chickadee

Nourished Kitchen Challenge Week 4

2010-03-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

I have found the month-long challenge motivating and very worthwhile. I need to review the week's challenges and see what we did and report on specifics, but we have continued along the path toward more traditional foods very well.

I discovered that the beet kvass I made a few days ago is quite good now with a tiny bit of apple juice added. I read online somewhere also that next time if I add less salt and ferment it for longer, the taste will be more pleasant. I think that the second round of fermentation on this batch will be better because it won't be so salty anyway.

Tonight, I'll make tilapia fish sticks breaded with sprouted grain wheat bread crumbs and sauteed in a little coconut oil, some brown rice + barley + daikon radish seed medley, and some roasted carrot puree.

Yesterday I made some oatmeal cookies with maple syrup that were pretty good; the kids really like them. Getting used to the non-refined sugar taste may take some getting used to by us grown ups though.

Nourished Kitchen Challenge Report on Week 3

2010-02-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

We had a good week in general with trying out recipes and food prep the "real food" way. We used techniques covered in Nourishing Traditions and covered on the blog Nourished Kitchen.

Day 15: Track down a SCOBY--such as a kefir starter. I didn't have luck with this; the food co-op didn't have any and I decided not to order any from an internet source. We eat a lot of yogurt and may eventually add kefir to our repertoire.

Day 16: Make cultured veggies: I made beet kvass. Everyone in the family agrees that it certainly looks delicious but it tastes horrible. I might brave it and just gulp it down as "medicine." Is there a way to make it more palatable? Perhaps add a little to a glass of ice water and add honey? I might try that later.

Day 17: Make yogurt. We make yogurt at least once a week and sometimes twice. I made it twice last week so that I would have extra to make yogurt cheese.

Day 18: Make cheese. I made yogurt cheese and happily harvested the whey for future fermentations. The cats discovered the cheese though, left on the counter for more draining time, while we were all at an ice skating lesson. Grrr. One quart of yogurt wasted and cat throw up on the entry mat. Gross.

Day 19: Prepare nuts and seeds correctly. I tried doing this last week but discovered that my oven cannot go lower than 180 degrees F. I would like to try again after I have a food dehydrator.

Day 20: Soak some beans. I'm doing that today. I'm curious about the advice Sally Fallon gives, that you only need whey or lemon juice (or I assume any acid) with black beans. The advice from Nourished Kitchen is to soak all beans in water and cider vinegar.Why the difference? I have a bean mix that includes some black beans soaking right now in warm water with cider vinegar.

Day 21: Eat veggies with fat. We had carrots last night made with plenty of butter. The recipe was Carrots Vichy (pretty much glazed carrots) from Nourishing Traditions. The kids have never been so enthusiastic about eating any vegetable. I think the 2 tablespoons of honey helped. Phil and I thought they were way too sweet and will use much less honey next time.

Other fun food prep along the same lines this past week:

We gave the kids exclusively raw milk for drinking and used pasteurized, vat-processed nonhomogenized milk for cooking and pasteurized cream for butter making and for adding to our breakfast porridge (soaked oats in buttermilk) which we enjoy almost daily now.
I soaked brown rice for eating at a few meals throughout the week.
We enjoyed carrot soup made with chicken stock we had made ourselves.
I nursed sourdough starter throughout the week but the bread dough didn't rise yesterday! Grrr. I have the loaves in the oven now but I'm guessing that the yield will be more like rocks than bread.
Phil found a great butcher who sells pastured everything and picked up some beef bones for stock-making (simmering right now in the slow cooker) and a veal roast that I'll make tomorrow or Wednesday.
Phil made waffles for a special addition to Saturday's breakfast using buttermilk-soaked oats.
We're continuing to buy only cage-free/organic eggs.
Phil also stopped using the microwave to defrost frozen sausage.
We've been enjoying sprouted bread and sourdough bread (all store-bought right now) slathered with lots of butter. It feels sinful to us both after eating no grains at all for so long.
We're buying more organic food in general and finding good deals.
I've got the paperwork for signing up for a veggie-share from a local farm this summer. I'd really like to plant a big garden but I think it's safer with a new baby coming this spring to assume I won't have the time I need to tend to one. Hopefully we'll be able to plant some things that will supplement the weekly box from the farm.
I picked up paperwork from the food co-op so we can sign up as members and get member benefits, such as a discount two days a month.
One of the things I bought while at the co-op was some coconut oil. I made breaded tilapia on Friday and sauteed it in coconut oil. Wow! It was super delicious.

