Coming to terms with aging.

A while back I bumped into a former high school crush. He had gained quite a bit around the middle, and his hair was thinning. (he was still as charismatic as ever though) My first thought was, wow, we're getting old. I don't feel like I look very old yet, but I do have some gray hairs, and wrinkles around my eyes. I've also noticed that it takes cuts and scrapes (and mosquito bites) longer to heal than it used to.

As a child I remember being told I was beautiful by my aunt. I've since wondered if she told me that primarily because she believed it, or because she worried about my self esteem since I had scarring on my face from having a birthmark removed. Whatever her reasons, I've always believed it, and am actually a little vain (well sometimes I'm vain, other times not so much). So I worry a little about getting old.

As old as I might feel at times now, I know I'm still pretty young and healthy, but what about when the few gray hairs turn into a head full, and the wrinkles fill up my face so much that a grandchild says something to the effect of "your face is full of cracks", like I said to my grandmother. Will my appearance become less important to me? Will I feel like I need to start wearing the full array of makeup? Will I be depressed that I'm no longer culturally considered young and attractive (well, attractive is relative, but you know what I mean).

The natural look has worked well for me, and I'd hate for that to change.

How do you deal with the fact that you can't stop aging? It's coming for you. Do you welcome it, or run as fast as you can for anti-aging products?

Chickens in Woods Cross?

My friend S emailed me about this, so I looked it up on the WX city website:
Notice is hereby given that on June 2, 2009 at 6:30 P.M., at the Woods Cross City Municipal Building, 1555 South 800 West, Woods Cross, Utah, the Woods Cross City Council will hold a public hearing to consider a proposed amendment to the City Zoning Ordinance. This amendment details the conditions for keeping urban chickens within the R-1-8 and R-1-10 zones.

You are invited to attend this meeting to provide your input. If you wish to comment or are unable to attend, or have any questions, contact the Community Development Director at 292-4421. All exhibits and materials are available for review at the Woods Cross Municipal Building at 1555 South 800 West, Woods Cross, Utah.

I've been collecting articles on keeping chickens in urban or suburban areas, and it's becoming more and more common- people realize the benefit of having fresh eggs as part of their food storage, and also what fun pets chickens can be.

If you live in, or know anyone who lives in Woods Cross, attend the meeting, or write the city council to encourage them to allow backyard chickens.

Things to keep in mind:

-Hens don't need roosters to lay eggs, so fear of noisy crowing doesn't have to be a concern.
-In their prime, hens can lay nearly an egg every day. Three or four hens can provide more eggs than a family can eat, so you can give eggs to friends or neighbors.
-If you keep chickens in your backyard, you know if they're healthy, and you'll be assured the eggs are high quality.
-Fresh eggs are much better in cooking.
-A few hens don't need a lot of space, and using the deep litter method, don't stink, and don't require very much care.
-Hens are fun pets, especially if you raise them from chicks.
-Hens will provide fertilizer for your garden, and eat bugs.

One-Hour Bread

Ann's Best Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 C hot tap water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp gluten flour
1/8 C vegetable oil
3/8 C honey (I used 1/4 cup instead because that seemed like a lot of honey)
6 C whole wheat flour (I grind my own, no guarantees if you use store bought)
1 Tbsp Saf-instant yeast

Using a mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine water, salt, gluten flour, oil, honey, and half the four. Mix until blended, then add the yeast and the rest of the flour just until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. The dough will be sticky. Be careful not to add too much flour, it will dry out the bread, Cover and let the machine knead for 5 minutes. Remove the dough hook, cover, and let rise for 10-15 minutes. Oil a cutting board and lightly oil your hands. Turn the dough out onto the board and divide into loaves. Do not overwork the dough. Let raise once more for 10-15 minutes. For standard six loaves bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and small loaves for 22 minutes. Makes 2 standard sized loaves.

I've never used gluten flour or Saf-instant yeast before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The bread is good, it's chewier than my usual recipe, but not overly so. For how fast and easy it was, it's very good bread.

May Picture Round Up

Automatic chicken waterer- the end of the soaker hose (which is on an automatic timer) drips to fill the butter container (with the bigger container to catch the leftovers- the kinks aren't totally worked out yet, but I'm hoping it will allow us to be gone for a day or two without worrying about watering the chickens).

Leaves from last fall mixed with the neighbor's grass clippings make a nice hot compost pile.

Mother's day breakfast in bed (sorry it got turned sideways somehow). If you're wondering why the omlet looks neon-yellow, it's because we've been feeding the chickens lots of lettuce and other food scraps, which makes the yolks a lot darker.

A good rain storm turned our dry riverbed into a rain garden. I think this is the closest we've come to having the water overflow onto the sidewalk. It didn't, but it looked like it might for a little while.


A lot of the water comes from this downspout, but we also have a tube hooked up to a backyard downspout that runs underground until it comes out in the rocks just above the downspout pictured.

My Mister building our dog poop digester.

Digester in place, ready for use. (we've been using it for a couple of weeks now, without noticeable smell!)

J's last soccer game of the season- he really started doing well, being more aggressive this spring. I enjoyed being his coach, and I'm glad it will be someone else's turn next fall.

