I picked up an old anthology book we have from 1895, Immortal Treasures of Art, Literature and Song. It is old and moisture-damaged, but it has such good things in it I don't want to dispose of it. Tim had pulled it out from the bookshelf and brought it to my attention. The first poem I turned to was so good that I really want to share it. Unfortunately it's anonymous. Maybe it will bless you today.
Love Lightens Labor
A good wife rose from her bed one morn,
And thought, with a nervous dread,
of the piles of clothes to be washed and more
Than a dozen mouths to be fed.
"There's the meals to get for the men in the field,
And the children to fix away
To school, and the milk to be skimmed and churned,
And all to be done this day."
It had rained in the night, and all the wood
Was as wet as it could be;
There were puddings and pies to bake, besides
A loaf of cake for tea.
And the day was hot, and her aching head
Throbbed wearily as she said,
"If maidens but knew what good wives know,
They would not be in haste to wed!"
"Jennie, what do you think I told Ben Brown?"
Called the farmer from the well;
And a flush crept up to his bronzed brow,
And his eyes half-bashuflly fell:
"It was this," he said, and coming near
He smiled, and stooping down,
Kissed her cheek--"'twas this, that you were the best
And the dearest wife in town!"
The farmer went back to the field, and the wife,
In a smiling, absent way,
Sang snatches of tender little songs
She'd not sung for many a day.
And the pain in her head was gone, and the clothes
Were white as the foam of the sea;
Her bread was light, and her butter was sweet,
And as golden as it could be.
"Just think," the children all called in a breath,
"Tom Wood has run off to sea!
He wouldn't, I know, if he'd only had
As happy a home as we."
The night came down, and the good wife smiled
To herself, as she softly said:
"'Tis so sweet to labor for those we love--
It's not strange that maids will wed!"
--Anonymous
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The Abundance of Things
I find it difficult to keep my day, my lifestyle, my belongings tailored to just what I suspect God has in mind rather than my preferences, which so often outpace His will for me. I conclude this, because they all tend to get out of whack at least occasionally if not almost always. I have a theory if a person does according to God's will consistently, things will fall into place quite readily almost all the time. But we as a family, perhaps as a nation, have too many belongings, almost always too much food, too many things scheduled, too many library books...a plethora of feasting and a paucity of fasting.
It is not my mindset to rein it in properly. I haven't learned the art, which is probably what many would call minimalism. I see a home with minimal furnishings and to tell the truth, it makes me restless. I want for bookcases, and choices of activities and distractions (though mine at home tends by necessity to be housekeeping...sigh). This "abundant" life makes for an abundance of things to dust, stacks to move, things to reach over, look under, lose things in...and though contending with stuff is a high price to pay, I haven't found the clarity of mind that eliminates it and changes the ongoing nature.
Eventually we will move from this house, perhaps sooner rather than later. With that possibility comes the appealing but overwhelming idea of reducing our belongings by half or so. I think in the spring we will have a series of garage sales, getting rid of a record amount of our clutter and furnishings. I want to find out what it's like on the other side, where there are margins around each furnishing, and everything doesn't have to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the next thing. Maybe I will be restless and have to refill it a bit, but it will be refreshing none-the-less to seek it and try it out for a season.
With that in mind I have been, for example, passing more and more of the garage sale signs for which I otherwise might have stopped. I have been purposefully pushing things out to the garage and boxing them up--which I can probably do for another six months before I really feel the effects of it. I haven't been on the acquisitive side for a while (though Tim does need me to buy him some pants)...I hope and expect that this will be something of a permanent and increasing (increase of decrease, that is) tendency for our lives. As a result I would expect more freedom, more time, more clarity for parenting, family life, outings, fellowship, hospitality, witnessing--in varying order. Maybe, hopefully, more time to do what God would prefer for this life He has so graciously given to me. I strongly suspect He made me for something better than to primarily dust and rearrange stuff.
Luke 12:15 Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
It is not my mindset to rein it in properly. I haven't learned the art, which is probably what many would call minimalism. I see a home with minimal furnishings and to tell the truth, it makes me restless. I want for bookcases, and choices of activities and distractions (though mine at home tends by necessity to be housekeeping...sigh). This "abundant" life makes for an abundance of things to dust, stacks to move, things to reach over, look under, lose things in...and though contending with stuff is a high price to pay, I haven't found the clarity of mind that eliminates it and changes the ongoing nature.
Eventually we will move from this house, perhaps sooner rather than later. With that possibility comes the appealing but overwhelming idea of reducing our belongings by half or so. I think in the spring we will have a series of garage sales, getting rid of a record amount of our clutter and furnishings. I want to find out what it's like on the other side, where there are margins around each furnishing, and everything doesn't have to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the next thing. Maybe I will be restless and have to refill it a bit, but it will be refreshing none-the-less to seek it and try it out for a season.
With that in mind I have been, for example, passing more and more of the garage sale signs for which I otherwise might have stopped. I have been purposefully pushing things out to the garage and boxing them up--which I can probably do for another six months before I really feel the effects of it. I haven't been on the acquisitive side for a while (though Tim does need me to buy him some pants)...I hope and expect that this will be something of a permanent and increasing (increase of decrease, that is) tendency for our lives. As a result I would expect more freedom, more time, more clarity for parenting, family life, outings, fellowship, hospitality, witnessing--in varying order. Maybe, hopefully, more time to do what God would prefer for this life He has so graciously given to me. I strongly suspect He made me for something better than to primarily dust and rearrange stuff.
Luke 12:15 Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Incentives to clean up!
In posting my iced tea recipe (see my previous entry) I realized I had started a rather preliminary rejoicing over the start of our re-siding job. For an update on that, see my Never Alone blog. It has had its bumps and isn't entirely easy to enjoy the process but that's all right, everything will turn out right in the end, at least according to God's own plan.
Having the builders around and also realizing that we have three little Japanese girls coming to stay for a month makes me motivated to clean house like nothing else. I've made huge progress in the basement, which normally is overwhelming to me. I normally ignore the fact that there are toys and games strewn all over and that the floor needs vacuuming and all. It didn't take long to make a huge difference, and there's still another day's work down there when you consider washing windows, getting the bathroom spiffy, cleaning the carpet, setting up a bunk bed (we got one halfway set up yesterday). That's okay, the idea of the Japanese girls being down there is exciting enough to make the whole process fun and a lot easier than normal.
I also cleaned up the garage a great deal though that's another bad story of disorganization. Organization is not my gift (especially when others follow around undoing my work), but at least now I have a future garage sale pretty well organized into a great many boxes all stacked in one area for quick access--even in the record heat of the day yesterday. I came in and looked in the mirror; I looked like a lobster. I think the water must have sizzled a bit on my face when I washed up.
It's a great feeling of accomplishment though it's not done yet, and I love the incentive I have of hosting little Japanese girls. The two we had two years ago were a real treat and I've heard these three are sweet as well. I am convinced that this incentive is a gift from God. I could do the work other times, but there is always something else that can take precedence. God is so good! I will update you later on furthering the process.
For further blog entries that complete the perplexing story of our Japanese girls, see my Never Alone blog at joycomplete.blogspot.com: Global economy: many trips across the ocean, many nationalities involved; There's Value in the Right Kind of Clock; I Made My Family Disappear; A Long Month Comes to an End; and A Stunning Goodbye.
Having the builders around and also realizing that we have three little Japanese girls coming to stay for a month makes me motivated to clean house like nothing else. I've made huge progress in the basement, which normally is overwhelming to me. I normally ignore the fact that there are toys and games strewn all over and that the floor needs vacuuming and all. It didn't take long to make a huge difference, and there's still another day's work down there when you consider washing windows, getting the bathroom spiffy, cleaning the carpet, setting up a bunk bed (we got one halfway set up yesterday). That's okay, the idea of the Japanese girls being down there is exciting enough to make the whole process fun and a lot easier than normal.
I also cleaned up the garage a great deal though that's another bad story of disorganization. Organization is not my gift (especially when others follow around undoing my work), but at least now I have a future garage sale pretty well organized into a great many boxes all stacked in one area for quick access--even in the record heat of the day yesterday. I came in and looked in the mirror; I looked like a lobster. I think the water must have sizzled a bit on my face when I washed up.
It's a great feeling of accomplishment though it's not done yet, and I love the incentive I have of hosting little Japanese girls. The two we had two years ago were a real treat and I've heard these three are sweet as well. I am convinced that this incentive is a gift from God. I could do the work other times, but there is always something else that can take precedence. God is so good! I will update you later on furthering the process.
For further blog entries that complete the perplexing story of our Japanese girls, see my Never Alone blog at joycomplete.blogspot.com: Global economy: many trips across the ocean, many nationalities involved; There's Value in the Right Kind of Clock; I Made My Family Disappear; A Long Month Comes to an End; and A Stunning Goodbye.
A Really Pleasant Iced Tea Recipe
I don't like Lipton powdered iced tea mix, besides the fact that it solidifies and becomes useless in the jar after a while. In fact, I don't like any commercially made iced teas that I've tasted.
A while back a friend shared an iced tea recipe that our family loves; so do so many who try it that I thought I'd share it with you. Since sun tea has been said to be risky in terms of bacteria, I like to make mine a quick way.
The recipe is Earl Grey (or Lady Grey instead), Raspberry, and Herbal Peach--any brands, at least one bag of each. I get the kettle going, and then fill a pitcher with ice; I put the tea bags in a thermos-type jug and pour the hot water into it to let them steep. When the tea is made, and still hot, I'll pour it over the ice. The pouring process melts the ice and cools the tea. Then I add about 1/4 c. sugar per 3 tea bags, and pour into glasses with ice, or add more ice to the pitcher. It's my favorite iced tea, and pretty cheap per pitcher.
Keep it refrigerated--it tastes best that way and is probably safest besides.
I hope you like it! Good for keeping cool in the hot summer sun.
A while back a friend shared an iced tea recipe that our family loves; so do so many who try it that I thought I'd share it with you. Since sun tea has been said to be risky in terms of bacteria, I like to make mine a quick way.
The recipe is Earl Grey (or Lady Grey instead), Raspberry, and Herbal Peach--any brands, at least one bag of each. I get the kettle going, and then fill a pitcher with ice; I put the tea bags in a thermos-type jug and pour the hot water into it to let them steep. When the tea is made, and still hot, I'll pour it over the ice. The pouring process melts the ice and cools the tea. Then I add about 1/4 c. sugar per 3 tea bags, and pour into glasses with ice, or add more ice to the pitcher. It's my favorite iced tea, and pretty cheap per pitcher.
Keep it refrigerated--it tastes best that way and is probably safest besides.
I hope you like it! Good for keeping cool in the hot summer sun.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy Summer Progress!
