MommyCoddle

last week’s stars

All these pictures were taken from my front porch over the past few days. There was also a picture of several turkey vultures picking through a bit of roadkill, but I'll spare you those pictures. It was fascinating to watch though. At one point, all the girls were standing in the window making gagging noises–but unable to pull themselves from the action. The vultures didn't let me get very close, but I was close enough to be in awe of how big they are and how ugly their heads are–which I suppose is kind of ironic coming from a guinea owner.

I do admit to wondering where it puts me on the country-bumpkin scale to be photographing turkey vultures tearing apart roadkill. Hmmm…..

Anyway…my whole reason for this post is to share some of my google reader "stars" from last week–posts not necessarily written last week (I'm very behind) but good things to share with you nonetheless.

It's been a long day. And I'm trying to get to bed earlier so that I'm up earlier. But sometimes these quiet evenings are my time to unwind–but maybe they don't need to be quite so loooong.

Oh, and before I forget…thank you for some amazing music suggestions. I've been working my way through the list. So much good stuff I forgot, or discovered. Thank you!

Some starred items from last week, for your perusal:

* soft pretzels, refreshed at Smitten Kitchen
* Grace's baby bunting…now if that baby would just arrive!
* roasted cabbage at thekitchn…dan has requested cabbage in the garden this year. i'm collecting recipes.
* good tip: why you should keep your oven door closed.
* a sneak peek at kristin's new fabric design. (I see mollybirds in there!)
* Lori's thoughts on the perfect homeschool curriculum
* Molly joins the club.
* I want to make my own version of these for the girls. I love them!
* Leslie's latest pattern has me dumping my current project to get started on this.

What's catching your eye in blogland these days?

I do admit to wondering where it puts me on the country-bumpkin scale to be photographing turkey vultures tearing apart roadkill. Hmmm…..

It's been a long day. And I'm trying to get to bed earlier so that I'm up earlier. But sometimes these quiet evenings are my time to unwind–but maybe they don't need to be quite so loooong.

Oh, and before I forget…thank you for some amazing music suggestions. I've been working my way through the list. So much good stuff I forgot, or discovered. Thank you!

Some starred items from last week, for your perusal:

What's catching your eye in blogland these days?

6 Comments

Uncategorized

To all the music snobs

After writing this post, it sounds like there are a few self-proclaimed music snobs among us. So I figure it would be only fitting if we banded together and shared our secrets. There are few things I like better than discovering new, good music.

So friends, what are you listening to? Are you imparting your great taste to your children? What are they listening to?

I'll go first with a few favorites from a variety of genres…and honestly we all listen to the same music and our tastes are all over the map. The other day I was in the kitchen listening to bluegrass, I walked into the living room and Dan had Elizabeth in his arms, and the girls around him dancing to Dean Martin. Oh, and lest you worry, on some of the "grown-up" music we listen to, I do censor some of the songs…..

1. My all-time favorite children's CD: Renee And Jeremy
: It's a Big World. Watch it on YouTube, with another favorite song, Night Mantra.
2. Anything by Elizabeth Mitchell, though I'm rather fond of You Are My Little Bird

3. Catch the Moon
by Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell.
4. When the girls were a little younger we were big into Laurie Berkner's CD, Whaddaya Think of That?
. But I burned out and we haven't listened to it in awhile. But it's great.
5. Innocence Mission: Now the Day Is Over
…probably no. 2 on my list. So good.

Other here and there faves: Woody Guthrie
, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary (I feel like "Peter, Paul and Mommy" is the soundtrack from my childhood.) Smithsonian Folkways Children's Music Collection, Best of the Land of Nod Store Music, we also do some classical, some odd Russian Folk music, we've even been known to bring home a CD of gregorian chant from the library.

In the "not necessarily intended for kids" category, but other stuff we like and all listen to:

6. Ricky Skaggs
and Kentucky Thunder
7. Gillian Welch : Orphan Girl
was the song I sang to emma every night.
8. Anything Patty Griffin
9. Emmylou Harris…they are really into the story behind the song Kern River
right now. And this one is a classic favorite
.
10. Dean Martin

11. The John Michael Talbot Collection
is our Sunday morning standard.
12. The Mills Brothers
13. Fiddler On The Roof. The movie
, the music
, the videos on YouTube–Le chaim, the bottle dance, "tradition", matchmaker, "If I Were A Rich Man". They can't get enough. Elizabeth cheers when it comes on, shakes her belly and says something that sounds a lot like "yubba dibby dibby dum".

So I know I'm forgetting some good ones, but that's a sampling. I'd love to hear what you're listening to!

**That second picture is an oldie of Emma–as in it's on one of the first pages of my flickr photostream, take me back to the beginning, kind of oldie. It slays me. I can hardly look at it.

Happy Friday. Happy Weekend.

So friends, what are you listening to? Are you imparting your great taste to your children? What are they listening to?

I’ll go first with a few favorites from a variety of genres…and honestly we all listen to the same music and our tastes are all over the map. The other day I was in the kitchen listening to bluegrass, I walked into the living room and Dan had Elizabeth in his arms, and the girls around him dancing to Dean Martin. Oh, and lest you worry, on some of the “grown-up” music we listen to, I do censor some of the songs…..

