monday musings



hendrix got a new swing this weekend.  i forgot that we had this old sky chair in storage.  it works better then that the tire swing idea i had, although he still calls it his tire swing.  we also got a new washer and dryer.  which has brought me more happiness than it probably should.  but laundromats are soul crushing and the units seem to symbolize that we are in the beginning stages of climbing out of our streak of bad luck.  the county is also here doing work on our road and i do believe redoing our driveway.  the driveway that is a safety hazard and we have been trying to figure out how we could afford to repair it.  well, the county came to clear trees and replace drainage.  you know, the 15 feet of trees mike was going to clear out by hand and chainsaw.  now, they are redoing the driveway after they replaced the drainage below.   turns out, bulldozers and backhoes are much better equipped and if the county will do it - even better.  even if they don't make the driveway better it will still be great to have the trees cleared and the drainage replaced.   our road kind of gets ignored since there are no other homes that are on it for miles.  now there is a school going in down the street, though, so they will be able to devote more time to the road.

last week was a rough one, but this week is already looking better.  i am waiting for news that i hope is good and that i can share later today.  hendrix and i are going to the wizard of oz exhibit at the children's museum (which he is beyond pumped for) on thursday.  friday, i get to see my dear friend at her baby shower.  plus, this weekend is the sarpy county fair.  ya'll should go....it is so awesome and what fairs are made of.  hendrix and i might even go bowling this week if the weather stays hot.  speaking of weather...saturday was so beautiful here, wasn't!?!? it sure seems like it wants to rain today, too.  *fingers crossed* oh, and i really want to check out the bittersweet bakery in ashland this week.  you see? it's guaranteed to be a good week!

....also going on this week in the omaha metro (all free!)

jazz on the green on thursday, free family flicks at aksarben cinema, and the westroads kids club science show about weather.  have any other ideas or events to make this week great?  please share!

GSW{meal plan}::ten

found via google images



it's rained!  can you believe it?!? and there is more in the forecast. hallelujah! now.  onto next week's dinner.  lots and lots of summer produce to celebrate, so let's get to work. 
again, these are all very simple recipes, requiring little technique, instead relying on the fresh produce to do the work. and since you rely on produce your grocery bill will be cheaper since you are buying in-season or practically free if you have a garden (or a friend's to poach).   if you weren't here last week then check out GSW::nine for a printable pantry checklist. if you are finding that you need to build your pantry then stretch the expense out by adding a few pantry items to your grocery list for a few weeks until you have a completed pantry. 

1. clementine's ratatouille (vegetable stew - french style)
2. yogurt grilled chicken with cucumber + mint salad (30 minute dinner!)
3. macaroni alla norma (eggplant pasta in 15 minutes)
4. open face sandwiches with watermelon, feta, & basil salad
5. roasted bbq chicken with corn + basil cakes
for drinking....
strawberry cucumber smoothie

for freezer cooking...
basic pantry marinara
great to get a head start on the macaroni alla norma (jarred would be just as great).  this is also my go-to, favorite marinara.

for dessert...
peach pie

back to school

 
it is almost august which means that school is almost here.  hendrix goes to a mom's day out program once a week, but it doesn't start until september.  his cousin, however, is starting kindergarten (!!) and all the crayons and milestones are making me panic a little bit.  it means the summer is almost done and i still have lots of things on my list.  it also means that my kid is growing up to fast and so are his cousins.  so, instead, of feeling sorry for myself i am focusing on what i like about back to school time...cooler weather (please!!) and SCHOOL SUPPLIES. 
what do a 3 1/ year old and 31 year old need school supplies for?  crafting, yo.  oftentimes, things like crayons, markers, glue, colored pencils, and watercolors are on sale at this time.  especially at the end of the august when they are trying to liquidate the leftovers.  plus, hendrix's head is going to explode when he sees all those crayola packages in the target cart.  so is mine. so we are going to go stock up and stock the craft closet. that way when we are snowed in (please!!) we will have plenty of tools to help the time pass.
while, i have been dreaming of a color coordinated, craft closet, i have also been going through hendrix's old clothes.  like a smartie when i bought summer clothes in april for him, i also picked up some fall shirts. but no pants.  if they made boy's pants with a 24 month waist and a 4T/5T length, we'd be in business.  alas, they do not.  so i am stuck going with the adjustable waist ones at old navy which are about $8 more a pair then i like to spend.  i prefer the consignment and last chance shops for kids clothes shopping. do they make toddler belts?
anyways, that is how we are participating in the "back to school" craze.  i also realized that with back to school came fall gardens.  and fall food.  oh, beef stews...how i long for you.  this year, my fall garden may or may not happen depending on if we get any rain.  it is so dry that i am not sure how well my seed will germinate without some decent rain.  if we do luck out and get some rain then i will be doing beets, spinach, garlic, kale, collards, buttercrunch, and turnips. are you planning on a fall garden? getting excited for apples?  counting the days until the kids go back to school?

