100 posts later . . .

This is my 100th post. It has been fun. I am really surprised at how much I enjoy this whole blogging thing. The other day I went back and skimmed through some of the old posts. I thought it would be fun to go back and look at some favorites. I would love to know which other ones you thought were memorable too. I decide to pick one post from each month I have been blogging.

My first post was February 6, 2006. Remember the story about the mama mouse? I have to admit I almost teared up again, so I guess it wasn't just pregnancy hormones!

In March, I shared with you my first trip to the grocery store with four kids. Honestly, I think it was easier to go then than it is now.

How could I not pick Hillbilly Scouts from my April posts? Classic!

I had a hard time picking a May favorite, but in the end this post about Kellen won out. I couldn't resist the cute picture of him and Vivian.

In June, I wrote about a Momma Bird that got me thinking about momma me. :)

In July we played a little guessing game about a mystery object. The mystery was solved in a Story about My Grandpa.

Kellen picked the post for August. He picked Quotes from a Four Year Old. I guess he thinks his little sister is pretty funny too!

Thanks for reading it has been fun sharing with those I know in the real world and making new friends here in the "virtual world." Looking forward to another 100!

Applehead is married to a Potato head

Preface
When Tim was in college there were two Tims in a musical he was in. So they started calling my Tim, Applehead. If you don't know us, Applehead fits because the word apple is in our last name.




Today I took a quiz here about what kind of homeschooler I am. The results. I am Mr. (Mrs.) Potato Head. The description is as follows

Mr. Potato Head You have your ideal of how things should look, but you're flexible enough to allow for change. You are not bothered by changing methods, mid-course if necessary. You use an eclectic combination of curriculum sources.


It is a pretty accurate description of how we homeschool.

So I am a potato head who is married to an applehead.

Getting Paid to Blog

I spend a lot of time blogging. Probably too much, but I really do enjoy it. Could I actually make money while doing it? I knew you could make some by using those google ads that pop up all over the place on some blogs. I wasn't really interested in those. Supermom over at Getting Out of Debt. has talked several time about different ways to make money with your blog and I never really was interested until this week when she posted about Blogvertise. Now this one has me interested. This post is actually my entry post for their approval process.

Here is how it works. After you are approved they will send you a site to visit. You check it out and you write about it. You can write about it any way you like. You can write a review of the site. You can incorporate into a story. You can even be negative about the site. You just have to write at least 50-60 words and link to the site three times in your post.

You submit your post for approval and if it is approved and still posted in 30 days Blogvertise pays you $10 to your paypal account. Sounds good to me, so I am going to try it. Just think I could actually say I get paid to write! :)

Thanks Amanda. I fixed the links!

I thought I'd never . . .

I had this parenting thing down. I knew what I would do and what I wouldn't. I rolled my eyes at parents whose kids were throwing tantrums in Wal Mart. I snubbed those whose kids talked back. I couldn't understand how their children could be so out of control. That was before I had kids!

Now I find myself often thinking, "I thought I would never,"

Let my kids sleep in our bed
I don't think that even lasted the first night home from the hospital

Have the need to say, 'Do not stand/sit/ lay on your baby sister.'

Get excited about poop
You know, the baby pooped she must be eating well and later, yeah you pooped in the potty.

Use my saliva to clean a face

Use a babysitter named TV

Bribe uh. . . I mean reward my child with candy

Lock my child in his room for his nap
I know it sounds awful. I almost didn't put that one down. Let me explain. It was the only way Nolan would stay in his room and take a nap. Don't worry I am no longer doing this. He learned to unlock the door! Now I have to stand there and hold it shut!

Allow the kids to eat in the vehicle
I have traded a clean vehicle for sanity and speed while driving

Be a stay at home, home schooling mom

Want to live beside my parents in the middle of nowhere

Oh how your life (and perspective) changes after you have kids. There are my top ten things that I thought I'd never do as a parent. Oh and yes, my children have been out of control at restaurants and stores and they frequently talk back, in case you were wondering. Fortunately none of those are regular events, but they do happen.

How about you? What do you do now as a parent (or wife or adult) that you never thought you would? Please share in the comments or on your blog! I didn't get Mr. Linky going so if you are posting in your blog leave a link in the comments and I will add it on here.

Check out Delilah's post here. And JSunshine's. And Jake.

Wordless Wednesday

Siblings Playing

Find more Wordless Wednesday here. Join me tomorrow for I thought I'd never.

Tackle It Tuesday

We have been here over a year now. The move was kind of chaotic. Tim was here before we were. I did as much packing as I could with three kids and being pregnant. The move was jammed into a weekend. Our house was not ready so we crammed in with Mamaw and Papaw for a while. We painted most of the rooms in the house. Then finally moved to our house and stayed without electric for about two weeks. And of course this all happened in the height of rental season when Tim works very long hours.

I normally am fairly organized. I like things to have a place and be there. But with all the chaos (and exhaustion), I wasn't up to my norm. I just wanted to get stuff out of boxes and out of my way. So . . . things were (and still are) jammed in to cupboards and closets. Of course we have also accumulated more stuff in this year that needs a place to go.

So why am I telling you all this now? I am ready to start reorganizing and decluttering.
5 minutes for Mom hosts a meme called Tackle It Tuesday. I think participating in this will help me keep motivated. So here goes. My first Tackle It Tuesday.

This is our homeschool cupboard before.
We have been doing some school all summer, but I thought before we kick it back in for fall (and add another student) that I should give this thing a clean out. While cleaning out I also made a list of supplies and things we need to restock.

And the completed project.
The first time Kellen got in the cupboard he found a couple of books he forgot (aka were buried under the clutter) we had. He has been reading them since.

Next weeks project. Lydia's closet.

Festival of Frugality #36

Today's Festival is hosted by Amy at Motherload. As always there are lots of great entries to help us save money. Some of my favorites.

The host offers a menu planner and price sheet from my favorite grocery store; Aldi.

Ever been dumpster diving or curb shopping? HollyRhea shares her experiences.

*Ladies Only*
Tired but happy talks about reusable feminine products. I don't have a need for these right now, (yet another perk of breastfeeding!) but I have seen cloth items discussed several places on the web. The "keeper" is new to me though. I am not sure I am ready to make this frugal step. I do cloth for diapers, yet somehow this is different. The lifetime money savings has to be huge. Something to think about in the next few months.

And since I love curry I had to add The Common Room's recipe for Curried Lentils. She also had a recipe for curry powder a while back, but I wasn't able to find it quickly today.

So check them out for yourself.

Before Kids . . . .

Think back to a time before you had kids. C'mon you can do it. Remember when there were no poopy diapers or runny noses. A time when you didn't trip over toys at three A.M. while trying to settle the crying baby. When half your errand time didn't involve buckling and unbuckling car seats.

Remember the time you were out to eat with your friends or future husband and the table next to you had a screaming three year old and a baby throwing food and parents who seemed to have no control. And you opened your mouth and uttered those famous words, "When I have kids they will never act like that." Now you find yourself the parent who seems to have no control! Please tell me I am not the only one! :)

Isn't funny to hear the things people say they will never do until the reality of a situation hits them? Lately, I have been thinking about the things I now do that I thought I would never do as a parent. I thought it would be fun if we would all share. I will give you until Thursday to think up a list of things or a story that illustrates this. Then I will post my list and you can leave yours in comments or blog about it and leave the link. (I have never used Mister Linky, but I may give it a try)

I realize that not all of you have kids at home, but feel free to be creative and participate with another list. Does this happen to grandparents too? Or maybe other things as an adult or wife you do that you never thought you would.

