Rooster in the Roaster

Days for Girls/ My mom

2012-01-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

My mother got herself involved in a program called Days for Girls.

She started making kits for girls in Africa and then she ended up going to Africa to teach women how to make kits of their own.

Heres a little about the organisation...

Days for Girls International works to get washable feminine hygiene kits into the hands of those that would otherwise go without. (and are forced to miss school and eventually drop out) We advocate and partner with NGO's and agencies to teach women and communities to create their own. We work to raise public awareness, educate regarding AIDS and preventable disease, and health and safety-- all programs that are saving lives, helping girls stay in school and balancing the scales for women.

www.daysforgirls.org

New Necklace

2012-01-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

I am into Red Jasper as of late.

Learning about chakras, color therapy and energies....

So, I made myself this set. I love it!

Washable Pull Ups

2012-01-06T16:00:00.000-08:00

The Munchkin wets the bed both at nap and bed time. In the first months she was here I threw away 300 disposable pull ups!!!! AWWWWWWW. Now obviously I couldn't handle THAT.

So, I went in search of a washable pull up....and found them here.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/qtbunns

If you choose to order these be sure to ask for an extra soaker to be sewn in. We love these. Because they are not loaded with chemicals to kill odor like disposables, they do have a PU moment in the morning. We take them off and drop them directly into the washer. Its not worse than a cloth diaper and they wash up well. We wash in cold only with an eco friendly detergent. I put them outside for a few hours then I leave them by the wood stove to finish drying. They are super thick so they take a full day usually. She owns 6 pair and I bought some recycled soakers for $1 each to add some over night absorption. Big money and eco savings. We are very happy with them.

Maya's tie dye

2012-01-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

The other day Maya Rae decided to experiment with some recycled socks and RIT dye. She dyed a few socks pink and purple. When they dried she cut and sewed them into a stuffed monster. Super cute. The dying is a nice new skill for her too.

Warming corn sacks

2012-01-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

So, last week I was in Mama Goose shoppin when I saw a warming rice pack

They are meant to be warmed for 2-3 min in the microwave oven. We dont have a microwave (on purpose) so I went in search of info about heating them in other ways.

Turns out these rice pillows can be made using corn, barley and other grains and are traditionally warmed in the bread box on a cook stove.

So- that did it. Inspiration!

We just happened to have bought a brand new sack of feed corn for the goats that day. The next afternoon we set to work whipping up 3 pillows. Ours are filled with feed corn. They measure about the size of a sheet of paper. Each is made of white cotton and has a removable, washable pillow case (that washes up nice- Munchkin already made hers nasty...lol). It was Maya Raes idea to do the two part back for the case so they would be easily removed. Munchkin sewed hers completely on her own (w supervision). Maya sewed mine while I cut hers out. The cammo is Munchkins, Mayas is the bears, mine is the quilt print.

We are warming them on a tiny cookie sheet on the wood stove. Just takes several minutes to heat one. They get really warm. They do scorch if left too long! They stay warm for as much as 2 hrs. Munchkin napped with hers on the first day....she was roasty and toasty. When I went to wake her up I could feel the warmth coming off her bed! Awesome!!! For the first few uses they smell like warm bread.

Footsy Jammies

2012-01-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

Maya Rae got all psyched when she saw footsy pajamas in her size in the store.

So, after the play group last week we swung by Target and got her a pair. Of course the munchkin needed a new fluffy pair too. When we got home the first thing they did was to shed their clothes and cozy up in the new PJs. The had a little photo shoot. Very cute indeed!

I remember footsy jammies came around when I was 11 also. This was 1981. Mine were red and white candy stripes in terry cloth with a butt flap and everything. I loved um!

Sock door stop

2012-01-06T15:15:00.001-08:00

Heres a little something the munchkin and I made. A new door stop.

Its a recycled sock filled with feed corn and colored with Sharpie.

What is this year of service stuff

2012-01-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

My girls have very kindly and brilliantly chosen to do a year of service. Alot of people ask what this is and why on earth they would do this. Its a pretty regular thing for Baha'i Youth between the ages of 17-25. Heres what the www.bahai.us web site has to say on the topic.

