Piano and freezers

Today was piano lesson day. The two oldest wanted piano lessons from me so I have begun teaching them on Thursdays. It is fun to see the different way they think about things and how they love music. Isak loves learning to play new songs. His first week he learned one. then the next week he got two more. This week he was asking for new songs. I think for Joseph the intellectual appeal is big right now but the biggest part is spending time one on one with me. I taught him about the note values last week and today he wanted to find a song that had all of them. So we started looking through the primary book till we found one. Now he wants to learn that one for his new song. They are both working at one hand songs, but playing with twho hands. I and Daniel both feel strongly that it needs to be fun for them. So I only add in the technical stuff a little here and there and try to tailor the lessons to them and their interests. To try to teach them finger/hand position and get them ready for multiple notes with the same hand... I have them do finger gymnastics. Little challanges and lots of praise. Ella sometimes wants to learn and sometimes doesn't. The advantage of me being the teacher is I am flexible. I only teach on Thursdays but if one kid doesn't want to do it. Ok. When I did do it with her it was playing games to group the sets of three and two black keys together. And start learning I am a child of God. I think we did one phrase. I can't really teach unless Daniel is home and has Rebekah, because she doesn't understand to leave the piano alone while we are doing lessons. And since the piano is under her room we can't do it when she is asleep. ;)

So it is what I have already been doing with them but on a regular basis. I give them assignments to practice during the week, which happen more or less.

Originally I thought that we would pay me as the teacher, but we can't afford that. But Heavenly Father has a way of blessing us anyway. I would have saved up for an 'assistant' A sturdy kitchen aid thing, Swedish brand sold all over the world. I was given a tool that helps with the stuff I wanted it for now. I have been making juices and purees with it. It going to be close to see if our full upright freezer can hold everything that I am putting up this summer and fall. Should we plug in the freezer box and up the electric bill? (Fridges and freezers are a huge part of electrical usage thus bill). It will definitely make it easier to sort things and keep the variety in use. We have a lot of a few things and the rest is hiding in the mix. Oh I just remembered the pumkin that will come. hm.. freezer box? We got four pumpkins this year! I am selling two. But I still have tomatos growing, apples, pears and fall raspberries. So I think I will be plugging in the box.

At least I know we will have plenty of fruits and vegetables all winter. Even if it is an apple pear zuchinni based diet! And now as the weather keeps me inside more, I am turning my mind towards inside house projects.

Family Home Evening

The best night of the week, and second best only to Daddy Sunday in ranking with the kids: Family Hom Evening, every Monday night. It is one of those family times that we don't mess with. We all look forward to it. I think one of the things that makes it so great is every week each person is involved in something. And we all take turns rotating through each item.

The apples on our rotation chart tree each have our names. Right now we don't rotate the baby through but her apple sits on the tree waiting for the time when she will be ready to help in the assignments. The assignments are: Lesson, Activity, Treat, Music, Prayers (deciding who says the opening and closing prayer).

Child number three chose the typical choice: Follow the Prophet or the Swedish version, Lyss till Profeten. Once in a while a child will choose another song, but usually the variety comes in with a parent.

Our oldest chose mom to say the opening prayer.

Daniel had the lesson and did it on finding answers in conference. He used Elder Uctdorfs recent article on preparing for conference. He extracted a question from each of the kids, something they will want the answer to in conference. (When our oldest has the lesson he likes to read it out of a "52 weeks of family night". Our second asked for help to read out of it last week, but we try to help those who will let us, involve them in teaching a lesson with interaction and not just straight from someone elses book.)

The Activity was alphabet bingo. Mom chose it with a little idea help from the oldest. If the kids choose it is is often "Björnan Sover" in English The Bear Sleeps. It involves singing and running. Since our house has a lap on the main floor we can run around inside quite a bit. Perfect for small kids. Sometimes it will be the Jam Jar game. Or soccer or tag outside.

Closing prayer was Dad.

The treat tonight was peanut butter and honey no-bake cookies. Very gooey and very sweet. That was child number two who chose it. He wanted to do chocolate balls which is a sweedish chocolate oameal treat. But we had no sugar on hand. Honey won't work in the Swedish one so I suggested the American No-Bakes and for once did it with Peanut Butter. That was sweet! We had to scramble to find something to make baby happy when we realized we couldn't give the treat to her following the no peanut butter until 1 1/2 years rule (avoid peanut products to lessen allergies to them). She got marshmellows.

So far we all love Mondays, and even the sour mom is enjoying things by the end! (It can be a little stressful pulling the night off, but it is so worth it!) I hope to keep it that way.

have I done any good....

