Happy Halloween!

We've carved our Jack-O-Lanterns, over 200 pieces of candy are waiting at the door, and DS12's Al Capone costume is ready. Bring on the Halloween fun!

DS12 had a trial run at G-Ma's last night and scored so much candy! Several people commented on how his scar was missing, so tonight we'll try to correct that. We researched Al Capone's scars today and we'll draw them on tonight.

The boys made a funny Halloween skit with their cousins and friends, called Halloween Police. It always amazes me how quickly they can throw something like this together.  Click here to check it out.
 

I think we just saw a Cerulean Warbler at our feeder!!!! Yes, we are beeks- bird geeks!

I found some great strew at the library today! Having a great time reading The Wonderful Future That Never Was. In 1950 they predicted everything in the home would be waterproof and housewives would clean using a hose. The water would drain down holes in the middle of the room, and we'd use blasts of hot air to dry everything. I wish!!

Tuesday's Thoughts....

I can't stop looking forward to making apple pies this Thursday. One friend is bringing the apples and spices, another the shortening, and I'm grinding up fresh Spelt flour for the crusts. Something about this collective effort  is leading me to believe these pies are going to rock. How can they not with so much added love in the mix?

I found out yesterday my son has been been invited by Youtube to set up one of those accounts where you can earn advertising money. I really hope he decides to do it! My dream come true is for my children to find ways of making an income doing something they love. He's still thinking it over, but I'm screaming for him to go for it!! Heck, maybe I need to start making videos on Youtube!!!

Our refi is moving along nicely. It still has to make it through underwriting but our loan officer told me everything looks great after the appraisal report! That's a relief. Now the tough part comes. How much do we really want to cash out? Our goal was to reduce debt and make some home improvements. The list of home improvements could easily snowball. I'll have to think long and hard on it.

My parents are visiting. They brought two baby apples trees my mother started from seed. She's unsure what kind of an apple the seeds came from, but on a whim she stuck two seeds in a pot this spring, and they actually grew. Their growing zone is more harsh than ours, so they brought them down for us to try and grow in our yard. I planted the baby trees in sunny spots, near the corners of our lot. One area I noticed several grubs in the ground, so I don't know how well these baby trees will do. I'm thinking of putting tomato cages around them and mulching them in for the winter. I know its a long shot, but wouldn't it be cool if years from now I'm still living here, and I can tell my grandchildren their great grandmother grew these trees from a seed?! 

Well, I better stop thinking about things and start doing things instead. Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

Sleephouse Garden 10/21/11 - plans for 2012 growing season

Hard frost last night. I covered the sugar snap peas, and I think they made it. They are blossoming so perhaps we'll get one last crop before winter.

The Swiss Chard I did not cover, yet it still looks pretty good wouldn't you say? How am I going to eat all of this?

I tore down the rest of the beds, planting garlic where 2011 tomatoes were. Farthest bed south, east side, running parallel to the equator we'll have 2 rows of Spanish Roja, 2 rows of German Porcelain, 1 row of Musik and 2 Elephant garlic bulbs. This bed has a little room left, maybe I'll pick up one more bulb of Musik. Mulched with grass for now, but hoping to find some leaves. The past cold, windy days have blown all of our leaves from our yard.

Trimmed up the Mulberry by the kitchen window so the birds still have shelter but it doesn't hit the house when the wind blows. We do enjoy watching the birds in this tree. It seems to be their staging area before flying to the feeder.

Trimmed up the Birch, although I probably wasn't as aggressive as I should have been.

On my list to grow next year, (besides garlic of course);

Tomatoes- the grape tomatoes did really well, and the Romas weren't a total loss. I'm not discouraged and will keep trying.

Swiss Chard and Spinach - skip the lettuce. Its not as good nutritionally and it bolts so quickly

Squash - I wasn't too successful but I'll try again. Maybe I should go back to growing it vertically?

Popcorn - I've never grown corn before, but DH thought it would fun to have our own homegrown popcorn. I'll give it a try.

Cucumbers - I only tried one plant in 2011, but I enjoyed eating the cukes we got off of it. Will add more plants next year and try growing vertically.

Sugar Snap Peas - always a must! Garden candy! This time I will use a different support structure. Maybe tee pees next year!

Sunflowers - The 2 we had this year were cheerful, but late. Plant along privet and around deck.

Heading out to get dirt under my fingernails and some vitamin D. Who wants to plant garlic with me?

