Bread in the Oven

or often a Bun

September and October 2004 Sunday, October 31, 2004 Dental visit Fiday we went to the dentist. She has a new office in an old bank. The xray room is in the safe. The waitingroom is bigger and they have a tiny playroom too. It's quite nice. Only Reg has a tiny cavity and she wants to put sealer on P's teeth. Sadly the secretary is suffering from secondary infertility. She has been our dental secretary since M was born so she has seen our family grow. We watched her go through a break up then get married and have a baby. We were pg together and our babies are already 4. I had 2 more since. I didn't mention that I was pg but someone told the dentist and hygenist. Her dr put her on Clomid so hopefully by next visit she will be pg. Our insurance only covers visits every 9 mos so I will have a nb by then. I wish anybody that wanted to get pg would and those that didn't wouldn't. Yesterday M suckered me into making a quick gown. She tried but it was sad lol. She wants to dress up as Frankenstein's Bride. posted by ma @ 9:16 AM Wednesday, October 27, 2004 I made soap today. I have allergies. One of my allergies is to scents. I'm not sure if it's to all of them but I'm afraid of any now. Almost every unscented soap has some scent. I tried all the different brands and stuck with the least scented one. Some batches worse than others. I was tired of buying "unscented" that wasn't. I bought unscented craft soap online. Ah finally, a soap that wasn't scented. It had an odd smell like a pile of apple peels. The soap was really soft and turned into a gooey mess in the shower. When I complained to some soapers at chat they encourage to make my own. I was wrongly under the impression that with out hard water that homemade soap would never lather up. Not so they insisted. I hunted around for soap ingredients. I had a hard time finding lye and coconut oil. Coconut oil gives lots of lather. With kids and hard water I figured that was essential. I made my first batch then a second to compare different recipes. It turned out great. One batch felt slimy when lathering up so I stuck with the other. I love my soap but I don't like making it. It needs to cure for 2 or 3 weeks but I never get around to making it till we are almost out of soap. The other reason I don't like making it is that the lye is dangerous. I hate being that careful. Reg either takes the kids upstairs or takes them out. Today he took them to the library. Reg told the librarians that I was pg. While they were getting over the shock he told them that he left me at home to make soap. LOL. Today I ordered a Babycom doppler. Well actually I ordered it on Sunday but they cancelled my order because I didn't use my billing address. I was using Paypal so I couldn't see why they cared where I had it shipped. I emailed and asked what I could do. She suggested shipping it to my billing address or having who ever I was shipping it too to pay for it. Uh, no ty. I'm suffering from placenta-brain but even I thought of sending a money order so asked if that would be acceptable. It was (duh). Reg bought and sent the money order today. I'm having the doppler sent to Karen's like I have most of my online purchases. I'm in Canada and once I ordered something and ended up paying more twice as much after duty, taxes and shipping. I feel funny because she is so homebirthy granola and a doppler just is so not. I asked and she said no problem. I think she is trying to get us into geocaching. We like hiking but I warned Reg to read her blog before agreeing to go on one. posted by ma @ 8:13 PM Sunday, October 24, 2004 Doughnuts Reg is working today. Since he isn't home for supper I often ask the kids if they feel like making something. Often they say yes and often it's not very suppery. I'm not cooking and we had "supper" at lunch so I don't mind. Yesterday P said he wanted to make filled doughtnuts. Yikes but those are more work than sticky buns. He insisted but I said no way. The 3 oldest were out so I knew I would get stuck with most of the work. He tends to not let go of things so when I asked again today he said filled doughnuts. The others thought it was a great idea. I made the dough. It's basically a sweet egg bread dough. After it rose for an hour Ch and I rolled it out and cut it. We let them rise for another hour. P made vanilla, lemon and chocolate pudding. Chocolate was easy since he just added chocolate chips to the vanilla. S deep fried the doughnuts. Ch, P and I filled them, S made a chocolate glaze. He and P spread the glaze while Ch sprinkle the powdered sugar. M put sugar and cinnamon on hers. We made 31 Boston Cream, chocolate