Up and running!

Well with ACTs behind me and a long wait till the results are in I've finally gotten started on my shop and am now closing this blog for good. I hope that I'm better about the new blog than I've been with this one. But as most of you know I'd rather talk with you than just type away on the computer any day! The new blog will be GollyMezzo.blogspot.com and the first shop is GollyMezzo.artfire.com, and you can follow me on facebook too just look up Golly Mezzo!

I hope that you will check it out and spread the word! Many of you have received some of the items that you will see there. I just craft to much, lol! They're starting to take over the house since I can't seem to find enough reasons to give them away. So maybe with a bit of blessing, I will be able to support my habit of crafting! The nice thing about artfire is that you don't have to be a member to purchase things. As long as you have a paypal account (some people have other options too) you can purchase from there. Many of the handmade sites will make you have an account with them before you can purchase through them. It's one of the many reasons that I choose artfire.

Well I need to get more things on there and update the new blog and the facebook. I still need to update avatars and banners and the like! But before I do that I would like to get more things posted in the shop.

I hope to see you around at the new sites!

Something Special For You Love!

Throughout history there are legends, myths, stories, tales, fables, and many other ways of calling it about soul mates and true love. The Sumerians had the god of An and the goddess Ki, the Bible has Adam and Eve, Greek mythology has Zeus tearing humans apart from each other, Shakespeare chose tragedy to get his point across, the Bhagavad Gita has Arjuna and Krishna, the Talmud proclaims "Forty days prior to the formation of a child, a Heavenly Voice cries out saying "the daughter of so and so is destined for so in so", the Romans had Cupid and Psyche, the Chinese have yin and yang, the Quran speaks of being able to energize with the mate created from your souls, today you can turn on any country station and hear ballads composed about them, and the list goes on and on!

Every year around this time everyone is running around worried about taxes on the 15. I'm running around for a completely different reason. Every year I try to figure out what I should get you for our anniversary. Then most years the 15th rolls around and I'm still confused and you hand me a card that professes the love you have for me, and then I usually ball. Every year no matter how it has gone (and we've seen some dingers!) or how it will be I know that you are there.

This year I'm going to beat you to it:

15 years ago I got to do what most girls dream of, and many women wish for. I got to marry the love of my life, you. No one thought it would last. After all I was 18 in my junior year of school. You were 19 and had just started in the military and were headed to Korea. Your pay barely covered the ring and car payment. I was going to live with your parents and finish my senior year of high school while you went off to Korea for a year. "Wait till he returns", "Are you pregnant", "You're too young", "It'll never last", "Are you sure", "You don't know each other", and many more excuses were thrown at us. And yet through all the doubt that surrounded us, we knew! We knew that for what ever reason the universe threw us together against all odds, and there was no way that we were going to allow it to try and tear us apart. That day when we said that we would take each other for all it was worth-hardly anyone could hear. But I heard you loud and clear just as you heard me. Well today let the whole world hear! 15 years and counting! I can't say that I love you more today than I did on that day because it would cheapen that day. I can tell you that I love just as much as I did that day! We have grown and changed together and I wouldn't have it any other way. We've seen heart ache, 2 beautiful miracles, joy, and so much more.

There have been many who said we started with nothing. They were all wrong! We had it all, and still have-each other. No matter where we are in the world or in our lives, know that I love and support you in all that we do together. I'm looking forward to the next 50 years. Happy 15th Aniversary my love.

BRING IT ON WORLD WE'RE READY!

Your loving wife,
Anni

Coming together in the end!

Well it looks like I might be up and going sooner than I thought. I have an appointment with the accountant on Monday! Depending on what all he says I need will really depend on how soon I'm up and running. After Monday I have ACTs on Saturday so I could be finishing up my shop as soon as Sunday. I'll let you know more on Monday if I can. I will say that this coming week will have me with my nose in videos and books reviewing more Geometry than I ever care to do again. But considering that I never actually took it in high school 14 years ago I think I'll do okay. Thank you public librarys!! What Geometry has to do with accounting I'll never know but I'll know how to figure out the area of anything from now on.

I hope you all enjoy your Easter weekend.

Last Blog...kinda of!

Hey everyone. Yes it's true. This will be the last of this blog (almost). I will be closing it down permanently later. As all of you know we have moved to Colorado. Things are much different here and I have lots going on. (Not that I haven't always, lol.) On April 10th I will be taking my ACT and I'm hoping to start college courses in the fall. The girls are back in public school here so I also have all the things I do with that. On top of that I will be starting my third business! The other two were smaller but I figure what the heck might as well go for it. So as you can see I am extremely busy. But have no fear I am not going far. I am simply going to be opening a new blog. This one won't have much about the family and will be for my business. I will post links to all of that when it is up in running. Give me time though as it may not be completed until the summer. Until then you know my number.

Enjoy yourselves.

Marriage Retreat

Once again we are going on a marriage retreat! We like going on these. Even after nearly 15 years marriage we still learn things about each other or come to an understanding of why we sometimes do things. Our first one we got to go to a little town German, the second was Myrtle Beach and this time we're going to Breckenridge, CO. Our Chaplains put these together for military members. Some have a target group, some don't. The trip for us is paid for with funds that the Chaplains have. It's part of the services that provide. You can check with you're local church or community groups to see if they're offered. For the ones we've been on and this one some of the meals are provided and some you have to get on you're own (usually lunches). Childcare is provided during the conferences. Some have conferences that go for a few hours and give you a breaks in between for free time, others have one long conference then get done early in the day so you can have some free time. Each one that we've been to has had a different theme or lesson going on. We've really enjoyed them. For us the cost is minimal but the benefits are great. Check one out in you're area.

