My Frugal Accomplishments

This week, I am undertaking the $4.29 a day challenge, also known as the $30/ week challenge.  According to the Federal Government, the average American should be able to feed a family at a cost of $4.29/person/day.  For our family of 3, this would mean that we would have $90/week to spend for groceries.

When I was looking at the grocery store ads earlier today, it hit me that while it may be “easy” to live on this amount of money, there is one very big drawback: time.  In order to make ends meet on $30/week, you are going to do a lot of cooking from scratch.  What hit me is that many families who are living on $30 a week are working multiple jobs.  Finding the time to cook a meal from scratch will be very challenging for many of these people.

I plan on blogging about what we eat, as well as the cost per serving, every day this week.  I am curious to see if we can stay within the $90/week guideline.

In other news, Middle Child’s laptop crashed and burned last week.  It’s just a little over than a month old.  We called the place where we bought it, who referred us to the company that holds the extended warranty, who referred us to the manufacturer.  The manufacturer sent us a box to send the computer back to them for repair.  The computer has been repaired, or so they say, and is now being shipped back to us.  We should be getting it back in the next 24 hours, and then we’ll take a trip to middle child’s school and hand it off to him.  I am curious to see if it works… and if the fix is permanent or short term.

 

Last Week’s Goals:

1)      Finish another two blocks on the t-shirt quilt.

Done.  I now have five blocks left.

2)      Clean out the carport.  Make certain that all of the leaves are swept out and the window well is cleared out and ready for winter.

Done.  We still have 3 more window wells to clean out, but this one on the carport seems to collect the most leaves.  (And sometimes, snakes.  Eeewwww….)

3)      Spend at least 15 minutes a day at least twice this week cleaning the messy room in the basement.

Done.  I pulled the boxes of old jars out and donated them to the church.

4)      Put all of our AP Review Books from last year up on E-Bay.

I need to do this.

5)      Work on the albums for the Girls.

I’ve loaded all of the digital pictures onto Shutterfly and sorted them by year and event.  The other parents in our troop have also uploaded their pictures.

6)      Get this year's badges sewn onto daughter's Girl Scout vest.

I sewed two badges onto the back.  The rest of the badges have been pinned on.

7)      Make a batch of apple butter.

The apples on the tree are now ripe – I’ll be doing this sometime over this week.

8)      Finish reading the YA Book I'm currently reading and post a review on my young adult literature blog.

I actually do keep a YA Blog called “Books for Teens”.  You can find it here:http://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/ .  I read and reviewed the book Shadow on the Sun.

9)      Exercise at least 3 days this week.

Done.  Three days during the week, and a short hike with the husband on Saturday.

10)  Clean out the trunk of my car.

It looks much nicer.  I added my winter emergency kit to the trunk: a small snow shovel, blanket, bag of kitty litter, I added more snacks to the emergency kit and I changed out the water bottle.  I also added a warmer pair of socks and put in my spare pair of boots.

 

Goals for This Week:

1)      Continue working on the t-shirt quilt.

2)      Sew more badges on daughter’s girl scout vest.

3)      Make a batch of apple butter.

4)      Clean out the trunk of husband’s car, check winter gear.

5)      Read the next YA book in my stack, and review it on my blog.

6)      Put our AP Review Books up on E-Bay.

7)      Work on the girls’ scrapbooks.

8)      Spend 15 minutes at least twice this week cleaning out the basement.

9)      Clean out and defrost the freezer.

10)  Clean out the refrigerator, and scrub down the shelves.

A letter from the cat

Hello, this is Princess Luna.  I have once again taken over the keyboard to tell you of the trials and tribulations involved in the life of the cat. 

 

The human everyone calls "Dad" has been working in one of the bathrooms over the past few months.  The walls around the tub fell down.  He took out the walls, and took out some more walls and replaced them with something called "drywall".

 

He then took out the old bathtub.  Good riddance to that thing!  It always had water in it.  The humans would climb in, and close a curtain.  I would poke my head around the corner to see what they were doing and "SWOOSH" my head was covered with water.  A very nasty invention.  I don't see why they get in there everyday. 

 

Anyway, "Dad" put a new tub into the bathroom last week.  It's still not attached to the plumbing, so it is the perfect place to hang out.  A nice deep, warm place that has no water.  I love to take hairbands in there and chase them around... they can't get away from me.  It's best to take them in there in the middle of the night so that I can test my abilities to catch something small in the dark.  I am only thinking about protecting my humans, you know.

 

"Dad" still hasn't put the walls up around the bathtub.  So, when you walk along the edge like the runway model I am, there is some extra space between the edge of the tub and the other wall.  ("Mom" calls it the stud space.)  I was up there the other day when "Mom" was out when Tiger decided to come in and play with me!

 

I'm not certain how it happened.. (I didn't push him, I swear I didn't).. but he fell in between the tub and the wall.  And then he couldn't get out.

 

I didn't want him to feel lonely or scared, so I hopped down there too, to let him know "Hey, I've got your back, bro."

 

And then, I couldn't figure out how to get out either.

 

So I began to howl for my humans.  And then, Tiger began to howl for our humans.  And then I began howling for Tiger to stop howling, and Tiger started howling because I was being a pain.

 

I don't know how long we were stuck back there, howling at the top of our lungs.

 

We did finally hear youngest human walk in the door.  She heard us howling and came looking for us.  When she finally found us, what did she do?  She laughed at us!  And then, she called "Mom", asking for help.

 

Youngest human put us on speaker phone so that she could follow "Mom's" directions.  "Mom" told her to empty out the linen closet.  And then, youngest human had to find a screwdriver and unscrew something called an access panel.

 

You know, after all that work, we didn't just feel like coming out.  WE had been back there for a long time.  We had bonded.  We weren't just going to come out for nothing.

 

Youngest human rattled the cat dish.  We stopped howling, but decided not to come.

