Plans for the Summer

Hope everyone's July 4th celebrations went off with a bang!

It was quite noisy around our little town last night with all the fireworks exploding around us. Cute man and the twins got in on the action by stocking up on some of the good stuff too. The dogs and chickens did not seem to share the excitement of the celebration though. The dogs were firmly planted in the house and the chickens took to the coop as soon as the first bang!
Summer has been slowly moving along this year. So far, the biggest highlight has been the sushi making class one of my son's and I took in Kansas City at the Culinary Center of Kansas City. It was a 3 hour drive, but it was worth EVERY mile. Their classes always are! In August, my oldest son and I have signed up for a handmade pasta class. One of the things we always do when we are up there is hit the Asian grocery stores and the Whole Foods Market. If we had one of these in Wichita, I would be in absolute heaven!! I always stock up on their 365 brand stuff and their bulk foods when I hit Kansas City. Last time I was in town, I noticed they had ground bison. YUM! Thinking a couple pounds (or 10) will have to come back with us when I go in August! I did see an article in the Wichita newspaper recently that mention Whole Foods might consider coming to Wichita--that would make this city HEAVEN! We have a nice city, not as big as Kansas City, but definitely a very easy place to live, and having a Whole Foods where I could get to would make it complete. I would probably do the bulk of my shopping there and at Dillon's since I tend to try to stay away from Wal-Mart most of the time.

In addition to the pasta class, I am teaching a canning class in El Dorado this September. I love to can and was approached by a lady about teaching a class to beginners. Since I love sharing the "gospel of the canning jar" to everyone, of course I said yes! LOL. We'll be doing jams and probably some salsa. Hopefully my garden gets it together and starts spitting out tomatoes in time! If not, I'll figure out a plan B and hit the Farmer's market.

Summer!

This is going to be a busy summer! My 4 year old grand nephew is going to spend a large portion of the summer with us. The twins are now 16 years old, so it has been a while since we've had a little one in the house.

Things that have fallen by the wayside:
1. Sleeping in : little man wakes up no later than 6:30 a.m.....and there is no going back to bed after that.

2. the ability to go into the restroom and have a moment of peace and quiet...you guys with kids remember this, I'm sure!

3. Housecleaning....I had hoped to catch up with this during the summer. Might have to be creative with this one. The house needs to have a really good Spring cleaning!

We are having to work with little man on amusing himself and not getting into stuff he knows he is not supposed to get into. We've also had to work quite a bit on not talking back to adults, spitting and other things he gets away with at his house. He is here because niece says she can't handle him, but once he gets a strict and firm routine, he settles down. At some point this summer I am going to go to my niece's house to teach her how to be a Mom. She didn't have a role model since her Mom was (and still is) pretty non functional in that area. It does make me realize the importance of role models for our kids. If kids do not have a good role model, it is often hard for them to succeed in public and at home. When you are raising your kids, you are also shaping the world your grand kids will live in. It is not a task to be taken lightly!

On the flip side, I did get our blackberry bushes and grapes planted, along with 2 raised beds. One of those beds has rhubarb, asparagus, and a variety of lettuce and tomatoes. I had put in strawberries, but the dogs dug them up. So we finally got smart and surrounded the raised beds with chicken wire to keep both the dogs and cats out. The other beds have tomatoes, cucumbers, Thai melons and marigolds. After the seeds sprout, I will thin them and transplant to a couple other raised beds so that we have more. I am looking forward to canning our own salsa and tomato sauces this summer. I need to put some bell peppers in the ground this week, but after that I am pretty much done for the planting season. One of the things that surprised me is the amount of soil it took to fill the raised beds! The next ones will not be as deep or as wide!

Another activity this season is an oil painting class at the Wichita Center for the Arts. I have been wanting to take an oil class for a while and decided that this is the right time...This was before we found out we were getting my grand nephew for the summer, but I decided that we will work around that and I stayed in the class. However, finding the place to paint without having little man's hands on the canvas might be a challenge.

The one thing I have NOT been able to do is get any knitting done. I have a pair of socks that have been on the needles FOREVER! I want to get them done soon. I also miss my two favorite yarn shops: Twist in Wichita and The Newton Beadery in Newton. Have to figure out how to make time to knit!

HE DID IT!

My beautiful, smart husband graduated with his Master's degree in aerospace engineering this past week. I'm so proud of him! He has worked really hard. The day before my cute man's graduation, our friend Cindy graduated with her Ph.D in Human Factors engineering. GREAT JOB ERIC AND CINDY!

A little time away?