Now I feel as if our summer projects are progressing--maybe only because the difference is so visible! Yesterday our siding job was started. A man, Jake, came out all by himself to tear off the siding from the front of our house. He got most of it done but will come back tomorrow to finish removing it. It was really more than one person should ever be assigned; if he had fallen from a ladder it might have been a while before he would have been found. A couple of times I heard ominous thumps and went out front to check. He was fine, but I couldn't rest easy. And I could tell by certain mistakes that he was exhausted. He laid the siding on top of some of the downspouts so they got bent; and he pulled our hose reel off the siding before removing the last bolt, so it broke. I might suggest to their company having a policy of more than one person just for the safety factor. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Eccl 4:9.
So I spent the morning clipping back plants and transplanting others to make space for him, when I found that he was coming to work. By lunchtime, I had worked myself into a crazy dither. I ordered some take-and-bake pizzas, and even by the time that they were baked, I couldn't slow down and enjoy the food. Jake the workman and our neighbor Dean had pizza with us (Dean had just fixed Tim's bike--again), and it was the first time Dean had come over for anything to eat even though we'd invited them various times. That was neat except that our house was disheveled for all our projects. They didn't seem to mind.
So now the front of our house is mostly down to the black paper that was underneath the siding, and of course has gathered the attention of various neighbors--most of whom still face having to do this inevitable job to their own houses. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the underlying wood that I could see was in very good condition. It may be different in the back, where the deterioration of our old siding is more obvious. Still, I'm more encouraged that we might not encounter severe repair bills in addition to the siding work.
In addition to the progress on the siding, our vegetable plants are looking great; our tomatoes and squash plants are blooming, and the leaves turned greener after I gave them some iron. They must have had the plant-equivalent of anemia.
The nagging item is that I haven't finished painting the ceiling in the one bathroom or the edges and skylight in the other. It's just been too busy lately! But that will come with time.
We are having some Japanese exchange students later this summer for a month, and we will have to fix up the downstairs too. I might paint the main room down there if I have the opportunity (this room has awful pinkish-red paint we'll have to stain-seal first, and a strip of wallpaper to remove; we also need to assemble the two bunkbeds that are in their room--assembly should only take part of a day. When we mentioned that job, neighbor Dean said with a quirky grin as he ate his pizza, "I think I'm going to be busy that day." Gary is quick to think of asking Dean for help when the job gets challenging.
This progress is one of my favorite things, taking on the harder jobs that don't fit into the usual everyday routine. I don't like to be living in a house that needs improvement when I can't do anything about it. Even though it can be quite a mess while various things are mid-process, at least there's an improved end in view and that's a promising situation.
So I spent the morning clipping back plants and transplanting others to make space for him, when I found that he was coming to work. By lunchtime, I had worked myself into a crazy dither. I ordered some take-and-bake pizzas, and even by the time that they were baked, I couldn't slow down and enjoy the food. Jake the workman and our neighbor Dean had pizza with us (Dean had just fixed Tim's bike--again), and it was the first time Dean had come over for anything to eat even though we'd invited them various times. That was neat except that our house was disheveled for all our projects. They didn't seem to mind.
So now the front of our house is mostly down to the black paper that was underneath the siding, and of course has gathered the attention of various neighbors--most of whom still face having to do this inevitable job to their own houses. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the underlying wood that I could see was in very good condition. It may be different in the back, where the deterioration of our old siding is more obvious. Still, I'm more encouraged that we might not encounter severe repair bills in addition to the siding work.
In addition to the progress on the siding, our vegetable plants are looking great; our tomatoes and squash plants are blooming, and the leaves turned greener after I gave them some iron. They must have had the plant-equivalent of anemia.
The nagging item is that I haven't finished painting the ceiling in the one bathroom or the edges and skylight in the other. It's just been too busy lately! But that will come with time.
We are having some Japanese exchange students later this summer for a month, and we will have to fix up the downstairs too. I might paint the main room down there if I have the opportunity (this room has awful pinkish-red paint we'll have to stain-seal first, and a strip of wallpaper to remove; we also need to assemble the two bunkbeds that are in their room--assembly should only take part of a day. When we mentioned that job, neighbor Dean said with a quirky grin as he ate his pizza, "I think I'm going to be busy that day." Gary is quick to think of asking Dean for help when the job gets challenging.
This progress is one of my favorite things, taking on the harder jobs that don't fit into the usual everyday routine. I don't like to be living in a house that needs improvement when I can't do anything about it. Even though it can be quite a mess while various things are mid-process, at least there's an improved end in view and that's a promising situation.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
How the Jobs do Accumulate!
Yesterday I got started on moving plants (so moving the tree, see previous post, was not the beginning of this)--so that the workmen who replace our siding wouldn't trample my favorite perennials. It's not the best time of year to do so, since it's so hot and they get stressed by the heat if not by the move itself; besides some of them are blooming which is a bad time to transplant; in addition, I don't have a lot of flowerbed with dirt and no plants there yet (whereas strangely enough I have flowerbed area with no dirt and no plants--because we have not yet ordered a second load of dirt to fill an area where we put a landscaping wall to eliminate a slope).
Moving the plants is a big job. I had two wheelbarrow loads that I moved back to the back yard, and transplanted yesterday, and I have plenty more to go.
So today we were talking to Dean (the husband of Stacia, whose blog you may have read), and he started rumbling about how he is wanting to bring a small caterpillar-machine through the yard between our houses to fix some problems in his back yard. Not only will I need to move my perennials at that point, but he's going to rework the rock wall between our properties, where even though it's not our rock wall, it's on our side of his fence and he doesn't generally show interest in it. So I've planted it with flowering plants and weeded it, and it is looking pretty good (though it needs weeding again). Now, in addition to moving all my perennials from the flowerbed in the front of the house because of siding, and at the side of the house because of the caterpillar-machine, I also need to move them from the rock wall. This is a lot to do! Well, not so bad, in a way, because I do love to garden, and I could do it forever, and replanting plants is really what gardeners kind of live to do, and it will all look better in the end, but aaaagh. We have a lot to do. Why am I sitting here blogging instead of transplanting? It's the hot part of the day and I'm still recovering from transplanting our tree this morning. Maybe tonight. Hmm. I think I have the place for some of those things after all, at least temporarily--in the so-far unused portion of our vegetable bed, under the fruit trees, where it's shady. Yes, I think this could be a good thing. Hmm. I think I'm feeling a little more energized. Now where is that shovel?
Moving the plants is a big job. I had two wheelbarrow loads that I moved back to the back yard, and transplanted yesterday, and I have plenty more to go.
So today we were talking to Dean (the husband of Stacia, whose blog you may have read), and he started rumbling about how he is wanting to bring a small caterpillar-machine through the yard between our houses to fix some problems in his back yard. Not only will I need to move my perennials at that point, but he's going to rework the rock wall between our properties, where even though it's not our rock wall, it's on our side of his fence and he doesn't generally show interest in it. So I've planted it with flowering plants and weeded it, and it is looking pretty good (though it needs weeding again). Now, in addition to moving all my perennials from the flowerbed in the front of the house because of siding, and at the side of the house because of the caterpillar-machine, I also need to move them from the rock wall. This is a lot to do! Well, not so bad, in a way, because I do love to garden, and I could do it forever, and replanting plants is really what gardeners kind of live to do, and it will all look better in the end, but aaaagh. We have a lot to do. Why am I sitting here blogging instead of transplanting? It's the hot part of the day and I'm still recovering from transplanting our tree this morning. Maybe tonight. Hmm. I think I have the place for some of those things after all, at least temporarily--in the so-far unused portion of our vegetable bed, under the fruit trees, where it's shady. Yes, I think this could be a good thing. Hmm. I think I'm feeling a little more energized. Now where is that shovel?
A Muddy Mess and Mr. Clean
Well, today Gary and I accomplished our one big daily goal--we moved a 7-foot tree from our front yard into our back. We are having our siding replaced (our house is one of those with LP, the kind of siding that rots in the rain...in the state of Washington, it almost makes good compost) and we have to pull plants out of the way so the workmen can do their thing. This tree in question, some type of cypress, was wedged between our front steps and the side of our garage--about a 2-foot square spot. The front area of the roots were free to go into a flower bed and the rest had to go fairly straight down or seep under the concrete of the front steps (which most of them did, alas!).
First we chipped a hole into the rock-hard clay soil in the back yard where we wanted to plant the tree, hoping that the hole was big enough. We filled the hole with water and went out front to move the tree.
We moved the landscaping blocks and a few smaller plants from our flower bed, and dug enough of the dirt from in front of the tree so we could lean it over and try wedging it out from its little cube-shaped home. After a long time of wedging a flat-bladed shovel in behind it, we were able to tip the tree forward and identify the roots that were hanging it up--those that were headed under our concrete steps. I clipped them and Gary and I were able to move the tree into a wheelbarrow and move it into the back yard.
Here's how bad our soil is--after wedging the tree out and moving it into the back yard, we looked at the hole. It was still completely full of water. We moved the tree into the hole, and found that it was not nearly big enough. We dug some more, put the tree in, and after bringing some more dirt by wheelbarrow from the front to the back (it must have been purchased soil; it's much better than the native stuff) we tamped the tree into place and straightened it up. It's not exactly oriented right--the pretty side is sort of cockeyed too much toward the back--but I'm hoping that with time it will look pretty all around. It was so crammed into its spot that many of the back branches had died off.
Afterward I looked at my reflection. I looked almost like I'd done a belly flop into the mud. I looked at Gary. He looked like he'd just put clean clothes on (he hadn't). I knew he'd worked as hard as I had--I guess I just like to get in there and wallow. No wonder housekeeping is hard for me. Tim takes after me, in usually being surrounded by tracks of dirt, and a little cloud of rubble and dust. I wonder what makes the difference. Whatever. At least the tree is moved, I've had my shower (it took Boraxo--Lava soap was too delicate) and now Gary and I are equally clean, but not good for much more work for now. Next I need to go pick out a pain reliever. No need for Pilates today!
First we chipped a hole into the rock-hard clay soil in the back yard where we wanted to plant the tree, hoping that the hole was big enough. We filled the hole with water and went out front to move the tree.
We moved the landscaping blocks and a few smaller plants from our flower bed, and dug enough of the dirt from in front of the tree so we could lean it over and try wedging it out from its little cube-shaped home. After a long time of wedging a flat-bladed shovel in behind it, we were able to tip the tree forward and identify the roots that were hanging it up--those that were headed under our concrete steps. I clipped them and Gary and I were able to move the tree into a wheelbarrow and move it into the back yard.
Here's how bad our soil is--after wedging the tree out and moving it into the back yard, we looked at the hole. It was still completely full of water. We moved the tree into the hole, and found that it was not nearly big enough. We dug some more, put the tree in, and after bringing some more dirt by wheelbarrow from the front to the back (it must have been purchased soil; it's much better than the native stuff) we tamped the tree into place and straightened it up. It's not exactly oriented right--the pretty side is sort of cockeyed too much toward the back--but I'm hoping that with time it will look pretty all around. It was so crammed into its spot that many of the back branches had died off.