 

She brought out the treat container.  We moved a little closer, but we wanted more.

 

She opened one can of tuna, and that sell-out, Tiger, he went straight for the tuna can.  He streaked past me and gobbled all of the tuna, without even asking me if I wanted any!  So, I howled at him for being such a selfish feline.

 

Finally, youngest human brought me one of "Moms" pumpkin muffins.  Then, she put Tiger outside.  Then, and only then, did I decide to saunter out.  I ate the muffin.  And then, I ate the treats.  And then, I ate some cat food.  And then, I left her a left her a little present on top of her Algebra homework.  HEY!!  I couldn't help myself!  My tummy was full, and I'd had a distressing afternoon!

 

May your food dish never be empty!

 

-Luna

 

 

Thinking Ahead for Dinner

I'm subbing for a half day today, and a full day tomorrow.  As a result, I'm getting my dinner "kits" ready for the next two nights.

Tonight, we're having my version of Moroccan Chicken, which is based off of a recipe I found in the Woman's Day Magazine back in the 90's.

 

Moroccan Chicken

These are the ingredients:
11 ounces couscous
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
2 chicken breasts  (I buy the big bags of chicken breasts at BJ's)
1 onion, diced
1 10 ounce bag of frozen peas
2 cans of chicken broth  (Remember the broth cubes I made over the summer?  I'll fill the tomato can with water twice and empty it into the pot, and then add two broth muffin cubes)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cumin

To prepare ahead:
Cinnamon and Cumin are pre-measured into a small container
The chicken breasts are thawing in the fridge.  Whoever gets home first will slice them.  I don't want to handle them too much before I cook them - I have a fear of salmonella.
Onion is pre-sliced and in a container in the fridge.
And, because we really are THAT stressed when we get home, I've put the clean, empty pan on the stove, and I have the can of tomatoes and the couscous sitting on the stove, next to the pan.



Everything for Moroccan Chicken, ready to go.
I buy Couscous in a large container.  I'll use 4 scoops of couscous for dinner.

To prepare:
Slice chicken into bite size pieces.  (You can also use leftover precooked chicken or turkey here)
Brown the chicken in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat.  When the chicken has begun to change color, add the onion.
When the onion becomes translucent, add the cumin and cinnamon.
Stir constantly until onion and chicken are completely cooked.

Add the can of tomatoes.
Add the water.  (Note, if you are using canned chicken broth, don't add the water.)
Add the chicken bullion. 

Bring mix to a boil, give it one really last good stir, lower heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

After the 20 minutes, add the peas and the couscous.

Wait for the couscous to absorb all of the liquid, and serve.  (The couscous will really expand.  Be patient!)

When I've had the veggies in season, I've added them at the beginning stage when I add the onions.  Any summer squash tastes great in this, as do peppers fresh from the garden.

Chili

Friday night, we will have chili for dinner.

Today, I am pre-browning ground beef.  This will go into a container for tomorrow.

In the morning tomorrow, before I leave for work, I add these ingredients into my crock pot:

Ground Beef  (pre-cooked)
1 onion, diced (I'm dicing it today when I dice for dinner tonight)
1 can of whole kernel corn (or equivalent frozen amount)
1 diced green pepper (Dicing it this morning, storing in a container)
1 (16 ounce) can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) can of tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) can of black beans
Chili spices - I use 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. each of: Cumin, Oregano, Basil, Paprika, Chili Powder, Thyme, and Crushed Red Pepper.  Adjust this to your personal taste.  I like my chili to have a kick, so I have a heavy hand with the spices.

*note- I always pre-brown the ground beef.  If I put raw ground beef into the crock pot, I will have a very greasy, very heavy chili.  It's worth the time to pre-brown the meat.

Tomorrow morning, everything will be dumped into the slow cooker before I leave for work.  I'll set it on low for 8 hours.

When I walk back in the door, the chili will be ready and waiting for us.

I usually serve this over pasta, but since I have leftover rice sitting in the fridge right now, I'll re-heat the rice tomorrow night and serve the chili over rice.

The chili stuff.  The green bowl holds the spices.
I didn't have any green peppers, so I used the red and orange peppers I had on hand.
The black bowl contains red onion, the peppers, and the garlic.
I don't know if you can see, but the lids are under the bowls.  I'll cover them and leave them in the fridge.

The veggies listed above are what I consider the bare minimum for chili.  I will add almost any vegetable (not cabbage, though) into the pot to stretch it out.  Carrots, summer squash, garlic, and potatoes have made it into my chili pot.  I know it's not "traditional" chili, but I suspect that whoever invented chili also used whatever veggies they had on hand to fill the tummies of the people they were feeding! 

*Note-It turns out that I had no black beans on hand, but I did have Great Northern beans in the cabinet, so I used those instead.  The object is to use what I have on hand, not to run out to the store and spend more money!

That's what's ahead for dinner for the next two nights.  An investment of less than an hour of time today, and much less stress over what to eat when we get home later.   Priceless.

Tales from the Class Room

I've been subbing more, so I have a few stories to tell....

 

1) "That's Wrong!"

I was subbing for a Special Ed. assistant, and was sitting through a second grade math lesson with one of my favorite guys.  The teacher was going through a subtraction lesson with the kids.

(The key part to remember to this story is... 2nd grade.  Remember, at that time, they still made us move the big number to the front and then subtract the smaller number.)

The teacher had the problem 3-5=___  written on the board. 

"Now, how do we solve this?"  She asked.

My little friend promptly raised his hand and said "It's negative 2!"

"No, it's not," the teacher replied, "Can someone else help me?"

"No!!!"  He shouted.  "It's negative two!!"

"No, it's not," she replied, looking at me for help.

"Actually, it is," I answered, and turning to my little friend I said "In 2nd grade, most of the kids haven't learned negative numbers yet.  She's trying to get you to set the problem up the 2nd grade way, and put the big number first."

