Lynn's blog

About three weeks ago, someone tried to use my debit card to buy something at an appliance store--a $500 something. Would have wiped my account out. Luckily, I have a super-vigilant card company; they declined the charge and called me immediately. I racked my brain trying to figure out where they could have gotten the number.

Until today.

Those of you who belong to Ravelry, log in. There you'll see a pages-long thread full of crafters who all got their cards hacked thanks to a data breach at Knitpicks. Guess where I buy most of my yarn? And guess what else? KP claims they notified everyone affected. They lied.

So if you're a Knitpicks customer, watch your card or cancel it and get a new one. Don't know when I'm going to buy from them again, which pisses me off even more. There's a sock yarn sale, darn it!

I am always looking for ways to use up leftovers, especially fish. Getting leftover fish into my family is nigh-on impossible.

Except this way.

These are salmon fritters. They're gluten-, dairy- and soy-free, though not corn- or egg-free. I want to give you a recipe, but the problem is, I'm a dibby dabby cook. So I'm going to give you close equivalents with some pictures to help.

Ingredients:
Leftover fish like salmon, cod or tuna--canned will do
Eggs
Sweet pickle relish (optional)
Masa harina (corn tortilla flour)
Green onion
Salt
Pepper
Fat for frying--I used olive oil, but coconut oil or bacon drippings would also work

Technique:
Everything depends on how much fish you have, or how much you want to pad out the fish. I'm going to give equivalents.

In a bowl, flake the fish. I just squish it with my hands until it's in small pieces. You don't want a paste, but you don't want huge chunks either. Chop one or two green onions, including both the white and green parts; add to the fish. Add a dollop of relish, pretty much to taste. If you like it, put in lots, if you don't, you can leave it out altogether. I like it. You can add grated vegetables to this, too, like zucchini or carrots. In the pictures, these have two grated zucchini. If you want that, put it in now.

I had a piece of grilled salmon fillet about the size of my hand, fingertips to base of my palm--maybe a little smaller. I used two green onions and about a tablespoon of relish. I broke four eggs into it and squished it together with my hands like I was making meatloaf. Then I added masa harina until it made a fairly stiff batter. The picture to the left should give you an idea; it's not a dry batter, but it's certainly not liquid. It holds its shape. I added salt and pepper to taste, a couple of shakes of each.

Heat your fat in a skillet. I like cast iron myself. It can be any size skillet; if you don't have much fat, use a smaller one and cook the fritters one or two at a time. The picture to the right should give you an idea how deep the fat should be. I guesstimate this is about a quarter-inch, but that's probably overstating it. Fry the fritters until golden brown on both sides, drain on paper towels or newsprint or your favorite blotter, whatever it is.

Serve with ketchup, cocktail sauce (boy I wish I'd had some), lemon, mayo, tartar sauce, whatever you like on fried stuff with fish in it. And I hope your family likes them as much as mine does!

When you unschool, you take your educational opportunities where you can find them, and usually they're everywhere. Sometimes they're lessons learned the semi-hard way.

This morning, Louisa (just turned 11) announced she WAS going to have a lemonade stand. We'd discussed this before--you have to get lemons or Koolaid, ice, cups and so on. "I'll ride down to the store, Mom, if you give me the money." So off she went.

She came back with pre-made foo-foo lemonade--$1 per 16 oz bottle--and expensive gluten-free cookies. A nice touch, but at $5/bag for about 40 cookies, not so economical. And she forgot the ice. Luckily we have some in the freezer downstairs. She spent all the money I had in my wallet--$15. *headdesk*

The lesson commenced. How much per serving was this going to cost? After a few demonstrations, we figured out that a serving would cost 25 cents if she were generous with the ice, and that she'd have to charge 50 cents to make a profit. Two small cookies would also be 50 cents retail.

And then, before I could stop or help her, she had the stand set up. Again, no ice, no cooler, no change, no water for herself, and no shade. I decided I'd just be late for my appointment, got a cooler and ice, made her get her parasol and her water bottle. She's out there bravely hawking her wares:

So far I think she's made four bucks, but school's not out and the evening bike commute hasn't commenced. She may fare better after four. Either way, she's learned more about supply, demand, retail/wholesale and measurements than she knew she was in for, and that's priceless.

The New Homemaker is 13 years old today! I wonder if it'll start getting petulant and slamming doors on me now--which is a weird thing to say, considering that my (human) teenager doesn't do that. I don't even get that many rolled eyes, though I do get the occasional incredulous stare.

When I started this website, that 14-year-old was 18 months old. I was in the first flush of staying home with a child, and I didn't know what I was doing. The only thing that's the same now is that I still don't know what I'm doing half the time!

I got a call in early November from the guy I call my brother--John's best friend, who the kids call Uncle Tex. "I know what I'm getting you for Christmas."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I'm getting you a pellet stove." Now, usually we get each other the same thing every year. Tex comes over every Wednesday night for tea and chocolate. Consequently, he gets us tea and we get him chocolate; we drink the tea and eat the chocolate together, and that's our Christmas.

