Pantry Challenge Day 16 and 17... I'm SORE!

 The white chicken chili on Monday was pretty good!!  Princess's boy was over, and he ate 2 bowls, besides the homemade bread we had with it.  I couldn't find a recipe that I had all of the ingredients to, so I improvised with what I had!

I had to work Monday night.  After work, I also had to meet with Princess's dad because she forgot her laptop there over the weekend.  Instead of driving over an hour to get it, he met me on my way home from work, about halfway between our towns.  I also got a new friend Monday night!  His name is Shadow.  He's a Holland.

I had been planning on leftovers for supper on Monday, but we didn't have enough so I threw together some cheesy potato soup.  There was only one bowl left after everyone ate! WOW!

Yesterday was Tuesday, so the truck came.  I went to see what there was to offer.  It was unusual that they had a TON of spices!!  I saw some ground cumin, which I'm currently out of, but somehow didn't manage to get one of those.  Some of the herbs and spices they had multiples of (big glass jars of ground coriander!!) but some they only had a 6 pack (like the cumin.)  I also got a case of plums, 60# of carrots, some red peppers, and part of a produce box (they only had 4 produce boxes this time.  I got a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, some pears, and a bag of apples in it... I shared the other stuff that had been in it) 

Yesterday I worked also. We had leftovers for lunch.  Princess requested some potato chips to go with the 2 containers of French onion dip in the fridge.  I also ran out of soy sauce a few days ago, so I stopped at the store and picked some up (farmer's market is in the store parking lot.)  I had some leftover rice in the fridge, so I made a fried rice for supper.  Generally when I make that, I put in mixed veggies, but I didn't know we were out of them.  I did have some plain veggies in the freezer though.  I added sliced carrots, corn, and green beans and made a pretty hearty meal.  I didn't have any meat to put in it but I did add 4 scrambled eggs.  It seemed to go over pretty well.

This morning I was pretty sore when I got up to do my workout.  It's been a while since I've been doing it, so I'm using muscles I haven't used in a while!  I chose just to do 15 minutes with MyFitnessCoach and it was recommended to be a "core" day, so I obliged.  I REALLY need to find my yoga mat - doing crunches and ball rolling on the hard wood floor is not comfortable!  My lower back has been aching all day.  I think it's a combination of the exercise and the canning.  I usually end up with some back pain during canning season with all the time on my feet.  The back problems go back to a car accident I was in my senior year.  But we'll talk about that another day.

Today was my day off, but I think I worked harder today than most normal days.  It was a canning day!!  I had 3 of my Cornish in my big roaster that had cooked overnight and made a BEAUTIFUL broth, and one cooking in my crockpot.  I peeled about half of one of the 30# bags of carrots and probably 10-15 pounds of potatoes, diced up 3 HUGE onions (I probably only needed 1-1 1/2) and blanched some sweet corn I had in the fridge from the last box.  (I also got a couple in this box).  I have to say.. I LOVE my Pampered Chef veggie peeler!  It makes peeling carrots SO EASY!!!

I put up 3 quarts of just carrots, 4 quarts of corn chowder base (onion, garlic, corn, potatoes, carrots, chicken stock), 7 quarts plus 9 pints potato soup base (onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and chicken stock), 9 pints of chicken, sliced up enough apples to fill 4 ice cream pails (2 were gallon sized, 2 were "family sized"), cooked down about 20 pounds of apples to make applesauce and eventually apple butter, and had a "family sized" ice cream pail of chicken stock left that went into the fridge.  It's getting too late to finish that up.

Chicken waiting to be canned

Even with all that I did there, I STILL have 45# of carrots and a case of plums left to process.  The sliced apples are for future use in apple pies and apple pie cookies (which I need to make tomorrow, along with bread for market and a birthday cake for Hubs!)

I admit, I don't always cook from scratch.  Today Princess wanted mac and cheese, and the boys wanted hot dogs.  I LOVE mac and cheese - but ONLY the blue box can do it!!

Supper we decided to try a chicken taco soup.  I still have a couple BIG bags of preseasoned chicken taco filling.  Princess thawed one out, and I improvised to make a really good, filling soup.

Recipe: 1/3 bag preseasoned chicken taco filling
2T taco seasoning
1 pint homemade Rotel
1 pint tomato juice

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

1 1/2 c frozen corn

1T paprika

2 c cooked beans

I also threw a little more chicken in there as I was deboning it.  Topped it with crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese.  (One of these days I'll remember to take the guac out of the freezer too!!)

Tomorrow's plan for supper is meatloaf patties with potatoes and glazed carrots, and Friday is enchiladas.  I do have to pick up some tortillas for the enchiladas...

So now, where am I for the pantry challenge budget?

Monday: Spent $2 at the Dollar Tree to get some GOOD coffee creamer.  (I made some homemade and it just isn't the same.  I'm going to keep trying, but it's nice to have the good stuff around too)

Tuesday: Spent $7 at the local store, and hubby spent $5 at the other store on his way home.  I got 2 bags of chips and a bottle of soy sauce, he picked up a loaf of bread and 2 jars of pb. (Since the pb is on sale right now 2/$3, it told him to pick up some more - maybe a dozen jars - this week.  This will not come from our grocery budget, but our stock up budget since it will be going into storage.)

Total spent this week so far: $14.  Looking good to me!

