A Little Tulip in Your Step

I've been without a computer for a bit. My computer picked up a virus from one of the blogs I read. It ate my hard drive and after paying for a new one I am a bit leery about reading blogs. Life has been the usual craziness with a lot more insanity. I will write about those details another time. Now, on to the pictures...We recently went to Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan. We've talked about going for years. The tulips were in bloom and we wanted to spend a family day together.We had a Dutch buffet for lunch and then walked through the village. Lots of cute things for the kids to check out and a lot of information. Giant wooden shoe slide that Henry and Irene enjoyed.

Bunnies were available to hold, pet and brush.

And goats needed to be walked.We went through the shops including a shop that sold all kinds of Delft. Some pieces were priced in the thousands! We bought some fudge made with Dutch cocoa and (of course!) we got wooden shoes for Henry and Irene. They've been having fun wearing them out and about.

It was nice to get away for the day. Things are in a bit of an upheaval right now. When I think about writing about all the stuff going on it just exhausts me. Hopefully I will get my head wrapped around all this soon and will be able to share it.

A warm Weekend

This past weekend Mark was home and the weather was beautiful. We went down to visit his parents and we took the kids to the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids.

It was very busy there that day. The sun was shining and it was warm enough for just light weight jackets.

We got to see a section of the zoo that we haven't been to before. Every time we've gone before it was before or after the summer exhibits were open. Granted, with this trip a lot of animals were still not out yet and some of the summertime things were not opened. We did get to see the newly refinished petting zoo and a little house that the kids could play in. They also had an airbrushing tattoo that you could have done. Irene got a panda airbrushed onto her hand.

The otter was performing for every group that came by, unfortunately, we had no food and the zoo does not allow us to feed the animals.

The cougars were very vocal when we came by. One in particular kept making what sounded like a very angry kitty noise. Shortly thereafter the cougars put on a "birds and the bees" show! All the adults started laughing and the kids wanted to know what was going on. "Mommy, what are those animals doing?" "They're wrestling."

For some reason the tiger was not out and turkeys were there instead. We laughed because we see turkeys all the time just driving down the road.

The lady lions were sitting on a rock right in front of the viewing window. It was a treat to see the so close. It is amazing how large they really are when you are standing so near them!

Look at those paws!

Hello, Beautiful!

I'd love to snuggle up with one and take a nap, but somehow, I just don't see that happening.

The chimps had had a fight recently and several had nasty wounds.

We had a great time at the zoo and at $5 for an adult and $3 for the kids it was a great deal. The prices do go up at the end of the month but even then it is a great price.

We had dinner that night with Mark's parents at the Shang Hai Ichiban Japanese restaurant. I love this place and have fond memories of eating there as child with my family. They've since built a new restaurant but the food is just as good. They cook it all in front of you while putting on a performance. The kids love it and they enjoy the food too.

After dinner we went swimming and then to bed. The next day we had breakfast and headed towards home. Nothing in Grand Rapids opens until noon so there wasn't anything to do. It was a great weekend and I love that we got away for the day.

Food, Birthdays, More Food...

Corned beef and cabbage! This year for St. Patrick's Day I decided to make corned beef and cabbage. I have never made it before but I had a recipe to make it in the crock pot. Bought the corned beef, cabbage, red skin potatoes, onion and carrots at the store. Thankfully corned beef was on sale that week. I started in the morning peeling carrots and cleaning off the potatoes. In the crock pot I put in 2 or 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of each but I was worried about the taste. I put the corned beef on the bottom and added the spice packet to it, then added the potatoes, carrots and onion. Put the crock pot on high and let it cook from around 9:30am until noon.

At noon I added the cabbage. I sliced it into quarters then cooked it until around 5pm. It all turned out so yummy! I was really proud of that fact! The kids really enjoyed the meat and carrots. The vinegar and sugar really made the flavor in this recipe. The carrots were devoured at dinner so we had none for leftovers the next day. We had a lot of meat which made for a yummy lunch and dinner the next day.

The next day was my birthday. Mark was still on the road so I made my mom's recipe for sour cream coffee cake. We were planning to go to knitting group and taking it with us but just as it was coming out of the oven I got an email that one of the children at the house we were heading to was sick. Soon after I got another email inviting all the healthy knitters to another friend's house. We headed over there but we were the only ones that showed up. My kids had a great time playing there and we all had some coffee cake but I basically ended up taking all of it home.

The next week we were back to our regular knitting spot. Another email was sent out this time asking for someone to bring something yummy to eat. I said I would so I set off to make another coffee cake. This one was easier and was almost like a banana bread. Ingredients included crushed pineapple, smooshed bananas, pecans, vanilla and the usual flour, baking powder, etc.

