Feature Friday

Happy Friday friends!  I’m so excited!!  Today I’m being featured over on Ginger’s blog,  Super Stinky Boys!  It’s a blog all about the joys and challenges of raising boys.  So, go over there and check it out!  -amy

in my kitchen

I’m in the kitchen a lot.  Probably because I cook a lot.  We are not a family that eats out-I think the last time  we ate out was Mother’s Day lunch.  Meals at home just taste better and we know exactly what we’re eating that way and it is definitely cheaper.

I like being in my kitchen.  That wasn’t always the case.  The cabinets were originally gross discolored knotty pine.  I painted them white when I was 8 months pregnant and Randy was out of town.  My nesting instinct extended beyond just the nursery!  There was also lattice wallpaper with strawberries all over it.  Pretty.(that was typed in a sarcastic tone)

There was a boring light fixture, so I replaced it with this vintage italian tole chandelier that I got while working at an antique store.

I love this little recipe box.  I think it was 1.99 at Goodwill.  I keep handwritten recipes that Randy’s mom gave me one year for Christmas in there.  Randy already had the yellow crock that we use for our utensils-his mom gave it to him,too.

That clock really cracks me up every time I look at it.  It’s an old guy selling flowers off a flower cart-so funny!  It was a $2 junk store find and it works! You can see how I made my personalized spice rack here.

One of many vintage pyrex mixing bowls that I have.  This one reminds me of the Partridge family-remember the opening of that show?  The little nesting partridges pop out and line up on the screen.  I guess I’m giving away my age now!!  But, at least I don’t have a crush on David Cassidy anymore!

My kitchen does have another side to it- the sink, fridge, microwave-there must have been dirty dishes in the sink the day I took these pics!!  Just keepin’ it real!! So go on and get happy!!  Have a great Thursday!  -amy

we still have so much to learn

This is not something that I really want to write about.  I like to write about happy things in our life.  But, maybe this would help someone in the same situation one day or maybe someone reading this would have answers to my concerns.

We have dairy goats.  If you’ve never been around dairy goats before, you may feel like I did before we got ours.  Don’t they butt you?  And climb on your car and eat tin cans?  Happy to say, none of those things are true!  Our goats are very gentle and super sweet!!  We love our goats!!

Neither Randy or I had ever milked a goat, or any other animal, before.  It really wasn’t that hard to learn and I milked them every morning for about 6 months before I went back to work and then Randy took over that chore.  I actually missed it!  You really get to know them when you’re that close to them.  They each have their own little personality and demeanor.  At the time, we had two nannies, Nannette and Georgette and their babies, Maisy, Polly, and Louis.

Nannette got really sick this past fall.  We didn’t know what was wrong.   She was laying down and wouldn’t get up.  She was very stiff legged and her jaw was very tight.  We took her to a vet.  He thought she had lockjaw and gave her medication for it.

She did not improve with the medication.  I was hand feeding her and giving her water through a syringe to keep her hydrated.  She was so pitiful.  It was hard to just let her lay there and not help her more!

To make a long story short, she did not have lockjaw.  She had something called Listeriosis.  She passed away about 5 days later.  I was so upset with that vet! He should really know about this disease, it’s fairly common.  And with the correct medicine, she could’ve improved and possibly lived!

Fast forward to this week, Georgette is showing signs of having listeriosis now.  This breaks my heart!!  We are giving her medication but it doesn’t seem to be working.  It makes me so sad!  We don’t really know what to do at this point.  We are going to continue to watch her and give her love and medicine and just pray she pulls through.

I read on the internet that sometimes one goat can be a carrier of listeriosis but never show signs of the disease.   We were trying to remember when we bought Napolean, our buck.  And realized it was right before Nannette got sick.  We are looking into having some tests run on him to see if he is a carrier.  We definitely don’t want any other goats getting sick!

If you know anything more about this disease please let me know!! As you can tell, we are very upset about this! -amy

let’s go camping

We went camping this weekend.  Brad and his two daughters, Eden and Ainsley and friend, Emily also went with us.  We took our sailboat too.  We were planning on motoring to one of the islands on the lake.  Then, after setting up the campsite, the older kids would get to go sailing with Randy and Brad.

After putting the mast up (this is no easy feat and requires at least 3 men to lift), hooking up cables, and unloading the boat into the water from the trailer, we loaded all of our stuff onto the boat.  Finally, everyone was loaded onto the boat and we were ready to start motoring.  Randy pulls the cord on the motor…doesn’t sound right.  Pulls again…definitely not working right.  At this point, Ollie has already had enough and is crying fairly loudly.  After a few more attempts of trying to start the motor, we decide to get back off and regroup.

We decide to go ahead and feed our starving children right there on the lawn of the launching area.  By this time, I think it was 2:00.  Fried chicken and potato salad put everyone in a much better mood.  After some deliberating we decide to just find a campground and just camp and ditch the whole sailing idea all together.

 

The campsite was awesome!  It was right on the lake with a picnic area and there were even bathrooms!! Yay!  We unloaded all of our gear and set up camp.

Of course, I had to bring some cute vintage sheets for our tent!

The amazing view from our campsite!! Look at those clouds-so pretty!

Kids having fun swimming and goofing off!!

 

Ollie is such an outdoor kid!! He loved all his daddy time, too!

Eden, Emily, and Wesley snacking it up!

 

Lots of great food was eaten-kebobs, watermelon, eggs-n-bacon, hobo sandwiches-yum!!

 

Ainsley fishing and Wesley looking like a fish!

 

No camping trip is complete without gooey s’mores!! I love those!!

