Monday, November 2, 2009

Resurfacing...

I've been on a major blogging hiatus...


In addition to being super busy with misc. yard winterizing, house and kid projects since I've been home, I've put off posting about my trip to South Carolina because of a few things that happened while I was there. Unfortunately, these events put a real damper on the trip. (I.E. Two unappreciative cousins (and the girlfriends that they brought along!) that used my grandmother's memorial weekend as free trip to the beach. Since my mom was counting on me to document our time there, she asked me to leave out the distasteful details and just focus on the positive. I decided to do a separate post on that trip in a few days leaving out the negative things. (Even though I feel like I'm being fake)..

Here's a few of the things that I've been working on lately...

I made two huge pots of Barefoot Contessa's chicken broth. It's a 2 day process to get it ready for freezing, but oh! so worth it! I use 5 whole chickens, fresh thyme, dill, parsley, whole garlic, onions (unpeeled), carrots, celery and peppercorns...

I usually freeze several 2 quart containers just of broth and then make up a big batch of soup (minus the noodles) for freezing as well. It's come in handy already as we've had a few bouts of sickness...


I always seem to forget to take a picture of the final product of things...
This was a shot of how my kitchen looked after my applesauce making extravaganza. I canned 1 and 1/2 bushels of apples and only yielded 24 quarts.

I've been so sick of how unorganized the cubscout program has been going in our ward that I decided to take matters into my own hands and start volunteering to help out with an occasional Tuesday night activity.
I've been frustrated because the cubscout activities have been very unorganized and unfocused. Every time I've made a comment about maybe having the boys work on something out of their scout books during their Tuesday night pack meetings, the leaders get defensive and say something along the lines of "It's the parent's responsibility to work on the badges with their boys"...
It would just be nice if we would have a bit more support. Maybe then, the activities would be better attended.
During the activity that I did with the boys, we made terrariums. It was a smashing success. (Although only two official cubscouts were there). Jake invited our neighbor, Brady, to join us which made it more fun.
This was my first time making a terrarium, but I was pleased with how they all turned out...We used baby tears, rabbits foot fern and nerve plan...


This photo of lame smiles is not an indicator of how much fun they had. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the camera to take unblurry pictures so this was taken after several attempts before.

Ellie and I went on a field trip together with her class at the Norristown Zoo last week. Too bad she spent most of the time badgering me to play on the playground and eat snacks...

Our annual trip to Winding Brook Farm's hayride got cancelled due to inclement weather, so I invited Brady and Emalee over for dinner and pumpkin painting. We built a big fire in the fire place and spent a cozy evening inside.
The kids all made animals out of their pumpkins...

I was trying to come up with a creative costume theme for a Halloween party that we were invited to recently. Since Brian always balks at Halloween and is rarely here due to a hunting trip, I chose the "party pooper" and "LIFE of the party theme"...He was such a great sport about wearing the poop covered shirt.
Ahhh...good times...!
I'm so relieved to finally be posting something again...I think Brian's got the computer dilemma figured out so I won't be struggling with downloading pictures like I have been...So hopefully, I'm back for good...

8 comments:

  1. Glad to see you are alive and back and blogging! Sorry your grandma trip didn't turn out right. :(

    Sometimes Cubscout leaders get burned out. ME!!! but, I always try to have one thing signed off in their book. Otherwise, what's the point?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's great to see you back. The chicken broth sounds delicious. What a great idea to keep that on hand.

    I also love the animal pumpkins.

    And the scout project. I was a den leader for a little over a year. We made sure that the boys could check off something from their book or a belt loop or SOMETHING each den meeting. But the scout program really is all about the parents being involved. Wouldn't it be nice if parents were assigned various meetings to head up an activity at? They could rotate. Maybe it would help everyone to be more involved and focused in the program. I think the way it is the leaders have a tremendous influence over what does or does NOT happen.

    Also, I can understand the delimma of feeling fake. I never post anything negative that I think about any extended family or ex spouses on our blog because it is a family blog and not my personal journal. Usually, I wouldn't have anything negative to post anyway. But on occassion I feel like it would be nice to say what I REALLY think in addition to whatever I've already said. I save it for my personal journal. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That chicken broth looked delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am so glad you are back, I was getting worried about you!!!!

    You have been very busy though! Too bad your trip didn't turn out as excepted.

    Cub Scouts.......that is a hard one. I think we finally have a good program up and going in my ward. It has taken awhile but I think we might be there finally. Good job for taking things in your own hands. And NO it is not the parent's job to help the boys earn their merit badge that is what den meetings are for!!!

    I love your costumes.....that is exactly what Kelly and I should wear I am the social one he is not!

    Glad you are back!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome back!

    Your chicken broth extravaganza is so impressive! I don't have these skills or the pots or freezer space to accommodate such a production, but I'd love to have the finished result!

    Way to go volunteering to help with the scouts!

    I love the painted pumpkins!

    I'm disturbed by the poop on Brian's shirt, highly disturbed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. yay for shannon's return to the blog!

    that poop shirt is funny and disturbing on many levels. i do love that giant LIFE box - that's my favorite cereal. (really)

    i am so impressed with the chicken stock - i think you need to post the recipe and detailed instructions for someone like me to follow along photo by photo. i could maybe handle making it then. maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh, and i forgot.

    i find myself in the dilema of documenting the negative and positive of every day life. i dont' want to sound like a jerk, but sometimes people suck and it just needs to be said. so, i opt not to blog about it at all. but that makes me kind of mad. i should be able to say that said person sucked, right? anyway, i just wanted you to know that i feel your pain. and sorry that they ruined your trip. bummer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is a major bummer about the cousins' girlfriends coming on the trip. I would have been bugged by that as well.

    I want to have that chicken stock on hand! I'd love to make applesauce as well, I've never done that.

    I was a Cub Scout den leader and I didn't really enjoy it. I kind of felt burned out from the beginning. But I always made sure we did something the boys could check off in their books! (Seriously, what's the point otherwise?)

    I am highly disturbed by Brian's shirt!

    ReplyDelete