Christmas Scurvy..

It's over. The event I'd been pining for over many months..is done. It's always the preparations and anticipation that rile me up...the actual event always seems to be far too short or less than idealistic. I totally need to learn to not have expectations. But what's life without dreams, goals and ambitions right?

Christmas came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. And by lamb I mean only one of us was sick..and by lion I mean all of us are sick.

Ashlyn started the barf ball rolling with the stomach flu 2 weeks ago, and Eden decided to have a kick at it with bronchitis with flu symptoms (she was nearing pneumonia...wasn't pretty) then Gabe joined the club with some good ol' fashioned di-har-hea.  I'm bringing up the rear (thankfully no symptoms IN my rear) with some chest congestion and mucosa.  Dwight...well he's the wild card. I keep looking him up and down with squinty eyes, just a 'waitin to see what festive germ is gonna rear it's ugly head..(in either his rear or head).

The tree's been stripped, the floors vacuumed, although you wouldn't have a clue if you stopped in right now. (this comes highly un-recommended by the way, you'll certainly be leaving with more than you bargained for :) The left-overs are becoming far too left-over and have overstayed their once highly anticipated, mouth watering welcome.

And so I sit. Kleenex nearby and a croak in my throat. Gazing longingly at unrealistic gardening photos on Pinterest, knowing full well that the anticipation of spring comes with a reality of muck, hard work and dirty fingernails.

Oh boy ... these dreams are whats gonna get me through winter. Anticipation, Idealism and Preparation (Or better know as dreams, goals, and ambitions..) HERE I COME!!! ... again.

Artisan Bread..

Trying a new recipe today... Artisan bread in 5 minutes. Simplest recipe I've seen for bread!

have a looky ... Artisan Bread .. I'll let you know how it goes! It provides a recipe for a batch of dough large enough to make bread several times in 2 weeks.

This sort of stuff excites me!

Kitchen Magic..

A friend from church recently gave me a gift that keeps on giving...buttermilk starter. I just have to save a bit each time I get low and start a new batch. Love me some buttermilk.

Todays batch was put to good use in cheese buttermilk biscuits.

A little bit of this

With a bit of this thrown in

While keeping an eye on this

Made for some delicious aromas in this here kitchen

This is how the sun rolls in each morning to rise and shine on the family. Now all I need is my rooster in the back yard a cock-a-doodle-dooing. ... Or not. The silent sun is dreamy enough :)

I can feel it..

I can feel it comin in the air of the night...oh yeah...

Those are lyrics, by the way...  and yes indeedy I did feel it coming lastnight, right up my nose down my throat, those nasty cold bugs are back. I'm stuffed up this morning, and if I didnt have to go out, it'd be a wonderful day to sleep away.

We made a mutual decision to turn on the floors this morn...if only that darn sun would come out, I'm sure we could've lasted till november, but alas .. the time has come. We're both a bit excited to see how long it takes for them to start feeling warm, we've heard it can take awhile before the radiant heat is noticeable as it has to heat up all the concrete.

Every once in a while I have these moments where I envision the house in its building stages, or the huge hole that was here just 5 months ago...or even the hay field that this was for a number of years, and I'm just in awe of how we have a house...here...that we live in... incredible!

Here are the concrete floors being finished

Heres a pic of the floors with the radiant heat pipes, before the concrete was poured over them.

And here is Gabe and I working at the tiling.. cross legged, that's how I laid the floor...sat on every square inch of this house before it was finished :)

And here is Dwight, Steve and Bill laying the laminate floor, it went down pretty fast...what a team :)

So needless to say after all that hard work, we're excited to finally enjoy the warm and cozy aspect of it all!

It's a blustery one here today. The goods are baked, the tea's been sipped, and the lids are heavy.. I'm afraid these days are here to stay, too soon the wet dirt will be replaced with waves and ripples of freshly fallen snow. We're hoping to see the little green sprouts come shooting up before the first snow fall, what a good feeling that'll be, to see the grass give us a preview of 2012.

The lists are being made already...landscaping, gardens, clothesline, chicken coop... I'm sure my 'outdoor file' will be bursting by April.

 Eden has made herself a nest on the floor, parked in front of tvo kids, and I think I may just join her...toots for now.

First post at the fifty...

Hey y'all ... a fresh start means a fresh blog! Here's to a blog like the last...