The Weekend Pantry Challenge Days 13-15

 As always, the weekend was busy and full of projects.  Saturday we went to town to pick up some lumber for the new rabbit pen that Hubs is building.  I also wanted to stop at the hardware store because they had canning lids last time I was there.  (If you didn't know, there's a canning lid shortage going on right now and no one knows how long it's going to last.  And since I sell canned goods at farmer's market, and can a ton for my family, I need to be sure I have enough!!)  There were still a lot.  I got 15 packages and a new funnel since my backup funnel cracked. As I was standing by the checkout, some old lady came up to me and asked if I was buying ALL the canning lids.  No, I told her, there are still plenty on the shelf.  Well, she said, where can I find them? I don't see them anywhere.  I told her to go look in the canning aisle, where the rest of the supplies are!!  The tone of her voice really irked me.  I was making small talk with the clerk and told him I can for a living and my family.  He said he's noticed a lot of newbies canning this year and noticed the shortage, and was happy he could help me.

We spent some time looking for a new percolator since my decided to die.  For spending less than $10 on it, it had lasted about 3 years.  I don't drink coffee every day, but I've noticed on days that I do, I get a LOT more done.  Maybe I should drink coffee every day.....  After checking Home Depot and the hardware store, I hadn't found one yet.  I even checked at Walgreens when I picked up pullups (and forgot to pick up prescriptions 🙈). One last hope, we went to Bomgaards.  I was in luck!!  They had 2 left in the camping section!!

On my hunt several people asked me, why a percolator?  I have a few different reasons: 1) I think the coffee tastes a lot better.  Maybe because there's no paper filter to run it through?? 2) I don't have to depend on electricity any time I want coffee.  I have a gas stove I can light with a lighter, or I could set it on the wood stove in the living room or over a campfire if I needed to. 3) Every time I buy a coffee maker, it breaks in no time at all. 4) My Opa always made his coffee in a percolator, so it's sentimental.

Since we were in town so long we stopped at Perkins for lunch.  It's my go-to eat out place if we have time.  I prefer to not eat fast food if at all possible.  Plus the kids will eat pretty good there!  Scraps got half a sandwich, soup, and a piece of pie, and Monkey had "cakecakes" (pancakes) and French fries.  Hubs and I got sandwiches and fries.  I ended up eating half my sandwich, the meat off the rest, and a few fries. 

Once we got home, hubs worked on the barn and I split some more wood.  Man that's a workout!! The boys helped haul wood from the back side of the barn to the front, then loaded our gorilla cart with everything I split and put it in the mini storage shed closer to the house.  It's a lot easier to walk a few feet to get the wood in the snow than across the yard!!

Since we were so busy, I didn't plan supper, so we ordered steaks and burgers from the legion.  Once a month our local legion has a steak fry, and we like to be able to support them.

Sunday was "house" day for me.  I worked on cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, washing bedding, and baking.  No one ate breakfast until after 1030, so I didn't even bother with lunch.  I did put a chicken in the crock pot to cook down, which I'll use today for lunch.  Scraps took out some goat ribs to put on the smoker for supper (I'm still learning how to use it) and they came out pretty good considering I didn't do the best job butchering the goat.  I served that up with a Knorr cheddar broccoli rice, homemade bread, and some sweet corn I had frozen a month ago.

I baked a TON for farmer's market... 3 mini apple pies, a batch of garlic chive rustic bread, 2 batches of regular rustic white bread, 2 pans of apple pie cookies... and I took a recipe for dinner rolls a friend gave me and tried it out as mini loaves.  YUMMY!!  I'll have to make some for tomorrow's farmer's market since I won't even be able to take it today (my family already ate a whole loaf at supper!!)

Hubs DEFINITELY enjoyed the cookies. I gave him ONE to sample... the next thing I knew half the pan was gone!!!  I made a second batch with one extra for him - and still tried taking more off the pan.  I compromised and gave him a mini pie to take for lunch even though I had already packed some cookies.  I told him the cookies take a lot more work since I have to cook the filling plus make the lattice, where with the pies I can just add the uncooked apple filling and put a plain crust on the top.

Today I actually got up kind of early and started up on my Miracle Mornings and SAVERS again (If you haven't read The Miracle Morning, I HIGHLY recommend it!!  It works if you just DO IT!!)  I used to do it all in order because I just HAD to, but now I think I'll change it up again.  I started with my E and got the exercise done right off the bat.  IT FELT GOOD!! I did 36 minutes on the Wii Fit (don't want to overdo it right out of the gate!!)  Played a couple balance games, obstacle course, boxing, rhythm step.  My age based on the testing is 36 - works for me!

I followed up with my SAV - set my timer on my phone for 10 minutes and tried to clear my mine.  THAT was hard... had a million things running through my mind and just couldn't shut it down.  For A and V I decided to take the digital route. I found apps for both - a Daily Affirmation app and a Vision Board app.  I set them up and played with them a little.  I'm putting off my R a little.  I have an audiobook I'm listening to when I go to and from work.  But I might read a blog I recently found that I like so far... I'll report back on it.  And updating my blog here will work for my final S.

Lars wasn't impressed with being up!

For today's lunch, I'm planning on a white chicken chili with the chicken I put in the crock pot yesterday... Supper will be leftovers.  Working on the plan for the rest of the week (I foresee a lot of soup since it's supposed to be chilly!!)  And the Princess has a cold :(

Where am I going...

