Kinda like an old cellar

I’ve always thought the space under our basement stairs would be perfect for a second pantry. Like my Grandma’s fruit cellar, I could store canned goods in plenty as well as hide the lunch stash from after-school noshers, and keep extra water, paper and bulk products easily at hand.  It’s been a notion that wouldn’t go away, and my dear dad made it a reality this week.

Here’s dad hard at work.

Here’s kids hard at play. My kids love this classic book, and their favorite page is the last one where a similar sort of “bed” is shown. They had plans to sleep there that night, but my paper towels and ketchup bottles were calling.

Here’s the almost finished product.
It still needs some paint and a door, but the usable space is 100% improved from what it was.   The bottom 2 shelves will hold nine 5 gallon buckets each. I’m planning to get several empty buckets from our local deli and then fill them with pastas, flours and rice via a bulk order from the Health Food Coop in which I participate.

And not a moment too soon because the appetites on these boys are on the rise..and how!

Calgon, take me away!

I’m working on thinning my schedule. Sometimes I get in the warped frame of mind that I can say yes to everything. The stress and complexity that, in turn, brings to our home quickly shows me that I CAN’T! Duh!

Here is a “recipe” for some lovely Candy Cane Bath Salts.

12 tall jelly (12-ounce) canning jars with lid and rings

2 4-pound cartons Epsom Salts (approximately 16 cups)
4 pounds sea salt or Kosher salt (approximately 6 cups)
1/2 teaspoon glycerin, divided
12 to 15 drops peppermint essential oil
12 to 15 drops red food color

Wash, rinse and dry canning jars.

Empty one carton Epsom Salts into large mixing bowl or batter bowl. Add 3 cups sea salt, stir well. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon glycerin and 6 to 8 drops essential oil. Mix well.

In second large mixing bowl, empty one carton Epsom Salts, and add 3 cups sea salt. Stir well. Add 1/4 teaspoon glycerin, 6 to 8 drops essential oil, and food color. Stir until completely blended. Color should be even.

CEO’s tip: use a heavy-duty stand mixer (such as Kitchenaid-brand) to mix bath salts easily. Set mixer to lowest setting and mix until color is even–but don’t try this with hand mixers or smaller stand mixers!

Holding canning jars at an angle, layer salts in jars, alternating white and colored mixtures.

Melts away stress…or causes it…if you agree to coordinate making some for the PTO Christmas store when you have no wiggle room in your schedule as it is. And then you get to the meeting…for which your dear mother in law agreed to watch your children-one of which has come down with a strange virus at her house…only to find they don’t really even need the help after all. And you realize that rather than go to the next PTO meeting, you will be far better off to give your MIL her peace and quiet, put the kids to bed early and use a big dose of the lovely Candy Cane Bath Salts yourself.

I’m not bitter…just thinning the schedule.

The Goops

The Goops they lick their fingers, The Goops they lick their knives;
They spill their broth on the tablecloth-They lead disgusting lives.
The Goops they talk while eating, And loud and fast they chew;
So that is why I am glad that I Am not a Goop. Are you?
Table Manners
By Gelett Burgess

I learned this poem in first grade and it has never left me.  I used to quote it often to my children, but forgot about it for a while.  It’s making a comeback!

What’s the big deal about manners?  They are sometimes pretentious and often uncomfortable–especially from a child’s point of view.  But when all is said and done, they are important. They amount to considering your neighbor before yourself.  They are in place on other people’s behalf.   Thank you Mr. Turner for an excellent reminder in Sunday School of how to “consider your brother before yourself” (Phillipians 2).

My children’s manners need bumped up a bit.  They deteriorate quickly and if we are not eating regular, family-style meals together, they go unchecked even longer.  So I’m poking myself to get back on the wagon and raise the bar.

Not exactly pertaining to manners, but in the same ballpark is a great post on teaching children how to set the table from Flip Flops and Applesauce.   Amelia enjoyed it.  She colored and cut this template out and has learned to set the table as a result.  I’m going to print a few more for the boys.

Every once in a while we do a theme dinner to pass the winter blah months.  Maybe a formal meal with lots of forks and extra saucers is in our future.  We’ll see…the best laid plans, ya know.  For now, “please chew with your mouth closed” and “sit with your bum on the chair” works for me.