1. My all-time favorite children’s CD: Renee And Jeremy
: It’s a Big World. Watch it on YouTube, with another favorite song, Night Mantra.
2. Anything by Elizabeth Mitchell, though I’m rather fond of You Are My Little Bird

3. Catch the Moon
by Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell.
4. When the girls were a little younger we were big into Laurie Berkner’s CD, Whaddaya Think of That?
. But I burned out and we haven’t listened to it in awhile. But it’s great.
5. Innocence Mission: Now the Day Is Over
…probably no. 2 on my list. So good.

Other here and there faves: Woody Guthrie
, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary (I feel like “Peter, Paul and Mommy” is the soundtrack from my childhood.) Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection, Best of the Land of Nod Store Music, we also do some classical, some odd Russian Folk music, we’ve even been known to bring home a CD of gregorian chant from the library.

In the “not necessarily intended for kids” category, but other stuff we like and all listen to:

11. The John Michael Talbot Collection
is our Sunday morning standard.
12. The Mills Brothers
13. Fiddler On The Roof. The movie
, the music
, the videos on YouTube–Le chaim, the bottle dance, “tradition“, matchmaker, “If I Were A Rich Man“. They can’t get enough. Elizabeth cheers when it comes on, shakes her belly and says something that sounds a lot like “yubba dibby dibby dum”.

So I know I’m forgetting some good ones, but that’s a sampling. I’d love to hear what you’re listening to!

**That second picture is an oldie of Emma–as in it’s on one of the first pages of my flickr photostream, take me back to the beginning, kind of oldie. It slays me. I can hardly look at it. If you’re looking to learn an instrument or learn more about music in general, check out runthemusic.com.

Happy Friday. Happy Weekend.

24 Comments

IN MY KITCHEN

chocolate covered granola OR not enough protein at lunch

They say that necessity is the mother of invention.

And there was definitely some inventing going on in my kitchen today. But I'm not sure how much necessity played into the inventing–unless you count a necessity for chocolate, or a necessity to use up the chocolate that was melting in my microwave.

I did not start out planning to make chocolate granola. I started out planning to make this simple peanut butter fudge-ish recipe that I have been making since high school.

I unwrapped the chocolate, started its slow melt in the microwave, started melting a little bit of butter in the pan and went to the kitchen table to get the new container of peanut butter out of my Target bag…

Apparently I didn't bring home the bag that was carrying my peanut butter, a packing envelope and two cans of soup.

Can I pause for a small tirade, just for a second?

It really bugs me the way Target checkout people don't put your bags in your cart for you. The minute they hand you a receipt they start on the next person in line. Leaving my stack of bags to get muddled in with the next person's stack of bags and before I know it, in the hub-bub of getting my two older girls away from the gift registry computers or the tubes of candy that have spinning fans on the tops, and my toddler slipped back down into the straps of the shopping cart and back into her coat and hat…I've somehow lost track of how many bags I should be leaving the store with. Could you please, just put my bags in my cart for me? Or give me ten more seconds of attention before you move on to the next person so you know I know where all my bags are?

(Or maybe I could have just remembered my reusable bags so that I recognized which bags are mine.)

Anyway.

No peanut butter. At this point, I begin to think that God must be saving me from myself and doesn't want me making a recipe that begins with chocolate, peanut butter and butter….but I also don't want to waste the expensive melted chocolate that is sitting in my microwave.

I begin to literally walk from cupboard to cupboard, opening the doors, looking inside and trying to determine what I could possibly coat with chocolate.

I considered pretzels. But felt it was too time-consuming.

I considered cereal, but didn't like the ones I had to choose from.

I considered uncooked pasta. Though not for long.

Then I saw the large glass jar of granola sitting on my counter. I love granola. I like chocolate. How would they be together? I will confess to having a momentary daydream of how this was going to make a great story when my instant-success chocolate granola home-based business was featured on the Food Network.

I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, poured about two cups of my granola into the melted chocolate and spread it out in a thin layer on the baking sheet.

Then, crazy woman that I am, I added sprinkles. (For the enjoyment of my children, of course.)

I let it cool, broke it into chunks, tasted a piece, bagged it up and stuck it back in my cupboard.

The results–pretty good. Nothing to write home about. (though obviously something to blog about). I think it has potential though. I'd prefer a better granola to chocolate ratio. As in more granola, less chocolate. But I really like the idea of it. And the sprinkles just look happy. I feel like this could have some good gift-giving potential, if I could figure out my ratios. I could see it wrapped in little parchment lined boxes.

I'm not sure what it is with my kitchen wackiness lately. First the paper-punch crackers. Now chocolate granola. I think tomorrow I'll do something really traditional, like make chicken noodle soup and a loaf of bread, just to get my feet back on the ground and my head out of the clouds. That and have some more protein at lunch, so I don't find myself in the kitchen at three in the afternoon trying to figure out what to cover in chocolate.