I started a new blog...

I would love peoples thoughts and questions related to food and stuff. Check it out. :)

http://goddessnutrition.blogspot.com/

Spring is springing!

These are two sets of early spring flowers from the front of the house. Aren't they stunning? I love early spring flowers. They really bring a beauty to a time of the year that is usually nothing but drudgery and impatience to get on with it... to plant, to be outside, for the sun to come back out... just impatience... but with these sweet little flowers, they are able to tone that down a bit. Show that there is more going on within our mother than just the last frosty mornings.

This little man is 13 months old. Isn't he a doll!?!

He is adoring the drier weather. Every single day when I get done with my email in the morning and start Cyan on her school work, he brings me a shoe, and yells at me to go outside. Yes the yelling is back. Full force. BUT, it is tempered a bit with some "mama"s and some "uk (look) itty! (kitty)"s, and lots of "Huh?".

He is adorable. Sometimes too much so. Cyan and Alex are also in great phases right now. The types of phases that make me do unreasonable things, like sign them up for dance lessons (becuase I really NEED to be more of a taxi service) or say yes to 6th grade camp. lol... but they are happy, doing wonderfully, and I couldn't be happier with them.

"What do you mean I am in the flower bed?? Shoes? Why would I need those?"

Bento is so much fun!

I told myself I wouldn't buy them. I went to the grocery and saw these last week, and thought how great they would be for our bento boxes. And I thought that I didn't need more bento stuff, and so I didn't buy them.

Well I went back this week, and there they were, staring at me from an end cap. I had to get them. It was worth the expence. The kids LOVE them.... and these little sandwiches fit right into their bento lunch boxes. And how cute is that?? (They don't waste much bread either... just the crust, I was impressed with the design.)

Bento is so much fun. :)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood,

Omgoodness. It has been beautiful lately. This last week has been pretty much nothing but sun and clear skies. And this:

These are Tarragon starts. It came back all by itself. That makes me happy, as it means that my soil is happy. Everything else in that garden bed (my perennial herbs) is happy as well, except my sages. I hope they leaf out. I may have to move my green sage into the main garden as it is really not doing well. But here are my happy helpers:

They are cleaning up after I raked the leaves I mulched the herb garden with. I am guessing they found tons of healthy bugs ready to be lunch.

I have been working on the raised beds in the produce garden. It doesn't look good now, but my thought is it will by the end of the spring. One made:

Two to go... And tulips are coming up everywhere all over my yard. So sweet to see these little green faces again.

Spring is really coming... and it is so very welcome. :)

The world should stop for stuff like this...

Last night was a beautiful night. All the nights before it were cloudy... I had very little hope of watching the eclipse. But as the sun went down, the sky openned up and there were no clouds to be found. As the moon came up, the eclipse started... first from the left, it started to turn redish orange... then started to get dark. As we went to dinner, I kept having to go outside and watch the progression, as the moon disappeared from the left, to the right. Then just a sliver, then nothing... the whole thing was a redish glow of beauty.

As the moon disapeared, it was easy to see the two planets flanking it on either side like ladies in waiting. They were hidden by the moons amazing glow, but no longer. I am guessing star and moon buffs watched with excitment through their telecopes, given the chance to see these two planets like they haven't in months because of the shine of the moon.

After about 20 minutes, the bottom started to get lighter. Not the left side, but the bottom lit up. Then a sliver showed, and by the time we went to bed, the moon was back, in all its full glory and beauty...

The world should stop for stuff like this. Everyone should take two hours out of their day to sit and watch a full lunar eclipse. The cars should stop on the streets, people should get out. Like in a movie, when aliens land in the middle of the city, or all the power goes out. Just stop, and watch in awe at the amazing world... universe... around them.

I made PIE!

I know it seems silly to be so excited. But I have baked every other day for a week and two days now, and nothing has been awful... nothing has been perfect either, but I was going for eat-able... and I got it.

