Kristen Blog

I’ve been thinking a lot about “perspective” this week. -My dad turned 70...old is perspective. -My chicken (Big Mama) died...so did an old friend’s child ...heartache is perspective. -I am disgusted with so many things about myself...and a child tells me, “You are the best!”...my value is perspective. There is rarely any truth in the perspectives of this world, and I am struggling to hang on to the hope of an exponentially better eternity...because sometimes that just doesn’t do much to help me through NOW. I can only make so much lemonade. I am running out of sugar, and we seem to be drowning in lemons. But...even when I am struggling and there are ABSOLUTELY NO ANSWERS, I will cling to my faith...if not solely because I’ve been dramatically convinced...then also because I am stubborn and REFUSE to be bested. Today, I tried to treat my parents to something uniquely special. It didn’t go as planned.  We were completely forgotten by the obviously overwhelmed (and probably new)...

  We capped off a very tough week with a wonderful weekend, and I am ever so grateful. I’m all about finding beauty...even in the hard times...but you’d better believe I appreciate the good when it’s good! (I didn’t always...I used to waste those precious moments worrying about when the weather would turn.) This week I experienced a happy accident and a really odd “miracle.” They will both go down in the books of my gratitude awareness. I was trying to capture this beautiful moment...when our frigid world warmed a bit and we finally got our house-bound boys outside.   We took a walk to the park...it was a hike, actually, as we had to trudge through the snow. So, we let them play (pics to follow...) for a bit and treated them to the shortcut home.   We generally do not take the shortcut, but it is such a fun (though short...hence the name) experience...a little uphill path cut out through the trees. And, as we broke into the clearing (and our neighborhood), it...

It's been a bit!!  I'm trying to focus my energies over here, and as is typical of Kristen Shanna...we got a lot going on.  Our new puppy, for example (big, long, drawn-out, exhausted sigh).  I've been helping out a lot, as I expected, but yesterday, when I just about keeled over with depressed exhaustion, I had to officially turn the reigns over to XO.  Today, she is having culture shock.  Eight a.m. is a hello lot earlier than her typical 2-4pm wake up.  I could tell she'd just about had it with the pup this morning, and I have to admit I felt a little bit sorry for little Jesse. Yep...we finally named him.  We picked him up on December 22, after about a 7 week wait, which was good timing, since I was on official Winter Break vacation time.  I knew I would be essential in helping set the initial routine for potty training, feeding and simple commands.  Jesse is a shelter mix who was rescued from Memphis, Tennessee.  He was apparently o...

Oh, dear sugar snap peas!  My dear, dear sugar snaps.  In all the time I've been growing food in our suburban farm days (approximately 10 years now!), I have to say that snap peas have been one of the most successful plants I've grown.   I started growing and harvesting peas when we purchased a home with a huge backyard.  That was about 10 years ago.  We ordered some seeds from one of our favorite heirloom seed companies, Baker Creek .  I bought sugar snap seeds one time, and I've never had to buy them again. Honestly, I never have planted many sugar snaps.  I usually put about 12-20 snap pea seeds in the ground, and that is more than enough.  My daughter loves to eat them pod and all early harvest, snow pea style.  Up until this year, I have only harvested peas early as snow peas, because she is the main consumer.  I've typically let the rest grow and dry on the plant, so I can harvest them as next years sugar snap seeds.  And...

SKIP AND PRINT SIMPLIFIED INSTRUCTIONS We have what I like to call a little "suburban farm."  It includes 5 chickens, a french angora rabbit, and LOTS of garden...right smack dab in the middle of your typical suburban, cul-de-sac neighborhood.  It embarrasses my teenagers.  Their friends love to tease them about "the farm."   The thing is...I LOVE natural and making things from scratch.  (When I was a kid, I used to pretend the tall grass in the overgrown field next to my house was wheat.  I would pick it and grind it in the concrete rain gutter splash block.  Then, I would go inside and throw a frozen chimichanga into the microwave and pretend it was homegrown. 😂 I am currently living the legacy of my childhood imaginations.  Well...kind of... I have long since realized I can NOT do everything from scratch AND live in modern civilization.  I grew up in a small, rural town.  After about nineteen years of feeling constantly lonely a...