Quiet Saturday

Della, Seb, and Esther all went to a dance today-Esther's first! They were gone from 12 noon to 10 pm.
Dad and I spent the day puttering on separate projects. He worked on the bankbook, fixing a grill, and fixing Seb's airsoft part. I started to make a candle (recycled wax+a brown crayon for a fall look) but realized I didn't have wicking so put that project off till I can get to Michaels. I fixed a salt spool holder for Della's guinea pig, mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned the downstairs floors (and nobody walked on it while it was wet!), cooked for tomorrow's church tailgate picnic, and organized drawers and my tools. Found several lost items!
A little boring...I had intended to get out to check on an orchid greenhouse but after 4, yes, 4, days of shopping for coats for Della and Esther, I didn't really want to go out again. By the way, we ended up paying $80 for Esther's coat, and $100 for Della's, and I wouldn't call either coat high quality, but passable. Those were supposedly big discounted prices, but seemed high to me. It's not like LL Bean quality, serious warm wear. It's fashion plus some warmth. We also checked out a couple new thrift stores-found one for teens that Esther liked! She's into being a teen these days.
The big news: Della is getting a story published! Do you all realize how many of us have written things that have been published? We do have the writing gene.
Off to bed!

The Thursday Routine

On Thursdays I get up at 5:30, wake up Della, and then we prepare for a long day: I drop her off at the State Lab about 7:15 (after she stops by 7-11 for her essential coffee), and then I begin the trek up 66 to Fairfax. Today the trip to the pottery class took the whole 2 hours I have allotted. I just couldn't do this 5 days a week, even 3 days a week. I'd find another job, or move closer.
Pottery class is rather intensive. If you aren't feeling great, you probably won't do well at your work. Not only do you have to feel creative, you have to be up for the physical work and the hustle of sharing facilities with all the other people. It wasn't a good day for me today! Hannah has been taking the same class but she's stopping after this session, and I'm considering taking a break for the winter session. January through March pretty well covers the bad-weather days around here, and maybe I could get some other creative things done at home.
My schedule this school year has been working well:
Monday and Tuesday no on-going committments; we try to stay home and get lots of school done.
Wednesday the girls have writing class, and then we do all the Warrenton/Bealeton errands. Yesterday we also added in a couple thrift shops, since I had a dinner all made up, but that made the day a little TOO long.
Thursday Della and I are gone all day; Esther stays home, looks after all the animals, and has every-other-week piano lessons. She loves having some time to herself for reading and Facebook, but sometimes she gets a little lonely I think.
Friday we either stay home and do more school, do something social, or run bigger errands. Tomorrow we have to look for coats for the girls. They both had the bad taste to outgrow their good coats, and the thrift store coats aren't fashionable enough. Odd, we can find other types of clothes we like at the thrifts.
Ansil's having a hard time at college, 90% of it being Organic Chem.
Rebecca and Josh are buying a house!
Laura, poor dear, has been having big dental work done.
Seb, Della, and Esther are going to a dance this Saturday.
All for now!

30 Years and Counting

Hello, all, thank you for the calls! Dad went off "to do errands" and 3 hours later came back with flowers, a card, AND a decorative item from Hallmark. Which made me laugh a couple years ago I was talking with the manager of Midas and he said, "I love that Hallmark shop. You can always find something for your wife, have it wrapped, and make it home in time for dinner."
We spent the day doing things around here...couldn't take the day off from school since Esther needed to finish her essay about Siamese Cats. So we just went ahead and did the rest of school. For me, that means reading the devotional with the girls and doing history. They do the rest themselves. For history we just started a DVD course "The Later Middle Ages" taught by a W&M professor; I also bought a couple other DVD courses to supplement-one on the Popes and the Papacy, and one on Great Authors of the Western World. We're just going to watch some of those for history, and Della will watch some for background as she does some of her reading list.
I am really enjoying using these courses now that all the students are old enough (though Esther still thinks they are kind of boring).
We had our first frost Oct 19-I brought in the last peppers, tomatos, and basil. There are still some young greens in the raised beds, but don't know if they will produce anything. We haven't had more than 1 rain for a month.
Laura, where are the pictures?
Rebecca, I am reading the Elemental Masters books of M. Lackey and two in particular are good: The Serpent's Shadow, and Phoenix and Ashes, should be read in that order. Of course you do have to wade through the soapbox lectures on women's equality/socialism, but they are fun books!

