Short on posts lately... busy packing, nursing a cold/fever, getting enough sleep, and looking forward to the move! Hoping to get lots of rest over shabbos so I can pack with a vengeance starting Saturday night. Not too much got done this week unfortunately. Yesterday morning, I just needed a nap, and in the afternoon, a bank errand that should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking 3 hours (and four visits to banks). We are now all set to close on Tuesday. YES! Move on Wednesday. Clean old house (er... HAVE it cleaned!) on Thursday, and carpets cleaned on Friday.
The three oldest kids have been in SEED camp this week, and are all having a great time. That left Avi and me at home to pack. Fortunately, we got a good bit done at the beginning of the week! SO glad it is shabbos soon...
And the menu!
challah
shoulder roast, in crock pot (40% off!)
baked potatoes
spinach kugel (received an enormous gift of spinach)
roasted carrots w/lemon zest
eggplant (roasted eggplant, onions, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika... YUM! And also a gift...)
liver pate
peach crisp
And for lunch:
shoulder roast sandwiches
green salad
plus above
So very, very glad another shabbos is here. Our last one in this house that has been so good for us these past six months! Good shabbos, all!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Phone Out!
Just wanted to let everyone know that our phone is out and may be out until Monday (!). Meanwhile, when you call us you will get a busy signal. I will send out an email to individuals with Deans cell phone number (apostrophes arent working on our keyboard!).
We had one huge thunderstorm yesterday and apparently a lot of us are still without service. The thunder was shaking the windows, floors, and ceiling fans! Once I even jumped straight up out of my rocking chair. NEVER have I heard thunder that loud! Love it, but miss my phone. :) Let me know by email after tonight if I didnt send out the cell phone number to you.
Hope everyone out there is doing well!
We had one huge thunderstorm yesterday and apparently a lot of us are still without service. The thunder was shaking the windows, floors, and ceiling fans! Once I even jumped straight up out of my rocking chair. NEVER have I heard thunder that loud! Love it, but miss my phone. :) Let me know by email after tonight if I didnt send out the cell phone number to you.
Hope everyone out there is doing well!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Flat Frog
Just had to post before sleep... We now have a new house policy that everyone needs to check their shoes and wear socks. This after Eli wore a frog inside his shoe for a day (or some period of time)! Squished perfectly flat and flung casually onto the couch. Then a sibling freakout shortly after that over "smashed frog pieces" on the living room floor. Papa (definitely NOT mama) investigated and determined that it was bits of cereal. Huge sigh of relief. That said, CHECK YOUR SHOES FIRST! We live in critter country now.
Friday, July 2, 2010
The Menu
We did a good bit more than the usual housecleaning today (mostly in places no one really sees!), so I made an easy-to-prepare menu that wouldn't take much time in the kitchen. Here it is!
challah
chicken in homemade barbecue sauce
baked potato with green onions and tofu sour cream
roasted cabbage
roasted sweet potatoes
steamed carrots
spinach salad
brownies with chocolate marshmallow topping
and for tomorrow...
SUSHI!
One of these days I really need to just make a two-year supply of barbecue sauce and can it. It's not that much harder, and would probably be a good deal cheaper. We use it 1–2x per month, so 72 cups would be enough for two years. That's just 18 quarts, or maybe I'd do pints since that's how much I use for a batch of chicken.
I'd love to do the same with different spice mixtures. Place a community order of various spices and then pre-mix them, like harissa (Moroccan), berbere (Ethiopian), and za'atar (Israeli), and pass it out to the community. Yum.
New house fantasies? They've involved worm bins (for composting kitchen scraps), a spiral herb garden by the front door, daydreams about three chickens (or three ducks; can't make up my mind), and a couple of pygmy goats (there the reality might be too much for our medium-sized space; we'll see!). We're hoping to meet with a permaculture consultant to assess our space and come up with a (very) long-term plan for the outside. Dean dreamed up a mosquito trap involving hanging geckos and dry ice. Hmmmm... A solar shower would be nice too. Free heat and free water. But what about that free time???? In reality, I'll be happy with one 4x8 foot veggie plot and one 6-foot-circle herb garden. Little by little. And as the kids get older it gets easier and easier to have their help with projects like this. Great learning-at-home opportunity!
Back to the reality that shabbos is upon us and I'd better quickly go do those last couple of things. Ahhhhh, shabbos. BE"H, we'll only have three more shabboses here in this house!
Good shabbos, all!
challah
chicken in homemade barbecue sauce
baked potato with green onions and tofu sour cream
roasted cabbage
roasted sweet potatoes
steamed carrots
spinach salad
brownies with chocolate marshmallow topping
and for tomorrow...
