MommyCoddle

Woodlawn // weekending

Another weekend at Woodlawn means a few more steps forward on progress. And as with any remodeling project, there have been bumps in the road. 

I've been scheduling the arrival of everything from flooring to appliances and kitchen cabinets. And even with my cushions for setbacks and issues, things are still "lost" or there's "no word from the manufacturer".

The flooring debacle was a huge headache. Now the dishwasher is MIA. And the kitchen cabinets have no expected arrival date, despite the fact that I was given next week as an arrival date and I just bought a plane ticket for Dan's brother-in-law to come out and install them...with a cushion for "issues". So we're sweating a few things around here. 

Not only have I memorized the number for Home Depot, I've also memorized the number menus. Press 3 for kitchens. 5 for flooring. 0 for customer service... 

In the meantime, we keep taking little steps forward.

This weekend and last, we investigated a leak in the den. Expected with any old house. 

We moved a few things into the attic which means the girls rediscovered some favorite toys that had been stashed away. And I had to shoo little hands from opening up boxes of packed up, too-small clothes and shoes. The rediscovering of these things is like a mini-Christmas.

So we're moving forward. Little by little. I feel like we are on the cusp of things getting really crazy. Good crazy. But crazy nonetheless. 

Hope you all had a good weekend, too...more soon!

How to: de-seed a pomegranate

I'm pushing the pomegranates these days which means I'm also de-seeding my fair share of this beautiful little fruit of health. Antioxidants! Vitamin C! We are on day number "it's been so long I've lost track" of Birdy's fever/flu/cranky/mama's losing her mind sickness. I actually saw a glimmer of health from her today, so I'm cautiously hopeful. But everything you hear and read these days says this winter is a doozy for sickness. So we're amping up the goodness in the food department. 

I've always been kind of intimidated by pomegranates. All that pith inside. Those pockets of seeds that I couldn't figure out how to get to. But I've finally come up with a good system for de-seeding them and removing all those packages of crunchy goodness hiding inside. 

So here you go! 

First, cut the pomegranate from stem to stem, top to bottom.

Take one of the halves and turn it over in your hands so the open side is facing down. Gently apply pressure with your thumbs to the outside of the pomegranate. The purpose of this is to loosen and crack some of the pith and membranes inside. Don't go too crazy, just losen. You'll do this a few more times as you go along and feel pockets of seeds that are still stuck.

With the pomegranate half face-down in your hand, hold it over a bowl. Now, with a wooden spoon smack of the back of the fruit. (Can you say, therapy?) You'll begin to feel the seeds fall out between your fingers into the bowl. Woohoo! You may get a few bits of white membrane, but they're easy to pick out.  

If you turn the fruit over and see pockets where the seeds are still stuck, you can gently press and crack on these spots again with your thumbs. And then turn it over to smack them with the wooden spoon again.

 

(See that slice in the fruit? That's what happens when you multi-task while de-seeding. You {almost} cut it the wrong way.)

You won't get every single seed with this method, but you will get practically all of them. (The picture below is how mine looks after a good whopping with the wooden spoon. Almost all the seeds have come out!)

You can either pick at the remaining seeds that are hiding, or if you're really nice, you can toss it to your chickens and boost their immune systems, too. I chose the latter. 

Side note: keep that wooden spoon handy and smack away little hands that dip in the bowl too many times. Kidding. Sort of. 

So, how do you eat your pomegranate seeds? We're pretty much a "straight from the bowl" family, but I also like them on salads and just discovered adding them to my yogurt. Yum! 

Happy health and pomgranates, my friends! 

 

 

 

How to build a snowman

A post from Mary...

Step one: Make a really big ball of snow. Love on it some.

Add a second ball of snow. Get your Dad to help. It is going to be heavy.

Now just look at it for a moment.

Add the third ball of snow. Get your Dad and your sister to help. It is going to need to be lifted really high.

Add carrot nose.

 

And use coal for eyes. Add wooden buttons and a scarf. And of course a fireman's hat. Dad will help.

 

 

Stop for a photo before it melts away.

