Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!




Hanging in tonight with a batch of peanut butter cookies... locking the doors to keep the critters out, and watching a good movie! Took the kids into town on the bus today as they were offering free face painting! Hard to participate in Halloween because the kiddos can't have the candy, so it was so nice to have something fun to do! The kids had fun but were begging to wash it off an hour later because it was so itchy! They are pretty wild and excited. Re

ady to bundle up for a pumkin viewing walk in the pouring rain as soon as it gets dark enough! Have a fun one all!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

MMmmm! Abundance!


After a weekend of yucky sickness( papa even had to take a day off work) we had a great mellow outing. An old friend called us up to let us know that the salmon have started to spawn, and to invite us over to the creek on thier property to check it out. It was such a beautiful day! The trees are so bright with fall colours and the breeze was just snowing them down on us in the forest. The trail had changed so much since we had last seen it but we managed to find the beach. The stream was pretty quiet but we did see a dozen or so salmon. My oldest son cried and I practically had to hold him back because he wanted to just help the salmon upstream.( who says aspies don't have empathy?!) We cheered them all on for a while and when we got back were greeted with a hot lunch... gluten free and all! Sweet friend! We sure needed that! Before we left he brought us out into thier huge garden ( let me tell you..... I look up to these guys so much as mentors in lifestyle. They have it figured out! They have 20 years on us, but that is where I want to be in 20 years!) and sent us home with a huge bag of kale, a large bag of parsnips, some tomatoes and tomitillos, some leeks and some aragula. Yummy stuff! We also hit the farm on the way home to get some veg for winter storage before the farms close for the season. So inexpensive for a whole lot of food. If I am careful I can really maximise the use of it all! I buzzed up , bagged and froze most of the kale . Made a wonderful roasted veggie and whole chicken tonight and have a stock on the stove. Chopped up a 10 pound bag of apples that was in the clearance bin to dehydrate too... and made an apple crisp which I am about to go enjoy right now! Yippee for harvest and full happy tummies!!

Oh! It looks as though there is going to be a homeschool meeting place ... right down the road from me! Usually everything is in the next town overand is a bus ride or two

( 7$ a time too) or in the boonies where everyone else drives to. So this is huge! I really hope that it works out and that the drop in fee is not too much. They are looking for parent volunteers and I would give my time in a second. With kids on the spectrum and with sensory difficulty, outings and social stuff can be so hit and miss ( usually miss!). I appear so wishy washy to most people. Oh well. I guess you have to be there to get it! Don't like it though when I can't support something that I feel is important! I would need to hire a sitter or something!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Fall!




We have been enjoying some nice weather lately... still below freezing in the mornings but more sunny breaks in the day than rain! Finishing up with the harvest. Finally got to the bottom of my bag of pears! Found , de seeded and dried a nice jar of rose hips this weekend. Hoping to get some mushrooms before it is too late! The kitchen is feeling all harvesty with jars of goodies and squash n stuff!

Got a couple of nice bike rides in down to the marsh and it was so gorgeous. It smells like crunchy maple leaves and is a tunnel of fall colours to race through. Starting to chill us to the bone though and you come back pretty muddy! Loving cozying in! And oil gets delivered today! Yay to being warm!


Friday, October 10, 2008

Grr...

It was -2 out this morning when I got up. Still just using space heaters so it is mighty chilly! Scrounged up the money for the minimum $300 dollar delivery ( they raised it at the end of last year.... minimum was 100$ delivery when we first moved here, then up to 200$ for a couple of years) and they have raised it AGAIN to a minimum 300 liter delivery which puts it to a 420 dollar delivery. So we need to wait another two weeks until we have the money or pay the " upped" price where we get 1/4 of the amount of oil. I wish they had sent a letter out to thier customers for a warning so that we could have tried to budget for this.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Canning !


Got a little out of control this year! Ran out of places to put things in our teeny tiny house so we had to build a shelf. Did this today with some salvaged wood. Free and functional! Yippie! ( as always... I cant ignore the awful walpaper in our rental!




Had to add a piccie of the very last of the flowers from our garden. Ill miss the brightness that they add to the house.


Thursday, October 2, 2008

Into fall!

What a nice fall this has been so far! I have been so thankful for the extended warm weather so far! Looks as though we can scrounge up enough money to put some oil in the tank at the end of this month. Sweaters until then! Since my hubby is an apprentace electrician he was able to get a couple of used ceiling fans from clients who were throwing them out. It has made such a difference in keeping the heat in our drafty old rental! If I use the oven at all the warm air gets circulated down and keeps the house at a good temp for a long time! The mornings have been down to 2 or 3 degrees here and there but if we keep the fans going , a space heater turned on for about half an hour takes the chill off. The coastal weather just has that damp chill to it.







Our littlest guy turned 5 on monday! What a big boy! ( he even tied his shoes for the first time the day after!) The relatives sent lots of playmobile for him and he felt like " the luckiest kid in the world!" ... we couldn't afford a present for him, but he didn't notice at all .... it all kind of got lumped together and because my grandma sent some money for something special we got to go buy it together. We made a delicious cake though!


( photo courteous of Kate Mahaits Photography! Thanks Kate! http://mahaits.com/ )



The week before was kind of crappy because number two bonked his head again and got concussion number four. Then we all got this nasty cold and flu bug after. Still recovering a week and a half later! The emerg doc was amazing though. He had a five year old son as well. The funniest part was when he said that A was " socially advanced"!! LOL. Both of the kiddos are suspected to be on the autism spectrum( Aspergers) but we haven't had a formal evaluation because we really seem to be doing well on a gluten free diet, they don't need a special education plan because we homeschool..... overall things are positive rather than a struggle all of the time. The little guy though, at the moment ( my oldest was similar at that age but has since gained some much needed social skills) " hates babies" and little kids, panicks when he sees them and spends his time hiding under the furniture growling if they are anywhere in the vicinity. Hence me getting a giggle out of the " socially advanced " comment. Being under the weather at all makes the autistic behaviors so much more pronounced though... so this week of being sick has been trying. Another kiddo asked " what is wrong with him" about my oldest. Actually the first comment from another child. He was a little extra flappy and stimmy and running around in circles than usual though.... maybe the cold is going into round two. Could be the asthma meds too cause they always make everyone a little crazy.

Good parts this time of the year though.... free fruit like crazy! We made oregon grape and salal jelly on the weekend. Pear butter at the beginning of the week. Apple ,pear chipotle hot sauce.... my idea worked beautifully! I have a huge bucket of pears to deal with today as well as more appples. I will make pear butter and maybe some chutney. I think I have enough ingredients to swing it. Maybe I can get extra jars off freecycle. 8 days until payday with only enough money for gas for my hubby to get to work! Maybe I can sell a piece of jewelry in the meantime!
I have been trying trying to get it together to do a Christmas craft booth. I will try to swing it iin time but it costs a bunch to rent the table space and organise display and make business type cards and packaging... plus I need to purchase more material and findings. I am going to play it by ear and see if I can swing it because we NEED the extra bit of cash. Crappy because I know it would sell but I can't seem to get it together! Funny to be in the position of needing money to make money! Hubby put in some heaters for a friend though and he was traded some beautiful plum wood, some dogwood and a couple of pieces of cherry. An older woodworker in the neighbourhood brough me a gorgeous thin milled piece of yew that is really large... so pretty! Oh well.... I do have faith that it always works out. ... always does! I sound like a downer! lol.... really not. So many thiings to be happy about really!