cabin: This coming Sunday will be seven years since we first took ownership of our property and began visiting the cabin every weekend. Before long, the kids and I had taken up permanent residence there. It was a safe place for us, a retreat from the city, a promise. Before long, my dad retired and moved to the cabin as well. In October of 2001, we sold our house in the city and moved to the cabin full-time. That was four kids, three adults and two dogs living in a little cabin with gas lights, and outhouse and a tub on the porch. In 2003, we started building our house and finished it in 2004.
caffeine: If I have too much of this, or if I have it on an empty stomach, I get shaky and even ill. Still, there are times when I really need some, so I risk it. If I have a cup of coffee in the morning, I seem to run much better all day long.
calcium--because of some strange thing that happened with the weather, there wasn't enough calcium absorbed by my tomato plants, so they withered up and all but died. :-/
calico--we have two beautiful calico kitties.
camera--my darling husband and daughter bought me a Canon camera for my birthday this year. I use it often, but I don't really get to post the photos often because my computer crashed and it was the only one aside from Bo's laptop that I can use to post photos.
camouflage--Bard's favorite color.
camp--When I was in junior high, I absolutely loved summer camp and wanted to live there. I truly would have, but my parents got angry when I wasn't all that anxious to come home, so I never really got to go back.
canning--this one deserves its own post.
carbonated--Dr. Pepper is my favorite carbonated beverage.
career--I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I always thought I'd be a writer, but now I feel like the market's saturated and I don't have all that much to contribute. For now, being a mom is a decent living.
carpenter--my husband Bo was this when we first got married.
carrot--these were my favorite veggies growing up.
cartoonist--what Monet wants to be.
cast iron--lately, I have been cooking with my two cast iron skillets that I found at my favorite thrift store and I love them! I don't worry about nonstick coatings and they clean up in a jiffy. I'm on the lookout for more. Yesterday morning, I taught Houdin two things before we left for church:
--How to care for cast iron cookware
--How to make pate brise.
cats--we have too, too many. We currently have three cats who have learned how to use the dog door, so they're indoors and out. There are also several outdoor cats and today we found three kittens. No, we're not keeping them, no matter what Sweethearts says.
caterpillars--we found two Monarch caterpillars and have them in a jar with a whole wad of milkweed. Soon, they're become chyrysalis and then we'll watch them emerge as butterflies!
cattails--We have these growing in our front yard, believe it or not, along with a whole, whole, whole bunch of thistles for the the goldfinches (I hear the thistles make my neighbor angry. Whoops! Well, I do love those finches! Good thing the wind generally blows Northeast!) I've considered having that area landscaped, but I think God's doing an okay job of it all by Himself.
cell phone--I must be the only person in the world who doesn't have one. My kids don't have them, either. GASP!
chairs--I have a weakness for cool chairs. Yesterday, I bought a new one from My Favorite Thrift Store--it's a vintage upholstered rocker, cream-colored with wood trim. It was half-price, so how could I resist?
chameleon--We were given one of these and really enjoyed her for the time we had her. She sat on a ficus tree and lived on crickets and mealworms. She only had one eye, so I had to feed her by hand. I'd love to have another chameleon someday, but right now, we'll enjoy our iguana.
chaos--I was an only child, so the only chaos that ever ensued in our house was from my parents fighting (which they often did. sigh.). Now, there is always some sort of chaos going on in our house. It could be good chaos, like a house concert, or a group of friends playing together, or a meal being prepared, or a game being played. Or it could be bad chaos, like bickering siblings or a disgruntled live-in grandfather complaining about the toys in his area. I'm trying to learn to live with chaos, but it's not easy. Loud noises still make me jump, even after hearing them for 17 years.
charming--Our little village is quite charming. :-)
cheesecake --Six years ago, a friend got me hooked on making cheesecakes. About a year ago, I passed the torch to sixteen-year-old Houdin. Now he makes the cheesecakes for our houseconcerts and people rave about them. My favorite is the turtle cheesecake, but the milk chocolate cheesecake is a close second. Yum! He also makes plain as well as mint chocolate chip.
