WOWZERS I'M BUSY

Emily enjoying the rain

One section of our garden

Rain barrel

I feel like I have been running a marathon lately. Between farmer's market, softball, home repairs, and everything else I have no time for anything. As you can see from the last time I blogged it has been a while. I have the day off from farmer's market since it is raining, AGAIN. I thought I would catch up on this thing.

I have been getting very little sleep lately because of all the baking. I am driving myself hard this year as we have a bunch of home repairs to do so we need the income. We are having a guy come in this week, between the rains, to put siding on our dormers and replace the 2 windows up there. He is also replacing the whatever you call it on the peaks of the house. Oh, and if you come over, do NOT pull in the driveway. It is sloped and crumbled to the point it will scrape the bottom of your car. We can't decide if we should patch it or have a new driveway put in. Either way it will have to wait until July to be done.

Let see. I have harvested radishes, snow peas, and lettuce from the garden. Everything seems to be growing fairly slow for me. It is probably the weather. I did discovered another benefit from growing raised beds, they only hold so much water then spits out the rest. Our poor neighbor had a raging torrent of rain running through the back side of his garden, I wish him luck but it doesn't look good.

Our water tank has been full to overflowing for days now. I could have lined the entire back of our house with rain barrels and not had enough to hold the water. Fortunately we only have the usual streams running through our basement, unlike the unfortunate neighbors down the way who have the excess water, amongst other things, spewing out of their basement toilet.

On a lighter note, I did get a kick out of Alex, age 13 a couple of nights ago. Keeping in mind we have lived in the same house for 3 1/2 years now. Mike and I were watching TV when we heard a couple of loud knocks on the bathroom door. Naturally I thought it was Gino wanting in the bathroom since his sister was in it. Then Alex calls from inside the bathroom in an angry voice, "Someone locked me in the bathroom." What was my response you ask "there isn't a lock on the bathroom door" I utter through the hysterical laughter of Mike and myself. She was trying to push the door open instead of pulling.

The latest news is that mom has decided to sell her house and the 15 or so acres. She finally realized it was too much for a widow in her 70s that had a stroke to handle. Humm..... really mom, you think so. She will be moving into her rental house here in Knoxville. She had it on the market but it didn't sell so I guess God wants her to have it instead. This will be a good thing but quite an adjustment for all. I will miss the wild berries, fruit trees, grapes, open spaces, woods, creek, quiet stillness and dark nights. I remember dark nights before I moved to town. There is nothing like a cool summer night laying in your bed with fresh crisp sheets covering you up. The sheers in your bedroom floating with the breeze as the wind grabs them floating them toward you. In the distance you can hear frogs croaking and the cicadas chirping. You can look out the window and see lighting bugs, so many it looks like the stars have fallen and joined you. The moon is bright and the stars illuminate the sky. I will miss all of this but I hope someday to have a place like this of my own. A place where Mike and I can have our own memories.

I must go now, though the rain is a bit much at least I get my Birthday free to get some things done. This must be God's gift to me.

Well I tried making my own laundry soap. It was a success. I used a Fels Naptha soap, borax, and arm and hammer washing soap. If you want the recipe just ask me in the comment section. I would put it here but it is kind of long. It wound up costing me 1/2 a cent per load! Tide was costing me 20 cents a load. I know it doesn't seem like much but it really adds up. Especially when your grocery budget is only $100 a week. We, by we I mean my husband Mike, also tried cleaning the shower with vinegar. It actually worked. The vinegar looked like it melted the soap residue. We now keep vinegar in a spray bottle in the shower now and squirt it when we are done taking a shower or bath. Our nearly 3 year old daughter can now help us clean. No I am not turning her into Cinderella, she wants to clean. It just seems counter productive to tell her, "no you can't clean there are chemicals."

This is the end of the first month of our strict budged. It worked! We had enough to almost pay off all of our medical bills in the first month. I suggest every one do this. We made the budget then stuck some of the allotted money in separate envelopes, most of it stays in the bank so I can write a check, and when the money is gone it is gone.

Oh yes, there were 3 deals of the week at the store for me, amazing enough they were all in the Hy-vee ad. Buy a 20pk of AA batteries get one free (plus I had a coupon for $1.50 off), 2 liter of Pepsi at 65 cents, and snickers pb bars 50 cents each with a coupon of buy 4 get 2 free. The batteries are for the remote which seems to zap the juice, pop is for the kids this weekend, and the snickers are for a recipe for farmers market.

