Dino Baby

While in Georgia we bought Ethan a baby dinosaur webkinz.
Unaware

that this would become something very special to him..

He says "it has love" which he explains by showing the heart.

in the last 3 days he has carried it around and slept with it at night..
and I just think it is sooooo cute!!

A Slow and Gentle Push!

A few weeks ago in Sunday school Maddy was involved in a conversation regarding God and answering prayers. She argued, to her credit, that God answered all prayers, Yes, No or maybe!

The question was a yes or no question. It asked did God answer the prayers of the church when Herod had James, brother of John, put to death?

Maddy said, "yes" it just wasn't what the church wanted as an answer..

Well the Sunday school teacher came to me and wanted me to review this answer with her. As we all know it can be unnerving as they get up in age and start having their own take on theology and then repeating it in Sunday school.

For the life of me I could not find the error in her reasoning. Logically I knew God answers all prayer. I have tumbled it around in my head, I asked her teacher if he thought the answer was wrong? To which he just smiled and said she was right. Yet there has been an air of expectancy around what I needed to discuss with her.

Well I had put it out of my mind for the last two weeks, and I woke from a dead sleep with an epiphany! Maddy wasn't wrong, I needed to hear this not logically but spiritually. I have had a difficult time since this fall reconnecting spiritually. I am sure some of it is from anger at my prayers not being answered the way I wanted it. I was going through the motions at church, at home but not really feeling. Keeping everyone at arms length and avoiding too much interaction from the church body. I mentally still want to not be there but am feeling the pull spiritually calling me back.

So my prayers were not unanswered, just answered in a way I didn't want. So do I choose as a toddler to throw my fit? All along not seeing the bigger picture? It is much easier to talk theology than to have to walk in it.

Little House Series Part 1

This will be a series of posts on ways to "green" up your home and checkbook at the same time. In an age that is more enviornmentally conscious, chemical conscious and unfortunately wallet conscious how do we, so to speak "have it all"?

Well if you no longer had to purchase your laundry soap at 5-9.00 a bottle every week, or could use soap that cost .09 a bar, supplemented your grocery bill with home grown pesticide free veggies, and the list goes on and on. Would this help?

This will be a summer long weekly posts on alternatives to buying high priced green products. This is common sense from "Grandma's Kitchen." Cause' grandma was green before green was cool...

Free Garden

A garden can be as expensive or as cheap as you want to make it..

Visions of raised beds dance in my head, and I think do they really cost that MUCH???

Only if you are not handy, and by handy I mean resourceful. Pallets are free, and a great source of wood for a raised garden bed, or compost pile. You can go to lawn mower shops or look by dumpsters to find often new pallets for free. Lawn mower shops carry the really long pallets that have 2x4's on them. You just need to have a way to get them to your home.

Then pull them apart with a hammer and crow bar, and assemble with nails. They can be any dimension you need. A straight saw will work if you have one, and if not you can take it to Lowe's and ask nicely if they would be willing to cut it to your dimensions.








Now that you have your bed assembled, till up your patch of dirt by hand. For weed control snag some papers out of the local recycle bins, wet them and line them on the ground. Now for some good dirt! Craigslist often has listings of people offering fill dirt for free pick up. If you live in farm area ask local horse farms if you can dig in their manure pile for some OLD stuff. It needs to be dry and crusty looking.




For your next planting time you will want to compost some soil to fill your beds. This is still free, use yard clippings that people have bagged and are on the corner on trash day. Add veggie, & egg scraps, and any bunny,chicken,cow, or horse droppings to it. I will post more on making a compost bin in the future.

Now for something to put in your free garden. How about some free seeds? Wintersown offers free seeds with a self addressed stamped envelope. Walmart has seeds for .20 cents a packet, and Home depot will offer buy one get one seeds. Your best bet may be to invest in heirloom seeds from a seed swap, and then save your seeds for next planting. Children can get free seeds here.