"Well that's just stupid."  He replied.  "The answer is negative two, and she's just making the problem harder for everyone to solve by making them switch it around.  If they're going to switch the numbers, they should switch the signs."

The teacher and I both sat stunned, staring at him for a moment.  The teacher recovered first and said "You guys are right.  BUT, we since we're in 2nd grade, we will do this the 2nd grade way."

"It's still stupid" said my little friend. 

2) The Voice of an Angel

Subbing again in special education, in a different classroom, I was with a friend in kindergarten.  He was working on a cut and paste number identification sheet.

While he was cutting, he broke out into a SPOT ON rendition of "Oh Danny Boy".

He knew all of the words, hit every single note, and sang in the most beautiful child soprano anyone has ever heard.  It brought tears to my eyes, and the classroom to a halt.

When he finished, the teacher whispered to me "I never make him stop singing.  He has the voice of an angel, and I feel like we are blessed every time we hear it."

 

3) Those Letters Spell WHAT??

I was subbing in a kindergarten class where kids were working on the sight word "this".  The kids each had a bag of cut out letters:  t, h, i, s, that they were to glue into appropriate places on a worksheet.

The first group comes up and glues the letters into place, with no comment whatsoever.

The second group comes up, and one little guy starts playing with the letters, rearranging them, moving them around, and finally comes up with an entirely new word and I hear him say "Oh, wow!  Look at what I can spell!"  (Take one guess what that word was...)


You know, there are some bad days when I'm subbing.  There are days when everything goes wrong.  But then, things like this happen that make me laugh, and I realize just how fortunate I am to be able to work in a profession where I get to see the world through the eyes of children.

More T Shirt Quilt

These are pictures of the black on black squares.

As of this morning, all of the quilting on the right hand side of the quilt is finished! I have the left edge, and two black squares bordering the black edge left to finish!  I might, just might, have this finished in time for Christmas!

I decided to make straight lines, diagonally across the squares.  I could use a fabric marker to show me where to stitch, but since I don't have one on hand, and I don't want to spend any more money than I have to, I'm following along the edge of a ruler.

Diagonal rows.  When they make a quilt, the Amish deliberately make a mistake which is called "The Fear of God".  Legend has it that they believe that only God is perfect, so they deliberately make mistakes.  Look at my quilting, and you'll see a lot of that!  The rows are mostly straight, and mostly go in the same direction!  I'm not willing to pull quilt stitches out- my stitches tend to be small enough that I worry I will damage the fabric if I do pull anything out.  Instead, my interesting lines will be caught for everyone to see - forever....

Starting the cross rows back to male a diamond pattern.  If you look closely at the bottom left corner of the block, you should be able to see two completed rows of diamonds.

More finished block.  Each black block is covered in a diamond grid, much like this.  (Some are a little more unique than others!!)

And that's all.  I estimate that I have about 2 weeks worth of quilting left before I move onto finishing up the edges.  That will be an entirely new challenge!

This Week's Goals and Accomplishments

When I sub, I've made a habit of carrying card stock with me.  If I find I'm left with more day than lessons, I pull out the cards and hand them to the kids.  I let them use markers, and assign them the job of making welcome home and thank you cards for our service members.  It's a win-win for everyone.  The soldiers get thank you cards from home, the kids are thrilled because they get to use markers to color something, and I am overjoyed because the kids are not bouncing around a classroom with nothing to do.

I've taken these cards to the USO at the airport, and I've given to friends who have children serving in the military overseas. 

This morning I met up with an old friend who has a son serving in Afghanistan.  I handed over a bag of 100 welcome home cards, and we spent time catching up with each other.  It's been entirely too long since I've seen her and it was wonderful to catch up with her again!

By the way, whenever card stock goes on sale, or I find some amazing coupons for a large amount of money off of a purchase at a craft store, I pick it up.  The most I've ever paid for the cardstock is $5 for a pack of 100 blank cards.

Electricity Usage:

Since the weather is cooler, the a/c has been off all week.  It's also not yet cold enough to turn on the heat, so we are keeping the electricity expenses down, down, down.

Supplies:
Daughter is working on her Gold Award Project.  She is offering a series on Intergenerational Art projects at the library.  She needed a few more supplies, but I didn't want to spend any money on anything.  As luck would have it, I had reward points from an office supply store, and a prepaid Visa card that we received after the purchase of middle child's computer for college.  I was able to use the reward points and a portion of the pre-paid Visa card to buy the last of the supplies that she needed for the October classes.

These were my goals for last week:
1) Sub at least 2 days this week.
I lucked out and found one extra job this week, so I subbed for a total of 3 days.

2) Exercise 3 days this week.
Done.  It's been a great week for exercising!

3) Salsa.  I will can salsa.
Done!  10 pints canned and ready to go.

4) Work on middle child's t-shirt quilt.  Share pictures of progress on the quilt.
I finished 2 1/2 more squares.  I shared the pictures of the t-shirt squares, but have yet to share the pictures of the black on black squares.  (What can I say?  They're black, and they're hard to see!)

5) Salvage the strawberry patch.
Still not done...

6) Bake bread 3 times this week.
Only made bread twice.  But, since there are only 3 of us at home now, each batch lasted longer.

7) Spend 15 minutes a day in the messy room in the basement.
I made it down there twice.  I got a lot of stuff thrown out, and I collected a box of paper that was recycled.

8) Begin work on my niece's graduation present.
I am going to make her a prayer shawl for graduation.  I found out that her favorite color is red.  Once I find a good yarn sale, I'm going to head out and pick up what I need for her project.

9) Finish the second page of the memory books for my girl scouts.
I didn't get to this. 

10) Can spaghetti sauce.
No spaghetti sauce, but I did make a huge batch of home-made sauce.  The tricky part of canning is that you have to watch the balance of acidity in sauce if you are water bath canning.  I don't have a pressure canner, so all of my canning is done in a water bath.  If you can something incorrectly, you can kill your family.  So, I made our favorite sauce, which can't be water bath canned, and broke it down into one quart containers and froze them all.  Not exactly the solution I wanted, but it is a solution!

