Saturday, May 28, 2016

I had forgotten, as I do every year, that being outside is wonderful and exhausting and a must. We went outside before dinner and tinkered around in the yard, blowing bubbles and planting dogwood. After dinner we went out with The Hubs, back to the yard and we painted birdhouses. And ran around like lunatics. And I got the laundry off the line and The Baby peed in the yard. Because he was running around with his diaper off.

We did awesome at our yard-sailing this morning! I haggled at the first one, full price at the second, and bought nothing at the third. We had a great time! I'm raising my kids to buy used, scavenge and re-use.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Crayons

I bought a rubber mold from a yard sale. For 25 cents. The mold has leaf shapes. The previous owner said she used it for ice cubes. I bought it thinking about candy molds and oven baking. But then I thought of this one time my sister and I left our crayons on the back dash of our Geo Prism and I realized I could make crayon molds with all the crayons my boys break. So now there are crayon pieces in my rubber mold on the dash of the mini-van. Yes, the mini-van.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Outside Oranges

My new strategy for life is for us to be busy, out and about, for half the day. For the other half of the day, we will be doing chores and 'school' and other household things. This worked really well today. I woke up early-ish (6:30) and we were out of the house by nine. We managed to go to the dry cleaners, the gas station, the library, and the grocery store. I was so impressed with us!
When the kids woke up from nap we had a snack, then we went outside. We did a ball toss, we played with the kiddie pool, and we spent a full hour outside. The Boy put his clothes away, put the dishes away, and put his toys away. It was lovely.

I reused my sugar/orange simple syrup to make a new batch of orange peel candies. It seemed to solidify, sort of. But they turned out ok; they were really sweet.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Two Things

Aside from taking the kids to the park (for an hour!) and preparing three delicious meals, I also cleaned, decluttered, and played with the kids. The Boy did a project, and both of them played with the blocks nicely and quietly for a long time. They even had a bath. Miracle of miracles.

I also made some homemade pasta. I got the recipe from Made from Scratch. You need:
3 large eggs
3 cups of flour
Beat the eggs lightly and add the flour in a 1/2 cup at a time. When it gets to be a nice dough ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for an hour.
After the hour, roll it out as flat as possible, but make sure it stays one piece. Then roll it into a tube, and cut off the pasta pieces from there. Put the pasta strands (or clumps, if you are rockin' it like I was today) in a pot of boiling water. Boil for 3-5-8 minutes.
My pasta looked terrible but it tasted great. I had more clumps and chunks than strands, and when I put it in the pot, there was a lot of leftover flour that didn't make it into the dough. I'm not sure why my dough seemed dry. I did add a little water, but I was afraid more would make it too sticky. But it felt good to not feed my family ferrous sulfate for dinner.

My kids go through toothbrushes like they are goin' out of style. So I used two regular plastic ones, one red and one white, to make a bracelet out of. First I yanked out all the bristles with pliers. Then I boiled the toothbrushes until the plastic became pliable. Then I basically folded it so the two ends were almost touching. To solidify the brush, I put it in ice water.  I had trouble with this project too! For some reason, possibly because there was a thick part of plastic, I couldn't get my toothbrushes to fold like I wanted them to. Presently, they are more square than anything. I might try again tomorrow (I can always heat them again to reshape), but they might have to be hip to be square. (Does that make sense?)

