The Wheels on the Bus

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sew Cute: I have been busy with the typical seasonal sewing and hair bowing for the upcoming kid-friendly celebrations of St. Valentine's, spring, and even a little of St. Patrick's day.  However, I have been having even more fun with my new toy.  Here is a peek at it:What is it? What does it do? Just wait and see.  I have so many clever ideas and projects in my mind that my head may just burst if I don't get some of them out soon! I don't scrapbook AT ALL, so all of my ideas are for home decor and other craft embellishment uses. 

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taste Test: Here is a quick and tasty recipe that I enjoyed while at a friend's home recently.  Sometimes the simple recipes surprise you with their belly-warming comfort.  This is not one of the "healthy" items to add to your regular menu but it is an easy appetizer with only 3 ingredients and would make a terrific afternoon/afterschool snack.  I call them Mushroom Pinwheels.  Here's what you'll need to keep the kids full until suppertime: 2 rolls refrigerated crescent rolls, 1 bar cream cheese, softened, and 1 can mushrooms.

 

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, open your can of crescent rolls, and here we go. 

2.  Open the rolls onto your workspace and flatten them into a rectangle with your rolling pin as shown.

3.  Spread the dough with half of the softened cream cheese.

4.  Sprinkle generously with half of the mushrooms. (This was the part my kids enjoyed).  Have your ungreased baking sheet standing by. 

 5.  Beginning at either end, short or wide does not matter, roll up the dough rectangle.  I prefer to start at the long side, which is NOT what is pictured here.

6.  Using your sharpest knife, carefully slice through the rolled dough layers.  This is similar to making my cinnamon rolls here.  From this point you will place the slices on your cookie sheet and bake as directed, usually about 13 minutes.  These are best enjoyed while still warm.  I hope you like them.                      

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Family Matters: This school year has really been buzzing by.  Between music lessons, park days, field trips, museums, libraries, errands, Classical Conversations, and friend's houses we are out of the house at least 3 days per week.  Having a plan for each trip in the car is essential to my sanity.  I keep the fighting and whining knixed and take comfort in knowing that car time will not be wasted time by taking the following steps:

•  Be prepared: it seems so simple but this first step is the key to the whole puzzle.  If you're enjoying a baby during this season of life, keep the diaper bag refilled and ready to leave as soon as you return from the last trip.  Hang it on a hook by the door.  You know, a place for everything and everything in it's place.  The same goes for tots.  Have a special bag with toys, snacks and books that are for car rides only.  Grab their cup and you're out the door.
• Use your library's reservation system to provide you with a world of educational resources such as audio books and language CD's.  Audio books were such a hit with the kids that I began to look for other audio resources. To my utter amazement I found everything from multiplication table music, historical textbooks in story form, biographies of famous musicians, missionaries and inventors, to life sciences on CDs. To top it off, several of the resources had included activities for further study via games we were able to enjoy in the car. This prompted our discovery of many more games and tools for learning every subject imaginable while on the road. 
• Limit your vehicular video viewing.  I know almost every car has a DVD player now.  So?   Just as you would not allow limitless viewing at home, don't plunk your kids down in front of the set every time you get in the car.  Set guidelines for enjoying videos so that they will remain a special diversion.  My kiddos know that if we're going to be in the car less than 2  hours we won't be watching a movie.  It also helps stave off that "entertain me" mentality many young people seem to have.  This has proven so beneficial for us.  We have many of our most meaningful and memorable discussions of life, faith, and just plain fun while in the car chatting freely with each other.  We've also been know to enjoy more than our fair share of Karaoke-style singing in the car too.  Don't act too shocked if we pull up beside you at a red light one day and everyone in the car is singing full throttle! 

        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keeping Hearts and Home:  I am gathering my notes and resources as I plan to discuss courtship in my next post.  I will primarily focus more on what courtship is not vs. a "this is what you must do" approach.  Every courtship looks different, that is the beauty of allowing God to write your love story.

