Scattered Sundays

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Four new chickens are joining our family tomorrow! Troy’s coworker has a lot of property and was raising some chickens for his family and graciously agreed to raise some for us.

Due to Troy’s allergies, we can’t raise chicks (whaaaaaaaa), so adding to our flock always relies on the kindness of others willing to foster for us. We do pay for food and housing – we’re not freeloading chicken adopters.

He coworker isn’t 100% sure what brand he bought, but it appears that they’re Black Australorps. The interwebs say they are good egg layers, and I hope they can hold their own against our old lady bully hen. Her name isn’t PooPoo Sandwiches for nothing!

Four new chickens means four new names. Any suggestions? The boys each get to name (at least) one. Our current chickens: PooPoo Sandwiches, Odie, Yolk-o Bawk Bawk, Copper, and Chew-bawk-a.

The two birds we got last summer (that turned out to be roosters, whomp whomp) were Kylo Hen and BB-Egg. I’m thinking I might name mine Princess Lay-ah. Can anyone think of a good chicken pun for Lando? I really love Lando.

Last Sunday afternoon, I rage quit kitchen planning. For exactly one hour. Like a giant child. Troy and I got all the measurements plugged into the IKEA kitchen planner and nothing we tried would work. We ended up with two small sets of lower drawers and a really choppy looking space.

We’re working with existing gently used (and free!) countertops that we inherited from a friend. With the sinkhole cut (dibs on “sinkhole” as a band name), there are limits of what can go where. We just couldn’t place the oven anywhere that was more than 12 inches from a window (that’s against code).

I stepped away from the computer, made dinner moping like a giant child, and basically wanted to talk to the manager about this overly-privileged situation. After some food, I had an idea and bounced if off of a reader who is a bit of a kitchen designing ninja.

Old plan: oven/range on the back wall and an island on wheels so I could move it to prevent choke points in the kitchen. Troy asked what choke points meant, and I explained “it’s when you guys get in my way and I want to choke you”. Duh.

New plan: a permanent island with a cooktop and then a wall oven on a wall that previously was going to be storage. We’ll actually get more storage out of the new set up and tons more counter space.

But separating the range means adding $$$ for appliances. I told my inlaws I’m going to have to start publishing some skanky kale salad photos to bring in the cash. 🙂

We have an online meeting with IKEA tomorrow to go over it and figure out next steps. They’ve been very generous with online meetings and it is expected to last two hours!

Best case scenario, we start demo at the end of September. And you can imagine, I cannot wait to take a sledgehammer to that space. But alas, we have people who want many of the cabinets for their garage (yah for keeping stuff out of the landfill!), so I’ll just slam some drywall or something. Catharsis. 

You may remember that last August 6th, the Sustainable Cooks family of readers crowd-funded a mobility walking bike for a teenage boy with cerebral palsy. Mark your calenders friends, cause we’re doing it again THIS Thursday!

August 6th is the anniversary of my mom’s passing. I decided last year to turn it into a day of service, and the tradition of crowdfunding mobility freedom was born.

Between now and Thursday, I’ll be working hard to select a recipient of the Alinker from their list of people requesting bikes. Check the blog, Instagram and/or Facebook on Thursday to see how you can participate. Remember, if donating is not in the cards, sharing the information on social media is totally free!

with 3 inches of water in the pool, you can never be too careful!

I was talking to a blogging friend (Kylie from Midwest Foodie) recently about summer “uniforms”. If you knew me in real life, this summer you would think I was only wearing five outfits. And you’d be right. 🙂

After discovering the extreme comfort of running skirts with a Goodwill find, I have been exclusively wearing longer running skirts or skorts this summer. They’re great for hot weather, so dang comfy, and um, most of my shorts no longer fit. Been a long shutdown, my friends. Chocolate is delicious.

I have an Athleta running skirt and “active” dress (wtf does that even mean? Who is working out in a dress?) that I got for under $25 each on ThredUp. I also have two Aviatrix skorts I bought from TitleNine (not an affiliate link). You know how cheap I am, but I paid full-price for TWO of those skorts and I have never been happier with a purchase.

For tops, I have been wearing either a plain white or black t-shirt or a plain white or black tank top from Pact Organics. Pact is a partner of Rakuten (formerly ebates), so make sure you are signed up to get your cash back.

That’s pretty much it. Different skort, same uniform. It makes getting dressed and doing laundry quite easy, and I am both comfortable and cool. As in temperature cool. I would never claim to actually be cool.

And between you and me, the skorts perfectly hide the cellulite above my knees that decided to appear when I was 36. Adult acne and late-onset cellulite? THANKS SO MUCH.

I was also chatting “how to keep four-year-olds occupied while working” with Kylie. A few of the things I recommended were setting up a station outside with baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. Bennett works in his “lab” on our front porch, so not only can I keep an eye on him from our kitchen, I don’t have to put sunscreen on him. Pale kid win.

Bennett will spend 30+ minutes at a time just mixing and experimenting. Sure, he’s ruined my measuring spoons but that was because I didn’t see them sitting in a cup of vinegar for 24 hours. Whomp whomp.

