3 Weeks Later

Life has been a little crazy. On the 16th we welcomed this little one to our family:

The baby's sister has hit the terrible twos with a vengeance. Hence, I'm not blogging as much these days.

I'm still planning on doing a crockpot challenge, and I'm keeping my g-cal up-to-date with meal plans, but the official "blog support and giveaway challenge" will be put off until November. Stay tuned. Oh, and check out today's dinner recipe on the G-Cal: white bean soup. It was DELICIOUS. DH isn't often wowed by things I make (I experiment a little too much, or try to make it too healthy) but tonight's meal qualified for the "better than you-know-what" title. I forgot the lime juice and only used 1 4 oz can of chilies, plus added almost 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper. YUM! Next time I will double batch and freeze half for a later meal!

Kid to Kid

I LOVE Kid to Kid! It is one of my favorite stores. I normally go to the one in my town, which isn't THAT impressive, but I've still gotten some great deals. This week I went to a different store, and it was AMAZING!! In fact, I found out that on September 12 they are getting out all their Halloween Costumes! So check out Kidtokid.com and see when a store in your area is doing this! Or go HERE and maybe I'll see you on Sept 12!

Cookie Cutters

I took my little girl to the Cookie Cutters Hair Salon, and it was a great experience (well, she sobbed, but they were so great and we were able to get a great haircut.) The cost is normally 13.95, but if you have a Cookie Cutters near you and would like a $3 off coupon, leave a comment with your email address and I will send you one. It expires November 1, 2009, but I'll probably be getting more coupons in the future! It was a very great deal and they were experts with my small child. (she even got to sit in a pink car, watch Elmo, eat candy, pop bubbles, and hold a toy pony!)

Could you go a year?

I found a link to this article from another frugal mom blog, and thought I would share. This family, who were well off financially, decided to go an entire year without buying anything that wasn't edible or depletable. Read it and see what you think.
The Article.
The other blog.

Nesting...

I think that my motivation to work on this blog more was partially fueled by my nesting instinct. I'm about 37 weeks along with baby #2, and am really loving being "domestic" (running a house well, being a good mommy and wife, improving my talents, learning new skills, etc...).

That's why I had grand ideas for this blog. I still have grand ideas. But I'm tired. And the Hub is going out of town for a few weeks, followed by a new baby and our computer needing to be sent to Gateway to get a new graphics card, which will take 2 weeks. So I'm sorry for not posting more frequently. But that is our life and we still love it.

I did want to mention some thoughts I've had on finances.

First, in reading the Book of Mormon at the beginning of Alma, the people in Zarahemla start treating each other terribly, doing all sorts of terrible things, and rejecting God. Alma mentions that they had begun "worshipping idols." When reading that I thought "I don't worship idols. I don't even know anyone who does." Then I thought about the word worship, looked it up in the dictionary, and came to the conclusion that worshipping something is really just paying devotion to something or making it the most important thing in your life. So I thought about that and my attitude towards money. I'm striving to improve my relationship with God, but I can't do that if I am devoting myself to having more "things." I think we can see how comparing ourselves, our lives, and our standard of living to others can cause us to worship idols by losing sight of God's plan for our lives. We slowly are enslaved by the desire to possess more things. (And we don't see others for who they are as fellow children of God).

Admittedly, there are necessary purchases. I don't want anyone to think that buying things makes them an idol worshipper. But I think at least I can live more providently and self-sufficiently by really thinking about each purchase I make, asking myself why I am buying that item, and if I really need it. But also, it's good to occassionally, and when you can afford it, buy yourself or others nice things. I'd love to have a Bosch mixer. Do I need one? No. Do I need photoshop, or a piano? No. Can I afford those things now? No. But those things are on my list of things that, when the $ is there, I would like to purchase.

Hopefully I'll be able to post at least once a week the next few weeks, but I'll be taking some time away from the internet once the baby gets here. (I have a feeling sleep will be much more important then!!)

Adventures in Canning!

Check out my sis's blog for a cute pic of me showing off our finished product!!

That's right, we canned peaches. Something on my to-do list that actually got accomplished!! We used googled "canning peaches" and found a very helpful website, which the link is now broken to, to guide us through the process, but here is a simplified overview. By the way, having 3 people makes the process happen about 2 times faster than just 2 people! I'm glad Julie's SIL could help us out!!
What you need:
* Good peaches (5 per quart sized jar)
* Water bath canner with rack
* Jars w/ lids and rings
* Fruit fresh, or lemon juice
* Sugar, lots of water
* Paring knives.
* lots of pots and bowls
* A good attitude and a friend or two.

1. Pick out good peaches! If you are in my area, Reams had an amazing deal on super yummy peaches: 13.99 for 25 lb box, or $.59/lb. They were really good. Most roadside stands have amazing peaches: local produce is always better!

2. wash peaches, run jars through hot rinse cycle in dish washer or sanitize by boiling.

