back in time

The other day Heather asked if we could go to the museum ~ "you know, the hands-on kid one?" Yes, I know the one. We've been before. But I picked a different one this time.

Today we went to a museum that focuses on the history of our region. Inside the museum there is a timeline of history with artifact filled displays. The kids got to grind corn and try to play some primitive Native American kids' games. In typical teacher-mom fashion, we didn't just check out the stuff, I made them read ~ out loud ~ about what we were looking at. They didn't mind a bit.

Then we moved on to the period housing. There is a street of houses that have been moved from various areas of the county to the museum grounds. They have been furnished with appropriate period furnishings. One house even had furniture belonging to the actual owners of the home. There were houses from 1905 to the 1950s era. More reading here too.

One of my favorites was the 1940s house. As soon as we walked in I was transported back to another time. It smelled just like my grandparent's house in Texas. Heather announced that it stunk. Not so. It had the smell of history, old books, and bittersweet memories to me.

Stephanie wanted to know if I would have lived in a 1940s-style house when I was a baby. I huffily patiently explained to her that I am not that old. I explained to her that my father was born in the 1940s. I also told her that when we saw a period house that I would have lived in as a baby, I'd let her know. There wasn't one.


The sign described that during World War II people sacrificed and made do. Instead of buying new furniture, they slipcovered what they had. Sound familiar? The rooms were small ~ the house was small. But the "people" they staged in each house looked happy. Well, the woman in the 1905 one-room home with a wood-fire stove and trundle sewing machine did not look thrilled. I showed the kids the sewing machine and explained how it works. "Wow, that must have been hard!" Yes, their life was hard. Insert the lecture talk about how easy we have it these days.


Love that fabric! Maybe I'll slipcover the couch in the front room with something like that. I'm sure Greg won't mind.

I asked the kids if they had to live in one of the houses on this street, which they would live in. We all agreed that we'd live in the 1940s house or 1920s house that was remodeled in the 40s and decorated with the 50s style. Those were the only two that had an electric washing machine!


There was a train depot. Heather was amazed at the size of the trunks. Where did they put these huge trunks in their small, small houses when they were not traveling? Hmmm.


There was even some "ghost town" buildings. This contraption was sitting outside the jail. Was it a torture device? In the heat the summer did they put the worst bad guys in there to rot?

The end of our time was spent outside & we started getting a little hot and maybe a little cranky. I showed Stephanie the covered wagon (minus the canvas) and told her to remember how small it is when her class talks about the wagon trains coming west. I told her that each family's possessions had to fit in the wagon. They had to leave much of their things and furniture behind. That left little room for people so they had to walk ~ on a day like today (84 degrees out), in a long dress, with petticoats. She was dismayed at that to which I told her to stop complaining about how hot is was at that moment. Such a great mommy!

Heather wanted to know if I had to do that when I moved here. I screamed told her, "I am not that old!" I told her that the wagon trains happened well over 100 years ago, and no, I was not in fact part of a wagon train.

As we were leaving, the kids told me they had a great time and thanked me for taking them to the museum. Whew! I was a little concerned about taking them to that museum, because it's not as hands-on as the other one. I tried to make it interesting for them, though. I'll just go start working on my acceptance speech for that award now.

a bright spot in dim days

In these dark economic times, it's important to look for the light of hope. Right? One way to combat the demons of rising prices is to use coupons. I try to use coupons whenever I can. Whenever it makes the most money sense. Have you ever wondered how much money you save when you use a coupon? Sure, it's printed on the receipt, and sometimes it seems like such an insignificant amount. But in the long run ~ how much of an impact do coupons have on your overall budget? I don't know either. 

So for the rest of this year, I'm going to keep track of my coupon savings in the side bar. I have my last two grocery receipts, so I'll start there. I'm tracking only coupons ~ not bonus buys. Store generated coupons (printed at the register or sent in the mail) do count. The coupon savings amount is printed at the bottom of the receipt. You try it too!

sweet tea

My parents both grew up in Texas. I lived there for a while as a kid. I grew up drinking sweet tea. No other would do. I still love sweet tea. 

I honestly don't know how my mom made it. I don't ever recall seeing her make it. But I do know how to make the best sweet tea. And because I'm so nice & generous, I'll share with you how I do it.

Start of with setting a smallish pot of water to boil. I think the one I use is 1 quart. Pour in a little under a cup of sugar.