and lemon filled doughts, and 3 regular doughnuts. They turned out well. Yum. posted by ma @ 7:25 PM Saturday, October 23, 2004 Feeling good I'm 5 weeks. I usually start feeling pg at 5 weeks. I was tired earlier this week but its lessened. I feel good. Partly I don't believe I'm pg. I saw the test and have been working at it. It just seems so unreal yet. Soon I'll be gagging and laughing at myself for thinking something so silly. Well I wrote that last night. This morning I gagged and felt nauseous. I'm more of a believer now lol. Carmen, I really do mean every second week. For 7 years I washed clothes every second weekend. Reg worked every second weekend (so was out of the way ;-). I had 5 kids with just two in public school when I got started. Everyone seemed to have tons of clothes. I sorted through and found out who needed what. I remember M who was 2 had 14 tops but only 6 pants so I made her 8 pairs of sweats. I bought more undies and socks then just let it pile up. On laundry weekend I would make simple meals and not let the kids make plans. The system worked great but only if I kept up. At first I just had a regular sized washer. Not long after I got a bigger one. My washer and dryer are just off the kitchen. As sooon as the dryer would buzz I'd fold clothes and switch loads. I relaxed as much as possible between loads. I started slacking when we started homeschooling. The Monday morning rush for clothes was gone. I do a catch up load of whites so everyone has underwear then wait till someone is desperate. Lisa, I just made the chore chart because I kept forgetting who does what. The kids always knew but didn't volunteer information if they could help it. I don't want to empty the dishwasher so making a chart was worth it. I made it on the puter but messed it up so it has magic marker all over it. So maybe I'm not that good at chore charts afterall? posted by ma @ 7:08 PM Friday, October 22, 2004 Day in the Life A couple months ago I got an email asking if I would mind being interviewd for a textbook. I could live without it but the rest of the family wanted too. Hmm turns out its by questionaire so I get stuck with the writing. This may be of no interest to some but I think I would enjoy reading if someone else did one. I also have a nosey friend and a curious friend that I think would like to see it ;-) > So the names are correct? Will the ages be accurate > for Jan 2005 printing? If the day in a life is this week wouldn't it be best to use this week ages? Just T had a bday. She is 12 mos now. We have 2 bdays in Dec then 2 bdays early Jan so its never going to be right.. > Names: R and C and K(17) S(16) > Ch(15) M(13) P(11) J(9) > R(7) Co(4) H(2) and T (11mos) > > Questions > 1. What time does everyone get up? Do you have to wake > everyone up? Sandy gets up at 6. The rest of us get up around 8 or 8:30. Kids wake up on their own. Only the teen girls might need to woken up to set the table or come eat breakfast. > 2. How many bathrooms? Is there a line-up for the > bathroom? How do you sort this out? 1 bathroom. Since we all don't get up at exactly the same time there is no line up usually. Kids are used to waiting a couple minutes if they have too. I will tell someone to hurry if someone's waiting. > 3. Breakfast What would be a typical breakfast > including quantities? Does anyone help you make it? > Who sets the table? Who clears the dishes? Who washes > dishes? Who helps feed the younger kids? We had pancakes today. Reg and I share most cooking. While I was finishing up the last batch Reg was serving up the 3 youngest. Usually we eat about 24. Kids don't normally help with cooking breakfast. 1 of the 4 oldest sets, 1 empties the dishwasher, and 1 cleans the kitchen. R and J take turns clearing the table and wiping it altho at breakfast an older kid will wipe the table to help make things go faster. > 4. When does your husband leave for work? When does he > come home from work? Reg works an odd shift. He works from 2 pm to 10 pm so he is home for breakfast and lunch. > 5. When does the home schooling start? Do you have to > do much work for that? What are the children studying? > What do the younger kids do when the older ones are > studying? School starts once breakfast is cleaned up. It's never the same time. Kids do Math, French, and English daily. Art, gym and science are less often. The kids are fairly independent so we just end up correcting or helping if they need it. We look after the younger kids while the kids do school. Cleaning up, changing, brushing teeth and dressing. The younger ones play. Co often plays Nintendo. Co and H will listen to books being read. Co often "does" school too. I'm not sure how much work it is. I answer emails and chat on the computer while doing school. It's less work than sending them to school. No bagged lunches, homework or special school happenings > 6 Chores: When do you do these? > Laundry: How many loads of laundry per day? Do you do > it or one of the children? Chores:Sunday. Laundry:I have the largest front loader. I wash clothes about every second week. I used to have a schedule but I can't seem to stay on it. I do about 12 loads. The kids put their close in the hamper. I sort, wash and fold. After it's done I pile all folded clothes by kids. Then Reg and I sort and pair socks. The older kids put their stuff away and Reg puts the little ones away. > Cleaning: I read in the article you have a schedule. > Who does each chore during the week? When? > (e.g. vacuuming, cleaning bathroom, tidying the living > room, take out the garbage, etc.) If chores rotate, > who is doing what this week? In the article he mentions the daily chore chart. We have a daily and a weekly. We have 2 daily schedules for when S is at school or at home. It's the same as breakfast. The daily schedule changes Monday. Filler, M (fills dishwasher, cleans up kitchen), Emptier, P (empty dishwasher and dish rack), Setter Ch (sets table), and Broomer, S ( brooms diningroom at breakfast, kitchen at lunch then picks up the floor with J and R after supper). When S is at school the Broomer does the Setter's job. We also have a weekly schedule. Depending on the daily chore the kids have a weekly chore done on Sunday. The Filler deep cleans the kitchen. The Setter picks up toys upstairs and sorts and puts away toys in upstairs playroom. The Broomer cleans up toys downstairs, brings upstair toys to the playroom, cleans up and vacuums video room. The Emptier vaccums entrance and under the stairs and cleans the microwave. Rachel and James take turn vacuuming the diningroom and under the livingroom furniture. Reg usually does the garbage and I usually clean the bathroom. > Baking: I read you bake a lot. How many loaves do you > make each day? How long does it take? Do you make > other food from scratch? Do you get help with that? I bake some kind of bread daily. Usually its just 2/3 wholewheat bread. It takes about 15 minutes in all. Most of the time is just waiting. A lot of the stuff we eat is made from scratch. All the bread and bread products are. Cookies and cakes too. Kids volunteer to make cookies. Often we eat cake at breakfast (like coffe cakes rather than bday cakes) and those are homemade. My kids have asked for storebought and cake mix cakes for their bdays and we will buy it then. I do all bread baking but Reg often makes muffins and cakes on his own. The kids mainly fetch things. Often the kids "help" just makes things take longer > 7 Lunch What would be a typical lunch including > quantities? Does anyone help you make it? Who sets the > table? Who clears the dishes? Who helps feed the > younger kids? Since Reg works 2 to 10 he is home for lunch but not supper. We tend to eat suppery things at lunch and lunch stuff for supper. Lunch is usually sandwiches, sometimes its a simple pasta dish (usually homade sauce) or bread and an easy soup (sometimes even canned). For sandwiches the kids serve themselves except the 3 youngest. Like most meals Reg and I share the cooking. We eat about 2 1/4 loves of bread for sandwiches. 900gr pasta. 2.5 L soup > 8 Dinner What would be a typical dinner including > quantities? Does anyone help you make it? Who sets the > table? Who clears the dishes? Who helps feed the > younger kids? Today we had pizza but at lunch since Reg is working today (Friday). 6 cups of flour, 600 gr cheese, 4 cups homemade sauce, 500gr pepperoni. I made the dough. Reg prepared everything else and we both assembled it. All meals are served and cleaned up the same way. If the meal has french fries the 3 oldest peel and cut the potatoes. We will eat 5 lbs of fries with something like burgers. > 9 Freetime: What does everyone do in the evenings? TV? > Computers? Reading? Sports? Playing with other > children? It would help if you list each child's > favourite/typical evening activity. We finish school in the mornings. Most of the kids free time is in the afternoons. Often someone is finishing some schoolwork, though. S gets home around 3:30. The boys like playing Nintendo and basketball. M likes piano and reading. Ch likes sewing. R likes drawing. H likes wooden puzzles. All the kids like playing on the computer. The older ones like surfing and chatting. Everyone likes books. We eat supper around 6:30. There isn't much time between supper clean up and getting