Veggies galore!!!!

Veggies veggies, glorious veggies!!!

Do you love them or hate them?

I didn't grow up loving them. All we ate were canned veggies (peas, green beans, corn,and carrots), carrot sticks, and sometimes salad. I would go to a friend's house and they would serve me something odd, and disgusting, like broccoli and cauliflower. I remember one of the first times that I ate dinner with my husband's family. We had only been dating just a short time. I was raised to always get a little of each thing being served to be polite. I scooped up a small spoonful of a veggie medley (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). His sister came up beside me and scraped it all back into the bowl and told me I didn't have to eat the nasty vegetables.

Fast forward several years...my kids love veggies! Not all of them, and each of them have their likes and dislikes, but I can cook a variety without too many complaints. Broccoli and green beans are the basic go-tos.

When Mark and I got married, and moved into his grans old house, we decided to continue on her tradition of a garden. This is not your average sized backyard garden that you plant a few peppers and tomatoes and a cucumber plant. This is a GARDEN, or more like a small farm or homestead if you throw in my chickens. Seriously my garden is 83'x56'. That is over 4500 sq feet of dirt and fruit and veggies. Perspective? My house is only 1100. Yes my garden is 4x bigger than my house!!!! After raising 5 kids, my garden is often my sanctuary. My peace and quiet. We will discuss the benefits of playing in the dirt another day, but trust me, you need to take some time to go do just that.

When we started this adventure 23 years ago, we knew absolutely nothing. And somedays we still know nothing. Gardening is 100% trial and error. My experience with growing things was helping my grandma plant corn, picking and eating her cherries and strawberries, and arguing with her that cucumbers were destined to be dill. I don't know how much Mark helped his grandparents. He does talk about his grandfather growing peanuts and other things like that. But you know how it is when you are a kid, "old people" stuff like that didn't matter.

Planting a garden has expanded my taste in vegetables. I would have never touched a yellow crookneck (or straight) squash. Okra was a big NO WAY!! Wasn't much of a fan of cucumbers unless they were made into dill pickles. And peppers were on my not eating that either list. I had never had a fresh green bean. With the exception of last summer, we have planted the full garden every single year. I love almost every stage of it!! Not everyone shares my joy of watching the first plants pop their heads out of the soil or hunting for the itty bitty baby watermelons. That's ok, we all have our own hobbies. My oldest will patiently share my excitement of my garden treasures, and in return he tells me all about his video games, comic books, and the latest car he found. Seems to be a fair trade. Out of our 5, I do have one that is my dirt fairy. I will tell you about her another day.

Being forced to try new things meant that I needed to either try out new recipes or create my own. My next several posts are going to be a few of my favorite summer veggie recipes. If you have a specific vegetable that you would like some new ideas for, drop me a note in the comments and I will work on it.

~Michelle

Keeping it Cool

Now may be a great time to mention that I am in the group of technicallogically (I don't think that was a word before now since my autocorrect didn't even try to fix it) challenged individuals. I have basic skills and knowledge, but I really hate being outsmarted by the damn phone that I hold in my hand. The same phone that I control whether or not it even gets the power to operate. Yet the stupid thing is in charge of almost every aspect of my life. Ok, with that little rant over, please make note that I am not the person to ask the techy questions to. I am afraid that I am going to have to turn to my awesome tech friends to help me out more often than I would like. (Weirdly enough though, I can write some basic HtML code....)


Onward and upwards with today's subject. I actually wrote all this out last night using the Blogger app. It won't publish because the photo didn't load right. It won't sync to the website platform so I can fix the photo issue. Now it won't let me edit it at all in the app, so I am starting over. (Oh wait that was part of my tech issues.)


Hello summer! I know, I know it has officially been summer for weeks, but it is SUMMER in Oklahoma. July in Oklahoma is a fiery adventure at its finest. Let me help create the visual picture of July in the south for those of you not blessed with spending your summer vacations here.

