mix the chicken and sauce, a good splash of hot water, and then stick in the oven on a medium setting, so it can slow cook. The longer you have for it to roast the lower the temperature should be. Check every half hour to 45 minutes and top up with warm milk or water to keep the sauce from drying out and burning. If you notice this happening anyway, turn the heat down ten or fifteen degrees.

Now, place the leftover chicken carcass, bones and all, into a pot of simmering water and toss in some stock cubes, one or two ~ I used chicken and also "garlic and herb". Don't fill the water over the chicken ~ you want a rich broth so don't dilute it too much! You will top up the water as the day progresses. (Yes, I said "day" ~ this isn't a dish for today's dinner but instead is something you'll simmer all day long, then put together tonight with pasta, rice, herbs, veg etc, and serve tomorrow.) Cover the pot and keep on a low simmer. It's ok to see some steady movement of the water but you don't want it looking like the bottom of a waterfall, moving fast and furious and noisy.
To cook rice, put rice in the pot and simmer in olive oil until the solid-looking rice starts to appear a bit translucent, mostly around the edges ~ a sort of milky look. (You can skip this step if it's too confusing.) Then add water and bring to a boil for ten minutes. I forget the meaurements. Is it one part rice to two parts water?? One cup rice, two cups water? Ok, after ten minutes bring the rice down to a simmer and cover ~ ket cook for a good hour or so if it's brown rice. When dinner is ready, take out the curry from the oven and add to the rice. Viola!

As for the stock: Let it simmer for hours, the more the merrier because this leaches out all of the nutrition in the bones and cartalidge without you having to eat that stuff. After you are done simmering, maybe in the late afternoon, take a strainer (like you use for pasta?) and run the entire pot of stuff through it.

Pick out the good meat and return it to the broth. Compost the rest of the carcass. Add veg: carrots, onions. Don't be afraid to toss in some leftovers: tomato, stuffing, etc. Random... chunks of potato sitting around on the counter... ya know! Everything goes in the pot muwahahahahaha!!

Lentils are good too, just a handful to add flavor and pad it out. "Navy Beans" and Black eyed peas work well too. Add a bit of whole-wheat pasta, a handful of brown rice, bring to a simmer until the rice and the carrots are cooked, (ten minutes before serving add some herbs) and then serve! You can also cook the carrots/rice beforehand so you don't over-cook the pasta or wait to put the pasta in until 15, 20 mins beforehand. Serve either that night or the next day and enjoy! (Wait for soup to cool down before storing in fridge. Place outside or in garage or in a barn for it to cool.)

A nice surprise!

2010-11-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

They said it was going to take five weeks for this coat to arive but it showed up today, one week later! A good, thick wool-blend winter coat for Elspeth. (She had just been given another bonnie coat as a gift the other day, which she wore today. But it's out in the car and it's "chucking the rain doon"...)

Annnnnd so Benji doesn't feel left out: here is The Squishy Boy having his bath this evening. HE'S SO CUTE!! What a camera ham lol

A lovely fall morning

2010-11-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

Elspeth, enjoying some reading in her wee nook.
The many uses for empty cattle lick boxes!

Jack o' Lantern

2010-10-30T12:43:00.001-07:00

I never imagined that I would one day be carving Jack o' Lanterns in Scotland! Here we have our victim pumpkin ~ I've sketched out the face in the style of our childhood Jack o' Lanterns.

Elspeth helps mummy to hollow the pumpkin...

The interior view of a pumpkin!
Here is our Jack o' Lantern in the light!

And here he is in the dark!

Annnnd... who can resist a baby photo? Here we have Inga sitting up in the hallway. They are getting so big SO FAST!

Elspeth drinks her tea...

2010-10-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

Busy day

2010-10-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

Today we had decent weather so I bundled the twins in some warm gear and put them outside in their playpen so that they could take in the fresh air and sunshine. The plan worked extra well because they were so enthralled by what was going on around them that they forgot to spend all day fussing! (Score!!)

We've purchased five 55lb bags of basic staples: Lentils, Navy Beans, Whole Wheat, Brown Rice, and Rolled Oats. Our goal is to create meals from these staples + our own meat and vegtables and, soon, my own sauces, breads, broths, etc ~ as I learn how to make each one.

Today I took navy beans, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, chicken thighs and drumsticks, stock cubes, onions, and carrots, tossed them into the medium pot and created chicken soup. It turned out fantastic! Well, first I fried the chicken in garlic canolla oil before combining everything and simmering for three hours. Another thing I love about fall and winter: it's the perfect season for warm hearty soups!

Here is the kist (now moved into the dairy) that has our bulk staples.

Erlend spent a lot of time today cleaning out the freezer and then moving the freezer and the fridge from the barn into the stable. Meanwhile Inga and Benji sat in their playpen at the wide opening to the barn and watched the proceedings.

Inga
Benji
Here is the chicken soup almost ready to be served.

Erlend and Elspeth filled my tubs with the bulk ingredients and now they are waiting in the dairy to be used for my next cooking experiments!

I can't wait to start baking bread and adding things like cheese and herbs and eventually mastering artisan bread baking. The dairy is going to be a very busy place!

Winter cometh...

2010-10-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I love winter. I love all of the seasons, really ~ they each have their charms!

I find the dark mornings and the dark evenings to be rather cozy. The frost and the chill make me curl up inside with a cup of coffee while the "aga" roars in the background. (It's not really an aga... but I can't remember what it's called lol)

I enjoy watching the change of colors outside and if it's not too icy outside I really love to go for a walk in the crisp air.

And winter brings a bit of respite from the madness of summer. With 24 hour daylight the days on the farm are insane and too long. I love the good weather and all of the green but after a while it gets old having the work day extend until midnight. Or past midnight! So just as we begin to burn out the darkness returns and the work days become a bit more sane.

Fall and winter is the time for doing a lot of things indoors while the wind and rains hammer the windows ~ I love the noise! It never bothers me to hear the wind roaring and the rain beating against the house. If anything I sleep better!

I'm well stocked up on Mystic Monk coffee. I'm going to buy an electric perculator and try and have fresh ground coffee this fall and winter. That and I'm experimenting at making soups and I'll my hand at crochet and baking a variety of breads. Whatever I ruin beyond eating will be donated to the birds ;-)

Nine months old!!