We used to eat out about once a week. I can't even remember the last time we ate out. The girls have noticed and are begging to go out. We're enjoying our homemade food, though, even when I've not planned anything, I can scramble and get something nutritious on the table. The cost of food at restaurants (even fast food) is ridiculous and the food is inferior. I hope we can sustain these new habits.

Feeling Virtuous

2010-02-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

Here's what's happening in my kitchen:

Beet kvass is fermenting. Beet kvass is really healthy! It's a digestive aid, cleanses the liver and is good for kidney stone producers (me). All it is is a couple of large, organic chopped up beets soaked in 1/4 cup whey, 1 T sea salt and 2 quarts filtered water at room temperature for 2-3 days. It's popular in the Ukraine. I've never had it. I hope it tastes good. It is very pretty but I can see that if the kids like it, they'll have to use covered cups. I think it will stain like nothing else.

Yogurt is draining for production of yogurt cheese and whey. I need the whey for other fun fermented things such as gingered carrots.

Milk is heating in the slow cooker for more yogurt because we're yogurt monsters rather than cookie monsters.

Sourdough starter has been fed today; only one more day and I can make bread.

I put leftover pork shoulder in the freezer and posted a freezer inventory so we don't forget what's in there to eat.

Successful Yogurt and a Horrible Way to Wake Up

2010-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

The yogurt-in-a-crock-pot method works great! I left the crock pot wrapped up in towels out overnight, leaving it out unintentionally 8 hours longer than suggested in the directions. It didn't matter at all (I didn't think it would but I thought we'd end up with tarter yogurt). The yogurt is still pleasantly mild and it set up beautifully.

Pregnancy leg cramps have begun. I woke up in agony from the worst calf cramp ever. It's amazing that a muscle cramp can be so painful. Week 25 is a little later than cramping started with the other two I think, so I guess that's positive. Most of the cramping I had with my other two pregnancies were hip cramps. I don't think I have a preference on the location--none would be nice.

Yogurt in the Crock Pot

2010-02-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

We've been making yogurt for many months by sterilizing milk in mason jars in a water bath on the stove, cooling it and then adding starter and incubating in a yogurt maker for several hours. Today I thought I'd do something different since I'm using the yogurt maker to keep the brown rice that I'm soaking warm. I learned that you can make yogurt in a slow cooker! Here:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

This method doesn't include any thermometer-watching, just clock-watching. The only down-side I see is that I'll have to transfer the yogurt from the cooker to smaller containers when it's done.

Nourished Kitchen Real Food Challenge Week 2

2010-02-14T17:37:00.001-08:00

Challenge 8: Fats for High Heat--I haven't done this yet but I'll make some clarified butter and order some coconut oil. We don't do very much high heat cooking and use olive oil and butter for moderate heat. We'll have to eliminate these when we have clarified butter and coconut oil.
Challenge 9: Fight Against GMOs--got the shopping list and read the blog
Challenge 10: Fats to Eat Raw--I make salad dressing regularly either with walnut oil or olive oil. I can switch to coconut oil and ghee for sauteing.
Challenge 11: Sourdough Bread--I didn't make any bread as I have just started making the starter. I'll try in a week.
Challenge 12: Finding Real Milk--We found some at two groceries but hope to find a farm-direct source.
Challenge 13: Get Good Bacteria--We eat yogurt everyday as well as cultured butter.
Challenge 14: Evaluate

What we've found most difficult so far is the thought of the amount of money we will need to spend to eat pastured poultry, beef and to buy raw dairy. One of the articles at the Weston A. Price Foundation web site addresses budget concerns and we found that helpful.

I've researched and found several farms where we can buy pastured poultry, fresh eggs, pastured lamb, beef and pork. I know of two groceries where we can get raw milk but will contact the closest Weston A. Price Foundation group leader to see if there's a farm-direct source we can use. I think that we'll probably not buy all raw milk as it may be cost-prohibitive but as a compromise we can buy raw milk for our drinking needs and buy single-pasteurized milk for yogurt. So far we've bought two half-gallons of raw milk as two different stores, pasteurized cream (no raw to be found), pasteurized non-homogenized milk and vat-pasteurized homogenized milk. We buy UHT cream at Costco and make butter with it. There isn't any non-UHT cream around that isn't really pricey. Phil wonders if culturing the butter helps offset the fact that the cream used is UHT. Anyone know?

