Christmas

The pictures are totally in reverse order. We started out at home and did our family gift exchange on Christmas eve. Garrison loves ripping wrapping paper off, and this year he actually played with the toys inside instead of just the paper and empty boxes. Then we headed up to Nanny's for the night. He LOVES playing with his nanny and he dressed up in her frosty the snowman outfit. In the morning he got his stocking. Justen managed to find a pair of mini safety glasses to put in it. Now Garrison can be just like Daddy when they work. There was also a pillow pet under the tree with his name on the tag. We told him to figure out what under the tree had his name on it. He was so busy trying to find his name he totally missed what it was. He likes his puppy and laid on it while watching a movie. On the way to Grandma's he got kind of upset at us because we left his new puppy at Nanny's. Next, we went over to Grandma Raine's and Grandpa Chris's house. But mommy forgot to get out the camera. Finally, we headed over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Selman's where he unwrapped his new fire truck. He drove it all over their house. He loved giving everyone their gifts, but I think he especially enjoyed Grandpa Selman's because Grandpa let him help unwrap them. He really likes ripping paper off things, even if he doesn't get the gift inside. So here we are, back at Nanny's for nap time. I figured I had better get these pictures up while I"m thinking about it or it may never happen. If I get around to it, I'll try and get some from Nanny's party up tonight, we'll see.

This month...

Garrison loves playing with Daddy's "guitar".


















And showing off his new train outfit from Oma.

Pillow Pets

Garrison has been very excited about something called a pillow pet lately. I'd never seen one myself, but Justen described it to me as a pillow with a stuffed animal head attached. Everyday for the last two weeks Garrison has been coming home from school telling me he wants a pillow pet like two of the girls have, and everyday I tell him his regular pillow works fine. Of course I was thinking this was just something silly and his focus on it will fade. It hasn't. Then the other day Justen and Garrison stopped at Walgreens to pick up my prescription and there they were. The often heard about but never seen pillow pets. Garrison was so excited to show them to Justen and tell him all about the ones the girls at school have, and how much he wants one. Justen thought about it for a minute, and luckily his common sense told him I'd kill him if he spent $25 on a silly stuffed animal. Now had it been a stuffed tractor pillow, he probably wouldn't have thought twice, but that's a story for another day. They came home and Garrison proceeded to tell me the account of how they saw them at the store, and how much he wanted one but Daddy said they were to expensive. As Justen described it, I got thinking, how hard can this be to make? So my quest today while I laid in the recliner (thank you crud that just doesn't want to leave me), was to find out what these things were and more importantly how to make them.
Here are the tutorials I've found out there in the blogosphere (seriously what did we do before the internet?)


Part 1
http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/07/pillow-buddy-tutorial-part-1.html

Part 2
http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/07/pillow-buddy-tutorial-part-2.html

And one about how to make one using a dollar store stick horse (I wouldn't use a unicorn like she did)
http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/08/home-made-freaky-unicorn-pillow.html

I'm thinking about doing a brown puppy because I already have some brown fleece up in the cabinet. Or maybe a lady bug one because I have those colors of fleece too. Now, the real question... Will it actually happen in time for Christmas? I honestly don't know. We had planned on finishing the front landscape this weekend but now we're all sick. I had taken a day off last week in hopes of cleaning my house and all I managed to do was organize my fabric closet. So reality is it may not happen, but I figured I have a better chance of doing it if I post it here than if it's just one more idea running around in my head.


Edit to add: The other idea running around in my head... Could you put a zipper in it and use an actual pillow as stuffing? That way I could take the cover off and wash it. If anyone can figure out an easy way to do that please fill me in, because around here everything needs to be washable.

Our Anniversary

Last night was pretty fun and kind of funny so I thought I'd share. It was Justen and my anniversary. We've been married 8 years now. The sad part is we forgot. Nanny called at 4:30 and reminded us. Opps, but it's ok we're going out of town this weekend and already have plans and reservations made. But the funny part came when Justen tried to explain to Garrison what an anniversary was. He said it's the day we celebrate when mom and dad got married. Well, he made one big mistake, he said the word the word, celebrate. Garrison got really excited and proclaimed, "Celebrate! That means we go out to a restaurant! Lets go!" He is totally obsessed with eating at restaurants lately. Last night he decided the hamburger stroganoff we were eating was "fancy food" and that we were at a restaurant. Then when he cleared his plate (and scraped it in the trash) he told us that he was the bus boy at Mommy's restaurant. We didn't have the heart to tell him that we were going out alone this weekend (he knows we're going but we didn't discuss the going out to eat part). So we took him to burger king and used some coupons, I was proud of my coupon accomplishment. For $7 we got a meal to share with an extra burger for me, a happy meal for him, and three mini ice cream cones for dessert. What can I say, I love cheap! And Garrison got to play at the play land. It was a win-win. And after we went freezer shopping, and to home depot to pick some stuff up for the shed Justen is building. It was a really fun night.
Now as for what we have planned for our anniversary, we're both pretty excited. We realized a couple of weeks ago that we have not been anywhere that wasn't for work without Garrison since he was born. We haven't so much as gone to dinner or a movie in 2 1/2 years alone. We decided it was time to get out. So we're going down to Salt Lake for the weekend. We're excited to go see the SLC temple, we've never been to that one. We're excited to go see whatever new movie is showing in the Joseph Smith building. And we're going to go eat at two of my favorite restaurants, Ruby River and Olive Garden. YUM! And Justen really wants to take one of the horse drawn carriage rides around temple square, neither of us have ever done that so it should be fun. Oh, and a big thanks to Grandma, Nanny and Morgan who have it all worked out to take care of Garrison for the weekend so we can go! It's a long overdue vacation for us.