Think about and share it with us on Thursday. I can't wait to see what you have to say!

Jumping off a Cliff

On day two of our trip to Monongahela National Forest Tim and Papaw led the group from church through the cave at Fernow Forest, I was happy I didn't need to go again! :) Mamaw and I took the kids and two other non-cavers from the group to play in the river. Tim posted a couple of pictures from this on his blog. I had to take them with his phone b/c he took the camera in the cave.

The next day the whole group went to Table Rock for rappelling. Rappelling is not much work it is pure rush, fun! The first time is mental work to step off the edge and there is a little physical work to climb back up, but compared to the cave it is nothing! The most work was keeping track of the kids. We literally tied Nolan to an adult the whole day. We really had not planned to stay out all day with the little kids, but that was how it worked.

Here is a picture of us watching the rappelling.

Kellen did not go down. I can't really explain why. He has rappelled before. The only thing I can say is I think he was exhausted and he shut down everytime he got to the edge. Oh well maybe next time. He did do some rock climbing at the end of the day.

Here is a good one of Miles. (My nephew)

Lydia went tandem with Tim.

We never did take Nolan down. I think he would have been ok going down, but we were concerned about getting him back up. We have some very small rock faces on our property. I think we are going to let the kids "practice" there (with us of course.)

A Journey to the Center of the Earth

Alright so we didn't go to the center of the earth. I am not sure how far down we went, but I am pretty sure we were really nowhere near the center of the earth. It just felt like it. When you are in the cave you feel so far away.

We had a great time. I was hesitant to go in the cave this year. It is hard work and it has been 3 years, 2 babies and about 20 (+) pounds since I last went caving. I decided to go in for the kids. It was Lydia's first time in the cave and I wanted to be there. (well I guess with that logic I will have to go two more times) We took the kids (mine and my brothers) in before the larger group of teens and adults came from our church. Here the kids are preparing to go to the cave.




I had not been in this cave before. It is a lot different than the other one we go to. I liked it better. There was running water in it. We had to do a lot of crawling and even military crawling, but it wasn't the tight squeezes I remembered from the other cave. The wet makes it very dirty, but at least you are not breathing in dust.
Here we are eating lunch.




It was very hard work. My knees were sore and I have the bruises to prove it. (Though most of the scratches came the day we went rappelling. More on that later.) I found muscles that I forgot were there. I am still a little stiff. But I really enjoyed it. There is that sense of accomplishment in pushing yourself and doing it! I was glad I was there with the kids too. Here are the pictures when we got out of the cave.





Kellen wrote you a poem about it . . .

Dirty in a Cave
Very dirty in a cave.
Crawling through the dirt,
Water dripping on my head.
Dirty in a cave.

Festival of Frugality #35

Check out the Festival of Frugality over at Punny Money I haven't got a chance to look to closely yet as I am still battling piles of laundry and what not from our trip. Do you ever wonder if going away is really worth it? But there are always lots of interesting entries. Hope you find some good tips! I would love to hear which were your favorites.

Quotes from a Four Year Old

We are back from our trip. We got back late Saturday. Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon relaxing at a friends house. I really should be tackling the mountain of mail, or the unpacked suitcases, but the laundry is going and the kitchen is back to decent so, I am having a cup of coffee and I can no longer resist the urge to blog! But I will make it short and sweet and share with you some words spoken by Lydia this weekend.

The two oldest kids rode there with their cousins and my parents. A conversation began about what the kids wanted to be when they grew up. Lydia's response,

"When I grow up, I am going to be an adult."

At camp she was heading for the cabin. I was trying to keep the kids from playing in there so I asked her what she was doing. . .

"I forget . . . but I am going to go do it anyway!"

She was really cute in the cave too. I will tell you more about that later. I am thinking there were some other cute things she said, but I can't remember right now. (I need to write things down!) I will add them later if I think of them. For now I have fed my addictions (blogging and coffee) :) and should return to tackling the piles.

Why am I sitting here?

We met Tim's parents at a half way point (about 2 hours away) on Saturday so the two oldest could go for a visit and to Geauga Lake. So right now two of my kids are out of state (probably on some sort of roller coaster) and two are sleeping. And I am on the computer. I really should be doing other things. And thank you to all who are saying "oh but Steph no kids (for all practical purposes) enjoy yourself, relax, do something for you." Well normally I would be all about that and apparently I am since I am still sitting here.. .

But you don't understand. I pick the kids up at the half way point tomorrow and we leave for a caving, rapelling, camping trip on Wendesday. There is laundry and shopping to do, food to prepare and pack, clothing and toiletries to gather and a house to pick up. (I can't stand to come home to a wreck after a trip.) So why am I sitting here? I think I am addicted! :)

I may try to squeeze another post in yet this week, but I will be gone Wendesday to Saturday so I will catch up with you next week! And my story about how Tim and I have lived in some free and cheap places will have to continue next week. Well back to the TO DO list.

The Joys and Frustrations of Breastfeeding

An invitation has gone out at 5 Minutes for Mom to share our breastfeeding experiences. I have four children, 8, 4, 2, and 5 months. I nursed the three oldest for right around a year and plan to do the same this time.

I am not sure exactly why I decided to breastfeed Kellen. At that time it was becoming the thing to do, not that I am necessarily a follow the crowd kind of person, but I did like the health aspects of it. Honestly, though, I would probably have to say that the financial aspect was the big seller (I am practical at my core!) I couldn't see buying formula when I could produce something better for free!

Why doesn't anyone tell you nursing is work? Women have been nursing babies for. . . well, forever. I just assumed you put the baby to the breast and they get fed. Easy right? Yeah right! Nursing is work especially in the beginning, and Kellen and I had a rough beginning. I don't want to tell the whole story now or this post will become a book, but the pertinent facts for this discussion are we were in different hospitals for three days and although I was given a pump I wasn't really told how I should be using it and did very little pumping. All this equals a horrible start.

When we came home I was clueless. None of the family had nursed. They didn't know how to help and I didn't have another mentor. We were figuring this out on our own. I had to go back to school and start my student teaching. I didn't want to supplement, so I was pumping too. There were other things going on in our lives that were difficult. It was awful. Looking back now I see it in a different light, but at the time I felt like all he did was nurse and cry. I was tired and completely frustrated physically and mentally.

Now, I wonder why I stuck with it. I guess people who know me would say I am just that hard headed. I prefer the term determined! It did get better. We did get the hang of it. I actually enjoyed it.

What is my favorite part? Ok well besides that it is free :) I think God designed us to breastfeed so that we would stop, rest, think, enjoy and bond. I am not saying you can't do that if you bottle feed, but with breastfeeding you have to. I know me. I am a doer. I like to get things done. I like to be busy. It is hard for me to sit and rest. If I was using bottles I probably would have propped that bottle or let the baby hold it so I could finish the dishes or cook dinner or do whatever I felt had to get done. I also love that I can bring the baby to bed with me and sleep while they eat. (Something I said I'd never do before I had kids!)

