Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A night of seasonal festivities
This post is just chock full of pictures. It's not going to be inspirational or teach you a new skill or anything like that. It's pretty much just a recap of our evening. :)
The Young Women (teen girls) in our ward (congregation) hosted a Trunk-or-Treat event last night. They had games and craft activities for the children and then there was trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk in the parking lot.
To get ready for the event the boy and the big girl made some mosaic pictures. The boy drew the outlines of a witch and a jack-o-lantern and the big girl cut paper into mosaic pieces and glued them on the paper.
We used those pictures to decorate the doors of our van for Trunk-or-Treating.
We brought a bucket full of organic lollipops, dressed the girls in their fairy costumes and headed over to the church.
The boy was there already as he had to be there early to help set up the golfing game he manned. I can't fully explain his costume as he had a very long name for it, but suffice it to say he's a nerd vampire.
The big girl had a blast playing games and the baby girl spent much of the evening riding around on toys in the church gym.
It was a fun evening!
The Young Women (teen girls) in our ward (congregation) hosted a Trunk-or-Treat event last night. They had games and craft activities for the children and then there was trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk in the parking lot.
To get ready for the event the boy and the big girl made some mosaic pictures. The boy drew the outlines of a witch and a jack-o-lantern and the big girl cut paper into mosaic pieces and glued them on the paper.
We used those pictures to decorate the doors of our van for Trunk-or-Treating.
We brought a bucket full of organic lollipops, dressed the girls in their fairy costumes and headed over to the church.
The boy was there already as he had to be there early to help set up the golfing game he manned. I can't fully explain his costume as he had a very long name for it, but suffice it to say he's a nerd vampire.
The big girl had a blast playing games and the baby girl spent much of the evening riding around on toys in the church gym.
It was a fun evening!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Increased Risk for H1N1 Linked to Seasonal Flu Vaccine
According to an arcticle in The Globe and Mail there is evidence that individuals who receive the seasonal flu vaccine are twice as likely to contract the H1N1 flu.
Meal planning
Yesterday was another manic Tuesday in the Mootown household. Tuesdays we have playgroup in the morning for the girls and then the big girl has tap dance and ballet at 3:45pm and gymnastics at 5:30pm.
Figuring out what people will eat for dinner on Tuesdays is challenging, to say the least. I'm out of the house at the time I usually am preparing the evening meal.
We've tried crockpot meals for Tuesdays before and that worked well - when I remembered to get it started early enough in the day. I tend to forget, though. Our budget really doesn't permit take-out or drive-through meals and I prefer to feed my family homecooked meals anyway.
So...as part of my organizing and nesting campaign I spent yesterday afternoon planning meals. I now have two weeks all planned out and in my new Homemaking Journal binder. I have another two weeks partially finished.
The meal planning pages show me the days/dates and what meals are planned. It has a list of the major ingredients (the ones we don't already stock in our pantries).
If I flip over to the Recipes section of the binder I find the recipes for all of the meals.
Now I will be able to open up my binder each Saturday morning, write down the ingredients I need for dinners and combine that with my regular grocery list of pantry replacements and perishibles and quickly put together my shopping list.
I have a meal inspiration section in the binder to allow me to collect recipes and ideas for dinners from blogs and magazines. Those will be added to later weekly meal plans so we won't always be eating the same meals.
I have high hopes for this system streamlining our meal prep and shopping and also reducing that 4:30pm anxiety.
I have plans to add in ideas for lunches and dinners. I don't feel the need to assign those to certain days, just have a list of menu options using our pantry ingredients so that if we're feeling a bit of food fatigue we can look to those sections for new inspiration.
How do you keep your family fed? What system works well for you on busy days?
Figuring out what people will eat for dinner on Tuesdays is challenging, to say the least. I'm out of the house at the time I usually am preparing the evening meal.
We've tried crockpot meals for Tuesdays before and that worked well - when I remembered to get it started early enough in the day. I tend to forget, though. Our budget really doesn't permit take-out or drive-through meals and I prefer to feed my family homecooked meals anyway.
So...as part of my organizing and nesting campaign I spent yesterday afternoon planning meals. I now have two weeks all planned out and in my new Homemaking Journal binder. I have another two weeks partially finished.
The meal planning pages show me the days/dates and what meals are planned. It has a list of the major ingredients (the ones we don't already stock in our pantries).
If I flip over to the Recipes section of the binder I find the recipes for all of the meals.
Now I will be able to open up my binder each Saturday morning, write down the ingredients I need for dinners and combine that with my regular grocery list of pantry replacements and perishibles and quickly put together my shopping list.
I have a meal inspiration section in the binder to allow me to collect recipes and ideas for dinners from blogs and magazines. Those will be added to later weekly meal plans so we won't always be eating the same meals.
I have high hopes for this system streamlining our meal prep and shopping and also reducing that 4:30pm anxiety.
I have plans to add in ideas for lunches and dinners. I don't feel the need to assign those to certain days, just have a list of menu options using our pantry ingredients so that if we're feeling a bit of food fatigue we can look to those sections for new inspiration.
