A Peak Inside

I know I haven't been writing anything but puppy news, that's because my life took a very different turn a few years ago and my writing followed. My main blog is now Our Bit of Dirt.
After years of thinking all I wanted was a small garden, I came to realize what I truly love.

Homesteading.

For those that liked my writing, family or hilarity; feel free to drop by the new blog.

From new eggs to meeting our new hens.

To the amazing finds I've been able to snag this Spring!
Free tomatoes to a driveway full of bricks!

My life is full of new fruit trees, berries, grapes, potatoes and so much more!
I've met some truly amazing people along the way.
Learned more than I thought I would in a short span of time and have continued to find new loves!
Jams, jellies, wine and pies are in our fresh future!

Last winter I started repairing two of my quilts that are getting thread bare and have started to repair them.
We continue to build, add and grow new things.

In the last two years our lives have changed so very much - feel free to watch the crazy ride!

Easter

First off HAPPY EASTER! 

I had some fun today with Zorro, our adorable sweet male rabbit. He's so large and adorable now! I need to post new photos of him soon!

Gifts this year were different our kids are older now, Prissy is 12 and G'man is turning 10 in a few weeks. They did the Easter Egg hunt at Hubby's work like we do every year - this is where they bagged a ton of candy and a few nice prizes!

We however got them big kid gifts.

G'man got a wood burning kit and will be learning how to use it, while Prissy got a new art box.

For our adult friends and family (that live close by) we made up Easter Omelet baskets!

Highlighting our farm fresh eggs of course!

Each basket had 2 sets of 3 eggs. One set blue/green from our Easter Eggser (Americana's), one set brown from our Rhode Island Reds.

To go with the eggs we added cubed ham, cheese wedges, peppers, tomato, mushrooms and an onion.

We dropped them off yesterday so that they could wake up to an have a wonderful Easter Breakfast! So while we are all still feeling a little under the weather and haven't been very active. I hope to be posting more wonderful photos of our new cute additions soon!

Until next time, Happy Easter!

wink emoticon

Tears, Friends and Projects.

Saturday morning I attended a funeral for Louis Damolaris.
You may not know this about me, but I suck at lying, bright cheery words and false hope. A very good friend of mine chose to let me spend this time with her, knowing full well that I'm not the best at cheering anyone up.
You see both her and I, have buried people before. Early deaths, shocking deaths, painful deaths. She and I both know that tender sympathy and kind words are hollow.
Instead I sat next to her and cried.

Afterwards we went up to one of her favorite places and had waffles.

In typical, lets be a brat moment, I had the staff call out for Hot Stuff when our food was up. Her daughter is now embarrassed to be seen with me. (Love you Megan!)

We spent the rest of the day together with my best friend Margie. We ate, chatted, laughed, made fun of people and each other, yelled at traffic and watched Insurgent.
We didn't try to forget or avoid sensitive topics, we didn't try to paint pretty pictures of the future, we just spent the day together.

Sunday started off with a... broken window that we are positive the Wa-Um must have broken. The Wa-Um is our son's imaginary friend/monster. The Wa-Um has been blamed for everything since my son was two years old. Since NO ONE told us that it broke or how, it MUST be the Wa-Um again.
Dang! I really hoped that when we moved, we'd left him behind.

Our chickens are growing quickly and are adorable. So far they are very quiet and well behaved.
My bestie though has taken to calling me the Chicken Epi Lady. While I adore her, I am thinking up future pay backs for this one.

The Kitchen garden is done! We've filled in the dirt, separated the sections, and I finished planting it today! Now all I have to do is weed, water and wait. 

I hate wait.

I have to go now, hubby is calling me to help fix the window and he really, REALLY wants me off the computer! 

Sunny Day Picnic

I know I haven't been blogging lately - I wish I could say I was very busy - saving the world - something fun.
In truth though I have been done with the cold crappy weather. I lacked ambition. Focus.

Today, however, the sun came out! It was actually warm and dry!
The kids decided to celebrate by spending most the day outside - including begging for a picnic lunch outside.

