Seven Quick Takes

~*~ One ~*~
The roof is on. The walls are up. Our chicken coop is almost done!

I wondered why it was taking so long, so I went out to the farm to "help." I say "help" because my carpentry skills are barely better than those of an overripe radish.

Good gravy, my husband isn't building a chicken coop; the man is constructing the Taj Mahal! It's huge!! I could easily see this building turning into a guest house. Sadly it's going to be inhabited by 26 ungrateful hens and a rooster with a pompadour.

This is kind of what Howard, our crazy Polish Crested rooster, looks like. (image courtesy of Laughing Orca Ranch)

  ~*~ Two ~*~
I made a fatal error last week. I commented within earshot of a sick child that, "Hm; I haven't been sick in a year and a half."

The unnamed keeper of the cold heard this and came over and hugged me. Then she sat on my lap. Then she sneezed on me. I'm almost positive she wiped her nose on my arm, but perhaps I'm just being dramatic.

Anyway, I fell shortly thereafter. I might buy stock in Kleenex.

~*~ Three ~*~
Each night this week, my husband and I have said, "Okay, let's go to the grocery tonight." We enjoy grocery shopping together, even though we stick to a carefully made list. It's a date of sorts.

We were sabotaged by Netflix the first two nights. Then we spent a late evening working on the chicken coop. Then we found an unfinished crossword puzzle that was calling out to us. Now we're going to eat pickles with BBQ sauce for dinner; except we're out of pickles.

~*~ Four ~*~
I bought plane tickets to go home for Christmas. I'm on a euphoric high right now, that may or may not be caused by a double dose of NyQuil. No... it's definitely the joy of going home!!!

~*~ Five ~*~
We were working on proper nouns this week, and I asked my 3rd grade niece to write a proper noun for "song."

"Lift I the Cross." (If you're unfamiliar with the song, it's "Lift High the Cross").

That reminded me of praying the Angelus, growing up. When I was ten, or so, a friend asked me to teach it to her. With unabashed confidence, I slowly walked her through it. But it was the first time I'd ever thought of the words without just rattling it off so I could eat lunch. I was a bit stumped, but muscled through to the end.

"The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she could see (conceived) by the Holy Spirit.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh, and dweft (dwelt) among us.

Pray for us, oh Holy Mother of God, that we may remain (be made) worthy of the promises of Christ.

Pour forth, we besiege (beseech) thee, Oh Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we cocoon (to whom) the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel. Made by (May by) His Passion and Cross, be dropped (be brought) to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ, Our Lord, Amen."

~*~ Six ~*~
Can I take this moment to highlight some of my favorite blogs, just because? I highly recommend that you take a look at these lovely ladies' sites.

1. Patch O' Dirt Farm. Nadja blogs about her six kids, crafting projects (she's recently been featured three times on The Crafty Crow! Congrats, Nadja!), her homemaking/homesteading adventures (making yogurt, churning butter, trading roosters for a pig at the local Amish market), and has some beautiful photography to record it all.

2. The Italian Dish. Elaine has stunning photography and consistently amazing recipes. They're not usually "everyday foods," so much, but I've made several of her dishes for company or special occasions and have always been delighted with the results. She's a true culinary artist. Try the Recipe Index first.

3. Centsational Girl. Kate shows off her mad home designing, furniture refurbishing, and decorating skillz. Her "on the cheap" projects inspire me to do my own, and her light and colorful photography style is visually quite appealing. I enjoy visiting her site immensely, and would recommend a new visitor to browse through her Tutorials, first.

4. Mexico in My Kitchen. You don't get much more authentic than this. Mely's recipes are real and delicious. When I want to make authentic Mexican food, hers is the first site I visit. The site is not extremely easy to navigate, but the first time you peruse the site I recommend using the keyword cloud on the right side of her page... especially "Main Dishes."

I have a lot of other favorites, but these are just a few I find most inspirational and beautiful.

~*~ Seven ~*~ Courtesy of my 3rd grade niece: "Why did Silly Milly think that hot is faster than cold?"

"Because she could catch cold!"

Amen.

Seven Quick Takes is hosted each Friday by Jen at Conversion Diary.

Goals, Scents, Sweet Gestures

~*-One-*~

I've walked 2 miles towards Rivendell. Just 456 miles to go. Who knew you could get blisters after just 2 miles? But oh, how glorious it is to have a goal. Walk/jog with me? Just use a pedometer and record your mileage each day.

~*-Two-*~I was lamenting to my nieces today that I had no mail, and they furiously set about doing some craft project in their break between math and vocabulary quizzes. Half an hour later I came in to two smiling girls who announced, "There's mail in your mailbox!" The little dears made me cards.

~*-Three-*~Note to self: it's wonderful to be on a whole wheat kick, but substituting whole wheat for all purpose flour in recipes is not the way to do it. Unless you're trying to discover a new type of mortar. Blech!

