rockncook

Yes, they will, I've used them to fill out the recipe, when I was making a big batch and thought I had another "tube" of regular oats. Mommy of 5

Morning! We have about a foot of snow outside and we're under a winter storm advisory until noon tomorrow. It's wet, heavy snow. Our back fence is down under the weight, dh is working on that now. We lost power for awhile last night, but I had already brought the baby in to bed with us and doubled up on everyone's blankets in anticipation of that, so no problems there. I'm going to go make up some ham salad and chicken salad and put them in the basement and make some soup and put it in the thermos just in case, and we'll be set if we lose it for the day. Our trash truck has to back in to our alley to pick up our dumpster and I heard him trying for about half an hour this morning but he didn't make it, poor guy. OK, I'm off to get the stuff done I need power to do! I'll be back later if we have it! If not, I'll be playing monopoly and reading all day! Mommy of 5

OH Cat, these are the best directions I"ve ever read, hehe. We were laughing all the way through. DH said, at the jerky part "She must know me!" LOL. Seriously, thank you for posting this. I've been thinking about getting a dehyrator after I master canning, so probably next year sometime. It's nice to have this info, especially since we seem to be flush with newbies right now! Mommy of 5 Who is stalling on getting work done!

Stargazer, I didn't have anyone to teach me, either. I learned through life experience and trial and error, and, of course, I've learned a lot here. My mom was one of those "go to the store every few days" types. Right after we had our first daughter, our only car died. We lived in Denver then, with an excellent bus system, but we had no money for cabs or anything like that to go grocery shopping. My mom would take me shopping, but she lived about 2 hours away, so she could only do it once a month. I had to learn how to buy for the month at that point, as the only things we could pick up easily were milk and bread. It was more a matter of necessity than anything else. Now that money isn't quite so tight, and we have a car, I still watch every penny, cause we want to get out of debt and buy a chunk of land in Virginia and be alone, LOL. Making stuff myself is a necessity if I want to do those things. You don't have to start big. In fact, you can start VERY small. We ALL had to start somewhere. The first LARGE project I did, where I made a ton of something, was granola, cause it's SO easy and my kids love it. My recipe for granola is in the old wood stove forum. I think I made four batches of it the very first time I did a big batch. It's useful as a snack, or as cereal. At halloween time I grab a bunch of M&Ms and other candies out of the trick or treat bags and make it with candy. Other times I'll throw dried fruit in, if I have it on hand. I recently started getting serious about my preps for long term storage, and right now my priority is three day stuff in case of an extended outage. It was really nice to go to the pantry and pull out a few things to keep in the three day box. Also, something that is really easy, is the biscuit mix recipe that is in the old wood stove under the Bisquick Recipe thread that I posted. I can't remember who gave it to me, but I should be thanking her silently several days a week, cause it has saved me SO MUCH money, and it's also easy. When you start small like that, you still start seeing great savings (It costs about $1.66 to make 5 lbs of the biscuit mix, which costs almost $5.00 at the store here, and we use it a lot). Those really give you incentive, LOL. Maybe I should do up a post for starting small, for people just getting started. That way you can get some tips and see what kind of savings you can get. Plus you're avoiding artificial preservatives, colorings, etc. As long as you watch your shelf life, you don't need the preservatives for most of the pantry stuff. Mommy of 5

Morning everyone! It's grey and gloomy here today, and supposed to snow. Today I am working on my pantry list some more, making bread, and some tortillas to make into cinnamon crisps. DH has to have dinner on the fly tonight, so I'm making him some ham salad sandwiches. I wish all the wives/girlfriends would get together and make dinner for the guys when they work late like this, just take it to the shop and let them eat buffet style, but none of them are really in to cooking, and I can't afford to feed the bunch of them at the m oment. That way they could have something healthy instead of ham salad sandwiches. Although I am going to make up some pasties tomorrow and stick them in the freezer so he'll have those while he has the overtime. The boss's wife thinks it's amazing that I made him about a week's worth of lunches to put in the freezer at work for those days he's too busy to come home. Cheaper and faster than going through the drive through, I dunno why she doesn't do it for her hubby. Silly non cooking people, LOL. OK, I'm off to read some other posts and go through the archives again (I can believe all of the awesome mix recipes I found yesterday to go into the pantry, and so much cheaper than buying it, yay!), then get some work done. I'm sure I'll be back later. Mommy of 5

Yup!

