• Love Note

    June 27, 2008

    Tonight I got a love note from Mr. Handsome. He sent me an email (from my computer, while I was working in the kitchen—I wasn’t allowed to look) and this is what it said:

    I ordered tickets for “Trouble”, or something like that for tomorrow night. I also have acquired experienced childcare for the evening, so you and I can go out. The end. Love, The Rooooofer

    Is that not dear? I was so wanting to go to that play, but getting childcare for four kids at 7:30 in the evening is nigh impossible. (Okay, so he had some encouragement from my folks, but still.)

    So tomorrow night I’ll be footloose and fancy free. Whoa baby! Watch out!

    Note: While Mr. Handsome does roofing, he is a carpenter first and foremost. I’m not quite sure why he signed off The Roofer, except that it was fun to type Rooooofer. Maybe?

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  • Food

    June 27, 2008
    Since this blog is about the minutia of my life, I’ve decided to add recipes for the food that makes up the backbone of our daily diet. It’s more exciting to write about the new and unusual things I’m cooking rather than the everyday fare, but the everyday grub is important, too—it gives us a solid diet baseline from which I can experiment and it prevents me from ending up with starving (or bloated) children. And besides, the everyday grub is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

    Granola
    Adapted from the Simple Granola recipe in The More-With-Less Cookbook

    Note: this recipe is also posted here.

    I ate it as a baby, my mom says. She just soaked it in hot water and then put it through the food mill. Mr. Handsome mixes it with homemade yogurt and jam for his morning break. Yo-Yo Boy is learning to make this all on his own. We eat it a lot. This recipe lasts us about a week.


    14 cups oats (I use half quick oats and half rolled oats)
    2 cups sugar
    2 cups whole wheat (or cracked wheat if you want more of a crunch)
    2 cups raw wheat germ
    1 tablespoon salt
    1 ½ cups canola oil
    1 3/4 cups water

    Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet. Spread the mixture on two large ungreased cookie sheets that have sides. Bake at 250 degrees for several hours, stirring occasionally until golden brown and crunchy. Cool completely and store in glass jars.


    Yield: about five quarts.

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  • Warnings and Apologies

    June 26, 2008

    1. Now that I’m writing this blog, I’m realizing that there really is a lot of minutia in my life. There is so much I want to say. And I’m going to say it, too, by gum. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

    2. I’m apologizing, in advance, for my camera and for my (lack of) photography skills. I really like my camera, and it’s nothing to sneeze at, but I can’t take close-up pictures. But I’m still going to try. So forgive the blurriness. If anyone wants to give me tips, they can, but they can’t involve me purchasing anything since we’re trying not to spend money right now.

    3. I’m from the ice age when it comes to computers and the internet. We don’t even have high-speed internet (because of where we live, not because I’m refusing to get it—internet is not the same as TV, in my book). So this blog is a work in process. A lot of the work is waiting to happen till my Balding Bro comes to my house and straightens me out on a great deal of things, like what on earth is wrong with my HMO, HMTL, or my BLT, or whatever that thing is. So please be patient and don’t poke fun at me.

    4. I’m going to try to post every day, so that you get to see something new and exciting every single time you check this blog. If there is anything you want me to write about, say so, and I’ll see what I can do about it.

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