...and it's HOT!
So what have we been up to?
Soon I am going to be launching our new online business, Little's Things. We are having a huge clothing sale here locally, to coincide with Aguilar Fest, which is our small town's annual festival. Games, rides, overpriced food, and a mud bog, which is always a LOT of fun.
Dispatch is going very well. Slower right now, thankfully, because I need to concentrate on pricing clothes for the sale.
The kids, well they are just awesome! Aimee is in her last week working at the camp. She went to the Renaissance Fair last weekend, and had an awesome time. Saren is getting pretty homesick, but they are going on a big vacation next week so I'm hoping he'll have a better time then. We'll probably go get him afterwards. Nikki has been such a huge help over the summer months. Roan is cute beyond belief, last week he asked me to buy him some "big boy panties". So we did and he promptly peed through four pairs in a little over an hour LOL. So we're going to do some fairly aggressive potty training this week with him in pull ups. He's mentally ready, I just don't think he's quite made the full connection yet, so we'll see. By aggressive I mean taking him to the potty every 30 minutes or so, not like beating him over the head with the cast iron skillet. Thought I should clarify! Aria is singing. Singing to every little bit of music she hears. It's wonderful. Haven't seen much of many of the add on kids, except Big Jessica and her daughter Jamie. Spent some time with them last night. Big Jessica has some things going on so I went over to their house (they just moved, small house, but perfect for the two of them) and just listened and hugged. I hope it helped.
Dinners this week are of the quick and easy variety, to facillitate all the sale stuff I have to get done. Saturday I made a pot roast in the CP, so we had that, last night we shredded the pot roast, toasted up some sourdough with swiss, and then put the warm shredded pot roast on it. Was yummy. Today I'm going to make spaghetti sauce, and have that for dinner tonight, and tomorrow we will somehow finish off the pot roast leftovers. Maybe just simple over mashed potatoes and bread, thickened up. Not sure, though.
OK, I can hear Aria stirring, so off I go.
Have an awesome day, and thanks for reading this little bit of my life!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Having Food Available for when I'm Working
As previously posted, my worst case scenario with the Dispatch job is having a call come in as I'm preparing, or getting ready to prepare, a healthy dinner for my family. So I am changing some things around at home, and putting together what the OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) crowd calls mini sessions. I am unwilling to resort to commercially available convenience foods. They are loaded with preservatives and other unhealthy offerings that I just don't want my kids consuming!
Now I don't know a whole lot about OAMC. I do know that it is based on the book Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough, which I just ordered through Ebay. While I won't be doing the traditional Once A Month Cooking, where you prepare a month's worth of meals all in one marathon session, I will be doing a continuing series of mini-sessions, which will give me both lunches for DH and ready to eat meals that only need to be heated. I created an inventory sheet, so that I can make sure the meals get used before their tastiness expires. I'm guessing, in a few months, I'll have a week or so each month where the dinner menu is superceded by the frozen meals that need to be used up.
Now, the theory behind OAMC is that if you concentrate all of your efforts into one or two days' worth of work, you can spend more time with the family on a daily basis. Bigs and middles would be helpers during the time you are preparing meals. I don't, however, know if this would work for most large families. We, by society standards, are a large family. But by large family standards, we are small, LOL. However, I don't see my freezers fitting 30 days' worth of meals, and I'm sure larger families would have the same issues. Plus, there's still considerations to be made. In attempts to freeze food when it was bought on sale, and for DH's lunches, I've learned a few things: Some foods just don't freeze very well, and, without a microwave, some foods don't reheat very well.
There is a yahoo group for OAMC (there's probably more than one, but I was already familiar with this one. There are some good recipes in there, and some mini sessions in the files. If this is something you're interested in doing occasionally, this group is a great place to start.
So, what I'm going to do, is put together several mini sessions. We will be shopping for two weeks at a time, and on the day I'm not shopping, I will be cooking instead. I'm going to do this instead of the food assignments mentioned in the chore lists. DH will be here to play with the littles, so Aimee, Nikki and Roan can help with the food prep, which they enjoy doing anyway. Each week, I will buy another pan or two so that I can bake several things at a time. Right now I can do 30 muffins at once, two loaves of bread, two large casseroles and two smaller ones. I have several cookie sheets, and one pie plate. I simply line them with aluminum foil, cook what I'm going to cook, let it cool, put the pan into the freezer, and let it freeze completely. Then I pull it out, turn it upside down on another piece of aluminum foil and let it "fall out" onto the other piece of foil. Then I can wrap it and stick it back in the freezer. Of course this won't work for stuff that would go into a microwave, unless you're going to thaw it first. But with stuff like bread, or smaller portions, those would be packaged differently anyway.
So as I get my mini-sessions put together, I will post them here.
Now I don't know a whole lot about OAMC. I do know that it is based on the book Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough, which I just ordered through Ebay. While I won't be doing the traditional Once A Month Cooking, where you prepare a month's worth of meals all in one marathon session, I will be doing a continuing series of mini-sessions, which will give me both lunches for DH and ready to eat meals that only need to be heated. I created an inventory sheet, so that I can make sure the meals get used before their tastiness expires. I'm guessing, in a few months, I'll have a week or so each month where the dinner menu is superceded by the frozen meals that need to be used up.
