I can feel my summer mood coming on!

Today I gave part of a final exam, I have only two more Mondays and one more Wednesday until summer break starts. I love the month I am off before the kids are, I can get lots of jobs around the house done, the weather is great, and it stays light later. I always feel like I have more time when it is light at 9 o'clock, and I actually enjoy working after the kids are in bed and the sun is still up! The first thing on my list is to get the book cases into the living room and get that place in order.

After class, I came home to a robust group of kids. Emily was kind enough to watch Grayson today, and soon after I got home, the three school kids came home as well. For having six kids in the house, they were pretty good and not as loud as usual :) We ordered some pizzas for dinner, fed the kids and then Em had to take Declan to soccer and Haven went along. The other four kids split up amongst two rooms and two movies. The babies got bored and came down, we rough housed a bit and I am sure they will both sleep well tonight. It was actually quite peaceful with the four of them, they just hung out and played, not one single fight took place!

It was a really nice day, and all of my work is done, so I can relax and enjoy my evening.

Quiet

I haven't posted since Sunday, big break :O

So I am settling down at PT school, just finals left so that is a huge relief. FT school got a bit busy as the other FT person in my department is heading out on a leave of absence., no biggie though, I worked alone in the department for a long time, so just a little extra on my plate. I also have an interview on Thursday for a PT tutoring gig, should be enough to help out during summer, and not too many hours a week, so I can still hang with the kiddos.

I absolutely cannot wait until the beach trip at the end of June. A week at the beach with the Fallon's and the kids, what could be better...maybe a week without the kids ;)

The nasty economy

I try not to talk about it too much here, but the housing market and the economy are really causing me stress. Our original plans were to move in the next two or three years, but with the way things look, we will be lucky if our house is worth what we owe on it then. Right now, my house value has decreased almost 20K in the last year, and it went down another 30K in the previous year. From it's highest value (which was too inflated) the value is now 100K less. That is crazy, we have owned the house for 4 1/2 years and have sunk a ton of money into it. It scares the crap out of me that the market and economy are so unstable. For the most part, my industry (higher ed) is stable and often sees growth during poor economic times, my husband's industry (IT) does not. If he lost his job, we could not survive, and we couldn't sell our house for anything worthwhile either. THAT is scary.

So now, what does one do about it? Well, we are trying as hard as possible to cut back on expenses. Usually this is pretty easy in summer, less is spent on gas, extras etc. I am hoping that I can pick up another part time job, that will offset the loss of my PT wages during summer and will pay down debt during the rest of the year. As long as I can work PT, I can handle another job, and I want to pack away as much extra cash as possible while paying down debt.

Maybe, just maybe, we will see an end to this soon, although I am not hopeful.

Sweet memories

I was watching a show on diners today and one that was featured was Ed Debevics. This brought back memories of going to the Ed Debevics that was located in the village back in high school. I remember going there after the AIDS Walk, we got soaked to the bone and had to buy clothes, then we went and ate lunch at Ed Debevics. It was always fun to sit there and be harassed, the memories I have of going into the city as a teenager are ones that I wouldn't trade for anything. Back then the world was so new and fresh, and exploring who we were as people, our likes and dislikes, and trying new things always made the trips exciting. My friends from them, some of which I am fortunate enough to still have a relationship with, are so important to me. I became defined in those years, I learned more about who I was, and who I wanted to be through our adventures. Through the years, and relationships, college, jobs, kids, and what not, I can still see my friends as they were then, and I love that they still exist, and that they still let me hang around.

There were years when I first became a mom that I lost myself. I wanted to fit the mold of the other moms, perfect house, perfect kids, perfect everything. Well by nature I am not perfect, let's face it, I am more of a mess than I am together, although I do put up a nice front. I gave up on what I loved and tried to be someone I wasn't, and it was a sad and lonely time for me. Now I know who I am, and I am the happiest I have been in years living the way I do. I have let my hippie back out, and every day I strive to simplify our lives and our environmental impact. I know that the changes I am making will positively impact my family and cannot wait until we can move to more land. It is so rewarding to be yourself, more people should try it :)

How to stop the preteen train

So Brittan had a soccer game this morning, and we all got ready to go. I packed snack for the kids, drinks, etc so that Haven and Gray would have something while Brittan played (she gets snack at halftime and the end). We got there and my family wanted to sit far away from the field in the shade, I moved them to direct sunlight right along side the field, we were there to cheer after all.