Many days are crazy busy around here, and this week has been no exception.

It is canning season, and school has started.  Between homeschool, preschool, one in high school, outside activities, farmer's market, therapies, and anything else you can think of, almost every day is running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  But I'm managing to make it through.  I had a nice talk with a good friend a couple days ago, and really thought out a few things, so I'm working on sorting a few things out in my personal life.  Removing some toxic situations and damaging relationships, clearing my head, and removing "things" that I just don't need in my life.  I'm doing a little more for me now too.

As my adult life has progressed and I have thought about what I would really like to do with it and what I would like to pursue, the idea of homemaking has become more and more appealing.  I have always wanted to live on a farm, out in the country.  I don't want a giant herd of cattle or acres upon acres of crops.  I want a few acres maybe.  Fruit trees, berry bushes, a large garden - or a few gardens ;) - and a few animals.  Goats, chickens for eggs, a pig and a calf to raise to be butchered later.  I love canning.  I love cooking.  I never knew there was a name for it.  But now I know what it is.

Homesteading.

Many of my goals that I have been working on, and many of the things I love doing fall in line with homesteading.  Besides the cooking and canning,  there's gardening, attempting to be self-sufficient, home remedies, hands-on. I've been attempting to embrace minimalism as I've been purging and downsizing.  I'm not afraid to make things myself.  I already trade and barter at Farmer's Market quite often with the other vendors just because that's how things are done there.  Fortunately between me and my husband, we are able to do most things.

For now I'm going to attempt to expand what I'm already doing to include more and see how much homesteading I can actually do here in town.  I really wish I could have chickens here, but unfortunately that's not a possibility with our location.  We'll just have to see what the future brings.

Mi Vida Loca!!!

My crazy life - it's the name of the game.  I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't crazy - and crazy busy!!

I am homeschooling Scrappy this year, and probably the next few years, because of his Cystic Fibrosis.  We are on Week 3, although we don't have a super strict schedule right now since it is canning season.  And canning we have been!! 

Scrappy doing his vest treatments

Salsa!!

Peeling apples in between swimming

Just this last week, we did 27 pints and 14 quarts of applesauce, 21 quarts of whole tomatoes, 4 quarts of tomato juice, and 55 pints of salsa.  I still want to do another batch of applesauce, which I was hoping to do this weekend, but now I'm not so sure about.  I have all next week too..

School starts on Tuesday for Beau.  We decided it was better for Scrappy to start a little earlier than everyone else because he's going to get a couple weeks of for spring break, which Beau only gets a few days.  But once our new little bundle of joy arrives, I'm going to need a little break from home school.

Yup, that's right! We're expecting!!  We originally figured my due date to be March 27, but Dr White said I'm measuring a little bit small, putting my due date closer to April 10.  I have an ultrasound coming up on Sept 24 and she thinks we'll have a better idea then on my due date.  Unfortunately we've already found that my blood sugars are running high again, which means a bunch of finger pricking and changing eating habits.  I guess it's not so bad, since I lost weight once I got on track last time, but it's a huge change away from the pasta-based meals that are so easy to go to and depend on.  So my next series of recipe posts will be diabetic friendly ones.

My business has also launched.  Mama's Gift Corner is all about homemade, hand made gifts.  Since I've been canning, I haven't been doing as much work as I had before, but it's only for a few weeks.  I want to get my inventory built up before the fall craft shows start so I can hopefully get into a few and start selling!!

Well, I need to get some breakfast.  Have a great day!

A World of Pain!!

I spent some time over the long weekend doing some of what I wanted to do and some of what I had to do.  Some cooking, some cleaning.  I got my sewing machine out and started on a quilt project.  I'm determined this year to make many of the Christmas presents for my family, especially since we have such a large family.  It can get quite expensive buying gift for everyone!!  In case any of them happen to read this, I can't say what I'm making 

When I woke up Sunday morning, my back was pretty sore.  I attributed it to spending a couple hours sewing on Saturday.  As the day wore on, my back pain got worse and worse.  By the time Girl Scouts was done, I was having trouble standing up straight.  By Sunday night, it was literally difficult to breathe at times because of the pain. I took one of my flexeril (was prescribed it for muscle spasms in my back) and an 800 mg ibuprofen (also given the last time I was having severe back pain).  I used the last of the muscle rub too...  It was excruciating to even attempt to roll over in bed!!

Monday it was even worse :(  I went to take a shower, thinking the pain might diminish.  WRONG!!  I had debated staying home, but I had plans to do one last batch of canning with my Opa, and the meat wasn't going to keep much longer without processing.  At least I could do most of the work sitting!!  (We ended up doing 2 batches - 18 pints in the first, 16 in the second - that's a lot of food!!)

Today I kept Beau home from school because her head was hurting.  Scrappy stayed home with a mild fever.  And I was chair-bound from the pain of my back - still!  After my hubby got home, I finally figured out that since we don't have a heating pad, I can just make one.  I have a sewing machine and plenty of rice.  BEST. FEELING. EVER.  I honestly don't know  why I didn't do it sooner!!!  It is soooo soothing.  I really hope this alleviates the pain, since I can't really afford a trip to the doctor (and wouldn't want to with all the flu going around) and going to the chiropractor will require multiple trips.  It would also hurt like crazy!! 

