A small success

I finally did it, a month and a half later.

It all seemed to be successful, despite my fears. Because, you know, around here our motto could truthfully be "disaster at every turn". It is almost amusing how things turn out well when I have someone else around to watch the kids.

I did can some plum jam last year. Water bath canning is easy. I managed it while one kid was yelling, "Mommy wipe my butt!" and the other was trying to climb the fridge. But pressure canning, now that scares the bejeebers out of me.

I faced my fears, and look what I made!


My oldest boy watched me cut it up. I told him it looked like cantaloupe, and he asked if he could have some. Well, it's not cantaloupe. Goofy kid. My husband thinks it looks like peaches. Mmmmmm... I wish it was peaches. But no, it isn't nearly that exciting.

It's pumpkin, of course. Of the eighteen we had marching up the stairs, only one now remains. I'm tired of them. I'm so glad to see them go. The last lonely one might just get split in half and sent out to the chicken coop.

But it sure looks nice in the jar, doesn't it?

"You Capture" - What makes me happy

This is my first time participating in You Capture. This week's challenge was to tell a story, using pictures, of what makes you happy. Hope I followed all the rules!

I did learn a few things. I did a custom white balance on my camera for the very first time, and I learned that it causes problems if I forget to change it back. Huh, imagine that. And because my life is so spontaneous and fun, the only white thing I could find (at the moment I needed it) was a grungy, dirty, sort-of-white bucket. But you know what? It worked pretty darn well!

So here, for you all, is one thing that makes me happy. Every day. Every day it gets me outside, ever so briefly, for some fresh air and sunshine. Every day, it gives me a moment or two of peace, away from my noisy children. Yes indeed, it truly does make me happy.

This is the Nest Queen, sometimes I call her by a different name that I dare not type here. She isn't my favorite hen, but I think she's going to come in handy next Spring. I bet you anything, next Spring she'll be Miss Don't You Even Try To Take My Eggs Away. And that's just fine with me.

Isn't she lovely? And she sings too. I think she'll make a great mom.

Five, count them, FIVE eggs she had gathered up and parked herself upon. And it was only noon. The girls had been busy this morning.

Big, beautiful, brown eggs, they don't come any fresher than this.

The yolks of free range eggs are brilliant orange, loaded with all kinds of good stuff that plain old store-bought eggs lack.

And they taste pretty darn good too. Yum. Ah, yes, my lovely hens give me lovely eggs. Can you tell it makes me happy?

Go on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry for more happy picture stories.

Girly

Something came in the mail. I ordered it a week ago, but it arrived on Black Friday. Man, what timing. I felt just a bit guilty since I refuse to shop on Black Friday. My big, rebel, anti-consumerist attitude.

Serves me right. I bought something girly. God help me, it's even pink.

But I didn't feel guilty for long, and it didn't stop me from ripping into the very small box. Handcrafted in this country, not mass produced somewhere across the sea. So very soft. No plastic parts, and amazingly, not even any plastic packaging.

Can you guess what it is?



I might possibly have crossed over to the dark side... ummm, I mean girly side. At least one of my sisters will shake her head in disbelief.

Then again, I did find out how to make a tutu.

Please, someone stop me.

Lest I sound too girly, let me say earlier on Black Friday I found a mouse. A fat little brown mouse, awfully cute. And I killed it. With a cat.

I had absent mindedly (who, me?) left the lid off a garbage can in which I store barley. Chickens obviously eat barley, so it's quite reasonable that I have a barley can. Or three. Which I do. Unfortunately for the mouse, but fortunately for the cat, the mouse had a feast until it realized it could not escape.

The next time you have a bad day, be thankful you are not a mouse stuck in a barley bucket.

I shoved the lucky cat into the garbage can headfirst. What happened next was sort of like a blender running upside down, and it made me laugh.

So I am left wondering.

Just how far to the girly side am I destined to go... and why, why, WHY didn't I bring my camera to the barn?

The mouse was cute. But not this cute.

Hi Ho Cherry-O?

No. Apples!

