Saturday, October 18, 2008

Medical update. New family member

Wow...have I really been away from my blog for so long.

Here's for trying better.

Update. My health is improving and I am hopeful that I will be finished with IV antibiotics in just a couple of weeks. I have had my PICC line since the July 24th (Utah's Pioneer Day) weekend, I hope to be done in time for Halloween. Fourteen long weeks. I will not be sorry to see that IV pole go.

Oseomyelitis is not my friend. Modern antibiotics are. They have saved my life.

So we are a family of 7 now. We have a boy, a boy dog that is. Milo came to live with us a couple of months ago and we love him. He is my dog. Eldon got him for me. I have wanted a dog for a long time, but I knew I was in no position to train a puppy. I wanted an adult dog that was already trained. I didn't want a small dog...(that whole Hollywood dog in a purse wearing jewels is really not me) well, Milo is a Giant Snauzer. He is giant indeed. We all love him very much, his temperment is great. He is my dog. He follows me everywhere. He cried at the door if I go outside without him...he sleeps on the floor by my side of the bed. He follows me if I get up to pee in the night. He is everything I wanted: patient with kids, loyal, and really, his bark and size would scare the crap out of a prowler. He is also cute.
Pictures to follow.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Confessions of a Bunny-hugger


Confessions of a Bunny-Hugger




From the urban dictionary


Bunny-Hugger: Someone who likes animals, a person who cares about the environment and endangered species, a person who eats alot of tofu.




So, I guess I am a bunny-hugger, but not *literally* I remember we got a rabbit for Easter one year, and when my little sister and I tried to hold and hug it, it scratched the crap out of our arms.




I like pets, we have alot of them. I guess you would call me a "crunchy granola" kind of girl, I don't really wear make-up, I like to wear long skirts, I enjoy folk music.




For about half of my life I was a vegetarian of some sort. It was part choice and part compulsion. But this all ended a couple of years ago. I was pregnant and anemic...I woke up one morning to the smell of Eldon cooking bacon...mmmm....bacon....Well, I ate meat that morning and haven't turned back.




Here's my confession: I eat meat. And I like it.


However, I do try to make good choices. For my family, my health, the environment.




After MadCow, and the whole Ecoli-spinach deal, well, I like to know where my food comes from.




When we lived in SLC we usually had a big garden, but it was against city codes to keep hens for eggs, or keep any "farm" animals...So when we moved we had big plans for growing our own meat....Great ideas! Well, one Sunday evening we got a phone call from the postmaster of our tiny town...Our chicks were in, and they were making alot of noise...Before, chicken was so easy, all wrapped in celophane, already cut into boneless-skinless portions. Now, we had 30 little fuzzy chicks...that we were going to...GULP...eat. Kill, the eat. I was re-thinking my bunny-hugging days.


I wasn't sure I could do this: teach these birds to drink, bath them, feed and water them, name them, listen to their clucking, watch them scratch and preen.


But, after 10 or so weeks, Eldon and I harvested our chickens. It wasn't really that hard. It was messy, and a huge ammount of work (mostly for Eldon) but it just felt right. That was what we had raised these birds for.


It was a beautiful thing, actually. My birds had been happy, they had access to sunshine, and fresh air.


And really, sitting down with my family, to a meal of chicken & dumplings, knowing all of the hard work we had put into this meal, well it brought me alot of satisfaction.


I had provided for my family.


And really, home-grown food tastes so good...our chicken has a totally different taste and texture than mass produced chicken does. The broth is so dark and rich, full of collagen.




Well, there's my confession...I eat meat. And I like it.






Thursday, March 6, 2008

Just wanted to send this link....I am "famous" I am in the Deseret News...

