Be It Ever So Humble

Lots of little shorts

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:18:00 +0000

About a month ago, I sat down one evening and cut out six little pairs of shorts for the kids to sleep in this summer. I've been trying to use up some of the more childish prints in my stash, since they're growing up fast and may not always be pleased with racing puppy dogs on their clothes.

I sewed the the shorts all up, but I only put the elastic in two pairs. Then I set them aside and mostly forgot about them until today. I finished the last four pairs this afternoon. I'm so glad they're done, and now the kids will have something cool to wear to bed.

I hope they sleep well.

A week-long breakfast menu for food storage

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:41:00 +0000

I know that most of us think about keeping food storage in case of a natural disaster or huge emergency, but there are other reasons it might be used. I heard a mom speak once who was on bed rest with her fifth child, and her eight-year-old daughter made many of their meals from food storage. I have heard from others who have lived off their food storage during prolonged unemployment. I find that it even comes in handy when you just can't make it to the store for a few days, such as during an illness or after a vacation.

Here is how I want my food storage plan to be, eventually:

Meals will be planned out and written down so that anyone (not just me) will be able to make them.
All ingredients will be non-perishable and kept on hand, with optional additional ingredients to supplement.
Most meals will be simple and not take 36 hours to make (like from-scratch dry bean soups and long-rising breads).
Most meals will rely on real foods, not convenience foods.
Costs will be kept down as much as possible.
Each day's food will be nutritionally well-balanced.
We will enjoy eating most of the meals, and they won't seem completely outlandish to an outsider.
There will be an alternative meal plan in case of power outage that will cover a few weeks.

I'm not asking much, am I? Ha. I'm working on getting a variety of dinner recipes (I want at least a month's worth, because I like variety), and school lunches are stumping me, but I've finally got a breakfast plan!

One thing that worried me about the breakfast plan was getting some protein in, because we normally eat eggs almost every morning, and I don't want to store (or eat!) powdered eggs. I did eventually find an answer: supplementing our pancakes and waffles with a little white bean flour. It makes the texture a little moister, but I'm the only one who really notices a difference.

I have typed up a document with the list of meals; a list of things to do in advance (such as make granola); a list of supplementary ingredients that we don't keep in our storage but would be nice to have (such as eggs and milk); and the recipes.

Here's what we're having:
Cream of wheat or cornmeal mush (every other week)
Waffles
Oatmeal
Peanut butter granola
Pancakes
Oatmeal
Granola

Want to see the rest? I've uploaded it here.

Now I really need to get to work on the lunches and dinners. What food storage–friendly ideas do you have for meals away from home (like lunch at school)? Sandwiches are obvious, but I'm looking for fillings other than tuna and peanut butter. Also, what do I do for a fruit or veggie?

Homemaker's Challenge DIY Accomplished

Re-prioritizing

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:47:00 +0000

I've decided to spend more time with my kids this summer—because after all, I'm a stay-at-home mom primarily so I can take care of them, and only secondarily so I can take care of the housework.

In any case, let me tell you this: I'm busy! It is so much harder to get kids to do work than to just do it yourself. And while I'm trying to get the kids to do their work, mine falls by the wayside.

It isn't all child labor around here, though: we're having good times too. Every day we do some schoolwork together, and the kids and I love that. We're also doing violin, and we have reading time for half an hour every day after lunch.

Today we went to the park right after breakfast, before it got hot and crowded. It was perfect! We've missed outdoor time since we've been sick, but now that we're mostly better, I'll be trying for something every day, whether it's a walk, a visit to the park, or a bigger outing.

Another thing to juggle that hasn't been an issue in the past is friends. Some neighborhood kids have discovered my kids, and they'll come over at any time (but rarely at a time that's convenient for me).

Probably the most exhausting thing in the past couple of weeks has been my kids fighting. They're so unpredictable: one day they'll be best friends, and the next they can't stand the sight of each other.

So right now I'm behind on housework, I haven't had much time for myself, and I feel like I can't keep up with anything. But I've been spending more time with my children, and that makes us all happy.

Homemaker's Challenge DIY Accomplished

Red Chief writes about Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Red Chief playing in the sand pile on our driveway

Red Chief asked me this week if he was old enough to have a blog. I told him he could post on mine. I'm so proud that Red Chief wanted to write about Jesus.