 

 

Woodlawn // The kitchen, before

There were a lot of things that had to fall into place before we could even consider that we might be able to live at Woodlawn. So many question marks that we even felt nervous driving back that long driveway to poke around the place. I won't publicly confess how many drive-bys I did for those months we spent in "house limbo".

On one particularly brave day, we actually peeked in the windows. Heaven forbid! But I got a glimpse that day of some pretty good things going on inside, despite the disrepair. So when we finally had the chance to actually walk through the house without feeling like a couple of burglars scouting out the place? That was pretty exciting. 

When we first went through the family had yet to move everything out. Later there would be dumpsters, auctions and sales. 

But underneath all that I was seeing was what I knew had been the most beautiful home. Elegant. Lovely. Full of life. 

One of our first big projects at the house has been the kitchen. The red linoleum countertops were reminiscent of the ones in the house I grew up in, but all nostalgia aside, I was easily able to see them go. 

All of our remodeling plans for house have been basically squished into just a few weeks. Decisions I feel like most people spend months making, I've had to make in days and weeks of time. It's been a wee bit stressful. And completely, "Is this really happening?" strange and amazing.

 

But now, plans have been finalized. Cabinets have been ordered. Flooring picked out. And I'll share all that soon. For now, I'm just grateful that I can finally sleep at night without dreaming of soft-close kitchen drawers, refrigerators, and paint chips. 

The long way home

There's a road the girls and I travel pretty often around here. We call it "taking the long way home".

In the humid, unbearable days of summer, I've been known to pack the girls in the car for a chance to sit in the cool of the air conditioning for a few minutes. Cooling our bodies, renewing my sanity, we'd take the long way home. 

In the fall, we'd take the long way home--an excuse to escape through the woods and note the changes in the colors of the trees. After a storm, we'd take the long way home--to see how high the stream got. 

The road is mostly unpaved, winds along the creek and is tented in trees. It passes by the farm where Emma rides each week. And takes a sharp turn at the edge of a hill that I've heard my grandfather refer to as the best view in the county. 

After so many trips down this road, the girls and I have each sort of chosen a house along the way that's our favorite. Elizabeth loves one that "needs some work." Because she likes to work. Emma's picked one with plenty of room for horses. And secretly, I have this little favorite one, too. 

A white house with green shutters that sits way back off the road. You can't see much of it from the road, but I've always felt like it looks like something set in a dfferent time, a different place. It's been my favorite all along. 

At the beginning of this summer that house became empty. The husband and wife that lived there for years, passed away. The rest of the family was ready to let it go. And through connections and family and God's good grace, that little house, that favorite of mine, found it's way into our little family. 

The process has been a long one. Since the beginning of summer we've been talking and waiting, planning, then waiting. There were long conversations leaning against fence posts. And in parking lots of the convenience store at the corner. Things to arrange. Ideas to throw around. Hurdles to overcome. And lots and lots of waiting.

And then that same week that we were dealing with the stress and sorrow of the rabies incident, it all fell through. We had to walk away. And honestly, I was pretty devastated. It had been such a long road. I thought we were so close. And then everything fell apart. But I had to trust that there must be something else. And that this was the right thing to do. 

But something about the walking away turned everything around. And within weeks there were a few more conversations and a handshake and here we are...we're leaving Thomas Run and moving a stone's throw away, to that house I've always loved.

The local history books tell us it's name is Woodlawn. It smells like my grandmother's house and reminds me of the home I grew up in. In its day it was immaculate. Turns out my grandfather played tennis on the courts there (now buried under grass) with Monroe, whose silver tennis trophies covered almost every bookcase in the house. And family friends used to go there to play bridge. And Emma went there with our neighbor once to collect a load of hay. Today, Woodlawn needs some love and attention. But her bones are beautiful.

I've been waiting a long time to share this news. I suppose after such a long, emotional journey to get to this place it's still hard to let myself believe this is really happening. But with paint colors picked and a gutted kitchen and boxes being packed, it seems as though it's really happening. And my heart, that I've been holding close despite it's thumping in my chest with excitement, can finally be let go.

We've found the long way home, indeed. 

