Thanks Dad, I think!

As a belated birthday tribute to my father, I wanted to share a list I've compiled of some qualities I've learned from him. Mind you, these are qualities that I did not want. These are skills I fought hard and long to avoid. But however I fought, now I possess them. Thanks dad!

How to teach a boy to do a correctly postured push-up
How to play, and then COACH soccer
How to pick an apple tree, cleanly and well
How to clean a sink
How to implement sterile technique, in the home and abroad
How to wash my hands
How to take a joke, even if sometimes the punch line is a little too close to home
How to use pruners (although I still have not mastered the actual pruning of an entire tree)
Basic car maintenance--changing tires, oil, and checking and re-filling fluids
How to calculate mileage
The importance of appreciating kid power
How to look a word up in the dictionary, then use it in the course of the day
How to pop a baby's elbow joint back into socket (this one I am especially grateful for)
How to drive a stick shift
The list could go on, and on, and on. . . . . . . . .

I can't even begin to finish all the things I learn from my dad--but Thanks, Dad!! Thank you for sticking with it, even though I was such a stubborn learner!

Wondering what to do with your leftover ELK LIVER???

Why not make Pâté? I'm sure your family and friends will all rave about it just as the recipe claims! No. I did NOT make pâté with the liver from the Elk Aaron killed yesterday. But HE DID. So if you want to come to our house for appetizers sometime in the next week. . . . . . . well, I'll leave that entirely up to you!!! You may want to read this article first.

Comments

Okay, what is up with this? Two weeks after I post something, I get a comment from someone named Susana or Joanna saying some generic thing that KIND of goes along with my post, but is obviously NOT written as a personal comment. How annoying. So I have enabled comment moderation--making it so you have to be approved after the first little while. I'm hoping that this doesn't deter those of you I actually know from leaving comments. I really appreciate them. They validate my worth as a human blogger.

Heaven in Idaho

Everyone has their own definition of heaven. Joseph asked me where heaven was going to be on earth, and I was thinking about that one. Heaven defined: any place of complete bliss, happiness, and peace. Usually for me, heaven is rather short-lived, but I have learned to enjoy it when it occurs. Here in Idaho, my boys experienced heaven the day we did the DRIVEWAY.

SEVEN large trucks, complete with dumping, loud rumbling, and lots of construction They even set up chairs on the porch to watch the goings-on while they ate their breakfast. What a show!! And NOW you can drive up our driveway without fear of jolting out you teeth. Of course, now we have trenched up every other square foot of the yard for sprinklers, but we're hoping to have it filled in soon.

And for me, heaven is watching my baby--whichever boy it happens to be at the time. I love to see their eyes sparkle when they discover something new. This is Malchy enjoying time with his cousin who is only 1 1/2 months older--if only she didn't live so far away :-(



Thanks for the visit, Alaska clan! Hope you find heaven up there in the cold as well.

CAN ALL YOU CAN

It's that time of year again--well actually that time of year is almost ending, or I wouldn't be able to blog about it at all!!! Can all you can--or is it Can all? You CAN!!!

CANNING TIME.

Oh the joy of hot, sticky kitchens, loads of large metal bowls and pots to wash, boiling lids, taking out huge loads of compost, and watching the pressure cooker with nervousness for hours on end. And all for what end, exactly? Admittedly, the full shelves in the downstairs storage room are fulfilling to count and recount. At the end of the day, you can actually tally your accomplishments. But is it all worth it? Last week I canned green chili enchilada sauce . I had a surprise bumper crop of green chilis, and I thought I should use them up! We love green chili chicken enchiladas, but green chilis and the green sauce are expensive!!! One can of green chilis (4 oz) is $1.79 and a can of enchilada sauce $2.49 (10 oz) adds up too. Well, my chilis were pretty much FREE so I thought I could save a bundle. Here's what my six jars of enchilada sauce ended up costing:

1/2 hour picking green chilis from the garden, hauling them up and washing them
1/2 hour prepping chilis for roasting on trays--I'm not counting the 1 hour I roasted them, because I was making salsa (a WHOLE other story) during this time.
2 1/2 HOURS peeling, de-seeding, and chopping the green chilis (conference was on, so there was some multi-tasking going on.
2 cups chicken broth (free from an over-turned semi truck last year)
1 onion (from the garden)
4 cloves garlic: $1.00
various spices: estimated 25c
1/2 hour mixing and cooking the enchilada sauce
1 hour watching the pressure cooker with only one blow-out episode (first of the season)

TOTAL COST: 5 hours of Aneesa time: Hmmm shall we say--$50?
$1.25 food that I actually had to pay for
$51.25/6 half-pint jars= $8.54 a can. Hmmmmm. Only $6 more per can than from the store!!!

So why then, do I can?

Because I can!

Malchy's first Haircut

Since our baby boy is now over two years old, and FINALLY wearing size 2T clothes, I decided the day had come! I knew that those of you who missed it would be wanting pictures. So here they are!This is the "BEFORE" one with a Rolo candy, one after the Rolo was gone. I should say that this boy just woke up from his nap--so he wasn't in the best mood to begin with.

Here is the "DURING" Don't you love that somber look on his face. He knows he is just about to grow up.
Tah Dah! There he is, all happy and shiny and new! Haircuts are the best thing EVER!