Although I'm grateful our home is holding a comfortable temperature without having to turn on the furnace yet, I'm looking forward to visiting a friend and sitting by her fireplace. The past two days the night time temps have been in the 30's and it hasn't warmed up much during the day, only getting into the upper 40's. Our house either has really good insulation or our computers/tvs are giving off more heat than we realize. :)

ICU 10/20/11

photo- one bulb of Spanish Roja garlic compared to two cloves of Elephant garlic

“This week we want to…”  My parents are coming for a visit so that will keep us busy.

“The kids are…” DS16 finished his latest short film, It Came From The VCR. Click here to check it out.DS12 has decided he wants to be Al Capone for Halloween. No sewing for me this year! DS12 has also been reading about World War I and making more fitness plans.

“I am learning….” How to grow garlic. I went a little over board at the garden center and picked up German Porcelain, Spanish Roja, Musik and Elephant garlic. The Elephant garlic is so huge! One clove is the size of a small apple. I'm thinking about planting it and not telling the boys. Then next summer when we harvest it, I'll enjoy their surprise when they pull up huge bulbs compared to the others.

“I am struggling with…”  Taking care of myself. I haven't gotten back into an exercise routine yet, and I seriously think my sugar addiction has stopped being cute. I'm starting to realized how it is controlling me. 

“This week is the first time….” I've starting adding shots of apple cider to tall glasses of water and I love it. I'm drinking so much water now, which is great.

"I am grateful…” I am well. At work, I've been exposed to so much illness. So many people have come in coughing, sneezing, drippy noses. I've also heard whooping cough and mono are going around. I hope I can continue to stay well.

“Our family first started unschooling…..(insert time frame/date, etc)”

This is difficult to do, pick an exact date. Our unschooling has really evolved. I decided to stay home and engage with my children 100% when DS12 was born. I knew we most likely would not be blessed with more children, and I wanted to get all I could of the two we did have.

When my oldest missed the kindergarten cut off due to his October birthday, a friend suggested I do "school" with him at home. I used a kindergarten curriculum for about 5 minutes before realizing how stupid it was to do so. That was probably the start of our unschooling journey, so I'll pick the date September 1, 2000.

I arrived at radical unschooling mom status over time. I sampled Charlotte Mason and Thomas Jefferson methods, mostly to deal with my doubts, but eventually I stopped worrying and starting trusting. I trust my children and believe they have been born with a natural curiosity and desire to explore. I trust God will put us where he wants us on a time table that is right for our family.

The more I trusted the process, the better it worked. Being radical isn't the difficult part at all. I don't need to be like everyone else or want to. Radical unschooling is easy once you realize living a lifestyle respecting others and loving unconditionally is all it takes. I only follow those two rules, love unconditionally and respect all others. When in doubt, I ask myself, does this course of action respect both the individual I am dealing with and myself, and am I acting out of unconditional love, not fear.

Modeling my actions my boys have learned how to love and respect others and that is my greatest accomplishment.

ICU link - Christian Unschooling

Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Description:
These came out so delicious but not overly spicy, nice and mellow for breakfasts or snacks. They were very easy to mix together and baked up quickly. They also can be wrapped and frozen, although I think this batch won't last to make it to the freezer!

Ingredients:
1 C fat free milk
1/2 C brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C canned pumpkin
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
2 t baking powder
2 T ground flax seed meal
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375

Whisk together the milk, brown sugar, egg, and pumpkin.
Add the baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.
Stir in the flour and flax seed meal.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and fill muffin cups. This batch makes exactly 12 muffins.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes

Cool on a wire rack

If I Can Make It Past Tuesday...

The appraiser is coming Tuesday morning. We're refinancing our home after living here for 10 years. I'm trying to tell myself, do what you can, leave God to the rest, but it is still bothering me. 10 years and we've stacked so much stuff!

Its not exactly like you'd find us on a episode of Hoarders. Most of the rooms in our home are very livable. Guests feel comfortable, not horrified. I have areas that function pretty well.

Of course there still are zones of chaos. Having to live it in, you get desensitized to it. The dust bunnies seem to belong there. Will the appraiser be measuring the dust as well as the square feet?

We've made good progress in the short time we've had to get the house ready for inspection. Of course that depends on how you look at it. My garage can't fit the two cars it should right now and the unfinished part of the basement has a narrow walking path through the boxes and shelves of holiday decorations and old toys. On the other hand, the upstairs is done except for some floor trim work, and the mancave, except for the dust bunnies mentioned earlier, is good to go.