Afterward I looked at my reflection. I looked almost like I'd done a belly flop into the mud. I looked at Gary. He looked like he'd just put clean clothes on (he hadn't). I knew he'd worked as hard as I had--I guess I just like to get in there and wallow. No wonder housekeeping is hard for me. Tim takes after me, in usually being surrounded by tracks of dirt, and a little cloud of rubble and dust. I wonder what makes the difference. Whatever. At least the tree is moved, I've had my shower (it took Boraxo--Lava soap was too delicate) and now Gary and I are equally clean, but not good for much more work for now. Next I need to go pick out a pain reliever. No need for Pilates today!
Work Out a Little, Laugh till Your Sides Split
Well, if you read before that I was going to try Pilates (see Work a Little Rest a Lot blog entry), now you have an update: I did. Try. I laughed my silly head off, till I cried and halfway flooded the room with tears. Never knew that exercise could be so funny.
It would be nice if they used real human beings for those exercise videos. Everyone knows that a real human being can't put her arms around her bent legs because the legs are too chubby. I happen to be a real human being.
So I tried the exercises, too, and never really did them the way those aliens would have liked me to, but I did them well enough that two days later I still hurt in muscles I didn't know were in my middle somewhere. In a day or two I'll try it again. Laughter is good for your health.
The rolling exercises that you may have read about in Katie's blog were funny. The aliens could roll back up without any perceived difficulty. I had to tug on my pants legs or put my elbow on the floor to achieve it.
I'm glad they didn't have me put my leg behind my head (that's for you, Barbara) or I would still be down there screaming. And laughing...and the flood would have been in the news.
It would be nice if they used real human beings for those exercise videos. Everyone knows that a real human being can't put her arms around her bent legs because the legs are too chubby. I happen to be a real human being.
So I tried the exercises, too, and never really did them the way those aliens would have liked me to, but I did them well enough that two days later I still hurt in muscles I didn't know were in my middle somewhere. In a day or two I'll try it again. Laughter is good for your health.
The rolling exercises that you may have read about in Katie's blog were funny. The aliens could roll back up without any perceived difficulty. I had to tug on my pants legs or put my elbow on the floor to achieve it.
I'm glad they didn't have me put my leg behind my head (that's for you, Barbara) or I would still be down there screaming. And laughing...and the flood would have been in the news.
Monday, June 26, 2006
An Interesting Set of Fruit Trees
We have an interesting situation with the fruit trees that were already on our property when we bought the house. There were two plum trees, a peach tree and a cherry tree. I have no problem with the plum trees, except that out of 450 plums that the tree produced last year (compared with 2 this year), they all ripened the same week. That's okay. I made some neighbors pretty happy giving them each a big bag of plums--ripe ones, since we were out of town for the first two or so days that about 250 of them fell on the ground before I could harvest them. These numbers are real--I counted them since they were so plentiful!
The peach tree was a lost cause. This climate is not extremely hot enough for peaches--there's a reason you associate them with Georgia. So the peaches were mealy and moldy before they even got ripe. I cut all the branches off of it last year since they were also diseased--thinking maybe it would be one of those wonders of nature that would come back in force if I did so. Still, no signs of life have emerged and I will have to cut it down at the base.
That leaves the cherry tree. It has produced abundantly each of the three years we've been here. The cherries are absolutely picture perfect--a bright cheery red, just the type that you see in pictures and artwork. The only problem is that they are not only not Bing cherries, which are dark and sweet and ready for eating uncooked, but even the birds don't bother them. You eat one and your face puckers at the sour bitterness of the fruit. It's downright dismal. Maybe they are pie cherries and only get sweet with cooking. It just doesn't seem very promising so far and I'm not sure I care to put in the effort. I probably ought to try, since in my ignorance I might be passing up a great opportunity. On the hottest day we've had here in a couple of years, it just doesn't sound like a very exciting experiment.
These trees could be used as illustrations of people. I think I'm a little like the plum tree--I produce a lot in a huge burst and then I have to rest for a while.
There are those like the peach tree, I never want to be one of those--who only bear bad fruit, ugly and rotten--Jesus uses this as an illustration of false prophets, who don't trust in God or do anything in His strength. They are only good to be cut down.
Then there are many people who are like our cherry tree, whose fruit is all pretty and perfect on the outside and sour and bitter on the inside. If someone will spend some time and effort on them, they may have a good sweet reward in the end.
I'm glad that many fruit trees are less perplexing than these. There are so many that reliably bear good and beautiful fruit; they are like the tree in Psalm 1 which is firmly planted by streams of Living Water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither; the man who lives emulating this tree prospers in whatever he does. I hope to, as I grow in Christ, be continually more like this tree.
An update on the cherry tree--today in spite of the heat Katie picked a number of the cherries and tried cooking them experimentally with some sugar and cornstarch; the bitter and sour taste subsided somewhat. Not that the result was all that flavorful; I still think they're a bit disappointing. To update our little "Scripture meaning" of each tree, we surmise that when someone produces fruit that looks pretty on the outside but is actually bitter and sour inside, then provided that they go through some cooking, some testing, with someone adding some sweetness to their lives, they might show some promise. So there you go. Also, don't let your first conclusion about a person be your lasting one, because like the flavor of the cherries, people can change with time and marinating in God's word and the fellowship of believers. Also if you have bitter cherries in your yard maybe you should cook some up into a pie (with plenty of sugar) and invite us over! Uh, I guess that is what we ought to be doing for you...let us know if you want to try ours. (Not promising that you'll be glad for it.)
The peach tree was a lost cause. This climate is not extremely hot enough for peaches--there's a reason you associate them with Georgia. So the peaches were mealy and moldy before they even got ripe. I cut all the branches off of it last year since they were also diseased--thinking maybe it would be one of those wonders of nature that would come back in force if I did so. Still, no signs of life have emerged and I will have to cut it down at the base.
That leaves the cherry tree. It has produced abundantly each of the three years we've been here. The cherries are absolutely picture perfect--a bright cheery red, just the type that you see in pictures and artwork. The only problem is that they are not only not Bing cherries, which are dark and sweet and ready for eating uncooked, but even the birds don't bother them. You eat one and your face puckers at the sour bitterness of the fruit. It's downright dismal. Maybe they are pie cherries and only get sweet with cooking. It just doesn't seem very promising so far and I'm not sure I care to put in the effort. I probably ought to try, since in my ignorance I might be passing up a great opportunity. On the hottest day we've had here in a couple of years, it just doesn't sound like a very exciting experiment.
These trees could be used as illustrations of people. I think I'm a little like the plum tree--I produce a lot in a huge burst and then I have to rest for a while.
There are those like the peach tree, I never want to be one of those--who only bear bad fruit, ugly and rotten--Jesus uses this as an illustration of false prophets, who don't trust in God or do anything in His strength. They are only good to be cut down.
Then there are many people who are like our cherry tree, whose fruit is all pretty and perfect on the outside and sour and bitter on the inside. If someone will spend some time and effort on them, they may have a good sweet reward in the end.
I'm glad that many fruit trees are less perplexing than these. There are so many that reliably bear good and beautiful fruit; they are like the tree in Psalm 1 which is firmly planted by streams of Living Water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither; the man who lives emulating this tree prospers in whatever he does. I hope to, as I grow in Christ, be continually more like this tree.
An update on the cherry tree--today in spite of the heat Katie picked a number of the cherries and tried cooking them experimentally with some sugar and cornstarch; the bitter and sour taste subsided somewhat. Not that the result was all that flavorful; I still think they're a bit disappointing. To update our little "Scripture meaning" of each tree, we surmise that when someone produces fruit that looks pretty on the outside but is actually bitter and sour inside, then provided that they go through some cooking, some testing, with someone adding some sweetness to their lives, they might show some promise. So there you go. Also, don't let your first conclusion about a person be your lasting one, because like the flavor of the cherries, people can change with time and marinating in God's word and the fellowship of believers. Also if you have bitter cherries in your yard maybe you should cook some up into a pie (with plenty of sugar) and invite us over! Uh, I guess that is what we ought to be doing for you...let us know if you want to try ours. (Not promising that you'll be glad for it.)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
A Couple of Fun Recipes
Here are a couple of recipes that I think you'll enjoy. Well, you certainly won't get fat using them...most likely.
THE BEST ZUCCHINI RECIPE EVER!
1 bushel zucchini
1 pair of sunglasses
1 raincoat
A moderately fast car
Go to a busy parking lot. Drive around until you find an unlocked car. Put the zucchini in the back seat and drive away FAST before you are discovered!
ELEPHANT STEW
1 Elephant
Plenty of salt and pepper
2 rabbits (optional)
First catch your elephant. Then cut into bite-size pieces. (This should take about two months.)
Add enough brown gravy to cover your elephant an cook for about four weeks at 250 degrees C.
This serves 3000 people. If more are expected, add two rabbits, but do this if only necessary as people do not like to find hares in their stew.
THE BEST ZUCCHINI RECIPE EVER!
1 bushel zucchini
1 pair of sunglasses
1 raincoat
A moderately fast car
Go to a busy parking lot. Drive around until you find an unlocked car. Put the zucchini in the back seat and drive away FAST before you are discovered!
ELEPHANT STEW
1 Elephant
Plenty of salt and pepper
2 rabbits (optional)
First catch your elephant. Then cut into bite-size pieces. (This should take about two months.)
Add enough brown gravy to cover your elephant an cook for about four weeks at 250 degrees C.
This serves 3000 people. If more are expected, add two rabbits, but do this if only necessary as people do not like to find hares in their stew.
Garden Whale Casserole
Don’t know what a garden whale is? That’s one of those big, foot-long green things that appear in your zucchini plants when you look away for a few minutes. Those work just fine in this casserole, seeds and all.
Dice:
3 c. zucchini (or more is fine)
2 lg. tomatoes
1 lg. sweet onion
Toss w/ salt and pepper.
Grate:
1 ½ c. sharp cheddar cheese
½ c. Parmesan cheese
Topping:
8 saltines
3 Tbsp. butter
Garlic powder
Finesse herbs (or thyme and oregano)
Butter a large casserole dish. In it place ½ of vegetable mixture and ½ of cheese. Make topping mixture by crumbling saltines and mixing in other topping ingredients. Top casserole with half of cheese and topping, rest of zucchini, rest of cheese and topping ingredients. Bake covered ½ - ¾ hour; remove lid last 10-15 min. (And if you’re like me, you’ll just put the veggies in and top with cheese and topping—and it will work fine.)
Here's another thing that my family loves when I do zucchini: I put oil in a pan and heat it to med. high; then slice a bunch of zucchini; scatter thyme all over the pan, add the zucchini, cook on the one side, and turn when the first side is dark; cook the other side until through. They're good! Even Tim, my pickiest, loves it.
Don’t know what a garden whale is? That’s one of those big, foot-long green things that appear in your zucchini plants when you look away for a few minutes. Those work just fine in this casserole, seeds and all.
Dice:
3 c. zucchini (or more is fine)
2 lg. tomatoes
1 lg. sweet onion
Toss w/ salt and pepper.
