coconut curry soup

2 chicken breasts

5 red potatoes

2 cups chicken stock (I used home made chicken stock that was pretty condensed, so you may need more to add flavor... also if it’s canned you may want to do without the salt)

8 cups water

2 cans coconut milk/cream

1onion

2 red bell peppers

2 granny smith apples

1 stick of butter

4Tbs cumin 

1Tbs hot curry powder

1Tbs fish sauce

1/8 -1/4  cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar

2tsp tumeric powder

1tsp cayenne powder

dash cinnamon 

dash ground pepper

dash nutmeg

pinch of natural sea salt

5 whole green cardamom seeds
*lime

*cilantro

*avocado

boil 2 chicken breasts in water/chicken stock until cooked through.  Pull out, shred (and debone and skin, if necessary), place back in stock.  Scrub potatoes cut into bite sized pieces and place in boiling stock.   Add coconut milk, cumin, curry powder, fish sauce, brown sugar, tumeric powder, cayenne powder, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, salt, and cardamom seeds. While boiling dice onion and red bell pepper and sauté with butter, in a sauce pan, till brown and tender.  Cut apples and mix in sautéed mixture till coated with butter then add all of the mixture to the stock pot.    You may need to add more water, depending on how you like your soup.  Simmer on low for 15-30 min.

Top with lime, cilantro and avocado.

Tiger's house

My girls have a few special (imaginary) friends.  It used to be one tiger, but then my eldest learned that tigers die.... so they started procreating...  now there are anywhere from 2-14 tigers in our house on any given day.

Since we're all living in the small living room of our house, while the upstairs gets a face lift, there really isn't room enough for 14 tigers.  Some time ago they moved into our water heater room, a great arrangement, except when the girls went to visit they would come out with some lost treasure (mostly stuff that got shoved in there by yours truly).  Was.not.working.out!

Anyways...

the tiger's house needed some work so one day the girls and i decided to help them out. Us, having opposable thumbs and all... and the tigers (who, at first were very put out) are now happier than ever.  

Before:

this is actually before we moved in
so it doesn't have all the crap that it did have a couple days ago.

 After:

and do you see that little zebra print stroller peeking out?
Yeah, I made that... well the cover anyways.  More on that later.

A whole new kind of art.

I'm seeing evidence of fall all over these parts.  I have to admit I am NOT ready, I love summer.  My parents gave me a tree for my birthday, though, a maple.  It makes my heart happy.  Seriously, I've never had a tree that turns anything but brown before the leaves fall to the ground. It's making the transition into winter almost exciting.

I looked outside this morning and thought "all of that beauty is just falling to the ground I want to save some of it". (dramatic? Yes! but true) That led me to a hole new world of art. The girls and I collected a few leaves and flattened them in a book... soon, very soon, we'll be pulling them to try out some yummy fall art.  

Under Construction

The last few months we've done a lot of holding of babies, and hammers.  As mentioned earlier we moved into our house only three days before the babe was born.  we've been been doing a lot of renovating... this house had been stuck in the 70s for way too long.  Walls coming up, walls coming down... paneling coming down, drywall going up... carpet coming out, wood floors going in.  Still a lot of work before winter hits, but we're making progress. 

Flip-flop Love

Made these cute little flip-flops a couple days ago for The Mar.  They're made of a tiny bit of left over fabric from a shirt, some shelf liner and a bit of bicycle inter tubing... because that's the way I like to do things.  

I'm considering writing a tutorial on how to make these little cuties, if there's enough interest out there.  Drop me a little line if you think this is something you'd like to make, and I'll see what I can do.  

Weren't you pregnant? Cont... #2

My mom is called to come on over, it must be getting close now *crossing fingers* Wonderful, awesome, amazing midwife, Susanne Scott and her assistant show up after labor has gotten intense again, even with the help of the tub I'm ready for this to be over and to hold my little one.  I figure it can't be long now and I'm done.... really, all I want to do is sleep. 

It's morning, maybe 7:00-ish? The sun is up and there are beautiful rainbows bouncing all over the walls, and even on my skin.  *This is something really cool about our new house... the sky lights cast rainbows around the living room all morning.* The sun helps a little for some reason, I feel a bit of renewed strength and determination.  This is the day my little love will be born! 

I'm being encouraged to move around a little, maybe get out of the water... what?!?!  I do stand up for a second, but that's as far as I get... no, the water is were I belong, it's saving my sanity.  I end up trying a few different laboring positions, but since it seems I'm having crazy back labor again, leaning forward is the most comfortable position by far.  I labor a bit more, the midwife checks me, I'm at 9cm she gives me some homeopathic something or other to reduce the swelling and a bit of honey for energy and I'm ready to rock-n-roll.