3. Get syrup ready. We made the light syrup, which was 6 cups water, 2 cups sugar. That was a little too sugary for my taste. If you increase the water 1-2 cups, you should have enough syrup for 6 quart jars of peaches. All you do is get the water hot, slowly add the sugar, stirring well, boil it for a minute, then turn it way down to keep it hot until you are ready to use it.

4. Peel and cut peaches. Here's how: boil peaches for 35-45 seconds. Remove and put in ice water. We found that VERY cold ice water works the best, it isn't great if you have just a few pieces of ice in the water. After the ice bath, cut the peach along the seem, press together and twist to half the peach. The peel should come right off, and the pit will usually just stay in one side. We haven't found a fool-proof way to get the pit out easily. We just cut it out, dug it out, or used my little tool to take the tops off of strawberries or tomatoes.

5. After cutting peaches to desired size, put in a bowl and mix lemon juice or some "Fruit Fresh" to prevent browning.

6. When the bowl is full, put into hot, sterilized jars, cover with hot syrup*, and put hot lids on. Then screw the rings on, and process in your water bath canner for 40 minutes (at 3000-6000 ft above sea level, less for lower elevations).

*This is the cold pack canning method, for hot pack canning, which is supposedly safer we haven't gotten sick from the peaches yet, simmer the peaches IN the syrup for 5 minutes, then pour into jars.

Week 3 O.O.

Here are the pictures of o.o. week 3! Organizing the kid's room closet and dresser top. Why do dressers at my house always collect STUFF?! I've actually already finished the closet, the challenge is to find places to put the dresser stuff!

Addicted to organizing.

I am happy to report that I am getting really great at organizing! This week it was something I looked forward to, and the time I spent organizing my kitchen cupboards was enjoyable!

It is also essential that I report on my efforts to KEEP things organized. I have a nook in my home that has always been the clutter corner. Now, whenever I walk by, I take note of anything that shouldn't be there and move it right then. It has been so cleansing for my soul to have this one spot that always looks "nice." I'll have to post a pic!!

Without further chatter, here are the pictures of the space I organized this week. I ended up cleaning, rearranging, and organizing ALL of my kitchen cupboards except for the pots/pan cupboard and under the sink (that's a whole other project!) But I realized that if I switched my food and dishes around I would be able to utilize the space more efficiently. Aren't I a smarty-pants house-wife?






Remember it isn't too late to join in on the fun of Operation Organization. Especially if you just need some motivation!!

Break time...

Our computer was in the shop this week, and it gave me a great break from the online world. DH & I even spent time giggling together instead of spending all evening doing our separate things. It was nice to know we can survive without the internet!

For a great parenting pick me up, head over to our "Sitsta" at d2the4thpower. This was a reminder to be gentle and that all of us make mistakes as parents (funny, I kind of got a goblin face and got up to an almost scream today when my little one rubbed her chocolatey face* on my khaki shorts**, so this post was especially poignant!)***









*Immediately clean chocolatey faces in order to prevent such a fiasco.

**Don't wear anything but dark wash jeans or brown/black pants. Dirty faces are attracted to clean, light colored clothing

***Your child is more important than your clothing. Invest in some oxyclean or spray 'n wash and remember that the goal is to raise loving, helpful children, not necessarily to have clean clothes...but if you can do both please tell us how you do it!

Good Zucchini Bread Recipe

It seems like I am always looking for good recipes this time of year to use our abundance of zucchini! This is my favorite recipe for zucchini bread, moist and good texture.

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

¾ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. baking powder

3 cups flour

2 cups shredded zucchini

Mix eggs, oil and sugar. Add vanilla. Mix in salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder. Add flour. Mix in zucchini. Grease and flour pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes (depending on size/number of pans; will want to watch closely towards end of time). Toothpick poked into center of loaves should come out clean when done. Cool in pan about 10 minutes.

Makes approximately 2 regular-sized loaves (or about 3 smaller loaves). Double batch makes about 1 regular and 6 small loaves.

Inexpensive project idea for children

Most preschoolers seem to love anything that involves coloring and cutting (though sometimes supervision is still needed!). My almost-4-year-old son loves doing these toilet paper roll crafts. Sometimes he is impatiently waiting for the next toilet paper roll to be finished so he can start another project. Though we have utilized other pieces of random cardboard that is laying around the house. Today we have already made Shrek and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (and he is trying to convince me to start one more...I think that will wait until quiet time tomorrow) but we probably have a stash of 15+ laying around the house!

I think most of us can relate to the experience of a young child having more fun playing with the paper and boxes at Christmas or birthday than the actual gift; the same concept may apply here, it really doesn't take much to make a child's imagination happy. Plus, it is a good activity that encourages me to sit down and interact with my preschooler as we cut, color and tape each project. But I will warn you, if your child likes making one, you probably will end up making them all the time, since there are lots of characters from which to choose!

Home Canning

My sister and I are undertaking a canning adventure soon. We want to can peaches, peach jam, and salsa. This is the first time we've canned since we "helped" mom in the kitchen when we were very small. Any home canners out there with any advice?

If not, I'll just have to read homecanning.com