I've Got That Crafty Feelin'

Sing that title to a Righteous Brothers tune. That crafty feeeeelin', whoa-whoa-woe. You feelin' it? You feelin' me?

Yes, I need help and a life.

Now on to the craft. Free craft by the way. I was able to choose a fabric swatch for free from an internet site about 2 months ago. That took me a while. Don't give me too many choices or it will overwhelm me. Fast forward a month and the swatch is setting on the dishwasher waiting for me to make it beautiful.

Here's what I chose for it's future. I had an old, very golden picture frame that I hated. I also had a mat out of another frame, and some black acrylic paint. So I got a paint brush and painted the frame. It's not perfect but that's part of what I love about it. Iron the fabric swatch, wait for the paint to dry, and TAA-DAA.

I'm sorry the pictures are terrible but I ain't no photographer. Have a good day peeps!

Sledge Hammers and Electrocution

OK, I didn't actually get electrocuted, but I could have!

Here is what I am grateful for today... my sweet Hubby.

As some of you know I lost my mind and took a sledge hammer to my foyer. I've never liked the slate tile floor that was in there so I thought, "I'll get rid of it." Now, I didn't just go all crazy, Bob Vila meets The Terminator, until I called Hubbs and cleared the crazy with him first. He later revealed that he truly thought I had lost my mind. I told you before that he never tells me no, unless it's about chickens, I'm still working on him about that!

So...what a mess I made. The slate was hiding a layer,about 3 or 4 inches thick, of concrete and chicken wire. Remember, I have a basement rancher so I had concrete setting on these thin pieces of plywood that had been shimmed BETWEEN the joists. NO FLOOR. Do you follow me? I had NO REAL FLOOR.

We could not believe the mess we uncovered. It took all weekend and Monday to repair. This project started last Thursday morning. I really believed that I would bust up the tile, clean the floor, and lay down some new beautiful flooring. I should have known it wouldn't be simple this is MY house we're talking about here.

So the grateful part. Not just a handy Hubby, but a Hubby that works until he can't hardly move because of his love for me and the kids. He had to go to work today just so he could rest! He worked non-stop trying to repair the floor, correctly, so that we have a safe place to live. God truly blessed me the day I saw that 18 year old boy working in the denim department on the first day of my new job.

Just for the record, I did help with the repairs but I am more a gopher and grabber than anything else. I tried to measure a board for him and of course he had to redo it because I'm a goober.  Oh, and a nail I was trying to pull out severely kinked a hot wire and almost electrocuted me. That was a big diversion to fix and caused him at least 3 hrs of electrical work in the middle of his reconstruction. Sorry babe.

It did not help that I am apparently now completely afraid of falling to my death, so I was terrified to walk across those joists with nothing to catch me but the concrete basement floor 10 feet below. I did learn that I should never be a contestant of Fear Factor or Wipe Out. I'd lose hands down. He kept saying, "Just stay there Honey you don't have anything to prove to me." I think I was slowing him way down.

 Plus, I am notorious for hurting the Hubbs constantly. I swept concrete dust down into his face at one point, almost whacked him in the head with the level, almost tipped a huge sheet of 3/4 in. plywood on him when he was laying down repairing an outlet, and numerous other things. I also screwed some of the flooring down and on my 4th screw I stripped the last tip to the drill, of course that's also what made us quit working at 9:30pm on Sunday. So see, he should be really be grateful to me. Right??

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Make a Change

Please, please visit this page:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/07/will-you-help-change-your-homepage-and-ill-donate-1-to-compassion-international.html

All you have to do is change your homepage to Yahoo for 2 days and they will donate $10,000 to a deserving charity. Leave a comment on moneysavingmom.com and she will donate an additional dollar for each person who changes their homepage.

How often can you give to charity by simply clicking your mouse and typing some words. I changed mine for 2 days last week and I hated it. I like the way my computer is set up and I do NOT like change, but I handled fine for a couple of days. Please consider this simple way to give back.

Blessed Beyond Reason

Does it ever hit you that you are blessed beyond reason? It hits me a couple of times a day usually about the time that I am finishing up griping about something.

"All the kids do is make a mess for me to clean!". Thank God that I have these healthy beautiful children to clean up after. They make my world go round. The good Lord knew what he was doing when he put them in my care.

