June 28, 2008
my dad rocks.
so does my mom.
but they call me a slave driver. i don't understand why? i only had a list of 23 things for them to help with. and we (i mean they) made it through #14. i was pretty sure that anything beyond #15 was going to be a pipe dream, but hey - a girl can dream, right?
dan came down with the good old fashioned flu bug on Monday, coupled with a viral gastro enteritis and even today isn't back to 100%. he hasn't worked since Wednesday morning, and pancakes this morning was the first solid food he's had, unless you count saltine crackers or jello! then yesterday i didn't work a full day b/c i was getting the same yucky tummy feeling. i slept 3 1/2 hours and spent most of the rest of the day on the couch.
read about and see where we were in April. since then, we've just been whittling away at it. mostly because of excessive exhaustion on my part b/c of Tiger's growth spurts, but also due to the departure of various friends...
your host for this episode : carrie; 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
the Tiger widget
i just figured out how to get the widget to work - and so now you can see our progress. you can click there on the link to the side and read all about the pregnancy, week by week. there's a different 3D graphic each week and the weekly news gets delivered to my inbox on Thursday for the next week (which starts on Sunday for us). the widget updates automatically.
and no we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. we don't mind either way and hope that you don't either. and even if the ultrasound tech doesn't heed our wishes to not know and she waves the wand over the parts that would let us know - we're not gonna tell you! so there ;-) if you see something really cute that's gender specific, you can buy it for us, but please get a receipt so it can be exchanged if it's the "wrong" gender. and remember we like orange...
i'm happy to report that all queasiness has ceased, the extreme exhaustion has subsided, and i'm in maternity clothes almost all the time. i have one pair of (low-rise) jeans that still fit, and a couple of non-maternity shirts that i can still pull off, but the belly is starting to peak out. i suppose soon we should start taking pictures of it, what do you think?
next on the docket is to write an entry about this past week: my mom and dad came down monday and were here until friday morning, slaving away on our back entrance and bathroom... stay tuned.
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:52 AM | Comments (3)
June 01, 2008
there's a new star of our show...
we've been on pins and needles for weeks to tell you... we are pregnant!!!
God has blessed us with another child - Tiger is our third, if you count the two that we've lost.
today marks twelve weeks and it was completely unaided. we had just started investigating fertility treatments and trying to figure out "what's wrong with us", gotten the test back that, while possible, our chances of a natural conception were low, and then three days later i ovulated and we conceived. praise God! we know so many people were in prayer for us for this, and we really feel like He has answered. i must say, the last year had been quite hard on me and i wasn't owning up to the grief that i was going through over the first two losses. when i started to own up to it and process through it, things really started to get better. we find it kind of amusing that our conception occurred on Easter, the day celebrated as Jesus' resurrection and triumph over death and sin. maybe "amusing" isn't the right word... fitting? ironic? such a blessing anyway.
more on "there's a new star of our show..."
your host for this episode : carrie; 08:09 AM | Comments (8)
May 21, 2008
first firing a success!
i took some pics of the process but by the time the pizzas started coming out of the oven i was Done taking photos. i made 31 personal pan sized crusts, stretched them once, and waited til people started showing up. then i stretched about half of them again - to accomplish a thinner but larger round, and let people start assembling their toppings.
the first two to see the fire were bare, except for some oil and garlic powder. they went So Fast, both cooking And disappearing! and then it was time to assemble and the fun began. mine was the 1st in, dan's was the last of the first go-round, then people started going for 2nds. after making a few for neighbors too, we have 3 crusts left. 3. of 31.
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:16 AM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2008
so close we can taste it!
while i've been busy with work the last couple of weeks, dan has been using every spare moment to work on the oven. saturday, which was forecast to be rainy, cold, and gray, saw him on the patio at least 12 hours. the sun was out most of the day, and only a couple of times did a threatening rain cloud go over... but never spilled a drop of rain. who-hoo!! the curing is complete, the dome is insulated, the shed around it is complete [except for shingling the roof and putting the front wall on (it got dark, ok?), and the someday job of stucco-ing or putting brick or tile on the walls], and cooking begins tomorrow! first guinea pigs are the folks from our house church. i get to start the fire around 4 in the afternoon. ingredients are assembled. dough is started (see recipe of 20 april). mouths are watering.
here's a photo journal from the last two weeks:
the artist surveying his work.
your host for this episode : carrie; 08:32 AM | Comments (3)
May 04, 2008
Head In The Oven
I spent the last week with my head in the oven... no literally, my head was in the oven quite a bit the last two weeks.
here are some photos of the last 2 weeks progress:
The dome has been done for a week now, this past week was spent working on the vent and the doorway arch. This week we focus on insulation, and enclosure, and the chimney (yes it will be taller than the 2 foot section in the photo).
Today was the first of a series of 7 curing fires... so we are on schedule for a full firing next week some time! We got so caught up in the excitement of the brief newspaper fire, and the fact that 98% of all the smoke went up the chimney (hurray!) that we neglected to take pictures of the flames licking the inside of the dome. Hopefully we will get some cool fire photos as we go through the curing fires this week.
your host for this episode : dan; 04:45 PM | Comments (1)
April 20, 2008
that big batch bread that i make
this is a recipe i copied out of a book that holly got from the library months ago. i've been making it with great success. in fact brother scott in georgia got a loaf for christmas and their complaint was that they had to share it with so many people at christmas dinner instead of having it all to themselves!
be forewarned if you're going to attempt this: it'll take you 3 days and will require a Very Large Bowl, as in the Mega Bowl by Tupperware (42cup/10L capacity). I've put the timing in there for a Saturday firing of the oven.
a note on flour: we prefer to use is high-gluten unbleached flour. it's hard to find unbleached, unenriched flour in massive quantities, so we are looking into buying a mill and grinding our own. stay tuned for that.
more on "that big batch bread that i make"
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:59 PM | Comments (1)
The End Is Near...
