Piles of pancakes...

Chicken is my absolute favorite food in the entire world.  I would eat chicken three meals a day, every day of the week if I could.  I know.  BORING.  Unfortunately, I have trouble buying quality chicken.  Did you know that all the packaged chicken in the meat department of your grocery store arrives frozen solid?  They don't call it frozen, though.  It's "treated" to prevent contamination.  Of course, if you drop a 5 pound "treated" chicken on your foot, you could break a toe.  Don't ask me how I know that. 

So chicken purchasing is tricky.  If I want to cook some chicken today, it can't be frozen.  I mean, "treated".  If it is "treated" to toe-breaking levels, I may not be able to cook it for several days.  And if chicken is on sale and I buy extra for the freezer, I'm essentially re-freezing meat that has already thawed once.  Today, all I wanted to do was throw my package of chicken thighs in the crock-pot with my homemade SCD barbecue sauce.  No such luck.  I bought the chicken yesterday, and although it was thawed, the date was good until tomorrow.  I opened the fridge this morning and almost fell over from the smell of rotten meat!

I should buy local chicken.  We are lucky enough to have a few sources nearby.  But local chicken is expensive- more than twice what I would pay at the grocery store.  And local chicken is small.  I would need to roast 2 (maybe even 3!) to feed my family and have some for lunch the next day.  Obviously, I wouldn't be eating it for every meal, or every day, or even every week! 

Z, my youngest, was happy tonight's chicken was a bust.  He's not big on meat consumption.  He asked for pancakes instead, and we all ate them happily with some crispy bacon.  Maybe we'll just start eating more bacon!

Cars and Kratts...

We have been trying get out from under this minivan since the week we bought it five years ago.  That was when we found out that no matter what we did, this van could not pull a camper.  And really, all I wanted was a camper!  We traded for a Ford Explorer and discovered quickly that it was the wrong type of Explorer, and it couldn't tow a camper either.  We returned it, got our van back, and gave up for a long while.  Having a baby can put some plans on hold. 

It seems that every year we have had a reason to drive the 1200 miles to visit with family and friends in our hometowns.  Every trip back, we'd think, "this would be so much better if we only had a camper".  This weekend, we begin our hunt again.  I am someone who doesn't even like shopping for shoes!  You can imagine how stressful this will be. But we've done our research (this time) and we've narrowed the choices down to a select few.  I will be so happy if this works out!  Scratch that.  I will be so happy when this works out!  Eyes on the prize.

My boys are obsessed with the Wild Kratts show on PBS.  Really, who doesn't love the Kratt brothers?  The problem is that there only two of them and I have three boys.  Invariably, Z, as the youngest, is left out of the Kratt equation.  So when imaginary creature adventures call, he plays another game with me- the "Mom Brothers".  As "brothers", he and I travel all over the world and learn about all kinds of animals.  He obviously didn't want me to be left out either!

Taking the plunge...

We got a complaint letter this week.  It seems our lawn-turned-dandelion patch is too much for some neighbors to bear.  An "anonymous tip" was left, stating that our lawn was "unkempt".  That very night, there was a story on the news about the death of Harmon Killebrew, of Minnesota Twins fame and by all accounts a wonderful man.  His father would play in the yard with Harmon and his brother when they were young, much to his mother's chagrin.  "You're tearing up the grass!" she would say, to which his father answered, "We're not raising grass.  We're raising boys."  Enough said. 

I'm not even sure what to expect from this blog.  I put off starting one for so long because I couldn't decide what the focus should be.  We are an unschooling family.  We deal with special diets and food allergies.  One of my children has a genetic disorder which is thankfully controllable today, but can strike fear into my heart on a moment's notice.  We dream of downsizing our life and traveling more.  My boys would like to drive all the way to Patagonia someday to watch the orcas hunt sea lions on the beach.

I think I'll just dive in and see what happens.  I've learned that I can't predict what any given day will be like and I kind of like it that way.  Fasten your seatbelts, though.  This could be a wild ride.