"I don't know what to cook for supper tonight!" Thank God that I have options on what to cook for dinner and plenty of food to cook with.

"This house always needs something repaired!". Thank God for the roof over my head to keep my family and I warm and dry.

"He never cleans up his bathroom." That's because he has no time between work and helping with the kids and fixing whatever breaks around here. Thank God for my wonderful Hubby.

"Lord, sometimes I don't understand this world or why you've put me in it." Thank you Lord for my savior, Jesus, who stands before me with loving patience (lots of patience) and guidance. I certainly am undeserving.

You get the idea I'm sure. Have a blessed 4th of July folks!

I am From

Owlhaven posted a blog called Where I'm From... so here is where I am from:

Homemade Mania:  I am From

I am from a house on a hill. From long gravel driveways and a broke down barn across the road. I am from woods with yellow jackets and bumblebees. I am from stray cats with kittens to catch and mutt dogs to play with.

I am from clothes on the line to dry and four square on the turn-around concrete pad. I am from the “Summer of Wasp Killing” and siblings to watch. I am from road trips with Mammaw and lake trips with Granny. From beach vacations with the whole family and home canned green beans.

I am from big gardens and fresh produce. From Saturday chores and cook-outs with lettuce from the garden. I am from watermelon with salt on it and wiffle ball in the yard. I am from lightening bugs in a jar and toads in the drainage ditches. From Hide-N-Seek in the nighttime summer heat.

I am from picnics in the mountains.  From tubing down cold mountain streams and breakfast in the cove. I am from big black bear and deer sightings and hiking to old cabins in the woods. I am from winding back roads and pick-up truck rides.

I am from Baptists. From singin’, shoutin’, and preachin’. I am from church services where the preacher didn’t even preach because prasin’ the Lord never stopped. I am from a Deacon and his wife. From tears and prayers on bended knee at the altar. I am from VBS, Homecoming, Old Timers Day, Easter Cantatas and Christmas Plays. From youth group trips and lifetime friendships. I am from water fights, carwashes and mischief. I am from faith that runs deep and personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

I am from snowball fights, snow days, and sledding. I am from power outages and wood stove winter heat. I am from 3 TV channels and family shows. From orange boxed VCRs rented from the movie store for special movie nights. I am from air popped popcorn and cushions on the floor. From one pipe-smoking Papaw with a scratchy beard and one Papaw who gives rides in his A-model car.

I am from fried chicken, gravy and homemade biscuits. From a Granny whose prayers are simple but profound and heart stirring. I am from wild Uncles and Aunts to fear. From hour long rides to Aunt Bea’s house where we were always welcomed with a great big hug. I am from a glider on a porch, apples in the backyard, and walks to the ice cream shop.

I am from sibling fights and Indian wrestling. Dressing up little sisters and changing baby diapers. I am from a little brother playing Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. I am from love, faith, and safety.

Samples Anyone?

Vocalpoint has Mott for Tots samples you can sign up to receive by mail go here to sign up www.vocalpoint.com/mottsfortots

It's Never a Good Thing...

...when you're outside wondering if the baby played in the mud at the same time that your Hubby says, "something smells like crap." Uh-oh. That is what kicked off bath time last night. At least we finished our bike ride.  Poor Risky she shares a bike trailer with the Stinky One.

It was bad folks. He had the nasty stuff everywhere. Both hands, legs, and face were smeared with poop. Yuck, yuck! Obviously I cleaned him up. Hubby gags and barfs over poop. Oh yeah he can't handle it. This is a source of much laughter for me and my family. Have a great weekend peeps!

Ain't he a cute stinker?

Garden Antics

I know you are all holding your breath for an update on my garden. Well, let it out people 'cause here it comes! Wooo-weee feel that hillbilly holler! Sorry, lost control for a second.

Squash

All the taters are gone. They're in my belly. They were delicious although I really wanted more. The garbage can didn't work. I just got the same yield of taters from that can as from the garden. Oh well. We have green beans but because only a few of the original plants survived, I am literally getting 4 or 5 beans at a time. I saved the beans up and went to cook them for supper one night. Guess what I did? Put'em in a pot and forgot. Burnt them suckers good when all the water boiled off. Granny had just told me to keep an eye on them for that very reason. Grrrrrr. I'm a goober.

