Revisiting Freeze Church

Happy Anniversary!! We have been married for 3 years!! This fine, blustery morning we took a drive along the back dirt roads to "our church". I am so happy that we got married at such a wonderful place that will be here for a hundred plus more years. It will not be changed into anything else, a housing development will not go up around it, someone will not convert it into a house. It was built in 1889, and Sunday service is still being held. That is testament of how much this community thinks of their prairie church.

Here we are pretending to walk down the isle. We were dressed a little different last time we walked down that isle :) and more people were in the pews. I even wore the earrings that my sister, Amy, made for me to wear on my wedding day.

Maggie played the wedding march for us.

Good things have come out of this marriage.

We should make our anniversary trek to Freeze church a tradition.

Things that I love right now

There's a lot to love right now.

reading The Outlander series, which has 7 books and each book being close to 1000 pages long. This will keep me busy for a long time. I'm on book 4 right now.

watching the movie, Thor. Cory wanted me to watch it. I didn't want to...until he said that it reminded him of The Lord of the Rings. Well, you had me at Lord. Great movie.

loving that Maggie will grow up knowing how to work on cars. Cory will make sure of that.

cooking pear sauce from pears that I stole from an abandoned orchard.

smelling coffee when I wake up. Thank you Cory.

counting down the days until the Brandi Carlile concert! Again, thank you Cory.

waking up to beautiful sunrises.

harvesting potatoes. Having Maggie get excited as she digs in the dirt, finding all the baby potatoes that I left for her to find.

excited about our up and coming anniversary. Number 3!

looking forward to potato soup.

being silly with the Magsters. I love her so.

What are you loving this Fall?

She is growing up

Just a sad moment for me as a mom. We always had a little snuggle time when Cory or I fed Maggie her nighttime bottle in the rocker. You are probably all rolling your eyes in disbelief, but yes, we still give Maggie a nighttime bottle. I am in no hurry to drop this special time of the night. She's still my baby. But I guess Maggie wants us to know she doesn't need it any more. She wants to sit ALONE in the rocker and drink her bottle and directs us to sit on the floor or on the chest. I guess I just have to sit in the dimly lit room and watch her grow up. I'm going to miss those nighttime snuggles.

DIY

I'm loving my new website obsession, Pinterest. Anything and everything you could ever want to look at is on that site. I have recently been trying out some of the DIY pins that have caught my eye. First one is homemade chalk board paint. So. Easy.

Chalk Board Paint

1 cup of paint, color of choice

2 T. non-sanded grout

Stir to get lumps out. Voila, that's it. And it's the good kind of chalk board, not that too-glossy kind.

Maggie LOVES her new chalk board. And we love that it keeps her entertained for good chunks of time!

Second DIY, homemade coffee creamer. I am a total creamer snob. I hate to have coffee with milk and sugar, I would rather have it black that with milk. But...have you checked out the ingredients on the back of your creamer? Disgusting. So here you go, a recipe where you know what all the ingredients are.

Vanilla Honey Creamer

1 c. heavy cream (I didn't say this recipe was good for you)

1 c. whole milk (I used 2%, sooo much more healthy...not).

1/4 c. honey

2 tsp. vanilla

Whisk the cream, milk and honey on medium heat until it starts to steam. Stir in vanilla. Pour into glass container and keep in refrigerator.

I made some tonight so I can enjoy it first thing in the morning. Can't wait!!

I highly suggest that you check out pinterest...and be my friend on it so we can share ideas!

I feel her coming

The last two mornings have been mighty chilly at the Bakeman house. All windows are wide open at night to let the house breathe from being shut up all day in darkness.

Ask me how much I love to wake up in a chilly room under warm blankets and watch my room glow pink with the sunrise? I love that moment of the day so much. But it's true, fall's a comin'. These chilly mornings tell me so. And even though summer just started I find myself craving fall. Fall means crisp days bathed in sunlight, leaves lining the streets, harvesting the garden, making applesauce and apple cider, and a new wardrobe of warm clothes. Even though this summer has been short, it has been sweet. I haven't complained about the heat once!! My sister would be so proud. No nights where you're dying of the heat and praying for a breeze to come through your window. Yes, I've been just loving this weather. Our down comforter hasn't really left our bed yet, pushed down low as we fall asleep and as the cool night comes the comforter gets tugged up to our chins.

