Bunny

We have a new friend here.

Yesterday I opened the curtains in my front window and right outside (elevated for optimum viewing due to the snowbank outside) was a bunny, just sitting there.  Bunny proceeded to nibble on one of my shrub stems, and then we noticed all the bunny poops.  Apparently Bunny has been living underneath our front window for a while now. 

Our front window sticks out a bit, and the snow that we've gotten (I've lost track of how much has fallen, sorry) made that area into a sort of tunnel--a tunnel heated by the exhaust from the dryer vent.  I would be living there, too, I think, if I were a bunny.  Warm and cozy.

So now I'm conflicted about the situation.  I think Bunny needs to be evicted because there is poop and pee from Bunny everywhere out there and it's just nasty.  All we have to do is dig out some of the snow so it's not so cozy down there anymore.  Not like we'll hurt Bunny or anything.  But I feel sad doing it because, well, Bunny's got a warm cozy home for the winter.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the eviction will take place very soon.  At least we know Bunny and his relatives will visit from time to time because we see their tracks in our yard frequently in the winter.


On a side note, Danny (my brother) is now here, as is my dad.  Danny flew in on Friday morning on a red eye after finals, and Dad drove here from Idaho.  Dad arrived yesterday.  That means there are three extra people in the house for a while and things are getting tight!  It's fun, though.  We're just waiting for Stacey (Dan's girlfriend) to arrive on Christmas Eve and we'll be all set here!  We can't wait!

Homer

Our new kitty is settling in, slowly but surely.  He tends to be very timid, and he's sometimes scared of the dog and doesn't like Holly.  I can't figure out why he's afraid of the smallest members of the family, but he is.  Holly is very sad about Homer not liking her--all she wants is to pet and love the kitty, and he won't let her! 

He also has a very peculiar way of sitting.  Can you tell by the pictures?

Science Museum

Before Thanksgiving, we put our Science Museum membership to use.  It's such a great, inexpensive way to spend a day with the family.

We watched the Hubble IMAX movie (which was stunning), checked out the gift shop (which had a ton of cool things in it), and explored some exhibits.  But the main exhibit we were checking out was the Geometry Playground exhibit, here from the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Fun was had by all!

Thanksgiving

Now that it's almost time for Christmas (19 days!), I am going to share a little bit of our Thanksgiving with you.  It is, really, a very little bit.  We were busy cooking, eating, and watching the parade, dog show, and Miracle on 34th Street that day. 

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Homemade cornbread for stuffing and cranberries to make homemade cranberry sauce (first time this year, and it was good!):

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Beautiful cranberries, ready to cook.  I couldn't capture the red very well.  They were stunning. 

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 Homemade pumpkin pie--Grandpa's recipe, of course--and the finished cranberry sauce (YUM!):

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We're now busy getting ready for a big Christmas celebration here at our house.  We've already got one more person in the house, and when it's time to celebrate the holidays, we'll have three more people staying here and a few more visiting, at least!  I think it's going to be a good Christmas.

Spinning

Well, it's The Holiday Season, which means...well, you know what it means.  And that explains the lack of blog posts lately, doesn't it?

We had our Thanksgiving together, and it was good.  I'll post on that later.  We even had stuffing and pie, and they turned out really good (even though it was the first time I'd tried the recipes).  I was happy with that.

I'm trying to get Christmas shopping/planning done.  You know, I always (well, almost always) have my planning done, and I think, oh, this'll be easy this year.  I'll get it done with lots of time to spare.  The one problem I always run into is that I have to buy the stuff.  Oh, yeah, that's right.  Huh.  I always think we've got it under control and then something really unexpected happens and well, there goes the plan.  So I have a plan but can't execute the plan.  So frustrating, and yet predictable.  Well, predictably unpredictable.  Whatever.

I'm also in the process of trying to keep up with school with the kids.  That's going ok.  Just ok, not fantastic.  I need to step it up just a bit.  I've been having a really bad time sleeping lately and then I get up later than I want to because I'm tired, and then the whole day just doesn't go as well as I'd like.  I know there are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse problems in life.  It is a frustration, though.

One other thing I'm doing is getting the house ready for a visitor.  I will be changing our schoolroom into a bedroom so we can get to most of our stuff without disturbing the person inhabiting the room.  It's kind of an interesting situation--one that I can post about later.

So, we're busy here, just like everyone else at this time of year. 

