New digs

Well, I finally got around to working on the new place. It is definitely under construction, but it’s now or never.

Head on over to http://www.lasgalen.com and check it out.

Be kind, there is no personalization yet, but I’m working on it.

Lasgalen

Moving, again

I can hear the collective eye rolling, and I don’t blame you. Why would someone who hardly updates keep moving their blog? Well, I’ve gotten my own domain and decided to completely make the blog anonymous. In the next few weeks we’ll be putting a link here for a while so that you can find the new blog. And, there will be some changes, most notably the kids’ names.

But, all of this anonymity doesn’t come for no reason. As most long time readers know I had a completely public blog for four years (2003-2007). Moving here made updating difficult with dial up and having two, then three, very young children made things even more challenging.

But, the real wake up call for the blogs came when the Professor had someone contact him at work looking for employment. After emailing back and forth with the man, he made a flippant comment about how much the kids must love being on the farm, he’d seen the pictures.

Suddenly, having a public blog wasn’t fun any more.

Who knows who else could find us with just a simple google search. Maybe someone like our crazy ex-neighbor. Maybe someone else.

I’ve spent a long time trying to come up with a solution. I tried writing here, on wordpress, but I’ve had my own blog for so long that I’m not a fan of having limited options and too much hand holding.

The only option was to move to a new blog. We bought the domain a few weeks ago, but circumstances out of my control have prevented me from working on it diligently so that we can move the blog over there. Rest assured it will all be moving with me, although, unfortunately, not the rest of the last 8 years.

Thanks for your patience, and I promise to post the link soon.

New Arrivals

We got some new goats today:

That’s King.

That is Dragon. Also called Smaug. We’re looking for a good dragon name for him (because of his long tail).

That is Apollo (because Artemis was born here this spring).

Better picture of the girls, but not the goat:

Here they are enjoying their new home.

It’s that time of year again…

Apple time!!!!

That is a half bushel of the most amazing gala apples we have ever eaten. And now that the nights are cool they are getting sweeter and sweeter.

We bought a half bushel on Saturday, but I was down to less than a peck this morning. When we headed over to the local orchard to pick peaches we added apples to our haul.

One of the best parts of living here in south western VA is the abundance of apple orchards. Our neighbors know or are related to practically all of them so we let in on where the best ones are and who has the best price. Right now it’s gala time. And, the sweet amazing flavor of these apples is reminding me of why we planted two gala trees in our new orchard.

Sloppy Joes

Last night we had sloppy joes from the Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook. Overall? We decided it was really good, in fact the kids insist I double the recipe next time so that they can have seconds. (and thirds…and…) Our other comment was that it was a little dry. I made it with deer burger so that might have contributed to that. To add moisture next time I’m going to add some beans.

It was a successful first day using the crockpot, tonight is Classic Italian Meat Sauce. I’ve never made pasta sauce in the crock, should be interesting.

Thirty Days with the Crockpot

Recently, and I can’t remember where (darn motherhood brain!), I read a blog encouraging readers to try 30-day challenges. Different ideas were suggested, including keeping a gratitude journal, which I latched onto as my first 30-day challenge.

Thirty days came and went.

I finished my gratitude journal challenge on August 7th. Like they say you will be, I am more grateful, not only for the little things (juicy tomatoes, beautiful sunsets), but also for the bigger things (enjoying a vacation with my family, our first in four years). In fact, I’ve found that it has helped me to focus on what is good in a situation instead of what is bad, something that I think will help me tremendously as we embark on our third year of homeschooling come Monday. (our homeschooling journal can be found at Lasgalen.)

Unfortunately, I’ve let the journal slide, but I keep it by my bed in case I decide to start it up again. One of the reasons I’ve put the journal aside is that I’ve been stuck trying to come up with the next 30-day challenge.

Today I was thinking about that blog where the woman took 365 and used her crock pot for every single one of them. Remember? She wrote a book. And I thought:

I have a crockpot.

In fact, I have three of them.

I should use the crockpot every day for thirty days!

This is the perfect time for this challenge. The new school year is upon us and we all know how busy things get as school gets started. Homeschooling makes cooking a bit of a challenge and I’ve been trying this week to get myself super prepared for the occasion. One of the things that I have really let slide this summer has been planning meals. The broken wrist really did a number on my meal planning and led to a bunch of thrown together meals; nutritious, delicious, but sometimes late and usually occupying my brain for the better part of the afternoon while I thought through all of the possibilities. Using the crockpot, though, requires forethought and it requires planning if for no other reason than you need to have it put together before lunch almost every time, which I thought would help me focus on school for the day and not dinner.

I made my list. And, I brought myself and three young children to the grocery store and we bought the supplies for two weeks worth of crockpot meals. Sloppy Joes are on the agenda for tonight, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Heavenly Blue

My heavenly blue is finally blooming!

5k!

Well, I took my couch to 5k training all the way! This morning the professor and I participated in a local 5k race.

And… we finished!

Actually, we did better than finish. Our goal was to beat 30 minutes, which is just better than a ten minute mile for 5k (3.1 miles).

I got 28:32, an average of 9:13 minutes per mile. Fourth, out of 11, for my age group.

The prof got 25:52 an average mile pace of 8:21.

We ran the first mile together and tried to run a good, but not overwhelming pace. We ended up crossing the 1 mile post at 9:30. Then he pulled on ahead while I focused on trailing the lady in front of me who seemed to be keeping just a slightly faster pace than me. At the turnaround I passed her and then went on to pass everyone that I saw.

Well, almost everyone. Not the guy I marked .25 miles before the end who found some speed in the final stretch and finished 3 seconds ahead of me.

Overall, good race! We’re both really pleased with the outcome, especially me. Just 9 weeks out from breaking my wrist and four weeks from getting back off the couch I did it!!!!! And not only did I finish, but I trounced my goal time!

Yeah!!

Morning run

Couch to 5k week 6 day 2 this morning on the beach. We’re building up to Friday’s 25 minute of running with no walking. Today we ran 10, walked 3, ran 10. We also had a 5 minute warm up and cool down. We ran our fastest 1k this AM, 5:49, which puts me on track for completing the 5k we’re running on the 13th in under 30 minutes. (I hope!).

Sunday Worship

We spent this morning worshipping with the First Baptist Church of Wilmington, NC. They have the tallest steeple in the United States at 197 feet.

Proof we were there!

The front of the sanctuary. (poor quality because I felt a little silly whipping out the camera during the service.)