A few months ago (my southwest Miche party) I bought 120 nacho bowls. (and yes that was the smallest amount I could buy at a time!)
Now I have been finding tons of fun uses for these containers around the house.
Today was another great day!
I made their sandwiches (turkey for G'man & PB&J for Prissy) in the cheese area I added some chips.

Yesterday we ran to IKEA, my hubby has a chair. A very special chair. The only chair.
You see a few years ago hubby had back surgery. This makes it very hard for him to bend, or move up and down.
Thus he can not have a soft, plushy, squishy chair. It needs to be firm. Supportive.
This is a chair we bought a few years ago at Ikea. Then the kids got a hold of it and... well after a few years of my children trying to climb the chair and their papa, it broke.
As this is the ONLY recliner we have ever found (5 years searching) that does not hurt his back, we went and got him a new one! This is his b-day, valentines day & fathers day all rolled into one.

I have lots of fun news I will be posting this week so I will be back! and soon!

Organizing my Chaotic Life

There are a few areas of my life that I have been "winging" successfully for the last ten years. Dinner preparation falls into that, house hold chores falls into the unsuccessful category.
Pinterest (thank you for coming into my life) has given me many great ideas.
Some from people that really, really, really, love paper - I mean WAY to many different organizing sheets.
Too many means that one day you will overlook or forget to check one.

Here are a few from different blogs & Pinterest that spawned my new system, at the bottom I will link and explain my system at the bottom. ;)

First up - Home Management
This one REALLY likes to pay for things you print off AND all her links are no longer valid - however the idea is solid.


Next up is Sunday Planning, again she really likes paper.

After her came the Magnetic Menu Board.
This one is sure genius! I love this idea
Although my idea is cheaper and simpler I took a lot from her.

Lastly came Girl Loves Glam - funny enough the least glamorous of them all but still very functional.
If you are looking to organize your life a little more these women have some great ideas!
Mine is a much simpler, much cheaper way to do many of the combined.






First off I have only one binder. My sister bought me a very nice recipe keeper set a few years ago. Ever since then its been used to hold our "family favorite" recipes.

It has plenty of space, many tabs and is a 3 ring binder. For me and what I want, its perfect.

 Here is a bad photo of my weekly calendar

This sheet has my menu plan, weekly family schedule, holidays, moon phases, & house cleaning chart.
Color coded to event or person.

Here is my Monthly calendar

I found a free site called, Keep & Share, where you can save several printable calendars.
You can even schedule things weekly, monthly ect.

Sorry for my bad hand writing. I had to write up this list and place next to my calendar so that I can schedule my menu plan off of it. See I have recipes and then I have "recipes" things that I make so often that I don't need a recipe card.

When planning a menu a month in advance you may need a "reminder" list. Something to help you remember old favorites or your general back ups.
This list I am sure will grow and be added to, I have plenty of room saved up on the back for more.

Another great idea when menu planning is to make sure that similar ingredients be used in the same week.
I have a week where I make burritos, tacos, nachos, salad ect.
Since most of those recipes re-use the same ingredients. Insuring no waste and maxim food for your budget.

Which ever organizing idea is for you or if like me you pick and choose and find something that really works for you, I hope this helps.

10th Anniversary

Now for the rest of the story...
Sorry I have been so busy lately that while my photos and items to post have been compiling I have not had a chance to post them!
The rest of our ten days for our tenth anniversary were wonderful - we did a few game and snack nights, days with friends and of course for the tenth anniversary itself we went out to dinner!

Where?
The Cheesecake Factory!
A great place for an afternoon out with the one you love. ;)

Hubbies dinner from Cheese Cake Factory

Bread
Stuffed mushrooms
Soup and Turkey sandwich
Mocha Cheese cake

My meal
Bead
Bead dipped in the wine sauce of hubbies mushrooms (YUM!)
Spicy wonton appetizer
Turkey avocado sandwich
side salad
Pineapple cheesecake (my fav!)

The company and child free time with my hubby was amazing!
It was great to relax and enjoy the moment.
Thank you again Robert & Margie Walker for watching the kids and always being there for us!