Goals for this coming week:
1) Finish another two blocks on the t-shirt quilt.

2) Clean out the carport.  Make certain that all of the leaves are swept out and the window well is cleared out and ready for winter.

3) Spend at least 15 minutes a day at least twice this week cleaning the messy room in the basement.

4) Put all of our AP Review Books from last year up on E-Bay.

5) Work on the albums for the Girls.

6) Get this year's badges sewn onto daughter's Girl Scout vest.

7) Make a batch of apple butter.

8) Finish reading the YA Book I'm currently reading and post a review on my young adult literature blog.

9) Exercise at least 3 days this week.

10) Clean out the trunk of my car.

Thinking Ahead for Dinner

I subbed a couple of days this week.  Since I tend to come home exhausted, I planned ahead for dinner. 

Thursday night, we had black beans and rice.  The prep actually began earlier in the week, when I pulled out the cookbook and formulated my plans...

This is the recipe.  It's from my favorite cookbook, The Woman's Day Cookbook, published in 1995.  Since I was prepping this days in advance, my goal was to slice and dice, and then store it all for later.

All of the spices are pre measured and put into a resealable container.  Since I'll be using the leftovers for dinner on Friday, I am doubling the recipe.

Orange juice.

All of the ingredients, ready to go into the fridge.

Then, when I was pressed for time to get out of the door in the morning, all I did was dump everything into the slow cooker, and set it to low.

Dinner, ready for a day of stewing.

When I walked in the door, dinner was ready!

I saved the leftovers for dinner the next night.  Reheated, with fresh cooked rice added, I served this with the Mango Salsa that is included in the recipe, on top of soft tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream for black bean burritos.  Tasty, tasty dinner, and the price point is so very low!

I feel like Martha Stewart!

ON Being a Cookie Mom

I've been a Girl Scout Cookie mom on and off over the last ten years. 

Ten years ago, I was a new arrival in this town, and I had been talked into the job of cookie mom by my daughter's girl scout leader.  I didn't know many people here, but I did think this would be a great way to meet some new people.

I wasn't really sure what the job entailed, but I was reassured that I would be able to attend training for new cookie moms.

When I showed up at the training session, all of the seats were taken.  I found a spot on the floor, pulled out a notebook and began taking notes.

Ten minutes into the meeting, I felt a little tickle on my foot and looked down to see that a mouse had climbed up onto my shoe and had his front paws on my knee.  He was looking up at me with very bright, curious eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was being helped down off the top of the table.

I'm not sure whatever happened to the mouse, but thanks to that mouse, I did meet many new people that night!

T Shirt Quilt

 

I've been plugging along on the t-shirt quilt for middle child.  If you don't remember, I am making this quilt out of t-shirts from high school.  I'm well over halfway finished now, and thought I'd share some of the quilting process with you.

This is one of the blocks on the bottom of the quilt. When you quilt, you begin in the middle and work your way out to the edges.  I've already finished the middle 9 blocks in the quilt, and this particular square is in the middle, on the bottom row of the quilt.  I've centered the quilt inside of my quilting hoop.  The brown along the bottom is the outside "frame" of the quilt.

Here is another view of the quilt.  If you look at the bottom edge, you can see the batting up next to the hoop.  The safety pins were placed in the quilt to hold the batting and backing in place while the quilting was in progress.


 

I remember asking my husbands' grandmother once "How do you actually quilt?"
"It's easy," she replied, "You make the needle go up and down, up and down".
In theory, that's it.  It depends upon what kind of pattern you want in your blocks.  On the t-shirt squares, I am just outlining the letters in stitches.

The letters are outlined...

The finished square!  In addition to outlining the letters, I also stitch along the edge of each block.

A closer look at the stitch work.

 



I've got 9 squares left to go.  I've finished 15 squares to date.  The black blocks are harder than I anticipated.  I'm quilting on black fabric with black thread, and the stitches are difficult to see.  I'm working on the black block next the this block right now, and I'm taking pictures as I go.  Once I finish the black block, I'll post pictures of what I'm doing to quilt the black blocks.  (Besides going cross-eyed!) 

 

My Frugal Accomplishments and Goals for this Week

Class Rings

This past week, the High School Juniors had their ring ceremony.  Class rings are horrifically expensive now, with the low end rings beginning close to $500.  We really didn't want to fork over that much money for a ring.

So, I offered her an alternative option.  I pulled out my high school class ring and handed it over to her.  My ring is 30 years old... and from my old high school.  Not the high school she is attending.  She was thrilled when I pulled it out. My ring is small, and very understated.  My old high school name is written around the stone.  There's no huge engraved image of the high school, and no special design on the side.

She happily turned it into the school, and was presented with the class ring at the ceremony last week.  Happy as a clam, she has been wearing my ring since then, having friends turn the ring for her. 

The really funny thing?  No one noticed that her ring is 30 years old.  Someone commented on the fact that her parents "Weren't wasting money on a class ring."  She promptly invited her friend to take a closer look, and when she read the name and date on the ring, she looked up and said "What?  Where?"  "It's my Mom's ring," she replied promptly.  "It's really pretty isn't it?  I love wearing my Mom's old ring.  She has such good taste."  Her friend looked back at her and said "I wish I'd thought of that." 

Since that time, she has found out that there are 2 other kids wearing class rings that belonged to their parents, and 1 other student whose parents bought her a ring (not a class ring, just a ring)  to be her class ring. 

I wore my high school class ring until I bought my college class ring... almost every day for 5 years.  I love the ring- gold, with a ruby stone.  But, I know I won't ever wear it again.  I'm so happy that she is going to be able to wear my ring and make some new memories with it!

