Crazy Chickens and More Cows

We have quite the collection of chickens out here on the farm. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and hairstyles.

What do you get when you cross a chicken, fraggle rock, and Cruella Deville?

Afrotastic! She sure is a feisty one. This chick is my absolute favorite.

Having a variety of chickens makes for colorful eggs. We don't just have white eggs, or brown eggs, or green eggs (Yes, Dr. Suess is right! There are actually green eggs).

Here are some other interesting birds we have around here.

On another note, we got more cows today! Jason is working on writing up the specifics for why we are doing what we are doing. I just get to take pictures of them and look at how pretty they are. These are really good-looking cows.

Farmhouse Facelift, Part II

It is hard to believe that we've been in the process of remodeling for almost exactly 3 months. We started the second week of July.

A lot of the nuts and bolts of the house needed to be redone, rewired, and repaired. The lack of updates was primarily because there wasn't a lot that could be visibly seen that was being done like new wiring, new plumbing, and CHA.

When everything is said and done, the house will pretty much be a brand new house within its cute farmhouse shell. We kept the original wood ceiling and doors.

And although this is taking a lot longer than we anticipated, we are already thrilled with the way things look. You can see in some of the pictures of the exterior the new color that we chose.

The front porch still needs some repairs and some paint.

On the inside, we are waiting on cabinets, flooring, and all of the finishing touches (light fixtures and plumbing fixtures). We don't have an exact move in date, but we are thinking that by the end of October (THIS MONTH!!!!) we should be in our home. It all depends on how fast we get our cabinets and how fast they get the bathrooms and kitchen completed after

Here is how the house looked last week.

Blogging Made Simple

I love reading blogs.

I love reading about my favorite people along with their thoughts, experiences, creativity, humor, insight, and wisdom. So I find myself at least once a day clicking on 'My Peeps' links to read the latest in your lives.

Before I click on your page I get excited wondering if there is anything new, exciting, thought-provoking, or random in your life. When I discover that you have updated your blog with a new post I almost do a cheer followed by a cartwheel! It is really that exciting for me.

What can I say? I have to gift of being a relational person. I love people!

To simplify my blogging, I've decided to subscribe to a blog tracker that will let me know when you have updated your blogs. This will not only save me LOTS OF TIME, it will save me LOTS OF HEARTACHE. What I don't know won't heart me. Hello, non-updaters! But, I can still cheer for those of you who post new things.

I'm really excited about this. I invented this in my head and thought that it would be awesome to be able to keep up with your favorite blogs without having to click on them everyday!

If you are interested, go to TECHNORATI to do the same.

There may be others out there, but this is the one that I came across first.

Chickens Don't Smile

I don't know if you knew this about Kaylyn, but she has the BIGGEST imagination. She is always pretending something. On a normal day in the Kramer home, she assigns us characters for the day. And we have to refer to each other as these characters until she either forgets or decides she wants to be something else.

Her most popular characters of choice are:

Reese and Mrs. Ashley (she is Reese, I'm Ms. Ashley)
Dawn and Mrs. Melodi
Hayden and Honey
Wendy and Peter Pan
Lady Girl and Checker (this last one is referring to a customer and a checker outer at the store...ha!)

I love her mind. Sometimes I have to pray really really hard that I can just understand where her mind goes throughout the day.

The other day I was in the kitchen washing dishes. I kept hearing Kaylyn cluck like a chicken. It went on for a little while before I went to visit the blonde little hen.

I went into the bathroom and found this.

She was sitting in our laundry basket clucking away and waving her.

I asked her what she was doing and she said,"Sorry mom, chickens don't talk."

"Oh, you are a chicken. Do you have some eggs under there that you are sitting on?" I said.

The little blonde chicken proceeded to nod her head because apparently chickens CAN nod. They just can't talk. I asked her if she could get out of the nest for just a second so I could take pictures of her first batch of eggs.

So, she showed me this.

Hair bows! I started clapping and laughing as any enthusiastic mother would. I thought she would pretend she had invisible eggs, but she actually had 'eggs'. What good would it be to pretend you were a chicken without pretend eggs?

