Susie Homemaker

Today the boys and I are home. Brother has Fifth Disease, which sounds so freaking scary, but you don' t even treat it. It he weren't in the 25% that gets a fever, then he could have went to school. But me? I am always looking for a (good) excuse to take a day off. So I am home with my two darlings. Brother feels ok, but I am making him lay down and drink juice or play quietly. Our state is one of the ones that got the lovely 'flu epidemic' declaration, so I am not taking any chances whilst his system is invaded by rash-y viruses.

Jelly, on the other hand, is teething. He doesn't take it very well and bites when his mouth is achy. Also, after the round of antibiotics for the ear infection a couple weeks ago, we are still battling the obligatory oh-someone-is-going-to-get-a-yeast-infection-somewhere gig. Fortunately, my tender bits were spared, but Jelly Bean's booty is red red. The cream the doctor gave me isn't working as well as I had hoped and I am restraining the urge to smear pro-biotic yogurt on his butt. (Think it would work??? I don't know...)

I love staying home and playing housewife. It is novel, I guess, since for most of the week I was conferencing and networking in the Capital. But on this sweet misty morning at the beginning of the world, I feel fine. It is 10:00 AM and I feel pretty accomplished. Want to know what I have done so far?

• Got up and got the kids fed
• Unloaded and loaded the dishwasher
• Did two loads of laundry (one of clothes and one of Brother's bedding)
• Folded a load of towels
  
• Started my first batch of homemade yogurt in my new yogurt machine
  
• Baking a loaf of bread in my new bread machine
• Put the Bean down for a nap.
• etc. etc. etc.
  

Next on my list is to go through the seeds that I ordered in the mail yesterday to check out which ones have to be sown directly into the garden and which ones need to be started indoors. I have decided to attempt to grow the ones that can't be started directly in the garden in old cardboard egg cartons filled with a bit of soil. I hope this will work. This year is my first year trying to seriously grow vegetables. We are still having some cold nights, so I am worried about starting things too early, but my state guide says that I should have already put some stuff out there. I am doing raised beds and ordered some to be built at the farmer's market last weekend(we have no woodworking craft in this household). They will be delivered tomorrow. I am really excited. I also had a long conversation over lunch with another gardener and he told me he uses old tires to do his raised herb beds and all. And they are FREE. See, I could have used that idea before I dropped 100 bucks at the farmer's market for wooden boxes. But then I worry about being the creepy strange lady who grows tomatoes out of old tires? If we had a privacy fence, I might not mind so much.

I am trying to do a lot more things at home. I got a new cheese making book and that will be my next project. After I figure out how to make a decent loaf of bread.... My whole wheat concoctions could be called more brick and less bread. (So if you have any bread machine whole wheat recipes, send 'em my way...or I just may be relegated to using some white flour). And I am hoping the yogurt goes ok. I like the idea of just buying milk and making my own yogurt, sour cream, and cheese. A lot of our budget goes to dairy products and I found a local milk supplier I am loving. We have tons of strawberry farms around where we live so getting a flat of berries in the summer for about $12 is no issue. And Honey's Granny has over 40 blueberry bushes at her house. So I have already said that we will go in late May, mid June, and early July to pick blueberries to freeze. For yogurt and muffins and the like. It is exciting. I think maybe I had been needing a new hobby. And I can fit this one in, because it is about the stuff I worry about already: What we eat.

Local, Organic, I am trying my best. But I have had some set backs. Like the lovely Roma tomatoes I bought last week. Brother eats so few good things, I hate to not have them just because they are out of season here. So, I fell off the wagon a bit. I did make sure they were from the US at least. And I skipped the golden Chilean nectarines and chose instead the local citrus that is everywhere currently. It is a process. Hopefully in the end, it will make a difference. Wish me luck!