See You Soon,

Melissa

Summertime Standby

Well I had hoped to be blogging about the NCFIC conference that our church hosted this weekend. Instead I am home with a feverish Merry and her uncharacteristic irritability due to a stomach bug.  Thank goodness for Elderberry syrup!!  I'll still give you the low-down on what we've been up to this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sew Cute: Since I had several orders to fill this week for embroidered swim team towels and totes I didn't have much time for recreational sewing. I was pleased with how the towels turned out as it was my first time designing a logo from scratch. My customers were happy and I was too when other parents placed their orders for more towels. The only sewing I did for fun was this bib n bow n sock set that I am calling GaGa for Grapes. What do you think?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taste Test: With orders to fill, a sick little one, a swim meet this week, and extra food to be made for our conference at church I needed a break from the kitchen. This favorite standby comes together easily 'cause it's made in the crock pot. It's a little long on the prep time but then you can leave it once it's in the pot. My kids LOVE to chop, chop, chop. Add a loaf of homemade bread and some tea... and you've got dinner! No need for salad since there are plenty of veggies in the bowl. By the way, I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine.
Slow-Cooker Chicken and Pasta Soup
4 carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1 inch pieces
4 long strips lemon zest
4 sprigs fresh dill, plus 2-3 T chopped
2 T Extra Virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup small pasta, such as pastina
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
½ bunch fresh spinach, stemmed
4 ounces Feta cheese
Freshly ground pepper and some lemon wedges for serving
1 – Combine the carrots, lemon zest, dill sprigs, olive oil and ½ tsp salt in a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Season the chicken with salt and add to the slow cooker. Add the broth and 4 cups of water, cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.
2 – About 20 minutes before serving, add the pasta to the slow cooker, cover and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.
3 – Stir the chopped dill, peas and spinach into the soup and cover until the spinach wilts, about 2 minutes. Stir to break up the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and crumble the feta on top. Serve with lemon and bread, if desired.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Matters: In January this year we set a goal to memorize the book of Titus as a family. We have been buzzing along nicely but I have noticed our pace beginning to slow a bit this summer. Perhaps it is due to our more relaxed schedule. Normally we review at lunchtime since everyone is together and we are not usually in need of getting to whatever is on our evening agenda. These last few weeks we have not all been together during the lunch hour due to practices, appointments, etc. Much of our review has been done independently. I trust our efforts will be more productive once we get back to our school year routine this fall. What works for your family as you seek to hide God's Word in your hearts?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Homestead Happenings: We are continuing to enjoy our home grown produce. My husband worked hard this year to till up a larger area for our summer garden. The size and quality keeps getting better each time we gather. Here is Freckles with our two largest yellow squash as well as our two largest cucumbers so far. Not bad for a suburban gardener, eh?
My Deal of the Week was found on eBay. I have 3 daughters, therefore we play with dolls a lot around our house. We have some very nice My Twinn dolls but I had never been able to bring myself to splurge on an American Girl doll. Call me cheap, call me mean but I just could not do it. In fact, I still haven't. Tender Heart has had her tender little heart set on owning one so she used money from her savings to purchase Molly. She's the cutie with the glasses and braids. We were fortunate to get an original Pleasant Company Molly in superb condition for $30. I'll be sure to post a pic of our new friend soon.

Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Budget Boosters

Our family has goals.  Some of those goals are financial.  In order to leave our suburban homestead and buy the land we want we will need to save up a substantial amount.  Lenders don't like to risk lending on raw land.  Anytime we need to make a financial change the household budget gets a review and is often tweaked a bit to realize our goals faster.  Here are some things I’ve recently started that are making a difference. I don’t know what you’re doing or not doing already so some of these suggestions may be repeats for you.  If not, I hope they give you a boost!
1) After a year of telling myself that I should, I finally sat down and created a price book. I am happy to say it’s making a big impact already.  My memory is pretty good but there is no way I could ever remember what was a low price for grapes, much less every single item on my list. Now when I come across a *super* low price, I buy ahead. If it’s meat, we freeze it. If I find fresh produce, I plan several meals around that find and freeze any leftovers so I am blessed with more meals in our freezer. If I find a pantry staple, I stock up. If I see it is not a *super* low price, I compare it to other produce that are on sale in town that week and only purchase the items we need for that week.
2) I am fortunate to live in an area with several smaller “alternative” grocery stores. Many times I find lower prices in these stores for produce and some meats. These are primarily conventional foods so I pick and choose carefully, but I’ve actually found a few stores that carry a some organic items as well. For example, I bought bunches of organic kale for $1/lb recently and prepared several meals. One caveat, this requires some time since I usually have to visit 4 or 5 stores each week. 
3) Stop throwing out food. Maybe you don’t have a problem with this, but many do! I have become adept at knowing how much food I need to feed my family. In the past, I would see a good sale and stock up, but in my rush I would purchase too much and then could not cook it all before it went bad. Or I would buy fruit with the intention of having us enjoy it for breakfast and then, in haste we would reach for toast and jam.  Sadly, the fruit would get moldy. I have since decided to buy much more cautiously, even when that means missing out on real savings, rather than having to throw away rotten food.