Fence Line

On another note, our back fence line came down a while back after a snow storm.  We've been intending to fix it for a while, but it has been buried under a list of other things we needed to do. We have over an acre of land.  While none of us have any animals we need to have contained, having that fence line back up would make it safer for the neighborhood kids.  Over the weekend, our back yard neighbor got together with my husband.  His son in law has a gas powered post hole digger.  The guys worked together, put up new uprights, and put the cross pieces in place.  They finished the job by stapling the wire back to the wooden uprights.  One day of work, hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars saved fixing that fence.  We split the cost of the posts and the cross pieces with our neighbor.  All told, each of us spent close to $50 to replace the back fence line.  ($48.50)

Looking Back, these were my goals from last week:

1) Start Subbing More.
I don't like to sub the first two weeks of schools while the students and teachers are settling into new routines and getting to know each other better.  Now that school has been in session for a couple of weeks, I need to start subbing more.  I will work at least 2 days each week.
I worked 2 days last week.  I've already scheduled 2 for this week, and 3 day for next week.

2) I will get out and exercise at least 3 days this week.
Not only that, but I ran/walked a 5K.  I managed to set a best time on that run.  Don't be impressed, by time was 53:00.  There were people who finished in 20:00, or less.  I wasn't one of them.  On the plus side, getting out of the parking lot was easy!  I'd like to participate in the Komen Race for the Cure next month.  I'm not sure yet if we're going to make it!

3) Work on Middle Child's t-shirt quilt.
3 more blocks are finished.  I promise I will share some pictures of the quilt with you later on this week.  I'm well over halfway finished with the blocks at this point.

4) Meatless Monday
We had baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and cheddar cheese.

5) I will salvage the strawberry patch.
Ye gads, I've got to stop putting this off.  No good excuse, except that I'm lazy.

6) I will go to the community wide Girl Scout leaders meeting this week.  (Yes, I have to write this down because I keep forgetting to go, and the beginning of the year is an important meeting to make.)
Done.  This was the cookie training meeting, as our cookie sales begin in a week.  It was odd realizing that next to the community leader, I had the most girl scout experience in the room, and I had the oldest troop of girls.  How the heck did that happen?

7) I will spend 15 minutes a day cleaning the big messy room in the basement.
I spent only one day down here, but I spent well over an hour.  And then, *sigh*, I moved in the business and public relations stuff for the robotics team.  The building that housed our robotics team is being torn down this next week, and, since I'm the Business and PR mentor, I got a ton of stuff.  I'm going to have to go down there and clean it all out... AGAIN...

8) I will clean up the woodpile in the back, stacking the wood that fell over, making certain that it is under cover for the fall, and raking up/throwing away the loose leaves and other stuff that is on the ground around where the woodpile was.
Done.

9) I will line dry at three loads of laundry this week.
Done

10) I will move my scrapbook supplies to their new, temporary home in the dining room.
WHoops... I got sidetracked again.  I'm also working on scrapbooks to give to my girls when they finish girl scouts next year.  I started shifting stuff, and next thing you know, I was working on the cover page for each album.  Sad, I know.  But hey!!  I've got the title page for all 5 albums finished now!

My goals for this week:

1) Sub at least 2 days this week.

2) Exercise 3 days this week.

3) Salsa.  I will can salsa.

4) Work on middle child's t-shirt quilt.  Share pictures of progress on the quilt.

5) Salvage the strawberry patch.

6) Bake bread 3 times this week.

7) Spend 15 minutes a day in the messy room in the basement.

8) Begin work on my niece's graduation present.

9) Finish the second page of the memory books for my girl scouts.

10) Can spaghetti sauce.

Time of Use Meters

Do you know about Time of Use Meters?  These meters are different than your regular electric meters.  They register the time that you use your electricity.  You are charged more for using electricity during peak hours, less during non-peak hours. 

Peak hours change summer and winter.  Right now, we're still in summer, so the highest rates are during the day, when all of the businesses are open, and the a/c is running a mile a minute everywhere.  There is a mid-rate range, in the early evening, when people get home from work, and then there is the low rate range, that hits on weekends and over night.

 

You really have to think before you use something that is going to draw heavily on the electricity, and make certain that you are using your appliances at an intelligent time.  Does it make sense to run the oven during the middle of a 100* day, when the a/c is running?  Not really.  Does it make more sense to run the clothes dryer in the middle of the day, or to hang the clothes outside to dry?

 

We've been using a time of use meter (I think they are called smart meters now) for well over 15 years.  I had one put into our old house, and our overall energy prices dropped dramatically.  When I began using electricity at low demand times, we were rewarded with lower rates.

 

When we moved into this house, we had our meter installed about six months after we moved in.  What a difference the time of use meter made.  In the first month alone, we saved almost $150 in electricity.  As the rates continue to rise, we move more and more of our big electric chores to off peak hours and find that the rate increases are not hitting us as hard as they are hitting our neighbors.

 

So, what do we do differently than we used to?

 

We wash clothes on the weekend.  If they are heavy and won't dry outdoors, they get run through the dryer while the rates are lower.

 

I do have to run a load or two during the week.  I try to run the load last thing at night before I go to bed.  Once I am up and dressed, I run downstairs and pull the clothes out of the washer.  What needs to go on the line to dry goes outdoors.  Some of it will get a quick run through the dryer, but since the load is very small, the time it spends in the dryer is not as long.  Also, since I hit the ground running at 6 am, the rates have not increased to peak rates yet.  It's more expensive than the weekend rates, but it's not the same as the daytime rates.

 

The dishwasher.  Our dishwasher has a time delay.  I will fill the dishwasher at night after we finish dinner, and set the timer for it to start running at 11, when the rates drop again.  Early in the morning, the dishwasher is emptied and ready to receive the new day's dishes.

