holding pattern

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What can I say? I think that last post sucked the writing juices out of my body for a few days...and it left me quite speechless. Thank you for all your words of encouragement. I am awed and intriguied by how many of us, particularly bloggers, have shared this same path of dealing with PPD. I am so glad we are talking and sharing. There is joy and strength in that, don't you think?

Meanwhile......

...we've been waiting for "the call" for more than a week now. Our chicks are apparently running late. My children ask me to call and check every day. It's to the point now, where the man at our feed mill says, "Is this Molly? I'll call as soon as they are here." The grin on his face comes across the phone lines. I try to blame it on my eager children. Or else, I make my children call him. I figure if he hears the disappointment in their voices when there are no chicks it might somehow speed up the process. 

In the meantime, we are watching this video from the day our first round of chicks arrived. Actually, I don't watch it anymore. Are you kidding me that children grow up THAT MUCH IN JUST A FEW YEARS?? I can't handle that. 

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things you might like

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We are slowly transitioning to the time change this morning. Birdy gets it, but apparently her sisters are still on the old time. Emma continues to argue bedtime based upon "old time", and I'm trying to remind her that the old time is just that, old. Tomorrow, I'm afraid the child won't be able to get the pleasure of sleeping in. This mama's going to start cracking the whip. 

A few little things this morning....

First of all, THANK YOU. There has been no offical announcement, but have you seen the voting on circle of moms?Really. I don't know what to say. I had some great "campaigners" out there. Thank you. Really.

Be sure to check out the bottom of the Action Pack giveaway post for the winners! 

a V.I.D.

There is a very important date on our calendar...yes, the birthday marathon is about to begin--3 in 3 weeks! But there is another date that my girls are very excited about it. And when I mentioned on twitter that I was gathering supplies for some new chicks to take up residence again in our downstairs bathroom, I started getting lots of questions about the hows and whys of what we were doing. And since 140 characters is a pretty tough way to give chick advice, I've decided to work on a little "Raising Chicks 101" series to share with you all here on the blog. I'm no expert, but I'm no longer completely intimidated by the process. And I'd love to empower a few other chicken farmers out there, if I can! :) 

Blog sponsor Stubby Pencil Studio is up for a Green Award. I loved reading what they'd do if they won. Take a second to check it out and cast your vote! 

I've been sharing a few favorite links on the mommycoddle facebook page, but here are some highlights:

I would love this on my sofa.

This tutorial is such a great idea for a baby gift.

I love this idea...hmmmn. maybe it could be incorporated into a first birthday gift? 

This is on the menu. And this. And this. 

I have a really wonderful giveaway on Momformation right now. If there are any baby plans in your future, you'll want to take a look. 

Some people stay up late playing word games on the computer or checking Craigslist Farm and Garden (okay, I do that, too)... I stay up late doing this and this. Don't tell my children but geography is my weakness. We won't discuss how many attempts it took for me to get this correct. Or how easily my 9 year old could complete it. Hmph. 

Happy Monday, friends!

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good for the heart

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I'm extremely guilty of attempting to fit way too many things in on the weekends. But when my weeks are full, and I really need to be home in order to do things like, oh, I don't know, homeschool my children, oftentimes the weekends are my only chance to get the to-do list done.

On Saturday, one of the things on my list was to workout. And suddenly, I discovered it was late afternoon-- I still needed to shower before going out for the evening with my cousin. I needed to make dinner. I needed to keep working on lessons plans. But I really needed to exercise. 

So instead of slipping off to the gym, alone, (and you know me, feeling guilty about it) I plopped Birdy in the backpack and took the children who weren't napping (good girl, Elizabeth) for a walk. 

It was the most beautiful exercise I've had in months. I said it on habit, but I hope my children never ever take for granted the beauty in their backyard.

We crossed the stream (there's a hole in my Muck Boot boot!) and walked and walked, following the mowed paths around my uncle's dormant cornfields. It was breathtaking, cold, beautiful, funny and sometimes a little back-breaking with that chubby toddler hanging from my shoulders. 

 

The girls rolled down hills,

 

 

stomped in mud, kept tabs on the barn cat that followed us the whole time,

 

 

jammed sticks down fox dens,

 

 

scraped notes into the mud for their uncle, and did their best to stay in plain sight of their littlest sister on my back, who whined only when she couldn't see what her sisters were doing.

 

 

Sometimes this kind of exercise is best not only for the body, but also for the heart. 