So let's recap. Free raised bed+ free weed control+free dirt +fertilizer+free seeds= free food!

A small garden can make a big difference on your grocery bill.

Toffee Apple Dip

Apple Toffe Dip
1 - 8 oz. block softened cream cheese
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 pkg of a 8 oz. bag of Toffee Bits (you find this beside the choc. chips)
6-9 Granny Smith Apples cut into wedges for dipping
Mix together with until smooth - cream cheese, sugars and vanilla. Fold in toffee bits and refridgerate for at least 2 hours, the longer the better the flavors meld. I cut the apples just before serving to prevent them turning brown and coat them in lemon juice.

photo courtesy of yourhomebasedmom.com

What does 36.00 get you nowadays?

How about:

10 Jars of Hellmans Mayo
8- boxes of Graham Crackers
1- Gallon of Milk
4- Grands Biscuits
2- Juicy Juice Apple Juice
4- Boxes Duncan Hines Brownie Mix
2- Bottles of Glass Plus
2- Green Giant frozen Vegetable Boxes
3- Vidalia Onions
1- bunch of bananas
2- Cucumbers
2- Loaves of White Mountain Bakery Bread
2- Hidden Valley Ranch bottles salad dressing

The total was 36.00 with 99.00 in savings...

Best deals ** .24 Glass Plus, .75 Grands biscuits, .84 Ranch dressing, .99 graham crackers, and 1.50 Mayo., .50 cents green giant frozen veggies.

Check out Southernsavers.com for more weekly deals and printable coupons...

**There is quite a few Kashi, cascadian farm and another organic brand on BOGO at Publix and matching printable Q's
**5lb sugar is on sale and with a food lion printable it drops it to .99-1.29 a bag
**Food lion also has 2.00 off meat Q that you can use when buying publix meat.

AND DO NOT forget to go to KRAFT.com and print your coupons, and then go to coupons.com and print another copy. Both sites will let you print 2 copies so you should have 4 coupons per item....There are alot of good Q's out right now for summer.

Things that make you say, What The ??????

The indignation, you know that rooster doesn't want to wear a cape!

Chicken Diapers, Yall?

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our coop.

This is Dreamer

She is a sweet 12 week old Red Star

She is also been the victim

of

coop bullying

I found her being chased and pecked violently this afternoon. She has been here 2 days with no

incident.

I got to her before any damage was done physically.

But mentally who knows? Being bullied can hurt a young ones self esteem.

And now I have found her checking out the cat's watering bowl,

and just chilling in the kitchen with me while I was making dinner.

She's really sweet, and really scared of being in the coop.

One of the older hussies decided to make her the target, and let me tell you chickens do succumb to peer pressure.


Why even sweet little Sparkles was pecking this poor baby!



When you put her in the coop she paces by the door and cries..

So


Maddy has moved her into a large dog crate in the school room..



and I am wondering?




Where can I find some of those chicken diapers?

Mother's Day

My three blessings!
I sit typing this in my fresh cleaned house. Today was wonderful. My angels finished cleaning my car, which looks fabulous and my house. I start the week all fresh and shiny. All the laundry is completed and even the upstairs is clean.

YAY!!

I love a clean organized home to start my week off.

I spent most of the day with my BFF, and I just want to say what a wonderful mom she is. It has been really cool over the years to see our friendship grow and blossom into being like family. You know your like family when you can't hide your bad traits any longer. She knows them all and still hangs around.. Happy Mother's Day BFF!!!!!!!! I think your one of the coolest mom's I know!

And here is a glimpse (to prove she exsists for Tiff) since she won't willingly pose for a picture.

Need A Laugh?

Do yourself a favor and GO, right now here, and read the post .

Then follow the link at the bottom and read the next post.

You won't be sorry!

I love reading him..............

