Cookie Monster

We have too many cookies in our house right now. Our Amish neighbor likes to pay for phone usage in cookies and pies-- a custom I am not terribly fond of because, well.... frankly these cookies and pies are just not very good, and if I'm going to indulge, I want to indulge good. This neighbor has brought over three plates of not-so-good cookies and one questionable pie. Now, I can resist these things... usually. If I'm not really desperate for something sweet. Nathan and Jonah, however, don't care, and they eat them happily. We also have some deeelicious chocolate chip cookies that a friend gave Nathan for his birthday. Those, I cannot resist. Even though they're technically, um, not mine.

So we have a lot of cookies around, but I'll probably just stick the not-so-good ones in the freezer for a rainy day (or let them accidentally dry out and then, oops, they'll have to go in the compost bucket). The problem is that Jonah knows about them. Before and during lunch today, he kept talking about having a cookie after he ate his lunch (poor deprived child...).

"I'm gonna have a cookie after my lunch!"

"We'll see." I said.

"A whole, big, round cookie!"

"No. They're too big for you to have a whole one."

"But I WANT a whole, big, round cookie! I CAN eat a whole, big, round cookie!"

I ignored him for the most part. He kept bringing it up though, trying to get me to discuss it, and finally when he was done eating, he came to me and said, "Now I can have a whole, big, round cookie!"

"Jonah. I have not heard you ask for a cookie. You can't just demand one."

"Oh." He paused. "May I please have a whole, big, round cookie, Mommy?" He figured he should make it very clear to me what he wanted and make sure I understood so that he would get exactly what he wanted.

"No. I will split a cookie in half and you can have half, and I will have half."

"BUT I WANT A WHOLE, BIG, ROUND, COOKIE!"

I looked at him. Explained the half and half thing to him again.

He said, "We're gonna have three??"

Sigh. No, etc. Final offer and all that.

He accepted.

Stuffed

I've been making a lot of food the last couple of days. Maybe I'm just warming up for the holiday baking that starts in approximately 3.75 days. Or maybe it has something to do with this sudden and terrible need I seem to have to eat all the time. (Seriously? How can one tiny little person possibly need so much food? And why does my body, in trying to make me eat enough and frequently, make me feel so much like not eating. I mean really? Nausea? That makes me want to eat? Um. No.)

Some of the things I'm making are for a fun little get-together we're having over the next couple of days with some friends in Indiana. We're going to head down there tomorrow morning, and I'm going to be packing some yummy treats for everyone.

Treats like jalapeno cheese sourdough bread.


And super yummy cinnamon rolls!




Yeah... you know you want a cinnamon roll now.




For a breakfast change-of-pace, I made some sourdough English muffins yesterday. I finally found a pretty good recipe and wow, are they yummy. I love English muffins.




Can't figure out why they're called "muffins" though. Jonah was confused all day, poor kid. They're really more like a yeasted biscuit. If the English call these "muffins", what do they call... um... you know... muffins?

I'm actually dying to know.

I had a few small Chinese cabbages out in the garden still and the chickens were just mowing them down. It was time to get them in and do something with them before there was nothing left.

Instead of Kim Chee or Tsukemono this time, though, I decided to try making them into apple-cranberry kraut. I shredded the cabbages, grated some apples, and added a handful of dried cranberries (and then remembered that I have fresh cranberries in my fridge! Doh!)





Jonah helped. He had to make sure the cranberries tasted okay.




Hmmm... I wonder how this might taste with turkey?

I also made that Faux Pumpkin Pie (made with a super-sweet squash, but you wouldn't know the difference). Do you know that pumpkin pie makes an excellent breakfast? It does. Eggs, cream, pumpkin-- perfectly legal breakfast foods. Especially on stumbling down the stairs in the morning needing food now! Or else!

I have a cast iron pot of Beef Burgundy simmering away on the woodstove for supper. (Hey, why run the propane when I have a built-in slow cooker right there in the living room?) If you have never made Beef Burgundy and only made plain ol' beef stew-- you just have no idea what you're missing. Red wine makes ALL the difference in a pot of stew. Oh, and the bacon helps. A lot.

Yes. I'm definitely either gearing up for holiday food, or a long, plump winter. Or both.

Jonah's Day: Made

They're combining corn in the field across the road from our house.





To this little boy, that's pretty much a perfect day.

There Might Be Tears...

It's setting in already. Here it is, November 16, and I'm starting to feel cabin fever creep up on me. Actually, we had some truly gorgeous days and unseasonably warm weather last week, which was a real blessing, but today it's rainy and chilly, and they (and by "they", I mean my Amish neighbors, who always seem to be right about the weather) are talking snow soon.

