What is it that I do all day?

LOL. And more. Much more.
I am the Big Wig, the Head Honcho. I run it all baby. If it comes in, out, or just floats around in my house, it's my responsibility. I'm the boss of it. This is evidenced by Brilyn's nomenclature in reference to me. When she needs to get my attention, she stops calling me mom and starts calling me, "Beautiful Queen" "Big Boss" or, "Your Majesty". I am not making that up.
I take pride in running my home well. I am the full time queen of my realm and know that I have found my true calling for this portion of my life. But. Let me tell you that it is harder than my work as a full time teacher. It is harder than working as a part time teacher and part time mom. It is harder than working as a full-time teacher and part-time mom. I know, because I have worked all of those combos. And this, in all it's fulfilling glory, is the hardest job I have ever had. Full time motherhood is NOT for the faint of heart. It is for those of us who are all grown up with our big girl panties on to suck up the financial constraints imposed by embracing one income, the total lack of time off, paid or otherwise, and the in-the-trenches mentality required for dealing with all the poop, pee, blood, boogers, spit, vomit, dirt, mud, slime, (and for me, the poop of other species, such as chickens and cows) mixed with the requirement to win when dealing with temper tantrums, refusal to eat during meals, hair pulling, leg biting, pinning slippery kids to the wall in the tub in order to rinse shampoo from their hair, and strapping into car seats. Yeah. So. If you ask me what I do all day, be prepared for me to laugh loudly and all manic like really really close to your face, because I no longer have any sense of personal space. So.
XOXO
Joce
NOTE: This is so not even close to being a conclusive list. It's just what I had time to write in between feeding one kid and wiping the other one's, uh, face. LOL.

There's a song (or three) in my heart. Or, thank you.

I am overwhelmed by the warmth of your comments. Thank you.
And the good news is, the joy of the Lord is my strength. And I've got the joy joy joy joy joy down in my heart. So, there will be peace in the valley for me, someday. So.
XOXO
Joce

There it is

So, some of you might be wondering where all the posts have gone.
When I said I am feeling stretched kind of thin, I mean dried all up. I don't have much to say. My heart is full of sad things and so that's what you are going to hear about here. If you don't want to know, stop reading.
1. My mom still has cancer, and it just keeps getting worse.
2. My friend's almost-two-year-old has a bad kind of cancer.
3. My sister-in-law lost a baby last week.
4. My good friend from college told me her dad just died of cancer.
5. My neighbor's mom is in the hospital in a coma from a burst appendix.
6. My friend's mom lost her job and is worried about losing her house.
7. Something I can't talk about here, but has to do with the breakup of a family.
8. Another thing I can't talk about here, but has to do with depression and chemical dependence.
My heart is so heavy for the suffering of those around me.
That's why I haven't been writing much. I'm just too sad.
So, when I start feeling a little more peppy and creative, I will be writing again. So don't give up on me. I'll be back.
XOXO
Joce

Cajun fishin'

So, Kara requested that I actually post sometime this week. So, to kind of honor this request I am sharing a video my husband received via email, and which I found to be really quite amazing, and which I located on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. I think this kind of fishing would be rather invigorating, what with the fish slapping folks up side the head and all.
So. Hope you liked it. I will try to actually write something about my actual life at some point. It's just that I am stretched a bit thin at the moment.
XOXO
Joce

Number 77

Sam is the winner of my OWOH giveaway. She will be receiving a pint of fresh (as in last week) pure New York maple syrup.

Congrats, Sam.

XOXO
Joce

Quote of the Day

"If there is no evidence of social mercy in your life, if there isn't a single poor person, prisoner, man or woman with a disability, or refugee who can stand up and testify that you have lived out and continue to live out your faith with compassionate care, then know this: Scripture, the Christian classics, and contemporary faith all stand in one accord to challenge the sub-Christian religion that you have adopted."
Gary Thomas, "Authentic Faith"

Thursday Night

Sometimes I am vividly reminded that I, too, went through developmental stages.

LOL.

XOXO

Joce

(In case you are unsure, that's me on the left with the fake tat.)

Cheesemaking Revisited

1 hour mozzarella

For pictures, go here.

