Look, Mom! I Canned Butter!

Well, it's not "true" canning because there was no water bath or pressure canner, but STILL, I did it! The process was pretty easy and can be found here. It can store up to 3 years on a shelf . I wanted some for my food storage (shortening on your toast, anyone?). 7 sticks of butter did 4 half-pint jars. I gave one away as a door prize during the food storage class I had last night at my house.

That class was the last emergency preparedness class I'll be doing for a while. The 1st one dealt with water storage, sanitation and 72 hour kits. The 2nd focused on emergency shelter, heating, and cooking. And last night we talked about long-term food storage. I woke up this morning so glad that it was over! Due to my amazingly honed skills of procrastination, I was up until 2 a.m. for four nights in a row trying to get things ready. The turn-out was smaller, but it went fairly well. I did get a little preachy (GASP! SHOCK!) but no one even rolled their eyes at me. Them's good peoples! When it was over we sat around and devoured yummy homemade bread and jam that a bunch of gals brought.

Bread making is a skill that I have not mastered. Something about working with yeast intimidates me. There just seems to be so many ways to screw it up--temperature, humidity, my mood.... Even the instructions are intimidating with their foreign phrases of "Raise until Double", "Punch it Down" and "Gluten Content." Part of it is laziness, since it seems to take up a whole day. My mother-in-law did help me make it once. And I tell ya, it's a little sad when you are that supremely proud of yourself for something that other people do every day of their lives. But hey--I did can butter!

Buses and Hats

Yesterday was the first day of school and a day of milestones. My oldest daughter, Alanna, went to Middle School. Middle School. Do you remember Middle School? All I could think about the night before she went was an image of my junior high and kids making out. Making Out. In sixth grade. But she left excited and came home happy, so I am very relieved (so far). Ethan started fourth grade and Emma started second grade.

My second son, Zachary, started kindergarten today. I've never seen him so excited in his whole little life. All he could talk about for days was riding the bus. Brady even wanted to take him to school on the first day, but oh no, he insisted on riding the bus. I walked him on and he was grinning from ear to ear. I thought I was doing good until the bus drove away and then I started crying. He just seems so little! I was waiting at the driveway when he came home and he came running to me with his arms open saying, "Mommy, Mommy, it was FUN!" So cute!!!

I've been working on these crocheted hats for a while now, trying to get the patterns and sizes down. I'm going to be selling them. I'm taking some samples in to a boutique next Saturday and I plan to put them on craigslist and hopefully sell some wholesale. They are made of cotton yarn. I've done a newsboy hat (not my own design), an irish rose beanie, and a boys' striped skater beanie. On the black beanie, the rose is sewn on and on the aqua beanie, the rose is attached with a removable clip that doubles as a hair barrette. The newsboy hat has elastic cord inside around the bottom. Of course they will come in all different colors. I think that chocolate brown has been a favorite so far. Here are some pictures. The boys' beanie looks out of place on the girlie hat stand, but when I get a picture of Bryce modeling it, I'll post it.

Laundry Day

Well, yesterday was Monday and that means one thing....Laundry Day! Most of the home and organization books & articles will advise you to do one load of laundry a day. Now that just doesn't work for me. We have a bigger than average family, so we have more laundry than the average family. Plus, when I did it that way, no one was ever happy. Someone (read Brady)always wanted their black socks or tan pants and I hadn't done that load yet. How was I supposed to know you wanted to wear that today? I'm good, but I'm not that good. Also, I have more loads of laundry than days of the week, so if I did the once-a-day thing, I would never ever catch up. And I find that's the issue about laundry that most people hate--the feeling of always being behind. So I started doing laundry one day a week, just like my madre did.

I gather it, sort it, and spend the day at home so I can fold it. (Of course, I'm a SAHM, so I can do that.) I sort into the following loads: Whites, Darks, Khakis, Brights, Denim, Pinks, Blues, and Towels/Sheets. So I have at least 8 loads, thanks to my handy dandy front loading washing machine. If I had a regular washer, I would have a minimum of 12 loads. So I pat my washer and whisper sweet nothings into her bleach compartment. Here's a picture after it's all been sorted:

It does take almost all day, but when it's done, it's DONE! And unless someone gets the stomach flu, I don't have to think about it for a whole week! I've also found that this method relieves me of some mommy dependency. I no longer hear, "Hey, where's my such and such?" Once I wash and fold it, it's YOUR responsibility. Don't come crying to me asking where your favorite shirt is. And when you wear it, you know exactly when it will be washed again, so plan accordingly. Laundry went from an overwhelming, never ending task to a weekly accomplishment, all thanks to the Laundry Day. If you can try it, let me know how you like it!

Back to School at WalMart

Well, it's back to school time. Did you get your supply list yet? I have 4 kids in school this year: kindergarten, 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade. I got their lists at registration (which, by the way, took over 2 hours) and when I saw them, BAM--instant headache! But I took a deep breath, lined them all up and made a Master List. This way I knew exactly how many of each item to buy, like 25 glue sticks. Then I waited until Brady (hubby) was home and the baby was asleep and headed out to Wal-Mart to get it over with. Now, at our house, my husband jokingly refers to WalMart as the 'Whore of Babylon' or 'The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil'--take your pick. And I usually roll my eyes, laugh, and make out my list, while he reminds me to be sure and take my hand sanitizer. But this time, he might have been right. I got there and they are out of yellow #2 pencils. What??! It is a week and a half before school starts and you are out of pencils?? What kind of a world is this? And I needed a lot of them. 77 to be exact. They were out of a lot of other items, too and everything seemed to be in different places. I just seemed to wander around in a fog. Then I noticed the other parents there and realized I wasn't the only one.

You could tell the parents because they were all staring bleary-eyed at their list. It's 10:00 at night and you could just feel the exhaustion. They would look up hesitantly from the list, blink a few times, and then reach out for what they wanted. BUT WAIT! Are those the more expensive PRANG watercolors that your teacher specifically asked for? Are you allowed to have that box of 64 crayons? Pointed or blunt tip? Wide ruled or college? Are you sure those pocket folders are supposed to have prongs? And I pity the fool who actually bought a Trapper Keeper. They'll be blacklisted for sure.

After several more trips to different stores, I got all the supplies and vowed that next year would be different! Remind me to read this post next year. And to remember that I have a relative who works at Office Depot!

In other news, my son Ethan had Pack Meeting last night at Rigby Lake. The kids had a great time, but my tummy was not liking all of the salad varieties I loaded up on. So about midnight, I'm in the bathroom thinking "Please don't let me throw up Cub Scout Hot Dog Potluck!" But of course I do. And I do not recommend it. Bleck!

Small Plus Simple Add up to Great!

I don't know about you, but I'm not going around doing grandiose things every day. In fact, a lot of the things I do could be labeled as routine, commonplace, and typical. But I want to make something grand and worthwhile out of my life and my children's lives and I really believe that the best way to accomplish this is the cumulative effect of small and simple efforts. So, this blog is to chronicle those everyday efforts, along with the occasional grand one, that bring meaning to the big picture of my life. As if to illustrate my thoughts, my baby (turning 11 months tomorrow--how did that happen?!) crawled for the first time today. He's not been very interested in being mobile. He has an adorable, but HUGE, Charlie Brown head, and he just doesn't like to move. But today, he saw something he really wanted and decided to go for it! Not too long from now, he'll be walking and then running, but for today he simply crawled a few small feet forward.