Now, the theory behind OAMC is that if you concentrate all of your efforts into one or two days' worth of work, you can spend more time with the family on a daily basis. Bigs and middles would be helpers during the time you are preparing meals. I don't, however, know if this would work for most large families. We, by society standards, are a large family. But by large family standards, we are small, LOL. However, I don't see my freezers fitting 30 days' worth of meals, and I'm sure larger families would have the same issues. Plus, there's still considerations to be made. In attempts to freeze food when it was bought on sale, and for DH's lunches, I've learned a few things: Some foods just don't freeze very well, and, without a microwave, some foods don't reheat very well.
There is a yahoo group for OAMC (there's probably more than one, but I was already familiar with this one. There are some good recipes in there, and some mini sessions in the files. If this is something you're interested in doing occasionally, this group is a great place to start.
So, what I'm going to do, is put together several mini sessions. We will be shopping for two weeks at a time, and on the day I'm not shopping, I will be cooking instead. I'm going to do this instead of the food assignments mentioned in the chore lists. DH will be here to play with the littles, so Aimee, Nikki and Roan can help with the food prep, which they enjoy doing anyway. Each week, I will buy another pan or two so that I can bake several things at a time. Right now I can do 30 muffins at once, two loaves of bread, two large casseroles and two smaller ones. I have several cookie sheets, and one pie plate. I simply line them with aluminum foil, cook what I'm going to cook, let it cool, put the pan into the freezer, and let it freeze completely. Then I pull it out, turn it upside down on another piece of aluminum foil and let it "fall out" onto the other piece of foil. Then I can wrap it and stick it back in the freezer. Of course this won't work for stuff that would go into a microwave, unless you're going to thaw it first. But with stuff like bread, or smaller portions, those would be packaged differently anyway.
So as I get my mini-sessions put together, I will post them here.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Master Breakfast and Lunch Menus
Well I am trying to simplify things around here. I know lots of Modern Traditional Wives and Mommies work from home, so it can somehow be managed. I just have to figure out how!
In that attempt, I have created a Master Breakfast Menu and a Master Lunch Menu. These will rotate-and be much easier to manage once we get a microwave. They can, of course, be switched about. Yesterday my plan was to make granola cereal as I was making dinner, and that just didn't happen. See, I have about four days a month where all my body wants to do is sleep. I fight that the best I can, but sometimes, I lose that battle. Yesterday, I lost the battle, but I got extra sleep last night so I'm hoping for a better today. So today I'll have to substitute something.
The Master Lunch menu is superceded by leftovers. I cleaned out the freezers last weekend, well, two of them, sharing quite a bit of food that was going to be too icky to taste good pretty soon, throwing some away, and then feeding the birds with several bits of bread. So, today, instead of what the menu indicates, we'll have chicken salad sandwiches that I made Sunday with bits of cooked chicken that needed to be used up.
Master Breakfast Menu:
Pancakes
Pumpkin Bread
Granola Cereal
Muffins
Cinnamon Breakfast Bread
Malt-O-Meal
Whole Wheat Apple Raisin Bread
English Muffin Bread
French Toast
Banana Bread
Oatmeal
Peanut Butter Bread
Fruit Salad
Cinnamon Toast
Quesadillas
Cornmeal Mush
Master Lunch Menu
Hot Dogs, Mac N Cheese
PBJ and Fruit
Sloppy Joe
Bean Burritos
Macaroni and Tomato Sauce
Ham and Cheese Wraps
Chili Mac
Quesadillas with Meat
Beans and Hot Dogs
Spaghetti
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Turkey, Bacon and Cheese Wraps
English Muffin Pizza
Taco Salad
Stuffed Hot Dogs
In that attempt, I have created a Master Breakfast Menu and a Master Lunch Menu. These will rotate-and be much easier to manage once we get a microwave. They can, of course, be switched about. Yesterday my plan was to make granola cereal as I was making dinner, and that just didn't happen. See, I have about four days a month where all my body wants to do is sleep. I fight that the best I can, but sometimes, I lose that battle. Yesterday, I lost the battle, but I got extra sleep last night so I'm hoping for a better today. So today I'll have to substitute something.
The Master Lunch menu is superceded by leftovers. I cleaned out the freezers last weekend, well, two of them, sharing quite a bit of food that was going to be too icky to taste good pretty soon, throwing some away, and then feeding the birds with several bits of bread. So, today, instead of what the menu indicates, we'll have chicken salad sandwiches that I made Sunday with bits of cooked chicken that needed to be used up.
