Happy Birthday, Finnegan!

After the ordeal we went through to have Lochlann, never in our wildest dreams did we think we would ever be so blessed with a repeat performance, but we were - and his name is Finnegan!  Our little guy turns 7 today!  Lucky for you readers this won't take an hour to read, since most of my photos are jumbled up after what happened to the old computer, but I did find a few!

Everything was funny to him, he was a very happy guy :)

Finn makes us laugh, even when he's not trying!

Thanks for being a good sport about all the getups, pumpkin!

We thought we were geniuses when you were naughty and we put you in the "time-out" boots so you couldn't walk off... you even thought that was funny!  I guess it was :)

 

Thank you for being "the one that eats his vegetables".  Your creativity with Mr. Potato Head parts is legendary.

 

 Thanks for keeping Loch busy answering all your questions, mommy's brain needs a break every now and then!

Also legendary:  your sense of style...

Remember your first snowman?  The one that was twice your height and you told mommy you made it "all yourself"?  Well, it's awesome... too bad daddy and Loch didn't help you :), they would have had fun.

We were amazed with the ease and speed in which you embraced the "at the cabin" filth mentality, I hear there is an ice fishing shack reserved with your name on it already!

You love your brother fiercely, even if you won't admit it.  Guess what?  He loves you too even though he won't admit it, either.

You have a patience level no child should have to endure, waiting for daddy's deployments to end.  We are so proud of you, and the best part of daddy's deployment is coming home to you and your brothers' happy faces.

As a blogger, I have to say thank you also for being so darn photogenic!

You are the best kind of garden helper, one that actually eats what you grow!

...but you are still weird for eating all that basil and parsley when we are working out there!  It seriously looks like caterpillars attacked my plant after you spend 5 minutes with it.

p.s.  I apologize for making you wear Crocs, that was before I realized how stupid they were :)

You dig the best holes.  I know, I know, I'm supposed to bury those tomatoes deeply, right?!

You are an excellent student, you love your brother (mostly), love your family fiercely, you are kind, you love your dogs, you are creative, funny, and generally a fun guy to be around.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for you!

Now you are 7 and you dress yourself a little better but you have no front teeth.

Thanks for taking us all for a ride on the Finnegan train, can't wait to see where we'll go next!

It's really growing!

I think I have mentioned it before, but our fall/winter so far have been terrible weather-wise for growing fall stuff, even though it was 28º this morning, Saturday it was 70º!  I had all but given up on my lettuces ever sprouting, but we finally have liftoff! 

As long as it doesn't warm up and bake them to death again we just might get half a salad for one person...

The rest of the garden is an absolute mess.  I'm coming out of the funk I've been in and starting to look forward to cool days spent working on cleaning it all up out there.  Things are growing despite my inattentiveness, however...

The scallions above I was too lazy to pull, but now we are enjoying pulling up nice sized onions from them :)

Did somebody say it's January?  You'd never know it from all the DILL sprouting from fallen seed!  If I had known it was going to be so warm I would have tried winter cukes LOL... I can never seem to time that dill with the cukes... or the cilantro with the tomatoes for that matter.

And this?  I don't even remember what it is, Texas something or other... citrus outside in January?!

Speaking of messes... how is everyone doing on all the home canning consumption?  I bet I win for messiest cabinet!  The canning supplies were all so neat and orderly in September, now everytime I do dishes I am just flinging empty jars and lids into there, I think I better organize it before I have broken glass to pick up!

As far as New Year's Resolutions go, I've got nothing spectacular.  I have barely even had time to register that it's a new year yet.  I'm thinking the usual, finances, budgeting, garden, family time... rinse and repeat - Happy New Year!

I wasn't prepared to post tonight but wow - did anyone else watch Discovery Channel's first episode of  "Alaska: The Last Frontier"?  I normally never post links to video or tv since I myself find some of the stuff droning on about being "green" and "sustainable" to be lacking in any true substance and I just get annoyed by all the "talk but no walk", but these folks are the real deal - no running water, 600 acres of wild frontier, plenty of hunting and firewood and smart parents and children.  Unfortunately, I spent the first part of the episode flipping through magazines and not really paying attention, (my expectations of reality shows have soured the past few years!) but after what caught my attention the latter part I will definitely be going back to watch it in its entirety!  This family is truly self sustainable on large acreage in Alaska, and after the real-deal humane and heartfelt butchering scene where they butcher the 17 year old family milk cow in order to save the meat since it surely wouldn't make it through the winter, I feel so much joy in that there really are regular people out there practicing real world ethics, not just for the sake of "appearance".  Sometimes I get very frustrated by the portrayal of "tv & magazine ethics" and just long for real world stories, that's why I like homesteading blogs :)  Anyway, check your listings, I'm sure they will rerun it,  or find out if you can watch it online, I haven't checked yet, but do it quickly since I'm sure some organization will try to get this off the air (we know who).  As a family who has ties to both Alaska and Minnesota, I found this show to be very true to a harsh northern get-it-all done quick, summer's short, hunting/homesteading/hard work kind of life, and the family portrayed look like some of the most sane people I've seen yet on a tv reality show, I'm sure America's typical tv audience will not appreciate it though, right?!