I'm going to relax with my heating pad for a while now and see if this does the trick.  I feel bogged down since I haven't been able to exercise or go walking like this... we'll see....

Starting the Long Weekend

I've always known I'm not a morning person (really, I think mornings should start about 10 am!!) but it seems this week has been a bit worse than regular weeks.  I had thought the changes that I made would be helping the situation.  I'm still going to bed around my normal time - between 10 and 11 most nights - but in the morning I just can't seem to find enough energy to get much of anything done.  Most days I've been doing a workout of some kind, whether it is going to the gym, doing my Wii Fit (Free Step is my FAVORITE if you can't tell!), or I've also been going walking with my Opa. 

But I'm still having a really hard time sleeping.  I wake up several times at night, then in the morning I don't have any energy until around 10 or 11 and usually end up dozing off in my recliner :(  I'm tempted to talk to my doc about if I can take anything to help me sleep - just for a little while.  I'd prefer home remedies, but none of those have been working so far either.

My daughter has a 4 day weekend from school.  We've been getting a lot done today -the first day off.  The kids insisted on making me 'breakfast in bed' except I don't eat breakfast - I usually have a breakfast shake, so that's what they made for me :)  Then, being the nice mommy I am, I put them to work.

I have started an allowance system for the kids, but they have to earn the money, and they can only earn $0.50 each per day.  For Beau, she can do things like help with laundry, take out the garbage, do all her homework with out us nagging her to do it, put dishes away, and take care of the recycling.  For Scrappy, he can earn his by practicing writing his letters, doing quiet reading with me or daddy through 2 books, clean up his toys, and put the silverware away.  I give them what they've earned for the day and they each have a jar to put it in. 

Once a week, the kids have Payday and can take their money out of the jar and divide it up.  Each one has a Save, Donate, and Spend envelope.  Scrappy doesn't earn as much as Beau, so his percentages are 30, 10, and 60.  Beau is a little older and is also working on earning money through helping other people also.  I gave her a little more leeway and let her determine her amounts.  She chose 50, 10, and 40.  When they have enough in their Save envelopes, we will go to the bank to buy savings bonds.  They can choose where they would like to donate their money to.  Beau wants to donate her to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation when we do our annual Great Strides walk.  Scrappy, on the other hand, wants to use his to buy items for our local Humane Society.  (His current ambition is to be a vet.)  The kids can choose what to spend their money on, but they must discuss with us first.  Scrappy had gotten a LeapsterGS from Nana and Papa for Christmas, so he is saving for some new games for it, particularly SpongeBob.  Beau really doesn't have a goal set for hers.  She has mentioned maybe a new game for our Wii system or gift cards for her Nook that Nana and Papa got for her.

Today the kids got a little extra since I kept them busy.  We cleaned the kitchen and started on the catch-all mess in the dining room.  I let them watch a movie for a little while during lunch before we went to the store.  The lady looked at me funny since all I bought was chicken.  I couldn't turn down $0.89/lb for quarters and $1.68/lb for boneless, skinless breasts.  The breasts are for Opa and the quarters are for us.  I cooked the quarters in my roaster for a couple hours this afternoon, then the kids helped to separate the meat from the skins and bones.  That is going to be cooking overnight and part of tomorrow to concentrate it, then will go into the fridge until Monday when we do our next batch of canning.  I decided I just want to do pints since I can do either 7 quarts or 18 pints in a batch.  Easy math.  Besides, a quart of meat is too much to use at one time.

An update on my efforts:

- On my attempt at frugality:  I've been sticking with it!  I really think the meal planning is paying off.  We have NOT been eating out and all of our dinners are done at a decent time

- On my weight loss:  I am down another 1 1/2 pounds this week - yay!!  Keeping busy, walking, and no fast food has really paid off!

The kids wanted pizza tonight, so I made it work in the plan.  We had some pizza crust mixes in the cupboard, so we made pepperoni and mushroom.  I suppose it would be easiest to make a couple big pizzas, but the kids like having their own pizzas.  As a result, we end up making 4 pizzas each time.  But that's ok because everyone gets exactly what they'll eat.  Next time I'm going to try to make bread machine pizza crust.

Making Progress - and trying my hand at frugality (one piece at a time!)

It's been a busy - but productive - week here!!  The kids have been keeping me running (as usual) and I've been keeping myself running!  I've also been doing great with sticking to my resolutions!!!

At my weigh-in on Thursday at TOPS, I was down a full 3 1/2 pounds!!!!  That is about half of what I had gained in the previous 2 months!!!  Honestly, there have been no gimmicks or fad diets or anything like that.  I have a couple of friends who are also on the weight loss journey, but are doing it by taking a lot of medications.  They are losing weight, but I worry about how they will do when they stop taking the medications.

What has been working for me?  Two things, really:

1) I have been writing everything I have to eat and drink (other than water) down.  I'm not tracking quantities or calories or anything like that.  But I think just being aware of what I'm eating helps.

2) Exercise.  I've been doing something almost ever day.  I went walking with my Opa a few times.  Otherwise I have been doing my Wii Fit Step again, for at least a half an hour.  Usually while watching some show of choice, like Grey's Anatomy or something else.