I think he's getting Laban mixed up with Herod. :)

Catching up

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:09:00 +0000

All week I've been trying to balance resting and recovering with keeping up with things around the house. Unfortunately I haven't been doing very well at either one, but things are finally starting to look up. I'm not back at 100% yet, but I'm feeling better, and last night was the first really good rest I've had in a week (no coughing!).

I've stayed caught up on dishes this week (mostly thanks to Mr. Mordecai), but everything else needed done. Yesterday I finally got sick of it all—the clutter, the vase of dead flowers, the ants by the back door, the piles of laundry needing to be folded, the rumpled blankets falling out of the linen closet.

It's funny how easy it really was to get (mostly) caught back up once I got started. I developed a good momentum and went from task to task, finishing each as quickly as I could and trying to move in a logical order.

I feel so much better now! Life in a mess is depressing. Now if only today I can get a few more things done: cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, finishing the laundry, baking, cutting flowers for the mantel, and getting rid of those pestilential ants.

Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Red Chief and I have had a rocky start to our summer vacation: we've both caught bad colds. On Saturday and Sunday I couldn't talk at all. Red Chief had a fever last night. And we both have nasty sore throats and coughs. Oh, and the terrible headache. Ugh.

I think I've been doing too much the past few days, so today I'm taking it easy (as much as I can). We're watching TV all day if we must. I don't even care right now.

Alphabet practice

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This weekend I hunted down all of Red Chief's unused and half-used preschool workbooks (he wasn't really a workbook sort of guy). Tiger Lily adores them! Most of them still have 50¢ stickers on them from the thrift store.

We started the shapes workbook and an alphabet dot-to-dot book. Tiger Lily liked the shapes (and she did a great job coloring them), but she loved the alphabet dot-to-dots. I was surprised that my almost four-year-old could complete the puzzles with so little help. It gave her some great practice chanting through the alphabet over and over again (especially as she didn't stop until she had done eight pictures!).

Oh, and lest you think Red Chief is feeling left out, he's working on this summer bridge activity book, which he is enjoying very much.

Homemaker's Challenge DIY Accomplished

Good-bye, Google Friend Connect

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Fri, 31 May 2013 16:35:00 +0000

I've stopped using Google Friend Connect. I took it off my blog awhile ago, but this week I went through and "unfollowed" the few blogs I was still reading through it. I just wanted to throw this out there, though, if I was following you through GFC: I'm still reading your blog! Just through my RSS reader. I think it's easier to follow all my blogs the same way, especially since Google Reader is going soon.

Do you use Google Friend Connect?

Popsicles

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

I've made a goal this summer to make more popsicles for my kids. Even if I use sugar in them, I'll still be eliminating artificial colors (and whatever other fake stuff might be in them), not to mention waste.

I have three different sets of molds, each with one spot out of commission due to breakage. Two sets I just picked up at the grocery store for a dollar; the third is this one, which is very popular with the kids.

Last week, I froze pineapple-orange-strawberry juice. This week I made a batch with a quart of grape juice home-canned by my mom (thanks Mom!). We've also tried freezing syrup from my mom's home-canned blackberries (amazing) and syrup from a can of peaches (the kids liked it).

The kids want to make some with blueberries suspended in lemonade. I want to make pudding pops (using my microwave pudding recipe), and maybe try freezing some of our next smoothie. I might also try freezing yogurt, or adding gelatin to juice to slow down drips. There are so many possibilities!

I will continue to keep a few commercially frozen ice pops in plastic tubes for emergencies—they are our go-to in case a kid gets a split lip or minor mouth injury, and I want to ensure that we have some around for when we run out of homemade.

What ideas for fun flavors do you have? Have you made homemade popsicles?

Book birthday presents—and the toy question

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Wed, 29 May 2013 15:38:00 +0000

I love reading, and when my kids are invited to a birthday party, I love the thought of sharing one of our favorite stories with the birthday kid instead of adding another plastic toy to the mountain of gifts.

We have Amazon Prime, so we have two-day shipping from Amazon. This morning, Tiger Lily and I picked out a gift for her little friend without leaving the house (it's The Great Pie Robbery by Richard Scarry). Her last friend received Peasant Pig and the Terrible Dragon—Richard Scarry has won both times because Tiger Lily loves his books and because they're very affordable on Amazon.