heavy hearts. weary minds.

the last few days, and posts for that matter, have been pretty depressing.  there has been a lot of heavy stuff happening in our backyards.  everything from a mass shooting in a neighboring state to a drought encompassing the whole region to a hate crime in our capital city.  life is hard enough without all of this bad news.  parenting is tough enough without having to try to explain to kids why other kids die.  or why some adults hurt people.
my son is only 3 1/2 so i don't have to do much explaining, yet.  however, i know the time is near since he already asks about the sick kids on the st. jude commercials and the animals on those terribly sad "stop animal abuse" commercials.  kids are little literalists and i think the standard answers "sometimes people get hurt", "sometimes people hurt people", or "i don't know" are the worst thing to tell them.  but what else are we supposed to say?  because i really don't know why hate crimes against gays are still happening.  i really don't know why some guy thought he was the joker and killed 12 people.
i could speculate for days about gun control, climate change, the lack of aid for the mentally ill, GMO vs. non-GMO, violence on TV, and so on and so forth.  however, i am not sure how much that is going to change the world.  i think those are all important things to discuss and even change, but those don't do much good when i am trying to parent. 
this may seem hippy dippy to some of you, but i believe that somewhere along the way we lost our sense of community and sense of belonging to one another.  we forgot the power of kindness, generosity, and taking care of our neighbors.  being kind to people.  giving to others less fortunate. knowing your community.  that stuff speaks to kids.  that stuff makes people want to pay it forward.  more people paying it forward, knowing their neighbor, feeling pride in their community can only lead to a brighter world.
will it change the world, though?  will it eradicate all the bad news?  probably not, but it will make the world brighter.  and it will make it a better place.  slowly but surely. at least i think so. 
this article talks about how an urban community garden in chicago set out to solve the food desert issues in their poorest neighborhoods.  what happened was not what they expected.  basically, they sell most of the food now, but they employ people from the neighborhood and the "green space" helped reduce crime, give the community pride, and made it more beautiful. here's a quote:

‎"We don't delude ourselves that we're solving the food desert problem," Harry Rhodes, Growing Home's executive director, told me. "It's to use food as a tool to change individual lives and to change community." Research has shown that if you diminish violence, people will be less stressed, and less-stressed people eat healthier.


what if this practice applied to more of the world and in different ways.  what if we changed the way we thought of ourselves and our impact on the community?  perhaps people selling loads of ammo to a 24 year old young man that seemed off or troubled would report it instead of minding their own business.  we've all done it.  opted to not help someone because we thought it wasn't our business.  or maybe someone who overheard a group of young men talking about the "dyke" they hated would tell them to knock it off or report them to the police.  we perpetuate crime when we ignore it.
or how about if we took notes from what one farm family did for another farm family during the 80's farm crisis.  one farmer could not get the lending he needed to continue to run his family farm.  he went out on a limb and asked a neighboring farm family to help him.  they did.  he is now a millionaire.  and you guessed it.  he now helps the family who helped him.
so, instead of letting all of this incredibly sad news get us down, i propose we try to perform one kind act a day. it doesn't have to be much.  you could just send a note to a friend with a sick baby or give a homeless person a cold bottle of water or hold the door open for someone.  again, let's just try to be kind and see where it takes us.

