Thursday, September 24, 2009

Down on the Farm

Guinness getting his first bath.

I've been working hard this week on projects. Most of my immediate projects are focused on the cold weather coming. Because it's going to be here before I know it! Last night was an annual bath for the goats and a thorough pen cleaning. Being gone and having friends do chores for us, two things happen. First, the goats are inside (not in the pasture) and that makes more waste on the floor for me to clean up, in comparison to when we're home. Secondly, our fantastic friends (I mean it. All who help us are amazing!!) that take care of our animals while we are away, do not clean barns. Not that I would ever expect them to, but it means when we are gone weekend after weekend... it just piles higher. Ugh.

Cleaning the barn.

All of the goats, except Pepsi, did not enjoy their bath. The two little ones, Tui and Guinness, wanted nothing to do with it. Bell I thought would be a bit calmer, but I ended up chasing her around the clothesline and almost falling many times. Pepsi, is my wonderful and calm goat. She chilled out and even gave me some kisses while getting her bath. What a sweetie!

Pepsi and I at bath time.

The big project this weekend, if we can avoid the rain, is the chicken coop. I would be ecstatic if Mike and I could get the remaining construction done so that I can get it painted, all the goodies installed and the chicken run up in the next week or so. I am going to need several weeks to get the small red barn cleaned out from the chickens and ready for the goats to live in again. I cannot wait to get some of these things done. It will make life for us, the goats and the chickens so much better!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Tuesday.

09/12/09 Bonfire picture from Nick's surprise birthday party in North Ridgeville, OH.



I'm not feeling creative and "Tuesday" is all I could come up with for a header for this entry. Not very exciting, I know.

But, we have as always been doing lots of exciting things and maybe that is why I can't muster some exciting heading. I've already used up so much excitement in doing. Last weekend was a treat for both Mike and I. He was gone golfing and I did a great many things with friends. Then we got to spend time together on Sunday. I had a super fun slumber party with Denise after my all night kitchen bonanza on Wednesday. We stayed up until 2 something and talked and talked and talked. What about? I have no idea. We just hadn't seen each other in such a long time and we had lots of stories for each other. Friday, I got some drinks and did birthday shopping with Stephenie after work and then I drove to Chris & Nicolette's for a bonfire. It was a nice night. Saturday morning I slept in, went to the farmers market, went to a Pampered Chef party, visited Mom at the winery, went shopping with Suzzy and then out for dinner and drinks with Suzzy and Lexie. Quite the day! Maybe that's why most of Sunday Mike and I just vegged out together. We did go to Suzzy & Scott's Sunday afternoon for birthday celebrations of Samone and Lisa. But, otherwise we hung out watching movies and random TV on our very comfortable sofa. On a the birthday topic, Lisa's favorite American food, just like Felipe, is cookies. So, Mike made cookies for part of her birthday present. Seriously, they were the most delicious chocolate chip cookies he has ever made.

***Little known fact. Around our house, I am not the pastry chef. I may be the head chef and even the bread baker, but I do not have the propensity for the baking of sweet things. I very much like to eat them, but they take a real concentration, commitment and some exact measurements to make... and these things are not virtues I posses, currently. (I kinda like to fly by the seat of my pants, whilst in the kitchen.) So, Mike is the official pastry chef around our house and he can make a killer cookie!*****

Last night I got a good deal done around the house and I am planning on more of the same this evening. I made an area in the barn for the storage of car cleaning items and I removed the two months worth of bug guts from my now shiny new car. I need to get some wax and a few other things to help me maintain the Forester, but I'm happy with the progress I made last night! I also have plans to get some yard work done before the frosts come and that means I need to get my rear in gear. There are a couple of trees I'd like to plant and a couple of planters I'd like to build. We shall see what I can achieve in the coming weeks.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Marathon Over...

I've been trying to catch up from the chaos that has been the last 2 months. Mike and I, as of this weekend, have been gone for 7 weeks straight with two exceptions. One weekend we were home and Mike's parents were visiting and this weekend I am home and Mike is gone. Craziness... Amidst all of the things we've done, we succeeded at the DALMAC. It was absolutely exhilarating and we are all in favor of repeating the journey next year. But maybe on a different route. The east route rather than the west. A full narrative is yet to come.

