The Meltdown Tea Time

I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to stay at home with my children. I know that for many women this is not a possibility and for others it isn't even a desire. That being said, being a SAHM, like most things in life, has it challenges. If anyone thinks that SAHMs sit around all day eating bonbons please come and spend a day with me. With the extra set of hands I'm sure I'd have more bonbon eating opportunities!

I'm a strong believer of having rhythm in our days. It gives us things to look forward to during the day. Times for stories, art, quiet, outdoors and snacks are cherished in our home. Despite our rhythm, I've noticed certain hours of the day to be particularly challenging. I'm sure every family has times of the day that are difficult.

Over the last week I have named our challenging time The Meltdown. It begins the moment the clock strikes three o'clock and continues until we begin supper. During The Meltdown, everything seems to fall apart all around me. Monkey is overtired but refuses to nap, Sweetpea thinks napping is overrated and Student arrives from school. In the next couple hours Monkey and Student chase each other around house while Sweetpea wails in protest at being left out. It's a time to sink or swim. I'm content if I can manage a doggie paddle. I kiss ouchies, cook supper and dish out discipline for behaviour that never seems to happen during the rest of the day. All the while I am fervently praying for patience, wisdom and more patience.

However, today I was sinking fast. My usual resources for The Meltdown were already exhausted and I was ready to hide. My thoughts skittered. Somewhere between needing calmness, craving chamomile and praying I put the kettle on. As the children were screaming I pulled out some herbal tea and announced, rather calmly I might add, that it was tea time. As soon as Monkey saw me bring down the fancy tea cups he sat at the table and I was doggie paddling again.

Monkey and Student sat quietly for over half-and-hour sipping their tea and eating dried apricots, almonds, banana and a cookie. I smiled, something I should do more often during this time of day. There is something simply magical about tea time with children. I know of families that have liturgical teas with their children as a way to teach them more about Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. Today I am convinced that teas are a wonderful way to calm and collect the family. I will definitely be adding this activity to my Meltdown arsenal!

Yarn Along (no.14)

Ginny's Yarn Along has been a wonderful source of motivation and inspiration for knitting and reading. This week I'm happy to have my camera back and show my progress on Sweetpea's dress. I only have the sleeves and collar to finish.

This week I've been reading The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City. I like their Self Watering Container idea. Maybe if I make some SWCs my container gardening will be more successful this summer (everything shriveled up and died of thirst last summer... oops!).

Weekly Menu

My head has been in a cloud since last week thanks to my sinuses. Uck! I've never had a sinus issue like this before but it gives me sympathy for those who suffer chronic sinus problems. I'm also battling some winter blues... must.stay.busy!!

Day 1: Slow Cooker BBQ pork chops, rice and (yes you guessed it!) steamed broccoli.
Day 2: Vegetable lo mein.
Day 3: Swedish meatballs, pasta and sauteed swiss chard.
Day 4: Ham and pineapple pizza.
Day 5: Salmon and fennel pot pie.
Day 6: Cream of roasted yam soup and homemade bread.

Library Time - Favorite Picture Book Authors

I go to the library once a week, sometimes twice if some exciting books are being held for me. Sometimes I go with the little ones, other times I slip out when Hubby is home and the little ones are in bed. I always return with a bulging bag of books and a sore back. Hubby tells me to buy one of those shopping bags on wheels but I think a this collapsible cargo crate would work even better.

Reading aloud holds a special place in our daily rhythm. It usually happens sometime after lunch but before quiet time. It's the only time Monkey will sit beside me and snuggle. This moment of our day is precious.

We enjoy a variety of books. Mostly picture books right now, fiction and some non-fiction. Sometimes I choose pictures books that are more complex and I'm often surprised by Monkey's interest in them. There are definitely authors that we return to on a regular basis. These are books that I would gladly have in our home library and when I find them at a thrift store I experience a serious rush.