Then, I asked her if she could smile and take a picture and she informs me,"Mommy, chickens don't smile."

So, she did this!

I love her little imagination. You just never know what kind of an adventure you will find yourself on!

Laney Rae is 6 months!

Our precious baby is 6 months old! I can't believe it. I think I said that when she turned 5 months old. I couldn't believe Laney Rae was 5 months old already.

Wow! You would think that I would know by now that children grow up in what seems like overnight. I guess what makes it even more apparent this time around is that I now have two precious ones and I can still see the 'baby' that Kaylyn used to be now that Laney Rae is here. Although, they will always be my babies.

Laney Rae has the cutest two front teeth on the bottom. She smiles all of the time so we get to see them quite frequently. Her voice is scratchy. I think it is adorable.

She LOVES to eat. This is new to us as parents. But, when I sit her in the bouncy seat (the feeding chair) she starts convulsing and giggling. Hilarious!

When most people see her, the first thing they say is,"Would you look at those legs?" I love that she has cute little baby rolls.

She hasn't mastered sitting up on her own yet. And crawling looks a little bit like a seal chained to a tree not making any progression forward. But, she is trying.

At least 10 times a day Jason and I have this conversation. One of us is holding her and the other is looking at her and the one looking at her will say,"She is so cute." And the other with say,"I know. She is the cutest thing." And then we just smile and nod.

Kaylyn is into 'babysitting' Laney Rae! I will go outside to water the plants or go into another room. And Kaylyn will ask if she can 'babysit' Laney Rae. Yesterday she asked me if I could leave and go to the store so she could babysit for me.

Laney Rae and I are usually up in the morning before Kaylyn wakes up. When Kaylyn gets out of bed she runs into wherever we are and right up to Laney Rae to kiss her and snuggle. It is precious.

One word sums her up.....sweet!

Recipes with a twist

Over the years, my love for cooking has went from cooking 'all things terrible' to trying to turn that same passion into being creative and healthy in what I'm cooking.

There was a time, as in two summers ago, that our breakfast looked liked this. We went on vacation with some friends of ours. One morning while on this vacation, it was our turn to cook breakfast so here is how the breakfast went down.
Step one, fry a whole package of bacon in an electric skillet.

Step two, pour half of the good ole' bacon grease in a jar to save.

Step three, fry pancakes in the remaining bacon grease that is left in the skillet.

Step four, pour bacon grease that was in the jar back into the skillet to fry our eggs in.

Now, if that doesn't give you a bad case of IBS just reading that I don't know what will. Notice how all four steps involved bacon grease.

Our friends were in shock. They were even more in shock to find that this breakfast was a regular occurrence in the Kramer home. There were lots of things fried in bacon grease in our home. Along with many recipes that included processed foods, fatty foods, foods containing lots of sugars, and the list goes on and on downhill.

If it were awful, you can guarantee that we ate it. Velveeta was a staple food in our home. I took pride in seeing how many ways I could incorporate this fake nastiness into my recipes. Really, what IS Velveeta anyways?

When we got home from our vacation, we were convicted to the core about what our eating habits had turned into. We were living to eat and not eating to live. And we WERE NOT treating our bodies the way we knew the Lord was calling us too.

We were so unhealthy that it was affecting a lot of things in our lives. During this time, Jason also had the cholesterol of a 70 year old man and I had the hormones of a 70 year old woman. Our food was affecting every thing within our bodies.

Before you think that I have this diet down pat and it is a breeze let me just say this. For me, food is an idol the Lord has clearly shown me that I, well......IDOLIZE. It doesn't help that a hobby of mine is cooking and recipe searching. My television use to stay on the Food Network all day. I know, this is really bad. But, for real, I thoroughly enjoy cooking just like someone would enjoy playing a guitar, or knitting, or collecting postcards. You get the drift.

Food is a source of comfort for me. It makes me feel good. I get all giddy when I know I'm about to consume something insanely good and unhealthy at that. It's just so wrong.

Jason has been so patient with me and encouraging while I work through all of this by the grace and power of the Lord. It hasn't been as easy for me as it has for him. I still struggle. But, the motivation to honor my husband's wishes to cook healthy nutritious meals and also the command to honor our bodies has kept me hopeful.