One push.... 

-Born sunny side up, in the caul, all natural, purple as all get out, in the water is my beautiful, over cooked, baby boy!!! 

What an awesome way to enter the world!

Water Color

There's a first time for everything... this was my first (since childhood) water color.  I don't pretend to know anything about it, and I know it's probably not the most impressive piece ever but it was a bit of a family effort -all of the trees are actually our (dan, the girls, and my) fingerprints- so it feels pretty special.  A gift for my mother for her birthday... it was fun little project.  

Oh yes, and any tips on how to water color for real would be lovely :o), I'd love to do another water color project in the future...

Why We Don't....

Note: This is an attempt to let you in on our beliefs regarding the celebration of Christmas and why they are.  My hope is only to explain myself in a way that would be fully informative and respectful.  It is not, in any way a judgment on your traditions, beliefs, or practices. 

Biblically: I'm unaware of any instance in the Bible were Jesus's Birth was celebrated on a specific day. There is little doubt that December 25th has nothing to do with the timeline of Jesus's actual birth.  It would seem from the bible that during the time of Jesus's birth the weather was warm and dry because the shepherds were still out in the field with their sheep (probably sometime in September).  So why is December 25th so special?

Traditionally: There are many pagan holidays that were/are celebrated during this time of year.  Most of them having to do with the sun starting to come back to life after the solstice (the days beginning to get longer).  In fact many of the traditions that Christian families practice during their celebrations came from these earlier pagan celebrations.  Including:

• Gifting of presents
• Gluttonous eating and drinking
• Lighting candles
• Kissing under mistletoe
• Bringing cut trees indoors
• Caroling -though at the time they were obviously different tunes having nothing to do with the Christ child.

Socially: This holiday seems to put exclamation marks between the "haves" and the "have-nots".  While the children in Africa get a little shoebox of trinkets our children are opening hundreds of dollars worth of stuff that will probably break in a few hours/weeks/months.  Not to mention those kids working 12-18 hours a day for next to nothing (and often times in abuse-full situations) to make all of the stuff that is bought.

Environmentally: Every year I see hundreds of beautiful trees leave our area to live in somebody's house for a month and then get taken to a landfill.  Houses are lit up as much as possible skyrocketing energy consumption.  Tons of new toys, clothes, and shoes are made causing more environmental pollution and waste. And anyone can see the overflowing trash bins the week following a Christmas celebration.

So what do we celebrate? We celebrate Jesus's birth, life, and sacrificial death.  We celebrate the anticipation of his return. We celebrate the changing seasons of the year and of our lives. We celebrate growing older and the love that Jesus has brought to us through friends, family, and community.

Mostly we celebrate with our everyday lives.  When we do celebrate with food and gifts (or treats and one of my good friends calls them) we try our best to make sure they are environmentally friendly, socially conscious, and typically home made.

Hiking, Camping, & Sailing... oh my!

Hiking

went on a 7 mile hike 1/2 was straight uphill (seriously, with steps and all.... could barely walk for the next few days) with Dan and the girlies.  They loved all the water!

[photo by Danny]

And this little girl hiked for almost 2 miles of it... all up hill! Dude, I'm so impressed.

Camping

[photo by Danny]

[photo by Danny]

Haven't been sense we started procreating (minus the one time some weeks ago in Mexico, but I'm not sure it counts because they had showers and a water park)... so glad it's back in our lives.  My favorite thing to do is watch those girls covered in soot, sap, bug bites, and scratches enjoy themselves, just as I did as a youngling, in the great outdoors.  This is the part of child raising that I had dreamed of all of my adult life... this is what I have longed to give my children.  I'm so happy that it was a success! Sati even cried when we left and said as we arrived at our front door, "I don't want to go in my house".  Oh what I've give to really be able to raise them outside all year long.

Sailing

We were a little nervous about taking our camera aboard so this is the only picture that we got of the boat.  I wasn't sure what I would think.  We've been planning to buy a boat and live life traveling around the World, loving on people as we go, for some time now. But would you believe it, this was our first time to actually go sailing.  It wasn't a big boat but it totally solidified our desire to leave the green and jump into the blue... it was so amazing!!!

[photo by Danny]

{I have no idea why there is that huge gap between the title and the rest of the post, too tired to mess with it anymore tonight... hope you're still able to enjoy}

W.I.P. Wednesday

Man Bag

For my guy, who's always on the go, a sling-it-over-your-shoulder-and-go kind of bag. So far it's carried everything from the lap-top to sliding gloves.  The goal was to make it small enough that he can take it anywhere, be it, in the car or on the long board... but large enough to fit the computer and its gear.  It has no zippers, no real buckles (just a few optional snaps for security), and only a couple pockets.  I wanted it to be very simple and versatile... successes! The burlap coffee bag ended up being just the right choice for the outside, having a great casual and unique look to it... and you can't forget about the *durability*, excellent for this active stud that I am so in love with.  He told me a couple weeks ago, "I really like my new bag, it's perfect". "Perfect?!" that man sure knows how to make my day! 