We've had very little rain in the last month so I have been having to water the plants. The tomatoes are finally growing. Two little ones and Aydan walked up to one, and snapped the main part of the plant that it was growing on. We tried to salvage it and stake the stem with a big stick but alas, methinks she's a slowly dying.

The stick that tried to save a tomato plant.

You must understand that my Man doesn't give a flip about this garden. He shows interest in it because he loves me. He is so wonderful that after he finished jack-hammering in the basement the other night he went out back and cut down a bunch of tree limbs that were shading my garden too much. Ain't he the sweetest thing.

Part of the Okra

The okra is still growing and the rest of my beans are catching up to the original plants. Tiny little cucumbers, squash and zucchini are growing as well. I picked a bunch of onions and had those with dinner last night, yum. The carrots you say? Ah, the carrots. We've picked two. The first was so little it was non-existent. The second carrot was a big strapping fellow that I was so excited about. So excited that I left it outside all night. It was like a limp noodle the next day. Grrrr.



The rain yesterday beat
 the tar out of my carrots.





Crouching Momma, Hidden Zucchini



You know what I just realized? I'm my garden's own worst enemy. Oh and the beautiful blueberries, the freaking rabbit family ate them all!! I was so heart broke that I almost cried. Hubby thinks I've lost it, and well, I have but who cares...

Zucchini and Squash row.

Chicken McNuggets

Oh, sweet vacation where did you go? Vacation was fun while it lasted but it's back to the norm around here. It is so back to the norm that I started hearing little voices say, "We're bored!" Say what? Can you believe? A big ol'backyard and these little goobers are bored? Major sigh.

So off to the elementary school we went. No, I was not trying to give the kids back for the summer, although i have thought about it! We played on one playground and watched a horse. Again, "we're bored!" Off to the other side to a different playground. Guess what? They got bored there too!

Sheesh. These guys are hard to entertain. So we loaded back into the car and went down the road. Then I saw the golden arches and inspiration struck. I ordered 50 McNuggets and 2 of each of their new sauces. We came home and opened it up. Woo-hoo! It was a hit. We tried sweet-n-sour, bar-b-que, spicy buffalo, ranch, honey mustard, honey, hot mustard and ranch. McDonald's did not give us the sweet chili sauce; meanies. But man it was fun. We all tried (even me) something that we wouldn't normally try which is a big deal around here.

So for $10.93 I entertained 5 kids and 1 grown up. Not too shabby! Now if we can get through the rest of the day!

Monster Table

I've got a problem. Not a problem of global proportions but of kitchen proportions. My kitchen table is kind of a pain in the bahookie. This poor table used to be a hodge-podge of 2 different tables and spare parts. The top is made from a 3 leaves side drop table. Antique beyond repair, missing legs, deep gauges in the top. Poor thing.

Can you see the deep gouges in the wood?

My family had out grown my old round table and chairs that I bought at a yard sale for $25. #3 is probably so tired of hearing me say that but that table was truly my best yard sale buy EVER! That table was perfect for us for 3 years but children were born and grew and it was time to let go.  Oh, and the top popped off once ;)

Hubby got inventive one day and took the 3 leaves off of that old broke down antique, stuck them to a few 2x4's and then stole the legs off of our first rectangle kitchen table and a monster was born. MUHAHAHA!! (Dr. Frankenstein laugh) ;)

So here is my table...



Yes, it's a bad picture but I'm too lazy to clean my table off and take a new one.



I sanded the top, stained it, and put a coat of polyurethane on it. The table still needs another coat of polyurethane and the legs need the entire treatment. Here's the troub though, I don't love this table. It's big and in my way. I don't think that it makes good use of the kitchen space.

The table that I want is at a flea market. The guy builds them with benches and such and I want, I want, I want. We have to save the cash though and other more important things keep popping up. Boo-hoo. Guess I'll get over myself and be thankful for a virtually free table and a handy Hubby.

This post was supposed to be about my excitement over my newly redone old chairs. I'll show you that soon. Have a great day ya'll!

Lookin' Good!

Okay, real quick, have you ever gone out in public and felt sorry for the people who have to look at you? That was me today. I looked decent enough when I dropped my older 2 kids off at basketball camp. All was fine. Of course, there was much yelling and irritation before we left the house.