Weaning was only hard for the first one. It was hard because we had used nursing as his comfort to go to sleep at night. So, I was the only one who could put him down, and he took a long time to go to sleep. At a year we were only nursing at bed time, and I had had enough. We let him cry it out. We had three long nights, but then he learned to put himself to sleep.

The next three I would not allow to fall asleep while nursing (after the first few months) and we taught them to put themselves to sleep much earlier. It was much easier with a lot less screaming than the first time around. I actually planned to nurse Lydia and Nolan a bit longer
but they weaned themselves when they were a little more than a year old. We have yet to see what Vivian does! :)

I'd like to say everything was perfect with the next three, but that would be a bit of an exaggeration. But it was soooooo much easier! I knew what to expect. My milk supply was better. I asked for help when there was a problem. I wasn't so uptight. It was just all around better.

As for advice . . .
If you are just starting and have a hard time ask for help and stick with it. Set yourself a goal that you will try to nurse for X amount of time and then re-evaluate. The first months are hard work; it does get better.
For later, if you hit a rough spot ask for help. Most moms are more than happy to help!

Sumac Pie

I made the pie for the church carry in. It was a hit! I wouldn't tell anyone what it was until they tasted it. I eavesdropped on comments. I heard "What are those berries?" (I used some of the berries for garnish.) "This tastes like pink lemonade." "It reminds me of a sweet tart."

After telling people what it was I got a lot of raised eyebrows. I explained that it is different than poison sumac. I took a couple ladies out to the parking lot where there is some staghorn sumac growing. I still got some of the "it is good, but you are weird" looks, but hey I never said I was trying to be normal! :)

The Original Pink Lemonade

We have been foraging wild foods again. This time it is sumac. No, no not poison sumac, but Staghorn Sumac.
This a picture of it.
There are several species of sumac with similar berries. (Poison sumac has white berries that hang down between the leaves) The berries are fuzzy and very tart. If you touch the berries and then lick your finger it tastes like your finger was in lemon juice. You don't eat the berries. They are mostly seed, but you can use them to make things. Apparently, Native American used the berries to make a lemonade like drink.

I put the berries from two flower heads in the blender with water to cover, blended briefly and allowed it to sit for 30 minutes. Strained this through a cloth into a pitcher added water to make a gallon and about 1 3/4 C sugar. It looked like pink lemonade when it was done.

It tastes similar to pink lemonade also. My husband likes it and says it tastes more green. I know that sounds like a strange description, but I have to agree with it. I am not sure how else to describe it. The cook book Bootstraps and Biscuits by Anna Lee Robe-Terry lists several recipes for sumac. They all start with the sumac ade. (What I made in the blender before adding sugar and more water) I tried Sumac Jelly and Sumac Syrup. My jelly turned out a bit runny, but I really like the flavor. The syrup is great. We had it on French Toast. It is a very different kind of syrup because it has a little tang to it, but Tim and I really liked it.

We have a carry in dinner at church this Sunday and I think I am going to try a pie from that cook book. It is thickened and sweetened ade folded with whipped cream in a graham cracker crust. I will let you know if I make it and how it turns out. I am also thinking about freezing some of the ade in ice cube trays to use instead of lemon juice.

If you are new to this blog and want to know some more about what we have been foraging do a search of this blog from the top of the page for "weeds" to see some of my previous posts on the subject.

What's for dinner?

Need some new ideas for what to serve for dinner? Check out the Carnival of the Recipes #102
at Men in Aprons There are recipes for every course of your meal. I am intrigued by Smoky Citrus Shrimp with Parsley and Cream cheese Fruit Clouds not only looks fantanstic I could use blackberries! I always looking for more uses for those! Enjoy!

It is so hot that . . .

Can you believe this heat? It is pushing 100 here and then add in the heat index for the humidity WHEW!

You know how your glass of ice water "sweats"? Well I went grocery shopping today and while loading the groceries in the car the non refrigerated items were sweating. IE my jar of salsa was wet on the outside. (Good science lesson for why this happens!)

I hung up a load of laundry yesterday I was dripping with sweat by the time I came in. And I don't know why I bother because it is so stinkin' humid it takes the laundry all day to dry.

Our air is set at 78 and after spending 5 minutes outside it feels cold coming in the house.

Thank the Lord for A/C! We haven't always had it, but I sure do appreciate it now!

Enter the champions!

The training was intense. The competition fierce. The battle difficult. Yet the Royal Book Knights persevered and emerged victorious!







Kellen, Ashley and Miles were members of the Royal Book Knights. This is part of a summer library program in our county called Battle of the Books. The Knights read 10 books and met for practice once a week in June and July. The battle included 12 teams from all over the county. Ten questions to each team. The Knights were the only ones to achieve a perfect score.

I wish I could have gotten more close up pictures of their faces when the questions were asked, but we were pretty far away and our camera is cheap. Their body language told the whole story. Even when the other teams were asked questions you could see on our team's faces if they knew it or not. And honestly there were only a few questions through the whole competition that they had to think about. When it was their turn the knights would have a quick huddle and the spokesperson (the blond boy in the middle) would give a confident answer. They were all so excited and proud of course so were mom and dad!

High Maintenance???

Who would ever use this term to describe sweet Vivian? I can't believe I did several times, right here on this blog! She will be 5 months this week and oh what a sweet sweet baby she has become!

She loves to lay on the floor and play with her toys and roll and scoot in circles. She will also sit in her bouncy or swing, but she prefers to be able to move around. We started her on cereal and she eats like a pro! Ok eating like a pro, I think that is a prerequisite to be a member of this family.

She is putting herself to sleep in the crib (out of the bassinet in our room. YES!) and she has even slept the whole night for three straight nights now! It is amazing how much I have missed a full nights rest!

Well that is just a quick update on my high maintenance girl turned sweet angel!

Need a good laugh?

Check out these family friendly kids funny stories at Life in a Shoe. Good for lots of laughs. I submitted the story of Uncle Eric buying birthday cards with his kids.

Frugal Fridays - Our Frugal home (Tour of Homes)

Today is BooMama's Tour of Homes. Thanks so much to her for hosting this. And if you have never been here before please feel free to look around. I normally talk about something frugal on Fridays, but today I will be showing it to you.

A little background; we live on 100 wooded acres with my parents. We moved here about a year ago. We live in a double wide now with hopes to build our "realistic dream home." We (well mostly my dad) have done most everything around here ourselves. It has been a slow process, but has saved us a ton of money. For example we bought this home used and with all we have in it (moving it, foundation ect) we have spent about $15,000. Not bad for a three bedroom, 2 bath home. It even has a fireplace. It is the first time we have had one and we love it. Of course we also have all the free firewood we could ever use! Ok now on to the tour.

I know BooMama asked for a picture of the front door first, but this is really the beginning of our home. This is our driveway. It actually isn't our property here, only a right away to our property that is about 3/4 of a mile from here.








This is the front door. Yes, we do have a sidewalk and porch now, no still no grass. I think the plan now is to wait until fall to plant grass so we don't have to water so much!

Here is me in the office working on this blog. Actually, this is supposed to be the dining room, but we use it as an office. It is pretty small. We could probably get our family into it, but wouldn't be able to open up our table when we have guests, so we opted to put the table in the family room.