2010-10-22T13:47:00.001-07:00

Messy!! Benji is not yet feeding himself but I let him have a go so he can get some practice with the whole arrangement :-)

Time flies! The twa weans are nine months old already! And practicing how to sit up. So far they still fall over after a few minutes but soon we'll be able to plunk them down on the floor and htey can play and stop fussing so much to see what's going on. **Whew** Can't wait for that day!!

First snow today!

2010-10-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Such an interesting contrast of colors today! Greys, whites, oranges in field, greens...
An uncommon sight around here: Cows outside with snow!
Oh: The twins are 9 months old today! Here's Benji in a high chair. Big boy all growing up!

Elspeth hams it up with the ultimate cute face and wee Inga! Still our mini-Wean!

Now, back to the first snow lol ~ here's the tractor at sunrise.

Very ominous clouds in the near distance!! But it started to rain so probably no more snow?

2010-10-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Elspethy drawing in her art scrapbook...

Here are some new pages being made for future creative spells: Sheep and...
...bright stars!

The dairy continues to come together really well. I've moved my prayer corner onto the orange counter area:

And the various shelves are starting to fill up with art books, children's books, cooking and baking supplies, grocieries...

...and the clutter in the house is beginning to thin!

Below ~ some bean stew that I cooked this afternoon.

Gee, can you tell we have three wee kids?

2010-10-18T14:49:00.001-07:00

The aftermath... LOL!

Dairy Update: the art studio side

2010-10-08T13:48:00.001-07:00

Now the art stuido side is coming together! This is the big unit for cutting cloth ~ and storing toys, arts and crafts supplies, cloth, musical instruments. So many of the things cluttering up the house will now be moved out here and organized!
There's lots of room inside for a huge variety of things. (There's a third shelf, I put it in after this photo was taken.) Starting tomorrow I'll be moving loads of stuff out into these cabinets.
On this end is a wee cubby for the kids to use as a hiding space. I'll paint the back wall, stick a cushion on the floor, and hang a curtain over the front. Later I'll stick glow in the dark stars under the overhang ~ so fun!!

At the other end is a three shelf cubby that the kids can use to their hearts content. All of the other cabinet doors have child safety locks ~ I'm making the dairy as childproof as possible so the kids can roam about without being hindered by gates or stuck in playpens.

There's going to be dark blue carpet laid down on the 15th. There's a weather strip on the bottom of the door so the rain can't get in. I have two more apple-green shelves to be hung on this end (tomorrow) and then I can move a huge amount of craft, writing, art, and children's books out of the house. In December we'll have wiring done. We have a fan hater and a dehumidifier so the building will be warm and dry. The kids are going to have so many fond, fun memories of this old dairy! We are going to have some seriously good times in here, especially in the cold dark winter months when the gales and the rain keep us trapped indoors.

Dairy updates!

2010-10-06T13:19:00.001-07:00

Now we're looking over at the art stuido side! This pink "thing" is a set of three cabinets sans doors. (And the purple thing is a kitchen cabinet door that is drying.) I have the top for the cabinets drying out in one of the barns but much to my horror there was a swarm of black flies and they all dove onto the lovely third coat of orange gloss paint. Arrrrg!!

And this is a view of the other side of the art studio: my drawing table made from salvaged countertop! I've painted around it with some of the mint green/blue paint that I love so much! It's all finally coming together... (There's two more shelves to be hung on the art side.)

Dairy Update: Kitchen End ~ colors, colors everywhere!

2010-10-02T01:56:00.000-07:00

So! I've painted some more and here are the kitchen cabinets and shelves in all of their glory. Granted the brown wood-with-glass cabinet doors will be re-hung but the inside of the cabinets themselves will be fun!

The kitchen end colors are turning out to be a bit thick and dark but the walls and ceiling are cream color so hopefully that will help balance out this Goth thing I have going on :-)

Dairy Update: Vibrant Color Scheme! So fun..

2010-10-01T13:44:00.001-07:00

So! I finished painting the fuschia wall and the mint green shelf. Erlend hung the shelf on the wall and the colors are so fun! Husband also bolted the sky-blue cubby at the purple end and I'm getting very excited! The diary is coming together at long last!

Dairy Update: Lights! And painting...

2010-09-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Before we get to the dairy photos, here are some obligatry cute baby pictures!

Squishy Boy in the dairy with several colorful blocks. HE'S SOOOO CUUUUTE lolol

Elspethy hand prints. She'll love looking at these ten years down the road.

The dairy well lit after dark. Very nice to have this setup rigged into place because now we can work well after dark ~ which happens earlier each day.

Almost done at the fuschia end...

The Carpenter Cousin must have caulked the ceiling when I wasn't looking because I saw today that it is all finished! Very nice. Helps make the old dairy snug. We deffinately have to sew some curtains for the creepy dark windows. FISH BOWL!! lol

Dairy Update: More Colors!!

2010-09-27T04:02:00.001-07:00

I've been sick with ANOTHER cold (grrr) so here's a quick update of what's going on with the dairy. First, a nice vivid purple for the cabinets in the kitchen area:
The cabinet shelves are being painted a contrasting fuschia color :-)

The end wall on the art side of the dairy is purple and that tall shelf is a shade of sky blue.

Elspethy busy with her blocks whilst hanging out with mummy in the dairy. It's so fun to have her buzzing around!

The wall at the kitchen end is fuschia and I LOVE this color!! So fun.

I've just finished painting the last of the shelf that will be hung on this end. The mint green one.

Baby photos!

2010-09-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Benji is deffinately a charmer!

We removed one of the big livingroom chairs and installed a mini-livingroom for Elspeth. She LOVES it and sits right down on the pink divan and reads her books.

Benji sez, "Huh?! What is that thing??" (This photo CRACKS ME UP!)

After many failed attempts, Elspeth finally manages to squeeze herself into the noisy plastic bouncy station that has filled her with envy ever since the twins started to use it. (Note how I captured her "Dr. Evil" pose, with the hands rubbing together..."Muwahahahahaaa! I have prevailed!") So I bought the poor kid a hideous plastic musical bouncing zebra (don't ask...) and she spent one day bouncing with delight and then got a diaper rash and hasn't been able to bounce since. Typical!!!

"Whoa!! And here I thought I was the only baby in this play pen!!"

I'm being bested by a playpen!