I have been trying to find ways to save money for our family still.  I will be posting various things that I have been doing and how it has helped with our family.  My current projects include:

1) Finding a recipe and making homemade bread that my family likes (after some experimentation, I found my husband likes the recipe for white bread in the Betty Crocker cookbook.  I use my bread machine to make the dough, but bake it in the oven.  He didn't understand why I do that until I explained how the machine leaves a hole in the bottom.  Awesome news on the bread machine - scored it BRAND NEW a the Salvation Army for only $10!!)

2) I have been making homemade laundry soap for over a year now.  (I actually made 2 batches so I always would have some ready.  The recipe I use takes 24 hours until it's ready.  When one bucket is empty, I use the other bucket until it's about half empty, then make another batch in the empty bucket.  I like the leeway it gives me.)  I figure for each 65-load batch I make, I'm saving about $11.20 over buying scent-free, dye-free Tide and getting just as good results, if not better.  If I have a particularly soiled load of laundry, I just set my washer to "heavy duty" and that takes care of it! 

3) Finding more low cost/free entertainment for the kids.  Home Depot offers a free kids' workshop on the first Saturday of each month.  Last Saturday, Beau had to go to make a bird house for Girl Scouts, so I figured why not take Scrappy?  It was free, would teach them skills about using tools and following directions, and would keep them happily occupied for a while. I don't know why we didn't do this earlier!!  But we didn't paint them until today, and they did that at home.... (I had a bit of a headache when we were at HD, and it only got worse with all the pounding!)

She was getting a little frustrated cuz a few nails were bending.

He was so proud - all Mommy did was hold the boards and he pounded
the nails himself(and my fingers a few times!)

They like a LOT of color!

We also got a free night of BINGO last night.  Beau's school had a family night event of Burger BINGO.  

My boys at BINGO

Each person in a family gets a card to play, and each family gets one raffle ticket to start.  For your first BINGO, a family wins a complete meal (hamburgers, buns, ketchup, jello mix, apple slices, 5# bag of potatoes, can of pork and beans, and a half dozen mini Hershey's bars).  After that, a family wins additional raffle tickets.  At the end of the night, they draw for various MOA tickets and for Tiger (school) shirts.  We only won the meal, but that's just fine since they only gave out 100 of them!! (I was the mean mom who told my kids we weren't paying $1 for each slice of pizza and ice cream because we had leftovers at home.  But honestly, our family eats out waaay too much).

4) Starting a price book.  Heather highly recommends it on her site, and has proven over and over again how useful they can be. (Per her recommendation, I checked out and am enjoying a money-savings book also.  I had to get it through inter-library loan, so I have been trying to track down my own.  I found a copy online today in good shape, and should hopefully have it in about a week or so!! I will post more on the book later!)

5) I've successfully learned how to can meat and stock!!!  Found out what I was missing too - it can ONLY be done safely with a pressure cooker.  I managed it - with the help of my Opa!

Meat and stock before sealing.

I'm also keeping a list of all the books I'm reading too.  If someone were to take a look at my Kindle, they would probably laugh.  I admit, I'm a self-help-book junkie!  I'm always reading on ways to help with time management or organization or weight loss or almost anything else you could think of.  I will periodically post my take on the books I'm reading, especially if they are something I find useful!!

The End of Summer

Today marks the first day of school here.  I don't know where the summer went, but it seems it went by too fast.  It's also canning season.  We seem to have more tomatoes this year than we did last year, and unfortunately I am low on jars and on freezer space, so freezing isn't an option.  I've put off doing any more applesauce for a while because we have been doing salsa and one batch of spaghetti sauce (so far).  Use up what we raise before we do what we buy, right?

I finally went to the doctor last week - saw a new one since I'm not too happy with my normal one.  He hasn't been listening to me, which is what a doctor is supposed to do.  I explain why I'm there, and he only addresses one concern and sends me on my way.  This one listened and addressed my concerns.  One was about my blood pressure since the last 2 times I was in the ER it was higher than normal.  He recommended I meet with a dietitian, which I already have an appointment scheduled for.  He also recommended I ease up on both caffeine and salt.

I can't believe I just sent Beau off to 4th grade!  She is growing up way too fast.  She decided she was ready for a new style, so last week she had her hair cut SHORT.  I think it looks really cute on her - she looks like a pixie :)

Next week my Scrappyman will be starting preschool.  We have orientation on Monday, then he starts next Thursday.  I can't believe he's already 4!!  Where has the time gone?!?!? (He thinks he's old enough to shave, too, since his uncle bought him a play shaving kit.)

Friday Scrappy had a doctor's appointment.  After his appointment, we went for lunch, then Daddy went to get some ink done and I took the kids to Silver Lake Park to chase the geese for a while.  The geese are pretty aggressive and kinda scary!! 

His 4th rose for Cystic Fibrosis - one for each birthday Scrappy has

Saturday we took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo as our last "hoorah" before school started.  The dolphins are going to be leaving next week, so we got to see them one last time.  They have a new penguin exhibit, which we liked.  Scrappy loved it too because one of the penguins was chasing his shoe laces along the side of the glass.  It was super cute!!  There is a new black bear exhibit that is in the works and not open yet, but we could see the black bear behind one of the other cages.

I'm starting to wonder if Scrappy doesn't get motion sickness.  Most of the time he does pretty good in the car, but when we went to St Cloud, several times when we've gone to Rochester, and on Saturday when we went to the zoo, he got sick in the van.  This time he did have a fever when we got home, which lasted through Monday, but not the other times.  I'm going to ask about that next time I talk to his nurse...  As a result of his fever, we spent the rest of the long weekend just hanging out...

