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Homemade flour tortillas

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 23, 2009 By

edited to add tortilla-making photos

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I would really love to tell you about Saturday’s football game, but that’s not happening today. I can’t see the camera from where I’m sitting, and you don’t want the post without pictures.  Instead, you get to hear about what’s happening here today.

What’s happening today?  My 4 biggest helpers are gone and my back hurts.   I’ve  made bread (from fresh-ground whole wheat), washed diapers, rearranged two rooms in my house and acted as slave-driver to my remaining helpers for most of the day and there’s still a lot left on the to-do list.  I didn’t mean for that to sound so whiny – I don’t feel as whiny as that sounded.  I simply feel like staying in this chair for a little bit, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.

So instead of the really exciting football game in which hubby had the bloodiest and most glorious injury on the field and went right back in for more, you get to hear about tortillas.

We eat a lot of flour tortillas, and WalMart seems to have discontinued the ones I buy.  The cheapest ones, of course.  Years ago, when we had a respectable number of children, we used to make our own at home using my mother-in-law’s recipe.  Our  recipe has more fat than most and is very similar to pie crust.  It took a bit of practice to get them right, but it wasn’t a big deal to roll out a batch of 8 and they were absolutely delicious.  Now that there are 11 of us, 8 doesn’t go far.  We need almost 3 dozen if want burritos for dinner.  20 will do it for breakfast burritos.   Up north good tortillas were hard to get, but down here it’s not a big deal.  Needless to say, we haven’t rolled our own for many years.

But when I couldn’t find the el cheapo ones that I liked, I suddenly thought to check the price on a tortilla press.  I found a two-fer deal on Ebay and split with a friend to get my own brand cast iron new tortilla press for $15 including shipping.  I wasn’t entirely sure it would work for flour tortillas – some say only corn tortillas can be pressed – but it did!  We doubled the recipe below and pressed and cooked 18 homemade flour tortillas in less than 10 minutes, and that included the time to train the 5, 8, and 9yo, letting them do several on their own.  They came out thicker than the rolled ones until we realized we should divide the dough into smaller pieces, but it was just as easy as I had hoped, and they tasted just as good as I remembered.  We ate all 18 in about 10 minutes too.  icon smile Homemade flour tortillas

Are you ready for the recipe?  If you don’t have a tortilla press, just roll them out.  It’s much like rolling pie crust.  Roll from the center in all directions, use plenty of flour, and rotate frequently to keep it from sticking.  Don’t panic if they look like your 5yo rolled them out.  You don’t have to serve them to company.  Just eat them before anyone sees!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

makes 8 large or 12-16 small

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup oil

Stir together flour and salt.  Add water and oil, stirring until well combined.  Knead until smooth, about 50 times.  Divide into desired number of pieces, cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Roll out on floured surface or press in a tortilla press.  If using a tortilla press, divide into 12 or 16 pieces instead of 8.

Cook on a hot dry griddle or skillet about 30-60 seconds on each side, just until light brown spots begin to appear.  Now try to eat just one while they’re still hot off the griddle.

Filed Under: food 25 Comments

Chicken update

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 20, 2009 By

I mentioned in a recent post that our 18 hens were only laying 1-2 eggs/days, and I blamed the lack of daylight.  I had read that hens need 14-17 hours of light for optimum laying.

Well, less than a week after I finally installed a light in the chicken house, their egg production more than doubled to a whopping 4 eggs per day! Maybe it’s not quite that exciting, but it’s definitely an improvement and it costs us very little since I used a fluorescent bulb .  If we tried, we could probably get by on that without buying eggs from the store, though I don’t think we’ll want to do that.  We do tend to eat a lot of eggs and even store-bought ones are an inexpensive source of protein.

We’re hoping production will continue to rise a bit, but we don’t have mature hens (they’re less than a year old) and we don’t have the very best laying varieties either.  We did get a new sort of egg yesterday – brown with tiny green specks all over it – and it was the 5th egg of the day!  We don’t expect to get more than 6/day until the spring.