W.I.P. Wednesday

"Wedding Dresses"

Finally, I'm back.  I actually have a lot of WIPs to share, but I'm going to save most of them for next week.  This week I want to dedicate to one of my favorite recent projects (though, to be fair, I say that about almost all of my projects).  I made both girls flower girl dresses for my father-in-law's wedding.  Sati likes to refer to hers as her wedding dress... I love it.

When the girls were asked to be in the wedding I was thinking that they were going to want some specific dress that would end up costing a lot and would, in all likelihood, never be warn again.  But as it turns out the only requests they had were that the dresses be white and they come barefoot (I'm currently dreaming of being barefoot on that beach again).  How perfect is white for a beach wedding?  And to have a whole flock of kids, 10 in all, show up in beautiful white get ups I couldn't resist making a project out of it.

I didn't have a pattern with either of the girls dresses and they took longer than I anticipated (doesn't that always happen?).  The tops are crocheted using a shell stitch in front and a single crochet in back.  With Sati's I used a slightly larger hook (because she's bigger and I was running out of time).  The skirts are made with a linen over and a muslin liner.  When I got them all stitched together I decided that they could use just a little something to brake up all that white. That's were the sea shells come in.  I love how that added just the right amount of casual beachiness to our sandcastle princesses.

Here's a few pictures from the wedding: 

{W.I.P. (Work In Progress) Wednesday is a fun and stress-free opportunity for you to share whatever your crafty little self is working on with the rest of the blogging community. You are invited to showcase a project you’re beginning, working on, or maybe even finished with. There is no skill or talent-level requirement and you can share anything in any medium! ~ Musings from the Fish Bowl}

W.I.P. Wednesday

Progress

Over the coarse of a couple "nap times" I started making all that material into something.  It's still a work in progress, and it's going to have to stay that way for a little while (even though we're rapidly approaching warm weather) because I have more pressing WIPs to finish.  Danny's birthday is tomorrow and I'm still making his present (just thought of what to make earlier in the week, nothing like last minute), and a good friend of mine just had a baby that is in need of a new diaper bag.  I will be posting pictures of the finished products in the weeks to come (hopefully).  Until then I need your help in deciding something:

 

Should I make this little coat reversible?

{W.I.P. (Work In Progress) Wednesday is a fun and stress-free opportunity for you to share whatever your crafty little self is working on with the rest of the blogging community. You are invited to showcase a project you’re beginning, working on, or maybe even finished with. There is no skill or talent-level requirement and you can share anything in any medium! ~ Musings from the Fish Bowl}

W.I.P. Wednesday

A Coat for Sati

Admittedly it doesn't look like much yet.  I started it a few weeks ago and so far all I've done is cut it out.  Isn't this material awesome? Found it at a thrift store.  I patterned it (kind of) after a 2T jacket that she already has.  The only thing I'm really missing in order to finish it is the buttons (which I'm planning to make out of a recycled christmas tree). Hopefully the finished product will be up here shortly!


{W.I.P. (Work In Progress) Wednesday is a fun and stress-free opportunity for you to share whatever your crafty little self is working on with the rest of the blogging community. You are invited to showcase a project you’re beginning, working on, or maybe even finished with. There is no skill or talent-level requirement and you can share anything in any medium! ~ Musings from the Fish Bowl}


come join in the fun!

Fun Finds Friday

Praying in Color

A new (to me) way to talk to God. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I've always found it hard and a bit boring to pray. I know, I should (and really I do) want to spend hours talking to My Savior. It's just that every time I sat down to have a long conversation with The Lord I would end up falling asleep, or at the very least, loose interest and start day dreaming.

We were staying with some family and I saw that the lady of the house was sitting in the front room by herself coloring... I asked what she was working on. She said "I'm Praying in Color, have you heard of it? I think you would like it." and handed me a book.

I had no idea that there were other ways to pray than with your head bent, eyes closed, and hands together... So I borrowed the book! I took it home and read it cover to cover, and to tell you the truth didn't know what I thought. The basic idea is to draw your prayer. for example: writing the names of people you are praying for and drawing/coloring around that name while praying for them... but it's not just about praying for people, it works with just about anything that's on your heart. There were a few concepts that scared me a little, like praying without language (sounded a lot like meditation, and that word reminds me of some new age religion), but then I started to think about people that don't have a language (such as some of the deaf kids that used to come to us at the ranch, 12 years old and no language) ... and I do truly believe that they still have the ability to pray... so I let God out of this little box that I had put him in and here's what I learned:

• There's more than one way to pray.
• Hanging out with God (even not talking) can be amazing!
• "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly"
• God like's to work outside of the box (he's a creative God).