Jason is definitely the more knowledgeable one when it comes to why we do what we do. If I can ever get him off that tractor, I will have him sit down and write it all down in detail. My brain has problems processing details so for now, you get the 'Lynsey's Notes'.

I was able to take his research and turn it into real live recipes.

For the most part, our diet consists of fruits, vegetables, meats, & whole grains. If it isn't in its natural state, we don't eat it. This means we have eliminated everything that is processed, homogenized, pasteurized, chemically altered, has sugar added (high fructose corn syrup), or whatever the case may be. We also try and eat grass-fed grass-finished meats & free-range eggs, thus the vision of Yonder Way Farm.

Also, if it is an option with certain products, we try and buy organic like in the instance of tomato sauces or chicken broth or frozen veggies. We do have a garden and try to incorporate what is in season in our recipes.

To simplify things, we just stick to the basic rule of 'is it in its natural state?' Unless we are fellow shipping with friends or it is out of our control or I digress and give into to temptation. The last one mentioned is no fun. I think it is at the time, but it is just a lie of the devil.

A lot of people have asked what actual recipes look like so I thought I would post a few. You won't see any fish recipes mainly because I don't like fish and we don't trust where the fish is coming from. But, mainly it is because I STILL don't like fish.

You will also see a lot of repeat ingredients. We pretty much buy the same things every week. I just try and change up the recipes a bit. It also makes for quick and easy grocery shopping. I know the products that we can eat and what we can't. We don't buy hardly any snack foods except for pretzels or organic cereal bars for Kaylyn to have. We try and snack on fruit instead. Jason is so nifty. He washes and cuts it all up right when I get home from the grocery store while we are still in the mindset and puts it in cute little baggies in the fridge.

We have found a few favorites that we love.

Brianna's is a staple salad dressing in our house. We love mostly all of her dressings and they are located in Brenham.

We buy our chicken from THIS local farm in Hempstead. They raise and process all of their chicken.

You will also notice that my recipes aren't too wacky and do not contain food that we cannot pronounce. It is just easier for us to take something that we like and try and find a way to make it healthy for you.

These aren't all of them. I try and make up new stuff like different stir-fry recipes or a meat and two different veggies.

On to the recipes!

Spaghetti

This is your basic spaghetti recipe with a few things changed up a bit like grass-fed beef, whole-wheat pasta, and homemade sauce because most every sauce you buy has corn syrup in it, which is what we are trying to avoid. You can eliminate any veggies you don’t like, but the more the merrier for us!

1 lb. Grass-fed Beef
1 Onion- chopped
3 Cloves Garlic- chopped
3 small cans of Hunts tomato sauce
1 small can of Hunts tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 package of mushrooms- chopped
1 green bell pepper- chopped
1 tablespoon of basil
1 teaspoon of oregano
½ teaspoon red pepper
1 tsp of Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Garlic
1 package of Whole-wheat spaghetti pasta

Brown the meat in ½ of the chopped onion and ½ of the chopped garlic. Add the remaining ingredients- except the noodles. Simmer for about 30 minutes until all of the veggies are soft. While sauce is simmering, boil noodles until they are done. I serve this with Garlic toast using the whole-wheat sugar-free buns. Sprinkle olive oil over the toast along with garlic powder, basil, and dried minced onions. Broil for about 1 minute of until brown.

Burgers

These are a great alternative to regular burgers. You can add any of your favorite toppings that you like. I serve them with red potatoes cut up like French fries sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley.

1 lb. Grass-fed Beef- makes about 6 patties
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
1 avocado- sliced
1 onion- sliced
1 package of mushrooms- chopped
1 tomato- sliced
Mustard or Organic Ketchup (one w/o high fructose corn-syrup)
1 package of Whole-wheat sugar-free buns
5 Red Potatoes for “fries”

Mix meat with salt, pepper, and garlic, Make meat into patties and cooked in a skillet. In a separate skillet, sauté the onions and mushrooms together olive oil. Serve on buns with avocado slices, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spicy mustard.