He also loves these magnet blocks (as of right now they’re 5% off) and honestly, even Jack and I enjoy playing with them. They create amazing models and until they start fighting over who is hogging all the rectangles, it is pretty peaceful play.

We have french doors on the far side of our kitchen and the boys will spend quite awhile drawing on the window portion with dry-erase markers. And yeah, when Bennett was smaller, he totally colored on the white portion of the door. But that is why we own Magic Erasers! 

Jack found a free bookshelf this week and after it got cleaned up, he re-arranged his room and reorganized his bookshelf. He is so my child. He cleaned out a bunch of old toys he no longer wanted and gave Bennett this old set of Snap Circuits. They’re too advanced for Bennett so we do have to help him, but they’re SUCH a cool toy!

My sister and I cleaned out my mom’s dresser this week. Other than five-year-old candy, we found a ton of old photos. In those photos was proof positive that my children are no question, my children. Troy had fun with some photoshop and laughs were had by all.

In the Garden This Week

It was an entire week of (Seattle) hot weather and the garden is barfing out so much produce right now. Fresh TOMATOES are here!!! Most of our plants (I think we have 18? 19?) have ripe tomatoes or some that are almost ripe. Life is really delicious right now.

In addition to tomatoes, we’re picking yellow squash, herbs, the start of the cucumbers, lots of raspberries and blueberries. And we’re picking blackberries along the roads in our neighborhood.

The freezer is getting filled and desperately needs to be reorganized. If only I knew someone who was Type A who loves to organize. Oh, wait… 🙂

With cucumbers and tomatoes 10 feet from my front door, I make this dish on repeat and eat it for lunch for days and days.

Housekeeping

How does $20 in free organic groceries sound? Pretty freaking sweet, right? Thrive Market is now offering my readers a $20 shopping credit (new customers only).

Thrive delivers wholesome groceries and home items directly to your home. You get awesome deals and you don’t even have to set foot in a grocery store.

We love Thrive and are self-paying customers. The prices and selection are incredible. And if you’re a parent, I have to say, these are the best fort boxes ever! Sign up to get $20 in free groceries from Thrive Market

What I’m Listening To This Week

For a new take on true crime that I haven’t examined before, I’ve discovered Scam Goddess. It’s not exactly “true crime”, but each week, host Laci examines a fraud or scammer. Great podcast, but do heed the explicit warning if little ears are listening.

What I’m Reading This Week

My previous plan of reading Me and White Supremacy didn’t work out. It was auto-returned to the library before I had a chance to get into it. It’s back on the hold list.

In the meantime, I read and finished The Boy From the Woods. It was all kinds of meh. I was not a fan. I’m currently about halfway through The Hate You Give and am loving it. I want to watch the movie version when I’ve finished the book.

Reader Spotlight of the Week

Long-time reader Tina left this five-star review on our Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins {Pin this recipe}. I love that she made them gluten and dairy-free!

I used this recipe as a loose guide to magic up some gluten and dairy-free chocolate chip banana muffins and even with all the substitutions, they came out amazing! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ????

On Sustainable Cooks This Week

How to Freeze Blueberries – Learn all the tips and tricks for freezing blueberries to extend the harvest. Freezing fresh berries is a great way to preserve this wonderful summer fruit without needing to know any special kitchen skills. {Pin this tutorial}

Confessions – Everyone’s favorite silly post of the week

Gluten-Free Blackberry Crisp – This is the best gluten-free Blackberry Crisp you’ll ever eat! So easy to make, this blackberry crumble captures all the amazing flavors of summer in one delicious dish. Made with a to die for gluten-free topping, leftover crisp also makes a fantastic breakfast. {Pin this recipe}

Can you see my reflection in that spoon? Hiiiiii!

The Five Most Popular Posts This Week

Yeppers, the Mojito Mocktail was on top again, so let’s take a little look-see at the other top posts of the week.

1. Canning Peaches – I need to place an order for some peaches from our farm stand soon. Honestly, not looking forward to it, but the kids LOVE canned peaches. {Pin this tutorial}
2. Air Fryer Zucchini Chips! As always, you’ll find non-air fryer baking instructions in the post.  {Pin this recipe}
3. Dill Pickle Relish – because sweet relish is the devil’s condiment. {Pin this tutorial}
4. Air Fryer Pickles – as always, you’ll find non-air fryer baking instructions in the post.  {Pin this recipe}
5. Refrigerator Dilly Beans – no canning involved, just awesome homemade dilly beans.  {Pin this recipe}

Meal Plan

Monday:: BLTAs, salad, and cucumbers from the garden. Hurray to a return to BLT season!

Tuesday:: New recipe I am photographing.

Wednesday:: Takeout to support a local small business.

Thursday:: It’s supposed to be cooler and I need to do something with potatoes, so we’re having Instant Pot Potato Soup and salad.

Friday:: Popcorn, leftovers, and movie night.

Saturday:: Instant Pot Tortellini + Kale chopped salad

Sunday:: Takeout to support a local small business.

What are you having this week?

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