2010-09-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

So I bought (another) play pen, this time around it has soft mesh sides but they've turned out to be rather non see-through. So I'm not sure if this is good? But on the flip side the mesh is soft enough for face-planting babies not to hurt themselves? I'm digging the lime green color. Because no farmhouse livingroom is complete without a vivid lime-green playpen radiating in the corner! It goes fab with the soft mint green wool carpet.
Anyhoo, said new playpen is supposed to move into a nice tidy 6-sided shape. But after wrestling with the floppy thing I could only manage the above look! The problem is that the sides don't lock into place like the other playpen, the BabyDan Play Den (of doom) that now acts as a gate to divide the livingroom. I hide behind this gate when I want to check email or fold clothes...

Oh and it has this fantastic "childproof" gate built in! The instructions read, "To help make life a bit easier we have built a child proof gate into one of our panels. To open your gate simply press the small button on the top and squeeze the handle..." Right. I've simply tried this about five times and now I'm simply starting to glance around the room in search of hidden cameras and I'm on one of those Candid Camera shows. I have a feeling that this gate is ADULT proof and Elspeth will simply pop it open while I stand there gawking!

So... the hexagonal shaped soft play mat is also lime green ~ and it refuses to fit my freestyle playpen sculpture thing that I have going on here. BUT guess what happened?

When I tied the mat to the corners of the playpen the silly thing straightened out! But don't anyone move it ~ one bump and the entire playpen wobbles back into abstract art! Either way, now the playpen is up and ready for Operation Baby Containment. They'll be so dazzled by the lime green that I'll probably not hear a peep for days!

First night of "Fantasy Illustration" art class...

2010-09-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

We were given a sketchbook and a bundle of pencils with a thin and a thick black marker. We then had a good look at several fantasy books before being instructed to either copy-draw one of the illustrations or adapt. And so I sat down and studied a fantastic picture of a sleeping dragon. For some reason I used the big fat black marker and whipped off this dragon ~ while the marker squeaked with every stroke haha! Then I used pencil for the background. We had about an hour and it was a lot of fun! Turns out this is an advanced art class so I'm in a bit over my head but I don't mind. I'll still learn tons of technique. My sister is signed up for this class as well and we are going to have a lot of fun together!

Yay!!!!

2010-09-13T13:31:00.001-07:00

My sister will be here on the 21st !!!

Barley harvest!

2010-09-10T13:24:00.001-07:00

One of our fields of barley waving in the evening wind.

Here it is a bit close up ~ you can see that the barley has been undersown with grass.

Closeup shot of ripe barley heads in my hand.

No, that is not a spaceship in our field LOL! That is the barley harvest taking place with the contracted forager. If you look close you can see a row of cut barley straw on the left side of the forager with green grass showing now. That straw will be spread out, dried, gathered back into rows, and baled.

Surgery update!

2010-09-09T01:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry, folks. Forgot to update you.

I'm doing really well! The wound has healed beautifully. I had the stitches out last week. The pain has decreased inside of the wound but there's a patch of skin that hurts like crazy! I don't understand why. It's really weird because if I touch it lightly I'm through the roof but if I push down fast and hard I don't feel any pain. So maybe it's nerves in the skin that are unhappy?

But other then that I'm moving around really well ~ sure, I still have to favor my right side and I can't just sit up from a lying down position but I'm not "In pain" unless I do the wrong kind of move. I still lack stamina and can just barely walk a mile but hey, I'm feeling healthy!

I'm a very happy woman!

Dairy update: colors!

2010-09-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the paint store and bought several tins of brightly colored paint. I plan on painting all of the shelving units (and the unpainted cabinets) in bright hues. We'll also paint the two end walls in bright contrasting colors as well. This way the old dairy, which will now be a studio, will become a cheerful place for creativity for me and the kids! Here is one of the shelving units that is being painted a lovely minty green. This will go back up on the end wall on the kitchen side once I finish it ~ which won't be for another week or two because I'm still healing.

DAT BULL

2010-09-02T00:52:00.000-07:00

Every day the new Angus bull jumps a fence or a gate. And some cows always follow him. We get several calls every day. DAT BULL is in the barley. DAT BULL is on the neighbor's lawn. DAT BULL is running down the street...

So we got a call this morning just after breakfast and I didn't even have to ask. DAT BULL!

How to get out of the door on time with small children...

2010-08-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

We don't have a perfect track record but trust me, with three kids under the age of two we have learned how to get ready and get out of the house so that we can make it on time to appointments. I thought that maybe I would share a few tips with all of you because I've read on several blogs and Facebook pages that folk are struggling hard with getting anywhere on time with a small child. It's not easy!! But it's totally possible with consolidation of "stuff" and being prepared ahead of time...

First, I ditched the traditional diaper bag and bought one of those rolling carry-on suitcases. This affords us plenty of room to organize our baby/kid stuff + leaves extra room for toys or anything else that needs to be lugged along for the trip. This cuts down on juggling pocketbook, diaper bag, extra bag of toys, kid(s), baby buggy or what have you... and all we have to do is pop up the handle and wheel the beast along behind us with everything stuffed inside! (Well, except the kids.) Above you see the "diaper bag" empty with an LED lamp inside in case we need to sort through it in the dark. Also there's a book and some diaper cream.

I've used a variety of El Cheapo fake tupperware containers and duct tape to organize all of the diaper bag contents from clean new outfits (in case of blowouts) to diaper disposal bags. This prevents the tornado effect which is created when you dig around inside of the diaper bag while muttering, "Now where in the world is the diaper cream...?" We also have a square container with two jars of baby food + spoons and also an "emergency diaper box" with diapers and wipes for those awful days when I forget to replenish our regular diaper bag supplies and oops, someone has a poop while on the road. You can see we have some toys, four bottles of milk, another container with cloths. There's also room for bibs and kid-size bowls.

Here is everything all packed and ready to be used. Now if we have to go anywhere we are set and there will be no surprises. (Obviously we only bring fresh milk but I keep in-date jars of baby food in the diaper bag in case we get caught out late and the kids are hungry.) When we return home from a trip I make sure that the supplies are replenished and this way we are ready to go next time around with minimal fuss and packing. Just chuck the kids in the car at the appointed time ("Exactly what time do we need to be sitting in the car with your foot on the gas pedal?") and off we go!

