Ahh! Finally a free moment...

I know we all have those days & weeks that never really seem to end. They just go right into the next day like a little blur. OK for some of you it is a life style choice! You know who I am talking about the ones that thrive in there own little chaotic whirlwind. I have some dear friends that fit that particular mold but for me I prefer the more simple life. Not that I don't have my fleeting moments of craziness that I absolutely wouldn't trade. I just prefer to not make them a daily habit.

So you know that in my last post I let you all know that we were making a few changes in our lives here at City Chick's Urban Homestead. Well I am please to report that all has gone along smoothly. Yes, the son still guilt's me for being a full-time working Mom at every opportunity he can find. I really love my job and nearly everyone I work with but I do have to admit that 40 hours per week and an additional 7 hours of driving to and from per week is causing me a little more chaos than I like in my life. It does start to take a toll on the household chores and my farmgirl chores. Well not chores so much as the fact that I haven't had time to craft or sew! So I have decided that at the end of my first ninety days, which ends January 15th, I am going to put in for a schedule change and go down to 30-32 hours per week. That is until I can get on the at-home-agent team. Of course who knows how long that will take. Cutting back my hours will still give me plenty of extra money to support my fabric and textile habit! However, it will give me some time to enjoy it also. I am ready to step out of my little personal cyclone and feed my creative side again!

A change is a coming....

All summer long I felt depleted for some unknown reason. It may have been the due to the unusually cool, yet uncomfortable muggy weather. It may have been due to the fact that all that weather made my garden very unproductive and sent my farmgirl heart into a downward spiral when I realized I wouldn't be making any fresh salsa this year. It could have been the fact that I focused so much on my children and family that their was little left more me. You know how it goes...one minute they need you for everything the next they don't want you near them. I love my family dearly but as I sat staring out the window and glancing at my dusty sewing machine a couple weeks back I knew I was due for a change. So no matter what the cause of my summer blahs had been I declared it to be officially over! So over the last several weeks I have been making some swift and decisive changes.

First, Donovan had been asking to go to public school for several months... so one unsuspecting day I decided I would let him go. That very same day I went to the districts main office and enrolled him. It wasn't easy since he had been homeschooled all his life up until this year. I think he was just as amazed that I went through with it. After getting his class schedule redone and meeting some new friends he is doing great. Thriving actually and even getting all A's and B's...all except that D in spanish.

Second, I decided that in order to continue growing and nurturing my farmgirl spirit I was going to need to make a little more money than what my pittily little part time job was giving me. So I gently told my husband that I had every intention of going out and getting a new job. A full time one! Not that he is not a great provider for us. He is amazing and all our bills are paid and we don't use credit cards. Cash and carry only here. However, I felt I needed one that would allow me to pad my bank account so that we can do a little traveling. Next year this farmgirl can make it to MaryJane's Farm Fair over the 4th of July without worrying about if the extra funds would be there or not. Since we don't use and rely on credit cards in our household this trip was not possible to take this year. Basically though my "wants" are starting to outgrow my "needs". Is it selfish of me though at 35 to decide to myself first? Ok honestly I would never put myself first above my children so third. It is not like everyone won't benefit from having the extra cash on hand. I have to admit though going out and getting a full time job was a bit more emotional than I thought it would be. I had so many emotions once I accepted the position and still do a little. I haven't worked full time in so long(over 17 years to be exact) that I am still uncertain of how I will juggle it all. I suppose I will figure it out as I go.

I feel more changes are on there way but they will be good. I can see me outside finishing the interior of the chicken coop, and rerocking the fire pit so we can roast marshmallows over it as the evening temps start to drop. I can see several piles of fabric that have been calling my name. I am feeling energized and have a renewed sense of self worth. I know that as a wife and mother my contributions to this family have been abounding and abundant but they will continue to flourish even when I am not here 24/7.

Turning life into a bowl of cherries...

It all started at Whole Food. I was innocently there to pick up some fruit and veggies. I was there looking specifically for some cherries. After looking for them and not seeing them I continued along on my shopping. A trip there takes long enough without me dwelling on not finding exactly the one thing I really wanted. As I was leaving I grabbed my bags of goodness, put the cart away and would you believe it right before my eyes clear as day were my cherries. I scooped up two bags and headed back to the checkout.