I know that there's some connotation to marriage retreats, thanks in part to movies. But the reality is that it's far from what the movies tend to portray. There's always the newly weds which you can pick out as soon as you see them. Holding hands, their sides always touching, kissing when they think no one's looking. There's the one's who've been married for 25 or more years. He gets her coffee and doesn't bother asking if she even wants it or what to put in it, brings it to her and gently touches her back as he sits beside her. There's the couple who've been married for a few years and have their first little one. Their both laying with their heads on their arms trying to catch those extra few minutes of sleep that is sorely needed, until they hear the little one in the next room cry and they both jump up before they remember she/he's already being cared for. Then there's the couple like us. He still asks what she wants to drink, and you can see it on her face, "You would think he'd be able to remember." She ends up getting it because it's easier, and gets his. They'll hold hands or touch each others elbows together. But all in all it makes a great group. At first no one wants to share and by the end every one's laughing because of a story one person's told. New friendships are made and you always find something to take back with you. My advise is that everyone should try it at least once and see how they like it.

Another one pot meal.

This one is super easy. Get a bag of frozen vegetable (or fresh in the summer) and a can of tomato juice (I prefer getting the generic V8). Put both into a pot and warm to you're preferred temperature. In the summer we'll bring this up to a boil really fast so the vegetables cook then put it in the refrigerator to cool for a nice cold soup on hot days.
Super easy, and can be really inexpensive, our girls like making this cause they can make it on their own (with mom or dad standing nearby for the stove) . Then do the same as with the potato soup I listed earlier. Warm it up and have fun. Different things can spice it up for those with different tastes. Chili powder for one, cheese for another, bacon bits and sour cream, or something as simple as a little salt and pepper (my preference). Grill some cheese sandwiches put the soup in coffee cups and add a board game for a night to remember. Have left over chicken throw it in. Use this as a base and let your families taste buds rule the night.

Holidays and Moving

There is nothing to compare moving during the holidays. There are always longs list of pros and cons for doing this. One thing that is never on any list is the fact that you may have to do this whether or not you want to. Life as a military family takes us to far reaches of the earth. Close or far from family. But in this life we have many experiences that others won't ever have. One of those is moving during the holidays! Luckily this time we are able to see both side of our families. Spending Christmas with his side of the family and then New Years with mine. Only to move on to the other side of the country for a new duty station. So this holiday send a message to that family member that you haven't seen in a while. A simple Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Carefree Kwanzaa, or even a simple Happy Holidays can go far no matter where on this planet you may be. May all the Holiday Blessings be with you and yours this year!

Our blessings and hope go out to those who are stuck in airports or on the side of the road in a restaurant waiting for the snows to pass, to those who see more sand than snow, to those who are headed overseas on a plane as we speak, and to all those who are waiting to see the love ones who are stuck. May all of you stay safe.

Crafts

I love crafting! It's right up there with my love for books and cooking. I'll try just about any type of craft if I haven't already. I rotate what I work on. I'll crochet for a time then I'll get bored with doing that then I'll work on cross stitching. With us getting ready to move again I have to figure out what I want to take with us for my crafting. I think I'll be taking my paints since the movers won't take them. Paints are a hazardous material so they can't be shipped for those of you who don't move around. So with them I think I'll be taking my wood crafts box. I had planned on painting some wooden toys for the girls last time we moved but the movers decided to pack the wooden things I had gotten. This time we'll be taking everything out of the house that we want to take and make sure that it'll fit in the car. I have some other things that I've picked up and recently found again since I've been organizing my crafts. They were everywhere. In large containers, small containers, boxes, bags, you get the idea. I have a friend who's very generously spent her time in helping me get organized. She helped me with more than just my crafts and I still have a ways to go but at least now I can see where I need to go where before she helped me, I was completely lost. I told her how grateful I was for her help and she shrugged and told me it was my pay it forward back. She felt that with as much as I have done with my time at the Thrift Shop it was least someone could do for me. With her help I now can use up the supplies that I have. I'll save money on top of it because now I can see what I have versus what I need to complete projects.

So my thrifty tip for you today is go out and do something you love. Don't expect anything back. Tithe your time for the sake of another without any expectation of a return. You will be surprised on what comes back to you. In my time at the Shop I have learned more than I ever thought I would. I have grown with that learning. To think it all came from me simply wishing to give freely to my community in the hopes of helping others. My time here won't be forgotten and sadly missed.

One pot meals.

I love cookbooks. Very rarely do I ever actually make the recipes in them. I usually use them as inspiration for a new meal. While looking through a cookbook I may see a chicken recipe and think chicken sounds good. Then I'll see a roast recipe and in my mind I'll think rotisserie, mmmm. From there more ingredients are added from different pictures or recipes in the book and before I know it I'm craving rotisserie chicken that's got garlic, walnuts, baby onions and oranges crammed inside. So off to the store I run because I don't have any of that stuff, lol. I'm looking through a cookbook I have to actually do a recipe with the children for a cooking class. It's suppose to be one pot meals only when you start looking they're really not. To me a one pot meal means that you only need one pot. Or at least one item in which to cook the meal. But once you start looking into the recipes and the instructions you need one pan to braise, a bowl to mix ingredients, a dish to marinate overnight, one for on top of the range for sauce but another in the oven or any number of different things. I can kind of understand maybe understand a bowl to mix some ingredients, I can understand needing a cutting board or some other items in order to prep ingredients. But when I here one pot meal, I think you are basically need one pot to cook the meal. So I would like to share my one pot meal with you. This is one of the meals that I only cook when we are in the middle of moving. I pack one pot with us and I will use it to cook in during the time we are moving. I have over the years developed a number of meals that can be cooked from start to finish in the one pot and not need another. This recipe has been shared with our unit for the cookbook to help with fundraising. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do.