Baha'i Youth Service Corps

Our youth have tremendous potential and capacity when provided opportunities for spiritual growth and service to humanity. Baha'is believe "A very great responsibility for the future peace and well-being of the world is borne by the youth of today." Through guidance and sacrifice, service and fellowship, cooperation and good-will, we can develop strong spiritual bonds with each other and reverence toward God.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the U.S. provides service opportunities for volunteer youths ages 18-25 through its Youth Service Corp (YSC) at several locations around the country facilitated through its Office of Education and Schools. Locations are at Bosch Baha'i School, Santa Cruz, CA, Green Acre Baha'i School, Eliot, ME, Louhelen Baha'i School, Davison, MI, and the The Native American Baha'i Institute (NABI), Houck, AZ. Youth accepted into the YSC have opportunities to develop spiritual, emotional, and intellectual capacities, and to become engaged in community-building through serving surrounding area communities.

"Everyone has a different experience but that experience will be exactly what you need. It’s a time of growth that’s very helpful."

Dory Quinlan, 2007 Bosch Service Youth

What about Elanee

2012-01-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

What about Elanee?

Elanee completed a year of service with Bosch Bahai school. She lived in Ithaca for a while but after having a hard time pinning down a job she came home.

Several weeks ago Bosch contacted Elanee and asked if she'd like to come pitch in for their winter school season. She had a little money and lots of time so she said yes to 7 weeks of service.

She'll be back in Jan.

Whats Vayda up to?

2012-01-06T14:51:00.002-08:00

Whats Vayda up to?

Shes at Green Acre Baha'i school.

I hear from her on a regular basis. She is cooking and cleaning alot of the time.

She will be coming home for a visit in April and done with her year of service in August.

New Years Cards

2012-01-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

The munchkin and I made snow flake cards for some family.

These were the first snow flakes she has ever cut out. She added lots of glitter glue spots.

Math Surprise

2012-01-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

On this day caught Maya Rae doing her math in the living room.

"Mom! Heeeeeyyyyyy"

Fun with Dominos

2012-01-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Recently Maya Rae has been very into dominos. Here is one of her recent experiments.

It worked. I am impressed.

Christmas Day

2012-01-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas day is another place in our lives that has morphed and changed over the years.

When Jody and I first got together, I had been doing the secular Xmas experience with my girls. He, on the other hand, had been a Baha'i for alot longer than I and had not been doing the Xmas thing at his home. Their family had gone to grandmas for Xmas but no tree and gifts at home.

We had both had wonderful Christmas memories from our childhoods.

So, when we married we started doing Christmas with our newly blended family. Well with 6-7 kids and a limited budget that pretty quickly became a problem. We both felt guilty about not being able to reach beyond our budget to 'keep up with the Jones'....ie: the other kids in public school. Over time the whole material aspect really began to eat at me. My kids didnt need anything and just feeding the wants list.....to momentarily amuse them....was so against everything I believed in. And, the only reason I had been doing this was not so they had happy memories or to build tradition but so that I didnt feel guilty...and it did just the opposite.

So, about 9 yrs ago I couldnt stand it anymore and I decided that we needed to cut way back. I litterly began by getting a smaller tree. I mean we put our fake tree in a yard sale and got a teeny table top tree... pre-lit and everything. Two years of that and we got rid of the tree all together.

We also cut back the Xmas budget. They kids were getting bigger and past the Santa part so we set a budget of $60, then $40, then $20. The kids got one gift and possibly something inexpensively hand made. "Strangely" they have been just fine with the adjustment and have really enjoyed the low key...low pressure....happier mom Christmas experience.

Anyway, so this year we have a new little one in the house who we had to roll into this way of thinking. This was not easy.Her experience has been different than ours. I decided to create an inexpensive recycled gift for both she and Maya Rae. (the only two at home this Dec)

I bought two kitchen cabinets at a ReUse center. Total $40. I stripped them of the doors and hardware, patched holes with wood putty, put a new front on Maya's and used lewon to create walls. Its all glue, few nails. I added tops (w a support inside so when the munchkin eventually stands on hers it will not crack) and added moulding around the edge.

The rest is just paint. Painting the inside of these was really not easy at all. All those little edges!

I bought Maya Rae a few lots of miniature furnishings on Ebay. Her entire gift was recycled.

For the munchkin I bought all new sets of Ryans room furniture on Amazon at $9-$14 a room.

This was a big hit. In the end it was neither cheap nore modest....but was well received and will serve them for years to come.

Doll houses wrapped with sheets.

Living Room Fluff

2012-01-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

After our trip to Virgina I felt compelled to fluff our living room. We live frugally and most everything we own is second hand. I am totally cool with that but over time things begin to look shabby. We have a hand me down set of furniture in the living room. It it green plaid...so NOT my thing these days!..... and its getting a little beaten down. I got really frustrated with it because though the set still has some life in it, its not what I WANT. Well I dont have $600+ to spend on a new set so I set out to do what I do best.