Yesterday was spent working more on the brick oven... from the time I went to bed friday night, until about 4:30 when friends from out of town came over for dinner... Pizza, a trial run for the dough recipe that we will likely be using once the oven is complete (watch for the recipe on line soon).
I didn't sleep much trying to figure out how to make the transition from the dome to the doorway arch, and how to make the doorway arch, since I had put the jam bricks on a 45 instead of 90... too many angles....
Here are some photos of the progress.
The end is near...
your host for this episode : dan; 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
House Work
So we've been working on the house the last couple weeks, but haven't updated you all on our progress. We've been double hitting, actually too. Two Saturdays ago, on the 5th, the dog Nacoma went back to Wick and Kristen, and the rest of the day, Dan worked on the oven while I whittled away at the bathroom by the kitchen. We were all of 15 feet apart - if that even - and could talk through the open window.
I started by taking down the plastic that we'd hung over the window and drywall when we moved in. See, the paint was already peeling 2 years ago and we knew it was going to be some time before we could get to this project. We figure that the tub was an addition in/around the 1950s when the lady of the house couldn't climb stairs anymore. There was an existing 1/2 bath there, with a window onto the back porch, a 4x12ish space fully within the square footprint of the house. So, in the 50s we figure they knocked out this window, poked a hole in the concrete porch slab for a drain to be run to the basement through the canning room, and enclosed the whole area, with a wall to separate the new mud room from the now-larger bath. The ceiling, however, over the tub was right at about 6'4" and for my 6' husband this made showering there a bit of a challenge, I'm sure you can imagine. And also increased the amount of moisture coming into contact with the drywall. Thus the plastic.
So I took down the plastic, the shower curtain, the fixtures and then started hacking at the drywall itself. I started with a utility knife, but found that just banging it with a hammer and then using a wonder-bar (that magical little flat crow bar deal-eo) was much more effective, not to mention fun. Once the drywall was out around and above, I removed the stinky old, smelly old, musty insulation and put it in a big garbage bag to await the enclosure of the oven. :) Recycled has a pretty good R-factor if you ask me. We're going to try to go up to the old porch ceiling in the new shower enclosure, and tile it floor to ceiling, wrapping the header with tile too. The space is approximately 4.5 feet by 5, so it's a rather large shower space, but for a husband who often finds himself in poison ivy during his work day, I'm happy to provide a roomy shower just inside the back door for him to hose off before coming into the rest of the house. And it'll be great for washing the someday dog and the someday children, right?
Late Saturday, still the 5th, I got out the sledge hammer and started smacking the tub itself. Took me quite some time to get a whole beat along the top edge of the tub, and swinging a sledge has a tendency to make a novice tired quickly, and so I gave up. We ate, I showered (to get the sticky, smelly, musty bits of insulation out of my hair especially), and we went to bed. We took Sunday off, as is our custom, as a day of rest. We sat on the patio in the lovely, long-missed sun, grilled lunch, and read together (different books, but next to each other). It was Monday night when we (mostly Dan) finished sledging the tub to tiny bits and carried it outside to await a trip to the scrap yard. We got more than 40 bucks for a 4' tub! But then spent most of it getting rid of the drywall and other stuff at the dump. Anyway, at least the tub didn't get land-filled.
The 11th was my birthday and my parents came down for a visit and we put them to work. Dad and Dan finished the demo and wrote a shopping list and Mom had a coupon about to expire for 10% off your whole purchase at the Home Dot so, even though we're weeks from ready for them, we went and purchased the tile and backerboard. We're going with Subway tile, like we have upstairs, but in white instead of bone. Home Dot stocks these, and if we need to buy 3 more tiles, we can buy 3 more tiles. I had a thought to leave the brick exposed but we've decided no to do that because a) it wouldn't "fit" the style of the house and b) if you slip in the shower and fall against that wall, you'd have some pretty serious road rash. Among other things at the Home Dot, we also bought water faucets for outside, so now we'll have hot and cold water right at the bar sink on the patio. Our plan was to just run a hose from the outside spigot to the sink; it's only about 8 feet. But then, having the tub out and that wall exposed, we decided to just go with it or we'd regret it later, and so we did. Now we have hot and cold water faucets outside. It turned out to be an expensive birthday but it was nice to spend it with family.
Mom and Dad took us out for dinner Friday and then bought things for dinner Saturday and we invited Dan's parents over too, and surrogate siblings Dave and Nettie, and we had birthday dinner Again! Just yesterday we finished those leftovers!
Dan keeps slowly plugging away on the oven, a "chain" at a time. Each brick takes a few minutes to prep and set before you can move on to the next one. He had a lot of foresight to spend a few evenings in winter cutting the bricks all in half, so this has really sped up the process of prepping and setting. We are now at the point where the dome is meeting the arched doorway. The online forum he's part of doesn't have the details on how to make those two rounded and arched parts come together, so there has been a lot of head scratching lately. He's out there already this morning in fact, but I thought it was time to bring you all up to speed.
your host for this episode : carrie; 08:07 AM | Comments (1)
April 07, 2008
Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
I adapted this one from a recipe I found on recipezaar.com.
Diane just asked me to make it when she comes over next week. I need to make sure I have all the ingredients in house and while I had the recipe up I thought I'd also put it on here.
more on "Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup"
your host for this episode : carrie; 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