When we don't have the back row of seats in the car we end up with a bit of space. I put down a play mat and a box of toys and when we are out and about I can sit with the kids while Husband does his thing and vice-versa. Elspeth does great playing in the back with toys while the twins are fed and changed (and amused) up front. You can see the diaper suitcase (lol) tucked there on the left side ~ ready for action!

2010-08-27T03:06:00.000-07:00

Bliss: Dozing outside in the sunshine, coffee cup in hand, surrounded by my children while husband and Elspeth trot aboot the farm steading milking the cow and feeding the sheep. Yeah, sure, a bird shat on me but it still beats being stuck in bed all day sick as a dog and hurting! :-)

Seriously, I thought I'd be in more pain then this! I thought that the wound would burn and burn 24 hours a day. But I'm merely using the equivalent of Tylenol and also Ibruprophen as pain killers and I can make it through about 2/3 of the day before the wound begins to constantly burn. And when I get up and walk around it hurts but not like OH MY GOD I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!! It's more annoying and restricting then anything. Like I said before: the most horrible part is that disgusting tight, tugging feeling I have at the wound where the healing flesh is stiff and stitched together YEEEEUCK. But one of Husband's aunties told me that this would calm down which they removed the stitches which happens I think on Thursday. (Yeah!!)

Speaking of said Auntie... I came home from the hospital yesterday in time for lunch and found myself eating some of her home-made unbelievably delicious carrot soup. What a treat!

While I was gone a neighbor came into our trashed house and tidied up so many of the "I can't even manage to fold the clothes or put away these books" piles. What a blessing to come home to!! It was bad, folks. I could wash and dry a load (in-between having to rest sheesh!) but all I could do was dump it in a pile in the livingroom and then stagger upstairs. I was so ill. I knew I wasn't going to make it to August 31st! I wasn't even managing the basics.

The day of the surgery I set a goal: first 24 hours is THE worse. And that passed. The next day I set a goal: the really bad burning-when-you-move usually calms down considerably by the 4th day. Sure enough, on the fourth day I was feeling like I could stand up and use the bathroom without wanting to scream. (Yay!) Now I've set a new goal: after the stitches come out I'll feel less of that awful really tight tugging feeling. So I'm feeling positive and patient.

Meanwhile I sit outside right there in the farm steading in one of our livingroom chairs where I can bask in the sun and enjoy the fresh air and doze off and on while listening and watching to everything going on around me. Husband can leave the children with me in buggies and/or playpens and I sing to them and stroke their fat cheeks and talk with them while he works. All while feeling so healthy inside. It's as if a huge bag of poison has been disconnected from my systems!

I'm in heaven.

Ooops

2010-08-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Wow what a week.

Where do I start? lol

I was admited on Friday to the hospital after my 3rd visit to the emergency room. I had emergency surgery on Monday. The surgeon said it was one of the worst gallbladderes he had ever seen and everything was wrong with it! Inflamed. Swollen to a huge size. ("The size of a small rabbit!") Infected. Duct blocked ~ with bile backed up into my pancrease. I was one sick lady. The gallstones had SPIKES on them!!! I have them. They look like little maces used by evil mice or something!

He had to open me up the old fashioned way but to be honest I was so bloated that I knew my gallbladder was probably huge. I told him from day one to do what ever he thought was best. So I'm reallllly sore and I'm hobbling about like I'm 120 years old LOL! The worst part is that everything is stiff when I try to stand up straight. That is worse then the pain. It's all tight inside and it takes ages to coax my body straight and even then I can't go totally straight arrrg.

BUT funnily enough even though I hurt like my side is on fire.... I feel better?? I mean.... I was so weak inside, right down to my bones. Now I already feel strength returning to my core! I feel healthy and whole and my upper abdomen has shrank down quite a startling bit!

I am home now ~ I was so desparate to get home I was up and hobbling the corridors and dressing myself and proclaiming, "See?! I'm fine!" so the surgeon very kindly released me back into the wild.

I totally freaked out when he removed the nasal-gastro tube from my throat the day after the surgery and I about died on the spot when he pulled the drain from within my guts. IT FELT LIKE A SNAKE WRIGGLING FROM MY BELLY!! The surgeon was really nice though and he let me suck on "laughing gas" while he did both tubes because fear makes stuff hurt ten times worse.

I'm home! I'm home I'm home I'm home I'm home and oooh I am so happy to be here. But a bit depressed that I can't pick up my kids and hold them close. Can't hold Elspeth on my lap. Can't lift my babies...

But at least I can see them and smell them and hear them and touch them. I'M HOME!!!

Dairy update!

2010-08-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our cousin The Carpenter was back working his magic in our old dairy. I really feel sorry for the man as I've never once designed anything and so I'm quite well shooting from the hip. "I'd like shevles here... uh..." then I have no idea what size? How long? How far from this and that or how high off of the floor? And more then once Husband has offered me a better idea and poor Carpenter Cousin has been told, "I've changed my mind again!" Today he was hanging more shelves that he made as sturdy units from very thick wood. One such unit is seen below and it worked out better then my best imaginings! A six-shelf cubby that will be used for the children's crafts and their homeschooling projects...

Here it is close up: I used a medim size bag of rye flour for scale. These cubbies are big and deep! And I can use the top one or two for my own projects (to keep away from wee hands) and the kids can have their own. We'll see if maybe I can sew some wee curtains for each one. That would be sweet! (I'll lose "my" cubbies if we have more kids hehe)

Here we are looking into the "kitchen" end of the old dairy. You can see the new heavy duty shelving unit on the far wall and our little friend the rye flour bag for scale. Cousin Carpenter put little "lips" on the edges of all of the shelves to help keep things in place a bit better. I will store the dry goods here in air-tight containers: beans, rice, porridge oats, lentils, flours, bere meal, oatmeal, corn meal, sugar, etc. as well as the usual baking supplies such as spices and extracts, rasins and nuts.

Here is a closeup of the shelves and for some reason my camera made it look as if the top shelf is bent and the entire unit is bowing out? But trust me, everything is perfectly straight and plumb!

This used to be open shelves but I kept having visions of wee hands ripping everything out and so this sturdy door was made out of the same thick wood. Now I can close it and thwart toddler attacks. (It will at least slow them down LOL)

Here it is, open and awaiting my baking pans and sheets and rolling pins and measuring cups and wow, you name it! (actualy I'll hang the small stuff like measuring cups and spoons and utensils on the wall.)