I got creative and fluffed on the cheap!

Above- I bought a bunch of used pillows at the Salvation Army. I brought them home, washed them and recovered them. In all they cost about $4 each. I have seen lesser quality throw pillows on Etsy for $15-$20 each.

I bought a few yards of new red fleece and made those no-sew throws where you just tie the ends together. Easy and cheap.

I rearranged varied objects I had that were red like a little throw pillow the munchkin made, a red prayer bear my mother gave to me and zen cards (put under the glass on my recycled coffee table), a scrap of pretty apolstry fabric (put under a photo fram by the lamp), red candles and red covered books. I moved an area rug downstairs from one of the spare bedrooms.

We had an old but favorite quilty blanket that lived in the living room before. This was a handed down hand me down. Really old, really ratty, really tattered but like I said, really favored. I cut that into large sections. Using the best of the blanket I made 2x2 floor pillows. They cost me $8 each for the giant bags of polly fill.

The kids and the critters love the floor pillows in front of the wood stove.

In the end I was/ am very pleased with the fluff job. The only thing I bought was some new fabric and a few big bags of polly fill. In all I spent around $45.

Still doing the school thing.

2012-01-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

Home schooling has really become a regular part of our lives here. Maya Rae says I could never stuff her back into public school and she will never send her kids to public school. She loves the freedom and self led direction of home schooling. These days we have kind of morphed into low key, eclectic, unschooly types. What that looks like is Maya Rae has loose boundaries around her schooling. She does use books and has a formal math program but she is pretty much self directed. She does a set amount of book work each week and the rest is up to her. Its kind of what happens with a junior high level home school kids. They become very confident learners and are easily self directed. Maya is currently into miniature dolls, turtles, goats, fiber arts, dowsing/ energy healing, reading and sentence structure. The girls her age are really into their peers (just like the public school kids) but their interactions bring out the best in each other. Instead of obsessing over their bodies (which Maya cannot begin to understand- she says) clothes and boys, these girls are learning from each other, exchanging hand made items and sharing novels.
Its very nice to watch this transformation.

A zoo in Virginia

2012-01-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

On our last day in Virginia we spent the day at an intereactive zoo.

Maya Rae is really into tortouses right now so she thought these critters were the best.

The girls got to feed the giraffe. That was fun.

Virginia for Thanksgiving

2012-01-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving we decided to travel to Virginia to see Jody's mother, Grandmommy.

Grandmommy had not met the munchkin yet and we thought this would be a good time.

Being that it was an 11 hour trip we were concerned about the munchkin and how she would do. She did great in the car, sleeping most of the way there and back. In VA the weather was amazing. Grandmommy, Uncle Cameron and Aunt Rae live on a mountain covered with trees. This made for a hug play ground for the girls. They spent most of their time out exploring and playing in the stream.

We all got out for walks in the woods and to a local play ground.

Uncle Camerons family came for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ready to Trick or Treat

2012-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

We took the girls trick or treating in Ithaca. We met Jody after work. This was the first time he had trick or treated with the kids. Hes always been the hand out the candy guy. Thats pretty easy where we live as NO ONE comes.

So, as is obvious, Elanee was Snow White. Maya Rae was Micheal Jackson. Munchkin, not shown for her privacy, was piglet. All pretty cool. There were a ton of kids out and lots of super decorated houses. Fun time!

Elanee all ready for a costume party

2012-01-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here is Elanee all ready for a costume party.

Pretty :)

Going skating

2012-01-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

The girls went skating for the first time this year. They had a good time. Last year we skated alot. It was fun for me cause I set Maya free and I could go chat with friends. This was the first time with the little one. Not fun for mom anymore. Oh well. Thats having a 5 yr old around. Lots of hand holding, shoes to tie snacks to fuss over...etc. I am sure we will go several more times while the weather is cold.

Jodys Birthday

2012-01-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

Jody turned 54 in October. Thems alot of candles!!! Yikes. Dan, Becky, Kayden and Ben all came for dinner and cake. The boys gave dad some very nice gifts too.

Daisy in a diaper

2012-01-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

Little Daisy Mae is like a puppy on high heals in the house. I told Maya she could be in the house as long as she wasnt leavin messes. This is what her solution was. Meeka (the cat) thought this was very interesting. Extream cuteness!

Cayuga Creamery

2012-01-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

In October, I took Maya Rae and the munchkin to Cayuga Creamery for a home schoolers tour. It was really informative. Munchkin really got into it. Maya Rae, not liking anything structured, said it was boring. Personally, I thought it was great.

