A NaNoWriMo "Vacation"

If you consider cranking out a 50,000 word novel in 30 days a vacation, then, woohoo, break out the sunscreen and bring on the cabana boys! For those of us who like to bang our heads against the wall and suffer the pain of a taunting blank screen (or a piece of paper), National Novel Writing Month is, indeed, a "vacation" to remember. Care to join me? I'm "writer64" at NaNo, and would love for you to buddy me there. =)

Before I neglect my crops on Lil Farm Life (cursed FB and its time-sucking games), and my blog, and my bloggy friends' blogs for an entire month, I thought I'd share some chapters from my life...which is not quite an open book. I apologize for my writing-related jokes.

Chapter 1: My experimental life
...in which we extract DNA...bwahahahaha! Who says biology is boring? Incidentally, would you believe "bored" and "boring" are two words my kids have never uttered in their lives? Seriously. Dh and I must be doing something right.

So, the kids in the biology lab class got to extract DNA from split peas. If you'd like to follow along, and I know you do, see these directions.

Well, they're not quite the strands the directions make them sound like they'd be. Here's ds#1 trying to "pull" them out:Kind of a murky mess. But after letting the test tubes sit for about an hour, the DNA stuff separated themselves out. Here they are, the infamous DNA clouds! Heh. So, what do you think? Cumulo-nimbus? Alto-stratus?Chapter 2: We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til our daddy takes the clay away
I'd like to see him try to stop us from having fun. More ceramics joy from our previous workout...here's a beautiful sycamore leaf by ds#2. I love the glaze on this one:Ds#1 made a sassafras imprint trivet, which can also be used as a wall hanging:
And I made a set of 5 little condiment dishes:I'm trying to decide whether to list them on our Artfire site, or start an Etsy store..

Chapter 3: Nerds R Us.
...or "why I think my kids are space aliens in disguise". Then, again, maybe it's just indicative of our wacky homeschooling lifestyle.

This is what's under my 13 year old son's bed. I think he has half the library's collection there.
I'd think that pre-teen and teen boys would have posters of rock stars, athletes, or, gack!, pretty models on their walls, but here're the walls over ds#1's bed. There's a poster of Vancouver, Newberry (children's fiction) winners, an Escher print, a Magritte print, a Toko print, a little poster of The Story of the Stars and Stripes, a small poster of some eagle (not the rock band) festival, the cover of a Harry Potter LEGO set, and a small print of some ancient sea creature (elasmosaurus or something).
And over ds#2's bed, we have...well, you can probably see this one pretty well yourself. The Parts of a Cell poster really rocks!
A model of the solar system hangs from the ceiling in this photo, and a how-to art poster and Geologic Time Scale poster adorn the wall.
I've asked the kids if they want some different (read: non-educational) posters up, and they said, "mmm, no". Okay then.

Chapter 4: Food, glorious food
I made another couple of pie crust a la Mark Bittman, and this time, I used the acorn squash that friends gave us to make "pumpkin" pie. Pre-mixing:After pouring into the crust:I used the pumpkin pie recipe by Jackie Clay who writes a column for Backwoods Home magazine.

Because we have a carpet of cilantro in our greenhouse (no exaggeration), dh bought some haddock and trout yesterday and cooked them with a creamy cilantro sauce, accompanied by green beans with sun-dried tomato paste (yup, both homegrown). It was totally divine; I'm drooling again just thinking about it:I've been baking today, in between loads of laundry. My friend Jennifer is having a food drive for the winter homeless shelter here in town, and needed donations of food. (Neither the Shalom Center (which normally serves breakfast and lunch) nor the Community Kitchen (which normally serves dinner) is open on Sunday.) I made a dessert - chocolate chunk blondies (a King Arthur Flour recipe, and, yes, I will post the recipe some time this month):and a couple of loaves of the 5 minute artisan bread:If other townies are reading this and would like to help, Jennifer will still need food for December 6, January 3, February 7, and March 7. Contact me and I'll get you in touch with her.

Chapter 5: Odds 'n ends...a happy doggie end
I saw this book advertised somewhere and am intrigued by it. It hasn't come out yet, but if anyone reads it before I do, please let me know if it's worth buying!
I have one of the One Skein Wonders book and really like it. :)

And here is the doggie end, just as I promised. A bit stinky, but happy, nonetheless.I hope to be able to visit your blogs a few times during the month, but if I don't get around to that, I promise I will be back with a vengeance in December. ;) Wish me luck with NaNo, please!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

My talented blogging buddies

I love to sing the praises of my very talented blogging friends, in addition to supporting hand-made and indie bizzes. So, here's the song I'm singing today!

