Stuff we been doing

A friend on Facebook asked for a general update on our doings, so here it is!

My hubby’s been getting tons of hours at work, so we’re on a pretty decent routine. Routine is nice. We like routine. It goes like this:

We get up

Eat breakfast

The kids clean their rooms

We do schoolwork

Then I read aloud and the kids take turns on the computer.

Lately it’s been Minecraft all the time, because the kids have discovered the glory of mod packs. We have a Sims mod and a boat mod and a Pokemon mod and today I’m slated to install a dreams/nightmares mod. They really wanted the McDonalds mod, but it’s down for reworking. They also really got into this one Galacticraft mod where you build a rocket and visit the moon and Mars.

The baby’s two months old now and getting fatter. She has to be the center of the party all the time, and she’s begun to smile and coo. They’re so cute at this age! She only sleeps when I’m there, meaning she sleeps at night and at nap time, but no other time. Babies just hate being babies. They want to do stuff, and when they can’t, they get so mad.

I’ve been writing, mostly on my iPod while rocking the baby and overseeing people taking turns on the computer. Just finished a novella and I’m working on revisions to another story. Also writing a new one that I can’t seem to stay away from. All on the iPod! It’s amazing how much you can do when you jot down a paragraph here and there.

We finally got to see Brave and Frozen. Good movies! I don’t know why Brave got so much hate. Stereotypes make for great humor, and the mom is such a cute bear.

And Frozen is wonderful. It’s worth seeing for the animation of the frost and ice alone. It’s definitely the Snow Queen story, just tightened up. And instead of a girl looking for her brother, its two sisters.

So yeah, just normal and boring. After the craziness of the last few years, boring is really really nice. 🙂

Bone broth healed my cold

Like the rest of the human race, I came down with a post-holiday cold. Too much candy and cookies finally did me in.

All I wanted was some good, hot soup. Fortunately, Nourished Kitchen posted a recipe for bone broth. I bought some beef bones and cooked up some stock. (It takes at least 12 hours, so into the slow cooker it went, overnight.)

Beef broth by Rainer Zenz via Wikimedia Commons

Beef bone stock is one of those unsung super foods. It’s loaded with minerals, gelatin and good fats, and it heals a damaged intestine. What damages your intestine? Sugar.

Meanwhile, my cold worsened into the sneeze-and-blow-nose stage. In my experience, nothing beats it once it progresses that far.

The next day, I cooked up a pot of beef stew with the beef stock. We had it for lunch, and boy was it good. I positively stuffed on it. Then I laid down with the baby for a nap.

When I got up, zero sneezing. Zero runny nose. Minimal sinus pain. I was astonished. All afternoon and evening, lots of energy and no cold. It just vanished. I warmed up the stew and had it for dinner, too.

The next day, I felt so good, I went for a mile-and-change walk. This caused a relapse. Yay me! Not. Also I ate some chocolate that I should have left alone, and the cold came roaring back.

If I’d left sugar alone, I’m sure I’d have recovered much faster.

Also, as I was making/drinking lovely beef broth and stock, I was also making smoothies. Here’s the one I have to fight the kids for:

1 or 2 big green kale leaves
1 carrot, cut in small enough pieces that the blender can grab it
1/4th cup coconut milk (my favorite is first pressing unsweetened)
dash of orange juice
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Throw it all in the blender and do your own Will It Blend commercial, although hopefully with fewer explosions.

I also summoned all my courage and tried spreading bone marrow on toast. It tasted exactly like the stock did and was quite pleasant. Very fatty and rich. I was afraid it’d be very strong, like liver, but it wasn’t.

Moral of the story: Beef broth and veggies are good for you! Have you had any luck beating bugs with broths and things?

Some Christmas pics

We had our belated Christmas get together with the grandparents last night. Naturally I forgot my camera and had to make do with my iPod.

Several small things

Just a couple of small things today. The first small thing is the newest munchkin:

She smiled for the first time today! She’s about six weeks old, so that’s right on track. She either sleeps all the time, or NONE of the time. At least she sleeps at night. Mostly.

The next small thing:

Teeny tiny apples! They sell these little bags at the store once in a while. I compared them to an orange for scale. Aren’t they cute? The kids nibble them and leave their cores everywhere. I had to get a shot of them before they were all gone.