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Preparedness

I'm always thinking ahead. What will be my next project? When do we go on a trip next? How should be plan the garden for the upcoming summer? If I;m finishing this, then when can I start that? Well, I'd like to think this is to my advantage (although, possibly this is a disillusion :)). One way I believe it came to my advantage is when we were shopping a fun and learning store in the area. All the products the store sells are learning toys, and also they have a lot of "natural" products. Products made with wood and non-toxic paint, rather than plastic. While we were there, we spotted on display a cute kitchen set up for a child. It was completely wooden (eco-friendly rubber wood) and was on display with some wooden foods that can be cut. Although Flora is only 4.5 months old, I was thinking ahead. How awesome this would be for her to learn and grow with! If this were the right sale price, we should get it now and give it to her a few years from now. I turned the corner and there was one in a box, never opened, and about 40% off the original price! What a deal! However, it was still a bit too expensive. So, I asked if they'd be willing to sell the display item, which was in great condition and no assembly required. She would, and for over 60% off the original price. Sweet! So, we now will have a kitchen set for Flora, along with some fun food to cut with it. The extra bonus is that when we decide to give it to her, no shopping needed for that birthday or Christmas :) Call me a geek, but I love thinking ahead, and being frugal about it :)

Eating a radish.

My food nemesis was my lunch hour. I would run out and grab something quick - a sandwich, burger, whatever. Now I don't take a lunch hour, so I am responsible for bringing my own lunch if I plan to eat. I have a rubbermaid storage box with several goodies in it. It keeps me stocked with healthy choices when I need a snack. What's in it? Walnuts, our own dried apples, Kashi bars, tea, dried pears and organic instant oatmeal. I certainly need a bit more variety than this, so we decided we'd start doing some heavy shopping in the produce section. Tim has been eating PB & Jelly sandwiches every day at work lunch for the 5 years I've know him, so it would be healthy to get him some variety too. We buy whatever looks fresh and delicious in the produce section. We keep organic and local in mind as much as possible when making our buying decisions. We bring the produce home, wash it really good, and then bring a variety to work each day. Usually it will be a mix of cucumber, green pepper, mushrooms, carrot, apple, etc. Today I had something new in my lunch....radishes. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I ever had a radish before, but something about these little red guys appealed to me at the store. I put 3 radishes in my lunch today. Crunch, crunch, crunch. What yummy, crispy little things. I did a little research and it turns out that these radishes are good for fiber, folic acid, potassium, calcium, and iron. I also learned that if you like sprouts, radish sprouts are great for using the sprouts in salad and give a little different taste than the basic bean sprouts. Having this little something different today gives me excitement to try other new things. And, it also encourages me to research growing some of these goodies in our garden rather than sticking to the staples. It doesn't hurt to try a plant or two with something different. Any recommendations? Happy fresh eating!

Quiet Moments

The work week always seems difficult for me as a mommy. I am blessed that I can do my 40 hour work week from Monday - Thursday, giving me a 3 day weekend to focus on being a mommy, and of course, get stuff done around the house, errands, etc. However, because of my Monday - Thursday, I only see Flora for about 1 hour each of those days. When I leave in the morning she's still sleeping, and then she goes to bed about 1 hour after I get home in the evening. This morning I was fortunate enough to have a few extra minutes so instead of my quick checking on Flora and giving her a gentle sleeping hug, I sat next to her while she slept and I ate my breakfast quietly. It was a peaceful and loving way to start the day, and even though she probably never knew I was there, it helped me get my mommy time in. I foresee getting up a little earlier now so I can have my breakfast with Flora. :)

Get well.

For three days now I have been attempting to fight a really bad head cold. I came down with it on Sunday morning and as of Tuesday, still feeling it pretty bad. I didn't go to work for the past two days, and being home by yourself is really boring...even when you sleep half the day away. Being sick makes you realize the freedoms you have when you are healthy. For instance, the freedom of physical contact. Even though I'm living in the same house as my excellent husband and wonderful daughter, I haven't been touching either of them in effort to keep them germ-free. I feel physically neglectful. It's amazing what physical touch can mean to your body and mind. The only cuddling I have is with my furry pals - Quigley and Cora. Another freedom when healthy is being awake :) I have slept so much in these past three days I feel like a lump of uselessness. I have been doing everything natural that I know to get well. Taking my all natural immune booster pills, elderberry for anti-viral, sleeping, drinking hot tea with honey. Either I'm missing something, or this bug is extremely resilient. Next, blending kiwi with orange juice...a Vitamin C kick in the butt to this cold! Any other solutions? Help!

New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family! 2009 was a spectacular year - the highlights being the purchase of our land and welcoming our wonderful daughter, Flora. The last few weeks have been a nice wind down time. Less hours at work due to the holidays, and I've had a 2 week break from teaching too, which frees up my time after work. In 2009 one of my goals (documented here last January) was to learn to crochet. I started it, but as it goes, it fell to the side. During my pregnancy I vowed to crochet - that didn't happen. During my maternity leave I vowed to crochet, the closest I got was getting the yarn and hook out. It then sat on the end table in the living room for the next 2 months. Frustrating. I want to learn, but time always seems to have the last laugh. I told Tim that during the last two weeks of the year I NEED to crochet....and he made it so! He reminded me and helped me find time. And, I made my most complex project yet - a hat!!! I love it! It's warm, and cute - at least I think so. Also, the great thing about this project is that it gave me confidence I needed to keep crocheting. Another thing is that I feel as though I'm actually "getting" it....before I was just following the instructions, now I get why I'm doing things a certain way. It's exciting to think about new projects - I have a few planned for 2010. Tim has put in a hat request, so I am going to make his next. Here is my project (Tim's won't have the flower):