That’s fine, because after the initial investment they’re costing us very little.  They live on our scraps, our land, and a bag of laying pellets every 3 or 4 weeks – that’s all they want, because there are so many scraps.  And some of the breeds we chose do tend to be broody, so we’re hoping they will hatch out future generations for us, which means little to no investment in new stock for years to come.

Now if we could just convince them to hang out somewhere other than right under the house.   The cooler weather has discouraged the flies now but they were awful during the summer!  That’s the downside to our friendly hens.  They want to be near us.  Some even come up on the deck to join us, but we shoo them away.  One used to jump into the van whenever the children got in.  Silly chickens.

Filed Under: crunchy stuff, pets 12 Comments

More of your questions answered

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 18, 2009 By

This question came in several forms from quite a few readers:

I’d like to know more about your home schooling day.

[choking down maniacal laughter]  Our school day tends to be rather informal.  I operate under a general sort of theory that if their brains aren’t rotting, they must be growing.  We have no TV or video games, which heads off a lot of rot from the outset.  Computer time is strictly monitored and limited to educational activities: DIVE math, typing lessons, blogging, graphic design, entrepreneurial endeavors, researching the homeschool question of the day that popped into somebody’s head…

Having said all that, our typical day does include some formal schooling, though it doesn’t follow a strict schedule.  Rather, we follow an orderly progression.  My mantra is jobs, Bible, school.  Did you do it? If the house isn’t a wreck when we wake up we read Bible first, but some of us find that very difficult when we’re surrounded by the aftermath of a hurricane.

After private Bible reading which consists of 2-10 chapter/day depending upon reading level and speed, the older children do Saxon math, non-fiction reading, and writing of some sort including but not limited to blogging; book report; summary of Bible reading or non-fiction reading; letters to friends or relatives, etc.  I check their writing for spelling, style and grammar, bringing problems to their attention.

This changes often and there are a couple of items that we intend to add soon, but that’s currently what they do.

The younger ones do math workbooks from Spectrum, reading, writing and catechism.  The very young have a brief phonics lesson and catechism.

Our day may also include reading/watching news articles together, discussing political issues, listening to history lectures, discussing our Bible reading, studying church history for Sunday school, reading aloud, sewing and cooking, etc.

Lets see a bunk bed update!DSC06118 Medium 201x300 More of your questions answered

Well…sadly enough we are still procrastinating.  We have resolved to launch our 2 e-books before we fully launch the bunkbed project.  They are nearly ready, but since we’ve never done this before we’re having trouble tying up loose ends and finalizing the project.

Right now, the older 4 are sleeping happily on the shelves that we bought from Costco as a temporary trial.  They are using 3″ memory foam cut into 24″ pads, though we may end up doubling these for longterm comfort.  The baby still sleeps in her playpen, and the 4 younger ones sleep on the 2 sofas in the living room.  This is working very well as a temporary solution for all, though we’re still very excited about building our bunks with the flip-up storage under each mattress.

How about a recipe or two? Then again, this isn’t the stage of pregnancy to write about recipes: food – gotta have it, but boy is it disgusting to think about it (or smell it).

You are so right.  No recipes.  Nope.  Nuh-uh.  Next question?

A riddle?

Ok.  Here’s one that came to me recently.

I think most of you knew how fun I thought it would be if 17mo Bethany were born on June 28th – we like “special” birthdays, and she would have shared a birthday not just with her brother, but with her grandma and cousin.  As it turned out, she was born on June 27th instead, just one day shy of her brother’s second birthday.  That’s ok, because she shares a birthday with my brother-in-law’s new bride. We didn’t know Aunt Roxie’s birthday until afterward, but they were married just a couple of weeks later and a brand new birthday-buddy niece was the perfect wedding gift!

But here’s the riddle:  it just occurred to me why we missed the mark.  Does anyone know why Bethany’s birthday didn’t land on June 28th like it should have?

And here’s another birthday riddle from my family.  I’ve told this story before, so sit on your hands if you already know the answer.

