Happy Thanksgiving

Shout out to Debi

Hey I'm bored, and I should be doing my 50th load of laundry, or making my kids breakfast, or scrubbing toliets, but I'm not. I know that it is cold and flurrying in TN, so I started to make you that sweater. The problem , besides that I only know how to knit wascloths, is that Numbers was on TV last night, and in order to watch it while Mike was sleeping I had to keep the light off....





And this happened...

I am trying to figure out if maybe you can wrap it around your stomach? Or maybe use it as a bathrobe????

From Thai to Tacos by way of Intercourse

Ok, so the title was a bit titillating, and naughty, and tricky! But I am not sorry, I must convey my culinary experiences that have been ongoing since I cracked my eyeballs open this morning.


And for all of you dirty minds, Intercourse is a sweet Amish town in the heart of Amish country, Pennsylvania! With that said I have been mushing and burping a ziploc bag for 10 days. I was promised that it was a remnant from some sweet pious Amish woman's kitchen and to not babysit, feed, and multiply this gift, why it's sacrilege I tell you!! And my middle child LOVES this treat. So once again when I cracked open my eyeballs I remembered, today is the day! Liv wants Amish bread for breakfast, I must mix the 15+ ingredients and get it into the oven... Well in order to bypass all the extra bags I had the genius idea to bake them all, except one because I told you it's sacrilege to break this chain!! So 6 loaves of bread later as in 2pm....


During this bake fest I made some bread, that is not rising like it should. This is twice this week that I have not had a successful bread outcome. Is it too cold to bake? hmmmm....

So in the midst, I decided that I had all the ingredients to make Chicken Curry. My friend said this was a fave amongst her family and that she had to double the recipe, that it was just that popular. Well my crew, not so much! I loved it, and though I tried every propaganda tool in my arsenal, they were not eating it. Well beside the 2 mandatory bites, where there was gagging, choking, eyes watering... Even Mike betrayed me, although he choked down half his plate before letting me know it was not to his standards. i.e. it wasn't fried, fried, or fried... Maybe I could fry some chicken curry, I will have to think on that! Oh, and I LOVED it, so I froze the rest for my lunch at a later date.

And for tonight it is TACO night, with a side of Pepcid AC. So now you know we have journeyed around the world inside my kitchen. By the way I have just finished cleaning from this bakeapolooza and it is 4:00.


Amish Friendship Starter
1 cup flour
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp yeast
place in a ziploc bag and mush & burp the bag each morning for the first 5 days

Day 6- add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1 cup of sugar and mush

Day 7-9 mush and burp

Day 10 Pour starter in a non metallic bowl and
add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and one cup milk

Mix well and then pour 1 cup of batter into 4 ziploc bags which are your next starter bags.

Then use 1 cup for the foloowing recipe

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe
1 cup starter
2 cup flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1- (3-4oz) box instant vanilla pudding
3 lg eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Spray 2 loaf pans sprinkle with cinnamon sugar on the bottom of pan, fill pans top batter with cinnamon sugar and bake at 325 for 1 hour.


Chicken Curry
Saute:
4tbsp butter
1 apple chopped
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 large carrot chopped
1/2 cup celery chopped
ADD
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 tbsp curry poweder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
when tender pour this into blender and puree, then pour back into skillet
ADD
1 tbsp flour tp thicken
ADD
2-3 cups of chicken
and serve over white rice...

Thrifty Thursday

27.oo worth of Proctor & Gamble coupons & Free Cascade coupon here

Online coupon codes here

A Cold Front In Geo Town

Well we have gone from fans, bathingsuits and pool breaks to this.........

Yes, we are styling the capris, with ankle socks, mittens and a scarf!




So with such lovely weather school is back to the back porch. And Ethan is studying city planning and design. As you can see he is excelling in his field. He's a genius, ya know!!!



And on the home front Maddy is earning her cooking badge. She made waffles for Sunday breakfast. And then as a thrifty young woman, she doubled the batch to freeze for the upcoming week..

Waffle Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

3 eggs beaten

1/4 cup butter melted

2 cups buttermilk

Pam for the waffle iron

in a bowl mix dry ingredients, in a seperate bowl mix together wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, allow to rest for 5 minutes. Heat the waffle iron and start making waffles.

Double the batch and lay each waffle individually on wax paper in the freezer for 2 hours then store together in a ziploc freezer bag.

Crunchy Jeans and other tidbits

I know that everyone has been waiting with bated breath for my review of my homemade laundry soap so here it goes.

I like it for loads that are not overly dirty. As many of you know I am married to the junk man. If there is grease, or gunk in a five mile radius it will be on his clothes. So with that kind of laundry challenge I washed his clothes for a full week to see how it would stand up against GAIN.

Well his clothes did not stink and most of the dirt came out, but it wasn't as clean or scented as I like.

It did a good job on my normal loads.

So in conclusion I will be using GAIN for Mikes laundry and my towels, and the homemade laundry soap for everything else.


Now, for line drying, which is what I have been using for about a month. I have decided that I must use fabric softner to the wash cycle.

And no matter what, jeans & towels need to be in the dryer. As I sit her typing I am in the crunchiest pair of jeans. And crunchy aint comfortable yall! So tell me is there a trick to making towels and jeans work well on the line.


And to all you pooh-poohers about saving money by line drying... My last power bill dropped 100.00. So hang out them undies!

A Little Old Fashioned CSI

This week during my CSI, NCIS, and Criminal Minds line up I have been knitting for Christmas. Nothing like a little mayhem and murder to knit washcloths to....

