Crafty!

I ordered my new Cricut expression and Gypsy bundle from HSN yesterday - it should be here next week on Thursday if all goes according to plan...  Which it rarely ever does.  I am going to go pick up Cody this weekend to bring him back to Beach - he is not excited and I feel very bad for him, but life can't always go the way we plan.  You have to be able to "roll with the punches" I guess.  I do look forward to seeing Cody again.  We miss him alot when he is in Miles City.  It's going to be hard next year when/ if he chooses to go back there for his senior year.  He'll be 18 then, so it's his choice, but I wish he would stay here...

I made a card for the family he was staying with.  They really helped us out in getting Cody here to start with.  So without further ado...

I hate winter.

Really, I do.  Winter blows.  Especially in North Dakota.  As in the wind is always howling across the prairie, snow drifting into my driveway, truck and car both getting stuck anytime we try to leave the house.  And I'll tell you right now it's a dang good thing that I love my husband so much because it's his fault I'm here.  I would be living in Oregon or Washington right now if it weren't for him loving his job and wanting to be close to his family...

Ok, so really it has worked out better this way - we were able to help Cody out when he needed it, can visit with the family when we want and have built an awesome sense of community in living somewhere so... small.  I actually know people who serve on the city council!  I know the mayor!  I know most of my neighbors, and most of the people in my neighborhood!  (None of these things are meant to sound prestigious - everyone can pretty much say the same thing after living here for two weeks.)

The point is, sometimes we need to be happy with mediocrity.  Sometimes good enough just is.  And sometimes we need to look around us and see with open eyes the things we have been missing and taking for granted.  With that being said, I hope that you go out and do something great for someone else today, and in the experience find that it was good for you too.

Stuff I got going on now...

Wow.  It's already December and I haven't posted since May!  I suck again!  But here I am, back again, trying to keep you updated on what goes on here. 

Homemade applesauce... yum!

It was a long summer and fall around here - we (my husband and I) took physical custody of Cody, followed by a court hearing in which we took legal custody of Cody.  (Cody is my youngest brother, youngest sibling)  He spent the summer here with Mike and I and the kids working on projects in and around the house.  We truthfully didn't get all that much done since we were doing a lot of legal business, and working away at our jobs.

Speaking of jobs... I am now working midnights.  Under a different supervisor, at the same place.  And you know what?  This job somehow seems way better now!  Far more tolerable!  Who would have thought that all I needed was to switch from mornings to nights?!

Cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving

As far as food goes, I have been lacto fermenting away some vegetables in my kitchen, and making up buttermilk with real live cultures.  After which I realized that I almost never use buttermilk.  So if anyone has a use for it other than fried chicken, pancakes, waffles or biscuits, PLEASE let me know?  There has to be something I can do to get my family to ingest this stuff!  (And just drinking it is out of the question...)  The lacto fermenting is going great though.  I made my first batch of sauerkraut and far be it for me to gloat, but it is WAY better than what I have been buying at the store!  It is slightly sweet still from the cabbage, yet zesty and zippy like a good kraut should be!  And it was cheap to boot! 

Dill crock - 1st attempt

We've also been making lacto fermented pickles - we had a batch of cukes for Thanksgiving, and a mixed dill crock as well.  It's funny, once I started looking for lacto fermenting recipes I found a few in my cookbooks over and over.  "Euell Gibbon's Dill Crock" was in about 5 of my cookbooks, but one suggested using straight vinegar and salt as the brine... Eewww!  (I should know, it was my first attempt - and my last before buying "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz)  Let me just say, two books every human should own would be "Wild Fermentation" by the aforementioned Sandor Ellix Katz, and "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.  After finding these I started a batch of Kim chi.  I can't wait to try that one out!

Kim chi!!!!

Well, it was a long one, but it's been a long time!  Hope things go well for everyone out there, and blog to ya again soon!

My canning efforts this season - minimal.