This is the time of year that modesty flies right out the window. I try really hard to teach my girls to dress modestly and to have respect for their bodies. It is difficult to enforce this with the alternative being heat stroke. So please don't judge too harshly when all we are trying to do is live to tell the tales come fall.

This is the time of the year that you seek out the parking space with the most shade. How close it is to the doors is completely irrelevant, you are just hoping to keep the interior of your car a little bit cooler. I may be slightly regretting my choice of a solid black vehicle with the blacktop features that I picked out in December. (During below freezing temps, I might add. Oh the irony!) But this IS the reason that I kept repeating to the dealership that I did not want leather seats. Think 3rd degree burns on the back of bare legs!!! I would like to point out that black fabric seats still absorbs a lot of heat. But hey I still look sexy driving my beefed up minivan even though I may be slightly melted.

This is the time of year that we pay close attention to humidity levels. This has nothing to do with bad hair. But the higher the humidity and the higher the temps, the more the heat literally sucks the air out of your lungs when you step outside. Let's add the wind on top of the heat. I have been to Chicago. The windy city has nothing on our winds that come sweeping down the plains. The best way to describe this to an outsider, is a blast furnace. We do not get gentle lazy breezes. It is all or nothing.

Oklahoma is very much an outdoor state and we spend lots of our time outside. Hunting. Fishing. Gardening. Bike rides. Grilling. BBQ's. (yes there is a difference, but that is a discussion for a different day)

So my question to all of you, is how do you stay cool in the dog days of summer? Throw some creative ideas at me!!

~Michelle

Here I Go Again

Here I go again... yet another attempt into the world of blogging. Maybe I can stick with it longer this go around. I mean, I always sit and compose posts in my head I just never take the time to sit down and write them. And I balked at the idea of using my phone. But here I sit in a rocking chair outside, writing my first blog in uhmm, years, on my phone.

Today I am just going to reintroduce myself. Who I am, where I come from, and what I am doing out here. When you get a chance, I'd love for you to drop me a line in the comment to say hi and tell me where you are from. K? Thanks! I love getting to know new people.

Here is my story:

My name is Michelle. I am married to my high school sweetheart, Mark. We have 5 kids, 2 boys and 3 girls (ages 8-23), 1 granddaughter and another grandbaby on the way. I run a home based health and wellness business. I also find time to garden, read, cook, spend time with my hubby and hang out with the kids. Mark is rocking a very successful career as a firefighter. He also like to hunt and fish and watch racing. (This makes me a firewire AND a hunting widow.)

The 2 oldest kids have moved out and started their own families. But the younger ones still keep me busy. Marching band, concert band, music lessons, golf, cross country, and baseball. Plus one working on trying to put together a dragster so he can follow his passion of racing. And another wanting to add tennis to the mix.

This blog is a way to combine all my passions into one. I think my kids are quite hysterical, my garden is phenomenal, and my hubby is awesome. I like to share recipes and other things that I love. I also live music and always find ways to relate songs to my life. My youngest son has a bleeding disorder, and sometimes you have to sit back and have a change in plans.

So sit back, buckle up and keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

WOW! It's been awhile!!

I am still not any better of a writer, but I did get a kick out of going back and reading my old posts.

We have been super busy here.

My oldest son graduated from high school in the spring.

My oldest daughter is a high school varsity softball catcher.  Plus she is in orchestra, choir, girl scouts, and volunteers at church.

My middle daughter plays softball and is in the honor choir.

My youngest son is an avid baseball player.  He really loves being outside.  I am glad his hemophilia isn't holding him back and he still continues to be all boy.

My baby girl is now 3 and a spit fire.

As for me, I have been working on getting a home bakery off the ground and training to run 5k's.  Someday I will actually run the whole thing.

I think I am back.  Time to work on some new recipes and my deep thoughts of life.

Sneak Peak

A month or so ago, I wrote about my husband going and setting up his feeders and cameras to get prepared for deer season.  In this part of the country, deer archery season opens October 1st.  There will be many hunting widows that will either be looking forward to or dreading this weekend.

For me, I look forward to deer season.  But maybe that is because it's fall.  And it means cooler weather, Halloween, crunching leaves, football, and family time.

