Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Nausea...
...good for the diet...
...bad for the house cleaning.
And that is all for now. Back to bed I go.
Labels: Miscellaneous
Monday, October 26, 2009
Pumpkin Puree...
Thanks to Esther, I decided to try this for myself and see how it went. I bought 3 pumpkins at a road side stand for $1.50. One can of Libby's full price costs $1.79. I ended up getting 6 cans from my 3 pumpkins. Not too bad of a deal! Although I did find out from Tracy that she buys the pumpkin puree at Aldi's for $.89 a can (or something close to there.) So not sure if I am going to do the remaining 2 pumpkins or not.
Here is what the puree looks like once it is all blended.
I don't have pictures of the seeds yet. I was slightly ill yesterday and didn't take the time to do them yet. I'm hoping it was a one day thing and not morning sickness. :)Labels: Miscellaneous
Saturday, October 24, 2009
And one more post for Ambry's birthday. She got her ears pierced for her birthday! Here she is getting her ears marked.
Oh, boy! Hold still Bree!
And the other ear. 
All finished! And a huge smile! She was more than excited to show off her earrings and did so all night. :)
She has also been very good at keeping them clean. I have not had to remind her to clean them once. She does it every morning and every night and takes cleaning them very seriously. :)Labels: Ambry's Birthday
Friday, October 23, 2009
Ambry's new bike from Poppa and Grandma! Can you tell she's excited???
And a very close up pic courtesy of Uncle Jordan. :) Either way, you can definitely see the excitement. :)
Labels: Ambry's Birthday
Thursday, October 22, 2009
My oh my. It has been a while again. I think I will start with Rosie and Ambry's birthday. Saturday we went out with Jeff, Kasey, and Rosie for a birthday dinner. Of course, I forgot my camera. :( Monday was Rosie's birthday and Ambry's on Tuesday.
On Rosie's birthday, we surprised Rosie at her school on her birthday. So here are some pics from that.
And 1 of Kasey playing kickball. She really wanted a pic of that, so here you go, gorgeous!
Ambry's birthday fell on Tuesday and we had a tea party and cup cake decorating party. There are no pics of the girls and their tea, because Lindzi and Sage didn't like it and because Ambry decided she wanted to play with them rather than drink her tea. :)
Here is Piper licking the cake batter. Yes, I know, very bad. :)
Ambry and Lindzi decorating their cup cakes.
Ambry and Sage decorating their's.
Piper with her little cupcake.
And then licking all the sprinkles off her fingers. Yuck!
She, apparently, thought they were very good.
And now she is made because she is all sticky. :)
Lindzi with her finished cupcakes...
Ambry with her's...
Sage with her's...
And lastly, Piper with her's. Gotta love that face. And the sprinkles all around the mouth. :)
I think I will stop there. Yes, there are more from Ambry's birthday party. I will put those up tomorrow. I think that is enough pics for today. :)Labels: Ambry and Piper pics, Ambry's Birthday
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Just a quick example of how ridiculously stubborn I can be. I suppose my very frugal nature has something to do with it too. :)
I refuse to use my dryer! And until Caleb gets home from out of town at the end of the week, his ladder and some twine are serving a good purpose as my laundry drying rack. I also managed to string some pieces up downstairs. As probably everyone from this area knows, every day for the last week or two has had a chance of rain. I don't want to hang up my clothes outside only to have to take it all down an hour later.
Yes, I know, I could use my dryer, but I have come to LOVE the feel of air dryed clothes. So very fresh smelling too. So for now I will use his ladder and see how long the clothes takes to dry out in my garage. :)
Labels: Miscellaneous
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Ambry's new "favorite" snack...
- ketchup and frozen blueberries or...
- mustard and frozen bluberries or...
- salsa and blueberries (oh which ones would you like to try. don't they sound delicious!!)
She even managed to persuade Uncle Jordan to try it. I wish I would have gotten a pic of him trying the mustard and blueberries. It was priceless!
Here she is after trying her mustard and blueberry mixture. Not sure if that is a happy face or a oohhh that is sour face.
Look at the excitement! She has asked if she can have this snack just about every day since I let her try this. It has since been outlawed for the mere fact of it's disgusting stuff-ness. :)
Ambry's favorite at the end of the day??? The mustard and blueberries! I knew she liked mustard, I just had no idea she liked it that much! :)
Labels: Ambry pics
Friday, October 02, 2009
Whew! Sorry about the sketchiness of posts this week. Here I did so good last week on posting all of my stuff that I purchased and this week I have done horrible. I have a couple of pictures for you but they really don't even come close to showing everything that I actually got. So I decided to not even show them.
A HUGE eye opener this week was how much $$ I actually spend. I went through all of my $75.00 this week! It was all gone yesterday. How? I am not sure. I also did not do as well with writing everything down. But I will try for a recap.
$5.00 for flowers for Grandma
$12.00 for a half bushel of pears
$8.84 at Meijer
$7.74 at Meijer ( I will be getting $3.00 back from this though)
$20.00 approximately at Walgreens
$15.00 at Costco for bacon for Caleb and lunch for Caleb
That leaves me short just a couple of dollars. I'm not even sure where that went. :( So I did horrible on my budget this week but that means I will just have to work harder next week to ensure that I can recover from it. Caleb will be gone too which will save me $15.00 from Costco. :) Plus I won't be buying any more huge amount of pears. That will definitely help too.
