My Daybook for August 9, 2010

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FOR TODAY...Monday, August 9th, 2010

Outside my window...overcast with occasional sun peeking through. We're supposed to get some rain today and tomorrow so the kids are excited about the chance to go swimming at the local YMCA.

I am thinking...it is going to be interesting getting a 16' x 20' house built by October, as well as get a 20' x 26' house salvaged over the next month.

I am thankful for...my new job. It is only part-time but it will enable me to be with my family AND support them as well as let my hubby be home to work on our farm-based business and build a home.

From the learning rooms...studying local ecology in the form of our brook on the property and the river down at the end of the road.

From the kitchen...LOTS of canned goodies! I am putting by blueberries from a local PYO; raspberries and blackberries from our own wild patches; a dish I've only heard of here in Maine, called "Dynamites." I've put the recipe at the end of the post, they're SOO good and I even have a kid-friendly variation using pizza crust. Also putting up pickles from our cukes; peas are done; beans are coming...as well as soup bases, chili starter, pie fillings...

I am wearing...this awesome L.L. Bean dress my hubby got for my birthday back in the winter with an eye on Spring/Summer. It has tank-top straps with a long skirt and is the neatest red/yellow/black plaid with white buttons. Really light, flowy, cool and comfy. Along with it are faux-snakeskin red sandals and a yellow and red ribbon covered ponytail elastic...yes, my hair is FINALLY long enough for ponies!!!

I am creating...whoopie pies...yep, "whoopie pies." If you don't what a whoopie pie is, I am SO sorry you've not gotten to enjoy them! They are two small chocolate cakes, traditionally, with a whipped vanilla frosting in between. The nearby town, Dover-Foxcroft, is home to the Annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival. Two of my aunts and I are colluding to enter next year so we are creating different combos. I just did some really tasty ones that were lemon cakes with a raspberry filling and some mint cakes with chocolate filling, kind of inside/out chocolate-mint-chip kind.

I am going...to complete my menu planning for the week. We are using an RV sized propane fridge for cold food storage and it has really made me more mindful of seasonal produce in our menu as well as meat sales and the INSANE number of condiments I used to "HAVE" to have. I am going to post a whole other entry about that...look for the laughs!

I am reading...Angel Song. I just finished it, actually. Beautiful book. I have a review posted here

I am hoping...that I get my training completed swiftly and can start my new job this week. We are impatient to get building on the house and until I start my part-time job DH has to work full time and that is keeping us from building.

I am hearing...the generator running to charge the batteries, the kids excitedly watching a squirrel, and the little goat munching on watermelon rind.

Around the house...finishing training for work, decluttering too-small clothes from last year in readiness for the Back to School shopping to be done on Wednesday, keeping an eye on the succession planting seedlings.

One of my favorite things...reading with the kids during a rainstorm. For hours.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Swimming at the Y tomorrow after daddy gets home from work; grocery shopping and BTS shopping on Wednesday. Food safety training for work. First day on the job Thursday quite likely.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

A5 loves to answer the phone so while I was working outdoors the other day I put the phone on the windowsill. Everytime it rang (including the 9 calls from Nan just to give Autumn something to do) she answered with a cheerful "Tiny Farm, A5 here!"