Pumpkin around the world

Inspired by this post of fun things to do with a pumpkin, I picked up a pumpkin this weekend. Actually, I mostly got it because I had a coupon to get it FREE, and I'm a sucker for free produce! (Of which I got $17 free this weekend!) The pretty pumpkin has been contendly sitting on my kitchen cabinet this week waiting to be used. So, this morning, Julie (my beautiful sister)and I were talking and wheels started turning. So we printed off some continents off of Enchanted Learning and set Josiah and Lauren to work. They wrote and colored the names of the continents, cut them out and pinned them on the pumpkin. Then they took a sharpie and wrote the names of the oceans on the pumpkins. Here's the result. We'll see what else the pumpkin turns out to be. For today, it made a very fun social studies lesson!


Lauren, Josiah and Mr. World Pumpkin, showing his Eastern hemisphere.
More Eastern hemisphere
A blurry picture of the Western hemisphere

WAY TO GO JEREMY!!

Jonathan (L), Jeremy (R)

Though it's almost a week late, I HAVE to brag on Jeremy. He has been a trooper in football this year. He's been less than enthusiastic about playing, but he's gone to every practice and game and done his part. Last week, it paid off. At the game on Thursday, Jeremy was given much more playing time. In fact he played more in Thursday's game than in all the previous games combined. He made a couple of great tackles (his first of the season) AND ran a kickoff back for a touchdown!!! Way to go Jeremy!! We are all so proud of you!

(PS Jonathan's hamstring is still hurting him, so he didn't play at all. Hopefully this week he'll get to play)

"A shocking experience"-it's all the buzz!

This morning began a very exciting way. About 8:00 this morning, Jeremy was sitting outside reading his science book when he heard a strange noise. From inside it sounded like there was a cricket chirping, kinda high pitched. Jeremy ran inside very excitedly and said "Did you hear that noise?!! There was just a bird sitting on a wire and it got shocked and fell off the wire! Can we PLEASE go try and find it? We'll put on gloves and be careful. PLEASE!!" (Insert begging eyes) I'm thinking "Great, a hands on science lesson! And safety too. Some poor little bird has been shocked somehow on a power line. A good object lesson to emphasize not playing around safety lines" So I gave the go-ahead. Quickly Jonathan, Jeremy and Jeffrey sprang into action. Josiah stayed home because Lauren (the most favorite cousin!) is here visiting, and he never goes anywhere without her! And Lauren's...well, a girl. Enough said. A few minutes later, Jeremy comes back and asks if they can get a wagon to bring the bird to show me. A wagon??? What kind of bird is this? I'm still thinking it's a little black bird or something. WRONG!! They brought back a BUZZARD! This big guy had a 50 inch wing span (OF COURSE they measured it!)

After bringing it to the porch to show it off, J&J asked if they could hang it up. Yes you read that right. Hang it up. They couldn't decide whether they wanted to hang it by the feet or the neck-which had been broken by the fall from the wire. (Sure, what better way to use the extra closeline twine? Sure, hang a dead bird with it!! YUCK!) There's an opening in our fence to someone else's property. They wanted to hang it from here and wait to see if the coyotes would come to eat it. I had to nix that one. We don't want the coyotes to know that we have chickens. Had to point that one out the boys. They were a little disappointed by that. I did consent to the hanging if they took it to the other guy's property when they were done. I assume they did because a few hours later we saw some buzzards circling in that area. Do they fly a certain formation when they realize it's one of their own?? Do they still eat it? Never mind, don't want to know that one!

Here's some pics of the boys and the bird.

