The Duck's Asylum

Well, let's see... Little Human is in his own room. He is taking to it decently, but he wakes up in the night and then won't let us leave. I think we are going to have to do some tough love to get him to sleep on his own through the night. I'll get some pictures of his room. We haven't painted yet, but it's coming! We actually have the paint for Little Human's room, but when we decided to switch rooms, getting him in there was the more pressing matter. Sleeping with an almost 3 year old was beginning to wear on our nerves.

I am getting our bedroom organized, FINALLY!!! It's nice to have a room that feels like a grown up room. I need to get a good scrubbing in on a few things and then I can take pictures in there. I haven't painted in there, either, but our room is less in need than LH's. This room is really going to be a tranquil room. We do have a TV and stereo in there, but we barely use it (although I was very excited when I realized that I can watch Craig Ferguson while getting ready for bed). We still have some silly stuff in there, and I am putting up my blue rope lights. I like the way they light the space without being glaring.

Still waiting on the cabinet and the smallish freezer in the kitchen, but I know it's coming! I still want to paint everything, but we have the added irritation of the strips between the wall panels. I am totally anal and I demand that we take them down, and then tape and mud the gaps. It will be time consuming, but I don't want it to feel like a manufactured home when you are inside. I just want it to feel like a home. Plus, they just make everything wonky, especially if you are trying to hang artwork or anything. If it isn't centered between the strips, it just looks off. The painting over our bed looks all funky because there is a strip off center behind it because I centered it over the bed. ARGH!

Anyway, that's what we are up to. I have been a very busy bee this week, and hope that the rest of the week. I still need to get back into taking photos. I love my camera and I am not taking photos. This gives me reason to do so!

2tbsp olive oil
2.5-3lbs chicken
1tsp salt
4 chayote squash, seeded and diced
4 large red potatoes, diced
4 lg roma/plum tomatoes, halved and sliced
.5 medium white onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp dried oregano (I usually use Mexican oregano)
.5 tsp black pepper
2-4 jalapenos, seeded and diced (optional)

Heat oil in skillet. Season chicken with salt and add to pan. Cook until golden brown, about 15-20 mins. Pour off fat.

Add diced squash, tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, pepper, and season with more salt if needed.

Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender, about 15 mins.

Can be cooked in the crock pot, but it becomes more of a stew that way. We usually serve it with rice. Also, dark meat does add more flavor, but I have used breasts and it is still very tasty!

I have a couple of new aquisitions that I hadn't gotten around to uploading. We are finding all of this stuff on Craigslist. And for incredible prices.


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Mom has decided that she wants to switch rooms with Darby. This isn't really going to be a problem because (GASP!) Darby does not sleep in his room, nor does he really spend any time in there. Part of the problem is that in the old house, his bedroom was not temperature regulated. It was either way too hot or way too cold, and so it somehow became the extra storage room.

When we moved, he still wasn't in his own room because I never put his bed together. Then I got his bed together and immediately there was a recall for the side rails. So then it became a wait until the new rails come in. Well, they came and now I have so many damn bins that there is no room to take the bed apart.

I have spent a lot of time reorganizing all of his stuff. His old baby clothes are all organized by size in big Rubbermaid bins and I am hoping that Jonathan's mom can take them back to Texas when she comes out to visit. Jonathan's cousin lent us most of these clothes, and I hadn't had time to go through and get them put away in any sensible fashion until recently. I am keeping some of the stuff we bought that I am absolutely in love with, but that takes up one bin. I can make room for that!

I have been wanting to paint his room desperately, but can't because of all of the other stuff that has been going on in there. Now with the room switch, I can take everything out of his room, move mom in, and then I can paint his "new" room before he moves in.

Mom's reasoning for switching is sound. She has energy to make art in the morning. However, her current room doesn't have any light in the morning, or anytime really because of the ash trees in the front yard. The only reason she had for that room in the beginning was the closet size. She stored her paintings in the closet. There was one very large on in particular, but that went off to the gallery last week, so she doesn't need quite as much closet space any longer. Actually, I realized today that the closets are the same size just arranged differently.

I am so excited to start! I almost did today, but then realized that the Little Human is now free from his living room enclosure and I can't really get anything done while attempting to wrangle him...

We have a new to us Dining Room Table. We got it from craigslist for a really decent price ($175). We had been using a table that I received from a former boss, and while it was lovely, it really was not big enough. This one is big enough for the three adults living here, plus it has a leaf to make it a little larger.

The old table is now going to be used for potting and backyard parties.

Once I re-cover the chair seats, I will take better pics of the chairs and of the table legs. Here's a picture of the table as it is:



It needs a refinish and repainting. I will probably keep it about the same color. The flowers were a present from Jonathan's Aunt Karen. I love having fresh cut flowers!