I am amazed though how fast I really do go through the moola for the week. I am not sure how I do it but it is becoming more and more clear to me that I spend the majority of our money not on food but on deals. Deals that are supposed to be free...but aren't. I need to recognize that, move on, and STOP getting so many. Easier said than done. I wonder if there is a class for addiction to deals? Hmmm, might be something for me to check on.
On a side note, I saw this:
"Basic Fruit Leather
Pureed fruit can be dried on special, heavy plastic sheets in your electric dehydrator. To prepare apples or pears for leather making, wash fruit thoroughly, remove seeds, puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Mixture should be of pouring consistency. It is important to add honey to help keep the leather pliable when dried. If the puree is too thick, add liquid to thin. If too tart, add more honey or sugar. Heat apple or pear mixture to 190° F to prevent oxidization, cool before pouring onto dehydrator trays. Coat trays with a layer of fruit puree about 1/8 inch thick. Dry at 135° F until leathery. Be careful there are no moisture pockets. Roll up fruit leather while warm, wrap in plastic and store. Makes a great, easy to pack snack for any outing.
Applesauce Puree for Fruit Roll-ups
I make applesauce by quartering the apples, trimming off the blossom and stems ends, put in pan and add a little water then simmer stirring frequently, until soft. I then put the cooked apples through a food mill or strainer to remove the peels and seeds. Add about 1 tablespoon honey per cup of applesauce to keep the fruit leather pliable so it can be rolled up. This results in a nice smooth puree for making fruit leather. (If it's too thick to spread easily, add more water.) -KE
Fruit Leather Made from Applesauce Puree
Lightly grease dehydrator trays and spread puree evenly and thinly onto trays. Set temperature at 130-140° F. (55-60° C.) and dry until fruit leather feels dry and pliable, with no sticky spots. Remove from trays and cut into pieces. Roll in wax paper and fasten rolls with a strip of freezer tape. For long-term storage, put roll-ups in freezer bags or quart yogurt containers and store in freezer.
Anybody up for trying? It looks like fun to me! Now I just need to see if either I have one of those trays for my itty bitty dehydrator or if the father in law has one for his commercial sized one. :) Oh the fun of being able to store up food! I am loving it this year!
A HUGE eye opener this week was how much $$ I actually spend. I went through all of my $75.00 this week! It was all gone yesterday. How? I am not sure. I also did not do as well with writing everything down. But I will try for a recap.
$5.00 for flowers for Grandma
$12.00 for a half bushel of pears
$8.84 at Meijer
$7.74 at Meijer ( I will be getting $3.00 back from this though)
$20.00 approximately at Walgreens
$15.00 at Costco for bacon for Caleb and lunch for Caleb
That leaves me short just a couple of dollars. I'm not even sure where that went. :( So I did horrible on my budget this week but that means I will just have to work harder next week to ensure that I can recover from it. Caleb will be gone too which will save me $15.00 from Costco. :) Plus I won't be buying any more huge amount of pears. That will definitely help too.
I am amazed though how fast I really do go through the moola for the week. I am not sure how I do it but it is becoming more and more clear to me that I spend the majority of our money not on food but on deals. Deals that are supposed to be free...but aren't. I need to recognize that, move on, and STOP getting so many. Easier said than done. I wonder if there is a class for addiction to deals? Hmmm, might be something for me to check on.
On a side note, I saw this:
"Basic Fruit Leather
Pureed fruit can be dried on special, heavy plastic sheets in your electric dehydrator. To prepare apples or pears for leather making, wash fruit thoroughly, remove seeds, puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Mixture should be of pouring consistency. It is important to add honey to help keep the leather pliable when dried. If the puree is too thick, add liquid to thin. If too tart, add more honey or sugar. Heat apple or pear mixture to 190° F to prevent oxidization, cool before pouring onto dehydrator trays. Coat trays with a layer of fruit puree about 1/8 inch thick. Dry at 135° F until leathery. Be careful there are no moisture pockets. Roll up fruit leather while warm, wrap in plastic and store. Makes a great, easy to pack snack for any outing.
Applesauce Puree for Fruit Roll-ups
I make applesauce by quartering the apples, trimming off the blossom and stems ends, put in pan and add a little water then simmer stirring frequently, until soft. I then put the cooked apples through a food mill or strainer to remove the peels and seeds. Add about 1 tablespoon honey per cup of applesauce to keep the fruit leather pliable so it can be rolled up. This results in a nice smooth puree for making fruit leather. (If it's too thick to spread easily, add more water.) -KE
Fruit Leather Made from Applesauce Puree
Lightly grease dehydrator trays and spread puree evenly and thinly onto trays. Set temperature at 130-140° F. (55-60° C.) and dry until fruit leather feels dry and pliable, with no sticky spots. Remove from trays and cut into pieces. Roll in wax paper and fasten rolls with a strip of freezer tape. For long-term storage, put roll-ups in freezer bags or quart yogurt containers and store in freezer.
Anybody up for trying? It looks like fun to me! Now I just need to see if either I have one of those trays for my itty bitty dehydrator or if the father in law has one for his commercial sized one. :) Oh the fun of being able to store up food! I am loving it this year!
Labels: $300.00 monthly challenge