Sodus in October

2012-01-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

One mild Sunday afternoon in October Jody and I decided to take the girls to Sodus on a whim.

Sodus is an interesting- and educational- place to visit at any season. This visit was fun. Windy, blustery, very cool- but still sandy and wet....and pretty.

Daniel turns 30!

2012-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly~ Daniel is the big 30!
Thats just nuts! We all went over to his fiance's parents house for dinner and cake. Good times.

This years canning 2011

2012-01-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is the result of this years canning. I lost count of everything I made. I sure didnt get it all done but I am very happy with all that I did concidering I was doing chemo in the spring months and over the top with 3 foster kids in the summer months. In the early fall I was able to play catch up and do a tiny bit at a time. All in all we did ok.

Maya's little pet

2012-01-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

For a long while Maya Rae was Daisys mommy. She was only happy when she was near Maya.....even if that meant hanging out on a stool while Maya Rae FaceBooked. :)

Elanee Bakin

2012-01-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

Here is Elanee- doing what she does best. Making cookies. We apreciate this most about her :)

Pickled garlic!

2012-01-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

So, I came across pickled garlic at a farm store. I gave it a try and got HOOKED.
OMG- I could not stop eating it! Of course it was cheaper to just make it than to by pint after pint so thats what we did. We peeled a peck of garlic and pickled it. I ate garlic day and night for a while. Seriously I was eating about 39 cloves a day!!! YES- I did stink...bad. But, I didnt care...not one bit! I just could not get enough of it. Then, a few weeks passed and I couldnt bring myself to eat ANY.
Right around that time the munchkin broke out with second round of MRSA. I am pretty sure I had been hit with the virus and my body found a way to fight it off. Amazing. I ate that entire peck in under two weeks.

Hanging with Daisy Mae

2012-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

The girls love hanging out with Daisy Mae.
Because of Maya Rae's bottle feeding she is super tame and really fun.

Parade

2012-01-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

Jody, Maya Rae, the munchkin and I joined the Ithaca area Baha'is in Syracuse for a parade.

We came to support the Syracuse Baha'is. It was a great parade and alot of fun :)

Just a nice scene

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Laundry and goats behind a fence. Just a nice scene.

After the goats demolishing every darn thing in the yard I was finally able to get some new fence up. Welded wire with a line of electric actually contains them.... thank goodness!

Jam

2012-01-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Jam~

This year I made a bunch of jam. I had some grape jelly left over but we really love the strawberry over all of it. The goats ate my entire strawberry crop so we went a-pickin at a nearby farm.

Oh- above are a few jars of peach jam. I was so over my head with the foster kids that I let a half bushel of peaches nearly rot to nothing. Ugh. So I managed to salvage a little under a peck and make a little peach jam.

Salsa

2012-01-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

SALSA!

I have done this recipe for 8 years and it always gets rave reviews. :)

Chicken roosting on the clothes wrack

2012-01-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Just thought this was funny.

The chickens decided to roost on my clothes wrack.

Not cool. The critters got to scrammin when they saw me comin.

Spaghetti Sauce

2012-01-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

Makin a mess- one jar at a time.

This year I made a ton of spaghetti sauce. About 55 quarts I think. I changed recipes from last year and we like it very much.

Because the goats killed all but a few of my tomato plants I bought them by the bushel this year.

Elanee moves back in

2012-01-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

After a few months in Ithaca, Elanee moves back in.

We keep her busy with house work and child care for the one remaining little foster girly.

Shes a big help.

Penny had her baby

2012-01-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Penny had her baby on August 30

Maya Rae named her Daisy Mae. Too cute!

Sadly, Penny who was a recycled goat and about 10 yrs old, died about a week later. :(

Maya Rae ended wanted to keep Daisy Mae so she ended up raising her on a bottle.

Off to Green Acre

2011-12-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

Vayda- 17- is taking this year to do her year of service at Green Acre Bahai school. We got up in the middle of the night...hense the faces...to drive to Maine. Made for a long, but really fun trip together :)

We made it. Heres Vayda with her friend and Green Acre in the background.

http://www.greenacre.org/

A little Good-bye gathering

2011-12-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

As Vayda got ready to go to Green Acre Bahai school for her year of service...
she had a small going away gathering with the kids, cake and soda....at the lake.