Have you ever had one of those days, well months, where it feels like all you have been doing is running? Either running errands or running the kids, pets, or spouse somewhere? Your brain just can't seem to catch up to the daily activities in a timely fashion? Well that is somewhat how my last month seemed to go more or less. As women I think that we have those moments. Well I decided to do something about this past week. I started it all off with calling the Internet provider to see if we could get a higher speed connection so that my family members could stream videos and play their online games more efficiently. Unfortunately, I had to switch companies but that is ok I didn't mind too terribly. Then once I had that done I called Directv and had them get our service down to the bare minimum of programming. I decided that we had all been spending way to much time on the telly. Alright, I am definitely 2nd runner up to the title of T.V. Goddess so I figured I needed to break free. Yes, I do love television in all its glory. The lure of watching beautiful people on the telly has always been a past time of mine as long as I can remember. I think it must have started as a small child watching the Lawrence Welk Show with my grandfather. All those girls in pretty dresses. Then of course Solid Gold came out and yes, gramps watched that as well. It was ritual that you watched t.v. in the evening. I now discovered that most shows I like come out on video or my children can find them online and set it up for me to watch it through the PS3 onto the t.v. screen. Ah, technology! It is sort of like living with men. Can't live with them and can't live without them.

So all this week I took a much need break. Yes, I still did some housework and laundry but more importantly I took time to just sit and read. A pastime that enjoy but regard as a treat because I never seem to have time. Well this week I read three books in a series of books based on what else...a t.v. show. Well the book of course are much better and intriguing. Plus, they were an easy flowing read from start to finish. But now it is back to business. I still need to get that chicken coop painted and put in the garden this weekend. None of my tomato seeds came up so I am being bailed out big time by my farmgirl friends, Beth and Celeste. Beth assured me that she will bring me an assortment of tomato plants to market Saturday. I also have to get busy sewing a few things. I have bags and piles of fabric everywhere just waiting to made into something. Of course none of those things seem like work when I see the finished results.

So now I am all refreshed and thinking straight again. Life is like a bowl of cherries here at this City Chick Homestead once again.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a busy week here at the City Chick's homestead. It all started with mulching the front flower beds with straw and replanting a couple things. Then we decided to take a little breather from the chicken coop this weekend to focus on the fence that the city is requiring us to put in. Yes, even though we are going to be putting up an actual chicken run we still need to fence in the remaining part of our backyard. Just in case they make a run for it. However, with this mansion I hope that will never even cross their precious little minds. There wasn't much of an area to fence but for those of you that know me you are aware that if I make one trip to Lowe's or the Depot that I end up having to make at least one more (sometimes two) for the stuff I had forgotten. Since we are not builders here at the homestead this happens quite often. Which makes me happy that I live only 10 miles or so from Lowe's. So the fence is all completed now with the exception of the chicken wire that I have to put around the bottom edge.

I am thrilled with how well it looks so i must thank the city guy. Even though the backyard still needs some work I look out upon it and see the real potential. The potential to have little to no grass that is. Of course that means getting those gardens tended and turned this week. Arg! Gardens. I do love to garden and harvest the fruits of our labor but this year I am attempting to start seeds, plant only heirlooms and needless to say it is not going so well. So far none of them have sprouted. What gives? I planted them all according to the directions and in nice organic seed starter soil. At this rate I guess I will just try to start those darn tomatoes directly into the soil and hope for the best. Next year maybe I will have better luck. After all I did just snag two old windows from someones garbage this weekend to make a cold frame. Until next time...Bloom where you Grow.

So it is started...

Well this was a busy weekend. It definitely fueled my creative spirit. I was able to work some more on my punch needle project for starts. Darn I had no idea how time consuming that new little craft would be! I think when it is done it will be well worth it though and I am already wanting to start another one I saw at the quilt store or design one of my own.