Grate:
1 ½ c. sharp cheddar cheese
½ c. Parmesan cheese
Topping:
8 saltines
3 Tbsp. butter
Garlic powder
Finesse herbs (or thyme and oregano)
Butter a large casserole dish. In it place ½ of vegetable mixture and ½ of cheese. Make topping mixture by crumbling saltines and mixing in other topping ingredients. Top casserole with half of cheese and topping, rest of zucchini, rest of cheese and topping ingredients. Bake covered ½ - ¾ hour; remove lid last 10-15 min. (And if you’re like me, you’ll just put the veggies in and top with cheese and topping—and it will work fine.)
Here's another thing that my family loves when I do zucchini: I put oil in a pan and heat it to med. high; then slice a bunch of zucchini; scatter thyme all over the pan, add the zucchini, cook on the one side, and turn when the first side is dark; cook the other side until through. They're good! Even Tim, my pickiest, loves it.
Further Progress on Household Work
I am continuing with my intent to accomplish significant things every day. Well, Sunday is a day of rest, and that's where I'm keeping it...but otherwise I have persisted. Latest was working in the vegetable garden. We're continuing to try to get it really going, kind of late but we couldn't help that for lack of soil.
We had soil delivered from a friend of ours; it is nicer than what we had on hand since most of the rocks and things have been sifted out. I think though that it is rather clay-ish, once it is rained on. It is hard to hoe and I will continue to amend it so that in coming years it will be good, fertile, and easy to work. So far, though, my shoulders get sore rather quickly working in it.
We are believers in composting plant matter from both our yard and our kitchen. If you contrast the compost with the clayish soil, the difference is vast. Dark, rich, crumbly soft soil is what we get. It also has a price to pay, that is, if we want to keep the remaining compost working. We take the worms out of the compost before incorporating the compost into the soil. They are red worms, which die if they don't have compost; they are no good to a vegetable garden but vital to a compost bin. So yesterday Tim and I sat together and divided the worms from the compost. There are endless numbers of them! I realize this isn't work everyone would care to do, but the resulting soil is a great reward. I drew a furrow with my hoe and added the compost, then blended it in with the clay-ish soil. We then scattered seed, put up bamboo posts at either end of each row, and labeled the rows. We also used some cassette tape tied to the bamboo posts at either end of the rows to delineate where each row went so we were less likely to walk on them--they also should discourage birds. I hate to say this that only took a minute to type took a couple of hours to accomplish.
Some of our tomatoes and squash plants were looking kind of yellow and so I added some iron to the surrounding soil. I hope it helps! I thought the soil probably was high in iron, since it has a red tone, but it doesn't seem to be--unless the yellow is from something else. A few days should show whether it is or not.
The weather is hot now so we will have to remember to water there daily. After a couple more months we should have not only the zucchini and tomatoes that we started with, but also spinach, radishes, green onions, maybe some peppers (they're turning out kind of wimpy), Swiss chard, lettuce...if we eat all that we'll be quite healthy. And we should have enough to share!
I have a great recipe for zucchini and tomatoes; I'll post it separately. I think you'll like it. Happy summer!
We had soil delivered from a friend of ours; it is nicer than what we had on hand since most of the rocks and things have been sifted out. I think though that it is rather clay-ish, once it is rained on. It is hard to hoe and I will continue to amend it so that in coming years it will be good, fertile, and easy to work. So far, though, my shoulders get sore rather quickly working in it.
We are believers in composting plant matter from both our yard and our kitchen. If you contrast the compost with the clayish soil, the difference is vast. Dark, rich, crumbly soft soil is what we get. It also has a price to pay, that is, if we want to keep the remaining compost working. We take the worms out of the compost before incorporating the compost into the soil. They are red worms, which die if they don't have compost; they are no good to a vegetable garden but vital to a compost bin. So yesterday Tim and I sat together and divided the worms from the compost. There are endless numbers of them! I realize this isn't work everyone would care to do, but the resulting soil is a great reward. I drew a furrow with my hoe and added the compost, then blended it in with the clay-ish soil. We then scattered seed, put up bamboo posts at either end of each row, and labeled the rows. We also used some cassette tape tied to the bamboo posts at either end of the rows to delineate where each row went so we were less likely to walk on them--they also should discourage birds. I hate to say this that only took a minute to type took a couple of hours to accomplish.
Some of our tomatoes and squash plants were looking kind of yellow and so I added some iron to the surrounding soil. I hope it helps! I thought the soil probably was high in iron, since it has a red tone, but it doesn't seem to be--unless the yellow is from something else. A few days should show whether it is or not.
The weather is hot now so we will have to remember to water there daily. After a couple more months we should have not only the zucchini and tomatoes that we started with, but also spinach, radishes, green onions, maybe some peppers (they're turning out kind of wimpy), Swiss chard, lettuce...if we eat all that we'll be quite healthy. And we should have enough to share!
I have a great recipe for zucchini and tomatoes; I'll post it separately. I think you'll like it. Happy summer!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Work a Little, Rest a Lot...a Perplexing Pattern
Well, on my resolution to do at least one project per day this summer, I think I've done fairly well. We have one bathroom that we've just turned from seafoam green to neutral beige...except for the ceiling, which at least is sealer-primed (I'm tired of the expressive color choices of our previous owner--and we might want to sell before long). Now we only have one room left that we have to prime to cover the previous owner's less-than-fabulous choice: the pinky red that is on the lower half of the rec room walls. The experience of priming first, and plastering major flaws in the wall board, makes us feel spoiled when all that is needed in the room is the paint itself. I painted our back bathroom most of the way yesterday (have to do the edging and some over the mirror) and it only took about an hour. Wow! Well, I do still need to do the edging...
Once I was done with painting yesterday, we went for a walk and after stopping to talk to some neighbors (who were gently berating us for not attending their Bible study...well, it's a long story)...well, after that, I could hardly move, so instead of going off the cul-de-sac we just went home. Sad when you get old and hardly fit at all for anything. I do try.
Katie's been doing her Pilates, maybe you've read her blog...and I intend to try, but I'm mentally gearing up. She just does it on the hard floor, and I don't dare until I get a good floor mat. If I did, I think I'd break a bone or something; maybe need a hospital visit. It looks intriguing, if not dangerous. She was sore afterward; thought she had an upset stomach until she realized the Pilates caused it...and she hasn't had abdominal surgeries, as I have. It does give me pause.
So I can try all I can to be tough and do the hard stuff (yes, painting is hard stuff), but then I have to stop for rest in between, which is perplexing. I hope that when I do start Pilates that I don't have to take a week off for every day I work out. If you see a short person walking in a body cast in the next few weeks, consider yourself hugged, or at least waved at.
Once I was done with painting yesterday, we went for a walk and after stopping to talk to some neighbors (who were gently berating us for not attending their Bible study...well, it's a long story)...well, after that, I could hardly move, so instead of going off the cul-de-sac we just went home. Sad when you get old and hardly fit at all for anything. I do try.
Katie's been doing her Pilates, maybe you've read her blog...and I intend to try, but I'm mentally gearing up. She just does it on the hard floor, and I don't dare until I get a good floor mat. If I did, I think I'd break a bone or something; maybe need a hospital visit. It looks intriguing, if not dangerous. She was sore afterward; thought she had an upset stomach until she realized the Pilates caused it...and she hasn't had abdominal surgeries, as I have. It does give me pause.
So I can try all I can to be tough and do the hard stuff (yes, painting is hard stuff), but then I have to stop for rest in between, which is perplexing. I hope that when I do start Pilates that I don't have to take a week off for every day I work out. If you see a short person walking in a body cast in the next few weeks, consider yourself hugged, or at least waved at.
Friday, June 16, 2006
A List of Preparations for a Plumbing Job
Well, in view of my latest post, which included my replacing a faucet, I thought I would list a few points that would be helpful to someone doing so themselves. My instructions had nothing about removing the old faucet, just installing the new, so I learned as I went.
1. Remember to turn off the water. There are probably two valves under the sink you can close off rather than the one for the whole house. If you replace those valves, though, you'll need the whole-house valve.
2. Get eye protection (I only did too late and ended up getting stuff in my eye, causing a scratch on the inside of my eyelid), a bucket, some absorbent rags; also you may need what's called a "shower valve socket wrench set"--I had to buy one. They're like hexagonal-shaped tubes so you can put them over all the pipe paraphernalia and get to the big hex nut that keeps the faucet central portion in place. You'll also need screw drivers (both kinds), a set of wrenches, maybe one adjustable wrench; and it would also be good to replace the hoses from the valves. I was happy that one of ours broke off at the connection to the valve--otherwise it might have broken later and caused huge damage. They were stiff and at 13 years old, needed replacing. Ours were only about 12" long. Measure the size of the valve connection and the connection at the other end. I didn't and ended up having to buy two sets just to be sure, and now I have a return to make.
You may also need a power saw. The reciprocating saw I used may have been overkill, but it worked better than any other option I could find. Without it I couldn't have gotten my new shower valve socket wrench over all the other stuff.
3. Get your kids busy doing other, engaging stuff. You don't want them messing with you when it gets difficult. Maybe your spouse or a babysitter would be a good intervention.
I hope this helps someone out there in the grim process, to actually enjoy the benefit of learning from my difficulty.
1. Remember to turn off the water. There are probably two valves under the sink you can close off rather than the one for the whole house. If you replace those valves, though, you'll need the whole-house valve.
2. Get eye protection (I only did too late and ended up getting stuff in my eye, causing a scratch on the inside of my eyelid), a bucket, some absorbent rags; also you may need what's called a "shower valve socket wrench set"--I had to buy one. They're like hexagonal-shaped tubes so you can put them over all the pipe paraphernalia and get to the big hex nut that keeps the faucet central portion in place. You'll also need screw drivers (both kinds), a set of wrenches, maybe one adjustable wrench; and it would also be good to replace the hoses from the valves. I was happy that one of ours broke off at the connection to the valve--otherwise it might have broken later and caused huge damage. They were stiff and at 13 years old, needed replacing. Ours were only about 12" long. Measure the size of the valve connection and the connection at the other end. I didn't and ended up having to buy two sets just to be sure, and now I have a return to make.
You may also need a power saw. The reciprocating saw I used may have been overkill, but it worked better than any other option I could find. Without it I couldn't have gotten my new shower valve socket wrench over all the other stuff.
3. Get your kids busy doing other, engaging stuff. You don't want them messing with you when it gets difficult. Maybe your spouse or a babysitter would be a good intervention.
I hope this helps someone out there in the grim process, to actually enjoy the benefit of learning from my difficulty.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
A Goal for the Summer
Well, now that Katie is graduated and homeschooling Tim will be a more occasional than daily event, life is quieting down a lot in general. Still, there is much to do of a less urgent nature, and I am resolving to do one nagging project (the project is nagging, not me!) per day. Yesterday, I replaced the kitchen faucet. The old one had an extra fountain coming out the side, because the housing had started cracking more than a year ago. First it was a nearly invisible stream, and I bought the replacement intending to replace it soon afterward. But there was never the right day that we had the ability to stay on task and attend to nothing else but run errands to Home Depot for yet one more unanticipated part or tool.