How do you keep your family fed? What system works well for you on busy days?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Food storage inventory
Well...continuing on my theme of nesting, yesterday I decided to complete a full blown inventory of our food storage.
Now by this time y'all know I'm a converted Mormon (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). We've been advised for decades to put up a supply of food (and also clothing, shoes, etc.).
Some folks (much of my extended family who are not Church members is included here) think that we were told to do this because of some crazy end-of-the-world apocalyptic thing. No! It's for those mundane ordinary times when you need to raid the grocery budget to pay the mechanic to fix the axle on your car. Or you were laid off at work and your income suddenly drops 60%. Or your child decides to try bungee jumping off the roof of the garage and you haven't yet met the deductible on your medical insurance.
But back to the topic at hand - the inventory.
If you read yesterday's posts (and we all know you did because this blog is just.oh.so.riveting) you know I test drove the food storage thingy over at Emergency Essentials. I didn't care for it so very much. I probably won't be getting one of those gift cards.
I decided to finish the job I started and I went on to pantry #2 and inventoried all unopened food stuffs there. Then I ventured downstairs with my good old fashioned yellow legal pad and ballpoint pen to inventory the basement food storage shelves.
Then I went upstairs to the desktop in the living room and used MS Excel to whip up a spreadsheet to organize my food storage. Then I printed off some hard copies and put them in plastic page protectors in my brand new Homemaking Journal.
Just before Family Home Evening last night I showed all the folks in our household who read how to use the system. When someone pulls an item out of storage they take out the appropriate sheet of the inventory (it's alphabetized) and mark a minus whatever next to the item. For instance, if I pull a bottle of ketchup off the shelf I'll mark a -1 next to ketchup.
About once a week I plan to update the spreadsheet and print out a clean hard copy.
This should ideally let us know what we have at any given moment and will also help us better see the gaps in our storage.
I plan to pull together similar spreadsheets for the freezers.
Now by this time y'all know I'm a converted Mormon (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). We've been advised for decades to put up a supply of food (and also clothing, shoes, etc.).
Some folks (much of my extended family who are not Church members is included here) think that we were told to do this because of some crazy end-of-the-world apocalyptic thing. No! It's for those mundane ordinary times when you need to raid the grocery budget to pay the mechanic to fix the axle on your car. Or you were laid off at work and your income suddenly drops 60%. Or your child decides to try bungee jumping off the roof of the garage and you haven't yet met the deductible on your medical insurance.
But back to the topic at hand - the inventory.
If you read yesterday's posts (and we all know you did because this blog is just.oh.so.riveting) you know I test drove the food storage thingy over at Emergency Essentials. I didn't care for it so very much. I probably won't be getting one of those gift cards.
I decided to finish the job I started and I went on to pantry #2 and inventoried all unopened food stuffs there. Then I ventured downstairs with my good old fashioned yellow legal pad and ballpoint pen to inventory the basement food storage shelves.
Then I went upstairs to the desktop in the living room and used MS Excel to whip up a spreadsheet to organize my food storage. Then I printed off some hard copies and put them in plastic page protectors in my brand new Homemaking Journal.
Just before Family Home Evening last night I showed all the folks in our household who read how to use the system. When someone pulls an item out of storage they take out the appropriate sheet of the inventory (it's alphabetized) and mark a minus whatever next to the item. For instance, if I pull a bottle of ketchup off the shelf I'll mark a -1 next to ketchup.
About once a week I plan to update the spreadsheet and print out a clean hard copy.
This should ideally let us know what we have at any given moment and will also help us better see the gaps in our storage.
I plan to pull together similar spreadsheets for the freezers.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Food storage organization
I said I was nesting, right?
Well when I heard about Emergency Essentials new Food Storage Analyzer™ tool I had to give it a whirl.
So...I took a yellow legal pad and pen into pantry #1 to start writing down what we had and ended up with a page and a half of entries.
Then I sat down at my laptop to begin to test out the new Food Storage Analyzer™ tool.
I had high hopes that quickly sunk. The food items I store aren't already entered into the tool. That's okay, though, the tool *does* give you the option to enter your own items. But, wait - it doesn't let me enter the size of the product. That's pretty basic information, isn't it? I want to know whether I have a 16 oz. jar of peanut butter or a 24 oz. jar. I need to know if that grape jelly is a 16 oz. jar or an 8 oz. jar.
Come, on Emergency Essentials, how could you miss such a basic piece of information????
After entering about seven different items and having to hit the back button several times because I received error messages I stopped.
It's a *great* tool for folks who buy Emergency Essentials foods. I suspect that's what the company had in mind after all.
It lets you track what you have and calculate the nutritional information. You can see at a glance how nutritionally balanced your food storage is for the number of people in your household and their ages. You can see where the gaps are and what types of foods you should add.
If you have a whole lotta time on your hands you can make individual entries for all of the foods in your pantry that are not Emergency Essentials brands and enter the calories, servings per container, and assorted nutritional information. But my home canned jars of beet greens don't come with that information on the label. ;) It just won't fit *my* family's needs very well.