ready for bed > 10 Bedtime When does everyone go to bed? Do you and > your husband have much free time after the children go > to bed? All the kids go to bed at 8:30 except the baby. They watch videos or the olders can watch taped tv shows. The kids don't watch tv during the day unless we are busy showering or exercising. They also watch TV when we go out. We get our alone time from 8:30 to 11:30 pm. When Reg works he gets home at 10:40. We also shop together with just the baby. Its alone time while doing something that needs to be done. Besides who likes carrying groceries for 11 around? > 11. Did anything special happen any day this week? Yes! Sunday we found out that we are expecting another baby in June. It's also haircut week. Reg, Co, H and I are done. We need another day to get them rest finished posted by ma @ 3:31 PM Monday, October 18, 2004 A bun! I'm 4w3d today. I'm due late June. posted by ma @ 9:28 AM Wednesday, October 13, 2004 My Baby is One On Oct 1st T turned 1. How did that happen? In some ways it feels like she has been around forever and in some ways she is a tiny baby. Well, tiny is not a good word. She is one of my biggest for age babies. She is different though. She has a large head and is a bit shorter. She proportional to a 6 mos old but much bigger. She is one of my slower babies developmentally. I'm not complaining at all. She is wonderful just as she is. Also not finding the toilet early is good, right? M, my 13 dd, designed and decorated T's cake. I mentioned wanting to make a pink elephant cake. T's favorite cuddly stuffed toy is an elephant named Ella. I wanted pink because it's girlie and also funny. M offered to draw a picture. She drew a few since I was picky lol. Reg and I baked the usual 20 bowl cake. I cut the cake using M's drawing and M iced it. We bought Brother Bear for T a few weeks before her bday. We went to WM to find something else. We found some cute blocks then I saw a ball pit. It's an ongoing joke between Reg and I. I want to buy a ball pit and he doesn't. Well this ballpit was cheap, 10 CAD, and Reg thought it would solve the ball pit problem. We thought it would last 1 day since it was inflatable but would be fun for a bday. It lasted 6 and Reg was sad to see it go lol. Now I have 100 homeless ball pit balls. T was not impressed and stayed away from the pit for hours. The other kids had fun. There was lots of noise and action. After they went to bed I put T in the pit. Well at least she wasn't scared anymore. She did have fun a couple days later making ball pit soup posted by ma @ 10:00 AM Monday, October 11, 2004 Trying at least I know I just posted the Park Safari trip but I did start it the day we went so I'm leaving that date. I started a T bday post too but haven't finished it. Hopefully I will soon. I just haven't been on the computer much. My house is cleaner tho! I went on a blitz and cleaned the new kitchen aka the huge closet with nice cabinets. It's been unfinished for 4 years and a great junk collector. I got rid of 6 large garbage bags of clothes and junk. posted by ma @ 4:40 PM Thursday, October 07, 2004 Parc Safari! Earlier this summer Reg won tickets to Parc Safari. It's a zoo. You drive around one part and feed the "safari" animals from your car window. He had won a "family" pass, only 2 kids and 2 adults. It's pretty pricey, we are tight on money and we already spent our amusement park money this year. Ch offered to pick up the tickets. She asked for a second pass since she was one of 9 kids at home and they gave her another family pass! We often get extra movie passes but I'm not surprised by those. We go 15 min before quitting time the day of the movie. If the passes aren't given out they just go in the garbage. We had fun. The weather was beautiful. The season was almost over so the park was almost deserted. M kept saying that the Safari part was like a traffic jam with animals. Usually there are so many cars you end up waiting a lot. Not this time. We brought baby carrots, apples and rabbit food. Unfortunately only the front windows of the van open so it got pretty squishy lol. After the car ride we walked to the deer trail. The deer are small European Fallow deer. They are very cute and like to be fed. There was only 58 on the trail but it seemed like a lot more. Some greeted us as soon as we were in the gate. I put T in the sling because she wasn't impressed with having so many deer in her face. Ch was holding the bag of food so they followed her, lol. We went back to the van and got out lunch. I liked that about the park. The parking is in the site and is surrounded by picnic tables. Price of parking is included and