Eggs, Easter & Potato Bars

Family, Feasting & Remembrance. The meaning of Easter and celebrating it are huge for our family.

The day was bright, sunny and beautiful.

The food was amazing!

New Pretties, Food & Life

I have a few new wall decors that I added around my home. The upper large is over my dinning table. The tree squares next to it are on my bathroom wall. The lower large photos is above the kitchen table.
I have a lot of wall space that is blank.
The problem is I can not add thick art work or pictures due to doors, tables, people, bathroom steam and positions.
These are the perfect solution to walls that need something different then "regular" art.

S.O.P.A & other various rants

Tomorrow we (the anti SOPA ~ non military government people) will be observing internet silence.

Jan 18th 2012 from 8am-8pm (est)

2012 Eclectic Fun News

This will not be one of my "normal" blogs. I have found many little wisps of fun things I want to keep, share and drool over.

One of the coolest photos I have found in a very long time is of the Crab Nebula

 

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111225.html

 

Next up is really the engine of the future! I can't even imagine the possibilities if they can get the "test" - large car sized model - working the way they think it will, cars will weigh 1,000 pds less and need less gas to move the lower weight!
A 20 gallon gas tank really could take you a month of driving before running out - or even more! This engine really can redefine the world!

 GE 30 in. 5 gas range burner I can't even begin to tell you how badly I want this stove!

We are still remodeling the kitchen and I am not sure how long it will be until we get this stove (or one like it) but this is the model I am looking at - at the moment!

Now on to Salt Lake City, Utah - What is happening in 2012? I'll tell you - copy & posted from the previous new link - the whole article is worth reading though!

In March, the LDS Church opens City Creek Center, a $2 billion retail, restaurant and residential mega-development, destined to recharge Utah’s metropolitan heart.

Construction also will be visible next year on a Sugar House streetcar, a North Temple makeover — bisected by a TRAX train to the international airport — two new libraries, a federal courthouse, a $125 million public-safety headquarters, downtown housing projects and a $110 million touring Broadway theater.

Urban planners say the level of private and public investment is remarkable, especially given the limping economy.

Extra drama over the 2012 doomsday stems from the stars. On 12/21/12 — the winter solstice — the sun aligns with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. Scientists say that will disrupt the energy streaming to Earth.

Downtown window shopping is about to get a lot richer — from Brooks Brothers suits to Tiffany diamonds to Cheesecake Factory desserts.

Boasting 80 specialty stores and restaurants, hundreds of housing units in four towers and a Harmons grocery, City Creek Center spans 700,000 square feet on the two city blocks that once housed Crossroads Mall and ZCMI Center. Connected by a sky bridge over Main Street, it has 18-foot waterfalls, retractable glass roofs and a stream — re-creating City Creek — running through it.

Anchored by Nordstrom and Macy’s, City Creek should reshape and reboot Salt Lake City’s sometimes-sleepy downtown.

"It will place Salt Lake City in the cross hairs as one of the finest developing cities in the country." - end of copying.

Salt Lake City - is still very 1940's - 1950's when big buildings came into fashion and construction was made easier. (several different inventions helped)
This make's driving through downtown feel like a blast from the past, but really it's an OLD town. For being the 32nd most populated city in the entire USA - its really old and dying.

Thankfully having the Olympics here in 2002 we have lots of new hotels, pavilions, skate parks and event centers. Now onward to reviving our downtown!

Now when the rest of the country is saving money, watching their spending and economizing - Salt Lake is going to become THE newest - modern city. I can't wait for it all to be done!

Up that's it for today! Yesterday we deep cleaned the living room - today my hubby cleaned the kitchen with the kids and I organized the bathroom. (I also went shopping with my BFF and out to lunch! What a great day!)

What a day!

Today was a very long day! It started with my hubby going to the endodontist. Two of his roots are dying and one tooth will need to be removed completely!

My BFF last night bought me my Christmas present early (for those that know me - I love early presents!)
Today I unpacked - read up on and put it together - to see my new Soda Stream and read my early review click HERE!

After hubby's dentist appointment and before my girls we held a fur baby fashion shoot & then I ran out side to take some fun photos - for all of this scroll down.