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Chuckie Cheese

Several months ago, The Hubs and The Boy went to Chuckie Cheese's and came back with a little cup of tokens. Finally, we made it back tonight. Man, was it crazy! First, we got our hands scanned with some kind of light. When we left, the guy made sure all our lights matched so there wasn't any kid-snatching. Whoa!
We got in there, and it was more crowded than I expected for a Tuesday. The Hubs went to order food and tokens. Yes, I had a coupon. And the kids were a little hesistant about getting started. The Boy seemed to remember a few things from last time. The Baby loved the little rides! He was excited about trying to put the tokens in by himself.
When we finally got the food, the kids were wound up! The Boy had figured out some of the games, and he remembered to grab his tickets, and he was stoked to be there. The Baby was getting fussy and a little tired and couldn't play the games. But he was happy to try to climb up the slide.
I thought maybe that with both me and The Hubs there, one of us would get to rest or relax or something. Why I would think that is beyond me. a
When we left, there was a minor meltdown in the car because I told the kids that we had to go to bed when we got home.
 I didn't realize that one night of eating fast food and drinking a bunch of pop would make me feel so blah. I must be cooking more clean than I thought I was. We very rarely go out to eat and we very rarely get take-out. I have a pop maybe every few weeks. So I'm feeling a little guilty about giving my kids all that 'juice' and pizza. But they didn't inhale it like I thought they would.
Oh, and I saw a girl I knew in high school; we literally ran into each other. She probably doesn't remember me because I wasn't as cool as she was. I didn't say anything to her.
All in all, we had a pretty good time. I like to do stuff like that because I wasn't really allowed to when I was a kid. The Hubs likes activities like that. The novelty of it hasn't worn off. And I got to use a coupon!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Bonfire!

After dinner, although it was still sunny out, we went out and used our bonfire bucket. Its a dish, elevated, with a gate around it, and a lid. I asked The Hubs if I could burn some paper, and stupidly, I chose the glossy ad papers. Which produced a lot of smoke and made me think our fun was soon to end. I recycled the rest of my stack, and The Hubs brought out the marshmallows, grahmn crackers, and milk chocolate bar. (Brand name, just sayin'.) The kids were nuts! They were running around and pushing each other off the slide. I was worried about fire safety. But no need! We had a great time, and even the dog got a little bite of marshmallow.
I'm hoping to do this a lot more this summer. And I want to have an evening of open-fire cooking. Just so we know how to do it.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Church Potuck

I just spent a long time going through the minutia of the church potluck we went to tonight. Then the post accidently got deleated. Perhaps I overshared on that post, but I'm still very annoyed. We had a great time at the potluck. People liked my cookies.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Soup Babies

Just wasted a bunch of time online looking at the average size of American families, and posts about women who want more kids, but their husbands do not. I do like the idea of having three kids, but I am also thrilled with my family as it is now. As of now, the boys each have their own room. And both me and my husband grew up with one sibling. My husband is not at all interested in having another child. I mention the idea occasionally, and it is always met with hostility! Two is a great number; two parents, two hands, and its' easier to divide things in half rather than thirds...right now we are doing just fine. Also, my second pregnancy was harder on my body than my first. But the birth was easier. I love my babies, but birth and newborns are hard! So I guess since I could go either way (keep the head count at two or three), it would make the best sense for my marriage to not have another child. Alright, decision made. I guess.

I made soup the other day. Stock from 'veggie nubs', meaning I save the skins and such from veggies to boil to make my stock. I froze a portion of it (a few jars worth) and I put the rest in the fridge. My sister gave me a pie crust mix, which I used today. While the kids were napping, I made the crust. And when we got home (later than I meant to) I put the crust in my new pie tins and threw a handful of flour in, along with my Tupperware of soup. I let it bake at 405 degrees Fahrenheit, for probably about a half hour. I checked on it periodically. I thought it was delicious, as did The Hubs. The Boy was persuaded to eat it, and The Baby tasted it. Perhaps they will like it better for lunch.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Banana-Chip Bars

I had no idea how much I talked to/yelled at people until I lost my voice. Not completely, of course. Its just kind of squack-ish, hoarse, and whispery.

This recipe is from my grandmother's book. (Mine now, she gave it to me for Christmas.) Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Cookies Cook Book:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar 
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe medium bananas, mashed (1 cup)Stir
...
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6oz package semisweet chocolate pieces (1 cup) ( I got mine on clearance from Jewel)

Directions:
Cream butter and sugars, till fluffy. Add egg, and vanilla; beat well. Stir in banana. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture, beat well. Stir in chocolate pieces. Spread in greased and floured 15 1/2x10 1/2x1 inch baking pan. (I forgot to grease and flour my pan, and the expected happened. Although not as bad as I thought.) (And I used my glass 13x9 pan.)
My husband says these are one of the best things I have ever made. But he was really hungry. Still, delicious. You're welcome!