This cabinet is huge! When I reach in and touch the back wall it goes as deep as my shoulder. I'm going to be able to organize my baking equipment without one ounce of clutter! Just reach in, take what I need, no avalanches! No digging around searching for this and that. I can't wait! All of these hand-made shelves (and the cabinet above) will be painted in cheerful, light colors.)

Amusing a toddler!

2010-08-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

I bought a book that has 365 ideas for amusing a toddler. As I read through it I'm reminded of all of the things that I witnessed as a child ~ the varied ways that mothers would amuse the younger siblings of my friends or even the way that my own mother would make amusements out of anything that was available in the house. I've come up with some fantastic ways to keep The Toddler (SheWhoGetsIntoEverything) amused when I have to divert her attention so I can turn my back lol! In the picture below I had set up a shoe box so that Elspeth could put alphabet matching tiles into the slot ~ she LOVES to put things into things and take things out of things!

She really enjoyed this simple toy and her self-amusement bought me some time to clean the floor and wrangle the twins.

And tonight I've been busy rigging up some Mystery Boxes for when we are at Mass this Sunday. I've stashed all manner of quiet little things for The Toddler to investigate and I'll hand her a new box after she grows bored and starts to whine and fidget. (I love these boxes! So pretty and sturdy! I bought them from Cox & Cox on sale. 11 boxes total!)
Some of the mystery contents: two bean bags I made from a pair of her knee socks. (They have eyes and mouths and ribbons lol) A wee leather zip up pouch with a pair of milk jug caps. A ring of colorful beads. A band of cloth samples from a store, wee cards with images on them, a doily, a lace chapel cap, a crochet button, a hen and her nest... Elspeth will have fun going through all of that!

The Garden! Or at least, the semi-jungle that is slowly becoming our garden hah!

2010-08-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

We have an incredibly beautiful garden at the side of the house ~ as a matter of fact, the garden is over twice the size of our house! The pictures here don't do it any justice. Anyhoo, when husband first met me we discussed our future goals and I told him that I wanted to turn this garden into something lovely for the kids ~ lots of flowers, herb greenhouse, some paths, a wee pond, religious statues. You know: a prayer garden that we could all work in together.

It's a bit of a jungle now but we've been slowly working at it with the goal of putting in raised beds, pathways, and other features over the next several years so that the garden is ready for planting with the kids when they are a bit older. In the photo above you're looking in towards the left corner. The garden is surrounded on three sides by a goregous old stone wall. The camera doesn't show how huge the ground space is so you'll have to use your imagination.

Husband planted these trees in 2003. Trees aren't abundant here on the islands so it is a luxury to have so many trees right here in the garden. Just the other day husband pruned most of the lower branches away and we have a lovely shadded path. We plan on making a seating area at the far end of that path where the stone wall curves. We'll put down gravel and a bench. It'll be so sweet!

Here is the other pathway to the right side of the wee grove. At the moment there are strawberries and also rubart to the right of this path. We're going to leave the rubarb but dig up the strawberries as they've been overtaken by chick weed. I'd love to have a long raised bed for strawberries but I think it will be too shady with the grove now growing so high. Perhaps we can put down some shade-loving varieties of plants along that strip?

This area here used to be wide open to the elements and the garden would get lashed with the winds and the rains, especially in the winter. So four years ago husband planted a willow hedge with two different kinds of willows. And then up front he planted flowering currant and flowering fuchia. Look at the difference four years later!! Those willows are at least ten feet tall. Husband also planted a willow hedge all along one end of a nearby field and they have grown tall and they also buffer the wind that comes towards us. We now have a very sheltered garden! And we are surrounded by such lovely, enchanting green. Here is a view looking down at the bottom half of the lawn which is going to be incorporated into the garden. The willow hedge is on the left and the wee grove of poplars is on the right. The lawn mower gives good scale. I took this photo from the central part of the lawn that is fenced of so that we have a square play area for the kids. At the far end you see more trees and they have been here for a long time and also help to shelter the garden. Sycamores and Elms.

Here's a view at the back of the garden, in-between the house and the side wall. The vegitation is jungle-like so you can't see the huge amount of space we have but it's there! You can spy the wee grove in the near distance. All the way to the right is the back wall of the garden and there is a huge sycamore tree growing there ~ you can see its foliage up higher and the shade that it creates. It's such a lovely spot there, so shady and mysterious :-) We are going to have a lot of fun creating a lovely place of flowers and herbs, paths and ponds, groves and anything else we come up with!

Dairy update revisited! :-)

2010-08-10T08:10:00.001-07:00

To answer a question: the heating is going to have to be electric and the heaters will only be on when we are in the building. I'm going to ask "The Carpenter" if it's possible to hang any kind of electric heaters from up high so the kids can't touch them?

I keep picturing myself here at this counter top making bread and pies while the sun shines in and the kids get themselves all underfoot. This dairy-aka-cookhouse is going to be a place where we will create so many wonderful memories!
The cabinets have been hung. We were given these for free! And do you see that space under the hanging cabinets on the right wall? I'm going to have a fold-down table put there so that I have space to do my drawing and painting, sewing and crafts with the kids. I have absolutely no place in the house for that. I will see if the "unnamed carpenter" can hang some lights on the underside of those cabinets. It'll be great!
The cabinet doors look just like the windows in our kirk!! (church) The kitchen sink there has no water because this building is not plumbed. But I'll just "do the Alaska thing" and heat up some water, plug the drain, wash the dishes, drain the dirty water in a bucket, and throw it outside. (We use biodegradable washing liquid.)

This is a dark photo but it gives you an idea of what that side looks like. I'm going to paint the insides of those cabinets a nice mint green. (The shelves in there were made by hand. They are so deep and big and ready to be filled with all of the things that clutter our kitchen!)
A closer look at the hanging cabinets with Elspeth for scale... I just LOVE how they match our church windows!

Outside of our front door: Fun with sidewalk chalk!! Only... we have about 2 feet by 3 feet of concrete outside of the front door. Not exactly a sidewalk lol

Been in hospital for three days

2010-08-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for disapearing. Had an exciting ambulance ride to the emergency room and spent the past three days in the hospital. I'm not very healthy these days but I have surgery coming hopefully in 3 to 4 weeks. Wish it could be a heck of a lot sooner because more then likely I'm going to end up back in the ambulance again. arrrg.

Eyebrow videos ~ thanks for the link!