P.S. The blog has a new look. The white text on blue background got too hard for me to read...seriously, I'm getting old. Hope you all enjoy the new look. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Game/Reading Night

When Flora was born, we felt our days and nights completely change in pace. As it was, we didn't do much TV viewing during the week. If we are watching the TV, it's either Thursday night "Office" or a movie we've rented from Netflix. But, sometimes we would find we had a moment, and the tv would go on for lack of better things to do. Now, we have a better solution: Game Nights! We are finding that it didn't work to say that these nights are always Monday and Saturday, but we have been trying to spend at least one night a week playing a game together (usually after Flora's sleeping...she's not into Scrabble - yet.) Games are fun, and generally require some thought. Both good things :) We usually end up playing our favorites - Scrabble, Sorry, Spite and Malice, Farkle....this last weekend we played Monopoly for a change of pace. First, I kicked Tim's butt, and then he kicked mine. Here's a snapshot of how the first game went. Me on left, Tim on right.

We hope to keep this up as a family tradition - games, at least once a week! Having wind-down time is so important when it seems like all there is to do is working, running errands, and keeping busy one way or another. Games have been a way to unwind, while having fun, not just sitting in a vegetative state in front of the tv screen.

An Autumn Visit

Usually during this time of year we take a week long road-trip vacation to celebrate our anniversary. This year, due to our amazing girl Flora, we felt best foregoing the week long trip. Too hard to travel for that amount of time with a 1-mo old, 2 dogs, ourselves and luggage. Instead, we went out for a nice dinner on our anniversary, and then this past weekend, we took our last trip for the season up to White Sky Woods. We did just one night. We left the dogs at home with my Mom who watched them, and we headed out early Saturday morning, all packed up and with baby in the back seat. Since the heat in our camper is somewhat unreliable when it comes to providing a constant temperature, we felt it safest to stay at a hotel, and then spend the days at our property. On the way up, there was snow! The night before had left about 4 inches of snow in central U.P., but once we got closer to the Keweenaw, there was no snow and lots of fall color! Since the climate zone on the peninsula is the same as where we live here in WI, it was prime color viewing for those fall leaves. We headed directly to White Sky Woods. Wow! It looked so different from our last visit over Labor Day weekend. It's always wonderful, but the colors on the trees were just amazing. The color was from the ground up. Lots of leaves on the ground, colorful grasses, and brilliantly colored trees. The most impressive were the tamaracks, which were a bright sunny yellow color. On saturday we hiked our cleared (okay - semi-cleared) trails and spent a little time in the camper for Flora's feeding since it started to drizzle outside. When it got dark, we checked into our hotel. We ordered pizza from a local place - it was delicious...maybe some of the best delivery pizza I ever had. Later, Tim went swimming while Flora and I watched.

The next day we went back to our property and decided to do some off trail exploring. Tim carried Flora in the front pack both days, which worked out great. She loved it, the motion lulls her to sleep. We found some areas of our property that have older hardwoods, along with Cedar and different types of conifers. Tim's eye caught one of our forest creatures. A blue-spotted salamander! Cool looking little salamander. We found a dilapidated hunting shack that a tree fell on. It appeared the shack was built around the tree. Hmm. We then headed back to the camper. While I fed Flora, Tim picked lots of apples! We have tons of apple trees with a variety of apples. The best looking apples were Golden Delicious apples. He also picked a lot of apples that will be better suited for baking. So, this week, I have a project on my hands! I will be dehydrating a portion of the apples for healthy snacking, not sure about the rest yet. Before we left, we also talked to the neighbors for an hour of so. They told us about 2 wolf encounters they had this summer. Overall, it was another great trip to White Sky Woods! Can't wait to go back...

Back pasture.

In the forest.

All bundled up!

Snow! On the way up, but no snow at the property :)

Spotted blue salamander.

Pumpkin Project

On Saturday we went to out local grocer who annually has Pumpkin Blowout. Local pumpkins for $2 each! We purchased three pumpkins and then planned to carve them. I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. I painted a pumpkin in college with a little girl I mentored, but that's my most recent memory, and that was almost 10 years ago. We had a carving kit that we purchased a few years ago and got underway with our Pumpkin Project. Tim carved one pumpkin and I carved another, so we each had our own unique design. The third pumpkin became Flora's. She slept through the whole project, but since she's less than a month old, I don't suspect she could have done much with her pumpkin :) The pumpkins turned out awesome! Also, we saved the seeds and roasted them. Yum! Here's some shots from the Pumpkin Project. The final night picture with them light up shows mine on the left, Tim's in the middle, and Flora's on the right :)

Fall Splendor

Fall is here! The average temperature during the day has been in the high 50's and there have even been 2 frosts overnight. We covered the garden as best we could and seemed to save it. When it hasn't been raining, I've been taking walks with Flora in the afternoon. I love fall! The changing colors and the crispness in the air. When the sun is out, you can almost feel your body soaking it up, regardless of the slight chill in the air. Hands down, this is my favorite season. I was up for the early sunrise last week and captured this picture of our backyard. There is steam rising off the river and the colors on the trees are slightly changed. Beautiful!