Snapshots: Away From Home

Some of you may remember that more than two years ago, I went to a near-by-ish city to stay at a hotel overnight all by myself. Being an introvert who craves quiet is no easy thing with four young children at home, and it helps to occasionally absent myself from home.

I decided it was time for another 24-hour break, so I went on Friday. And I took pictures!

My room this time was not quite as large or as nice as the one I had a couple of years ago. It didn't have its own bookcase in it, but there was . . . 

A small collection of books right outside my door. Included in this small collection was an Elizabeth Peters book. She is my favorite author, and I brought that book with me when I went . . .

To the hotel restaurant for dinner. The food was nothing special, but I didn't have to prepare it, serve it, or clean up after it, so that was nice. I elected not to have a drink with my dinner, because . . .

I brought my own bar with me. And I was very glad I did when I saw the night's drink special at the restaurant was a Sazerac for $14 dollars. Yikes.

While it was still light, I wandered around the old plaza to an antique shop and a bookstore. I didn't do much of anything else, though, which is of course the point.

At home, we still have sheep.

With lambs.

My own little lambs were very, very happy to have me back when I returned from my brief absence. And I was very glad to be back.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: An Uninspired Week

Friday 

Short version: Leftovers, radishes and carrot sticks

Long version: Some had leftover beef stroganoff and noodles that the school cook had sent home with me the day before. Some had leftover taco meat and rice. And Poppy ended up having a fried egg because she really did not like the stroganoff, but there wasn't any more of the taco meat. 

Everyone had the raw vegetables. I didn't make an order for a Misfits Market delivery on Wednesday because I generally get a box every other week and this was an off week. Good thing, because our county got so much commodities stuff the lady in charge was just driving around asking people to take things, whether or not they're actually signed up for commodities. We are not, but we still got a fresh produce box just so it wouldn't go to waste.

It actually included several things I choose from Misfits Market every time I order. Fun.

Saturday

Short version: Concessions food

Long version: We went to see our boys basketball team play in the district final game. The game was in the evening right after our monthly Saturday Mass. 

I briefly considered being fiscally responsible and bringing tuna sandwiches or something to eat between church and the game, but then I decided to be irresponsible instead and buy everyone dinner from the concession stand. So everyone had smothered burritos and chips and candy.

I regret nothing.

Sunday

Short verison: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, no-churn vanilla ice cream

Long version: This is the third time I've tried making no-churn ice cream. This time I used a Cook's Country recipe given to me by Cubby and Calvin's teacher, who makes ice cream for all their class parties. 

The plain vanilla was still too sweet, although not as sweet as previous recipes I've tried. So I think if I add some plain cocoa powder to it next time, it will temper the sweetness and I might actually manage to make ice cream that doesn't cause immediate cavities.

Look! I got a picture of the elusive Odin!

Ready for his walk.

Monday

Short version: Leftovers, garlic bread, raw cabbage

Long version: Some had leftover meatloaf, some had leftover stroganoff, all had garlic bread that I had baked the day before when I was making loaves of bread, plus raw cabbage because that's the way they like it.

We also had a little leftover ice cream, which went well with the leftover chocolate cake from lunch the school cook sent home with me. Lucky kids.

Tuesday

Short version: Beef stew, cheese

Long version: This was not a very exciting Fat Tuesday meal. I'm a traitor to my New Orleans roots. 

It was good stew, though. I added green chili, green garlic (frozen last spring), tomatoes, pureed calabaza from the freezer, and beef stock to the meat, potatoes, and carrots. Very flavorful.

I did let the kids have another piece of cake, as a kind of half-hearted nod to the celebratory nature of the day. Maybe more like quarter-hearted, actually.

Wednesday

Short version: Tuna salad sandwiches, tomato soup, Cheetos Paws, custard

Long version: I made the soup and custard because half the family was sick. And when there is illness in our home, there is soup and custard. I've been getting a lot of eggs lately from a friend who got a whole bunch of new hens that are laying like crazy, so the custard was very yellow and strengthening.

Miss Amelia gave Cubby the Cheetos Paws when he was there stacking wood for her, because she is incapable of sending him home without snacks. The children approve of this.

I ate my tuna salad with lettuce, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, and shredded cheese. I find this to be a much more delicious way of eating it than just a pile of tuna.

Thursday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: Most of the family had leftover beef stew. One child had tuna salad, a tortilla and cheese, and raw tomatoes. I had a salad with the last of the meatloaf and the last avocado from the commodities box. Yum.

Everyone (except me) also had some Coke from the liter bottle Cubby won in a game at the school pep rally. He generously shared, because no one should drink an entire liter of Coke. 

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

T.T.: I Know One Thing, That I Love You

When Cubby was only about two years old, he used to LOVE to watch the video for "Say Hey I Love You" with me. 

It's by Michael Franti and Spearhead, a group I knew nothing about then and still know nothing about, except for this one song. And this song never fails to make me happy.