Haven and Grayson went to play on the playground, and she comes back screaming and crying that Grayson hit her with a stick. I come to find out that he DID hit her with a stick, AFTER she tormented him, teased him and yelled at him. She then proceeded to throw a two year old tantrum, unpleasant with an almost 8 year old, and Ryan ended up dragging her off to the car. Her behaviour is terrible, and we are trying to get her under control before she hits her teen years. Anyone have advice? She is a strong willed, dramatic, over the top girl..HELP!

Under the weather, loving the weather

So I am feeling a little under the weather today, so much so that I actually went back to bed from 11 am-1pm, which is very unlike me. Prior to heading back to bed, I did clean up the house a bit, switch laundry, and get the bottom tier of the garden planted (Ryan did help me out at the end as I was really starting to feel ill...any zucchini we get is thanks to him!)

I went to bed and felt a bit better after my rest, came down and vacuumed, did the dishes, drank some tea and folded a few baskets of clothes. Dinner tonight was eye steaks (I am still amazed at how delicious the meat is!) sauteed potatoes and onions, jasmine rice (for Ry and Gray) wilted greens and salad, such a feast! All of it was so delicious, and I love that we are back into grilling and fresh veg season.

After dinner, the kids and Ryan took a walk, and I made them some pudding for dessert, and everyone has had a fun and relaxing afternoon and evening. Soon the kids will head to bed, I will settle onto the couch with tea or coffee and maybe a book, and a glorious breeze will blow through the open doors and windows. You have to love this time of year, everything is green and growing, the garden is full of summer harvest potential and the air is fresh. Perfect.

Anyone can cook!

So, I really don't understand when people say they can't cook. You throw stuff together and get a meal, and for me it never seems stressful or hard, even when cooking from scratch.

Tonight I planned to make chicken and dumplings as I had some nice leftover roast chicken and I had the drippings from that chicken as well. So I diced half an onion and chopped a few carrots and threw them in a pot with the drippings. Cooked them until tender, added the diced leftover chicken, some flour, salt, pepper and fresh sage. Added some water to top the pot and left everything to cook for about half an hour. Came back and everything was bubbly, so threw in about half a cup of half and half and some peas, mixed the dumplings (flour, milk, parsley, salt, pepper and baking powder) and added them to the pot. I ended up with too many dumplings, so they couldn't spread out, so I threw the pot into the oven and the dumplings cooked to a lovely crunch on top, and the soft and tender dumplings on the bottom. Simple, delicious and all made from scratch.

Productive day

So we got up and got the girls to school, although I had a bad night and was a bit crabby, the morning went off without a hitch. Came home and did a few chores. Ry went back to bed since he was really tired, and then Gray and I went out. Dropped off some clothes at Goodwill then we were off to pick up the CSA stuff. Another great haul, I cannot tell you how thrilled I have been with the amount of produce and the quality is amazing. I wasn't expecting much out of the Spring CSA, so I am looking forward to seeing what comes in the Summer!

I got the top tier of the big garden planted, the snow peas are looking great, the pole beans didn't start as well as I wanted in the peat pots, so I directly sowed a bunch more. The carrots and all three types of lettuce are in the ground. Tomorrow the tomatoes, cukes, zucchinis and eggplants will go in the ground. When that is done, everything will be planted, and I am so excited and relieved!

We have meat!!!

Emily and I went and picked up our beef order today. It looks great, except we did opt for A LOT of ground beef, so next time we will not ask for so much! Looking at what we have, we will be placing another order in the next few weeks. It takes awhile to get the meat in, almost two months, so we want to plan ahead. Next in line is finding a pig, mmm bacon, sausage, ribs and ham!

On the agenda for today, I need to go teach and then home to make burgers!!

What does the future hold?

These last few weeks I have been antsy, maybe it is the spring weather, maybe it is the sheer abundance that needs to be done daily, but I want a slower lifestyle. Ryan and I have always agreed that the plan is to move to a nice piece of land. He is OK with it ending there, us living on our land (hopefully near a reasonable city) and planting a garden and some flowers. I, on the other hand, want a small farm. I would love raise chickens, pigs, goats and horses. I am fine with the circle of life and having an area where the broilers live (so we don't get attached) and then have our laying hens that we treat as pets. I have no issues with raising some pigs and sending some of them off to the butcher as needed. I want an apple and pear orchard, a huge berry patch and large garden. I would be content sitting at the farmers market in the summer and learning to make yogurt and cheese. The simple life is something I feel I need. I am so high stress, that it is easy for me to overload myself, and slowing down would be good for my soul and my health.