The family room is a large room. Nolan is in the living area of the room. Sorry the pictures of this room are dark. We tried to get as much light as possible, but without much success. I doesn't really show the room well either, but I couldn't resist the picture of Nolan. The fireplace is pretty much behind where Nolan is in the far corner. There is a sliding glass door on the back wall with a nice view into the woods. Eventually there will be a deck there too.

And yes, I did pick up this morning, but with four kids, ok never mind the four kids, just with Nolan "picked up" lasts for about ten seconds! I wasn't quick enough! So as BooMama said this is the "real deal"






Here is a shot from the other side of the room, showing our dining area.


I really enjoy my kitchen. There really isn't enough counter or cupboard space, (now is there ever enough ladies?) but it is spacious. I love the two windows by the sink. The view isn't too pretty there right now, but I can see the kids and watch the birds. This spring I could watch a momma bird and her babies from these windows. We also have a small table and my great grandmothers dry sink on the other side of this room.

Well for the last picture I couldn't decide what to use. My bedroom... not a chance that is always the last room to get cleaned and the doors are usually shut when people are over. There really isn't anything else I'd like to show in the house. I have lots of favorite spots outside, but it is difficult to go on a hike alone with Vivian and Nolan, so I didn't get to those spots today. I decided to show you where I have spent the most time outside recently.
At the blackberry bushes. I guess it is a favorite spot because I love getting all the free berries. Yes, I get sweaty and scratched up, but there is a certain satisfaction in doing the work and getting the reward. We try to go first thing in the morning when it is cooler. The kids go with me. Vivian sleeps in the stroller, Nolan steals berries from everyone's basket and Kellen and Lydia find their own spots to pick. It is generally a quiet time for me. I can do a lot of thinking while picking berries. That doesn't happen many other places.

So this is our frugal living space on the 100 Acre Wood. Next Friday I plan to share some of the other frugal shelters Tim and I have had over the years. Thanks for stopping by, come again soon!

They will eat Zucchini

Have too much zucchini? Well we don't due to some fertilizer issues. I will let my mom explain if she wishes. But I know now is the time of year when you often have zucchini coming out your ears and if you don't have any of your own every friend is trying to pawn them off on you.

So a friend of mine gave me this great recipe along with a big bag of zucchini. It is Zucchini Strudel. It looks and tastes like apple you don't even have to tell the kids or hubby that it is really zucchini.

Zucchini Strudel

Filling

6-8 C pared, diced zucchini
2/3 C lemon juice
1 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Crust

4 C flour
2 C sugar
3 sticks margarine

Cut zucchini lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Peel and slice crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Cook with lemon juice until tender.

In a separate bowl, blend four, sugar and butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Pat half of mixture into a 9X13 pan. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

While crust is baking, add remaining ingredients to filling and let cool. When crust is finished spread zucchini mixture over the crust and top with remaining crust mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 375.

This is her recipe. When I made it I used more nutmeg and cinnamon. About 2 tsp nutmeg and 2 TB cinnamon. I also added blackberries (about a cup or two) since I have blackberries in abundance. It made a nice combination.

Tour of Homes

BooMama is hosting a tour of blogger homes. Basically she has said that she can't read a blog without imagining what the persons house looks like. So after some friends suggestions she decide to host a tour of homes.

I think it sounds like fun and will give you a glimse of the 100 Acre Wood if you haven't been here. And it also gives me a little motivation to pick up the house! It is like having company. The tour is on Friday and yes I intend to tie in Frugal Fridays with the tour.

Interested? Check it out here
and join in the fun.

Festival of Frugality in Limericks

Today's festival is hosted by Penny Nickel at Money and Values Even if you don't want to check out the entries you have to go check out how she wrote it all in limericks. It is great. Hopefully you will find some good frugal tips too!

Thit List

Yesterday we celebrated Kellen's 8th birthday. His actual birthday was Friday, but we waited until today to go out to eat and have cake and presents. It was interesting as always.

To preface this story please understand that my brother Eric is deaf. His first language is American Sign Language. English is a second language to him. One he is not very fluent in.

He took the kids to the store to each pick out a card and gift for Kellen. The gifts were good ones, the cards . . . well this is where the language becomes an issue.

Kellen opened Ashley's first. The card has a caricature of a chiuawau on the outside. The inside says "It's your birthday and I couldn't be more excited - well, not without wetting myself!" Ok elementary potty humor, funny no biggie!

Miles' pick; the outside has a picture of a duck wrapped up in toilet paper, "I couldn't forget to thend you a birthday card." Inside of the card "I don't want to end up on your thit list" As Kellen is reading this card all the adults, except Eric, are choking on their ice cream cake. Kellen is stumbling over the word "thit" because it looks like a nonsense word to him. The other kids are looking at us like "what I don't get it?"

My dad tries to explain it to them without actually saying what "thit" is. You know the "s" word. We are all rolling and then Miles pipes up, "Oh I just thought it meant to be on your birthday list."

A story about my grandpa

My maternal grandparents died when I was fairly young. I do remember them, but not well. Last fall my mom told me this story about grandpa. He was a farmer in Wayne County, Ohio. As a farmer he worked very hard, but had down time in the winter. To fill this time grandpa would gather hickory nuts in the fall. Then all winter he would shell them and when there were enough grandma would bake a cake.

In my head I imagined grandpa doing this and all the cakes they must have eaten. (Do you see where this is going?) So my mom took the kids out and gathered hickory nuts. Then I took the kids out later and gathered more. Now at this time I was very pregnant with Vivian so the whole bending over thing to gather wasn't working well. I pretty much sat down and scooted around to gather nuts. All in all we got quite a few nuts.

The outer husk of the hickory nut comes off fairly easy, but then comes the cracking. Hickory nuts are hard, very hard. When cracking with a hammer the break into lots of little pieces. And they are not one nice piece like a walnut. There is nut meat in lots of little crevices. I am thinking this must be why hickory nuts are not available commercially. No wonder it took grandpa all winter. He probably only ate a cake or two! We ate none.

So our trip to Lehmans to purchase our mystery object a nutcracker. It cracks those hickories like they are nothing. You still have to pick to get all the nutmeat out, but it doesn't shatter the shell and is much easier.

I haven't gotten a chance to use it much yet. I am elbow deep in blackberries now. I have big plans for it in the fall and winter. We still have some hickory nuts. They stay good indefinitely in their shell. I want to gather walnuts too. I am hoping to not have to buy any nuts for baking.

So Aunt D it is a crusher of sorts. And of course Delilah and jsunshine already knew what the item was. Thanks for guessing!

Frugal Fridays - Teaching our Kids to be Frugal

Today is Kellen's birthday. His eighth. One thing that Kellen has asked for his birthday is to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse. How do you teach an eight year old that prefers steakhouses to McDonald's (we created that monster I am afraid) to be frugal?

Frugal is a hard concept to learn when you are a kid. The line between wants and needs is very blurry when your eight. Wants vs. needs has been the topic of discussion at Larger Families this past week. I recommend you check out some of the entries. Kids are bombarded with media trying to create needs from wants. There are peers who seem to have so much more than you. There is family who wants to make you happy by giving you what you want.

I hope that our kids learn to be frugal from watching and listening to us. I do try to distinguish wants/needs with them. We try hard to limit "stuff." I think though, that they need experience with money in order to really get this concept. Kellen has asked for an allowance. It is something we have discussed here and there for awhile. We think it is time.