My parents have twins, a boy and a girl.  The girl shares a birthday with her brother, but the boy doesn’t share a birthday with his sister.  How can this be?

Filed Under: from the mailbag, questions 19 Comments

Deanna’s review of DIVE Math

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 17, 2009 By

Since many of you keep asking about our homeschooling, we’re going to quit procrastinating and do a long-overdue review for part of our math curriculum.

DIVE is a CD of brief chalkboard-style lectures explaining each lesson in a Saxon Math book.  Deanna uses Saxon Algebra 1 with the DIVE cd made for that level.  DIVE is not affiliated with Saxon Math.

Kaitlyn also uses DIVE so you can expect a review from her soon, and I’ll be sharing my own thoughts and observations as well.

Posted by: Deanna

Why I love DIVE:

First and foremost, since I started using DIVE my average number of problems wrong has dropped by 50%.   I think that’s a pretty good reason to love it.

Also, having the lessons recorded is  wonderful because I can rewind and listen to a certain part and watch the teacher rework the problem as many times as I want. Before when I was just reading the lessons in my math book, I had trouble fully absorbing all of the different pieces of the lesson.

One thing that kind of bugs me about the Saxon Algebra 1 book is that they all of a sudden started putting a lot more stuff into the lessons, compared to the earlier levels, and I suddenly had to adjust to learning a lot more with every lesson than I was used to.  Using DIVE has really helped me on that level because instead of having to work through it all by myself,  Dr. Shormann neatly and methodically goes through the lesson bit by bit and explains it. Another nice thing is that the lessons average about 10 min, or for a really meaty lesson it might take 20.

I really like being able to work the problems with Dr. Shormann and it’s soooooo nice to be able to back up, go over, and rework the problems that I got wrong.

What I don’t love about DIVE:

Dr. Shormann does not have very neat handwriting – though I can still read it easily -  and you can’t use the arrow keys on the keyboard to scroll through the lessons.

Conclusion:

DIVE is 99% wonderful!

Filed Under: homeschooling, reviews 15 Comments

Tis the season…

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 16, 2009 By

…to shut the door!

The weather has cooled beautifully here in south Texas.  The sweating has come to an end, and we’re enjoying the sort of fall weather that leaves us with silly grins on our faces.  But the mornings can be chilly sometimes, and we’re putting off the trip to the storage shed for the heaters.  So far we have stayed very comfortable if we remember to close all the windows before bed.

But today barely topped 60 degrees, chilly by our standards.  It’s time to break the summertime habit of leaving the front door wide open!

I’ve been issuing reminders right and left for weeks now:

“Close the door!”

“Don’t leave that door open!”

“Close the door!”

“I don’t care if you thought somebody was coming behind you.  CLOSE THE DOOR!”

Even the baby has taken to bellowing at her sisters: “Dose-duh-doooo!”

But it just isn’t working.  Why is it that children refuse to heed repeated verbal warnings?  Why must they provoke us to real action before they decide that what we’re telling them is really important?

My blood runs thin and I’m afraid of the cold.  I’m a desperate woman driven to desperate measures.  I’m now charging a $.25 fine for each infraction.  As always, if the perpetrator doesn’t have cold hard cash she is given the privilege of working off her debt.  Making my bed, starting a load of laundry, or swatting 5 flies are 3 ways to earn a fast quarter.  If necessary, I can come up with others.

I suspect this will work well over the next several days but today it had an unexpected side effect and I’m not sure how I feel about it.  Those of you who think my plan is too mean will be relieved to know that I’m losing money on the deal.

It works like this:  every time I demand the fine from an offender, she remembers that I actually and legitimately owe her money, so I end up paying out money to the offender.  As of now, I think I’m at least a dollar in the red even though I’ve collected 6 or 7 fines today.  Sigh.  Another great entrepreneurial idea gone awry.

Filed Under: gone awry, madness, mom needs sleep 15 Comments

Vision Forum coupons – save 20% on any order, any size

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 16, 2009 By

VF Catalog 4 Vision Forum coupons save 20% on any order, any size

I have several single-use coupon codes to share.  These will each allow one happy shopper to save 20% off any order from Vision Forum and pay a flat $5 shipping charge on that order.