Behold the Butterfly

Don’t these look like earrings on a rack? They’re not. They’re butterfly cocoons. I’ve tried several times throughout recent years to maintain a chrysalis.  But being a bit of a clod with delicate things, I’ve never managed to keep even the caterpillar alive.

My dear neighbor shared some tricks with us as they’ve been hatching Monarch’s all summer. Before they left on vacation, she brought over a cocoon that was set to open while they were away. She thought the kids would enjoy it and I was pleased that the hard part of keeping the darn thing alive had already been done.

We checked on the little green dangler every day. Finally on the fifth day, though we didn’t witness it’s reveal, we saw a beautiful Monarch in the netted bucket. The kids were pretty excited about it-especially Jack-Jack.
My neighbor mentioned that if we wanted to watch it a while that we should give it some honey water. Ok…honey water. Easy enough.

I put some honey water in a small ramekin and in the process of setting it in the bucket, Kevin watched as I bumped the butterfly right into the water (Clod!).  It wasn’t very pretty as the young insect laid in a puddle of honey water.  I tried to help it out only to find it wasn’t budging.  So a bit pessimistic, we went to bed hoping things would look brighter in the morning.

Nothing had changed by morning.  The butterfly was still in the ramekin and was now not moving at all.  I was going to have to tell the kids, and worse yet, I was going to have to tell my neighbor that we killed it!

I did tell the kids and they immediately took it outside and sadly buried it in “the graveyard”.  This consisted of Luke turning the bucket over on the butterfly and leaving it to deal with later.

When they got home from school that afternoon, Gabe went to check on it.  When he lifted the bucket, to all of our surprise the little Monarch flew away.  We didn’t kill the Monarch…it just had wet sticky wings.  Maybe it had wished we did kill it given the circumstances, but after a little perseverance, it made it through an entire chrysalis and a week at our house.  That is indeed a miracle.

These photos are not of Monarchs.  They were taken earlier this summer at a butterfly house. Guess I was too caught up in the moment to get any of “the one that got away.”

Name in the Hat

I’ve admired these Lisa Leonard necklaces for several go’s around blogland now, and Simple Mom is doing a give-away.  So if  you too, would like to throw your name in the hat, head over there and post a comment at least.

Plan of Attack

I took a few days off due to the full-on flu. I can’t remember the last time I felt so bad. My sweet husband called his dear mother who took our 3 littles for the day while my 2 older ones had school. I was literally in bed until 5pm. I could hardly move. Aches, chills, fever, cough, etc. I’m thankfully feeling better today. Hopefully I’ll be full strength soon. I keep praying I won’t go into labor until I am full strength. Can’t think of anything more miserable than going through labor with the flu! Enough sick talk.

On another note, I am finding this blog to be therapeutic in alot of ways. Sometimes people ask me when I have time to craft. My answer is always the same…it’s therapy for me! And how! This blog is fitting into that same category. I try to do it after the day is done and the kids are tucked in bed. It causes me to take stock in the day and often make plans for the next. I’m enjoying the posting process.

Thanks to those of you who are checking in. Drop me a note to say Hi! and by all means, stay away from that nasty flu bug.

Feeding the Freezer

My dear mom came up today to help watch kiddos so I could feed my freezer. Although I was completely spent at the end of the day, I’m always glad when I put it into overhaul like this and get some plans in place for the “I don’t feel like cooking tonight” dilemma.

My list was a bit ambitious for one woman on her own, and I didn’t complete it all, but by the week’s end, I think I can tick it all off.

My go-to stash includes batch cooking across several food groups:

Protein batches included one 20 lb. turkey which yielded roughly 16 2- c. servings of chopped turkey for casseroles and soups plus dinner for that night, 3 lbs of pre-made meatballs and 2 meatloaves, 4 bags of “dump” chicken, 4 spaghetti pies, 2 quiche-in-a-bags, and I still have about 3 servings of creamy chicken shells to stuff.

During that time my bread maker was cranking out 4 large pizza doughs and a batch of Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls and I baked off 1 large and 2 small pumpkin quick breads.

I still want to make a cheesecake, muffins for after-school snacks, corndog muffins, crabcakes, and turkey pot pie filling.