The lyrics are pretty repetitive, but manage to drive home the point that a loving relationship with another person is the most important thing there is. 

The video itself is a little too choppy for me--why does the camera have to cut to another shot every two seconds?--but it is still joyful, entertaining, and fun to watch.

Three things we could all use more of these days. Along with love. That, there can never be enough of.

Whether you like the style of music or not, go ahead and watch the video and see if it makes you smile. It always works for me.

Snapshots: What Hope Looks Like

This post is going to be the counterpoint to the stories from Ukraine have been dominating the news this weekend. It is all terrible, and frightening, and none of us know what's really happening or how it will turn out.

And none of us can do one thing about it, either. 

What we can do is focus on the things in our lives that bring us hope, rather than despair. Everyone has those, hard as they can be to see through the forest of anxiety sometimes.

Here are some of mine.

Instead of heading down the road with the dogs this weekend for my morning walk, I've been walking to the adjacent pasture to check on . . .

LAMBS!

With unfortunate timing, the ewes started giving birth this week. The frigid, windy weather has not been at all hospitable to new life, however, and we did lose a few. But there are four healthy lambs at the moment--two girls and two boys--and one of them I actually watched being born through the window of the kitchen right at sunrise.

I didn't want to get too close, so I don't know if you can even see it, but it's right there at its mom's nose.

I was very grateful that that particular ewe chose to have her lamb where I could see it from the house--the others were way out in the pasture when they gave birth--so I could see that this lamb was not getting up and nursing as quickly as it should. 

Given that it was only five degrees outside, that was not surprising.

A. wrapped it in his wool coat with a jar of hot water to warm it, and then gave it some homemade glucose solution (water, salt, and honey) to give it the strength to stand up and start nursing. It did eventually make it up and figure out nursing, and it's doing well now.

The horses waited patiently for their hay and ice breaking during the post-natal check-ups.

Aaaaanytime, lady.

Bill was not amused when I came right by the fence with a small piece of metal rather than a flake of hay.

That camera is not going to satisfy the inner pony.

The cabbages and kohlrabi are growing happily under their lights in the children's bathroom, and there are signs of plant life outside, too.

Daffodils, yay!

I totally gave up on covering the one garden box that had some things growing in it over the winter, but a few lettuce plants actually survived in one corner of it. Soon I'll be planting more lettuce seeds, arugula, and radishes.

Seeds will grow, lambs will frolic, and life will go on. Amen.

Friday Food: The One With the Sheep's Head

Friday 

Short version: Sheep's head, roasted potatoes, raw tomatoes

Long version: A. decided to get a new ram this year, which meant the old one had to go. So he killed, skinned, and gutted it this day.

When he dresses out a sheep, he always cuts the head off along with the hide. He has always disposed of the head with the innards and hooves, but Rafael told A. that when he was a boy, they always roasted the head.

And that is how I ended up with a flayed ram's head in my oven.

It was just as gruesome as it sounds. The teeth are very noticeable when the skin is gone, giving the effect of a ghoulishly grinning head. And the eyes are just . . . there. When it's raw, they stare. When it's cooked, they collapse into the skull and turn white and opaque.

It is, in a word, gross.

However!

A. took care of the cooking of it, which entailed roasting it at 425 degrees for about an hour. He also prepared potatoes to roast along with it by slicing whole potatoes in many thin slices most of the way but not all the way through, and then dousing them in olive oil.

There isn't a whole lot of meat on a sheep's head, apart from the cheeks. But there was enough meat on the cheeks for the four that ate it.

Cubby's throat hurt, so he just had chicken stock. And I was frankly repelled by the sheep's head, so I just had a salad with some leftover pork in it.

A. said the cheek meat was good, though. And the three children eating all tried the eyeballs. So there you go.

Saturday

Short version: Leftover tacos, split pea soup, fresh bread, ice cream or chocolate milkshake

Long version: I had a ham bone in the freezer and Cubby's favorite soup is split pea, so since his throat was still hurting him, I made him the soup. 

The children who didn't want the soup had tacos with the leftover meat. Everyone had bread, and everyone had either ice cream or a milkshake with the ice cream A. had picked up for Cubby.

Pause for a random dog photo!

If you're wondering why almost all the pictures are of Jasper, it's because Odin the Neurotic Runt is usually hiding under the bunk bed in the porch. Weird dog, Odin.

Sunday

Short version: Cheese omelets, bread and butter, raw radishes or frozen green beans, chocolate milkshakes

Long version: I was really, really not into cooking, and we had a rather ridiculous quantity of eggs on hand, so I asked A. to make the omelets.

I made the milkshakes for our Sunday dessert because there wasn't quite enough ice cream for everyone to have a bowl of it, but blending it with a bunch of milk makes it stretch quite a bit further.

Monday

Short version: Turkey and potato soup, cheese

Long version: The last container of turkey soup I made and froze the day after Thanksgiving. Starches get too mushy when frozen and thawed, so I left that part out and just added whatever was around when I thawed the containers.