cherries--These have always been on of my favorite fruits. When I was young, I used to climb my aunt's cherry tree to get as many as I could, even though I was told over and over not to climb on it because the branches were weak. I'm still alive. Now we're growing two cherry trees on our own homestead, and though we haven't had a good crop yet, I'm looking forward to the day!
chickens--One of the first things we bought when we came to this home was chickens. At first, it was just Golden Comet layers, and now we have a whole crew of gals (along with a couple of roosters). Last year, we raised our first broilers and butchered them in the fall. It was fairly successful and we hope to do it again next year, if we can construct a better brooder than our basement!
children--"Let your children be your flowers." This was the advice of a friend of mine who listened to me lament about the fact that I didn't have the time or money to put in a flower bed. I clung to those words during that time, and now I have both children AND flowers, and children who love flowers. My daughters make the most beautiful bouquets from the flowers in our gardens. I'm surprised they can find the flowers for all the weeds!
China--Bard spent a week-and-a-half in China with her choral ensemble. She was able to sing at the Great Wall.
chlorine--I believe this is one of the world's biggest evils.
chocolate--I believe this is one of the answers to most of the world's problems. I especially love a very, very good dark chocolate, though I used to think that dark chocolate was a cruel joke.
choir--Four of my fave children are members of a very good choral group. Bard is on her 11th year in the ensemble.
Christ--my inspiration for just about everything I do.
Christian--I became a Christian when I was 16, thanks to the music of a young man who played guitar in cut-offs and a t-shirt at a festival where I, the previous year's Queen, was judge. His song changed my life.
Christianity--This is so greatly misunderstood. I wish people would really examine Christ's words instead of assuming they know what Christianity is. This includes Christians.
There are a ton of C words I want to cover, but I'm totally tired after a day of running around and canning, so I'll come back to this one...
Christmas: A time to focus on Advent, make hard candy and caramels, sugar cookies and white trash, hit the thrift stores a bit more often, and lug all the decorations from the basement. I try very, very hard not to make this a stressful time, but it always ends up with drama of some type. Still, it's always one of our favorite times of the year.
chrysalis: We collect Monarch caterpillars and watch them transform. We have about 11 of them right now, a few that have already made their chrysalis.
church: This one could get very, very verbose if I let it. Maybe I should do another post for this one, too?
cider: Every Fall, we buy gallons of fresh sweet cider from a local orchard and freeze it so that we can have when Autumn ends. When the winter winds begin to blow, we pull out a gallon and mull it on the stove.
city: A place I could never live.
classic: I'm drawn to classic things, whether it's literature, music, movies, styles of furniture, linens, whatever. Since I was in high school, I've loved to collect practical antiques and vintage clothing. It's a hobby I've confined to thrift-store shopping during this season of my life, but it's one of my hobbies that gives me the most joy.
Clover : Our pot-bellied pig.
clutter: A constant struggle.
coats: I have a fetish for these. Recently I found a black leather jacket and a black Hilary Radley swing cape at the thrift store. I can't help it. It's an addiction.
cobalt blue: My collection began with my grandmother's Vic's Vapo-Rub jar and grew from there. My husband, children, friends and family have added to it over the years. My favorite pieces are displayed in my bedroom.
colors : My favorites are dark green, burgundy, brown, black and shades of white/cream.
comparison: One of my biggest enemies.
computer: We're down to one functioning computer with internet access, and when I say "functioning," it's just barely doing that, shutting down every few minutes and unable to run the programs I use. I'm trying to scheme a way to get a new computer for schoolwork and writing.
concerts: One of our goals in building a house in the country was to have houseconcerts. Over the past two years, we've had seven concerts, have four more in the next two months and have a couple booked for 2008. Our goal is to consistently draw about 50 people per show.
constellations
content
conversations
cook
coop
cooperate
cornmeal
cosmetics
cottage cheese
cotton
couch
country
cows
crabby
crafts
Crash
cream
creative
Creator
criticism
curly
currants
curse
cute
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