For Nanny to see

These are the carts. They are at the Utah Co-op in Murray this weekend for $25.

Some pictures

I didn't take a lot of pictures this summer but I did get a few. Then today was just hilarious. So I thought I'd post a few. Garrison loves animals, that's no secret. He especially loves his Tia dog.




Garrison and Daddy like to lay around on a lazy Sunday morning.





And finally this was today. Garrison didn't like the pants he was wearing. He insisted he wanted pants like Daddy's. No amount of trying would convince him that his 3T wranglers were the same as Daddy's. Garrison ran down the hall and when I walked into the bedroom this is what I found. He didn't want to wear pants like Daddy he wanted to wear Daddy's pants.

Green Bean Tractors and Humpty Hondo

A big thanks to Aunt Tanya for remembering to grab the camera to catch a few of the funny things Garrison says. His favorite song is Big Green Tractor and Johnny Cash ( by Jason Aldeen). He CAN sing them all the way through with no radio but of course when the camera comes out (or any time you try and get him to do it) he doesn't. But we at least got a snippet of his two favorite songs. The home depot thing is kinda confusing. One day he started saying, I want Humpty Hondo. We spent days trying to figure out what he was saying. Finally as we were driving past it he shouted, HUMPTY HONDO, and pointed. We would have never figured it out on our own. On our way to Nanny's after shooting this video he started saying home depot the right way. So it's a good thing we caught it when we did, because that may be the end of humpty hondo.

OAMC for Sept.

I don't have a ton of time, but since I type out my menu to hang on the fridge I thought I would put it here too. This is our menu for the next month +. It was 27 meals total and we only use about 4-5 meals a weeks so it will last about a month and a half. This time it took me three days to get everything done, but I did some extra. In addition to all the dinners, I also did breakfast and snacks. For breakfast I made, Banana Choc. Chip Muffins, Sausage/ Cheese Corn bread Muffins, Waffles, and French toast sticks. I made lemon bars, and a huge batch of cookies. I froze the cookie dough so Justen can pull it out and bake cookies whenever he wants this way. So here's dinner for the next while.

Menu
-Spaghetti (x2) ____ ____

-Mac & Cheese Cassarole (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, bake 30 min @350

-Sicilian Supper (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, Bake Covered @350, 30 min, uncover, sprinkle w/parmesan bake 5-10 min more

-Stroganoff (x2) ____ ____

-French Bread Pizza (x2) ____ ____

-Cheese Burger Packets (x1) ____

-Stuffed Green Peppers (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, bake @ 350 20-30 min.

-BBQ Ribs w/ Crispy Cheesy Potatoes (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, put in greased pan, top w/ crumbs, bake @ 350 1 hour

-Basil & balsamic Pork w/Rice Pilaf (x2) ____ ____

-Citrus Marinated Pork w/ Crispy Cheesy Potatoes or Rice (x2) ____ ____

-Carolina Pulled Pork w/Baked Beans (x2) ____ ____

-Alfredo Pizza (x1) XXX

-BBQ Chicken Pizza (x1) ____
Bake at 450 15-20 min.

-BBQ Chicken Calzone (x2) ____ ____
Reheat from frozen in Microwave or Oven

-Chicken Supreme (x2) ____ ____
Thaw, put in dish, top w/ bread Bake 350 – 30-35 min.

27 total meals.

A bike trailer at last!