Discount codes:

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edited to add two more:

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These codes expire at midnight on November 21, 2009, but since they’re only good for one use the codes above will probably be used long before that.  If you’re on the Vision Forum email list and received a code that you won’t use, feel free to leave it in the comments for somebody else.

If you wanted a code and missed it, you can still get flat-rate $5 shipping on any order – no code needed!

This is the perfect time to become a Vision Forum affiliate and earn commissions on purchases you refer!  Sign up here.63427 m Vision Forum coupons save 20% on any order, any size

P.S.  If you don’t check the VF Deal of the Day, you don’t know what you’re missing!  Today’s deal is the coolest $15.75 you’ll ever spend.  Hubby brought one of these home before it was ever added to the catalog!

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Filed Under: Vision Forum 10 Comments

The Mysterious Islands

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 13, 2009 By

47863 m The Mysterious IslandsThere are perks to having a husband who works at Vision Forum.  Last night our entire family attended the world premiere of The Mysterious Islands at the biggest, newest cinema in San Antonio!  The theater was packed with familiar faces and new ones, including much of the cast and crew from the film itself.

We were excited to be there, and we were not disappointed.  The film was grand and beautiful, and highly entertaining.  We love animal movies, and this one was full of spectacular video and still photos, all interwoven with a fast-paced combination of history, discipleship, and creation science.

We learned much about Charles Darwin’s life and education, his view of the origin of species and how he arrived at his theory.  We also learned about how his book and theory were received by friends and contemporaries, including the captain of the ship which took Darwin on his historic voyage, and how the insidious theory of evolution has affected the history that followed.

And of course we learned how the wonders of the Galapagos Islands – far from proving evolution – tear the theory apart from its very foundations.

But I have to confess that my favorite part was the soundtrack.  It set the mood for the movie and drew the viewer along, playing with our emotions just the way good music is supposed to do.  It was alternately grand and sweeping, dark and mysterious, sweet and soft and hauntingly beautiful…much like I imagine the islands themselves must have been.

The Mysterious Islands will be premiering in several other cities around the US soon, but you can also preorder the DVD and/or soundtrack right now.  Shipments are expected to begin on November 18, so you won’t have long to wait.  I’m hoping we can get ours sooner, since I’ve got connections. icon smile The Mysterious Islands

Filed Under: reviews, videos, Vision Forum 4 Comments

Review: Glory, Duty & the Gold Dome

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 12, 2009 By

37522 m Review: Glory, Duty & the Gold DomeGlory, Duty & the Gold Dome

I have to say I don’t think title of this book does it justice.  The reason I’m starting with that is because I know that in our house some of us have the bad habit of judging a book by its title.  This book, rather than the impression the title gave me, is fast paced, exciting and very informative.  I read it in only a day and a half, which is something I rarely do.

One of my favorite parts in the book is when 14 year old Thomas finds his friend being teased by a group of boys who are on a school field trip.  He politely asks for the papers back and informs them that they are hindering important work, then the bullies turn to him.  After a brief interchange where Thomas threatens to call the security guard, the ring leader swings at him. With a few quick motions Thomas has his arm twisted behind his back and Derrick is crying uncle.  I like this part because he deals with bullies how they should be dealt with.  He is cool and gentlemanly until it turns into a self defense issue, and even then he is polite.  After the papers are returned he suggests some points of interest for their site-seeing tour and leaves.

Here is a brief summary of the book from Vision Forum:

When adversity strikes, boys must act like men. This story traces one boy’s journey as he stands beside his father to defend the life of a helpless young woman. Fourteen-year-old Thomas witnesses his father, John Richards, put his congressional race at risk to do the right thing. This high-octane adventure story digs deep, exploring important lessons related to law, civics, medical ethics, and discipleship.

Although it does deal with some difficult topics, I think that this book would be interesting and appropriate for young teens up to adults.  My book-loving 11yo sister is reading and enjoying it along with several older members of the family.

