earthquake

Posted at 06:07 PM, Wednesday, June 3, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

so here I was sitting at the computer holding my sleeping baby, and suddenly, my house was shaking.  We get some pretty seriously strong winds on this mountain top, and that is what it felt like -
except -
winds are accompanied by noise, and there was no noise -
and it felt different.  the shaking vibrancy was too fast; it was too sudden, too weird

I immediately skyped dh who is working upstairs; before he could read it, he came out ans asked if someone was on our roof.  nope, but I felt it too.  Bear (dd5) felt it, but Bug (ds7)(sitting at the same table) did not.  I did not ask dd2, Lion - did not figure she would know what I was asking.
ferw minutes later, dh's boss/best friend about 5 miles as the crow flies, told him he had felt it too.
yup, definitely earthquake.

cool

ok, so I do not live in CA, and earthquakes are small in Utah, more a feature of oddity then a freightening experience.  It was kind of different.  I only remember 2 others, although I have been told there were earthquakes those around me felt and I was not paying attention at the time.
one was in 5th grade at school.  small shaking, lots of talking about it after.
the other I was sleeping in the couch bed with my younger sibs, couldn't have been more than 11, and I woke up thinking my dad was playing some trick on us by shaking the bed vigorously.

so, anyway, it measured a 4.0 on the scale, about 12 miles from here.  2 people in SL I spoke to did not even feel it.

cool

(I know, I am weird to think a small earthquake is cool, but I do.)

Lack of planning on my part....

Posted at 01:41 PM, Tuesday, March 24, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

does not constitute an emergency on anyone else's....
We ran out of raspberry jam.  our homemade-tastes-like-raspberries-because-there-is-VERY-little-sugar raspberry jam.  And we are down to 2 half-pints of strawberry.  Luckily, we are coming into berry season.   But part of the problem is that we had not been eating a lot of jams/jellies for the year leading up to August last year, so when I checked our stock, and should I do any more last summer, the answer was no.  we had enough.
and then, we started eating a lot of jam - on pbj's, on toast, on pita, on crepes.  And we are out of blackberry, huckleberry, raspberry and almost strawberry.  We have 2 half-pints of strawberry, one of dandelion and 2 pints of peach that no one likes (from like 4 years ago).
So at the store last week, dh wanted to buy raspberry jam.  silly husband - almost every jam in the store has cheap sweeteners in it, which means he would not eat it (he cringes at my parents who eat this type of jam).  And the ones who actually have sugar, well.... I reminded him that he would probably not like it.  He is always telling me that I (and my cooking) have spoiled him - he cannot eat store bought processed foods anymore - they taste wrong or too sugary or just not good enough.  We try this occasionally.  He tells me to buy something he used to like quite well.  Only when I buy it, it is not the way he remembers.  And he has told me LOTS of times he likes our homemade low-sugar jams - it tastes like the fruit from which it is made, not sugar.  So I know that he will not be pleased with the results.
But do not fret, my dear, berry season is almost upon us, and I will make us lots and lots and lots of yummy jams for the next year or two.  I promise.

Sorry I have not posted

Posted at 03:28 PM, Friday, March 20, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

Been kind of busy with the baby and all.  He is growing - and a good thing too - he is not only the smallest baby I have had, but also SKINNY.  My other babies were fat with lots of good rolls.  This one is just skinny.
Ashley, I have 2 boys and two girls now:
Bug: ds7, so named because when he was a baby, he would only stop crying when we took him outside; dunno why, but he liked it outside, so friend dubbed him the "Outside Bug" and the name stuck.
Bear: dd5, so named because she LOVES honey.  She is my little Honey Bear.
Lion: dd2, so named for two reasons - when she was younger, her hair was wild around her face like a mane when she woke up in the mornings - I am talking a serious crazy bedhead of a mane.  And, she is fierce.  Very fierce.  Which she has to be in order to hold her own with her very loud and opinionated older siblings.
?????: ds2 weeks.  Right now we are calling him various things, including "joey" because he seems to like being worn in a baby wrap on my chest like a baby kangaroo; also "worm" because he is squiggly.  The kids are calling him "Joey worm" which is an interesting animal picture!     We will see what animal will be his avatar eventually.  I recall that Lion went through a good number of animal incarnations (including Camel because she SPIT, Kanga because she liked the door frame jumpy toy, Bird because I was looking for another 1-syllable "B" word) before she settled on Lion (although, she sometimes prefers to be a little "Lamby" and we have to sing "Daddy had a little Lamby, little Lamby, little Lamby; Daddy had a little Lamby, and her name was [Lion]"  but mostly she likes to roar and be a fierce lion.

