My baby birds made a birdhouse as a part of science class.  We have been learning from Apologia's Zoology 1 book, and have really enjoyed this indepth study of birds. 

The last chapter we completed was on nesting... each chapter ends with a hands on project of some kind... and this one included the plans to build a simple birdhouse...

This is a beautiful website with beautiful products for a beautiful cause.....

Please check it out....

Peaceful Acres

THE GRAND OPENING OF BUTTERFLIES AND BUMBLE BEES  LABOR OF LOVE CHARITY!

 ALL  PROCEEDS GO TO BUY SEWING MACHINES FOR DALIT WOMEN IN INDIA.  GO TO PAGE “MY SHOP” FOR EVEN MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE SHOP.

I attempted my first batches of jelly this week and it all seems to have turned out well....

The funny thing is that I was telling my grandmother how many jars we had (14 pints, 17 1/2 pints) and she said that hopefully that would get us thru the winter....

The recipe I used was 5 cups of juice, 7 cups of sugar, and a box of pectin.  I also made a few jars with 5 cups of sugar and 2 cups of honey. 

I am also just learnng about Pomona's pectin....When I make apple jelly in a few weeks I think I'm going to use it and experiment more with sugar alternatives (and I ain't talking no splenda or nutrasweet).

This site shows a step-by-step directions with lots of pictures.... 

I'm one of those people who will pretty much try anything once.  I like to think that I fear nothing and am not easily intimidated...

This is a pretty foolish attitude, but I would also like to validate it on some level by saying that I also know when to call it quits....

I recently started making kombucha... it's grossed me out for years, but I had never brewed my own and figured, "hey, lets give it a try!".

Well, I tried, and try as I like, I just could do it....  I did make a couple of batches, and it probably tasted how it was supposed to, but I just didn't like it.  It took up alot of room in my kitchen, and I hate cluttered countertops.  It is also visually gross.... So pretty much Mr. B was the only one who would drink the stuff, and he's honestly not that picky...  So good-bye kombucha.

Maybe I was setting myself up to not like it, but the gagging sensation when I would drink it is more than I will suffer in the name of health.....

But then I got to thinking.....  So often the world makes life into a competition.  I do love a good competion, don't get me wrong, but sometimes you need to draw a line.

What I do in the name of health or nutrition (or even in the name of Christianity) is what I feel led to do...  I once read an article called, More Vegan Than Thou... It was probably about 15 years ago by a vegetarian magazine talking about how vegan were attempting to "outdo" each other by how extreme they could become in their  eating habits (yes, for my carnivorous friends, there are levels to veganism even).

I don't want anyone to think that because I make bread, or garden, or grow herbs or do whatever that I am living a perfectly healthy life.  I also enjoy diet pepsi, drink too much coffee, and really love candy...  I may try different things, but if I don't like it.. I won't keep it up.  Life is too short to waste time doing the things you hate.

I guess the way I see it is that we are all on the same team.... looking for ways to be happy, healthy and productive....  we are also individuals with different needs and likes.  I would prefer to learn from those on my team rather than to compete with them....

after all... I want us all to win....

Kombucha SCOBY

SCOBY in tea...

I've made the conscious decision to try and start posting more, but I'm not finding alot of inspiration lately, and I'm also really tired right now.  I did find this amusing though....

.................................................................
A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan
Officer. She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs
to borrow $5,000. The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for
the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Mercedes Benz SL 500.
The car is parked on the street in front of the bank.She has the title, and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car collateral for the loan.



The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at The blonde for using a $110,000 Benz as collateral against a $5,000 loan.

An employee of the bank then proceeds to drive the Benz into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.

Two weeks later, the blonde returns. She repays the $5,000 and theInterest, which comes to $15.41.

The loan officer says, 'Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire.

What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?'The blonde replies, 'Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?'

Does it make me a fool that I wash, exfoliate, moisturize, tan (from a bottle), apply smashbox primer and then meticulously paint on a face full of make up and highlighter when all I'm going to do is pick grapes?