Yep--it has been quite a while since I have actually sat down and blogged. Bad blogger, I know. I had good intentions and high aspirations, but you can see how that turned out. So, here is an update on everything at Casa CrazyLife:

1: I went back to school to work on an art degree. This is the degree I had originally wanted to complete before I had my oldest son. At 45 years old, I am going back and working on this. Right now I am enrolled in a drawing 1 class and a Jewelry 1 class and loving it. That is part time--6 hours, but it fits well with the fact I am still a full time taxi for 2 teenagers who are very involved in sports and other school activities. Since they have their licenses and will be sharing a car next semester, it will free my schedule up a bit. I plan to take a life drawing, a 2d design class and jewelry 2....My school is a junior college and I am completely in love with it, but after I finish up some other classes I will have to transfer to the four year university here. The studio classes will probably not transfer, but they have been really beneficial to me. I have learned so much this semester that has helped my drawing! And I have conquered my fear of acetylene torches in my jewelry class...it has been a learning semester for me. When I transfer to the university, I will go in under the printmaking department. I love printmaking--relief printing and drypoint in particular, along with etching, but I will be glad to learn it all.

2: Hubby graduates with his master's degree (in engineering) this May. It will be nice to have him home on Tuesday and Thursday nights..LOL. I'm sure he is really ready to graduate also, but for different reason. Thinking the Tuesday and Thursday nights were quiet times for him.

3. Oldest son moved from Tipton, Iowa. He is only 3 hours away right now. However, we haven't had time to visit him yet. After the school season ends, we will hopefully have more time.

That is a brief rundown -- there has been a lot more going on to keep me busy and away from blogging...time to get back and start blogging regularly again.

Proud of the Kids!

As I sit here in the warmth of my house, my husband and sons are on Ft. Smith, Arkansas competing in the regional high school robotics competition.. All the kids worked hard for this and I'm really proud of them. At the beginning of the year, all the competing schools in the state meet at the same time and get the kits and specifications for the robots they are to build. The kids modify and create a robot that has to complete certain tasks during the competition. There is also a separate written and oral presentation that figures into the scoring process. Our kids did well enough to be one of 5 teams from our state to get to Regional finals. YAY CAMPUS COLTS! The final round of the competition is today--I'm sending positive thoughts their way!!

On the home side, the girls are growing in leaps and bounds--I'll post pictures next week. Hopefully we will have the coop out in the yard soon. If you are going to get chickens, I highly recommend having EVERYTHING in place--coop, fenced enclosure if you have dogs like we do, and every possible thing you need--before you bring those cute LITTLE chicks home. As I have discovered, chickens morph into really big chicken in practically no time. We have them in cages right now until the coop is completed, but a wise woman would have had this before the whole process started. Daily cage changing is a pain!!! And you REALLY have to change the pans daily or you end up with sick chickens. You have to keep the outside pens clean with daily maintenance anyway, but it is a little easier when they have the room to roam. That is the lesson for the day! Learn it well!

Growing Up

Remember the girls we bought at Atwoods a couple weeks ago? Remember how cute and small they were? Well, my little girls have grown up....Originally we planned to have them in the coop by now, but I'm concerned they may not do too well in the winter cold since they are still pretty young, so we are setting them up in the garage for the winter and they will go into a coop enclosure when it warms up in the Spring.

They are sooo much fun to watch!

Once A Month Cooking Spaghetti Sauce

Last night we had lasagna for dinner with sauce prepared from page 20 of the Once a Month Cooking book. This is my new go to sauce for spaghetti and lasagna. I did change the recipe a bit and added 1 pound of ground beef in addition to the pound of bulk Italian sausage since we like meaty sauces--and it was excellent. I also browned the meat, drained it and put all the ingredients in my slow cooker to simmer overnight, which made it even easier and added a slow simmered flavor.

With the sauce prepared, I put one cup of sauce on the bottom of a generously buttered 9"x13" baking pan and covered that with a layer of dried lasagna noodles.