This pie was made completely from scratch with lemons my mom brought with her from CA and eggs from my chickens. I made a whole wheat pastry crust, and I wish I hadn't. Lemon Maringue is one of those pies that needs to be super sticky sweet and light. But aside from that, this is really good pie. :)

I can bake.

I am happy.

I may have to make one...

Omgoodness... this is cute. I may have to make a couple.

Find how to buy the pattern here.

Valentine's Day

I tend to create big holidays out of the ones that are not made huge by media frenzy. Valentine's day is one of those. I love it. Not only is it always just after my birthday, but it is a celebration of the heart... a celebration of flattery, courtesy, and above all, love and sex. lol... All of which are things to be celebrated in my personal opinion. So we started our day out with a humble morning just like any other and slowly progressed into a day of red and pink craft projects for Cyan, heart shaped pasta salad and heart shaped pizza for dinner, and tons and tons of well wishes, professions of love, and of course, more sugar than anyone should ever hold.

Our craft project today was rolling beeswax candles. Cyan did a great job of it. She is even getting the hang of starting them herself. We lit them (first pic) and set them on the table for our Valentine's dinner of heart shaped goodness.

Here they are before we lit them on a table covered with hearts in all shades of red and pink. :) She was so proud. My mom came up to have dinner with us, and brought a small box of hazelnut chocolates, and kites for both the kids. For which they were just thrilled! Alex got to fly his this afternoon and there are pictures of that coming as soon as mom can send them to me. She also brought a ball for Logan... his current favorite thing in the world. He toddled after it the whole night... occasionally stopping so he could get into something or other. He sure is turning into a little boy right before our eyes.

Our little friends were back today for some of the love we give there. ;) Here is a good picture of their faces. Anyone know what they are?

Aside from my guess of the BlueGrey Gnatcatchers, I have not found another bird that looks anything like it. But they are not Gnatcatchers. The Gnatcatchers have "white eyerings" and a "white underbelly". Neither of which these littleones have. Perhaps they are all females. Perhaps they are another breed entirely.

Behold!

My first loaf of sucessful bread! I am so proud. There are a few tweeking things I need to do, but this is a lightly sweetened cinnamon loaf. It was really good as french toast this morning. My own bread, my own eggs from my own chickens. There is the true meaning of "make your own breakfast". Now if I just had some fresh fruit to go with it... dreaming of summer today.

And apparently the birds like being photographed. Lol... since I took that picture of the bird in the feeder they have come in droves. These are different than the ones that come to the window feeder. These are Grey-blue Gnatcatchers. You can see one Chickadee to the right trying to get his share. He wasn't there for long.

Bird Feeders

This is just above my kitchen window. In front of it, the kids and I built this birdfeeder to see if we could get any wildlife to come with in studying distance. For a long time, we had no luck what-so-ever. Birds would not come. They would sit in the bushes next to the house and watch it, but never go down and eat. All of a sudden, the sweet little birds are eating there every day. Perhaps they came back to our part of the world from the warmer places, settling in for the times of year they can handle our climate... but I think they were here all along. Just watching us. Wondering if our new feeders were just a trap. Or perhaps if our cat could climb.

These little Chestnut-backed Chickadees have been the most frequent feeders. Coming in family groups, peeping at the top of their tiny voices when I run out of their favorite seed (Black Oil Sunflower Seeds). They will come if I am washing dishes just under the feeder on the other side of the window. They don't care. They have watched long enough to know I can't get them through the glass. The bold little things will watch me, and then pick up their treasured seeds and fly away... quick as lightening. They also love the suet cage I have hanging just a little farther out (sweet corn and sunflower seeds) that I keep full right now, becuase there are just SO many of them.

It has been such a joy to the kids to have them come so close so we can watch them. We have a few kinds, Juncos as well, but mostly the little chickadees are the ones that dine at the Rose Window Cafe'.

Things I learned in the last year before I turned 30...

How to make the perfect omlet.