We've been looking for a bike trailer since the beginning of summer. After reading all the reviews I finally settled on a Schwinn Scout. Then of course the bargain hunting started. I finally found a sale at Target but they were out and gave us a rain check. We've been calling every other day for over a month to see if they'd gotten one in yet. They never did. Finally yesterday we found out that particular model was not going to be carried in stores anymore (only on line)_ and our store wouldn't be getting anymore. But the American Fork store (60 miles away) had one left, and it was on clearance even cheaper than our rain check. So last night we were going to run down and get it. As we were walking out the door some 4-H kids pulled in to weigh lambs (we had forgotten they were coming opps). We had another family coming after them so we called to make sure they were coming and they were. They came, and could tell we were in a hurry and apologized if they were making us late for something. Justen laughed and told them what was going on, that we were just ansy to go get this last trailer before it was sold. She offered us hers, it's a schwinn scout only an older model. Her youngest is now 5 and rides his own bike. So we got a beautiful trailer that even has new tires, and she even delivered it to us this morning. She's such a sweet lady and we've loved getting to know their family this year, but I'm still in shock that we got the exact trailer we wanted and someone just gave it to us. Sometimes it's crazy how well we're looked out for. And yes, Justen has a big neon sign only strangers can see that says, Give me Free Stuff. Don't believe it, ask me about the plywood, or steel trusses, or 2x4s.....



Garrison LOVES it, and drug it all over the driveway. Justen got it all hooked up and Garrison loved his first ride. We're excited to get back to biking. We haven't done it since Garrison was born, but now it's something we can all do. Now I just have to dig out the dog joggers and their leather boots so they can go with us.

Cleaning, some accountability for me...

I find that putting stuff up on my blog is more for me than anyone else. I link to friend's and families blogs through my own so I come here quite often even if I don't post much. But one way to keep myself on track is to post it here, that way I see it often. So I have my menu plan under control now, so I'm on to cleaning. During the school year I have a pretty good system in place. I get up a half an hour early and try to be ready to go at the same time as I send Justen and Garrison out the door, half an hour before I have to go. That gives me 30 min. to clean, organize, do laundry and dishes each day. I have to be really focused during that time to get it all done in time but it works for me. During the summer I have more time so you'd think that would mean I'd clean more, but instead I loose focus and clean less. Even though I only work part time in the summer, this summer I also started my Masters so that is taking up extra time. So I've decided to keep things on track, and keep my stress level down I have to keep on a schedule during the summer too. I figured it's more than just me that could use this help so I"m posting it here. If you see some way for me to stream line more and be more organized I'd love the tips! The only way I get everything in life done is to be super organized. So here's my cleaning schedule:
Everyday:
*Run Roomba (every other day in the kitchen/living room/hall, off days in other areas) -Roomba works amazingly well and helps me keep my sanity with all the dirt Justen and the dogs track in.
*1 Load of Laundry Daily, this includes Wash, hang dry, fold and put way
*Dishes kept up on (thanks to a college roommate I learned to put them straight in the dishwasher instead of letting them pile up in the sink. It now drives me nuts to have dishes in the sink. Justen is starting to get the hang of it, it only took him 7 years)
*Garrison's Toys away (he does this every night before bed)

Weekly:
Mon: Kitchen
Tues: Downstairs (we spend so little time down here I don't devote much to cleaning it, if every room gets hit once a month I'm happy)
Wed.: Living Room/ Dust
Thurs: Bedrooms
Fri: Bathrooms (these two rooms get cleaned next to each other so I can do one load of laundry for sheets and towels)
Sat: Deep Vacuum and mop (deep vacuum is with the dyson, roomba does maintenance during the week)

I've had several folks ask about my homemade cleaning recipes. About two years ago I started noticing that I was having more migraines and asthma attacks then I'd ever had. I was also totally out of energy all the time. I especially noticed that anytime I cleaned the bathroom I was wiped out for the rest of the day, I'd actually clean it at night so I could go to bed because that is all I could do once I was done. We decided to start cutting out commercial cleaners to see if it helped (about the same time we switched to cloth diapers for Garrison). It worked wonders, my migraines are less, my muscle spasms are better, and I breathe much easier. I still have some left over cleaners in the house but don't use them a lot, and when I do I always regret it. I have found that I can use most of the Method line of cleaners (less harsh chemicals but hard to find and quite expensive), and a lot of Eco friendly cleaners are fine, but not all. The clorox greenworks ones and the nature something(by lysol) are just as bad as any. I've found I can clean about anything in my house with a few simple ingredients. I feel a lot better about what I'm putting in my septic tank too. I have found a lot of essential oils don't bother me like commercial smells do so I use them for fragrance, but I still have to be careful. A lot of people use lavender oil in cleaners but it makes me sick so I don't use it. You don't have to fragrance them, I just have the oils on hand for my soap making so I use them. Here are some of my favorite recipes for cleaners:

*Redi-Wipes- Clorox Redi-wipes were a major cleaning crutch of mine. I went through 4-6 big sams club canisters a month. I really hate rinsing and reusing rags, I"m not sure why it just bothers me. But I found a great, cheap alternative. I cut up a huge stack of old T-shirts into 6X6 squares (no hemming required). I keep them in an old huggies container in the window sill. I keep a bottle of Multi-surface cleaner next to them. I have single use wipes ready to go all the time. I throw them in the laundry hamper in the kitchen along with my un-paper towels and wash them once a week with my whites. I have over a hundred of them to get me through until wash day.