Mickman Brothers Field Trip

On Friday, we attended our 4-H club meeting for the month.  We all met at a really fantastic greenhouse/nursery called Mickman Brothers, one that our family really enjoys visiting a few times a year.

First we made holiday centerpieces out of balsam, white pine, a snowman decoration, and pine cones.  Everyone really enjoyed this activity, and we're trying to keep the centerpieces cool and watered so they will last a lot longer.  The kids did fantastic work.

After we finished with that, Mr. Mickman himself came out to give us a tour of their holiday operations.  WOW.  Seeing all those people working on wreaths, sprays, garlands, (the list goes on...) all destined for different parts of the country, was fascinating.  And it smelled amazing.  The Mickmans are quite the innovators and his stories were great to hear.

So far, we're enjoying 4-H and we've barely gotten started.  I guess that's a good sign!

Hot Chocolate Weather

After having roughly a foot of snow dumped on us Saturday, I really started to get into a hot chocolate/cocoa mood.  Also a knitting with thick yarn mood, but that's another story.  When the kids come in from playing in the snow and/or cold, I wish I had some to give them.  Luckily, they've never been that keen on the drink (I know!) so they aren't suffering any.  I would just use a good mix, but it's hard to find one that is gluten-free, or that I don't have to call manufacturers about ingredients (that gets to be a major pain after a while).

Actually, I do have all the things I need to make it--milk, sugar, cocoa, even vanilla if we wanted.  I even have the supplies to make a dry mix--but I've been really hesitant about that.  The mix includes Coffee Mate, which, although gluten-free, just looks so unhealthy that I've been very reluctant to make the mix.  It does sound good though.  My other option, the good ol' hot milk and cocoa version, bugs me in a different way.  Growing up, I remember a pan of milk on the stove, and how it smelled and got that nasty skin on it while being heated.  Sorry, Mom. 

So, I'm putting out a request.  A request for your favorite hot chocolate/cocoa recipes.  What are your favorites?  Any ideas to share?  Leave 'em in the comments!  Thanks!

Pretty things

Holly opening birthday presents

Here are the pictures, as promised.

The fairy dress is a gift from Grandma Wendy.  Holly LOVES it. 

Whirlwind continued...

Where did I leave off?  Oh yeah, Holly's birthday.

You know, at this point, it all kind of runs together!  I know we watched several baseball games (go Giants!), including the World Series, did a little (very little) shopping in various locations, drove around a lot, and celebrated Halloween with Mom.  Brad and I even got to go out to a movie--and the tickets were even free, courtesy of Mom!  What a deal, huh?  We saw Red, thinking it wouldn't be that great, but we loved it.  Very fun movie.  I want to see it again when it comes out.

Anyway, I thought I'd just skip to the pictures, because really, nobody wants to read my blabbing when there are pictures to look at!

 After eating Pizza Luce at the hotel.  Mmmm...Molly bars.  I want another one now.

 Homer, the Ceiling Cat.

 Holly's birthday cake.  Chocolate with whipped cream for frosting.  Another yum.

Happy 6th, Holly.

Halloween pizza.

I need to do one more post with Holly opening her presents.  They're cute pictures.  And there are a bunch.  Next post!

Rant

Normally I try to be positive on this blog or at least try to see a possible positive outcome.  But right now I need to get something out.

Something is seriously wrong with this country.  This country just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on election campaigns.  What did anyone get from that?  TV ads and junkmail for the landfill (you know all of that crap won't be recycled).  At the same time, unemployment is extremely high, people go without food or shelter, and many can't afford to get health care they desperately need.  The same people who contributed large sums of money to campaigns are the ones who complain they are taxed to death and make it seem as though they have to pinch every penny just to get by.  We are the ones who create jobs, so don't make us pay such high taxes, they cry!  Yet they still have enough to contribute very large sums to campaigns that aren't even being run in their own state or district.  If they have that kind of money to throw around, I think maybe they aren't telling the whole truth, don't you?

On top of all this, schools are failing, and they're using pretty desperate measures to make ends meet.  I just received our local community newspaper, The Courier yesterday.  The main headline this month?  "Advertising in place at area schools."  When I read that, I think my mouth fell open.  What?!  The article says that "Ads were placed on student lockers, floors and walls in St. Francis High School and Cedar Creek Community School...the remaining three schools had ads placed by installation teams in the evenings the following week."   Advertising does NOT belong in public schools, and to my knowledge there are multiple studies that show how vulnerable children are to advertising.  Wasn't there some movement against advertising to children not too long ago?  I guess it's time to start researching and send in a letter to the school board.  Too bad they entered into a one-year contract.