I have heard a story of a dad who asked his kids at dinner every night what they had done for someone else that day. Through this he taught them that kindness and service to others was the essence of a good life.

I know that I love it when I can do something for someone else. There are many times when I have felt really restricted on what I could do. When we were newlywed and we saved up enough money to put a deposit + first and last months rent on an appartment so we could move out of my parents' house, we really felt those limits. The apartment was one of two crammed into the basement of an old house. The first night we were there we filled up the vacuum canister with dust out of the apartment. Later it proved to be quite drafty and a great place for spiders! But it was ours. We paid for it with our hard earned money. Instead of commuting 5 hours on a bus each day to and from my parents to our university for a full day of classes and part time jobs, we now could start sleeping a full nights sleep. We ended up in this place because the price was right we could do our laundry, walk to a grocery store and ride the bus 20 minutes to and from school.

Our life was starting to get in order, but we were still dirt poor. We heard at church and our university etc about being generous and serving. What could we really do? One time for our home evening we talked about this. They say if you are going to be a generous person you have to start where you are or you will never be at the place where you feel you can do it. So we needed to begin. What could we do? I distinctly remember that we couldn't be generous with our money. School, food and housing took it all. We decided that the way we could be generous was with our time.... not that we had a lot of it, but the weekends were a little more flexible. We were both musically inclined so we decided sharing music was one of the things we could do. Ward choir. yes. One time we went Christmas carolling on a beautiful snowy night in February. We thought it would bring joy to others and hadn't been able to during the season. We also would drop in on some friends who had a baby grand piano and loved to hear my husband play. We would play and sing for them. Another thing that we did was give our all to the little 3 and 4 year olds that we taught every Sunday at church. We made personal visits to their houses and tried to be friends with them, helping them in their transition to listening and learning gospel lessons in a class setting on Sundays.

Anyway, we still don't have a lot of extra money resources... but there are always ways to give. Today we finished a quilt. The whole family and other unknowing people were involved. Material used was given me from my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and member in ward who got it from a friend, and yarn from my daughter and my deceased mother. I only bought a little thread and yarn to finish off the tying. My kids helped with pinning, my baby gave it alot of approval and love as she rejoiced in it while I worked with the bright materials, and my husband helped with technical decision making, watching kids and unpicking the basted stiches when the quilt was done. It was so neat to do it. It was a consecrated project from the beginning. Originally I was planning on sending it to orphans in Burundi but when that fell through I set it aside until I knew who I was finishing it for. About a month ago I got an idea and soon after I met a lady who enabled my idea to actually happen. Today I delivered the finished quilt to the lady so she can pass it on to someone who I pray will feel God loves them when they snuggle in the warmth of the quilt or rejoice in the beautiful fabrics. It brought me so much joy to do it.

I wasn't going to write about it at all because I don't believe that one should go about saying, look what I did if it really was for service. But then I read an email and saw some numbers. And I just had to find a way to share the message of gratitude for the little things that people do that bring joy to others. I would never have had all the joy I had in planning and carrying out that project had others not given me the material. And it probably seemed to be a small thing to them. Thank you!

My brother-in-law and his wife are some of the greatest people I know and now the combined efforts of others in small things is making a big difference for them. They are among those who have longed to have children but are unable. That hit so hard. Coming to terms with that is further complicated because adoption seemed impossible for them. For a long time they kept their sorrow in. But recently with the encouragement and support of extended family they have decided to open up to others and give others the opportunity to help.

With really wanting to be parents and unable to have biological children adoption is the choice left. It is a very expensive thing in Sweden and has many regulations. You have to prove that you can take care of the kid to a high standard set by the government. A place to live of a certain standard, a steady income, competence in addition to raising the money for the adoption. Oh yeah, very few kids are adopted within Sweden so it is usually a child from another country. (Maybe that explains part of the priceyness).

Until recently they were both studying. She has a side job and works as much as she can. He just finished his training and is looking for a position. They seemed far from their dream in every respect, except the yearning.

Now in opening up they are letting others help them. A savings account was established specifically for the adoption fees. And they have made it so others can donate because the extended family has assured them that while it may not be in large sums, they would help them save for it and were sure others would also love to be part of this.

She came up with the idea to give a small stuffed animal back in appreciation for the donations. So she designed and makes little stuffed 'penguin' animals or the 'longing dolls.' She put them up on display locally and also information on her blog and face book. And through word of mouth, blog and facebook the account is growing. More faith and prayers are being joined with theirs. A big difference is coming their way in a large part because of the small things others are doing. A small sum. A prayer. encouragement. Ideas. Donations of material. It is a possibility.