{Sponsored} : V.me for my online shopping addiction

Through my work with Federated Media and Clever Girls Collective, I often get opportunities to share posts here with all of you. And I'll be honest, I don't jump on many of them because they don't feel like a good fit with my usual blog posting. But with four kids under my belt, I've discovered the necessity of online shopping so when given the opportunty to test out this new secure online payment system from Visa, I was all over it.

While I do my best to support the local, little man as much as I can, there are still many times when necessity, budget and my own personal sanity mean shopping from the comfort of my computer is really attractive. This past Christmas, a good chunk of my holiday shopping was done online. 

But a few months ago after some pretty serious and scary fraud attempts with my credit card in the Mac Apple Store I'm more cautious than ever about throwing around my numbers, passwords and security codes on any old website. 

V.me by VISA is a secure and simple online payment system. It allows you to securely enter your credit card information one time, through their secure site and have access to it, with one click when you shop online. Not only that, you can also add contacts to your address book and multiple credit cards, making it super convenient. The security of having my information safely stored with V.Me is worth a lot. But I have to admit that oftentimes when I finally sit down to shop or order something online, it also involves a search for my purse and wallet. V.Me is there with a simple click or two. And while the service is still picking up steam and not available on every website, it is simple to sign up and start your free personal account--so that it's there when you need it. 

As someone who's had a close call with fraud but still needs the convenience of online shopping it provides a lot of peace of mind. 

This post is brought to you by V.me by Visa. Online payment. Simple and secure.

merry-making

Hi friends. Umm, wow. We are in the throes of merry-making around here. The girls and I made these little votive candles the other day from air-dry clay. Just your basic pinch pot, with some of the greens pressed in the sides to make an impression. They've been the perfect little thing lining my kitchen table. And could not have been easier.

But honestly, what I really need is another good week before Christmas. Though my kids would protest, I never seem to be able to fit in all the things I want to do in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

But what's really slowing things down is a huge project going on behind the scenes. It is taking all of my mental energy, decision-making abilities and honestly, my time. It's exciting for everyone but still...phew! There's not much extra room in my brain these days. 

I hate it when people drop little hints like that around and don't spill the beans, but I promise I'll let you know very soon. In fact, it will probably be my first post of the new year. I can't wait to tell you guys.

I'm taking a little holiday vacation from my work with BabyCenter this week and I'm hoping to be here a few more times before the holiday. I miss this space and miss all of you! 

More soon, friends.

xo. 

Scottish Saturday

A post from Mary...

It is a rare thing for our family to take a day and just do something. Together. No laboring, no laundry, no cleaning. A trip out of town. A favorite parade that celebrates our family's heritage, and is loaded with pipes, kilts and dogs. Lunch and knock-out basketball with cousins. On the way home, a pit stop at Daddy's office and an evening stroll along the creek through the urban park to a favorite burger joint for dinner. As the craziness of the season begins to creep in, I love having days like this together. It is a gift, all its own.

Scottish Walk from Mary McDougal on Vimeo.

 

Posted with Blogsy

fingers crossed

They are home.

Yesterday morning in the rain and sometimes-snow the girls and I drove to pick up our sheep from the breeder a few hours away. 

Now home and tucked in their warm pen they are being spoiled and checked on often, just because. It's so nice to look out my kitchen window, across to their pen and see two white faces looking back at me from the gate. 

So fingers crossed and prayers thrown above, this place of ours will be bouncing with a few fuzzy-headed baby lambs come spring!

Things I've made lately that taste good

I always love hearing what other people are making, baking, cooking, especially when it's yummy. I definitely go through dinner-time slumps where I feel burned out on my rotating list of recipes. I'll call my sister and say, "tell me what you're making for dinner." Or ask my friends on twitter. Or browse my recipe box on pinterest, for ideas. Or dust off one of the cookboks on my kitchen shelf. 

In an attempt to break out of a recent slump I tried a few new recipes, mixed up some of my own ideas and came out of it all with some new inspiration for my dinnertime arsenal. And they're definitely worth sharing. 