First touches of fall

We started canning this week already.  I went to the cabin after TOPS to help Opa with a batch of salsa.  Well, I helped the best I could.

I woke up with a little bit of back pain.  Back pain isn't all that odd for me since my car accident in 1999, and it's not uncommon for me to knock it out of whack.  Well, that seems to be what I did because by the time we were done with lunch, I would almost black out from the pain.  I didn't dare go in to the doctor until after hubby got off work because I wouldn't be able to wrangle both kids while talking to the doc.  I hung out at the cabin, sitting on the stool to stir the salsa and chopping veggies at the table.  We got 34 jars done!  On Monday, Opa is going to help me with my first batch of applesauce for the year.

When hubby got off work, I followed him home so we could drop off the truck before we went to the hospital.  By that time our only option was the ER since Urgent Care was already closed.  We were only there about half an hour, which is almost unheard of!  The doc diagnosed me as having "chronic back pain" since it's an ongoing issue.  He sent some meds out for me to get at the pharmacy, which seem to be helping.  Prednisone and 800 mg ibuprofen for the swelling and the pain, flexeril for the muscle spasms that about knock me out.  And of course the horrible recommendation of bed rest.  I have WAAAYYYY too much to do to be on bed rest!!

Beau had gone to spend the night at my uncle's house last night, so I had to run up and get her this morning.  Tonight she had to pack for the next few days because she's leaving tomorrow for Girl Scout camp.  She'll be gone for 4 days and 3 nights and it going to be 2 hours away.  None of the other girls from our troop are going to this one as far as we know.  It will be a good opportunity for her to meet new friends.  I just hope she doesn't get scared....

The Learning Curve

Ok, so I admit - I'm not very technically proficient.  I can use things - once I'm shown how... otherwise it sometimes takes a while to figure them out on my own.  And I don't like reading the instructions since they're usually written in Greek.  (Ok, so I'm making myself to sound lazy now too)

Like my Blackberry.  I still don't know how all the apps and stuff work..

Like my Wii Fit.  I've had it for quite some time, and just made a discovery in the last couple days.  Notice the + dividers on it?

Well, that explains why I just COULD NOT get the hang of doing Advanced Step.  I could do the regular step and the blue side steps.  I had trouble getting the timing down of the green kicks.  And for some reason I would have "missed" steps on the purple steps, in spite of putting both feet up and keeping time.  I was getting VERY frustrated!!  When doing the step, one is on the top half of the board, and the other is on the bottom half.  Stupid me, I was stepping in the MIDDLE of the board and not paying attention to the lines.  DUH!!  I don't think it helps much having a 3 year old Scrappy-man crawling around on the floor all around me as I'm trying to step up and down and side to side from it!! haha - that's a workout all in itself!!

Another thing I've recently learned is about HOW I do my workout.  I've been focusing mostly on doing aerobics - step and boxing - and maybe a few balance games and yoga woven in there.  It's still hard to get into some positions since my stomach is still infected (I REALLY wish it would clear up :/ ).  I've been doing about 30 minutes in the morning and trying to get another 30 in the afternoon.  My discovery?  I have to do more than 30 minutes, because I don't break a sweat until almost 30 minutes!!!  But today I changed things up a little bit.  I made myself do more of the yoga - about 10 minutes before I started anything else.  I did the Basic Step twice, then went to my boxing - but skipped the 3 minute level, which I usually use as a warm up.  I went straight to the advanced 6 minute, and was feeling more of my workout.  I even got brave after doing some Advanced Step and tried Expert boxing!!!  Whew! What a workout!!!  Talk about working those muscles!  And I had sweat running down my forehead - quite uncommon for me!  I must be doing something right now!  I need to start working more yoga and the strength training in..... I'm just really hoping my work shows on the scale tomorrow.....

And a little update on canning... yes I'm still doing a little here and there - did some bean and ham soup.

*Note to self - check Salvation Army for jars.
**Note to self - make more applesauce next year - and in the quart and pint (not half-pint) jars.
***Note to self - can tomatoes instead of freezing next year so have freezer space for meat.

****Note to readers - DO NOT can the chicken stock unless you have a pressure cooker and can use it to seal your jars!!!  My frozen chicken stock came out just fine, but the canned chicken and stock had gone rancid since I just used a hot water bath.  (I've also been told that the hot water bath works IF you boil the jars for 3-4 hours)

Revamping and Redoing

I've been a SAHM mom for one year and 5 months, and I still have no idea what I'm doing.  No one tells you how hard it really is to be home with your kids.  Or if they do tell you, very seldom do you believe them.  I mean really, how hard can it be???

Well, believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks!!  Between the running and doctor's appointments and cleaning and laundry, it seems like nothing is EVER done!!  Factor in a child with a medical condition, and that amplifies it.

I must admit that now that school has started for my oldest, some of the chaos and craziness has died down.  The end of summer means no more baseball until next summer.  But it brings with it a whole new array of appointments.  Now it's back to Girl Scouts, church and Sunday school, and homework.  The scheduling for all the running had to be peared down so that I can make it home in time to pick Beau up from school.  Every now and then, I do have to find someone else to pick her up or drop her off, but most often it's just me.