Who are we kidding? Pour in the whole dang cup. Wait for the water to boil, stirring occasionally. The sugar will melt with the heat. What you are making here is essentially a simple syrup. No grainy sweet tea going on here.

We all know that watched pot won't boil, so busy yourself with getting the tea bags ready while you are waiting. Use about three regular size tea bags or 1-2 family size tea bags. I use Lipton. I'm sure other brands have perfectly fine tea bags, but this is one of the times I stick with the brand name.

See there? That water came to a boil while you were busy. The sugar should be all melted at his point.

Turn off the heat & put your tea bags into the hot water.

See, the water is already getting darker. Now, walk away. Don't rush this part or you'll end up with a weak-sugar-water excuse for tea. That's no good. Let the tea bags steep for a good while ~ ten minutes or even a little more. The water will be far darker than you think it should be when you come back. 

Fill your 2-quart pitcher about one-third full with ice. 

Remove the tea bags & pour the tea over the ice. I was going to snap a picture of the pouring, but the pot was getting kinda heavy and I was having a hard time aiming through the view finder!

Add more water to fill the pitcher up the rest of the way.

Stir a little to finish dissolving the ice.

Pour yourself a tall glass, sit on the back porch, and do not think of all the house work that needs to be done.

Right about now some of you are scratching your head in wonder. Where's the ice? Isn't she making iced tea? Yet there's not a speck of ice in her glass. Well, this is one more instance where I ride that crazy train ~ I don't like ice in my drinks. If it's already cold, the ice just messes things up. If a soda is not already cold, I will use ice. But otherwise, totally not necessary. I even prefer for water and iced tea to be room temperature. 

scared for her mama

I'm on track break. Teachers on track break or summer break in my district have the opportunity to substitute to earn extra money. I was scheduled to sub for a 5th grade teacher this past week. Stephanie expressed her concern for me and asked me how I was going to handle 5th graders when I couldn't handle 4th graders. (I taught 4th grade for 8 years until I switched to 2nd grade just a few years ago.) I told her that it wasn't that I couldn't handle the 4th graders ~ I just chose not to anymore.  I relayed my conversation with Stephanie to Suzanne, who then told Kevin ~ the 5th grade teacher. He left me a note to tell Stephanie that he's afraid every day!

always a work in progress

We rejoiced last year about this time when we were able to finally plant seed in the back yard.

We hollered even louder when the tiny blades of grass made their first appearances.

But the back yard isn't really done yet. We still have rows of planters waiting for plants. We still have little projects planned here and there. 

But yesterday one of those projects got crossed off the list. We started this herb project a little while ago. We bought the pots, filled them with seed, and watched them grow. They grew and grew. Then over the winter some died.

Yesterday Greg finished building the shelf on which they are supposed to sit. We'll put flowers, or something pretty underneath the shelf. 

He spent hours cutting, staining, and building their new home.

I did not help with this project because I was busy getting my hair "stained" and cut. Heather helped Daddy with this project. She held the boards while he screwed them together. Daddy said she was a good little helper. She alternately helped and rode her bike & scooter ~ all while still in her Halloween-theme pajamas. Hey ~ we rock over here.

Stephanie spent much of the day in bed yesterday with a cough and a fever. Bless her heart.

Now that they have been lifted up, I can see the pots of herbs from the kitchen window, as it was always intended. Now maybe when I am cooking, I won't forget I have fresh herbs in the back yard.

new in town

These gals are new in town. 

They are in the shop, just waiting for someone like you!

They can go anywhere ~ blouse, jacket, purse.

The possibilities are just endless!

such a good meal

Make that two good meals - but hang on for that thought.

Saturday I made something new in the crock pot from this book. It was so good I have to share it with you. 

Lemony Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 (3- to 4-pound) whole chicken

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons butter

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon of fresh parsley

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

Method:

Rinse chicken and pat try with paper towels. Remove and discard any excess fat. Place onion in chicken cavity and rub skin with butter. Place chicken in slow cooker. Squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Sprinkle with grated lemon peel, salt, and thyme. Cover and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours.

**I don't know where exactly the parsley was supposed to go. The recipe didn't say. I just left it out.

Okay ~ before you get all weirded out that you have to use a whole chicken because it's a pain to clean and cut, let me just tell you that if you've cleaned a turkey - same thing. Also, you don't have to worry about cutting anything because the meat just falls off the bone! So yummy and tender. For a side dish I cubed potatoes and mixed them with a little olive oil, thyme, rosemary, and lemon pepper and let them cook in a pan. Everyone in the family loved this meal. 