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this is what you get

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hello

I intended this post to be something slightly more coherent, perhaps even in paragraph form, but alas, basically everyone in this house is sick, but me. I've been 24 hour on-call nurse and complete sentences and paragraphs aren't in my repertoire right now. (apparently, using the shift-key isn't in my repertoire, either.)

*hurry. over to this post on momformation. i'm giving away a great little compact photo printer from epson.

*i just finished reading this book by michael perry. i was (probably a little too) sad when it was over. you know how you mourn the end of a really good story? there was a bit of genius on every page. and of course, it was almost like reading a page from my own story. i think i may be so bold as to say this ranks in my top 3 reads of  2010.

*speaking of poultry, tonight we lost our rooster, captain. do they have strokes? he was suddenly stricken blind. running into things. then lethargic. he could have been old. he could have been sick. and we didn't want him to pass something on to the hens. so unfortunately, we (which means, dan) had to put him out of his misery.

*i've been knitting. that hat peeking out in my picture is kyrie's. it's a great pattern. and so versatile. i can wear it, and so can all the girls. and now several family members have requested it as christmas gifts.

*i purchased a set of these, since it appears that i'm going to be doing a lot of knitting-gifting. (be warned, there is a ticking "countdown to christmas" on this website. it may elevate your heartrate.)

*last night, i did something i never thought i'd do. i purchased ready-made photo christmas cards. but apparently, my drive to always "design them myself" has resulted in five years of no christmas card from our family.

*i made one holiday decor splurge yesterday. on an advent calendar. i know. i know. i could have made my own. but sometimes, you just need to let someone else do the work. luckily, i'm not ready for it to be december 1, so this will give me a few extra days to get organized. i loved our advent calendar when i was little. it was one of my favorite parts of the holiday. my kids need to get in on that action, too.

*tomorrow on momformation, i'm going to be sharing my kitchen christmas wish list. what's on yours? i'd love to know. 

*and while we're talking...now that coop is over, any good book suggestions? let me have it.

alright. that's the news from here. where the rain is pouring down, the woodstove is cranking. and there is strange pig-like squealing-screeching-creep-me-out coming from the dark, back yard.

that would be my cue to go upstairs and hide under the covers with a feverish babe who is already passed out in my bed. someday my husband and i will sleep in the same bed again without a child between us, right? right.

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it's a good thing we're not pioneers

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I'm not sure who makes out better on the days when I can -- us, with our jars of summer goodness stored away on the shelves for winter, or the chickens who get to scratch through the scraps of fruit that I toss into the flower beds.

the do's, but mostly don'ts of canning

As soon as I emerge from the house with my big bowl of scraps and call "chick-chick-chick", they come in a mad-dash, head-down waddle across the yard. They know exactly where to wait for the big dump. Then they grab hunks of fruit in their beaks and run off to a more private place to gobble down the spoils. 

Each year, I get a little more ambitious and a little more comfortable with canning. Every year I learn and try something new, and every year I still make a few mistakes. 

Let's discuss this year's mistakes (so far):

Mistake Number One:

On a day when I must have been feeling quite energetic and organized (I must have given the kitchen a good cleaning that day) I stopped at a local farm stand and picked up not one, but TWO boxes of peaches.

Mistake Number Two:

Feeling thrifty and oh, so wise, I purchased seconds. I was so proud of my good deal, wise-thinking, and smart spending. And at first glance, the peaches (a.k.a the ones on top) seemed to be in pretty good shape barring a few soft spots, misshapen sides, and blemishes, of course.

Mistake Number Three:

I needed somewhere cool and dark to store my TWO BOXES of peaches. The coolest place in the house? The downstairs bathroom, which also holds the door down to the basement (hence, the coolness.) Doesn't everyone store peaches in their bathroom?

Mistake Number Four :

When I purchased the TWO BOXES of peaches I didn't consider that I would be tied up with errands, lessons, soccer practice and a heat wave for the next several days.

And so, this year we learned a lot about buying only what you can use right away. Avoiding seconds if you have any hope of canning sliced peaches versus jam. How quickly a colony of fruit flies can grow over night. And how to make one heck of a fruit fly trap. 

I will not discuss, how many POUNDS of peaches went to the chickens. I won't discuss the pathetic amount of jam I got from TWO BOXES of peaches. I won't discuss all the places in my house I am finding clouds of fruit flies. 

But I am learning. The hard way, perhaps. But still learning.

And thank the Lord, that we aren't a pioneer family on the lonely plains who's survival through the long, cold, harsh winter depends upon my ability to store away food. 

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