Chicken Soft Tacos

Delicious! Serve this with Spanish Rice & Black Beans. Recipe follows.

1 free-range chicken cooked & deboned
Salt, Pepper Garlic (let’s call this SPG for remaining recipes since it is on everything!)
1 can of Hunts tomato sauce
1 onion- chopped
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of chili powder
Avocados- sliced
Tomato- chopped
Lettuce
Olives
Cilantro
1 package of whole-wheat tortillas

After chicken is finished, shred chicken up. Put back in skillet and saute for about 5 minutes with onions. Add tomato sauce and the remaining seasonings. Serve with all of the fixings above on whole-wheat tortillas and a side of Spanish Rice & Black Beans.

Spanish Rice

Brown Rice = Lots of patience. It takes about 45 minutes to cook brown rice, so I usually start this first.

1 cup of 100% Whole Grain Brown Rice
2 ½ cups of water
1 capful of vinegar (this is a tip that helps the rice get fluffy and not stick together)
1 sprinkle of salt
1 can of Hunt’s tomato sauce
1 can of Diced tomatoes- DRAINED
½ cup Shredded Carrots
2 tsp of Cumin
1 tsp of Garlic
1 tsp of Chili Powder
½ tsp of Red Pepper (optional- makes it spicy)
Salt & Pepper

Bring the water, vinegar, and salt to a boil. Add the rice and simmer on medium for about 45 minutes covered. Check and stir the rice occasionally so that is doesn’t stick to pan. When rice is almost done add the remaining ingredients and stir it in. Cover the rice back up and simmer a little longer until finished. Taste the rice and make sure that it is completely done. Brown Rice has a different texture than white rice, which is that it is a little firmer. You just want to make sure it isn’t still crunchy.

Chicken Parmesan

This is a great alternative to regular Chicken Parmesan minus the Parmesan.

4 Chicken Breasts
2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
Italian Seasoning Blend (Mc Cormick)
½ cup of Olive Oil (or enough to cover the pan you are using)
4 small cans of Hunt’s tomato sauce
1 small can of Hunt’s tomato paste
1 can of petite diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon of basil
1 teaspoon of oregano
½ teaspoon red pepper
2 tsp of Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar
1 package of mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, diced
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Garlic
1 package of Whole Wheat pasta noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse Chicken off. In a flat dish, put your flour and mix in the Italian seasoning blend. Put your olive oil in a skillet on medium-high to high heat. Let it get really hot so flour will stick to the chicken. Coat chicken with the flour mixture and place in the oil in skillet. Brown both sides, but don’t worry about cooking all of the way through. After chicken is brown, place in a baking dish. In the meantime, make the sauce to pour over the chicken by adding all of tomato sauces, seasonings, bell pepper, mushrooms, and sugar in a saucepan and simmer for about 5 minutes. You can do this step while chicken is browning. After sauce is done, pour over chicken in the baking dish and place in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. While chicken is baking, boil noodles. When everything is finished you will serve the chicken over a bed of pasta. Any kind of pasta is perfect. It depends on what you prefer.

Chicken Fajitas

Everyone has their own way of cooking fajitas. We use chicken tenders and marinate ours in pineapple juice and fajita seasoning for about 1 hour before grilling. Also, we use the typical onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. We substitute Whole Wheat tortillas for the regular ones and don’t use cheese or sour cream. Some good toppings to use are guacamole, cilantro, lime juice, bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms. We serve with Black Beans and Spanish Rice.

Tortilla Soup

This is one of our favorite soups. You can cook it a million different ways. The only thing that is different about this other than traditional tortilla soup is we don’t top it with cheese or tortilla chips.

1 free-range chicken cooked & deboned
2 cups of sliced carrots
3 zucchini
3 squash
1 bunch of chopped cilantro
2 cans of black beans- drained & rinsed
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 white onion chopped
1 bell pepper- cut in half for seasoning

Boil chicken in a soup pan for about 1 hour. Take chicken out of the broth and then let it cool. Pick chicken off of bone. Strain broth in a strainer and re-use for the soup. You will need about 6 cups of broth. Add all of the ingredients and chicken to broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Healthy Chicken Tenders

The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any seasoning that you like. The wheat flour makes them really crispy and easy to enjoy.

