4 Random Things

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1.  The Drywall guy came today.  I love the feeling I get when I see that the holes are filled in.  He’ll be back tomorrow to tape and thinks it will take him all week to finish skim coating, drying and sanding.  Maybe I can paint on Monday?  I’m breathing again.
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When I took the popcorn off the adjoining family room, I found a small spot of black mold underneath. So we decided to cut out that section. Look away if you have a weak stomach.

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This pile fell down–which was mostly made of racoon feces. Not cool. We knew this house needed help when we bought it, but have had a few extra surprises.

2.  I’ve been thinking a lot about frugal living lately and have come to the obvious conclusion that too much stress cripples my ability to think and act frugally.  And being organized helps me be even more frugal.  Simplify, simplify–my motto for today.

3.  Why would someone pay $395 for a Burberry scarf, when you can get this one for $7?  I bought the $7 one, it’s very nice.  Sometimes I think the phrase, “You get what you pay for,” is stupid.  I mean, I don’t mind paying for what something is worth….but $395 for a scarf?  Really?  Am I getting that much more for my money?

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And what about this purse?  A used Chanel handbag with scratches on the buckle and creasing on the leather from “mild and ordinary use.”

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Yep, it sold for $3,895 plus $35 shipping.  Um, that’s how much we are saving for a used car for my husband.  I’ve been thinking about this way too much and I still don’t get it.  Even if I had that kind of money to throw around I know a really awesome clinic that I’d rather give it to.

4.  And my High School choir is going to sing this song for our Christmas Concert.  I know the composer–he’s amazing.  And I was privileged to sing in the choir in this video:

When my choir heard it (while following along with the music) they said, “We know the man that wrote this.  That’s Dr. Smith. He used to work here.”

I forgot Nathan had  a PHD in music, because we are good friends.  The kids’ statement reminded me what big shoes I have to fill in my position at the school.  I really lean on Christ every day that I’m there.  And I spend a lot of time at home researching the best techniques and getting advice from true masters in the field and yet I feel so inadequate.  It’s in those moments that I’m reminded that God chooses weak vessels to do His work, and then when results far surpass all our expectations, there is no mistake where the Glory belongs.  I have to stop freaking out though!  God doesn’t want me to worry or feel stress but to trust Him completely while I do my best and let Him make up the difference.

Slow and Steady….

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Need. Water. Drywall.

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We are challenged right now, getting our drywall guy to show up.  Or call us back….DSC_1490

Our friend started the drywall process for us and I love his work and how that arched doorway is shaping up. He is too busy or I’d hire him to finish the job.

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So in the meantime, I’m scraping more popcorn ceilings.  And trying to hold it together for the family.

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Soccer, ballet, violin lessons, piano lessons, tutoring, teaching voice…..IT has started. The crazies are here and the fear that gave me hives last spring has come true.  That our kitchen would still look like this when the crazies come.  I’m ready to bake fall cookies and homemade bread.  I’m ready to have family dinners around a table and look at each other and talk.

But for now I’m being grateful.  Grateful for this huge house that was ugly enough that we could afford it.  Grateful for the kids to fill it up.  Grateful for just enough money to do a project like this.  Grateful for friends who will come and help. And for plenty of food; and air conditioning, for the kids’ school and the best job in the world I get to do there, for boxes of real hardwood floor and a 6 burner gas range ready in the garage for their moment to come. And that we are healthy and in love. Somehow remembering what I have to be thankful for makes the waiting and the longing and the taking forever bearable one more day.

 

Front Porch Sittin’

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M.R. Ducks

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O.S.A.R.

C.D.E.D.B.D. Legs?

C.D.E.D.B.D. Feet?

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L.I.B.

M.R. Ducks.

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Um, Guys.   They’re Geese.  Canadian Geese.  Now go get some crusts of bread.

Big Haul from Dirty Don’s

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I hate reading posts like this.  The ones where someone tells you the great deals they found–that you can’t get. I hope you will humor me a little and not throw tomatoes.  There’s a purpose (besides shameless bragging…)

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Dirty Don’s is a salvage store.  I’m not sure where they get their stuff, but it looks like restaurant supply and mis-delivered or damaged train cargo. There are stores like these in major cities spread across the United States and most people have access to some sort of deal if they know to look.  Some days I go into a store like Dirty Don’s and leave empty handed–not every day is a haul.  In fact, I’d had so many bad days that I stopped going for awhile.