Why dry? Doesn't the package say boil until tender? Well, yes it does, but let me let you in on a secret. First, boiling the noodles is a pain and a step I don't have the patience for. I always tear the soft noodles. Since the noodles are going to be covered with sauce, then cooked in a covered pan, they will be tender when it is time to pull the dish out and not soggy. The dried noodles will absorb any excess liquids during the cooking process, which cuts down on the possibility for a soggy entree. Second, you might have to break up the noodles to cover any bare spots. One thing I discovered was the corners of my pans were rounded, which made a 1/4 " gap if I tried to lay the noodles in it. So I snapped of a little of the corner of the noodles at the edge and they tucked into the rounded corners perfectly. Play with it to make it work for you,

Next, put a layer of sauce over the noodles. Mix together 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1 cup of small curd cottage cheese (trust me on this--it is good). layer it on top the sauce, then put a layer of dried noodles over that, with another layer of sauce. repeat this to make the lasagna as thick as the pan. Make sure the last layer of noodles are completely covered with sauce, then cover and put in a 350 degree oven for approx 45 minutes. Test noodles to see if they are done by putting a knife into a noodle. If it offers no resistance, the dish is done. Take it out and let it sit for 15 minutes so it is easier to slice and serve.

Serve with french bread, salad and fruit. YUM!

Baked Jambalya From "Once a Month Cooking"

In my previous post, I had tried the 12 Boy Curry from The Once A Month Cooking book by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Langerborg. Tuesday I decided to try the Baked Jambalaya on page 22. I love jambalaya and had high hopes for this dish.

I prepared the sauce and it smell outrageously good. Then I added the rice, covered it and baked it. Unfortunately the rice was a bit soggy and mushy when it came out of the oven. Maybe I overcooked it, however the taste of the rest of it was spectacular and the prep work was not too intense. Actually it was downright easy, so I am glad I prepared a double batch (the rice is not frozen with the sauce, it is added before baking) and froze one for later.

As I said, the actual taste of the jambalaya was great, the mushy rice was not, so next time I will prepare the rice separately from the sauce, simmer the sauce in the crockpot and then add the cooked rice right before I serve it to keep the rice from getting mushy or pour the heated sauce over the cooked rice in bowls. Normally I shy away from recipes that don't turn out the first time, but I was please with the taste of the sauce, so I am going to try it again with minor changes. Prepared this way, the sauce can simmer all day in a crockpot on low and be ladled over the rice that is prepared right before serving.

Once A Month Cooking Manual 12 Boy Curry

I am trying my hand at cooking at home more in order to save a little hard earned cash that is normally used to eat out. My eventual goal is to buy a small chest freezer so I can start doing "freezer cooking" or "once a month cooking". That is where you spend an afternoon once a month or every two weeks making enough entrees for 15 or 30 meals that will be frozen for future meals. When I heard about it initially, I thought it sounded like a lot of work and perhaps a bit odd.

But one evening as I was pulling a prepackaged commercially prepared Lasagna out of the freezer, I thought "DUH! What am I doing paying $10 for a meal I could have made and frozen myself for a lot less. "

Not to mention I would be avoiding preservatives and other stuff common in frozen foods. I had attended a workshop session many years ago in Tulsa by the authors of "30 Day Gourmet" and even went as far as to purchase their book. To give you an idea, I have a copy of the first and second edition, they are currently on the 10th or 11th edition. I have to admit that I haven't tried any recipes out of it, however the worksheets and the instructions are worth their weight in gold if you haven't done this kind of mass food prep before. I started collecting a couple other books like this with the intention of cooking from them.

Recently I dusted them all off and decided to try recipes from these books.

I decided I will take 2 books and work through them for a period of 3-4 months. This month I will be working through the Once A Month Cooking Manual by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg and More Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer by Sue Martinez, Vanda Howell and Bonnie Garcia. Both of these books are easily available through Amazon.com.

Tonight I made the 12 Boy Curry From the Once a Month Cooking Manual.

The prep work was pretty darn easy. Sauteing the chicken in butter, removing then sauteing the chopped onion celery and garlic in additional butter. Combining the dry ingredients, adding to the cooking veggies, adding the liquids and then the cooked chicken. Since our family is not big on celery, I was tempted to leave it out, but decided to go ahead and do the recipe as printed this time. I'm glad I did. The celery is not noticeable by itself, but is definitely a key player in the fabulous flavor of this dish. My only departure from the recipe is that I used the beef soup base I have in the cabinet instead of the canned beef broth, but that is splitting hairs since it is all the same stuff. I just used what I had on hand. I did add a little hot curry powder (1/2 tsp) since our family likes things pretty spicy, but I would advise caution on that. I ALMOST overdid that. Nobody in my family will get cold tonight! LOL!

The prep work on this dish was pretty minimal, it went together fast and tastes unbelievable! If I didn't know I had prepared it, I would say it competes head to head with my favorite Indian eatery.

This one is a definite keeper! When spooned over Jasmine (That was all I had on hand) or Basmati rice, which would have been the most appropriate rice, it is unbelievable.