With winter approaching and me running low on both Whipped Shea and Crush on You, it was time to knock on Joanna's door (The Soap Bar, Product Body Blog). And that lady doesn't disappoint. I am totally in love with Crush and Whipped Shea, and have been for a while now, although, fussy me, I have to have them scented, but you can get yours "naked".Jo also threw in some extra goodies: the Cocoa Java (top left) and the travel-size Creme Fresh (in Beach House! Oooh, summer, you are so far away, but this will remind me of you until then). And the Whipped Champagne soap is really to die for! Just leave a few bars for me when you go get some yourself!

After swapping with Amber (Amber's Ambry) - my hat for her soaps - I just had to have more! I cannot wait to sink my teeth...uh, my body?...into the Thai Cocunutty Deliciousness...and all her other soapy goodness, which you should check out too! Right now, we're enjoying the heady scent of her Spicy Lime Soap in the shower.And if you're a really lucky, Amber just might have her fabulous new lip balms for sale. I was one of her lucky testers and I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up! The scent I got was blueberry...check out the cute little blueberry that she drew by hand on the container:You know that a product that has received so much love in its creation has to be good. It doesn't become a goopy mess under your fingers and then glides on beautifully on your lips, in a just-perfect layer, not too thin, not too thick. The scent is unmistakably, and delightfully, fresh blueberry. Mmmm! So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to her Etsy store!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Butter Tart Squares

My apologies for not getting this out earlier, as I'd promised Allison. My satellite internet connection is acting up (again...gee, hard to believe).

Butter Tart Squares
from Treats to Remember - UBC cookbook – compiled by Christine Samson and Allen Leong

Base:
½ C butter (125 mL)
1 C all-purpose flour (250 mL)
2 T brown sugar (30 mL)

Filling:
2 large eggs, beaten
1 ½ C brown sugar (375 mL)
½ C quick-cooking oats (125 mL)
½ t baking powder (2 mL)
1/4 t salt (1 mL)
1 t vanilla (5 mL)
½ C chopped walnuts (125 mL)

Base:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
2. Mix together flour and brown sugar. Cut butter into the flour and brown sugar until crumbly.
3. Press mixture into a buttered 9 inch (22cm) square pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Filling:
1. Combine all ingredients well and pour this mixture over the baked base.
2. Return to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Another piled-up, jumbled mess of a blog post

...in other words, my usual. ;)

It was supposed to be a pretty busy week this week, with the Teen Book Club on Monday, playdate on Tuesday, Spanish class, ds#1's guitar lesson, and LEGO Club on Wednesday, biology labs on Thursday, and ceramics on Friday, but ds#1 inconveniently (or is it conveniently?) caught something and started showing symptoms on Sunday, so we had to cancel activities for Monday and Tuesday (in case he was infectious, and so that he could recuperate).

Since I have a 2 day reprieve, I'm going to get cracking on 1) blogging - reading and writing, 2) making paper for an order, and 3) reading the biology textbook because I'm waaay behind.

A quick look at the weeks past...this is one of the pretty leaf dishes that we made last month. This one is made by ds#2, my 11 year old. I love the color and used it for our Artfire store banner.I made a butter tart square a couple of weeks ago, and it was so tasty, I made it again when Meg (Get In, Hang On) visited on Saturday:
Last, last Friday, I finally had a free day with no obligations and could lounge around in my hand-knit chitin socks and read:
We finally got around to making bath fizzies that Anne-Marie (Soap and the Finer Things in Life) showed how to do last year. Here's ds#1 spritzing with rubbing alcohol while I mixed:
The mixture crammed into the molds:
We waited too long to pop them out so some of the fizzies broke while we were getting them out. These ones managed to survive, and are kind of cute!
We had the last watermelon from our garden a couple of weeks ago. It was surprisingly tasty for a late season melon.
I made pie crusts for quiche last, last weekend using the recipe in How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. It was really delish!
I do love my decorative edges. Alas, this is the only one I know how to do:
We've been harvesting beet greens for our salads. Is this not a beauty?
And also beeeeyoootiful is our broccoli - and sweet and tasty too:
Some cool nights have forced us to cover some crops with row covers. See the frost on the cabbage plants?
Sunrise over the covered crops...another day on the homestead begins:
As you may have noticed, the trees are in their lovely colors now (and rapidly fading). How are the colors where you are?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Under the Willow Wonders!

I adore all my talented soaping friends and they all have a product or two that I love, so I make my rounds when buying soaps so that I can give them all some business and get my fix of my favorites at the same time.

One of my dearest soaping friends is, of course, Carrie (Under the Willow, and Mud Puddle Girl), the lovely proprietress of Under the Willow Gifts! I bought some soaps from her (including her best-selling Cambridge Rum), and she included extra goodies of: delectable Decadent Body Lotion in Whispering Satin (which smells like a glamorous, nostalgic perfume), and a jar of laundry detergent in Lavender Grace.