what the drought means to my family and families like ours

i think by now most people in nebraska and beyond understand that there is a serious drought happening in the corn belt.  perhaps, not all people understand what that means to family farms such as ours and  our fellow farmer friends. our family is in recovery mode from a few years of bad luck, effects of the bad economy, and unplanned, major life changes.  so if we had a gotten a bumper crop, like it looked like we would in april, then that would put us on the path that brought us closer to financial security.  however, at this point we may be lucky to make any money at all.  and if farmers cash in their crop insurance they basically have their inputs covered but no profit.  also, if the snow fall is minimal this winter and does not adequately replace all the lost water we might have to consider just planting beans, which bring in much less money than corn, since they don't require as much ground water as corn.  thus, prolonging recovery mode for us. there are still plenty of family farms out there that are not farming 10,000 acres and rely on farming to feed their families.  farmers that are still operating off the homesteaded land of their families. families that have only ever farmed and have rode the ever changing wave of farming.  for my family it means a significant loss in this year's income, a possible loss in next year's income, and a few years more of  not being as financial secure as people need to be in  this world.   for a lot of families it will mean a tighter budget, postponement of debt payoff, less christmas presents, and for some it may just push them out of farming.   a lot of farmers will not be able to pay the rent on the land, make the payments for their equipment, so on and so forth.  farming was one of the last industries doing well in this economy so in the end, this drought will affect all of us. weather related issues are always a factor when you are farming.  no matter what you are growing.  however, this particular disaster is, of course, historical and record breaking.  so, do me a favor will ya?
do a rain dance. 

no comment

earlier this morning i was reading about the tragedy in colorado.  while doing so i, unfortunately, came across some pretty insensitive and irrelevant comments.  for instance..."who brings their 3 month old to a midnight movie?  that baby should be in bed." or "i would never let my 12 year old go to that movie at midnight"....which quickly reminded me of why i almost never read the comments section on news stories or even on facebook, really.  it seems in this social media and 24/7 news-heavy world, that people leave a comment either stating the first thing that comes to their head or to be a total anonymous asshole.  i am the first to say that the first thing that comes to my head is, 95%  of time, what i should not say. somewhere along the way folks forgot that words matter and the news is about actual people going through actual horrific stuff.  i am not really sure when or how this all happened nor do i care to get into it, but i would just like for more folks to be little bit more kind.  especially if you are a fellow parent making those comments.  we, parents, are all in this together.  parenting is tough stuff and judging a fellow parent when they have lost a child or have a seriously injured child is beyond insensitive.  it is cruel.  so, this weekend let's be kind to all those we love and all the strangers that look like they could use a little love.

GSW::nine {meal plan}



this week i have been surrounded by busy, busy ladies.  some of them already mommas.  others getting ready to be mommas.  some not mommas.  all of them busy and hoping to get a home cooked meal on the table.  so this meal plan will make use of basic pantry items.  it will still celebrate the bounty of summer produce, but it will mostly be dinners you can throw together when you walk in the door from a long day of being super woman. all them will take no longer than it takes to make a box of macaroni + cheese. as always, try to get some dinner prep done the morning of or the night before...like chop the veggies for dinner, thaw the meat, pound chicken out, etc. you'll start out the day feeling pretty accomplished and then when dinner comes, you will have saved yourself some extra time.

1. easy shrimp tacos

2. sesame noodles with chicken, cucumbers, and snap peas

3. blt's add some avocado
 make the blt with your favorite tomatoes and add some sliced avocado for extra protein.

4. green bean, mushroom, and sausage skillet supper
put a pot of water on to boil. heat oil in a skillet, add 1/2 chopped red onion and 2 chopped sausage links.  saute until sausage is cooked through and onion is soft. add 1 container of mushrooms, sliced and cook until soft.  meanwhile, boil a generous handful of green beans for 3 minutes. add a 1 T. minced garlic to the pan and cook 30 seconds. add drained green beans. add a couple glugs of white wine and simmer.  season with salt and pepper.  let simmer for 5 minutes.  serve with blue cheese on top and crusty bread on the side.

5.  chili rubbed chicken with avocado, corn, tomato, and shredded spinach

instead of dessert, how about some time saving and organizing tools?
my printable pantry checklist
my printable menu plan + grocery list worksheet

after all of this {super}woman's work, you're going to need a drink....
stone fruit sangria