Since it is night and the light from the overhead light would give the picture a weird orange/yellow glow, I will wait to post pictures of the dish until next time I make it. AND I WILL BE MAKING IT AGAIN SOON! It is fabulous.

I am looking forward to trying other dishes from this book.

Is this CUTE or what?

I had thought about getting chickens for quite some time. This week, I finally acted on it.

Actually, I think it was more like divine intervention. Not sure husband agrees, but that's the story I'm sticking to.

I had originally gone into Atwoods looking for an apple peeler to peel a large amount of apples to make an apple crisp. While they didn't have the kind of apple peeler that will work for me, I wandered into the feed section and found the Fall chicks. I knew they had chicks and other animals for sale in the Spring, but never thought about them selling in the Fall. I guess that makes sense. By the time Spring rolls around, it will be time for them to start laying eggs. I am looking forward to just having to go to my own back yard for fresh eggs! We only have a couple, which will be fine for our sized family and the size lot we have. It is also easier for me to keep a couple chickens clean. They are all pullets (females) since roosters aren't allowed in our city for obvious reasons.

The girls are currently housed in a large cage in our guest bedroom until the coop is in place and they are old enough to go outside. The kids and I love to watch the girls' antics. They are so funny to watch and I can tell they have interesting personalities already.

The reasons for keeping chickens becomes glaringly obvious the first time you have a fresh egg. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store, but a real egg from chickens that are fed real food and allowed room to move around. When we homeschooled the boys many years ago, we went to the home of another homeschooler that had chickens. She sent everyone home with a dozen fresh eggs. The boys and I were amazed at how orange the yolks were and how high the yolks set in the whites. It was amazing! And the taste was incomparable! Ever since then, we have thought about getting chickens. While the cost of keeping chickens does not make it cheaper than store bought when you figure in the cost of food and other things, the benefits are obvious.

And now we have chickens...

Why YES--it is High School football season...

This is Mark. Obviously entrenched in an interesting conversation with one of his team mates.

In the picture above, that's our other twin son, Jeremy--sandwiched between #53 and #77, with his helmet off.

And here he is again, not looking too happy...

We are in full swing here at Casa Davis. Football season has started and both boys are playing again this year. Since they are on the JV team and backup for the varsity team, that means we have not one, but TWO football games each week. Yep. It is keeping us busy and the boys are exhausted every night. Mark usually ends up falling asleep right after dinner. It will only be like this for a couple more months, so in the meantime we are just trying to plug right along.

I'm Still Here!

It has been a while since I've posted, but I am still here! This summer has turned out to be much busier than I'd anticipated, so unfortunately blogging has fallen a bit behind. I'll return this weekend with pictures of some of the knitting I've been working on, posts on good eats and just general mayhem that is my life!

Soapmaking at The Flying Pig in Wichita

Robin (in the picture) and I took a cold process soapmaking class a couple weeks ago at The Flying Pig here in Wichita. Dani, the owner has a REALLY good smoothie bar in the back so that while you are shopping or taking a class, you can be enjoying one of the best smoothies in Wichita.

Her shop is packed with just about any kind of special touch that you can imagine. She has one of a kind jewelry, pottery, paintings etc by local artists, wonderful candles and bath products for yourself or someone else, and a lot of little treasures. Except the butterfly hooks in the above picture. Those had to come home with me. She can probably order some for you, but these babies had my name on them.

OK, so my hand was not completely still. Sorry! But I did get a picture of the owner, Dani, on the left and my friend Robin on the right. All the bottles are the makings for soap. The class was FANTASTIC. Robin and I made the same kind of soap (Cocoa/vanilla) with all kinds of wonderful oils and goats milk. It really got my creative juices flowing. I've made cold process soap in the past, but put it aside because the kids were so small. Now that I have brushed up on the basics again, I really want to start making soap again.

Dani is very sweet and shares a wealth of information, so I came away really inspired. She offers soapmaking classes at a really great price, so contact her and let her show you how to make something special of your own. Or you can buy some handcrafted soap made by her right there at the shop. She has several varieties.

Once you use real handcrafted soap that nourishes your skin instead of stripping the life out of it, you will not go back to the supermarket stuff. And by the way, look at the labels of the "soap" you are using. Notice it says stuff like deodorant bar, complexion bar and a variety of other labels--anything but SOAP. That's because it is not real soap.

And here is Robin. Watch it, she is a handful of trouble! LOL.

If you have time, stop in Dani's shop. It is a locally owned, female owned small business, so your money stays local and supports our local artists and shops. We need locally owned businesses to thrive in Wichita!!