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695259128,00.html

Monday, March 3, 2008

Eating Locallly....Yesterday was a beautiful day, the temperatures cooled off just enough that we made the decision to "harvest" some of our meat chickens we have been raising.Since we are new to the rural life, my good friend Jenny was a great help. Jenny has raised and slaughtered alot of her own meat, her sons hunt as well...so she knew what she was doing!I am happy to report that the Talley-chicken chopper worked very well, it's only flaw was that it wasn't quite heavy enough....but E.T. did a great job ending the bird's lives quickly and painlessly.Alot of people in my family (namely, my Mama) think is it crazy, like off-your-rocker-crazy to raise your own meat....but after the big Mad Cow scare, and then the E-coli spinach deal last fall, Eldon and I have made it a goal to know where our food comes from.....what a learning process!We have read several books about food, and in the lastest one by Jane Goodall (the ape lady) I was moved to tears when she shared a story about a homeless man from Inner-City Chigaco who sobbed when he learned he had been hungry and even starving most of his life and "Food comes out of the ground!?!?" In the same book, only 2 out of 20 8-10 year old school kids knew that potatoes grew IN the ground, and only 4 of them could identify a kiwi......Food is such a big deal, and Eldon and I have made a goal that we would like to grow as much of our own food as we can...sadly, because of my picc line and MRSA infection we haven't grown a garden ( lucky for me a master-gardener lives right down the road...hint...hint...Mr. SRJ ) but my neighbors have been sharing their bounty of fresh squash and peppers, and my friend Jenny has been giving us milk from her Jersey cow, and last night she gave me some broccoli! Nothing, nothing tastes better than fresh food!So, friends, give me some of your feelings on food, eating locally, growing gardens etc.....I will spare you senstive readers the photos of the chicken heads and feet that were littering the garage floor.....so gross!! But, really, my hope is that my girls will realize where all of the McNuggets come from!I love input and comments...Kate
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This short Essay on "being in the moment" was published in a magazine last fall...Enjoy
This is an essay I wrote in my journal last fall. I hope you like it.Embracing NowI was feeling under the weather, but not super sick..just kind of yucky. It has been really cold and snowy, which always throws my arthritis into fits. I put my girls down to bed early with a good book, and at 7:30 last night I got in the tub for a nice soak…things never really work out the way a Mama of four plans it, and soon baby Em was crying for me. I had Eldon undress her and put her in the tub with me.I was worn out and Emme was too. I used this safe, quiet moment to talk to her and hold her. I have been trying to wean Emme, she is 15 months old now, and this is the longest I have breastfed, but she has been so tiny….she doesn’t tolerate dairy, or soy….well excuses could go as long as my arm, but *truely* I don’t want to quit nursing because I know she is my last baby!So we enjoyed a warm bath together and while we were snuggling she latched on to nurse. I was smelling her fine, whispy hair and she looked up at me with her huge blue eyes, she blinked them once, very slowly. She brought her tiny little hand up and rested it on my chest, right on my heart..oh! My eyes filled with tears. My heart was filled with love.Sitting in our warm little womb of water, eyes locked, her mouth on my breast and her so tiny hand resting right on my heart…I put my hand on top of hers and just lost myselft in the moment. Children grow up so fast. It is hard to keep it all in perspective when I am so tired from too much work, not enough sleep….but in the grand scheme of things this baby time is so short! During that time in the bath tub with Emme, my heart was about to burst…I love her so much. It felt so good to be there, warm and safe. I knew I could provide everything she needs, and I could keep her safe. I wish life could just stay that way for all of my children….for every Mother’s Child.I love times like these, when I can forget about the past, not worry what the future will bring and just allow myself to partake in NOW…How sweet it is…Love and light to you all
Just one reason I can't stand Wal-Mart

So today is Thursday...and the last day Eldon has off.. I am trying to talk him into going to the grocery store with me. You see, I hate doing it all by myself, and well, taking all of our kids to the store is a little like suicide..I will share just a couple highlights from the last trip I made to the store...with 4 kids....alone....duh, duh, duh It was Eliza's birthday, and her dad had given her a big fat $100 bill for her birthday, and she wanted me to take her to the store. Eliza wanted to buy herself some lip gloss. I thought ok, sure, we will pick up the groceries for her Birthday dinner and cake while we are there.Eldon had a friend over, they were in the knife shop, so I knew he wouldn't keep the baby, no big deal....well, Julia (8) gets wind of the fact we are going to Walmart and wants to come, Chloe (3) hears about it and want to come too....So I load all 4 of the girls into the van for a quick trip to Walmart..So we are shopping, and I tell Eliza(11) that she really should save her $100 for a big purchase, and not nickle and dime it away, so she thinks she might like to buy a skateboard...we are looking at the bikes and skateboards and Chloe(3) jumps on a cute little red trike...she is driving around in circles, just begging for me to buy it.Julia starts complaining that her legs are tired, Emmy poops in her diaper (of course) and Eliza can't decide...maybe if we look at the lipgloss again??So my quick trip is now on it's second hour, and the baby is screaming..Julia is tired, Eliza is sad that we haven't found the perfect birthday lip gloss and Chloe is riding the red trike behind me thinking I am going to buy it!I finally make it thru the check out, and I am making my way to the front door...I peel Chloe off the trike, and she pitches a huge fit, I hand the trike over to the old fart door greeter, who is mad at me..."You can't leave this here." he barks, I apologize, explaining that I normally wouldn't do this, but I have my hands full..."Oh, whatever!" he marches off...At this point, I am at my wits' end...several things are happening all at once..~Emmy is screaming because she has sh*tty diaper~Chloe is crying because I won't buy a $39 trike for her on Eliza's birthday~Eliza is crying and disappointed because the United States of Walmart doesn't carry Burt's Bees Lipgloss, her favorite.~Julia is crying, because the Walmart greeter is mad at us...I make it out to the minivan and my girls are so surpised at the way Mom is acting, she just left the cart in the parking lot...she didn't take it over to the cart coral????So, my friends....this is why I don't take all of the kids to the store alone...really, can you blame me?ps.... as for the grumpy store greeter, what's up with him?...would it really ruin his day to walk a little red trike back to the toy dept....really what does he have to do all day? Give out smiley face stickers? I should have said "here, you hold the stinky baby, and watch the 3 year old throw the world's biggest fit.....I'll take the trike back!"
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