Boy did I have THAT coming or what?!?!?! ROFL Mommy of 5

Morning everyone! I'm trying to get back in the swing of things with more work and it's just not happening, rofl. But yesterday I was just wiped out, so I spent a good chunk of the day on the computer with DS looking for Star Wars stuff. We had fun looking at pics and stuff for the new movie, although I don't think my son can wait a whole 13 months for it to come out, LOL. So no colandar on the head yesterday. Today it's supposed to be in the 60s, cooling down to 47 and snow for Friday. I turned the heater off yesterday thinking we wouldn't be needing it anymore, but it's going to be below freezing Friday night, so...guess I'll have to go turn it back on, LOL. Today I am making biscuit mix and some muffins, and working on some pantry inventory and need lists. That pantry post really got me inspired! When is the best time of year to buy canning equipment? I don't think we'll have enough in the garden this year to can, but I do want to at least get started on the stuff. I will be looking for jars and rings at garage sales, but I can't find a canner locally right now. Plus pinto beans are on sale this week at walmart so I want to buy lots and lots of those and have some canned for quick sides, ranch style and baked. Mommy of 5

OK, OK....I don't usually care about typos, heck, I make my fair share of them, but that one struck me as hilarious! Peacefulhome...wear a metal colandar and put aluminum foil antennae on it and tell them you're hoping to hear the aliens' secret messages with it...THAT may make them let you quit sooner. Then again, it may play havoc with any future reference they give, if you'll be needing one, LOL. Mommy of 5

Quote: i haven't had a chance to get out and look for any Morals ... Where does one hunt for Morals? Mommy of 5

Moody Monday definitely fits! Worked till 1:30 last night. It's awfully hard to get up early when youw ork that late, LOL. I had planned on making chat but littlest DD needed to cuddle with mommy, and as much as I have come to love you ladies, I wasn't passing up that opportunity! Today all I got done were pancakes for breakfast this week and some no bake chocolate and oatmeal thingies that look like piles of well, umm...stuff in the back yard that I need to rake up, LOL. Apparently they taste good, tho! I did actually get some work done, and I've made a few bucks tonight so far, so maybe I won't have to stay up as late. Tomorrow is my official day off, which means I only have to do sales stuff. Will be nice to get to bed early, LOL. The younger kids decided the house was a spaceship so I spent most of the day running around with a colandar on my head. I could just picture myself answering the door LOL. Apparently colandars make great helmets for both space exploration and under water diving! It was a mad rush at dinner time to find one and wash it, tho, hehe. Tomorrow I'm gonna make some muffins more more breakfast and some cinnamon breakfast bread, and some other kind of treat. That may be overly ambitious, hehe. Dinner will be easy tho...spaghetti from sauce that was frozen with italian bread that was frozen from last time I made pasta! OK, I'm gonna go see if I can get the phone to ring anymore! Mommy of 5

What bothers me with all of this is that the economy is supposed to be getting better. Even Paul Harvey says it's getting better. But I certainly don't see it! Granted, my job depends upon sales of a luxury item, and those are the last things to pick up when the economy does, but DH's job is dependent upon a necessity. We are seeing the normal spring pick up for his job, but nothing spectacular. He's been granted overtime, for now, but that will end when the spring pick up ends. Is it because I live in a rural area? Or is it that everyone in the media has bought into the line that the economy is picking up? Is that based upon the fact that many of the top income brackets in this company made more, but paid less in taxes? Because I don't think most of the people are seeing an increase in what they are bringing home. I think that the average joe is feeling his wallet pinch in ways he hasn't felt either in a long time (older average joe) or EVER (younger average joe). Gas prices are up, which makes me concerned about supplies meeting demand. I think things like milk going up are temporary, although they will last for awhile. I'm not really complaining-I just don't see the improvements in the economy we are hearing about. A few weeks ago I read an article about how a higher percentage of people than any time except for the depression are utilizing food banks. How is the economy improving for them? I read about housing prices going up. The median rent for an apartment in the denver area is around $950/month now. How can our dear Average Joe afford that? HOw will he buy groceries for his family this summer? How will he heat that apartment next winter? Personally, I find myself working more hours, and I'm not making close to what I was making this time last year. And while I do work on commission, and there are other jobs out there, by the time I paid a stranger to raise my children, I'd be making about $.50/an hour. I'd rather raise my own children, and struggle. But darn it, man, I want to see this economy pick up!! LOL. My oldest DD is in here watching me post this and laughing at the Graemlins, so I'm going to include a few for her. for listening to me rant! By the way, milk was on sale for $2.50/gallon today. Woohoo.

Morning! DH has overtime today, so our plans are thrown a bit off kilter. No biggie, tho. I'm making dinner early and sticking it in the frigde to save some time this evening when I'll have to work. We were going to go watch the soccer game here in town but the OT squashed that plan, so I think maybe we'll go to the park instead. I just need to get out of the house, LOL. Other than that I'll be working. Beautiful outside again today, supposed to be 80ish. Last weekend it snowed and was soooooooo cold, this weekend the kids were outside by 8:30 in shorts, LOL. Welcome to Colorado!