I will end there.  Thanks for putting up with my ranting--I really needed to get all that out.  

Whirlwind

Wow, what a week and a half!

Mom flew in with a new kitty for us.  Homer came to us because Mom rescued him, but he wasn't fitting in with the other pets in the household.  The doggies were chasing him and the other kitty was picking on him.  He is very, very slowly getting used to us and his new house.  He is a beautiful boy with long, misty gray fur and bright green eyes.  He likes to hide in the ceiling of the laundry room during the day.  Hopefully he'll start coming down soon.  He's had a lot of adjusting to do in the last half a year!  Here's a bad webcam photo of Homer relaxing with me for a couple of minutes upstairs last night.

We all went up to Duluth to hang out at the waterpark for Holly's birthday and just for fun.  It was an interesting trip, for sure.  Henry freaked out with all the sensory overload and it ended up being mostly exhausting dealing with the waterpark.  By the last 45 minutes of our two-night stay, he was actually ok, of course.  We had some great meals while we were there--Pizza Luce never disappoints with their gluten-free menu.  It was fantastic.  The second night we returned to our room after touring Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse (state park and historic site) to a crockpot with a chicken and wild rice dinner.  It smelled fantastic.  By the time we were heading home, the huge storm that hit the midwest was coming in, and we watched the waves (and surfers) on Lake Superior from the Marine Museum (which was really cool!).  The waves were forecast to reach close to 30 feet tall on the lake from that storm!  Driving home was an adventure with 40 mph winds and gusts up to 60 mph.  But we got home safely, and we were happy to come back to our cozy home in the storm.

When we got back, we baked a chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting (all gluten-free, of course!) for Holly's birthday and opened presents.  Holly was very excited about her gifts and I must say, she makes a great 6 year old.  I have some pictures of her birthday to post in the next few days.  Gotta show off the pretty birthday girl!

That was just the first half of Mom's visit.  I think I will break up the visit into two posts.  I need to find pictures, too--I'm always bad about taking pictures when someone is visiting.  I get distracted.  I just realized that I don't think we took any pictures of the kids in their costumes on Halloween!  We Skyped with Grandpa Kelly instead to show off the costumes and must have gotten sidetracked.  Maybe we'll take care of that today!  Better late than never...

Three Things

1.  We have a new addition to our family to announce.  Homer arrived on Friday night, with my mom on a flight from Idaho.  He's a very handsome boy who is taking some time right now to get used to our house.  We'll share pictures when we get some!

2.  We're going to Duluth to the waterpark this week.  Should be a blast!

3.  Most importantly, my baby is turning SIX on Monday.  I am so proud of her and so thankful that she is now a healthy, happy little girl.  I have been given such an amazing gift of being able to watch my children grow up and I appreciate that even more now after seeing Holly's health deteriorate.  I'm also thankful for the doctor who caught her disease and, as a result, gave me the chance to watch her grow up. 

Happy early birthday to my wonderful, spunky, tough, caring, sensitive, sweet, artistic, smart, fun-loving girl.  I love you, Holly.


P.S.  Go Giants! 

The answer was "Ice"

I used ice last night on my arm.  It felt so good.  I iced my arm and watched the Giants pull out a win in San Fran.  It was good, overall, except I had to keep from dozing off several times.  You know you're tired when you've already had a 2 hour nap (yes, my kids were in the house playing Monopoly--I don't do that very often at all, but when you need sleep...) and you start falling asleep during an exciting playoff game at 9 p.m.  I never get to watch the Giants either.

Today I feel a lot better.  Still a little tired, my tummy was upset earlier, and my arm still feels like a hot rock.  Why did I put myself through this again?  Why didn't I just wait until I needed the booster, like for instance, if I stepped on a nail or something?

Here's why.

I can now play with animal fleeces (dirty ones) and pointy metal objects designed to get them ready for spinning, without fear of getting a horrible infection.

Here's an idea of what I'm talking about (and really, this probably belongs in the other blog, but I started talking about it here, so...)

Wool Hackle

Wool Combs

Hand Cards

See how they're all menacing, pointy metal objects that just seem like injury will happen at any moment?  THAT is why I got my tetanus shot.

I don't have this equipment yet, but when I do (someday), I'll be posting info about it on my Crafty Blog.  Promise.