It was a great trip!! Even being sticky and stinky for two days!!  Randy and I said before we went that we were gonna keep everything stress-free and keep calm in all situations!!  It makes it so much more fun that way!  We had some wonderful family time and relaxation!  Can’t wait to do it again!! What did you do this weekend?  Any adventures with your family?  -amy

{this moment}

Adopted from the Soulemama blog,

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.  A single photo-no words-capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

 

 

 

daydreamin’

While I’m waiting for my eggs to fry out on the sidewalk, I’m daydreaming of decorating our little house.   I love this boys’ room at Contented Sparrow-all the vintage goodies and those hanging beds are pretty cool too.

So,this is what I’ve come up with for Wesley’s room:

We have a metal pendant like this somewhere in the storage barn only it’s white.  Of course, I am lovin it in this turquoise though!

Would love to find a vintage pull down map similar to this.  The ones I have found so far are a little pricey for me, but, I’ll keep looking.

I love this vintage teacher’s desk.  I kinda hate to use the word vintage here because all my teachers growing up had these type of desks.  Guess I’m considered vintage!  Love the pullout writing area!

His bed is very similar to this one.  I’m thinking of maybe painting it a fun color.

I think we might have a dresser like this in the barn as well.  There’s a lot of stuff up there!! Would be great in maybe a pale gray paint?

Since Wesley loves to read (and has a lot of stuff), I have to include some shelving.  I like the industrial feel of these shelves.  I know they are really intended for the garage or shop but, I think they are kinda cool!

Wow! It feels good to get all these ideas in one place!!  What are you daydreamin’ of these days?  Vintage industrial boys’ rooms?  Cooler weather?  Vacation?  Leave a comment and let me know! -amy

down by the creekbank

It has been incredibly hot here this week-100,101!!  So, we’ve found one way to do something fun and stay cool at the same time.

Creekin.  Never heard of this term?  Yeah, me neither until a couple of weeks ago when my friend, Cheryl asked me to go muling and creekin’.  I thought that sounded like fun but, I wasn’t sure about putting lil’ Ollie on a donkey!  But, hey, we were gonna give it a try!!  Silly Amy, it turns out muling is riding an ATV that is called a mule down to the creek-that sounds better than riding a mule!!  It was kinda funny!

Anyway, we’ve been hanging out at our creek on the farm.  Looking at all the rocks, throwing sticks for Lacey, enjoying the shade and cool water that the creek has to offer on such hot days!!

How are you staying cool these days? Would love to hear how you’re spending  your hot summer days! -amy

let’s bounce

Wesley and Ollie’s cousins had a birthday party last night.  Emma was turning 10 and her sister Cara was turning 8!  Their birthdays are a day apart!

They held the party at a place called Bounce U.  For those of you that have never been to one of these places, it’s a large room set up with all these different inflatable stations.  There was a basketball area.

A large slide area but first you had to climb up all these steps!

A boxing ring!! Luckily, there was protective headgear and huge gloves!!

An obstacle course to race through!

Even Ollie got a little bounce time when the big kids were busy in another inflatable!

It’s a great idea for a party!  The kids get a ton of exercise and the parents can just enjoy the party!  Happy Birthday Cara and Emma!! Thanks for inviting us!  We had a lot of fun!

you say it’s your birthday

Ollie was invited to his first birthday party this weekend.   His friend from church, Sammie Jo, was turning 2!!  I wanted to get her something really special for her birthday and I thought about making a lot of different things-super hero cape, apron, appliqued t-shirt.  But, in the end, decided to make her a pillowcase dress.

I picked out a really fun Amy Butler fabric called Passion Lily and I already had the lining fabric which is a very small pink stripe.

I really just figured this out as I went along. There are tons of tutorials online for pillowcase dresses but, not many that show how to line one.   I couldn’t figure out how to do the casing with it being lined.  What’s a girl to do?  Call her mom!!  After I explained what  I was doing, she had the answer!

For those interested, as you sew the armholes together, just leave an opening at the top for the casing.  I was trying to make it a lot more complicated than that!

I really like the way it turned out!  She even wore it to church on Sunday and it looked so cute on her!! Wish I would have had my camera with me!

It was a pretty quick sewing project and was fun getting to make something for a little girl! Thanks Sammie Jo for letting me sew something girly for your 2nd birthday!! We both had fun at your party!!-amy

 

we grew all these veggies, now what?

When people find out that we have a garden, usually the next question is, “how do you cook ________(insert name of  any garden vegetable here)?”.  It can be a little overwhelming at first but, can be fun too!  If you think of cooking as another creative outlet instead of a chore, it becomes fun!  Especially if the outcome tastes really good!!   And  with the help of the internet and Rachael Ray this isn’t too hard!

On a side note, I got a little obsessed with Rachael Ray last year after having Ollie.  I had two of her cookbooks at the time (it was before we got internet-crazy, I know).  The Express Lane Meals and Just In Time cookbooks.  I cooked about thirty different recipes from these two books.  All good.  Sometimes I look at a recipe and think, this is not going to be good-the combination is too strange!  But, they always end up being really good!! And the flavors are awesome-seriously, the woman knows what she’s doing!!

Back to vegetables and recipes…I just made these eggplant rollups last night and they were delicious and super easy!  Even Ollie liked the eggplant!!  And it’s budget friendly, too!!

I made this pasta using some fresh cabbage that a neighbor gave us-very strange combo of potatoes, cabbage, and pasta-but, oh my goodness! So yummy!  This would also be great in the winter-can you say, comfort food!

If you have fresh basil or fresh peas, this peasto recipe is something I make at least once a week! It uses whole wheat pasta which adds to the nutty flavor!!  It’s wonderful and Randy really loves it!

So, there you have it, 3 great recipes that use your fresh veggies from your garden! Now, go have fun and cook something yummy!!  Your stomach and your family will thank you for it!-amy

*third and fourth photos courtesy of Rachael Ray.com