melissa

About melissa

I am "a hippie with a minivan". A mom of four who has chosen to take the less travelled roads in parenting. We are a unschooling family and learn through life without punishments or rewards. I am a Needle Felting Artist, I love being in the Kitchen, and love to share my passion of Natural Parenting through Workshops and Mentoring. We have a big dream of living on the road and we are in the process of converting a bus!

Emotional days and saying goodbye…

Nearly two weeks age we had to make the hard decision to put our cat Sparky down. He was about 17 and until a few months ago he was doing great. But when we came back from a camping trip in June, and had someone feeding the cats, we noticed that he suddenly lost a lot of weight.

We got Sparky when he was about 6-7 years old and a friend needed to find a home for him. It was supposed to be temporary but 9 years later he was still with us.

Sparky was the perfect cat for kids. He was big and slow and loved the attention that kids gave him. They could lay on him and cuddle him and he would just soak it up. If he got annoyed, he would get up, walk two step and plop right back down. He would hang out in the backyard when we were out there but never went far out of the yard and would spend the summer on the deck of the pool sleeping in the sun.

With Xavier

Making Friends with Nala

With Wilhelmina…

Sleeping on the deck…

So over the last couple of months he lost more weight, was eating less and the starting having trouble walking. Then I saw that he was in pain and decided that it was time.

I brought him to the vet and very gently he left, with his head resting in my hands, the way he loved to be pet.

The kids were upset but we had time to prepare them and say goodbye. So though they were sad, they took the transition well. Xavier did want another cat but I explained that Nala could get all of the love and if ever the timing was right we would bring another cat in the house.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Two days ago, on Sunday, I was out with my friend (same friend who gave us Sparky) and then I was working at the elections. I got a call from Simon. He and the kids were outside raking and Xavier noticed something in the pool. It was Nala.. oh how my heart breaks while writing this. I had cuddled her that morning and Simon had seen her around lunch time but she was gone when I got the call around 3. I can’t imagine what it was like for Simon and the kids seeing her like that. My heart aches thinking about it. Simon asked me if I wanted to see her, but I could not bear it. So he and the kids buried her in the back yard, and said their goodbyes.

Nala was only 4 1/2 years old…
She was born in an old outhouse near my FIL’s cabin. We got her just around the time that she weaned from her mom.

She loved the kids, she was friendly and cuddly, mischievous and relaxed and just an all around cool cat.

Sleeping with Khéna

Something did not belong in the Christmas tree…

Looking in from outside…

Trying to crochet…

Her space on the couch…
She was always there…

I can’t stop crying, and I know that Simon is still haunted by the image of seeing her. The kids are heartbroken and there is a lot of healing to be done. Though it is very soon after this tragedy, we decided that having another feline presence in the house would do us some good. It could never replace our lost kitties but we have a lot of love to give and there are kitties in need. I looked on the local Facebook page for lost and found animals and two little kittens were there, in the country about 15 min away, living under a balcony. Though it feel a bit too soon, it also felt right to give them a home… so yesterday evening I picked them up… it is bittersweet.

We will always love you and we will miss you Sparky…

We will always cherish you and always remember you Nala…

Busy Crafting

I have been keeping quite busy crafting these last few weeks. I have a craft fair coming up and I might send in an application for another craft fair the week after.

I love doing big creations but with the time that is put into them, they are much more expensive than most people are willing to pay, and it seems to be a very niche market.

So I decided to make creations that would take less time to make and not be too expensive for gifts. So in the last few weeks I have made penguin, snowmen and gnome ornaments. Felted acorns and Sceneries in acorn tops that have been made into ornaments and earrings. Keychains, Dryer Balls and jingle balls for cats. I have also made a line of Greeting cards made from needle felted winter scenery paintings.

All of these things will be under 50$ and most under 30$ or even 20$.

I will of course also have big creations on hand, and hopefully I will be able to sell as much as I can to fund our bus project.

Needle Felted Earrings made from acorn tops

Needle Felted Earrings

Needle Felted fairy ornament

Needle Felted Dryer Balls

Needle Felted jingle bell cat balls

Needle Felted gnomes

Needle Felted penguins

Needle Felted Scenery Earrings

Needle Felted Acorn earrings

Getting the last of the flooring out…

OK… well technically the last of the flooring is not out yet… but we are getting pretty close.

To get the last of the plywood out we needed to get the the seat brackets out which meant grinding them. There was just no other way.