The next weeks

2011-12-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

Over the next weeks things calmed down. After the boys went home I was able to move the 4yr old into her own room. This helped quiet a bit. The hardest part for me was being so black and white with the rules. Its been sooo easy over the last years with Maya Rae that we have really loosened up. These 3 munchkins really forced me to tighten the reins. It was beyond shocking to see how much distress these ladies had, how they played off each other and what that triggered in me.

We were looking at 2 months of summer...with little to do. This is the hardest part of the year for many families, let alone ones in transition. The bigger girls went to summer rec, we went on a few field trips, we did projects and 'lived' at the beach. Thank goodness for the free beach where we ate dinner nearly every night all summer until it was too cool to do it.

They started out sick and unhappy and by the end of August they had made major strides!

The two older girls went home to dad and the little one is still here with us. Though they are sisters, they are on different legal tracks. The day I sent the big girls home I waved goodbye as we watched they drove away and then went inside and sobbed!

Foster care/ adoption is the hardest thing in the world I think. You have to be kinda loosely invested. Its much like a job...you have a boss overlooking and you have 'clients' but because you are human- you fall head over heals for the very people you are supposed to let go.

Its an amazing adventure. It forces you to grow or die.

So- we are adopting the youngest as she came to use Free for adoption.

In Feb I will be able to post pics of her adorable little face :)

This will be Norton #8. (kids that is)

Going to Haleys grad party

2011-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

Vayda went to her friend, Haleys graduation party.
Above is how she works on a custom portrait or Haley.
Below is what she can miraculously complete like that. :)

Adam visits

2011-12-16T19:30:00.001-08:00

Vayda's friend Adam came for a visit and brought his little dog toooo :)

Boys back to Mass.

2011-12-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

At the end of that long week I put the girls into respite care and Vayda, Maya Rae and I took the boys back to Mass. We stayed a day and celebrated their birthdays. Our gift was this cool blue sand. (I do not know how color makes sand any more fun than it naturally is...but thats all we could find. City sand I guess :) So, this little porch is their yard and the sand is their beach :)

Vayda, Maya and I hit Haul Beach in Mass for a long, much needed, wonderful visit were we walked in the sand, played in the ocean, ate fried clams and stayed till after dark. :)

The first week with the girls.

2011-12-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

That first week was crazy with 5 kids ages.... 2, 3, 4, 6, & 8.
(The 3 girls were in foster care remember. This was not an easy or fun time for them...living with strangers with unbelievable uncertainty)

Thank goodness for my friend Donna who really stepped up and helped- above and beyond!
Our friends, Abby and Victoria, came and helped me by cleaning and cooking while I meditated.
Our house was TRASHED!!!!!!! beyond tollerance.
I really couldnt have done it without their help. Vayda and Maya Rae were pullin extra weight too.

When I look back at that first week if feels like it was months long! Crazy time. Thank God it calmed down.

Let it begin!

2011-12-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

We had the boys for a full week when the case worker came to finish your foster care registration.
As she was headed over she called and asked if we would be interested in 3 girls....that very evening!
We kinda panicked...for a moment. So, 1 1/2 hrs after we were registered as a proper foster care home...we were placed with these 3 ladies- ages 8, 6, and 4. We spent that 1.5hrs at Walmart buying rubber sheets, pull ups and tooth brushes.

This pic is the next morning. I am sure it comes across as very civalised....oh it wasn't. We all had alot of adjusting to do. It was crazy...busy.
(The girls' faces are blurred for their privacy.)

Maya Rae early summer :)

2011-12-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

Maya Rae so cute in the early summer :)

Boys come for visit

2011-12-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Javari (almost 3) and Jayden (almost 2) came for a visit in July. We had them for two weeks.
We took them hiking in the woods, swimming a million times!, to the parks, to the zoo.
The first week was really fun. The second week was too much for them. They were ready to get back to mommy :)

After Chemo

2011-12-16T17:22:00.000-08:00

I finished six months of chemotherapy in June.
I really wanted to go on a little vacation with Jody but it was so fussy trying to manage the budget and find child care so we just did a day trip. We went hiking together. This was the first big effort I put forward following my winter long ordeal and it was fantastic. :) Good time with my ma-annnn!

Oh- by the way...I came out AOK! All is well with my health :)

Painting this and that

2011-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

I was livin in my art studio this past summer. I painted a number of paintings for around the house. Mosty they ended up in the foster care bedroom/s. I was in the groove for months. :)

Washable TP

2011-12-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Washable TP that my mom made for me.
Two layers flannel with serged edges. Before you freak- this is for pee only. We do not use it for #2 or when its 'that time of the month'. I am only being so graphic because this has raised a ton of questions. This has saved us a bunch of $ ! We girls love it. I wash a load of wash a day so we wash some of these pee wipes every day....about 24 of um. We use them so much that I recently had more made. I recommend this green product!