When we got back home (me and the 4 kids not in ball camp), my poor sunburned back could no longer handle the constraint of the bra. It came off and a nicer softer sports-bra went on. Then on came the "work-in-yard" clothes, you know the shorts with green paint on them from 4 years ago and the shirt that I technically bought for Hubby and then stole? 

Then I put on the dirty garden flip-flops with my unpolished toenails as of last night. No make-up. Then I decided to go out in the garden and plant beans. Sweating profusely was also on the menu. Dirt too, lots of it. Then I came in and cooled off for an hour before returning to pick up the young-uns. To change or not to change, that was the question.

You know what I decided? I didn't give a poop what the people at the basketball camp thought. They would see me or not, for all of 30 seconds before I got my kid and ran to get the other one. Poop on'em. So off I went in all of my homey glory. You know I felt so sorry for the folks that had to look at me. I think I still had dirt on the back of my leg. I sure am glad I didn't change though; I get sick of tackling my bra 4 times a day. If you see me in public and I'm looking kind of funky, just remember that I am a little crazy. Just a little ;-)

Eatin' Fred

Sorry I’m behind in my posts peeps, I’ve been a busy lady. After all that basement work, my poor home and yard have needed some tender lovin’ care. Today I have a very simple recipe to share with you. I’ve thought a lot about this and I’m not sure if you can even call this a “recipe”.  I am actually just going to tell you a bunch of stuff that is yummy in a pan together. You can add to or take away from it to make your own yummy goodness.

This is Fred. Why is it Fred? I have no idea. Fred is just what my Mom calls it so that is what I call it. This could be a unique name to my family or millions of people around the world may call it Fred. I have no idea. Fred sure does taste yummy though!

Hello Fred:

·         Cabbage (I recommend slicing up as much as you can fit in the skillet with all the other ingredients)

·         Onions sliced or diced it’s up to your preference

·         Potatoes again, slice or dice (I don’t like taters in my Fred, but my sister loves them, again your preference)

·         Dice smoked sausage, kielbasa, turkey sausage, brat wurst (basically some kind of yummy sausage/meat product that comes in a long snake form) I buy whichever is on sale

·         Oil

·         Salt and pepper

Ok, coat your skillet, large or small, with a thin layer of oil and throw in your potatoes if you are going to add them. Cook those for a few minutes alone since they need a longer cooking time. Then add all of the other ingredients and cook until they are nice and browned. If Fred starts to stick to the pan or looks parched, just add a ¼ cup of water and scrape him up. Poor Fred, we’re goin’ cook him good!

I have been creative with Fred. I have had an abundance of cabbage these last 2 weeks so I have eaten Fred a lot, and no, I’m not sick of him yet. I would eat him today if I had more cabbage. Anywho, I have cut up chard and added that to Fred. I’ve also added fresh spinach. I imagine that any number of different things could be added to this dish to make it yummy. My sister, #3, says that carrots are also excellent in Fred.

What makes Fred so delicious? The flavors in the pan all meld together. The cabbage soaks up the meat flavor. Wow this makes me hungry and it’s 8:30 am. Fred is easy to make and yummers to eat.  Cook up ol’Fred and give him a try! Leave a comment if you get to try him and tell me what you added.

Finally

Well little man is finally not whining and crying this morning. This is honestly the first day in 1 whole, long, tiring week that he has been happy. Thank you Lord! Momma couldn't take much more. I truly am grateful. Now to the life we've been living the last few days.

We worked like dogs this past weekend. There is a giant blue dumpster in my front yard that is almost full of my basement! That's right folks she be goin' down fast! Hubby and I have smashed (my fave), hammered, crow barred, ripped, and sawed our way through our basement. This needed to be done 4 or 5 years ago but life kept getting in the way. Babies were busy being born or I was too pregnant to be any help. And frankly, I'd rather run to the mountains and play than work!

I have to say though it feels great to get that nasty junk out of my house. There were several places that the people before us put untreated wood against unsealed block or concrete. Seriously people this is a major no-no. Can you say mold and mildew? Yuck. Demolition will be done in a couple of weeks and then the major work of sealing and painting will  begin. Thank you Lord for a smart, handy, sweet, fantabulous provider of a husband.