As a parent, I'm starting to become disillusioned with toys. I've gotten rid of at least half of ours in the past year, and the kids haven't missed them at all. They rarely play with 95% of their toys: they just dump them out of the plastic bins they're stored in so they can use the bins in their play.

I don't mind my kids getting the occasional well-thought-out toy gift: they usually love getting toys, and they'll usually play with them quite a bit the first week—then just the five percent of extra-special toys will be loved for a long time, while the others are forgotten.

What about you? What sorts of gifts do you like to see your children get? Do your kids play with toys more than mine do?

Recently tried recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:23:00 +0000

No-bake energy bites. These were a hit with the kids. I liked them too well enough but they were a little too sweet for my taste. I wonder if they would still hold together if I tried to reduce the honey?

Sour gummy candies. Also a hit with the kids. I liked them too, but I would have liked them more if I hadn't made them myself. Do yourself a favor and don't inhale while you're melting the stuff together. Unflavored gelatin smells nasty. I didn't have fun molds, so I used an ice cube tray (sprayed with non-stick spray).

Quinoa stuffed peppers. The grown-ups liked these very much. Red Chief thought they were all right; Tiger Lily just wanted the cheese. We'll definitely be making these again—I thought they were a great alternative to ground beef–stuffed peppers.

Chicken-potato-green bean casserole. We all liked this! I used a bag of frozen green beans. I cut the butter by half and melted it; added a few tablespoons of water; mixed in a packet of ranch dressing mix; then poured it over the top. My chicken needed an extra ten minutes past the hour of cooking time specified to reach a safe temperature.

Roasted red pepper pasta. This was yummy even without the Parmesan cheese, which I ran out of. I bet it's even better with.

Green curry soup. This was too spicy for the kids but not flavorful enough for the adults. It is really healthy, though! It was fun to make once but I probably won't bother to make it again.

Red Chief writes to Mo Willems

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:49:00 +0000

This is the second letter my son has written—of his own volition—to Mo Willems. The book that inspired him to write this time was That Is Not a Good Idea!

We found an address to send it to here. Last time he got a reply.

———

P.S. I have redacted Red Chief's name from the letter, which is why it appears to say "from first grade" at the bottom.

P.P.S. Translations: since=science; specing=speaking; whosps=wasps; serys=series

Queries

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Every once in awhile, I like to poke through my Google Analytics account and look at the search terms, mostly to make sure I'm not inadvertently attracting creeps. It has actually been years since I have looked at the things people search for that bring them to this site.

You might be glad to hear that I don't seem to have written anything lately that is attracting creeps. I was heartened to find, however, that thousands of people have been using my dried to canned beans conversion. It makes me happy to know that some of what I write is useful to people other than myself.

In any case, I came across some silly search terms as I was browsing. I'm afraid my blog probably wasn't very helpful to these people.

pain in the waffle iron
poems about coughs and colds
nose shaper before and after
how we can storage wheat in selos
i love my tiger lily skirt
if i bleach my dishcloth is that good enough for eh
is it okay to eat potato for breakfast
am i humble quiz

Cost comparison: homemade cleaning supplies vs. storebought

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:21:00 +0000

Last month I had an phone interview with a reporter from a national news organization. He wanted to know how staying at home saves me money.

I appreciated the chance to think about not only the ways I save money by staying at home, but also the reasons I stay at home. I will write more about that in the next few weeks, but first, let's talk about making our own cleaning supplies.

The reporter wanted to know how much I save per year by making some of my own cleaning supplies. It was fun to figure out approximately how much money I'm saving. Here is what I concluded—and these are all estimates, of course.

The short answer is that I save about $210/year or $17/month by making my own cleaning supplies. See below for more details.

——

Making my own laundry soap (recipes here and here) costs about 2¢/load. Name-brand detergent costs about 12¢/load. So let's estimate that store-brand detergent might cost as little as 6¢/load, but I'm just guessing on that one. If I do 7 loads of laundry per week (which is about average for me), I will spend about 14¢ on homemade detergent, vs. 84¢ name brand or 42¢ store brand. Over a year I will spend about $7.28 on laundry detergent, vs. $43.68 on name-brand (or possibly half that if you buy store brand).