Massaging Feet

2011-12-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Maya Rae loves to massage feet. Haley came over and paid Maya to do hers.

Flowers around the yard

2011-12-16T16:18:00.000-08:00

The yard is so pretty in the early summer with all the flowers.

The reality of this summer was that the goats were out ALL THE TIME! and they mowed down every last flower....and my garden....and hosta...and.....and.....and....everything and anything pretty up to 5 ft high. It was very stressful and upsetting to watch all that is beautiful go away.

I saw it as a lesson in detachment. Release and let go.

The nice thing about flowers is they will be back :)

Getting Ready for Foster Care

2011-12-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 2010 Jody and I decided that we were ready to adopt. We were seeking two girls ages aprox 6 & 8. In Sept 2010 we began our MAPP classes through Tompkins County. We made a start but then had to delay classes due to my surgeries. I was supposed to have missed one class but in the end I missed the entire fall. The folks at DSS were very kind and let us jump back into the class in the winter of 2011. So in May we finished our classes. Along the way we decided we wanted to try foster care before we jumped into adoption. I worked hard to get the house ready for foster care.
I prepped an empty bedroom for the coming girls. It was hard to do not knowing what ages we might end up with. Here is the 'blue room' before I added some art to the walls.

Yard in June

2011-12-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

In early summer (2011) I spent alot of time painting this and that.

I painted the garden gate purple, the bench swing pink, the chicken house strawberry blast, etc.

Made for a cheery yard.

Elanee is 19

2011-06-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

In June Elanee turned 19!
She had a couple of friends over for a low key party.

Rabbits in the yard

2011-06-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Rabbits in the yard.

Harvey is our old man so he stays inside in the art studio. He goes out to his play pen on sunny days. Pasha, and all the other outside bunnies, got out over the winter and have either moved in with the neighbor gipsy ladies (wild bunnies) or romp our yard freely. They have done really well. They are healthy and safer than the confined chickens which have been systematically being picked off by a predator.

I love rabbits! This scene makes me so happy!

More soup

2011-06-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Still pluggin away at the tomato soup. One more round to go and all of last years pulp will be used up. Maya Rae is eating it as fast as I can make it! LOL

Jody biking home

2011-06-07T11:47:00.001-07:00

We went to the lake together and Jody took the opportunity to bike the 13 miles home. He looked very handsome with his new and shiny bike.

He thought he was all alone but we caught up with him and were very impressed that he was going 2o mph UP a hill! DAMN!!! Not too shabby for an old guy :)

Fun times come in 3s

2011-06-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

The girls, Vayda-Maya Rae and Saige, at the lake being goof balls!

Cooling off at the lake

2011-06-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last week it was soooooo blazin hot! After yard work we ate dinner and then loaded up the girls and hit Lodi Point. We thought the breeze off the lake would be refreshing. NOT. It was dead still and the water was like glass. But~ we had fun anyway. Here are some pics of us hanging around.

Paperless coffee filters!

2011-06-07T11:06:00.001-07:00

This is a paperless, reusable coffee filter my mom made for us. We have a set of two. They work just like any other coffee filter but you dont have to pulp whole trees to get them! Love um!!!

To get your own set email Linda Rescorl at bjpoodle@hotmail.com

PROM!

2011-06-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Vayda ready for the prom. What is there to say? She was beautiful!

Yard work

2011-06-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Dan and Ben came over to help us with some outside projects. Its a huge help when they do that!

Sick going around

2011-05-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here is Vayda sick on the couch. Now its Maya's turn. Round it goes.

Sweet pot slips

2011-05-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

I suppose I am starting these really late but at least they are started. Sweet potato slips like my grandma used to do. :)

How to:

cut sweet pot in half

rest bottom in water and top out of water.

(I used tacks to hold them above the water)

White roots will grow in the water and green plants will grow out of the eyes.

Slip the plants off, rest in water so they can grow roots then plant the plants.

Sweet potatoes make amazing fries. So much better for you than a regular potato.

Out of season tomato soup

2011-05-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Out of season tomato soup.

Last fall when I got so sick I ran out of time before the surgeries to can much of anything. So, I just havested all of our tomatoes, tossed them in the blender and froze the juice. Now, here we are getting ready for jam season and I am busy cleaning out the freezer and canning tomato soup.

Each year I put up at least 100 pints of this soup because Maya Rae lives on it all winter. Of course she ran out last winter so she is thrilled to be eating it now. Shes eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner right now!