Yesterday, a truck load of  "just put that in the basement" stuff headed out of here. For years, we just put it in the basement if it was in the way, or we bought a new one, etc. No more! A commitment has been made by both of us and we no longer will be putting "it" in the basement. We have a truck with a king cab. There was no room for anyone except the driver to ride. That's how full that puppy was. Hopefully someone can use all of the stuff. Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick calls this decrapification. Boy does it feel good to be decrapified!

Our goal is to make the basement a safe place for our family. We may build a bedroom down there but that is probably all. Depending on God's plan for us, we hope to move again in a few years (5 maybe). We want to follow His will for us so we'll see how it goes!

Mad Baby Blues

Yesterday I was sooooo frustrated with my children. My patience were “Gone with the Whine” (see what I did there?). Aydan has been in an exceptionally bad mood since he started cutting more teeth. I complained to more than one person how I was going crazy. The little booger wants me to hold him constantly.  Everything made him mad and the screaming was driving me batty.

The other monsters were just being messy, loud, wild kids. They do the normal things that kids always do like make gigantic messes and wait for me to clean them up, ignore my first request for them to do something, ask for candy constantly. I don’t understand the candy thing because we do not normally have candy laying around, so I think this particular kid takes after her Papa and Aunt Rae-Rae. (I’m southern ya’ll that’s pronounced Ant). She has a major sweet tooth.

I was desperately trying to get supper on the table before Hubby got home from work and watching a local news show at the same time. Multi-tasking is the art of doing too much at once and not doing any of it great. I am a pro multi-tasker. Any who, the news anchors were visiting an area in my state that had been hit by a tornado and they showed pictures of victims that had died. The last picture was of a very sweet baby . My heart broke.

What would this family that had lost their precious child give to have a cranky 18 month old? What would they think about my impatience with my kids? I’m not saying that I will never again get frustrated with my yay-hoos, but my goodness did the Lord give me a kick in the rear yesterday.

I was very convicted about my attitude and asked for forgiveness. Today will be better because I will make it better. I will also hug the stuffins’ out of my babies today.

Stawberry Bread

I think I promised a recipe for strawberry bread.  I got the recipe from allrecipe.com my favorite site for recipes. If you’ve never been there check it out. My favorite part is the reviews because they give you so many ideas on ways to change the recipe for your liking. No, I was not paid to say that either. Click here to see the original. Here goes:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ vegetable oil
• ¾ unsweetened applesauce
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans (optional but yummy)

Slice the strawberries, sprinkle with sugar (not the 2 cups just some extra) and set aside. Heat oven to 350 and grease two 9 x5 pans. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Slightly beat the eggs and add them to the strawberries along with the oil and applesauce. Mix it all together, add the nuts and pour into the pans. Cook 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes (or more) and then cool on a rack until completely cool.

 

The original recipe called for 1 ¼ cup of oil. I changed that to the applesauce supplement. The next time I make this recipe I will try it with all applesauce and no oil. Applesauce does make for dense, moist bread. Try it and see what works best for you. Some people like to add more strawberries and some people like to crush a portion of the berries before adding them to the mix. That just sounds like extra work to me!

This really is a yummy dessert or breakfast bread. Serve warm or cold, with whip cream, cream cheese or vanilla ice cream. It freezes well too.

Frozen Taters Anyone?

Recipe time! This week I baked several different yummy things and I want to share with you the recipes, so today let’s talk taters. I had a whole bag of Russet Potatoes that were soon going to be staring at me if I didn’t do something fast.  I went to Heavenly Homemakers because I wanted to try her method for storing hash browns in the freezer. I tried to make hash browns once upon a time…it did not go as planned. The “hash browns” turned into one solid mush pile that was quite unappetizing.

At Heavenly Homemakers, she recommends baking the taters first. Say what? Oh yeah, bake ‘em baby. Starch was the culprit that caused my big , mushy, gunk pile of “hash browns” (quotes because they were NOT hash browns in the end!) I cleaned those dirty taters up, poked holes in them, put in a pan that I lightly oiled and stuck them in the oven on 350 for 1 hour.