Time Out Friday

* Ok, I am giving myself a time out. We are going to do all the little projects I need accomplished for my sanity. I pulled Mike's spotlight out last night and continued weeding the garden until 10. Crazy, I tell you! So I am getting my house clean, my car clean, and all the little things that are bugging me.


* I am taking Maddy to the Ped today for a earache and acne. Since we started swimming her face has gotten sooo bad. I feel sorry for her and the dermatologist appointment is not until June. I think the chlorine is drying out her face. Unfortunately she is the only child in our group to really have acne yet...

* Tomorrow I am going to SWR training refresher. By Ethan's vocabulary you would think I know how to SWR just fine... But I need a refresher on how to teach children to SWR.


* And I am sure while I am gone my family will be doing all the things on my mother's day list.
*clean out my car, wash and vacuum, weed my garden, clean their rooms, build a compost
pile. I love Mom's day weekend, there is no NASCAR...so Sunday is fair game for
projects.

Shut-Up!!

I am going to date myself here but that's okay I think all of you are older than me anyway ;)

Do you remember the Twilight Zone episodes on primetime TV? There was one about a woman who somehow was granted the power to make everything stand still when she said "shut-up". She used this power when her kids were driving her crazy or other things like that. Well one day she was grocery shopping and a nuclear war head was getting ready to hit, you could see it in the sky and she said "shut-up" and then she was the only one trapped in a frozen world by herself. If she undid it they would all die. I always thought I would get all my family in our car and drive somewhere safe and then undo it... selfish aren't I?

Anyway the reason I told you this enthralling story is I need to make time stand still and catch up. Everything is out of order. My house is in disorder, my garden is in disorder, my car is a wreck, and I am behind in school, and church obligations.... I just want to scream ................SHUT-UP..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loser Thursday

**Ok, so I COMPLETELY & UTTERLY forgot about Holes. We were supposed to be in Orlando for the Rep play and I forgot!

*I am 3 days behind in reading and have Art,Writing Club, and swim team this afternoon before I can try and read 45 chapters to Maddy.

* Our A/C unit died on Tuesday night (the downstairs unit). It was the motor and we went 2 days with no air in the mid 90's. I know there are some who will not sympathize with me... but, I just told the kids in honor of Cinco de Mayo we were living like the mexicans during that time... They were not impressed. So, while the new motor was being installed my upstairs unit dies and needs a new motor. Needless to say the kids are sleeping in the living room at night for a while...

* I went to publix last night and felt like a criminal walking out. My bill was 140.00 and after coupons it reduced it to 49.72. I had 6 boxes of Capri suns for free. 6 boxes of Eggos for .25 a box, 4 -5lb bags of apples for a 1.50 a bag. .49 sour cream, .19 mahatma rice, and the list goes on and on. I had a FULL cart of groceries. I kept expecting to have a siren or the manager come over and take me away. You should feel sorry for the people behind me in line. It took her 10 minutes to ring up my coupons. In the parking lot I kept thinking, load up your groceries before the manager comes out for my grocery booty. Arrrgh- matey!

* Ethan will be going to preschool in the fall. He loved it, and Ms Shawnie has another peanut allergy child that will be attending. I don't know why that makes me feel better, but it does. I will pick him up before lunch daily. Oh, my baby!!!!!!!!!!

* Ok, I am off to take a shower the a/c is cranked and I am cooool today....

Weekend Update

* My sister was down with her adorable baby bump, and we spent the whole time either by the pool or registering for the baby.

* I sadly ignored my garden for the last week and now I am in weed city. I have green beans, tomatoes and squash , and my onions are almost golf ball sized. I plan on weeding this week in my spare time...

* My yard is getting me down, I want to plant so many things but I don't have the time or funds at the moment.

* We are catching up on some reading since we played all weekend. Today I am going to preschool to see how Ethan reacts to it. I am conflicted about sending him for 2 years since he will be a 3/4 year old this year and a 4/5 year old the following. I am not uncertain about the school we LOVE Ms. Shawnie. Also I worry about his allergy and if the teachers would catch a reaction early with all the other children they have to watch. Mike wants him to go, he thinks it would be good for him to be active while I am schooling the girls. I don't know....