This month they found an estate sale and obtained a condo at a price they could afford. One step closer. Now they are working at the interior design to bring up the value. Having recently finished his training, he is looking for an apprenticeship in carpentry. I know the number of people praying for him to get a good job is increasing.

I strongly believe that everyone who gets involved in serving others finds great blessings themselves. Maybe it is solely the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone find happiness. Maybe the Lord in turn sends us little and big blessings when we need them. We are all linked.

Thanks for helping me find my happiness as I worked on my latest project. And I hope the happiness will continue to spread for my brother-in-law and his wife, my friends.

(to see more on their longing dolls follow the link to their homepage -it is in Swedish.) http://www.facebook.com/lillalangtan

what we do

Today I made applesauce, pot pie (with zuchinni and my oldest said, he liked the zuchini in it!), chocolate rhubarb pie, and breakfast rolls. I sewed a little as well.

I am putting in some pictures to show some of the things that we do when we get a chance.

This is the shirt I promised to make 1 1/2 years ago when he stopped eating his shirts. It is finally done and he doesn't want to wear it to school in case it gets ruined in the ruff play!

Sometimes we clean! ;) And now I have one more helper.

my jungle

I entered a silly contest earlier this year. The kind where you hope you win and get a grand prize. If you win you become part of the advertizing campaign as they profile you and your win of their products. I realized that it is really part of their advertizing campaign already, because you really start thinking about the item and hoping you get it. This was for outdoor yardcare products. The ones I was hoping for were to help with easier lawn care. Like a solarpowered lawn mower. Riding lawn mower next best. Don't covet is one of those commandments that hit you when you don't realize it. My neighbors have a little solarpowered robot. I don't want theirs. But my goodness it seems so nice to have have the lawn mowed for you and you don't have to take the little gas tank to the station and fill it up and bring it back and fill up the lawn mower either.

This year I started off doing the mowing. Mowing a big lawn is something my husband didn't want to do when we started looking at houses. So I never wanted to ask him. As the year progressed I gradually expanded where I mowed to try to bring the remaining jungles under control... at least not go to seed (and get rid of years of junk hiding under the jungle). It takes a lot of energy to mow on our uneven lawns. But I was proud that I did it. And I love my yard and seeing the results. However, a pattern of migraines the day after I mow convinced me to finally stop in June. I focused my outside time on my vegetable garden. (Which has exceeded expectations! Check out one of my zuchini!)

I planned on having my husband take over I still felt bad about asking. He didn't want the large lawn. And then we had so much going on with the re-roofing that it wasn't priority. And then there where roof scraps all around the house it wasn't really fesable. One time I went at it again on a side clear of debry. And yes I got a head ache. The next time I tried the lawn mower wouldn't work. After three months..... I have a complete jungle. The lawn mower is fixed and my dear husband mowed what he could in the morning before he went to work. He is dumping the clippings on some of the untamed areas that aren't as good soil for garden yet but sure seem to grow tall weeds! So I am spreading them and then when I get a chance I can add som good natural fertilizer. ;P And hopefully next year I can incorporate it into a mini-cornfield. Anyway here are pictures of the clipped grass. and some of the unclipped portions.

Some roof pictures

Scott Vance and Daniel started on the little roof to the stair entrance. (You can see the old roof up on main house.)

After the Vances left, came family for the states. They finished the little roof and got into work on the main roof.

Not wanting to expose more roof than needed they did one section at a time. After the little roof they did the lower (steep) section of the back. With each stage there were more boards to replace underneath and the standard sized of today are different than when the house was done. Everything took longer than we hoped.

Taking of the old metal sheets could be quite a chore and worth celebrating!

In this picture you can see the old roof and the under roof with tar paper remnants. They temporarily nailed on boards as a type of slide control step ladder as they took off the old metal sheets.

And this is a view out our hatch exit you can see the new board they had replace on the north side and the old boards that would be

replaced pluss the gap at the peak that hadn't even been covered for at least two years. No wonder we had so many boards to replace!

Even the hard workers need to chill sometime!

It was a good thing to have both the lift and the scaffolding for the a lot of it. Then we went to just lift! This was lift number two after we learned number one wasn't working so good due to a blown fuse.

The night before the lift was due back Daniel and Elder Herrey were trying to get some of the finishing stuff done. (My family had just gone home.) But a lightning storm cut that short.

When Jay and Robert got here they got to help us with that finishing work. And they shingled the porch.

We also had a lot of rainy days when they were here and Daniel had to work. But we did a bunch of inside projects to use the time and enjoyed all our company all summer.

THANKS A MILLION!!!