The most exciting part though was to start of the chicken coop! Me and my hubby started it finally. Even Jade lent a helping hand. Which if you know my beloved first born she is sort of a non-manual-labor type of girl. She was a great help though. Now if you know me and my hubby you know we are not builders by trade. Yes, I took shop and drafting in high school so I feel pretty comfortable but not confident in my skills. We got the plans online. While they were decent and had pictures they were not precise and we had to improvise quite a bit. However, surprisingly we did get it all framed in and the door hung. I love the door it is one that we found at the habitat Re-Store. We had a few disagreements during the building process but of course he usually gives in to what I want anyway. He is too good to me.

Yesterday the hubby took me to find the handle. I don't think he knows what that has fully lead to though. At least not yet. The reason I say that is because we originally started out going back to the Re-Store to get the handle. Well they didn't have any there that would work so the gentleman there suggested we go up to A & R Salvage to look. WOW!!! I can't imagine how I never knew of this place. It was filled with all kinds of recycled goodies. Old concrete slabs from some of local buildings, iron fence sections, doors, windows, screens and even old cast iron claw foot tubs. You name it they had it. I will be going back because I may be getting the old tin roofing for our coop but I really want to see how much they are wanting for the old iron fencing. It would make a beautiful garden trellis for my beans. I will have to see though because Jade and I still need to finish the interior of the coop. The new city-chicks will need a home with a little farmgirl flair to stay cozy and happy.

It was an amazing weekend so a big thanks to Todd for helping me feed my much deflated creative side.

Springing along

Well, it has been a while since I have had time to tend this little blog. I wish I could tell you all that I have been feeding my creative spirit all this time but unfortunately that has not been the case. Although I did take my punch needle class out at Country Sampler last week. Of course I haven't worked on it a minute since I left the building.

So what have I been doing all this time? Well my front flowers did finally get their much needed cleaning. I cleared all the straw out and all the last little bits of mulch that I could. It was just in the nick of time too. The spring rains that have moved in have really brought my perennials up. My husband took me down to the compost site and ever so graciously filled the truck bed with the "black gold". Then he came home and helped me spread it all around where I want the new garden to go. I did help with my OES chapter dinner. I was supposed to be more active in the planning but I guess I wasn't needed so that didn't happen. It has been a sore subject for the last 2 weeks in my house and I am glad it is over! So that is all I will be saying about that one.

Creatively though I did manage to get my mail art done. Of course it is still waiting patiently to be mailed. Sorry I haven't sent it yet Melanie!! It is going to Canada so I need to go have it weighed at the post station so that it actually makes it there. I will put that first on my list of to-do things once I leave this house today. Then I'm off to run the remaining errands. Is there ever an end to them? I feel that is all I do some weeks. Run here then run there. Maybe I have been slacking on my time management skills. This week I am going to try and do better though. I won't be getting pulled in so many directions and I am going to definitely take some time for me. I need to feed that creative side of my brain a bit more than I have been. So hopefully in my next post I can show something...maybe I will finish one of those UFO's that are sitting there staring at me.

Sally's Scrumtious Delights

Well Sally, my sourdough starter, has provided some delicious goodies for my family during the last two weeks. The first were two wonderful artisan baguette's and the second was a batch of scrumptious chocolate chips cookies. If you want to know how you can start your own sourdough starter you can either check out the article on the MaryJane's Farm Forum or e-mail me and I will let you know. It is so super simple and so good for you!

Happy Easter

I hope that you all have a day filled with blessings abounding. We really don't have any traditions for Easter in our house. It has been many years now since I had little ones to search for eggs on Easter morning. While it seems like a decade since I had last hid eggs for my sisters; it seems like just yesterday that I hid them for my own two children. It was always my favorite part of the day to share with them. For now I will just have to wait patiently for a niece or nephew to hide eggs from once in a while or at the very least send my sister a big box of eggs to hide from me.

Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal. It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown. ~Author unknown, as quoted in the Lewiston Tribune

Sally the starter...