Please don't answer as my feelings are easily hurt, and I believe that I already know the answer.

Though the garden has come to an end, there are now the joys of late summer.  In Georgia that means muscadines and scuppernogs.  The vines are terribly overgrown, but produced a ton this year.  I've already got about 5 gallons of these grapes to put up, and didn't even make a dent in what was there.

I'm planning on making jelly or attempting to make wine.  The wine thing maybe too time consuming though, and I am more of an instant gratification kind of girl...

We purposefully take August and February as our breaks from school each year.  Part of the reason is that it is just too hot and summer has usually gone on too long by the time August rolls around, and February tends to be too gloomy to focus on school.

Since I've cut way back on my job I'm having to pick up more time when we take school breaks.  This isn't so bad as I still sign up for only a bit of time and go in "extra" at a higher pay rate.  (Sounds kind of bad, but I've been in the nursing biz for 20+ years now and know how to work the system pretty well).

So I've been working all this week while attempting to maintain some order within our home.

There has been alot of planning going on for school though.  I've never been big on co-ops or the idea of extra-curricular type things, but we are going to try adding them to our school and see how it goes.

One cool thing we are currently doing, sorry no pictures yet, is from our history study of ancient Egypt.  I wanted to do it when the Princess was in 1st year but figured I'd wait.  Now that the Prince is officially 1st year... we are MUMMIFYING a chicken!

I am so excited, and I hope it works out.  Now it is just a chicken from the grocery, no I didn't kill anything, and there are no feathers involved.  You basically just go thru the whole process of mummification.  We aren't to the wrap it up stage yet, but I'm still pretty excited.

I also made the Princess a much promised mix CD (or do we still say tape?).  She has been such a blessing to me on the days I work.  She is really stepping up in running the household and TCB. 

I also took time to vegetate and make a new playlist for myself.  I feel like it's a bit more optimistic than what I've been for the past few months.  I don't know if I just hate spring and summer on a subconscious level or what, but I'm excited that fall is eventually coming.....

My playlist (sorry I'm not very original, but most of my songs from here are on it)...

Wildflowers....Tom Petty

No Rain... Blind Melon

Keep on Trying..... Poco

Fire and Rain... James Taylor

RIpple.... Grateful Dead

Heart of Gold... Neil Young

Angel from Montgomery.... Bonnie Raitt

Right to be Wrong... Joss Stone

Time of Your Life.... Green Day

Free Falling... Tom Petty

Sweet Child O Mine... Guns n Roses

Times Like These.... Foo FIghters

Chariot... Gavin DeGraw

Simple Kind of Life... No Doubt

I Don't Want to Be... Gavin Degraw

You Get WHat You Give... New Radicals

Wonderwall.... Oasis

Who Knew... Pink

Still Crazy after all these Years... Paul Simon

One .... U2

and I don't mean one from the Varsity...

I have to admit that I am not naturally drawn to dogs.  We do have a dog that lives in our house, but I've never really connected with him.  He has always just been this big lump that laid around.

So after a time of neglect I took my long-haired Sheltie to a groomer.  I told her to clean him up....

This is what I dropped off....

This is what I picked up.... (Yes, that is his pink skin showing)

Apparently the groomer felt that it would be best to start with a clean slate and shaved him off.  My shock has taken about a week to wear off, and remarkably the dog has energy and does more than lay on top of the air conditioning vents.   The kids seem to be giving him more attention... like we got a new dog almost.

The really cool thing is that cleaning has always been horrible with hair everywhere... this week.... nothing.  We may just be shaving the dog every year...

Today is the 15th anniversary of when Mr. B and I got married long ago in Anchorage. 

We had met at a bar on New Year's Eve, and did the common law thing until our families could all be together for an actual ceremony. 

I decided to quit smoking, a 2-3 pack per day habit, the day of the ceremony, and hallucinated on the patch thru out the ceremony.  The minister had broken his foot the day before and was on crutches and stoned on narcotics, also.