Then there was too much chicken for our family to eat, so I just saved the rest. Then last night I cut/shredded it up small. Add some sliced onion, a little taco seasoning (tablespoon or two), and some green taco sauce. Instead of green taco sauce, you can use a small can of diced green chiles. With a pat or two of butter I warmed that in a skillet until the onions were cooked and the chicken was hot enough. Then we had chicken for our quesadillas. These turned out way better than the ones I normally make. 

Let's talk value ~ I got a two-pack of whole chickens for just under $10. Froze one. So the one I used cost about $5 and it made two meals. Meat for two meals for $2.50 a meal. There's actually even a little bit of the chicken left over. Quesadilla for me for lunch! Depending on the size of your family, you may not get the same value we did.

Let me know if you try this recipe. How did it work out for you? What will you do with your left over chicken the next day?

a year can be a really long time

We want to save money for some of our family goals. We have looked for ways to cut spending. We've managed to lower our phone bill, cell phone bill, and cable bill. Each savings was not monumental ~ but added up together and spread over time, it can be substantial. That was fine. That was good. But not good enough.

So we issued ourselves a great challenge. Ready? Sit down.

We are not eating out for an entire year. I know. Shocking, right? For those of you who know me well know that I love to go out to eat. Especially Mexican food. Oh, this will be tough. Greg says for him it's not such a great sacrifice because I make better meals than most he eats in a restaurant. Aww, thanks, honey. I do like to cook. But I also like to have someone else cook for me from time to time ~ once or twice a week. I told him whether we eat at home or out, he gets his meals cooked for him. I only get mine cooked for me when we go out. He understood my perspective.

So, we started our No Eat Out Year when we returned from Disneyland. It's been over a month and we've done well. 

There are some necessary exceptions to this rule:

• If we go out of town, we will obviously have to break the rule.  We did have to cheat on our challenge when we went out to town for Carter's birthday. 
  
• When the weather gets hotter, Greg will have to eat lunch out. If not, he will bake himself in the metal FedEx oven. He will need a break from the agonizing heat. It's just not safe.
  

I do miss eating out. But I just keep thinking about all the money we are not spending by not paying someone else to make our meals. We do have a couple of gift cards from Christmas, so when I don't think I can stand it any longer or for something really special, we will use those. 

Keeping with the frugal spirit, Greg decided he will tackle his own truck maintenance. Now this is a sacrifice for him. He doesn't enjoy working on cars like his dad does. He does not like the feel of oil or grease on his hands. Sawdust? Dirt? Different story. No oil.

He bought a book and did some research on pricing. This morning he headed out to the auto supply store to buy the supplies he needed to change the oil, coolant, gas filter, air filter, and serpentine belt. We save tons with him changing the serpentine belt alone.

He bit the bullet and crawled under the car. He got oily. He washed his hands 67,000 times.

As he finished each task, I asked him to rate its difficulty ~ 1 being easy and 10 being hard. Nothing rated over a 5. There was even a 2 and a 3 in there. These stellar ratings even came after the hood with the faulty hydraulic arm came crashing on his head before he even got started. He anticipates that most things will be a solid 3 next time.

He was not especially amused with me and the camera though. He tried to hide his face while double checking his manual. But in my charming presence, he couldn't hold back his smirk too well.

To provide moral support (and get some vitamin D therapy) I stationed a chair on the front walk and worked on some crafting. I think I got a little sunburned. 

So folks, No Eat Out Year might be a loooong time. You might hear whining a time or two. I do not promise to be cheerful about it all the time. But who knows ~ maybe we'll feel up to extending our challenge beyond the year.

In the meantime, you are welcome to come over for a meal. I'll be cooking.

light again

Tonight we spring forward.  Goodbye daylight savings time.

Tomorrow it gets dark an hour later. Hello light!

Glory hallelujah!

Mother Nature is warming her sweet Earth ~ the northern half anyway. The trees are beginning to blossom. Renewal surrounds us.

We'll have a few strawberries soon.

Maybe the sweet little birds will come back to this nest they made a couple of years ago. That summer we saw them flying in and out of this tree. We didn't realize until the tree lost its leaves that they had built themselves a home. They are welcome to come back.

Real flowers will dot our back yard and bring their intoxicating fragrance.

Instead of just our fake flowers.

Everything is new again. Promise floats among us and we are ready to breathe it in.

taking a nap vs. going back to bed

Tuesday was the first day of my track break. When Greg came home that afternoon he very accusingly asked me if I had taken a nap.