Moving Pot Potato Soup

1-3 potatoes (peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes, approximately 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup Stock or broth (enough to cover potatoes)
1/4 cup cream (milk can be used instead just won't be as creamy)
1/4 cup cheese (shredded so it will melt easier)

In your pot put your potatoes and stock. Bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Mash potatoes in the stock. Add cream and cheese. You can add more stock or cream if you like a thinner soup.

Serves: 1 (simply multiply by the number of family members for more)

I have caramelized some onions and garlic before making this for a bit of a change. We have added a dollop of sour cream and topped with bacon bits or chives too. Let this be a base to start and have fun.

A Last Day or a New Beginning?

Today was my last day as the Chairman of the Board. I have learned so much about business and myself. I have enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. So for me it is a sad moment yet a joyful one too. I will miss what I do and yet a new fork in the road has come. As is the life of an army wife. When duty calls we all go. But with it I will take much education that no college could have ever provided me. And all this education was free. All was asked was that I volunteer my time as I was able. With it came friendships, and learning I would have never known. I don't want to give the impression that I have done a lot or a little. I have had lots of help from wonderful people. My time has gone quickly and I would love to have more time. I hope that at our next duty station I am able to find another place to volunteer my time where I can enjoy myself as much as I have here. So for those out there who are looking for something to do, I say unto you, find somewhere to volunteer. Find a place where you can give you're time doing something you enjoy. It may be cooking, sewing, teaching, typing, organizing, mowing, sorting, or any other thing you can think of. You never know what will come of it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that someone would have asked me on a board to help make decisions for a business, let alone ask me to lead the same group. I simply wanted a way to spend some of my free time giving back to the community that I live in and gain a little bit of my sanity back. I had been in the house for a few months trying to go through boxes from our last move and was going a little crazy from being inside so much. So Fort Jackson Thrift Shop, my hat is off to you! May another find what I have there too. And may you dear reader find the same somewhere in you're community!

Reading

Anyone that knows me knows that books are the center of our world. Library day see at least 60 books checked out for the week. I'll buy books for the kids when we go out if they ask. So this week's been a bit difficult for me. I've been trying to decide what can be given away, sold, or just thrown away in preperation for our upcoming move. The difficult part for me has been looking through our books and trying to decide if there are some that can be thinned out. Hours of indecision roll on. Finally a compromise! We'll be keeping hardbacked books and donating the paperbacks to the libary we love since they have a loan program. So that will deal with about 100 pounds gone that we don't have to worry about. (I went over on my weight allowance last time. Kind of a no-no!) Now what to do with all the hardback books? Will I ever figure it out? I guess we'll see. I still have October and November to figure it all out so wish me luck on my journey of lowering my weight!

To top it off I get the girls new books, lol yes I know, trust me I don't need told. I tell myself all the time. But onto what I found! Our oldest is into The 39 Clues. They are a series of books that are a mysteries. You read books, get cards (some come with the books), play a game online and it's all tied in together. She's really loving the book (she's gotten 3 of them, we got number 5 first by accident, so we had to get one and she used her money for number two). As a homeschooler I'm wondering if there's a way to work this into her reading work and I find scholastic has a wonderful website to help me out! Check it out here! There are a number of things for teachers and students. Lesson plans, games, strategy guides and much much more. Some of it is free and some of it you have to pay for. I'll be using some of the free items available. I hope you can take a moment to check it out! Have fun looking.

Cheap and quick meal!

One of my family's favorite quick meals involves three things. Canned meat (we prefer chicken or tuna), a box of mac-n-cheese, and vegetables. Our girls like it because they can help with a lot of it. Make up your mac-n-cheese just like the box calls for. We add frozed vegetables to the water at the same time the noodles go in to cut down on time. Drain your tuna or chicken well. I use a fine strainer and spoon to make sure I get all the extra water out of the tuna. The chicken I use a fork on to break up the pieces smaller. Once all of your vegetable and mac-n-cheese are together you can add your meat in and dinner is ready. Now if you use canned vegetables make sure to heat them up and strain them well before adding them to the mac-n-cheese. There have been a couple of nights when the tuna didn't get drained well that it was a little watery. I simply put it on the stove and warmed it on low for a bit until the water evaporated, or because absorbed to the consistancy we like.

Something else you can do with the same ingrediants and some butter crackers is follow the same procedure as above. Throw it all into a casserole dish and top with crushed butter crackers. Bake on the top rack at 350 for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the crackers are nice and golden. We'll be trying that with SPAM this weekend. Our oldest's idea. I'll probably be having PB&J since I'm not a fan of the SPAM. I think I ate way to much of it as a kid. Those and orange circus peanuts. >.<

Even the smallest kid can help try turning the can opener, picking the vegetable, or crush crackers in a zip lock bag. Yes, you can do it faster and probably make sure that all the chicken makes it in the pan. But just as I've learned, sometimes it just won't do to be done the way you thought it should have been done. The little smile is better!

Discovery Streaming Saved!

Discovery Streaming has been saved, at least for three more years in South Carolina. For those of you who don't happen to know about it, it's where you can find an immense amount of video to help with lessons. There are even lesson plans, tests, notes, and many other things for some programs. Ever wonder where to find some of the Discovery shows to add to lessons? This is the perfect place! Okay yeah I know I sound like a commercial. But we love it! We use it all the time. So far I've never had a problem of not being able to find something. The biggest problem I have is choosing what to use. There are all grade level videos, clips, sound bytes, and more.

The only other problem that I really have is that it is NOT available to everyone. In South Carolina homeschoolers are able to use it due to the laws allowing us to use school labs, and other programs. Unfortunately not all states are that way. As for the Discovery Streaming each state or even district sometimes decides whether or not their schools can use the program. Individuals can purchase a subscription also.

There are now some free things available at the site. I recommend at least giving those a look at! Check them out at least. There are some free things for the classroom, and for at home, as well as some Projects and Programs you can check out too. Follow the Discovery Streaming link and the free resources are are about halfway down on the right side of the page. Enjoy!