I am chomping at the bit to get going though.  It is spring, and I have a list of things that need to get done.  And I am being a good little chicken and "resting."  But I do not like it.  So I am making plans for what to do when I am allowed to start being human again.  But I feel better already - I can bend over and grab stuff off the floor, and I can SIT on the floor and do puzzles with my children.  so nice.
anyway, a bit from my life.....

Baby here (copied from husband's email announcement)

Posted at 04:41 PM, Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

Well the little rascal is finally here...

for those who care, here's the numbers:

born on 10 Mar 2009 at 1:18am
weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz. (our smallest one yet!)
length 20 1/2 inches

Everything went fairly problem free.  The one complication was that he decided to stick his arm above his head, which caused him and mom some extra pain.

For those who were unaware, we had our baby at home -- with the help of a midwife.  Mom and baby are happy and healthy.



************
more details to follow.....

pita bread recipe changes, and honey crystallization

Posted at 03:21 AM, Saturday, March 7, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

being awake for a 1am feeding
no, no baby yet,but he still wakes me up in the middle of the night to eat.  and if I do not, I am not allowed to go back to sleep.  sigh.  so, I wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, and a piece of toast, or tonight, anyway, I am eating fresh homemade pita and hummus.  I finally found a hummus recipe I liked!  YIPPEE!!!!!!  And I have been experimenting with my pita recipe too.  I have decided that when I change a tried and true recipe, I need to change just ONE thing at a time, and make sure that ONE thing works consistently before I move on to a new change.
On my pita bread, that ONE thing is using whole wheat.  and making sure it still puffs.  So the last two times I have pita-ed, I have taken the first amount of flour (2 cups) and mixed it with the yeast and sugar like usual, except I have been using Hard White wheat.  Then, instead of 1 3/4 c water, I use 1/3 whey in that 1.75 c of liquid.  And then I have been letting it sit for upwards of an hour.  Amazing the gluten strands I have been getting.  Then I stir in my salt and remaining flour (I am still using white flour for this part).  And my pita is so soft and, well, not moist because who wants MOIST pita, but it not dry either.  Oh, and I have only been cooking them at 450, not 500.  They crisp and turn brown at 500.  and I like them soft and white.
sorry HomeMom, I would love to take pictures for you of this process.  But that would entail finding the camera and taking pictures, then finding someway to download them (we lost our cable - my computer guru husband gerrymandered a system on his computer, but I am not sure how), and then learning how to download them.  I can probably do that at some point, but it is not high on my list.  But these are really very easy to do.
My next change will be honey.  I am having a honey problem these days though - over the winter, my honey has all chrystalized, and my preferred honey liquidification method will not work until it is slightly warmer outside.  I use raw honey, so throwing it on the stove in a pot of boiling water will not work for me (I mean, it will liquify, but I would rather not cook it!)  I like to place it on the back dashboard of a car, park that car so the rear windshield is facing either south or west, and close all the doors and windows.  in just an hour or so, I have liquid honey.  I do not know, maybe this is too hot too for those raw honey ensymes, so if anyone has a better method, feel free to let me know.

hummus recipe

Posted at 04:32 AM, Friday, March 6, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

M's Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, save juice (drained, toss juice)
1 tsp minced garlic (2 roasted cloves)
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup tahini (2 T)
3-4 tbsp. lemon juice (¼ c)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp cilantro (½ t dry)
1/2 tsp. cumin (¼ t whole seeds)
pinch cayenne pepper (¼ t)
salt and pepper to taste

Put all in food processor and puree until smooth. I added some of the bean juice as well as more olive oil and lemon juice because it was so thick.

I added ¼ - ½ c fresh water as well.  Good on first try.  will update as I eat it.

As usual, the original recipe I received is in black (or green, I guess is the case on my blog) and the red is my changes.  I drained the beans just cuz I like to drain my canned beans of their water.  I added other water as necessary though.  I used whole cumin seeds because I ran out of the ground (remember that yummy lentil soup my BIL made a few weeks ago, well, we used all my ground cumin and I didn't know that.  Not that I am upset at the use, but it would have been nice to know!  LOL!).   But I figured as I was going to be blending it all up anyway, it wouldn't matter so much.
This has a nice flavor.  maybe a bit too much kick from the cayenne - that was because I thought it said 1/2 t, so I halved it... that is what I get for having my recipe folder (electronic) in the other room from my kitchen.  LOL!