I use vinegar for fabric softener. That runs about 5¢/load, so about $18.20/year. Commercial fabric softener is around 7¢/load, so that's about $25.48/year.

I can make a bottle of glass cleaner for about 25¢. If you buy a bottle of glass cleaner for $2 (just guessing here), and you use one bottle per month, you'd spend about $3/year making homemade vs. $24/year buying.

I can make a bottle of bath/shower cleaner for about $1.25. A can of Scrubbing Bubbles costs about $5. At one bottle per month, that's $15/year vs. $60/year.

I use bleach for toilet bowl cleaner. That costs about 50¢/month, vs. perhaps $2/month for toilet bowl cleaner. That would be $6/year vs. $24/year.

I use re-usable rags cut from our old clothes for cleaning, so that saves perhaps $52/year if you go through a sponge a week at a dollar each, and perhaps a pack of cleaning wipes per month at $3 each, so $36/year. Let's estimate that I spend about $5/year on dish cloths for the kitchen.

I also use a commercial disinfectant, but I will leave out the costs of that as I assume I spend about what others do.

So, doing the math, I would be spending approximately $54.48/year on my homemade cleaning supplies, vs. my estimate of $265.16 on commercial supplies, for a savings of $210.68/year. That's $4.54/month vs. $22.10/month, for a savings of $17.56/month. I would estimate that I probably spend a maximum of 2 hours per year putting together my homemade cleaning supplies.

Feed readers

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

I'm an avid user of Google Reader, so the announcement that they're discontinuing it soon pretty much shattered my internet world. How could they?

But in any case, moving on, I signed up for Feedly as recommended by Melissa Wiley. I didn't love it and went back to using Google Reader for awhile.

But July 1 is coming closer, so last week I tried out Bloglines. I'm not a huge fan. I went back to Feedly and I think that's where I'll be staying. I think it has actually gotten better in the month since I last tried it.

Do you use an RSS reader to keep up with your online reading? Which one are you using?

I used to post our menus fairly often, but it's been a long time since I've put one up. Here is the list of dinners we're currently working our way through:

Quinoa stuffed peppers; coleslaw
Pizza pasta bake
Cabbage roll casserole
Chicken-potato-green bean casserole; salad
Southwest layered salad; muffins or cornbread
Quesadillas; melon; guacamole and chips
Roasted red pepper pasta, artichokes, lemon-mustard dip
Black bean burgers
Black bean tacos; pineapple
Green curry soup; brown rice
Mediterranean couscous and lentils

I haven't put sides with everything—usually I just wing it with canned or frozen fruits or vegetables, or whatever's around that needs using up.

What are you eating lately?

Everyday preparedness

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

You hear a crash and a scream. Your daughter's hand is badly cut, and she needs to go to the emergency room. Where are your first aid supplies? Do you have any clean towels or washcloths? Where are your purse and keys?
A friend has had an emergency and needs a place to stay with her children—tonight. Do you have enough clean blankets and sheets? How many months' build-up has been stacked on the guest room bed?
Your husband calls. He's been in a bike accident and needs you to come pick him up and take him to the emergency room. Where are your purse and keys? Where are your two-year-old's shoes? What are you going to do with your two-year-old? Do you have a list of people you can call to help out?
You've all overslept, and you need to get out the door in record time. Does everyone have clean clothes? What will you have for breakfast? Where are everyone's backpacks, coats, homework, etc.?
You realize that you forgot a key ingredient for tonight's dinner. Do you have to run to the store during rush hour? Do you just order pizza? Or do you have a back-up meal you can make from pantry supplies?
Your kids start throwing up during the night. Do you have clean bedding? Is your washing machine empty and ready to go, or will you have to take care of yesterday's wet laundry first? Is your child's room so messy that you will now have to clean its entire contents as well as the bedding and carpet? Do you have basic medications and remedies on hand, or will you have to make a midnight pharmacy run?

All of these scenarios have happened to me. I handled some of them better than others, and here is what I have noticed: when I am mostly caught up on basic housework, crises are easier to handle, whether they are big or small.

