favorite book friday

there has been a lag in my blogging here lately, but no such lag in reading!  enter our choice for 'favorite book friday', the happy lion by louise fatio.  

like most of our vintage children's books, i picked this one up at a thrift store for 15 cents.  this little story is set in france- we love the nods to the french language, "bonjour mr. lion!".  the happy lion lives in the middle of france and has friends who visit him daily.  but on the day he decides to go visit them, things change.  no longer are the people happy to see him, now they are frightened.  at one point he stops his walk to watch the fire department and police department set up a trap, not realizing it is for him.  then his hero comes, the little boy pierre.  pierre walks him home and the lion gratefully walks back into his cage.  more grateful for a true friend than anything else.

now that i see the other books offered by louise fatio on amazon, i may have to order them.  or just hope they end up at my local thrift store!

looking back

a talk with a friend today made me think back to when little buddy was born.  going from one kid to two was a rough transition for us.  having moonpie was really smooth.  she was born and our life changed for the better.   it was pretty easy for us.  i relished the late night feedings and constant nursing.  as she grew, we were best buddies.  she was always with me.  when were expecting buddy, i assumed it would be the same.  easy.  natural.  but it wasn't.  i wanted to lay around and swoon, but i had a 2 1/2 year old.  i couldn't figure out how to do it all.  it was a very hard time for me.  john had a job change 6 weeks after buddy was born and began commuting- so i was home alone.

a lot.

we then moved into the town he had been commuting to when buddy was about 5 months old.  but during this time there was a house to restore and the stress that came along with that.  i look back at that time with some regrets.  i wanted to post about this for you mamas who are maybe expecting your 2nd.  this is what i wish i knew:

- the laundry will eventually get done

-it's ok to just lay around for a week or so after the baby is born and stare

- encourage the toddler to do it with you!

- don't expect your toddler to be up to par behaviorally with where she was before the birth.  she needs to transition too.

- go easy on yourself

- go easy on your toddler

i wish i could take back all the exasperated sighs, or the times i expected moonpie to act like anything else but a two year old.  i wish i would have sat longer gazing at my buddy instead of rushing to get dinner done. i wish i would have asked for help more.

i look forward to our next pregnancy.  i know it will be rough adding a third, but i think i've gained some wisdom about not sacrificing the feelings of the older on behalf of the younger.  not expecting more out of myself or the kids than i should.  relaxing more.  expecting my friends to clean my bathtub and make me dinner (you know who you are!).  and just living gentler.  

kishk

i made some kishk overnight and we had it for breakfast this morning.  after the drying process, you are supposed to pulse it in the food processor.  i didn't and it created a grapenuts type of consistency- which the kids loved!  from my understanding it is traditionally broken down by hand into a powder and eaten more as a savory porridge. 

here's what we did:

kishk

2 cups bulgur

1 3/4 cups plain yogurt

(cover and ferment for 24 hours)

add 1/2 c liquid sweetener (ie: honey, maple syrup- i did a combo of the 2)

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla

spread thinly on an oiled (coconut oil) cookie sheet and bake overnight at 150' (the lowest mine goes is 170')

in the morning you will wake up to deliciousness!  we added slivered almonds and banana and served with raw milk.

sidenote:  if baking at a temp over 150', i wouldn't let it go for more than 6 hours.  i baked it for about 8 and it was way to crunchy.  like break your teeth crunchy.  i think i would also pulse it a couple of times to break down a bit- not into a powder, but just less crunch.  however, the kids loved all the crunch and asked for seconds.

menu plan monday

the kids are getting awfully squirrelly lately.  i'm pretty sure i can point most of that to a lack of schedule around here.  i am so reluctant about scheduling.   i like the easy breezy flow of just doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.   but i know i do better when i have some sort of schedule to go off of.  i do better, because the kids do better.  there is less bickering, more focus and more obedience.  and that's what i'm serious about- obeying the first time around.

after getting the kids down last night i had some time to sit and think, write a loose schedule for us and plan our menu.  it's easy this week because we'll be out of town for half the week.  but hey, it's a good place to start!

monday

B- soaked oatmeal (w/ coconut oil, coconut flakes, almonds and banana)

L- chicken salad (with my homemade mayonnaise!  it was so easy that i'm ashamed of myself for not making it before!) on pita w/ carrot sticks and strawberries

D- vegetarian tortilla soup (made stock last night), cornbread, salad

tuesday

B- eggs, green smoothie

L- bean, rice, swiss chard burritos (beans taken from mon. night soup)

D- roasted chicken, potatoes, squash and salad (going for an ALL local dinner- that makes me so happy!- nerd alert)

wednesday

B- blender pancakes (this is a soaked recipe from hallelujah acres, if it's yummy, i'll post it)

L- (left over) chicken tacos, carrots, fruit

D- CSA pizza

thursday

B- kishk

L- swiss chard fritatta, skillet potatoes

heading into houston for the weekend

i'm baaaaaaa-aaaack!!!

so i'm back from my hiatus with a shiny new computer.  the hp was all burnt out, not able to be fixed.  so we're stepping out with an i-mac.  i think macs are the cigarettes of the 21st century.  you know what i'm talking about, right?  the old cigarette ads that made smoking look so cool- well now we have mac commercials making us want to be cool.  to fit in.  and i fell for it.  it's just too pretty.  and now i can talk like i know stuff...because i use a mac.  smart and cool?  that's worth the hefty purchase price right there!

i have to say, not blogging for a while freed up lots of time for me.  we have repainted the kids room, mod podged a table, spruced up the bathroom and the kitchen and read.  books.  without cords.  so now i'm trying to take it slow.  not suck too much time up on the computer.  which is hard for me.  especially when i know just how cool i look whilst i'm on it.

oh- and after watching a british movie last night, i've decided to start using the word 'whilst'.  see how much you can get done without a computer?

computer hiatus

well...my computer is on the fritz...shh...i've hijacked my husband's computer for the moment.

so i'll be off-line until all is right in hp land.

i can do this...

i can do this...