I don't know how I'll get through the next five months.

Oh, I know! I'll complain about it on my blog all winter!

Yes!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!


How's that for a start?

It could get ugly around here real fast, folks. I was not made for Northern Winter.

Part of the problem is being trapped in the house and not just that, cuz I could probably sleep and read books all winter, but being trapped with a bored child who would rather be out running barefoot and climbing trees and digging in dirt. How many times today --just today-- have I fielded these questions?

"What can we do?"
"Can I have a snack?"
"Can I watch a mooooovie?"
"Can I play computer games?"
"Will you read this to meeee?"
"What can I make?"
"Can I have a snack?"
"Where can we go?"
"Will you play with me?"
"Can I have a snack?"

And that's not even counting all the usual interrogation that goes on about every thing, small or big, that comes up all day. (Case in point: every time we talk about the new baby, we have to talk about how it comes out. Yeah.) And the "whys". Oh, lubme, the "whys". "Why is the sky blue?" pales in comparison to the bizarre and utterly pointless "whys" around here.

"Why does my biplane have wings?"
"Why are the dishes dirty?"
"Why are fairies naked?"
"Why is the milk cold?"
"Why is this crayon green?"
"Why can we not eat bad guys?"
"Why do Indians sometimes not wear shirts?"
"Why do we eat breakfast in the morning?"
...

"...Mommy... why are you sitting in a corner rocking and painting on yourself?"


The point is that this kid is bored. It's probably a good thing we don't have money to burn, or I'd buy a pile of toys and other paraphernalia for him for Christmas in hopes of making it through till spring. I know it's good for him to be bored, and an excess of toys would be very, very bad. Charlotte Mason writes of how good it is for a child to be bored in order to develop their imaginations and resourcefulness. However, it seems that she fails to mention the insanity factor for the mother.

But then, I guess that just comes with the territory of "Mother", right? Insanity.

I'm just not good at providing entertainment. I do try to have projects, lessons, books, crafts, etc. available for certain times, but that doesn't really take up that much time in our overall day. I also try to include him in what I'm doing whenever possible. But at this point, I'm very tired, and queasy quite often, so I'm just not into playing, or doing many "extras". (Aside: I just have to idea what kind of superhuman strength it must take for those Mamas who get really, horribly sick in pregnancy, but also have a bunch of little kids to care for. I think I would die.) My go-to answer for "I'm booooored." right now is "Go pick up your toys." It's actually quite amazing how quickly he finds something to play then. (Of course, once I say it, I have to enforce it... bummer. But at least once it's cleaned up, he can stay busy a while making a new mess.)

Today, I discovered that sending him outside with a compost bucket to dump doesn't work so well anymore because he's recently developed a horrific fear of our Wyandotte rooster, Cicero. Not that Cicero has ever hurt Jonah, he's just strutted in Jonah's general direction once or twice (and Jonah, of course, screamed and ran, aggravating the problem). So instead of sending him out and hoping he'll get distracted on the way back from the compost pile, I have to give him a pep talk about being the boss, shove him out the door, tears notwithstanding, and then stand on the porch and shout directions "Don't run! Just walk! Stop crying and walk! Swing your stick! He won't hurt you! He's afraid of YOU! Be the boss! Stop running! Walk! Be the boss!" Am I a mean Mommy? Of course. But I know he has to learn to be brave and a nearly-harmless rooster is just the ticket. But it also adds to my insanity factor.

Sigh. So I guess I just have to keep being Mean. Even when I'm tired and it makes me Insane.

Kitchen Final

As I type this, I am waiting for the inspector to come and do the final inspection on our kitchen project. Can I just say? YAY. It is SO about time. More than three years on this project and we're finally gonna be able to take a breath again. Not, mind you, that this project is done. Cuz it's not. I still have a big, gaping hole of a corner that's waiting for cabinets and counter top, along with various odds and ends as well.

Do you hear that, Nathan? It's not done. Don't start feeling like it is, just because we've had a final!

Eh-hem. Just had to clarify that.

But I'm not hear to complain about what's not done! Nooooo! Far be it from me! In fact, I'm going to sing the praises of a few more things that ARE done! Yes! Done!

See, there are certain requirements to fill in order to be inspected and let off our permits.

Things like window trim!





Okay, well at least the inner part. The outer pieces will not ever happen until we sell this place, but at least the studs and insulation are covered up! It does look considerably neater.