Dealing with vomit is miserable enough without having to shift laundry out of the washer and dryer before you can use them. If there's an emergency and you need to be somewhere in a hurry, the last thing you want to waste time on is finding everyone's shoes. A bad morning is made ten times worse by a filthy kitchen and last night's dinner dishes still on the table.

Here are the top five things that I have found to be the most helpful in everyday emergencies:

Having a landing spot for essential items like keys, purses, backpacks, and shoes—and using it consistently.
Being caught up on laundry and dishes.
Having food in the pantry, and plans in place for quick meals using pantry items.
Having the house mostly picked up most of the time, especially living areas and bedrooms.
Having a list of friends and neighbors that you can call on in an emergency.

What everyday emergencies have you had to deal with lately? What helped you through them, or what do you wish had been different when they happened?

The soap

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:17:00 +0000

I've unmolded and sliced the soap. The nice, rounded rectangles are from the same molds as my lotion bars. The trapezoidal shapes are from a bread pan. I lined it with a plastic bag, poured in the soap, then unmolded two days later and sliced into bars.

Now I've got to let it cure for at least a month. Waiting is hard! I'm excited to use my soap.

Cooking with kids

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:23:00 +0000

I've been trying to let my kids help more in the kitchen lately. Sometimes it tries my patience, but overall, I think it's beneficial for us all—I get to spend more time with my kids, and they get to learn how to cook.

Today I'm sharing ten tips for cooking with kids at Homemaker's Challenge.

Making soap

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:31:00 +0000

I got lye for my birthday. (I just might have the best husband ever.)

I've been wanting to make soap for months. I've read up on it, and I still wanted to try it, even after reading all the warnings about lye. Today I gave it a try while Tiger Lily was over at a friend's house.

I used this excellent tutorial. I like it because it uses oils that are readily available and not too expensive. It's a great way to rotate through the shortening in our food storage, since I hardly ever bake with it anymore. I bought a few doubles of kitchen things from a thrift store so I wouldn't have to put lye in my everyday things. I will keep these in a box for the next time I make soap.

I won't know how the soap turns out for awhile—it's got to cure for at least a month—but I consider my experiment successful so far: I didn't get any lye on myself today.

A year of brown rice

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Last February, I took a plunge and bought a 25-pound bag of brown rice, knowing it had to be used up in a year.

I did it—almost. I emptied the last of my five-gallon bucket into my pantry canister in April. The rice is still as nice as it was when I bought it, so it must like living in a bucket in my cool, dark closet.

It was fairly straightforward to use up once I figured out how to cook it successfully. Here are the recipes I use:

How to make perfect brown rice (we eat all sorts of stir-fries and curries over this)
Mexican-style brown rice
Brown rice jambalaya

Now that we've had brown rice so often, white rice seems kind of boring. I like that brown rice is chewier and more filling.

Have you tried making brown rice? How do you like it?

Two wheels

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Look who's finally on two wheels! It only took him one night to figure it out, once he agreed to have the training wheels removed.

Asleep

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This is what happens when Tiger Lily skips her nap. Even the lure of the Kindle couldn't keep her from succumbing to sleep on the couch in the hour before dinner.

Photo credit goes to Red Chief.

Fruit and vegetable prep

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Last week after I picked up my weekly fruit and vegetable basket, I washed and prepared all its contents. I also cleaned my fridge, since it was nearly empty.

I had less spoilage and we ate more fruits and veggies since they were so convenient to use. I love that I didn't have to pull out the knife and cutting board every afternoon.

I store the lettuce in the salad spinner with a cloth on top to absorb extra moisture. It keeps very well that way.

———

P.S. This casserole is a great way to use up Anaheim peppers. I doubled the recipe but used nine peppers total.

P.P.S. What are your favorite things to do with lettuce? I always seem to have too much.

Healthy-ish snacks for moms

noreply@blogger.com (Dianna) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

At our house, we all enjoy snacking. Sometimes I feel a little left out as I open the cupboards and see nothing but Easter candy, graham crackers, and Goldfish. Here are some snacks I wouldn't mind eating.

Walnuts, raisins, and dark chocolate chips
Rye crackers and hummus
Triscuit crackers and cheese
Orange slices and Nutella
Herbal tea
Tortilla chips and avocado mashed with lemon and salt

What do you like to snack on? I'd love some new ideas.