I'd be a client, too!!! Well I am back to managing at work. I had stepped down in December cause it was too much work, and I felt my boss was flaking and handing off all the crap. I make commission only so spending 40+ hours a week just handling that for the bonus I was making at the time just wasn't worth it. Most month's I was making about $1.00 an hour. But we have renegotiated my bonus and such so things should go much better. I have far more limited duties this time so I'm not living back here in the office away from the kids. Should make life MUCH easier-plus, I needed the money, LOL. I'm trying to get out of this business, but it seems I keep getting sucked back in! Oh well, it pays the bills. There's no rule in life that says you have to like your job. It was beautiful today-80 outside. This house will be a real blessing when it gets real hot. I was still running around inside with a jacket on when the kids were outside in shorts, LOL. Got some work done on my cookbook, and tonight I'll be prepping for taking over the management duties. We had planned on me doing it in about 10 days but my boss just sold her house so there's a sudden rush, LOL. It's only been on the market about 2 weeks. All in all a wonderful day. Got to spend some time with oldest DD, they had an inservice today so she was home. I just love her wonderful wit! Have a wonderful weekend, I may not be here much, LOL, until I get used to things. I WILL make chat Monday, tho. Mommy of 5

Morning everyone. I'm only about several hours late, LOL. I've been busy getting the pantry stocked up with "stuff". Potato chips and corn chips and dressing mixes and soup mixes, and bisquick, etc. I don't want to have to do that during the summer when I'd rather be outside. Work has been rather slow. It's times like this that I hate working on commission only. This usually isn't a slow period for me, so I didn't plan for it, and it's a time I save for the summer slow period. Urgh! My brain is tired today! I need to go get dinner started. TTYL Mommy of 5

(grumble grumble) Morning everyone I'm not quite awake yet. One day, my three year old will learn to sleep through the night. If I tell myself this over and over it WILL come true, right? Child has NEVER slept through the night. I joke about Mother Nature, God, Whichever Diety one believes in, having a cruel sense of humor. DD #1 was PERFECT. Slept thru the night at six weeks. Walked and talked early. Great kid, wicked sense of humor today. DS was more of a typical kid-slept thru the night at about eight months, everything else on schedule, is very much a rowdy and rambunctious and smart boy. DD#2 is the antithesis of everything my first two children were, LOL. I don't know how she can function on so little sleep. She does put herself down for naps when she gets tired, but she is up an average of three times each night. If she had been my first baby, I wouldn't have had any m ore, LOL. As you can tell, we had a rough night last night. Anyway, today's plans are to spend a few hours HSing, then to get outside and work in the yard. It's supposed to be warm but windy today. It's still a mud field back there, but we're going to do some cleaning up anyway. We have that flat surface problem, too. The dining room table currently has all my seed trays on it, LOL, so we've been eating in the living room. OK, I'm off to get a few things done...or doze off in the chair, not sure which yet, LOL. Mommy of 5

Good morning, even if I am a bit late! Yes, we counted all the eggs before hiding them, LOL. Three dozen of the eggs we colored were blown out, so no worries there. Most of the hard boiled ones are gone already-we had a family over last night who wouldn't have been able to have an easter dinner, so it was nice to share some time with them. We had deviled eggs with our ham and taters and veggies. I got most of the baking done early, because the ham needed 4.5 hours to cook. I was thrilled to get such a good sized ham, tho. The leftovers will probably make six or seven more meals. Once I got the ham in I sat in the living room to watch a movie with the kiddos and fell asleep! Then after dinner I helped oldest DD dye her hair. She wanted blue, and we used blue kool aid but that ended up green, so we tried purple and got some funky red shade. I guess we'll go back to the drawing board this weekend! My fingers are stained purple now, LOL. Today will be spent cleaning the kitchen and putting together homeschool plans for the week. I just ran out of time this weekend! Mommy of 5

And to you! Sounds about the same for us. Been snowing for 3 days and it's COLD! The downside is we have to hunt easter eggs inside. The upside is, I get to watch them run all over the place looking for the eggs! Have a great one! Mommy of 5

My Goodness, Cat, thank you so much! I will be reading these thoroughly! Mommy of 5