Back home again

It's Sunday night. The past few days I have been in Newport News seeing Laura, and Annapolis seeing Grandma, and Fairfax seeing Hannah, and I'm REALLY done with driving for the next two days!
Today Dad and I went to Lowes and bought a new fridge. The circa 1987 fridge in the kitchen is starting to have troubles, so I've had a stainless steel one picked out for several months. This weekend they had a tax holiday for energy start appliances, and Lowes had 10% off and I had an $89 rebate card from when we bought the freezer. So we did shave some off the price.
We also looked at flooring. The carpet really needs to be replaced in the living room/office area. I just can't figure out what to put in that wouldn't clash with the hallway (one kind of wood) or the fireplace room (another kind of wood).
Talked to Ansil, Hannah, of course Laura this weekend. Didn't hear anything from Rebecca. (If you are reading this, honey, hope things were ok for you this weekend-call me!)
Della and Esther and Dad were at a goat show this weekend. Seb went with me down to see Laura and her friend Rachel. They are looking for houses close together since both their husbands are going to be stationed out of Langley AFB for the last year of PA training. It's a nice place down there (but you certainly have to pick your neighborhood).
Grandma and I did some more beading. I made a necklace of Czechoslavakian glass that she had found to match a blouse I'd bought. Grandma's into making blouse and necklace sets. It's really nice to fit the length of the necklace, as well as the colors, to a particular top.
All for now, darlings.

Still Seems Like Monday..

Well, it's the end of Tuesday as far as school and housework are concerned and I'm feeling ruffled. 

(Like a hen, all ruffled!). Two of my chicks have had a hard day. Ansil lost his Ipod as he was recovering from a stomach bug (talk about a double whammy) and Laura had a bad time during a hurried trip to the commissary. Then an old acquaintance has been giving me a pain in the neck, for complicated reasons. Even going out to do chickens didn't work-usually it makes me relax.  So I decided to write something.

Let's see, we are finally on our way to having a nice farm sign. I've decided on Harvest Home Farm. That's always been my greatest pleasure, having the harvest. The younger girls think there should be goats on the sign, but I know I'll always have veggies in some fashion, so it will have a more botanical emphasis. I thought of SilverHills Farm, which is what I called this place, but what if we move? I'll always be harvesting something, even if I don't have animals.
I had some successes this year, and some failures this year, in the garden. That's always the case! For the first time ever, I grew outstanding sweet potatoes. Some were 3 lbs! I credit goat manure (which doesn't burn plants and can go on fresh, so to speak) and Dad's newest raised bed. I have 3 raised beds now altogether. The beans in the second bed did as well as they could considering we had 6 straight weeks without rain, and the other benefit was that the deer never found them. The deer ate my other beans twice, and finally I gave up for the year. I only got the two pickings that I did because we tied up a dog by the garden every night. Finally, though, the deer realized the dog was tied and snuck in a ate the top (new) row up, and I surrendered. The battle will recommence next year.

We just finished putting all the corn in the freezer. We had corn on the cob several times, and froze quite a bit, even though a heavy rain and wind knocked all the stalks over just before they were ready. I grew butternut squash under the corn. I also tried, once again, to grow the "3 sisters" like the Indians did-squash, corn, and shell beans, but once again, I only achieved the 2 sisters. The beans didn't come up.

The okra was washed away in June, so I had to plant late, and we are getting just enough to eat and freeze a batch every two or three days. I know okra isn't to everyone's taste, but any vegetable that grows under poor conditions, supplies calcium and vitamens, and keeps bearing until frost, deserves some respect! Try breading with plain cornmeal and frying in a little oil.

I grew a few collard greens, but bugs took care of them (flea beetles, that leave the leaves looking like lace). Now I have my three raised beds replanted for the fall: radishes, turnip greens, and spinach. 

The tomatos and peppers did fairly well, but the yellow tomato did not perform well next to Marglobe, a heirloom and commonly grown type. The yellows cracked and produced only lightly.

Also, I think their taste rather insipid, but a tomato and basil salad made with both red and yellow tomatoes is striking.

Do you all remember that salad? Rebecca, is it in Edward Heth's book? Mine has fallen apart.

It is chopped tomatoes, onion, and fresh basil, in a vinagrette. Something like 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and sugar/splenda to taste. I like the sugar! 

