Lake House

Here's some pictures of our time last weekend at Ben's Dad and Amy's Lake House, I think you can make the slideshow bigger if you click on it. Just a two hour drive away, we had a lovely time. I only wish I'd gotten some pictures of the hosts! Sorry guys! I also missed out on pics of Ben's sisters, Biz, Debbie, Bekah and her boyfriend, Jeremy. Time flies when you're having fun!


Z is feeling better now and getting his appetite back. I only wish he weren't in the whiney, "No, No, No!" phase right now. Then things would be perfect. Thankfully, he's only randomly saying "No" and not to us when we tell him to do things. I wonder where he got that from...

We're in the market for a cheap, used, pop-up camper or something small like that to sleep in when we go to WV. Often there's so many people that go, it would be nice to not take up one of the two bedrooms, which we've been so graciously given time and time again since I've been pregnant. If anyone has advice for us in the world of RVs, do share! We don't know much. Thanks!

Finally...Christmas in July (at least it's still July today)...
We made home-made ornaments last year for family for Christmas and couldn't share about them with you or else I'd ruin the Christmas surprise. So, I took pictures and planned to share them later. Since I'm just starting to think about Christmas presents and what I can make I thought I'd share our last year's Christmas craft with you:

Using foam paper from the local craft store, we used a razor blade and cut out circles (with a glass as our guide). It was hard not to make them stringy (or hairy), but the razor worked the best for us. Ben was better at doing this part.

We glued tiny pictures (printed from a Kodak machine) to each little circle. I considered putting our names or the year on one side and a picture on the other, but opted for two pics instead.

...glued the circles together...

I made wire hangers with beads on them, you can use ribbon or a paper clip, anything would work. Foam paper pierces easily.

We got fancy and crocheted the edges with cotton string, but you could have kids help and weave pipe cleaners or yarn around the edges. This helps detract from any hairy edges on the outside. Yes, Ben crocheted a bunch too!

And voila! Each ornament is two-sided.

I have no idea what we'll do this year!!! Something easier. My Sweetie heart would like that, I think.

Just a little bit to share...

Modern Day Mayberry

Back by popular demand, I had to chuckle when I saw this down the road from my house. Yesterday, I heard tons of sirens, found out from my friend, Melissa, there was a house on fire near the high school. Turns out, a boy was playing with the signal flare on a boat, set it off and caught the boat on fire, which caught the side of the house next to it on fire. Which, as you can see, also singed the neighbor's house too a bit.

These fine entrepreneurs were making the most of the local gawkers and rubber neckers by selling Kool-Aid. Two of the boys said they live in the house that was burnt, and all denied that it was them that started the fire. "It was a little kid," they said. "Oh," I replied, "how old?" "Seven" they replied. Just a baby to them, I guess. "Do you plan to donate what you make to help repair the house?" "I do with my part of the money," replied the one on the right. Yes, I did buy a glass of green Kool-Aid, which my son screamed for, it was his first Kool-Aid!

WebWorld

Last week, I was surprised with a box in the mail. In it, was this perfectly knit baby girl sweater and matching hat, and a shirt for Z and a note. It was from my friend, Kristina, over at Yarnsticks. I found her site when I Google searched, "free washcloth patterns" about a year and a half ago. I got reading her site and left her a comment that I was in awe of her knitting abilities, which I still am. We got writing and regularly e-mail nowadays about theology, personal stuff and budgeting. She has become my mentor in how to CVS shop for pennies and to maintain a budget. Oh, and she inspired the recycling of junk mail I told you about in my last post. We have lots in common including a son and a daughter (soon), and a love of craftiness, cleverness and resourcefulness. Receiving a home-made gift from her, is so special because it reinforces that she's real (not just an internet persona), really can knit, and is truly a sweetie heart. Thanks so much, Kristina! By the way, those are tiny heart buttons!!!