We had two more knitters that time but only one of them actually tried a full piece. One didn't try any, one had a very small slice. I took home 98% of it even though the lady that actually tried it said it was delicious. I don't mind baking things for knitting group, in fact I kinda like it, but if you're going to request a baked good and then not eat it then I get a little upset. It was, for the most part, a waste of food and money. I was not going to eat all this and neither were the kids. Needless to say, I am not making anything else for knitting group any time soon.

On a funny note, Mark's birthday is ten days before mine. Gifts usually depend on our financial situation. This year Mark and I each got a watch. Granted they were not expensive but we both needed one and we found nice ones that were on sale. At first Mark was looking at Citizen watches. He had one before but it finally died and no one has been able to revive it. When the sales lady starting giving prices for them I started to laugh! Yeah, not this year! Mark did find a nice and less expensive watch. Mine was even less then his and I think it is a good looking one. Of course, no pictures because I can't get my act together. Now on to the actual funny bit...I talked to Mark several times on my birthday. I kept waiting for the "happy birthday, honey." Never got it. I really wasn't upset because I knew he was distracted on the road. The next day when he called I asked him if he knew what the day before had been. "Shit, honey. I'll buy you something!" I swear that is exactly what he said! Made me laugh :-)

A Quiet Time

Two of my three guys. This was totally not posed. I looked over and that is how they were sitting. My last post I was feeling very down. I still do not want to leave my beautiful lakeshore. I don't want to leave behind my life here, but I may not have the choice. I am trying to accept this gracefully but I do buck against it at times.

And, as always, check out what I've been knitting.

Our beautiful lighthouse is cover in snow and ice and looking pretty cold. I cannot wait for Spring to get here. We had a little tease on Tuesday. Temperatures in the 40's and sun shining. Wednesday we woke to snow and freezing rain. Yuck.

Mark is working again. This is good because it means he is healthy enough to work and we need the money. Of course, this means I am alone with the kids for two weeks at a time. I have been having a very difficult time. Having my mom pass away makes me feel like I have lost 50 people out of my life instead of just one. My younger brother has been very distant lately. I have a theory as to who and why I am not hearing from him as much. Losing that closeness has been a major blow.

We are now getting pressure from Mark's family to move to their town. I am totally against it. Mark will still be on the road but I will be completely removed from all that I know and all my friends and support. I know my knitting group only meets once a week but I can bring my kids and it is truly a life support. Plus, I LOVE the school my children go to and do not want to take them from that. I also have the Mothers of Preschoolers group that I am a member of and I am also on the Steering Committee. These things are important to me and I feel that up and leaving these things and not gaining anything in return will take my depression to an even lower low. I struggle now but at least I have things that force me to leave the house and actually look forward to. Yes, Mark's family would be there..................

I am praying for a miracle because I don't think Mark is really listening to me about this. He wants to know that if I need something while he is on the road the help would be in the same town not two hours away. Still, he needs to actually listen to what I have to say about this. I am the one at home all the time. He is here twice a month, therefore I think my needs need to be met first.

In other news... Really it has just been a sea of days that consist of running the kids to school and trying to survive. We've been sick for the last month and have been combating a cough that just doesn't want to go away. I recommend you check out my knitting blog for other news and some great patterns I recently finished. Click HERE!

Making Butter

I was reading through my favorite blogs and Fiber Fool had a great post about making her own butter. I really wanted to try it for myself. A lot of people told me that they made butter in Girl Scouts and shaking cream in a baby food jar. Yes, that works but this would let me make around a pound of my own butter that I could use and share.

I live in a small town but we have an organic store. It is small but they carry milk and cream from a dairy in an even smaller town. I should have taken pictures before pouring the cream out!

I put the cream in the bowl for the KitchenAid and covered it to keep the dog hair out. I wanted to let it warm up a bit.

Then I added the whisk attachment and turned it on the 6-7 level. It took a full 30 minutes for the cream to separate and become butter and buttermilk. I was worried for a bit because I thought that somehow I had messed up the process. Once the butter formed I was so thrilled!

Here is my butter after the milk had been pressed out of it. I didn't have butter paddles to press out the milk but my mom-in-law, who just happened to be here that day, used wooden spoons and that worked perfectly. You can use the buttermilk for any recipe that calls for it.

It was a fun project and the kids got a kick out of it. We also made bread in the bread machine and used the butter on it. I recommend you check out Fiber Fool's Blog to get a much better description on how to make it.

I also think you should check out my knitting blog to see the hats I've been making.