Interestingly enough, I found out just now the featured family is the singer Jewel's extended family, with the patriarch of the family in the show being her father.

A Quiet Christmas

Although we were sad to not be traveling home to Minnesota this year, there is always this to be thankful for...

At least we weren't part of the throng of cars trying to leave the Beach last week!

Instead, I used up a lot of my home canned tomatoes and sauce, peppers and onions to make a big batch of chili.  Low stress, and we ate off it all weekend!  The kids were very happy to see that Santa could still find them even here in Virginia LOL.

Yesterday we had a great day out riding on some of the nearby trails.

The weather was a fantastic 48º, perfect for riding.  I'm hoping those higher temps will stay away for awhile now, I don't care for warm winters at all -  it was 76º last Thursday!

It's raining and windy today so I'm using the time to catch up on the extra helping of laundry Santa seems to have left me, but am hoping to get sewing or reading this week, and to go out and check to see if the greens I planted are going to do anything.  The past couple plantings didn't work out at all, with either rain washing the seeds away, or having them sprout in nice 55 degree temps only to have them yell "uncle" when the next few days rose to almost 80.  I'm giving up for the remainder of the season out there and will be planning for springtime instead very soon!  Hope you all had a great holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Much love to all of you this Christmas Eve!

This mess brought to you by... Christmas!

Cake Pops!

I had a few people ask me how these are done, so here you go!  This is only my 2nd time doing them the "real" way, so this is very basic.  I know you can go wild with fillings, making shapes and animals and all that, but I definitely can't do that yet.

Before you begin, I'll be kind enough to give you my "lessons learned" from a prior headache and tear fest brought to you by my first attempt:  DO NOT buy one of those stupid cake pop "pans" or the cake pop "machine"!  They only make a dozen at a time then you have to clean up and start all over again 2 to 4 times to use up all your batter (a batch is approx 40 cake pops), they have you add "extra" ingredients to the batter, and then... they don't work!  They fall off the stick, just a headache in general.  The second tip is to save your sanity and just grab one of your 50% off coupons for one of the craft or fabric stores and buy the darn candy melting/warmer pot already!  The warmer works perfectly, every time, and is easily washed.  I can't stress this enough.  The first time I did the microwave AND a double boiler and both were epic failures.  You need to have the stuff melted to just the right consistency and kept there for a LONG time, and those methods will send you straight to the looney bin.  The last tip I have is to NOT use those perfectly round pareil sprinkles, they bounce all over the house and will have your dogs scrambling underfoot to get them all, you will trip on the dog and if you're a neat freak like me, once again, looney bin.

If you are really awesome, you will bake your cake from scratch, make your own frosting and all that jazz, but let's face it, I'm really not that awesome.

Here's a basic list of what you will need, adjust the decorations of course to what you want.

Ingredients: cake mix, creamy frosting, sprinkles or other decor, lollipop sticks, bags and twist ties if gifting, melting candy for coating the cake pop

1.  First you have to get "in the mood".  Put on your Yule Log DVD, light a tree scented candle, and get some holiday music going.  I prefer Tony Bennett, but if you are feeling especially brave you could opt for The Chipmunks.

2.  Bake cake mix according to directions, let cool, then crumble into fine bits into a large bowl.

3.  Add frosting (I use about 1/2 cup) and mix until you can feel the mixture "sticking together".  Think meatballs here.

4.  That's exactly what you are going to do now, roll into uniform balls exactly like you are making meatballs!

5.  Put your cake balls into the freezer for about 10 minutes or into the fridge for 1/2 hour so the mixture will set and not be as pliable.

6.  While your cake balls are chillin', get your stuff ready to put the lollipop sticks in.  You need to start your candy coating to melt and get a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil, not important at this point what you use.  This is where you will rest your uncoated cake pops while the sticks set up.  This pan needs to fit in your fridge, so choose carefully :)

7.  Take your cake balls out of the fridge, and you are going to dip a stick and get some chocolate on the tip, about 1/2 inch or so, and insert the stick into the cake ball and place on cookie sheet to harden.  This is what really keeps the cake pop from falling apart and "glues" it on there.

8.  Once you have all your cake balls with sticks in them, place again in the fridge for about 1/2 hour or so.

9.  While that happens, lay out your stuff for decorating and get ready to make a real mess.  Your chocolate should be melted and turned to the warm setting, sprinkles out and foam block close by.

10.  Next part is usually the frustrating part.  You need to dip your cake ball in the melted coating, it helps to use a tiny spatula to cover the whole thing, since if you just start swirling away your cake ball is guaranteed to fall of the stick.  This whole process needs to be worked pretty quickly.  Pulling your cake pop out of the chocolate, use the spatula to lightly swirl around it to take care of any potential drips.  This is the part that most people get frustrated with.  I slowly rotate it for about 10-15 seconds until there are no drips, but it's still wet, and then sprinkle away!  I sprinkle over a bowl instead of a plate but it's still a huge mess :)

Note:  I'm a cook, not a baker - so I draw the line at frosting bags, tips and strange things like airbrushes and fondant - that stuff scares me!  I'm a "sprinkle" kind of girl.  If you are comfortable with all that other stuff, Google cake pops and the creations you will find are amazing.  Anyway, back to the sprinkles...

