April 08, 2013

The key to unpacking after a move

April 08, 2013/ molly balint

It has been a crazy past few weeks. Friday marked our official one month anniversary of living in Woodlawn. And still there are boxes and bags and things we are tripping over. Corners are jammed with things that have not found their proper home.

Every time Dan ferries another box or tub down to the basement or up to the attic, I wince. I know those things are gone forever, or at least gone for a very long time. Out of sight, out of mind. I know myself well enough to know that it's going to be quite awhile before I force myself to deal with those things we're squirreling away. But sometimes sanity wins out over productivity and intentions.

In the meantime, I think we've found the key to forcing yourself to unpack and get organized after a move.

March 01, 2013

Little things, two of them incredibly cute

March 01, 2013/ molly balint

Oh, people. Remember my list of "Things That Are Stressing Me Out"? Well, last night at dinner the girls said to me, "Guess we can cross off 'check if sheep are pregnant', and 'find out what I need for lambs' birth', and 'set up lambing pens "!

Totally unexpectedly, and probably for the best, I was greeted at my bedside very early yesterday morning by my breathless husband...."You've got lambs. Two of them!" He was on his way to work and just as he was pulling out, remembered something he forgot, and as he stepped out of the car to get it, he knew that the sounds he was hearing from the sheep shed were most definitely NOT Penny or May.

We have babies, people!

I pulled on my boots and went out to the barn in the dark of yesterday morning to discover two sweet and still-wet baby lambs being every so carefully cared for by Penny.

Those first few hours were nerve-wracking, I tell you. Watching them struggle to nurse and latch on. Me, lying under a very patient Penny and making sure her milk was starting, trying to direct teats into tiny mouths...(yes, I may have over-managed this a bit.), but little by little, under my nervous eyes, all is well. Though one is smaller, they both seem to be nursing. Dan and I took turns checking on them throughout the night and we made it with no problems.

I couldn't have asked for a better mother. Penny is patient and calm and just the right amount of protective--that stamp of her foot at the cats wandering into her pen, or when too many people are visiting her, lets us know she needs her space.

And the babies, keeping with the tradition of naming them with the same letter as their mother, are being called Pete and Paige. A boy and a girl.

Next comes May. Maybe Penny's little ones will trigger something in her. She is definitely keeping a watchful eye on everything.

Spring is most definitely just around the corner.

In other news....

I was most-honored to be asked to write something up for new-to-me site 3ThingsForMom. Joined by other lovely contributors like Heather of Rookie Moms and Pilar Guzman of MS Living (hello!?!) I shared my 3 things this week--a truth, a tip, and a find. I think some of you may recognize my truth. It was a lesson that needed some serious re-visiting in my life these days. Be sure to check out Lauren's lovely site. It is a well-crafted collection of mama-wisdom.

My favorite way to procrastinate is to pour my energy into all the wrong things. Case and point, I'm about to do a major move and redesign of this blog. I'll be moving to a new host which requires pushing the figuartive "big red button" and moving my eight years of writing over to the new space. So if things look wonky or strange for a few days, bear with me. I hope to have things ironed out soon.

We have a moving date! The Woodlawn house will be HOME beginning the weekend of March 9. Ack, just over a week away. Perhaps it's time to pick out a faucet for the kitchen sink? We're living in the land of chaos, but every time I step foot in that sweet old house, my heart thumps in my chest with anticipation and joy of calling it home. I can't wait to share more of the process and projects with all of you!

Happy weekend. Happy March 1st. More soon....

January 22, 2013

How to: de-seed a pomegranate

January 22, 2013/ molly balint

I'm pushing the pomegranates these days which means I'm also de-seeding my fair share of this beautiful little fruit of health. Antioxidants! Vitamin C! We are on day number "it's been so long I've lost track" of Birdy's fever/flu/cranky/mama's losing her mind sickness. I actually saw a glimmer of health from her today, so I'm cautiously hopeful. But everything you hear and read these days says this winter is a doozy for sickness. So we're amping up the goodness in the food department.

I've always been kind of intimidated by pomegranates. All that pith inside. Those pockets of seeds that I couldn't figure out how to get to. But I've finally come up with a good system for de-seeding them and removing all those packages of crunchy goodness hiding inside.

So here you go!

First, cut the pomegranate from stem to stem, top to bottom.

Take one of the halves and turn it over in your hands so the open side is facing down. Gently apply pressure with your thumbs to the outside of the pomegranate. The purpose of this is to loosen and crack some of the pith and membranes inside. Don't go too crazy, just losen. You'll do this a few more times as you go along and feel pockets of seeds that are still stuck.