Yes, I'm on the box!

"What about their socialization skills?"

"They just won't be able to fit in later."

"How will they know what they want to do later in life?"

"They need to know that not everyone likes them."

"How will they learn to make friends?"

"How will they learn to work with other people?"

"What about sports?"

"If only you teach them, how will they learn to take tests?"

"What do you mean you only use encyclopedias? What about text books? How are they suppose to learn about the real world with only encyclopedias?"

Okay so I could go on further, but I won't. I've personally heard these and more. Many of you share some of the questions you get. For us in the home schooling community the answers are a bit obvious. Many times I wonder why it is I have to be the one to educate people on the realities of home schooling. Is it easy? Sometimes, sometimes not. Is it fun? Sometimes, sometimes not. I don't mind answering these. Don't mind sharing what we use or what we do. I do mind the negative questions, and the questions that weren't even thought about before they were asked. Why can't people pick up a book, look online, join a chat or any other way that we (homeschoolers) if they're really that curious? Or at least think about what comes out of their mouths? I do it all the time. When working on animal reproduction in science I read the encyclopedias to make sure that it would be appropriate for a 6 and 8 year old. I read books for three weeks to find ones that would allow for the girls to learn animal reproduction that was appropriate for their ages and learning levels. Then had to reread it all over again when we actually did the lessons. It's what you do especially if you choose to do classical education like we have. And yet for some reason there are people out there that can't seem to pick up a book to simply learn actual facts for themselves.

Maybe it's because we just found out that once again around Christmas time we will be moving. I don't really know but at the moment the million common sense questions seem to be frying my nerves. Thankfully though I have family who are understanding and don't ask the questions because they've managed to pickup books all on their own. Some like my brother and sister-in-law have chosen to home school themselves. I don't know why this is bothering me so much. Normally I'm one of those that really just doesn't give a flying flip what someone thinks about me. I'm happy and so is my family, so to me that's what counts. The change in my children has been wonderful since we choose to do their education ourselves. It could be that my littlest one is wanting to go back to school again, and I quote her here, "So I can play more instead of all the work." I think most of it is she can't simply hide in the middle of a class anymore. We've been struggling to unlearn pictorial reading that was taught to her in the classroom and learn the phonics that she needs to know. I know that I won't go back to having a little girl come home crying anymore because she's been told to quit asking so many questions and to sit and be quiet. Maybe one day they will go back to public school, maybe they won't. We take it one day at a time, and one year at a time. Nothing is set in stone. What we feel is the best option for our children is how we make our decisions regarding school, food, socialization, and every other facet of their lives. The same as every other parent on the planet. Are we perfect? I certainly hope not! I hope that my children see that we love them and are trying to make the best decisions we can, so that they can learn to do the same.

With us moving I've been trying to find out the laws in the new state that we'll be going to and trying to prepare for that. But in doing so I found a study that HSLDA asked Dr. Brian Ray to do in 2003. Dr. Brian Ray is the president of the National Home Education Research Institute. This study was to see what happens to homeschoolers after "school". Did they continue their education? Did they work? Did they fit in to society like public school children? Like most studies I remind you to take into account that the individuals involved probably started out with a bias as to the hopes of it's outcome. Simply add it to what you already know and draw you're own conclusions. I prefer to look at the actual data found and not the results written by those who do the study. In the hopes of not clouding my own opinions. I do hope that you find it enlightening though.

Okay thank you for listening to my vent. I'll be happy to pass of the soap box now.

Updated the list!

WOW!! Thank you so much for all your wonderful help on the list. Although some asked not to have comments posted I did add your ideas. Then added some from friends here too. Hope to have more to add. But with 30 so far I think its a bit obvious that children, who are homeschooled or otherwise are socialized all the time. We don't lock our kids in a closet! Are some kids in more things than others? Sure but aren't kids who go to public schools the same. Not all the kids in public school are in sports. I went to public school, the entire time I was in I did one year of color guard and then ended up sick and only did the summer camp and two events. Am I damaged because I wasn't forced to participate in something I would of hated? No and I don't think that homeschooled children are either. If a child has an interest in something I hope that they are able to explore that, and it doesn't matter where they are schooled. So the next time you ask a kid what they learned at school and they reply, "Nothing", just remember that's what a large number of children reply no matter where they are schooled. Go and enjoy one of those boardgames you have hidden in the closet and remember what it was like to just be a kid who could play!

Unique problems.

Sometimes it can be difficult with home schooling. I know shocking isn't it. Home schoolers are normal people with unique problems sometimes though. It's been busy here. I got in all the new stuff we'll be hopefully using this year. Set it all up so I can try to keep track of what we're doing. We got 10 days done and golf lessons started. I told the girls that we wouldn't do any bookwork if they didn't want to while they were doing them since it is the summer and they already have more schooling done for the new year than most. (Not like we follow that much anyway, lol). So we got through five days of golf lessons without anyone getting hurt or anything getting broken. Then this week they had Vacation Bible School. And here was where the problem came in. The girls have already started their next years so we have a first grader and a third grader. But because we don't follow a "normal" school year they got put in the kindergarten and second grade groups. Now the oldest one didn't seem to care one way or the other. Our youngest on the other hand had major issues with this. She simply didn't see why no one understood that she wasn't in Kindergarten any longer and was in first grade. I tried explaining to her that the children were put into groups according to the year they had completed. But even that was difficult since when I took them out of school most of the work she did at home was first and second grade work. Finally a friend showed up and asked if our youngest would sit with her. Now I look at it and laugh but Monday was ruff for all of us, lol. Check with your local churches and see what they have going on. Many of them will have programs this summer for you and your children to attend. I hope that your first day is simpler than ours started out.