Yes, I named my sourdough starter. This is about my 5th time or so making a sourdough starter. Mine always ended up either black, filled with hooch on top or both. I had told myself that I was done trying to be an artisan bread maker where sourdough was concerned. I would leave it to others to do all the work on that particular variety. After all I can usually bake the rest with pretty good success. But then it came...My February-March issue of MaryJanes Farm. I read it through a few times and thought to myself that MaryJane has yet to fail me. So I will give the sourdough another try. Of course, I put off starting it for at least two weeks or so. Well I made my first loaf of sourdough this week. It was the tiniest little loaf. It didn't seem to have much rise to it after sitting about 5 hours. Then I remembered that my fancy dancy oven had a "proofing" setting on it. I had never used it before. I had never needed it. Well I read the manual through and figured out how to work that setting. Gently tossed the sourdough into the oven to proof for 2 more hours. It did rise a tad bit in there but not much. After that I pulled it out and preheated my oven and put the little loaf back in the oven to bake. It baked nicely into a small dense round of bread. It was great warm with elderberry jam on it! So I guess for now I am a convert to this sourdough way of life. After all sourdough is actually better for you than wheat bread. Yes, it is true! Google it.

and the Give~Away winner is...

The name pulled out of the box was Ms. Glenda of Texas!! Glenda is one of my fellow farmgirl sisters over at MaryJane's Farm. Glenda if you you will be so kind as to e-mail me your address I will get your new box into the mail.

Soon to be Spring Give~Away

Today's ramblings...I have to start by saying that with all the gorgeous weather we have been having I definitely have full blown spring fever. Well I spent a little time this week straightening through the dust build up in my house and setting up a little corner of spring cheer. While I do hate to dust because it is a never ending battle in my home I do always love the smell the lemon oil leaves behind.

I got all my seeds ordered this weekend and I am patiently waiting for their arrival so I can get some of them started indoors. This will be a new adventure for us. I usually just go to the nursery and pick up plants that are ready to go in the ground straight away. However, since I (we) are planting only heirlooms this year I figured seeds would be the easiest way for me to get exactly what we like to eat. I have to say that the book Carrot's Love Tomatoes was such a great help this season. I very carefully read through it and planned each of my gardens accordingly. I am really hoping that this will help me avoid those dreaded little bugs that destroyed my zucchini's last year.

This morning I visited with the nice man from our local health department. He was out to look at our property and tell us if we would be allowed to own our own little flock of hens within city limits. He said that he didn't see any major problems with it but we will need to add some extra fencing to our yard even though we were planning on adding a run for the chickens. If I have to fence about 40 feet of yard I think the girls will be doing much more free-ranging and only have a small run for when we are not outside with them. I have to say I am very excited and he said he will give me a call tomorrow and let me know for sure if we can start building the coop! He was even nice enough to take my paperwork with him.

So for the give-away...leave me a comment on this post. I will be drawing the winner on Friday. It is after all the first day of spring! I will be giving away a sweet little reproduction box. You can see it in the picture above. It says Little Peeps Easter Egg Dye. Inside it I will tuck in a little surprise or two!

Sweet 17...

Yes, sweet 17 is how old my dear baby girl turned this weekend! My did it make me feel old. We had a great weekend filled with shopping, cooking and of course her favorite baking. As we were running around shopping in the 50 degree weather it reminded me of the day she was born. So I was able to tell her all about how much snow we had that year, a blizzard really. Then how when we brought her home from the hospital the next day all bundled up in her little pink teddy-bear snow suit and her dad ran outside and picked her the last little tulip we had left from the freeze. She laughed and thought I was crazy for remembering it all like it was yesterday but one day she will know that same feeling. Many many years from now she assures me.

Oh so simple crepes!

Saturday night my daughter and I made some fresh Nutella & Caramelized Banana Crepes. They were so delicious and easy that I just had to share. Originally I was a bit hesitant to make them because I no longer owned a crepe pan; but then I remembered how well seasoned that cast iron griddle was. I have to say the cast iron pan worked way better than that specialty pan I used to have! So I know we will be eating crepes more often now.

Basic Crepes (condensed and simplified by me From The Healthy Vegetable Cookbook)

• 1 cup (4 oz.) all-purpose flour sifted, I use organic




• pinch of salt




• 2 eggs beaten




• 1 1/4 cups milk




• 1 tablespoon butter, melted




• vegetable oil to oil spray for pan, I didn't need this with the cast iron

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl with the utensil of your choice. Be sure there are no lumps. The mixture will get frothy. Since I was having fruit with ours I added 1 tsp. vanilla to our batter. If you are not using a well seasoned cast iron pan then add a small amount of oil to a 7 inch or so nonstick pan. Heat the pan until it is very hot. Pour in about 2-3 tablespoons of the batter and quickly swirl it around in the pan so that it covers the bottom thinly and evenly. Cook for about 1 minute. Then very carefully tun the crepe with a metal spatula, the type you use for cake decorating works best. Heat it for about 30 seconds and remove from pan. Do this until all the batter is used up. Makes about 8 crepes according to the recipe if you use a 7 inch pan.