We won't be giving him much. Three dollars a week. That amount was determined because it makes it easy to use his bank. We got this bank a few years back. Basically it is divided into three parts to help kids budget their money. The church part for giving, the store for spending and the bank for saving.

He has told me he wants to save his money for the Lego Star Wars Death Star This particular Lego set costs $300! Oh, he has a lot to learn about frugalness. I mentioned to him that he would have to save a long time for something like that. (He doesn't know what his allowance is yet) He told me that he would not only use his bank money, but his store money too. At $2 a week the Death Star is a long way away. I think reality will set in. I am hoping that having his own money to spend will help to instill some frugalness in the form of careful selection and patience. Maybe I can show him how to shop around for the objects he wants. How do you teach these concepts to the children in your life?

Do you know what this is?

While we were in Ohio we visited Lehmans We grew up in Amish country near Kidron where Lehmans hardware is. If you are not familiar with Lehmans it is a hardware store. It has lots of non-electric items. They are right next to one of the largest livestock auctions in the area. From what I understand they did a huge amount of internet business around Y2K. They also get a lot of tourist traffic.

We have lived in several areas in Ohio and now we are in West Virginia. It always amazes me how in awe of the Amish people are. I used to try to correct them and point out all the things that bug me about the Amish. Don't get me wrong there are lots of great things. My family tree is mostly Amish so I it is part of my history and culture, but hey Amish are people. There are good ones, bad ones and a lot in between. Now I don't try to educate people unless they ask I just nod and say yes Amish country is beautiful. (It is!) Anyhow that is not what I meant to blog about! :)


Ok back to the topic sorry about the vent. While at Lehman's we purchased the item pictured above. Actually we went there specifically to purchase this. I saw it online and figured we would save the shipping and just stop in. Do you know what this is? Maybe this is too easy, but I will give you a hint anyway. It will help me with foraged food.

Spoke too soon!

Ok so it was quiet. Mom goes to work and all the kids are here and the house is chaos. I even sent them outside to play in the sprinkler and there is still fighting and tattling! UGH! I guess enjoy the quiet while you can!

The house is so quiet.

Yes, you read that right. It is like Vivian is an only child. The oldest cousins are here. (Just missing jude and Elise are they ready for a visit?) You would think that would make the house even louder. Well, it may have made mom's house louder, but it is quiet here!:)Nolan was out the door as soon as he could manage. Lydia and Kellen had things to take care of, but followed shortly. Ashley, Lydia and Nolan have been outside some and at mom's. Kellen and Miles are holed up in Kellen's room reading Guinness Book of World Records. I probably should kick them outside to play, but they are very quiet and it has been very hot and humid here (now it is 88 with 57% humidity) so I am letting them enjoy the air. So all the kids are occupied except Viv who of course still sleeps a lot. Oh blessed peace and quiet! It makes tackling my Monday mountain of laundry a bit more bearable!

Oops missed again

Well I missed Frugal Fridays again! I am slackin'! I was on vacation the first week I missed and I had every intention of posting this Friday, but . . .

The week was crazy, catching up from vacation and also trying to get ready for a kids church camp out we were hosting Friday and Saturday. Then the rain started. My dad was trying his best to get stone down to help with the mud. And it kept on raining. Thursday morning I woke up with a stomach ache, but I still needed to get the food for the camp out. So Vivian and I headed to Wal Mart first thing. My stomach was not feeling well, but we made it through.

When we got home I had a message to call the pastor's wife (Linda). She is the one who was coordinating the camp out. It was still raining and the forecast was for rain. We decided to move the camp out to a park with shelters for the day and overnight at the church. Thankfully, she did all the phone calls and scrambling. I just had to rethink the food and sort it for what went to the park and what went to the church and had to think about packing our stuff.

I was still feeling bad so I thought I would take a nap and try to do the stuff later. It takes a lot to keep me down, but 103 temperature will do it. I was in bed the rest of the day. I slept in between updates on the camp out, trips to the bathroom, trying to let Tim know how to pack up the stuff and feeding the baby. I asked my mom if she could go do the cooking bit for the camp out.

My fever broke sometime early Friday morning. I still ached a bit, but at 7:00 I decided I would go and packed up the Tylenol. The camp went well. It was interesting, but good. I may blog some more about it later. For a little taste there was a boy there whose name was Rowdy. No that is not his nickname that is his actual name. Mom still came and helped and I felt ok but a little wiped out. It was nice to have help. Today I feel tired, but just a lack of sleep tired, not aching sick tired.

So please forgive me for not living up to my promised Friday post. I will get one done this week. Nothing big happening this week, just a trip to the library, the cousins are here, Vivian's Dr. appointment, Kellen's birthday . . . . Oh you know just the normal busy! :)

Audience Participation Please!

Lately I have had several people ask me how I have time to blog. I don't know I just make time I guess. I have said it before, but I do believe we all make time (and find money) for what is truly important to us. How we spend our time (and money) shows what is important to us. I do spend some time almost everyday writing or reading blogs so they must be important to me. I had to think it through though. There are lots of other things I could be (or maybe should be) doing yet I choose to spend time here. Why?

Well I started blogging as a means of communication, to keep up with family and friends. Tim started this and then other family members and friends joined in. I started blogging when Tim got too busy with work.

Since then blogging has become more of hobby or entertainment for me. I don't scrapbook or cross stitch or knit. I do like to read, but honestly reading or writing blogs is easier with four kids than reading a novel. We don't watch a lot of TV. We do sit in front of the computer a lot! :)

Blogging is a quick escape or break. It is some me time between kids needing me. It is adult talk! It is a chance to have contact with the outside, to see how loved ones are, to learn some frugal ideas, to laugh at the funny stories, to know that there are others going through the same stuff and interact with each other. I recently read on someone's blog (sorry I don't remember which one) that blogging was community to her and I guess it is to me also. It isn't the same as face to face community, but there is a sense of community none the less.

Finding time isn't all that hard. Time is found in the mornings when (if) I get up before the kids, in the afternoon when two are asleep and the other two are playing or at night after they go to bed (well all but nightowl Vivian.) Sometimes I will read blogs while Vivian nurses. It is a bit difficult to type then, but I have done it! Often though I will think through a subject I want to write about during feeding times, or dishes or cooking or picking raspberries!

So I am wondering why do you blog? Whether you read, write or both why do you choose to use your valuable time to be here? When do you find the time to blog? This is an audience participation blog! Please share with us!

It's Good to be Home - Rambling!

It is always nice to get away. To get out of the routine. To do different things. But I am always ready to come home. We had a great week in Ohio. It was extremely busy. See Tim's blog for more details.

It is funny how quickly your perspective changes. Before we moved to WV, we lived in Akron, a small city in Ohio. We lived near downtown on a very busy street. Lots of traffic, lots of close neighbors. It never bothered me. Now we live in the woods. (hence Adventures in the 100 acre wood!) Our closest neighbor is about 3/4 of a mile away. (except my parents) In the summer no other houses are visible. We go to visit
Tim's family who live in rural Ohio and one of our first comments were how much traffic noise they have! And yes they live near a fairly busy road, but it has maybe 1/4 of the traffic we were used to in Akron less than one year ago!