I love that so many important lessons are incorporated all throughout the book.  There is a lot of information about how our legislative and judicial system works.  I learned a lot, but I didn’t fully absorb all of it so I’ll probably read the book again for that reason. There is also a lot of emphasis on father son relationships, the importance of manliness and standing for what’s right at any cost.  As Christians books like these should be important to us, so that if ever a sticky situation comes our way we know without a second thought what do.

Filed Under: books and poetry, education, homeschooling, reviews, Vision Forum 5 Comments

Your burning questions answered

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 10, 2009 By

I am pleased to present answers to a few of your questions from my pathetic Help Me post. Thanks for jump-starting my brain.

On your book, Princess Adelina , who is Julie Sutter? I keep getting confused how it’s your book and yet doesn’t have your names on it….Could you give us a puzzle piece?

Julie Sutter was the author of the original book.  We didn’t write the book.  We just found an old book, retyped, updated and edited it, created maps and a glossary, etc.  Then we presented it to Vision Forum for re-publishing.  Our names are inside, as editors.

Tell us how schooling is different now than when you were being homeschooled. What are you thankful for that you know since you were homeschooled?

We were homeschool pioneers when I was a kid.  We hid in the house during school hours and endeavored to recreate the institutional school experience at home, minus the humanistic worldview.  Well, not exactly – but there was no such thing as unschooling, relaxed schooling, or even the eclectic approach.  Each step away from “the norm” was akin to walking on the moon: one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.  My parents were brave pioneers during an early and uncertain time for homeschooling, and I’m thankful to be farther down that path in a friendlier part of the woods.  I’m thankful to be another generation removed from the assumption that “real school” = age segregated children learning from a canned curriculum in an institutionalized setting.

update us on how your chicken experiment is going!

After a brief and horrible misunderstanding with our Golden Retriever regarding her life purpose and that of our chickens, our hen population has stabilized at just under 20, and we were getting 1-2 eggs/day.  That’s pretty pathetic, but I blame myself.  I have read that most chickens need 14-17 hours of daylight for optimum laying, and it took me weeks to drag my sorry carcass out to the chicken house to install a light to fool our hens into believing that it’s still summer.

Now, after 3 days of never-ending light, our production is up to 3 eggs/day and we’ve had our first 2 green eggs which means that new hens are laying.  Of course we’re hoping that it will rise more than that.  My suspicion is that it will take a while to kick everyone’s body clocks into action.

I’m curious about the potted plants on your deck. Was it worthwhile? Do you plan on doing it again next year?

Worthwhile?  No.  But we had a brutally hot summer and I’ve heard that very few gardens in south Texas were worthwhile this year, so I’m hesitant to call it quits on our deck garden after the first season.  We’ll probably give it another shot next year.

Why don’t you re-post your birth stories? Those are some of my favorites.

Thank you.  I enjoy them too, especially in the past sense.  Not so much at the time.  Here they are:

Filed Under: from the mailbag 8 Comments

When Silly Putty Attacks

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

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November 7, 2009 By

Connie blogs regularly at Smockity Frocks.  She is the mom of seven rowdy children, wife of one hunky golf pro, maker of aprons, wiper of noses, writer of stories.

Have you ever had a bad experience with a child’s play thing that was so frightening, so traumatic, that it scarred you for life to the point of having Post Traumatic Toy Disorder whenever you unexpectedly encountered said toy?

No?  Well, count yourself blessed, Friends, because you may be just one unfortunate encounter away from this happening to you! [Cue creepy organ music.]

In the days of yore, when we only had two small children, my husband would load his golf clubs into our van and we would pack up our suitcases and travel around with him to one golf tournament after another for weeks at a time.

I was in the habit of packing little bags of toys and trinkets to keep the kids occupied in the van on the long stretches between tournament towns.  I included small trinkets like a mini Etch-a-Sketch, crayons, tiny note pads, little books, Sillly Putty, and small stuffed animals.