From my own kitchen:

Boiled red potatoes with pancetta and spinach

These are SO SO good. One of those, "What's in my kitchen that will taste good together?" moments. I boiled red creamer potatoes until fork tender. While they were boiling, in a medium-sized skillet I browned about 4 ounces of diced pancetta. (Wegmans conveniently makes little ready-to-go packages, thankyouverymuch). After the pancetta has browned, drain off almost all of the fat and then add in several handfuls of fresh spinach. You may need to add a little pat of butter or olive oil to help soften the spinach. Stir these all together until the spinach has wilted. Once the potatoes are done, drain them, add some butter, coarse salt and ground pepper. Then add the spinach and pancetta over and stir it all to mix with the warm, soft potatoes. These potatoes are so good, people.

And bonus--if you have left overs, they are delish warmed up and mashed a bit, browned and crisped in a skillet the next morning with your eggs. 

Other good things I've made lately...

Baked shells with sausage and spinach

Sarah Carey's simle chicken pot pies, but with a phyllo crust.

Baked blueberry granola (but hold the bananas, blueberries and maple syrup, substitute apples and honey. Birdy pounds this stuff.) Lots of good questions and variations in the comments on this one.

So, now it's your turn. What have you been making lately that tastes good? I'd love to hear! 

A sneak peek // Maggie's nursery

My dear friend + cousin Maggie (whose beautiful farm wedding you may remember from the summer) has had quite the year. Just days ago she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who I cannot wait to get into my arms to snuggle, and fill my lungs with that luscious newborn scent.

 

A few weeks before he arrived, Maggie sent me a couple pictures of his nursery. Maggie and I share a love for mixing the old with the new. Most importantly, nostalgic touches that remind us of our roots. And her nursery does that, too. Old vintage pictures of family and a silver hair brush that belonged to a great grandmother. A sheepskin draped over a modern rocker. The mallard stool that used to sit beside our grandmother's bed.

I asked Maggie to take a few more pictures and thought I'd share them here with all of you. I love little sneak peeks--and a new baby nursery most of all. Not only that, Maggie is my knitting hero. This baby boy is wrapped in love and handmade knits. 

Thank you, Maggie for somehow managing to navigate the new waters of motherhood, and send me pictures of your beautiful nursery. You are an amazing mama. I know it! 

For you: printable 2012 electoral college map!

I was searching the internet this afternoon for a map of the electoral college that I could print out. I wanted a map of the United States with each state's electoral votes, so the kids could color it in as results start streaming in. 

 I found one that worked but it was no longer available, even a cached copy, and its numbers were out of date for 2012. So I played with it in photoshop and made the changes for 2012. 

I thought I'd share it with all of you in case your kids want to follow along as well. Looking forward to an exciting night! And I take it back, I guess I'll talk about politics more than once. 

In case you're interested, here are the states whose electoral college votes changed in 2012:

WA +1 | NV +1 | AZ +1 | UT +1 | IA -1 | TX +4 | LA -1 | MO -1 | IL -1

MI -1 | OH -2 | GA +1 | SC +1 | FL +2 | PA -1 | NY -2 | MA -1 | NJ -1

 

The one time I'll talk about politics

Emma is really into the election this year. Cheers at the dinner table when she realizes it's a debate night, into it. Asks if I've thought about putting signs in the yard and bumper stickers on the car, into it. Meets someone new and whispers to me "Who do they vote for?", into it. 

Personally, I'm at the point where I almost can't look anymore. I watch the debates, until I feel like I can't listen anymore. I simultaneously scroll twitter until I find myself wanting to scream in disgust and have to stop. I take a deep breath before I answer the political robo-call on my home phone.

But now, with a kid in the mix who's paying close attention and feels pretty strongly about who she wants to win, I feel more sensitive than ever to the nastiness that scrolls through the pages of my facebook and twitter streams, and spews through the television. 

Emma's passionate. And she's passionate in a way only a ten year old can be about who she wants to win. But one thing I haven't been letting her do is make remarks about the other candidate that are disrespectful or rude. Maybe she disagrees with his philosophies or ideas or his smirk or his tie (c'mon she's ten), but still we require level of decency. "You may not like him, but you still need to be respectful." is my mantra. I don't temper her passion, but I do my best to keep it moving in a positive direction.

