What's Up?

I figure it is time to spend a moment with my poor little neglected blog! When even my sister e-mails me to mention that I haven't posted in a long time I know I've been MIA. I still make the time to read many of my favorites every few days, I just haven't made the time to do much writing for myself. I want this blog to be a place where I share ideas and chronicle things in my family's life and I need to remember to spend some time doing that. Of course, I'm also 22 weeks pregnant, have an 18 month old, a husband, a job, a home, and a few meals and loads of laundry that also like my attention. I do not claim to be superwoman and am learning over time that often low expectations are called for in certain circumstances. However, I do want to keep blogging!

So what have I been doing? See above.

Actually, I have also been doing a lot more learning about a subject that is important to me. Over the last couple of years I've really wanted to move towards being more self sustaining. We do not have the land to really grow a lot of our own food (someday!), but I still want to have a more active in roll in knowing where our food comes from, how it was grown/raised, and in having stored food that allows us some control over our diet. I'm really proud of the canning I did last year and cannot wait to do even more this summer. (Did I mention I got a pressure canner for Christmas? I DID! And I can't wait to try canning vegetables that aren't pickles or tomatoes.) The last two years I've been a regular at our farmer's market and we are still eating potatoes and cabbages and squashes that I bought the last Thursday they were open. This last week I've spent a bunch of time learning things that make me realize that my baby steps have been on the correct path. And that it is time to really take things to the next level. We have been pricing beef and pork that is grass fed and those that are corn finished here and from a locker we love in South Dakota. (I consider that locker to be 'local' for us because we visit the tiny town when we see my grandparents. They do not have grass fed beef, but they actually know the name of the farmer who supplies all their animals...shocking in today's market place.) I've vowed not to buy any more meat from the grocery store and we are eating through some of our freezer stash as we decide when and where we will get our meat in the future.

As a VERY frugal person this is probably going to be the biggest jump for us. I've found the farmer's market to be incredibly frugal in providing near organic food for a great price. I buy what is in season, I compare vendors, I buy seconds at times and I'll buy in bulk. For instance I bought 50 pounds of potatoes from a farmer who uses no sprays on her potatoes. She isn't certified organic, that is fine with me. Potatoes are on the 'dirty dozen' list and hers are not showered in pesticides and such. The best price I've seen on organic potatoes in the grocery store was 10 pounds for $3.89. For 50 pounds I paid $11 to a local farmer. Call me crazy, but that is pretty frugal. I've bought a bushel of green peppers for $2, two bushels of squash (acorn, delicata, spaghetti, and butternut) for $10, a peck of sweet onions for $4, and on and on. Basically the farmer's market gets me great, local, near organic produce for prices that equal or beat the price on most conventionally grown items.

However, with meat that will not be the case. I buy meat when it is a loss leader. I've paid $.29/lb for chicken quarters, $.89/lb pork shoulder, $.99/ham, $.79/lb hamburger and such throughout the last two years. It is not always that cheap, but it is often close to those prices due to shopping sales and marked for quick sale items. When buying a 1/2 pig or a 1/4 or 1/2 cow we will be spending much, much more per pound. Grass fed beef in this area often gets $3.59/lb for a quarter (often processing is in addition to that price). We can get a 1/4 for about $2/lb from the little locker, but that cow will not be grass fed. (We do not know yet if the cow is just corn finished or if it is a feed lot cow.) And if we go with the South Dakota locker we would have to wait until we go to South Dakota to get meat. And I'd have to make sure they didn't add MSG to the sausage, which the package I bought in January says is added. ugg.

There are lots of questions to answer and details to work out, but this is what I know. CAFO beef is not okay with me anymore. I do not want to support conventionally grown poultry, swine or beef operations. I want farmer's to be paid a fair wage for the work they do in raising my family's food. I want to opt out of a factory farming system. I know we will not be able to do so 100% of the time. We travel, we eat at other family's homes, we eat at restaurants from time to time. However, the vast majority of our meals are made here in our home. I want them to feature meat that is not laden with antibiotics, growth hormones, non-food chemicals, and such. I want the animals to have had a decent life and a swift death. I want the workers who took care of both aspects to have held their jobs with some respect and not be victims of an over industrialized system themselves. I just want to know what is going on when it comes to the food I give my children.

I'm sure I'll have more to say about this as it is an ongoing process of learning. I'm not saying any of this to make anyone else feel bad about their food choices. Goodness knows we are all doing the best we can. I feel about this kind of how I did about how birth is dealt with in this country. I had no idea what I knew and what I didn't know. I started asking questions and I started learning and the more I learned, the more I asked (and am still asking) and the more I asked the more I was sure that things should be more transparent and that I should be more knowledgeable than I am. Than I thought I was.