Cooking with Becca

I'm just so excited to have made these, I just had to share. I love Indian food and love love love vegetarian Samosas. While sitting in some doctor's waiting room a few months ago, I read that you can make you own quickie samosas. A long time ago, I had my friend, Audrey over and we made from scratch, home-made samosas, where we rolled out the dough, boiled potatoes with veggies, then deep fried them. They were awesome, but took all day to make. Here's the cheater version. Buy pre-made pie crusts, and roll them out. Cut into triangles and with cold water seal two sides together to make a pocket. Stuff with the below, seal, and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. No frying, no making dough! It gets better...
The stuffing is just potatoes, random veggies and seasoning, fried in a little butter or ghee if you have it. Get this, you can use fake potato flakes if you want for the potatoes! I actually had more potatoes than flakes, and so boiled potatoes. I never had tried running cold water on them right after boiling, but I did it and sure enough, the skins just about fell off. I was feeling lazy and was planning on throwing them in skins and all, but they came off easy. This is really backwards, sorry, but here's the beginning. Into some melted ghee or butter I toss in frozen corn, peas, chopped bell pepper, carrots, garlic and onion. Also, the seasonings (chili powder, cumin seeds, coriander powder, cardamom, celery salt and sea salt...in order of most to least). Fry up till the carrots are soft, add cubed boiled potato or fake mashed potato, stir and fry for about ten minutes. Use a little spoon and stuff your triangles, seal and bake. Voila! And they're better for you because they're not deep fried!



OK, so, it's the longest post ever (or maybe this one is). This is what we finally decided on for a solution to Z's birthday present. We researched sandboxes and found them ridiculously expensive for what they are and set out to find one used. This, though old, came with a lid that fits well and is sturdy enough for several kids to jump on it, and is big enough to allow two kids to play inside and was only $25. We had a gift card to Home Depot and so the sand was only $14. So, we're happy we didn't break the budget and Z has something fun to do everyday on our own back porch!

Warning to those with foot squeamishness, the following photos may contain a lot of foot nudity.

By the way, last week I featured my whole belly as I got a doppler reading, this week my feet, next week I'm thinking a close-up of my elbow. Whaddaya think? About ten years ago I bought these Doc Martens from a seconds shop in England when my folks still lived there. Probaby paid $40 for them. Definitely got my money's worth. This week they were replaced. Drum roll please...
Anyone heard of Earth shoes? I knew from my friend, Cara, that they were awesome and had been wanting a pair for years. Found these on ShoeBuy.com on sale, then found a coupon code on their site for 20% off, then got another 10% off for registering with the site. And they always have free shipping. Earth shoes are neato because they tilt your feet back (Kalso negative heels) in a way that makes you have better posture, which relieves back pain and burns more calories when you walk (toning thighs and calves, they say). I'll let you know when I've worn them for a few months if any of this is true. They're not very exciting looking, but they'll go with most everything and they are very comfortable. Eric, at the airport, called them "Jesus sandals", yeah, but will these soles never die? (Bad pun, I know) We'll find out as I wear them for the next decade, but I do really really like them! The only problem I'm having is reaching over my belly to buckle them.
Z is still recovering from his MMR reaction, but is slowly getting back to his normal self (it's been a doosy of a week!). The doctor confirmed that it's just a reaction, nothing else. No fevers anymore now, thank the Lord. We've got big plans for this weekend, I'm sure you'll hear all about it, and no, it's not in WV! Thanks for reading, I believe that's all folks!

No pictures!!!

Hey there, lots of updates for ya today.

Budget
The budget is going well. Six weeks now of tracking every penny and making sure the budget matches the checkbook ledger, has been surprisingly freeing. At times (this past week especially) I was super tempted to revert back to my old ways and just go spend money (whether it was in the budget or not). Sometimes I just get the urge to shop! But, I've been pretty good about riding out that wave, I'll get back to my frugile self soon enough. What's fun is that whenever I do a budget I budget in for things we need to buy then I get to go shopping right away and not feel bad about it. That's the biggest difference, I don't feel bad about what I buy because it was planned or allowed for in the budget. Definitely a nice change for the better. I've been using a spiral bound notebook for our budget and can do it on the go, and I like being in charge of the numbers (not a computer). I still use YNAB software for tracking our spending, but not for budgeting. I'd really like to write up a summary of the two books I mentioned before that got us started in this new stage of money management, but summer seems to be too busy for book reports. Maybe later.