Heres the recipe (as I have altered it) for a kid friendly tomato soup. Its called

"Just like Cambells"

to serve mix with equal parts milk

Put in large sauce pot....7 Qts tom juice and about a cup of tomato paiste...start to cook till thick.

(for easy 'juice' just wash fresh toms, remove the green part, toss the ENTIRE tom in the blender! Skins, seeds and all. Blend till smooth. Put collendar over sauce pot. Pour juice through collendar. That catches the seeds- feed these to the chickens. Whats in the pot is perfect for soup or spagetti sauce etc...and no blanching required! Love it!) Measure 7 qts.

1 1/2 cups butter (dont use margerine...its one molecule away fr plastic-ick)

1/2 cup or up to 2 small onions

(put these in small pot together and cook till onions are soft. Then ladel a few scoops of tomato juice into blender then dump melted butter and cooked onions in there. Blend till completely smooth- then dump in the big sauce pot with the juice)

Then add the following....

1/8 cup salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 or a little less black pepper

Cook down a little longer. You want it to thicken but its ok if its kind of loose. Just eye it.

Then, ladel hot soup into pint jars. Add lids and rings. Water bathe 30 min.

mmmmm :) Enjoy.

MySpace Lips

2011-05-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

LOL~ Here is Vayda with her big pink MySpace Lips!

Maya Rae and the piano

2011-05-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Maya Rae spent all winter teaching herself to play the piano. She has mastered many songs. Its really lovely.

Mady spends the night

2011-05-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

Madison Maloof spent the night with Vayda and the girls had a blast "playing dress up". Girls never outgrow this do they?

Daddy Reading

2011-05-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is a common sight. Daddy reading to Maya Rae at the end of a long day. :)

Ayyam-i-Ha family dinner

2011-05-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Happy cupcake boys- Cayden and Nicholas

We called to wish Lynde a Happy Ayyam-i-Ha.

Jody and I

Greg and Nick

Aaron and Shelly

Dan and Becky~ cute ;)

Ayyam-i-Ha presents

2011-05-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Each night of Ayyam-i-Ha the girls got one modest gift. They were psyched!

Getting Ready for Ayyam-i-Ha

2011-05-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

This year we had fun getting ready for Ayyam-i-Ha.

I made glow in the dark necklaces for the kids in our Baha'i communtiy and gave those to them at the Ayyam-i-Ha party.

We made muffins for our local family and delivered them door to door. We wished them all a Happy Ayyam-i-Ha! They looked at us cross eyed for the most part ....LOL. Comon people! The Nortons have been doing this for 14 yrs now! lol.

Elanee made collages for her friends back at Bosch Baha'i School.

Maya Rae turns 11

2011-05-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

For Maya Raes 11th B-day she wanted a propper slumber party.

She and her friends decorated the cake together (as if you couldnt tell...lol)

The kids played games together and gave thoughtful gifts.

It was a great party and everyone had fun :)

Jody got his bike

2011-04-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Jody got his new and very fancy road bike. Thank you Grandma Rose and Granddaddy :)

Jody is very, very happy!

Gift for the cheer leaders

2011-04-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

Vayda thought it would be nice to make her cheer leading team a snack. She made them home made carmel corn in stamped paper bags. Cool :)

New PADS!!!!

2011-04-19T11:02:00.001-07:00

This is the most amazing gift ever!!! My mom made all of us girls all new cloth pads!!!!

Thats about 99 of them. Amazing. They are bright and cheery...soft and comfy. We had so much fun picking out our favorites.

You can get your own custom made reusable cloth pads on my mom's Etsy site - www.bjpoodle.etsy.com

Abby spends the night

2011-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Vayda had Abby over....together they are rediculous!

Elanee cleaning

2011-04-19T10:57:00.001-07:00

Elanee spent 3 months home with us. She did a great deal of baking and cleaning. Yeah!

Vayda on FaceBook

2011-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

A very comon sight....Vayda in the living room- staying warm and doing Face Book. Thats her school stuff flumped on the couch next to her.

Making stuff

2011-04-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

All winter long we were so busy making stuff. This and that. Lots of creative energy here. Here I am rollin out polymer clay to make 9pt star ornaments and earings. Maya Rae recycled a pig she made a few years ago for a school project and turned it into a top hat. :)

Fiber Class

2011-04-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

Maya Rae took a really cool fiber class where she learned to work with all kinds of fibers including Alpaca. Here she is spinning wool into yarn.