I just got back from a fantastic trip to Missoula with my friend, Sueann. For both of us, this was the first real trip leaving the babes behind. I unfortunately had to go to a class two of those days but in the evenings we took long walks, went out for dinner and took our time eating and appreciating every morsel of it...with a couple glasses of wine and went to a movie. All things you cannot do with a toddler. It was wonderful. I even enjoyed my class on rehabilitating the ACL. It just felt neat to be in a university setting, especially and the University of Montana, I love that campus!! And guess what we didn't do....? Hike to the M! Haha Amy!!!

Right now my car is being torn apart. Since this is the last month that I owe any money on it it decided to break down. In a major way. But not to worry! We just got this great gas guzzler of a car, the Bronco. And how much do I love that car? No really, I love the Bronco! It's rusted out, a manual, has a bumper sticker that says "Hot Poop", sounds really tough and can go anywhere. I love it. But holy moly he is thirsty for gas all. the. time. Hey, at least I have a vehicle while mine is out of commission.

Maggie and I took the Bronco to the mountains last weekend to look for huckleberries. We came back empty handed but boy did we have fun driving those back mountain roads. Maggie was exclaiming, "weee" as we bumped down the road. The best part was that Sueann and Coco were in their jeep driving behind us. This all happened while the men folk rested from the weekend of all baby, no mama. *SMILE* I told Sueann that we need to form the All Women Off Road and Sewing Circle Club. Doesn't that sound awesome?

I started running. I really got into running a few years back and I'm remembering why I loved it so much. The best part is, is that I can run out my door and find my way onto a totally beautiful dirt road where I feel completely safe and will not see a car. I love Palouse! The only bummer is is that I can't run right now. I have pes anserine bursitis. Basically my medial knee hurts every time I run. So I really need to start strengthening my hips and stop running for a while. That sucks, I was really getting into a great running routine.

We've been enjoying the bounty from our garden lately. I have made a few batches of raspberry rhubarb jam, Maggie loves snacking on the peas, zucchini is finding it's way into every meal and we just harvested a few potatoes, just because we had to see how they were doing. Oh my gosh, home grown potatoes taste wonderful!! I almost could have eaten them raw. I can't wait to eat them again. Garlic and onions will be harvested soon, cucumbers are looking like they could be really plentiful if this warm weather keeps up and the carrots are sweet and crunchy. The chickens, aka "the girls" are producing eggs like crazy and even Broody Bitch, that's her real name, has broken herself out of brooding cycle. She feels like it's her job to sit on eggs, not her eggs, all day and night. She's mean, she's cranky and she is super hot so her feathers are all fluffed out. But now her feathers are laying down, she comes bounding out of the coup when I come with food and she doesn't peck the others in the head. But her name still stands.

Well that's our lives in a nutshell. Looking forward to getting firewood soon, making soup, and designing Maggie's Halloween costume. Haha!! I know it's still summer, but I just love fall.

This girl

This girl

likes to feel the wind in her hair

she's always on the go

so much to explore and see

she makes me cry

she makes me smile

crouches down low to watch ants

picks them up without knowing gentle

talks to the chickens

and wonders why they don't sit with her

independent

yes indeed

in the morning outside

her with her sippy me with my coffee

cheers! before each drink

i love this girl so

i love to say "that one's mine"

she stands on a stump

and sing on the top of her lungs

yep, this girl is something fierce

and i'm here to go along with her

through this world

to teach

to learn

to give endless love to this girl

Singer Update

A few posts ago I wrote about how I'm swooning over a Singer Featherweight. Well, ask and ye shall receive!

I spent the weekend up in Elk with my ma and Jim. Just as we were packing up our things to go we started to talk about the sewing machine of my dreams. Jim replies, "My Grandmother's sewing machine is right there, lets see if it is what you're looking for." He pulls the sewing machine out and I just about choke, right there, the machine I've been wanting. Granted it's not a true featherweight, that just implies that it's smaller and more transportable. This is a hardier machine that's part of a table. So we started searching the serial number online and found out that it's from 1931. Jim got out a few tools and a flashlight and started tinkering with it, plugged it in, pushed the knee pedal and she just started running like it was 1931 again. No clanking, no sputtering, no smoke or fire. She hummed. She purred.

So Jim technically couldn't give it to me without asking his mom, Florence, first. We called her up and she was quite happy that the old family Singer would be back in commission! It needs a little cleaning up, some refinish work to the table but lo and behold, I have one. I have a tank of a sewing machine that only runs in straight lines but she'll outrun any of your machines any day.

Now a real lady needs a home to call her own. My "sewing room" aka blue room, aka catch all room, needs some cleaning out and new paint to welcome Mizz Singer home. I've decided on a granny smith apple green with cream trim. Maybe my first project will be some new curtains to replace the mini blinds (puke).