Every family has favorite authors and these tend change as children grows and interests shift. I'd like to share a few of our favorite authors from over the last year.

Monkey and I really enjoy book by Jez Alborough, especially the Bear books: Where's My Teddy?, My Friend Bear, It's the Bear!, and the Duck books: Duck in the Truck, Fix-it Duck, Hit the Ball Duck, and Super Duck.

Artwork by Jez Alborough

Books about bears are popular with Monkey so naturally we also like Karma Wilson's bear books: Bear Wants More, Bear Feels Scared, Bear Feels Sick, Bear's New Friend, and Stella Blackstone's bear books: Bear About Town and Bear on a Bike.

Graeme Base is an amazing artist and his pictures are so vivid and interesting. We've spent a lot of time looking at Animalia, The Legend of the Golden Snail and The Water Hole.



We've also become a recent fan of Ruth Sanderson when we came across her enchantingGoldilocks book.

Ruth Sanderson's Goldilocks

Now that I've shared a few of our favourite authors, who is popular at your house right now?

It's Cold Outside!

It's on days like today that I wish we lived a little further South. The view outside my window is deceiving, clear skies and sunny. But if I step outdoors and take a breath of fresh air, my snot will freeze immediately.

I know that I need to go out eventually. The heated rabbit water bottles are frozen and need to be defrosted. The car needs to be started so that we can go out and run some errands. But it's -32C (-25.6F) outside and that's really cold! Spring is far away and all I can say is hrrumph!

Raising Meat Rabbits

[Update November 20, 2012: For more information read my new post Raising and Breeding Rabbits for Meat]

We started raising Champagne D'Argent rabbits the summer of 2009. Many people consider rabbits to be pets, not food, but rabbits can be cheaper and easier to raise than chickens, especially in small spaces (like backyards). Our goal was to breed and raise rabbits for meat, manure and fur, so far we're achieving two out of three of our goals.

Our rabbitry in the summer of 2009

Rabbit Meat

Rabbit meat is very nutritious, lean and mild tasting. Female rabbits, called does, can have 4-5 litters a year with an average of 6-8 kits a litter. Because rabbits are such efficient eaters the fattening period is short and the kits are ready to be butchered at about 10-12 weeks of age. Last year our two does had three successful litters each, a total of 31 kits. We're hoping to increase the number of litters this year with the addition of our two new does (now we have four does and two bucks).

Our two new does, 2AR and 3AR.

Over the last year we've use rabbit meat as a successful substitute for chicken in many of our favorite dishes. Most people can't taste the different between rabbit and chicken meat in a meal. Since rabbit isn't popular in North America, rabbit recipes can be tricky to find. I've been slowly compiling some favorites which I will post soon.

Manure

Rabbit poop is amazing stuff. It doesn't need to be matured like chicken poop. You can take it right from the hutch and toss it into the garden as long as it's not saturated in urine. Our gardens get a healthy dose of manure in the spring and fall. We've been giving the extra poop to fellow gardeners and vermicomposters.

Fur

This is the one goal we haven't reached yet. For a while I was keeping and freezing the furs but then I stopped. I don't know the first thing about tanning furs or where to get the materials to do it.

Our rabbits can handle the winter as long as they have fresh food, 

water and a place to hide from the wind.

Yarn Along (no.13)

I wasn't sure if I was going to join Ginny's Yarn Along today because I have no picture of my project/book to share. Unfortunately I left my camera in my dad's truck after the IceMan. Now he's in Mexico so I'm out of luck until next week!

I guess you'll have to trust me when I say that Sweetpea's dress is progressing well. I've finished the bottom skirt and I'm now working on the top. I'm actually surprised by how quickly this project is going. This week I'm reading The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget, Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love and Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby. I'm hoping to find a little sewing project from one of the last two books, but I'm not sure what to do...

Maybe I should sew some pants for Sweetpea...

