Boreal Witch

I may have overdone it with the turkey. Just a bit.

I've slowly been making my way through chopping, cooking, and packaging freezer meals: turkey pumpkin chili, turkey pot pie, and turkey taco soup...tomorrow I'll be making turkey adobo. This is in addition to the regular meals we've made with the turkey: turkey noodle soup, sweet turkey curry soup, and turkey tetrazzini...

I think I'm done with turkey. Good thing these freezer meals don't have to be eaten at once!

Blessed be.

We deliberately bought a 19 pound turkey this year for just the four of us.

Before you object, declaring me wasteful and decadent, we really will eat it all - and not just in sandwiches, either. I am planning to make as many meals as possible from it and then freezing them in individual portions for Robinson to take to work, or in family-sized portions for us. You know how I feel about my freezer meals!

I prepared two meals Thanksgiving night: a turkey pumpkin chili and a turkey pot pie. While the chili smelled amazing, the turkey pot pie used more Thanksgiving leftovers (I'm happy to report that we're already out of mashed potates!)...which is why I am including the recipe.

On the Menu: Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Pot Pie
1/2 medium sized onion, chopped finely
1 carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs. butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2-2 cups turkey
1/2 cup frozen peas
mashed potatoes, for topping

1. Combine butter, onion, carrot, celery, and mushrooms in a large pot. Saute until mushrooms and onions are softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Add cream of mushroom soup, milk, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add turkey and frozen peas. Stir until combined.

3. Remove from heat and pour into a 9-inch pie plate. Place mashed potatoes on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown and mixture is bubbly.

**This meal can also be frozen! Freeze the mashed potatoes and filling separately. When thawed, assemble as above.

Blessed be.

After Balin was born and I, confined to the glider rocking that baby to sleep constantly, rediscovered my love of reading. Since then, I have made a special effort to read a book a month. Sometimes I'm successful and sometimes I'm not, but I really like that I am once again perusing a wide range of works: non-fiction, fiction, science-fiction, parenting...the list goes on.

My current read is The Feminine Mystique. I had never read it, though it was mentioned throughout my undergraduate career. I'm not sure exactly what I anticipated - something academic, definitely - but I am really surprised at how much I can relate to the subject matter in this book.

And I don't think I would have been able to identify so fully with what Friedan is saying had I not been a stay-at-home-mom. Her life in the 1960's is my life now.

Throughout the endless dishes, laundry, repetitious days, and carting the kids around, I sometimes wonder: "Is this as good as it gets?"

or: "Is there more to my life than diapers, vomit, tantrums, and nagging?"

or: "What do I want?"

or: "Who am I?"

I am the mother of two boys and the wife of my husband. But I am also myself.

As much joy being a mother is, sometimes I feel utterly lost the sea of motherhood; I feel as though I am drowning and I can't reach the life raft, no matter how hard I try. There are days when I despair at how I can't seem to find a moment to collect my own thoughts. When I do, they appear to be so incoherent that no one except myself can decipher them ("...put whole wheat flour on the grocery list...remember to take a homemade musical instrument to preschool...wash the windows...wipe those smudges off the mudroom doorframe...email so-and-so...pay the electric bill...replace checks in checkbook...").

It's demanding work to care for your family. I've made so many sacrifices and my children don't give a damn about that now. Maybe they will someday, but not now - it's too broad, too vague for them to understand. They just want someone to play with, read with, and - most of all - to love them. And I can do it, but what about me?

What do I need?

I need love and support. I need to know that my efforts are valued and appreciated. I need to know that I'm doing something right. I need time to nurture myself. Most of all, I need time to create and to be creative. It's such an important part of who I am that I'd be lost if I didn't.

Can I count on obtaining these things? Maybe. As the boys get older, there will be more time for creating. Until then, I must make time and work around the boys' schedules.

Sacrifice. It's the way of the stay-at-home-parent.

Blessed be.

My friend Hillary and I swap out babysitting duty on days we're responsible for parent volunteering at preschool. Yesterday I dropped off Balin and picked up Hillary's daughter, Ayla, and took Arthur and Ayla to school.

When we returned, we all went inside to hang out for a half hour before we had to pick up Robinson. When I walked through the door, I noticed Hillary was watching a movie, which the older kids immediately gravitated to.

"Oh, look, that woman's having a baby!" Hillary exclaimed before snapping shut the laptop.

As we were driving toward Robinson's office Arthur asked, "How do babies hatch out of women?"

I asked him to repeat the question to make sure I heard him correctly.

Ohhhhhh, crap.

"Well, there's a special place inside of mommies where the baby lives until it's ready to come out. It's called a womb."

"But how does the baby come out?"

"You know how you have a hole for pooping and a hole for peeing?"

"Yeah."

"Well, women have three holes: one for peeing, one for pooping, and one for having babies."

"Oh."

There is no doubt in my mind that this will somehow come up in a future conversation, leaving myself and/or Robinson a little flustered and/or embarrassed.

Blessed be.

A few weeks ago when I asked Arthur what he'd like to take to preschool for a snack he said (without hesitation): "Granola bars! With chocolate chips!" (You can bet that the next time I parent volunteered I took a closer look at what his peers were eating.)

I found a couple simple recipes for granola bars and modified them to suit my own tastes. Since these bars contained chocolate chips, I immediately cut out some of the sugar and added some ground flax seeds. Arthur liked the chocolate chip granola bars, but I liked the dried fruit bars even better.

Which got me thinking...couldn't I just make granola using this recipe?

Yes. Yes, I could.

The preparation is a bit involved, but one batch of this granola generally lasts my family a week. It's just sweet enough and packed with healthy additives.

Granola
Makes approximately 12 servings
Adapted from Ina Garten's granola bar recipe; original recipe here

2 cups oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (we like cashews best, but pecans or almonds would work well)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
2/3 cup honey
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dates
butter or coconut oil for greasing pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place oats, coconut, and nuts on a large pan and toast in the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop fruit. Grease large cookie sheet or pizza pan. Put honey, vanilla, salt, and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Mix fruit, flaxseed, and oat mixture together. Add honey mixture and stir well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. When cool crumble into bite-sized pieces and store in an air-tight container.

Blessed be.

Early this year I decided to have a craft table at Ryan Middle School's spring craft fair/garage sale.

It went horribly, horribly wrong.

It's polite to say that it was more rummage sale than craft fair (Robinson would have just said it was all crap).

For a few days I moped around before I decided that I would try again, but this time during one of the holiday bazaars around Thanksgiving or Christmas. On a whim in early September I went to the UAF Women's Association page and found that the deadline for renting a table was...September 8th??? Less than a week away!

I gathered everything I'd need to get my table and sent it off. About two weeks later, I received a letter saying I was ready to go.

For the next two months, I sewed like a mad woman. I made octopus. I made starfish. I finished up a few carriers. Robinson even got a Square and set up my account so that I could take credit cards.

And...?

It was great!

I met a lot of nice people and sold a lot of merchandise. After all was said and done, I made about $300.

I've also found a few other cool ideas online...

So does this mean I'll be doing it again?

Yes, I think it does!

Blessed be.