So remember how just last week I said we were focusing on "Sound Mind in Sound Body" for the New Year? Right after, JJ came down with pneumonia!

When I started this site, Josie was 18 months old and Louisa wasn't even an idea yet. Jo turned 14 late last week! She is the same height as me, but she still has the same punkin head. She is funny--really funny--and smart and beautiful and I am still blessed to be her mama.

After her party over the weekend, she said, "Mom! It's the first party where I've worn heels AND eye makeup and it wasn't Halloween!"

I'd post a picture but John hasn't sent them to me yet! I will nudge him and try to post one later.

Boy, I was bound and determined to get out into the yard today. Since my illness, things have really gotten out of control out there, and now that I'm finally feeling up to tackling things I'm gung-ho. (Until I get out there, use up all my spoons, and take a few days recovering.) My goal was to clear--yes, clear--a path from the front gate to the back steps. We were halfway there after the last round of yardwork two weeks ago, and I was going to get us the rest of the way. It didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be traversable.

So I grabbed the string trimmer, plugged it in, and got to work. Except it wasn't actually cutting anything. Dang it, it must need more line says I, and I tap it on the ground to release more line. Nope. I tap it again, harder. Nope. (More after the jump.)

When I started this site twelve years ago, I had one kid--Josie. Those of you who've been with me a while followed my pregnancy and c-section with Louisa. Welp, Louisa turned ten today.

Twelve years ago, I was still in my 30s, I had only one child, and that child was 18 months old. I went looking for a website for homemakers that didn't push a particular religious agenda, that didn't participate in pushing the work-outside and stay-at-home moms into an unnecessary rivalry, and that didn't assume that all stay-at-home moms are right-wingers.

I couldn't find one. So I made one.

And here we are, twelve years later. Josie is thirteen (going on thirty). Louisa, who was born in 2001, is not quite ten. John and I have been married over fifteen years now. I've survived several heart attacks and a cardiac arrest, and deal with fibromyalgia. All in that twelve years.

TNH has evolved over the years to be less of a community and more of a resource, which is to be expected; so much has changed on the internet since its founding in 1999, and there are so many ways to connect to others that weren't available then.

But for those of you who've been along for the ride--and I know there are those of you who've been here the entire twelve years and watched my second pregnancy and my children growing up and me deal with both chronic and critical illnesses--thank you. This site has always meant a great deal to me and will continue to be close to my heart even with my forays into other kinds of writing.

Happy birthday, TNH!

Rain and wind so hard it rattled the windows woke me up early this morning. I heard John leaving for work, and wondered if he should be biking in weather like that.

Poor lamb! He forgot his keys, stopped to call me to bring them to him at work, and then discovered that the rain had flooded big chunks of Ladd's Addition. He was soaked nearly to the skin already and had barely gone a quarter of the way to work. He just came home and I drove him in, and as we were driving we realized that it wasn't raining, it was "slushing!" Big globs of barely-frozen snow. It is cold and miserable today, and I just want to curl up with my tea and knit the rest of these slippers. (Boy, I wish I had mine made already. I could use them today.)

But instead I ventured out to the new doctor.

Reader, she is everything I hoped she'd be. She listened, she proposed appropriate remedies, she not only believed me when I said my digestive problems seemed to bring on PVCs, she was actually able to explain *why* and suggest solutions. In the past all I've gotten were shrugs. "Well, you'll have to learn to live with it."

yay!

I hate change. Hate it, hate it. "May you live in interesting times" is the ultimate curse for me. I WANT BORING. The Middle East is driving me nuts right now. (And that last is facetious; I want those people to be free, and the current movement is just about the best news we could get because Mideast freedom--without US interference--robs Al Qaeda of recruits. I just wish things would slow down so I could catch up.)

Consequently, my decision to change doctors after nearly 25 years with the same practice is earth-shattering. But one misdiagnosis too many finally pushed me to leave. Our old doctor is more or less retired, the new ones don't know who we are and we never see the same one twice in a row.

John's been to the new doctor and has pronounced her good; she practices integrative medicine--natural as well as allopathic--and comes well-recommended. I'm seeing her on Monday for my way-overdue annual girly parts visit.

I don't wanna go. Because I really hate change.

Once, long ago, Elizabeth Edwards was a member of this site. It was right after the 2004 campaign. We corresponded briefly, mostly so that she could assure me that it really was her. She was a gracious woman who took my fangirl-ing in stride.

She died today. She was only 61, and leaves still-young children behind. (The less said about her ass of a husband, the better.)

Ms Edwards was a true inspiration to me. She was everything an American woman should be: smart, brave, independent, caring, gracious. SHE should have been the Senator, not him.

This country has lost a great woman, not least because we never got the full benefit of her. Godspeed, Elizabeth.

Here's what's come off the bobbin in the last month or so:

From left to right:

We had the opportunity to buy a whole tuna the other day--just about straight off the boat. I think it had been in the ocean not eight hours before. It weighed 22.5 pounds. Beautiful fish, truly. But we had NO IDEA how to clean it. As it happens, it was much easier than we feared.

Read on for how we did it!