4) This last one was hardest for me. We are making some financial changes right now, so I’ve decided to  buy the “dirty dozen” as organics and the rest conventionally grown. It is not prudent to allow perfect to become the enemy of good.  I have found it better for my family to eat some conventional fruits and vegetables than no enjoy no fruits and vegetables at all. I will still purchase organic dairy for us all and organic/sustainable poultry and meat whenever I can afford to. I will not allow myself to obsess about it.
So here you have it.  These are some of the things we've been trying for now. Priorities make these choices difficult, for sure! Rely on God to help guide you through them.
What are some of the choices your family has made?  I'd love to hear them.
Enjoying Dixie Living,
Melissa

Dare To Compare

• What if my savings at the co-op don't compare to others savings at the grocery store?
  You really should not compare non-organic food prices to organic food prices.  You really aren't comparing apples to apples!   Actually, I’ve found that when you simply don’t compare yourself to others, you enjoy life a lot more.
  Make decisions based upon what is best for your family as you are led by the Lord, and then be inspired by others... but don’t feel guilted by them.
  
• How can I put my money where my mouth is?  
•  Folks, if you can afford it, spend it. We are in trouble here in America.  Consumers need to use our funds to support small family farms AND organic food whenever possible.  This is not just because organic is better for our bodies, but it is better for the land as too.  Did you know that chemicals actually turn the soil to dust?  There is no enrichment taking place.            
• Where can I get the most bang for my couponing buck?  
• Have some fun and play the drug store game.  Use Register Rewards and Extra Care Bucks, etc. to get all the other stuff–toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, toilet paper, feminine products for FREE or close to it. This is probably the only area that you can really be an Extreme Coupon Queen.  If you don't do paper goods, you can also find natural/cheap alternatives to these things-we don’t use paper towels, disposable diapers/wipes when at home, etc.  I know some folks make their own deodorant-which eliminates the aluminum dangers of the store bought brands. I just began using Dr. Bronner's for almost everything in our house-which is natural and organic. You can even brush your teeth with it   I know, why would you, right?? If you look around, there really is so much *stuff* you can just stop buying once you find cheaper, smarter alternatives!  You can really build up your pantry and preps this way.
• I too have struggled with many of these same questions…you can read many of my conclusions here.  Eating WELL does cost more, that is the ugly, naked truth. Would you consider the alternative? I would much rather have my spending set a little higher (if it is affordable) to support local, organic, agriculture.  Quality fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables are worth the extra cost for our family! I’m LEARNING to do my best to determine works for our family without comparing my numbers with others…Blessings to you!
• What are some of the new things your family is attempting in an effort to live healthier lives?

Enjoying Dixie Living,

Melissa

In Pursuit of a Family Mission

While on vacation this past week I was grateful to have enjoyed some time for extra reflection to again commit myself to the school year ahead with my children. I came away with this sort of mission statement that my husband and I have prayed over and would welcome you as fellow homeschoolers to train your children thoughtfully and deliberately to the glory of God. We urge parents to give their children these five important gifts: the Bible, enjoyable pastimes, academics, character, and home skills. Take time to sit together and hash through what it is God has called you to do and what it is you want to accomplish together for Him as a family. Then prayerfully plan your activities and schedules in such a way as to accomplish those goals. If something does not serve to accomplish your family's objectives, simply pass on it.

In Constant Pursuit,

The Homestylemom