Start praying in color, or something equally as "outside of the box" and tell me what you think!

Plastic's Back

Actually, plastic is here to stay. And, in all honesty, it does have it's place. Using plastic for safety in car seats and bicycle helmets has probably saved a ton of lives and livelihoods. And where would we be in the medical field without it?

Plastic bags, however, do not. Filling our day to day world with thin plastic bags is not only terrible for landfills, the environment, and hard to recycle, but it's quite a safety hazard for children. Reusable bags are such an amazing alternative, even if they do initially stress the environment a bit with the production process. The canvas bags are heavier duty, have the potential to look really cool, aren't any kind of safety hazard to your family, and they're made to be reused! So, problem solved, right?

But what about the plastic bags that are already here? Lets put on our creative hats and repurpose them! We started using old plastic grocery bags as trash can liners (admittedly not the best way to use them, but a step in the right direction). We then started wondering if we could really reuse them in a sustainable way.... so we looked into it on the, oh so amazing, internet and found that people had been wanting to do the same things as we did. We saw some amazing things: bags, wallets, belts, earrings, broaches, and even a quilt made with plastic bags.

We took this idea and ran with it... the most recent adventure for plastic in our home was as soles for Sati's new shoes! Oh, the wonders of discarded plastic bags.

::Note: We use our reusable bags for shopping purposes, and only take plastic bags that have already been used and discarded by somebody else. We like to see plastic bags being fazed out of stores and are only trying to find creative, sustainable ways to use what is already here. WE DO NOT SUGGEST USING MORE PLASTIC (you know, like double bagging in target) IN ORDER TO CREATE THESE WORKS OF ART. But we would love to see what you come up with (ask your neighbors for their used plastic bags, or even raid the "to be recycled" bags at your local grocer)::

House Hunting...

We've been looking for a new place to rent sense January. I thought we would be somewhere by now because there are a zillion houses out there for rent. We've tried several times to get something. Every time the person seems to not want to rent to us (maybe because of the dreads... but one of the guys didn't even meet us). It's kind of annoying and our house is starting to feel like it's closing in on us. My projects are taking over the house and I really have no room to work on anything. Like I said... it's just annoying. We're not looking for anything fancy, or huge... just something that's set up a little better for our needs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

We just found he PERFECT house to rent, here in Portola. It has everything that we want....... but it's a lot little more than we can afford.

Just a few reasons I love it...

• I really feel that it would be a big step in getting our products out there, because we would have the room to make and store them (away from our little, grabby, dirty handed children).
• It has a large back yard, with a garden and a covered patio, that feels very private and open.
• WOOD STOVE: an item on our "must have" list (or at least our "want, really, really, want" list).... yep, has it!
• It also has a kitchen that is open to the dinning and living room with, get this, counters... I know, right? I would kill for counters.
• and because the floor plan is so open it would be awesome, AWESOME for game nights!

It's a much nicer house than we would ever need, but it's right by friends and would make it much easier to be a one car family. I know the owners, and some one has talked to them for us about the possibility of us renting it, but I have no idea how willing/able they are to come down on the price.

Oh, and did I mention, it's a block from the park?

*sigh* We shall see...

You Did What?

First we name our kid Marleigh (yes, like Bob Marley) and then we make her a little stoned stuffed animal. Does it sound to you like we might get hell for this when she can voice her own opinion about the tortures of her youth? -- Of coarse, that's why we're doing it now and not later... hehe.

What can I say, except that my heart beats to reggae music. Hope yours does, too, someday my little Marleigh. Until then, enjoy your little rastapus.

Radio Silent

Over here at the Harmon house we have been BUSY for the last few weeks! Here's a taste of what's been going on sense the last post.

I finished my dad's father's day present (left). A self standing screen with birch trees painted on it. It's made from the old fence at my parent's house that my dad and brother are now redoing (thrifty and meaningful... how cool is that?!) It took about a week, but with some perfect finishing touches from Danny it was done just in time to give it to him before our trip.

The day before we left I made a birthday present for one of my sister in laws (totally forgot to take a picture).

I'm scared to death of Sati loosing her monkey so just before we left (like hours) I decided that Mono needed a safe place to ride around on our trip. So I made a sling for his mama. She LOVES it, and I think Mono is happy, too.

.... and then it was finally time to head off to family camp in the redwoods for a week (here's a picture of all the kids... minus marleigh). We had a BLAST but are glad to be back home catching up on sleep