Jeffrey, Jonathan, Josiah and Jeremy with Bud, the Buzzard.
Jeffrey and Bud, just "hanging around"

Breakfast shortcake-making due with what you've got

This month begins part 3 in our journey of dual home ownership. Our TN renters moved out last month so once again we get to pay mortgage in TN AND rent in TX as well as utilities and upkeep both places. I'm not at all complaining. I'm actually excited about seeing how the Lord is going to provide. I'm making a game/challenge out of it. I'm spurred on by the competition of it all. So, this month I'm going to see how LITTLE I can spend on groceries at our house. Right now we're well stocked in the freezer and pantry so if I plan it right, all we should have to buy is fresh produce, milk and bread (not eggs!!!!). So, I'm going to see if we can work it out to spend $150/week on all categories (gas, food, dining out, household goods, etc). Our current budget is set to $250/wk but I want to just see what I can do.

So in the spirit of using what I have, I made this for breakfast this morning. We got Kashi frozen waffles a couple of weeks ago when there was a great deal at Target. The only problem is that the boys didn't really like them. I thought they were really good, but the boys thought the "whole grain-ness" of them was a little too much. So, I improvised. I toasted them in the oven, put some choclate chips on top, melted the ccs and spread them on the waffle, then topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Viola! Kashi waffles-gone! Of course, you have to give it a good name. You can't just say, "Hey we're having those Kashi wholegrain toaster waffles that you didn't like before!" Hence the name "Breakfast shortcakes". Jeffrey accused me of "trying to sneak in the Kashi waffles". I calmly informed him that I wasn't sneaking THIS time (I've certainly been known to do that). Good grief!, if I was sneaking, I wouldn't have left the box of waffles out on the counter. Give me some credit here!

Here's how they turned out.
Isn't that pretty!! And yummy. I got very good reviews from this improv. I'm praying for continued culinary creativity in the coming days!

"Now were livin' in the country like Laura Ingalls"

After our goats had their field day on our back porch while we were gone, there were several towels that had been on the ground that needed to be washed. Michael didn't want them to go in the dryer because they take a long time to dry. He asked the boys to wash them this morning and then put them outside to dry. Well, Jonathan had the idea to build a clothesline to hang them on. After they got their schoolwork finished, he and Jeremy set out to build it. They found a pole somewhere (on our property, I hope!) and picked a spot to place the clothesline. After much searching and coming up empty handed, I went to Dollar General to buy clothesline (the string part). They did a great job! They brainstormed and problem-solved all on their own. And NOW I have a clothesline!! I'd actually been wishing for one because every now and then (every ten years or so) I do like to hang my clothes outside. Obviously, when we lived on the golf course I didn't hang out my clothes to dry. I'm pretty sure that would have been against the homeowners association code, along with the junk car on blocks in the driveway! It's been 10 years since I've lived somewhere with a clothes line (aka NOT the suburbs) so I may actually use it.

When they were hanging the towels, Jeremy said, "We've been transported back to the past, like World War II era." I tried to tell him that people today actually DO hang their clothes to dry, but he wasn't sure about that. Jonathan said "Now we're really living in the country. Like Laura Ingalls!" What a day-a clothesline, a handful of fresh green beans, two eggs. We're practically OFF the grid! :-)



Jonathan and Jeremy installing the pole. This took a couple of tries at different locations before they found a spot that didn't have "loose sediment" (Jonathan's words) Jeremy installing the line. Jonathan's at the other end wrapping it around a tree.
This looks like a Downy commercial doesn't it!!
Jonathan's a natural. See the clothespins in his mouth?? Ready to go!
Jeffrey hangs up a towel.

New product reviews

Somehow it worked out today at lunch that we tasted lots of new items that I haven't purchased before. OF COURSE, I had coupons and got most of these things cheap or free. Since there are several moms (and couponing moms at that) who read this blog, I'd thought I'd pass on our opinions of these new things.



First, Hot Pockets Ultimates (no pic). These are supposedly 50% larger than normal hot pockets. Jonathan and Jeremy said they were great. I had two coupons, which meant I only got 2 HPs, and J&J were the first to the freezer to claim them. I think after coupons, I paid $.50 each. Totally worth that price! They liked them better than regular hot pockets (which they love), more meat and cheese-and of course bigger. Seemed like they took longer to cook than the directions on the pkg. But with a couple of extra mins in the microwave, they were fine.







