the laundry flu

We are in the middle of our third week of having to clear everything from the calendar because of sickness. We have been passing around some version of the flu to each other since the new year. I have been out of the house a total of six times in 2018. No lie!

I had a pretty chipper attitude about it for a while. It was so cold, I didn't actually want to go anywhere anyway. We have had a roaring fire heating our house and it's cozy to stay put.

But then Ivar got a high fever on Sunday afternoon and I had to call my sister to tell her we wouldn't be coming to her house for MLK day. We would, instead, stay put again. It was a low blow and it got me down. I was really, really excited for a day at her house with all of our kids.

Later that night Rory found me baking cookies in the kitchen. "Wow. Why are you making cookies?"

"Low morale," I replied. And then laughed at the absurdity of it, as well as the absolute truth.

And probably because I'm slowly losing my marbles, I imagined a little Mystery Science Theatre commentary happening while I was baking cookies. I heard a narration team in my head, "Ah, folks, it's too early for her to get the winter blues. We haven't even hit Valentines Day, her typical low point of winter. In fact, that's still a long ways off. Is she going anywhere this winter? Um, not unless you count Iowa in March for her great Aunt's 100th birthday. Right. That's not very far south. Also, it's two months from now. Well, I'd say she's doing the right thing by baking cookies. We agree. And good for her for using Gluten Free flour. They're basically healthy now. Absolutely."

And now, since Sunday night,  Hattie has had what I call The Laundry Flu two different nights. Ivar has The Kleenex Flu with achy bones and a lack of energy. And yesterday I got some version of the flu too. And to be honest, I blame those cookies. I haven't had that much sugar in months, and I think I crashed my immune system. But they were good solace during Hattie's sickness for me...

Anyway, I am about solutions! God made me quite proactive, optimistic and excitable when he formed me, so here's my winter plan for 2018. (And, it's FORTY DEGREES TODAY!!!)

My solution to this long and ill month, and making it through the next two months of winter is to relax on my to do's and play with my kids every chance I get. (My to do's get undone immediately anyway...) The picture above is a huge ship we made on Monday that had to cross the ocean. We could only get off the ship when we docked at a restaurant to eat snacks (Elsie's idea). There were terrible storms, and most fun was nighttime when we'd all lay down and snuggle and snore and talk about the sharks circling our ship.

I also am big into having a lit candle each day, calming music (just discovered DappyTKeys on youtube) and other good Hygge things.

And my latest, greatest idea was two nights ago when we took a Family Re-cation. I hooked up the projector and after supper we all looked at every picture I took from our family vacation last December to Kentucky. It was so, so fun. And it did feel like a little virtual get away. :)

So I'm fighting back. Remember when I regrouped the winter months: January, February and March? Because those are the actual winter months in Minnesota. December was nice and mild until the very end. It usually is. So we are just at the beginning of the winter, in my mind. Way too soon for low morale! So bring on all the cozy things. And the boat rides in shark infested waters.

barn update!

While everyone has been sick in the house this month, something very exciting has been happening out in the barn. The guys that built our barn have been back to enclose the animal and storage area from the rest of the barn. This was done mainly to create a hay mow to store our small square bales of hay for the animals. Tada!

So now when you go up the stairs you can go left or right on the first landing. Going left will lead you to four stairs and to Floor 1 1/2. It's a whole huge room, 8 feet tall at the highest slope and then gradually getting lower. (And don't worry. We will soon build a deck railing all across the top. I am certain my dad's heart rate is up just looking at this picture of Ivar!) 

This new ceiling and walls also means that our storage room is now enclosed so our stuff won't always have saw dust, hay and animal dust all over it. 