Chickens are messy, smelly, funny, critters with personality. They are completely worth owning.

Owning chickens will not turn all people vegetarian. I would gladly still eat chicken, sometimes, even mine.

How to cut out the perfect 6 inch quilting square.

How to laugh, even sometimes when I need to cry.

How to teach my daughter... which will, admitedly be a life long process, in which she will learn to teach me as well.

Divorce hurts. Everyone.

The fact that a woman who is 6 ft tall and size 8 just can not buy all her clothes used and look good in them. Even if she sews.

The life of a factory farm laying hen is worse than I ever thought.

The life of a factory farm pork pig is even worse than that.

The more income you have, the more stuff you need.

Friends change. Parents change. Everyone changes. No one is really set in their ways... although it seems like it sometimes.

My husband is still my very best friend.

My body is the greatest thing I will ever posess. I need to use it, every single day. Put good things into it, like a bank account that will pay me back with health and vitality through out my life.

I am still like a teen when I give myself an "assignment" I will put it off until the last minute, every single time.

Sometimes, I like really loud rock music. Right now, it is Evanesence. Amy Lee rocks my world.

Having a baby is hard.

Having a baby is wonderful.

For me, having a baby every 5 years is enough.

Happy 30th Birthday To Me!

Catching up on sewing posts

This quilt was made for Katie's soon to be baby Jack. I love it... the subtle colors, the brilliant blues that make the whole thing stand out, the owl, the trees. Soft, peaceful, and so very sweet.

I love tags... I found this and the ones for Logan's quilts in the scrapbooking section of Target one day. I bought them all, and have never found anything like them since... so I am glad I did. This one seemed to fit the whimsy of the quilt.

Here is Cyan's quilt for the room switch. She loves it! It is a twin, which is the first twin size she has had. Before this, all I made her were throws. She didn't need any bigger. The colors on this quilt really spoke to me, so I didn't applique on it at all. Just let the colors and fabrics speak for themselves.

Here she is with it on her bed.

Here is Logan's for the new shared bedroom. His isn't tied yet (in fact, this is a picture before it was even put together, which it now is, it just needs that last finishing touch). Again, I didn't want to compromise the beautiful fabrics (some of which were gifts) of the quilt with appliques. I love it just the way it is.

That is all for right now. I have been working pretty steady to get the kids room switch done lately. It is going well. Logan slept in the bedroom with Cyan last night and he slept better than he has in weeks. Can we hope for a trend? I really hope so!! :)

Pesto Chicken with Vegetable Linguine

Baked Pesto Chicken

3 breasts chicken

1/2 cup jarred pesto

1/4 cup Italian Dressing

2 Tbs shredded Parmasean cheese

Mix pesto, dressing, and parm in a large mixing bowl. Rinse and pat dry chicken and put them into mixture coating both sides. Take a peice of parchment paper and fold it in half. Place chicken in a 9X13 baking dish on the top half of the parchment paper (tin foil will work as well). Fold the parchment over the chicken, and fold the edges so it creates a pocket.

Bake in a 400* oven for 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Vegetable Linguine

1 package Linguine Noodles

1 green pepper, sliced into slivers

1 onion, sliced into slivers

6 cloves garlic, minced

Olive oil (for saute pan)

Cook linguine noodles until tender but not soft.

Saute green peppers, garlic, and onion in olive oil until very tender. Toss with drained linguine, and add olive oil as needed to make it coat evenly. Ground fresh pepper over the whole dish and toss again.

Serve the noodles onto the plate and add on top of noodles the chicken breast. On top of the chicken breast, top with a thin slice of mozerella cheese, and slices of fresh tomato.

This was so good that I seriously would have paid for it. I wish I got pictures, but my camera card was full with vacation pictures. It was so yummy though!

Blogger spell check isn't working... sorry for any spelling mistakes!

Worm Composting Horror Story

To watch this video, make sure you go down and turn off the tunes. :)