Yes, I'm here!

Since I've gone a while without blogging, I'll just make a list of what is going on.

I absolutely love my grain mill!
Cloth diapering is going well, and I was able to get the rest of my diapers after Christmas (I had only gotten 8 to "try" before I spent all that money).
I think I may have some sensitivity to eggs. COMPLETELY out of the blue. And I love eggs. ???? All I know is that if I eat eggs or anything with eggs (although the symptoms are less) I get stomach cramps and nausea.
I've started doing ten-minute lessons with Nathan in the morning, although they are more like games right now. He loves the time, and I'm happy that we have some scheduled mommy/son time. After the lesson we usually spend 10-15 minutes coloring.
All of my knitting has come to a stand-still. I am working on cloth napkins (I found linen on sale), but they are harder than I thought! I just keep telling myself that they are only napkins; it doesn't really matter that the corners aren't mitered. ha ha
My house is in desparate need of reorganization. And I sit here on the computer, blogging.

Ouch

This post is a very good reminder to me.

Experimenting

So, my pizza dough turned out GREAT! It was wonderful. I was so happy. :-) I milled more wheat berries today and now have the flour soaking for waffles and muffins tomorrow. I'm very excited to see how they turn out after my success with the bread and pizza. Evan said that he was very happy I got a grain mill. Impressive, right?? ha
I bought a chicken yesterday at the grocery store, roasted it last night, and made chicken broth overnight with the chicken bones/skin and whatever veggie leftovers were in my freezer bag. I keep a freezer bag in my (can you guess?) freezer in which I put any carrot tops/ends, onion tops/skins, celery ends/leaves, tomato tops, and any other veggie scraps that I think would be okay in my broth (bean tips from fresh green beans are great!). When I am ready to make broth, I just dump whatever is in the bag into the crockpot with the bones, add a little vinegar and salt, and turn the crockpot on low. I usually let it cook for 24 hours then strain everything out of the broth. I usually make chicken noodle soup or Roman egg soup with some of the broth and freeze the rest.
I'm finding that buying organic has made me much more frugal, especially when it comes to meat. I have been able to keep our grocery budget much the same as before I started buying so much organic by cutting back on our meat consumption. And, you know, I haven't even had a single complaint! I think one of the main tricks is adding in other things such as soups, salads, and more veggies to the meal. Of course, that means more planning; but I'm working on it!
Oh, I made homemade vanilla pudding last night using this recipe. Well, I used the basic recipe. I used arrowroot flour instead of cornstarch and pure cane sugar in place of white sugar. It turned out really well and received two thumbs-up from both my guys. I made it into banana pudding the first night, and we had it plain today. Anyway, it's a good recipe!
Well, I should go. :-)

Effort

The beginning of a new year is always a time in which I think about what I need to be doing differently or what I need to refocus on. My main thought this year is Nathan's education. Last year was about getting Noelle here. :-) This year I am trying to refocus on my goals for Nathan.
So, I am rereading Charlotte Mason's Home Education which motivates me greatly and helps me remember those things I consider to be important. I have not done very well creating a schedule for Nathan, and I think we would both do well in a loose schedule (it must be loose, right?). I read to him daily, and we discuss all manner of things throughout the day, but I feel like a schedule would do us good. Especially now that the daddy is consumed (now with practicing for his brother's wedding, after with school), our evenings tend to be times of boredom (for Nathan) and hair-pulling (for me). I am hoping that a schedule will give a little more direction in those times when we are not at our best and there is no "outside" to run to. :-)
Here are my ideas: chores, music time, reading time, counting/math time (he has a game that is perfect for this), quiet time, play time (throughout the day), Bible time.
I don't think I would even put all these in one day, but I really need to put some effort into this. Hmmmm...
In other news, I pulled out my grain mill again today and milled 10 cups of wheat berries. I will make bread and pizza tomorrow (the flour for both is soaking now). I am very excited about making the pizza dough again because I had given up on it earlier this year. It was just too hard to roll out, but I'm pretty sure the problem was that the woman whose recipe I was using was using freshly milled flour, and I was not. (Whoa, bad sentence.) I can already tell the difference in the soaking step. The proof will be tomorrow after I make pizza!

Bread-making

I made bread today! Yesterday I ground my wheat berries and soaked the flour, and today I made the bread. Evan says he can really tell a difference; my nose is stopped up, and I can only tell a little difference (in taste). However, the consistency of the dough is way different! I always struggle mixing up the ingredients to soak and then kneading the bread, but this time it was so much easier that I honestly wondered if I had left out or put too much of something! My only thought is that the freshly milled flour is more moist (?) than flour from the store.
Overall, I am very excited about my grain mill. It is a bit loud for me (I've never done well with loud vacuums, either; I guess I feel like they're going to explode or something), but I don't have to use it every day or week, since I usually bake in bulk. I am also impressed that I can get 25 pounds of wheat berries from my co-op for $12. And that's organic wheat berries. Woo hoo!! I milled 6 cups of wheat berries and got 11 cups of flour.
That's my news for tonight.

Food

Like my new blog entry?
I am a bit obsessed with food lately. I absolutely love to cook, and I've been reading books such as An Eater's Manifesto and Real Food. :-) I am soooo becoming a health nut. ha I was shopping in Whole Foods the other day, and as I looked around I thought, You know, I used to walk in health food stores and inwardly chuckle at the weirdos. Now I AM one of the weirdos. hee hee The Whole Foods shopping started when Evan and I decided that we should switch to organic milk. I still shop at Aldi, but now a lot of the items that were bought at Walmart before are now bought at Whole Foods since I don't want to make THREE grocery stops. And I happened to buy organic carrots one time...and now I'm hooked. The good thing is that I only go to Whole Foods every two weeks or so. Just walking through the produce section of that store makes me want to cook.
To further seal my fate as a health nut, I am now getting a grain mill for Christmas. I have yet to decide which one I am getting, but I am getting one. :-) So much more to say, but I think I'll go for tonight!

Life

The days are going by so quickly! I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is next week. I am so thankful that I will actually be able to eat a Thanksgiving dinner this year!! :-) Last year I had all four wisdom teeth removed the Monday before Thanksgiving. It was as bad as I thought it would be but no more so. And it's over now! I can't believe it's already a whole year later, and this year I have two wonderful children heading into the holiday season!
By the way, I found my first white hair tonight. Evan saw it yesterday, but tonight was the first time I actually saw it for myself. Interesting. I suppose I've earned it this year. ha
Noelle is two and a half months old already. She doesn't appreciate sleep as of yet, but I'm hoping she will soon be won over. :-) With Nathan I was able to be a bit more firm in my schedule and desires; I could sleep whenever he slept the next day. With Noelle, I have learned to be more flexible. Some nights we do whatever it takes to get sleep because I have to be completely awake the next day, and mommy naps are almost unheard of. So, I will have no clue as to whether her sleeping habits are due to my lack of consistency or her personality. ha
Hmmmm, I was going to continue to another topic, but I think I'll stop and actually start a new blog entry. ;-)