* Liv surfed in the pool this weekend, pics to follow.

* I am thinking about taking the girls to D.C. this August for a week. My sis's man works for Mariott so they get really sweet deals on hotel stays....

* Ok, I am off to do school, go to preschool, and then weed, do more school, and math tutoring. I am reading Madeline with Liv for FIAR. I think we are going to do a lapbook on the body, and maybe an Eiffel Tower project. On a funny note, Ethan asked this weekend if my Dad's TV antennae was the Eiffel Tower. He amazes me with his memory. We had only read Madeline once Friday and he remembered us talking about the Eiffel Tower.

* Coupon deals this week- free schick razors at publix, Marzetti croutons .50, check out Southern Savers for a complete list, they are on my sidebar.

And I wondered How I had become the crazy chicken lady who stockpiles tampons and toothpaste?

And now you know, it's genetic.

Dad is covering all bases, swine flu, alien abduction, and a nagging wife??

Books, Books & more Books

Our book list for the last month has been pretty impressive for us



*Turn Homeward Hannalee
*Perilous Road
*Across Five Aprils
*Behind Enemy Lines
*The Monitor and the Merimac
*Abraham Lincoln Biography
* Abraham Lincoln's World
*Landmark History of the America's (textbook)
* Shades of Gray

* and we have started Old Yeller & Caddie Woodlawn. We are averaging 2 books a week. The good news is we finish Sonlight July 1st. So I plan to take off July then start back August 1st. How is everyone elses summer looking?

Daily Life

I love the bullet format so much I just may post a little more regularly.

* Ethan is playing with a shovel in the cat's food bowl as I am typing. And weirdly I am cool with that. Last week I was talking to Caryn while cooking dinner and I lost power to everything in the kitchen. Shocked I walked out to the garage to see Ethan on a stool flicking off all my breakers! So the kitty bowl is really no biggie..the litter box on the other hand....


*We had a full day of school, we are on the tail end of the civil war going into reconstruction. We just finished "Behind Rebel Lines" and "Shades of Gray" These were both favorites, we didn't want to put them down. Liv is ging to start 5 in a row this week. I used it with Maddy her kindergarten year and forgot about it until Julie mentioned it. Well since Liv is just hanging out doing random K stuff I thought we would add it for the summer. She will start Sonlight Core 1 in the fall when Maddy starts core 6.

* Ethan just said dammit when Mike hung up from talking to him. I said what?? He said the phones not working dammit... (apply soap to mouth, rinse, and repeat). Ethan- "Daddy says dammit." Me- I will wash his mouth out when he gets home, too...

* I have felt yucky for the last 2 days, kinda queasy and tired. Hope I am not getting the stomach bug.

* We went to the new park in Umatilla yesterday. It is like Disney in the middle of the boondocks. And can I just say that this will soon be known as heat stroke park in another month. There is NO shade anywhere. They built the park in the middle of the prairie, which is good for keeping track of little ones, but not good for 90 degree florida sun. So I think this will be a evening, and maybe the winter time park for us. It definitely was neat. Although park day is not really fun for me at this moment. I can't sit and chat because Ethan is on the move! Is it totally selfish to leave your kids at home so you can go to the park and socialize???

* My sis is coming home tomorrow.

* I am trying to decide if I am going to freak out over the swine flu. I have a whole pantry of rice, so I should be okay. I just don't feel like freaking out right now...Rhonda overheard a Walmart employee saying (in a southern accent) "Yeah that flu is the bird flu,the swine flu, and the human flu all put together" I am glad there is no misinformation going around! I would hate to catch this birdswinehuman flu, that would surely kill you!

* ok I need to start dinner, maybe we will have pop tarts.

Lets Chat too!