What has been fairly easy is incorporating fermented food into our diets. We were already eating yogurt and fermenting oats for breakfast proved successful. We soaked some ww pastry flour in buttermilk for pancakes this morning and the kids loved them. I plan to try to make gingered carrots this week.

We're both really enjoying reading and learning what's shared in Fallon and Enig's Nourishing Traditions book and I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on the computer reading articles on the Weston A. Price Foundation web site and finding real food bloggers.

We're enjoying all the foods we've added since starting the challenge--raw milk and fermented grains as well as sprouted grain bread. I've started some sourdough starter and have a batch of almonds soaking for crispy almonds for snacking this week. We are eating organic eggs now and I'm incorporating a lot more raw vegetables and fruit into our meals--offering them with cheese in addition to our normal lunch and dinner rather than just as snacking food. The kids haven't noticed anything different about raw milk, maybe because we've always given them full fat dairy. We feel better about giving them raw rather than pasteurized milk though. We're having our first try at pasture-fed beef for our main dish tonight--a sirloin tip roast.

The challenge has been fun and it's inspiring to find all the folks out there already successfully eating this way or working to get there.

Nourished Kitchen Real Food Challenge Week 1

2010-02-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

I joined the challenge a week late but I wanted to share my progress on the challenge now anyway.

Challenge 1: Clean out the cupboards
This is a challenge that we failed. I am so thrifty that I just can't throw out everything that is processed. We are not a family that eats a lot of processed food anyway, so what we are going to do instead of throwing away or setting aside all the processed food is to use them up and not replace them--this includes breakfast cereal, crackers, white sugar and sugar-free syrup. We are going to make quite an effort to eat almost exclusively the Real Food way for this month.
Challenge 2: Choose wholesome food
This challenge was super easy as we already had all the suggested items: extra virgin olive oil, butter and full fat dairy. We also checked out the local food coop and whole foods market for other food recommended in Nourishing Traditions. Giant gleep felt when we saw the prices.
Challenge 3: Improve your grains
I made oatmeal porridge to supplement our normal breakfast of eggs and sausage. The sour smell of the fermented oats was a little off-putting but the final result was fantastic. Everyone loved it especially with a little butter, cream and maple syrup.
Challenge 4: Start sourdough
I got to this late--I just started it today. Hopefully it will turn out okay although I am using rye flour from the food coop--not milled by me.
Challenge 5 and 6: Sprout grain and mill it
A couple of things kept me from doing these--I don't have the equipment for drying and milling the sprouted grain so I didn't see the point of creating sprouts and all I have to sprout is old brown rice and old pearl barley. Not sure those will work. Nourishing Traditions talks a lot about sprouting grain but the recipes are all soaked grain recipes--I think this is what we will probably do more often than not. We did find an internet source for milled sprouted grain and we bought some sprouted grain bread. My better half thinks he'll order some milled sprouted grain and work with it.
Challenge 7: Relax and evaluate

Nourishing Traditions

2010-02-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Phil and I are both enjoying perusing the cookbook Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. We've been eating a more "traditional" diet for some time now (getting away from refined carbohydrates and eating more animal protein) but we have some ways to go to achieve the way of eating promoted in this book. It's by no means new fangled. It's a return to old, traditional ways of eating that primitive cultures thrived on (i.e., fermented foods, animal fats, raw dairy) and away from modern, processed food. Whole food prepared in the ways that this books suggests should promote optimal health. We've already been practicing some of its advice for many months--making homemade yogurt and taking cod liver oil, for instance. I don't know how much we'll adopt of the principles and practices in this book but I hope we can do quite a bit as we both agree with its basic tenets and we need to provide our family with the best quality food we can. We won't go so far as to move and make a small homestead complete with chickens, a couple of cows and a giant garden but it's tempting given how expensive pastured animal protein, raw milk and organic vegetables are.

Here are some foods that we have now in our larder that we're just not going to buy when they run out. Thrifty me is not willing to just throw out everything processed. So, here are some things we are not replacing:
Crackers
Vitamin water (I know, I know...I only bought it in the first place because I am pregnant and a medical professional suggested I drink it.)
Non-sprouted grain bread
Breakfast cereal
Soda pop (I virtually never drink it but Phil does.)
White flour
Sugar

Our first steps toward Real Food/Traditional Diet way of life:
We're soaking grains/flours before using them (in buttermilk usually that is a by-product of Phil's butter making).
We make our own yogurt.
We're looking for local farms where we can buy eggs and pastured beef and chicken.
We've started buying organic eggs and have sampled raw milk (but at $6-7 per half gallon, we wonder how we can make that work--we drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of homemade yogurt).
We've checked out what products are available at PCC and Whole Food Market and started looking online for sources.
We made homemade chicken stock from several chicken carcasses we've been collecting.
I'm making a batch of nuts prepared in a way that makes them more digestible--soaking them in salt water and then dehydrating them.