SUSHI!
One of these days I really need to just make a two-year supply of barbecue sauce and can it. It's not that much harder, and would probably be a good deal cheaper. We use it 1–2x per month, so 72 cups would be enough for two years. That's just 18 quarts, or maybe I'd do pints since that's how much I use for a batch of chicken.
I'd love to do the same with different spice mixtures. Place a community order of various spices and then pre-mix them, like harissa (Moroccan), berbere (Ethiopian), and za'atar (Israeli), and pass it out to the community. Yum.
New house fantasies? They've involved worm bins (for composting kitchen scraps), a spiral herb garden by the front door, daydreams about three chickens (or three ducks; can't make up my mind), and a couple of pygmy goats (there the reality might be too much for our medium-sized space; we'll see!). We're hoping to meet with a permaculture consultant to assess our space and come up with a (very) long-term plan for the outside. Dean dreamed up a mosquito trap involving hanging geckos and dry ice. Hmmmm... A solar shower would be nice too. Free heat and free water. But what about that free time???? In reality, I'll be happy with one 4x8 foot veggie plot and one 6-foot-circle herb garden. Little by little. And as the kids get older it gets easier and easier to have their help with projects like this. Great learning-at-home opportunity!
Back to the reality that shabbos is upon us and I'd better quickly go do those last couple of things. Ahhhhh, shabbos. BE"H, we'll only have three more shabboses here in this house!
Good shabbos, all!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Ahhhhhhh....
We've temporarily settled back into our learning routine. The house just seems to hum when we're doing our regular thing. It's so nice. We're just finishing up a few things and continuing on with others. Davening, parsha study, Hebrew, reading, math, and science mostly. About half what we normally do, so we can go out and have little adventures in the afternoon and have friends over to play.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a program on electricity at the library. Everyone enjoyed it, especially Eli. It's nice to be at the point where three of them will listen and really enjoy it. Avi did pretty well playing in my lap. Today we went to our little aquarium, where Eli was positively bursting forth with all the things we've been learning in our study of ocean creatures. They were all so excited to look at everything. Afterwards we went to a fish/reptile store to buy some goldfish food and some climbing vines for our little hermit crabs. As much exploring was done there as at the aquarium. The crabs have now been named - Nutshell and Smutter. Not sure where Smutter came from, but the name suits him well! Tomorrow we may go pick some fruit. My strawberries are still waiting in the freezer to be turned into jam. Better get on that to make some more room!
Starting to think about packing some boxes too. We may actually do the big move on the 28th instead of the 1st. I don't think we'll need D around for the big move - just our hired muscles! Then we can spend that Sunday instead unpacking boxes. That would be nice. Might make shabbos a little crazy, but I'm sure we can manage. The inspection and appraisal are done, and it turns out there's about 200 more square feet than listed. Not sure how that happened! Most of my fantasies are about our giant walk-in pantry and the studio that will be our learning room. Fun things to think about, so may it all go through as scheduled and may we get all moved in. So grateful to hashem for all that he has brought us in the last year, wait, two years (Raizel & Avi), wait seven years (Amirah & Eli), well eight years (beshert!!!!!!!), well, our whole lives. I'm so grateful that everything that came before has brought us here.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a program on electricity at the library. Everyone enjoyed it, especially Eli. It's nice to be at the point where three of them will listen and really enjoy it. Avi did pretty well playing in my lap. Today we went to our little aquarium, where Eli was positively bursting forth with all the things we've been learning in our study of ocean creatures. They were all so excited to look at everything. Afterwards we went to a fish/reptile store to buy some goldfish food and some climbing vines for our little hermit crabs. As much exploring was done there as at the aquarium. The crabs have now been named - Nutshell and Smutter. Not sure where Smutter came from, but the name suits him well! Tomorrow we may go pick some fruit. My strawberries are still waiting in the freezer to be turned into jam. Better get on that to make some more room!
Starting to think about packing some boxes too. We may actually do the big move on the 28th instead of the 1st. I don't think we'll need D around for the big move - just our hired muscles! Then we can spend that Sunday instead unpacking boxes. That would be nice. Might make shabbos a little crazy, but I'm sure we can manage. The inspection and appraisal are done, and it turns out there's about 200 more square feet than listed. Not sure how that happened! Most of my fantasies are about our giant walk-in pantry and the studio that will be our learning room. Fun things to think about, so may it all go through as scheduled and may we get all moved in. So grateful to hashem for all that he has brought us in the last year, wait, two years (Raizel & Avi), wait seven years (Amirah & Eli), well eight years (beshert!!!!!!!), well, our whole lives. I'm so grateful that everything that came before has brought us here.
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