*Multi Surface cleaner/disinfectant (Use my old method brand spray bottles, they have lasted forever)
In an old spray bottle fill up about 1/4 way with vinegar, put in about 5 drops of soap, a few drops of Tea Tree Oil, and fill the rest of the way with water. I hate the smell of Tea Tree so I cover it up with Mint Oil.

*Window Cleaner, Streak Free, Spray on wipe off with crumpled newspaper, buff to a shine (although right now I'm using a bottle of Method Minty Glass cleaner that I love)
1 1/2 c. vinegar
2 c. Water
1 T. Cornstarch

*Scratch Free Scouring Powder
1 c. Borax
1 c. Baking soda
Fragrance oil of choice. Mix. I put it in a canning jar and punch holes in the lid to use it like a can of comet.

If I need to get burnt on food out of a pot and that mix doesn't work I add a little salt and that scrubs anything out.

*Drain Cleaner- I sometimes get slow drains. Draino is bad for your pipes, horrible for the septic system (and the environment if your on city sewer) and the fumes are horrible. I put some baking soda down the drain, about a cup or so, then chase it with white vinegar. Let it sit and work a few min. Then follow it up with some boiling water. Works great.

*Dish disposal deodorizer- Grind a little ice, lemon peels, and baking soda in it. It sharpens the blades adn keeps it fresh.

*Dishsoap- I really haven't had a problem with dish soap, I use plain old dawn and it gives me no problems, some of the highly fragranced ones do though so I stick with dawn. But I did play around with homemade automatic dish detergent just for fun. And when I can't find any really cheap or free with coupons I do make my own because it's cheaper. This recipe is a combination of ones I found on other sites and works well in our hard well water. I do have to use a rinse aid or our water puts tons of minerals on our dishes. Again if I find it cheap I use jet dry if not I use vinegar in the rinse aid compartment. We used to not notice the hard water so bad in our old white dishwasher, but the stainless interior on our new one get gunky really easy, and the dishes show the minerals worse. I think it might be because it's one of those high efficiency ones. None of the dish stuff seems to give me problems, but again I had to try cutting it out to see if there was a difference for me, there wasn't on this one.

*Auto Dish Detergent-
Some websites claim that you can use one T baking soda and one T borax in place of dish detergent. If you have soft water maybe you can. But my dishwasher did not tolerate that. So after much searching, this is what I came up with for a recipe:
1 c. borax
1 c. baking soda
2 T. salt (salt is abrasive so I would try without it first and only use if needed)
2 T. Citric Acid (again more expensive try with out first or use a couple packets of lemon kool aid with no sweetener added to get the citric acid)
2 t. - 2 T. liquid dish soap ( I use a little more with hard water you can use less with soft)
Mix together thoroughly so there are no clumps of soap and use 1-2 T. per load. If fragrance is important to you you can add a couple drops of citrus oil


Laundry-Laundry soap is a mix for me. As long as I use something with out fragrance I'm fine. Once in a while though I have to use tide. If you saw some of the laundry Justen brings me you'd know why. (think towels covered in sheep afterbirth and coveralls from lambing and spring chores.) Sometimes I use store bought sometimes I use homemade it depends on how much time I have and what kind of sales I've found. These are my two favorite recipes both are from the Duggars website.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at walmart). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine
1 soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax
-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: You can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote(my preferred) bars, you can use fels naphsa but I find it fades my darks. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.

- Sometimes I use unscented downy as a fabric softener sometimes I just use plain old white Vinegar, sometimes I use nothing it depends.

Stains- I use spray and wash sometimes, but mostly just oxyclean. If it's really stubborn I oxy-vin. Make a solution of oxyclean and water in the sink, add garment and pour a little vinegar on top. Let soak (if you think baking soda and vinegar is fun to watch, try this!)

I try to hang most of my laundry to dry, it saves on power use, and I have a hard time using power to run the dryer and using extra power to use the A/C to compensate for the dryer. It just seems like paying twice. The sun is free, and if we all conserved a little energy that is one small step in the right direction. I do use the dryer on whites though, all those tiny little cloths to hang up would be too much.

Mopping
For mopping we bought a Bissell Steam Mop. It works great and mops with no chemicals. I love it! You can just use plain vinegar in mop water as well, but I really hate the smell of vinegar and while I cover it up with oil other places I didn't want to on my whole floor so this works really well for us.

Carpet Cleaner- I have a Bissell Pro Heat carpet cleaner I really like. Fill the soap compartment with white vinegar. In the hot water part put a couple of scoops of oxyclean and a small squirt of dawn (think 5 drops or so), with the hot water. It works great and doesn't leave a soapy residue that attracts dirt like the normal soap does.