Another unique situation that I found in all of this was a mother who had some misconceptions familiar to home schoolers. You'll know it, "How will the children learn socialization?" Like we lock them in closets or something? Of coarse this is the same mother who actually said, "How will they learn that people don't like them?" This week she asked me, "Aren't you going to let them have a break?" LOL. I honestly couldn't answer. I simply did that cheese laugh, you know the one when try to make the person think you thought it was a joke. So here's a question for you out there:

How do your children learn socialization? Maybe if we start a list somewhere of ways that all children socialize people can pass it out when they get asked this! I'll even start it.

1. They play with other children of all ages on the playground in our community.
2. They play with children at the pool.
3. They went to Vacation Bible School.
4. They took golf lessons.
5. They went to a friends house.
6. They volunteer at the local Thrift Shop helping hang donated clothes.
7. They are part of the Summer Reading Program at our local library.
8. They attend church.
9. They take dance classes.
10. They talk with people around them on a daily basis.
11. They attend Story Time at the library.
12. They attend a Homeschool PE group.
13. They attend a Homeschool Support Group.
14. They attend different Homeschool Groups.
15. They attend karate.
16. They are in 4H.
17. They are in FHA.
18. They are in FFA.
19. They are taking collage courses for dual credit (high school, and college credits at the same time).
20. They are part of the Civil War reenactments in our area.
21. They are in hourly care when I need to have a doctors appointment.
22. They will be attending Space Camp this year.
23. They are part of an equestrian club.
24. They are on the swim team.
25. They are taking Spanish at the local public school.
26. They are part of the dance team at the local public school.
27. They are taking an art class.
28. They are having a bubble and chalk day with the local kids outside.
29. They are in the local play.
30. They volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

I'll add more as they come in. If you don't want your comment posted let me know and I'll simply add your tip here.

Garden updates!

Not much to say about it, other than we're enjoying the salads at the moment. Can't wait for the tomatoes to turn red so we can add them. Squash has lots of blooms on it as does the zucchini and the fruits are finally starting on those. In a couple of days the beans will have enough that I can add them to what we're having for the night, just no enough for us to have just green beans. They'll have to be mixed in (like added to a soup). Check out the pictures below! I took the pictures from my bedroom so you could see how big the plants have gotten. I don't know if the eggplant is going to survive since the zucchini kinda went crazy. (It's the plant on the right. No I didn't do anything special to it. I honestly don't know why they do that to me. When ever I plant the stuff it goes wild on me and we end up with lots of zucchini bread frozen for the winter. Its a favorite with my family so I'm lucky there. But I didn't do anything except put it in an area that I know holds more water than normal. It gets sun for only about half the day. I didn't add any fertilizers, or use anything for bugs either. We're working on animals in science and the habitats of those animal. Our youngest is really into bugs so I can't really kill them. The purple cabbage is a first this year but it seems to be happy. There are eight plants in the middle there and I'm a little worried that they're going to crowd each other out. I'm not sure if the carrots are still under there or not. And the same goes for the onions. I guess I'll find out this fall, lol. The beans on the far right side are all happy as well. And as you can see the lettuce and spinach is looking sad since we can't stop ourselves from picking at it. I need to put some more in. My wonderful parsley is in the round container. The chives and oregano keep disappearing (I think thanks to our youngest daughter) before they can really get going. I've put in two sets of seeds and they'll start and then they disappear again, lol. Our hanging gardens aren't liking all the rain here lately. You can see the yellow leaves on the tomatoes an cucumbers. Although I don't think we'll put cucumbers in them again. They don't seem to be doing very well. The tomatoes all wanted to grow upward and have finally started to turn upside down due to their weight. I think they also needed much more sun. We don't really have a place that we can put them that they would of gotten a lot of sun. I'm glad that we got a plot. I added a bunch of tomato plants out there. Oh well this is the girls science project that goes along with our history on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Well we need to know that just because a science experiment doesn't go the way we had hoped that there is still something to learn. The flowers on tops are beautiful. The primrose on top of our oldest's closed up because we had yet another rain starting. Enjoy the view as we do!

Blue eyes!

In April our oldest got her very first makeup kit (play one). Today she was finally able to find a time when her little sister wouldn't be able to try and get in it. So fun she had! Beautiful blue eye shadow and glitter pink lips. Add a bit of princess pink nail polish and mom grabs the camera. I wish I could of gotten one less blurry. I was trying really hard to get MeMe out of my head so I wasn't very successful. At least she had fun on a rainy day!

Opps!

I can't believe it's been an entire month! So sorry I haven't wrote anything here lately. Everything is coming to an ending.....and then restarting again. One school year ends and another begins. Sicily's Kindergarten year is over and she started first grade as of Friday. Kyra's done with second grade and began third grade on Friday also. I've been so busy with putting together the curriculum for them so that they can work at their own paces I've lost a month. Along with that I got a garden plot, so I put that in along with my loving hubby. Only to have a storm knock down two trees into it two days later, lol. So we were getting rid of those right before he had to head off to ANOC (it's a school he needs for his rank in the army, to put it simply). Hubby went off to ANOC the day before mother's day and won't be back till July. We're hoping to go up for his graduation on July 22. My board year is ending so I have all of that going on as well. Of coarse a new one is starting right behind it though, lol. Both the girls are taking golf this summer. They have two weeks off lessons and assessments then the rest of the time will be practice. So we'll be at the golf coarse nearly all summer long. At least I'll be able to get a break when I sleep at night, lol. Oh well, we're having fun at it!