We also decided that we had enough of the cold and wanted to move somewhere warm.  Somehow we decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona. 

So we took off with everything we owned the week after the ceremony in a 2 seat car with our cat, Lola, and set off for the lower 48.    We camped out mostly along the way.

May I just say that while this sounds like a nice little hippy trip... I am fairly high-maintenance, and have not camped since to this day as the trip was pure hell.

We hadn't known each other very long, and we now had 2 long weeks together.... in a small car... with one person really just wanting to smoke, and wondering what she had gotten herself into.

We drove thru the Liard Hot Springs, Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Las Vegas, just to name a few places...

As we came over the hill one night we saw the lights and sprawl of Phoenix, I just wanted to turn the car around.... but still we trekked on.

Well.... we've been trekking on for 15 years together now.  There've been some good times and some not so good times, but (short of moving to Phoenix) I don't think I'd change a thing.

I have to admit that my biological clock alarm is not just ticking, but clanging and telling me that time is almost up.... I realize that this is part of the reason for my frequent hormonal outburst that I unfortunately vent on those here.... but hey, you can take it or leave it...

So... what's a girl to do?

I'm really trying (sorry, I hate this word) to discern what it means to be an older, Christian woman (it's really gagging me to put myself in this category, but it's probably fitting).  One project I'll be starting is a little group for some homeschooled girls in our area who are wanting to learn some basic home crafts.   Looking at the Bible I keep seeing over and over that a woman should be teaching the younger women to be "keepers of their own homes."

I'm no expert by any means, and  I am pretty much self-taught at everything I know.  But I do know enough that I need to be sharing and encouraging the next generation...

I guess what my goal is for this group is to make them aware that God does have a plan for their lives... that they may not all be wives and mothers, but that they need to be prepared to function under many different circumstances and to learn to adapt.  I think that the basic home arts can only help to raise this awareness.

Also, while the crafts are and should be fun, I also feel the burden that planting seeds can give you.  While I want them to have a good time, I don't want this to be just about a craft.  I'm just wanting to be careful not to encourage the idea of consumerism.  I don't want the girl to think that you go thru life only to accumulate.  It isn't about what you make, and all of the "stuff", but about the life experience and what you choose to do with it.    We are also planning to spend some time giving back to our community as a group by doing frequent service projects. 

Maybe this is why I'm where I'm at right now in life.  A baby would slow me down and really limit what I am potentially able to do. 

I guess it's time to start listening to something other than the distracting call of the clanging bundle of hormones...

The garden, thankfully, has finally run its course. 

I thought that I was done with canning and freezing, but then I got a call that the figs were ready to be picked.

I've never picked or done anything with figs, and I do love to try new things, so I was off.

I came home with just a small stash and then spent a few hours trying to figure out what to do with them.  I was going to do preserves and jam, but I had, unfortunately run out of pint and half-pint jars, and the store was also out, so I decided to make some "modified" preserves and some fig bread.

I say modified preserves as I followed the preserves recipe and then cut the figs into pieces with my ulu knife prior to canning them.  I was able to find one small jar, and the rest fit into a quart jar.

I then made a couple of loaves of fig bread that are really yummy.

I still have some more in the fridge and plan on picking some more later this week, when hopefully, the muscadines will also be ready....

Guess I need to go find some more jars....

Fig Bread

• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups ripe figs, mashed ( I put them thru a food mill)
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cups flour (I used 1/2 hard white and 1/2 soft white)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (I used kefir)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Beat eggs; add sugar and beat well. Add the mashed figs and oil. Stir together flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the fig mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in greased and floured loaf pans.

ULYSSES by Tennyson

Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

I used to believe when I was younger that I had no regrets in life and that I never would.... now I find that they are unexpectedly climbing around me....seeming to grow higher every day.

I think that one of the remarkable things about youth is that things seem so in the moment, but I've gotten to the point where I'm only grasping at youth and what it used to represent to me.... I have the feeling it will soon be out of my reach forever.  I'm wanting to go back and reclaim the things I overlooked in my youthful stupidity, but I'm finding I've run out of time...