This time I had some potatoes left from Friday, so I chopped those and added them to the soup.

Tuesday

Short version: Taco meat and potato skillet, frozen peas

Long version: Two big nuked potatoes sliced and fried with the leftover meat, more spices, and some shredded cheese.

Why yes, I DID have to work this day! How ever could you tell?

Wednesday

Short version: Tacos, raw radishes and cucumbers, german chocolate cake

Long version: And there's that same meat, this time originally presented in corn tortillas with cheese. It was a really big pan of taco meat.

Jack's teacher made the cake. She made it for an event that didn't happen and brought it as a treat for her class, but then only a few of the kids actually had any. Jack had two pieces and was so vocal in his appreciation that she sent the rest of it home with him.

He was pleased by this. So were his siblings.

Thursday

Short version: Breakfast sausage links, rice, cucumber, more cake

Long version: For some reason, I can never find sausage links at the stores we go to. 

A. got these in Santa Fe when he got the Italian sausage. They were definitely not as good as the Italian sausage, but the children enjoyed them anyway.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

T.T.: Heat, Glorious Heat

Any of you who have been reading for a long time might remember how cold our bedroom at Blackrock was. 

It was frozen-fish-tanks cold. 

It was literal-ice-on-the-walls cold.

It was pillows-frozen-to-the-wall cold.

It was the coldest bedroom I have ever experienced and likely will ever experience.

The worst part of a very cold bedroom like that is getting into bed at night. The sheets are cold, and it takes a really long time for body heat to warm them. The old-fashioned solution to this is either a hot water bottle or a soapstone, the latter of which I used to use to warm toddler Cubby's bed before he went to sleep.

Both of those items help, but they aren't as good as the modern equivalent: The heated mattress pad.

A. bought one at Walmart almost ten years ago that we used up until this year. I finally replaced it because it was only producing a token amount of heat. 

I recall the one A. bought being something like $30. The new one I got was about a hundred dollars. But even with the much higher price, it is definitely SO WORTH IT.

Especially since I got one that has dual controls. This is my personal thermostat, which, as any married person can tell you, greatly contributes to marital harmony.

I'm always cold when I go to bed. My feet, in particular, take forever to warm up when I'm trying to go to sleep. The makers of these mattress pads obviously know this, because most of the heat is produced at the bottom of the bed, creating a toasty little pocket exactly where my feet go. 

I turn it on high about an hour before I want to go to bed so it can heat up, and then I turn it off when I get in. If you're a really cold sleeper, though, you could leave it on a lower setting overnight. A. looked at the instruction manual for the new mattress pad and discovered that it uses less electricity than a lightbulb, making it much more economical than running a furnace.

A. usually isn't very cold when he goes to bed, but he does often feel cold in the early mornings. So on weekends when he doesn't have to get up to drive the school bus, I turn it on for him when I get up and he can sleep longer because he's not cold.

I also sometimes get in bed to read on very cold days, just so I can turn the pad on and warm up. And let me tell you how nice it is to bake in a heated bed if you're sick and have chills from a fever. VERY NICE.

My initial concern about these pads is that I would feel the wires under me, but I don't notice them.

So, in summary, if you too wish to be enveloped in heavenly warmth on a nightly basis, try a heated mattress pad. It's a very affordable and highly satisfactory indulgence.

Snapshots: 2020 Has Finally Ended

Almost two years ago exactly, our school first closed down because of Covid. 

A few months later, I posted this photo of the decorative iron divider between our entryway and the living room. 

As of this Thursday at 3 p.m., which is when we saw the official announcement that New Mexico's indoor mask mandate has been lifted, that same divider looks like this.

Free and clear.

The cabbage and kohlrabi seeds I started a couple of weeks ago are growing quite happily in the children's bathroom under the lights A. rigged up:

A definite improvement over the junk-farmer grow box that lived in the corner of the dining room.

I got in my morning walks this weekend. This is what the windmill looked like when I first went out.

With sunflower silhouettes.

And here's the same spot ten minutes later on my way home.

Just as the sun snuck over the horizon.

And in the other direction . . .

Sunflowers, the schoolhouse, and the moon.

And now for something much less aesthetically pleasing. Please stop reading now if a dead animal is going to bother you.

A. decided his ram needed to go. Which of course at our house means into the freezer.

The children helped A. move the massive bulk of the ram on the utility wagon, with A. pulling, Calvin steering with the back hooves, and Jack and Poppy steadying either side of it.

Then A. had to climb into the tree to set up the pulley so the carcass could be hung up while he gutted it.

Jack brought his lunch out to watch the excitement, because these children have not the slightest bit of squeamishness in them.

Jasper also watched the proceedings closely, and was rewarded for his patience with a lung. He's not squeamish, either.

This time A. skinned the head and roasted it, and you can all thank me for NOT taking photos of that. So gruesome.

There you have it! My (edited) life, snapshotted.