But a friend called and bragged about her awesome purchases, and I ran right over to see if there was anything left.

Here’s what I got: 4 boxes of Larabar’s with 16 count each at $2 a box.

4 bottles of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce $.50 each

2 containers of Feta cheese: $.50 each

9 lbs of Fajita Chicken Sausage: $6

9 lbs of Spinach Asiago chicken sausage: $6

24 lbs of shredded rotisserie chicken breast: $15

lunch box size individual organic Strawberry applesauce:  $.25 for 4 servings

Cottage Cheese:  $.50 a 24 oz carton

Cereal (off-brand of Special K with freeze dried strawberries.) $1 a box

3 pkg of Burrito Size Tortillas: $.50 a bag of 8

Individual lunch box hummus containers:  $1.50 for 12

And organic white blueberry tea: $1.50 a box

Everything that could be frozen went straight to the freezer.  Then I started planning my meals based on the food I just got.  I didn’t decide what I was going to cook, then make a list and go buy it.  I looked at what I have and said, “Now what are you going to do with this stuff?”  I love the creativity that comes with this way of thinking.  Sometimes amazing new dishes are born.  On the first night we had feta chicken wraps on tortillas (imagine that :).) And all that cottage cheese will become protein pancake batter.

So anyhow, the point is–look for deals.  Know your prices!  Just because it’s at Dirty Don’s doesn’t mean it’s a good price. Use a portion of your grocery money each month to buy those amazing deals (and if there aren’t any deals–save the deal money for when you find the mother-load.)  Then fill your freezer and pantry (watch for expiration dates.) And use what you find.  I still spend a portion of my budget each month on fresh produce, dairy etc.  and to fill in some gaps–but this is the main way we feed our family for so little.

Brandon’s First Skate

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When we were homeschoolers we went skating once a month at the homeschool skate.  Brandon was in the stroller or with Grandma and had never put on real skates before.  (You know it’s a homeschool skate when there are tons of strollers on the floor and brothers and sisters help each other skate without fighting.  Not that homeschoolers are perfect…but it’s a pretty special culture.)

Now that all the kids are in private school, we rarely go skating. So I was excited for Brandon to be invited to a skating birthday party.  I dropped off the rest of the kids with Grandma this time, so I could focus all my attention on him.

The wheels on real skates spin super fast.  Brandon was sure he was an expert skater and didn’t wait for me to go on the rink floor.  He looked like something out of a Disney Goofy movie.  Ouch! He was ready to go home.  I couldn’t even hold him up with his arms and legs flying everywhere.  I can’t tell you how many times I said, “Just stand up.” (Patiently…of course :P.)

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We tried having the wheels tightened on the skates, but his feet were too narrow for the velcro ones and the tie skates can’t be tightened. Next try were the fisher price shoe skates.  His shoes were too big for those so he just wore his socks.  Now we’re ready for some fun!

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His new friend from school was there and they were an inseparable pair.

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She was a fearless skater and when she took a tumble Brandon was right there to help her up.  It was so sweet, I tried not to cry.  I love it when I see one of my son’s be gentle and strong.

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One of the games was the limbo :).  They were pretty lenient on the rules and I laughed myself limp watching the kids army crawl under the pole.

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The rink had one of these thingies made up out of pvc pipe to help the really struggling skaters.  I wish they had 10 of them.  They looked really easy to make so I took this photo to help me remember how to put it together.

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The Mom hosting the party is super creative and made these minion cupcakes for the kids.  Adorable.

Hope you enjoyed my super blurry phone pictures (bwa ha ha.)  We sure enjoyed the day.

 

Pumpkin Everything Is Here

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I’ve had a lot of pumpkin type of recipes on my blog over the years, including:

 

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

(Last year a gray pumpkin gave us the best flavor–sweet like  a melon and darkest color.)

We still have a freezer full of gorgeous puree.  It’s no longer recommended to home can pumpkin, so freezing is the way to go.

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Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Cutouts

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Easy Pumpkin Cake

 

 

Pumpkin Bagels–These are the BEST

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

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Pumpkin Granola

Pumpkin Donuts (no special pan needed)

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I also have a Pumpkin Recipe Ebook:  Called Perfectly Pumpkin with these recipes and many more of our favorites like pumpkin biscotti, chili, oatmeal, smoothies and more!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Mac

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I can’t wait to tell you about this recipe!  Sunday, I stayed home from church to kick the last bit of an infection, but still needed to have lunch on the table for 8 of us (and a young guest.) So around 8 am, I snuck up to our attic kitchen and threw 2 (24 oz) cans of spaghetti sauce, 1 frozen 2 lb log of lean ground beef, and a cup of water (which I used to rinse out the sauce cans) in a large oval slow cooker on high.  Then back to bed for me.