I loved Tiff's post on "Let's Chat" and the bullet style, so I am going to be cool just like her!

* I have 5 minutes before NCIS so this will be super quick!

* I have 5 new chickens happily, and illegally housed in their million dollar Mcmansion, or what I like to call "my summer vacation". Code enforcement may drive me to become an activist, so if you see me on the corner with a save the chicken billboard don't laugh! I never thought in a million years I would ever be the crazy chicken lady who homeschools and stockpiles tampons & toothpaste!

* I am full force schooling again, and to get my spring fix, I have been schooling outside (notice my tan?) Maddy is stressing me with math right now... I caught her adding from the wrong column...........arghhhh.. On a lighter side, I wasn't busy enough so I added swim team back into our schedule. It meets daily at 4:30-5:45 (you know that magical hour when everyone is tired, whiny, and wants dinner)

* My garden is rocking, I had my first ripe cherry tomato today, and squash for dinner last night.

* I am going to be an aunt to a little boy, named Cayden, or Cade for short. Lyns is coming home to visit this weekend and celebrate my mom's birthday.

* My parents have sold the lake house in Alabama, so no summer at the lake. But really we needed to be home doing school anyways.

* Amelia graduates in less than a month~~woo-hoo! And I am hoping to convince her to come and stay with me and go to Lake-Sumter next year.

* I am thinking about a new raised flower bed in part shade to grow lettuce through the summer.

* I wish Mike would finish my compost bin, then build my new raised bed, then seed the yard for grass, then put up privacy fence on the coop side of the yard, and then drive to Belleview to get my red chicken. But alas it is Nascar season!!

* Shake-n-bake (that's for you Sarah-B)

* well this post is getting lame, and I have a mountain of laundry and 3 weeks of coupons to clip, so goodnight!

Dumpster Diving 101

For weeks now I have been thinking about outside projects that I have very little skills to "make happen".


A chicken coop was high on the list, since I was really OVER, smelling chicken poo in my garage! I need a compost bin for my garden, and then there was the pitiful plastic table I was using to do all my potting and plantings. It was ugly, completely utilitarian and just not me! But did I dare ask for my husband to think of one more project, when I was still smelling chick poo? No, I kept silent looking on the internet for garden benches, which were over priced and not what I had imagined.

And then on my way home from Melissa's I passed the bench of my dreams, sitting out on the side of the road beckoning for me to take it home.


Except, I don't dumpster dive? Is there protocol? Do you need permission? I had a car full of kids and unsure which home on this dirt road would I ask for permission to reclaim their garbage? Well I called Mike, he should surely know what to do, it is his job. A little aggravated he agreed to come pick up my beast of a find. I trekked an acre up and asked the first person I found to which they said, " If there aint a sign on it, take it." So there you go, you can take stuff on the curb as long as there is no sign??? Who knew!

BEFORE

AFTER

And between this and the coop I have got my paint fix for a while!

The Chicken Coop (5 Days of FUN)

I have eat, breathed and dreamed about this chicken coop for the last 5 days. I have an awesome farmers tan, dirty man hands, and way more construction knowledge than I ever wanted. But my coop is done!! The ladies spent their first night in it and I found them on their roost this morning all huddled together. In fact only half the roost was utilized. A sure sign that there is room for a red chicken or two? hmmmm?

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler by the Hallmark Channel

I have this recorded and will make copies for anyone who wants one. I watched this with Maddy and there was only one part at the end that was rough when they showed the Gestapo beating her feet. At then end the real Irena talks about how hard it was for the mothers to give up their children. This was a very good movie for the between phase. If they are not old enough to see the deathcamps, but can get a glimpse of this tragedy through a child's eyes. By no means is this watered down, but I watched it first and thought it was appropriate for a tweens understanding. Our book club had just finished Behind the Bedroom Wall and I think this movie helped put a greater perspective on the enormity of the holocaust.

And can you believe Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize compared to her? They were both nominated and he won??????????????????