I guess I don't really have a way of helping out thrifty wise this time. Oh I know, instead of using your milk that you drink with for cooking use powdered milk instead. In most cases you can't tell the difference. If you use soy, almond, or another form of substitute milk check into powders for those also. They have them, you may just need to look a little harder, like ordering them online. The cost adds up. My kids prefer the powdered milk on their cereal but I don't like it in pudding, or ice cream. I prefer to use it only in things that will get cooked. I use it in Mac-N-Cheese, or baking and no one ever knows the difference and I save anywhere from $0.50 to over $1.00 per gallon. There's a lot less waste since you can make only what you need and the powder is shelf stable. If you're going to drink it or use it cold make it at least 24 hours in advance so it can chill well in the fridge.

What a week!

Meetings, meeting and more meetings. The 15th of April was our 14th anniversary and I don't even really remember seeing the poor man. His work and my meetings kept us in and out at different times, but don't weep for us! This weekend we are on a marriage retreat at Myrtle Beach! Don't groan, it's nice. We get help remembering our "Love Languages", and the kids get to play in a big room with all kinds of wonderful things, and other kids.

The chaplain takes us through the book and helps us find our personal love language as well as our spouses. Then helps us remember how we use to just do that right things to help boost the other. Most of us call it the honeymoon stage. You know when just know what the other person needs. Well then comes kids, bills, reality. That's when you forget to tell your spouse, "the kitchen looks nice", because she needs words of affirmation. Or in my case that honey-do-list that's longer than your arm is really the acts of service that fill me. My list seems much longer these days since he isn't around as much because of his work. Hand holding for him seems out too since uniforms and regulations don't permit his need for physical touches. Older doesn't always mean wiser. I forgot go watch for that one moment when every eye is turned just to touch pinkies. For him, he remembered that something as simple as putting away the clean socks is much more than a gopher drill.

This is just our first day, we still have half a day on Saturday then we'll be free for a family adventure at MagiQuest!

Until then check out the 30 second assessment and see what you come up with. The book has a much longer profile finder and explanation. But maybe you'll remember to to leave that sticky note on your honey's mirror to find in the morning, just like you use to do. Marriage isn't always easy, sometimes it take work!

How do you find things like that?

"How do you find things like this?" This was the question posed to me by hubby tonight after I asked to look at something I found. I hear this often but gave me my topic for today. It also gives you a little insight into my mind, lol, continue only if you dare!

My search started on ask.com with one simple word, "contest". The first choice is a neat contest guide page that lists a number of different contests that they know about. Click on the coffee one, I love my cup of coffee each morning, down to only one now and I'm not willing to give it up. Big bonus is my charity gets something too! Click the solar electric one, always interested in where this is going and if I can win a system all the better. Check out the products for residential. Hummmm, will that actually work? It's just a little motor? Good thing I have a hubby that knows plenty about electrical things.

So hubby tells me a bunch of stuff that to be perfectly honest, I haven't got a clue what it was. So more simply put its a motor that kinda of acts like a battery. It catches some of the energy that comes in the house and is usually lost then puts it back into the house when it's needed. It's a whole lot more complicated than that, but at it's basic function that's what it does. No solar panels needed, that's a different system.

Then the look, you know the one, "only you". And then.......here it comes............."How do you find things like that?"

Just one of the little adventures in our life that makes it go!

Garden update

We planted more squares of lettuce, spinach and salad mix again last Monday and then I did the same thing last night. The small rectangle boxes that you see are the marigolds. This way we can move them as we need to if the bugs decide to show up. We usually have to pull out pine needles that have fallen in and the little pods (pollen comes from them) that fall in too. But it takes all of 5 minutes to do that and make sure that it doesn't get to acidic. The first spinach is getting pretty big and I can't wait till we get a night of salads from the first thinning!

The stakes are to help brace the boards, so the dirt weight doesn't push outward. I was going to use them with the yarn and have a grid but I ended up using the bamboo instead.

Mondays and April!

Mondays are easy days for us usually. Busy but easy. Mondays are our days to volunteer. I'm lucky since the girls can volunteer with me and I don't have to put them into daycare. A lot of places don't want children to volunteer with you. The girls have found there is lots they can do to help out and the other volunteers (mostly older ladies) miss them when they're not there. Simple things like sorting hangers suddenly have new meaning. This Tuesday our home school support group won't be meeting due to Spring Break this week. The youth center we usually meet at is being used so we won't be able to. So we will be volunteering again today!

April is a month full of observances. A simple search of "observances in month of April" will give you numerous leads. I've already told you that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. But it's also Mathematics Awareness Month, Autism Awareness Month, Financial Literacy Month, check out the list here to see many, many more! But the one that is dear to my heart is that it's the Month of the Military Child. Being a military brat myself and now having two we try to go to many of the things that go on around us to celebrate it. With so many observances going on in this month it's easy enough to look in the paper, or on the Internet for many free or extremely low cost things going on. Try something new like being in a marathon, or seeing a festival that you've been meaning to get to. This is probably the easiest month to do it!

Sunday suppers.

So Sundays are normally no electronics (TV, computer, Wii, gameboys, phone, etc) in our home unless everyone can do it at the same time (like a Wii game for four). Sundays are for family even if one isn't able to be there cause of work. But this morning I'm alone and trying to catch up on everything since we've been without the Internet since Wednesday thanks to the line getting cut up the street. I thought I would share my Garlic Pork that I did last Sunday. It has a lot of garlic in it but the taste isn't overpowering since half of the garlic is pretty much roasted whole and turns out sweet. You're friends won't avoid you the next day. I make enough for 5 servings usually but it can be adjusted easily. You'll need a crock pot; about a cup of some type of pork cut up (mine was from a huge Boston Butt I cut up into stew meat); about 4 cups worth of fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables; 1 onion (I ended up using 2 tsp onion powder cause my last onion was bad); 1/2 tsp ginger; 14 garlic cloves; salt (to taste, I didn't use any); pepper (to taste, some people like a lot we use it sparingly); about 2 tsp oil (I use olive oil); Parsley (unfortunately I was completely out)and water.

