March 11, 2014 Clothespins and Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Today spring is here.  I don't know if it will stick around for long.  Spring is slowly clawing its way in while winter is reluctantly being dragged out.  Lots of noticeable signs of spring outside.  Along the roadside I saw the first bluebonnets blooming.  I expect a nice year for them since the winter was so long and cold.  They are flowers of adversity.  I will try to get some pictures of them.  The grass is also turning green everywhere.

Other signs of spring I noticed is how much squalor I'm living in.  This week we are working harder than usual at cleaning things out and sprucing things up.

I had to spend my morning at the Vet's office.  We keep our dogs on tie out lines so they can't run amok in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately another dog was loose and attacked our dear old Onslo.  We heard the fight right away and Onslo ended up with 2 bites.  It makes me sad because he was on a tie out line so he could not have provoked the other dog and he also had no way to escape the attack.  This is also why they are only on tie out lines when we are home.  The vet said he would be alright and sent us home with antibiotics and pain medicine.  

Today I took my basket of brand new clothespins and hung out my first official laundry of Spring.

I started working on creating decorative eggs for a nest I have. 

I think they'll look nicer with some blue coloring in the shells.

I'm not sure if I like the two on the left.  They turned more green than blue.  I'm happy with the natural spots.  I thought I might have to create speckles myself with some brown paint.

 I saw a recipe for this pie today.  The recipe came from From This Kitchen Table.  It was in a recipe exchange from Little House Living.  I've found a lot of good recipes this way lately.

 

It turned out very good.  It tasted so yummy, too.  I used pumpkin Rowan grew and Jace canned last summer.  Really easy to make.

March 4, 2014 Vet Visit, Cooley, Kitchen Rack

Today I woke up early to help Jace out with the puppy.  He is crying at night and it makes getting sleep hard.  This is just the puppy phase they all go through learning to sleep at night.  I don't think it should last much longer.  Right?

Jace has chosen the name Cooley Fuzzles McFeltingsley for the puppy.  A very long name for such a small puppy.  He said Cooley is the name of an Irish town.  Today we'll head over to the vet for a first visit, shots, and dewormer.  It's a tedious first group of visits but well worth it after six months.  We should have all the shots and deworming completed and had a visit to get fixed.

Today we're spending time getting caught up on homeschool.  This week we'll be taking a field trip so we're squeezing that day's work into our other days this week.  I'm going to start searching for a better spelling program since Rowan has difficulty in that area.

Today is crisp and cold.  There was lots of rain last night and lots of icicles this morning.  I noticed some garlic is coming up.  That's exciting since I've never grown any before.  In the hoop house the temperature was 59 degrees.  How cool is that?!

Inside I'm trying to get some cleaning and organizing done.  It's reached critical mass in here.  It starts to feel claustrophobic when there's too much disorganized clutter.

 

Spending the day tucked under a blanket with your favorite toy is the best!

 

 

 This is the kitchen rack I'm tackling today.  I actually took this picture after I had started cleaning it off.  It was in fact much worse.  Over time it has become this catch all for kitchen things.  When we redid our kitchen I got rid of the kitchen island with the storage underneath.  I opted to get this kitchen rack.  I love the idea of open storage and not having to dig around in low to the ground, dark cabinets.  I'm also a fan of the pictures I see of European style kitchens.  It's hard to keep neat and straightened all the time and if friends visit they might think you're a little messy.  I did manage to almost finish this today.  A little more dusting and moving around and it will be done. 

 

 

One more picture of the cuteness.