We talked about it tonight, and Ryan is OK with moving to the land and letting me have my mini farm. He does not want to head south, but he is OK with heading north, maybe into upstate NY. If the housing market recovers in the next few years, we will try to get him a job up there since my FT gig is from home and I can move with it. It would be awesome to have only one job, and for us to have more time together as a family. It is my dream, and while it seems so far away and unattainable, maybe we will get lucky.

A well deserved quiet day

It is still rainy and gloomy today, but that is OK as I plan to hang about in my pajamas. With the nasty weather, I am sure there will be no soccer, so I have no need to leave the house. My classes are on break, PT school is all caught up so all I have to do is basic things for FT school. Dinner will be a delicious pork roast and all the fixin's, there is nothing better than cooking up a storm on a cold and rainy day. I plan to rest and do a little housework, and that is about it. Since I am still feeling yucky, I feel the day off will be good for me, and I know Gray could stand to enjoy the quiet today too.

Tomorrow we have to pick up our meat order (hooray!) and then I have to teach. Thursday I am planting the seedlings in the main garden. Looks as though the trellis isn't going up this year, so I need to go and get some tomato cages. I am so excited to get the plants into the ground, and even more excited to see the fruits of our labor!

Once everything is planted, I will post some pictures.

A long day, and a long night

My day has been long and tiring, and I still need to go to teach class.

We got up very early, got the girls off, then Gray and I came home to clean up. I baked muffins for the girl scouts and did my course checks which took forever. Dealt with a rude student, cleaned up a bit then went to lunch. Came home and did the dishes and some other tasks, finished grading papers, inputted grades and got dinner going. Class tonight will be long, and I really am not feeling well, so I am happy that tomorrow I don't have to leave the house. I am staying in my PJ's all day and trying to relax. We will see how it goes :)

Planning for summer eat local challenge

It is always fun to try a challenge, and this year we will be trying the Eat Local challenge. While cooking up dinner tonight, I realized that almost everything included will be local this summer. We had a simple supper of potato pancakes, and this summer the potatoes and carrots will be grown in our yard, the eggs come from the CSA or farm, and I serve it with my own homemade apple butter made from local apples. The only non-local ingredients are the salt and the flour, and I am on the lookout for local flour :) Anyone know where I can get some that is grown and milled in VA?

Rain and more rain, but the plants will grow

Our beautiful weather has left, no more sun or warmth, not even a trace of it.

Today is gray and rainy, and being that I already feel sick, I am not thrilled. Looks as though tomorrow will be more of the same, and it may spread into Wednesday....yuck :(

On a bright note, our meat order comes in on Wednesday. Poor Emily has to go get it since I have class, and she gets to take Ryan and Grayson along..poor poor Em. We got the freezer all defrosted this weekend, so we are ready for the beef to come, and we have plenty of room to store some of Emily's as well! I am so excited that 1. we have really healthy, tasty fresh beef and 2. I won't have to buy beef during the summer when are bank accounts are lean :)

Now I just need to bulk up the chicken supply, and I will make a run to Costco to buy 10 whole chickens and at least 25 lbs of chicken breasts and 10 lbs of legs and thighs to get through the summer. My goal is to only have to buy milk, cheese, the occasional bread, and a few other small items through summer. The CSA and our garden should keep us in fresh veggies and the small berry patch will give us enough for eating this year (and more than enough for canning and freezing next year!) We will pick strawberries for Mother's Day and will get at least 3 if not 5 flats of berries. This year I will can the jam rather than make freezer jam and I plan to bake bread in pots at Christmas time and give it as gifts with the jam, yummy!

I am itching for fresh foods. If my plan works, I should be able to skate by on under $100 a week during the summer for food, some weeks may be as low as $50, not too shabby for a family of 5!

When will housing stop dropping?

The housing crisis is really screwing with our plans. We have been fixing our house up, redoing bathrooms, kitchens, etc, all as we planned to move when I was done with school. With housing the way it is, it is looking unlikely that we will have the option to move out of our house in the next three years. This puts a lot of pressure on me to find a full time, onground, teaching position here that pays enough for me to pay back loans and us stay in this house. This also means that we would be here much longer than anticipated, as we wouldn't move if I secured a job. The scenario now is that I will do my best to find a job here and if I do, we will find a new house with more land in the area here. That will be a tough feat since most of the houses on land here are ridiculous in price.

Feel like hell

I just feel like crap. I guess I got the kid's cold, but man, I feel crappy. Congested, sore and tired. The cat also has a belly ache, so that means a trip to the vet tomorrow, with three kids in tow. Yippee.

