eggs everywhere

this picture does not begin to portray the number of eggs we have around here lately. I have at least 3 of these baskets full of eggs. it's ridiculous.

The egg situation has really been getting out of hand here lately, and since I've been feeling a little more energetic the last few days (thank God for that!) I decided I better try to use up some of the ridiculous egg surplus we've got going on. (I'm also trying to get a mini-CSA in the works, so if anybody wants some eggs delivered to K-town, let me know.) Last night I made my first quiche, and it turned out pretty dang good. So good, in fact, that I thought I'd even share the recipe. I use the term 'recipe' loosely, since I don't tend to measure accurately, if at all. This will fill one regular 9-inch pie pan (I'd double the recipe for more than 4 adults). I'm not fancy enough to own one of those pretty quiche pans with the scalloped edges.. ah.. maybe one day...

Spinach, Bacon, and Feta Quiche -

Crust: 1 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup shortening

1/4 tsp salt

1 or 2 tbsp water (if the dough seems dry)

combine with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles a coarse meal. If the dough is too short (feels too greasy) add some more flour, but just a little at a time. You can always add, but you can't take away! If you want it to look nice and pretty, you could roll the dough out on a floured surface, but I'm lazy, so I just pressed the dough into the pan. It still tastes good. Coincidentally, this is the same crust I use for pies, just cut in half. Sort of. Again, I don't measure very well.

Filling:

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 block feta cheese, grated

1/4 cup green onion

3/4 cup bacon (about 4-5 pieces) fried til crispy, chopped into bits

1 tsp basil or other spice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt and pepper to taste

fresh or frozen spinach leaves

1 tbsp minced cherry peppers, just to spice things up. Any kind of pepper would work.

Beat the eggs, add milk, cheese, onions, garlic, bacon, basil, peppers and s & p, mix well. If you are using frozen spinach, drain it, and add to the eggs. I used fresh spinach, so I just put it straight into the pie pan and poured the egg mixture on top. Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour, or until it puffs up all nice and pretty and no liquid runs out when you cut it (inserting a knife and having it come out clean does NOT mean that it's done. Learned that the hard way.)

It might not be the prettiest thing in the world, but it was YUMMY!

And, voila! Dinner is done, and it's yummy, and it used half a dozen eggs. Score!

It was so good that I'm making another one tonight to share with the grandparents. Also I love the fact that there are so many variations to this.. you can pretty much add anything you want in the way of fresh veggies. And it uses at least six eggs. Did I mention that part? I also discovered last night that if you add nine whipped eggwhites to a regular cake mix, it will come out super fluffy and moist. I also learned that I don't know jack about making custards (I was trying to find a use for 9 egg yolks). I'm not even entirely sure I like custard. I may need to start making massive quantities of homemade noodles or something. That makes me so sad (not really).

little lumpy dumdums

Some parents have the unfortunate luck of getting kids who are obsessed with Thomas the Train, or Dora, or -heaven forbid!- Barney. But my girls, kinda by accident, love the Muppets. Their Daddy is so proud! And I can actually pretty well tolerate watching The Muppet Movie and Muppets Take Manhattan, so I count myself lucky. Even Miss Piggy is better than that stupid purple dinosaur (oh, and so much for my high and mighty, not-going-to-let-my-kids-watch-tv principles, also).

Still, even The Rainbow Connection can wear on the nerves after a while, so I introduced Punkin to the magic that is Babes in Toyland. Ding ding ding! We have a winner.

Anyway. All of this was to sort-of justify my blog title for the day and to make the point that I've seen the Muppet movies waaaaaay too much.

On to the real news: Lump update. I have cat scratch fever. Great. I'm a Ted Nugent song. That alone makes obvious the need for an antibiotic. So they gave me this massive, killer, one-shot dose that is drunk all at once and then slow-releases in my system over 5 days, killing the crap outta some bacteria and making me feel like crap in the process. Hoo-ray. It will still probably take about 3 weeks for the lump in my arm to go away, but it should start to calm down soon. That'll be nice. I'll be quite glad when this whole thing is over. And I'm quite glad to know that it's nothing more serious. Davey can stop freaking out now. At least about that.

Coincidentally (providentially?) during the Great Lump Ordeal, they've decided that there is most likely a problem with my thyroid. That would explain the extreme exhaustion I've had lately, among other things, and (most importantly, in my mind anyway) the 10+ pounds I've frikkin' gained while breastfeeding. So I'm waiting for the test results, but they said that my thyroid gland felt large, and when I googled hypothyroidism when I got home Monday, I read about post-partum hypothyroidism. Yeah. I can pretty much check off every single symptom on the list. So I really feel right now like I'm just waiting on confirmation. Fortunately it's very treatable, and most likely temporary.