2010-07-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

How to Make a Natural Eyebrow Shape -- powered by eHow.com

Click here for another video (with much more detail) about proper eyebrow shape.

I'll check in town for a beauty shop that does eyebrow shaping. I'll see how that goes and if they seem nice I'll mention my BEARD and see if they can wax that without telling the entire world that the Bearded Lady visits their shop lol

I shall never forget the look of horror on my cousin Willow's face when I told her, the day before my wedding, that gee I seem to keep growing more and more hairs on my chin no matter how often I shave them off...

Bought Some Classy Shoes!

2010-07-31T05:03:00.000-07:00

These shoes were on sale + they came in extra wide fitting. I really can't walk in heels to save my life but I'll just plain have to learn: I've been dying to wear some classy shoes but I always end up in flats. I don't mind flats but I also don't mind a bit of variety. The godmother of one of our kids was wearing shoes like this at Mass one day and I said, "If I ever find classy shoes like that in my size I'm going to buy them!" And you know why?? HUSBAND NOTICES MY SHOES! He not only notices but he actually compliments me! "What smart shoes! I like them!" So yeah, classy shoes here I come! Might as well, seeing as how I'm trying to upgrade my look LOL

Dairy Update!

2010-07-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the new step for the dairy! Before it was a crumbled mess, something that I would slip and trip on whenever I went in or out of the dairy. Now we have a lovely wee step with a lovely wee Elspeth hand print hehe!

Isn't it funny how an empty space looks smaller then it really is? And then when you put someting into that space you suddenly realize that you have far more room then anticipated? Once the dairy was emptied of all the other stuff I forgot how bit it was. Here we have in this picture below the beginning of a set of shelves under a length of counter top ("work top" here in Britain.) I'm doing the "Alaska style sink" that will drain into a bucket because there's no plumbing out here. You can see one of the cabinets resting on the counter but it won't stay there, it'll be hung on the opposite wall. The cabinets for the wall and the counter top were all free! But the shelves under the sink were made by husband's cousin ~ and then "cousin" will hang some of the leftover cabinet doors on the front. I'll store my biggest baking equipment and dishes under the counter. It's so exciting!!

The dairy has two windows so it's so nice and bright in there during the day time. I can't wait to pick out curtains for them! I'll have to put down another coat of paint on the floor but that won't be hard to do.

I'M SO HUNGRY!!!

2010-07-28T07:15:00.002-07:00

I had to fast ALL DAY so I could have an ultrasound scan late in the afternoon. Turns out my gallbladder is inflamed and thickened.

So then I had an awful gallbladder attack and ended up in the emergency room yelling my head off (after a dramatic collapse onto the floor in the corridor ~ I was so nauseaous and dizzy uuugh it hurt so bad!) ... and thus I still couldn't eat LOL

I was there for ages while they did blood work and hooked me up with some good pain meds ~ and OF COURSE as soon as the pain subsided I was starving and all I could do was daydream about food LOL!

I haven't eaten in 24 hours. AAAG! Now I'm devouring some pasta salad. At long last!

Gallblader is coming out...

2010-07-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

WOW it took like two hours and I was stuck about 8 times before my blood cooperated and decided to fill the tubes.

My gallbladder is a problem and so it is going to come out once they do the bloodwork and some scans.

Could my gallbladder be affecting my overall health and causing me some of these problems, I wonder?

Ugh. More surgery. Please pray that my sister Amanda gets here very soon ~ we're experiencing complications (finances etc) that are getting in the way. Thanks!!

GOOD NEWS!!

2010-07-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

My pelvis has calmed down again!
I won't be able to go for 2 mile walks just yet. But I'll take it easy, take 1/2 to 1 mile walks and do low-level pilates on the bal until my sister gets here.
By then the BIGGER granny girdles will be here too. And then hopefully we can go on longer and longer walks... and by the time she goes home to America maybe I'll be showing some "before and after" photos here!

What do you do with a fussy wee one?

2010-07-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

You take her outside and let her paint in the evening sun!

Here we have some of Elspeth's art on display for when daddy came home... (Our gallery is a pickup lol)

Look, mom! Blue hair! (And a green stash lol)

Erlend came home to find art work all over his pickup and beekeepers taking the bees away to safer digs. What an exciting day! Now Elspeth (bathed and fed) is in bed and hopefully she'll sleep.

Swarm of honeybees arrives at the farm!

2010-07-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

I was just planning to step outside with wee Inga and sit on the lawn so we could enjoy some fresh air when I heard this unbelievably loud HUMMMMMMMMM!! It was so amazing. It filled the air everywhere and I was looking around going, "That sounds like a swarm of bees!" And... it certainly was! The HUMMMMMMMM! got closer and then the entire house and car were surrounded by thousands of honey bees. I yelled for Erlend who was in feeding the calf, "THERE'S A SWARM OF BEES OUT HERE!" and he came running and we both gawked around us at these thousands of critters zipping through the air. The funny thing is, we had a swarm show up last year and take up residence in our chimney! But they left because the Queen fell down the chimney and died. A a local beekeeper set up a hive in our garden and this new swarm has moved right into that hive. I managed to get photos because when bees swarm they are not agressive: (I donned a head scarf and niqab just the same haha!)

Above and below: You can see the bees flying all around the hive and below you can see them climbing in to their new digs. There are still a lot of them zipping around outside but they'll settled down as soon as they all get inside of the slightly weathered temporary hive. We have a Beekeeper that will come and move them to a better hive when she has a chance.

Here I am hiding behind a head scarf and a face veil with the hive in the background. The bees didn't mind my presense ~ I moved nice an slow, politely, and they carried on with their business. (Thankfully I don't live in France so I was able to legally cover my face...)
Earlier I prayed to God and asked Him to send another swarm of bees to our farm because I want to take up beekeeping so this is FANTASTIC!

Dairy update, Kids, confusing dress sizes...

2010-07-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Benji and Inga ready for a walk in the double stroller.

Ahhhhg! Babies are so cute! Yes, they stink. They spew rotten milk all over your shoulders. They even manage to get poop on the kitchen floor. (Via bigger sister and her dirty diaper snatching...) But in the end these little stinkers are downright adorable and nothing really seems to take the place of a wee baby cuddled in my arms! (Ugh... my left shoulder smells like baby puke.)

