The Pantry

We've been really busy this month, getting the house set up, running errands, stocking the freezer. I love to cook and I'm forever trying to find ways to feed my family good food without spending all day long in the kitchen. I don't mind it, but the kids don't like Mom cooking most of the day. So far I've stocked us with the following:

Corn & Cheese Enchiladas
Pulled Pork Enchiladas
BBQ Pork Fried Rice
Lime-Cilantro Rice
Ham & Bean Soup
Shepherd's Pie
"Country" Style Potatoes (Uncooked)
Apple Pie
Honey Cake
French Toast
Almond Biscotti
Banana Bread

I have plans for making empanadas, lasagna, meatloaf and pizza. Hopefully, I can fit it all in the freezer!

Homemade Soap

Zara and I invited our friends Maya, Hannah and Katerina, over to make soap. We melted glycerin and Shea Butter soaps. Then the girls each decided which essential oils and other ingredients to add.

Maya chose glycerin and Shea Butter soap and then threw in some lavender oil and lavender flowers. It smelled heavenly!

Hannah chose glycerin soap and added lavender oil, lavender flowers and sea salt. Smelled great and slightly exfoliating.

Katerina also chose glycerin soap, but she added both lavender oil and oatmeal. Very soft and silky!

Glycerin and lavender seemed to be very popular, but Zara went against the grain and chose Shea Butter soap. Then she added almond, kombu, sea salt and lavender flowers. When all the ingredients were melting, it smelled good enough to eat!

We had some issues with the molds, but overall I think all the girls had fun and are enjoying their soap. I know I am!

We Can Snowboard!!!

Freddy has discovered that the snowboarding on our property is quite good. We have a couple fairly long runs, and one has a natural jump.

A Thousand Words

It 's no wonder the Eskimos and Native Indians have so many words for snow. Such beauty, what a gift snow can be! The forest is blanketed in white and looks so inviting. Its' perfect stillness can't help but to give a sort of peace and rest for the soul.

Forest Home

We're finally getting settled into our new house. We wake up to the peaceful sounds of the forest. It's very quiet around here except for Zara's non-stop jibber-jabbering! She loves the forest and tries to stay outside as much as she can. Here's a picture of the view off our back porch.

Pure Luck

Let me preface this post by saying that I don't believe in luck. But I do believe that certain people end up in negative situations in an ongoing way through no real fault of their own. If you've ever seen the movie from the 80's "Pure Luck", with Martin Short and Danny Glover, you know what I'm talking about. And if you know me well enough, you would know that I am Martin Short's character personified. Why do I say this? Well, here's a perfect example. I bought my Subaru at the end of 2006. The weekend we were moving in April of 2007, my headgasket blew. So I was without a car for a bit. Get my car back. October 2007, a random flying tire from the other side of the freeway demolishes my car, and we possibly all could have died, given our close proximity to a cliff. Right before we move. Get my car back again. Today, as I was driving to pick up a pizza, as we're moving and I'm not in the mood to cook, I get in another accident.

Is my car "cursed"? Doomed to wreck or break every time we move? So far it has. Or am I "one of those people" that freak, random things always seem to happen to me? I just don't know. All I know is, I think I need a different car.

Hiye Ye to the Olde Mountainside

At last! Back to the mountains! We are so excited to be moving at the end of this month to Foresthill. Although we will miss our family, friends and routine here in Sacramento, it is a really good move for us. We will be on 2 acres of forest and meadows, plenty of room for gardening and exploring.

We have lots planned for this winter, so check back for pictures of the kids, recipes for yeast bread, dyeing play-silks, I will be trying my hand at preserving food by jarring, Midwifery school has officially started (Hooray!) and a loosely developed "Pre-school" cirriculum will start to come into play for Zara.