For ours Jade just spread a bit of Nutella on half of the crepe before folding it in half. Then I mixed 1/2 cup melted butter and a scant 1/2 cup of brown sugar in a pan until it was caramelized a bit and tossed in 2 bananas sliced for a few minutes and spooned on to the top of the crepes. Of course after we plated them we both said at the same time that we wished we had some fresh whipped cream for them! The plate actually has 3 crepes folded into triangles on it. Not just one crepe folded in half.

M.I.A.

A couple of my friends accused me of being M.I.A. recently. They were curious as to what I had been doing and why had it been over a month since they had seen me last. I didn't have any real concrete answers other than "life just gets hectic" and "I've been busy with the kids." It was all true but as we ended our various conversations I realized that maybe they really didn't quite believe me fully. So later I decided to take a little time to really think about what I had been doing. We do live in Nebraska after all and so most of my activities have been home based. I did get my new sewing machine which I have played with now and again trying to learn all the new bells and whistles it has to offer me. It is no where as easy as my old machine which I can't seem to part with. I have been to the quilt store to peruse the fabrics several times. Finally last week I picked out fabric to make a new quilt. So have I started it yet? Sadly NO. Not because I don't want to. I am patiently waiting for my new quilting foot arrive. I have taken a hand applique class at the Country Sampler. I really don't know why I was so hesitant to accept that it was a valid method of quilting for so long. I guess the fear that I would be no good at it. Well I am good at it, the instructor confirmed that for me as I whizzed through it with no problem. Needless to say the quilt I will be making next has some applique on it. I sat thinking I realized that those were really the only highlights of my last couple months. I did patriarchate in a wonderful secret farmgirl sister exchange for a few months. I had a wonderful sister in Diana who sent me some of the greatest little treats. I hope that my secret sister enjoyed her items. I never did hear a single word from her; so for all I know some random person received all the packages I sent. If that is the case it must have been quite a hoot for them each month to receive a package from a secret pal! It makes me laugh just thinking about it. I found us a new church to go to after a couple months of searching. Jade still has no desire to go but I know she will come around but the rest of us went for a visit and enjoyed the service and everyone there. I have been keeping busy with O.E.S. and all of the meetings and practices that we have had since January. I know that I am doing my best in that regard but boy is it difficult to get those lines memorized and all those marches. After March that should all be back to our normal schedule. Then of course there is work. Granted that is only 2 days a week.

Two of the last and possibly most disturbing things I realized though was how much T.V. I have been watching and how much my family and I had been eating out! I always admit that I am a t.v. junkie and in the winter it is horrible. I have cut back on how many shows I watch but how could I deprive myself of my top two guilty pleasures of Nip/Tuck and Big Love. We had some extra money steadily coming in and I swear we must have really boosted our local economy by eating it all away. So when I saw that March was national nutrition month I decided that we would not eat out for the whole month. I am a great cook and my son is starting to walk down that same path so why shouldn't we be eating nice meals in the comfort of our own home. Meals made with fresh whole food...not the processed garbage. Plus, with my daughters awesome baking skills we should be able to eat like kings and queens.

I realized that even though my friends may not have realized what I was up to I was up to one thing all along that is dearest to my heart. Being there for my children. Yes, I think that sometimes as a parent I can s"mother" my children but at the same time I am always trying to encourage them to be the best they can be, to follow their heart-n-dreams and to be the best that they can be. To be the type of person who is tolerant of others and does not judge. To be a good soul and respect all life. They have both been exploring their creative sides the last couple months and keeping up with their school work without me pushing them too much. Are they happy? I think so and so for me that is a lot to accomplish. Happy well rounded children complete our little family.

Hugs until next time!