There are so many good things about homemade cleaners. They are cheap, work well, great for the environment, and easier on us. I can get a gallon of Vinegar at Winco for $2, and huge boxes of baking soda for $1.50. I only use a few drops of oils and you don't even need those. Hope this helps someone, it's also a nice reference for me in case I forget one of these. I know there are others I use and as I remember them I'll try and add them.

Menu Planning

We were getting really bored eating the same old thing all the time. So the last few weeks we've been on a mission to try some new things. We've tried some fun things like Lime, Chili Fish kabobs, Grilled Tilapia, Kiwi Marinated Lamb Kabobs, Grilled asparagus , basil and balsamic pork chops (these were amazing and Justen thought it was the best pork he'd ever eaten) and Parmesan grilled corn on the cob. It's been really fun trying new things. One way I've found to keep myself on track and not get stuck in the what's for dinner rut is to Menu plan. I start by looking in the freezer, and cupboard to see what needs to get used. Then I look through the sale paper to see what is cheap this week. With those two things in mind I come up with a few old favorites then head over to recipezaar to find some new ideas. I finished my menu plan for the next two weeks on Sunday night, and went shopping yesterday for everything I will need. Aside from maybe a few more gallons of milk (only got six it will be close if we make it a full two weeks, we usually need 4-5 a week) and maybe a little more fruit for breakfasts and snacks we should have everything we need. I am hoping by posting it here I won't loose it, because little helping hands keep taking my list off the fridge and then I forget what I had planned and fall back into the rut. I've also found we eat healthier this way and produce doesn't go to waste because the produce I buy is all ear marked for a meal.

Dinners (two weeks worth)
*Sour Kraut and Brats (this was Sunday dinner)
*Braised Lamb Shanks (crock pot so not to heat up the house), Parmesan and Basil Orzo, Parmesan grilled Corn, and Grilled apples (this was last night)
*Grilled Trout and Acini di Pepe salad, w/roasted summer squash (trout was caught at a faculty party we went to for work right at the end of school)
*Scallops and Pasta Florentine (the new winco in town carries bay scallops at a really reasonable price)
*Black Bean Salad and chips (this has lemon, lime and orange juice, cilantro and fresh vegis in it, hoping we like it.)
*BLT Sandwiches (forgot to buy lettuce so we'll be having these with the spinach from the pasta- it was a big bag)
*Marinated Lamb Chops and Zucchini Couscous
*Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad (lots of vegi's in this)
*Chicken and Grapes salad on Pita bread (with Carrots and celery on the side)
*Grilled Lamb Chops (for our family BBQ/Party Friday night)
These last two are for my nights when I have to have a quick meal and there are no left overs left, like this thurs. night when we have our livestock board meeting.
*Beans and Weenies w/spinach salad
*Tuna Casserole w/corn

I just list it all out and then cook whatever we feel like eating that night. I don't list it on a day particularly because maybe we won't feel like fish on Monday we want it on Wed, so this has enough flexibility to keep us happy but enough structure to keep me organized and sane.

Lunch is usually leftovers, as is some dinners, the three of us just don't ever finish a whole meal at one sitting, so we have lots of left overs. We also always have stuff to make sandwiches. If we run out these are things that can be made with stuff I have in the house
*Tuna Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches
*Beans and Weenies
*Mac and Cheese (with corn and hot dogs or tuna)
-I actually made this today for lunch but for a fun twist we put fresh chopped
chives and parsley in it, a squirt of ranch dressing, corn and hot dogs. It was really good, actually made box mac and cheese enjoyable
*Grilled Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches
*Bean Burritos
*Egg Burritos


Breakfasts (we try to have a little fruit or something with this, like this morning we had the left over grilled apples from last night.)
We make huge batches of pancakes, waffles, and french toast sticks, then freeze them with wax paper in between. That way on a daily basis all we do is pull them out of the freezer and put them in the toaster for a few min. I also make big batches of biscuits and freeze them and can bake them in the toaster oven, we use them for breakfast but also sometimes to have fresh biscuits with dinner.
*Pancakes
*Waffles
*French Toast Sticks
*Biscuits and Sausage
*English muffins
*Bagels
*Oatmeal
*Cream of Wheat (I take a beaten egg or two and drizzle it in at the end while stirring really fast to add some protein make a big batch so left overs can be used the next day)
*Gries Brei Schnitzel (this stuff is awesome! You take your leftover cream of wheat and put it in a square container in the fridge. Let sit until the next morning. The next morning you slice it about half inch thick. Dip it in beaten egg then coat it in bread crumbs and fry it in a skillet or on a griddle. Serve with cinnamon sugar or syrup or fruit topping, and we always have either fried bananas, or fried cinnamon apples with it).
*Homemade yogurt w/fruit and granola (just put a batch of yogurt in the yogurt maker this morning)

Snacks
*Crackers
*Fruit (grapes, kiwi, apples, berries, cantaloupe, & bananas this week)
*Carrots and celery
*Yogurt
*PB and J (Justen eats a piece of whole wheat bread toast with pband j at least once a day, jam is homemade).
*Ice cream or Popsicles
I'm sure there is more I just can't think of it right now.