I had no idea how lucky I was to know the names of the cows we ate growing up. I want my kids to have at least some of that same experience. If that means a dramatic rise in our grocery budget than so be it. Our health is worth it, our responsibility is worth it.

Wish me luck!
Heather

Cuddle Time

Is there anything sweeter than cuddling with a little one? Our little guy was never a particularly cuddly kid. As a baby he was, I guess. He didn't really have a choice! As soon as he became more mobile he got focused on his independence. We'd get to hold him often, don't get me wrong, but he was often exploring or playing or just generally hanging out.

He has been walking (running) for over 3 months now. I don't know if he has finally realized that we aren't going to stop him from exploring or what, but lately he has wanted to cuddle. Not in that "I'm cranky and you have to hold me, don't put me down, I'll scream and cry like the devil if you even think about putting me down, hold me, hold me, hold me!" way, but in the "I just want to crawl on your lap and hug you for a while." way. Last night he even came over to me while I was sitting on the couch and put his head on my leg. He just stood there and let me stroke his hair and relaxed next to me. Pure bliss!

He has started giving big hugs now and is even making strides towards kissing. It sounds funny, but for the million or so kisses we've given him he's never been a kisser. He will mimic the sound of us kissing him, but he doesn't give us kisses back. Now he makes the face, puckers his lips and leans in. We have to come the rest of the way, but it is awfully cute to see! We really like our new cuddly boy. There is something so great about having our little one want to be so sweet with us and yet not be demanding or whiny about it. I tell him often that someday there will be a lady who he will love to cuddle with more than his Daddy and me, but for now I am awfully glad that he likes cuddling with us!

Sometimes there is just nothing as great as being a parent,
Heather

And Happy New Year!

Okay, lately it seems that I am on a 'major holiday--time to post' kick lately. However, as previously mentioned I may be getting every so slightly more energetic and I do plan to pick it up again! I always noticed that posting would get down for a while on some of my favorite blogs (Like Merchant Ships, Tammy's Recipes) and then a while later here came the announcement that there is a little one on the way. I understood then and I understand even better now!

I just wanted to post a Happy New Year to everyone out there. I hope it is a night of reflection, fun and safety! I'm such a mom, but I can't help worrying. Especially when the love of my life is going to be on the road. He's a musician and tonight is a night that you want to be booked. Due to some strange circumstances he isn't playing his normal NYE gig, but he is out there and I am looking forward to having him back home with me. My partying consists of putting the little one to bed, checking blogs, making a few cheese sticks and heading to bed early. Wow, I'm pretty boring! Actually, it is more like I worked today, I work a LONG day tomorrow and then I open on Saturday. I'll be a tired girl come Saturday afternoon! But, what a change from the partying nights of just a few years ago. And I wouldn't change it for the world.

What a wonderful, blessed year we've had in 2009. Our little one has grown like crazy, he is working on talking and mimicking, he's happy, he's healthy and he's the light of our lives. My husband took a leap, gave up his biggest client and is now pursuing his real passion full time. He did so in a not so great economy and is making it work! I'm so proud of what he has accomplished and will have to do a full post (or more) on what he has all done in 2009....TV in 7 states, radio in about the same number, played libraries all over the place! I've been able to do what I do best (being a wife and Mama) not quite full time, but way more than if I still had my 'big girl' career. I'm working, but doing so only enought to provide benefits that protect my family. When I am working I know our little one is having fun with his Dada at home. I've got a huge blessing growing and moving inside of me. We are warm, fed, and love each other. I really couldn't ask for more.

I look forward to seeing what 2010 has to offer our family!

Happy New Year to you,
Heather

Merry Christmas!

I'm up early on Christmas morning...why? I have no idea. Seriously, this is one of a handful of Christmas mornings that I could sleep in. In a no time we'll have a little guy that will be up early each year in order to see what Santa brought him and I'll have to be up with him. This year? This year he really has no idea who that Santa guy is and I could have slept for at least a few more hours and here I am awake!

One reason for my early wakefulness is that it has been raining like crazy all night long. Every so often we get some water in our basement if it really rains hard. Therefore my brain has been trying to figure out if things are moved enough that they wouldn't get wet if water came in. Finally I decided I'd go check it out since there was no shutting that switch off. Seriously, why was I stressing at 4:15 am? We'd deal with it either way.

We had beautiful snow when we woke up yesterday morning, but this morning I fear that the ground will be all brown and there will be puddles. The white Christmas may be gone already. Granted, we'll get plenty more white stuff throughout the winter, but I love pretty snow on Christmas. It just feels right!