Simon had never used a grinder before us getting the bus, but by the end of getting these brackets out and all of the screws that were around the wheel wells that refused to come out any other way, he was becoming a pro.

While Khéna and Xavier didn’t stick around much on the days that Simon was working, Colin and Wilhelmina were always by our side. It is not like the other two don’t like helping, they just have other things they like to do.

Seat Bracket out… working on those darn screws!

Now that the brackets and screws are all out, nothing is holding the plywood in place, we so the next step will be to lift it out.

Glasses

A couple of weeks ago Simon asked Xavier to read the time on the oven from the table and Xavier could not see it. We realized that he was also sitting closer and closer to the TV to play games. We knew we had to get his eyes checked.
When Simon and I got some glasses in the mail and Xavier tried them on, it really clicked though.
My prescription is not very strong so when he put my glasses on and looked across the street he could not believe his eyes. He could see the address of the house across the street.

With going back to school time, it took a couple weeks for him to get an appointment and he was looking forward to going but nervous at the same time.

The appointment went great and as we suspected he has myopia. The optometrist explained that his vision will most likely change over the next few years as his body and eyes grow. Simon started around the same age and has a very strong prescription, while I only started wearing them in my late teens. So the explanation made a lot of sense.

Our last pairs of glasses were bought over the internet so I wanted to go the same route with Xavier. It was a bit harder to do because I didn’t have a frame to base what he needed on. Simon last pair were a simple black frame that were one of the smallest in the men’s frames and fit him well, so we decided to take those and by putting his picture up and trying different frames on him I saw that the rimless glasses really fit him well also so I go a pair of those which were in the larger kid sizes. He got them today…

Outside looking at the yard with and without the glasses… So many things he can see now!

They are not the perfect fit, but they are pretty close and will do for now.

I will know exactly what to look for if we decided to get him another frame and with the price we paid for 2 pairs (40$ with shipping) a bit of trial and error isn’t that hard for the bank.

He looks so much more like me here…

So happy…

My boy is not so little anymore…

Beef Jerky

For as long as I can remember I have always loved Jerky. I remember my mom buying it when I was young and dividing it up so that we would each get our equal share.

When I got my dehydrator a couple of years ago, I knew that I needed to make jerky, but somehow I kept putting it off.

A few days ago I had a craving for Jerky and when I got to the store I couldn’t bring myself to buy the small bag with a few scraps for 5.99. It was just too expensive for what it was. So, a couple days ago when I when I was picking up some meat I decided to buy an extra eye of round that was on special and vowed to myself that it would be in the dehydrator becoming jerky in the near future.

I found a couple recipes on the web but I am not the type to just follow a recipe so decided to just make my own.

I started with a 2-3 lb roast and trimmed all the visible fat and then cut the beef thinly with the grain. I like a chewy jerky so cutting it that way makes it a bit more chewy. It is very important that you choose a meat with little fat and trim all of the fat that you can. The fat can not dehydrate and will become rancid over time.

Place the cut slices of beef in a large Ziplock bag with the prepared Marinade

Marinade:

1/3 cup worcestershire,
1/3 -1/2 cup soy sauce,
about a tsp of liquid smoke,
1 Tbsp of Honey
3 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each or so of onion powder, garlic powder and freshly ground pepper.
I almost added some hot pepper flakes but decided not to in case some of the no-spicy kids wanted some but I think I will add some next time.

I let the beef marinate for nearly 24 hours and then put it in the dehydrator in a single layer filling up about 3 trays of my Excalibur and then started the dehydrator at 155 degrees. After about 2 hours the more thinly slices were done and then over the next hour or two I started to take out more and more. So the thick slices took about 4 hours total.

*note: cooking time will depend on the dehydrator you use and how thinly the meat is sliced. Some dehydrators, like the stacked ones without a fan might even take 12 or more hours. You can also make this in a oven at 150 if your oven goes down that much and you need to leave the oven door slightly open.

Whatever method you use, keep an eye on it. If you leave it in too long it will become very very tough. It will still be good but you will need a strong jaw and good teeth. Also remember that it will harden even more once out of the dehydrator.

I Store all of my dehydrated foods in Mason jars for easy access and to then be air tight. It should last a couple of months.

I don’t think it will last more than a week or so in my house though.

I don’t know why I have been holding out on my myself over these last years that I have had a dehydrator. Not only was this easy to make and much cheaper than any jerky you could buy, it was also the best jerky that I have ever had!

Hope you enjoy!!