We'll stick with our computer spreadsheet that I print out and keep in my homemaking binder for now, thank you.
It might fit your family's needs, though!
Go give it a whirl and see what you think.
Well when I heard about Emergency Essentials new Food Storage Analyzer™ tool I had to give it a whirl.
So...I took a yellow legal pad and pen into pantry #1 to start writing down what we had and ended up with a page and a half of entries.
Then I sat down at my laptop to begin to test out the new Food Storage Analyzer™ tool.
I had high hopes that quickly sunk. The food items I store aren't already entered into the tool. That's okay, though, the tool *does* give you the option to enter your own items. But, wait - it doesn't let me enter the size of the product. That's pretty basic information, isn't it? I want to know whether I have a 16 oz. jar of peanut butter or a 24 oz. jar. I need to know if that grape jelly is a 16 oz. jar or an 8 oz. jar.
Come, on Emergency Essentials, how could you miss such a basic piece of information????
After entering about seven different items and having to hit the back button several times because I received error messages I stopped.
It's a *great* tool for folks who buy Emergency Essentials foods. I suspect that's what the company had in mind after all.
It lets you track what you have and calculate the nutritional information. You can see at a glance how nutritionally balanced your food storage is for the number of people in your household and their ages. You can see where the gaps are and what types of foods you should add.
If you have a whole lotta time on your hands you can make individual entries for all of the foods in your pantry that are not Emergency Essentials brands and enter the calories, servings per container, and assorted nutritional information. But my home canned jars of beet greens don't come with that information on the label. ;) It just won't fit *my* family's needs very well.
We'll stick with our computer spreadsheet that I print out and keep in my homemaking binder for now, thank you.
It might fit your family's needs, though!
Go give it a whirl and see what you think.
Autumn nesting
The birds nest in spring, but I nest in autumn.
This is the view from my kitchen window looking out over our back gardens and beyond our fence to our neighbor's yard. We've cleared most of the beds with just a little clean-up yet to do before the raised beds are finally put to rest for our very long winter (usually lasts from November until April).
You can see why I nest in autumn! There isn't much to do outside when it's cold and rainy.
This morning I decided I wanted to organize my ribbons. Yesterday the big girl wanted some ribbons to wear in her hair since it was the Sunday that the Primary students have their program. She wanted to look her prettiest when she said her part and sang.
So I went into our storage closet in the playroom to dig through my notions drawer. Well...I had to pull out four folding chairs to even reach my rolling drawers to find the ribbons.
I was looking at my sewing nook (in our dining room) this morning and noticed the brackets we have to hold up a shelf by the windows. I asked the boy to go downstairs and see if we had any dowel. Sure enough we did! So I took all of the ribbon with holes in the packaging and arranged them on the dowel hung between two shelf brackets. It's much more organized and kinda pretty in a colorful way.
Usually when one small nesting project begins then it steamrolls into more and more nesting. I'm curious to see what the rest of the day brings.
This is the view from my kitchen window looking out over our back gardens and beyond our fence to our neighbor's yard. We've cleared most of the beds with just a little clean-up yet to do before the raised beds are finally put to rest for our very long winter (usually lasts from November until April).
You can see why I nest in autumn! There isn't much to do outside when it's cold and rainy.
This morning I decided I wanted to organize my ribbons. Yesterday the big girl wanted some ribbons to wear in her hair since it was the Sunday that the Primary students have their program. She wanted to look her prettiest when she said her part and sang.
So I went into our storage closet in the playroom to dig through my notions drawer. Well...I had to pull out four folding chairs to even reach my rolling drawers to find the ribbons.
I was looking at my sewing nook (in our dining room) this morning and noticed the brackets we have to hold up a shelf by the windows. I asked the boy to go downstairs and see if we had any dowel. Sure enough we did! So I took all of the ribbon with holes in the packaging and arranged them on the dowel hung between two shelf brackets. It's much more organized and kinda pretty in a colorful way.
Usually when one small nesting project begins then it steamrolls into more and more nesting. I'm curious to see what the rest of the day brings.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
When can you wear a yo-yo around your neck?
Answer: When it's made of fabric scraps!
I got inspiration for this project from Marigold's Yo-Yo Necklace tutorial found on her blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!
I do plan to do a full-out grown-up necklace like the one featured in Marigold's tutorial, but decided to do a quick and easy one first for the big girl.
For really good instructions and fabulous pictures please stop by the original tutorial. I wanted to show you our Thursday evening activity and help you realize just how easy these are!
First we cut out Marigold's templates and taped them to an old cereal box to make cardboard templates.
Then I set the templates down on the fabric scraps the big girl selected and I traced around them with an ink pen. I cut out the five fabric circles I had traced onto the fabrics.
I decided to make one 1.5" yo-yo and four of the 1" yo-yos for the big girl's necklace.
