Illness and gratitude...

I am generally a healthy person. Sure, I get the usual cold and the occasional flu each winter. A little over a week ago, I came down with a whopper of a flu bug. I'm still not quite over it. I did what might be more than my share of feeling sorry for myself and some complaining too.

However...it has gotten me thinking. Thinking about gratitude. And since it November, what better thing for me to be thinking about right?

I may still have gross stuff in my lungs, and I may still be coughing and hacking and only have 50% of my voice, but I am thankful. Thankful to be home and not in a hospital. Thankful for a husband that has picked the kids up from school every day for the last week, made us dinner every night AND done the dishes (and we don't have a dishwasher either), on top of working a full day. Thankful for being able to breathe without the aid of machines, and thankful that I am able to breathe a little more clearly each day as I get better. Thankful for modern medicine and a good health care provider. Thankful to be able to afford the medications I needed to help me on the road to recovery. Thankful to be listening to Christmas music even though I can't sing along. Thankful for my home, my family, and so many blessings in my life.

What are you Thankful for right now?

Wordless Wednesday

Every year something strange and frightening happens to our house around Halloween...

Wordless Wednesday

Even though it is Autumn, we have had some nice days in the last few weeks.

Baby B's first time walking on the beach. (She usually rides in the backpack.)

Ooooh, sand!

Sweet Baby Beautiful

Halloween Preparations part 2

I have been working on the rest of the Halloween costumes. My sister Myra's yearly pumpkin party is coming up, and the costumes have to be ready by then! Today I finished up on #5's Ninja Turtle Costume.

The brim of the hat is actually made to fold down and there are eye holes and the bottom of the brim is curved to be like a ninja turtle's nose. #5 doesn't like wearing it that way though. I had to convince him to let me take a picture with the orange mask over his eyes and he doesn't like wearing it the way I originally designed it, so I don't have a pic of that. Luckily part of the design was for the brim to fold up so it would look like a regular fleece hat. I designed it that way so that it wouldn't be wasted after Halloween. He prefers wearing it that way, with the orange mask tied over his forehead too. I am okay with that.

Here is a back view of the shell. Again, it isn't a perfect costume, but still better than those plastic ones you find in stores. He is happy with it, so I call that good. I also finished the sewing part of #2's Link costume. Now all I have left is the sword and shield, and the Fairy wings for Baby B's costume. Phew! I might just finish on time!

Tip or dare: Autumn cooking edition

Okay, so this one is really more of a tip than a dare, although I do highly recommend it.

I am a waster of produce. It is something I am working on, but need to be better. I love making soups and such in the fall, when the weather is turning crisp. Many of the soups I make have celery in them. I have a tendency to buy celery for a recipe, and then I forget about what is left of it and find it later, wilting in the fridge. Last year, I came up with a solution.

Whenever I buy celery, I make sure I get carrots and have onions on hand as well. In my big soup pot, I melt a stick of butter, then add some chopped onions (one or two large onions, depending on your tastes), a few medium to large sized carrots (also chopped up small) and celery. I pretty much use a whole set of celery, cutting the bottoms and tips off. You can also use the leaves if you want, for extra flavor.

I have a small hand cranked food processor, and I use it to chop up the veggies. I got mine when I used to sell Tupperware, but I have seen similar choppers sold as Salsa makers. It works great, and is really quick, it even chops my carrots up into small pieces.

As I said, I use butter for this, but you can also try this with olive oil. I have used olive oil in place of butter for recipes when making them for someone who is vegan, but I have not tried freezing it before, so let me know if you attempt it. I also like to add some basil and parsley to this while it is cooking. Cook and stir over medium heat until the celery and onion start to become translucent. After this, I spoon the mixture into muffin tins, cover them with waxed paper and place them in the freezer. Once they are frozen I pop them out of the tins (sometimes it helps to place the muffin tins in a shallow pan of warm water for a minute to help loosen them) and place them in plastic baggies back in the freezer. When I am ready to make soup or stew, I take two or three out, and put them directly into my pot over medium heat until they are melted. It cuts back on my prep time for making soups and stew, and I also use it as a base for making Chicken Pot Pie. I have four different recipes that I use this as a base for. This has been a great way for me to not be so wasteful, and dinner is ready a lot sooner than if I were to be chopping everything at the start of cooking each meal. What are some ways you cut down on wasting food and cooking time? I dare you to share!

Wordless Wednesday

Our latest family shot

Wordless Wednesday...

Our Harvest...grown from seeds from last year's Halloween Pumpkins.

Halloween Preparations

I try to come up with Halloween costumes for our kids each year. This was much easier to do back when I got to pick what they were going to be. As they have gotten older their tastes have gotten much more interesting for me to fulfill.

I am not much of a seamstress. I have generally sewn Christmas stockings, and a few other simple things. A few years ago I made my first attempt at sewing a costume. My youngest son wanted to be James the Train from Thomas the Tank Engine. (Well, he wanted to be Thomas, but they didn't have the right shade of blue felt, so I convinced him to be James instead. I used other costumes I had seen for inspiration. I was satisfied with how it turned out and so was he, but I had set a precedent for making them what they wanted.