However, then I took Prissy to the dentist. She has a bad cavity that needs to be cleaned out as well as capped. 5 mins. in she started screaming her head off!
I was pulled in to help calm her down. They had given her a shot to numb her mouth - instead of it numbing - she was in extreme pain! They allowed me to try to calm her and then they tried again thinking she was just worried about the numbing feel....
One hour later I found myself sitting next to a red swollen faced girl finding out that she does not react well to liticain.

To make matters worse the dentist really wants her to see a pediatric dentist - only problem is our insurance (even with a referral) will not cover any ped work over the age of 6!
So now we are begging the dentist to try again with a different numbing agent (he is researching it now) before agreeing or disagreeing to see her again for this same issue!!

My poor girl! She has had one heck of a year! Broken arm! Asthma issues, allergic to Lilacs and other strange things and now this! How a normal routine dentist appointment can became something so bizarre - well it takes talent and a special little girl!

I am at my wits end! I am frazzled and tired so my darling hubby ordered pizza for dinner!

Patch has two new sweaters and one jacket!

(for the stain on the carpet - please ignore! My daughter got some ketchup on it!)

The sweaters and jacket I found at Target for 2.50 each!

As for the plushy stuffed animal he was 5.00 at PetSmart! (So Soft!)

As for his scab - its getting loose so only a few more days of the collar!

Tea at Grandma's

 

 The kids had a ball!

Little man made "ham cake" with Grandma

Prissy made lemon cake with her

Grandma of course made tea!

See I made it just in time to eat!

All in all this was a great day! 

My step mom (aka Grandma) also helped me finish a dress I had started for Prissy

(I broke two machines twice in the same day)

Thank you family that helps!

Girls Day!

My job for the day

Before my BFF came to grab

me for a day of shopping!

Dinner with my BFF

The demon possessed piggies we found at Target

 

My BFF loves my taste in earrings!

Some women love shoes,

others purses,

me I love Earrings!

A good earring - dangles, sparkles, moves and is not too heavy or bulky,

And then yes its raining again!

Time with Friends

Today I had to redo all the hard work and hours of work that blogger lost on my Trying to get published blog. If you have not seen the new look please head on over and take a look! I have up an interview of Kori Donahue's new book Murder on the Boulevard up tonight!

I also cooked up a feast! We had a BBQ with our previous neighbors, who went from being neighbors to friends and now we call them family.

We have in the photo S in the back. 

On the Left side D in the back A in the front

On the Right we have of course my dastardly duo!

But lets go back a bit

4 years ago we moved into a mobile home, it was 1150 sq feet with 3 bedroom and two bathroom. It also had really bad neighbors. I mean REALLY bad.

The house next door to ours was smaller - I am not kidding - and it held 9 - 13 people depending on the day.

Most of them under the age of 10. And all of them HORRIBLE!

I am not talking about rude children who play with mud and throw rocks, I am talking about boys that pee in the driveway and hump fence posts!

I started praying!! They amazingly (Thank you Jesus!) moved out a year later, and God brought us the most amazing couple!

While the husband could speak English and had lived in Florida for several years, his new wife and adopted daughter didn't speak ANY English.

It didn't matter one bit to our daughters who immediately started playing together - you don't have to understand to play well together.

It was harder on us adults. D would run up to me and start speaking rapid Spanish - I understand and can respond slowly - most of the time. But only when you speak slow enough for me to process the word - I have to filter spanish to latin and then into English or spanish to french and then into English or spanish to English if I already know and understand the word.

The wife and I started walking everyday together - she helped me get healthier while I helped her English.

What made it really hard for me was I was raised here in Utah where most Spanish speaking people are from Mexico so I am used to the words and phrases they use.

She is from Colombia so I was re learning Spanish words mostly from translating them from Latin.

My friends would say "Andale" she would say "Rapido" - yes those are easy ones which is why they are the example!

She had a hard time because I talk fast - I had to learn how to slow down and use less words without sounding stupid or patronizing (which for the few of you that know me can understand that is VERY hard for me to do). Was it worth it?

