Broken

Yep, this is what Santa brought me for Christmas.  I would have gladly returned it to him if I'd had the chance!  but, I figured if you've gotta have one of these during the holiday season, why not make it fun, right?  So, I asked the technician to wrap it in red and green.  It's been a bit of a pain what with the first snowstorms of the season having blown in the last few days.  Can't get it wet, can't help shovel (and around here, that's a monumental task for Music Man to tackle by himself).  We've had to enlist the boys (not always cooperative) help with that.  Maestro did a bang up job on the front walk yesterday, I was proud of him for pitching in...almost willingly.

I did this stepping out my front door.  The threshold on the jamb is lose...I know not to step on it, but I was reaching behind me to grab the door while trying not to drop a bag on my arm, rushing out the door after the kids.  Stepped on the jamb and my foot started to slide forward off it.  Felt myself falling, so tried to step down before I landed on my butt and instead heard the very loud and distinct "SNAP!" when the fibula bone broke on the bottom 2 inches and the ankle turned to mush with a very bad sprain.  Yep, that was some pain.  Music Man happened to be outside when I did this, he came rushing to me and all I could say was "I heard is snap bad"...then I just clung to the railing, sitting on my butt, trying not to pass out from the pain.  I couldn't even talk.  I had him run the kids to school (thank goodness he was home that morning a bit later) while I tried to get myself back in the house.  Crawled in the door and got myself on the couch and laid there until I felt I could get upright without fainting.  Not the most fun I've ever had, for sure.  I waited a day to go to the doctor because one, I've sprained my other ankle about literally 1,000 times in my life, and I don't rush to the doctor for that anymore.  I wanted to see if the swelling would go down, as it had ballooned up almost instantly, so they could better diagnose it.  And two, we have lousy insurance with the new job, we have a $9,000 deductible for the family, so I knew any x-rays they would most definitely want to take could come out of pocket.  So, I wanted to wait it out a bit to see if it would be better the next day.   But, by the next morning, I still could put no weight on it, I knew I needed to get to the doctor as it was most likely broken.  And it was, the little bugger.  Unfortunately, "slow down" is not in my vocabulary, and I'm sure that's not helping the healing process one bit.

I'm thankful in this situation for a couple of things, believe it or not.  One I'm eternally thankful that I am in a walking cast and don't have to be on crutches.  This chubby body and crutches don't mix and in the winter to boot, no thanks. I've had to do that once before when I crushed the big toe on that same foot in November years ago.  No fun at all.

I'm thankful for my husband picking up the extra chores of laundry washing, and the chicken care.  I did get up there one day before the snow to clean out the coop, and the ground was so uneven, I almost killed myself.  So, I can't go out to them as they are up a fairly steep incline (as is all this property) and I just can't safely do it. I miss my girls for sure, though.

And, I'm so very thankful for my friends.  My friend, Lynne, did so much for me in this fiasco, from taking me to the doctor (she's a nurse and came to check it out...then said, yeah, you're going to the doctors), to carting my kids around, to finding me crutches and clothes that would fit over the cast....the list goes on.  We've bandied about the idea of leaving Chester because the price of homes is so high here, but we'd be leaving such a wonderful support system of friends behind.  And it means the world to me to have help when I need it.  It's not something I'm used to, but it's so wonderful to know that your friends will be there when you call. She cares for me in more ways then physically, and I'm deeply thankful for her (and her whole family, really). 

So, as we approach the new year, I don't really have resolutions, but there are things in motion around here that we hope will bring some positive changes for us in 2013.  Best to you all in the New Year.  Be safe, be healthy, be happy and have peace.

Happy New Year, ~Peacemom

Merry Christmas

Since we don't have a white Christmas Eve here at Casa de Peaceable Kingdom, I bring a cute photo of some folks kicking it back marshmallow style.

For all, I wish:

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, the gladness of Christmas give you hope, the warmth of Christmas grant you love.

Happy Holidays, everyone and peace be with you.  I hope the new year grants you many blessings.

~Peacemom

Winter Libations

 

Music Man is a homebrewer of beer.  He's done some fun concoctions, all of them highly drinkable and unique.  Unfortunately, I don't like beer, never have, never will.  I just don't prefer the bitter of it.  I do, however, covet a lovely hard cider.  Mostly my brew of choice is Woodchuck Hard Cider out of Vermont.  But, watching my dear hubster brew the last batch of the malted splendor got me to thinking I wanted to make my OWN cider.  Then, my fellow blogger Jenna, over at Cold Antler Farm had a recipe on her site for making some.  It looked so easy, I just had to give it a go.

 

I followed her recipe, which was as simple as this.  Take unpasteurized cider and add honey and champagne yeast.  Let sit in a brewer's bucket (or big ol' glass jug in our case) and let sit for a few weeks until the bubbling stops.  Then bottle, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the bucket/jug. 

 

As I tasted it, I found it to be a bit lacking in the sweetness department, so I added just a touch of raw cane sugar to each bottle before we sealed them up.

 

 



 Then I had to come up with a name for this brew, which I called "Not Yo Mama's Cider"...it has a 12%-15% alcohol content once it's fermented up  good.  It's got a bit of a kick for sure! 

 

It was very easy to make this delicious homebrew. 

 

I urge you to try to make this at home, it was so easy to do and for we homesteaders, it's one more special treat to make yourself!  Cheers!!

 

Wishing you cider fun of your own, ~Peacemom



Pine Cones, Road Apples and Christmas Spirit

The place where we cut our tree is right here in our home town.  They are a tree farm that has been in town for a long time, but they are getting out of the business.  So, when the tree is cut this year, we were sadly aware that it may be the last time we do so.  We've gotten our tree there the last three years and very much enjoy the farm, folks that run it and the ability to cut a tree right here in our little town.

Sunny the Morgan and Olivia the Christmas donkey are always on hand to greet us.  The boys got to feed them carrots this year.  This is a big thrill for Little Red because he's totally enamored with anything fuzzy and warm and nuzzling.  Our good friends have an Australian Shepherd, Dusty, that he particularly loves.

The pond always holds much more interest for the boys then the actual choosing of the tree.  This year was especially good as the pond had a layer of ice on top.  They chose rocks to throw in and anyone who's had the thrill of living in a frozen climate knows the sound that rocks make when thrown into a frozen body of water.  It's sort of a pppzzziiing!  This was quite entertaining for them. 

Consequently, Music and and I picked the conifer that would adorn our little abode.  I like to chose a tree with a few pine cones attached, sort of makes it feel like it's got its own ornaments already attached!

The boys each took turns helping Dad cut the tree down.

TIMBER!!!!

As you can see, it was quite foggy that day, sort of tree hunting in the netherworld, if you will.  Maestro was a bit freaked out that he had to dodge many, many piles of horse poop aka:  Road apples.  It made me chuckle to know that at his age, I was slogging through it without thinking about it as I was basically raised on taking care of horses. The menfolk carried our lovely tree to the stand to pay and get another piece of chocolate.  Little Red asked me why I'm never in any pictures.  I had to explain that I'm the family photographer and it's hard to be in the picture and taking the picture at the same time.

Christmas hugs and kisses from here at Casa de Peaceable Kingdom.  Hope you're enjoying your holiday season as much as we are! 

Joyeaux Noel, ~Peacemom