Mike left yesterday to go on his annual golf vacation with some of his college buddies. I took full advantage of it and lingered in the kitchen all night. It was wonderful. It's amazing how I am at my most relaxed in my kitchen. I took the wonderful cookbook that Kate got me for Christmas, The Silver Palette Cookbook, and opened it up randomly. I landed on a White Bean and Sausage Soup. It's delicious. I'm still licking my lips after eating a bit more of it for lunch today. I will say that it was a little arduous for a normal weeknight. This may be something more for a lazy Saturday or a Sunday early evening meal. But, seeing as Mike wasn't home professing how hungry he was and hurrying me along, I took my time and made the soup to recipe. I was also making ice cream and cleaning the kitchen at the same time. I cleaned and organized my freezer upstairs and when I looked into it this morning... it made me smile. I love when all the frozen food products are organized by type and placed on the shelves accordingly. I took some things to the chest freezer and brought some things back up. It will be nice not to have to run downstairs to find something when I would like to have it defrosting already. Ice cream making was an absolute success and I needed it after a certain incident...

Well there were actually two incidents, that I had the last time I was making ice cream. We won't get into the details, but it has to do with trying to be an over-achiever and Walker proclaimed that I was very angry after said incidents. A lesson that I oft learn, I need to focus more! Regardless, the mint chocolate chip on special request from my lady Sagemans looks gorgeous and is very tasty too. I made chocolate in a gelato style and added in some chocolate chunks before going into the deep freeze. Since quality control is very important, I tested it as well and it was great. The one thing I forgot was to strain the mint chocolate chip. I distracted myself by wanting to make sure I got it into the ice cream maker asap and left out that important step. Hopefully, it won't be a fatal mistake. I had a caramel once that I didn't strain and definitely regretted.

Today, I'm enamored with ice cream and absolutely was drooling when I found David Lebovitz's blog, while searching for interesting ice cream recipes. I think I covet his job/life currently. I know it is a sin to covet, but seriously?? Living in France, Paris to be exact... testing recipes, writing recipes and cookbooks... milling about the countryside eating with friends. Dreamy... Oh crap, I'm realizing now that I've spent way too much time dreaming about cooking and I better wake up from my fantasies and get back to work on real estate!! Ugh.

Maybe his life isn't that terrific really...

Who am I kidding? It's the image I have in my dreams and I like that image. I'm going to continue to pretend that life really is perfectly dreamy like that for someone and could be one day for me too...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Lovely Weekend. Now Time to Get Ready for the Big Show.

Well, I got the house back into one piece by the time Mike's parents arrived on Friday night. I was also excited to have Walker come over and spend the night, since school starts soon and I won't see him very much. Walker makes me smile and laugh so much. For such a serious young man, he certainly likes to enjoy himself. Mike & Diane visiting was a treat as we haven't seen them that much this summer. We are going to go to Ohio the weekend after Labor Day for a super quick trip to say hello, so we'll be seeing them a couple of times in a short period. We had a nice day on Saturday, we visited the Farmers Market, the Charm Shop and then took a trip into Threadbare Fiber Arts Studio. Momma Keenan has been wanting to check out the store for quite a while now and I was excited to surprise her with a trip there. The boys tagged along and weren't as enamoured with the knitting shop as we were. It was great fun. We tried very hard to find an argyle sweater pattern for Christy to no avail. But we did pick up some yarn and a snazzy pattern for some fingerless gloves for me and various other yarn goodies! Saturday evening we had a great dinner with my Mom & Dad, the Keenan's and Walker. Walker told me earlier that day that he wanted to stay at my house because it was fun. Alas, I told him that he had to go home that evening. But, it is my goal to make Auntie Becki's house fun all of the time, so that was a big pat on the back for me!! Sunday morning we took a 35 mile bike ride. It was Samone, Mike, Momma Keenan and I. We rode from MSU, down the River Walk through Lansing and then back to our house. It was actually one of the most challenging rides I've done yet!! My bike seat loosened and my rear-end was killing me and we were riding into an extremely strong headwind the entire time!! We stopped in DeWitt for a snack at the nicest park though and we still had a great time despite the difficulty of the ride.

Now it's time to get ready for the big show. DAL MAC is right around the corner. We will begin in East Lansing on Thursday morning and travel 317 miles over 4 days to the Mackinaw Bridge. Sunday and yesterday we went to various sporting goods stores collecting the odds and ends we didn't yet have for the ride. Tire patch kits, tire tubes, etc etc... Suzzy is planning the food and we will pack up the RV on Wednesday night with all of our clothes and whatnots. I'm pretty excited to be doing such a big ride, considering that last year at this time I didn't even feel that safe on a bike. Now it seems connected to my bottom end! I think Mike, Samone and I are going to have a fantastic time. I'm looking forward to see what we run into along the way. (For Samone, what kind of animal she might run into!! Heh.) Wish us luck and good health - Mackinaw Bridge here we come!