Locks of Love

Less than a week ago Elizabeth suddenly told me she wanted to get her hair cut and donate it to Locks of Love.  I love her hair--love it!--but I know it's hard to handle, so I agreed. Here she is before:

It came all the way down to her waist!

Here she is getting ready--she was really excited, not nervous at all:

And here is the "after":

She is thrilled!

Generation 1.5

In March our family made a quick weekend trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. We went for a temple sealing, but instead ended up in the emergency room at LDS Hospital up in the Avenues.  Happily, it wasn't one of the girls, but it was one of the relatives, and she had to deal with a dislocated shoulder. Not at all fun for her.

While we waited, we took the girls to B Street Park. This tiny park is on a lot that I think once held a Victorian house. It's a ten minute walk from where I used to live and I took my older children there many times. It's hard to explain how much I loved taking my second set of children to the same place my first set enjoyed so much.

We're down to only one chicken :-(

We have some visitors from out of town.  When they got here a few days ago we cooped our chickens up because they have two big dogs.  Along the way someone let the chickens out and the dogs left them alone, so for some reason we didn't feel an urgency to keep them cooped up.  Until this afternoon. One of the visiting dogs killed Toek, my Barred Rock chicken.  I'm really sad.

I'm not sure what to do now.  We have only one chicken left and as social birds, one alone is not ideal.  We haven't planned to replace any of the girls, but an opportunity came up this past week that we may go for.  Watch this space . . . .

New Year's surprise!

New Year's Day the kids came running in to my room to tell me it had snowed overnight.  Not so strange, right?  Wrong, because we live in Arizona in an area where it snows only every couple of years and no more than 0.25" when it does.

We had about an inch and it stayed until early afternoon.  The children loved it!

Sophia's getting into the family fudge tradition

I bought a couple containers of marshmallow cream and apparently they kept calling out to Sophia.  I couldn't hear it, but she could.  I told her I was planning to make fudge some time in December, but she couldn't wait.

Here is her first-ever batch of fudge--grainy, but delicious!  It was also chock-full of pecans, so how can you go wrong with that?  It was gone in 24 hours, of course, but there will be more.  Next time she should try Bill's family recipe (no marshmallow) and see which she likes better.  Grandpa Andy would be proud of her.

A little Thanksgiving children's project

I wanted something to keep the children busy for a bit on Thanksgiving afternoon, so I had them make turkey placemats.  Can you see them there?

I traced a luncheon plate on a piece of construction paper and a saucer on another, then filled in with turkey feathers.  I gathered stickers, buttons, and cut up bits of ribbon, yarn, and lace, putting them in pie pans on the table.  We used white glue, a glue stick, and hot glue to attach the various decorations.

The children were busy for at least half and hour and we had cute decorations for the table!

Meal Plan

Monday: Potato sausage, potatoes, stir-fried cabbage

Tuesday: One-pot Mexican spaghetti, avocado slices

Wednesday:  Vegetable soup with veggies from Bountiful Basket that need to be used up

Thursday:  Wyatt & Afie's sesame chicken from the frozen dinner club

Friday:  Pizza

Another canning first

Ever since buying my handy dandy pressure cooker last year, I've been looking for opportunities to can things I never could before.  I'd seen a company called Zaycon that sells bulk meat and finally the price was good enough to make me trek across town to pick up an order, so I ordered a 40 pound box of chicken breasts.  I knew I wanted to freeze some of it, but 1) I don't have lots of room in my freezer, although it is a second freezer kept outside, and 2) I wanted some chicken cooked and ready to go, and 3) I wanted to try pressure canning meat.  So I froze about half the chicken and canned the rest.

So easy!

Here are the last three jars of nineteen I canned and . . . why can with a partly-empty canner?  So I did five jars of pinto beans as well to fill the canner.  I love that thing!

Avon home party?

It has been years since I went to a home shopping party, such as a Tupperware party.  Years.  When a friend recently asked me to an Avon home party I decided to go.

First of all, I've never known an "Avon lady" to hold a party, but it was fine.  There were lots of expected items such as the ones on display.  The catalog held a lot more items I hadn't seen, such as toys, clothing, and even underwear.  Kind of one-stop shopping for the busy woman, I guess.  Second, I needed a couple of Avon items anyway, so it was a good opportunity to do a little shopping.  The hostess had delicious cookies and ice cream sundaes too, so it was very good use of my time. :-)

I'm feeling my German roots today

I haven't participated in Bountiful Baskets for six months or so.  Found out my regular location has been discontinued, so I found one near our church that is pretty convenient.  I also like the later pick up time, so even though I arrived the usual hour early to help unload boxes and distribute baskets, it was already light when I got there.

Look at what I got and see if you can tell why I'm feeling German today:

Lotsa root vegetables there: onions, potatoes, and beets, plus a cabbage for good measure.  I think I see a soup or stew coming next week.  Anyway, when I lived in Germany I was struck by how common cabbages and root vegetables were on restaurant plates.

It was fun to go back for more vegetables and I plan to not wait nearly as long next time.