the blessing of a good friend

It's been a rough week; loosing Coreah was by far the hardest part, then not being able to bury her until the following day, my truck breaking down on the way to see a friends newborn baby goats, Ron's computers hard drive crashed, and even saying that makes me feel awful to even think of complaining. I know it could be worse, I could live in Japan, Libya, Afghanistan, etc. my heart goes out to those people, I cannot imagine the heartbreak and devastation they are dealing with. That being said, I still hurt but I still have so much to be thankful for and will be just fine because I know Coreah is in a better place and no longer in pain. We were able to bury her here on the farm and up near the entrance to the farm to greet visitors (in spirit obviously) as they arrive as she would have in real life. The truck was able to be fixed and we had the money. The hard drive was backed up and a new one will be here next week and Ron (thankfully he's a computer whiz!) can install it and all will be well, and we had the money for that as well. I think it was Flylady that said "if money will fix it, it is not a problem." (If it wasn't her then it was at her website that I first read it.) So I'm good! And once again, thank you for all your kind words and support, it really means a lot to me.

Despite the rough week, it ended on a positive note! It was our homeschool co-op day today and as usual we were running a bit behind schedule; but when we arrived, the friend whose goats I was headed over to see when the truck broke had her son outside the building next to their car and he was motioning for us to come over to the car with a big grin on his face. I hurried over to the car and peeked in only to find two of the most adorable goat babies I've seen, well since Katie and Buckley were born! OH! MY! GOODNESS!!! A little black doe, (which is something I've wanted since I first saw one a few years back, as well as a doe with lots of moonspots, but I digress) and a slightly larger silvery-gray buckling! Talk about cute and I was in the midst of adoring them so much I forgot to take a picture or 20! Can you believe it?! Me, the picture taking fool! My friend walked back out to the parking lot to take in another load of stuff and was ready for the babies to be brought in and adored my me, oh I mean all the kids at co-op. She teasingly asked me what I'd found and I hopped up and down with childish delight.

Mind you this friend of mine has to be just about the nicest person I've ever met! A genuine honest to goodness wonderful human being and as thoughtful as the day is long. She even made a raspberry pie to serve while I was getting my baby goat fix on Saturday, which never ended up happening because of the truck. :-( She made it because she knows I love (that's a huge understatement!) raspberry pie! It's that kind of thoughtfulness that makes me adore her.

I offered to help take one of the goats inside and talked with this friend of mine on the way into the building feeling like a small child at Christmas, knowing she'd gone out of her way to make this happen and the work it took to pull it off. I was so touched I nearly cried. She just knew I'd love to see them and that the kids at the co-op would as well, we all very much appreciated her effort and thoughtfulness. I didn't realize when we joined the co-op last year that I would receive such a blessing from it as well. The blessing of a friendship like this.



When we're having a rough go of it lots of us reach out for that food that brings us such comfort, it might be mac 'n cheese, a bowl of cereal, garlic bread, chocolate cake or what have you. For me tonight it was a stir-fry. This is SOOOOOO delicious and soooooooo comforting, you outta try it.

All you do is pour some oil in a skillet or pan and heat it up, toss in some cubed firm tofu and let is cook. I like to let it get a sort of crust-y thing going on on each side, so I cook it until it does this. I just like a little crunch.
Then I toss in some veggies, tonight I used onions and frozen broccoli. You could use; and I have, snap peas, cabbage, diced or julienne carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, what have you, mix it up and get creative! Let it cook, covered, until the onions are soft and the broccoli is thawed, firm, and not overcooked but is thawed and has a bit of a 'bite' to it.


Stir it up! Let it cook and get happy!
Add some soy sauce and continue to get happy!
Then add the 'quick cook' veggies and seasonings, like garlic and cayenne pepper. Feel free to mix it up, this is what my family likes, so I go with it. This time I had carrots; purple, yellow and white, so I used them. Can you smell this cooking yet?! It's so easy and so yummy! Stir, cover again and cook until the carrots are slightly limp, just a few minutes.
Then open the cover take a deep breath and enjoy. This can be eaten with brown rice, quinoa, or by itself. It's the perfect warm bowl of comfort; a little greasy, a little spicy, a little salty, a little crunchy, a whole lotta YUM!