First you need to clean your cloves. You can get the skins off easier if you smash them gently first. The skin will usually slide right off. Now I cut off the ends (yes I know you don't need to do this, I just prefer to do that) and separate them into two groups. Half that the worst of the smashed ones will get minced up, the other half are left whole.
Put the pork (mine was frozen still this is fine), garlic, ginger, onion (onion powder in my case), pepper and olive oil in the crock pot. Cover it put it on high for about 1 and a half to 2 hours. Now here is the trick, you can't keep opening it up to look at it. It needs to act like an oven. Go do something, I went threw the kids closet and got rid of the clothes that were to small so I wouldn't keep looking at it.

I checked mine at an hour and forty-five minutes and there was a bit of a burnt part on the left side as you can see.(Sorry about the flash) I just scraped it out with a spoon. You want the golden brown everywhere. You'll get more with onions in it. Add you're water (be extremely careful when doing this as the oil is very hot and can splatter when water is added. I try to add the water as quickly as possible to avoid this.) and then scrape all that golden up, it's where your flavor comes from. Take your time and get all of it mixed up into the water well. You'll have a nice broth. Add all you're fresh vegetables. I added only celery and lots of it since my kids love it. Then cover it on high for another 1to 3 hours depending on what you put in (carrot usually take the longest, the celery only took about 30 minutes). By now the fresh vegetable should be turning tender and only need about half an hour more. If you are using canned or frozen vegetable this is where you'll add them. I used canned potatoes (I don't even know where they came from, probably something my 6 year old put in the cart when I wasn't paying attention.) and about 4 cups of frozen mixed vegetables. Cover, leave on high for about 30 to 45 minutes. I lowered mine to medium for about 3 hours since we went to see a movie (below in another blog). Grab a loaf of bread, make some cornbread up, crackers, or what ever else you like and there you go. The actual time getting it all together isn't that long. Even when I use all fresh vegetables in the summer it's still about 45 minutes prep time I would say. Once you get past the browning in the first part it's pretty hands off from there. We've added tomato juice to it before cutting the water in half and it is really good like that on a cold rainy day with sandwiches. You can leave out the meat even, we've used garbanzo beans as a meat substitute in it and that is really good too. We've used chicken, and beef in this too and it still turns out really good. The nice thing is you can add what you're family likes and leave out what they don't. If you don't like garlic leave it out completely. Experiment and see what you like, if it doesn't turn out the way you though there's always PB&J sandwiches! Although I really haven't found a way to ruin it yet. But my crock-pot is my energy saver, and time saver so that I can spend more time playing with my family on our family day! Grab a little hand, and play today!

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

"April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect and encourage individuals and communities to support children and families. Learn more about the history of the month, see examples of Presidential and State proclamations, and find strategies for engaging communities and supporting families. You may also want to learn more about the 17th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in April."-quoted from www.childwelfare.gov

Please speak up for the little ones who can't if you suspect anything. I would rather be wrong than right! I'm glad someone did for me! Thank you Paul where ever you are, may god bless you!

Herbs!

I admit I like the convenience of the dried herbs in the store. I don't like the price sometimes. And I'll admit that I'm a parsleyholic! I love parsley. I know some people say it doesn't have a taste. I agree if you buy the cruddy stuff that's grown in the hothouses, or the dried stuff it's cruddy and it takes a lot to be able to obtain even a little bit of taste. But parsley that that has been grown out in the fresh air, warm sun, and cool dirt is completely different! Then you have all the varieties(link says more than 30 different types): Hamburg parsley, parsley bush, Italian parsley, and even a toxic plant called "fool's parsley" but it isn't a parsley at all only looks like it. Then is has many common names such as parsley breakstone, garden parsley, rock parsley, persely, and petersylinge. There are many uses that parsley can be used for both internally (although pregnant woman shouldn't use it at all and limit handling since it's been proven to induce uterine contractions, I missed it greatly during both of my pregnancies and those with kidney problems should use caution also due to it's ablitity to increase blood flow to the kidneys) and externally. Check out the link by click this parsley. There are basically two type of parley when you come down to it: those with curly fringed leaves and those with flat leaves. The most common type of parsley that most cooks prefer to use is Italian parsley with the flat leaves. That is what I prefer for everything. The taste is more earthy to me where the curled parsley has a much milder taste and has a bit of bitter taste to me, although I do like to add a bit of that to tea because for some reason the bitterness seems to be lost. Hence the reason I grow it every summer and try to continue in it the house. (Only for some reason when a plant comes in my house it's a death sentence for it.)

I put it in everything too. Chicken, fish, pork, beans, lentils, beef, salads, soups, tea, vegetables, casseroles, sauces, and I'll eat it fresh from the garden just cause I can. So yesterday I grabbed two of my large flower pots and planted my herbs. In the first pot I placed a bamboo rod (cut to fit) so that I could see where it would be split for Chives and Oregano. And then....... the other has all Italian parsley. I put in an entire package of seeds! Yes I know please don't tell me it was way to many (I got the look from hubby so I know) but just think of everything I can do with the thinnings! You can do this in much smaller pots and many people grow them right in the kitchen windows, and around the house in other windows. I simply can't seem to grow anything in a house except kids and our marriage! And that's fine by me, fourteen years and our two miracles soon so we must be doing something right.

So tomorrow the last bag of potting soil goes into little rectangle pots (found at the dollar tree last fall for 25 cents a piece) that can be moved around to where we need the protection from our marigolds! I only wish that I could of found the French Marigolds instead of the African Marigolds since the French ones are much stronger, check out the link for more information on that. But they are very difficult to find for some reason. Many bugs like the African Marigold also (not stated in the article just an observation) but it still keeps them off my plants! So with a troupe of neighborhood kids, dirt, pots, and seeds they'll get started! And some mommies will have dirty, but tired kids!