Now we are back to our 100 acre wood and it feels good. This week is also busy. We are having a camp out here for the kids at church this Friday and a church picnic on Saturday. Lots to clean up and get ready outside. We left the house in good shape, (I can't stand to come back from a long trip to a mess.) but there is of course a mountain of laundry to do and mail, bills and blogs to catch up on. It will get done. I am not going to stress over it.

I decided while we were gone that when we got back, we needed to start letting Vivian cry it out to go to sleep. She does well going to sleep during the day, but at night we were having a rough time. While we were gone I learned to play poker. (just fun no money) We would try to play at night after the kids (except Vivian) went to sleep. She was such a stinker. She would go to sleep and after I put her down she would wake up within ten minutes. It was so aggravating. I tried every trick I know!! Three nights I just gave up (this was around 11:30 or later) and went to bed with her while the rest of the adults played cards. Of course she slept just fine then! UGH! And we moved her to the crib when Tim came to bed.

So today for her first nap I did the routine with her and put her down. She never even broke into a full cry and was asleep within 20 minutes. Her second nap we were running around so she slept in the car. This evening I did the routine and put her down. In about five minutes she was crying. I cleaned up the kitchen, folded laundry (it is easier for me to let her cry if I am busy), she was quiet. I went in to check on her (dumb move) and she wasn't quite asleep. She started crying again. I started blogging. Within a few minutes she was quiet again. I didn't check on her this time. Keep typing! After a few more minutes still quiet. I check the monitor to be sure, still quiet. Very gently open the bedroom door and SHE IS ASLEEP! Ok now the kick yourself in the rear time. Why didn't we do this months ago???!!! You would think on the fourth child I would know to try this sooner.

The other thing I really want to accomplish before Tim goes back to work full time (mid August) is potty training Nolan. We got a start on this awhile back, but haven't really been consistent with it. Part of the problem is he now thinks it is funny to poop in his diaper. I think because we have made too big a deal of it. You know "Oh yucky. You went poop in your diaper!" The other problem is I really need three or four days (in a row) to work with him. Days where we don't have to run anywhere and I am not hard pressed to get a bunch of stuff done at home. Ok I rarely have one day like that let alone three or four in a row! I think I need to just mark out three days on the calendar and just do it! Or maybe he will just wake up tomorrow and just decide to be potty trained! Oh wow I just drifted to lala land there I think! :)

Ok so now Vivian is asleep and I am still rambling on. It is good to be home. Good to be back with you all and good to get back to the normal. Even if normal means mountains of laundry, an empty refrigerator, and two in diapers!

I'm Back!

Sorry to drop off the face of the earth like that! We went on vacation July 2 and lost internet service two days before we left. Well we are back and so is the internet. Not much time now. I will post later!

Frugal Fridays - Free Food

If you have been reading this blog, you know that we have been experimenting with wild foods (ie weeds.) If not check these previous posts for more info. Eating Weeds Poke Pickles Of course the blackberries and our wild salad at the end of this post .

Last night we tried some new things. My parents ate with us and I think everything was a hit. The starring weeds (wild foods!) were flowers.


Day Lily








Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot)



I made a salad (using store bought veggies) and topped it off with
some cut Queen Anne's Lace and Daylily petals.
It added some flavor, but mostly it just made it look very pretty.
The lily has kind of a sweet lettuce flavor and the Queen Anne's lace a mild carrot (surprise!) flavor.

Common Milkweed


















If you look at a daylily stem, there will be blossoms, buds and spent flowers. They are all edible. We made fritters out of the blossoms and sauteed the buds. The fritters were good, (what isn't good when it is battered and fried?) but there wasn't much taste of the flower. The buds were excellent! They reminded me of asparagus, but with a different texture. The spent flowers I left out to dry. These can be used in soups.

Apparently, daylily is widely used in Asian cooking. I am still looking for some good recipes. One (not Asian) that I would like to do is to stuff the flowers with chicken salad. Wouldn't that be an impressive dish to make for a party or carry in?!

I never realized how pretty milkweed flowers are and the smell wow! They smell wonderful! These we parboiled (have to for the sap) and also made fritters. I liked these fritters better, probably because the flowers are more substantial and you can actually taste some of it. We will be eating the milkweed greens later today.

Everyone seemed to love our new foods. The lily buds were a hit with the adults, the kids of course favored the fritters. It was a very inexpensive meal and really was not time consuming to gather or prepare.

A note of caution: Do not try any wild foods you have not postively identified. There are poisonous plants with flowers that look similiar to Queen Anne's Lace. Common Milkweed also has a poisonous look alike and it has to be prepared properly. The book we like best for identification is Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants by "Wildman" Steve Brill.

Let the harvest begin!

Yummy! Up until yesterday we had only found a few handfuls of raspberries. I went picking with the kids yesterday and found a bunch of ripe black raspberries and blackberries. The best part is these were in a new spot that I didn't realize had so many berries. It is close to the house, so between there and the drive way I think we will have more berries than we can handle. There are berries all over the property, but I am happy to have so many close to the house!~

It is still early and there are a lot more unripe than ripe berries, but even so the kids and I brought back about 10 Cups of berries in a couple of hours. Ok correction, Kellen and I brought back the berries. Kellen was a big help, but Lydia could not resist eating every berry she picked and then some! :) When her belly was full she went back to the house!

Another exciting find - Blueberries! These are my favorite fruit. I had never found any wild ones before. Yesterday we saw a small bush mixed in the raspberries. Now this bush wouldn't provide even enough for me to eat, but I am encouraged that they do grow on the property. Where there is one there is probably more. Now I just have to find them. I am wondering if the deer are eating them and that is why I haven't seen more. I don't know how to identify the plant with out the berries. I need to learn.

Ok that was a rabbit trail sorry! I get a little excited for blueberries! We brought the raspberries back and made Boiled Wild Blackberry Dumplin' from Bootstraps an Biscuits. It was so good. I am planning to eat lots of berries, make lots of cobblers and pies, freeze some berries, make some jam and maybe make a raspberry vinegar. There should be plenty of berries, but time? Well we will see. We are going out of town next week and I am sad about the berries we will miss, but I think there will still be plenty when we return and heck the red raspberries haven't even started yet!

Festival of Frugality

This weeks festival is hosted at Free Money Finance.

Looks like a lot of good enteries. Everything from cell phones to freezer meals I always love to chck out the freebies I am interested to read this about buying books vs borrowing from the library.

Check them out and let me know your favorites!

What kind of flower are you?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

I am a snapdragon? "Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh." I am not sure that is an entirely accurate description, but I like snapdragons so I will take it! Let me know what you are.

Like a Momma Bird

Outside, on our make shift patio, a bird built a nest in one of my baskets. She may be a wren, but we aren't sure. There were four eggs in it. We watched her sit on those eggs. Then we saw four babies, so ugly they were cute; no feathers, just skin and beaks. We watched the momma feed them while the dad sang a few yards away, trying to divert our attention away from the nest and precious contents. We watched them grow and now they are gone.

I watched them a lot. I could see the nest out my kitchen window, and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen! :) Awhile ago, momma started placing the food just a bit outside the nest, encouraging her babies to venture out to get it. It struck me how the instinct given to her is so amazing. She seems to know just what to do. It got me thinking about parenting.

