Wordless Wednesday 28th of April 2010

This one turned four years old yesterday
Happy birthday Natalie Freyja!

Wordless Wednesday 21st of April 2010

a weekend of work and play

all work and no play. Ha! Who are they kidding? We love "working" in the yard!

Funny thing is that none of this shows what we actually worked on this past weekend! My camera's battery died and so these are some before or after shots. Oh well, better luck next week!

Relief

I'm sitting here, well before anyone else is up and it's quiet. I'm enjoying the sounds of the birds, the waves, and off in the distance the early morning roar of a lion waiting for his breakfast. errr.... yes, I said lion. We live only a skip, hop, and a jump from the Olympic Game Farm. It's lovely there. We love it!

It's calming to know that all the lions, tigers, bears, and bison are locked up behind a simple cow fence just beyond the hay field. Ha!
Actually, the sounds are really enjoyable. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would live so close to the wild- even if the "wild" has been trained and used in countless Disney flicks.

My son's appointment went well the other day and they were able to rule out the Juvenile degenerative disc disease (thank you!)but are now doing labs and going over all the MRI's, CT scans, and XRays that they did to try and rule out rheumatoid arthritis -ugh. I found out this week (after his appointment) that I too, had been tested several (yes, several) times for RA when I was little. The doctor's never did figure out what caused me to be uncomfortable and experience pain in my back and joints -even though it frustrated my parents to no end. So, hopefully with all the technology now we can find some answers and help him out.

We're working in the yard this weekend and I love getting grubby. I'll post pictures later, but for now here is what has been going on -on the sidelines.

All for the boy

This is just a real quick post, because we've been so busy around here lately and I haven't uploaded my pictures yet from the past week.

We're heading into Seattle tomorrow. My son is going in to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. We had some MRI's done a couple of weeks ago due to some unexplained back pain he has been experiencing for several months.

We've been told by his pediatrician that he has Schmorl's nodules, which they believe has caused juvenile degenerative disc disease. Neither which is good. Our pediatrician couldn't give much insight as to how or why this was occuring, and just referred us on. Hopefully, the new doctor can give him some relief and an explanation. I do know that he is a little young to have the JDDD set in -usually hits children in the 14-18 age range- and at 10, when he first noticed the pain, is definitely early and hence the concern from our pediatrician.

So, I'll update and post a WW sometime when we return.

Cheers and peace friends

hmmm... turkey stock

My house smells like TURKEY!

We didn't have one for Easter, but I had the carcass of one from Thanksgiving or Christmas -can't remember, but there are a couple in that thar' freezer. I haven't had the chance or maybe I wasn't willing to, but I knew that I wanted to make a stock from those bones, and today is the day. I know, it's random and I don't have anything on the menu that will use it, but I want to make a homemade noodle soup soon and will need it for that.

Here's what I did -sorry, no pictures yet but I will post something so you get the idea.

frozen turkey carcass -most stripped of everything, there's even some surprise frozen inside.

a couple of carrots, scrubbed and sliced/chopped up tops and all

an onion, quartered with skin and top

half dozen peppercorns

a dash of kosher salt

approx. 2 tsp of parsley

approx. 2 tsp of rosemary

approx. 1 tsp of celery seed - I would have used celery stalks if I had any around

water to cover the carcass

put it in a large enough stock pot, boil then set to low and simmer for several to 24 hrs. Let cool a bit and strain the broth through a colander with cheesecloth or clean muslin over a large bowl. If not using cheesecloth or muslin, strain a couple of times to get all the chunks out. You can then either fish out the veggies and freeze separately for further use in a soup or toss the whole mess into the trash. Then put the stock into your choice of freezer container and freeze until you're ready to use in soups, gravies, or sauces. I'm going to freeze mine in freezer bags.

wordless wednesday 7th of April 2010

I'm really going to miss that fence

a quick two week menu, more to come

I'm starting a little late with the menu for this week and next -hopefully I can get some pictures posted of it when I make them.

Monday, April 5

Chop Salad - leftovers from Easter, there were none so we just had a giant salad :)

Tuesday, April 6

Crockpot Chili and cornbread

Wednesday, April 7

Chicken Rice a Roni - someday I'll perfect a homemade recipe, until then it's boxed

Thursday, April 8

Wet beef burritos

Friday, April 9

homemade buttermilk pancakes

Saturday, April 10

nephew's first birthday party -HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILIP!

Sunday, April 11

undecided - something easy since we'll just be arriving home

Monday, April 12

Taco Salads

Tuesday, April 13

Chicken sandwiches, ala natalie with homemade french fries

Wednesday, April 14

Baked Macaroni and cheese with ham -maybe, we've got doctor's appointments in Seattle

Thursday, April 15

Nacho bar

Friday, April 16

BBQ'd pizza -this will be a first for us, can't wait!

Saturday, April 17

leftovers/new recipe

Sunday, April 18

Keilbasa and eggs