My new best friend

In December while we were visiting with some of Zig's colleagues and their spouses at a holiday dinner, somehow we got on the topic of the Roomba. I've always wondered how well the robots work, but I came to the conclusion that it was probably another appliance that would just break down. But after hearing that every single couple at our table owned one and loved them, and yes even had names for them, guess what I was purchasing the next day! We have the ideal set-up for a Roomba with all hardwood and a mostly one level home, so I had hope. The kids were so excited...I think they thought it would end all their chores. No, it doesn't pick up toys or put away clothes! We finally pulled it out tonight and I think I have a new best friend. It's awesome and very smart...haha! It gets in really tight spots and is very thorough. I vaccuum every single day right now so if this works out, it will be a huge help! I'll keep you posted, but for now, so far so good!

Re-Defining Productive

If my house is a mess but I made 40 leashes for Rollin's animals, does that count for anything :)!!

The case of the missing eggs....

Over the past week, we started to get fewer eggs. Just as the girls were lining up their customers and getting their first orders, the chickens egg production began to decline. Then on Saturday Sela found an egg in a random spot in the yard. Not good given the fact that our yard is five acres and chickens laying in the yard would just not be a good trend. I guess this is free ranging gone bad!

I began to look around and watch the chickens a bit closer. One chicken had been staying rather close to the patio and was also quite vocal. She happened to move as I walked by and I caught a glimpse of green beneath her. When I took a closer look, I saw that she was sitting on 8 beautiful (frozen) eggs. We had to move her, toss the eggs, and put some rocks in her special spot. She was not happy and became even more vocal. But today we were back to 19 eggs so I guess the chickens are laying where they should be for now....we are definitely learning as we go :)

Sela and Nina delivered samples of the eggs to some of the neighbors last week along with the flyer we made together with all the details of what we feed the chickens, the kinds of eggs, and when the girls will deliver. We set Sela up with her own email account and she sends an email out each Friday to those who have expressed interest in buying eggs. This was the first week she did it and she got six enthusiastic replies. She and Nina are looking forward to their first official delivery on Monday afternoon.

Refried Beans with Cinnamon and Cloves

This recipe is a fairly new favorite. It's great on those days where I don't want to go to the store, but we have "nothing" to eat. I found the recipe in "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper." A wonderful book and good reading too. It seems funny to have a refried bean recipe, but the ones from the can though good in a pinch, leave much to be desired! And, these beans make the best veggie burritos! We had them last night with spelt tortillas, the beans, cheese, red peppers and spinach. Rollin devoured his, which was actually a surprise to me. I would have predicted this wouldn't be his favorite and I was very wrong. A nice reminder that it's always good to keep trying with kids.
























Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped into 1/4 inch dice
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, fine chopped
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and fine chopped (lazy me, I used green tabasco again)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (or less if you don't like cloves)
One 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes (I always use Muir Glen fire roasted)
Two 15 ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups water
2 Tablespoons butter

Saute the onions with salt and pepper until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno, cinnamon, and cloves and cook until the mix is fragrant, about a minute. Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan. Saute for another minute. Stir in the beans and water. Bring to a simmer, crushing the beans with a potato masher as they cook and scraping the bottom of the pan as the beans begin to thicken. Simmer until beans are fairly thick. Blend in the butter, and taste for seasoning just before serving.

*I always add more spices than called for, but do not overdo the cloves on this recipe. It ruins the beans, just trust me. Also, you can use whole or chopped tomatoes, you just want to mash them really good. The beans don't get totally smooth, but if you want smooth, I'm sure you could whip them in the food processor real quick.

Friday at home.

It's Friday.
It's sunny and the kids are outside.
Dressed like little orphans.
Rollin in pink.
Making mudcakes for sale.
Tossing some sand at each other
But mostly getting along.
It's great to be a kid!

Checking In with Santa.....

Sela has really been working on her relationship with Santa. I haven't posted about Christmas yet, but Sela and Nina sent Santa a note with their cookies begging for a golden retriever puppy. Santa wrote them a lovely long letter back telling them that he looked around the property and saw they have lots of animals and one puppy that needs their attention right now. He said he would watch how they take care of all of the animals they already have this year and he would think about another puppy next year.

This morning I found this note on the table. Sela must have written it while she was eating breakfast.

Dear Santa,
from Sela

Thank you for the presents you gave me. I really liked the invisible diary. I was wondring how I was doing with my animals and I'm sorry about how the chickens made the two girls at Nina's party cry. I hope I'm being a good girl this year and I thought last year you were rite about waiting for this year to get a golden retrever.

from Sela rite back Pleas!

Nina's long awaited FRIEND PARTY!

Nina had her long awaited "friend party" today. Her birthday is on December 28th, not a very convenient time for parties. She has always had very fun family parties and has the good fortune of usually being surrounded by extended family on her birthday. But Nina is a little social butterfly and this year a party with friends is something she was desperately looking forward to.

We decided to have a tea party. Tea parties are such fun! The food is dainty and tidy, and of course, pretty. We made everything small and bite sized. We cut the peanut butter and honey sandwiches out of our smallest flower cookie cutter. We made some little turkey ones as well. One of Nina's best little buddies has some pretty serious food allergies so we bought some cupcakes from our health food store that we knew she could have. They are super yummy too. The rest of our menu included tea cookies, ginger cookies, carrots, and pirate's booty. And mints. And mini meringues. I think that's all :)

Sela helped out a ton with this party. She and I did most of the prep work together. We painted the picture frames that the girls would decorate on Sunday night when Nina was sleeping. Then Sela devised a photo scavenger hunt in the house which turned out to be a huge hit. It ended with the girls finding a big treasure box full of stickers (a shoe box Sela had decorated). The girls loved it! They decorated their frames and I printed off the pictures I had taken when they arrived so they were able to take their picture frames home with a picture of themselves and Nina. The girls are all so adorable and very kind to each other. We had so much fun focusing on Nina and making her day special. The party was so simple and low key that I think I had as much fun as they did!

Finally, and best of all, it was a sunny day. Full sun beaming in through all the windows. So after we finished up inside everyone headed outside to chase the chickens and swing.

Happy Birthday, Nina!