Good thing, too. I never would have anticipated the three trips I made, or how hard it was to get the old faucet off! Since there was one nut that would NOT unscrew (un-nut?) from the pipe to the old faucet, finally after trying with a jig saw, I got it off with a reciprocating saw. It lets out a really gratifying sound that is just right for the really aggravated home fix-it person. I also use this saw for pruning our trees, so it is a pretty big-scale saw. Did the job. So after a day pretty well devoted to this faucet I got it replaced and felt pretty good about it. Can you tell?
So today, second in the series...I was going to hang a curtain that I finally finished about 6 months back and haven't had time to iron and then hang in the front window of our living room--what, a 20 minute project? Exactly. Instead, though, I started realizing how many plants we had outside that were waiting to be planted--one large maple tree, one tiny snowball tree, and a few other things--plus three I promised to plant for Stacia. So after a few hours, I had accomplished digging the holes, placing the plants, replanting one because the place wasn't right, and watering them afterward. Also replanted some ferns and foxgloves that would be destroyed when we get our siding done later this summer. Pretty rewarding to get it all done, but whew! I was exhausted. Went in to make spaghetti (one of the easiest dinners in existence) afterward, and could hardly peel a clove of garlic; felt like I was 80 years old fiddling with the thing.
Maybe tomorrow I'll hang the curtain. Not tonight. Still, I feel I'm on a roll. Wha-ha! Only 4 billion projects to go.
Good thing, too. I never would have anticipated the three trips I made, or how hard it was to get the old faucet off! Since there was one nut that would NOT unscrew (un-nut?) from the pipe to the old faucet, finally after trying with a jig saw, I got it off with a reciprocating saw. It lets out a really gratifying sound that is just right for the really aggravated home fix-it person. I also use this saw for pruning our trees, so it is a pretty big-scale saw. Did the job. So after a day pretty well devoted to this faucet I got it replaced and felt pretty good about it. Can you tell?
So today, second in the series...I was going to hang a curtain that I finally finished about 6 months back and haven't had time to iron and then hang in the front window of our living room--what, a 20 minute project? Exactly. Instead, though, I started realizing how many plants we had outside that were waiting to be planted--one large maple tree, one tiny snowball tree, and a few other things--plus three I promised to plant for Stacia. So after a few hours, I had accomplished digging the holes, placing the plants, replanting one because the place wasn't right, and watering them afterward. Also replanted some ferns and foxgloves that would be destroyed when we get our siding done later this summer. Pretty rewarding to get it all done, but whew! I was exhausted. Went in to make spaghetti (one of the easiest dinners in existence) afterward, and could hardly peel a clove of garlic; felt like I was 80 years old fiddling with the thing.
Maybe tomorrow I'll hang the curtain. Not tonight. Still, I feel I'm on a roll. Wha-ha! Only 4 billion projects to go.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
An Easy Fast Cookie Recipe
I like to think that I like to cook. Always been a collector of recipes...and yet I revert to my main favorites much of the time. And when I do cook, these days it seems like I have to cram it in between other things. Today for example--we're going off to meet some new neighbors and I wanted to bring some cookies or something, but here it is 5 p.m., and we just came in from a baseball game (Tim made 2 home runs!). I don't really want to mess up the whole kitchen. So what should solve the problem but this simple recipe, another recipe from a mix (if you want to see another, go to our Abounding Affections blog and look at Quote of the Week Cake). Here is your recipe:
Cookies from a Cake Mix
Cake mix (any flavor)
2 eggs
1/3 c. oil
(No reason why you can't add things, such as nuts, raisins, chocolate chips or spice if they go with the cake mix flavor.) Mix and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees, not very long!They burn easily on the bottom. They should be soft when taken out. Great frosted! Makes about 2 dozen.
Now make some for yourself and fill up a plate and take it to your neighbor. Aren't you nice! (Oh wait, now I'm saying how nice I am. Oh well.)
Cookies from a Cake Mix
Cake mix (any flavor)
2 eggs
1/3 c. oil
(No reason why you can't add things, such as nuts, raisins, chocolate chips or spice if they go with the cake mix flavor.) Mix and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees, not very long!They burn easily on the bottom. They should be soft when taken out. Great frosted! Makes about 2 dozen.
Now make some for yourself and fill up a plate and take it to your neighbor. Aren't you nice! (Oh wait, now I'm saying how nice I am. Oh well.)
Friday, May 05, 2006
Ways to Save Money so You can Stay Home with Kids
When I was growing up, I had no clue of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I went to college and quit after 3 years, since I couldn't decide on a major and thought I was wasting my money. I went from job to job, starting in retail and then on to office work. I was a national sales secretary for Nike, and a department secretary at Boeing, and worked as a temp in various places. It was all interesting enough, other than Boeing, which I couldn't really describe in that way.
When I became a mother, and was working at Boeing, we were hard-pressed for money. My husband was trying to break into the field of sales and started working for various brokers. They'd hire him full-time and immediately put him on part-time so they wouldn't have to pay benefits. So he was going through regular job changes at that time. There I was with my colicky baby, waking her at 6 a.m., hurriedly dressing her and myself, taking her to daycare at 7 a.m. and going to see her at lunch; taking a pump to work so I could continue nursing. (You should have seen the gate guards' puzzled faces when they'd ask me to open my cooler with it all in there!) I'd pick her up after work and go home too exhausted to clean house well (I was anemic also...). She'd wake up at 2:00 every night. I hated work; Katie hated my work as well. She finally got kicked out of that daycare; the woman said (though she'd been doing daycare for 25 years) that Katie was the most difficult baby she'd ever watched--not a distinction that I'm proud of. I hired a neighbor to take her in instead. (Thankfully she's no longer difficult!)
Finally a month after becoming a Christian I knew very strongly that I really needed to quit working and stay home. It was truly a stretch but I had to trust in God's help. The first morning that I stayed home, I suddenly knew what I was wanting to be...I'd wanted it all my life and just didn't realize it. I wanted to be an at-home mom. Because I'd never thought of it as an option, and because I'd never really been trained in it growing up, I was ill-equipped. I had a lot to learn; I still do!
There are various ways other than what I've already blogged about (garage sales and grocery store shopping) that I use to save the money to stay home. I cut our own hair, all four of us (sometimes with better success than other times--but the biggest challenge is my own head, and I can accept that), and I figure I save about $100 or so per month by doing so. I clean our own carpets. I fertilize our yard (I recently learned that getting this done commercially would cost us about $450 per year!). I fix our furniture and many appliances and prune our own trees. I do our plumbing, sewing, gardening, indoor painting, and home schooling. I don't do car repairs or get on our roof, but I do many of the other things! Sometimes I think knowing how to do these things is a drawback, in that I never feel free to call and get someone else to do it, but we'd be struggling financially far worse if I didn't. And though getting everything done that seems to need doing is perhaps impossible, I'm never bored! Life is fuller than it ever would be in an office, away from my home and family!
For all these things that you can do to save your money and be able to stay at home with your family, you can find out how to do them either on line or by looking at books from the library--I've done this many times. If you're in the middle of a household project and can't figure it out, the hardware store is full of people who can advise you on how to finish the job. I installed a sink, for example, taking 4 trips to the store to ask questions and buy parts and tools. Sometimes the difference between being able and not being able to do these things might lie in buying or renting the right tool.
If you're perplexed with your work and longing to stay home, pray for God's help and inspiration. He'll give you the means to do what He wants, and I believe that His ideal is for families to be together.
When I became a mother, and was working at Boeing, we were hard-pressed for money. My husband was trying to break into the field of sales and started working for various brokers. They'd hire him full-time and immediately put him on part-time so they wouldn't have to pay benefits. So he was going through regular job changes at that time. There I was with my colicky baby, waking her at 6 a.m., hurriedly dressing her and myself, taking her to daycare at 7 a.m. and going to see her at lunch; taking a pump to work so I could continue nursing. (You should have seen the gate guards' puzzled faces when they'd ask me to open my cooler with it all in there!) I'd pick her up after work and go home too exhausted to clean house well (I was anemic also...). She'd wake up at 2:00 every night. I hated work; Katie hated my work as well. She finally got kicked out of that daycare; the woman said (though she'd been doing daycare for 25 years) that Katie was the most difficult baby she'd ever watched--not a distinction that I'm proud of. I hired a neighbor to take her in instead. (Thankfully she's no longer difficult!)
Finally a month after becoming a Christian I knew very strongly that I really needed to quit working and stay home. It was truly a stretch but I had to trust in God's help. The first morning that I stayed home, I suddenly knew what I was wanting to be...I'd wanted it all my life and just didn't realize it. I wanted to be an at-home mom. Because I'd never thought of it as an option, and because I'd never really been trained in it growing up, I was ill-equipped. I had a lot to learn; I still do!
There are various ways other than what I've already blogged about (garage sales and grocery store shopping) that I use to save the money to stay home. I cut our own hair, all four of us (sometimes with better success than other times--but the biggest challenge is my own head, and I can accept that), and I figure I save about $100 or so per month by doing so. I clean our own carpets. I fertilize our yard (I recently learned that getting this done commercially would cost us about $450 per year!). I fix our furniture and many appliances and prune our own trees. I do our plumbing, sewing, gardening, indoor painting, and home schooling. I don't do car repairs or get on our roof, but I do many of the other things! Sometimes I think knowing how to do these things is a drawback, in that I never feel free to call and get someone else to do it, but we'd be struggling financially far worse if I didn't. And though getting everything done that seems to need doing is perhaps impossible, I'm never bored! Life is fuller than it ever would be in an office, away from my home and family!
For all these things that you can do to save your money and be able to stay at home with your family, you can find out how to do them either on line or by looking at books from the library--I've done this many times. If you're in the middle of a household project and can't figure it out, the hardware store is full of people who can advise you on how to finish the job. I installed a sink, for example, taking 4 trips to the store to ask questions and buy parts and tools. Sometimes the difference between being able and not being able to do these things might lie in buying or renting the right tool.
If you're perplexed with your work and longing to stay home, pray for God's help and inspiration. He'll give you the means to do what He wants, and I believe that His ideal is for families to be together.
Singing the Praises of Garage Sales!
There were a lot of years even in the midst of my greatest need for frugality that I neglected the benefit of garage sales. Maybe I went to one every now and then, but not much. Then suddenly neighborhoods started having them all together, and that caught my attention! Suddenly, I could go park, and walk down the street and hit ten or more at a time! Now I buy clothes, books, furniture, hardware, tools, kitchen gadgets, pictures, frames, games, toys, and innumerable other things at garage sales. Most things sell at about 10% of the retail price; clothes, being so plentiful, run about 5%. Now I'd estimate that at least half of our furniture and other household goods must consist of garage sale finds.
