Domestic Accomplishment

I really have the best intentions when it comes to keeping a neat house, serving nutritious and tasty meals, and having a clean and happy baby (and husband). But more often than not, I fail. I was just telling a friend today of one of my greatest frustrations, being unable to keep folded clothes folded in the drawers; it's like all I have to do is look at a drawer of clothes and they unfold themselves and get all askew. I think the only way for me to keep them tidy would be to have one clothing article per drawer, and that is quite unpractical.

Bag 'o broth cubes

I did, however, have one recent success story (after the pomegranates and the ham, that is). My poor spousy caught a cold, and it broke my heart to hear him sniffling so, and I determined to feed him chicken broth to spur him on to health. After looking at the ingredients in my bullion, however, I saw that there was no way it could possible nourish his poor sicky body, with all of its fakeness and additives. So I attempted the ultimate Florence Nightengale; I went to the store, bought a whole big chicken (I was a little doubtful at this point), boiled it up in a big 'ol pot with some vegetables, and made my own broth. You're not impressed, are you. Well, it gets better. Then, I poured the broth into ice cube trays and FROZE it, and then put the individual cubes into a gallon ziplock. Now, when someone in my household gets sick, all I have to do is thaw out a few broth cubes and have instant goodness! The alternative, of course, would be thawing out an entire bag of broth if I hadn't gone the ice cube method. Ah, I perceive that I've finally won you over with my ingenuity. Well, just hold onto your hats, because there's more!. I also shredded the whole chicken and flash froze it, before putting it into its own bag. Now, if the ill one is up for it, I can toss a handful of chicken into the broth while it's heating up for a heartier meal. The best part yet? Blake is able to prepare this on his own if I'm out while he's home for lunch. Now that's what I call a domestic accomplishment. Bring on flu season!

 

We think we might see some dimples emerging...

Joyrider

New shoes!

"Mama, have you seen my llama anywhere?"

Is this November?

We're a week into November. And the sun is shining. Really? Where's fall? I can't complain too much, since the colors in the trees are outstanding, but it would be nice to have to wear a jacket when I go out, and Rory has all these cute warm clothes that she needs to wear before she outgrows them (am I the only mom who gets stressed over making sure her baby wears all her cutest clothes as much as possible?). But what can one do but patiently await the first snow (we haven't even had a frost at our house!).

In other news, I'm decently pleased with the election results, but disappointed with voter turnout- we only had a 44% turnout, which is bad news;  it shows our leaders that there's a high level of apathy amongst the citizenry, and it lets them know that they can get away with quite a bit without being held responsible.

In even more news, I started babysitting a little newborn, which has been an adventure. Rory gets so jealous when I give Olivia her bottle, and it breaks my heart! She needs to get used to the idea that we'll have more kids one day though, so it's probably good. It's also good practice for me to juggle (not literally of course) two babies at once- so much work! Even though I never had the desire to watch any kids other than my own, I'm grateful that God's given me the chance to bring in a little income for our family from home, and I thin it's going to be okay.

Blake and I had a date night Saturday while our housemates and some friends were doing a Grand Canyon rim to rim (they're so awesome). We went to a movie (Mega Mind) and thoroughly enjoyed it; it was quite clever. We were then going to try Freddie's, the new burger place, but weren't hungry due to free popcorn. Instead, we hung out at home sans daughter and later got takeout from Wildflower Bread Co. They have this awesome fall sandwich: turkey, bacon, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. It was delicious, and got me all excited for Thanksgiving!

On Sunday I used some of my frozen pomegranate juice to make a ham for the first time in my life: pomegrante-jalapeno glazed ham, to be exact. It was amazingly good, and we all thought the glaze recipe was fantastic. It may show up on the Christmas table this year... here's a link to the recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pomegranate-jalapeno-glazed-ham
It was also the first time I made a recipe from Food and Wine magazine- usually they're too hoitytoityt gourmet for me, but since I have all this pomegranate...

Yesterday was the start of day light savings, which should not affect us here in AZ. Except, Blake's new alarm clock sets itself for the time change automatically, just like his old one did. So, we did inadvertently fall back. I was so proud that we had so much time to get ready for church, but I found that pride cometh before the fall (back) and we ended up getting there a good 40 minutes late. Yes, this happens to us every time.

Yesterday also marked Rory's five month birthday. Everyday is more fun than the last with this happy little creature- we are enjoying the person she is becoming, and are so proud of our smiley babycakes. Here are the last of her October pictures:

She was a doctor for Halloween