With the pomegranate half face-down in your hand, hold it over a bowl. Now, with a wooden spoon smack of the back of the fruit. (Can you say, therapy?) You'll begin to feel the seeds fall out between your fingers into the bowl. Woohoo! You may get a few bits of white membrane, but they're easy to pick out.

If you turn the fruit over and see pockets where the seeds are still stuck, you can gently press and crack on these spots again with your thumbs. And then turn it over to smack them with the wooden spoon again.

(See that slice in the fruit? That's what happens when you multi-task while de-seeding. You {almost} cut it the wrong way.)

You won't get every single seed with this method, but you will get practically all of them. (The picture below is how mine looks after a good whopping with the wooden spoon. Almost all the seeds have come out!)

You can either pick at the remaining seeds that are hiding, or if you're really nice, you can toss it to your chickens and boost their immune systems, too. I chose the latter.

Side note: keep that wooden spoon handy and smack away little hands that dip in the bowl too many times. Kidding. Sort of.

So, how do you eat your pomegranate seeds? We're pretty much a "straight from the bowl" family, but I also like them on salads and just discovered adding them to my yogurt. Yum!

Happy health and pomgranates, my friends!

November 05, 2012

The one time I'll talk about politics

November 05, 2012/ molly balint

Emma is really into the election this year. Cheers at the dinner table when she realizes it's a debate night, into it. Asks if I've thought about putting signs in the yard and bumper stickers on the car, into it. Meets someone new and whispers to me "Who do they vote for?", into it.

Personally, I'm at the point where I almost can't look anymore. I watch the debates, until I feel like I can't listen anymore. I simultaneously scroll twitter until I find myself wanting to scream in disgust and have to stop. I take a deep breath before I answer the political robo-call on my home phone.

But now, with a kid in the mix who's paying close attention and feels pretty strongly about who she wants to win, I feel more sensitive than ever to the nastiness that scrolls through the pages of my facebook and twitter streams, and spews through the television.

Emma's passionate. And she's passionate in a way only a ten year old can be about who she wants to win. But one thing I haven't been letting her do is make remarks about the other candidate that are disrespectful or rude. Maybe she disagrees with his philosophies or ideas or his smirk or his tie (c'mon she's ten), but still we require level of decency. "You may not like him, but you still need to be respectful." is my mantra. I don't temper her passion, but I do my best to keep it moving in a positive direction.

I don't say this in some holier than thou way, but only because geesh, I've been really disappointed in the childish, disrespectful and downright embarrassing things I've seen flying around social media. Maybe I need to swear it off (social media). Or maybe we need to find a way to share our opinions and show our support without spewing disrepect to anyone who might be listening. Keep it clean. Keep it civil.

I read this quote that a friend of mine posted on her facebook wall. It's an oldie thanks to John Wesley circa 1774. And I know. It's naive. And idealistic. But sometimes, that's how I roll. And it's one that's worth sharing.

"I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election and advised them to 1. Vote without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against. And, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side."

Honestly, I'd love to hear from all of you. How do you approach this topic? Do your kids have strong feelings about the election and its outcome? How do you direct their "passion"?

*edited to add: reading your comments and thinking about this more tonight....thought I would take the liberty of paraphrasing the quote into words that are a good reminder to us all in light of tomorrow....*

October 23, 2012

I declare

October 23, 2012/ molly balint

I've declared this week to be the week of good things. Things that are uplifting and happy. Behind the scenes, we're hanging in there. The outpouring of encouragement from all of you has been amazing. Even yesterday, when I posted this little shot on Instagram of all of us, while hanging out in the ER waiting for our next dose of the vaccine, it was flooded with good thoughts and wishes, and "I wish I could come out there and buy you all a milkshake!" But the good news in all this is one more round to go! And to quote Elizabeth, "Then I can finally get back to a normal life!"

In the meantime, a few good things around the webby-web-web:

Probably the only time in my life that my name will appear in the same article with Brooke Shields, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Cruise and Alanis Morrissette....and proof that among mothers, some things know no bounds of language, race, location or income. We all need to ask for help when we need it.

Something about this post hit me in a good spot this week.

This place is always light, fresh, inspiring (and good for my french).

I'm pretty sure warm bread makes everything better, right? This week, probably this one.

I think my girls have earned some of these to stitch on their sleeves.

And tomorrow, another good thing to share with you that gets me all itchy to have the girls back home...

xo, friends. and thank you.

molly