1 package of Chicken Tenders
2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
2 tbsp of Complete Seasoning
Olive Oil

Wash Chicken. Mix seasoning with flour. Coat the bottom of the pan with Olive Oil and put it on high heat. Make sure it is hot before you put the chicken in. Coat the chicken in the flour and then place in the hot oil. Cook on both sides until they are a golden brown and crispy. We serve with a side of red potatoes and another veggie.

Pasta Fagoli Soup

3 tbsp of Olive Oil
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of chopped onion
1 cup of julienne carrots
1 lb. of ground lean turkey meat
4 cans of beef broth
3 cans of Italian diced tomatoes
1 tsp of basil
1 tsp of oregano
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can of navy beans (drained)
1 lg. zucchini cut into fourths
1 cup of uncooked whole wheat pasta- Ditalini

Saute celery, onion, and carrots in oil in soup pot. Add turkey meat and brown. Add tomatoes, basil, and oregano. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add broth, beans, and zucchini. Boil for 5 minutes. Then add noodles and boil until noodles are done.

Jason’s Excellent Chicken Beans

1 free-range chicken cooked & deboned
2 pounds of pinto beans in bag
2 cans of Diced Tomatoes
1 chopped onion
SPG
1 bunch of cilantro
1 whole jalapeno (don’t cut it up)

Boil chicken in a soup pan for about 1 hour. Take chicken out of the broth and then let it cool. Pick chicken off of bone. Strain broth in a strainer and re-use for the soup. You will need all of broth for beans. Add the remaining ingredients and boil for until beans are soft. This takes about 2-3 hours. Stir occasionally and check the firmness of the beans. Take jalapeno out before serving.

The BEST Salad

Leafy Greens (we buy Spring Mix & Spinach)
Shaved Almonds
Cranberries
Avocado
Carrots
Chicken
Brianna's Honey Mustard Dressing

All I have to say is 'Yummy'! We eat this A LOT. I never get tired of it.

May I help you?

Do any other moms out there dread going to the post office?

Can I get a witness up in here?

Prior to children, I actually liked going to the post office. I felt so grown-up standing in line to buy stamps, or mail a package, or change my address. I would always think of how proud my parents would be to see me standing in line being an official person in the world. That is what always came to mind while I was there for some reason.

This is not the case any longer. I think I would pay my mom to go to the post office for me.

For some reason, the Lord likes to test me and search my heart while I'm there. It never fails. There is always a story to tell, a lesson to learn, and prayer to pray.

Today was just like any other day. And then, the post office came into my life.

I took both of my children in with me because that is just what moms do when running errands with children. Brenham has a busy little post office with a parking lot the size of a small swimming pool. There is always people coming in and out.

One time, when I was enormously pregnant with Laney Rae, KK and I went to the post office for some insane reason. We were walking across the parking lot when her flip-flop flipped and flopped off of her foot right smack dab in the middle. Kaylyn turned into a crazy deranged toddler at the sight of her lonely flip-flop laying helplessly in the road. You just have to love girls and their need for drama the minute they feel like an accessory is being threatened.

I turned around and bent over (which was a challenge in and of itself) to reach down and pick up her flip-flop. I was so focused on the task of bending over and clinging to my toddlers hand at the same time that I failed to see this Buick headed straight for us in reverse. It appeared to this driver that there wasn't anyone behind him in his rear view mirror because I was bent over on all fours.

Another driver that had stopped to let us walk in front of her vehicle to pick up KK's flip flop had front row seats to this fiasco and actually saved us a trip to the hospital or morgue.

She saw the same Buick headed straight for us and started blaring on the horn. The elderly Buick driver didn't hear the horn honking and continued to push on the gas.

p.s.- This is also a commercial for hearing aids.

However, this momma DID hear that horn. So, in what seemed like one uniform action I swept the flip-flop, my toddler, and my uterus up off of the pavement and high-tailed it to the curb. Pregnant women look so funny when they run.