I shouldn't worry so much about it. We live here. We really LIVE here. My home is a learning laboratory.
Its not meant to be a sterile, perfect world, but rather a source of inspiration to our learning through living lifestyle.

I have learned a few things however. One is I'm really good at living by my mother's motto - My house is clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy. Another is, purging is an on going task I must devote time to every week. For every thing that comes in, I should find something to go out. The memories I hold of special time shared with those I love, is more important than the material possessions they gave me. Its hard enough to actually physically remove something from your home, attaching emotions to it doesn't help.

Whatever happens on Tuesday, I have to remember the lessons learned this past weekend of cleaning. Rather than worry about being judged by a stranger, I should focus on the gift we've given ourselves in cleaning and organizing our home.  Photos- living room, kitchen, exercise/books/birds, mancave (with boy in game mode and Yumi wondering what I'm doing, unfinished storage area/utility.

Trust yourself. You will work it out.

Orangutan Safe Halloween

Our local zoo has trick or treating for kids, and the pool I work for participates in this fun activity. I learned from our zoo that orangutans are in danger of losing habitat and not all companies use sustainable palm oil. I'm passing along information from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, regarding orangutan friendly companies who do use sustainable palm oil.

This information is meant to be a helpful guide for consumers that are concerned about orangutan conservation and deforestation due to non-sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia. The companies listed below are members of the RSPO (Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil) and are committed to using certified sustainable palm oil. Please support companies that are doing their best to make a difference for orangutans.

Make a Difference for Wild Orangutans
Orangutan Friendly Sustainable Palm Oil Halloween Candy List

Note: Any products made by Nestle, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo (Frito Lay),
Hershey’s, Mars, Walmart (Great Value Brand) and ConAgra (even if not listed below) are good choices as they are all members of the RSPO.

If you do not find your favorite snack/company on this list, take action by writing
a letter and asking the company to join the RSPO and be committed to using
certified sustainable palm oil.

For a sample letter and more information on how you can Make a Difference for Wild Orangutans visit
www.cmzoo.org/conservation/PalmOilCrisis.

Company Name & Snack Name

Nestle Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Crunch Bar
Wonka (Nestle) Sweetarts, Bottle Caps, Laffy Taffy, Nerds
ConAgra Fiddle Faddle, Crunch & Munch, Poppy Cock
Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats, Fruity Snacks, Pop Tarts
Kellogg’s Austin Crackers (all varieties)
Kellogg’s All Keebler Brand Cookies
PepsiCo (Frito Lay) Cheetos, Doritos
PepsiCo Grandma’s Cookies
Hershey’s Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Whoppers
Hershey’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Almond Joy
Hershey’s Mr. Goodbar, Heath Bars, Milk Duds
Mars Snickers, Twix, M&M’s, 3 Musketeers
Mars Milky Way, Skittles, Dove Chocolates
Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups, NutButter (All flavors)
Lindt and Spungli Lindor Truffles (All flavors)
Ghirardelli All flavors
Walmart Great Value Brand products (Candy, Cookies, Crackers etc.)

Cage The Elephant

Start:	Dec 15, '11 6:30p
Location:	Rave, Milwaukee, WI

at the Rave in Milwaukee. As long as there is no snow or ice in the forecast, it should be an awesome date night!

Applesauce - organic

Description:
When we tagged our Christmas tree, we received a free bag of McIntosh apples. We usually don't eat this variety raw, so I decided to make applesauce. I adapted this recipe to use less sugar and it came out very yummy. I like my applesauce more chunky, so I don't use a mill.

The apples were organic and I used organic whole cane sugar. My kitchen smelled fantastic while it was cooking! The lemon helped brighten up the flavor.

Ingredients:
About 8 Cups of peeled, quartered apples
1/2 C water
1/2 C organic whole cane sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
6-8 lemon rind curls - use a peeler to curl off thin slices of lemon peel
juice of one small lemon

Directions:
In a large pot over low-medium heat, add all of the ingredients.

Cover and simmer the apples until they begin to soften and break down.

Using the back of a large wooden spoon, smash the apples against the sides of the pot and stir often.

Remove the lid and continue to cook down until you reach your desired consistency.