My biggest concern right now is how we can possibly afford organic eggs, raw milk and pastured beef and chicken. I think that may work itself out. Maybe when we stop buying convenience and processed food completely, the better quality food won't seem so expensive.

Catholic kid

2009-07-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Right now Leah is using pretend oil to bring her stuffed animal children back to life so they can come to her birthday party.

Sillies

2009-06-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Leah, Happy I'm Home

2009-06-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

Leah and Naomi were happy to find me home this morning; I spent the last couple of days traveling to attend my grandfather's funeral. Here Leah was being silly.

Preschool graduate

2009-06-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Naomi (Mimi) "graduated" from her three years of preschool on Saturday, June 6. Nana and Grandpa (Al and Lois Voeller), Phil and I and Leah attended. Her class put on a play, "The Little Gingerbread Girl," and Naomi played a cat. Her teacher told the audience what each child wants to be when he grows up and Mimi wants to be a veterinarian. Some other kids' choices were dad, fireman, mom, rainforest guy, and builder. Naomi's declaration is no surprise to us since she adores our cats, carries stuffed cats everywhere, draws nothing but cats and her favorite game is cat and kitty pretend with Leah. She also recently saw "Born Free," and sings or hums the theme song constantly (she morphed accidentally to the Star Wars theme (ever noticed how close those theme songs are?). She was upset to learn that there was no way she could raise a wild lion cub herself here. Maybe when she's grown up!

Mmmm, fish!

2009-05-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

This recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook but I modified it (I used chopped shallots instead of grated onion and red bell pepper instead of grated carrots). We both love fish and really enjoyed this recipe.

Fish Fillets Baked in Packets

4 pieces parchment paper or aluminum foil about 12 x 18 inches each
Olive oil or butter
1/2 c finely chopped red bell pepper (most of one bell pepper)
1/2 c finely chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
1/4 c finely chopped shallot
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Four to five ounce fish fillets such as cod, bass, red snapper, sole or tilapia
Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Fold each piece of parchment paper in half and then open and lay flat. Oil or butter both sides of the inside surface of the paper. Combine veggies. Put some veggies on each piece of paper, to the side of the crease, then lay a salted and peppered fillet on top and add more veggies on top of each fillet. Roll edges of paper to form packets. Put on cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve with lemon.

Yummy Veggie Chili

2009-05-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

When our dining out plans were scratched last night, rather than scrounge up cereal or sandwiches, I decided to create something using what I had in the fridge and pantry. I started with a simple chili recipe that I found on the web but I modified it quite a bit. Fair warning: it's sweet for a chili and if you like chili spicier, you probably need to add jalapeno pepper or green chilies. The kids didn't eat it (oh well, no surprise), opting instead for the popovers I made to accompany it.

Sweet Vegetable Bean Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 cup corn kernels
2 small sweet potatoes, or one large, about 1 1/2 cup, cooked (about 5 minutes in the microwave), peeled and diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or water)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bell peppers until the onions are translucent.
Lower heat and add tomatoes, corn and seasonings.
Stir in the beans, cooked and diced sweet potatoes and chicken broth. (If you want the chili to be thicker, you can mash some sweet potatoes before adding them or mash some with a fork after you add them or you can puree some of the beans before adding them.)
Simmer until hot and eat.

Leah's class, 2008-09

2009-03-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here's Leah's preschool class. From left to right in the front row: Piper, Olivia, Vash, Jaguar (who has an older brother named "Ocean"), and Jenae. From left to right in the back row: Leah, Liam, Gabe, Jaxson, Spencer, and Ava.
This particular day was special because they made clown hats from paper bags as you can see. That was the day Leah decided to wear her pajamas to school under her regular clothes.
Leah had a huge "crush" on Liam at the beginning of the year. They were holding hands at circle time a lot. She can't say his name yet, calls him "Lamb," which makes me grin. She also calls Gabe, "Gave."
She is one of the younger kids in the class because of her summer birthday.