11. As you finish each one, rotate slowly again to make sure no heavy drips are going to mess it up, then stick it into the foam block to set up.  It sets up quickly and no refrigeration is needed after this point.

12.  Let them all set on the counter for at least an hour up to overnight.  These will stay fresh for several days now since they are sealed up in that hard candy coating.  You can leave them as they are or you can choose to put them into bags with twist ties if they are traveling or being gifted.  Mine are going to Loch's class party tomorrow so I will bag them.  Someday I will have hubby cut a nice piece of wood with holes drilled to serve these on, but they lay on a platter just fine since they aren't made into any cutesy animals or anything that would require special care. 

13.  You are done!  Well, except for cleaning up the bomb that went off in the kitchen...

*Here's another tip:  leftover chocolate candy can be poured into a lined container and in a couple hours you can just pop it out and place in a sealed baggie for next time.

 The cleanup crew!  It's handy to have a herding dog to round up all the rogue sprinkles...ahhhh, so this is what city herding dogs do!

Enjoy!

You made it to the end of this post?  Congrats!  I agree, it's less messy to just read about it :)  By the way, if you actually make these and do not end up in the Looney Bin, you are absolutely entitled to eat a dozen or so in one sitting.  

Fa la la la la.....

So does everyone have this new blog interface-thingy?  Not sure if it self destructed on me for not being an every-day blogger this winter or if we are all in the same boat?

Anyway, looks like once again Loch is picking up the slack for me gardening-wise...

They have tons of greens coming in at his after-school project garden, radishes and a few other things as well.  He's been keeping us in collards, a myriad of "Choys" along with what looks like to me to be Deer Tongue lettuce.  The kids there are really showing an interest in it all, it's quite refreshing to see all their enthusiasm!

What do I say?  That's exactly what it looks like, a goat in the school cafeteria :)  

The reason for the goat was that Loch's garden club had a day of what I would refer to as "Goat paraphernalia".  There was plenty of fiber, spinning and knitting projects for them to look at, as well as some of the different products we get from their milk.  The kids got to make some quick felted soaps as well.

Even though this is Loch's gig, I knew Finn would enjoy it so I got him over there early enough that he could revel in the goat paraphernalia.  Yep, goats - fiber, cheese, soap and cuteness -what's not to love?!

On to my holiday stress story - I'll tell it once just to "purge it" so it won't ruin the rest of my week stewing on it!  This was the first year I have done layaway for Christmas.  I was really excited to pay cash, not credit for the kids' gifts this year so I could truly enjoy the day without fearing bills and interest piling up.  I was a smart shopper and put their stuff on layaway way back in October while everything was still in stock.  I paid every 2 weeks and today was very excited to pay if OFF completely and bring the stuff home to wrap.  (BTW this is the Navy Exchange, our on-base dept store/mall).  I pay it off and the girl goes "in the back" to get it.  She's gone for 20 minutes.  Comes back, says "we can't find it" and proceeds to go out into the store and try and recreate my order from the receipt.  She comes back, stacking a bunch of stuff on the counter that really doesn't come close to what I bought!  Of course none of the stuff is in stock (we're talking Legos, so many of you know that not just any Lego set will do when your kids have been dreaming all year of that one particular set!)  I then insist that they find my stuff, and proceed to settle down in a chair in customer service ready for the long wait.  She leaves again with another gal.  Meanwhile, there is a line of at least 12 people in uniform behind me, all waiting to pay off and pick up their holiday layaways, and all are starting to freak out that their stuff might be lost, too (imagine guy 2 people behind me with a diamond ring on layaway!).  Girl comes back and says "well we just have so much stuff back there that we can't locate it", AND THEN JUST LOOKS AT ME, as if I'm going to say "oh, okay, bye!".  Ha!  They then page a guy from the Garden Center - enter 19 year old guy - who proceeds to go through those big scary doors "to the back"... awesome kid returns in 6 minutes with all my stuff in his hand!  He should definitely make the nice list this year, makes me wonder how hard the other gal even tried, oh and they had someone else's name of my stuff, too, lovely!  Ok, end rant.  :)  You know I need to have a good rant at least once every 5 months or so just so you know it's the same blogger writing on here :)

Thank you for listening to that, I was eager to purge so I can get back to enjoying what this holiday is really all about, and luckily there is no more shopping to do so I'm hoping for smooth sailing from here on out!  I hope the rest of you are having a relaxing and enjoyable week, darn commercialism is always what gets in the way, isn't it?  Funny thing is that material stuff always presents the worst kind of stress.  Other stressors, the stress of traveling, possible dysfunctional holiday dinners with family, kids fighting or over tiredness caused by too much excitement - those stresses are the good kind, because it means you are celebrating with family and friends, whatever that entails LOL!  I'm wishing you all nothing but "good" stress this week :)