Once I had all of my circles cut out I began the sewing. I sewed a simple running stitch around the edges of the circles like this:
And then pulled on the thread to gather it up into a circle like this:
Here is the right side of that one all gathered and finished:
I knotted it off and started on the next one.
While I was sewing and gathering up the circles into yo-yos, the big girl was practicing sewing using her lacing animals.
When I had all of the yo-yos gathered up into circles, then the big girl and I picked out some embroidery floss to use as the string for the necklace. A bright pink was the winning color. :)
I just sewed through each circle on two sides and strung them all together.
This time I didn't knot off each individual yo-yo, but that is planned for our next necklace.
Then I measured it against the big girl to decide how long it needed to be. We decided to just tie it off and leave it longish since the big girl is five and knows how to safely wear necklaces. For the baby girl's necklace we plan to pick up a break-apart closure and use that.
And here she is modeling her new yo-yo necklace!
I got inspiration for this project from Marigold's Yo-Yo Necklace tutorial found on her blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!
I do plan to do a full-out grown-up necklace like the one featured in Marigold's tutorial, but decided to do a quick and easy one first for the big girl.
For really good instructions and fabulous pictures please stop by the original tutorial. I wanted to show you our Thursday evening activity and help you realize just how easy these are!
First we cut out Marigold's templates and taped them to an old cereal box to make cardboard templates.
Then I set the templates down on the fabric scraps the big girl selected and I traced around them with an ink pen. I cut out the five fabric circles I had traced onto the fabrics.
I decided to make one 1.5" yo-yo and four of the 1" yo-yos for the big girl's necklace.
Once I had all of my circles cut out I began the sewing. I sewed a simple running stitch around the edges of the circles like this:
And then pulled on the thread to gather it up into a circle like this:
Here is the right side of that one all gathered and finished:
I knotted it off and started on the next one.
While I was sewing and gathering up the circles into yo-yos, the big girl was practicing sewing using her lacing animals.
When I had all of the yo-yos gathered up into circles, then the big girl and I picked out some embroidery floss to use as the string for the necklace. A bright pink was the winning color. :)
I just sewed through each circle on two sides and strung them all together.
This time I didn't knot off each individual yo-yo, but that is planned for our next necklace.
Then I measured it against the big girl to decide how long it needed to be. We decided to just tie it off and leave it longish since the big girl is five and knows how to safely wear necklaces. For the baby girl's necklace we plan to pick up a break-apart closure and use that.
And here she is modeling her new yo-yo necklace!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Seminary Switch Day
It was Seminary Switch Day today so I was up at 4:45am and out the door at around 5:30am to accompany the boy to Seminary class. Now for those of you who are not familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the seminary I speak of is not a university where men and women go to learn how to be ministers. It's an early morning scripture class for high school students. In our ward (same as congregation for non-LDS folk) the seminary class meets from 5:30-6:35am on mornings when public school is in session.
This year the students are studying the Book of Mormon. Last year was a study of the New Testament. Other years they study the Old Testament or the Doctrine and Covenants.
But back to Seminary Switch Day. The students have the option to either send a parent and stay home to get an extra hour or so of sleep or bring a parent and get extra credit. Since the boy missed two weeks or so of seminary at the beginning of the year while he was with his bio dad, we decided that this year I'd go ahead and go with him.
That was an adventure in itself! You see the baby girl doesn't like to be in bed without her mama beside her. Some time while I was showering the baby girl expressed her displeasure to her daddy and also woke up the big girl in the process. I walked out of the shower to see the baby girl and the big girl in the hallway discussing my shoes (the baby girl just learned how to say "shoes" and likes to practice it at every opportunity).
The Hubster seemed none too pleased that the girls decided to forgo additional sleepy time. Usually the Hubster is the early riser to drive the boy back and forth to seminary class, so I'm sure he was hoping this would be an opportunity for him to gain a few extra winks. Not to happen, though.
We had an interesting class and then returned home at around 7am. The girls were still in their pajamas and the big girl declared, almost immediately, that "We haven't had breakfast yet!" The baby girl was wearing a fairy skirt over her pjs. The living room floor was strewn with toys. They clearly had a fun time. :)
I kind of wish that I could get up every morning and go to seminary. It was a fabulous time to read the scriptures, ponder, and study without toddler interruption. It was great to be able to discuss the gospel with the boy without interruption from his sisters. You see, I'm what's called a convert to the Church. I joined about 19 months ago and never had the opportunity to attend seminary classes as a teenager.
Anyway, in short I'm a fan of Seminary Switch Day!
This year the students are studying the Book of Mormon. Last year was a study of the New Testament. Other years they study the Old Testament or the Doctrine and Covenants.
But back to Seminary Switch Day. The students have the option to either send a parent and stay home to get an extra hour or so of sleep or bring a parent and get extra credit. Since the boy missed two weeks or so of seminary at the beginning of the year while he was with his bio dad, we decided that this year I'd go ahead and go with him.