Kitchen pictures

2009-01-18T16:15:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to taking pictures of our 90% complete kitchen. There are a lot more viewable from the My Pictures link on the left below Kidisms. The album is called January 18.

naomi's number 5

2009-01-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Naomi turned 5 yesterday. We went to the Imaginarium, which is a children's museum in Everett. Both kids had a blast.

We picked up Happy Meals for the kids on the way home and then both girls got a nap, although Leah only slept for about 15 minutes. That evening we had a family celebration with Ruth and Grey, Karen and Nathan, Dave and Rebekah, and Lael! Phil made a yummy roast beef. Everyone had fun. We had a chocolate cake (made by me using the classic chocolate mayo cake recipe) with vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting cat decoration (designed by Naomi) and star sprinkles.
Here Naomi is, dirty face and all. She blew out her candles one by one.

Thank You Note

2009-01-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

I know this is impersonal to send a general thank you note. I went to Plan B with the SmileBox card after running out of patience creating thank you notes with the girls. We much appreciate your gifts and Christmas wishes!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Withering look

2009-01-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

I had to post this picture of Leah. We are sure to see this look again! We were at Grammy Ruth's house for a holiday dinner and Leah really didn't want me to take her picture. This look was withering.

Xmas morning

2008-12-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

Phil and I wondered on Christmas Eve whether we would wake up before the kids as happened last year or whether the kids would wake us up.

At 2:07! Naomi came in to our room and said "Mommy, you have to get up and we should open presents." Of course I said it was too early and she said "But Mommy, Santa has already been here!" She did eventually go back to bed without too much protest. She and her sister were up at 6:00 ready to rumble.

Kitchen

2008-12-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

We've made you wait long enough. The kitchen/great room renovation isn't done yet but it's close enough. You can see what it looks like from the pictures of Phil from this morning. We are loving it and it is far more beautiful than I imagined it would be.

White Christmas

2008-12-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

Have a happy day!

To see more pictures go to the My Pictures link on the left side of this page under the kidisms and go to the album dated 12-25-2008.

Preparing for Santa

2008-12-23T12:18:00.001-08:00

Last night and this morning Naomi told us, "Make sure you have all the painting and construction stuff cleaned up before Christmas Eve!" (We have a pile of supplies on the hearth.)

Decorating the tree

2008-12-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

SNOW

2008-12-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Are we still in Washington?

Yes! Believe it or not!

Big Storm Coming?

2008-12-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

The second storm this week is forecast to come this afternoon. It's going to be a doozy with strong wind and lots of sleet and snow. We're hoping that the storm isn't too bad; this sort of weather right before Christmas is especially unwelcome.

The storm that knocked out power here two years ago right before Christmas is still too fresh in my memory. The kids were so cold and we lived on nuts and raisins. Thankfully we stayed one night at Phil's cousin's house when it got too cold.

We have since switched to a gas water heater and a gas range, so we will be able to have showers and hot food even without power. Phil is out getting logs for the fireplace so that we'll have some source of heat if we do lose power.

Snow day

2008-12-18T20:31:00.001-08:00

The snow started yesterday afternoon and kept coming down most of the day today. It's beginning to look like Christmas.

Pics from Marty's visit

2008-12-08T19:34:00.001-08:00

We had a fantastic time with Marty during his visit the last few days. Our big day was Saturday, my birthday. The kids got to visit Santa at Macy's downtown and we all experienced the carousel and the Seattle Center fountain. The girls and I had some much-loved hanging out time with Marty too. The kids especially enjoyed making a gingerbread house with Uncle Marty and making bead necklaces from the kits he brought them. I just loved hanging out and talking.

(That ribbon I'm wearing says "Birthday Girl." Naomi insisted I wear it.)

We miss you Marty! Thanks for coming to see us.

Itching to Cook!

2008-11-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

Now that the appliances are in, I want to cook! Yummm, Christmas candy, cookies, quick breads, not to mention soups and stews, stir fries and fun stuff done on the gas (hurrah!) cook top. Phil's using it to cook eggs in the morning but I've not wanted to move up there to cook until the kitchen feels done. (I did dismantle a turkey on our island this morning though.)

The fridge is nice but, oddly, seems small. It also has an ear piercing alarm for when the door(s) are left open. We don't see a way to turn it down or off.

The dishwasher is very quiet, which we love, but it also seems smaller than our old one.

The garbage disposal in the main sink is in and is ultra-quiet. :0) I also love the prep sink. I'm glad I got a big one because I think I'm going to be using it a lot.