Hot taters

Then you wait. You wait for them to cook and you wait for them to cool. When you are ready to shred, dice, or slice them, wait longer.  You want them to be very cool. I would say from my dicing and slicing the 3 main things to remember:

1) Don’t overcook the taters. I think 45 to 50 minutes would have been enough. You do not want them to fall apart while you are shredding them.

2) Let them cool completely. You could burn yourself and again, they will fall apart.

3) Use a very sharp knife or shredder depending on what you want your end result to be.

I decided not to go with the shredded hash browns. I didn’t want to pull out the food processor so I got my trusty knife and cutting board out and went to work.I diced half of the taters and froze them. I did not peel the potatoes because I like tater skins. Lots.

Then I sliced the other taters into fries. I oiled those puppies up a little, put sea salt on them, and baked them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes to 1 hour on 400. Turn them over several times while they are in the oven, careful not to break them.

Before their second baking

Hubby raved! He loved them and said that they are the best ever. They were a huge hit and they were almost all gone at the end of supper. Have a blessed day peeps!

yummy taters!

Sleepwalkers'R'Us

I have to tell you about last night. Hubby and I finally lay down to sleep at 11:30pm. We were tired (as usual) but we still chit-chat and make each other laugh with our silliness. I won’t go into detail about our conversation but it did include Luke and Yoda. Yes, from Star Wars.  Anywho, as we slowly calmed down and drifted to la-la land, we heard the baby gate crash to the ground. The baby gate is at the end of the hall blocking our 12 year old pug from coming down the hall and waking the entire house. Pugs snore loudly. I used to be able to look past it, but after the children, I value sleep more than gold.

Brian jumped out of bed, knocked his lamp over, failed to turn it on twice, and took off down the hall. I got in the hall in time to see him disentangle Dylan from the gate. Hubby, “Are you okay?” Dylan, complete silence and that creepy sleepwalker stare. Of course he needed to use the bathroom, but he was asleep!

This is not an uncommon occurrence in our house.  Hubby once called me at work when we had a new puppy, the poor dog needed to go outside and Hubby is calling me at work saying, “I think the dog needs to print, I don’t know what to do.” I told him to go back asleep. I woke up once to find Hubby patting the wall down on my side of the bed, I said, “What are you doing?” He answered with a whimper; he was asleep and had made a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom. There have been many instances of sleepwalking over the years. Dylan completely freaked us out the first time he sleepwalked he just came in the living room and mumbled intelligibly then he tried to pee in the foyer. My little brother would sleep walk as a kid. He would come in the room, turn the light on, and stare at you. Creepy.

Naomi has recently joined the ranks of the sleepwalkers. She is scary. She will laugh uncontrollably and never wake up. She does not remember anything the next day. Now if we hear a noise we head down the hall wondering who is roaming the halls. Have a blessed day peeps!

Tanga Grill Giveaway

Check out this contest with Tanga. Sign up to win a free grill and I could win one too! Me likey free stuff! 

Lots Goin' On!

I hope the grapes have pollinated each other. I’m doubting it seriously though. I think that the new plant is just not mature enough. I have to weed today. The carrots are screaming out for help,”Here I am to save the day!”.  



Carrots in need!



My tomatoes are still a little green around the gills but they are growing and I am taking heart that they will be able to survive.

All of my potatoes are thriving, although, birds like to potty on my trash can potatoes, I don’t know why but I sure wish they would stop!

I know it's a bad picture but help please! The ugly dirty stick thing in the middle is the green bean plant.
Something ate it!

Some of my green beans are growing, others never had a chance. Do you know what killed them? Leave me a comment if you do, I want to prevent this with my second round of beans.

The onions are growing pretty well even though Hershey likes to run them down when she chases squirrels. On a side note, Hubby forgot where the girls and I planted the sunflowers and he MOWED them down. It is rare that he mows (I like to mow) and the one time he does he viciously murders my baby plants J

Oh, I just had to add some pictures of my lovely flowers, they make me happy!

For more gardening fun go to Getting Freedom, Smockity Frocks, and The Finer Things
Now to my list from yesterday, I have marked the accomplished items off:

1)      Dishes

2)     Laundry

3)     Vacuum

4)     Make homemade hash browns to freeze

5)     Bake lunch bread

6)     Bake Strawberry Bread

7)     Bake Strawberry Muffins

8)     Freeze Strawberries

9)     Weed-Eat

10)  Weed the garden

11)   Unclog the bathtub

12)  Return stuff to Target

13)  Trim Dylan’s hair

14)  Dye my hair!