Make a mess with yours this week too.

Square Foot Garden!

So hubby and I (more hubby than me) put together a box out of wood. We just used the cheapest wood we could find. It's semi-rough cut, a little warped. but for $1.25 per piece we couldn't beat it. Then he took up the sod that was inside the box so it would sit atop the sand. It looks like dirt there but trust me it's nothing but freakin' sand that is everywhere here. Then we set the wood down and filled it with good rich potting soil. He added the stakes (I'm still not sure as to why, but this morning I found kitty prints so I might use them to try and stop kitty somehow, not my kitty by the way) And I used bamboo that I had left over from last year to make a simple grid. The red orange things are yarn (from my overflowing craft closet) that I used to tie the bamboo together in a rough 1 foot by 1 foot grid. The first box is 4 foot by 6 foot. Then we did the same thing (minus the bamboo part) over by the fence. This box is 2 foot by 6 foot.
I decided to put in (from top left to bottom right) yellow pepper, purple cabbage (they call it red cabbage here), orange pepper, carrots, bush beans, salad mix (just a mix of different small leaf lettuces), sweet onions, zucchinni, lettuce (mixed again but the larger heads lettuce or maybe not from the links it may be the same thing just different packages, lol well I guess we'll find out), eggplant, yellow squash, and spinach. I've never done the purple cabbage, or the eggplant before so that is going to be a double trial there since this is my first step into Square Foot Gardening (SFG).
So in the little bed I use 2 by 2 areas and made mounds of dirt. I didn't see a need for using the bamboo here because I'm putting the larger plants over here. So from left to right I have yellow squash, eggplant, and zucchinni. I put in three seeds per mound and then I may thin them later if they need it.



So for some dorky reason I didn't get a picture of the garden planted. I will get one tomorrow and replace this one with it. (Changed on 4/7/09) The farthest row will have all beans in it. One square being planted each Monday. The next row is empty (for the moment), yellow pepper, orange pepper, lettuce. Then the third row (counting toward the bottom of the picture) has carrots, cabbage (four plants), sweet onion and empty. The fourth row has empty, cabbage, empty, empty. I'm not real sure what I'll plant in all those empty spaces yet but I'll get it figured out. Now the last two rows are going to be salad mix (the one I think is smaller) then spinach. I've planted the far right ones so far. I decided that I was going to go ahead and try SFG this year since I couldn't ever get a decision on if I was going to be able to get a garden plot. One week to the day after putting it in I found out that the garden plots are being redone and that I will now be able to get one! Not willing to look a gifted horse in the mouth, I'll be happy to take both! Now the only question is where will I fit it in, lol!
Remember there is always a silver lining, it just may be very thin so look hard!!

Free Movies!

Okay so Sunday is our family day that means that all the electronic pretty much get turned off on that day. On occasion we will have one on like the Wii but we're all playing it together. It's the one day out of the week that our oldest isn't allowed to find somewhere to stick her nose in a book. Or our youngest bury herself in the container of Legos (we've got a ton of them). Hubby (if he's home) and I aren't allowed to zone out on the computer. Sometimes like this week end we had to do what I call a split shift, lol. We did half of it on Saturday and the other half on Sunday. Saturday night we read more of our book "The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate Dicamillo. We had hoped to finish reading it by Sunday. In our community nearly every Sunday there is a free movie night in our Community Center. Check around in the newspaper, your local church, local libraries, community centers, Chamber of Commerce, and of coarse the internet. With summer coming up you'll be able to find more ususally. Many free movies are done in the summer. You may need to bring your own chair or blanket to sit on. And you'll probably need to pack your own snacks and drinks. But who wouldn't rather pay forty cents for a big bag of popcorn than the normal $5.00 that you do at a theater.

So on Sunday we went and saw the movie, "The Tale of Despereaux" and don't expect it to follow the book. It was a cute movie but I felt they changed it. Now I have to admit that we didn't finish the book before the movie like I had hoped. But there are major changes from the book (the parts we've read and we're over half-way threw the book) from the start. If a character doesn't speak much and you turn around and turn him into a chatter-box that is a major change in the character. When you add new abilities to that same character then you no longer have that same character. See the movie if you get a chance, the kids will love it and it is a cute movie. Just don't hold your breath for it to do justice to the original work!

Okay well now I need to head out for the time being but tonight I'm going to try and get the pictures from our Square Foot Garden on. Hubby was finally able to show me how to get the pictures of the camera.

Hanging Gardens.

Label on the box.

Kids taking everything out of the box. It's really light.

Daddy and a hammer got it put together in all of 5 minutes. (This was after complaining that they actually had to read the directions not just look at the picture for 10 minutes, gotta get reading in where I can, lol!)

Fill up the bottom with water or sand, we used water so we can take it with us when we move. Water's easier to empty than sand.

Turn the plants upside down and put them threw the holes. Make sure you don't get plants that are to big.

Little ones (and short mamas) will need a step stool.

Put in the topsoil over your plants.

We made our own pop bottle waters (yes I know just don't tell the kids that mommy makes up words) only we messed up by cutting the bottoms off. Poke some holes on it around the neck. Fill it up, put the lid on and tip it over. If the bottom is on it'll slowly let the water out watering the soil for you. If you cut the bottom off (*cough* like mommy said to do) it just all runs out as fast as it can. The instructions at the link cut the bottom off but poke holes in the lid. I might try that and see if it works a bit better.

Add seeds or other plants to the top. We picked flowers. Now you're done.

Now the long wait, lol at least that's the way our 5 year old feels. "The tomatoes are taking to long, mommy tell them to hurry up like you do me."

I'll post the pictures from my part of the garden (the square foot garden) later. Now that I figured out how to do it and feel like a putz cause it took me close to three hours to notice the picture tab at the top. >.<