Hold onto your horses

2008-11-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

The big reveal of our kitchen will be soon..........:-)

House update

2008-11-20T20:29:00.000-08:00

You would think that people who work on other people's houses would make some effort to not be offensive.

False.

There is a fellow working on our house (subcontractor) who has a body odor problem. It is so offensive, the stench permeates the entire house. I always have to air out the house for half an hour or more after he leaves. It's tough to be here when he is here. Only one more day and I hope we never have to see him again. That's sad because he is a nice person but I can do nothing but avoid him.

Speaking of the house, we are now a little behind. The lights and all electrical should be done tomorrow. Some of the cabinet doors had to go back to the shop for a little touch up. The drywall guy should be here on Saturday rather than tomorrow. And, the guy who's helping put millwork up ...we don't know yet when he can come do that. We won't be able to paint until that work is done; we hope the millwork is done before Turkey Day.

Naps

2008-11-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

Bedtime tonight; I had just finished reading to Naomi and I was stretching my back by lying across the narrow part of her bed. (By the way, I don't take naps normally--I tried to when the kids were both babies but that only worked for a little while when Naomi was small.)

N: Why haven't you left yet?
Me: I'm tired. Aren't you? I didn't get a nap today (joking). (but Naomi did get a nap)
N: Oh Mommy, you're silly. Grown ups don't take naps!
Me: They don't?
N: Only if they are too sleepy to walk.

Nap in a Box

2008-11-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

This is Leah, too cute, napping in a box (right now, 3:30). Her legs might be a bit stiff when she wakes up, huh?

Renovation Progress

2008-11-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted about the kitchen. Work has been going on steadily. The lower cabinets and island are now in and the floors are finished.
We've ordered the cabinet hardware and this morning we approved cuts for the granite counters. The counters will need to be installed before the upper cabinets are installed.

Greta is on the Mend

2008-11-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

Greta is finally eating. Hurrah!

Naomi with her Colby cats

2008-11-05T14:24:00.001-08:00

I had to post this picture of Naomi and her two Colby cats. The stuffed one is getting so ratty I'm not sure it will survive much longer. Naomi likes to stroke its tail while she falls asleep or if she needs to calm down. It is her constant companion and even goes to preschool with her.

New York City T

2008-11-04T15:38:00.001-08:00

Here's Leah wearing her NYC T-shirt from Aunt Miki. She wants Miki to come over to see it, which is a tough wish to fulfill since Miki lives in Indiana.

Sick Kitty

2008-11-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

Greta refused dinner the other night for the first time ever. She looked pretty bad by the next morning, having refused water also, so I took her to the neighborhood clinic. She was treated for dehydration and her blood test shows first signs of geriatric kidney issues. I'll be taking her in later this afternoon for more subcutaneous fluids and we'll see what happens. The vet says that it all depends on the cat...some respond very well and don't have any issues for a long time and others decline rapidly. This news is better than we had anticipated as it seemed to us that Greta was on death's door. We tried to prepare the girls for her death--Naomi understood and is sad and worried. Yesterday she drew several pictures for Greta to cheer her up. They are now taped at Greta-height all around our downstairs. What a sweetie pie.

Kidisms--runnng list

2008-11-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

Animal=amiler (both)
Boiled egg=oiled egg (L)
Yesterday=the day before this day (N)

Leah at 2 said she wants to own a shop that sells pumpkin muffins when she grows up.
Naomi at 2 said she wants to play the violin when she grows up (and Leah will play the flute).
Leah doesn't want any kids or wants me and her dad to be her kids (yikes). Naomi wants lots of kids.

The Popcorn is Gone

2008-11-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Here's how our new space looks without popcorn ceilings. This picture was taken before the wood floors were laid and you can see how dusty it is. The gyp dust is ground into the subfloor, which was brown before.

Three Year Old Tomato

2008-11-02T05:52:00.000-08:00

Last week, I found a three year old tomato in the yard.

Leah couldn't resist the draw of the tomato cage. She said she wanted to play robot and got herself stuck inside--classic, if a little scarey! It reminded me of the time Naomi poured honey all over one of the kitchen chairs--all over, puddles of honey--so 3 year-old. Leah wasn't hurt and not even that scared but it did take me a while to cut off the cage.

Stairs

2008-11-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

Our stairs are now beautiful cherry hardwood. Leah shows how they work and also shows off "matching" T-shirt and undies.