At 11:30, I took the lid off, and smashed the now cooked beef into crumbles with the back of a fork.  (A potato masher would have been handy…but which box did I pack that in?)  (The beef had taken on all the yummy flavors of the sauce.) And stirred in 1 lb of dry macaroni noodles.  Then I replaced the lid and waited for the family to come home.

Darren found some lettuce, cottage cheese and pineapple to make it look something like a meal.  But oh, that spaghetti mac was yummy. We had 1 serving left over and I packed it into a lunch kit for a lucky child.  I’m going to say this serves 8-10 of a mixed age and gender family or 6 growing boys.

I imagine this recipe would work with gluten free noodles, or low carb Dreamfields pasta too. The pasta shape is important though.  Full size macaroni takes longer to cook than thin spaghetti which would have turned to mush in the crock.

Oh the bliss of not thawing meat or standing over hamburger browning in the skillet.  Imagine it, you pregnant ladies who can’t stand the smell of cooking meat!  Imagine it, you busy working mom’s or homeschoolers who don’t have an extra moment in the day.  This is a life changer.

Print
Slow Cooker Spaghetti Mac

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Mac

Ingredients

  • 2 cans 24 oz each of spaghetti sauce
  • 2 lbs uncooked ground beef
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 lb of macaroni shaped pasta, uncooked

Instructions

  1. in a large slow cooker combine the sauce, water (use it to rinse your cans first), and ground beef. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
  2. Smash beef with a fork or potato masher until it is crumbled.
  3. Stir in pasta and cook for 1 hour longer or until pasta is tender and sauce is quite thick.
http://www.groceryshrink.com/slow-cooker-spaghett-mac/

Lace Fingerless Gloves

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Instead of sewing my afghan squares together, I made these:

fingerless gloves

From this free pattern (click the photo below to go to the pattern) (Argh–cue angry pirate sounds–wordpress is deleting my links so I put a hard copy below the picture.  You’ll have to cut and paste):

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http://bethsco.blogspot.com/2011/11/ripple-lace-fingerless-gloves.html

 

 

 

I like them in a color better than white.  It takes some of the saccharine sweetness out of it.  But white was my only sport weight yarn in stash and I was still resting from an illness while I stitched.  This pattern is super fast and I was able to complete a pair of gloves in a couple of hours.  (They’d be good for stocking stuffers if you have a tween or teen, or trendy teacher on your list.)

Which one do you like better?

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This polka dot afghan was supposed to be part of Heather’s room reveal.  That was crazy.  As if I had time to sit and crochet with all the other projects.  But I’ve taken it with me for car rides and appointments and meetings, and now it’s time to make a decision on how to sew the squares together.

Do you like Rainbow?

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Or Random?

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There’s one square left to stitch up.  In rainbow mode it would be light blue.  In ‘random’ dark blue.

This was my inspiration photo: I didn’t have all the colors, so went more simply. I used only the small dot squares in solid colors.

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From Made by Do. Click picture to go to the tutorial for this afghan.

I had originally thought to make mine random too.  But the rainbow has a nice orderly feeling to it.

I’ve been in bed for 2 1/2 days with a kidney infection (follow up appointment on Tuesday).  So if you follow me on Pinterest, I apologize for filling up your main page with Christmas ideas and crochet tutorials.  I decided while I lay (lie–hmmm, That’s why I teach choir) here I decided to get a jump start on Christmas planning.

I lost all humility and told my husband I AM A GENIUS.  You know why?  Last year on December 26th I took a few moments to take notes on our last Christmas, including what gifts went over well and are a definite re-do; what I’d like to do differently with decorations;  and updates for my Christmas card list. So when I went to brainstorm for Christmas 2013, half the work was done for me and the ideas were really good.

Like:  Make a bound photo book  for Great-Grandma.  Her mind isn’t clear and it’s hard for her to remember everyone’s names, so it will be easy to make that part of the book. And maybe if I start now on Teacher gifts, I’ll get them done on time….maybe.