This Vintage Chica

Beaching It!

 
We have an abuelita (grandma), a tia (aunt), a tio (uncle) and dos primas (two cousins) in town this week.  Plus an abuelo (grandfather) coming in from Mexico tomorrow.  Sangria anyone?

Paul and Claudia rented a great little pad down at the beach, and are more than happy to share their sand.  Abuelita Fia keeps saying "Im going to the beach", but in her heavy Mexican accent it comes out "Im goin to da b*tch" and we laugh hysterically everytime.

Summer is 'ON' here!

If you need us we'll be catching crabs with the cousins.

Pallet Projecting

Hello friends.

It feels like I have been away from this space for quite awhile.  

Thanks for the kind comments about the garden habit posts that have been filling in for my usual wordiness.

We are settling in to new routines here...but anxious about what is around the corner.

At some point I will share what is going on here in our home and our family.  But we still do not have all of the answers.  But at least I feel like I can come up for air now.

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Today I wanted to show you some of the pallet projects going on around here.

The patio has been complete for several weeks now, but we were in need of some furniture so that we could actually enjoy the space.  And if you haven't shopped for outdoor furniture in a few years...its expensive as all get out!

And then I saw Rachel's table.

After seeing how Rachel and her husband used a pallet and a few castors to make an outdoor coffee table...I knew the answer to our furniture problem.

I started collecting pallets from alongside the road, behind stores, etc.  Many of the pallets we found had color on them, but I like the look of the natural washed wood.  The boys had a ball with this..."There's another one Mom!  Quick Stop!"  Kids have such good spotting eyes, ya know.

 

Here is our finished table.  I love it so much.  And all it cost us was the price of the castors.  Which wasn't much.

We also ended up using pallets for several other projects.  Actually we went a bit nuts with the pallets.

 

We are lucky enough to have the ugly green power box for the surrounding 8 houses in the corner of our yard.  I absolutely hate looking at it.  So we used two pallets nailed into a 90 degree angle to hide it.  I planted a few volunteer morning glories at the base of the pallet.  They are just starting to climb in and out of the slats.  In a few more weeks, you won't even be able to see the box behind it.

S also came up with the idea of using pallets to upgrade our outdoor shower area.  The pallets were perfect to raise the shower floor up out of the area that stays pretty muddy.  He used pallets to also semi-enclose the area to give a bit more privacy and a place to hang towels and swim suits.

We have a new outdoor kid's table too.  Its super long and skinny and we can fit 10 little people at it at a time.  Perfect for summer time.

Have you had enough yet?

There's one more...

A good friend was getting rid of a sample piece of butcher block counter top left over from their recent kitchen remodel.  S used it, plus left over pallet pieces to make this kitchen island for me.  Now the stove top is free of the cast iron pans, but living on the bottom shelf of the island, they are ready at a moment's notice.  And I love having so much room to chop up veggies fresh from the garden.

I told you we went a bit nuts.  But we were having so much fun, we just couldn't stop ourselves.

We're feeling like we have a whole new backyard with the addition of the patio and all of the new finished projects.

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I have a new post over at Simple Organic.  A little diy project for summer travelers.  Enjoy your weekend!

We have family coming into town, so ours will be full of crazy cousin time!  So fun!

Garden Habits: Morning

"Hello, sun in my face. 

Hello you who made the morning 

and spread it over the fields...

Watch, now, 

how I start the day in happiness, 

in kindness." 

— Mary Oliver

Garden Habits: Lessons

Sometimes lessons are best learned in the garden.  Today's lesson was about hard work, about patience, the fruit of one's labor, and about delayed gratification ... without one word spoken aloud by me.

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Watching my boys learn lessons this way makes me think about how many lessons we as adults could be learning if we choose to care for the Earth in a more honorable way.

Are you learning lessons in your garden too? 

Oh, and Happy Summer Solstice to you dear friends!  We're celebrating with homemade french fries for breakfast this morning.  Hey, its summer!

Garden Habits: Harvest

He came home safely last night and with a sigh of relief I went to the garden to pick what I could.

 

Garden Habits: Retreat

When life feels topsy turvy, I am thankful to retreat to the garden for answers.

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Today is the last day of school for the older boys.  Schedules are changing and I am feeling a little out of rhythm.  So for the next several days, I am applying what I learned from participating in the habit project here.  The knowledge that a picture and a few words can provide focus and meaning.

Hope you all are well.