I still need to go grade papers and get my butt to bed. The kids will be up early and they don't care how I feel. Tomorrow I need to grade the papers I don't get to tonight, fold clothes, clean the house, take the cat to the vet and go to swimming for two hours. Fun, fun, fun!

Oh it makes me so mad!!!!!!!

So I just watched a video on how to save money at the grocery store. The clip was from ABC News, and they missed a big opportunity to talk about buying local, but of course, they didn't. They explained that grocery prices had gone up 17% in a year and then went to the store to point out that sausage costs more than bacon and skim milk less than 2% (are we happy about that?). They then said that you should buy fruit in season, and very briefly mentioned fuel costs affecting overall prices.

YES we need to buy in season...if we all bought in season think of the impact it would have. We also need to buy LOCALLY. Prices are not as affected when a product only travels a short distance. I know the beef we are getting costs me way less than the cheapest supermarket beef when you average the prime cuts with the ground. That is because the beef is from Maryland, and the travel time is minimal, and the increased cost to the farmer is small, so he can keep prices lower. We pay more for milk than at the grocery store. Last I checked, a gallon of 2 %milk at the grocery store ran us just over $4, and I pay $3.60 for a half gallon. I am fine with paying the extra, my kids drink less of the farm milk as it is quite rich, and I am not getting all of the hormones and antibiotics, which is worth every cent! I also enjoy recycling the milk bottles, and I am content to pay more for milk for less trash being produced. Right now, I get my eggs from two different farms, one costs me $1.50 a dozen for free range brown eggs (find them in the store for that) and the other comes as part of the CSA costing me about $3 a dozen, again, cheaper than the good eggs at the store. My CSA haul last week cost me about $23 and I got a nice jar of local honey, eggs, broccoli rabe, green garlic, radishes, salad greens, and herbs, and if I had bought all of that at the store, it would have run me at least $35. Oh why can't everyone get that it only takes a few more minutes, and the payoff is huge for everyone?

So tired, and the day won't end

So, we got the back garden almost ready to go. A few more bags of manure and soil, a few more runs of the tiller, and we are up and running. It is such a relief to know that we are almost ready to finish the planting. Once the garden is planted, I can move on to other tasks that have been on hold. This summer I need to get the bookcases up in the living room, the garage needs an overhaul and I want to paint the kitchen cabinets and re-grout the countertops. Also, if I get the time, I will paint the master bathroom and tile the floor. All this plus work, take care of three kids, run them around town and do all of the garden work, canning and cleaning. Should be a breeze right?

Who turned on the heat?

As is typical here in Virginia, we go from 40's and 50's to high 70's and 80's almost overnight. Today's high is expected to each 85, that is pretty dang warm for April!

Gray and I went and hauled another 20 bags of soil today. Then we planted the side garden, all but the sweet potatoes which won't be ready until mid May. Ryan finished the berry patch, and I hope we get lots of berries, although we know the first year isn't the best. We have a ton of strawberries, three blueberry bushes, raspberries and blackberries. They will come back each year, so we will be enjoying them for years to come. The main garden is still a work in progress. I am hoping we can move a bunch of the soil into the lower garden today so that i can till and plant it next week. the upper garden still needs to be turned a lot, it has probably not been moved about since the house was built over 30 years ago! We also need to build the trellis, which should be a simple bunch of two by fours, although sinking them into the soil might be tricky. Worse comes to worse, I can grow the beans and tomatoes in cages, although the end result will not be as plentiful.

So much to do, but we are making headway. Now if I could figure out a way to do all of this all day, keep the house clean and get my work done, now that is quite the feat!

Doctors, oil changes, CSA's and more!

So, it was a bad night. A very long and loud bad night, but it is over. Took Grayson to the doctor, he has another ear infection and sinus infection. They gave home a14 day treatment of antibiotics, but Ryan and I are thinking of throwing the script out. We are tired of giving him these medicines and them not working. I do know if he would get on Dr. Tom's table he would feel better, but there is only so much coaxing you can do with a three year old.

We also had the oil changed, yippee. Then we headed off to gather the weekly CSA goodies. I have been very happy with what has been packed up each week, and admit I was nervous about the Spring CSA as the options are usually limited in produce. This week we have a huge bag of greens, more radishes, green garlic, chives and parsley, broccoli rabe and a jar of honey! That is a great haul for what we are spending, and I love that we are supporting local farms. I cannot wait to see what we get for summer, and along with our garden, I am feeling hopeful that we will be able to can and freeze enough to last most of the winter!

I am now off to till the new garden once more and plane the acorn squash, butternut squash, sweet pumpkins and fingelings. Sweet potatoes will also be in this garden, but the plants will not be in until May.