in the kitchen together

In all honesty, I'm a true procrastinator at heart. I work much better, much more efficiently when I have a clear and looming deadline. I'm the type of person that finds setting a timer for thirty minutes helps me to stay more focused on tasks and chores because I push myself to work hard to get as much done as I can in that short period of time. It's the way God wired me, I suppose. Sometimes it drives Brad a little crazy, but I always get things done and get them done well. And the looming deadline invigorates me a bit and pushes me to do my best.

However, this procrastination also carries over into the kitchen and meal-making. I would get an "F" in meal-planning if I was graded. Oh gosh. And this is the one area where I find my procrastinating spirit to lead to a bit of stress. All I can say is thank goodness for the auto defrost option on my microwave! 

So one of my goals this coming fall (and coming school year) is to start meal-planning again. I have always enjoyed the mental freedom that has come from having a plan when it comes to meals. I suppose I just haven't disciplined myself enough to actually make it a habit. However, it's such a WONDERFUL feeling at 4:00 p.m. on a weekday to know that dinner is already planned and probably already started or even in the crock pot almost ready to be eaten. 

My kids, at ages 13 and 10, love to cook and bake. It's something that they've always seen me do, and I've let them have reigns in the kitchen since an early age. In my mind, it's one of the most important life skills I can pass on to my kids ~ the skill of feeding oneself. And not only feeding oneself, but feeding oneself good, wholesome, home-cooked meals. 

My problem as a kitchen procrastinator, though, is that when I've waited until the last possible minute to start a dinner that I'm not even sure what it's going to be, I don't have the patience for the kids in the kitchen with me. I want to get in there, have all the room to move around, and crank out whatever I'm making. And sometimes I don't even know what I'm making until it hits the kitchen table and is done. 

But, I'm totally robbing my kids and myself of some special, very productive time together as well as some really awesome learning experiences approaching meal-time this way. And it's all because I'm too lazy to do a little planning ahead of time. 

This past Saturday, Ian and I went to the garden together and picked a bunch of veggies to use to make dinner. The kids and I then husked the corn together and spent an hour chopping, mixing, sauteing, and prepping our dinner. When we pulled the stuffed green peppers out of the oven two hours later, there was a great satisfaction felt around the table that night. We had worked together from start to finish. And on top of that, most of the food was from our garden. 

I was reflecting on this later that evening. We had so much fun together. The kids kept saying how much they loved cooking with me and how they want to do it more often. And, I really do swear, that food tasted so much better knowing that we made it together. 

So this is one of my goals this new school year. I'm going to work on disciplining myself to meal-plan again, and I'm going to work more group cooking sessions into our schedule. Not only does this enable some really great quality time with my kids, but it's also equipping them for their future when they leave home.

spring dreaming...

Conversation with Lily this morning:

Lily (walking very sleepily into my room and plopping herself down on the chair with a grumpy look on her face): "I hate it." 

Me: "What?"

Lily: "The snow."

Me: "Oh, yes, we did wake to snow." 

Lily: "We were outside just yesterday in sweatshirts. Now I'm going to have to get all bundled up to take care of the animals today." 



Yep, and that's the truth. Yesterday, it was 66 degrees, sunny, and smelling just like spring. Then some nasty, nasty winds rolled in through the night, and we woke up to a fresh coat of snow with more falling from the sky. The last two pics are from yesterday and today. Yesterday, Lily made fresh squeezed lemonade and the kids spent six hours in the woods. Today? Snow bibs will be required for any outdoor playing.

Me? Well, I'm okay with it. I just try to roll with the weather anymore. No use getting upset about it when you have no control over it, and I know spring will come. It always does. The moment I stopped fighting the seasons and the weather was the moment that I began to see the gifts that each season brings. In fact, I have decided that I would get bored living in a place that was constantly warm. Would I love to have a garden year round? Sure! But I also really appreciate the break that the colder months give to us. 

So today I'm choosing to roll with the 22 degree temperature and snowflakes, knowing that next week is predicted to be in the 70's. 

I did, however, being quite bitten by the spring bug that yesterday's weather brought, planted some parsley and some basil in two old pottery pieces that my brother-in-law gave me. They are old and, not being sure how they were made (they are handmade), I didn't feel comfortable using them to actually drink or eat out of. So yesterday, I felt inspired to plant some herbs for the kitchen, and these little pottery pieces made excellent spots for the seeds to land. 

