The joys of Old home ownership

It is an unusually warm and wet December day here in the Alleghanys.   As I am almost 38 weeks pregnant I am trapped in our little home at a loss on what to do with myself.  School is out, I have tied up all my loose ends at the shelter I volunteer at for the year, the bags are packed in case we have to make the long haul to the hospital, the presents are all purchased and wrapped, the christmas cards are already sent.  I have nothing to do!  Even all my baby stuff has been purchased(this being the second child it was much easier) and is washed and put in place!  All I can do is stare at my laptop or clean . . . .neither of which sounds very exciting.

I already started my crazy nesting(not easy in a small older home), 4 whole rooms of furniture moved around (multiple times).  Don't tell my OB she would probably beat me for doing too much but it was extremely bothersome to look at a room and hate it.  I completely scraped all the wallpaper out of one of the bedrooms and I have dusted in corners I didn't even know existed.  And yes, I know, between the woodstove, the dog, and these old walls, all that dust will have returned in a day or so, but it feels good to know I got a lot of it. 

What I have not really dealt with is the back of my house.  That is where our home really shows its age and location. A half finished bathroom (I would have tackled the drywall in my nesting fit but I am terrible at it.  A laundry room where there is a whole in the ceiling to an accident where my husband fell through the attic floor putting in insulation(in his defense it was already weakened due to water damage).  A kitchen that has a floor that never looks clean, full of drawers and cabinets that should be emptied and wiped down.  And worst of all a pantry that just a few weeks ago decided to grow mold.  These seem to be things that my parents never deal with.  This pregnant woman likes to pretend that the back rooms don't exist, I can live happily in my front rooms where the worst of it is some ugly berber carpeting. 

This home is the product of an area where contractors and inspectors are never used.  Some touch do-it-yourselfers who should have found someone else to fix their homes.  Penny pinchers who think they are experts because they saw someone do it one time our another.  Our home has bandages over it's broken bones instead of actual repairs.  Layers of wallpaper, contact paper over mold, painted water damage, floors laid over floors, paneling over holes in the wall.  All kinds of things my handy husband could fix with time and motivation but as I'm sure any other manufacturing engineers wife could tell you, those things don't exist for my husband.  So I have decided to continue to ignore the projects that scream at my from the back of the house. 

I'll continue to sit here, huge and pregnant trying to decide whether to read articles and watch facebook or vacuum.  Dream of the day we can live the country life that involves buying a huge piece of land and plopping a brand new beautiful house in the middle.  Afterall, we're all just waiting to win the lottery.  :) 

Chickens!

We just ordered new chickens!  7 female light Brahmas.  Last year we had 6 lovely ladies, 3 Brahmas, and 3 Orpingtons.  They had an adorable little pink chicken tractor (pink because the paint was a cheap return at walmart) that we would move around the yard so they could peck and scratch and get rid of all the grubs in the backyard. 

Backyard chickens are awesome.  First off they give you free eggs.  The Brahma's were great layers, we always had plenty.  Secondly they are better than a garbage desposal for leftover scraps.  Have some potatoe peels? give them to the chickens! Have some apple cores? Chickens love them!  Have some leftover spaghetti?  Now you're just spoiling them.  And the more good things the chickens got the better the eggs were.  Our chickens were happy and healthy and adorable to watch. 

Than one day Hans happened.  In my early pregnancy stupidity I left the back door cracked.  Hans (our male GSD) is a very smart boy who checks these things.  He spent that evening methodically killing our animals one after the other.  6 baby ducks, 6 young rabbits, 6 chickens(at the time we also had 2 cornish), and 1 turkey.  We were left with just 2 of our beautiful chickens left, both Brahmas.  They weren't the same.  They were afraid of us and scared every time they saw the dogs.  We decided to move them to our friend's home with his chickens so they could feel safer and because we were hoping to move. We also found Hans a wonderful new home with a family who didn't want any other animals.

As it goes with everyone, stuff happened.  Our Jetta just about kicked the bucket and we needed a new vehicle.   We found one at a great price for only 2 years worth of payments but it made us decide to wait on moving until it is completely payed off.  Now we want chickens again.  We miss having them and with Jarrod trying to eat Paleo our trash is full of bits and scraps of fruits and veggies.  We really think that chickens could help us reduce our trash by at least a bag a week.  And greatly decrease the amount of vermin tearing it apart while we wait for the trash truck to do it's weekly pickup. 