Pictures soon. Thank you Jim and Florence, I'll do your family proud.

Driving

Today I didn't get very domestic, just a loaf of banana bread. Maggie followed me around doing the sign for "more" and verbally saying, "mo, mo!" So I guess my half attempt at being somewhat creative turned successful for my biggest fan. It was raining for most of the day and we were feeling a little couped up so I loaded Mags into the car for a quick trip to Moscow. I ran out of hair gel this weekend and you who know me well know that I cannot survive without my gel. I just didn't want to hop onto the highway to town but find an alternative route via a dirt road. I found a great back road full of farms, rolling green hills, great vistas, gardens and beautiful homes. When I was in my early 20s I took drives all the time. Where ever I lived you would think I grew up there because I knew all those back roads so well. Now, as I drive home I pass so many great dirt roads and think to myself, "I have never been down that road and I've passed it 2 times a day for the past 3 years." Oh my 20 year old self would be so disappointed in me!

My goal this summer is take more aimless drives just for the heck of it.

Good things come in small packages

My mom has a little tradition. She gives all of her granddaughters a small gold ring for their first Christmas. I tucked Maggie's ring up high where it wouldn't be lost. We brought it down the other day and tried it on. Can you believe that it is too small for her except for her little pinky?

She loved to wear her little precious.

I can dream can't I?

I'm starting my Christmas wish list early. I've been hearing some good things about this little dream machine, the Singer Featherweight. They were built in the 50s (?) and don't do any fancy stitches past your basic stitch. These machines are built like tanks and last forever. And no, it's not one that you operate by pumping a foot pedal.

Just look at it. Isn't it beautiful?

They are also a little pricey. Anywhere between 200$ - 500$. But I sure want one.

Random pictures of our spring

Reading books in her fort.

Daddy, Mommy and Baby egg. Lucky chicken who layed that itty egg.

2

Cory's first ride in his car, even if it was being towed. Look closer at that towing set up. He is being towed by a 2 X6 because he doesn't have brakes at all, this way his car didn't crash into his buddy's car. Make sense? This made Cory very nervous, but he survived and now his car is in his buddy's more equipped garage.

Hey, at least he has steering.

Domestic Mondays

We are feeling a little lazy these days due to the tremendous amount of rain we are getting. If it wasn't for those pockets of sunny days we would be going crazy. (um yes, I am well aware that my zipper is down in this photo) I was able to get a few rows of seeds put into the ground and trying to patiently wait to put the rest of the plants in.

Today is Monday and on Mondays I get a little domestic. Today I made homemade fig newtons. I have noticed out of any sugary goodies out there fig newtons make my teeth hurt because of all that sugar. And that's coming from a sugar addict. So I found this great little recipe which has no sugar added. It goes a little like this:

Fig Apricot Bars

Crust:

3 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/8 tsp. baking soda

1/4 c. ground flax seed

dash of ground nutmeg and clove

1 stick of butter

1/2 c. whole milk

1/2 c. honey

2 eggs

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until tiny pebbles. Mix eggs, milk and honey with a fork add mixture to dry ingredients. Make dough into ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Filling:

2 c. dried figs

1/2 c. dried apricots

2 c. juice (your choice)

1 c. water

While dough is chilling, cook figs, apricots, juice and water over low heat until soft and fruit is reconstituted. I think this took about 25 minutes. I had a lot of juice left over and just poured it out. Puree in food processor. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pull dough out, divide into 2 halves. Knead about 10 times on a floured surface. Roll out to about pie crust thickness. Place bottom half on prepared sheet, spread puree mixture on top and then put second dough half on the top of mixture.

Put in oven and bake 15 - 20 minutes. 15 minutes cooked mine perfectly.

Let cool and cut!! Maggie, my official taste tester approved.

Mother's Day

My gift from Maggie, a cedar potting box decorated with her hand prints (as flowers).

My baby girl and I dressed up in our aprons, just for fun.

What to do, what to do...

So I was a blubbering mess saying goodbye to Cory and Maggie. They headed to Ellensburg for the weekend. I was so excited to have a weekend to myself but as soon as they left I sat on the couch and wondered what I should do. What did I do before Maggie!?

This is the first time in 26 months that I have been without baby, including pregnancy. Quiet feels weird. I have a list of things to do and all I can do is sit here.