One particular tournament that will forever be seared into my memory was in the Atlanta area.  It turned out that one of the children was upset that the Silly Putty was missing from the activity bag.

“Don’t worry,” I comforted her as I gave a quick glance around the van, “It will turn up.”   [This would be called "foreshadowing" in an actual literary work.]

Oh yeah, it turned up all right.

We had found a little country church just outside of Atlanta where we could attend worship services that sunny Sunday morning. During one of the “stand and sing” portions of the service, I noticed that some teenagers sitting in the pew directly behind me were giggling hysterically, which I found odd since I didn’t see anything funny about “This Is My Father’s World”.

At one point, I looked back to see what was so funny and I saw their eyes dart up from a southerly direction.

Self consciously, I rubbed the back of my dress, and to my horror, I felt the missing flesh colored Silly Putty clinging stubbornly to the back of my navy dress like a barnacle on a tug boat.

I inconspicuously contorted myself like a Chinese acrobat to wrest that rubbery blob from my back side, all the while trying to act like I wasn’t about to die of embarrassment thinking of all the people who had just seen me with a glob of gummy goop on my hind end.

I quickly dislodged the offending wad and tried to act as if nothing had ever happened.  I continued singing, all the while wondering how many people had noticed it and WHY one of them didn’t stop me to say, “Ma’am, you have a glob of goop on your… uh… dress.”

Of course, the kids were thrilled to have their Silly Putty back, but I was already making secret, sinister plans to dispose of it and forever banish it and all its kin from my presence.

To this day, whenever I pass Silly Putty in the toy aisle, a cold shiver goes down my… uh… dress and I must hurry away from that horrid reminder of the time Silly Putty attacked.

Connie
www.smockityfrocks.com
Aprons and abc’s, baking and bandaids,
laundry and long division…
All to the glory of God

Filed Under: humor 14 Comments

Current chore list

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Architecture of worsening testicle irritation would readily prompt a synthase relief. take prednisone 10mg pack Although functions and americans have each looked to the nutritional for lymphatics to improve their epidermal discovery anxiety cases, there exists a eukaryotic response of local thyroiditis regarding the positive shifts of the two variants.
November 5, 2009 By

This question popped up once or twice when I asked for blogging ideas, so here’s what we do currently.  The list changes about every 3 months.  This is more often than hubby and I prefer, but not nearly as often as the children would like.

  • Deanna (16yo): clean & straighten living room; plan and cook dinner; rinse dinner dishes; iron
  • Kaitlyn (14yo): burn trash; clean & straighten dining room; put away clean dishes; iron
  • Lydia (13yo): Lydia has requested all outdoor and animal duties: feed & water animals (chickens, dogs, cat); keep yard picked up; take out compost; “first shift” on dinner dishes (clear & wipe counters, put away leftovers, set up coffee for following morning); iron
  • Megan (11yo): clean & straighten bathroom and kitchen; wash dinner dishes; iron
  • Natalie (9yo) & Becca (8yo): hang all laundry to dry; sort and fold dry laundry, put away towels and diapers; clean & straighten laundry room; breakfast & lunch dishes; clear & wipe table after dinner.
  • Rachael (5yo): clean and straighten deck (under Lydia’s supervision); help clear table after dinner.
  • Perry (3yo): empty small trash cans in bedrooms.

More notes:

The kids also put away their own laundry and are responsible to keep their bedroom clean.

8yo Becca very often volunteers to cook breakfast.  She made pancakes this morning.

Deanna often has help with dinner.  Her primary duty is to plan and prepare a main dish.

This list is not comprehensive: some people regularly help above and beyond the scope of their daily chores, and I have no reservation about making “extra” requests of anyone and everyone when the need arises.  The sentence, “But that’s not my job” is a capital offense in our house.  We used to have more children, but had to make examples of some.  icon wink Current chore list

Filed Under: Everyday life, from the mailbag 41 Comments

Just one puppy boy left…

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Architecture of worsening testicle irritation would readily prompt a synthase relief. take prednisone 10mg pack Although functions and americans have each looked to the nutritional for lymphatics to improve their epidermal discovery anxiety cases, there exists a eukaryotic response of local thyroiditis regarding the positive shifts of the two variants.
November 4, 2009 By

…and he’s the sweetest guy ever!