Tomorrow the cold crop starts go in!

money saving ideas of the day

Well I did my grocery shopping and came in with $1.25 left. I know that is not a thrill to most people, but it is to me. I am usually cutting things from the list to make it hit $100 to come in under that is amazing. The deal of the week had to be the 5lb of sugar I got at Fareway for $1 with a coupon. I even had enough in the budget to get some 2 liter pops at 65 cents each. I have also decided to try to make our own laundry soap. I will let you know how that goes and how much it wound up costing. Also Emily's birthday is coming up and I spent about 2 hours trying to design invitations to print only to find out I would have to pay for a monthly membership or the cards weren't printable. Then it dawned on me, WalMart. So I designed 5 invitations that look awesome and even have Emily's picture on it for $1.80. That is cheaper than buying a package from the store and look much better too. I also joined the who radio insiders club and started racking up points till I saw something I wanted to get. I don't put my points in drawings because I am very unlucky so I waited till I found a trade in. Today they have a blank park zoo package, 2 adult and 2 kid tickets a $40 value, for 40,000 points. Cha-ching! We were going to go to the zoo this summer and now we can go for free!

Things to do in the yard

I have been waiting for the rain to stop and it to warm up before I complete my "water barrel" project. I give up, I don't think it will ever stop. But at least it is up. I got an old 200 gallon gravity feed water tank from mom's acreage (it used to be used for pigs). It is fed by the gutter on the house. My husband tried to rehang the gutter on the back of the house but it was shot so we called the Gutter Guyz and they put up a new seamless gutter and rigged it so the downspout goes to one side and right into the tank. I need to put screen over the opening to keep out the mosquitoes and over the down spout hole for gunk. They really went out of their way. Two weeks ago when it sprinkled lightly with intermittent rain the whole tank filled up. I never would have guessed you could get that much water off of a house. I guess we will have to attach an overflow hose. My other project is planting trees. I have decided just because I live in town that is no reason I can't have fruit trees. So my 2, almost 3 year old, and I planted a tart cherry and Johnathan apple tree. I have to return the peach tree because it is leaking sap. Leaking sap is a symptom of something seriously wrong. As for the garden well, fortunately we didn't get any snow. The garlic, onions, and asparagus are doing great. The other seeds are not growing right now but they aren't dead at least. I also have to bury a split rail fence I ordered from Spahn and rose. I will plant rhubarb, gooseberries, and various other things along the fence line. I figure may as well grow things I can eat and not just look at.

New and Different

So I have needed; no, not wanted, to make some different cookies for farmer's market this year. It has been so nice lately I have been outside and not wanting to come in the house and let the beautiful day pass me over like a kite in a tornado. Well the weather has taken a turn for the worse, I believe it is God's way of saying get it over with. Don't get me wrong I love creating new creations, in theory. It is getting everything out and taking notes while people run in and out of the house that drives me crazy. Fortunately; everyone, for the most part, left me alone today. I had ran to the store earlier for some interesting tests subjects. I'm sure people don't know what to think of me most of the time. I once watched a guy slender about 25ish pace the isles of the grocery store,I was in the baking section of course. He finally stopped and said, "You look like you know a lot about cooking, where is the....". Fortunately for him I knew exactly where it was. The store should hire me, I know exactly how much stuff costs and where it is. Anyway, when I am creating a new recipe I stare at everything from candy to canned vegetables. I plot and surmise, I can taste the items melding together in my mouth before I even bake the item. I seem to know what will work and not. Anyway,so in the house Inow stand so here are the cookies i came up with. Cookies with Peeps and Oreo, malt balls and chocolate cream eggs, chocolate cookie with gummy bears, nutella and Reese's pieces, triple chocolate cookie rolled in powder sugar, red velvet, and raspberry cream cheese. OK so some of the cookies I am taking poetic license with, as the combos may have come from somewhere else but the recipe base is mine. Most of the new recipes turned out great, 2 were OK, 1 tasted good but destroyed my baking sheet. All in all it was a successful day and no one got hurt.