I don't say this in some holier than thou way, but only because geesh, I've been really disappointed in the childish, disrespectful and downright embarrassing things I've seen flying around social media. Maybe I need to swear it off (social media). Or maybe we need to find a way to share our opinions and show our support without spewing disrepect to anyone who might be listening. Keep it clean. Keep it civil. 

I read this quote that a friend of mine posted on her facebook wall. It's an oldie thanks to John Wesley circa 1774. And I know. It's naive. And idealistic. But sometimes, that's how I roll. And it's one that's worth sharing. 

"I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election and advised them to 1. Vote without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against. And, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side."

Honestly, I'd love to hear from all of you. How do you approach this topic? Do your kids have strong feelings about the election and its outcome? How do you direct their "passion"? 

*edited to add: reading your comments and thinking about this more tonight....thought I would take the liberty of paraphrasing the quote into words that are a good reminder to us all in light of tomorrow....*

Chore charts, check lists and when can I watch TV?

It feels almost silly and naive to be writing about this, only three days in. Because every new system is bliss in its early days. The real measure of success comes weeks down the road when you find you're still using it and it still works. But still I know how it goes. As parents we see a problem, something that needs to be changed and we come up with a solution. Sometimes it's a temporary fix that gets us through a rough patch. Sometimes it's a crutch that helps establish new habits or new expectations. 

I should have known something as simple as a checklist would be the thing that seems to work for my kids. They are my offspring afterall and I'm a girl who loves her lists. And just like all the fuss over finding the perfect gift only to discover what they really want to play with is the box--this list has no gimmicks, stickers or stars. It's just a list. Turns out, they don't need all the other stuff. 

But here's why we needed it:

1.) My family has issues with technology. (I should say, everyone but my husband--he's could really care less.) We seem to waffle between extremes. We go through long seasons where the TV's locked away in a cupboard and no one even seems to remember that we have one. Or we swing to the other extreme--and I hit the end of the day feeling disappointed and frankly a little sick at the amount of screen time my kids have cosumed in the past 12 hours. I'm all for the lock it away philosophy. But in reality that's getting harder--there are presidential debates, Sunday morning news, weather to follow, and knitting to accomplish which requires a good teary episode of Parenthood. Then, there's the oldest child and her hard-earned and recently acquired iPod Touch. The list goes on and on. It seeps in and there has to be a way to live with it, but still be in control of it. 

2.) I was often reaching the dinner hour and feeling frazzled that there was still piano to practice, french lessons to do, eggs to collect, laundry to put away. I couldn't figure out where the time had gone and how we'd managed to get this far into the day without accomplishing some very basic tasks that needed to be done.

3.) The plus of a big family is that I've given birth to a small army of helpers. And frankly they are willing to help (and shhhh, I think sometimes they kind of enjoy it.) But I was not enlisting their help at all. And more often than not, when I did need help it was always falling on the shoulders of the oldest, because the girl can get a job done well and willingly. And that's not fair.

4.) I hate nagging.

5.) I hate whining. (my own and theirs.)

So simple as that, every morning I do a quick print out of each child's list. Tack it up on the chalkboard in the kitchen and that's it. Those basic, important tasks are getting done. I don't have to say a word. And everyone knows if there's any hope for channel flipping, afternoon movie watching, or iPod Touch touching, the list must be done. 

And yes, we're in the blissful stages. A real moment of bliss? This afternoon, I was tucked in bed easing a sick kid into a nap and downstairs I could hear someone speaking french and another little someone setting the dinner table. I totally nailed this one. Until the next one comes along.....

 

Soaked but safe

Just popping on here today to report in after Hurricane Sandy came rumbling through Maryland. We somehow managed to come out of it all pretty easily. We only lost power for about 24 hours while all around us I can still hear the drone of generators. 

When our power came back on and I finally got the chance to watch the news, the images coming in from New Jersey and New York were overwhelming. 

Each time I pass a glowing light, or turn on my faucet I think of what so many people are living without right now.

Hoping all of you are safe and sound. Check in, won't you?