Eren

Happy Birthday Ian and Zane!

My older two boys turned 8 yesterday.

Wow.  8 seems like such a big kid age, doesn't it?

Or is it that I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that its been 8 years since these little men came into our lives.

You know the old women in the grocery store stop and tell you how fast time will fly with kiddos.  And you smile and say something like "they DO grow up fast, don't they?"  But you just don't really imagine how fast it will be until you wake up one morning and your sweet little tiny baby is 8!  8!

It has been an amazing gift to watch two little boys push and pull to become the men they are becoming.  Despite their mother's efforts to treat them equally, they continue to remind me that they are different.  And much be treated as such.

I feel like this year has been a really big year for them in many ways.  We have always given them their space.  They have always been in separate classrooms, but this year has found them on separate soccer teams. (with the younger one too, that's three soccer teams, three different practice nights, and three games on Saturday).  Which left me worried what would happen when your two teams played each other.  You are also in different bedroom for the first time in your lives.  But it makes my heart glad when at least half of the mornings I go to wake one of you up to find the other has climbed into bed with you in the middle of the night.

Thank you for being such good kids.  Thank you for being so good to your little brother.  Thank you for teaching me so many wonderful lessons I would not have learned otherwise.  Thank you for caring about your friends and your community.  Thank you for loving God.  Thank you for being honest, strong young men.

My prayer is that you two continue to realize what a special relationship you have.  And that you take the strength and confidence that relationship comes with having a brother that close and use it to do wonderful things in the world.

I love you my two big 8 year olds.

-Mama

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Oh, and I don't think I ever posted an update to the zygosity test, but...to their pleasure, they are identical.

Living a Gifted Life and My Own Bada$$ness

Last night I was sitting in the garden as the sun was going down.  The upstairs window was open and I could hear the boys conversation while they were getting ready to take a shower. One of the olders was explaining to the younger about how amazing outer space is and how he'd like to go someday. But he's a bit afraid of heights.  He thinks he'll go anyway because when you are on a space ship it feels more like you're in a house not high up in space.

Aaahhhhh!

As the smile spread across my face, I could feel the space between my shoulders soften.

I thought to myself "What a great life we have here."  I was confident.  Yes, the dishes are not done...still in the sink from dinner (and lunch).  S is gone again.  I have a birthday party (x 2) to plan and my feet are so dirty from working in the garden I might need a pressure washer to get them clean.

But life is good.

This life we have been given is such a gift.

And I am proud of my boys, my house, my husband.

I have been reading Steady Days by Jamie Martin.  In her book Jamie talks about the moment you really begin to "own" your own motherhood.  The moment you realize it is the amazing gift it is and walk confidently in that role.

I can say I am there.  And happy to be here.

Last night's soccer practice was canceled, but we didn't know it until we were already in the car.  So instead we went to the neighborhood park to run our own drills.  You know, so we don't get too out of practice.  We're getting ready for the 2010 World Cup, you know.

While I was sitting on the bench, watching the boys, who had abandoned heading drills for the tire swing, a 20's-ish guy with his shirt off came our way.  He approached some high school kids sitting on the bench next to mine and proceeded to cuss them up one side and down the other.  And of course he used all of the good cuss words...the "f word", the "b word that rhymes with snitch, and my favorite, the "four letter c word that only real morons use". Oh yes...all of the good ones...within earshot of the boys.

I told my three it was time to go and I put them in the car.

But before we left I marched myself across the street to where this guy was waiting by his car. (Right here is where I begin to ask myself "What the heck are you doing?  S would kill you for approaching this guy.  He could be some psycho with a gun...or numchucks."

I proceeded to tell him how disappointed I was that my boys and I had to leave the park because of his poor taste and rude behavior.  That I hoped he was more intelligent than he just came across because only idiots use language like that in front of children and young women.  (And then I said a prayer that he would not punch me.)

We exchanged a few more words, but in the end he apologized and said that he should not have used those words in front of the boys or the young ladies on the bench next to me.

And then, I read Rachel's post.  She said it perfectly.  

Today I transplanted three more tomato plants.  Helped one kid design a stellar prop for is oral presentation tomorrow.  I folded 3 loads of laundry...AND put them away.  I "Three Little Birds" exactly 9 times while the little one and I watched chickadees at the bird feeder.  And I safely diffused three arguments about who has the better gun...Captain Rex or Commander Green.

