oh, hai.

it's been a little longer than I intended. The sickies have made their way around our home this past week. That's always a ton of fun.

So I've been doing a little more pinning than blogging, since it's quick and mindless and yet somehow makes me feel super creative even though I've only sat at my computer with a baby attached to me.

I used to be a die hard tumblr fan, but pinterest has finally won.

Andrew has learned a bunch of new tricks this week. Clapping. Real crawling, instead of scooting. Standing. And moving a few steps along a table while he stands. What?! That seems like an awful lot for one week. Slow down baby!



It's almost time for seed ordering. I find this hard to do right now, because the weather is simply too nice. I like to curl up with some seed catalogs, a glass of wine or a mug of tea, snow piled 5 feet high outside the window, and dream of spring. It's simply not as inspiring when it already feels like Spring out!

good moms and dirty houses

This post has been sitting, half finished in queue for almost 3 weeks. I vary between indifference, anger, sadness, annoyance. So I imagine this post will have all of that. I wasn't sure I was going to post it at all, but when I woke up with this on my mind this morning, I figured I would.
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I'm about to be a little judgey here.  And then I'm going to omplain about people who judge. 'Cause thats how my mind works.

I've been seeing this posted all over the place.

I want to like it. I really do.

But I don't.


I totally, totally get the sentiment behind it. Your children are more important than a clean house. The dishes will wait while you show the child the rainbow and all that. Lovely thoughts.

Part of me feels like it's people just wanting to give themselves an excuse to be slobs. Yeah. That's the judgey part of this post.

Part of me feels like it's very similar to the real women have curves saying. I won't go off on a tangent about that - but it's along the same thing. You have to be curvy to be a REAL woman? Um, what? Yeah. You have to have a messy oven to be a good mom? Come again?

Look, I understand there will be days when the laundry waits while you nurse a growing baby. There will be days the dishes sit while you go enjoy some sunshine on a spur of the moment hike. There will be weeks all of you are sick and you spend time snuggling and reading and lazing instead of cleaning. I get it. There is life to be lived outside of cleaning a home.

I used to be one of those people. I did. Clutter didn't bother me. Messes didn't phase me. In fact, if you've known me any part of my life until the last couple of years - you know I was one of the messiest people out there. Then 3 or 4 years ago, a switch flipped. These things bother me now. And I'll tell ya, when I was working, one sure way to set me on edge was for there to be dishes in the sink when I walked through the door.


Here's the thing. It doesn't take much to do a quick clean up. I'm not saying you have to be Martha Stewart, but taking 20 minutes out of your day to straighten up makes a big difference. Just 20 minutes. (judgey).

I have found that I am a better mother when my house is tidy. I feel less flustered. Less crabby. More happy. A messy house makes me feel unsettled. Not calm. I get snappy.

Do I think my children care if the house is clean or not? Judging by their bedrooms, I guess not. But I also believe that they do better in a tidy house. They can find the things they need, like library books and art supplies and pants and socks. And I'm sure having a happy mama in a clean house helps.

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that housework and balance has always been an issue for me. I often feel like I can't do it all and I get cranky trying.

Having a new baby added into our family has certainly forced to me give up a few things. I'm embarrassed at the amount of laundry piled up right now. I've delegated the cleaning of the bathrooms to our 13 year old (which I'm sure you can imagine means that the bathrooms are not currently sparkling) and I turn a blind eye to the boys bedrooms more often than I'd like.

That is why I really want to like that saying. I'm certainly struggling here. I could use the 'permission' the have a dirty oven!

But I still can't get behind it.

I really just see it as another way to pit mothers against each other. If you stay home, you're worth less than someone who works. If you work, you chose career over family. If you formula feed you are giving your children poison. If you breastfeed you need to cover up. If you have a clean home you aren't spending enough time with your children. . . .

I wonder what a good dads house looks like?

one good thing 1/19

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

A houseful. babies. noisy children. a friend. a sister. food cooking. a house full of energy and life.

and at the end of the day, just a few moments in quiet, while we transition into sleep and dreams.

one good thing 1/18

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below. 


I am feeling very full of gratitude and very much humbled by the generosity and kindness of strangers and community today. It is a very good thing.

one good thing 1/16

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below. 