It's also a load of crap about only being as young as you feel.... I feel young, but the face I see every morning doesn't match what's in my head.  The memories I have last too long to belong to someone who is young....

I guess I'm wondering what my purpose holds at this point in my life.... Am I simply waiting for death?  Is life over?  Is growth still possible?  Is God giving me a 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th) chance to finally get things right?

It's not so much the stupid things I've done in life that I regret, but more the things I didn't do....

I have had a pretty rich life.... I've been alot of places/seen alot of things kind of cliche' but there are still things I wish I had done when I had the opportunity that age robs from us all....

I am tired of summer at this point, and I am trying to anticipate winter thru the current heat.

 I was doing a light inventory, so to speak, of my current herbs, and  I decided to go ahead and prepare some teas for this winter.

We aren't typically sick, but we do experience our share of sore throats and the like.  The Princess also enjoys making her own blends. So this is what we made....

Sore Throat Tea (from a Rosemary Gladstar recipe)

2 parts licorice root

1 part cinnamon chips

1 part echinacea

1 part marshmallow root

1/4 part dried ginger chips

The Princess's Chamomile Tea

1 part chamomile

1 part lemon balm

1 part lemon grass

1 part catnip

................................................................

I do keep a pretty decent stock of dried herbs that I rotate thru... I try and prefer to keep them in glass jars, but it is not always possible.  Many stay in the containers in which they come for a while.

I hate my kitchen.  Just in case you didn't understand, I hate my kitchen!

 I hate pretty much everything about it.  I live in a pretty nice house that is only a couple of years old and I feel really stupid and somewhat wasteful in really talking about re-doing it.  There is really nothing wrong with it other than being on my bad side.  So short of ripping out the entire room, I am choosing to focus on some of the smaller cosmetic issues.

So... what can I do?

Initially I taught myself how to put up tiles as a backsplash.  They are beautiful tiles, and I was proud that I figured it out and it looked good...BUT it just wasn't the look I wanted.  I have since realized that though I love my beautiful, Mediterannean-style dishes, attempting to coordinate the tiles to them has been a failure.

The room is open to the main floor of the house where the colors are pretty earthy, to a degree.  The walls a boring taupe (lessons learned from having to repaint last house to sell) with secondary colors of greens and purples.  The beautiful light blue just doesn't go.

But then I learn that you just can't take down tile after you've grouted it to the wall.  You pretty much then have to redo the drywall, and I hate doing drywall.   I'm really not a perfectionist in most of my projects and drywall ends up looking like a monkey did it when I'm thru with it.

SO.... I searched around the home depot one day and ended up in the bath section.  I found a thin, plastic sheet that was about 6ft x 12 ft and cost under $15.  It has a semi-slick side and a rough side, and is also make of recycled plastics.

I cut this piece to fit over top of the tile.  It is easy to cut... I scored it with my knife and then it just pops at the cut.  I cut out where the outlets and light switches are located.  I did have Mr. B pull out the outlets a bit as the tile and this layer stick out a bit more than normal.

I then adhere it to the wall with a latex kind of adhesive using the caulk gun. 
When it is on the wall, I then put up some wallpaper.  It sticks well, and matches the rest of the house much better.

I then caulk around the edges to give it a nice, finished look. 

If nothing else, it helps my crazy level to drop a couple of points.

From this:

To this:

This has actually been one of the busier and more productive summers that I have had.  Cutting back at work has given me the spare time to get all of the little particulars of life taken care of  and sorted into place.

I've learned a thing or two, including, but not limited to....

No one family really needs to plant 24 cucumber plants unless you really like pickles.

24 cucumber plants make alot of cucumbers.

I probably didn't need that many tomato or pepper plants either.

After discussing it with my kids we have subtly determined that we just aren't country people and that we prefer the city.

I haven't done as well this year at harvesting herbs... the garden was the main focus.