That was an adventure in itself! You see the baby girl doesn't like to be in bed without her mama beside her. Some time while I was showering the baby girl expressed her displeasure to her daddy and also woke up the big girl in the process. I walked out of the shower to see the baby girl and the big girl in the hallway discussing my shoes (the baby girl just learned how to say "shoes" and likes to practice it at every opportunity).
The Hubster seemed none too pleased that the girls decided to forgo additional sleepy time. Usually the Hubster is the early riser to drive the boy back and forth to seminary class, so I'm sure he was hoping this would be an opportunity for him to gain a few extra winks. Not to happen, though.
We had an interesting class and then returned home at around 7am. The girls were still in their pajamas and the big girl declared, almost immediately, that "We haven't had breakfast yet!" The baby girl was wearing a fairy skirt over her pjs. The living room floor was strewn with toys. They clearly had a fun time. :)
I kind of wish that I could get up every morning and go to seminary. It was a fabulous time to read the scriptures, ponder, and study without toddler interruption. It was great to be able to discuss the gospel with the boy without interruption from his sisters. You see, I'm what's called a convert to the Church. I joined about 19 months ago and never had the opportunity to attend seminary classes as a teenager.
Anyway, in short I'm a fan of Seminary Switch Day!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
applesauce, influenza, and family harmony
I’m having a tough time today focusing my thoughts and deciding what to write about. There are about a gazillion different topics rolling around and actually requiring my attention these days. This might just end up being a rambling regurgitation of that. ;)
1. Applesauce. Yes, those huge containers of apples are still sitting in my back hall. The Hubster and I had planned to begin the Great Applesauce Making & Canning Adventure today since it’s fall break and he doesn’t have to teach today and tomorrow.
2. But – we’ve been distracted by the knowledge that the H1N1 virus has hit our community. We’re already sick with what is likely a para influenza virus and are legitimately concerned about how our immune systems would cope with another virus before we’re healthy again.
3. So – we put together an off-the-cuff plan of how our household would deal with getting hit. We took a quick inventory and decided we needed to stock up on electrolyte solution and some quick cooking foods.
4. And off to the supermarket we went with the baby girl and big girl in tow. Now by the time that happened it was already after 11am and the baby girl was getting tired. She napped on the way to the supermarket. The big girl was hungry and consequently just a *joy* (can you hear the sarcasm) to shop with. She proceeded to climb inside the bottled water displays and lie down on the toilet paper packages.
5. So – we caved and after our shopping we bought them Subway for lunch. They enjoyed their turkey sandwiches and apple slices.
6. Returned home to unload the groceries and emergency supplies and tried to help the baby girl nap. She nursed but had no interest in sleeping. After all her Daddy was home! (did you hear the manic excitement I intended to communicate there?)
7. Back downstairs to pass the baby girl to the Hubster and take over as Assistant Play dough Creator and play with the big girl. Things went smoothly for a bit and then the baby girl decided *she* ought to play with play dough as well. She’s not yet 19 months old and isn’t quite hip with the rules. The Hubster intervened, but inadequately in the baby girl’s opinion and she decided that her Mama was needed.
8. Went back upstairs to nurse the sad baby girl and she finally gave in and slept.
9. Which leaves this mama wondering/pondering/worrying about influenza, applesauce, and family harmony.
Oh, and I can share with you a recipe for homemade electrolyte solution!
Electrolyte Solution
1 quart water
1 ⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1 ⁄2 tsp. table salt
3 to 4 tbsp. sugar
Mix well and flavor with lemon juice, citric acid, or unsweetened Kool-Aid mix.
1. Applesauce. Yes, those huge containers of apples are still sitting in my back hall. The Hubster and I had planned to begin the Great Applesauce Making & Canning Adventure today since it’s fall break and he doesn’t have to teach today and tomorrow.
2. But – we’ve been distracted by the knowledge that the H1N1 virus has hit our community. We’re already sick with what is likely a para influenza virus and are legitimately concerned about how our immune systems would cope with another virus before we’re healthy again.
3. So – we put together an off-the-cuff plan of how our household would deal with getting hit. We took a quick inventory and decided we needed to stock up on electrolyte solution and some quick cooking foods.
4. And off to the supermarket we went with the baby girl and big girl in tow. Now by the time that happened it was already after 11am and the baby girl was getting tired. She napped on the way to the supermarket. The big girl was hungry and consequently just a *joy* (can you hear the sarcasm) to shop with. She proceeded to climb inside the bottled water displays and lie down on the toilet paper packages.
5. So – we caved and after our shopping we bought them Subway for lunch. They enjoyed their turkey sandwiches and apple slices.
6. Returned home to unload the groceries and emergency supplies and tried to help the baby girl nap. She nursed but had no interest in sleeping. After all her Daddy was home! (did you hear the manic excitement I intended to communicate there?)
7. Back downstairs to pass the baby girl to the Hubster and take over as Assistant Play dough Creator and play with the big girl. Things went smoothly for a bit and then the baby girl decided *she* ought to play with play dough as well. She’s not yet 19 months old and isn’t quite hip with the rules. The Hubster intervened, but inadequately in the baby girl’s opinion and she decided that her Mama was needed.