A few weekends ago I went to a quilt show. I cannot believe how talented some women are. I've been trying to sew a little more and I was inspired by their creativity. Here is just a sampling:

Flowers and recipes

Maggie loves to pick our flowers. We are trying to teach her to just wave at the flowers but sometimes she just can't resist. I mean hyacinths look too good not to pick. Maggie is just so stinkin' cute to watch as she waves at the various flowers though out the neighborhood telling them all hi.

Here she is just being Maggie.

I enjoy my job. I enjoy talking to adults about things I went to school to learn. I like helping them, I like to listen to their stories and I enjoy my co workers, all except Brandon. But on Monday I had one of those days where it made me want to just stay home all the time. I love how Maggie stands up on a chair pulled up to the counter to watch me cook. I made her her first batch of play dough. I couldn't help but laugh as she tried to sneakily sample the dough. Mags took a three hour nap so I was able to get some sewing done. We went to the Salvation Army and walked out with some awesome finds. Oh it was a lovely day. I love my daughter

.

Do you have a prized possession? Family members excluded. Something that you would grab first if there was a fire? Mine would have to be my recipe box that my mom gave me for Christmas when I was 13. In it houses some of the best family recipes; my Aunt Ann's frozen strawberry dessert, Mama's sponge cake, Mrs. Stone's dinner rolls, Grandma Slack's bread pudding, my mom's sacred raspberry rhubarb jam, sister's peanut butter balls, or Sharon's chocolate chip cookies. I try to think about these women as I follow their recipes. I laugh at Sharon's chocolate chip cookie recipe as it calls for seven cups of flour. She has eight kids so you can see why she made cookies is mass quantities. Or how my aunt Ann's frozen dessert has you beat your egg and sugar mixture for ten minutes. This is no problem for me now as I have a Kitchen Aid mixer, but I have made plenty of batches with a much tired arm and memories of my mom sitting in her rocking chair in the kitchen beating the same mixture for ten minutes.

I collect recipe boxes. Not just any recipe box but the small metal ones as the picture above shows. They are pretty cheap. Five to ten dollars a piece. I get so happy when I find one of these boxes in antique stores or thrift shops and it's a major plus if they are already filled with some stranger's recipes.

One of the traditions that I have started for my nieces is giving them their first recipe box from my collection. I start them off ,just like my mom did for me, with a few family recipes and then tell them that they need to share one of their own favorite recipes with me! My niece Kelly is quite the cook and I love to see her recipe box bursting with recipes written in little girl hand writing. I wonder which recipe box Maggie will pick?

My recipe box.

Mother's day is on Sunday and my husband is giving me a great present. He's taking Maggie to his Mom's house for the weekend. I desperately need some alone time in my own home. I have a list that would take me a week to accomplish to do in 2 days. My house needs DEEP cleaning, I want to finish planting my garden, I'd like to go to the farmer's market and wonder through some antique stores. Maybe I'll find a recipe box or two to add to my collection.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there.

Dirt, Ribbons and Sunshine

Oh Mother Nature you heard my cry from my last post and you made amends. Thank you so much for today. And thank you Maggie for taking a nice long nap so Cory and I could get some work done outside. I cut all my roses down to the ground. I know this is something you should do in the fall, oh well. Our roses are pretty rag and rugged so hopefully this new start will do wonders for them. One of our chickens escaped while Maggie was saying hi to them. They used to huddle together, terrified when we came in, now the bolt for the door. We really don't mind if they spend some time pecking through the garden, but they wander, and they wander far. I bet my new neighbors got a chuckle as I was trying to herd Tula back into her pen with a rake. After Maggie's 2 hour nap I loaded the stroller and buckled Maggie in her car seat so her and I could go hang out at the Renaissance fair in Moscow. Prime people watching. This time it was different, I got to experience this fair with a child, and she LOVED it. They had all sorts of cool kid things for her to play with and she spent hours running barefoot, giggling as she ran through a ribboned dragon. It was really special to see her giggle at no one but the idea of running through a rainbow of ribbons shaped like a long dragon. She dug her toes into sand, listened to music and watched a performance of "Helen the Hoolahooper." She was not so impressed and neither was I with Helen. She slept hard on the way home but quickly regained her energy to run outside some more. Cory spent the day working on his truck. We is trying really hard to get it finished before his car club's car show in June. Tonight he got his engine in and the doors on so it's really starting to look like a truck! Maggie doesn't mind the car club guys with their long hair and tattoos. She doesn't flinch as they drop the f bomb. She doesn't know any better plus those guys turn into putty when Maggie is around, as they all have daughters at home. Bath time washed away all the dirt gathered from a wonderful day. Like I said before, thank you Mother Nature.