Weekly Menu

Now that the IceMan is over I have some recovering to do. Yesterday, Monkey watched an unhealthy amount of Thomas the Train while I sat around in my PJs. I'm still not quite recovered today so I've declared this week to be filled with rest and relaxation. Naturally, this week's menu is simpler and filled with foods I consider to be comforting.

Day 1: (Slow-cooker) Apple cider pork chops, potatoes and broccoli.
Day 2: Black bean and corn quesadillas.
Day 3: Cream of curried butternut squash soup and homemade bread.
Day 4: Rabbit noodle casserole.
Day 5: Cottage Pie.
Day 6: Tomato tuna penne and carrots.

Love

"Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This is why Christ the Redeemer 'fully reveals man to himself.'" - Pope John Paul II

We Did It! IceMan 2011

We completed our first family IceMan relay! We finished all the events in 2 hours 32 minutes 23 seconds putting us in a solid 60th place (out of 93 in the open relays).



Our times were as follows:

Papa - 8km ski 0:32:27
Sister - 10km run 0:55:05
Brother - 5km skate 0:17:22
Me - 5km run 0:28:14
Papa - 800m swim 0:19:17

I am really happy with my 5 km run time of 28:14. I beat my goal of running the 5km in 30 minutes even though the roads were bumpy, icy and slushy. The whole event was a fun experience! Would I do it again next year? Yes, as long as I get more than three weeks notice to prepare.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Visit SouleMama to see more moments.

Granola Bars

In our home, granola bars and bananas make frequent appearances as diaper-bag-emergency-snacks. Granola bar are such an easy snack so it's not surprising that they are so lucrative. Think of all the granola bars options at the grocery. Just between Nutrigrain and Quaker there must be well over twenty varieties. The options are dizzying and so are all the additives and not so healthy ingredients.

But finding a good granola bar recipe can be a challenge too. Some recipes are seriously lacking while others are plain unhealthy. Here is a granola bar recipe that was slightly adapted from the granola bar recipe in Flour on pages 154 to 156. These bars are delicious and mostly healthy (just ignore the cup of butter in them).

Granola Bars
Adapted from Flour by Joanne Chang

Granola Jam*
1 cup dried dates
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cups water

* You can use a combination of any dried fruit. The original recipe called for 1 cup dried apples instead of the dates.

1 cup walnuts halves

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats ( not quick or instant)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, unsalted, at room temperature, cut into pieces
6 Tbsp. honey

3 Tbsp. flaxseed
3 Tbsp. sunflower seeds
3 Tbsp. millet

1} Make the granola jam. Add the dried fruit and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once at a boil, cover the saucepan with a lid and remove it from the burner. Let it sit for about 1 hour. When cooled, pulse the mixture in a food processor until it is thick and chunky. Set aside.

2} Preheat the oven to 350F. Toast the walnuts by spreading them of a baking sheet and putting them in the oven until slightly browned and fragrant, 5-10 minutes, depending on you oven. When cooled, crush into smaller pieces using hands.

3} Leave the oven on a 350F and line a 9 by 13 inch pan with parchment paper.

4} In a food processor, add flour, oats, brown sugar, coconut, salt, cinnamon, and butter. Pulse the mixture until it is evenly combined (15-20 pulses).

5} Put the mixture in a bowl and drizzle the honey on top. Mix it together with hands until it comes together.

6} Press about 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until it is light brown. Take the remaining mixture and put it in the fridge.

7} When the crust is done, spread the jam mixture on top.

8} Take the extra crumb mixture from the fridge and add the walnuts, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds and millet. Break up the mixture and then spread it evenly over the jam.

9} Return the pan to the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing into bars.

If you have a favorite granola bar recipe please feel free to link-up to it below!

Yarn Along (no.12)

Normally I set up my picture for Yarn Along but this week I thought I'd share a candid shot. I'd like to introduce you to half of my coffee table, the other half is covered in laundry.

As you can see I don't have a particular book that I'm reading, I've got more than a dozen.