Well at least I posted

I accidently published my last post before I had done anything besides setting in the Title. But I am letting it be as is. So there you have it. The idea was I am busy doing lots of things that I love in my role as mother and housewife. I spend a lot of time in the garden and then baking/cooking/preserving and some time sewing.
Oh yeah, cleaning and kids too.
Today it was laundry, thin the beets, plant cucumbers, apply natural fertilizer (remnants from the hens that used to live in the hen house) transplant a pumpkin plant, plant some lavender bushes I got from Sister Herrey, bake some cookies with the kids, make backberry/rhubarb jam (Joseph's cookie recipe required jam and we were out, Daniel was at work with the car), and bake bread rolls. (For my non-Swedish family they are double or triple the homemade dinnerroll size and commonly eaten broken and open as open face sandwiches for breakfast and other snacks. The topping is not Subway style, but butter and a slice of one or two of the following: cheese, sandwich meat slice, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper etc.)
Now the kids are getting ready for bed and inbetween stuff I am trying to do a blog entry. The cookies and rolls are really for tomorrow. We have a trip to Stockholm for Stake Conference this weekend. But we enjoyed some cookies tonight and when Daniel comes home from work he and I will probably have a roll with the jam on it.
Yesterday I made rhubarb saft, planted a new set of spinache and several potato plants, worked on weeding the strawberries, did a ton of laundry and went to Joseph's end of year program. (Saft is kind of like koolaid but based on real fruit and so much better. But it took a while for me to get used to it, and often i still prefer water to drink. But that is weird here, and since I am often saying no to all the other stuff (coffee and tea) I say yes to the saft now. By the way I don't like koolaid.) Anyway, I love seeking the garden come to order and grow. And I love seeing the freezer fill up.
Yep. I am on a roll. A good roll. I love it.

I am on a roll!

"The key is to stop when it tastes best"

Daniel asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday. I didn't really want cake because my mouth has been watering every time I flip past my rocky-road-brownie recipe. We have been cutting candy and deserts out of our diet and finishing our meals before we get too full. It is a goal we set together so we would have more resistance to temptation. I have been mourning cooking all the lovely desert recipes I have, and of course eating them. We do let our selves have desert for special occasions, such as my birthday! So I had a chance to eat the brownies. Only one problem. They are so good.... Very rich and we made them extra gooey with a fudge frosting (since it was birthday). Did you already guess it? No moderation here. I ate beyond it tasting best. Now I get to recover. :)

The modern Renaissance man

On wikepedia one of the understandings of a renaissance man is "a person who excells in a wide variety of subjects or fields." and it notes that some dictionarries use the term to describe "someone versatile with many interests or talents." It also explains that often the person can equal proffessionals in their skill level or amount of knowledge. It can be one well educated in a variety of fields. It sounds to me like it is describing today's stay at home mom! Especially in Sweden. Why do I say that? Well with a government that is biased towards everyone going to work and "free" daycare for all those who do work, you have to be really dedicated to the idea of being a stay at home mom, and quite ingenious with your finances. So instead of costing the government money to put my children into thier daycare system (from 6-8 months old) I am my own childcare provider. Our family really would be better off financially if I worked. But I doubt we would be as happy. And why should I let the government pay someone else so they can enjoy my children's developmental stages. I can take care of them just as well or better (I think I can do it better because of the connection that only mothers (and fathers) can have. No one will love my children as much as me. But, since it it a two income world there are sacrifices and necessity leads to developement of a variety of skills. Here are some of the things/professions I dabble in to save money. My husband explains that since all I save by what I do is nontaxable it is really like earning twice as much. Baker: I bake about 98% of my family's bread. Cook: I cook all our food and high 90th percentile of it is from scratch. I use boulion cubes and an occasional premade sauce. Usually one the store is no longer going to sell so I get it on a discount. (My oldest flatters me and says I should be a cook or a baker when I do go back to work.) Barber: I cut the whole family's hair. I even cut my brother-in-laws one time. But I preffer to stick to my own family. Seamstress: I repair our clothes and sew a few supplemental items. Pajama pants are always necessary and easy. Each pair of pants I extend the life of or new pajamas is like saving the cost of a new pair. I sew curtains, cushion covers, quilts.... Teacher: I am my children's first teacher. I take my children at their level and in their interests. When Joseph started school we got a preview from his teacher of all the things the children would learn. Joseph had already been exposed to all the concepts. Music Teacher: Related but a seperate profession. At the young age of our children we feel it is about exposure and having fun. We sing together, we have jam sessions... we play the piano. I teach Joseph a new thing when he is ready... ie when he has the interest. We don't have regular lessons, but it is little ongoing, when he is plaing the piano, when he has a question. He has begun playing by reading multiple notes simultaneously. He is also developing his ear training. With all the children we teach them that the piano is played with fingers (not palms of hands) it is amazing the musical sounds that their unknowing fingers play. Often (especially with Isak) you can feel he has songs inside and it is coming out as he dances his fingers on the keys. Ocassionally, Ella likes to sit down with me and copy a small musical phrase. Rebekah sits by me in her highchair and has at it on the top keys while I play music in the middle range. On Saturday the entire family performed "We are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" at a church music concert. They did awesome. They got to listen to the whole thing. (As parents we sang two duets and Daniel played a piano solo. A small branch allows a little more involvement then a large ward.) okay then there are masses of other things that I get to focus on: we have a fixer upper house. For affordability, we bought a house that needs work. To afford all that needs to be done, we are the workers. We are the demolition crew, the painters, the interior designers. We clean. We plan. We have our yard. I am the master gardner. I am also the gerneral yard caretaker. Mow, plant, weed, water, prune, etc. Basically if it needs to be done I do it. Minus, electrical work, plumbing, and car mechanics. Things that take more strength I turn over to my husband. (of course there is all the ongoing household cleaning that happens so you could add into the profession, launderer, cleaner, etc.) I would rather keep doing all this for my family including my children in it and enjoying their stages of life first hand, than go to work in just one of these fields and miss out on the rainbow of experiences that I get in my chosen career. I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom. I am a rennaissance women. I am not unique.