The momma has nurtured those babies, keeping them warm in the eggs, bringing food, and keeping up the nest. The parents have guarded and protected their young, yet all the while preparing them for one thing, to leave the nest.

Are we preparing our young to leave the nest? Sometimes I think we get too caught up in the daily stuff and lose sight of the goal. It is hard to imagine the kids as adults. Hard to see past the dishes, diapers, and laundry. Hard to find the balance of nurture and discipline. Hard to know exactly what each little one needs to learn before venturing into that big wide world. Momma bird seemed to have the perfect balance. I know baby humans are much more complicated than baby birds, but isn't that our ultimate goal; to train our kids to be adults, to function on their own?

It strikes me that God gave momma bird the instincts she needs to train her young. I wish it was as easy for us humans, but I guess that is by design. Raising our kids is yet another area of life that we simply can not do it all. We are not enough. We have to rely on Him and teach our kids to do the same. Find our strength and wisdom in Him and teach our kids to do the same. To trust that He will work all things together for the good and teach our kids the same.

Updated February 7th, 2007 to add: This post entered in Write Away February Hosted at Scribbit.

Festival of Frugality

I have joined the Festival of Frugality this week. If you are not familiar with this, one persons hosts it and people submit their frugal posts to the host. The host then posts links for all the frugal articles. Sounds complicated when I try to type it out, but it isn't really. The host this week is Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

I haven't read through the articles yet, but it looks like some good ones. I am planning to read ones about three cheaper meals, shopping for gifts and second hand shopping. Hope you enjoy some of these too. Let us know your favorites!

Isn't she too cute!

Last night we took Vivian to Wal-Mart for her portraits. Here are a few of them. The all were too cute! So I ended up spending a bit more than planned, ( I planned to only buy the $6.88 package that has plenty of prints for us and our families) but we didn't go crazy or anything. I love getting the disk with the pictures so I can do things like this with them!

While we are on the subject on Vivian, I have posted here about her being high maintenance. Well, I think we have finally out grown that newborn period. In the last few weeks she has been just sweet. She has been going to sleep more easily and sleeps better. I am able to transfer her to her bassinet with out waking her. She plays and smiles so big. She wants to laugh, but there is no sound yet. She is a lot of fun.

As a side note, she is losing her hair like crazy. None of the others really did. But the hair coming in looks to be a reddish blonde! It seems as each kid has gotten more fair, so maybe she will be our blonde. We will have to wait and see. Her eyes though are starting to change. They are more gray than blue.

Poke Pickles

For those of you who were wondering. I did try a test batch of Pickled Poke stems. The results (drum roll please!)

Mixed.

The good. I did like the flavor. The recipe I used was a sweet pickle which I am usually not overly crazy about, but this one was good. The stems were crisp and crunchy but here is where I get to the bad. . .

The recipe does tell you to peel the stalks. I did peel them, but admit to doing a quickie job of it. Many of the pickles are still woody. Peeling more would certainly take care of this, but for me I am not sure the labor time is worth the payout. (in pickled poke stems)

So I may do some more, but only if I have lots of time to. Our wild raspberries are loaded and starting to turn and I have big plans for them. And I have some other projects in mind too. Ok, so that is basically saying I am not going to make more poke pickles! :)

Frugal Fridays - Entertainment

Monday or Tuesday I started thinking about posting frugal entertainment ideas for today's post, then all week long I am seeing other posts about the same topic. It seems everyone is out of school and has summer entertainment and travel on the mind.

Jenn at Frugal Upstate posted Festivals~Cheap Summer Fun!
Free Summer Activities For Your Kids! can be found at Getting Out of Debt
Vacation Sans Bankruptcy can be found on Want Not

Here are some more ideas that we use year round.

Research.
This doesn't have to be a lot of work. I regularly check the event calendars on our state , state parks and library websites. These are full of free and low cost events for all ages. We also get a free paper that lists quite a few events.

If there is someplace you want to go check their website first. You can find coupons or times that are discounted. For example, by checking the website I found our local art museum is free on Tuesdays and offers free kids classes on Saturday. Another museum near us is free on Thursday nights.

Sometimes the website will have deals you can't find anywhere else. I learned of a local theater's free movie camp (kids movies in the AM) on the web site. I haven't seen this advertised anywhere else, not even at the theater itself.

Go early. Go late. Don't go on the weekends!
In other words go when it isn't busy. Not only is it more enjoyable, (in my opinion!) it is cheaper. Movies offer matinees, restaurants early bird specials, some museums and amusement parks offer after 5 specials. (and with little kids do you really want to spend the whole day at the amusement park?!)

During the week you can find great deals at restaurant. Does going out to eat count as entertainment? Well in this house it does. We love to go out to eat. During the week there are often specials where kids eat free. There is a local Italian type restaurant here that offers Two for Tuesday, buy one pasta dish and get one free. We used to have a minor league ball park near where we lived. They offered lots of family specials and discounted tickets during the week to try to fill the park.

Buy the Membership.
To the museum, to the zoo or other places your family loves. I will say right now we don't have any memberships, because we don't live close to any zoos and the art museum is already free on Tuesday. There is another museum I am considering, but it is an hour away so I am not sure how much we would go.

But before we moved, we had a zoo and science museum membership. The zoo membership for the family was $55. What a deal! For $55 we could go to our zoo anytime as often as we wanted for a year. We could also go to lots of zoos all over the country for free or discounted admission. At the time we lived close enough to five zoos we could visit for a day trip. (We never did make it to all of them though!) The science museum was slightly more expensive, but was similar in that we could use it at other science museums.

What I really loved about the memberships was we could pick up and go whenever. We didn't have to plan it for the budget or even plan for the full day. We could go to the zoo for an hour. We could go when the budget was tight and we had no cash. By the way, memberships are great family gifts to give and receive!

Pack a lunch!
If you are not taking advantage of cheap dining as mentioned above, save yourself a ton of cash and pack enough food and drinks for the day. The food at places like the zoo or amusement parks is so over priced! At the zoo we could easily spend more than our membership cost in food and drinks for the day.

So enjoy cheap entertainment this summer, and all year round! Research. Go early or late and during the week. Buy the membership and pack your lunch!

The Deer Ate my Homework

This summer we are still doing some school. It is relaxed. We are working on spelling, speed on the multiplication tables and writing. I also like to do outdoor "projects" in the summer. One thing we wanted to do this summer was to build a sunflower house.

The basic idea of the sunflower house is you plant sunflowers in a square then plant something climbing, like beans or morning glories, to climb up and between the sunflowers to make walls. I think I originally read about this in a magazine, but then Googled it to find some plans. There are lots out there.

We had to use a site a good distance from our house because our "garden area" near the house is still part of the "construction zone" that my dad and Tim are working on. We started seeds in pots and then transplanted them to the area.

After about a week the deer had nibbled about half. We went ahead and planted the beans, thinking that if we didn't get a house we could at least get some good beans and sunflower seeds to eat. The beans sprouted and were getting to be a couple of inches. Then for some reason the deer decided to come back. They demolished the sunflowers! They left the beans alone, for now!
The crazy thing is we have zucchini and squash planted even further from the house and they haven't bothered it at all. The only difference is we spread our rabbit's droppings for fertilizer there. So do deer not like squash or does the scent of rabbit (?!) keep them away?