Sweets
*Banana Choc Chip muffins w/flax seed meal and wheat germ (to use old bananas up)
*Choc. Chop Cookies (Nanny's recipe-Justen is CRAVING them)
*Lemon Cake (for the BBQ Fri. Night)
*Rice Crispy treats (not healthy at all but we have a huge bag of marshmallows left from camping smores that needs to get used up).
*Old Fashioned Kettle Corn
*Kiwi Something?? I bought a huge box of Organic Kiwis at Sams a few weeks ago and I'm starting to loose the last 10 or so. I've got to figure out something to do with them, so that is today's project, save the kiwis. First kiwi recipe I've found is a Rachel Ray kiwi smoothie, sounds good! And uses up an over ripe banana, I may add a handful of raspberries too.

First Crochet Shorties

I finally finished them! They started off last October destined to be longies for winter. I just finished them yesterday and I think the only reason they are done is because I only needed a 4 inch inseam instead of a 13 inch inseam. Luckily I can't read a pattern to save my life. They were HUGE! They still are pretty big, but had I read the pattern correctly they wouldn't have fit because garrison has gone from a 2T to a 4T in that time. These are 100% wool, from Paton's brand, so it was a very cheap way to practice. The shorts are so funky! I did rows backward and messed up the legs and all kinds of crazy stuff. But I decided they are my first try at anything crochet from a pattern ever so they aren't that bad. We are going to use them as sleep shorts. Our upstairs gets really hot in the summer, and Garrison gets the worst heat rash from any material that isn't breathable in the heat (such as PUL covers or disposable diapers) so this will be perfect. Everyone always thinks wool is so hot for summer but it breathes. Compare that with a plastic disposable diapers that their is no airflow. I wouldn't have believed it myself but the proof is in the rash (or absence of it actually). So here's to another summer in wool shorts. Of course now that I've said all this good stuff about wool I have to admit that we are taking a brief hiatus from cloth diapers thanks to my tonsillectomy. I've been down for almost two weeks now, and am still feeling pretty crummy so we are in total simplify mode right now. Although he is in a cloth diaper for the picture, he's to skinny for the pants without it. But we'll get back in our groove soon. We have to, Garrison carried out one of his super squishy bamboo velour diapers the other day and said, "mommy , I want to wear this one." He knows what he likes and he always picks out the super soft velour diapers to wear first. And he doesn't want to take the wool shorts off. I made him take them off last night though so I could lanolize them so they would be waterproof and ready to go.

Better Late than Never

Garrison's birthday was only a month and a half ago, but we are just a little behind. Just last week we realized we totally forgot his two year old well baby check up. We forgot until daycare asked us for his new shot record...opps. Shouldn't the pediatricians office call and remind us of these things? His birthday pics are going about the same way. So here they are just a bit late. It was a crazy weekend. Justen and I were at State FFA Convention and Garrison stayed in Bothwell with Nanny and Papa. He had a ball, they went to Macs and had burgers, and killed voles/moles in the yard. I think Garrison would have gladly stayed there rather than coming home with us. We realized on the way to pick him up that I was just too exhausted to bake a cake, so we were going to pick one up at walmart, disgusting?, Yes, but at least he would have a cake. Presents were under control we bought them on Christmas clearance and they were already in the closet. Well, once again Nanny and Aunt Kristi to the rescue. With out us knowing they decided I would be to tired to bake. So Kristi brought in her cake pan, Nanny baked a cake and Kristi and Eric frosted it. It was awesome! Garrison had a great birthday. Here are some pictures.


We got him a Crayola Art station. He loves it. The middle is a flippable dry erase chalk board, and he has cubbies for art supplies, which we haven't filled yet. But it has his color wonder paper and markers in it for now. I love the color wonder stuff because it can't mark on other stuff, and we plan to add the paints and other things eventually so we can store it in his reach. Anything not fabric/walls safe will have to be stored out of reach and he would have to ask. He loves being independent so I want to try and keep it that way but not have to clean walls!


Garrison and Grandpa Chris with his Clown cake.


Garrison and his Selman side Cousins ready for some Cake!