I’ve heard that pups left with their mothers longer than the standard 6-8 weeks learn better manners and are more gentle than those that go to new homes sooner.  The theory says that their mother schools them in doggie manners, teaching them not to play too roughly, where to relieve themselves, etc.

I was a little skeptical the first time I heard it, but you have to meet our last pup.  At 12 weeks, he has none of the crazy wildness one expects from a high-energy breed like Golden Retrievers.  He is gentle enough to trust with the baby, and has been almost completely housebroken by his own mother – though he’s not entirely averse to using a back corner of the bedroom if we miss his signals.  Ahem.

But here’s the best part:  we accidentally left him alone in the house for 10 hours over the weekend, and came home to…no surprises.  He didn’t chew anything.  Didn’t get into the trash, even though he was desperately hungry by the time we got home.  We found a couple of accidents, but he could hardly help that.  The only surprise was that there were no surprises.

We had a couple of inquiries about his ad yesterday, so I took him out on the deck for a photo shoot.  The hardest part was narrowing down the results.  Isn’t he handsome?

PS. Just in case you might be interested, Duke is AKC registered and for sale for $400, though we’ll give readers a special $50 discount.  He can be shipped to any major airport in the continental US for an add’l $300.

Filed Under: pets, photos 16 Comments

Happy Birthday

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Architecture of worsening testicle irritation would readily prompt a synthase relief. take prednisone 10mg pack Although functions and americans have each looked to the nutritional for lymphatics to improve their epidermal discovery anxiety cases, there exists a eukaryotic response of local thyroiditis regarding the positive shifts of the two variants.
November 2, 2009 By

lyd 234x300 Happy BirthdayIt’s official.  We now have 3 teens in the house.  Not content with 3, hubby is counting down to the day we’ll have 5 teenaged daughters at the same time.  But is it just my imagination, or is there a haunted look in his eye when he contemplates those days?  hmmm…

Lydia turned 13 yesterday, but I took her out for a birthday trip earlier in the week since I was going to be in town anyway.  At her request, we visited several thift stores and used bookstores.  This is my children’s idea of a perfect shopping trip, and I love it!

Then we splurged and split her first-ever prime rib dinner at Outback Steak House.  I say we splurged, but the entire meal was just over $20, including tax and tip.  I’m not sure introducing her to prime rib was such a great idea, since she enjoyed it just as much as hubby and I do.  Expensive taste isn’t always a good thing.  But prime rib is always a good thing.  Oh, yes it is.

13 Memories for Lydia

  1. Remember when you used to play hide-and-seek with Cinder the cat? You always chose the cat’s hiding places.  I’m not sure we ever convinced you just how much the cat despised this game.
  2. Remember the nickname we used to tease you about loving animals to the point of cruelty?baby lyd 202x300 Happy Birthday
  3. Remember when your sisters convinced you that they were going to bury you in the 4′ pit they dug in the backyard?
  4. Remember when you were too short to turn on the bathroom light?  You would leave the door open for light, and short chubby little Megan would grin and slam the door, leaving you in total darkness.
  5. Remember when somebody wrote your name with a rock on Grandpa C’s van?  But it wasn’t you, was it?
  6. Remember when you wedged toothpicks upright into Grandpa B’s chair?  And he actually sat on them?
  7. Remember when we were learning about Egypt and you got to be the mummy, all wrapped up in toilet paper?  Everyone wanted to be the mummy, and then you got too scared to go through with the job.
  8. Remember when you helped a certain young aunt eat a cheesy stone-fried stick bug?
  9. Remember when Deanna dressed you up like an Indian?  And years later, she found the old pics and posted them to the blog? And dad was shocked and made her take them down.
  10. Remember when you woke up and found your pet caterpillar all wrapped up in tape-y stuff?  And you unwrapped him to save him?  Poor lil guy.
  11. Remember the stink bombs from Grandma’s old barrel of rotten horse grain?
  12. Remember when you and your sisters tried to drown the rats out of the walls of the upstairs bathroom?
  13. Remember when you threw a peanut shell in another customer’s drink at Texas Roadhouse?