I do plant a large amount of herbs in our outdoor gardens every year, and I still have a lot of dried oregano, dill, thyme, and some others. However, I'm out of parsley. In fact, I don't think I even dried any because I was making chimichurri sauce several times a week during the garden season. I do have some dried basil in the pantry, but fresh basil is so much better in my opinion. 

The little oaks are doing quite well. Brad and Lily planted a second round of them yesterday evening. They will wait another four weeks and plant another round. I think that Ian may be doing his project for the homeschool project fair on seeds and trees, so this will make a perfect addition to his information, and is why they decided to plant the trees in rounds. 

Lily has been sewing nonstop. Her latest project has been little potholders. In fact, the ones I had were ones I received for our wedding shower almost sixteen years ago. I'm sure that you can imagine that they were in sorry shape. Well, my little sweetheart whipped up six potholders to replace the old  ones, so now I have a whole drawer of handmade goodies from my little girl. It truly does make me so happy to see her being so industrious. She has been receiving weekly sewing lessons again from my friend, and she is enjoying this time so much. Maybe someday soon she can teach me how to properly read and decipher a sewing pattern!

Me, being more of a knitter, well, I've just recently started my first pair of handknit socks. I cast them on last Wednesday and am about halfway through the second sock now. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to like knitting socks when I first cast on. It seemed tedious and the dpn's were cumbersome, but I've gotten used to them now and they are a somewhat quick little project. Besides, I am completely enamored with the thought of opening up my sock drawer and finding it filled with handknit socks. I'm using this basic sock pattern and knitting with a fingering weight 100% superwash merino wool that I bought in Virginia when we were on vacation there four years ago. This skein was dyed to reflect the colors of the ocean sky and water there at Chincoteague.

In other knitting news, I swatched for what will be my very first knit sweater. I am really excited to start this, but I am going to finish the socks first. I tend to be a focused knitter, determined to finish one project before starting another. I do have some works-in-progress, but I do mostly finish one before starting another. I will be using this cardigan pattern by TinCan Knits, and I bought Cascade 220 yarn to make it in. I wanted to make my first sweater in a more affordable yarn in case I really messed it up, but I do have some Madeline Tosh Pashmina yarn in the Calligraphy colorway that is reserved for a future sweater once I get this first one under my belt. That will be a most luxurious sweater!

I hope you all have a fine day! We're going to do our school lessons this morning and then spend the afternoon doing some baking. We'll warm the kitchen up on this cold, snowy day!

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along.

her tenth birthday

Molly literally opens wrapped gifts. She uses her paws and teeth to pull of the paper. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

What a great birthday weekend we had! Tiring, but very enjoyable. 

I spent most of Friday and Saturday baking. Lily had a party with her friends Saturday afternoon, and then we had some family over to celebrate that evening. 

She was beyond excited about the vanity dresser. You can probably see that by the expression on her face in the photos above. It was her favorite gift, she said, and she couldn't believe that we had bought it for her. 

She was also very excited to receive Miss Dandelion Doe (whom she decided to rename Felicity the Fawn.) I did finish it in time, except for the knitted headkerchief which was only half finished by 11:30pm Friday night. And at that point, I was extremely tired and done. I'll finish it up this week. 

She had a wonderful time with her friends. Ian made up a treasure hunt for them to do. It ended in the clothes dryer where they found a basketful of goodies, including craft kits for them to make mood blocks. She received many wonderfully crafty gifts from her friends (they know her so well) and the party ended with some play time outside and a wagon ride around the property. 

I had made homemade oatmeal cream pies for the party with her friends which were absolutely yummy. (I think Ian had also requested the same thing on his tenth birthday.) And then Lily had chosen a chocolate chip coffee cake for the dessert for her family party. I always let my kids pick out homemade desserts for their birthdays. And, truth be told, I always enjoy when they pick something different than the average birthday cake. This past September when Ian turned twelve, he chose a banana cake with cream cheese icing and key lime pie. Those things are much more interesting to make than a box cake!

I think that my favorite part of the weekend was last night. The boys had gone to a Super Bowl party, so Lily and I stayed home. The original plan was for us to watch a movie on Netflix, but we ended up spending the entire evening just talking and coloring in her bedroom. She actually did most of the talking. It was very refreshing to be able to sit there and hear what was on her mind.