We decided to get all Brahmas because they are a great breed.  They are cold hearty but do fine in the warm weather as well which is important where we live.  We can have lots of snow and cold weather in the winter and then weeks at a 100 degrees in the summer.  They are great egg producers.  They are also much smarter than the orpingtons, there is a reason 2 Brahmas survived Hans getting in while we lost all our Orpingtons. 

I can't wait to get our new girls and will be sure to post pictures when I do!

Baby Stuff is Overwhelming

I am currently experiencing mommy-to-be buyer overload.  Yes I already have on baby but there is still so much I am going to need for the next baby.  First off George is still in his bed, so baby 2 has no bed.  Then the question is what bed do you get?  Another crib, a bassinet, a moses basket, a cosleeper?!?  How are we supposed to make these decisions!? I have narrowed it down to a arm's reach mini cosleeper or a Kolcraft contours bassinet.   But then what?  I can't believe that most items for just the first 4 months of a baby's life are over $100!!!  Forget it if you want something adorable that matches your nursery.  How are people with normal salaries supposed to afford this stuff?

My biggest issue with the bed thing is that George is going through a phase.  The "I want to sleep with mommy or I won't sleep at all" phase.  I love my little guy to pieces but I am not a mom who likes to sleep and cuddle with her baby.  Especially one who is 2, hooked up to a monitor (the cords are annoying), and who likes to pull hair and smack faces when he isn't ready to sleep.  I felt insanely proud when I came up with the idea to remove the front of his crib and push our queen size up to the bed so he could still grab my hand in the middle of the night when he is scared (my son has night terror's don't even get me started on that) and still give me a half a bed to be comfortable.  Especially now when I wake up a few times a night to roll over or run to the bathroom.  I then realized that new baby will be nursing and need to nurse multiple times a night.  So where does George go?  Do I just hook both babies to that side of the bed?  Does my husband switch with me so I have side for newborn and side for George (who will probably throw a fit)?

So that is just the tip of the iceberg with my fears on sleeping setups.  I still have to think about double strollers (George has spina bifida and can't walk yet), carriers(all of ours belong to our sister-in-law who is 3 days more pregnant then I am), nursing cover(dog ate old one),  boppy (George has destroyed his) and who knows what else.  And here I was thinking I was lucky that I had clothes, a swing and a car seat.   And I have to tell you, good luck looking through reviews and ratings.  No one seems to fully agree ever on what stuff is best.  And usually if they do it has a price tag to match. But we can't all be movie stars with our pottery barn, professionally decorated nurseries. 

You might be saying calm down crazy lady you have a baby, you know what you need, but George wasn't a normal baby.  First off he was in the hospital until 2 months, then he slept for a whole year in his crib before starting the crying to get in bed with mom thing.  He still to this day is not able to get around on his own.  Our house is a baby proofing nightmare because my husband also uses it as a tool shed/workshop.  In this room alone there are cords our, screw drivers, extension cords.  Next to my sink is a chain saw sharpener!  And it's never been a problem because George scoots very slowly and not very far.  He reached what mommy lets him reach.  The new baby is going to be a whole new world of things like crying and crawling and eating.  It's a scary exciting world we will be entering in 4 months, now if I could just sort through the gear buying part of it! 

You want fried rice?

Something I always miss from home is Chinese food.  You are probably thinking 'Wow you are so rural you don't even have Chinese?'  Actually we have two Chinese food restaurants nearby and one just a town over.  The two in my town are terrible.  Just absolutely horrible.  I usually give in about once a year because I miss it so bad and I am once again disappointed and forget about ordering Chinese for a while.  I don't understand how they can mess it up so bad, they are even Chinese people running the restaurants.  I have a feeling there is food they serve their fat customers and food they eat at home.

So like most international food, I have been trying to learn to make it at home so that I don't have to go without. I love my fried rice, it is probably the only Chinese food I make at home right now that I am happy with.

Ingredients:
Sesame oil
Skinless, boneless chicken breast
Minced Garlic
Minced Ginger
Jasmine Rice
Eggs
Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper
Soy Sauce


Cook your rice according to the directions on the box.  I make however much 1 cup of Jasmine rice makes (around 3 cups).  You can use any rice, I just really like the flavor of Jasmine rice so it is usually what I have around the house.  Slice your chicken into thin slices.

