It's on it's way

"Spring, Spring, glorious Spring.
It's on its way hooray hooray!!"

I am not a winter person.  At. All.  So when I see things like this, I know that Spring is truly on its way:

Beautiful red cardinal on top of the raked-away straw from last year's garden

Flowers (as Ruby would call them)  Nonetheless - brightness amidst the gloom

Rotor-tilled garden plot!

Long lists of things to do to get ready for a certain little girl's SECOND birthday.

Sorry I've been an absentee blogger.  This lent I am really trying to focus on being more present as a wife and a mother, which means I am more absent from the online world.  We're less than a week in, but it's been good so far.  These sweet kiddos are just growing up too fast and I don't want to "just a minute" their childhoods away while I'm on the computer.

Hope you and yours are having a peaceful, reflective Lent.  I read something the other day that said that the sacrifices we make during Lent help to make more room in our hearts for Love and for God Who Is Love.  May your heart expand this Lent!

Would you?

Would you add a cup that looked like this to the final rinse of your white load of laundry?

I did today.  And I'm pretty excited about it too!

It's bluing.  Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing.  It's biodegradable and non-toxic, and I'm hoping it's the solution to my dingy whites.

About 2 months ago, we started using homemade laundry detergent (for cost reasons mainly.)  After much research, I decided to try this recipe:
1/4 bar Fels-Naptha soap
1/4 bar Ivory soap
2/3 c. washing soda
1/2 c. Borax
6 c. water, then an addition 4 c., then an additional 22 c.

At first, I thought it was leeching a LOT of color out of our clothes (like when I washed jeans, the water was DARK blue.  I had to seriously alter the way that I normally do laundry (four large loads every 10-14 days of dark delicate, dark dry, light delicate and light dry.)  With the homemade stuff, it seemed as though you had to sort very carefully so that colors didn't bleed/leech.  So I'd sworn off of using it.  Then I thought I should give it some more time.  I sorted more carefully (whites, lights, brights, darks, and dark and light delicates (which I wash in Woolite anyway.)  And in that time, I began to think that perhaps our clothes were getting clean.  It seemed like they were getting fairly clean at least.  Until the last few loads that came out feeling downright greasy. (Andy's work clothes and our bed sheets.)  Still don't know exactly what happened there.  The 2nd time I made it, I increased the soap to potentially combat the greasiness.  Used this recipe:

1/2 bar Fels-Naptha
1/2 bar Ivory soap
2/3 c. washing soda
1 c. Borax
Water, water water.

Now I think that maybe the Borax is too much (softens the water too much so that the soap isn't as effective- is there such a thing?)  So next time, I think I'll decrease the Borax.

Pretty much I have no idea what I'm doing.  I am truly a mad scientist.

But I did read that bluing would help make dingy white whiter.  And I found some when we were going through my great aunt's possessions yesterday.  So I decided to use it in my white load today.  It is currently in the dryer, but to me, the stuff that was saveable (namely things that had not gotten dingy over the course of 6 years of use like Ira's blanket or Andy's work socks - which are not six years old, but my are they grody!) does look nice and bright. 

I really would like to figure out this homemade laundry soap thing.  Because we stand to save a TON.  And it's all much better for your clothes and skin and the environment.  But I think there are a lot of variables (hard/soft water, what each ingredient does and how it interacts with the other ingredients, my affinity for packing the washing machine full and not sorting clothes all that carefully -dark dry, light dry, dark delicate, light delicate)  There are SO many variables that I just don't know much of anything about.  And I'm not having the greatest luck finding information on the internet about it.  There is a wealth of recipes for homemade laundry soap.  And there are tons of people saying how well it works and tons of people saying that it doesn't work at all.  But there's just not much about how it works.  Or troubleshooting advice.  So if you are in the know, SPEAK UP!

So I'm on the fence.  Our laundry doesn't smell bad when it's done washing.  It doesn't smell "clean" either.  It doesn't smell like anything at all really.  I just think our laundry could look cleaner.  I guess I will continue to dink with my recipe.  I'll use the bluing every once in awhile.  And I'll keep trolling the interwebs for solutions. 

Yellow Dello

I couldn't help but take a picture of the gorgeous view out the kids' bedroom window this afternoon.  We are certainly blessed with some BEAUTIFUL trees on our property.  The picture as usual, does NOT do the breathtaking colors of this tree justice.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share a little view into our world.

"Soup"vember

Let me start by saying that I am a meal planner.  I just have to.  If I don't, I end up being totally unmotivated to fix dinner for my family.  Which means that we either eat last-minute something or Andy has to deal with the pressure of fixing dinner after he's been at work all day.  Neither of those scenarios are ones that I like to deal with on a daily basis.  (Don't get me wrong, Andy is an awesome cook, I just don't think it's fair to him to get home from a long day of work and then deal with having to come up with/thaw out/prepare a meal.) 