Remove the cinnamon sticks and lemon peel curls and allow your sauce to cool slightly before eating or chill in the refrigerator and enjoy.

Why I've Been Away

Its not just the beautiful weather that has been keeping me from the computer. I've been blessed with family time. My oldest turned 16 this past week and my husband took a few days off from work so we could help him celebrate and enjoy a bit of family time.

DS16 got his big gift last weekend when G-ma was here, a new laptop. Later in the week, on his actual birthday, we took him out for lunch and gave him a new game, Dark Souls. You would think this would mean we wouldn't see too much of him, but he's actually been pretty good about spending some time with us. He has to eat right?!

Actually he agreed to get some sun and last Thursday we headed out to Skelly's Farm to walk around in corn mazes. We did the "impossible" maze first. I wanted to use the map but my husband challenged us to try and find the markers without using the map. This pushed me past my comfort zone, but when I was actually able to find the marker when it was my turn, it was very rewarding knowing I had achieved it without using the map. There were 12 markers in all and it took us about an hour to navigate the entire maze without using the map. After the "impossible" maze, we tried the "easy" maze, but it actually didn't feel easy at all. Maybe we were tired from working the "impossible" maze first?

I should have worn a hat. It became quite warm in the corn, without the benefit of a breeze. My skin was a little pink and I was ready for a nap that early evening.

I cap napped, while the men folk watched Scream 4. Speaking of movies, we also watched Rango, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would.

Back to our other outdoor activities- we picked pumpkins and we've been throwing the football around more often. We hit a few garage sales, but didn't find anything worth taking home.

I should be in the garden, cleaning it up and getting it ready for winter, but I'm still waiting for the garden center to stock garlic, which I really want to plant for next summer's harvest. I'm also adding popcorn to my list of what I want to grow next year. I found my garden notes from the past few years and its pretty neat to me how every year we just keep making it bigger, adding new things to try. 

I found a huge spider in my yard. It's belly is the size of a super ball. I wish my camera was working better. It's an orb web spider and the web is measuring over 6 feet across. Much of my remaining Swiss chard has lots of spiders in it. I know spiders are good for the garden, but after almost eating one I found in my salad, I'm a bit freaked.

We started watching American Horror Story on FX. Although I found Jessica Lang's character awesomely creepy, I was disappointed over all. I want more horror, more creepy neighbors, and less sex. This show looked like it was going to be scary, but its mostly sex.

The new season of Dexter looks like its going to be good. I'm happy they are basically starting with a clean slate. I was a bit let down with last season, but the season before the last was gut wrenching and a lot to live up to.

Well, I think I've babbled enough and made enough notes here to jog my memory later. Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Its been too beautiful outside to spend much time staring at glowing rectangles.

Hoping For A Great Weekend!!

We're starting DS15 soon to be DS16's birthday celebration early, and today G-Ma is coming to help us celebrate. We'll take him to Red Lobster for lunch and later tonight is the big football game Wisconsin vs. Nebraska. I'll have "pick" food out for the game, meatballs, thinly sliced chicken, rolls, veggies, chips and dip. For sweet treats DS12 made cupcakes, and I made cookie dough ice cream from scratch. I found a recipe that doesn't use eggs in the cookie dough.

I'm hoping we can hike around the Christmas tree farm and tag our tree. We usual do this every year. It's great to pay for it now and not have an extra expense at the holidays, plus the weather is not as cold now, so you can take your time browsing out the perfect tree. We'll go back after Thanksgiving to cut it down.

Our favorite pumpkin farm opens this weekend too, Boo's Pumpkin patch. This family run pumpkin and gourd farm always has such an amazing selection.

We'll be giving our son his main birthday present this weekend since G-Ma will be here. He's not getting what he thinks, and I think it will really surprise him!

The trees seem to be turning up their color show. I'm hoping we can find time to go for a hike and enjoy it up close and personal. I'm grateful these crazy windy days we've had haven't blown off all the leaves.

DH and I will end our weekend watching the start of the new Dexter season. This show is so well done. Its the one instance where the show is better than the books. If you haven't seen it, Dexter is a serial killer who kills killers. Once you start watching it, you want more and more. When DH & I first starting watching, thankfully it was on DVD. We would stay up late at night, "Let's watch just one more episode!" Now that we're caught up, it's almost painful to have to wait that entire week until your next Dexter fix.

I better go and start getting ready for our good times. I hope you have a great weekend yourself!