they don't discourage you from bringing your own food. After eating we headed over to the big cat exhibit. They have a lion tunnel. I always wanted to see what a flatten lion belly looked like ;-) We ended up going on the raised monkey trail backwards but we easily passed the few people going in the right direction. That was one thing I didn't like. The trail starts were badly marked and the map was almost useless. It wasn't crowded so it didn't matter much. The kids played in the playground for a while. This was my least favorite park of the day. The playground isn't big but there are walls everywhere blocking the view so it was hard to keep an eye on everyone. They wanted the kids to remove their shoes but it was pretty muddy/sandy. We didn't stay long lol. We made a quick stop at the insectarium then headed home. We all had fun, even Ch who had begged to stay home. Usually I don't drag reluctant teens along but it was a school outing so too bad lol. posted by ma @ 10:06 PM Monday, September 27, 2004 Still alive I'm not sure what happened. I started playing a video game but I'm not sure if that's it. I might have been playing to put life on ignore or it's just a really good game. Maybe its a combination of both. Either way I have spent very little time online. I have missed chats and even went over 24 hours without checking my mail. Gasp! ;-) When I first got the net I had no idea what to do with it. After a few weeks I did a search for "large families." Most of the stuff that I found considered 4 large. I agree 4 is large for an average family size but I wanted non-average. Finally I found TOK at PP and that marked the beginning of my computer addiction. I tried fighting with myself to not spend so much time online but that proved impossible. I gave up and let the addiction run it's course. After 2 years I started to spend less time online. I started reading, playing video games and watching TV/videos again. When I got pg with H I started spending more time online again but because I had the pg tireds then pelvic joint pain. With T I had the tireds but less pain. I ended up pumping so spent even more time online. Over the last 5.5 years I have spent a lot of time online. This latest break isn't too unusual but its not my norm. Blogging, like my webpage, make me feel guilty. I like the idea but can't seem to keep up. The more guilty I feel the less I want to update. I know I had some of that happening with my just not being online. I was disappointed by not having an April baby. The whole April idea is silly I know. Mostly I'm afraid that TTC will take a long time. I'm not worried yet. T will only be a year on Fri. Ok maybe I am a touch worried lol. But really I had only one cycle when I didn't have surgery or an infection. Co took 9 mos TTC. Saying that now makes it seem like no big deal but it was hard at the time. I don't want to feel that way again. I don't want anyone to feel that way. I'm enjoying all the bloggity food talk. It's neat to see what others eat normally. I almost posted yesterday because on Sat I made yogurt and baked Apple Oatmeal raisin Bread. There was leftover homemade apple oatmeal in the fridge. It made yummy toasts for Sunday morning. For lunch we had poutine and for supper we had left-overs. Reg works 2 to 10 pm so we eat supper for lunch on his work days. Today we had cereal because we went out shopping. Reg and I had fast food and the kids had "Garlic noodles" for lunch. Tonight we are having tomato sandwiches. No, not ours. Sadly we only have a few red tomatoes and lots of small green ones. At this time of the year tomatoes are sold for 5$cdn for 20 lbs so we buy and eat as much as we want. One other thing I wanted to post but never did was the fact that we got a new washer dryer set, Whirlpool Duet. I liked my washer. It was a double sized toploader. It worked well. It was given to me by my mother when she switched apts not long after buying it. I hated the dryer. It just didn't dry. I said in the spring that I wanted a top loader but since I had a perfectly good machine I couldn't justify it. Toploader envy? Maybe. A few weeks ago our washer started making weird noises. Finally it refused to spin a load. We wrung it out by hand. Nothing like that to make you want a new machine right away lol. We shopped on Tues and the machines were delivered on Thurs. They both have windows so often people stand there watching. More often than not it's an adult ;-) posted by ma @ 6:02 PM

Main Page Nov/Dec '04 Previous Posts Dental visit I made soap today Doughnuts Feeling good Day in the Life A bun! My Baby is One Trying at least Parc Safari! Still alive Archives July/August 2004