 

The hot water heater.  I think we all know this one by now.  The hot water heater is expensive to run.  We do keep our thermostat on the water heater set at 120*.  I run the clothes through the washer on cold.  Our dishwasher has an additional water heater, that takes the temperature of the water up higher.  We do use the water heater in the dishwasher.

 

The time of use meter (or smart meter) is a different program than the one that allows the electric company to cycle your a/c on and off in extremely hot weather, where they give you a $15 credit per month.  There is no incentive to use a meter, other than the amount of money you can save.

 

The seasons on my meter are about to change to winter soon.  In winter, the mid-rates are during the middle of the day, and the high rates are first thing in the morning and early evening.  (When people are getting up or coming home and turn their heat up.)  I need to make certain I have the correct times of day for the winter season before long!

 

If your electricity rates are going through the roof, it is worth looking into a time of use meter, and making the lifestyle changes involved in lowering your bills.

 

Random Pictures

French Bread, fresh from the oven.  These little loaves were used for sub sandwiches.

The Lombardi Trophy -Ravens Stadium.

We ran the back to football run at M&T Bank Stadium last week.  The trophy was on display before the run began, along with several retired Ravens players.  I set a PR - don't be terribly impressed - it was 53:00.  Less than an hour was my goal.  But good heavens, I am slow!

My lovely daughter is teaching art classes at the library for her Gold Award.  This is my attempt at melted crayon art... 

LED Lightbulbs

Over the past couple of years, incandescent light bulbs have been phased out.  No longer can you find the 100 and 75 watt versions of the light bulbs that we all grew up with.

The most easily found replacement are CFL's.  I am not a fan of CFL's for several reasons: they are expensive, and only last as long as an incandescent.  They are made in China.  They contain mercury, and it is difficult to dispose of them.  You are not supposed to dump them in the landfill.  We take ours to Lowe's, as they have a CFL disposal bin right inside the front door.  The problem is, I will collect 5 or 6 of them before I make the trip up to the closest Lowe's.

I found LED light bulbs.  They do not contain mercury, and they last for 10,000 hours (or so they say) before they burn out.  They are expensive, though.

I first found LED light bulbs through the FIRST Robotics teams in our area.  The purchase of these light bulbs goes to support STEM education in my local community, and I am investing in a quality light bulb.  These bulbs are made with the latest and greatest in technology.  Dean Kamen, (the founder of FIRST, and the same guy who invented the Segway and the insulin pump) has put resources into getting these LED light bulbs developed.

There are some really cool features to the LED lights:
They are dimmable.
They are omni-directional.
Warm, white color.  (Not that weird light you get from CFL's)
25,000 hour life equal to 22 years when used 3 hours a day.
It's a NORTH AMERICAN product.  Designed in Florida, made in Mexico.

I replaced a couple of light bulbs in our house well over a year ago.  Actually, it's close to 2 years ago now.  I put them in the overhead chandelier over the dining room table.  I've replaced the CFL's in the kitchen twice since then, but my LED's are still going strong.

The cost of running one of the LED's for a year is $1.02 for the 40 watt bulb equivalent, and $1.63 for the 60 watt bulb equivalent.    They also run cooler, so they are not providing more heat for the atmosphere that must then be cooled down during the summer.

These particular light bulbs are only available through FIRST robotics teams.  To find our more about the light bulbs, or to find a team in your local area that is selling these light bulbs, follow this link:

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/headlines/first-green-e-watt-saver

It will take you directly to the information page about these LED's, and then take you to the page where you can find more information about the local teams selling light bulbs. 

I have found similar bulbs at Lowe's and Home Depot, for close to the same price point I'd pay for the bulbs from a FIRST team.  Honestly, I'd rather have the money go to support STEM education in the form of robotics teams than I would like to have the money go to the corporate entity.  The home improvement stores get enough of my money as it is. 

I just bought another handful of light bulbs.  The lights in the bathroom are out, and I'm going to put the 40 watt bulbs into that fixture.  I also have a fixture in the basement that needs new light bulbs.  That fixture will also be receiving the new bulbs.

A green, low energy light bulb that is good for our environment?  It sounds like a win to me!

I'm not paid to endorse these lights.  I use them, and I love the fact that they are gentler on our environment than CFL's. 

I Will Never Forget

12 years ago today... at 8:45 a.m.

I was on the computer, checking e-mail.

The boys were at school.

Daughter was watching Sagwa on PBS. 

All of a sudden, the screen on the computer went black, and when it came back up, the screen briefly showed in all of its color, and then the screen actually looked as if it was melting.

One month before, we'd had a huge train crash and fire in the train tunnels under Baltimore. In the paper, the reports were that the crash had affected computers in New York, at the World Trade Center.

My first thought was of this phenomenon, and I wondered what horrible thing had happened.

Little did I know.

PBS didn't break into Sagwa to let us know.

I was listening to the Jack Diamond Morning Show on Mix 107.3.  I turned off the computer, and turned up the radio and I'll never forget Jack's very somber voice saying "There's a report out of New York that a plane has flown into the World Trade Center.  We don't have any other details at this time."

I was thinking it was a little private jet.  I couldn't imagine the horror that was unfolding right before me.

I kept the television on PBS for the benefit of my 4 year old.  I honestly did not want her seeing any visual images, and I was glued to the radio as the story unfolded.  After the second plane crashed into the towers, the Jack Diamond show turned over to the live news feed from ABC News.

And then, and airplane crashed into the Pentagon. 

Living in the immediate suburbs of Washington DC, can I tell you that we could feel the boom vibrating through the ground beneath our feet.

And I knew then that our world had changed forever.

I grabbed my daughter, and ran to the grocery store and bought a grocery cart full of staples.

Again, we kept the television off so that our young kids would not have those visual images burned into their heads.

When the boys came home from school, we took them out for a long walk, and talked about how much we loved each other.  We ate a wonderful dinner, read stories, and tucked them into bed.

I didn't see the actual footage of the crashes until that night. 

