… of my favorite things

“…understand that to nurture and love others with the grace you desire means taking care of yourself and cultivating your own inner harmony. Inner harmony grows not by finding ways to get away from your child, but by giving yourself the gift of a hot bath at the end of a long day, reading a book of poetry, talking to a friend on the phone, taking a nap, crying, getting a massage, having a day off from cleaning and cooking, staying in your pajamas all day, swimming, going out to eat, or attending a conference. Do something for yourself as you give. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take yourself so seriously.”
~ Peggy O’Mara, The Way Back Home

In under two weeks, half a dozen people have expressed this same sentiment to me.  Methinks I am a slow learner.  But I’m getting it, slowly.  When I’m used to giving of myself to three little ones and one bigger one, there isn’t much time left for me.  I’m finding I can give so much more of a happier and more willing self after I’ve taken care of my id.  Yes, it sounds selfish, doesn’t it?  I struggle with that, but in the end, I have much more to give.  And THAT isn’t selfish.

What gives you life?

http://blogs.georgefox.edu/newsreleases/?p=5111

See it live:

http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/spirituallife/index.html

When you’re out and about and needing a drink, pass on the straw and lid.  It’s just one (or two) less things to throw in the garbage can when you’re done.  Better yet, carry your own container with you, and ask to have it filled up instead!

http://www.amazon.com/Loving-Our-Kids-Purpose-ebook/dp/B001PO5UMS

I’m at a point in my life where life is busy. Really busy. I’m homeschooling. I’m a mom, a wife, a friend, and sometimes I even take on the role of nurse. Like this week, when all my kids were sick. And like when I actually go away from my home to be a nurse. But mostly, I’m a mom and wife, titles I’m blessed to have.

As a mom, I try to feed my family good food. I try to start local, as in my own backyard, but seeing as I live in the high desert, I rely on those around me to grow some of the good food I can’t grow just yet. I buy mostly organic as organic produces food with more bang for the buck. Ok, maybe that’s more bang for a few bucks. But the extra cost is worth it, because I know that we are not only getting more nutrients, but that we are also helping save our planet from toxic wastes and preserving our precious soil. I try to do all this on a budget. Which means we don’t eat much meat. I have a hard time eating meat that is filled with nitrites and nitrates and high fructose corn syrup and sodium whatevers. Excuse me, but I think that the ingredients for meat should be just that: meat! What a thought, eh? And so, like my produce, I try to buy organic meat or at least meat that is free range, grass-fed without antibiotics or hormones added. And I buy it when it’s reduced because it needs to be sold TODAY. Otherwise, we get our protein elsewhere, like from our local backyard chickens who produce amazing eggs, and from nuts, beans and dairy.

In addition to providing good food, I try to do many small things in our lives to make living more sustainable, and I’ll be sharing tidbits from here on out. Because… oh my! life is busy right now!
Busy, but oh so good!

I am LOVING the woodstove.  I love the cozy feeling of sitting in front of the fire, I love that the stove is still warm after a freezing high desert night when I get up in the morning.  And I love that I can cook on it.  When we were researching different woodstoves, this was high on my priority list of must-haves.  I have basically cooked soups, stews, and stir fried on my last stove.  But with this new stove comes a desire to experiment and see what all this stove has to offer me.

Last night, I got up the gumption to try baking on the Jotul.  I burned the wood till it was red hot, literally.  I had beautiful, glowing orange coals covering the bottom of the stove.  I used my cast iron skillet to create an air base, placed my round stone pan over it and then topped it off with an upside down dutch oven to created the top air space.  It’s important to have that space on the bottom, as it burns easily if placed directly on the stove top.  Then I let it do it’s thing… and waited for the tell-tale sign of completion: the yummy aroma of baked cinnamon rolls.  It took about an hour and a half, and in that time I added two extra logs to keep the heat steady.  Of course, this was not scientifically done, as I never used a thermometer, just eyed my pile of coals.  It worked!

The cinnamon rolls were beautiful!  The tops were a golden brown, they rose and the bottoms never burned.  Here, take a look:

And here is the finished product:

Oh, and we’re heating up to 80+ degrees in our house, walking around in tank tops and LOVING it!

The romantic in me thinks that’s sweet:  to have someone in my life try so hard to get my attention and keep it, to be wanted and loved and admired, and sought after… (sigh)…makes a gal feel pretty loved, if only she could realize how hard the other is seeking her attentions, her reciprocal attentions.  But then I started thinking, “Isn’t this exactly what God wants of us?!  Doesn’t He try to extract my smile first thing in the morning, if only I open my eyes to His beautiful raspberry lemonade sunrise?  Doesn’t he wait for the perfect opportunity to make His presence known to me?  Doesn’t He wine and dine me, forgive me, give me a white-washed room each day to begin anew?  Doesn’t God just wait for my consent to take me on a First Date with Him?”

Each morning when I wake and as I go about my daily life, there’s God waiting for me to acknowledge His presence, His attentions to love me and make me fall in love with Him.  Every day can be a first date with God.  Only He isn’t limited to the number 50.

(See my rubber boots in the background?!) 

And here is the other side:

 We used two pints of organic Straus Whipping Cream.  I chose this because it comes in cute little glass containers which can either be returned to the store for reuse and recycling, but we reuse it in our home.

We simply dumped the two pints into the Dazey butter churn, and we churned away!  We passed it around and each had several turns spinning the blades.  At first, it was easy and fun, but then it got gloopy and more difficult for little muscles to conquer.  It also helped to have a nonstick pad down to help keep the churn in place.

After making whipping cream, keep beating till it starts sticking together in little chunks.  The solids will eventually all glob together, leaving you with two finished products: buttermilk and butter.

Here’s a picture of the buttermilk:

We used the buttermilk in our favorite whole wheat buttermilk pancakes.  And here’s the picture of the finished block of butter:

We had to wash the butter first, getting all the buttermilk out by using a flat wooden spoon/spatula (sorry, no pictures… I was busy washing the butter!).  In a steel bowl, we ran cold water onto it while mashing it.  Make sure to use very cold or ice water as warm will melt the butter.  After the water runs clear, continue mashing it till most of the liquid is gone, then pat it into any shape you’d like.  We wrapped ours up in plastic to keep fresh in the fridge, and part of it went into our french butter dish. 

Of course, freshly baked bread was a necessity after making butter!  Bon appetit!

For those who don’t have a Dazey Butter Churn, you can use a food processor to churn your own butter, or one of those rolling ice cream makers, or simply a plain ol’ mason jar (you just need more muscle power)!  The great thing about making butter is that you don’t end up with any wasted by product.  It can all be used!  And kids (well, adults too!) get a kick out of seeing how butter is made.