Its a trick

Guess what, spring was here. At least I thought so. All last week I was going outside with the kids working in the yard as they played. I was pruning, raking old leaves, filling holes with dirt, picking up junk from the previous owners (It is easier to see without the overgrown grass hiding everything). I was getting ready to start planting. Sunday we woke up to a new blanket of snow. It melted by the end of the day, so we are down to the remnant of the plow pile again, but we have morning frosts. I am glad that the pruning kept me busy so I didn't jump the gun on the planting. I guess there is a reason very few seed packages say to plant in march. I am not in Utah am I? Its been cold windy and rainy. I had turned down the heat. Yeah! for saving money. But the heat is up again. Sigh. The kids are back in winter suits instead of just rain overalls. My oldest had torn his winter ones and I was hoping to get away without having to sew it up. But I had to stay up late sewing it so he could go to school. sigh. The other trick.... Now they are healthy now they aren't. Rather, now this one is healthy.... Oh, well here is another cold. I think this is the worst year for sickness since we lived in England, (it was just as bad or worse the year before in Utah). Luckily, it hasn't been too much stomache flu and what we had of that was much easier to take care of since kids are better able to throw up in bowls or get to the toilet. But, my oldest was coughing all night. So he is home again. I've hardly had more than a week at a time break all winter without at least one of them sick. Then there are these stupid headaches that I have. Since I was given a blessing and I haven't had the monthly migraine and I didn't have the rebound headache that time either, but the smaller headaches worry me that it will flip into a migraine. Yesterday night I got a really weird headache and was really dizzy all the sudden. One of our youth had missed youth night for the same thing. Mine came after youth night but we were still at the church. Daniel got to clean up the rest by himself and get the kids ready to go. So it took twice as long as it should have. I got another blessing and feel fine today. Just tired. Anyway, maybe we keep getting sick so that I remember to keep turning to the Lord. When I get the priesthood blessings there is usually more needed guidance and I am learning.... Most trials usually have a reason or a blessing in them if we look for them. So though I may feel tricked initially by a let down of my expectations, I can trust that my family and our situation is in the Lord's hand. (I think he wants me to get some more stuff done inside before I abandon the indoors for my outdoor life..... And the kids seem to always need to go to the bathroom just when someone else went in, so it is probably high time to get our bathroom upstairs done. Besides, I really hate showering in the basement. Speaking of showering in the basement, I think I better go do it now while baby is sleeping. shh.)

That Wriggling Spider and more

Today the kids and I had song time sitting on the "Veggi Tale" pillowcases I made for our song times. We used the spider attached to an elastic, a cloth fly on a ribbon and three small stuffed old ladies to sing.... yes, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly." I plan on making all the animals and my own version of a puppet old lady with the big mouth to swallow all the animals. The kids love bouncing that "wriggling, jiggling, tickling spider" around and flying the fly. My baby loves eating the 3 inch stuffed dolls as we sing. Afterwards the spider is passed to another children as we sing, "Insie Winsie Spider" (british version of the melody, changes the part for the sun so it is slightly different but so much better), and some Sweedish versions where the text is put to We Will Rock You music, then another swedish spider song sprung from the Insie Winsie Spider but to another popular old melody. The kids each get a song to bounce the spider. We often sing more songs than we did today, but we kind of had a melt down when I was adimant that the "Bamse Spiders" could not lay down kicking feet in the air if we were so close to each other. The child in question refused to move away to do the kicking. That was sad. But all things considered I think that we have a good thing going with the music time and hopefully the good times will be remembered.