Therefore, I have to plan our meals.  We are "weird" and only go grocery shopping once a month (except to pick up eggs, apples, etc. that we run out of), so at the beginning of each month, I sit down with either a recipe book or a cooking magazine and plan out 15-20 meals. 

It works well for us on many levels.  First off, it takes care of the perpetual "what's for dinner?" question.  Secondly, it allows me to know what we need grocery-wise for the entire month.  And lastly (and perhaps most importantly), it is a major budget-saver.  #1 it seems like the more we go to the grocery store, the more we spend, so the once a month thing helps with that, #2 it allows me to plan a variety of meals, some with more-expensive ingredients and some with less-expensive ingredients all while staying within our overall monthly budget.  Does that make sense?

Well, this month, the cupboards and the freezer were looking pretty bare, and I knew if we stocked up on everything we needed that we would go way over our grocery budget for the month.  So, I decided that I would plan only soups for dinner this month (Dinner, by the way is the only meal I plan.  Breakfast is usually cold cereal, oatmeal, or toast, and Lunch is usually sandwiches for the boys and leftovers for us girls.) 

Soups are just economical in so many ways.  Typically, you can use less and less-expensive meats, or even no meat at all, in which case you can use beans to meet your protein needs.  You can also use a lot of canned/frozen vegetables, which are not only healthy, but a bargain as well! 

So we're seeing a lot of this at our house lately:

And quite honestly, it's been AWESOME to be able to get dinner ready in the morning and have minimal work to do in the evening during the dreaded "witching hour."  You fellow moms know what I'm talking about... that last hour before daddy gets home... aaarrrggghhh

And just in case you were curious, here's our line-up of soups for the month.  Let me know if you'd like me to share any of the recipes!

Lentil Soup

Mother's Nurturing Chicken Soup

Deb's Potato Vegetable Soup

Linda's Spicy Chicken Soup

Barley Beef Soup

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Meatball Soup

Split Pea Soup

Jambalaya

French Onion Soup

Minestrone

Cabbage Patch Stew

New England Clam Chowder

Monica's Mexican Chili

Mom's White Chicken Chili

Happy "Soup"vember!

'Tis the Season

We're well into autumn now (actually having some cool/cold days even!) and you know what that means... It's time for PUMPKIN EVERYTHING.

I am really not typically a pumpkin-aholic, (just ask the three expired-two-years-ago cans of pumpkin in my pantry) but last weekend I was looking for a dessert recipe for having my sis's family over and found this utterly delicious recipe that I already had most of the ingredients for.  So I set about making "Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake" out of the Kraft Foods Busy Family Recipes cookbook that my MIL gave me for my b-day.

It was ri.dic.u.lous.ly good.  I would eat it any day over pumpkin pie.  Don't get me wrong, I like pumpkin pie and everything, but it can be so heavy and rich.  And although this cake was plenty rich, it just sat very lightly in the 'ole tum-tum.  I'm hoping to make this again to share at Thanksgiving!

Here is the recipe:

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake
Prep: 20 min
Total: 1 hr. 50min. (including cooling)
Makes: 16 servings (or four generous ones...)

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, divided
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. oil
4 eggs
1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided  (I made my own)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed
1/4 c. caramel ice cream topping (again, made my own)
1/4 c. pecan halves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit

2. Beat cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs, and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended.  Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans. (I only have 8"x1.5" pans, so I just divided it evenly between the two and it worked great.)  Bake 28-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.  Cool in pans about 5 minutes.  Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.

3. Beat cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy.  Add sugar, remaining pumpkin and spices; mix well.  Gently fold in whipped topping.

4. Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife (I used my awesome cake-leveler); stack on serving plate, spreading cream cheese filling between layers (you can be pretty generous.)  Do not frost top layer.  Drizzle with caramel topping and top with nuts just before serving.  Refrigerate leftovers.

5. Heartily enjoy!

This isn't the greatest picture of it, but we were all ready to dive in, so I just quickly snapped a picture for all you devoted readers. HA!

Great day

Seriously, how can you not have a great day when this is what you find upon taking the lid off of the unopened container of marshmallow cream?   Wishing you a smiley, marshmallow-creamy kind of day!

Um... really?

Ok, so I know they say things like "babies learn by watching what you do" and "babies love to imitate."  And then there's the 'ole "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  But seriously, who exactly did Ruby learn this recipe from: "Sprinkle banana heavily with hot sauce.  Add to hot tea.  Stir. Enjoy."

So Proud!

Yesterday, my dad completed his 8th Marathon.  That's a LOT of running! (26.2 miles x 8 marathons = 209.6 miles; but that doesn't even come close to how many miles he ran training for them all.)  I cannot even imagine the sense of accomplishment  it would bring to complete something monumental like that.  And I'm sure yesterday it wasn't just the accomplishment of finishing the marathon, but also of completing the training for it this summer in the record-breaking temperatures.  So proud!  Way to go Dad!