Classic Kid Conversation #1

2008-10-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Kid: What's that restaurant over there?
Parent: Burger King
Kid: Booger King?
Parent: No, Burger King.
Kid: That's what I said, Booger King.
Parent: No, a burger is short for hamburger. A booger is hard snot.
Kid: Ewwwwwww.
Parent: Try again. Burger King.
Kid: Booger King.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

Brain food

2008-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I read a book (well, fiction anyway). I guiltily took some time "off" today and read a book I had picked up off the library editor's pick table. Talk about gloomy.
Contemporary fiction, of course. The book is called "Inhabited World" by David Long. It's about a ghost reflecting on his life and what led to his suicide, set here in Seattle. Bleak and dark. Kind of like the season. I wish I were a bear and could hibernate.

Floor Installation and Cabinet Delivery

2008-10-21T10:06:00.001-07:00

Phil and the subcontractor we hired to help are finishing installing the cherry hardwood except for the stairs. And, drum roll...the cabinets will be delivered! Hurrah! They get installed tomorrow. Phil's taking off today to work on the floor and will work from home tomorrow so he can be here when the cabs are put in.

I got to pull a thousand more staples from the floor last night. I know I'll appreciate the finished renovation so much more knowing I actually helped with my own hands as well as doing much of the planning.

Entry Tile

2008-10-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure we'll go with a soft, warm light beige travertine tile for the entry. Something like this picture of ivory classico.

Question for You

2008-10-20T17:02:00.001-07:00

What sound does a butterfly make?

Gyp dust

2008-10-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today I have the sinus headache from Hell. I think it's come from the super saturation of our home with gypsum dust from the dry wall work that took place last week. Ugh. Every object in the house is covered with a thick gray layer of rock dust. If you ever remodel, ask for vacuum sanding and then make sure it happens. Our contractor promised he would use a vacuum sander and didn't.

I tried to pick tile for the entry today while the kids were in preschool. It was kind of fun but there were too many choices (my life's great problem, but a nice problem to have).

Better Picture of Solarius Granite

2008-10-19T18:46:00.001-07:00

Here's a better picture of our first choice granite, Solarius

Faucets

2008-10-18T15:05:00.001-07:00

These are the faucets we chose. The candy-cane one is for the main sink and the other one is for the prep sink. Both will have a soap/lotion dispenser built in to the counter. The prep sink will have a hot/cold water dispenser too.

Experimenting with templates

2008-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Bear with me, I'm trying out templates. I don't think I've found one I really like yet.

Change in Granite Choice

2008-10-18T13:53:00.001-07:00

I went down to the granite place yesterday to pick our slabs and discovered that we couldn't get the type we wanted. It is only sold in a narrower thickness than we need.

So, we decided to go again today and found two that will work, Santa Cecilia and Solarius. We will have to see about getting Solarius because it is a little more expensive than the guidelines we were given by the fabricator and contractor.
I prefer Solarius, pictured first.
And pictured second, is our second choice, Santa Cecilia.

Skunk joke

2008-10-16T14:03:00.001-07:00

L: What does a skunk say?
Me: I don't know.
L. Maybe it says "Stink! Stink!"

Morphing

2008-10-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

I never stopped morphing once I got pregnant. Now with a 3 and 4 year old, I find myself thinking in short, childlike phrases, struggling to remember simple words and evermore frequently realizing how dull my brain and person have become. Ever try to think, read, follow a recipe correctly, do anything but super menial tasks with anyone under 5 around? Is this a complaint? Well, yes. Being a mother is pretty cool but don't let anyone fool you, it does change you and not always in a good way.

Picked Granite

2008-10-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here's our granite for the counters in the new kitchen (not one of the actual slabs; we still have to pick those).

Interesting question

2008-10-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today, for the first time, someone asked me if my husband was white.

One of the tradesmen working on the house, Miguel, asked me how I learned Spanish. (I don't know how he knew I knew. I must have said something to him unwittingly in Spanish. Funny.) So I told him the relevant personal history. Hence, the question.

Profile pic

2008-10-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

I'm 9 years old in the profile pic. The pic was taken during a family reunion held at our place. Everyone who came camped out in tents down by our creek. I was hanging out with my 5 year old friend Timmy that day. I can't tie many memories to age 9. I was probably reading a lot of fantasy by then as well as the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Maybe I learned to ride a bike that year.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a school field trip to a farm in Snohomish for a 100-yard ride in a wagon to a pumpkin patch. Each kid picked a pumpkin.