I tried making a schedule to follow for basics during the day.  Turns out I can't keep to a schedule.  Either can the little man.  He doesn't nap when I schedule him to.  He doesn't play quietly during his 'scheduled' time either.  I guess with a 3 year old, trying to maintain a set schedule is just not in the cards.  Yeah, I have my list of "to-do"s, but I think that's going to be the best I can do.

Today's list of to-dos??

Scrappy is working a little harder on potty training right now, so he's ACTUALLY wearing underpants - which is really big for him.  So obviously, I have to have some laundry going so I can wash up his accidents.  I'm almost out of laundry soap so I'm going to try making some homemade from a recipe I got from a friend.  I'm about 2 meals behind on dishes, so I have those to do.  Clothes to put away.  Vacuum.  Cooked down my chicken yesterday, so today I have to sort it all out and strain it and clean the meat and hopefully can it.  I'm really hoping the weather doesn't get as hot as predicted.  (Supposed to be 90 today, but I think I'd prefer the 70's.)  And, at some point, I need to get some reading done - I have a paper due Wednesday for school....

Domestication :)

I have to admit, I love being a housewife.  I love being domesticated.  I love spending an afternoon cooking up a storm to feed my family a good hearty meal.  It's even better when my husband decides he's going to do the dishes for me :)  (Yes it happens quite often too!!  He's the best!!)

I know it's early for nesting for this little one.  Actually what I'm doing is preparing.  The plan had been to make a bunch of freezer meals so they can go right from freezer to oven and we can still have yummy home cooked meals every night this winter without much work.  Well, considering my 7 cubic foot freezer is full (and I mean FULL) already, why not do some canning?!  (No, it wasn't originally my idea - it was Opa's).  I have 23 quarts of fresh tomatoes from my Opa's garden that we blanched and froze, plus 8 quarts of green and yellow beans.  Thursday we decided to do 'a few more' tomatoes since he wanted some canned to take on the road.  We ended up with a total of 18 quarts and 18 pints of tomatoes.  I know I could just say 27 quarts, but we did them in both sized jars so we each have 9. 

A lot easier than I thought!!  1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, then add your tomatoes and squish the air out.  Opa told me to be sure there's about 1/2 inch of headroom too.  We kept the juice separate (since the tomatoes had plenty of their own) and he cooked that down for a few hours, skimmed off the water after letting it sit and cool over night, strained out the seeds, and froze it.  Perfect for homemade soup :)

I thought today would be a good day for doing some more canning - the weather was beautiful, in the 70's, and the kids could play outside while I was working in the house.  Hubby was gone, putting some hours at the shop, so it was perfect.  Kids and I went to Farmer's Market (one of my FAVORITE places in the summer and especially the fall!!  Yeah, some stuff is a little more expensive, but you can't beat the freshness!!)  I made the mistake of letting the kids pick out my onions and ended up with one bad one.  But we got 2 good sized bags of apples for $2, 2 pumpkins about the size of volleyballs for $4, a pimento pepper for $0.50, and a couple onions for $1.

Picked the ripe tomatoes and a couple yellow peppers from my garden, so I put tomato sauce on my list.  Found out my cousin absolutely LOVED the pumpkin butter I gave out for Christmas last year, so I promised I'd make her some more.  Beau was begging for homemade applesauce for lunch, and I didn't want to open a jar I'd already sealed, so why not make some more :)  Also decided better use up the ham hocks and ham pieces that were in the freezer so bean and ham soup was added to the list.  And while I'm at it, why not make chicken stock and can some chicken too??

Well, that's NOT what happened :( 

Yes, the applesauce was made, courtesy of my Pampered Chef goodies (since I only had a few apples to do, I didn't get out my apple peeler/corer/slicer, but I DID use my serrated peeler and my apple corer.)  Super easy - I can't say I really have a recipe, since I cook like everyone's grandma - a pinch of this and a pinch of that.  My method?  Once the apples are peeled and cored, I cut them into quarters (since they're small apples), add a little sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little water, and cook covered about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After that, I remove the lid and cook until desired tenderness, mash with my potato masher, and cook until desired thickness.  A little taste test here and there and maybe a little more sugar or cinnamon.  I don't have a preference for a type of apples (besides free - that always works good for me!!), but I have been getting Wealthy windfalls from FM.  They are a little bruised, but that doesn't matter.  If it's too bad I might cut it out, but so far it's been pretty good!!

While the applesauce was cooking, I started what was going to be tomato sauce but ended up turning into spaghetti sauce.  (I thought it tasted really good when done, just a little sweeter than the canned stuff.)  I started out with blanching and shocking my tomatoes so I could remove the skins.  The tomatoes were pretty firm, so they didn't give off a lot of juice when I did this.  I cut out the stems and threw all the tomatoes into my 4 quart soup pot (it was about 1/3 full), cut a yellow pepper into big chunks and added about 3/4 of that, 1/4 of an onion in big chunks, some Italian seasoning, and about 2 tsp of garlic.  I had to crush the tomatoes down a little at first to get some juice for it to simmer in, then used my immersion blender to chop things up a little more.  I let this all cook a couple hours, sampled (needed a sprinkle of salt to combat the sweetness), then removed this lid to cook down a little more.  I REALLY hate it when the tomato sauce splatters all over the stove, so I went to the Devil Store (WalMart for those who don't know DS) and had gotten a screen to prevent grease splatters for bacon - works great with the tomato sauce too!!!  Didn't can this one - just ended up in the fridge in a Tupperware container.