The new door on the dairy! I can leave it half-open to allow fresh air in and keep kids from running out. And later I can leave it half open so I can talk with the kids outside while I work inside. :-)
Here's Inga reading a book with mummy...

...and suddenly Elspeth's chubby hand appears weilding fresh flowers!

As for dresses... I went to the Shukr and the outfits are so classy buuuuut the size chart is utterly confusing! When I hit the "switch to inches" button I read that size 2X is a 28" hip measurement???? Is this considered plus size for starvation victims??

An interesting article about the religious veil

2010-07-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

I was first exposed to the veil in the Middle East where at first I considered it to be opression. But after actually speaking with Muslim women I discovered that no, this was not the common impression. The veil was considered to be a noble protector of women' s dignity: something you rarely hear about over here in the West.

Also, I saw with my own eyes how the veil accentuated a woman's femininity. You have to keep something in mind when you read my posts: I've lived there amongst veiled women. I've personally experienced the beauty and the strength of veiled women. This is not detatched opinion being spouted from afar.

So I read with interest this article and I can't help but comment on this quote:

"Nancy from the USA is a case in point. She wrote, “The message this sends to women is be invisible, be subservient, be asexual. As an atheist and a feminist, I find it repugnant that any woman would hide behind a dozen yards of cloth to please a nonexistent God."

This is a very common opinion about anything modest, not just Muslim veils or abayas. Anything from Amish capps to long skirts elicits this same response: the woman is being made invisible! Asexual! Subservient! She is being opressed!

From my own experience, I can say that veiled women in the Middle East are anything but invisible. You can't help but notice the quiet dignity, the mystery, of a woman that is saying to everyone: "You don't have the right to invade my privacy, to stare at my body and my hair. This is mine. Not yours."

I remember one evening when I awaited my turn in a jewelry store in the gold souq of Bahrain. There was a veiled woman selecting jewelry, her husband by her side and the male shop owner very respectfully serving her. I was struck by the way that she moved her body, the way that she spoke in soft, low tones that caused the men to have to lean towards her in order that she be heard. Even the way she held her hand out, moved her wrist with such elegance as she pointed... this woman, veiled from head to foot, was like a magnet and even to this day I try and emulate her femminie carriage. I try and imitate a woman who's face I never saw and who's body was guarded by yard upon yard of fabric.

That veiled lady in the jewelry shop? She owned the room. This is why that hot desert evening sticks out in my memory: when the previous person was being served the other people in the shop were talking and chatting amongst themselves. But once that woman glided up to the counter and began to speak everything became quiet. Even I stopped talking with my friend as we watched in rapt attention. This veiled woman, of whom we could only see one dainty hand pointing so gently at this and that bit of jewelry, commanded the attention of everyone in that room from Westerners to Arabs and Asians.

And most telling of all, she didn't have to prostitute her body, leaning forward to expose her bosom through a low-cut shirt while seducing with her eyes and lips, thighs and hips, in order to settle on a good price for the gold that she desired to purchase. She did all of that while her figure was concealed, while she was made to look much heavier then she really was (I saw her hand. It was very thin.), and made "invisible" by the cloth that covered her soft-spoken features.

So I say this to my fellow ladies that are concerned about lots of fabric covering the female body: You'd be amazed by how much yards and yards of fabric can accentuate and compliment a woman even as it preserves her dignity and ensures her privacy.

I will close with this excellent quote from the same article:

"While this repugnance may be harmless if kept under check, it is hardly
conducive to feminist sisterhood (which Nancy the feminist may wish to care
about) or to societal harmony. Hence, a first step to get rid of it is to
dismiss once and for all the ill-conceived notion of universality of desire; Not all women find fulfillment and happiness in the same life choices. A woman may actually find happiness under a dozen yards of cloth, seeking to please a God Nancy as an atheist believes non-existent."

Another busy day.

2010-07-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

UPDATED! (At bottom...)

My post-pregnancy hormones are finally starting to calm down enough so I can finally wear scarves more often. Usually I overheat to the point of getting dizzy. I still overheat but not so badly that I feel like I'm going to pull a Gone With The Wind and swoon lol! In celebration of it being summer (even if it was raining outside) and me feeling good, I wore this cheerful scarf from Al Mujalbaba in New York. I also wore the underscarf for my jersey knit hijab from Masoomah and it worked really well. For once my scarf remained on my head.

(The real reason I'm obsessed with headscarves... is I'm so dull looking that they at least brighten things up LOL!)

My summer exercise plans suffered a very frustrating set back after first my bad leg went completely insane because I had the wrong footwear. It has taken me over a month to finally locate a pair of athletic shoes that fit my huge, wide feet. So then... I went to a chiropractor appointment and she worked on my pelvis. This set my pelvist off for a week straight! Every time I tried to walk, my pelvis would seize up. Ok... now I have the shoes. Is my pelvis calm enough to allow me to exercise? Seriously!! Six months have passed and I'm still in pain and still looking like Jabba the Hut with my horrid potato-shaped post partum body. Folks, it's scary. I scare myself in the mirror LOL!! I just want to get fit again, to tighten up those muscles in my abdomen so I can pull some of that looooooose body back in. So I also ordered an exercise ball so I can start with gentle ab workouts. Pelvis permitting.

(An odd thing: my legs and ankles and feet are still swollen. My bosom is still big. I haven't finished deflating...)

UPDATE: Ok, so, my pelvis just won't calm down and I don't know why I didn't think of this before: maybe the lack of muscles and the weight of all of that stretched out skin and fat and muscle is working against me? So I just ordered an "after surgery girdle" and hopefull it will help!

Milking is going well!

2010-07-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of "Diane's" face. It's hard to get a good shot because animals/kids, they're always moving! Husband knew what he was doing when he chose this cow: she's an Angus but she has Friesian (dairy coo) in her lineage. He knows her dam and grand-dam and great-grand-dam and they were all quiet coos. We won't have the fattiest milk on the planet but that's ok because I'm not ready to make butter yet. One step at a time!

This is where the moo-juice comes from lol! I'm now able to give her udder a right good scrub with iodine-soap water. Today I scrubbed the insides of her legs a wee bit and she didn't go nuts, thankfully. Next I'll introduce a brush to groom her udder in order to move any loose furs. Today she kicked only a few times and when she blocked me with her leg I leaned into her leg and she yeilded! Yay!