By this time we most definitely had a crowd. The horn honker walked over to apologize for scaring KK but she didn't know what else to do but honk in her attempt to get the attention of the car headed straight at us. I expressed my appreciation for her heroic horn honking and we got in the car, thanked Jesus for saving us, and went home.

That was a story within a story about the trials of the post office. On with the original story!

So, I'm at the post office with my toddler and the baby on my hip instead of in my uterus this time around. As we were waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity, my always shy three year old decides she is no longer shy and starts talking to this very sweet elderly woman.

The funny thing about post offices is the fact that they are so quiet. Conversations even in whispers seem like people are shouting at one another. And Kaylyn never whispers when she is talking. I'm pretty sure everyone in that entire line knew more than they cared to know about this sweet woman entertaining Kaylyn by answering every single question. I was like, 'Who are you? Katie Couric or something?'

Our turn comes up and we proceed to the next postal worker who says 'May I help you?' We walk up to the counter and the man in blue is greeted by projectile baby barf.

That's right!

Laney Rae spews all over the counter, the debit machine, the scale, the floor, my entire front side, and creates a lovely little puddle of disgorgement for me to stand in........in my flip-flops. It was like a scene out of 'The Blob' or something.

In the midst of this hurl-fest, Kaylyn is still interviewing this saint of a woman now standing at the next counter over from us. She asked this woman where her mommy was. Well, by the looks of her she could have had all but two answers.

Her mommy was either....

a. the oldest living human on the planet
b. a goner

Her answer was the latter. Except she told Kaylyn that her mommy was in heaven with Jesus, which spurred on even more questions.

At what point do you tell your child to quit being friendly and stop talking? I didn't think before we got out of the car to tell her to not talk to anyone or turn into Barbara Walters on me. The thought never crossed my mind because she usually doesn't talk.

You see, it was Jesus and all of the many talks we've had with Kaylyn about being kind and speaking to people when spoken too. All it took was 'You sure are a pretty girl' from this nice lady to answer the prayer of 'Lord, teach Kaylyn to speak with kindness and love to others' or even 'Lord, teach Kaylyn to speak to others'.

Being the wise mom I am and knowing my little girl the way I do and how she loves accessories, I said 'Kaylyn, what do you think of my belt?'

Before we left home, Kaylyn asked me repeatedly to take off my belt because it wasn't a 'real' belt. She didn't give reasons why it wasn't a 'real' belt, but she was definitely apalled at the sight of her mother wearing something out of the Beverly Hillbillies.

I know, who says that?

These people were probably thinking I was even more bizarre than they already thought I was. But, that was all I had people to get her mind off of Mrs. Smith's mommy living with Jesus thus creating more questions which I did not need at this point in my life. My shoes were sitting in a puddle of puke and I was bent over on all fours again cleaning the floor and all of the other contraptions with upchuck all over them.

I loved Kaylyn's answer though. It made me laugh and pause the head swivel action and think 'you are so cute and wonderful'.

She said (not whispering again),'Silly girl, that isn't a belt, it's a rope you rope cows with.'



Yep, that's what she said. We were at the rodeo last night and she thought it was hilarious that I was wearing a cow roper for a belt. Ha! (self portrait obtained by myself:)

I just had to laugh and so did everyone else in line.

I was just glad my post office experience was ending so I could go sit in the car and laugh, cry, pray, and then go take a nice cold shower.

I learn so much when I go the post office.

He teaches me patience. He teaches me kindness. He teaches me that He is my rescuer and my rock. He teaches me to carry Chlorox wet wipes everywhere I go.

'Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.'
Psalm 31:3

He is a good, loving, and faithful God.

I needed to go through this today.

I needed to be reminded to slow down and appreciate the sweet things in life like these two precious girls growing so fast before my eyes. In what will seem like an instant, these stories will be just that......stories.

I needed to be reminded that in the midst of wacky and bizarre He is still my fortress and my rock to cling to.

If you made it to the end of this post, WOW!

It's also alright for those who didn't. I understand.

I write about things such as this to....

#1- Document our family's lives since I don't have the best memory. I haven't successfully accomplished the scrapbook side of mommy-hood. This is the best I can do right now.
#2- See how many times I can use a word to describe regurgitating- 6, that is.