Master Breakfast Menu:
Pancakes
Pumpkin Bread
Granola Cereal
Muffins
Cinnamon Breakfast Bread
Malt-O-Meal
Whole Wheat Apple Raisin Bread
English Muffin Bread
French Toast
Banana Bread
Oatmeal
Peanut Butter Bread
Fruit Salad
Cinnamon Toast
Quesadillas
Cornmeal Mush
Master Lunch Menu
Hot Dogs, Mac N Cheese
PBJ and Fruit
Sloppy Joe
Bean Burritos
Macaroni and Tomato Sauce
Ham and Cheese Wraps
Chili Mac
Quesadillas with Meat
Beans and Hot Dogs
Spaghetti
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Turkey, Bacon and Cheese Wraps
English Muffin Pizza
Taco Salad
Stuffed Hot Dogs
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A Story of God's Provision
Originally posted Friday June 27 on Mrs. S.
When DH decided to go back to school, way back in August, I was hesitant. I've lived on student loans before and know how hard that is to do. I respectfully told him that he needed to try to find a part time job to do while in school, and then I supported him wholeheartedly.
Of course, he could'nt find a part time job. Being unwilling to flip burgers (which I really do understand), part time jobs were few and far between where we live. When we'd get student loan payments, I'd stock up on food, we'd pay a few month's bills, and go forth. Between loans, a private loan, DH's fire department incentive check (paid out yearly) and our tax return, we managed to stay afloat. Our stimulus payment actually made a huge difference for us.
When DH started this class, the class was told that our local utility company would be taking the top five graduates. As the year progressed, that number dropped, but as DH was in the top two, he felt assured of getting a job once he graduated.
Well, he didn't get a job in that field when he graduated. Oh, we could have had a job if we'd have been willing to move, but we're not. Week after week DH would drive into Trinidad and job search, spending precious money on gas. We did not budget for additional time off work. Teach ME to count my chickens before they hatch!
So we tightened our belts a little more. Kind of hard to do when you're seemingly on the last notch, but we did it. DH finally found a job, making far less than he would have in the field he just graduated school in, but money is money. He started on the sixteenth. They pay every week, so his first payday is today.
We're pretty much down to no money. The child support I'm supposed to receive has been sporadic, but a garnishment order was put in place last month, but we were pretty behind already by the point that I started receiving money, so that was pretty quickly spent. We had a disconnect order on our gas/sewer/water. Trash wasn't picked up yesterday, cause we haven't paid them since April. Electric company wants some money.
Last night, I used the almost last potatoes we had. I have enough to cook for tonight's meal. While looking at that pile of potatoes, I realized-God had given us JUST ENOUGH to make it to DH's first actual payday in 10 months. JUST ENOUGH.
Not only does DH get paid today, but I got more child support money today. We have payment arrangements made on gas/sewer/water. Trash will be paid off. Electric company will get a big chunk of money. Not paid off, but enough (they don't do payment arrangements) that we won't be in danger of getting cut off. We can make a payment on our phone bill. And we can buy some much needed groceries. WE have enough credit built up with the landlord that we can use that to pay July's rent.
Ahhh, God is good!
When DH decided to go back to school, way back in August, I was hesitant. I've lived on student loans before and know how hard that is to do. I respectfully told him that he needed to try to find a part time job to do while in school, and then I supported him wholeheartedly.
Of course, he could'nt find a part time job. Being unwilling to flip burgers (which I really do understand), part time jobs were few and far between where we live. When we'd get student loan payments, I'd stock up on food, we'd pay a few month's bills, and go forth. Between loans, a private loan, DH's fire department incentive check (paid out yearly) and our tax return, we managed to stay afloat. Our stimulus payment actually made a huge difference for us.
When DH started this class, the class was told that our local utility company would be taking the top five graduates. As the year progressed, that number dropped, but as DH was in the top two, he felt assured of getting a job once he graduated.
Well, he didn't get a job in that field when he graduated. Oh, we could have had a job if we'd have been willing to move, but we're not. Week after week DH would drive into Trinidad and job search, spending precious money on gas. We did not budget for additional time off work. Teach ME to count my chickens before they hatch!
So we tightened our belts a little more. Kind of hard to do when you're seemingly on the last notch, but we did it. DH finally found a job, making far less than he would have in the field he just graduated school in, but money is money. He started on the sixteenth. They pay every week, so his first payday is today.
We're pretty much down to no money. The child support I'm supposed to receive has been sporadic, but a garnishment order was put in place last month, but we were pretty behind already by the point that I started receiving money, so that was pretty quickly spent. We had a disconnect order on our gas/sewer/water. Trash wasn't picked up yesterday, cause we haven't paid them since April. Electric company wants some money.
Last night, I used the almost last potatoes we had. I have enough to cook for tonight's meal. While looking at that pile of potatoes, I realized-God had given us JUST ENOUGH to make it to DH's first actual payday in 10 months. JUST ENOUGH.
Not only does DH get paid today, but I got more child support money today. We have payment arrangements made on gas/sewer/water. Trash will be paid off. Electric company will get a big chunk of money. Not paid off, but enough (they don't do payment arrangements) that we won't be in danger of getting cut off. We can make a payment on our phone bill. And we can buy some much needed groceries. WE have enough credit built up with the landlord that we can use that to pay July's rent.
Ahhh, God is good!
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