I've heard people say you can't find brand names at garage sales, but they are those who don't shop there. My daughter loves brand names and almost never buys them in the stores. She can therefore afford three or four times the brand-name clothing that her friends have (space, however, is a practical limitation). We buy more clothes in a far faster time than we ever could in the malls! Then there are people who sniff that they would never buy used clothes. Well, if they're dirty, torn, or ugly, then no, I wouldn't either. But if they're respectable, why not? Take them home and wash them, and there's nothing objectionable about them.
Suppose you spend $800 per person per year on clothing. If a child goes through 18 years of his life wearing only store-bought clothes, then $14,400 is what you'll spend on his clothes until he graduates. If you spend $50 per year at the store and the rest at garage sales, you'll spend $1,575 on clothes in that period of time. Maybe there will come a day when he finds garage sale clothes unacceptable, but then maybe he can earn the money for his own clothes.
Not only that, but we avoid sales tax; at 8.5%, that in itself is a pretty normal year's return on an investment. And for those who are concerned about it, it keeps that many more useful items out of the dumps; garage sales are one of the more commendable aspects of American consumer science.
So there you go. My plug for one of the best money-savers I've found! I hope you'll try them out as well.
I've heard people say you can't find brand names at garage sales, but they are those who don't shop there. My daughter loves brand names and almost never buys them in the stores. She can therefore afford three or four times the brand-name clothing that her friends have (space, however, is a practical limitation). We buy more clothes in a far faster time than we ever could in the malls! Then there are people who sniff that they would never buy used clothes. Well, if they're dirty, torn, or ugly, then no, I wouldn't either. But if they're respectable, why not? Take them home and wash them, and there's nothing objectionable about them.
Suppose you spend $800 per person per year on clothing. If a child goes through 18 years of his life wearing only store-bought clothes, then $14,400 is what you'll spend on his clothes until he graduates. If you spend $50 per year at the store and the rest at garage sales, you'll spend $1,575 on clothes in that period of time. Maybe there will come a day when he finds garage sale clothes unacceptable, but then maybe he can earn the money for his own clothes.
Not only that, but we avoid sales tax; at 8.5%, that in itself is a pretty normal year's return on an investment. And for those who are concerned about it, it keeps that many more useful items out of the dumps; garage sales are one of the more commendable aspects of American consumer science.
So there you go. My plug for one of the best money-savers I've found! I hope you'll try them out as well.
Frugality Incorporated!
I just happen to be one of the most frugal people in the universe. Well, I'm not stingy. That's different. (I don't think I am, anyway.) Frugal is saving money so you don't go broke as fast in tough times, and stingy is not being willing to share with others when their times are tough, or give something to them to celebrate events. I jokingly attribute my frugality to my Scottish and Jewish blood. It's diluted, supposedly, by many other things, but in my fingertips, which are of course what handle my wallet, these two ethnicities run the strongest! It's good, too, because my husband has changed jobs many times and our heads are still above water so far. Now here's how frugal I am (or at least was, before kids!)--I used to spend about $70 per MONTH for our groceries. Okay, so we ate a lot of potatoes and split pea soup back then. Anyway, I thought I'd share about my frugality, since I find it very helpful. Here are some of my most effective ideas that you can accept or reject, but I've been applying them for years with great success, I'd say; I usually save at least 35% according to the store receipt, and that doesn't even take into account that I don't buy the more expensive brand or size. Imagine that! I always think of investments, and how people are glad to get 10% in a year on their investment. They'd be thrilled out of their gourds to get 35%! And my savings is far more sudden than over a year's time! Whaha! So here are my methods:
Check the ads if you have time. If you lost the ad, you probably can look it up online; often they have extra copies at the store, too. If you buy according to the ad, and make meals that suit what was on sale, you'll be miles ahead.
Look at unit pricing, EVERY time it's an option. (This is the part of the price label stuck to the shelf underneath that tells the price per unit, such as per pound, per ounce, per sheet, per gallon.) It really clarifies which version of what you're buying is cheapest. Usually it's the largest, or the store brand, but not always.
Buy the least expensive option at the grocery store of all that category that you're seeking. As an example, I found that the little 12 oz. chubs of (even reduced fat) Italian sausage, the store brand of the Jimmy-Dean type, are cheaper per pound not only than the store brand but also than the tray pack of similar, more fattening Italian sausage that is out in the meat department.
Also, use any coupons if you can stand that. I generally stick to store coupons because though I used the brand type for a while, they take a lot of time to manage (cutting out, tossing out expired, storing, transporting) and a lot of alertness to use in the store. I think it was the advent of kids that made me toss the brand type, for lack of time. Some swear by them, however.
Don't buy groceries that aren't on sale or cheaper at another place, unless it's absolutely necessary and urgent that you buy regular price. I'd say less than 1% of my groceries are purchased at regular price. This includes all categories!
Don't go to the grocery store too often. Buy and store--whether on shelves, in fridge, freezer, or even cooler if it's really a good deal and will last long enough! The more often you go shopping, the more you are bound to spend on each trip and on each meal.
Go with a list! It's not that I always stick to mine (especially if I happen upon a bargain), but then I don't forget some crucial item that I would have to return to the store to get. I make my lists in one of those tiny binders that you can get at the start of the school year. I list on separate pages according to store--slightly different lists for each. I may have something I'll check the price on at one, and wait for a trip to another store before I'll get it.
Buy the large packages of hamburger or ground turkey if they're cheaper per pound, and take them home, divide into freezer bags and freeze.
Find the meals you make that have the least-costly ingredients and make those your family stand-bys. For us, we have homemade pizza once in a while, and baked potatoes with chili, and taco salad, and casseroles and crock-pot meals, homemade soups, spaghetti...things that aren't a huge piece of meat as the focus.
Don't eat out--whether school lunches, dinners, or anything. It's incredible how fast the cost of this adds up! I think my homemade lunches probably cost about 35 cents to one dollar per serving. Dinners in a sit-down restaurant run ridiculously high-cost! We have gotten less and less frequent about eating out, and I've become much happier about it over time. Now when we do eat out, I'm disgusted at how long it takes to get seated and served, how much the waiter wants us to order some costly drink, and especially how much we spend including tips and taxes. Yow! It's phenomenal.
So there is a start. I could probably post 300 more ways, if I could think of them all. After a while, they become so second-nature that you don't even realize that you're doing them. Happy shopping, saving, and thinking how much more money you have as a result!
Check the ads if you have time. If you lost the ad, you probably can look it up online; often they have extra copies at the store, too. If you buy according to the ad, and make meals that suit what was on sale, you'll be miles ahead.
Look at unit pricing, EVERY time it's an option. (This is the part of the price label stuck to the shelf underneath that tells the price per unit, such as per pound, per ounce, per sheet, per gallon.) It really clarifies which version of what you're buying is cheapest. Usually it's the largest, or the store brand, but not always.
Buy the least expensive option at the grocery store of all that category that you're seeking. As an example, I found that the little 12 oz. chubs of (even reduced fat) Italian sausage, the store brand of the Jimmy-Dean type, are cheaper per pound not only than the store brand but also than the tray pack of similar, more fattening Italian sausage that is out in the meat department.
Also, use any coupons if you can stand that. I generally stick to store coupons because though I used the brand type for a while, they take a lot of time to manage (cutting out, tossing out expired, storing, transporting) and a lot of alertness to use in the store. I think it was the advent of kids that made me toss the brand type, for lack of time. Some swear by them, however.
Don't buy groceries that aren't on sale or cheaper at another place, unless it's absolutely necessary and urgent that you buy regular price. I'd say less than 1% of my groceries are purchased at regular price. This includes all categories!
Don't go to the grocery store too often. Buy and store--whether on shelves, in fridge, freezer, or even cooler if it's really a good deal and will last long enough! The more often you go shopping, the more you are bound to spend on each trip and on each meal.
Go with a list! It's not that I always stick to mine (especially if I happen upon a bargain), but then I don't forget some crucial item that I would have to return to the store to get. I make my lists in one of those tiny binders that you can get at the start of the school year. I list on separate pages according to store--slightly different lists for each. I may have something I'll check the price on at one, and wait for a trip to another store before I'll get it.
Buy the large packages of hamburger or ground turkey if they're cheaper per pound, and take them home, divide into freezer bags and freeze.
Find the meals you make that have the least-costly ingredients and make those your family stand-bys. For us, we have homemade pizza once in a while, and baked potatoes with chili, and taco salad, and casseroles and crock-pot meals, homemade soups, spaghetti...things that aren't a huge piece of meat as the focus.
Don't eat out--whether school lunches, dinners, or anything. It's incredible how fast the cost of this adds up! I think my homemade lunches probably cost about 35 cents to one dollar per serving. Dinners in a sit-down restaurant run ridiculously high-cost! We have gotten less and less frequent about eating out, and I've become much happier about it over time. Now when we do eat out, I'm disgusted at how long it takes to get seated and served, how much the waiter wants us to order some costly drink, and especially how much we spend including tips and taxes. Yow! It's phenomenal.
So there is a start. I could probably post 300 more ways, if I could think of them all. After a while, they become so second-nature that you don't even realize that you're doing them. Happy shopping, saving, and thinking how much more money you have as a result!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Botanical Anemia, anyone?
If your plants are looking kind of pale and maybe on the verge of yellow, try adding iron to their soil! (I can relate, being prone to anemia...) I sometimes take the old SOS pad from my kitchen sink counter as it starts deteriorating and take bits of it to put in the plants that need it most--rhody bushes like it; so does your lawn. Even house plants! When you buy them new, they're nice and deep green; you take them home and all your others look sad. I think iron deficiency is one of their biggest problems!
Around here, you tear apart an SOS pad outside and it disappears completely within the first couple of rainstorms.
Do you start new plants from the old ones? I have spider plants and philodendron-type plants and various things, and often if I just put the little offspring or a leaf from the old plant into a little jar or vase over my sink, in about a week I have a new plant start. (I've even put a little wisp of SOS in the jar there!)
So I hope you have some fun with the little things I've learned along the way.
Around here, you tear apart an SOS pad outside and it disappears completely within the first couple of rainstorms.
Do you start new plants from the old ones? I have spider plants and philodendron-type plants and various things, and often if I just put the little offspring or a leaf from the old plant into a little jar or vase over my sink, in about a week I have a new plant start. (I've even put a little wisp of SOS in the jar there!)
So I hope you have some fun with the little things I've learned along the way.
From my time in the Produce Shop
Back around the time that I was married (and that's 23 years almost), I worked in a mom-and-pop produce store near Portland, Oregon. The place was owned by Italians, especially a very proud owner named Frank, who did appearances on a local tv show from time to time with advice about produce. I learned a lot, but I had four passionately opinionated and not-always-in-agreement Italian bosses, which was quite an experience! I could be setting up the tomatoes, and each one would come by with a different way of doing it right. Kind of funny, looking back. It was a good experience, overall.
