Farm Fresh Chicken

One of the joys of living out here is being able to drive to a farm and pick up food. Whether you want beef, buffalo, chicken or maybe just some apples,zucchini and cheddar. We've been here a year now and that part of living here as still not lost it's sparkle with me. Having grown up in a mill town with no mills still producing, I find it incredibly cool to take my kids and see real farms. This isn't Little Golden Books people it's the real deal. SO when I found out my favorite farm in the area had chickens ready I was so excited, like jump up and down excited! I have read of the true real deal elusive farm fresh chicken, I'd even bought the posers at Whole Foods. But this my friends was the real deal, so I came home all excited with my local groceries, enough for two weeks in fact (with a little Stop and Shop supplement). I bought my chicken, potatoes and carrots and the same farm. This my friends was my truly exciting meal. And I was still jump and down happy until I unwrapped my chicken, and discovered....


it was NOT completely plucked. I was completely grossed out, seeing I would really rather be a vegetarian. Then I remembered the big deal that had been made up until this point about how if we are to eat meat we need to try to make smart purchasing choices. Buying local and with a conscious, letting go of our grocery store disconnect. So I finished plucking it, and it was good. In fact it was the most delicious potatoes, chicken and carrots ever. It also made a delicious stock. To be honest I don't know if I could have done that a year go.

This week we also had a surprise guest in the form of one of my favorite people in the whole wide world staying with us for a week. So I will leave you with these neat-o pictures.


Thing 3's Bean plant she started from an OLD seed kit that we didn't think would grow. Do you see her purple bean? There is another one hiding behind the leaves. I find that so incredibly cool, our hallway bean plant.















Also some of Thing 2's flowers from her fairy garden, it has different blooms that come up spring through fall. It was so cool to go outside and clip some flowers.

I'm off to listen to the rain. Is anyone else getting ready for Halloween? I am so excited about it this year. I'm not going to lie, we bought costumes this year and I am so happy about it! I know as a crafty lady that's wrong, but this year I want to focus on the holidays. No pressure...

Blanket and Baktus

Alright I am working on a blanket from Crochet Today, the September/October 2009 issue. It has got to be the easiest crochet pattern ever written, so I definitely would recommend it. I'm using kitchen cotton for it, the Bernat Brand for the beige and pink and Lily for the white. I can feel a difference, but it's ok because I like it, I mean wouldn't you it looks like Neapolitan ice cream. I always loved that flavor, felt like it could keep everyone happy. I like it when everyone is happy.
I also made a baktus. Talk about hard to photograph, don't mind the lack of make up, I put that on maybe ten times a year. This is one of those viral knits from Ravelry. It was perfect to use up the beautiful sock yarn I picked up on our drive from Alaska to Massachusetts two and a half years ago. I picked it up at some Indy shop in Wisconsin on our way to the upper peninsula of Michigan. The name of the shop escapes me and the label was lost a long time ago, but it was named after Lake Superior which I thought was appropriate because we were going to be staying there with my friend for a few days. I still haven't conquered my sock phobia, so this yarn was waiting for a fabulous project. This was really hard to photograph, but it is so warm and was a great project! I wish I'd had it in Alaska, so WARM!!! I think I'm due for a new trip, so I can get more yarn. So you think Mr. Bunny will buy that? Or maybe just for my 28th birthday. Oh yah I turned 28 on labor day. Apparently Annie and I share a birthday. I'm pretty sure I'm younger, yet she is aging far better than I am.

On an unrelated to fiber note, does anyone have a source for snowshoes for the family? I really want to take the girls this winter and don't want to drop a ton of cash if it all possible. I'd really like to make the most of the winter this year, no ice storms and lots of happiness.

Also my friend I asked you to cross your fingers for just got back from filming in Kenya for the documentary!!! Yay!!! I will tell you all when it airs.

Quick Post

I just want to write a quick post to let you know that the reason a couple pictures have been pulled is because of a search that my Statcounter enlightened me about. I have always been very private and balancing the blog or any online participation has been hard for me. It's hard to share and still be private (duh). Anyway I let myself get a little lax and realize now that I had been right to be overly cautious before. Anyway it's a personal choice that all of us in the "online world" have to make, and everyone's comfort level is different.
Now that I sound like a loon, I'm going to sign off for now. Hopefully I can get that tutorial written up this week. I'd like to figure out PDF prior to posting it.
Hope you are having a marvelous weekend.

Summer Hat

I was really hoping to have more stuff to show off this week with yarn. Unfortunately life got in the way. Pfft life, I am totally sticking my tongue out at you. Thing 2 is having some medical stuff going on, nothing major and I don't want to write about it until we know exactly what's going on. I will say tomorrow will be her third doctors visit in less than a week at least the poor kid's a trooper. Needless to say I will be continuing my life's work of having more UFO's than the X-Files. At least I own it, don't judge me.






On to the pattern, it's crochet, supa dupa easy and free. The only link I can find is one from Ravelry, It's the Swirls Cap by Sophia Kessinger. The pattern is like a combination pattern/tutorial with pictures along the way. I thought that was a great touch for people that are visual (like me). Do I recommend this pattern? Why yes I do, thanks for asking. Truth be told it took me a lot longer than it should have, I think if your crochet skills are just above beginner and you can focus (my problem) you could have this done in a day. It would make a wonderful gift for any teen/tween girls on your gift list for the holidays. I added the count down to the side, no pressure.