Don't mess with me or my kids at the park.   I am a strong woman.  And I am a mother damnit!

Rachel's right.  Sometimes you have to own your own bad assness.

My life is such a gift.

Want to play along?  How are you owning your bad assness?

Green With Chicken Envy

How is that for a wake up call?

Over the Memorial Day holiday we spent a large part of one of the days at a local farm...5 hours...most of the time in the chicken coop.

 

There were very few visitors, so we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  The farm education director was able to spend a good deal of time with us - telling us each of the type of chicken -white leghorn, orpington, barred plymouth rock, derbyshire redcap- and even their nicknames.

The Japanese Bantams were our favorite.

 

The boys made a game of trying to catch every chicken in the coop at least once.  Every few seconds someone was coming to me, arms full of chicken, "Mom I caught another one."  I would take the chicken from him, and let the poor soul go back to scratching around.

Hannah and Diane and Molly and Chrystal and Molly and Amy all have had chickens for quite a while now.

This morning while I was wandering around the garden, I couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to be letting chickens out to peck around as part of my morning ritual. Our neighborhood is not zoned for agriculture, but there is debate within the city as to whether you could keep them as "pets" or not.

I hate to go ahead and get chicks, only to have someone show up on my doorstep telling me we can't keep them.  We are friends with all of our neighbors, but I haven't actually asked them if they would object.

Scout, despite her hunting nature, has learned to leave the ducks alone, so we would probably be able to teach her to leave the chickens be.

I'm going to keep checking with the city and researching.

Until then, I guess we'll just visit Polly and Cotton and Mr. James at the farm when we can.

Strawberry Fruit Leather Recipe

This past weekend was the Strawberry Festival in a nearby community.  We don't usually go for the funnel cakes and carnival rides, but on Friday afternoon we found ourselves out of school, in Pungo watching the 4-H animal judging portion of the festival.

The boys had a great time and are now begging for a sheep to raise and show.  (Great idea Eren!)

But even though the strawberry season has not been what is usually is because of spiratic temperatures and less than average rain fall, we ended up bringing home our share of strawberries.

We're freezing most of them for smoothies and ice cream, but we're making fruit leather with the rest.

Fruit Leather Recipe

Ingredients:  

• Strawberries
• Water
• Lemon juice 
• Sugar (if needed)

**4 cups of fruit yield about one sheet of fruit leather

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to the lowest setting or 120 degrees...the lowest my oven would go was 170 degrees.
2. Rinse the berries and cut of the green tops.  Cut the berries into quarters if they are large berries.
3. If the berries are sweet you will not need to add much sugar, but if they are tart you will need to add a bit more.
4. Place the berries in a covered saucepan on medium heat.  Pour in 1/2 c. water for every 4 cups of fruit.  Bring the berries to a simmer and let them cook down for 10-15 minutes until the fruit is soft.
5. Use a potato masher to mash the fruit that is left in the pan until fairly smooth.  (Or wait for the mixture to cool a bit and put it in your food processor or blender.)  If you kiddos are sensetive to the seeds, you could strain the mixture through cheesecloth to remove the strawberry seeds.
6. Add sugar 1 tsp. at a time until desired sweetness and lemon juice to taste  I added 1/2 c. sugar and the juice from 1/2 of a lemon to give it some real zing.
7. Simmer fruit until sugar is completely disolved and the mixture has thickened (about 5 or 10 minutes more).

8.   Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray and line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Pour the strawberry mixture onto the lined baking sheet until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick or so.

9.  Bake in the low temperature oven for as long as it takes for the puree to dry out (between 8 and 12 hours) and not be sticky to the touch...ours took 6.5 hours since it was at a higher temp.

10.  Let the fruit leather cool.  Then as you take the leather up, tightly roll it, plastic wrap and all as you would do cinnamon rolls.

11.  Then cut the leather into desired widths.

12.  Store the homemade "fruit roll ups" in airtight containers or plastic baggies.

Our recipe was adapted from this one that gives directions for making fruit leather out of many different kinds of fruit.  The boys absolutely love it, and so did the new neighbor kids next door.  Which is music to a mamas ears. I think we'll be try making some blackberry leather next.  Our blackberries have ever so slightly started looking much more pink than green.

I have an old 1905 cookbook from my great, great Aunt Grace that directs you to spread the softened fruit out on a plate and set it in the sun for 24 hours.  We might try that method as well and see which one comes out better.