Birthday Blessings

In the prior posting on Birthdays I said I would post a pic of the other cake my dear friend made while I was out of town earlier this year! Well, I found them. What a treasure for my daughter! What a blessing for our whole family. I am truly blessed to have such a fantastic friend.

A perfect pink cake for my pink loving princess! Also, she brought icecream! Priceless treasures!

Repainting Cabinets & Expectaions In Life

When we moved into our small home, I did not like the cabinets. So, I painted them. I loved them! They were almost school bus yellow!

 But then we decided to rip them all out and start over. The problem is that takes a lot of time.  Shopping, shopping, shopping, ordering, waiting, etc. Then we found out we might be moving. So, why invest so heavily in a home we might not live in for only a few more months, then convert back into a rental.

So for now I have repainted them with an enamel paint from ACE. It is SO awesome. When I painted them last year, I did  no prep really. The paint would peel and chip off, a pain to deal with. This time I bought a hand sander and we went over the to be painted areas a little. The enamel paint is adhering really well. I did the interior and exterior of the cabinets. I also reused the high quality hinges that were on the doors. We washed them, I spray painted them (the finishes in spray paint are AMAZING these days!) and they look really nice.

Here is where I am at...I did all the lower ones..I have no enthusiasm to do the top ones. Maybe next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And talk about expatiation management! I never, ever, never thought I would put industrial shelving in my kitchen to store stuff on!(below pic) But, it really works well for me right now. I can easily access what I need & I can see what I have. I am trying to stop wanting everything

  to be "magazine" worthy. In my last home I did that, and it really makes no since. I want a nice looking home, but it does need to be functional and practical, and frankly not stressful. Today I tried to remind myself that in the end of my life, these things wont matter...my home style, my colors, my "look". What will matter is my heart and service before God, time spent working on my marringe &  my children's hearts that I tend to in lieu of stressing over my decor.  So today I am trying to focus on those things!And as Scripture admonishes me, even in my small space, to be content with whatever I have. In all things.

Let the field trips resume!

So, school is back in session! And for me that means trips! We did a lot this summer.{but to be able to go without mass crowds is like a totally better realm! } The kids and their pals went to lots of movies together (I really think I might have lost brain cells at one of them!lol) and we also went with some pals to two of the three NC Aquariums.

No, they were not told to stand in order of height, they just did it naturally!

 

 

 

We went to Quantico,VA for about a week while my husband had work to do there. We went to the grainary and distillery at Mt Vernon. It was fantastic. And not busy!

 

We used to live 30 min outside of DC...but it was SO busy at this time of year (August) that it was not too fun for me to drive in, and the lines were longer at exhibit. So we did a car tour of the city, then went to a park in Prince William County! The weather was so much better than where we live.

 

 

Then for Memorial Day we went to Fort Macon. We had not been with my husband yet. It POURED rain, so we just did the interior museum. We hope to go back again to finish it out with him.

 

Picnic in the rain! We had a light snack we had packed after the museum. It was rainy, but a covered area made it fun! We almost always eat out on these trips lately, so this was a great way to try to simplify...pack our food!

 

 

I look forward to seeing where we will land this year. We usually try to go to as many places as we can so the children get exposure outside of the textbooks.

 

Slow Cooker Recpies, Most Popular

I will not give too many specific measurements on some things. I am not really stuck on that when I cook. But if you should need them, just ask! **Bullion Cubes...Knorr has the BEST. They are worth every penny! Also, 4-6 hours is on HIGH :)

Cheesy Chicken:

3 Chicken Breasts
1 Cream Of Chicken Soup
1 Condensed Cheese Soup
Seasonings for chicken
1/2/ Cup Water
Sour Cream, optional

Put all but the Sour Cream in the crock pot. Cook 4-6 hrs. Stir in sour cream before serving if you desire. GREAT over tortillas, rice, and pasta. Also good as opened faced sandwich on french bread.

Pepper Steak
Stir Fry Meat or London Broil cut into 2" strips
Green Peppers, cut into strips
Red Pepper, cut into strips
Onion, Cut into wedges
Garlic
Seasonings
Canned chopped tomatoes
Beef Bullion
1/4 Cup Water

It all goes in for 4-6 on high. Good with rice.


Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken
Frozen Veggies (your preference) { For a better meal ,use fresh cut carrots and celery instead of frozen veggies)
Chopped onion
Bullion Cubes
1 C water
Salt and Pepper (or whatever you like to season with)
Chicken Gravy Mix (dry...found in gravy isle)
Canned Biscuits

Put it all in, except biscuits...stir well...tear biscuits up and put on top...cook for 4-6 hrs.

Salsa Chicken
Chicken
Canned Black Beans
Jar of  Salsa
Rotel or canned tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Canned Corn
Taco Seasoning Mix (on gravy isle)
Bullion

Mix it all up. Cook 4-6 hours.  Good over rice.