Bon Appetit seasoning

Posted at 04:43 PM, Tuesday, March 3, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

fact: I really really like Bon Appetit seasoning mixed with sour cream for a veggie dip.  nothing beats it for flavor.
fact: McCormick Bon Appetit contains MSGs, which I am trying to cut from our live and our diets.
conclusion: as much as I like it, I will not be adding it to my sour cream again....


solution: 1 t ground celery seeds
                1 t onion powder
                1/2 t salt
                1/4 t garlic powder (although even this much did seem to overpower it, so maybe less next time?; the very few sites I found which would give ingredients for this just listed the celery, onion, salt and MSG... I added the garlic on my own.)

I have 1 t of this mix in a 1/2 c of sour cream sitting and flavoring until dinner time.  I will post results later tonight after dinner. 

interviewing doctors

Posted at 03:47 PM, Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

has anyone ever done this?  To find a good fit for your family?  We are self-insured (HSA), so we will be paying out of pocket for everything.  Which means I want someone that fits my family.  I care more now that I AM PAYING MY MONEY FOR SERVICES.
We do not do doctors often.  We are not sick people.  We eat healthy and take care of ourselves.  We suffer through colds, earaches and flues instead of running to the doctor for every pain.  We do some homeopathic things.  We do not vaccinate, and we homeschool.  We are homebirthing, and will be co-sleeping (like all our other children).  We want a doctor who will respect those choices and not give us inferior care because make different choices.
And ideally, I would like a doctor with whom we feel comfortable as a person as well as a professional.
I have a number of recommendations from my local homeschool group.
But when I have called to see if we could just meet the doctor and talk for a few minutes, basically interview him and see if he is "worthy" of being hired, I get "you can schedule an appointment with the doctor for $140."  Ummmm I have to pay to see if I will hire you?

So, any ideas or suggestions?

it really works - soften your brown sugar

Posted at 01:45 PM, Monday, February 23, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

I opened a 4-lb bag of brown suger, #5 of 8 I bought 2 years ago for food storage.  It was hard as a rock.  seriously.  Of course, 2 years is a long time to expect brown sugar to not get hard, but still.  So I did a search, and found a way that I thought might work to soften my rock-hard sugar.
I put it in a tupperware container (air-tight is what the instructions said) with the lid off at this point.
I folded a piece of foil to fit on the top of the sugar.  It doesn't have to be fully covering the top of the sugar.  In fact, I suspect it is better if it is more of an "island" on the sugar.
I then grabbed a paper towel and folded it about an inch smaller all around than the foil.  Get the towel wet, and wring out until just damp.
Put that on the foil.  Place the lid on top and seal.  Wait a few hours, it will start being crumbly.  After 12 hours, it should be completely ready to crumble in your fingers like fresh brown sugar.

YEAH!!!

36 week blues.....

Posted at 12:20 PM, Monday, February 23, 2009 by Morning Sunshine

I am getting to the point where I just do not care..... about cleaning the house or schooling the children or making dinner or breakfast or anything else.  I have a hard time breathing, and my comfortable temperature level involves opening every window and door (which means my poor family would FREEZING to death!  So I content myself with quick jaunts outside every 15 minutes or so).  I just want this baby to come.  Yes, I know I still have a week before it is really safe to be wanting it over with.  But come March 1......
But we got school done anyway, and I made waffles for breakfast.  We are having chicken Florentine for dinner tonight with pasta and garlic bread and salad.
I will finish cleaning my bathroom today, and maybe even the one on the main floor where we "live" all day.
I did get all the newborn clothes washed, folded and put in the drawer.  I have started collecting the supplies my midwife has requested to be in one place when she gets here.  I need to make my menu for March, taking into consideration the fact that someone else might be making these meals for my family (husband, mother, etc).  I think we are stocked up on grocery stuff, except for fresh produce, eggs, and milk.  Which reminds me, I need to purree some onions and jalapenos for freezing in ice cubes.
Remember that 16# turkey I bought at Thanksgiving for $.02 (yes, that is 2 cents)?  I think I am actually going to bottle the meat.  I need to wait until April though - the last thing I want to do is start that just before I go into labor - LOL!  But I cannot wait much beyond April, canning is hot work, and well, after April, things start heating up nicely.
I never did get any seeds planted.  sigh.  and my boxes are buried again under the snow.  oh well.  Hope springs eternal, and I will have some kind of garden this year.  I will.

and sometime in the next month, I will have a beautiful little baby to hold and snuggle and love.... I hold to that promise to get me through the next couple of weeks.