The yarn I used was A-MAIZing from SouthWest Trading Company. I got it at the LYS on Clearance, if I remember I got two skeins for four dollars (give or take a few cents). I'd been waiting to try it for a long time, once I saw that price I HAD to have it. First came the yarn then the pattern, it was one of those yarns. I really enjoyed working with it, and thought it was wonderful for crochet. For me personally I think crocheting with it would be better than knitting, but that's because I freely stab ribbon yarn, like it's my job. I would definitely buy this yarn again, I lurve it lots and lots.


All in all, great pattern, great yarn!

In case you noticed that my weight loss ticker is gone, it's not because I quit trying it's because I couldn't log into the darn thing to change it so I deleted it. I got out of routine because of the Birthday festivities but I'm trying to get my groove back. Anyone else need to get their groove back with something?

ETA- How could I not mention that my friend is up for consideration for something so immensely cool? My bestest friend in the whole wide world is up for consideration in participating in a National Geographic Documentary!!!! She's a geologist who teaches at a College, is working on her Doctorate and has been part of some pretty amazing research. This research and her intelligence has gotten her noticed in the geology world, awards, grants, scholarships etc. I am so incredibly proud of her, and everything she has accomplished. Thing 1 looks up to her so much and even though she is across the country we think of her all the time, call her with questions that I'm not answering in depth enough. Anyway I was hoping you all could pass some positive thoughts her way, because she deserves it plus Thing 1 overheard me talking to her and thinks it would be so cool to see her "aunty" in a documentary. Oh and she's an artist that should give her some cred with our lot. haha Thanks everyone!

Veggie Stock

The rain is apparently making another appearance in my part of the state. I thought it would be a good time to clean out the freezer veggies for stock so I could make soup, yummy.

Next post, yarny goodness...

Birthday Recap

This is some of the prep for the party, the fabric for her skirt, her shirt recon supplies(the butterfly fabric is the the ill fitting t-shirt), sixty three by three pieces of cardboard, and of course our flannel goody bags.






These are fifteen newspaper party hats. I saw a picture somewhere online and said to myself these are stupendous. After stating this I found for my procrastinating behind there was no tut anywhere. I had to be logical and creative with a tight deadline I think I'm going to get a better picture of at least one and post a tutorial, because I couldn't find one anywhere! I cussed a LOT trying to find the proper everything, but I did. One of my regrets was not having more time to decorate them, they are truly an awesome canvas! These were a hit with the kids. All of them wore them, and most of the kids took them home. In my experience that has never happened with store bought hats.




This is a portable flower press found on 5 Orange Potatoes which I found VIA The Crafty Crow. I would love to make journal sized ones with the girls, the ones that went in the goody bags were three by three. Those seemed to be the perfect size for the little ones there. This is a wonderful project and I think everyone should make one this summer!

I wish I had a great picture of her in her birthday outfit, or our cupcake sized individual banana cream pies per the Birthday Girl's request. I'll have to get a picture of the outfit later.




The last picture I want to leave you with is the girls with a cat from the shelter. Isn't that ball of fluff a love? My youngest lay next to him on the floor and pet him while she told stories. It was such a sad experience for us, because we wanted to take them all home. Plus some of the stories were heart wrenching, but it was good for all of us because as soon as we left the girls were discussing things we could do to help out more, besides each bringing home our own cat each.

I hope you enjoyed this abbreviated tour of our birthday whose theme was an eclectic one to say the least. I must say that Thing 1 had to approve everything for this party, and was more than willing to help with the work. The girls all were Thing 2 made her own kitty/doggy trading cards in the goodie bags. This was one of the more affordable birthdays we've had which we liked as well. Everything was recycled or stash, we sent out evites (no need to waste paper). Everyone brought at least one thing for the shelter, it was wonderful! I think everyone was shocked at how much we got. The kids learned and the adult were reminded that if we each do ONE thing as a group we can make a big difference. I personally believe this is something a lot of need to remember when we face these hard economic times. We might not be able to give like we used to, or in the same way but WE can do something. I'm off my Soap Box now and heading to bed.

Birthday Exhaustion

Yesterday was Thing 1's tenth birthday. It was bliss! Bliss was achieved by ensuring perfection for all of her birthday wishes, which unfortunately for me meant no more than four hours sleep any night this week. It was all worth it though, she was so excited with how everything came out. Our theme this year was recycled and cats and dogs. This meant a lot of handmade, tomorrow I will post all the details on that. You know when I can make sentences again.

Before I sign off for the night I have to say how incredibly proud I am of her. Thing 1 is becoming a remarkable person. I watched my little girl shine so bright it was like looking at the sun break through clouds, when it seems so bright it's almost too much but really the most beautiful sight. On top of having the recycled theme to showcase the vast uses of household items, she also had a drive for the Animal Control office in our area. Everyone brought one thing, a couple people brought more, we left with a box and bag filled with supplies for them. Today we went and dropped it off, sadly she's too young to volunteer but the girls all stayed and played with the cats for a while. The thing that struck me most about her with that was she was so excited to bring the cats and dogs donations but had no desire for praise, her head went down and her cheeks turned bright red when the women working there complimented her on such a great gift to them. Hopefully by eleven she'll be able to take a compliment.