It occurred to me that my recipes should be seasonal. Here I am giving a great tomato recipe after the peak of the season. My garden tomatos are gone, but I have a couple plants at the front porch. It's a good idea to spread your plants around your property. Sometimes one type will flourish in one spot and not do well elsewhere. And NEVER plant mint around your veggie garden, because it is a great invader!

Another seasonally incorrect salad recipe:

Green Bean Salad

4 cups green beans slightly cooked 

1/4 cup bacon pieces

thinly sliced onion

make the dressing: 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, and sugar each.

Mix and refridgerate.

Good with frozen beans from Trader Joes, just defrost them and make the salad!

Here's a salad dressing from the midwest; I thought Josh might like this one.

Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing

1 cup sugar (I bet splenda would work too)

1 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 tsps celery seed

1 tso salt

1 tsp pepper

1 cup vinegar

1 can tomato soup

1 cup salad oil

My neighbor in Hawaii, who hailed from Nebraska, gave me this recipe. It's a lot like one my Mom always made. Ilike both of them, since when tomatoes are expensive, they add color to a green salad. I think I must have lightened up Mom's recipe over the years; I remember it used to use tomato soup too, but I was making it more economical.

Betty's French Dressing

8 oz can tomato sauce

1 tsp prepared mustard

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tsp dried minced onion 

1 tsp grated ginger (use the convenience form in the jar!)

1 Tablespoon worchestershire

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp paprika

Now that so many of you are gone, I have gone from the old tossed salad to, ahem, composing salads. That's when you arrange all the salad elements on individual plates. I think my mother must have given us composed salads a lot. She always cared how her meals looked. I loved the pear bunnies on beds of lettuce.

Well, I must go finish dinner now. It's leftover applesauce chicken (from the crockpot lady's blog),  cubes of green pepper, and a can of Bush's Grillin' Beans Smokehouse Tradition mixed together. These beans don't have high fructose corn syrup, by the way. We're also having sweet potatoes, and the last fresh green beans and cut up green peppers. So a lot came out of the garden still, for this meal.

Sunday at home

Noontime-

Seb playing Russian airborne video on his computer (repeatedly). I have eaten a big breakfast, still recovering from 3 days of fair eating, which means mostly little snacks since I can't take the fair food. 

You wouldn't believe what gets fried at fairs. The new things I saw this year:

fried coke (it's stirred into a batter so I guess you get a coke flavored pancake)

fried mac and cheese

and the prize winner, fried oreos. They are dipped in batter and fried. Eeww.

Hannah is coming over this afternoon with the giant aquarium and 3 turtles that Della talked her into picking up in Herndon. Where is this going? Della's room? Hmm.

Talked to Rebecca yesterday and exchanged book recommendations. She and Josh are working on the paperwork for buying a house down there. She says prices have dipped. Maybe she'll find Dad and me a cute little Florida farm to retire to?

At the fair, I bought several orchids. Hannah gave me one a while back and I realized it was actually rather interesting. Especially now that I've seen more varieties. ALSO I was told how orchids need a special type of pot and maybe I can make a few of those! I have to do some research on that.

Second interesting find was hand made glass pendants. I plan to make them into the center point of beaded necklaces for you girls for Christmas.  What I'd like to know from you is what length you would like. Either measure a necklace you like or take a string with a weight (to simulate a pendant). For instance, I like 18.5 inches since I'm shortwaisted and otherwise beautiful jewelry falls into my cleavage and is never seen again :) One of the best features of this beading business (which I am not into as much as Granma and the aunties yet!) is that you can pick your length.

All for now, I go to pick up the wreckage left by Dad and Seb the last 3 days.

State Fair

We have a heap of things waiting to go into the truck.  The redoubtable Mrs. Brown will show up early tomorrow am and off we will go. I will be there till Saturday, then I'll trade off with Dad and have a quiet Saturday night at home (esp. if I send Seb off to Steven's to play his decadent games). Then I think Hannah's coming over Sunday since Luke is gone to a concert that night.

Seb is describing killing hadjis in excruciating detail despite my efforts to ignore him. 

Dad is asleep.

Rain is coming in.

Yes, this is a bit dark, as rat would say to pig. (See "Pearls Before Swine", a la Seb)

Issue Number One

Ok, daughters, I am on my way to a blog. I'm not going to spend too much time writing today, just trying to get it set up.