A couple of weeks ago, the hubby went up and copied the pictures off of his trail cameras.

I want to share some of them.  If he has his way, one or more of these big bucks will be gracing my living room walls in the future.

We have nicknamed this little guy Hollywood.  He makes several appearance in the pictures, both daytime and nighttime.  He is awfully cute and super interested in the camera.





My oldest daughter, Ashleigh, will be going and taking her Hunter's Safety Course this weekend.  She is looking forward to officially being able to hunt with dad this year.  I hope she knows that if she shoots one, she has to clean it.  Don't know if dad broke that news to her yet.

Since my freezer is getting rather empty, I am sure glad hunting season starts tomorrow. 

Good luck to all the hunter's this season.  I wish you well in your treks and journeys as you seek your prey.  Be careful and take the appropriate safety measures as well.

To all my fellow hunting widows, I hope you have awesome adventures and activities planned for yourself and/or your children.  That's what I do.  It helps to keep us all sane!!

Bring on the Bubblewrap

I am having a strange time coming to grips with Johnny's hemophilia diagnosis.  It doesn't change who he is or that he is my little boy forever, but it changes the way I watch him play.

I have 2 boys.  My oldest is 16.  I always had the laid back approach to parenting him.  At the park, I would stand back and let him run and climb and jump and slide.  I would only help him if he needed help.  I didn't hover.  Eric was never really the dare devil type though.  He didn't climbed trees too often.  He didn't stand on the kitchen counters.  He didn't do balance beam acts on the back of the bleachers at the ball field.  He did like to climb up on our tractor shed, but nothing else too dangerous.

Johnny has been all boy since his feet hit the floor.  He climbed everything.  He jumped off of everything.  He hit his head on everything.  And then he would look like this.

Only this one is mild compared to some of the others. 

Of course we never took him to the doctor for any of these.  He's a boy.  He's supposed to be banged up.  He's healthy and active.  He gets a good hit on the head at least once or twice a year.

But now I know, he probably should have gone into the doctor for these.  Only the pediatrician is not the one we would have needed to see.  She would have told me pretty much what we were already thinking.

Here comes the guilt...

All these things that have happened to him in his 5 years of life

• slipping on the bleachers and biting both sides of tongue (it bled for 3 months before it finally healed)
• falling off the bleachers (multiple times)
• getting hit in the head with a ceiling fan
• landing head first on a linoleum floor
• biting through his lower lip

All of these should have landed us in the ER, or at least a trip to the Hemophilia Treatment Center.  Looking back now and knowing this makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.  I am glad that something really bad didn't happen.

But now that I KNOW, I just want to wrap my little boy in bubble wrap and keep him safe.

He was officially diagnosed with mild hemophilia A, which is a factor 8 (VIII) deficiency, about 3 weeks ago.  Hemophilia is a rare genetic bleeding/clotting disorder.  So that means his blood is slower to clot.  He doesn't bleed more or faster, but he does bleed longer.  Cuts and scrapes are really no biggie, but deep muscle bruises, head injuries, broken bones, etc need to be treated.

The day AFTER he was diagnosed, I found him standing in the window of my van.  The window was down and he had his feet in the window and he was leaning against the top part of the door (it was closed).  Get DOWN child!  You are killing me.  Later that same night, I found him on the next to top rail of the bleachers at the high school football game, leaning over them cheering.  Since then, he has repeatedly climbed over the chain link fence, scaled the picket fence, walked on the tables in the parish hall after church, stands on the back of the toilet, on the kitchen counter tops, on the bathroom counter, he has cut himself with an exacto knife, I found him making lemonade out of real lemons ALONE (including cutting them all up), using the top seat of the bleachers as a balancing beam.  I am sure there are more things that he has done that luckily I have not seen or witnessed. 

Have I mentioned the boy is only 5. 

Is the need for bubblewrap now apparent?

I am really struggling to find the balance of just letting him be and keeping him safe.