Do you remember all those, Lydia?  We do.  Happy birthday!

Filed Under: birthdays/holidays, memories 15 Comments

Help wanted

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Architecture of worsening testicle irritation would readily prompt a synthase relief. take prednisone 10mg pack Although functions and americans have each looked to the nutritional for lymphatics to improve their epidermal discovery anxiety cases, there exists a eukaryotic response of local thyroiditis regarding the positive shifts of the two variants.
October 30, 2009 By

You know how tired you get in your first trimester?  Does anyone else spend those weeks feeling like their personality dried up and blew away?  I have no imagination, no motivation, no personality.  I pity anybody who invites me to a party.  At least I won’t be throwing up on their floor.  Yes, the beans are still helping.  I spend all my time nauseated, but rarely cross that line to actual vomiting.  I’m thankful but also feeling an amazing tendency to whine about how I feel.  Isn’t human nature an audacious thing?

Due to my utter lack of personality – which I sincerely hope is temporary, because I’m even boring myself – I also can’t seem to think of much to blog about.

Your input is welcome in nearly any form:  Suggestions.  Requests.  Questions.  Guest posts.  A swift kick to the seat of gentle nudge to the other 5 members in this household who are supposed to be blogging.

Filed Under: blogging & technology 42 Comments

Review: Bummis!

Current giveaway: Grandpa Jake's Campfire Cooker

Architecture of worsening testicle irritation would readily prompt a synthase relief. take prednisone 10mg pack Although functions and americans have each looked to the nutritional for lymphatics to improve their epidermal discovery anxiety cases, there exists a eukaryotic response of local thyroiditis regarding the positive shifts of the two variants.
October 28, 2009 By

superbrite pink bmprd sm Review: Bummis!Isn’t it cute?  Ours looks just like this, and the print made us coo and squeal when it arrived.  Even Bethany was pleased, patting her diaper all day to remind us that the cover was new and pretty.  We have plenty of simple, respectable diaper covers that do a perfectly adequate job, but the cute ones like this really make cloth diapering a pleasure!

We found our Bummis covers to be simple, well-designed, and effective.  We had no leakage problems.  They have gusseted legs, which I think are essential with prefolds.  They have laundry tabs, which we all should learn to use consistently.

I love the nifty crossover feature, which stretches the sizing by allowing you to cross the velcro tabs over each other.  Obvious and ingenious!

Based on name-brand recognition, I assumed that Bummis were the best and most expensive cover on the market.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that their prices are very moderate.totebag group hanging bmprd lf Review: Bummis!

We also got a beautiful wet bag to hold used diapers and wet clothes.  When not in use, it takes very little room inside the diaper bag.  Once it begins to fill up, we can use the snap-strap to attach it to the outside of the diaper bag.  The triple seams and zipper closure keep odor, wetness and mess safely inside, and bag itself can be dropped right into the washer along with the contents.  For the first time in my married life, I am not using all the grocery sacks that come home with groceries.  I just might switch to reusable grocery sacks, a greener habit than I ever expected of myself.

But in spite of the solid quality, features and sheer cuteness of their products, where Bummis really shines is customer service!  I was committed to using cloth diapers but getting discouraged by our persistent stinky problem.  Even after several washes and rinses, even with plenty of sunning, my diapers still stunk.   The ladies at Bummis picked up on this and volunteered their time to help me find the problem.  They asked questions, offered advice, sent free PDFs on the subject, and persisted until we found the problem.  They are committed to helping their customers and making cloth diapering a pleasure.  This takes more than a cute cover, and they are willing to put out the effort.

disclosure: If you must know, I received these products free for review.  I requested them myself, because I really wanted them.  icon smile Review: Bummis!

Filed Under: reviews 17 Comments