To this day, I am so glad that I didn't let the children see those images as they were happening.  My kids have since seen the videos, and all 3 of them have thanked me for waiting until they were older before they saw what happened that day.

Throughout it all, the one thing I remember is the beautiful, impossible blue of the sky that day.

And, even more haunting:  That morning, at 7 a.m., a huge shooting star was seen across the sky over Washington as the sun was rising.  It was bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, even with the sun rising into the sky.  There were a phenomenal number of phone calls to the police and radio stations that morning about the shooting star.

In remembrance, I have a few other random images I'd like to share:

The Budweiser Commercial that aired after 9/11.



And, pictures from my trip to the 9/11 site in New York this summer:

The fountain at the site of Tower 1.

Tower 2.  That funky looking glass building in the back is part of the 9/11 museum.

It was pouring down rain on the day we were there.
Appropriate for the site, I thought.
So many of us were crying, I think that those were teardrops on the names, not raindrops.

 

Mom's House

Mom moved yesterday. 

We moved into that house over President's Day Weekend in 1979.  We had moved from Ohio - where we had snow, snow, and more snow every winter.  Our friends and family all told us how fortunate we were to be moving to the East Coast.  The winters would be milder, the weather would have fewer swings, and much more predictable.

The weekend we moved into that house, we were hit with what was billed as "the storm of the century".  Over 20" of snow fell in one day.

I guess what people forgot to mention is that the winters in the Mid-Atlantic are milder, that is milder up until one of those massive blizzards hits the coast and dumps 20 or more inches of snow in 24 hours.

The night we moved into that house, we slept on the floor in the basement, in front of the fireplace,  At that time, the fireplace was a gas fireplace, and we had the "magic" flames dancing all night long.

I don't know... I don't think I am as sad to leave that house as my sister is.  For me, that house is full of bittersweet memories.  Most of my memories are more bitter than sweet.

We had moved from Ohio- a neighborhood I loved, with kids I adored, and a school that I loved.  I was in high school when we moved, and I never really was on the right social footing ever again.

Even worse, we moved from Ohio - a beautiful state with wide open sky, farms surrounding our neighborhood, and friendly people, to Northern Virginia.  A harried, fast-paced, stuffed full of people suburb of Washington D.C..

I do remember fondly when my favorite Aunt, Rosie, came out to visit us.  She and Aunt Marion went walking one afternoon and got lost.  They had no idea where they were, and ended up at the police station looking for directions to get back to the house.  As I was walking up to the house just after I got off the bus, a police car pulled up in front of the house, and he opened the back door, letting both of my aunts out.  Once I found out what had happened, Aunt Rosie started laughing because the policeman wouldn't even give them an ice cream cone to comfort them after getting lost!

I remember bringing my boyfriend (now my husband) for the very first time.

And I remember how beautiful that house was when we bought it.  The previous owner was a Master Gardener, and she volunteered in the gardens at Mount Vernon.  The yard was beautifully landscaped, and she had many things in the yard that had come from cuttings at Mount Vernon.

I also remember sitting on the stairs, listening to my parents argue incessantly.

I remember the night my father told my mother "I never have loved you.  I married you because I felt sorry for you."

And I remember watching him pack up all of his belongings into the back of his car and leaving that house, never looking back.

Not among my fondest memories.

I remember being accused of horrific things by my mother in the months after my father left- from spying on her for my dad to stealing things for my dad, to stealing the car after school.

I remember the afternoon I came home early from school and found her with a bottle of alcohol and a half- empty bottle of sleeping pills.

I have watched over the last 27 years as she has slowly destroyed every last vestige of my father.
I would come home and find out that she had ripped out more of the beautiful landscaping or bushes that the previous owner had put into the house for some random reason ranging from "Your father loved those bushes" to "I never did like the way that looked".

Over the last 30 years, I have watched the house deteriorate as she refused to take care of it.  I replaced the roof on that house not once, but twice.  I bought new screen doors for the front and side door, and my former brother in law bought and installed new doors for the front and side doors. 

I remember the palpable sense of despair that filled that house after my Dad left, and I don't think that it has ever really lifted since then. 

I'm not terribly sad to say good bye to that particular house. 

I hope my Mom, at the tender age of 83, sees this as an opportunity for a new beginning!  I know I'm looking forward to the new memories we have yet to make!

My Goals for the Week

So, after the world's largest ever 3D game of Tetris, we managed to get our living room straightened out.

Mom's sofa is now in our living room.  The cedar chest (Hope Chest) that my grandmother bought for my Mom during the depression by saving one dime at a time on groceries over several months is now tucked into a corner of the living room, waiting for our daughter to take it with her when she moves into her first house many years from now.  The old sofa, which was third hand to us, and well over 30 years old, has been carted off to the dump.  The end tables have been shifted, and voila!  Everything (mostly) fits into the living room.  I still have a corner of stuff that I am going to have to shift somewhere else.  My scrapbooking and paper supplies are in one corner.  They are going to need a new home.  I have a new home in mind for them, but until I can pull that together, I will have to shift them somewhere else.  I believe they may be moving into the dining room for a while!

So, as we begin a new week, I am going to review my goals from last week:

Last week's goals:
1) I will continue to work on middle child's t-shirt quilt.
I have hand quilted two more blocks.   There are 25 blocks total on this quilt, and as of now, I have finished 14 of them.  I keep thinking this would go faster if I had paid someone to quilt it for me... and it would have, but then again, I would have been forking over money for something I can do for myself - even if it does take more time to accomplish it.  In the long run, I am hoping that a hand quilted item will be more special for him than something that I paid someone else to do for me.

2) Meatless Monday
Tonight for dinner, we are having baked potatoes, stuffed with broccoli, and cheddar cheese for the non-lactose intolerant ones in the family.


3) I will continue to work on the family calendars.
The calendars are finished.  I'll have them printed next month, so I can have them in time for Christmas.