I really feel like I should apologize to my poor little neglected blog and any of you that may still be reading! I do plan to get back to posting more regularly as it encourages me, gets me taking more pictures of our lives and is a great outlet. However, I've been slow for a good (actually, great) reason so I don't feel too bad. I've had to focus on doing what I can with the energy I've got and that focus has been my little guy, my husband, cooking, working and other fun things like laundry and doing dishes. When I have no energy it really is all I can do to keep meals on the table and the house somewhat livable. Thank goodness for a very understanding husband who picks up the slack!

Have you figured it out yet? We'll be adding another little one to our family in early June of 2010. I'm so excited and am grateful that I seem to be past the worst of the nausea and might even be getting back some energy. I really get drained when pregnant and this time around I can't just sleep the days away when I get home from work. The little guy keeps us hopping and he doesn't seem concerned about his tired Mommy's need for sleep! We will grateful get through this time though, in appreciation for the gift to come. I can't wait to be the Mommy of two!

Any ideas that you have to prepare our little guy for the next one would be much appreciated. He'll be about 22 months when this baby arrives. He now says/signs 'baby' and we've given him a baby doll of his own. He is getting very interested in pictures of babies and calls most kids (some years older than him) babies right now. I tell him about the baby in my belly, but none of it makes sense as far as I can tell. I'd love any tips that you may have!

Have a wonderful Christmas! It really is a blessed holiday and one that I am glad to be spending with my little family.

Heather

We're Back!

We got back from our long road trip on Sunday night and have been catching up and working ever since! Are we crazy for taking a now 16 month old on a 13 hour (each way) car trip without any electronic entertainment? And we even own a portable DVD player that we were given a few years ago. Everyone I've talked to thinks we are nuts for not using it.

But even so, our movie deprived child and his sleep deprived parents arrived home in one piece. We were thankful to be with family and now we are thankful to be back in our little home sweet home! Even if we did bring a nasty cold back from Arkansas with us. I guess there are only so many days that you can put 10 people who are not used to each other's germs in a house and not get sick. According to our calculations the number of days would 5. The end of the 5th day at least 3 people will come down with something pretty much all at once. We were like our own little science experiment!

I've got the day off tomorrow and am excited to get another load of vaccation laundry done, bake some bread, and jot down some of what has been happening around here.

Hope your holiday was wonderful and that your leftovers are eaten or frozen by now! Food poisoning is not fun for anyone :) And no, we didn't have any of that on our trip, just beautiful weather for biking and picture taking, great food, fun with cousins and wonderful hospitality by a great sister and her patient husband.

Heather

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, I've mostly been missing, haven't I? Just wanted to pop in quick tonight and wish anyone who is still hanging in there with me an early Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. I love the turkey, the mashed potatoes, all the sides, all the desserts. I love being with people I love...even when things get crazy. And let's be real, we all know they will at some point! I have always thought of Thanksgiving as MY holiday. Seem selfish? Well, I think I am entitled as I was born on Thanksgiving day. I was actually born at 11:47 AM on Thanksgiving day in order to be present for the turkey dinner. And I haven't missed one since. Except for the one year that we had lasagna since we'd had the tradition turkey dinner the weekend before with extended family. And honestly, I still haven't forgiven my mom for that. I think I was about 10 when that happened. It haunts me.

This year we will be traveling to be with my sister, brother-in-law, the munchkins, my mom and my dad. It will be a LONG trip with the little guy, but I cannot wait to see him with their cousins! And after all the eating on Thursday we'll have to sneak in a little birthday cake on Friday. :)

Wishing you all a wonderful time of family, food, and fellowship. I promise an update about our crazy lives when we get back. It should explain my lack of attentiveness to this poor little blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather

Two Down, Forty Eight Or So To Go!

Today Mike and I celebrate two years of marriage. It is hard to believe that it has already been two years and at the same time it is almost impossible to believe that it has only been two years. At this point I really cannot imagine my life without him in it. We've been together just over 4 years total (1 year of dating, 1 of engagement and now two of marriage) and in that time our lives have changed so dramatically.

When we met I was working in school fundraising, living in my little starter house, I had a dog and a cat and I enjoyed the occasional cosmo or other fun martini. Mike was living at home, he had never taken a drink, and he worked for a state organization. Now we live together in a different home, have mine as a rental, have 2 dogs and a cat, I work at Starbucks part time and Mike does polka music full time (with a few website clients on the side), he only likes my family's vodka slush recipe, but otherwise still doesn't drink, I can't remember the last time I had a martini of any type and we are parents!

So I am totally copying Nettacow and posting some things about us and our wedding in honor of our anniversary!