I think I did great! Today I may bake some muffins and freeze the rest of the strawberries. It’s going to be hotter than snot today, so if I work outside it will be early this morning. Here are some pictures of my breads:

I froze one dish of diced potatoes. The chore of getting out the food processor to shred the taters for hash browns seemed like a huge mess waiting to happen, so instead I diced the potatoes and froze them that way.Homemade French Fries were my choice for the rest of my taters and man they were a huge hit! All gone except for one little helping. I'll have pictures of these tater-happenings as I post the recipes.

The girls and I had a kettle corn disaster but other than that the day was  perfect. I’ll post recipe some recipes tomorrow. Have a blessed day peeps!

Today's Agenda

I have a lot of things that I hope to accomplish today. Hope. Here is a list off the top of my head:

1)      Dishes

2)     Laundry

3)     Vaccum

4)     Make homemade hash browns to freeze

5)     Bake lunch bread

6)     Bake Strawberry Bread

7)     Bake Strawberry Muffins

8)     Freeze Strawberries

9)     Weed-Eat

10)  Weed the garden

11)   Unclog the bathtub

12)  Return stuff to Target

13)  Trim Dylan’s hair

14)  Dye my hair!

I think I’ll be doing good to accomplish 5 or 6 of these things. I’ll update you later on how I did and how my baking goes. I’ll post some recipes if they are any good. I better get moving!

Foamy Soap Epiphany

I have had an epiphany. Pay attention because this does not happen often. My kids all received some foam bath soap in an Easter bag from their Granna. They were so excited, me…not so much. I knew that they were going to go batty with that stuff and try to use it all at once. When bath time came, I washed the baby and let him play with his foamy soap. I could control his portions, all was well. Then the 9 year old had his bath and I have no involvement in that (unless he stinks or wastes my water) and bath #2 was done.

Then the dreaded girls bath. My Naomi is a wild 5 year old. She can do a lot of things by herself now, like brush her teeth and squeeze the foam out of a can. She has very little of the moderation gene at this point in her life. I tried to explain that if they used all the foam it would be gone (duh) and they would have none for the next bath. The playing commenced.

As I sat there watching the girls, having heart palpitations over my perceived wastefulness of the foamy soap, the epiphany hit, why do I care if they waste it all? Is it really even waste? Do I really need to conserve foamy soap? Will God be angry at me for not saving foamy soap? Where did my crazy come from?

You have got to understand that I save a lot of things. I can’t help it, it’s in my blood. Thank you Granny and Mom. I also think that saving things is great and beneficial, not only to be a good steward of this earth that the Lord entrusted to me, but to my wallet! I save aluminum foil, newspapers, egg cartons, plastic grocery bags, freezer bags, old socks, etc., etc. This drives Hubby bonkers. He often says in a whispery, creepy, slow drawl, “throw it away”. But I can’t. That’s waste and I may need it later on, you never know when a holey sock may come in handy, rags anyone? So I keep it. I have gotten better about keeping things that could be given away to Goodwill but really, who wants my used aluminum foil? My grandmother and mother were poor. And I don’t mean kinda poor, I mean stinking poor. I am who I am, and live where I live  with the life that I have because of their determination and frugality. I try hard not to lose sight of that fact.

BUT… does this include foamy soap? I decided no. First, I was driving myself nuts. I was totally missing out on the fun! It was their gift, so why not let them enjoy in the way they chose. If that meant one gigantic foamtastic bath, then so be it. I believe  it is my job as their Momma to teach them good stewardship, reduce, reuse, recycle and all that good stuff, but I will no longer freak over the little things. Well, at least I will try to be a better Momma and not freak over the little things ;) And I have concluded that the good Lord is probably more disappointed in me for not enjoying my children's joy, than he is worried about our foamy soap consumption.

So the other night I said, “Have fun!”, then I walked out of the bathroom and let them play. When I came back this is what I found:

And you know what? They didn’t use all the foamy soap. There is still plenty of it for another day. Apparently Naomi thought squeezing it into her ears would be great fun!  Have a blessed day peeps!