Taco Soup---this stretches to feed a lot!
Cooked ground beef
Dry Taco Seasoning Mix (on gravy isle)
Canned Corn
Canned Kidney Beans
Canned Black Beans
Canned Tomatoes ...diced
Canned Tomatoes...crushed
Salt and Pepper, Garlic Salt

Cook 4-6 hours. Yummy!

Crock Pot Cookery In Mass

So......before I had spoken of Dinner Delivered meals I was doing. They were fun, but on a month when I had VBS, I did a freezer slow cooker meal to deliver. It turned out wonderfully for the recipient (as far as I know!). Now that is what I have been doing for a few months. It is SO EASY and then the families have meals when they need them. And I only spend one day a month delivering. Last month I made about 18 meals. It took about 3ish hrs to prepare, 1ish hours to go to the store to get the supplies, and about 2 ish hours to deliver. (For those interested in cost to do this, below is a chart showing what a value this is). It was SPLENDID!  I LOVE doing this, it is such a blessing to me! I am so thankful others allow us to deliver these to them!

How I "Roll"

               Preparation

I buy the slow cooker disposable bags found in the plastic baggie/ foil section of the store. We have access to a commissary, so my cost is about $2 a box. If they were too much I would use the large zip locks instead. They would then have to wash the cooker afterwards. I love the idea of NO scrubbing! I then make a list on the computer of the meals so they will know what they are eating! I then assign a number or a color to each meal. This paper is printed out and included with the meals.

I make a list of the meals. Then I make a list of who gets what meal(s). I use a handy dandy chart like this:

                         Chicken       Roast        Ham        Soup
Mrs. A                    x                                                x
Mrs. B                    x               x              x              
Mrs. C                                     x                   
Mrs. D                   x                               x                x

Then I tally up needed baggies and ingredients. I use a similar method as above to figure out the food quantities I need. I let the ladies know a few days ahead I am doing it on such and such a day.

               Shopping

I am NOT a list person, but to do this effectively, it is needed. So I shop with my list. On these days, I try to NOT buy anything for myself. Only the things for the dinners. I bring it home and promptly fridge the meats and perishables. Then I either get to work or I do it the next day.

               Assembly/Delivery

I CLEAN my kitchen WELL before I start..even the parts I will not use. Obsessive? Yes, but this is for others, so we should do our best. Then I get out the veggies and cut them as they will be needed in the recipes. I do all this on my little kitchen table in my little kitchen. Then I get the meat needed out and a mixing bowl for each meal (for example...in the chart above three people will be chicken dishes...so three bowls I get out and put the liners into them so I can do it assembly line style). I assemble, then either tag it by color or by number and then pop into the freezer/fridge. I do this for each meal, then I place them in a cooler or a freezer tote and take them to the recipients. Clean up is Quick, just some bowls, knives, and two cutting boards!

                Cost

I think this slow cooker thing is a b-a-r-g-i-n!! My family of 6 costs about $50 to eat at a mid range eatery, $100+ at a nicer establishment. Fast Food is about $30 for us (and YUCK!). Look at this below:

Fast Food Meal $30 each x 18 meals = $540! For Fast Food! **No veggies, no leftovers, not usually healthy!
Mid-Range Eatery $50 each meal x 18 meals = 900!!!

The meals I prepare (usually one crock pot meal feeds my family of 6, with leftovers sometimes too!) On the 18 meals I spent about $160.  For 18 meals for $160 = 8.88 EACH! That is a savings of  $21.12 PER MEAL over fast food prices. And 41.12 over mid range eateries! So really if we give up 5 fast food meals a month, it pays for 18 meals to give. Not much of a sacrifice there!!  (And fyi...I include some rice and pastas and drink mixes with the meals (not all the meals, but some).


Easy, Fun, and Fantastic!

Ducks & Chickens

The ducks went to a new home. Our mallards are a happy couple on a friends pond! And the Pekings went to a duck farmer, they were aggressive to the mallards and NASTY to keep on our sized property. It was a fantastic experience and I hope to do mallards again next year. They were so loving and would follow us around! 

Our chicks are now teens and starting to produce eggs for us. After almost a year of chicken keeping I can say it is awesome and not too much work. It is a wonderful thing, even in out city home. We expanded out flock to new breeds, but were not able to get any rainbow layers :( Hopefully next season!

We plan to add 6-8 a season to keep egg production up. We will likely rely on the eggs and the meat from the ones at the post peak laying era of their lives for food once we head into retirement, in about two years.

 

 

Garden Update

 

Our garden ended up looking full and lush! The lettuce did great. The tomato plant ended up growing HUGE! We used no chemicals or pesticides at all. We ended up not putting much effort into the care of it at all due to other things going on, but it was fun and we look forward to doing it again next year!