I am trying to give more hugs and empathy and personal interaction....
So today, we went on to bundle all of us up to go outside. It was so sunny that we just had to get out. It was only a breeze today... So it was worth it. Joseph and I worked on pruning our apple trees. Isak worked on his climbing skills (so did Joseph when he wasn't trying to cut with the japan saw.) The girls sat in the stroller till Ella got up. But she soon decided she needed a better hat. She went in to get one and while inside decided that she would rather stay in with the warmth. Joseph took several turns around the yard with the stroller. Isak found an old Mallet and the boys wanted to hammer everything..... Ok to their play house. No to the hen house. (It is empty, but we don't need to make a mess of everything.) And no we aren't moving the ladder from the trees so you can climb up to the playhouse roof and hammer there.

Rebekah got to sit in a swing for the first time. And loved it of course.

By this time my toes were really feeling the cold so we came in. I made dinner and we ate well. Then after dinner the kids all helped clear and wipe the table. (I was impressed!) and we painted the bird feeder we got for Christmas. It looks.... well it is the kids project. They loved doing it and the middle kids even traded in their 10 bedtime minutes with mommy so they could paint a little longer. Tomorrow we will put it up. And hopefully get some more pruning done. Time is running out for that, but anything I do is better than has been done for several years. :)

Isak just woke up and came down to the bathroom. After he was done he started crying about not finding Teddy. I am glad Teddy has travelled with our family since Celest and Korey gave him to Isak when he was a few month old. It is something that has connected all the parts of our family's life. Every time Isak starts to seem to be growing out of teddy I feel a tug of sadness. But I guess he hasn't passed this stage yet. After searching two rooms I found him in a third. A tuck in bed (with his feet tucked into the Grandma afghan) a hug and a kiss and from me and Isak, Teddy in arms is ready to sleep. Speaking of sleep. I think I should do that too. So I have energy to give the hugs, spend the time and get a little done around here. (I will try to add pictures when it doesn't steel more from my rapidly vanishing sleep time.)

"Taking time for each other is the key to harmony in the home." -Presiden Dieter F. Uchtdorf (2010 Nov General Conference)

Ready steady go!

Spring is on its way as well as the running list of things to do and that we are doing. So what have I been up to these last couple of weeks? Hear is the whirlwind rundown. Ready. Steady. And GO!


I have been cooking up a storm. Making all our bread lately and trying new recipes. As for the bread, I have added a sour dough starter to my ingredients and have experimented with different flours as well as non yeast breads like a yummy raisin bread that was in the old Pope family cook book. Daniel and I have both enjoyed taking turns cooking with the zuchini and liked the results. The kids aren't so keen on that. (Daniel cooks one or two nights a week lately and I get to sew or something that lets me wind down a little.) At least the children liked my Borsht (Russian red beet soup). They were skeptical at first but once they tried it they liked it. My soups are usually their favorite meals. :)After I tried my hand at Swedish dinner pies (not pot pies), my oldest declared I was really good at cooking and should do that for a job when I go to work. It was a quiche and a red beet pie plus an experiment breakfast oatmeal pie! (see picture) This week I made special swedish easter deserts for the mutual activity. (no pictures) They are called Semlor. If you like almonds, sweet bread and cream.... this is a good one for you.






I have been sewing alot as well. I was trying to get a quilt done for orphans in Burundi, but the group that I was going to send it with decided it would take to much space for their plans and trip. I finished the top anyway and am considerinf sending it to the church there anyway, along with instructions to find some one in need to give it to. (The church was recently organized there and so I can get the information from the brach president there. I found that out on line. Because of the family from Burundi that we know I have become interested in Africa and the church's progress there. I read all I can at the church newsroom and watch special programs on BYUTV)





Other sewing projects have included pajama pants for me, repair of cloths and other small projects. I think I will tackle new cushion covers for the cushions we sit on on the couch. (I redid the back cushions back when we lived in Malmö. We have used throw blankets or sheets to cover the rest.) I think I am going to wish for a staple gun for my birthday so I can redo the seats on the chairs for the computer and the piano. With the furniture in order we will have one really nice room.

Meanwhile for the house.... Now and again I and the kids will take an hour and tackle the wall paper on the stairs. It is an ordeal to take off. But it gives us a project that we can do together. They enjoy it and I love that they are helping.