I know I didn't start this blog to be a medical journey, but I am going to add another tab on the top to keep all these in one easy to find place.  Ok well that is as soon as I remember how to do it.



Lessons learned at the ballpark - pt 3

Compassion.  I saw the most wonderful lesson in compassion tonight at the ball park.

Life is crazy busy for us right now.  4 of the 5 kids are involved in sports.  Most nights we have things overlapping.  Dad and I do good dividing up when he is off so one of us is at the most important things, or we split practices.  I will admit there are things we are missing, but we are relying on some great people that are willing to help out with getting our kids where they need to be.  Vary rarely do we miss a game.

Tonight, Ashleigh, the oldest daughter, had a double header; Brandy, the middle daughter, had practice; and Johnny had a game.  We tagged up and watched the 1st of Ashleigh's games.  The original plan was I was going to the practice and daddy was going to Johnny's game.  I made arrangements for Brandy to get to and from practice so we both got to go see Johnny play, even if we were a few minutes late. 

I am glad I did that.  Johnny's coaches showed so much class and compassion for another little boy, that I am proud that I got to see it.  Someday, when Johnny is old enough to fully understand, I will tell him about this moment.

The 2 teams playing are both tee-ballers.  Our team is a little bit older.  Most of our boys are 5 to 6 years old.  Their team seemed very inexperienced and young.  Most of them appeared to be between 4 and 5, with maybe even a few 3 year olds sprinkled in.

One of the best things in tee-ball is that most parents cheer the loudest for the smaller players on either team.  It's so cute to watch the little ones hit their hardest and run as fast as their little legs can go.  Imagine how far away those bases must look to them?

I first noticed one of the little boys when he was playing catcher.  I was admiring his tiny little hands.  He was such a dainty thing!  He was so cute later going up to bat.  His batting helmet made him look like a bobble head.  His coach handed him his bat and he took it in one hand and tried to grip it with the other.  He then just held on with his one good hand and balanced it a bit with his wrist.  He swung with all his might, missed and came back and tapped the ball.  It trickled off the tee.  It slowly rolled out of the batter's box and just barely made it into fair territory. 

All the parents jump up and tell him to run.  He runs as fast as his awkward stride will allow.  Our catcher runs out and scoops up the ball and easily throws it to 1st base.  1st baseman gets the ball right in front of the base.  The coaches are yelling to NOT tag the base.  The little boy trips and falls and lands on the base line.  1st baseman is still holding the ball, really confused, but he heard the coaches yell throw it to 3rd, so he did.  The little one gets back on his feet and runs to 1st.  Both sets of fans are cheering and clapping.

Our coach goes out to the pitcher, 2nd base (Johnny), and short stop and tells them no matter what, that that little boy is going to score.  They are not to get him out.  The kids don't quite understand, but go with it. 

Next hit, Little Boy runs from 1st and stops about half way to second.  With some encouragement he continues on and jumps on the bag.  Next hit, he goes from 2nd and heads towards the pitchers mound.  The umps, now realizing what we are doing, helps guide him to 3rd base.  On the next hit, the ball lands between the pitcher and the catcher.  Following the instructions of the coach, the catcher picks it up and throws it to 1st.  Little Boy runs home and scores amid wild cheering from both sides.

After the game, I went up and told the coach that she showed a lot of class.  My husband told me later that the other coach was so shocked by our actions.  No other team had let Little Boy get beyond 1st base. 

Little Boy has cerebal palsy.  He is never going to be the all-star baseball player.  But he got to know the joy of scoring a run.  The joy of hearing the crowd cheer (and loudly) just for him.  He got to have his moment to shine like the true star that he is.  I hope his parents got a picture or video to show him and help him remember.

I applaud his parents for letting him play baseball even though he has physical limitations that prevent him from being able to fully participate.  I applaud the parents in the stands for recognizing this special moment and cheering for him.  I applaud our coach for realizing this moment and allowing our boys to learn to have compassion for others (even though right now they are probably way too young to know what kind of impact they had on someone else's life).  

And I thank the coach for teaching our boys that baseball isn't just about winning games.