Which brings me to tomatoes...I bet you keep yours in your fridge, don't you? "Of course, where else would I keep them?" Actually, this is one of the more revolutionary things I learned there. Tomatoes keep better and firmer out on the counter; in the fridge they turn watery. Sure, they do spoil eventually in either place, but if you like firm tomatoes, keep them at room temperature.
Bananas can be kept in the fridge if you want them firmer longer. The peels will turn ugly, but you're not eating the peel anyway! Apples and oranges should be refrigerated, but I like mine on the counter, because we forget they exist, in the fridge.
Onions and potatoes should be kept at room temperature in the dark, but not together because one makes the other sprout, I'm not sure which one. I keep them both in my pantry, but not next to each other. If potatoes see too much light, they turn green-tinged, and the greenness can cause stomach aches. If you just peel it off, it's fine underneath though.
Cantaloupe and other melons should give slightly at the blossom end. Honeydew melon should be waxy-feeling on the outside. Watermelon should sound rather hollow. (I bought one one time, though, because it sounded so hollow--and it was! The thing had rotted inside. Don't go for TOO hollow!)
Broccoli is best if it's kind of stiff, not wiggly, and if it has a kind of purple hue on its buds; the buds shouldn't be open and there should be no yellowness anywhere. It keeps best on ice. If they don't have it cold, don't buy it.
That's the most significant and memorable stuff I learned in the produce shop. Hope it's useful to you!
Which brings me to tomatoes...I bet you keep yours in your fridge, don't you? "Of course, where else would I keep them?" Actually, this is one of the more revolutionary things I learned there. Tomatoes keep better and firmer out on the counter; in the fridge they turn watery. Sure, they do spoil eventually in either place, but if you like firm tomatoes, keep them at room temperature.
Bananas can be kept in the fridge if you want them firmer longer. The peels will turn ugly, but you're not eating the peel anyway! Apples and oranges should be refrigerated, but I like mine on the counter, because we forget they exist, in the fridge.
Onions and potatoes should be kept at room temperature in the dark, but not together because one makes the other sprout, I'm not sure which one. I keep them both in my pantry, but not next to each other. If potatoes see too much light, they turn green-tinged, and the greenness can cause stomach aches. If you just peel it off, it's fine underneath though.
Cantaloupe and other melons should give slightly at the blossom end. Honeydew melon should be waxy-feeling on the outside. Watermelon should sound rather hollow. (I bought one one time, though, because it sounded so hollow--and it was! The thing had rotted inside. Don't go for TOO hollow!)
Broccoli is best if it's kind of stiff, not wiggly, and if it has a kind of purple hue on its buds; the buds shouldn't be open and there should be no yellowness anywhere. It keeps best on ice. If they don't have it cold, don't buy it.
That's the most significant and memorable stuff I learned in the produce shop. Hope it's useful to you!
Rags and things to wash with
I don't use all that many cleansers that often around our house. I do have them on hand and use them if needed, but often-times all that is required is a hot wet rag. I cut up some of my older towels into eighths, and they make great rags. Don't buy handi-wipes or any of those pre-soaped things unless you don't mind spending the money. I'm too frugal for that. We use rags mostly, and I bleach them in the wash and keep them in buckets--one under the kitchen sink, one in the laundry room and one in an upstairs bathroom. Once it's part of your life it's no hassle at all.
When I use a rag, I start with cleaning the cleanest surface first (or that where cleanliness is most crucial) so that the rag isn't soiled beyond further use immediately. As it gets dirtier, I use it in less honorable places--such as the sliding door tracks or the front door threshhold. After it's maxed out I throw it in the wash.
For example, in the bathroom (here's a place that I like to use a cleanser--my favorite is Soft Scrub), I start with the sink fixtures, then the sink counter, then the sink itself; then the top of the toilet tank, then the seat, then the base. I use clean ones for the floor. I definitely don't take a rag from the bathroom and use it anywhere else--it goes straight to the wash.
In the kitchen, dishrags (which aren't the torn towels; they are specifically for the kitchen) get washed when they've been idle too long (such as a few hours) or if they're too dirty, whichever comes first. I remember visiting a friend when my son was a baby, and needing a washcloth for his face--and she referred me to the cloth in her sink. The thing was slippery and smelly and I could hardly fathom the thought--it must have been in there for days! A little bleach in the wash, and frequent washing, makes these things clean and pleasant. For the floor anywhere, including the kitchen, I don't use my kitchen dishrags--I use the towel rags for that.
Paper towels are too expensive for me to use them very often. I use them where they work better than cloth, such as picking up eggwhites or sopping grease from a pan.
I've told people that cellulose sponges are machine washable, and they won't believe me. But when I was growing up, my mom did it all the time--and they'll go through the dryer too. They end up kind of shrunken and dry, but they work just fine when water is added!
As far as kitchen dish brushes, I put them in the dishwasher along with all the dishes, and they come out much cleaner than they seem after just regular dishwater. I've heard of people running various scrub brushes through the dishwasher too, all together in a special wash, but I've never done it.
That's all I can think of now on the subject of rags and things to clean with. I hope it helps somewhat. Forgive me if I insulted your intelligence! Some of this took some thinking through once I was on my own because I learned it...the hard way, on my own.
When I use a rag, I start with cleaning the cleanest surface first (or that where cleanliness is most crucial) so that the rag isn't soiled beyond further use immediately. As it gets dirtier, I use it in less honorable places--such as the sliding door tracks or the front door threshhold. After it's maxed out I throw it in the wash.
For example, in the bathroom (here's a place that I like to use a cleanser--my favorite is Soft Scrub), I start with the sink fixtures, then the sink counter, then the sink itself; then the top of the toilet tank, then the seat, then the base. I use clean ones for the floor. I definitely don't take a rag from the bathroom and use it anywhere else--it goes straight to the wash.
In the kitchen, dishrags (which aren't the torn towels; they are specifically for the kitchen) get washed when they've been idle too long (such as a few hours) or if they're too dirty, whichever comes first. I remember visiting a friend when my son was a baby, and needing a washcloth for his face--and she referred me to the cloth in her sink. The thing was slippery and smelly and I could hardly fathom the thought--it must have been in there for days! A little bleach in the wash, and frequent washing, makes these things clean and pleasant. For the floor anywhere, including the kitchen, I don't use my kitchen dishrags--I use the towel rags for that.
Paper towels are too expensive for me to use them very often. I use them where they work better than cloth, such as picking up eggwhites or sopping grease from a pan.
I've told people that cellulose sponges are machine washable, and they won't believe me. But when I was growing up, my mom did it all the time--and they'll go through the dryer too. They end up kind of shrunken and dry, but they work just fine when water is added!
As far as kitchen dish brushes, I put them in the dishwasher along with all the dishes, and they come out much cleaner than they seem after just regular dishwater. I've heard of people running various scrub brushes through the dishwasher too, all together in a special wash, but I've never done it.
That's all I can think of now on the subject of rags and things to clean with. I hope it helps somewhat. Forgive me if I insulted your intelligence! Some of this took some thinking through once I was on my own because I learned it...the hard way, on my own.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Just some pointers on laundry
I have found a number of helps in doing laundry that I think would be good to share. I can't cover how to treat every situation; I have a couple of books I keep in my laundry room for those more obscure problems.
First, hopefully you know to categorize clothes into white, medium, dark, and delicate clothes. White can be washed in hot water (more costly but it's more sanitizing too); medium, dark and delicate can be washed in cold water. If you keep them categorized, though, the colors of the darker ones won't make the others look dingy. The delicate ones need to be washed at a more gentle setting.
If you have a stain that has gone through the wash and the dryer without being treated, usually people think it can't be gotten out. I use Zout--it almost always works. Does that sound like a commercial or what?! Still, it's true.
For everyday spot cleaning, a few years back I learned that if you take a new empty spray bottle and fill it 1/4 full with liquid laundry detergent, 1/4 with ammonia, 1/4 with vinegar, and the rest with water, it makes a great laundry pretreating spray, and it's sure cheaper than any other laundry treatment! (I buy white vinegar by the gallon--it's only about $2 or $3; ammonia in the largest bottle I've found, about 1/2 gallon; and liquid detergent, whatever is cheapest.)
If you have stinky clothes, spray them with vinegar. You would think that would make it worse, but it helps get it out. If the whole wash is bad, just put 1/4 c. or so of vinegar in with the laundry soap. Vinegar is also good on grass and coffee stains.
Never mix ammonia and bleach--they can let off a potentially deadly gas.
Also, I buy the very cheapest powdered laundry detergent. If you need perfumes and blueing and all the silly stuff they put in the other, you could add them separately, but if you don't need them and all you need is to get the clothes clean, plain cheap detergent is good. It's also better for those who are sensitive to the strong perfumes. Even with my newer washer and dryer, I use the cheap powder though they "recommend" a certain costly type of Tide liquid detergent that's supposed to foam less. Only one time I had a problem; the washer just shut down and wouldn't go. By the time the repairman came out it worked fine--because the powder had clumped in the passageway and then dissolved. If you have that problem, just add water and wait, and try again later.
Another thing--I rarely use as much detergent as they imply you need. I replace the scoop that comes with the detergent with a smaller scoop. Repairmen will tell you that you don't need so much.
With white clothes, I add just a little bit of bleach with each wash and give it an extra rinse to avoid there being residue. You certainly don't need as much bleach as they say on the bottle! Too much wears out the clothes and makes them scratchy.
And there you are. Do I sound authoritative? I'm not. I just have learned this stuff through time. Happy laundering!
First, hopefully you know to categorize clothes into white, medium, dark, and delicate clothes. White can be washed in hot water (more costly but it's more sanitizing too); medium, dark and delicate can be washed in cold water. If you keep them categorized, though, the colors of the darker ones won't make the others look dingy. The delicate ones need to be washed at a more gentle setting.
If you have a stain that has gone through the wash and the dryer without being treated, usually people think it can't be gotten out. I use Zout--it almost always works. Does that sound like a commercial or what?! Still, it's true.
For everyday spot cleaning, a few years back I learned that if you take a new empty spray bottle and fill it 1/4 full with liquid laundry detergent, 1/4 with ammonia, 1/4 with vinegar, and the rest with water, it makes a great laundry pretreating spray, and it's sure cheaper than any other laundry treatment! (I buy white vinegar by the gallon--it's only about $2 or $3; ammonia in the largest bottle I've found, about 1/2 gallon; and liquid detergent, whatever is cheapest.)
If you have stinky clothes, spray them with vinegar. You would think that would make it worse, but it helps get it out. If the whole wash is bad, just put 1/4 c. or so of vinegar in with the laundry soap. Vinegar is also good on grass and coffee stains.
Never mix ammonia and bleach--they can let off a potentially deadly gas.