I started the late winter pruning for our apple and pear trees. Joseph helped me with the low stuff on the pear tree. He always wants to help with the saw. So I am trying to let him do what he can. It makes me a bit nervous, but we talk about safety and I am there. And if the wind will stop trying to blow me away I will get back to it soon. They are really overgrown. So anything I get done will be good.

I have been using the root tops from the beets and carrots and cuttings of potato eyes to start some plants in doors for replanting outside later. I have one pumpkin plant started on accident too! I better get a fried or so growing soon.

And for those of you who know how much Daniel and I love doing dishes... Well we really love our dishwasher. So it was time for a new step in improving our lives. Our new years goal was to get the table clean and sweep the floor everynight before bed. Usually we get one sink clear and the dishwasher going. No more intense pileups of dishes. The other sink often has drying recycling. That is one thing that we are working on getting a handle on. We might give in and pay and have them pick up recycling. Otherwise, we may always have piles of plastic and cartons in the house. It isn't easy to take it to return stations. But living in the environment sensitive area of Norwich has left its mark. They really worked hard at educating everyone on environment benefits of many things.

These last two weeks have even seen me move to cloth diapers. I NEVER thought I would do that, but learning how long it takes to decompose and also how much money we save not buying daipers or paying for they weight they add to our garbage disposal has finally brought the change. Or the trial. 2 months and we will have earned back our investment. (We used mine and Rebekah's Christmas money and we get that back, and if I keep it going the difference of what I would have spent on daipers will go to things for the house that I can't afford now. Like the staple gun... or material for the back of quilts I am working on.... etc. It is extra work for washing, but I am trying it two months and then I will see if it is worth continuing for the continued house improvements.)

So.... that was about two weeks read (minus the church stuff which has also been great!). If you need to stop and catch your breath.... I understand. That is what I am doing when I stop to do my email or a blog entry!

haha.

:0 ;)

Wear a Crown and sit on the Throne

Valentines Day is one thing that we have started some of our own family traditions. When Joseph was a baby we decided to have Valentine's day be a day celebrating our family. (for practical reasons as well as it was a good idea.) So our tradition has evolved:

The Love Throne and

The Crown

Each year we have made one or more crowns, taken turns sitting on the love throne and enjoyed listening to what everyone else in the family likes about us. It is starting to get a bit long, but is very sweet to hear all the compliments to each individual. I have tried to get pictures too. So this time I am going to share those with you. - I have even printed off copies, so that we can set them up in our house. Only one week after Valentine's Day! I feel like I am on top of things! Lets see if they get put up any time soon. ;)

(This crown might even stick around until next year! If it survives, I will embellish it for next year's Family Love Day)

looking out and looking ahead

So the snow is melting. I look outside with anticipation. My fingers are itching to get out and into the dirt. I want to make out a plan of house and yard goals for every week.... Except I know I won't achieve all that I will brainstorm. So where are our priorities?

Inside we need to finish our bathroom renovation. It will be nice to go back to two toilets and shower upstairs instead of in the basement. Daniel will appreciate being able to stand up while showering. And we will all appreciate a heated room to shower in. (No the basement is not heated even though our wood stove and water tanks for our house heating system are there. it is a waste of resources to heat the basement.) No pictures for that one - again my blogging savvy-ness is showing itself... I don't know how to put up more than the amount of pictures that I managed to include in this entry.

Spring Planting/Garden: This is the chicken coop. I will be turning it into a garden plot since I have no intentions of keeping chickens. (or pigeons.... sorry C.) I have the best natural fertilizer conveniently left here from the former owners. :) The snow was a bit too heavy for the netting on top so some of the boards were bowed and broken. But the side ones seem to be stable so I will grow some climbing plants on the coop wire. Peas, green beans.... I have to plot it all out. Nearby, I will do my salad stuff. Fresh spinach. I have another spot where I will do potatoes to get the soil ready for other garden greens next year. And I have to try my hand at pumpkins. I want to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse again (you can see the greenhouse below in the pruning picture). With a full season and the greenhouse benefits I should get even better results this year. All the stuff I was growing and trying to grow on my balcony and in my apartment the last two years and very small yard plots the two years before will have the room and depth they really need!

Pruning:

Honestly, I am counting down till I can have at it! I did a little late fall, but only some trees can tolerate that time of year. This one, that you see in front of the house is the worst of the lot, it has multiple issues, I want to try my hand at grafting. I have been reading about it and family apple trees. I didn't get to nor care to spend time on the apples from this tree, as the other two were so good and I didn't have time to deal with the masses of small bug infested apples on this tree. So I need to put a stop to the infestation (also reading up on that) and then I want to graft in a couple other sorts of apples when I prune.