And apparently, wool combs were used as a torture device (they look like a torture device!)--I discovered this while looking for a good source of pictures and info to share.   My only problem with that entry is that they are using cards/carding and combs interchangeably, which is a big no-no, even if it's torture related.

Tired

Yesterday I got a physical, a flu shot, and a tetanus shot. 

I'm wiped and I can't use my arm. 

I'm glad I got everything done at once, but it's making it really hard to get any work done around here getting ready for my mom's visit on Friday night.  The kitchen looks like one of those houses where people get in trouble for having to many animals or something (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it seems that way to me right now).

I'm waiting for the Advil to kick in.  Anyone know whether ice or heat would be better at this point?

Since it's taking me a while to type this, I think that's all I'll say for today.  Sorry to be such a bummer--it's really not horrible, but it's definitely not really fun, either.

I'm going to get the kids in bed and maybe watch the ballgame.  With my good friend, Heating Pad (I hope it's the right choice!).

Yummy stuff

Remember the chicken fingers I mentioned earlier?  And those great cookies I baked?  I got the recipe for the chicken fingers (I still can't even think of that term without wanting to wiggle my fingers in someone's face while saying/thinking it) and the fantastic flour blend I've used for our baking from this one great blog.  I stumbled across them looking for a flour blend that did not contain tapioca starch, since I can't stand the taste of it--and it's an anti-thyroid food, something I do not need to be eating!

It's called No Gluten, No Problem.  This wonderful couple has a cookbook, too, which we just bought.  What a fantastic cookbook!  Yummy, yummy, yummy.  The book is called Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking, and I am so excited to use it.

This book has everything from crepes and scones to salsas, crab cakes, mozzarella sticks (mmmm), and cheesecake.  Ravioli, anyone?  Or perhaps Pan-Seared Scallops?  How about Garlic-Lime Skirt Steak with Cuban Mojo?  Pad Thai?  Jamaican Jerk Chicken?  There are over 250 recipes in here, from comfort food to ethnic dishes.  You do not have to be on a gluten-free diet to enjoy this book. 

I wanted to give this book a review mostly because I'm so excited about it (their recipes are fabulous), but also because they're a really neat family who had to figure all this out for themselves, just like a lot of other people who have to go gluten-free.  Peter and Kelli Bronski have brought a lot of yummy stuff back into our lives and I'm thankful for all the work they've put into doing that (so I don't have to start from scratch!).  It's also made me excited to cook again.  I think there's something that happens to a lot of people who have to make this transition--you get a little depressed about food.  You don't want to think about it anymore--after all, it's all you think about for a long time after your diagnosis.  You  have to, to make sure you aren't making mistakes.  You get sick of trying to figure out, "What can I/we eat?" all of the stinkin' time!  This book and their website (especially) have helped me to get out of that funk.  I'm thankful for them!

They're in the process of making an all-cupcake cookbook right now!  I can't wait to see that one...

Rum River Central Regional Park

Is where we went on Saturday (last week).  It was a beautiful day--in the 80s, with some little thunderstorms popping up here and there (not over us, though). 

 

We came home and made the best chicken fingers (imagine me wiggling my fingers at you when you read that) I've ever had--gluten-free or gluten-full.  I'm making them for you, Mom, when you're here.  Delicious!

Yes, I know.

I'm really behind in my blogging.  I keep thinking of things to write and then I just don't do it.  I'm sorry.  I promise to do better!

We did go to the 4-H meeting on Friday and I think it'll be a great thing for us.  Which reminds me, I need to register for the year!  We do that online.  Our next meeting will be at Mickman's--a really fantastic greenhouse--where we'll make centerpieces and see how they make holiday wreaths!  I think it'll be great.  Other planned activities include a hay ride and pizza lunch (we might have to skip the hay ride--it depends on the hay or straw they use), kicksledding and snowshoeing at Wargo Nature Center, and Orienteering in the spring sometime there as well.  There are a few other activities I didn't list--these are just the monthly group meetings.  Then we can get involved in the other 4-H activities on our own, and enter things in the county fair in the summer.  I'm excited about this.  And it'll be continuing a family tradition--Grandpa Kelly (my dad) was in 4-H for a long time and is excited to see his grandkids participating.

We'll definitely keep the blog updated with their activities.  