Two Less

We have two less of something around here.  Nope, it's not our kids.  We plan on keeping them for awhile yet.

Ira "lost" his first two teeth on Thursday - 10/6/11.  I put lost in quotes because it was more like "yanked out after much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Ira had noticed right around when school started that his two bottom front teeth were loose.  Not loose loose, but loose nonetheless.  Some time after that, he noticed that his two adult teeth were coming in behind the still-there baby teeth.  On the rare occasion that he would let me wiggle them, they didn't seem that incredibly loose to me - not loose enough to pull at least.

Well, we had dentist appointments on Thursday and the dentist told me that we really need to get those teeth out because the adult teeth are supposed to come in under not behind the baby teeth.  They come in behind when the baby teeth get loose and don't get pulled in time.  (Boy did I ever feel like the mother of the year...)  So he said we need to get them pulled asap.

Not being one to have to be told things twice, I set after pulling them when we got back to my parents' to pick up Ruby.  When (after 10 minutes of the wailing/gnashing bit) Ira finally let me put my fingers in his mouth, it took about 4 seconds to push the bottom left one forward and out.  Well, you can guess that the second one wasn't going to be that "easy."  It took him about 40 minutes of fighting tooth and nail (he he he I so punny) to let me even come near his mouth again.  I only got close to it when my dad finally stepped in and helped hold Ira so that he couldn't really move.  Again, once I finally got my fingers in his mouth, it took like 4 seconds to push the right bottom tooth forward and out.

It was quite the ordeal, and he's not real keen on the whole thing even still.  He didn't want to show/tell anyone at school on Friday (but accidentally his teacher saw when he smiled once.)  He wasn't happy that the tooth fairy didn't bring him "a 10 pound box of trains."  And he wasn't real thrilled with the idea of me taking a picture.  Luckily, he relented and I was able to capture this gem.  You can hardly tell he's missing teeth because the adult ones are already so big!  And for the record, those baby teeth came in almost exactly 5 years from when they came out. (10/2/06[R] and 10/8/06[L])  To sum up the whole experience: "It was like pulling teeth." Literally.

Gpers

It's one of those mornings.  You know, the mornings where you can hardly get out of bed.  It's a sleeping kind of day, and if it'd been up to me, we would've slept all day.  Alas, Ira's in school and Ruby's not real fond of spending the entire day in her crib, so up and at 'em we are.  And the title of this post?  Well, that's what happens when you try to type "flowers" and your fingers would rather be in bed still...

Anyway, this past weekend, I added 12 more plants to my perennial flower bed that I started this year.  I have never been one to do well with keeping flowers alive (I like to say that I have a black thumb.)  But the front of our house was in desperate need of something, and after devouring the book "Prairie Lands" from my Mother-in-Law, I decided to make a go of planting prairie-friendly perennials.  Boy, did I pick the year to start a flower garden!  Luckily, thanks to these awesome soaker hoses (and a nice deep well) we were able to keep everything except one plant alive (which is pretty good considering I planted 34ish plants in May.)

The garden now includes: 3 Mums, 3 Salvia, 3 Rosebushes (already there), 1 Butterfly bush that is not there anymore, 2 Blanket Flower, 5 Garden Phlox, 3 Aster, 4 Black-eyed Susans, 3 Stella de Oro day lilies, 3 Purple Coneflower, 3 Sedum, 1 (beautiful) Russian Sage, 7 liatris spicata, 5 Yarrow, and 5 coreopsis.  I cannot wait to see it grow and spread from year to year.  This first year wasn't too impressive flower-wise, but that's normal with perennials, and I was pretty much thrilled with the fact that they stayed alive all summer (perennials are an INVESTMENT!)  I still need to find something to replace the Butterfly Bush with.  I may just replace it with Russian Sage because I love how it looks so much (it's the fuzzy purple at the far end of the garden in the pic below.)  The honeybees and butterflies LOVE it (seriously, the plant buzzes when you walk past)  and it's just such a pretty color and texture.  (Look at me talking like an actual gardener! he he he)

Here are some pics of the garden that I took this morning while it was RAINING!!!  I liked the first pic because all the flowers that I planted are in focus, but I had to include the second one too because I love how only the roses are in focus.

Homecoming

My college had homecoming festivities this weekend.  We've always wanted to attend in the past, but have had other commitments.  Finally, this year, we didn't have anything else going on.  So we decided to go.  Part of the festivities was a coloring contest for kids 0-5 and 6-10.  I printed out the page for Ira on Thursday and he was pretty excited about coloring his picture so that it would "come to life."  (After, that is, he got over his fear that he might not win... seriously.... we're talking tears and everything...I told him to sit in his room and think about it for awhile, about if he was going to be that devastated if he didn't win, that maybe he just shouldn't do it at all, that he'd have to decide if it was worth it to him.  He sat in there about 3 minutes and came out calmed down and had decided he was going to color it and he was going to win.)