8. Went back upstairs to nurse the sad baby girl and she finally gave in and slept.
9. Which leaves this mama wondering/pondering/worrying about influenza, applesauce, and family harmony.
Oh, and I can share with you a recipe for homemade electrolyte solution!
Electrolyte Solution
1 quart water
1 ⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1 ⁄2 tsp. table salt
3 to 4 tbsp. sugar
Mix well and flavor with lemon juice, citric acid, or unsweetened Kool-Aid mix.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Building a homemaking journal
I know, I know you already had a Wednesday post. But I got up early this morning (5 am kinda early) and therefore finished my Wednesday post earlier than normal and got all my Farm Town crops harvested and plowed and planted new crops and my mind is just racing.
There's *some* benefit to being sick and up coughing, I guess!
So...I've been thinking about putting together a homemaking journal. Yeah, I guess you already knew that from the title, huh?
I am working out headings or tabs right now and preliminarily have this as my list:
1. Cleaning routines (which currently don't exist in our household - it's on a very loose as-needed kinda basis. I wonder if I write it down if I'd be more likely to do it?)
2. Cleaning recipes (since we use mostly home concocted cleaning solutions)
3. Meal planning (because we desperately need some structure here. believe it or not, there are days when the 4:30 decision is a bit stressful.)
4. Meal inspiration (because i need a better place than a 'puter folder to store those great looking recipes that I want to try some time. and if it's in the binder we *might* actually get around to trying them)
5. Recipes (I have shelves and shelves full of cookbooks and a binder with printed recipes, but I thought this might be where I pop in the recipes for that week's meals)
6. Canning and Food Preservation (lists of what we preserved as well as canning recipes that *aren't* in our Ball canning books)
7. Herbal Remedies (recipes for tinctures, etc)
8. Current projects (this would be where I have a list of the things I'm working on or things that I ought to be working on)
9. Budget (pretty self explanatory, but it would be a nice reminder to have a paper copy in the binder. we keep our budget in a spreadsheet on the 'puter.)
10. Inventories (lists of food and non-food items that we keep in storage)
11. Planned Homeschool Activities or Projects (a place to keep ideas of projects that we want to do or places we plan to go - we're unschoolers so it wouldn't be a list of subjects or books or anything like structured homeschoolers keep)
12. Seasonal Projects (a listing of big jobs that get done on a seasonal basis - sort of a heads-up reminder)
13. Inspiration (poems, scripture verses, etc. that help remind me why I do what I do)
I already keep a gardening journal, so I don't need that in the homemaking journal. Looking back over the list there probably wouldn't be room for it, anyway.
When I did some online digging I find that many women use a small binder - 1" or so. I'm thinking there is no way I could fit all of this in a binder that small. I'd like the journal to be in a binder and use page protectors so I can easily slide papers in and out. I'd have card stock dividers to separate the different sections. I'd also like to keep some blank pages so I might actually do some journaling.
My problem is my "journals" are spread out and mostly electronic. I do keep all of these lists, more or less, but they're on two different hard drives or stuck to my refrigerator with magnets, or, well, just not very together.
Do you keep a homemaking journal? What are your headings? Has it helped you and your family?
There's *some* benefit to being sick and up coughing, I guess!
So...I've been thinking about putting together a homemaking journal. Yeah, I guess you already knew that from the title, huh?
I am working out headings or tabs right now and preliminarily have this as my list:
1. Cleaning routines (which currently don't exist in our household - it's on a very loose as-needed kinda basis. I wonder if I write it down if I'd be more likely to do it?)
2. Cleaning recipes (since we use mostly home concocted cleaning solutions)
3. Meal planning (because we desperately need some structure here. believe it or not, there are days when the 4:30 decision is a bit stressful.)
4. Meal inspiration (because i need a better place than a 'puter folder to store those great looking recipes that I want to try some time. and if it's in the binder we *might* actually get around to trying them)
5. Recipes (I have shelves and shelves full of cookbooks and a binder with printed recipes, but I thought this might be where I pop in the recipes for that week's meals)
6. Canning and Food Preservation (lists of what we preserved as well as canning recipes that *aren't* in our Ball canning books)
7. Herbal Remedies (recipes for tinctures, etc)
8. Current projects (this would be where I have a list of the things I'm working on or things that I ought to be working on)
9. Budget (pretty self explanatory, but it would be a nice reminder to have a paper copy in the binder. we keep our budget in a spreadsheet on the 'puter.)
10. Inventories (lists of food and non-food items that we keep in storage)
11. Planned Homeschool Activities or Projects (a place to keep ideas of projects that we want to do or places we plan to go - we're unschoolers so it wouldn't be a list of subjects or books or anything like structured homeschoolers keep)
12. Seasonal Projects (a listing of big jobs that get done on a seasonal basis - sort of a heads-up reminder)
13. Inspiration (poems, scripture verses, etc. that help remind me why I do what I do)
I already keep a gardening journal, so I don't need that in the homemaking journal. Looking back over the list there probably wouldn't be room for it, anyway.