Garrison is showing you what to do with a rake, "KILL MICE!" Nanny and Papa spent part of the weekend doing yard work and so they gave him a little yard tool set for his birthday. When we got home, he immediately grabbed the shovel and started pounding the ground, after a few good hits he would scoop something imaginary off the floor and go throw it in the kitchen trash can. We watched him do the several times and finally through our laughter asked what he was doing. He said "Kill Mice", and where did you learn that "Nanny, Papa's house". Ok, well before you beat my living room to death how about if we rake instead? He took the rake and started doing the same thing, with the same answer, "kill Mice". Garrison, who uses a rake to kill mice? "Nanny", who uses a shovel to kill mice, "Papa". Sure enough the whole story was confirmed by Nanny and Papa. They had voles all over their lawn and every time one would run out they would squash it and then scoop it up and throw it in the back field. So our son thoroughly enjoys killing mice but not shoveling and raking so much.

February

I thought I would post a few of the things we've been up to in February. We went to IKEA in Draper for the first time ever. It was pretty fun. We got a book shelf to put tubs on and organize Garrison's toys in the basement. We are in the process of rearranging the family room, once it's all done I'll post pics. But here is Garrison doing his favorite thing in the world, helping dad.


Garrison has also decided he would rather shower (like daddy) and wear his towel just like Daddy too.


We hatched out some Khaki Campbell ducks in my incubator at school. The fun part though, they decided to hatch on the weekend when I had them at home so Garrison got to watch. He loves his baby duckies. I am excited for them too. We had ducks when we lived in Bothwell, and loved eating fresh duck eggs. Campbell ducks are known for their high egg production and can even outproduce some chickens.



Of course we have been lambing. Our first ewe to lamb had a set of quadruplets. The first one born was about frozen when we found him. It was 10 degrees outside, and we believe the mom tried to care for him but then she was so busy delivering the other three that he didn't get what he needed. We got him warmed up and tube fed. It took him three days of constant care before he even developed the ability to suck and hold his head up. But he is out in the field with all the others now. Garrison loves his Baby Baa.




Garrison's favorite thing to go do in the afternoons is to go feed the sheep with Daddy. Next time you see him ask him how we herd Nacho, it's pretty funny. So here is Garrison, "herding" the sheep, and talking to Nacho, our guanco.






And finally our crazy cat that likes to ride on the ewes, sleep on top of our buck babe, and plays all kinds of funny games with the lambs.


As you can tell the overriding theme at our house is anything to be like/with Daddy. The one and about the only thing Garrison doesn't like to do like Daddy is his hat. Justen always wears a baseball cap, with rare exception. Garrison much prefers his cowboy hat, and will only wear a baseball cap if it is John Deere and backwards. That is definitely different than Daddy.

I refuse to Cook this Month!