N was grossed out by the dirt on her pumpkin--odd reaction given that she doesn't mind picking vegetables from our garden. L just wanted to get back to see the animals in the petting zoo.

Favorite part about the field trip: the tractor ride (N), picking a pumpkin and eating ice cream (L), the drive (me).

ET

2008-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

We caught the tail end of the movie E.T. last night. I was 14 when it came out. I remember seeing it with Dad and E. I figured out what age Dad was and he was only 43! Eek. That's not far away for me.

The goodbye scene is still a tearjerker.

Taping and Mudding

2008-10-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

This morning, a crew taped and mudded the drywall that had been put up on Friday. I managed to get the girls downstairs for lunch straight from the car so they didn't touch any wet drywall mud. That didn't last long. L swept the wall with her hand on the way back from the bathroom. Arghh. Thankfully, I think the crew has several more coats to put on. I decided to try to get the kids to take their naps down here in big chairs rather than risk more damage to the drywall. So far, so good. N is happily listening to the radio on my old Walkman and L is looking at a toy catalog.

Yesterday was our sixth anniversary. I stripped wallpaper and decluttered and P tore up the entry tile. This year our house will start to reflect our combined style and finally will feel like our house.

New Appliances

2008-10-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

M Visits

2008-10-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

M visited for a few days this week. Hurrah!

Kitchen Demo

2008-10-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

We had fun tearing down the walls, doing karate kicks and boxing down the drywall. Next you can see the kitchen with no walls! The floor is parquet glued to vinyl glued to mdf screwed down to subfloor. What a bear. P took a circular saw to it finally and we got most of it out.

Demo sure is a dirty business. The worst night so far has been taking the upper framing down along with some ceiling drywall. There was a lot of horrible insulation to clean up.

Here I am nestling with the girls this morning in our makeshift living quarters downstairs. Colby looks jealous and cranky; there's no room for him on my lap. Notice he's resting his tail on my shoulder, though.

Before Renovation Pictures

2008-10-02T16:26:00.001-07:00

The purpose of our renovation is to convert the closed kitchen to an open plan including the kitchen, dining and living rooms.

Here are pictures of the whole area (and three of the people) that will be affected.

New Kitchen Materials

2008-10-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

Prep sink

Main sink

Maple with light stain cabinets--upper and lower cabinets on perimeter

Cherry with Salem Maple Stain for island, pantry, ref cabinet and crown molding

Kahrs Cherry Charleston floor throughout kitchen, dining, living room, hallway and stairs

Birch Bay Vacation

2008-10-01T07:05:00.001-07:00

We took a few days off last week and drove North to Blaine, WA on Birch Bay. The condo was wonderful, probably the nicest Vacation Internationale place we've ever stayed. It was rainy the whole time so we didn't do much. There wasn't anything to do there really; seems like a much better place for the summer. We went beach combing though which was loads of fun.

Brave N

2008-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

N and I took a trip to the emergency room this morning. About 3:30, she fell out of bed and then hit her bedside table, scraping her chin and getting a small cut above her eyelid. There was hardly any blood and we didn't know if the cut would require stitches. I decided to go ahead and take her in to the emergency room to get checked out. N was very scared at first about going to the hospital because she thought I'd be leaving her there alone; she was shaking like a leaf. There were no other patients there so we walked right in. Well, I walked right in carrying Mammoth N.

A fun admitting nurse helped N feel at ease right away and we walked right in to a room with all eyes on us. N is so cute, everyone wanted to say hello but she was still scared and shy. One of the nurses had a cool bubble pen and blew bubbles that the doctor then caught on all five digits of one hand. They were kind of weird bubbles, very thick and hard to pop.

The doctor then examined the cut and decided he couldn't glue it because it was too close to the eye. He decided he would put a topical anesthetic on the cut and we read books for twenty minutes or so while we waited for it to work. We read a good book called Zen Shorts that had a panda bear named Stillwater.

The ointment didn't work well on the whole cut but N only felt two stitches out of four and it looked like it didn't sting too much. She was super brave throughout the whole hospital ordeal, didn't cry or even whimper. The nurses and doctor were wonderful except one of them thought she was a boy. N made out with several stickers, crayons and a nifty hospital bracelet.

Renovation Begins

2008-09-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today we begin our kitchen/great room renovation. We'll remove the cabinet on the North wall to make room for a bigger window.