Once your rice is finished cooking set it aside to cool.   Heat a wok or a large frying pan to a medium-high heat.  Drizzle the pan with sesame oil (I'd say around 2 or 3 tablespoons to coat the pan, you can also use peanut or vegetable oil).  Add Garlic, Ginger, and onion (these will be better with freshly minced but I do use the kind that is already prepped and in the jar) and cook, stirring constantly for around 1 minute.  Add your chicken and pan fry until cooked through.  Set aside on a paper towel covered plate.

Drizzle your pan again with oil and pour in your already mixed eggs.  I like to use 4 because my husband likes a lot of eggs but 2 is fine.  Scramble until almost cooked through then place in a bowl for later.

Lower your heat to medium drizzle your pan again with oil and add more Garlic, Ginger and onion.  Cook for 1 minute.  Add your rice breaking up clumps with your fingers.  Add chicken.   Cook, stirring constantly for 8 minutes.  Add your eggs and cook until cooked through, stirring it into the rice and chicken.  Add 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir sauce through and you are ready to serve!  Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Old Mother Hubbard

Last winter my husband's uncle gave us a slew of butternut, delicata, and hubbard squashes. Somehow I managed to use most of the butternut in yummy soups and stews but due to my lack of experience with the other two they just began to rot. Then like all things in our home at the time that is plant matter we don't want, the squashes went to our chickens. See one of the major benefits of having chickens that you don't usually hear about is that they are like little garbage disposals. They got to eat all the potatoe peels, leftover spaghetti, carrot tops, apple cores etc which left us with less nasty bags of trash and better tasting eggs. So they ate most of the squash in their little pink chicken tractor that at the time was on top of our old garden.

At the beginning of the summer we noticed some squash plants growing which was odd because these little self starters were where our tomatoes had been planted the year before. It ended up being one giant hubbard plant and one delicata squash plant. Like most of our crops this year both were eventually destroyed by grazing deer but we were able to salvage 2 hubbard squashes. Once again I am faced with the task of finding something to do with them. So today I decided to try soup.

I rather like butternut squash soup, that was something I learned last winter, but I had never had hubbard squash soup. My husband told me flavor wise they were similar so I thought I couldn't go wrong. The recipe I went from was found at http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/roasted-hubbard-squash-soup.aspx. I did have to make a few adjustments (I dislike fennel and didn't have hazelnuts). So my recipe ended up more like this:

Hubbard Squash Soup:
3 T olive oil
4 T minced garlic (I cheat and use the preminced kind)
1 T corriander seeds
1 t of poultry seasoning (in my giant cabinet of spices I could not find any sage!)
1 small hubbard (5-6lbs), halved lengthwise and seeded
1 large leek halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
2 med carrots, peeled and diced
salt
5 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 with rack in the middle.

Mix together oil, garlic, corriander and poultry seasoning until it forms a sort of paste. Brush this onto the flesh of the squash halves. Place cut side down in casserole dish (I just used a large glass one) and cook until tender when pierced with fork (about 1 hour). Let cool cut side up. When cool enough to handle scrap flesh from the rind.

Melt butter in a 5-6quart dutch oven (I just used a large sauce pan like I use for pasta) at a medium heat. Add carrots, leeks, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leek is softened (8-10 minutes). Add squash, broth, bay leaf and about a tsp of salt. Bring to a boil at high. Reduce heat to low and cover, simmering for 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and let soup slightly cool. Puree' in batches in blender (I used my handy dandy food processor). Season with salt and pepper to taste.


When the soup came out it was good. My husband liked it quite a bit. I found myself wanting butternut squash. In the future I will make a few changes. For one I will use corriander powder instead of the seeds. I don't have the best mortar and pestle so try as I did my paste was never really a paste. My food processor did some good work on the seeds but there were still a few missed. Another thing I will try is adding the lemon, I forgot to get one at the store which was the only reason I left it out.

This was also my first experience with leeks and I have to say the smell of it cooking in the butter was heavenly. In a good way it reminded me of the smell when you open a fresh box of dumplings from my favorite chinese food restaurant at home. Which makes me wonder, are they using leeks?