The next year #3 asked to be Jango Fett from Star Wars. (They were all Star Wars Characters that year). I spent hours making Jango's helmet out of cardboard, glue, spackle and paint and all the other costumes suffered in the process.

Last year, #3 wanted to be Sonic the Hedgehog and #4 wanted to be Indiana Jones. Both were vetoed. Sonic, because I didn't think I could make the costume and Indy due to the lack of a hat. Instead one was Mario and the other was Dash from The Incredibles.

This year they both made the same request as last year. I prepared to veto, then decided to try.

There are a lot of Indy hats out there, but I am not willing to spend $30 for part of a Halloween costume. Instead, I took a plan, floppy wool hat I had, cut the brim down and used fabric stiffener to shape it into an Indy hat. It isn't perfect, but he is happy with it. I sewed a messenger bag for him to use in the costume, and as his Trick or Treat bag. He picked the other clothes out. I'd like to find a better shirt, but he doesn't mind this one if we can't find a better one. All he needs us the bull whip I made out of duct tape for him last year. It's in a box in my closet.

Indy is ready for a fight....

Next came Sonic. I spent some time looking online at other Sonic costumes and didn't love any of them. My son is also somewhat picky about things and didn't like the relatively simple looking hats I found online. I decided to design my own. I made a basic stocking hat, adding other parts to be the spikes of Sonic's hair. Then I attached ear flaps to the hat to help make the area around Sonic's eyes, and to make it look more like Sonic in general. Last came the ears.

For the body, I wanted to just get bright blue sweats, but I couldn't find any the right shade, and they had to match the hat, so I decided to just sew it. This was my first ever attempt at sewing pants. I used a pair of #3's PJ bottoms to make a pattern and went from there. The shirt was the same story. I used an old T shirt for the pattern, but made the sleeves long. The costume is mostly made out of polar fleece, which doesn't fray and is also very warm. It isn't perfect by any means, but #3 loves it and that is all that matters to me. I also sewed some shoe covers so he could have sneakers like Sonic.

Sonic gives the thumbs up on his costume.

A side view of him "running"...

So, that means I am half done this year! I already made a tutu for Baby B's costume (no pics yet) and that means I just have to sew a Link (Legend of Zelda) costume, a ninja costume and #1 is going to be an insomniac and wear his PJs so no sewing there.

What about you? Do you make costumes or buy them?

Wordless Wednesday...

We took the boys to an art gallery showing this last weekend. A little culture is always good right? This particular showing was unique in a way that interested the boys in particular though.

The artist works in Legos. The above portrait is done in a mosaic style, with Legos.

Then there were the sculptures...

The boys really liked the art, and so did we.

If you are interested in seeing other artwork by the artist Nathan Sawaya, check it out here.
He has every little boy's dream job.

Wordless Wednesday

We went to the jetty for a family photo shoot over the weekend. The sun was on it's way down, and I took some pics of the boys on the rocks. Happily, I had the flash off, and discovered that, with the sun behind them, I could make some nice silhoettes.

Indy (#4) cracks his imaginary whip.

#3 (I love that the ocean and sky are in the background)

#5

#1...I didn't get one of #2. I'll have to do that next time.

DMo and Baby B. Not quite a true silhouette, but I love the little glints of light on her face.

Next time I will try to make sure I am getting a full silhouette of the boys. I like the ones with their eyelashes in them better.

Planting Seeds...

A year or so ago we had some potatoes that were going bad. I tossed them into an empty planter next to the back porch (empty of a plant, but full of dirt) meaning to take them out into the back of our yard to compost later. Then I promptly forgot about them. Occasionally I would notice their slowly decomposing state, but I figured they were okay where they were and continued on my merry way. Eventually the potatoes were gone.
Then this spring there was suddenly a plant growing in that planter. It was a green, leafy plant, and I wasn't sure what it was. In time we came to realize that it was a potato plant. The potatoes that I had carelessly tossed aside had taken root and grown, becoming new life. We have since had a small harvest of potatoes from our accidental plant.
Thinking of this has made me think about other seeds we plant in life. How many times have you smiled at a stranger, or called up a friend on a whim, just to say hello and check in with them. The small things we do can become seeds of joy, and we may not even know we are planting them. Imagine how much good we could do if we were planting those seeds on purpose? Go ahead...I DARE you.

Just an FYI: 99 Days!

Only 99 days until Christmas! Have you started getting ready?

Wordless Wednesday: Airshow

We went to the local airshow a few weeks ago. Most of the attractions are Coast Guard related. This shot was of Goliath, a Coast Guard plane dropping supplies to the ground below.

The car drop is a favorite.

Coast Guard Chopper coming in for a landing. A big THANK YOU to all the Coast Guard members who patrol our seas and help protect our country!