Around here…

Posted On November 7, 2011

We've been making a lot of lists. I try to sit down every day to organize my thoughts. As the teething adventure continues (and with a visit from a cold bug) we have been sleeping like we have a newborn again… which translates to: not much. Perpetually sleep deprived + lots of responsibilities and desires = a happy(mostly) mess. Lists are helping, I think.

It's been fun to involve Vera in this list making. We make her a list and she helps make a list for Asa as well. It's cute. On this day her list read:

• Lay down, take a quick nap (which she doesn't anymore, but she insisted she would that day) 
• Clean up kitchen 
• Do my homeschool- learn about whales and turtles 
• Painting 
• Help mama make dinner- have corn in it 
• Play 
• Be outside 
• Clean up room

My little list-maker.

I've been in a very organizational mode lately- fall seems to inspire that in me. I suspect it's because I anticipate more time indoors, and I just want it to feel good and functional. So I turn this:

…into this.

And of course the kids "help" while I'm doing it all.

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." ~Phyllis Diller

Did some planting the other day. This was destined to be an herb bed, but I decided on Jerusalem artichokes instead. I'm so looking forward to these!

And a spot for some Valerian. I'm already day-dreaming about how full and green the yard will be next summer…

Chickies are well. Not laying yet. We're getting more this evening. And by "we" I mean Jeff is going after work and I'm staying here with kiddos. But I'm so excited. They will all be like Odette, a cross between a Rhode Island red rooster and a barred rock hen. Odette gave us some rocking eggs. I'm getting tired of store bought eggs already.

I'm crafting. I'll show you evidence of that soon.

Hard frosts are here. We've been cleaning it all up when we can. Hello November! I am already fantasizing about next year's garden.

Halloween was great. We didn't end up having our Harvest Party due to unexpected events, but it's fine. I actually appreciated that it was a quieter day. I've been feeling reflective. My parents invited us out to Chinese food (a family tradition), and then we brought the kids home and took them to 3 houses for candy and put them to bed. Vera was thrilled with just that. I think this might be the last year we could get away with that. It was fun, and she was sweet and generous with her candy. 

I don't mind that I didn't grow up celebrating Halloween the way most of my friends did. We had an awesome time back then, and my parent's made it really fun for us. The one thing that I am realizing I missed out on? Carving pumpkins. Oh my, I have so much fun doing this. Making a lantern out of a big squash is definitely my cup of tea. I involved the kids at first, but they lost interest and I proceeded to carve all of them myself. I really love this craft. Although, I don't really have much interest in carving scary faces or things like that, at least not in the past few years. 

Vera chose to be Rainbow Brite, which I was not-so-secretly thrilled about! At first she wanted to be Little Mermaid, but I've been so disillusioned with the whole "Disney Princess" crap that I just hoped she would change her mind. I mean, I seriously loved the Little Mermaid when I was a kid, but I wasn't thinking. I mean, the girl hates her life and her body and trades in her voice to try to get some dude she's never met, and has to rely solely on her beauty to do it… although I know that the original story treats it more as a tragedy, that's not the story people think of when they see a little mermaid costume. Anyway. Rainbow Brite is awesome and actually likes herself, so that's good. A friend of mine had an adult "sexy" costume that she lent us, and it's sad how few adjustments the thing needed before it was just right for a 3-year-old.  <3

Asa was the cutest lil' penguin ever. Note the glistening penguin tear. Penguins don't like carseats.

V and my dad at the Chinese restaurant. 🙂

My pumpkins in action! Sort of hard to see, but it's a sun, a spider, and some fairies.

I do this star and moon one every year now. I love it.

The next day we went to Detroit's Mexican Town to celebrate the Day of the Dead with my sister and her kids. Here's Vera checking out one of the gorgeous ofrenda.

I usually let Vera choose something when I take her into shops and so she chose this pretty paper mache doll. She named her "Cha-la" and she knows that she's too fragile to play with like her other dolls. She doesn't seem to mind, and shows her off proudly.

Asa is loving books lately. He especially loves ones with animals. He flips the pages and can be heard saying things like "mooo…. meow meow…. woof woof woof." My baby.

We are eating well, as usual. Pictured here were some carrot/potato/onion/pepper pancakes topped with sauteed mushrooms and an over-easy egg, a sausage, and some lacto-fermented things (sauerkraut, a tomato-corn relish, and pickled parsnip). All of the fermented things are amazingly good, but the tomato corn relish is completely awesome. I'm going to go buy a bunch of out of season corn and tomatoes just to make a stash of it. SO GOOD.

I'm making big batches of soup and freezing them. It's just where I am with food storage right now, and it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about cooking on a future busy day.

I'm loving the addition of a little extra sunshine streaming through the south windows. I forget how dense those maple trees are until they drop a few leaves. So warm and delicious.

…what have you all been up to?