It took me a long time, a very long time, to learn how to make bread. I love making it now and this winter I've been especially interested in trying new kinds. I find it very easy to do with a somewhat high needs baby, since most of the 'prep' work is leaving it alone! 

snowy day jam cake

Using up the preserves that sound so amazing in summer, isn't always as easy as I think it will be come winter. After a while all that spreading on toast and biscuits gets to be a bit boring. I always imagine while I sweat over a boiling stove in the middle of summer, how each jar will be like a slice of sunshine in the dreary days of winter.

And it usually is almost exactly like that. But sometimes, I want something a little more.

Which is how I happened upon jam cake. I wanted a coffee cake. But I also wanted to use a jar of sour cherry jam that had been hanging around very patiently in my pantry. I found this recipe over at framed cooks and figured I could easily adapt it to what I wanted.

While pulling out the ingredients, I remembered an open jar of black forest jam (which is cherry and chocolate) in the fridge. Um, perfect.

I wasn't sure I liked it at first. But then I had 3 pieces in about an hour (shhhh!)

I think the recipe could still use some tweaking. I'd definitely add a splash of vanilla or almond extract to the wet ingredients - and while I considered adding cinnamon to the topping this time, I didn't - and next time I definitely would.

Also, more jam. I used a full (1/2 pint) jar of sour cherry and 3/4 jar of black forest and they just didn't shine through the cake at all. It's yummy, for sure - but the cake overpowered the jam. I also made mine in an 8x8 dish, so a larger dish (thinner cake) would probably help.

I will absolutely make it again. In fact, I've already decided that next time I will use blueberry maple walnut conserve and blueberry jam - with extra cinnamon and sugar in the cake and cinnamon. sugar and crushed walnuts in the topping. I'm pretty sure it is going to be divine.

Jam Cake

2 cups whole wheat white flour
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk (I used coconut- and now that I'm thinking of it I recall only using 1/3 cup milk . . .?)
1/2 cup sour cherry jam
1/2 cup black forest preserves. 

Topping:

1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter to make fine crumbs (I used a processor)

2. Add egg and milk; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

3. Spoon batter into a generously buttered 8x8 square pan. Spoon both jams over the batter, then swirl through the batter with a knife. If I was to do the cherry and black forest mix again, I might add some powdered cocoa here too. 

4. Mix topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle evenly over batter.

5. Bake at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes, until done. Tastes best warm.

um, it looks better than this is person. I took like 10 pictures and this is the best of the bunch :/

one good thing 1/14

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below. 

my 13 year old, and 7 month old - 11:16pm

Sometimes, the very best thing about a day, is the end of it.

one good thing 1/13

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

The snow finally came. We sat happily through November, while the ground stayed clear. A little disappointed through December as Christmas came and went with barely a flake. Then a week into January, with 50 degree days. Two weeks, the temperatures still delightful. Finally it came, blustering in on Friday the 13th.

The kids had their first snow day of the year. The first snow always makes this mama happy too. Feeling quite cozy inside I started planning what delicious things we could bake, what board games we could play, what movies we could cuddle up on the couch and watch. 

Andrew had other plans. Plans that included a whole lot of whining and screeching. Insistence on being held all day long. Total resistance to any sort of sleep at all. Clearly tired, he kept on fighting it and fighting it.

This baby will never be described as a good sleeper. It's just not who he is. At almost 7 months, I can count on one had the number of times he has napped by himself (and not being held, in the car, stroller or wrap). This makes for a very exhausted mama and one who is finding herself very much in need of some baby free time.

But, what this mama needs and what this mama can do are sometimes very different things. My list of things I wanted to get done on the perfect snow day - well, didn't get done. Instead, mid day a very tired baby and a very cranky mama laid down to nap. The only way this baby was going to sleep was with someone. So for two and a half hours baby slept soundly and after a brief nap of my own (and still half pinned by sleeping baby) I thought about how much this little one can (and does!) teach me. Sometimes my idea of a lazy day (baking, board games, cleaning, reading, laundry) isn't lazy enough. Sometimes even though it's the last thing I want to do, maybe the first thing I need is to stop everything and just take a nap. 