Our hurky lurky Spring

I am very disappointed in Mother Nature. It's like she forgot about the pacific northwest, leaving the meter set to winter. Every once in a while she gets elbowed while she's getting her fiery on in the South and she jumps with forgetfulness, "whoops! I forgot! It's Spring!" as she sets the dial back to Spring. Then her mind wonders as she goes on about her day and we get snow again. Are you mad at us right now mother nature? You seem awfully angry. I mean, the earthquake was bad enough for Japan, but over 200 tornadoes in one single day? Did Father Time stand you up? Did he not call you back and now you've turned into a spiteful temptress? Is revenge best served cold...literally?

I planted potatoes last weekend and I would rather you left them out of this, don't hurt them because you're angry. Plus I'd really like to get some seeds in the ground, if I can chip through the ice to get to workable ground.

I know I shouldn't be angry at you, especially right now as you try to redeem yourself allowing us to have a bit of sunshine. And wow, tomorrow you are warming us up to a balmy 60! But I can't let go of yesterday which never even got into the 40s. You see, I had a plan for this summer and that involved a good growing season so I could preserve all of my fruits and vegetables so they could nourish my family all winter long. Ok, I'll stop my crying. I really don't even get my seeds into the ground until Mother's day...so don't screw that up! I would like the temperature to be at least 65 that day. Ok? Make it happen woman!...I mean oh holy wise woman of all growing things.

Go

Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods?

And everything there feels as it should

You're apart of life there

You're apart of something good

Gardening

I've been thinking about our gardens this year. In previous years Cory and I have somewhat argued about what to put in our gardens. So this year we agreed that we each get one of the plots to grow whatever we want. Cory asked me what plot I wanted and I racked my brain trying to remember which one had the most morning glory. It's not that we have totally different views on gardening, we just have different opinions on what to grow. I want to plant veggies that last though the winter, Cory likes to plant a lot of tomato plants, I like to put a few flowers in my garden to keep the pests out, Cory likes to plant using the 3 sisters technique (which I like, but hate to harvest beans in the midst of corn because all of those itchy husk thingys always get down my shirt.) We like to garden together...but differently.

So this year I'm really trying to get more bang for my buck and we both agree that when we harvest our vegetables we need to actually dehydrate, can or freeze them before they go bad. Nothing is worse that regretting all the hard work you put into your garden by watching it rot or wither away.

So, in my plot I'm going to plant a few different varieties of potatoes. Side note: my mom's neighbor told me that I need to plant my potatoes on Good Friday and NEVER water them. Worth I try I guess, since I got this advise from a gardening master. Also, I'm going to plant a couple different squash plants. Another side note: I HATE to thin out my seedlings. I feel like I'm ripping a baby away from their mother. Ok, that was just a little dramatic, but I feel like those seedlings are so precious that I just can't bring myself to pull them out. But come August, I have squash taking over my garden so I know what I need to do this year, sniff, sniff. Also in my plot will be onions, a few different varieties, beans, Armenian cucumbers, if any of you want to taste the epitome of summer, plant Armenian cucumbers. You will not be sorry. Oh and I also want to plant some chard. I know I'm missing some vegetables, but it feels like my plot is already too full.

Well, as I look out the window I see two mud pits that I'm dying to get my hands into. I know it's way too early but the recent sunshine is beckoning me like a greek siren. It's playing tricks on me as we have months until we can really plant anything, besides my potatoes!

Do any of you out there have any fun advice/tid bits about when to plant certain vegetables? I love learning about them. Also, what are you planting in your gardens and what have you had the best luck with?

Crop Dusting

You know it's Spring on the Palouse when you start seeing crop dusters out. I LOVE seeing them flying about. ( I just try not to think about breathing in nasty chemicals). As I'm making my trek into town a yellow bird will catch my eye and I watch them dip and swerve and come in and out of view behind the rolling hills, and just when you think they had to have crashed they come zooming right above your head. What a wonderful view they must have from up there.

I have a good neighbor, Jamie. She is just the cutest thing! We get together every Monday morning for coffee and talk about baby stuff. She is the proud mama of little Gilly. What I love about Jamie is that she is an airplane mechanic for her family's crop dusting, flying service. When she told me what she did for a living I just about choked on my coffee, I was so impressed!! Her little Gilly bean goes to work with her everyday and hangs out in the hanger and will be up in the air soon with her mama. I'm so glad that she is my friend and that our little girls will grow up together. Plus, I can't wait to fly with her, did I mention she's also a pilot!!