~*-Four-*~
It's cold outside. I love Autumn! It's the season of cardigans, shorter farm working days, apple crisp, microfiber blankets, hot chocolate, steamy soup, misty mornings, early chilly evenings, and, most importantly... my birthday. hehe

~*-Five-*~We had a lot of fun doing this easy Fall craft project highlighted on the Crafty Crow (we used watercolors).

~*-Six-*~I've only ever bought perfume once in my life. It was a teenybopper scent and I've still got it... it makes me smell like cotton candy.
A lady on a plane gave me a perfume sample for Prada Infusion d'Iris, and by only using a drop every three months, I've managed to make it last five years. It's running low and I've got a date to a musical revue (my date doesn't know yet) next week.
Now I remember why I don't buy perfume -- besides inevitably giving me a headache, the stuff costs more per ounce than gold! (But it is still a lovely scent).

~*-Seven-*~ Kansas Mom posted instructions for making caramel apples on Tasty Tuesday that includes a recipe for caramel. I think tomorrow I'm going to make another batch of Samoas, and I'll be using her homemade caramel to do it.

7 Quick Takes

~ One ~
I recently discovered nfpcharting.com and am loving it. It's designed for the Billings Ovulation Method of NFP (Natural Family Planning) charting, but it can easily be adapted for the Creighton Model. You get the first month for free, and it's $2.50 a month after that. I think we can afford that.

What I like about it? It doesn't require stickers or paper charts or FINDING A PENCIL. That alone is worth the price of admission. You can e-mail your chart to your instructor (or doctor) and print it off for your appointments. If you're lucky enough to own one, it's also available as an app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

~Two~
Somebody get me out of the homemade cherry butter and English muffins. Thank you.

~Three~
A while ago I attempted to cut the budget down by turning off the A/C. Feeling perpetually sticky, wilted, and drained, I'd never had a grumpier week in my life. Sure we were saving money, but at what cost? (Sorry, I crack myself up sometimes). So we're cutting corners elsewhere (not sure where yet, actually... but we'll think of something) and turned it back down to a comfortable 74 degrees. This is livin'.

Well, this was livin'. Today the infernal thing broke and is leaving the infernal house in infernal temperatures. I can feel my mood souring as quickly as that milk I left out last night.

~Four~
I have a black thumb. Every six months my husband gives me an indoor Azalea bush. Every six months I am deliriously happy. Every time, within three weeks, I'm crushed. I don't think my dried parsley shatters as much as those Azalea leaves do. Do I overwater them? Underwater? I just don't know! It's crispier than a potato chip now, though.

~Five~It's 4 o'clock already!??! Good gravy! How did that happen?

~Six~I've been playing the piano for a children's choir rehearsal. I'm pretty rusty, but it's pretty fun. They're going to sing at Mass on the Feast of the Assumption. They sound great! I'm really impressed that elementary kids can sing in two part harmony.

~Seven~This beautiful painting makes me happy. Slowly but surely, I'm working on replicating it in real life (er... canning, not painting).

Pantry by Jeffrey T. Larson (1962-), Image from Art Renewal

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Seven Quick Takes

I've not done the meme "7 Quick Takes" before, but I think it will it the spot for today.


1. My sister-in-law is getting married tomorrow. She was one of my good friends in college and became one of my dearest friends after we graduated. Then I married her brother and we became family. Now she's moving to Colorado. It's pretty difficult, actually, and my coping mechanism is "just don't think about it." I was coping quite well until I wrote this paragraph.

2. My darling sweet dearest husband's birthday is Sunday!! True to my style I've been thinking about it for three months but have not actually done or bought anything. All he's requested is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. I think I can handle that.

3. It's Friday, the wedding is Saturday, we've just started a budget, and both my husband and I realized we've got nothing suitable to wear. My darling doesn't own a suit and all of my formal clothes are winter clothes (projected high tomorrow is 101°). We could always borrow, but he's tall and I'm stout and none of our close-enough-to-ask-to-borrow-clothes-acquaintances match our body types. Why did we just think of this?

4. We got a vet bill in the mail yesterday for a Jersey bull. Uum... we don't own a bull. We do, however, have a Jersey cow who is almost a month overdue and refuses to calve. Yes, I'm am city girl, but I don't think I was hoodwinked into buying a pregnant bull. I called the vet and they got it straightened out, but not before I seriously pondered for a few seconds if that's why she's not calving.

5. I used some basil from our garden to make fresh basil pasta. It was a little gummy going through the pasta rollers, but it was quite tasty! On another night I made grilled chili lime corn (you peel the husk back, discard the silk, slather the spices on it, close it back up in the husk and grill it). It was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be.

6. With a lot of my bloggy friends beginning to knit and crochet Christmas gifts, I've started getting the bug myself. To knit or crochet? No, not quite. But the idea struck me to begin making cherry liqueur or cherry cordial. If I started now it would probably be done around Christmas time.

7. In honor of my new budget, I've got a freebie for you (which you can totally ignore the political message and the donation page if you want). Get a free "Sick of Spending" t-shirt.

Read others' "Quick Takes" at ConversionDiary.com