Have any good recipes?

It's been a little while since I mentioned our chickens so thought this may be a good time. Bringing them up now is more of a plea for help. We have an abundance of eggs!!

I am proud to say the hens must be very happy because they are laying so wonderfully through these cold winter months. However, a family of 5 can only eat so many eggs!!

6 dozen eggs in containers

eggs collected yesterday and today that have yet to be cleaned and stored

plus a container in the frig. not pictured that has hard boiled eggs at the ready

Baking an angel food cake is always an option that uses 12 egg whites, but when there are this many eggs to be used, using only 12 still doesn't put a dent in it.

We give them away to the UPS man whenever he stops in, as well as the mail carrier.

Please send me your recipes that use eggs!! {pleas with desperation}

One Sock, Two Socks...

Finished a pair of socks for my mother-in-law this week, and with plenty of time to spare for a Mother's Day gift. The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A. Fun and easy pattern to follow. They took me a little longer than usual, because I didn't feel up to knitting while I was sick last week. (That's how Mike knows I'm truly sick!!)

Casted on another pair of socks, cause you always have to have a pair of socks in the works. They are just a basic pair of socks, but the colors of this yarn is really cool. I told Mike I may need to buy a shirt to go with them and keep them for myself!

Catholic Cuisine: A Few Thoughts for Lent

Happened across a new blog this morning. Thought some of you may want to check it out. Looking forward to trying some of the recipes she has listed. Happy Fasting everyone!

Catholic Cuisine: A Few Thoughts for Lent

Keeping Kids Busy!

What is guaranteed to provide a minimum of an hours worth of entertainment for your child? That isn't electronic? Play dough!!

Since Faith is feeling much better, (even opted to do school work today) I decide to break out the home made play dough recipe. It has been a really long time since I've made this, but I always have the ingredients on hand.

It can get a little messy for the parent.

But it is fun for the children!

I seriously suspect that the older 2 kids are considering joining in the fun when their school work is done.

Here is the recipe if you are interested:

Home-made Play dough

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Salt

2 Tbs. Cream of Tartar

1 Tbs. Oil

1 Cup Water

Food Coloring

Over medium heat combine dry ingredients and oil. Slowly add water. Stir until ball formed and pulling away from sides. Kneed with food coloring. Stores well in plastic bag or air tight container.

When is it time?

As an experienced parent I feel I have the tools required to doctor/nurse a sick child back to health. The usual stuff: plenty of fluids, rest, fever reducer if necessary, nothing to eat or drink if vomiting is involved. Sometimes doing all these things just isn't enough!!

When is it time to seek a higher authority?

Don't want to bore you with the details of Faith's illness over the past 10 days. But when a 5 yo, who only weighs 40 lbs. begins to run a fever for more than 48 hours and won't wake up for any length of time, you begin to get a little concerned. Mike and I made the decision yesterday and took her to the emergency room. A couple shots of some heavy duty antibiotic I'm happy to see my little Faithy may be on mend. It's been a L O N G week!

Moral of the story parents... use your best judgement, only you know your child well enough to know what steps are warranted.

Always Learning

Naturally as parents our job is to keep our children safe. There is another job that we have we don't often stop to think about. We must teach our children to care for themselves. This starts with small steps sometimes.

Here is Faith making her own pb sandwich.

As an adult able to care for myself and my family pretty well, I find myself still having to learn new things. With all the snow we've had the ATV/4 wheeler has come in pretty handy, which brought to Mike's attention I really had no clue how to start it or operate it. So he decided it was time for me to learn.

Although I still have yet to learn to start it with a cold engine. Something about a choke is required. I'm feeling pretty good about it. Haley and I even went for a fun snow ride on it together.

Next... I need to learn to change a tire on my car I think.

Making the Best of It

Our second winter living in Central Virginia and whoa what a winter it has been!!!! Last year we heard from all the locals how it was the coldest winter they could recall in years. We didn't notice too big of a difference having grown up in New England. Now this winter all the locals are telling us, "This is the snowiest winter in probably 30 years." Can't seem to find any of this consoling!

There were many things we looked forward to when moving from New England, one of them being less snow and shorter winters. Another was the opportunity to get out of the town and live remotely. Well the remote living, until now has been fun. Now with all the snow it has definitely presented some new hurdles we've never had to contend with. But, we're managing and consoled by the fact when the sun is able to shine the snow will not last long.

On the positive side being trapped in the house for days has provided an opportunity to get some knitting done. Also to help keep the house warm I've spent more time baking.

Here is the cashmere scarf I'm working on, slow going, but I'm really liking how it is turning out.

Made cousin Larry a pair of socks. He was blown away by the surprise of receiving them. I'm so pleased!

Casted on another pair of socks. These will most likely become a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law.

Had been wanting to try my hand at making my own bagels. There just aren't any good bagels here in Virginia. But, just couldn't find the time to give the recipe a try. The snow finally gave me the opportunity. Jacob's comment after tasting, "These are as good as Dunkin Donuts." It will take me some time to get better at rolling them, but this recipe will become a regular so I should have plenty of practice.

Took the Words Right out of My Mouth

Rafferty on Pelosi: "What a horrible woman."

Picking Up From Here

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Still here in Virginia. I could go on and on about what went on in my life during the holidays and how I managed through them just fine, but I won't. Decided I'm going to just pick up from where I am today.

Also, thank you to those who wrote me a note to say you missed my blog, thanks for the push and for letting me know that I'm not just out here talking to myself.

Home School

High school is requiring some more effort, but Jacob and I are up to the task. However, I must admit that I go to bed at night with my head spinning from the Algebra and asking myself, "When did my brain get so old?"

Haley doesn't always work independently and she would much rather take the easy route on everything. Which means attempting to skip work and leave things not always completed. I try not to get too upset when this happens because it keeps me involved with her learning.

Faith is learning the sounds of her letters nicely and her counting is progressing wonderfully. Her memory for the prayers still needs work, but there is plenty of time for those.

Family

Mom came for 2 weeks through Christmas and New Year, it was a quiet and wonderful visit, I think she needed the rest. Back in Florida she has her part time job that helps keep her busy during the day. She is finding new friends and becoming more active with them. Although I'm confident that she still misses dad terribly most every day, she is an inspiration to the rest of us with her ability to adapt to her new life.

Tomorrow mom and dad would have celebrated 53 years of marriage, so she will be in my prayers more so than usual.

Extra Curricular

The kids will be starting another 6 week climbing program with other home schoolers on February 18th. We are all looking forward to this. The kids for the climbing and me for the comradery of the other moms.

Jacob has made friends with some kids in town, that go to the public school. They have a band and asked Jacob to join them. Here is a picture of them performing at a local coffee house open mic night. They were the hit of the night and most of the people that came were there to see them. It was fun!!

Weather

We've had an extremely strange winter for Virginia. Back in December there was 2 feet of snow that fell in 24 hours. Then this past weekend we got another 10 inches. Although, back in New England the snow isn't uncommon and you would expect us to be used to it. When snow falls like that in Virginia there just isn't the same equipment available for them to clear it away.

Also, where Mike and I live it has presented some challenges we never had to deal with before. Up a 1/2 mile driveway that is mostly straight up hill. Needless to say I'll be stuck here in the house for a few more days!! LOL! Mike parked the car at the bottom of the drive and has been walking up and down the hill to get to it for work. Sent him off today with a list for the grocery store! Makes me feel a little like The Wilderness Family.