Holiday Madness

Yikes! It's been over a week since I've posted! Life has really accelerated over the last couple of weeks, and writing has slid to the back burner. We are planning a small holiday at home with just a couple special people over to share it with us. I am scrambling, procrastinator that I am, to get everything together and ready in time.

This week I spent a good bit of time baking and decorating these awesome and delicious cookies for the bake sale and also the staff appreciation baskets at D's school.


I love baking, but usually at the end of a big project like this one, I'm rubbing the kink in my shoulder and wondering why I do these things. But I'll do it again next time, and I'll love it.

In regards to Christmas, I've been thinking a lot this year about why we celebrate it. And I don't mean the 'reason for the season', or any of that. I mean, why my family in particular celebrates a religious-turned-commercial holiday when we are not religious and we work regularly to eschew commercialism and over-consumption. It's been on my mind a lot these last few days as I knuckle down for shopping (which I dread) at over-crowded stores (which I hate) for gifts that are meaningful and useful (which is hard) for the people I celebrate with (who really don't need more stuff). I feel as though I like the idea of Christmas, but drawing out the meaning and value of it in my life is difficult when I don't feel connected to the religious aspect of it. Heavy talk for happy times, huh?
I don't want to sound too negative, though. I am making the most of this holiday and truly looking forward to spending time with the people I am closest to. I will be sharing these thoughts with my family and look forward to hearing their input and having a discussion about it. I hope to craft a meaningful solution for our family before next year, so that whatever we do, it is purposeful, and we treasure it.

Brrr!

It's been really, really cold this week. Cold as in below freezing all day long. Which is very cold for where I live. The nice thing is that the sun has been out every day. The bad thing is that hasn't made any difference at all, as far as warming things up.
The squirrel thermometer reports a temperature of 18 degrees at 8:30 this morning:


However, I think the squirrel needs calibration because her digital counterpart reads a bit lower:


Chicken thermometer says, "My mother-cluckin' wattle is freezing, lady! Buh-cawk!"


Although, the ladies have actually done quite nicely with the cold. I'm watching their wattles and combs for frostbite, but they seem to be doing just fine.
This is the ice that I had to melt/chisel out of the chicken waterer. . .


. . . yesterday. It hasn't been able to melt, because it hasn't gotten above freezing.
Meanwhile, I've resorted to wearing lots of layers, starting with long johns. Even around the house. I don't like being cold at all. Brrr!!

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us*

My house has been a 'no-tv' household for years. During this time, we have owned a t.v., but we do not subscribe to any cable or satellite, and we tend to use it just for watching videos or dvds. We have subscribed to Netflix for years, giving us the opportunity to watch the weird indie films, documentaries, classic and foreign movies, and occasional t.v. series (with no commercials!) that we enjoy, at our leisure. We are quite happy with this arrangement, since we get to see all the stuff we want and none of the stuff we don't - mainly, commercials and crap shows ('reality' t.v., talk shows, network news, etc.).

Another alternative to television in our house is radio. We listen to NPR regularly, and we each have an iPod with our favorite music on it. On a side note, I'm still using this iPod, otherwise known as Ye Olde 2004 Click Wheel Model, with monochrome screen. I have been mocked by teenagers for the use of said ancient beast. I feel no shame.

In addition to my music library, I listen to The Moth and This American Life podcasts, as well as streaming radio from OPB Music and KEXP. I especially love KEXP, because they play an eclectic mix of music, from world to hip-hop to country, and I've discovered some of my favorite music on their station.

So when I'm not reading, I still have plenty to keep me entertained. What do you enjoy watching or listening to?

* Lyric from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", from the album Nevermind, which never fails to take me vividly back to the 7th grade.

It's Thanksgiving Time!

I'm grateful for so, so many things this year! But we can talk about that later! Right now, let's talk about fooood! We are having our Thanksgiving meal with some lovely friends and my sister. My family will be bringing the turkey and this tart for dessert, as well as rolls or bread from one of the many awesome Portland bakeries that we love. My traditional turkey-cooking method is the brown-bag method. I stuff the bird with some fresh-cut rosemary sprigs and a quartered onion. All over the bird I rub a mixture of sea salt, freshly ground pepper, olive oil, and minced garlic. Slide the baking pan inside a brown paper bag, and bake it as usual. NOM. I think my 'as usual' is going to be a little shorter this year. My husband gets these wonderful organic heirloom turkeys from his employer each year and I think that in transitioning from cooking the usual store-bought birds to these lovely, more natural gobblers I needed to adjust my cooking time a bit. It's taken me a couple years of rather dry turkeys to catch on to this. But this year, I hope to be back to the glory of the moist turkeys of Thanksgiving past.

Most of us have favorite recipes or traditions that we look forward to each year at this time. Good food and great company are the highlights of my Thanksgiving holiday. Our most recent tradition has been spending the day with friends and people we whose company we love, while bringing together an eclectic mix of everyone's favorite foods, potluck-style. It's been wonderful. What are your traditions? Favorite dishes? How do you spend the day? What are you most looking forward to?

One Year Blog-iversary, Part Two

In case you're just tuning in, here's part one. Today I'm finishing up my highlights of the last year's posts.

I finally made peace with my gardening skills.
A nice rant about my plastic dilemma.
Canning like crazy.
One of my most talked-about posts - really!
My thoughts on sewing.
Little things make me happy.
Home upgrades.
My budding interest in musical expression.
One of my favorite recipes.
Bold thoughts on parenting.

And that brings us back to my current posts.
My hardest and most rewarding month was August, when I decided to post every day for the month. I might have to do that again.
Thanks for following along with me, I'm really enjoying writing as an outlet, and it's an added bonus when other people like to read what I write as well. What's your favorite post? Least favorite? Have I written anything that really stuck with you or pushed your buttons? Tell me about it!

One Year Blog-iversary!

I've been blogging for one whole year! I've had so much fun and learned so many new things! I'm really happy I started this blog as a journal and photo log of what I do and think. And I love when other people think what I write is interesting enough to comment on! I have posted 146 times, which averages out to once every 2.5 days. Not bad!
To mark the occasion, let's look over the last year at some of my posts, and see what I've been up to! Click on the links to read the posts.

Here's my very first 'introductory' posting - Ahhhhh.... Welcome!
My first 'soapbox' post, about high fructose corn syrup.
The pictures of when we first got Nico - brace yourself!
Our exciting good news - it's official!
And our heartbreaking update.
Thoughts on milk. It does a body....good?
The stinkiest post I ever had to write - about Nico, of course!
Baby chicks! Cute enough to eat.
Another good rant, this about the food industry in general.
Math is hard. Let's go scooting!
One of my favorite posts - kid pics of my sister are irresistible!
Ooh, I totally forgot I made these - NOM. I should do that again!
Pictures from our vacation back east to visit the fam.
Running a 5K. Yes, me.
Getting to know our neighbors.
The world's most awesome chicken coop.

Holy cow! That's only the first 7 months there. I'll stop for now and give you some highlights from the last part of the year tomorrow. Happy reading!