1 gallon milk
2 teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/4 C cool tap water
Stir together for 2 miuntes.
Heat to 88 degrees F.
Stir in 1 teaspoon calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 C cool tap water.
Stir in 1/4 rennet tablet dissolved in 1/4 C cool tap water for 15 seconds.
Let it sit for 20 minutes until curd forms a clean break.
Cut curd into 1/2 inch cubes.
Heat curd to 108 degrees F.
Let it sit 10 more minutes.
Scoop into glass bowl using slotted spoon.
Heat in microwave 1 minute, knead the whey out with a spoon. Curd will start to grow smooth and shiny.
Heat 30 more seconds, add 2 teaspoons salt, and knead with spoon until cool enough to pick up and stretch.
Stretch until cheese is cool, form into ball, wrap in plastic wrap, store in fridge up to one week, or freeze.
XOXO
Joce
PS We tapped the trees today. Look for maple syrup making posts.

Baby boobs

I received this email one too many times this week. So now you all must pay.

This picture?

Makes me mad. Wanna know why? Because they focus on "cure" and by "cure" they mean extremely expensive ways to cut cancer off with sharp knives and burn it out with radiation and weird poisonous chemcials.

Why does that anger me so? What in the world do I want, if not a "cure?"

How about we "find" a responsible food industry that stops force-feeding her antibiotics, pathogens, free radicals, and articificial hormones all in the form of genetically altered and over-processed foods that her little body does not recognize and cannot digest or utilize properly so that her cells go haywire and are overcome by mutant cells in the form of cancer? How about that?

How about don't feed that precious little girl any of that crap so she doesn't grow boobs by the time she's eight and prevent cancer so we can forget about curing her?

How about that.

Tell her mom to plant a garden, buy local, and get a cow, so I can stop having one.

With love, as always,

Joce

work it like a meme

Okay, so Joe did this thing over at the family blog: Top Photos of 2008.

So here are a few:

January 2008: (Joe)

April 2008: (Jocelyn)June 2008: (Jocelyn)August 2008: (Joe)October 2008: (Jocelyn)

November 2008: (Jocelyn)

Now, you go over to your own blog and post your top 5 pictures of 2008

Have fun.

XOXO

Joce

Sunday Stills...Potluck

I'll bring the cute baby for everyone to cuddle.

XOXO

Joce

Brilyn was taking a nap, and Cade asked for a bath, and he was just so darn cute, I thought I would do a little photo shoot.

Who loves me?

Pamela Loves Me.

And I will now propose to her.

Pamela? Will you marry me?

I love you, and I think, based on your cake, that we would have a long and wonderful life together.

Baptist Cowboy

A cowboy, who is visiting Wyoming from Texas, walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Coors. He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, "You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time."The cowboy replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Arizona , the other is in Colorado . When we all left our home in Texas , we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I'm drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself."The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there. The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss."The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs."Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains, "It's just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking. Hasn't affected my brothers though."

WARNING: Extreme peppy-ness and crazy enjoyment of aging contained in the writing below to the point of obnoxious-ness and nausea.
Yep. Today's my BIRTHDAY!
And I like it!
And I am going out for dinner tonight!
And I had chocolate chips pancakes for breakfast!
And my baby girl keeps saying, "Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl!"
And I am going to take a nap!
And read a book!
And eat more chocolate than previously considered humanly possible!
And start every sentence with and and end with an !
And it's all because I got borned! (This phrase is one of my particular favorites, got borned, that is.)
And, well, I oughta go do fun things, like eat ice cream and play Candy Land!
And I got lots of calls on my birthday and everyone sang me a birthday song!
And, YAY!
XOXO
Joce

Family in need

To my praying readers:
Please visit my friend Megan's blog-
www.stepsforbrady.blogspot.com

And do some praying for and encouraging of this family.

Thanks guys,

XOXO
Joce

Tomorrow's my birthday
Tomorrow's my birthday
Tomorrow's my special day
Tomorrow's My Day.

I like my birthday. Because it's all about the presents, that's why. At Christmas it's all about Jesus and family and traditions. But my brithday? It's all about me and my presents and cake and ice cream, which are all things I like most especially.

Why do I like presents, you ask? You are surprised by my love of gifts since I mostly eschew things material? It's because presents remind me that people love me. It's my love language. When I look around me and see little things that others have brought me, I think, they were thinking of me and picked this for me and gave it to me, because they LOVE ME. For example, Kara, the BFF, gave me a write-your-own-recipes-in-it-cookbook a few years back, and EVERY time I use it, which is pretty much daily, I think, Kara loves me.