Also, I buy the very cheapest powdered laundry detergent. If you need perfumes and blueing and all the silly stuff they put in the other, you could add them separately, but if you don't need them and all you need is to get the clothes clean, plain cheap detergent is good. It's also better for those who are sensitive to the strong perfumes. Even with my newer washer and dryer, I use the cheap powder though they "recommend" a certain costly type of Tide liquid detergent that's supposed to foam less. Only one time I had a problem; the washer just shut down and wouldn't go. By the time the repairman came out it worked fine--because the powder had clumped in the passageway and then dissolved. If you have that problem, just add water and wait, and try again later.
Another thing--I rarely use as much detergent as they imply you need. I replace the scoop that comes with the detergent with a smaller scoop. Repairmen will tell you that you don't need so much.
With white clothes, I add just a little bit of bleach with each wash and give it an extra rinse to avoid there being residue. You certainly don't need as much bleach as they say on the bottle! Too much wears out the clothes and makes them scratchy.
And there you are. Do I sound authoritative? I'm not. I just have learned this stuff through time. Happy laundering!
Monday, April 10, 2006
My Favorite Cooking Website
One of my favorite websites for cooking is allrecipes.com. They have innumerable recipes in an easy-to-find format. There are some neat little features to use here: Top Tens, Hall of Fame, Most Popular; Meatless Main Dishes (less ratings); Cooking Light Five-Star Recipes (not many ratings, but Cooking Light's name is behind them); and various for particular nutritional needs.
You can search for something specific by the name of the recipe or by ingredients you have on hand. It might come up with 10 or 50 different recipes based on your entry. You can narrow these down by looking at the ratings for the recipe. How many people have commented on that recipe? How many stars does it have? If you find one that is extremely tried and true, it's a sure bet (you must see their Hall of Fame page!). Read your chosen recipe's comments and you might find some very helpful advice. Then you can adapt the recipe to suit your tastes and improve on it based on others' experience. You can change how many the recipe is supposed to serve, and it will change quantities of ingredients to accommodate.
I tried entering "Easter" for a search today. It came up with Easter recipe collections; various recipes that seem appropriate for Easter dinner; and Easter leftover recipes. There are Top 10 Easter Recipes; Easter Recipe of the Day; even Easter recipes from the Middle East. You can find Easter Advice too.
Then I tried "Pineapple Upside-Down Cake" and it came up with 16 recipe results. (Here's something I have found in times past: making this cake with a mix is indiscernable from making it from scratch!)
You can search by the person who submitted your favorite recipe or by who does the most informative commenting. Each recipe has nutritional information. You can also search by nutritional need.
They have Top Ten recipes for various categories. These tend to be their most recent set of favorite recipes.
When I find a recipe, I copy it and then go to Microsoft Word and paste it by going to "Edit", "Paste Special", and "Unformatted Text." Then I get all the wording without all the format, and I can more easily delete any unwanted clutter and format it according to what I want. I have different documents for different types of recipes, sort of like sections in a cookbook.
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. It's a wonderful website for everyday, and with a holiday coming such as Easter, it's a big help! So happy recipe searching!
You can search for something specific by the name of the recipe or by ingredients you have on hand. It might come up with 10 or 50 different recipes based on your entry. You can narrow these down by looking at the ratings for the recipe. How many people have commented on that recipe? How many stars does it have? If you find one that is extremely tried and true, it's a sure bet (you must see their Hall of Fame page!). Read your chosen recipe's comments and you might find some very helpful advice. Then you can adapt the recipe to suit your tastes and improve on it based on others' experience. You can change how many the recipe is supposed to serve, and it will change quantities of ingredients to accommodate.
I tried entering "Easter" for a search today. It came up with Easter recipe collections; various recipes that seem appropriate for Easter dinner; and Easter leftover recipes. There are Top 10 Easter Recipes; Easter Recipe of the Day; even Easter recipes from the Middle East. You can find Easter Advice too.
Then I tried "Pineapple Upside-Down Cake" and it came up with 16 recipe results. (Here's something I have found in times past: making this cake with a mix is indiscernable from making it from scratch!)
You can search by the person who submitted your favorite recipe or by who does the most informative commenting. Each recipe has nutritional information. You can also search by nutritional need.
They have Top Ten recipes for various categories. These tend to be their most recent set of favorite recipes.
When I find a recipe, I copy it and then go to Microsoft Word and paste it by going to "Edit", "Paste Special", and "Unformatted Text." Then I get all the wording without all the format, and I can more easily delete any unwanted clutter and format it according to what I want. I have different documents for different types of recipes, sort of like sections in a cookbook.
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. It's a wonderful website for everyday, and with a holiday coming such as Easter, it's a big help! So happy recipe searching!
Sunday, April 09, 2006
An Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe
This is a recipe that I have used since I was a kid. I got it from page 92 of my mom's I Hate to Cook Book, by Peg Bracken. The page is all dusted with cocoa powder, and the book opens right to it, because it's the only recipe in the book that we ever used. The original recipe had you mix it in the pan, but dry ingredients could get lost in the corners. Any kid can make this; it's heart-healthy in that it has no eggs; it also has no milk; and it's moist and tastes great. I remember taking the batter home from a 4-H demonstration, and my mom was ready to throw it out thinking it would be no good any more. I suggested that we at least try baking it--and it turned out just fine! And it doubles well.
Cockeyed Cake
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
3 Tbsp. cocoa (I often use more)
1 tsp. soda
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. cold water
Mix dry ingredients well. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and cold water; stir well with a spoon until smooth. Bake in 9 X 9" pan 350 30 min. This can be doubled-or make in a pitcher and pour into cupcake tins. Just about foolproof.
Frosting: When you frost a cake, don't use that stuff from the store. It's so much cheaper, and easy, to make frosting at home! Some powdered sugar, butter, a little milk, and some vanilla--add cocoa powder for chocolate flavor. Only add the milk a tablespoon at a time or you'll have an ocean of frosting before you know it. If it's too thin add more sugar or cocoa powder.
Cockeyed Cake
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
3 Tbsp. cocoa (I often use more)
1 tsp. soda
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. cold water
Mix dry ingredients well. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla and cold water; stir well with a spoon until smooth. Bake in 9 X 9" pan 350 30 min. This can be doubled-or make in a pitcher and pour into cupcake tins. Just about foolproof.
Frosting: When you frost a cake, don't use that stuff from the store. It's so much cheaper, and easy, to make frosting at home! Some powdered sugar, butter, a little milk, and some vanilla--add cocoa powder for chocolate flavor. Only add the milk a tablespoon at a time or you'll have an ocean of frosting before you know it. If it's too thin add more sugar or cocoa powder.
Binders can be Sanity Savers!
I'm going to be deceptive in this post and perhaps in many of them: I'm going to sound like I'm really organized. I'm not; I have just found certain sanity-savers that help me to not go completely bonkers in the midst of my chaos! One of the things I have learned about homemaking, the first thing that comes to mind that I'd like to share, is the usefulness of binders. I have binders for many purposes:
One small binder (1/2") for each month of the year, with ideas for special holidays and birthday reminders; what to do around the house and in the garden that month; menu ideas for the month, based on what is in season; and some homeschooling ideas for that month as well, or any magazine articles that might be so seasonal. I don't use these binders continually, but they're helpful if I have a lot going on, such as Easter coming, and can just pull out a shopping list for it. For big holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving I have a separate binder for each of them too.
One binder has menu ideas: weeks of family-liked recipes, and corresponding shopping lists; actually I think there are seventeen sets, some more favored than others. I'm actually better at using it for looking up our favorite recipes in it than following it for a week at a time, but it's nice to know I could do it. It's good to have a week of ultra-familiar ultra-easy recipes so that if you're down and sick, the family can figure out what to make without so much of your help, and without buying much fast food.
For homeschooling, some years I have found it helpful to make a binder for each student with enough dividers for each week of the school year. Then the assignments for each week go within that divider. This year I started but found that for whatever reason it wasn't working. I might still apply it next year. It's best if you can get a lot of it done before the school year starts. You can also put a list in the front of books you have that you want to use, and books and videos that you want to check out of the library--sort them by date wanted, or by author so they're easier to look up.
I also have a binder for appliance warranties, sorted alphabetically by what the appliance is called, such as under T for toaster; but you could probably sort by brand. In that binder, too, I've had a list of what things use what size batteries; also make a list of what locks have what combinations (marking each lock with a different number) and keep that in the binder.
Also a home-improvement binder with pictures and articles about improvements I would like to make, names of contractors, and advice about home improvements and working with contractors. You can make a list by room of what you need done there, and what to the house overall, and what to the outside of the house and what to the yard. Most of this is dreamland, but if we hit the big time, we're ready!
Also a plants-in-our-yard binder, with information on any plants we buy or packets from seeds we plant. I've also made a grid with information about seeds that I might plant each spring, so that I can look up specifics on that plant by column. It's on the computer so I can sort by planting date, alphabetically, or by other instructions.
I know I have some other ideas, but as they come to mind, I'll post them for you to see. Actually, any full file folder you have that gets disorderly and you want to refer to regularly might be a good candidate for a binder instead.
One small binder (1/2") for each month of the year, with ideas for special holidays and birthday reminders; what to do around the house and in the garden that month; menu ideas for the month, based on what is in season; and some homeschooling ideas for that month as well, or any magazine articles that might be so seasonal. I don't use these binders continually, but they're helpful if I have a lot going on, such as Easter coming, and can just pull out a shopping list for it. For big holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving I have a separate binder for each of them too.
One binder has menu ideas: weeks of family-liked recipes, and corresponding shopping lists; actually I think there are seventeen sets, some more favored than others. I'm actually better at using it for looking up our favorite recipes in it than following it for a week at a time, but it's nice to know I could do it. It's good to have a week of ultra-familiar ultra-easy recipes so that if you're down and sick, the family can figure out what to make without so much of your help, and without buying much fast food.
For homeschooling, some years I have found it helpful to make a binder for each student with enough dividers for each week of the school year. Then the assignments for each week go within that divider. This year I started but found that for whatever reason it wasn't working. I might still apply it next year. It's best if you can get a lot of it done before the school year starts. You can also put a list in the front of books you have that you want to use, and books and videos that you want to check out of the library--sort them by date wanted, or by author so they're easier to look up.
I also have a binder for appliance warranties, sorted alphabetically by what the appliance is called, such as under T for toaster; but you could probably sort by brand. In that binder, too, I've had a list of what things use what size batteries; also make a list of what locks have what combinations (marking each lock with a different number) and keep that in the binder.
Also a home-improvement binder with pictures and articles about improvements I would like to make, names of contractors, and advice about home improvements and working with contractors. You can make a list by room of what you need done there, and what to the house overall, and what to the outside of the house and what to the yard. Most of this is dreamland, but if we hit the big time, we're ready!
Also a plants-in-our-yard binder, with information on any plants we buy or packets from seeds we plant. I've also made a grid with information about seeds that I might plant each spring, so that I can look up specifics on that plant by column. It's on the computer so I can sort by planting date, alphabetically, or by other instructions.
I know I have some other ideas, but as they come to mind, I'll post them for you to see. Actually, any full file folder you have that gets disorderly and you want to refer to regularly might be a good candidate for a binder instead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)