Me: Define nap.

Greg: Anytime your eyes are closed and you are not conscious.

Me: Then, yes, I took a nap. At 5:00.

Greg: (looking at the clock) It's not even 5:00 yet.

Me: 5:00 AM

You all know that I get up with Greg at 4:15 and totally whine about it to make his breakfast & lunch and send him out the door. Yes, I am aware of the feminist movement. Yes, he realizes he's spoiled. Yes, when the boys at work find out they are quite jealous and want me to call their wives. Yes, when the girls at my work find out they order me not to tell their husbands.

Anyway. While I am working, I stay up and use the hour before I have to start getting ready to do dishes, read, do crafts, read blogs, etc. When I am not working I stay up half of the time and go back to bed nap half of the time. The thing is that when I take that early morning nap I end up sleeping too long. How could that be, you say? If I sleep more than 8 hours at a time I'm groggy & achy for much of the day. I don't want to do much else than sleep or sit on the couch all day. I can totally get by with 6-7 hours sleep. Eight hours at one time is a maximum. So, generally it's just better if I stay up.

Greg told me later that the 5:00 AM could just be considered going back to bed. 

But how much time has to pass before going back to bed becomes just a nap? Cuz this morning I either went back to bed, or took a 6:00 nap. After I'd been up a little while I decided I wasn't ready to be up after all.

Then this snuggly little monkey comes to get warmed up. She's always up before Stephanie. She's an early riser.

Stephanie is not an early riser. Freight trains and earthquakes do not wake this child up. She will sleep 12 hours if given the chance. 

Let's back that picture up a little:

We have plenty of beds in this house. Still, they sometimes choose to create make-shift "living rooms" in their rooms and camp out. 

is this what she learns in school?

This joke is courtesy of Stephanie.

Once this man bought a new house, but didn't know what to name it. In his sleep he heard the words "hairy butt" so he named it Hairy Butt. Then he got a dog, but didn't know what to name it. In his sleep, he heard the word "crack" so he named it Crack. One day his dog was lost so he went to the police station and said, "I looked all over my Hairy Butt, but I can't find my Crack." 

She said she heard it from a boy at school. Dirty boys.

just a little more crazy

Yesterday was crazy sock day at school. I got out all of their socks with any type of color on them and told them to pick something out. Apparently they both liked the purple penguin Christmas sock. 

I told the kids to wear these criss-cross shoes (instead of sneakers) so the maximum amount of sock would show. Heather started to argue with me, saying that those shoes don't match and would look dumb. Really? You're concerned about that at this exact moment? Did you see your socks?!

By the end of the day, Stephanie had taken hers off. Apparently this was not a popular spirit day in her class and she felt silly wearing mismatched socks. 

Heather fully embraced the crazy and still had her socks on at the end of the day.

giveaway

Don't these Moda honey buns look sweet enough to eat?! V and Co. is hosting a giveaway for these two rolls. One of which is aptly named "sweet" and the other "swanky." What are you waiting for ~ go enter now!

P.S. Danny ~ if you win, can I have them? :)

missed opportunity

Yesterday Greg changed the battery in his truck. Then mowed the yard. And cut my wood. Plus other outside chores. 

This morning he tells me that he thinks he locked his keys in his truck because he can't find them in the house. So he took my keys out to retrieve his own.

He came back in and informed me that his keys were in the ignition, the windows were down, and the doors unlocked. Yikes!

Some thief missed a golden opportunity to have a brand-new-used truck. Not to mention the keys to our house. And my car. 

Let's just say a quick prayer of thanks.

what did you do yesterday?

What did you do yesterday?

Me?

Well, since you asked.

To begin with, I went to the last session of the imovie class I've been taking through the district. Soon I may have a movie that I can share with you. 

When I got home, Greg was outside working on the yard, changing his truck battery, and cutting my wood! Woo hoo! I can cut my own wood, but he's better at the big saw than I am. So I sweet talked him into doing it for me. 

It was such a gorgeous day outside ~ perfectly spring ~ so I decided to stay outside for just a little while to get the wood sanded down. Because of the roughness of the wood, each block needed a double sanding ~ first with 100 grit, then 220 grit. This won't take long.

It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r! I was out there several hours! I wasn't even done with the first sand when I took this picture. It was dark and chilly when I finally finished. 

Looking on the bright side? It's all sanded now. Keep watching to see how these blocks get transformed at my craft table.