Also, all of the rosebushes that were already here are coming back. One of them we were a little worried about. A bit of what we planted last year is coming back, but not everything. Mom got her new bird feeding station out and we are attracting all kinds of birdies!

I'll have another update shortly.

Also, I just realized that this looks super yellow, but the bottom of the table and the chairs are actually an off white. I wasn't paying attention when I took the picture and I think I had the camera manually set funky for something else...

{EDIT} I reuploaded the picture with the proper adjustments. It now looks a lot more like it should!

I got it in my head this morning that I wanted to make Veggie Lasagna, but wanted to try it in the crock instead of the oven. I kinda scoped some recipes and created my own. I have a 6 qt. crock and this filled it almost to the rim:

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THE OMG CHOCOLATE CAKE:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 cups white sugar
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup cold brewed coffee***
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vinegar

***Now I wasn't sure if the recipe wanted actual cold brewed coffee, or regular brewed coffee that was cooled. I used the latter because I forgot to do the cold brew sooner and didn't feel like waiting.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, coffee, milk, oil and vinegar. Mix until smooth, batter will be thin (It really is very thin, and it will trick you into thinking you did something wrong). Pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.


Instead of sifting the flour, which it didn't call for, but I like to do anyway, I put it in my Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment, set it on 3, and let it go to town for a few minutes. I have determined that I hate sifting.

I wanted a layered cake, so I used what I thought were 9" rounds. However, I do believe they are actually 8" rounds and my cake runneth over. So instead of being filled with the smell of chocolate goodness, my house was filled with the smell of burning cake. The end result made up for that.

As for the cake itself: It was moist and dense. Not as dense as a brownie; it was still a cake, but it was denser than a lot of cakes. It was chocolate. It wasn't too sweet but still tasted like a cake. It also had a very slight coffee aftertaste that was just lovely. It was fantastic.

Well, I forgot to post the Holiday pics, and still haven't taken any of the cabinet insides. I do however have a new camera, so there will be pictures. I also have a recipe I think I am going to post...


I have also determined that I am going to have to make the cold-frame for seed starting really cheap! Luckily I have some leftover, high quality, clear acrylic from my former boss. I have tons of scrap wood that I can also use. I think I can make this work. I will need to get the table saw set up. And I have to figure out the best way to cut the acrylic down.

I am so excited by this, because I want desperately to start seeds, but I have to have the cold-frame set up to move them into when the time comes. This spring and summer will be a total experiment for me. Growing real veggies is not something I have attempted. I have tried growing herbs, but never really got it right. The soil here is good and they are going into a sunny but not bakey place. I think this year might work! YAY!

We have such a strange collection of stuff in this house. Between the three adults and the two year old, this house is in constant clutter chaos.

Jonathan has his Transformers collection. He has framed posters that haven't been hung yet. He has his angels and gargoyles. There are some old camera stuff and his techy stuff. Star Wars stuff is floating around, too.

I have my craft supplies, ceramic ducks, stuffed ducks, movie and concert posters (also not hung yet), kitchen gadgets, and other stuff.

Mom has Southwest stuff, African stuff, Asian stuff, art supplies, photo albums, Buddhas, and other assorted stuff.

We have books of all kinds, CDs, DVDs, Little Human toys: WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!!!

I think we need to start a serious weeding of stuff here. Or I need to come up with better storage solutions. The closet/cabinet we are putting in the kitchen will help. I am thinking we may need a second closet thingy in the main front room. Maybe even just an armoire for storing some things that can become clutter at the drop of a hat.

I love this house, but it still isn't quite working for us, and I need it to get better. It is overwhelming, and I am not sure how to tackle it. ARGH!

I need to get down to Re-Store soon. I am looking for an old aluminum screen door to make a cold frame with. I am also hunting craigslist for some reclaimed lumber for making the base of the cold frame. I'm going to ask Jonathan if he would be willing to put his table saw together, so that we can use it for building. It will take up more room in the shed, but not by much, and I need it.

I think I'm also going to look and see if I can find a PotMaker locally. I have plastic pots that I save for this reason, but I will need more than I have. I don't want to use peat, since it is not environmentally friendly, and cow pots are hard to come by and expensive. I'll also have to get the bed built for the Three Sisters Garden.

I finally found an heirloom supplier that has one the squash I want. I have so many heirloom suppliers bookmarked. A lot of them are organic as well, which is nice. Some of the seeds I have are not organic, but I already have them and would rather not waste them. I plan on growing organically what I have, though.

Well, this entry came out disjointed and odd, but I am tired, and needed to get my thoughts down. Still haven't gotten pics of the kitchen, but I do have them of the house for the holidays. Now I just need to get them from Jonathan! They will get posted, but it may not be until next holiday season!!!