Right now the calf is hogging all of the milk. We're getting five liters of milk and the calf is drinking... five liters of milk. In this photo I'm showing off our first batch of fresh milk... all one and a half cups of it haha!

This is what I had on my porridge yesterday morning, a perfect birthday gift! This cow's milk is a bit weak so if we don't like it we'll have to either select a new cow later during calving season or get a dairy cow. I'll keep you posted!

Our milk cow has had her calf!

2010-07-07T10:00:00.001-07:00

Introducing "Diane", our milk cow! (Er... heifer...) She had her first calf today and we've started the process of gentling her into a tame milk cow. Which isn't easy seeing as how she's a wild beef cow! (Angus.) At the moment she's a small heifer but give her about five years and she'll be a good sized cow. So, here's a shot of me having a go at milking ~ I ended up having to hold the bucket in the air because she kept kicking when I milked at a certain teat. Must be sensative.

She has small teats and so I had to practice my aim! I soaked my skirt a few times and shot milk all over the floor as well. And whenever I manged to get into a good rythm (with the milk going into the bucket) the cow would start to kick. It'll take a wee bit to gentle her so that she's ok with me washing her udder and milking her teats. So far she's a good cow because she didn't go nuts when I got into the pen beside her. We were both wary of each other but she didn't go mental. That is always a good sign! I'll admit, I'm nervous around strange, large animals.

We won't be able to drink the milk until I am able to scrub her udder and groom the insides of her thighs to remove the poo and other junk. Tomorrow I'll start to wash her udder. That's going to be fun! I hope she doesn't dance too much... and I'm not looking forward to grooming inside of her thighs eeeeee! But she'll get used to it over time. We'll just take it slow and patient and before we know it, Diane will be happy to see me coming! (Goodbye sleeping in in the mornings. Goodbye going away for vacations. Hello cramped hands lol)

2010-07-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Benji was chanting, "Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da..." !!!

Dairy Update! 3rd coat of cream paint.

2010-07-02T15:05:00.001-07:00

Dairy update: first coat of cream paint!

2010-07-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

It is looking SO good! The old grey concrete has been power washed to perfection and now the painting has begun! (On a funny note: this dairy is the same size as the first cabin I rented with three roomates in Alaska! What a hoot.)

This will be a good, clean, weather/rat/mouse-proof place to store bulk food goods and other items from the kitchen. I can't wait! I can see the future kitchen now: much easier to organize and keep tidy!

Dairy update, trip to the beach...

2010-06-29T05:33:00.001-07:00

The dairy after the first round of power washing. Went and bought paint yesterday: a nice cream for the walls, grey for floor and ceiling.
We decided to take Elspeth to the beach ~ the poor kid has hardly been "out and about" this summer and here we live on an island a few miles from endless beaches! She had a blast. I thought I would have to introduce her to the water and ease her in but upon arrival she took one look, said, "Wah-dah!" and ran straight in without a second thought lol
"Wha-Dah!" annnnd she's off!

For once Benji and Inga did not spend the entire time howling. They actually enjoyed themselves at the beach watching us wade about in really cold water. (eeeeee!)

Elspeth caught a spider!!!

2010-06-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

AND TRIED TO GIVE IT TO ME AAAAAAAAAH!
She had it by the fat bum and so it's legs were going all over the place and she held it out to me so proud! "Bzzz Bzzz!"
"That's lovely, honey!" I said (cue plastic smile) as I quickly slipped into the kitchen and asked husband to take the spider before Elsepth stuck it on my skirt or something haha!
UGH

Very excited about the dairy!

2010-06-26T02:29:00.001-07:00

I came here first in May of 2005. Me and Erlend had discussed our goals in marriage, how we wanted to live our lives and raise our kids. And so when I took one look at the kitchen in this farmhouse I knew straight away that it wasn't going to work to try and live an "old fashioned" life with a very modern kitchen layout and design. Not only that, but how do you keep a modern kitchen tidy when trying to do things the old way? Impossible! I've been asking for the dairy ever since my first visit here ~ and finally, at long last, it is mine!

I can't even begin to describe how cramped I am in this kitchen. Erlend is a bit of a zealous health-nut (very difficult to live with health nuts. they nit-pick every bite that goes into your mouth.) and although I totally agree with his ideas about food, it's impossible to bake and cook from scratch when you have no room to store anything. He also doesn't want to hardly ever go shopping but unless you have room to store bulk goods, you have to shop and spend money much more often. So I'm a realist and I've been buying more processed foods etc. due to the fact that, well, yeah... no room. No from-scratch-cooking. Because from-scratch cooking requires scratch ingredients + a lot of cooking equipment. All of this takes up space and that is something I've struggled with since moving in. I'll admit that I basically gave up cooking much from scratch. Or keeping the kitchen tidy.

But when the dairy is re-done and hung with oodles of shelves and cabinets all of that is going to change! Right now I don't even have space to put away my dishes, let alone groceries. Everything is everywhere. We don't have counter tops, we have piles of stuff on the counter tops. Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: 75% of what is in the kitchen will be shifted out into the dairy, out of my way! And I can finally order bulk health-food goods and have the space to bake and cook from scratch. Which means I can finally eat without having to hear a 2 hour lecture about my unhealthy choices. And best of all: I will finally be able to organize the kitchen and have, "a place for everything, and everything in its place!"

I'm serious: being able to cook whole food/home grown food from scratch (without going to the shops hardly ever) requires a completely different setup then the modern "two career, no one home" kitchen layout where you pretty much live off of groceries out of your fridge. This is no judgement against people living the modern lifestyle of swinging by the shops nearly every day. This is just reality for me, on a farm, where we are producing most of our own food and where I'm supposed to be cooking from scratch with whole food ingredients... without having to shop for them every-other-day. It's hard to meet those requirements in a modern-style kitchen and so I've been chafing a bit these four years from the lectures and expectations while feeling as if my hands have been tied behind my back. I don't like it when something is expected but no one will work with you to help you achieve that goal. And I've been fighting for this dairy for over five years ~ I had this situation sussed out the second I came here and realized what was going to be expected of me when I became the woman of the hoose. (But don't get me wrong, I totally want to cook from whole/home raised scratch ingredients with absolute minimum shopping/money spent. I agree with that completely! Nothing is being imposed ~ I just need the proper setup.)

There comes a point in time when in order to make something happen, other things have to change and be re-arranged. I'm so happy that this is finally happening!!