4) Salvage the strawberry patch.
I still haven't done this yet.

5) I will line dry 4 loads of laundry this week.  Now that the weather is a little less humid, I'm willing to see if some of the heavier clothes will dry on the line.  (Towels, blue jeans)  The weather the past few weeks has been too humid for the heavy clothes to completely dry.
I did manage to line dry 4 loads of laundry.  The humidity is back this week, though, so I'm not certain that I'll be getting anything heavy out on the line to dry. 


6) Can spaghetti sauce.
I made more spaghetti sauce.  Most of it was used in the making and freezing of several batches of French Bread Pizza.  The rest of it was used for dinner.  I'm wondering if I should just give up on the thought of canning spaghetti sauce..

7) I will exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 days this week.

8) I will make and freeze several batches of French Bread Pizza.

9) I will spend 15 minutes a day on cleaning and straightening the big, messy room in the basement.
Didn't even begin to work on this.  I spent most of the week playing with the furniture in the living room.

10) I will get to the library.
I checked out another round of Downton Abbey, checked out a couple of books for myself to read, and signed up for a program that sounded intriguing.

This Week's Goals:
1) Start Subbing More.
I don't like to sub the first two weeks of schools while the students and teachers are settling into new routines and getting to know each other better.  Now that school has been in session for a couple of weeks, I need to start subbing more.  I will work at least 2 days each week.

2) I will get out and exercise at least 3 days this week.

3) Work on Middle Child's t-shirt quilt.

4) Meatless Monday

5) I will salvage the strawberry patch.

6) I will go to the community wide Girl Scout leaders meeting this week.  (Yes, I have to write this down because I keep forgetting to go, and the beginning of the year is an important meeting to make.)

7) I will spend 15 minutes a day cleaning the big messy room in the basement.

8) I will clean up the woodpile in the back, stacking the wood that fell over, making certain that it is under cover for the fall, and raking up/throwing away the loose leaves and other stuff that is on the ground around where the woodpile was.

9) I will line dry at three loads of laundry this week.

10) I will move my scrapbook supplies to their new, temporary home in the dining room.

Girl Scouts

I've been a Girl Scout leader for several years now.  I took over when our old troop leader said that she didn't want to do it anymore, and refused to sign the paperwork to be a leader for another year.  It looked as if our troop was going to fold, so I agreed to become the leader.

Over the years, the troop has gone from being led by one person to more of a co-op arrangement.  All of the parents have signed on as Assistant Leaders, and we all take responsibility for leading meetings and getting things accomplished.

As the girls grew into high school, the challenge of being leaders has been easier than we expected.  High school is the age of girl led programming.  In short, the girls take over the meetings.  They decide what they want to do next, and our job is to help them find the resources to reach their goals.

It's been wonderful watching them grow, and take on responsibilities and reach their goals.

When we started our Bronze Award, it was a project initiated by our then-leader.  The girls initiated a wonderful project, and earned their Bronze Award.  They were in 6th grade, and they were unstoppable.

Predictably, we lost a few girls through middle school.  The programming changed, and even worse, the grade levels changed.  Our girls were caught in the middle of the transition.  They became Cadettes at the end of their 6th grade year, and that was when the new age guidelines were handed down from national. Previously, Cadettes were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.  Now, they were to be in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.  This presented a huge challenge for us.  Two years to complete the requirements for the Silver Award, find a project, and complete said project.

We all quailed at the prospect.  We went to the first Silver Award meeting we could find held by our council, and I was almost in tears.  Since that time, Girl Scouts has changed the Silver Award requirement to the completion of a Journey.  At that time, there was a long list of badges, experiences, leadership demands, and community service requirements to be met. 

I still remember that meeting with the parents and the girls as we looked at the requirements.  The girls were amazing.  "We are going to do this."  They said.  "Nothing will stop us." 

It was at this point that we became a co-op troop.  Each parent took a requirement, and agreed to research it.  We as parents then sat down and figured out the mechanics of the requirement, and the parent who researched that requirement was the one who presented it to the girls, arranged the trips, and followed it through to it's conclusion.

Once we finished the requirements, we had the girls sit down and research possibilities for projects.  They presented their ideas, voted on suggestions, and chose Project Linus.  Much as the parents had done, assigning roles to meet the badge qualifications, the girls sat down and divided up the responsibilities for funding, researching, etc. 

To this day, I am still confounded by the fact that it took us less than a year to finish this.  I won't go into all of the details here, but I will say that the girls completed 80 blankets for Project Linus.  They even learned how to sew in the process - a skill that is no longer taught in the public schools!

They bridged on to Seniors, and began their Senior Journey.  We finished that two years ago, and the girls began to look for Gold Award projects.  Keep in mind, Gold Award projects are individual projects, and they must have a long lasting impact on the community.  Projects must be found, and project proposals submitted to council and approved by council before work can begin on them.

Now, fast forward to this past summer.  We still have 5 girls in our troop.  They are in 11th grade.
All 5 have submitted proposals and had them approved by council.

The first project went off without a hitch in late July. 

Today is the second project.   

Believe it or not, we have at least one, if not two, projects scheduled to happen every month from now until December.

What continues to amaze me most of all is that these girls are all in High School.  They are all in 11th grade.  And they all choose to remain in Girl Scouting.  Even with the commitments to sports, band, drama, friends, and school work, these girls are still involved in Girl Scouting.  They are all honor roll students.  To me, this is unbelievable.  When I took over this troop, I honestly never expected it to last more than a year.  And here we are, years later.  Unbelievable.

I am so very, very proud of all of these girls.  They are AMAZING!!!

And the other parents in this troop who have stepped up and helped to keep our troop running and help the girls achieve their dreams?  They've done it all while balancing careers, other commitments, other children, cancer treatments, health problems, and the sickness of their own parents?

They are PHENOMENAL.

None of this could have happened without the combined efforts of us all. 

It really does take a village.