When I did some online digging I find that many women use a small binder - 1" or so. I'm thinking there is no way I could fit all of this in a binder that small. I'd like the journal to be in a binder and use page protectors so I can easily slide papers in and out. I'd have card stock dividers to separate the different sections. I'd also like to keep some blank pages so I might actually do some journaling.
My problem is my "journals" are spread out and mostly electronic. I do keep all of these lists, more or less, but they're on two different hard drives or stuck to my refrigerator with magnets, or, well, just not very together.
Do you keep a homemaking journal? What are your headings? Has it helped you and your family?
Bean Burgers - or that veggie stuff in a pita
I was inspired by Natalie of Nat Nests to make some Mediterranean Bean Burgers. Her picture was so drool-worthy that when I read her post I decided THAT was what our family would eat for dinner.
Well...some of us would eat it. Some would move it around on the plate and pretend to eat it while not actually ingesting much (the big girl). Some would push the plate away repeatedly and then when the plate moving was too annoying would ceremoniously dump the plate over and spill the contents onto the tabletop (the baby girl). The boy had at least three helpings and the Hubster commented it sure would have been great if I had served them with a rack of lamb on the side.
The boy and I have decided we're going to cook up a batch of the bean burgers and keep them in the fridge for quick lunchtime re-heats.
So...you can check out Nat's picture of the finished product, but for a step-by-step cook-a-long check out this:
First, I finely diced up three stalks of celery, two carrots, and half of an onion.
Next, the boy rinsed and drained a 15.5 oz. can of great northern beans.
While that was going on, some couscous was cooking. We were at the tail end of our couscous so I cooked up what was left in the jar (about 3/4 cup). First, you boil up your water (about a cup for us) and then you just drop in the couscous, stir well, turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot. It cooks/steams while you chop.
Then we took the chopped veggies, beans, couscous, and mixed them all together in a large bowl with about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, one beaten egg, 1 tsp. of ground cumin, about 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, and a generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper.
Then we put a liberal amount of olive oil into a frying pan and cooked the mix in roughly patty shape. (I later determined that scrambling it would cook it as well and we liked it crumbled anyway) We cooked them until lightly browned on both sides.
We couldn't find the whole wheat pitas at the supermarket (and I wasn't in a mood to haul the baby girl and the big girl to multiple stores) here so I went with the convenient alternative - white pita.
We tried serving them with hummus and Natalie's Tsatsiki Knock-Off, but I'm convinced my family just isn't the right sort for Mediterranean cuisine. We liked them better with extra salt and pepper plain in the pitas. Now that I think about it some shredded cheddar would have been a nice addition.
Sorry, Natalie! We are, after all, from the Dairy State. ;)
Well...some of us would eat it. Some would move it around on the plate and pretend to eat it while not actually ingesting much (the big girl). Some would push the plate away repeatedly and then when the plate moving was too annoying would ceremoniously dump the plate over and spill the contents onto the tabletop (the baby girl). The boy had at least three helpings and the Hubster commented it sure would have been great if I had served them with a rack of lamb on the side.
The boy and I have decided we're going to cook up a batch of the bean burgers and keep them in the fridge for quick lunchtime re-heats.
So...you can check out Nat's picture of the finished product, but for a step-by-step cook-a-long check out this:
First, I finely diced up three stalks of celery, two carrots, and half of an onion.
Next, the boy rinsed and drained a 15.5 oz. can of great northern beans.
While that was going on, some couscous was cooking. We were at the tail end of our couscous so I cooked up what was left in the jar (about 3/4 cup). First, you boil up your water (about a cup for us) and then you just drop in the couscous, stir well, turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot. It cooks/steams while you chop.
Then we took the chopped veggies, beans, couscous, and mixed them all together in a large bowl with about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, one beaten egg, 1 tsp. of ground cumin, about 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, and a generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper.
Then we put a liberal amount of olive oil into a frying pan and cooked the mix in roughly patty shape. (I later determined that scrambling it would cook it as well and we liked it crumbled anyway) We cooked them until lightly browned on both sides.
We couldn't find the whole wheat pitas at the supermarket (and I wasn't in a mood to haul the baby girl and the big girl to multiple stores) here so I went with the convenient alternative - white pita.
We tried serving them with hummus and Natalie's Tsatsiki Knock-Off, but I'm convinced my family just isn't the right sort for Mediterranean cuisine. We liked them better with extra salt and pepper plain in the pitas. Now that I think about it some shredded cheddar would have been a nice addition.
Sorry, Natalie! We are, after all, from the Dairy State. ;)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Apples and Pears or Pears and Apples
Remember the neighbor who gifted us two five gallon buckets full of plums late this summer?
Yesterday I came home from a walk with the kids to find this large tub full of golden delicious apples on our front porch.
Later in the afternoon he also brought over a five gallon pail full of small red apples (cultivar unknown) that he said would be good applesauce apples.
A week or so ago he gifted us these boxes full of pears.