If you’ve done this style of cooking you know it’s the clean up that can kick your tail. I tried to keep up with the pots and pans, but I didn’t finish all the clean up till today.

This is my family’s absolute favorite breakfast treat…the Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls. The recipe can be found here. I roll them out and freeze them. Then I take them out the night before, thaw them in the fridge to rise, and they’re ready to bake off in the morning.  Yum!

Cleaning House

Have you seen this? Squid Soap? Maybe it’s a gimmick, but I bought it Hook.Line.And.Sinker. We have had some bugs floating around here that need a good swift kick out the door. I have been cleaning and laundering like a fiend and have beefed up our main line of defense…hand washing.

We’re going back to the basics and this cool soap dispenser has become my new best pal in that effort. There’s a stamp on top which marks on your palm when you pump the soap. You then spend the next 15-20 seconds scrubbing under hot water to remove the stamp. And Voila! clean hands…all under the guise of play.

And not that this is anything major, but I tidied up my crafting corner which is truly a corner–of our basement. I made a fabric inspiration board, and got a spool rack at Joann’s for 40% off. I’m feeling like a more efficient sewer already. And you can see I need to get busy buying thread. Maybe that wasn’t such a great purchase…one that makes me spend more in the end just to make it seem complete? Huh, maybe I’ll add slowly.

Here is just a simple collage from one of my favorite fabrics. It was a dress I cut down to a shirt. I love the colors and want to make something special with the rest of it. Maybe a skirt for Amelia…she’s all about wearing skirts these days which I secretly love.

And finally, congratulations! to my stellar sister-in-law who just ran her first marathon today in Phoenix. She beat her personal goal by 23 minutes. Her husband and 2 sweet kiddos were there to cheer her on along with family in the area. Way to go, girl!

Green Laundry Soap

A while back I ran out of laundry soap. One thing I have learned through years of being a tax widow (having a CPA husband) is that even though we may be running out of nearly everything but chicken bouillon cubes, cutting my finger with a kitchen knife is preferable to taking a brood of small children grocery shopping. With that in mind, I have had to learn how to make-my-own just about anything. I must confess a certain accomplishment in knowing I don’t need Meijer as much as I thought I did. Though I do so appreciate you, Meijer.

During busy season a few major staples get us through the long stretches until I can grocery alone. So as I said, one day I ran out of laundry soap, and googled “myo laundry soap” to find a great recipe that I have tweaked a bit, but that has now replaced my regular detergent.

It’s green, it’s clean, and it washes out the mean. Here is what you do:

• 1 bar Felsnaptha soap
• 1 c. Arm and Hammer Baking Soda Wash (not baking soda)
• 1 c. Borax 20 mule team
• 1/4 c. Oxy Clean

Grate the bar of soap on a box grater, place in container. To it, add Baking Soda Wash, Borax and Oxy. Mix with spoon. Use 2 Tbsp of mixed detergent per load.

For fabric softner add 1/4 c white vinegar and 5-6 drops of any essential oil of your choice to your washing machine when needed.

Due to sensitive skin, I have always used the Purfume/dye-free brands. This has been even better and it’s so cheap. I haven’t worked out all the math yet, but I know it’s a steal.

A Well-Timed Morning

In efforts to make our mornings run smoothly this school year, my goal has been two-fold. 1.) to have counters cleared with my dishes loaded in the washer and set to run while I’m in bed, and 2.) to have my coffee timed to be ready to greet me in the morning. It has literally pulled me out of bed some days knowing I have a pot of hot coffee and a clean kitchen waiting for me. Getting out of bed ahead of the crowd and preparing my heart and mind for the day has held great benefits for me.

 

Timers in general, are heavily relied on in our house. The bread maker has one that I use at times to have a loaf ready for breakfast, or when we get home from church. Crock pots are essential in helping to feed this brood with little effort at a certain time. The dishwasher, the coffee pot, and the infamous microwave timer which referees lines for computer time, the naughty step, and at times how long we have before we are officially “late.”

 

I’ve been slipping lately on my 2 main objectives. Maybe a little laziness on my part. But wow, what a price I pay in the morning. Got to get back in the saddle and make sure I’m using these modern conveniences.

 

 

Tonight the coffee is set but the dishes are far from done. But it’s officially the end of my day. So…good night. Better luck tomorrow.