In happier news, it's SPRING!!!!! Everything is green and growing again, and all the little seeds we planted are popping up in the garden and starting to grow (I can't wait for the peas.. I love fresh peas!), we got some more chickees from the co-op (Blue egg layers again. So fun.) and the weather is warm enough to go camping! We've got a trip planned in a few weeks, the same weekend that Davey is taking me to see Toad the Wet Sprocket at the Bijou in Knoxville. I've never seen them live, but they're one of my all-time favorite bands, so I'm pretty excited about this. Plus, grown-up time! And, I'm pretty sure I can finagle a trip to Mast General Store while we're downtown. It'll be a lovely time. Maybe I'll even be able to stay awake for it!

the only thing we have to fear

I should be more scared than I am, I think. Others would be. The poor hubby most certainly is.

Lemme explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is going to .. wait. That's not it.

Ok- seriously this time:

Last week I found a lump on my arm. A big, gnarly, painful lump. A little bit of internet searching showed it to be a lymph node (who knew there were lymph nodes in the elbow?). A little more searching led me to think I might have an infection maybe, but surely it was no big deal. Right?

I felt exhausted and flu-ish all weekend, and then Monday so tired that I just didn't even want to get out of bed. So I decided it was time to go to the doctor. Got an initial round of bloodwork (which didn't show anything useful), some looks of concern, and an antibiotic, just in case. And an appointment to go back in 2 weeks, sooner if the lump got any bigger or things appeared to be getting worse.

Back to today. The lump is bigger. It hurts like the dickens. I'm tired all the time (some of that could be the antibiotic, though). I'm giving the antibiotic 1 more day to start working (and the lump one more day to stop growing) and then, I'm calling the Dr. again. Maybe it's just the wrong antibiotic for the potential infection that I have. Maybe it's not an infection after all. This is what has been on my mind all week. There are no answers yet, and there probably won't be for at least another week. Maybe longer. Because the biggest rub is this: we don't have medical insurance. Part of the "leap of faith" we took when I quit my job was to go without insurance for a while, and trust that God was going to get us through, somehow, until we could afford the insurance offered at Davey's job. Naturally it has already occurred to me that if I'm really sick, no insurance company is going to touch me if they can help it. So tests are expensive, and have to be paid for out of pocket.

(and let me just back up and say this: God has been so incredibly faithful. Everything we need and so much more has been provided, sometimes in the most unexpected, beautiful ways. That's part of the fun of living on faith. God gets to do stuff way cooler than we ever could do on our own.)

I should really be scared right now, I think. I am, just a little. But two thoughts keep coming back to me. That God will take care of us, and that if this is more than just an infection, I am strong enough to fight it. Maybe not to win, but to at least give it one hell of a bloody nose. Should that be so comforting? I don't know, but it is.

I am also reminded every single day what an amazing gifts I've been given. Being able to stay home with my girls, for one. The last four months have been supersweet, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've got the greatest husband a girl could ever hope for, and I'm constantly being given the opportunity to fall in love with him a little bit more. Every day we share an amazing adventure. I live in the most beautiful place (methheads next door aside. I just don't look that direction), surrounded by mountains and forest and the beauty of creation (not to mention all the fun farm animals we've been collecting).

This past week, in spite of everything, I feel more connected to it all. So if nothing more comes of this than that, well, cool.

I feel a certain determination not to let this ... whatever it is, slow me down. In fact, it's becoming something of a motivator. Not much of one, because I'm still pretty exhausted every day, but still. This past weekend we started our vegetable garden (Davey did most of the real work while I "supervised"). Yesterday I started working out again. Nothing strenuous, but just enough to be able to say that I did it (And yes, sadly, I'm sore from it today. I haven't really worked out in 2 years!). I even got some laundry done today. Seriously, that last accomplishment is more impressive than you know.

Maybe I'm a little more scared than I'm willing to admit. It does feel good to get all this out of my head. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and the antibiotic will have kicked in and the lump will be smaller and all will be right in my little speck of the world. I hope so. But if you think about it, say a prayer for me, and especially for the poor, freaking-out hubby.

And since I don't like to be bringing people down - here's some adorableness to brighten things up:

Dang, I've got some cute kids.