Thrifty Thursday

Target toy coupons here,

Freebies and all current deals here

Free snapfish custom album from Oprah here

Neat frugal website and recipes here

And finally CVS 101 here

Also don't miss out on this really beautiful quilt giveaway here

It's HOTTTT

It's hot today, and muggy! We have had four weeks of beautiful, unseasonably cool weather and have had our windows open since middle of October. Well today is not cool, or dry by any stretch of the imagination. However I am not willing to give up on a reasonable power bill, so we are in our bathing suits doing school. During breaks they can jump in the pool to cool down....

On a side note with all the beautiful weather we have been doing school on the back porch while Ethan has been building a geo trax city! You gotta love homeschooling...

Ok, it is hot and a little bit of air circulation might help! Mike found 4 oscillating fans on clearance at Lowes. So, now we will be all nice and cool, right??? Right Tiffany?? Right?

Lighthouse Field Trip

Our local lighthouse put on a homeschool day. It portrayed the life of a child of a lighthouse keeper in the early 2o's. The kids learned about washing, gardening, sewing, and keeping the light.

Thrifty Thursday on Friday

Homemade Laundry Soap


ingredients
1 bar of laundry soap (Fels Naptha) or your favorite soap of choice (Ivory, homemade)
3/4 cup of Washing Soda
3/4 cup of Borax
*all of these items can be found at Publix on the laundry aisle

step 1- grate your bar of soap into a pot, then add six cups of water and heat until all of soap is dissolved.


step 2- when soap is completely melted add 3/4 cup of Borax and Washing Soda

step 3- stir the mixture over heat until completely dissolved, during that time, add 4 cups of hot water to your bucket or jar. when the soap is all dissolved pour mixture into the glass jar with the water.

step 4- add a gallon and a half of cold water into the bucket/jar and stir to mix well. It is in a liquid form. Cover and it will set into a gel form. Use 1/2 - 1 cup of detergent per laundry load.

You can add a essential oil scent at the same time you add the borax and washing soda.

I will let you know how it compares to commercial detergent. I am a diehard Gain fan, so the standard is high.

This made about 3 gallons of detergent for about 1.50 for the whole batch!

You have to watch this it is SOOO funny! No little eyes! It makes fun of both sides, turn off music at the bottom first!

I woke up and found I now live in a BLUE state....

So were packing!


Well maybe not, but today is going to be an all out pity party day for me. It's dreary and I feel dreary. Not because I was a die hard McCain supporter, but because I was not an Obama supporter. So, today I will grieve and then tomorrow I will be a patriotic American and support our chosen representative, and pray for his wisdom and protection.


But today, I'm packing for AL, TN or GA!

Mexican Soup Recipe

This soup is totally yummy! recipe compliments of the Queen B


Mexican Cheese Soup

1 pound Velveeta cubed
1 pound ground beef, cooked & drained
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 jalapeno, seeded & diced (I left this out)
1 can rotel
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package taco seasoning

Combine in crockpot. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 3 hours.
Serve with corn chips or tortilla chips. And maybe sour cream. And maybe a little cheese...

I'm Going Crazy...Wanna Come???

I have virtually reached my mommy melt down phase. I have retreated to my bedroom to save the children from requiring DCF to pay a visit. This was our first day back to serious schooling since this school year has started. Maddy finally became conscious and rolled down the stairs about 8:30, to which then the TV got turned on. After making a no TV rule, we got through breakfast and Maddy out the the door for an orthodontist appointment. When she got back we started Sonlight Core 4 , and we were still at the table at 5:00. I finally told Maddy that any work left over was homework and I got up to cook dinner. How did I think that would absolve me of any more school work???

After working the comprehension sentences in Wordly Wise I thought I wanted to pull her hair out. A question, What did the Cherokee people like about their new language? Answer, They liked the new language. Argghhh! Yes there were 10 questions with just this much fluff in the answers. Now I am completely aggravated because she has moaned and complained this whole time, and I know she is capable of an intelligent answer. She has just rushed through so she could get done to play.

In the mean time I am cooking dinner, Liv is rollerskating in the house, a no-no, and Ethan has his big wheel riding it across my living room! Did I mention I have wood floors that cannot be refinished again?

Well by the end Maddy is crying, and asking me, "Do you like making kids cry?" Yes, I love it, my school day is not complete until there is wailing and knashing of teeth. Guess what? It may only be 6:30, but it's bedtime (yes, then the knashing of teeth happened!) Oh, and no school day would be complete without threatening to enroll her in the local public school, and the lecture on, "I could find a million other things to fill my day than fight with you about school." Like I could have a clean house, read some books, watch Oprah, sew, go shopping, talk on the phone with my friends...." BUT I choose to do 5th grade Grammar with YOU!


So how was your school day?

I Love You Mimi

We all love you, baby! Be strong tomorrow, and know that I am praying for you. Your like my first baby, and I hope you can feel my hugs from Florida. I'll be thinking about you tomorrow, and call me if you need to, or just text me in class ;)
Call me after school. Love You!

Thrifty Thursday on Sunday???

I am not sure if these deals will be here by Thursday so I thought I would share. Disney is having summer PJ's clearanced at 3.99. Both boy and girl sets mainly around sizes 2T,3T,4T . So if you need these sizes it is a super deal.

Pumpkin Carving

This was a different Halloween for us. My mom and sis are out of town and dad was home alone. He knew we were heading back early from Atlanta and wanted to cheer up the kids so he left us a pumpkin on our doorstep. So, Friday he came by to carve up these babies before trick or treating! Thanks Dad!




Yummy!

Trick or Treating

Our annual trick or treating hayride! It was a little bit bigger this year....

Mike's dream tractor! It would only take one swipe to mow our whole yard!

Candy trading on the sidewalk

Double trouble!

Good Night!