It looks so good and feels perfect for this barn. The craziest part is that when we designed the barn, we hadn't planned it this way. It was an idea that came after the barn was built, but when you see it, it feels like it was always a part of the master design. How great is that?

plot lines and writing lessons

On Friday I decided to teach the kids about character development, setting, plot lines, climax and resolution and how to write a good story. I drew out a little story about a boy and a girl who lived on a farm. I described the kids, one liked legos the other liked jewelry. And these kids got pigs on their farm. But something crazy happened and the pigs got out. The story was a real raucous until the pigs were safely back in their pen and the story resolved nicely.

I explained each part of the story, the rising action, the climax, the resolution, and since he had just finished reading the book with his dad, I asked Ivar if he would map out The Hobbit on the white board.

I know.

But in my defense I was thinking he would say, "Bilbo lived in the Shire and found a ring, it led him on an adventure and he ended up back home at the end of the story."

But not Ivar. Ivar had a lesson for me. First he totally panicked and scribbled wildly on the board, "Mom, there are new characters in ever chapter! And the place is always changing! There isn't just one hard thing they have to get through, it happens over and over and over." He was overwhelmed at the enormity of the task I had just assigned to him (duh) and I tried to back track and said he could just draw out the story arc for The Three Little Pigs. But it was too late. He took my challenging assignment and began to draw out Bilbo's storyline.

And he did so well. Can you see in the picture above his drawing of the shire? And next is the meeting with the dwarfs (those dots are their faces and that is a wood burning stove with puffs of smoke coming up), then they began their adventure into the woods, 14 days of rest in Rivendell and on and on... I actually learned quite a bit by Ivar's explanation of Tolkien's storytelling.

I wrapped up the lesson by telling Ivar, "I guess I started you with the best." And then took a picture of the white board to remember the day Ivar taught me how to write a good storyline.

cup towers and old ladies

Our church had a New Year's Eve party and it was so much fun. Our friend Eric led lots of minute-to-win-it type games and there was so much laughter. We love our church family and it was fun to play together. Usually it's all Sunday morning together-time, but this was really special.

The last game was a huge cup relay with different tasks to accomplish with plastic cups. There were hundreds of cups and after the games were over Ivar and a 10-year-old and a 27-year-old built a cup pyramid up to the ceiling. I love that sort of intergenerational goodness.

But the reason I'm writing is to tell of one hilarious moment. One of the games was to empty an entire box of kleenex in with one hand. The person who did it first, won. There were 16 boxes of kleenex set up for 16 kids and at the end of the game they were going to throw away the waste. But I shouted out, "wait! No! I'll take all of them! Wait for me to get a garbage bag!" I came back with a huge trash bag and Eric repeated, "Okay, kids. You heard Mrs. Groves. She would like to take all of these kleenex home with her so please pick them up and put them in her bag..."

I laughed so hard. I am suddenly old lady Groves. You know, the one who re-uses tissues?

Maybe you had to be there to see the teenagers' faces as they put their kleenex in my bag. But I'm pretty sure I've got some sort of reputation now...though I'm completely pumped about our TWO GARBAGE BAGS FULL of practically brand new kleenex!

goat. it's what's for dinner.

When it was time to load up our beloved goat, Cici, Ivar was devastated. Cici was more of a pet than a barnyard animal, and all of our hearts were so, so sad.

It was a few weeks later that Rory got the first bag of ground goat out of the deep freeze and asked me to make something out of it. And I'll tell you what. Never in all my days did I think I'd ever be googling recipes for ground goat.

But here's the craziest thing. Before we were married I remember watching a cooking show. Which unto itself is amazing, because I have watched soooo many cooking shows in my life. So many. So, so many. But I remember one in particular of a man in his condo and he was making goat meatballs. He was explaining that goat is the most consumed protein on the planet, just not in America. And he was urging his PBS viewers not to knock it until they tried it.

And somehow, this guy, in his apartment kitchen, cooking goat meatballs, carried me through this first attempt at my newest life skill: cooking with goat meat.

