An Update. In List Format.

I never thought I would actually say this, so I’m hope you’re sitting down.

This week I’ve been too busy to blog.

I KNOW! Sad but true. So I hereby resort to the blogger’s copout – a list.

1. A few weeks ago, my dear husband gave me the go-ahead to replace our kitchen sink and counters, which of course sent me into a flurry of researching and shopping — my two favorite past times.  With as much time as I spend in the kitchen these days, I am so thankful that we’re finally putting this project on our high priority list.  I have taken two trips to the granite yard this week to peruse the giant slabs of stone.  There are so many gorgeous choices, and decision-making is not my strong suit, but I think I’ve finally settled on one.  It helped, I suppose, that our budget pretty much made the decision for us.

2.  When I was a little girl, every fall we would buy fresh apple cider from a Mennonite community that ran an apple orchard near our hometown.  It was the nectar of the gods, I’m telling you.  Of course, I had no clue about pasteurization or lack thereof in those days; I just knew it was delicious.  When I got older and went to college, one fall I saw apple cider at the grocery store.  I excitedly bought a half gallon, came home, took a drink, and I was sorely disappointed.  A quick call home to my mom informed me that the apple cider I had grown up on wasn’t pasteurized, and that’s why the flavor was so distinctive.

And then tragedy struck.  My mom went to the beloved orchard to buy apple cider to find out that the health inspectors had cracked down and started requiring them to pasteurize the apple cider.  It was never the same again.  Sigh…

Well.  Today I was out driving around the countryside in search of chickens (see #3) and in a stroke of luck, I got lost and came upon an orchard selling freshly pressed, unpasteurized, preservative-free apple cider.  Of course I stopped and bought a gallon, and as soon as I got home, I gave it a taste.  It was utterly divine.  It’s not QUITE as sweet and thick as the apple cider I remember from my childhood, but it’s close.  The kids are delighted too.

3.  When I realized that the farm that supplies my buying club with chickens and milk is less than an hour away, and I can pick up my order on site, rather than pay the steep delivery fee to pick it up at a drop-off location that is closer to home, I decided I would take a trip and stock up.  Today I finally had the time, so I set out with my 3-year-old in the backseat and directions printed from Mapquest along with the more specific instructions for finding the farm sent from my contact at the buying club.  It was the perfect day for a drive, and I enjoyed zipping along the country roads with the windows rolled down as my daughter napped in the back.

Unfortunately, finding the farm took a few tries (and I would like to apologize to the other two Amish farmers for pulling into your driveways, although I’m sure you are not reading this, seeing that you are Amish and do not have electricity, to say nothing of access to the world wide web) but the third time was a charm, and I finally discovered the elusive farm and stocked my trunk with chickens and dairy products and headed home just in time to get my two older children off the bus.

I must say, there is nothing quite like seeing where your food is coming from and speaking directly to the farmer, or in this case, his wife, as she handed me chickens that were raised, roaming free, in her own yard, and milk recently drawn from her own cows.  As I drove home, I enjoyed the view of their prized white belted cows grazing contentedly on acres of fresh green grass along the road.

4.  I am used to hosting contests, and I always enjoy being able to give cool stuff away, but last week I actually won a contest. And today I received a box in the mail containing these darling measuring cups from my bloggy friend Kathy at Blessed Beyond Imagination.  They are cuter in person, if that’s possible.  I absolutely love them and will use them DAILY, I’m sure.  Thank you Kathy!

Kathy also made me an apron.  If an apron can possibly be sexy, this one is.  It’s so cute and stylish, and I desperately needed one, so than you again, Kathy!!

Once again, this post is dreadfully lacking in photos.  Lazy much?  I don’t know when I’ll learn to carry my camera with me when I’m out and about.

5.  I really wish I were at Type A Mom Conference with my good friend and hostess extraordinaire, Kelby Carr, and all the other ladies that I know and love, either online or in real life.  Here’s to Blissdom ’10!  Be there or be square!