For Chris

Ok Christine-- Is it wrong that I saw this list and thought of you?

LOL!!


50 THINGS YOU WOULD LOVE TO SAY OUT LOUD AT WORK


1. I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shit.
2. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
3. How about never? Is never good for you?
4. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
5. I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.
6. Who lit the fuse on your tampon?
7. I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
8. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.
9. It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.
10. Ahhhh. I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again.
11. I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.
12 You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
13. I have plenty of talent and vision; I just don't give a shit.
14. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
15. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
16. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.
17. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
18. Any resemblance between your reality and mine are purely coincidental.
19. What am I? Flypaper for freaks?!
20. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
21. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.
22. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
23. And your cry-baby whiny-assed opinion would be?
24. Do I look like a people person to you?
25. This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
26. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
27. Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.
28. If I throw a stick, will you leave?
29. Errors have been made. Others will be blamed..
30. Whatever kind of look you were aiming for, you missed.
31. Oh I get it. Like humor, but different.........
32. An office is just a mental institute without the padded walls.
33. Can I swap this job for what's behind door..........Number 1?
34. Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
35. Nice perfume (or aftershave). Must you marinate in it?
36. Chaos, panic, and disorder. My work here is done.
37. How do I set a laser printer to stun?
38. I thought I wanted a career; it turns out I just needed the money.
39. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being more intelligent.
40. Wait a minute - I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.
41. Aren't you a black hole of need?
42. I'd like to help you out, which way did you come in?
43. Did you eat an extra bowl of stupid this morning?
44. Why don't you slip into something more comfortable? Like a coma.
45. If you have something to say raise your hand... then place it over your mouth.
46. I'm too busy, can I ignore you some other time?
47. Don't let your mind wander, it's too small to be let out on its own.
48. Have a nice day, somewhere else.
49. You're not yourself today, I noticed the improvement straight away.
50. Do you hear that? That's the sound of no-one caring.

LOL!!!!

Another funny one from Christine. Actually there were a whole bunch like this, I'll post them bit by bit. However, this one I LOVED the most..

I guess I should sign off and take a hormone pill, huh?

Awwww...Cute..

The dogs in this house are not spoiled. Especially by the my teenagers, who TOTALLY ignore them as you can see.

Amsterdam...

Yep, more Amsterdam photos...I loved the tulips so much while I was there that I actually ended up buying a couple dozen kinds of tulips that I haven't seen here in the states. They ship them in October, so I'm going to get the beds ready so that I just pop them in when they get here. I might even end up buying another 200 bulbs from them before the season begins. I saw a lot of the really bright ones in their email the other day. As you can tell, I'm not a mute/demure color kind of gal.

This apartment building was just so darn pretty! It looked like something from a painting, which is probably something that I will be doing. Getting to go to really great world class museums (and there were hundreds more in Holland) and seeing the sights really got my creative mojo going again. I have started to paint again, which I had put down since life got so crazy busy.

These are gorgeous! This is about as muted and pale as I go...However, we'll see. I might have a gaggle of pales in a special planting this Spring because there were some really pretty tulips and other plants at the public gardens in Amsterdam.

Amazing!!

And so inspiring.

I can understand why people go to Europe to get inspiration. I can't describe it, but you can't help but get inspired amid all the sights. The history is amazing. I was so in awe that I was amid building built in the 1600's and before...and the art...you just have to go. I can't even start to explain it. Yes, there were some seedy areas, as there are in all metro cities, but not too bad.

Next time I go back, I want to stay closer to the city center. I enjoyed taking the train -- I love trains--but it would have been great to just be able to wake up and tumble into the streets. However, the hotel we were at had this tub that literally came up to my neck, which was heaven for taking a long soak. I wish I could find one like that here in the states!! I'd even remodel a bathroom for that! However, I can tell you that it did not have a safety on the hot water. The water can out at what felt like boiling! I had to be careful to monitor that.

Well, goodbye for now.

Can never have too many Amsterdam Flower Pics, right?

More Flowers!

Amsterdam..flowers

More flowers--you can never have too many flowers! And the public gardens had more than enough! Since you can't bring bulbs into the country yourself (they have to be certified and inspected by the U.S), you can order certain bulbs there to be sent later. I bought some blue tulips and a couple other bulbs that I haven't been able to find here. They are supposed to come in October--I can't wait! They will be a wonderful rememberance of this trip.

The color combinations were absolutely stunning!! I could have spent an entire week there just looking at the tulips, but there was also an orchid exhibit going on in one of the show halls that totally captured my heart! I love orchids!!