Random Thursday

• First 4-H meeting for the kids tomorrow.  I'm excited and hopeful that this will be something we all enjoy together.  We're trying out a group made up of homeschoolers first.  I hope it's a good fit!  It's nice to have activities in the early afternoon instead of at night.  Tomorrow, the kids will be "voting" in an "election" complete with "districts" and everything.  It sounds fun!

• The weather has been pretty incredible for the last while.  Perfectly blue skies setting off the fiery colors of the trees and grasses, all in a 65-to-about-80-degree (tomorrow and Saturday) temperature range.  It really doesn't get any better than this.  We want to go camping!

• I have a party/show tomorrow night here.  Which means I need to shop and clean.  Of course I don't really want to do either.  But I'm excited to see friends and eat yummy food.

• How is it possible to be so far behind in my laundry?  And how does our house get so stinkin' messy??

Educator Night at the History Center

Tuesday afternoon/evening, I got to go to Educator Night at the History Center in downtown St. Paul.  I ended up not being sick.  Yay me!  First stop was my friend, Michelle's house--we carpooled our way over.  That was fun in itself!  Girls on the town!  Wooo!  Heading to the History Center!  Partay!!  (I get my fun in different ways than others, apparently.)

We had a tour of the new "Chocolate" exhibit, which is really neat (planning to go back), and I met some homeschooling moms.  That was fantastic, because we homeschooling moms all need as many people to...how do I put this...socialize, collaborate, commiserate, brainstorm, and party with as possible.  It's essential.  Especially the "party" part.

Anyway, we looked at a lot of the other exhibit halls in the History Center (to which I had not yet been), and I was blown away.  What is it with this state and all the amazing resources?  How am I still stunned by each new thing?  Why am I not jaded by this time (it's been 9 years!) and just expecting there to be more?  I certainly am not complaining.  I am very thankful.  Let's just say we'll be visiting the Center sometime soon.

I also found out about Lego's monthly mini model build nights, first Tuesday of each month, at the Lego store/center at the Mall of America.  You get a free little Lego kit and get to put it together.  I think there are tours as well.  We'll probably be attending that too.

After the Event (we thought there was going to be free chocolate, but instead it's in the museum store and you have to PAY for it.  Darn.), Michelle and I grabbed some quick dinner before heading home.  We had a great time talking (and eating!  We were so hungry!).

I'm excited to do more moms' activities in the near future.  It was just what I needed.

Close to Home

After our big trek on Wednesday, I was wanting to get out and actually walk or hike in the fall leaves.  I was, like I said, fairly disappointed by our outing on Wednesday.  At least we got out the next day.  Closer to home.  As in, we can bike there next spring, when Holly has her bigger-girl bike to ride so she can go faster.  The bonus is that we can visit the library while we're there.

I've really, honestly just plain forgotten about this park.  And it's a great park.  Rum River North County Park is right in town.  It's part of a series of parks on the Rum River.  You can get in your canoe way up on the Rum, paddle down to the North park, camp, head to the Central park, camp, and then go to the South park.  These are all local, close to home parks with miles of paved, unpaved, hiking, cross-country, and horse trails.  They've got picnic pavilions, shelters for when you're out skiing in the winter and want to build a fire, and fishing piers.  Also boat launches.  How can I forget about the one in town?  I don't know.  I look at the trail all the time.  I'm just glad I remembered. 

The kids and I walked for probably an hour all over the park.  Then they played on the playground equipment.  It was a great day in the stunning fall weather. 

Photo by Henry

Photo by Holly

We're planning on going back every few days for a while to watch the leaves change for Nature Study (one of our subjects).  I think it'll be fun.

Fall Touring

On Wednesday, we drove (and drove and drove) to Maplewood State Park.  We hiked for a short while, found a tick on the dog, and then discovered there was no bug spray with us (and the dog didn't have her Frontline).  So we decided to check out two other state parks on the way home instead of hiking around the one park.  These pictures are from Maplewood.

Thanks, Brad, for taking this while I was eating.  Classy.

Our little friend enjoyed her time out too.

I wish we would have waited for the cloud to pass by before we took the pictures--it makes it a lot less pretty than it actually was!

After Maplewood, we checked out Glendalough and Lake Carlos.   It was too much driving, honestly.  I felt like we ate way too much junk in the car and didn't do much walking.  We got home really late and burned a lot of gas.  BUT we did see the most beautiful scenery and the trees were stunning.  We got to check out an area that we don't get to often and know now that we think it might be fun to camp out there.  So, live and learn, I guess.