Homecoming at my college is awesome and SO family friendly.  First off, it's in the late afternoon, which works great for parents of kiddos who still take naps.  Secondly, everything was FREE!  From the parade (where we collected at least a half gallon of candy,) to the carnival (with inflatable rides and carnival games and prizes,) to the tailgate dinner, it was all free.  Ira turned in his coloring sheet and scoped out the competition, and I've got to say, his page did look really awesome.  I was under the impression that they were announcing the winner at halftime of the football game, which we had decided not to go to (because it did cost money.) 

We watched the game for awhile from behind the chain-link fence, and were getting around to go when a couple of alums walked out and asked if we wanted their alumni passes to go to the game.  Hooray!  So we ended up going in right around the end of the first quarter.  After we walked in, the Alumni Director walked past us and said excitedly, "Hey did you hear the announcement?"  I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so I said, "No, what?"  And she said that Ira WON the coloring contest!!!  He was absolutely, positively elated.  It was so adorable, and I was so proud of and happy for him.  We ended up staying through half-time and then headed home because Ruby was ready for bed.   The kids both fell fast asleep on the way home and slept like rocks all night.  It was a WONDERFUL day and I hope to return to Homecoming for many years to come! 

Here's a pic of Ira with his fun prize!

Broke

Good GRIEF!  In the last 15 days at our house we have broken glass 4, yes that was FOUR times.  

When my sister and her fam was over two Fridays ago, Ira accidentally tipped a glass over on the bar and it shattered.  (That was fun to clean up with 4 kiddos 5 and under.) 

Last Sunday, as I was getting plates out of the cabinet, one slipped out under the stack I got out and hit the counter top and shattered.  Mind you, it was Corelle, which I thought was supposed to be durable (we knocked one off the half-wall in our apartment and it fell a whole story down and hit the linoleum at the bottom of the stairs and it didn't break.)  Apparently it's not durable enough to hit a counter top two feet below the cabinet...

Yesterday, as I was making my grocery list, somehow (I'm still not sure, b/c Ira was across the room and Ruby was 3 feet away from it) my big tri-fold 9 frame picture stand got knocked over and crashed to the ground (thank GOODNESS not on anyone) and two of the frames of glass shattered.  All over the carpet.  And toys. And Andy wasn't home yet.  Ugh...

Then this morning as Ruby was finishing up her breakfast (cheerios, one and a half scrambled eggs, and a big piece of toast) she knocked the Corelle plate she was using off of the bar and onto the floor.  And guess what?  It SHATTERED too!  We don't often give her Corelle plates to use, but you can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow... she'll be back to using her plastic plates.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you plan on coming over to our house, make sure to wear shoes... and bring your own dishes to eat off of, 'cause we're getting down to slim-pickings here!

Photo of the Day

Recently, I've been thinking about this blog.  I really do like to blog.  It's just I am not very good at getting to it each day.  I think it just seems daunting to me.  But I do want to do it, because I think it's a great way to document/"scrapbook" our days.  I read this article, and although Evernote sounds like a great site, I just really don't want to ADD anything else, so I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to try posting a "photo of the day" several times a week (I'd say every day, but I doubt I'll be that consistent) with a brief description/explanation for the photo.  

Ready?  Set?  GO!

I have been scrubbing our floors on my hands and knees since I ran out of Swiffer WetJet Refills, knowing that I'd seen a tutorial at one point for making them out of cloth diapers.  Well, finally today I'd had enough so I got my Gerber prefolds out of our storage room (previously used as burp cloths) and went after it!  I originally made one using this tutorial but was disappointed with how it fit.  Plus, there was a lot of waste (one diaper made one cover.)  So I decided to just make my own up and was able to get two covers out of one diaper!  Hooray!  (If you're interested, I basically just cut the diaper in half, made a 12"x5.5" rectangle, used the excess to make the little pockets for the sides 5.5"x2.75", then used a zig-zag/straight stitch combo to make sure it didn't fray.)  I haven't used it yet, but I'm getting ready to.  EDIT: I just finished using it and it worked GREAT!  Possibly even better than the stupid disposable ones at picking up dust/dirt in the edges/corners of the room.  I used the one from the flitterbug website that I had cut down smaller length-wise but not width-wise and I'm glad I made the widths on mine narrower, it doesn't slide around as much, potentially covering the spray nozzle.  My hopes are that I can use one of them for major cleaning and the other two each night during the week just with water on them to maintain the floor (which would be a MAJOR improvement over the once every six weeks whether it needs it or not situation we have going on right now (kidding...sort of...)  It might even be a great chore for Ira...

Take care!