Duncan Heinz Oven Ready Brownies. These were super easy and tasted as good as regular DH brownies, which are the very best, in my opinion. We added plain M&Ms (that we got cheap at Walgreens) to the top after they were done cooking. There's nothing left of this new treat, needless to say. Actually it was nice because it makes a smaller pan than a regular 13x9 pan. My boys can finish off an entire 13x9 pan of brownies if given the reins, so it was nice to know that even though the pan is gone, it wasn't a huge pan. AND there's no pan to clean up! Jeremy said that he likes the process of making brownies (in other words, the batter!) but everyone agreed these tasted just as good. I think I paid $1 or maybe a little more for these. I would do it again, especially if I didn't have easy access to eggs and oil or the time to prepare the brownies.

Diet Mint and Honey Sweet Leaf Green Tea: I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this tea. I like tea. It's been a good substitute as I'm trying to get away from soft drinks. This tea though is the best I've had ever. I could probably have finished off this entire bottle at lunch but I want to have some for later. My boys don't like tea, but Jonathan drank some by mistake (that's what he gets for grabbing mom's drink and swigging away!) and said that it actually wasn't bad. That's as close to a "thumbs up" review I'll ever get from my boys on tea. Who knows, maybe this soft drink fast they're on will drive them to tea.....probably not. That just means I don't ever have to share!! :-) They make this tea in Austin, so I don't know if you can only buy it in TX or not.

I got these Green Valley Steamers for free with a coupon. In my opinion (and that of the boys as well) that's all it's worth. The boys choked down their servings (brownies were on the line!). I thought it needed salt and wasn't sweet at all. The texture of the kernels was pretty un-plump. It's just as easy to dump a can of corn, or even frozen corn in a pan and the ones I've had before, even store brands, tasted much better. I might get it again if I had a coupon to get it free, but probably to put in soups or in dishes, not to eat plain.

And, our fresh green beans were yummy! Jeremy said they "were a little good". Jonathan and Jeffrey said that they think they like fresh green beans better than canned! YES!!

Our first harvest!

This morning it happened! We picked our first "crop" from our garden. Josiah and I harvested some beautiful bush beans. There weren't many, but after our difficulties with gardening, I'm just thrilled to have any. Jeremy's comment was "Yea!, I think." While my boys like green beans, they greatly prefer the ones in a can. They have no idea of good taste in that arena. Maybe if they'd only eaten fresh ones growing up, then they'd know how superior they are to canned. Anyway, like it or not, they get them for lunch today.

Josiah picking the beans.
Our beautiful, though meager, harvest. Gotta start somewhere!!


And in other farm news...
We have two hens that are now laying. While we were gone to Tennessee, someone started helping "the cause". Her eggs are small and white, but yummy.

You can see the size difference. The one on the left is from our first hen and is a pale green/blue color. The one on the right is white and smaller.
This is Cheetah (in front). We're pretty sure she's laying the pastel colored eggs.
This is Sacagawea. We think she's the benefactor of the smaller white eggs. She's our smallest hen. The hens lay their eggs sometime in the afternoon, so when we go out to feed them in the early evening, the eggs are usually waiting for us. It's really fun! We have one hen that is constantly getting out of the pen. We're seriously thinking of letting the hens just free range around during the day. The goats have figured out they like chicken feed and now they hang around by the chicken coop for much of the day. The chickens don't seem to mind at all. It drives Jackson crazy...goats, chickens, everywhere. Today Jackson got out of the front door and took off after the goats. Reports (from Jeffrey and Josiah) were that Jackson bit two of the goats on the rear. The goats took off followed by the reporters. About ten minutes later, Jackson and the boys come back. I REALLY think Jackson had a big smile on his face!