......................

So these are just a few of my excuses for not having blogged lately.  I'm trying to limit computer time to evenings only when Mr. B is at work.  You know... really trying to devote myself to my family in a full-time kind of way.

I also like to present the positives and sometimes my mind lingers in a darker place that I don't care to potentially impose on others needlessly.  Basically stuff's been going on, and I'm just trying to deal... just like everyone else in the world does when they have stuff.

This was also a verse I hadn't noticed before and thought was sweet in a way...

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

Proverbs 15:17

    It seems that both being busy and lazy have lead to our family's eating to stray from the straight and narrow.  The sweets and snacks from places other than nature have started to fill our shelves, and it is time for this to end.

    The Prince, Princess and I are doing a cleanse of sorts, nothing drastic, just eating with more awareness as to what and how much.  No more treats, or rewards paid in candy.

    The thing is, in case you haven't figured it out, is that I tend to be a bit overly obsessed with food... all kinds of food.  I will sit and read cookbooks for hours on end just enjoying the possibilities and flavors in my imagination if nothing else.

    So, since I am in the land of low-carbs this week, I figured who knows how to make a veggie better than my old friend Julia.... I haven't associated with her much in the past 5 years, and decided that I really needed to revisit her.

    Many people, I believe, are intimidated by her and her books, but they actually teach you how to cook, and to cook well.  They are not glossy books on the 'art' of cooking, but the actual 'science' behind it that will give you results.

     The funny thing is that after reading my copy of Julia and Jacques I saw some amazing similarities between this style and what is discussed in Nourishing Traditions.  Many of the same things are emphasized.  The message is cooking in a whole foods setting, avoiding the preservatives and artificial things that cheapen food and take away its value.  They both encourage full-fat protein, good olive oil and butter, with vegetables.  The main differences I can see are that  Julia Child doesn't do the whole wheat thing, but then if I'm going to have puff pastry I think I, too, would prefer the white flour and sugar versions.

     Lunch today... from the garden: tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant in the vegetable gratin along with a side salad....

This has been a week for treks so far, and since I was already in the mode... I decided to take the Princess on a long promised trip to the American Girl Store.  We had visited the store in NYC, but I wasn't sure how this one in Atlanta would compare.

We loaded up our dolls and got there first thing along with 20 or so other people this morning.  The store was smaller than the one in New York, but overall very nice.

We then walked around the mall as this isn't our normal neck of the woods.

To end our day we ate at the Bistro at American Girl.  Let me just say that I don't get out much, but this was delicious.   The waitress was surprised when the Princess didn't order normal kid fare, but had a pretzel bread appetizer, grilled salmon and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce and side salad... very yummy, especially with a chocolate milk shake.

I inhaled the spinach and artichoke dip then had a vegetable quiche and salad...

I also splurged, at the Princess' request, on hand soap from Bath and Body Works... This has been one of the more difficult things on our natural quest... I like pretty soap/detergents with nice smells.  They actually, I believe, have brought back an old scent that I used to love, but have renamed it.... I keep washing my hands just so I can smell it....  I think I'll be using the coupon they gave me to get some lotion next week....

Overall.... a delicious day....

I've never been considered cool on any level.... the depths of my geekdom go very deep....

BUT I do go to a cool church... cool in that it is very modern and as street as Cartersville, Georgia can be.  The thing is that as modern as the setting is meeting in a movie theater with a band that constantly blows my mind, drinking Starbucks that is offered in the lobby, and a designer jean wearing, cutting edge pastor.... is that the message is strictly from the scriptures.....

I listen to other sermons from men like Michael Pearl who in no way would be accused of running a contemporary church, and the sermons I hear at Oak Leaf each week are identical in their content and direction....  While the translations may be different, the message is the same.....  we need to know GOD.

It did surprise me this morning when the band kicked off the service and the bass player starts with a familiar riff.... It took me a minute, but then they opened the Demons message in a series called Supernatural with INXS's The Devil Inside....