It has been a long time coming, but we’ve finally come full circle. From not cooking to not cooking. In December I realized that I had all but quit cooking. I did maybe one meal a week on the weekends. The rest of the time we ate cold cereal, snacks, and out. It was a pretty pitiful existence food wise, but time and energy just didn’t allow me to do much else. In January (on my birthday) we had our debit card number stolen and our checking and savings accounts drained. We were left with $50 to live on for the rest of the month while fraud protection got our money back. Now this may sound like a bad thing, but in reality it was a blessing in disguise. It made us wake up and realize how much we’d been spending on food and how little quality food we were really eating. So with a full freezer and food storage and $50 to buy fresh food we went through January. I got really creative and we ate better than we had in a long time. In February I decided to start meal planning and budgeting better, we discovered Dave Ramsey and learned a lot about finances we didn’t fully understand before. I cooked dinner almost every night, planned my weeks out by the sales, and only allotted $200 for groceries in February. All that money we had been wasting on food before went into savings, how cool is that?!? So enter March. I can’t keep this pace up. I am so tired of cooking. I have not cleaned much because I was cooking, I wasn’t keeping up on laundry or doing much of anything I enjoy. By the time I got home from work and made dinner I was to exhausted to do anything other than put my boy to bed and fall into bed myself. So I decided that something’s gotta give, and it had to be the daily cooking. But I still didn’t want to give up my new found budgeting ability, savings, or good food. I discovered something called “Once a Month Cooking”. Google it, you’ll get lots of good information. I’ll tell you how I did it.
First I went through my kitchen, food storage room and freezer to see what we had. Then Justen and I put proteins on a piece of paper and brainstormed all the meals we like and routinely eat off those. We used Ground Beef, Chicken, Roast, ham and Lamb. Then I chose meals with similar ingredients so the prep would go faster. We decided not to do any lamb meals for the freezer because we both prefer lamb fresh grilled, so I made twice baked potatoes to make those a quick easy meal. When all was said and done I put 24 meals in the freezer plus about 25 twice baked potatoes to use as sides. We have been eating the food so far this week and I am loving my new found freedom! I started Friday night by precooking my hamburger. Then on Saturday was my big cooking day. On Sunday I made an extra BIG Sunday dinner and finished up by making roast, boiled potatoes, and the twice baked potatoes, as well as frying the bacon and onion all at once for the spuds, and the squash soup. So here are how my meals were grouped
Ground Beef- made with 3 different sauces, cooked up on 8 lb bag with pepper, garlic, and onion. Then split into thirds.
-One Third- Red Marinara Sauce, Made into Spaghetti(x2) and Lasagna (x2)
-One third- Taco Seasoning- Froze as meat for tacos (x2) and made Taco Soup (x3)
-One third- With Mushroom Soup made Stroganoff (x2) and Shepherds Pie (x1)
Chicken- Boiled and shredded about 10lbs- made soup out of the broth
Made: - Zataran’s Jambalaya (I love this box mix, and I add an extra ½ cup white rice with each box so it’s not as spicy, then add chicken and a can of corn.) (X3)
-Chicken Stuff (casserole from the Chugg Family cook book)(X2)
-White Sauce Chicken Enchilada Casserole (I actually made a huge batch of the sour cream/ cream soup mixture that I use for both chicken stuff and this used the first half, then added the green chilies for this). (x2)
-Chicken Pot Pie(x1)
-Squash Soup (had frozen butternut squash, add chicken, and fried bacon and onion (from the second day of cooking) and then will do fresh carrots and potatoes in the crockpot with these items on the day we eat it.)(x1)
Next up we have the Ham Items
-Ham and Spud Soup (made extra potatoes with Sunday dinner for this)(x1)
-Ham Fried Rice (actually made this up earlier in the week and froze it) (x2)
And then finally on Sunday for dinner I made roast and potatoes. Then I fried the bacon for the twice baked potatoes and made those as well. So I put about 25 of those in the freezer. I had put some of them in the freezer several months ago and we really loved just pulling a few out and microwaving them as we needed them. On Sunday Garrison kept asking for Banana bread so I also went ahead and made a double batch of that and have a couple loaves in the freezer along with my frozen cookie dough for sweet treats during the month. Now it was indeed a LONG day of hard cooking. I was beat by evening. But guess what, it has been so nice this week to take a break. And the really cool part, I only had to spend $85 on ingredients I didn’t already have in the house. So now all I have to buy during the month is our 4 gallons of milk each week and a few other fresh things to keep us going. And of course since it is time for Kent’s Case Lot Sale I’ll be stocking up on staples again. Another side benefit is the amount of dishes. All of this cooking and I only ran three addition loads of dishes over the weekend. During the month my skillet would have been used 8 times to cook ground beef, but only once now for my big day. And normally during the week last month I was running at least one load a day. Well, since we have no cooking dishes, I have only had to run it once since Monday and we are now on Thursday. I’m also saving time, energy, water and dish soap with OAMC.
That is the story of coming full circle, and how to not cook for a month but still have home cooked meals. Of course we’ll still probably grill a few lamb chops on the weekends, or when Justen gets a craving but that isn’t to bad. I’ve already got my new plan started for next month, with some new meal ideas since I’m sure we’ll be sick of these by the end of the month. Now if only I could figure out how to only clean the house once a month. Or maybe monthly laundry instead of daily...oh well, a girl can dream.

Darn Utilities... but we are winning!

Last month our gas bill was the highest we've ever had in this house. Then we got the power bill, it was over double normal. We couldn't figure out what happened. So our goal for the month was to really cut back hard and see if we can get them down. So here's what we did for gas, it provides our heat, hot water, and dryer. We started by reprogramming the thermostad. It already lowers at night and kicks back on before we wake up and then kicks off again while we are at school, but we went ahead and lowered it 2degrees during the day and 3 at night. We put an extra blanket on the bed, wear hoddies more, and put Garrison in a sleep sack over his pjs. We went through the house checking for air leaks and sealed a few as well as put new weather stripping on the front door. We started washing all of our clothes in cold water (except sheets-hot to kill dust mites, diapers-hot, and whites-warm). We also turned down our hot water heater, started rinsing dishes in cold (the dishwasher washes them in hot why waste hot water rinsing), taking slightly shorter showers, and just generally trying to conserve water. We hang dry all our clothes in the basement except whites and diapers, there are just too many little things to hand, and diapers would take forever to dry. These changes really weren't enough that we noticed. They really were pretty small. BUT today we got our gas bill and we cut it by over a third even though January was colder than December. I'm pretty stoked to actually see a difference. The power bill hasn't come yet be we already figured out where the problem was on that. Justen used to unplug Tias heat mat and the sheep water tank heaters on warm days and at night. Well, in Decemeber he left them on the entire month. So we know power will be better just from that, but we've also made a few little changes there and we shall see how it goes. Isn't it nice when you see results from something you do. We are not only getting our bills down, but we are conserving energy which is always a good thing.