One good thing 1/12

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.




:ahem: just realized that for several days, with a copy and paste, I've been posting Oterine good thing. Apparently a career in proofreading is not in my future, eh?

While washing dishes after dinner and thinking about the day; some good things and some not so good things, I realized that perhaps the best thing today was not something for me. My sister has had a little bit of turmoil in her life as of late, and she got some news today that helps just a little. There's still some things to be worked through, and this was only one piece of a much larger puzzle, but I think that I felt just as much relief as she did.

Things haven't been so easy for her lately, and I hope they are looking up. She deserves something good.

one good thing 1/11

well, it didn't take me long to fall off that wagon!

I have good things, complete with pictures, for each day I missed. But I feel playing catch up defeats the purpose. A day or so behind - fine. More than that and it's time to move along. My goal was to use this as a way to reflect a little each day on the good in that day, not rack my brain matching up pictures and days, you know?

So, today.

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. Oterine good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

one good thing 1/7

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. Oterine good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

A day sunny enough, and plenty warm enough, in January to hang laundry on the line.

one good thing 1/6

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. Oterine good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

a little boy who is so perfectly little boy.

one good thing 1/5

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. Oterine good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.



It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. From the minute I rolled out of bed on the wrong side until the minute I fell asleep. It was just one of those days.

While falling asleep, I racked my brain to think of one good thing. Anything? There is something good in everyday, yeah? 

Yeah.

Burger and fry night. Oh yes. It's become a twice monthly tradition. A plate full of bacon barbecue burgers and homemade fries. And the very best part is that my husband cooks it all.

I'd say that's a very good thing. 

image from 8/12/11 

one good thing 1/4

not missing a thing.

I didn't have this opportunity with my older boys

I feel so lucky to have a supportive husband and such a supportive extended family, so that I can be here looking at his face all day.

one good thing 1/3

woodie guthrie Nursery Days and garcia and grisman Not for Kids Only on the stereo

dancing with a baby boy in the kitchen

snow flurrying outside

beef stew simmering on the stove

today was a good day.

one good thing 1/2

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.

If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.

photo from 12/26

For Christmas my husband and his father made this wooden mancala game for Colin. It's a game he has learned at school, and I had never heard of it.

It was a big hit over the holiday, but I hadn't had a chance to play until yesterday. I loved it! It's an addicting and fun game that is just as fun for the adults as it is for the kids. I love the new addition to our growing collection of homemade, wooden games as well.

holiday handmades (from us)

I managed to squeak out almost everything i had planned for homemade gifts this year. A few things had to wait, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I managed to accomplish with a baby who hates to nap!

vanilla extract with family scrapbook cookbooks

vanilla labels here

For the kiddos - 4 ugly monster dolls

instructions here


pajama pants for all (a yearly tradition)


bath sets (all instructions found on pinterest, my gift board)

and a set of  baby blocks for my baby and my niece. These were really fun, quick and easy to do -  instructions here. You could make these look more professional and 'finished' by adding applique and using foam for the inside of the blocks, but for my purposes some simple flannel and stuffing did the trick just fine.

we also received some amazing homemade gifts from nana and from pop-pops workshop which I'll share soon as well.

I say it every year, but this year I really will start crafting before December. I'd love to have everything done to just enjoy the season and my family the week of Christmas, instead of rushing around and demanding wine and take out!

one good thing

in a new year effort to be more mindful of how I am living my life and to be more joyful with my life, I've decided to post one good thing a day. One good thing, everyday.


I wavered between starting a new blog, like with 365, or just meshing it with this blog and I finally decided to post here. Being that I am not typically a daily blogger, I think it will work fine, just doubling up on posts some days.


If you feel inspired to do the same (and I hope that you do!) please feel free to leave your good thing, or a link, in the comments below.


1/1/12

This soup.

I was craving something warming, hearty and nourishing and this soup was perfect.

It also happens to be the perfect New Years day soup, containing black eyed peas and collared greens for luck and financial good fortune.

You can find the recipe over at Kalyn's Kitchen


For the picky boys, I also made Nana's French Onion Soup (inspired by this recipe)