Tomato plants.  We used the walls of water (the green things on the grass next to the tomatoes) on about half of the plants, and the plants that are not covered are about half the size of the ones that are- I guess walls of water are useful even after threat of frost has passed.

This was our first successful attempt at starting from seed, I transplanted into cups several weeks prior to planting, and was amazed at how much the roots grew during that short time. 

Because CP is so darn cute:


J "losing" his 3rd baby tooth. The funniest thing was that the tooth went flying and was temporarily lost under the stove. We found it, and the tooth fairy found a note from J apologizing for the tooth being dirty. It was very sweet. Luckily the tooth fairy has a tooth washer.

CP helping dad build the shed (made from nearly all scavenged materials- we bought cement blocks to put under it and nails so far- gotta love dumpster diving).

A helping dad.

Moving parts into place. The walls aren't nailed in place yet, we just had them standing up to see how things would fit. It's going to be awesome.

What do you do for fun?

I can't remember what I used to do for fun when I was single.  I'm sure there was something.  I guess I liked reading, listening to music, shopping, playing my guitar, hanging out (is it just "hanging" now?) with friends.  

After I married my Mister, and even more so when J was born, I couldn't answer if someone asked me what I did for fun.  

Last week, someone asked me that, and I surprised myself with how many things I thought of.  I think maybe it just took me awhile (nearly 10 years?) to figure out how to be a wife and a mother and still be me, and have things that I do for myself, for fun.  

Running the 1/2 marathon was really good for me in that way- It forced me to put myself ahead of other things.  I had to run, or I wouldn't be able to make it through the race, so instead of running if I had time, I made time, I let go of some other things in my life and made running a priority.  Sometimes it messed up dinner times or nap times, but we all survived, and I'm happier because of it.  

I'm cutting back running to three times a week now that the race is over, but I plan on keeping my running time a priority.  It makes me feel good, gives me more energy, and it gives me time to think about whatever I want to think about.  Same with gardening.  I love getting my hands dirty, and watching things I plant grow.  Right now the raspberry canes I planted awhile back are starting to sprout tiny leaves and it makes me happy to know that I did that (and especially happy about the berries, I can't wait!).

So when someone asks you what you do for fun, what do you say?  (I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to realize I have a better answer than "I know I used to have things I liked to do, but I can't remember what they were".)

Baking Day

A spurt of energy, aging bananas and lack of things to eat results in this:

I had to open the oven to take this picture.  Whole Wheat Bread

Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Artisan Bread Dough (to put in the fridge and bake later in the week)

Strawberry Jam

I found strawberries for a great price, and bought 12lbs.  I spent the day making three batches of low-sugar jam.  I think I ended up with 6 pints and 13 half pints.  Hopefully that will be enough to get us through the year.  Between PB&J's and yogurt, we go through a lot of jam.  We also have a bowl full of sliced strawberries to eat.  

I find that I feel less overwhelmed by things when I've been getting stuff done.  A shelf full of strawberry jam certainly doesn't hurt (but drat, we're out of regular bread, guess what I'll be doing tomorrow).  I finished the last slice with a thick layer of the jam foam (I love Jam Foam...for a random flashback of jam foam drama, and a description of what jam foam is if you don't know, see here),

In other good news, I now have a ceiling fan in my bedroom (and really nice sheets, I can't wait to go to bed tonight!) so the warm weather isn't going to make it hard to go to sleep and I won't have thoughts about turning my AC before my mom does.  

My tomato seedlings are getting bigger and bigger and are doing well outside.  They've been out all day so far with no signs of sunburn (although it has been overcast) so hopefully they're about done with the hardening off process and I can plant them after this next storm passes.  Saturday maybe?

The surviving chicks seem to be doing well, they enjoyed a nice treat of strawberry stems today and were very happy.

Soccer practice & Game tonight, and then I can crash.  

Lunch with friends tomorrow, then a play date (and bread making somewhere in there).

Soccer game on saturday, and maybe I'll take the kids and go for a bike ride.  I might make it through the weekend!

Overwhelmed

It's finally spring, the chicks have been doing fine with our older hen, and I've been feeling pretty good, then this weekend, I felt so frenzied with all the activities we had, and feel a little overwhelmed with all the stuff going on this week, and My Mister heading to Moab for a few days.  

Add on today's events and I'm ready to climb into bed.  This morning I took the chicks out to the coop and left them there.  Several hours later I hear much squawking, and run out to see Taja over one of the chicks.  I have no idea how they got out.  The one I caught her with seems to be okay, but will need some antibiotics and to be separated so the other chicks don't peck her injury.  She's missing most all the feathers on her back, and might have some small puncture wounds.  After I brought that chick inside, I noticed that there were only two of the small chicks in the kennel.  I looked inside the hen house, and they weren't there either, so I started looking around the yard and eventually found two piles of feathers on opposite sides of the yard.  We're down to the older hen and three chicks now, assuming the injured one survives.  

Then this afternoon, J arrived home from school with a sore on his lip- where he said another boy slapped/punched him.  There was apparently also a headlock involved- having something to do with J getting off the bus before him.  I hate speaking on the phone and having to confront people, so this was not easy for me, but I called the boy's mom to talk to her about it.  It went okay, and I hope that it doesn't happen again.

I'm in the mood where I'd like to go to sleep and have a good dream and maybe not wake up until life calms down a bit.