Road Trip in August

Finally, here are some pictures of our road trip to Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, and to see family in North Dakota. We took a ton of pictures, but here are some. The others are can be seen on our shutterfly sharesite at http://hmmsharesite.shutterfly.com/

Pretend blacksmithing with their cousins at a historical interpretive center

Cousins

The garden you were given

Everyone has a garden, some people just choose to plant grass all over it.

Don't wait until you have the perfect piece of land to cultivate and grow food. Plant food in your garden and it will bless you and your family, and possibly others who live at your place after you.

Givers and Takers

Some people are givers and other are takers. It takes all to make the world go 'round. But I sure like being around givers, they seem to be much more pleasant and also cheerful. I truly believe that when people live unselfish giving lives, they make the world and themselves a better place.

For some reason I was thinking this evening about the three major events that have happened in my adult life.

1) giving birth to multiples, which were premature, along with being married to an unsupported (mean) man man at the time who was military and the twins were born Sept 1st 2001. They were ten days when Sept 11th happened. We live off base at the time and their dad wasn't even able to leave base for about a month. I was living in a very small town at the time, I didn't know anyone and had no support. Who came to help me, my mother, that's all. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for her support, with out it I may have gone crazy at the time. The funny thing is, she's the family that lives the furthest from me.

2) The divorce (July 2004). Need I say more. I was at risk of loosing my home, I had no job, I had to work with a domestic violence support center and set up and use a safety plan and evacuation to get out of the situation. To make a long story short, who was the one to offer up their house for the twins and I to stay or live at if need be? Again, my mother.

3) Third and hopefully the last, the onset of my illness (Aug 2008). I didn't know if I was ever going to go back to work, some days I couldn't walk or lift a water bottle to drink, I was close to foreclosure, I couldn't drive to the grocery store to get food for the kids. Who called and talked to me daily (until I said I couldn't afford my phone bill anymore) ? Again, my mom. Luckily by this time in my life I had a local circle of support, whom I couldn't have done without. But what about the rest of my family?

My kids are my priority. Their health, well being, happiness, security, etc. Although they aren't spoiled by any means. When I think of my security in the future, it's not how much money I have in the bank, or how much stuff I have, it's making sure my kids are taken care of. I want for them to always have a home and garden to come home to. When/if they ever run into hard times, I/we will be there to help them. Security is knowing you don't have to depend on the government to supply you with food and things. If I keep the home I own in the family and pay it off as soon as I can, along with the garden and all the edible landscaping, my children will never go without. They can choose to purchase their own home someday, but if something happens, they will always have a place to go, and feel welcome!

Thank you to all the givers in this world!! And may your children learn from you!

One cute chick!

Here's Solo, our baby chick. She's an arucana chicken. We call her Solo because she's the only one that hatched out of 12. We were told from a friend that they were fertile, but oh well, we'll just have one spoiled chicken. We all really, really, really hope she's a girl, because we can't keep roosters in the city. And after all this disapointment, with only one hatching, we'de hate to have to giver her away, or worse yet, eat him. So we're hopefully calling her a her.

I think she sort of looks like a baby owl.

This is her campanion, so cute! She snuggles up with it when she sleeps. I had to really sneak in to get this picture when she was really tired. Usually everytime she hears us come into the back room, she perks up and peeps at us.

Gluten free, dairy free, and egg free cake

I've really been challenged as of lately in finding recipes that we can all enjoy but not have any allergies too. When looking at a lot of the vegan recipes they often use wheat flour and/or oatmeal. Well, with Hailey's wheat allergy, I had to keep digging. It's not too bad eating gluten free and dairy free, as we've been doing that for awhile now at our house. But theN to add egg free also, it makes baking anything near impossible. I told the kids they may like a raw dessert, with fresh fruit and chocolate pudding even better then the "want to be" cake.

In doing some research I found that you can mix up ground flax seed (which we already always have on hand) and mix it in with water and heat on the stove top at a simmer for 5 minutes. I added 1/4 up ground flax seed to about 1/2 cup plus 2 T water. I mixed it together, let it simmer for 5 minute and then let it cool. It says that it stays good for up to two weeks in the fridge. You add 1/4 cup of the mixture for each egg in the recipe.

Ok, so the easy thing I did it was to purchase a gluten free cake mix at Fred Meyer. On the box it calls for water, eggs ,and butter. I simply substituted the flax mixture for the eggs and veggie oil for the butter. It turned out wonderfully to all of our surprize.

Now I just need to find some new recipes for dinners that we can all eat and enjoy the taste.