My Kind of Day

'"After all", Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string."'

~Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

Butternut Squash Soup

Ever wondered what to do with those oddly-shaped and strangely-named butternut squash?

Here's a suggestion:

Photo from Stuart O'Keefe.

Chop 2 onions and saute in 3tbsp butter until soft.

Add half a butternut squash that's been peeled and diced, and 1 apple that's been cored and chopped. Fry for a few minutes.

Take it off the heat and add 3 tbsp flour, 1 tsp curry powder and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir.

Slowly add 750 ml (3/4 pint) of veg/chicken stock, 400ml (almost 1/2 pint) milk & 1/4 cup orange juice. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes until everything is tender.

Pour it all in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Add a pinch of sugar and serve, with cream or sour cream, on a rainy day.

A good day

Monday was my birthday. I am now 33 years old. So, in honor of such an occasion, I am prepared to share 10 little known or interesting factoids about...me. (I thought about coming up with 33, but I don't think I'm that interesting).

1. I have had more than 50 (cumulative) stitches - so far.

2. I was the first in my family to start training in karate, and the only one not to receive my black belt (I got close, though).

3. I always wanted a big family, though I never had a lot of experience with kids and didn't quite know what to do with them.

4. I have always wanted a home birth, have tried three times for a home birth and have had pretty much every birth experience - except the home birth.

5. My secret occupational dream: disaster search & rescue.

6. I once went through a dyeing-my-hair phase. First, it was jet black, then cherry red. After that, blonde. Over the black, the other colors didn't really take, but as my hair grew out, it created an interesting striped effect that strangers would stop me on the street to ask me about.

7. With another point toward vanity, I have a tattoo on my shoulder of a sunflower. I'd have it removed now, but that (for me) would just be another bit of vanity. And a lot of money.

8. There are only 2 places in the world I'd really like to visit: Montana and Venice, Italy.

9. I have met and photographed Robin Williams. We're pretty tight now. (Okay, the first part is true, but not so much on the second.)

10. Making this list has shown me just how pedestrian I really am, but I'm cool with that.

Kid logic

So, Noah has this thing for Iron Man. He's got a costume, plus a couple shirts handed down to him, so he's curious this intimidating-looking superhero. He asks, "Who is Iron Man? Is he a bad guy?" (He's also got a different thing about "bad guys".) His sisters assure him that Iron Man's not real, but just a machine. I mention that no, in the story, the Iron Man costume is made by a man named Tony Stark, but it's all make-believe.

At this point, they were surprisingly excited at the idea that this character should have a normal, real name. Then one of them remembers that our mailman's name is Tony. "Wow! Our mailman's Tony and Iron Man is Tony! I think our mailman is Iron Man!!"

Makes sense to me. I mean, how many men could possibly be called Tony and have the second word of their job title be "Man"?

Urg.

I'm sick. Not dreadfully, just a bit of a head cold. That said, I am not a good sick person. I'm rather impatient at the best of times, and when I'm sick...ahem. Let's just say that I predict no more than 1 more day of feeling poorly before I've had enough and get over it.

Not a great deal going on recently, and few photos being taken. We're looking forward to a vacation in about a week, though. And I have an about-to-be-8-years-old daughter on my hands. Tuesday is the big day. She's been counting down for a month. I hope the big day lives up to her expectations - no pressure!
My neighbor-across-the-street had a beautiful little girl a couple weeks ago. She had a very excited older sister to welcome her home, and both girls needed some coordinating fashions. So the revered pattern served us again. Big sisters need to look just as sweet as their new siblings, right?

When I first started these longies for Dan, it did everything according to the pattern, but it wasn't long before I realized they were going to be way too small. After some ripping out and modifications (on my page), they are now finished and fit perfectly.

Now we just need some sensible autumn weather to give them a good test run...

Baby knitter

That's me, I'm a baby knitter. I knit for babies, that is. There have been so many new babies being born or about to be, I've been pretty busy.

I made this one for Daniel recently, though he'll not be wearing it for a while, given the heat (oh, the heat!). It had better fit him when it's cool enough to wear, that's all I gotta say.

Pattern and yarn info is on my Ravelry page.

Here's another sweater of the same pattern, but smaller. For a newbie. Hope mommy and daddy like it!

I can't remember if I posted this before, but we have another boy sweater (details here). This one is for the very sweet Isaac Henry, who's presence in the Wilson is very much appreciated.

I'm almost finished seaming another pair of these booties, which are looking really cute.

I'm now working on these for Dan. I got a good couple inches into it before realizing that he would be rather too big for them by the time they were finished, so I ripped it all out to start again with a larger needle. We'll see how that progresses...

I still need to put together my Salina, and I'm still dreaming of the Tea Leaves. Is it wrong to hope for yarn money for my birthday?

A Proper Education

"We are...commanded to prepare each child to walk as a faithful Christian in all areas of life. An arrow has two ends. On one end is the arrow head. We want sharp arrows, academically speaking. But on the other end of the arrow we find a delicate guidance system, feathers to be exact. We want our arrows to travel toward their target without deviation. This corresponds to the development of moral character. A proper education will work on both ends of the arrow (i.e both ends of the child) at the same time. Although scholarship is obviously important, a sharp arrow is worthless without direction. And a blunt arrow, even if it hits its target, will have very little effect."

~The Christian Homeschool by Gregg Harris

Yum

Some recipe links, from me to you:

Cheesy Kielbasa Bake

Baked Ziti

Quick Chicken Divan

Slow-Cooked Chili

Also, for using up leftovers:

Fry an onion in some butter. Add 3 tbsp of flour, then slowly add half a pint of milk (I think) to make a roux. Add a "cream of" soup (chicken, mushroom, celery, etc). Then add your left over meat and veg (about half a pound or so). Put it in a pie plate and top with mashed potato, biscuits or (our favorite) a puff pastry sheet. Bake on 400 for half an hour.

Your welcome.

Laughter

It's good for the soul. After all, how could this laugh not make your day a little brighter?

Take Them a Meal

Shortly before Daniel was born, we heard about this website, takethemameal.com. What a nifty thing!

Take Them a Meal is basically an online meal organizing tool. Someone just had a new baby or coming home from the hospital? Wanna take them food but don't want 12 casseroles to show up on the same day? No problem - once you sign in, you invite anyone you think would like to be involved in making and taking food. They decide what available days they would like deliver the food and fill in their details (name, number and what they'd like to bring). The system will then email the meal-deliverer on their delivery day to remind them, and email the meal receiver, so that they know who's bringing them what food and when.

The lovely Marie set one up for us (thanks again, Marie!) when Dan was born. I had 2 weeks of meals delivered hot and delicious. We even had the facility to say what time we'd like to eat and if there were any allergies or food preferences. When we signed up to take a meal to someone else, it was a major help knowing what others were bringing, so there were no duplicate meals.

The website even has some suggested recipes and other little hints and tips to make life easier.

It really is a cool little tool. If you get the opportunity to check it out, I highly recommend it.

If anyone else has used it, what is your verdict?