Can I just say how generous and amazing it is to have such wonderful neighbors? :)
Seriously, these folks have been so charitable and just plain fabulous in the 8 years we've lived here!
We know we'll be making the one pail of apples into applesauce since they're small and they'd be annoying to peel. I can steam them and use my food grinder to separate the skins, cores, seeds, etc.
The pears we're thinking we'll dehydrate because the big girl loves pear chips.
The golden delicious apples might be dehydrated, or canned for later use in crisps and pies.
What would *you* do with a huge tub full of golden delicious apples? I kinda wish we had a root cellar and then we could just cold store them well into the winter.
Yesterday I came home from a walk with the kids to find this large tub full of golden delicious apples on our front porch.
Later in the afternoon he also brought over a five gallon pail full of small red apples (cultivar unknown) that he said would be good applesauce apples.
A week or so ago he gifted us these boxes full of pears.
Can I just say how generous and amazing it is to have such wonderful neighbors? :)
Seriously, these folks have been so charitable and just plain fabulous in the 8 years we've lived here!
We know we'll be making the one pail of apples into applesauce since they're small and they'd be annoying to peel. I can steam them and use my food grinder to separate the skins, cores, seeds, etc.
The pears we're thinking we'll dehydrate because the big girl loves pear chips.
The golden delicious apples might be dehydrated, or canned for later use in crisps and pies.
What would *you* do with a huge tub full of golden delicious apples? I kinda wish we had a root cellar and then we could just cold store them well into the winter.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Don't you love shared recipes?
The Hubster was at the semi-annual gathering of men in our ward for the General Conference Priesthood session a few weeks back. The men get together before the broadcast for a chili supper. The Hubster made his famous chili and one of the men brought a loaf of bread.
The Hubster really liked the bread and subsequently I received an email with the recipe.
Last night I finally got around to trying it out!
It's a really neat recipe for a bread machine bread and makes a hearty bread that would be perfect with a soup and salad.
Three Seed Bread
1 1/4 cups water
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp canola oil (we used olive oil)
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup flax seed
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Tbsp poppy seed
2 tsp yeast
Just put the ingredients into the bread machine in the order listed. I used the setting for white bread, but next time I might try the setting for the french bread (we like a crispy crust).
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Frugal Sewing - or How to Sew a Skirt for under $2.00
Yesterday I sewed up a skirt for myself. Nothing new there, I tend to do that a few times each year.
What was different was how low the cost was this time! Earlier in the summer I purchased a large box of fabric - various woven woolens and some novelty print cotton wovens. All for $1.00. A great bargain, even by rummage sale standards. My husband actually spotted the box since I was waiting in the van with a sleeping toddler. Then we traded places and I bought the box as soon as I saw the contents.
I had no idea at the time how I was going to use the fabrics, just knew that they were good pieces and a great price. I do that - buy notions, patterns, and fabric and later on find a use for them.
Well...I decided I needed some new winter weight skirts. So, I dug through the box and found a piece that was over 3 yards - plenty enough to make a skirt, even for this rotund mama.
I searched through my patterns and found Butterick 4470 and decided to try View C. It's a simple eight gore skirt with a waistband and zipper. The pattern called for a hook and eye closure, but I decided to do a button and buttonhole instead.
The button was part of my button jar - hard to tell exactly what I paid for it as the button jar contains buttons that have been cut off of rag clothing, buttons I bought in bags at garage sales and thrift stores as well as leftover buttons from when I paid retail prices for notions. The zipper cost 25 cents. It still had the thrift store price tag on it, so I'm certain of the price.
The pattern was purchased new, but during one of JoAnn Fabrics 99 cent sales. I never pay more than 99 cents for patterns. Often I'll buy them for 10 or 25 cents at garage sales.
So when I tally up the cost of this skirt - including the pattern which will be reused over and over again - it's less than $2.00. Probably around $1.50 or so given the huge amount of fabric that was in the $1.00 box. In fact, there is enough left over from making my skirt to sew up a skirt for the big girl or the baby girl.
Next I think I'll try sewing a wrap skirt using the book I received as a birthday present - Sew What! Skirts . I'll need to draft my own pattern, but the bonus is I shouldn't have to alter it at all as you sew to your own measurements.
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Earthy Mama Goods
About Me
- MooMama
- A 40 something mama meandering through life with an eclectic 21 year old boy-man (the boy), an 8 year old girl (big girl) who is a ball of lightening, and a 4 year old girl (baby girl) who brightens our lives with her smiles. I'm grounded by my 40 something husband and partner (the hubster) whose quirky mannerisms brighten my days.
I've been a single mama, married mama, divorced mama, career mama, SAHM, and WAHM. There was a short time of my life when I wasn't a mama, but that was a LONG time ago!
I hold an AA, BS, and MA and most say I'm wasting them by devoting my intellectual capabilities and energy in the nurture of the wee ones that I've been entrusted to raise, but there is nothing else I'd rather be doing these days. :)
I love hearing from readers, so please share your thoughts and leave comments, too!