We got our tax returns and put a bunch toward the school loan in the side bar, some in savings and some will go to a project that you'll all be part of really soon. I'm in need of new steps to the main door we use to our home. Ben's brother, Andy, will be coming out to help make that happen and we'll be sure to post lots of before and after pics.

Recycling
Another fun thing I've been doing is collecting all my junk mail each day and going through it. I actually separate all of it into about three piles: usable, recyclable, trash. The "usable" I put into a file for spare drawing paper (backs of ads or junk letters) or we use the envelopes for notes to each other. In fact, one great use for old envelopes is for lists and budgeting. I've been writing on an envelope our grocery budget and the dates it's for, then putting receipts from grocery shopping inside, and tracking how much is left for grocery money on the outside. It's like a cash envelope for debit card users like me. I also have used separate envelopes for different grocery stores with lists for what we need from them and respective coupons inside. Lately, I've just written one list on one envelope though. Once, I even wrote a full letter on the back of a Vonage ad and used a new envelope that came inside some junk mail and just put a label over their address and wrote my friend's on it! I think that's fun recycling! I recycle non-glossy paper from junk mail that I can't use and throw away the glossy. It's amazing how little I have to throw away nowadays! I've been doing this for several weeks now and it's getting to be a quicker process.

I've also been washing my zip-lock bags for about six months now. I initially washed EVERY zip lock bag unless it had raw meat in it. Lately, though, I've been slacking on the little sandwich size bags. I've only been bothering to wash the big ones or nice freezer ones. I still toss nasty ones with cooties in them.

My goal in the recycling area is to eventually talk my sweetie into a small composting box that I've heard, if you do it right, does NOT smell.

T.V.
We have been sans cable for several weeks now. Honestly, it's hard to remember at times how little was on and how stinky the programming was when you're going through media withdrawal. I absolutely devour the radio whenever I can (shower, car). Z still, honestly, watches lots of videos still (trips to the library give us reprieve from Veggie Tales). It does take a conscious effort to turn a video on and I'm very mindful if he's watched the half hour "Pingu" we rented from the library three times in one day. Before, with cable, I could turn on the TV for Z and sit and blog or clean or whatever for 2-3 hours without a second thought. Not that I did that a lot, and I did feel very guilty when I did, but boy was it a nice break! So, last week we walked every day in the morning to get out while it wasn't too hot yet. We walked to a different park each day. Some were further than others, so I got a workout too most days. We'll probably get back to that once Z is feeling better...

Z
...We were those paranoid parents that didn't want our child to get the MMR vaccine. BUT, we didn't want to freak out about it and not vaccinate our children. So, after reading some literature about the whole deal, I learned that vaccinations are truly our friends, but we need to follow some guidelines when we get them. They should be given as individually as possible (not four combination shots at once), they should be on a safer timeline (4-6 months between shots) and most definitely, your child should be in stellar health when they receive the shots. Well, we took our time between visits to the Health Dept. but we allowed them to combine everything but the MMR. That one we worried about. So, here it's been about a year since his last vaccine, he's been in great health for this entire calendar year, we decided to take the plunge a week ago. They did combine MMR and Chickenpox, but you don't get much choice when you go to the Health Dept. Sure enough, as they warned, a week later, he comes down with a fever. We're on day #2 of the fever. When it first came on, he also was in pain from his muscles aching. It's been pretty awful and we've had to medicate him constantly so he doesn't spike too high of a fever or scream in pain. Not fun at all. I'm super glad we didn't combine this vaccination with lots of others, or else we'd never know which one it was from (could be chicken pox I guess, but I doubt it!). So, that's our MMR story. We're sure he'll get better, very sure he won't develop Autism from it, but are very glad we did things as safely as we could.

On totally different note about Z, he can identify about half his alphabet now, and he can repeat the other half when we say it first. Also, (this is big!!!) we think he read his first word!!! It might have been a fluke as he didn't do it again yesterday, but two days ago, he read "Go" on one of his websites before anyone else said it. He's done that with apples and alligators too, but there were pictures of them, so I kind of doubt those were really read.

Alright, his Veggie Tale is over, I need to go. Take a moment and give me your opinion on the survey in the side bar when you get a chance! Thanks! Also, anyone notice that the owner's wife from the Heating and Cooling Place left a comment on my last post?!!! How cool is that!