I love the sweet little bags that Carrie's soaps come in, and especially want to draw your attention to the uber adorable embroidered leaves on the bag to the left: But what I want to rave the most about is her laundry detergent! OMG...it is a wonderful laundry detergent! Now, some of you may remember I made my own laundry detergent not too long ago. It works quite well, but the fragrance just doesn't seem to carry over. Carrie's detergent not only cleans beautifully, but the Lavender Grace scent actually lingers much better than mine. And, oh, what a scent it is! If you dry in a dryer, the fragrance does seem to dissipate, but if you line dry, the scent stays (a bit better on the synthetic fabrics than on the cottons). Carrie includes a cute little scoop and has instructions on the tag for both HE and top-loading machines. I highly recommend buying some of this laundry powder to try it for yourself! You will thank me for recommending it to you! =)
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Sherrie's 1000th Post Giveaway!

Just a quick post to let you know about Sherrie's (Twenty-Two Pleasant and Frenchy's Finds) lovely giveaway! Go check it out. :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Mid-(ahem)-week post - in which Pooh loses his mind and wants to hibernate

...because he has too many things to do, and too little time to do them.

Dang - I'm projecting again. It's actually me, and not Pooh.

Got a whole bunch of random photos to share anyway, but not a whole lot of writing (mercifully for all of you).

Ds#1's gardening pick this year was a purple carrot. They turned out pretty well (see below with a "normal" carrot on the right for color comparison), but I'd advise against growing them as they tend to stain everything, much like beets do. The thing is, there is no good substitute for beets, but there are fine substitutes for purple carrots.
Here are the carrots, roasted up with potatoes, and served with fried chicken:
Dh has always wanted a good hammock so we finally bought one from Gaiam.com. The boys tested it out and pronounced it a great fit.
Lorie (Be Different Act Normal) posted about bandana aprons and I got inspired (because our bandanas had secretly procreated like rabbits in the drawer and we now have a hundred of them). This is my attempt. I wore it today to brown the pot roast. The pot roast was pleased, I could tell.
Have any of you ever tasted paw paw? It's native to Indiana. The animals have always gotten to them before we did, even though we have a good bit of paw paw trees on our property. This year, dh and the boys managed to snag a couple. So, we tried it, and I think it is incredibly foul. Andrew Zimmern (on Bizarre Foods) could not stomach durian. Obviously, he had never eaten paw paw because that would have prepared him for the durian experience. Yes, it is that foul.
On the other end of the gastronomic spectrum has to be this tofu curry that dh makes. It is the current love of my life!
Tofu curry in my bowl...and in my dreams!
These next couple of photos are specially for Sara (Schooling From the Heart). This is the potter's wheel I bought from her before they left for Europe (*sniffle*). Ds#1 has been working on it regularly for a month now. It takes a long time to master, but I'm glad he seems to be enjoying it.
Sara gave us this table that her dh made; it is sturdy and excellent for wedging clay (which is what ds#1 is doing here, before he threw it on the wheel; my photos are out of order).
Ds#2 is taking a short break from ceramics right now, but will start back next week. He's been practicing sketching while ds#1 works on ceramics. I love art days!
And last, but not least, here are the goodies from Amber (Amber's Ambry) that I got for swapping the hat I knitted. Is the package adorable, or what?
Here are the soaps she sent me. I've started using the Blueberry one, and it smells soooo nice! Thanks much for bartering/swapping with me, Amber!
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Someone very special

I missed posting this for my Thankful Thursday post, but really want to give a big shout-out to someone who has been very supportive to my family in our creative endeavors.

Not only is Carrie a super talented lady, making wonderful soaps, and sewing beautiful creations, but she is been a big supporter of the crafts that the boys make, buying their themed soaps and ceramic plate. She is also the first customer at our new Artfire store. She really is like their fairy godmother, spreading sunshine to our lives!

I cannot thank Carrie enough for the joy she brings us; I'm so grateful to have her as a friend.

Go check out her sweet blogs, in the links above, and also here, to get to know this wonderful lady better, and to buy her terrific soaps!This is one of Carrie's "Unconditional Lovies" that she made; isn't it the sweetest?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Random Tuesday Fact

Gack! Or as the White Rabbit said, "I'm late. I'm late. I'm very, very late..." (or something like that; I'm too lazy to get up and check my Annotated Alice).

Here's a quick one for today:
(The photo is of the Large Hadron Collider.)

Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2008 (yes, I do know it's 2009, but did you not read the second sentence after "Gack!" above?)

More later - hopefully by Thursday...photos, thanks, and all that jazz! Wishing you all a lovely week!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams