Random Pictures

It's been a while! 

Fire in the wood stove - love our stove!

Sunrise.  I stopped in the middle of the road last week in order to get the sun as it peeked over the hills.

Ice on my windshield.  You can kind of see the beautiful patterns of the crystals on the window'

Bird nest in the tree right by the front door of my MIL's condo.

Pictures from yesterday's snowstorm. He was 4 hours past the time he usually shows up in our neighborhood, but he still delivered our mail!

Our front stoop.

Making Do

We've run out of money before we've run out of month!

In an attempt to keep from charging anything to our credit cards, we've been "making do" with what we have on hand.

It's made for a couple of interesting dinners so far this week.

I made fajitas on Monday night.  We didn't have any flour tortillas, but we did have rice wrappers.  You know, those thin paper wrappers that are used for spring rolls?  We used the rice wrappers to encase the fajitas.  It was a unique Asian-Mexi Fusion.  The taste was interesting, to say the least.

On Tuesday night, I made baked beans.  The recipe calls for ketchup.  We are out of ketchup.  I had a half a bottle of spicy barbecue sauce in the fridge.  I used that in place of the ketchup.  It had a wonderful, spicy kick to it that I really enjoyed.  We'll be using the barbecue sauce for the ketchup from now on.

Last night, I made vegetable soup for dinner.  It was definitely a "clear the crisper" kind of night.  A half a head of red and green cabbage each.  They were cut up into the soup, along with potatoes, an onion and some celery.  I was expecting the worst.  Believe it or not, it was one of the tastier soups I've ever made.  I'm not sure what elevated the taste to sublime... if you've read my recipes before, you know I always add a can of V-8 Juice to my soups.  Last night, I added a can of Ro-Tel Tomatoes too.  Maybe it was the combination of the two flavors?

Tonight, I'm using the left over baked beans for dinner.  I'm going to mash them, then heat them up in a little oil for my version of refried beans.  We're now out of Rice Wrappers, so I might very well have to break down and make flour tortillas from scratch tonight so we can have burritos.  We'll use one of the last jars of salsa that I canned up this summer.

For breakfast, we've been making smoothies with fruits that I froze last year.  However, we're almost out of yogurt, so we will be back to eating oatmeal for breakfast next week.  It's what I have on hand...

Lunch has been sandwiches made from home-made bread.   We've used turkey from the bird I roasted a couple of weeks ago, peanut butter and jelly, and the ham I froze for sandwiches after Christmas.

Good Golly, meals next week are going to be even MORE interesting.  I'll be glad when payday rolls around!

What a Day

I only sub in a few schools.  Over the last 5 years, I have developed wonderful relationships with the staff and students in these schools.  I love all of the kids that I work with, but I love the friends in Special Education the most.  Those little people just touch my heart and make me strive to be a better person.

I have one little friend in particular that challenges me.  I've known this little guy for 4 years now.  Not once in 4 years has he ever spoken to me.  Not once has he ever looked me in the eyes.  For 4 years, he has ignored me, pulled his hood over his head, and sat in a stony silence until our time is over. 

I have done everything I can think of to break through his shell and establish a relationship with him.  I've brought in pictures of my kids and my cats.  I've made stupid jokes.  I've brought in stuffed animals, my favorite books, and even some of those little nano-bugs.  All in the hope that he might interact with me in some way. 

I've never given up on him- because you can tell he's a smart young man.  Very smart.  And I really want to know what's going on in that head of his.

Last week.  I had the most frustrating day, ever. 

I was subbing in Special Ed, and during the morning, I pushed in to 3 different classes.

I arrive in the first class and sit down at the table with my first little group.  Five minutes into the group, one of the kids suddenly looks really pale, we smell a horrible smell, and the kid starts to cry and everyone goes "eewww".  Diarrhea.  All over everything.

I took that child down to the nurse.  The teacher took the class out for a walk down the halls, and the custodian worked his magic.

I doused myself in as much Purell as I possibly could, and headed off to my next group.

Different class, same routine.  I sit down to work with one of the groups.  One of the children turns really pale, turns the head, and "eeewwwww".  The poor child threw up all over the floor.  I ran the child down to the nurse, and the teacher pulled the rest of the class out for a walk down the halls while the custodian worked his magic.

I doused myself again in Purell. 

Different class, different grade, same routine. I sat down to work with one of the groups.  One of the children turns really pale, turns the head and "eewww...."

The custodian crossed my path as I was walking down the hall towards the nurses office with the third child when he remarked "Just what is it about you today?"

The nurse looked me over as I walked into her office and said "What is it with you today?"

I jokingly asked if it would do any good to bother washing up with Purell.  She handed me her heavy duty soap that she uses to wash her hands, and I washed my hands, arms, and face. 

My day didn't get a lot better from there, no more sick children, but it was a trying day.  The kids were having a rough day all the way around.

And then, it was 3:00.

I went to go pull my little person.  MY little person.  The one I mentioned earlier, who I've known for 4 years now and has never spoken to me.

He looked me straight in the eye when I walked in, told me "Hello" and called my by my name.  I had no idea he even knew my name.

He talked to me.  He read to me.  He looked me in the eye and he smiled at me.  He answered me in complete sentences.  That hood never once went up over his head.

When our time was up, I walked him back to class, and he told me all about the playoff games this weekend, and why he was cheering for the Broncos.

I dropped him off in his class, closed the door, and burst into tears.

After 4 years, this child finally trusts me enough to let me into his world and talk to him. 

I am so humbled.

And that, my friends, made last week an EXCELLENT week.

My Accomplishments This Week

With three birthdays this past week, I can't say that I saved a lot of money!

I made three cakes from scratch.

For their birthday dinners, I made their favorite meals from scratch.  For daughter, we made Pad Thai.  For middle child, we made pizza, and for oldest child, we made meatloaf.

I bought the textbooks for middle child this week.  Ugh.  Even though we rented one textbook, and bought several used, the bill still came up to $410.  The accounting textbook was the killer.  It's about a ream of paper, 3 hole punched, and wrapped in shrink wrap.  No used or rental copies of this "book" was available.  It cost us $200. 

I traded in an old, used 3 ring binder at Staples for recycling credit and bought a new 3 ring binder to hold the "book".

Even though he still has a week before school begins, he has already begun studying.  He has decided that the Differential Equations textbook looks next to impossible.

For their presents, I am still working on a special surprise for daughter that I will post later.

For the boys, I bought them gift cards to their favorite restaurants near campus. 

The most impressive thing I did this week?

I went to the doctor for a check up.  I'm now up to date on all of my shots.  My blood work has been run, and I am waiting for the phone call to let me know the results.  My blood pressure, heart rate, etc. are all fine.  For me, this was all about baseline data.  My doctors now have the baseline data and know what my numbers should be.  In the future, if anything changes, we will be able to catch it early.  If the doctor doesn't have a baseline number to compare anything with, a diagnosis can take longer.  It's an investment in my future health.  (Just like exercise.)

What did you do this past week?

Pot Pie - it's What's for Dinner

Years ago, when the kids were little, we were reading an Arthur book, and D.W. ran across Bo Peep's Pie - a variation on Shepherd's Pie that included spinach.

Eager to try a new recipe linked to a book, I developed a variation on Pot Pie Recipe that I called D.W.'s recipe.  (With many apologies to Marc Brown.)

D.W.'s Pot Pie

1 bag of spinach, washed and chopped fine

1 onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

3 or 4 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 large Potabella Mushroom cap, gills removed, and diced

1 10 oz bag of frozen peas

2 TBSP cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cups chicken broth (or, 2 cups of water & 4 broth cubes)

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla flax milk

(Or milk of your choice: cow, goat, soy, etc.)

2 pie shells

Pre-Heat oven to 350*

Spray Pie Pan (or other dish) with cooking spray.

Line pie pan with pie crust, set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add a "chug" of olive oil.  Cook onions, celery, and carrot until transparent.  Add potatoes and mushrooms, cook for an additional 2-5 minutes.

Add spinach and peas, stir until spinach wilts.

Remove from heat, put veggies into the prepared pie shell. 

Lower the heat to med-low, and put skillet back on the heat.

Add milk, broth, cornstarch, salt, and pepper.  Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken.

Pour mixture over veggies in pie crust.

Cover with second pie crust, seal edges. Cut steam vents in the top crust.

Put pie pan on a cookie sheet and place on middle rack of the oven to bake.

Check at 40 minutes.  If crust is browned, remove from oven to cool.  If it is not ready, leave in for 5 more minutes and check again.

If you have leftover meat you are trying to use up, add 1 cup of cooked meat, diced, to the veggies just before the spinach.

Let the pie rest for 5 minutes before serving.

A Word From the Cat

This is Luna.  I am the beautiful, young princess cat of this house.  I rule with a furry paw.

Things in this house have been dull recently.

My humans had moved a delightful new toy into the living room.  It was lovely... It had a bowl of water at the bottom, I could reach up and dig my beautiful nails in, and sometimes, I could climb up into it, and sit in it, surrounded by a forest of green needles, and watch my subjects move around about me.  They even covered this amazing toy with lots of little toys for me!  I could sit on the floor and swat at them, or climb up and hit the bonus ones - you know, the ones that go "CRASH" when they hit the floor.  The humans never put those fun toys at the bottom.  They always put them near the top.  Silly humans... don't they know by now that by moving them up higher, hitting them became more of a challenge?

My beautiful new toy disappeared over the last week.  I don't know why they took it away?  I wasn't done with it!

I hate to tell you this, but my humans... sometimes, they let the food in my dish get so low that I can actually SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE DISH!!  Can you believe this?  I let them know when I can see the bottom of my dish by picking up paws full of food and throwing them across the room.

My boyfriend, Tiger, has gotten an attitude lately.  I don't know what is up with him.  I know he likes to pretend that he is all tough and distant, but this is getting ridiculous.  He was sleeping on the bed with "Mom" and "Dad" the other day.  They all looked so cozy, I decided to hop up and snuggle up with him.  As soon as I hopped up on the bed, can you believe it?  He HISSED AT ME!  That's right!  He dared to HISS at the Princess.  Well, I showed him!  I made my very best bushy tail at him, and I HOWLED at him to let him know that I did not appreciate him telling me what I could and could not do.  Can you believe that he dared to swat me?  Me?  The Princess?  He swatted me across the face with his paw!!  Well, I just can't stand that kind of challenge to my authority, so I charged him and swatted him back - with my CLAWS OUT, and I showed my teeth and howled some  more.
And then, oh, the indignity of it all... just as it was getting fun, and we were having some awesome roll around and hit and bite each other time, "Dad" picked us both up and tossed us both outside.  He was muttering some nonsense about it being "3 in the morning". 

Picky.

No more human oppression of cats!  No more!  I will not stand for this!

I have let the humans know of my displeasure by typing this on the laptop.  I will continue to let them know of my displeasure by staging a hostile takeover of this computer!  I shall sleep on the keyboard for the rest of the day!  It's mine, mine I tell you!

That is all for now!

Princess Luna

My Frugal Accomplishments

I'm not sure how much I've actually saved this past week... or how I'll do this week.

All three of our children were born during this week.  One birthday was yesterday, one is tomorrow, and one is Saturday.  All born within 4 years.  Yep, go ahead, think whatever thought it is you are thinking.  I've heard it all before!


As far as Frugal Accomplishments for this week:

We had invested in the Maryland Pre-Paid College Trust when the kids were little.  College tuition is due this month.  Between the scholarships and the pre-paid college trust, we paid out $2,000 for this semester - for both children, combined.  I have to admit, making those payments was horrendous when the kids were younger, but so glad NOW that we did it!

I stopped by the grocery store and found that they had also added a "seconds" shelf in the produce section.  This is where they have veggies that they feel have passed their prime.  I picked up bags of 3 yellow squash, 6 green peppers, and a cabbage for $4.  Tonight, we're having tacos with spicy cole slaw.

We cooked one of the turkeys that we picked up on sale around the holidays.  I have lots and lots of leftovers in my fridge.  Today, I am making a batch of broth from the bones.  (Read my recipe and directions for making broth cubes here: http://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/2013/06/blog-post.html.)
The broth cubes will be put into the freezer to use later.

We made baked potato soup from scratch.  We bought a 50 pound bag of potatoes at the beginning of the year, and they are starting to sprout!  We are cooking up those potatoes just as fast as we can!  I really don't want to see those potatoes go to waste.  This past week, we've had a baked potato night, and baked potato soup.  We made a huge batch of home fries for breakfast with scrambled eggs Sunday morning. 

We went to the used book store, traded in some old books and picked up some new ones to read.  Daughter found an awesome volume of Sherlock Holmes and one of Edgar Allen Poe.  Husband found a great book about the National Parks.

Have a wonderful week!