Got my bean and ham soup started too!!  Super easy - add 2 bags of dried beans (no, I don't pre-soak mine) and the package of ham hocks and just boil the crap out of it for a few hours until the beans are soft.  Scrape the meat off the bones, discard the rest, add the already-cooked-leftover ham, then can it!  Ended up with 4 quarts.  Unfortunately that was the last thing I made for the day.

I LOVE homemade chicken noodle soup.  My mom and I had canned some chicken and broth a couple years ago and it was really good and makes it easy to make soup whenever I want, and it tastes so much better than using bouillon.  Even though hubs doesn't like chicken noodle soup, I can still use the canned meat to make chicken gravy for biscuits or other things like that - or hot dishes.  Decided I wanted to do that today, but didn't have everything I needed.  Made my shopping list, plus I had to get a few things to make Snicker salad for the family reunion tomorrow. 

I was putting my shopping list into my purse, stepped on a toy that had been left out, and hit the hardwood floor.  Hard.  It hurt.  So, of course, I didn't go anywhere until hubby came home.  Called him, in tears, and told him what happened, plus I was having horrid pains in my side.  Felt a little better by the time he got home, so I convinced him to take me to the store, but went pretty slow.  But I got all my stuff I needed.  Hopefully I'll get my chicken started tomorrow - it takes 2 days to make.  Once I make it, I'll share the 'recipe' since I don't use a real one.  Same thing with the pumpkin butter.  But for now, I'm off to bed.  Hoping to get updated again in a few days, hopefully with some pictures too!!

Oh, and to update the TOPS weigh in and pregnancy weight loss/gain:  I was down 1/2 pound this week, bringing my total loss to 13 1/2 pounds.

Back to School

It's been a week since my last entry - so much for every day or for every other day!!  (I AM working on getting this into my schedule!!)  I did get my kitchen cleaned and organized - for the most part.  Beau and I spent 6 hours working on it.  Crazy, I know!!!  But it's nice being able to use my kitchen again.  It just seems like so many things have gotten away from me when I was on bed rest and it's taking forever to catch up!!!  I've documented a lot of the stuff we buy, and I've made some new rules for the house.  I also have a couple new dry-erase boards that have been added to the fridge, in addition to the one that's already by the phone.  There is also a corkboard that has been next to the phone for some time.  The dry erase board there is for frequently called phone numbers:  our CF nurse, Shopko pharmacy, a few friends.  Also when checking the answering machine, any one who needs to be called back gets written up there with their phone number until we no longer need it.  The cork board holds various notes and business cards.  One of the boards on the fridge is our running grocery list.  The other is for notes/to-do list for mom and dad.  Yeah, at my 'old age' and with the baby brain going on, I don't always remember all the stuff hubby and Beau ask me to do.  Write it down and I can't forget it :)  Today, for example - call vet (girls need meds), Beau needs allergy meds, call CF nurse about Scrap's meds, order replacement hose for vest.  I never would have remembered if it wasn't right in front of me!!! lol!!

Made a couple batches of applesauce yesterday - ended up with 5 pint jars and 9 half-pint jars, plus some I put right into the fridge to have with meals.  Scraps hasn't really tried it, but everyone else seems to think mama did pretty good.  We bought the pint jars and the half pint jars were given to us.  The initial investment will be worth it (along with the 'canning supplies kit' hubs got me - the tongs, funnel, and magnet) because right now for generic applesauce, we pay $2.99 per jar.  For ALL of the applesauce I made, plus about a quart I made on Saturday as a test run, we paid $9 for the apples at Farmer's Market.  One of the bags was only about 1/2 a bag since the kids had eaten some of the apples throughout the week.  Hubs was able to get some really yummy apples from a customer for free too.  Next time I think we might just wait and get them from him!! I told hubs that if he can, to get 2 more bags, then we should be set for the next year until apples are ready again :)

Another huge step in this past week was specifically directed to me - being lower maintenence, especially with Baby on the way.  So... I cut my hair.  A lot shorter.  12 inches donated to Locks of Love.  I almost cried, but didn't.  Kinda liking the new style, makes it easier to brush, don't have the snarls I did before.  Hubs is happy I can't put it in a bun anymore (my go-to style when I have time for nothing else).  I'll also save a TON on shampoo and conditioner.  It's easier to wash now too since I have to do it under the bath faucet cuz we don't have a shower.  Some of my traumatic shots:

It FEELS so much lighter too!! Don't think my hair is going to be giving me too many more headaches :)  I'm still not COMPLETELY used to it, but it's working a lot better for my daily routine.

My oldest also started back to school today - 3rd grade already.  Of course, we had the usual fight last night because she wanted to finish watching WWE on tv.  But much to my surprise, she was already up when I got up at 630 this morning!!  Ate breakfast then hopped in the tub with only being asked once.  Very smooth first day!  My little man didn't even throw the normal fit of not wanting her to leave or wanting to go with her (we live too close for her to ride the bus, so Scraps and I take her to school every morning - she's not old enough to walk on her own!!).

Of course one couldn't get pictures taken without the other one getting them too, but that's fine with Mommy :)

Now I'm off to try getting some homework done and get lunch made for the little man and mama :)