Oh yeah! We became family - they are like brothers and sisters to us and we hope that we have filled some of the void in being apart from their families.

3 years and one move later we are still friends. So much in fact that tonight we went and looked at several homes near us for sale in the hopes that one (soon) they might live next to us!

 When God brings about such amazing and wonderful friends its nice to be able to keep in touch, but nicer if you can see them every day!

BFF's Labor Day BBQ

My plates end result! Well the first time - after the salad was gone I added on mash potatoes and corn. No I didn't get it all in, but it wasn't for the lack of trying!

Little man and Prissy sharing the empty marshmallow puff jar.

Great food with great friends.

The last is a dish that I call "S'more Pie"

For the recipe click the link to my recipe blog.

The food while great was secondary to spending time with great friends! We are blessed beyond words!

Forbidden Moments

So BFF and I had a day yesterday! My kids have been sick for several days. Little Man had been running a high fever that turned into a cold. Prissy has bronchitis and is on very heavy medicine. Medicine that I have to listen for her all night long and run to give her new cough medicine any time I hear her start coughing!

Needless to say I have not gotten much sleep and I have also started coughing. BFF woke up yesterday feeling sick, her little girl beauty as well. By night time we were both either going to go crazy or sneak a girls night.

Tough choice I know, but we choose girls night with lots and lots of chocolate.

Do I feel better? Not really.
Was I up again all night long with Prissy? Of course - she needed medicine four times last night.
Did it help relieve the stress and tension? OH YEAH!

Living in my BFF's basement has been an adventure, the worst part is that my biggest fear of my kids getting her kids sick came true. Something that is not a good thing at all.
Will it work out and be alright - yes.
Should we have a closing date soon? Yes!

Mint! How I love Mint!

I borrowed this picture from the web as my mint plants well to see what they look like scroll down farther.

For now we are going to concentrate on MINT!

And of course what to do once you have nice healthy plants.

Menu plan 

Minty-watermelon cucumber salad

Zesty herbed lamb chops

grilled fruit skewers with chocolate syrup

(all recipes from my healthy cooking magazine)

I believe I mentioned in a recent post of mine how hard it is to grow mint from seeds right?

Yeah this is after a months effort.

My poor things...

For me to handle the cucumber salad I have to first freeze the cucumber since I am highly allergic to a protein in the food.

This is annoying to be sure but it's easily broken down by freezeing, cooking, drying or pickling.

I can have it any way but fresh - yup sucks.

These recipes are very easy to find online so I will only post my favorite

Zesty Herbed Lamb Chops

1/2 c fresh mint leaves

1/4 c minced fresh oregano

1/4 c fresh parsley sprigs with the stems removed

1/4 c lemon juice

3 Tbls water

6 garlic cloves

1 Tbls olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

8 lamb chops (two per person)

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

1 Tbls olive oil

In a food processor combine the all ingredients until the lamb chops (obviously).

Set aside half the sauce.

Brush 1/2 sauce over chops sprinkle with the salt and pepper.

In a large skillet (or grill) cook chops in oil over medium heat for 7-10 minutes on both sides of the meat.

Serve with the remaining mint sauce.

Great accompaniment for this dish is a mint cuscous.

Also taking a friends advice I bought the Hungry Girl cook book 200 recipes under 200 calories.

This was a major disappointment.

NOTHING is fresh!

This book will be shelved until the dead of winter.

Is a banana an Herb?

Alright I read today that a banana was an herb, wanting more clarification of how it was put in that category I did a quick search.

It seems that by all accounts its the fruit of an Herb (still considered fruit LOL). By US Tariff standards its a fruit.
The confusion comes in the fact that, although, banana tree's are called trees and can grow to an amazing height of forty feet tall it is not made of wood. Hence the defining it of an Herb, not to mention the leaves are used in cooking and for flavoring. Herb, Herb, Herb...with seedless fruit.

So my conclusion is calling them fruit still fits, fruit of an Herb is still FRUIT - Love it! And yes I really, really don't have anything better to do with my time then to research such weird things... of course your reading it.