Also, there's the little matter of my pantry door. For reference, let me explain my pantry situation. We have a very large mudroom/workroom/utility room, which is also our main entrance. The mudroom is not done, but when it is, it will be fantastic! We have big plans for it. The mudroom is situated right next to the kitchen, but to get to it from the kitchen, you go out into the living room to the mudroom door. A dear friend of mine made the brilliant suggestion when we were planning the kitchen that part of the mudroom be made into a pantry accessible from the kitchen. I love having such a clever friend. I would never have thought of that, but I absolutely love it!

So my pantry is part of the mudroom. Currently, it is only a small and temporary version of what it will one day become, but it's still great. The only problem is that it's had a non-functioning door for the last year or so. The very cute, old, wooden door didn't fit right for various reasons, and was nailed shut. So to get into my pantry, I have had to trot around to the mudroom, get what I need --hoping not to forget it by the time I get there-- and make my way back to the kitchen.

But no longer! A neighbor graciously offered another cute, old, wooden door that he had sitting around and Nathan installed it today! Never mind that the handle is not actually attached to anything and there is a piece of cardboard wedging it closed, I love it. Also, I think it's just... well... a-DOOR-able. Ba-dum-BUM.






Now to convince him to let me paint it red... Hm. Might not happen. But oh well. I have a door! To my pantry!

Will wonders never cease?


You know, I think that buying a house that's already "done" when you move in would be so terribly boring. As much as I look forward to having everything as we imagine it, it really does get addictive to have something new every so often!

And finally, the creme-de-la-creme, the part Nathan's been working his tail off, early mornings and late nights, frozen fingers notwithstanding-- the kitchen porch!

Yes, that's right, no longer does my kitchen door step out into a hole!





There is now a wonderful deck to walk onto.

I'm so excited about being able to use this next summer. To put the grill out here for cooking, maybe a couple chairs for eating breakfast, and being able to walk right out into my garden.





The posts are going to become a trellis for grapes and various other vining plants.




It's really nice and big because, while it didn't need to be so big, Nathan had the material around, so he decided to make the best of it. I think it's fabulous!

In fact, I think the whole kitchen project as turned out so great, and I'm just head-over-heals about the whole thing! (Which, of course, you can tell just by the sheer volume of exclamation points in this post!)

Frosty

Umm.... oops.

And Much Hilarity Ensued

Jonah loves to be read to. He always has, but lately he's had a greater appetite for books, and he can't even read yet! He would love for me to just sit and read to him all day. I've been somewhat at a loss for what to read to him now. I'm a little tired of all the picture books-- even though we have piles of them, I've read them all whakillion times. And Jonah is at the point where he can sit and listen to something and follow along pretty well. A friend came to my rescue by lending me a stack of chapter books that she's read to her kids, so we started on those.

Today we were reading a couple chapters of A House At Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. Oooooh the Pooh books! Why didn't I think of that! Those are just worlds better than the fluffy, Disney-licensed Pooh that we have now. Those things give me dental carries.

In the chapter we read today, Pooh and Piglet fall into a hole. They remember the Heffalump trap they made, and surmise that they are in a Pooh trap made by Heffalumps. They begin to plan what they'll do when they meet the Heffalump.

Piglet has a little daydream in his head in which he is very Brave and Eloquent and he scripts the whole thing. In his imaginings, the Heffalump finds him and says "Ho-ho!" repeatedly and Piglet just hums like nothing in the world is going on until the Heffalump becomes Completely Unsettled (I love the use of capitalization in this book-- it gives objects and feelings a sort of personality). Piglet then tricks the Heffalump into thinking he, himself is in a trap and Pooh and Piglet are saved.

That's all very well in his head, but when Piglet hears Christopher Robin and thinks it's a Heffalump, he tries to act out his script and it all falls apart rather quickly.

Our reading session fell apart rather quickly as well. I laughed so hard I thought I would have an aneurysm.

And being now Completely Unsettled, [Piglet] said very quickly and sqeakily: "This is a trap for Poohs, and I'm waiting to fall in it, ho-ho, what's all this, and then I say ho-ho again."

"What?" said Christopher Robin.

"A trap for ho-ho's," said Piglet huskily. "I've just made it, and I'm waiting for the ho-ho to come-come."

Okay so maybe you've have to have been there (and if you haven't read it-- you should find the nearest small child and start today!) but I just couldn't read any more! It was too much. Is it childish of me to be Completely Undone with laughter over Winnie-the-Pooh?

I'm not sure if Jonah quite saw the humor that I did, but he laughed right along with me, and we thus began feeding off of each other's hysteria in a way which I remember doing with my Mother from time to time and which often leads to Snorting.

Oh, the Good Times that come from Good Books.