spring cleaning

Well, this is a blog about nothing. Just filling space. I cleaned my house. I rearranged my livingroom to make it more "springy". My husband threatened to bring the TV back out to the livingroom from the back room. Is it odd that I said "No, I like it there"? I get so much more done with it out of my way. I entered a contest for a new kitchen. After the deadline I will post my essay. I would tell you which contest but I don't want anymore competition than necessary. Sorry out there but no one needs a new kitchen redue more than I. We have decided to move our bedroom furniture to give it a new look with out spending any money. Unfortunately we will be moving our bed so our feet aim to the door. I know that is a fung shui no no but I guess I like testing fate, plus I really don't believe in it. I also dusted. I am embarrassed to say there was a quarter of an inch of dust on a painting I had in my room. The highlight of the day was when the 2 year old looked in a mirror and said with a smile, "I'm a pretty sissy." Perhaps I will have more interesting things to enlighten you with tomorrow since it is supposed to be almost 80 degrees.

What wrong with the 1950s home ec. class

Yesterday evening on WHO radio they were reading from an early 1950s home ec. textbook. They were laughing and making fun of it. Now keeping in mind I am not a women's liber and I love for my husband to take care of me. Don't get me wrong, I CAN take care of myself just fine but I like to feel taken care of, it feels safe. Back to the radio thing. The book said the woman should always have a nice dinner ready when their husband comes home. It shows that you thought about him through the day. What's wrong with that? I am a stay at home mom, I think I can throw some pork chops in the oven and make a potato salad, it isn't that hard. this reminds me of when I went to Target last week. There was a women shopping with her mother. the younger woman's husband called, she actually put him on speaker phone. Well I got the entire unedited phone conversation that went something like this. "Where are you?" "Shopping." "What's for supper, I got home and there wasn't any." "Well, I guess you need to fend for yourself." "Maybe you should have made something." "I can't cook." "Maybe you should learn." "Maybe you should learn." "aaugh, well I guess I will go out and get something." "I guess so." How hard would it have been to throw something together and put it in the microwave? The guy got home from work expecting dinner and was greated with nothing at all. Perhaps this is why the divorce rate is so high these days. As if the conversation wasn't disrespectful enough, to put him on speakerphone unbenounst to him was very rude. The other point was to have the home quiet when your husband comes home; no radio, no tv, no music, no vaccuum, no washing machine, etc. It is even best to train the children to be quiet when he arives. Now think about that a little. Who wants to come home from a bad day to a blairing TV in the living room, radio in the kids room, washing machine thumping, vaccuum whirring, capped off by a screaming child. Not me! Granted life is not perfect but it would be something to strive for, wouldn't it? My goal is not to stir up trouble here. There were more ideas said on the program but I don't want to blab on and on. Granted this is a different world, not every wife stays home and not every man works but wouldn't it be great if they did.

Here is the bread I made yesterday. I don't often give away my secrets but I here is a "recipe". 4 1/2 tsp. yeast 3 Tbs. quinoa 4 c. warm water 1/2 c. bran flakes 1 tsp. salt 2 Tbs. flax seeds 3 Tbs. wheat gluten 1/3 c. flax meal 2 c. + more wheat flour 1/3 c. oatmeal 2/3 c. apple sauce white flour 2 Tbs. honey 2 Tbs. chia seeds margarine Develop yeast in water. Get out 2 medium sized bowls. Add to each bowl 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 1/2 Tbs. wheat gluten, 1 c. wheat flour, 1/3 c. apple sauce, and 1 Tbs. honey. In one of the bowls add quinoa, bran flakes, flax seeds, flax meal, and oatmeal. divide developed yeast and water evenly between the 2 bowls. In the bowl with out the seeds and stuff you stir and add white flour until it is smooth enough to handle. In the bowl with the seeds add more wheat flour until it is manageable. Knead both loaves separately adding white flour as needed to the plain loaf and wheat flour to the seedy loaf. Knead each 5 minutes. Set aside in bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (apx. 1 hour). Punch down add chia seeds to the seedy loaf. Form a loaf with the plain bread. Form a loaf with the seedy bread and roll in oats. Spray bread pans with non-stick cooking spray. Place each one in a glass pan. Let rise (apx 1 hour). The seedy loaf may take longer to rise. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until the bottom of the loaf thumps. Top with margarine while hot and still in the pans. Remove from pans and cool. NOTES: 1. I make one of each because my kids don't like the "stuff" in their bread. 2. If you think I actually measure anything besides the water and yeast, you are very wrong, I just throw it in, I thought I should give you a rough how much to add 3. Never bake bread in colored glass, it burns 4. Add chia seeds when moderately dry, they turn to slime in water 5. The seedy bread will, umm, how shall I put this, be great if you are constipated

nice weekend

My daughter's new Tepee with potted tulips. Raised beds the tall one isn't complete yet.