The second pictures are a pear, plum and apple tree in the row and if you look closely across from the plum tree is another apple tree. These two apple trees had great fruit and were not ripe at the same time. Convenient.

Roof: The picture is taken from the attic. The black.... mold, rot... The grey is a poor replacement for the ridge cap that should have been at the top of the roof outside. Since there is bad wood inside we have to pull off the whole roof to take care of it. Then it will need new roofing. It already is missing a good draining system as you can see on the facade system, which is part of the reason we need a new facade.

(Look at the roof shape in the pruning pictures above.)

Facade: The facade also doesn't have proper airflow/ventilation within itself, so we need to put that in before putting on the new facade.

Look at the rotten boards there.... you can see where it is just falling off. That was caused by lack of good roof drainage system.

Since we will redo the facade, we are not repainting at this point.


And we will build a compost to make good use of all the good garden waste we generate here.

I think that is enough to fill up our year!

Welcome to our paradise!

So many people have asked to see pictures of our house that I think this may be the best way to share. After 7 years of marriage and four kids our dream came true and we have a house with a good yard to call our own. A place to grow a family!

One day I will treat how we came to be here, but for now it suffices to say we are so happy to be here.

We have a four bedroom 1 1/2 floor house with a cellar and an attic. It is a fixer-upper like you wouldn't believe, but after living in upstairs apartments and having to go elsewhere for laundry and not having our own yard.... all this with little kids, well this is a definite upgrade. And I must say, I love the yard. Not only can the kids run and bike, I can garden... and garden and garden.

8 fruit trees! (6 mature: 3 apple, 1 plum, 1 pear, 1 dark cherry) (2 young pear)

A green house!

Strawberries, rasberries, rubarb allready here.

Small Rose bushes.

Front yard lined with a lilac hedge

Pleanty of other shade trees and bushes

I can dream to my hearts content in this yard and house. and I can work towards my dreams.

This year I will get to plant a garden! I am looking forward to pruning my trees soon. And starting planting in the green house.

In the beggining there will be a lot of ground work. Working down what was overgrown. But little by little.....

In the house there will always be ongoing projects. This summer it will get a new roof and facade. Right now we are tearing out the bathroom. We finished our living room just for Christmas, which also made available our play project room. So now I can sew and the kids can play in the same room.

Today I split up a lot of my indoor house plant starts. As the days are getting a little bit lighter/longer, I have been itching to get into dirt. I couldn't wait for the snow to melt and go at it outside. haha. My husband will be interested to learn that I have about 10 more plants to add to my collection. (I figure that if the starts take well then over the years I can give plants as gifts to people.) I guess I have over 50 now. Good thing I have a whole house filled with window ledges to put them on. :) Oh, yes one of my dreams was to have windows that look out from every side of the house. Yes. I have that. That means almost every kind of lighting is available for my house plants.

Back to the house:

It is a mansard roof which was our dream.

Once we have the new roofing in place then we can set up solar panals, because the roof is facing the right direction and the rest of the a solar panel heating system is already in place. during summer months all our hot water needs will be provided by the panels. Some in spring and fall. Solar panels was another dream that we had.

Since we have four bedrooms, but don't feel it necessary to put any kids in their own room yet we have one room for a project/play room and it is right off the kitchen and living room. That makes it easier for a young family.

There are definantly a lot of perks to having a house. Dishwasher. It is so nice to be able to get the dishes all done even if, I have a million interuptions by the kids.

We are also on a steep learning curve right now. No landlord. Guess who does it? US! Welcome to "House Owner's 101" We are hoping the last round of test will prove us to have passed 101. hopefully 102 is a little friendlier. I don't know if the foot and a half of water in the basement or all the followup trials were worse. It seemed that everytime we started to breath easier, something else happened. But I think we are clear of these now. We have a sub-pump installed and even as the land is thawing it is working to ensure that our appliances down there can keep working. (Lucky for us the only thing we had to replace was a new water pump to our well. It went out about 2 weeks after we had dried it out and started using it again). 101 was an expensive course. I think 102 will be a little cheaper. But come summer when we start 201 (facade or roof) prices will go up drastically. And the steep learning curve will resume.

But hey, we are building a family. We are building individuals, and trying to create some beauty around us at the same time. It is so satisfying to look at our living room and know that we all worked on it. The kids helped. We are proud of them. We are also grateful for missionarries and relatives who helped. We moved in the furniture 2 days before Christmas. What a lovely Christmas in our new living room.

(so I am a novice and can't get more than those two pictures up. Is there a limit of two? I would change which two I put up but maybe since my babe is screaming I will let this be for now and post, lest I never post.)