Being thankful

It is that time of year when, once again, many of us contemplate thankfulness. Yesterday, I had very, very much to be thankful for. When I feel like I'm running a circus here, there are many times I am so thankful it was not worse.

And so...

I am thankful, oh so thankful that we were running just a minute (or two) late for preschool. My littlest boy did not come when I called him to put shoes on, so I went searching. I found him on his little potty chair. My biggest boy explained it like this, "Mommy, if he had no pants on, and if he had no underwears on, then his poop would have EXPLODED ALL OVER ME!!!".

Right.

Or it would have been in the car, had we actually been running on time.

On a side note, I am also thankful the poop (although considering the consistency, I'm not sure that is the correct term) still resembled the food it used to be. I think I have figured out the cause of this boy's ongoing, sporadic diarrhea issue.

Carrots. Seriously, carrots? What in the world.

If you are still reading, yes, that is honestly how my day began. Very thankful!

My next moment of thankfulness came soon after, as I was searching for my wallet. I reached into my coat pocket and discovered three eggs that someone had forgotten there yesterday. Who... not me? Those eggs could have been smashed a hundred different ways, but I chose not to think about that. Instead, I placed the still-fully-intact-eggs in the fridge with a thankful heart, and a mind that cannot multitask.

The day continued with beautiful weather, warm sun, and homemade whole wheat bread. AND an unplanned baby photo shoot when I realized the light in the living room was perfect, which turned out adorable if I do say so myself.

I think I'm so funny for describing it as an "unplanned baby photo shoot". Ha! Unplanned, yes. But also thankful, yes!

I almost want to eat her, she's so cute!

At one point I was thankful I do not have real...

...snakes in my house.

When I noticed a bit of clear liquid on my bedroom floor, I followed the trail down the hall with much curiosity. It was there that I discovered cat vomit splattered across the entire width of the hall, and with much gratitude I realized all of it was on the wood floor! And both walls, but that's easy to wipe too.

What was the chance my violently, explosively puking cat (I believe she poisoned herself by chewing on a pepper plant) would be on the wood floor at the exact moment it mattered!? It could have been on my bed, or the carpet, or the stairs...

At that point I was starting to think I should be playing the lottery, so I went for the big money when my husband got home.

"Oh goodness, look at that, the toilet is plugged and here I am sooooo busy trying to make supper with a baby on my hip and a three-year-old climbing my leg!"

Ah, yes, much to be thankful for...and best of all, tomorrow is a new day!

Dog

Catwarmer, protector of poultry, doorbell, broccoli thief, pillow...

Worth every penny we paid for her.  Oh wait, she was free.  Well, she's earned every egg that goofy hen insists on leaving in the doghouse.

Sometimes, everything is perfect

"A child's life has no dates, it is free, silent, dateless.  A child's life ought to be a life full of simplicity."  -Oswald Chambers

Sometimes, a perfect fall afternoon invites us to go exploring.

There is magic in blankets of dry leaves that crunch under stomping feet.

Naked trees that beg to be explored.

From angles high and low...

Huge eyes take everything in.

Little hands that hang on.

And sometimes just hanging around, soaking up life.

Sticks and rocks are tools.  Ladybugs are captured and inspected, then "gathered up", and covered with grass to "keep them warm and safe".

Time doesn't matter.

Boys are lazy and busy... all at the same time.

We find ourselves at the edge of a field and suddenly it is snacktime.

Boys love soybeans.

The little pods are so fun to open.  Catch the beans before they roll away!

The table is here.

Now.

More snack is just over there.

There are no problems in the world.

Sometimes, everything is perfect.

Boys work together to smash apart an old stump.  You never know what could be in there.

Spiders, ladybugs... you just never know.

It could be very exciting.  It could be "the coolest one ever I've seen!"

Sometimes, everything is perfect for a mom too.

Boys are happy, exploring and learning.  The sun is warm, and the light is perfect for photography.

Sometimes, everything is perfect for a baby too.

The warmth is satisfying.  The ride on mom's back is snug and safe.

The strap is perfect for sucking on.

"A child's life has no dates, it is free, silent, dateless. A child's life ought to be a life full of simplicity." -Oswald Chambers