spicy soup and goings on....

Molly's Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 large bone/skinless chicken breasts, cubed in 1-inch pieces
1-2 red bell peppers, diced
1 onion, diced
1.5 cups frozen corn
1 can pinto or black beans, undrained(or not, you decide)
1 can no-salt diced tomatoes
1T olive oil
2 broth cubes
8 cups water
2T chili powder
1.5tsp cumin
1T garlic powder
1tsp file gumbo
1tsp oregano
dash cayenne pepper
(all spice measurements are approximate, I pour straight from the jar, no spoons involved!)

Cook chicken, onions and peppers in olive oil over medium-high heat until veggies are soft and meat is about half done. Add broth cubes, water and spices. Cover and
cook on med-low for about an hour. Serve soup ladled over a handful of crushed tortilla chips and about 2T grated cheese. Sour cream on top is optional but does make it ooooh so good!


In other news...

The kids and I pulled up most of the carpet in the living room yesterday!!!! We have a section about 10x6 left but Mark will have to help us move some large furniture first. We'll continue scraping glue today. I am excited about how this will end up looking but nervous about my glass dishes. Sarah drops things like nobody I've ever seen! We may have to invest in some good plastic cups.

I'm going this morning to get milk for our co-op and hoping the farmer has brought some butternut squash to the dairy for sale. The last two were wonderful but I didn't get much out of the watermelons and cantelopes we bought from him.

That time of year again...

NINETEEN years ago I married this man! And I love him more than ever.

Ready for Fall....

Colors burst in wild explosions
Fiery, flaming shades of fall
All in accord with my pounding heart
Behold the autumn-weaver
In bronze and yellow dying
Colors unfold into dreams
In hordes of a thousand and one
The bleeding
Unwearing their masks to the last notes of summer
Their flutes and horns in nightly swarming
Colors burst within
Spare me those unending fires
Bestowed upon the flaming shades of fall.
-Dark Tranquility, With the Flaming Shades of Fall

But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees - C. S. Lewis

I am SO ready for the Autumn season! And really, really ready for the rain to stop already. Please? I think we're on day 8 of rain or something like that. Possibly up to 10 inches or more so far. I now realize that what I love is a good, dramatic, thunderstorm rather than incessant dripping, dripping rain.

Fall sports some of my favorite colors, the temperature is more agreeable, and there is just something about the angle of sunlight that seems more beautiful than other times of the year.



(on the side of the house)


(looking out to our front yard)


(sunset from our driveway)


(over the pool fence)

Anyway...



We lost our sweet Puppy-girl a few days ago, unexpectedly but not. She would have been 15 years old on October 7th and had declined in health over the summer. We are sad to see her go but glad she won't suffer through another unkind winter.

I have a felty crafty thing going on but can't share pictures yet because the camera is with the kids in North Carolina. Its based on this cuteness from turkey feathers(in my blogroll) but will be a banner(and a necklace) instead of a mobile. I made Mark go collect leaves for me last weekend while we were watching football so I'd have something to keep me occupied in between touchdowns. If I can figure out how, I will share the patterns here.

We are collecting the kids this weekend in Birmingham. I can't wait to get them home so we can get back into a routine. Sarah has missed 3 weeks of AWANAs so she'll have lots to work on. Amy and Ryan are anxious to see their friends again. And, I'm ready to have some noise in the house during the day! It has been too quiet here.

Piggers Free to Good Homes....

Locally of course. Landlords are wanting us to downsize our pets.


(Echo's pretty side)


(Echo's other pretty side, and Basil)


(Meadow, sister to Echo, Sundae is their mom)



(Moonshine, Basil's son)



(Stella, the Peruvian beauty)


(Sundae-mom to Meadow and Echo, Panda, and Rainbow-Moonshine's sister)


(Basil, daddy to Rainbow and Moonshine)

Ages(approximate): Basil 3.5, Moonshine and Rainbow- 2.5(born March 31st, 2007), Sundae- 2ish(born December 2007), Stella(acquired September 2007, age unknown), Panda- 2.5(born April 6th, 2007), Meadow and Echo- 1.5(born April 9th, 2008).

Cages are included with the sets. Girls will all go together unless someone already has a suitable cage and can take either Stella, Rainbow and Panda or Sundae and Meadow as sets. Boys are bonded and need to stay together. Bedding, water bottles and hay will be included.

Weekenders....

After careful consideration we decided to wait until the kids were back before we took on the major project of removing our carpet. Ryan is 16 and 6 feet tall so he needs to be in on this rather than his mom!! We've had other things to do, like clean the utility room, the kitchen, the girls' room, bookshelves, etc. It hasn't been all work though, we've done some listening....



And laughing too...



Next Saturday we'll head out to collect the kids from my parents. They are having a good time but I suspect at least Ryan is really ready to be home.

Apples don't fall far...

My kids are taking after me in ways I'd sometimes rather they did not. This is a water snake of some kind that had been about to enjoy a meal of bullfrog... Until Ryan yanked it from the water and stuck it in this bucket. It measured about 33 inches long. They did release it after an hour or so, it was too aggressive for them to hold.
(click any image to see it bigger)


Remember this cutie pie that I found in the woods back in early April?...



He has turned into a giant hair-eating monster!!!


**
And his cohorts have taken up all the good places to sit.


**

In other news...

We've decided to start on the carpet next weekend. We found the tools we'll need and have been encouraged by other folks' successes. I think we're going to paint the kitchen this week, at night. I've also got plants to pot and some yardwork to get done during the days. Fun, Fun!!

** taken with Mark's phone camera.

For Susan...

In memory of my friend Susan's dear husband Vann Cleveland, gone way too soon from this earth.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Farm blogs....

Your rainbow is shaded brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate the roughness of nature. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I found this little quiz at Quilted Simple, a new blog I stumbled across this afternoon.

Since I don't have the kids this week I'm supposed to be doing all sorts of things around the house. Yesterday my back was bothering me and today I have a headache so I'm blog hopping. Now, I am NO farmer or gardener, I have a black thumb and no land to support any kind of farming but I'm fascinated with it all and love reading about other folks trials and triumphs. Here are some of my finds:

Sugar Creek Farm

Children in the Corn

Jericho Settler's Farm

Tiny Farm Blog

Rock Garden Project

stony run farm

Skippy's Vegetable Garden

Bonnie's Sustainable Blog

Firesign Farm

Hen and Harvest

Enjoy!