1. Where/How did you meet? We met through e-harmony. Yes, we are like all those couples you see on TV, only none of them feature accordion players. I never would have guessed I'd meet my husband on-line, but it has worked out pretty good! Our first in person meeting was at the Olive Garden.

2. How long have you known each other? Our first date was on November 6th, so that is almost exactly 4 years. We had been e-mailing and chatting for a few months before that.

3. How long after you met did you start dating? We were obviously actively looking for a mate, so it was always pretty serious.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? Just under 14 months. We had booked the hall already, but he didn't pop the question officially until Jan 1st of 2007.

5. How long was your engagement? Almost exactly 10 months. Jan 1st-Nov 3rd

6. How long have you been married? 2 years

7. What is your anniversary? TODAY! November 3rd.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? I know I gave the hall the exact number (which they had never had happen before). I believe it was about 187 adults and then some kiddos for our Saturday evening reception. We also had a Sunday afternoon polka reception and I have no idea how many people came. Probably another couple of hundred.

9. What kind of cake did you serve? We had a tiny little cake for cutting that was decorated with a wedding couple that stood on my parent's wedding cake, my Grandparent's 50th anniversary cake and my Great Grandparent's 50th anniversary cake. The 'real' cake was an amazing creation of yellow cake with a cream cheese and fresh strawberry filling. The whole thing was frosted with the whipped cream type frosting. This cake is the specialty of the hall we used and is a big reason we had it there. It is unbelievably yummy. It was just going to be a layer cake and not even seen, but the owner/baker decided to make it special when he saw that we had wedding photos of our parents and grandparents on the cake table. He put a huge tree on it and used their wedding dates...like a family tree of weddings. This cake is still talked about by family members in other states. As in, can you bring that cake with you when you visit?

10. Where was your wedding? At St. Sebastian's church. Very beautiful church with not very great people. We quickly moved parishes after the wedding.

11. What did you serve for your meal? We had a buffet line. There were huge turkeys, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with almonds, corn, an awesome pasta salad, veggie tray, bread, and fixings. And the cake.

12. How many people were in your wedding party? We each had 4 attendants, 3 ushers, 2 flower girls and 1 little accordion carrying ring bearer.

13. Are you still friends with them all? YES! We don't see a few of them often enough, but they are great people.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? Not really. I choked up a bit a few times and boohooed my way down the aisle.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? How could there be just one? We had such an amazing weekend!

16. Any funny moments? The flower girls (our twin nieces who were 3) kept running up and down the aisle with each couple. They looked like little fairies and brought lots of laughs while the procession was happening. The speech my sister gave turned into a bit of a threat (jokingly) and one of the larger groom's men stood up and said he'd take on my brother-in-law. Got quiet the laughs! There was lots of laughing!

17. Any big disasters? The rehearsal lasted for over 2 hours (seriously, not the best people at this church). The recording we were making of the mass didn't happen and we were SO disappointed! The musician played the wrong instrument during the procession, the only song we were specific about. But really, overall they were not disasters just disappointments.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? To the best cabin in the world. It resides in Cherryville, Missouri and everyone should go there. It is beautiful, romantic, and in our case led to our little guy!

19. How long were you gone? A week. Could have stayed forever.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? Would have changed churches and begged to still be married on that day. Probably would have considered a professional videographer.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on? I'm on his left.

22. What size is your bed? Queen

23. Who pays the bills? I do the budget, he pays some of the bills on-line, he earns most the money.

24. What is your song?/25. What did you dance your first dance to? "Can I have this Dance?" Ann Murray...we did a real waltz to it.

26. Describe your wedding dress: Read about it here.

27. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? How about a picture? These were mine.

And what my girls carried.

The mom's carried little bouquets of fall colored roses and the boutonnieres were roses like mine and other flowers. I made all the flowers the for the girls the day before and the boutonnieres the morning of the wedding. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I loved doing it and they turned out great!

28. How old were you when you got married? I was just shy of 32 and Mike was 28.

This is so much fun! I'm going to share more stories in the coming days, but more than anything I just want my sweet husband to know how much I love him! He is such a wonderful guy and I am grateful that we found each other. They say the first year of marriage is the hardest and I slept through the first 9 months of it (being pregnant wears me out). We sailed through that one pretty easily! They number two has been filled with parenting our little guy, focusing on Pint Size Polkas and just being a family. All in all it has been pretty smooth sailing too! We always joked that we were in this for 50 years and then we'd reevaluate. (Who knows, I'll be 82 then...maybe I'll be ready for an even younger man?) So, we've got 2 down and 48 to go and I'm looking forward to them! Thanks for choosing me.