This is a picture of the garage that we tore down last year, this is where the raised beds are now. It was a great weekend. We got the yard picked up, for the most part. We sectioned off the beds and planted some new things, it is probably a little early but I have a lot more seeds if I need to replant.

I even had time to play catch with my 13 year old daughter. She isn't allowed to throw full speed anymore since she broke my nose last year. I still duck when I see the ball coming at me. She wants to be outfielder. I think that is a good spot for her as she has a heck of a throw. Plus she is left handed and likes to run.

Another day

Well today I filled in most of my raised beds. I only went out to watch my little girl play but the mood caught me so I thought why not get busy. I also went to my mom's rental that is for sale and discovered some bulbs in buckets starting to come to life, so I took them home. I planted the tulips in a pot. The other bulbs I started to plant in pots until I discovered there were way too many. So I lined my driveway fence line with them. In the past 3 years I have planted numerous things here to no avail. I can't even get native born Iowa wild flowers to grow here. Well since the bulbs decided to come to life in a large heap with no soil I am guessing they stand a good chance. If only I knew what they were. A couple of days ago I got the red currents and elderberry plants so went ahead and planted them, along with the asparagus. The idea I had the other day about the ice cream cones, I can't get far without a waffle iron, so I bought one yesterday. Now if I can find time to try them out! Today I had an order for 12 raspberry white chocolate muffins and 12 peaches n cream muffins. I was supposed to make sugar cookies but that didn't happen, I hope to do that tomorrow. Emily is worn out and said, "I need to go night night," it was 6:15. I gave her a bath and read her to sleep. I hope to do the same myself soon.

try try again

Ok so I started a blog, wrote in it once and that was it. I have decided to begin again. I will keep this as a diary to track my hobbies, lifestyle, and funny things my kids say. If for anything else to keep my mind free so I can sleep at night.

SAVING MONEY

I am excited to start my money saving plan next month. I have taken a portion of our tax return to pay down some medical bill debts and some things for the house. I will keep some in saving in case our furnace goes out, which should be any day now. Now I have everything portioned out. I am sure we can eat on $100 a week. We rarely go out to eat and I make everything from scratch even bread, guess that's why I am called "The Breadlady".

HOBBIES (BAKING)

As for my hobbies, well I guess you could call it my job. I bake and bake and bake some more. I always have ideas in my head. This time I have snack foods as an idea for farmer's market this season. I will be making pretzel rods dipped in almond bark rolled in candy bars and drizzled with more almond bark. This should work until July anyway. Also, last night it came to me, waffle cones for ice cream. FLAVORED waffles, can you imagine pumpkin spice cone for your vanilla pecan ice cream. Pear almond waffle cone for your cherry cordial frozen yogurt. I will try those next week. This week I have to finish gardening.

HABBIES (GARDENING)

I got a phone call from the Des Moines Register and they ran an article about me, you can see that at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110313/LIFE/103130304/Iowans-giving-up-extras-not-giving-up-hope

I have 9 3'x8'x6" raised beds and 4 3'x3'x1''. I am doing the square foot gardening thing. My compost wasn't broke down enough so I bought more, I also bought several bags of peat moss, and vermiculite. I only had 2 beds done last fall. One for garlic and the other for asparagus. So now I get to finish the rest of the beds. My seeds are started in the basement. I put the seeds in empty egg shells filled with soil with holes in the bottom of the eggs. I put them in the cardboard carton and put them on old cookie sheets. I put water in the cookie sheets and the water goes up into the egg. My plants are sitting warmly under regular shop lights, they were a fraction of the cost of grow lights and work just as well.

Well I better get to work around here, lots to do and not enough time. Plus my 2 year old just fell and bopped her head and is now hollering for a bandaid, I think a kiss will do just fine.