My mom read that Native Americans use to put human scent around their fields to keep the deer off. One way was after working in the fields they would take off their clothes and drag them around the field. Another way was to "mark their territory" if you know what I mean. I am not quite ready to go naked with the sunflowers, but I am encouraging the boys to let it flow out there! We also may put out some more rabbit stuff. We will see if any of the sunflowers come back, if not, we will need poles for our beans.

A trip to the ER

Yesterday evening Tim was outside working on the van. The kids were out with him. (except Vivian of course!) I heard Eric and his kids come home and shortly after I hear Nolan (2) scream. At first I didn't think much of it. He often screams because he is mad at the dog or sister. But the screaming continued. I look out the window and Tim is kneeling down holding Nolan's hand with bloody rag. Not good! Tim says to me, "Let's go to the hospital."

I gather a few things. Get some ice for Nolan's thumb. We leave the older two with Eric and go. I had not looked closely at the thumb. I just saw lots of blood. I have learned that faces and fingers bleed a lot. I made a trip to the ER once when Kellen cut a finger and it turned out to be minor, no stitches required. So I asked Tim if he was sure that it was deep and not just a lot of blood. He tells me he could bend the top of the thumb almost off. Ok then it is deep!

And it was. We did have to wait at all. The ER sent us up to Immediate Care and we saw a doctor right away. There was a little waiting for the whole process, but not bad. He got an X-ray. No break! And then the stitches. Six of them in his little thumb. He lost the whole nail, and the cut was down to the bone. He was a brave little guy. Yes he did cry and scream, but didn't really fight too much. After the thumb was numbed and they were stitching. He laid still and stopped crying.

After we got home, we tried to piece together what actually happened. Best we can figure is he went over to Eric's car when they came home. Miles had opened the front door and he must have put his hand in the space where the doors are connected because when Ashley opened the back door his thumb was caught. It is amazing how quickly things can happen when there is a two year old involved!

But everything should be fine. He has to take antibiotics and go back in a few days. The biggest challenge now will be to stop him from taking the dressing off. He is still sleeping now, but it wouldn't surprise me if the bandaging was off when he gets up this morning.

Frugal Fridays - Some thoughts

Well last Friday in talking about eating weeds, I decided to dedicate Fridays to frugal topics. I don't claim to be an expert. Learning to be frugal is a constant process. I decided to talk about being frugal here for a few reasons. I do hope to share some things I have learned with those of you who are interested, but I am looking for you to share some ideas also and am hoping writing about these things will keep me more accountable.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I learned the most about being frugal the year Lydia was born. We took a big cut in income because I stopped teaching. At the same time our living expenses increased because we left a job that provided our housing. Typical of my family, we had a baby, both changed jobs, bought a house and moved. Being frugal was not a choice then. Since then we have learned different things and stopped doing some of the things we used to.

There seems to be this trade off of time vs money. Not all, but many things that save money cost time. There are some things that I have chosen not to do anymore because of time. Grocery shopping is my best example. There was a time when I would look through all the grocery store ads and coupons. Then I would shop at Aldi for things that weren't on sale at other stores and then hit two or more other stores with sale ads and coupons in hand. Did this save me money? Yes. (the stores were all pretty close so gas wasn't much of an issue) Do I do it now? No, not with four kids. It would take me as long to get everyone in and out of the car as to do the shopping. Will I ever do it again? Probably.

There are some things I have learned that have become ingrained in me, like shopping Aldi. There are other things that we used to do, but have lost in the craziness of moving out of state and having a baby. Using cash envelopes is an example of something we need to get back to.

So this is what Fridays will be; sharing ideas and reminding myself of what I need to do. Please, please leave your comments so we can all learn from each other!

Of an for an update on our foraging adventures - We had a salad last night made almost entirely of foraged greens. We used wild carrot greens, lady's thumb, wood sorrel, chicory, and Greenbriar. I really liked it. I also pickled a little bit of Poke stem. A test to see if we like it. It is supposed to sit a week so I guess I will let you know next Friday.

Potty Training Begins

Potty training. The words can provoke dread in even the most seasoned parents. We have all heard horror stories. I can't complain too much Kellen and Lydia were fairly easy. Tim and I have thought for awhile that Nolan is probably ready to train. He has gone several times on the potty and has been interested. With two in diapers for the first time I am ready for him to go on the potty! What I haven't been ready for is the process. My goal was to start training while Tim is home more to help. He has been home more the last couple weeks, but we still hadn't started.

Apparently, Nolan was tired of waiting for me. Yesterday he refused to put on his diaper. We let him run around bare bottomed outside. Three days naked is a potty training method. Most of us were outside working on the concrete. (yeah! We have sidewalks and a porch!) Nolan said pee pee to my mom a couple times and she told him to go ahead and go and he did outside. Boy was he proud. Why is that boys (of all ages) just love to pee outside?

Around lunch time, Nolan went and got his Spiderman underwear that Delilah had recently given him. We put them and he kept them dry for a couple of hours until his nap time. After his nap we put them back on. He didn't keep them dry all afternoon, but he did go again outside a couple times and even told me in the house that he had to go and went in the bathroom. So we still have a little work to do. But I am hoping since he was the one that started this and because he is a very determined little boy that this process will be quick and easy. I will keep you updated.

Planting Grass

Last night we finally planted some grass around the house. Well we planted the backyard. The one side is drive way and the other is hopefully going to be garden soon. So that leaves only the front. Dad and Tim are working on getting ready for cement for a front porch and sidewalk. Then dad can finish leveling the front yard and then we can plant grass. Is there an end to mud in sight? Maybe if grass will actually grow in this red clay we call dirt here! :)

Frugal Fridays - Eating Weeds

Ok some of you out there are probably going to think we are total weirdos after this post. We have started foraging for food. Extreme? Maybe, but I just see it as an extension of the things we already do to be frugal. If we can find fresh, delicious and healthy food for free why not? It is easier than gardening. No tilling, planting, or weeding just finding and harvesting.

I have 'foraged" before for your more typical things like morel mushrooms or berries, but now we are looking at so much more. I think what got this started was a cookbook I bought around Christmas time. It is called Bootstraps and Biscuits. It was written by a lady in WV who grew up foraging and returned to it after health problems made it difficult to work. I was amazed at the variety of things she uses.

So this spring we have been learning. There is a big learning curve. I don't know much about wild plants. We have mostly been reading and researching. We did go mushroom hunting. We never did find those morels, but found tree ears which were pretty good. Over the weekend Delilah helped us identify Poke and we cooked up a mess of greens. We cooked more Poke last night and added it to scrambled eggs with mushrooms, wild garlic, bacon and cheese. It was really good.

We are a bit late on the salad greens. They are still there, but starting to get bitter b/c of the heat. We did make a salad the other night. To our store bought lettuce and spinach we added wild carrot greens, wood sorrel and chicory. It reminded me of the "spring mix" you can buy. A little more bite and a fuller flavor than your typical lettuce salad.

We are still learning and identifying plants. We have some plans for some we have found but aren't ready to use yet. There are some plants we are still trying to identify. And I want to try a few different things with some of the plants we have already used. I will let you know the results.

I am going to start talking about being frugal on Fridays so look for more on foraging for food and other things we do to try and save money. Have a good weekend all!