Well I'm late today, having slept luxuriously late as no one has school today. DH did have to work, though. He said "Babe, it's 6:30" kind of worried cause I"m always up before him and I said "I know but I have no kids to get ready this morning." Even though I HS the youngest two now, I still keep them on the same schedule of getting up early and such. But not today, LOL. Stargazer, I know what you're going through. I have decided to HS my youngest two. My 5 yr old preschooler tests at the first grade level and they have no special programs at any grade level at any of the schools here to help bright kids. The oldest is old enough that she says she'd miss her friends, although we do talk about it every six months or so. There are SO MANY homeschooling resources on the internet. There are secular groups, which is important-a lot of the groups I've found are Christian groups and some of them are OK with my little pagan family, and some aren't. So you should still be able to find groups to do things with. I respect their boundaries and keep looking elsewhere. It sounds like she's mature enough to make the decision, but if it were me, I would still ask around a bit of other parents. Our kids won't like every teacher they have, and that's not a bad thing, as they have to learn to at least get along with people they don't like, but there are teachers out there that have no business teaching. I planned to major in education and my very first short student teaching gig (more observing than anything else) taught me that I would be one of those teachers, LOL. I think I'd be a great teacher in a perfect world of inquisitive but well behaved children, and that just isn't going to happen! Anyway, I digress. Follow her lead and see how she feels about it. Maybe mornings are stressful to her because of other things-if your mornings are anything like mine, they start out nice and peaceful and then sometimes degrade into all out chaos! I'm in the process of trying to help oldest DD get her things more organized the night before, so she's not in a rush in the mornings. If she's feeling stressed in the mornings, the desire to stay home could stem from just not wanting to do everything that has to be done before she leaves. Maybe work that into the conversation on Girl's Day Out (such a great idea!) and see if that is part of the problem. Does she ride the bus or get a ride with friends? Again, maybe part of the problem. Are there problems on the playground in the mornings before school? You know, as I'm typing this, I'm thinking "She's probably thought of all that already." LOL. The decision to homeschool is not an easy one, and it's important to arm yourself with all the info, is I guess what I'm trying to say LOL. Today we're going to blow out eggs for easter coloring, so I can freeze them instead of having a gazillion hard boiled eggs that won't all get eaten. Then we're going to work in the yard a bit before the snow comes in. We're supposed to have our first soccer game tomorrow morning, but it doesn't sound like that's gonna happen, LOL. Have a wonderful Easter weekend, everyone! Mommy of 5

Morning everyone! Yesterday we made cowboy cookies, which are basically chocolate chips with oatmeal in them, and planned to make icebox cookies, but that didn't quite work out. I need to see if I can find some kind of idea of how much flour to add to a cookie or other recipe for high altitudes. For the cowboy cookie recipe I have, I end up making bar cookies cause the dough isn't firm enough for regular cookies. Cooking cakes and such I usually don't have a problem with if I don't have the high altitude recipe, but cookies I do. We had an icky sink clog last night so I didn't get to do everything that was planned. We ended up having tomato soup and warm bread for dinner. It was soooooooo good! Not sure yet what the plan is for today. My brain is tired this morning, LOL. Sounds like Max is an EXCELLENT dog! I think my dogs are pretty darn smart but if our gate was open they'd be off exploring the neighborhood, LOL. Have a great day everone! Mommy of 5

Thanks, ladies, I appreciate the suggestions and will be eagerly awaiting your reply, Theyd. Aimee was never into the babysitter's club-but she's more of a sci-fi/fantasy person (probably from the books and movies we've always had around the house). She did read the Little House Series and enjoyed it, and then Harry Potter came out, and our house hasn't been the same, LOL. And then when we're finished with school my DS MUST watch at least one Star Wars movie a day, so I have another sci-fi fan in the making, LOL. Mommy of 5

I have a bunch of stuff in indoor seed trays for now, but the only thing that has really come up is the green beans, but we'll see what we get. I did buy some corn and one more seed tray so I'm going to get those planted tomorrow. Mommy of 5

Morning everyone! I GUESS the reason we can't use "brown water" is cause a lot of people have wells here, and they are worried about soap or other contaminants getting into the water. If they would have a workshop about it, seems it would solve a lot of the problems. Seems to me, for a county so drought stricken that we qualified for federal assistance in 2002, that we are wasting a lot of water that way. Today I'm baking more cookies and working on the kitchen. I never seem to get it clean, LOL. I want to try to get outside but it is pretty chilly! Talk to you soon! Mommy of 5

Good morning, good morning! Today I'm planning to cook some chicken and get it frozen (I'm running out of room in the freezer, LOL) and then make salsa, and those cookies. I may also bake some bread, we've gone through almost 2 loaves already this week, LOL. We're having tamale pie for dinner tonight. Fairly easy. Tonight is my night off from work, but I do have some stuff to get done today. I saved the water from processing the corn to water the yard last night and then forgot. It's illegal to use "brown water" here, which makes no sense. In 2002, when the drought was at it's worst, they were citing people for using extra shower water to water their gardens. So I have to do it at night, LOL. I slept late again today, couldn't get to sleep last night, so I'm off to get busy! Mommy of 5