So, now you know the truth about me. I like little things that people give to me, and I keep them forever and ever and ever and I don't throw them away. For example, my great-grampa gave me a little brush and comb set when I was like, 11. And, I still have the brush. I can't use it, because now I have short hair, and I never actually could use it because it is one of those round brushes that make my hair worse than when I started and always ends with an impromptu hair cut because it gets inextricably stuck in the tresses.

So. Now I feel verified and clarified so that I can post my birthday wish list without anyone thinking I am overly superficial.
1. A subscription to MaryJane's Farm mag.
2. Colorful gel pens for making my to-do list.
3. Emergen-C because it works like coffee for me in the afternoon when I can no longer actually drink coffee if I wish to sleep that night. At all. And because it tastes good.
4. Bubble bath that is not made of weird chemicals and that smells like lavendar because there is actually lavendar in it. And lotion. Because my hands are cracked and bleeding that's why. And because Bag Balm does not have a very feminine essence.
5. A maid.
6. GOOD cake.

Well, that about sums it up. Please tell my husband what to get me. Thanks then.

XOXO
Joce

Free stuff

So the thought behind doing One World- One Heart (as far as I can tell) is that when you give things away, you make friends.

So I am giving away a pint of maple syrup from our very own maple trees. You will receive your prize: 1. When it becomes available, 2. If you win by leaving me a comment ON THIS POST. The winner will be announced on February 12th at which time I may or may not have the syrup ready. You may have to wait a bit, that's how sugaring works. Anyway, I digress.

Here's a picture of how your special syrup will be made.

And finally, you must tell me in 100 words or less why it is you like me so much. Or, at least something you like about my blog. You must give me a compliment. I likes me some comments that are compliments.

So. Bring on the compliments/entries.

Calazonia

AKA Calzone.
Local-ish style
Make a bread dough:
4 cups flour of choice (occident here)
2 T sweetness of choice (raw sugar here)
2 T fat of choice (olive oil here)
1 1/2 t salt of choice (plain old here)
2 t yeast
12 oz liquid of choice (6 oz yogurt, 6 oz warm water here)
Then, add layers of ricotta and mozz (Thanks Clara darling) and ham (nameless CAFO pig, sorry) and onion (a la Pamela's CSA rejects) and spices (fr0m the good Mennonites) and hot peppers (from, hold on walking to fridge....oh the poor things don't even have a birthplace, just a distributor). Seal it up Calazonia style and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Wondering about Calazonia? My dear sweet Brilyn baby calls it that. And I think it is just way too cute. So I call it that too.
OH! And serve the Calazonia with your own sweet tomato sauce that you canned yourself if available (mine is still available but in an alarmingly dwindling numbers of jars).

You should also know that Kara has a giveaway that totally goes along with my homecooking theme. You should go now.
XOXO
Joce

And also? A meme.

This meme:

The six one- sixth folder, sixth picture, six people, etc. But I already did it, so...

I am changing it to 12/12 and I am not going to tag anyone. Sorry. But other people I know are doing it, so go there to see them.

Dayton Time (go here first, cuz she memed me, see her Monday post)

Simple Life (and also go here because she got memed too)

But, anyway, here is my photo:

It's my barn! In the summer. BC, that is to say, before Clara. This picture makes me feel happy and reminds me to remember to trust to hope that this frigid (and by frigid I mean frickin freezin Mr. Bigglesworth) weather will not stay forever. And that reminds me to remember that every season in our lives comes to pass. Whether you find yourself in winter, spring, summer, or fall, be aware that is fleeting and one day you will have a hard time remembering the details. So.

Enjoy the summer barn while it's here, and don't hurry the winter barn, because life passes quickly enough.

XOXO

Joce

And it was good

So, those skinny roosters? Were yummy. (And I am really proud of that because they were not very promising-looking as frozen little skinny chickens) Here's how:


1. Boil said skinny chickens in 1 gallon of water, with 1 minced onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 2 T cider vinegar. For hours and hours.


2. Remove scanty portions of meat from skinny chickens. Put the naked carcass (nasty word, that one) back in the pot and boil it down till you have a lovely, highly nutritious chicken stock.


3. Place shredded meat in a bowl, add Buffalo sauce (1/2 stick melted butter, 1/2 cup Red Hot, 1 T honey).


4. Eat as sandwiches on homemade hard rolls.





So, I would like to thank you for your suggestions, the support I received helped to make out dinner special.





XOXO


Joce

We also saw this small 8-point during our walk in Letchworth.