Cats

2011-04-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Cats-Cats-Cats!

Fuzz-Fuzz-Fuzz!

Everywhere fuzz!

This is what the cats have looked like ALL WINTER LONG. Fuzzin up my world. Darn good thing they are cute!

3 cheers for Vayda!

2011-04-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Give us a "V"

Give us an "A"

Give us a "Y"

Well you know the rest.....Vayda was a cheer leader this year!

She was super cute in her 'costume'....oops I mean uniform :)

She had lots of fun and made a bunch of new friends too.

Elanee's home

2011-04-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

After a year serving at Bosch Baha'i School in Santa Cruz CA, Elanee is home!

Greg and Nick visit

2011-04-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

We had a relaxed dinner on Xmas eve. Greg and Nick had nothing going on so we invited them to join us. We ate lasagna and pie and the kids played with Mayas new modeling foam.

Guys popped in

2011-04-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

A very nice surprise for us was that Dan and Ben popped in for a short visit on Xmas afternoon :)

Xmas Day

2011-04-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had a nice, quiet Christmas day over here. Thanks to the grandparents we all had some very nice gifts :) The highlight was a gift to Jody. Mac and Rose gave him a band new road bike!!! This was HUGE! Awesome! We were all soooo happy for him :)

Christmas Sugar

2011-04-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Xmas day. Because of all the health issues I had had over the fall, we hadn't really been indulging in sweets much. So, the girls and I thought it would be cool to have a big ol pile O sugar for Xmas. We spent all day Xmas eve baking. Fun stuff :)

This funny couple was Vaydas doing.....cracked me up!

Baking with daddy

2011-04-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

One random afternoon Maya Rae wanted to bake. I was up for it so I "convinced" Jody to get in the kitchen and work with her. It may be the one and only time this happens. They had fun :)

Maya Rae sews a doll

2011-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Maya Rae has been hand making dolls since about the 2nd grade I think. She started with sock dolls and has built up her skill level over time. In the late fall she made this great doll totally from scratch. She used mostly recycled materials. This doll is really well made and is nice and sturdy. The hair is unbelievable! She hand stitched each hair in place!

Vayda hit by car

2011-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

While I was in the hospital the second time Vayda was out for a walk after school. On her way home, a guy swerved his car and hit Vayda. Luckily only her hand and arm was struck. She landed in the ER in Ithaca (with me upstairs recovering) and had her arm braced. Shockingly, nothing was broken. Her hand was bruised for a long time and her pinky knuckle has seemingly disappeared. She still has some pain in her wrist but all in all shes fine.

We are really grateful!

Vayda bakes a pie

2011-04-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

While I was doing the hospital/ surgery scene Grandma Linda took care of the family. She taught Vayda how to bake apple pie. Vayda was very happy to have this new skill :)

Oct, Nov

2011-04-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

So the last post was on Oct 10. That's telling because on Oct 12 I went in for a scheduled surgery. I had a colon tumor removed. I stayed in the hospital for 6 days and went home. 36 hrs later I was vomiting and landed back in the hospital for an emergency surgery. That kept me there for 9 days. It took over 2 months to heal the wound and then in mid Dec I started chemo. What an adventure! This explains why I hadn't been taking pictures.

Rabbit Sanctuary

2010-10-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here are our bunnies. As of right now we have 7.

(plus Harvey who lives inside cause hes old and possibly blind)

They are all boys. No girls allowed!!!

They get along great and they are super cute.
We will not breed them or eat them. We got these guys from the local shelter. We can assume they were lonely back yard bunnies. Now they have lots of company, treats, attention and room to romp. In the spring we intend to open up their run onto the grass....
and add some more bunnies too. I am hoping to add some larger breeds (the smaller rabbits seem too feisty!) and some lops....thats the ultimate cuteness. Gotta love rabbits. They are soooo cute, soft & completely quiet. They eat on the cheap and their poop don't stink (under these conditions). I have always had rabbits but having a large colony of pet rabbits is a dream come true.

Dan is 29

2010-10-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dan turned 29. Today he and Ben popped in and we had a

little ice cream cake together in his honor.

me a bloggin tonight

2010-10-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is me a-bloggin tonight :)

Chickens

2010-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Uncle Ricky offered us some hens and I said....NO THANKS.....then~

I changed my mind! lol. We now own 6 chickens in red, black and white.

Interesting bunch o ladies.

Vayda says that she thinks they are Democrats. I said, "why?" She says, "Because they spend all day saying buk, buk, Barack- buk, buk, Barack"

Funny crap yo! lololol