There are cook books, canning books, children's books, a Christian romance novel, a knitting book, Catholic mom books and the leader's manual for Theology of the Body for Teens which I started at my parish last week. Phew!

Thrown in there is my latest knitting project, the baby vintage petti-dress, which is coming along nicely.

To see what others are knitting this week go over to Ginny's Yarn Along link-up.

Weekly Menu

I like trying new flavours and combinations. Sometimes my experiments end... ummmm... disastrous, but sometimes they turn out to be wonderful. Take kimchi for example. When I made my first batch of kimchi a few weeks ago I wasn't sure about the outcome. According to our Student the kimchi is "mmm...good" but my taste buds didn't register the greatness of this spicy-fishy fermented cabbage. What it did do was give me a glimpse into why Student thinks my smoky-spicy chili tastes weird.

The funny thing is, the more I tried the kimchi, the more I grew to like it. And then today something surprising happened, I craved kimchi (and no I'm not expecting). I craved it so much I decided to include it in my tuna-avocado sandwich. And yum! what an amazing combination!

Day 1: Slow-cooker chili and rice.
Day 2: Mushroom pizza.
Day 3: Rabbit in white wine, pasta and roasted carrots.
Day 4: Japanese curry, rice and steamed broccoli.
Day 5: Potstickers, stir fried veggies and miso soup.
Day 6: Corn chowder and biscuits.

The IceMan - Six Days Away!

I managed to do my last 5 km run in 30.10 minutes! Hurrah!

Unfortunately, my sciatic nerve has been bothering me. I starting having this issue (along with lower back pain and shoulder pain) when Monkey was about 6 months. The original injury happened while hauling my heavy Monkey (22 lbs at 5 months) in a heavy 15lb car seat. I guess I wasn't invincible to hauling around 40+lbs on a daily basis. There's nothing wrong with my spine but certain things seem to aggravate the injury and running seems to be one of them. The things is, I'm probably not running with the best stance. Hmmm...

Alas! Only 6 days left, and then I'll focus more on strengthening my core muscles. I really want to overcome my injuries.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Visit SouleMama to see more moments.

Yarn Along (no.11)

Reading and knitting are two things I can't seem to get enough of, so once again I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along.

This week I've started knitting Sweetpea's Easter dress. The pattern is Baby Vintage Petti-Dress by Kate Oates which I found on Ravelry. I'm using Drops Merino Extra Fine in pink (MC) and white (CC) for the yarn.

I'm finding that the more I knit, the bigger my projects seem to get. For the longest time I wouldn't knit anything bigger then a dishcloth, then I graduated to a scarf. This dress is the biggest knitted article that I've set out to complete so far. If I complete it, my sight is set on this Shalom sweater as the next "big" project.

I've got a stack of books on the go. This week I'm enjoying Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (a great book!), Knitted Wild Animals: 15 Adorable, Easy-to-Knit Toys (I see a knitted monkey in the near future) and Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

I haven't read more than a couple pages of Born to Run but I'm hoping to read more before my first 5km run in less then 2 weeks away (ack!).

Weekly Menu

There's no use denying it any longer. Our Student is a picky eater, even when it comes to Korean food! If I'd cater to his preferences he'd probably eat only rice and French fries. Much to his dismay I give him healthy food instead. The truth is that I'm feeling somewhat frustrated about the whole situation. I think I need a healthy dose of patience and charity. God, please send me some express post! Thanks.

Day 1: Slow cooker pork chops, rice and sliced carrots and celery.
Day 2: Beef stroganoff, egg noddles and steamed broccoli.
Day 3: Butternut squash risotto.
Day 4: Rosemary white bean soup and homemade biscuits.
Day 5: Veggie pita pizzas.
Day 6: Kimchi stew and tuna kimbap. I have a lot of kimchi in my fridge that needs to be used!
Day 7: Creamy tomato pasta.