I found a recipe that had me caramelize onions and add a whole lot of thyme and salt and pepper. And then to cool that mixture before adding it to the meat, eggs, bread crumbs and...cream cheese. I added some Worcestershire and all-spice, because those two ingredients have never let me down before. And then I got out my cast-iron skillet, browned these babies on all sides, stuck them in the oven to finish them off and waited for the moment of truth.

The kids came to the table. We were all a little sullen. We knew the meal that was coming our way. Like, we actually knew it. Had known it. And here it was.

Rory was getting everyone's drinks and I was wondering if this was too much for Ivar...if he should be let off the hook with a peanut butter and jelly. I got up to get something and then I heard Rory, "Elsie. Stop eating. You have to wait for all of us to sit down." And she said something about how good her meatball was. As she stuffed another in her mouth I scolded, "no no! We are going to try it all together." And before we were done praying she had eaten three meatballs. So we said our thanks to God for this meal. And then we each took a bite.

And we started to chew very slowly and look around the table.

Because these meatballs were incredible. Like, the best we have ever had.

I kept saying, "what in the world..." and Rory kept laughing, "this is ours! why have we never heard goat is good before? we have our own meat!"

And Ivar, with a huge smile looked at me and said, "Thumbs up, Cici."

Thumbs up, Cici. My favorite line, probably ever.

So now we are cooking with goat. I don't imagine anyone out there will likely begin purchasing goat meat. But in the event that you, too, find yourself looking up goat recipes I want to share the two we have had so far that are positively the best meat we have ever had. Plus, I will need to reference these again and again, so here they are on my handy blog.

Also, you could totally make either of these with beef. Goat is just a very lean meat, so there are added steps to keep the meat from drying out.

St. Goat Balls of A Cici
Caramelize the following in olive oil and butter
2 med onions chopped fine
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp salt
dash of red pepper flakes

1 1/2 lbs ground goat
2 eggs
1/2 c plain bread crumbs
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 brick of cream cheese, added very last, and mixed in as small little chunks

Mix and brown the meat balls in a cast iron skillet on two sides. Finish in 400 degree oven.
**This recipe required no gravy, no ketchup for the kids or bbq sauce. It was so, so good.


Goat Strogonoff 
This is my own recipe. And I don't cook with measures much anymore. I thank all the hours I logged on PBS on Saturday afternoons for teaching me how to cook. :)
goat stew meat
minced garlic
dried onions (fresh would be great too!)
pepper and salt
olive oil
liquid aminos (or soy sauce)

Combine all of this in a bowl
Heat cast iron skillet until hot, add oil and then brown meat on all sides
Put meat in crock pot with beef broth and slow cook 4-5 hours
30 minutes before serving add Worcestershire sauce.

Cook Egg noodles, cover in butter and grated Parmesan cheese
Remove meat from crock pot and make gravy out of juices.

This was CRAZY delicious.

***
I want to write this for my own self reflection...

We are absolutely positive that this meat tastes happy. I know that sounds loony. But it does taste happy. A few years ago when we began roasting our own chickens I had a really hard time eating them. I often told people, "I like anonymous meat...meat I never knew before..." But I have had a complete change of heart, and I am the most surprised.

You know what is a terrible thought now? Not having ANY IDEA where my meat came from. We've all seen a glimpse of a documentary or flown over cattle operations or seen pictures so terrible and inhumane it seems other-worldly. I'm thinking of chicken operations where birds are stuffed next to each other in cages, never to ever see the light of day. Or cattle yards where cows stand in mud and manure, are fed grain, and never get a piece of fresh grass in their life.

I used to have an indifference to where my meat came from. There are so many things you can get upset about anymore. Leave my hamburgers alone. But I'm not so indifferent any more. And in a crazy twist, I actually am glad we knew our goat, named it, loved it, gave it one very happy life and that we are eating that happy meat. Now I want to know my meat from birth to butcher. And I would like to know the butcher too.

Anyway, I never saw this coming. But here we are. Thumbs up, Cici.